#Danny’s parents might not be the best but he has Jazz and Dani and maybe even Dan

[normalisoverated666]

Dpxdc AU: Damian decides that it’s time to go collect his brother from his assignment. Danny is starting to sniff out some non-ghostly bullshit for once.

Damian knew his twin had been exiled from the age of seven, banished to travel and observe how scientists around the world engaged with Lazarus water. The only word that Damian received that his spare was still alive were the letters of lab reports and findings that were sent back to base. As the Heir, he’s pushed to be better lest he himself be exiled or simply executed. Danny becomes a fleeting thought and then once Damian arrived in Gotham, a none existent thought.

They weren’t raised to be friends or even friendly. The were not taught codependency or allotted time to bond. The could have been perfect strangers if not for their appearance and the stories of Danny’s shortcomings becoming Damian’s praise.

It’s only once Tim informs him of an intercepted letter, one sent and saved from years prior, that Damian recalls Danny enough to care. Tim prompts him to share more, especially given the coup recently committed by Deathstroke (Slade) and Talia gone into hiding with her zealots.

At family dinner that night Damian supplies: “I suppose I should be the one to bereave my twin of his assignment. His reports will certainly go unread.”

Chaos in the Batfam ensues- meanwhile across the country- Danny sneezes and finishes writing his yearly report: “No major discoveries aside from public record patents (attached), No assistance required. -Spare”. He doesn’t know why he bothers, he hasn’t received any contact from his mother or grandfather since he was 10ish and certainly hasnt thought about his twin. But, if there’s a chance (even an itty bitty one) that his reports are being read and are holding off his reassignment, he’d rather keep assassins out of Amity Park.

Little does he know that this letter is about to be intercepted by Pru, former assassin and friend of Tim Drake. He hadn’t expected his twin to suddenly arrive and tell him that his job was done. And certainly, seeing a plane filled with an uncomfortable looking ‘family’ that requested he join them and get to know Gotham and his birth father, was not on his bingo list.

Danny does his best to let them down gently- and they seem to be accepting that he’s acclimated to this weird little town and will leave him be- when Danny suddenly has to transform into Phantom in front of them to handle a rocket sent by Skulker.

They are less willing to accept his appeal to be left alone after that… Damian is trying to “bond” with him and all the others are trying to “help” in their own way.

Sam and Tucker howl with laughter at Danny’s suddenly very large family- all while secretly working with the Wayne’s to get Danny the fuck away from the Fentons before the scientists do something they can’t undo.

[mazamba]

Another Fanfic Idea

How fucked up would it have been if Danny died the second time he went into the portal?

Sam already feels like crap for accidentally wishing they'd never met (Desiree will get what's coming to her, but that's later) and now her best friend is dead without having ever remembered her.

Tucker probably won't want to see her again after that, same with Jazz and the rest of the Fentons.

Hell, the whole Fenton family would probably fall apart from this. Jazz had always resented them for prioritizing their research over their family, so she'd probably go no-contact the first chance she got... and that's assuming the Fentons aren't arrested for building the damn thing in the first place.

This is before Shades of Gray, so Val either never becomes a ghost hunter or becomes a completely different one.

Obviously, that means there's no Dani either.

A key point is that Danny is gone. No ghost or anything.

What does Sam do next?

Does she realize she did something wrong when changing the settings on the portal and step into the portal herself? Does she leave and try accessing the Ghost Zone in a completely different way in the vague hope that Danny's on the other side? Do her parents ship her off to a boarding school and she has to live with the guilt?

Also...

Does this have crossover potential? I think this might be best to just keep it on it's own, but I did get a couple Ideas.

Maybe she decides to make a deal with Mephisto? (DP x Marvel)

Or she looks for a wizard that could tap into the Ghost Zone, only to find out Danny's gone for good? (DP x DC)

[bluerosefox]

[2023 Prompt List 1][Here] [2023 Prompt List 2][Next] [2023 Prompt List 3][Next]

|Why Ra’s Would Summon the Ghost King (Also Twins AU) [Part 1] |Danyal, Danny, Phantom [Part 2] |WIP [Part 3] |Bio!Dad Jason and Bio!Mom Jazz (With Oc!Kid or Son!Danny) |Ghost Gotham (With Bonus Ghosts Martha and Thomas) |Danny Says Clone Rights |Robin’s Haunted Halloween (Feat. Ghost King Danny and Ghostly grandparents Martha and Thomas) |Library Cryptid Danny |Twins to Trio? (Dani mistakes Damian as Danny, and Damian learns his twin might not be dead) |Twins AU BUT WITH ANGST! |Mom!Dani (Square up Superman) |Free Flying Graysons (Feat. Ghostly John and Mary Grayson) |Comes in Twos (Twins! Jason and Danny die on the same day) |Foreboding Words of Warnings (Feat. Competent Ghost King Danny) |Across My Memories (Feat. Ghost King Danny, Ghost!Prince Jason) |Consorthood Via Combat (Feat. Ghost King Danny, and Danny dating any Bat of your choosing) |Wrong Number Au (Danny sends a rant text to Tucker... Only its not Tucker) |Todd and Phantom, Mostly Ghostly Shenanigans (Danny and Jason try to get out of the GZ together and bond) |Ellie “I WILL bite you” and Danny “He’s just a baby” Fenton (Deaged Danny and caretaker (and tiny bit feral) Dani (Ellie) watch out Gotham, she’ll bite.) |Double Troubles (another Damian and Danny twin au but they wanna see how long their families notice they switch places) |Everything, including the bride. WAIT, BRIDE?! (Dead Tired pairing, Tim now regrets being a smart cookie as a kid and solving a magical puzzle box while Danny regrets beating Pariah Dark cause he got the old King’s bride now as his own) |CAT Ghost INSTINCTS (Damian brings home a... interesting new acquaintance who has some interesting... quirks) |Peek-A-Boo Champ! (Jazz and her baby being taken by a cult. Jason coming to save them. And Uncle Danny being the best at peek-a-boo) |Teeny-Tiny Kitten (Danielle ‘Ellie’ makes a wish and later gets found by a certain cat and bat) |Same As The Day I Lost You (Mix de-aged Danny, and siblings!Damian and Danny, add in some teleporting/portaling when the bats are fighting the League and you get this idea.) |Cuckoo Clocks (Clockwork sends a certain RR a sticky note during his solo run to come find Phantom and later find him) |The (Not) Normal One... (a reborn/reincarnted Danny idea where he’s the normal one in the batfam... only he’s really not.) |Dip and Kiss (Jason totally would kiss the person who ended the Joker in an Oscar worthy movie moment) |The Trouble With Time Travel Guilt (Danny starts an AITA thread due to his guilt over the future that will never be, he trauma bonds with fellow heroes and time travelers over it) |Friendships Between Realms (YJ and Danny Shenanigans Being Peek Friendship) |Misunderstandings and Miscommunications (Danny panics and runs, good Fenton parents want their son home, well meaning but not knowing the full picture best friends, on a war path Jazz and the maybe wooing of RH, and the DCverse getting caught in the middle of the chaos) |A Little Robin (Danny gets stuck in a Robin doll/plush and winds up in Gotham) |Kid's y'know? (Youngblood wants to be an astronaut this time, and Danny... Has to stop him from running amok the JL Watchtower) |Gothamites Never Really Rest (Johnny was a crime alley kid, Kitty was the daughter of a mob boss, and Jason was a kid they pseudo raised before their deaths. They meet again when Kitty and Johnny return to Gotham and find budding crime lord named Red Hood)

[massivechildtidalwave]

Interesting prompts involving KHR in case anyone wants to use them. KHR X DP edition

This is part one there will be more. Feel free to use just tag me if possible so I can read them.

After a reveal gone wrong Jazz takes Danny and runs to Italy to escape their parents. (she took Italian for curiosity sake and it makes sense for her to go a area who’s language she could speak). Tucker and Sam help with the escape but because all of them leaving would be weird and raise questions they don’t need, are forced to wait until the end of the school year to join them.

Jazz takes the easiest job she could find that makes money because she’s not relying on her brothers best friends family money even if Sam insists, with Tucker giving school information to get through the required bits as quickly as possible. She lands on a high paying customer service job like hairdressing or

Tucker also gives them fake identification just to make sure the government can’t find them and force them back to the Fentons.

whoops! Some members of the Varia frequents the place that she works and are suspicious. (She is way to capable for the job, No CIVILIAN should be able to catch Bels knifes, do hair to perfection and still have time to coo at a cat from across the street while being completely unfazed by the KNIFE they just had to dodge. It’s just something that doesn’t happen.)

Something is clearly not right with Jazz Nightengale, they just know it! Whoever did the background check is getting fired!

Meanwhile with Jazz, she’s doing her best to be normal but she was born a Fenton and there is just a amount of insanity that is tied to that family no matter the legal connection.

Everything Danny learned came from her and I feel like she’s the kind of kid to have picked up knife tricks or random weaponry for the “experience”

Danny is healing, he’s doing online school, she has a well paying job and is going back to school to become either a psychologist or a therapist. In her mind everything is fine.

(Tucker is the kind of kid who breaks into government documents for fun with outdated technology, he could absolutely get his own handmade documents past Varia inspection, he was making them with the intention of them holding up to government scrutiny and is best friends with Sam. )

(Jazz lived in a murder house her entire life while basically parenting Danny, not only can she multitask she is also Flame Active. However I think she would instinctive hide her Flames because of how ‘unnatural powers’ have been handled in her family. I’d place her as either a Rain or a Cloud depending on how well she is mentally after escaping with Danny. This could lead to Cloud Gaurdian Jazz.)

🦋🦋🦋

For Angst or Hurt/Comfort lovers

Danny as Verde could lead to some interesting angst. Maybe Dani needed some help keeping her form and he went into science, maybe we threw himself into science after a Nasty Burger explosion to avoid becoming like Dan, or maybe he had to quickly find a way to earn money after a Reveal gone wrong and decided to use what he knew about technology from his parents to make things for selling.

Of course once he had money he could experiment a little bit. slowly making more and more things based on his interests instead of just for money. However it slowly gets darker as he makes slightly more unhinged experiments with different methods to explain them.

He wants to create a new better prosthetic out of boredom but doesn’t have any one to give him feedback, until he runs into someone attacking someone else. He saves the injured person but their arm is pretty messed up, he might have to remove it. And his prototype is an arm prosthetic so might as well get that feedback!

He remembers his parents muzzles quite well and makes a more horrible version after a nightmare as a way to help get his footing back. “If someone can get out of this, I have no reason to fear their variation of them because I could probably get out of them too! And I recently had to help someone escape an abusive ex so we already have a willing test subject!”

Just him justifying his projects as they get closer and closer to things his parents would have come up with, without noticing or acknowledging that that was what was happening.

The earth shattering revelation when he’s sitting on the ground recovering from an experiment on how to grow back to how he was before the curse, because he had no other lab rat to test it on, and slowly realizing that he’s acting like his parents.

That his fellow Arcobaleno aren’t just distrustful of him and his experiments because he is a stranger to them but that they slightly fear him.

The realization that they only come to him when desperate for an answer. Figuring out that he knows the least about the others not because he is busy but because they do not fully trust him enough to stay around him long enough to give him that information….

Verde, who used to spend countless nights protecting people so much it became an obsession before the accident and his core turned to discovery and the stars, isn’t sure how to fix this.

He gathers the Arcobaleno after making sure the cure works, sits through a meeting full of suspicion he had to talk his way through, slides the case holding the cure into the table and leaves for his labs. The labs he needs to throughly clean and bleach and sort through to make sure all his projects aren’t as bad as they were before, but at this point he had no clue what is supposed to be morally correct to him at this point.

The Arcobaleno are left confused. Verde was doing his mad scientist shit with the cure but he was acting…weird. Weirder than normal, he didn’t demand anything for the cure, nor did he stay to monitor the effects for *science* like he always did for projects like this. He was acting weird enough Skull even went to the lab they knew he was in and tried to talk to him. They were fully expecting him to get pulled into an experiment but Verde just yelled at him to go away.

He sounded panicked. What the fuck was going on with their resident scientist.

[vonehrenfest]

DCxDP: Dead guys stick together

(A Batman 138 fix-it)

After Bizarro becomes King of Hell he watches the mortal world and is distraught to find that his brother/best friend/sorta father-figure has been hurt very badly and is calling out for help.

Distraught, he goes to another lord of the netherworld who he's heard has access to a portal (and subjects a bit more compatible with the act of helping someone). He asks King Phantom would he please please help him protect his brother/friend, and if he does Bizarro will owe him a favor and leave his realm alone.

When the inferno had initially breached the Ghost Zone Danny had thought he was going to have to deal with f*cking Trigon again, but as it turns out that guy's been replaced and the new guy is pretty nice. After a brief cosmic battle and a clearing of misunderstandings, Danny agrees to Bizarro’s request.

While Gotham's vigilante civil war continues on its rooftops, Jason is in a cell. He is trembling, practically catatonic again, and losing his mind. He’s seeing the flaming figure of a knight on horseback appear from the shadowy far wall of his room, like some kind of fairytale nightmare version of Batman. It takes a while for Jason to realize he’s talking. 

“... part of the treaty between the King of Ghosts and King of Demons, Jason Todd: Prince of Demons has been granted special status and is henceforth a protected and honorary citizen of the Infinite Realms.” 

Nightmare-Bruce touches his flaming sword on Jason’s shoulder and the unearthly fire instantly engulfs him. Relief washes through Jason, and it’s so strong he nearly drops asleep.

Bruce is apologetic when everything’s over and he realizes the mistakes he’s made... but nothing really changes. (It is a relief to Bruce that no one died or was permanently injured, Jason's condition resolved itself somehow, and Bruce is normal now so really everything is fixed or at least it will be fixed.)

Just like when Jason first came back from the dead, Bruce's response makes him hurt deeper than the physical torture itself. Jason is the one who died but Bruce acts like the ghost. Singleminded, possessive, stuck in time and blind to it; bound to repeat the same cycles again and again. Jason is the ghost but he's died multiple times now, and maybe that's kind of like living and maybe that means he can move on. 

Dani and Bizarro become friends, and she gets Danny's friend Tucker to somehow set up a working Wi-Fi connection in hell so they can all play games together. (He’s not going to question it. Everything about Amity Park is abnormal. They helped him and they’re good to Bizarro, that’s all that matters.) 

Jason forges a fake identity for Dani. He might ask Babs to make a better one for her if she ever needs it but he doubts that's likely. He hasn’t had a living identity for years now after all, he’s an old hand at fake identities. Dani is delighted and starts attending school soon after. 

Danny has good friends, and as far as Jason can tell plenty of reliable mentors in the ghost world. You wouldn’t think it, but Jason’s less worried about Danny in his role as a little godling than in his civilian life. He’s got too much on his plate- too much power yet not enough to actually resolve his real issues. Not enough to protect himself where he’s vulnerable. 

The “Guys in White” that Danny likes to complain about are concerning. So is the fact that Danny’s lives with mad-scientist parents who are trying to hunt down his alternate identity. So is his ever grinding cold-war with the mayor of his town… And something else too that had been niggling at the back of Jason’s mind ever since he’d first gotten to talk to these kids. 

One day Danny’s sister, Jazz asks to talk to him. He’s an adult she says. That’s true he replies. He’s capable of protecting himself and other people, she says. Well, he has the training and experience for it, he agrees. If things go wrong, would Jason let Danny or Dani stay with him- just until she becomes a legal adult? She asks. Jason’s... not the sort of person who should be taking kids in. Danny saved his life though. He won’t say no. He says of course.

Jason knew it. Everything about Amity Park is abnormal.

The town doesn’t technically exist- there are no maps that include it and even satellite imaging is corrupted where Danny describes his hometown is supposed to be. There are no references to it on the internet that couldn’t be referring to a totally different Amity Park elsewhere, and judging by the problems they occasionally had on gaming nights and the odd offhand remarks Danny and his friends sometimes made, it was looking extremely likely that all communications between Amity Park and the outside were being heavily censored. Before Jason knew it he had started a full-on investigation on the GIW, Mayor Vlad Masters, former Mayor Montez, and Axion Labs.

Hope and fear lodges itself in Danny’s chest. Jason’s an adult and he’s actually going to help.

[night-wilf]

Merry Christmas, have a gift.

Writing prompt 41:

Jazz has been a green lantern for a few weeks. Open with her family so they can cover for her sudden absences from school and work.

Everyone is glad she might be able to get a full time career with the elders/guardians, since she's felt like she's been left out from the powers trade for a while. Danny does his best to make her feel that way but it can be rather difficult at times.

She is amused to find all of them being pulled into other lartern corps over a day two weeks after. No doubt stated by the elders/guardians bragging they got the princess of the infinite realms.

Idiots.

-----------

And onto designs! :D

I don't have colours planned at all so go wild with your imagination.

Also good parents Maddie and Jack. If you went with the 'bad parents au' then maybe the death, fear or love corp would work.

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Danny and Dani/Ellie are blue lanterns. I personally characterise them as bubbly and happy-go-lucky kids just wanting to have a good time. They make sure their rouges at least get a chance to laugh and enjoy their after life, which works in favour of Danny being king.

They went with a cat theme bc why not? They are not working with a group of powerful beings across the galaxy why not have fun?

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Vlad and Maddie are Star Sapphire lanterns. Vlad for his obsessive love towards Maddie and then Danny. This obsession being reignited when he sees Maddie at the meeting.

Maddie is invited with her love for family. Seeing the obsessive nature of the other lantern members she leaves, not wanting to begin a potential cycle of abuse in her household. Her love still strong enough to keep the ring attached to her.

------------

Jack earns a spot in the compassion corp. Supporting his kids and wife while not as obsessive as Maddie. He enjoys their work but wishes to do more and has begun to create medicines and vaccines for those in need.

-----------------

Dan is a White Lantern. Having learned to live again and earn back his humanity. His newly found humanity granting him the ability to use the incredible power of the white lanterns.

Rather reluctantly I might add.

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And Jazz in this style to round off the post.

[xysidhequeen]

The King And His Red Knight

Part 13

Parts 1-7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11 Part 12

Warning: Frequent and prolific use of curse words. Neither I, Danny or Jason will apologize. Also 

Trigger Warning: Icky gross yucky food and disgusting living conditions as the result of depression. Generally safe after the hearts. 

Mentions of gross food stops at: ‘ Ah, the wonders of ribbing an older sibling, even if they were currently passed out. Fastest way to make any younger sibling smile. ‘ Mentions of cleaning and therefore bad living conditions stops after the hearts. 

"Okay I know I joke about being dead, but I think some of this stuff really might kill me. Again. Permanently." Danny had never been more thankful in his afterlife to not need to breathe if he didn't want to. 

Or for his telekinetic powers.

Currently he was carefully moving an entire stack of pizza boxes that still had what had maybe once upon a time, in a different life, in an alternate universe, been pizza inside of them. Now they had molded and mutated to the point that the pizza boxes had melded together and were sporting a fuzzy coat that Danny would swear he'd seen Mrs.Manson wearing the twin of. 

It was pink. He didn't even know mold could be pink. 

He wasn't sure if it was a Gotham specific breed of mold created from the frequent chemical attacks, or if some friend of Dick's had spray painted it pink and frankly, Danny didn't want to know.

"Dick has always been utter shit at cleaning." Jason had taken Danny's tactic of refusing to breathe as he swiped the floating pizza box monstrosity with a fur coat into a trash bag.

"We passed bad at cleaning a while ago, Jason. I think some of this might be alive enough to be considered pets." Danny shot off an ecto blast at a box of Chinese takeout he'd swear was moving. 

Too many experiences with Fenton food had taught him to shoot first and maybe ask questions later. He just never thought he'd have to deal with animated food again after leaving the name Fenton, and ecto-contaminated feral hotdogs, behind.

"I know." The bag in Jason's hands crinkled as he clenched his fists, eyes roving over the room. Danny felt a pang run through his chest and core.

MyFault/Left/Abandoned/Hurt/Hurt/Brother/Alone Jason's emotions were spilling out of him almost as badly as they had when he'd just risen as a halfa. 

Danny had expected something like this to happen. He knew Jason thought his family wouldn't still care, hadn't even believed they'd cared all that much to begin with. But Jason's low self esteem was something Danny had grown familiar with. And he'd known that there was no way Jason's family wouldn't still mourn his loss. Batman might have replaced Robin, but Danny had never though Dick could so easily replace his brother. 

Danny knew he could never replace one of his sisters. Not Jazz, who was more a parent to him than his own genetic donors had ever been. Not Dani, who was his clone and he hadn't wanted to begin with, but now he'd tear the world apart for her without a moments hesitation. 

Danny could easily doubt the love of a parent. Knew how quickly it could turn from love, to hate. But the love of a sibling? Danny could never doubt that.

Before Danny could send a wave of reassurance to Jason, both their phones went off with the soft chime associated with their group chat. Well used to checking their phones whenever the group chat went off, there was never any guarantee it wasn't an emergency, they both pulled out their devices.

[07:23 PhonePharaoh: So any thoughts on names for the new place?] 

Danny snorted as he crossed his legs midair, devoting most of his attention to the chat as he used his telekinesis to keep moving possibly sentient, furry, once upon a time food stuffs, into a floating trash bag held open also by his telekinesis.

Ghost powers were the best.

Danny scrolled back through the chat quickly to remember all that was said, starting from when he warned Tuck and Sam about their deviation in plans.

[05:11 CaffeinatedKing: Hey-Me and Jay found a lost Bird while we were out. We're making sure he's safe in his nest.]

[05:12 GoingGoth: Really? Really Danny? You two were gone for like FIVE hours]

[05:12 PhonePharaoh: Did you find this one in a cemetery too?]

[05:13 CaffeinatedKing: No, we did see a Bat at the cemetery tho]

[05:14 GoingGoth: Ugh. Did you at least get a shot in for me?]

[05:16 CaffeinatedKing: No, Jay just seemed to want to get out]

[05:49 CaffeinatedKing: Oh. Looks like we'll be here for a bit. The birds nest is a mess and Jay doesn't want to leave it like this]

[05:51 PhonePharaoh: .....do we need to get one of the extra rooms ready?]

[05:52 GoingGoth: We just moved in!]

[05:54 PhonePharaoh: Like you'd complain about Nightwing moving in Sam]

[05:54 PhonePharaoh: Remember the posters?]

[05:54 GoingGoth:Tucker think very carefully about what you plan to say next]

[06:01 PhonePharaoh: I still have pi-JajzbhHahJsishGHaisie]

[06:20 PhonePharaoh: I'm alive!]

That was the last of the conversation. Danny assumed Sam had burst into wherever Tuck was and likely thrashed him for trying to bring up her Nightwing obsession. Danny remembered that phase, and the amount of Nightwing merch that had filled Sam's room. He, however, had the sense to not bring it up. He valued his afterlife too much to risk her wrath, or her deadly mastery with a mace.

Besides. Sam had a point. Nightwing was a very attractive hero. 

Alright. Maybe Danny had had a few of his own posters too. However it was hard to maintain a crush on said vigilante when he was currently deep cleaning the man's apartment of moldy, most definitely alive and moving, food. Definitely killed whatever lingering feelings Danny might have had. Anything not already mercilessly murdered by his not so small crush on Nightwing's little brother, anyway. 

Danny looked up from his phone for a moment, eyes flitting between a passed out Nightwing and Jason, who was distractedly shoving things into trash bags and occasionally straight up burning suspicious looking 'food'. 

Yeah. Danny thought he'd made the right call in crushes. He'd take the tank of a man with killer aim, muscles for days, a nasty right hook and who was a literal magician in the kitchen over... well just about any other hero. If he was honest.

Not that Danny really was judging Dick on his interior decorating. Danny shot off a small ectoblast at a bowl of Thai food trying to make a runner. 

Well. 

Not that much. 

Right after... everything with the Fentons, Danny hadn't been the model of cleanliness either. The only reason his castle hadn't turned into a very fancy landfill was more due to the fact that his castle would straight up eat his trash if it got bad enough. 

So really, Danny had no room to judge. And he even understood, intimately, how when depression sunk its claws into you nothing mattered. And there simply wasn't enough energy left over to maintain a neat living environment when simply getting up from bed was a herculean task that you couldn't always accomplish.

So. He got it. He really, truly got it. 

Didn't make cleaning up what looked like the dumpster of a morally questionable biological lab bent on creating a super mold to take over the planet any more pleasant, however.

Danny shook off memories of days on end spent lying in his bed, Jazz calling him almost hourly while he ignored every attempt to reach out. Fright Knight standing by his door, day in and day out while his king tried his best to waste away. Pandora barging into his room only to be met with wall after wall of ice. Clockwork finally saying enough was enough and grabbing him by the scruff like a kitten and drop kicking him through a portal, with only the instructions to wait atop the grave he'd fallen onto.

It was a dark time, one Danny was never eager to remember.

Danny blinked down at his phone where a new text was waiting.

[07:26 GoingGoth: Crematorium?]

[07:29 CaffeinatedKing: What are we burning people now?]

[07:30 PhonePharaoh: Jay might]

Jason snorted and Danny laughed, both looking up and meeting eyes. Jason grinned and shot off a small ball of fire at yet another squirming bundle of mold.

[07:32 ZombieBitch: You're damn right I will]

[07:32 CaffeinatedKing; Okay no- Crematorium gives supervillain vibes.]

[07:33 GoingGoth: Are we not?]

[07:34 CaffeinatedKing: Sam. No]

"Sam, yes." Jason muttered and Danny rolled his eyes. He rolled them a second time when Sam responded.

[07:35 GoingGoth: Sam. YES]

[07:36 MentallyStable: Lair?]

Predictably the chat went crazy when Jazz appeared. She was very firmly the mom of the group, that designation only got worse after they all left Amity, somehow. 

Apparently with a lack of adults in their lives, despite them all being adults, Jazz had decided they needed someone. An adultier adult, if you would. So. She had stepped up, texting all of them with reminders to eat, and drink water, telling them to sleep. Even setting up doctors appointments for Sam and Tucker when it was clear both would rather die than talk on the phone to a receptionist. 

[07:37 GoingGoth: Jazz!🥰]

[07:37 ZombieBitch: Jazz🩷]

[07:37 PhonePharaoh: Mom's here!]

[07:38 MentallyStable: Shouldn't you all be sleeping?]

[07:38 CaffeinatedKing: Shouldn't you?]

[07:39 MentallyStable: Touche]

[07:40 ZombieBitch: Lair is a No. Bad names and bad puns must be fucking genetic]

[07:40 PhonePharaoh: Mausoleum?]

[07:41 GoingGoth: Mortuary?]

[07:42 ZombieBitch: The Morgue?]

[07:44 CaffeinatedKing: What if we named the normal part and the less normal part different things?]

[07:45 ZombieBitch: I vote we name the supervillain lair the Morgue. Sound badass, and we get to freak people out when we say it

Plus, two dead fuckers will be chilling in it and rising from under the ground regularly]

"Oh very clever Jay," Danny snorted.

"Better than the Ghost Cave or some shit," Jason retorted. 

"Ghost Cave is an amazing name! You clearly have no taste!" Danny pouted, Jason giving him a raised brow, utterly unaffected by Danny's puppy eyes.

[07:48 PhonePharaoh: All in favor of The Morgue?] 

Danny watches as the heart emoji reactions grew under Tucker's message, it was clear everyone was picking that as the name. 

Which. It was a good name, a funny one too. But come on! If Batman got the Batcave a pair of ghost superheroes should get the Ghost Cave!

[07:50 CaffeinatedKing: What's wrong with Ghost Cave?? 😭😢]

[07:50 ZombieBitch: Literally everyfuckingthing Daniel]

 [07:50 CaffeinatedKing: Well alright then Jasonathaniel]

[07:51 ZombieBitch: Did you just invent a longer name for me to try and one up me like a bitch?]

[07:52 CaffeinatedKing: Maybe I did. What are you going to do about it bird boy?]

Danny yelped as he dodged a box of what could have been Thai food, the box integrity so weak it fell apart midair. Danny was forced to summon a shield of energy around himself to avoid getting rotten food all over himself. The moldy, possibly wriggling, food dripped slowly down his shield. Danny canceled the shield just in time to go intangible as something so covered in mold Danny wasn't entirely certain it wasn't actually a dead opossum flew through him.

"That how you want to play this birdy?" Danny asked, eyes flashing as Jason grinned at him. His grin quickly fell when Danny used his telekinesis to tug a piece of stained clothing out of Mt. Doom and threw it as Jason's face. 

"Ancients on a fucking stick Danny, Dick's dirty underwear? Really, fucker?" Jason glared at the boxers as if they had personally insulted his mother, grandmother and sister all at once. 

"I just grabbed something! Besides you threw a fucking dead opossum at me!" Danny gesticulated wildly, his telekinesis picking up said offending dead opossum and waving it around. Jason glanced at it consideringly, head tilting.

"It's either an opossum or it was once a sandwich." Jason deduced as he swiped it into a trash bag, probably because it was getting far too close to his face for anyone's comfort.

"No more throwing shit at me. One of us might get the new ghost plague if this gets on us." Danny grumbled as he nudged more takeout containers losing the battle against the mold invaders with a foot.

"....You know what if it was possible to give a ghost the plague it would come from Dick's fucking apartment." Jason grumbled, lips twitching in a small smile. 

Ah, the wonders of ribbing an older sibling, even if they were currently passed out. Fastest way to make any younger sibling smile.

As they resumed their cleaning they checked the group chat again, Danny moving from food disposal to clothing detail, his telekinesis making the clothes dance like something out of a cartoon as he started organizing them by color. 

Or. 

Well.

He hoped by color. Some were so covered in stains, or dried blood, Danny could only guess at the original colors. He really hoped the detergent Dick had was industrial strength. Batdetergent? Did that exist? A Batwasher? Shit he wouldn't put it past Batman to have specialized detergent and washing machines made just to get stains out of costumes. You couldn't exactly drop off military grade hero suits at the dry cleaners.

[07:56 GoingGoth: Boys stop flirting in group chat]

[08:09 PhonePharaoh: Should we start checking the news for a new murder?]

[08:16 CaffeinatedKing: ....

He threw moldy food at me 😭]

[08:17 ZombieBitch: YOU THREW DICK'S DIRTY UNDERWEAR AT ME CUNTWAFFLE!]

[08:17 CaffeinatedKing: The food had enough mold TO LOOK LIKE A DEAD OPOSSUM]

[08:18 MentallyStable: Jason. Danny. Behave.]

[08:18 PhonePharaoh: Ohhhhh shit Mom is maaddd]

[08:19 CaffeinatedKing: Yes Jazz]

[08:19 ZombieBitch: Yes Jazz]

[08:20 PhonePharaoh: So the Morgue wins for the name of our supervillain lair]

[08:20 CaffeinatedKing: I've been betrayed by my own friends

What a cruel cruel world

Stabbed in the back

Left to bleed out on the cold streets]

[08:21 GoingGoth: So anyways]

[08:22 CaffeinatedKing: Ignored, abandoned, my heart ripped from my chest]

Danny made a face at Jason when he coughed out a surprised laugh. Jason held up his hands in surrender when Danny waved a pair of ripped and stained pants in clear threat. 

Danny had a load of laundry started now and was moving on to clearing the other rooms of accumulated piles of clothing, adding them to the vaguely organized piles he had started. He was glad he didn't have to actually walk on the carpet, which was so stained by now that the original color of it was hidden. 

Jason had gotten through most of the questionably sentient food, eight trash bags filled and waiting by the door. He was cleaning up the kitchen now, dealing with the leaning towers of dirty plates and cups. 

[08:26 GoingGoth: Mortuary or Mausoleum for the part of our house we're allowed to show any potentially normal people we bring over]

[08:37 CaffeinatedKing: HAUNTED. HOUSE. IS RIGHT THERE. RIGHT FUCKING THERE.

OUR HOUSE IS LITERALLY HAUNTED 😡]

[08:37 ZombieBitch: By the afterlife's biggest drama queen]

[08:38 PhonePharaoh: The undead Oscar goes to Danny King Of Drama Nightingale 🎆🎆🏆]

[08:38 ZombieBitch: What would you like to say to your adoring fans, Mr.DramaKing?]

"I'd like to tell you to suck a dick." Danny muttered as he grabbed a mop Jason threw at him and started mopping the ceiling. 

Something he'd never thought he'd do, but somehow Dick had gotten stains on the damn ceiling. And foot prints. Danny had no idea how a normal human had gotten foot prints on the fucking ceiling. The hell did they feed vigilantes in Gotham?

"Take me to dinner first, damn." Jason retorted, Danny nearly falling out of the air in shock. 

Jason chuckled, evidently entirely unaware of the effect he was having on Danny's poor undead heart. He focused back on the chat, it was easier than trying to decode if Jason was actually flirting or just joking around.

[08:40 CaffeinatedKing: I'd like to take this moment to tell the world that Jason Todd is an asshole

Thank you and goodnight.

[08:41 CaffeinatedKing: And that my friends are all fake bitches who stabbed me in the back]

[08:41 PhonePharaoh: F]

[08:41 ZombieBitch: F]

[08:41 GoingGoth: F]

[08:41 MentallyStable: F]

[08:42 CaffeinatedKing: JAZZ?! YOU'VE TURNED ON ME TOO?

This is my villain origin story]

[08:43 GoingGoth: You already have the lair for it]

[08:43 CaffeinatedKing: The old Danny can't come to the phone right now.

Why? Oh cause he's dead]

[08:44 ZombieBitch: Old news🥱]

[08:44 PhonePharaoh: Fake news]

[08:45 CaffeinatedKing: You're all dead to me]

[08:45 ZombieBitch: I'm already dead motherfucker bit late to the party]

[08:45 GoingGoth: I'm dead inside]

[08:46 PhonePharaoh: I'm dead in my heart]

[08:47 MentallyStable: You all need therapy]

[08:47 PhonePharaoh: We love you too Jazz 🥰🥰🖤🖤]

[08:48 GoingGoth: So. Mortuary, Mausoleum or, ugh, Haunted House?]

[08:48 CaffeinatedKing: Sam! I knew I could count on you!☺️😊]

"Ugh, can't believe she gave in." Jason muttered as he shut the dishwasher and started it up. 

The apartment was filling with the noises from cleaning and both halfas froze when Dick rolled over, muttering Jason's name quietly. They traded panicked looks and Danny held out a hand, a dome of green tinted ice covering the couch. 

It wouldn't be too cold, Danny had enough control to decide if his ice radiated cold, and it would block the noises. After a few minutes where Jason and Danny waited with bated breath they relaxed when Dick settled back to sleep.

"He could sleep through a damn earthquake, I swear." Jason murmured, shaking his head as he started washing dishes by hand, rolling up his sleeves and revealing well muscled forearms. 

Danny's eyes followed the movement. Was it possible to have sexy forearms? Cause Jason definitely did.

Danny swung his head around so fast it would've broken a human's neck when Jason looked up, feeling his face flood with heat. Shit. He'd almost gotten caught ogling Jason's criminally hot forearms like some kind of pervert.

"Um. I think his bedroom needs to be... uh. Steam cleaned! Yup! Gonna do that. Right now." Danny stammered out, flying off before Jason could use his far too smart brain to deduce the bi-panic Danny was in the middle of. 

Danny eventually located a steam cleaner, it looked like it had never been used and had a thick coating of dust on it. But it looked high end, with more buttons and attachments than the Fenton OPs center. Someone in Dick's life obviously wanted him to clean. If Danny was a betting man he'd put money on it being from Alfred, based in Jason's stories of the British butler. 

Danny started up the steam cleaner, fairly well used to using one from his time growing up. Fun fact, a good steam cleaner and strong carpet cleaner was the only way to get ectoplasm out of carpet. It was the only way he'd been able to erase the evidence of his ghost status after he returned to his room wounded countless times.

Since the steam cleaner was easier to manage with his hands he used his telekinesis with his phone, glad he'd used it so often he had fine motor control with it now.

[08:50 GoingGoth: My fingers are bleeding from typing that]

[08:52 MentallyStable: Haunted House. It's accurate.]

[08:58 CaffeinatedKing: Jazz! The best big sister in the world!!🥰🥰💚💚💚💚]

[08:59 ZombieBitch: Mausoleum. It has fucking class.]

[09:00 GoingGoth: Says the guy who can't go three minutes without cussing]

[09:01 ZombieBitch: What can I say? I'm a classy bitch.]

[09:02 PhonePharaoh: Mortuary, 4/5 residents haven't actually been put in a coffin]

[09:02 ZombieBitch: I can change that 😈]

[09:03 CaffeinatedKing: Haunted House. It's obviously the best]

[09:04 ZombieBitch: In no world is it the best you deluded fucknugget]

[09:04 GoingGoth: Mausoleum. It feels appropriately gothic]

[09:05 PhonePharaoh: Well damn we're at a tie

I'm not changing my vote. Mortuary FTW!]

[09:06 Dani2.0: Mausoleum 👻]

[09:07 CaffeinatedKing: DANI?!

BETRAYED BY MY OWN CLONE

MY FLESH AND BLOOD AND ECTOPLASM]

[09:07 Dani2.0: Jason is right it's a cool name]

[09:08 ZombieBitch: This is why you're my favorite halfa, little ghoul]

[09:08 PhonePharaoh: Votes are in. We have the Mausoleum and the Morgue]

[09:09 GoingGoth: "Where do you live?" "Oh just in the Mausoleum."

Hehehe can't wait to scare the normies😈]

[09:10 CaffeinatedKing: This is why we can't have normal friends]

[09:10 GoingGoth: Oh? Oh REALLY  Daniel I'm The King Of The Dead Nightingale? Thats the reason?]

[09:11 ZombieBitch: Hah get fucked ghost boy]

[09:11 CaffeinatedKing: Like you have room to talk Jason I Rose From My Own Grave Todd]

[09:12 PhonePharaoh: Ooooo]

[09:12 GoingGoth: Jason I Wanted To Behead Crime Lords Todd]

Danny could hear the loud groan and cursing from Jason even through the sounds of the steam cleaner and the walls. Danny chuckled shaking his head. Jason was as embarrassed over his plans to behead crime lords as Sam was over her Nightwing phase. And all of them loved to bring it up whenever they could, just to remind him of his very detailed plans for revenge and a hostile crime takeover.

[09:15 ZombieBitch: OH MY ANCIENTS

IT. WAS. A. FUCKING. PHASE.

You threaten to behead a drug lord ONE FUCKING TIME and NO ONE let's you forget it]

[09:17: PhonePharaoh: Dude. I think it had more to do with the 10 page plan and slide show you made]

[09:20 ZombieBitch: Ajsjdkaha I hate it here]

Danny finished his work in the bedroom, looking at the now sparkling clean room. The mattress was bare, the bedding added to the piles he'd sorted. Turning off the steam cleaner he floated out of the room to switch the laundry over and start a new load before getting out the vacuum to begin cleaning the living room. Jason had finished the dishes and was cleaning the counters, walls and cabinets of the kitchen. He had a blush high in his cheeks, undoubtedly from the teasing in the chat.

"Hey, if I give you a list, could you pick up some food? All Dickiebird has here is ketchup, expired milk, stale cereal and an egg." Jason piped up, looking firmly at the counter as Danny paused his vacuuming. 

"Will you be fine cleaning on your own?" Danny asked. 

Jason sighed, looking up at Danny and he could see the pain, the desperation in his eyes. Taste it in the air, the emotions floating between them.

Jason was never good at showing his emotions, for all he projected them for any ghost to read. But if one knew him well, they could see his heart on his sleeve. 

Cooking was one of the ways Jason showed his care for others, his love. It was his way of caring for those he loved the most. He didn't do comfort, he wasn't good at handling it when others were suffering. If it wasn't a problem he could punch or shoot, Jason was lost. 

Danny couldn't count the number of times he'd found Jason cooking up a feast in a kitchen when one of them was struggling. It was the only way he knew to help. To feed someone, to fill their stomachs even if he couldn't fill the holes in their hearts.

He could see that Jason was trying to fix the holes he'd left in Dick's heart by giving him food. By caring for him in the only way he knew how. 

"We've cleaned most of it, it's just the clothes, carpets and walls now." Jason waved at the apartment that had slowly begun to resemble a place a person could live in and not worry about being suffocated in the night by sentient mold out to murder its creator. 

It was rather impressive what could be done when you mixed supernatural powers into cleaning. 

"Yeah, alright. I can get some food so Dick here doesn't starve to death." Danny shrugged, a smile breaking out on his face at the pure gratitude that filled Jason's eyes and washed through the air. 

Jason pulled out his phone and started typing, Danny growing concerned when minutes passed with no clear end in sight to the list. Was he planning to make a five course meal??

...

That...was a distinct possibility actually.

Danny lifted his phone when it dinged and he blinked at the long list of ingredients. He wasn't even sure what some of them were! 

"Uh. Will the grocery store have all of this?" Danny asked hesitantly. 

"They should, there's a few shops in the area you can hit if one doesn't have everything." Jason informed him and Danny bit back a sigh.

"And uh. How, pray tell, am I to carry all of this?" Danny asked next, waving a hand around, "we didn't exactly bring a car." 

"Portals dumbass." Jason gave him an unimpressed look and Danny tilted his head back with a groan.

The things he did for love.

"Fine. Your supernatural royal express grocery delivery coming right up." Danny grumbled, rubbing his face as he walked to the door. 

"How gracious of you, your fucking highness." Jason's sarcastic drawl filtered after him.

"You're my knight, you should be doing errands for me!" Danny whined.

"Want a bullet to the knee? Cause that's how you get a bullet to the fucking knee." Jason warned and Danny hastened to open the door.

"I was a hero like you, until I took a bullet to the knee!" Danny called out, scrambling out and slamming the door when he heard a gun cock. 

Jason's aim was nothing to scoff at and Danny didn't want an actual bullet to the knee this morning. 

Danny looked at the list again and sighed. It would be a long morning.

♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡ ♡♡♡

"Five stores, Jason. Five. Fucking. Stores. And a goddamn market." Danny groaned as he shut the door, dropping his bags, gently, to the ground. He'd spent hours combing Blüdhaven for those groceries, he wasn't going to break them in a fit of petulance and be forced to go back out.

He was exhausted. Opening so many portals to transport the groceries hadn't been easy, especially not in an area with lower ectoplasm. 

Sure Gotham and Blüdhaven had more ectoplasm than your average cities, but it wasn't nearly enough if Danny was using his more draining abilities. And opening portals was always one of his more taxing skills. He'd had to take a short rest in the Zone just to recover.

Plus. He'd had to deal with people. Which was exhausting on its own.

Making a permanent ghost portal was moving up his list of priorities. If only to increase the ambient ectoplasm in the area to better support two halfas in residence. And to give his friends in the Zone an easy way to contact him. 

He was still King and they needed to be able to reach him if something demanded immediate attention. Or because they were worried. They worried about him a lot, even if they all tried to hide it. Danny might have been a C average student but he wasn't entirely oblivious.

Besides he'd love to see some of his rogue gallery face off against the Gotham Rogues. Nocturn might very well give Scarecrow a nasty surprise, and he knew Skulker wanted to have some words with the Joker before Danny dealt with him personally. 

Danny couldn't stand that Jason had to be in the same city as the man who killed him. He was still trying to decide if his own no-kill rule might be open for an exception, if only because Danny wasn't sure he'd be able to control his anger when he saw the Clown Prince Of Crime. 

And if he came back as a ghost? 

Well he better fucking hope he didn't. 

"Here." Jason shoved a cup in Danny's hands, eyes raking over him and lips settling in a frown when he noticed the signs of tiredness on Danny's frame. 

"A...smoothie?" Danny asked hesitantly as he looked at the cup with a curly straw stuck in it. 

He noted the cup had a bisexual flag on it and he mentally filed the information it told him about Dick away. He took a tentative sip of the drink, eyes widening when he tasted the spicy flavor of ectoplasm mixed with mangoes, strawberries and pineapple. So that was what those were for? 

"I keep some ectoplasm on me at all times. Just in case one of us gets hurt and needs the boost." Jason sniffed, snatching the bags away and stalking to the kitchen. There was a light blush on his cheeks, as if the gesture was embarrassing. Like it said something, that he had anticipated Danny's needs and prepared for them.

Danny followed, floating along as he clutched his special smoothie tightly. Jason had been worried about him, and had made this because he thought Danny might have been tired. It was... thoughtful, and made his heart squeeze sweetly.

Danny perched on the island counter, legs crossed, as he looked between his phone at Jason. Jason started putting away the last of the groceries, pulling out what he needed. Danny tore his eyes away to look around the apartment.

The apartment had been completely transformed from what they'd first walked in on. It was unbelievable what they'd managed in the sevenish hours since they'd arrived. The apartment looked show ready now. 

Danny was a bit excited for Dick to wake up and see it... and scared too. He wasn't even sure he belonged here when the reunion happened. It wasn't his place. But... he couldn't just leave Jason. And Jason had relaxed as soon as he'd stepped back in, his shoulders slumping and tension flooding out of him. 

Danny would stay, until Jason asked him to leave. Dick might be confused, but well. That was his problem, Danny's main concern was Jason. 

Danny wasn't going to leave him to face a situation that was guaranteed to be emotional. The memories of Jason running off with no warning after finding out Batman had replaced him were still too fresh. 

If Jason ran off here, in Gotham where Danny didn't know the lay of the land, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to find him. And with how many emotional triggers there were here there was no telling what could happen. Jason could very well end up doing something he would regret, something that couldn't be easily undone.

Luckily at the moment Jason seemed more preoccupied with cooking a five course breakfast than running away. Every available surface was covered in ingredients and materials, and the heavenly scent of food was slowly filling the apartment. It paired nicely with the smell of detergent and floral cleaners, a much better smell than rotting food and dirty laundry. 

Danny snapped a quick picture of Jason cooking, face set in concentration. He was doing that thing with his face that always made Danny's heart skip several beats. His tongue was poking slightly out of his mouth while his brows were furrowed just so. It was utterly adorable and Danny couldn't resist sending it to the group chat, which had been rather active tonight. 

[12:06 CaffeinatedKing: CookingJason.jpeg]

[12:06 PhonePharaoh: MUST BE NICE TO HAVE SOMEONE COOK FOR YOU 😡]

[12:06 GoingGoth: Just rub it in our faces that we don't get a Jason Breakfast today asshole]

[12:08 MentallyStable: Aww he looks so cute Danny🥰]

[12:08 GoingGoth:I'm sure Danny thinks so 😏]

[12:09 CaffeinatedKing: Ajsgag SAM]

[12:09 GoingGoth: How many pics do you have Danny? Hm?]

[12:10 PhonePharaoh: He's got 25

Taken in the last 15 mins]

[12:10 CaffeinatedKing: Tucker GET OUT OF MY PHONE!!!]

[12:11 PhonePharaoh: No. It's nice in here]

[12:11 CaffeinatedKing: I will freeze all of your tech]

[12:12 PhonePharaoh: I'll send Jason your browser history]

[12:12 CaffeinatedKing: ......]

[12:13 PhonePharaoh: 😇]

[12:14 CaffeinatedKing: Delete your messages and never speak of this and I'll save you some food]

[12:14 PhonePharaoh: Done!]

Danny let out a relieved sigh as Jason turned towards his own buzzing phone. Tucker's messages were gone in seconds and Danny could retain some of his dignity. 

He waited for Jason to get caught up again with the chat as he sipped his smoothie noisily. He didn't have much else to do than chat and sneak pictures of Jason cooking. The apartment was clean and even all the laundry had been folded and put away. 

Jason snorted as he picked up his phone and read through the convo, easily juggling texting and cooking at the same time. Danny returned his attention to his phone as Jason entered the chat again.

[12:16 GoingGoth: Ugh. Tucker you cheap whore]

[12:16 PhonePharaoh: Don't act like you wouldn't sell all our souls to the devil for Jason's cooking]

[12:17 GoingGoth: In a heartbeat 

With no hesitation

No regrets]

[12:17 CaffeinatedKing: I-

.....

Yeah alright same]

[12:18 GoingGoth: Is he making crepes?]

[12:19 CaffeinatedKing: Looks like it

TastyBreakfastFood.jpeg]

[12:19 GoingGoth: motherFUCKER]

[12:20 ZombieBitch: Alright what are you chucklefucks talking about

Ah

I'll make you some ultra-recyclo-vegetarian crepes when we get back Sam]

[12:23 GoingGoth: Jason. Marry me🧎‍♀️]

[12:23 CaffeinatedKing: SAM 🤬]

[12:24 GoingGoth: Look if you're too much of a pansy ass bitch to ask I will]

[12:24 ZombieBitch: I'm sorry Sam but I can't marry someone who only wants me for 1 thing

You just want me for my skills in the kitchen 😢

My dad warned me about girls like you] 

"Really, Jason?" Danny asked looking up from his phone to see Jason grinning. 

"Well. He didn't. With words anyways, but you watch Batman and Catwoman fuck around for a couple years and you learn." Jason shrugged as he turned back to the food. 

"You're comparing Sam to Catwoman? Don't tell her that or she'll start her villain era." Danny snickered as he scrolled back through the chat as it went quiet for a bit. 

Sam and Tucker had apparently decided if Jason and Danny weren't sleeping because they had a wounded Bird to take care of, neither would they. 

Danny knew Jason had appreciated the levity and distraction they'd offered through the messages. Tucker, Sam and Jazz had obviously caught on quickly that Jason would need support today, and had all risen to the occasion admirably. None of them would let Jason feel like he was alone in this for even a second. He was part of their spook, and they always protected one another. 

"Wasn't she already in that?" Jason asked with a snort as he slipped the last of the crepes onto a large plate, moving on to focus on the pancakes, eggs and bacon cooking as well. If he and Jason weren't halfas Danny would worry the food was going to go to waste he was making so much.

"Shhh we can't let her become self aware of it, otherwise we'll have an emotionally constipated furry on our doorstep." Danny said in a stage whisper, Jason letting out a surprised bark of laughter, almost missing the pancake he was flipping. 

Danny smiled smugly as he settled down, glad he'd gotten Jason to laugh, and even happier that the Scared/Nervous/Brother?/Rejection?/DoesHeEvenCare?/WillHeHateMe? Had shifted to Amused/Affection/Safe/Warm/Care instead.

Danny watched with mild interest as Jason finished cooking. Danny knew how to cook the very basics. Cereal, toast, scrambled eggs, Ramen, and spaghetti. Enough to make sure he didn't starve to death but nothing that would impress a chef. Jason however was a magician in a kitchen, able to put together meals from reading a recipe once, or simply because he had an idea and managed to make it work. 

He'd tried to describe it to Danny before, how he could remember the flavors of things and could put them together in his mind like puzzle pieces. And in an abstract way, Danny understood. It was a lot like how he put together inventions. But Danny was more likely to make an unholy abomination than an edible meal. Still Danny would never tire of simply watching Jason in his element. Mixing ingredients together to create beautiful creations that tasted even better than they looked. 

Jason was always more calm in the kitchen. In an environment where everything was under his control, and the outcomes were never a surprise. As often as Danny could find Jason working out his feelings in a training room, he could find him in a kitchen. Both could help stabilize the halfa and help him get himself under control. 

When the last slice of bacon was put on a plate and the burners turned off Jason sighed, gripping the counter tightly. The food was ready, and now all that was left to do was to wake the guest of honor. 

Well, was he a guest when they'd invaded his home? Danny wasn't sure.

Luckily. Or unluckily depending on how you looked at it, the choice to wake Dick was taken out of their hands. Jason turned a little too sharply, arm brushing the handle of a pan and sending it clattering to the ground in a loud cacophony of noise that could only ever be achieved when someone was specifically trying to remain quiet. 

Danny and Jason's heads whipped around at a speed that would've broken the necks of a normal human as Dick awoke with a surprised shout, jumping off the couch with a grace that belied how exhausted Danny knew the man was. Danny, startled by both the noise and Dick's sudden movements, let go of gravity. He rose quickly in the air and flipped around until he sat on the ceiling, barely remembering to flip his cup to avoid spilling his smoothie.

"Wha- Who's there?!" Dick shouted, blinking bleary eyes around.

"Where am I? Did you kidnap me?" Dick turned around, visibly confused and not recognizing his own apartment now that it was clean. Danny felt laughter bubbling up in his throat and he tried to drown it under a sip of his smoothie.

"Wait, is this my apartment? What? Alfred? Did you do this? Wally is this a prank?" Dick was still confused as he kept turning around, until his eyes locked on Jason, who was standing frozen in the kitchen like a deer in headlights. 

Dick's face went pale as the blood rushed out of it and he took a stumbling step forward, a hand shooting out to steady him against the wall.

"J-Jason? Is? No, this has to be another hallucination." Dick was speaking so softly Danny wouldn't have heard him if not for his enhanced hearing. 

His sapphire eyes were filling with tears as he stumbled forward, harshly pulling out a barstool and collapsing onto it as if his legs couldn't hold his weight anymore.

"No. No. Not today. This is too cruel. Is it not enough to haunt me at night? Now you have to come in the day too, so you can remind me of how I failed?" Dick's head was hanging low, his hands buried in greasy, tangled hair. 

Danny took in a sharp breath as MyFault/Regret/Shame/Pain/Failure/Hurt/IHurtHim/Hurt/Hurt filled the air, on top of the choking grief oozing out of Dick like a toxic miasma. 

Here/ImHere/It'sOkay/YouNeededTheTime/Comfort/HelpNow/HereNow/Fix Danny pushed the emotions at Jason, trying to get his friend out of his frozen state. It seemed to work, shaking Jason out of his stupor. With almost robotic movements Jason made a plate and shoved it under Dick's face.

"Could a hallucination do that Dickhead?" Jason asked gruffly and Dick's head shot up, Danny wincing when he saw that some hairs had been torn away. 

Dick's eyes were still wet with tears but there was a small flame of hope in them as one hand reached out, shaking like a leaf in a storm, and he tentatively pressed a finger into Jason's cheek. The touch was so gentle the skin didn't even move, as if Dick was afraid his touch would shatter Jason.

"Jason?" Dick asked, his voice sounding small and broken. Jason closed his eyes and leaned into the touch.

"Yeah. It's me Big Bird." Jason breathed out. 

Dick let out a choked sob and, in a movement that proved he was a vigilante, vaulted over the island without disturbing the food and tackled Jason in a hug that almost sent the other halfa to the ground.

"Oi! Watch it dumbass! If you ruin the food I spent forever making I'll beat your ass!" Jason shouted but his arms were locking around Dick as if he would never let go and his own eyes were thick with tears. 

Danny watched the entire interaction from above, slurping his smoothie increasingly loudly just to see how long it took for Dick to notice his presence. He could feel emotions choking his own throat from just watching and feeling them in the air around them. He wanted to do something to break the tension before he had two sobbing birds on his hands.

"I'm so sorry Little Wing. So sorry I wasn't here. So sorry I didn't get you away from him before any of this even started. So sorry you didn't think you could come to me. I'm sorry I wasn't a better brother." Dick babbled, words tumbling out as if he'd been holding them in for years and the dam had finally broken. 

"It's not your fault, Dick. It's not your fault. I was never mad at you." Jason comforted, one big hand rubbing at Dick's shaking back as his brother cried between apologies. 

Dick sniffled and pulled back slightly, eyes roving over Jason's face as if committing it to memory, regret pouring from him in waves that had Danny pulling a grimace.

"Jason- how are you? When did you? I don't," Dick couldn't seem to get a full sentence out as he looked at Jason, wrapped around his younger brother like an octopus.

"And who is that," Dick turned to look up at Danny, the halfa freezing for a moment before taking another obnoxious sip of his smoothie, "and why is he on my ceiling?" Dick finished with a suspicious glare. Danny gave a fanged grin, hopefully not too wide, and a small wave.

"How about," Jason cleared his throat when the words came out husky and choked, "we all sit down to eat the food I slaved over a hot stove to make and we can play twenty questions?" Jason finished and Dick shot Danny one last suspicious look before he nodded and reluctantly peeled himself off Jason. 

Danny slowly floated back down, flipping right side up and settling on a barstool. Dick took the normal route around the island this time as Jason made two more plates with shaking hands. 

Dick sat back in his original seat two down from Danny, eyes locked on Jason as if afraid he'd disappear if he looked away for even a moment. Jason made his way around, sitting between Danny and Dick and handing Danny his plate. 

For a few minutes no one talked, only the sounds of forks on ceramic filled the air as the three men ate their food. Danny broke first, unable to take the tension in the air. It was ruining the delicious food!

"Nice pajamas, Nightwing." Danny leaned forward to shoot Dick a shit eating grin as he shoved a slice of bacon in his mouth. 

Dick startled, looking down at himself with wide eyes and realizing he was still in his vigilante costume.

"I- Uh. I'm a really big Nightwing fan. Huge." Duck scrambled to save himself and Danny snickered as Jason sighed, shooting Danny a glare that had too much affection and gratitude in it to really even be called that.

"He already knows Dickiebird." Jason cut off Dick's bad attempts to come up with a plausible cover story, making the vigilante droop before his eyes sharpened with suspicion again.

"I'm part of the masochistic spandex club too Blue Bird, don't worry." Danny waved off some of Dick's obvious and justified concern, glad to see and feel some of the suspicion turning to cautious curiosity.

"Name's Danny, or Phantom if you see me in my nightwear. Since I know your dirty little secret it's only fair." Danny answered the obvious question in Dick's eyes with a wink. 

The tension in the room was rapidly dissolving and Danny could feel Dick's growing amusement, even if there was still a hefty amount of suspicion. Jason was sending waves of gratitude at him and Danny hummed happily as he filled his mouth with pancakes.

"Got a last name, Danny also known as Phantom?" Dick asked and Danny swallowed his pancakes, using telekinesis to summon the pitcher of fresh orange juice and a cup to him, pouring it and taking a sip. 

He didn't miss how Dick's eyes had locked onto the actions, taking on a calculating gleam. He was sure the vigilante was already building a file in his head titled 'Danny aka Phantom' noting down every ability, his personality, behavior, and rating his threat level.

"Nightingale. But it won't do you any good to run a background check. Or to have Oracle look into me either. I'm sure you'll try anyways but sorry to say, our tech master is good at their job." Danny spoke up with a mischievous smirk after he finished his drink. 

He could tell by the way Dick's eyes lit up that as soon as possible Dick would be researching him, and inevitably pulling Oracle in on it. Tucker would be excited to finally pit himself against his idol. Danny couldn't wait to see how frustrated the vigilantes got when they came up against wall after wall. Firewalls with a ghostly touch had a little extra oomph to them.

"Danny, don't tease him like that." Jason chided with the first ghost of a smile Danny had seen since Dick woke up. 

Danny shot him an unrepentant smile and Jason let out a small noise of annoyance and grabbed Danny's face, making the older halfa yelp.

"You can't eat without making a mess for fucks sake." Jason chided as he used a napkin dipped in water to rub at the maple syrup smeared around Danny's mouth. 

Danny hissed like a cat and batted at Jason's hands to no effect as the large man quickly cleaned him off. Turning Danny's face this way and that Jason checked for any more stains and Danny could feel his face turning the same color as a tomato. 

There was something about the ease with which Jason could manhandle him that sent the butterflies in his stomach kamikaze diving at the walls of his insides and made his heart beat so fast it almost reached human levels. Everywhere Jason's skin touched burned like fire, but Danny would gladly let the flames consume him if Jason would just never let go. 

"There. Now you don't look like you were raised by wolves." Jason nodded as he let go and Danny could finally breathe. 

He took in a deep lungful of the unnecessary air as he ducked his head, face burning hotter when Dick let out a polite cough. Danny looked up through his bangs and was sorely tempted to phase through the floor at the amused and knowing glint in Dick's eyes.

Ancients. Danny's crush was obvious even to someone who had only known him for ten minutes. It was a miracle Jason hadn't caught on yet. He might as well be wearing a shirt that read 'Jason Todd's biggest Simp'. 

If one good thing had come of this, it was that Dick's suspicions had nearly entirely melted away. They were still there but almost undetectable under the feelings of curiosity and amusement the older vigilante was radiating so strongly he might as well be shouting them.

"So how did you two meet?" Dick asked around a bite of food as he waved his fork at the two halfas. Jason paused, looking at Danny.

Cautious/Honesty?/TellEverything?/Lie?/Secrets? Brushed against Danny's awareness. Danny felt his embarrassment step aside as he focused on the now. How much should they tell Dick? He and Jason hadn't exactly talked about this beforehand. Absolutely none of this had been part of the plan.

From what Jason had told him, Dick was rarely on good terms with Bruce. And based on what Danny had been able to piece together from following Nightwing and Dick Greyson on the news, that hadn't changed much. 

There was a good chance if they asked Dick to not tell Brice what they told him, he wouldn't. Even if they asked him to hide that Jason was back. Hell they might be able to get Dick in on the plan. Especially if Jason was able to explain his side of things and his reasoning.

Then again, did Danny trust Dick enough to tell him everything? He knew Jason trusted him, loved him. But they hadn't seen each other in years, and a lot could change in that time.

Some/NotAll/GhostsYes/KingandKnight/No/Death/IfYouWant/TrustYourDecision/TrustYou Danny sent back, finally deciding. Dick could know what they were but he didn't need to know who they were. Dick was Jason's brother, but he was also a hero. He didn't need to know that he had access to the King of the Infinite Realms. Not until he'd proven he wasn't going to use that information badly. 

If this had been Bruce Wayne, Danny wouldn't have wanted the man knowing jack shit. He knew from Jason that Batman had contingencies on everyone. And he personally didn't think he'd ever trust the man enough to give him the information he'd need to learn how to kill him. 

All it took was knowing Danny and Jason were ghosts and with enough digging in the right areas he might find out about Blood Blossoms, or ghost weapons. And Danny would raze the Earth before he'd let Batman have those as 'contingencies' in case he needed to 'eliminate' Jason. 

But Danny trusted the love he could feel pouring from Dick. Trusted that Dick would sooner burn every last FentonWorks weapon and blueprint before he let anyone have a weapon that could take his brother away from him a second time. 

Bruce Wayne might be so calculating and devoted to his Mission that he'd sacrifice even his own children, but Danny felt that Dick would pick his family over the world every time. And for that reason alone, for the love he felt in Dick that he'd only felt the match of in Jazz when she looked at him or Jason, he trusted Dick to know their secrets.

"He picked me up in a cemetery." Jason said bluntly, Dick freezing mid bite.

"Actually, I picked him up from his own grave to be exact." Danny corrected, Jason rolling his eyes and nudging Danny with an elbow. 

Dick's face went white again, his eyes widening comically as he looked back and forth between the pair.

"Y-Your own grave?!" Dick choked out.

"Well yeah. Where else would you find someone who came back from the dead? In Walmart down the zombie aisle?" Jason asked as Danny snickered.

"Right next to the Ghost aisle and across from the revenant aisle! And beside the Ouija boards!" Danny threw in with a cackle that had Jason snorting. "He cost me a whole thirty-nine ninety-nine!" Danny got out between laughs and Jason gave up, burying his head in his hands as he laughed. 

"How are you so-so flippant about this?! He died!" Dick snapped at Danny who went from laughing to straight faced with a speed that obviously threw Dick off.

"Yeah? So did I. Try having several millions volts run through you at the same time as a portal to fucking hell is ripped open on top of you at fourteen." Danny shot back coldly, but with no venom. 

Jason settled a warm hand on Danny's shoulder, pulling him close and making the stool screech against the floor as Jason fit Danny against his side. Danny let himself relax into the protective embrace, not oblivious to the way Jason shifted his body so Dick couldn't see Danny at all. 

He was fine talking about his death, had told the story enough times that it didn't affect him. Hell it hadn't even bothered him at the time, he'd gotten cool powers and he couldn't even remember the pain or it happening! 

It was only years later that Jazz sat him down and explained that was a trauma response, that the event had been so traumatic his brain had blacked out the memory of it happening to protect him. Had made him look at it as a joke to help him cope with the fact he'd died, and died in indescribable agony. 

Once he'd gotten through actually handling that with Jazz there to help him through he could talk about it even easier, and joke about it more. But that didn't change the fact he could remember it now. Remember the pain. Or the fact that electricity was now something he both feared, and was almost attracted to. 

If anything talking about his death was more traumatic to Jason, who always seemed to feel guilty he hadn't been there to stop it. Even though they hadn't known each other then. 

Danny pulled slightly away from Jason so he could see Dick again, but didn't miss how Jason kept his hand on his shoulder. As if ready to pull him out of sight at a moments notice.

"I-Shit. I'm sorry. I didn't. I didn't know." Dick deflated, shoulders slumping and looking so much like a kicked puppy Danny wanted to bundle him up and cuddle him. 

"It's fine. I got some cool bonuses out of it, and because of that I was able to find and help Jason when he needed it." Danny gave Dick a warm smile, glad to see the older man smile hesitantly back. 

"You'll find that people like me and Jason, those who have died and those who weren't lucky enough to come part way back, tend to be rather chill," Jason groaned at the pun, "about it. Most of us will even talk your ear off about how we died. So don't ask unless you're ready to hear the gorey details. It's only the ones who died recently that still have a lot of trauma connected to it." Danny elaborated, and he could practically see the questions spawning in Dick's head.

"How did. How did Jason come back?" Dick seemed to settle on one question out of the probably hundreds he had and Danny grabbed his plate, dragging it closer as he took a bite of a crepe, nodding at Jason to talk. Jason frowned at him and sighed.

"We still haven't figured it out. It was six months after I died. I just. Woke up. In my coffin and Danny was there. Apparently I didn't come back enough and he had to do some emergency ghostly first aid bullshit so I didn't croak again." Jason reluctantly spoke up, apparently not enjoying being the one to speak as Dick switched his attention back to him. 

Danny could see Dick thinking, doing the math. Saw and felt when he realized how long Jason had been back. Felt the pain and anger when he realized Jason had stayed away on purpose. Danny knew Jason felt it too by the way his body stiffened and the hand on his shoulder tightened, heating up as if the fire in his core was burning under his skin. 

"You've been alive for two and a half years. And you didn't come back?" Dick finally asked, voice soft and deadly. Jason flinched as if struck, leaning away from his brother. Danny stepped in, the urge to protect roaring to life inside of him.

"That's the thing. He isn't alive. Neither of us are. Not really. We're half dead, Dick. And that comes with a host of things Jason needed time to figure out, in a place with others like him who could teach him and help him. Protect him." Danny snapped, drawing those burning blue eyes onto himself and away from Jason who was wound so tight Danny feared he'd snap. 

"We-We could have helped him." Dick tried weakly and Danny let out a short, cruel laugh.

"Oh really? Do you know anything about what it's like to die, Dick? Do you know how to help someone who is half alive and half dead? Do you even know what abilities we have? Or what to do when the elemental core forms? Or even what we need to consume to stay healthy? No. You don't because there's only two others like us in existence. Your 'help' could very well have done more harm than good." Danny was ruthless as he shot Dick down. 

He knew he was being a bit mean, but he wasn't going to let Dick blame Jason for needing the time he took. He was not going to let Dick, or anyone else, think this could have played out any differently and ended better. 

If anything if they had found Jason instead  it could've ended up so much worse. Without someone as durable as a ghost around to help Jason manage his new abilities and the stronger emotions,  everyone around him would've been in danger. Let alone the damage Jason would've suffered being a new halfa in an area without enough ectoplasm to sustain him. That alone would've driven him half mad from starvation. 

"Besides. Why would he want to come back Dick? When it took Batman what, seven months to replace him? Why would he think any of you even wanted him back?" Danny knew it was a low blow, but it needed to be said. 

Dick rocked back as if Danny had sucker punched him, and Jason's grip on his shoulder turned crushing. Jason didn't speak to reprimand him, and Danny knew it was because he was saying what Jason had been thinking since he'd found out about the new Robin. 

"We still wanted him! I still wanted him! He could've come to me. I mourned him every single day for three years!" Dick slammed his hands on the counter, the plates and glasses shaking from the force. 

"How was he supposed to know that, Dick? Did you ever make him feel like he could come to you? Did you ever make him feel like you were really his brother?" Danny hissed, leaning forward as his lips stretched to reveal rows of pointed teeth. 

"Stop being so selfish. Realize that you fucked up, and stop making this about you. Jason's here now. Don't push him away because you want to throw a tantrum because I guarantee if we don't want you to find us you never fucking will." Danny warned, knowing his eyes were flashing toxic green based on the way Dick flinched back. It was as if Danny had poked a hole in a balloon, the way Dick's anger leaked out of him, deflating him.

"Danny." Jason spoke softly, a warning in his voice. 

Danny took a deep breath, settling back on his chair as he forced his form to revert back to something mostly human rather than almost his ghost form. If there was one thing guaranteed to set him off it was anyone hurting Jason. 

"I'm sorry Dick," Jason turned to his brother as Danny pressed into his side, partially kept there by Jason's restraining hand. Like the other halfa was worried Danny might actually attack his brother. 

"I know I was gone for a long time. And I know that... hurt you. But I couldn't come back. I wasn't ready." Jason forced the words out, and Danny knew it was only because of Jazz's influence that Jason was able to be this honest about his emotions at all. 

Danny would have to tell her about this, she would be so proud and it would make Jason blush to have her praise him for using what she had been teaching him.

"I'm sorry too Little Wing, that I failed you. If I had been a better brother you wouldn't have felt like you didn't have a home here. You've always had a home with me. You always will." Dick was on the verge of crying again as he looked at Jason.

"I accept your apology. We both messed up. But maybe... we can try again?" Jason offered hesitantly. 

A smile like the sun breaking out from behind storm clouds blossomed on Dick's face as he threw his arms around Jason, managing to even entangle Danny in the hug. Seriously, if Danny didn't know better he'd think Dick was a halfa with how far his arms could reach. 

"Yes! Yes! I promise I'll be a better brother! I'll be the best big brother in fact!" Dick promised as he squeezed Jason, and a bemused Danny, tight. It was a good thing neither halfa needed to breathe, because Danny wasn't sure they could. 

"Awesome. We talked about our feelings. Can we finish fucking eating now?" Jason demanded when he had enough of being used as a human teddy bear stress ball. Dick chuckled wetly as he pulled back,  looking at their half eaten food.

"Yeah. But uh can we also discuss the whole half dead thing? And the Ghost shit you keep mentioning?" Dick asked as he picked up a piece of bacon. Danny and Jason traded looks.

"So. What do you know about ghosts Dick?" Danny asked with a smirk.

"I've seen Paranormal Activity?" Dick offered and Jason snorted into his glass.

"Alright, I hope you don't have plans for today because this is going to take a few hours. Welcome to The Undead 101." Danny rubbed his hands together with a grin as Dick looked between them with trepidation. Danny cackling only seemed to make him more wary.

"So. When people die they don't always always stay dead..."

Red Knight Tag Cult

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The King and his Red Knight

DPxDC crossover fic

Part 1

Really sorry to everyone who suffered through the fact that I didn't know about the existence of readmore. I can't fix the thread now but the individual posts are better? Sorry I have like a very rough idea of how this site works 😭

Check the: The King and his Red Knight tag to find all the parts

"Go here, Danny. Go then, Danny. Go to a random cemetery in the middle of the night for no reason, Danny." A voice grumbled, accompanied by the sound of sneakers rhythmically tapping stone.

Danny Fenton, currently Phantom, sat on a gravestone, his white hair a beacon in the dark night. There were no stars in the sky for him to gaze upon, their light hidden behind swaths of smog and neon lights playing off the gray clouds.

Clockwork had dumped him here, with no explanation for why. Not that he ever really explained much when he sent Danny off on his tasks. He supposed he should be grateful, at least he was in the same when rather than being transported a thousand years into the past.

"Wait here King Phantom. You will understand in time." Danny mimicked his mentor's voice as he let himself float off the grave he'd been dumped on after Clockwork shoved him out of a portal. His body floated higher until he could flip around, his legs crossing. He sat upside down, his chin in his palm as he glared petulantly at the assembled gravestones surrounding him, his toxic green eyes glowing.

"So far all I've seen is a concerning amount of ecotplasm for a city without a ghost portal and some blob ghosts! How long am I supposed to wait here?" Danny asked the air, and the aforementioned blob ghosts who were hanging off his body, soaking in the ambient ecotoplasm he radiated at all times now.

Neither provided him with an answer to his question and Danny let out a frustrated groan as he lowered his still flipped body to look once more on the gravestone he'd been tasked with waiting on.

Jason Todd, the name read. The dates, too close together, made something in Danny squeeze painfully. He'd been young, barely older than Danny when he stepped into the portal. Only for this teenager there had been no ectoplasm to bind to his dying body and repair the damage of death and force him back into a semblance of life.

"Who were you and why did Clockwork send me to you?" Danny asked the gravestone, one clawed finger tracing the words before he pulled back with a sigh when the gravestone gave him no explanation. The dead didn't always speak, not even to their king.

Turning his body Danny looked over the rest of the cemetery. It was empty, as most usually were this time of night, of the living. There were a few shades wandering around, circling closer to him, drawn by his presence. No full ghosts though, but oddly enough there rarely were in cemeteries. This was where the dead came to rest. To remember, if they wanted to. Cemeteries were sacred spaces to the dead, much as a temple or a church would be for the living who were religious. Ghosts who still clung to life, to their obsessions, did not frequent cemeteries, did not dare trespass and disturb those who had already found their peace.

Danny himself was an oddity. He had never shied from cemeteries, enjoying the peace he found in them, the guarantee of safety offered. And perhaps, he mourned that he himself would never have a gravestone for the living to place their flowers and their tears at. Who would make a grave for someone who was both alive and dead? There would never be a body to bury for him. His human half would continue to live on so long as his ghost core remained and could fuel it.

Maybe that was why he found peace in cemeteries, for all his whining that Clockwork had dumped him here. Cemeteries were for the living and the dead, one of the only places both existed in harmony naturally. For someone who was as much dead as he was alive such a place held a certain degree of belonging for him.

Danny straightened out in the air, letting his body lie above the grave as he folded his arms behind his head and looked up at the covered sky. He complained and whined about this task, but he was secretly glad that Clockwork had given him something to do. Even if it was just 'hang out in a random cemetary'.

Ever since he'd graduated high-school, revealed himself to his parents and discovered how deep prejudice and hate could run, and he'd run away to the Infinite Realms for sanctuary while his friends moved forward with their lives, he'd felt unmoored. A ghost with no haunt. Bored was too light a word for the gaping emptiness he felt in his chest, for the loneliness clawing at him. Clockwork, Wulf, Pandora they could help chip at the ache inside of him but not banish it. Not now that his family, his friends, were spread so far apart and so distant from him.

Not that he resented their choices, their distance, in fact he'd fought for them to do just that, to get out of Amity Park, to go to college, to become more than overworked teen superheroes. Still he missed them, even if he could visit them whenever he wanted. It was becoming clear as time moved forward that the world they belonged to and the one he did were two different things.

Danny Fenton couldn't go to college when his parents had declared him dead. Danny Fenton didn't exist as far as the government was concerned. Danny Phantom couldn't return to Amity when those same parents were waiting to capture him and tear him apart 'molecule by molecule'. Danny Phantom couldn't go back when the GIW were crawling over the town like ants.

So neither Danny Fenton or Danny Phantom returned to Amity after that day. And he made sure they couldnt follow him when he ensured the portal that took his life to function never opened again. He didn't need the portal any longer to get in and out of the Infinite Realms, and it was safer for the ghosts, his subjects, if the temptation of the Fenton portal was gone.

The world of the living was not yet ready to accept that the dead didn't always stay dead. And Danny would keep his people safe until they were.

Danny jolted from his lazing state of reverie when a pulse of emotion rocked through him, the strength of it stealing his breath if he had any to take.

Fear/Trapped/Dark/Fear/Help/HELP pounded into him and Danny frantically flipped around, head swiveling, poisonous green eyes wide as he triedf to locate the source. The emotions, the plea for help, burned his core, his Obsession screamed at him.

Help/SomeonePlease/Dark/Trapped/CANTBREATHE/HELP another wave of messages, of emotions pushed themselves at Danny and this time underneath the onslaught he could hear a rhythmic thudding. Danny looked down, horror filling him when he realized the thudding was coming from under the ground. From the grave he'd been hovering over for an hour now.

Danny flew down, sending back a wave of I'mHere/HelpIsComing/I'mComing to the boy trapped in his own coffin, feeling the intense wave of relief and hope sent back before he dived into the earth as if it wasn't there. Danny paused for a moment when he passed the thick wooden coffin, seeing a boy in the dark with wide, panicked blue eyes and fingers tipped with shredded nails and fresh blood.

"Hey, I'm going to get you out of here, okay?" Danny told the boy, keeping his voice gentle, soft. The boy jolted, fixating on the only source of light, Danny's growing green eyes. Danny hoped his smile came off as calming instead of 'freaky AF' as Tucker liked to call it. He grabbed the boy, Jason, as carefully as he could and then let his intangibility wash over the terrified teen as he lifted them both out of the coffin.

When they emerged from the coffin and the ground Danny set the teen down, leaning him against the gravestone, his own gravestone, and pulled back a bit. The boy was gasping in air as if the fetid, polluted air was the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted.

Danny tilted his head as he watched the boy ground himself. Now that the emotions were leveling out and his Obsession was purring in contentment rather than growling in a frenzy, Danny could feel something off about the boy.

Disregarding the fact that he'd just come back from the dead, of course. But that wasn't the oddest thing Danny had seen in his afterlife. No the boy felt... not like a normal, living human. Not even like an Amity Park resident, who all felt more than slightly liminal. No this boy, this Jason Todd, felt closer to liminal than even Jazz, Tucker or Sam, who were three of the most liminal humans Danny had ever been around.

Jason felt almost...like a ghost. But not. Danny could feel the tickle in his throat that proceeded his ghost sense but the tell-tale mist never emerged. It was as if Jason was...like him. But Danny couldn't sense a core either. Even halfas had cores.

"Who are you?" Jason spoke, breaking Danny from his thoughts and examination. Jason was looking at him with a mix of gratitude and suspicion. Which, fair. Danny had just pulled him from his own coffin and there were so many questions that could stem from all of this, disregarding all the weirdness that was just Danny himself.

"I'm Danny, Danny Phantom. Or just Phantom. I go by either. And you're Jason, right?" Danny asked, smiling at the teen and oops, yeah that was definitely his scary smile based on the slight flinch there. It wasn't his fault his teeth were too sharp now and his lips split a bit too wide.

"How did you know that?" Jason asked, blue eyes narrowing. Danny nodded at the gravestone the boy was leaning against with a raised brow. Jason turned and almost toppled over from the movement. Danny frowned as the boy caught himself on his gravestone. His skin was still pale, too pale, and as Danny watched Jason swayed again.

"Shit. You're fading. You didn't form a core and your body isn't stabilizing." Danny cursed, moving towards the boy who scrambled back, only to be stopped by his grave.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason asked, hands fisting as he tried to rise only to fall back to the ground when his legs refused to hold his weight.

"Saving your life. The dead aren't supposed to come back. There's always a price to pay, a balance that is struck. Currently, as you are, if I don't get enough ectoplasm in you to form your core, you'll fade and turn into a brain-dead husk." Danny told Jason, tone stern and no nonsense as he grabbed him. Jason made an effort to break free, but it was weak, and even at full strength, he wouldn’t have been able to break Danny's hold. Few in this realm could.

If they had the time, Danny would've approached this situation in a far different manner, but this close he could hear Jason's heartbeat, a weak flutter in his chest, skipping beats as it tried to fuel a body that was past saving. Jason didn't have the time for Danny to approach this gently and kindly, to coax trust out of the teen like he would a feral cat.

Jason had minutes left before his ectoplasm starved body consumed itself trying to make a core and failed because while wherever they were had more ambient ectoplasm than most places, it was far from enough to sustain the birth of a halfa. Maybe if Jason had stayed dead for another year, he'd have naturally formed a core and risen as a proper ghost. But that wasn't what happened, somehow he'd gathered enough to fix his body of whatever wounds or illness had put him in that coffin to begin with and come back to 'life' but without a core to sustain his body he'd be dead, again, in minutes. And Danny was not about to watch while a teenager, another teenager, died.

"How do I know I can trust you?" Jason hissed as Danny pushed his arms down and laid his clawed hands on Jason's chest.

"You don't. But you don't have another choice." Danny said with a shrug. "Now are you going to let me save your life or not?" Danny asked, not moving his hands. He'd save Jason either way but this would be easier if Jason worked with him.

"Fine." Jason spat and Danny smirked as his hands began to glow a toxic green that matched his eyes.

Ectoplasm pooled out of his hands and rushed into Jason, filling him until the boy glowed bright enough to rival the neon lights of the city around them. The green light flared around him like an aura, slowly shrinking but getting impossibly brighter as the glow centralized around his chest until a small glowing ball of green, like a trapped star, blazed from his chest.

Jason gasped, back arching as Danny pulled his hands away and the light vanished under Jason's skin. For a moment Jason's blue eyes burned green and his hair flashed snow white before returning to black, with one single lock of unearthly white left above his forehead. Jason collapsed back against his grave, chest heaving. Danny watched, eyes full of a sad understanding.

"What the fuck was that?" Jason panted out.

"Welcome to the world of the half alive, half dead." Danny said with a smile. "Want to get a burger and talk about it?" He asked, standing up and dusting off his hands.

"Make it a chili dog and you've got a deal."

~~~~~

Fixed some typos added some lines

Maybe I'll continue this AU. Maybe not. This scene was in my head for days and I wanted to share

[kinglazrus]

Not Your Danny – Ch 1. Moving Day

Phic Phight | Next | FFN | AO3

Submitted by @ecto-american: After Danny’s untimely death, his family and friends turn to Dani for comfort. She was so much like him in every single way. And she never felt more like a clone. A replacement for the “real” thing.

Summary: Maddie and Jack learn a lot of things about their son after his death: his powers, his secret life as the local hero, the truth behind his accident three years ago. And his clone who is so much like their boy. When Dani gets the offer to join their home, she thinks it's too good to be true. And she just might be right.

Word count: 2761

Two weeks after Danny dies, Danielle moves into his bedroom. It's a lacklustre affair. Dani has no belongings to bring with her, except the few trinkets stuffed in the pockets of her shorts. She only owns one pair of clothes, two of you want to be technically and count her ghost form. But that's tenuous at best when you consider the circumstances of her creation, and that her clothes were created withher, not given to her. She doesn't like to think about that too much, though.

Neither of Danny's parents are home for the occasion. Dani doesn't blame them. Her face time with Maddie and Jack Fenton over the past three years equals an hour at most—hour and a half if she really pushes it. And most of that time was with an ectogun between them. If she counts the times where she hasn't been staring down a glowing green barrel, then it's probably only five minutes, maybe less. And that only happened a few days ago.

Suffice to say, Dani and the Fentons don't have a good relationship, or a relationship of any kind. So she doesn't blame them for being out of the house when their dead son's clone, who they only recently found out about, takes over his bedroom. Although take over might be too strong of a phrase.

Dani floats next to Jazz, hovering in front of Danny's open bedroom door.

"Is it... okay?" Jazz asks.

Dani drifts inside, turning her head from side to side as she looks around. She likes the blue walls, and the open brick on the outer wall is kind of cool. The bed, covered in a purple bead spread, topped with a fluffy pillow, looks softer than anything she's ever slept on. The room is nice, if a bit messy with Danny's stuff still inside. Posters decorate the wall, some about space, others from some band called Dumpty Humpy. The shelves are stuffed full of books and model spaceships. His dirty clothes lie next to an open hamper in the corner of the room.

The sight surprises Dani more than anything.

"What are you gonna do with his stuff?" she asks. "Do people usually just," she gestures toward the room, "leave it like this?"

"What? No." Jazz shakes her head and quickly wipe her hand across her eyes. "When someone dies, their family or friends eventually pack their stuff away. Not always right away, though."

"Two weeks isn't long enough?"

Jazz's breath hitches. "Don't– don't say that. It's inconsiderate."

Dani's cheeks go hot at Jazz's admonishing tone. "Oh. Sorry." She floats further into the room, if only to escape the awkward air settling between them.

If Dani didn't know any better, she would guess that Danny had just stepped outside for a second and would be back any moment. Lowering herself to the floor, Dani settles on the carpet and walks toward the desk. A controller of some kind sits on the desk chair, its cord tangled with a headset. Dani picks the controller up and turns it over in her hand. She only vaguely recognizes the X logo in the middle of it; her travels over the past couple of years haven't exactly involved a lot of gaming. Or any.

There was a small handheld system she picked up at a garage sale once. She carried it for a few months but lost it somewhere along the way.

Dani tosses the controller onto the chair and turns back to Jazz. "So, now what?"

"Well, if you're not comfortable with Danny's things still being in here, we can get some boxes and start packing. I think we have some in the basement. If you want." Jazz tacks on the last three words with a soft voice.

"No, it's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, course." It's just stuff, after all. Dani doesn't quite get it, which also means she doesn't care. If the Fentons don't want to move Danny's stuff yet, then it can stay. He was their son before he was Dani's cousin/DNA source.

"Okay. I guess I'll just... let you get settled, then. I have to work on some plans for the memorial, but Mom and Dad should be home in a couple hours. They said they wouldn't be gone long," Jazz says.

Dani nods. A few seconds of silence pass, and once it's obvious that neither of them is going to say anything more, Jazz turns and walks down the hall. Finally alone, Dani lets her ghost form fall away. The transformation rings prickle as their bright light ghosts over her skin, and when it fades, she's left in her typical shorts and hoodie. Dani rubs her arms until the prickling fades, then flops onto the bed.

Damn. It really is the softest thing she's ever lain on. And the blankets are warm. They smell like Danny, too. That's something Dani never thought she would think. She didn't even realize Danny had a smell, but it's hard to ignore now. It's not the most tangible smell. The best word Dani can find to describe it is crisp, like a cold day. She would bet her beanie that it was because of his ice powers, an ability they had never shared.

Dani shakes her head. Everything is weird enough right now. The last thing she needs to be contemplating is how Danny used to smell. It's also, like, a super creepy line of thought, yeah? Yeah.

As she stares up at the ceiling, a blur of movement catches her eye. Her gaze jumps toward it, in the corner of the bedroom closest to the door. A small brown lump clings to the ceiling. A bug, no doubt. Dani can't tell what kind, and she doesn’t care enough to find out. It's not too surprising, considering how messy Danny's room is. There's probably some old pizza hiding under his bed or something.

Dani rolls onto her side and closes her eyes. A little bug doesn't bother her, not after the places she's slept. And if the Fentons won't be home for a while, and Jazz is busy, she might as well take advantage of her new bed and the next few hours to get some shuteye. God knows she needs it.

—

Maddie feels sorry for Vlad's receptionist. She bears a striking resemblance to Maddie herself, with short auburn hair just a touch redder than Maddie's own, a curvy frame, and a sharp, pointed chin. She's even wearing blue, bless her heart. The girl is pretty, and young, and kind. Can't be too far out of high school, and hoping a job at the mayor's office will look good on her resume. Maddie hopes it pays off. The girl deserves it for putting up with Vlad daily. Working for him seems to be taking a toll on her, judging by the distressed look in her eyes when she looks up from Vlad's appointment book.

"I'm sorry, there's no appointment for you. I don't know if I can let you in," she says.

Maddie sighs. "Mr. Masters left me a message"—or several—"asking me to come in."

"I'm really sorry, but he didn't mention expecting you... oh no." The receptionist's eyes widen and she starts digging through papers on her desk. "Did I forget to write it down again? He got so upset last time."

Maddie reaches out and touches her shoulder, stopping the frantic search. "It's all right, dear. It's not your fault."

She suspected, when Vlad left numerous messages on her cellphone rather than calling the house, that something more was up. How Vlad even got her cellphone number she doesn't want to know. She will also be changing it very soon thanks to this incident.

"He's particular about his meetings," the receptionist says. "I really can't let you in."

"Just let him know I'm here, and I'll take care of the rest."

The receptionist nods. While she goes for the phone, Maddie steps away from the desk and turns back to the waiting area. It's empty besides her and the receptionist—not surprising this early on a Monday, and all the better for Maddie. She pulls her cellphone from her purse and checks the time; It's just after eight. Dani is due at Fenton Works soon, but Maddie and Jack won't be back until noon, at least. The reminder makes her wince.

Missing half of Dani's first day at home isn't ideal, but Maddie wants to get this meeting over with as fast as possible. They had other plans in the city, anyway, made before they invited Dani into their home. Better to get everything done at once.

Maddie eyes plush waiting room armchairs, wondering if there's any point in sitting down, when the receptionist calls out, "Mrs. Fenton?"

Maddie opens her mouth to answer, but her phone—still in her hand—buzzes at that moment. Jack's name stretches across the screen. "Excuse me." She steps toward the elevators on the far side of the room and turns her back to the receptionist, the closest semblance of privacy she can get, before answering her phone. "Hey, Jack. Is your meeting done already?"

"Not even close! How goes the shopping?"

"Fine so far. I forgot we didn't ask...." She tenses, feeling the receptionist's stare at her back. "We didn't ask what she might need, so I'm just grabbing the basics. Do you want me to pick something up for you? Are you waiting on the park board?"

"About that... I'm with them now, and—what day did we settle on for the memorial, again?"

Maddie shakes her head, but not out of annoyance. Jack forgetting the day hardly surprises her. He tends to forget the little details. If anything, it makes her feel grounded. The past two weeks have been a lot, to put it lightly. A lot of changes. A lot of revelations. But she can always rely on Jack to be his usual self.

"A month from today," she says.

"Thanks, baby! You're the best! See you later." The phone beeps as Jack hangs up. Maddie sighs while the corner of her lip twitches upwards. It's the closest she's come to smiling since Danny died. She holds like that for a moment, caught between the ache choking her heart and the desire for things to get better. They won't, not for a long time. She won't fool herself into thinking otherwise. But it's nice, for a moment, to pretend things might be okay.

"Leaving Jack alone with the DPR? I feel sorry for them." Vlad's slimy voice ruins the moment after the first syllable.

Maddie tenses, clutching her phone tighter, and turns to face him. "Vlad. It's bad business to ask for a meeting, then make your guest wait."

When Vlad smiles, his whitened teeth cut a bright slash across his cheeks. It's too wide, too sharp. Never reaches his eyes. Maddie remembers, long ago, when Vlad had a soft smile. He used it sparingly, doling it out to only the most deserved. She can't imagine him smiling like that now.

"Well, I don't mean to be presumptive, but when I phone a friend hoping for a visit, I expect them to stop by my house, not my work."

"Your mistake, then."

The receptionist's typing falters. Her have yet to stray from her screen, but Maddie already knows she's listening in. Vlad probably does, too.

"Natalie!" he snaps.

The receptionist jerks upright. "Yes, sir?"

Vlad rests a hand on Maddie's back and pushes her forward. She moves, if only to step out of his reach, and heads toward his office. Vlad reaches into his suit jacket as he walks. He pulls out his wallet and pinches a few random bills, tugging them out without looking. "Take a break. I'm sure you could use a coffee to perk you up."

He leans in front of Maddie to drop the bills on Natalie's desk. The contact makes Maddie grimace, and she hurries ahead into his office. When she turns, Vlad is already closing the door. The last thing Maddie sees of the waiting room is Natalie's frown as she glances at a paper cup sitting in plain view on her desk.

"Now, Maddie." Vlad turns. Rather than heading to his desk, he steps toward Maddie and touches her arm. "How are you doing?"

"You left me seven messages just so you could ask that?" Maddie brushes Vlad's hand off. In three long strides, she cuts across his office and takes one of the visitor's chairs. While the waiting room had plush armchairs, these are made of dark wood, armless, with firm leather cushions and straight backs. A deliberate choice, no doubt.

Vlad comes up beside her, his hand on the second chair. Before he can sit, Maddie swings her purse off her shoulder and drops it on the empty cushion. Vlad pauses, glances between her and the bag, but relents and takes his seat at the desk instead.

His chair sits considerably higher than Maddie's.

"I can imagine the pain you're going through right now," he says.

Maddie's fists clench. "Can you really?"

"Believe it or not, yes, I can." He pauses, giving her a chance to respond. But whatever question he wants her to ask, whatever game he wants to play, Maddie refuses to give in. She might have put up with him once, but after what he's done, he will be lucky if she willingly suffers his presence ever again after today.

She waits for Vlad to elaborate.

"I'm sure you've wondered, all this time, where Danny went whenever he disappeared for hours. Being our city's young hero explains a lot of it, yes, but to be honest, that wasn't everything." Vlad stops to take a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment. It's quite the performance. "To tell you the truth, he was often with me."

Bullshit! Maddie wants to shout, but she bites it back. Her jaw aches from how hard she clenches her teeth.

"I discovered his secret a long time ago and gave him a safe place away from home. You know, when conversation at the dinner table got to be too much." Vlad pauses again, letting his words sink in.

Maddie hates that she knows exactly what he means. All those times she and Jack discussed their inventions, their plans for when they finally captured the ghost boy. Most of what Vlad is saying might be a lie, but the truth within it cuts her deeply. "Really?"

Vlad might think himself a great actor, but he's apparently ignorant to Maddie's own deception. He nods at her questioning tone, eyes low and mouth pressed into a grim line. "I understand this is hard to hear. I did my best to make him feel safe, and we actually became close. Over the years, I came to think of him as something of a son. And his death has affected me deeply."

He stands, trailing his hand along his desk as he walks around toward Maddie. His shoulders droop, as if Danny's absence weighs on him. It really is a good performance. Peering closer, Maddie sees that he even looks pallid, and purple bags rest under his eyes. A look easily accomplished with some pale foundation and smudged eyeshadow.

"It's like a piece of me is missing without him. I'm sure you feel the same. We need each other, Maddie. To make us whole again."

Vlad reaches toward her, but she ducks away from him, slipping out of her chair. His hand falls through the empty air and he stumbles, nearly falling into the chair.

Now he's being ridiculous, Maddie thinks. She could have fallen for the makeup and the sob story if she didn't know better, but the off balance act? The distressed look in his eye when she pulls away? She's insulted that he thinks she would fall for it.

"You're right Vlad. I'm in pain. Danny is gone and it feels like he took a piece of me with him when he died. But I have my family to help me through it." She grabs her purse off the other chair and heads for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."

"Madeline, please—"

"Vladimir!" Her shout tears at her throat. She turns on him, blinking to fight back the burn in her eyes. He stands frozen where she left him, crumpled pathetically against her empty chair, one hand still outstretched. Maddie swallows the lump in her throat. "Enough."

She leaves without another word.

Next

[bluerosefox]

Stories/Prompts List:

[In General Prompts]: |Moving On (Character moving on and away from the toxic people/places)

[Encanto]: |Everybody (in Town) Loves Mirabel

[Genshin Impact/Encanto prompt]: |Anemo Mirabel idea (Quick idea)

[DP]: |Rather Not |Middle Name |Entrance and Exists |New Title Idea

[DPxDC]: 2023 Prompt Lists 1 2023 Prompt Lists 2 2023 Prompt Lists 3 |Our Well Deserved Break (Danny decides he and a bunch of stressed out hero teens need a weekend break from...well everything.) |Supersons vs Ghost Gal (It started with Grandma’s Kent Cookies) (Jon is punished for stealing cookies and ropes in Damian to prove he’s innocent by catching the thief... Only there is a certain traveling ghost whose the thief who may or may not wanna troll them now) (read notes) |Uncle Damian Mode ACTIVATE (Twins!Damian and Danny, baby!Danielle, hints of good mom Talia. READ NOTES) (Damian is having a normal patrol... Until Danny shows up with a baby and going to hunt down a fruitloop for trying to clone him... Damian is going to be the best uncle) |Possessed Pearl’s (Danny finds a ghost needing help. Martha has a chance to get herself home to Gotham) |Ghosties and Black Bats (Hinted CassxDanny) (Danny gets a call from Dani and goes to help only to see a rather kick butt lady doing the job, and oh boy Fenton genes are in high gear) |Mystery Spouse (Dannyx???) (Danny and [Any Bat of choosing] get into a whirlwind romance and marry... they just forgot to tell their families though) |Presence Pressure (Twins!Danny and Damian) (Danny figures out how to hid himself from his adopted parents and the GIW radar, only he didnt take into account that they might pick up his twin’s corrupted ectopalsm) |Our Strengths (Danny and his family are taken by the GIW. Sam and Tucker hack and blackmail their way to save their best friend and his family) |Drake Siblings (Tim gets a call from a little Jasmine Fenton and finds out he has a half brother named Danny.) (Danny and Jazz are adopted Fenton. Danny is the son of Jack Drake and Dana Winter-Drake btw) |In Luminous Green Glow (TaliaxDanny) (Danny, CW’s apprentice, is inspecting a Pits, only to meet a blade to his neck) |Bittersweet and Sweetheart Exes (Past TaliaxBrucexDanny) (Talia and Bruce are bittersweet exes to each other but towards Danny he’s their sweetheart ex) |Family Resemblance (Daniel Wayne was kidnapped the night his and Bruce’s parents were killed. Years later Bruce gets a call from Damian about two possible poorly made clones or hidden blood children. Meanwhile Dan and Elle Fenton are calling their dad about a possible Vlad clone surviving) |The Amazing Adventures of Tim Drake and Little Baby Man Danny. AKA two feral raccoons loose on Gotham (Little Tim Drake makes a friend when stalking the Bats... and feral vibes with the baby man Danny) |One in the Same (Tim is tossed in the Pit during his RR run, and wakes his memories of being Danny Fenton/Phantom... and ponders what to do next to mess with the fruitloop Ra’s) |Fenton Coded (Tim discovers he’s not a Drake by blood... and he’s not a Wayne (like he and others suspected) but is a Fenton) (past DannyxJanet) |Ghost With Heartbeats (maybe Dead on Main?) (hinted Deaged Dani) (Jason used to have a penpal, a kid named Danny Fenton. Then he dead, came back and the thought of writing to his friend was forgotten... until he finds all the letter’s Alfred saved. Even letters Danny wrote to Jason after his death) |Invites (Hinted Dani(Ellie)xDamianxJon) (Wrath aka Ellie comes to the Watchtower to complain about a Ball being hosted in the Infinite Realms) |Kidnapped Persephone Style (JasonxDanny. Dead on Main) (Tim witness Jason being taken by a ghostly knight and tells the rest of the Batfam) |Gray and Graysons (Siblings Danny and Dick)(Dick remembers his baby brother before he had been given to the childcare system, so he isn’t ready to see him years later at the Watchtower as one of the new engineer hires) |Siblings Behavior (Ghost King Danny/Dad Danny)(the Ghost King summons the two factions of the DC verse, to talk about his two kids Wrath and Wisp) |Feral Gremlins VS Fruitloops (Deaged Danny and Tim) (Danny and Tim are deaged by their dumb Fruitloops, the two feral things meet and decide to team up and escape) |Mama Bat (Deaged Danny and Mama Cass)(Cass finds a baby in Hong Kong before being yeeted back to Gotham with baby stuff and a glowing sticky note) |The Flow of Time (Deaged Tim) (CW takes matters into his own hands when he spots a deaged Tim timeline where his family fails to save him from Ra’s plans) |Once Upon A Time... (Hinted JasonxDanny. Dead on Main) (Ghost Robin!Jason finds a sleeping Ghost Prince Danny when in the Realms. and a sticky note is hinting something) |That Good Ol' Fenton Charm (SelinaxDanny) (Deaged Danielle and Dan!) (Danny meets his neighbor Selina when one of her cats gets into his apartment one night!) |Little Danny's Big Adventure (Mentioned Regent Jazz) (Deaged/King Danny) (Little Danny gets yeeted into the DCverse when he was deaged, stops a villain and goes to a safe house for naptime!) |Always Favors You (Half-Brothers Danny and Jason) (Ghost Prince/King Danny) (Jason is invited to the crowning of the future Ghost King Phantom. Thing is the Ghost Prince is his half-brother he gave away years ago when he was a baby) |Masks and Moonlit Night (Anger Management) (Jason and Jazz meet at a masquerade ball and its a bit of a fairy-tale moment) |“Daddy! Mommy’s is having Ellie!” (Anger Management/Deaged Danny and Dan/Reborn Ellie) (Jason has a lot of secrets, one of them comes to light when one of his son’s call him while he’s Red Hood in a panic about their mom having their sister a bit early.) |Saying Sorry Will Never Be Enough (Dannny/Any of the Bats/Birds) (Danny is happily packing his apartment, about to move in with his partner, when he gets a knock on his door. Its his parents.) |Phantomish Rouges (When Team Phantom gets put into the DCverse, Danny is hurt and needs to be in a cryo sleep to recover. Team Phantom doesn’t have much of a choice and have to turn to some criminal activity to survive) |Dinner? (Spirit Halloween) (College age Danny is surprised when he opens his door and finds a recently dropped out of med school Bruce freaking Wayne at his doorstep and been asked out by the young man) |Striking of the Clock (Future Braindead/Deadtired) (Tim finds a way to get Bruce out of the Time stream, he has to summon the Ancient of Time. However it seems like he can’t so he summons the next best thing, the Ghost King. But... Why is the King flirting with him and why is the Ancient of Time calling him his new apprentice?!) |Disney Style Romance (Death Defying or NightBirds) (Dick is the family member that would have a Disney style romance when his dog Haley plays with a green puppy named Cujo) |Genie Gave Me a Brother AU (Reborn!Danny and Tiny Tim) (Tim figures out a artifact his parents sent home from one of their digs. He makes a wish for someone to be with him at the same time Danny is going on a reincarnation vaycay) |BREAKING NEWS! Youngest Wayne’s Secret Lovechild?! (Maybe Serious Chaos?)(Deaged Danny!) (Due to Vlad, Danny is deaged and a older teenage Ellie runs to Gotham to hide and take care of her template. However she is mistaken for Damian Wayne’s lover/baby mama and Danny is their son by the media due to being saved by the teen outside of costume.) |Her Astrophel and Sterling (Al Ghul Danny/Deaged Dani(Ellie)/ good Mom Talia!) (Instead of the Bats finding Danny (Danyal al Ghul) is alive, Talia discovers her son is alive first, and that she is a grandmother)

My Art Tag! (Random things I’ve drawn)

[tealty]

(I'm so sorry this turned into an essay and I couldn't stop once I started TLDR!!) Okay its not dpxdc which first off, wild, how dare my brain branch out like this and get fixated when I have WORK to do and cannot CATER to it. Rude. Anyways, so I've been obsessed with all kinds of crossovers of DP because i think there's a lot of opportunities there but there is one I've really only seen i think a single fic about and it wasn't really actually about Danny, it was just about elements and mechanics of the universe being present in another one. So walking dead?? idk i know in the comics rick is at one point in Kentucky so if you included comic TWD locations it wouldn't be absurd that if the apocalypse occurred Danny might venture out of Illinois. Thoughts include the following:

Danny is already half-dead at the least, I don't know if this would make him immune but he has already done the 'come back' part so I would theorize that his ectoplasm probably worked similarly to the virus in that when he was electrocuted and his DNA was changed that the ectoplasm took over some of the normal functions of the body, things like keeping his brain going and replacing the parts damaged with ecto constructs so the virus which attacks the brain would attack the ecto instead and thats not really alive so... it would probably dissolve it honestly. Or eat it? Id imagine the virus could work as an emergency ecto-dejecto depending on how that works

family - I'd imagine he'd TRY at least to keep the people close to him alive, I feel like depending on how this went Amity Parker's would be resistant to the virus due to their ecto contamination but not actually having the dna structure to fully resist it. So like, they might survive a bite for a week or two instead of a day or two perhaps but it WOULD kill them.

on that note, probably would have the military immediately cull them. people who can spread the infection because they are resistant and could spread it even further faster because of that length of time? Yeah no they'd probably be bombed.

In this AU I'd imagine Danny would probably be on his own. Dani is around somewhere too I assume but I'd imagine Walkers being undead would mess with the ghost sense at least a little bit. Not the same but they'd be able to sense them and that would meddle with being able to find each other easily.

No Amity Park (cuz bombs obviously) means no ghost portal, so either a trek to Wisconsin to use Vlad's (probably not, Danny is not known for necessarily smart thinking when panicked right away, it takes him a little bit past the feral first response to get that process started) or he'd book it. Maybe that first initial rush of trying to save someone ANYONE and now he's lost in Wisconsin, the undead barely notice him and people are turning on each other so fast that Danny who frankly is a small town guy who's been fighting ghosts since he was 14 and has seen a lot of shit, is mostly just like shit lets get out of here.

Getting shot at is nothing new, but gunshots are a new experience that is both worse and better than being shot at by parents who once thought he was the enemy. Not his forte.

Probably meets up with TWD crew hmm yeah the Kentucky trip to ricks police station would still be the best option but depending on how fast he flew to get out of a mess, could have them meet up pretty damn early or really late based on what direction he goes, whether its straight east or south first.

I envision Danny being not at all normal in this, as much as the whole hiding being a ghost thing is wonderful, Danny's obsession has always been to protect, and the place and people fueling his haunt is GONE, i imagine that's damaging to a ghost? Guy probably wouldn't be able to keep from helping people if he tried. I could see him potentially saving one of the kids perhaps and then latching on from there, or seeing someone and seeing Sam, tucker or Jazz in them. Also i imagine he hasn't had to hide in Amity for a while, Danny is just odd, he's colder than normal, his eyes glint green, sometimes the world seems to warp a little around him, and occasionally he forgets to breath or it rattles oddly in his chest when it starts back up again. This guy is not human and its been a good few years since hes had to pretend otherwise.

Ricks crew is not known for being accepting of strangers and honestly i bet they wouldn't even notice him following right away. Daryl might. The kids definitely. Danny would rarely use his ghost form, too noticeable by those who are alive but when he IS in ghost form, the dead who normally wouldn't bother him anyways unless already agitated, fucking avoid him. He eats the virus after all even if hes not necessarily aware of it at first. Ectoplasm can be jealous, and halfa's are territorial, other undead in the vicinity? Ghost instincts would be stronger in his ghost form so probably would be an instinctual thing to just drop corpses like fly's and come out of it going 'wow i feel great!'

Everyone Right here right now. Stop what You’re doing and give me your thoughts. What’s on your mind? How’s it going? Yeet your funky little mind worms at me

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

2/2 as for Jazz I dont think her obsessions psychology--thats her passion. But making sure Dannys ok/not alone? She does constantly fret over him in canon. Maddie IS hard tho. maybe its not so much obsession as it is regret that makes her ghost, depending on if she knew about Phantom. Imagine all the regrets she had about hurting Danny before she knew, or all the things she couldnt do to help him after she did. Its a lot of guilt--it may not be happy but the existence of a ghost isnt meant to be

now i’m kinda imagining jazz just living in danny’s layer and making sure he’s okay at the end of his missions. like she’s the family he can rely on being there at the end of the day. i find it a little odd to be that close with your sibling, hell he probably gets annoyed sometimes, but at the same time, after the particularly rough days he really appreciates her. she is the most balanced and human of the ghosts probably. she definitely extends her sister instincts to include all of danny’s friends and dani, and to a lesser extent her parents. i also can see her hanging out with johnny and kitty when danny is on a mission, which is just cute friendship content.

maddie regretting being a bad mother is painful but also has an amount of logic. she’d shot her own son on multiple occasions. she was always more serious and more accurate when it came to taking phantom than jack was. jack cared taking down phantom but he cared about hunting all ghosts. he was a lot bluster and his shots almost never hit. i think even though maddie found out danny was a halfa before she died, she’d still carry that guilt to the grave.might make her similar jazz in she could become obsessed with taking care of danny and being a good mother. only she takes the care to a negative extreme. where jazz is mature and normal about it, maddie might be more dangerous and scary about it.

this could be an ongoing tragedy, a mark that dying isn’t always hunky-dory and that ghosts don’t have control of what they become when they die. Maddie isn’t a rational ghost, her personality is different, she can be dangerous and is only really calm when she has one of her kids around. the family are all kinda sad to see her like this. i think jack and dani are the main ones that look after her and she mostly stays in her lair, a perversion of their original home. they all take time spending time with her and keeping her happy. and if she goes too long without seeing danny she starts to freak out and get violent. they all do their best and the love is still there. it’s just an issue.

i don’t know how vlad would react to this version of maddie, but i doubt she’d react well to him.he’d hurt her baby boy worse then she had after all. she probably reacts violently to his presence and attacks him on sight. danny, for as sad he is about his mom losing herself, still find the incidents where she attacks vlad hilarious.

if there’s a way to get her back to the maddie she used to be, they’ll find it. they are certainly trying - Hestia

[ghostsray]

Ch10: Corruption

(first - prev - next) (ao3)

"I don't get it," Kwan said from his seat at the A-listers table. "That mayor's kid only showed up for half a week and then suddenly disappeared."

Paulina shrugged. "He was homeschooled, wasn't he? Maybe he has, like, social anxiety or something. I mean, he barely talked to anyone on those days he was here."

"Still, I wonder how he's doing," Star said. "Do you think he got in trouble for that rumor about Vlad and the Fentons?"

Dash snorted. "As if either of Fenton's parents would hook up with Masters. His kid's probably just crying at home for being such a loser."

While the A-listers talked among themselves, our trio of friends sat several tables over. Maybe it was ghost-powered enhanced senses, but Danny was able to hear their conversation over the bustle of the school cafeteria. He looked down at his tray, but he didn't feel very hungry at the moment.

Sam paused from her salad to look at him. "Still worried?"

Danny bit his lip. "It's just, I haven't seen or heard from Niel ever since..."

He didn't need to continue. He had told his friends about what happened, and they knew what he was referring to.

"Dang," Tucker said. "I mean, we all knew that Vlad sucked, but it's sad that Niel had to find out that way." He looked at Sam and asked, "You haven't heard from him, either?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Not even a text."

"You guys text?"

"Used to, apparently."

Danny shifted in his seat. "Maybe I should check in on Vlad's mansion. Niel could be in trouble."

"I doubt it," Sam said. "Vlad wouldn't hurt Niel after being so public about his so-called "adoption" of him. It would ruin his image."

Danny had to admit, that did make sense. Still...he couldn't shake how terrified Niel had seemed when he dropped by his basement with a melting Danielle in tow. Niel had disappeared into the portal after that, and Danny hadn't seen him since.

He wanted to share these thoughts with his friends, but he was stopped when a sudden cold gripped at his spine before escaping through his mouth in a puff of blue mist. The mist wasn't as easily visible to humans as it was to ghosts and half-ghosts, but Sam and Tucker had grown to recognize the stiffness in Danny's back that always accompanied his ghost sense.

"Go," Sam told him. "We'll think of a way to cover for you if you take long."

Danny nodded. He cast a quick glance over the cafeteria. As usual, nobody paid any attention to the three losers, and the ghost he sensed didn't appear to be in this room. Danny left his seat and sprinted outside.

Once in the hallway, he let his ghost sense puff out again and watched as it wisped down the hallway and around a corner. He'd gotten good at controlling his ghost sense into letting him know where the ghost was with more precision. He followed the blue mist until he stopped when the tingling in his spine grew alarming. The ghost was nearby.

He turned his head around. The hallway was empty, but the entrance to the biology lab stood next to him. Cautiously, he opened the door an inch and peeked inside, then threw it wide open when he saw the figure slumped on the floor against one wall.

"Dani?" he said, because that was whom his mind first went to when he saw the pool of ectoplasm growing from the ghost. But after a closer look, he determined that whoever it was definitely wasn't Danielle.

Then the ghost raised its molten face, and Danny inhaled sharply and said, "Niel?"

It was him, all right. The clone he had been worrying over just a few seconds ago...and seeing how he looked, Danny had a feeling that his worrying was justified.

Danny landed on his knees next to the boy and asked, "What happened?"

Niel looked terrible, both because of the whole melting thing and because he was crying. He was sniffling and blinking teary eyes as he said, "I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to trust Vlad."

"Vlad..." Danny cursed and said, "You were supposed to be his prime clone. If he saw you destabilizing and knew you were imperfect--"

Niel shook his head. "He promised he can fix me."

"What? Then why didn't you let him?"

"I--" His eyes released more tears and one of his hands turned completely into goo as he said, "I don't know."

Danny wanted to know what happened, but he figured now was not the time for questions. "It's fine. The Ecto-Dejecto worked for Dani, so it'll probably work for you, too." He hesitated and asked, "Can you stand?"

Niel tried to push himself up. His limbs wobbled before he slipped on his own ectoplasm and dropped back down. So that was a no. Danny wrapped his arm under Niel's arms, ignoring how slippery he was, and hoisted him up.

Danny knew class was about to start soon, but it seemed that he would be skipping...again. That sucked, considering how many credits he had to make up for, but Niel's problem was much more important at the moment. He was just about to go ghost and carry them both home when the whine of an ecto-gun suddenly grabbed his attention.

He turned to the door and widened his eyes before hurriedly pushing Niel behind him and greeting, "Val!"

Valerie stood in the doorway, ecto-gun in hand. She raised an eyebrow. It was pretty obvious that she could still see Niel despite Danny's weak effort to hide him. "Why are you helping a ghost?" she asked.

"Ghost? What ghost?" Danny said with a nervous chuckle. He sent Niel a glare, silently telling him, Why aren't you turning invisible?!

Too late, Valerie had already seen him. "Danny..."

Danny sighed. He raised one hand in a placating gesture and said, "Look, he's not harming anyone. He's hurt."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Valerie replied with narrowed eyes. "His ecto-level reading is off the charts."

Was it? That seemed strange, considering how weak Niel appeared, but he supposed it would make sense for him to have inherited Phantom's overpoweredness.

"Anyway, aren't you supposed to be super terrified of ghosts or something?" Valerie pointed out, looking at Danny weirdly. "Or do you always run away from ghost encounters just because?

"Oh, um..." He chuckled again and rubbed his neck, trying furiously to think of a valid excuse. "Uh..." He pointed accusingly at her and shouted, "You're a ghost hunter!"

Valerie's eyes widened before she hid her gun behind her back and said with a nervous smile, "Of course not! I'm just carrying around a gun for safety. You know how often this school gets attacked by ghosts."

"Uh huh. If it was for self-defense, then why did you seek the ghost out instead of letting Phantom take care of him?"

"Phantom is a ghost, too. I don't trust him."

"So you are a ghost hunter!"

"And you're not terrified of ghosts!"

Both of them looked sheepish as they realized they had no way of backing themselves up.

They might have stood there awkwardly forever if Valerie's eyes hadn't drifted to the wall behind Danny. She cursed and exclaimed, "Great! The ghost got away!"

Danny turned around and found that Niel was gone. Additionally, there was a vaguely Niel-shaped coating of ectoplasm on the wall where he may have phased through. Danny was relieved that Niel got away from Valerie, but he really hoped he was okay.

Valerie walked until she stood in front of the wall, unobstructed by Danny's view. While she wasn't looking at him, Danny took this opportunity to run out the lab. Valerie's head whipped around as she heard him sprint.

She called out his name, but Danny was already down the hallway. He hid in the nearest broom closet he could find and transformed. Invisible, Phantom flew out the school and began searching for Niel.

Turns out that wasn't very hard. All he had to do was follow the trail of ectoplasm that led down the street. Danny's gut twisted. He really, really hoped Niel was okay.

Danny followed the trail until he stopped in front of the Nasty Burger a couple of blocks away. Niel was hiding behind a shrub in the parking lot. Danny was so relieved when he saw him that he let out a deep breath.

Niel flinched in surprise and started looking around frantically before Danny dropped his invisibility with a chuckle. "It's okay, it's just me! Jeez, I know you had to get away from Val, but you didn't have to travel this far."

Niel didn't reply. He averted his gaze from Danny and curled up, bringing his knees to his chest. Even though it was just Danny, his eyes still had that haunted look to them, and he was shivering--which didn't do much good for his melting.

Danny knew he needed to calm Niel down before he stressed himself into a puddle of goo. He gently landed next to the clone and said, "Wanna talk?"

Danny almost expected him to keep quiet, but Niel answered, "What is there to talk about other than the fact that my life utterly sucks?"

Okay, so Niel was going through some problems. He could see that. He cracked a smile and said, "Hey, join the club. My life--or half-life, at least--sucks, too."

He meant that as a joke to lift the mood, but he realized too late that it probably wasn't what Niel needed to hear. The other boy glared at him and said, "Your life sucks? You have a family who loves you, best friends, Sam probably likes you--"

"What?"

"--and you don't have a homicidal maniac for a dad!"

After that angry response, Niel buried his face into his arms and continued to sob. Okay. So Danny probably needed to approach this with gentle sympathy, and not stupid jokes.

"I mean...have you met my dad?" Dammit Danny why do you have to suck at comforting people. He really wished Jazz were here instead. She was at college, although it was Friday, so she'd probably be visiting home that day. If only she were here sooner.

Niel lifted his head long enough to glare at him, and Danny sighed and admitted, "No, you're right. Your dad is much worse than my parents." He frowned as a realization dawned on him, and he said, "Wait, I thought you hated my parents."

Whatever he said, it wasn't the right thing. Niel clenched his jaw and balled his hands (or hand and a half, considering one of them was little more than a blob of ectoplasm at this point) into fists. "I don't know! I don't..."

"Hey, dude, it's cool," Danny said quickly. He tried to rub Niel's back for comfort--that was what Jazz always did to him whenever he had a mental breakdown--but when he touched his body, he instantly recoiled as a shock went through his fingers. A static shock? Wait, but Niel was in ghost form. That didn't make sense.

Niel brushed him off and messily stood up, fist(s) by his sides. "I'm just...so sick of everything! I was supposed to be made to replace you, you know, but I get nothing from your perfect life."

Danny froze and let out a nervous chuckle. "You don't, like...actually care about replacing me, though. Right?" He stood beside him and added, "By the way, I wasn't kidding when I said my life sucked. Sure, your life may seem terrible right now, but nobody's life is perfect..."

"Shut up!" Niel shouted and thrust a hand in Danny's direction. Danny had just enough time to duck and dodge Niel's ecto-beam--wait, no, that wasn't an ecto-beam. That was...a bolt of lightning? The lightning hit the restaurant building behind Danny, and he heard several things crack and people scream. He turned around and saw that the windows had burst. Smoke was billowing out, and Danny was pretty sure that wasn't from the cooking.

Danny turned back to stare at Niel, but the boy didn't seem shocked or guilty from what he'd done. He didn't seem anything at all, actually. His eyes were distant, unseeing. His chest still heaved, which did nothing to stop his gradual liquefaction.

Oh god oh frick. Danny wanted to slap Niel in the face multiple times, but he had to save those inside the restaurant. He zoomed toward the building and peeked in through the broken glass.

Thankfully, due to the time of day--when most people were at school or working--there weren't many people inside. Those who were there were rushing out the door. They reached the outdoor safely without his help, and Danny was just about to accept that he wasn't needed when a flame grew with a roar in front of him. He stumbled back and landed on his butt before picking himself up again.

Now that he noticed it, all the lights inside the building had burst and were sending sparks across the room, many of which caught on wooden furniture and gave birth to fire. The sprinkler system must have still been broken from the last ghost fight, though he didn't know if that would have helped anyway.

The smoke blowing at him was suffocating. He covered his mouth and nose with a gloved hand and backed away. He was in ghost form; he knew he didn't need to breathe. A small part of his brain that spoke in Jazz's voice told him his suffocation was purely psychological, but that didn't make him any less reluctant to breathe the fire in.

His eyes stung. He blinked furiously as the sight before him sunk in. He was at the Nasty Burger. The Nasty Burger was on fire. He was at the Nasty Burger, and the Nasty Burger was on fire. A numb paralysis spread through his body and squeezed his chest and he still couldn't breathe. He was at the Nasty Burger, the Nasty Burger was on fire, his friends and family were dead and his older self was laughing menacingly, eyes flaring red and fangs glinting in the fire--

No. No! Danny had to physically shake his head to shove that memory away. Dan wasn't here! His alternate future self was trapped safely inside a thermos in Clockwork's lair. His friends and family were alive. The Nasty Burger still hadn't blown up. Clockwork erased that timeline!

Or did he?

Danny focused his eyes and saw Niel still standing in the same spot, still staring at the fire dazedly. His eyes were flaring red, his mouth was open slightly to reveal his fangs. His skin was blue and his cape billowed and his hair seemed to wisp at the edges like it was made of fire.

Danny told himself that Niel wasn't Dan. But how could he be sure he won't turn into him? Niel was already jealous of Danny's life; how could he be sure that the clone won't take his place then proceed to do the same decisions Danny had done in that dark timeline? How could he know that Niel won't become corrupted?

"Not him," Danny found himself mumbling. "Please. Not him."

Niel must have heard him, because he turned his head slightly toward him with a frown, like he was just beginning to wake. Another roar came from the building as the fire ate through the walls, and Niel blinked and suddenly jolted awake from his stupor. His eyes finally focused on the image before him, and they widened. Had he done that? he seemed to wonder.

"Ice," he said, then turned to Danny seriously and shouted, "Use your ice!"

Danny didn't hear him. He was having his own little breakdown when Niel placed a goopy hand on his shoulder and brought him back to the real world. Danny flinched and shoved Niel away. Niel looked hurt, but Danny didn't care. Away, he wanted to stay away from that, that ghost--

Wait. What had he said? Ice? Danny wanted to slap himself and laugh at the same time. Of course, he had ice powers now! He didn't have them when he first faced off against Dan, but he did have them now. He could put out the fire before the whole place exploded.

Oh shoot the place could explode. Danny rushed inside, through the thick smoke and fire. He summoned his ice powers to the surface and began to freeze everything in sight. He may or may not have used a little more ice than necessary, but his goal was reached; the fires were put out. Just to be extra sure, he made certain that the vat of Nasty Sauce was cool, along with any heater or chemical that could have exploded in heat, before he finally allowed himself to slump in relief and floated back outside.

As soon as he made it out, he was tackled by Niel's melting form, whose ectoplasm was splattered all over Danny as he hugged him. Danny's first instinct was to go absolutely still, but then Niel sobbed and said, "I'm sorry! I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't mean to!"

Once Danny got over his shock, he brought his hand to Niel's back. Rubbing it didn't yield great results, considering how goopy and sticky Niel's body was, so Danny just patted him gently and said, "It's okay. No one got hurt."

Niel sniffled and pulled away. Seeing him, Danny was filled with immense guilt. How could he possibly have even considered that Niel could be Dan? Dan would never feel bad about what he had done. There was no way Niel could become corrupted enough into becoming a genocidal murderer. He was too sad, and too small.

Also, he was currently turning into a puddle. Danny probably ought to do something about that. "Hey, come on. We still need to get to my parents' lab to fix you up," Danny told him.

Niel nodded wordlessly. He let Danny do his best to hold him in his dissolving form, and the half-ghost carried them both to Fentonworks, the frozen-over restaurant shrinking behind them as they left.

[ladylynse]

The Trouble with Ghosts: Part VI

A Lancer-centric Danny Phantom fanfic 

Lancer hadn’t realized how closely young Mr. Fenton’s school troubles–and the secrets he surely wasn’t telling his parents–were tied to ghosts until after that encounter with Phantom. 

<<  <  Part VI > 

Danny had never intended to actually fall asleep.

Keep his eyes closed, yes. Doze, probably. Sleep about twelve hours? Definitely not.

He wasn’t complaining, per se—he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept that long—but he wasn’t wholly happy about it, either.

Mainly because he still couldn’t do anything in ghost mode. His injuries looked considerably better, but his side was still raw and weeping, he had a pretty good goose egg on his head, and his various other scrapes and scratches and bruises were glaringly present. It kinda hurt to move, too, but that didn’t surprise him at this point. It just…worried him, a bit.

A good night’s sleep usually gave his body enough energy to heal up the small stuff completely and significantly reduce the bad stuff.

True, his injuries could be worse. By all means, they should be worse. He’d almost rather worse because then he could understand it. But not being normal (and therefore much better) or being worse (and therefore completely unaffected by his powers) meant something really weird was going on, and he could only assume it was from whatever Valerie had hit him with.

What was Vlad planning to do, snatch him when he was too weak to fight? He’d missed his best opportunity already. Unless he couldn’t find him? Or figure out how to grab him when he was with Mr. Lancer in a way that wouldn’t be suspicious?

There was a knock on the door, and Danny hastily threw the covers over his head and changed back into Phantom. He’d thought he was alone. The clock on the bedside table showed that it was past ten in the morning. Shouldn’t Lancer be at the school? It was Friday, for crying out loud!

What if he’d called Danny’s parents already and they were here? How was he going to get out of this? Staying in ghost mode was only going to buy him so much time if Lancer had—

“Phantom? Are you awake?”

Did you sleep? Danny knew that was the real question, since Mr. Lancer would be concerned over Danny’s dubious state of health whether or not Danny’s parents were with him. (He might be wondering about all the ways halfas were different from humans, too, but Danny figured his passing out in the car ride yesterday would’ve answered that question.) “Yes,” Danny called, swallowing back his fears and sitting up in bed again. Maybe Lancer was alone. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions. Maybe his secret was still a secret, at least where his parents were concerned. “You can come in if you want.”

Mr. Lancer—mercifully alone—walked in with a tray containing milk and cereal. “Not exactly the best breakfast in bed, but since you can eat and drink, it might provide some sustenance and help you recover faster.”

Danny had no idea if this was the case, even for him, but he was hungry, and he didn’t have to worry that this milk had been contaminated by something in the fridge. “Thanks, Mr. Lancer,” he said quietly, taking the tray. Lancer settled at the foot of the bed, probably because there wasn’t anywhere else to sit except the floor; there was a lone chair in the room, but it was filled with books that didn’t fit into the three bookshelves already in the room. Maybe he thought that was a better place to keep them than the dresser or the bedside table, since this was supposed to be a guest room. “But shouldn’t you be at school?”

“I was able to pull a few strings,” he said, “so I can stay here and take care of you.”

Danny wondered exactly what that would entail. “Um….”

“Eat up first, even if you aren’t hungry, and then we’ll change your dressings and see how everything looks.”

Danny ate. Mr. Lancer asked a few general questions to try to strike up a conversation—how did you sleep? Are you feeling any better this morning?—before moving on to more important things. “Have you tried using any of your powers this morning?”

Danny finished the last of the juice and—on the off-chance Lancer was right and food would miraculously help—tried to turn the glass intangible so the last few drops would fall into his mouth.

Judging by Mr. Lancer’s expression, invisibility didn’t happen, either.

“Nothing,” he said, “but I’m feeling better than I was. Not as exhausted and more achy and sore than burning, stabbing pains. I’m…. I think I’m better than a normal person would be, if not as good as I should be.”

Lancer might as well know that much. Slow or not, he had to still be healing faster than a normal human. Maybe his powers weren’t entirely gone. Maybe he could do things like invisibility and intangibility, just not on the scale that he was used to. What if, in trying to turn the glass intangible, he’d only affected one side of it? What if, instead of turning his entire body invisible, he’d only managed a finger or a toe and couldn’t spread that to his clothes, let alone the rest of his body? His ectoblasts could be too weak to be seen, let alone do any damage, and he wasn’t sure he’d notice a millimetre of flight if it only lasted a split second.

It made a sick sort of sense, considering Vlad had to be behind this. He could still transform, and he wasn’t going to die from his injuries, but he couldn’t fight back or get away. And Vlad, were he so inclined to track Danny down or send Valerie to do his dirty work, would be able to capture him and strap him into some kind of machine to try to get a mid-morph sample to stabilize his clones.

(Dani’s DNA had obviously mutated somewhat from his because she wasn’t a perfect clone. Her mid-morph sample wouldn’t do Vlad any more good than his own or he’d have used it already. Vlad still needed Danny’s. Which Danny was not going to give him. Even if this was Vlad’s latest attempt to get it.)

Terrible as this truth was, it made him feel a bit better; understanding this was the first step to doing something about it, and it beat the absolute bafflement he’d felt yesterday. Jazz was right; he did function better when he got a full night’s rest. But usually the Box Ghost or—

Danny’s eyes widened. “Were there any attacks last night?” he asked, overriding whatever Mr. Lancer was saying. His ghost sense hadn’t woken him up, but—

Lancer broke off, and then his expression softened. “Nothing the Red Huntress couldn’t handle,” he said. “You aren’t the only hero in this town, Phantom. It will be able to survive a few days without you while you recover.”

Danny wondered if Sam and Tucker had also been involved in whatever had gone down last night—unless it had just been the Box Ghost again—and, if so, whether or not they’d been able to pass the full thermos off to Jazz to empty it.

Jazz.

She was still covering for him.

What had she ended up telling their parents?

If she went with kidnapped by a ghost, he probably wouldn’t fare any better than when Sam and Tucker had tried a ghost has stolen my face. That is, his parents might buy it, especially if Jazz played up him being hurt, but he was going to face major consequences once things got back to normal.

Assuming Mr. Lancer would let them go back to normal.

Danny still wasn’t convinced he was going to keep this a secret.

Lancer had moved the tray to the top of the dresser and stood expectantly at the edge of the bed. “Let’s get a look at those wounds. If we soften the bandages with water to get them off, will your ectoplasm start flowing again?”

I have no idea. “Not usually,” Danny said slowly, “but it should be okay. I think I’ve healed enough.” I hope.

It was…awkward, letting Mr. Lancer clean him up and fuss over him. Danny expected it from Jazz and, to a certain degree, from Sam, although Sam’s version tended to involve more sharp remarks and arm punching. Even Tucker was always good when it came to pointing out what Danny had done wrong from a spot safely across the room and out of view of the blood. But Lancer?

It had felt more natural in the nurse’s office, back at the school where Lancer belonged, but in his own home? Where he was perched on the counter by the bathroom sink and Lancer was standing in front of him, pulling open various drawers or cabinets to collect the few medical supplies he had? It made Danny feel like an intruder. If Lancer didn’t already know his secret, it would make him feel like a liar. As it was, he was still lying to his parents, and Lancer had to know that, had to know why, but….

“It doesn’t look as good as I’d hoped, based on what you’d said,” Lancer admitted as he taped the fresh gauze over Danny’s side. “I know you’ve been through worse, Phantom, but this must certainly be slowing you down.” There was a pause. “I suppose this gives you a better idea of how your helpers must feel when they get injured.”

Danny groaned. He had wanted to keep Sam and Tucker out of this for as long as possible, but he should have known Mr. Lancer wouldn’t steer clear of the subject for long. He’d already admitted that they knew the truth, Jazz too, but he’d only said that because he was pretty sure Lancer had already figured it out.

“I know you try to protect them, but you cannot always be there. This whole incident must surely prove that.”

“They know the risks of doing this as well as I do,” Danny said quietly, even though he knew that argument wouldn’t get him anywhere, “and they want to help. And sometimes I need the help. My best isn’t always enough when I’m alone. Even the Red Huntress knows that, and that’s why we’ve worked together before, too.” No need to throw Valerie under the bus, tempting as that distraction was. “As much as I try not to need it, sometimes I do. And we’ve saved the town by working together. You can’t deny that.”

“You can’t deny that they sometimes get hurt, either.”

No, he couldn’t. He knew that and hated it, but he couldn’t.

“We can’t put this conversation off again, Phantom. It’s too important to ignore when people are getting hurt.”

He knew that, too. Mr. Lancer wasn’t about to let this go. Unfortunately, Danny wasn’t sure how long he’d be willing to keep this a secret for that very reason. All his enemies already knew his secret, so it’s not like hiding his identity was protecting his family. It was just protecting him.

From his family.

And chances were, Lancer wouldn’t understand that. And he should be right, Danny shouldn’t have to worry, but even if his parents did accept him, even if they didn’t experiment on him, things wouldn’t necessarily be better if they knew the truth. Because the truth wasn’t pretty. The truth meant he’d nearly died because of their experiments. The truth meant they’d tried to kill him routinely since this had started. The truth was that their best friend from their college years was a creepy old psycho who was more twisted than they’d ever understand, who took experimentation to a new level entirely and who wasn’t afraid who he hurt as he strove to get ahead.

The truth meant therapy would be inevitable, once it started to settle in. Therapy Jazz wouldn’t be able to give them by herself, try though she would. Because the truth didn’t just mean the end of lies. It meant guilt. It meant pain. It meant suffering. It meant broken friendships and new horrors whenever eyes were closed. It meant severed bonds and nightmarish truths, undeniable new realities and uncomfortable unknowns.

The Fentons had never really done normal, but this would rip up the few foundations the family had.

It would tear them apart.

Something so broken couldn’t always be fixed.

And that’s what Danny feared, really. He feared the losses that would come with the truth. What he had right now wasn’t perfect, and he knew it was fragile, but he wanted to protect it. He knew what it was. He understood it. If it shattered….

“It’s not just people,” he whispered, raising his eyes to meet Lancer’s. “It would be everything. It would be too much.”

Lancer’s expression softened. “I know it can be scary to tell a secret, especially when it is not your secret alone, but secrets aren’t meant to be kept when someone is getting hurt because of them.”

He couldn’t know about Vlad. Just because he’d finally realized that Danny Phantom was Danny Fenton, he hadn’t put together Plasmius and Masters, had he? But that was more likely than him knowing about Dani.

Danny felt a bit sick to his stomach, and not just because the smell of antiseptic still stung his nostrils. He tried to swallow back the feeling. Maybe Lancer just meant how things could blow back on Sam and Tucker for keeping his secret for so long. “What about when keeping secrets means saving lives?” Not just his, not just Vlad’s, not even just Dani’s. Because if the truth came out, his parents weren’t the only ones to worry about. Valerie….

Valerie would come around. Probably. Eventually. She’d called truces with Phantom before. If anything big came up in the future, she’d probably call a truce with him again. And, well, if it came down to a fight, no one smart would count her out. Whether in hand-to-hand combat or shooting at a moving target with her ecto-tech, she was good. She had the skills to fight. Someone like Paulina? She wouldn’t.

But Paulina might still fight for Phantom, even if she found out he was just Fenton. Dash, too. And everyone else.

But the Guys in White? They wouldn’t care that Phantom was Fenton. They’d just see Phantom. See a ghost. Or an aberration. Abomination. Some kind of corruption of humanity.

His parents might not experiment on him, but the Guys in White would have no such compunctions, and his parents might not be able to protect him from them.

While the ghosts who invaded Amity Park might know enough to leave his family alone, might respect that boundary even when it wasn’t the Christmas Truce—usually, anyway. He hadn’t forgotten the stunt Johnny 13 and Kitty had pulled with Jazz, nor what Youngblood and Ember had tried to do to all the adults in town, nor anything else like that. But still. The Guys in White wouldn’t hesitate. They wouldn’t stop. They wouldn’t see people, they’d see pawns. Something to be used to manipulate him. To make him give up, turn himself in. And he would, if it really meant saving them.

And if Mr. Lancer got involved instead of just pretending he didn’t know any better, he’d be targeted, too. Danny had no illusions about that. His evil future self had picked on him, and Lancer had barely been involved back then.

Sometimes telling secrets saved people, sure.

But sometimes it doomed them.

“It’s not simple. I’ll grant you that, Phantom. But this situation isn’t as grey as you seem to think it is. If this continues as it does, someone will end up more injured than this. Hospitals can’t fix everything, especially when time isn’t on their side. Your friends are human. While their actions are admirable, they simply aren’t as resilient as you.”

Danny took a slow breath. “Even if I…. Even if I stop working with them, that won’t necessarily save them.”

Lancer finished putting the rest of his medical supplies back in the drawer by the sink and stood, offering a hand to Danny. Danny took it, and as Lancer helped him down, he replied, “No, it won’t. But it might mean they’ll be less likely to need saving, and that’s something, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” Danny muttered, trailing after Lancer as he led the way to the kitchen. “But I can’t promise they’ll stop, either.”

“I can speak with them. You can decide if you believe it’ll be simpler to do that individually or all at once.”

Danny wasn’t too keen on taking Sam on individually, but somehow that seemed better than when she’d have Tucker and Jazz as backup. “That probably won’t make a difference.”

“It would be a start,” Lancer pointed out as he filled the kettle. Setting it boiling, he added, “Take a seat, Phantom.”

Reluctantly, Danny dropped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table. There were four, but only one spot at the table was clear of books. His strategic choice was the place where those books were nearly piled to his chin.

“Look, Mr. Lancer, if I…. Say we do convince them to stop helping me. Will you at least keep this a secret then? It’s too dangerous to have everyone know. Please, you have to understand that.”

Lancer looked over at Danny. “Do you really think they will stop? Or do you think they’ll simply pretend to stop and take more foolish risks in an effort to conceal their activities from me in the future?”

Danny winced. “Point taken.”

“This is a delicate situation. Believe it or not, I do understand that. I’m just not convinced you understand it as well as you think you do.”

“Huh?”

Lancer set a single teacup on the table, the string of the teabag dangling by the handle. “The stakes aren’t trivial, Phantom. Not everyone who dies becomes a ghost like you did. Your friends won’t be stronger if they’re ever caught in the crossfire. They’ll be gone. And at that point, it would not simply be the fault of whomever fired the shot; it would be your fault and mine for letting them continue to engage in such reckless behaviour. Are you truly prepared for that?”

No. “That won’t—”

Lancer briefly closed his eyes. “Oh, for The Lovely Bones, Phantom, please don’t argue with me. It remains a very real possibility as long as this behaviour continues. Are you prepared for that?”

He couldn’t find his voice to answer.

Lancer fetched the kettle and poured hot water into his cup. Danny watched it swirl, turning a darker brown by incremental degrees. Lancer finally sat at the table, but he didn’t say anything else. He was still waiting.

Even when the teacup disappeared, Danny couldn’t bring himself to raise his eyes. “I won’t let it come to that.”

There was a loud clank of the cup hitting the saucer. “Why are you still under the illusion that you’ll have the choice when you know you can be reduced to this?”

Danny swallowed. “Because….” He couldn’t tell Lancer the truth. The truth was tied to Valerie, to Vlad. It wasn’t his truth to tell. It wasn’t his secret alone.

But Mr. Lancer might not buy a lie, now that he knew for certain how to spot it.

Danny licked his lips. “What happened yesterday. It…. It’s not something that’s exactly going to be frequent.”

“Do you know more, then, than you first thought you did?”

Danny didn’t answer.

Lancer didn’t need him to. “Very well. Then answer me this, Phantom: who are you thinking of asking to help you fight this next battle, to ensure that this doesn’t happen again?”

Danny was staring at the book in front of him now, but he couldn’t even make out its title.

“Which child are you willing to risk?”

Danny closed his eyes. Lancer’s voice was harsh, and not without good reason. “They’re not involved in this,” he insisted. “I swear, they aren’t. I’m the only one who’s going to be targeted. It doesn’t make sense to go after anyone else. I’m the only one he needs.”

“The only one who needs?”

Danny just shook his head.

“Phantom.”

Danny slowly looked up. Lancer didn’t look angry; he looked determined. And as uncompromising as he had been the time he’d forced Danny to retake that English test, which didn’t exactly bode well.

“You told me yesterday that the Red Huntress hit you with something you weren’t expecting, and now you tell me that you’re the only one he needs.” Lancer knit his fingers together and leaned forward. “So tell me: who is she working for and why does he need you?”

The silence stretched. “I can’t,” Danny finally whispered. “I just…. I can’t.”

“I will help you, Phantom, but you need to fill me in. If it comes down to me or my students, I would rather be the one put in danger. So please, tell me.”

Danny shook his head slowly. “It’s not my secret—”

“That doesn’t matter if telling me will save people by saving you.”

“It wouldn’t save people.” Danny shivered and pushed his chair back from the table. “It would condemn you.” He stood. “I’m going back to bed. I’m still tired.”

It was a lie.

They both knew it.

Lancer let him go anyway.

Next

(see more fics)

[radiance1]

If Danny + Vlad = Sun Core. Then what kind of core does Vlad have for Space to just turn into the Sun? Fire? Plasma (I remember seeing this somewhere)? Star (Thought honestly the Sun IS a star)? I would like to put gravity there as well as an option but ehhhh.

So, through the mention of Time Travellers, I am ASSUMING that this is a timeline where Dan is redeemed and in Danny's timeline (Still find it fun to have Dan have a whole sort identity crisis over the fact that, if his timeline was erased then is he actually just Danny's future or completely cut off from that) since his own was erased and he maybe was let out of the Thermos from Clockwork's watch because redemption and allat.

So I am further going to assume that since Vlad is not mentioned here that he is either thugging it out with the GIW or is currently in hiding. I'm choosing the former assumption, as the thought of Vlad being captured and or experimented on is very, very enticing to think about while Dan, Danny, Dani, and Jazz are out there somewhere in the world.

(Even better if Dan left Vlad behind in order to save the DDJ (I'm not typing out their names again) and Vlad is emotionally hurt by this but logically knows that it would be the correct decision to make)

(Somewhat redeemed Vlad where isn't as much of a giant fruitloop but not full way redemption and healing because, you know, Jack and Maddie dying and then being captured by the GIW)

This would also actually make sense as to why Dan is booking it to a Pit (if he knows that or not is honestly up to you) because Vlad is compromised and, by extension, that means his portal is compromised as well.

Anywho, enough about THAT.

Regarding Jack and Maddie, I want to say that they would be good parents but a bigger part of me wants to say they would be more 'Trying Fenton Parents' as in, they're not the best and they do continue to mess up BUT! They're trying their best to be better parents than they were previously. So, they're neither strictly good nor bad but trying parents.

Maybe one of their first acts was to cut their connections with the GIW, which lead to their eventual deaths via portal exploding and the GIW. Which could actually lead to a bit more hurt on Dan's end than he originally expected, to see his parents again (Well, not his parents because his timeline is gone, but a variation) and being told that, even with trying to kill them they still accept him and trying to better themselves (Something which never happened in his timeline because, you know, dead and all) only to just... die. Without even making any good progress because it was cut short is just... pretty unfair actually.

Not to mention losing parents a second time.

RIGHT ANYWYAS.

So, giant dragon flying through the sky without care for what's below. Would obviously set off the panic button for everyone who sees it and, like you said, several Time Travellers are in a panic because the world ending threat that succeeded in destroying the world is just, right there. Up in the goddamn sky.

(Perhaps even a select few are in hysterics because they thought that timeline was just gone, erased. Because it has been so that threat shouldn't even exist anymore (Though who that would be idk))

The goverment (Cough Amanda Waller) is on the Justice League's ass about this and telling them to find a way to deal with it if it became a threat. The Justice League is trying to find any information they can to piece together with the information given by Time Travellers. Several Supervillains are interested in this being of fearsome might, some scientifically, some magically, some both and some just for the raw power they can tell it holds and wants in their service.

The GIW are... less than pleased about this situation. One, because it reveals undeniable proof of ghosts existing that removes one of their few protections with the only saving grace being that it doesn't reveal the GIW's existence yet. Two, this recent stunt would undeniably draw Amanda Waller's attention and, if she does manage to piece together that ghosts do in fact, exist, she would crack down on them with an iron fist and make everything they want to do much, much harder since she can now view them as an actual threat. Three, they escaped, which was extremely obvious yes they know, but at the very least they managed to obtain one of them out of the four of them.

It was unstable, yes. But far better than the one with the core of the moon, which was the most unstable of all of them no matter how much it tried to appear anywhere differently.

And then there was the Fenton child. They were honestly split on what to consider her as. It was apparent that she wasn't a ghost, but she was by no means normal either. She could not turn into a ghost but that was traded off for transforming into a dragon and somehow, somehow she had a core. Something humans shouldn't have and even 'liminals' as the GIW took to calling both the residents of Amity Park and even some of their own number, had a core nowhere near as well developed as she possessed. Just a pale imitation of one compared to what she had and the one of a true ghost.

She was a scientific marvel! It was a shame that her parents couldn't see that, unfortunately, even though they had the titles as the best in the field that they so foolishly discarded just because their children, in case, turned out to be a ghost and, in the other, had the qualities of one despite still being distinctly human.

The GIW were a fan of weaponized and utilized incompetence but was a truly idiotic move on their part. To think of all the discoveries they could have made together if they just made the right decision.

Truly, a pity.

The largest dragon among them, apparently some variant of their son fused with his godfather-which was as fascinating as it was hard to believe on the implications alone-was not their highest priority right now. No, that was avoiding Amanda Waller's attention but even then it still wasn't.

Their highest priority subject would be to gain custody over one Jazmine Fenton. With their lowest being that unstable clone that tried to appear anything but unstable.

Prompt 300

Danny squirms and hisses, trying to dig his claws into dark scales as the clouds whistle by. “Wait- Ancients dammit- STOP!” he shrieked, cursing how tiny his own ghost form was compared to his other not-quite-future-self. Wings that could easily dwarf the entire Ops center beat through the air, fast enough to cause his eyes to sting. 

“Dan- bring me back- stop-” he wailed, despite the grip on his scruff not even loosening. Yet the larger dragon didn’t so much as twitch back towards Amity, the city disappearing into the distance like a speck. “We have to go back-” 

The GIW were- were- They had to go back! The portal was gone (exploded, broken and all of Fentonworks a smoldering mess, oh Ancients he’s gonna be sick-), no one could return to the Realms, they were all sitting ducks- 

“Jordan please-” he begged, even though he already knew that between the city, between every other ghost and them, Dan would always choose to keep them safe. But Jazz was hurt, she wasn’t waking up from where she lay limply cradled in Dan’s claws. 

There was so much blood, and he only knew she was still alive from the weak fluttering of her core, growing stronger as her heartbeat faded. She needed help, she needed doctors- he doesn’t know if she would be able to come back, not with how they were leaving the ecto-rich city behind and he didn’t want to lose her- Dan’s blank panic was swamping his own, drowning both of them in the emotion as the dragon tore through the sky. Some part of him knew they couldn’t stay in Amity anymore, but- But Jazz needed help- Danny couldn’t help the tears that dripped from his yes, pretending it was merely the clouds as they flew to places unknown to him.

If you are interested in their designs, here is a link: HERE

Heey mutual @radiance1 Dragon buddy o' mine

[thesoulspulse]

Regarding The Forgotten Connection Between Dan and Vlad...

Greetings fellow Phans! Well, if you guys couldn't tell by the title as you guys might have already guessed but this time I wanted to talk about how we often forget that Danny's evil future self, Dan, is also half VLAD. For those of you actually reading my fanfiction this will probably enter into spoiler territory but you know, I've always wondered why Dan didn't vanish that day in “The Ultimate Enemy” episode when Danny's family was saved by Clockwork. I used to think it was because Butch Hartman was planning to bring him back for a rematch which would have been totally epic but instead we got the real disaster which was “Phantom Planet.”

So, at any rate let me ask you lovely people a question. When Clockwork said "You've given everyone else in your life a second chance. Why not you?" don't you think that should include EVERYONE in Danny's life? Including a certain older halfa? Well I do, which is why I've been working on a sort of side tale of another ghosts redemption into the sequel of my other story “Ravenheart,” which is mainly inspired by the fan comics Doppleganger (by phantomtype)  and Legendary Destiny (by krossan).  

Anyways we all know that Danny got his second chance and I guess we all just assumed Vlad didn't need one because that future where his evil side corrupted Danny's ghost half never happened right? Wrong! If anything Vlad only got worse from that moment on and started stepping over the line as I pointed out in two of my other posts. For one thing, he cloned Danny and let who knows how many clones die in the process who I might add are all supposedly half human too. Meaning in an indirect way Vlad was letting a bunch of unstable half human clones die. Unless, and this is only a theory, perhaps the reason why Dani was the most stable out of all of them is because maybe she was the only one Vlad made half human while the other failure's human sides died leaving only these sad incomplete ghosts behind with no will or purpose of their own.

Vlad also threatened Jazz who as we all know is 100% human that really can't hold a candle to Sam and Tucker when it comes to ghost fighting more then half of the time if only because she hasn't known the truth about her brother that long. And in my books those are the two things were probably some of the more truly evil things Vlad has done in the show beside most of his other petty plotting. The whole “Eye For An Eye” thing was really just Danny totally asking for it, sad to say.

Moving on, we know in the alternate future Vlad was in fact trying to save Danny from his misery after losing everyone he loved. After all, with Jack and Maddie Fenton both dead, Vlad also lost his purpose. He couldn't kill Jack, and he couldn't marry Maddie, all Vlad had left was Danny. And seeing as Danny not only lost his parents, but also his only sister and two best friends, there was nothing Vlad could or desired to use a blackmail anymore. He got what he wanted, a son, but it was a bittersweet victory and though we don't know all of the details or how long Danny was living with Vlad before asking him to erase his human side and hopefully emotions from what I can see Vlad didn't feel the need to rub any of it in Danny's face. In fact, Vlad dropped everything, all of his evil plans, all of his plots against the only surviving Fenton to actually help him. So Vlad did care, just as in a way I believe he's always cared but people don't change overnight. Vlad probably still had big plans for the younger half once his human emotions holding him back were dealt with, but Vlad never expected Danny's ghost half to see him as an enemy instinctfully and try to become whole by merging with Vlad's ghost half, thereby not only “escaping” his painful memories still carried by his human half but also taking revenge on Vlad because in some way he probably blamed the man for letting his father die since he KNEW Vlad has always hated the man and WANTED him dead.

The end result became Dan, who was mostly Danny but also to some degree Vlad as well. Thanks to the claws though, his humanity was ripped out on Danny's side of things, leaving only an angry vengeful ghost behind who blamed Vlad and the rest of the world for letting his family die when he had done SO much to save them and never got so much as a thank you in return. Danny probably always felt a little resentful for how hard normal people made his life by putting so much pressure on him to always win, to always be a hero, when in the end, the moment he failed they all abandoned him. That state of mind made it all too easy for Vlad's evil side, the side that was also resentful and thought himself better then everyone else to take over and merge his thoughts and feelings with the unstable ghost half of Danny.

But, going back to what I've seen in the show before with that one device that split Danny's human and ghost half in two I think even then, Dan still had some humanity and I firmly believe he felt it when Jazz confessed that she knew all about his ghost powers. If Dan was really that evil, even when he was caught, I'm sure he could have used his brilliant Vlad-like brain to do away with Jazz first and still cause the accident killing everyone else. Instead, he left her alive and I'd like to think part of him still felt something for her like he does in Krossan's comic and didn't manage to shake off that feeling until the moment of truth when he wanted to secure his future by defeating his younger self and running down the clock. Sure the ghost knocked her out twice and even let some debris fall on his former best friends but he never actually dealt the killing blow himself. And in that future he never killed Valerie either and honestly I think its because he still had feelings for her and not because he enjoyed playing his mind games with the huntress.

Either way, going back to the whole Vlad thing, when he had a chance to stop that horrible future he helped create by killing Danny who was trapped in the future, Vlad showed him mercy. He didn't destroy Danny any more then he has ever actually gone through with killing Jack. That's why I think neither Dan or the current Vlad realize...they're not as evil as everyone thinks. It's sort of like that one quote “Evil Queens are the Princesses who were never saved.” So in this case, “Evil Villains are the civilians that the heroes never saved.” And that is why I believe both Dan and Vlad can still be saved from themselves, especially Dan since the reason he's still around, why he could still exist, is because Vlad might be the one who gives into the darkness one day when he realizes that all he really needed to do to find acceptance and love...was to stop being the villain and start being a man that Danny could actually look up to and learn from as a real uncle or father-like figure.

[lexosaurus]

Xmas Truce 2017

This one’s for @phantomfighter724. Happy holidays!

Danny hunched over the toilet, his body cleansing itself of everything it didn't like. His breakfast, bile—it all pooled in the murky water below.

He leaned his head down against the porcelain seat. He gave a halfhearted attempt at shifting his arms to support his sweaty face before giving up. His entire body felt like lead. His brain was clouded. He was a mess.

His stomach growled and he let out a whine of frustration. "What the hell," he muttered under his breath. What the hell was happening to him?

Out of the corner of his eye his phone lit up, and for a second he wondered why it was thrown haphazardly against the corner of the wall before he recalled tossing it out of his hand in his blind panic to reach the toilet on time. He winced, and braced himself for the worst. Fortunately, after a brief inspection, he found no additional cracks in his screen other than the small one in the corner he got from one of Skulker's brilliantly-failed attempts at kidnapping him.

A new message from Valerie popped up on the screen, and despite his situation he could help but grin a little. Befriending Valerie after she discovered his secret—connecting Dani's halfa status to his a little too easily—was a long, strenuous process. At first, it even seemed impossible, if their blatant disregard for the other's existence in school was anything to go by. But pent-up teenage emotion coupled with the constant necessity of teamwork during field-work eventually lead to an explosive argument. Valerie's hurt, Danny's insecurities, both of their mistrust in each other, everything came to light. It was violent, even if no blood was shed, and they walked away having said too many things they couldn't take back. Danny thought they were through.

They were, for a time. The silence didn't let up, but something shifted. Instead of angry silence, the air around them was uncomfortable. It was awkward, weird. Danny had never felt so unsure of how to act since his first day walking into Casper High two years ago. He was fourteen, and he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to do.

It was Valerie who broke the silence first, sending him a text reading, “I can’t do this anymore. Let’s meet up for coffee after my shift ends today.”

That conversation was different. They actually listened rather than spewing out the first thing they could think of through their red-tinted eyesight. And while the duo spoke with blunt honesty, they were delicate with their words. Respectful of the situation.

At some point after that, Valerie joined him on his nightly patrols. Danny wasn't sure why, but he chose not to question it. At first they wouldn't talk other than the obligatory, "Ghost of there," or "Watch out," but it was a step. A tiny step, but a step nonetheless.

After about a week of this, however, Danny thought he was going to lose his mind over the stupid tension. So he choked out the first thing he could think of, "So...the weather."

It was by far the worst conversation starter in the book, and he could have sworn he saw Valerie nearly lose her balance on her hoverboard. His own face burned green, and he ducked down a few feet under her in a brilliant attempt to hide his embarrassment. Valerie definitely noticed, but for some reason she chose to go along with it.

So they talked. Their first conversation was nothing but superficial, the kind of small-talk one would have when dragged along to a dinner-party with their parents, but it marked the beginning of a budding friendship between the duo. Eventually, those nightly patrols turned into after-school homework sessions and then just Friday night hangouts. While all of their problems didn't disappear overnight, they worked through them. As friends. And then, eventually...

Received: 11:24am

Val: Hey, how you feeling?<3

Danny shook his head, as if attempting to clear the fog, and typed back a response. 

Danny: not sure...i think it's getting worse

Val: Want me to come over?

Danny: don't bother i can handle it

Val: Ok I'm coming over.

Danny: seriously it's prob nothing bad

Val: Do you like tomato soup or chicken noodle better?

Danny: val it's a ghost thing u don't have to worry it'll probably pass soon

Val: Ok I'm bring both I'll be there in 10

Danny: ...ok

As stubborn as Danny could be, Valerie was worse. Danny wasn’t even sure why he still resisted her kindness, even if they were dating. Maybe it was his pride? Maybe he didn’t want to get her sick? Maybe he was still insecure about himself and felt less-than and unworthy of any amount of affection? Who knew, really.

Another pang of hunger swept through his body and he sighed, leaning against the wall for support. He closed his eyes and let the dizziness sweep over him. It was probably just a ghost flu, right? It had to pass soon, didn't it?

Ever since a particularly bad fight against Vortex, he's felt off. At first, he was just a little lightheaded. Ok, no big deal, he just had to drink water. Powerade. And for a time, that worked okay. Not great, but it put a band-aid over the issue for a bit.

That was, until the hunger-pains started. He woke up one day hungry. His body clenched up as if he hadn't eaten in days, despite having a large dinner the night before. He wolfed down his morning cereal, ignoring his mom's comments about his appetite, and took off for school. Instead of feeling ready to start the school day, he felt awful. His stomach still was cramped, and waves of nausea washed over him. A few days into this cycle later, his body finally gave up and he found himself hunched over a toilet halfway through first period.

Sam all but dragged him to the nurses office that day, forcing him to get a note to go home. He slept for the rest of that day—or tried his best—but whatever was wrong with him, it didn't pass. The next day he woke up, his hunger even stronger than the day before. He tried to force himself to eat something, but he couldn't. Even though his body screamed at him for anything goddamnit, his morning cereal looked...unappetizing. Gross. 

Of course, Danny hadn't gotten so much as a cold since gaining his ghostly half. Sam had a theory that the ectoplasm coursing through his blood burned off any unwanted bacteria or viruses in his body. That theory, as uneducated of a guess as it was, was more likely true than not. It would also explain the lack of infections Danny's gotten, even though his blood has been exposed to the air too many times to be healthy for a normal human.

Ah well, just another thing to add to the never ending list of everything that separated him from other humans.

That didn't mean he hasn't gotten sick, though. As rare as they were, ghostly viruses did exist in the Ghost Zone. Danny managed to contract the ghostly flu last year, which made his powers glitch as bad as the first month after the portal accident. Tucker being Tucker found it absolutely hysterical, and made sure to stock up on as much blackmail material as he could over the duration of his illness. Although that wasn't Danny's first time being an internet meme, the gif of him inexplicably falling from the sky and crashing into a tree was possibly his most embarrassing publicly documented moment to date.

A knock on the door broke Danny out of his thoughts.

“Come in,” he said weakly.

"Hey Danny," Val pushed her way in the door, a plastic shopping bag hanging off of one of her arms.

Danny struggled up in a feeble attempt to sit a bit straighter. He was vaguely aware of the distinct odor coming from the toilet beside him. He was lucky Valerie has seen him in worse conditions before.

She sat down next to him. "How you feeling?"

"I don't know," he shrugged, all false bravado flying out the window.

She quietly surveyed the scene before her. Danny's pale, sickly face beaded with sweat. Purple circles laid under his sunken-in eyes. He clutched the hem of his shirt and averted his gaze to the side.

She pursed her lips, "Danny, you look like shit."

Danny snorted. "I feel like shit."

"I can see why Jazz forced you to stay home from patrol this week."

At the mention of patrol, Danny’s eyes lit up. “How are the ghosts this week? Have you been okay on your own? Has the Box Ghost been bothering you too much? Do you need any help tonight?”

A light smile touched Valerie’s lips. Even though it was an unspoken rule not to mention Danny’s obsession outright, she still found other ways to poke fun at him for it. “Danny, you can barely stand. Chill.”

A blush crept on Danny’s cheeks, and he rolled his eyes as another wave of nausea hit him at once. Before Valerie could so much as blink, Danny had lunged at the toilet bowl, dry heaving up any molecules still left in his stomach.

A pang of worry shot through Valerie. She frowned and reached over to gently rub his back, “This is getting worse.”

“I...know...” Danny ground out between coughs.

“I know you don’t want to...but I think we should call Vlad.”

He froze.

“He might know what’s going on,” Valerie said.

“Val, no. We can’t trust him,” Danny said, his voice cold.

Valerie crossed her arms and huffed. "Come on, don’t be thick. You’re a halfa, Vlad’s a halfa. Whatever you think about him—fine. But this has been going on for over a month now and it’s only getting worse. You need help, Fenton. You need someone’s help who actually understands halfa biology. Vlad’s the man for that, whether you like it or not.”

Danny slumped his shoulders. “Okay, you have a point.”

“Thank you,” Valerie said under her breath as she took out her phone. She scrolled through her contacts till she got to Vlad’s name, and hesitated. She hadn’t contacted him in months. After the whole debacle with Dani, she kept her contact with him at a minimum. When Vlad realized she knew Danny’s secret and by default, his, he stopped contacting her altogether. Interestingly enough, packages of replacement/upgraded weapons occasionally appear at her doorstep. She knew Danny noticed when broken equipment was suddenly replaced or she got a new gun, but he was kind enough to leave it alone.

Another retch from her boyfriend beside her was all she needed to finally push down on the button. She put the phone on speaker. After only two rings, the voice of an older man appeared on the other end of the line.

“Valerie, dear. To what do I owe the pleasure? Is your equipment working fine?”

Danny tensed at Vlad’s silky tone. He opened his mouth to respond with a biting comment, but his stomach had another idea.

Worry creased Vlad’s next words. “Valerie? What’s happening? Is everything alright?”

“Fine—I’m fine, Mr. Masters,” Valerie said, her eyes not leaving Danny’s figure. “Uh, it’s Danny.”

“Daniel? What’s wrong with him?”

“We’re, um, not sure. He can’t stop throwing up. He doesn’t...Halfas can’t get human illnesses, right?”

“Right...” Vlad muttered. “Valerie, I’m presuming I’m on speaker phone?”

“Yeah,” Valerie said.

“Alright then. Daniel?” Vlad called out.

“What.” Danny said flatly.

“Can you describe your symptoms to me please?” Vlad asked.

Danny closed his eyes and said, “Uh, I can’t...I can’t hold anything down. Every time I try to eat something it comes back up. I’m really dizzy and...I guess...I mean, I’ve had these stomach pains for a few weeks now. And headaches too. I’m sure it’s nothing but Valerie—”

“This has been going on for a month and it’s not getting any better, Vlad. We’re not sure what to do.”

“I’m glad you called me,” Vlad said, his tone much more serious than a minute ago. 

“What is it?” Danny asked at the same time Valerie demanded, “Is everything going to be okay?”

There was a pause. 

“Valerie, do you mind stepping out of the room for a second?” 

Danny, despite his weak state, managed to push himself away from the toilet and grab the phone out of Valerie’s hands with inhuman speed. “What is it, fruitloop? Just spit it out.”

“Daniel, I know this may come as a shock to you but I do care about you,” Vlad said. “You know, this may not be a good conversation to have over the phone. Give me a minute. Daniel, I presume you’re in the bathroom upstairs?”

“...Yes.”

“Perfect.”

The phone line went dead and Danny slumped against the wall. He glanced over to the toilet and wrinkled his nose at the smell of his own stomach acid. With an abnormal amount of effort, he managed to flush the toilet.

“Sorry,” he glanced over to Valerie. “Sorry to drag you into this mess.”

“Danny, stop,” Valerie clipped, kissing his forehead lightly. “You’re my boyfriend and you’re ill. I’m not going to leave you to deal with this by yourself. I know you won’t let Sam or Tucker over but I’m not a pushover, okay?”

Danny rolled his eyes to counter the blush that tinted his cheeks. “Yeah, okay. I still...I know this ghost stuff can make you uncomfortable and I don’t want to ever put you in a position where you—”

“Oh my god, Fenton,” Valerie groaned. “Keep that up and this stupid bug isn’t going to be the only thing that’s gonna kill you.”

The room temperature dropped a few degrees. Danny and Valerie’s heads whipped over to the door where Vlad Masters walked through, dropping his invisibility.

"Mr. Masters!”

“Vlad.”

“Is everything alright with Danny?”

“Everything���s going to be fine,” Vlad said.

Valerie would have breathed a sigh of relief if not for the grave look on his face as he surveyed the scene. “My my, you’ve let this get worse than I thought. I’m not sure if I have enough here for you...”

“Enough of what?” Danny asked.

Vlad sighed. “Daniel, are you sure you don’t want Valerie to leave?”

Danny glared up at him. “We’re a team, Vlad.”

"I can handle whatever you throw at us,” Valerie confirmed, letting her chest swell out in pride at Danny’s affirmation. Regardless of any of her past prejudices, she loved Danny. She didn’t care whatever ghostly-illness he had, she was going to get through this with him.

“Okay, it’s...not for the faint of heart though, Little Badger,” Vlad said, closing his eyes.

Something in Danny clicked, and he felt his eyes soften. Whatever this was...it was really bothering Vlad. “It’s okay, Vlad,” he said softly. “I can handle this.”

“Alright then,” Vlad nodded. “Daniel, you know you have a ghost core. It’s responsible for regulating and replenishing ectoplasm in your body.”

“I know this,” Danny said, looking quizzically up at Vlad. “I have an ice core.”

“Right,” Vlad said. “In normal ghosts, this is enough and they can live an eternity with their cores working fine. This isn’t quite the case with halfas though.”

“What do you mean?”

“As you know, Daniel, you’re more powerful than most ghosts. But you’re not a full-ghost. Scientifically speaking, we’re anomalies. Scientific paradoxes. We shouldn’t exist, and our cores know this.”

Alarms blared through Valerie’s brain. “You mean his core is trying to kill him?”

“Not quite,” Vlad said steadily. “But his core cannot keep up with his body’s demands. Halfa cores have to regulate not just ectoplasm, but how the ectoplasm interacts with the living aspects of the human in such a way that it won’t kill you. On top of that, you frequently expelling ectoplasm in forms like powerful ghost-rays puts more pressure on your already overworked core. Your core simply doesn’t have enough energy to do what you demand of it.”

“Hence the hunger,” Danny said, his blue eyes looking down.

“Exactly.”

Valerie ran a hand through her hair. “What’s the solution?”

Vlad reached into his pockets and pulled out a few vials filled with a familiar looking green substance. “Listen to your body, Little Badger. Your body is craving ectoplasm. You need to drink it.”

Realization hit Danny like a ton of bricks. “But isn’t that...that’s...”

“Low-level ecto-puses I took from Skulker’s care last week,” Vlad confirmed. “Purified ecto-plasm. You start developing a need for this once your halfa body solidifies its core. Think of it like a ghostly-puberty, if you will.”

“No...”

“Danny,” Valerie reached out and took Danny’s hand gently. “You’re starving yourself.”

“No, Val, you don’t understand—”

“I do,” Valerie looked at him, her gaze strong. “You said earlier that you didn’t want me to be uncomfortable around the ghostly-aspects of your life. Well, I’m not. There’s no other option, Danny. You’re going to die if you don’t drink the vials. You need to do this.”

Danny shook his head. “I—I can’t.”

Valerie wrapped her hands around Danny’s shoulders and leaned in, kissing him. It was gentle, reassuring, and comforting. Danny relished her touch.

“You can do this,” Valerie said, breaking it off. “You’re strong, Danny. You can do this.”

“Okay,” Danny took the vials. 

“Little Badger,” Vlad said, meeting Danny’s eyes. “I’ve been doing this for a while now, you know. I...I can give you the vials if you want. Your moral compass is, well it’s different than mine. I know this is hard for you. It will get easier but, if you would like, you can just let me know when you need vials and I’ll give them to you.”

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Vlad. It means a lot.”

Vlad nodded, a rare kind smile dotting his lips. 

Danny’s glanced one more time at his girlfriend before slowly opening the first vial. The metallic smell of ectoplasm tickled his nose and he found himself raising the vial to his lips.