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"It's down here, apparently." Batman motioned to a creepy looking entrance to what must have been a cave. A definitely cursed cave, if you asked Connor. Which no one did, unfortunately.
Constantine flipped his lighter and lit up a torch he'd gotten from… somewhere. He hadn't said much, not since they'd been given the gist of what was going on. Some old records had, apparently, told them about this absolutely-fucking-cursed cave and whoever they were meant to find downstairs. And Constantine was everything other than happy about it, judging by his uncharacteristic lack of sarcastic remarks and the string of cusses he'd let out earlier.
As they followed the magician down the stairs, not at all made less creepy by the flickering light, Wally let his hands drift against the walls. "So… This Great-One person…" He glanced at Constantine, head cocked to the side. "He's a big deal, yeah?"
Constantine scoffed, obviously not in the mood to talk. Wally, though, didn't seem very happy with that. "No, but I mean. We don't really know anything about him, right? And you obviously do! So, maybe tell us what this is all about? And… Why was all of this such a big deal, again? I mean, is it even really such a big deal?"
Sighing, Constantine combed a hand through his hair. "Phantom? He's the keeper of balance. Controls every portal 'n' every connection to any other plane of existence, or dimension or all that. Looks like he's nothing more than an ankle-biter, but that dodgy bloke's one of em Ancients. Can't get much more powerful than those, I tell ya, and most of em are proper pricks. Not really someone you'd want to par off to. Not even I'd try to mug one of those off." Constantine looked back at them, something really uncomfortable in his eyes. "So if that's really him? Yeah, mate, I'd say it's a bloody big deal."
"Then how did he get trapped here, though?" Tim's coked his head to the side, confused frown accentuated by the flickering light. "If he is that powerful, and controls portals no less, what could possibly be keeping him here?"
"From the information we have gathered," Batman said not even looking back at any of them, which, oof, that was bad news, "Phantom is to the Ancients what Klarion is to the Chaos Lords. One of the parallels is that he's the youngest one of them. By far, from what we can tell. And so when he'd just come into existence, he had yet to grow into those powers. Until then, he bid his time as something else."
"A protector spirit, if you must know. Which also means he'd do 'bout anything to protect whatever he's the protector spirit of. Can't help it, which is bloody codswallop if ya ask me. So if some twat or git found out what that something is…"
"You mean someone emotionally blackmailed the master of the time-space-continuum into captivity?" Connor wholeheartedly agreed with Kaldur's scepticism. That just… didn't sound right.
"The master of that is another Ancient. He controls… What's it? Locality? Space? Position? Whatever you bloody wanna call it, I s'pose. But other than that little tit-bit?" Constantine only shrugged. "Eh, something like what ya said, mate. Sure. Point is, he's not gonna be bloody happy about it. And when - not if - the lad comes back, Klarion will only look like a bloody storm in a tea cup in comparison. And there won't be any place for anyone to piss off to when that happens."
"Which is why we are here," Batman reminded them. "To make a threat assessment, and to minimise damage where we can."
"And to find a contingency plan?" Tim guessed. Connor could swear he saw Batman almost smile at it.
"And to find a contingency plan," he confirmed.
They lapsed into silence after that. Connor wasn't sure how long they just walked through that dark corridor, their steps annoyingly loud on the old, crumbling stairs. But he could tell by the way Wally seemed to fidget more and more by the second that the speedster's limit for silence was close. Before the redhead could say a peep, though, Constantine broke the heavy tension between them.
"Blimey! It shouldn't be this bloody deep." He didn't look at them, only glanced at Batman - who made a hum that had Tim stiffen up. That, in turn, had the rest of the team exchange unnerved glances. "We should leg it. Bloke's not exactly chuffed to have us, I'd say. Better take the hint before he throws a wobbly, eh?"
"What… do you mean by that?"
Constantine looked back at Tim as if he couldn't believe him. "Are ya daft? We've been walking forever here! Bit strange, innit? So, either this goes on 'til we're at the bloody middle of the earth. Or…"
"Phantom is keeping people from advancing further than this."
"Right. And since we've passed that cracked step 'ere 'bout nine times so far… It'd be bonkers to keep going when an Ancient can't be arsed to let us. We've been pied off, mate, and I ain't interested in knowin' what he'll do when we stay 'n' he gets proper mad."
"We could tell him we're here to help?" Wally suggested, skipping a few steps further down. "Let him know we're all friends here. Then he'll let us come down, right?"
"And what do you suppose we say, then?" Constantine scoffed. "Aye, mate, fancy a cuppa? No? Well, we'd be chuffed not ta be trapped down 'ere, cheers!"
"Can you, just once, stop being a sarcastic asshole? Or is that just a constant state of being for you?" And Connor thought that was a valid question. Especially since they just established that the super powerful being with control over some aspects of reality knew they were here. And could probably hear what they were saying.
" 'S part of my charm." Constantine deadpanned.
"Hn." Batman crossed his arms, turning fully to Constantine. He didn't look happy.
"What?" Constantine asked, obviously not fluent in Bat. Differently from… only the birds, actually.
"Hrn."
"Urgh. Fine. Fine! But if the dodgy sod traps us here, I'm blaming you gormless lot. Alright?" Ah. So maybe Constantine spoke some Bat, then.
Before anyone could answer his complaint, though, Constantine's hands began glowing golden. A trail of light flew down the stairs and vanished in a flash. For a few moments, nothing happened. At first, Connor even thought the spell might have failed, whatever it had been.
Suddenly, though, toxic green light cut through the air in front of them, writing out a question in the glowing sprawl: "ᗯᕼᗩT ᗪO YOᑌ ᗯᗩᑎT?"
Constantine shuddered, and send another spell down the stairs. Was this… Like magical SMS or something? The fuck?
"I ᗩᒪᖇEᗩᗪY KᑎOᗯ ᗯᕼO YOᑌ ᗩᖇE. ᗩᑎᗪ TᕼᗩT Iᔕᑎ'T ᗯᕼᗩT I ᗩᔕKEᗪ."
"Bloody hell! Okay…" Constantine clearly didn't look happy with the situation. And Connor could feel his heart beat just as loudly in his chest as he could hear them in the others'.
"ᖴIᑎE. ᑕOᗰE Oᑎ ᗪOᗯᑎ." was the answer to whatever Constantine had send next. Then, before they could even move, another sentence got added: "ᗪOᑎ'T ᖇEGᖇET IT."
"…Well, that's not ominous at all." Kaldur shivered, and Connor could only nod in agreement. It didn't bode well.
But they kept walking and, in just a little under a minute, they reached a door. Old, wooden, too rusty to open. Connor broke the old hinges off when he forced it.
The room that awaited them on the other side was different from what they'd seen of the cave so far. White marble build a dome, with sandstone pillars holding it up. It looked flawless, almost too much so to be as old as the rest of the cave. And yet there were cracks on the ceiling, all of which dropped water from large, sharp icicles. Those were the only source of light, Connor noticed, with colorful arrays in them, almost like stars.
Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, distracting him from the unexpected sight. There was a glass wall there, separating half of the room. The half that was boxed in was snowed in, frozen over with ice glowing a soft blue. And in the midst of all that was a shadow that traveled along the ice like a shadow, following their movements with eyes glowing the brightest green he'd ever seen. Brighter even than Jason's eyes ever did.
When they eyes met Connor's a sharp toothed smirk split through the shadowy-sand and the being condensed into the form of a teenager. He couldn't be older than fifteen. Younger than all of them. But apparently also much, much older.
The being's skin was blue, almost as though he had frozen to death. But the lichtenberg scars that traveled up his left hand to where his heart would be and up to his face, glowing the same eery green as his eyes before, spoke of a much quicker death. His teeth were still too sharp and too many, and his ears were pointier than they probably should be.
He wore his hair half-up with some of the strands braided tightly and all of his snow white hair moving through the air as if under water. It reminded Connor of a jelly fish, for some reason. Maybe because of the way his eyes changed from the green glow of his scars to the blue of the ice surrounding him in a hypnotic pulse, the same way as those weird fish in the deep sea Tim had shown him videos of?
He wasn't wearing much, just a black cloak with white fur lining draped over his unmarked shoulder, white fingerless leather gloves, a black sleeveless turtleneck, black pants and white combat boots. Since all of his clothes, except for the cloak, were pretty tight they could all see the well defined muscles on his crossed arms. Just like his sharp, black claws. Wait, actually… Were those black gold rings that looked like claws? Similar to knuckle busters, Connor would guess. Weird choice, though, especially since he looked more like the guy to shoot a gun or throw a fist.
"You made it…" The being drawled, starling Connor out of his thoughts once again. His voice was youthful but echo-y. Eery, like the glow he emmited.
"That we did. Cheers, for lett'n us through. I don't suppose you'll keep us from goin' back now?"
And that… Shit! Connor hadn't even thought about that. What if he wouldn't?! Usually Connor would have just planned to smash their way through the roof, but if this being could keep them from making it down the stairs… Would that even work?
Phantom smirked, humming in thought. Then, suddenly, those glowing eyes landed on Wally. Who flinched in that too-quick-to-see way speedsters always did. "I'm starving. Man, I'd sure love a burger about now… Haven't had one in a while." The not-teenager leaned forward, stopped by the glass. "Would you be a dear and go grab me one? We can exchange one favour for another, while we're down here together."
Wally hesitated, looking around the room for something Connor wasn't sure about. "Uhm… I can… Sure? I mean… You'll let us go? If I do that?"
The smirk widened and the being chuckled. "If that's the favour you want…"
Within two blinks, Wally was back with a big meal and a coke. "So, how do I…?"
"Just as you usually would." The being shrugged and knocked a knuckle against the glass. "This thing only holds dead things from passing through. Doesn't even exist for your kind."
Wally nodded and carefully, slowly walked up to the glass. Just like the being had said, the speedster's hand and the meal simply passed through. The being accepted it and happily unwrapped the burger. When he bit into it, he all but moaned at the taste. "Ancients, I missed this…"
It was a bit weird, Connor thought, to call upon his own kind like that. Then again, they'd seen weirder things.
The apparently all powerful entity either didn't seem to notice or care, though, and only sat cross legged in the air, the contents of his meal floating around him as he happily munched away. "Alright-y. Now that that's taken care of-" He took an obnoxiously loud sip of his drink "-how about we get on with it? You didn't really say earlier, so I'll ask again." Blue eyes promised to freeze them solid should he deem it necessary. "What. Do. You. Want?"
Batman took the lead at that, stepping forward. Of course he did. "Recently we have stumbled upon records of your… situation. We came to confirm them, and to ascertain what to do about it."
The ghost hummed, biting off a fry and somehow making it look threatening. He didn't say anything else, only kept eating and staring at Batman expectantly.
"The records were sparse in what they mentioned. We were hoping to ask you some questions? Find out the whole story?"
The being stoped mid-chew, slowly breaking out into another grin as he watched them with his head turned slightly, from narrowed eyes. He swallowed, then huffed a laugh. "You're here to interrogate me." His feet met the floor again, and from the silence of his movements earlier Connor was convinced that it was definitely on purpose. "You come to me, and ask for entrance and a safe exit, knowing full well that it was your kind that put me here - to demand answers from me."
Connor swallowed dry, rubbing his arms as the air cooled down significantly. Batman meed to see something the others didn't as the being's eyes flashed, though, because he took a sharp breath and even a step back. Something Conor had never seen him do before. Not like that, not in such an obvious show of fear.
"Easy, mate. That's not what this is." Constantine stepped forward, putting a hand on Batman's shoulder as he moved past him. "But I'm sure you understand we have to make sure. I'm sure we're taking the bisquit 'ere. But even if you're narked 'bout it - which we all get - we just want to gander a bit. Get all the odds and sods of what happened, if you're up for it."
The ghost laughed, a cold sound that made Connor shiver. "You want to know what happened? Fine. I'll tell you. What happened is I put the rest of my mortality on the line to protect my home. What happened is that your kind always had a bit of an issue accepting that my kind even existed. What happened is that after I put blood, sweat and tears into helping the mortals around me and even died the rest of the way to do it, they had the nerve to kidnap my sister into another dimension and forced me to walk in here with a gun to her face. And after they made sure they were all set to leave me here to rot, they still-"
The being cut off with a growl, claws screeching as they clawed against the glass uselessly. They didn't even leave a mark in them. In the back of his mind, Connor was reminded of his time in the lab. Of being trapped in the tube and-
He closed his eyes and took a breath. This was different.
The being forced himself to become calm as well, taking a measured step back from the magical glass and smiling cooly at them. "I'm done trusting mortals. Especially human ones. I'm done. In your eyes, we'll always only be a malevolent blob of necromantic magic with a couple of memories and a solid form. Your ignorance goes beyond what is fathomable - I'm done trying to prove my sentience to you, or appealing to a mortal's sense morality. Your kind always wants something. And even if you get it, your greed won't end. What happened, if you must know, is that I ignored all that and put some faith in you when I obviously shouldn't have."
There was a lot to process there. A lot of things that settled wrong in Connor's stomach. And going by the silence, the others in the room thought similarly.
"…You were mortal, once." It took a few seconds for Connor to recognise that it was Tim who said that, voice wavering too much. "I understand why you would be angry. That sounds terrible. But… You were one of us before, right? And death changed you, I'm sure, but… You still used to be a human once."
The being scoffed. "That was centuries ago. I first died as almost a child, and turned from a halfa to a full ghost as a teenager. When I arrived in this dimension, it hadn't even moved past the Iron Age. The time I spent as a mortal is infinitesimal. It was barely a blink."
"Okay, alright. Fine. But you used to be a protector spirit, right? From what I gathered, you used to protect people, right? We - the Justice League - do that, too. So you get why we can't just get you out of here, right? Because that's what this is all about in the end. We want to figure out how to get you out of here. But before that we have to make sure-"
"That I wouldn't betray you? The way that I have been betrayed?"
"-that you won't take out your very justified anger on innocent people," Kaldur finished, ignoring the annoyed comment from the ghost.
The being looked away, arms crossed in what almost looked like a defensive way. He was floating again, hair moving to cover his face as he went through something in his head. "…I don't trust you," he finally said. When he turned back to them, his eyes were red and there were a few frozen tears on his cheeks. "Not the humans with broken hearts, not the magician with the shattered soul, not the boy that likes to cross through the timeline, and not the child of the oceans."
Suddenly, those glowing eyes fixated on Connor, taking his breath from him and freezing the blood in his veins. "You. Clone." The ghost drifted closer to the glass and put a hand against it, softly this time. "I was cloned once, too. She had half my DNA, and half that of my enemy. She was made to forfeit my existence - and she almost did. But she crossed over to my side, in the end. She was angry about every power she didn't have, and insisted that she was the better version. Always had a complex about being my clone to the very end, but she was quite different from me."
And that… sounded unnervingly similar. Whoever this girl had been, it looked like she had been a lot like Connor. And if Phantom was anything like Clark about it…
"You remind me of her. You always have." The being's voice was soft, as if he hadn't just made Connor's heart drop and beat in panic at the same time.
Damnit. He really hoped he wouldn't be the only one not allowed to leave. Or the reason the being would be angry enough to trap all of them in his prison with him.
"So you're lucky. Because I miss her. So much… So, you. You I'll give a chance. You I'll listen to, and I might even believe what I hear."
Oh.
Oh.
That… Connor hadn't expected it to take that turn. After all, even if Clark had (reluctantly) allowed him into the family by now… Huh. That was surprising. Not only to him, given the way everyone else in the room marginally relaxed.
Taking a few steps forward himself now, Connor steeled himself and took a deep breath. He cleared his throat and gave his best smile. "I, uh, guess that means you have a good relationship with her now?"
The being smiled, and for the first time it felt warm. The temperature even went up to almost normal again. "Yes."
"But she didn't come?" Shit. Why'd he have to go and ask that? What if now-
"My baby sister promised not to go looking for me or our older sister. But she since she actually didn't…" The being's eyes moved to the floor, a frown carved onto those purple lips. But only sadness, no anger was palpable in his face. He really did look young like that. "I chose to believe it means she never found out which dimension to look for. I don't like dwelling on the other options."
"She sounds nice," Connor tried.
The being smiled again, so much softness in his expression that it hurt. "She is." Then the ghost looked up again, and Connor felt seen in a way he couldn't even describe. "But this is not about her. Go ahead. Ask your actual questions. Tell me what you really came here for."
Urgh. Okay. That was so not Connor's strong suit. Where does one even begin in a situation like that? What would Tim ask?
"You… mentioned already knowing who we were?" He tried, desperately hoping he wasn't crossing some sort of interdimension-diplomatic line.
The being smirked, still too many teeth for comfort but more mischievous than angry or dangerous now. In the same drawl he had used when they'd first entered the room, the bing answered. "I did…"
Okay. Okay, so that question was fine. He would just have to poke at it a bit more. That's fine. Totally, yeah, he could do that. "Why… How… do you know us?"
The being hummed. "My dear friend Clockwork-" Connor didn't miss the flinch Constantine could barely conceal. "-who is another Ancient, he controls the time stream." Ah. That's why Constantine had flinched. "That's his domain. And as such, he can see all the time lines, every single one, before it even unfurls. He keeps it from going… awry. In the same way, my domain is space. Space as in universe, as in portal to another time or place, and as in where-the-fuck-did-I-put-that-damn-pencil-now. And I can see it. I know my domain. It's a part of me - I feel, see, breath, hear, taste and bleed space."
And wasn't that a creepy thought? "So… You know anything that goes on anywhere in any universe?"
The ghost smirked, obviously catching on to the faintness of Connor's voice. He raised his hand in a so-so motion, though. "I am, currently, limited to this dimension. And I can't sense everything like I used to. The seal suppresses many of my powers, limits the usage. But since it's been a while since then, and since my powers kept growing stronger over time as much as the seal grew weaker… I have full control of this little underground apartment the GIW was oh-so nice to provide for me against my will. I'm also aware of where almost all major magical artefacts are. And of some people. Many of which you would be aware of as well."
"…So you know the Justice League?"
The being smirked even deeper, shrugging. "It's to a large part why I even answered little Johnny's call in the first place. Your little get-together of protectors is such a cute little thing. It reminds me of the times I was playing hero in my birth dimension back in the day. Good times."
"You used to be a hero?!" Connor winced at his own outburst. That was rude, wasn't it?
Fortunately, the ghost didn't seem to mind much. He only chuckled, leaning back against the air and suddenly lounging on a sofa made out of mist. "Ah, that. I was a protector spirit, you know? Had a little town under my protection. Their people, their history, the ghosts that frequented… It was more me fulfilling my nature rather than me being selfless, looking back. But I protected them. Kept them safe. The threats that came and the people who wanted to hurt what was mine… I took care of them. I kept the peace." He smiled at them. "Though they were a bit more powerful than what your little boyband likes to deal with."
That… Wasn't really comforting. But if he used to be a hero, or something similar at least… That meant this being used to be on their side. Maybe there was hope. Maybe they would be able to get him back to their side.
Connor didn't want to keep him here. It seemed so lonely. Especially with how much he seemed to want to talk, now that he'd finally allowed himself to participate in the conversation.
"That sound lovely. And now, you're an Ancient?" He hummed in agreement. "What does… What does that mean exactly? I mean, you said a little about it earlier, but what did you… What does that mean?"
The ghost actually seemed to think about it for a while. "Well." He looked at the icicles on the ceiling instead of them, looking a lot more contemplative than he'd been the entire time. "Ancients are the keepers and masters of different aspects of reality. They're called Ancients since they, or most of them, have been around since the beginning. Not many ever used to be something other than a spirit, actually.
"Nocturn, for example, is the personification of sleep and dreams. He has been around since the first moral fell asleep, being thrown into existence by the first dream across the multiverse.
"Some came to be through development. Called forth by reality screaming and begging for the change to be controlled, even though it doesn't need to be stoped. Those Ancients are usually more… brutal in their ways. Undergrowth, for one, has been around as long as civilisation has been taking from nature to grow. He actually chooses some humans, both alive and freshly deceased, to lend a little shard of his powers to from time to time. There was this one ghost that called himself Swamp Thing in this universe? And I did see that one doctor called Ivy… He adores her. Calls her his daughter and everything.
"There's also those that come from the Realms themselves. Born from the creation of new laws of nature to the Infinite Realms. They rule not over the reality of the multiverse through the Living Plane but through the Infinite Realms themselves. Like Frostbite, the leader of the Far Frozen, who was the first one to have an ice core. There have only been fire cores before that. Ghosts that can create and control the cold instead of the heart, and subsequently all other types of specialised cores after that, were only possibly through his birth. My core, too, would not have formed the way it did without his existence.
Or take Lady Gotham, for another! She was the first of the village spirits. Even now, she rules over all of them. Cities or places gaining sentience and loving, caring for or protecting their denizens… It is something unusual and extremely rare still, but it hadn't even been possible before her.
"Then there's those that gave their lives to the tings they protect now. Like Pandora, for example. She used to be an Amazonian, a demigod. Now, she is the keeper of her box - the one responsible for keeping all the evil in the world locked away, for containing what is too dark and vile to be allowed to mess with reality.
"Some were born from desire. Emotion is a powerful thing, especially in a realm such as the Infinite Realms where everything is made out of them, where emotion is the fuel that weaves the very essence of our being. It's why most of us are so… guided by out feelings. And desires? Those are strong feelings. Sorjourn, a nomadic ghost I have barely ever made contact with personally, is one woken up into existence this way. The desire to navigate, the want to catalogue and map out new worlds, from what I heard, was what created him in the end. He is what allows maps to work, and who guides and protects travellers. Especially magical maps are something directly connected to him.
"And then some were born from belief. From the thoughts and prayers of mortals. Not strong enough to become a deity, too strong to stay out of existence. I can't tell you much about them, since they remain in the Pantheon with the gods most of the time. I couldn't even name all of them. They're kinda lonely, though. Stuck in between being a ghost from the Infinite Realms and a god from the Pantheon. Somehow belonging to both and neither realm at the same time…
"There's some things we all have in common, though. We do not meddle in each other's affairs, for one. No aid to each other, and no sabotage either. We do not meddle in the domains of the other ancients either. Can't even if we want to. There's a pact, old magic, older than even Clockwork and thus time itself. Forgotten magic. The powerful, unbreakable kind. It was forged so that no in-fighting would ever put reality at stake. Each and every one of us is too powerful, after all, to allow for spats with the others.
"But all of us keep reality going, in the end. That's what makes us what we are: We're a part of reality. We're what stabilises it. With ones like myself, there was no connection before we came to be. There were portals before me. But they were… uncontrolled. No one knew where or when one would end up after a natural rift appeared. Some especially talented ghosts were able to create their own, but those were unstable. One could force open a rift between the realms, but it was dangerous. The slightest mishap and your soul would be ripped to shreds, spread all over the multiverse.
"My existence is what made portals stable. Reliable. Usable basis for magic. And now that I am, they would completely spiral out of control should I vanish. Reality itself might be torn apart at the seams if that happened. Portals would rip it apart. Until there was nothing left."
There was a long beat of silence. Behind him, he could all but hear Tim's and Batman's gears turning as the two detectives filed away all the information they had gotten from that rant best they could. Trying not to forget even one thing.
Next to him, Wally articulated what went on in Connor's head at the moment: "Woah…"
The ghost raised an eyebrow at the speedster, obviously amused by the reaction. "It's… A lot to take in…" Wally weakly defended himself, blushing a little.
At that, Phantom laughed. "Yes, I suppose so. Now, imagine being confronted not just by knowing all that but by suddenly being one of them! Now, that was a lot to process, I tell you! Man… I fucking hated it in the beginning. Wanted nothing to do with it. But, I guess, that's just how I always reacted to suddenly finding myself a different being than a few seconds before."
Connor smiled nervously, suddenly aware that he was still doing this whole… not-interrogation bit. With the apparently literal guardian over reality. Great.
When silence came back and he felt the gazes of his team on him, he cleared his throat. "Right. Uhm… So what… What exactly were the differences between you and other ghosts again?"
"Hm… There's plenty. One of them being that my power can grow, that new abilities form. Ghosts are in a… stasis-like state of being, you see. Death and all that. Well, for those that have died. The others just never changed from the get-go. Our connection to reality makes us more… fluid. Also stronger. And we… Hm. We guide. Other ghosts are driven by their obsessions, you know, and they would do anything to fulfil them, have to do anything to do so. We? Now, we're more… You could say we thrive on fulfilling out purpose, sure, but we do not need it. So it's more like a compulsion than a basic need, really. And we're also one of the three kinds of entities keeping the Realms stable."
"What are the others?"
"One would be the observants. They're… Pretentious. Obnoxious. Hard headed. Assholes. Vain. Holier-than-thou idiots who think too highly of themselves. They look like giant eyeballs in cloaks and they talk like prat-y robots. Keep an eye on everything, literally. Remember how I said I didn't see everything happening? Well, they do. And they are the ones who will judge your soul at the end of the line based on their observations. Cling to rules like there's no tomorrow. A necessary evil, but no one likes them. And, yes, they just heard every single word of that. I know that and I want them to know that I mean it with all of my core.
"And then there's the Royals. Each region of the Infinite Realms has its own Royal, some sort of monarch that govern over that section. And then there's the High King. Ruler of all the citizens of the Infinite Realms, and therefore the single entity that controls everything beyond the grave. I'm actually one of the ghosts in the run for the position."
Constantine whimpered at that last remark. Connor tried to ignore it, but hearing him of all people so scared… That was something. And not in the good way.
"Is that… Even possible? Being part of both at once?"
The ghost simply shrugged. "Oh, sure. Frostbite - I mentioned him earlier, great guy - he's the leader of the Far Frozen. It's a tribe so they don't really call it that, but it does makes him the Royal of that sector. The Observants can't really be Ancients since they're a fundamentally different kind of being - but they do collectively hold the title of High Government for the time being. Until the next High King is crowned."
Okay. Again: What questions would Tim have? "How… did you get to be in line of succession?"
A loud groan. The ghost got up again, leaning against the glass as the foggy furniture vanished. "That was so annoying! Alright, so the old High King? Pariah Dark-" Constantine shivered upon hearing that name, so it couldn't be good "-was a tyrant. Really bad guy. Nobody likes him. Right? So after a while of tyranny some of the ancients band together to defeat him. Pandora was with them, Frostbite, Clockwork, Vortex, some others… I think it was seven in total? Maybe six. I only remember that Undergrowth refused to participate… Huh.
"Anyways. They band together and fight him. Can't defeat him, can't take the crown. So they lock him in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. A few millennia go by. I get born, I die, you know how it goes. And then, Pariah breaks out. And he…" The ghost chuckled darkly, the room growing colder again. "He set his sights on the town I protect. He pulls it over into the Realms. And so I decide to stop him. With a bit of help. But in the end, what I did while defeating him is arguably single combat. And, as it turns out, the right to the crown is passed through right of combat."
"…And the others in line for the crown?"
"The rest of those who sealed him with me. I do hope one of them takes the wretched thing off my hands… Plasmius doesn't exist anymore, though. Ember only ever wanted to be remembered, so she might even stop doing that whole mind-control thing if she does get crowned. Who else was there… Eh. I don't know. No one I haven't beaten yet, though. So it's fine - just that it also means I technically have the strongest claim. But, since I don't want it… Meh."
"I see…" He really didn't, but he felt like he shouldn't dwell on it much more. And that he wouldn't get it just by asking about more in-depth. "Uhm. You said that the Ancients don't work together, right?"
"That's right." Phantom nodded.
"But… They did work together to defeat Pariah Dark?"
"Sure did. They made an exception for that one. Because, you know, we were headed for the bad timeline where reality will eventually collapse. So that kind of made it possible. Allowed for a pause in that old contract." The ghost shrugged again, moving along the glass as his finger trailed along the surface. Frost patterns followed the touch, but melted right after blooming.
"Connor cleared his throat. "Our… When we found out about all of… this" He gestured to the room around then and the ghost merely raised an eyebrow. Though Connor could feel he was on thin ice (ha!) "According to the research we did then, you're pretty young for an ancient. Right?"
"I just told you I have been trapped here for over about three thousand years." The ghost deadpanned, then let out a sigh. "But yes. The reason the GIW sealed me here was that I became an Ancient once I fully died, and they couldn't destroy me anymore. So it wasn't that much later than my second death. Which, as you can see…" He gestured to his form, clearly still a teenager. "I've spend most of my existence here. For primordial beings like the rest of us, I'm sure that's not a long time, though."
Okay. Right. Even Connor could see two very obvious questions here. "So, this GIW thing. You mentioned them before…"
The ghost's face darkened and above them the ice crackled loudly. "Yes. The Ghost Investigation Ward. In my home dimension, there was a law against ghosts. Think Meta Human Protection Acts, but for ghosts and entailing the exact opposite. Right? Those idiots were the government branch that carried that out. Without regard for the living, mind you. I didn't like them, and I stopped them from doing anything too terrible to the other ghosts - which, with them, actually just means anything at all, really. They didn't like that. So, here we are."
"I'm sorry. That sound terrible…" Something softened in the face of the Ancient at those words.
"It was." He whispered. "Thank you. For saying that."
Connor hesitated for a bit. Then, he took another step closer to the glass. "This is a different dimension. You said you can see some of it, right? That you've been watching? Things are different here. Surely you know?"
Phantom scoffed. "Right. Well, forgive me for being a bit sceptical. I told you before: My patience with believing in mortals has run out."
"I'm a mortal," Connor reminded, and wasn't that just a weird thing to tell someone "and you put enough faith in me to hear me out."
Somehow, the being on the other side of glass seemed to find that extremely funny. "Not really. I'm humouring you," he corrected, eyes moving to Constantine with a meaning Connor didn't know about. "That's a favour."
Connor could see the way Kaldur paled. He could see Batman stiffening up and hear Tim take a sharp breath. And he could hear Constantine's cussing. But he felt as lost as Wally looked. Whatever realisation the four of them had had, the two of them didn't get the memo.
Thankfully, Constantine was nice enough to elaborate: "You made a deal with us. To exchange one favour for another while we're down here."
"Wha- Oh shit!" Yeah, Connor could only agree with Wally.
The ghost grinned, snapping his fingers at the magician. "Got it in one go! Very good."
"You didn't say we'd keep doing that," Batman growled, obviously trying to find a loophole.
"Ah. But that's the thing when you're dealing with someone from the Infinite Realms. Remember how I told you that everything our dimension is, is powered by emotion? Deals are no different, little child of my dear friend. It's why Constantine over here never made one with any of us so far: Our deals aren't about the way we word them, they're about the way we feel about them. Our interpretation of it when we offer the deal, really." The being walked over to where the rest of his meal was located. "Which means… There's no weaselling out of them. Which, I'm sure, must be really tough for dear ol' John. "
"You mugged us off." John sighed, crossing his arms with a scowl. "So? Now that you've made us feel dead from the neck up, what do you want? Because I'll let you know right now, me mates and me, we'll not let you out to do whatever you want without knowing what that'll do."
"Oh, goodness, no!" The ghost chuckled again, ripping off a piece of the paper bag and biting into his finger. After drawing something in blood on it he froze it over and threw the chunk of ice outside the glass. "No, that would be a demand. And I never bargained for one of those with you. Just a favour."
Constantine hesitated a bit, then picked up the ice. It must have been heavier than it looked, judging from the grunt the magician let out. The brit looked at it intently, eyebrows furrowing. "A summoning circle?"
"Sure is." The ghost smiled at them, kindly but also cold like the ice around them. With the wave of a hand, an intricate throne of ice formed and the ghost sat down. "Now, as for that favour you owe me…"
They all looked at him expectantly, some of the gulping. Because, well, they were stuck. There was no way out of this.
Seriously, how did Constantine deal with this shit all the time?
"You now have the only way to get me out of here in your hands, John. What I want from you, is that you figure out your conditions for using it."
"Our conditions?" Tim cocked his head, clearly not believing that was all there was to it. After the favour thing, Connor couldn't even call him paranoid for it. "You're saying that it's all on our terms? The favour you want is just… bargaining with us for your freedom?"
The ghost shrugged, folding his hands in his lap and watching each of them with too intense eyes for a while. "I already asked twice. And you didn't answer."
There was understanding blooming on Constantine's face at that, which Connor still didn't feel. He was really starting to feel a bit slow over here.
…He'd blame the ice.
"You asked us what we wanted." Constantine noted, and the Ancient inclined his head in agreement, a smirk on his lips. "Blimey! You planned this from the beginning."
"I planned this since before you were born." The ghost gestured to around them. "Ancients, I had enough time for it. And even if you are mortals and I don't really trust you… Like I said: I knew about you. And in the end, I figured it was worth a shot to lead those old scraps of paper to you. Since you were the closest thing I'd get to someone trustworthy."
"That was you? Those documents we found… You were the reason we found them?"
The ghost shrugged. And Connor couldn't help but to breath out a laugh. "He controls locations of things…"
Damnit all! Just when had this being's plan started? Had they even ever had a choice in all this?
"You didn't answer earlier." Batman took another step forward, which Connor didn't understand. All he wanted to do was run away. "Is bargaining for your freedom the favour you want in exchange for humouring us?"
The ghost looked right at Batman, still pulsing eyes meeting the white-outs of the cowl. "Yes."
"That seems like a rather small request for all this. Why make such an elaborate plan just for this?"
That laugh, Connor was sure, would haunt him in his nightmares. "Well, I can stick you inside a glass box somewhere dark with nothing but your own thoughts to keep you company in a foreign dimension where no one will ever miss you, unable to do anything but watch as time flows by, unable to help, unable to interact with anything, for thousands of years. And then, we can ask you again if that's a small request."
"Will you use your powers to hurt mortals in any way if we let you out?" Kaldur's voice almost matched the ghost's in coldness.
Instead of answering, the ghost raised an eyebrow. "You, too, hurt people if the need arises."
Kaldur nodded, then asked again: "Will you ever cause harm to mortals for what happened to you? Or use your powers against innocents for any other reason?"
"No." Phantom almost looked appalled by the notion. "I don't enjoy suffering. And I don't want to become that version of me that does."
"…Right, mate. Brilliant. Sounds like a proper good resolution. How can we know you're going to keep your word, though? You've been dodgy with us the entire time."
"And you, mister Constantine, have sold your soul so many times it's going to be literally ripped to shreds once you die if you don't do something about it already. You're not exactly the most trustworthy person, either. So what's you point?"
Constantine gained a few judgemental looks for that comment. He himself didn't seem to know how to handle it either. "…Sorry? My soul is going to be… what?"
The ghost shrugged. "Contracts to your soul get either passed around the afterlife like a hot potato, or belong to people who will claim them even if they don't get an entire soul out of it, just to be petty. What did you expect?"
"I…Hm. Uh-huh. Cheers for the heads-up. Good to know, innit…"
"So. You said you won't harm the world or the mortal residents if you come out." Tim picked up where Constantine was too deep in his existential crisis to continue. "So then what will you do once you're out?"
The being on his throne-like chair hummed. "Does that matter? Remember, I indulged you by answering your friend before. I'm not inclined to keep telling you everything like a C-grade villain."
"…No." Tim sighed, shaking his head. "I guess it doesn't matter. Just… We won't be ending up as enemies. Will we?"
The Ancient looked at Tim funnily for a while. Then, with his head inclined, he slowly asked: "Is that your condition? That I will remain on your side of things?"
There was a pause. Then John, seemingly snapped out of it, shrugged. "It'd be brilliant to get a helping hand if we ever need it. Bob’s your uncle 'n all that, right? But really, we're just here to make sure no one gets up snookered because we let you out and you're having a bit of strop."
"Hm…" The being contemplated them for a little longer, then waved his hand and suddenly held a piece of green parchment in his hand. A white feather drew black scribbles onto it that Connor couldn't read even as the ghost turned a little to show them what he was writing. But Constantine seemed to know what they said, or at least in general.
"For as long as the Justice League of the dimension the contract was signed in remains on the path of justice that they've dedicated themselves to before-" The ghost stopped writing the weird lines at that, looking up at the Leaguers present "That part's non-negotiable, sorry." He looked back and kept writing "-the Ancient ghost of Space, Danny Phantom, will remain with them and their affiliated groups and commit to their side. Both parties will keep their right to move autonomously, but fundamentally remain as allies throughout it. They will join efforts to protect the citizens of said dimension, as the Justice League has done thus far. No claims of ownership will be valid through this contract towards either side. The contract will take effect upon Danny Phantom being summoned out of the prison the GIW has locked him in."
When the ghost looked up, something close to hope was in those multi-coloured eyes. The same hesitant hope that Connor himself had felt when he'd first accepted that olive branch from his original, whenever he and Clark had an opportunity to grow closer.
"Does that sound okay?" The ghost asked. John looked at the rest of them, and Connor found himself nodding right away. His eyes immediately returned to the ghost, watching closely as the other failed to hide his hope and anxiety. He really did look like a teenager right now. Even if he wasn't.
Whatever answers the rest of them had given, they all seemed to have amounted to the same thing as Constantine hummed in agreement. "That's fine by us, mate. One question, though: Why do we need the contract?"
The ghost blinked twice, then deadpanned: "I don't trust you, you don't trust me. Therefor: Contract."
When the magician didn't say anything about it, Phantom nodded once and stood, icy chair vanishing. "The contract contains my magic, so I can't pass it outside. You'll have to sign it on my side of the glass - just reaching your hand in will be fine." With that, he stepped right up to the edge of the glass and offered Constantine the paper. "You'll have to be the one to sign it. Since you're the only one here with the magic properties that allow for law-of-nature-forging contracts."
Constantine hesitated at that, for some reason. "…Law-of-nature-forging?"
Phantom shrugged. "I'm an Ancient. All contracts with me end up as basically a new law of nature. What do you think why we don't need a breachment clause or whatever? You just… can't go against it."
"Ah. Right, then." Constantine nodded and reached through the glass with one hand, signing the contract. He immediately took his hand back out, almost as if he expected to get attacked. But Phantom didn't acknowledge that, only signed the contract himself and nodded in satisfaction. Connor expected something to happen, some feeling or sound or burst of energy, but nothing did.
"That takes care of that, then. So… If you would activate the summoning, please?"
Constantine nodded, taking a deep breath and pouring magic into the icicle with runes Phantom had passed them earlier. Quickly, the golden stream of magic from Constantine's hands turned the same toxic green as the scars on the Ancient's arm. With every second, it pulsed bright blue like the ice around them.
And then, suddenly, like an explosion, energy threw all of them against the wall. Gravity seemed to increase and then almost vanish, thousands of stars and nebulas surrounding them. And with two rings of light moving from the legs up and from the head down, Phantom materialised where Constantine had been standing before all of those sensations.
In the next second, everything was back to normal. They could stand up again. They could breathe deeply again. And only now did Connor even notice that he could only hear again now, too.
The smile Phantom shot them was almost as bright as multiple suns, his eyes pulsing quicker with excitement. Unshed tears of relief filled them. "Alright! Let's get out of here already!"
With that, Phantom all but ran to the stairs and up. The small group of heroes looked at each other before following, and were out of the creepy cave faster than should be possible. Even if they didn't need to pass the stairs multiple times, they definitely had been deeper than that.
Outside, Danny squinted against the setting sun, tears spilling over again. "Oh, wow. I forgot how that looks in person…" His whisper broke Connor's heart a little. Then, the ghost glanced back at them. "So? When'd you want to introduce me to the rest?"
Constantine, the last to get out for some reason, blinked in confusion. "Introduce you?"
"Well, yeah? We should probably do that, right? Since we just signed a contract that I'll be working with you guys?" He shrugged, floating up a bit and watching the clouds almost mesmerised. When he continued, he was definitely distracted by the cars driving by. "Ah, I'll just let you figure it out. You got the direct line to summon me now, after all. Won't melt unless I want it to either…"
Connor blinked. Thought about it. Blinked again.
Stunned, he looked at his best friend. "Erm… Did we… Did we just get an interdimensional partial personification of reality to join the Justice League?"
Tim looked back, stunned panic in his eyes reflection Connor's own. "I… I think so?"
Not far from them, Phantom did a happy giggle as he flew a looping above a tree. Completely oblivious to them blue-screening as they realised what exactly the contract meant.
At least the Ancient ghost was happy?