#Danny watches Sharpe's Revenge

[spockvarietyhour]

WESLEY!!!

[snazzydwarf]

Jasons pit madness is actually him going mama bear mode-

I was brushing my teeth when this DC x DP idea just zapped into my brain and I HAD to let it out-

So I'd imagine that in the GZ time works differently, but in the sense where it passes really really slow compared to how it would normally pass. This is to allow newly formed spirits a time to grieve and heal before saying good bye to their loved ones.

So now imagine a newly formed Jason Todd arriving to the Ghost Zone, still donned with the Robin outfit he died in. 

While he floats aimlessly around for a while he eventually encounters another young ghost... like really young, no more then 5 years old.

He watched as this kid, his kid, grow into the powerful ghost he was always meant to be. His favourite moments where when Clockwork allowed them to visit outside the GZ to go stargazing so they could fulfil the kids space obsession. 

This ghost is Danny. (You can choose your own way of him getting there but I would imagine the portal being completed way earlier than cannon but still follows how Danny got his powers, although this time he was trapped on the other side of the portal rather than popping back out into this parents basement.)

Years pass in the GZ and Jason has officially taken Danny under his wing. At first it was difficult, he was only 15 goddammit! He shouldn’t be the soul caretaker of this kid, let alone a dead one! But the thought of leaving Danny alone in this green void made his stomach churn, he couldn’t up and leave and abandon a kid he said he would take care off, he would do anything for Danny. He wasn’t like Bruce

They were fine, happy even, he couldn’t imagine a life without this little tyke who became his whole world in the time he was in the Zone, but then it was all gone. His core felt a sudden pull so tight it felt like it was being ripped out of his body, it hurt, oh god did it hurt but it couldn’t compare to the sound of Danny’s cries as he watched Jason crumple to the ground and begin to fade away.

He stalked through Gotham at night and began setting up his plan for revenge, although Red Hood was born he couldn’t help feel like he lost something. The slightest thing would tip him of, making him go into a blind fury, ripping his enemies apart in an almost frantic desperation. He knew he was searching for something, fucking something, but what is it? 

He was back in the land of the living, and he was furious, but he didn’t know what for. His memories where fuzzy at best and the only thing he remembers is a sharpness in his chest and green in his vision. 

At first he thought it was the desire for revenge, that he was searching for retribution against the man who killed him and the man who didn’t do enough to save him, but it wasn’t until almost a year after he took up the Red Hood mantel did it all click into place and his world suddenly became right again, all it took was one voice and one word.

“DAD!”

[maskedemerald]

Weaving Webs CH4

Here is chapter four for Invisobang ! The wonderful @pricklenettle did some fantastic art that you'll see embedded through out the fic! We get some more creepy Danny art this chapter! And I love the little details on the fridge!

You can check out the fic here or on AO3!

If you like this consider dropping us both a follow!

Warnings: Body horror, manipulation, Spectra is her own content warning, Burns, Spider - for like 2 chapters then it goes away.

The Fenton parents were there when the accident happened, they saw Danny die in an act of sabotage. Now they’re just trying to go on with the strange ghost that is all that's left of Danny. While their old college friend is wondering where the subjects of his revenge are.

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Chapter Four

The lab was dim, an electric twilight. The lights blared overhead as they usually would but her eyes were too over compensated. Something bright, like looking at the sun burned in her vision. Her ears rang with screams. She couldn’t move. Shadowy, skeletal hands gripped her feet. Her face. His hand. Scraping her skin with rough burnt skin. Forcing her to watch. Unable to stop it. Those cold hands held her arms as she tried to fight free.

You don’t get to look away.

It’s your fault, you let him go in.

This is all because of you.

A sharp chill deeper than the cold hands drew a violent shiver. Like an ice bath. Colder.

Maddie jerked awake, that chilling feeling still in her spine despite being awake. She stared up at the ceiling trying not to think. The waking world wasn’t much better than that nightmare after all. She frowned, noticing that it was much lighter than she had thought. Later in the morning than she had thought. She sighed knowing that she wouldn’t get back to sleep now and started to push herself up.

There was a soft white glow at the foot of the bed. Its legs were gone, blended into a tail that twisted round itself to curl up. The tattered sleeve and skeletal arm exposed. The bony fingers stretched out towards her. She shifted just a bit too much of the blanket as she tried to escape the bed unnoticed. Danny’s ghost lifted a tilted head. She froze for a moment but it didn’t lunge.

It followed her throughout the house, keeping to shadows or perching on high locations. Like the top of the fridge where it had settled during breakfast. Jazz kept glancing in its direction and left quickly the moment she could. Her breakfast, only half finished.

It appeared to once again fall asleep there. She watched it. It didn’t make sense, ghosts didn’t need sleep. Or at least none of the research said they did. Maybe it was wrong. Maybe this was a feature of newer ghosts. Would it sleep less the longer it was… dead? Would anything else change over time? Was it only a matter of time before it became malevolent like the research said?

Research… research said that this shouldn’t have happened. The portal shouldn’t have turned on. They had worked hard to make sure there wouldn’t be another accident. Not after Vlad. She had to know why? Why did this happen? Why was Danny…? Was it their fault? Had they made this mistake?

She glanced to the lab door in the corner. She didn’t want to face it but she had to. Had to know why. Her hand hovered shakily over the handle. The ghost shuffled in its place on the fridge. A high pitched whine. A constant reminder of what happened. A reminder she couldn’t escape. A question that would quite literally haunt her forever if she didn’t find an answer. She took a deep breath and turned the handle.

The descent into the lab was a slow one. Each step felt massive and the bottom still shadowed in the darkness they had left it in on the day of the incident. The lights flickered on weakly, revealing the scattered chaos that had been them trying to save Danny.

She crossed to the console, that was where part of the problem was. The only part she could access. The only place she could get answers from. The portal frame itself was inaccessible behind the swirling green of their window into the ghost zone. The death trap that had killed Danny. The swirls played tricks on her tired mind, the silhouette of a mass of something beyond the portal. A shape close to the floor. Even if it was really there she didn’t want to see. The horror of a mangled, incinerated body that her mind supplied was bad enough. She couldn’t handle the real thing.

The console reported back that the portal was active. It understood that. It wasn’t a bool issue in the code. Something reporting false when it should have said true stopping her from turning off the machine it didn’t think was on. It knew it was on. That meant the emergency controls were the problem. She poured over the code trying to find the control error. A mistyped variable or something. Anything that would explain what happened.

What she found was worse. Or maybe better, if only because it meant it wasn’t them. They hadn’t caused this. There was an override coded into the emergency shutdown. An override that linked back to a start-up sequence they had never coded. It was set to initiate start-up while someone was inside. Specifically while the wiring was being worked on. Some of the wires had been bypassed to allow the machine to work even if they had been unplugged. Wires that had once been important to function were now just a trigger. Sabotage.

Jack was meant to be dealing with the wiring, it had only been passed to Danny since the paneling went on. Had someone been trying to kill Jack? No, that didn’t make sense. Why would… but then why would anyone target anyone else in the family. She couldn’t think of anyone who hated them like that. Even the Mansons didn’t disapprove of them that much. Even if she could think of someone this required a certain level of understanding of their work. Few had that privilege. Vlad from college but that would have been long outdated with how long it had been and their direct overseers from the GIW. Neither really had opportunity and reason. Had it not been about them at all? Was someone trying to halt their work and unintentionally caught Danny in the crossfire? Still she couldn’t think of who. The GIW were literally paying them, sabotage would just make it worthless. Vlad had nothing to gain, he wasn’t even in the field any more.

She frustratedly shook her head, there was no use speculating when she really had no clues. Maybe Jack would know something. If not at least he wouldn’t be blaming himself like she had been. She took a few moments to document the evidence and hide it away. Whoever it was had somehow gained access to their computers if not the lab itself, she couldn’t risk it being covered up. Maddie was not going to let this go unpunished. She was going to find who did this and she was going to make them pay.

Satisfied that the files were preserved she headed for the stairs. Jack was probably still sleeping. She’d wake him. He’d want to be told as soon as possible.

It was like a cold hand crawled up her spine. She froze, one foot on the next step, halfway up the stairs. Her heart beat faster and she couldn’t help but feel on edge. Each next step was tentative and cautious. Her eyes scanned the kitchen and fell on the sleeping ghost on the fridge top. She let out an uncomfortable awkward laugh. Of course it was the ghost. She should have realized that was what they were feeling. That natural human fear response to a ghost's aura. Of course they would be feeling that, made only worse by the very real grief.

She found Jack exactly where she expected him to be. He was sleeping but it hadn’t been peaceful. The covers around him were rumpled and his eyes bagged. He had probably been lying there awake for a good portion of the night. She knew she had been before the exhaustion took her into that nightmare.

“Jack?” she asked softly as she gently shook him. Thankfully he didn’t startle, his eyes opened awkwardly with a tired and confused groan.

“Mads? What is it?” he paused, wiping sleep out of his eyes, “did something happen?” concern drifted onto his face and was alleviated as she shook her head.

“I found something. The accident,” she stumbled over the memory of it, “it wasn’t. I was looking through the control panel files. They’d been changed.”

“Sabotage?”

She nodded, “someone bypassed the safety controls and the power. They rigged it to go off while you were working.”

“But I hadn’t… I passed it off to…” his face dropped, “if I hadn’t then… Mads this…”

“Jack, that doesn’t make it your fault. Danny wanted to help and we didn’t know. We couldn’t have,” if anyone was to know it would be her she’d noticed something had been changed, even if it wasn’t obviously malicious at the time.

“Who is then, who even had access?”

“I don’t know but now we know we can find out,” Maddie said firmly, a promise. Another promise unsaid but clear, that whoever was responsible was going to regret this.

[First] [Previous] [Next]

[laxyaklovesloz]

DannyMay 2024 #18 Revenge

Chelsea was starting to get the hang of this game. They were almost done with level three, and she decided to venture ahead.

“Be careful alone,” Sam warned.

“I'll be fine,” Chelsea said. “I know you all have my back.”

She explored the digital landscape, imagining what it might feel like. Probably smooth with sharp edges. Sam, Tucker, Danny, and Jacob watched her wearily, knowing the dangers that lurked in the game. But they were too occupied with fighting monsters to go with her.

Out of nowhere, a blast hit Chelsea's in-game character. Her screen lit up with the words “Game Over.” She heard groans over the phone.

“Not cool, man,” Tucker said.

“What happened?” Chelsea wondered.

“Some jerkwad shot at you,” Danny explained.

“Don't worry,” Jacob said. “We got revenge for you.”

Chelsea wished she could see what happened. Instead, she had to wait for her character to reload.

“Thanks, guys,” she said while waiting. “You're the best.”

[mark-of-chrysus]

#9

It was a wonderful day in Seoul and Danny was an awful person. And if it happened that Eugene was on the receiving side of him choosing violence that day, well it was simply bad luck~

It started with him coming into Eugene's office out of nowhere with an obviously fake neon green mustache and a box of spiders, which was promptly yeeted at the president and shattered all over his desk. A sharp high-pitched scream had his men tumbling into the office before they took a look at the little black devils skittering everywhere and booked it out without another backward glance.

It took almost three hours until they finally managed to get rid of all the spiders and shards and coax the mini evil-doer down from the chandelier. The spawn of chaos that was Danny had long since escaped the building, leaving behind only his fluffy green mustache attached to a cardboard cutout of one of their female streamers.

Eugene was displeased but chalked it up as a one-off thing, a sort of petty revenge from a man who could do nothing more to him. Oh, how wrong he was.

After the spiders came the baby crocodiles with lightsabers strapped to their backs. That was an ordeal that left the teen president quite paranoid since it had taken place in his personal apartment.

The third attempt wasn't stopped by his quadrupled security nor their new fancy gear. After all, Daniel was a one-man army, stupid electric fences and radars were no match for the ungodly amount of caffeine and pure spite that fueled his revenge. Judging by the screams and colorful curses, Eugene and him were on the same page.

Another terrorizing attempt successfully completed, Danny pulled out his list and checked another item off. Unfortunately, despite being useful for the drip, his makeshift batman mask was a bit hard to see through, so he had to take it off to read the next item on the list.

"Hmmm, okay, let's see... Spiders? Check. Baby alligators with light sabers? Check. Possessed Michael Jackson Animatronics? Check. I think I have time for one more before the loop ends...let's see..."

ghosts of all the bugs he's ever killed crawling on his skin? Nah, too tame.

waking up at a furry convention? I think the loop will reset before I have time to wait for this year's furry convention.

injecting him with truth serum before a fancy gala? Too much political drama, and too little chaos.

Daniel paused at the last one, a shark-like smirk overcoming his features.

"This...Heh...This is going to be good...Hehehehe MUAHAHAHHA-"

"Can you knock it off!" His neighbor reinforced his words by knocking on their shared wall rather forcefully.

"Sorry!" Came the boy's sheepish reply.

Even evil masterminds have to be mindful of their manners when committing atrocities, he nodded to himself before returning to the task at hand with an impish smile. He set out to gather his army.

The next day at 9 AM sharp the Worker's main building was invaded by an army of angry middle-aged women, armed with various household appliances, all claiming that the young businessman had seduced their daughters.

"He promised to marry my Lia!" A lady wielding a portable vacuum cleaner shouted indignantly at the poor receptionist, underlining each word with a menacing thump of her weapon onto the counter.

"He already proposed to my daughter!" Another woman chimed in waving a mighty frying pan with a murderous expression.

"Mine's pregnant with his baby!" Came the enraged shouting of another.

"My-"

"He-"

The crowd erupted into outrage, screaming even louder than before and banging onto the walls and floor while trying to speak over one another. Another outrageous comment, another wave of shouting and banging, until the whole street and every employee in the building had stopped to watch the chaos.

Daniel's muffled giggles were abruptly cut off when he felt the telltale tug on his soul that came with every reset.

"No wait, I didn't get to see the aftermath!" He whined, but to no avail.

"At least I get to try out the rest of my ideas in the next loop." He shrugged, downing the remaining chips in the bag.

[mutable-manifestation]

#omg I can just see it#they baby proof the house little by little#so the bats can't use the same excuse twice#which mean that the excuses get more and more ridiculous#until they're forbidden to handle anything sharp#and every corner of furniture is just duck taped with foam#damian lost his katana to one of his brother's excuse and is seething#as a revenge his next excuse is#i burned myself with the coffee machine#while looking his family in eyes and watching them fill with horror#sorry got a bit carried away with the tags#danny phantom#dp x dc#dp x dc prompt#DPXDC#dc x dp

Not the coffee 😩😂😂

DP x DC prompt #19

An incident occurred near the Waynes, and while they are confident in their abilities to protect themselves, they need to keep up appearances and hire a bodyguard.

Enter Danny Fenton

[wildestheart4ever]

Back on my half-baked “Danny Phantom adopts Jason Todd” nonsense [Original post  x] with more detail:

Danny raising baby ghost Jason for however long Jason’s been dead. Jason basically yoinks out of Ghost Zone existence and Danny thinks he moved on or whatever have yous.

Danny’s reluctantly accepting of the fact, but he really liked the kid [or whatever the remnants of him were], so there’s a lot of sad times :( :( :(

Until Jay is being dunked in the pool in what we DCxDP fans collectively agree is corrupted/dead/impure ectoplasm.

All powerful being of the Infinite Realms that Danny is, immediately notices the return of his little ghostly fledgling and snatches him.

And just....never gives him back.

Talia and whatever other league members that were there just waiting for Jason to resurface and then just kinda stand there dumbfounded when it becomes clear to them that it ain’t happening

“......Welp, time for plan G-2.0″

Danny realizes he got a very amnesiatic, pissy LP corrupted baby back and decides it's time for some extensive therapy....and a purifying bath, cause his little Jay smells like rot.

Jason obviously ain't gung-ho about paternal figures and is very gung-ho about his revenge plans, but he obviously has no idea how to get out of the GZ so he’s kinda a lowkey prisoner for a while there.

The baths are nice.

The purifying is a long multi-session type thing, so Danny takes that time to just hammer it into Jason’s head “Hey, your plans for the morally corrupt are all fine and dandy, but maybe don’t go around hurting innocent people just cause you got a massive chip on your shoulder”

Danny basically makes it clear that Jason is still technically under his jurisdiction and he will kick his ass if he strays from the path of righteousness.

A robin is saved that day

See Bats? Danny ain’t a complete enabler

It takes months before Danny thinks Jason is clearheaded enough to go out into the world and start leaving his bloody prints. If he assigns some shadows to keep an eye on Jay in a fit of over-protectiveness, well then that’s his business

If he winds up staying around ClockWork’s tower to watch Jason kick ass and take heads like a proud parent watching his kid’s soccer game, well that’s his business too.

Shut up, ClockWork

Cue aforementioned scandal with the Joker. [After what I decided was a terrifying session of Joker getting tortured by the souls of his more angrier victims “That’s just a taste of what’s waiting for you on the other side >:)”]

Pure ectoplasm has a weird calming affect on the LP infected, so while reminding Jason that he has a purifying session next month, Danny gives him Cujo as a substitute in the mean time.

“He’ll be there to protect you, keep you company, keep you clearheaded. He obviously doesn’t need to be fed or taken out to do his business - you know the deal. Also just so you know, if these bats give you any trouble, Cujo will get you out of that mess.”

Danny says this, all while giving Batman that too wide, sharp-toothed grin

He spends a few minutes saying goodbye to Jason like he’s sending him off to school or smth.

Jason is lowkey embarrassed and maybe viciously gleeful at how awkward it’s making Batman.

Danny bids farewell like this was just another day of world saving, and not him basically telling Bruce he’s ain’t giving Jason back so easily before leaving in the same bone-chilling display as when he came in [ala Eldritch horror lookin, souls of the damned swarming him like a gruesome looking cloak, light fixtures flickering ala horror movie, with deranged whispers of what might have been him saying See you again soon]    

Robin may have gotten the promise that Jason wouldn't go after his ass, but he sure knows he ain’t sleeping tonight.

The others still feel the chills.

Jason remains unbothered “That’s just him being dramatic, he wanted to scare the shit out of you.”

And just leaves with his new dog.

They don’t get to follow.

Cujo doesn’t let them.

So Jason proceeds to go about his business becoming a crime lord with his loyal and protective two-faced hound from hell in tow.

The criminals are qaukin’ in their boots.

Batman is unbothered cause he’s still distracted by the fact of being in a custody battle with the fucking Ghost King

He is very much considering using his contingency plans for Phantom.

Superman won't let him.

[shootingstarwritings]

Keepin’ it in the Family

Manfred—Freddy for short—was a young man that spent his life in the shadow of his uncle’s side of the family. Meek, shy, unassuming, and more of an indoors type. “I’m more of a type B kind of fellow,” he would answer whenever someone asked him what kind of person he was. Meanwhile, Daniel Crawford and his son, Alex, were the exact opposite. Tall, strong, and always willing to get down and sweaty in an activity. They often dominated every family gathering and gleefully hogged the spotlight shined on them.

“Did you know Alex got a football scholarship… Daniel bought a second house… oh my gawd, li’l Danny got so buff last year, can’t believe he used to be my younger bro…!” On and on Freddy would hear until he got sick of it.

“Why dontcha join a team or somethin’, squirt?” his cousin Alex teased him while roughly messing up his hair. Although Freddy couldn’t deny his cousin was annoying and far too energetic, he couldn’t bring himself to hate him. There was always an authenticity behind his invites to play football with his friends. He was brutish but kind. That was all.

Freddy’s uncle Daniel was a different story.

On a certain day during a family gathering, Daniel concerned Freddy in a hallway. “Perhaps if you applied yourself more," he once told Freddy, the disdain clear in his voice, "you'd get as far as my boy does in life." The rest of the family was just a few rooms away, but their cheerful voices were worlds away. “But until you do that, I want you to stop spending any time with Alex. Honestly don’t know why he wastes his precious youth on someone like you.”

Freddy didn't respond but nodded while glaring defiantly at the floor. He jumped back as his uncle grabbed him by the throat and forcefully tilted his head upwards. Freddy let out a sharp hiss of pain but prevented himself from screaming.

With a low voice, his uncle Daniel said, “Look at me while I’m speaking, you little shit. Don’t want your mediocrity holding my golden son back. Stay away from him or else.” He punctuated his last words by shoving Freddy to the wall. “Can’t believe you and your father are related to us. Well, guess we know who got the better genes in the family.”

Freddy glared at him as he walked away. It was painful, but he could endure. As long as he lived, he would not let this abuse break him. The day would come when he would prove him wrong.

However, it all came to a head about a week ago, when Freddy announced his plans for a graduation party. Most of the replies in the texts he sent out for his family were some variation of, “Oh, I’m sorry Freddy, but your uncle Danny is planning to celebrate his promotion at work that day. Perhaps you can reschedule.” As always, Freddy remained overshadowed.

“Bastards,” Freddy’s father, a rotund and balding man by the name of Benny, exclaimed as he saw the texts. “Can’t even spare a day for you. It’s always those two pricks.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Freddy muttered, glaring down at the texts on his phone. How often had his family ignored him in favor of those two? How often did his uncle mistreat him to guarantee that his ‘golden child’ Alex would remain as successful as he was? The questions kept echoing in his mind until, finally, he decided to cut this cycle.

“If you want,” his father tried again, “we can spend that weekend just the two of us, son. We can travel and celebrate our way."

“It’s all right, dad. I know exactly what I’m gonna do,” said Freddy as he marched off to his room. He would have to draw up the runes and memorize the incantations before long. By being efficient, he would have the spell all set by dawn’s early light.

However, his father stopped him by placing a firm hand on his shoulder—a rarity. “Hold on son," Benny said in a tender voice. "I understand what you're going through, believe me, I know. I was never the golden child of the family either. Danny made sure of that." There was disdain in Benny's voice that Freddy had never heard from before, but he had little time to dwell on it as his father continued. "But, to me, you'll always be the golden child, Freddy. I just want you to know that." Then, Benny pulled his son in for a hug.

Freddy eagerly returned in, shoving his thoughts of revenge to the back of his mind for the moment. Now, he just wanted to spend time with his father. Dusk came and went, and the two bid each other good night as they settled into their rooms on different floors. With nothing to interrupt Freddy, he set off to work.

It began when he found a book of occult rituals and spells in his father's study. Never had Benny spoken about this to Freddy, and Freddy lacked the courage to confront his father about it. Instead, he took photos of the various pages of spells and tried them out for himself—another reason why he did not want his father to know that he knew. By doing this magic in secret, Freddy could indulge in his fantasies that were now just a spell away. Coaches, classmates, and neighbors all fell to his charms and rituals; fulfilling deviant actions according to his whims.

My father can never know, Freddy thought bitterly to himself as he drew the sigils on his rug with chalk, he’ll never know so he’ll always be proud of me, his pure and hard-working son.

Tonight would be the first time Freddy would attempt the possession spell as well as the first time he broke a rule he had set for himself when he first began to use magic: never involve a family member. Now, he read through the procedure on his phone and prepared to sink into an even deeper level of deviancy. A bit of the text at the bottom of the page was faded, but the instructions were all written out. It’s most likely flavor text, Freddy thought.

This spell would allow the invoker to project his soul towards an unassuming target. From then on, a battle of wills would begin, and the dominant soul would take over the body. The invoker is not guaranteed to be successful. Caution must be exercised, and a strong will is heavily recommended.

It was a frightening thought, but Freddy did not allow that to slow him down. His hands trembled with excitement and his heart raced with pure adrenaline as he pictured his uncle’s sexy yet punchable face.

In the heat of the moment, Freddy cast the spell alongside the rising sun. Once those accursed words left his lips, a sharp and painful sensation spread throughout his body. It was as if his soul was being stretched and twisted, like a rubber band. However, he just gritted his teeth and endured it as he always did. The suffering of a spell or his uncle’s harassment was all the same—nothing he couldn’t handle. However, when the pain continued to grow in magnitude, Freddy was afraid this spell was going to rip his soul in half.

Then came the release—the catharsis. The spell catapulted Freddy’s soul at a speed rivaling that of a bullet train’s. Freddy screamed both in terror and sheer jubilation as his soul traveled through the dawn-dyed sky. Everything, even the sun, was a blurry mess until he arrived at his uncle’s expensive house, where he finally stopped. He was back in control.

Slowly, Freddy glided through the halls of a home that alienated him for most of his life. While searching for his uncle’s room, he stumbled upon his cousin Alex sleeping on top of the covers, clad in just a pair of boxer briefs. Though Freddy intended to keep moving, he remained still and watched his cousin’s chest slowly rise and fall as he slept peacefully.

“You deserve a better father,” Freddy whispered, caressing his cousin’s cheek with his ghostly hand. His voice and touch were nothing more than a chilly breeze on Alex’s bare skin. When Freddy noticed the goosebumps that spread down his cousin’s arms, he drew back and excused himself from the room. His target still needed to be punished.

A few hallways later, Freddy found himself floating above his uncle. Daniel, just like his son, slept above his covers and nearly in the nude to deal with the brutal summer heat. Even so, beads of sweat still glistened in his half-naked, furry body. His breathing was just as peaceful and gentle as Alex's as it passed through his heart-shaped lips. "If only you were as kind as you look while sleeping," Freddy said as he glared down at Daniel. Hatred and lust pushed him forward, and he gleefully enacted his plan.

Having spent quite a long time manipulating the wills of men, Freddy knew that the best way to overwhelm them was to do so post-coitus. “You’ll be my ticket to happiness,” he whispered to his uncle, “you piece of shit asshole.” He began by running his tongue down his uncle’s bare chest, giving the nipple a lick.

The effect was immediate. Daniel’s eyes shot open as he shivered at the paranormal touch. He looked around, perplexed. “What the fuck?” he said.

Freddy snickered at his uncle’s confusion. He pushed his uncle back onto the bed, one hand twirling and playing with his nipples while another teased the bulge hidden by the briefs. “W-Woah, oh shit!” said Daniel, trying to kick his invisible assaulter away to no avail. When the sensation didn’t stop, Daniel attempted to rise only for Freddy to roughly shove him back onto the bed again.

“I’m not done with you!” Freddy roared to his uncle’s terror. The rush of power was intoxicating, and Freddy greedily drank in every pathetic whimper and moan from his uncle. He pulled his underwear off, revealing his uncle’s large hard-on, and threw it to the side. “God, you’re thick,” Freddy moaned as he took his uncle’s cock in his hand. “C’mon, cum for me, old man,” he said as his lips played with the pecs. He continued to mercilessly play with his uncle, humping his body to elicit more of his moans.

“N-No—aahh, mmm! Pl-Please stoooAAAAHH—stop!” said Daniel as he felt his core tighten. Freddy noticed it too and quickly released his uncle from his sexual grasp. “AH! Oh fuck, I’m—ngh!” said Daniel as his abused dick begged for release.

“Not yet, that's gonna be my climax, uncle," Freddy said. To reward his uncle was far more than what the bastard deserved. Instead, Freddy would steal his climax, his body, and his dignity. “You’re mine!” he said, caution be damned as he dove into his uncle’s body.

“F-Fred—OOF!” The sheer force of Freddy’s dive caused his uncle to bounce on the mattress. “Oh FUCK!” Daniel cried out as he felt impossibly full. Two souls occupied the same space, and much like the shifting plates of the ever-changing earth, stress was born of this conflict. Daniel gritted his teeth, even more sweat coating his convulsing body as he attempted to hold onto his consciousness. However, Freddy’s essence continued to spread.

The possession spell operated on a similar concept as ink falling upon a cup of pure water. Slowly, the water would darken as it took on the shade of the ink until it was almost completely indistinguishable from the original ink that tinted—or tainted—it.

Just as the ink colored the water, so too did Freddy’s soul spill and tint his uncle’s very essence—mind, body, and spirit. Daniel, of course, continued to push his nephew’s soul out of him. He kicked at his bed and gripped his sheets so tightly his veins were visible in his arms. Until the very last second, he tried to will his body back under his control. However, he eventually collapsed onto his bed, eyes rolling into the back of his head, and blacked out. His body convulsed for a few more minutes as it took on the last remains of Freddy's essence, before finally quieting down.

Freddy opened his new eyes and immediately put his attention back on his uncle's dick. "Oh god, uncle, you're so sensitive!" he said as he continued stroking himself. “I-I’m CUMMING!” he bellowed as he shot load after load in his new form, seeing white as he fell back onto the sweat-covered sheets. “Oh my god, Danny-boy, I can’t wait to wreck you today.” Freddy would seize the day, and by nightfall, he would make his uncle a shame upon his family.

A few hallways away, Alex had his own visitor.

“S-Stop, uncle!” Alex screamed as the much larger soul of Benny finished entering his younger body. “Y-You can’t—AH! AAAHHH!” He whimpered and moaned just as his father did before collapsing into a mess of convulsing limbs.

Alex blacked out, and his uncle Benny awoke. “God, that felt good,” he said, stretching his new, muscular body. It was pleasurably sore after the workout he gave his unwilling nephew. “Ya got a good lookin’ bod, kid,” he said, grinning as he rubbed his hands down his new form. “But it’s my turn to be the golden child, if only for a day,” he finished, excited to have his hole filled in a day filled with debauchery.

Unbeknownst to father and son, there was more to the spell lost as the ink faded from the page. It read as follows:

Just as the water becomes nearly inseparable from the ink, the souls also become unable to be torn apart. There is no hope for the water to become pure and no hope for the ink to be whole. They are bound together for eternity, as are the souls tainted by the invoker. The invoker’s body will perish upon the spell’s completion, and the invoker will remain in their new body until the possession spell is used again, thus killing the old target.

[teenwolffan-with-nolife]

The Witch and The Wolf Pt.10

Word Count: 2,692

Characters: Kate Argent, Derek Hale, Scott McCall, isaac Lahey, Stiles Stilinski, Danny, Reader

Pairings: Eventual Derek Hale x Reader

Warnings: angst, some fluff, cliffhanger

A/N: sry this part was long and ended where it did

Masterlist  Series Masterlist

“Kate,” you gasped, looking around the room, remembering the grimoires that you left out on the floor.

Your heart rate quickened, remembering everything you had in your apartment, including a photo album with you and the Hales.

“W-What are you doing here?” you asked nervously.

“Oh, well, sweetie, I just came to say hi! And, I’m sorry for your loss,” she got up from the couch, circling around you.

“T-Thanks for coming,” you said.

Really? Stop stuttering idiot she’s gonna know something’s wrong

“Yeah… I thought you broke your leg,” she pointed out.  

Your crutches laid on the other side of the room, while you stood on both feet.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad, I’m just trying to get used to walking again,” you explained.

“Right, well, I’m putting together some hunters, to kill Derek,” she started.

So that's why they were here

“Oh,” you said softly.

“I wanted you to join,” she stood in front of you.

“Why me?” you asked.

“I was thinking you might want some revenge for what he did to you at that school. Unless there’s a reason you don't want to,” she asked.

Yeah, cuz it wasn't Derek, it was a fucking alpha.

You shook your head no.

“So, does that mean you'll join? You’d be a good addition to the team,” she said.

“Uh,” you started, thinking.

You could join, tell Derek what they were planning, and keep him safe. Or, you could say no, and not have to go through the stress of keeping it from Kate.

You nodded.

“I’ll join,” you said shakily.

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she waved goodbye, before walking out as you let out a sharp exhale.

“God,” you got your phone out, dialing Derek’s number. 

It went straight to  voicemail.

You frowned, calling again, only to get voicemail again.

“Derek, where are you? Please call me,” you said, running to your grimoires that laid scattered on the ground, cleaning them up.

You dialed his number again.

“I don't know why you’re not picking up, but Kate knows about me. Pick up your stupid phone,” you said shakily.

Oh god, I’m so dead.

If she didn't see the pictures of you with the Hales, then she definitely saw the spellbooks.

---

“Hey, I got your missed calls. What’s wrong?” Derek walked into your apartment, holding two coffees in his hand.

“I called you last night! It’s 8 AM!” you yelled.

“Sorry, I was busy,” he said.

“Doing what?!” you yelled.

“...Stuff. Look, I’m here now. Just tell me what happened,” he sat next to you on the couch.

“Kate was here last night, when I got home,” you replied.

You saw him immediately tense.

“What?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yeah, I got home, and she was just sitting there,” you stood up, pacing around the room.

“What did she say?” he asked.

“She’s putting together a group of hunters… to kill you,” you said nervously, feeling panic rising in your chest.

“Oh,” he said.

“But, I’m part of it. Which means I can tell you everything that she’s planning,” you took a breath.

“That doesn’t matter, did she see anything? Spellbook or anything?” he asked

“I mean, she probably did. We didn’t hide anything, everything was… oh my god! What if she tells other hunters?! Oh my god, I’m so dead. I’m deader than dead! She’s gonna kill me,” you panicked, as tears rushed to your eyes.

“(Y/N),” Derek started, walking to you.

“I’m gonna die,” you could feel your heart breathing faster, taking quick breaths, hyperventilating.

“(Y/N),” he put his hands on your cheeks, stopping you.

You looked up at him nervously before he wiped your tears.

“Nothing’s gonna happen. Kate won’t lay a finger on you. I’m not letting anyone hurt you. Not ever again. I promise you,” he said softly, stroking your cheeks softly.

You nodded softly, resting your head on his chest.

“Thank you,” you whispered softly.

He pressed a small kiss to your forehead before stroking your back.

“C’mon, it’s time for you to go to school,” he said.

You nodded, giving him a small smile before grabbing your bag as you left.

---

“How?” you heard Scott groan as you approached the two of them standing in the hallway.

“I don't know, figure it out, man,” Stiles sighed.

“What are you talking about?” you watched as Stiles jumped slightly, hearing your voice.

“God! Can you start wearing a fucking bell or something?!” he exclaimed.

You smiled at him, before turning your attention back to Scott.

“I need to get Allison's necklace. Derek needs it,” Scott explained.

“For what? He didn't tell me that,” you frowned, recalling your conversation with him this morning.

“When his sister was in town, she said she had two leads. Our chemistry teacher and Allison’s pendant,” Stiles said.

“Hey… how come you weren't on crutches last night, but you are now? Also, that cut from the alpha healed fast… wait! Are you...” Scott exclaimed.

“Shh! Yes and no, it's complicated,” you said.

“What’s complicated? Oh, yeah, and what did you need my blood for?” Stiles asked.

“The alpha tried to turn me but I did a spell to stop it from happening before the full moon. I needed Stiles’ blood for it,” you explained to them.

“Wow, that’s.... a lot,” Scott said.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll see you guys later anyways, I need to find Isaac,” you waved to them before walking down the hall.

---

“We're gonna get in trouble, (Y/N)!” Isaac whisper-yelled as the two of you ran down the halls.

“You're getting stressed for no reason! We’ll be fine,” you said.

After a lot of stress and boredom, you decided to ditch your classes for the rest of the day, pulling Isaac out with you. If Kate did know your secret and you were in your last few hours of being alive, you’d want to hang out with him instead of go over Shakespeare.

“What if we get caught? My dad will be pissed,” he sighed, following you.

“We’re not gonna get caught, I ditch class all the time,” you shrugged.

“But I don’t! (Y/N), please!” he whined.

“Oh just shut up and follow me! Let’s go get some coffee or something,” you said, pushing open the doors for the school.

“You’re crazy,” he kept the door opened as the two of you walked to his car.

“I’m driving, what are you doing?” he asked, as you started heading for the driver’s seat.

“I’ll be fine,” you said.

“Uh, no, you can’t drive. I’m driving,” he opened the door, sitting in the seat.

“So you’re gonna make me walk all the way to the other side of the car, in a cast?” you questioned.

“Well, you don’t have to. You can always sit in the back,” he smirked.

“Fine,” you rolled your eyes, walking to the passenger’s seat. You couldn’t wait till you didn’t have to fake your broken leg.

---

The two of you sat on your couch, laughing and laying down.

“So? Was I right? Did you have fun?” you asked him.

“Yeah, I did. But, I gotta ask, I know you have friends that are closer to you than I am. So, why did you ditch with me?” he asked.

“I don’t know. You’re a pretty cool person, and you haven’t annoyed the crap out of me recently. I’m happy I got to know you,” you smiled.

“So this is what it feels like to have friends,” he scoffed.

“You don’t like people or people don’t like you?” you looked at him.

“I guess a mix of both, but it doesn’t matter. Are you going to the winter formal?” he asked.

“I didn’t plan on it. Why?” you asked.

“Well, I was thinking we could go as friends,” he shrugged.

You paused for a few seconds, debating if you wanna go or not.

“Isaac,” you started.

“Please? It’ll be fun. You don't even have to dress up, just the two of us going to have fun,” he begged.

“Fine,” you rolled your eyes.

“Great,” he smiled.

You heard your phone buzz, a text from Stiles.

Meet me at my house? Lab stuff and I need help

You sighed but agreed. You could tell he was lying, he always refused your help on any school-related subject.

“Okay, now I have to go. But, I’ll see you tomorrow, yeah?” you asked.

He nodded, hugging you softly before he left.

---

“This stupid cast has been annoying me all day. I want to rip the stupid thing off me,” you groaned, entering Stiles’ room.

You heard Noah call for Stiles, as you both turned, seeing Derek standing by the door. You glared at him, as he motioned to Stiles to be quiet and go to the door.

“What?” he mouthed to you.

“You didn't tell me what Laura found?!” you mouthed back. He frowned, shaking his head.

“I can't understand you,” he replied.

“You’re stupid,” you mouthed.

He glared, crossing his arms. He definitely understood that.

“Hey, if you say anything,” Derek pushed Stiles against the door, threatening him.

“Like what? Hey Dad, Derek Hale is in my room, bring your gun,” Stiles sassed.

Derek froze for a second.

“If I’m harboring your fugitive ass, it’s my house, my rules, buddy,” Stiles said.

Derek nodded, letting go of him. You could see the idiotic smile on Stiles’ face before he pulled Derek’s jacket, fixing it slightly before walking back to the table.

Derek jumped at Stiles, who flinched, as you held in your laugh, clearing your throat. You were supposed to be mad at Derek, you remembered.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this lead that Laura had!?” you exclaimed.

“Because last night, you were freaking out already, and I didn't want to make it worse. I was just looking out for you,” he explained.

Well, that's a good reason

“Just tell me, okay? I’d rather find out from you than from freaking Scott and Stiles,” you sighed.

“Hey! What’s so bad about Scott and Stiles?” Stiles pouted.

“Really?” you crossed your arms.

“You guys are mean. What happened last night anyway?” Stiles asked.

“Kate broke into my apartment. I don’t know if she saw any of my witch stuff or my Hale stuff,” you shrugged, trying to keep calm.

“Wh- What the hell?!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Let’s not talk about it before I freak out again. Okay, so what are we doing? And if you lie to me and say lab work I'll smack you,” you sat on his chair.

“Okay, you and Allison both got texts from Scott's phone, but he didn't send it. So, whoever sent it, is the alpha, right? So, we can track the text and find where it was sent from, and who sent it,” Stiles explained.

“That’s…. not dumb actually. Good job, Stiles. But, who’s gonna track it? I’m no tech expert and Derek dropped out of college,” you said.

“Stop telling everyone I dropped out of college,” he rolled his eyes.

“Oh, right, sorry. He didn't get into college. Better?” you smiled innocently, looking up at him.

“You’re a terrible person,” he glared.

“I know it’s my specialty,” you smirked.

“Okay, when you two are done with arguing, Danny’s coming to work on our lab. So, I’ll ask him then,” Stiles said.

“Danny?” you raised an eyebrow.

“He got arrested for hacking into something a few years ago...” 

---

You held in your laughs as Stiles forced Derek to take off his shirt in front of Danny.

“Stiles. This shirt, no fit,” Derek clenched his teeth, trying not to rip Stiles’ neck out. 

You and Stiles were both definitely going to hell.

“What do you think of this one?” you asked, handing him a striped orange and blue one.

“Hey! That fits! Danny, what do you think?” Stiles turned to Danny.

“Uh, it’s not his color,” Danny shook his head.

“Oh, you heard the man,” Stiles smiled at Derek.

Derek glared at Stiles, taking off his shirt again.

“You swing for a different team but you still play ball, don’t you Danny?” Stiles looked at Danny.

“You’re a horrible person,” Danny sighed, looking at Stiles.

“I know, it keeps me up at night. So, the text,” Stiles started.

“Stiles! None of these fit!” Derek yelled.

Danny stared at Derek, before looking away.

“I need the ISP, the phone number, and the exact time of text,” he grabbed his laptop.

Derek sat next to you.

“I’m gonna kill Stiles,” he whispered.

“Why? It worked. You have a good body for a twenty-two year old college dropout,” you held in your laughs.

“Stop telling everyone I dropped out of college or I’ll tell everyone that you didn’t understand what the birds and the bees meant until two years ago,” he whispered.

“I told my mom that because I wanted her to still believe that I was a virgin,” you raised an eyebrow.

“You’re still a virgin,” Derek replied.

“Am not,” you scoffed.

“Are too-” you heard Stiles clear his throat loudly, before glaring at the two of you.

You rolled your eyes before sighing, muttering the words college dropout under your breath.

---

The three of you sat in Stiles’ car, outside Beacon Hills Hospital.

“I don’t know what to say,” you said.

Before anyone could reply, Derek grabbed Stiles’ head, pushing it against the steering wheel as your jaw dropped open.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?!” Stiles yelled.

“You know what that was for!” Derek yelled back.

Your phone started ringing, getting a call from Scott.

“Hey,” you picked it up, putting it on speaker.

“Hey, where’s Stiles? He’s first line, he’s supposed to be here!” Scott exclaimed.

“What? You didn’t tell me you got first line?!” you turned to Stiles.

“Surprise. Look, just tell my dad I’m just gonna be a few minutes late. I’ll be there soon,” Stiles sighed.

“Okay, hurry,” you ended the call.

“Stiles, you’re not gonna make it,” you sighed.

“I know, but this is more important. Let’s go?” he looked at you.

You nodded your head, as the two of you got out of the car.

“Be careful,” Derek said as you started walking to the hospital.

You gave him a small smile.

“Hello? Stiles is here too, you know. I’m human, I could use that luck,” he said loudly.

Derek glared at him, as the two of you walked into the hospital.

---

“It’s like completely empty. Melissa isn’t here,” Stiles sighed, as the two of you walked around the hospital.

“Try to find Jennifer and ask her,” Derek said over the phone.

You walked into Peter’s room, tensing when he wasn’t there.

“What?” Stiles asked you.

“Peter’s gone,” you gasped. You felt the pieces clicking. Peter was the alpha, your mom said it all along.

“What? (Y/N), get out of there, now!” Derek exclaimed.

“Stiles, let’s go now! He’s the alpha!” you pulled him, running after the room, as you bumped into Peter.

“Shit,” you muttered, seeing Jennifer standing behind the two of you.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna die,” Stiles whined.

“Long time, no see, (Y/N). What’s it been? 7 years?” he asked, walking near you.

“You piece of shit. You killed my mom!” you yelled at him, as your eyes glew purple.

“That was an accident. I loved your mother, you know. I would never hurt her. I was trying to kill you,” he shrugged.

“Occidere!” you yelled.

Stiles ran, hiding under the table, as Peter stopped, hunching over in pain.

Shit, that should’ve killed him your eyes went wide, holding the spell.

“You know, I was hoping you weren’t gonna realize what I was trying to do. At least it weakened you, a lot,” he laughed.

You squeezed your hand in a fist, as blood fell out of his mouth, hunching over.

“You killed Laura! You killed everyone!” you yelled.

“I thought you knew better than to be emotional right now,” he growled.

His eyes turned red, as he broke the spell, throwing you aside.

You heard Derek roar, in wolf form, as he charged at Peter.

Peter grabbed his shirt, throwing him against the wall.

Oh hell

[chayacat]

Devil’s Sweet Star (40)

Fandom: Dead by Daylight

Ghostface x Female Reader  

Rated M for Violence, Language and Smut  

***

Aaaaaah.... what a beautiful night. A clear sky, stars dosing this beautiful black sky, A full moon, well round, very bright. If werewolves existed, it would be a perfect full moon for them, an ideal evening of blood and chaos for them. But even though he's not a werewolf, tonight is a perfect night for Danny. Finally.... FINALLY, he will be able to kill Hoggins. Finally, he will be able to finish what he started so long ago. Finally, he will be able to turn the page. What to do next?  Keep killing of course. But here or elsewhere.... that is the question. He couldn't wait to see you too. But not tonight.

The question that everyone must ask themselves is: but how could he go out with all his equipment, and above all, what will he be able to tell you, given that you live together? well the answer is very simple, and luck is definitely on his side. For the answer, he will simply find a great excuse, out of his awesome and insane mind. And as for luck, you are not at the apartment tonight. No, you spend the evening at Melina's, the latter having invited you to come and watch horror movies at her house. Danny really has a very good star over his head, although he would have had no trouble finding an excuse to go out tonight: being a journalist can be a curse for sleep but also a blessing for murder.

Danny was posed against his van as usual, observing the home of his future victim and revenge: Richard Hoggins. Good god it burned his whole body to go there now and massacre him without any mercy, without any strategy, just... a good bloody murder. But he must remain calm, this is not the time to be spotted and suspected by the police. And amazingly, even Jed, who is only Danny's alter-ego, an identity he had created from scratch, even he wanted to kill him.

“A beautiful night to kill, isn't it? Well... only you can see it.” said Jed inside Danny’s mind.  

“I expected you to give me yet another lesson in morality as you know how to do so well. What's going on Jed? Would I have ended up rubbing off on you?” responds Danny chuckling.  

“Don't claim victory too quickly. I would never endorse what you do, but let's say I'm going to make an exception for this asshole. He has to pay for Carla.”

“You talk about Carla as if you were the one who lost her forever. Whereas you are just an invention. A simple name. You don't know anything and you don't feel anything.

“You created me the very second you needed me. I may not be real, but I am a part of you, your good side, your past innocence. And also, your psychologist in a way. And I will continue to exist, as long as you need another identity. Involuntarily, you let me access your life, and now we are two sides of the same coin. People would say that... I am your imaginary friend. That looks like you like two drops of water.”

“Oh, shut up...” replied Danny, sighing and looking away.  

“... What will you do, when (y/n) learns the truth. Are you going to kill her or are you going to let her live?” said Jed looking at Hoggin’s house.  

“It will depend on her reaction. If I could leave her alive.... that would suit me. But if she confronts me or tries to call the police... I will have no other choice.”

“Will you only be able to... that’s the question.”

Danny got up, looked at the house one last time before putting on his mask and taking his knife. It’s time. Let us not make Hoggins wait any longer. The house was just as guarded as McKellan's. But that's not what was going to stop Danny. Far from it. The harder the victory, the more delicious the reward will be. He walked to the side of the house where Hoggins' office was located. The window was closed at first glance but it is better to check.

As usual, he will use the equipment he finds on site. One of Danny's golden rules is never buying any equipment. Otherwise, the police will be able to trace him via his bank account. Beginner error. He climbed up to hoggins' office window and effectively it was closed. But the one in the next room, on the other hand, was not completely. It was an archive room, surely where he kept his contracts, press articles, and anything else that could interest him.

“Well... a real library... I am sure that even the police archives room is not as large and as full of documents as this room... Hoggins protects a real time bomb. If anyone stumbles upon all this... His entire family over thousands of generations will be dishonoured.” Said Danny looking inside the drawers.  

And why not take a look? it won't hurt anyone. And with a little luck... Danny opened each drawer and looked at the different files until he found the one looking for: the file recounting the events of 4 years ago. The juicy little contract he had made with Dr. Pheels was to vomit. Certainly, he gave funds to the hospital for each death... but he recovered the double because he took 3/4 of the state aid that Pheels gave him. In the end everyone was a winner. And Hoggins even more.

“Motherf*cker. I hope you have taken advantage of this money, asshole. Because you're going to pay a lot tonight.”

Danny put the files away before passing the door that linked the archive room to the office. The office was empty, Hoggins was not there yet. Perfect. This gave him time to inspect the room. No camera. No alarm. Nothing. Good. The ropes of the curtains could be used to tie Hoggins. Or even more. Compared to McKellan, he did not exhibit artifacts or sharp objects in his office. Fortunately, he had taken his own knife. The office stinked of luxure, we saw that it was made to measure and at a price ... to fall to the ground.

Danny really wonders if he paid for it with "clean money". Rotten as he is, Hoggins may well have paid workers with dirty money, or not paid at all. It's possible with men like him. They are so stingy, so conceited, that they are able to do anything to keep a single penny. Noises were heard in the corridors. He’s coming. Danny got to the door and when Hoggins arrived, he did not see the latter hidden by the door.

“These cop bastards are seriously starting to hit me on the nerves to take care of my business! And that journalist... this Olsen.... if I could make him disappear... I thought I wouldn't fall back on him here. Maybe... maybe I could swing everything on him. After all,... I know who he really is.” said Hoggins before drinking.  

Danny quietly advanced behind Hoggins ready to knock him out. The latter still drank a few sips of his glass of whiskey before turning around and falling face to face with Ghostface. The latter did not give him time to do or say anything that he punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, knocking him out instantly. Danny sneered at the inert body before taking a chair and the ropes from the curtain, then lifted Hoggins up to tie him up on the chair. He locked the door of the office and then returned to the archives room where he found a closet in which there were boards, nails and an electric nailer.

He prepared the scene by nailing the boards together, took the remaining curtain ropes and installed all his work in such a place and arrangement that when the police enter, Hoggins' body will be the first thing they will see. And if it could be Willhelm first... the pleasure will be all the greater. Hoggins woke up after a few minutes without panicking, without trying to free himself. As if he knew what lay ahead.

“Well, well... McKellan had acted like you at the beginning... you want to play the big hard... but you are only little girls.” Said Danny chuckling.

“It's funny coming from a man who doesn't take responsibility for his crimes and hides under a Halloween ghost mask. But we have to believe that criminals are all bad guys who want to play the big tough.” responds Hoggins before taking a punch in the face.  

“You have more mouth than the other idiot. But you will quickly regret it, it’s me who tells you.  You forget who I am.”

“Oh no... I know exactly who you are... Jed Olsen ... or you'd rather I call you... Danny Johnson?”

“...I see that you have done some research... and you have learned your lessons well. After all, you've had plenty of time for 4 years. But you're going to pay for it. Up to the last litre of blood.”

“All this for a poor little girl who was going to die anyway? You're resentful Johnson. You could have simply turned the page and avoided poking your nose into my stuff. I was very saddened to learn of the tragic death of Pheels...”

Danny punched him again before pulling out his knife and planting it in Hoggins' leg. The latter groans in pain before falling with his chair to the ground. Danny put himself on top of him and chained the blows more and more loudly. He lifted Hoggins by the hair and dragged him for meters to place him in front of a wooden cross large enough to hang a man on it.

“You see my dear Richard... this "poor little girl" as you call her had a future. And she could have got away with a treatment. The problem is that Carla had the misfortune to stumble upon you and your dear partner, Pheels. And YOU have decided to let her die in the name of profit. What's stupid for both of you is that you're falling on me. Young journalist... and crazy to bind. She was the only thing that helped me stay upright and you killed her. Pheels paid his share. You're going to pay yours. But for you the bill is going to be heavier. You know why? Because you're also going after MY girlfriend. And that... you should never have.” said Danny, preparing the electric nailer.

“When she learns of it, your little café boss will swing you at the cop. Anyway, you're screwed. I have a whole file on you and when Wilhelm sees it and read it...” said Hoggins with a sneaky smile.

“Oh. Are you talking about that?” replied Danny by exiting the folder. “You've done some really good research tell me. I loved rereading all these things about myself. You could have made it a novel even. Too bad this file disappears with you. At least it's going to burn. You... I'm reserving you for something more... artistic. I hope you are ready to meet your creator. Because you're going to join him right now. And in the same way as him. Or rather in a bloody way than him.”

Danny took the electric nailer and equipped it. He began by shooting Hoggins in the legs, who groaned again in pain. Unfortunately for him no one could hear him. He shot again, but this time in the arms, then in the torso. Blood was dripping from everywhere and Hoggins was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Danny detached him and put him on the cross where he nailed him like Jesus.  

“You are...completely twisted. You will burn... in hell.” Said Hoggins.  

“Maybe. But for now, it's you who's going to rot in hell. Suck the devil’s d***, you son of b**ch.” responds Danny before killing him with a nail in the head.  

A demonic smile stretched over his face. That's it... He's dead. But it's not over yet. Much remains to be done. Danny used the curtain ropes to tie Hoggins to the wooden cross. Then with the little one remaining, he created a kind of crown with nails, which he fixed to hoggins’ head. Then he bombarded the whole body with nails, causing it to bleed from all sides.  

He then nailed Hoggins' hands and legs to make sure he did not fall and turned the cross over to make the symbol of the devil. This is a very successful work of art. However, one or two small details are missing. It's not bloody enough for his liking. He used his knife to eviscerate Hoggins, then slashed an angel's smile. Danny used Hoggins' blood to write a message on the wall and backed off to admire his work. There... there it’s better. There is only one thing left to do: to make this folder disappear. And the only way... it's to burn it.

But Danny is not stupid, he is not going to put the fire at home. He will burn it outside in the garden. He observed his work one last time, took a picture in order to have a proof to show you, then he left the place. Once away, halfway between the van and the house, he pulled out a lighter and set fire to the folder. He let go of the latter, watched him burn for a few minutes, then went to the van and left the place to go home.

“Finally... It's over. I will be able to turn the page...” said Danny, looking at the road.

“Yes. But you're going to keep killing. And that's not cool.” responds Jed sitting on the passenger seat.  

“Did you honestly believe that I was going to change after that? Oh no, obviously I'll continue... but I would no longer be alone. I hope you enjoyed the show from my mind.”

“Make Hoggins the counterpart of God and crucify him? I must admit that I loved it.”

“This is normal... you are me.” replied Danny looking at the passenger seat before focusing on the road again.

Danny arrived in the parking lot of the building. He changed in the back of the van, put his suit in his bag and went up to the apartment. When he opened the door, he noticed that it looked empty. He walked to the bedroom which was also empty. You hadn't come back yet, it was perfect. He went to his office to put down his bag, take out his suit and put it in the washing machine. Once the latter was washed, he began to dry it in his office, which he locked. He took a shower, put on his pyjamas, and threw another washing machine. At the same time, you return, all smiling, exhausted but delighted from your evening. Danny took you in his arms, kissed you and guided you to the room so that you could both go to bed.

What you didn't know yet was that the job was done. Finally, Danny could turn the page on his past. And he shot it in the most beautiful way.

An inverted cross on the photo of a demon.

***

(My first injection of the vaccine is only next Tuesday! I'm a little stressed because I don't know how I'm going to react to this first injection of vaccine. So, I prefer to warn in advance that this could delay the release of the next chapter of DSS. But don't worry! I'm solid so everything should go well! As I told you, I will try to do a small teasing post for fanfic re8, but it is complicated to summarize something without telling too much. And I always struggle to find a title. I hope you’ll like this chapter like the others ones! Well, it's time for my brain to rest! Have a great weekend to you all!  See ya!)

[cywscross]

From @lightveils on Twitter (free to use wherever!). I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. I definitely have enough fics to fill it lol~

-0-

A Fic You Love Without Knowing The Source Material:

I was born for this by esama (Assassin’s Creed | Altair x Desmond | M)

Juno did her best to lead him to her preferred fate, but the end is coming and Desmond has doubts.

A Fic With A Premise That Shouldn’t Work But Does:

Proposing To Strangers by moonstalker24 (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | G)

At the end of a strained relationship, crime novelist Stiles chooses to hide from the world inside a bar with far too many motorcycles outside it for comfort. Here he'll meet the man of his dreams, eat food and propose marriage, all within the first five minutes.

Peter doesn't know who this kid is, but he's cute and looks like he could use a break. So he feeds him. He's not expecting a marriage proposal, but with what comes after, he doesn't really mind.

A Fic You’ve Reread Several Times:

Hooverville by twothumbsandnostakeincanon (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | E)

Town to town, train to train, tent to tent.

By 1932, the dust had begun to blow and the jobs were gone.

Anonymity was a byproduct of looking for work, which made it both necessary and convenient.

Stiles had enough secrets of his own to know to look the other way when he saw something that shouldn’t be possible.

The ghost of a tail giving enough balance to disembark a moving train.

Near silent Latin whispered on the edge of a tent encampment.

A flash of burning eyes.

He had more than enough to worry about without adding the oddities of others, and besides- having unusually sharp teeth certainly didn’t make a man worse than the ones running from the wife and kids they couldn’t feed.

So Stiles kept his observations to himself. He kept his everything to himself.

Until he met a man. One with eyes so blue they seemed to glow- and then they did.

Stiles tried to look away, but for the first time he was stopped.

“Don’t be like that sweetheart. Aren’t you curious?”

A Fic You Still Remember Many Years Later:

All True-Hearted Souls by mardia (Temeraire | Laurence x Granby | G)

“For God's sake, if someone doesn't talk Laurence out of these constant heroics, I wouldn't bet a farthing on his chances; no, and not ours either.” Four times that John Granby helped save William Laurence's life. Laurence/Granby. Spoilers up to Empire of Ivory.

A Comfort Fic:

Nothing Improper by Bunnywest (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | G)

“How long since someone touched you, sweet boy?” Peter asks, his voice barely a breath in Stiles’ ear. “Days? Weeks? Months?” Stiles nods imperceptibly at that last one.

“After…after everything, after Allison,” is all Stiles manages to get out.

A Cathartic Fic:

Swing by ShippersList (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles wants to fly.

A Fic You’d Print And Put On Your Bookshelf:

Nose to the Wind by Batsutousai (HP | Tom x Harry | M)

While Harry had been content with his second chance, that didn't keep him from thinking what he could have done different, how many people could have survived if he hadn't been set on the very specific path he'd walked. Third time is the charm, though, right?

A Fic You Associate With A Song (x2):

Strange Duet by BelleAmante, thiliart (thilia) (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | M)

The past three years have been a series of shocking, or not so shocking, successes for 2018 Tony award winner and two time Grammy nominee, Stiles Stilinski. You don’t typically find classically trained opera singers singing alternative folk rock to crowds at Coachella. Nor do you find indie singer/songwriters winning best actor awards at the Tony’s for their Broadway debuts. Stilinski has made it his lifetime habit to defy and exceed all expectations.

-or-

A Steter fic loosely based on Phantom of the Opera

~

Full Circle by Nike Femme (FMA | Roy x Ed | T)

Edward Elric returns with amnesia. He has lived the past four years as Auric, a Gatekeeper. But there are some battles that only he can fight. Will his friends be able to awaken Ed, and what happens to Auric if they do?

A Fic That Inspires You:

Off the Line by esama (FFVII | Cloud x Vincent | T)

In which Cloud gets a Virtual Reality Dream Console – ShinRa's latest in virtual reality technology. Aaand everything pretty much goes downhill from there.

A Fic That Brought You On Board A New Ship:

Me and Mine by linndechir (Fast and the Furious | Deckard x Owen | E)

The last time they'd spoken, Deckard had told Owen that he was tired of cleaning up his messes. But the first thing he did after breaking out of prison was to take Owen to the other end of the world so they could lick their wounds and start planning their revenge.

A Fic You Wish Could Be A Movie:

Moving In (To Every Single Aspect of Danny’s Life, Including the Boring Bits like Dry-Cleaning) by westgirl (Hawaii Five-0 | Steve x Danny | T)

It felt wrong for Steve to sound unsure of his place in Danny’s life. His place in Danny’s life was at Danny’s side, driving him slowly insane. Steve should feel secure about that.

A Fic That Led To You Making Friends With The Author:

Begin and End by Rikkamaru (Log Horizon x HP | G)

This is how it begins: a boy rejected by his family, a boy reunited with his brother by his sister-in-law's intervention. A boy who found a family in an online game. But how will it end?

FREE SPACE:

Reverti Ad Praeteritum by Batsutousai (Fullmetal Alchemist | Roy x Edward | M)

Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.

A Fic You’ve Gushed About IRL:

Designation: Miracle by umisabaku (Kuroko no Basket | M)

It's been three years since seven human experiments, called "Miracles," escaped Teiko Industries, alerting the world to the presence of super-powered children. Now they're finally integrating into society-- going to normal high schools, playing basketball, falling in love-- and trying to find out if it's possible to truly escape their past.

A Fic You Associate With A Place (have to self-rec for this one):

Safe Harbour by cywscross (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles x Chris | T)

Peter didn't think he'd find a home here. He certainly didn't think he'd find a home with two other men.

Chris and Stiles prove him wrong.

A Fic That Made You Gasp Out Loud (kind of? it was suspenseful):

Sanctuary by DiscontentedWinter (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | E)

The Hale Wolf Sanctuary isn’t just for wolves.

It turns out it’s for Stilinskis as well.

A Fic You Found At The Right Time:

slow increments by Areiton (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles)

Peter is enigmatic, egotistical, sometimes barely sane. He's sharp and cutting and takes more time to care for the pack than anyone.And sometimes, John catches him watching Stiles.

A Fic That You Would Read Fic Of:

if you try to break me, you will bleed by Dialux (Game of Thrones | Jon x Sansa | T)

It had been a slash across her chest from a White Walker’s sword that finally ended her life. Sansa’d landed in a puddle of her own blood, and she’d died quickly, quietly.

And then she’d awoken with a gasp, trembling, in a bed that had burned under Theon’s betrayal.

A Fic That Made You Laugh Out Loud:

The Path towards Unwilling Godhood by Sky_King (Bleach | Kisuke x Ichigo | G)

Ichigo has never had the most normal life, and this latest chapter of it is no different.

"I'm not a god!"

A Fic With A Line (Or Two) That You’ve Memorized By Heart:

Atlas by distractedKat (Star Trek | Spock x Jim | T)

Between what was and what will be stands James Tiberius Kirk, in all his fractured patchwork glory. Because saving the Federation was only the beginning.

A Fic That Gave You Butterflies:

The Rest of Our Lives by mia6363 (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

“I don’t know, as a kid I watched a lot of movies, you know? And at first I figured like… I’d be on some great adventure that would take me away from it all, you know? Like Indiana Jones comes around and is all, ‘Hey Stiles, buddy, come with me we’ve got to go save the world.’ Then… you and… everything happened… then I just… I figured I’d die before I was eighteen.”

A Fic That Embodies Something You Value In Life:

The Boy Sleuth by Shey (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles is eight when he discovers a box of his mom’s old Nancy Drew Mysteries in the back of the guest bedroom closet.

A Favourite AU:

Love What is Behind You by KouriArashi (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | M)

Basically what it says on the label. Hunger Games type fusion. Stiles doing way better than anyone anticipates. Peter finds him intriguing. Ruthless, devious assholes working together to ruin bad guys, as the Steter ship is meant to be.

A Fic You Stayed Up Too Late To Finish Reading:

Of Dwobbits, Dragons and Dwarves by ISeeFire (The Hobbit | Fem!Bilbo x Fili | T)

Bilba has been a slave her entire life. All she knows of the outside world is what she sees from time to time outside the gates of Moria and the stories her mother used to tell her. Stories of a place called the Shire where her mother once lived and a placed called Erebor where, as far as she knows, her father still lives. Stories of dragons a thousand times larger, and more intelligent, than the beasts the orcs rode and of a strange concept called freedom where one was allowed to live as they wished with no one to tell them what they could, or could not do.

The stories meant little to Bilba. The only future she had was to live, and die, as a slave as countless number had before her.

And then the orcs dragged an injured female firedrake through the gates, her rider screaming obscenities behind her as he fought to reach her side...and everything changed.

A Fic That Made You Feel Seen (another self-rec lol):

i am addicted to death (so remind me what it’s like to live) by cywscross (Teen Wolf | Peter x Stiles | T)

Stiles is sixteen years old. He has already died seventy-eight times.

[spockvarietyhour]

Sharpe, the courtroom drama.

[darks-ink]

Exorcism - Ectoberweek 2019

What do you mean it’s June? Shush. Anyway, yeah. Final entry for Ectoberweek 2019 which I finally finished up for my birthday! Whoo!

Rating: Teen Warnings: yeah. Don’t wanna go into it too much because it kind of spoils the story, but just look at the title, the fact that this is angst, and that the ending is kinda ambiguous, and work off of that Genre: Angst Words: 3,347 Additional Tags: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Identity Reveal, Alternate Universe

[AO3] [FFN]

---

Maddie looked over at Jack, steeling herself. Her husband met her gaze and nodded, once, resolute.

They didn’t want to do this. Didn’t want to risk their baby. But they had to. The alternative was far worse.

“Danny,” she said, summoning a shaky smile. She hoped he wouldn’t see through it. Had counted on it, in fact. “Could you come with us, please?”

“Uh… Sure?” He looked confused, but got up anyway. He didn’t seem suspicious.

Good.

“What’s this about?” he asked as they entered the stairway down to the lab. “Why are we going to the lab?”

“We just need you to lend us a hand.” She looked at him over her shoulder, hoping that he would take the bait. Phantom was always a sucker for helping people. She wasn’t sure if that was genuine, or an act, but she hoped that he would fall for it all the same.

Danny scoffed. “Can’t Jazz help you?”

But despite his protests, he didn’t stop following them. Trailed after her into the lab, Jack staying behind Danny. Just in case he made a run for it.

Well, they wouldn’t be able to stop him if he fled in a non-human direction, but still. There were limits to what they could prepare for, and a ghost’s intangibility was one of those limits. At least Jack’s Specter Deflector would stop Phantom if he tried to phase past them.

The three of them stopped in the center of the lab, a mostly-clear spot in the chaos that covered the rest of the room.

She and Jack had cleared it for this exact purpose. The chaos surrounding them would hopefully distract Phantom so he wouldn’t notice the Ghost Catcher, assuming that he knew what it did. They didn’t know how long he had been there, overshadowing Danny. They had no idea what they had told him, unknowingly.

They had no idea how long they had been talking to a ghost instead of their own son. How long Phantom’s possession had gone unnoticed.

“So, uh… What did you need my help with?” the ghost asked with her son’s voice. With her son’s face.

“Just step over here,” Jack instructed, pointing at a seemingly random spot. While Phantom was distracted, Maddie shifted closer to the Ghost Catcher, hoping to keep it out of his sight until he could no longer dodge it.

“Alright…” He sounded reluctant, but followed their commands nonetheless. Maddie wondered if it was Phantom, trying hard to blend in, or Danny, who was exerting all the power he could, trying to help them save him.

She hoped it was Danny. She feared it was Phantom.

She hated that she couldn’t tell.

Her hands wrapped around the rod of the Ghost Catcher. She met Jack’s eyes, and he nodded, sharply.

Danny, having apparently seen Jack look at her, turned to look as well. His eyes, the crystalline blue she loved so much, grew wide.

“Mom, no—” was all he managed to say before she swung the Ghost Catcher at him, the net passing through Danny’s body harmlessly.

He stumbled, the ectoplasm clinging to him so tightly that he was tugged along a little. But the Catcher finished its sweep, drawing out all ectoplasm that Danny’s body contained.

The ghost regained his normal appearance—stark black and white coloration, vivid green eyes—as he fought the cables of the Ghost Catcher. It would serve him no good. They had replaced the normal netting with a new one, designed just for this occasion; sticky enough to hold a fully matured ghost.

Phantom flailed, growling like a trapped animal, his hands lighting up green. That was all the proof Maddie needed. Phantom was too dangerous to restrain, to trap.

They couldn’t risk him escaping. Having him take revenge on them, or, far worse, having him take revenge on Danny.

She shifted her hands down, flipping the safety off of their second new feature.

Jack stepped forward to hold onto the Ghost Catcher as well, and met her eyes. Inclined his head once.

Thus agreed, she pushed the button.

Phantom screamed. The sound was high and cutting, so loud Maddie was almost certain she could see the waves his voice created. His hands grasped wildly, unable to reach anything to hold onto, then tightened onto themselves. Had he been human, his knuckles surely would’ve gone white.

Danny watched the proceedings, wide-eyed, hunched in on himself. Poor boy. Phantom’s almost constant overshadowing must’ve been hell on him, on his mind. She made a mental note to herself to check in on Danny after she was sure Phantom was neutralized, make sure he wasn’t overly traumatized. Make sure he got therapy if he needed it.

Finally, after a few eternally long moments, Phantom started to lose his shape. His extremities grew softer, melting down as they lost their structural integrity. Color draining away to leave them a sharp green.

Unlike Danny, he had his eyes closed, still yelling terribly. At least the sound was petering out now, as he lost power.

The ghost started to melt away entirely, globs of ectoplasm smearing down the netting of the Ghost Catcher, unable to fall off entirely. The sight apparently spurred life back into Danny, as he gasped and set a single step forwards, towards Phantom.

She reached out and stopped him easily.

“No,” Danny keened, like he was in pain. “No, you can’t! Stop!”

“Shh, honey,” she shushed, pulling him against herself in a hug. She ran a hand through his hair, comfortingly. “Shh, he’ll be gone soon. He won’t hurt you anymore.”

“No!” Danny wriggled in her arms, like he was trying to get out. But it was weak, and pointless. This was just an after-effect from Phantom’s overshadowing. She would protect Danny until he was alright again. “No, you can’t! Stop! Stop!”

Maddie tucked Danny against herself, locking him in her embrace. “It’ll be okay, honey. It’ll all be over soon.”

Danny whined, a wordless cry of pain, and Maddie felt her heart clench with empathy. Her poor boy. How long had he been Phantom’s puppet? How long had they missed the obvious?

How long had he been watching a ghost take his place?

Jack grimaced where he stood, clearly itching to get closer, to comfort Danny as well. But he couldn’t. He was the only person holding on to the Ghost Catcher, and they couldn’t risk it malfunctioning. They had to wait until it was certain that Phantom was no longer a threat.

The ghost blubbered, a noise that might have been intended as a cry of pain. She wasn’t sure why—shouldn’t the ghost be too occupied with its disintegration to play pretend?—but it was a clear sign of its decay, at least. Almost all color had gone from him, body more liquid than solid. Phantom wriggled in the cables, but it was weak.

Finally, they had him. If only they’d been quicker, had noticed sooner.

Danny made another pained noise in her arms, and she shushed him. Her eyes were settled on Phantom, watching him dissolve. Cruelly, she wished the ghost could feel pain, that she could make it suffer for what it inflicted upon Danny.

With her son crying in her arms, and her husband grimly staring back, she watched Phantom fall apart. They stood still, stiff and tensed, until there was nothing left but a puddle of sticky ectoplasm.

“I’m sorry,” she said to Danny, ruffling one hand through his hair. “We should’ve noticed sooner, honey, I’m so sorry.”

Danny sniffled as she released him from her tight hold. His eyes were locked on the remains of Phantom; they’d dripped to the floor when Jack had turned off the Ghost Catcher.

“Yeah,” he said hoarsely. “Right.”

She stepped closer again, one hand up to offer comfort. But Danny flinched back, eyes finally ripped away and towards her.

They’re wide and blue, but cold, so cold. Fear and— and so much more.

“Danny,” Jack tried, voice far quieter than usually. “It’s okay, kiddo. Come on, let’s go up.”

Danny’s eyes wandered back over to the ectoplasm.

“I… would rather be alone,” he finally settled on, and before either of them could think of a reply, he wandered to the stairs.

It felt like a lump of ice had settled in her chest, replacing her heart. Did he blame them for not noticing sooner? He would be right, yes, but she didn’t think… didn’t expect…

“Jack,” she turned towards him, trying to swallow past the blockage in her throat, “Why do I feel like we’ve just done something terrible?”

“It’s just an after effect.” He didn’t sound like he really believed it either. “It’ll wear off. He’ll get better. He has to.”

---

But Danny did not get better. Maddie watched him, constantly, every moment she could, and he never seemed to get any better.

No, quite the opposite. His condition seemed to worsen by the day. By the hour.

Danny’s eyes grew dull and lifeless, his hair lost its shine, grew brittle. He became weak, sickly, in just a few days.

It didn’t make sense. The long-term exposure of ectoplasm should’ve been making him sick, but it didn’t. No, removing the contaminant—and the overshadowing ghost—seemed to be the cause of his sickness.

Even if it defied all science, everything Maddie knew…

She couldn’t deny it. Not when her son’s health—and his life, even—was on the line.

Still, Danny refused to talk to her or Jack. He avoided them when possible, and was silent and sullen otherwise. It hurt her to see him like this, slowly withering away, and unable to talk to him.

Somehow, the destruction of Phantom had hurt Danny, and she couldn’t even apologize. Couldn’t even ask him how he was feeling, how they could help.

Had the Ghost Catcher malfunctioned? Had Phantom’s grip on Danny been so strong that removing him had hurt her son in the process?

She didn’t know, and neither did Jack. And they couldn’t ask Danny, because he didn’t talk to them.

But he did talk to Jazz. Often they fell quiet when they saw her, breaking apart or drawing away into their rooms, locking the door behind them. But it was enough for her to notice them talking, near-silent whispers.

Jazz knew what was going on. Her sharp glare, as fiery as her hair, all but confirmed it. Danny had told her what was going on, when he wouldn’t trust his parents with the same knowledge. Even though they would be able to fix it, while Jazz couldn’t.

And despite all this, Jazz didn’t confide in her or Jack either. They all saw Danny grow sicker and sicker, and still Jazz did not come to tell them how to help, how to fix Danny.

Had they really hurt him so badly, that he would rather suffer through this than come to them for help?

Well, she wouldn’t stand for it any longer. Couldn’t stand for it any longer.

---

The sound of her knocking on Jazz’ door was absurdly loud in the quiet hallway. Next to her, Jack shuffled uncertainly.

Jazz opened the door, her eyes immediately narrowing when she saw it was them, not Danny. “What do you want?”

“To talk,” Maddie told her, honestly, almost pleadingly. “Danny is sick, Jazz. We all know it. Please let us help. He won’t talk to us.”

She snorted, a vicious sound. “Of course he won’t, not after what you two did.” But Jazz shook her head and opened the door to let them in.

“We tried to help,” Maddie protested, even as she stepped inside, Jack right behind her.

“You could’ve tried talking first, instead of immediately going for the violent approach.” Her voice was sharp, bitter. Relentlessly disapproving. “Hell, you could’ve talked to me, if you didn’t trust Danny. But you didn’t.”

Maddie felt her heart skip a beat. “You knew? About Phantom overshadowing him?”

“It wasn’t overshadowing,” Jazz said, nonsensically. “But, yes. I knew about Phantom.”

“It had to be overshadowing,” Jack countered, his voice quiet and strained. “Phantom was a fully formed ghost influencing Danny.”

Jazz shook her head, dismissive. “Phantom wasn’t a full ghost, although he was fully matured, or so I’ve been told. He was only half ghost.”

Only half ghost. The other half, what, human?

Oh.

Oh.

“Are you saying that Danny and Phantom were one and the same?” Maddie asked, sharply.

It was supposed to be impossible. One can’t be alive and dead at the same time, ghost and human. But removing the contamination from Danny’s body was killing him, wasn't it?

And they had always frowned at how much Phantom looked like Danny. The same haircut, although in white instead of black, and the shape of his face… The jumpsuit, so much like theirs. Colors inverted from the one they’d made for Danny.

Oh, Danny.

Jazz nodded, her mouth flat and thin. “You’re seeing it now, aren’t you? Finally connecting all the dots?”

“Oh, what have we done?” Maddie turned to Jack, his expression heavy and despairing as well. “It was our fault, wasn’t it? That he was Phantom in the first place? And all we did was threaten him for it, for something we did to him.”

“You didn’t just threaten him,” Jazz pointed out. It felt like knives stabbing into Maddie. “You have hurt him, shooting at Phantom or spitting vitriol. Not to mention the incident a week ago.”

“We just tried to help.” But they hadn’t. They had made everything worse, just because they had skipped talking and went straight for their weapons. “We thought Phantom was overshadowing Danny, so we separated them.”

“But that wasn’t the only thing you did, was it?” Jazz prodded, folding her arms. “Just separating them wasn’t enough, was it?”

No, it hadn’t been.

“Phantom was struggling too much, too violent,” Jack admitted, lowly. “We destabilized him, to make sure he wouldn’t hurt anybody anymore.”

Their own son. They had torn out half of him and destroyed it.

“That’s what did it, I think.” Jazz’s expression had softened somewhat, growing thoughtful. “He’s been separated before, but never for a long time, and never quite this perfectly. Phantom was always a little human, and Danny always a little ghost.”

“So that’s why he’s sick?” Maddie asked, frowning. “Because we forcibly tore away part of him? Part of his soul?”

“I don’t think that it’s that,” Jazz denied. “I don’t think he lost any part of him, of his soul or whatever. I think it was the ectoplasm, specifically. Danny had a terrible accident with the Portal, which could’ve—maybe even should’ve—killed him. But it made him half-ghost instead.”

The Portal? They had known that Danny had been in an accident with it, but… it had been downplayed, apparently. He’d said he hadn’t been hurt, not really. Just a little zap.

It could’ve killed him. It did kill him, in some awful way.

And they hadn’t even noticed.

“The ectoplasm was keeping him alive,” Jack said, coming to the same realization as her. “And we took it away from him.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” Jazz nodded, a frown on her face. “He heals—healed—faster, especially if he was in ghost form. I think the ectoplasm healed his injuries quick enough for him to survive, but in turn, he can’t live without it.”

He was dying. He was dying because of them. No wonder that he refused to tell them.

“Oh, Danny… What have we done?”

“You need to fix this. We need to fix this.” Jazz sighed, one hand coming up to twirl her hair. A nervous tic. “I’ve been working on it, thinking of possible ways to fix it, but it comes down to the fact that we’ll need to reintroduce ectoplasm to his body without poisoning him.”

“We need to bond it to his body again,” Jack agreed, a thoughtful frown on his face as well. “But we took away all the preexisting systems his body had to accept it, and we can’t possibly make him go through the original accident again.”

She was running through options now. This was where she excelled; making the impossible possible with science. “More like Vlad’s accident, then? It was a low amount of contamination compared to Danny’s, and it made him sick, but Danny must be biologically wired to be more accepting of contamination…”

“Uh, if I can interrupt,” Jazz said, her voice breaking Maddie’s train of thought. “Vlad’s accident was probably a lot worse than you guys think, since he’s also half-ghost. And, uh, the whole ecto-acne thing.”

The silence that fell was so thorough that you could hear a pin drop. She wasn’t sure she could even hear Jack breath. Hell, Maddie was sure she’d stopped breathing herself.

“Excuse me?” she managed, after an eternity of silence.

Jazz blinked at them. “Vlad is also half-ghost, although he’s not as much in the spotlight as Danny was. He calls himself Vlad Plasmius. The vampire ghost?”

The vampire ghost. The Wisconsin ghost, the one that had attacked them during the reunion. Which had overshadowed Jack and attacked the guests, had attempted to kidnap her.

That was Vlad, their old college friend, as creepy as he’d become.

“Oh,” she said, turning to look at Jack. Jack, who seemed to be taking that revelation harshly.

Not that she could blame him.

“Maybe not that, then,” she said. As much as she wanted to linger on this, properly deal with it, it could wait. It had to wait. Her son’s health was more important.

“I think that the problem is that you purged all contamination from his body,” Jazz said, apparently also willing to dismiss the previous topic to focus on Danny. “We all have some contamination, just from living here, you know? And Danny was always very bad about wearing a jumpsuit while cleaning the lab.”

“He built up a natural defense against it.” Of course. It made perfect sense. Slow, gradual exposure to ectoplasm weakened the reaction. Made him more susceptible to it. “But how could we possibly replicate that quick enough?”

Before he died, she thought, but did not say.

Jazz made a face. “I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve been encouraging him to eat some of the ecto-contaminated food we have in the house, slowly building up from the weaker stuff to the stronger, but it hasn’t been helping. Not enough, at least.”

“It might be building up his defenses, anyhow.” Maddie considered the plan. “It doesn’t have to contain enough ectoplasm to revert his condition, just enough to rebuild the acceptance. We can try diluted ectoplasm, but we need to make sure he can take it without poisoning him.”

“We’ll need some way to test for it,” Jack said, visibly shaking off the previous topic to refocus. “To make sure we don’t give him anything he’ll react badly to.”

“I’ll look into making more contaminated food as well.” She was good at making them accidentally, but on purpose? That was a whole new ballpark. “To make the transition gradual enough for him, and to bridge the gap between contaminated food and the diluted ectoplasm.”

“You realize that this won’t fix everything, right?” Jazz asked. “Even if you solve this, even if you help make him half-ghost again… It won’t be the same. It won’t undo everything you’ve done.”

She knew. One look at Jack confirmed that he did, too.

“That doesn’t matter,” Maddie said, shaking her head. “He’s our son, Jazz. We did this to him. Both the initial accident, and the purging afterwards. We’re fixing it, too. The rest is a problem for later. First, we need to make sure there will be a later.”

Jazz nodded, stepping aside, clearing the way to the door. “I’ll be watching. Making sure everything goes okay.”

“Of course, honey.” Maddie wrapped an arm around Jazz, pressing a kiss to her temple. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”

They were going to fix this. Danny was going to be okay.

Everything else was a problem for later.

[ymiwritesstuff]

Unfinished Business

This was the request I was initially very confused about but luckily the anon was kind enough to elaborate! Thanks for requesting and I hope you enjoy!

The request: No problem! The idea was that reader learns about Dio bullying jojo/killing Danny and just takes a swing at him, knocking Dio on his ass. After that Dio keeps trying to win her over but she always resorts to a fistfight. It’s all fun and games until he turns into a vampire and punches don’t work anymore

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood

Dio Brando x Fem!Reader

Summary: Confronting Dio and inflicting physical damage on him was undoubtedly one of your weirdest yet greatest achievements but never in a million years would’ve you guessed just how serious it truly was.

There were certain moments in your life when you got this gnawing feeling that something wasn’t right. A bubbling anxiety mockingly poking your insides, making it impossible to ignore. These moments were rare, but they were almost always there for a reason. Not once, had your gut feeling been incorrect or for naught. 

And this piercing feeling was stronger than ever as soon as your (E/C) eyes landed on the adoptive son of the Joestars.

The sinister aura that seemed to surround Dio was undeniable. You were sure that behind those sharp eyes and that admittedly charming smirk was an underlying malicious intent that was just waiting for its moment to strike. He was good at hiding it, often using his talent with words and good looks to his advantage. It was absurd how easily he was able to use people and turn them into his followers he could never consider as friends. No matter how much he tried to appeal to you, -which was quite a lot as for some reason he seemed to be intrigued by you-, that alarming feeling you experienced when near him was telling you to get far far away from him, because something was definitely not right about him.

And when his own brother voiced his concerns about him, your suspicions were more than confirmed. When Jonathan told you all about the things Dio had done to him, your blood was practically boiling in anger, your mind not wanting to believe those horrible actions to be true. You were angry. Not only because of the horrible things the golden haired male had done, but also because of how sad your friend seemed to be. Jonathan didn’t deserve this. He hadn’t done anything and his life was so cruelly ruined by his adoptive brother. 

How could someone do something like that? What twisted mind could bring so much suffering and misery to an innocent person’s life? Learning the truth about Dio made a part of you feel grateful for your feelings of anxiety as if it weren’t for them, you could have fallen victim to his charm, rendering you completely oblivious to his true nature.

But now that you knew exactly what was going on in the depths of Dio’s heartless mind, you allowed your wrath to take over your mind and blind you, causing you to quite recklessly make your way to the blond, unrelenting determination to defend your friend fueling you.

~

Your heavy, angry footsteps seemed to echo around the forest, your eyes filled with rage. Thanks to some “light” questioning from his followers, you gained information of his whereabouts, and were heading towards his location, your mind set on one very specific goal; To beat the shit out of him. You didn’t care if he was stronger than you, that very simple fact flew above your head due to your fury and the only thing you wanted to see was him laying on the ground, bleeding. Quite brutal, even from someone like you, but he deserved even worse than that.

When your (E/C) eyes see his figure leaning against a tree the only thing you can see is red, burning anger as you quicken your steps, unable to hold back any longer. Dio’s amber eyes turn to look at you, seemingly sensing your presence and his lips curl into that irritating smirk you had always hated. This time though, you want to wipe it off his face.

“(Name), what a surprise to see you here. How can I-” His smug voice gets cut off by your fist hitting his face, causing him to stumble back and fall on the ground. With a painful groan he grabs onto his now bleeding nose, a sight with pleases you greatly. Serves him right. His amber eyes look directly at you, filled with that same rage that fueled yours just mere moments ago. Before he has any time to yell at you for punching him so rudely, your stern voice comes forth:

“If I ever see you harming Jojo or if you even dare to come near me ever again, I’ll make sure that your nose won’t be the last thing I break.” 

And with that one, simple sentence you withdraw from the scene, leaving Dio confused, angry but at the same time, extremely impressed.

~

The impact of your attack stuck onto Dio for years and only seemed to increase his already existing fascination with you. Of course, the bitter taste of something akin to defeat left its mark on his tongue upon the impact but at the same time Dio couldn’t help but to feel a sense of respect for you. The fact that you had managed to inflict such brutal damage on him was impressive and he was now far more intrigued by you.

But try as he might, he soon realized that trying to win you over was anything but possible. Whenever he so much as approached you, your fists found their way in front of you, your eyes glaring at him with undying spite and hatred. To avoid unnecessary conflict, Dio thought it best to leave you be -though he could easily overpower you-, despite wanting to use his manipulative tendencies on you as well as get revenge for that utterly insulting punch you had delivered all those years ago, as it still somewhat haunted him.

But when the overwhelming power of the stone mask engulfed him, so did his thirst for revenge.

Your slow walking comes to a halt when that familiar feeling of something not being quite right hits you after it has laid dormant for years. Your eyes quickly scan the area that’s covered in darkness thanks to the night surrounding the area, not noticing anything out of the ordinary but that feeling just won’t stop bothering you. It’s as if someone is watching your every move, following you around like a shadow. And then you hear it.

“My.. Aren’t you brave? Walking around the dark and dangerous streets all by yourself.” 

That voice. “Who’s there?!” You immediately recognize it, but at the same time it sounds so different. As if it’s empowered by something very sinister. Cold shivers run down your spine as his chuckle echoes around the dark alleyway, your instincts immediately telling you to run. That’s what you try to do, but stop in your tracks when a dark figure you can only assume to be him lands in front of you. You notice the familiar amber eyes glowing dangerously, that same smirk dancing along his lips framing the sharp fangs in his mouth as he looks at you, that sharp gaze burning you like a flame.

Since running seems to be out of the question, you resort to the other method that had been successful last time, and swing your fist at him, hoping to make him stumble back again. Your efforts are in vain as he swiftly grabs your fist, his smirk only growing at the disbelief on your face. 

“That’s not going to work on me, (Name). But this reminds me, we do have some unfinished business.” His grip on your wrist tightens and with it sends waves of pain throughout your entire arm. The anxiety and fear within you only increases as Dio’s intense gaze looks directly at you. This was bad.

Your heart races, your stomach twists in fear and before you even realize it, your eyes fill with tears as you only now realize just how bad of an idea it was to launch your fist at this monster’s face all those years ago.

[cucumberkale]

Us Against the World

"And that bleeding wound where Danny had been ripped from Tim’s chest had begun to heal."

Tim had come to The Magnus Institute with one goal in mind: finding out information about the thing that had destroyed his family. What he hadn't planned for was finding a new family in Jonathan Sims and Sasha James. But after their little family is relocated to The Archives, it all seems to start to fall apart.

And Tim isn't willing to let what he's found go without a fight.

Written for @do-not-feed-the-archivist as part of the @tma-valentines-exchange

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29438268 

Out of everyone working in the Archives, Tim had known Jon the longest. When Tim had first joined The Magnus Institute as a new researcher, with his heart still bleeding from Danny’s death, he hadn’t planned on making friends. His only goal had been to find answers and to get revenge for his brother’s death. But on his first day, Tim had seen Jonathan Sims slip into the breakroom, his eyes down and head held low, as he tried to avoid attention. Tim had heard the whispers and gossip from the other employees. He knew what they said about Jonathan Sims. He knew what they thought about Jonathan Sims. Jon was The Institute’s biggest skeptic and Tim had come looking for answers to the supernatural that Jon didn’t even believe in.

But Tim couldn’t help but want to be friends.

He soon found himself working hard to get in Jon’s good graces. Hard work and dedication seemed to be Jon’s love language and, after five years in a publishing house, Tim was used to hard work and long hours. He stayed late and came in early, when he could, to help with the graduate students’ papers and researchers’ pet projects. He lent a helping hand whenever he could. He stood up for Jon in the breakroom to the other employees when Jon wasn’t there to defend himself.

The progress was slow and almost unnoticeable. Tim thought it was like trying to lure a stray cat into a house. Every time Tim thought he had a breakthrough, Jon put up more walls and pulled away. He seemed just as determined as Tim had been originally to not make friends.

Eventually, though, the stray cat that was Jonathan Sims came inside. Tim had earned a genuine compliment from Jon on one of his reports. After that, it was easier between the two. Jon had laughed at all of Tim’s poor “Dad Jokes.” Jon had agreed to eat lunch with him. Tim had earned Jon’s hard-won trust, and Jon’s hard exterior had broken down.

Then Tim met Sasha James.

The two hit it off together instantly. Sasha loved to joke and laugh, and Tim loved the feeling of making others smile. And Sasha was just as dedicated to her work as Jon was to his. It didn’t take long after meeting her for Tim to realize that Jon and Sasha would get along well. It took even less time for Jon to grow fond of Sasha.

After that, it was the three of them spending early Monday mornings at work and late nights at the pub on Friday night and lazy Sunday afternoons at Tim’s flat together.

And that bleeding wound where Danny had been ripped from Tim’s chest had begun to heal.

Jon was quick-tempered and sharp with his tongue but cared deeply for his friends. Sasha was knowledgeable and curious but loved to pull practical jokes. And Tim had his own little family again.

All of that changed when Jon had been offered the promotion to the Head Archivist position. Jon had given them the news over pints at the pub that Friday night, asking Tim and Sasha to join him as his assistants. Sasha had smiled and congratulated Jon on the offer. Tim had bought the next round and made a toast to Jon’s new job. But in private, Sasha had complained and ranted and yelled to Tim how it hadn’t been fair, how could Jonathan Sims have been given the position when Sasha had worked at The Institute longer. “He doesn’t even believe in this shit!” Sasha had yelled.

Their little family had changed: Jon wasn’t an equal anymore, he was their boss. Everything in Tim’s life had changed again.

And without telling any of them, Elias had given Martin Blackwood the third assistant position. Martin had been thrown into the mix and, after “The Dog Incident,” Jon made his displeasure for this stranger known.

It had been only a month and things between the four of them seemed to only be getting worse. The statements, the Real Statements, left them all feeling drained and anxious. Even though they had evidence, Jon still refused to accept that any of the encounters in the statements could be real. He went as far as to create ridiculous scenarios to try to explain them away.

And Jon had been getting worse.

Tim had seen Jon at his lowest. More than once, Tim had to calm Jon after waking up in the middle of the night, screaming from a nightmare and disoriented from waking up in Tim’s flat. Back in Research, Tim had seen his own dark, tired eyes reflected at him from Jon. But it had gotten worse. Jon had started working long hours, even longer hours than his time in Research. The dark circles under his eyes had only grown larger and dark. He had started to lose weight, his cheeks growing gaunt and his eyes sunken. And when alone, Jon held himself smaller, hunching his shoulders in as if trying to shield himself. It seemed like Jon was at the beginning of a spiral that Tim had already been down, and he didn’t know how to help.

Now, Jonathan Sims was running late.

And Jonathan Sims never ran late.

Tim had been blankly staring at the same page of the statement he had been working on all morning, unable to understand what he had just read. Instead, he found himself anxiously glancing at his phone screen every few minutes to check the time. As the morning dragged on, and Jon still hadn’t arrived to work, Tim found it harder and harder to focus on anything else. He was trying to be discrete about it. Tim had caught a concerned glance from Sasha more than once that morning. Every time, Tim had flashed her a reflexive grin before trying to look occupied with his work.

There wasn’t anything to worry about.

Jon was fine.

In all the time that Tim had known Jon, Jon had not been late for work without giving an advance notice. Jon had a daily routine that he liked to follow. He arrived early to gather the assistants’ assignments for the day and to deliver them to their desks. On most days, by the time Tim arrived at a punctual nine o’clock, Jon was already in the middle of a project of his own.

Tim knew he shouldn’t worry. He tried to remind himself that Jon was a grown, competent, adult man.

But Jon had broken his daily routine of the past month.

And Jon had been slipping lately.

It was now half-past eleven and Jon still hadn’t arrived to work.

Martin walked back into the assistants’ bullpen, balancing three cups of tea. Sasha took hers, giving Martin a quick “thank you” and a small smile as she turned back to her own work. Martin handed Tim his cup slowly, a look of concern spreading across his face as he looked to the old clock hanging on the wall.

“Is Jon in yet? I haven’t seen him all morning,” Martin asked.

“Not yet,” Tim said, taking a sip of tea. “I guess that means you haven’t heard from him yet either, then?”

Martin shook his head. “I doubt he would call me first, anyway,” he said, rubbing his thumb in circles around the cup. Martin glanced over to Sasha, “Have you heard from him? Did he say anything to you?”

Sasha sighed, looking up from her work. “Nope. I’d have let you both know, anyway, Martin.”

“I know you would, but…” Martin paused for a minute, looking between the two of them. “This is weird, right? Jon not being in. I thought he had a reputation about not missing work. Did Rosie leave a message that he called off?”

Tim shook his head. “I ran up to ask her earlier on my break and she said she hadn’t heard from him. Elias hadn’t said anything either. It’s nothing to worry about, he probably got caught on the Underground or something and doesn’t have any service.”

Sasha let out a quiet laugh. “Honestly, if something bad had happened, letting Elias know would probably be the first thing Jon did. At the very least, just so we’d all know he wouldn’t be at work.”

Martin didn’t look convinced though. He frowned, his round face pulled into worried lines, reaching up to rub at the back of his neck nervously. “I…I guess I’m just on edge. Those statements, the ones that don’t record properly, they make my skin crawl. I had to start doing research for the Vittery case this morning and, ya know,” Martin made a face, like he had just tasted something sour.

Sasha glanced at Tim, meeting his eyes for only a moment before she turned back to Martin. “Yeah, we know,” she said. “But Jon hasn’t gotten himself into anything spooky, I’m sure.”

“Yeah,” Tim said, trying to make his voice light. “He’d probably give a lecture to any monsters about how they don’t exist. He’d logic his way out of any trouble.”

“Do you think we shou-” Martin started to ask, when the heavy oak door of the Archives slammed into the wall, the sound of hurried footsteps echoing around the quiet Archives. A few moments later, Jon had rounded the corner, looking haggard and worn. He was wet, scowling as he peeled off his sodden jacket and hung it up to dry on the coat rack near the entrance to the Archives. Strands of dark, wet hair, usually neatly combed, were plastered to the sides of his face, with a few curly wisps sticking up at odd angles. His glasses were smudged with raindrops and his cheeks flushed. He was breathing heavily from running.

“Jon!” Martin said, his voice high and tight. Jon shot him a glare, opening his mouth for a retort.

Before he could say anything, Tim cut in. “We’ve been worried. You alright, Boss?”

“Martin’s just made tea,” Sasha added, holding up her cup to demonstrate. “It’s really good today, you look like you could use a cup.” Sasha gave Martin a pointed look. He jumped up nodding, slipping past Jon to the breakroom.

Jon let out a huff of air at watching Martin go and started for his office. Before he could get there, Tim stretched out an arm to stop him. Not touching him, Tim never touched him; Jon did not like to be touched. “Seriously, Jon. Take a seat and have a cup of tea. You look like you need it, it seems like you’ve had a morning.”

Jon glared at Tim, his whole body tensing as Jon’s chest puffed up. Shit, wrong words, Stoker. Before Tim could try to put the fire out, Jon sighed, pulling his glasses off and running a hand down his face. “Yes, alright,” he said, sounding tired. “That sounds nice.”

Tim smiled, grabbing a chair from the empty desk, and pushing it over to Jon. Jon had begun to run his fingers through his hair, trying to bring it back to some semblance of tidiness and professionalism. “Lay your earthly woes upon us, Boss.”

Martin came back, handing Jon a steaming cup of tea. Jon took a small sip and let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry about being late this morning. I…I was in Bournemouth this weekend. I had planned to be back in London last night, but there was a delay with my train, and it was delayed until this morning. Th-there weren’t any buses leaving last night, either so I had to take a train this morning, and with morning commuters, it had taken longer than I had planned. I was taking the Underground back from the station, and of course, you know how that can be, and I didn’t have any service.” Jon took a quick breath before taking a long drink from his cup, his glasses fogging from the heat of the tea. “I hope I didn’t cause any delays in your schedules.”

Sasha shook her head, “We all were just working on the projects you gave us on Friday. But what were you doing in Bournemouth this weekend? It’s a little too early in the season to be going to the beach.”

“Oh,” Jon said, adjusting his glasses. “I…I was raised in Bournemouth.”

“Have a fun family weekend, then?” Tim asked, elbowing Jon’s side.

“Uh, act-actually,” Jon stammered, his face flushing ever darker than before, “I was in Bournemouth for a church service.” He swallowed, looking down at his shoes. “It…the anniversary of my parents’ passing was this weekend. My grandmother always liked to attend their memorial mass. And, well, now that she’s gone too, it didn’t feel right to…to not go.”

The Archives fell silent. “Oh,” Tim said flatly. “Oh, Jon, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

Jon shook his head, taking another sip of his tea. “It’s alright. I don’t really tell anyone. I don’t really tell anyone because I know how they all act. I was too young when they died to really remember either of them. How can you miss something you don’t remember, right? But I know it always meant a lot to my grandmother, so I still try to make it to their service every year. And hers as well, of course. I’m the only one left, so someone has to do it.”

“You,” Sasha started, looking at Jon with an unreadable expression on her face, “You don’t have any other family?”

Jon looked over at her, his shoulders stiffening. “No, it’s just me now.” Martin made a choked noise, reaching a hand up to cover his mouth as he turned away. “It’s fine,” Jon said, his voice growing harder as he looked to Martin, sitting up straighter, his shoulders curving in slightly. “I’ve been on my own for a while now. And I’m certainly not looking to be pitied.”

“I wasn’t-” Martin began, but Jon cut him off as he got to his feet.

“That’s enough. I have work to finish, as do the rest of you. Martin, I want the research for case #0150409 on my desk by the end of the day. Sasha, I want you to try and get into contact with Mrs. Rosswood from case #0110711. And Tim, I want you to keep working on the statement I gave you last week.” Before any of them could stop him, Jon had placed his half-drank cup of tea on Tim’s desk and had hurried into his office, the door slamming shut behind him.

After their conversation that morning, Jon hadn’t come out of his office for the rest of the day. Tim had offered to stay late, to make sure that Jon went home. When seven o’clock had come and gone, and Jon was still in his office, Tim gently knocked on the door. “Jon,” he called, hoping for an answer. The office was quiet; Jon wasn’t recording a statement. “Hey, it’s getting late. You want to walk out together?”

There was a moment of silence before Tim heard the scrape of Jon’s chair against the stone floor. In a moment, the door to the office pulled open, Jon peeking his head around the corner. Tim didn’t know what he expected Jon to look like after an entire day in his office, but Jon looked fine. Normal. Like nothing had happened at all that day. “I’m sorry, Tim,” Jon said. “I need to finish looking over these reports for Elias before I go home. You should get going.”

“Are you sure?” Tim asked, keeping his voice quiet. It was just the two of them in The Archives. Tim could hear the clock in the assistants’ bullpen ticking loudly. “I don’t mind waiting, or if you need any help, I could lend a hand?”

Jon shook his head, talking a half-step backward as he began to push the door close. “No, it’s alright Tim. There’s nothing about it that you can help me with. I just need some time to finish it. I had planned to finish them this morning, but well, you see how that went. Good night, Tim.” Jon closed the door.

“Night, Jon,” Tim said. He got ready to leave slowly in case Jon had changed his mind. Tim dragged his feet as much as he could but, eventually, he had to give in that Jon wasn’t going to be leaving anytime soon. “Night!” Tim called loudly, with his foot on the first step out of The Archives. He hoped Jon would shout back for Tim to wait, that he was coming, and the two could walk to the Underground together, like they had done back in research. But the office was quiet. Tim let out a sigh, turning and walking up the stairs alone, his footsteps echoing in the quiet. Life in The Institute wasn’t as simple as it used to be.

Tim arrived at The Archives early the next morning, cursing under his breath as he pushed open the heavy, wooden door to the basement. He was balancing a carrier tray full of Styrofoam cups of tea and a brown paper bag filled with muffins and bagels from the cafe on the corner that Sasha enjoys, and praying that he wouldn’t spill anything.

Tim headed straight for the breakroom, gently placing the carrier tray on the sticky plastic table. Tim debated for a moment before grabbing a muffin from the bag and heading back to the bullpen. He hadn’t planned on arriving so early, but he thought he would have to wait in line at the cafe for breakfast and planned to leave his flat early.

He wanted to talk to Jon about yesterday. Tim wanted to talk to Jon to make sure he was alright, that he wasn’t slipping, and that he knew that he had friends. That even if Sasha was upset that she hadn’t been given the Head Archivist position that she still liked Jon. That Tim was there to support him. And even Martin wanted to help.

Jon had been pulling away more and more and Tim was afraid that soon it’d be too late to get him back. Had they been back in Research, if Jon had told either him or Sasha about his parents and grandmother, Jon would have been invited back to Tim’s to spend the night, just so he didn’t have to sit with his thoughts alone. Tim knew what that was like, to grieve alone. And Jon was grieving; he had snapped back at all of them so quickly, Tim knew him well enough to know he was deflecting. And Tim decided that having a treat for breakfast when everyone arrived to work might help to soften Jon up.

Tim sat at the breakroom table, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone as he waited for the others to arrive. Martin came first, looking surprised at Tim’s earlier arrival, and then Sasha. Tim asked each of them to stay in the breakroom with him instead of sitting at their desks and explained his plan. They were going to show Jon just how much they cared. Tim wanted this conversation sooner rather than later.

As nine o’clock approached, and Jon still hadn’t arrived, Tim started to get nervous. He was thinking about trying to call Jon, when Jon walked into the breakroom, two files in his hands. He looked surprised, his dark eyes growing large at seeing the three assistants in the breakroom and not at their desks. Tim hadn’t seen Jon arrive and hadn’t heard him all morning. Tim didn’t think Jon was stealthy enough to make it past all three of them without being noticed, but then Tim realized that Jon was still wearing the same outfit from the day before. “Jon,” Tim said, seriously. “Did you sleep here last night?”

Jon fidgeted for a moment before leveling his glare at Tim. “Good morning to you as well, Tim. Yes, I did. There is a cot in document storage that I used. It was too late last night after finishing my work for me to justify going home, so I simply stayed. Now, if you’re all finished with your breakfast-”

“We’re not,” Tim said, firmly. “And this breakfast is yours too. Take a seat, let’s chat.”

“Tim,” Jon said, his voice flat. A warning. Jon expected a fight.

“We’re friends, Jon,” Tim pleaded. He wanted Jon to remember the late nights they had spent together in research and the too-early mornings with a hangover after a late night at the bar. Tim’s little family had been falling apart at the seams and he needed Jon to remember what they had been. “You can talk to us.”

Jon shook his head. “Tim, there really isn’t anything to talk about. I don’t understand why you’re so insistent about this?”

“Because obviously you’re hurting,” Martin said softly. “Even if you don’t want to admit it to yourself. Especially about your parents and grandmother. You hid in your office all day yesterday. That means something is wrong.” Jon bristled, pulling himself up to bite back, but Martin continued. “It isn’t healthy to just keep feelings bottled up. And you don’t have to talk to me, or well any of us, but if you want to, all of us are here to listen.” Sasha nodded, giving Jon a smile.

Jon looked between the three of them. Tim had made sure that their little intervention was in the breakroom so that Jon didn’t feel cornered. It was even ground and Jon could run if he wanted. But Jon didn’t run. He shifted his weight back and forth, looking uncomfortable. “This,” he started, raising his head to look between the three assistants, “this isn’t a big deal. There are plenty of individuals who have lost their parents or don’t have family left. There are plenty who have it worse than me.”

Sasha nodded, “That might be true. But that doesn’t lessen your pain; that doesn’t stop you from being upset. And you deserve to feel happy, just like they do.”

Jon didn’t take his eyes off Sasha, but he wrapped his arms around his stomach, curling his shoulders in slightly. He looked so small, Tim thought. His glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose, a few wispy strands of gray hair hung loose by his ears. The four stood in silence for a few moments before Jon started to speak again. “I…I was a deeply annoying child.” Martin made a noise of protest, but Jon raised a hand to stop him from talking. “I was, I know I was a…handful, especially for my grandmother. She was my father’s mother and she raised me after my own mother passed. I was so young; I really can’t remember my own parents very well. Just from photos my grandmother showed me and some memories that I genuinely can’t tell whether they were just dreams.

“I missed them, of course. And as long as I can remember, once a year, my grandmother would take me to a church service that was celebrated in their memory and then to visit their graves. It, when I was younger, it all upset me so much. I…I cried through almost every service. And there were other people from town who came to the services. But, well, my memories of my parents started fading and I grew up.

“When we went to the church service, I didn’t cry. I was there more for my grandmother’s sake than anything for myself. And there weren’t as many of our neighbors from town, anymore. It was just me and my grandmother and a few people who attended regularly, they didn’t know my family. It wasn’t even a proper mass, just a small service.

“I…I think I’m…I’m an awful person for feeling like this, but the service never really meant as much to me as it did my grandmother. I’m not very religious; praying never helped me, it never made me feel anything other than foolish. But my grandmother found peace with it. After I moved away, I tried to make it back for the service, but if it didn’t work, I didn’t feel badly about it. But then, my grandmother died and it…it didn’t feel right to not. Like, I was letting all those years of care my grandmother put in go to waste and,” Jon paused, taking in a shaky breath. He had wrapped his arms around his middle and had curled into himself. “It hurts,” Jon said, his voice high-pitched, “that she would put so much care into remembering my parents and not as much into caring about me.” His breath hitched, and Jon doubled over, trying to keep himself from crying. Tim didn’t move. Martin reached out a hand to try and comfort Jon, but Tim brushed him away. Jon didn’t like to be touched, not without his consent.

“And I still went to the service, even though it doesn’t mean anything to me, not like it did for her. And what did I get for it? A writeup from Elias for being late and now the three of you…the three of you, standing here, and…and watching me…”

“The three of us standing here and caring,” Sasha said. “Jon, you aren’t alone. You’ve got the three of us. You’re going to keep having the three of us.”

“Yeah, Boss” Tim said, trying to keep his voice light. “You’re stuck with us. ‘Till death do us part.”

Jon glanced up to Tim, then to Sasha, and finally to Martin. Martin smiled, looking away from Jon’s gaze. “My mum, well, she isn’t always the most…caring person either. I think I know how you feel. But you’re still doing it, I’m sure your grandmother would be proud.”

“And you’re no less of a person for having your own desires from your grandmother,” Sasha said. “You’re okay.”

Jon sniffled, though he still didn’t look convinced. Tim took a hesitant step forward, “Do you want a hug?”

Jon didn’t hesitate before nodding. Tim moved forward, wrapping Jon in his arms, and pulling him against his chest and laying his chin on top of Jon’s head. “More?”

Jon nodded again, pushing himself closer into Tim. Tim laughed, reaching out an arm to invite Sasha and Martin. Sasha swooped in, wrapping herself around Jon’s right side. Martin hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether he was invited or not. Jon shifted against Tim, turning his head to look at Martin. Martin took that as his invitation and moved forward, surrounding Jon on his other side. Martin was large, taller than the other three, and his hug enveloped all of them. Jon’s whole body shuddered, and he began to cry. Tim could feel his shoulders shaking as he let go.

“You’re not alone in this,” Tim said, shifting to rub between Jon’s shoulder blades. “Not in The Archives, not outside of The Archives. You’ve got us. Nothing you do is going to chase us away.”

“Our little family of four,” Sasha joked. “Us against the world.”

“Us against the world,” Martin repeated.

The four of them stood there for a while, holding each other, and being held. There were still problems they had to solve, and Tim knew there were still monsters outside, but for a few minutes everything was alright.

[aion-rsa]

New British TV Series for 2021: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky Dramas and More

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Among the detective dramas and high-stakes thrillers due to arrive on British television in the next year or so, there are a clutch of sci-fi, supernatural and horror shows also coming our way. They include Sky One’s Intergalactic – the story of a wrongly imprisoned galactic pilot who breaks out of space jail with a gang of other high-security female prisoners – and Netflix’s fantasy novel adaptations Half Bad, Cuckoo Song, Lockwood & Co.,and The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – respectively, tales of witches, supernatural pacts, ghost-hunters, and a woman who jumps between bodies in her quest to solve a murder mystery. Coming to terrestrial TV, there’s Life After Life and The Three, stories about living multiple versions of the same life, and the miraculous child survivors of a mysterious plane crash.

On top of that, there’s plenty of true crime, a new Sally Rooney adaptation for fans of Normal People, and the latest from TV genius Russell T Davies. Find out what’s coming from the UK in 2021 and beyond below.

We’ll keep this list updated with new commissions and as casting details and release dates are confirmed.

Around the World in 80 Days (tbc)

Filming began in South Africa on this new eight-part adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic novel in February 2020, and was halted in March by Covid-19 with an episode and a half in the can, before resuming in early July. The European-funded series stars David Tennant as Verne’s famous explorer Phileas Fogg. To satisfy a foolhardy wager, Fogg and his valet set off on a globe-circling journey, this time in the company of journalist Abigail Fix, played by The Crown’s Leonie Benesch. It’s been adapted by a team led by Life On Mars’ Ashley Pharoah.

Anne (tbc)

World Productions, the makers of some of the best British drama around (Line Of Duty, Save Me, Jed Mercurio’s drama Bodyguard) are behind this four-part drama for ITV. Written by novelist Kevin Sampson, who was present at Hillsborough Stadium on the tragic day that ninety-six football fans died, it tells the real-life story of Anne Williams’ decades-long fight for justice for her teenage son and all the victims of the 1989 disaster. Maxine Peake stars in the lead role and Bruce Goodison directs.

Before We Die (tbc)

Adapted from the Swedish crime thriller of the same name (pictured above), Before We Die is the six-part story of a detective who discovers that her son is acting as an undercover informant in a brutal murder investigation. This English-language version is set in Bristol and stars Lesley Sharp, Vincent Regan and Patrick Gibson. It was due to film in Bristol and Belgium in winter 2020 and will be coming to Channel 4.

Behind Her Eyes (tbc)

Filming took place on this six-part Netflix psychological thriller back in 2019, so there shouldn’t be too long to wait for it now. Adapted by Hannibal and The Punisher’s Steve Lightfoot from Sarah Pinborough’s 2017 novel, it’s the story of a woman who becomes involved in an unconventional love triangle that develops into a dark, twist-filled web of secrets. Tom Bateman (Vanity Fair, Beecham House) and The Luminaries’ Eve Hewson star.

Best Interests (tbc)

Jack Thorne (pictured), the busiest screenwriter in the UK is returning to BBC One fresh from His Dark Materials series two with a new original four-part drama partly inspired by the real-life Charlie Gard case. It’s about a young child with a life-threatening condition whose medical team judge it in her best interests that she be allowed to die, a decision her family can’t support and fight every step of the way. The commission was announced in July 2019 and filming was due to begin in 2020.

Bloodlands (tbc)

Filming got underway in February on new BBC One crime drama Bloodlands, which stars The Missing and Cold Feet‘s James Nesbitt and takes place in Northern Ireland. The thriller, from new writer Chris Brandon, will revolve around a cold case that holds personal significance for Nesbitt’s detective, and follows his hunt for an assassin. Susan Lynch, Michael Smiley, Ian McElhinney and Lisa Dwan are among the cast. In June 2020, the Belfast Telegraph reported from producer Jed Mercurio that filming had wrapped before the COVID-19 industry shutdown and that an extended post-production period had been agreed with the BBC.

But When We Dance  (tbc)

Directed by Johnny Campbell (of In The Flesh and Dracula fame) and written by Esio Trot’s Paul Mayhew Archer, this one-off comedy-drama about two people with Parkinson’s disease was announced in late 2019 and will be coming to BBC One. Described as a touching and hilarious love story, it’s the story of Tony and Emma, a couple who first meet at a dance class for people with Parkinson’s. It promises to be a witty, heart-felt 90 minutes throwing a light on a much-diagnosed condition in the UK.

Chloe (tbc)

From Alice Seabright, director of Netflix’s Sex Education (pictured above) comes six-part BBC One series Chloe. It’s the story of Becky, who becomes so obsessed with the death of an estranged friend that she takes on a false identity to find out the true story.

Come Again (2022)

Robert Webb’s debut novel Come Again, which was published in April 2020, is being adapted for television. It was announced in May 2020 that Firebird Pictures Ltd is working on the screen version of the story by the writer-actor. Come Again is the first novel by Webb (Peep Show, Back, That Mitchell And Webb Look). It tells the story of Kate, a karate expert, computer genius widow mired in grief who gets an out-of-this-world chance to go back into her past and change the future. It’s part love story, part coming-of-age story, part spy thriller packed with action and 90s nostalgia.

Conversations with Friends (tbc)

Following the enormous success of Normal People – the story of young Irish couple Marianne and Connor navigating love, sex, university, class, friendship and mental health – the BBC and Hulu are collaborating on an adaptation of author Sally Rooney’s debut novel, Conversations with Friends. This one’s on a similar bent, as the story of a pair of young Irish students who get involved with an glamorous older, married couple. No casting has yet been announced but expect 12 half-hour episodes.

Cuckoo Song (2022)

Based on the acclaimed young adult novel by author Frances Hardinge (The Lie Tree, Fly By Night), this six-part fantasy series is coming to Netflix. Among the writers are Doctor Who’s Sarah Dollard, Elizabeth is Missing’s Andrea Gibb and The Innocents’ Corinna Faith. It’s the story of two sisters – one human and one a monster – at war with each other, who have to reunite to reverse a supernatural pact gone wrong.

Danny Boy (tbc)

Filming began in October 2020 on the provisionally titled Danny Boy, a new BBC Two feature-length drama about real-life soldier Brian Wood, accused of war crimes in Iraq by human rights lawyer Phil Shiner. Ordeal by Innocence’s Anthony Boyle will play Wood, with the magnificent Toby Jones as Shiner, with a screenplay written by Murder and Party Animals’ Robert Jones

Death Comes as the End (tbc)

With Agatha Christie adaptation The Pale Horse having completed Sarah Phelps’ quintet of adaptations for the BBC in 2020, it’s the turn of a different voice on a very different kind of Christie novel. That voice? Vanity Fair and Five Days screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes. And that novel? Death Comes As The End, a murder mystery set not in the early 20th century, but in ancient Egypt. The arrival of a new concubine sends ripples through an Egyptian priest’s family. The cast and air date have yet to be announced.

Devils (February)

Coming to Sky Atlantic in February, high-finance thriller Devils is based on Guido Maria Brera’s novel of the same name. It’s a story of a top investment firm, multi-million dollar deals, a mysterious death and a public scandal. Alessandro Borghi stars.

Domina (tbc)

From Simon Burke, the creator of Sky weird-thriller Fortitude, eight-part historical family saga Domina is set in ancient Rome, beginning in the wake of Julius Caesar’s assassination. Based on real historical characters, it follows the ascendancy of Livia Drusilla through the Roman political ranks, as she strategizes her way to the top, driven by revenge.

Englistan (tbc)

Actor, rapper and screenwriter Riz Ahmed (pictured) was announced in 2018 as developing this ambitious nine-part series with BBC Two, but no updates have been released since. It was set to be a drama about three generations of a British Pakistani family set over the course of four decades. As soon as there’s any news on this one, we’ll include it here.

Finding Alice (tbc)

Keeley Hawes stars as a woman who discovers a host of unsettling secrets when her partner Harry unexpectedly dies when they finally move into their newly built dream house. A black comedy coming to ITV, Finding Alice also stars Joanna Lumley and Nigel Havers, and was written by The Durrells’ Simon Nye.

Four Lives (tbc)

Previously titled The Barking Murders, Four Lives is a three-part BBC drama based on real-life killer Stephen Port, and the aftermath of the four murders he committed. Port raped and murdered four men between 2014 and 2015, using Grindr to attract his victims. Jeff Pope, who previously penned The Moorside and Little Boy Blue, is the writer, with Neil McKay directing. Sheridan Smith and Jamie Winstone will star alongside Stephen Merchant as Port. In this Entertainment Focus interview from April 2020, actor Michael Jibson confirmed the drama was currently postponed due to the ongoing real-life criminal case.

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Ginger Snaps (2022)

It’s 20 years since the release of Ginger Snaps, the first in a trilogy of now-cult horror films, and, according to Sid Gentle Films, high time for a live-action TV adaptation. The darkly comic feminist werewolf movie will be adapted for a TV co-production by Anna Ssemuyaba, who has previous written for Sky’s Guerilla, Channel 4’s Adult Material and ITV’s Unsaid Stories, and from by the co-producers of Killing Eve and Orphan Black.

Grace (tbc)

From Endeavour creator Russell Lewis come two feature-length adaptations of Peter James’ crime novel series about a Brighton-based Detective Superintendent. Life on Mars’ John Simm will play unorthodox investigator Roy Grace, who’s haunted by the disappearance of his wife, in two-hour versions of Dead Simple and Looking Good Dead. The first film revolves around a cold case and a groom who goes mysteriously missing just days before his wedding.

Half Bad (tbc)

Based on Sally Green’s celebrated book trilogy of the same name, Half Bad will be an eight-part one-hour Netflix fantasy drama. It’s about a 16-year-old boy who has spent his life surveilled for signs that he may follow in the footsteps of his father – the world’s most feared witch. Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton is writing the series, with Andy Serkis among the producers. We. Can’t. Wait.

Harlan Coben’s Stay Close (tbc)

Thriller writer Harlan Coban is currently part of the way into a five-year deal with Netflix to adapt 14 of his novels, and Stay Close is the latest adaptation from writer Danny Brocklehurst and RED Productions, the team that brought us The Stranger. Like The Stranger, Stay Close will star Richard Armitage and move the book setting from the US to the UK. It’s the story of three characters whose dark secrets threaten to destroy their lives. James Nesbitt and Cush Jumbo also star.

Hollington Drive (tbc)

If you’ve seen writer Sophie Petzal’s Irish thriller Blood starring Adrian Dunbar, you’ll want to tune in for this. Coming to ITV, it’s a four-part thriller about two grown-up sisters who become entangled in a tense mystery when their children are involved in the disappearance of a 10-year-old local boy. Expect twists, turns, and sharp writing.

Inside Man (tbc)

The latest BBC One drama from former Doctor Who and Sherlock showrunner Steven Moffat is a four-part crime thriller entitled Inside Man. The twisting story is about a death row inmate in the US and a woman who’s trapped in a cellar under an English vicarage, whose lives interlink “in the most unexpected way”. Filming was due to begin in late 2020.

Intergalactic (tbc)

Excellent news for sci-fi fans, this. Coming to Sky One and NOW TV in 2021, Intergalactic is an original, British space-set drama about a galactic pilot who’s falsely imprisoned, then breaks free with a gang of other high-security female prisoners. It stars The Tunnel‘s Savannah Steyn in the lead role, with Parminder Nagra, Eleanor Tomlinson, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Natasha O’Keeffe, Thomas Turgoose and Craig Parkinson, so lots of great British talent in the cast. Filming took place in Manchester and Spain and we’ll bring you much more closer to release.

It’s a Sin (January)

This 1980s-set drama (previously titled The Boys) comes from acclaimed screenwriter Russell T. Davies (A Very English Scandal, Doctor Who) and tackles the impact of AIDS on the lives of three young men across a period of ten years. It’s the story of “the epidemic, the pain of rejection and the prejudices that gay men faced throughout the decade.” Filming began on the five-part series in October 2019, with a cast including Olly Alexander, Neil Patrick Harris, Keeley Hawes, Stephen Fry, Tracy Ann Oberman and Shaun Dooley. See the first teaser here.

Karen Pirie (tbc)

A new detective is on her way to ITV in the form of Karen Pirie, the creation of novelist Val McDermid who’s also the literary source of ITV’s popular Wire in the Blood forensic pathology series. The new crime drama comes adapted from the first in McDermid’s five-book series The Distant Echo by Harlots and Save Me Too’s Emer Kenny. It’s about a young Scottish detective working in St. Andrews who is tasked with reopening cold cases. The first involves the 25-year-old death of a teenager whose unsolved murder has become the subject of a true crime podcast. It’s being made by Bodyguard and Line of Duty‘s World Productions. 

Landscapers (tbc)

A four-part true crime series about ‘Mansfield Murderers’ Susan and Christopher Edwards is on its way to Sky Atlantic and HBO. Alexander Payne (Sideways) was set to direct, but departed the project in October 2020 following what’s being reported as a scheduling conflict after Covid-19 pushed production back. The Edwards killed Susan’s parents and buried them in their garden, then spent over a decade draining their bank accounts before being discovered in 2014. Olivia Colman will star as Susan Edwards, from a script written by Colman’s producer husband Ed Sinclair. Giri/Haji and Flowers’ Will Sharpe replaces Payne as the director.

Leonardo (tbc)

Not strictly (or at all) a British series, we’ve snuck this Italian production in anyway because of its lead actor – Poldark and Being Human’s Aidan Turner – and its pedigree – from The X-Files and The Man In The High Castle’s Frank Spotnitz. The writer-producer’s latest screen work was on Medici, also made for an Italian production company. This eight-episode series will tell the life of artist Leonardo through the story of his masterpieces. Filming wrapped in August 2020 and there’s no UK broadcaster confirmed at present.

Life After Life (tbc)

Kate Atkinson’s 2013 novel Life After Life is a masterpiece of imaginative fiction, so it’s no surprise that BBC One is currently preparing a TV adaptation. It’s the story of Ursula, a woman with the extraordinary power to keep being continually reborn into new and alternative versions of her life after she dies. Seemingly insignificant changes to people and circumstances set her on new courses every time – can she alter the course of history? Playwright Bash Doran (Traitors) has adapted the novel and filming is due to start in spring 2021.

Lockwood & Co (tbc)

Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish is writing and directing this Netflix adaptation of Jonathan Stroud’s supernatural adventure series about a ghost-hunting detective agency run by two teenage boys and a psychic girl. It’s set in London and was only announced in December 2020, so don’t expect to see it arrive on the streaming service for a little while yet.

My Name is Leon (tbc)

The BBC is preparing a feature-length adaptation of Kit de Waal’s novel My Name is Leon, the 1980s-set story of a nine-year-old biracial boy forced to cope with his mother’s breakdown. Writer-director Shola Amoo is adapting the screenplay, with Kibwe Tavares directing.

My Name is Lizzie (tbc)

This four-part Channel 4 drama, based on real events, will star The Virtues and Raised by Wolves’ Niamh Algar as an undercover police officer used in a honeytrap search for a killer in the 1990s. Written by The Tunnel’s Emilia di Girolamo, it promises to take viewers behind the scenes on one of the UK’s most controversial police investigations. It was only announced in late 2020, so don’t expect it for a little while.

Ralph and Katie (tbc)

This six-part half hour is a spin-off from BBC One’s hit family drama The A Word, following the married lives of the titular characters, both of whom have Down’s Syndrome. The original series creator Peter Bowker is writing the show, which stars Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy, alongside new and emerging disabled talent.

Red Rose (tbc)

A contemporary teen horror series is on its way to BBC Three and Netflix, written by Michael and Paul Clarkson (The Haunting Of Hill House, pictured). Red Rose will be an eight-part series about the relationship between teenagers and their online lives. It’s the story of Rochelle, a Bolton teen who downloads a mysterious app that sets in motion a series of terrifying events. Ultimately, say the Clarksons, “it’s the story of friendship told through the prism of a classic horror-thriller.” 

Riches (tbc)

From Empire to Succession, the complicated family lives of the super-wealthy are a continued source of fascination on screen. ITV has ordered drama Riches from writer Abby Ajayi to mine that seam. The six-part drama revolves around successful businessman Stephen Richards, a specialist in cosmetics for black women, who’s on a winning streak until a dramatic event forces his grown-up children from two marriages to gather together and decide what happens next.

Ridley Road (tbc)

Filming began in November on four-part BBC One thriller Ridley Road, adapted from Jo Bloom’s 2014 novel of the same name. Actor and screenwriter Sarah Solemani (Him & Her, No Offence) has adapted Bloom’s book, which tells the story of the fight against fascism in 1960s London. According to Solemani, the novel reveals “a darker side of Sixties London and the staggering contribution the Jewish community made in the battle against racism.” Newcomer Aggi O’Casey is joined by Eddie Marsan, Rory Kinnear, Samantha Spiro and more.

Ripley (tbc)

Sherlock and Fleabag’s Andrew Scott will play Tom Ripley in a new TV adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith five-strong novel series for Showtime and Sky Atlantic. The first season will restage events as depicted in Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr Ripley, when a young grifter in 1960s New York is hired by a wealthy man to convince his wayward, hedonist son – played by Emma and Beast’s Johnny Flynn – to return home from Italy. Steven Zaillian (The Night Of, Schindler’s List) will write and direct.

Rogue Heroes (tbc)

A major new drama is on its way to BBC One, from Steven Knight, creator of Peaky Blinders and Taboo. The six-part drama is based on Ben Macintyre’s SAS: Rogue Heroes book, which charts the creation of the famed Special Forces unit. Knight is writing the adaptation, which will tell a tale “celebrating the glory, action and camaraderie at the heart of this story” while delving into the psychology of the officers and men who formed the SAS in WWII. With real-life events given Knight’s visionary treatment, this one promises to be a spectacle with real depth.

Screw (tbc)

Inspired by his real-life experience as a civilian prison worker, writer Rob Williams (Killing Eve, pictured above) is bringing a six-part prison drama to Channel 4. Screw promises to show “the uncensored, terrifying and often darkly funny reality of life as a prison officer in an all-male prison in 21st century Britain.” The story focuses on veteran officer Leigh, who’s trying to keep her past buried, and mouthy new recruit Rose. Casting is yet to be announced.

Showtrial (tbc)

The Tunnel’s writer Ben Richards has teamed up with World Productions (the folks behind Bodyguard, pictured, and Line of Duty) on six-part series Showtrial. Coming to BBC One, it’s a legal drama that questions the role class, money and power play in justice being done. The story treats the disappearance of a young working class student and the subsequent arrest and trial of the accused, “the arrogant daughter of a wealthy entrepreneur.” There’s been no official news on this one since its December 2019 announcement, so stay tuned for more.

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Superhoe (tbc)

Nicôle Lecky’s one-woman Royal Court stage show is getting the Fleabag treatment and being turned into a six-part BBC Three series. It’s the musical story of a would-be singer and rapper thrown out of home who moves in with a young woman who inducts her into the life of social media influencing and sex work.

Sweetpea (tbc)

From Kirstie Swain, the screenwriter of Channel 4’s Pure comes a new eight-part series adapted from C.J. Skuse’s 2017 novel of the same name. It’s the story of a young woman who seems unremarkable on the surface and works as an editorial assistant in a British seaside town. Unfulfilled by her job, she turns to darker pursuits outside of work, because who would ever suspect her? The comedy-drama is coming to Sky Atlantic and no casting has yet been announced. Read our interview with Kirstie Swain about Pure, mental illness in TV drama and more.

Tenacity (tbc)

If you saw His Dark Materials on BBC One, then you know Welsh-based Bad Wolf Productions are capable of great things on a grand scale. In 2019, ITV commissioned them to make six-part thriller Tenacity, from a screenplay by Flightplan’s Peter A. Dowling, based on the J.S. Law novel of the same name. It’s about a body discovered on a British nuclear submarine, investigated by military detective Danielle Lewis. Think assassins, high-stakes action and a momentous threat to national security. The cast is tba.

The Baby (tbc)

Due to film in 2021, The Baby is a darkly comic horror on its way to Sky Atlantic. The eight-episode first season was co-created by screenwriter Siân Robins-Grace (Kaos, Sex Education) and Gangs of London (pictured above) production manager Lucy Gaymer. It’s being billed as a provocative, dark and funny story about a woman in her late thirties who’s unexpectedly landed with a baby that takes over her world.

The Birth of Daniel F Harris (tbc)

With a similar premise to Sky One’s Two Weeks to Live, but a psychological drama instead of a knockabout comedy, this Channel 4 drama by Urban Myths‘ (pictured above) Pete Jackson is the story of a young man raised in isolation from society after his mother’s death, by a father who told him the outside world is filled with monsters. When the boy turns eighteen, he enters the world to find the person responsible for his mother’s death. Read more about it here.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton (tbc)

Adapted by Sara Collins from her own Costa Prize-winning novel of the same name, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a four part murder mystery set in Georgian London. It follows the title character, born on a Jamaican slave plantation and transported as a ‘gift’ by the man who enslaved her to the home of a wealthy London couple who meet a grim fate. Was Frannie really responsible? Or is she being used?  

The Elephant Man (tbc)

The story of Victorian Joseph Merrick was memorably brought to the screen by David Lynch in 1980, and has since been retold on stage (notably starring Bradley Cooper in the lead role). This two-part BBC drama stars Stranger Things’ Charlie Heaton (pictured) and is written by Moorside’s Neil McKay. The biopic will tell the story of Merrick’s life from the start to the end and promises to “explore the man behind the myth”. Filming was due to take place in Wales in late 2018, but there’s been no news about this one since so it’s a bit of a question mark.

The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies (tbc)

In this original six-part BBC One thriller, screenwriters Penelope and Ginny Skinner (pictured above) tell the story of two very different women, both of whom are being conned by the same man. Alice and Caroline have Rob in common, a celebrated ecopreneur who may well be trying to destroy them both. Inspired to fight against society’s glorification of the predator, The Following Events are Based on a Pack of Lies was commissioned in August 2020, so it’ll be a little while before we see it.

The Irregulars (tbc)

The modern version. The Robert Downey Jr version. The gnome version. The version where Watson is Lucy Liu. Just when you thought the world had no more Sherlock Holmes to give, along comes The Irregulars on Netflix. Written by My Mad Fat Diary‘s Tom Bidwell, this version focuses on the Baker Street gang of teens used as a resource by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Great Detective, and comes with what’s promised to be a horrifying supernatural twist. With Netflix money behind it, this could be a great deal of fun. Filming began in Liverpool in late 2019, then was put on hold thanks to Covid-19 but it’s still due to arrive in 2021. Henry Lloyd-Hughes (pictured above) will play Sherlock Holmes.

The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe (tbc)

Power, love, loyalty and politics all come to play in Dan Sefton’s (Trust Me) BBC adaptation of Keith Badman’s 2010 book The Final Years Of Marilyn Monroe. Narrowing the time-frame (as the working title suggests) Sefton’s drama will take in the final six months of Monroe’s life until her death in 1962 at the age of 36. We first heard about this one back in April 2019, but since then there’s been no news about casting or filming.

The North Water (tbc)

Film director Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years, Lean On Pete) has adapted and directed Ian Maguire’s novel The North Water into a four-part BBC Two drama with an excellent cast. Colin Farrell, Stephen Graham (pictured above), Tom Courtenay, Peter Mullan and Jack O’Connell are all on board – literally so as the series is set on a whaling ship in the Arctic in the 1850s. It’s the story of a disgraced ex-army surgeon who joins a whaling expedition and finds himself “on an ill-fated journey with a murderous psychopath” and in a struggle to survive. Filming took place on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in late 2019.

The Offenders (tbc)

From co-creator of The Office and writer-director of fab wrestling film Fighting with my Family, Stephen Merchant (pictured above, and soon to be seen playing killer Stephen Port in ITV true crime drama Four Lives) and Mayans M.C.’s Elgin James is a six-part one-hour comedy The Offenders. A BBC One-Amazon Studios co-production, it follows seven strangers forced together to complete a Community Payback sentence in Bristol. Merchant is joined by Christopher Walken, Darren Boyd and Eleanor Tomlinson in the cast.

The Pembrokeshire Murders (January)

This three-part ITV true crime drama stars Luke Evans as Detective Superintendent Steve Wilkins, who, in 2006, reopened and solved a cold case from the 1980s using new forensic DNA evidence and, bizarrely, an episode of darts-based quiz show Bullseye. Keith Allen plays John Cooper, the man in Wilkins’ sights.

The Pursuit of Love (tbc)

Emily Mortimer has written and directed this BBC One adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s 1945 comic romance about an aristocratic family in the interwar period (loosely based on Mitford’s own family, which gained notoriety through her popular novels and her sisters’ scandalous connections to the British Union of Fascists and Adolf Hitler). Downton Abbey‘s Lily James plays lead Linda Radlett.

The Red Zone (tbc)

Sports writers Barney Ronay and Jonathan Liew are behind this six-part half-hour comedy “about football, but also not about football,” which is coming to Netflix in 2021. Director Sam Mendes is executive producing through his Neal Street Productions company. Only announced in late 2020, no casting has yet been confirmed for this one.

The Responder (tbc)

BBC Two is developing a six-part series from new screenwriter and former police officer Tony Schumacher, who’s been mentored by Jimmy McGovern as part of a BBC Writers Room initiative. The Responder will star The Hobbit and Sherlock‘s Martin Freeman as officer Chris, who works a series of night shifts in Liverpool. The series is described as funny, tragic, and showing the realities of policing in Britain.

The Rig (tbc)

In November 2020, Amazon Prime Video green-lit this six-episode supernatural thriller from Line of Duty and Bodyguard (pictured above) director John Strickland, written by David Macpherson. It’s due to film in Scotland and is set onboard the Kishorn Bravo oil rig in the North Sea. The crew finds itself marooned on the rig by a mysterious fog that cuts off communication with the outside world.

The Serpent (January)

Ripper Street writer Richard Warlow has written this original eight-part BBC drama about “the phenomenal true story of how one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century was caught and brought to trial.” It’s the tale of Charlies Sobhraj, Interpol’s most wanted man in the 1970s following a series of murders of young Western travellers across India. Tom Shankland (Les Miserables, The City & The City) directs, and A Prophet and The Looming Tower‘s Tahar Rahim will play the lead role of Sobhraj. He’ll be joined by Jenna Coleman, Billie Howell and Ellie Bamber.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (tbc)

Now this sounds like a bit of alright. Adapted from Stuart Turton’s novel of the same name, it’s a seven-part murder mystery coming to Netflix. The story’s a high-concept thriller about a woman trying to solve a murder who keeps waking up in somebody else’s body every time she gets close to the answer. Sophie Petzal (The Last Kingdom, Blood – pictured above) is adapting it, and the announcement only arrived in late 2020, so don’t expect it for a little while yet. Casting is tba.

The Three (tbc)

Another BBC drama commission based on a book series, The Three, “an international thriller with a supernatural twist”, was announced in late 2017 but there’s been no news since then. The premise of Sarah Lotz’ trilogy sees four planes crash on the same day in four different countries, leaving three children as the miraculous survivors… Wolf Hall’s Peter Straughan was attached as adapting this eight-part drama but as yet, it’s still to appear on his IMDb credits. We’ll keep you posted if more arrives.

The Tourist (tbc)

Producer-writers Harry and Jack Williams (Fleabag, Baptiste, The Missing, Liar) are back with a six-part drama set and filmed in South Australia. The Tourist is an outback noir about a British man pursued through the Australian outback by a tank truck. When the man awakens in a hospital with no memory of who he is or how he got there, his search for answers takes him to some unsettling places. Chris Sweeney (Back to Life) directs and casting is tba.

Time (tbc)

Three-part prison drama Time is the latest from legendary British screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (Cracker, Accused, Broken), and stars Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. Filming is due to begin in autumn 2020 in Liverpool. It’s being billed as “a visceral and high-stakes portrayal of life in the modern British penal system”, and tells the story of two men – an inmate serving time for having killed an innocent man in an accident, and a prison officer targeted by a dangerous inmate.

Tom Jones (tbc)

Praise for 2018’s Vanity Fair adaptation, scheduled opposite Bodyguard in 2018, was drowned out somewhat by the hit political thriller, but there was plenty of it, and deservingly so. Good news then, that ITV has brought screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes back to tackle another classic novel – Henry Fielding’s 1749 book Tom Jones. Following in the footsteps of the acclaimed Albert Finney-starring 1963 film, and the raucous 1997 version with Max Beasley, expect rollicking fun. The last update we had in November 2019 confirmed that Hughes was mid-writing, but news has been thin on the ground since then.

Too Close (tbc)

Chernobyl‘s Emily Watson (pictured above in BBC One’s Apple Tree Yard) stars in this meaty psychological three-part thriller coming to ITV. Based on the novel of the same name written by Natalie Daniels (the pseudonym of actor-writer Clara Salaman, who’s also behind the screenplay), it’s about a forensic psychiatrist treating a patient who’s committed a heinous crime that she says she doesn’t remember. The two women become locked in a dark struggle of influence and manipulation. Watson is so far the only confirmed cast member.

Trigger Point (tbc)

Line of Duty actor Vicky McClure (pictured above) and creator Jed Mercurio are collaborating on a new ITV thriller about a bomb disposal expert. Written by Daniel Brierley and executive produced by Mercurio, it’s the story of Lana Washington (McClure) a front-line bomb disposal pro whose squad is pushed to the limits tackling a terrorist threat to London.

Vigil (tbc)

With a working title of Vigil, a new six-part thriller filmed in Scotland is on its way from the makers of Bodyguard and Line of Duty. Created by Strike‘s Tom Edge, it’s the story of the mysterious disappearance of a Scottish fishing trawler and a death on board a Trident nuclear submarine that brings the police into conflict with the Navy and British security services. It stars Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Shaun Evans, Anjli Mohindra, Martin Compston, Paterson Joseph and more. Filming was forced to halt in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 industry shutdown and resumed in August 2020.

Viewpoint (tbc)

A five-part thriller is coming to ITV from Rillington Place and Manhunt writer Ed Whitmore and Fleabag director Harry Bradbeer. It’s about a police surveillance investigation in Manchester following the disappearance of a primary school teacher. A detective constable (Noel Clarke, pictured) sets up a surveillance op in the flat of a local woman and watches the tight-knit community of the missing woman. ITV promises a “contemporary, character-driven murder mystery” mining the same ground as Rear Window and The Lives of Others.

When It Happens To You (tbc)

A new drama based on real-life abortion stories set in Northern Ireland – the only part of the UK where pregnancy termination remains illegal – is coming to BBC One. Written by Vanity Fair‘s Gwyneth Hughes, who travelled to Northern Ireland to meet the families who inspired the drama, When it Happens to You is produced by the makers of hard-hitting Three Girls (pictured) and will explore the experience of families and loved ones whose lives have been affected by the law in Northern Ireland. 

White Stork (tbc)

Formerly known as Spadehead, White Stork is a 10-episode political drama coming to Netflix courtesy of Eleven, the British production compnay behind Sex Education. Tom Hiddleston (The Avengers, The Night Manager – pictured above) stars as James Cooper, whose secret past is unearthed when he’s vetted in preparation for a parliamentary election. It was creted by Jericho and Meadowlands‘ Christopher Dunlop, with Taboo‘s Kristoffer Nyholm directing.

You (tbc)

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We might expect the working title of this one to change to avoid confusion with the Netflix stalker story of the same name, but as it stands, You will be an eight-part thriller coming to Sky. It’s adapted from the Zoran Drvenkar novel about a woman on the run across Europe after committing a deadly crime, pursued by a dangerous gangster and a serial killer known only as The Traveller, and is written by The Capture (pictured above) screenwriter Ben Chanan.

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