Dani's To-Do List

- see Danny

- hang out with Wulf

- drop off souvenirs

- self-defenenstration

"Hello, my friend," greets the hulking canine-shaped monster lurking in the darkness of the forest. "I am glad to see you are well."

Dani grins and launches herself at the glowing beast, throwing her arms around his neck and burying her face in his coarse fur. She switches her language to Esperanto too and replies, "Me too, Wulf. I missed you."

Wulf stands on his hind legs, lifting Dani into the air so he can return the hug, long claws carefully angled away so he doesn't knick her. After an awkward pat — wolf physiology doesn't account for bear hugs — he sets her back down. Dani lets go and steps away, smiling brightly.

"Shall we?" she asks.

Wulf stretches low in response, offering his broad back to her. She bows back, a wordless thank you for allowing her to take this journey riding him. (Wulf isn't a pack mule, and as far as Dani is aware, she is the only one allowed to travel like this.) She hops on his back and wraps her arms around his neck, burying her fingers in the wiry fur.

The ghost stands back up and throws his head back to howl — something Dani knows means joyful-reunion, friend-meeting. He then slashes his paw forward, ripping open the fabric between the realms and opening a small, unstable portal that quickly closes behind them as soon as they pass through it.

She missed Wulf. Traveling with him is breathlessly fast and effortless.

The green lighting of the zone replaces the darkness of before. Dani looks around to admire the scenery. Like most of the zone, the surrounding area is full of floating doors and islands, little pieces of culture from across time and space dotting the landscape in a seemingly lawless manner. She has no idea where they are.

Luckily, Wulf has traveled these realms longer than Dani can even imagine, and he doesn't hesitate to fly towards where she assumes the Keep is located.

Dani feels the ectoplasm seeping into her core, revitalizing her the way a cool shower would after a long day. Like Danny, Dani can filter out the ambient ectoplasm in the mortal realm to sustain her own core, but after a while, it gets a little tiring. Being in the zone lets her take a little break, fill her core with pure ectoplasm free of emotion and soul that taint what's present in the mortal realm. Like a ghostly cleanse.

They only need to travel for a little over an hour before Dani can spot Phantom's Keep, where it would've taken Dani at least two hours even if she knew where she was going.

Just like the monarchy of the zone itself, the castle was something Danny inherited not long after he defeated the previous Ghost King, Pariah Dark. Apparently, it used to look a lot more daunting, all gothic architecture with Dark Age vibes. Now, it has a more European influence, the ashlar polished white stone, with black crow-step roofs.

The castle is huge, as you might expect, with half a dozen separate towers around the main building that is the size of a shopping mall. There's a small town around the castle proper, bustling with the occasional ghost that flocked to Danny's castle to live in his protection. It's a bit bigger than when Dani saw it last, looking more like an actual town than a couple of random houses.

Oddly enough, there are guards roaming around. Dani wasn't aware Danny began employing guards, given he doesn't often spend more than a few hours a week at the Keep. On their way over curtain wall, a pair of medieval looking knights pause them, but they're quick to wave them through once they see whom it is.

Wulf angles his flight down to the main doors of the Keep. There, another pair of guards stand at the huge ornate doors with curling green filigree.

"Princess," they say in unison, both bending at the waist in a slight bow. "The King is expecting you." This is also in unison. Dani wonders if they're the same ghost split into two duplicates. If they're not, did they practice this? There's no way they just… coincidentally said the same thing at the same time, right?

Dani gives them a cheeky grin. "I know, he invited me." She approaches the door and it's opened from the inside by two sharply dressed ghosts, two older-looking men with suits, one much more modern than the other. Dani is going to tease Danny relentlessly about this. Where did all these servants come from?

Wulf follows in behind her, his tail lashing anxiously back and forth. Dani sets a comforting hand on his back, and he gives her a grateful look. The castle may look different, but from what Dani's gathered, once upon a time Wulf was sentenced to eternity in prison here by the past King.

"This way, your Highness," one of the butlers (?) directs, floating back and gesturing ahead of them to where Dani knows the throne room is.

Dani nods at them with a bright smile — she'll have to thoroughly converse with these two later, find out why they want to serve an awkward adolescent teen rather than relax for eternity.

She and Wulf head into the hallway leading to the throne room. Following the trend, there are guards at the doors and a couple of servant-like ghosts floating around, bowing as she passes. It's weird.

The guards open the doors in sync, announcing Dani with a booming voice, "Her Highness, Dani Phantom, Princess of the Realms and Beloved Sister to the High King."

Dani gives the guard to her right an incredulous look. When did she get so many titles? Where did all this pomp and circumstance come from? Last time she was here, there was only a fraction of the posturing every ghost seems to be doing now.

When she turns to look into the throne room, Dani understands a little better. Danny is in full King regalia on his throne, the crown of fire a silvery, icy inferno above his head, his galaxy cape fluttering in a non-existent breeze where it's draped over one of the arms of the throne. The smaller throne to his right is occupied by Jazz, who's stopped scribbling notes on her clipboard to smile at Dani as she enters.

The rest of the room is occupied by several Observants, some Ancients, and many other royal-looking ghosts, a few servants thrown in here and there with plates of refreshments or writing materials All eyes are trained on her.

She gives them a two-fingered salute and floats down the aisle through a gauntlet of guards standing at attention on either side of the long strip of carpet. Wulf pads after her, growling at anyone who looks at him too long.

When they reach the large dias before Danny's imposing throne, Dani gives him a mocking curtsey, pinching the edges of her sweatshirt as if it were a gown. Wulf, much more genuine, bows low.

"Thank you for escorting my sister, Wulf," Danny says in Esperanto. Dani studies him. He looks like he hasn't slept in a week and is running off of fumes.

"Of course, my King," Wulf replies. Danny gives him a genuine smile, even if it looks strained from his clear exhaustion.

"You may leave, if you wish," Danny tells him. Dani wonders where in the realms he learned to talk like this.

Wulf nods his head in respect, gives Dani one last nuzzle, and flies down the aisle to be let out of the throne room. Dani will catch up with him later; he's not comfortable being around a lot of different people, especially guards, so they'll hang out by themselves later.

Dani stands awkwardly, looking at her brother, feeling the weight of the gazes on her back. "Soooo, you called for me?"

Danny exhales, looking over the rest of the room's occupants. "Yeah. Let me finish up here. It's been dragging on longer than it should —" he glares in the general direction of the floating eyeballs "but we should be done soon. You can join us or I can meet you later in your room."

He gestures at the throne on his left. Is that one for her? Why in the realms would she need a throne? She's a princess by association only. Wait. All princesses are princesses by association. Huh. But still. Her royal status is a technicality at best.

"Uh, I'm going to go add my new maps to my collection," Dani decides, shaking her backpack in his general direction. "I'll see you in a bit."

Danny nods. Dani gives Jazz a bit of a wave, noting the strain on her face too, and slips behind Danny's throne to the smaller, more restricted door behind the dias. Another guard (seriously, who are all these guys?) lets her through.

When the door shuts behind her, Dani shakes off the strange authoritative tension. Are these the meetings Danny told her about? They seem awful. Also, from what Dani knows, Jazz isn't a common guest in attendance.

Dani flies up to her rooms, smiling lightly at every ghost she encounters. When she gets to her main door, she sighs in relief at the lack of guards in the hall. It seems like the royal wing is a bit more off-limits.

Dani enters her receiving room. It's honestly the most unnecessary thing: a large semi-circular room where there are more doors to the other rooms, a dining table and chairs, and plenty of places to sit where guests can "wait" for her. Dani doesn't really see the point to the room, but she appreciates that the seats are at least super comfortable.

Kicking off her shoes — just because she's not walking doesn't mean she shouldn't keep her shoes off inside — and shucking her backpack, Dani enters her bedroom proper, the one with the actual bed. As she expected, there's a tiny little ball of energy waiting for her on the dog bed in the corner.

"Cujo!"

Said dog launches himself into Dani's waiting arms, instantly getting to work in applying all the slobber in his tiny body to Dani's face. Dani tries to return half his enthusiasm by rapidly petting his sides.

The excitable puppy doesn't allow Dani to set him down until she's covered in hair and slobber. Dani accepts her sticky fate and continues scratching Cujo even after his initial energy relaxes and he switches his affections to his squeaky toy. He shows her his toy and she coos over it until he feels she's given it an appropriate amount of attention before he goes back to chewing it.

Dani washes her face in her bathroom sink so it's not so gross and then grabs her backpack. Time for her to add to her collection.

Dani's map room is a long hallway through the door to the right of her bedroom. There are maps hanging above bookshelves embedded in the wall, which are stuffed with all the maps Dani loves but deems unsuitable for display for some reason or another. Sporadic shelves display sextants and compasses. The hallway stretches to a large circular room with Dani's favorites, surrounding a large wooden table where map supplies lay scattered where she last left them.

She shuffles a stack of paper off to the side so she can have a place to set out her new stuff.

She'd dropped by around six weeks ago, right after Belgium. The only souvenirs she's collected since are from her trip to America and all the stuff from Blüdhaven.

The nautical map from the museum is separated from a dozen crappier maps she got from city hall and the odd grocery store. She also sets aside the Atlantic map she copied from the captain's log on the ship she took from Europe and a hand-drawn sketch of the safe alleyways in Blüdhaven a sweet homeless lady took the time to draw up for her.

Her own drawing is set aside so she can redraw it with her fancy supplies, and the other two go to Dani's current travel binder and are added to the next available empty plastic sheets. She also puts in the ship ticket stub, the dollar bill from Arneau, the reprinted newspaper article of the dog-snake monster thing, and the itinerary from the Blüdhaven ghost tour. In another book, she slips in the few postcards she'd accumulated over the past month.

Then she has her stuff from Dick. A batter-soaked and slightly singed waffle recipe, a clip of burnt hair, the whaling pamphlet from their day on the sea, a fish sticker and cut of fishing line, and, of course, the pictures of her son Gregory.

These things are a bit too special to be shuffled into one of Dani's travel books. They deserve more than that.

So Dani gets out her scrapbooking stuff and starts arranging all the keepsakes on thick pieces of card stock. She scribbles in her favorite memories in the margins. She uses color and stickers and all kinds of different tape.

She finds herself disappointed in the lack of pictures, something she never really missed before. The postcards always captured the places she visited fairly well, and she'd never felt the pressing need to have pictures of the people she ran into. It's not as though cameras liked her very much, so it always seemed pointless. But now, she kinda wishes she had pictures of her and Dick's adventures.

Maybe she should get a film camera. The less sophisticated the tech, the easier it is for her to handle them without it all getting scrambled. And the film just needs to be dipped in chemicals and dried, right? Dani heard that was how they used to do it somewhere. Without pixels, it should be fairly easy to get a clear photo.

For now, she focuses on gluing down some star confetti around her son.

Her focus is consumed by her task, and before she knows it, Danny is tapping on her shoulder with a huge grin. Dani drops her pen and throws herself into her brother's arms, which are only too willing to squeeze her tight.

"Welcome back, mini-me."

Dani smiles wide and gives him another squeeze before floating back. He's lost the crown, cape, and the outer coat of his fancy kingly clothes, but he hasn't changed into his normal jumpsuit. Jazz stands at the opening of the hallway, smiling at the two of them. Dani flies over to give her a hug too.

"It's good to see you, little sis," Jazz says. "And… by the Ancients, is your hair brushed?"

Danny gives a theatrical gasp, and suddenly there are two sets of hands picking up sections of her hair and running their fingers through it. No, it's not freshly brushed. Dick brushed it a couple of days ago, when they had an evening in to eat bad Chinese and finish binging their glass blowing show. Dani has to smile at the memory of her stabbing some orange chicken with her chopsticks and shouting at one of the contestants for re-using the dead-mom story to promote his mediocre piece. The guy won and Dani rioted.

The hands in her hair start to annoy her and she shoves them away. "Get off, you creeps. I can brush my hair!"

She's met with bland disbelief from both Fenton siblings. Dani wilts. "Okay, fine, someone else brushed it. I was distracted by Thomas spitting on his mom's grave for the second time. Like, come up with another dead parent, y'know? He already did mom, dad, and uncle. I'm thinking he should've gone with a second dad. Like a godfather or something."

Danny and Jazz exchange confused glances, and Jazz asks, "Thomas?"

"On the show," Dani explains, knowing it doesn't explain much at all. "He put his hand through the molten glass and the glove burned and it looked terrible but then he spun this whole story about his mother reaching through the veil or something and they let him win. Really milking the orphan angle, amiright?"

The older teens look at each other again.

"Huh?"

Jazz eventually just rolls her eyes. "Are you trying to distract us from asking who exactly got close enough to brush your hair? Because it's not working." Jazz glances at her brother, then amends, "on me."

Dani shrugs, giving them an innocent smile. Danny still looks lost, but Jazz folds her arms and views her with fond amusement.

"Anyway," Dani says, "why did you call for me? Is it time for a check-up?" She hadn't gotten one last time she dropped by. It was unexpected, and Danny hadn't even been around.

Danny visibly shakes off the confusion and then answers, "Yeah, that'd be good, but mostly I just wanted to warn you to stay out of America for the time being. Not that I'm too worried you will be, but just in case."

Warn her away from America? Why? "I got some bad news for you, king. America is my current country."

Danny's face falls. "Uh oh."

Dani stands akimbo, ready for his explanation, but Jazz cuts in.

"Let's get some food and sit down. It's a bit of a story."

They do just that, adjourning to Dani's sitting room where a couple of serving maids bring some fancy chicken and mashed potatoes that glow ectoplasmic green… but in a good way, not in the Maddie-tried-making-hotdogs-with-ectocontaminated-utensils way. Dani digs in, loving the shock of energy that comes with directly consuming ectoplasm. Jazz ignores her own, but Danny also inhales his with gusto, clearly as famished as Dani.

"What's with all the maids?" Dani asks around her chicken. Jazz glares at her, so Dani shuts her mouth and finishes chewing.

Danny spins his spoon in his mashed potatoes. "Uh, they just kinda appeared. Dora — you remember Dora, right? You guys met briefly when she came to drop off some clothes for you." Which happened the first time Dani visited the Keep, six months ago. "Well, anyway, Dora vetted all of them and they all just kinda started working here. It's weird, but they get really offended when I try to tell them I don't need their help."

"Why would they choose servitude over their own eternities?" Dani wonders.

Danny slams his hands down on either side of his plate. "I know, right?! That's what I said! But apparently, serving the High King is an honor a ton of people want! I'm sixteen, and I only won against Pariah with the ecto-skeleton and a whole lot of dumb luck. What could possibly be the appeal of cleaning a castle that almost never gets dirty instead of relaxing on a beach with their family somewhere?" He pauses in his rant, visibly calming himself. "I've been advised to pick my battles. If they want to do it, I guess I can't stop them."

Jazz nods approvingly.

"Alright," Dani allows. "I guess if they want to, stopping them would be unnecessarily mean."

Danny exhales a heavy sigh. "This whole King thing is really spiraling out of control."

"Like with that whole meeting?"

"Yeah. That was a long one," Danny sighs. "Jazz doesn't have Friday classes so she offered to help keep notes. I'd normally have Uri do it, but Jazz has better insight on this particular issue."

"Who's Uri?" Dani asks. She has so many questions. She left for a few months, not decades. How did everything change so fast?

"My secretary, kinda," Danny answers, waving it off. "He's nice, you'll like him."

"And the 'particular issue'?"

"The GIW are causing a lot of problems," Jazz answers for Danny, who looks ready to launch into another long-winded rant. "They've captured a few ghosts and experimented on them. It's incredibly unethical, from a scientists' standpoint, but no one's stopping them and the other ghosts are getting really nervous. The eyeballs want to declare war on the mortal realm."

"What?!" Dani scrutinizes her siblings. Danny looks exhausted. "You're not going to let that happen, right?!"

"Of course not," Jazz assures, at the same time Danny shakes his head.

"Observants are always looking for a reason to cause trouble," Danny explains. "They're convinced we need to act fast and squash the whole thing. I consulted with Clockwork, and he says they're concerned about some futures where the GIW figure out how to destroy the Zone, and essentially collapse the entire Infinite Realms and all connected universes."

"That does sound pretty bad," Dani says, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. Why exactly would anyone want to destroy their own world?

"Right, but I'm not going to let that happen," Danny assures her. "They're worried about a possibility that has a three percent possibility of happening, and that's without me intervening."

"What's the possibility of it happening if you do declare war?"

It's Danny's turn to bite his lip. "Uh, zero. We're a legion of the dead. There's no universe in which they win against us." Danny fidgets with his spoon some more. "But there are so many casualties on both sides. I'm absolutely not going to let that happen."

"You're too young to deal with this," Jazz sighs. "We all are."

Dani sighs too, leaning back in her chair. "Well, we know the choice the old king would've made. You may be too young for this, but you're also the only one who can."

Danny nods, determined. "And I will. But that's why you can't be in America right now, Dani. The GIW only have jurisdiction in America. You can't be here."

"I'm sorry, and you can?" Dani shoots back.

"Half of Amity registers as a threat-level on their equipment scale. I'm just one of them. The GIW would have to arrest us all, and they don't need to, since they just closed down Amity's borders instead and none of us can legally leave. But you'll be the only ectoplasmic signature for miles! They'll attack you on site!"

"I can handle myself," Dani huffs. "Besides, didn't you say they were mostly incompetent?"

Danny, frustrated, tugs at his hair and glares at her through the strands. "Just because they're incompetent doesn't mean they're not dangerous. They've gotten some lucky shots on me, and they hurt."

Jazz looks at him sadly, but she still firmly shuts him down. "Danny, threatening or scaring her isn't going to work." Danny slumps down, sending Dani an apologetic look. "Let's communicate more effectively," the psychologist-in-training instructs. "Our motivation for asking you to stay out of America is because we're worried. You will be actively hunted if you're detected, and we won't know if or when you get injured or caught. We do not think you can't take care of yourself, but this is a real threat. Is there any way you can postpone your time in America until this is resolved?"

Dani considers her words. While she does love avoiding her problems, and she doesn't have anything to prove by ignoring their warnings, she has a bond with a certain pretty-boy acrobatic cop that she doesn't think she can just walk away from. The thought of disappearing to Australia or somewhere else makes her feel overwhelmingly guilty. She can't do that to him. She can't do that to herself. This is the first person she's gotten attached to like this since Danny, and honestly, it feels like more than what she and Danny have.

She and Danny are family, and that will never change. He's fraid, and Dani won't hesitate to fight for him if he asks. But Dick… well, he's quickly becoming family, that much is clear, but there's something else. He's, Dani doesn't know… He's just where she wants to be.

Ugh. Dani's going to gag. When did she become so sappy?

"I can't," Dani tells them, genuinely regretful. "I have someone waiting for me."

Jazz and Danny blink in surprise. She doesn't blame them; in the last eighteen or so months Dani's been traveling, she's never once mentioned anyone.

"Who?" Danny asks.

Dani shrugs, keeping her gaze on the tablecloth. "Just this guy I met in August. We've been hanging out. He's pretty cool I guess."

"What?!" Danny demands, the same time Jazz claps her hands together and says, "That's wonderful!"

Danny whirls to his older sister. "How can you say that's great? She's thirteen!" He whirls back to Dani and stabs an accusing finger in her direction. "You're thirteen. No, you're a year old! You're an infant! You're too young for a guy!"

Dani starts giggling at his outrage, and Jazz smacks him and yanks him back into his chair.

"Daniel Fenton, you are going to sit down and be supportive of the first connection your little sister has made in her life, do you understand me?"

"What about Wulf and Cujo?" Dani objects defensively.

"They're ghosts, and they're your friends, but you wouldn't stay for them."

Dani gives her the stink-eye. She's right, but come on. She's not that bad of a flight risk.

"But you can't be dating," Danny mutters dejectedly. "You're just a baby."

"Knock that off," Dani snaps. "I was matured to twelve, even if I didn't experience those years. And I'm not dating him. He's like… I dunno, a friend. Or, like, a brother, I guess." She can feel her face getting a little warm, and Jazz and Danny glance at each other before they start simultaneously cooing.

"Oh, you have a family now?" Danny crows, looking downright gleeful.

"Shut up," Dani grumbles. "I can't just ghost him."

That sobers Danny up. "You're right. If even you can admit you're attached, your core certainly is. That makes this so much more difficult now."

Jazz nods. "But we can come up with a solution. One of mom and dad's inventions, maybe?"

"I could probably figure something out," Danny agrees. "They've got a lot of ghost sensor-like stuff. If I just reverse the input to output, I can scramble other sensors. Hm, I'll have to work on something. Can you at least stay until it's done?"

Dani considers. Danny's genuinely concerned about this threat. He can make something to keep her safe and let her stay in America with Dick. "Can I come back when it's done?"

Danny shakes his head. "I need to tailor it to your signature. It's going to take a lot of troubleshooting, and I need you here for it. Besides, Clockwork insisted you come here now, so he clearly thinks you shouldn't be in America right now."

Hm. Alright, she can do that. She nods. "I'll stay, as long as it doesn't take too long."

Danny shrugs. "I don't know how difficult this will be, but I can't imagine it will take more than two weeks. I mean, mom and dad already did all the hard stuff, we're just doing some rewiring."

"Fine," she says. "But I have to let him know I'm going to be out longer than I said."

"You can't call him?" Jazz asks.

"Uh… He gave me his number at one point, but we can't use phones very well, so I didn't keep track of it." Dani's pretty sure she lost it though, probably to the washing machine when she washed her clothes that first night she stayed with Dick. "I'll just take Wulf. We'll be back in a few hours."

"Alright," Danny agrees, finally turning his attention back to his food. "In a couple days, alright? Let's make sure Clockwork thinks it's safe and we can get you to Frostbite for a checkup."

She wasn't supposed to be back until the next Thursday anyway, so staying until Saturday or Sunday before making the trip back to Blüdhaven should be fine. Dani agrees too, Jazz sighs in relief at the compromise, and they all get back to eating their mostly-ectoplasmic dinner (or picking at it, in Jazz's case).

Their meeting with Clockwork Friday morning yielded a light suggestion that Dani not return to Blüdhaven until after Sunday. Thirty minutes after midnight on Sunday – so, Monday, technically – was the absolute soonest she could get Danny to agree to. So at 12:30 on the dot, Dani leaves Wulf behind in the shadow of the trees and barrels into the city.

It takes a solid hour and a half to get to Dick's building, but it's half the time it took before when she was just casually walking. He lives pretty close to the center of the city, so the forest is a bit of a walk, and it's way too late for buses to be running.

Dani gets to the building just past two in the morning. Dick almost never goes to bed before three, so Dani's not too worried about waking him up. She is kinda worried he'll be at work, though. She doesn't want to explain all this over the phone. She's fresh out of the Zone; her ectoplasm is topped off and the electronics should be extra buggy.

As usual, she's allowed in only a moment after she hits the buzzer, security letting her in with a smile and a wave. The security officers at the front desk Dani had at first mistaken as some kind of rich receptionists had grown familiar with her. There are four of them, each taking different semi-consistent shifts, and Dani's gotten to know all of them. Tonight is Dave, and Dani takes a couple seconds to say hi.

"My man!" she crows, jogging up to him and giving him a clap on the hand that turns into a fist bump. "I missed ya!"

The tattooed man grins down at her. "Hey, Dani! I was wonderin' why you weren't darkenin' my doorstep recently!"

Dani steps back with a wide smile. "I was visiting someone. I actually stopped by because I'm going to be a bit longer than I thought. Dick on shift tonight?"

Dave's grin falls. "Actually, about that. Dick asked me to send you up so he can talk to ya, mentioned you don't have a phone."

"Is he alright?" Dani demands, a thread of panic gripping her core. "Did he get injured? Shot? Is–"

"Relax, relax!" the man says, laughing a little. "He's just fine, sweetheart. Dick was just called home to take care of some family business, so he's back in Gotham for the time being. I'm sure he'll tell ya all about it."

"He left?" Dani echoes.

He isn't here. He went to Gotham. He couldn't wait until Thursday? Is Dani really not all that important to him?

No. No, she needs to calm down, not jump to conclusions. She needs to talk to him; he probably has a perfectly reasonable explanation of why he just abandoned her.

Stay. Calm.

"Mhm, Friday night. Let me get ya up to his place, and you can call him from his fancy wall-phone."

"Yeah, alright," Dani murmurs, trailing after the bulky man to the elevator. He swipes his card to override the lock and scans his thumbprint. Normally, Dani just goes right up since Dick approves her requests to come up. This is weird. She doesn't like it.

"I'll see ya soon," Dave promises in his city drawl. Dani nods, still a little out of it.

The elevator climbs the floors with the same speed it always does, and Dani tries to focus on the rising numbers rather than her own thoughts. He just left. No, he probably has a good reason. He clearly thought of her, making sure security knew to let her in, expecting a call. Like Jazz always says, she has to wait for the other person's explanation before getting angry. She needs to stay calm and be reasonable.

The penthouse is dark when she's finally let out of the elevator. Dani takes notice of Dick's lack of shoes. She wanders inside and checks the fridge. There's no takeout, no milk or cheese or anything else that might go bad. She checks the cupboards, which she notices are stocked with nonperishables with a sticky note labeling the food for her to grab.

She opens the money drawer; two grand in varying bills, another sticky note on the stack that also labels the money as hers along with a scribble of numbers she assumes is an address. What is he doing, leaving two thousand dollars in an unlocked drawer in his apartment?! Is he stupid?

Dani shuts the drawer and looks in Dick's bedroom. The family pictures are still there, but a cursory search through his closet shows most of his favorite clothes have been taken. She looks in his closet and finds the suitcase gone.

A shrill ringing of the wall-tablet-phone-thing makes her jump, and she walks out of Dick's room to go pick up the call. Instead of the regular Off. Richard Grayson, the caller ID reads, Wayne Manor.

Manor? What in the realms?!

She's about to let it go to voicemail, but on the last ring it answers itself. "Dani?" she hears, the voice crackly but unmistakable.

"Dick," she replies coolly. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Be reasonable, Dani! Petty remarks are not reasonable.

"I'm so sorry," Dick starts. He sounds wrung out. "It was a family emergency. My dad came down with something and he's off in the hospital, and, look, is the connection this bad on your end? It's kinda staticky."

It must be a combination of the ectoplasm and her crackling rise of emotions. "Is your dad going to be okay?"

"Yes. Probably. He's got the best doctors with him. But he needs my help down here in Gotham. I left you some money though, in the usual drawer? It should be enough if you want to catch a ride down." It should be enough for her to take a first class flight to Australia, but yeah. A short bus ride to Gotham might be too far. "I wrote the address too, it should just be right on top. We definitely have the space, there's already a room set out for you if you want it–"

"I came to tell you I'm extending my stay," Dani interrupts, suddenly feeling suffocated. He left, and just expected her to follow him down there? Apparently to a Manor, which is apparently the manor of the Wayne family, whom Dani's only heard about in passing but frequently enough that she knows they are the richest of the rich. She came down here expecting to see someone she'd rapidly gotten attached to, smiling wide and welcoming her back with open arms that she'd dodge with a laugh. This whole situation threw her off, and she wants to be angry but is it really fair to be angry if it was an emergency? "Something came up."

"Oh," Dick says, his voice distorted. "I – Well, do you know when you'll be back? I can drive up there and pick you up, or if I'm busy I can send one of my brothers?"

"I don't know when I'll be back," Dani snaps. "And I mean, since you're busy, I think I'll just go back to traveling like usual." She stabs the button to hang up, but it doesn't do anything. Dani wrinkles her nose at it, wondering if her touch isn't registering anymore, but Dick's panicked rambling makes her think he just froze the button or something. Can people do that?

"Nonono, wait. At least take my number, or, wait, don't you want to explore Gotham? There's so much history here –"

Dani pushes the button for the elevator, but it doesn't open immediately. "You can't tell me where to go next," she says stubbornly. Yeah, Gotham is on her list. There are a million heroes in that city, and Dani even heard a rumor that the whole city itself is a ghost. Gotham is one of the cities she came to America to see in the first place. She's just off-kilter, and she feels angry, but she knows she shouldn't, and he set up a room for her? She doesn't know if she's ready to have her own room, and it feels kinda stifling in here and she needs some air. She pushes the elevator button again, but still nothing happens.

"Dani, wait, please let me explain–"

"Did you lock the elevator?" Dani cuts him off, jamming the button again.

"I just haven't given it permission to open," Dick replies, and… What a… well. His name says it all.

Dani growls at the screen, even knowing he can't see her. "I'm leaving!" she declares.

"Just let me explain, two minutes –"

He isn't going to let her out, so Dani does the next most reasonable thing: she turns on her heel, bolts to the window, and throws herself out of it.

There's a fire escape, of course. She's not that dramatic.

It's late, I know. But it's a big chapter, and I have several notes about it, so I hope you'll forgive me.

- I love how everyone immediately knew Dani's friend was Wulf. I almost changed it just to be contrary, but I love Wulf. He's just a sad traveler boi with the worst luck. He and Dani would be besties and no one can change my mind.

- Danny's got a castle. I love this trope, and I love the idea that he just casually has a whole freakin' castle just... just in storage, for whenever he wants to get away. Dani obviously has several rooms. She uses 0.2% of them. Danny does have servants and guards, but he tries to keep them to a minimum. He doesn't understand why anyone would want to serve him. It's not like ghost castles get all that dirty.

- I have so many thoughts on ghost culture. One of such is that the Infinite Realms has a whole economy and trading system that is infinitely chaotic but works roughly the same as any other trade route. Certain areas have certain specialties. Not because there's an uneven distribution of resources - everything is made of ectoplasm - but because creation of things is limited to certain ghosts and only certain cultures, time periods, and power level can create certain objects. There's not really currency, but trading is very common, sometimes in favors, sometimes in power. Food, water, and everything else is made of ectoplasm, but it's still food and water (just for ghosts, not humans).

- When Danny became King, he received gifts from just about every being in the Zone. He has not been able to sort through a fraction of it. Many of the things in the Keep are from these presents. Lots of the ghostly servants have taken to organizing it in their free time (since there's a lot of it). Everything Dani has in her rooms (other than her own additions) probably came from the gifts or just ordering them (Kings get free stuff. It's not really free. Political favor and whatnot, or Danny can just trade them stuff like jewels. Which aren't currency, but are still fairly valuable.)

- Dani's room in the Keep has many mortal objects. These are often banned, but Dani gets special privileges. Danny doesn't care about the presence of mortal objects in the Zone, so these rules are mostly changing, but they are still incredibly rare and valuable. So Dani is Rich and she doesn't even know it.

- Ectoplasm: it's highly conductive. To electricity, emotions, magic, anything. It's also HIGHLY reactive. It will react with anything. Chemistry is a big part of my degree, so I've thought this through very scientific like, but essentially, it's a chemical that reacts very strongly to things, especially other reactive chemicals, and degrades pretty much everything else. Additionally, ectoplasm soaks up energy. Emotions, especially, but also magic. Without being filtered (which the ghost zone is good at doing), some nasty side effects can pop up (lazarus pit cough cough). Halfas can and do filter out ambient ectoplasm, but it gets kinda exhausting sorting through everyone else's emotions and debris. Going to the zone purifies everything out. They don't have to go to the zone, but the longer they go without the more strained their emotions become. On the other hand, when they're fresh out of the zone, the ectoplasm is pure and ready to soak up any emotion. Dani's raw when she leaves the zone, and perhaps that's why she reacted rashly.

- GIW thoughts: I know it's overused. Do I care? Not really. They add plot, but the basis of this story is batfam and Dani. They just add some good angst for later hurt/comfort.

- I said so much here. I have so many thoughts guys XD but I'll end it here for now. Thank you for all your comments... they literally fuel my writing. I never write so much as the day after I post and all the positive feedback is just going straight to my veins *slurp slurp*