#Danny's ice is like. super powerful magically already so...

[fisticuffsatapplebees]

Maybe as a consequence of becoming an ancient Danny was made vulnerable in some new way that Vlad was able to take advantage of? I've never seen the show so take this with a grain of salt but I'm thinking a la the personification of dream being bound in the Sandman show?

His knowledge of Halfas would make him the most capable of managing some sort of binding magic that might do something like force Danny to listen to him or stay near him or sm. It would be a good way to explain why Ancient of Balance (and maybe space and protection please? (✿˵◕ᵕ◕) ) Danny wouldn't just fucking wreck Vlads ass which might be hard to explain if it was just a matter of Vlad threatening his friends or gaining custody after him parents dying.

It would also be a perfect explanation for why the summoning spell for Phantom didn't work. Because he's already bound to someone else.

Practice Your Skills

“You ever look at someone and wonder how hard it would be to get past their defenses and stab them.

Damian snapped his head to the side, looking at the young boy now standing beside him.

The boy put his hands up in front of him with a wince, “Not that I ever do that. Totally not, whaaaat???”

Damian huffed and turned back around to watch the gala participants.

“It’s just you kinda looked like you were contemplating the logistics of stabbing Mrs.Halterguild for squeezing your cheeks.”

Damian scowled. Then, after a moment’s beat, “It would not be very difficult. She is nearly blind in her left eye, I would be able to approach without repost.”

The kid hummed, turning back as well before motioning to another group to the far right, “What about Mr. Beckensmith, he’s a retired vet right?”

Damian rolled his eyes and scowled harder, “The man has only seen the battlefield of an office as he bribed his way from being fully enlisted and instead managed to pay for increasingly higher ranks and medals. He is a disgrace.”

The kid cocked his head to the side, looking suspicious for a second and then nodding with concession, “Fair enough, I bet I could get close enough too.”

Damian scoffed.

“What, don’t believe me?”

Damian leveled a doubtful glare at the civilian, making it clear by looking him up and down, “Hardly.”

The other smirked dangerously, “If I can get close enough to poke him and get away without being noticed, will you believe me?”

Damian narrowed his eyes but nodded succinctly and watched as the boy immediately took off, making a few loops around other people before finally backing up to Mr. Beckensmith and poking him on the opposite side as a group moved past.

Damian pursed his lips. Interesting. Certainly better than he would expect from an amateur. And an amateur civilian at that.

When the boy returns to his side Damian brushes off the asks of meaningless praise.

“Come on, I did it, now you have to go poke Mrs. Halterguild without getting caught.”

Damian sneers, “And why would I do that?”

“Because I don’t believe you either, the woman’s old but I bet she sees you and squeezes your cheeks again. Old ladies just have a sixth sense for that stuff you know.”

Damian nearly growls but sets off on his task. He makes sure to stay on her left side, but the woman turns at the last second, forcing Damian to use a passing waiter as cover to remain hidden and finally get close enough to poke her gaudy dress.

Then he sidles back up to the boy on the edges and provides his best ‘I am more capable than you’ scowl. The boy simply laughs and says, “Who’s next?”

They spend the night like that, choosing each other’s targets to attack non-lethally as though they were attempting to stab them, and Damian finds the gala going by in a significantly less tedious manner.

Right up until the boy laughs at him when he chooses a target. Only one bark of laughter escapes, but it is enough for Damian to consider stabbing him as well. If only with a butter knife.

Instead, Damian grinds his teeth and asks, “What is so different about Masters, do you really believe you would be unable to succeed?”

The other gives a breathless chuckle, “I’m pretty sure even you wouldn’t be able to successfully stab Vlad Masters,” The boy’s shoulders sag even as his jaw tightens with irritation, “He sees everything.”

Damian narrows his eyes. Something naws at the back of his brain but currently the critique of his capabilities takes precedence.

“I would be capable of stabbing Masters even without my favored sword,” Damian scowls and stands taller with annoyance.

“Sure you can, man,” At this, the boy quirks a sharp smile, “If you can actually get him, I’ll personally get you a magic sword,” he says with an air of amused indulgence. Like he thinks Damian is some insipid child saying he will find a fairy.

Damian grits his teeth and shakes the other’s hand, then immediately sets off after his target. How dare this civilian question him! He is the Son of the Bat, this is not even a challenge!

Damian growls as his approach is thwarted for the third time by the man turning in his direction and almost spotting him. How dare he! He will not fail!

Just as he reaches to jab the man in the side, already poised to make his escape, Masters whips around and clamps his fingers around Damian’s wrist with a vice grip.

“Really Daniel I thought we were over-“ Masters pauses, looking at Damian critically as he glares at the man’s offending hand, “You are not young Daniel.”

“Remove your hand from my person at once,” Damian growls.

Instead of listening to Damian’s very sensible directions, Masters tightens his grip and twists his arm, most likely in an attempt to hurt him.

“Now why is a child attempting to-“

Damian doesn’t wait to hear the rest of the man’s words, sliding a dagger into his other hand and swinging towards him, until that hand is caught mid-movement as well.

“Heh-Hey there!”

Damian snaps his head to the side just in time to see Grayson take his dagger and slide it into his pocket. He ignores the bark of laughter he hears from across the room.

Masters’ hand disappears from his arm suspiciously fast, “Mr. Wayne, what a pleasure!”

Damian looks over his other shoulder to see his father standing behind him, a thin smile on his face, “Vladimir!”

His father’s figure quickly obscures his vision, putting an arm over Masters’ shoulders in a way that clearly makes him irritated but forces him to follow as he is steered away.

“Dami, I thought we talked about the stabbing at formal events,” Grayson says through a strained smile as he looks over the crowd to make sure no else saw.

“Tt, it was merely a demonstration of my skills, he was in no real danger until he refused to release me. I simply sought to correct that mistake.”

Grayson pinchesthe bridge of his nose, “Demonstration for who, Dames? We all already know your skills.”

“Tt,” Damian scowls and turns away.

Instead of pushing it, Grayson simply sighs heavily, “Just stay out of trouble for the rest of the gala okay? We’re almost done.”

Damian scoffed and waited for Grayson to leave. Once he does, Damian finally looks over to where he had been lingering with the boy.

Gone.

Clearly he’d taken the cowards way out when he’d seen that Damian had been accosted by Masters.

Pitiful.

Damian spends the rest of the night scowling from the wall and looking serendipitously for a head of black hair and blue eyes unrelated to him.

Of course it’s not until they are actively leaving that Damian sees him and immediately splits off of from his family.

He approaches with irritation, preparing to grab the other by the shoulder when suddenly he turns around and blue eyes meet Damian’s green.

“You,” Damian sneers.

“Me,” The other shrugs. He has an amused smile on his face, though it was strained at the edges.

They stare in silence for a minute, before the other’s smile grows and sharpens once more, “I didn’t expect you to actually try to stab him, y’know,” A slight laugh escapes him, “Not that it was unwelcome by any means, but still, unexpected.”

Damian scowls again, glaring at this foolish civilian.

“Oh, I never introduced myself did I?!”

The boy exclaims and holds out a hand, smile dangerous, “Daniel Fenton. Or if we’re being technical,” a pause as Damian finally returns the gesture and finds his hand trapped, “Daniel Masters, a pleasure to meet you Damian.”

“Hurry up little badger,” A voice says beside them, and Damian notices that it is indeed Vladimir Masters.

The man approaches, placing a heavy hand on Fenton’s shoulder, making the boy go taut, and then they both step into a dark car, leaving Damian on the front steps.

Damian’s anger flares and he shoots a glare directly to the boy getting into the car. It dies the moment they meet eyes and Damian sees the fear hiding in the other’s eyes.

Fear that Damian is all too familiar with.

Fear that reminded Damian of himself. Reminded him of his own eyes when he’d been under his grandfather.

But why did Fenton look like that?

[stealingyourbones]

Hey. Hey I heard you like Superdead. Please consider a ship: Kon, Danny, Tim, and Brenard. They all love eachother very much and Brenard knows who all of them are when they have their masks on. He will actually plan Man In the Chair for them sometimes if they go on missions together! If you wanna add some extra fluff of another person to cuddle, Bart can always be added as a fun addition. Just buzzing around them all and can only be calmed by holding his hand.

Or if you crave chaos for the Poly and everyone around them, I'm a big fan of Danny X Klarion and Tim X Klarion, so why not add our favorite chaos lord to the Poly? Just imagine it: Klarion is messing with some of the heroes and one of the other Bats is there. They are getting their asses kicked so whichever bat it is just calls Tim and puts him on speaker and suddenly Klarion has his Full Attention on the phone as Tim says in a tired voice, "Klarion, why are you bullying my sibling again? Movie night is supposed to start in 5 minutes." And klarion just yells, "oh Carp is it 7 already?! I'll be right over I promise darling!" And just leaves the battle field. Also Klarion protecting Kon from any magical attacks and Kon learning that he doesn't always have to be the brick wall protecting everyone, sometimes he can be the soft boy that is protected.

I mean. Why choose just one ship when you can have them all?

Oooo Klarion/any super honestly is very interesting to mess with since Klarion is an evil aligned person but he isn’t necessarily evil. Dudes a Lord of Chaos, not the same as being evil but the outcome of chaos normally swings to more negative impacts than good.

Ok thoughts on the ships:

Super Dead. Danny/Kon: I love it with my entire heart and soul. I quite literally created this ship so you fuckin betcha that I like this ship. Created it because Danny and Kon have such similar backstory beats and ways to relate with each other that it’s insane.

Is created in a lab and gains superpowers from it.

Is half something that can wipe out an entire continent and half human.

has a mentor figure that really doesn’t help out much (clockwork/Superman).

has an iconic trio friend group. (One of their friends is mega fucking rich)

Parent(s) create machines specifically designed to injure people like them.

has an evil billionaire that wants to control them that is obsessed with their parental figure.

Wears a stupid ass costumes and has fake confidence

Died and has come back to life

Has powers that are op as fuck but never use (tactile telekinesis, ecto ice, posession, etc.)

I could go on. SuperBrainDead also is pretty closely rated in my mind. because Danny/Tim is also very cute and these dumbasses could help each other so much (also I enjoy TimKon far too much to not have the two be together)

TimBerDanKon. Tim/Bernard/Danny/Kon: i enjoy it but not as much as DanTimKon solely because I just don’t know a lot about Bernard to have an accurate assessment on how he acts. I know that he’s a conspiracy boi and that’s around it. From what I’ve seen Tim and Bernard are cute together and having the four together could be a very cute situation. The possibilities of them not knowing Danny is a Superhero and then realizing later that he is and joking now that Bernard is outmatched since it’s three supers vs one normal person.

Tim/Bernard/Danny/Kon/Bart: genuinely don’t know. There’s so many people that I’m unsure like how each person would be with each other and how the dynamic would work. Like is Bart only dating Tim and Kon? Is he dating everyone? Who knows but I enjoy it simply because Bart isn’t used in much dpxdc stuff and we need more of my son in fics.

Klarion/Danny: 10/10. Fucking incredible. Kings of Ghost and possible Lord of Order being in love with a Lord of Chaos? Beautiful and a lovely way to have a morally grey Danny because Klarion IS a killer after all. Dude wiped out the entirety of Atlantis and made it become an underwater city. You can’t simply ignore stuff like that but you can accept that he literally can’t not do shit of the sort. It’s a part of his nature.

Other option: Klarion/Dan: 1000/10. Evil power couple unite. These bitches destroy entire civilizations for fun and have a wonderful time while doing it. Chaotic Evil bastards being Chaotic Evil.

Danny/Klarion/Tim/Kon: I mean it would be hella OOC for Tim or Connor to condone or like Klarion but if you fuck around with plot and backstory a tad to and have them accept the stuff I talked about in the Klarion/Danny discussion. If Klarion tries to not as destructive or lethal chaotic acts AND tries to be a good guy, I think it would work. My thoughts is that it’s Danny and Klarion being together and Kon and Tim both dating each other and Danny. Klarion is anywhere from wary acquaintance or very good friends with Tim and Kon.

It heavily depends on who writes it but yeah. Tim and Kon recognize and acknowledge that Danny has a different view on the world and let Klarion into their lives but they make Klarion swear an oath to not do anything that’d require hero intervention of any sort. Maybe that stipulation goes away after they know each other for a while. Klarion pops up and helps protect Tim and Connor on the occasion because “If Danny finds out you died and I did nothing to stop it he’d find a way to kill me himself.” Reluctant power quadruple. Good shit.

[kawaiijohn]

Rewind, Rinse, Repeat Chapter 1

For Invisobang Minibang 2021

Ao3 Link

Chapters: 3 finished, 12 total Rating: T+ Warnings: Major and Minor Character Death- all temporary, Implied Child Abuse/Neglect, Strong Language, Mild Body Horror, Mild Injury. Other warnings listed by chapter Characters: Clockwork, Danny Fenton, Pariah Dark, Levi | Leviathan (OC), Mal (OC), Observants, Mentions of other characters Ships: Lost Time, Dark Ages, CW & OC child, CW & Levi | Leviathan (OC) Genre/Tropes: Human AU, Magic AU, Found Family, Character Origin, Hurt/Comfort, Original Magic System and Lore Additional Tags: Existentialism & Existential Angst, Memory Loss & Amnesia, Corruption, Clockwork Centric, They/Them Pronouns for Clockwork, The Fenton's A+ Parenting, Obersvant Bashing

Summary

“Clockwork can I ask you something? How did you become a ghost?”

The tale surrounding the mystery of Clockwork's existence; a world where magic is common and ghosts are not. A world where one lonely, average mage tries with all their might to save what means most to them. A world where things need to be remade into something better.

Shout out to my betas @bibliophilea and @moonlights-shadow-warrior for keeping me sane, @13thdoodle for letting me use their OC, Levi, @dailudannos and @sailor-toni for providing art for later chapters, and all the folks over at @invisobang for being awesome!!!!

Chapter One below the Cut. The rest is available on my Ao3 account because tumblr linking/posting is hella broken.

Chapter 1: An Inquiry

“Hey, Clockwork? Can I ask you something?”

Clockwork looks over from the mirror they were watching intently.  “You already have, Daniel,” they reply, offering the other a smirk.

“Oh, ha ha.  You've never said that to me before.”  The reply is filled to the brim with sarcasm, as per usual.  Danny rolls his eyes, but a small smile gracing his lips betrays the fact he isn't annoyed in the least.  “Seriously, though.  It’s something that's been on my mind like... every day for the last two weeks!!"  He raises his hands towards the sky, flopping back in the air dramatically.  "But... it's kinda, y'know.  Personal-”  Danny trails off, slightly embarrassed.

Of course.  Clockwork finds themself smiling fondly- Danny thought he’d said something he shouldn't have- an inquiry that could make his guardian upset (as if it's even possible to upset Clockwork like that).  A question is a question, and this is a worrying habit of his that the Time Master is trying to help break, even if it's still somewhat endearing to them.

“I uh, I mean... it’s personal about- to you, not to me. That’s what I meant!!” Danny continued.

Clockwork stares at him, unblinking.  An idea (or thousands) of what he may ask flashes through their mind’s eye.  With a single, calming pulse to their Core, Clockwork pushes the involuntary slideshow of timelines aside as if they're no more than curtains.  They need to focus on the window in front of them; the here and now, not the temporal drapery.

It's a habit they are trying to overcome for Daniel’s sake.  To ensure their ward's growth, they need to stop peering into the near future as often- not discourage his asking of questions.  After all, what is a child if not but a well of endless curiosity?  Cutting Danny off is also sure to disallow the development of any trust or patience Clockwork needs to build within their young ward.  They wouldn’t receive either of those things if they assume what he wanted to ask.

It's common decency to not assume, lest it ‘make an ass out of you and me’, according to Daniel.

It is going to be a tough habit to break, but by the (other) Ancients, they're trying their best.  Their ward deserves the infinitesimal choices all other children have when asking things of their guardians, so even if they do glimpse to the future, they will not mention it to him.  Clockwork refuses and will continue to refuse to take their ward’s agency away; to not have a choice in things is a fate worse than fading.

The boy has been quiet, stuck deep within his own thoughts even after an impressive five minutes and thirty-seven and a half seconds of silence (uncharacteristic of the boy, Clockwork notes).

Now that just won't do- he must have lost his train of thought.  Clockwork gestures at the ghost boy, motioning for him to continue.  It works- Danny adverting his eyes and clearing his throat, "Well, it’s just like- you know so much about me- like, how I died, the whole Ghost Zone Prince business, that entire disaster doomed timeline with Dan... I just keep thinking- no- realizing, that I barely know anything about you!!”  He throws his arms up in thinly veiled frustration.

Clockwork smirks. “You had another question, did you not?”  They place a hand along the edge of the closest Temporal Mirror, turning to face the mirror- still halfway facing Danny.  They can see his inner debate clearly written on the boy's face- the mirror reflecting as if it were an ordinary object (for now).  They turn towards it fully and watch Daniel's reaction from behind them, acting as if they aren't finding joy in their ward's hesitation.  It's always adorable when he tries not to offend Clockwork. "I may be able to work with time, but that doesn't mean I wish to float here waiting for an answer all day."

Danny blinks a few times, rolling his eyes again in response.  Clockwork is certain that if they weren’t secured to his skull by human musculature they’d fall out and roll away.  “Well, I’m sorry for trying not to be rude and like, asking outright... but since it’s you I have to always be super direct!!  Jeeze you’re frustrating sometimes!”  He floats towards his mentor, crossing his arms.

Danny often forgets Clockwork isn't easily upset over trivial things such as questions.  Most questions are about things they already know the answers to, anyways.  And the few things that they don’t know when asked, they figure out soon after.  Such is the duty of the Master of Time- to be a step ahead of everyone and everything else always.  Besides, in most timelines (68.3% of them, to round up) the question Daniel wishes to ask is along the lines of ‘What was your past like?’ Another small fraction (a little under 20%) the question is ‘How did you get so strong?’ .  And even in the remaining timelines, the question would be along the lines of ‘How do your time powers work?’

They are each things Clockwork expects Daniel to ask them at some point or other, as it were.  There isn’t really anything Daniel can ask that could be too shockin-

“Clockwork, I was wondering… how exactly did you become a ghost?”

They... did not see that coming… in any of the timelines they’d glimpsed.  Clockwork stills for only a fraction of a moment, but it’s long enough for Danny to flinch, feeling as if he’s crossed a line.  They hear more than see Daniel shrinking in on himself as they look off into nothing, buried memories waking slowly in their mind.

Clockwork is brought from their introspection by a mumbled curse.  “Shit!  I mean... uh crap??"   They just stare at Danny as they are brought back to the present.  "Never mind just... sorry for asking...  Oh man!  Did I offend you somehow?  Ancients dammit, this is what I was worried about!!”  They watch him curiously, soft whirring coming from their ward's anxious core.  “We can just forget about it if-”  Daniel’s hands wring together nervously, shoulders tense with worry and face full of guilt.

Right- facial expressions are also important for a young ghost's emotional communication and development.  Sometimes the Time Master wonders if their isolation in Long Now affected their social behavior (it did).  Their face is carefully blank most times, so they set to fix it- they offer a small grin, hand coming to rest on Daniel’s shoulder.  “It is more than fine, Daniel.  You asked if you could ask a question- which is in fact, two questions, I should note- but I gave you consent to ask it of me.”  They squeeze his shoulder to placate the worry.

“It’s about time I told you this story, as it were.  I just did not foresee it being told at this very moment."  Clockwork floats slowly, turning away from their Mirrors.  "Come along- it’s best we sit for this.  I’ll have one of your friends bring us some tea.”

Danny floats after his mentor, looking around the room the two normally use to study history of the Realms.  “So, uh… is it a long story or...?”

“Oh, it is very long, indeed.”  They fly through an ornate door and over to their favored 'chair'- a stack of comfortable cushions in violets and blues, both impossibly cool and warm at the same time.  They recall Daniel discovering the room, eyes full of wonder and posture relaxed.  Clockwork chuckles- the first time their boy had wandered in here he'd decided to take a running dive into the pile, jumping up in surprise when it was cold as ice, yet warm as fresh laundry.  The expression on their ward’s face is one of their fondest memories; a happy moment amongst all the tedium of watching time.

“It may take a while to tell this tale proper. But, it is a story that ought to be told.”  Daniel makes himself comfortable on his chair of choice- an unholy combination of 'borrowed' pillows and what appears to be a more modern gaming chair- complete with an obnoxiously bright green-black color scheme.  Clockwork has to hide another smile as Danny wiggles himself deep into the pile.  “So, Daniel- what do you know of the phrase ‘Totems of Power’?”

“I thought I was getting a story, not a pop quiz!  Unfair!!”  His disdain for schooling makes Clockwork laugh fondly before the boy continues.  “But they’re like… hmm how do I explain this?  Well, there’s the universe right?  Like every timeline and every result of every timeline all at the same time kind of ties into the main universe thingy- but there's still a main timeline, and that's kinda like... Main Street, and the other possible timelines are uh... like side streets with dead ends?  But there's other forces that like, aren't time and… uhhh...”

He hums, crossing his arms deep in thought.  Clockwork takes the time to purr-sing-hum at one of the many blobs floating in and out of their lair; Daniel had asked them to keep some around as pets and the Time Master was happy to oblige.  They were unable to deny something so beneficial to the young Prince, after all.  The one deemed ‘Mr. Pants’ by one of Daniel’s friends answers their call.  Clockwork buzzes to it a quiet request- ‘bring Daniel's favorite tea and mugs for two, please.’  The little thing chirrups and zips off through the walls- eager to serve the Lair’s owner and be (potentially) rewarded with pats (from Daniel).

The Time Master brings their undivided attention back toward a grumbling ghost boy, lost in thought.  “Daniel if you need to ask for help I’m glad to-”

Danny snaps his fingers, coming to a realization before his mentor can finish.  “I got it!!  The best way to explain it is ‘The Universe needs to run smoothly, so there’s certain forces- like Time or Space- that are upheld by a powerful entity, like a person or like… the avatar of that concept?  Yeah, something like that, but they ensure the aspect they represent is properly cared for so the universe doesn’t completely like, die.’”  Danny nods to himself.  "It's why you stepped in to stop Dan, to make sure the world didn't end like that."

“That is correct- it is my job to ensure this universe of ghosts and reality doesn't crumble prematurely.  Now, do you have a recollection of any other Totems you may have encountered?”

“Well, yeah!  We call them ‘Ancients’, though- so like… Pandora is the one for war and history, and Nocturn is for like… dreams?  The Void or something, maybe?  And then there’s old man Pariah who isn’t one, but he said there’s a Leadership Ancient somewhere, and then-”  Danny pauses, blinking at Clockwork in realization.  “Wait, you asked that for a reason, didn’t you?”

“That I did.  Becoming the Totem, or Ancient of Time is where this story starts.”  Clockwork hums, seeing Mr. Pants fly back towards the two- nearly spilling scalding tea all over the ground.  “Now then.  We have drinks.  We are sitting comfortably.  I believe it’s time I spin my tale for you.”  They take a sip, closing their eyes in bliss.

They open them once more and see Daniel sitting, eyes full of stars and eager- Eager to hear, eager to fire off a question a minute.  It makes a chuckle bubble up in their throat, to see their favorite person so excited to learn.

“Once upon a time, there was a human; average in most ways, a simple person living a simple life.  They would get up in the morning, perform their daily tasks, and go to sleep at night.  Day in, and day out- a boring, but fulfilling existence.

“However, where this story differs from what we recognize as reality, is that in this realm, humans who could control magic were the norm.  Think as if it were like one of those fantasy games you and Tucker play together- mages, healers… all of those and more were commonplace when I was alive.  Yes, humans can wield magic now, but it is nowhere near as frequent as they could in our tale.”

They pause, seeing that Danny was about to interrupt.  “Wait wait- this realm?  Like- this is a completely different reality?? And people can wield magic now???  Are you messing with me?  Like… I thought it was all just-”  The boy stops, his train of thought drifting off the tracks as it tends to now and then.

“Yes, first, this is a completely different realm from either the Mortal Plane or the Ghost Zone.  Second, Daniel- tell me... have you not noticed the magic of those you have encountered?  Blood blossoms… a reality warping gauntlet?  The existence that is ‘Freakshow’ in general should be a red flag, seeing as his talents were… strangely non-ghostly in origin.  Not to mention objects such as the Infi-map...”

“Man, I wish I could forget about Freakshow… who mind controls ghosts???  He was the worst!” Their young ward crossed his arms and grumbles.

“If you’re done sulking about your past misadventures and former foes, I was in the middle of telling a story, if I recall correctly.  One you asked I tell you…”  Clockwork simply stares, unblinking as steam wafts from their slowly cooling tea.

All is well, they knew Danny would only take approximately 4.85 seconds to snap his attention back to their story.  Clockwork sips their tea, waiting.

Danny snaps out of his thoughts only a millisecond off of Clockwork's prediction. “Sorry... it’s just super weird to think that magic actually… still exists?  Like ghosts are real and all but magic being a thing feels a bit far fetched, don’t ya think?”  He pouts, brow furrowed.

The Master of Time finally closes their eyes, removing the hood from their head.  White hair floats gracefully behind them, settling just past their shoulders.   Clockwork opens their eyes again- a serious, yet warm expression directed at their ward.  “Magic is simply defined as reality altering acts using both energy and the willpower of a sentient being, if that helps.”  Another sip.  Mr. Pants made a wonderful batch of tea, as always.  They smile wider when they notice Danny’s expression- the boy has never seen them without a hood, and they know doing this will (in 99.78% of all possible timelines) convince the boy to take what they said seriously.   ”Just as ghosts can be defined as ‘ectoplasm given form and consciousness’, forces beyond humanity and the physical realm can be explained with scientific terminology if you know where to look.”

“So like... what all did magic have to do with this ‘simple human’ version of you?  Did you ever have the power to shoot lightning??  Could I shoot lightning if I tried?  Like were you some sorta time wizard?  Is that why you’re all… timey-wimey and powerful?”  Danny wiggles his fingers with a look of confusion on his face.

Clockwork always finds their Core warming when their boy acts his age.  He's abnormally prone to shoulder the destiny of the world on himself and often forgets he's just a kid.  “You could continue asking questions one at a time, or you could allow me to tell my story.  The choice is yours, Daniel.”  They smirk, watching as Danny purses his lips, his steady flow of questions stopping short.  The best answer.  “Perfect- all is as I thought it would be.”

They close their eyes and reminisce as they continue.  “Now- to answer your last question… Yes.  You could say magic is how I came to be the Master of Time in both the Infinite Realms and the mortal plane, but there is much more to the story than that.  Other players, situations, and pure circumstances.  The universe in its infinite chances and possibilities brought myself, as well as many others to the situations they face here and now.”  Clockwork pauses, taking the moment to stare straight through Danny’s soul.  “Even yourself.”

The boy shudders, an appropriate response.  “Wait... me?  Did you… do something in the past to like… a past version of someone we know??  Can that even happen???”  Danny is already enraptured by the story, eyes twinkling as his mentor opens up about themself.  The boy is obviously thinking about everything that has happened, everything that could possibly have happened, and everything that Clockwork could possibly drop on him.

They feel Daniel cautiously tug on loose strands of time to see if he could possibly scope out what is about to be said, quickly failing to do much else beside give himself a small headache.  “Time stuff is still really confusing, Clockwork…”

“You could say that.  You could even say that trying to mess with time in the inner sanctum of Long Now is the most confusing ‘time stuff’ one could do if they were not myself.”  They grin- a Temporal Mirror appearing behind them with a thought.

“What’s the mirror for?”  Danny catches sight of himself and looks away, embarrassed that he’s been literally glowing with power after trying to do something so simple with his developing powers.  The glow is something he’s been working on suppressing recently.  After all, it would be a shame if other ghosts could see the boy powering up by aura alone.

The Master of Time smirks, bringing tea to their lips again.  “I thought it would be fun to attempt braiding my hair and doing my makeup for once.  It has been an awfully long time since I’ve done either.”

They stare at Danny who just bursts into laughter.  “Did you just use sarcasm???  Man, I didn’t know you could lighten up, Clockwork!”  The boy laughs harder, sinking deeper into his nest of pillows.  After a few minutes he was finally wiping tears from his eyes.  “But no.  Seriously… what’s the mirror for??”

“Why, what they are always for, Daniel- seeing through time and space.”  Clockwork waves their hand.  The mirrors show an image of a human with dark hair and burgundy eyes.  They have a large, hooked nose and medium brown skin- and Danny finds himself having a hard time guessing their gender.  The human sits at a desk, paused in time with the delicate gears of a clock sprawled along the desk surface, tools in hand.

Behind Clockwork, the image changes, showing the human living through an average day- images play in small spurts, never showing the whole story.  “Do you understand what’s being seen?”  The young boy nods, grabbing Mr. Pants out of the air as the blob drifts between the two.  Good, he will probably need the companionship, especially towards the end.

This isn’t the easiest story to tell, nor is it easy to listen to, but with a sip of their tea, Clockwork continues.

[kinglazrus]

Deep Wounds Ch. 1 - Who's to Blame?

Phic Phight | Next | AO3 | FFN

Submitted by @q-gorgeous: Identity reveal. Dash finds out Danny is Phantom. Could be swagger bishie or not, either or is okay.

Submitted by @aj-itated: Dash catches Danny changing after gym, and spots a huge (poorly stitched) wound on his side. Dash is now convinced Danny is either abused or part of a gang, and has no idea how to deal with either - or how to interact with Danny, now that he can't bully him.

Summary: Dash didn't mean to see it, not that it was his fault. If Danny didn't want anyone to notice the bloody mess on his side, then he shouldn't be checking his bandages in the middle of the boy's changing room. But it's too late, and Dash has no clue what to do now that he thinks Danny might be getting hurt at home.

Word count: 4253

“He’s gonna know.”

As Tucker's shadow falls over him, Danny starts, rudely yanked out of his daydream. The hand cradling his chin drops to his lap, fingers brushing the grass, and he fixes Tucker with a confused glare. "What?"

"You are super unsubtle," Tucker says. "He's gonna knooow."

Tucker and singsong aren’t two words Danny would normally use together, but it is the best way to describe the lyrical bounce in Tucker's voice as he drops onto the grass. Too bad his musical prowess seems limited to teasing jabs and not the screeching caterwaul Danny usually associates with Tucker and singing.

"What are you talking about?" Danny asks, his annoyance mounting.

"Oh, come on." Tucker leans back and sweeps his arm out to the field, motioning to the warm-up game some of their classmates are playing, which Danny had been watching fervently until he was interrupted. His gaze skims over the scuffle taking place over the ball, settles briefly on Dash lounging in front one of the nets, then goes back to Tucker.

"I don't know what you mean," Danny says.

"Tucker, be nice. Don't tease the oblivious," Sam cuts in. Sitting on Danny's left, she is flipping through a book rather than watches the scrimmage. How she got the book past Tetslaff, Danny has no idea. Magic, maybe. The more likely answer is that Tetsflaff saw it and just didn't care since Sam one of the best students in their class.

Danny could never get away with it, though. "Seriously. What are you guys talking about?"

"Oh, poor Danny." Tucker tsks and shakes his head. "In time, you, too, shall mature enough to understand your own emotions."

"I'm mature enough to ectoblast you in the face," Danny says.

"That is literally the exact opposite of mature."

"You're the exact opposite of mature."

"Game time!" Tetslaff's bellow cuts off what surely would have been a clever retort from Tucker. Her booming voice, powerful enough to challenge Danny's father's, echoes across the field and brings the scrimmage to a halt. At the far net, Dash rises to his feet and brushes the grass from his shorts.

"Captains!" Tetslaff calls. Valerie and Dash's hands shoot into the air, faster than anyone else's. Sam, still focused on her book, raises her hand half-heartedly, then lowers it to turn the page. No one else offers to be team captain, but Tetslaff doesn't seem to mind. This is how their classes usually go when they do team sports. "You know the drill. Pick your players, take your positions, and for heaven's sake, someone take Fenton."

Snickers break out through the class. Danny drops his face into his hands, muffling a groan against his palms.

He hates gym class for a lot of reasons. For one, sports aren't really his thing. He might be strong, thanks to his ghost half, but that doesn't make him any better at sports. Because of that, he's usually the last picked when it comes to games like soccer. And then there's Dash, who sucks sometimes, but he used to suck more. A lot more. He has mellowed out since freshman year, although he's not opposed to jostling Danny in the hallway now and then.

But the absolute worst thing about gym class is playing when he's injured; it doesn't happen often. Danny's been ghost fighting for nearly three years now, and he doesn't get hurt as much as he used to. Experience has wizened him up to the wonders of dodging. His enemies still get lucky sometimes, though, and last night, Technus got him good. Hacking and slashing isn't usually Technus' thing, but the rabid dishwasher the ghost sicked on Danny was damn good at it. He has the deep slash across his left side to show it.

It's healing well, but a wound like that needs more than a few hours before he is back in peak condition. Sam, whose house was closest after the fight, stitched Danny up as best as she could. Both she and Tucker had gotten good at that over the years, but for all Sam's skill, she was still just a high schooler who learned off YouTube tutorials. Before bed, Danny bound the wound tight, took a couple of Advil, and slept with an icepack slapped against his side.

It still hurts like hell, though.

A sharp whistle pierces Danny's thoughts. He winces at the noise, along with most of the class. Dash and Valerie, the victims of Tetslaff's ire, actually flinch.

"Baxter, Grey, stop bickering," Tetslaff says.

Caught up in his thoughts, Danny hadn't noticed their argument, but it's impossible to miss the tight anger in Valerie's crossed arms or the annoyance in Dash's glare.

"Baxter, Grey made her pick. Mr. Cheong goes with her." Tetslaff points at Kwan, then jerks her thumb toward Valerie. With a despondent sigh, Dash pats Kwan on the back, watching his best friend trudge to Valerie's team as if he was going to his grave.

"They're so dramatic," Danny says.

Tucker nods in agreement. "I know, right?"

Sam lowers her book to stare at them. "You cannot be serious."

"What did we say?" Danny asks.

Sam sighs and rolls her eyes but doesn't elaborate further.

Back on the field, Valerie gestures to the dwindling number of classmates yet to be claimed. "Your next pick," she says to Dash.

Dash scans the lineup, his gaze lingering on Danny for a few moments before skipping right over Tucker to Sam. "Manson, you're with me."

"Ugh, of course." Sam marks her page and passes the book to Danny. "You gonna be okay? How's your side?"

He holds back a grimace. "I'm good. I'll tell Tetslaff I'm sick or something so I can sit out."

Sam nods, satisfied, and joins Dash's team.

"Tucker!" Valerie calls.

"Good luck, dude." Tucker gently pats Danny's shoulder before stepping onto the field.

With his friends gone, and the rest of the class distracted by the team pick, Danny shuffles over to Tetslaff. "I don't really feel good. Can I sit out?"

Tetslaff looks him up and down. "You gonna throw up?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

"You got a fever?" Before Danny can even answer, Tetslaff slaps her hand against his forehead. He flinches back, wanting nothing more than to peel her warm palm off his skin. She holds it there for a few seconds before finally drawing away. "No fever. got a doctor's note?"

"Uh... no? I've been at school all morning."

"If you feel like you're about to throw up, book it off the field. Otherwise, you're playing."

"But—"

"Fenton, do you really want to be the only kid in Casper High history to fail gym class?" Tetslaff asks.

The threat might have been more effective if Danny hadn't spent half his high school career one bad grade away from flunking out, but he doesn't have the energy to fight her on it. "Okay, Coach."

"That's the spirit! Now get out there and show me some hustle!" Tetslaff slaps Danny on the back. He bites back a cry of pain as he stumbles forward, one hand shooting to cradle his side. Tetslaff's hand, though broad, missed the actual injury, but the sheer impact made his bones rattle and his wound flair with pain.

"Okay," Danny mutters. Just stay out of Dash's way and move enough to escape Tetslaff ire. It can't be that hard. He presses a hand to his side, feeling the thick gauze through his shirt. Closing eyes so that no one sees them glow, he phases his palm through his shirt and ices over his injury. The numbing cold helps, somewhat, and it should hold up for the whole class.

"I can do this." He falters when he steps toward the field. It looks like Valerie and Dash finished picking their teams while he was busy with Tetslaff and the game is already underway. He hovers on the sideline, unsure where to go.

"Getting worked up already?" Valerie's voice startles him.

Danny flinches and twists toward her, sending a sharp twinge across his ribs. He hisses, regretting the sudden move, and squeezes his side once more.

"You okay?" Valerie asks.

"Just fine. Sorry, what did you say?"

"You look like you're stressed out already. It's just soccer."

Danny rolls his eyes and nudges her arm. "Sure. Tell me that when Dash's team is up by five and I have stop you from kicking his kneecaps in."

Valerie laughs, no denial falling from her lips. "Oh, please. We both know I'd go for the throat. You're with me, by the way."

"Oh, thank God."

"Don't kid yourself, Danny. We both know you'd love to be on Dash's team."

Danny's mind blanks for a moment, his cheeks growing hot against his will. "Uh... what? He literally used to beat me up every day."

"Keyword, 'used to.' And I never said you had good taste." Valerie shrugs. "Except for me, at least. But don't worry about it. Now come on; I want you on defence. You suck at scoring, but at least you can take a hit."

Danny hopes he doesn't need to.

—

No hits come his way, to Danny's immense relief. At least they are playing soccer and not football. Or floor hockey, God forbid. Danny's ankles still smart from the last time they played that. With soccer, there's not a whole lot of opportunity for Danny to get knocked around. Stuck on defence, he even has an excuse to hang back, hold off on all that "hustle" Tetslaff wanted to see. His teammates charge up and down the field, shouting and jeering as they fight over the ball, and Danny gets to trail behind, halfway between the throng and his team's net. He spends most of his time watching Dash. Purely so that he's ready if Dash decides to go after him, not for any other reasons.

"Suuure that's the reason," Tucker says when he notices Danny staring.

"It is!" Danny's protest falls on deaf ears.

Dash catches Danny's gaze more than once. Rather than looking away, Danny can't resist offering a shit-eating grin and a friendly wave every time. If he had any self-preservation skills, he would stop immediately. But there's a reason he's half-ghost now, and it's definitely not because of his critical thinking skills.

He manages to stay out of the action, for the most part, only rushing in when the ball comes close to him. Otherwise, Tucker and Elliot handle the rest. Tucker knowingly spares him the pain of ripping his stitches. Elliot, meanwhile, likes to swoop in at every opportunity to show Danny up. It might have gotten a rise out of Danny any other day, but right now, when his side throbs every time he takes a step, Elliot is welcome to do whatever he wants.

When they have class outside, Danny can't tell how much time is left. He guesses they are about halfway through, and nothing bad has happened yet. Maybe he can get through this, after all.

That's when he jinxes himself.

"Heads up!" Valerie's warning shout comes just in time. Danny ducks instinctively, hissing when his injury pulls. The soccer ball flies over his head, skimming the top of his hair. Then, Dash collides with Danny, his shoulder digging into Danny's side. He cries out as he goes sprawling, hands shooting to his side. It burns, searing across his ribs, almost as bad as when he first got the wound. The pain makes his head spin and his breath ragged.

He must blackout for a moment, because one second his face is pressed against the cool grass, and then suddenly he's staring up into Tetsalff's concerned face, Valerie, Sam, and Tucker hovering behind her.

"Deep breaths, Fenton," Tetslaff says.

It would be great advice if breathing didn't make his chest expand, and his chest expanding didn't make the gash on his side strain against the few stitches that hadn't popped when Dash rammed into him at full speed. What the hell. That was such a dick move.

"Okay, Fenton. You're out for the rest of the class. Go to the nurse if you need to," Tetslaff says.

He nods but makes no move to get up. He doesn't know if he can.

Tetslaff sees his plight, whether she understands the reason for it or not, and barks over her shoulder. "Baxter! Your fault, your problem. Help Fenton inside."

"We can take him," Tucker says. At the same time, Dash whines, "Come on, Coach. There's no way I hit him that hard."

Tetslaff sticks out an arm, holding Sam and Tucker back. "Get to it, Baxter."

Dash groans but relents and steps into Danny's field of view. Rather than kneeling, or doing anything actually helpful, he bends down a little and sticks out his hand.

Danny stares at it.

"Well? You're holding up the game, Fenton."

Danny almost gets up on his own, just to spite Dash, but the second he tries to lever himself up, his side screams, and Danny has to bite back another cry of pain. Reluctantly, he grabs Dash's hand. Dash hauls him upright, far from gentle, and sets Danny down on his feet. Dash starts forward, but Danny hangs back.

"Hurry up," Dash says.

"Just... hold on a second." Danny squeezes his eyes shuts and clamps his hands against his side. The pressure helps, a little. If he's bleeding, it'll at least hide the evidence. He really hopes he put enough gauze on the wound. He didn't exactly think he'd be dealing with this today when he wrapped it.

"Dude, we can take you," Tucker says. He and Sam haven't moved away. Even Valerie still hovers close by, giving Danny a concerned look over his friends' shoulders.

"Manson, you're team captain until Dash gets back. Foley." Tetslaff shakes her head. "Your grades aren't much better than Fenton's here. Let's go, back on the field. It's game time.

"But—"

"It's fine, guys." Danny tries to smile, but he is sure it comes out like a grimace instead. Neither of them look like they believe him.

"Ms. Tetslaff!" Valerie steps in front of the teacher. "Danny's on my team. I want to make sure he's okay. Kwan can take over as captain for me."

"Okay, fine. Now let's get back to the game, people!" Tetslaff puts a hand on Sam and Tucker's shoulder each and pushes them toward the field. Over her shoulder, Sam mouths "Thank you" at Valerie.

"Can we just hurry up?" Dash says. Before Danny is ready, Dash's hand clamps down his shoulder and starts driving him forward. Danny stumbles, nearly tripping over his own feet, and is forced to open his eyes or else go tumbling all over again. Valerie appears on his injured side, walking fast to keep up with Dash's pace.

"Are you okay?" she asks. She reaches toward Danny, but holds back, her gaze flitting down to the hand over his ribs.

"Yeah, totally fine. I, uh, got caught up in that ghost fight yesterday, got a little bruised," he says.

"You should have told Tetslaff. She would have let you sit out," Valerie says.

"Yeah, I should have." Too bad Danny hadn't thought of that lie before. And it wasn't even a lie, technically.

The walk to the gym doors feels much farther than it did at the start of class. Dash yanks the door open once they're close enough and deposits Danny on the nearest bench. "There, you're fine. Whatever."

"Don't be such a dick, Dash," Valerie says.

Danny wobbles, bracing himself against the wall as he sits down. While Valerie helps, grabbing his arm and keeping him steady, Dash doesn't make a move.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna sit for a bit."

"If you say so." With one last concerned glance, Valerie leaves the gym.

Danny sits, one hand pressed against his side, feeling the deep, pulsing ache that won't leave. The ice he applied earlier hasn't faded yet, but if Danny's stitches are ripped as he suspects, a little numbing cold won't help for much longer.

Dash clears his throat, reminding Danny that he hasn't left yet.

"What?" Danny glares at him through half-lidded eyes.

"Sorry, or whatever. I thought you were gonna move, okay?"

"You sure sound sorry."

Dash bristles. "Whatever, Fenton. I was trying to be nice, but I guess I'll just fuck off then."

"Yeah, you do that."

Dash stomps out of the gym without looking back, slamming the door behind him. The bang echoes through the empty room. Alone at last, a whimper slips through Danny's lips. You would think that, over the years, he would get used to getting injured so much, learn to adjust to the pain. Whoever first said that was such a liar. It never stops hurting. Dizzying pain is dizzying pain no matter how often you experience it.

Danny sits for a few minutes, breathing slow and even, bracing himself for what he knows is coming. Peeling his hand away from his side, he checks his shirt. Faint pink splotches greet his eyes, not a lot, but enough to make him groan. He reaches under his shirt, slipping his fingers underneath the bandages, and probes the tender skin. His fingers come away slick and red.

"Shit." He applies a fresh coat of ice, enough to seal over the wound, and pushes himself off the bet, slick hand sliding against the wood. The entrance to the boys' changeroom lies only a few feet away, but it feels farther. He shuffles inside, bracing one hand against the wall. The hall leading in stretches for a good ten feet before cutting into a sharp right angle and opening into the main room.

The silence inside is just as oppressive as the quiet of the gym. Even though it's the middle of the school day, being here without the chatter of other boys as they change feels odd.

Danny lets himself slump onto the bench, breathing heavily

"I'm gonna kill Dash," he says to the empty room. But knowing his luck, Dash would come back as a ghost and haunt the hell out of him. It seems like the kind of asshole thing he would do

Danny fumbles for his bag, hooking his finger around the strap and dragging it close. It takes him a minute of digging to find his phone, which he stuffed inside at the start of class. He quickly checks the time. There are ten minutes left of class. More than enough time to check his side and get patched up before Tetslaff dismisses everyone to get changed.

The smart thing would be to go into one of the showers, make sure he has complete privacy, but he doesn't want to put in the effort of walking that far.

"It'll be fine," Danny says and gets to work

—

Dash doesn't return to the game. As the gym door slams beside him, he leans against the wall and stares down at his shoes. Outside, he looks composed, but in his head, his thoughts tumble about. He can't shake the image of Valerie's glare. Fenton couldn't take a hit, so what? It's not like Dash actually didanything. He's gotten Fenton a lot worse than that before. It's not his fault the guy was already banged up from some dumb ghost fight. Not his problem.

And yet, the pained cry as Dash bowled Danny over, the sight of his crumpled body on the grass... it makes Dash shudder.

"I apologized," he says. There's no one around to hear it, to justify him. He wonders what his therapist will say about this, if Dash bothers mentioning it at their next appointment.

Valerie's glare flashes through his mind again.

"Okay, fine!" He throws his arms up and shoves away from the wall. One quick moment to check on Danny, then he'll return to the game. He's only doing this so that his therapist doesn't give him that look on Monday; the look that isn't quite disappointed, because she could never be disappointed in one of her clients, but comes pretty damn close.

Dash only receives that look when he does something dumb, like shoving nerds in lockers or taking his anger out on someone else.

Dash eases the door to the gym back open and peeks inside. The bench he left Danny on is empty. A smear of red stands out against the pale wood. Dash creeps inside, closing the door quietly behind him. His heart sinks as he nears the bench, and comes to the unmistakable conclusion: blood.

Not my fault, Dash reminds himself. It does little in the way of reassurance. Walking briskly, he heads for the doors leading further into the school. If Danny is bleeding, he must have gone to the nurse. Which means he will be fine, but Dash needs to be sure.

A low groan stops him in his tracks.

For a moment, he thinks he imagined it, but then it comes again, accompanied by a pained hiss. The sound comes from the changing room. Holding his breath, he turns from the door and enters the changeroom.

Short, sharp breaths greet him, growing louder as he nears the main room. A shaky whimper cuts through, followed by a gasp.

Dash peeks around the corner. He sees Danny's shirt first, discarded on the bench. Next to it is a pile of wrappings. It looks like the ace bandages Dash uses whenever he gets a sprain, although he doesn't remember seeing Danny wearing any. And then, he looks to Danny himself and pales.

One arm drawn back, head tilted forward to see his side, Danny peels a stained gauze pad away from his bloody ribs. Suddenly, Dash can't breathe. His throat feels clogged. His heart hammers in his ear. The gash in Danny's side is easily the length of Dash's hand. It rips across his ribs and curves up toward his armpit, ending just under his arm. Dash doesn't know much about first aid, but the stitches holding the wound together look sloppy. They pull in different directions, turning what appears to be a clean cut into a wobbly mess. Around it, Danny's skin is stained red. Blood seeps between the stitches.

A few small drops slide down Danny's exposed skin as Dash watches, pooling briefly against the waistband of his gym shorts before they are absorbed

"Fuck," Dash whispers.

Danny jumps back, spinning mid-air to face Dash. In his horror, Dash doesn't think to question the impossibility of that action. Danny drops the gauze pad, which lands bloody side down on the floor, and clamps his arm down over the injury.

"What are you doing?" Danny's voice hitches, caught between an accusing growl and a startled squeak.

Dash gapes, mouth opening and closing as he searches for something to say. His mind comes up blank. "Danny, what... what the hell? What happened to you?"

Dash's voice seems to snap Danny out of his shock. All at once, his body goes rigid and his expression turns cold. "Get out."

"You need to go to the nurse!"

"DASH!" Danny bellows.

Dash stumbles back, falling against the wall. Tetslaff's laugh voice is loud. Jack Fenton's voice booms. But just now, Dash felt the floor shake under his feet. Danny's voice rumbled in Dash's chest, knocked him off his feet. The whole school must have heard it, they had to.

"I won't say it again. Get the hell out right now," Danny says.

Dash obeys. Whether it's out of fear or a genuine desire to follow Danny's will, he can't tell. He books it out of the changeroom, across the gym, and bursts outside, only to come face to face with Kwan and the rest of the class.

"Whoa!" Kwan reels back in surprise. "You missed the rest of the game. Val's team won."

"Oh, the game. Right." Dash takes a deep breath, struggling to get himself under control.

"So... you gonna let us in?"

Dash doesn't move.

"Get out of the way, Dash," Valerie says. Pushing to the front of the group, she tries to shove past him.

Dash leaps in front of her. "No!" He can't let anyone else see Danny.

"Dude, not cool. We want to check on Danny," Tucker says.

Dash wavers. Danny's friends have to know what's up with him, right? There is no way he could have stitched that up himself, not with how much struggle it took to even look at the injury. When Tucker and Sam slip by Dash, he makes no move to stop them. Their entrance opens the floodway, and soon enough everyone is pushing past Dash into the gym.

"Wait!" He latches on to Kwan's arm as his best friend passes.

"Did something happen?" Kwan asks.

Dash swallows, unsure how to answer. "Sort of?" Now isn't the right time to tell Kwan, though, not with their classmates around them, and the rest of their friends absent.

"Let's go get changed." Kwan pats Dash's shoulder and guides him forward. Every step closer to the change room, Dash's anxiety mounts. Danny reacted so poorly to one person finding him. Dash can only imagine what will happen—what stricken look Danny will wear—when half their class walks in on his shirtless and bloody.

Except, when they turn the corner into the change room proper, Danny isn't there. His stuff is gone, too. Tucker's crumpled gym shirt covers the spot where the gauze pad landed. There are no signs Danny was there at all.

Next

[constellaj]

I will pay you up front if you can rewrite the Urban Jungle episode. Please, I am begging you

I love undergrowth and his character but the episode was just, awful

*Alright* I am going to approach this as if it is part of the original series; I won’t be making it stupid gay, changing the overall tone or messaging of the story, making it any rating past pg-13, etc etc

with that in mind: urban jungle feels like the episode where danny and sam should have started dating (going with sam x danny to fit with the ‘original series but good’ angle). the line “i always thought you ruled” is fucking banger so what we’re going to do is extend that out into the actual theme of the ep: sam and self-esteem

sam has friction between tuck already (vegetarian vs meat eater) and in the beginning of the ep we also are gonna bump up the friction between her and danny, with how she thinks his powers should be used for good and how he just wants a break etc etc. sam gets really caught up in activism and her friends kind of snap at her for it due to burnout, so they break up what was going to be a group movie night and sam goes back to her house alone while danny and tuck go to danny’s place.

i don’t want undergrowth to magically appear, and I don’t even need it to be anything to do with urbanization necessarily; instead let’s take a popular fan theory of summoning and combine it with the premise of the episode ‘what you want,’ where tucker gets ghost powers. let’s say that sam, while digging into the occult, is like ‘if i had ghost powers/plant powers/could drive out oil industries i would in a heartbeat’ and learns about a ghost she can summon (undergrowth). danny and tuck are busy playing doomed while she does this. undergrowth takes one look at her and is like “ohoho, i can tell you love plants just so much.” he will be manipulating her and preying on her rage and feelings of inadequacy for the majority of this episode

cool, undergrowth is here now. let’s keep the enslaving-people-into-plant-zombies thing, but instead of instantaneous let’s make it a little scarier, with creeping roots sinking into the water source and slowly moving through amity, bit by bit. danny is unaffected cause he’s a ghost, and he and tucker manage to realize something’s up with the fentons before tucker gets zombified too. they’ll run to check if sam is okay, and on first glance they’ll think she’s been zombied, but of course she isn’t in the same way everyone else is. she’s a host body for undergrowth, and she’s actually actively repressing his possession (shes had a lot of practice, working alongside danny), and she’s super bitter about literally everything they’re doing and kicks them out.

it has to be shown earlier in the episode that sam feels like a lot of what she does is performative/etc and that danny and tuck are in the wrong with treating her sorta like garbage.

i’m cutting the ice powers cause that’s dumb. instead we’ll have danny and tuck working together to try and find a solution, and learning (probably through old fenton records or tucker being smart) that liquid nitrogen can get rid of undergrowth until summoned again, so they have to go all the way back to the lab at casper high and hook up some machine or other to clear the town. (retroactively, let’s make one of the earlier arguments between them and sam take place during a lab, and throw in a sidebar about liquid nitrogen; lancer saying that it should be here, dash and kwan fucking around with it, danny just touching it cause hes ghost, etc, something like that) 

as they progress undergrowth/sam starts putting spores out, meaning tucker’s also getting infected, all while theyre fighting back these different plant people all in the town. plant people still retain some of their original personality and stuff as a joke though. insert joke about plant-paulina zombie-lumbering towards Phantom, creakily going “how about a kisss” and danny just, morphs back into Fenton, and she goes “ew. gross” and leaves. that kind of thing. it’s a lot of strategy and we get to see other characters interacting in a pseudo-dreamworld with danny and tucker, and a lot should focus on self-esteem or making them feel bad to drive the point home

also what needs to be shown earlier is sam’s crush on danny.

during the progression danny has to be getting really worked up about this and eventually let slip ‘and can you believe i was going to ask her to [x event, movie, dance, etc]’ and tucker like, balks. tucker says ‘she has had a crush on you for like two years man’ and danny is like “WHAT” and now, encouragement to get things done faster. course then dramatically tucker gets turned into a plant. here we learn that the plant people are mouthpieces of sam’s self esteem issues right cause tucker just goes “well why would you like her. she’s a sweaty goth girl. she’s too loud. she’s so bossy” which are all things that sam would have said about herself/danny would have said about sam earlier when they were fighting

so danny rushes to the school and grabs the liquid nitrogen but uh-oh, of course undergrowth/sam is already there ready to stop him. something something she probably heard his conversation with tucker through another plant person, maybe valerie on a hoverboard. anyway she wants to possess danny and make him a plant person and we get the “together we can rule / I always thought you ruled” line that was the only good part in the og episode. this inspires sam to break out of the undergrowth mindset partially but, naturally, she was just a pawn for undergrowth who’s been preying on her self-esteem issues this whole time, and so now he’s like “ugh well if you’re not easy to manipulate what’s the point. i have to take over the entire planet with plants now bye”

epic fight scene with danny and sam working together to blast the man with liquid nitrogen while sam slowly gets possessed/plantified. something something something, they run out of nitrogen before sam gets totally planted, ghost breath is very cold (also needs to be referenced earlier). it’s probably tucker’s idea, but danny gets to do a magic kiss so she comes back.

it’s super awkward and she punts him at first. but then on for the rest of the series they actually ARE dating and there’s no more weird back and forth drama about things. danny’s ‘ice powers’ are now just being able to slightly control his body temperature (jokes later on about him faking sick by artificially making a low temp). sam is never once weirdly sexualized and instead she’s lashing out because she thinks her friends don’t care about her as much as they care about each other. undergrowth isn’t giving sam special treatment, she just happened to be the easiest pawn to reach

[rachel-gates]

 🌟🎄❄️ Havensdale Holidays!! ❄️🎄🌟

Part 1 - IC

Who is your fave/s character of your own?

I really do love Rachel so much. In most RPs I’m in, I tend to give my main character the same type of power arc of not knowing how to control or accept their magic and I really love the way Rachel has come into her own with that. I just love her.

Who is your fave/s character of someone else’s?

Ok, no joke, I seriously love so many of yall’s characters. Like Havensdale is probably the RP where I am in invested in the most characters outside of my own, BUT if I had to name just a couple! I love Cole ( @cole-atwolf​ ) a lot like I just wanna see him be happy and get hugged. Cam ( @cam-thebadass​ ) is an idiot but I think that’s hilarious and fun to watch. Greg... ( @greg-porter​ ) Oh, Greg. I wanna see things actually work out for him. Paige already knows this but I would die for Joey ( @joeysalvatored​ ). I think that both Ruby ( @radiant-ruby​ ) and Juliette ( @juliette-palmer​ ) are too cool awesome ladies and also Keith ( @sweet--salvatore ) is baby and I love him. Leila ( @little-leila​ ) is a sweet baby angel pls I love her.

Fave interaction between your character and someone else’s?

I genuinely think that any time Rachel and Cole interact, it’s a good time. Like on the one hand there’s the dumbassery they both get into, and when they’re together they suddenly don’t have a single brain cell. But one the other hand there’s also the very sweet familial-ness, like Rachel really does see him as an older brother and wants to see him happy with Charlene again. Also any time Isaac talks to any of your characters I just think is so wholesome and funny.

A ship you love?

I’m a little out of the loop when it comes to these but Gronnie Portman ( @brightbonnie ) is the hill I’ll die on, okay. I don’t even know where those two stand right now or what’s going on with them but I would very much like to see them together. I would like to see it. Also Rachel with the Salvatores ... Lemme just sit here and gush about them to myself because if I get into it I may never stop. uwu.

A crackship/rare pair you love?

Danny ( @danny-mcr ) and Cole. Need I say more. I’m sorry I keep saying Cole, but like previously stated I just love him a lot adskdjgh. Also 

A plot/concept of your own and/or someone else’s you love?

Okay it seems silly to talk about my own characters, but again i really do love where Rachel has gotten. I love the small but very important circle of people she’s developed, after having been so focused on herself and not her relationships. She’ll really die for Joey and Keith no matter what. Charlene ( @fairchildestof-them-all ) and Cole are like parents to her and honestly family. And she had friends that she truly cares about like Jenny ( @jennythe-good ) and Leila and Ian ( @ian-magic-son ) and Dexter ( @dexter-harrison ). She’s just finally gotten to a place where she feels loved and accepted and ready to come into her own and that’s because of the way these characters have responded and reacted to her and I just. Ahhhh I love it.

Part 2 - Not-So Secret Santa

MAYAAAA!! Okay I met you back in our old PJO rp and fiRST OF ALL-- you have been nothing but a legend since. I wont get into the details of that here, but you know I loved your characters there! Anyway, since then I’ve only ever known you to be super sweet and an amazing writer and generally and all-around great person to RP with! I also happen to think that you are incredibly smart and cool and you better accept that compliment because it’s TRUE. I would trust you with my life. Just as I would Claire ( @knightinsparklypumps ) because she has gotten to become SUCH a cool character and a true badass, and I think she’s stealing all the ladies’ hearts. Mine included. I LOVE YOU MAYA!!

[ghosttrolls]

This post is a few days from being three years old and it almost still feels the same. I just... you have Jim turning into a troll, his corruption in Wizards... that adds more angst now for sure. Reading the last line or two of this post caused me to wince because I don't feel like that part rings quite as true anymore. "Did Jim have to die to get his powers?" sounds so harsh, and he did end up going through So Much (and it's not even over).

As Jim has tried to grow into his role as the Trollhunter and become a leader, he's become a bit more isolated and distanced from the comforts he once had. He loses touch with his humanity a bit, and has changed so much as a person. He's moved away from home, and really only spends his time with four other people while he's looking for a new heartstone for the trolls... but I wouldn't say that negates the whole point of the post. He was introduced to the concept of the Trollhunter by two pacifists knocking on his door with open arms, who stood up for his right to train and who negotiated to give him time to cope and to balance his life. Trolls who were against him in the beginning saw his potential quickly and stood by him before too long, and all of Trollmarket was rooting for him. He learned not just from Blinky, but from Draal, and Strickler, and Vendel, and Nomura. He revived training from Kanjigar and Merlin as well - it was all super necessary, and it almost wasn't enough; but the support was there. They all walked him through how to use magic that was available, how to exercise restraint, and when it was okay to let loose. Every time he steps out on his own, whenever he makes choices as a leader, he's taking action using everything he's learned from the people who lifted him up. It's collaborative in a huge way and he's the culmination of everyone in his life caring at once.

Danny had Vlad, who was trying to kill him, and the Box ghost who was trying to kill him, and the Lunch Lady who was tryin to kill him, and Sydney who was trying to kill him, and Desiree, who - guess what - was trying to kill him, and - you get my point. All of these ghosts thought they were helping him but they used violence and entrapment to teach him their lessons, which endangered his safety and didn't end up actually teaching him anything. Frostbite does teach him about ice cores, but only in the third season. Up until that point Danny has himself and friends, and when Dani comes in she knows less about herself than he does. Nobody really knows what's going on, he learns every new power accidentally, and he has to figure out restraint on his own. He didn't know anything! At all! It's just... so different. They're so different.

It's really common for kids shows to use the "we're stronger together!" trope and Trollhunters utilizes it well. It explores the idea that when trust is broken, so is the strength of the team, and it talks about how to address and fix that, in a really unique way! I just also find it so interesting that Danny Phantom, a tv show that was already so dark, decided not to utilize that trope. Not really to a degree that outweighed Danny's isolation, anyway.

In the past, I've heard people complain that fanfic writers put Danny on his own too much, but I would argue that the reason it's common in fanon is because the canon story does it so much. When he and Valerie are trapped by Skulker, he's the only one who understands what's actually going on, which makes him default to leader. When the Nasty Burger incident triggers his future self to become evil, everyone he cares about is trapped and it's just him, trying to stop it all (with help from Clockwork, yeah, but they don't hesitate to detail how Danny's grief and loneliness lead him down that path first). When the town gets taken over by Undergrowth, everyone except for him is gone or under Undergrowth's control, leaving him to fight alone. When Nocturne puts everyone to sleep, Danny's the only one to wake up on his own, and he has to work by himself to get help and figure out what's going on. Time and time again he ends up in the ghost zone alone, or in detention while his friends are begging for his help, or he ends up in places only ghosts can get to, which makes him Alone. Every. Time. It's not really something we project on Danny, it's just part of Danny's world. The loneliness that comes with being stuck between worlds is just baked into the show so intensely. He didn't have anyone bartering for time so he could study for his classes. He didn't have a place to train, because his home was unsafe, and the ghost zone was unsafe. Because being a ghost in those places meant he was open to be attacked. He didn't have anyone but his two friends rooting for him. The entire town thought of him as a menace the whole first season, and the ghosts he fought weren't happy either. It's crazy how much he did with such a tiny support system.

And that's why the fandoms for the two shows have different vibes: Jim's love and support shines through fan content, and even when there's angst, the fundamental togetherness shines through, and so you have a more positive, more "normal" fandom. Danny's constant isolation and fear seeps into the fandom even when it isn't intentional, and the angst is often cold without a happy ending. "Dissection fics" and "corpse aus" are both very common, and typically gory, genres of fanfic within the fandom.

It's just two fandoms, with two different styles, because they're two very different points of view from the main characters. I think about it a lot. All the time. The original post here is three years old, I was thinking about it for a year and a half before I made it, and I'll probably still be thinking about it for the foreseeable future. I don't know why but the combination of the two VERY different vibes kind of make it the perfect crossover for me. I know I haven't posted more of my fic about it in a hot minute but that doesn't mean I've stopped working on it.

Anyway, this post is super long now. Thanks for reading.

One of the big differences in Danny and Jim’s approach to things, in my opinion, was influenced by their introductions to the new version of their worlds. When Jim became the trollhunter, he had to keep it secret from most of the people he knew, but he was introduced to an entirely new world filled with (mostly) friendly beings willing to teach him about his new power. Though it was difficult for him to keep it a secret from his classmates and mom, and it was not easy to train for it, he had an entire space filled with people who both supported him and were willing to talk if things got tough. When he struggled, he knew he had several friends to back him up, and they carried the burden without needing to be asked. Always rising to the occasion, he was surrounded with structure and knowledge and familiarity.

Danny, however? He had to keep his secret from everyone as well, although his new world was full of hostile beings ready to kill him, and they openly threatened him constantly. He was thrust into a world he didn’t know anything about, and had no one to teach him about it. His only support came from his two friends, who he constantly felt like he was dumping too much on, and that he put them in too much danger all the time. He could talk to his two friends, but they weren’t always there, and they weren’t always willing. They were still human, unlike him, and he knew they couldn’t truly understand it all, even if they tried. There was only one other person who could possibly help him with all this, and he was evil. So Danny, instead of sharing the burden with his friends, shoulders most of it himself. He tries to carry as much of everything on his own as he can, which only deepens that angst we all love so much. Also, literally everyone who knows his secret, aside from Sam and Tucker, and a ton of people who don’t, want to kill him. You’ve got a zone filled with ghosts, who should be able to teach him about things, except they want him dead. You’ve got another halfa, whose end goals get muddled but are motivated through hate and revenge, and that usually includes harming Danny himself. You have random ghost hunters, who want to catch him specifically, even though there are literally thousands of ghosts known to terrorize Amity Park alone (guess they all have some kind of grudge?). Valerie wants him dead, heck, even his own parents are on the hunt for Danny Phantom. Of course he’s alone and isolated. It’s hard to make friends with people who shoot first and ask questions later. 

Jim’s introduction and experience with his new world shone through teamwork, love, and support. Danny’s introduction was filled with pain, death, and loneliness, with a dash of feeling like an outcast. Of course he’s gonna be the angsty one. Did Jim have to die to get his powers? I don’t think so.

[ave-aria]

Fandom: Danny Phantom Character: Valerie Gray Ships: None Length: 1,522 words, Complete Genre: Angst/Horror Rating: T. Self harm, body horror, sleepwalking, manipulation and control Notes: Happy Angst Day!

 The Red Huntress's Suit

 -Her new suit isn't like her old one. The difference is worlds apart.

 -She summons it with a thought. Usually, the desire to hunt ghosts. It wraps around her like a glove and shimmers into existence. Weapons materialize and dematerialize on her slightest whim.

 -Valerie has a little trouble activating it, at first. Back in Axiom Labs, the suit had just… regenerated, spontaneously, unexpectedly. She'd been too focused back then on Phantom to ask how or why; she just dove into space after him. Now she has to do trial-and-error to figure out what activates the suit and what doesn't.

 -Once Val gets the hang of it, she's pleased—she'll no longer have to do the Amity Park equivalent of quick-changes-in-telephone-booths anymore.

 -The suit seems to vanish when she's not using it. Valerie sometimes wonders where it goes. Nano-technology, she thinks. It's melded into her flesh—it's part of her now. She cannot take it off.

-Emotions seem to charge it. Once, she activates it when she stubs her toe.

 -(She might need to learn to control her anger. Or at least stop yelling Fight Me! at frustrating inanimate objects.)

-There's a voice in her head now, or maybe an instinct inside that lets her feel the data her suit puts out.

-She finds, delightfully, that she can tune into radio stations. They play in her head. She can listen to police scanners, or to music while she's out on patrol.

-Her old fashion-forward habits make her wonder if she can change the suit's appearance. Maybe she doesn't feel like wearing red every day, you know?

-She can. The suit will mould itself into whatever color or shape she desires. The changes revert every time she summons it, though. In the end she lets it go; it's too much work, and the suit looks fine as it is—the red and black design makes her feel powerful, deadly. She focuses less on appearance, more on hunting, instead.

-The suit is a marvel. Super Strength. Amplified reflexes. A weapon's vault that would put anyone's to shame. She can now take on ghosts that can destroy streets, topple buildings. Ghosts that can tear a person in two. Her foes are formidable, but she is always the victor.

-Her prowess is rewarding. Her victories, her triumphs—they feel so much more real than the D's and F's that litter her report card.

-Hunting takes up so much of her time. She considers dropping out of school.

-Her father gets mad at her when she doesn't come home some nights. He can't take the suit away from her anymore, and instead argues with her. She argues back. "Ghost hunting is part of who I am, Dad!" she says. "I'm not going to stop!"

-She's the best hunter in Amity Park, by a mile. She could do it in her sleep.

-She punches harder. Tires less. Val, already in tip-top shape, becomes capable of feats that are almost superhuman.

-In fights, she can feel the suit's powers coursing through her veins. She likes it.

-Whenever a ghost is near, the she can sense its presence. The datavoice in her head pulses, pushes her towards her target, urging her to fight.

-The weapons self-repair. The suit, when gashed, grows back in time.

-When she gets injured, she finds the suit self-repairs her, too. The wounds heal overnight, the skin grows back pink and shiny and just-so-slightly… off. The skin feels rubbery, almost synthetic, and—

-…She doesn't like it, she doesn't like—

-Valerie lies awake in the dark, unable to sleep. There's an itch beneath her skin, and she thinks she can feel the nanites and the ectoplasm in her blood, like insects crawling, there.

-She doesn't sleep for a few days.

-She thinks back to when she got the suit. The second ghost (Technus? Is that right? She can't recall its name) gave it to her so she would distract Phantom for him. That much is clear. She wonders again why the ghost would arm her, she wonders if she's being used, but—she discards the thought. Doesn't like where it's taking her.

-It doesn't matter where this gift came from, or what it's capable of. Valerie is going to use it to hunt ghosts, to rid the world of evil, and that's the end of that.

-She throws herself back into hunting.

-Her head is clear when she fights. She doesn't have to think about the past, or her future—only the here and now. She fights through the night, every night, for a week.

-"Maybe you should take a break," her father suggests, quietly, on one of the few evenings they're both at home. He should know better than to bring the subject up. She leaves without a word.

-One particularly nasty ghost fight breaks half her gear. When she summons it in the next fight, it's still damaged. She tries not to panic, but inside, she cannot stop. She hadn't realized her suit had limits. She doesn't realize she has limits, too.

-Days after, the pink scars peel off like a sunburn, leaving unmarred brown skin beneath. The itching sensation fades.

-Finally, her gear repairs itself. Her gear had never been unfixable, she realizes. There had just been so much to fix. That night, she hesitates before plunging into battle, but when she dives in, adrenaline takes over, and her mind goes clear.

-There are more ghosts now. Stronger ghosts. Some days, even Phantom can't keep up.

-She has more scars now. Pink ones, all down her back. She can't feel a thing.

-She crashes one night, falls headfirst into bed. Sleeps a full 24 hours straight. She needed it badly, too.

-She's still tired when she wakes up. She's still tired.

-Valerie tries to take her father's advice. A break. She goes to a party rather than out on patrol. The crowd is thick and the lights are dim. She tries to dance to the beat. All she can hear is a pounding in her head, urging her to fight; Level 5 ghost, 2.4 miles NE—Level 5 ghost, 2.4 miles NE…

-She wakes up in an alleyway. She doesn't remember fighting, but her ghost containment thermos is full up to the brim.

-Her suit, Valerie realizes, recharges her. Whether it injects her with adrenaline or steroids or some unearthly ghost power, she doesn't know. She can fight for hours, weary to the bone, and it won't let her fall. Her rage and the suit keeps her going. She cannot stop now.

-She cannot stop ever.

-Valerie doesn't work at the Nasty Burger anymore. When she needs money, she does Mr. Masters a favor or two. She isn't saving for college anymore. She doesn't know when her future fell by the wayside. Hunting is her full-time job.

-"Do enough favors," Vlad says, "And I'll work some magic to get your father out of the slums."

-Her father always knew what was best for her, even when Valerie didn't. He was right about the ghost hunting, even. She's in too deep to stop now. But maybe she can give him what he deserves.

-The paper and the tabloids write articles, and she's on the front page. They compare her skill to others; they think she is on par with Phantom. As they should.

-Her dad sees her more in the news than he does face-to-face. It saddens her, but only a little.

-She'll get him a mansion someday. Or at least a house of his own.

-Amity Park is encased in vines. An unexpected attack. While she struggles to break through the town's perimeter, Phantom, out of nowhere, makes ice.

-Phantom, Valerie realizes with a start, is powerful enough to take the town if he wanted. Phantom hasn't been on her hit list, lately. She's let that fall by the wayside, too. How could this happen?

-Valerie begins to study Phantom's movements once more.

-Sometimes, she misses school. In a nostalgic way. She misses the halls, her books, her friends. She's long since dropped out.

-Now, though—when she swings by on her jetsled, the track field is covered in banners and ribbons. Her nose crinkles in disgust. A beauty pageant. On reflection, school is a waste of time, and she's glad to be rid of it.

-That night on patrol, a ghost claw catches her face, raking across her eye. Pink scars greet her in the mirror the next morning. They'll be gone soon.

-She's still tired.

-When Nocturne's goons drag her under, she hasn't slept in days. While others are trapped in fantasies, Valerie sleeps a dreamless sleep.

-When she wakes, she wakes up angry. Her anger propels her on.

-(Or maybe it isn't her anger. Maybe it's adrenaline. Maybe it's just the suit? Is it part of her, anymore?)

-A week later, she returns home, sights and sounds blurring together in an uncohesive mess. Her body still clings to her fight reflex, and when she feels a hand on her shoulder—her dad's, warm and comforting—she nearly decks him.

-In private hours, Valerie wonders, is this really me? My instinct? My willpower? Or am I just a puppet controlled by something, or someone else? Because this isn't me. I would never do this. Never.

-She tries to unequip the suit. It vanishes, just like always. She cannot take it off.

-Level 8 ghost, 14 miles SE—Level 8 ghost, 14 miles SE—Lev—

-Trapped in a crazed, sleepless fit, she tries to dig a knife under her skin, tries to find where that itching is coming from. All she earns for her trouble are more pink scars.

-Some days, she wonders if the suit is in control. Other days, she knows.

-She doesn't know where the suit ends and Valerie begins. It's been a part of her so long, she's somehow erased the line. Hunting brings her pride, sure. But she cannot disengage. She's become more obsessed with Hunting than even the ghosts she fights.

-Ghost hunting is part of her, now.

-She cannot take it off.