#its not usually legally permissible to change your foster child’s name so danny doesnt have the fenton last name and im deciding that my

[starry-bi-sky]

It takes him three days to come to a conclusion.

Three days of brooding, contemplation, and silence. He sent away his friends, his stars — even Pollux and Castor, his lurkers, and he has to re-examine their friendship because if they only stood by him because of blind loyalty, then he will have to address that. He refuses to have them on any level than the same as him, — so he could ponder without influence and interruption.

His first idea is to nip this… devotion… in the bud. To stop it before it becomes uncontrollable — except, it already has. The shrines, the worship, the gifts, the title. There is no bud to nip, it’s bloomed. So, that idea is thrown out the second it’s in his mind.

The next is to just simply… remove every one from his island. Similar to the idea before where he chips this devotion where it stands, and throw every one out. There, they will no longer have someone to fantasize and worship.

Except immediately his mood sours at the thought, it leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. A ball forms in his sternum that tightens up so much, that for a moment, Danny can’t breathe. He can’t do that - he refuses to. These people have nowhere else to go, and many of them simply don’t have the power or strength to defend themselves like he can. Like his constellation can. They are his people to protect; his flock to shepherd. He will absolutely not toss them out like feeding cats to coyotes.

That is his first day of thinking. He comes up with every solution possible to try and get rid of this worship and devotion, to destroy this cult before it can spread too far. And each one he hates. Nothing short of throwing his people out will work as effectively, and Danyal point blank refuses to do that. These are his people, his to care and protect.

Then, his second day of pondering, his thoughts… shift. A little. He doesn’t want to throw them out, but to keep them will be confirming that he was acknowledging (or continually acknowledging) the fact that they were worshipping him. That he was their leader; their shepherd.

And… he finds himself not… terribly opposed to the idea? Danyal was born to lead. That was his purpose as a Son of the Demon Head; whether it would have been the leader of the League, or as Batman, he was born for greatness. To lead, not be led. Now he was neither, now he was just Danyal Al Bakir, foster and adoptive son of the Fentons. Now, he was just… Danny.

He thought he could be content with that.

Danny was a born and bred leader, and time and time again after he left the league has that been confirmed. He received the same training as his brother, was given the same weapons, the same (not really) regard. He has spilled blood, and has had blood spilt from him. He was as much as an Al Ghul as Grandfather and mother and his brother.

Besides, if he let this go unchecked, someone amongst his island could realize and take advantage of that. They could sow discord, and while Danny doesn’t know where he’s going to go from here, he does know that discord would put everyone in danger. His safe haven would lose its meaning. All signs point to chaos if he lets this grow, like weeds overgrowing a garden.

The blatant devotion was discomforting, but… he could control it. Get it to a manageable level, and then get used to it. His grandfather was worshipped on some level by his underlings — not to the same degree, and perhaps not with as much fervor— but still worshipped. As a result, Danyal and Damian got the trickle down. It’s not anything he isn’t already used to — he thinks.

His third day is his conclusion. The third day, he decides step into the role of leader. He has no plan going forward, nothing beyond getting this under control before it spirals into all-consuming fanaticism, and keeping his people safe. But he was born a leader, and he is a Wayne, is an Al Ghul, and more importantly he is Danyal.

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."