Chapter Text
Danny didn’t want to go. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d left Amity, but he knew what this trip meant. Once he was done in Gotham, he would be all set to move for college next semester.
He’d put it off. First, he said he’d start in the spring. Told Jazz he’d forgotten to send in his applications with all the coronation stuff and the last stragglers of ghost attacks, all his new responsibilities, and a thousand different other excuses that were all just valid and or pathetic enough that Jazz backed off. Then he said he was taking a gap year. To get settled into his new position with his ghostly half before continuing on with his human side. Then a gap year turned into two.
To be fair, this wasn’t completely his fault. He’d been captured for ancient’s sake! Not that anyone brought it up. Even he, king of dead jokes, all pun intended, wasn’t exactly comfortable doing any wisecracks about having his chest cut open by his Dad. Not really in the mood for puns when the feeling of his Mom’s finger rooting around in his rib cage was still fresh in his mind.
Still, even after escaping. After tearing the G.I.W lab to shreds with a single scream and patching himself up as best he could. He hadn’t left Amity.
He knew it was stupid. And he wasn’t there all the time. Just on the days where he felt like patrolling was the only thing in his not-life he could actually control. Other than that he was busy in the realm, sorting through arbitrary legal things that he was pretty sure weren’t nearly as urgent as the eyeballs were making them out to be.
His point was, not-life wasn’t so terrible. So what if it had stalled a bit, falling into a routine that just a few years ago would have made him throw up. That Danny was a punk. He didn’t understand just how terrible a human life could get.
So yeah, Danny was fine with his not-life.
That is until Jazz showed up at his door one day with Tucker and Sam in tow. The big doors of his castle, not the doors of the abandoned building he sometimes called home in Amity. “You got accepted.”
Danny stared at the letter that Jazz held outstretched. It had clearly been opened in a rush. It was a big manilla envelope, the top ripped in Jazz’s haste.
“You going to invite us in?” Sam said, raising an eyebrow before pushing past and making herself at home.
“Oh, um, right. Welcome to my…” Oh god, he had a castle. He rarely had visitors. At least not of the human sort. If he wanted to see anyone he went to them. The last time any of them had been in the castle was at Danny’s coronation. And it hadn’t even shifted to his ownership yet, not really. It was still the gloomy dilapidated place, walls full of the image of screaming skulls and tortured souls.
Now, with Danny’s influence, it looked much more like a normal castle. Though, when you looked out the window, instead of seeing the caste green void, there was space. Haunts dotted the sky like stars and planets. A small galaxy sat at the top of the tallest spire. As if shrunken down for display.
“You can say it. Castle,” Tucker said as he walked past. “You’re a King and you’ve got a castle. And you’re all rich now and I’m all poor and alone.” Tucker kept up the dramatic act as Danny led them to one of the comfier sitting rooms, pointing out every new thing that had been added and lamenting that Danny never invited them over.
Jazz on the other hand was completely quiet. She looked around as they walked, but kept glancing at the envelope she held tight in her hands. Whatever it was, Danny was not looking forward to finding out.
Getting settled into the sitting room was a chore. He hadn’t had any human company, or really much at all in this room, so it wasn’t exactly clean. The sofas and chairs were stacked high with unpublished books, dead video game consoles, games from different dimensions and timelines, and basically all things he couldn't get in his home dimension. It was the deal he’d made with Clockwork. The ancient would tell him about a piece of lost/unobtainable media that he could snatch any time he sat through one of the eyeball’s useless meetings.
With Danny’s powers, obtaining things wasn’t the problem. Knowing about it was.
Ever since taking his place as King, he’d gotten stronger. He wasn’t an Ancient because, well, he wasn’t ancient. But he was powerful. He was space. And for a split second, he thought that maybe he’d be as all-knowing as Clockwork. Except unlike Clockwork, he didn’t have all the time in the world to sort through everything. Sure, he could observe all of space. Anything happening in the present was taking up space and he could see it if he tried. But it was hard. Like sorting through sand on a beach.
When he let himself go, let his powers flow and stretch until his body couldn’t contain them, till he and space were one, synonymous. Everything was just so small. Maybe in a few millennia, he’d get the hang of it. He’d become the all-powerful god of space. He’d be able to peer into every corner.
But for now, manipulating space was much easier. So, with a wave of his hand, the scattered clothes, games, books, and occasional fast food junk, were poofed away.
Sam and Tucker threw themselves onto the now clean couches. They were used to it, he’d shown off for them the second he realized what he could do. On the other hand, Jazz bawked. She’d never really gotten used to his stronger powers. Especially the ones he’d gotten since becoming king. After a moment she shook herself out of it and took a seat.
If her showing up hadn’t put him on edge, the way she was sitting definitely would. It reminded him of when he’d come home with another failed exam. Or when she told him she was going out of state for college.
“What happened.” He said, sitting up straight.
“It’s nothing bad,” Jazz said.
Danny simply gave a disbelieving “mhm” in response.
“It really isn’t!”
Good news rarely came. Not from the human world. At least not if it was for Danny. He knew his luck. It had been a running joke for years! So, yeah forgive him for not believing that. “You said I got accepted? To what?” He couldn’t think of anything he’d applied to. At least not in that world. Which means Jazz had done something.
The three glanced at each other. Okay, so not just Jazz, but all of them. Great, a team effort.
“Gotham University.”
Danny’s brain shorted out, just for a quick second. “What in the realms are you talking about?” He remembered his application to Gotham U. He’d been planning to apply before the accident. With all the scholarships that the Wayne Foundation gave out, it was one of his few chances at making it to a decent university without a mountain of debt. It was only more enticing after the accident. So far away from home.
But he’d never sent it. It was sitting with the rest of his partially complete applications. He hadn’t touched any of them after Frostbite and Pandora had delivered the news about the throne. Kings didn’t have time for college. And the Eyeballs never let him forget it.
Jazz straightened in her seat. “I sent in your application.”
“And I got accepted,” Danny said, dumbfounded. His grades weren’t great. They weren’t even good. They’d recovered a bit the first half of his senior year but then the whole king thing came around and well… it all just felt so pointless. All in all, his GPA was pitiful. Definitely not Gotham U material.
Wait. He whipped around to glare at Tucker. Instead of cowering in fear, Tucker was grinning like a madman. He was way too self-satisfied so Danny threw one of the remaining video game cartridges at him.
“Rude,” Tucker said after batting away the game. “You should be thanking me. I got you a scholarship and everything.”
Danny threw his hands in the air and sunk into his seat. “Oh yeah, because there’s a great track record with me and cheating grades.”
Then Sam piped up. “We changed your grades like four months ago so if Dan was gonna come back I think he’d have done it by now.”
Danny, in place of a rebuttal, just glared at the two. He let the silence stretch on and projected a vague uncomfortable feeling through the room. They deserved to squirm a bit.
Sadly, it didn’t take long for Sam to catch on to what he was doing. “Will you stop being such a drama queen,” She huffed, stomping out of her seat and shaking off the projected emotions.
“I’m not being a drama queen… But you gotta admit I’m getting better,” he smirked. Before spending so much time in the realms he’d barely been able to project his emotions, even to other ghosts. Usually, they were just reaching out to him, guessing at his vague responses.
Now, two years in, he was finally at the basic ghost level. Sam had called him an empath the first time he did it, and Danny was decidedly not calling himself an empath.
“No changing the topic,” Jazz cut in. “This is a good thing,” she stressed, holding the envelope out for him to take. She wouldn’t continue till he did. “You were admitted as Danny Nightingale. You’ve got a scholarship that covers room and board as well as tuition. Sam says she can split her allowance to give you some living money.”
Danny listened as Jazz continued to lay out the plan. It was a decent idea, and if he’d been involved he probably would be over the moon that it worked. Except he’d given up on college. He’d given up on a life in the human world that was anything more than floating into his sister's and friend’s lives every few months.
What they were offering. This chance? It made his throat close up. Made his core thrum more than it had in weeks. His entire being was spinning. But, past the bone-deep trepidation, he knew one thing. He wanted this. He wanted a life more than anything.
He accepted.
Now, three months later, just a week before move-in date for the dorms, Danny was freaking out. Time ran differently in the realms. It was easy to disconnect from the movements of the living world, especially when he didn’t have much contact with his fraid.
All that being said, Danny’d nearly jumped out of his core when he woke up to a lime green sticky note reminding him that he needed to check on Gotham. Something Clockwork had asked Danny to do nearly six months ago.
Danny had one mission for the week. Clear out whatever the realms Clockwork was sending him for so that he could have a normal start to his college career. That’s not too much to ask, right?
Danny is cursed. He should have known. There’s no way his luck is really this bad.
“It can’t be that bad,” Sam said, distracted. Apparently, Danny’s first steps into Gotham weren’t exciting enough to warrant her attention.
“It’s horrible.”
“You’ve said that. But what do you mean,” Tucker said, clearly much more invested in Danny’s panic than Sam was.
Danny took a deep breath. He could taste the ectoplasm on his tongue. It was thick. Ripe with grief and anger. “It’s like Amity right after the portal opened!” He hissed into the phone.
That got Sam’s attention. “You think there’s another one? Someone figured it out?”
Another breath. More ectoplasm. It tingled against his tongue and scratched in his lungs. It tasted stale yet so volatile. “No.” It was the one thing he was sure of. Even with all the ambient ectoplasm and the numerous shades that seemed to hide behind every corner, he knew there was no portal. His core was silent. No hum or tug that subtly guided him to those artificial openings. “But there’s definitely something.”
“Imminent Ghost Attack something or Vlad is Probably at Fault something?” Tucker asked.
Danny looked around. He hadn’t been kidding about the shades. There were dozens of them just on this street, peeking out around corners and through the windows of abandoned apartments. He could feel their emotions. It was rare for shades to feel so strongly. Usually, their emotions would mingle with the ambient ectoplasm that sustained them, their emotions getting lost in the big picture.
Not these. Their feelings were the big picture, even overpowering the ectoplasm. Above the anger, the grief, the hardened hope, was fear. They were terrified of something.
Danny hesitated. He had a feeling, but it was stupid. A hunch at best. “It feels like it’s already happened.”
“What?” they both shouted in unison. Danny cringed and pulled the phone away from his ear.
“What do you mean it feels like it just happened?!” Sam yelled. At least she was properly invested now.
Looking at the buildings, they reminded Danny of post-ghost attack stuff. Large cracks in buildings, potholes that weren’t being filled fast enough. Boarded-up windows and sidewalks that were more pebble than anything else. But there were plenty of villains in Gotham that could do the little bits of damage. But he just had a feeling.
“Y’know my ghost sense, right?” He started.
“Is it going off?” Tucker interrupted. Danny gave it a second, and he could practically hear Sam’s judgmental eyebrow through the phone. “Sorry, continue.”
“As I was saying,” Danny said dramatically. “It’s kinda like that. But more like the ghost is getting farther away every second. Or like it just left. I really don’t know how to describe it other than just… feeling like an attack.”
The call got quiet, and Danny knew what was coming.
“We should’ve come with you,” Sam said, voice firm.
Danny groaned. “It’s just a feeling. And it’s my fault that I’m here anyway. If I’d checked when Clockwork asked, this would all be over with and I’d be getting settled in my dorm.” He sighed, watching the wonderfully normal start to his college experience slip between his fingers.
“He didn’t exactly seem rushed,” Tucker grumbled, and Danny agreed.
When Clockwork had asked Danny to check up on Gotham, he’d waved him off. Looking back, he’d let it go too easily. Normally, even with things that weren’t really as urgent as he wanted them to seem, Clockwork nagged. But he hadn’t brought it up since.
Now six months later, Danny knew something was up. If he popped into the zone and confronted him, Clockwork would probably ignore him. Or give some riddle that basically says “You’ll find out when you need to know.” The ancient was never helpful when you wanted him to be.
In Danny’s defense, he’d been busy. Gotham wasn’t the only supernatural hotspot, and it already had tons of heroes for the day-to-day stuff. If there’d been a real ghost attack he would know. But there was nothing. He hadn’t heard a peep about the ghosts of Gotham in a while.
“Fuck,” Danny whispered.
“What? What do you mean fuck? Sam, what does he mean fuck?” Tucker rambled.
Danny couldn’t hear him anymore. His hand fell to his side, the phone creaking under his grip. How did he not notice it sooner? He raised the phone to his ear, “I’mma need to call you back guys. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
It was suddenly so clear. He could feel it. Or more like the lack of it. There was a ghost here. A strong one if the massive gap in ectoplasm was anything to go off of. A ghost had gone missing. And a territorial one at that.
It explained the feeling of the portal. The ectoplasm that had previously been pushed out of the city, high into the sky, just by sheer amount, was rushing back in to fill the gap. It even explained the strength of the shade’s emotions. They were filling the gap too. The ghost that had been either protecting them or dominating them was gone.
But Danny didn’t know of any ghosts this strong in the living world. At least not one that haunted Gotham. A ghost this strong wouldn’t go unchecked. It would garner rivals. Invite challenge. It was basically begging for the city to experience some ghost attacks.
Now that he knew what the feeling was, Danny was certain of one thing. There hadn’t been any true ghost attacks yet. Not in the way that Amity had them. They hadn’t scarred the ground and poisoned the air. Gotham was doing that just fine by itself. He sighed, at least that was good.
Danny kept walking, gawking at dark alleys, cracked building corners, empty windows. He got a few odd glances, accidentally bumped a few shoulders, and got cussed at more times than he could count. But he couldn’t help being spaced out.
“This place is so fucking weird,” Danny muttered as he turned a corner, seeing a group of shades scatter when they noticed him.
His core was oddly quiet. He reached with it, tugged on his emotions, and tried to sense anything more. What had been here? Why had it left? Why in the world did Clockwork not push for him to come sooner?
Danny gasped. There.
It was like a light at the end of the tunnel. Or a lighthouse on a stormy night. A blaze of emotions, hidden away behind the veil of ectoplasm. Danny couldn’t take his eyes off of it. There were dozens of buildings between him and the mass of emotion he was feeling. Still, the pull was undeniable.
It had been a long time since he’d given in to that pull. Let his feet walk on their own. The closer he got the clearer it was. He was approaching a haunt. Without a doubt, a ghost had settled here. He couldn’t tell how strong. The haunt was practically screaming a challenge to the entire city, yet Danny didn’t feel even a hint of a threat. It was more like a cornered dog, growling and snapping its jaws because that’s all it knows to do.
As he walked, Danny absentmindedly noted the dilapidated buildings, one by one they increased until suddenly dilapidated was a luxury. The Gothamites hadn’t exactly been friendly before but the closer he got to the haunt the more fragile the tension felt. One wrong move and someone's day was going to get ruined.
Danny wasn’t worried about himself though. He was worried about the owner of this haunt.
He stood in front of the street. It was like someone had drawn a socio-economical line in the sand. On one side the neighborhoods, while not nice, were clearly mostly inhabited. On the other, if not for the few people on the sidewalk Danny would think it was all abandoned.
He should continue. Find the ghost that held such a strong claim and throw it back into the zone. Free these people from the anguish that had dug its claws so deep into the area. Except, just the thought of continuing sent a shiver up his spine.
Danny wasn’t afraid. That would be stupid. Whatever was in there, he could handle. But it had been so long since he’d felt such raw emotion outside of a battle.
For the first time since stepping foot in the city, his core truly reacted. A soft hum thrummed through his bones. He barely suppressed a weak chirp, physically biting his tongue as a distraction. His core was calling out. Letting the ghost know that it could feel its pain. That Danny could feel its pain.
He waited a few seconds. A part of him wanted to hear a response. Anything. Any sign that the ghost knew he was there to help. But nothing came. The street was quiet, and the longer he stood there the more people were staring.
“Shows not free,” a woman said beside him, snapping him back to reality.
“What?”
“You gonna keep staring then you better pay.” Danny finally looked at the woman. Jean shorts that sat near the top of her thighs, a coat that was zipped up just tight enough to push at the woman’s cleavage, and makeup that had clearly been touched up a few times already. Oh, she’s a prostitute.
“Sorry. I wasn’t staring. I was just,” Danny glanced around, trying to find some excuse. He had been staring. Not at them, just past them. Which, well, wasn’t exactly a great defense.
“You a customer or not,” she said, popping her gum. She was looking at Danny like he was a worm, which really felt just great.
“No, no I just um… wanted to ask something,” Danny was grasped at straws, he knew that, but he really did have some questions. And he’d already embarrassed himself enough. Maybe he could get some answers. He looked back down the street. “What is this place?”
The woman huffed out a laugh. “Kid, if you don’t even know Crime Alley then you really shouldn’t be here.” She patted him on the shoulder and popped her gum again. “Go home, you’re in the wrong place.”
Danny let out a long sigh when she walked away. Great. He got one whole answer. He was in Crime Alley, a weird street that looked abandoned but if he had to guess was just really crime-ridden and the people were staying out of sight. And apparently, it was also the haunt of a very hurt, scared, angry ghost.
Against his better judgment, Danny slipped down one of the alleys near the entrance, careful to stay just on the edge of the haunt. Then, he closed his eyes and placed his hands over his ears. It didn’t matter when he was in his ghost form, but it was harder to sense other ghost’s calls when he was a human. All of his senses were no longer as sensitive to ghosts, even his core felt distant.
He didn’t want to transform. With all the ectoplasm around Gotham, the GIW wouldn’t be able to track him down just from a transformation, but it would definitely freak out the ghost he wanted to talk to.
Instead, he just reached for his core, for the voice that came so easily as Phantom. It took a second, but soon enough the soft hum was back. This time it was intentional though, so instead of dying out as quickly as it came, Danny pushed and the hum got louder. It echoed through the sky, a mix between a soothing purr and a curious chirp. An invitation to talk if he’d ever heard one.
A few moments later Danny tapped his head lightly against the brick wall, opened his eyes, and dropped his hands. No response. He kept waiting, but he had a feeling nothing was coming. He’d really hoped that the call would work.
With a sigh, Danny pushed off the wall and headed back out to the street, making his way back to his hotel. He’d need to search for the ghost, but it wouldn’t do him any good to rush in now. For now, he would head back and sleep.
Then he heard it. It was more of a warble than a chirp. A mangled call that he wasn’t even sure was a response to his invitation. It was basically just a scream, projecting all the emotions of his haunt out as if realizing that someone was finally listening.
Danny whipped around, looking for any sign of the ghost. For a second he considered running into the haunt and hunting the ghost down that instant. But if there’d been one clear message in that mangled mess, it was “Go the fuck away”.
And, well, Danny was tired. He’d dealt with plenty of angry ghosts before, and they tended to stay angry for a long time. Plus this haunt was pretty deeply ingrained. So, all things considered, Danny wasn’t going to clean this place up tonight.
Gotham was turning out to be more trouble than any of them had expected. And he hadn’t even started trying to figure out whatever ghost had gone missing. Danny massaged his temples just thinking about it. That was going to be a headache in itself.
For now, Danny was going to gorge himself on the fancy hotel food that Sam was paying for, and then sleep like a rock.