Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

It was overwhelmingly green.

That was his first thought as he blinked into existence. He opened his eyes and was met with green all around. As far as he could see in every direction: up, down, left, right. Everything was some shade of green. He wasn’t standing on anything and maybe that should be freaking him out but it’s not. No matter how much he thinks about it he knows he won’t fall. 

He moves forward, or at least he thinks he’s moving forward, towards nothing. There seems to be floating islands the deeper he explores. He floats underneath a few taking note of the green dirt and roots that sometimes falls off. He floats along on his back with his knees limp and bent. His arms are crossed tightly in front of his chest almost like he was fighting off a shiver. This place was pleasantly warm but he felt exposed. 

He kept floating until he couldn’t tell which way he came from. All he saw were floating islands and occasionally purple doors. Something deep inside his chest told him to stay away from the doors. Now that he thinks about it he can almost feel something deep inside his chest humming and vibrating. He can’t feel a heartbeat. He should have a heartbeat… right? 

He runs his gloved fingers over his chest where he remembers a heart should be. There should be a thump there instead of this buzz. This is the first time he really thinks about himself instead of his surroundings. The more he tries to think the less he knows. He’s… he is… someone? He has to be someone. He’s right here and he is solid and he can think and feel and he is real. Who is he? 

He floats there for a bit trapped in his own mind with his knees drawn close to his chest. His eyes feel heavy like he needs to sleep but that same buzz in his chest tells him he doesn’t need to. He rests his cheek on his knee and notices skin touches skin. His skin is cold. And greyer than he thinks he remembers. 

It’s quiet here.  

He lets his mind drift to anything familiar and all that pops up is blue eyes and black hair and the wrinkles of a smile. He thinks he hears a soft call of “Jaybird…” leaving that smile. The name Jason feels right in his chest. It burrows there and makes a home next to his core. Ah yes, there it is, a ‘core’ not a ‘heart’. He thinks he’s young or at least he feels young. His core feels new and bright. On second thought ‘bright’ wouldn’t be the right word. His core feels dark, like a shadow. 

A core made up of a shadow. It’s dark and warm and it feels familiar like a hug from someone to miss. Jason thinks he misses those blue eyes and black hair. It’s hard to say when he almost forgot his own name. 

Getting out of his mind Jason straightens up. He might not remember everything but he’s here now and he swears he is going to see some other color besides green and purple. He moves forward with a new set of determination and wanders. He is going to find some answers from something that isn’t the buzzing in his chest. 

— — — —

For all Jason knows years could be passing or meer hours. He has no true concept of time in this place. Seconds feel like hours and years feel like days. All he knows right now is green.

He hates green.

Jason hasn’t even come across other people yet. He has been the only person so far in this place. It’s kinda lonely being all alone. And boring… definitely boring. Jason lets out a dramatic sigh as he lands on one of the islands. The ground feels solid under his feet. Dropping to his knees he lets his hands sink into the dirt. Looking around the small island he can spot trees with purple leaves. Looking down at his hands he continues picking at the dirt. His gloves are going to be ruined by the time he moves on. 

Deciding he’d rather not be walking around with dirty gloves he takes them off. They disappear in a mist when he tries to put them down on the ground next to him. 

Huh, that’s weird… his knuckles are bruised. 

They are bruised and have cuts on them like he busted them open punching something. He moves his fingers around and watches as his skin pulls across his knuckles but it doesn’t hurt. Looking down at his legs he spots more bruises and scrapes. Pressing down on his bruises shows no pain. It’s almost like the wounds are tattooed on his skin. 

He was dragged out of his thoughts by the revving of a motorcycle. 

He shot back up to his feet and looked around wildly looking for the source. He heard it from a distance but the motorcycle was fast approaching. Running over to the edge of the island he finally spotted the motorcycle in the distance. It was coming up fast and he barely got a look at the driver before it was racing past him. Jumping into the air Jason gave chase. 

As fast as he could, which seemed to be a neck-breaking speed, he caught up. He could hear the drivers laugh under the purr of the motorcycle’s engine. From what Jason could see the driver had blond hair and grey skin. He was wearing a long black coat that was flying behind him. Just from looking at the bike, Jason decided he liked motorcycles. It was mainly black and grey with a neon grees ‘13’ on the side of the body. In Jason’s opinion, it was absolutely beautiful. 

Jason was too busy admiring the bike to notice another person heading straight for him. The other person must have not been paying attention either because the two crashed into each other. Jason froze there in the air due to the sudden collision and the other person wasn’t doing much better. 

The other person looked young, probably as young as Jason. He has white hair, and bluish skin, and was wearing some sort of hazmat suit that was completely black other than white gloves and boots. Although there was some type of symbol on his chest. The person was holding his head in his hands before blinking his eyes open and looking right at Jason. 

“Oh, Ancients can’t a guy go flying without knocking into someone?”  

Jason sputtered at the accusation, “Hey! You ran right into me!” 

The guy rolled his eyes, “Okay yeah, sure let’s go with that.” When their eyes met again the stranger’s eyes seemed to narrow. “Wow, you look young.” 

“What?! You look no older than me.” 

“Okay, so you’re really young then.”

“Why do ya think that?” For some reason that made the stranger laugh. “Well, for one you don’t know who I am, and two your core gives you away.” Jason’s face scrunches up in confusion. “Should I know who you are? And my core?” Instead of answering the guy lazily floats around Jason, almost inspecting him. “No I guess you shouldn’t… and your core is really bright. Only new or powerful ghosts have cores that bright.”

“Ghosts?”

“You don’t even know what you are yet!” Jason was spinning around to keep the person to his front but this was just making him dizzy and confused. He reaches out and grabs the person’s arm to steady them both. “Just tell me what’s going on!” The person(ghost?) just looks at him a bit before rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Right sorry about that.” He sticks his hand out as an invitation to shake, “I’m Danny Phantom and I hate to break this to you but you’re dead.” 

…

What? 

“Yeah you’re on the other side of the veil, you went into the light, you died and by the look of it it wasn’t pretty.” 

“But-but I’m still here. I’m solid and I still exist.” 

“You are and you do but that doesn’t mean you didn’t die. Sorry, I had to be the one to break it to you.”

Jason just floated there for a bit getting all his thoughts in order. He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“You really are young…” Danny sounded sad. “Someone as young as you should have shown up in one of the more populated places, not all the way out here. How long have you been alone here?” Jason could only shrug because he really didn’t know how long. “Do you wanna come home with me? Trust me I have the room.” 

Why does this feel familiar? Why does this person or situation have a sense of deja vu clinging to it? Jason doesn’t know but this feeling is what makes him nod his head yes. 

— — — — 

When Danny said he was taking Jason home with him he didn’t expect the home to be a literal castle. It was extensive and beautifully built with tall windows and winding hallways that went on forever. The biggest of the windows were stained glass with different moments crafted into them. Strangely, or at least in Jason’s opinion, all the scenes built into the windows had Danny in them. 

And they weren't the only people in the castle. There was a constant bustle of people moving along the hallways. Every person they passed sent a small bow towards Danny which he waved off. Jason is starting to wonder what exactly he agreed to when he followed Danny home. The people often sent him curious looks and glances, if they even noticed him that is, but quickly hurried off to do their jobs. 

The people they passed looked different to Jason, which makes sense due to none of them being human. All of them had colorful skin and hair and their clothing was so different from each other. 

Jason walked close to Danny, never wandering. 

“How do you even remember where everything is? Don’t you get lost?” 

“I’ve been here a while, I know this place like the back of my hand. But in the beginning, I kept getting lost. All the hallways looked the same to me so I got them color coded. You see the carpet? How it’s yellow right now?” Jason looked down and took note of the muted yellow of the carpet laid over stone flooring. “Well, yellow means the common hallways. If you’re walking on yellow then you are in between the more important parts of the castle. I’ll tell you all of the color meanings later after you settle in.”

Danny led him down a more deserted hallway with red carpet dressing the floor. Neither of them talked again until Danny stopped in front of a door, “This can be your room.” Is all he said before he opened the door revealing a fancy but simple room. There is a king-sized bed with a black canopy and drapes hanging off of the pillars of the bed. Next to the bed on both sides are nightstands. There are dressers with mirrors and wardrobes that hold no personality. A desk sits in the corner with a big puffy chair tucked into it. Most surprisingly there is a fireplace lit with green flames built into the wall with more chairs and a chase surrounding it. 

Looking back at Danny he saw that the other ghost was shifting his feet nervously. “Do you like it?” He asked, “You can always change it if you like. If there is anything you want to add I can get it done.” 

“I’ll take you up on that later. Right now I don’t remember enough about myself to want anything.” 

“Damn, you’re so young.” 

“You keep saying that but not really explaining. And I’m pretty sure we’re the same age, you’re just tall!” Danny laughs at him before explaining, “You’re freshly dead so you’re basically a baby ghost. Mix that in with the age you died and you’re practically an infant. Only newly formed ghosts have memory problems, you’ll most likely get more information about who you are the longer you are dead.” He leans against the doorway crossing his arms over his chest before shooting Jason a sad look. “I’ll warn you though: the memories you get back might not be all that pleasant.” 

“Why do you say that?” 

“Take a look.” He gestures to one of the mirrors in the room. 

Jason walked towards the mirror and saw himself for the first time. 

He looked terrible, to say the least.

He had white hair with a streak of black in front and the dull grey skin of a corps. He had a domino mask on that was ripped almost in half. The mask still covered one of his eyes and whited out his eye. The other one was a piercing blue that was bruised. He has a split lip and his nose might have been busted if the trail of red signified anything. He had another bruise under the uncovered eye. He wore a suit similar to Danny’s but it was red and torn up where cuts and scrapes were visible. He pocked and prodded at his injuries to find none of them hurt like the ones on his legs and knuckles. Again, it was like they were tattooed onto his body. 

Behind him in the mirror he sees Danny walking closer to him. “It’s also newly formed ghosts that look how they died.” Looking back at himself Jason decided he didn’t like what he saw. “I don’t wanna look like this. I don’t wanna see this anymore. Please Danny I don’t-” He was starting to overwhelm himself when Danny cut him off, “Hey it’s okay. You can change it, I’ll show you.”

Turning away from the mirror Jason gave his full attention to Danny. “Your whole body is made up of ectoplasm. It is what you are like how humans are made up of meat.” Jason’s face scrunched up in mild disgust, “Nasty comparison but continue.” 

“Wow thanks for the permission, kid. Anyways, you can control ectoplasm. Any ghost can even the smaller less powerful blob ghosts have some control. You just have to control what you look like. Some things are going to be harder to change or just won’t, like your hair and eyes. But your clothes can change and your skin might shift when you go through ghost puberty.” 

“Puberty?!” 

“Yeah have fun with teething again.” 

“I don’t even remember human puberty but I know it sucked. Now you’re telling me I have to go through it again? What the fuck man!”

“Looking at you right now I can tell you you didn’t go through much before you got yourself offed.” 

“First of all: rude. Second of all: if you’re so old and shit then why do you look like a kid?” 

Danny paused for a second and tilted his head slightly like a cat. The mood in the room dropped a bit and Jason can tell that the jocking and teasing was over for now. 

“I didn’t want to say goodbye to my childhood yet.” And wasn’t that a depressing answer? Even through all the complaining Jason still managed to forget he was talking to another dead kid. 

Jason shuffled his feet not really knowing what to say. He lands on, “...I think I want to grow up.” Danny just huffed and ruffled his hair a bit. 

“That’s fine, don’t let my appearance stop you.” 

“Will it be weird if I look older than you?” 

“Why would it be weird?” 

“I don’t know what it is but something in my chest tells me I’m going to be here a while. That I’m gonna stick around you. You keep saying how old you are what if I look older than you one day?”

“Than you will, as easy as that. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to look older than someone here.”

“Even if it’s you? You old fucker?”

“I will bite you.”

— — — —

Somehow it’s easier to track time in the castle. 

Somewhere in that time, Jason learns that the castle does indeed belong to Danny because he is a king. Not just a king but the king. Danny neglected to inform Jason that he was following the king of the infinite reams aka the dead home. Although all it does is open up more opportunities for teasing. 

Jason and Danny are in the throne room where they are loungin on the ridiculously big throne. Danny was on the actual seat and Jason draped across the armrest, poking at the older ghost’s cheek to get the attention he already obtained.

“Your Majesty” Familiar irritation and embarrassment from the title buzzes at the back of Danny’s neck.

“STOOPPPPP” he loudly complained. 

“My Lord!” 

“NOOOO” 

“Your highness!” 

“AAAHHHHHH” 

“King Phantom!”

“Why… why must you treat me so?” 

“Because it is highly entertaining.”

“So glad my annoyance is entertaining for you.”

There was a lull in the conversation as Danny went back to looking at some document. He was only half paying attention to it though, more focused on Jason who looked older already. 

“You know when you said you wanted to grow up I didn’t expect you to shoot up so fast.”

“What?” 

“You already look a year older than before.” 

And he did. 

Jason wasn’t as much of a beanstalk as he first was when Danny found him. It has only been a few months since they bumped into each other but Jason was looking older and older each day. Don’t get him wrong, he’s still a scrawny kid but he was already Danny’s height. He knows he told him it was fine if he looked older but Danny can’t help the small pang of sadness whenever he thinks about having to look up at Jason.  

Jason has also changed his look more permanently. Instead of some sort of costume, he is seen in jeans and a hoodie. It’s more simple than Danny expected from his personality but it fits the little hauntling. 

Jason doesn’t know why he felt so drawn to Danny. He knew at the base of everything his core would be attracted to the king at an instinctual level but this is deeper. It was like his core wanted to swallow Danny whole and keep him there safe and sound. There was a level of trust that seemed pre-formed when he looked at Danny. It made him follow him around like a duckling around the castle.

They don’t leave the castle much anymore. The first few days with Jason living in the castle they kept to their own spaces until they eventually sought each other out. Then after that, Danny showed him around the more populated places of the Infinite Realms. He met other ghosts and took a shine to Ghost Writter and Pandora. Books and fighting: two things that he took such an interest in that he had to have been involved with them when alive. One more concerning to Danny than the other. 

After exploring they stayed in the castle. They spent most of their days in the throne room lounging about with nothing better to do. Danny doesn’t have much work king-wise, the Infinite Realms took care of itself and there were enough independent areas with their own rulers that Danny doesn’t feel the need to rule as personally as some would assume. People still come and complain about certain issues but Danny doesn’t ever have a full schedule. 

He gets to spend his afterlife as he chooses just as much as anyone else. And he chooses to spend his time being lazy and entertaining a certain little menace. 

— — — —

Jason’s favorite days are training days. 

They’re the days when he wakes up feeling buzzy. The days where he races through the castle hallways to get to Danny to annoy him into a fight. The days when he learns more about what it is to be a ghost. 

Jason is especially excited about today for some reason he can’t quite pin it. Something is just buzzing under his skin telling him to move around and do something. Explaining this to Danny just gets him a hair ruffle and a snarky comment of, “Don’t go buzzing out of your skin.” 

Jason drags Danny out to the training fields that are often neglected. Training with Danny is familiar in a way that is rooted in his being. The reflexes he has and the skills he wants to sharpen come naturally to him. He puts up a good fight against Danny and Danny knows that with the eternity they have Jason can get to his level faster than expected. Jason is picking up powers as fast as he did. 

Although he hasn’t properly shown what his core is. It’s taking almost as long as it did Danny and he is starting to worry. Maybe he should take him to Frostbite to see what’s up. 

Jason was shifting from foot to foot unable to keep his energy contained. Danny can tell he wanted to get moving and who was he to deny him? The two circled each other until Jason made the first move. He lunged at him in a way that could only be described as feral. Danny laughed it off as he stepped to the side avoiding him. They played a game of cat and mouse until they got bored of it. They were meeting each other in the middle instead of toying with each other. It was fast pace and unforgiving. 

But they never hurt each other more than scrapes and bruises. 

Danny eventually has Jason pinned down, laughing at him good-naturedly. They teased and bickered and it was so familiar to Jason that it almost hurt. He had a name on the tip of his tongue that he wanted to use but it wasn’t Danny’s. He was distracted and wasn’t really hearing what was going on around him, focusing on that feeling in his core. 

He didn’t notice when inky blackness dripped from his hands or how it spread from him and up to Danny. He didn’t notice how it consumed them until Danny couldn’t see the green of the Ghost Zone. He only snapped out of it by the panicked calling of his king. The moving shadow immediately snapped back until there was light again. 

Jason looked at Danny and was met with concern and a steadying hand on his shoulder. 

“Jay? Are you okay?” His voice dripped with worry. Jason was quick to nod his head yes. “Yeah… yeah! I’m good, are you?” 

“I’m fine you don’t have to worry about little ol’ me.”

“What was that?”

Danny stood up and Jason doesn’t even remember him kneeling down. He held out his hand to help Jason up off of the ground and took a step back. “I think we know what your core is now.” 

“Huh?” 

“Your core Jay, it’s a shadow core.”

“Like Johnny’s?”

“Basically, although no two core is the same. His shadow is sentient but yours is just you.”

“How would you even know that?”

“Because it felt like you.” 

“Yeah, like one of your hugs.”

“Pffft, okay you sap.” Danny squawked in offense. “Me? A sap? How dare you!”

“Ah yes, how dare I offend His Majesty the King?”

“I am going to kill you.”

“Too bad, so sad, someone beat you to it.” 

“You little shit!” 

“It’s my death! Let me joke about it!” 

— — — —

It was a day like any other when Jason found out Danny wasn’t completely dead. 

Like always they were in the throne room laying on a new rug that was just put in. The rug was big and circular that took up most of the floor. 

“How the hell does a dead 14-year-old even end up becoming king?”

“What? You want the crown or something?”

“Fuck that, I don’t want to go to any of those boring ass meetings.”

“You follow me to them anyways?”

“Yeah, but that’s just to bother you,” Jason says it like it is obvious and Danny was stupid for not knowing. 

“Makes sense.” He says sarcastically. 

“But no, really, how did you become king?”

Danny didn’t answer at first and Jason was worried he crossed some sort of line.

“I won it in combat.”

Jason sat up using his arms as support to face Danny.

“What?”

“I challenges the previous king although at the time I didn’t realize it meant I would get the crown.”

“Why did you challenge him to begin with?”

“I was kinda a hero at the time and he dragged my town into the Infinite Realms.” 

“You were a hero?!” Jason said it in such astonishment that Danny felt like he should be offended. 

“What made you become a hero? Why were you a hero? Who did you fight? Did you have an archnemesis?” 

“Wow, so many questions.”

“Answer me, you rat bastard.”

“I fought other ghosts. There was a man-made portal that ghost’s kept on coming through and causing problems for humans.”

“And what? You just decided you had to be the one to take care of it?” 

“I might have caused the portal to open?” Danny was sitting up now too and he shrugged his shoulders, his voice was shaky like that wasn’t the full answer. Jason just raised one eyebrow at him, something he doesn’t remember learning but it has its desired effect as Danny begins to further explain.

“My parent’s built a portal to the Infinite Realms in our basement. They were obsessed with ghosts and were smart enough to build a working portal. Although it didn’t work at first. It took me going inside it on some stupid dare and pressing a button to turn it on. I remember the electricity running through me and stopping my heart.” 

“The portal… killed you?”

“Yep, but it also brought me back to life. Dead but not, alive but not, a Halfa.” 

“I don’t understand.”

“A portal past the veil opened up on top of me, Jason. It changed me in a way that has never happened to anyone. I’m half dead but also half alive.” 

“You look pretty dead to me.”

There was a flash of light that caused Jason to flinch back from Danny and shield his eyes. When it was safe to uncover them the Danny he knew wasn’t in front of him. Green was replaced by blue and white was replaced by black. The same young face that was undeniably Danny’s stared back at him. He was human. Jason thought if he reached out and felt his pulse there would be a steady beat of a heart and not the buzz of a core. 

Something about the blue eyes and black hair was familiar to Jason. It was so close to being clear but the memories that were tagged along with the coloring were slipping away. Jason’s past memories were fuzzy at the best of times and now definitely wasn’t one of those times. All he knew was that the familiarity had safety stuck to it. It was another reason why Jason felt so safe around Danny, why he felt like home barely even a year into knowing each other. 

There wasn’t a big reaction from Jason. There wasn’t any demanding of explanations or asking why he didn’t know this before. No broken trust or dramatic reveals. All Jason did was let out a little “huh” in a what’re you gonna do type of way and lay back down. And Danny let it happen. He didn’t ask “That’s it?” or “What type of reaction is that?” because that was just how Jason was. All Danny did was lay back down on that big circular rug.

The two lay there, one alive and the other dead, for the rest of the day. It was quiet other than small jokes being shared. 

Their cores reached for each other.

— — — —

Chapter Text

Within Jason learning about Danny’s Halfa statues their dynamic doesn’t change, it’s more like it shifts into place. 

Jason grows older and Danny stays the same. 

Jason grows to the point he towers over Danny, something the older ghost complains about. Time in the Infinity Realms moves on and they stay the same. The routine they developed early on continues. 

They are hanging out in the throne room when things change. 

At first, it was an uncomfortable pull in Jason’s chest. Not unlike how Danny described being summoned. Jason thought it was weird considering he had no standing that would allow him to be summoned. He grew quiet in their conversation, making Danny pause. The older of the two looked at Jason questioningly which Jay was just going to ignore and wave off if his chest didn’t explode with pain. 

It caused him to double over and clutch where he knew his core was. He didn’t realize when his uncomfortable groaning turned into pained screams. Danny rushed over to where Jason was asking what was happening. His hands were hovering over Jason’s back not knowing if touching him would make it worse. 

Jason tried to ground himself but it was like his consciousness was flickering between two places. He squinted his eyes past the pain and saw the world around him was flickering too. He was moving between the familiar throne room of the castle and someplace dark and suffocating. He doesn’t know how but something deep in his mind tells him it’s his coffin, the place he was laid to rest. 

He reached out to where he knew Danny was and grabbed onto his forearms. He felt so small all of a sudden. He felt like he did all that time ago when he was a new ghost lost in the Ghost Zone. He’s reaching out for Danny as he did back then. 

Jason does something he doesn’t ever remember doing, not even in life. 

He begs for his afterlife.

“I don’t want to go back please Danny I don’t want to go back.” His voice held desperation and fright. He sounded so scared to Danny and he knew he had to help somehow. 

“You don’t have to, I swear you don’t have to.” Danny tried to calm Jason down, reassuring him and grabbing tight even as his form flickered. 

Jason lets out a few whimpers of pain and starts to repeat, “It hurts, why does it hurt, it hurts, please it hurts.” 

“Just pay attention to me and nothing else, just feel my core please Jay don’t go.” Danny knew he had to do something soon or else Jason would be revived. He has only seen something like this happen once or twice before and neither time did it end up okay for the person revived. He was not letting Jason go through that. 

Jason heard Danny start chanting in a language that was lost to him and his world went black. 

———

Jason woke up but was scared to open his eyes. He didn’t want to open them and see his coffin. He didn’t want to be buried six feet under. He didn’t want to dig himself out. 

“Jason?” 

Danny’s here.

If Danny’s here then he must still be in the castle. Jason opens his eyes and sees the grand chandelier of the throne room hanging above him. 

He finds himself laying on the ground with Danny sitting next to him. 

“What the hell just happened?” 

“You were being revived.”

“I gathered that much! I mean how am I still here?” 

“I might’ve done something…” 

Jason raised an eyebrow, “Well don’t just leave me hanging.” 

“I might’ve intertwinedourcoresbymakingyoumyfrightknight!” 

Jason blinked at the word vomit Danny just let out. “You might want to repeat that for me to actually understand you.” 

Danny rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous tick. “I said: I intertwined our cores by making you my Fright Knight.” 

Jason just stared at Danny for a bit without saying anything until, “What in the Ancients does that mean?” 

Danny starts to ramble, “I’ve been meaning to make you my Fright Knight for a while I just never knew how to broach the subject and it’s such a personal thing cause you are basically bound to me until either I’m overthrown or one of us fades and something went wrong with connecting us cause now you’re also a Halfa and you kinda merged with your corps and now we have to go to Frostbite because hell if I know what I’m doing and this could be damaging for you for all I know and-“ 

Jason finally cut him off by slapping a hand over his mouth. “I get that we technically don’t need to breathe but Ancients take a breath already.” 

Danny nodded his head but before Jason could remove his hand Danny licked it. Jason yanked his hand back making a noise of disgust and in retaliation, he wiped his hand on Danny’s hair. 

The two sat there on the throne room floor and laughed as if the past events didn’t happen. 

There was much to do now that Jason was his Fright Knight and a Halfa but that can wait for later. They had the rest of their half afterlives to work things out. 

————

They’ve talked about going to the human realm. They discussed it when they realized Jason started to gain his memories of his life. His memories are still fuzzy around the edges. He remembers feelings and colors and not clear pictures. He gets glimpses of long hallways and dark alleys. Of soft smiles and hair ruffles. Of a cozy library and a trashed apartment. 

Sometimes he remembers crazed laughter and blood. 

Those days he can’t look at his human form. 

His human form is weird for him. He appears younger, most likely the age he was buried, but Danny says with practice he should be able to change that. He has black hair and blue eyes like Danny. They really do look like brothers. The only difference is that Jason had a white streak at the front of his hair. Danny says he looks like a skunk. 

They never go to the human realm. There’s really no need. Any family Danny had is long gone and any family Jason had thinks he’s dead. So no, they don’t have any intention of going back to the land of the living. They are perfectly happy in the Ghost Zone exploring and goofing off when they aren’t busy. Which is never considered how laid back of a king Danny is. 

They had no intention to go back to the human world… at least until Danny was summoned. 

Danny being summoned isn’t exactly a new thing but it is an uncommon thing. No one really believes in the Ghost King other than hard-core cultists and people deep into the supernatural. His summoning ritual is complicated and a mess and needs to be precise to even work so most people either screw it up or decide against using it. There are a few people in the past who were determined or crazy enough to complete the ritual but Danny was able to handle that. None of the summoners held true power against him. 

But with Jason’s new fancy title as Fright Knight, he was dragged along with the summoning. It was different from being revived. The uncomfortable pull was still there but there was no pain. It wasn’t a tug, more like a strong suggestion. Danny could fight it if he really wanted to, Jason held the power to do the same, but the two were bored and thought it would be interesting. 

They arrived in a room with heroes. Colorfully dressed, well most of them were, honest to Ancients heroes. 

Jason was glad his knight regalia had a helmet or else he would be embarrassed by his slack-jawed expression. 

He stood behind his king in a threatening manner. He knew his regalia form was intimidating at best and hard to look at at worst. He was decked out in dark armor with red accents. But there was something casual about his appearance. Under the armor was a leather jacket and black jeans. He wore steel-toed boots instead of armored shoes. He held a sword on full display in front of him. It was red instead of the past Fright Knights green. He also had a twin pair of pistols strapped to both thighs. Those are his real weapons. The sword is mainly for show right now but it does help with the image he’s going for, a modern knight of death. 

Danny on the other hand looks less intimidating in front of him. His crown is on full display glowing and casting the room in a green shadow. Danny’s own royal regalia was a more formal version of his hazmat suit. If Jason was being honest it looked more like something a prince would wear than a king. Danny had his own armor but it was minimal. The main thing that covered him was his cape made of stars and space. You couldn’t spot where it ended, it flew and combined with the area around him. It was lined with the signature snow-white fur of the Far Frozen. He held no weapons, he didn’t need them. 

“Well well well… what do we have here? A bunch of heroes summoning little old me?” Jason knew Danny was fucking with them. He was getting them tense and scared. “And let’s look at who summoned me.” Danny made a show of scanning the room until his bright green eyes fell on one John Constantine. He let out a delighted laugh and clapped his hands together. “Johnny! Of course it was you who summoned me. I wouldn’t expect anything less than one of my most infamous Hellblazer. You know you’re quite famous amongst the dead and damned. Your soul is disgusting all split up like that by the way.” Danny sent the blond a smile that was all teeth. Jason could hear the sorcerer mutter “Lovely.” under his breath. 

“To what occasion do I owe my summoning to?” Danny leaned back in the air like he was lounging on a couch. 

Superman stepped up to address Danny, “There is a being from your realm that crossed over to our world. We have yet to be able to capture or defeat it. Summoning you was our last option and we hope you will lend your assistance.” 

Danny raised an eyebrow at the group and tapped at his chin as if he was thinking it over in his head. Jason knew he was going to help. It was his responsibility and he knew Danny. He would never leave someone who needed help. He could never turn away or refuse a call for help. 

“Yeah sure I’ll help,” Danny answered casually with a shrug. “I’ll even do it free of charge considering it’s one of my own and all of that jazz.” He waved his hand lazily. 

“Thank you, your Majesty.” Superman said with a slight bow. Danny just waved him off scoffing at the formality. “Now let’s see which one of my subjects made it to the other side of the veil.” This is when Batman stepped up. “He goes by Undergrowth and he has mind-controlled many humans on Earth and quite a few heroes.” 

“WHAT!? HE’S STILL ON PROBATION AFTER HIS LAST OFFENSE!” Danny shouted more in annoyance and frustration than true anger. Jason could sympathize, he’s only had to deal with the Ancient a few times but Danny has been annoyed by him since he died.

“So you can deal with him?” Batman questioned. Danny sent him a tight smile, almost offended by the questioning of his power. “Of course I can deal with him… but I won’t.” 

Constantine moved forward and spoke, “But you just bloody said-” Danny cut him off, “I won’t deal with him, but my Red Knight will gladly drag him back to the Infinite Realms.” He motioned for Jason to step up and he did. “Gladly. I’ve been meaning to get another fight in with him. I have some new toys this time.” His sword disappeared as he unholstered his guns in one swift motion. 

Danny smiled at him and waved his hands in a shooing motion “Go play now Knighty.” Jason gave him a deadpan look even under his helmet. “You treat me like a child.” 

“You are a child compared to me.”

Jason snorted, “Okay old man.” 

“Hey! I know for a fact I look 14 you don’t get to call me old. I gotta keep up with my ‘Boy King’ title.” 

“Okay, whatever I’m going.” 

With that, Jason left Danny alone with the rest of the Justice League. “Are you sure he can defeat Undergrowth?” Danny looks over to the Flash who spoke. “Now don’t go underestimating my Knight.” Danny swept his eyes over the group of people and they stayed silent. 

— — —

Jason didn’t know what he expected when he was summoned alongside Danny, but it wasn’t the return of his memories from life. It all seemed to come rushing back to him when he saw Batman. He just knew things he felt like he shouldn’t. He knew that Batman’s real name was Bruce Wayne and he had two adopted children named Dick Grayson and Jason Todd. He knew his name was Jason Todd. He knew that he used to be a vigilante named Robin and his older brother was Nightwing. He knew the hallway of Wayne Manor like the back of his hand and he knew the butler, Alfred Pennyworth, was more like a grandfather. Jason knew who he was. 

Jason didn’t know what to do. 

But that can wait for later, right now he had an Ancient to beat up. 

It was easy to find Undergrowth. He just had to follow the excessive amount of ectoplasm and there he was. 

“Hey! Fertilizer! I don’t think you’re gonna be released early from your probation with you acting like this!” He caught the being’s attention and was amused to find the worry set on his face. Undergrowth let out a screech of fury that shook the buildings around him. 

“Come on man,” Jason said, waving one of his guns around. “You know what happens when you get shot with this. And I don’t know if Danny is in that good of a mood to let you out sooner rather than later.” Jason’s bullets acted like the previous Fright Knights sword, sending any ghost hit with it to a nightmare realm. Undergrowth didn’t heed his warning and started to charge at Jason. 

Jason leveled himself and pointed his gun at Undergrowth and shot. There was no dodging or phasing through it hit dead center in his chest. Undergrowth disappeared with one last screech. 

“Damn, that was no fun at all,” Jason grumbled. “Maybe next time I will just use my fists. This wasn’t even a fight. No steam was left off whatsoever.” He made his way back to his king and saw the heroes standing around like idiots. 

“Wow, Red that has got to be a new record.” Danny clapped his hands together in delight.

“We have records now?” Danny can sense the eyebrow raise under the helmet. 

“Yep, and you’re winning.”

“How can I be winning in records?”

“Just take the damn compliment.”

“That was supposed to be a compliment?”

“I’m going to leave you here I swear to the Aincents.” Their bickering was interrupted by a deliberate cough by Flash getting their attention. “We just wanted to thank you for your service here today.” 

Danny gave them a toothy grin. “No problem!” He looked towards Jason expecting him to make some sort of retort but nothing came. Danny narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Jason usually didn’t hesitate to put on a cocky attitude with new people. He’s been oddly quiet ever since they were summoned. 

“Time out.” 

Time froze for everyone but the King and his Knight. This is a conversation best held with no prying ears. 

“So… want to tell me what’s been buggin’ ya?” 

“It’s nothing.”

“Don’t try to feed me that crap. I know my little brother.”

“I think I count as the big brother now.”

“Don’t try to change the subject.” They were facing each other and the more they talked the more their appearances shifted. With the privet moment drifting into place, their appearances drifted to the more casual side. Right now it wasn’t a King and his Kight, it was a brother checking in on the other. 

“I remember everything from when I was alive, well fully alive.” 

Oh

Oh 

“Well, that’s… hmm.” 

“Yep.” 

“What caused it?”

“Batman.”

“ Batman?” Danny choked out incredulously. 

“That’s what I said.” Jason crossed his arms over his chest almost defensively. 

“How the hell did Batman of all people cause you to remember your life?”

“Turns out I’m the second Robin and he’s my adoptive father.” 

Danny said after some time, “I’ve heard some gossip about there being a third Robin.”

“How could you possibly know that.” Jason sounded exasperated like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“You have no clue how many heroes have either come back from the dead or messed with something that should stay dead. It’s good to keep up with the latest gossip.”

“You just like gossip.”

“That too.” Danny snorted. 

Jason took a deep breath and tried to explain what was going on in his head, “He’s my dad… I’m apparently a big brother. I think B has an adoption problem at this point. I don’t know what to do. Being a Halfa was so much easier when I thought I came from a normal family who would freak out at the supernatural. But this can’t be the weirdest thing to happen to heroes. Ancients, I don’t know what to do.” 

“I’ll go along with whatever you want to do Jay.”

“Wow, no help whatsoever.”

“I try my best.” Jason pushed Danny away from him playfully. It was quiet for a bit as Jason thought everything over. “I can go home” 

“Is the castle not home?” Danny sucked in a harsh breath immediately regretting his words. “Sorry this isn’t about me it’s about you.” 

“I think my family is home but you are my family.” 

“The Realms can survive without me. You’re my home now too.” 

“I think you know what you want to do.”

“Yeah…” 

“You ready?”

“Not really but I have to be.”

Danny hummed in acknowledgment. “Time in.”

Time snapped into place and with it, their formal wear came back. 

Danny turned to face the heroes and spoke, “Before my Knight and I leave there is something that we wish to share with one of y’all.” A few heroes looked around at one another like they were trying to guess who he was talking about.

“Batman, do you have somewhere we can talk privately? Preferably with the rest of your little Batclan?” 

Batman just hummed a note with a small nod. He started typing on a holo-computer on his gauntlet, presumably contacting the rest of the Batclan. “I can take you to the Batcave.” 

Danny waved him off, “No need, we’ll just meet you there. We know where it is.” And with that, the two Halfas disappeared. 

Danny in fact did not know where the Batcave is but Jason did and that’s all they needed. The two obviously beat the Bat to the cave with the use of a portal but it wasn’t long until Batman arrived along with Nightwing and the new Robin. 

“Hello to those I haven’t met before. My name’s Danny Phantom, Ghost King and ruler of the Infinite Realms. Behind me is my loyal Fright Knight the Red Knight. We aren’t here to listen to me talk though. We’re here for my Knight.” Danny moved to the side allowing all the attention in the room to fall to Jason. There was no turning back now. 

They all stared at Jason, calculated and deliberate. He has the eyes of detectives on him. 

Jason stepped forward, “I know you,” his eyes drifted to the new Robin, “Well most of you. And you know me.”

“I think we’d remember meeting the right hand of the king of the dead.” Nightwing interjected. 

“Oh would you really, Dickiebird?”

They froze.

Jason lifted off his helmet and his armor and weapons disappeared. A gasp came from Dick and it was only thanks to his enhanced hearing did he hear the shaky breath Bruce took. 

“Jaylad?” Bruce took a hesitant step forward. 

“Hey, old man.” 

Bruce would recognize his son anywhere. Even if his eyes were no longer the same baby blue and his hair was white instead of black with only a steak of its old color. His skin was grey like there was no blood left instead of the light tan Bruce remembers. Jason might be taller and look a few years older and his voice might echo and be a few octaves lower but this is his baby boy standing in front of him. Bruce walks closer until he can reach out and touch him and Jason lets him. 

Bruce reaches out and holds Jason’s face in one hand, he can feel how cold his skin was beneath his gloves. But he was solid and oh-so-real. He has the same little scar on his chin from before Bruce even adopted him. 

Contrary to Bruce’s hesitant movements Dick doesn’t wait another second to throw himself at his little brother with a cry of: “Little Wing!” 

Jason doesn’t even stumble with catching his brother and he doesn’t hesitate to return the hug. 

No matter how happy Dick was to hug his little brother again it still felt wrong. His little brother wasn’t so little anymore. He sued to be able to tower over Jason and completely cover him when he hugged him. Jason was always so little before he died. He was short and skinny from malnourishment and naturally lanky as Robin. It was weird to have to reach up to wrap his arms around his neck. Dick also couldn’t forget that his brother was still dead even as he hugged him, he was as cold as a corpse. 

“How are you- how- just how?” Dick was now holding Jason by the shoulders taking in his new appearance. 

“Well, ghosts gotta come from somewhere.”

“So you’re here but you’re a ghost now? You’re still…” It was like he still couldn’t bring himself to say it, even after all these years.

“Dead? Yeah but not fully, not anymore.”

This caught everyone’s attention. Jason looked over at Danny as if asking for permission. Danny nodded along, he did say he will go along with whatever Jaosn chose to do. 

A bright light filled the cave and when it went away a Jason closer to the one his family remembers was standing there. Bruce moved to check the pulse point on his neck and was met with a steady heartbeat and warm skin. Dick let out a startled laugh before ripping off his mask to look at his brother with his own eyes. Jason can see the tears that are threatening to spill. Bruce finally pulled Jason into a proper hug. He buries his head in Jason’s hair and just keeps muttering, “My little Jaybird.”

Behind Dick is a small boy, bearly even a teenager, standing there shuffling his feet awkwardly like he didn’t know what to do with himself. 

“What’s the kid’s name?” Jason asked nodding towards the boy. Dick turned around and motioned for the Robin to come closer. “This is Tim Drake,” Dick explained, “He’s now the youngest of the family.” 

“The kid that would shadow behind me at galas?” Tim’s face turned red and his shoulders raised to his ears in embarrassment. “You- uh- you noticed that?” Jason let out a short laugh. “It was kinda hard to miss you, Timbit. Come here.” Jason grabbed the boy’s arm and pulled him into the group. He was just as much part of this family as he was when he was adopted. 

Danny was watching off to the side as the clan of Bats enveloped each other in a hug. He had a content smile on his face as he observed and he can hear Jason whisper:

“I’m home.” 

There was still much to talk about and explanations to be told but for now, the family can stand there in the cave welcoming a boy home.