“We’re not ‘emissaries of time’—wait, half ghost?” Barry asked, cutting himself off. “What do you mean half ghost? How are you a half ghost? Wait, why are you a ghost? Ghosts aren’t real.”

“Barry, you’ve worked with Deadman,” Dick pointed out, almost absently. All of his very focused attention was on Danny.

It made Danny want to squirm. “Ah. I have I not mentioned that before? I know I’ve said I died in a lab accident.”

“And that it made you a psychopomp,” Raven said dryly.

“Well, it did. I can talk to ghosts. I’m just also sorta… half one. I came back because I was killed by electricity and revived by ectoplasm at the same time. But because it was ectoplasm, not all of me came back alive. It’s complicated.”

“That… actually explains so much about the way that you feel,” Raven said. She was looking at Danny like he was a whole new puzzle to study. He didn’t like it. Immediately she gave a little shake of her head and the expression cleared. “Sorry. I would never study you without your permission. None of us would.”

“Shit, kid, of course we wouldn’t,” Barry said, sitting up from his slump. “Has… I mean…”

“Your parents are ectobiologists,” Wally said slowly, horror dawning on his face.

Danny sighed and twisted around on the couch to sit up. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “My parents never learned what I am, at least not in this timeline. But they pretty regularly hunted my hero form. I’m human like this, and I’m a ghost when I’m Phantom. There were some close calls. And my godfather, who’s like me, cloned me, so there was that whole mess. And there used to be this government organization, the GIW who were intent on studying ghosts… just it was a whole mess. There’s a reason I moved all the way across the country once I could.”

“Is the GIW gone?” Barry asked, “Because if not, I’ll bring it to the League.”

“And what about the clones? Are they somewhere safe now?” Dick asked.

“And your parents…” Raven started, softly.

Danny held up a hand. “The GIW went defunct; no results, no funding. There might be a few zealots out there still, but they don’t have any real power anymore. My parents and I… look, there’s just a lot that we don’t talk about. And the two clones that are around—the rest… destabilized—they’re actually the responsibility of my godfather. He had a… change of heart, you could say. I don’t love the guy or anything, but I trust him with them. And if he fucks up, I know they won’t just take it. Things are… they’re settled enough. It’s just how they are now.”

“Okay. But if shit hits the fan again, you let the Titans or me know, okay? I’m not kidding, I’ll bring it to the League if you need protecting,” Barry said seriously.

It was warming, really, to have an adult say that. Sure, Danny was an adult now, but like, an adulter adult. He never had that before.

“Thanks,” Danny said, eyes on the ground rather than the group of people who had quickly become his friends. “That means a lot really.”

“Okay,” Wally said after an uncomfortably quiet moment, “but what did you mean about timelines?”

“Oh, one of the Ancients, ah, think of them sort of like god or demigod ghosts, is of time. Clockwork is what he goes by now days. He likes to meddle in stuff, sends me bright green post-it notes about the fate of the world and such. The last one I got was actually warning me about my seizures,” Danny said with a little snort. “I wish I had figured that out before I had the first one.”

“Why?” Wally asked with a tilt of his head. “I’m not exactly fate of the world stuff.”

“You’re my world,” Dick cooed, hands on his heart and batting his eyes.

Wally snorted, but he had a fond look in his eyes.

Danny did his best not to laugh at them. “Dick aside, you are a Titan. You being around could be the fate of the world. Or maybe—oh.”

Everyone else in the room exchanged a look, but Danny hardly noticed. His attention was hung up on a tangle of a thought.

“…oh?” Dick prompted.

“What?” Danny shook his head. “Oh. Just ‘two emissaries of time’. It’s what I called Barry and Wally.”

“Yeah, but I told you that we’re not,” Barry said.

“Yeah, but you don’t eve believe in ghosts and I’m sitting right here,” Danny said with a dismissive wave. He got up with a little stumble and started to pace. It helped to move when he was trying to untangle things. Sure, he was a little lightheaded, but he’d deal. “It makes sense that you don’t see the Speed Force as the entity that it is.”

“He never has,” Raven said.

Danny spun and pointed a finger at her. His world tilted dangerously. “But you know what it is.”

“Danny, honey, why don’t you sit down,” Dick said.

When Danny tried to start pacing again, Dick reached out and snagged Danny by the waist. A simple little tug was enough to unbalance Danny and send him tumbling down into Dick’s lap. Obviously please with his capture, Dick wrapped his arms around Danny and rested his head on Danny’s shoulders. Danny gave a a little huff of air, but leaned back against Dick’s chest.

Raven was smiling, just barely. “I know the Speed Force is something beyond my understanding.”

“Sure, but it is something and that something is related to time,” Danny said. As he talked, he started to lean forward again. “Clockwork’s whole thing is about time! He has rewound time at least twice just for my bullshit! It makes sense that him and the Speed Force have a connection. Which means I’ve had this all wrong!”

“Danny, Danny, don’t fall off my lap,” Dick said with a tightening grip. “You can stay right here and tell us what you had all wrong.”

“This was never about me being a psychopomp!” Danny exclaimed, words slightly breathless. Dick held him a little tighter. “This is all about Clockwork being convinced that I need to be his apprentice! That’s why I can see Wally! It’s not about death, it’s about time!”

“Hey, Danny, hon, take a deep breath for me,” Dick urged. His palm tapped a rhythm against Danny’s sternum. Danny grumpily followed along, but it did help the tightening feeling in his lungs. Once Dick was satisfied with Danny’s breathing, he asked, “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Danny said, “that Wally isn’t dead.”

Wally just looked bemused. “I’ve been telling you that.”

“I know, but it didn’t make sense. Now it does! Wally’s not dead, and because Wally isn’t dead,” Danny continued, “I’m not his anchor because I’m half ghost and a psychopomp. I’m his anchor because I’ve got one of Clockwork’s medallions inside me!”

Dick’s hand twitched as if he wanted to hold on to Danny’s very being. “Inside you?”

“Ghost thing.” Danny patted Dick’s hand reassuringly. “I have a cellphone in there too. And maybe a fork still? It doesn’t matter.”

“I think it matters,” Dick grumbled.

“What matters,” Danny continued blithely, “is that I know how to unstick us.”

---

AN: Barry: This is my new nephew Danny. If anything happens to him, I'm declaring war on the government and his parents.

So many of that Titans were easy with their touch. Kori was constantly hugging people or draping herself over their shoulders. Nightwing was the same, but he’d also just touch people as he passed them, like he was taking count. Gar loved to sit on a couch with people as an animal. Cyborg was big on high-fives and Donna clasps on shoulders. Raven wasn’t a toucher, but somehow Danny knew that she was reaching out to her teammates in her own way. He wondered how Wally would be, once he was back. He looked like a hugger.

Danny’s pillow shook with laughter. Not wanting to actually be awake yet, Danny turned his face further towards the darkness with a little mumble of noise. The hand scratched satisfyingly against his scalp.

“Is he awake?”

“I don’t really think so,” Danny’s pillow said, “but I think it’s going that way.”

“Good timing, pizza will be here soon!” Another voice chirped.

“You have to make sure he eats.” That was Flash. He could tell by the static hum.

“We will,” the Pillow said. “Gar’s been good about that.”

“Course I have,” replied who must be Gar.

Gar… gar gar gar, gar fish! Beast Boy. Beast Boy had been feeding Danny. His food was pretty good and the vegan stuff was easy on Danny’s stomach. He’d been nauseous on and off since Flash showed up to haunt him.

“Wally,” an accented voice said. Oh, Kori, right. Who was Wally? “It is still your turn.”

“Yeah, but my acting hands are a little busy.” Oh. Oh. Flash was Wally?

Wally.

That fit him, Danny thought. Wally. Cheerful. Also dealing with him has been a real ‘where’s Waldo’ sort of thing. Danny’s own bad joke made him laughter. The snicker was smothered by his pillow.

“Everything good over there, Dick?”

“Probably!” the Pillow said. The Pillow was named Dick?

Danny rolled over enough to peer up at the person he was resting on. It was Nightwing. Or Nightwing without his mask. Unmasked Nightwing was called Dick?

‘Nightwing is a real Dick.’

Really?

“Really?” Danny asked out load. He twisted until he could see Flash. Wally. Whichever. Sure, he as looking at Wally upside down, but he still tried for a scowl. “Really? You secret code to get me into the tower was a joke about his name?”

Wally shrugged. “What? Knowing a hero’s secret identity is a big thing and you didn’t even know you knew. I thought it was pretty prefect, and besides, it worked!”

“I can’t believe you,” Danny said.

“No, this is peak Wally,” Raven interjected dryly. “It’s very much a thing he would do.”

Danny blinked upside down at the rest of the crowd. All of the Titans that had come to support and wait for the Flash were gathered around, sitting on stools and pillows in a semi circle around several pile of cards.

“Are those Uno cards? Aren’t you playing Go Fish?”

“Super Mega Ultra Go Fish!” Gar said, complete with jazz hands.

“Right, what is—no, wait!” Danny spread an arm out, stopping himself. He slipped a little, though Nightwing made sure he didn’t fall, bless him. “Knowing a hero’s secret identity is a big deal! Why are all of you using real names?”

Nightwing—Dick—shrugged and Danny shifted with the motion. “Because we trust you and wearing a mask all the time sucks.”

Danny blinked up at him. “What?”

“You were a hero too, Raven likes your vibe, you nearly killed yourself to help Wally, and you’re kind,” Dick said like that explained it. “We trust you.”

“Oh. Okay?” Danny still didn’t get it, but what else was there to say? “Now what the fuck is Super Mega Ultra Go Fish?”

“You have to do the jazz hands,” Raven said.

With her usual deadpan tone, Danny didn’t know if she was joking or not.

He did the jazz hands anyways.

“Super Mega Ultra Go Fish—” Gar did Jazz hands “—is the Titan’s special version of Go Fish. It’s been developed over many years of friendly games, brutal arguments, post battle insomnia, and one very boring abduction by aliens. We add a new word each time it goes through a major shift, so this is version four!”

“Right,” Danny said, drawing the word out. “And there are Uno cards?”

“And flash cards!”

“Trivial pursuit cards if you’re unlucky.”

“Candy Land—”

“That explains the monopoly board, I guess,” Danny mumbled.

“—and one of Raven’s old oracle decks if shit gets really weird.”

“Y’all are way too proud of yourselves,” Danny said. After a beat he added, “and are so teaching me how to play.”

“Yes!” Gar cheered. “Super Mega Ultra Go Fish has a new player in town!”

“After food,” Dick said, looking at his phone. “Pizza is here. Danny, do you think that if we all move upstairs that Wally will stay around?”

Danny tilted his head in thought. “I think so? It’s always been about his proximity to me, right Fl—Wally?”

“Yep. It’s like you’re my focus point. I don’t know if the machine expands that though based on its location. We can only figure it out if we try though,” Wally said.

“Okay, I missed a lot of that,” Cyborg said. “Translation?”

Danny paused in sitting up. “Huh?”

“Wally is staticy to us. We don’t get every word of what he’s saying,” Dick explained as he reached out to steady Danny.

“Oh that’s… huh. Something to look into. Um, I’m Wally’s focal point but the machine might expand things to you all. We won’t know what the anchor is, me of the machine, until we try,” Danny explained. “Or that’s basically it.”

“But if he disappears, we can get him back?” Kori asked.

Danny nodded and finished sitting up with a little waver. “Yeah. He won’t really disappear, I’ll be tied to him, it will just be y’all's perception of him.”

Kori nodded back. “Okay, then we try.”

“Then we try,” Wally agreed and came to stand by Danny.

If he could have taken Wally’s hand, he would have. Instead he walked out through the door, to the elevator, and rode it up. Everyone else watched Wally so intently that he started to fidget.

They reached the personal floor.

The elevator dinged.

Dick brushed his hands through Danny’s hair. They were on the couch, Danny asleep across Dick’s lap. A couch that had been shoved in a corner early on in the sciencing to try and make Danny take breaks. It seems they didn’t do a good enough job.

“Wally,” Dick tried. When he didn’t get through he tried again, louder. “Walls!”

“Yeah Da—Dick! Dick, holy shit,” Wally said and dashed to kneel in front of the couch. “I keep forgetting that — hear me and see — I can hear you! Dick, babe, god I missed you so damn much!”

“Yeah,” Dick said, almost choking on the lump of joy in his throat. “Yeah, I missed so much too. We’ll find a way to get you back out of there. I promise you that we will. Well, I mean, the other’s will mostly unless you need a daring, acrobatic rescue.”

“Hey,” Wally said, voice so soft it was hard to hear over the static. “Never — to a — cue from you. You’re my knight in —. Always.”

“Always,” Dick agreed. He let his head fall back against the couch. “Fuck I need to take this domino off before I fill it up with tears.”

“Even though—” Wally motioned to Danny.

“Yeah. It will be easier if we stop caring about hiding. Besides, daddy Bat looked Danny up, he really was a teen hero. If anyone can understand it, he can,” Dick pointed out. “Raven gave him the okay too. He does just want to help.”

“Wants to — much!” Wally ranted and threw his hands up into the air.

“Yeah, he does doesn’t he? He’ll fit right in with that,” Dick replied. At Wally’s glare he just laughed. “Don’t look at me like that. We’re all horrible. If we weren’t, you wouldn’t be stuck in the Speed Force.”

Wally’s face immediately fell at that. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, you were doing what you do, being a hero. I’m just glad that we have a real shot at getting you back,” Dick said with a little shake of his head. “The others will tattle on me and how much I’ve not been okay, I’m sure.”

“You’ve got to — of yourself, Dick,” Wally said. “I need you to be — when I get back.”

“I will,” Dick promised. “I have been been trying to, it’s just been hard. And I’ll make sure to look after this idiot too. Though I’ll need your help, you seem to be able to sense how he is in a way that we can’t.”

“— been watching him for months. Also, Speed Froce,” Wally said. “He — help. He’s… a good person.”

“And someone you’re fond of, right? No, hey, don’t look ashamed. Sure, it’s been a while since either of us did anything with anyone else, but it’s not like we ever closed the our relationship up.”

Wally still glanced away. Rubbing nervously at his arm. It would be cute if it wasn’t a little heartbreaking. They’d had an open relationship because of Dick. Wally had dated a few other people and joined in the occasional threesome, but nothing like Dick’s clubbing hay days. This was maybe something they should have talked about once Dick had started to settle down more.

“Just — only person I could see and hear. I — and I guess that —” Wally tried to explain.

“Walls, I’ve been dating you for how long? I know what you look like when you’re crushing,” Dick said. “And it’s okay.”

Wally cleared his throat and tried to pretend like he wasn’t blushing. “— blame me? He’s — black hair and blue eyes and is compassionate and smart! — my type, like you should know!”

Dick just laughed. A warm, deep laugh like he hadn’t been able to do while Wally was gone. God it was so good to have him back, even if it wasn’t all the way yet. “Okay, well, Danny sees absolutely out of it, so how about I call the others down so that they can see you? They might stab me if I keep you all to myself.”

He picked up on of the coins scratched with odd symbols and turned it over in his fingers. He knew that Mina would use them as oracle coins with her cards, a way to add more depth to what was being told, but they were basically a complete mystery to him.

Danny set the coin back down. “They’re here. I think they feel bad for the seizure so they’ve been sticking close. There’s this… you know old monitors and screens? The big chunky ones. If you got close to them you could basically feel the static electricity coming off of them? That’s what their presence feels like to me.”

“Oh, huh. The cards can sometimes feel that way to me when I’m picking them,” Mina said. Her head was tilted thoughtfully, her eyes just slightly absent. “I wonder if they’re less ghost and more magic. Or if they were magic when they were alive? Magic of course being used loosely here for a variety of otherwordly and arcane forces.”

“Maybe,” Danny agreed with a helpless little shrug. “Like I’ve said, they don’t feel like a normal ghost, but if they’re not a ghost I don’t know why they came to me. Someone like you would be better at helping them if they’re magic and not dead.”

“On the surface, sure, but like, you don’t feel like a ‘normal’—” Mina made airquotes with her fingers around the word normal. “—human yourself.”

“Say what now?”

“Well you don’t!” Mina finally set the cards down so that she could motion freely as she talked. “It’s not something that the average person is going to pick up on, but to an adapt like me you also feel like you’re an adapt or something. Heck, I bet that you’ve met some people that you just weird out for no real reason you can tell. That’s the otherness.”

Well, she was right, he had freaked people out before, but he had always thought that was just a bad day and his ghostliness was bleeding through a little or something. He wasn’t magic.

“Now sit down,” Mina said.

Danny blinked. “I’m not who you’re reading.”

“No, but I can’t read them, so I’ll have to read them through you,” Mina explained like it was the most obviously thing.

It was best just to trust Mina, Danny figured, and took the seat across from her. Immediately, Hubris jumped up in Danny’s lap and nudged at his fingers for a pet. Mina stacked the deck straight and slid it over.

“Shuffle these for me. Don’t try to focus inside or on a question or anything, just focus on them.”

“Them as in them and not them as in the cards, right?”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Yes, Danny.”

“Look, I’m just making sure! I don’t do magic,” Danny said as he started to shuffle. It was a little hard to do so, what with Hubris trying to bat the cards away, but Danny did his very best to focus on the ghost. He thought about how it felt to interact with them. What they looked like. What the echo of their nearly there voice sounded like.

The tags on Hubris’ collar zapped Danny with a sudden zap of static electricity and Danny put down the deck to shake his hand out. Mina snapped them up as soon as he did. He guessed he was done shuffling.

“Ghost friend,” Mina called out. (Danny thought the ‘friend’ bit was generous.) “If you can hear me, focus on what got you in this mess.”

Danny leaned forward to try, as always, to see if he could sense something from Mina as she cut the cards, fanned out several on the table in front of her, and ran her fingers along them. As always, he didn’t see a damn thing about what made her pick the card she did.

Mina gave the sort of sucked in breath that pulled her bottom lip into her teeth as she flipped over the first card. It was the Tower. The bricks detailed by gold foil outlines that paled in comparison to the large lightning bolt striking it.

“Not good?” Danny asked.

“Very not good. You know how Death isn’t actually a card to fear?”

Danny nodded.

Mina tapped the card. “This is the card to fear.”