Chapter Text
John Constantine had no idea what he was getting into when he heard there was an attempted summoning in Amity Park. He was not expecting three teenagers debating (or more accurately arguing) about how someone can make a deal.
"It should in theory work," one of the teens said while he typed on his computer, “It said to make a pact with a powerful entity.”
Ah. so one of them wants to become a warlock.
"Well it's not," the other pointed out, “It’s kinda hard to make a pact with yourself.”
Now Constantine was interested.
"I think the circle is wrong," the other teenager said as she read an ancient looking book. Constantine knew the book well.
"You aren't summoning anything with that, love," Constantine said as he lit up a smoke, scaring the group, "That book has so many inaccuracies."
After a brief moment of awkward staring from both parties, Constantine presented himself. "If you're going to become a warlock, you may as well get it right. The name's John Constantine. I am a warlock who studies the occult, and it looks like I have stumbled on a rare teaching moment."
The teens looked at each other and were locked in a silent discussion on whether to believe this guy or not. “Oh, bloody hell,” Constantine swore and casted a spell. Now the kids believed him. “Now, let me fix this.” Constantine gestured towards the circle.
They let them, discussing their luck that a warlock practically came to their aid. After mostly fixing the circle, Constantine remembered to ask, “So, who are you summoning? I kind of need a name. Or were you just hoping something would show up?”
The kids suddenly looked at each other, suddenly remembering something Constantine wasn’t aware of. “Well,” one boy stated with some hesitancy, “I was kinda hoping to summon myself.”
“What?” John said with a laugh, “Kid, I don’t think you know how a warlock works, but you need-”
“-a powerful entity connected to a spiritual plane, yeah I know.” The kid cut him off.
“So…?” Constantine asked. The kid stepped forward.
“Danny,” the girl said in concern.
The kid smiled with confidence and with a flash of light, the kid transformed into something akin to a ghost. No, he realized, an actual ghost, and a very powerful one at that. Constantine took the chance to check the kid over and came to a startling conclusion. He was both alive and dead, connected to the physical plane and a spiritual plane.
“How?” John asked.
“I died and came back due to my parent’s Ghost Zone portal opening.” Wow. How incredible.
“And you thought to yourself that you can make a bargain with yourself so you can become a warlock?” Constantine tried to understand.
“Yup!” The kid smiled. “What’s a better and safer way to become a warlock than to bargain with my ghost half? My powers don’t work when I’m in my human form anyways.”
Constantine nodded in understanding. Making a deal with a demon or fay is incredibly risky, and he would know. “Ok,” John instructed, “but I want you to understand, if it works, and I highly doubt it would, using warlock abilities usually drain your connection to the spiritual plane. So if you run out of mana, you can’t get all ghosty until your mana fills back up.”
“I understand,” the kid nodded, “I just wanted to see if it would work.”
“Great.” John clapped his hands. “Get in the circle.”
The kid did so, and Constantine gave the kid instructions. Go back to your human form, what phrases to say, etcetera.
“Alright,” the kid stated, “Here we go.”
The kid started the chant, and Constantine ushered the other kids behind him. If this blew up in their faces, at least the other kids would be safe. They watched as the ghost kid continued chanting, looking as though his body was trying to split in two. He continued despite the pain, and when he finished, the kid swayed a little, then he disappeared into a large orb.
“Danny!” The two kids tried to run into the active circle, but Constantine grabbed them, saying, “The spell’s still active. We can’t ruin it.”
“But he’s still in there,” the boy said with concern. Before Constantine could respond, the orb started to hiss. He immediately grabbed the kids and put up a shield, shielding the kids with his own body in case the spell broke. It didn’t break as a fury of grayish green flame came out of the exploding orb, releasing the kid from its clutches. Constantine quickly prevented the flame from breaking out of the spell circle, not wanting to bring any attention to the kids or himself, before checking to see if the spell was still active.
It wasn’t and John made his way to the kid, who was just starting to stir. “Did it work?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t know,” John said in concern, “I just want to make sure you’re ok.”
The kid got up slowly and shook his head, then went to his ghost form. “Oh, good. That still works.” He then went back into his human form as his friends tried to pester him about what he experienced in the orb. Constantine was distracted. He was creating a simple spell circle on a piece of paper and handed it to the kid.
“When I say go, focus on the spell,” Constantine instructed before keeping an eye on the kid’s soul.
The thing about warlocks is that when they make a deal with an entity to gain mystical powers beyond any means, their soul is usually attached to the being they made the deal with. So Constantine wanted to check that if it worked, the kid didn’t make a deal with anyone other than himself.
“Go,” Constantine insisted. And off the kid sent. Nothing happened at first, which was a little disappointing, but then Constantine spotted the faintest wisp pop out of his soul. Then a sudden burst of greenish flame shot out before turning in on itself. The kid’s spell started glowing.
“Congratulations, kid,” Constantine said in astonishment, “You’ve successfully become both a warlock and your own patron.”