Here's the first chapter of a story that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now. This is loose AU.

Sam died peacefully.

It may not have been the death she would have chosen for herself, but in the end it's not like she had any say in the matter. No one does. It happened in the middle of the night, the doctors guessed she passed around 3 o'clock in the morning, the death hour. She slipped away in her bed, her empty bed: her husband had died four years prior. So, the elderly lady, the bravest, strongest, and kindest person Danny had ever known, died alone. But peacefully.

She didn't pass through the Ghost Zone. He didn't think he should have been surprised though: she never had any regrets. Not about her life, her job, family, or him. She was just ready to get the hell out of there. He didn't think that would hurt as much as it did.

The last time he was in the Human Realm and wasn't sneaking around like a common criminal was for her funeral. It was a pretty big deal at the time. The passing of Invisible Lady. The end of an era, the newspapers dubbed it. He just saw it as the last death of his family. He wasn't invited to the funeral either. So imagine the shock he received when the mourning guests and TV reporters turned and saw him standing there, dressed up in his black mourning suit. A human mourning suit. Skulker almost didn't let him leave wearing it.

The service was awkward. Danny likes to think it was because of the mass amount of TV cameras, but deep down, he knows it was because of him. He sat in his own aisle and the two aisles in front and behind him were empty too. People opted for standing over being close to him. He didn't really care for them though, his focus was put solely on Sam's casket that was all prepped to be lowered into the ground and buried.

He'd left the Human Realm that day completely unsatisfied. He thought that maybe if he'd said his goodbyes, watched her be buried, anything, that he could have some peace with himself. But he returned to the Ghost Zone more frustrated than usual. He didn't go back to the Human Realm again. Until now, but just because this was too interesting to pass up. And now because he wanted to visit her grave. Definitely not.

The sky was purple and the ground was green. Light filled the sky and darkness swam in the ground. The clouds drifted and the bushes shuddered. The birds sang from their perches atop treetops and crickets provided the melody from over the dirt. Cardboard cups swayed on the edge of the water and plastic wrappers shook among the leaves. Shopping bags moved through the air gracefully and coyotes trotted out the forest and into the bright street. The dance was almost hypnotic.

He kept walking, ignoring the clear signs of the unavoidable death of the human realm, wasn't the human catchphrase "moving forward"? They were so strange: preaching the future but ignoring the present, moving forward without stopping to look around first.

Mentally exhausted, he turned to his companion- once enemies, now practically inseparable. He looked hilariously uncomfortable among the remains of human consumption. The moonlight reflected off of his metallic armour and shined in his face, causing him to turn away.

Earlier, when he'd invited him to be his escort to this meeting, his friend has instantly refused, not surprisingly overlooking his rank to yell and scold him like a child.

Once upon a time, travelling the human world had been a been all the rage, but to his annoyance, but as time passed, ghosts realized that their vacations were always being cut short by humans firing weapons at them. The only ghosts who went to Earth now were the newly created, wanting the attention and comfort of their loved ones. They were never well received.

Now, the human realm to ghosts was like a human vacationing in a war zone; the risk was too great.

His friend had eventually submitted, seeing the king wasn't taking no for an answer. Now they walked, their heavy and their soft steps led the way. The forest they pattered through was dense, away from the prying eyes of human cities. Danny could only imagine the uproar it would cause if the humans knew he was here. Mass panic, evacuation of all large cities, nuclear weapons at the ready. He wondered what he'd honestly done in the first place to warrant such a reaction. But it had happened before.

His cape fell against the back of his calves with every step he took, the fabric disturbing the leaves on the ground.

As they came to the location chosen by the other party, Danny and Skulker saw two shadows standing in the middle of the clearing. They shared a look, both smirking slightly.

"You're late," one of the figures began as Danny and Skulker walked out of the forest. "Odd considering this meeting was organized on your terms."

"Mind your manners, whelps," Skulker growled out, leaning back on his left foot, ready to attack if necessary. Danny held out a hand in front of his friend and smiled politely at their company.

"My apologies, Captain Atom, Nightwing," Danny apologized nodding to the heroes. "There was a situation at my estate and it needed to be urgently resolved. Also, if there's one thing my mentor has taught me that's actually sunk in it's that a king is never late for his own assembly, everyone else is simply early."

"I see, the reason we requested to have this meeting with you in the first place, your majesty," Captain Atom continued. Nightwing stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Danny and Skulker with narrowed eyes. "Was to discuss a possible deal between the League and yourself that might prove beneficial to the both of us."

"Is that so. I have to admit, my curiosity has been stroked?"

"An alliance," Nightwing spoke up. "A bridge between the Ghost Zone and Earth, the League and your people working together, the first real connection towards understanding and coexisting with ghosts."

It was silent for a period of time. Danny had his hand held up in a gesture to indicate to Nightwing for him to stop talking. His eyes looked straight into the hero's masked ones and Nightwing could see the wisdom that stared back at him.

"Are my efforts really being so casually overlooked on Earth now?" Danny turned towards Captain Atom again, his gaze hard and judgemental. "Are stories of Amity Park being pulled into a separate dimension old news now?"

"If by that you mean that it's a story known by every human being over the age of six then yes, its old news," Captain Atom replied slyly, careful not to offend the king and struggled to diffuse the situation at the same time. "We have no intention of offending you or your level of skill, we only want to negotiate terms for an alliance."

"Yes, so you've said," Danny said. "I wonder why you bring this up now. Peace has already been made with the Atlanteans, the Amazons, you've even befriended aliens. Why come to me now? Don't you have enough friends? Isn't this world filled with enough vigilantes?"

"You want the truth?"

"That's what I asked for, hero. I know you heard me the first time."

"The Reach. An alien race that has infiltrated Earth and has tricked our citizens into rallying on their behalf. Although we have no physical proof, we know that they've been tampering with food and water sources. They're steadily taking over the planet-"

"Skulker," Danny suddenly cut in, turning to his friend who looked down at him smirking. "What are your thoughts about this corner the humans seem to backed themselves into?"

"My liege, if the humans have invited this Reach onto their planet, it is their problem."

"You know, I was thinking the exact same thing," he turned back to the heroes. "We don't care for your political crises. Hurry up and get to the part where it's advantageous for us."

Nightwing pressed a button his arm and hologram appeared in front of him. It was of a humanoid figure with green and turquoise skin. It wore a black and white vest and appeared to be male. Nightwing pressed another button and the figure began to move and talk, as though talking to an audience.

It has come to our attention that the people of Earth have been plagued by an evil infection for quite some time. Over a hundred years of living in fear of ghosts is far too long in the Reach's collective opinion, it is too long being in fear of serious injury, in fear of financial insecurity caused by property damage, and in fear for you and your children's lives. Starting tomorrow, the Reach will open a new division within LexCorps dedicated towards fighting the ghost infection and keeping them locked within their own dimension. I will be personally contacting the ghost king, Daniel Phantom, within the week to inform him of this new development so that he may warn and set stricter restrictions on his people to keep them from coming to Earth. So, Earthlings, you have no reason to fear anymore, the Reach will protect you!

The sound of cheers as the alien made peace signs and smiled to the crowd filled the space. The hologram flickered and disappeared back into Nightwing's wrist. Danny stared at the spot the alien had been and grabbed the side of his cape tightly.

"That was two weeks ago," Nightwing spoke first. "I don't suppose you've heard from them?"

The silence answered him as the two ghosts struggled to understand what exactly had just happened. Captain Atom watched as the king deadpanned at nothing, he could practically see the wheels turning in his head. His head of guard however seemed to be getting more insulted by the second until it looked as though-

"That's their leader?" Skulker growled out, clenching his fists as his green mohawk burned viciously. "Slimy creature, he will hang on my wall if I ever meet him face-to-face!"

"Do that and it'll give them even more reason to just kill you all off," Nightwing opposed, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. "A member of the king's guard attacking an Earth celebrity? The people will just call for a full scale extermination."

"Shut up, whelp! You have no place telling me what to do: Skulker, the ghost zone's greatest hunter! You have no idea!"

"What are you going to do when Bruce finds out you've offered an alliance between us?" Danny asked suddenly, looking towards Captain Atom. Nightwing looked away from Skulker towards the king, his eyes wide.

"He already knows," the king's expression didn't falter and both heroes knew he could see through their lie easily. Captain Atom sighed and started over. "He will have to deal with it; you're a powerful ally, with both your abilities and numbers. We all know that the two of you aren't really on the best of terms but we're hoping that the two of you will work through it, or at least tolerate each other when he gets back."

"Where is he now?"

"He's...off world. Dealing with an intergalactic problem we've seemed to get caught up in," he stopped talking after that, unwilling to tell confidential information to a potential ally- a potential ally with other options.

"How do you know Bruce?" Nightwing asked, his face suspicious. The ghost king looked over at him. He was just a kid, no older than twenty. But Danny could see that Nightwing had more maturity and experience than most people ten years older than him. He decided to humour the boy.

"I knew him when he was a child," he answered curtly, judging the shock on Nightwing's face. The atmosphere was tense. "What were the terms for the alliance you wished to discuss?" Danny said finally, earning a pointed glare from Skulker, which was ignored.

"We shouldn't talk about the details out in the open," Captain Atom explained. "We'll have to go to a secure location, we only planned for this meeting to be a stepping stone for you to indicate whether or not you were actually interested. Here," he handed Skulker a small card. On the inside it had an address. "Go there in one week at 8pm," Danny took the card from Skulker and looked it over before looking up at the heroes.

"You understand that if we're going through the city and into a secure facility I am going to bring more than just one guard along with me, I'm not feeling as comfortable as before about walking around a corrupted world unguarded."

"Of course," Captain Atom replied. "But don't bring more than five, where we're going is a secret location so the less the better," the king nodded and turned to walk out of the clearing. Just before they disappeared into the bushes, he stopped and turned.

"Oh, and I promise to be there on time, now that it's not my meeting I think it would quite rude, don't you?" And with that, they turned and walked into the green forest.