New Chapter If Who's Old Now? Is Up! First Part Of A Three Part Arc. Come Check It Out!

The pamphlet features sections such as:

Congrats! It's Royalty!

What to do if the Old King Gets Released (besides dieing)

How to King in Zero Steps (I don't know how it works, your problem now)

Avoid Billionaires

Asserting Dominance in the Ghost Zone (hope you don't mind throwing down at any times between 12 am and forever)

How to Not Get Vivi/Dissected by the Government or Other Authourity Figures (yes this includes your parent, no I will not elaborate on that)

Afterword (please please don't find me, I don't want it, I'm failing english already, I don't need the extra stress)

There are also hand drawn pictures scattered throughout, as well as what look like blood stains and dried Lazarus water.

Jason is concerned on multiple levels, both for himself and the bone tired kid he saw for all of five seconds.

Danny, 15 and thoroughly done with everyone's crap, steals the Crown of Fire and the Skeleton Key and uses the later to find a suitable new High King for the Infinite Realms. The key (also known as Deaths kay) acted like a sort of Infi-map but lacked the limitations of needing a natural portal to spawn in that time/location and could get you past any wards/protections no mater how powerful.

The key spawns him just in front of the form of a sleeping Jason Todd, and Danny decided he wasn't going to question the magical keys judgment and just plops the crown on a bleary and startled Jasons head.

The crown burned for this guy, signaling that it found him worthy and that was more than enough for Danny.

With no context whatsoever, Danny looked Jason in the eye, burning neon green meeting with wide greenish blue, "You're our king now."

Then he vanished.

Jason later finds that the Lazarus entity left behind a handmade pamphlet. It was immensely unhelpful.

I feel like Bruce Wayne projects the kind of amiable playboy 'fun' vibe that he'd be the type of celebrity that certain interviewers feel comfortable surprising with puppies.

You know the kind of shows I mean.

The late-night talk show situations where they're making benign small talk with their smiling guest, and there's a segment where animals get brought out, usually to talk about some sort of ecological relief effort.

So you're watching your trash TV talk show late at night, and you get to watch billionaire pretty boy Bruce Wayne be begrudgingly talked into holding a (relatively) harmless creature which inevitably gets a lot of delighted shrieks from the audience as it starts being a lot more active than the handler promised. And to his credit, Bruce doesn't flinch, he doesn't freak out. But his eyes are a little wide, and his voice a little tight as the smile on his face takes on a slight rictus quality before he's inevitably rescued by an apologetic handler who is also laughing because they all know there was no real danger, it was just funny to put Bruce, who is an undeniable good sport and already laughing along, out of his comfort zone for the sake of charity.

Meanwhile, up in the Justice League headquarters, several founding members of the League are wondering how fast they can get a fake Oscar award shipped to the space station because fuck off. Absolutely fuck off, Bruce. Where the fuck did he study? Juilliard? (Probably.)

(Clark ends up going to a novelty store during the commercial break. It's faster than trying to get anything shipped, even with the infrastructure Bats built for them. He finds it several days later taped to his console in a conspicuously empty briefing room. It's gaudy and awful, the words "Best Actor" engraved on the plaque. No one's around to see him smile. No one comments when it vanishes. Everyone thinks it's been yeeted out an airlock. Dick absolutely comments when it shows up in the manor, stashed in one of the trophy cases that sprung up for all the bat kids' school awards. Bruce has no idea how it got there. Must have been Alfred. (It was not.))

Anyway, consider, for your amusement, Bruce Wayne getting highjacked on The Gotham Toight Show with a handful of wriggling puppies and, for a split second, not having to pretend he's delighted to be there.

This implies that Danny is fully referred to as Mischeif in the Watchtower, which I believe is appropriate.

A de-aged Danny is living at Wayne Manor. The only problem is that he is attached to Jason. Like deeply attached. He even refuses to sleep if he's not cuddling the man. Now the bats must actually confront their feelings since they're around each other a whole lot more.

Meanwhile Danny is just happy to help cure the stinky nasty man of his stinky nastiness. Plus he's the best storyteller out of all of them.

emails with “[AO3] Comment on _____” in the subject line give me a better dopamine rush than hard drugs ever will

He's screaming and crying, his voice already torn to shreds screaming from pain, but to him nothing can ever compare to the pain of death.

'Not again, not again, please no, I don't want to die again, please.'

They never try to make him go through the Zeta again.

DP x DC where Danny refuses to use the Zeta Beam/Tube. No-one knows why, and it’s almost a running gag that they have to wait an extra few minutes for Danny to join them wherever they’ve gone since he takes a little longer to get there.

It’s not until someone tries to carry an injured Danny through a Zeta-Tube in order to get him to medical attention faster, that they realize why when he absolutely freaks out.

He’s scared.

It looks so much like the portal.

Please reblog this so that I can get a bigger sample size, but DO NOT include anything in the tags about the results, as that could influence other responses

They couldn't let Geordi in on the "does Data count as a person?" discussion because he would have immediately obliterated anyone arguing he doesn't. Geordi would hear someone try to argue Data's perception isn't real because it's electrical signals or whatever and he'd just be like "so like how my visor works?" and then they'd start backpedaling

Hello again! I really liked your answer to my questions, I've read this post about 6 times already! (I really love it) So I want to ask you, what do you think will happen if Oscar drinks tea from the Ever After? I just really hope that in RWBY beyond episode 3 Oscar and Ruby came at the end to separate Oscar and Ozpin (not the soul in half, just stop the merge, but Oscar and Ozpin are still connected) and what do you think will happen after Oscar drinks tea and he and Oz return to the Vacuo?

sorry if here any mistakes I just used translato

Hi! Nice to hear from you again, and I'm glad you liked it. Now, this is a very interesting and very complicated question you've offered me. I like it. I'm gonna put it under the cut, because this... is going to take a while.

From what we've seen in the epilogues, in RWBY Beyond, Oscar is losing more and more of himself. Ozpin's losing himself too. They're losing themselves and each other to the merge and who'll they'll become together. It's stopping being Ozpin's experiences, Ozpin being the subject of fairytales, and starting to be Oscar referring to those past events as his.

If you think about it, the curse, the merge, is kind of like a really twisted, fucked up version of Ascension, where the choice of purpose is completely taken away instead. Ozma was given a task, a role, a purpose, a part to play in the story of the battle between light and dark, and that purpose has been passed on, whether anyone likes it or not. The answer, most often, is not.

In V8, we see Oscar frustrated with Ozpin's return, because he was starting to carve out his own role, figuring out who he wanted to be. That choice is being taken away from him, just like it was taken away from the person Ozpin used to be, taken away from the King of Vale, again and again thousands of years past.

I think a meeting between Oscar, Ozpin, and The Blacksmith would be very, very interesting, particularly in her relationship with the Brothers.

The Blacksmith created them. She said "The Brothers built homes for [the Everafterans], and gave them roles to play". Would she see nothing wrong with the way the Brothers acted, the role they assigned to Ozma and his line? The Blacksmith doesn't seem to be able to know what happens in Remnant, only catching glimpses of it in the humans who fall into the Ever After. The Blacksmith seems to like what she sees, calling humans "Remarkable things [the Brothers] accomplished". What would she think about Oscar and Ozpin?

She seems to value souls, they move through her domain afterall, and she seemed to like it when Ruby asked after "The souls that are moving on to whatever they become next". But the line of Ozma doesn't get to move on when they die. Their souls merge with others, they are subsumed, they are an amalgamation, they are something that has never been before, they are not something they want to be. Would the Blacksmith be mad at the Brothers for what has been done to dozens of hundreds of innocent souls? She doesn't seem capable of condemnation, that is not her purpose, but would empathy be shown for the line of Ozma, including ones past?

The Blacksmith does feel emotions, she's not a robot, she's glad to see Jaune, she finds joy in creating, the "not knowing". Would she find Oscar and Oz a fascinating creation? Or would she be dismayed at how little there is to know, how little choice there is. Everafterans die, and choose what to become next through Ascension. Oz dies, doesn't choose where he goes, doesn't choose where they become, doesn't choose a purpose that can we even really say is his anymore? When they've become so many people, does Ozma's original choice really belong to them anymore?

As always with the line of Ozma, it is a question of choice, identity, and free will.

How The Blacksmith would feel about it, act about it, think about it, is a very interesting question. But there is the question of if she can do anything about it.

Yes, The Tree/Blacksmith made the Brothers, and the Brothers made humans, and the Blacksmith obviously has influence over the humans who do end up in her domain. Would that be enough to supercede the curse? The will of the Brother of Light? The purpose he gave Ozma and every single soul who came after? It'd be interesting if The Blacksmith couldn't. If the Brother's intercession would be necessary to fix what they broke, what they started. But that's not the question here!

Enough hypotheticals, it's time to get down to it. In this scenario, we'll go with Oscar and Oz being over halfway merged, probably a lot merged by this point, but still two distinct entities in their own right. The Blacksmith, whatever her feelings about it, can help, allowing Oscar and Oz to choose their purpose and who they'll become.

I've seen in the fandom a lot that a turning point for Oscar would be/will be when he gets his own weapon. Weapons are so important in RWBY, Oscar being able to choose what weapon he gets, the name, the meaning behind it rather than one he inherits is so important. That carries over easily to the Blacksmith and the choices/weapons she presents.

Choosing to be yourself is a legitimate option when it comes to The Blacksmith! Oscar would definitely choose to be himself, that's without question, even if he's not sure who that himself is, he's willing to make it. I think that would best go down if instead of choosing one of the weapons The Blacksmith presents or choosing Long Memory, Oscar makes his own. I personally think it would be very cool if The Blacksmith let Oscar use her forge to make his own weapon, make his own self, make who he chooses to be.

I think that extra effort to physically make his own weapon would also be important. There's a lot more weight there, the weight of a purpose assigned, the weight of so, so many souls behind him, clinging to him. I think in that moment, Oscar would be straining to go forward and, like all parents, Ozpin would have to make the choice to let go. Let Oscar move forward into the unknown instead of the path laid before them, let go even though it's hard, even though it's scary, because letting children choose their own paths and who they are is very, very important.

Oscar being able to literally forge his own identity, his own path, would be both symbolically appropriate and also very cool.

Now, we also have to consider what would happen to Oz. Both Ozpin and the entire line before him, whatever small, pedantic difference there may be. I think it's too late to let the previous souls go. They're merged, and there's no separating them. They're gone. They're here but they're gone. There's only Ozpin left. But what that would mean, well, that's up to Ozpin. He'd have to make his own choice on who he is, who he becomes, what his purpose is.

I... don't think he'd choose to be himself. I think he'd be so, so tired of the purpose he was assigned. I think he'd like to make his own decision, and I think he'd choose to be someone else. Let the line of Ozma end, expire, be no more. He would choose to be someone else. The Blacksmith said, "Choose for yourself one who can leave your burdens behind or choose one who would be enough to bear them". This is what she said to Ruby, so it's not entirely applicable, but the sentiment is there.

I think Ozpin would choose to be someone else. Someone who isn't so embittered by betrayl that they can still trust. Someone who can see the best in people, who can continue to reach out. Someone who doesn't give up, doesn't run away. Oscar showed him someone better to be, tried to push him to be that person. And now he can take that final step, and become someone else with a far better purpose than had been handed down to him by the Brothers.

He can become someone kind.

That is who he wants to be. Kind enough to reach out, kind enough to trust, kind enough to stay even when he's afraid, kind enough to reach out like Oscar did to Emerald, kind enough to fix a broken heart like in Hazel and perhaps... even like in Salem.

Oscar and Ozpin would return to Vacuo together, Oscar the most himself he's ever been, and Ozpin happy to be someone else entirely, but no matter what, they'd stick together.

I think that would be a good way for it to go.

"Before we start the meeting," Superman said, "Is there anything anyone would like to address first?"

Phantom stood up, chair rolling softly against the carpet as it was pushed back. "Yes, actually," He reached into his utility belt and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "This is my resignation from the Justice League,"

A beat of silence.

"Oh," Wonder Woman said. "Has something occurred in your personal life?"

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that," Phantom snorted, sounding remarkably bitter, a stark difference from the cheerful young man they knew.

"Is there nothing we could do to help you?"

"No. There isn't. Because it happened ten years ago,"

"Is there something wrong with your powers?" Flash, who was very quick at mental math and quickly aligned it to a fourteen year old metahuman gene activation, said.

"Yes. There is something wrong with me," Was the meeting room getting colder? "Because I'm not a metahuman. I'm a ghost,"

Incomprehension flitted across many Justice Leaguers' faces, while a dawning horror alighted on others.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Green Lantern, freshly back from a trip to Oa and in no way up to date on recent politics, asked.

"Why. Didn't I. Tell anyone?" Phantom said softly, and yes, the room was definitely getting colder. "I don't know. Why didn't I, fourteen and freshly dead, tell anyone about what killed me? Why didn't I, the son of ghost hunters, tell my parents I was what they hated most? Why didn't I, the hero of my hometown, tell people I was the same kind of 'thing' that attacked the town on the regular. Why didn't I, in an increasingly hostile environment, tell people I was the same kind of being they made effigies of to burn and laugh at. Why didn't I, the person whose existence was just made illegal, tell anyone?"

Silence. Their breaths wafted in front of their faces. There was frost spiralling up the wall behind Phantom like an aura of dread.

"Because. I. Was. Scared. I was scared of exactly what's happening now with the Anti-Ecto acts. I was scared of being hated. Of being treated like a monster. Of being held down by my parents, my town, the government, and ripped apart molecule by molecule just like they said I should be,"

Phantom breathed in deeply and exhaled, temperature slowly rising and icy crystals dissolving.

"I became a hero to defend humans from invading ghosts. And now the roles are switched. Humans are the ones invading ghost towns, their homes, kidnapping and enslaving them, sneering and laughing all the while. I am half human. And I am half ghost. I am a hero to the people that need me. Not just in name or words or membership cards," Phantom waved a hand to the paper he had put on the table, "But in deeds. I am not a metahuman. I am not a human hero. I am not human. And I would not be a hero at all if I didn't do what was right,"

Phantom planted his feet on the carpet, shoulders rolled back and head held high. His bearing was regal. They had never seen Phantom like this before. "The Justice League is beholden to the governments of this mortal world. But as someone who has known you, fought beside you, and prevented you from becoming part of my Realms too soon, I hope you are first and foremost beholden to your conciouncess,"

And without another word, Phantom turned, clawed a hand through the air, a portal ripping into existence at his fingertips, and stepped through. The swirling green portal closed behind him, like he was never there.

A beat of silence.

"First on the agenda-," Batman began.

"What the fuck?!" Green Arrow snapped. "Bats, you are not telling me we are just going to ignore-,"

"-we will discuss the Anti-Ecto acts and how we will best prevent the egregious sentient rights violation the United States Government has passed into law," Batman continued.

"We were planning to bring this up even before Phantom revealed himself," Superman interceded peaceably.

"You knew, didn't you," Wonder Woman said accusingly, gaze fixed on Batman.

"Yes," Batman said. "It was obvious if you were looking,"

"Well then why didn't you tell any of us?!" Green Lantern demanded.

Batman fixed a flat stare on Green Lantern. "It has been made expressly clear to me," He said slowly, "On multiple occasions, that sharing my knowledge of others' secret identities, up to and including the sources of other people's powers and/or training, was expressly forbidden as an invasion of privacy. Including revealing my knowledge to the individual in question as it was 'creepy' and 'honestly better off not knowing you knew',"

Silence.

"Any other objections?"

Silence.

"Good. Let's get started,"

Dark Secret

So! Danny was discovered pretty quickly after his first battle against the Lunch Lady. His hair turned white, and his body shape was a little different, but he largely looked very similar to his Human Form, so it was only a matter of time really.

Thankfully he was assumed to be a Metahuman.

He didn't look like any other Ghost, the closest resemblance was his hair and eye color, but even that could be explained away. Also his parents were adamant that he couldn't be a Ghost because he was still Sentient and not Evil, so he must just have powers that just looked similar to Ghost Powers esthetically. Probably as a result of the Portal Accident, which he used as an explanation for how his powers awakened.

Danny also avoided using the more obvious Ghost Powers like Intangiblity and Invisiblity, sticking mostly to the most basic Flight and Energy based Powers he got to be as generic as possible. If anybody saw otherwise, it was a trick of the light or a trick of the Ghosts.

Danny became the Hero of Amity Park, always pretending to be something else. It was his darkest secret.

Unfortunately because the public never saw a Ghost like Phantom on a positive light, their perception of Ghosts never changed. Nobody believed that Ghosts could be anything aside from Evil, and as the knowledge of Ghosts and the Ghost Zone began to spread around the world that perception became more and more commonplace.

If Danny had been revealed in the early days, it could have been salvageable, but nowadays if his secret was revealed he would have to convince the entire world that everything they knew about Ghosts was wrong. It would practically be impossible.

Even when he joined the Justice League when he became an Adult, he still had to hide his secret. Years of hiding made sure he could conceal his true Nature from the magic users on the team, but he still had to be distant from the team just to be sure.

While all this was going on in the Living Realm, his adventures in the Ghost Zone still happened as normal. He saved Pandora and the Acropolis, dethroned the Tyrant King Aragon, managed to defeat Pariah Dark in Single combat, and even became recognized as a Great Warrior by the Far Frozen.

After years of hiding, he actually felt more at home in the Ghost Zone than in the Human Realm. There he could be his true self without having to hide a huge part of his identity, and people accepted him for who he was. Sure he had enemies there, but he also had more real friends outside of Tucker and Sam.

He was content with his double life, acting as a Hero to the Public while hiding his true self, and secretly going to the Ghost Zone to be himself among his friends and even his enemies.

Of course it all came crashing down when he Anti Ecto Acts finally passed.

Now there was a Legal Path for Humans to enter and profit off of the Ghost Zone. Beyond just being able to legally kill and experiment on Ghosts, the Acts also allowed Humans to claim parts of the Ghost Zone as their own Property, enslaving the Ghosts residing there, and destroying the Ecosystem of the Zone because there were no laws preventing it.

And now Danny had a choice.

He could either side with the Humans to which he was a Hero, allowing them to destroy the Ghost Zone and Enslave the denizens living there with the full support of the Government, or he could side with the Ghost Zone, betraying Humanity and the people he had been protecting for years, but trying to save those who had accepted him for his true self years ago.

To him the answer was obvious.

The divine right of kings but it's a curse