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Chapter Text

Dick's POV

He knew something was wrong. As soon as they entered the building he could feel it in his stomach. They were there to monitor a large group of occultist. Tim and Damian spend weeks researching about them. They realised soon that these guys were not the same idiots, who they normally had to deal with. Their magical equipment was the real deal and they seem to follow a goal. After realising that his two younger brothers alerted the Fam and Bruce called Constantine for help. 

All in all they followed every protocol, they called someone of the justice league dark and together with Jason, Bruce and himself, They should be enough people. Why does he still have this uneasy feeling??? 

Their plan was that Red Hood and he would attack from the roof, while Damian, Bruce, Tim and Constantine would stay together. So far really easy.

As soon as they attacked all hell broke loose, they fought like devils and from his position he believed to see Robin having lots of fun stabbing people. He would need to speak to Bruce about that. He knew that Damian was still sour with having all these siblings. It got better but his social skills are still heavily lacking. He wished he could just smother the boy with his almighty big brother love and he would understand how important the people in his live were. 

His other little brother worried him just as much, if not even more. Tim's obsession with coffee and research gets worse with every case. The boy never sleeps. He wondered if all the cases helped at least with the boys tendency for obsessions of all kind.

The fight was over in a matter of minutes. Batman called them down after making sure the area was safe. " Somebody hurt?" a chorus of no's was the answer. While they stood together to review their new information's, Constantine wandered off to the circle of runes, who are written with blood on the cement floor. "Well these are rather fascinating. I have seen these before but not like this...", Tim walked over with one of the occultists in his clutch, rather interested. The two of them stood in front of the circle, not daring to touch the runes or enter the circle.

Batman grumbled something about being careful as Red Robin seems entranced by the symbols. "Where did you found these and what were your plans?" B growled as he walked over to Tim. Dick stayed next to the other occultists but even he could hear the voice of the man next to Tim " That is for me to know and for you to experience!" with that the guy unwinded Red Robins hand, who was still distracted and pushed his brother in the circle. B tried to grab him but was to late, the moment the boy crossed the line, the runes came to live. They flashed in an eerie green and Tim fell lifeless to the ground. " What did you do?!?! " B punched against the barrier of magic, surrounding the circle. Red Hood grabbed the Guy who was responsible at both arms and threw him to the ground. He laughed while coughing up some blood " Haha, there is nothing you can do. The boys soul is gone to a place no living being can ever reach it." Dick wished he could end this guy!! "Constantine, do something!!!" B growled, still starring at his son on the ground. " Shit, shit shit. I can't do anything, I am a human just like you, but..." with that he mumbled while pulling out his phone to call someone.

Danny POV

A few hours earlier Danny would have never imagined that this would happen. He slept in since it is summer break and planned to do nothing but maybe fight a few ghosts or taking a stroll through the zone. He earned his vacation, really, he worked hard to form some sort of truce with his outlaws. Next to that he created a plan to take care of amity park, for when he couldn't be around. The only hinderance to his peace are as always his parents. They are still dreaming about the opportunity to rip into him, to take his very being apart to the bones. He would never know if it was the hatred against his kind or the scientific appeal of researching all his peculiarities, which led them to be driven enough to forget everything else in their lives. Even the wellbeing of their own kids. Just thinking about the gleam in their eyes when they are planning which organ they would dissect first, lets his core shiver with disgust and rippling fear. 

He was catching up on some sleep around the late afternoon while his parents ignored his existence as usual. The ringing of his phone ripping him out of his sweet dreams. He picks it up and his phone shows an unknown caller ID. " Hello, who is this?", " Danny, its Constantine, I or rather we need help. Its really urgent". Only the urgency in the voice gets rid of the remaining drowsiness in his head.  " Constantine !! What's wrong?" Danny rushes out of bed and puts the call on speakerphone. "Come to Gotham as soon as possible, I'll explain everything else to you on site. Hurry, I send you the address", " See you there!". With that the call ended. 

Gotham!! Oh no he already knew, this time he wouldn't remain unseen in the eyes of the justice league. It is really satisfying to have them needing his help, rather than the other way around. After his incident with the portal and as soon as the ghost attacks started, he tried to reach them so many times without any success. After some time he even tried visiting them, but as soon as he arrived at the helpdesk of mount justice. The staff in charge, made it in a really rude manner clear that his stories are not appreciated or funny. They never let him file a real complaint or let him talk with one of the heroes. After that he gave up on the idea of getting help from the adult heroes, who had so much more important work to do than to help a small town and a halfdead child against some spooks. He just needed to man up and grow into his role. Of course it would have helped to have someone show him the ropes, but after meeting Plasmius, well, lets just say the idea of a mentor was no longer important to him.

Constantine was weird. He met the older on a trip with his class. They stayed at some rancid old motel, which was heavily overrun with little blob ghosts. The older tried to get rid of these little creatures, which Danny didn't appreciated at all. Lets just say, after a rather alarming get together. They talked about their different views and it turned out that the man didn't even knew what he was up against. 

To get such a call never happened without a real reason, he was worried about the place, if even the Batman and his people couldn't solve this he hoped he could.

The flight was windy, he flew far over the clouds to remain invisible for the human eye, without wasting his energy. In Gotham arrived, his white flowy hair got really windswept as he searched for the address. He didn't search long, as soon as he came near the rundown storage unit, he felt the energy soaked in death itself. He could feel his core vibrating with a strong longing to return to his never-ending mother, his all powerful home, the place of his creation and the origin of his power, the infinite Realms. 

Chapter Text

Danny's Pov:

The air feels heavy and cold as he phased through the wall of the building. Now standing in a dingy hallway, Danny hears some voice from down the hall. He doesn't know what to expect from behind the door at the end. While he follows the pull of the energy down the hall, he tries to tone down his spook to appear less otherworldly. His hair gets less flowy and settles more in unruly waves, the gleam of his green glowing eyes gets less eery. His teeth are looking duller and his ears remain only a little bit pointy. Even his claws retreat back, till they look almost normal. He lets gravity have a pull at him to get rid of his weightless appearance.

In all his experience with other heroes, civilians and Constantine himself, to come off strong or scary never did him any good. The results were always fear, panic and distrust and most of the time avoidable fights. To appear more human would hopefully save him from possible trouble with the local bat and his flock of birds. Even if there awaits him a fight behind the door, his spook is much faster in coming out than have him suppress it.

He feels his core shiver as he opens the rusty door. The room looked big with metal bridges as upper floors. Metal struts are dividing the space and it seems as a witch would have her fun with all they weird stuff laying around on the floor and a few small tables. On one side of the room were a few guy's in black robes tied up on the floor. And to his despair, it seems like the whole Gotham vigilante-crew was there. They seemed really disturbed while talking with each other and staring at the magic circle , which he saw behind them. Constantine looked distressed in between the heroes.  

He walked across the room and Constantine noticed him and comes to meet him, " Ah Danny, thank you for coming so fast." , C placed his hand on Danny's shoulder as he stopped in front of him. " May I introduce you to the Batman and his folks", with that he turned him to face the big B himself. Danny shrieked internally, as he raised his hand to a little wave, " Hi " Danny squeaked. Oh lord, may the floor swallow him as whole.  The Bat in front of seems exactly like the newspapers described him, dark and brooding but he was twitching with his gloved fingers. B eyed him up and down and just grunted and said " Constantine, what is this child doing here?".

Danny rolled his eyes, it seems he hid a bit to much of his spookiness, for Batman disrespecting him like that. Well he couldn't care less, with this little comment and being ignored like that, danny did no longer wish to get to know the Hero of whom he had posters on his walls as a little child. He knew he was sensitive to being ignored but to be sidelined like that was really not cool. 

Danny snorts " This child was here to help, but you don't seem to appreciate it. I will just disappear again, don't worry" Danny tried to shake of C's hand. " Danny, please ignore him, he does not mean it like that. At least listen to what we have to say." C said with a whining tone, while the Bat glared at him. " Come on, let me show you the problem", with that C pushed him around the brooding man. " It must be really bad for you to call me like that ..." Danny wonders as they turned to the blood circle. In the middle lays a man, a vigilant, it seems. " is that the red Robin?" Danny points at see man in the circle. 

"Yeah, we were fighting with some occultists. They activated this circle and if this is what I think it is we have a big problem" C sighed while turning to his side. In a louder voice he said " Considering the Situation, this is Phantom. With a little luck he may be able to help us out." A man in blue stops in front of them. " Hello Phantom, I'm Nightwing, I don't want to be rude but how can you help us or do something, Constantine can't?" N greeted him. Danny looked at the man and said "Well we don't know yet, but deathmagic is kinda my think." Danny turned away and started to examine the circle. 

Thanks to his ghostly half and the little teaching of Clockwork, recognised the curse whom was implemented in the circle. "Oh no" Danny sighed. This curse is really old, dark magic. Pandora mentioned this kind of magic before but he never expected to see it himself. It tears the soul apart from its body and sends it to the ghost zone. Luckily it doesn't harm the body or the soul any way else than that, but a human can't survive without a soul for long and falls in to a coma. Sadly a soul needs a body to exist in the human world, it needs his energy, a kind of energy which is as strong as life itself. In the Realms, souls exists while being lost and without consciousness. They just are little balls of energy in the infinite expanse of existence itself.

3rd Pov:

While Danny examined the curse, the vigilantes finished trying to get any information from the bad guys with zero success. The called the police who came and took them to the station. Bruce eyed the white haired boy who was squatting in front of the circle. The four locals joined C who was silently standing behind the unknown teen in an respectful distance. " Constantine, who is this child. Why did you call him here?" C turned to him "Danny Phantom is a hero who takes care of a small town in Illinois. As you can guess he is not human, he is a halfa. That means he is part ghost. I fear that this curse took RR soul to the Afterlife or also called Ghost zone or the infinite Realms. Who can help us better than a ghosthero." C smirked. "Why don't we know of a place like this or of him! A child as a townhero? Where is his mentor?" Damian hissed.

" Ask him yourself, brat. We are not going to gossip about him while he is sitting in front of us!" C snorted annoyed. With that Constantine steps forward " Danny, is it what i fear it is?", Danny turned on his heel while rising from the ground. " Yes, sadly it is....

Chapter Text

Last chapter:

" Ask him yourself, brat. We are not going to gossip about him while he is sitting in front of us!" C snorted annoyed. With that Constantine steps forward " Danny, is it what i fear it is?", Danny turned on his heel while rising from the ground. " Yes, sadly it is....

Danny POV:

Danny ignored the bats and turned to Constantine " His soul is indeed in the Realms, and retrieving it is very dangerous." Hearing that, B steps forward " I'm sorry for being rude and even more for asking that a, your what 14 years old child, but you seem like a vigilante" Danny interrupts " I am 16!!" B continues " I know you don't owe us anything but please help us save my son!". Danny has a dire look on his face. He knows that he should help, but still, all the consequences are dreading, even if everything goes as planned. 

"Ah Shit" Danny grabs his head " Even if I help, are you even aware of all the consequences? Red Robin would take a serious hit to his mental health, especially if he is prone to obsess." B and Nightwing looked at each other "Well ..." but Danny ignores them and continues to rant " He will be really clingy towards me and not even in a cute kind of way, more like the touchy and controlling like of way. He won't let me out of his sight for at least a few weeks and he will be this possessive for so long. I can't bear with that, I have life, I have school and a family. Not to mention how bad this could go between us, I need my freedom. And to add to this, the process of transporting his soul to his body would cost me so much energy, that I will sleep for about a week straight and be weak without much power for like two weeks.".

Bruce steps forward and for once Danny sees real grief in his eyes. The man grabs his shoulders with a strong but not hurtful grip. "Please, I beg you help us, we will do anything we can to make this easier for you. I promise we will protect you. If he gets to much, we will support you. You can live with us as long as needed and I will support you whether its financial compensation or emotional support, you will get anything you need or want. Just bring me my son back, I beg you." Danny avoids his heart-breaking eyes, but Nightwing steps forward and supports B "Look even I know this will be difficult, but you said you are a student. That means you are on break for the next few weeks. Just stay this long and than we will see how it goes." and even Robin gave him an almost pleading look. 

"Oh man, I am such a pushover" Danny whines and squints his eyes. Lets be honest he would like to help, but this has so much influence on his life, he would need to lift his secret identity and so would they. But well, he could not just let somebody die, if he can help. He has to decide... " Alright, but you promise to protect my secret identity and make sure I get to keep as much freedom as possible" B sighed in relief " Of course, thank you so much.", " Don't let me regret this". With that Dany turned back to the ring of runes.

Third Pov:

As the young man steps in the circle, his glow brightens and his spook returns with all his might. He steps to the fallen hero, kneels down and touches his forehead with his own. He rises back up and lets gravity leave his body, the ethereal boy starts to float to the middle of the circle and rips a crack through the dimension to reach his destination. The local vigilante stare with awe and shock at the familiar colour, while their new mysterious friend steps through the crack into a void of green.