Shades Weren't Actually Consider Inferior Or "not Real Ghosts" They Were Partial Citizens Of The Infinite

Shades weren't actually consider inferior or "not real ghosts" they were partial citizens of the infinite realms, just like zombies, revenants, city spirits and many others mortal realm based ecto-beings, or at least, they're supposed to be.

Pariah Dark had a purist mindset, any being that wasn't completely connected to the infinite realms, wasn't a citizen for him. During Pariah Darks reign of terror, the infinite realms were almost completely closed of from the mortal realms, unless Pariah was planning to conquer it.

With no contact to any other ghosts, the mortal realms base acto-beings were left with just Pariah Darks discourse of how they all weren't real ghosts, how they weren't real ecto-beings, and weren't accepted in the infinite realms.

Pariah Dark destroyed the system that was put in place by previous monarchs. Mortal realms based ecto-beings now didn't have access to the realms during Samhain. The permanent emergency portals on places where the veil is thin where closed. Guidance and aid from the realms was cut.

It all sucked. Mortal realm based ecto-beings (Let's call them the stranded, because that name is becoming to long) lost their access to health care, lost access to their species history, lost access to ectoplasm, they lost everything.

The stranded also lost any means to know what was going on in the realms. They didn't know the tyrannical terror that was unraveling there. All they knew was that the king cut them off, and that the infinite realms ghosts weren't showing up any more. After thousands of years, the stranded just accepted that they weren't consider ghost enough for the infinite realms and it's citizens as a fact.

Meanwhile, in the infinite realms. It took a couple millennia for the Ancients to finally figure they're differences and unite to trap Pariah Dark in the coffin of ever sleep. The infinite realms where a mess, everyone concentrated on trying to bring things back up, and no one thought about the stranded, who probably where doing better than them. Even after things got kinda sorted out, must ghosts had no idea how to reconnect with the mortal realms.

Fast forward to Danny turning on the portal, Feeding that mortal realm with the ectoplasm that it hadn't gotten in ages. Small natural portals where forming here and there, but with no system for the stranded to know about it, or anyone to seek them out.

Now, Phantom two years king, still dealing with Pariahs delayed paperwork, has just been informed about the existence of the stranded. No one bother to tell him that a huge amount of his subjects were cut from the infinite realms during Pariahs reign. Amity Park had one of the thinnest veils, so any ecto-beings there where infinite realms based, so he didn't even know they existed.

He's struggling with plans to speed run all the stranded process for citizenship and accomodations. He knows how it is to deal with suddenly being a different species while still being part of a mortal realm, but he had guidance from lots of ghost of the infinite realms. He feels terrible for all the stranded that had to deal with that on their own. Even more since most of them wouldn't be able to mask as a human and go back to their own life like he could being a Halfa.

He's reading through the incomplete records of the infinite realms support networks for the stranded that used to exist. Figuring how viable it would be to create them again, while opening well made permanent portals in hundreds of different mortal realms.

This, is what have the Justice League summoning the Hight King of the infinite realms. Out of nowhere, there are natural portals to the infinite realms popping up in random places.

"Not random, they're opening where the veil is already thin." - Constantine reminds them.

The portals doesn't seem to be hurting anyone, mortals can't even touch them, only those who have died before can see them, but they're portals to the land of dead opening out of nowhere! Some of JLD is even worried that they're mortal realm is collapsing.

So here they are, starting a summoning ritual, while Deadman is wondering if it is possible to die a second time from nerves.

DPxDC Prompt

It is common knowledge in the realms that a ghost that forms outside of the realms is a shade, an incorporeal being that rarely gains enough ectoplasm to interact with their environment, let alone hold a solid form.

Ghosts within the realms do not consider shades to be fully ghosts, they don't have the ectoplasm and they have never set foot within the realms in which all ghosts form.

But in the living realms, shades are the only form of ghosts humans ever heard of, let alone interacted with.

So when the Justice League makes plans to summon the king of ghosts, Deadman is understandably nervous being the only representing ghost, being held together by magic instead of ectoplasm at that. He isn't ashamed to say he was hiding behind Constantine, who knew if the king would be offended by his presence.

It probably would have been a good idea to inform everyone about different types of ghost before hand to avoid the absolute diplomatic nightmare that proceeded the Ghost King's arrival.

Duke was just about to start today's patrol, when he's boyfriend rushes through he's window and clashes against him. Duke doesn't have time to even question anything, because Danny is shaking in his arms. His shaking, and his crying, and he looks so scared.

Duke decides that he's not patrolling today.

He scoops his boyfriend in his arms, whispering quite comforts. He may not know the details, but he can still tell he's boyfriend that he's safe now. Duke takes him to his bed, and covers him in the galaxy blanket that Danny loves so much. He spares a second to tell the other bats that he isn't going on patrol and then centers all his attention on Danny. Caressing his fingers through his head and letting him get it all out.

He's never seen him so scared. They've talked about their past, their fears, their trauma, but Danny always treated everything with a certain casualness that made it seem like he had moved from it. Even while talking about his death, he didn't trembled this bad.

Duke didn't know what to do other than keep hugging him and telling him that he was okay, that Duke will keep him safe.

Eventually, Danny stops trembling, and melts into Dukes embrace, holding his head against Dukes shoulder he finally talks.

-Sorry for breaking in just before your patrol started...

-No, Danny, I'm happy to receive whenever you need me. You'll always be before my job as a bat. Always.

Duke can feel Danny do a small nod in his shoulder as he keeps caressing his head.

-Can I ask you what happened? If you don't feel ready to talk about it you don't have to, but I'm here to listen if you want sweetheart.

Danny takes a shuddering breath before speaking.

-My... parents, just showed up on my door.

Duke holds Danny tighter. He had heard all the stories about how the Fentons had treated Danny. How they used to follow him around with ghost hunting equipment when he was a teen. How when they found out he was the teen they've been hunting they screamed that he wasn't their son anymore. How they screamed that he was just a monster that they wanted out of their house, and out of Amity at that second.

-Did they- Did they hurt you?

Danny shook his head.

- I- I wasn't expecting them. They were not able to say a single word before I flee... I didn't even know they knew were I was...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Don't know how to continue from there. I'm not good writing this sort of scenes, haha.

Tagging people who wanted Duke/Danny:

@blueboybot @leloudlizbirb @bluerosefox

Feeling a bit angsty so I had this idea.

Danny is dating one of the Bats/Birds, and everything is going great, amazing even! They know each other secrets (from powers to everything etc), they have a wonderful place to live (even if its in Gotham), Danny is in college on the way to becoming a space engineer (and he does side jobs for unrestful ghosts), he's actually getting sleep again since leaving Amity Park, gets along with their friends and family (those who Danny or his partner still talk to, up to the writer), there is even talk about marriage and perhaps adoption/kids in the future between Danny and the Bat/Bird he's dating!

Everything is setting up for a good life in his future, something Danny didn't think could have after his accident. He was happy finally, and currently packing up his old apartment because he's moving in with his partner in a few days.

So he felt like his core was being pulled out of him when he opens his apartment door one day receiving a knock to find his parents, who had hadn't seen since they kicked him out of the house after coming clean about being Phantom (their words of anger and denial that their son was 'dead' and now a monster, still hurt)

Sure they didn't attack him or proclaim he's dead but still their last words and anger HURT.

Danny didn't give them a chance to open their mouths, both looking nervous and guilty, before he slams the door close and turns invisible, grabs his phone, and fly's out of his apartment to his partner's place in a panic attack.

His partner, isn't happy.

Danny didn't like this. The walls weren't really pushing too strongly, it had been easy to stop them, but it has been hours. It was starting to get difficult.

The people in the room were collected in small groups. Probably staying with the people they knew, or those who they had felt kinship to during the kidnapping. Weather it was for sharing some characteristic like close age, or similar clothing style.

A guy that was probably a year or two older than him was beside him. Danny guest it was the closeness in age that pushed the boy to talk to him. They had talked in hush voices for sometime, and Danny found he was named Tim.

He was apparently a celebrity of some sort, or at least that's what it seemed from what Danny could hear from the other groups whispers. But he wasn't arrogant, nor was he bragging about it, so Danny payed it no mind.

As time passed and stopping the walls from closing had started to become difficult, Danny had stopped actively talking. Tim had frowned asking if he was okay, but Danny just shrugged saying he was tired. Which he was. Why wouldn't the rogue stop the mechanism after seeing it wasn't working? Wouldn't it still be consuming energy or something?

-It seems the rescue is taking some time, huh? - Tim said looking up to the exit.

Danny limited himself to agreeing with a hum. Panic had long abandoned the room, replaced by a lingering anxiety, murmurs and whispers filling the air. They were lucky no small children were taken, or they would be dealing with crying.

Danny looked forward catching Ellie's eyes. He tilted he's head in a question, which she answered moving her hand in a so so motion. Then she signal in his way with her head returning the question, and he just shrugged. He was tired, but he could hold it for long still.

He worried about how long Ellie would be able to do the same. She didn't have the same resistance as him, and still tended to destabilize when she overdo's it. Danny has a couple of ecto-shots in him, but he would prefer if it didn't came to that.

Maybe it was not wanting to be in the way of their gazes, but no one has sited or standed between him and Ellie. He was grateful for that, they had been able to check on each other the whole time. Tim sent him inquisitive look everytime he did, but didn't ask.

It was obvious he and Ellie were related. Anyone would guess they were siblings with how similar they were. So it was probably weird that they had decided to sit on opposites sides of the room in the situation they were in. Luckily, Gothamites are really good at minding their own business.

Danny could see that a boy was also sited besides Ellie, but their conversation had also died when Ellie started running low on stamina.

Truth be told, it would be easy for him and Ellie to make it out, evacuating the rest of the people may be burdensome though still possible, but not without revelling themselves.

Maybe it was selfish, if one of them hold their wall while the other evacuated, they probably would have already gotten everyone out. Danny could even have used duplication to hold both walls and make it even less chaotic. But he refused to risk their identities, not with the anti-ecto acts allowing people to hunt them. Either way, if things continued this way, they might become too exhausted to get anyone but themselves out in the end.

How much more will the the local vigilantes take to getting there?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Tim had gotten himself kidnapped in his civilian identity with Damian. Which was always a pain, because they couldn't just fight their weight out of it. Worse of all, it wasn't even a direct attack on them, it was a group kidnapping. Tim was pretty sure the rogue didn't even noticed he had gotten a couple of Wayne's on the group.

He had catalogued that there were 54 other people with them in the room. No one has any restraints on, so probably the rogue was confident that no one could make it to the exit. The room was more like a big whole in the ground, only exit was 10 foot upside.

He has tried to call someone, but phones weren't getting any signal. Damian and him had activated their panic buttons too, they can only hope those are working well. But with how long it had been, Tim had the suspicion that isn't the case.

A simple room with a large group of hostages, and no restraints, with a camera in one corner of the ceiling that was probably recording them for ransome. It should be one of the best situation for a kidnapping, except, the only thing keeping them alive at the moment were two meta kids.

The walls had started to close at a fast pace when they were reaching the first hour mark, and then the walls stopped abruptly. Or that's how it would seem if one wasn't paying attention. What actually happen was that two kids had stopped the walls from continuing to close. When chaos started to unravel within the hostages, scared for the walls moving, the kids ran to opposite walls, and as soon as they touched them the walls stopped moving.

They're meta abilities must be giving them an incredible strength to be able to stop the walls so casually. Tim and Damian had decided to separate to keep an eye on them, maybe give them a hand if they were able. He had found it was easier to go through civilian kidnappings if he concentrated on what he could do. Even if it was just looking out for their meta saviours.

They were similar, to the point Tim would think they were twins if the girl wasn't clearly younger. He had sat besides the boy while Damian was with the girl. The meta siblings checked with each other every so often, not outwardly screaming but it wasn't exactly subtle either. He did the same with Damian, but with the signs they used on patrol and complementing with sign language for any specifics.

The boy's name was Danny, and Damian had signed Danielle for the girl. There was a small fuss after Damian sign her name, Danielle telling him something with irritation in her face. Probably didn't like being full named by Damian. Damian seemed amused by her antics, and Tim almost laughed at him when he finally sign that she preferred to be called Ellie. Apparently got him to call her by her preferred name, which was a huge achievement with the demon brat.

Talking with Danny had made time go easier. He was quite intelligent, loved space, and never passed an opportunity to make a pun. Tim made a mental note to never let Dick meet him. It was fun talking to him, and Tim found the small quirks he showed while they talked quite cute.

He had almost forgotten that Danny was holding the weight of the wall, until Danny slowly started to shut down, only giving small answers and humming for him to continue talking. It must be starting to take a tall on him, and taking a look at his sister he guessed she was having a hard time too.

Tim really hoped the others were here soon, he didn't know how much longer their friends would be able to hold the walls.

DPXDC PROMPT

Danny and Danielle are sitting on opposite ends of a room full of people, with the only exit being the middle of a 10-foot high ceiling.

The Gotham rogue who captured them is getting increasingly irritated that their trap to move the walls closer isn't working while the Bats are getting closer.

Okay, but I can see that been the drop that finishes Danny's patience. He's doing he's best to lay low and survive until Phantom finds he's way back to him. Having to hear the Wayne's talking about how Phantom won't be able to reach him again in comforting tones, as if that wasn't what was killing him right now.

He thought Red Huntress and his parents abilities to blame everything on Phantom were outstanding, but they're nothing compare to the Justice League and their "he's using you to reach the world of the living."

With his body deteriorating by the day, and Ellie's core getting weaker as time goes by because he's feeding off of it, instead of it feeding off of him as it was supposed to, Danny was hanging by a thread. And now this con artist comes in and tells him his been knocked out by himself?

Danny couldn't help it, he started laughing. It was long past ridiculous. He must have looked hysteric because the con artist went ahead with a pitting look and made it worse.

"Don't worry kid. We can get rid of-"

"You touch Ellie's core and there won't be an Ancient capable of stopping me from ripping your head off your body!"

Stunned silence filled the room, and well, maybe that was the wrong move, but Danny was in survival mode and extremely tired. It's inevitable that he would snap if they threatened Ellie. There was a silent conversation between the three men that were in the room with him.

"Danny, I know this isn't easy," Started Bruce "but your body it's been deteriorating, this thing it's -"

"This thing it's Ellie's core, and it's the only thing keeping me alive right now. Which it's bullshit because the whole incubating thing it's supposed to work the other way! But no! The league of imbeciles had to get their noses where they weren't called!"

And, more stunned silence. There goes laying low until Phantom found him. Whatever, at this rate Ellie was going to fade before Phantom came, and then Danny was going to die, and then Phantom was going to fade too. The Justice League should be proud, their getting an endangered species back to having just one member. That's if they didn't ruin things for Vlad to, Danny doesn't have a way to know.

"Danny..." Tim brought Danny back to the present. Feeling the burning sensation in his eyes, he realizes tears have been gathering in them, but he can't be bother to keep them back. "What do you mean by the only thing keeping you alive?"

Danny bites his lip and glares at the floor. He isn't sure he wants to explain, what would even be the point? He's tired, and angry, and worried, and scared for himself and Ellie, he doesn't want to talk to these people. The Wayne's are kind, but they're basically cell keepers for him, people tasked with keeping him away from his other half.

Bruce kneels in front of Danny, looking him in the eye with a protective determination. One that somehow just makes Danny feel worse.

"Danny, if Phantom has-"

"Fuck, Phantom isn't the problem!" Danny jumps to his feet, almost hitting Bruce. "The problem was the fucking Justice League being unable to listen! If they had listen, they would have known that Phantom wasn't any Ancient possessing someone! They would have known that I was Phantom!"

Danny could see the color draining from the con artist, a contrast to the worried gazes Bruce and Tim were sending him. Of course they don't believe him, they think Danny is being manipulated by Phantom. Danny starts pacing.

"They come into my haunt, months after their not needed anymore, months after everyone has settled to our new normal, and fucking rip me apart! Acting all heroic as if they were rescuing me, and then throw me here to die! They're so lucky that an apocalypse hasn't started yet! Because that's usually what happens when you separate a Halfa!"

"But Halfas are supposed to be extinct" The con artist mumbled and both Bruce's and Tim's whipped their head to look at him. Horror setting into their faces as the guys words confirm that what Danny is saying is true, and not something he's been pushed to believe by Phantom.

"There's no such thing as extinction in the infinite realms. All there have to happen for a species to come back, is someone dying the right way."

 Tim was really starting to get worried about his new brother.

Danny moved into Wayne Manor after his parents were arrested.  Jack and Maddie Fenton opened  a portal to the infinite realms with no way of stopping any of the world-ending threats. They let the ghosts wreak havoc and never once closed the portal. 

Danny had gotten some sort of connection to an ancient being. The Justice League Later found out that the ancient being was using the connection to gain a way to stay on Earth. They were able to sever the connection but Danny is not getting any better.

Since the attacks in Amity Park started Danny has been getting sicker and sicker. He got paler and started to bruise more easily. But after they severed the connection he seemed to no longer have energy.

Even now that they have gotten him away from amity park, nothing seems to be helping. It's been 3 months with no sign of getting better. they're on their last straw and they finally decided to get a magic user to try and help. unfortunately The person who knows the most is Constantine.

Constantine walked into the room with Bruce. Danny had no idea that they were connected to the Justice League and they were hoping to keep it that way. They don't want to stress him, especially with how sick he is.  Constantine and Bruce stopped in front of Danny.

 Bruce tried to use a gentle tone and said “ danny I know you're having a lot of trouble so I called in someone to help “

Danny had  an apprehensive look.

 “Kid, I just need your hand,” Constantine said as he reached out a hand. ”I'm not going to do any creepy shit, I'm just trying to make you better”

Danny reluctantly placed his hand onto constantines. it was a few minutes before Constantine Swar under his breath.

"What is it” Bruce demanded.

”the little ghosty left a parting gift”

“that's not an explanation” 

“the kids got a  neverborn”

 “What's neverborn?” Tim asked, interrupting their conversation.

 “The closest equivalent I can make is that technically Phantom got the kid knocked Up”

Warning - Torture, dehumanization, trauma, dissociation.

Pain. That was what Danny had been waking up to ever since his parents found he was Phantom, and he started living in a cell in the GIW facility about a month ago.

Everything hurts, even with his enhanced healing, his body can't sustain the amount of damage his given in the daily. The lack of ambient ectoplasm in his cell doesn't help either. What's worse is that he knows this base line pain is nothing compared to how he'll feel before he goes to sleep that night.

Danny shrunk on himself, hugging his legs close to his chest. He wanted to try to go back to sleep, he had heard today's "session" was saved for the afternoon, something about the Fenton's wanting to prepare a special gift to honor their lost little boy's birthday.

Right, today was supposed to be his birthday, he had forgotten. It's not like it mattered, he was sure he wasn't going to like his pa- the Fenton's gift.

He hugged his legs with more force, shutting his eyes and trying to just drift away, forget everything.

Then, the pain stopped, not in the way it did when the numbness in his mind helped him forget there was pain. No, the pain disappeared, like it didn't exist to begin with. He didn't feel his constraints either, nor the cold of the floor, in fact, he's sitting in something soft... When did he sit down?

- kiddo, you there?

Danny shut his eyes open and looked to his side. A man in his mid-twenties with black hair and blue eyes was looking at him with a frown. He wasn't in a white suit, nor a hazmat suit, he wasn't from the GIW, what was he doing in his cell? Were they letting people come look at him like he was a circus attraction now?

- tt, were you asleep still? You're supposed to be prepared for this to happen. I can't believe Drake's soulmate is so incompetent.

A boy on the other side of the table said. A table? There weren't any tables in his cell, the only thing "decorating" his cell is a toilet...

Danny looked around, he wasn't in his cell anymore, he was at a dinner table, a huge dinner table. There were seven people sitting at the table with him, but Danny couldn't get himself to focus on anyone, he instead looked back at his hands, hands that weren't burning.

Not his hands. These were definitely not his hands. His hands had a plate drilled into them with his code as a GIW property.

They had found fascinating how his hands healed around the metal. They had found even more fascinating how it healed as good as new when they took it out, and how it healed around it again when they drilled a new one in.

These hands didn't have any metal drilled into it. They were paler than his in human form, but he was sure they were human hands, there weren't any green undertones.

- Did you not know about the soulmate swap? A mark should have appeared in your wrist, like, last week.

A blond girl sitting a couple chairs to his right said.

Soulmate swap? Fuck. He couldn't help when his hands started trembling. Of course he wouldn't know he had a soulmate, only 30% of people have one.

He looked at this body's wrists, his stylized combination of a D and P was sitting there. Ancients, that meant his wrists had some sort of mark from his soulmate, but with the constraints on his wrists...

The "swap bodies when the younger turns 16" being extremely low in Danny's priorities, so sue him if he didn't try checking either.

Hell, they were going to experiment on his body while some other person was in it! His soulmate will have to suffer being in a body that's in constant pain and they will have to go through whatever the Fenton's had prepared for that day.

Even if they screamed that they were not him, nor his par- the Fenton's nor the GIW believe him sentient enough to have a soulmate!

Danny was starting to feel light headed.

- Hey, hey, I need you to breathe with me kid.

Breath, right, breathing, this body needs to breathe. This body is completely alive, he can feel some liminality in it, but it isn't like his half death body. He can't just stop breathing to avoid hyperventilating as he usually does.

Danny tried to take deep breaths, following the man who had first talked to him when he got there. It was hard to not just start hyperventilating.

Fuck, the universe is really trying to kill him, isn't it? There's no way he's soulmate will know how to hide a core from crazy scientists experimenting on him. He probably doesn't even know what a core is! Danny had worked hard to keep it hidden all this time, had done his best to stop the GIW and the Fenton's from knowing cores even existed!

Wait... If they find his core, and somehow manage to shatter it while playing with it, will it even be him the one who died!? Was his soulmate gonna die in his body!?

... And he was hyperventilating now.

- Kid! Kid! Deep breaths, common, you can do this, deep breaths.

Danny tried to focus on breathing again, but the idea of his soulmate dying wouldn't leave him. So between shattered breaths he asked:

- W-what... Happens if one.... Of us dies... Whi- while in the other body!?

Even with his sight completely blurry, he was sure all the people at the table had stood up. The man who was helping him breath looked like he needed someone to help him through now.

Non understandable screams overlapped over each other for a minute or so, until someone screamed "Enough!" And silence fell once more over the table. The man recovered quickly, and kneeled in front of him, taking his hands and looking him in the eyes.

- Hey, I need you to breathe. We can solve whatever is giving you that worry, but I need you to calm first. Can you do that for me?

Danny wanted to laugh at the idea that they would be able to do anything. His friends broke in multiple times the first week, and failed every attempt, until the security grew to the point they couldn't come in.

His mo- Madeline bragged about the security finally stopping the brainwashed kids from coming in after the first week without alarms in the middle of a "session".

His friends were people used to breaking into GIW facilities in rescue missions, if they couldn't get him out, then how would these random people do it? It was an ignorant promise. But this man's eyes were full of worry that reminded him of his sister, so even if he knew it was hopeless, he nodded, and tried to calm down.

DpxDC soulmate swap

I keep seeing these soulmate AUs that when the younger one is a certain age the soulmates swap bodies.

Now, what about the vivisection/ bad reveal Danny, who is legally being experimented on by the GIW (NOT Ghost King AU), who wakes up during a family dinner, not realising he's awake at first, only for the family to tell him "Yes, this is a soulmate swap, and yes we ARE your soulmates family." He immediately goes to leave and says he will rescue himself- Que panicked family says that they'll get the heroes, only for Danny to laugh in their faces and go, "What are they going to do? Everything that's happening to me is completely legal. Me murdering my way to my body is not. Anyway, hopefully, my soulmate is screaming and thrashing around enough that they sedate them; I've grown numb to the pain, so they don't usually bother anymore". Danny just casually stealing a car/motorbike and driving away

I can't think of who would be the soulmate. Honestly, all of the cross-ship pairings could work.

So, is it a clean cut that was cauterized the moment it was cut? Or is it magically keeping all fluids inside? Because otherwise, Danny is suddenly bleeding like crazy, and ghost shenanigans may safe him, but if he's in public… Imagine Danny growing a new arm in public, or in front of his parents. It would be one hell of a reveal.

Or, Assuming we don't have to deal with Danny's ghost side showing in Danny's blood, and healing isn't that good. Everyone is suddenly scared that Danny may die of blood loss, quickly being rushed to the ER. Since this is Amity, people would assume the lost arm was caused by ghosts, and that would be a whole other problem.

On the bats side, I think the arm doesn't bleed as much as the open wound, but still, that's dripping blood. The bat's would need to put that arm in ice if they wan't any chance of reattaching it to Jason's soulmate, that's if Jason soulmate isn't dying from blood loss right now. Now they're rushing to find Jason's soulmate because an arm would be viable to reattachment for only like 6 hours. Jason thinks he just ruined his soulmates life, and he hasn't even met the guy.

This was possibly the worst way he could have met his soulmate.

IdeaDpxDc—There are better ways to meet someone.

Note: Sorry, I don't know English, so please use a translator. I apologize if you don't get the idea.

Dead On Main. Soul mates.

---

"Exactly... what does this ring do?" The shining ring was still attached to his finger. This wouldn't worry him if it weren't for the fact that, with each passing minute, the ring emitted more light, and that can't be good.

The cult leader refused to speak. He wouldn't even look at him, seeming particularly attentive to the material the floor was made of. Very funny that now he was scared of him when, an hour ago, he was giving a very cliché speech about how humanity was doomed because it would summon the evil of evils.

It wasn't very smart of him to perform his summoning precisely in Gotham City, home of the Dark Knight.

Red Hood was getting impatient. He placed the hand without the ring on his weapon; if words didn't work, a real threat to his life would. And this didn't really break Bruce's 'no killing' rule because the gun was only loaded with rubber bullets. However, just as he was about to advance and shoot the guy, he saw Batman grab the leader's tunic collar and lift him up.

The man, of course, screamed in fear. "Speak, what does that ring do?" No jokes. Batman's voice was deeper than usual, showing that he was upset, no, rather angry.

Or worried, but Jason could never consider that possibility. For the moment, he was only surprised, although it didn't show through his helmet.

"I-I don't know," the leader replied. Poor guy, he seemed about to cry. Batman, not content, tightened his grip even more; he wasn't willing to tolerate a lie this time.

Red Robin raised an eyebrow. "You managed to gather a bunch of magical artifacts for your summoning and you don't know what they do?"

The man looked away. "No..." The rest of the cult members also looked away. Very brave and stupid of them to all agree to lie to the bats. Jason himself wanted to mock them, but the ring kept shining. He couldn't mock when the ring kept shining and he didn't know what it meant.

From the communications, Robin could be heard. "Tt, this wouldn't be happening if Hood hadn't put on the ring." Jason suppressed a growl.

"Kid, I didn't put on the ring. This thing stuck to me the moment I touched it." It was true. In the middle of the operation to stop the ritual, Jason had pulled the ring, which at that moment was a kind of necklace by the chain that ran through it, from a member who was wearing it. The ring in his hand began to glow and suddenly teleported to his ring finger, then stopped shining. It was when everything calmed down that the ring began to release a different, but constant light.

Approximately ten minutes have passed since then, he thought as he looked at the ring, ignoring all the magical stuff; it was actually a very simple ring. Suddenly, the ring began to blink.

Oh, no. That couldn't be good.

Batman, fed up with the leader's silence and his followers, threw the man meters ahead. "Oracle, call Zatanna now, we need more information about the ring," he ordered as he approached the man who was in pain from the fall. The guy, terrified by the violent aura of the Dark Knight, tried to retreat.

Finally, Nightwing stepped between the man and the brutal beating he would receive if he didn't speak.

"It's okay, B, calm down." With his hand on his father's shoulder, Dick tried to ease the atmosphere. "I understand your concern. We are all worried about what the ring might do to Hood. But we can't let fear and anger control us. Hood is important to all of us. He is our brother, your son. We can't lose our cool now. Let's call Wonder Woman. If no one wants to talk, she can help us with the lasso of truth."

Total silence. Jason didn't know what to say; he didn't think his family would react like this over a blinking ring. That is... he doesn't know. Suddenly, the ring's light began to blink faster.

Batman, after Nightwing's words and seeing the change in the ring, understood that he couldn't waste time with someone who wouldn't talk. "You're right, thank you Nightwing." Looking at the others, he said: "We need to act quickly, we don't know the effects the ring might have on Hood. We need to take him to the cave for a thorough analysis, no discussions." The last part he said looking at Jason. "Until then, don't try to take it off or use it."

Jason scoffed, as if he would.

"Oracle, you heard, call Diana. Red Robin and I will take care of the rest of the cult. Nightwing, take Red Hood to the cave." Batman began giving orders as he reached the leader and began dragging him towards the rest of his cult. The leader, in a failed attempt, tried to resist. "Agent A, please prepare a stretcher. Understood?"

Everyone nodded.

On the other hand, the touching speech and the strange family moment of the bats seemed to soften the heart of a girl from the cult, who in a whisper said: "The ring, nothing will happen to him." Although she spoke quietly, everyone present heard her.

The leader, panicking that the information would be revealed, exclaimed: "Catrina, shut up!" However, he was struck by Batman, who was already fed up with the guy.

"What do you have to say about the ring?" he asked.

The woman hesitated to speak. "We thought of using the ring to subdue the king of the dead and make him listen to our orders..." She paused, not knowing how to continue. "There is a real legend about the ring. A long time ago, a witch wanted to know who her soulmate was, so she created the ring. This allows one to be guided to their soulmate through the red thread. I think everyone already knows what the red thread is." Nervous, she looked around. Only Nightwing nodded, and that was enough for her to continue telling. "Well, the witch's red thread connected with a prince. Unfortunately for everyone, the prince was not happy that his soulmate was a witch. So he had her killed." The girl looked at her hands; that part of the story was sad. "The witch was angry, but still wanted her soulmate to accept her, so she rewrote the ring's original purpose. It was no longer something that united you with your soulmate, but now it was something that allowed you to subdue your soulmate... uh, this." She pointed to a book that was lying in a corner. "With another spell, in fact, it can be used to subdue anyone, even a king of the dead."

With the whole story already told, Red Robin asked: "So, what is the ring doing to Red Hood?"

"It's tracking his soulmate. I... didn't get to put the other spell on it. I could only activate the ring's primary function. Your brother will be fine."

That definitely changes things. Jason swore he could hear his heart beating. A soulmate, wow. He admits he's read many romance novels and maybe once dreamed of it, but for it to actually happen, wow.

Suddenly, the ring stopped blinking. Five seconds later, everyone saw a red thread shoot out from the ring's gem. It quickly moved in one direction, went through the wall, and kept going. The process was like a fishing rod when it catches a fish.

"Does this mean it already found its soulmate?" Red Robin asked. Astonished by the red thread, he tried to touch it but his hand went through it; apparently, the thread was intangible to anyone else.

"Yes," the cultist also seemed astonished.

Jason felt a look on him, turned, it was his brother. Oh no, not that look, he knew that smile; Dick would tease him so much in the coming days. For his part, Batman sighed in relief. Well, it wasn't such an extreme danger, but it was still dangerous. "Agent A, cancel the stretcher." He never imagined this would mean a soulmate case. "Oracle, don't cancel the call to Zatanna or Wonder Woman, we need to verify the information. We'll stay here until the police arrive."

How nice it would be if everything ended like that, right? With Dick joking with Jason, Tim analyzing the thread, Barbara laughing at the turn of events, Bruce relieved and Damian surprised. However, one must remember the story.

The witch changed the ring's original purpose. Unexpectedly, the thread began to retract, as if it had caught something. It did so so quickly that Jason grabbed his hand in pain. It was then that everyone had a bad feeling. The wall the thread had previously passed through suddenly exploded, the noise and dust alerting everyone, especially when once the chaos disappeared, something horrific could be seen.

An arm. A fucking arm. Apparently freshly torn from its owner. Oh, no. What did it do to his soulmate?

...

Somewhere else in the world, somewhere in the United States, Danny gasped in pain. What the hell? What was that? Ancients! Where is his arm?

---

Note: Sorry, I don't know English, so please use a translator. I apologize if you don't get the idea.