#I am kind of imagining a situation where things go bad in amity park and tucker calls up richie for help

[magicpiano]

AU where Tucker Foley (Danny Phantom) and Richie Foley (Static Shock) are cousins.

[redrobin-detective]

I am going to regret asking this and giving you another chance to drag me in this fandom... but what's the problem with Danny's parents? Is there something else than the fact they really really want to dissect a ghost?

For me, the issues with the Fenton parents boils down to two main issues: 1. their complete and dangerous obsession with ghosts and destroying them and 2. the negligence to their children. I think Jack and Maddie are good people who love their children and can be good parents. But the problem is their ghost hunting work was always the priority in the family which Jazz and Danny clearly suffer from.

Point 1. The Ghost Obsession

I don’t know what happened to Jack and Maddie that caused them to develop an all consuming obsession with ghosts and, moreover, the need to destroy them. Fandom has pointed out that while they claim to be scientists, they clearly are more interested in weapons to hurt and destroy ghosts than anything even resembling normal scientific study. Amity Park has a high number of violent ghosts (mostly there to play fight Danny) but most ghosts everywhere else are just vibing. The ghost obsession hurt Danny long before he became part ghost (but I’ll save that for Point Two) but it went from an annoyance to an actual threat to his life.

First off, as many others have pointed out, having a dangerous lab in the basement with untested equipment/weaponry that your kids not only have ready access to BUT also have to go down there for assigned chores? Not great, Jan. I’ll give the Fentons the benefit of the doubt, we see clearly that Danny/Jazz know how to work the equipment in their house so they obviously have been drilled in usage and safety. Danny gets his ghost powers by being dumb and 14 and messing around with his friends like any normal kid would. Danny is now the very thing his parents want to hunt and destroy and a mainstay of the series is he is so scared of their reaction that he hides his powers/identity from his parents but not his ghostly enemies. Can you imagine being that uncertain that your parents love for you outweighs their obsession that you hide such a fundamental part of your life? What a miserable reality for a young kid.

Jack and Maddie spend the entire series going off about their hatred of ghosts. Danny has to sit there and listen to them talk in extreme detail how they’ll dissect and obliterate any ghost they come across. They’ll be making deadly weaponry made to kill beings like him at the kitchen table, weapons that do respond to his ghostly signature. They especially hate Danny’s alter ego, Phantom, because of his supposed trickery by pretending to be a hero. The canon things said in the show would certainly make me nervous about sleeping in the room next to them. They are capable of working with Phantom when push comes to shove but it never lasts long and they go back with guns blazing. Danny and the show mostly play these threats off for laughs but the fact that Danny straight up doesn’t tell them is telling enough on how it effects him. 

Point 2. The Negligence

‘Hur Dur parents are bad’ is a well known cartoon trope but the Fentons take it to an extreme. Jack and Maddie are obsessive with their work, absentminded and reckless, none of which create a safe and stable home for children. I love Jazz and Danny but they clearly are not entirely normal children (even before the whole ghost thing) from growing up in such a home. Jazz develops a reactionary personality, delving into psychology and being right as a way to kind of understand/get back at her parents (source? I do this exact thing with my mom) and Danny was quiet, overlooked and not given the attention to really flourish, instead being a sort of ghost in that house before he ever became one. 

Jack and Maddie 110% love their kids but do they encourage them in a meaningful way? Support their interests? Be available to help? Not really. I hate The Fright Before Christmas bc Danny gets blamed for being a “scrooge” instead of acknowledging he hates the holiday for his parents destructive fighting every year. (source? Again fucking me. I hate Xmas bc mom and I scream every year)

This issue only exacerbates once Danny gets ghost powers. His whole life is affected by his ghost fighting: he’s getting injured in fights from human bullies and ghosts, his grades are dropping from lack of studying/sleep, he’s absent from the house more often than not, he’s sullen and depressed and scared and anxious all the time. It’s a radical change and yet Jack and Maddie kind of brush over it, focusing instead how Danny’s changes affect them (IE Danny not being around to do his chores). This boy comes home, beaten from fights, stressed and feeling alone only to get yelled at because his parents miss all the signs he’s practically radiating that he is Not Okay. He eventually becomes a good enough fighter and actor to skip over but it’s truly heartbreaking that he can’t confide in the people supposed to support him the most. But it’s not just the ghost obsession, even without all the powers like if Danny was doing drugs or in a gang, his parents barely notice and, when they do, they don’t really do anything other than blame him. 

Now I’m going to end this long rant by saying that I love Jack and Maddie, I think they are fascinating people and want to see them developed. The situation as it is for most of the series is not okay in the least but I do believe they have the potential to be good, supportive parents. There’s a couple of eps where they DO find out about danny’s powers and instantly all the negligence and hostility is gone, its all acceptance of his powers and apologies for their behavior. Its not a perfect situation and could be borderline abuse apologism if done wrong. But I’d like to think that once they got over the shock and did some serious priority and soul searching, they would learn to correct themselves. Growth isn’t just saved for the teen protagonists, everyone has the chance to be better. Danny clearly doesn’t hold his parents behavior against them and would be nothing but ecstatic if they loved and accepted him. I do believe in a happy, functional if abnormal, Fenton family dynamic and I’m all for it.

[sepublic]

One of the weird things about WiLW is that, despite everyone canceling Boscha and declaring Boschlow dead (even as a crackship), it kinda makes the best case so far for why it could be made to work. If that makes sense? Like it was my nOTP before, but I saw how both of their biggest flaws is the other's greatest strength. And a fiery odd-couple opposites-attract pair would be a good foil to the sweet pining soulmates that are Lumity. Their history gets in the way, but not insurmountably so.

           Now, this is an idea I hesitantly consider and tread upon, for obvious reasons… Boschlow was a fun crack ship back during the mid-season hiatus, as the only thing we saw Boscha do to Willow was mockingly call her out for not being invited to the Moonlight Conjuring, and that was about it. But then Understanding Willow revealed that Boscha had in fact been bullying Willow for quite a while, and clearly it left QUITE some damage on Willow’s psyche… And while Boscha’s bullying in WilW was implied to be more intense than her usual torment, that doesn’t change the fact that she literally dumped garbage on Willow! I’m not opposed to seeing the two reconcile… But clearly, Boscha owes all of the apologies here, and has a lot to make up for, and Willow would be justified in not wanting to ever contact the girl, ever again.

           Honestly, I don’t necessarily see Willow and Boscha as two sides of the same coin, like I do for Luz and Amity… The two of them are mostly just foils and contrasts to one another. Though, I AM always eager to hear others’ takes on the two, and how one might interpret Willow and Boscha as such! At the very least, I think Willow and Boscha, initially, had an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ principle to how they dealt with things that troubled them, to varying degrees… There’s Willow not wanting to dwell on her bad memories with Amity, which she does in a healthier sense than Boscha- Who will sometimes dismiss her issues about something, because the thing in question is actually just dumb and doesn’t matter anyway!

          But as we can see… Boscha doesn’t always entirely ignore things, either- She’ll dredge up drama and go out of her way to antagonize others like Willow, instead of simply ignoring her feelings on the matter and letting it be done! She’ll LET her displeasure be known, and while it’s good for Boscha to sometimes acknowledge her unhappiness, she unfortunately proceeds to deal with it in a less than constructive manner… I feel like an actually healthy relationship/dynamic between the two would also require Boscha to tone herself down quite a bit, even if she can still maintain that sense of fiery competitiveness and boldness that she’s always had.

          Likewise, while I think Willow has EVERYTHING to give and provide to Boscha, more on that later… I’m not sure there’s really anything meaningful that Boscha could give her, that others don’t already do and better? Boscha’s strength is artificial and toxic to herself and others. Superficially it might make Willow feel better initially, but in the long run Boscha’s ideals are harmful. Especially if she tries to imply to Willow that she’s ‘worthy’ specifically because of her prowess with Plant magic, and not regardless of it. But, I am liable to others’ takes and interpretations on the two!

           Personally, my read on Boscha is that she’s afraid. She doesn’t want to be a ‘loser’, she’s afraid of the potential loneliness and emotional turmoil that may come from that, and she thinks that losers ‘deserve’ their own pain, no less… So Boscha is actively trying to compensate for who she is, so she can ‘prove’ herself as better than that, both to her own personal concepts, and maybe to someone else…

           She also seems fixated on pain, in a sense- Her own, and causing retribution towards those who ‘hurt’ Boscha. There’s a quiet moment where Boscha is impressed by how mature Luz is, for taking all of the blame… And she briefly seems to reevaluate her stance on Luz, before stubbornly sticking to her previous dislike. It’s like Boscha felt actual sympathy for Luz in that moment, but then closed off any room for reconsidering who Luz was and respecting her. She doesn’t want to change her mind on ‘losers’ like Luz, because surely there was a good reason for hating and bullying people like that…

           Boscha doesn’t want to reconsider her stance on Luz, not let the girl get into her head and ‘infect’ her with weakness. She’s lowkey afraid of the kind of people that Luz and Willow are, or what she sees them as; And it’s why she’s so vehemently livid towards ‘losers’ like those two! And, I think Willow could be interesting for Boscha, because Willow was obviously who Boscha hated the most, or at least much longer, compared to others. She singled out Willow, almost like she was projecting her own insecurities onto the girl, that hurting Willow would be like gaining retribution upon the insecurities and flaws that Boscha saw in herself, and the girl.

           Going back to what I said about Boscha focusing on retribution, how she doesn’t seem willing to repair and heal over mistakes together, and would rather punish… I think Willow is someone who can teach Boscha how to forgive, withoutforgetting. And let’s be real here, can it even be said if Willow and Luz ACTUALLY hurt Boscha in a serious sense, and/or their actions weren’t justified, plus completely innocent? Not to mention, Boscha is ignoring that all of those other students chose to prioritize attention to Willow over Boscha? Aside from Boscha recognizing that a lot of her own pain came from herself and her own exaggerated reactions to Luz and Willow’s innocent actions…

           We saw how Willow dealt with pain, regarding Amity. I feel like she’s someone who can show Boscha how to deal with that sort of thing, how one can actually be mindful of the circumstances of what happened, and really take that into account, while considering one’s feelings and the source of those emotions. Clearly the situation was different, as Willow did nothing to deserve Amity’s rejection, while Boscha MORE than earned some negative karma on her own end… But you get the idea.

           Boscha needs to actually get over her apprehensions about ‘losers’ like Luz and Willow, before she can truly heal… Instead of just ignoring those feelings first and getting along, because that kind of friendship would then be superficial. Boscha changing her apprehensive stance on someone like Willow, especially, is important- Because to Boscha, Willow is emblematic and definitive of the kind of person she doesn’t want to be… Or at least, she’s the one closest to that definition, that Boscha can actively get away with tormenting.

           Changing her stance on Willow would show so much, how Boscha has learned to improve and open her mind to other people and their ways of living and existing, and feeling. Perhaps it would be THE final step/accomplishment, the ultimate proof of Boscha having changed… Not making the same mistakes, when presented the chance to. Willow is someone who can show Boscha that the kind of person that she doesn’t want to be… ISN’T so bad after all, that there’s nothing to be afraid of, you aren’t necessarily going to become that kind of person by being with them- And even if you do, it’s not so bad! It’d be incredibly relieving to Boscha, and I can see her being grateful to Willow…

           Likewise, I can see her admiring Willow- Boscha can now appreciate just how strong and vigilant Willow really is, and how inspiring the Park girl is to her. Willow proves to Boscha that the kind of person she is, isn’t just someone to accept- It’s the kind of person to learn and take cues from, to strive to be like! Boscha is going to be amazed at how strong Willow was, withstanding all those years of abuse when Boscha herself likely couldn’t even IMAGINE handling that… She’s going to show Boscha that there’s more than one way to be strong, and arguably, Willow’s way is better. Willow can show Boscha that you can be soft and open with others, while being even stronger and more resilient to pain, than the kind of person Boscha was…

           And, it can show Boscha how to truly defend herself. How to be strong in a way that REALLY matters, and then Boscha can feel safe in a real sense, VS barricading herself past several walls she’s built up, but otherwise never overcoming her fear and adversity. Really, I think Willow has WAY more to teach Boscha, rather than the other way around… While I’m all for people mutually teaching one another different things, it’s worth noting that Boscha was entirely in the wrong for bullying Willow, and that Willow was certainly not ‘guilty’ of anything that warranted this kind of torment whatsoever.

           Willow has definitely ‘outgrown’ Boscha and her destructive fire. And, considering what Boscha did to her… Like I said, Willow has a lot to offer Boscha. But Boscha isn’t owed that, Boscha has had an issue with thinking she’s owed reverence and glory for being ‘strong’, for having suffered and endured and used that pain to forge herself into a ‘superior’ kind of person… But in the end, Boscha needs to not be entitled, and realize that she’s no better nor worse than anyone else. And she can’t work to change this fact, either- It’s just how it is!

           Willow doesn’t owe Boscha anything. She’s not the girl’s caretaker, she’s not her savior unless Willow wants to be… Which leads me to the idea that to start, Boscha needs to just let Willow exist. She needs to be mindful of Willow’s existence, give the girl room to flourish and grow… And Boscha needs to apologize, with no expectations attached. Only by healing their relationship, and getting it to a point where Boscha won’t hurt Willow, nor does she expect anything from Willow because of this… Only then can Willow feel safe about teaching Boscha a thing or two on how to live, and even so, that’s entirely her choice. Boscha needs to prove that she’ll respect whatever decision Willow makes, even if it prioritizes Willow and/or others over Boscha herself. It’s not some personal insult towards Boscha, people have their own lives that don’t revolve around her, and they don’t owe the girl anything for being ‘better’ than them, not that Boscha actually is to begin with!

           This is, of course, all speculation- Most of which hinges entirely on my specific read and interpretation of Boscha and her character. Honestly, this could prove very wrong if we learn more about Boscha’s character, and I’d have to reevaluate how a relationship between her and Willow would work. But first and foremost, Boscha needs to respect Willow as her own person, and not just a potential girlfriend, nor as someone she should idolize, either… Willow doesn’t have to be ‘cool’ in Boscha’s eyes to gain her respect. And similarly, I can see Boscha getting close with Willow, but then trying to play up how cool she is to others, and maybe how cool Willow is… Because she wants to justify being with a ‘loser’ like Willow.

           And Willow will rightfully take offense at that. She’s going to tell Boscha to stop trying to act like Willow herself is so ‘lowly’ that Boscha needs to socially compensate for being friends with her. Willow herself, on her own, is perfect as-is, and Boscha doesn’t have to act like she isn’t- She needs to stop caring about appearances or the opinions and reverence of others, so much! Boscha needs to value her own opinion of herself, her own self-worth, without making it dependent on whether or not others fear/adulate her.

           It’s kind of like Amity or Lilith, in a sense- Where Boscha doesn’t believe in her own evaluation of herself nor trust it… So she looks to others as a judge, as a litmus test to decide if she’s ‘worthy’ or lovable and whatnot. Boscha looks to how others reverentially regard her in order to decide if she’s good enough, instead of just looking at the mirror and deciding that if Boscha is happy- Then she IS good enough! All that should be required is for Boscha to be happy and content with herself. Her own opinion of herself DOES have value, believe it or not… And that’s something Willow herself learned, too, though unlike Boscha she didn’t try to cope with feeling ‘unworthy’, by hurting others- Instead Willow just ‘accepted’ this alleged lowliness of herself before Luz pointed out otherwise, that Willow was never unworthy to begin with!

           So, yeah- Boscha needs to stop being afraid of the kind of person that Willow is. She needs to see that people like Willow and Luz are perfectly valid as-is, that there is no hierarchy where a certain type of person is better or worse than others. Boscha needs to trust in her own opinion and self-confidence in herself, and not be so reliant on what others have to say. She needs to stop being entitled to power and adulation, even if Boscha went through the effort to ‘earn’ it… Because nobody agreed to compensate Boscha in the first place. It’s like working so hard to give someone gifts without them even asking, and then expecting to be rewarded. Boscha needs to be mindful of others and their existence, and see it as not that bad anway… And that it’s okay to be like others. Boscha can still hold onto her own identity, and remember her own feelings while still working past them.

           Honestly, this could be but the tip of the iceberg, regarding the many issues that Boscha has, and how Willow could help her. On the flipside, I can see Boscha being the kind of person to mercilessly give Willow encouragement… And tell Willow that yes, Willow IS strong, and she did earn the right to be beloved by others! But again, this ties back into the idea of love being conditional, which seems contradictory to what this show has to say. Like I said, Willow has so much more to teach Boscha, and it’s up to her to decide if she wants to- And even so, Boscha needs to recognize that her existence isn’t exactly reliant on whatever decision that Willow makes, either.

          Really, I’m not at all against seeing Boscha’s character be explored and given depth, maybe even reformed for her own sake? I guess I’m a forgive and forget type of guy. I’m willing to forgive Lilith, who cursed her own sister, and was also Head Witch of the Emperor’s Coven- So she hurt a lot of other people BESIDES Eda, and that’s something Lilith herself and some people in the fandom need to recognize more. And I feel like government persecution is worse than bullying, not to say the latter isn’t bad either- If anything, bullying already being bad, as-is, just says a lot more about how terrible persecution is by being worse!

           And me, I’m willing to consider motives and introspection for freaking Belos, who committed genocide upon wild witches just for existing, and set up the toxic coven system and environment that contributed to Boscha’s own toxicity in the first place. I guess for some, Boscha’s bullying hits closer to home than Belos’ persecution of people, hence why they’re justifiably angrier at her particularly. Those feelings are absolutely valid… Unfortunately, recent events have led to government persecution becoming a lot more relatable as well. Which, gets me to my point that if I can consider Belos’ side of the story, I can at least do the same for Boscha. Not to mention, it’s worth noting that Lilith and Belos are fully-grown adults, but Boscha is still a kid- So she’s got room to improve and change people, let’s remember that amidst still holding her accountable!

[ladylynse]

The Trouble with Ghosts (Part II): 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 II  >  

Running hurt. A lot. And it reminded Danny that he didn’t have a lot of energy right now. He didn’t make it very far. No invisibility, no intangibility, no healing powers…. He considered himself lucky that he’d gotten into an as of yet unlocked classroom—in this case, the chemistry lab. It had been hard pulling off the ‘I’m not hurt as badly as you think I am’ act with Mr. Lancer, and he appreciated his concern, he really did, but he needed help from someone who knew the whole story.

He didn’t know what Valerie had hit him with, but if he had to guess, he’d say it was related to the Plasmius Maximus. With any luck, it would wear off in three hours. With his luck, it probably wouldn’t.

“Running was a bad idea,” Danny groaned, clutching the edges of a desk in the first row to steady himself. The room refused to stop spinning, and he was pretty sure he’d cracked at least one rib. He was also pretty sure that, however many times he’d gotten thrown into things and cut up and just generally beaten up, with or without breaking a few bones in the process, this hurt the worst. “Ow….”

Danny sunk to the floor. The classroom wasn’t safe. At the very least, he needed to get away from the door. But it was a slow crawl to the back of the lab, even as he eyed the built-in tables and cupboards that were his goal. He might be able to shift around the Bunsen burners and hide in one of the cupboards….

Danny made it about a quarter of the way to the back before stopping and glancing back. The gauze taped onto his side had soaked through and was threatening to fall off—and if the damp feeling on his head was anything to go by, the same was true of that bandage—and he could see a slight green sheen on the floor from the smears that had come off of his clothes. Off of him.

No point in hiding when he’d be leaving a trail that led straight to him anyway.

“I can’t stay here like this,” Danny whispered.

Ow, ow, ow. How come breathing had to hurt so much? Ghost mode or not, the quick, shallow breaths he was taking weren’t enough.

Okay, he had to think this through. No powers in ghost mode. No easy escape if he needed one. Lancer was right; he was a sitting duck waiting so patiently for the hunter to come along and destroy him. And that…would be very bad.

Maybe, if he changed back to Fenton, his parents would patch him up? That would invite a million questions, but he might be able to talk his way out of a hospital visit if he was careful. He could be sort of honest with them, after all. He could say that he was beaten up. He could pretend it was solely the work of a ghost. It shouldn’t be that much of a stretch for them to believe that he could be targeted, and they’d be much more inclined to care for him at home if they suspected he might have been exposed to some ecto-disease in the process.

It wasn’t a great option, especially since it depended heavily on Jazz screening out any suspicious results they might find from some of their tests, but it was better than being found now as Phantom. After all, without his powers, there was no guarantee that Sam, Tucker, or Jazz could sneak him out of here undetected.

“Please let this work,” Danny muttered, squeezing his eyes shut. He knew it had worked, that whatever had been done to him didn’t stop him from changing forms. He felt it. Aside from the normal feeling of slipping back into human form, there was a brief, miraculous, pain-free second.

And then the pain hit full force, easily feeling twice as bad as before.

“Bad idea,” Danny muttered as blood started seeping through his shirt. He’d thought the bandages would transfer when he shifted forms, but they hadn’t. He hadn’t put enough concentration into it to force them to. And now his shirt was sticking to his cut and when he moved, it burned. Add that to the aching, stabbing pains he felt about everywhere else, and he wasn’t in good condition by anyone’s standards.

Even his hair hurt.

Although, that imagined pain could be explained by the head wound that was starting to drip blood into his eyes….

He needed to get out of here.

“Just take it slowly and it’ll be fine,” Danny whispered, wiping the blood out of his eyes with his free hand. His other still clutched his side, blood seeping between his fingers. Shouldn’t it be clotting by now? The blood was running like the wounds were fresh. And the smell…. It didn’t normally bother him, but this time, when the scent of blood filled his nostrils and he could taste iron in his mouth and his hands were sticky with red….

What had he been hit with? Last he’d checked, Vlad didn’t actually want him dead. Just subservient and faithful and….

Okay, normally he’d say he’d rather be dead, but he’d almost rather be in that situation and plotting revenge against Vlad than actually gone, because then Vlad would be one step closer to his family and accomplishing his sick goals.

Using a desk as a crutch, he pulled himself up into the chair. The blood smeared across the desk surface, the chair seat, the metal bar connecting the two…. This would take some cleaning up. Maybe…. He’d have to call Jazz. He’d never hear the end of it from her, but Tucker didn’t do blood too well, not when it was like this, and Sam…. He couldn’t bear the thought of seeing the look on Sam’s face when she saw him like this. It had to be Jazz.

But his cell phone was in his locker.

Crud.

He wasn’t sure he could make it that far.

His head hurt so much….

Scratch that. Everything hurt. The pounding in his head just made it hard to think. And kinda hard to see. Swirls of black dots were swarming on the edge of his vision, creeping in closer with every second. It was moving rather quickly this time. Already his vision was black. Eyes wide open saw nothing, not even vague shadowy shapes. Not a good sign. Not when he needed to get out of here. Not when…when….

“The Chrysalids! Mr. Fenton!”

Mr. Lancer wasn’t sure what to think.

He’d thought, if Danny Phantom had been telling him the truth, that he wouldn’t be able to get far. That he truly needed help, despite his protests. So Lancer had done what he’d felt was the right thing: he’d gone after the boy.

Ghost or not, he was still a child. And when he was that beaten up, that worn down, he needed the help of an adult, however stubborn he acted. And Lancer was not one to refuse to give help to anyone who needed it.

So, he’d started checking the rooms in the school. He knew he’d arrived at the right one before opening it when he saw a green smear on the handle and a smudge vaguely recognizable as a handprint on the door. He’d been expecting to find Danny Phantom there, nursing his wounds while trying to figure out where to hide. He hadn’t been expecting to see Danny Fenton.

Even if he had, on some level, expected to find the boy who was supposed to be serving detention with him, he wouldn’t have expected to find him in the condition he was in. Bleeding, bruising, unconscious at a desk….

This was far beyond high school bullying. This…who would have done this to him? Who could have done this to him? Mr. Baxter had never struck him as someone who could….

He nearly slipped as he came closer and looked down to see a sickly green slime on the floor. Ectoplasm. Of course. Phantom had been here. But the only one here now was young Danny Fenton.

Lancer reached out slowly and shook him gently. “Mr. Fenton?”

Nothing.

“I need to get him to the hospital,” Lancer muttered, immediately reaching for his cell phone.

It wasn’t there. He’d dropped it, he now remembered, after the fight that had sent Phantom flying into his classroom. When he’d been about to phone the Fentons to tell them about Danny. But what could Danny have been—

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Lancer breathed. “That’s what you’ve been up to.” He couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.

All the unexplained absences. The flimsy excuses. The incomplete homework and obviously sleepless nights. He should have seen it before.

Danny Fenton was hunting ghosts.

For a split second, Lancer couldn’t understand why Danny wouldn’t tell his parents. Surely they’d be proud of the boy. He knew as well as anyone that Jack Fenton, at the very least, tried to get both his children to hunt ghosts. Then again, he also knew Maddie Fenton. She was protective of her children. If Danny was doing this alone, it was easy to construe it as dangerous.

The reason why was right in front of him.

He knew Jack’s and Maddie’s opinion of Phantom, but from the state of the boy in front of him, he doubted Danny shared it.

He doubted Phantom could have done much in the state he was in, and Lancer was willing to bet his retirement fund on the fact that Danny Fenton would do everything he could to protect Danny Phantom. He clearly had—and paid the price.

“Lord of the Flies, Mr. Fenton,” Lancer murmured, his eyes lingering on the boy’s still-bleeding head wound. “How did this happen to you?”

The answer was obvious, of course. This was Amity Park. The majority of their troubles stemmed from one problem and one problem only: ghosts. Young Mr. Fenton was the child of ghost hunters, and if he had tried to hunt them on his own, if he had managed it for quite some time, he would have made himself into an ideal target.

The main target, this time, might have been Phantom, but if Danny fiercely believed that Phantom was doing what he was trying to do—protect people—then he would have defended him upon realizing that Phantom was unable to do so himself.

The other ghost—it had to be another ghost to get in and out of the classroom without disturbing anything—must have gone for Phantom, been attacked by Danny, retaliated in kind, grabbed Phantom, and left Danny in the sorry state he was in.

“Mr. Fenton?” Lancer tried again, tapping the boy sharply on his shoulder. “Danny?”

This time, he was rewarded with a faint groan.

“Danny, you’re hurt,” Lancer said. “Don’t try to move.”

“Mr. Lancer?” Danny mumbled, ignoring his teacher’s command and sitting up. “What are you…?” He trailed off, hissing. “Ow….”

“You’re hurt,” Lancer repeated. “Do you remember? You were hurt in a ghost fight.”

Instant fear, on the boy’s face and in his eyes. “What?” Then, “You know?” By this point, Danny had managed to marginally school his expression, but he still bore the look of one who had been caught out.

Mr. Lancer’s expression softened. “I know,” he said. “When the pieces were right in front of me, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Look, Danny, don’t move. I’m going to get some supplies from the nurse’s office, all right? We need to stop the bleeding.”

Danny glanced down at his stained hands. The next words he spoke were nearly too quiet to hear. “You won’t…tell, will you?”

“We need to stop the bleeding,” Lancer said, well aware that he was dodging the question. “You might be going into shock. Just hold on. I’ll be right back.”

Danny nodded mutely, and Lancer lost no time in making good on his word. Once he had Danny putting pressure on his wounds, he would phone the hospital and the Fentons. Not fifteen minutes earlier, he’d been happy that this wing was mostly unused for after school activities on this day of the week. Now, he would have been grateful to send someone else on those errands.

Even seeing the damage, he found it hard to believe that Danny Fenton was fighting ghosts. Oh, it would explain a few things—to begin with, his quick reflexes when he was awake—but the thought that Danny Fenton had worked so hard to keep this a secret…. Lancer couldn’t help but wonder if it was worth the cost.

This had been going on for a while. Lancer had no doubt about that. He was also very sure that Mr. Foley and Miss Manson were well aware of Mr. Fenton’s moonlighting. Danny must have miraculously escaped getting injured so badly before now or he was sure the silence would have been broken. Loyalty born of friendship, in his experience, didn’t extend to allowing one’s friend to nearly kill himself.

When Lancer returned with an armful of first aid supplies, Danny looked unfocused and bleary-eyed. He knew he had to act quickly and get him to the hospital. “Stay with me, Danny,” Lancer said. “You’re going to be fine.” He held out a wad of gauze. “Can you hold this to your head?”

Bloodied fingers accepted it. “You don’t have to do this, Mr. Lancer,” Danny mumbled. “I’m gonna be fine.”

“Of course you are,” Lancer said soothingly, setting out the rest of the supplies. The boy had various cuts and bruises, but the next worst injury beyond the questionable head wound was undoubtedly the cut on his side that he was instinctively clutching. The same side, Lancer noted absently, where Phantom had been hurt. One fight with a determined ghost, and poor Danny Fenton was already hurt more than the one he’d been trying to protect.

Once he was sure Danny would be able to do the rest himself, Lancer knew he needed to phone the boy’s parents. He shouldn’t have put it off for this long, really, but without another helping hand, he’d needed to stem the bleeding first. “I’m going to make a few phone calls and get you to the hospital, all right? Just keep pressure on your wounds.”

“Not the first time I’ve done this,” Danny muttered. “Don’t need to go to the hospital.”

“Nonsense, Mr. Fenton. You need stitches at the very least, and you may have a concussion. I’ll be as quick as I can. Just wait here.”

He heard a mumble from Danny, which Lancer took to be his agreement. He hated seeing one of his students in such horrific condition. He should have tried intervening earlier. He may not have been able to talk sense into the boy, gotten him to stop risking his life, but he may have been able to get Danny to be more cautious. To remember that, teenager or not, he was not invincible. Now….

It might be too late now.

The office had the closest phone. He’d inform the Fentons that he was taking Danny to the hospital, that they should meet him there. That he’d explain when they arrived. That he would do everything in his power to make sure that Danny was all right. That Danny would come through this.

“Hello?”

Jazz. Oh, he’d hoped that she wouldn’t be the one to answer the phone. He’d been hoping to get Maddie. She, he felt, would be able to keep a more level head in this situation. When it came to Danny, Jazz had always been more prone to panic. “Jasmine, it’s Mr. Lancer,” he said slowly. “It’s about your brother.”

Silence for a second, then, “Do you want me to get Mom? She and Dad are just in the lab.”

“That won’t be necessary, Miss Fenton. Just…. Please inform them that I am taking Danny to the hospital. I’d like them to meet me there.”

“The hospital?” Jazz squeaked. “What happened?”

“I’ll explain what I know when I see you. Please, Jazz.”

“I…. Of course. I’ll tell Mom and Dad. We’ll be there.”

The line went dead, and Lancer hung up the phone. He dreaded having to make calls like that. It was not an aspect of the job he liked, but this was a school and, moreover, it was a school which saw near-daily ghost attacks. Injuries were to be expected.

Injuries beyond their capabilities at the nurse’s office, however….

Mr. Lancer sighed. If he had been able to convince Danny to open up to him earlier today, he might have been able to prevent this. Point out that there were other able ghost hunters. That there was no need for his show of anonymous heroism. That his parents would be overjoyed that he was taking an interest in their work and that he shouldn’t be doing this prior to proper tutoring with them. That he didn’t need to do this to prove his worth.

“I’m going to take you to the hospital now, Danny,” Lancer said as he entered the classroom. “Just try to—” He broke off, the rest of his sentence—keep pressure on your wounds—dying on his lips.

Danny Fenton was gone.

All that remained of him now was a staggered trail of blood, a smear of red across a few of the desks, and the slowly drying stain on the door.

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