Chapter Text
It’s 11:45 on Christmas Eve, and Dani is curled up on a beanbag against a napping Tim (whom she’d 1000% sat on to elicit cuddles until he fell asleep). Alfred the cat took advantage of her immobilization to curl up on her chest, purring as Dani idly runs his tail through her fingers. They were watching a Christmas movie (Elf, since Home Alone is banned in the Wayne household, apparently), but it’d ended a couple of minutes ago and no one had put on another one. Dani’s pretty sure most of them are asleep. As it is, she’s on her way to dreamland herself.
Just as she’s about to drift off, there’s a sudden flash of light. A line of green slashes its way through the empty air, forcibly ripping open a portal that explodes in size. The sleepy, domestic moment was suddenly full of green light, startled shouts, and angry hissing. Dani’s is suddenly yanked from warm cuddles into cold metal.
“We are bringing you to the King,” taunts a heavily-electronic voice. Dani is abruptly aware she is the target, just as she’s lifted into the air by one of the dumb claw traps that sinches around her wrist. “Do not resist and this will go smoothly for you, Menace!”
“HUH?!” Dani replies, eloquent as always. What is Skulker doing here?! She hasn’t seen him since she stole all his double A batteries and he swore to hunt her progeny to extinction (she doesn’t have any so he wins? She guesses??).
“Unhand her, demon!” Damian shouts, and suddenly there’s a knife (???) embedded in Skulker’s hand. It’s a nice knife. What is Damian doing sleeping with a knife that nice??
“MWAHAHAHA!”
Dani is embarrassed to know Skulker. Why does he have to laugh like that every time.
“Wait–” Dick starts, as if he’s going to try and talk Skulker down, and Tim is awake and looking more aware than Dani’s ever seen him, sharp and calculating, and Alfred the cat’s hair is raised as he bears his teeth, and the chaos is just too much for a sleepy Christmas Eve… and that’s coming from Dani, so you know it means something.
Skulker cackles again, jerks Dani closer to him, and shoots backwards into the portal. Cass leaps out from nowhere to make a grab at Dani, but Skulker had the rare foresight to go intangible and she goes right through him. Dani hopes she doesn’t get too much rug burn, but she doesn’t get the chance to see how she lands because they’re already through the portal and it’s closing around them.
Dani’s last shot of her fraid is the horrified and panicked expressions on their faces.
As soon as they’re through the portal, Dani phases out of the claw and kicks Skulker in the chest, sending him flying.
“What in the realms are you doing?!” Dani screeches, feeling her eyes start to glow. “I was chilling you big brute!!”
“You menace!” Skulker shouts back, aiming a net at her that she easily dodges. “You scuffed the paint!”
“I’m going to scuff your brain, you half-wit!” Skulker goes for a shot with one of his guns, but Dani dodges that too, gets in close, and delivers a powerful uphanded blow to Skulker’s chin.
“Your banter could use some work, ghost child!” He manages to grab Dani’s ankle as she floats back and launches her into one of the nearby floating rocks. Dani’s back cracks the stone, sending a light flare of pain down her spine, and she grabs the boulder to launch at him. “AHH!”
“Why did you bring me here?! To fight? I’ll pound you to the ground!”
“You can’t, girl! It’s 11:58! The Christmas truce starts in two minutes!”
“Sounds like I have two minutes!!!”
Dani makes good use of those two minutes.
At midnight, she can feel the truce settle. She felt it last year, but she hadn’t understood what it meant; the intense aversion to causing conflict paired with an innate desire to celebrate. She lets go of Skulker’s arm, which she had been chewing on like a rabid raccoon.
“Feral creature,” Skulker mutters, examining the teeth marks in his titanium plating. Dani gives him her best angel-emoji smile. “I should have taken you closer to the truce.”
“Why did you take me in the first place?” Dani asks. “I was planning to spend the day with my fraid.”
“You have a fraid?” Skulker asks in surprise. “Ah. Congratulations, child. You deserve a good fraid.”
“Oh, they’re the best,” Dani confirms. “Kind, way too over protective, and a little bit crazy.”
“You deserve a crazy fraid, too,” Skulker confirms.
“So why did you take away my first Christmas with the fraid?” She puts her hands on her hips and glares at him.
He has the decency to look at least a little bit apologetic. “We’re planning a surprise Christmas party for the ghost boy, and we wanted you to be there.”
“Danny hates Christmas,” Dani reminds him.
“He hates Christmas with the hunters!” Skulker exclaims. “So we’re planning him a party! And it wouldn’t be a party without his whole fraid!”
“You’re right about that,” Dani concedes, and she’s a little pleased that not only is she part of Danny’s fraid, but also that it’s apparently common knowledge to even his rogues. “But I’m still salty that you ruined my Christmas plans!”
“Yes, yes,” Skulker dismisses her, waving a hand. “Old Clocky said he has a plan for that.”
Dani purses her lips, considering. She’s always placed a lot of faith in Clockwork. After all, he saved Danny’s family despite what the timeline was supposed to be. He’s looking out for them, in his weird, roundabout way. So she’ll at least give him the benefit of the doubt and let him explain this so-called “plan”. If it doesn’t include her family, though, she’s gonna be pissed.
Dick Grayson is pissed. Some unknown broke into his house and stole his child. Heads are going to roll.
The moment after Dani was taken, the entire Batfam sprung into action. Tim was running diagnostics, Damian was suiting up, Alfred was loading his shotgun, and Cass was contacting Steph, Babs, and Jay.
In less than an hour, the Cave is full of every Bat — sans Bruce, who’s still off world — clamoring over each other to find their missing family member. Every connection is called in, and soon half the League is there with them.
What they gather is the traces of a portal to the “infinite realms”, which is the universe that connects all the multiverses. Going there is essentially disappearing entirely. Any dimension is accessible to that realm, and even if there isn’t a secondary jump, the realms are as infinite as their name suggests. It almost seems hopeless.
But the Bats aren’t the world’s greatest detectives for nothing. And they’re not entirely helpless… there is still one contact they have in the Realms, even if they aren’t necessarily friendly.
Tim manages to pool together enough magical information from their encounter with the All-King to triangulate his approximate location in relation to where they are. Like the Minecraft Nether, traveling in the Realms is six times faster than in their dimension. Using some kind of ridiculously long algebraic equation, Tim calculates the strength of magic, positioning of the summoning circle, and time for the King to appear after the ritual began to find a general area where the All-King’s castle should theoretically be, if the Realms and Earth were superimposable.
And that’s how they find themselves in Illinois. The area isn’t exact, so Kid Flash and Supergirl/boy cover the surrounding area in concentric circles until they find a place of interest: Amity Park, the most haunted city in America.
Given that inhabitants of the Realms are often miscategorized as “ghosts”, this seemed to be the next reasonable clue for the fam to investigate.
One thing leads to another (mostly interrogation), and Dick ends up on the doorstep of the Drs Fenton. The brownstone home is an OSHA nightmare, mixing technology and construction in an unstable way that looks to be held together by sheer force of will (and is that used gum and duct tape…?). Nope, not thinking about that.
After confirming that the house is empty (with a note proclaiming the parents have gone “to prove Santa is/isn’t real, he is Maddie-cakes! He’s NOT, Jack!!! Be back soon, kiddos <3”, and the lack of children in their beds), Dick and his family infiltrate the home of the self-proclaimed “ghost experts”.
They may not be ghost experts, more of inventors of ghost-hunting equipment, but they do happen to be their key to getting to the Realms, in the form of a huge, ridiculously dangerous and not at all ethically approved “Ghost Portal”.
After Dani is back safe and sound, Dick is going to have to do some thorough investigation into these “Fentons”.
Tim does a quick search through the Fenton’s files and finds that the “Ghost Zone” (as they call it) is generally safe for humans*, as long as they don’t stay there for several days at a time. That’s all the confirmation they need (well, not really, but they already have protection spells and high-tech equipment in place to safeguard them if the Fentons turn out to be wrong).
When the portal opens, Jason grunts in surprise and steps back. He’s not the only one… The “portal” looks like a vertical version of the Lazarus Pits, a deep toxic green that swirls gently as though there’s a drain in the back.
“You don’t have to do this,” Dick tells Jason, tells them all.
“No,” Jason grits out, obviously choked with emotion behind his helmet. “This is for With-an-i. I can do it.” He clenches his fists and strides forward purposefully. “She better appreciate this.”
Then he launches himself through the portal.
Everyone is quick to join him. Going through the portal is a bit like jumping into an icy lake of pudding crossed with the tingling feeling of your foot waking up after falling asleep. It’s nauseating, but not nearly as much as he thought it would be, given his first experience with the Zeta beams.
”This… is not what I was expecting,” is the first thing Tim says after they reorient themselves. They’re floating in an infinite space of green, that is both simultaneously too bright and hard to see in. Floating purple doors are spread out intermittently as far as Dick can see, along with a few random pieces of land and building.
Most notably, however, is the carriage of flaming purple, blue and green skeleton horses floating several yards ahead of them.
A ghost coachman floats towards them, looking pale and bored. He’s wearing red pants and black boots, suspenders over his white shirt. He has a fairly impressive white beard that hangs halfway down his chest. “The King is expecting you. You have been granted an audience.”
”How did he know?” Steph whispers.
“He’s the bloody All-King,” Constantine snaps back.
“Are we really getting in?” Tim asks Dick.
He doesn’t even have to think about it. This is what they’re here for: to meet the All-King and beg his help in finding Dani, even if they have to grovel to do so. Dani is worth that much, and Dick would see her home safely.
“Let’s get in,” Dick grunts in his Batman voice.
“I would advise you not open the doors,” the coachman says, looking pointedly over Dick’s shoulder.
When Dick whirls around to see what he’s referring to, he sees Tim peering through an open door, Damian peeking over his shoulder.
“Red!” Dick barks. What came over that idiot? Tim is usually so much smarter than this.
Inside the open door is a woman typing rapidly on her iPad, in a big bed with two other women, one obviously her mother, and the other possibly a sister. There’s a dog on her legs, a big German Shepherd that is the cutest thing Dick has ever seen.
The woman looks up, making direct eye contact with Dick, even though he’s not the one who opened the door. She smiles, though it looks a little unhinged. “It’s eight on Christmas Eve and I haven’t finished this chapter yet,” she says, her voice somehow carrying across the distance. “Get out of here and finish the scene!”
The door slams shut. The author thinks she’s clever.
Dick shakes the interaction off. “That was stupid,” he says to Tim. “Now get in here, we have a sister to save.”
Damian taunts Tim, who smacks him upside the head and then has to dodge an attempted stabbing in the ribs. Dick separates them. What’s gotten into them? Dani’s life could be at stake.
The Batfam and the rest of their companions cram into the surprisingly spacious coach, and the door is only just barely shut before they’re riding off at Mach 3 (Kid Flash is pretty good at estimating how fast they’re going).
In less than ten minutes, the coach slams to a halt, throwing half the occupants off their seats and into the people across from them. Only Damian, for whatever assassin reason, is able to stay upright, and even then it’s just barely.
“The Princess is right through here,” the coachman says when he opens the door, unflappable as though half their team isn’t sprawled across the other half. “I wouldn’t keep her waiting; she’s not known for her patience.”
”I thought you said it was the King that was expecting us,” Steph says. “Who’s the Princess?”
”I don’t get paid enough to answer that,” the coachman says. “No fighting is permitted in the castle today. Merry Christmas.” With that, he pulls on a red coat and hat, adjusting a pair of wire glasses on his nose. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some coal to deliver to a certain archnemesis of mine.”
With that, Santa hops onto his coach, which morphs into a sleigh before their very eyes, and slaps the reins and jets off like a shooting star into the far-off distance.
“Did we… did we just meet Santa?” Steph asks, sounding about as bewildered as Dick feels.
”I was under the impression Santa was a cultural manifestation of a religious story created to promote holiday merchandising campaigns,” Damian accuses. “He is real? There has been a man infiltrating every house in the world every year? If he can break through even the Cave defenses, we must be on guard at all times!”
”This is too much to deal with right now,” Dick answers tersely. “We need to go see the King, or the Princess, or whatever immortal royalty was holding his daughter hostage. “If Santa was to be believed, he’s expecting us.”
They’re at the door of an impressive palace with European influence in a black and white color scheme. The King’s symbol — an open flaming D — is proudly pronounced on the door.
With the help of Jason, Dick pushes open the doors, revealing a long marble hallway with a single figure standing in it. Dick recognizes him instantly; it’s hard to forget the memorable appearance of the All-King.
“You enter my home on the day of peace,” the King says before any of them can even think to start bowing. “With your mortal weapons and dangerous intentions. Tell me, why should I grant you entry?”
”We’re not looking for entry, Your Majesty,” Dick is quick to correct, stepping forward and a slight bow. “One of the denizens of this realm took our sister, and we are only trying to rescue her and bring her home, safe and sound.”
”Bold of you to assume I will let her go,” the King replies, smiling with too many teeth that are pointed like a canines. His eyes glow like green comets, piercing through the already green-tinted environment like the sun through clouds. “You came here to take away what is rightfully mine.”
”Yours?” Damian scoffs, unsheathing his sword and pointing it at the literal King of the Infinite Realms, like it’s a fight he can win. “You will return Danishara to us immediately, or I will see you as dust to scatter across the realms!”
The King smiles wider, too wide, almost splitting his face in half. “Indeed? Fine, little human, let us see your skill—“
The All-King takes a step forward, and out of the door to his left flies a blur of white and silver, crashing into the King and sending him tumbling. The attacker, a young girl with long white hair tangled in silver stars and a flowing white gown, smacks the King with a rolled up newspaper. “Bad! BAD KING!”
Constantine looks like he’s about to have a stroke. Dick feels a bit like he’s walked into some kind of bizarre sit-com.
The King hisses at his attacker, swiping at her with clawed hands. Without missing a beat, the girl whips out a spray bottle and squirts green-tinted water in the King’s face. The response is more hissing.
”You feral thing,” the girl scolds, then turns to the heroes. “Hello! Sorry about my brother, he tends to get a bit overprotective. You are looking for someone?”
And… that’s. Well, it can’t be Dani, because Dani isn’t dead, but… It is? She’s got the same facial features, and her eyes are glimmering with that same mischief that she always has, the only difference being her eyes are Lazarus-green instead of lake-blue. Her hair is in that same cut Dick styled for her just two weeks ago, just as white as her hair was black. It’s styled in a bit of a crown, the rest flowing down her back, woven with a string of silver stars. The hair crown has a thin tiara of silver and diamond. She’s wearing a flowing white dress with silver embroidery.
She looks… she looks like an angel.
”Danishara?” Damian whispers, horrified.
“With-an-i?” Jason says at the same time.
Dani pushes out her hip and regards them. “Well, now, that can’t be Damian and Jason, could it? They’re the only ones that call me that.” Her eyes are sparkling, and Dick thinks… well, screw it. She’s family.
He yanks off his mask, strides forward towards her rapidly-surprised face, and bundles her into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re safe,” Dick whispers into her hair. She’s cold, like a corpse, and Dick can’t feel her heart beating. But she holds him close all the same, and Dick can forget all the other details.
“What are you guys doing here dressed like that?” Dani wonders. “I was told you’d be coming, but I don’t really get why you did it dressed up as vigilantes.” She pulls back from the hug and looks Dick up and down pointedly.
”With-an-i, we are vigilantes,” Jason tells her, taking off his helmet and tucking it under an arm.
“Your family is Batman?!” comes the voice of the chastised All-King, popping up from his defeated position on the floor. “Holy crap, I threatened your family and I didn’t even know I was doing it!”
”Danishara, I believe there is a need for an explanation.”
Dani looks at Damian, who kept his mask on, glaring at the King distrustfully.
“This is Danny,” Dani says, explaining absolutely nothing. “He’s my brother. Hey, do you guys want some eggnog?”
”Wait, wait, your brother?” Constantine interrupts. Every other member of their party seemed to get that this was a family matter and had been observing quietly, but Constantine was never so polite. “You don’t mean to tell me you’re the ‘Beloved Princess’?”
”Beloved?” King ‘Danny’ laughs, receiving another wack with the rolled up newspaper. “Ow! Stop doing that!”
”Belove me,” Dani retorts. “But yea, I am. You prank ghosts enough, they’ll like you. It’s common knowledge.”
That is not common knowledge.
“What?” Tim asks.
”Where’s this eggnog?” Steph adds.
Dani’s eyes light up at this last question. “Oooh, through here! We were waiting for you to get here!”
”You were waiting?” Dick blurts, surprised. “How did you know we were coming?”
”You’re family,” Dani replies immediately. “You’ll always come.”
”Don’t be so corny,” the King ribs on her, rolling his eerie eyes. “Our omniscient, nosy god-grandfather told us you’d be coming.”
??? “There is so much here,” Tim says, looking lost. “I… I don’t know what’s going on.”
”We’re getting gingersnaps,” Dani supplies, darting forward, grabbing Tim’s arm, and tugging him towards the room she appeared out of.
“I thought it was eggnog?” Steph asks, trotting after them without hesitation.
“There’s both!”
”Are we… are we not going to talk about all… this?” Jason calls after them, gesturing at the King, the palace, Dani, and the rest of their party. “I feel like we should talk about this.”
”Just accept it for what it is,” Dani answers. “We can have explanations tomorrow. Today, we celebrate Christmas!!!”
It takes a bit more convincing, but they eventually agree to put it off until the next day. The rest of the League, after being thoroughly stuffed with cinnamon rolls and roast turkey and sugar cookies shaped like Christmas ghosts (among many, many other things), bid their farewells and go off to celebrate with their own families now that Dani’s safety is confirmed.
They’re stuffed full of food, which only grows once Alfred is retrieved from the Manor with his Christmas spread. Dick has never eaten so much in his life, but it’s hard not to try everything.
Dani introduces them to dozens of ghosts, including a hulking wolf (named Wulf, Superboy flashbacks anyone?), and her dog, Cujo (again, a little on the nose). Danny — the All-King, who they quickly find out is a huge dork that is also half-dead and is a straight-up teenage boy — introduces his friends to the Waynes. Tucker clicks with Tim and the two start rambling on about technology and their favorite coding language. Jazz, Dani and Danny’s sister, is quick to fall in with Cass, Stephanie and Barbara, telling stories and sharing ambitions for future careers. Sam talks with Jason about proper gun care and Victorian classics, both of them pretending to brood as they do so. Damian sticks with Dani and pets Cujo, looking intensely pleased with himself.
Dick ends up with Danny.
“Sorry I’ve been so snappish,” Danny says after a long, awkward silence. ”I have to make sure Dani is in good hands.”
”She is,” Dick replies immediately. “I hope I can someday prove it to you.”
”Me too,” Danny agrees. “It’s hard not to worry about her. She’s my little sister. She’s only been alive for like, a year.”
”Wait, what? Sorry, go back.”
”Nah. Anyway, I approve.”
”No, I need to hear more about that whole one year old thing—“
Danny pretends he doesn’t hear him. “Hey, want a candy cane?”
Elsewhere, an aged ghost watches the scene with a soft smile. It’s good to see them happy, he thinks to himself. It is how all should be on Christmas.
If only this were the main timeline.
Clockwork sips his eggnog and smiles that secret smile of his. All is as it should be.