Work Text:
Jason woke up to find himself in a room with window into galaxies. He was completely disoriented. Before he noticed another boy with him. He had white hair and glowing green eyes. The boy was looking over a piece of paper.
"Oh hey" He smiled when he noticed Jason being awake.
"This is probably going to sound strange, but you kind of died..." He told Jason, putting his paper on the ground where he was sitting beside him.
The explosion, Jason's eyes widened at the memory. He still looked expectedly at the boy in front of him. Did he resurrection him or something?
"Apparently you weren't supposed to die when I accidentally hit you. I didn't mean to hit you. My sister played another one of her pranks and I just got carried away trying to catch her. In the process of that I accidentally hit you and that apparently killed you..." After he finished his little rant he looked away shamefully.
"What are you talking about? I died from a explosion" Jason inquired.
"Huh? Oh no, I don't mean that death. I mean your second death" the boy clarified.
"How can I die a second time?" Jason question's confused.
"Heard some idiot punch a hole though the multiverse? or was it dimensions. It doesn't matter. What matters is that it caused you to be alive again" the boy explained.
"Why do I not remember you killing me?" Jason asked next.
"Eeeeh I don't know the specifics. Probably because you weren't used to being alive again. So your brain only recognized the minimum functions to survive. In your terms you were acting like a Zombie" He answered.
"So what happens now?"
"Well again you weren't supposed to die so... You have some options. Either you reincarnate and live happily in some other Realm- I mean world. Or you could stay a ghost and last but not least you could go back, but with a price"
"Back to Bruce?"
"I mean it's the same world he lives in. If you decide to go back"
"Why wasn't I supposed to die?" Jason narrows his eyes at the other boy. Why should he trust him?
"I don't know, I don't understand cryptics as much as I would like and Clockwork was definitely cryptic again. I almost didn't understand what he wanted from me. Like so many other times" The boy sighed.
"What's your name?" Jason asked curiously.
"Oh eh you can call me Phantom" Phantom rubbed his neck sheepishly.
"How do I know what you say is the truth?"
"Not again... Just because I am the ghost king doesn't mean I am evil. Okay?"
"I thought a ghost king would be scarier" Jason smirked.
"I can if I want to, but it's not required all the time" Phantom rolled his eyes.
Jason snorted. "Fine, I will trust you"
Phantom chuckled looking at his paper again. "Good choice kid"
"We are the same age" Jason commented.
"Nah, I am the ghost king normal aging doesn't apply to me. As far as I last checked I'm 7300 years old" Phantom commented absentmindedly.
"Could I choose which world I would be reincarnated in?"
"Oh yeah sure, do you have one in mind?"
"Not right now, what does it mean to be a ghost?" Jason inquired.
"Well you could chill with me and the other ghosts here in the zone and do whatever your obsession will be"
"Obsession?"
"A drive to exist" Phantom replied.
"Can you give me an example?"
"Boxes for one, but there is also books, food, a specific activity and on the list gos"
"So like a hobby?"
"Yeah" Phantom nodded, before burning the paper he was holding to dust with green fire. "So have you made a choice yet?"
Jason bit his lip. He had hoped he would get more time to gather as much information as he could. But it seems not the case. Did Jason want to leave Bruce behind? He didn't save him in time... But Jason still missed his embrace.
"I will go back" Jason announced.
Phantom nodded and suddenly pushed him. He felt like he was falling down until the only thing he was able to see was green.