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Danny isn’t sure he’s ever run so fast.
It had been going fine.
Danielle, or Danny’s clone Dani, and Dan, Danny’s newly reformed alternate future self, had stopped by for a visit. Dan wanted to see Amity again, and Dani wanted to grab some extra ectoplasm before going exploring again.
The trio had been relaxing in the park when Box Ghost attacked. The older ghost had mostly just been goofing off, like all the rouge ghosts did after Danny was made crown prince of the Infinite Realms.
Danny had gone ghost to fight him off, laughing the entire time.
His laughter cut off when a huge beam of bright purple light shot out at him from afar. On instinct, Danny shoved Box Ghost out of range of the beam.
Only moments before the beam hit, Dan threw himself in front of Danny.
When the explosion of smoke finally cleared, Danny’s jaw dropped. Dan was there, now looking no older than four.
“Danny!” Dani screamed, flying over in her ghost form. Danny grabbed Dan and took off, finally hearing the distant victorious cheers of the GIW agents that had shot at him. How did they get the gun? Danny spotted his parents beside the agents.
Danny and Dani flew out of Amity, throwing a de-aged Dan between them as the young child cried in fear and confusion.
By the time the trio got to stop and take a break, they were two states away. States.
The weeks blurred together, and Dani was also hit by the beam at one point. She was instantly de-aged to maybe a few months old.
Danny grabbed both his siblings and took off, uncaring of where he was going.
By the time Danny realized he’d been unconsciously following a strong ecto signature, he found himself being welcomed through the gates of Gotham by Lady Gotham herself.
She bowed to her prince and his siblings before moving to block the GIW agents from following for a moment. Danny took the chance to run, still carrying Dan and Dani in his weakening arms. He didn’t even have the energy to do more than hover a few feet off the ground anymore.
Danny screamed in pain when a blur of energy blasted through his side, just below where Dani’s foot was resting against him as she cried.
Time seemed to blur with the blood loss and fear.
Move. Move. Move. Move. Move!
Danny rounded a corner fast, sprinting towards the loud voices arguing on a rooftop. Maybe he could pass Dan and Dani over to those people? His par- the Fentons were only after Danny.
They’d seen him swap forms a few times over the last few weeks, and they were convinced that Danny was possessing their son or was using his corpse as a puppet of sorts.
The voices fell silent as Danny threw himself up with the little strength he had left, barely making it onto the roof with both kids still clutched to his chest.
Danny peered up through hazy vision, finding Lady Gotham hovering over both masked individuals.
One was wearing all black, a cowl shaped like bat ears. The other had a bright red helmet with a multitude of weapons that had Danny flinching slightly.
“P-please. Need h-help. Protect-” “Filthy ghost!” Danny threw Dani and Dan away from himself just in time for the familiar purple beam to hit him dead on. He screamed, the pain of the hit causing him to slump forward as his memories and body faded.
—
Bruce and Jason had been in the middle of a very heated debate about morals and whatnot when a teenager with glowing green eyes, white hair, and two children in his arms suddenly threw himself onto the roof.
Both men paused in their yelling, turning to see the teenager drag himself up, making the wound on his side visible.
Bruce was in the middle of moving closer as the boy rambled something about protection and needing help when a bright purple light appeared. The teen threw the children in his arms forward. Jason dove, barely catching the young boy in time for Bruce to catch the baby girl.
The shrill scream the teenager let out as a fucking beam hit him through the chest caused both vigilantes to freeze in shock. Then, all at once, the cloud of dust left from the hit disappeared and the teenager was nowhere to be found. All that was left was a small boy with the same white hair as the teenager.
There was another flash of light, and the white haired child was now sporting pitch black hair and an absolutely ruined pair of clothes that were slowly staining with blood.
“Robin, Red Robin, get here now!”
Jason followed Bruce to the ledge of the roof, finding a pair of jumpsuit cladded individuals with a frankly worrying matching set of manic smiles on their faces.
“Hand over the ghosts! We’ve got them now!” The man screamed, pointing at the duo.
Batman shifted to hide the baby girl from view, her sobs finally quieting down.
The boy clinging to Red Hood’s neck started to fearfully whisper. “Please don’t let them take us. Please! They wanna kill Danny.” Jason moved to set the boy down, whispering back that he needed to stay by his unconscious… brother? Jason wasn’t even sure, but he told the boy to stay there with him and Batman while he dealt with the bad people.
After the little boy was rushing over to the now other young boy, Jason jumped off of the roof to engage.
Red Robin ended up grabbing the boys on the roof, only after the conscious one got a nod from Batman.
With the children safely in the arms of Batman and Red Robin, Spoiler and Robin joined Red Hood in his fight against the crazy people. And they really were crazy, shooting weapons that could easily kill a person if the holes left in buildings were anything to go off of.
The crazy scientists, as they claimed to be, eventually retreated in their tank of a van.
“B?” Red Robin called, now sitting in the back of the Batmobile with the seemingly twin boys both asleep in his lap. “We’re taking them to the cave.”
—
Dan woke up first, rubbing his eyes sleepily.
The nearby bats let him wake up more before asking him their variety of questions. Dan didn’t really want to answer, but seeing Dani and Danny both bandaged and peacefully sleeping nearby was enough to settle his nerves.
“What are your names?” “Danial, Danial, and Danielle. I go by Dan. He’s Danny. She’s Dani, with an i.” The bats all frowned a little.
“Where did you come from?” “Uh… Amity Park? I guess? I’m not from here. I’m from another dem-dem-ment-tion.” Dan struggled to say the larger word.
“Why were those people chasing you?” “My pa- the Fentons hate ghosts. We’re all half ghosts. They wanted Danny. They wanted to-...” Dan cut himself off.
“Half ghost?” “Got an issue?!” Dan snapped as he powered a bright red ecto blast in his hand. “No, no, no. You’re all ok. I just want to understand. We thought all of your temperatures and heart rates were low. Is that normal?” Dan relaxed slightly. “Um. Yes? I don’t really know.” “How did you become half ghosts?” Dan snorted at the question. “Danny and I died. Dani is his clone.”
“I saw that blast turn Danny younger. How old are all of you?” “Um… I don’t know how old I am. The other place I was in had weird time. Danny is seventeen. Dani is fifteen. I’m the same as Danny, but not?” Dan frowned hard.
“That’s ok. Do you know what the beam was that did this to you? Will it wear off?” “No. Danny said it’s permanent before he got hit. I got hit um… three… three weeks ago. Dani got hit a week ago? Um… Danny had time to exam-min us. Said I was stuck. Didn’t talk much after because he was busy running.”
“Are you saying those people were chasing you three for almost a month?” “Yeah.”
After a few more questions Dan shut down. He really was tired from all the running, and his child brain was making it hard to think rationally.
He did stay awake long enough to agree to stay with the family after they repeatedly assured him that he and his siblings would be safe there and in the manor they would eventually move into.
Danny woke two days later, his mind already sluggish from the beam. His memories were hazy, leaving him confused and disoriented. Damian, shockingly, was the one to calm Danny down with Duke’s help.
With Danny awake, the bats got even more answers. Danny told them about him being a ghost prince, future ruler of the end all to each and every realm and dimension in infinity. He also talked a bit about his life. Bits and pieces about his former parents, their neglect, their hatred of ghosts, the threats, fighting, his older sister, his friends, and the almost month long chase that led him to Gotham.
Bruce promised the young boy he’d handle all of that, telling him to just rest with his siblings now that they were safe. Because they were absolutely safe, especially with Tim working on making some ghost deflecting defenses. Nothing harming to the ghosts, just annoying.
When all three new members of the family were settled into their temporary room up in the manor, Alfred arrived with a tray of his famous cookies. The children ate them up like they’d never eaten before, and Dani thoroughly enjoyed the bottle of mixed fruits Alfred made especially for her.
It had been a long time since Alfred was so close to a baby, so he was spoiling the young girl rotten.
—
It was two weeks after the trio of siblings moved into the manor that something interesting happened.
Clockwork arrived through the usual huge green portal. He introduced himself to the family previously in the middle of a family dinner.
With Clockwork there, the bats and birds got answers to way more questions. They learned about ghost biology, history, abilities, and the rest of the trio’s stories. The kids were open to telling them, but Dani was too young and the boys had already lost most of their cognitive thinking by then. They were normal kids with ghost powers now.
Clockwork reassured the family that the Realms would be fine without Danny, maybe needing Batman to sign an official document or two now that he’s the crowned prince’s legal guardian.
And yes, he was. Bruce Wayne was now the legal father of Danyal, Danny, Thomas Wayne, Don Thomas Wayne, and Ellie Martha Wayne.
The old ghost hummed before explaining ghost obsessions as well. He let them know a ghost needs to experience or act upon their obsession to be healthy. Luckily, all of the siblings have multiple obsessions that can keep them healthy if they can’t enjoy one.
Ellie’s obsessions are freedom, learning, and exercise. As a baby, it was very easy to give her plenty to learn about.
Don’s obsessions are family and the deep sea. He explained the ghosts that made him up were obsessed with space and a specific woman, so it balanced out to something just as endless and unknown closer to home. Don just had a few large fishtanks with rare sea creatures inside of his room, since the family obsession was easily being met.
Danny’s obsessions are space, protection, and connection. He couldn’t protect anyone until he’s older, so he gets a planetarium-like room with a bunch of ways to contact his family at any time.
Clockwork gave all of the bats his contact information as well as Frostbite’s contact before leaving in a dramatic plume of seemingly infinite numbers swirling him. He also gave Jason Frostbite’s number with a note to ask him about the cure to his pit rage.
With him gone, and now in contact with a very skilled hacker and scholar ghost duo, the bats crafted their newest member’s backstories even better than before.
Danny and Don are twins, four and a half years old currently. Ellie is their biological sister. It was changed that Bruce was the biological father of the boys, not Ellie, but decided to adopt her as well after their biological mother passed away.
A few ghosts actually moved to Gotham after all was said and done as well.
Box Ghost, feeling guilty, started working in Gotham as a warehouse specialist to be there as an extra babysitter for the kids and source of pure ectoplasm. There was plenty of wayward ectoplasm around the city, but it was nasty stuff that ghosts needed to purify.
Lunch Lady eventually moved there as well, getting herself a job working the busy shift on the college campus like a pro. Box Ghost worked up the courage to ask her out too, and they got a small, boxy, house together.
Ember ended up becoming a hit sensation in Gotham. She was a rock star incapable of getting snagged by rogues or villains, which made people look up to her alongside her music making them feel good. Skulker followed his girlfriend happily. He was able to hunt in the nearby woods and even around Ember’s concerts in search of reported creeps. Young Blood, thrilled to finally have some ghosts younger than him to play with, moved in with Ember and Skulker. He also rides his small ship through the harbor a lot, protecting the shipping boats from criminals or even villain attacks.
Johnny and Kitty only stopped by occasionally, speeding through the streets to race the bats or random criminals.
Cujo ended up moving onto the Wayne estate as a monstrous guard dog. Extra security is always appreciated, and Damian is often found laying on Cujo to nap with Danny or Don.
—
There were only a few incidents growing up in the years following the adoption of the ghostly trio.
One was the day Joker tried to take over the Wayne Gala in celebration of the adoptions.
Joker had his goons surround everyone while he pointed his gun in Bruce’s face, calling out for Batman to come and stop him from killing the playboy.
Danny felt his ghost core tug, and he lunged.
Being half ghost means quite a few things. Lower body temperature, slower heart rate, enhanced healing, and pointed canine teeth.
Danny’s jaw snapped down on Joker’s hand holding the gun, the action forcing the mad clown to drop the weapon and let out a surprised and pained scream. Danny just dug his teeth in harder, refusing to let Joker shake him off. The crunch that followed caused Joker to try and reach for Danny with his good hand.
“Danny!” Bruce tackled Joker to the ground, pinning him before he could touch the kid still devouring his hand.
“Yeah!” Don screamed before diving forward to bite Joker’s left ankle with his even pointier teeth. Joker flailed, still stuck under Bruce.
“Get the kids!”
Dick dove forward to try and pull Danny away, only to pull Joker’s shoulder out of place since Danny wasn’t letting go!
Don had both Stephanie and Cass trying to pull him off of Joker’s leg.
“Let go! You don’t know where this asshole’s been!” Stephanie yelled, tugging so hard Joker, Bruce, and even Dick was dragged in her and Cass’ direction.
“Get ‘em kids!” “Woah!” “Kick his ass!” “Yeah!” The crowd started cheering as Joker’s goons started to back away in both fear and confusion.
“Those are my brothers!” Jason yelled as he folded over himself laughing. Joker was still screaming, unable to do anything while pinned and with two of his limbs in the jaws of little demonic children.
Tim, who was holding Ellie, started running after the goons with Ellie outstretched as he chanted “Feed the children! Feed the children! Feed the children!” Eventually, an entire mob of Gothamites joined the chase and cornered the various goons with Ellie screeching up front and playfully biting the air with Tim.
In the end, Joker was now missing half of his right hand, a chunk of his left ankle bone, and had his reputation brutally damaged by a few preschool age kids and a baby.
Gordon honestly felt like these three children would give him more gray hairs in a year than the rest of the bats combined.
He would be right.
Danny, while out on a walk with Duke, spotted Poison Ivy in the distance. He sprinted to her, immediately asking her a bunch of questions about sea plants so he could get one for Don on their now shared birthday. Ivy was surprised, since she’d been in the middle of destroying a warehouse, but she answered the questions easily. Danny thanked her happily before turning to look at the building.
“How come you don’t use bamboo?” He asked. “What?” “Bamboo is yucky. Never goes away. Dami says I can’t have any, because it’ll never go away.”
Ivy nodded, the idea rather simple in comparison to the overcomplicated combination of vines she was using. More effective too, she would later find out. Over the next few years, Ivy would surround buildings or other man-made areas with sumac and forsythia bushes before filling the circles with bamboo.
The areas she filled were completely overtaken easily, and the roots created by the plants were so difficult to remove that almost no one bothered to rebuild once it was done.
Ivy’s attacks slowed significantly after that. She usually just stuck to extreme pollution areas or corrupt places. Her overgrown gardens also became a sort of landmark for the city of Gotham. She was even able to mold aloe vera, english ivy, bamboo palms, golden pothos, and countless other plants into the gardens to clean the Gotham air.
Don was the one to make enemies with Penguin.
The suited man had hired some people to kidnap one of the new Waynes for… Don wasn’t even sure at that point. All he knew was that he was snatched out of the park where he’d been playing with Danny and Damian.
Once Don’s face was being live streamed to the world, everyone saw it. The almost amused glint he was trying to hide with fake tears. When Penguin spun around to speak to the young boy, he got a lob of spit to the face. No, not just spit, there was some snot in there too because Don had a minor allergy to dust, which the place he was being held in was full of.
Penguin stumbled back in shock, giving Black Bat the perfect opportunity to take him down.
It was Ellie that helped defeat Scarecrow in a way no one expected.
The gas filled the coffee shop faster than Tim and Duke could escape, so they huddled in a corner with the rest of the civilians as they did their best to cover their mouths and noses with cloth. They were both very glad they had a few face masks too, one small enough to put on Ellie as they did their best to stay conscious.
Scarecrow had been planning to use them as hostages while his men robbed the nearby bank.
Ellie, in her seven month old glory, tottled forward and headbutted the back of Scarecrow’s knee. The unexpected hit sent Scarecrow stumbling forward and hitting a table head first. Out cold.
Ellie flopped onto her butt and giggled.
Her little hero work was only discovered when Oracle checked the cameras. She saved the footage for herself before deleting it so no one else would know that Ellie was immune to Scarecrow gas.
That wasn’t even mentioning that Danny ate the Lazarus Pits.
Yes, ate!
Damian had gone to visit his mother with Jason, neither of them noticing that Danny was asleep in the duffle bag hooked on the back of Jason’s bike.
By the time they noticed Danny was there, let alone finding him in the enormous assassin base, the small boy had already drunk almost all of the pit water. Well, corrupted ectoplasm as they knew it was now.
Jason laughed so hard he pulled a muscle, which was happening more and more often now that the pit rage was gone from his body.
Damian, like the mature one that he is, grabbed his baby brother and took off at full speed.
Not even an hour later, Damian and Jason had to block Ra’s number on their phones. Damian also saw his mother’s only message. It was a simple question mark. Never did Damian think the first time he’d leave his mother positively speechless would be thanks to Danny.
Because it was their fault Danny even went to the base, Jason and Damian were stuck cleaning up the now pure ectoplasm Danny threw up all night due to overfilling himself earlier.
Worth it.
Alfred eventually discovered the twin boy’s little talent. Being able to fly and go through walls meant that they were perfect cleaning assistants.
In return for helping with cleaning the manor, even if he didn’t really need the help, Alfred let the boys pick what foods they wanted for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as snacks depending on how much they do.
The work seemed to be a perfect distraction for the energetic children. They even made a game out of it sometimes, racing to finish their half of the various massive rooms for bragging rights and the other child’s desert for the day.
Ellie’s job was just to float around and be cute. Really, she was often used as a living night light so the other kids could read in the dark or just as a living plush toy to help calm their nerves after a rough day.
A fight between the entirety of the bat siblings was breaking out. Why? Danny says dogs are better. Don says cats are better. Damian, Jason, and Cass agree with Danny. Dick, Duke, and Tim agree with Don.
Bruce was unable to stop the verbal spat before all of his kids were lunging forward, in front of the entirety of the gala occupants, and fighting like animals.
Bruce just sighed. Deeply. Ellie giggled as she bounced in the carrier strapped to Bruce’s chest.
“You know the rules!” Bruce yelled before turning back to continue his play boy persona like nothing was happening behind him.
When a reporter asked about the rules, Bruce smiled. “No weapons, no knockouts, no face hits, and no using the twins as weapons.”
The reporter paused before nodding her head. “Sounds about right for Gotham.”
Diana, who was in her civilian wear for the event, strolled over to observe the fight as Tim launched Jason over his shoulder and Dick punched Cass in the stomach. “Such an interesting way to start such an impressive brawl. May I ask how often this happens?” “You don’t want to know.” Bruce grumbled back behind a sip of wine. Diana laughed openly.
“They’d do well with my former teachers. Perhaps I could show the young ones some moves later?” “Of course.” Bruce knew for a fact Danny, Don, and Damian would jump at the chance to spar with Diana. Tim and Jason would pretend not to be excited.
Oliver walked over next, whistling when Danny kicked Duke's knee in so Jason could tackle him to the ground. "Those kids are demons in disguise." Bruce wanted to laugh. He didn't, but it was a close thing. Not demons, just ghosts with the energy of chaotic gods.
—
About two months after the twin’s birthday party in the mansion, Bruce finally dismantled the GIW and Fenton Works with the rest of the Justice League.
With the town of Amity now free to contact the outside world, Jasmine Fenton, Tucker Foley, and Samantha Manson set out to find Danny. They contacted Bruce the second they realized Danny was with him, and Bruce welcomed them with open arms.
Now that Tucker and Sam were both eighteen, they moved to Gotham for college to be closer to Danny. Jasmine also moved to Gotham, the three of them renting an apartment together after Bruce helped them open a mixed cafe style business.
Sam provided vegetarian options, which Damian and Ivy loved.
Tucker ran the meat and fish section, which quickly became Jason and Cass’ favorite place.
Jazz, now Nightingale to leave her old life behind like Danny, ran the coffee shop in the middle of the other two areas, a perfect balance with other small food items to boot that Tim adored.
The place was soon named “Life and Death’s Touch”
While the three of them were at school or out to have fun, they had the kids and teens hired from Crime Alley there to work. Jason was so happy the kids he looked after had somewhere else to work and feel safe in, especially when Jazz single handedly fist fought two robbers in an alley for daring to try and rob a few of her newest hires.
The Fenton adults were both arrested not long after that. They were found circling Gotham with their guns set on a high enough energy signature it would have obliterated a human or ghost. Luckily. Lady Gotham was able to warn the bats through Don and Danny.
—
Once they turned thirteen for the second time, Danny and Don became the ghostly super duo known as Spectral and Spacial.
Don, Spectral, had a water ghost core that was now healthy, giving his beams a cool blue color rather than the sick red glow.
Danny, Spacial, had an ice core with his space king abilities tacked on top of that.
As a duo, they were able to freeze entire cities at once, not that they ever did, and their property damage was only a few hundred after their first year. Practically unheard of from such powerful individuals.
They focused heavily on ghostly or otherworldly threats across the country and occasionally the planet.
Ellie was mad she couldn’t join her brothers until she turned thirteen as well, but doing volunteer work around Crime Alley helped.
When Danny and Don turned fifteen, they were both given invitations to join Young Justice.
After talking it over as a pair and with their family, they declined it. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to be on a team, they just didn’t want to be away from their family more often than they already were. Especially Alfred. They couldn’t leave that man alone after the day they walked in to find him cleaning up after dealing with an intruder himself. Yeah, no.
“Space!” Don yelled as he shoved Danny out of the way of a sickeningly familiar glowing beam. It was that purple laser that originally de-aged them. It seemed a few of the GIW agents got away from the original purge.
“Spec! Go!” Danny yelled, flipping his brother over his shoulder to launch Don forward. Once close enough, Don drenched the machine and all the agents in water. With the water in place, Danny slammed his icy hands into the ground to supercool it. In the end, the field they were ambushed in was left an icy piece of a frozen winter wonderland.
“That was…” “Easy.” Don finished for his brother. “Guess that’s what formal training does for you, huh?” Danny laughed. They didn’t bother freeing the agents. Superman was on his way with Starfire. They could handle it now that Danny removed the power keeping the ice from melting.
It was later that evening, just after a family dinner with everyone present, that the trio of half ghosts sat together in a close circle.
“I’m happy.” Ellie whispered. “Me too.” Don agreed with a soft smile. “Yeah.” Danny said with a lopsided grin.
All in all, none of them would change a thing.