Chapter 1: They had Spider Lilies at my Death
Summary:
Spider Lilies are flowers of death, a flower that is bright red, like a warning for the living.
But Danny can't help but feel comfort from this flower.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It started with teenage trivia.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker were all hanging out and playing games with each other. At first, it was just PVP games with the trio taking turns beating each other and gaining more points on their individual scoreboards. As time went on, Danny was the only one playing a level-based game with both Sam and Tucker mindlessly watching him go through the ‘Underworld’ level. It was when Danny faced his first pop of color in contrast to all the black and gray background did he raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
“Why are there red flowers on this level?”
“Their Spider Lilies, they mean death, Danny.”
“Huh.”
And that was that,
He really didn’t think much of it afterward, the small fact tucked away in his mind, never to resurface again.
Until it did.
He took notice of some red spider lilies that were left behind after defeating Undergrowth. A lightbulb went off in his mind and made the connection that maybe that’s why the plant-based ghost grew such flowers in his attack out of all the other flowers he could have picked.
Then he started to wonder if the other types of plants Undergrowth used in their fights also have similar meanings.
Chrysanthemums, which he later searched on the internet, also symbolize death. Crimson roses symbolize mourning and Hyacinths symbolize deep longing. Danny also felt amusement when he found that some lilies symbolize rebirth and new life or how Carnations and Gladiolus mean remembrance.
But it really hit home when he found out that some flowers can mean r̷̨͓̲̅̈́̉ẹ̵̭̋̈́͝ͅṧ̸̲̩͇̕ư̵͕͉͈̏̓ř̷̮͎̦̌͘r̵͎̻̫̄̅͆ë̷̞̗́̓̈́͜c̵͈̥̭̉̓͝t̸̼̻̒͒̈́ͅỉ̶̥͎̟̈́͠o̴̢̗̰͒̒͝n̴͖̥͎̔̾̕.
He closed his phone after that.
Yet, just like any other teenager who faced the rabbit hole called the internet, Danny found himself going back to search for other types of flower meanings and symbolism over and over again. When it wasn’t enough, he later had a stack of books about the meaning behind many flowers scattered across his room. It was soon after did Danny started to detail the more interesting stories and meaning behind some flowers in an empty journal.
Slowly, Danny started to learn the study of floriography day by day.
Then one day, the trio of friends were walking down the street from another ghost alert (which turns out to be Cujo) with Sam explaining once again why the two boys should think of becoming vegan and Tucker explaining why meat was too amazing to give up. Danny only listened to the two bickering for the majority of the walk, humming once in a while.
Then he randomly inserted himself in between the two with a question.
“Hey Sam, what’s the easiest flower to grow?”
It ended with Danny going home with three types of flower seed packets and a couple of small indoor pots, courtesy of a quick trip to the store.
Surprisingly, with some help from Sam and Jazz, he did manage to grow some blossoms in his room. Even with an ecto-contaminated home and ghosts running around, the flowers manage to survive which left Danny with a sense of pride every time he wakes up to look at the arrangement of sweet alyssums, blue morning glories, and marigolds.
(Sweet alyssums mean ‘Sweetness of the soul’)
(Blue morning glories, while short-lasting, means infinitive love, trust, respect, and honesty.)
(Marigolds have so many meanings to them, yet he likes to think of them as ‘beauty and warmth of the rising sun'.)
His pride grew into affection, and soon he was growing more pots of flowers in his room - some by his window side, some hanging from hooks on the upper walls, and some growing in a small dark spot with UV lights giving them light. It didn’t take long for his room to smell of flora which Danny loved.
His small window side garden became a room/greenhouse. Unfortunately, with his growing obsession with growing even more flowers, he had to either move his hobby elsewhere or be satisfied with the small garden he has now.
And so, Danny picked up his packets of newly bought seeds and started to plant even more flowers in a clearing near their hideout.
Routinely, Danny would always tend to his garden, always find time out of his day to care for, trim, weed, and water his flowers with gentle hands. He would pick the ones that were always done blooming and gift them to his friends or Jazz, not wanting the flowers to go to waste. Sometimes he would press some of the flowers dry, and once he found out how, he started to take his time picking and drying the flowers that can be made into tea.
Truly his curiosity had blossomed into a sort of obsession for the boy.
What he didn’t expect was for ghosts to like said obsession.
Maybe like is too much of a strong word but it seems to fit more or less.
First, it started with Cujo who Danny was chasing once again for digging up holes all over some poor guy’s yard. Danny didn’t even realize that the chase was leading Cujo to his outdoor garden until they were right there. Danny was already panicking, thinking that Cujo was going run right through his poor flowers when Cujo did the unexpected.
He ran around his garden.
Danny almost lost Cujo with how much he was gawking at the scene.
Then it was Ember who refused to fight him since Phantom had some roses at hand (he didn’t think ok! he didn’t have time to shove his flowers somewhere safe from getting burned to ash thanks) because she didn’t want to burn them.
Danny thought it was a Cujo thing, but after having even more weird encounters with other ghost and their avoidance to harm his flowers, he left to ask Clockwork about it. Turns out that ghost respect flowers because they are a common gift to those that had died, and when a flower is placed on their graves, they considered it a token of respect and acknowledgment.
That really turned his perspective a full 180.
(Maybe that’s why he felt at peace when tending to his garden.)
Since then, Danny always grabbed a basket of flowers to take and place on empty graves routinely. On Halloween he would leave bundles of marigolds, on death days he would leave forget-me-nots, and on New Year’s he would place daffodils.
His actions didn’t go unnoticed by the ghost or the rest of the town. Soon, the elderly would wave him over and ask him if he could place certain flowers on their loved one’s graves, small elementary kids would give him common daisies to take with him and some adults thank him when he makes him rounds.
Heck, even some ghosts started to attack less and would sometimes watch him place some flowers on the graves, and every time he placed one on their graves they would puff up with pride at the token.
Danny never felt so at peace before. With a single blossom, he can hold the peace he wanted in his town. With just a little bit of respect, slowly the tricks and pranks started to slow down.
Little by little, Amity was able to breathe.
Slowly, death was coming to rest.
Now 18 years of age and Danny wanted to leave Amity. Already he established himself as a peacemaker of sorts, with most of the ghosts staying at the Ghost Zone with a few floating around. His rounds to the graveyard became a business of sorts with people asking to buy certain flowers for special occasions which he happily gave. By now, Danny was finically stable and thought it was time to move somewhere.
But after a bit of thinking, he choose a surprisingly reasonable place to set shop.
Danny set his sights on Gotham and her ever growing graveyard.
(While he may be a human boy with a love for flowers, he was also a King who wish to help his people bring a Balance.)
Notes:
Ok Tumblr, I did, i finally, FINALLY, posted chapter one edited version
now for two
(Find me as RainybyDay on Tumblr)
Chapter 2: Lotus, oh my New Beginnings
Summary:
Danny moved to a place of Death and opened up a flower shop!
Notes:
Tumblr, I have made chapter 6 on my profile (rainybyday) so if you want to spoil yourself with that go for it
Chapter Text
Gotham, usurpingly, had a lot of crime. Already he can hear an explosion a couple of blocks away and tripped a robber from trying to rob him. It was sort of nostalgic to hear the chaos of destruction again, having to restrain himself from trying to transform and see who is causing such chaos.
He reassured himself that once he manages to set up shop, a wave of peace can come.
It didn't take long for him to gain a property near the Gotham graveyard, an old, abandoned thing that no one used. The walls are still intact but the wallpaper pilling off with creaking stairs and holes in the floorboard. The furniture was in pieces and a smell of decay wafted all over the building.
The graveyard was even worse with rusty metal fences and broken-down gravestones with dried up weeds and dying willow trees. Only a few of the hundreds of graves were well kept and clean
For a place that has such a high death rate, they really never did take great care of their deceased.
But Danny sighed and got to work.
In a week he managed to clean his two-story shop with the help of his ghost abilities. He managed to work through a couple of nights to not only replace all of the flooring and walls, but he managed to repaint and clean the whole first floor. He decided that the second room should be an actual green garden room and replaced the roof and wall with screens. There were rows of beds filled with soil, growing vines wrapped by his hands on wooden pillars, and many pots of baby seedlings yet to uncover themselves from the blanket of rich soil they are buried in.
It took two months to finally finish his new shop and another few weeks before the scent of flora wafted through the building. The store front wasn’t bright, dark tones of green and gray that seemed to fit the Gotham esthetic were painted on instead. The inside, however, was filled with shelves of flowers and vines crawling the walls, and bean bags and chairs were scatted all over. There was writing on the walls of names of people with markers nearby. Then in the back there sat a counter with bags of dried flowers and scented candle sticks. If you look to your right, you can see the open stairway that will lead you to a jungle of greenery and peace.
Danny’s store was complete, and he was happy with it.
In the first few weeks, not many people came. In fact, no one came, but that didn’t bother him. Instead, he filled his day with a schedule of sorts. In the morning he would clean and care for his plants around the store before weeding and picking flower petals to create dry flowers for teas. He would spend his late afternoons expanding his garden outside his shop for more flowers to grow before closing shop once the sun sets. It was at night did he grabbed on a hoodie and as many flowers as he can carry and walked towards the graveyard, leaving tokens for the dead.
Danny can tell that the dead, that Gotham, was suspicious of his attention to giving tokens to each and every grave. In fact, he can feel the creeping sensation of fear as a way to use intimidation on him to get out plenty of times from the aura of death that surrounded the graveyard. But it felt like mere child's play for him, and he kept coming back to leave tokens of flowers to those who pass.
By the time he met someone on his daily rounds towards the graveyard, the sensation of death and fear lessened, and the suspicion turned to a curious cautious feeling instead. He wasn’t welcome, not yet, but he was no longer pushed away. He didn’t think he was at the point of being allowed to meet one of Gotham's people, but he didn’t show his surprise when a man in a suit was watching him place flowers from the well-kept grave he was standing next to. Danny gave him a single glance before looking away and continuing his work elsewhere. He learned from experience not everyone wants someone around them when they are visiting their loved ones, so Dany respected the man by giving him space.
It was when Danny was walking back to that previous spot again did he first spotted a bundle of flowers near the grave the man once stood. When he got there, he breathe in deeply at the choice of flowers before placing one of his own and walking away.
(Louts flowers, Lewisia's, and Hyacinths.)
(Resurrection, new beginnings and rebirth, regret and sorrow)
(Maybe that's why the grave felt so empty, he thought distantly.)
Surprisingly, the next day, he saw the same man again out in front of his shop. Danny invited him in and ask what he would like.
And the man only said he was visiting his son.
So, Danny gathered a bundle of Primroses, Crocuses, Hyacinths, Forget-me-nots, and Buttercups.
(Primroses for youth and new life. Crocuses for children. Hyacinths for playfulness and energy. Buttercups for child-likeness and youthful joy. Forget-me-nots for remembrance.)
The man walked off and Danny enjoyed the sensation of having his first customer.
Slowly more people came, mothers and fathers and grandparents and siblings and families and lovers. Slowly they all came into his shop and were blanketed by the scent of flowers. Most would ask for a bundle of flowers before leaving for the graveyard, but a few would come back and stay in the shop, taking in the peace he created in his place. He would usually offer them tea (which no one has yet to refuse after taking their first sip) and leave them to thoughtlessly wonder through his store. Once a customer asked why he had names written on the walls and he replied they are the names of people that passed away with their loved ones leaving behind a message for them on his walls.
(It wasn’t a lie since Danny did have a message for each of his ghost friends he left behind at Amity and the Ghost Zone.)
The customer asked if they could leave a message as well and Danny replied by handing them a marker. It soon became a trend that spread throughout all his customers who would now ask for a marker first instead of him taking their orders.
Slowly, Danny was fitting in with the eyes of Gotham no longer cautious but inviting, even soothing in a way. And slowly, so ever so slowly, if you listen just right you can hear that the screaming of the city became just a tab bit silent.
Danny was, ever so slowly, bringing peace to Gotham’s land. Not a lot, mind you, but enough to know that one day the land can breathe again.
Then one night, when he was just about to close shop, the bell of his shop’s door rang as someone opened the door late at night.
Chapter 3: The Resurrection of a Violet boy
Summary:
It seems like a Liminal walked into his shop.
Notes:
FINALLY! FINALS ARE OVER AND I CAN FINALLY POST THIS GOD!
Chapter Text
It was a man in a leather jacket. The man himself had a large imitating body with black hair and a strip of white. In Gotham, most people would shrink in themselves, be on guard with such an intimidating man coming into their shop.
But Danny took one look into his bright green eyes (and felt the sensation of rage-anger-help-hurt-fear-hate-help ) and tilted his lips into a soft smile and asked what he would like.
The man just needed a place to read. Danny inquired how long he would stay, and he said he might be there for a couple of hours or more, so Danny gave him the option of staying on the first floor or moving upstairs.
The man blinked at him like he was trying to understand if Danny was right in the head.
Understandable, this is Gotham after all.
So, Danny leads the man upstairs and showed him his slice of paradise that he had now added small tea tables and pillows all over for another layer of comfort. He felt his core thrill when the man decided to stay upstairs and asked if he would like some tea.
Danny felt warmth when the man sipped on a cup of rose hip tea and felt satisfaction-calm?-warm-calm coming in waves from him.
Danny spent the rest of the day serving customers with bundles of flowers and the occasional markers with cups of tea. Danny didn’t care for the money that he received but instead he listened to the quiet, gentle humming of the graves beyond his storefront in satisfaction.
Danny was getting ready to close shop, already gathering his flowers for the day to deliver when the man from before came down. He expressed a gruff gratitude which Danny denied a bit before the man said his goodbyes.
Before he could leave, however, Danny told him to wait and quickly ran outside.
When Danny came back, he was holding a single violet flower.
(Violets, meaning delicacy and modesty.)
(They mean resurrection .)
(They mean that someone died too soon .)
Danny watched the man walking away with a single violet and closed his shop for the day.
A few days pass by and Danny was opening his shop when his storefront rang. Surprisingly (or maybe not) the man from before came back, and Danny asked what he would like today. He asked if he could read upstairs. Danny simply waved at the open staircase.
Days would go by like this and every time the man would come, he would ask to read upstairs which Danny didn’t deny. It's rare for his shop to have regulars since it was out of the way near a graveyard of all places but it's nice to see a familiar face coming back over and over again.
(And little by little he watched how the hurt Liminal slowly started to heal from staying in his haunt.)
(Danny felt how the Liminal was much more loved compared to the regular citizen by Gotham, how she clings and hides him at times, curling up and hugging the man. Gotham clearly had a strong claim on this man and saw Danny safe enough to interact with him. Hence, Danny’s gift of cleansing and healing the man for Gotham’s trust was merely a gift reapproached.)
Danny watched the man as he healed and watched his reaction as well. At first, he was none the wiser, not knowing that the, hmm.... the gunk(?) was being filtered out of him. He watched as a few weeks pass by without any notice from the man and carried on as usual.
It was around a month later did he see the man react in a way that Danny could tell he was noticing the progress of his de-corruption.
Sometimes the man would just be sitting there with his book of choice that day and silently read when his face would twitch ever so slightly, his eyes widening a bit. Sometimes Danny would talk longer and longer with the man as he brought in his tea and he could see how relaxed the stranger was until he left him, feeling the waves of confusion as if he wasn’t used to holding a conversation that long in peace. Sometimes the man would step into the shop and relax immediately only to tense up as if questioning why his body would react in such a way.
The man was finally noticing how different he was from before, yet Danny did nothing to interact with him. If the Liminal wanted answers, then he could come ask him himself.
What he didn’t expect was a trio of siblings, brothers to be exact.
The eldest of the three asked about the shop while the second eldest was just looking around. It took a minute or two before the youngest rudely interrupted his conversation with his brother to ask why ‘Todd’(?) would come to this place so frequently.
He could tell that the older brothers were slightly horrified by their youngest interrupting them, but Danny merely asked who Todd was.
With a description that added many insults to this Todd person and Danny himself, Danny made the connection of who Todd might be and pointed towards the stairs.
“Sounds like he’s the one reading upstairs. Please be silent and careful when you go there.”
Danny didn’t go upstairs even when he heard voices rising slightly before quieting down. He ignored the bump upstairs and the silence that followed. When Danny went upstairs to offer tea (which they all accepted in the end after some convincing from the eldest ones to their two youngest) he ignored the rough wrinkles in two of the brothers' shirts and the stain of dirt on the eldest back side.
Danny only smiled and left them in peace.
(He could feel the protect-peace-amused-protect-mine from the man and knew enough familiar bonds to tell that he was correct to assume that they were all brothers.)
(Family.)
It was once again almost closing time and Danny already had four sets of flowers at the ready when the brothers came downstairs. When he stepped up to them, he felt the bond of the three brothers towards the man tighten a bit before loosening again.
Danny disguised his laugh as a huff and gave them each their respective flowers.
To the youngest, he gave him a blue Iris.
(A blue Iris symbolizes hope and faith for the one who receives the gift.)
For the second youngest he gave him a Daisy.
(Daisies have many meanings, yet the one he wanted to convey was the stability and reliability of family.)
To the man, his regular customer, he handed him a Daffodil.
(Daffodils, new beginnings.)
To the eldest, he handed him a Strelitzia.
(A Strelitzia meant freedom, a bird of paradise.)
He watched as they walked away and felt Gotham curling around him tightly for a second before leaving.
This was her thanks and Danny promised that he would watch them when the time comes.
The door closed behind him as the shop was being closed for the day.
Chapter 4: Sister, my Love is in your hands as Roses
Summary:
Gifts do have a meaning beyond their value
Chapter Text
Danny learned that, just like a ghost, Liminals were also affected by the rules of ‘tokens’ and ‘gifts’.
He first tested it out with Danielle since he needed to see if a token could work on a Halfa. Ellie was a good start since not only was she a Halfa, but that she was also a clone of him, hence, what affected her should affect him and potentially Vlad.
It did, in fact, work.
He never saw Ellie look at something in so much adoration that he couldn’t help himself but to wrap his arms around her and squeeze.
He was even more surprised when she snuggled into him instead of playfully trying to get out of his hug attack. The rest of the day was for them to run and play with Ellie somehow acting much more like a child than a girl who had her life ripped away.
He debated with himself for a while, but he decided he had nothing to lose and walked his way to the mayor's house.
It took six hours to finally leave after the Fruit Loop went ecstatic with pride and joy, smothering him and thanking him every single minute for the flower he gave him. Good thing to know that a Halfa, was indeed, affected by the flowers as well.
(On the bright side, he didn’t mention his mom even once!)
So with that over and done, Danny took in a deep breath and walked into his sister's room with a large bundle of white, yellow, peach, and pink roses.
(White roses for purity and innocence. Yellow for joy and friendship. Peach for appreciation and gratitude. Pink for appreciation and perfect happiness.)
Danny was a little scared, he must admit when he approached Jazz with the bouquet. He was constantly fidgeting and debating with himself over what he could give Jazz his sister his everything .
But in the end, he walked through the door of her room and handed her the flowers.
Perhaps it was because he was a Halfa or maybe it was because Jazz was a Liminal. Maybe it was because they were siblings, or perhaps because the flowers he gave her meant something rather than just a thoughtless experiment.
He didn’t know, but he didn’t care. Not when Jazz was holding him in so much adoration, like he was fragile and safe and warm, like he was something worthy to be protected. Like he was worthy of her love and that she loved him back as her little kid brother. Nothing mattered, nothing but the waves of I-love-you-I-love-you-so-so-much-my-brother as he hugged her just as tightly back.
(And if they both ended up crying and laughing and curling against each other watching movies on Jazz’s laptop then no one needed to mention that. It was their moment and only they would treasure that time together.)
(His core thrilled when Jazz asked how she can dry her flowers to preserve her gift.)
Danny would sometimes wander through his memories as he greeted the man, now regular customer, Jason. Jason himself was an enigma that he had helped to protect and heal to gain Gotham’s favor, but now was a person he truly genuinely wanted to help.
Jason liked to read, and Danny was thankful that he had such a hobby, or else he would never get him to stay for hours on end in his haunt in order to cleanse him. He was truly happy to help the man that was under Gotham’s protection.
It was just that… ever since Jason’s brothers, the trio of boys that came in that one day, he started to see them come here with him more often.
Not every time, mind you, but enough times for Danny to know that he would have to get used to their presence.
Sometimes he would came in with the youngest, mostly on weekends, with his sharp tongue and street animals tucked in his arms. Sometimes it’s the second youngest with a cup of coffee and a laptop in hand. Sometimes it's the eldest with his bright cheery smile and chatting on endlessly.
Danny watched and smiled as the bond between the four grew stronger and tighter every day.
But as he does, he thought back to a time which gave him the most warmth he had ever felt and made a plan.
It started with the second youngest since he sometimes lags behind Jason with the lack of sleep clear in his eyes. Once Jason was out the door for the day and the younger brother was slowly tripping his way down the steps, Danny helped him down and handed him a flower.
A white Heather.
(A Heather that meant admiration, beauty, and solitude, but a white Heather meant protection from danger and that their wish would come true.)
Danny said that this was a gift for the brother to give to Jason, a gift that he would gift back.
The second youngest looked at the flower like he had never seen it before, giving Danny the urge to laugh. When he finally took the flower, hesitantly so, he thanked him and walked out of his store.
When Danny went out to make his rounds that night he paused at Jason’s grave, laughed, and skipped him for the night.
Jason started to drag the second youngest along more often these days to be with him.
The second one was the youngest of the four brothers. Though he might seem rude and sharp in his approach Danny could still sense waves of protect-idiot-brother-watch-protect-unruly from the ectoplasm that the boy was exposed to. Though he was almost exposed to the same amount as Jason, he was much more tamed and calmer.
(He once whispered to Gotham why the little one was walking by Death so much. Gotham replied in anger and rage about how the boy was not born in her lands and that someone kept him away from her to protect.
He watched over the little one a lot more after that.)
The youngest was hard to single him out when Jason liked to stick with him a lot more often than not. It took a while to get him alone, but he managed to do so when he asked Damian about the animal he brought in that day as the store was closing. By the time the young one was done, Jason was waiting at the storefront with his back turned towards them.
(In the back of his mind, Danny couldn’t help but be proud of the fact that Jason trusted him enough to leave him with his kid brother without having to watch him.)
As quickly as he could, Danny gave the young one a Poppy to give to his brother.
(Poppies are a taboo with many meanings. Great sacrifices. Remembrance. Honor.)
(But sometimes they could also mean strong everlasting familiar bonds.)
The young one gave him a glare and asked why but Danny only deflected by saying that this was once again, a gift for Jason from the young one.
After a bit more debating and insults, the young one huffed and left with the flower at hand.
(Once again, Danny smiled softly at the purity from Jason’s grave and walked right by.)
Then it was the eldest turn to give him a flower.
The eldest was the easiest to get along with but sometimes the hardest to understand. He doesn’t know what to make of the man, but he had seen the bond between him and Jason and left it at that. It was far easier to get the man alone and give him the flower. What he wished though, was for the man to not think it was a gift to woo Jason but instead a gesture of kindness for the man himself.
Yet still, Danny handed the man a small bundle of Lilies of the Valley.
(Though they mean purity, they also mean “I’m sorry”)
Danny could only watch the man leave and sighed.
That night, Jason’s grave felt weaker. Danny thought that maybe it was the wrong time to give those bundes of flowers, but he noticed something. His grave was not weaker, it was being protected and safely tucked away from everything around it. Danny breathed shakily and walked away.
(It seems that that one was the hardest out of the three.)
(Yet he could still feel something tired and hurt and sad and dark from the grave.)
Danny didn’t know what it meant until he saw a man over Jason’s grave again.
The same man he noticed the first few weeks he did his rounds.
The man who led him to Jason in a way.
The man connected with Jason was the last bit of the puzzle.
So, Danny breathed and walked towards the one Jason missed the most.
Chapter 5: Rose Buds of the still growing Children
Summary:
Danny met a Father and saw off a Bat
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Danny wondered what was considered his grave.
People die, but they don’t get buried at the place they were killed. They are moved to be preserved and buried later on. Sometimes they got cremated and have their ashes spread around. Some didn’t have a body to bury, leaving a carved-out stone to stand alone.
But as weird as it maybe be, Danny could still feel a part of a ghost (a part of their past) in every single grave, even when not all of them stood over decaying bones.
Do ghosts claim their graves? Or did they feel a connection as soon as they were set to rest? How did a ghost rest?
“Memories are fragile,” Clockwork advised. “Lost in time, gone just as fast.”
“But memories do hold power,” Pandora told him. “They are just another connection to those that pass.”
“And when someone leaves a monument for those that passed one with memories of them,” Frostbite smiled. “Then a connection is made.”
“But what if nothing was left behind?” Danny questioned.
None of them answered him.
Danny would then watch those that would puff up in pride when he gave their graves a flower. He would watch and search for those that would only watch him and not a crumbling set of stones. He would watch them just as they do to him and would finish his rounds with one basket left full. Turning from the gates he turned to the dead who had no one to remember them and smiled.
“I have a gift for you,” he whispered bittersweetly.
Ghosts couldn’t produce tears, but Danny could feel the wave of emotions coming from each and every one of them.
In those next few months, he would ask them to share their stories with him. He would write down their lives in chapters and take time off his day just for them. He would visit Ghost Writer and ask him the best way to write a story that is not his own. He would leave to carve and engrave words into stone. He would gather children and read his book, a book that was filled with stories that were not his own and watch as the children listened to his words.
It would be half a year before Amity’s graveyard would expand in its size.
And a year before a neon green book would be published.
But it would take weeks for memories of the long deceased to be remembered as stories.
It only took one half-dead boy for a population of ghosts to finally call a grave their own.
Danny knew how precious stories could be when they came from the dead. They were just as equally precious when they came from a loved one as well.
(That was why Danny would always stay silent when someone expressed a small window of the person they once loved, still love, who was now gone. He forces himself to remember every word in respect of the ghost floating behind them. He would sometimes give them a warm cup of tea, other times he would offer smoothing pats, and at other moments he would lead them to a quiet corner to rest.
But it was always worth it, he would think. It would always be worth it, Danny thought again as he wrote down another story, one that was just for him.)
So, when Danny offered the man an ear and got rejected, he did not take it to heart.
Sometimes physical wounds weren’t what hurt the most.
Danny let the man change the subject with understanding and answered his questions on why he was offering flowers to every grave instead.
The more he answered the more the man seemed to grow curious. A wary sort of curiosity but he understood. After all, he was the one Gotham seemed to love the most.
(He was careful to not make eye contact with the city spirit herself as she looked upon him from behind the man's shoulder with no shame. He was respectable after all.)
The man could have kept on asking questions yet said nothing. Danny then offered him a space beside him as he finished his rounds around the graveyard.
He could feel the internal dilemma that this man was having, something about Danny was unsettling the man in some way. He agreed with a grim smile.
(His smile was also understandable, there were only a few kinds of people who would simile with actual joy inside a graveyard.)
He could feel the man's eyes watching him as he set flower after flower, cleaning out the dead ones and gently tracing names on old stones.
It took awhile, the moon no longer seen, and the shadows enveloped them both. Neither of the men minded the extra layer of protection that the night provided.
The man was about to leave, just barely inching away before Danny stopped him.
“You can always visit my shop when you want to get him a gift.”
The man's face was blank, no emotions emitted for a single second before he thanked him and walked away.
Danny could only wait and hope.
And wait he did.
He waited as he greeted the brothers day by day, offering a place of solitude and peace from the nights he knew pledged them.
(He sometimes cursed the idea that he could only heal Jason, and the youngest, Damian, to a certain extent in his haunt. As much as he would have liked to heal the other two brothers, Tim and Dick, he could not. It was not within his power.)
(Not yet.)
He waited as the seasons changed to blanket the land in snow.
(He could not hide his joy from the change of scenery. The cold was an old friend and a time when it reminded him of good, warmer memories of a healer.)
He waited as his store's walls started to change from light ivy green to a colorful array of words everywhere.
(He enjoyed their stories, their names, and their memories of those not long gone but merely faint.)
He waited for days until he finally arrived.
Not as the man, but as a Bat.
Danny could only hold in his sigh of disappointment that this father was still scared. Then again, the living was always so sensitive towards the topic of death.
He felt his eyes on him as he walked towards the grave, doing his rounds as he always did. As a habit he always smiled at the ghost that came up to watch him, visible to his eyes only. He was mindful of the ones that did not have a grave and felt the urge to make his own gravestones instead of ordering them as he did. And yet again, he was in Gotham, not in Amity.
In Gotham, unlike Amity, there was someone to question him. Looking deeper into his answers.
So, this was all he could do for now.
Once he was done, he could feel the trail of ghosts floating behind him, some speaking and others silent. It was when he arrived at Jason’s grave did the shadows shift and the shades quieted themselves.
The Bat rose out from the dark when he placed down a bundle of Stock flowers.
(A flower that means endless happiness, a wish he will achieve.)
Danny did not flinch or become startled by the man now masked in shadows. While shadows could be scary, he had already seen what was beyond the Void.
(And then he himself became a part of it.)
He asked him some questions about who he was, what he was doing, and why he was there. Of course, he answered truthfully, but the Bat was a bit baffled by his honest answer about giving peace to the dead.
“It's because they are dead,” Danny echoed words from long ago. “The dead get no more thoughts other than grief. They should feel happiness as well, just like the rest of us.”
Us, the Bat echoed back.
Yes, Danny nodded. Us.
And with that, he extended another bundle to the Bat. He did nothing but stare at it at first, eyes looking for a sign of danger before a clawed hand reached out from the night to take the bundle that Danny prepared every night, waiting for the time he could meet him again.
It's funny how bright the bundle of multi-colored rose buds looked in contrast to the many shades of darkness the Bat wore, yet it felt right that the one with the biggest heart would have the most joy.
And there was no brighter joy to a father than his own children.
(A bundle of rose buds, not one color but of many can mean many things from their blossomed counterparts. But when unripe and given to a parent there is another meaning to them, one that sets a powerful message.
‘My children.’)
“For your colony,” Danny offered before walking away.
Danny didn’t need sleep, not as much as a living person did anyways, but he felt tired that day and went to bed early.
When he arose from his slumber, he felt... different.
He didn’t understand what was different, just that it was.
He pondered on that thought for the rest of the morning as he ate breakfast, cleaned out his shop, and prepared mixes of teas. It was when he was watering his flowers did he understand why he felt different.
Gotham was happy.
Notes:
Happy Chrismas Eve to anyone that celebrates!
Chapter 6: A Gift, an Offering, a Promise
Summary:
A Gift, an Offering, a Promise
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
When Danny was first given a flower, it wasn’t as Phantom but as Danny.
Not ‘Phantom the Balance to All’, ‘The Hero of Amity Park’, ‘Overseer of the Gate of Between’, or ‘Great One’.
But as Danny.
And it made it all the more meaningful.
It wasn’t even his friends who gave him the flower but a little girl he knew who liked to give daisies to him to take to the graves. This time she found a sunflower with a soft stem not to prick her fingers on. She smiled wide with a gap in her teeth as she proudly presented him with the sunshine flower in self-righteous pride.
For a second, he forgot to breathe.
And then his world blossomed.
He couldn’t explain, couldn’t explain it in words since words seemed to limit the event. It was art and a play all at once. There was a humming behind his ears yet the long-stretched silence engulfed him. Everything seemed too bright and overlaid with light that made even the shadows cower away. Nothing was happening, and no one was looking at him, yet he felt the need to grab everyone’s attention to the gift that this sweet-gentle-young-so-very-young soul has gifted him. Because in the first time of his short half-dead life, he felt like he was no longer fighting the pull of an ancient power tempting him to crave, no longer a boy wanting to hide, no longer a protector that must sacrifice everything.
He felt alive .
It took everything in Danny not to cry from the unexplained weight that was just… gone.
Yet instead, he kneeled down to the little girl’s level, gently accepted the gift, and wrapped her in a long hug.
He could feel the corner of his eyes prickle with tears as he heard, and felt, the laughter that this sweet-kind-young-alive-alive-she-is-alive-young soul is creating. Never had he heard a sound so sweet.
(Later that night, once everyone was asleep and down, Danny sneaked into his parent’s basement with a bundle of spider lilies.)
(In the morning, when Madeline Fenton steps down to start on her life's work once again she noticed red flowers resting at the base of the ghost portal.)
(For some reason, she felt the need to refrain from touching the delicate things and left them there when she felt a sense of dread creeping up her spine.)
Danny looked out into the night, a delicate time that many feared. The night was the time of shadows and nightmares, where the living could commit sins and the noble must lock themselves inside.
But Danny felt that the night was a sense of security, a veil that covered both the weak and strong to a sense of safety.
After all, when in danger, you would want to keep those that you love closest to you.
The night was a time of safety, and Danny let himself become enveloped by the aura around him.
Humming, Danny only looked right up ahead. Passing the graveyard he made a habit of visiting, passing the homes of the higher class, passing the dirty streets, and passing the sky tower that went on forever.
Finally, he stopped.
Danny looked around the surrounding area like it was his first time taking in the sight of his destination. He noted that he arrived at an ally way. It wasn’t too dirty but wasn’t that clean either. It was empty save for a few discarded boxes on the side with a bin of trash as well. The ally was closed off on one side, meaning that if someone was to corner him they would do so effortlessly.
But he wasn’t worried about such things. Not today.
Danny walked down the alley and to the closed-off section. The wall was a hundred colorless bricks, all old and eroded with time, it could crumble at any second.
Danny only breathed.
Then quietly he placed the bundle he had at hand onto the floor with a gentleness that would be expected from a mother letting down her newborn child. Tender, sweet, and in awe.
He waited for a second, two, three.
A minute and an eternity later, he stepped back, once, twice, and looked up.
A pair of eyes, the eyes of glass that could easily shatter, stared right back at him.
Danny smiled.
“Hello, Gotham.”
The eyes watched, dead lifeless yet strong unyielding eyes watched.
“Yours?”
Her voice, or if it can be called her voice, glitched into his mind and into the air like static.
“Yes,” Danny replied kindly. “My offering, my gift, and my promise to you.”
A wail, a scream, a giggle, and the softness of a mother asked him, “What is it that you offer for?”
“An extension to stay in promising that your nest will be safe, your streets with silence, and your people can rest.”
Eyes, dead-dead-very-dead eyes did not move, did not look away from the boy-that-was-still-very-much-a-boy for hours.
Then those eyes blinked.
And a nebula swirling with stars gazed back at him instead.
“Mine?” She whispered, the voice of a mother who lost too much.
He hesitated, compelling for a moment, before looking at her again. “Not…not yet. I’m not ready to be tied again, not yet. But… maybe. Not today but one day.”
Humming and then a soft caress of his cheek.
That was enough. His answer was enough.
Back at Amity, there was a young woman cleaning a polished gravestone. It was new compared to the others around her, yet it seemed to be the most loved. Where the average grave was given a handful of flowers and candles, this grave was buried in flowers, scented candles, child-like drawings, letters, and sealed sweets.
This grave was loved not by family but by the whole town.
And who could blame them? Not Jazz it seemed. Not when she learned to control the anger that threatened to control her so long ago.
She sighed in contentment, the wind carrying the scent of musk and morning dew.
Content with her work for the day she stood up and cleaned her pants as best as she could. Gathering her cleaning supplies she glanced back at the grave with eyes that held love and sorrow.
“I hope your heart is content,” she whispered her secret prayer. “Be safe my Star.”
And then she turned and walked away from the grave that had the name of a local hero engraved in stone.
May you rest in peace Phantom. May you finally seek peace.
Notes:
note that while it may be the end of this story I'll still be making more smaller stories of danny's interactions with other characters so its not the complete end of this flower au just yet