Fic Prompt #5

Hollowing Bones Prequel Bit

Aka: Danny is not a necromancer, he swears.

The small skull clattered as it tumbled across the scattering of stone. The toe of his boot must have caught it as he walked through the secluded jungle. The rest of the skeleton, long decayed of any flesh, half peaked out of mud.

Danny crouched, cradling the skull in his hand. It was so small in the curl his palm, nestled there as it stared up at him with hollow eyes.

It watched him.

Danny scoffed, closing his fingers over the skull. ‘Necromancer’ they called him, spat at him. Usually the word came with color additions and none of them favorable. Sometimes, sometimes, it was Psychopomp or Speaker instead. But if he pissed other occult people off (which, to be fair, he did a lot), it was ‘evil necromancer’. It made Danny want to crush the tiny skull cradled in his hand.

He wouldn’t, of course he wouldn’t. It was this little one’s fault. He twisted towards the rest of the skeleton, brushing away the leaves and muck. It was a lizard of some sort— gecko maybe? It was hardly longer than his hand, tail and all.

Gently, Danny placed the skull back down in it’s resting place.

He couldn’t actually be a necromancer, could he? Sure, death magic sung at his fingertips He could feel it even now, humming under the skin and scars and tattoos of his left hand. His fingers twitched and green shimmered between the digits like a hand held aurora.

He could try.

He’d know if he tried. He’d know what he really was now.

(How much of a monster he’d become.)

Danny tilted his head, listening for any sounds of people around. Not that there would be. Danny came here specifically to get away from people. He may have not had Constantine’s talent with portals, but with enough time to set up, he could go anywhere in the world. (Just not back to where he really wanted to be.)

Bird songs and wind rustled leaves were all that answered him.

The tiny skull stared up at him from the rich brown earth.

It was easy to imagine the life the little lizard must have had, here in the jungle that was teaming with life. He could picture the lizard— gecko. Bright green like the others Danny had spotted on his walk. He could picture it scurrying up the side of trees and hiding under leaves. They would have stalk bugs and beetles slowly and carefully with their tiny blue feet. They would have drank from water pooled in a leaf as the world around them was dripped in rain. They would have feasted on fallen, fermented fruit on the forest floor.

They would have lived.

A gasp— soft, fragile, full of life— spilled from Danny’s lips as a sensation ripped down his arm. He doubled over at it, bending just enough that his fingers and the auroras that clung to the tips brushed over the tiny skull.

Danny came too staring up at a forest canopy lit golden with sunset. Everything hurt. Pinpricks of pain shot down his arm, along his Lichtenberg scars. Something was crawling on his left hand.

Slowly, hesitantly, Danny raised his arm.

Laying over it was the gecko skeleton.

The little skull tilted— looked at him with eyes that weren’t there.

The skull was moving all on it’s own.

Danny giggled, a small, hysterics tinged laugh.

Guess they were right.

He was a necromancer.

Well, fuck.

____

AN: Since you all had such a positive reaction to the post about Squiggles, meet the (re)birth of the little dear!

Danny is having a real time of it.

This is a bit of a prequel for Hollowing Bones (snippet 1 and snippet 2), so part of the Salt in the Bones AU that @mokulule and I are doing together. Or the "Danny is totally not a necromancer, back off Constantine" AU. (Endgame dead on main.) This was supposed to be part of a fic about Danny's tattoos, but Squiggles might get their own little fic at this rate to explain where they came from!

Tag list ye be warned, this is one I'll be sharing bits of entirely out of order as I'm just working on it around other stuff. LBFD and Shadow of a Bat are still priority. And Specter of Starlight will prob come before this series too- at least befor the Big Part. If that might bother you/you want to read it in order and want off the list or on the tag list when it goes love in ao3, just let me know!

@apointlessbox | @asphyxia778 | @crystalqueertea | @seraphinedemort | @meira-3919 | @mnemovoid | @mj-arts-n-stuff | @v-inari | @my-perfect-storybook-love | @satanicrutialspecialist | @avelnfear | @saltyladynightmare

Damian, as Robin, is about to be sacrificed to summon a Powerful Being. Except instead of a Powerful Being, a kid his age pops into existence as though he was shoved forward.

The kid looks around, startled. He's got a black eye and he's holding a length of rope, presumably what had been restraining him.

"Uh. Is. Is this the afterlife?" The kid asks, bewildered.

"...No, this is Gotham. We were trying to summon Pariah Dark?" One of the cultists answers, also confused.

"But I was being sacrificed to summon Pariah Dark?" The kid says, brows furrowed.

The cultists pause in their attempted murder of Robin and hurriedly reconvene, taking their eyes off of the kid. They're muttering about how maybe there was another cult doing a sacrifice at the same time, and things got switched up. Should they sacrifice both of the boys?

Damian, though. Damian never takes his eyes off of the new kid.

Unlike the cultists, he's not an idiot. He knows a liar when he sees one. That boy is no sacrifice.

That boy is the being they summoned.

He waits for the being to show it's true colors. And waits. And waits.

'Hurry up!' Damian mouths to it.

'I am trying!' It mouths back, motioning at it's feet where it's been wearing away the containment sigil.

'Well try faster!'

'That's not how it works!'

'How hard is it to mess up chalk?'

'Well then you come here and you do it!'

"Maybe I will," Damian spits outloud, done with this farce.

"Uh, do you two need a moment or...?"

Damian answers the cultists question by kicking her in the face as he cuts himself loose.

He will rescue both himself and the demon they dragged into this world.

Danny is not a murder victim, why would gothamitys think that?

Short promp

Danny was just helping some lady in Gotham, as she almost got robbed.

Stuff like that happens.

He got a few people out of burning houses.

Saved some people's from falling somewhere.

Why do people suddenly think he is some sort of holy ghost?

He is also not the ghost of a murder victim, how did that even came up?

Why is batman after him and promised that he will find his murderer, he was not murdered.

Why does Robin think he is in denial?

Yeah Danny just does his thing and goes to college he can just help people and fly away from batman.

Marvel Can Be Intense

Billy wants these little guys to go into heroics being the best hero they can be. He just doesn’t realize that while he has good intentions, he can come off as kind of intense. Like the time he tried teaching Wally how to vibrate his entire body through an object.

Marvel: *holding Tim by the neck with one hand while his other hand is crackling with electricity* “You better hurry up Wally or else I’ll blow his brains out on the floor!”

Kid Flash: “WHAT DUDE IM TRYING.”

Robin!Tim: “HE’S BURNING MY HAIR! I THINK HE’S ACTUALLY GOING TO KILL ME IF YOU DON’T HURRY!”

Kid Flash: “I’m TRYING!” *only got his arm through it*

Marvel: “Try harder!”

Or the time he tried teaching Stargirl how to fly one of the ships.

Marvel: “Alright, so the best type of practice is getting it firsthand so what you’re gonna do is fly straight through that asteroid belt.” *points to the belt*

Stargirl: *sounds super concerned* “What? I can’t do that!”

Marvel: “Yeah you can! You just gotta believe. Now do it.”

Stargirl: “I just told you, I can’t. I can barely fly this thing already. Flying through an asteroid belt would completely total the entire thing and we might be stranded out here for God’s sake.”

Marvel: *nods head* “I see. I see. I get your concerns. So instead I’ll just…” *grabs the acceleration and cranks it all the way up and they start flying to the belt*

Stargirl: “WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” *grabs the steering wheel and starts making the ship dodge the asteroids*

Marvel: “You’re doing great!” *sunny ahh smile as if he hadn’t put the both of them in mortal danger*

Later…

Marvel: “That was wonderful for your first time, Stargirl.” *looking at the dents in the ship*

Stargirl: “You’re a psychopath.” *still a little shell shocked*

Marvel: “Nuh uh. Here, have some candy.” *hands her some candy*

Then there was the time Beast Boy was interviewed.

Interviewer: “So, who would you say is your toughest teacher? Batman?”

Beast Boy: “Oh, definitely Captain Marvel.”

Interviewer: *slightly surprised* “May I ask why?”

Beast Boy: “Well, he’s a psychopath. Like actually. Like don’t get me wrong. He’s really nice. He makes us cookies. He’s like super kind, but when it comes to training, he’s a complete psychopath. Like the other day he said he’d tear off Starfire’s arms if I couldn’t complete a training exercise. I did complete it don’t get me wrong, and he gave me cookies afterwards, but you don’t just threaten to tear off another person’s arms!”

Gemini Guy

When Danny is in Gotham, he falls into the habit of duplicating himself to avoid suspicion from his peers. A duplicate would be out being Phantom (and fight off the ghosts that had followed him into the city). Meanwhile, he'd be trying to win over the internship at Wayne Industries.

Danny didn't account for the duplicate to be instantly adopted by the Red Hood.

Superhero/ HotGuy-CuteGuy Au

Any similarities with mlb are mere coincidence we write it better /hj

Lovely diagram by @xmaruu11

MASTERPOST // NEXT

Dc x Dp #38

Danny going to Gotham and being mistaken for one of the Wayne children and just rolling with it. Better yet, he uses it to try and help the ghosts.

Reporter: Mr. Wayne! Can you tell us what Wayne Industries is working on now?

Danny: Wayne Industries is currently working to annul the law that was currently enacted by the GIW.

The Waynes are all at home, curiously wondering which one of them was the one on tv, and what exactly could this act be.

DP x DC

Cackling filled the air, along with the sound of a blade slicing through the air. The whistle it made could drive you just as crazy as listening to the cackling.

Danny wasn’t sure why the man was laughing. Nothing around him was particularly funny. Blood spatters covered the cracked asphalt at Danny’s feet. Blood dripped off of his body, none of it his own.

Danny’s fingers twirled, repositioning the scythe he held, to rest on his shoulder. He surveyed the scene before him, a frown tugging down his lips.

People were standing along the streets, phones up, mouths hanging open. All of them were staring.

I didn’t think people could really see reapers. Danny mused, cackling cutting off as he studied those studying him.

It had been a few hundred years since everyone he knew had died peacefully of old age. Danny, having lived a fulfilled life, entered the Ghost Zone, prepared to be the new King, when Clockwork had merely smirked at him, eyes fond.

“What do you mean I have to serve as a reaper of souls first?”

Clockwork had been very insistent this was the way of things, but Danny was half-convinced he was making it up as he went.

Whatever gets the best timeline, I suppose. Danny looked out at the gathered crowd, then down at the twisted form below him.

“Jack Oswald White, you have been judged of sending those before their time, to the Realms Eternal. You have been found guilty of your crimes. With this slash, I, High King Phantom, Reaper of Souls, sentence you to the Nightmare Realm to be tormented until the end of Time.” Raising the scythe, Danny prepared to send the soul where it belonged.

“Wait!” A man stumbled forward through the crowd. A few people screamed as he broke through the ring, turning and running. The man was built, but what caught Danny’s eye, was the tuft of white hair on his forehead, and the feeling of death that hung around him. The domino mask was also eye-catching, but more background noise.

He stood before Danny and the condemned, drinking in the sight of the bloody man, like someone whom had been lost in the desert.

“Okay, go ahead. I just. I needed to see it.” The man puffed, domino-white eyes wide in anticipation. “Don’t worry, the other bats won’t come and ruin it. I took care of that.”

Danny cocked his head, feeling something humming in the air now that the man had settled in. The humming was bloodlust. Everyone here was eager to see this man die.

It was more than a little startling since Danny had never been seen before as the Reaper. It was more startling since most people who saw him screamed and ran away. What is wrong with these people? Where am I again? Gotham? Well the name seems to fit at least. Danny mused, before he nodded, and brought the scythe down.

*

Jason wanted to scream. Not in the “oh I’ve been hurt” or even “I’m so mad I could fill a bag with heads!” way, but the excitement, the primal feeling welling up within him didn’t want to be contained.

Oracle had reported some kind of public execution near Crime Alley. She hadn’t been able to confirm who it was for, nor who was doing it. All the cameras were bugging out in the area it was happening. Since Jason had been closest, he had managed to get there first.

In the middle of a massive crowd —and wasn’t that odd? Most people ran away from stuff like this— could just be seen an ethereal being floating above their heads. The being looked like someone about Jason’s age, but their skin glowed with an unearthly blue, and their hair, the color of starlight, moved in a way that contradicted the wind whipping everyone’s coats. The being was clad in black robes, the folds of which showed either constellations or a swirling green void that made something in Jason’s chest tighten.

And they held a massive scythe.

As Jason got closer, he heard the manic laughing, and froze.

The Joker.

Pushing through the crowd, heart hammering, Jason knew he had to— he had to do what? Save the Joker?

His earpiece made a high-pitched squeal as he broke through the crowd and saw the Joker’s body on the ground, scythe poised to finish the job.

The shriek that filled the air as the soul was sent to the Nightmare Realm, something inside Jason seemed to crack. The Reaper, High King Phantom as he had called himself, looked at Jason, and the crack felt like it wasn’t there.

I need to talk to him.

Dc x Dp #38

Danny going to Gotham and being mistaken for one of the Wayne children and just rolling with it. Better yet, he uses it to try and help the ghosts.

Reporter: Mr. Wayne! Can you tell us what Wayne Industries is working on now?

Danny: Wayne Industries is currently working to annul the law that was currently enacted by the GIW.

The Waynes are all at home, curiously wondering which one of them was the one on tv, and what exactly could this act be.

DCxDP prompts #1

Jason had never understood why Bruce had taken so many kids under his wing. It was more trouble than it was worth. He knows that he was a fucking riot as a kid, hard to contain and control. Dick was a bit better from what he heard, but still hard.

Tim was probably the worst of them all. Then Damian and Duke... Really, it made no sense. But Jason never bothered to ask, why should he care?

Well...Maybe now he understands. Because as he stares at this tiny kid, skinny and a gun put to his head by the Joker, he feels a weird pull towards him.

Maybe it's time for him to get a side kick of his own.