Reading all the comments and notes gave me ideas and I ran with it. This isn't polished and more summary/synopsis/rambling than full fic. Also fairly long.
Fair warning, I'm pretty new to using Tumblr, so hope I'm doing this right.
Ghost Writer is perfect for this. He has the power to trap others in stories. Maybe he and Danny get into an argument about if comics count as literature and Danny is trapped in the Silver Age Batman and DC comics. But some artifact or Fenton tech interferes in the usual holodeck-style of Ghost Writer's world, and it instead drops him in an actual DC dimension currently in the Silver Age.
But between the nature of the dimension and Ghost Writer's powers, Danny is trapped and subject to the laws of reality of this Silver Age dimension. But he can see it from an outsider's perspective. But even beyond the usual shenanigans of this dimension, Ghost Writer's Narrator powers are affecting him by treating him as a character.
At first, Danny tries to blend in, when not yelling at the sky at Ghost Writer to try to make him let him go, not realizing that Ghost Writer isn't in control or watching him. But when he's blending in with the citizens, he's subject to being a background NPC. He's horrified to find his features literally fading from his own and others' perception and awareness when the focus isn't on him. His features blur into indistinct shapes when he sees himself in a window or mirror. His memories and awareness of time get fuzzy.
The only times he feels and looks himself, sharp and clear and in focus, are when he's the center of attention. He feels most like himself when he's that crazy street kid yelling at the sky. He feels solid and real when he's mugged or held at gunpoint in a corner convenience store. But everything is clearest and sharpest when the vigilantes or Rogues are paying attention to him. If he could just keep that focus he could think clearly enough to find out how to get home.
He realizes he can't stay in the background without risking fading away if the magic narrative completely ignores him. He has to keep the attention on himself as much as he can. In a comic book, the best way to do that is to become a hero or a villain. He doesn't want to go full blown villain, because that way lies Dan and an empty planet. But being a hero, especially in a Silver Age dimension, means being shackled by duty and unable to less than legally acquire the resources to survive and get home. And he's broke and homeless. So he decides to be a mix of wacky Fenton mad scientist, mysterious occultist, and 'phantom thief' to steal what he needs. It keeps the magic narrative guessing at his motives and character so it can't lock him into a single archetype of behavior. He calls himself Ghost because he doesn't want to associate Phantom with being a criminal.
He steals what he needs to survive and to try to break the magic narrative or create a portal home. He tries to summon his allies in the Ghost Zone with magic spells or artifacts. He tries to use interdimensional devices to get to the Ghost Zone, or mad scientist build his own. But he doesn't kill or really hurt anyone. And when the Teen Titans show up, he realizes not every kid hero is as well trained as Robin, or as capable in unexpected situations. So he decides to become a recurring Rogue for Robin and the other kid heroes to teach them to adapt, overcome, and improve as heroes.
Danny knows the kid heroes are never in any real danger when facing him, which helps his protector obsession. Getting repeatedly foiled at the last minute in his efforts to find a way home is frustrating. But always makes sure the kid heroes don't get hurt. In fact he's teamed up with Robin especially, and the Teen Titans too, to stop actual big threats. He's even teamed up with the Batman and the JL for world ending threats too. He's even stepped into situations he stumbled across to protect a hero or two on occasion. He's also teamed up with some other non-lethal Rogues on occasion and helped some have some normalcy.
Robin-Dick, and later Robin-Jason, eventually come to see him as a sort of friend-shaped anti-hero that should really be a hero instead of a thief. They still don't understand his motives. The Bats and the Titans have discussed in circles about what his goals are and why he steals tech and magic stuff. But Danny never elaborates on his main goals so he can keep attention on him by keeping the narrative curse guessing. As long as he's mysterious, heroes and Rogues will keep focus on him.
Because of the narrative curse, he doesn't age, because characters in comics don't age once they reach a certain point. At 15-16 he's already old enough to stop aging in this dimension. He's there for years, trying to break the curse and go home without being foiled by the heroes. He first meets Dick as Robin a few years before he goes solo as Nightwing. He meets the rest of the Titans not long after and decided to be their training villain.
Eventually he meets a tiny Jason as the new Robin. Maybe he even tells Nightwing congratulations on the new baby brother, and mentions his own sort of adopted baby sister, Ellie. It plants the idea in Dick's head early that Jason could be his brother if he let him, rather than just a replacement Bruce found somewhere.
Dick complains to Danny about Jason being annoying sometimes, and Danny laughs and says it's the job of little brothers to tag along and annoy their big siblings. He mentions his big sister and how they annoy each other, but he always knew his big sister was safe and would take care of him if he needed it. He talks about how he'd seek her out when they were younger, wanting her attention, and wanting to help her in return, even if he didn't know how. Having someone to talk to about being an older and younger brother really helps Dick speedrun accepting Jason as his little brother. It makes Jason's death hit harder, but with less guilt for not being a better brother.
Danny treats Jason like the adorable little gremlin that he is. He teases him and Dick about each other, telling Jason embarrassing stories about Dick, and vice versa. But he also indulges Jason, teaching him and giving advice, and giving him food and telling stories about other heroes. Jason practically thinks of him as an estranged second big brother.
Danny runs into an even tinier Tim stalking the Bats and Birds. He nudges Tim into coming to the attention of the Bats early. Tim and Jason meet before his death and become friends, and maybe unofficial brothers. So Jason doesn't try to attack and maim Tim when he comes back to Gotham.
Danny discovers Cadmus early and pulls heists to point the Titans at it so they can save any clone kids. But when Superman doesn't step up immediately to take care of a tinier Kon, Danny starts targeting him in Metropolis specifically to shame him and knock sense into Superman for treating the kid like it was his fault some fruitloops created him. Basically, 'talk out your feelings with a therapist and get your shit together and be an adult. That kid is all alone and some villain could take advantage of him if he thinks no one else cares about him.'
Clark eventually reaches out to get to know the clone boy. Between forcing Clark to face his feelings; and realizing that the boy is a scared, lonely kid that Luthor could take and twist; and that Danny himself was on the verge of stealing the kid away, Clark realizes he wants to be part of the kid's life and wants the kid in his own life. It helped speed things up by Danny tattling to Clark's parents and Ma and Pa Kent welcoming the boy into their family regardless of what Clark thought at the time.
It can be Danny who steps in to figure out how to stabilize Kon's DNA and body to age properly so he can grow up normally. Tim can help with his giant intellect too, as a treat. It's very confusing and alarming to Superman and other adult heroes that the mad scientist magic-tech thief teen Rogue knows Superman's identity, and becomes an expert on DNA hybrid Kryptonian cloning. But then only uses that knowledge to tattle on Clark's behavior to his parents, and fix and balance an uneven mix of human and Kryptonian DNA. The Bats and Birds just shrug and say he's mysterious like that.
Young Just-us gets a head start with tiny 12 year old (looking) Conner being introduced to tiny 11 year old Tim. Maybe a younger Cassie is introduced to them in a year or two in an effort to give Kon and Tim more kids his age to socialize with. Then Bart shows up early, Danny's presence having nudged the timeline, causing ripple effects down the timeline.
Tim trains early and gets better training from Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Danny. His presence with the Waynes isn't overshadowed by grief or being a replacement, but he's not officially a Wayne, or a hero-protege yet. He and his friends get into shenanigans and adventures, but aren't an official hero group. Sometimes their adventures are in civies and domino masks instead of their hero outfits and armor. Tim doesn't go by Robin. Instead he chooses to name himself after Danny, half out of spite after Dick and Jason laughed at him for trying to go by Drake. Bruce forbid using his last name too. So Tim goes by Phantom as a nod to Ghost, not realizing he's taking up a temporarily retired hero mantle anyway.
Years later, after Jason dies, Tim takes up Robin to honor Jason's legacy with more than just a suit and placque in the Batcave. Dick and Bruce protest at first, but Tim refuses to back down, telling them he refuses to let Robin's magic fade away to nothing more than a cautionary tale and grief. Jason gave Robin magic, and Robin is a hero, a light that they can't let die, for the sake of Gotham and especially for themselves. Honoring Jason is Tim's way of processing and dealing with his brother's death. It's not until Damian receives Robin that Tim takes up Red Robin. He gets teased about being bad at naming things.
Danny's research into curse breaking eventually figures out that one way to break a curse is to use it against itself. From past summonings of demons and spirits to question, he knows that if he can remove himself from the dimension, the curse will break without an anchor, and he's the anchor. He finally has a plan to prevent the heroes from foiling his efforts to get home. He has to use the comic book narrative against itself to allow himself to write in a resolution to his Rogue-arc where he returns to his home dimension. He sets up a dramatic farewell situation, expecting the Bats and Titans, and declares he must return to his people as he is needed in his home dimension.
Danny has been stealing, studying, and reverse engineering magic and technology for years. Stealing various magic and divine artifacts from all over the world. The things he steals and summons are so diverse that it's not clear what he wants it all for. He deliberately steals some things just to throw off the heroes trying to figure him out.
Finally with a plan to work with the narrative curse instead of against the story of 'the heroes always win,' he uses a combination of reverse engineered New God/Apokolypse portal technology, Death magic related divine artifacts related to Hades, Osiris, and other pantheon death gods, more magic artifacts related to gods of balance like Ma'at, reverse engineered alternate dimension and time travel tech stolen from Star Labs and the Watchtower, and a carefully reversed summoning spell, all cobbled together in a very Fenton way, create a temporary portal keyed into Danny's dimensional signature, the energy of ectoplasm, and Danny's ice core to open the way into the Infinite Realms between dimensions, near the Far Frozen.
Because he's made it dramatically clear he's leaving, going home, his people need him, the narrative allows it as an end to his character story as a villain, writing him out of the storyline. Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Kon, the rest of the Titans and Just-us all get a chance to say goodbye, providing resolution for the heroes on their end, further cementing writing Danny out of the story.
Danny steps through the portal and it closes behind him. He hasn't aged, and the dimensional timelines run differently so time has barely passed for his world. The narrative curse is broken and he can go home and finally hug his family and friends. He misses the Bats and Birds and other teen heroes, even some of the better Rogues too. But he's home after years trapped in comic book Silver Age logic in another dimension.
The curse made sure the heroes didn't really consider the fact that Danny is a child still, with no adult supervision, and is a criminal. A kid's comic doesn't care where the parents are when the teens are on an adventure. And a kid-friendly mysterious nemesis teen villain doesn't need parents getting in the way. But once Danny does succeed in leaving the dimension, the narrative curse breaks, and the heroes can't help but think back on all their interactions with him and feel like they should have realized and helped him more.
The dimension of the Bats and Birds continues on after Danny left. Jason dies still. The dimension is reset and merged with other dimensional timelines a few times. People forget about the anti-hero rogue, Ghost, for a while, then remember again.
The heroes that remember are the ones he interacted with the most, and they miss him all over again. The Waynes in particular feel guilty they didn't see all the warning signs of a homeless kid turning to crime and mad magic-tech to get home to a family with questionable parents. Things are a lot more obvious without the comic book narrative curse blinding them from seeing. Danny had offhandedly mentioned a lot of things that are concerning in hindsight, about his parents and home.
Dick especially was guilty and hurt that Danny had still wanted to go back but didn't even ask the Bats for help. Danny was like a brother to him, older and younger at the same time with wise advice and playful annoyance. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like if Danny had stayed, if Bruce had taken Danny in like he had the rest of his siblings.
With hindsight, Bruce thinks he should have looked harder at Danny's situation, should have realized he was homeless and acting out while trying to survive and get home, should have tried harder to reach out to him and offer to take him in and help him. He already had emotionally claimed the mysterious rogue teen that reminded him so much of Selina and his kids in various ways.
By the time Dick considered Ghost a friend-brother, Bruce considered him practically a second, if estranged, son. He actually sometimes thought of Ghost as the more responsible son. He trusted Ghost to not go too far and harm the kid heroes, and to protect them if there was a real danger. But he'd never said anything directly to Ghost, never offered directly to take him in. Never directly told Ghost he trusted him with the teen heroes and cared about him. Even knowing Ghost knew Clark's identity, and other hero identities, but had never acted to harm them, Bruce had let his paranoia about risking his family's identities with a known rogue prevent him from directly offering his home to Ghost. He'd only directly said he'd help him find a good family to take him in if he needed help to get out of crime. Ghost had refused being tied down to foster care and vanished into the night once more.
Bruce wonders what it would have been like with another son, and regrets. Even if he had to go home, some of what Ghost had said about his parents and growing up were red flags. Even if he'd only had Ghost as his for a temporary time, he thinks he would have preferred that over knowing he failed the boy so completely.
Jason was killed not even a year after Danny left. He was fighting with Bruce and went off on him about how controlling he is and how he shuts people out and throws them away if they don't obey him. How it's no wonder Danny never came to them for help, for a home. How Danny was smart enough to realize that Bruce would would have been disappointed and throw him away almost immediately for not being exactly what he wanted Danny to be. Jason was also projecting his own insecurities and feelings , his fear of being thrown away for not being good enough to meet Bruce's standards.
Batman had benched him because Jason had been furious about a man with diplomatic immunity using it to avoid charges for beating a woman to death. Jason had taken a page from Ghost with some help from Tim, and sabotaged and exposed the man's actions publicly in Gotham, DC, and his home country. The man had been found dead in his home shortly after, apparently having fallen to his death, possibly from foul play. It was being reckless with the sabotage and theft, putting a target on the man, that Batman had issues with. Jason thought Bruce blamed him for getting the man killed, but wasn't sorry someone had done him in.
Bruce wasn't sorry for benching Jason for being reckless. He didn't want him getting hurt. He also didn't want him being vindictive when the legal system fails because of technicalities. It's a slippery slope in Bruce's opinion to taking justice into their own hands. Not because Jason had a petty theft background, but because of the standards Bruce holds himself to, knowing how far he'd fall if he let himself act out Justice when the system fails.
It hurts that Jason thinks he'd throw him away for not being good enough. It hurts that Danny probably felt the same way, not coming to him because he thought Bruce would reject him for not meeting his standards. He tries to tell Jason he's his son and wouldn't kick him out, but Jason brings up how Dick was kicked out too for not obeying. Bruce tries to explain he never meant to make Dick feel unwelcome and that he still considers him his son, even if he didn't want to be adopted. But he struggles to articulate it, starting off poorly, and Jason storms out, still angry and hurt.
If Danny had still been there, Jason would have gone looking for him to talk. But he was gone and Jason missed him, part of him blaming Bruce for Danny having left. Dick was off world, but Jason left him a message before leaving to find his bio mother. He didn't tell Tim because he felt guilty for dragging Tim into trouble with Bruce by getting his help to mess with the diplomat. He knew Tim would help him find his mother, but he didn't want to drag him to Ethiopia or get him in more trouble with Bruce.
In Amity Park, Danny makes it to 16 before things fall apart for him. The GIW lock down on Amity Park and start mandatory testing people for ectoplasm signatures. Anyone found with contamination was taken away to cure them and placed in a facility where they were experimented on and ultimately killed anyone who protested or refused testing was detained and vanished too.
The Manson parents refused and started a protest, the Foleys refused to subject Tucker to testing after seeing people weren't coming back after being detained and 'cured'. The Fentons were ecto contaminated and tried to refuse being detained claiming they could cure themselves. The GIW tried to use it as an excuse to seize all of Fentonworks. The Fenton parents were shot and killed by the GIW in the ensuing fight. Jazz barricaded herself in the Ops Center and called Danny to escape. He had been with Tucker who had been told to run and hide when the GIW took his parents into custody. They gathered at Sam's where she had been hiding Ellie while she visited before the GIW started testing people. There they heard the GIW had arrested and detained the entire protest. Danny went to try to rescue them, but found the GIW had already killed their parents.
Tucker hacked the GIW facility and leaked the information and video of the experimentation and killing the detained people, and the Fentons' murders, online. Amity Rioted.
In the chaos, the five kids decided they had to flee into the Ghost Zone to survive the GIW hunting them. They had to drag Danny away from trying to rush in again to protect the people of Amity during the rioting, but he had gotten shot trying already. Ellie dragged him, convincing him that if he ran off to fight the GIW, she would fight too and he couldn't let her get hurt.
But once they're in the Far Frozen, they don't know what to do next, they haven't had a chance to grieve, they don't want to go to Vlad even if it was safe. Is there even anything left for them in their world?
They spend some time with the yetis, grieving and recovering from injuries. Danny can't help but remember another world where he has sort of friends that maybe would help them set up a new life, especially if he was a hero this time around. If not, he could always be a Rogue phantom thief again to support them all and get a decent place. They'd be safe from the GIW at least.
They'd raided the Fenton weapon vault and taken all of the Fenton database and schematics before destroying the portal and Fentonworks behind them when they fled to the Zone. He could create a new portal to the Infinite Realms or even recreate his ritual gate from before so they could access the Ghost Zone again if needed.
Danny asked to borrow the Infimap to go to the right dimension. Frostbite agreed to come with to return with the Infimap to the Far Frozen. They packed up the belongings they took when they fled, and supplies provided by Frostbite, Pandora, Dorothea, Lunch Lady and Box Ghost. Danny aimed for the place he completed his ritual death portal, but didn't focus on a time.
Danny arrives with his Fraid and first thing he does is test for the narrative curse. But it was broken years ago, and since then the dimension had been reset and merged with others several times. The Silver Age comics narrative curse is gone. Danny is relieved and gives Frostbite a Phantom Phone so they can stay in contact if they need help or if Frostbite needs Danny's help.
Then Danny and Ellie carried the rest and went to check his old safehouses and caches. From the caches that hadn't been found, he got enough money to get a motel room that wouldn't ask questions. The safehouse was years rundown and he didn't feel safe having his Fraid staying there before he could be sure it was secure again. Once he was sure they were safe, they planned out how to contact the Bats and which to contact first. Tucker found the Internet and connected to it, discovering many years had passed in this dimension while only a year passed in their own dimension.
Danny decided to find Dick, searching for Nightwing first. He spotted Red Hood but didn't know if he was a hero or Rogue and wasn't up to talk to anyone else. He finally finds Nightwing who actually aged while Danny was gone and is in his mid twenties now. But Danny doesn't care how old he is, he's just so glad to see him alive and okay. Danny is tired of losing people he cares about.
Danny had put on old spares of his Rogue outfit gear. Not a full set, just pieces. He looks exhausted and disheveled, wrung out. But he's so glad to see Dick again. He approaches cautiously, hoping Dick remembers him, that he still cares.
Dick is shocked still and speechless at seeing Ghost, looking like he's barely aged, approaching warily. He looks rough and stressed, but more uncertain than Dick can remember ever seeing him.
Dick swallows and hesitantly asks if he's really Ghost? Danny nods and smiles, asking if he missed him. Dick smiles with a short laugh and says of course he missed him. Danny asks if he comes over there, Dick won't arrest him, will he? Dick shakes his head and approaches, slowing as he gets closer until he hugs Danny. Danny tenses, then just collapsed into the hug, clinging back. Danny murmurs that he missed him too. Dick asks, he thought Danny went home, that he was needed? Danny tenses, then practically sobbed that he had, but he hadn't been enough.
Alarmed, Dick holds his littler brother and asks if he wants to talk. Danny says not really. Dick holds him and tells him he wants to help him, that he should have helped him before. After a long moment, Danny quietly says they never should have been enemies, that he doesn't want to go back to that. Dick's quiet for a moment, some kind of hope in the back of his throat. He holds Danny closer and says quietly, that Danny doesn't have to, that Danny can come home with him instead. Danny is quiet for a long moment, then pulls back to look up at Dick, asking if he really means that. Dick reaches up to brush back Danny's hair and smiles, telling him the family should have offered him a home years ago.
Danny pulls back and Dick reluctantly lets him go. Come home, Dick says again. Not yet, replies Danny. But you will, asks Dick hopefully. Danny hesitated, then says he can't go back again, there's nothing left for him in his old world.
I'm here for you, we're here for you, Dick replies, you don't have to be alone. Danny smiles and says, that's just it, he's not alone. Dick hesitates and asks, your family? Danny replies, my sisters and best friends. Your big sister and baby sister, asks Dick with a smile, wanting to meet them. Danny nods then after a pause asks if the offer still stands. Of course it does, insisted Dick.
Danny says he'll talk with them and let him know tomorrow night. The usual place, Dick asks. Yeah, responds Danny, then gives a little salute, until then, before he takes off and vanished into the shadows.
Dick's comms explode with all his siblings who overheard that exchange. The younger ones wanting to know who that was. Jason, Tim, and Bruce wanting to know if that was really Ghost. Dick says it really was Ghost, but he looks run down and grieving, but he doesn't look like he's aged either, he's still a teenager. He explained his sisters and friends are here too, Dick says he thinks they had to run from his old world. Then Bruce speaks up and says there's plenty of room in the manor, he'll ask Alfred to prepare some rooms. Dick grins.
The next night Danny shows up on top of the Martha Wayne Foundation. He and Ellie brought everyone and Ellie is keeping them invisible for now. Nightwing, Red Hood and Red Robin are waiting for him. Danny takes a moment to recognize Tim, and it takes Jason removing his helmet and greeting him for him to realize he's little Jay all grown up.
Danny asks if the offer still stands for him and four others. Dick tells him yes of course. Danny asks what about their secret identities. Tim grins and says Danny already knows them, right? Danny shrugs and nods. Jason snorts and says they ain't worried, they trust Danny won't hurt them and they trust if Danny vouches for the rest. Danny looks wary, uncertain and asks, what about metas? Tim groans, B's opinion is greatly exaggerated and needs better PR, he doesn't hate metas in Gotham. Dick nods, one of our new brothers is a meta, he's excited to meet you.
Dick moves closer and holds out his hand to Danny. He asks again, using the words he used to say to Ghost to leave behind crime and join the heroes, we don't have to fight, whatever pushed you to this, we can help you start a new life, we should be on the same side, you'd make a great hero.
Danny laughs and steps forward to take his hand, I know, I used to be one. What, squawked Dick, but then, why? Danny sighed, would you believe I was literally cursed back then? Jason scowled as he came up to them, Cursed? What do you mean? Danny shook his head, long story short, I had nothing but the clothes on my back and if I didn't keep attention from heroes and Rogues on me, then I started fading away, unable to focus, and losing my memories. Figured being a training rogue for other teen heroes was the best way to do it.
Dick pulls Danny into a hug, holding him tight. Tim worriedly asks, are you still cursed? Danny shakes his head, no, I had to figure out how to break it, and I needed a lot of stuff to do that and figure out how to get home, people wouldn't just give me it all if I asked, I was a nobody here, stealing was the only way to stay relevant and get access to things. Danny leans his forehead against Dick's collarbone as he holds him. Dick says, I wish you had told us, even if not at first, we could have helped you. Jason presses a hand on top of Danny's head, no way we'd have let you fade. Danny inhales shakily and quips back, I know, but commit to the bit, you know. Tim snorted a laugh and shoved his shoulder before he leans in to hug Danny too.
After a moment Danny pulls back and says he wants to introduce them. He calls out to Ellie and she drops the invisibility revealing the others. Ellie isn't in ghost form and looks her scruffy street kid self. Jazz looks stressed, eyes still a little puffy from crying earlier. Sam and Tucker are leaning into each other for support. Sam tries to look aloof, but she's standing slightly in front of the rest, defensively, still wary. Tucker is huddled into himself, looking disheveled and distraught still, despite his efforts to look presentable for a first meeting, but he looks relieved at the warm reception Danny got.
Danny introduced them. Sam warily asks if they're really ready and able to take in all five of them, because they're not splitting up. Dick grins and says their dad and basically grandfather already has rooms ready for them at the manor. A manor, Sam deadpans and side-eyes Danny. Danny sighs, he's kind of a billionaire with a secret fruitloop basement lair, except he's a big hero in this world who dresses up like a bat. Ellie cracks up laughing, oh my god, the Fruitloop would be so pissed you agreed to live with a different billionaire fruitloop! Jazz sighed and gave a little smile, only you, Danny, only you.
Dick arched an eyebrow, you know a lot of billionaires with secret lairs? Danny shrugs, if I had a nickel for every billionaire I know who has issues, a secret basement lair, and wants me to live with him, I'd have two nickels, it's not a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. Jason snorted, you'll have to tell us about it later so we can make fun of B about it.
Dick smiles at them and asks, are you ready to come home? The empty Batmobile has been waiting for them nearby in anticipation of taking Danny and his family back to the Batcave. Bruce and the rest of the family have been listening in from the Cave. Bruce was practically biting his nails in hope and anticipation of finally having his second son come home.
Danny gives a tired but sincere smile back, yeah, yeah we are.
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