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Chapter Text

Tim knew what he was signing up for when he started the whole vigilante thing, he’d been following Batman and Robin’s exploits for years, he knew exactly the kind of trouble they got themselves into, and he had years of experiencing it firsthand, both as Robin and later Red Robin.

But still.

Tim was so fucking sick of cults.

The second Tim walked into the briefing and saw Constantine was present he knew that tonight was going to suck. And as was so often the case, he was right.

Bruce had called in Tim, Dick and Jason, as well as himself and Damian to help on this case. Constantine had intel that some death cult had acquired a dangerously powerful artifact, some kind of blade, and was gearing up to perform a ritual with it in Gotham that night. He didn’t know exactly what the aim of the ritual was supposed to be, but given the absolutely rancid vibes of the cult and their history of human sacrifice it immediately became their top priority to shut it down.

Which led him to now. Tied to a chair in a shitty warehouse with a truly disturbing looking ritual circle across the room. The others were similarly restrained, with Constantine sporting some kind of funky magic-dampening cuffs. He was currently competing with Jason for who could swear up the biggest storm.

By the time Tim had woken up Jason was already sporting a bloody lip for his troubles, so Tim assumed he had been going for a while. More concerningly, all of them had a small knife wound on their arms, and the cultists seemed to have arranged a collection of small red vials as part of the circle. Which the cultists were now gathering around, moving with purpose, lighting candles, and beginning to chant.

Yeah, Tim was not a fan of anything that was happening today.

He was making progress with his bonds, but they were tight, all the knots tied professionally and hard to reach, and it was gonna take at least another few minutes to get out of them. Honestly, he wished the others would shut up so they could all focus, their constant mix of yelling and cursing was giving him a headache.

…or maybe it was the chanting?

He didn’t recognise the words, or their language, but they seemed to echo strangely through the room. Or… echo through his head? They weren’t sung, there was no melody to it, but something about the rhythm that was… distracting, taking up more space in his brain than it should, making his train of thought wobble dangerously on its track.

“Hey guys…” he shook his head, trying to clear it. “Does the chanting sound kinda… weird to anyone else?”

He didn’t speak loudly but they must have heard something in his tone, as each of them turned their head towards him. Constantine was squinting at him and Dick and Jason’s brows were furrowed in concern.

He saw Jason’s mouth open again, eyes staying locked on Tim. He tried to focus on the words Jason was forming, he knew he knew them but he just… he couldn’t think, he couldn’t focus on anything but the chanting that was drowning everything else out.

His head drooped. His eyes fluttered. He felt so heavy. There was something he was supposed to be doing. He could distantly hear someone shouting but it was so far away, the chanting was drowning it out. He felt like he should be worried, but it would be closer if it was really important right? He… he had to… he was…

He felt his body slump as the chanting filled his mind.

---

If Jason had to deal with one more fucking cult, he was gonna shoot someone.

Well, he was probably gonna shoot someone tonight regardless, preferably one of the fucking cultists that tied him up, but the point still stood. Fuck cults.

He’d woken up a few minutes before the other bats, benefits of a pit enhanced metabolism, and had taken the time-honoured route of being as annoying as possible to try and distract their captors. A classic robin manoeuvre.

So far all he’d got for his efforts was a slap to the face when it was his turn to get his blood stolen for gods knows what. Based on the way Constantine was swearing like a sailor he doubted it was for anything good.

By the time the chanting started up everyone else was awake and Dick and Damian had joined him in trying to annoy or reason or threaten the cultists into submission while they feverishly worked on the ropes tying them down. Jason had almost gotten one hand free when Red Robin spoke up for the first time.

“Hey guys… does this chanting sound kinda… weird to anyone else?”

Jason thought the kid had been silent until now because he was working through a plan, or just didn’t see the point in joining their admittedly ineffective yelling, but now as he frowned at him, he was wondering if Tim had been dosed with something more than the rest of them.

Jason had witnessed the kid in all kinds of states out of uniform, whether he was injured, sleep deprived or just being a brat, but as Red Robin he went to great lengths to always at least appear to have his shit together. Being calm and collected was part of his shtick. Jason didn’t think he’d ever heard him sound so… off-kilter in the mask. He wasn’t slurring any off his words, but they didn’t seem to be flowing smoothly either. The normally quick-witted vigilante seemed to be struggling to keep his focus on the words long enough to get them out.

“What you talking about, Red? Pretty sure it’s the standard issue creepy shit all these idiots use. You feeling ok?”

The kid looked like he was almost swaying as he peered at them. Jason couldn’t get a look at his eyes through the domino, but he would bet they weren’t focussing right.

Tim didn’t reply though, instead his head slowly dropped down towards his chest.

“Shit! Red! Hey, c’mon Red, talk to me, what’s going on?”

He swore colourfully and tugged harder at his wrists as the rest of the tension left Tim’s frame and he slumped in his chair. The rest of the family was calling out for Tim as well, yelling over the sound of the cultists.

Then the cadence of the chant changed, and Tim stood from his chair, ropes falling to the floor like they were never tied. Tim swayed slightly looking straight ahead, arms limp at his side.

“Red?” he heard Dick ask from behind him, voice uncertain.

Tim gave no sign he could hear them. Instead, after standing for a second, he took a step and started slowly walking toward the circle, steps slightly lurching but unwavering.

“RED!”

Jason could hear Constantine cursing a blue streak, but he couldn’t take his eyes Tim, frantically working at the ropes and snarling as he watched the ring of cultists part to let his baby brother step into the centre of the circle.

The temperature of the room plummeted. The cultists moved around the circle, their chant rising in volume as they knelt and pressed their hands to the edge of the circle, pushing at the ground as the symbols started to glow a sickly green. Tim stood in the centre, gaze blankly forward, unmoving as the light made his already pale face look sickly and gaunt.

One of the cultists stepped up behind Tim holding a long, curved dagger.

He vaguely heard the others yelling but all his attention was on getting to Tim.

He ripped one hand free from the ropes, started tearing at the other.

The cultist placed one hand on Tim’s shoulder. He didn’t even twitch.

The others were struggling alongside him, Bruce nearly free. He was so close, he just needed-

The cultist lifted the blade, lining it up on Tim’s back-

He tore his other hand free and stood, running for the circle-

-as the blade thrust straight through Tim’s heart.

“NO!” he roared, swinging his fist into the cultist that stood in his way, trying to keep him away from the circle.

The cultist pulled the blade out and stepped back. Tim dropped to his knees.

Batman and Nightwing were beside him now, brutally taking down the cultists blocking them.

Tim slumped onto his side, a pool of blood beginning to spread across the floor.

No. No, no he can’t be. Not Tim. No.

Jason lunged towards the circle, arm desperately reaching for Tim, Red Robin, baby bird, as his little brother let out a soft breath and went limp.

Time seemed to stand still for one long moment.

Then the symbols pulsed, and exploded with green light, throwing him and the rest of the bats across the room.

Chapter Text

Jason scrambled to his feet from where he’d landed and ran back to the circle. It looked like the cultists had been knocked back by the blast as well, and were all crumpled on the floor, either still dazed, or unconscious, or maybe fucking dead. Jason didn’t care so long as they didn’t try to get in his way again.

However, as he reached the edge of the circle he smacked straight into empty air. When he looked at them, the symbols around the edge were still faintly glowing, creating a barrier that shimmered almost imperceptibly in the air.

“Fuck,” Jason bit out, rubbing his bruised arm while Batman and Nightwing ran up to try their fists against the barrier and the Demon Brat pulled out his sword.

He looked into the circle, feeling sick to his stomach at the sight of the bod- of Tim. God, he felt like his heart was collapsing in on itself at the sight of his little brother, his baby bird, lying so still, sprawled on the bloody floor and- and slowly sitting up???

“Tim!” he pressed himself desperately against the barrier. Sickening, dangerous hope swelling in his gut. There was no way, it went right through his heart, they all saw. But what if-

Tim moved slowly, a little jerkily, giving no reaction to Jason’s voice as he pulled himself to his feet, facing away from them, his own blood staining his uniform and dripping down into the puddle at his feet.

“Tim?” Dick whispered. Jason could hear the same desperate, fragile hope in his brother’s voice that he could feel rising in himself-

-before it plummeted as Tim turned, his eyes glowing a bright, brilliant green through the domino mask.

“No,” said the thing wearing his brother’s corpse.

---

Danny shouldn’t be here.

This wasn’t his body, he didn’t want to be here and now he’s been shoved into this body that isn’t his, that he has no right to. He shudders, the body fitting strangely around his shoulders, and a tendril of revulsion coiling in his gut at the feeling of wearing a corpse that isn’t his, the corpse of a kid just a few years older than he was when he died. The corpse of a kid whose soul he could feel being held in his chest next to his core.

He shouldn’t have that either. Shouldn’t be able to feel the lingering anguish and confusion. Shouldn’t know the name Tim. He hadn’t asked for it. But the ritual involved a sacrifice, and he hadn’t been asked his opinion. Souls were sacred, touching one was considered a great sign of trust, or a grave sin if done without permission. Danny hoped Tim would forgive him for trying to keep his soul close to his body. This wouldn’t work if he let them separate much more.

Danny slowly sat up from the bloody floor. The circle was written in ancient script, likely the only reason it had managed to summon him. Clockwork had warned him that as the Ghost King he could technically be called forth by the proper rites, but none had been this strong so far. Still, at least it was just a summoning rite. They couldn’t force compliance from him.

He could see the original summoners sprawled out across the room, their magic still powering the ritual. He didn’t recognise the costumed people behind the barrier, but Tim’s soul pulsed in family, love, brother as the one in the red helmet yelled for him.

He braced himself and rose to his feet, the body cold and stiff. He didn’t want to do this, but it was his responsibility. Tim’s family deserved their answers. Danny sighed and turned to face them as the blue one repeated the question, voice trembling.

“No.”

---

Jason was frozen. Horror filled his mind and ice pooled in his stomach as he stared at this thing.

Bruce staggered back from the barrier, his hand covering his mouth.

He heard Dick vomiting behind him.

Constantine stepped past them, his lips pressed into a thin line, and addressed the entity. His tone was far more measured and formal than Jason had ever heard it.

“What are your intentions on this world?”

The creature stared at Constantine for a moment before it twisted Tim’s face into an expression of disgust that looked foreign on his brother’s face.

“Your soul is splintered.” Constantine paled and took a step back, but the entity continued. “You didn’t summon me, and you aren’t Tim’s family. Why are you here?”

It felt wrong to hear to hear it talk about Tim like it knew him, like it hadn’t stolen his voice to speak with.

Bruce stepped forward, cutting off Constantine’s reply.
“How do you know that?” he demanded, ignoring Constantine’s frantic glare at his tone.

The thing’s expression softened again as it turned to Bruce.

“I can sense it. Tim loves you.” It said, and smiled, looking for all the world like Tim did when Jason would bring him a new cup of coffee, or compliment his detective work. Soft and almost shy, like he was still surprised when the rest of them gave a shit about him.

It looked so wrong with Tim’s eyes still glowing green.

Suddenly, Jason was filled with rage, burning in his chest and melting his frozen voice.

“Get OUT of him!” He yelled, raising his fist to punch the surface of the barrier. “Don’t talk like you know him you piece of shit! You don’t!”

Constantine’s head whipped around to face him, horrified. The creature was also looking at him, the smile gone and its head tilted slightly. Jason bared his teeth at it and went to hit the barrier again when a hand caught his arm.

“Jason, Jason, calm down. We have to, we can’t-” Dick’s normally tan face was pale and wan. Damian was by his side, one hand clutching his sword, the other holding tight to one of Dick’s hands. Dick took a shuddering breath, squeezing Jason’s wrist. “We can’t get into the circle.” He said lowly.

Jason heard what he wasn’t saying. That thing could essentially hold Tim’s body hostage, they had no way to retrieve it and pissing off the most likely wildly powerful entity holding all the cards was even more stupid than his usual plans. He took a deep breath, trying to get a handle on his roiling emotions.

Unfortunately, Constantine chose that moment to make his way over to them.

“You need to let me do the fucking talking you stupid git, before you get all of us killed,” The magician hissed. “This is not the kind of thing you want to piss off, you have no fucking clue what you’re dealing with here.”

Jason’s tenuous control broke and he spun to face the magician.

“Shut the fuck up, Constantine! You brought us in to find your stupid goddamn dagger when you don’t even know what the ritual fucking did!” he spat.

They all froze as the entity in the circle cleared its throat.

“I believe I can explain that.”

Jason turned, jaw clenched tight and Dick still clutching his arm to find the entity still watching him with those fucking disturbing eyes. Jason raised his chin and stared back mulishly even if it made him want to throw up to do so.

“What can you explain?” Dick asked, ending their impromptu staring contest and shuddering as the thing turned its gaze on him.

“The ritual. It’s a summoning rite. It’s designed to pull me into a mortal vessel and gift me the mortal’s soul as the price for whatever deal they plan to ask for.”

The bats blanched and Constantine leaned forward intently. Shit, those bastards handed over Tim’s soul to this thing? Bad enough it got his body but his fucking soul? What did that mean for Tim? Could they try and trade for it back?

“Unfortunately for them,” it continued, “I have no interest in trading in souls.”

“Oh fuck,” muttered Constantine. Jason agreed. From the sounds of things, they had no way of controlling the thing or freeing Tim’s soul without a deal. He really didn’t want to have to fight something that made Constantine show respect.

“So, since I’m not taking their deal,” the being shrugged, “I’ll simply return the price they offered me.”

Wait what?

Before any of them could react, the circle lit up again with a brilliant flash of green light. It faded to reveal Tim’s body once again lying on the ground, the symbols fully fading this time and the barrier dropping with them.

Jason rushed forward, dropping to his knees at Tim’s side and reaching for his neck.

“C’mon Timmy, please, please god baby bird, don’t do this to us-” Jason felt the steady beat of blood rushing under his fingers and let out a sob, slumping as the tension fled his body.

Dick was kneeling across from him, with Bruce and Damian standing behind him wearing identical looks of desperation and fear. He looked up at them, uncaring of the tears in his eyes.

“He’s alive.”

Dick crumpled in on himself, sobbing in relief and clutching Tim’s hand to check for himself. Damian’s finally let go of his sword’s handle, and Bruce slumped, dropping his face into his hands.

“What?!” Constantine practically squawked, striding over to stand at Tim’s feet. He formed some kind of magic spell around his hand and held it over Tim muttering to himself and staring intently. Finally, he dropped the spell, looking stunned.

“Bloody hell. It actually gave the kid’s soul back.”

Bruce looked up, “You’re certain?”

“Near as I can be.” Constantine patted his pockets, finding a cigarette and lighting up. “Your boy’s got the same soul he did an hour ago. And a living body to go with it. I don’t know who the hell is looking over you lot, but you better be thanking ‘em today.”

“Father,” Damian spoke up, “We must get Red Robin to the cave, we don’t know how much physical trauma he might have retained.”

That terrifying thought kicked all the bats into gear. Jason gathered Tim very carefully into his arms and made for the Batmobile, climbing into the backseat with Tim to monitor him. After a long moment of hesitation, Bruce and Damian stayed behind with Constantine to deal with the crime scene and unconscious cultists.

After promising immediate updates on any change to Tim’s condition, Dick climbed behind the wheel and took off for the manor with a screech of tires.

Jason took a deep breath, keeping his fingers on Tim’s steady pulse the entire drive.

Chapter Text

Jason sat hunched in his chair watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Tim’s breathing.

It had been 3 days since the ritual and the kid was yet to wake up. Leslie’s examination had confirmed that the stab wound had healed fully, leaving only a nasty scar on his chest. The wound on his arm had vanished completely. By every measure they could find Tim had fully recovered, not even showing signs of blood loss. He just wouldn’t wake up.

Their current theory was that he was simply recovering from the magical, rather than physical, trauma that he had received. Souls weren’t supposed to be messed with like that, it made sense Tim would need to recover. Constantine had examined Tim as well, once he finished at the crime scene.

None of the cultists had survived the ritual. Batman and Robin found them with blood leaking from their eyes, nose and ears, some with blackened and charred hands. Constantine had determined that the entity’s rejection of the deal had created a massive magical backlash that flowed back into anyone powering the ritual, overwhelming them and frying their bodies from the inside out. Jason couldn’t pretend he hadn’t been happy to hear that, regardless of the further evidence that they had been dealing with something seriously powerful.

Constantine still didn’t know what exactly had been summoned. He hadn’t found anything wrong with Tim when he looked him over, just sworn and muttered that this whole thing wasn’t shit he dealt with, and he’d need to do some serious research before he could figure out exactly what had happened. He hadn’t been able to tell them anything about the creature beyond that it was “Bad fucking news, mate.” Last Jason heard he’d gone off to find a book he recognised part of the script from and hadn’t been back since.

Well, as far as Jason knew. He hadn’t really left Tim’s side enough to know if the man had been visiting the manor.

They’d all been spending as much time watching over Tim as they could. No one had left the first night, variously falling asleep in chairs or medical beds or not at all, but Alfred had started to enforce shifts after that. Allowing someone to be with Tim at all times, while making sure they ate proper meals and slept in their own beds.

Jason… maybe hadn’t been sticking to it as well as he should.

He tried, he really did. No one wanted to risk Alfred’s eyebrow of doom, but he just… always ended up back at Tim’s side. There was this feeling in his chest that just wouldn’t settle until he could see his brother was alright. He sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, face in his hands. God he was tired.

He sat there, focussing on the sound of Tim’s breathing, until the rhythm hitched slightly, Tim letting out a little groan.

Jason sat bolt upright, leaning over to grasp Tim’s hand.

“Tim? You up baby bird?” he asked, taking pains to keep his voice even and gentle and not betray the desperation he was feeling right now.

Tim’s brow furrowed and his hand flexed a little in Jason’s. Jason squeezed back, his heartbeat quickening as he reached to press the alert button to call the others.

“C’mon, rise and shine, Timbit.”

Tim’s eyes blinked open, slivers of blue blearily peering up at him.

“J’son?” Tim murmured, and Jason felt his face stretch into a wide grin.

“Oh, thank fuck. Welcome back to the land of the living, Timbit. Don’t even think about trying to steal my shtick again.” Tim blinked at him, brow creasing a little.

“What…”

The rest of the family chose that moment to burst in, Dick practically falling over himself to grab Tim’s other hand.

“Timmy! You’re up! How are you feeling baby bird?” Tim lethargically shifts his gaze over to Dick and slowly blinks a few times.

“Cold,” he eventually mumbles.

That kicks the bats into action, unfreezing from where they’d been staring at Tim and moving to start fussing in various ways. Jason stood to grab Tim a blanket, surrendering his chair to Bruce as he grabbed a tablet and started looking through the reading’s coming from the machines Tim was hooked up to. Alfred laid a grandfatherly hand across Tim’s forehead that the kid melted into and tutted a little at what he felt. Damian brought over a glass of water, getting a grateful smile from Dick as he took it and helped Tim take a few sips. Jason returned with the blanket and brusquely tucked it around Tim.

He moved to the wall and leant against it, watching the scene in front of him. Something in his chest settled at seeing Tim awake and safe with the rest of the family. He crossed his arms and settled in to keep watch over them.

---

Tim stared out the window from where he was sitting in one of the library’s plush armchairs, not really taking in the view. He shivered a little, and adjusted the blanket he was bundled in. It didn’t help.

The cold hadn’t abated even once since he’d woken up 2 days ago. If anything, it was getting stronger, at first it had been just a chill but when he woke up this morning his toes were numb, and they hadn’t warmed up all day despite the several layers of socks and blankets he was wearing.

He hadn’t told the family it was getting worse. He wasn’t sure why. He’s pretty sure they noticed anyway. They kept finding excuses to pop in and check on him, keep him company, offering hot drinks.

It didn’t help.

Constantine had come back to check him over when he first woke up, but the magician had just squinted at him and left again saying he seemed fine but there was a faint magic signature he couldn’t identify, and he’d be back when he had answers.

Until then the family was left to worry over him. Every time they looked at him, he could see the fear in their eyes, and every hug they offered went on a moment too long, they held him a bit too desperately. Tim didn’t mind. They were warm and he tried his best to soak up that warmth for as long as it was offered.

It never made him any less cold.

“-im? Timbit?”

He startled, looking away from the window and over to where Jason was kneeling in front of him, brow furrowed with concern. It looked like it wasn’t the first time he’d said his name.

“Sorry,” he muttered, looking down. This had been happening since he woke up as well, and he knew his family had noticed it getting worse, probably noticed more than he had.

Tim would find himself zoning out staring through the window, or at the book he was trying to read, or just the wall across from him. He would lose his train of thought mid conversation and have to be gently roused by his family, always with the same concerned look on their face they seemed to think he couldn’t see.

He wished he could get mad about how careful they’d been around him since the incident. They were acting like he was made of glass, and he wanted to be angry, yell at them that he was a full-grown vigilante, he could handle this, he wasn’t even injured anymore! They hadn’t let him help with the case, had barely let him into the cave since he left med-bay. He knew he should be enraged at that, protest at being benched when he was physically fit, but he just couldn’t. Part of him agreed, he was in no state to patrol when he could even stay present the whole day, but beyond that he just, couldn’t muster up the indignation he knew should be there.

He felt like the cold was muffling everything, a layer of frost coating him that made the world distant and his outrage abstract. He could break it if he focussed, tune into the world, remember what he should be feeling and let it trickle past the crack in the ice, but it always froze over again when he wasn’t looking.

Jason sighed, his concern practically radiating off him as he stood and ruffled Tim’s hair.

“No worries, Timbo. I was just telling you that Alfred says dinner’s ready.”

Tim nodded and stood, trailing along after Jason until he reached over to wrap his arms around Tim as they walked down the halls. Tim leant in a little, feeling a little more solid and relishing the comfort he could feel his brother offering. Jason was so warm, even if by rights he should barely be able to feel Jason’s body heat through the layers of clothes and blankets between them, it was enough that Tim could almost feel the cold recede for a moment when he was near Jason.

He'd ended up trailing after Jason a lot since he woke up, not just for warmth but because his brother just felt… safe. Being around him let Tim to relax in a way his vigilante paranoia didn’t normally allow him to.

When he’d realised how clingy he was being he’d been sure Jason was going to get sick of him soon enough, bracing himself for it but unable to bring himself to back off. But Jason hadn’t left. He didn’t normally stay in the manor for more than a day, but he’d settled himself into his room next to Tim and hadn’t done more than grumble once or twice about being away from crime alley. Once Tim was looking for it, Jason seemed to be seeking Tim out as much as he was Jason.

Jason had poked his head in only a few minutes after Tim had settled in the library, which admittedly he’d done because it was Jason’s favourite room and had proceeded to spend the afternoon just comfortably reading alongside Tim, enjoying each other’s presence.

It was a little strange if he thought about it. Him and Jason got on well these days, they’d got over their rocky start and would work cases together and hang out at the manor affectionately bickering with each other. Tim would come by to sneak intel and tech upgrades into Jason’s safehouse, and Jason would grumble about needy brothers but always offer up whatever food he was cooking.

Jason was fiercely protective when Tim got injured but… he was for any of the bats, especially the younger ones. And never this overtly. Jason loved his family fiercely but tended to show it through insults and grumbling and excuses. Tim had never seen him spend so much time with a downed bird without even a token excuse for why he was there.

It was nice. Tim wasn’t sure what prompted the shift in behaviour, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He leaned further into Jason as they walked, relishing the protective comfort he could feel coming from his older brother.

---

That evening saw him curled up on the couch, head pillowed on Jason’s leg and stubbornly trying to keep his eyes open to watch the movie the family had put on.

He didn’t want to sleep. He didn’t want to dream again. He already felt too much like he was sleepwalking through the day. It was far too easy to slip into icy dreams that felt so real that he wasn’t sure when he woke up which was the dream, and which was really him. He was scared one day he’d get left behind in the cold and never notice that he didn’t wake up. Or that he would wake up, but it wouldn’t be him anymore, he’d just wander his own life like a ghost. He couldn’t do that to his family, not when they just got him back, when they were so scared.

So, he didn’t want to sleep.

Unfortunately, his family knew that, which was why Dick had loudly suggested a movie night after dinner. In a family of detectives, there was no use trying to hide that despite his general lethargy he had not been sleeping well since the incident, tossing and turning and startling awake from strange, vivid dreams that refused to resolve, leaving him with vague impressions of cold, icy winds, strange howling wails and a sense of weightlessness. He hadn’t told anyone about the dreams, but he knows they can guess at the reasons for his eye-bags.

So, his siblings had apparently conspired to trap him into sleeping. Unable to escape and stay awake in his room he’s left to be dragged into Jason’s arms from which there will be no escape until he inevitably falls asleep. This is far from the first time a movie night has ended this way, deliberately or otherwise, and his weakness for hair pets have been well documented by his siblings.

He grumbles a little as Jason runs a hand through his hair, his eyelids drooping despite himself. But he doesn’t have the energy to put up any real fight. He really is tired, and Jason is so warm and feels so safe, especially surrounded by the rest of their siblings.

He can hear someone chuckle across the room as his eyes drift closed, then the laugh changes to the cracking of ice below him. There is white all around him, snow obscuring his vision. He can’t tell which way is up, can’t feel the ground beneath him. He’s cold but it feels right, like that’s the way he’s supposed to be.

He’s-

He’s flying now, through endless green. There is no land, there is no ocean, there is no sky. It’s all just green.

He’s in a castle. A keep. He can’t see the outside, but he knows. There are stone walls forming a massive hall, with high arched windows showing the green. There are steps leading up to a throne.

He’s back in the snow. The wind in frigid but it coils around him invitingly. It feels right. It whispers to him, that he is safe here, that this is where he should be. He wants to relax into it but, but he can’t, he shouldn’t. Why can’t he? He doesn’t remember. He doesn’t know where he is. He doesn’t know if this is real. He doesn’t know why that matters.

He looks up and meets glowing green eyes.

---

Tim startles awake with a gasp as if pushed. He shivers, blinking rapidly as Jason strokes his hair and murmurs soothingly. He sits up and clings to his older brother, trying to burrow into the feeling of safety Jason is giving off. He holds tight, shivering and eyes wide as Jason’s arms wrap around him in turn.

He’s cold.

---

Danny woke up and groaned, rolling onto his back and putting an arm across his eyes.

“Shit. I gotta call Frostbite.”

Chapter Text

Jason was really getting worried about Tim.

He hadn’t been the same since the ritual, and at first, they had chalked it up to the trauma. Which, fair enough, he’d be a mess after that. But he was getting worse. And it wasn’t like any kind of ptsd Jason had ever seen. He knew the others had noticed too, had exchanged the same looks with them when Tim zoned out for the third time during dinner, when he was cold to the touch, when he woke up shaking from a nightmare.

Something had happened to Tim in that ritual that they didn’t understand. And it was getting worse each day. Constantine was off doing whatever the fuck trying to get answers but right now they had nothing.

Jason was doing what he could. He could barely stand to be separate from the kid for long these days, something in his chest screaming whenever he couldn’t see Tim that he could be in danger, he needed help, he needed Jason to protect him while he was weak like this.

Not that Tim was weak. Jason knew he wasn’t weak. He was one of the fucking strongest people Jason had ever met. But he was vulnerable right now, it was throwing in Jason’s face just how young Tim still was, and Jason was gonna make damn sure nothing happened to him.

Which lead him to now, walking down the hall with a baby bird under his arm, trying to warm the kid up at least a little, when the doorbell rang.

Jason frowned. He hadn’t heard the gate buzzer go off. Most of the family was already here, the rest weren’t supposed to be coming by today. Constantine and any other capes came in through the cave. Civilians needed to call from the gate before they could get to the door.

Alfred bustled out of the kitchen ahead of them and Jason followed behind, just in case. It was probably nothing, but he had a feeling this was important somehow.

Alfred opened the door and Jason peered past him to see… adoption bait?

On the front steps was a black-haired blue-eyed teenager, somewhere between Jason and Tim’s age, wearing a NASA t-shirt and a polite smile.

He looked perfectly normal but something about him felt familiar somehow, like there was something about the kid that Jason recognised even though he could swear that he’d never seen him before in his life. This guy was powerful, he didn’t know how he knew, but was sure of it. It was setting his teeth on edge because even knowing that, feeling how strong this kid was, he didn’t think he was a threat.

Which made no sense. What kind of bat saw a powerful stranger and didn’t prepare for an attack? But all the tension he was feeling right now was from the fact that there wasn’t any when there should be. Normally the pit would be rising at this point, but it felt strangely subdued, hiding in the back of his mind like it was afraid of the person in front of him.

“Hello, my name’s Danny,” the boy was saying to Alfred. “I was hoping I could talk to-” he cut himself off as he spotted Tim and Jason lurking in the hallway.

“Oh, perfect you’re right there, yeah I just need to talk to Tim about a few things.” He said with a smile.

Jason and Alfred both tensed imperceptibly, cutting a glance to each other that the stranger was either oblivious to or politely ignoring.

“But of course, young sir. If you would come this way, you may conduct your conversation in the sitting room.” Jason was certain by the time they arrived the rest of the family would already be waiting, no one was going to leave Tim alone with this stranger right now.

“Thank you so much, that’s very kind of you.”

He glanced down at Tim, only to find he was staring at the strange boy, mouth slightly ajar. His expression was… far closer to awe than Jason was comfortable with. He pulled Tim a little closer to his side and they followed Alfred and the stranger down the hall.

---

This was the being from the ritual, Tim knew it.

Even as they had walked towards the door, he could feel something on the other side, something familiar, something powerful, and when Alfred had opened the door, he’d just known.

He knew Tim. He was here to talk to Tim. It occurred to him that he should probably be scared. But the being- Danny? He did say Danny, right? - but Danny had the same feeling Tim had felt in his dreams, still cold but in a way that felt welcoming, that felt right, that drew him in. Jason was warm and safe at his side, but Danny felt safe as well, not quite in the same way, but safe nonetheless.

He didn’t think anyone else had realised who Dany was, and he didn’t bother pointing it out.

Tim didn’t know what Danny wanted to talk about, but he didn’t mind. Danny hadn’t hurt him after all, even when everyone thought he would. Tim could trust him.

---

Dick was trying and failing to not to bounce his leg anxiously.

A stranger had somehow got onto the property undetected and had proceeded to… ring the doorbell? Politely ask to speak to Tim? Which obviously wasn’t going to happen unsupervised, so him and Bruce were waiting in the sitting room for their new guest. Babs had been going through the surveillance footage but couldn’t find a single trace of how the stranger arrived. Damian was still at school.

He sat up as Alfred led the others into the room.

The intruder didn’t look like someone who could bypass their bat-grade security system, but they all knew appearances could be deceiving. Jason was eyeing him suspiciously, but his body language was strangely relaxed for the situation. Looking at Tim, he didn’t seem concerned at all and hadn’t taken his eyes off the stranger once. It was… honestly concerning. Maybe he’d zoned out again? As for the boy, he didn’t appear at all surprised to see the rest of the Waynes obviously waiting for him.

“Hi, I introduced myself to the others already, but I’m Danny.” He said as he took a seat on the empty couch, Jason and Tim sitting on the other end of it. “It’s nice to see you all again under better circumstances.”

Bruce frowned at that.

“I’m sorry, have we met?”

Danny blinked for a second before apparently making a realisation.

“Oh of course, you wouldn’t recognise me like this. Sorry, I forget how human senses can be.” The room tensed at that. “We met the other night, when that cult summoned me.”

Ice flooded through Dick, and he froze, staring. This was so much worse than an intruder. They were not prepared for this, they had no plan ready to combat the being.

Bruce had grabbed his previously hidden weapon in a vice grip. Tim, disturbingly, did not look surprised in the least. Or worried. Jason looked properly wary for the first time, but when he spoke, he sounded shockingly civil.

“You’re the one that cult summoned?”

“Yes, I am. I know this isn’t exactly the ghostiest form, so I understand the confusion. I thought you all might be more comfortable with me looking like this, but I should have realised it would cause confusion.” Danny’s smile at Jason was friendly, which did not mesh at all with the image of the creature Dick had in his head.

“What do you mean by ghost?” Bruce growled, not letting up on his grip on the batarang.

Danny blinked. He did not seem very concerned over the large, threatening man with a knife even when he apparently knew he was also Batman. Also, forms? This guy could shape-shift?

“Did you guys… not know who it was they were summoning?”

No one replied which was apparently answer enough for Danny.

“Oh, in that case let me introduce myself properly. I am King Phantom, High King of the Infinite Realms, otherwise known as the Ghost King.” He gave a little bow. “But you can just call me Danny, or Phantom if you like.”

Dick gaped. Holy shit. He knew Constantine said the being was strong, but ‘High King of the Infinite Realms’ sounded like another level. Where the realms really infinite? How did that even work? And why would the king look like a teenager?

Batman- because it was Batman right now- spoke, his angry growl pulling Dick out of his spiral.

“What do you want with Tim?”

Phantom’s casual posture and polite smile vanished, and he sat up straight clasping his hands in front of him professionally. Like this Dick could almost believe this kid was actually a king.

“Right. I had hoped that Tim could emerge from the ritual unscathed. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Tim, would I be right in saying you’ve been having strange dreams since the ritual?”

“Yes,” Tim’s voice was quiet, and he was looking at Phantom like he held the answers to all the universe’s questions. Which, hell, maybe he did. Phantom’s words were formal, but he kept his tone surprisingly soft as he addressed Tim.

“And you’ve likely been experiencing other symptoms as well. Probably several but I’d hazard a guess you’ve been feeling cold?”

“Really cold,” Tim murmured.

“And it’s been getting worse?” Phantom asked gently. Tim’s gaze dropped at that one, and he just nodded, wrapping his arms around himself and leaning into the arm Jason had left around his shoulders. Dick’s heart broke, the whole family was scared for Tim, not knowing what might be happening to him, but it must be worse for the boy himself.

That was about as much as Bruce had the patience for apparently.

“How do you know all this?”

His voice was harsh when he spoke, but Phantom appeared unphased.

“The ritual left a latent connection between Tim and myself. I only became aware of it as it grew stronger, and I began to sense as Tim’s dreams were occurring. Like I said, I’d hoped nothing would happen, but this situation is rare and unpredictable, and it appears to have had several effects on him. The connection though, is completely fixable, I checked before I came here.”

“What do you mean several effects? What has it done to him?” If Dick didn’t know him so well, he would be terrified of Bruce in this moment, but Phantom met his gaze levelly and held his ground. Dick had to admit, the kid must have balls of steel.

“I have my suspicions after meeting him in person, but this is a complicated situation, and I’d rather wait for an expert opinion than engage in speculation. Speaking of. Tim,” He turned to the boy, completely dismissing the irate Batman. “Would you be willing to come to the realms to visit my doctor? He’ll be able to fix the connection and look you over for any other problems.”

“Yeah, sure.” Dick blinked. Tim hadn’t even hesitated. Was just, completely willing to go to another dimension with a strange, highly powerful being that possessed his corpse one time, to get an unknown medical procedure. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

“Like hell you will!”

Oh, thank God, Jay was being the voice of reason.

“You’re not going anywhere-” Exactly, this was insane, there was no way they were letting this happen. “-without me!”

Wait what?

“Jason” he hissed, horrified, but Phantom looked thrilled at the suggestion.

“That would be perfect actually, Tim should have someone to advocate for him and we can clear up your corruption once we’re finished.”

“The hell you mean corruption?” Dick tensed, ready to intervene if the pit started rising, but Jason’s eyes remained clear of the otherworldly glow, containing only garden variety anger and a healthy dose of fear.

“The ectoplasm in your core is corrupted. I’m not sure how you got exposed to such a high dose, but you must have noticed the way it’s affecting you by now. This type of thing normally messes with a gh- with someone’s emotional regulation, making it more intense and harder to manage. Could be sadness, jealousy, anger, it depends on the exact source.”

Jason was staring at Phantom, the tension gone from his shoulders.

“You can get rid of the pit rage?”

Dick’s heart clenched. His brother’s voice sounded so raw, full of hope he was trying his best to hide. Jason had made such great progress in controlling the pit, but he knew the effects still weighed on him, knew he was still scared of what he might do.

“That’s what you call it? Yeah, it’s just a matter of drawing out the corrupted ectoplasm and replacing it with pure stuff. It can be pretty tiring for the patient, and you need a source of pure ectoplasm, but we can provide that, and the actual procedure is very simple to perform. I’ve seen it done before.”

Jason blinked a few times and then slumped, pulling Tim further into a hug and burying his face in the kid’s hair. Tim immediately latched on, letting Jason hold him tight as he took slow shuddering breaths. Eventually he spoke.

“Yes, I’d- fuck. I want to get rid of it. Please.”

“Alright, we can do that then.” Phantom’s voice was kind, like he understood the relief Jason was feeling.

They sat in silence for a moment more as Jason collected himself before Bruce cleared his throat.

“What did you mean Tim should have someone to advocate for him?”

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable at this.

“Ah, right. It’s- Look, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I swear, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and getting rid of the connection will fix it, I promise.”

He took a deep breath, glancing guiltily at Tim, who was still huddled into Jason and watching Danny calmly. Dick did not like where this was going.

“Basically, due to the connection between us and the, uh… intention of the ritual that caused it, until that connection gets broken Tim will be… easily influenced by me.”

Jason and Bruce both have their jaws clenched so hard Dick thinks he can hear their teeth grinding. Dick kind of wants to throw up. Tim just looks a little confused, which, god.

Phantom must see the looks on their faces because he quickly keeps talking, waving his hands as he does.

“It’s nothing extreme! And I’m not going to take advantage of it, I’d never, I swear to the ancients. It just makes him… less wary of me, more inclined to do what I ask. But not enough to force him to do anything he didn’t want to! Just, yeah. I’d rather he has someone come along to look out for him until we can get rid of it.”

Luckily, Phantom looked just as uncomfortable and disturbed by the discussion as the rest of them, or else Dick was really going to have to try and fight the King of the dead or whatever and he didn’t see that going well for him.

Tim was frowning a little now, brow furrowed like he was thinking hard. Hopefully he was realising how strange it was for him to just agree to go with Phantom so readily. Dick shuddered.

It was fine, they were going to fix it. They were going to fix everything.

Bruce let out a slow breath through his nose before speaking again, his voice carefully measured.

“Very well. In that case, as both Jason and Tim are getting… procedures done I will come along to accompany them-”

“You can’t.” Danny said, cutting Bruce off.

“Excuse me”

Phantom winced a little at Bruce’s tone, deadly and practically frigid.

“I mean you physically can’t. The realms primarily house ghosts and other similar creatures, the levels of ambient ectoplasm required to sustain them comfortably is dangerous to normal humans.”

“Then why are you taking Tim and Jason there?!”

Dick’s voice was maybe a little shrill, but he felt it was justified at the suggestion of taking his little brothers to the dimension of apparently constant toxicity.

“I said it was dangerous to normal humans. Tim and Jason are both liminal.” This time he barrelled on with the explanation before they had a chance to ask the question.

“That means they are somewhere between ghost and human. There’s lots of different ways it can happen and lots of different types of liminal but in most cases, it happens through exposure to high levels of ectoplasm, and sometimes temporary or near-death experiences. It doesn’t always happen, there’s a lot of nuances, but the base line is that the ectoplasm in the realms will not be harmful to either of them like it would be for you.”

Oh god, Jason. And Tim. His poor little brothers. The fact that they both had gone through enough to be considered part ghost, Dick felt sick. How could he have let this happen to them, and now he can’t even be there to support them through this?

“What would happen if we did accompany them?” Bruce asked, his jaw set in the stubborn line it so often resides in. Phantom sighed.

“Nothing good. It varies a lot between people, ectoplasm is very unpredictable sometimes, and I haven’t exactly been eager to test it.” He says pointedly. “But in the short term, in the part we’d need to visit, extreme discomfort, pain, possibly nausea, vomiting, migraines, and an eventual loss of consciousness. And it would likely leave you with long-term or chronic effects, but those are much harder to predict.”

…okay yeah, that didn’t seem like something they could deal with.

Bruce grunted and sat back in his chair. Apparently accepting defeat on this front for now but unwilling to acknowledge it as such. Dick fully expected him to be researching some kind of shielding by tonight, but he didn’t think they could wait that long.

Danny seemed to echo his thought because after waiting for a minute he clapped his hands and looked around at them.

“So, is that everything? I don’t mean to rush you, I know this is a lot to take in, but I’d really like to get Tim to the doctor before his symptoms progress any further. And I’m sure we’ll all be happier once the connection is severed.”

Dick sighed, leaning forward to rest his forearms on his thighs.

“Tim? Jason? How are you guys feeling about this?”

Jason frowned and looked away.

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s just get this over with. The sooner we go the sooner Tim can get help, and I can get this damn pit out of my head.”

Dick wasn’t fooled by the flippant attitude, he could see how tightly Jason was holding onto Tim, who was still huddling into his side, still looking a little thoughtful but mostly just tired. The bone deep tired that had been lingering on him for days.

“I’d like to go. I’m tired of being cold like this. And Jason’s coming so he can look out for me.”

At the matter of fact phrasing Jason let a soft smile creep onto his face and gave his brother an extra squeeze.

Phantom smiled and stood up from his chair.

“Wonderful! If we’re all ready, then,”

The family stared as two glowing white rings formed around Phantom, passing over him to reveal-

Dick gulped. Yeah, that looked more like the Ghost King.

He was dressed in black, some kind of armour covering his chest, with white boots and gloves, the latter with claws visible at the ends of his fingers. He had a long cape, the inside of which was lined with a literal galaxy, constellations swirling and sparkling before his eyes. On his finger was a glowing green ring, the same colour as his now also glowing eyes. His teeth had grown into fangs and his hair had turned pure white, standing up and waving in a breeze that wasn’t there, almost like it was underwater. His skin was so pale it was almost almost blue and seemed to glow slightly. And floating above his head was a crown of glowing blue ice.

Tim and Jason had both stood from the couch and Jason had a hand clutched over his chest and was hunched a little. They were both openly gaping. Him and Bruce weren’t much better.

Phantom- King Phantom grinned at them, showing off his fangs. He raised the hand with the ring, and sliced it through the air next to him, tearing open a vivid green, swirling portal.

“If you would step this way,” he said, doing a small bow with his arm extended towards the portal.

Dick was really starting to have second thoughts about this, and if the set of Bruce’s jaw was any indication, so was he.

He saw Jason visibly gulp at the sight of the portal, before squaring his shoulders, grabbing onto Tim’s hand, and starting forward. Tim for his part looked fascinated, his eyes wide as he almost stumbled after Jason.

Jason paused at the edge of the portal, taking a deep breath and giving one more look to Bruce and Dick, before setting his jaw and marching into the portal, Tim following close behind.

Phantom nodded once at them both before he stepped through the portal and it winked out of existence behind him, leaving Dick and Bruce alone in the now empty room.

Chapter Text

Tim wasn’t worried as he followed Jason through the portal.

Which, ok yeah, he could kind of see how there was a problem there. It probably wasn’t normal to be so calm about interdimensional travel with a strange and very powerful being but… it just didn’t feel like a big deal. Danny was going to fix the cold. And he was so nice about it, he didn’t seem like he was a danger to them.

But once it was pointed out, Tim could sort of see the places in his mind where his suspicion should normally be rearing its head. Not even Bat-grade paranoia, just common-sense wariness. Garden variety stranger danger. But even seeing the blank spots he just… couldn’t muster up any of the actual feeling. The same way the ice had grown to muffle his other emotions, it completely smothered these ones. Leaving him drifting along with whatever Danny asked, following after the feelings he could sense from the King.

So maybe Tim couldn’t be objective here. That was fine. Jason was here and they both knew what that Tim was compromised so he just had to stay with Jason, and he’d be safe. Jason would keep him safe, Tim knew that for certain. He could feel the determination coming from Jason and it wrapped around him like a blanket. Jason would keep him safe.

They world they’d stepped into was… well it was a lot of things, but the most fitting description Tim could come up with was green.

The sky was the same green expanse Tim had been dreaming of. Endless and otherworldly and perfectly matching the green of Danny’s newly glowing eyes.

It was also uncomfortably close to the green of the Lazarus pit, although Tim was pretty sure he could pick out a slight difference between them. The pit always looked, sickly somehow. Wrong. But this, this was vibrant, and brilliant and full of, well maybe not life, but certainly energy.

The difference to his dream was where they stood. Namely the fact that there was something within the green to stand on.

They were standing in a stony courtyard on an island floating in the middle of the green. Tim could see other, smaller islands in the distance, but they were overshadowed by the enormous castle- no the Keep that was looming over them.

It completely dominated the island they were stood on, its proportions were completely impossible, spitting in the face of gravity and physics itself every second it stood. It was comprised of a kaleidoscope of styles, ranging all over history and the world, with Tim only able to recognise a precious few of them.

And he knew that if he walked far enough inside, he’d find a throne room with high arched windows showing the sky outside.

Danny stepped through the portal after them and he saw Jason tense as it blipped out of existence. Well. No going back that way.

“Alright,” Danny said, clapping his hands and smiling. “Let’s get you two looked after, shall we? C’mon, Frostbite’s waiting through here.”

He led them toward the nearest corridor leading into the keep.

“I asked him to come meet us here today, rather than us going to the Far Frozen. Until we were certain how your core was behaving that seemed a little risky. And it would have been a pretty intense introduction to the realms.”

“And this isn’t?” muttered Jason under his breath, looking around at the alien sky and the enormous, mind bendingly impossible floating castle.

Tim snickered quietly and surprisingly so did Danny, despite being too far away to have heard.

“Compared to an endless frozen landscape with eternal blizzards and populated by yetis? Yeah, this is pretty tame.”

Jason gulped and pulled Tim under his arm to keep moving forward.

Eventually Danny led them into what was clearly a medical ward, or the ghostly equivalent. Standing in the middle of the floor was-

Tim blinked. Well, he supposed Danny had warned them in a roundabout way. But still.

Standing in the middle of the floor was a yeti, apparently, with half-moon spectacles perched on his nose- snout? No better to go with nose- and peering down at a comically undersized clipboard.

At their entrance he looked up and smiled widely.

“Ah, Great One! And guests! Welcome, welcome, I am Frostbite, the Great One’s primary physician, among other things.” His voice was booming and jovial, and Tim blinked a few times before tentatively replying.

“Uh, I’m Tim.” He said, nudging Jason when the silence threatened to stretch.

“Jason,” He muttered, eyeing the yeti suspiciously.

Frostbite did not seem the least put off by the attitude.

“Wonderful! It is always an honour to meet guests of the Great One.” He was pretty sure he saw Danny roll his eyes at that. “Now, shall we begin? Have you discussed what we shall be doing here today?”

Tim and Jason looked at each other. Jason looked nervous and Tim was feeling out of his depth, it all sounded so simple to talk about, but here in this sterile room he realised they hadn’t actually talked about the details of what was going to happen.

Luckily Danny jumped in at that point.

“We’ve gone over the broad strokes. I didn’t want to speculate on Tim’s condition so it would probably be best you properly examine him first, and then we can treat him and dissolve the connection between us. Once that’s done Tim should be fine and Jason can get his corruption cleansed. Does that work with you guys?” He asked glancing over at them.

Tim looked at Jason. It sounded fine to him, but they’d already established his biases about this. Jason clenched his jaw, apparently still not fully comfortable with the situation.

“Fine,” he eventually bit out. “But I’m staying in the room the whole time, and you’re telling me everything you do to him.”

“But of course,” Frostbite replied jovially, motioning Tim to sit on the bed in the centre of the room, “It is common for a ghostling to have part of their fraid accompany them.”

Tim felt like he should probably protest that, he was hardly a baby, even if he was maybe a little mind controlled. He frowned a bit as he sat, swinging his legs slightly.

“Fraid?”

“It’s like family,” Danny replied. “It means your cores have developed a bond with each other.”

“You keep saying that,” Jason cut in as Frostbite gathered various equipment from around the room. “What the hell is a core?”

Frostbite answered this time, moving back to Tim with some kind of scanner? Or tablet? Tim didn’t know, some kind of equipment.

“Why, a core is the essence of a ghost. The centre of who they are, most everything about them, what allows them to use ectoplasm and interact with the world. It is what we will be using this,” he gestured with the thing in his hand, “to examine. It is vital to a ghost’s health and wellbeing.”

He pressed a few buttons, and the device beeped and started to hum from where it was pointed at Tim. Danny nodded at Frostbite’s explanation and continued it.

“Most liminals, once they form, are living humans that also have a ghost core. Like I said before, somewhere between human and ghost.”

He looked at Jason, “Your core is full of corrupted ectoplasm, which is messing with your emotions and not letting your core function properly, which is probably why you haven’t noticed any ghostly traits. Think of it like the corruption has been muffling your core, on top of everything else it’s been doing to you. You’ll probably be able to feel your core a lot more once we clean it out.”

Jason blinked, opening and closing his mouth a few times.

“So, I’ve had this, this core since- since when, since I died? Since I came back? And I haven’t even noticed because of the fucking pit?”

“I don’t know enough about the manner of your death and resurrection to say for sure when it formed, but yes it has definitely been there since you came back to life. You could probably feel a few things from it, instincts, hints of your obsession, maybe protectiveness of your haunt, but weak enough that you could likely dismiss them. A lot of it wouldn’t be obvious until you interacted with another ghost.”

Jason was starting to look seriously overwhelmed. Tim couldn’t really blame him, just about every second word in there was unfamiliar.

“And- and Tim?! Does he have one of these cores as well? Is that what’s been wrong with him since the ritual?”

Tim’s interest was piqued, he wanted to know that as well. Danny had made it sound like they would be able to fix Tim, but it didn’t seem like a core was something you could get rid of. He really didn’t want to be cold like this forever.

“Tim does have a core, but it formed under very unusual circumstances. Honestly, we weren’t sure if one would form at all. But a proper core should not be having these effects, so our theory is that it hasn’t formed properly, which is why we’re checking it now.” The device in Frostbite’s hand beeped drawing the attention of the room. “Speaking of. What do we have Frosty?”

Frostbite hummed, peering through his glasses at the screen and Danny floated up to look over his shoulder.

“Well Young One, it is as we suspected,” Frostbite addressed Tim, “Your core is only half formed and is impacting the rest of your body.”

“The hell does that mean?” Jason snarled, stalking forward. “How does that-”

But Tim’s softly spoken question cut off whatever else he was going to say.

“Can you fix it?”

Jason deflated, the anger leaving his posture, and he came and sat next to Tim on the bed, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him into his side. Tim went readily, needing his brother’s support right now. Somehow the confirmation hit harder than he had expected, even though he came here knowing there was something wrong with him.

“Yes, Young One. This is a simple matter to correct, it is not uncommon for young ghosts to have incomplete cores. It is only dangerous in your case because of how it is affecting your living body.”

Danny nodded, taking over the explanation.

“A core is essentially what a person’s soul turns into once they become a ghost. Ghosts run off ectoplasm, and your core is full of it, so you need a large amount of it when you are first forming your core. For regular ghosts, if there isn’t quite enough but they have a strong emotional drive to become a ghost anyway, then their core will gradually form using the ambient ectoplasm in the realms once they pass over. But you can’t do that because your core is stored in a living body. The ectoplasm in my core was apparently enough for your soul to transmuting while you were dead during the ritual.”

Jason flinched at that, which Danny gamely ignored.

“But that’s the only ectoplasm you’ve been exposed to, so your core didn’t finish forming. I have an ice core, you most likely do as well, which is why you’ve been feeling so cold. All that power is supposed to be contained in your core, but it’s leaking out into the rest of your body, which is not designed to deal with it. Luckily though, it looks like we’ve caught it before it does any damage to your body, so you won’t have any health issues from this.”

Tim let out a sigh of relief. Jason leaned forward as Danny finished talking.

“So, you’re saying you can get rid of the- the ectoplasm or whatever? Tim can go back to normal?”

Danny winced and exchanged a look with Frostbite.

“No,” he said with a grimace. “There isn’t any way to reverse the process of forming a core, or to remove this kind ectoplasm contamination. What I mean is that by helping Tim’s core fully form, all the power will be contained, and he will be able to reach a state of equilibrium. It will resolve his current symptoms and there won’t be any physical injury or damage from it, but it will make him a liminal being.”

Oh… that- that wasn’t great. But then again, Tim already knew he was changed the moment he woke up after the ritual. It sucked, but he knew the risks for the life he’d chosen, sometimes things happened that couldn’t be undone.

If he was already changed, he’d much rather commit to it and change fully than try to live halfway between with his body tearing itself apart.

He took a deep breath around the ice in his chest. This morning, he was starting to be convinced that he was going to end up slowly wasting away in front of his anguished family. Being part ghost was practically nothing compared to that. At least he would still be alive.

From the way Jason seemed to be gearing himself up to yell, he didn’t agree with Tim’s assessment.

Tim latched onto his arm, looking up to meet his eyes.

“Jason,” he said softly, “We already knew something was happening to me. At least this won’t get worse.”

Jason held his gaze for a long moment before swearing and dropping his face to his palm, not letting go of Tim. He took several long breaths before speaking through gritted teeth.

“Shit. Fine, you can join the half dead club or whatever. But I’m not explaining to Dick and B that we let them make you even ghostier than before.”

He looked up to glare at Danny and Frostbite.

“So how does this work?”

Chapter Text

“So how does this work?”

Apparently how it worked was pretty simple. They had him lie back on the bed and explained that they needed to gather everything that had leaked out of his core back into his chest. Then they would supply a surplus of ectoplasm to his core and hold it in place as it finished forming.

“By the way,” Danny said offhand, as he prepared some piece of equipment, “I noticed on the scan that you are missing your spleen.”

“Yeah?”

“Would you like a new one? It must be pretty annoying, and it’d be no trouble.”

Tim blinked at the ceiling a few times. This was where his life was at. An interdimensional monarch was assuring him it was no trouble to replace his spleen. Just casually. In the middle of an entirely different magical procedure.

Fuck it, he’d come this far.

“That would be great, thank you.”

Danny hummed absentmindedly in confirmation and Tim turned his head to see Jason’s eyebrows raised to his hairline, staring at Danny. He glanced over to Tim and let out an incredulous huff of laughter, shaking his head.

Once Danny and Frostbite finished whatever gathering whatever it was, they were ready to start. The first stage was apparently rather fiddly and time consuming, but all told it should take less than an hour. Jason stayed by his side, holding his hand and watching the proceedings closely, although with less suspicion than he had initially.

“So, once you guys fix his core, you’re gonna break the connection between you right?” he asked challengingly, lifting his chin.

“Once we fix his core we won’t need to actually. It’ll dissolve on its own as we complete the process. The connection currently there was formed before his soul started transmuting, so it isn’t the same kind of bond that forms between ghosts. Ghosts only form mutual bonds, built on reciprocal feelings, whatever form those take. This… this is not that.” Danny grimaced as he worked. “Luckily its only vestigial because these kinds of connections… well let’s just say I’m not a fan of anyone who willingly binds someone else’s soul like this. We’ll double check it's gone of course, but it shouldn’t be able to survive once he has a proper core.”

Tim felt bad that Danny had been stuck with him in such an apparently unpleasant way. He hadn’t meant to cause so much bother to the king. He opened his mouth to apologise but Jason met his eyes in a fierce glare until Tim wisely shut his mouth and settled back.

He stared at the ceiling while Danny and Frostbite worked. He couldn’t really see what they were doing, honestly, he wasn’t sure he would want to, but he could feel it. The cold that had gradually spread through him started to recede. It started with his fingers and toes, slowly flowing back up his limbs like ice water in his veins.

He hadn’t even realised quite how cold he’d gotten. Jason squeezed his hand, and it no longer felt like the warmth of a hearth to curl up beside, just the soft feeling of warm skin on his.

Tim let out a shuddering breath.

While the cold had drained from his limbs it felt like every drop of ice water had been concentrated in his chest. It kept receding, squeezing into a smaller and smaller space until there was a block of solid ice in his chest, and he was certain his heart would freeze over from the proximity.

He thought the frost clouding his head might have been gathered up as well, but right now he couldn’t focus on anything but the ice in his chest. He felt Jason squeeze his hand again, faintly heard voices, and latched onto the point of sensation in his hand. Squeezing tightly and trying to focus on the warmth.

Then there was a green glow on the edge of his vision, and a strange sensation in his chest, before suddenly the cold was gone. He gasped, blinking rapidly at the sudden loss of sensation, and realised he was panting, breathing laboured like he’d run a marathon.

“Hey. Hey, you ok Timbit?”

He rolled his head to the side to see his worried brother still holding his hand. He blinked a few more times and squeezed Jason’s hand reassuringly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m- I’m fine. Feels weird. But better.”

Jason looked a little sceptical, but Danny’s voice sounded from out of Tim’s view before he could reply.

“The feeling should settle more in a second. Just try to stay still. We need to hold it for a few more minutes before it should be done and you’ll be good.”

He nodded and turned his head back to the ceiling, letting his eyes close as he tried to categorise what he was feeling. Now that the initial shock was over, he realised that the cold hadn’t completely vanished, but it had changed.

There was still that strange sensation in his chest that he guessed was from the others holding his new core in place. If he focussed, he could still feel a block of cold in his chest, but it was shifting, no longer a biting, numbing block of ice, but more… soft somehow.

Tim couldn’t explain it, even as the rest of the icy feeling continued to soften. It was still cold, still frozen, by rights he should hate it, but… it didn’t feel as harsh, didn’t feel as foreign and overwhelming. Similar to how the cold in his dreams had felt more welcoming than when he was awake, this cold felt right. Like a cool breeze on a hot day, a welcome chill. It felt like. Like it was his.

It was his he realised as the strange feeling in his chest disappeared, and he opened his eyes. It was no longer some foreign force pressing on him, no longer overpowering. Now it was just there, nestled in his chest where it belonged, a pleasant cool sensation when he focussed on it, but no longer spreading beyond where it should.

He sat up slowly, pressing his free hand against his- his core. His head was clear, his body was warm, his emotions were his own. He almost wanted to cry at the depth of sensation he was experiencing, he hadn’t realised just how muffled everything had been until it was suddenly gone. He didn’t feel the same as he had before the ritual, but he felt good, felt right.

He turned to the three figures standing beside his bed, a wide grin on his face, ironically feeling more alive than he had in days.

Jason looked anxious, but relaxed at Tim’s expression, his own grin breaking out at the emotion Tim felt sure must be radiating from him. He jumped up from the bed and hugged Jason tight, burying his face in his chest and Jason’s arms squeezed tight around him.

“It looks like it worked then,” Danny said, and Tim lifted his head to see Danny and Frostbite both smiling back at him.

“It did, thank you so much. Seriously, I feel so much better I can’t thank you enough.”

Now that his mind was clear, Tim had a million questions, about Danny, ghosts, the realms, his own liminal status, but he held them back. Now wasn’t the time, hopefully he would get a chance to pick Danny’s brains after Jason had had his procedure.

Danny waved a hand dismissively.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s part of my job to ensure the welfare of my subjects. Plus, even if I didn’t sanction it, this was done to you in my name. That makes it my responsibility to fix.”

Tim narrowed his eyes at that, but before he could open his mouth, Jason scoffed.

“Please, you sound like the old man. The king thing, sure, but what those nutjobs did isn’t on you. Not that we don’t appreciate it, but I think we’ve established at this point that you didn’t want this to happen either.”

Frostbite looked pleased Jason’s comment, and Danny huffed a little and looked away with a small smile.

“You know that most people would take being compared to Batman as a compliment, right?”

“Only those that haven’t met him.” Jason snarked back. “Speaking off the nutjobs though, you’re sure Tim’s fine? The… connection is gone too?”

Danny nodded seriously.

“I can’t feel it anymore. It shouldn’t have been able to survive, but we’ll check again to be certain.”

Frostbite held up the same scanner he’d used initially and waved it at Tim again. Once it beeped, he examined the screen and nodded.

“The Young One’s core has fully formed, and no tether remains to the Great One. There will be no more unwanted influence.”

Everyone sagged in relief at that, and Frostbite turned to Tim.

“Your core is healthy and acting as it should at this stage of development. It looks to be an ice core, which is unsurprising considering the circumstances. As you are still so young, it may continue to develop and manifest different effects or abilities, although those are always unpredictable for liminals such as yourself.”

Tim nodded, but couldn’t help adding, “I’m really not that young you know? I’m 17.”

Danny laughed, shaking his head.

“Sorry kid, it doesn’t matter how old you are when you die, it’s how long you’ve been dead that matters for ghosts. Your core only just formed. That makes you a baby ghost.”

Tim spluttered and Jason smirked, ruffling his hair.

“Aww, little Timmy the ickle baby ghost.”

Danny turned to Jason and kept explaining, “It’s part of why you probably felt so protective of him recently. Beyond him being part of your fraid and being sick, you would have recognised him as a ghostling and instinctually want to protect him. And he would have instinctively looked to you for safety as an older ghost he trusted. Even if technically, you are only adolescent yourself.”

That was fascinating, how apparently their cores connected them to instincts that neither of them was even aware of. And it did track with how they’d both been behaving since the incident, and why he hadn’t felt the same instinctive safety around the rest of the family. The most important piece of information though…

“Ha!” Tim crowed, pointing dramatically at Jason, “You’re a baby ghost too!”

“You little shit,” Jason muttered, but Tim was already turning back to Danny.

“Wait so does that mean our instincts would look to you for protection as well if we thought you were safe?”

“Well, in a sense. Ghosts will recognize me as King first and foremost, which generally translates to a sense of either safety or fear depending on the ghost and the circumstances. Beyond that, yeah, if you decided you trusted, me your core would probably look to me for protection if you needed it.”

Jason spoke up then, “Wait, is that why the pit was scared of you when you showed up at the manor?”

“Most likely. I haven’t encountered this exact style of corruption before, but it would make sense for its effect to be muted if your core could sense me at the time. Speaking of, are you ready for your turn or do you want to wait a bit longer?”

Jason gulped and Tim squeezed his hand reassuringly. Jason took a long slow breath and squeezed back before standing and moving to the table.

“Let’s do it.”

Danny nodded and him and Frostbite started moving around again, gathering more equipment. Tim took what had been Jason’s place and held his hand, Jason squeezing tight enough to betray his nerves.

Soon enough, Danny and Frostbite were set up with… well Tim wasn’t really sure what this stuff was. There was a container of freaky glowing green stuff, as well as a matching empty container with a funnel on top. He wasn’t sure if Jason could see the green stuff from where he was lying and made the executive decision not to mention it to him. He was freaking out enough as it was.

“All right,” Danny said, handing Frostbite the glowing container and setting the empty one next to Jason. “This might feel a little weird.”

Then he stuck his hands into Jason’s chest.

Like- just straight in there. Damn.

Is that what they did to him?!

Jason tensed, gritting his teeth as his eyes started to glow. Tim tensed as well, but Jason didn’t seem to be about to fly off the handle, didn’t even seem angry. Maybe the glow was just a side effect?

Danny narrowed his eyes, focussing all his attention on Jason as he slowly drew one of his hands out. Sickly green- slime? Goo? He had no idea. Sickly green stuff was clinging to his hand and making a trail back to Jason’s chest.

Tim very carefully kept his face neutral, knowing that his was probably the only one Jason could see. But seriously, that was gross. Jason just had a chest full of Lazarus snot? Why did it look so gross, was it because it was corrupted? Or was it just like that?

Danny dropped his handful of slime in the funnel of the empty container, quickly putting his empty hand back in Jason’s chest as he started to pull his other hand out, along with more slime. Once the container was half full, Frostbite opened his container and started adding the contents into Jason’s chest.

While still green, glowing and kinda slimy, this stuff appeared a lot less sticky, and floated a little around Frostbite’s hands, rather than clinging to them. Side by side it was easy to tell the difference between the two versions of ectoplasm. Tim could see why Danny had been so eager to help Jason get rid of the corruption. Even beyond the impacts of the pit rage on Jason’s psyche and the people around him, this stuff was just gross.

“That face is not helping, Replacement.” Jason spoke through gritted teeth and Tim looked back at him guiltily.

“Sorry, it just looks… never mind, I think they’re nearly done.”

Jason gave him a look but thankfully Danny’s container really was nearly full, and with one last surprisingly forceful yank, he pulled out the last handful of pit gunk.

Jason gasped, his eyes blazing green for a second before they slowly settled back into their normal teal. Frostbite fed the last of the clean ectoplasm into Jason’s chest before removing his hands, leaving Jason breathing heavily on the table.

Tim watched him for a few seconds, and when he made no move to get up, cautiously ventured, “Jay? You good?”

Jason took one more inhale before tilting his head to look at Tim, blinking a few times.

“Yeah… yeah, I’m good. It’s just, it’s just a lot you know?” He said, levering himself upright on the table. “But I’m, I’m good. Really good. Holy shit,” He laughed, sounding disbelieving. “It’s gone. It’s really fucking gone. Holy shit.”

He looked up at Danny and Frostbite. “Thank you. Seriously, for what you did for Tim as well, thank you so much. It’s, I can’t even… thank you.”

Frostbite looked delighted. “You are most welcome,” he boomed, jovially patting Jason’s shoulder and nearly knocking him off the bed. Danny looked embarrassed at the raw sincerity Jason was exuding, blushing slightly and rubbing the back of his neck.

“It’s no big deal really.” He mumbled.

“Uh,” Tim interjected, “It’s a pretty big deal to us. I was wasting away, and the pit has been making Jason’s life hell for years. And you just swooped in and fixed us both right up. Seriously, thank you.”

Danny was blushing even more now, and Frostbite chuckled.

“The Great One has never been well able to accept gratitude for his actions.” Danny, still blushing, glared at Frostbite, who just clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You are both most welcome for the assistance, and welcome to return should you ever have need, I’m sure.”

Danny gave up on glaring at the yeti and instead, somewhat desperately, tried to change the topic.

“By the way Jason, can I ask how you got exposed to the corruption in the first place? This kind of thing normally can’t make it to the human world.”

Jason’s shoulders hunched a little as his gaze dropped, looking a little haunted. Tim hopped onto the table to lean reassuringly against him and Jason dropped an arm around his shoulder.

“The Lazarus pits. They’re these- these literal pools full of that corrupted shit you just pulled outta me. They can heal pretty much any injury, but they drive you mad, give you pit rage. I spent the first week after I got dunked literally feral, killing everyone in sight. There’s this batshit insane assassin cult leader, Damian’s grandfather, he uses them to make himself immortal. Been swimming in them for 600 years now and he… he’s fucking cracked.”

Danny’s eyes were wide as Jason finished talking.

“Ancients, that’s… you said there were pools of this stuff? Just, out in the world? I… I’m gonna have to look into that.”

Jason shrugged.

“Yeah, dunno how they formed or anything, but they cause a helluva lot of shit for everyone but Ra’s. And Ra’s causes a fuckton of shit for pretty much everyone.”

Danny nodded, apparently reading Jason’s discomfort for the topic.

“Right. Well, you guys are both welcome here whenever you want. I’ll give you both a spell that can summon me- in a much less creepy way than last time! If you have questions, or need help or just want to explore the realms, just give me a call.”

Two business cards appeared in his hand, and he gave one to each of them. Tim squinted at it, it very clearly wasn’t English, or any language he’d ever seen but… he was pretty sure he could still read it.

“It’s written in ghost speech. No one other than ghosts will be able to understand it, but you guys just read it aloud and I’ll be there.”

“You sure? You’ve already done so much for us, and it seems pretty dangerous to give us these.”

Danny shrugged.

“You guys won’t use them against me, and no one who steals them will be able to use it. Besides, you guys technically count as my subjects, and I look after my people.”

“You seem real sure you can trust us.”

“I can feel it. You trust me, don’t you? It’s very difficult for ghosts to lie to each other, we can sense too much. It’s probably subconscious for you guys right now, but if you practice, you’ll be able to pick up emotions from each other, and any other ghost you come across.”

Tim blinked. That would explain the protective vibes he’d been getting from Jason all week. He’d really been feeling that? Wow. Tim narrowed his eyes, meeting Jason’s gaze.

“…We’re not telling the others about that.”

“Agreed.”

“Speaking of, I should probably send you back before Batman figures out how to storm the ghost zone.”

It was telling that no one laughed.

“Yeah, that would probably be for the best, I’m wiped.”

“Makes sense, that procedure takes a lot out of you. I’m surprised you’re still standing to be honest. You’ll probably crash soon. Don’t be concerned if he sleeps for like fourteen hours, that’s normal.” He addressed the last part to Tim.

“Alright,” He waved his hand tearing open another green rip in reality. “Shall we?”

Jason stood, and Tim moved to support him when he wobbled a little. They both waved goodbye to Frostbite and stepped through the portal after Danny.

Chapter Text

They stepped through the portal, back into the sitting room they left from, although it had gained some occupants since then.

Dick was pacing the room, hair in disarray from running his hands through it so many times. Damian was sitting in the corner, sharpening his sword. Bruce was standing in the middle of the room apparently mid-argument with Constantine, who looked about halfway through an existential crisis, and like he really wanted a drink. Although that second one was pretty standard for Constantine.

They’d all turned to stare at the portal though, and the three of them as they stepped out. Damian kept a tight grip on his sword, while Dick and Bruce relaxed slightly but did not come close to dropping their guards. Constantine, in contrast, paled dramatically.

“Your majesty,” he said, bowing deeply.

The bats stared. Or Tim, Jason and Dick did. Bruce and Damian had their eyes locked on Danny. He’d never seen Constantine show this level of respect before. Come to think of it, he wasn’t sure he’d seen Constantine show any level of respect before.

“No need for that, I’m just dropping these two home,” Danny waved a hand dismissively and Constantine straightened, still pale.

“Well, this has been lovely. Tim, Jason, you both have my card?” They nodded. “Like I said, call me if you need anything. You might start noticing some changes as your core settles, so feel free to ask me any questions you have.”

“Thanks Danny, seriously.” Tim said, Jason nodding a little sleepily next to him. Tim saw Constantine twitch.

“It was no problem,” Danny said, smiling. “See you around.” He stepped through the portal, and it blinked out of existence.

There was one frozen second as they all stared at where the portal had been, before the room exploded in motion.

Constantine collapsed onto the nearest chair, head in his shaking hands. The bats leapt towards Tim and Jason. Dick was clearly torn between who to hug first, so settled on squeezing both of them at the same time.

“Status report,” Bruce barked, and Tim would roll his eyes if he couldn’t hear the thread of panic in his voice.

“We’re fine B. You already knew what was happening. We met his doctor, got fixed up, and came home. Both of us are fine. Although Jason is probably gonna need a nap.”

“Why should Todd need to sleep? It is barely four!” Damian protested, although Tim couldn’t see him past Dick’s shoulder.

“Because I got the pit pulled right outta me, brat. Shit’s tiring.”

Before anyone else could panic at that, Alfred’s calm voice broke through their little huddle.

“In that case, perhaps we could let Master Jason rest, before there are any more interrogations?”

“You’re a lifesaver, Al.” Jason yawned, pushing Dick a step back and making his way over to the butler. As he walked, he waved a hand at Tim. “Feel free to tell them about my part, Timbit, I know they’re gonna ask.”

He ambled out of the room with Alfred, and Tim felt the attention of the room focus solely on him. He crossed his arms defensively, refusing to be cowed.

“We really are fine.”

Damian scoffed, and Tim could almost head Bruce’s teeth grinding together.

“You were abducted by an unknown, immensely powerful interdimensional being with a supernatural sway over you, apparently in order to have an entirely unknown medical procedure and we could not accompany you. You were both gone for several hours and now Jason seems ready to pass out. You are giving a report and submitting to a full medical exam in the batcave.”

Tim groaned, letting his arms drop.

“Come on, B. You’re blowing this way out of proportion. Danny-” Tim’s whining was cut off by a sharp, rather deranged laugh from where Constantine still sat.

“No. No bloody way, mate. Tell me you did not just call the fucking Ghost King Danny?”

Tim’s brow furrowed, confused.

“Uh… yeah? That’s his name. What’s the matter?”

“The matter? The matter?!” Constantine spluttered, rising from his chair to start pacing around the room. “I’ll tell you what the fucking matter is you twerp. That right there was the High King of the Infinite Realms! The most powerful fucking being this or any other side of the known universe! We live in just one of the realms, every dimension you’ve visited is another. Fucking hell is another one. And he rules over all of them!”

Batman stepped forward, brow furrowed, and hands clenched at his sides.

“What do you know about him?”

Constantine whirled on him, looking like he was one very short step away from tearing his hair out.

“Nothing! There’s no information about him, just enough stories about the last king to make you shit yourself, and the fact that Phantom defeated him in single combat! No mention of him before that, then a few years ago, suddenly there’s talk of a new king! And then you-” He pointed at Tim, who shifted uncomfortably at the rather deranged look in Constantine’s eyes, “You decide to call that guy by his first fucking name! You’re lucky you’re still alive!”

Bruce and Dick looked white as a sheet, and Damian had gone very still in his chair. Tim shifted again and shrugged, avoiding eye contact.

“He seemed fine with it.”

Constantine took a deep breath and buried his face in his hands, letting out a muffled but very impressive string of curses. He looked up sharply and waved his hand through the air, faintly glowing gold.

“Fuck it, I’m out. I can see some kind of magic around the kid, but I don’t know what the fuck it is which means it came from his realm, and I don’t wanna know.”

With that he turned and marched out of the room, muttering under his breath.

Dick gaped after him, and Bruce blinked a few times before his gaze hardened again and he turned back to Tim.

“Cave. Now.”

Tim scowled at him but considering Bruce looked 10 seconds away from dragging him down there himself, he decided to cut his losses and go to the damn cave.

---

Bruce was scowling fiercely down at the tablet displaying his results, Damian was lurking in the corner sharpening his knives, Alfred was packing away the medical equipment and Dick was apparently trying not to scream.

Tim was stubbornly avoiding eye contact, swinging his legs slightly as he typed. He’d moved out of the medical bay once Alfred finished with him and was perched at the table across from Bruce.

The silence was thick and cloying and more than a little uncomfortable, but he was not going to be the first to fold to it. He’d weathered more oppressive silences than this, this was practically nothing. Besides, he’d done what was asked of him. He’d let them do all their tests and was writing up a cursory report while they got the results. He wasn’t going to break first.

“You got a new spleen!?”

Ah, there it was. Looks like Dick couldn’t stand the suspense. Tim kept his gaze on the tablet, affecting nonchalance as he shrugged.

“Yeah. Phantom offered, so I figured why not.” He paused, tilting his head. “Come to think of it, I’ll have to call Leslie to let her know I don’t need my prescription anymore.”

“He- Tim! This is serious! We don’t know what else he might have done to you! Or to Jason!”

Tim resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Then promptly gave up and rolled them anyway.

“He told us what else he did. And I am in the middle of writing it down if you can chill out enough to wait for ten minutes.”

“Tim.” Bruce was talking with the full Batman growl. Wonderful. “Your attitude about this is very concerning. You have yet to give us the details of what happened to you both, and Jason was severely compromised when he returned. For all we know he is still holding an influence over you.”

Tim couldn’t listen to this anymore, his head snapped up to look at Bruce.

“Oh my god, B, Jason was tired, not compromised. And we all double checked the connection was broken. There was no way it could have survived all that, and Danny made sure of it because he didn’t want it any more than I did. That was why Jason came along, remember?! To make sure we got rid of it.”

Tim was too fed up with his father’s pigheadedness to measure his response like he might normally.

“I haven’t given you details because you haven’t bothered to actually ask me yet! You’ve just hooked me up to a million tests and lectured me about my choices. I am actively writing my report right now, what else do you want!” Tim threw his arms in the air, fed up with the lot of them.

“Tim, many of the changes we’ve found in your tests are permanent, the fact you allowed-”

“And what should I have done, Bruce?!” Tim leant forward, towards Bruce, his hands flat on the table. “Of course the changes are permanent, I’ve already been permanently changed since those fucking cultists killed me!” Bruce and Dick both flinched at that, but Tim was on a roll.
“And if Danny didn’t fix it, I would have died again, wasted away into nothing. I might have been to out of it to really grasp that, but I’m not a fucking idiot, B, we both knew I wasn’t going to last like that! And now you’re getting on my case for letting someone fix it?!”

Bruce and Dick looked shattered. A quietly cleared throat cut off whatever might have been said next, and Tim looked over to where Alfred was standing.

“Perhaps it would be best to continue this tomorrow, once everyone has had a chance to rest. I believe tensions may be running a smidgen high at the minute.” He cast a delicate glance at the table, and Tim looked down to see a thin film of frost had spread from where his hands rested.

He stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets as the ice melted and avoiding the intense stares he was getting.

“Yeah, good idea, Alfred. I think I might be a bit more tired than I realised.” He turned to leave, but he could feel how tightly the others were holding themselves, on edge from the display of unfamiliar power. He sighed, letting his shoulder slump a little as he glanced at them.

“Look, I’m sorry for yelling. I promise, I’m fine, Jason’s fine. Phantom helped us, and we have his card if we need it. It’s just been a very long day, and I wasn’t exactly sleeping well before this. We can talk more in the morning.”

He walked away without giving them a chance to reply, hands still shoved in his pockets. Luckily no one tried to follow him up.

He sighed, rubbing his face as he wandered out of Bruce’s study. He wasn’t sure why he’d reacted so strongly. Sure, Bruce was being overbearing, and unreasonable, and an uncommunicative hypocrite, but that was hardly anything new. And he’d learned years ago that, as annoying as it was, it was part of Bruce showing that he cared. That he loved them and was worried about them but somehow always chose the worst way to express it.

But still, even if Bruce couldn’t communicate his way out of a wet paper bag, normally Tim could give him the benefit of the doubt. Exploding like that had never really been part of his repertoire.

He yawned, plodding up the stairs to the family wing.

He hadn’t been lying when he said he was tired. In the days before, what sleep he had was filled with dreams and was never especially restful. And it might not have been as intense as Jason’s, but his procedure had taken a lot out of him. Forming his soul into a new ghost organ-thing was tiring work, who knew?

He hadn’t really noticed earlier, there was too much to be fascinated by in the infinite realms. Plus, the very air over there felt full of energy, stepping back through the portal had made his home world feel… flat by contrast. Not too much, there was still substance to the air, like he could really feel that he was breathing something in, which might be saying more about Gotham’s pollution than anything, but in this case felt like a good thing. There was still something there, even if his world wasn’t bursting with whatever it was like the Realms had been. But still, his exhaustion had started catching up to him much faster once Danny brought them back.

Maybe it was something to do with the ambient ectoplasm Danny had mentioned? He wouldn’t be surprised if Gotham air was somehow full of that as well. Maybe he could ask Danny, he thought as he staggered down the hallway, yawning.

He still couldn’t believe how suspicious the others were being of Danny. It wasn’t his fault this happened. And he’d done so much to help fix it, more than that really, considering he also helped Jason. He’d been so concerned with them both, wanting to make sure they were ok, all his focus aimed on fixing what was hurting them. And he’d been so nice, answering all of their questions, and offering to help in the future, which… which none of the others had seen.

They’d only seen Danny take them away and bring them back, with Tim zoned out and influenced when they left and Jason half unconscious when they returned. They’d missed all of the explanations that he’d given in the realms, hadn’t seen how considerate he was of them. They only got the bare bones information he gave them in the living room before they left and then Constantine’s freak out.

Tim groaned to himself. He’d sort of forgotten exactly how little they’d been there for since he was so conked out when they left. Ok, maybe he could see why they were worried. Damn it, now he’d have to actually answer their questions. He wasn’t that much of an asshole to let them keep freaking out like that. Maybe they could call Danny again? Get the others used to him? Or would that just scare them even more, so much to consider.

Tim blinked sleepily at the door that was somehow in front of him, trying to figure out how he’d ended up here instead of his own room. The room in front of him felt warm and safe and sleepy, and he was letting himself in before he even thought about it.

He shut the door gently behind him and looked over to the lump in the bed, able to see it clearly somehow even though the curtains were shut. As he watched, it shifted slightly and two glowing green eyes peered out, half open. The two of them blinked sleepily at each other for a moment, before Jason grumbled and lifted the blanket.

Tim shuffled over, mumbling a grateful noise, and crawled under the blankets. Jason dropped them over him and pulled Tim closer to him, huffing into Tim’s hair and settling down to fall right back to sleep, his arm a comforting warm weight over Tim’s arm and back.

Tim wriggled a little, getting comfortable as he snuggled closer into Jason’s chest. He let out a contented sigh and let the sleepy, protective, slightly grumpy feelings of his older brother lull him into a peaceful, dreamless, sleep.

Chapter Text

Tim woke up warm, comfortable and content, an unusual enough experience that it took him a long moment to even realise that he was in fact awake. But he was pretty sure the ray of sunlight trying to stab its way into his eye wasn’t something he’d dream.

He grumbled, trying to burrow into the surface he was laying on, which caused a wave of amusement and fondness to waft into the air, and the surface to rumble in a laugh.

“Morning, Timbit.”

Tim lifted his head, blinking blearily at the brother he’d apparently being lying on. Jason was awake and looked far too amused at Tim’s bleary state.

Bastard.

Jason just looked more amused, and Tim scowled, pushing himself up and yawning.

“Morning.” He mumbled, not awake enough to hold onto his annoyance for long, especially not in the face of the weird fond sensation he could still feel.

What was that? He wondered, peering around as if the source would reveal itself.

Jason chucked, sliding out of bed and stretching as he went to grab a hoodie to throw on over his pyjamas.

“You forgetting something, Timbo? You’re feeling pretty confused over there.”

Tim frowned. How did Jason know that?

He squinted, brain very slowly working as Jason’s smirk got wider the longer the silence stretched. Finally, the pin dropped, and Tim groaned, putting his face in his hand as Jason laughed unabashedly.

Right. Stupid ghost-emotion-sharing. This was going to take some getting used to.

He was really glad they weren’t telling the others, this was going to get annoying enough with only one brother knowing whatever he felt.

“Shut up, asshole.” Tim said without heat, finally getting out of bed to also steal one of Jason’s hoodies. Jason huffed in mock annoyance, but Tim could now tell for sure that he didn’t mean it. He grinned to himself. Maybe this wouldn’t be all bad, being able to see past the annoyed fronts Jason constantly put up.

“Whatever, you little thief.” Jason ruffled Tim’s hair and wrapped an arm around his shoulders pulling him along as he walked out of the room. “C’mon, let’s get you some coffee, see if we can’t get your brain working faster than a concussed rat.”

Tim felt like he should take offense to that, but considering they were already moving down the hall by the time he finished processing the sentence, he decided to concede the point. Reluctantly.

Then his brain managed a few more connections, pulling up a few memories as well, and he winced.

Jason obviously noticed and glanced down at him with a frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uhhh…” Tim was sort of reluctant to explain. In the light of day with a good night’s sleep in him it all felt kind of silly. But it wasn’t like Jason couldn’t just learn it from the others if he asked.

“I might of, kinda… gone off on the others a little last night? Like yelled at them a bit? Ok, maybe a lot. And froze a table.”

“You what a table?” Jason had stopped dead in the middle of the hallway. “And you yelled at them? Mister I-will-spontaneously-combust-before-I-make-a-scene?” He whistled lowly. “Damn they must have really been asking for it. Wish I could have been there.”

Tim groaned, burying his face in his hands, embarrassment filling the air.

“That’s just it, they didn’t deserve it, not much anyway. They were really worried and freaking out and I forgot just how little they actually got to see and just went off at them. And like, yeah, they were being a pain in the ass, I mean, it’s B but I don’t know why I lost it like that. I know what they’re like and I’m normally so good at staying in control of myself. I don’t understand what happened.” His voice dropped to practically a whisper by the last sentence, and he wrapped his arms around himself.

That didn’t last long though, since Jason’s face softened at his admission and he folded Tim into a hug.

“Hey, it’s alright Timbit, you’re fine. Danny said we should expect some changes, right? This is probably just one of them. Like freezing the table, which you better be telling me more about later. Lots of the ghost stuff is to do with emotion, right? So, it makes sense you’re feeling things a little strongly while your core settles. I mean…” His voice picked up an amused tone and Tim couldn’t help tensing in anticipation.

“He did say you’re still just a baby ghost. Maybe this is some kind of ghost puberty?”

“Oh my god, just shut up.” Tim groaned and shoved a grinning Jason away from him and continuing down the hall. He was feeling better though, which unfortunately he knew the bastard could feel, just like he could feel the delighted amusement coming off Jason.

“Aww, but Timbo! This is such a beautiful time of your life! Your soul is changing and that’s nothing to be ashamed about. I’m sure your mood swings are perfectly normal.”

Jason continued like that until Tim finally socked him in the arm and he just grinned as they made their way down to the kitchen.

---

Dick tried not to fret as he pushed his cereal around his bowl.

He’d planned to come down early and help Alfred make breakfast for his little brothers, but one look at Alfred’s raised eyebrow had made clear that supernatural abductions were not enough to get past his kitchen ban.

Damian at least had been allowed to help slice the fruit.

So now he was just waiting, letting his cereal get mushier and mushier and trying not to let his leg bounce too obviously.

Bruce had also miraculously made it out early, and was hunched over a cup of black coffee, doing the bat equivalent to sulking.

It appeared very similar to bat-brooding, bat-contemplation and bat-analysing, but Dick could tell the difference with ease using a combination of years of practice and how petty he was feeling in the moment.

This morning, he felt justified in letting some of his stress out as minor pettiness, even just in his own head.

After Tim had stormed out last night they had stood in shock for a long moment until the melting ice had started to drip onto the floor and Bruce had strode forward to take a sample. Damian had slunk out of the shadows to take his turn reviewing the medical data and Dick had moved to look over Tim’s half-finished report.

He didn’t understand why Tim had lost his cool like that. He knew that they had a tendency to be a little overbearing. Jason had made that clear often enough, and Dick had lived through Bruce’s idea of tact long enough to understand that. But for all the times that Jason, Damian or even Dick himself had yelled at the man and stormed out, that had never been in Tim’s wheelhouse.

No, he had been one to deescalate and close in on himself. Offer the bare minimum information and artfully evade the rest of the questions until he could escape and you realised that you still didn’t know anything. And the next time you would never even find out about the problem.

For him to explode like that, and with a magical display to go along with it… whatever happened must be affecting him more than he realised.

Right now, Dick just sighed, looking down into his cereal again.

Tim’s report had been… sparse.

Tim tended to write reports by filling out the little dot points to remind himself of important points, and then filling in detail later, so he wouldn’t lose track of what he wanted to cover. So, in theory, they knew everything important that had happened. But they’d interrupted Tim before he could finish, and some of the dot points were, uh, somewhat unclear.

One of them just said “pulled out pit snot,” another “tattled on Ra’s”. Quite frankly, Dick didn’t want to know what that one was about.

But they’d all agreed that this morning they needed to take a calmer approach. Whether or not he was still influenced by Phantom, Tim was clearly distressed by what had happened to him, and they needed to be sensitive to that, Bruce. Besides, Constantine had made very clear that Phantom was not the type of adversary they could fight. So, diplomacy really was their only option and Dick had vetoed all interrogation tactics and tests until further notice.

Hence the bat-sulking. Technically twice over if you counted the baby-bat.

Dick knew they were just worried, gods knew he was too, but he had Alfred approval on his side so there was nothing they could do.

He was startled out of his cereal contemplation as footsteps came down the hall and Tim stepped into the room, stopping dead as all their eyes fixed on him.

They stood for a long frozen second before Jason huffed from behind Tim and gently steered him into an empty seat, pushing the coffee pot in front of him and setting down a mug.

“Quit blocking the door, short stack. You just sit there, and food will be ready in a second.” It looked like he gave Tim’s shoulder a gentle squeeze before letting go, but Dick couldn’t tell from across the table. Jason moved over to the stove, pulling out a frypan with a familiarity not shared by any of the other batkids.

“Morning Alfie. I think I’m feeling omelettes, do you mind if I use a burner?”

“Not at all, Master Jason, though I assure you I would be more than happy to prepare some for you.”

Jason just waved his hand, returning the butler’s smile easily.

“Nah, don’t worry about it, I can manage. It’ll just be a minute.”

Dick couldn’t help raising his eyebrows in surprise as he watched Jason cook, his posture relaxed, and a slight smile sat on his face as he poked at the contents of the pan.

He wasn’t sure he could remember the last time Jason had looked this- this calm while in the manor. He’d made huge progress controlling the pit, but everyone still knew that the manor was a trigger, and he generally tried to leave as soon as possible. Every time he was here there was a constant subtle tension to him, a reluctance to leave himself open and a need to have an exit in sight.

But here he was, giving all of them, even Bruce, his back without appearing to think about it. It didn’t even look like he was carrying a gun. Just a knife or two and that much was normal for them.

Dick exchanged a glance with Bruce, who looked as startled as he did.

Jason turned after putting the eggs away and noticed their stares. Dick instinctively braced himself. They really should have learnt to be more subtle at this point.

Jason though just raised an eyebrow.

“What?” He asked as he turned back and plated the omelettes, setting one in front of Tim who looked slightly startled at the appearance of food, and taking a seat next to him with his own.

“Sorry, old man. If you wanted one you should have asked.” His tone was still mocking, still the kind of thing Dick would expect from Jason, but it lacked the heat it would normally carry with it. This felt less like a barb, like Jason’s constant challenges he couldn’t help throwing at Bruce, and more like gentle ribbing. Just some light banter for the sake of it.

Bruce was clearly blindsided by this and sat blinking for a second too long before Tim’s quiet snickers jolted him out of it.

“I- that’s quite alright Jay-lad.” Jason didn’t even blink at the old nickname. Dick’s eyebrows were near his hairline and Damian was squinting suspiciously.

“Then why did Drake receive one? He did not ask for it.” he challenged, and Jason hesitated for the barest moment before shrugging easily.

“Just thought he might want one. Seemed interested when I mentioned them.”

Dick was confused at that. Tim had been halfway through his mug of coffee when Jason started cooking. He was famously hard to read, even for his siblings, but Dick hadn’t even been sure he was taking in a single thing they said. Besides, Jason had been at the stove, he hadn’t been looking anywhere near them.

Before Dick could bring any of that up, Jason spoke up again.

“So, you guys aren’t going to ask any more questions? The way I heard it I was expecting us to walk into an interrogation.”

Tim tensed slightly at their words and Dick couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. Although mostly worried. Even if they’d been frantic, they could have stood to be a little more considerate to Tim.

Bruce cleared his throat. Dick’s eyes bored holes into the side of his head and he hesitated, clearly rethinking his words.

“Yes, we have… come to the conclusion that we should not have been so demanding of you, Tim. I would like to- to apologise for the part I played in upsetting you last night.”

Tim squinted at them suspiciously, as if wondering if there might be mind control involved.

Jason snorted and glanced back and forth between Bruce and Dick.

“Well, that was like pulling teeth. Seems like Dick tore you a new one for whatever you said last night.”

Again, the words were lacking the bite they would normally have to them, and Dick had to revel in the fact that maybe his little brother really was free from the rage that had plagued him for so long.

Tim, meanwhile, was still looking at them with suspicion.

“You don’t have any other questions? Really? None at all?”

If Bruce were anyone else, he would have been fidgeting. As it was his eyes merely flicked to the side, a tell that all of them had learned.

Jason grinned and leaned back to watch.

“Well…” Bruce started, his eyes flicking again under Tim and Dick’s suspicious eyes and Jason’s amused grin. Damian still seemed to be studying Jason and Tim for signs of anything untoward.

“There are a few things I would like... clarified.”

“If you’re ok with it!” Dick added hastily. Bruce shot him a look, and he responded in kind.

Jason was starting to look suspicious as well now, but after a moment the expression cleared as he seemed to come to some kind of realisation. He leaned over to whisper to Tim with a grin on his face.

Tim gaped at him for a second, before shooting a look over at Dick and Bruce. Whatever he saw there, he groaned and dropped his head on the table.

“Tell me you guys aren’t being extra careful right now because Constantine made you think Danny’s going to end the world or something. Please, please tell me that’s not what this is.”

“Why? Are you going to tell us he is incapable of it?” Damian challenged. Tim took one more moment with his head on the table before raising it and giving them a look.

“No, I’m sure he could if he wanted to. But he isn’t going to.” Tim ran a hand through his hair, looking a little sheepish.

“I sort of forgot last night just how much you didn’t get to see. That bit’s on me, so sorry for being- uh, kind of unreasonable. Basically, Danny really isn’t a threat to us. I know he’s crazy powerful and Constantine is scared of him, but I promise he’s not dangerous to us. He was really kind and considerate the whole time and made sure we understood what was going on. Plus, Jason and I count as his subjects, so he’s sort of honour bound to protect us even if he wasn’t going to before.”

Jason was nodding along and cut in to add his two cents.

“Plus, apparently it’s a ghost thing, but we can tell when he’s lying to us, and he wasn’t. Actually, that’s part of my theory for why Timmy got so grumpy last night. Danny said that Tim might experience some side effects while his core settles, and it seems like emotion is a big thing with ghosts. So, my guess is that Timbit is just gonna feel things a little strongly while everything settles. Nothing to worry about.”

Tim glared at this description, but Jason just stuck his tongue out and Tim looked away with a huff.

Dick narrowed his eyes a little and saw the other two doing the same. Jason apparently noticed and rolled his eyes at them. Tim saw as well and jumped in to try and reassure them.

“Seriously, I promise it’s fine. Tell you what, why don’t we call Danny and he can help explain some of this?”

Dick blanched. No, no they absolutely didn’t need to call the interdimensional super king. He was quite happy staying as far away from King Phantom as possible, for as long as he could manage.

Unfortunately, Jason saw his reaction and grinned in a way that always spelled trouble.

“That sounds like a plan, Timbo. Let’s give it a few days, see if anything else pops up we need to ask about, and then give him a ring. We can make sure everyone gets properly introduced this time.” He said, grinning evilly. Tim gave him a slightly suspicious look but apparently decided to let it go.

Dick sighed, able to recognise when to admit defeat and bow to the scheming of younger brothers. Some battles just could not be won.

“Alright, alright. For now, though,” he rounded the table, bearing down on his little brothers and only taking a little bit of joy in the way Jason’s eyes widened at his approach, “I’m just so glad you’re both ok!” He said, squeezing them both into a tight hug and holding them close.

Jason squawked, outraged, but Tim just melted into the hug like always. Years after he’d been adopted, and sometimes he still seemed like that touch-starved little boy who first put on the Robin suit.

Jason as well gave up his struggling soon enough and allowed himself to be hugged with only a steady stream of grumbling that they both knew he didn’t mean. Dick couldn’t help the way his heart swelled. This was a far cry from the times he’d come away from a hug with a black eye or a gun to his face.

And Tim, oh Tim.

He squeezed him a little tighter, overcome with the realisation of just how close he’d come to losing this. This precious child in his arms. The night of the ritual he’d felt like his world had ended. For the second time.

When Tim survived, he’d taken it as the miracle it was and refused to admit that Tim was fading again. Refused to admit what would have happened if Phantom hadn’t shown up. Now he held him tighter, unable to believe his luck.

The joy of having all his little brothers here in the room with him, two of them in his arms, all healthy and whole and alive. Maybe for that he could offer Phantom a little trust in return. Maybe what his brothers said could actually be true. Whatever he was, he couldn’t be all bad if he’d brought his brothers back to him.

“Alright, Dickhead, you can let us go now.”

“Nope. Sorry, Jaybird, I live here now, no escaping me.”

Shut up, just let. Me. Go!”

“Jayyyy!”

“What?! Oh my god, are you crying? Why are you crying?”

“Dick, are you ok?”

“I’m alright, baby bird. I’m just- I’m just really glad you’re both ok.”

“Aw, Dick…”

“Yeah, we appreciate it, Dickhead, but you gotta let us go before I start lose feeling in my arm.”

“Nope, never gonna happen. You’re both mine now.”

“Dick!”

Chapter Text

“Bruce, come on. I swear, I’m fine now. Look, all my scans are clear, I’m completely healed. I don’t understand why you won’t let me out on patrol!” Tim was aware that his voice was starting to edge into whining territory, but after having this argument for what felt like five hours, he honestly didn’t care.

“Look, old man, normally I’m all for the kid having a break. But I feel like I’m going insane sitting around inside. You gotta let us out to do something!”

Bruce just stood there, arms crossed and face implacable.

“The two of you do not have a full handle on your new abilities yet. Neither what they are nor how to control them. Until you do, it is not safe for either of you to patrol.”

Jason threw his hands in the air, fed up with his father’s bull-headedness.

“Come on, B! It’s been over a week, we’re fine! ”

Bruce didn’t say anything, just looked meaningfully down at Jason’s hands. Jason followed his gaze and saw that his fingernails had morphed into claws.

Again.

Running his tongue over his teeth he could feel that his canines had sharpened into fangs as well.

He flopped back into his chair with a huff and crossed his arms, definitely not sulking.

“Fine. We we’ll stay in tonight. But don’t think we’ll put up with this forever!” he warned.

Bruce just sighed deeply, slipping on the cowl and making his way over to the batmobile.

“Trust me, Jay-lad, I’d never believe that for a second.”

Jason huffed, looking away until the car roared to life and peeled out of the cave. Then he sighed, tilting his head up at the ceiling. After a few seconds thought he turned to look at Tim scowling after the car next to him.

“Well, it was worth a shot. Want to see if we can get any clips of B tripping over his own cape?”

Tim replied with a mischievous grin and they both ran over to start hacking into the various cameras along Batman’s route for the night.

---

They’d been doing their best to collect blackmail worthy clips on their family for a few hours when an alert pinged on the bat computer. Then another. And another.

Tim nearly tripped over himself scrambling to the relevant monitor, and when he read the notice, his mouth dropped open.

“What?” Jason asked, making his way over. Tim didn’t react just gaping at the screen. All Jason could feel coming from him was a mix of shock and disbelief. “Tim, what is it?”

“It’s, uh…” Tim stammered, shifting over so that Jason could read over his shoulder. “I think it might be Danny.”

“What?!” Jason bent down to get a proper look at the screen. What could Danny possibly have been doing that would show up on their alerts like this?

The notification open on the screen was from the monitoring they had set up around the League of Assassins. They obviously didn’t have much close surveillance that could be maintained indefinitely, but just about every early warning system they had made was going off. Unusual activity, increased guards, actual sightings of higher up members. The chaos was centred in Nanda Parbat, but the ramifications had clearly spilled out into the other bases.

Jason gaped. He hadn’t seen this level of disruption to the league in, well, ever.

“You really think this might be…” He turned to Tim, who had grabbed one of the coms and was typing furiously on the other monitor. He nodded seriously at Jason before speaking into the com.

“Oracle, you’re seeing this?”

“I see it, Red.” She replied, her voice coming out of the cave speakers as Jason grabbed his own earpiece. “Batman and Robin are on their way back, the rest will stay out to cover patrol.”

Jason started looking through the different alerts more closely, flicking through each of them.

“Do we have any idea what’s actually happened? All I’m getting is that something big is going on.”

“Nothing so far,” Babs replied, and he could hear the sound of her typing overlapping with Tim’s. “None of my contacts have gotten back to me, they’re probably too busy to send through updates.

The screeching of tires filled the cave as the Batmobile came tearing in, Damian jumping out before the engine even stopped, closely followed by B who strode across the floor to the main monitor Jason was looking at, Damian moving to one of the smaller consoles.

“I haven’t heard anything from Mother yet.” Damian said curtly, the slight fear in his voice only evident to the family who knew how to read him so well. “I will attempt to reach out.”

“Good,” B said in the same tone, “Oracle?”

“No details yet, Batman. I’m sending feelers out, but none of our informants have replied yet.”

“I’m messaging some of mine as well.” Tim said distractedly, not stopping his typing. There was that moment of silence that came whenever Tim accidentally let slip something about his time with the League, and Jason could see Bruce’s jaw clench as he processed that Tim had his own informants that the rest of them didn’t know about.

Thankfully Tim was too focussed to realise what he’d said, Jason couldn’t pick up much of anything beyond concentration, curiosity, anxiety and a bit of wonder, so he must have missed the reaction. Eager to get them off that track before Bruce tried to interrogate anyone, Jason asked.

“What about their systems? Oracle, can you hack into their cameras, or servers or something?”

“Working on it, Hood.” Came her clipped reply. “But this isn’t the kind of thing that I can do in a few minutes. With no prep work done, we’re looking at hours at least, especially to get into the cameras, Ra’s does not mess around with cybersecurity, especially after how many times we’ve already hacked him.”

Jason felt a little tinge of pride come from Tim at that. For fuck’s sake, kid, he thought exasperatedly.

Babs and Bruce argued back and forth for a few minutes about various strategies she could use to break in, most of which was a little above Jason’s level of computer expertise. Don’t get him wrong, he was no slouch, but something this complicated was definitely beyond him.

Just as he was starting to wonder if he should just find something else to do while they kept at it, he felt a burst of stunned disbelief come from Tim. Then the kid started laughing so hard that he would have fallen off his chair if Jason hadn’t moved to steady it.

“What? Tim- hey Timbo, the fuck is so funny?!”

Tim couldn’t breathe enough to get words out, so he just gestured at the screen, still wheezing.

Jason gave him a sideways look but turned his attention to the screen regardless. It took him a second to process what he was seeing, then he squinted a little closer. Was that… It almost looked like…

Abruptly, he snorted, a hand flying up to his mouth to cover his grin. He exchanged a delighted look with Tim, before practically doubling over as his own laughter started in earnest.

“Jason!” B’s voice was drowned out by Damian’s outraged voice, sounding about two seconds away from stamping his foot like a toddler.

“What is it? Why are you both laughing?!”

“Hahaha, oh my god,” Jason was having nearly as much trouble breathing as Tim, who had ended up on the floor at this point, clutching his sides. “Just look, I- holy shit, oh my god this is amazing.”

“I know” wheezed Tim from the floor. “This might be the best day of my life. Oh my god, his face.” They both collapsed into laughter again.

Damian was scowling at them as he made his way over to the monitor, Bruce following close behind. When he saw the image on the screen, Damian stopped. Blinked. His mouth fell open.

Batman stared for a long moment.

“Oracle?” He asked, voice what would have been tentative for anyone else.

“It’s-” Babs cut herself off with her own laughter, obviously having seen the photo at this point as well. She made an audible effort to compose herself as she continued. “It’s real, B. This was taken maybe an hour ago, two at most, and I found no evidence of doctoring.”

“…hm.” Bruce said, sounding actually lost as he stared at the screen like that would make it make sense. Jason cackled again and Tim let out a wheeze that sounded genuinely pained.

On the screen was a message thread, dominated by a single image that had been sent to Tim with just the word ‘lol’ accompanying it.

The picture showed a cavern that was regrettably familiar to several of the bats. The walls were craggy and rocky, although lacking their normal unnatural lighting. In the bottom corner of the frame was the edge of a bald-headed woman’s face, looking at the camera with a grin.

She was holding up a peace sign.

Behind her, where there should be a roiling, poisonous green Lazarus pit, was an empty hole. One servant stood off to the side holding an ornate robe, anxiety visible on his face the way it rarely was within the league.

And there, in the centre of the photo, just barely peeking up over the edge of the empty pit, was Ra’s Al Ghul, his face furious even as it was tilted up to look over the lip like a child on tiptoes trying to reach the kitchen bench.

Coming in from the side of the frame, two more servants were bringing a ladder.

---

“Mother has finally contacted me.” Damian announced, much later once the rest of the Bats were back from patrol and the laughter had finally stopped. Which had taken a long time since it had started back up again every time any of them had glanced at the photo or looked at each other and brought their hands up to their chin like a kid holding onto the edge of a pool, which sent everyone right back into hysterics.

“Yes, Damian?” Bruce said, ignoring what the rest of the kids with the weariness of a father with far too many children.

“Apparently, a demon with white hair and green eyes appeared while Grandfather was using the pit. She reports that it was glowing, wore a floating crown, and that the weapons of the guards had no effect on it. It insulted Grandfather a number of times, before saying, quote “anyway, this shit’s nasty,” at which point it snapped its fingers and vanished, along with every trace of Lazarus water. After Grandfather managed to… escape from the pit,”

Damian paused to allow for the round of snickers that followed, a small smirk visible on his face if you knew where to look, before continued.

“He ordered all agents to find the entity, and an alternative source of Lazarus water. So far, every pit known by the league has been found empty, and no one has been able to find a trace of or even a lead on the demon’s identity, let alone their location. Mother reports that he is becoming frantic.”

Tim sat up straight from where he had been sprawled over Jason after they both collapsed, making Jason huff out a pained breath from the sudden weight on his stomach.

“So, it was Danny? I knew it!” Tim couldn’t help the excitement he was probably radiating and could see Jason struggling to stifle a smile. “I just didn’t expect him to be this quick, wow. Or this… direct.” He glanced at Jason and they both grinned and started giggling again. Bruce sighed.

“It appears so.”

“Does that mean you’ll finally agree to call him now, old man?” Jason asked teasingly, pushing Tim off him so that the boy landed on the floor with a huff.

Bruce gazed at him steadily for a long moment, clearly trying to find some way to put this off again for the hundredth time this week. Him and Dick were both violently opposed to summoning Danny again, even if Jason and Tim had already managed to get Steph and Cass on their side.

Finally, Bruce looked away from Jason’s mocking grin and made his way back over towards the computer.

“We should call Constantine for advice before we make any rash decisions.”

Groans filled the cave, loudest from Tim and Jason. Everyone knew B was just calling the magician because he famously took forever to do show up anywhere even if you managed to get in contact with him first.

Tim dragged himself to his feet and started pacing as Bruce typed, tugging at his hair frustratedly, feeling just 110% done with Bruce’s bullshit.

“Seriously, Bruce? How long are you going to keep putting this off? I know you don’t like him but you’re still not going to let us call him even now? I would have thought you’d at least want answers to a case even if you were trying to keep him away from us. Which, as I’ve already told you a thousand times, is completely unnecessary! He’s not going to hurt us! He’s not going to hurt you! All he’s hurt so far is Ra’s’ pride, and let’s be real, that asshole deserved a whole lot fucking worse at this point!”

“Tim.” Bruce said, startling him out of his little rant. He glanced down at his feet and saw the trail of footprints traced out in frost that were slowly melting behind him.

He let out a thoroughly frustrated “argh!” at the random powers showing up again and stomped over to flop on the floor next to Jason, leaning his head against his older brother and crossing his arms, glowering at the wall across from him.

Bruce sighed but Jason just chuckled lightly, gently running his hands through Tim’s hair, relaxing him almost immediately. God, he couldn’t wait until he had his emotions under control again, he couldn’t take all this whiplash.

Across the cave they could all hear the sound of a phone dialling, then Constantine’s slurred voice, already sounding his default level of pissed off.

“Th’ fuck you want, its goddamn fuckin- ass in the morning o’er here.”

“Constantine.” Bruce started, and Constantine let out a loud groan as he realised who it was. They all tried to stifle their snickers at the severe look B sent them before he continued speaking.

“We need advice on conducting a meeting with King Phantom. The situation has evolved and-”

“Oh hell no.” Constantine interrupted, before promptly hanging up.

All the bat kids lost it again at that, especially with the face Bruce was making at the phone still in his hands. He dialled again, speaking as soon as it was picked up.

“Constantine-” but the magician cut him off again.

“Nope, I’m out, Bats. I’m not touching that with a ten-foot fucking pole. You’re on your own. Try not to fuck it up, but if you do don’t call me, I don’t want to know.” And he hung up again.

Bruce stared at the phone for a long, long moment, as his kids all laughed at him, before he sighed, deeply, and looked back over towards Tim.

“Fine. If you really believe it will be safe, we can summon King Phantom.”

“Fucking, finally!” Jason groaned as the girls, well mostly Steph but Cass was clapping quietly and grinning, cheered behind them. Bruce ignored them.

“What do we need to prepare in order to call him here?”

“Nothing.” Tim said, “He gave us cards that we can use to summon him, we don’t need anything else.”

He patted his pockets and threw a look at Jason. “Mine’s up in my room. Jay, do you…”

Jason nodded, fishing the card out of his pocket and standing up with a stretch.

“Yup, I gotcha Timbo.” He walked away from the sibling pile a few steps and into a relatively clear part of the cave. “Alright let’s see here.”

He squinted down at the card, the other bats scrambling as they realised that oh, we’re doing this now now, and they probably didn’t want to meet the ghost king while sprawled on the floor. For his part, Tim just stood and moved closer to Jason as he cleared his throat and started to read off the card.

Tim could see everyone wincing at the harsh, impossible sounding noises that came out of Jason’s mouth. He frowned, tilting his head. It sort of sounded like static, but at the same time… Tim was pretty sure he could understand bits of it. If he didn’t focus too hard on any specific part of it, he could pick out, not words, but the vibe of what was being said. Unsurprisingly, the vibe was along the lines of ‘I ask Phantom to appear before me.’

As the last noise faded, echoing in a way that shouldn’t be possible, there was a long moment when nothing happened. Tim could feel that Steph was about to open her mouth to ask what was taking so long, not from any kind of ghost empathy, just because he knew her as a person, but before she could speak, a speck of green light appeared in front of Jason.

It hovered for a moment, before pulsing and starting to grow, spreading out and downwards to for a doorway of swirling green light, just like the one that he and Jason had followed Danny through to get to the Infinite Realms.

From within the portal, a white boot appeared, followed by the rest of Danny, decked out in his full Ghost King regalia. He shot them a grin that contained far too many teeth as he looked around the assembled crowd of wide-eyed bats.

“Heya Birdies. I was wondering when you were gonna call.”

Chapter Text

“Heya Birdies. I was wondering when you were gonna call.”

The rest of the bats seemed frozen for a long moment after Danny emerged. Tim on the other hand, just grinned and offered a little wave as he moved to stand next to Jason at the front.

“Hey Danny. We were gonna call earlier but someone wasn’t too keen on the idea.”

Tim rolled his eyes playfully and Danny grinned in response. Jason also smirked lazily, the both of them feeling instinctively at ease in Danny’s presence. Probably that king thing he had mentioned making them feel safe.

“Well, that’s too bad. Not too surprising from tall, dark and paranoid though.” Jason snorted at that, and Tim thought he heard someone choke behind them choke at Danny’s description. “What changed his mind?”

“We heard about what you did to the pits and he wanted answers.” Jason volunteered. Danny whistled, sounding impressed.

“You already heard about that? It was only like, two hours ago.”

Tim grinned and wordlessly held out his phone to show Danny the picture. He squinted at it for a moment before cackling, his weight falling back such that he would have landed on his ass if he were human. Instead, he effortlessly floated in the air, clutching his stomach.

“Oh, that is priceless! Ancients, I am so glad that exists. Hooo boy…” he descended in to giggle again before finally wiping the tears from his eyes and righting himself somewhat so that he was sat cross-legged on the air. “Wow, I needed that. Thanks for showing me.”

“Thanks for doing it.” Tim countered. “Seriously, I can’t describe how much trouble you’ve saved us, even beyond allowing this masterpiece to exist.” He said, hefting the phone again.

Danny looked bashful again, and now that he was more used to it, Tim could actually pick up on Danny’s feelings. Not as clearly as he could with Jason, but then Danny wasn’t his fraid, so it made sense. Still, it was enough to be very certain that he still had no idea how to handle being thanked.

“Oh, uh. You’re welcome, um. Think nothing of it. Please.” He seemed to rally himself, possibly because of the way Jason looked ready to laugh at him, and managed to pull himself back into behaving at least slightly like a king.

“But you haven’t introduced me to your family yet. Some I’ve met before of course, but not all.”

Tim took pity on him and turned as well to face the rest of the bats.

…who didn’t appear to have moved during their conversation. At all.

Tim suppressed a sigh at the mix of flabbergasted and horrified faces, with only Cass and Alfred appearing unflapped, and decided to just power through. They would have to get with the party pretty quick, or this was going to get very awkward.

“So, going broadly left to right,” Tim said, gesturing at each person as he spoke. “We have Bruce, Alfred, Damian, Dick, Steph and Cass. Everyone, this is King Phantom”

The bats just blink for a second and Tim wants to pinch the bridge of his nose in exasperation. Or possibly shake one of them. Jason is just radiating amusement so he’s going to be no help.

Thankfully, before Tim gives in to either impulse, Alfred swoops in the save the day. He takes a prim step forward and bows deeply. When he speaks his voice is respectful, but there is no trace of fear.

“An honour to make your acquaintance, King Phantom. As Master Tim said, I am Alfred Pennyworth, the caretaker of both this estate and its residents. I must take this opportunity to extend my own gratitude for the assistance you offered to Masters Tim and Jason. I truly cannot thank you enough for the service you have done this family.”

Danny’s cheeks are glowing bright green at this point, and Tim can’t help his amusement at seeing the High King so flustered by one sincere old man. He reaches out to poke one of the practically vibrant cheeks, but Jason smoothly intercepts his hand. He scowls up at him, but Jason just raises an eyebrow, still feeling amused and Tim relents with a huff.

Danny on the other hand, it still stammering, waving his hands in front of him as he does.

“Oh, uh- It’s really no trouble, I mean, um, you’re welcome? You really don’t need to thank me, it’s quite alright. And feel free to call me Danny, really, I don’t mind.”

Alfred straightens up, seemingly entirely unaffected by Danny’s words. Tim, however, knows him well enough to catch the mischievous glint in his eye. He’s enjoying this just as much as Jason and Tim.

“I couldn’t possibly, your majesty.” Danny’s blush flared again. “But your humility does you credit nonetheless.”

Danny’s mouth opened and shut a few times before apparently conceding defeat and just nodding weakly. He shot a glare at Tim and Jason when they snickered, but there was no heat to it.

The others, apparently pulled out of their stupor by this exchange, took the chance to approach as well. Most of them went along similar lines, greeting Danny, thanking him, although far less eloquently than Alfred, and eventually conceding to drop the title. Although in Bruce’s case it was less a concession and more a thoughtful grunt. Danny somehow managed to maintain his composure through most of it, apparently the embarrassment was less acute when it wasn’t coming from a very proper British grandfather.

When Damian took his turn to introduce himself though, managing to do so with only veiled threats rather than overt ones, Danny just tilted his head, looking at him consideringly for a moment before, of all things, cooing at him.

“Aww, he’s adorable.”

Damian bristled and Jason raised an eyebrow at the remark. Danny noticed their surprise and waved a hand dismissively.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m not trying to be rude. Just, he’s so stabby! And he’s been around ecto before, I didn’t notice last time. He wants to defend you guys, it’s so sweet.”

Damian looked outraged and his hand flew to his sword.

“You-!”

Before he could attack though, and before Dick, who had tensed instinctively the moment Damian was called cute, could intervene, Bruce spoke up.

“What do you mean he’s been around ‘ecto’”

“Hm?” Danny looked over, once again unaffected by the bat growl. “Ectoplasm. The stuff ghosts are made of. Don’t worry it’s not enough for him to liminal or anything, it’s just a trace. It’s probably some background from those pits. You said that draugr was his grandfather, right?”

“About that,” Bruce said, not acknowledging or answering the question, “We have some questions about what you did to the pits.”

“Alright,” Danny said with a sigh, “To business, I guess. But don’t worry kiddo,” he said, ruffling Damian’s hair in a move that seemed to shock him too much to retaliate. “I’m more than happy to fight you another time. Just ask one of your brothers to give me a call.”

He walked off, following Bruce to the conference table they used for mission briefings. Damian appeared stunned, hand still on his sword as he watched Danny leave. The rest of the batkids were variously trying to hold in their laughter. A snicker from Steph finally seemed to snap Damian out of it, and he glared at all of them fiercely. Then, cheeks flushing red, he stomped off to the table, taking a seat at the opposite end from Danny and crossing his arms with a huff.

Once they were all seated, Bruce started running down an entire laundry list of questions that he had apparently come up with in the hour since they got the league alert. Tim couldn’t help rolling his eyes at some of them, either due to their freakish specificity or the patented bat-paranoia.

Danny was a good sport about it, playing along even with the ridiculous ones despite the fact that Tim could feel the amusement behind his impressive poker face. He had to hide his own smile at that. Trolling batman was something that never got old, and there was nothing like being in on the joke as Danny explained, with complete seriousness, the exact origin and etymology of the ghostly insults he had used on Ra’s.

“And what of Tim and Jason’s powers?” Bruce asks, having finally run out of his seemingly hundreds of questions about Ra’s and the pits. “What can we expect on that front?”

“Well, that depends.” Danny says, turning to address Tim and Jason. “What’s manifested so far?”

“They have-” Bruce starts but Danny shushes him. Actually- without even bothering to turn his head- shushes the batman. Bruce seems so surprised that he actually shuts up. Danny raises his eyebrows expectedly at Tim and Jason.

“You’re my hero.” Jason says under his breath, for which Tim elbows him, taking over before the conversation can derail.

“We’ve both had our nails, teeth and ears sharpening in moments of extreme emotion, although this happens to Jason much more readily. I’ve been freezing surfaces without noticing. Jason accidentally scorched a table, although none of us saw an actual flame.”

“They also walk through doors when they aren’t paying attention.” Steph interjected, and Tim whipped his head around.

“Wait what?” he asked, overlapping with Jason’s baffled, “We do?” Steph just rolled her eyes at them.

“Tim, you have, multiple times, reached through a cabinet door to get the coffee because it was too early for your brain to be working yet. And Jason, you were reading a book while walking yesterday and you were apparently so invested that you didn’t notice the library door was closed and just walked right through it.”

Tim and Jason glanced at each other, shocked, before looking around the table. Their other siblings were nodding to what Steph said, apparently all aware of the new habit.

“Well,” Tim said, stunned as he turned back to Danny. “There’s also that apparently.”

Danny nodded thoughtfully, seeming unsurprised by the list.

“You probably won’t manifest anything else then, beyond developing the ones you already have. Intangibility is one of the basic powers of a ghost, as well as a connection to the element corresponding to their core. Full ghosts typically also have flight and invisibility, as a bare minimum, but liminals rarely have all three. It’s too much power for a core to channel while still in an otherwise normal human body.”

Tim couldn’t help pouting a little. The things he could do with both intangibility and invisibility. So many possibilities in stakeouts alone, not to mention the pranking potential. It was Jason’s turn to elbow him, no doubt feeling his disappointment.

“And controlling the ones we do have?” Jason asked, ignoring Tim’s scowl at him.

“Unfortunately, that’s just practice.” Both of them made a face at that, and Danny laughed. “Yeah, I know. Still, I have experience with all those powers except for the fire stuff, and I’m more than happy to come by again to give you some tips. It will probably also get easier once you finish adapting to your new cores and your emotions level out a bit.”

“Oh, thank god.” Tim couldn’t help sighing in relief. “So that bit will improve? I’m sick of feeling like I’m on an emotional roller-coaster all the time.” Danny smiled sympathetically.

“It probably won’t entirely go back to how it was. Ghosts are inherently beings of emotion and you are both a bit ghostly now, but right now is much more extreme than normal. It’ll mellow out a bit, and beyond that you’ll just get more used to handling it.”

“Can we ask about your human disguise?” Dick piped up from down the table. “Is that a common ability for ghosts to have?”

Danny tensed, and Tim and Jason felt a spike of discomfort, hurt, and reluctance, all mixed together and much stronger than the reaction that Danny was visibly displaying.

Danny managed to keep his own powers in check, but Tim and Jason had a lot less practice and were hit hard from the intense negative feelings. Tim’s fists clenched and a patch of ice appeared around them on the table as he glared furiously at Dick. Jason went as far as actually hissing at their brother, who looked shocked at both their reactions, and the visible fangs Jason was now sporting.

Before they could work themselves up any further, however, Tim felt a cool hand on his arm as Danny spoke up.

“It’s alright. It just caught me off guard, you can relax.”

And, shockingly, Tim did. Immediately. The ice vanished, the tension left his shoulders and the anger evaporated as if it had never been there, leaving him off kilter as he blinked dumbly at Danny’s gentle smile. Jason had relaxed the same way next to him, and Tim could feel confusion filling the space the anger had so suddenly left in his chest, as well as a rapidly growing amount of embarrassment.

“Uhh…” Steph started, and Tim looked over to see the rest of the family staring at the three of them. Yep, that embarrassment was definitely growing. He wasn’t even sure what was wrong with Dick’s question, just that he was certain there was something.

“Sorry,” Danny said, “That was my bad. The question caught me off guard and these two aren’t used to handling other ghost’s emotions, and especially not their king’s. I’ve been toning it down around you guys until you had some more practice, but that one slipped through.” He added, turning to address, Jason and Tim. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s uh,” Jason glanced at Tim, who could only shrug. “It’s fine? Didn’t mean to freak out so much, just hadn’t felt you that upset before. Caught us off guard too.”

Danny smiled sheepishly, rubbing his neck, before Steph piped up, sounding gleeful.

“Tim and Jason can sense emotions?!”

Danny tilted his head, confused, for a second, before picking up on Jason and Tim’s dread and seeming to remember what they had said in the keep when they found out about that particular ability. He winced, looking apologetically at them.

“Ah… sorry?”

Jason grimaced, avoiding eye contact with the others and Tim ran his hand through his hair with a sigh.

“Well, I guess that cat’s out of the bag. Yeah,” he addressed the family, who were looking either excited, concerned or unsurprised in the case of Cass and Alfred. “Turns out ghosts are empathetic. But we can only sense other ghosts’ emotions, including each other’s”

Bruce shot him a look that made his turn away with a wince. They were definitely getting a lecture on that later. Luckily Danny kept the conversation moving before anyone could start scolding or, from the look of Steph, screeching about that revelation.

“As to your question, Dick.” Danny said, causing Dick to look a little wary at what was clearly a sensitive topic. “There are certain things about myself that I will not be sharing with you in full. I will simply say that human disguises are quite a rare ability. And that my human form is not a disguise. It is as real and authentic as my ghost form.”

“But- but it looks like a teenager!” Dick protested, and Danny raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. Because I am a teenager. I don’t turn twenty until next year. Time travel makes it a little weird, but technically, still a teenager.”

Tim. Had. So many questions.

Both about the age and the human form. Because Danny still felt like a ghost when he was human, but he clearly said that it was real, and Tim knew he wasn’t lying about that and he had so many questions about what on earth that meant. But he could also tell that Danny was not comfortable with this topic, and he didn’t want to make him reveal more than he wanted to. But he was so curious. But Danny was entitled to his privacy…

Danny, apparently noticing this internal debate, and how could he not with Tim’s emotional metronome act, nudged Tim and shot him an indulgent smile. Surreptitiously, under the table, he pointed outwards and shook his head, then pointed specifically at Tim and Jason and nodded, then tapped his watch.

Tim frowned for a second, before beaming. So, Danny would tell him, just not right now and not in present company. That was fine, that could give him time to come up with a proper list of questions. His excitement, running wild as all his emotions tended to right now, almost had him bouncing in his seat. Jason stifled a laugh next to him and he glared back, Jason grinning entirely unrepentant.

Then Jason narrowed his eyes, before grinning again, and subtly nodding his head towards the end of the table. Tim followed his gaze and saw Bruce, deep in what Dick would call bat-pondering. Or maybe bat-brooding. Either way, he was clearly thinking hard and not happy about the conclusions he was coming to.

“Do you mean to say,” Bruce said, his voice an ominous rumble that managed to intimidate absolutely nobody at the table, “That you became King of the Dead when you were only a child?”

Tim’s eyes widened and he exchanged a look at Jason. Anyone else might have interpreted that tone as threatening, but they both knew better. But there was no way right? He wasn’t…

Danny hummed, tilting his hand back and forth.

“King of the Dead is an oversimplification, but essentially, yes. I obtained the throne by right of conquest when I was sixteen.”

Bruce hummed, considering.

This time it was Dick who met his eyes, looking incredulous, like he couldn’t decide whether to laugh or panic. Cass just looked amused, and the others looked confused at the interplay between the brothers, not being nearly as familiar with this particular tone of Bruce’s. Alfred just looked exasperated with his charge.

“Perhaps we should continue this discussion after dinner.” Bruce said, rather abruptly. “It’s getting late and you must be hungry. You’re most welcome to join us Phantom.”

Oh god he was.

Tim resisted the urge to slam his head into the table. Bruce was actually going to try and adopt the Ghost King. He decided he wasn’t an immediate threat, realised how young he was and immediately jumped to adopting. For god’s sake.

Danny shot him and Jason a concerned look at the mix of emotions they were broadcasting, but Tim waved away his concern, and he turned back to Bruce.

“Thank you, but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass this time. I’m supposed to be having dinner with my parents and sister back in my home dimension and I’m already running late. Maybe another time.”

Bruce sunk down slightly in his seat, expression turning constipated and merely grunted in reply.

“Hm. Another time them.”

Tim clapped his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. Jason had turned away, shoulders shaking. Dick was having a similar reaction across the table, and the rest of their siblings’ expression were slowly morphing as they realised just what was happening. Steph was looking delighted, while Damian was regarding his father with judgement.

Danny looked over at them again, thoroughly bewildered, but Tim was snickering too much to reply. He waved a hand again, the other still desperately covering his mouth, and tapped his wrist. He’d explain it to Danny later, when he could actually breath.

“Uhh, alright then.” Danny said, looking askance at the siblings variously losing it around the table. “I’ll just,” he gestured over his shoulder and a portal appeared, “I’ll just head out then. Nice meeting you?” He looked like he was rapidly revising that statement even as he said it.

“See you” Tim managed to gasp out, and Jason just raised a hand. The other variously waved or managed to express an actual farewell. Bruce offered a curt nod. Alfred was the only one who managed to give a proper send off to the increasingly concerned looking Danny.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, King Phantom. Please know that you are welcome to visit the manor any time, we would be delighted to have you.”

Danny blushed again, stuttering.

“Uh, that- that’s very kind of you, thank you. I will- uh, that is to say, uh- bye!” He ducked into the portal, which blipped out of existence behind him.

The cave was silent for a long moment before Damian spoke up.

“Really, father?” Tim heard Alfred sigh as the rest of them collapsed into chaos again, laughter and accusations and teasing flying through the air.

---

Later that night, Jason was sitting in the cave, tinkering with his helmet. Most of the others were still out on patrol, or in Tim’s case had been forbidden from staying up after Cass exposed that he hadn’t slept at all yesterday, but Jason had stayed in the cave, helping Babs run comms for those that were out patrolling.

Now though, it was nearly two AM, and the Batmobile was doing was last circuit before heading home.

Jason had planned to stay until the others arrived, might as well at this point after all, but then he paused. Put his helmet down on the bench and turned off the tools.

“Hey Barbie,” he called out, “I’m heading up for the night.”

“Copy that, Hood.” Her voice came from the Batcomputer. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, don’t worry.” He said, waving away her concern as he walked towards the stairs up to the manor. “Just need to check on something.”

He made his way through the manor, not even needing to think about his destination, until he reached one specific door in the family wing. He didn’t bother knocking, just turned the handle and pushed, having to actually shove a good bit of weight against it to force the door open, something unheard of in Alfred’s carefully maintained manor.

The door opened with a crackling sound, and revealed the room had been overtaken by frost, curling trails of it spreading out from the bed like a starburst, even climbing the walls like ivy in places. In the centre, tossing and turning, muttering to himself and clearly trapped in the throes of a nightmare, was Tim.

Jason sighed slightly, making his way across the room, his footsteps crunching louder as the frost got thicker, and perched on the bed, laying a hand over Tim’s furrowed brow. The second he made contact, Tim’s panic began to wane, the thrashing and whimpering slowly calming down.

“That’s it, Timbo.” Jason murmured, almost to himself. “You’re alright.”

Tim’s eyes opened slightly, just slivers of blue peering blearily out at the world.

“Jay…?” he muttered, confusion beginning to overtake the lingering panic. Jason shushed him gently. The ice was vanishing, not melting, but evaporating the way it did sometimes. Tim probably wouldn’t even realise it had been there.

“It’s ok, Timbit. Just a nightmare. Go back to sleep.”

Tim squinted for a moment, barely awake as it was, before nodding absently and grabbing Jason’s arm, giving it a tug. Jason huffed in amusement but let himself be pulled into the bed and wrapped his arms around Tim as the younger boy snuggled into his chest.

“Night, Jay…” Tim slurred, already falling back to sleep.

Jason smiled down at him fondly, running his fingers through Tim’s hair and gently brushing out the last of the ice crystals.

“Night, Tim.”

A quiet snore was his only response, and Jason settled himself down next to his little brother. After everything that had happened since they first saw that cult, Jason took the chance to appreciate the moment.

Tim was safe. A little different, but alive and safe curled up beside him. They had each other, they had their family and now they had Danny as well. For this moment, they were both safe. They could relax.

Surrounded by the gentle, calming feelings of his peacefully slumbering brother, Jason let himself drift off to join Tim in a soft, dreamless sleep.