Part 2
Phantom learns very quickly that the Batfamily does grief like a loaded weapon.
Bruce watches him like he might disappear if he blinks too long.
Alfred keeps offering food he doesn’t need but accepts anyway because it feels… right.
Nightwing laughs too loud around him.
Tim doesn’t stop running background checks.
Jason keeps hovering like he’s waiting for another resurrection shoe to drop.
And Damian?
Damian does not leave his side.
He walks half a step behind him through the Manor.
Sits pressed against his leg during meals.
Falls asleep on his shoulder without meaning to.
Phantom didn’t expect that part.
Didn’t expect the weight of being wanted.
So when Bruce finally asks, voice low and careful,
“Do you remember what happened to you?”
Phantom twists the truth like taffy.
“I died,” he says easily.
“Came back wrong.”
“It took a long time to find my way home.”
Which isn’t even a lie.
Just not their home.
Tim notices the temperature drop when Phantom gets emotional.
Cass flinches when his shadow moves a half-second too late.
Damian starts training harder like he’s afraid Phantom will vanish again.
And every night — every single night — Bruce leaves the light on in the room they prepared for him.
Just in case.
The guilt starts creeping in.
Not enough to stop him.
But enough to make it complicated.
Then one evening, Alfred casually mentions:
“Master Danny always favored the west balcony when he couldn’t sleep.”
Phantom freezes.
Because he does too.
That was never Danny’s memory.
That was Dante’s.
And somewhere in Gotham, a portal is starting to crack open.
Please wait...
Redirecting you now 🚀
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