#I apologize to everyone who followed me for Danny Phantom

[noctuascion]

i have been doing very important research about a specific HC from izbubbles on twitter and nicktoonsunite on tumblr about danny having episodes where he’ll bleed ectoplasm ( usually in the form of vomiting ) and i’d been wanting to do a take on this HC for awhile now, but i wanted to make sure i was educated enough before doing so. so i spent all day yesterday researching both actual blood disorders and also paranormal ectoplasm. hurray me.

and i haven’t actually posted anything on this acc in literal ages, but i wanted to share it just in case the DP fandom was at all interested in what i have to offer. it’s not all 100% factual, but it’s a series where a guy can turn into a ghost whenever he wants. cut me some slack on inconsistencies or stuff that’s just blatantly incorrect.

anyway, enough dilly dallying. izzy’s original HC is pretty straightforward: danny can get a build-up of ectoplasm when he doesn’t transform for awhile and will have episodes where he vomits up the excess, and while i’m not opposed to that, i don’t want to outright copy their neat idea. so, i’ve actually made up two different terms for my danny HC: “ghost hemophilia” and “ghost anemia,” essentially copying the naming scheme of ghost acne.

however, before i can get into that, i want to talk about how i think ectoplasm could possibly work in the DP universe.

now, it acts an awful lot like human blood does, but obviously ghosts don’t really need to have blood like humans do. ectoplasm, in the paranormal sense, is what allows ghosts to interact with the physical world. in the DP universe, i think ectoplasm does just that, but if they run out of it, then they’ll be unable to interact with the physical world ( “ghost anemia” would be the term used here; essentially it’s just a ghost’s lack of ectoplasm causing them issues in interacting with the physical world: they still can, but they’ll become intangible at random intervals ).

now we’ll move onto plasma, which is the liquid part of our blood. it’s where our red and white blood cells and platelets are, and i think it would work similarly in ghosts, though it holds the components that allow ghosts to interact with the physical world instead ( and in danny’s case, probably red and white blood cells and platelets as well, seeing as he’s still capable of getting sick, but he’s also just a biological mystery in general, so take that with a grain of salt ). a deficiency in plasma causes hemophilia, and hemophilia causes copious amounts of bleeding from even minor wounds due to a deficiency in platelets being unable to clot the wound. a deficiency in plasma in ghosts could cause “ghost hemophilia,” which then could cause “ghost anemia.”

tl;dr plasma deficiency in ghosts causes “ghost hemophilia,” which causes any minor wounds sustained to excessively bleed, and thus causes “ghost anemia,” which makes it difficult for ghosts to remain tangible.

plasma ( paranormal ): keeps together all of the components allowing ghosts to remain tangible.

ghost hemophilia: excessive leaks in ectoplasm from wounds.

ghost anemia: an occurrence where a ghost will struggle to remain tangible when there is a deficiency in ectoplasm.

ectoplasm: a ghost’s “blood.” allows the ghost to remain tangible in the human world.

i think i’ve simplified the terms best as i can! what does this mean for danny, though? since he has both human and ghost DNA? well, this is the rocky part, since danny is such a biological discrepancy, but with the ghost acne episode, i’m lead to believe that half-ghosts are able to have one issue in one form but not the other ( that example being vlad having ghost acne as a human but not as a ghost ).

danny having a plasma deficiency could be caused by transforming too quickly after fights and not allowing his ghost form to fully recover the lost ectoplasm, causing that plasma deficiency, which will then domino into the other ectoplasm disorders i’ve explained! so, what does that mean for danny’s human form? well, while vlad had ghost acne as a human, it still affected his ghost form to a certain degree, i.e. making him weaker. ghost acne is lethal, however, and ghost hemophilia and anemia are not ( at least not to a ghost they aren’t ). danny’s ghost form having ghost hemophilia can cause sudden bleeding from different orifices in human danny’s body ( eyes, nose, ears, mouth ) and while harmless on its own, it is a very notable issue, because when he transforms again, he’ll struggle to remain tangible. if it’s an especially bad episode, he could completely bleed out and experience “second death,” which is essentially a ghost becoming completely unable to interact with the physical world, only heard through speech.

because danny is such an oddity, i want to say having an episode where ectoplasm bleeds into his human form will force a transformation and give him an episode i haven’t actually named just yet ( i’m thinking maybe “ghost down” ). his physical body will become more or less a “husk” and still excrete ectoplasm. because of a forced transformation, it will cause what looks like a complete freak out and like danny’s in pain when he’s actually not; he actually can’t feel anything, which emulates a “second death” but isn’t actually what’s occurring. he doesn’t reach second death until his ectoplasm is completely gone and he starts fading through things.

i’ll try to explain it in more simple terms, just in case i lost the plot a little there: if danny doesn’t let his ghost form recover lost ectoplasm, then he will have a “ghost down,” caused by a plasma deficiency that triggers ghost hemophilia and anemia. if he has a ghost down, he goes into an almost comatose state where he’ll continuously lose ectoplasm until he experiences second death and start fazing through things.

now, how does danny recover ectoplasm? his body will naturally do so. because ghosts are still sort of an enigma in the scientific world of DP, that means the knowledge they have on them is pretty limited, so unless i start coming up with things the fentons could potentially do, i’ll just say his body will naturally recover it. how to keep him contained when he’s experiencing ghost down? well, we’ve seen numerous occasions where ghosts have been locked down with anti-tangible equipment, danny himself included. the fentons ( since they know his identity by the end of the series ) could possibly make something specifically for danny when he has a ghost down. sort of like a containment area where ghosts can’t faze through it. sorta like the cage we saw during one of the dani episodes, i believe. the one jack got stuck in, actually.

when ghost down occurs, danny just sorta has to ride it out in the containment area, and the chance of experiencing second death is high but not always guaranteed.

i think i’ve mostly gotten everything i wanted to write out here??? obviously forgive any inconsistencies or things that don’t make sense. i have more where i have most of this stuff written down and thought through, but i did eventually start thinking of things as of writing this post. i’ll probably write a fic about this in the future honestly?? i’m not sure. i haven’t written one of those in literal ages. feel free to share any opinions you might have about this and whatnot. i’m not the most brilliant of writers, but hopefully some of this is of interest to some of you. peace. ♡

[incorrectbatfam]

Batfam as the weirdest Tumblr asks you've ever received?

Dick: the person in my DMs who kept insisting I'm Jewish even after I told them I'm not

Jason: the tirade that felt like it was ghostwritten by the Joker. I posted it but Tumblr's search engine was designed by squirrels

Tim: the QAnoner telling me I'm a media insider pushing Biden's leftist agenda after Tim came out (I wish)

Damian: the person who sent me a picture of their dog. That was nice. I really needed that

Duke: the person who asked if I'll ever consider taking commissions. They were polite about it but the answer is no

Cullen: the person who wanted me to promote their Batfam x Danny Phantom Wattpad fanfic

Stephanie: shoutout to everyone who asks me how I'm doing. I won't unload my problems onto you but I appreciate it

Cassandra: I think someone tried to send me emojis but they came out as squares

Barbara: someone who came pretty close to guessing where I live based on how I speak

Harper: apologies to everyone asking for the batfam as anime but I saw 2 episodes of Death Note and that's the extent of what I know

Carrie: the commenter I reported for being under 13. I'm sorry but Tumblr has an age limit for a reason

Kate: the person who asked my opinion on a Black Widow jacket they found. They're just biker jackets but it's the thought that counts

Alfred: maybe I'm old and out of touch but why do people keep sending me my own posts?

Selina: anyone who's tried to flirt with me. Not spambots, actual people who developed a parasocial bond

Bruce: pretty much every PSA, signal boost, GoFundMe, etc. I'm not doing that to my followers

dishonorable mention to all the neckbeards. why are you on tumblr?

[q-gorgeous]

Who’s the Marriage Counselor?

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 1304

Unfortunately, due to ghost laws, the ghost king is also the ghost marriage counselor. @currentlylurking

hey guys phils back

Danny was changing in the locker room at school. His gym class had just finished up and the rest of his classmates had already left. He finished switching shirts and he slammed the door shut. A face greeted him on the other side and he jumped.

“Shit! Phil! Why are you in the locker room?”

“I have some important information that the Observants wanted me to pass onto you, your majesty.”

“Is it so important that it couldn’t at least wait until I was out of the locker room?” 

Phil remained silent for a few seconds before he responded. “Probably not, your majesty.”

Danny groaned. “Why do you always do this? Lancer’s gonna have a heart attack if you follow me to my english class. He’s not over the fact that I was revealed to be Phantom by being crowned the ghost king. Or that that was why my grades had started falling so much.”

“I’ve seen how much he cares, your majesty.” He followed Danny when he started walking away. “He’s been very accommodating since discovering your secret.”

“You mean since you exposed it to everyone.”

“I apologize, your majesty.”

Danny waved him off and pushed open the door to the locker room. “It’s fine. It would have been less fine if I had been dissected afterwards but that didn’t happen so I think we’re good.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“So what’s this important information you were supposed to tell me?” Danny walked through the gym and out into the hallway. “Is it another council meeting?”

“No, your majesty. I was to inform you that you have a marriage counseling appointment at 5:30 today.”

“What?” Danny shot a confused look at him. “I’m not married, Phil.”

“It’s not your appointment, your majesty. You are the one acting as the marriage counselor for your appointment with Mr. Skulker and Mrs. Mcclain.”

“No, no, no. I can’t be a marriage counselor! I don’t have any training for this. I barely had any training to be king!”

“It is something the ghost king has been responsible for for millenia, your majesty.”

“Why can’t you be the marriage counselor?” Danny asked Phil, frowning. “You already seem to know how to do everything else.”

“I’m sorry, your majesty. It seems that is the one skill I am without.” 

“I don’t have that skill either!” He threw his hands up in the air. “Why is this something the ghost king is responsible for?”

Phil only shrugged. 

Danny groaned. “Why am I only hearing about this now, anyways? That only gives me a couple hours to figure out how this works.”

“I lost the note the Observants gave me in my pocket last week, your majesty. I did not find it until thirty four minutes ago.”

“Of course that happened.” Danny glared at him. “What else would infinite pockets be good for if not for losing the orders and notes everyone else gives you?”

“I always have change on me, your majesty.”

“But can you find it?”

Phil nodded. 

Danny squinted his eyes at him. “But not the very important documents the Observants give you?”

Phil shook his head.

Danny sighed. “How has this become my life? Sure, I guess. I’ll be there. Where are we doing this?”

“Inside the palace, your majesty.”

They stopped outside the door to Mr. Lancer’s classroom. “Okay, that makes it easy. Now go away before Lancer sees you.” 

Danny turned to enter the classroom and was met face to face with Lancer. He saw Lancer look behind him and his eyes widened. 

“William.” Phil said. He bowed and then disappeared with a gust of wind that sent Lancer’s tie fluttering. 

“Land of the lost, Mr. Fenton. What was he here for this time?”

Danny grinned at him, giving him a sarcastic shrug. 

“Apparently I’m a marriage counselor now too!” 

Lancer just looked at him and turned away, walking into the classroom.

“I need to go sit down.”

-----

“Okay.” Danny said as he sat down on his throne. “I was only informed of this today and I have no idea what I’m doing so don’t expect to have any good results. Most of this will be on you guys.”

“I didn’t know that this law was still in effect. If I knew we were gonna get dipstick here I would’ve suggested we go talk to Spectra instead.” Ember said as she leaned back in her chair.

“Spectra isn’t-”

Danny was interrupted by Skulker talking over him. “We’ve already had that discussion. That woman is horrendous and only does stuff for her own self gain. She’d make us start arguing with each other for fun. Besides, she’s not doing much better with Bertrand either. She was also thinking about signing up for marriage counseling too.”

Danny shook his head and waved his arms back and forth. “No, Spectra is not allowed anywhere near here if she’s looking for marriage counseling.”

“Are you allowed to do that?” Ember asked as she leaned back forward. “Refuse clients? Just because they attacked and tried to manipulate you? Isn’t that discrimination?”

“No!”

Skulker nodded his head. “That makes sense. He didn’t decline us though and we’ve attacked him. It’s just gotta be because Spectra is terrible.” 

Danny sighed. “Okay, enough about Spectra. Why are you guys here? I need to be home for dinner by seven.”

“We’re just having trouble compromising on things together.” Ember said. “Skulker wants me to move to his lair, but there’s so many bugs there. But he doesn’t want to move to mine because it’s not ‘manly enough’ for him.”

“Everything is covered in doilies!” Skulker shouts. 

“That’s not my fault!” Ember shouted back. “At least they’re not mosquitoes!” 

Danny held his hand up and waited for them to look back at him. “I mean, I don’t know that much about the ghost zone laws and policies yet, it’s not like your lair will disappear if you’re not staying there, right? You could spend a couple nights at one lair, a couple nights at the other. Or even stay at your own lair alone if you need alone time.”

Ember and Skulker looked at each other. “That could work.” Ember said

“Great!” Danny clapped his hands together. “Was that all then?”

“Actually, no.” Skulker said. “Ember and I have been trying for a baby and we can’t decide if-”

“No, nope!” Danny stood up and walked away. “I don’t wanna hear about it. I don’t even wanna know how that works.”

“Well who else are we supposed to go to for marriage counseling then?” Ember asked, glaring at him.

“If I can find a marriage counselor in Amity Park that’s actually qualified and willing to take on ghosts would you consider that?”

Skulker and Ember traded looks between each other.

“They would be an actual trained adult professional. Who would be a lot less grossed out by however you guys procreate.”

“That would probably be better.” Skulker said quietly, thinking. “He does not have much life experience. It would be nice to talk to someone who might understand what having kids is like.”

“Awesome! We can get that arranged. Let me go find- AH!” Danny turned and found someone in front of him. He jumped back. “Phil!” 

“You rang, your majesty?”

“Yes. Can you find Skulker and Ember a human marriage counselor? They want to talk about things that I do not have the experience to help them with and they think an actual marriage counselor would be better suited.”

“Of course, your majesty.”

“Thank you.�� He started walking out of the throne room. “This is definitely something I’ll have to bring up at the next council meeting. I cannot keep doing this.”

“I’ll add it to your notes for the next meeting, your majesty.”

“Thanks, Phil. Don’t lose them.”

“I won’t, your majesty.”

[alumbianchronicler]

EctoberHaunt - Oct. 10 Magic - Occultism

[Ao3]

Summary:

Five times Phantom is summoned.

October is a busy month for a ghost who often interacts with humans.

Warnings: Cults, bloodletting for summoning

Crossovers: n/a

Note: It's past midnight and I'm not bothering to review/edit this tonight, so you're getting it as it is until I go back and revise it. I apologize for any typos/inconsistencies.

October was a frustratingly busy month. On top of school and the usual ghost hunters and ghosts themselves causing problems, there were the local cults and the whole Halloween impetus to deal with. Amity Park had always had a few small cults, centered around the thinness of reality in the area, but the number of cults, and the number of people in said cults, had grown significantly once the Fenton’s Ghost Portal activated.

Unfortunately for Danny, at least three of those Cults were trying to figure out the best way to worship Phantom. Unfortunately for those cultists, he had no interest in being worshiped.

Of course, they didn’t seem to have gotten the memo yet, which was why Phantom was currently floating in the center of a chalk circle, surrounded by half a dozen chanting occultists.

At the very least, couldn’t they get their robes from the same place? It looked like two of them were wearing bathrobes, while three were wearing what looked like Spirit Halloween Grim Reaper costumes, and the last was wearing an actual hooded robe that would fit in at a renaissance faire.

The circle itself wasn’t terrible, though the sigils and runes were from an entire mess of times and places.

At least they had tried.

But really, he didn’t want to encourage this sort of thing.

Sighing, Phantom waited for them to try demanding.

The one in the actually decent robe was the one to speak. “Oh great Phantom, Protector Spirit and Guardian of the Living. We wish to prostrate ourselves before your magnificence, to supplicate your protection and garner your favor.”

“Ok, first off,” Phantom interrupted, “I don’t know what a third of those words mean. Did you like… make a list from a thesaurus of pretentious occultist lingo? Second off…” here he sighed again, running a hand down his face, “if I wanted people to worship me, don’t you think I would have mentioned it by now? It’s 3 am, guys. Please just let me sleep. I’m dead. I’m supposed to be resting.”

The leader sputtered for a moment, and the cultists shared startled looks.

“Surely…” the leader tried again, “a spirit as powerful as you would desire power? Supporters? Humans who can… obtain for you what you want from the living world?”

Phantom scrunched up his face. “Ew, no. I barely handle the amount of power I have already. You guys have seen the property damage. And supporters? Those are just people who will get in the way of ghost fights and get hurt or killed. As for the living world…”

Here he smirked. “Obviously I have no issues getting to the living world.”

“Is… there anything you would want of us?” was the last, desperate question.

“Tell you what. If you can spread the word that I do not want worshipers, followers, or a fan club, I’ll sign something for each of you.”

“You’ll… give us your signature?”

“On one thing per each of the six of you here.”

The six looked at each other, each one nodding after a few moments. Finally, the leader spoke again. “Very well, Phantom. We will bring you the items for your signature, and then release you.”

Danny was exhausted the next morning at school, but at least he could hope for fewer summonings. Or at least, fewer that were quite so… cheesily serious.

The next summoning was early, around ten at night. Apparently someone hadn’t gotten the memo that ghostly summonings were supposed to happen after midnight.

And… that someone was actually a group of five preteens who appeared very surprised to see that their attempt at a séance had actually summoned a ghost.

For several moments, everyone sat staring at each other. Humans at ghost, ghost at humans. Then, one of the kids screamed and scrambled away from the (once again) chalk-drawn pentagram, knocking over one of the candles as they went. Three of the others also fled, the first’s movement triggering their own, leaving only one behind frozen in shock.

Thankfully, a pentagram wasn’t the most sturdy of metaphysical constructions, especially when not specially tuned by other sigils and glyphs, so he was able to shatter its bounds in a cascade of shimmering green and cyan light.

The one kid left flinched back, finally seeming to find their ability to move as they scrambled backward away from him. Phantom didn’t go after them, though, instead simply taking the moment to right the candle before it set something on fire.

“You kids shouldn’t be playing with fire like this, you know,” he said, tilting his head and giving a friendly smile. “Or with summonings. I’m a friendly ghost, and I’m not going to hurt you, but what if you got someone less friendly?”

“We… we just… we… followed the book?”

“Can I see it?”

The kid handed over the book. Apparently it had been purchased from a used bookstore, and contained instructions for what he recognized as mostly inert but a few active summonings. He was going to have to find that store and make sure they didn’t have other books that could be as dangerous as this one.

“Sorry, kid,” Phantom said, “but I’m gonna take this with me. And no more playing with Dread Forces, ok?”

The kid nodded.

Phantom flashed them another smile and vanished from sight, taking the book with him.

Summoning number three found Phantom in what looked like the ruins of an abandoned factory. This circle was more on par with the first one, though instead of chalk, it looked like the summoner had painted down this one. It also looked like they had been watching a lot of Full Metal Alchemist, judging by the accompanying sigils.

Hey, he wasn’t judging. It had some good themes, and he’d be damned if he didn’t cry every time a certain few scenes came up.

The area around him was lit by several pillar candles, thankfully more stable than the slender ones the kids had been using last time. The candles around Phantom’s circle specifically were burning with green flame, and he wondered if that was due to copper in the wax or to ectoplasm. Either way, it was kind of cool.

It looked like this summons was performed by a single person. She was wearing what looked like a home-made cape of a galaxy-print fabric, which… was honestly really cool, and a red and white Kitsune mask.

For a moment, both watched each-other in silence.

“Usually, the summoner has something they want to ask the summonee,” Phantom finally said.

The summoner startled. “Oh, sorry, right. I… uh…” She paused, took a breath, then continued in what seemed to be a rehearsed declaration. “Phantom, I seek knowledge arcane. I wish to know the secrets of the Veil. Of life and death and the dances of the stars and the singing of the universe.”

Phantom didn’t laugh. He really didn’t.

It was close, though.

Really, this person was summoning him, a 16-year-old half-dead loser, to ask for answers to the universe.

“I don’t think I have much more knowledge of life and death than you,” Phantom replied. “Just because you are alive and I am dead does not mean I know arcane secrets.”

“Oh.” She seemed to be thinking, probably wondering if he was trying to trick her or play some sort of fancy word games, which… despite the best efforts of some of the more Fae members of the Realms, he was not good at.

“What of the universe, then?”

“What?”

“You said you don’t know arcane secrets, or have extensive knowledge of life and death, despite being dead. You didn’t say anything about the stars and the universe.”

Which was how Phantom ended up talking about galaxies and the life cycle of stars until four am. Being exhausted the next day was definitely worth it.

The fourth summoning felt different than the ones before. This one was more solid, more insistent. He probably could still refuse it if he tried, but he was curious, and the last summoning hadn’t turned out so bad, so Phantom responded.

The location was dark. Yet again, candles were the lighting of choice, but these were wrong somehow. Emitting a smoke that clung to him and tingled unpleasantly against his skin if he got too close to the edges of the painted circle below him.

They were scented, and he thought he recognized the scent, but couldn’t immediately place it, especially as he was distracted by the heady rush that came with a blood sacrifice.

Wait, what?

No. NO, no, no, he was not accepting anything these bozos were asking for or demanding.

There were eight of them chanting in a circle around him, each of them holding out a hand, dripping blood that flowed into the green glow of the painted glyphs. It was heady, intoxicating. He hated it.

The chanting changed from Latin to English.

“King of all Beyond the World. Destroyer of Worlds. Banished and blighted god. Pariah Dark, Ruler of the Infinite Realms and Commander of the Restless Dead, we beseech thee…”

Fuck.

“Not to rain on the fruitloop parade,” Phantom finally spoke up, shocking them all out of their chanting daze, “but I think you got the wrong number.”

He recognized that smell now. They had used blood blossom extract in the candles, no doubt to strengthen their hold over whatever spirit they captured in their circle.

Great. Tomorrow was going to be itchy.

“Who are you?” one of the cultists demanded, wrapping their robe around their bleeding hand.

“Well, I’m not Pariah Dark for one,” Phantom replied, crossing his arms and staring down at the cultist in disdain. “And not happy for two. Seriously, are you trying to piss off whatever spirit you call up?”

“How dare you pretend…”

“Nuh uh. I’m not pretending to be Pariah Dark. I just told you I’m not him.” Phantom scowled. “And you aren’t going to get him, either. You’re bleeding on the wrong tree. And you should count yourselves lucky you didn’t get Pariah, because those candles you’re burning? Those would have pissed him off. Or he would have just laughed at them. I’m not sure which.”

“Those were handmade with ingredients guaranteed to hold any spirit!”

Phantom scoffed. “Yeah, sure, and how do you think it holds them?” He floated down, letting his feet touch the floor and absorbing the energy the cultists had so generously offered the Ghost King through their blood-letting. The lines on the floor flared brighter, changing from ecto-green to icy blue, underlighting Phantom as a cold wind rippled through the space within the circle. A mist rose inside the circle, crawling up the invisible barrier.

A couple of the cultists took an involuntary step back. The leader remained motionless as Phantom flew up to the point of the circle closest to them. “I am Phantom,” Phantom said. “Crown Prince of the Infinite Realms. Keeper of the Balance. Protector of the Gate and Veil. Great One. Ward of the Timekeeper.”

He placed a hand on the invisible barrier of the circle, grinning at the cultist before him and letting his fangs show. “I’m not a trick pony, and I’m not Pariah. You might have gotten away with releasing him for rampant, undirected chaos had you succeeded in calling him, but you put no inherent request into this summoning. I do not have to pay back what is freely given, and you have all freely offered my your blood this night, without the ask included in the summoning.”

He let claws grow from the tips of his fingers, puncturing and cracking the invisible barrier, spreading visible cracks like stressed ice across it. “Which, the energy you offered just so happens to be enough for me to break free.” This was a lie. He could get out on his own if he needed to. But he wanted these fruitloops to underestimate him, just in case they didn’t get the memo this time. He clenched down and the barrier shattered.

“Do not summon me again. I will not be so merciful next time.” And Phantom vanished.

The fifth summoning was much less eventful.

For some reason, the Observants, despite hating him, insisted on Phantom’s presence at the monthly Review of the Timeline. Usually, this consisted of endless arguments regarding inconsequential minutia that may or may not affect the timeline for the worse or for the better, and whether it was something that should be watched for the following month lest it spiral out of control into a hurricane or something.

Maybe they insisted on his presence because they hated him… And because while he could be pressured into attending, Clockwork could worm his way out of the duty, himself.

In any case, Danny had been sitting here listening to the Observants prattle on for the past two hours. Two hours he could have spent playing Doomed with his friends.

He pulled out his phone.

HalfDead: Guys help, I’m dying the rest of the way of boredom.

TechnoGeek: That bad, huh?

ChaosGoth: Sorry, Danny. Anything we can do to help?

HalfDead: I don’t think so, unless you can teleport me away from here.

ChaosGoth: [typing]

HalfDead: Sam?

Danny stared at his phone for a few minutes, but when no response was forthcoming, he sighed and put it away before the pompous eyeballs could berate him for having it out.

He had just tucked it in his pocket when he felt the increasingly-familiar tug of a summoning attempt.

That was weird. It was the middle of the day. Who would try summoning… Oh.

Oh, his friends were the best.

“Sorry guys, I’ve got a call to take,” he said, grinning at the Observants and relishing their irritation and offense before he felt the summoning pull him to Sam’s gaming room.

[monkey-network]

My Issues/Problems/Disgusts Resolved(?)

When you have issues, troubles, or disgusts with anything, the hardest but relieving thing to do coming to terms with them. A couple of years ago, I made a trilogy of posts exploring three people I found ranging from repugnant to devious. It came at a time when frustrations might as well have come out and frankly they were just about people everyone was more than aware of online. Enough time has passed and while this isn't just gonna be me apologizing or being remorseful for what I said, I want to I guess truly bury the hatchet and resolve these stuck-around feelings as somebody that has... been humbled a lot over these years (make of that what you will). This is coming from somebody that knows a lot about staying in your own head. So yeah, let's talk.

Lily Orchard [OP Link]

Gotta say that... nothing's really changed only in that it's all less with anger now. Put this first because it'll be short. To be as sincere as I can, she's just an unlikable person. Regardless of her out there opinions and ideas of media literacy, or her choices in fictional tastes, I won't be the guy that will throw every evil label and the kitchen sink onto her. Calling the spade a spade, even as a former fan I saw that within reason it was seeing a very insatiable and arrogant media "critic" with negative social skills. Hell, the mentions you see of her on Tumblr or Twitter especially are just the open secret that most people don't like her. For me, that resentment has become passive chagrin.

I won't convince anybody of who she can really be, how bad she can be at being both original and derivative, or what she is potentially. I wouldn't say a lost cause, but there's nothing complicated about this anymore. She's just a massive asshole. Not because of any human characteristic of hers, her opinions, or what was known about her in the past. Take away any personal semantics or bias, I remain only puzzled about how her circle is able to tolerate her presence because she's just an unlikable person and that's all on her.

Butch Hartman {OP Link}

2020 basically was the year where a man responsible for one of the most popular cartoons on Nickelodeon finished swan-diving his reputation just as fast as the likes of John K and Justin Roiland. From scheming a streaming service that still isn't out of early access yet to making a Christian flash cartoon that looks 20 years too late. It's a classic story of pride coming before the fall, culminating in his Youtube channel being a wasteland aside from sketch tiktoks that barely make the thousands in views despite his huge follower count. As much as LSMark looked to make good-faith conversation with him recently, Butch basically became a ghost now after all the controversies died down.

Now despite what I said initially, Butch's fall in reputation is definitely not comparable to Kricfalusi or Roiland's; we've heard nothing of him physically taking advantage of anybody in or out the industry. The worse he's done is take advantage of his legacy for either financial or supportive gains. This is not as bad as domestic or sexual assault of course, but it spoke wonders of how the ego of big time creators can kill any goodwill and faith when they're not actually considerate of the following that respect them. A quick search of his name on Youtube is more about the people discussing his controversies than anything he worked on. People still discuss Danny Phantom and Fairly Oddparents, hell the Cosmo mpreg episode is a meme to this day, but with the detachment towards Butch as the creator.

I'm fine with this predicament, but it's sad to believe this was all on him. It wasn't just about Oaxis being a scam or him saying "he created your childhood" or heaven forbid his attempts of promoting religious healing, it was about seeing a creator of some things you liked reveal himself as someone in a bubble that you lose any idea in looking up to. It's not exactly "Don't Meet Your Heroes," more "Don't glue on rose-tinted glasses". I won't force or insult what remains of Butch's "fanbase" for sticking with him, but this definitely woke me up in terms of how I view the creators I love. Humility is the special word in all this, where some creators can have some disapproving moments but you can still have respect for their craft. With Butch, it wasn't even him entirely that made his shows look great. As of now, he's making poorly illustrated kid's bible stories with Fairly Oddparents getting a live-action show that Nickelodeon regretted making immediately after releasing to the point of erasing it all not even a full year after it was first announced. Even when things are probably fine now, the guy fell off as hard as I expected originally. I can seriously put this behind knowing I was factually right on the money the first time and that does put a smile on my face.

Also... Butt Shartman. That's all, let's move on.

Mysterious Mr. Enter (OP Link)

I'll say this was the reason why I made this post. Lily and Hartman I say speak of an absence of change and reflecting on that absence. Mr. Enter is different and, cut to the chase, it has to do with this recent video.

I've talked my fair share of shit toward Mr. Enter these past few years, reasonably so. At the same time, my vitriol toward him came from some semblance of respect. Many have to this day brought up Mr. Enter calling out the writers of Spongebob for a particular episode they did, but John is right in that that was around the time he barely had a following and just started out with media reviews. Mr. Enter has made bad opinions, I will never deny that and this isn't me defending him, but I see that he can recognize they're bad. He's better than Lily Orchard in that... he can admit being wrong and grow from it. We meme and shit on this dude, but for me, there was still that modicum of respect I had for him being this dedicated. In spite of the harassment or the justified backlash, he's still putting in the effort.

Over the years, I've come to understand that media critics can have different understandings of media. That doesn't mean every critic is always right in their own way, grifters exist for a reason, but I don't see Mr. Enter as a grifter-type critic compared to people who to this day complain about The Last Jedi. He can have some off takes on the types of humor or tropes in a cartoon, but more often than not he's being sincere. That's why I say he still has some respect from me for as long as I've known him. Every bad take aside, I don't take him as somebody who is "ruining media criticism".

I don't agree with everything he says or believes, but John's doing better than I can say for Butch Hartman or Lily Orchard especially. He's doing Admirable Animations again, something I brought up originally, and am intrigued to see that he indirectly took my advice. He can work well with more positive videos. I never felt he was an actively terrible critic, Turning Red meme aside, and I didn't want to just treat him as the bane of online media criticism or the worst thing to ever happen. The dude has his faults but can acknowledge them better than most online personalities I've seen who feel it's weak to admit anything. He's no different from the Nostalgia Critic where the tumultuous attitudes toward them in the past have subsided where yeah, I'm not gonna side with every bad opinion or choice they make but they aren't actively killing any goodwill I would have for them. It's not pity, but making your empathy less black and white compared to people more deserving of scrutiny. Overall I still have hopes Mr. Enter will do better, imperfect as things can get.

Conclusion

I wanna say this post and the former three I made reflected the increased awareness and discourse of the parasocial relationships we can have, especially online. There have been plenty of people that certainly abused their status and paid for it, these three stayed in the mind for how consistently they tracked in soiling their reputation. At the same time, how wary we are about things or the people we followed isn't always cut and dry. That's why the title has the question mark in parentheses, nothing ever ends so I'm not saying these current feelings will just be buried away and forgotten forever. I just know that for this current future, it's better to seriously lay things to rest while subconsciously keeping in mind what can be done differently from now on. To conclude, this is all better than having to care about people like Andrew Tate or Elon Musk living another day.

[bloggerspam]

Aw, thank you! You and everyone's comments definitely give me life. I'm not done with this AU just yet, and I hope you won't mind a ton more exposition in this next part. We're in the last stretch, I think!

===

Danny is 20 years old when he realizes that he hasn’t had a break in four years.

Well, more accurately, he’s forcibly reminded by Sam and Tucker. 

He’s had it rough, now that he thinks about it, and the exhaustion suddenly hits him like a bag of bricks. With a 2-ton truck swiftly following it. And maybe even a block of concrete for added measure. 

He heaves a sigh and plops into the chair they’ve clearly prepared for him in the middle of their shared apartment. 

Sam, Tucker, and Danny lived in California now, sharing an apartment whilst they finished up their degrees at UC. 

After figuring out the finer points of Ghost Monarchy and ultimately fixing the “Ghost of the Day” issue they had in high school, Team Phantom shut down the portal and talked some sense into the Drs Fenton due to the immense efforts of Jazz and surprisingly, Vlad. 

He’s been trying to be better, after some kind of incident with his parents that he refuses to tell Danny about. He has a feeling that Clockwork had a hand in it, though, so Danny tries not to think about it. Vlad has been exchanging cosmic letters with Dan and Dani, or Titus and Haley now he supposes, to middling effect. Neither of them are coming back from their respective service and leave, and it’s firmly Not His Problem so he’ll accept his wayward godfather with a huge grain of salt. At least he’s not trying to kill his dad and flirt with his mom anymore. Small mercies. 

But now Danny sits in the middle of his shared apartment with Sam and Tucker looking sternly at him with arms crossed, and Danny thinks maybe he should have paid a little bit more attention. 

Sam heaves a sigh, “Forget it, if he won’t listen to us, clearly we have to bring out the big guns. Tucker, if you would please?”

Tucker nods, and heads deeper into the apartment. Jazz steps out of Sam’s apartment with a soft smile. Ancients. He’s missed her. 

��Jazz!” The siblings hug tightly, and Danny feels something in him break. It’s been more than a couple months since he last saw her--all four siblings keep in touch through various methods, though CW is kind enough to relay notes to the other two every month or so--but Jazz and Danny used to talk weekly. Has it really been that bad?

“Hello little brother. It’s been a while, huh?” Jazz’s smile is soft and the guilt threatens to consume him. He opens his mouth to apologize but she shushes him and gently pushes him back into his seat. Tucker clears his throat. 

“So you’ve been working yourself ragged, dude. And since you were clearly zoning out I’m gonna say it again. This is an intervention!” Tuck makes some jazz hands, and Sam rolls her eyes.

“You’re going on enforced leave, and before you can say anything about anything, we’ve worked it out. It’s another CW-Approved Vacation!” Sam is as excited as she can get, and Danny doesn’t blame her. She loved hearing stories about his time as a crime-fighting dog, and has always thought it was good for him. Tucker was jealous, but after learning that he would eventually get to do his own Pharoh-related adventures from Clockwork, he’s gotten better about it. 

“CW-Approved? You mean...” Danny looks over to Jazz, who nodded with a wide smile.

(After she had come back from her ‘Rite of Passage’, she’s been a little more solemn. Even though she didn’t tell them everything, Danny knows. He remembers Jason talking to him about his childhood dog, and he...well. He could fill in the blanks.

Danny didn’t leave Jazz’s side for days from the guilt. The guilt of sending her there, the guilt of thinking that when it would mean Jason would have been alone, just...guilt. 

But the stories she told were so happy. It was only for a couple of years, but Danny knows Jason eventually gets his happy end, not-so-happy as it might be. He knows Jason survived, and that’s all that mattered. 

“It was my only comfort, your stories. That he made it. It was the only way I was able to do my job.” Jazz had said one night. She was crying because the memories were fading. As a liminal, the memories would be more akin to nostalgia, as opposed to the picture perfect recall Danny boasted as a halfa.

When she first came back, Danny watched as she spent sleepless nights recording everything into a journal while she still remembered. Having the journal still didn’t make it any less heartbreaking when she couldn’t remember Jason’s favorite ice cream flavor without asking Danny or consulting the journal.)

“But...but Ace died. I can’t just go back--they wouldn’t just take a random--” the thoughts are whirring in his mind, and he can’t seem to articulate himself.

“Danny, calm down! Nobody said you were gonna go back as Ace. You have shapeshifting powers, dude. Just change into a different breed! Personally, I was thinking a basenji--”

“Tucker, nobody asked about your Anubis-bias--” As Sam and Tuck fell back into bickering about what type of breed Danny could shape shift into (with Tucker pulling up a variety of pictures on his PDA) he looked over to Jazz.

“Jazz? What...” She smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

“I talked it over with Clockwork and Frostbite, Danny. There’s a dog...well. I’m a little bit more liminal now, and there’s a perfect chance for me to...to see Jason again. Give him a little support whilst he’s moonlighting as Red Hood.” Danny sucked in a breath. 

Red Hood was a point of contention for Jazz. She didn’t exactly disapprove, but it hurt her to realize what happened to her boy after she left. After Ace left. Jazz is too nice to say it, but after she came back and told him what happened he’s always felt like a failure. He already felt guilty he wasn’t able to help Batman find Robin II before...well. But to find out he failed to protect Jazz’s boy? 

He would never deny her the chance to see her boy again, especially since she had so little time...but Danny was a different story. 

“Dick has Dani--he has Haley now. I won’t have a place there. I don’t...I don’t think I could be by Jason’s side either. Not after...” Ace had tried. But Jason refused to stay at the Manor more than necessary and Tim was too busy picking up the pieces for the Bat Hound to butt in. After Dick left, Ace was all Damien had and even that was short lived.

“What about Tim?” Sam asked. She and Tucker had apparently finished bickering. 

“Yeah, you always said that boy was way too independent and self-sacrificing for his own good.”

“That sounds familiar.” Sam interrupted, but Tucker continued as if she hadn’t said anything.

“And didn’t Dan say there was a new kid? Duke, right?”

“Danny,” Jazz started, gently, as if talking to a spooked animal. “Danny, I know you feel like you could have done more, or that maybe your role is done. But, little brother, you did your best.” Danny wanted to protest, but Jazz kept talking over him. 

“And doesn’t Dan always complain about how he can’t possibly live up to the Ace name? Besides, you don’t have to be Ace.”

“But I don’t know if I can be anyone else--you guys know how bad I am at lying!” 

“It’s been six years dude. It’ll have only been one or two to the Waynes! You’re different now.” Tucker interjects, coming around Danny to lean his weight on his shoulders.  

“And who cares if they recognize you? From what Dan and Dani’s told us, and from what you’ve told us, that family is definitely used to things weirder than their family dog coming back from the dead.” Sam rolls her eyes, before heading to the kitchen clearly done with this conversation.

He feels Jazz pat his hand again, and when he meets her eyes he already knows he’s lost. 

“You haven’t mentioned Bruce.” Danny’s heart pangs. Dick was his boy, but Bruce...He hangs his head. Tucker, sensing Danny’s resignation, whoops in the background and shoves his PDA into his face.

“So I was thinking, what about a Mastiff?”

Danny decided he needed a vacation. He had recently gotten shapeshifting powers in his ghost form, because ectoplasm could be molded and stretched. The only thing that needed to stay the same was his core. He decided to become a puppy, and live out a few years with a good family. Unfortunately, he got involved in a dog fighting ring, and to keep his cover, had to go along with it. But that didn’t stop him from sending messages to the local bats. He’s rescued along with all of the other pups, and Batman had taken a liking to him. He’s named Ace and brought home with Batman. Bruce quickly found out that Ace (Danny) was scarily good at reading people, and after Ace had broken out of a locked cage and saved Batman more than once, that he now had a sidekick that was his dog. Danny was having his best time being a crime fighting dog.

[arashikitten]

I Love Monkie kid, Here’s Why

So the past few days have been... hectic, to say the least. School’s kicking my ass, I have to get drive time in, and the crushing pressure of scouts is not helping. However, I have found solace in the new Lego animated show, The Monkie Kid.

The Monkie Kid is a show about Mk (or Qi Xiaotian if you watch the Chinese ver.) as he takes on the role of Sun Wukong’s (the Monkey King) successor, as well as all of the responsibilities that entails. Alongside him are his best friend Mei (Long Xiaojiao), his boss/kinda dad figure Pigsy (Zhu Dachu), the storyteller Tang (Tang Shifu), and Sandy (I don’t know the Chinese version of his name sorry). 

 He has to fight a rouge’s gallery of demons, the most prominent of whom are the Demon Bull family. Mk must also train with Sun Wukong, and get better with his fighting abilities and attention span. 

Now I’m gonna be completely honest, I was a little nervous about this show at first, especially when the trailer for the english dub came out. But holy hell, this show has blown me away with it’s first season.

Lets start off with the animation, which is done by the same studio that made Rise of The TMNT. And just like ROTTMNT, the animation for this show is spectacular. ESPECIALLY the fight scenes. You can see eastern influence in just about every frame, which considering the source material, makes sense! Although if I’m being honest, the animation shines the most during big fight scenes. The battle between Mk and Red Son at the weather station is one of my favorite scenes in the entire show, second only to that scene in episode 9. The moment where Red Son moves so fast that he temporarily phases out of view fuels my little weeb heart!

Then, there’s the voice acting. While the Mandarin voices are all pretty good (I adore Iron Fan’s voice!) I am a watcher of the dub for Monkie kid. And HOLY SHIT, THE ENGLISH VOICES ARE GODDAMN AMAZING!!! Lets start with Mk, who is voiced by Jack De Sena in the English dub, who most famously starred as Sokka in ATLA and Callum from The Dragon Prince. We also have Kyle McCarley as the voice of Red Son, who starred in the third season of Infinty Train, and Shigeo Kageyama in the English dub of Mob Psycho 100. Then, most famously, Sean Schemmel playing the Monkey King himself, Sun Wukong. (Sidenote: As a massive DBZ fan, when I tell I screamed when I heard Wukong’s English voice for the first time...)Sean Schemmel, for those of you who don’t know, played Son Goku in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z, and there are so, so many reasons why getting him to play the Monkey King here was fucking inspired, but this post is long enough as it is.

Finally, there are the characters themselves. I’m a sucker for the “mentor and apprentice to parent and child trope” (glances at the owl house and BNHA), and the Monkie kid delivers that in spades. Mk has like three different dads y’all. 

First lets start with the obvious: Mk and Wukong. We don’t get to see much of it in the first episode, but hoo boy does the rest of season one make up for it! Wukong starts off very nonchalant with Mk, and we can very much see that he’s a hands off sort of mentor. He also does the typical shonen mentor trope of making his apprentice do something that doesn’t have educational value at first glance, but becomes very important later on. And there are some times where this clashes with Mk’s impatience and need for action. (Sidenote: I totally headcanon Mk as having Adhd and possibly Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria. There’s even a scene in one episode where Wukong points out that Mk is “Loud, not confident”, and there have been some hints here and there that Mk does have some issues with his self confidence. On top of that, there are so many scenes where gets very easily distracted in day to day life, yet when he’s in a big battle, his focus is entirely on the enemy, which sounds kinda like hyper focus. Idk, maybe it’s just me projecting.) However, it’s clear that Wukong does care about Mk, enough to step in when the kid really needs it. Hell, he even seems to be a little jealous when he finds out that Mk started training with someone else in ep. 9 (He’s MY kid dammit). We also see that both Mk and Wukong aren’t afraid to call each other out, and the fact that both of them call each other out is just great. It shows that they do both respect each other, but they both know when the other is doing something stupid. All in all, 10/10 relationship, kinda reminds me of Dadmight and Midoriya. 

Then we have Mk and Pigsy, and I’m not gonna lie, the moment I saw Pigsy, my mind went to Grunkle Stan: Gruff and sarcastic, stingy when it comes to money, would probably do something illegal, acts like he doesn’t care but secretly really does. We see this in his first scene in episode one: Pigsy is very gruff, and to people who don’t know him, he seems like a bit of an arse. He’s a strict taskmaster, and won’t hesitate to tell you if you effed up. But we also see that he cares very deeply about Mk, and would do anything to keep the kid safe, even if he himself isn’t much of a fighter. And here is where I think the comparison to Grunkle Stan really shines through: in how they show that they care about the people they love. They act gruff on the outside, but they would do anything for their kid(s). We also know that Mk feels the same way: even though Pigsy can be really tough on him sometimes, he continues to work at Pigsy’s noodles and seems to actually enjoy working there. I don’t doubt that Pigsy is some sort of paternal figure for Mk, and Pigsy would absolutely punch someone in the face to protect Mk. 

Finally, there’s Tang. We see in the first episode that Tang is likely the one who got Mk into the legend of the Monkey King in the first place, or at the very least encouraged that fascination. Tang seems to be way more laid back, kinda vague when it comes to explanations, like a stereotypical mysterious mentor. Out of the three, MK seems most relaxed when with Tang, and it’s pretty easy to see why. Tang indulges MK with his stories, and when MK first gets the staff, he goes to Tang. Not Pigsy or Mei: Tang. So clearly, MK has a lot of trust in Tang, and knew that Tang would be the most likely to listen to him. And Tang did listen to him: he let MK talk about what happened, and when MK showed that the staff was really Wukong’s, Tang seems almost as excited as MK was, if not even more so. In other words, Tang is a fanboy just like MK, so of course he’d let MK gush about Son Wukong. And MK would listen to Tang gush as well, and now I’m just imagining these two having movie nights where they watch stuff about the Monkey King, and it’s adorable.

There’s also Sandy, who at this point is kinda like Mk��s weird uncle who low key used to be a gangster before he went to therapy and now gets aggression out in his construction job. I headcanon that he knows a lot of really good techniques to bring someone down from a panic attack, and once MK finds out about it, he starts going to Sandy when he’s having a bad day.

This post is way too long, so imma go ahead and end it here.

TL;DR: Watch Monkie kid if you love found family, funny villains, badass fight scenes, and anything related to Journey to the West.

[lexosaurus]

Tutoring Phantom Ch 1

Characters: Danny, Dash, Kwan Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship Word Count: 4036 Summary: It was funny. A year ago Dash was all but praying for Fenton to shut up, but now he would do anything to hear him speak.

This is my very belated gift for @kinglazrus! It has ended up becoming a twoshot. Here’s chapter one!

Read on: [ao3] [ffn]

---

The revelation shook Amity Park to its core.

Fenton? Really? That Fenton? 

The scrawny one? 

The kid of those nut-job parents?

The one that got picked on?

I heard he’s a loner. Super quiet. 

It was always the quiet ones…

Isn’t he failing school? Maybe that’s why. Maybe it’s because he’s a ghost. Aren’t ghosts less intelligent than humans?

Teresa told me he ditches class all the time. Probably because of his Obsession.

That’s so creepy.

Fenton was...Phantom. Danny was Phantom. It was simply indisputable. Of course some conspiracy theorists were probably screaming about photoshop and CGI, but when Dash saw the transformation happen on television, there was no other way he could make sense of it.

Fenton was Phantom. 

The Guys in White had figured it out, evidently. According to their spokesperson, they had been analyzing Phantom’s ectoplasm samples left from a ghost fight when they found human DNA infused into the ectoplasm. Scans showed that it belonged to Danny Fenton.

When the GiW collected more samples from various ghost fights, all the results were the same. 

Fenton was Phantom.

So they developed a gun. And when Phantom was distracted with a ghost fight they denied planting (but they must have, there was no possible way they could have captured him otherwise), they hit him with it.

And he transformed right there in front of everyone. 

Fenton was Phantom.

And Dash had spent years ruining his life.

Dash collapsed on his couch, his glassy eyes fixated on the still image of Fenton’s horrified face. His hair was wild, his eyes even more so. In the background, he was surrounded by men in white suits, all armed to the teeth with guns. Above him, helicopters soared. 

Fenton was trapped.

There was no way out of it.

Dash had spent the better part of his life bullying the boy who would become his hero, and now he would never be able to apologize.

---

Well, maybe Dash spoke too soon.

By some miracle, Fenton was released from the government’s clutches. 

Eventually. 

Dash didn’t understand the science behind it, but apparently Fenton wasn’t dead. He was...almost dead? But not quite. He was just alive enough to have a pulse, just alive enough to have a heartbeat, just alive enough to be considered human in the eyes of the law.

Dash didn’t want to acknowledge just how relieved he was at this revelation. And if he were a good person, his relief would have come from the part where that meant his classmate was actually alive.

But he wasn’t a good person. What good person spends their downtime picking on the weak kids at school? What good person takes out their aggression on those who don’t fight back?

Dash wasn’t kind, he wasn’t nice, he wasn’t selfless. And that’s why he was relieved.

Because all of his relief came from the fact that if Fenton was alive, then Dash didn’t have to live with the guilt that he’d tormented a dead person. He didn’t have to lie awake at night wondering if he was the one to push Fenton past his breaking point, if he were responsible for Fenton’s death.

Because Fenton wasn’t dead. So what if he was almost dead? So what if he probably did die—if only for a moment—before his body was kickstarted back to life? Fenton wasn’t dead, so Dash didn’t have to think about it.

Dash could get away with it all scot free.

Just like always.

---

Fenton was allowed to come to school.

If Dash were honest, he was surprised by this. He didn’t think the PTA would have caved to the students, who had demanded that Fenton be allowed to return to school. But apparently they relented.

Under certain conditions.

Conditions which the government was more than happy to collaborate with.

It was Fenton’s first day back, and yet he didn’t look all there. He was pale, sickly, his hair too long and voice nonexistent.

But his eyes, those scared Dash the most.

His eyes were dead. 

It was as if someone had taken all the light that was Danny and replaced it with a puppet. There was nothing in there. Nothing inside of his skin. It was...dead.

What did they do to him?

The teachers didn’t try to make him engage with their lessons. They only looked at Danny with pity in their eyes when they would walk by. And Danny wouldn’t acknowledge them because he was just empty. 

Dash wanted to approach him. Talk to him. He had a whole speech prepared, and he knew Kwan did too. But the speech had all but died on his lips when he saw Fenton that morning. He knew—he knew—that nothing was going to get through to him.

Fenton was Phantom, but Fenton wasn’t even there.

And in his place was nothing but bones wrapped in skin held together by metal contraptions on his wrists, ankles, and neck.

Dash shivered. The one on his neck was blinking. It was a warning, Dash realized. A warning that Danny was dangerous. He was inhuman. He was Phantom. 

The students avoided him. Even the ones who had advocated for his safe return. Dash didn’t blame them, either. No one could have predicted that this would be coming back to their class.

Even so, Manson and Foley stuck by him. Dash watched them guide him to each class, carrying his books and trying their best to include him in the conversation. Sometimes he would even lock eyes with them, sometimes his lips would twitch upward and his eyes would brighten as if he were following along with Manson and Foley’s antics. 

Those moments were rare though. Fleeting.

Because in the end, the modicum of emotion would always vaporize from Fenton’s face and they’d be left with the blank, faraway glazed expression that he always seemed to wear now. The duo would be left talking between themselves, and Dash was left looking at them from the sidelines waiting for Fenton to open his mouth and just respond.

Gone were the days of the snarky comments and muttered undertones. Gone were Fenton’s stupid comments that Dash spent years beating him up over. 

It was funny. A year ago Dash was all but praying for Fenton to shut up, but now he would do anything to hear him speak.

No one knew what happened to Fenton during his stay with the government. No one knew what they did to him. Because, as far as Dash knew, Fenton hadn’t said a word since he returned home. Dash wasn’t sure if it was because Danny couldn’t respond, or if he just wouldn’t. 

He didn’t know which one was worse.

---

It had been one month since Fenton returned to school. Anyone with a pair of eyes could see that he wasn’t doing well.

He drifted from class to class like he was in a dream, often not even bothering to put his notebook on his desk as he sat in each class staring at the wall with the same dead expression.

Fenton didn’t take his tests or quizzes with the class anymore. He was in the same math class as Dash and only lasted one exam before Mr. Falluca started proctoring his exams separately. Rumor had it they were trying to get him extra help, but the PTA didn’t want him integrated with Casper High’s most vulnerable students.

Dash thought that was a load of crap, personally. Dash had a few teammates who got extra help from the school’s learning center and they could handle themselves just fine.

Regardless, at this rate, Fenton was going to fail out of school.

Which was why it was of no surprise to Dash when he and Kwan were called down to Mr. Lancer’s office one day with a request to tutor Fenton.

“I know this is a lot of responsibility, and I know you haven’t always seen ways with Mr. Fenton in the past,” Mr. Lancer said, his fingers steepled in front of his chin. “But I can’t ask just anyone to do this. You two are leaders in your class, and you have some high marks to boot. Mr. Lee, you have consistently scored in the top ten percent of the class in your English and history courses, and Mr. Baxter, this past year you’ve done remarkably well in your math course.”

Dash had been regarded as many different things. Athletic, social, hotheaded, cocky, brave—but never smart. He was always known as the high school jock stereotype, he never did well in school.

But Mr. Lancer always knew he was more than just a stereotype, and when he called Dash and his parents after school one day with the recommendation that Dash get tested for ADD, suddenly everything clicked. 

It was amazing how a small pill each morning could turn Dash from a C student to a rising A student in the matter of a few months.

“And because I know how much I’m asking of you two, I have spoken to your teachers and they are willing to give you extra credit on your final exams as compensation.”

Dash cleared his throat. “Mr, Lancer,” he started, his voice scratchy. “With all due respect, why have us tutor him? Why not have the teachers do it?”

“I have been working with Mr. Fenton, and I’ll continue to through the school year. But he needs that peer to peer connection, he needs the support of those around him. I’m sure you’ve noticed the shift in your class, the growing uneasiness of those around you?”

Dash nodded. He would have had to have been blind to not see how everyone seemed to skirt around Fenton in the hallways, how nobody except Manson and Foley said so much as a “hello” to him.

“I understand,” said Dash. 

“The...ghost inhibitor thing isn’t helping, either,” Kwan added. “I’ve never seen that kind of technology used on any ghost. And you have to admit, Danny’s been acting really strange lately. Like he’s not even here. Mr. Lancer, if you don’t mind me asking, is it...are they…?”

The unsaid question hung in the air, and Mr. Lancer’s eyes darkened. “There’s only so much I’m allowed to say on this matter. But I would say your suspicions about the devices are likely to be true. Although, it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly how much they’re affecting Mr. Fenton. He’s been through a lot.”

Dash felt lightheaded. So the rumors about the devices were true. At least, somewhat true.

If there was one thing both Fenton and Phantom were, it was resilient. Sure, the Guys in White could knock him down, but to change him this much? To give him so much baggage he couldn’t even speak?

It screamed foul play.

“That’s terrible,” Kwan said. “It’s sick knowing that they’d do that to him.”

“Indeed. Which is why I’m asking you both to step up as leaders of your class and help your fellow peer through this difficult time. If we can help Mr. Fenton become more integrated with his classmates, we may have a case to allow him to remove the inhibitors and get him real help.”

Dash could feel Kwan’s eyes on him, and he knew why. Dash and Fenton had history, and that made this complicated. There was so much unfinished business between the two. 

Was Dash ready to take this step? Was he really ready to be the selfless, altruistic hero like Phantom instead of the bully he had always been?

“Again, I know the school is asking so much of you both, and I am willing to personally help if need be. If, for whatever reason, you feel as though you can’t do it, there will be no judgement from me or any of your other teachers. This is entirely up to you.”

If Dash said no, Kwan would follow. If Dash wasn’t ready, Kwan wouldn’t force him into that position. It was exactly why Dash and Kwan were such good friends: Dash got his way, and he always knew Kwan would have his back.

But that wasn’t healthy. And it didn’t lead to good outcomes in the long term.

Now was the time for Dash to take that step. 

He needed to be the leader instead of the coward he always was.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll do it.”

---

If Fenton was confused as to why his two former childhood bullies were now his after school homework buddies all of the sudden, he didn’t say it.

In fact, he didn’t say anything at all.

But Dash knew this would happen going into it. He knew it would be difficult to tell if Fenton’s head was in the clouds or if he was truly in the present. And he knew Fenton would just go along with whatever they threw at him anyway.

Because he was Fenton. He could never let Dash have the last metaphorical word, even if he was being suppressed by the physical manifestation of the United States government on his wrist, ankles, and neck.

He was annoying like that.

“See, this is what goes into the equation. F of x has its own definition, and g of x has its own definition. So in this problem we’re just replacing f of x and g of x with what’s written here. You see?” Dash asked, circling the functions and drawing arrows with his multicolored pens.

Fenton just stared down at his paper.

“Here, we can do it together,” Dash said. He took Fenton’s paper and wrote out the equation, going through the problem step by step with his neatest handwriting. Following Kwan’s lead from earlier, he talked through every minute detail about the equation, pausing in between lines to allow the information to sink in, and to give Fenton the opportunity to interrupt if he was lost.

Even though it was obvious that Fenton wasn’t going to interrupt.

And he didn’t. He sat there, staring dully at the paper like he was watching cement dry. And at the end, once Dash put his pencil down, Fenton just ran his finger across the problem, his brow furrowed like he couldn’t figure out how Dash’s writing had ended up on his paper.

And maybe he truly couldn’t figure it out. Maybe he didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe he had no idea that Dash was tutoring him.

Dash wasn’t a mind reader. He didn’t know what was going on in Fenton’s head.

“That makes sense, Dash!” Kwan supplied from across them, his voice bright and cheery. 

Even though they were technically just tutoring Fenton, framing the group as a small, informal study group seemed more appropriate in Dash’s eyes. 

“I think I understand this a little better now. What do you think, Danny?”

Fenton blinked slowly, his head raising to face Kwan.

“Do you think you get the first problem?” Dash asked.

Fenton’s gaze flickered over to Dash, and the confused expression on his face deepened. He cocked his head slightly, as if he was just seeing Dash for the first time.

A beat of silence stretched around the table, and Dash held his breath, waiting for something to happen. But after a moment too long, Fenton just turned his attention back to the paper, staring at it motionless.

Dash couldn’t help but send a quick ‘help’ glance over at Kwan. He had never tutored anyone in his life, much less a teen who was seemingly incapable of responding. 

Maybe...maybe this was a mistake. Maybe he was wrong to think he could do this.

But fortunately, before he could get too deep in his own insecurities, Kwan came to the rescue. “Dash, can we do one more together before trying a problem on our own? Number two looks a little different than number one, and I don’t really understand how to set up the equation!”

Dash sent a mental thank you Kwan’s way before plucking a purple pen off the table. “Sure!” He turned to Danny’s paper. “Okay, this is f of x. Looking at the equation, we know that it goes here. And this—” He swapped to a green pen “—is g of x. Where do you think this one goes?”

He sat patiently, as if he were waiting for Fenton to respond.

But Dash knew that he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. He was wasting his time with this pause, even if he was only doing it to be polite.

Truth be told, he didn’t even think Fenton was listening to him. Fenton probably was incapable of that. Hell, he probably didn’t even remember where he was or how he got here.

But, just as Dash was about to go ahead and answer his own question for Fenton, the small teen shifted beside him. Dash’s eyes snapped onto Fenton, watching as the boy lifted his arm off his lap and pointed to the paper.

Dash’s eyes trailed down to the worksheet, down to Fenton’s hand, and froze. 

Fenton was pointing to the correct part of the equation.

He had been listening to Dash. He, somehow, was able to understand Dash.

Dash looked over to Kwan, who too was resembling a fish with his open mouth stare at the duo. His eyes met Dash’s, and a smile overtook his expression. He shot Dash a thumbs up, a clear encouragement to continue on.

“Yeah,” Dash breathed, turning his attention back to Fenton. “Yeah, that’s it.”

Fenton’s hand dropped back to his lap.

“Good, now let’s solve this together.”

---

As the days turned to weeks, slowly tutoring Fenton got a little easier. Though it was still impossible for Dash and Kwan to know just how much Fenton was absorbing with their sessions, they were starting to be able to decipher small behavioral quirks in Fenton’s body language to help guide them through the haze.

An eyebrow twitch here, a tiny jerk of his pupils there. His movements were small, but telling. And when he was truly spaced out, when their questions would yield not even the faintest twitch from him, a gentle tap on his arm seemed to pull him back to reality.

Tutoring Fenton could be difficult—some days it felt like nothing they said was committing to his fleeting memory—but it wasn’t impossible. Because under that dense fog clouding his mind was still the annoying, snarky teen they had grown up with.

And some days, they could still see glimpses of that snarky teen in him.

“Yeah so the coach is having us an extra gym routine tomorrow,” Dash said, closing his notebook and leaning back in his chair. “So I’ll probably be a half hour late picking you up. Sound good?”

Fenton didn’t respond.

Not that Dash was expecting him to.

“I hear we’re gonna have a wall-sit contest,” Kwan said. “Dale crushed us all last time, but I’ll have my revenge this time around!”

Fenton’s eyes flickered up to Dash. He tapped his thigh, the corner of his lips twitching up.

“What?”

Fenton paused, seemingly mulling something over, before loosely pointing to Dash’s legs with a subtle smirk.

Dash sat up, realization dawning on him. “Are you…are you calling my legs weak?”

Judging by the ghost of an impish grin on Fenton’s features, Dash was right.

“Really? You too?”

Fenton grinned and tapped his legs again.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk!” Dash crossed his arms. “I could kick your scrawny ass to next year if I wanted to!”

Fenton raised his brows ever so slightly.

“What, you think just because you’re Phantom that means you’re stronger than me?” Dash jammed his thumb to his chest. “Don’t forget who your gym buddy was Freshman year! Once those inhibitors come off, it’s you and me at the gym! I’d like to see you try to keep up with me, Fenton!”

Dash heard a snort from the other side of the table. His head whipped around to see Kwan with his hands cupping his mouth.

“What are you laughing at?”

With that, Kwan bursted out laughing and leaned back in his chair. “Dude!” He exclaimed, seemingly catching a breath. “You really think you can bench more than Phantom? Oh my god—I can’t breathe—that’s the funniest fucking thing!”

“Hey, have my back here!” Dash snapped. He glanced over to Danny, whose face had broken out into a full grin. “Yeah, laugh it up why don’t you!”

Danny just tapped his legs as a response.

Kwan roared in laughter and all but fell off of his chair.

“Oh, shut up!”

---

“We want in,” a voice said from above him.

Dash stuffed his notebook into his backpack, not even bothering to glance up at the speaker. “What are you talking about?”

“We know you’ve been doing homework with Danny after school, and we want to join.”

Dash sighed and threw his bag over his shoulder. He stood, facing Manson in all her glory. Though her outfit didn’t scream quite as goth as it had when they were Freshmen, she still had the same self-righteous stance that had always irritated Dash.

“Okay?” Dash responded. “And who is ‘we’?”

“Tucker and I. You know, Danny’s best friends? Have been since elementary school? The two people who have actually been there for him this whole time? Ring a bell?”

Dash rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m leaving. Study with him on your own time.”

He turned to walk away, but she grabbed his arm, pulling him back. “Wait. Sorry, just—” She paused, dropping her arm back to her side, and Dash watched as a myriad of emotions flickered through her expression. Her gaze dropped to the floor, and cracks of insecurity seeped through her features. “Sorry. Let me start over.”

He straightened back up. “I’m listening.”

She took a deep breath. When she started, her voice was quiet but steady. “I get why Lancer asked you and Kwan to work with him. I do, I get it. But Tucker and I are his best friends. And you know how he is right now. Those devices are...they’re messing with his head. I know they are.” Her gaze flickered up at Dash, and she looked scared. “It hurts seeing him like this, you know?”

“Yeah, I know,” Dash said. “But I don’t see what this has to do with our study sessions.”

“He just seems happier now since he started. He seems better.”

Dash blinked. Whatever he was expecting her to say, that definitely wasn’t it.

Manson hugged herself, her shoulders hunching. She looked...small. Fragile. As if the slightest breeze would topple her over. 

This wasn’t like her.

“Whatever you guys have been doing, it’s working. He’s getting better. I don’t know, he just seems more present now. And...it hurts that I haven’t been there during this. You know, it’s been months since I’ve heard his voice. Not since before he got captured, since before those evil devices were forced on him. I know they’re preparing for a court case to get them removed, and I know there’s a chance he’ll get better again, but I just…”

“You miss him,” Dash said, surprising himself. 

“Yeah. I do.”

Dash sighed. “I don’t know how I can help with this.”

“Just give us a chance? Please. Just let us tag along, even if it’s only for a few days a week. We won’t interfere with the tutoring, we just want to be there.”

He stared at her silently, studying her face under her bangs. 

The past year had been hard on her, that much was obvious. And Dash, as unobservant and bullheaded as he was, could see the dark circles under her eyes, her blotchy skin, her chapped lips.

The way she stood there before him, a person who she would never have been caught dead being friendly with, defeated and all but begging for help.

Dash wasn’t selfless. He wasn’t altruistic.

He was just a dumb jock.

But in that moment, as he scrutinized the way her hands fidgeted and her lower lip wobbled, he couldn’t help but feel her sadness, her regret.

It was painful to watch.

“Okay.” He turned away. “We meet at Kwan’s at four. I’ll see you both there.”

---

chapter two> 

[theplanetprince]

Oh my godddddddddd, I finally realized everyone mischaracterizes Dash Baxter in these hypothetical aus where he joins the main ghost trio as a type of Kevin E. Levin. Which isn't a bad thing, but Kevin is a great character in his own right in his own show. Its hard for me to put into words how the reason why I think the side cast of Dp has such a great potential to become better characters than how they were initially presented, was because they had their own unique and endearing quirks and faults. That put them at odds with not only each other but the main cast.

Val's kind of a jock, and has a temper but her friends didnt seem to mind it. The main thing that separates her and her A-lister friends is her sense of pride, she doesn't accept their money because it would define their relationship to her in a way she's uncomfortable with.

Paulina is the kind of hardcore bitchy queen bee, but she never apologizes for being confident in herself, but she can also be extremely sentimental and takes things like her Phantom crush so seriously because she likes to pay back those who help her.

Kwan is the lovable goof ball who is not afraid to try new things even if he might be bad at them. He doesn't complain that much when getting stuck with the phantom duo and actively tries to participate in their activities. His fault is that his identity is solely defined by the people he follows.

And Dash Baxter. The underrated and often terribly misrepresented gay coward. He very rarely picks on the main trio unless Danny starts it. He's extremely invested in making his school a better place. He clearly takes whatever undertaking from his classmates in stride. He may talk and physically intimidate his way past people but as soon as hes given a challenge that he knows is too big for him, he cracks. Kevin E. Levin he is not. He's a spoiled rich boy who likes school, because he feels it's the only place he matters, and it's the only place where he consistently wins.

And like again, I understand the desire to want to make these guys the bad guys or the misunderstood popular people with unhappy home lives, and you can do that without totally erasing the fact that they do have traits unique to their source material.

[phantoms-lair]

Hero's Spirit Snippet

A red bolt of plasma interrupted the fight and pinned the Hero Killer to the wall. "Izuku Midoriya what the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Sorry Valerie," Izuku said weakly, the white ring signifying his return to normal forming along his middle.

"Don't you dare! Your living form actually has organs where those holes are and...you used the Wail didn't you?"

"Sorry," Izuku said weakly.

"You two," Valerie ordered Iida and Todoroki, "Get him out of here. Make sure he doesn't use his powers or changes back until those stab wounds have mostly filled in."

"What about Stain?" Iida asked, even as he moved to support his friend.

"He won't be able to hurt me or escape my tech. I'll keep an eye on him till reinforcements come."

"So you'll take all the credit?" Todoroki said dryly.

Valerie's eyes flared red. "I'm getting myself listed as a vigilante so Midoriya doesn't have to face the consequences of this. You realize if word gets out you fought a villain your protection is gone right?"

Neither Todoroki nor Iida knew what she meant, but the soft explative coming from their injured friend said volumes.

"Go." She ordered, and none of the three questioned it.

~

Iida had so many questions. Why had Midoroya referred to himself as undead and 'Valerie' called his normal state his 'living form'? Why had he said he'd been murdered by a villain? What 'protection' did he have and why would he lose it?

And yet he didn't think he could ask any of them. His idiocy was the reason Midoriya had been hurt so badly and them all put at risk. How could he face his friends, much less ask deeply personal questions?

"I guess I owe you guys an explanation?" Izuku asked weakly. The ring formed around his waist, but he banished it.

"No you don't." Todoroki said bluntly. "Personal stuff, especially the hard stuff, isn't owed to anyone. When I shared my past with you, it was because I wanted to."

Izuku was quiet a moment. "Maybe I should anyway. I thought I was okay with stuff, but obviously not if I lost it like that."

They ducked into an alcove, allowing him to rest and giving them a modicum of privacy. "Okay, so you know my quirk was latent and I only unlocked it last spring, right?"

Iida and Todoroki nodded. It was common knowledge that was why he had so much trouble controlling his quirk at the start of the year.

"Turns out that wasn't the case. Like, to be fair I thought it was. Most latent quirks emerge in times of high stress and being the victim of a villain attack fit. But All Might saved me at the last moment and it was fine." The hysterical note in his voice showed it very much was not fine.

"And then the ghosts. showed up. Which sounds stupid, but that's what happened. They were calling me 'The Great One' and -"

Todoroki sat up straight. "The Yeti-person who stopped the villain attacking the school. She apologized to 'The Great One'. I thought she meant All Might but-"

"It was me. " Izuku said dryly. "I wasn't keen to advertise the fact. And I also didn't want to explain she and the person she captured were ghosts."

Iida bit his tongue. Ghosts seemed beyond far fetched, but it didn't feel right questioning his friend on the matter.

"The dog is too?" Todoroki guessed. "That's why it can disappear and go through walls. And all those reports of people with similar powers breaking quirk regulation laws..."

"Ghosts." Izuku confirmed. "The Honor Guard try to keep as many as they can from getting through."

"Who?" Iida finally asked.

Izuku huffed. "Right, I guess I have to explain about him. Danny, hero name Phantom. He's from long ago. Before...before quirks, really. His parents were experimenting with a portal to the Underworld and he got caught in it. Changed him. Basically made him undead. And he decided to become a hero with it. He did a pretty good job, up until..."

Izuku swallowed. "Up until some fanatics backed by the American Government decided to basically blow up the Underworld to destroy all the unnatural things in it. But the Land of the Living and the Land of the Dead are connected, destroying one would destroy both."

"Danny sacrificed himself to save both worlds, destroying his parents gate in the process. He was mostly forgotten in the land of the living, as part of a cover up for the government to hide their involvement, but in the Land of the Dead he's like their All Might. This Legend that saved them all. He's got a gigantic following of people trying to live up to his ideals. The Honor Guard is a part of that. So is Valerie."

"He sounds like a true hero." Iida observed. "But you sounded upset when you first mentioned him."

Izuku left out a puff of breath. "Because I am him."

The other two just stared at him.

"Reincarnated." Izuku amended. "I was him in a past life. That's how I got his powers. It wasn't a close call, my body died and that triggered the undead powers from my past life. That also triggered the portal reopening, which is why the ghosts are coming through now. And it should be cool knowing I was a real hero in a past life, but I don't know if I can ever live up to everyone's expectations of me. And it's great I have so many people who want to help, but I also know each and every one of them would rather I be him instead."

"Midoriya, did you...see a councilor after the villain attack." Iida asked lenitively.

"Yeah," He shrugged. "New quirk, gotta figure it out and register it. Drove me crazy because it made no sense since, you know, turned out it wasn't a quirk at all."

"Not a quirk councilor." Todoroki clarified. "A trauma councilor." Izuku blinked at them.

"That's a no." Iida sighed, feeling another spark on anger in him. Thankfully not the maddening rage of before, but...he'd hated hearing Izuku talk of his treatment before he got his quirk and hated that even afterwards he still fell through the cracks. "You should have received some aid for dealing with such a horrible experience. Especially one bad enough you...are you entirely sure that you....?"

"I felt my lungs give out and my brain shut down." Izuku said simply. "I was fine after I transformed, though. I went home after the villain was captured."

"You didn't even go to a hospital?" Todoroki and Iida shared a look. They'd have to have a talk with All Might after this.

"I was fine."

"You were not." Iida insisted. "No wonder you reacted so poorly to Stain. You must think me a monster too." He had gone into that alley with the intent to kill for Justice. How could he be any different from Stain in Midoriya's mind.

"You're not a monster you just...weren't thinking straight," Izuku winced.

"What did she mean by protections?" Todoroki asked, steering the topic back.

"Okay, so Danny was a regular opponent to a lot of ghosts trying to break into the Land of the Living and a large amount started fighting him because they liked the challenge. It's been explained that I won't fight them until I get my Hero License, so that's been keeping them back. Some of the Honor Guard focus on keeping the more stubborn ones away from me, and Valerie acts as a bodyguard against those who make it through so they don't get their way after all. But if word gets out I fought a villain, that means I would be willing to fight, so they'll come after me in droves."

Another pang of guilt stabbed Iida. He'd screwed things up worse than he knew.

Todoroki reached into Izuku's oversized sleeve and grabbed his hand. A silent show of support. Just like Iida, the fact that Izuku had died and no one seemed to have noticed infuriated him. Izuku took the support and ran with it, grabbing Todoroki and sobbing his characteristic stream of tears. Todoroki shot Iida a glare demanding he join in the group hug.

Iida was unsure he was welcome, but complied. Izuku grabbed onto him too.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying,"

"You went through a terrible thing and weren't allowed to deal with it. Maybe now you can?" Iida suggested.

"You died. You're allowed to cry over it."

Izuku took that advice to heart, sobbing harder. He changed back partially through the cry and apologized for getting his blood (now red) on their costumes.

As they separated, Todoroki brushed some of the red off and stared at his fingers. The villain who'd attacked him, the hero who just left him, the ghosts who'd offered him guidance but no comfort, the system that ignored him. How many others had Izuku's blood on their hands as much as he did now and never even realized.

[ghostgothgeek]

Hi, I'm sorry if this ask bothers you, and I hope it doesn't give you trouble, but I've been thinking and I just need to get this outta my chest.

A lot of Sam criticism comes from Sam "not acknowledging her mistakes", and I can't help but think that's a result of her not apologising as explicitly as people want?

I first want to clear up that I love Sam and believe this is BS, because she does acknowledge when she's wrong. But I wanted to dwell on the why of this belief.

The only "problem" is that her way of apologising is usually not your typical sorry. This is actually common in cartoons. Saying sorry is important and should be featured more often, but storytelling tends to prefer using actions over words because it gives a certain symbolism to it.

Case on point, in Girls' Night Out, Sam's way of apologising to Jazz for not trusting her abilities as ghost hunter is to follow her plan and, most importantly, to acknowledge her as Ghost Getter #1. Something Jazz even beamed at. And that helped them bond.

Sorry this got long, may I ask your opinion on it? If you don't want to answer, that's okay, thank you for your time 💖

Hi @geekgirles! I’m so so sorry it took me this long to reply - I’ve been really busy getting back to work! I also wanted to rewatch this episode both for fun and also to better answer this.

Firstly, you are not bothering me at all and this isn’t too long! I’m seriously so honored you would ask for my opinion!

Also, you bring up a good point. I never really thought of that. Sam is a lot more mature than Danny and Tucker, so it would make sense that she knows actions speak louder than words.

Also I actually love this episode. The only downside is the forced tension between Sam and Jazz, and I say forced because they get along well in all the other episodes. They just had it for a plot point in this episode because Sam and Danny were getting closer to being a couple, and I guess she needed “family approval” even though she basically lives at Fenton Works already. It was definitely forced tension, which honestly is stupid and I hate it. But also, some of the best lines are in this episode!

“What was that?”

“What? You think you’re the only one who can drive men away?”

“One of us is gonna have to dress up like a boy.”

“Oh come on, it’s because I wear boots right?”

“Wow.”

“Frightened now?”

“No, I can’t believe you have a girlfriend.”

“Uh, why are all these women armed?”

Seeing all the women, human and ghost, team up is amazing and hilarious. Its cool to see how ghost powers can combine.

It’s also hilarious to have all the couples - Danny and Sam, Johnny and Kitty, Ember and Skulker, Spectra and Bertram, even Jack and Maddie (and the friendship between Dash and Kwan, the mother/daughter relationship between Jazz and Maddie, and the father/son relationship between Jack and Danny). In the end, everyone learns a little something about someone else, which is both dope and a great lesson and character development.

Anyways, back to Sam and Jazz in this episode. Tucker is also kinda standoffish to Jazz, it’s not just Sam. Sam is a bit more sassy (when is she not?) but Tucker is also rejecting Jazz. I think Sam is justified to be worried about Jazz joining the team (she doesn’t have as much experience fighting ghosts, earlier in the series she wanted nothing to do with ghost hunting, when she tries to help she usually sucks Danny in the thermos) even though Jazz is improving. I don’t think Sam had the right to be kinda nasty towards Jazz, but it is also kinda Sam’s character to be like that towards anyone who isn’t Danny and Tucker. But again, the tension between the girls was forced in this episode, because Tucker was hesitant towards Jazz too and yet the focus of the episode is on Jazz and Sam.

I’ll get to the apology thing, but I think something I see often other than “Sam doesn’t apologize” is “Sam always ends up being right so it reinforces her bad behavior” - which I still don’t get. Now the apology. The example you brought to this conversation is a perfect instance of Sam being wrong and admitting it. She tells Jazz good job when Jazz is excited her plan worked, and called her ghost getter #1. They are shown complimenting each other later on and going out for ice cream together. You are correct - in her actions, Sam has not only admitted she was wrong and apologized, but she also accepts and compliments Jazz, and vice verse. Sam may not have said “I’m sorry, I was wrong” like she did to Paulina in Parental Bonding, but actions can speak louder than words. It’s one thing to say “I was wrong sorry” and not really mean it versus actually enthusiastically accepting and complimenting Jazz both for her plan and how well she handled the equipment. At the end of the episode, I think it’s safe to call them friends, and not just sister and best friend of Danny.

Another thing I’d like to point out: we’ve seen Sam use the bazooka and Jazz use the ghost peeler, but in this episode they are essentially using each other’s weapons and complimenting each other on how great the other is doing (can I just say that Sam with the ghost peeler is fucking badass). That’s mutual respect and approval. It’s better than just an admission of being wrong and an apology.

So between this, her apology to Paulina in Parental Bonding, and even her literally saying “you were right” to Danny in DCMH, you could argue that Sam DOES have some character development throughout the show. I’m sure we would have seen much more of the series wasn’t cut short by BH’s selfishness. I think that if there were to be more seasons before forcing the ending in season 3/Phantom Planet, we would have seen more character development in general, particularly with Sam, and I also think the Danny/Sam relationship wouldn’t have seemed as forced as most people see it now. I’m positive that there was seasons of development for their relationship, and the writers basically had to go from chapter 5 to the end of a 60 chapter book in essentially 10 short episodes. Season 3 was rushed, but I understand how the writers still wanted to get to their end game plans for the show to try and tie up loose ends. I think we can all agree that the show did not end gracefully or the way any of us wanted, but remember it is because they were forced to shove so much plot that should go on for seasons into like a third of a season because they were cancelled. It got messy and therefore the execution was poor.

Anyway, that’s way more analysis than you asked for (sorry), but yeah, I can agree with Sam’s form of apologizing not being as straight forward as some would have liked. I hope this answers your question! Feel free to hit me with more!

[al-n-cartoons]

Character Notes for "The Multiverse in a Blender"

Some of these characters are fairly similar in personality and how they speak, so I've been trying to figure out each way their personalities divulge. Please add onto this if you come up with anything (it would be helpful!).

Ben Tennyson: Easy go lucky, cheery, a person-pleaser, has a bit of a vanity streak, is sporty, is dorky, is very overworked, gets bored easily (I'm writing him as having ADHD and OCD), is a fantastic actor/schemer/opertunist. Puts his work above his health. Has an eidetic memory. Is an Aroflux omnisexual. His fashion tastes are a blend of punk and sporty, but the former isn't very socially acceptable in most settings so he tends to keep it to himself.

Rex Salazar: Is sporty, funny, and a bit temperamental. Has a definit rebellious streak and is impulsive, but has a rock-solid understanding of right and wrong. Basically, he'd be the one to punch someone in the face if he felt they deserved it. Is a heterosexual.

Bubbles: Overly excitable, naive, loves life and everything in it. Isn't very book smart, but is a force on the battle field (brute force, like Rex and Buttercup). Is a follower. Loves animals and violence (gets along well with Rex). She's a bit fascinated with the darker aspects of life, but is so cheery that most people view her aggression on the battle field as being ditzy. Is family and friend oriented. Is an aromantic asexual.

Buttercup: Has clearer morals than Bubbles and, although she is a definite punk, is overall less violent than Bubbles. Is competitive (hello, Ben and Rex) and wants to be sporty ("Ben, HOW DO YOU PLAY SOCCER!?). Is a bit rebellious and rude, but does wind up doing as Blossom instructs. Admires Ben's prowess in battle, and is learning from him how to tone down her destructiveness (which is a trait nearly all of her siblings naturally possess per the nature of their powers). Has never thought of her sexuality, and doesn't care to label herself. If she likes a guy, gal, etcetera, she likes 'em.

Blossom: the Sadsap charged with keeping her haywire siblings in check. Loves books, romance novels, and baking. Tries to be nice, but is also a realist (That painting is very colorful, Bubbles, but maybe we should keep the red inside of the people, okay?). Is very interested in healthy eating and loves trying to incorporate healthy stuff into her experimental baked goods (she doesn't use sugar or lipids very much, so her cooking tends to flop per taste and failure to hold in moisture). Is quizzical, sharp, and an opportunist. Isn't afraid to pummel someone if she felt there was need enough ("either you give me the code to disarm the bomb, or I turn your face into pulp.") She is a complete gay-panic.

Bliss: The oldest and second to least emotionally mature sister of the bunch. She tries to lead, but doesn't really know what she's doing. Loves to fight and can access her powers easily, but can't keep them from blowing up on people. Is prone to emotional outbursts and, per the nature of her powers, this is to her detriment. Isn't sociable and hates crowded places. Loves her siblings to bits and loves to bring Bubbles pieces of her foes (rocks, scales, strips of metal that had impaled them) to commemorate her victories. Thinks Danny's the sweetest little thing ("You like space? We can go there, like, right this second. 1-2-3 *zooms away, leaving a confused Danny behind*"). Ace and aro.

Dexter: The adopted brother of Bliss, Buttercupe, Blossom, and Bubbles. Is short-tempered and tends to sulk. Is inventive and technical; a fantastic creator of weaponry and anything of the like. Has a one-sided crush on Ben, but denies so much as liking the guy. Loves coffee but doesn't like to eat much, going so far as creating nutrition pills so as to bypass the affair ("The activity which you are suggesting, Blossom, is a waste of time.") Is a homosexual.

Danny Phantom: Is snarky and has a sardonic personality. Is more serious than some of his cohorts (looking at you, Rex and Bubbles) but loves to wisecrack and is VERY sassy. Is also extremely platonic, loving and trusting his two best friends (Sam and Tucker) with his life. Has a dorky flair for astronomy, and can recognize essentially every constellation in the sky (as well as quite a few of their stories). Has a crush in a character from his hometown, Valerie. Would punch someone in the face as payback, then forgive them for whatever they'd done to upset him or someone else. Is a trans heterosexual (bicurious, perhaps biromantic, but is not bisexual). Has claustrophobia.

Zak Saturday: Exceedingly compassionate and family-oriented, as well as highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and strategizing. Is very ingenious. Enjoys teasing and joking around, but will also nag someone if he thinks they're being idiotic (this makes it so that he and Rex are a bit at odds with one another). Is also great at finding common ground/compromising. Basically, he'd be the one fixing someone's broken nose and explaining to them where they went wrong, then give them a lollipop. Is dating Ben (they started at age 12) and gets along great with Blossom. Is pansexual.

Connie Maheswaran: Is both people smart and book smart, but lacks quite a bit of street knowledge. Is a considerable combatant, and has a quick wit, but would rather focus on the task at hand than joke around (she calls Danny and Ben out over this). Is kind and understanding, but not a pushover. Has a good head in her shoulders, and is good with details. After their universes fuse, she may take her various skills (hand-to-hand combat, acute intellect, interest in outer space) and apply them to the Plumbers as a long-term career.

Dipper Pines: Family-oriented, not very sociable with people of his age group. Is insecure around the others listed here (baring Mabel, for obvious reasons); sees himself as inferior since he's an intellectual and is incapable on the actual battle field (his words, not mine). Is incredibly smart, a technical thinker, and has a fantastic memory. Is a bi disaster half the time. LOVES to strategize and plot out the how and why for any problem. Loves gaming. Bites off more than he can chew. Keeps Mabel from hurting herself more often than either of them are willing to admit ("Mabel, that's a garbage disposal, not a slide. Mabe-MABEL!!!?") is a panromantic heterosexual. Has a long-distance relationship with Pacifica, but both of them are equally supportive so it's worked out thus far.

Mabel Pines: Family and friend oriented, is a bi disaster. Is an obscene romantic, which tends to leave her with her heart crushed, but she bounces back after a day or two. Is considerably strong, considering the fact that she's entirely human with no combat training, and is learning how to use hand-held weapons. Isn't very intuitive, but is very interpersonally smart. Is an animal lover, owning a pet pig and cat ("Dipper, look, my babies are cuddling!") (I didn't add the cat in, guys; episode one).

Steven Universe: Is the human teddy bear. He is a pacifist, meaning that he refuses to start fights or violence but isn't afraid to save someone from another or themselves. Tries to fix every problem but his own. Is a compulsive overexplainer and apologizer. His best friend is a lion, so people tend not to mess with him. Also, Lion likes to just lie atop Steven's van when they go places. He is compassionate, caring, loving, trusting, and has mommy issues (and also slight daddy issues, but barely). Trauma baby who only wants his girlfriend to succeed and for her to be happy (preferably with him nearby, but he tries to give her a respectful distance). He is a panromantic asexual.

Is that everyone? I think that's everyone.

Edit: I forgot Steven, guys. Had to edit him in.

[dp-marvel94]

Face to Face -Chapter 28

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First ->Last -> Next

Word Count: 6,581

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: Hi everyone! I'm finally back with a new chapter! Happy reading and feel free to tell me what you think.

Doing homework with his other self while huddled on the bed was comfortably normal. So was making small talk with Jazz as the pair, human and ghost, and the red-head set the table for dinner. For a moment, it was like any other family meal, as if nothing was wrong.

And then Mom had come up the stairs, the downcast look on her face serving as a harsh reminder that things were not alright. Her eyes briefly met Fentons before she looked down. At once, several emotions clashed in his heart but the boy pushed them away, deliberately focusing on putting the plates into their spots.

And now the group of five sat around the table in near silence. And it was awkward, so awkward, painfully awkward. Fenton sat at his normal seat, lithelessly picking at his food. He glanced over at his other half. With his hands clenched in his lap, the ghost looked just as uncomfortable as Fenton felt. Frowning, the human forced a bite into his mouth as he listened to Jazz talk about her day with their dad. But Mom remained silent, slowly eating. Occasionally, her eyes flickered up, meeting his or his ghost half’s eyes before looking away. 

Fenton’s heart fluttered with anxiety. Earlier, when he and Phantom had been talking, he’d felt...not confident per say but he’d had a plan, an idea of how he was going to react. He and Phantom had talked; the ghost had felt more anger over what happened than him while Fenton had been hurt but was trying to remain hopeful. It was odd, the two different feelings, but maybe they were again feeling different parts of the same thing. Either way, they could not give into that anger but would be hopeful and agree to Mom and Dad’s rules.

But now….Mom was back to avoiding his eyes, either pair. And that hurt. A tiny spark of annoyance flickered inside him at the avoidance. And she hadn’t apologized; Phantom’s words rang in his head, feeding his anger.

“Danny?” Jazz saying his name cut through the thought. “How was school?”

The human Danny sighed, before giving a vague answer. “It was fine. Just a regular school day.” He took a bite of his mac and cheese and chewed. 

There were more vague answers as Jazz and Dad asked Fenton what he was studying and then as Jazz asked Phantom what he did today. 

The ghost blanched. “I did some chores. I helped Mom and Dad in lab. And uhh… watched some Star Trek with Dad.” He carefully skipped over the details about what exactly happened downstairs and their parents’ argument. Tellingly, Mom and Dad said nothing either.

Jazz deduced that something was up. She glanced at the parents, giving questioning looks but neither acknowledged her curiosity. Instead Mom deflected. “How about you, sweetie? What did you learn today Jazz?”

With a raised eyebrow, the girl answered, explaining what she was studying in her classes. Her words became increasingly enthused as she talked about today’s lesson in AP Biology. (It was just like his sister to find any learning exciting, even if it wasn’t her beloved psychology). But despite her excitement, Jazz still gave occasional glances to Fenton and Phantom, looking like she wanted to ask about the tension between both versions of her brother and their parents. But she didn’t question.

Soon enough, the family finished eating. Or well….the human members finished. The ghost let out a relieved sigh as Mom stood up and started putting the leftovers away. Jazz soon followed. Dad stretched patting his belly happily as Fenton stood and Phantom floated from the chairs.

Mom turned around, addressing the kids. “Jazz, Danny did you finish your homework?”

Jazz shook her head as did Fenton. Phantom crossed his arms. “We still have a chapter of Animal Farm to read.”

The woman nodded in acknowledgement before turning to her husband. “Jack, honey. Do you want to work downstairs for a bit? We didn’t get very far on the ghost catcher today and….I have an idea I wanted to discuss.” 

Dad shrugged. “Sure, Mads.” 

With a wave, the two adults walked to the basement door before disappearing through it. Fenton watched with a tight frown. What exactly would they be discussing? And Dad’s reaction….He sounded casual and at ease, not angry at the woman like he’d been after their argument. In fact, he seemed satisfied with her promise to train their son and let him fly. Honestly, that was a surprising and the human Danny couldn’t help but feel disappointed, not that he had any words to explain why.

Phantom gently elbowed him out of his thoughts. “Come on. We’ve got reading.” A tight frown also plastered itself on his face; obviously he was thinking and feeling much the same.

With a nod, Fenton turned around. Then his eyes feel on Jazz. His sister stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room with one eyebrow raised.

“Did something happen with Mom and Dad today?” She asked quietly.

The human boy sighed. Like he surmised, she had picked up on the tension. The two counterparts glanced at each other, a wordless conversation passing between the two.

Phantom sighed. "It's….well basically, I brought up to them letting me fly and training my powers. And...Mom wasn't happy about it. She and Dad had a fight and Mom was being…." He trailed off.

Fenton continued. "Overprotective, neurotic, ridiculous, unreasonable." His voice quieted. "She...she said some things."

"What things?" Jazz's face hardened and both Dannys flinched at the anger in her voice.

Phantom swallowed. "Just...the same shit she always says about ghosts." He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal.

"Danny." His sister's voice softened, tinged with concern.

"No, it's...it's fine Jazz. I know she's wrong." He crossed his arms. "It's not like I'm a real ghost anyway."

Fenton blinked, taking in the words. He wasn't sure if that was true, how his ghost half stacked up compared to a typical ghost. That was something they should maybe talk about and try to sort out.

Meanwhile, Phantom continued. "Plus she changed her mind about training us. Even said it'd be cruel to keep us from flying. So maybe she'll change her mind about me too."

Jazz's lips turned down in concern, though there was a flicker of anger behind her eyes; somehow it was comforting to see her angry on his behalf. "Danny, that doesn't excuse any of this."

"You think I don't know that?!" The ghost hissed. "But I can't do anything about what she thinks so it's whatever."

His sister gapped. "It's...whatever? How can you say that? It matters!"

"No it doesn't." Phantom said.

At the same time, Fenton said. "You're right."

The ghost's mouth snapped shut and he shook his head. "No it-"

Fenton held up a hand. "Danny, you're angry and in denial. What Mom thinks does matter to us."

Phantom opened and closed his mouth before glaring with a little heat. Jazz glanced between the two with slight confusion. “You two disagree?”

The human Danny huffed crossing his arms. “Not really. Like I said, denial.”

His sister’s expression softened as she nodded in understanding. “So...you are bothered by what Mom says.”

“Ummm. Yeah” Fenton bit his lip. “But-”

Jazz interrupted. “You should tell her that.”

Both Dannys blanched, looking at each other. “Look, Jazz.” The human held up a hand. “Neither of me wants to talk about this.” His counterpart bit his lip nervously and nodded in agreement. Then Fenton continued. “I’m tired, okay?” He sighed, lowering his hand. “I don’t wanna fight with Mom about this, not when I can’t change her mind.”

“But Danny-” The girl started.

Phantom cut her off. “No Jazz. I know we’re...I’m mad enough that if we try to talk to Mom tonight, it’ll turn into an argument.” He looked down, cheeks darkening with shame. “I’d probably just make everything worse anyway, not get her to change her mind.”

Jazz’s mouth fell in a troubled frown.

Fenton spoke before she could. “Jazz, it’s okay. We’ll just….we’ll have to be patient with Mom, like Dad said. She..she loves me, all of me, even if she’s being bull headed. She’ll come around?”

The girl crossed her arms, looking between the two. She huffed. “I still want to go down there and give her a piece of my mind.”

Phantom gave a long suffering sigh. “You already did that. I don’t have the energy to deal with this again.”

Jazz’s eyes narrowed at the words.

The human Danny puts his hands together in a begging motion. “Please Jazz. Not today. Let’s just wait and see what happens. If it doesn’t get better,” He sighed. “We’ll...talk to her.”

“Fine.” His sister held up his hands exacerbatedly. “But when you go talk to her, I am going with you. Okay?”

“Okay.” Both Dannys nodded in sync.

With that, Jazz made a gesture as if to say ‘I’m watching you’. With a wave, she started up to her room to work on homework. A few moments later, the pair also walked and floated up the stairs and into their room. Fenton grabbed a book off the desk. Then he and Phantom took turns reading aloud from the first chapter of Animal Farm. 

After twenty minutes, the ghost closed the book. “So that’s the reading. Anything else?”

Fenton shook his head. “Nope, that was it.” He flopped onto his back. “Man...that was so much easier to finish with all of our brain.”

Phantom raised a brow. “Or..err...all our mind...since I’m pretty sure you have our brain.” The human blanched as his ghost half continued. “Since apparently we have a brain” Phantom pointed at his other self’s head. “and a core.” Then he pointed at his own chest.

Sitting up, Fenton copied the action. He looked mystified before snorting. “Well….that’s something.” He blinked. “How does that work?”

Phantom shrugged. “No idea. It’s something we’ll need to sort out together, I guess.”

“Yeah. I guess.” The human rubbed the back of his neck, studying his ghost. 

The other figure rose a brow in question. “What is it?”

“I was just thinkin’....what you said about not being a real ghost. Are we sure that’s actually true?” Fenton asked.

The ghost blinked, frowning. “I mean...I...uhhh… I thought I was a real ghost, for a bit.” He looked down at his hands, cheeks green with shame. “Right after the ghost catcher and…” His voice quieted. “When I thought I was an imposter.”

Fenton’s heart clenched at the word, imposter. He offered his other self a comforting pat on the arm.

The ghost looked up, meeting his eyes. “I’m not, obviously. I’m your other half and you’re mine. We’re human.” He motioned to his counterpart. “And we’re a ghost too.” Biting his lip, he motioned to his own glowing body.

“But?” The human raised a brow.

“Well...we’re both but...”Phantom bit his lip.  “We’ve...we’ve both said we’re not really human anymore. And if we’re not really human...”

“Are we really a ghost? Or something else entirely?” Fenton finished, running a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah.” His counterpart’s shoulders fell. “I just..I don’t know...” 

The human frowned. “Man that’s….” He put a hand on his head. “I wish we knew more about ghosts.” 

The ghost perked up at the statement, tilting his head questioningly at the statement. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just…” Fenton sighed. “The only stuff we know is from horror stories, which probably aren’t true. We’ve barely even seen another ghost.”

“You’re right. There was that...ectopuss thing which just kinda hissed at me and flew away.”

“And that lunch lady ghost who...basically yelled at us, attacked our friends, and kidnapped Sam.” Fenton shivered, remembering the flames, the flying cooking utensils, Sam trapped in a pile of meat.

Beside him, Phantom paled. He swallowed nervously. “Yeah...her.”

Keenly understanding the anxiety, Fenton smiled comfortingly. “That’s just one ghost. We don’t know if she’s typical. Others might be more peaceful or reasonable or….”

“Do you think there actually are others like that?” The ghost asked, eyes wide with hope. “Ghosts we might actually be able to talk to?”

“I hope so.” Fenton leaned back, propping himself up with his arms. “I mean, who knows what’s on the other side of that portal and…” He bit his lip. “No matter what, I don’t think all ghosts are bad. Dying doesn’t just turn you evil, right? You’re...we’re proof of that.” He said the last part quietly, looking down.

Phantom straightened, taking a more confident stance. “I guess...yeah, we are.” He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly sheepish. “I guess it’s unfair to think that I’m different from other ghosts when we don’t actually know that I am.”

“Yeah…” The human furrowed his brow in thought. “I guess we need to try and find out more. See if any other ghosts show up. Maybe….” He worried his lip. “Maybe even talk to our parents about going into the Zone.”

Phantom scoffed. “Like that’ll happen.”

Fenton shrugged. “We can try. Mom and Dad did make the portal so they could learn more about ghosts. They’ll want to go into the Zone eventually to explore, maybe even find some ghosts to talk to.”

“Or experiment on.” The ghost muttered.

“Dude, you have to stop being so pessimistic.” The human sighed. “You know they’re not gonna experiment on a sentient ghost without their permission.”

For a few moments, Phantom continued sitting with crossed arms, a frown on his face. Then he conceded. “You’re right. They won’t. Now.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe I do need to stop being so negative. I guess...we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

“Yeah.” Fenton agreed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With that the conversation ended. With Mom and Dad in the lab and Jazz doing homework, the two Dannys struggled to find something to do. They were still grounded from their computer and video games. Finally Phantom suggested calling Sam and Tucker. The pair huddled on the bed with  their  cellphone between them as they chatted with their friends in casual, normal conversation. Or as normal as could be with two Dannys. Phantom smiled, enjoying himself anyway.

“I need to go.” Sam said after about an hour. “See you at school Fenton. And Phantom? Stay strong with your parents tomorrow. You’ve got this.”

The ghost blushed at the encouragement. “Thanks Sam.”

“I’ve gotta hang up too.” Tucker added. “Bye Danny. And Danny. And Sam. Talk to you guys later.”

“Bye.” Fenton and Phantom said in unison right before hanging up.

The human Danny glanced at the time on the phone. “We can do something else for 30 minutes, then I need to start getting ready for bed.”

His ghost’s lip turned down. “Alright….YouTube, then?” 

With a nod, Fenton opened the app and clicked on a video. “This one?”

Phantom agreed and the pair stretched out on the bed, comfortably half-laying side by side. With the phone clutched in Fenton’s hand, he pressed play. The ghost watched the video with mild attention, more enjoying the quiet and his own company than the actual content. Glancing at his counterpart, he furrowed his brow in thought. He didn’t remember being so content to be alone before this. He’d never been a social butterfly by any means; if he was honest, he didn’t like large crowds of people and got nervous far too often in social situations. But he still preferred being with his friends or family, even if that was just hanging out together in silence. That was still true of course; he still enjoyed being with his loved ones. But….a subtle smile creeped onto his face...being by himself wasn’t all that bad either.

Fenton’s yawning drew Phantom’s attention. The human’s head lulled to the side, his eyelids fluttering tiredly. 

The ghost gently poked him. “Come on. Let’s get you dressed for bed.”

The human jolted to sudden awareness. “I wasn’ asleep.” He half slurred.

Phantom chuckled. “Sure.”

“Wasn’t” This other half pouted, his arms crossed.

“Alright, alright. Whatever you say.” The ghost put up his hands in surrender, a fond smile spreading his lips.

“I’m not tir-” A yawn interrupted his word. Fenton blushed, face reddening in embarrassment. Phantom’s lip stretched up. A laugh shook his chest. Beside him, his human counterpart pinched his lips closed forcefully. With crossed arms and red face, he made a show of being grumpy….until the corner of his mouth twitched. Slowly, he smiled. “Okay. Fine. I’m tired.” 

With a sleepy groan, Fenton swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. He walked towards the dresser and grabbed a pair of pajamas. Phantom averted his eye while the human undressed and changed clothes. Not even a minute later, Fenton left the room to brush his teeth.

With a sigh, the ghost floated off the bed. With his counterpart getting ready to sleep, the knowledge of his imminent future struck Phantom. He sagged in the air, running a hand through his hair and already thinking about how to occupy himself through the wee hours of the night. At the same time, he felt familiar worries creeping in.

The door swung open and the ghost turned, meeting his other self’s gaze. Fenton’s expression fell. “Oh.” Without any words, Phantom knew the human was sensing his thoughts completely. “It’ll be okay.” Again, he patted the ghost’s arm comfortingly.

“Thanks.” The ghost gave his own pat.

With that, Fenton sat down on the bed. After plugging in his phone which had still been laying on the bed, the boy laid down and pulled the covers up to his chin. Fenton offered his other half a smile. “Good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“See ya Danny.” The ghost said, returning the smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If there was a word to describe the next day, it was awkward. Tense...tense would be an appropriate word. Or uncomfortable, stressful, distressing, frustrating, nerve-racking. Maybe ever painful, traumatic, and agonizing. Okay, maybe Phantom was being overdramatic. But being grounded, stuck at home with Mom and Dad was not fun. 

The ghost sat on the couch, a notebook propped against his knees as he doodled. Ten minutes ago, he’d finished the vacuuming he was supposed to do yesterday. Now, it was quiet. The air was stale, constricted. The tension rose the hair on the back of the ghost’s neck.

 Mom and Dad were downstairs, as they’d been for most of the week. Actually, as soon as Fenton and Jazz had left for school, the pair had walked down the stairs with hardly a word to the ghost. Mom still struggled to look at him. The occasional sounds of metal being hammered or welded rang up the stairs. Words echoed, tense and clinical sounding.

“.….we need to reestablish communication…. But the energy requirements?….” Mom spoke fast, scientifically, like a woman intensely solving a problem.

The sound of a blow torch cut off. “Mads. The ¾ inch wrench.” Pacing footsteps. “No, not the ⅔. The ¾”

“That’s not what you said.” The woman grumbled.

“No, I-” Metal clanged. “Thanks hun.”

The pacing restarted. “That amount of energy needed to reintegrate……” The words drifted in and out of Phantom’s hearing.

“These batteries?” Dad questioned.

“No. No. No. They’ll overload but what if we…”

Phantom’s brow furrowed. What were they talking about? They were talking about him again, weren’t they? He shivered. Mom sounded so scientific, so focused on the problem of re-merging him. It should be comforting that she was trying so hard to fix things. But…..

“No Jack! You can’t cross those wires.”

“I know what I’m doing Maddie.” Dad said, with a hint of anger.

The ghost frowned. Oh no.

“Here let me.”

“Maddie. Maddie!”

“I’m just taking a look.”

“Well, I’m not done yet.” Dad’s voice hitched up, increasingly annoyed.

Phantom roughly closed his notebook. No. No. No. Nope. He wasn’t doing this, wasn’t listening to this, to Mom and Dad arguing again. With a huff, he floated off the couch and through the ceiling into his bedroom. He groaned, flopping onto the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday wasn’t much better. More tension, more stress. More arguments drifting up the stairs.

“Jack! Where’s the copper wire?”

“In the shed.”

“I already looked there!”

“What do you mean you looked there?!”

“I mean, it’s not in there. Where did you put it?”

“Where did I put it?!”

Phantom groaned into the pillow on the couch. He sat up and floated back to his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Downstairs, the front door swung open. Eyes widening, Phantom closed the book he was reading and phased through the bed. Coming through the ceiling, he beamed. “Jazz! Fenton! Thank god, you’re home.”

Fenton ran a hand through his hair. “It was that bad?”

Phantom frowned, shivering at the words.

Jazz pinned him with a serious gaze. “Danny?”

The ghost boy shrugged. “No.” He lied. “I was just so bored.” He waved his sister and counterpart over. “Come on, let’s-”

“You’re grounded and I have homework.” The girl interrupted.

Fenton groaned. “But it’s Friday.”

“Yeah, Jazz. It’s Friday, your homework can wait.” Phantom argued. “So let’s like...watch a movie or something.”

“We’re not grounded from TV.” The human Danny pointed out.

Jazz relented. “Fine.”

The three sat and watched TV until Dad came up the stairs and started pulling things out of the fridge. 

Fenton perked up. “Are you making dinner?”

The man turned. “Hi kids.” He smiled though it didn’t reach his eyes. “Yep, it’s a chicken and broccoli casserole night.”

Phantom nodded. “Do you want some help?” He asked mildly.

Dad’s smile turned up, looking a little more authentic. “Sure Danno.”

The ghost and his human briefly shared a look, both silently agreeing to help. With that, the teens stood or floated from their seats. Phantom chopped up some broccoli, Fenton grated some cheese, and Jazz started setting the table. Again, there was something nice and normal about the action; it was almost comforting as Dad asked about their day. 

Then Mom came up the stairs and that tension, the ever present damn tension, was back. She barely offered a smile as she greeted the teenagers, her gaze flickering down with guilt as she looked at Phantom. The ghost bit his lip, annoyance flickering at her behavior but he pushed it down. It was fine. He was fine. Everything was fine. He wasn’t bothered.

Fenton glanced over at him, raising a brow knowingly. The ghost looked down, blushing at the attention. Well, that was a lie. He was bothered. He was bothered, damn it. But what the heck was he supposed to do?

Dinner passed in tense silence and it was the same as the last few days. Strained conversation led by Jazz and Dad and ignoring the real issues.

“May I be excused?” Fenton asked, as soon as he finished his food.

Mom gave him permission without argument and he stood. Phantom followed after and the pair headed to their room. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A nondescript Friday night of YouTube and reading with his ghost half, a boring night with occasional flashes from Phantom in his dreams and it was late Saturday morning.

Fenton sighed, rolling onto his back. Normally he’d be excited. It was Saturday. He could hang out with his friends and just relax after a busy school week. But he was grounded and things were horrible with his Mom and...he groaned in exacerbation.

“Yeah. This sucks.” His own voice rang out from across the room. 

Fenton sat up, meeting Phantom’s eyes. “Yeah.” He mildly agreed. Then he shrugged. “What do you wanna do today then?”

The ghost also shrugged. “I don’t know.” His nose wrinkled. “Wait….. The model rocket kit we got for our birthday. It’s still in the closet, isn’t it?”

The human’s eyes widened happily. “Yeah! How did we forget we had that?”

Phantom’s shoulders fell. “The...uhhh….accident.”

“Oh yeah.” Fenton frowned. The glowing green swirl of the portal flashed in his mind. “It was like 3 days after our birthday when we….ya know.” They’d gone into the portal and everything had changed.

The ghost floated forward. “Come on. Let’s get you something to eat and we can get started.”

The human nodded, accepting the offer for what it was- a distraction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Making the model rocket was fun, leaving the pair of counterparts smiling as they bantered and joked and worked together. Soon enough the model was done. 

Fenton’s stomach growled and the ghost frowned at his counterpart. “You just ate.”

The human shrugged. “I’m a growing boy.”

Phantom rolled his eyes. “Come on then.”

Both stood up and walked out of the room with Fenton at the front. As they came to the top of the stairs, the human paused, feeling a cold hand on his shoulder. He turned, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

Phantom leaned forward, whispering. "Jazz is down there. Let's mess with her."

The human looked back, spotting their sister standing at the kitchen counter. He then looked back at his counterpart. "How?"

A mischievous grin stretched the ghost's face. "Ghost powers."

The corner of the human's lip twitched up. "Alright. What do you have in mind?"

"Turn around." Phantom instructed.

Fenton did as he was told. His brow furrowed as he felt cold arms wrapped around his shoulders, the ghost's chest pressed against his back. "Am I giving you a piggyback ride?" He questioned.

"Just watch." Phantom hissed, his voice right next to his counterpart's ear.

The human gasped as a chilling feeling spread from his neck where the ghost was touching him. His eyes widened as his hands turned translucent and then disappeared. "We're invisible." He whispered, studying the place his hands should be. He marveled, still not used to the sensation. Like the other times he'd turned invisible, he could still see the wavy outline of his body.

"I'm gonna float both of us off the floor, so don't like...freak out." Phantom said after a moment, somewhat sheepishly.

"I'm not gonna freak out." Even so, the human braced himself as the increasingly familiar feeling of weightlessness spread through his body.  He gasped softly as his feet left the floor.

"Alright. I'll take us down the stairs."Fenton glanced down, a spark of fear flickering in his heart at the sight. Behind him, Phantom stiffened. "Are you okay?"

The human squashed down the fear with a deep breath. "I’m fine.”

“You sure?” The ghost asked, surely with an eyebrow raised.

“Yep. We’ve got this.” Fenton said as confidently as he could manage. He smiled, feeling how his counterpart was bolstered by the trust. 

"Thanks." Phantom muttered. "Now try to stay quiet so we can sneak up on Jazz."

The human nodded in agreement. Under Phantom's influence, he felt his body drift forward in the air. His heart fluttered with nerves but also excitement. Something about this felt so….natural. It was surprising, considering how horribly he'd reacted to floating before the accident but clearly flying with Phantom had helped him face his fear and discomfort.

The pair made it to the bottom of the stairs and floated onward, towards Jazz who was making a sandwich. Fenton grinned, picturing what they'd do next, how they'd invisibly sneak behind Jazz and scare her. Similar amusement flowed into him from his other self and his smile widened.

Wait…..a new idea struck the human. Phantom stopped their advance, as he sensed Fenton's inspiration. A wordless question pressed into the human's mind. The boy furrowed his brow and closed his eyes. With a little effort, he sent his words to his other half. 

Let's move Jazz's phone.

Understanding sparked through the connection, the few words being enough for a plan to form between two halves of the same mind. Again, Phantom moved them forward until they were floating beside the table and within arms length of Jazz's phone. Two pairs of eyes glanced to find the girl still occupied, putting the cheese and meat back into the fridge. Silently, Fenton swiped the phone off the table. The device turned invisible as soon as his hand touched it. 

A moment later, Jazz turned around. She closed the fridge, grabbed her sandwich from the counter, and sat down. Putting the food down, she reached for her phone across the table. Her brow furrowed as her eyes surveyed the area in front of her. “I could have sworn…..” She stood up and turned around, eyes flittering over the counters. “Where’s my phone?” She muttered, pacing the kitchen.

Fenton fought not to laugh as her brow increasingly furrowed. 

“Come on. Where is it?” Jazz said to herself, increasingly confused.

Fenton’s hand covered his mouth to silence any noise. Jazz turned back around, walking towards the livingroom. “I know I brought it down here.”

With her back turned, the boy put the device back on the table. Curiosity tickled his mind from his ghost half as the phone reappeared. Then Fenton grabbed Jazz’s sandwich, turning it invisible. The ghost shook with suppressed laughter.

Their sister turned around, her eyes surveying the table before focusing. “There it is.” Confusion passed her face. “I just looked there and…..where’s my sandwich?” She wrinkled her nose, increasingly bewildered.

Again, she paced around the kitchen, her eyes hungrily tracing the counters. “This is ridiculous. What the heck is happening?” Fenton fought another laugh. “I know I brought it over here.”

She walked around the table and towards the invisible pair. Fenton’s eyes widened in panic, his body flickering intangible just before Jazz would barrel into him. Instead he shivered, choking on a scream as she passed through him.

Shock crashed into Fenton from his counterpart. He gasped as his powers failed and he popped back into visibility. Gravity reenaged and he stumbled onto the floor and forward, right into Jazz. The girl shrieked at a body suddenly slammed into her. Her arms stretched in front of her so she hit the counter before she could fall. Meanwhile, Fenton tipped forward, his heart pounding out of his chest. Then weightlessness overtook him again and he floated off the floor.

Jazz whipped around, eyes wide. “Danny!?” Her eyes trailed him. “What..you’re…” Her gaze flittered between the two heads and then to the human’s hands. “You have my sandwich!”

Fenton swallowed, holding the food out to her. “Here you go?”

She took it roughly, her eyes fixing on the empty space below him. “You’re floating?”

The human rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Ghost powers.”

“I’m the ghost powers!” Phantom waved with one hand.

Fenton laughed, his fright waning and the previous humor resurging. 

Suddenly, the door to the lab flung open. Mom stomped up, followed by Dad. 

“What happened? We heard screaming.” Mom’s eyes widened, as soon as her eyes fell on the floating Dannys.

The human boy’s laughter died. “You can put us down.” He muttered to Phantom.

More gently, his weight returned and he touched down on the floor. The ghost unwrapped his arms from his counterpart’s neck and floated to beside him.

Mom looked between the two. “What’s happening here?” She asked suspiciously.

Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. “We were playing a prank on Jazz.” 

The woman rose a brow and motioned for him to continue but the words stayed locked in both Dannys’ throats.

Jazz had no such problem. “They hide my phone and my lunch! Right behind my back! I thought I was going crazy.”

“Maybe you are.” Fenton snarked back.

This sister glared. “You turned intangible and flew through me!”

“You ran into us!” Phantom argued.

“Well you almost knocked me over.”  The girl crossed her arms.

“Kids, Enough!” Mom interrupted, glaring at Fenton and Phantom. “What were you thinking?”

The human boy paled. “It was...it was just a prank.”

“Yeah. We...we didn’t even mean to scare her. We were just...having fun.” Phantom blushed, looking down.

The adult opened and closed her mouth. “Just...you were just-”

Then Dad’s hand gently grabbed her arm. “Maddie, the kids are fine. It was just some harmless fun.”

Jazz glared. “Harmless! I walked through you!”

“It was an accident.” Phantom held up his hands.

“Yeah.” Fenton shivered. “And we’re never doing that again. It was….” He wrinkled his nose.

Dad’s eyes lit up. “What did it feel like?”

The ghost opened and closed his mouth, looking mortified.

Mom not so gently swatted her husband. “Jack!”

The man blushed. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Phantom muttered, putting his arms around his waist.

In her lessened anger, Jazz interrupted apparently choosing to save him the embarrassment.. “Why don’t we all just sit down and eat some lunch?” 

“Yeah, I was wanting some lunch.” Fenton said.

Mom crossed her arms, biting her lip. “We were in the middle of something.”

“We can give it a break for a bit, honey.” Dad sighed. “I know I could use one.”

Fenton looked over at the man and frowned. He looked tired and stressed with greasy hair and bags under his eyes. Actually….Mom didn’t look much better either, face wrinkled with deep stress lines. Phantom studied the adults as well, a frown on his face. The human glanced to the side, looking at Jazz. Based on her concerned look, their sister had also noticed Mom and Dad’s sorry states.

“Alright.” Mom conceded after a long moment.

With her agreement, Dad started pulling food out of the fridge and cabinet for lunch. Mom and Fenton joined, all three making their own sandwiches. At the table, Jazz and Phantom traded worried glances as they both watched their parents. Fenton joined in once he sat down. His brow furrowed. Maybe with all the long hours they’ve been working and the arguments Phantom caught parts of (huh….his ghost must have passively shared that with him at some point, probably when he was sleeping)...maybe he should be worried about them.

Mom and Dad sat down and both started eating without comment. Jazz and Fenton glanced at each other before the human Danny shrugged and dug in. A few moments passed with Phantom looking increasingly uncomfortable. The older girl noticed, giving him a comforting smile.

Meanwhile, Fenton looked between his ghost half and his parents. Oh, he was also feeling that awkwardness keenly, his own stomach flopping but…he was also worrying about their parents. He bit his lip; he wanted to ask them but it was probably make things more awkward and-

“So.” Phantom interrupted with a purposeful cough. “How is work on the ghost catcher going?”

Fenton blinked in surprise. Ah...well…. that was exactly what he wanted to ask. Wait...why was he surprised?

Dad frowned. “Well it’s...uhh…it’s going….”

The Dannys glanced at each other, also frowning at the response.

Mom carefully put down her sandwich. “We’ve been running into some...complications.”

Fenton’s eyes widened. “Complications?” He tried to keep the worry out of his voice.

Apparently, Dad noticed anyway. “Nothing some hard work and creative thinking can’t solve.” 

The human boy shivered at the forced confidence. Although knowing his Dad, maybe the man was as assured as he appeared?...No, who was he kidding? Whatever problems they were having, it must be bad.

“What complications?” Phantom asked, not comforted by the reassurance.

“Nothing you need to worry about sweetie.” Mom replied. “It will just take a few more days than we planned to make the modifications we need.”

Now she was just being evasive. What modifications? How many more days? And-

“Come on honey. We need to get back to work.” Mom interrupted.

Fenton’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to argue but closed it, choosing not to push for more information. He wanted to know but it wasn’t worth making himself more worried. And he trusted Mom and Dad to get it sorted, right? Yeah, sure he did.

Having finished eating, both adults stood and headed towards the basement where they disappeared into the lab. 

With them gone, the human Danny sighed. He looked at Jazz, biting his lip. “Sorry about earlier.”

“Yeah, sorry.” The ghost repeated a moment later. “Sorry about flying through you…” He blanched at the statement.

Graciously, Jazz waved it off. “It’s okay, little brother. I’m not really mad, you just startled me.” She half-smiled. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it was actually pretty funny.”

“Really?” Fenton and Phantom said at the same time, eyes lighting up with hope.

Jazz rolled her eyes. “Yes. Once I got over the shock.” She crossed her arms, one brow raised teasingly. “I guess I should expect this now, with your powers.”

“Maybe.” The ghost rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

At the same time, Fenton confidently said. “Yes.” Phantom raised a brow in question so his counterpart continued. “Dude, we have ghost powers. Of course we’re gonna use them from pranks.” He grinned. “It’s our job as annoying little brother.”

The ghost laughed, his mood lightening. “Yes!”

Jazz scoffed good naturedly. “I’ve sure got the annoying part down.” Both Dannys stuck their tongues out at her in sync. She blinked at them before groaning. “One Danny’s bad enough. But both of you?”

“Oh, come on. You love us.” Fenton and Phantom said at the same time.

Jazz peaked up at the pair with a raised brow. Her expression softened. “Of course I do.” Then her lips turned down. “Not to break the mood but...did you notice how tired Mom and Dad look?”

Phantom frowned at the change of topic. “Yeah….they’ve been working really hard this week.”

“Do you think they’re overdoing it? Maybe we should get them to take a break.” Their sister mused.

The Dannys paused, looking at each other. Phantom sighed. “Maybe. They do seemed really focused.”

“But they always get like that when they’re working on a breakthrough.” Fenton countered, crossing his arms. “They were like that with the portal.”

Even as he said it, he felt guilty. Yes, they’d been near obsessed with the portal in the last few months of its completion. It had been the culmination of their life’s work. But this….this was caused by his own stupidity, twice over.

Phantom raised a brow, putting a hand on his human’s arm. Fenton shook the thought away. No, he was not going to blame himself, not again. Plus...he met his other self’s green eyes. If he hadn’t gone in the portal, he wouldn't have gotten his powers.

“Well yeah.” The ghost agreed, with less bitterness. “They’re really focused on trying to fix us.”

Well obviously, but with what motivation? Parental overprotectiveness, scientific curiosity, guilt. Or a strange mix of those? Fenton didn’t know.

“But still….we should get them to take a break tonight or tomorrow.” Jazz insisted. “Self care is important, no matter how important your work is.”

And that was just like Jazz. Though both Dannys did have to agree. “Yeah...but you can nag them about that.” Phantom said.

Then Fenton. “You are better at nagging.”

Jazz gasped in offense. “Why you little…”

And they were back to sibling banter to Fenton’s great comfort. He wasn’t sure how much more worrying about his parents and his relationship with them he could take.

[koko-doodle]

Danny Phantom: Spectral Shadows

PROLOGUE

It’s been a week since I was officially adopted. After living in the foster system for so long, I never thought I would end up belonging to someone. I believed I was going to be alone my whole life with no place I belong, or no place that really felt like home. I mean, who would want to adopt a delinquent 15 year old into their family? I close my textbook and sit back in my chair with a long exasperated sigh. Did I really just think that? Those are such cliche thoughts, I sound like the end of a storybook or something. I shake my head and look up to the window across the room. It had started to lightly rain and I watched the small drops of water hit the window with a soft tapping noise.

Three weeks ago is when this whole thing started. I never would have imagined that I would be out of the foster care system, let alone be living with the richest man in the country. When I was younger and dreamed about the day I would belong to a family, I didn’t exactly picture Vlad Masters as my adoptive father. He’s not exactly the most approachable person I’ve ever met, he doesn’t seem to have many relationships with people and considering how we met, you’d think a normal person wouldn’t invite someone who broke into their house to live with them permanently.

It started when I ran away from the foster home I lived in, I couldn’t handle being there anymore. It was suffocating. I was never good enough for any of the foster parents I lived with, always causing too much trouble and getting into fights often at school. I’ve never lasted longer than a year in a foster home. After a very intense fight with my current foster parents I packed what little I have and ran. I stole a car and took off, I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted out.

Once out of town I took what I thought would be a shortcut through the mountains, ended up running out of gas and ditching the car on the side of the road. When it got dark I found a nice cabin in the woods. It was fairly large and expensive looking so I assumed it belonged to some rich person who only stayed there once a year. There were no lights on or anything so I picked the lock and went inside. That was a mistake, I should have checked for a security system.

I stocked up on the non-perishables left in the kitchen and snacked on some chips and granola bars. I went to the main living area and sat on the couch figuring out a plan for the next morning and eventually fell asleep. Next thing I know it’s the middle of the night and there is a man standing over me with his arms folded. I freaked out of course, I don’t know how he got in or where he got in. Come to think of it, I still don’t know how he got in without making a sound.

After an earful of an argument he agreed to let me spend the rest of the night. In the morning I found him going through my bag and I flipped. He eventually found out I had run away and was not planning on going back. I made some threats but he never even flinched. He was so stubborn and not listening to a single thing I said, it really pissed me off. I snagged my things and took off again, not listening to anything he was saying about the woods not being safe for a kid. I’m not a kid and I can handle myself.

I just followed the road and hoped someone would come passing through by chance. After 5 hours of walking, I found myself back at his stupid cabin. I was so frustrated, it didn’t make it any better that he came walking out of the cabin with a ridiculous smirk. He teased me of course and his smug attitude really set me off but… I think that is when I started to like him. He’s different than most adults I’ve ever known, he doesn’t react to my defensive comments by yelling back like most adults do. Just brushes them off like he never heard them or teases me with a smart mouth comment right back.

He talked me into coming back in and eating dinner, he had made spaghetti with what he had in the storage. We ate dinner then sat by the fire and just talked. I feel like I was a bit confrontational with him at first, short tempered too but I knew he was going to try to convince me to go back to my foster parents. He never did though. He just asked me questions about me. Favorite subject, favorite hobby, my story… He just listened. It was nice…

He never told me anything other than his name was Vlad and he flew in on his helicopter when his security system was tripped. He talked a little bit about his job and where he attended college, never mentioned what he was studying. When we talked about sports I had to laugh at how excited he got when talking about his favorite team the Packers. He said he had quite the collection back at his mansion. After our very long conversation he showed me to a spare bedroom to sleep in instead of on the couch. It was the softest bed I’ve ever slept on in my life, I still remember getting under the covers and how soft they were.

In the morning, he made breakfast and then put me to work. I refused at first, saying I still planned to leave but he promised to show me the right road out of the mountains after I helped him. We worked inside and outside, he was always ranting about something as we worked and I had a snarky comment for every funny thing I found. It was actually quite fun. We took breaks and for lunch but by the time we finished everything, it was too dark to travel. He told me to stay another night since night travel is dangerous so I did. I honestly just really wanted to sleep in that bed again but I never told him that.

In the morning while we were eating breakfast, there was a knock at the door. He was gone for quite a while so I went to spy on him and whoever he was taking to. Of course he was talking with two officers, I was shocked to hear that he was telling them about me. That really boiled my blood, he had promised he wouldn’t tell anyone but he lied. When the officers spotted me in the corner of the room, it was all over. They had been out looking for me, they found the vehicle I stole and knew I couldn’t have gotten far. They forced me to grab my things and put me in their vehicle.

As they were thanking Vlad for keeping “the kid” here and not letting me go off he asked to speak to me before they left. I wasn’t going to. He lied and he was acting all heroic in front of the officers. He told me to relax and everything would work out but I couldn’t help but shout at him. I would have given anything at that moment to bolt it from that car, I told him he was a liar and just like every other adult. Everything he told me were just empty words, and nothing he said was making what he did better so I stopped listening.

He watched as the officers drove off with me in the car.

When I got back, I got an earful from every single adult. From the officers, the police chief, my foster parents, the social worker. Everyone told me I had been extremely reckless and made poor choices, everything they said was a blur. I never really listened. I was so distracted by the time I spent with Vlad and how he had lied to me. It shouldn’t have hurt so bad, I should be used to adults making half hearted promises and saying things they don’t mean but I couldn’t understand why I was having such a hard time with what Vlad had done. He did what any responsible adult would do, he was the hero and I was the victim. He had saved the day.

The next week was torture. It had gotten out on the news that I had run away and the “heroic” Vlad Masters saved me from being lost in the woods or getting eaten by a bear. My classmates had new insults for me everyday. I tried to tune them out but when one guy in particular mentioned how I can’t even run away properly, I lost it and ended up breaking his nose. As I was sitting by the principal's office, awaiting to see if I was suspended or expelled and who should show up but Mr. Heroic Masters himself. I wasn’t in the mood to talk. After hearing his so called “apology” I yelled at him to leave, I’m not sure why he was even there.

When I got back to my foster house after school, I was expecting a whole lecture on fighting and anger management again but I was greeted by something far worse. I found Vlad there having tea and coffee with my foster mother. I didn’t want to know what they were talking about, I didn’t care. I was heading to my room when he asked for permission to speak to me privately. I said no of course but my foster parents forced me to go have a private conversation with him in the backyard.

He tried to break the ice but totally failed, I told him to just get right to the point. After a week since seeing him, why was he here? What does he care what I’m doing now? He asked me a question I thought I would never be asked. He asked if I wanted to come live with him, permanently. I thought he was joking at first but the way. he looked at me after he asked, he was serious. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to say or how to react, like a baby I just stared at him and cried. He eventually wrapped me in a hug and I clung to him. At that moment, I’ve never felt so much like a child.

And now I’ve been living with him here in his mansion for a week. I still half expect to wake up and see that it was all a dream but…. I’m still here and Vlad has finalized all the legal paperwork as of yesterday. I belong to him… And this place is now my home.

“Taking a break?” A voice says from the entrance of the library, jolting me back into reality. Vlad stood there with two mugs in his hands and was looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah textbooks are so dull, especially history books. They’re so dry” I retort back with a smirk. He makes his way across the room and places the mug in front of me.

“Well then, how about something warm and sweet to fix that dry brain of yours” he teases back.

“Ha ha, very funny. What is it?” I ask.

“Just hot chocolate, good for dreary and rainy evenings like this” he answers as he takes a sip from his mug.

“A bit corny don’t cha think old man? ”Hot chocolate on a rainy day, so old fashioned” I say with a chuckle and take a sip of the warm chocolatey contents.

“Maybe so but I’m not the one stuck with their nose in a history book, Little Starling.”

We both laugh and continue enjoying our beverages. I look back up to the window and hear the rain as it falls harder on the window pane. I look back to Vlad and a small smile escapes, our eyes meet and I quickly look back to my mug and take another sip.

“What?” He asks.

“Nothing, just enjoyin my corny drink.”

He chuckles. I try to hide another smile. It’s nice to finally have someone who I feel understands me. Maybe things will actually start to get better now.

Well…

Maybe not.

I’m not that lucky.

[blackevermore]

x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain

{ Chapter 15 }

Summary: Vladimir Masters’ family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters’ family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor’s crimes? Vladimir doesn’t know. However, Clockworks does.

Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!

Word Count: 8640

P.s: Chapters will be taking longer to get out which means they will get longer to read as well

Breakfast was quiet, Dani as usual came from her room and sat at the table half asleep waiting for her father to finish cooking. Vlad stood at the stove flipping the last few pancakes and scrambling eggs. But that form of silence Vlad was used to. This new silence felt strange as if it hung over his shoulders that something was wrong. Vlad crunched his nose and thought of something else to distract him. He settled for what he remembered yesterday night, it had been bugging him just who Dani was on the phone with. He knew that if she had started dating she wouldn’t tell him. Danny would be her to go to person or even Jazz due to how much closer they were in age; also the fact neither of them were her parental figure. But being a very nosy person by human nature Vlad had to poke at his daughter to settle the cat inside him. With a slow forming wicked grin Vlad placed down the spatula and cleared his throat. 

“Danielle?” Vlad called over his shoulder to wake the other and received a hum in response. “Who was that you were on the phone with last night? I couldn’t help hearing you through your door when I walked by.” Vlad tried to sound as normal as possible without giving it away he was snooping. Vlad heard the sound of the chair carting against the floor and Dani struggling to sit up straight. 

“Oh that was just some friends, I meant to call them yesterday after the graduation but I didn’t have the chance.” Vlad could hear the pitch in her voice rise in nervousness. He turned his head slightly to look over his shoulder at the young phantom and he saw how red her face became. Clearly a lie. Vlad smirked and finished cooking and placing the food on plates before using his powers to move said plates towards the dining table. Once seated he motioned for her to dig in and Dani was hesitant as she made her plate. Once the young girl was face deep in her pancakes Vlad smiled and cleared his throat once more to gather her attention. 

“Surely if you were starting to date you would tell me, right?” Vlad had no time to react as Dani’s eyes widened and she slightly choked on her food. She managed to clear her airways and hide her face in her hoodie. Vlad had to keep from showing how satisfied he was at knowing he was right. A point for Vlad. 

“Why are you bringing this up?!” Dani couldn’t bring herself to uncover her face, she couldn’t look Vlad in the eyes right now. But even though the thick fabric of her hoodie she could tell he was looking right at her and smirking. 

“Is it a boy?” 

“No!” Dani snapped back hard and Vlad chuckled as he shook his head and took a bit from his pancakes. She didn’t mean for it to come off so harsh but she did hope he would leave her alone about it. 

“Ah, so a lovely young lady, is it? Care to share her name?” Dani groaned and finally lowered her hoodie but refused to look her father in the eyes. She shook her head and Vlad understood, he wasn’t going to push her on it nor was he going to demand it from her. He was happy though. It was so cute to see Dani branching into that age of discovery and possibly finding interest in someone. Vlad didn’t care who but he did have limitations on certain things. “They are of your age, correct?” Dani only shook her head ‘yes’. “Do they know you are...” Dani shook her head ‘no’ and Vlad was satisfied.

If this relationship his daughter was about to embark on was serious then at the right time Dani would tell this young lady her secret. Hopefully, she would be just as helpful as Danny’s friends were when he was growing up. Vlad remembered when he was young and had developed a crush. Unknown to everyone who knew him now, Maddie was not his first love. That title went as far back as a middle school back home in Wisconsin to a boy named Thomas. Vlad had no idea that the feelings he had then were romantic until he was older but he could recall how gitty Thomas made him. There was never the time the other held his hand every time they rode the bus home from school until Vlad was the first to be dropped off.  

“C-Can we drop this now?” Dani muttered and Vlad smiled gently and nodded. The young girl sighed and tried her best to get back into her food but she knew her father had one more thing to say. She could see it in his eyes as he stared at her. 

“Don’t you think saying you love them is a bit early? Unless you’ve been seeing this young lady for a while and I’m just now hearing about it.” Vlad said teasingly as he watched his daughter groan and once again cover her face. He let out a lite chuckle then promised he wouldn’t speak on it anymore unless she wanted to. Dani rolled her eyes and told him she was finished and that she was in her room if he needed her. But before she could float away they both heard the sound of faint groaning in the distance. Vlad turned his head trying to find just where it was coming from but had no luck as it still sounded far away. 

“What is that?” Dani floated over to the sliding doors and looked through the glass. Vlad quickly placed down his fork and strolled behind her to see but saw nothing in the garden. Then like cold water, it washed over him that Tayonna was in fact missing in action. The night before he had looked for her and couldn’t find her. He didn’t think anything of it since she would just show up if he had a dream. But that was it, he didn’t have any dream last night, everything was a blank canvas and Vlad had woken up refreshed and well. He had expected Tayonna to be there but she wasn’t. When the groaning became a bit louder Vlad stiffened and clenched his fist. 

“Danielle stays right here, I’ll be back.” Vlad turned towards his daughter with hardened eyes and Dani nervously nodded. Vlad unlocked the door and slid it back and stepped out into his garden before closing it back. He followed the whimpering which led toward the statue. Vlad took note that the roses that were wrapped around the statue were not wilting and one by one dried and dead petals fell to the ground. Vlad stepped closer and tried to figure out why this was happening all of a sudden. Just yesterday the roses were alive and beautiful and danced in the gentle breeze of the summer air. Vlad gently touched one of the rose heads and it crumbled to ash at his fingertips. Vlad flinched back and frowned, they were very beautiful and it was a shame. The whimpering continued and it pulled Vlad away from the statue to the left that travelled to behind the house. As Vlad slowly followed the sound he noticed a trail of green buds poking out from the ground. They were unblossomed rosebuds that seemed to pulse through the low cut grasses. Vlad did his best to not step on them as he followed them towards the back of the house, they were his only sense of where to go.  

As he travelled along the path he saw that the buds began to change into the next stage of growth. They were frozen stills of a flowering cycle and it was fascinating, to say the least. When he saw the first peek of a petal he saw that they were vibrant green and glowing through the leaves. When he made it to the back the whimpering was a lot more clear and the ground glowed a faint green. Even with the sun out, he could see the pulsating glow from the fully bloomed roses that now clustered together like bushes. Vlad wasn't sure what he would find in the bush and he steadied himself. He ignited his powers in his left hand and held it low. As much as he preferred to handle ghostly fights in private he was not above settling the score out in the open. He inched closer trying to get a peek of what was to come before fully dragging himself over. When he saw the form of a hand and dark skin he shook his powers away and rushed over to the bush. Tayonna laid on her back in the bush breathing heavily in a pant and a twisted look of pain on her face. She was groaning and shaking slightly as she held onto her right arm in a tight grip. Tayonna didn’t seem to notice Vlad standing over her and rolled to her side to curl into herself.  

“What’s wrong with her?” Dani’s voice scared Vlad and he jumped to the side, clenching his chest. He took a deep breath then narrowed his eyes towards where Dani could have been. The girl became visible and rubbed her arm with an apologetic expression. “I told you to stay put,” his voice was stern and Dani knew better than to disobey him when there could be a danger. But she was curious and also worried that he might have needed help if something went wrong. After the events of last time, she really didn’t want to see him hurt. Vlad held up a finger before she could answer and shook his head. “We’ll discuss later, right now, stand behind me.” Vlad pulled Dani behind him but the girl moved to his side and looked over his arm. Vlad wasn’t going to touch Tayonna, not when these weird green glowing roses cradled around her. He had never seen anything like these. He wasn’t too sure if they were related to Blood Blossoms or not. God knows if he touched one it would do to him, but at the same time, he felt they were in a strange way safe. They were inviting with how they pulsated and seemed to wrap their stems around her. A thick stem was curled around her ankle and up the ends of her long skirt. Another was wrapped around her waist and another was wrapped around the arm she was holding.  

They didn’t seem tight as Tayonna twisted and turned and the stems would give way so she could adjust. Vlad was curious to know what other powers the ghost had, he also wondered what effects they had on ghosts. He could remember how the Blood Blossoms weakened ghosts, there was always the misconception that they killed ghosts but that wasn’t the case. A ghost could easily get away from them if they weren’t stuck in an enclosure of them but if they were they would just be weakened. Vlad knew firsthand what it was like to be affected by them and he hoped he never dealt with that again. Vlad took a deep breath and held it as he reached out and touched the petals. A shock of energy ran through Vlad’s body and he felt his core thump against his chest. It wasn’t painful but rather energetic as if Vlad had just had a day's worth of sleep and energy drinks. It felt amazing but Vlad knew he had to pull away before he became too intoxicated by it. Vlad pulled his hand back and stared at it trying to figure out what just happened and why. 

“Those aren’t Blood Blossoms?” Dani asked, pointing out towards the roses. 

“No, they seem to do the very opposite of the blossoms. They give you energy instead of taking it away. Interesting.” Vlad's voice trailed away as he saw the tips of his fingers slightly glow then the surge of the glowing travel up his body. He looked back to Tayonna and gently touched her shoulder to pull her towards him to uncurl her. When Tayonna gave way she let out a deep sigh and Vlad could now see the damage along her right arm. From her knuckles to her shoulder her skin was cracked like glass and dark like a fire had been set against her skin. He could also see the faint debris of what looked like ash coming off of her and being sucked up by the roses. When Tayonna groaned again the roses grew brighter and she rolled back over to cover her arm. The roses must have been a healing factor of sorts and Tayonna needed to smother her arm into the petals for it to work. Vlad felt in his core he couldn’t leave her there, he had better ways to treat wounds and injuries in his lab, it was best to get her there and handle whatever this was. Vlad wasted no time in rolling her back over and getting his arms under her to lift her up and out of the flower bed. The stems of the roses gave way with ease from around her and shrivelled back into the ground. Tayonna gasped then curled against his body and Vlad felt a small shiver run up his back. 

“Are you going to help her?” Dani asked, Vlad could hear in her voice the uncertainty, but he simply nodded and pulled the girl closer to him. There wasn’t a foreign feeling this time telling him to do it, this was genuine and Vlad wanted to help.  

“If I leave her here there is no telling how long it will take her to recover. It’s best if we handle it my way, wouldn’t want someone walking past the house and seeing her just lying there.” Vlad quickly took note as he spun on his heels that Tayonna felt like nothing. Despite her size and height, he lifted her with ease as if she surely was nothing but ghost matter. This was a bit odd considering solid ghosts did of course have weight to them. It was in their basic genetics of keeping themselves together. Vlad knew he could feel her snuggling against him, probably taking comfort from his warmth, but there was nothing in his hands. Very interesting. Vlad told Dani to get the door and he walked into his house carefully so as to not shake up Tayonna anymore, and sunk through the floor to get to the basement.  

“Danielle, get me a table, please.”  Dani ran off to clear off one of the tables that had Vlad’s papers and books on it. It was just the right size to place someone on it and Vlad was grateful he always overcompensated with furniture. He placed the girl down and Tayonna began to shiver as the cold metal touched her skin. Vlad quickly placed his hand on the table to warm it and ease Tayonna from discomfort. Vlad watches as Tayonna's face falls from knotted brows to an almost gentle sleep. 

“Now what?” Dani asked, floating over Vlad’s shoulder a few feet back. She wasn’t as shaken up by Tayonna but that didn’t mean she wanted to be near her. 

“Now I help her, and possibly study the roses she slept in. Do me a favor dear and go get a handful of those roses and bring them down here.” Dani nodded and shot through the ceiling. Vlad walked over to a large metal cabinet and pulled it open to retrieve the supplies he needed. A couple of months ago Vlad had the idea to create a cream specifically for ghosts that would jump start their healer factor in case a wound took too long to heal on its own. It mostly made it for Danny after he got in a really bad fight that left a scar down the middle of his back that could easily be seen at the tip of his t-shirts. Vlad hadn’t used it on burns before but he was sure it would help all the same. He brought everything to another table beside Tayonna and set everything out in order. First, he would need to get a better look at what he was working with, which meant getting Tayonna to let go of her arm.

 Vlad reached over and took the girl’s wrist and tried to pull it away but Tayonna gripped it tighter and tried to roll away. Vlad huffed and let go to pull her shoulders back down and settle her. Vlad put his hands on his hips trying to think of the best way to get the girl to corporate. Sure tying down one hand and forcing the other was a method he was more used to but he knew that would only end up in a disaster. Then a thought formed in his head, he knew it wasn’t his own but it seemed like it would actually work. ‘It better work’ Vlad thought then sighed as he loomed back over the girl and took hold of her wrist once more.  

“Tayonna,” Vlad called out gently as if he was trying to wake her. “Please let go.” Vlad rubbed his thumb across her wrist trying to ease her grip and with a few more caressing rubs her fingers loosened and she let go. “Thank you.” Vlad brought her arm to her side then walked around to see the wounded one. It seemed to have gotten better but it was still an unpleasant sight. Her brown skin started to fade back into itself but the cracks and wrinkles seemed like they drove deep. Vlad ran a hand over the skin and felt how warm it felt compared to the rest of her. He then took her hand into his and looked at her fingers. They weren’t small and fragile, they were rough like workers and seen better days outside of the sun. Vlad could easily tell Tayonna was not the type to sit around and do simple tasks that held no weight. From the dreams, he could remember, Tayonna was always busy with harder labour that required rough hands and a strong grip. Vlad ran a thumb over her knuckles and sighed before pulling himself away to grab the creams and wraps. 

Dani watched from where she floated as her father went to work helping the other. She had already picked a handful of roses and came back just as her father was asking Tayonna to let go of her arm. She could see that he was gentle and maybe a bit too caring as he held up her arm or moved her a bit. It was odd seeing him so gentle with strangers who held no virtue in his life. When she left, her father had made it clear he didn’t take Tayonna as any more than a nuisance from the ghost zone. But the look on his face told her that during her time away something must have happened that put them on some equal level. Dani had to squint a bit as she saw how soft her father’s eyes became as he rubbed the cream into Tayonna's arm. He had the same look in his eyes he only ever gave one person Dani could recall. Dani didn’t know what to actually make of this and could nearly double over and question everything as she tried to figure out just what had happened during her time away. She cringed a bit when a certain thought crossed her mind. 

“That should do it,” Vlad said, cleaning off his hands with a rag and stepping away from the table. Vlad turned around and smiled at Dani, she held out the flowers and he thanked her as he took them and brought them over to his testing table. “She should be fine within a couple of hours. Though I’m not sure if that is an appropriate time frame considering her wound looks more like burns than scars. But nonetheless. Vlad pulled one of the roses out from the bunch and cut the stem off from the bud. The rose lost some of its glow when he did so and he quickly took note of that. From the cut rose he plucked one of the petals and dropped it into a test tray of ectoplasm he kept for testing purposes. When the petal came in contact with the substance the ectoplasm started to glow. He pulled the test tray under a microscope and examined it, and what he found was truly impressive. The molecules from the pedals were absorbing the ectoplasm then spitting it out in doubles before binding them like a net with another abnormally shaped molecule. 

Vlad has seen this before in blood clots and how they formed nettings to cover wounds to send in platelets cells for repair. The green roses were plant based immune system boosters. Vlad knew this could come in handy in the future and he quickly gathered up the rest of the roses and tied them off in a science bag. He walked over to the cooler he kept his other tests in and pulled the marker from the holder to write the date and time.  

He put everything away and he turned back towards Tayonna who was now completely still on the table. He could see the shallow ups and downs of her chest and could tell she was now in a complete sleep. He walked over to check on her arm and saw the cream was in fact working and had already filled in the cracks. It was only a matter of time before her skin would turn back to normal and she would wake up. Happy with his results he turned to Dani and walked over to lay his hand on her shoulder. 

“Seems like she’ll make a recovery, it's best we leave her be for now.” He gently squeezed his daughter's shoulder. 

“She isn’t like dying or something, right?” Dani asked. Vlad shook his head then looked over his shoulder. 

“No it was just an injury of sorts. They are healing so whatever it was only skin deep. When she wakes up I’ll have to ask her what attacked her to make sure we’re not in danger. I highly doubt we are, but just to be sure.” Vlad turned back around then motioned for the stairs. Vlad didn’t want to tell Dani that he didn’t feel like there was a threat. He didn’t want the girl asking even more questions that could potentially lead to him having to tell her about the core issues. It was best to just keep it under wraps. Dani let out a sigh and turned around to walk away, grumbling about how they could have flown. Vlad chuckled as he heard her and shrugged. 

Tayonna handed Vladan the rose and the man couldn’t hide the amazed look in his eyes. He knew that flowers could come in many ways and colors, but for them to glow like this was beyond him. Tayonna was truly a master of her craft and Vladan couldn’t help but feel the tug of his heartstrings. It had been two months since he found out her secret and she never failed to amaze him. 

“This is what you’ve been giving my brother?” Vladan rolled the rose in his hand then brought it to his nose to smell. He had thought due to its abnormalness it would smell weird, but it didn't, it smelled like any other rose. The girl nodded then backed away from him with her head low. Ever since he had found out she was a witch Vladan had spent every waking moment by her side. He knew it made the girl uncomfortable but he had to make sure she wasn’t trying to do any wrong. He also just had to quench his thirst for the unknown that lurked around. He felt like a child every time he asked her to show him something. Tayonna, always uneasy but not wanting to upset him, would lead him away from any prying eyes and show him the wonders of the unknown. Vladan could still recall the way her fingers lit up in a purple hue and she made sparkles of light float around them. When they finished he would awkwardly say thank you in German and hastily turned back towards the house as if hell was hot on his heels. 

“They will heal him for as long as he wishes to be here,” Tayonna asked him but never brought her head up. “They are known as Green Whispers where I’m from and they are used for healing practices.” Vladan hummed and plucked a pedal off the bud and rolled it in his fingers. He felt a small pulse surge through him and he smiled.

“Can anyone grow these?” 

“No, only those chosen to be priests.” Vladan’s brow rose in curiosity and he placed the rose back on the table in front of him. He knew nothing about Tayonna other than what his parents told him, which wasn’t much, and the few bits Luther was able to sputter out before falling to sleep. He wanted to know more about her whether it was personal or magic related. He wanted to know if the tales of witches he had heard back across the seas were true to those of different origins. He already debunked the one above all witches being ugly. Tayonna was far from with her hooded eyes and full features. Nor was she a sore to look at with her fuller figure and soft appealing skin. He could agree she was short due to his 6’3 height but that would be unfair to her 5’6. She stopped right below his collar when she stood up straight and it was tempting to pull her in and see how well she fit next to him. Vladan couldn’t excuse himself the more he chose to close the distance between them, he wanted to touch her. Maybe it was the rush of something new or maybe it was that he found her interesting. Since he arrived he couldn’t fathom the thought of a black girl with bright green eyes. Yet, there Tayonna was, tending to his brother, and always outside in the gardens, taking space within his mind for then she should.  

“You were supposed to be a priest?” Vladan wasn’t too sure if that was a possible thing a woman could do. Not where he was from was it common to have a woman reach such status. She could become a nun or even a mother of the church, but to hold the title of a priest was few and far between. 

“Destined to be until-” Tayonna stopped abruptly when the door to the front of the house opened and Vladan’s mother came in. Vladan quickly snatched the rose off the table and shoved it into his pocket. 

“Dearest?” His mother called to him and Vladan stood and bowed his head to greet her. The older woman kissed her son’s cheeks then smoothed his dark hair. Vladan could tell there was something worrying his mother from the way her brows knitted together. She started to correct his clothing and hair like she would do when he was a child when she was anxious. Vladan used to think it was just her way of doting on him before they went to see guests; now he knew that meant something wavered at her nerves. As his mother continued her frantic apparel corrections she looked over at Tayonna who continued to stand as still as she could with her head bowed. “Tayonna there is no need to lower your head, stand with a purpose in a Mægisters’ presents or you will be eaten alive.” The servant took in a harsh breath and raised her head and stood up straight. Vladan couldn’t help himself from staring her on and drinking in the ghostly look in her eyes. “Much better,” The older woman nodded, then patted her son’s chest. Then stepped away to look between them, she saw the way her son looked towards the girl and it made her heart slow in fear. "If you are going to be known for something treacherous, I much rather you stand with pride than cower like the rest of them.” The women’s words weren’t bitter but rather a backhanded compliment of encouragement  

“Mother?” Vladan snapped back around to his mother who was already sidestepping him and heading towards a different part of the house. Vladan didn’t go after his mother immediately, he looked back towards Tayonna who gave him nothing for a response then stormed away. “Mother, what are you on about?” 

    Vlad's fingers found home smoothing out Tayonna’s wild curls as he sighed then quickly pulled away when he realized what he was doing. It had been a couple of hours and Tayonna still hadn’t woken up but her arm was completely back to normal. He had only meant to come down and check on her, take notes of the effects, then leave to go back and enjoy the rest of his day. He had already been to work and quickly came home upon Dani request she not be left alone in the house if Tayonna were to awaken. When he ventured down the pull on his core told him he had to get closer. And when he did the voice inside him said nothing but silently pleaded for Vlad to touch her again.  All day he couldn’t stop thinking about how he held her in his arms when he carried her. He wanted to do it again, or at least satisfied the burning in his fingertips that told him to do it again. He only wanted to indulge Vladan’s annoying pleading to make him shut up. However, when Vlad felt how soft her hair was and how peaceful she looked asleep on the table he got lost in a trance of his own. 

The only other person whose hair he caressed was Dani’s when she was younger and would have terrible nightmares. He had thought of the countless fantasies he had of caressing Maddie’s hair and how that made him feel. But this was new and a bit refreshing. He couldn’t run his fingers through her hair, it was too coarse and filled with curls that went in every which way. Maybe if he had the chance to brush her hair it would be easier but he highly doubted it. 

Vlad knew he should reach out and touch her again, he scolded himself to simply say she was alright and go back upstairs but he was too curious to know. Vlad told himself to make it quick before he felt his mind being taken over again while he reached out to run a thumb over her cheek. He held his breath as he cupped the side of her face and caressed her cheek. She felt so cold against his fiery skin and it felt amazing. Vlad was constantly on fire from the inside and the slight comfort of a cool surface always relaxed him. Tayonna’s skin was smooth but he also enjoyed the feeling of texture in her skin he did find. He was supposed to pull his hand away already but he found himself in a trance fighting with his fantasies of Maddie and the realness of Tayonna. They were so different and he knew nothing about Tayonna like he believed he did of Maddie. Vlad was only able to pull himself out of his trance when he felt Tayonna’s head roll into his hand and nuzzle his palm. He quickly calmed himself as he tried to pull his hand away before she opened her eyes but Tayonna’s hand shot up and held him there.  

Tayonna took a deep breath then let out huffs as she continued to find comfort in the hand on her face. It felt so familiar and warm and for a moment she could have sworn she knew who it belonged to. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and it took a bit for her vision to get adjusted due to the change of sensory. She had remembered being outside and now she was in a dimly lit room. When she felt the hand on her cheek trying to escape she closed her eyes and chuckled and pulled it back kissing the palm. 

“Where are you going?” Tayonna’s voice was sweet and playful as she smiled and let out a small giggle. Vlad felt his heart skip a beat and his cheeks heat to a faint pink. This wasn’t good and he knew that when she realized whose hand that actually was she wouldn’t be too happy. But Vlad would rather face the music than allow this to go on any further so he cleared his throat and pulled his hand away a bit forcefully. Tayonna's eyes flew open and she shot up from the table and looked around. When her eyes landed on Vlad she looked down at his hand then quickly back up to his eyes. Her eyes widened and she quickly jumped off the table and backed away from him. She gripped her skirt nervously and looked around frantically trying to figure out where she was. 

“Please calm down, you were hurt and I brought you to my lab to help you.” Vlad held up his hands and walked towards her. When Tayonna jumped back Vlad quickly halted in his steps cursing himself. Tayonna touched her arm which had been damaged and she looked it over before locking eyes with Vlad again. 

“You helped me? Why?” Her words hurt him as she narrowed her eyes, which earned her a tsk and Vlad rolling his eyes. 

“A thank you would have been nice considering your method of healing would have taken longer than expected.” Vlad crossed his arms and leaned on one leg. “ You looked terrible curled up in a bed of roses.” Vlad knew that was a lie but it was the best he could come up with trying to save face. Like hell he would tell her he found her charming in her rose bed with stems wrapped around her. Like hell he would tell anyone that for a matter of fact. Tayonna seemed to realize she was being rude and she sighed and turned away from him. 

“Thank you.” She muttered. 

“You’re welcome, now if you don’t mind telling me what caused all of this that would be wonderful.” Vlad walked towards his work desk and took a seat in his chair. Tayonna once again gripped her dress and thought over what to say before raising her head and standing with a shaky air of confidence.  

“I tried to leave.” 

“Leave?” Vlad brows knotted and he pointed towards the ghost portal across from him. Tayonna shook her head ‘no’ and slowly raised a finger up towards the ceiling. 

“I can’t leave.” Tayonna's voice was broken as it trailed off and Vlad swallowed hard. He felt his mind become split in two for a moment between yelling at him to stop her from ever trying that again and actually being surprised she tried to leave on her own. He wasn’t against her leaving, a matter of fact if she went maybe he would have a clear conscience to actually think. The voice in his head that filled with worry finally shutting up and leaving with her could possibly be a blessing. But when he realized that her trying to leave is what caused the damage he groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. 

“Is it him that won't allow you to leave?” Vlad asked, waving a hand through the air. Tayonna shrugged her shoulders and Vlad gritted his teeth trying to make sense of this. “I take it this isn’t the first time you’ve tried to leave either, is it.” Tayoona shook her head and Vlad bit his lip and ran his fingers through his hair. He brought a hand to his face and stroked his chin trying to think but nothing could come to mind. While Vlad threw blanks after blank in his head he took notice that Tayonna now ran her fingers over her cheek. She looked so hurt and confused as she ghosted her fingers in the place his hand once were. He wanted to reach out and remove her hand and replace it with his and just hold her but he mentally kept his hand bound to his side.  

“You touched me.” Tayonna pulled her hand away from her face. 

“Well I didn’t want to but he did.” Vlad felt his cheeks heat up again and he turned to fake a cough.  

“No, it was you, you touched me, I felt it was you.” Tayonna lifted a hand to her chest and took a shaky breath then dropped it. 

“Miss Tayonna I can assure you the only reason I have touched you in the whole time you’ve been here was due to unwilling subconscious interference. I would much rather keep the distance we have, but this annoying nagging in my head from your ever so...lovely reminder of the past will not leave me alone.” Vlad pointed towards his ears, he wasn’t necessarily lying, half the time he touched her wasn’t his doing. Or if it was it was because Vladan had hinted in a way to calm Tayonna down from spiralling out of control. The last time Vlad was going to weasel himself out with pretty excuses and hope the ghost wouldn’t push for the truth. But he could see in Tayonna’s eyes she already knew the truth and his pretty lies weren’t going to work on her. However, at the same time, her eyes told him she wouldn’t hold it against him. She would pretend to buy his excuse and allow this time to pass. 

“Then don’t touch me.” Her words didn’t hold a threat like the other few times she had said it to him. It almost came off like a little tease. Vlad didn't see or feel Tayonna’s skin to know she was blushing. He felt it in his core. Blasted! He had forgotten they were bound and could sense each other. It seemed it only made itself noticeable when emotions were a bit high or like a sick joke when the moment called for it. Vlad would have chuckled and made a flirtatious remark if this had been a different situation and a different person. He might have even played into it and teased the other right back. But this wasn’t that and Vlad was not going to cross any lines that were set by themselves with Tayonna. 

“Very well,” was all Vlad could muster as he stood from his chair and hooked his hand behind his back. “I would like to introduce you properly to my daughter. Which you already met on a very sour first impression. But second time’s a charm I suppose, but fair warning, she’s not as excited to see you. So do be on your best behaviour, any harm that comes her way will be dealt with.” Vlad motioned for Tayonna to follow him up through the ceiling and she did. 

“Danielle? Please come here, dear.” Vlad yelled throughout the first floor and heard a faint ‘coming’ ranging from the living room. When the youngest phantom flew through the walls she quickly dropped to her feet and gasped. Tayonna stood a few steps behind Vlad and stared right into the girl’s soul. Dani shivered a bit, normally green eyes wouldn’t freak her out, but Tayonna was the strongest exception. Dani felt herself become nervous and quickly shot her hands up to her head as she shook it back and forth. 

“She’s doing the mind thing again!” Dani pointed her finger towards Tayonna who almost seemed taken back by the assumption. 

“No she isn’t, you’re nervous.” Vlad sighed and placed his hands on his hips. 

“How do you know?” Dani shot her father a look but quickly dismissed it when he returned a very fatherly one. 

“Because,” because I could feel it if she did. “Because she agreed to not do that to you nor I as long as she stayed here.” Vlad sounded very sure of himself as he stepped to the side and allowed Dani to fully see Tayonna. “Danielle I would like you to meet Tayonna. Tayonna, this is my daughter, Danielle.” Dani gave a quick and nervous ‘hi’ as she took another step back and Tayonna lifted the ends of her skirt to bow. “Danielle, Tayonna will most likely be home with you while I’m away at work during the day. Which means you will have to try and get along with her. But also means that if anything happens you call me straight away or get ahold of Daniel to handle the situation. She has promised to not do anything but we must be sure. For the time being it is for the best of us that we find our common ground within this house and respect them.”

“Yeah, okay…” Dani anxiously started rocking on her heels and Vlad sighed and told her she may go.  

“Dinner is in an hour!” Vlad called after the girl then grumbled something about teenagers before smiling. He turned back towards Tayonna, the girl had a small smile of her own and even soft eyes as she watched Dani leave. As the youngest phantom presents were gone, Tayonna's feelings leaked from her to Vlad. She had become unbearably sad. 

“Did you two ever have children?” Vlad asked, the curiosity of the cat purred and clawed at his mind. 

Tayonna raised a hand to her stomach and her eyes closed and brows fell in a sign of hurt, “We were, they would have been a girl.” Vlad now felt awkward for asking and turned away to hide his embarrassment. 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be, he wasn’t.”

[hardygalwrites]

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Anime/Manga: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (Part 1: Phantom Blood)

Characters: Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando

Synopsis: A few days after Jonathan and Dio's big fight in the entrance hall, a few days after the tragic death of Jonathan's beloved dog, Dio finds Jonathan collapsed by the river, beaten and bloody. Seeing this as an opportunity to change his tactics, Dio helps Jonathan make his way back the mansion.

Jonathan reaches a small understanding about Dio.

Note: Originally written for Whumptober of 2020 - Day 10: They Look So Pretty When They Bleed | Trail of Blood

Set during the seven year gap in Phantom Blood. TW for a bit of gaslighting and also referenced child ab*se

—

It had been a few days since Dio’s fight with Jonathan in the entrance hall. George Joestar never did end up dealing out the punishment he had promised both of them, but that was likely due to the sudden and subsequent death of a certain mutt.

“I know that you two fought recently… Understand that I do not condone JoJo’s actions. To beat a man while he is down is unseemly, and JoJo will be apologizing to you. But as it stands, for now, I must ask that you be gentle with him.”

“I understand, sir.”

Dio scoffed at the memory, continuing his easy walk down the open country pathway. “‘Be gentle.’”

As if gentleness hadn’t been a luxury guaranteed to Jonathan at birth. Dario Brando had still seen it fit to punish Dio when his mother died, and that was for the mere fault of simply existing. JoJo might think his father hard on him, but George Joestar was nothing but a soft fool, and his son nothing but a pampered brat.

A pampered brat who had still managed to beat Dio to the ground.

Dio felt his jaw clench and his hands tighten in his pockets.

No. Calm down.

Dio forced himself to relax, uncurling his fists and easing his tightened jaw. He had already learned from that fight that he needed to control his temper. And already evened the score by killing JoJo’s stupid mutt. With how disgustingly attached JoJo had been to that thing, that more than made up for any humiliation inflicted, or even any punishments averted as a result.

“What to do now though…?” Dio murmured to himself.

Actively looking to tear JoJo down was now out of the question. Dio had pushed JoJo to his limits, and instead of snapping in two, JoJo had snapped back. Dio needed to change tactics. Endearing himself to the other boy, just as he had done with everyone else, would likely be the next best course of action.

Of course, the shift would not be without its difficulties. Dio despised the thought of even pretending friendship with the likes of JoJo, but he would gladly bear it for the sake of his ultimate goal. No, the difficulty primarily lay in undoing JoJo’s animosity towards him. Dio had greatly underestimated JoJo’s capacity for vengefulness, and trust was such a notoriously fragile thing…

JoJo had certainly not been making the change in tactics any easier. Dio had hardly seen the other boy since their last fight. JoJo seemed to be going out of his way to avoid him. Not like he hadn’t clearly been making those same efforts before now, but JoJo barely even showed up to meals anymore. Dio would see JoJo run off outside everyday, but he had yet to catch a glimpse of him at any of his usual hiding spots.

As he passed by the tree JoJo used to frequent, with no sign of JoJo in sight, Dio huffed in annoyance. “I know he was attached to that beast, but just how long does he intend to mope about it?”

He could easily find JoJo himself, or use his influence over the other boys in town to hunt down JoJo’s new hideouts, and with how damn long it was taking JoJo to get over himself, Dio was about ready to throw caution to the wind and do just that. What need had he to be cautious, anyway?

(The memory of JoJo’s righteous fury bit at the back of Dio’s mind, and he promptly silenced it).

“Oi, Dio!”

At the sound of his name, Dio paused his stride and saw a group of his followers running down the path towards him. A few of them, he noted with mild interest, were nursing bruises and bloody noses.

The first of them to make it to Dio had a black eye in addition to the blood pouring over his hand, which he had pressed up beneath his nose. “Cor blimey, he’s turned into a real maniac…!”

“Used to not be able to hit worth a damn!” another boy exclaimed, a magnificent bruise decorating the side of his face.

“But we still got ‘im!” a third boy chimed in vindictively.

“Got who?” Dio asked.

“JoJo, of course!”

“JoJo…” Dio had suspected as much.

“We found him down the river,” one of the group explained. “He just up and attacked us, the bloody maniac…!”

“We beat ‘im, though!” someone else cut in. “That stupid uppity rich boy still can’t win a fight!”

Dio ignored the comment. The wheels in his mind were turning.

“Where is JoJo now?” he asked with practiced nonchalance.

Everyone’s fingers pointed back the way they had come. “Where we left ‘im, ‘round where the river flows behind that fancy mansion of ‘is. ‘e’s probably lickin’ his wounds if ‘e isn’t passed out by now.”

Dio strode forward, and the group parted like the Red Sea to Moses, allowing him to continue his way down the path.

“He’s gotten a lot stronger, Dio!” one of the group called to him. “You should be careful!”

“Don’t be stupid...!” another snapped. “As if anyone could beat Dio…! Least of all JoJo!”

Dio felt his hands curl into fists again. He forced himself to keep his stride even and unhurried.

“Yeah, and in the state we left ‘im, JoJo ain’t gonna be beatin’ anyone.”

“Dio’s got this, easy! Come on, let’s go!”

The sound of running footsteps and rowdy talk faded away, signalling the group’s exit. Dio allowed himself an irritated scoff.

It did not take Dio long to find JoJo. He saw the blood first, a trail of it, decorating the riverbank with scattered smears of crimson. And at the end of the trail, not at all far from where the trail started, lay JoJo.

Stepping off the path and onto the grass, Dio approached the fallen Joestar heir. At a glance, JoJo looked like a dead man. Dio had seen plenty of those in the slums of London, hidden curled up in alley corners, propped up against the wall behind pubs, or simply lying prone against the cobblestones, just like JoJo did now in the grass. It was immediately obvious that JoJo was alive though, if the laboured breathing was any indication.

Pity.

The grass rustled beneath Dio’s feet as he approached. JoJo coughed and turned his head just in time to see the other boy standing over him.

“Dio…” Though hoarsely spoken, the name came out sounding like a bitter curse. “Come to kick me while I’m down? You would do that, wouldn’t you…? Damn… coward…”

A few more coughs sent another light spray of blood spattering against the grass. JoJo groaned.

God, how badly Dio wanted to confirm JoJo’s bitter words. On the ground, face covered in blood and bruises, fancy clothes torn and dirtied, literally crawling - throughout all the torments Dio had put him through, JoJo had never looked more pathetic and beaten than he did right now. And here Dio was, in the perfect position to revel in the younger boy’s misery, to dig his heel into his back and say, “And here I thought only dogs crawled on all fours.”

But…

“That would be unseemly,” Dio said.

“You would know,” JoJo retorted. He grunted as he attempted to get his arms under him and push himself up, only for his arms to fail him and send his face crashing back into the dirt.

JoJo’s body began to shake. His hands clenched at the grass, soft, muffled sounds leaving him in spite of whatever efforts he might have been making to hide them. Dio simply looked down at him impassively. Then, he bent down and grabbed Jonathan by the arm.

“Wh– Hey…! What are you–?!”

Ignoring JoJo’s protests, Dio slung JoJo’s arm over his shoulder.

“Dio, what do you think you’re–?!” JoJo began to cough again.

“Helping you back home, is that all right?” Dio replied coolly.

He started towards the nearby bridge, which would allow them to cross the river and cut across the field to reach the mansion. JoJo recovered from his cough and began to struggle against Dio’s hold.

“Dio… Let go of me…!”

They reached the bridge and made their way across.

“I said let go!”

Dio tightened his grip on JoJo’s arm and continued their trek towards the mansion.

“Dio, let g–!” More coughing, this time severe enough for JoJo to sag significantly in Dio’s hold, forcing them to a stop.

“What?” Dio looked at JoJo with no small amount of annoyance. “Are you planning on crawling the rest of the way?”

JoJo did not answer immediately, his whole body shaking with the force of coughing up more blood onto the grass. As Dio watched, though, the coughing morphed into those same muffled sounds JoJo had been making on the riverbank only a minute or two ago. Dio could not make out his face, but JoJo’s body continued to shake.

“...You never liked Danny,” JoJo said at length, after his shaking had subsided a bit, voice low and barely audible.

“...No, I didn’t,” Dio admitted after a calculated pause. “What of it?”

“You killed him, Dio…!” JoJo turned his head to glare at him, frantic fury no less palpable through the tears running down his face. “I know you did, I know it was you, you killed him!”

Dio met JoJo’s teary gaze with a carefully crafted mask of easy benevolence. “JoJo… That is rather unfair of you.”

In an instant, the fire in JoJo’s eyes was doused with a startled uncertainty. “What...?”

“So I didn’t like your dog,” Dio continued sensibly. “For that reason alone you think me capable of committing such a cruel act?”

JoJo averted his gaze. “Well, I…”

Dio sighed in disappointment. “Really, JoJo.”

He forced JoJo to straighten up, leaving whatever excuses or retorts the latter might have said to die wordlessly as Dio resumed their walk.

Everything was quiet for a stretch. The grass crunched beneath their feet, a soft wind rustled past the nearby trees, JoJo’s breathing remained laboured and audible, broken only by the occasional cough, but no words passed between the two of them. Dio just kept his sights set on the mansion, trying to ignore how heavy JoJo was beginning to feel against his shoulder.

At around halfway to their destination, Dio glanced at Jonathan. The younger boy appeared lost in thought, blood and tear stained face a picture of conflicting emotions.

Dio returned his sights to the mansion. “So, what happened?”

“Huh?”

“You’re hardly the type to get into fights needlessly.”

Silence. Dio could see JoJo out of the corner of his eye, staring at him with a puzzled frown.

“...Why are you doing this, Dio?” JoJo finally asked.

“Whatever do you mean?”

“This is another one of your tricks, isn’t it?” The accusation, though bitter, held no bite to it, weighed down instead by weariness and resignation. “You’re planning to humiliate me somehow, to drag me down even further.”

Dio shook his head. “Still so unfair, JoJo. I saw you were in need and chose to help you. Is that really so hard to believe?”

“Well–“

“What, am I not allowed to show even the barest amount of humanity?” Dio asked, allowing a touch of bitterness in his own voice.

“No…!” JoJo cried. “I-I mean yes, but– No, that’s not what I…”

The words trailed off. Jonathan looked more confused and conflicted than ever. Dio held back a smirk, and the rest of the walk was spent in silence.

When they finally approached the front of the mansion, JoJo began to pull back. “Wait...”

Dio looked at him in annoyance. “What is it now?”

“Father,” JoJo said quietly, not meeting Dio’s gaze. “I don’t want him to see me like this.”

It would have been so easy to mock JoJo. Being so caught up in the loss of a dog that he had actually forgotten about the whereabouts of his own father? It was beyond pathetic.

“He’s not here, remember?” Dio said. “He went out of town yesterday to meet with a potential business partner and won’t be back for another two days. Come on…”

He nudged JoJo forward, and after a few hesitant stumbles, JoJo allowed Dio to lead him to and through the front door, where they were soon greeted by a very concerned staff. JoJo attempted to wave them all off, claiming to be “just fine” and other pointless self-denying rubbish. Dio simply asked that a bowl of warm water be brought to JoJo’s room as he brushed past them and helped JoJo make his way up the stairs.

When they got to JoJo’s room, Dio kicked the desk chair out from in front of JoJo’s desk and dropped the other boy into it. JoJo groaned, leaning forward with his arms wrapped around his abdomen, and Dio removed his jacket, tossing it onto the desk beside the two of them.

“...I... don’t think you answered my question earlier.”

Dio glanced up from rolling up his shirt sleeves to meet a searching blue gaze.

“Why are you helping me, Dio?” JoJo asked, the question genuine but guarded.

“Do you not want me to, JoJo?” Dio responded easily.

The blue gaze dropped back down to the floor. “I don’t know…”

JoJo’s arms tightened around his middle. The frown on his face was marred by a deep discomfort, too vulnerable to be resentfulness or hostility. Dio regarded him for a moment, carefully indifferent, then resumed folding up his shirt sleeves.

One of the manservants soon arrived with the requested water. The man once again expressed concern over the two boys, but Dio assured him that everything was under control and that he would call if they needed anything else. The manservant left, albeit hesitantly, and Dio returned to JoJo’s side with the bowl in hand, placing it onto the desk.

After soaking the provided cloth in the warm water and wringing it out, Dio turned and pushed Jonathan upright, drawing a startled cry of pain from the injured boy as he instinctively attempted to curl back in on himself. Dio ignored him, keeping one hand against JoJo’s shoulder.

“Sit still.” He pressed the damp cloth against a cut running along the edge of JoJo’s hairline.

“Ow!” JoJo recoiled, trying to pull away. “Dio! What are you– Ow!”

“Even a cut can become gangrenous if not properly attended to,” Dio said, dipping the cloth into the basin again and wiping more blood from a cut down Jonathan’s temple.

“Ow! I know that, but–”

“Then what is the problem? Just sit still and let me clean those cuts,” Dio retorted. He brought the cloth to a remarkable split in the skin above JoJo’s eye.

“Ow…! All right, all right, fine, just…” JoJo clenched and unclenched his fists for a moment, as though unsure what to do with his hands, before finally and hesitantly settling on gripping his knees. “Be gentle, all right…?”

Dio grit his teeth, fingers tightening around the cloth in his hand. He resumed cleaning JoJo’s cuts as before.

‘Be gentle.’

What the hell? How, how had he lost to this? A pampered brat who whined and flinched at the slightest pain? JoJo had taken a thumb to the eye, even a knee to the head better than this…!

JoJo hissed, tensing yet again as the cloth pulled at the edges of the cut along his hairline. “Well… You certainly seem to know what you’re doing…”

The words were murmured, sounding like a light observation spoken more to JoJo himself than to the boy in front of him.

Despite that, Dio found himself saying coldly, “Of course. I’ve had to.”

JoJo’s eyes flicked upward to look at him, wide, confused, and naive, so infuriatingly goddamned naive–

“The slums of London are not so kind as the backwater countryside, JoJo,” Dio snarled, glaring at the cut he was currently cleaning.

“...Right. Of course, that makes sense.”

Dio paused, actually looking JoJo in the face. He nearly reeled back.

Dio did not quite recognize the look on JoJo’s face. There was no hostility in it, no defensiveness, not even a resignation. It was not pity, Dio did actually know what that looked like. No, it was something else. Dio hated it.

“Tch.” Dio looked away, managing to regain a fumbling hold on his temper as he continued tending to Jonathan’s wounds. “You know, you never answered my question.”

“What? Ow…!”

“What happened?” Dio asked, relaxing now that that look had disappeared behind a wince of pain.

“I… It was nothing.” JoJo looked away. “I simply lost my temper…”

Dio just barely managed to hold back a scoff as he wrung out the cloth in the, by now, blood stained water. Chances were, his followers had found Jonathan and verbally assaulted him until some slight violated his precious sense of ‘honour,’ and he lashed out physically. Considering how much more emotionally fragile JoJo had been as of late, it would not have been difficult.

“Dio.”

At the sound of his name, Dio turned back to JoJo with a raised eyebrow. “Yes?”

There it was. That look again, made somehow worse by the way JoJo sat upright in his chair, despite how much it obviously physically pained him.

“I’m…” JoJo hesitated, then continued certainly, “I’m sorry. For… making you cry.”

Never had Dio felt more like he wanted to hit someone.

That look, those words, something about them just… got under his skin, made him feel not like the veritable god he knew he was. Dio wanted to hurt Jonathan, to punch that look off his face, to–

run a w ay

 an d

 h i d e

“...I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dio said through grit teeth.

JoJo bowed his head. “Right. Of course.”

Dio’s grip tightened around the cloth once again. “Good god, just sit still,” he growled.

The rest of their time was spent in silence, save for the occasional hiss or cry from JoJo.