When will AO3 be back from the war
Hours, stay strong
Au where everyone is the same except Vlad's power is just shooting bees.
RELEASE
Thanks for the AU
BEE-HOLD, VLAD'S TRUE FROM: THE BEEMPIRE
Danny was not a spirit of the seasons, he didn't have any idea if those kinds of spirits existed out of movies, what he did know was that for some reason the flowers were behaving rather strangely in one particular dimension right at the beginning of spring. And although he certainly didn't want to affect the place he knew he had to investigate it.
From what it seemed: strange plants that glowed just like those born in the Infinite Realms were appearing in Gotham and coming to life on their own. At first he suspected Undergrowth but the Ancient was offended by the accusation and commented that he was too busy in his haunt to care about a random city. Which turned out to be true.
Then he thought that maybe it was fine: the bright flowers seemed harmless (although they were very very...alive?) and didn't hurt anyone. That was until a red-haired girl seemed to upset them and they started attacking everyone around them; unfortunately, because they were ghost flowers they could dodge attacks very easily and the "heroes" couldn't defend themselves.
So, with no other options Danny traveled to Gotham and well, to put it simply he became a fake winter spirit; what else was he supposed to do? He needed an alibi and to spread ice as quickly as possible. Telling Gothamites that winter was coming early because of him was the least of his problems.
What he didn't expect was that after turning the city into a wasteland of ice and snow (and saving them from the invasion of ghost flowers, you're welcome), some guys in bat suits would start following him around with questions. He also didn't expect one of them to stare at him and ask if he'd be back in winter, he wondered if faking his identity was a good idea.
Danny could admit that pretending to be a "regular ghost" was pretty fun. He could hide in one place and scare people who were waiting for an open door and a creepy laugh.
Honestly, Danny could do a lot more than that, the ghosts people believed in were nothing like the ones he knew. He wondered if there were simply different types of ghosts, or supernatural creatures; it was quite likely, considering that the ghosts of the Realms weren't even of the same dimension so it wasn't a fair comparison.
Anyway, the halfa had spent a couple of days "haunting" Gotham. The place was too leggy and they needed a little excitement in their lives. Of course, this led to some rumors about a spirit suffering or something similar, he didn't really care.
The "heroes" of Gotham didn't seem to share his opinion, going through all the places that had been "attacked" (they were just jokes) and looking for some explanation before calling Justice League Dark, Danny had fun scaring them a little in the process.
But he wasn't too interested in being exorcised, banished or whatever they did with rebel ghosts, so he settled on a mansion that was too big for its few inhabitants. Scaring billionaires was almost therapeutic, although the butler didn't seem too impressed by his (minimal) efforts.
Danny made himself known to the world by hacking into the Justice League's communications line. Amity was safe but he was so tired of being ignored that the moment he figured out how to isolate his small town from the rest of the world he decided to let the heroes know they had failed.
He posted all the ignored calls, the GIW legal documents, the experiments, everything that would let them know that they had failed. Because he had saved himself and the others but never got help.
In a very short time Amity declared itself independent, similar to Atlantis or Themyscira; they didn't need anything from the rest of the world anyway.
At first the League thought it was the attack of a villain or some new organization.
It became very obvious that this was not the case the more they confirmed the information presented, from a law passed under their noses to the threat of exterminating an entire race of beings that were much stronger than them but decided to chose a peaceful route instead of just destroying everything.
For the first time in years, the League felt useless. The weight only increased when the last piece of "evidence" turned out to be the death certificate of Daniel Fenton, the first victim of the whole mess.
Danny was bored, it's not something new, the Infinite Realms were not the epitome of fun and the portals had been closed after the fight he had with his parents. It was safer that way, no one could get hurt, humans or ghosts.
That didn't mean the halfa couldn't miss them: his family, his friends, or the life he had before. All he had left were the ghosts, which was fine, but it wasn't enough. He felt unbalanced, unwell.
Clockwork told him it was because of his obsession, his obsession to help and protect was being fulfilled but only halfway. He had enough ectoplasm to last a lifetime but Danny was a human too, he needed to see the stars, to help people. He needed it desperately.
Clockwork noticed this and seeing that the boy could not return to his original dimension, he gave him permission to travel to the DC universe as long as he was careful. It was unlikely that they would attack the halfa there, they were all "special" and Danny would go unnoticed. But the boy still wanted to help.
So he formed a small business. He created a simple app and granted help to anyone who made a request. From saving a kitten from the trees to transporting very heavy packages.
It worked wonders and lowered his stress levels greatly. Danny thought he could get used to it, until people started making stranger requests and before he knew it, the so-called "Justice League" was at his door. Of course, he escaped, although that probably didn't help sell his innocence.
Jason met his boyfriend in a rather peculiar way: he was doing his usual rounds, disposing of the dregs of society with a couple of bullets and offering shelter to hapless victims when one of his victims began to...revive?
The easiest way to put it was that the bastard turned glowing green, and Jason had collaborated enough times with Justice League Dark to know that something supernatural was coming.
Before the whole process was complete, however, another portal opened and out stepped a pretty pissed off guy. The spirit that had just been born was intimidated by the new spirit and Jason could only watch dumbfounded as the twink destroyed the former serial killer with scathing words and scolding.
He was instantly smitten and began flirting with the rabid spirit. It wasn't long before Danny reciprocated his flirtations and well, Jason could tell it was the best thing that had happened to him all year.
On the other hand, the Batfamily was worried about Jason's constant disappearances and his sudden calmness. Fearing the worst (and seeing that they couldn't leave a matter unresolved) they decided to investigate, much to the chagrin of the Crime Lord who responded to their interrogations with deflections and continued to hide his boyfriend as best he could.
Danny thought it was a fun game and just went along with it. Tim was stressed and wanted to get it all over with.
Danny wouldn't say that the ghosts were cheating to visit the human world because technically they weren't, they were just hiding in plain sight, using the portals near or within the sea.
None of them needed to breathe and hardly anyone questioned the glowing things that appeared in the sea anyway. Of course, he didn't think he'd find a whole underwater city down there, with a government and a king, but thanks to invisibility he was sure they hadn't noticed them.
Well, he was almost sure, because a bat-shaped yacht was cruising the docks and the Atlanteans were strangely on guard. Danny wondered what was wrong with them.
Of course, Bruce and Arthur were investigating the sudden increase of toxins in the sea. Many locals (Atlanteans and Gothamites) had claimed to see something constantly glowing green floating near the shore, too far away to confirm what it was, and both feared it was Kryptonite.
Thank you! It was fun to draw to this. Looks like we both were dealing with blocks at the time when we were making these. It was nice.
It's been my first time being in an Invisobang and I got to do it with @nelkcats go read their fic! Constantine despite appearing at the very end and causing himself his own trouble is always amusing to see. Also it was fun to beta read for ya!
Summary:
After some strange conversations Danny discovers that he knows very little about ghost culture, which is probably not a good thing considering he's going to be their King.
When he is informed that ghosts express affection with punches and battles, he realizes that they need a day for it, a day where no one should "hold back" or "be responsible", a direct opposite for Truce. So, he created "War Day" after his coronation. Of course, this day needs some adjustments, which involves inadvertent discoveries and some wizard with terrible luck.
Happy invisobang everyone!
After Danny was crowned he decided that the truce party had to have a counterpart, after all ghosts became friends mostly through battles, and he assumed that one day letting them fight wouldn't be a bad thing, it might even help stir up some grudges.
This was how High King Phantom, ruler of the infinite realms inaugurated the long-awaited "Day of War" or just "War Day", a moment when the Infinite Realms naturally became chaotic; alliances were allowed but it was not advisable to trust on them.
And of course, you were free not to participate, you just had to put a blue or green band on your arm, or a little green clock in the backyard of your haunt so the ghosts would leave you, your haunt or your territory in general alone.
Danny thought of it as some kind of giant paintball day, only with no paintballs and full of aggressive ghosts with various powers, it was especially exciting since everyone knew there would be no hard feelings after it and they would end up in the king's palace eating sweets as little children.
They usually celebrated it on a day close to any celebration related to death in human world, when their powers were especially powerful and therefore everyone could have more fun.
The problem was that since Danny had human friends (liminals?) who came to play, they didn't really consider it weird when some humans fell into the realms by a natural portal, and since they weren't wearing any blue or green arm bands they were definitely in the game.
For their part, the family of bats along with some League allies found themselves literally standing on a field of war where everyone seemed to be going for the kill, Jason was strangely excited about it, as was Damian.
When Dick asked one of the locals for an explanation, a guy on a motorbike threw him into the air laughing and yelled "LET THE HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!"
In case you're curious about an update, War Day has a prequel I've been working on for a while! You can check it out here! or you can copy the link below!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/49989505
And Kaide's art for the fic here! I give her full credit for the art and the beta, even if she refuses to accept the co-authorship </3
It was part of the invisobang event so, happy reading ;)
It was no secret that the trains in Gotham were damaged, whether it was from all the explosions that flooded the city on a daily basis or the fact that the rails were broken wasn't completely clear. At that point, what was once a train station was nothing more than an empty place used by some homeless people to sleep.
Or that's what it was supposed to be, because while the station was damaged and underneath the city, it was actually active. It just had another kind of train, a slightly more interesting one.
In Danny's defense, he was extremely bored and there was an abandoned train station he could use to play with. All it took was calling in a favor from Technus and a fully functional ghost train connected the Infinite Realms to Gotham.
The ghosts, of course, used this for fun. Fighting each other, chasing each other, celebrating, having concerts. It was a way to go to the human world without anyone causing trouble for them, not that anyone was paying attention anyway.
Or at least, no one was supposed to be paying attention, because Waylon was dumbfounded at the sight. He had escaped to the old rails when he had no other choice, his sewers were compromised and he needed a way out. He didn't expect to walk right into a party, or be offered a sandwich with a smile instead of a shout.
He could also observe a clearly glowing train and the fact that everyone there was glowing. They could be metas, or another completely new creature, but Waylon didn't care, they gave him food and he wasn't a snitch.
Danny fell in love with Bruce Wayne in college. If he was completely honest with himself he didn't even know about Gotham or the outside world by that point, he just knew he had to get away from home for a while and complete his studies.
He didn't expect to run into a playboy billionaire who was supposedly very dumb at his college; Danny knew better, he could tell the difference between the act and the real Bruce, someone truly thoughtful, caring and very smart, but no one but him noticed so he didn't say anything.
They became very good friends despite their obvious latent crush and on graduation day Danny was about to confess when he got a call from home asking for help with the GIW. The halfa had no choice but to say goodbye not wanting to get Bruce in his mess.
When he returned to Gotham months later he learned that Bruce was gone, his butler informed him that he would be back but didn't know when and the halfa returned to Amity in disappointment. He decided to take over the Realms for a while and distract himself with all the responsibilities he had been avoiding.
Years later he was called for a college reunion. Danny was very nervous, he hadn't kept in touch with the outside world but his core was still glowing for the billionaire, he wondered if Bruce would remember him.
Despite his plan to confess his old feelings (and pretend they no longer existed), Danny was unable to do anything but look at Bruce who greeted him with a smile and a small child at his side. The halfa grimaced, maybe he was married?
Bruce seemed excited to see him again and exchanged his contact, asking him not to go off the radar again, the halfa felt a little guilty about it. They continued to communicate over the years. Danny noted with amusement how his crush kept adopting children and calling him for a dinner at the mansion.
Despite the years he had spent in the Realms and how much he had changed, Danny could admit that he missed being a hero, or at least a vigilante of sorts. Being a King was stressful and everyone asked for his opinion, something that had improved over the years but had never completely changed.
So when Clockwork told him that there was a hero named "Batman" in another dimension, he was interested. Mainly because the people there seemed to think Batman was a ghost or connected to the supernatural, when in reality he was just an ordinary person.
Sure, he was also a billionaire but everyone had their flaws and Danny didn't plan to hold that against him. Someday he would meet a normal billionaire with no hidden agendas, he was sure.
Batman had children too, even though he "worked alone" and the halfa was very interested. So much so, that when his mentor asked him if he wanted to spend a vacation in Gotham pretending to be the vigilante he agreed without much trouble.
It seemed that Batman had been badly hurt and people were starting to lose their fear of him, something that was critical in Gotham. So Danny agreed to his mentor's request and imitated the Bat's costume as best he could, adding a more supernatural effect than usual.
It wasn't long before Bruce found out about his double. A double who was doing his job very well and scaring his villains while he remained in bed, he would be grateful if it wasn't so worrisome.
Danny loves his friends, they have been with him since they were little and they have experienced too many things together, things that have helped them grow, things that only strengthen their friendship. Because Sam and Tucker were everything to him, as he was everything to them.
But at the same time, Danny could admit that he hated his friends; not always, but there were times where they wouldn't stop fighting, where they forced him to choose. The halfa could understand, Sam and Tucker had different world views, they saw different things and occasionally Danny thought they only got along because of him.
That was okay, he learned to live with them, to be the center of their arguments. And when they moved from Amity to Gotham, when they decided to rent an apartment together and go to the same college (which miraculously had all their majors), he thought everything would be fine.
It was idiotic of him. Because at the time he could only see a repeat of what had happened in high school; Sam was having a protest about the cafeteria menu and Tucker had organized the meat lovers (again), and the halfa knew how it was all going to end.
The point is, Danny was tired of repeating the same cycle, a cycle that apparently included Waylon and Poison Ivy fighting in the cafeteria at his new college (and how the hell did his friends manage to get the Rogues of Gotham into their fights?), so when he saw the people in bat suits he exploded.
When Sam and Tucker turned to ask his opinion he shook his head, pointed at Lunch Lady, who had her arms crossed and decided it wasn't his problem before disappear. Literally, no matter if half of Gotham was calling him meta, he was tired.
Red Robin gawked at him before turning his attention to Lunch Lady, who was gathering all the meat around her to form a giant meat monster. And Danny decided it wasn't his problem.
Apparently, Sam and Tucker decided that the bats could take care of it before they looked worried and started looking for Danny. It became obvious that the bats needed help when Danny looked at a giant meat monster two hours later, the halfa arched an eyebrow in dismay, weren't they supposed to be professional heroes? Lunch wasn't even trying...
When Danny left Amity he was pretty sure it would be a quick trip. He wasn't expecting a few days' visit to Gotham to check some annoying "co-workers" of Vlad's, a gala and a serious case of fever.
Being fair, Danny didn't know that ghosts could get sick, or how much damage this could do. His powers went completely haywire, activating and deactivating in the middle of the street, and it was only thanks to Vlad that he was able to come up with an excuse or two.
Vlad obviously didn't expect him to get sick either, if his disgusted face was anything to go by. The two had a truce of sorts but it was obvious they were only on friendly terms thanks to Jack Fenton.
Danny didn't feel like locking himself in a room and drinking soup. He wanted to call Frostbite, but he was too far away from the Realms, and the halfa refused to let Vlad check on him.
So he ended up on the streets of Gotham, spreading early winter and ice stalagmites in his wake. It was just luck that Vlad found him before the bats, who were obviously interested in the new development. Danny wondered how he was supposed to attend the gala in those conditions.
