#Look if Link can see the ghosts of his friends he can see other ecto enemies too

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 220

Danny has made a delightful discovery. Blob ghosts can in fact change their shape! Sure it’s simple shapes, but still! He has a school of flying blob fish and blob cats following him around and they’re adorable. And it’s not like most people can see them outside of Amity anyway, so they’re fine to follow him around as they like. 

Though maybe he should have remembered that the most doesn’t mean no one can see them. Um, hello? Feral stabby child?? No you can not steal some of his friends??? Where are your parents???? 

[carelisswriting]

Late Night Hangout

Hey y'all, this is my fic for Ecto Implosion!!

my artist partner for this is @i-havenothingelsetopost and y'all should definitely check out them and the art they made for this fic!! Art's linked in the scene it directly inspired :)

Anyway, here's the fic!

It was weird, seeing Tucker in a hospital bed. The flowers and ‘Get Well Soon!’ card tried to soften the harsh blow, but it really didn’t work.

Danny didn’t like that Tucker was in the hospital.

(He really didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t even been allowed to see him, the first day.)

It made something in his chest hurt.

The thought of Tucker being injured.

It had been stupid.

So stupid.

A second too late, and now his best friend-

His best friend.

Tucker.

-was hurt.

Danny should’ve been quicker, should’ve been-

“Hey.”

Danny shook his head, coming back to reality instead of being lost in his own thoughts.

Sam gave him a worried look from the other side of Tucker’s bed, as Tucker chewed on his lip.

“It wasn’t your fault, Danny.” Tucker said, always seeming to know what Danny was worried about.

It was though, it was.

It had just been a regular ghost attack, Johnny, Shadow, and Kitty causing problems on one of their ‘dates’. Danny had almost been having fun chasing them down, but-

But he hadn’t realized that Skulker was also causing havoc.

Hadn’t realized that Tucker had been dealing with him alone, Sam was with Danny-

Hadn’t realized that Skulker threw Tucker into a wall-

(Danny felt it, when Tucker got hurt.)

(Skulker hadn’t had a good time, after that.)

“Danny, snap out of it!” Tucker said, sounding annoyed.

He focused back onto Tucker, who had a frown on his face.

“How many times do I have to say it’s not your fault? I’m the one who tried to face Skulker without any backup or powers.”

There was a slight note of self-deprecation to Tucker’s voice, which Danny couldn’t let stand.

Neither could Sam, as it happened.

“It was stupid, but you could’ve beat him if you had some of your tech with you, Tucker.” Sam said, glaring lightly at one of her best friends.

Danny nodded in agreement, before adding “Besides, you know that you’re not a good match against Skulker! If it was Technus, you would’ve had him!”

Tucker leaned back against the pillow, giving a harsh sigh.

“Yeah, but I left everything except Janet at home, like an idiot. And now I’m in the hospital for the next three days, for ‘observation’.”

“C’mon Tuck, it won’t be that bad.” Danny said, trying to cheer him up.

Tucker rolled his eyes.

“It will. You know how much I hate hospitals.”

Danny did know.

Tucker had despised them ever since his grandfather died. He had hated watching as the man slowly died of cancer, but still went to visit him all he could despite it.

Danny had tried so, so hard to be there for Tucker during that.

Tucker said it’d helped a lot.

Sam grabbed Tucker’s hand.

“We’ll come visit you every day, okay?”

Tucker nodded “I know. And thanks.”

Danny grabbed Tucker’s other hand, completing their little chain.

“Yeah, and I’ll bring you all the homework you miss.”

Tucker laughed at that.

“More like you’ll come pester me about helping you with it!”

Danny laughed along.

He would definitely come annoy Tucker into helping him with homework.

(Not that Tucker would mind.)

A nurse ducked his head into the room, calling out “Visiting hours are ending!” before quickly moving onto the next room.

Tucker, Sam and Danny sighed as one, before looking at each other and giggling.

“I’ll see you two losers tomorrow.” Sam said, before grabbing her backpack.

Danny smiled at Tucker.

“See you tomorrow.”

“See ya.”

\(oo)/

Danny was woken up by a ding! From his phone.

He groaned at seeing that it was still dark out.

Who the heck was texting him-

Oh.

It was Tucker.

Also, it was 2 AM.

Danny opened up the text message.

‘hey can u come hang with me? i can’t sleep’

Danny frowned, before replying.

‘yeah np, be there in a few’

He hated that Tucker had to be in the hospital overnight.

Danny shoved his phone into his backpack, along with his homework.

The teacher was gonna give Danny Tucker’s makeup work for today (well, technically yesterday) tomorrow, but Tuck would appreciate seeing it beforehand.

Also, then Danny could get him to explain what the heck their biology teacher was talking about.

(Danny did not like biology. At all.)

(At least living biology.)

(Ghost biology was way more of his thing.)

He transformed, rings of light traveling over him, before grabbing his backpack and darting out his window.

\(oo)/

Danny hovered outside of the hospital, trying to figure out which room was Tucker’s.

It was not easy to tell which was which from the outside, all of them looking the same.

At least he knew what floor it was on?

He flew closer to one of the windows, peeking inside to see if it was Tucker.

It wasn’t.

A small child, maybe 7? Looked out at him with an expression of glee on their tiny face.

He could see the kid practically vibrating as they looked at him.

He smiled at them, before holding up a finger to his lips in the universal sign for ‘shh’.

The kid bobbed their head up and down, before miming locking their lips and throwing away the key, then they held their hands up in the shape of a heart.

That was adorable, who’d taught them that?

Phantom smiled, and made a thin layer of ice on the window in the shape of a tiny blob ghost, with a small heart next to it.

It shouldn’t melt for at least a day.

He really hoped the kid liked it.

He looked back at them, seeing that their eyes were full of stars, their mouth open in awe.

Well, guess that answered whether they liked it.

Phantom waved goodbye at the kid, before flying towards the next window.

(Meanwhile, Sammy was so excited to tell their mom about this in the morning. Phantom had come to see them!!! This made being in the hospital totally worth it. He was the absolute coolest hero, even if Sammy’s mom thought he looked a bit creepy. Sammy didn’t think he did, but that was what their mom said every time Phantom came up. Sammy didn’t care though. Phantom was the best hero.)

He finally managed to find the right window after a minute more of peeking into windows, seeing Tucker sitting on his bed, messing with his PDA.

Danny floated through the window, before peeking over Tucker’s shoulder.

He was coding something, though Danny could not for the life of him tell what.

(Tucker had tried to teach Danny coding basics once. It did not go well. He kept forgetting semicolons were a thing that existed.)

Tucker didn’t even startle at Danny’s sudden appearance, far too used to his best friend’s antics by now.

“Thanks for coming dude.” Tucker said, eyes still focused on the code.

“Don’t worry about it, Tuck.” Danny said, floating over to sit next to Tucker’s bed.

Well, not next to Tucker’s bed, exactly.

More like floating in the air in a sitting position next to it, really.

Tucker finished whatever it was he had been doing, setting down his PDA on the nightstand.

He turned to smile at Danny “Not everyone would show up at 2 in the morning to comfort their friend.”

Danny shrugged, trying to pretend that he wasn’t ever not going to show up when Tucker asked.

“Really, it’s not like I had anything better to do.”

Tucker laughed, a low sound as he tried to keep his voice down.

“That’s fair. It’s not like you were working on homework.”

“Well….” Danny said, drawing out the word as he set the backpack down.

Tucker smiled, fond and exasperated.

“What is it now?”

Danny pouted, flipping upside down in the air.

“Normal biology makes no sense and is the bane of my existence.”

Tucker rolled his eyes.

“It’s not that bad.”

Danny gave Tucker his best pleading look.

“C’mon, please?”

Tucker sighed “Fine, but Danny, you just have to remember-“

Tucker launched into a ramble about their current biology assignment, and Danny flipped right side up, trying his best to listen.

It was strange, how much of this Tucker had managed to memorize.

Some of Sam’s rants must’ve stuck in his brain.

(Or maybe Tucker just really liked learning about animal life cycles.)

Danny, meanwhile, tended to just tune Sam out.

And also Tucker, he realized.

He had no clue what he had been saying.

Tucker paused for a moment, seeing Danny looking completely lost.

“Look just- Give me the book, I’ll show you what I mean.”

Danny grabbed his biology textbook, handing it over to Tucker.

Tucker flipped it open, motioning for Danny to give him a pencil.

Danny smiled at how sure Tucker was that Danny would give him a pencil without him asking.

Of course, Danny did give him it almost immediately.

“So, if you see here-“

Danny crossed his legs, floating a little over the edge of the bed as he listened to Tucker.

(Who was really cute when he was explaining something- no don’t go there.)

\(oo)/

It took an hour, but Tucker had finally managed to explain the concepts used on the assignment well enough that Danny was pretty sure he wouldn’t fail.

So, that was good.

Tucker closed the textbook, handing it over to Danny.

“Thanks Tuck. I probably won’t fail it.”

Tucker snorted “You definitely won’t fail it. Or at least if you do, it won’t be my fault.”

Danny rolled his eyes.

He flipped around, laying in the air as he looked at Tucker.

“You’re okay, right? I know that you hate hospitals but I just wanted to check because-“

“I’m fine, Danny. Hospitals suck, I hate being here, but I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.” Tucker said, cutting him off.

Danny turned away, looking at the visiting hours sheet on the wall instead of at Tucker.

“I don’t- It’s my fault, though.”

He heard Tucker sigh.

“Danny. It wasn’t your fault that I got hurt, okay? It was mine. I shouldn’t have gone out alone, especially against Skulker.”

Danny could hear the self-deprecation in Tucker’s voice.

Again.

Danny hated it when he did that, acted like he wasn’t worth it, wasn’t capable, just because he didn’t have powers.

He twisted back around to glare at Tucker, his annoyance overtaking his guilt.

 “Tuck, it’s not your fault! And don’t talk like that! You’re my best friend, and you’re awesome! With or without powers.”

Tucker smiled, and Danny realized that Tucker had been trying to get him to look at him.

Danny rolled his eyes, but didn’t turn back around.

“Look, how about we agree that it’s neither of our faults, and neither of us need to feel bad about it?” Tucker said.

Danny sighed, but nodded.

“Yeah, that’s… that’s fair.”

Tucker beamed, before grabbing Danny’s hand and tugging him into a hug. Danny went with the motion, not bothering to fight it.

Tucker’s hugs were great.

They stayed there for a moment, before Tucker let Danny go, a smile on his face.

Danny floated away slightly, hovering on his back, before flipping his head upside down to look at Tucker with a grin.

And then he heard the door open behind him.

Oh crap-

He twisted up, moving his torso in way that wasn’t exactly something humans could do, seeing that there was a nurse standing there.

She had a look of shock on her face, a hand brought up to her mouth.

Danny went invisible.

Damn, he really hoped Tucker could cover for this.

It would be a nightmare if Danny’s parents got called.

Danny darted into the corner, not wanting to deal with the nurse accidentally walking through him if she went over to Tucker’s bed.

(It was a disconcerting feeling, someone passing through him when he was a ghost. Not for him, really, he barely noticed, but Sam and Tucker had told him that it felt like there were invisible fingers trailing over their skin, when they’d tested it out.)

The nurse stood there a moment more, frozen in her surprise.

Danny saw Tucker cringe slightly.

“Um, hey? What’s up?”

The nurse shook her head, before saying hesitantly “I, you didn’t see anything?”

Tucker grabbed his PDA from the nightstand, fiddling with it.

“Nope, nothing. Who- What would even be there?”

He was not a good liar.

Danny sighed, just slightly.

The nurse turned towards the sound, but just shook her head again.

“Nothing, I don’t know. I thought I saw something. Don’t worry about it.”

A bright smile came on her face, obviously practiced for dealing with patients.

“So, any issues? Any pain? We’re still on the lookout for any internal bleeding.” She said as she picked up Tucker’s chart, looking at something on it.

Tucker flipped over his PDA, his fingers twitching like he wanted to start typing something.

“I’ve been okay, just couldn’t sleep.”

The nurse glanced up at him.

“Do you want some melatonin? It can’t mess up any of the blood thinners, antibiotics, or pain meds we’ve got you on, and it’ll help you sleep.”

Danny’s eyes widened.

Blood thinners? Danny hadn’t realized that they’d put Tucker on anything like that.

He’d figured that he’d be on antibiotics and pain meds, but blood thinners?

Why was he on blood thinners?

Weren’t those for when someone got surgery-

Tucker shrugged.

“I mean, sure? I might not take it right away.”

The nurse nodded, her smile still fixed on her face.

“Okay, I’ll bring that in for you.”

She stepped outside the room, and Danny followed her.

He was curious, and also-

Tucker was on blood thinners, apparently.

And hadn’t told Danny.

Had his injuries been more serious than he’d said? He’d insisted it was just some bruising, that they were being overcautious with the observation.

Danny poked his head through the wall, watching as the nurse leaned against the wall, holding a hand to her chest.

Oh. He’d really scared her.

She was mumbling under her breath.

“It was nothing Kate, you don’t need to freak out about it, of course there wasn’t a ghost in your patient’s room at 3 AM, that would be ridiculous-“

She continued to mutter to herself, before pushing off the wall and walking down the hallway.

Danny felt pretty bad about scaring her, but he couldn’t exactly apologize.

…Maybe he should just, leave her something nice?

He looked over to the nurse’s station.

He drifted over.

It was full of papers, patient charts and schedules and a bunch of stuff that looked way too medical-y for Danny to want to deal with.

He bit his lip, thinking.

Maybe she’d just like a flower?

Girls liked flowers.

Danny carefully formed a flower out of ice, one that looks kinda like a daisy maybe?

Danny was better at remembering what flowers looked like than what they were called.

(Also, he wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t a ghost flower.)

(Again, he was better at remembering what they looked like than what they were called, or where he found them.)

Satisfied with his small apology, Danny ducked back through the wall into Tucker’s room.

And then he remembered, oh right, Tucker, maybe, was lying about his injuries.

Tucker was typing something on his PDA, but he looked up when Danny came back into the room.

Danny was still invisible, but Tucker and Sam had figured out that when he entered a room, even if he was invisible, the temperature dropped slightly.

No one else had noticed that yet, but Tucker thought it was great, since it meant he knew where Danny was.

Danny did not think that it was great right now.

“Dude, what were you even doing?” Tucker said, putting down his PDA.

Danny faded back into visibility, trying to keep his face blank, or at least close to it.

“I was checking on the nurse. I scared her a lot, Tuck.”

Tucker grimaced.

“Yeah, but you knew what you look like when you’re in shadow.”

Danny did.

Apparently, something about low light made him look more ghostlike, stretching out his proportions and blurring his features. He never noticed it, but Tucker had tried to describe it to him as best as he could.

Sam had grinned and said that he looked awesome, like he was from a horror movie.

(Danny hadn’t liked that description. He didn’t want to be scary.)

(Sam hadn’t said it again.)

“Also, your eyes were reflecting the light, like a cat or something.” Tucker added, drawing Danny’s attention back to him.

Danny frowned.

“They were? That’s new.”

Tucker shrugged.

“Looked cool, though.”

It probably had.

“I gave her an ice flower, the nurse I mean. I wanted to aplogize.” Danny said.

Tucker grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

“You’ve got a crush-“

Danny groaned.

“Tuck, seriously, you do not have to say that anytime I give a girl anything.”

Tucker laughed.

“I know, but your reactions are so funny.”

Danny sighed.

He knew that he needed to stop reacting, if he actually wanted Tucker to stop.

But it got under his skin, when Tucker teased him about having crushes on girls.

(Danny tried not to think about why that was.)

He floated closer to Tucker’s bed, a small frown on his face.

The nurse would probably be back soon.

But Danny really wanted to know what was happening with Tucker’s injuries.

“Tuck, why are you on blood thinners?”

Tucker looked away, all of the humor gone.

“I didn’t want you to worry.”

Danny huffed.

“What do you mean? Just tell me!”

Tucker sighed, before looking pleadingly at Danny.

“Don’t freak out, but I had surgery. That’s why I’m on blood thinners.”

Danny reeled back.

Tucker had surgery?

His injuries had been bad enough for that?

(Danny had failed that badly?)

“You- you were that hurt?” Danny asked, his voice wavering.

Tucker got a look of panic on his face.

“I’m fine, I’m fine! Danny I swear, it was almost nothing, they just had to fix some internal bleeding-“

“You had internal bleeding?” Danny screeched.

Tucker nodded hesitantly.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Danny asked, hurt in his voice.

Had Tucker been mad at him for failing to protect him-?

“I didn’t want you to worry, it wasn’t as bad as it sounds-“

The door opened.

Danny went invisible almost immediately this time, not wanting to scare the nurse again.

She looked less freaked out, a smile fixed on her face.

“Here’s that melatonin, sorry that it took me so long to get.”

She handed Tucker a small cup, two pills in it.

“Once you take those, it should be easier for you to fall asleep.”

Tucker nodded, giving her a small smile.

“Thanks.”

He glanced to the corner Danny was in, as the nurse did one last check of his vitals.

Danny sighed almost silently from his corner.

He’d failed, he’d let Tucker get hurt-

Tucker hadn’t told him.

The nurse left, telling Tucker to go to sleep as she did.

Danny faded back into visibility, his face downcast.

Tucker sighed at his expression.

“Danny, I didn’t want you to worry-“

“Tell me next time.” Danny said pleadingly, desperately.

If he didn’t know when he’d failed, he couldn’t try to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Tucker shook his head, not in denial but in exasperation.

“Okay. I’ll tell you next time.”

Danny felt relief travel through him, settling something in his core.

He needed to know when Tucker, or Sam, got hurt.

He needed to make sure it didn’t happen again.

Danny floated forward, before hugging Tucker.

Tucker rolled his eyes, leaning into the hug.

“Is this some ghost thing? Feels like a ghost thing.”

Danny laughed, rolling his eyes right back at Tucker.

“Really, it’s a ghost thing to care about my friends now-?”

Tucker shoved lightly at Danny, humor in his face.

“Shut up, you know what I mean-“

Danny grinned, leaning back, still floating in front of Tucker.

“It’s not a ghost thing, Tuck. I just wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Tucker smiled softly at Danny at the sentiment behind his words.

Danny looked away, feeling his face heat up.

Tucker laughed slightly at Danny’s apparent embarrassment.

(It wasn’t embarrassment. He just couldn’t handle Tucker smiling at him like that, it was so full of love-)

Danny looked back at him, seeing Tucker grinning at him.

He crossed his arms with a huff, dramatic and insincere.

“You don’t have to annoying about it-“

Tucker cut him off with another laugh, before he looked over to his PDA, seeing the time.

He sighed.

Danny glanced over as well, seeing that it was almost 4 AM.

He needed to get home, heck-

His mom was always up at six, and she checked on Danny and Jazz at the same time.

And Danny would really like to get some more sleep before he was inevitably woken up by his mom checking on him.

He looked back to Tucker, an apologetic look on his face.

“I gotta go, sorry-“

Tucker waved him off.

“No worries. Thanks for coming to hang out.”

Danny smiled, about to grab his bag-

And then he had a very impulsive thought.

He wavered for a moment.

Before deciding, yeah, it’s worth it.

He leaned forward, giving Tucker a kiss on the cheek.

Tucker looked at him in complete surprise.

Danny smiled softly at him, and Tucker blushed.

(Ha, sweet revenge.)

Danny felt all of his sudden confidence leave him in moments.

He’d actually just done that, Ancients-

He darted away, grabbing his bag quickly.

“So uh, yeah no problem, I’ll see you at school-!” Danny said in a rush, before flying out of the window.

He was halfway to his house before he remembered that no, he wouldn’t see Tucker at school, because Tucker was still gonna be in the hospital for a few more days.

He was such a mess.

He couldn’t believe he’d just done that, kissed Tucker on the cheek.

(He wished he could do it again.)

\(oo)/

Tucker watched as Danny flew away.

He held a hand to his cheek.

His best friend had just kissed him.

On the cheek, but still.

He’d kissed Tucker.

A soft smile came onto his face.

If Danny felt the same-

Oh, Tucker was so going to flirt with him when he came back in the morning.

Danny wasn’t gonna know what hit him.

He took the melatonin pills, laying down to wait for the sleepiness to hit him.

Tucker grinned to himself.

This was going to be fun.

And maybe he’d get a boyfriend out of it.

A man could dream.

[gremlin-bot]

Messages From the Formally Deceased

This was Beta read by my lovely platonic spouses @half-dead-ham and @bewitched-forest!!! This was suppose to be for Ship week but it got way out of hand! So enjoy some soulmates with multiverse shenanigans!

Ao3 link: Here Master List: Here

Summary: The Fenton children have always been different, even before the increased ecto-contamination and ghost hunting. Not that most would notice the ink on their skin that they couldn’t have drawn on themselves. They're kids, they get messy. By the time they got older all other factors in their lives overshadowed the messages exchanged in ink on their skin. After all who would notice a discussion on literature scribbled in two sets of script on Jasmine's arm, or the compliments tucked under drawings of constellations crawling across lanky limbs.

Chapter 1: How did we both become vigilantes‽‽

Danny has always loved the writing on his sister's skin. He would trace the curly letters next to his sister's chicken scratch handwriting when he was upset and his parents were too busy to comfort him. He didn't think he would get his own writing, or that's how Jazz explained it to him. She said that she had a soulmate and because no one else had one, she was a special case and it would be very rare that it would happen again. 

Turns out Danny was special as well. On his 7th birthday his parents gave him markers but no coloring books to use them on. So like any kid who has older siblings would do, he copied Jazz and drew on his arm. He drew Saturn as he found the rings around the planet to be cool. He was outlining it in a dark blue when he noticed the shaky lettering. 'That's pretty' is now sprawled under his drawing. Danny couldn't barely contain himself as he grabbed the marker tighter and wrote 'Thank you' underneath the other's message. He spent the rest of the afternoon drawing on himself, covering his body in planets, stars and unsteady letters. By the time Jazz got home from her friend's house, his arms were covered completely and his legs were no better. He didn't give her time to scold him before showing her the writing on his skin. 

"Jazz, look!! I'm special just like you!!" Danny shoved his arm into Jazz's hands. Her eyes widening as she takes in the drawings and childish handwriting. Slowly, a smile spreads across her face. 

"It seems like you are! How about next time you borrow my markers? I'll even give you some of my old ones. It'll be easier to wash off." She leads Danny by the hand up the stairs.

"Okay! Can I get my own markers like yours, too?" Danny's excitement was infectious as he all but hopped behind Jazz into her room.

"I'll ask mom about it later, but I don't see why not," Jazz said while grabbing her spare set of markers and handing them to Danny. "Here they are. Please don't lose them, okay?"

"I'll be careful, promise!!" Danny takes them carefully, like they are the most precious thing in the world, and for him they are. He is finally special like Jazz! He has someone he can always talk to! 

—---------

Danny was never without a marker or pen after that day. He often has several of both on his person and even more in his bag. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't fill his skin with stars for his soulmate. Over the years he's learned more about them, him. 

They talk about everything and nothing, all around Danny's drawings. His soulmate's name is Tim and he loves taking pictures and solving puzzles. He can't draw to save his life but he's good at math. His city has real heroes and villains that fight each other. Danny thinks that's cool but still wishes that Tim would stop following around the vigilantes. He knows Tim can keep himself safe but he still worries. It's not like Tim would ever try to become a vigilante.

Danny really should have known Tim would prove him wrong. Danny was working on an essay in his room when, after not hearing from the other boy for 4 months, Tim's blocky handwriting slowly crawled across his arm. Each line being placed with increasing speed. This happens sometimes; the long gaps of replies followed with a reply written too fast, or a message that takes days to slowly show on his skin. Tim has a theory that time changes based on their universes shifting closer or farther from each other. Danny doesn't have time to think about theories or even a reply before his inner forearm is covered in Tim's handwriting.

'Danny you got to promise me not to be upset when time decides to work. You know how I was looking for Nightwing so he could come back and be Robin for Batman again. Well I found him and he said no, but I did convince him to help Batman again. Unfortunately that meant that he still needed a Robin. So, I may or may not have become a Robin…' 

'Tim wtf, why are you like this,' If Danny could rip a hole into Tim's universe and shake some common sense into him, Danny would be doing that now.

'Because someone has to. I've gotten tons of training from Batman and he's not letting me out of sight when on patrol. I'll be fine,' Tim's reply was written at his normal speed. Time seems to be on their side for a little while.  

'Okay, but if anything happens, write as soon as you can. I want to know that you're okay.' 

'Of course! Even if I couldn't write to you myself I would make sure someone did!' Danny shook his head. Not like there was anything he could do about Tim. Maybe he should tell Jazz, but no. Jazz looked sad whenever he talked about the writing on his skin recently. He remembers her mumbling about goodbyes when he asked. He just doesn't know and really doesn't want to make her any more upset.

Danny does what he always does when Tim is considered, he draws galaxies on to his skin. He decides that his thigh would be the best canvas for the drawing of the Andromeda galaxy he has been planning. Essay completely forgotten for the stars he wants to show the other boy.

—--------

Danny was going to fight his arm. It wouldn’t stay tangible long enough for him to write a message to Tim. This sucks, he just wants to tell the other boy about him maybe also being a hero now, but his dumb powers will not work with him. He takes a deep breath and holds it. Letting it out slowly, using what Jazz taught him to calm down. Getting frustrated won’t help him. 

Gods, he was tired. The fight with the lunch lady ghost was just the beginning of the hoard of spirits that would come through the portal. He started to skip classes and hasn’t gotten more than four hours of sleep since. Tonight was one of the rare nights that nothing came through. It would be perfect to write to Tim, If only his body got the memo. 

The green marker dropped to his desk as intangibly flickers through both arms. Danny almost topples forward, but regains his arms in time to catch himself. Holding his position he waits for his powers to activate and… nothing happens. Relief washes over him, he can finally write to Tim! He’ll have to clean the marks left on his desk from this incident later, but that isn’t important. 

‘I have good news and bad news. What do you want first?” Danny decided that it was best to start with this. It will be better than the info dump Tim did to him.

‘Let’s go with the good news first.’ Seeing Tim respond was calming for Danny. The other boy was there for him. He’d understand.

‘I can no longer make fun of you for being a teen hero.’

‘Danny!” 

Tim definitely figured out that he was a hero from that. Well, time to rip off the Band-Aid. Danny takes a deep breath as he grips the marker more firmly. Writing as fast but neatly as he could. ‘Bad news, I may have died and come back to life leading to me becoming half ghost and my town’s hero.’

‘Danny what the FUCK‽‽ Are you okay now?’

‘Kinda… I spent the last hour fighting my arms trying to make them stay tangible enough to write to ya’ ‘Dude, that doesn't sound okay. What exactly are you dealing with? I want to help.’ Danny can't help but melt a little at the words the other boy had written to him. Tim was so caring in his own way that the other boy rarely recognized. Gods, Danny might be a goner for the other boy if it wasn’t for the fact that he would never get to see him. He spent the rest of the night explaining to Tim about what happened to him and the powers he got because of it. Falling even more for the boy with a sharp mind and caring heart through it all, no matter how he denies it.

[lapetitechatonne]

Day Four: There’s something off about them. . .

okay, so if you thought the other day was a stretch, this one most certainly is. It was originally my idea for Mistaken Identity, but i had to switch it around some. the idea is original from this post by @hidden-under-lock-and-key. it’s a nice break from the angst i’ve been posting. enjoy!!! <3

ao3 link!

Kate’s Masterlist here!

When in doubt: Manslaughter fixes everything - 2.1k words

In life, sometimes you here confronted with two options. The longer, hard road of being truthful with those around you and dealing with the consequence of your actions.

Or gaslight, gatekeep, and girlboss.

As Danny stared at the heroes that cornered him in the alley behind Nasty Burger, he was feeling like the former.

“It’s okay son,” fucking Superman stepped forward trying to make himself look as soft as the man of steel could, “we understand the need for a secret identity.”

Danny suppressed a snort. Right. That’s why they were cornering him behind a fast-food joint at eight pm. Real subtle.

“That’s um, great sir,” Danny had no idea where this sentence was going, “but umm. . . yeah, Phantom’s not a meta-human. He’s a ghost,” gaslight it was, he guessed, “and as you can see, I’m not dead. So . . .”

Danny just shrugged. He was used to Wes Weston running his mouth, but this was a whole other ball game. People would actually believe the Justice League if they decided to go public.

But he’d already dug his grave—hehe good one—he might as well keep digging.

“There’s no such thing as ghosts,” the Flash rolled his eyes and gave him a very disappointed look. If he wasn’t very used to them by now, it might have done something.

“Yeah,” Danny smirked looking the Flash dead in the eyes, “prove it.”

“This isn’t a game,” Batman growled and stepped closer to him, obviously in an attempt to intimidate him.

“No, it’s not,” Danny frowned crossing his arms, “this is my life. Not yours, mine. And you’re endangering it just by throwing around accusations like this.”

Judging from the looks on their faces they didn’t understand the weight of the accusations they were placing on him. Great. Just great.

“Metas and aliens are protected,” Superman started, but Danny just shook his head.

“Anyone or anything contaminated with ectoplasm���like Phantom, the dead guy—isn’t considered a sentient being under the Anti-Ecto acts,” they all looked at him with varying degrees of confusion. Dear ancients, they actually didn’t know, “Look it up. Anyways, I’m late for dinner with my friends so I’m just gonna. . .”

Danny gestured over his shoulder and slipped out of the alley, leaving the heroes in various degrees of confusion and concern.

Whatever. Not his problem.

---

Turns out it was, indeed, his problem.

The stared, dead-eyed at the three heroes on his doorstep contemplating all his life decisions. Because what deity did he piss off to deserve this?

“May we come in?” Superman asked.

Probably Clockwork. This would be his idea of a joke.

Danny sighed and stepped aside. Better to let them in than have the whole neighborhood see them.

He glared at the heroes as they filed in, the Flash and Superman looking uncomfortable while Batman simply stared in silence. Danny gave the door a good slam and walked back into the kitchen. Just because they were there didn’t mean he had to play nice.

“Who was that dear?” his mom looked up from her tablet as he entered the room.

He didn’t answer. He just grabbed his coffee and glared at the heroes standing awkwardly in the kitchen archway.

“Um, hi ma’am,” Superman said, tentatively taking a step into the room like she was going to hit him with a wooden spoon or something, “we came to talk about your son’s, um. Extracurriculars.”

His mom just frowned, setting the tablet down on the table in front of her, “Danny isn’t in any extracurriculars.”

Danny snorted into his coffee. This was going real smooth.

“Well, not really extracurriculars,” the Flash flashed—ha—a smile at her, “the other things he does. Outside of school. Ya know?”

His mom stood up from the table and walked in front of him, blocking the heroes' paths to him, “No, I do not know. What exactly are you accusing my son of? He’s a good boy, granted he doesn’t get out much—”

“Mom!” Danny could feel his face turn red.

“Well honey, it’s true. Anyways, he’s a good, upstanding citizen. Certainly, he’d done nothing to require this response.” His mom placed her hands on her hips and Danny fought the urge to actually cackle.

Tucker and Sam would never believe him.

“Ma’am,” Batman stepped forward from his place behind his colleagues, “we’re here because your son is Phantom, and—”

Whatever batman was going to say was completely lost in his mother's very loud and colorful disapproval.

“Excuse you!” she pointed in Batman’s face, “You do not get to come into my home and accuse my baby boy of being that—that menace! You are severally mistaken, and you can see my some is alive and well, thank you very much.”

He watched over his mom’s shoulder as she quickly pushed them out the door, ignoring the Flash's protests.

“But there’s something off about him!”

“Never,” she grabbed the Flash by the front of his suit, and for a second Danny thought she was actually going to deck him, “talk about my son like that again. Or I will make you regret ever setting foot in Amity.”

She slammed the door in their faces and Danny just grinned.

“I’m so sorry you had to hear all that sweetie,” she walked over to him and kissed the top of his head, “You know I love you. I’d love you even if you were a ghost.”

He smiled at her. He knew.

But this just made things easier.

“I know mom. I really thought you were gonna punch him for a minute there.”

She smirked at him and ruffled his hair, “Don’t be silly, I would have gone for the legs.”

Gods he loved his mom.

---

Danny flinched as the cold night air rushed over his skin. Ugh. Fucking Illinois and its fucking weather. It was seventy earlier, there was no reason for it to be so cold now.

Whatever.

Danny lugged the heavy trash bag out to the dumpster in the alley behind their house. He let the lid clatter down, taking a moment to catch his breath. It was a nice night if those fucking losers weren’t around he’d go for a short flight—

Batman clattered down on the lid of the trashcan, sending Danny flinching back into the rough brick wall.

“Jesus fuck dude! What the hell!” Danny yelled trying to catch his breath.

Batman jumped down onto the concrete in front of him, using his height to loom over Danny.

“We need to talk,” he growled.

“No, actually, we don’t,” Danny huffed, trying to push past him.

Batman caught his arm and twisted it behind his back and—ouch!

“What the fuck! Let go of me!” Danny struggled as much as he could without being suspicious but Batman knew what he was doing and Danny had the arms of a toothpick.

“Not until you answer my question,” Batman growled in his ear.

“Frist of all, get a fucking breath mint,” Danny snarked, call it a defense mechanism, “and second of all, it’s this against the law? You can’t just torture me like this is some bad cop movie.”

Batman threw him around so his back hit the brick wall again, and before he would move his forearm was pressed against Danny’s neck.

“I know you’re Phantom. You know it,” his voice lowered, and honestly, it was terrifying, “you’re either an asset or a liability Phantom.”

Danny gasped for breath, wiggling under Batman’s tight hold. Gods, how much did this man weigh?

“Danny!”

They both turned to see Jazz standing at the mouth of the alley, phone in hand.

“I’d like to report an assault,” she spoke into the phone, looking increasingly worried.

Batman growled and was gone as quickly as he came. Danny felt his legs buckle underneath him as Jazz rushed to his side, still on the phone with the nine-one-one operator.

This just kept getting better and better, he thought humorlessly.

---

Clark watched Bruce glare at the tv, making a displeased grunt under his breath.

“The victim's name will not be released, as it was a minor, but that still begs the question: what was Batman doing assaulting a high school? This has been Harriet Chen—”

Clark clicked off the tv, there was no point in watching. He couldn’t believe there were cameras that Bruce couldn’t find—Bruce was even less happy about it. Barry hadn’t even dared ask him if he wanted a donut this morning.

He sighed, sitting down on the motel bed. He just stared at Bruce, who stared at the blank tv.

Riveting.

Clark wasn’t sure exactly how long they sat there before Bruce’s phone lit up.

“Speak,” he said in probably the most unfriendly tone known to man. That was okay, they knew he was working on his people skills.

Slowly. Very, very slowly.

“I found Phantom,” Clark meet Bruce’s eyes as Barry rattled off the location.

They’d get him this time

---

Danny watched as the heroes tried to hide in the bushes to his left. But that was kind of hard to do in bright red.

He just rolled his eyes and continued playing fetch with Cujo. Maybe if he just continued to ignore them they’d go away.

About twenty minutes later when Cujo got tired of fetch and decided he wanted to dig around in the dirt was when they made their move.

“Cute dog,” the Flash leaned against a tree, watching the hole three times Cujo’s size get larger and larger, “he yours?”

“Nope,” Danny popped his ‘p,’ casually floating into a laying position, “Cujo’s his own dog. He just likes me is all.”

They were silent for a few more minutes, long enough for Cujo to get started on another hole.

“You,” a deep growl was the only warning Danny got before Batman jumped on him. Luckily that warning was enough for him to go intangible and for Batman to seamlessly go through him.

Batman stood looking almost disgruntled as Danny continued to float. Danny raised his eyebrows at the man as he growled at him.

“You know, it’s rude to jump through people,” Danny told him flatly.

“Give it up kid,” Superman sighed as he landed next to his boy band, “we know it’s you. Please.”

Superman and the Flash shot him almost desperate looks. Huh.

Well, he was too deep now.

“I usually don’t have fans so old,” Danny smirked a little and Batman growled again, “but if you want an autograph or something—”

The words froze in Danny’s throat as Batman pulled up his holograph wrist computer—which was so fucking cool—and opened two pictures. One of Fenton and one of Phantom.

Uh oh.

He didn’t know if he could mansplain, manipulate, malewife himself out of this one.

“Your faces are a 99.8% match,” Batman smirked as much as a stoic rock could, and Danny just couldn’t let him have the last word. He just couldn’t.

Manslaughter it was.

“Right, right, that’s really dope and all,” Danny let himself float till he was eye height with Batman, “but like, also rude as hell.” He crossed his arms and stared down the heroes, letting his eyes burn brighter. “That kid is a fucking nerd for one thing. And also, I’m dead. Like, dead dead.”

The heroes just stared at him like they didn’t believe a word he was saying. Fine. Time to take it up a notch.

“Like, I would honestly love to be that kid, because at least he’s alive, even if he’s a fucking dweeb,” Jazz would be so mad if she heard all this negative self-talk, but it was for the bit, “What do you want from me? My death certificate? My fucking bones?” He let his form grow brighter and the ends of his hair flicker into flames. “Or would you like to hear in excruciating detail how I was frozen alive in an avalanche?”

He raised an eyebrow at the heroes and they backed off. The Flash looked a little woozy at the idea while Batman went back to his neutral state.

“We didn’t mean to—” Superman started but Danny didn’t let him finish. Time for the big finale.

“Didn’t mean to what? Huh? Stick your nose in shit that you know nothing about?” Danny shook his head and tried his best to imitate Jazz’s ‘I’m just disappointed’ look, “And here I would have thought that heroes would know how dangerous it is to insinuate innocent civilians are super-powered. You should be ashamed.”

“We—” Danny interrupted whatever the flash was going to say for dramatic effect.

“Ashamed! Cujo has more manners than you.” He picked up Cujo’s wiggling, dirt-covered form and glared at the heroes one last time. “I am rolling in my grave. I hope you know that.”

Danny flew off, Cujo licking his face as he smirked. Once they got far enough away he looked down at the dog, “Pretty good, huh?”

Cujo just barked and licked his nose. Hopefully that would be the last he saw of the Justice League.

Manslaughter always worked.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Why Do Scientists Wear Sensible Shoes?

For the Phic Phight prompt: Four years in the hospital, abandoned and in agony as his body slowly transformed, taught Vlad that ghostly purring only meant pain and suffering of the worst kind and an unhappy life did little to debase him of that notion. So when his newly emerged clone starts happy purring at him, Vlad promptly freaks the fuck out trying to figure out what's wrong with them— inadvertently teaching the clone that more purring means more attention from daddy. (from @reading-wanderer)

AO3 Link

[Warnings for dubious science, unstable clones, and major character death]

The last of Vlad's family, his mother, had died when he was seventeen, leaving him completely on his own when he went off to college. After the proto-portal accident, even his friends, Jack and Maddie, abandoned him. They left him to die, slowly, in agony, and unbearably alone, of horrible ecto-acne that slowly transformed his body, infected his blood, corrupted his soul, over the course of four years.

It was during those four years that he discovered ghostly purring, discovered that it meant only pain, the worst kind of suffering imaginable. It was supposed to self-soothe, to encourage healing, he determined. It wasn't a sound ghosts made when they were happy. And the unhappy life that followed his transformation did little to debase that notion.

He tried not to think about it much, but he did wonder, as he attempted to create a clone of another half-ghost like him, if he was bringing them into the world only to force them through the same suffering he experienced. Vlad shook his head and squared his shoulders. The anguish had come, not in simply being a half-ghost, but in dying slowly to become one.

A long beep sounded, and he hit the release button on the cloning chamber, now that the process was complete. This was his eleventh attempt. Attempts one through eight had dissolved into ectoplasm immediately upon release from their cloning chambers. Attempt nine had survived, but only the skeleton. Everything else had melted right off, and Vlad had immediately thrown a sheet over the thing to avoid having to look at it's grotesque, black bones. The sheet remained, and the only surviving clone thus far was in the observation room for study.

Attempt ten had survived longer than the first eight, but had been malformed and dissolved into ectoplasm after stubbing its toe. Hopefully, attempt eleven would fare better.

Vlad sighed with disappointment when the mist from the chamber dispersed and the eleventh clone was visible. Another for the observation room, he supposed. He'd tried adding some stable human DNA to the mix, taken from Maddie, as well as experimenting with the force-growth process. It looked stable enough, but this one was too human and not human enough, with Maddie's auburn hair and glowing green eyes, and looked about seven years old when it should have looked fourteen.

"Can you switch between forms?" Vlad asked the clone.

"I dunno," the child clone said. It squeezed its eyes shut, clenched its small fists, and tried to shift forms. Nothing happened. "Guess not. Who're you? Who'm I? What is this place?"

"I am Vlad Masters," Vlad introduced. "This is my lab, and you are a clone I created."

"A clone?" Its wide, round eyes blinked owlishly at him. "Is that my name?"

"You don't have a name."

"Why?"

"Because I can't be bothered to name every clone that steps out of that chamber."

"Why?"

"Because there's a fairly high chance you'll destabilize anyway, and you're an imperfect copy, and I don't want to get attached."

"Why?"

"Because I've experienced far too much disappointment already."

"Why?"

"Well to start with, the woman I love married a man I despise and the only other person in the world who's like me hates my guts."

"Why?"

"I may have tried to kidnap him once or twice, and kill his father... perhaps his hatred isn't so unwarranted, but it still hurts."

"Why?"

"Because—oh, wait, I see what you're doing!" Vlad exclaimed. He growled and scooped the clone up by the back of its jumpsuit and cradled it in his arms as he carried it off. "I'm taking you to the observation room." The clone giggled, and then Vlad stilled in horror as he heard a sound he hoped never to hear again. It was purring, a low rumbling in its core.

Panicked, Vlad changed direction, laying the clone on the examination table and grabbing a stethoscope.

"Whatcha doin'?" asked the clone.

"Quiet now," Vlad demanded, placing the stethoscope against the clone's chest. The purring had quieted, which was good. There was no heartbeat, unexpected, but not out of the realm of possibility. The child was part ghost after all, even if it was a little more human than it was supposed to be. Its core thrummed, strong and steady, so it should be able to fulfill the missing heart's functions just as well. "Breathe deeply." The clone complied. Its lungs seemed to be in excellent condition, so it wasn't that. "Are you in pain?"

"No."

Vlad sighed in relief, and without even thinking, he hugged the clone gently, stroking its auburn hair. He'd been so afraid that he'd inflicted the worst pain of his life on a creature that hadn't asked to be created in the first place. Thank the Ancients he hadn't. Or so he thought. Then he heard it again. That deep rumbling that filled Vlad with dread. Whatever the clone said, there was clearly something wrong.

Vlad pulled back and continued his examination. "Let me take your blood pressure. Look into this light. Turn your head and cough. Does it hurt when I do this?" The clone giggled. That horrible purring grew louder.

"Tickles!" 

So far, Vlad had found nothing wrong. The bones were all properly aligned, the organs the child had functioned properly. He was breathing, eating, drinking, and sleeping just fine. Every time Vlad started to consider giving up, the purring grew stronger, and he redoubled his efforts. He had to find what was causing this child's suffering and fix it.

"Can I be named Vlad two?"

"No," Vlad refused. He was taking a blood sample to run some more tests. His working theory was that the lack of heart was causing the boy distress, even though his core, small though it was, should have been able to effectively take its place. "It would be confusing if we were both named Vlad."

"No, you're Vlad, and I'm Vlad two!" The boy corrected. "Like the number two. It's a totally different name."

"When a child is named after their parent, they are a junior, not a two," Vlad told him, focused on the task at hand.

"Can I be named Junior, then?" asked the boy.

"Fine, whatever!" Vlad snapped, taking the vials of ectoplasm-tainted blood to the next room to perform tests on. It was only as he placed a vial in the centrifuge that he realized what he'd done. "Oh kettle corn!" he shouted. "Now I've gone and done it! How could I let that brat have a name?" He threw an empty beaker at the wall in frustration and it shattered, but calmed down quickly after that.

It was too late now. He'd gone and gotten attached. He was already doing everything he could to spare Junior from the agony he himself had gone through. The only difference was that it felt more personal now. He had to take care of the boy. He couldn't let Junior dissolve like the others had, and definitely not while he was in pain. The others hadn't felt a thing, but Junior... he was purring.

Vlad got back to work.

Still, he found nothing. But Junior's hands got sticky like clay that hadn't fully dried. He left traces of green ooze, like a snail trail on the examination table. His hair started to float around his head, getting misty around the edges. He continued to purr. Not constantly, but as soon as he saw Vlad the purring started up again.

Clones twelve and thirteen had both dissolved within hours of their creation. Vlad didn't care about them. The cloning programs continued in the background. He'd make changes to the programs, initiate the process, wait until the clone was done. When it failed, he would rinse and repeat. He was more concerned with figuring out what was wrong with Junior.

He seemed like a perfectly cheerful kid. He laughed, smiled, played the 'why' game, and made up jokes. He even got up and danced around when he needed a break from sitting on the examination table.

"Hey, Daddy, what do you call a vampire without teeth?" Junior asked while Vlad was reviewing his notes.

"What?" Vlad asked absently.

Junior curled his lips over his teeth and said, "A wampiwa!" Vlad snorted, and shook his head and the boy cheered victoriously.

His body had been becoming slowly more spectral. Blood tests showed the ectoplasm concentration in his blood was steadily increasing. When Vlad stroked his hair now, his hand went right through the ends. His pale skin had become mildly bioluminescent, though it was only visible when the lights went out.

It seemed a core with no heartbeat meant that his ghostly qualities were consuming his humanity. If Vlad couldn't stop the process, or at least slow it down to a rate that would allow Junior to safely transition into becoming a full ghost, he would surely destabilize and dissolve, just like the others. Vlad's heart ached thinking about how much pain the boy must be in.

"What do you call a goose with no teeth?" Junior asked, and Vlad smiled a bittersweet smile at him. Despite the jokes, he could hear the boy's loud purring several feet away.

"What do you call a goose with no teeth?"

"A goose!" Junior said, grinning brightly. "Gooses don't have teeth!"

"The plural is geese, and they do have teeth, actually," Vlad corrected. "In fact, geese have teeth on their tongues."

"Really?" Vlad nodded. "Cool!"

"Are you in pain, Junior?" Vlad asked the same question every day, often several times.

"Nope!" Junior always denied that he was. He was brave, but Vlad knew better.

Clone fourteen dissolved within minutes, an issue with the force growth process, corrected. Clone fifteen survived, but was malformed and overgrown. It was taken to the observation room. The cloning parameters were adjusted again. Clone sixteen was malformed in a similar but less exaggerated manner, but lasted only twelve hours before dissolving in the observation room. Junior's skin had taken on a deathly pallor. He purred loudly when Vlad entered the examination room.

"Are you in pain, Junior?"

"No, Daddy," the boy said, but his smile wasn't as bright as usual. "Do you wanna play a game?"

"Sure, Junior," Vlad agreed. "We can play while I run today's test. What game?"

"I'm gonna pick something in the room, and you can ask ten questions to figure out what it is!"

"Isn't this game supposed to be twenty questions?" Vlad asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"The game is twenty questions. One person picks an object or creature, and the others get twenty questions to figure out what it is. My friends and I played it in college."

"How could you played it in college when I just made it up?" Junior asked, cocking his head. 

"Oh, I see." Of course Junior didn't know anything he hadn't learned inside this lab. Similar as the game may have been to twenty questions, he had come up with it on his own. "You invented it independently, but another game already exists which is very similar."

"Well, we're gonna play my version!" Junior insisted. "So you only get ten questions."

"Very well. Is it bigger than a bread box?"

"What's a bread box?"

"It's a box for holding bread." Vlad held out his hands toward Junior, indicating the general size of a bread box. "About this big."

"Oh. Then no, it's not bigger."

"Is it animal, mineral, or vegetable?"

"Uh... mineral I think," Junior said, frowning in thought. "What are beakers made of?"

"Glass."

"Is that a mineral?"

"Yes."

"Then it's a mineral."

"Is it a beaker?" Vlad asked, Junior gasped, his eyes widening in amazement.

"Yeah, it is!" he said. "Wow, you guessed that so quickly! You're really good at this game!"

"It's a gift," Vlad said lightly. He flicked the light off to see the progression of Junior's glow. It had grown increasingly brighter, just since the previous day. It seemed Vlad's, or rather Junior's, deadline was closer than he'd thought.

"It's your turn now! You pick something in the room, and I have to guess it in ten questions!"

"Alright," Vlad flicked the lights back on and looked around, but his eyes landed back on Junior, and he couldn't think of anything else. "Go ahead."

"Is it bigger than this?" Junior held out his arms as wide as they could go.

"Yes." Vlad grabbed his stethoscope and put it against Junior's back to listen to his lungs. "Quiet now, breathe deep." Under the purring and the pulsing of his core, Vlad could hear Junior's breathing hitch in a way it hadn't before. That wasn't good. His stethoscope came away with a green residue on it. "Alright, what's your next question?"

"Is it more soft or more hard?"

"More soft," Vlad answered.

"Is it the cushion on the exam table?"

"No."

"Is it... your lab coat?"

"No."

"What color is it?"

"Lots of different colors."

"Is it the quilt in the cupboard?"

"No."

"Is it your chemistry lab coat? The one with all the funky stains on it?" Vlad laughed once.

"No."

"Hmm..." Junior looked stumped. "Is it... alive?"

"Sort of," Vlad looked at the results from the tests he'd run the day before and frowned. "For now."

"Is it you?"

"No, and that makes nine," Vlad said. "Think carefully, Junior. You only have one question left." 

"Is it me?"

"Yes, it is," Vlad confirmed. "Now, tell me the truth, Junior. Are you in pain?" This time, Junior didn't answer aloud, just shook his head.

"It's my turn to pick!" he said next, and looked around the room. "Okay, I got it! You can ask your questions now."

The seventeenth clone was discolored, and dissolved after twenty-four hours. A glitch in the force growth process resulted in eighteen being approximately six inches tall, but it survived, mostly. Observation indicated that none of the other surviving clones had anything approaching Junior's mental capacity, likely the lack of stable DNA.

Vlad altered the cloning parameters, this time combining Daniel's DNA sample with some of his own. The 'Y' chromosome was damaged, so the clone turned out female, but she was more stable and more cognizant than the others, and quickly dubbed herself Danielle, after her primary DNA donor. Closer. Much closer. But still a failure.

Junior was growing less and less stable with each passing hour.

Vlad had tried everything he could, but it hadn't been enough. Nothing had worked. Junior started to lose his motor functions. His sense of smell went next.

"I'm scared," he admitted to Vlad when his vision started to fade and he was groping around in the dark for his father. Vlad walked over to him, hugged him very, very gently. Even the slightest pressure caused Junior to liquefy, but he couldn't let the boy be alone.

"Are you in pain?" Vlad asked.

"Yes," said the boy. Tears welled up in his brightly glowing eyes and streamed down his cheeks. I wasn't before, but I am now. It hurts, and I'm scared."

"It's alright. I'm with you," Vlad said, though his own eyes were starting to sting and a lump formed in his throat. He stroked Junior's hair with a feather-light touch. "I'm sorry this is happening to you."

"I can't stop purring anymore," the boy choked out. "I did it on purpose before, but I can't stop anymore."

"Why would you do it on purpose?" Vlad asked, trying to keep his voice steady. Junior couldn't see his tears, couldn't see on his face how terrified he was. Junior could only hear and feel, and Vlad would be damned to the furthest corners of the Ghost Zone before he let his child know how terrified Vlad was in his final moments. He deserved comfort, not fear.

"Not the first time," Junior explained, his voice hitching as he cried into Vlad's chest, ectoplasmic tears no doubt staining Vlad's best lab coat. "I was just happy. It felt nice when you held me, and it just happened."

"You were happy?" Vlad asked, confused. "Ghosts purr when they're in pain. They purr to try to heal themselves, to self-soothe. Why would you purr when you were happy?"

"It just happened," Junior repeated. "And your reaction was so funny. Then, the more I purred, the more attention you gave me, so I kept purring. Then I started to feel weird, and I hurt, and the purring wouldn't stop anymore. I just wanted to spend time with you, Daddy." Vlad couldn't catch the tears before they dripped onto Junior's head and fizzled on his scalp as beads of ectoplasm welled up where they landed. Vlad winced at the sight and dried his eyes with his sleeve"Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Vlad asked. He forced himself to take a deep breath. "I'm fine, Junior. You're the one destabilizing."

"It's okay, Daddy. Don't cry," Junior comforted him, and wasn't that backwards. Vlad shouldn't be the one being comforted by his dying son. "I got to spend my whole life with you. And we... we had fun, didn't we?"

"Yes, Junior," Vlad agreed. His boy didn't need to know that Vlad had spent the duration of his life worrying about him, not now of all times. "We had great fun."

"Hey, Daddy?" Junior asked, and Vlad hummed in response. "Why do scientists wear practical shoes?"

"Ha," Vlad laughed once, weakly. "Why?"

"So they don't get Bunsens," Junior said, and giggled, just as weakly. "Get it? 'Cause it sounds like bunions?" Vlad allowed the boy a chuckle.

"Yes, I get it," he said, even as the boy's body continued to dissolve, he was still making jokes. "It's very funny."

"Daddy?" Junior called out, but whatever he was about to say, he never got the chance. He destabilized completely in Vlad's arms, and the man was kneeling of a puddle of ectoplasm that had once been his beloved son.

He cried out in anguish.

He wailed and wept. 

A rumbling purr rose in his chest.

[oblivious-aro]

Friends in Strange Places Ch. 5 Intro

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040329/chapters/97656390

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

"...and then after it's completely emptied, you just untwist, put the cap back on, and you're done. Any questions?" Danny asked.

"Nope." Valerie said. "Seems pretty straightforward."

Valerie looked at the swirling portal.

"So this is where the ghosts come from." she said.

"Yup."

"And it's where you...you know..."

"Became half-ghost?"

"Yeah. Sorry, wasn't sure if that was a sensitive topic."

"Eh, not really." Danny stuck his hand into the portal. "Want to stick your hand in?"

"Uh...you sure that's safe to do?"

"Of course. See?"

Danny pulled his hand out and stuck it back in. Then back out, and in, and out, and in, and out, and-

"Okay, I get it."

Valerie took a deep breath and tentatively stuck her hand into the portal.

"Okay, this is weird. It feels like there's something in between a solid and a gas flowing through my fingers. And there's a weird vibe to it, like some kind of cold energy that feels almost...alive...alright, that's enough."

Valerie pulled her hand back out, shaking a few green wisps off of it.

"Now that was an experience I'm not interested in repeating anytime soon." she said, inspecting her hand.

"Okay, we leave in the morning, so I guess I should give you this."

Danny looked at the thermos in his hand for a few seconds before holding it out to Valerie.

"Don't lose this." he said firmly "It's our only one."

"Got it."

"Seriously."

"Danny," Valerie put a hand on the thermos "I got this. You can trust me."

"Right, yeah." Danny let Valerie take the thermos. "It's just one weekend."

"Exactly." Valerie smiled "You all go and have a good time with Mr Masters. Valerie's got the Amity ghosts all under control." Valerie briefly spun The Thermos on her finger like a basketball before catching it and stowing it away in her backpack.

Danny wasn't feeling as confident as Valerie. Hunting ghosts by yourself could be a lot. Even Danny rarely fought ghosts without Sam and Tucker.

Although, Valerie was getting a lot better. She was very capable, and she'd probably be fine on her own for just one weekend.

Probably.

"Alright." Danny relented. "Oh! One last thing, don't touch anything in this lab."

"Don't worry," Valerie glanced at a bubbling green beaker "I absolutely wasn't going to."

"Sorry you can't come with us." Danny said as he and Valerie started up the basement stairs. "I know Sam and Tucker are going, but Vlad hasn't met you, so it'd be kind of weird if I asked him to invite you too."

"Yup. Never met the guy. I hate meeting strangers on my vacation as much as the next billionaire, ha ha." Valerie cleared her throat. "Probably for the best anyway, someone's gotta keep Amity Park safe from ghosts. You just relax and enjoy your lakeside vacation."

"Yeah, alright." Danny forced a smile. Not that he wasn't going to try to relax, but Valerie had no idea how high the stakes were going to be this weekend.

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

"...and he's got his own vacation home now!" Jack beamed as he zoomed through a yellow light "He only built it in the last decade, so we haven't actually seen it yet, but I bet it'll be great!"

"And it's right on the lakefront, so the view will be spectacular!" Maddie turned in the passenger's seat, her face turning serious "Now kids, Vlad has requested that we don't bring any ghost weapons with us, and we're going to respect his wishes, but I want you all to be careful. The ecto activity is Wisconsin may be lower than Amity, but even if it was zero it's always good to be vigilant."

"That's true!" Jack said. "If you kids see a ghost, just scream and the two of us'll come running!"

The kids all gave each other a look.

"Ooh! This song's a classic! turns it up Madds!"

"You got it Jackie!" Maddie replied, cranking the volume.

The kids averted their eyes as the parents began to 'groove'. It was a horrendous sight for four teenagers, but at least Jack and Maddie were occupied enough for the kids to talk freely.

"Hey Danny," Tucker said "You sure Valerie's gonna be alright on her own for the weekend?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Danny smiled reassuringly at Tucker "I left The Thermos with her. Besides, you've seen her fight ghosts, she's been getting a lot better."

"Did you show her how to empty it?" Tucker asked.

"Yup."

"You told not to touch anything in the lab, right?" Jazz's eyes widened in concern.

"Yes Jazz, I told her not to touch anything." Danny rolled his eyes.

"It's not even two full days." Tucker glanced out the back window, despite Amity Park no longer being anywhere in sight "You're right, Danny. She can totally handle herself."

"Hm, you see awfully concerned about Valerie, Tucker." Sam smirked. "Don't worry, your crush can handle herself just fine."

"Oh, lay off Sam!" Tucker glared at her "I do not have a crush on her!"

"Right, because you don't get a thing for literally every girl that talks to you."

"Yeah, well, why don't we talk about your crushes for a change Sam!"

"What?"

"Yeah! You've been making fun of me for forever, now it's your turn! I'm sure you've got some super embarrassing ones we can make fun of!" Tucker smiled evilly.

"Tucker, I don't-"

"Hmm, let's see," Tucker made an exaggerated thinking face.

"Should we intervene or something?" Jazz asked Danny.

"I don't want to be involved in whatever this is." Danny replied, holding a book in front of his face. He failed to notice that it was the RV's maintenance manual, and also upside down.

"You were pretty into the Blood Love books in seventh grade? Maybe you were secretly into Winston MacWolfe or Florence Fanguard? Hmm?" Tucker waggled his eyebrows.

"Okay, first off, never do that with your face again." Sam said "And second, I'm not just some stereotype. Those two would be a terrible boyfriends. Looking back, their relationship with Bethany was so toxic, and they're both literally bloodthirsty monsters. I just liked the battle scenes, and was too young to fully pick up on the misogyny. And also the thinly veiled racism."

"Jeez," Danny turned to Jazz "What happens in those books?"

"Okay, then what is your type? Moody musicians? Old timey poets? Ooh, I know! Since you're not a stereotype, maybe you're a super subversive goth who's into jocks. Sam, do you have a crush on Dash?"

"No Tucker. I do not have a crush on Dash."

"You did kiss him that one time, though."

"Wait, what?" Jazz asked.

"That doesn't count." Sam snapped. "And literally every other thing you said was stupid. I've got way better taste than whatever it is you seem to think of me."

"Okay, what is your taste?"

"Well..." Sam hesitated briefly "I haven't ever actually fallen in love with anyone yet, but-"

"Calm down, Sam. I'm just talking crushes and stuff. You don't have to have figured out who you're going to marry yet."

Sam stared at Tucker for a second before rolling her eyes.

"I've never had a crush or whatever either."

Tucker stopped smirking.

"Oh." Tucker's tone had lost all its joviality. "Oh, jeez. I'm sorry Sam. I didn't mean-"

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Sam asked angrily.

"I didn't realize. I wouldn't have made fun of you if I'd know."

"I don't have some kind of disease, Tucker. We're only fourteen, I think it's pretty reasonable that I haven't had any crushes yet."

Tucker, Danny, and Jazz all looked away from Sam awkwardly.

"Ugh!" Sam rolled her eyes. "Why are you all are being so weird about this?"

"You're right, Sam." Jazz said. "It's perfectly normal to have never had a crush at your age."

"See!" Sam threw out her hand towards Jazz.

"Although, I would say that most people have."

"I know most people do," Sam said. "I just think most of them are a waste of time. Like, what was the point in pining over Paulina?" Sam thrust her hand out towards Danny "That didn't go anywhere and I think we both knew it wouldn't."

"I mean," Danny put the manual back where he found it, disappointed that it had failed to keep him from getting involved "Sure, I guess in hindsight, but it was fun at the time."

"Paulina has the personality of a porcupine that likes to bite. How could going to the dance with her have possibly been fun?"

"Because I liked her."

"Why though?"

"I don't know, I guess she was pretty and popular, and going out with someone like her just made me feel really...good about myself, I guess."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck shyly. It was weird saying all of that out loud.

"Hey, lay off Sam." Tucker cut in "Sure, in hindsight, Paulina's probably not the best choice for a long-term girlfriend, I'll give you that, but wouldn't you go out with one of the most popular guy in school if he asked? Not one of the A-Lister jerks, obviously, but, let's say...Yujin Choi?"

"Hanging out all night at school with someone I barely know? Gee, that sounds fun."

"Sounds fun to me. Even if it was just one date, going out with Jin would be a great boost for my confidence. Not that I'd really need it, I already know I'm great, but I'd still take it."

"Wait," Sam said "Do you like Choi?"

"Yeah, I guess."

There was a stunned silence in the back of the RV. Tucker did not seem to be aware that he'd said anything weird.

"I...didn't know you liked guys Tuck." Danny said.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I'm straight. Choi's just one of those guys, you know?"

"One of what guys Tucker?" Jazz asked.

"One of those every-once-in-a-while guy crushes."

"Um, Tucker, straight people typically don't get crushes on people of their gender." Jazz said gently, her eyebrows creasing.

"Eh, maybe it's just a guy thing." Tucker shrugged "You all know me, I like a lot of girls, but every so often there's a guy who's like, dang. Back me up here Danny, you know what I mean."

"Er..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck "Gotta be honest with you Tuck, but I think Jazz is right about this one. It's definitely 100% girls for me."

The comfortable smile slipped from Tucker's face.

"Wait, really?"

"Yup."

"Oh."

A heavy silence fell over the group. It was very uncomfortable, but everyone was too afraid to break it.

Jazz finally cracked about two minutes later.

"Hey, who wants to hear some interesting fun facts about Lake Geneva?" she asked, pulling out a brochure from a compartment beneath her seat.

No one responded.

"Before the American settlers forced them out in the seventeenth century, Geneva Lake was home to members of the Potawatomi tribe, who originally called the lake Kishwauketoe, meaning 'clear water'..."

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

A string of songs from the Fenton parents' era had come on after the first one, much to their delight.

"Ah, that music really bring brings you back, doesn't it Madds?" Jack said.

"It sure does, Jack." Maddie smiled.

Even though it was a commercial break, Maddie left the volume up. She checked over her shoulder. The kids were preoccupied, listening to Jazz talk about the history of Lake Geneva.

She turned to Jack. He looked very excited. Maddie hated to quash that excitement, but she had some concerns she thought it'd be best to voice before they arrived at Vlad's.

"Jack, before we get there, I should probably talk to you about something."

"What's up sweet cheeks?"

"I probably should've mentioned this earlier, but a little while back, Vlad and I had a kind of a talk."

"Is that where he came up with the idea of this trip?" Jack asked.

"Erm, maybe, but it wasn't exactly a very nice talk."

"Oh?"

"I told him how I felt about him avoiding us all the time."

"Oh. How'd he take it?"

"I'm not sure. I kind of stormed off before he could reply and we hadn't spoken again since. Until he invited us up for this weekend, actually."

"Well, he did invite us out here, and he said he'd make sure he'd stick around the whole time, so he's probably not mad at you. I'll bet he actually listened to what you said, and that's why he's doing this. Maybe he'll even explain why he's always avoiding us all this time!"

"Huh, I suppose that makes sense..." Maddie mused. "Might be a little optimistic with that last bit, Dear, but I suppose Vlad wouldn't have invited us down if he was angry. Maybe I really did get through to him."

"That's the spirit Madds!"

Maddie was glad she'd spoken to Jack about her concerns, she was suddenly feeling much better.

"It'll be nice to finally spend some quality time with Vlad. We have so much catching up to do."

"I know Madds. I have so many new inventions to tell him about! Oh, and you brought the kids' baby pictures, right?"

"Yup! The album's in our suitcase."

"Excellent! I know things have been kind of weird between us, but this weekend's gonna be fun! I can just feel it!"

[sunnys567]

Friends in Strange Places Ch. 5 Intro

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040329/chapters/97656390

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

"...and then after it's completely emptied, you just untwist, put the cap back on, and you're done. Any questions?" Danny asked.

"Nope." Valerie said. "Seems pretty straightforward."

Valerie looked at the swirling portal.

"So this is where the ghosts come from." she said.

"Yup."

"And it's where you...you know..."

"Became half-ghost?"

"Yeah. Sorry, wasn't sure if that was a sensitive topic."

"Eh, not really." Danny stuck his hand into the portal. "Want to stick your hand in?"

"Uh...you sure that's safe to do?"

"Of course. See?"

Danny pulled his hand out and stuck it back in. Then back out, and in, and out, and in, and out, and-

"Okay, I get it."

Valerie took a deep breath and tentatively stuck her hand into the portal.

"Okay, this is weird. It feels like there's something in between a solid and a gas flowing through my fingers. And there's a weird vibe to it, like some kind of cold energy that feels almost...alive...alright, that's enough."

Valerie pulled her hand back out, shaking a few green wisps off of it.

"Now that was an experience I'm not interested in repeating anytime soon." she said, inspecting her hand.

"Okay, we leave in the morning, so I guess I should give you this."

Danny looked at the thermos in his hand for a few seconds before holding it out to Valerie.

"Don't lose this." he said firmly "It's our only one."

"Got it."

"Seriously."

"Danny," Valerie put a hand on the thermos "I got this. You can trust me."

"Right, yeah." Danny let Valerie take the thermos. "It's just one weekend."

"Exactly." Valerie smiled "You all go and have a good time with Mr Masters. Valerie's got the Amity ghosts all under control." Valerie briefly spun The Thermos on her finger like a basketball before catching it and stowing it away in her backpack.

Danny wasn't feeling as confident as Valerie. Hunting ghosts by yourself could be a lot. Even Danny rarely fought ghosts without Sam and Tucker.

Although, Valerie was getting a lot better. She was very capable, and she'd probably be fine on her own for just one weekend.

Probably.

"Alright." Danny relented. "Oh! One last thing, don't touch anything in this lab."

"Don't worry," Valerie glanced at a bubbling green beaker "I absolutely wasn't going to."

"Sorry you can't come with us." Danny said as he and Valerie started up the basement stairs. "I know Sam and Tucker are going, but Vlad hasn't met you, so it'd be kind of weird if I asked him to invite you too."

"Yup. Never met the guy. I hate meeting strangers on my vacation as much as the next billionaire, ha ha." Valerie cleared her throat. "Probably for the best anyway, someone's gotta keep Amity Park safe from ghosts. You just relax and enjoy your lakeside vacation."

"Yeah, alright." Danny forced a smile. Not that he wasn't going to try to relax, but Valerie had no idea how high the stakes were going to be this weekend.

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

"...and he's got his own vacation home now!" Jack beamed as he zoomed through a yellow light "He only built it in the last decade, so we haven't actually seen it yet, but I bet it'll be great!"

"And it's right on the lakefront, so the view will be spectacular!" Maddie turned in the passenger's seat, her face turning serious "Now kids, Vlad has requested that we don't bring any ghost weapons with us, and we're going to respect his wishes, but I want you all to be careful. The ecto activity is Wisconsin may be lower than Amity, but even if it was zero it's always good to be vigilant."

"That's true!" Jack said. "If you kids see a ghost, just scream and the two of us'll come running!"

The kids all gave each other a look.

"Ooh! This song's a classic! turns it up Madds!"

"You got it Jackie!" Maddie replied, cranking the volume.

The kids averted their eyes as the parents began to 'groove'. It was a horrendous sight for four teenagers, but at least Jack and Maddie were occupied enough for the kids to talk freely.

"Hey Danny," Tucker said "You sure Valerie's gonna be alright on her own for the weekend?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine." Danny smiled reassuringly at Tucker "I left The Thermos with her. Besides, you've seen her fight ghosts, she's been getting a lot better."

"Did you show her how to empty it?" Tucker asked.

"Yup."

"You told not to touch anything in the lab, right?" Jazz's eyes widened in concern.

"Yes Jazz, I told her not to touch anything." Danny rolled his eyes.

"It's not even two full days." Tucker glanced out the back window, despite Amity Park no longer being anywhere in sight "You're right, Danny. She can totally handle herself."

"Hm, you see awfully concerned about Valerie, Tucker." Sam smirked. "Don't worry, your crush can handle herself just fine."

"Oh, lay off Sam!" Tucker glared at her "I do not have a crush on her!"

"Right, because you don't get a thing for literally every girl that talks to you."

"Yeah, well, why don't we talk about your crushes for a change Sam!"

"What?"

"Yeah! You've been making fun of me for forever, now it's your turn! I'm sure you've got some super embarrassing ones we can make fun of!" Tucker smiled evilly.

"Tucker, I don't-"

"Hmm, let's see," Tucker made an exaggerated thinking face.

"Should we intervene or something?" Jazz asked Danny.

"I don't want to be involved in whatever this is." Danny replied, holding a book in front of his face. He failed to notice that it was the RV's maintenance manual, and also upside down.

"You were pretty into the Blood Love books in seventh grade? Maybe you were secretly into Winston MacWolfe or Florence Fanguard? Hmm?" Tucker waggled his eyebrows.

"Okay, first off, never do that with your face again." Sam said "And second, I'm not just some stereotype. Those two would be a terrible boyfriends. Looking back, their relationship with Bethany was so toxic, and they're both literally bloodthirsty monsters. I just liked the battle scenes, and was too young to fully pick up on the misogyny. And also the thinly veiled racism."

"Jeez," Danny turned to Jazz "What happens in those books?"

"Okay, then what is your type? Moody musicians? Old timey poets? Ooh, I know! Since you're not a stereotype, maybe you're a super subversive goth who's into jocks. Sam, do you have a crush on Dash?"

"No Tucker. I do not have a crush on Dash."

"You did kiss him that one time, though."

"Wait, what?" Jazz asked.

"That doesn't count." Sam snapped. "And literally every other thing you said was stupid. I've got way better taste than whatever it is you seem to think of me."

"Okay, what is your taste?"

"Well..." Sam hesitated briefly "I haven't ever actually fallen in love with anyone yet, but-"

"Calm down, Sam. I'm just talking crushes and stuff. You don't have to have figured out who you're going to marry yet."

Sam stared at Tucker for a second before rolling her eyes.

"I've never had a crush or whatever either."

Tucker stopped smirking.

"Oh." Tucker's tone had lost all its joviality. "Oh, jeez. I'm sorry Sam. I didn't mean-"

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?" Sam asked angrily.

"I didn't realize. I wouldn't have made fun of you if I'd know."

"I don't have some kind of disease, Tucker. We're only fourteen, I think it's pretty reasonable that I haven't had any crushes yet."

Tucker, Danny, and Jazz all looked away from Sam awkwardly.

"Ugh!" Sam rolled her eyes. "Why are you all are being so weird about this?"

"You're right, Sam." Jazz said. "It's perfectly normal to have never had a crush at your age."

"See!" Sam threw out her hand towards Jazz.

"Although, I would say that most people have."

"I know most people do," Sam said. "I just think most of them are a waste of time. Like, what was the point in pining over Paulina?" Sam thrust her hand out towards Danny "That didn't go anywhere and I think we both knew it wouldn't."

"I mean," Danny put the manual back where he found it, disappointed that it had failed to keep him from getting involved "Sure, I guess in hindsight, but it was fun at the time."

"Paulina has the personality of a porcupine that likes to bite. How could going to the dance with her have possibly been fun?"

"Because I liked her."

"Why though?"

"I don't know, I guess she was pretty and popular, and going out with someone like her just made me feel really...good about myself, I guess."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck shyly. It was weird saying all of that out loud.

"Hey, lay off Sam." Tucker cut in "Sure, in hindsight, Paulina's probably not the best choice for a long-term girlfriend, I'll give you that, but wouldn't you go out with one of the most popular guy in school if he asked? Not one of the A-Lister jerks, obviously, but, let's say...Yujin Choi?"

"Hanging out all night at school with someone I barely know? Gee, that sounds fun."

"Sounds fun to me. Even if it was just one date, going out with Jin would be a great boost for my confidence. Not that I'd really need it, I already know I'm great, but I'd still take it."

"Wait," Sam said "Do you like Choi?"

"Yeah, I guess."

There was a stunned silence in the back of the RV. Tucker did not seem to be aware that he'd said anything weird.

"I...didn't know you liked guys Tuck." Danny said.

"Huh? Oh, nah, I'm straight. Choi's just one of those guys, you know?"

"One of what guys Tucker?" Jazz asked.

"One of those every-once-in-a-while guy crushes."

"Um, Tucker, straight people typically don't get crushes on people of their gender." Jazz said gently, her eyebrows creasing.

"Eh, maybe it's just a guy thing." Tucker shrugged "You all know me, I like a lot of girls, but every so often there's a guy who's like, dang. Back me up here Danny, you know what I mean."

"Er..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck "Gotta be honest with you Tuck, but I think Jazz is right about this one. It's definitely 100% girls for me."

The comfortable smile slipped from Tucker's face.

"Wait, really?"

"Yup."

"Oh."

A heavy silence fell over the group. It was very uncomfortable, but everyone was too afraid to break it.

Jazz finally cracked about two minutes later.

"Hey, who wants to hear some interesting fun facts about Lake Geneva?" she asked, pulling out a brochure from a compartment beneath her seat.

No one responded.

"Before the American settlers forced them out in the seventeenth century, Geneva Lake was home to members of the Potawatomi tribe, who originally called the lake Kishwauketoe, meaning 'clear water'..."

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

A string of songs from the Fenton parents' era had come on after the first one, much to their delight.

"Ah, that music really bring brings you back, doesn't it Madds?" Jack said.

"It sure does, Jack." Maddie smiled.

Even though it was a commercial break, Maddie left the volume up. She checked over her shoulder. The kids were preoccupied, listening to Jazz talk about the history of Lake Geneva.

She turned to Jack. He looked very excited. Maddie hated to quash that excitement, but she had some concerns she thought it'd be best to voice before they arrived at Vlad's.

"Jack, before we get there, I should probably talk to you about something."

"What's up sweet cheeks?"

"I probably should've mentioned this earlier, but a little while back, Vlad and I had a kind of a talk."

"Is that where he came up with the idea of this trip?" Jack asked.

"Erm, maybe, but it wasn't exactly a very nice talk."

"Oh?"

"I told him how I felt about him avoiding us all the time."

"Oh. How'd he take it?"

"I'm not sure. I kind of stormed off before he could reply and we hadn't spoken again since. Until he invited us up for this weekend, actually."

"Well, he did invite us out here, and he said he'd make sure he'd stick around the whole time, so he's probably not mad at you. I'll bet he actually listened to what you said, and that's why he's doing this. Maybe he'll even explain why he's always avoiding us all this time!"

"Huh, I suppose that makes sense..." Maddie mused. "Might be a little optimistic with that last bit, Dear, but I suppose Vlad wouldn't have invited us down if he was angry. Maybe I really did get through to him."

"That's the spirit Madds!"

Maddie was glad she'd spoken to Jack about her concerns, she was suddenly feeling much better.

"It'll be nice to finally spend some quality time with Vlad. We have so much catching up to do."

"I know Madds. I have so many new inventions to tell him about! Oh, and you brought the kids' baby pictures, right?"

"Yup! The album's in our suitcase."

"Excellent! I know things have been kind of weird between us, but this weekend's gonna be fun! I can just feel it!"

[vladdyissues]

Okay, now that some random dork was kind enough to provide me with that AU list link, I can finally answer this question. Of the many many AUs listed (and a few that aren't), here are my faves:

Badger Cereal / Daniel Masters: Father&Son Vlad and Danny bonding, can be evil. I'm a sucker for any kind of relationship featuring Vlad and Danny.

Blue Danny: Danny is blue as a halfa/ghost. I'm partial to green (the green and pink color scheme of Danny and Vlad respectively is my #1 reason) but I also love the idea of Danny being a blue ghost. Maybe he starts out as green but then, once he develops his ice powers, he becomes blue. I think it's a great look for him.

Cheese Melt (Vlad tries to be a good parent to Dani). Lilianade-comics is totally to blame for this. I love this AU.

Dani Masters: Vlad decides to raise Dani as his actual daughter. (See above.)

Family Breakfast: Vlad/Maddie/Jack. Because Vlad deserves to have friends who love him.

Ghost Hunger AU: halfas/ghosts must consume ectoplasm. I like this because it's neighbors with cannibalism, which I'm also a fan of.

Immortal Danny AU: Danny turns immortal/never ages. I've basically adopted this as my personal headcanon. (The tragic immortal, doomed to watch everyone he loves die...) It works for Vlad, too, and is a great device to get him and Danny together.

Lab Rat / Dissection: Fentons experiment on Phantom and/or Danny. Angst. Gore. Vivisection. Mwa ha ha!

MerAU: The ghosts are actually mermaids. I'm obligated to enjoy this because merfolk AUs are kind of my Thing™.

Monster Appearance AU: Danny’s ghost form looks grotesque or like a monster. I'm on board with this because canon is absurd. You're telling me the kid who looks just like Danny Phantom and even shares the same first name has nothing to do with him? And his own parents don't see the resemblance? Come on. There has to be a reason no one recognizes him.

Secret Experiment AU: Maddie and Jack intentionally turned Danny into a halfa. I've never heard this one before but I like it. Lots of opportunity for Danny to flee his abusive parents and go running to the other half-ghost they abused (intentionally or otherwise)—Vlad.

SCP AU: In which Danny is either captured by the SCP Foundation, Fenton Works is a branch of the SCP Foundation and Danny/the other ghosts are SCPs. I had to look this one up, but it sounds pretty neat. I'm all for taking some of the show's more ridiculous aspects (like the GIW) and renaming/reshaping it into something other than a stupid, barely-funny joke. (I know, I know, kids show. Fuck 'em, I want my scary government organization capturing and torturing halfas.)

There are plenty of other AUs not mentioned in this list that I enjoy, such as the Ecto-Cancer AU, Ghost Heat AUs, Vampire/Cannibal Vlad AU, and other things of a decidedly gross and/or horrifying nature! 😄

What's your favourite dp au?

I swear I've seen a list of all the Danny Phantom AUs floating around somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember where I might have seen it. The list is so long that I wouldn't be able to give you an accurate answer without first seeing all the options.

If anyone can point me to it, I'd appreciate it!

[nastyburger]

time for dex backstory

before the mutation, dex was what you would call a “weak kid” in terms of health. he often got sick and just in general had a weak immune system. as a result, he spent a lot more time at home, sometimes even going a couple of weeks being home-schooled at a time if his illness got really bad.

this danny really doesn’t have a lot of friends his age. after all, how do you make friends at school when you’re barely even AT school? he’s still close friends with his own sam and tucker, but his tendency to stay home does stunt the natural progression of their friendship a bit. don’t get me wrong, they’re still good friends but compared to the canon trio, they’re just not as close knit. in all honesty, dex finds it kind of a miracle that sam and tucker stuck around so much in the beginning to this point despite barely knowing him.

the trade off for not being close to anyone among his peers though was a really strong relationship with his family. out of all the dannys, dex has the closest relationship to his parents and jazz (who goes by “jasmine” in this universe). even if the worrying and concern for his health can be a bit suffocating, dex finds a lot more comfort with them than anyone else. he feels he’s able to trust them with anything.

from very early on, this danny takes a much bigger interest in jack and maddie’s work. when he’s not learning the core subjects in homeschooling, he reads up on robotics and engineering, he asks many questions about his parent’s work, hes even asked jasmine to teach him whatever advanced ap math subject she takes to help him better understand the mechanical calculations of the inventions. danny spends a lot of time at home so what better to entertain himself than with the family business. he also goes down to the lab often, even to the point of having his own “designated safety area” for him to sit in while the fenton’s work on more dangerous projects (guests sure do raise their eyebrows at seeing dex sit in the blast proof glass box though lol). basically, danny is very comfortable being in the lab and even tinkers/invents his own things from time to time with his parents.

he even helps jack and maddie build the ghost portal. none of the heavy lifting and handling of dangerous materials of course (much to dex’s dismay), but looking over a lot of the blueprints and putting together many smaller components for the full thing. this leads to the button for the portal being closer to the entrance (courtesy of dex’s revisions), rather than being halfway in. its right by the arch of the portal on the inside.

this means, when the portal doesn’t work and dex goes to check it on his own (he was involved in this project and felt the need to make it work), dex doesn’t even fully enter the thing to accidentally turn it on. what instead happens is that he just pokes his head in, hugging around the arch of the portal and hits the button like this:

his arm takes the brunt of the electrocution, becoming so badly burned and damage that it just simply needs to be amputated, and his head takes a partial dip in the ectoplasmic/radioactive substance before pulling himself out.

danny’s scream alerts the rest of the fentons, who were right upstairs as this was occurring. many emergency medical procedures, trips to the hospital, and periods of recovery later, danny makes it out of the incident well and healed. albeit, missing an arm and getting his eyes dyed green (they test and confirm the presence of ecto-contamination in danny’s system but were unaware of the side effects until later) he wore a simple mechanical prosthetic at first created by his parents, but slowly they improve and upgrade the model to what dex currently has. after the accident, dex seems to not get sick nearly as often as before too (jack and maddie are looking into the possible healing properties of ectoplasm).

they also slowly discover that danny.......seems to react weirdly around the inventions in the lab. maddie and jack have upped restrictions and regulations about going in and out of the lab (dex being only allowed in while they were there and he’s in his Box TM, they only agreed to this arrangement because dex begged to participate in projects again) but they notice danny somehow has an influence on the weapons even within the confines of his safety area.

looking into the connection, they discover dex’s psychic link to ectoplasmic substances. the fentons go on a real journey with testing dex’s abilities and how his new powers work (jack goes on about how their son is like a little superhero) and start tweeking/making inventions specifically for danny to control and operate.

eventually, with more ghosts attacking amity and dex’s miraculous recovery in health and desire to join the family business, jack and maddie start to build the mech for danny. its specifically design to match match his link/abilities, based on danny’s own concepts and sketches, and built in safety features/protocols for very dangerous situation (they are still parents who worry after all). this mech becomes dex’s main mode of fighting.

soon, danny becomes a very public figure with his ghost hunting. he doesn’t really have a secret identity to hide like everyone else, so his activities is very open for the town to see. because of this, he doesn’t have the same “loser status” as canon danny (not that he had the title before the mutation either, given he was always sick and no one wants to beat down on a sickly kid). dex is also able to regularly attend school now and finally starts to make friends/get to know others his age.

this also includes further building his friendship with sam and tucker. illness no longer restricts their time and access for them to hang out and dex has an absolute blast with the newfound interaction. he’s certainly a bit over-excited with the new experiences but thats in no way a deterrent to anyone seeking to befriend him.

though, sam and tucker are not as involved with fighting ghosts like canon sam and tuck are. they mostly fight out of sheer proximity with dex, who will toss them the extra gun/weapon when ghosts show up. theyre quite good at it too but ghost hunting is still very much considered “a fenton thing” and left to them whenever possible.

[ghostsray]

Me, Jack, and the Half-Dying Girl

(‘nother phic phight piece, this time based on @aedelia ‘s prompt: “ In the original portal accident neither Jack nor Vlad manage to push Maddie out of the way. Maddie gets blasted by the portal instead and gains ghost powers and ecto-acne. “)

word count: 1248

ao3 link

--

Vlad sat in the waiting room, twirling the tulip in his hands. The doctors had informed him that Madeline had awoken and was accepting visitors today, and Vlad was eager to see her.

In his mind’s eye, he felt elated at the idea of seeing her sweet, beautiful face again, and hearing her lovely voice for the first time since the unfortunate accident. However, his mood was ruined when the man sitting next to him stirred, reminding Vlad of his presence.

“It’ll be great seeing Maddie again, won't it?” said Jack cheerily. Vlad clenched his teeth and kept facing ahead.

Jack leaned forward so that he was in Vlad's field of vision. “I can tell you've been worried about her,” he said, “since you haven't spoken to me all week.”

The flower stem threatened to break in his grip as Vlad muttered, “Maybe because it was your fault to begin with.”

“What?”

Vlad turned to glare at him. He was sick of holding back his frustration toward this oaf, and now he stood and fixed him with a look of hatred. “I said, it was your fault!”

Jack’s response to him was a confused appearance. “It was an accident.”

“And whose idea was it to test the portal?”

“All of ours,” said Jack.

Vlad balled his fists and looked away. It was clear that he was contradicting himself in his argument.

Jack noticed this and told him, “Maddie was just as on board with it as we were--more so, even. It wasn't either of our faults that she got hurt.”

Vlad forced himself to take a deep breath. Relaxing slightly, he said, “I know.”

“So why are you angry?”

Vlad lifted the flower in his hand to look at it. In his emotionality, he had cracked the stem, and now it was worthless to give to Madeline.

Jack was still waiting for an answer, so Vlad admitted the truth. “I love her,” he told him. Knowing how often his friend needed further clarification, he explained, “I love love her.” He raised his eyes to meet his. “And I know you do, too.”

Jack’s face was slack with surprise before he gathered himself and exclaimed, “Well, why didn't you say so sooner? If I had known, I would have let you have her.”

Vlad shook his head, trying to keep his emotions at bay. “It wouldn't have mattered.”

“Why not?”

“Because she loves you back.” He ignored the way Jack’s gaze bore into him as he swallowed and continued, “I've seen how you two always click together in the lab. Hell, I don't know why I'm even in the club--I don't love ghosts as much as you and she do. It’s painfully clear that I'm just a third wheel to the pair of you.”

“You’re our friend,” Jack said.

“Am I?” Vlad held his eyes and asked, “If it was me who had the accident, would you even come to visit me?”

Jack sounded distraught as he answered, “Of course we would!”

Vlad searched his face for a moment before turning his eyes away. “You're only saying that.”

Jack was quiet as he struggled to gather a response. “V Man…”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when a nurse walked into sight. Her eyes scanned the room as she announced, “Visitors for Madeline Walker?”

The name of their beloved pulled both men to their feet, and the conversation was shelved as the nurse led them to the patient’s room.

As soon as Vlad walked in, it became clear that his fantasy of this meeting was much too idealized. Madeline’s beauty was visibly affected by her illness; green boils dotted her skin and sucked the color from her. She looked tired, but her expression brightened when she saw her friends.

“Is that for me?” she asked, pointing at the broken tulip that Vlad was holding.

Vlad sheepishly offered it to her. it bent sideways when he held it out. “It...had an accident,” he awkwardly said.

“Hey, I guess that’s why it’s in the hospital,” Jack said, and Madeline laughed. Vlad clenched his jaw as the familiar jealousy flared in his chest. Jack noticed too late his discomfort.

It is no matter, Vlad told himself, letting his hand fall by his side once Madeline accepted his gift.

Madeline smiled at the broken flower. Seeing her again, Vlad decided to retract his earlier thought; she was still beautiful even when sick. Sure, her skin was blemished and her hair was greasy, but her eyes--those beautiful eyes! Those eyes could never change...or so he thought.

As if to mock his thought process, Madeline’s dark eyes seemed to flash bright green. They only stayed that way for a fraction of a second before they returned to their normal color. Vlad blinked, unsure if he had imagined it.

The nurse that had been with them in the room now left, busy with some other hospital business. Madeline’s eyes (dark-colored and not at all neon green) tracked her as she went. As soon as the door closed, leaving the three friends alone, Madeline surprised them by grabbing their wrists.

“I have something to show you,” she whispered. She slowly let go of their arms, then raised a hand.

Vlad watched with caution, wondering what on earth she could be so eager to share. Her fingers strummed the air for a moment, and she twisted her hand, but nothing else happened. Until, suddenly, a light.

Vlad nearly jumped from surprise. A ball of green fire floated in Madeline's open palm. She seemed quite pleased with its appearance.

Jack gasped. He leaned forward to get a better look at the fire. “How?” he asked.

Madeline closed her hand, and the fire disappeared. “If I had to guess, it had something to do with my accident with the proto-portal.”

Jack’s face lit up with excitement. “You mean you have ghostly attributes now?”

“It seems that way, but I haven't gotten a chance to test them, being hospitalized and all.” She fixed the two of them with a stern look and told them, “You have to study me.”

Vlad almost choked from her statement. “What?”

Her display of power must have sapped her energy, because she lay back against her pillows as she continued speaking. “The proto-portal did something to me, and I don't know what. We’re ghost scientists, therefore it is our duty to find out.”

Jack seemed determined to carry out her wishes, and he gripped her hand and promised, “We’ll do it, as soon as you're out of here.”

Madeline quieted down, and she said softly, “If I get out of here.”

Jack frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“Why not? The doctors don't understand what is affecting me. No one has been inflicted this way before me. We’ve basically invented a new disease.”

Jack’s spirit seemed to crumble. It was odd, seeing the normally positive man be so hopeless. Vlad's lips pressed into a thin line. He stepped forward and took Madeline’s other hand.

“You’re not going to die,” he said with firmness.

Hearing Vlad's determination restored Jack's spirit, and he nodded enthusiastically. “V Man is right. We won't let you.”

“And if you do,” Vlad added, “we’ll find a way to necromance you back.”

Madeline smiled. Her hands, though weak, held theirs tightly. “Ghost club, the best club in Wisconsin U.”

Her skin was cold against his palm, but he held on. If he could, he would never let go.

[alumbianchronicler]

Part 7

Sam and Tucker were reluctant to leave Danny's side. This place, the Watchtower, was supposed to be safe, but that didn't mean they trusted the adults that ran it.

After all, the Anti-Ecto Acts had yet to be fully repealed, even if they were apparently "under review." Honestly, they expected the "review" to be swept away under the rug and nothing to come from it, leaving the Acts in place.

And the Justice League was a government-related agency, right? Or at least, it felt too much like the Guys in White for their comfort.

Telling Batman and the others as much as they had was only because there was no other choice. And that "Constantine" guy was... kind of a dick, and definitely knew too much about ghosts to be trusted.

So they wanted to keep an eye on Danny.

But the doctors had nearly forced them out of the waiting room by threatening to lock them out if they didn't go get something to eat, so they had slipped down to the cafeteria to see whether there was anything actually edible.

Surprisingly, they did, for both of their tastes, so the two sat at one of the tables, exuding as much "don't fuck with us" energy as they could.

Apparently it wasn't enough, since after a few minutes Red Robin came over and sat down near them.

"What are the Anti-Ecto Acts and why haven't we heard about them before?"

Sam and Tucker both had their plastic silverware in hand and ready to stab the vigilante before he even finished his question.

"Why do you want to know?" Tucker asked.

Red Robin raised his hands in surrender, but kept his gaze on them. "There's basically no information about Phantom and Ecto-entities that's easily searchable. I looked a little deeper, based on what Constantine's said, and it's... bad. Why doesn't anyone know about this?"

Sam's glare deepened, but Tucker frowned. "The Justice League doesn't know?"

Red Robin shook his head, lowering his hands to the table but keeping them visible. He wanted to know what these teenagers knew, because it was obvious they knew more than even the Fenton parents did. "Not a whisper."

There was silence for a long moment as Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. Sam was not keen on trusting anyone. Honestly, she thought they should continue handling everything on their own, as they had been. After all, if the Justice League didn't know so far, then they hadn't cared enough to look hard enough.

Tucker thought they should let them help. Give them the information needed, and get Danny some actual allies.

Ones who could actually do more about the situation than they could, especially because the GiW were going to go nuts with the destruction Danny caused in Gotham...

"Give me an upload link, I'll send you our files," Tucker finally said, looking back. He ignored how Sam's glare turned to him. "But if you use them against ghosts, against Phantom, I will find every single computer you've ever used, and fill them so full of viruses they'll be studied in ultra-secret Russian research facilities."

Red Robin nodded seriously, pulled out a piece of paper and pen, and noted down the information needed. "I promise," he said, handing over the piece of paper, "that we'll do everything we can to make sure these laws are repealed. They're directly violating Meta-Human Rights Laws."

"Apparently Ecto-entities haven't been considered "human enough" to count," Sam countered, tone vitriolic as she looked back at RR.

The look she got in return was clearly concerned, even through the mask. "We'll do everything we can to make sure that changes. In the meantime... you make sure Phantom's ok. Joker venom exposure is... not pretty."

The two kids looked back at each other and nodded, suddenly looking so much more tired than indignant, their worry for their friend coming through clearly.

As they were leaving the cafeteria, Red Robin was already pulling up the rest of the Bats on his coms. "Hey everyone, we need to do something for that kid that just killed the Joker. Who's in?"

Turns out it was everyone. Everyone was in.

Short DPXDC Prompts #772

Danny kills the Joker, not knowing of the kill switch set to release Joker gas the moment Jokers heart stops beating.

[flutteringdreams-matw]

Out of Time (15)

First/Last Read on AO3 Word Count: 6953

Previously: Dan went after Lancer but thankfully Danny flew in for the rescue. After their latest scrimmage, Lancer manages to save Danny and contact Tucker to put up the shield. Honestly - some very good friendship scenes with Tucker and Lancer.... with a semi-brutal fight in between. I suggest reading it before this.

Now: The final showdown? CW: Brutal fight, graphic descriptions of injuries, blood and ectoplasm up ahead. Please let me know what you think! Feel free to drop a reply or reblog whatever. Posting early cause I'm exhausted and will be equally so next week. Next chapter will be out on Sunday (link will be in the replies!)

Wind whipped at Danny's hair as he knelt on top of the last bits of his shield. He frowned, looking down at the glowing hand as it absorbed more energy. I have to do this he thought, watching his hand shake, the bruises on it a stark contrast to the ripped white gloves. Sighing, he pushed himself up; glancing at the last eighth of the shield that still protected the town. He closed his eyes, using the shield to look for his family in the chaos below. An image of Jazz, his Mom, Valerie and Vlad standing around talking greeted him. No sign of his Dad or Danielle. He wished he got to talk with them too. I'm still here, he thought to them. He sighed deeply, opening his eyes to scan the town. I'll come back.

A grim smile washed across his face as the Fenton Shield finally activated, pulsing through the town up and outward. It completed itself, protecting the town just inches below where he stood. They'll be safe now. He could hear the distant screeches of the shadows being pushed out of the town, the roars of the Far Frozen as they charged forward to the outskirts. He turned to the outer rim of the shield, scanning the skies for Ethelwulf and Sam. Eventually he found the large winged wolf spiralling through the air and cutting through the shadows, making them disappear. Ethelwulf stopped spinning and a small figure landed on his back. Danny chuckled fondly as the figure shot through five ghosts, making them explode and disappear. At least they're okay.

A roar of anger brought him out of his musings. His green eyes found Dan quickly; the future Phantom was clawing at the shield with vigour, red eyes burning with anger and destruction. Danny watched at a distance, stone faced, as Dan continued to attack the shield.

Danny had once asked Clockwork how he could face what he was. He had been naïve then- how could he not face him. All the guilt, fear and self-doubt he felt stemmed from how he saw his future.

A future that will never exist again.

Suddenly he felt determined, feeling green ecto-energy dance around his aura. He glared at the angry spectre, waiting in anticipation until Dan noticed him.

It didn't take long; Dan stopped his onslaught, turning slowly toward his younger self. Blue flames danced in the air as red eyes bore green. The dark clouds overhead swirled, rumbles of thunder off in the distance. On some level, Danny recognized the sign of an Ecto-Storm brewing.

Dan smiled crudely, looking across the shield to his prey. The hatred and loathing for the other almost suffocated them both.

They flew at each other at the same time, clashing with an explosion of green energy above the city.

:-=-:

"It was his idea," Tucker relayed, his breathing was laboured. "If Ethelwulf and Sam are out there, they're going after him. I-I didn't want to do it."

Maddie sighed, looking toward her companions with unease. Jazz sat aboard Valerie's sled, eyes darting over the mother's face for some kind of clue to what was going on. Valerie's expression was unreadable, looking forward to the town and pretending Plasmius didn't exist. The ghost in question looked above, a concerned frown directed at what was left of Danny's shield. "I know Tucker," she told him gently. "We're headed over to the edge now; get some of those Shadow Ghosts out of the way before going after him."

"I'll meet you there," Jack replied instantly. "Danielle and I can fight through the Northwest and meet you. Danny's not going in there alone."

Maddie smiled. "No, no he isn't" she agreed.

"Mrs. Fenton," Tucker started, and then paused. He sighed deeply before he continued. "Do you… do you have a thermos with you?"

Maddie frowned at the question and then mouthed the word 'thermos' to Jazz. Jazz gave her a quizzical look before holding up the object in question. Valerie bristled as she looked in their direction. Plasmius' concerned frown now looked to Maddie. "Yes, Jazz does."

"If… if you see Danny, suck him in," Tucker said quickly, guilt bubbling through his voice. Maddie made a noise of protest but Tucker cut across her. "He's hurt - he's hurt bad Mrs. F. We need to get him back to FentonWorks and I'm not confident my shield will let him in without being in there."

Maddie paled at his words.

Jazz frowned worriedly. "Mom, what is it? What's wrong?"

"How bad," Jack whispered. Maddie couldn't find her voice.

"Like he should have keeled over five hours ago bad."

"Danielle said something happened to his core," Jack said worriedly. "Mads, you have Plasmius there right? He may know."

Violet eyes glanced in Plasmius' direction. "What's wrong with his core?"

Jazz gasped, Valerie's eyes narrowed as Vlad looked sombrely at the woman. "I don't know," he replied softly. "But he's stuck as Phantom for the time being. His core energy is keeping him there."

Maddie gasped softly, hearing Tucker swear and Jack make a pained noise.

The shield shook as something attacked it overhead. Maddie pursed her lips as she looked above. "What are Ecto-Enhancers?" she asked the half-ghost, bringing her eyes back to him in the process. She barely heard Tucker's brief explanation to Jack.

Vlad frowned at the question before looking exasperated. "He didn't tell you?" he asked instead. He sighed when a glare met his eyes. "Basically a power up of energy - I gave them to Daniel so he could heal faster if he needed to. He's taken at least one. It's working, albeit slowly."

Maddie frowned, running through calculations in her head. Valerie scowled in his direction.

"Didn't you also say that Phantom was flying into battle while juiced up?"

Plasmius flinched under the hard glare Jazz and Maddie gave him. "They're not steroids girl; they're like an energy drink. I'm sure you've frequented them with your extra-curriculars." Valerie growled in response. "But yes, he is."

Maddie sighed, locking eyes with Jazz worriedly. "You know him best Jazz. What's his next move?"

Jazz frowned in thought. "He's going back out there," she said. "Like I said, Dan's jealous of Phantom - meaning Dan's going to be acting irrationally." Her eyes widened. "We need to focus on the shadows Mom; I think with the amount of duplication and shadows his mind is weakening. He's definitely slowing down. If Danny can outsmart him, he might have a chance."

Maddie nodded in consent, looking toward the perimeter of the Fenton Shield again. She glanced at Plasmius. "Will he hold out until then?"

Plasmius scoffed. "If I know anything about that boy, he won't back down easily," he said with fond bitterness. "If we act quickly, he'll be more likely to succeed."

Valerie watched their reactions slowly, fully realizing that she did not know as much as she thought she did. The Fentons had a truce with Phantom, they knew about Vlad but they all can't care about this ghost that much?

"Fine! Destroy ghosts! But can you really take part in destroying a human?"

Her eyes widened at the memory, gaze resting on Mrs. Fenton and Jazz with a thoughtful frown. Did they know he was half human too?

"Hey! What about the Fentons?! Phantom had asked her.

Valerie laughed, inspecting one of her weapons. "Are you kidding?! Before your truce, they couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof!"

The ghost boy's eyes furrowed slightly, a small twinkle in his eye before he responded. "True."

"We'll find our boy," Maddie vowed softly to Jack on the line. "We'll find Danny."

Valerie's eyes widened further, a small gasp escaping her lips as her eyes darted upward. She called him Danny, she thought widely. The pieces clicked quickly in her mind, guilt and horror rising within her.

Where's he running off to all the time?

"You really risked your neck to save that Fenton kid." Valerie found herself smiling at her Dad's comment. "Yeah. I like him a lot. Maybe even enough to give up ghost hunting."

It was eating her to say it, Danny didn't deserve this. "I've had a lot of fun these last few days, but my life's way too complicated right now for us to be anything other than... friends." He stammered out in disbelief before she pushed through. "There's something important I have to do and I don't want you to get hurt because of it." She wasn't going to let Danny Phantom ruin anyone else's life.

"Are you kidding?! Before your truce, they couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof!"

I know you, don't I?

A huge explosion of green energy made them all jump, eyes glued to the sky above them. "Danny…?" Valerie breathed. Danny Fenton. Danny Phantom. Guilt filled her chest, realizing for the first time how wrong she had been.

She barely heard Jazz whisper his name behind her. The world as at a standstill, her green eyes watching as two figures clashed overhead.

"Valerie?" She jumped, looking down to Jazz's worried face. The red head's eyes scanned Valerie's face, grimly noticing the silent distress the teen hunter was in. Jazz sighed, shaking her head. "Let's go."

:-=-:

Sam landed gracefully on Ethelwulf's back, watching as more of the shadows explode with a satisfied smirk. "Nice catch Ethelwulf," she said to the ghost. She felt his laugh before she heard it.

"Nice shooting," he replied back. His yellow eye looked back toward her. "The shield's up." An unspoken request passed between them; the ghost flew upward, gliding in the air as Sam looked behind them. Four shadow ghosts gaining on their tail. She made move to shoot, but with a battle cry Skulker crashed into two of them, dragging them below. She shot at the other two as Ethelwulf levelled himself in the air.

Her eyes darted over the shield, anxiously searching until she found him. "Danny," she breathed, relaxing as she saw him standing above the shield. Ethelwulf looked down hastily, yellow eyes scanning the shield below also. "He's okay!"

"Sam," Ethelwulf replied seriously. "He's not alone."

The girl stiffened, skimming the shield again until she saw the other ghost at the shield. Dan and Danny were staring at each other, the air thick with tension as they watched the other's move. Sam frowned as thunder rumbled overhead. He wouldn't…

"I will do whatever it takes to protect the people I care about."

Sam's breath hitched in her throat. He would. "We need to get down there," she said hurriedly. Ethelwulf dove as a reply. Sam grabbed his fur tightly, silently willing him to go faster. He obliged, just as both Phantoms took flight, ecto-blasts at the ready. "No!" she cried, watching with dread as they collided, the shockwaves of the collision blowing back and blocking them from interfering. Ethelwulf grunted, black wings flapping against the wind and stopping him from losing control.

"I'm alright," he assured before Sam got to ask. His normally calm voice was tight with anger. They watched from above as both Danny and Dan flew at each other, equally matched as they traded blows.

The Phantoms moved quickly, neither seemed to notice when an ecto-blast struck their bodies. They rushed forward, both trying to inflict some blow to weaken the other.

Ethelwulf frowned as blue electricity hit into a blue flamed punch. "I don't think he can keep this up for much longer."

Sam bit her lip, watching anxiously as they finally bounced back, floating with chests heaving. Ethelwulf was right; they needed to stop this soon…before… "Can you get close to them?"

Ethelwulf turned his head to her. "I can try, but the amount of power they're using will make it difficult. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

Sam charged the bazooka and turned on her wrist ray. "Let's do this."

Ethelwulf charged with a roar, attempting to get closer as the shockwaves pushed back again. Sam braced herself, taking aim at Dan. Suddenly, they were bombarded by the shadow ghosts, blocking their path as they lunged. Sam gasped, extending her arm and firing her wrist ray, hitting a few. Ethelwulf dove, attempting to lose them but they followed, their low screeches of anger echoing under the explosions of the Phantoms. Sam fired wildly, ignoring how her stomach turned at the sudden descent and speed. They needed to get to Danny.

Ethelwulf glided in the air, growling before he charged for the ghosts again, waves of ecto-energy flying back against them. Sam hit the remaining and soon they were free of them. She let out a small sigh of relief before she turned, coming face to face with more of the shadows. "I'm all about the dark and creepy," Sam yelled frustrated as she fired. "But this is getting ridiculous!"

Ethelwulf and Sam readied themselves before hearing a whine of a guitar, two guitar chords and watched as two giant fists rammed into their nearest foes. Sam looked up and recognized Ember's fiery blue hair, smiling smugly above her.

"Can't let you have all the fun," she said, turning her guitar dial up idly. "Besides, I want some pay back. That clown isn't the only one with an army!" Ember whistled, and up flew many of the ghosts hiding in Amity; Sam recognized Box Ghost, Dora, Wulf as they charged too. She looked up at the floating ghost and nodded in thanks. Ember scowled, scanning the crowd. "Just get the ghost kid - I don't do 'I owe yous'!"

She didn't need to be told twice. "Let's go," Sam muttered to the wolf ghost. He raced upward again, towards the top of the shield as the she heard the crackling electricity of the ecto-blasts. Then all too suddenly, it stopped. Sam paled at the eerie quiet it left behind. Ethelwulf reached the top not long after to find no trace of either Phantom. "Ethelwulf…" Sam said, trailing off.

An explosion away from the city caught both of their attentions. Sam frowned, watching the brilliant green light up the forest, bringing down some of the trees. "They teleported," Ethelwulf said quietly.

They stayed only a moment longer, watching the Far Frozen soldiers race out into battle before they took off after the Phantoms.

:-=-:

He didn't realize they had teleported until his back crashed into a tree.

Danny gasped as he shot upward, dodging a glowing green hand as it swiped from where he once was. A snarl from behind him was the only indication that he was being followed. Danny's hand lit up in green, wildly throwing ecto-blasts at Dan as he flew faster, white hair whipping back.

A ball of blue flames narrowly missed him, making the teen hiss involuntarily as he started to zigzag. Eventually he flipped in the air, his hands a blue-white as two electrical ice blasts aimed directly at Dan hit his mark. Both Phantoms stopped, glaring at each other from across the sky.

Their battles were nothing compared to the sheer desperation to win that currently encompassed every ounce of their bodies. Out of breath, Danny quickly assessed Dan; the evil Phantom was panting, red eyes manic with repressed rage. His suit was tattered, revealing small injuries that he got through their scuffle. Some part of him felt relieved that Dan no longer had the upper hand. Green eyes glanced briefly to the flash of green lightning above, frowning slightly as Dan smiled. Dammit.

Danny barely had time to throw up a hasty shield as Dan teleported in front of him. In one quick movement, the older Phantom punched straight into Danny's shield, pushing the boy backward in the air as it broke. Wasting little time, Dan's hand glowed green with small knives of ecto-energy, stabbing the boys injured leg as he pulled Danny toward the ground. Dan's hand moved down his leg, a trail of ectoplasm in its wake.

Danny bit back scream as Dan brought them toward the ground at an alarming speed. Ignoring all logic, his right eye turned blue, releasing a small ectoplasmic pulse from his core. Dan cried out, letting go as both Phantoms losing control in the air. Shaking his head, Danny regained his bearings, flying at Dan with icicles at the ready. One managed to pierce Dan's shoulder, the older howling in pain. The icicle melted just as Danny tackled him to the ground.

Danny staggered upright, faltering as he stood on his bad leg. He managed to roll further from the downed evil ghost, trying and failing to stand again.

Dan was faster on his feet; he groaned but flew up. He hovered as red eyes darting around looking for his prey. Once found, Dan threw his arm outwards and blasted Danny into the trees behind him with a yelp. The impact of the boy hitting the last tree broke it as he slid lower to the ground.

He tried to voice a small ow, but winced heavily as a set of sparks danced through him. He moved as quickly as he could, grimacing again as he tried to stand. He needed to keep moving, he needed to find Sam and Ethelwulf, he needed -

"There you are." Dan's voice fluttered from above him.

He needed to fight.

Breathing heavily, Danny gripped the tree trunk as he pulled himself upright. Taking inventory of his powers, he realized with disdain that he couldn't keep this up much longer. He had seen what would happen next; he was out of time.

Thunder and lightning rumbled through the sky as Danny met Dan's glare. "You told them." Dan stated coldly.

"I thought we were over that," Danny said sardonically, running his hand through his hair. He winced slightly as he touched a new bruise forming. "Remember - the part where you threw me like a Frisbee into the school?"

Dan growled in response. More lightning above them. Danny frowned, watching the lightning move through the clouds. It was different than last time.

"What's so different about you, Danny?" Dan asked darkly. "Why did Clockwork try so hard for you? Why do our parents get to accept you?"

He was slightly taken aback at the question, brow furrowing as too many thoughts crossed his mind at once.

Dan scoffed at the lack of an answer. "You're still the same selfish asshole that I was," he said. "They died because of you."

Danny had heard it all before - it had been a running commentary in his mind for the better part of a year… and yet something in Dan's tone had him shaking his head. "No," he replied in a low voice. It was a simple answer, and as soon as he said it, there was none of the guilt or anger for himself left in him from the alternate timeline. Dan's face contorted in rage as more lightning streaked across the sky. "No."

Before Dan could react, Danny teleported; disappearing from Dan's wrath to get some sort of distance away. He dropped out of the air, faltering again and took inventory in his surroundings. He had reappeared in the destroyed clearing from their first battle earlier in the day. It's far enough.

Danny heard Dan's roar over the thunder that rumbled overhead. He braced himself, ignoring the throbbing pain of his left leg as he planted himself in place just as Ethelwulf taught him. Dan landed across from him with force, creating a crater around him.

"I'm not done with you boy," Dan snarled, red eyes glowing menacingly. "I want to know what makes you so special that you changed my destiny?"

"Your Vlad is showing," Danny sassed before he could stop himself. "Destiny? Really? You made a choice dumbass. I made different ones." His green eyes glowed in retaliation. "We're not the same, not anymore."

Something in Dan broke. "YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!" he roared, green ecto-energy whipping up around him. Green eyes snapped at Dan's feet, finally confirming that Dan's Ecto-Storm was coming. "What are you anyway? Human."

Danny's eyes narrowed, feeling his own deep raw energy itching to be released too. This was his last card left to play, and if he timed it right, he could finish this.

"So you're saying raw energy is basically a bomb waiting to go off at any point?"

If it didn't finish him first.

"Actually," Danny said coolly, watching as Dan's entire body shake with emotion. "Yeah, I am. And my friends? My family? They're alive because of it."

An inhumane growl escaped Dan's throat, red eyes shining brightly as green energy whipped around him. Danny's face was grim as he watched Dan's Ecto-Storm finally manifest, interacting with the clouds above. Dan's body was encased in the swirling vortex of energy, his animalistic noises becoming more feral as a red version of the Phantom emblem appeared at his feet. Violent whips of energy tore trees from roots around. Red eyes found green and with a yell released strong waves of energy toward the boy.

Danny was ready for the attack - his right eye turned blue; emblem appeared at his feet in a burst of light, a large shield blocking the onslaught.

:-=-:

Tucker swallowed as the he watched the screens helplessly. Danny and Dan had disappeared into the forest again, the large mass of ecto-energy following. He saw the signs, and hoped desperately for two things; for Danny not to be so stupid, and for Danny to be the one actually creating the storm. The alternative was too scary to imagine.

Clockwork grunted, gripping his staff as the entire lab turned toward him. Tucker frowned, abandoning the console to head toward the Time Master. "What is it?" he asked. When Clockwork made no inclination to answer, Tucker sighed. "It's Danny isn't it? He's the one stopping time?"

Clockwork looked up, red eyes glancing over the teen like he was seeing him for the first time. "We're nearing the paradox," he said gravely, nodding his head. "I can no longer see the present, only the past. The effects of the Time Medallion are affecting him now."

Another flash of light appeared on the screen. Tucker didn't look at it, teal green eyes staring into Clockwork's. "How long?" Tucker asked evenly.

Clockwork did glance at the screen, watching as some of the buttons stopped flashing and then continue at random intervals now that Tucker wasn't at the console. Time was stopping at random.

"Now."

:-=-:

The lightning made it difficult for them to follow by air. Ethelwulf dove into the forest, flying through the trees as he scanned the area for either Phantom.

Sam was stiff on his back, doing the same. She looked up at more of the green lightning danced across the sky. "Ethelwulf," she whispered. Danny wouldn't use the Ecto-Storm like this… would he?

"It's not his," Ethelwulf said quietly.

Her fear only grew at his confirmation. "Dan - Dan has it too!?"

"Clockwork had said Dan used in the last clash these two had," he explained quickly. "Though never to this extent. I'm sure Danny's wail surprised him enough catch him off guard. Danny has the element of surprise again."

Sam bit her lip. "He's hurt."

Ethelwulf flew faster. "I know," he replied. He glanced at her briefly. "I told him I would not let him die. We need to get to him before -"

A giant swirling mass of ecto-energy interrupted him, stopping them in their tracks. Sam gasped as an Ecto-Storm appeared before them.

"Shit," Sam bit out. She reloaded a Fenton Bazooka hastily, watching as power whipped around them. "Ethelwulf we have to hurry."

The wolf ghost took off again.

:-=-:

"NO!" Dan bellowed, shaken as he watched his younger self push back against the attack. Danny ignored him, stopping the raw energy from attacking. "How!?" His disbelief fuelled his anger, which in turn fuelled the attack more.

Danny grunted, pushing back against the attack as lightning tried to strike him from the sky. Everything hurt. Everything. The raw energy that now flooded him was only just holding Dan at bay. Focus he told himself. Focus on that line between life and death. Find the balance. Electricity sparked from his shield as he poured energy back into it. If he wanted to survive, he needed to remember his training.

"You can't have this power!" he heard Dan yell over the strong crackles of electricity and howls of the wind. "This is mine. You don't get to have it all!"

Was this what Clockwork warned me of? He thought, ignoring the now burning pain from his side; old wounds started to open again. Is this all I can do? Danny shook his head, gritting his teeth. No, he could do more. He had to do more.

He was tired – run ragged from the day's fights. Danny couldn't let Dan win - it wasn't an option.

Promise me you'll win.

Sam's voice echoed in his mind, reminding him of his promise. She had asked him to come back alive.

He had to try.

Danny let his own powers push outward, feeling not only raw but core energy expend out of him. His aura glowed, ecto-energy swirling around his feet now as it encased him. With his Ecto-Storm released – pain shot through Danny's entire being as electricity from his core mixed in. He faltered slightly before digging in his heels, releasing his own streams of raw blue-white energy toward Dan. He still had control - he could still win.

"The things you need to fight for? That makes you more dangerous too." Ethelwulf had told him that… it was time he believed it.

Their attacks clashed in the middle, both streams of energy pushing back against the other as both Phantoms fought for dominance. Dan was lost in a sea of rage, snarling madly at the young teen with such malice. Danny kept his attack focused, pushing forward, sheer determination and will driving him far beyond his limit.

"Danny!"

Focus broken for a slight moment, he turned at the fear filled voice as Sam and Ethelwulf flew forward from the cover of trees. Even from a distance, Danny could see the terror on her face.

Unfortunately, so did Dan. With a wicked smile, he turned, arm outstretched in their direction. A wave of blue flames and green ecto-energy flew toward them. Ethelwulf stopped advancing, bringing his wings together and shielding them both from the onslaught. Dan laughed, a twist between sadistic and manic laughter as his powers grew, anger and resentment pushing the storm outward toward the town.

Danny's eyes darted to Amity Park, to Ethelwulf and Sam and then back to his older self. Dan had lost sense of control, fully engulfed in the ecstasy of his raw energy. There was no way her could protect them all.

Danny felt himself fading, knees threatening to buckle. I can't win this he thought hopelessly.

You can.

The world slowed drastically, the ecto-energy dancing in the wind. Danny knees gave way, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. He looked up and a translucent figure of himself - his human self - stood before him, smiling gently.

"You can do this," Fenton assured. His Ecto-Storm still flowed outward, beautifully painting the world around them with blue, white and green light in slow motion. "What do you want from all this?"

Sam had asked him the same thing earlier. "I can't… I'm not enough…" he said breathlessly. He shook his head. I'm going to die.

Fenton scoffed. "You are," he said fiercely. "You're just afraid to admit it. Danny, you have the power to stop this. You've had it for a year now. You can finally end this." A translucent hand reached out to him. "So let me ask you again: what do we want?"

Danny stared at the offered hand, his mind racing. Fenton looked slighted bemused, watching his counterpart with mismatched eyes. He didn't fear Dan. He didn't even fear himself.

Danny feared power - and what that power would do to him.

To move forward, he needed to embrace Ecto-Storm.

A look of purpose washed across his face as he grabbed the hand, staggering upright. Thoughts of Frostbite and his people, Ethelwulf, Clockwork, Jazz, his parents, Tucker and Sam filled him to the brim, one common theme shaking him to his core. What did he want?

Phantom and Fenton both turned toward Dan, eyes narrowing in determination. "Ready?" he asked Fenton, thinking back to their conversation in his bedroom.

His human half nodded, a small grim smile on his face. "Ready." He confirmed.

Their eyes glowed as time started again. Fenton disappeared, leaving Danny alone within the Ecto-Storm of his own creation. He let his powers flow freely, giving in to the instinctive use of his power, the one he never felt ready to use. His eyes glanced over to Ethelwulf's determined yellow eyes, protecting him and Sam from the onslaught of the ghosts. His shield was holding. Briefly, his blue- green eyes managed to find a pair of fearful violet eyes behind the shield. I'm sorry.

Dan roared, getting the younger Phantom's attention once more. Dan took off in the air, flying at Danny's Ecto-Storm with drive. Danny felt the will of Dan attempting to get to him; slicing through his attack with force. Danny pushed back, watching as Dan's Ecto-Storm battle with his; fire and ice trying to hurt the other.

Danny felt something stir in his core, painfully reminding him of the first time he used this power. He was afraid then; he wasn't anymore. His pupils disappeared, blue and green ecto-energy shining brightly as electricity and ice joined the battle, pushing his emblem outward to rival Dan's. The older Phantom clawed at Danny, beyond reason as he attempted to get to the teen. Blue flames danced at his feet as the two storms started to merge.

What did he want?

Dan made it through Danny's defences, flying to the centre with a vengeful smile. Danny's breathing was too loud in his ears now, realizing it was time.

To see his friends and family alive.

To win.

Danny's eyes shone brightly as the world turned white.

Scorching heat and bitter cold danced around them…

Dan's shocked face just as he reached Danny, arm reaching for the boy's chest…

…The world exploded in pain…

…An explosion…

…Darkness…

:-=-:

Sam gasped, bringing her hands up to shield herself from the bright white light. The explosion pulsed outward, levelling trees and sent small shockwaves throughout the area. Ethelwulf sunk to the ground, breathing hard as the explosion died down.

"Ethelwulf!" Sam cried, looking at the large black wolf.

"I'm alright," he replied, yellow eyes finding her worried ones. "Are you?" She nodded, silently marvelled at Ethelwulf's power to still have his shield around them. "Good," he said softly, standing slowly. "That's …" The ghost trailed off, looking away from her to the destruction beyond her.

Sam followed his gaze, gasping slightly. Debris was everywhere, Sam noticed, as she watched the remnants of the Ecto-Storm disappear. The ground was broken, split apart from the raw power from the fight, the tree trunks cracked and half and blue fire patches danced around large figures of non-melted ice. Sam's eyes scanned the battlefield before she saw it; Danny's emblem, still alight, was shrinking slowly... but her best friend was nowhere in sight.

Dan's red emblem was completely gone.

"Danny," Sam whispered, dread settling into the pit of her stomach. She started running long before she realized Ethelwulf was calling her back. "Danny!" she yelled, hoping he would answer. Her voice echoed in the eerie silence. Sam ran, jumping over tree trunks, occasionally tripping over roots as she tried to find him. It took a few minutes, but she found him just as his emblem finally disappeared.

She paused for a moment, horrified as she took in his appearance from a few feet away.

Danny, still miraculously in his ghost form, lay on his side, limbs askew. Even from this far away, she could see the amount of sickly green ectoplasm that he was covered in. Swallowing the bile in her throat, Sam continued running, faster from before. Once close, she skidded on her knees, slowing her speed and scrambled to him. "Danny," she croaked, eyes wide and disbelief.

He was worse than the last time she saw him. There was a nasty bruise on the side of his head; multiple small cuts up and down his body that made his skin seem even more other worldly than normal. The purple handprint bruise on his neck was more visible now, burned and varying shades of blue. His jumpsuit was ripped across his left shoulder, which appeared to come out of his socket, showed magnificent bruises and large burns from an earlier fight. His left leg was covered in ectoplasm, long gashes from his calf to his knee.

He was barely breathing.

Anything the ecto-enhancer managed to heal had reversed in the last fight. Sam looked down, alarmed at that realization and instinctively put her hands on Danny's side. The injury had reopened, gushing large amounts of ectoplasm. He shuddered beneath her, wheezing erratically.

"Come on Danny, stay with me!" Sam said to him hysterically. She brought one of her hands to his face, smearing it with his own ectoplasm. "You aren't dying today – you promised." No answer. "Eth-" Sam tried to yell, coming out in a half sob. Sam took a deep breath, swallowing the lump in her throat before she tried again. "Ethelwulf!" Sam yelled desperately. She felt a rush of air as Ethelwulf flew to her, hovering slightly before landing.

"Danny," he said gravely, concerned yellow eyes taking in his appearance before coming closer.

Sam paid him no mind as he started inspecting his lower body. "Danny, come on," she said worriedly, trying to rouse the boy in front of her. His face scrunched, shallow wheezing breaths becoming more pronounced. His eyes fluttered, opening ever so slightly.

Sam sighed as she looked down at his electric green eyes. "Thank goodness," she breathed. Her smile fell when she realized his eyes weren't registering her. "Danny?" The fear came back to her in full force in that moment. "Danny, can you hear me? You did it, it's over." The girl turned to Ethelwulf helplessly. "Help him! We can't –" her voice broke in a dry sob as she finally realized the gravity of the situation through her shock.

"We're going to need to move him," Ethelwulf said quickly, curling his body around the two teens. "Sam, keep pressure on that wound, we need to keep him as Phantom for as long as we can. He's losing too much ectoplasm; if he transforms and it turns to blood, I'm not sure if I can save him."

Sam's eyes widened but nodded, holding her hands tighter against his wound. Danny made a raw, strangled noise as he continued to wheeze through the pain. The white ring of light appeared at his waist but sputtered out of existence quickly.

"Hang on!" Ethelwulf said, glowing in a golden light. The next thing Sam realized, they were over Amity Park on Danny's shield staring down the Ghost Shield. He closed his eyes and sighed. "We need to take down the shield!"

Sam shook her head. "No, they were supposed to put his ecto-signature in it," Sam said distractedly. "We don't have time." Danny's arm fell onto his shield limply, the ring of light appearing again at his waist, lingering over him. It didn't move. "Danny no!" she yelled, turning his face toward her. "Hold on okay? Just-Just a little more."

Ethelwulf growled. "I can't teleport us in – it means that they're blocking one of our ecto-signatures. Last I heard, they still couldn't separate Danny's from the Dark Phantom's."

Sam looked down at Danny, swallowing in temporary relief as Danny managed to make his transformation stop again. Green sparks attacked his chest. "Tucker," Sam muttered, eyes widening. She kept one hand on Danny's wound while the other dug into the pocket of her jumpsuit. Crying out triumphantly, Sam found the Fenton phone she pocketed as she left the city. She stuffed it in her ear quickly, ignoring that it wasn't comfortable and moved her hand back to Danny's wound. She pressed down on in firmly, another strangled gasp escaping his lips. "Tucker!" she shouted into the small device.

"Sam!?" Tucker's surprised and relieved voice crackled in her ear. "Thank God! You took your damn time! If it wasn't for Danny-"

"Not now Tuck!" Sam said, cutting him off. "I need you to drop the Ghost Shield."

"Drop it?" he asked. A brief pause before Tucker pressed on. "Do you have Danny?"

Sam turned her gaze back to the boy in front of her. His blinks were slow. "He's… It's bad Tuck" Sam admitted, voice raw. "We need to get back to Fentonworks. Ethelwulf is standing by to teleport us."

"On it," was Tucker's determined reply. "It'll take me a few minutes. We'll be sitting ducks for Dan's forces, so be careful. We don't have Danny's shield like last time."

"As fast as you can Tuck," Sam urged. Ethelwulf nodded in understanding from her words. "Come on Danny," she whispered comfortingly to him. Another strangled noise came through his mouth. "A little longer. Then you can drop the shield. We'll be home soon, okay? Just stay Ghost for a little longer."

Danny shuddered again, closing his eyes. The wheezing became worse and Sam frowned.

"Ancients," Ethelwulf swore quietly. The word slipped out of his mouth like dirt. "Sam!"

Sam looked up in confusion and gasped. Before them, Danny's shield slowly started to repair itself, green electricity flowing through the solid parts of the shield before connecting. She looked down quickly, eyes glued to his hand on top of his shield. It shimmered green through his ripped gloves, green sparks moving through his forearm.

"Sam? What's going on?" Tucker asked anxiously through the Fenton phone.

"Dammit! Danny stop!" Sam pleaded, ignoring her friend in her ear. "Save your energy… please. You're hurt. Don't do this!" The shield continued to repair itself; he couldn't hear her. Sam swore. "Tucker, how much longer?"

"You should see it coming down any second," The teen replied swiftly. Sam could hear the determination in his voice. She wasn't the only one worried.

Danny's hand went limp as the shield finished repairing itself. Blue sparks now wracked the middle of his frame before they disappeared.

Sam only had to wait a very short second before she saw the signs of the ghost shield coming down. She breathed out a sigh of relief as she turned back to the half-ghost in front of her. Her relieved sigh turned to a startled gasp as she watched Danny's white hair turn slowly black and parts of his jumpsuit turning into his regular street clothes. "Ethelwulf!" Sam called to ghost in alarm. Green ectoplasm that stained her hands had turned red gradually and started gushing through her fingers; she hadn't realized the change. There was no ring, no flash of light as he reverted back. Danny Phantom seemingly faded away, leaving the body of Danny Fenton in his place.

"No…. nononono." Tucker's voice rambled through her ear. "Danny, no, stay with me okay?" She tried to get a rise out the friend currently bleeding out in front of her. He gave no inclination he heard her.

Ethelwulf was at their side quickly and with another flash of gold light, the smell of the Fenton's lab greeted Sam's nose. She blocked out the world around her; only focused on keeping pressure on Danny's wounds. She didn't have nearly enough hands; there was so much blood now. She very briefly heard Ethelwulf's cries for something, a flurry of movement as ghosts rushed forward. Lots of rushed whispers, a few barked orders, more blood on her hands. Suddenly, someone was pulling her off him.

"Get off me!" She said, fighting whoever was pulling her off the boy. She managed to elbow them in the gut but they didn't even cry out. "He's bleeding! I have to help -"

"Sam," Tucker's low voice was in her ear. She stopped; turned to lock eyes with her other best friend. Taking his chance, Tucker dragged her away, nodding to someone before swallowing. He looked like he was going to be sick. "Sam - they need to restart his heart."

What.

Sam looked at him with wide eyes, disbelieving his words. She turned back to Danny's lifeless form being hovered over by Ethelwulf in his guise of Dr. Cliff, Frostbite and a few other members of the Far Frozen. At some point, they put a mask over Danny's face to give him air. Ethelwulf's hands were alight with ecto-energy as he put them on the boy's chest. Danny convulsed on the floor for a second, before returning to being completely limp.

She couldn't look away. There was more flurry of activity around him; Ethelwulf charged his hands again, Danny's body arching upward in the air, falling back to the ground.

Ethelwulf brought two fingers to the boy's neck, a grim look over his face. "Where's that stretcher!?" Ethelwulf yelled, the hazel eyes of Dr. Cliff turning more yellow as he grew frustrated.

"There!" Frostbite yelled, watching another one of his followers fly over intangibly with a rolling bed. The ghost flew through the floor and made it tangible under Danny. All ghosts, led by Ethelwulf, pushed the unconscious Danny toward the Fenton infirmary, leaving the stricken friends staring at a pool of Danny's blood.

[thedannyphantomcookbook]

The Phantom Origins

Okay, so I know probably a bunch of people have already done this, but I wanted to rewrite Danny Phantom, from just before he got his powers to maybe when he tells his parents.

 I’m tired of waiting for a reboot that may never come, so here is what I picture the reboot would look like. 

I’ve always thought it would be darker and more horrific, that the ghosts he fights are more monstrous and demonic.

 That there would be a little bit more of a medical concern for Danny’s humanity being affected by his ghost half. Is he becoming more ghost like? Is he gradually getting sicker and sicker, and his ghost DNA ravages through his body like cancer? 

Would Vlad be not only a sexist, creepy, abusive old man, but contains a thirst for deception and power that he poses a real, apocalyptic threat on Earth and the ghost zone?

Are ghosts actually the spirits of the dead? Or are they a different breed of human that lives in a completely separate dimension, that’s is layered and hidden within ours?

What about Danny’s mental health. He has to keep this big secret from his parents because he absolutely FEARS what would happen if they found it to the point he’s scared they wouldn’t believe he was their son and try to kill him as a result, or keep him hostage in the basement, slowly torturing him and dissecting him until he’s dead? What would the world think of him? A prophet? A demon? Would they accuse his parents for experimenting on their own children? He would have so much fear and anxiety that he’d have to be on edge all the time, falling into depression, panic attacks - not to mention the PTSD he’d get from it all while battle nightmarish monsters and the hanging question over his head of what he is now. 

These are just SOME of the questions I’ve had that Butch Hartman will never answer. He set up such a great plot and characters but carried it out pretty poorly over the show (which may or may not be his fault since they wanted to keep it kid friendly.)

I hope to get into the deep and dark and nitty gritty details of Danny Phantom we’ve imagined but never get to see. I wrote the first chapter below, and I plan to write much more. :)

I hope you guys enjoy it!

Follow me over at Ao3 

Summary:

Dr. Madelyn Fenton and her husband, Dr. Jackson Fenton, have just built the world's first portal to the Ghost Zone - an alternate dimension where undead linger for all eternity. The only problem is no one believes in what they are doing. The townspeople call them the Fenton Freaks and the rejection letters from the National Science Foundation are piling up. Not even their own children can tolerate their ghost obsession. Their 14 year old son, Danny, does what he can to separate himself from his parents. Mocked by his peers and judged by his teachers, he keeps his head down and stays out of the spotlight. 

It comes as no surprise to Danny when his parents' machine fails to work on the first test run. Discouraged, they leave empty handed for the weekend to go to the Ghost Hunter's Expo, where they were expected to present their portal during their panel. As soon as his parents leave, Danny invites his friends over to give a tour of yet another one of his parents' failed experiments. When he gets dared to walk inside the machine, he triggers something that turns it back on, and for the first time ever, his parents have an invention that works. But that's the least of the surprises when Danny emerges from the portal himself...

To Whom It May Concern,

To the esteemed members of the National Science Foundation, myself, Dr. Madelyn Fenton, PhD., and my husband, Dr. Jackson Fenton, PhD., write to you today to consider us for the New Exploratory Scientific Research Grant Award. Our combined decades worth of research within paranormal scientific research fields have led us to believe that the “ghost” entities that haunt our very Earth, could in fact be the missing link to creating new technology, curing human illnesses, and prolonging human life on Earth.

The term “ghosts” is defined as a religious or spiritual being, or the hypothetical soul of the human body, separated from physical forms, usually that of a person recently deceased. Dr. Jackson Fenton and myself have a different theory about the “ghostly” entities that visit our Earth. We have sufficient evidence to prove that ghosts are in fact not the spirits of the dead, but an entirely new species of the human race. We believe they exist in an alternate dimension - a separate plane of existence that is not unlike ours. Recent developments have also shown the possibility of dimensional travel -  we believe ghosts are able to pass through into our plane of existence for a temporary amount of time. Through our rigorous research, construction, and experimentation, Dr. Jackson Fenton and myself have created what would be a “portal” to this plane of existence, to the “Ghost Zone.” By exploring and studying the ghost zone, we could collect a limitless amount of research and data that could be used to benefit humanity for the rest of our existence.  

We have provided within our application our twenty years of research and development, along with video recordings of our experiments as evidence of our work in progress, as we humbly request your consideration for the New Exploratory Scientific Research Grant  Award.

Sincerely,

Dr. Madelyn Fenton, PhD. in Quantum Physics and Paranormal Studies

Dr. Jackson Fenton, PhD. in Theoretical Science and Paranormal Studies

From the Grants and Admissions Office of the National Science Foundation

To Dr. Madelyn Fenton and Dr. Jackson Fenton,

Thank you for your interest in applying for the New Exploratory Scientific Research Grant Award. The New Exploratory Scientific Research Grant Award (NESRGA) is an esteemed scholarship opportunity that looks to provide funding for ground-breaking scientific research to scientists working within small and local laboratories. After carefully reviewing your application and research, we have come to the regretful decision to decline your request to receive the NESRGA.

We unfortunately could not approve your request due to the following issues:

Insufficient or lack thereof evidence or proof of scientific research of ghostly entities and/or undiscovered species, the “Ghost Zone” dimension in which these entities exist, or possible travel to said “Ghost Zone.”

Insufficient of lack thereof peer review research and laboratory data.

Paranormal entities and alternative dimensional research is not recognized under the National Science Foundation as factual scientific work.

We are thrilled to hear that you share such enthusiasm, passion, and ambition in the pursuit of scientific exploration, research and development. You are a part of a wonderful community, and through your tireless efforts, you will help bring our Earth into the future.

We welcome you to apply for the NESRGA again next year.

Sincerely,

Barbara Keaton,

Director of Grants and Admissions

National Science Foundation

GHOST HUNTERS EXPO - THIS LABOR DAY WEEKEND

To Drs. Maddie and Jack Fenton,

We are excited to have you return to speak at the Ghost Hunters Expo this coming labor day weekend. We have reviewed your Ghost Zone Theory and we anticipate your presentation of your research.

Please note: due to new regulations we cannot allow the following into the convention center:

Ecto-infused food, inanimate objects, or animal mutations of any kind.

Alarm or defense systems that release a form of knock out gas, ectoplasmic goo, ectoplasmic foam, spoiled meats, or  live rodents. All alarms and defense systems must be turned off while inside the convention center.

Samplings or gifts of homemade cookies or other food, beverages, or gifts to bribe the judges.

Disclosed weapons that are not a part of your presentation and/or not approved by the convention prior (we will have metal detections at all entry points of the convention hall)

Asking for audience volunteers unless approved by us prior your scheduled presentation time.

Ghost claims targeted towards convention guests, judges, or other presenters.

All presentations and inventions must have been tested and approved by a judge prior to your presentation time (i.e. no last minute or surprise inventions).

Fighting or displays of physical aggression.

Destruction of convention hall equipment, the building’s foundation itself, or other presenters equipment and or inventions.

We thank you in advance for your compliance and full understanding of the new regulations.

We look forward to seeing you!

Best,

Trevor Martin

Ghost Hunters Expo Coordinator

“Did you see this?” Jack Fenton asked, waving the notice from the Ghost Hunters Expo. He scoffed. “New regulations...I wonder who were the bimbos that made them enforce these rules.” He crumbled up the notice and threw it carelessly on the floor.

“How’s that portal coming, sweet cheeks?” he asked his wife.

Maddie Fenton was deep within a hexagon shaped chamber carved out of her laboratory converted basement wall. The interior was lined with a colorful array of wires and tiny blinking lights. At the end of the chamber, sheets of metal and hardware fanned in on itself. Maddie was kneeled on the floor, wrestling with a few cords.

“I’m just struggling to connect these last couple of wires,” she answered, pinching the two cords together. With a last bit of strain, the cords connected with a satisfying click.

Wiping the sweat off her brow, she came out of the chamber. “Hopefully that will stabilize the gravitational pull of the Ghost Zone once we get the portal running.” She briefly thought back to a dark memory from their college days when their first Ghost Zone prototype had malfunctioned and the toxins from the Ghost Zone leaked out of the portal, resulting in displacing one of her lab partners for the remainder of their college career.

“We got it this time, baby,” Jack said confidently. “There is no way we could make the same mistake twice.”

Maddie sighed as she walked over to the control panel to record the ecto-readings. “I just wish we knew for certain what had gone wrong that day. All of this guess work is driving me crazy.” She picked up her notebook and briefly reviewed her meticulously hand written notes before adjusting some dials.

“Okay,” she huffed, satisfied. “I think we’re ready for a test run.”

Jack clapped his hands. “Excellent! I’ll go grab the kids!” He ran to the basement steps and shouted, “Jazzy-pants! Danny! Get down here!”

A few minutes later both of their teenage children shuffled down the basement steps.

“Is this gonna take long?” Danny asked, disinterestedly. “Tucker and I were in the middle of planning our next battlefield strategies for Doomed. There’s only a few days left of summer vacation and we still have so much planning to do if we want to beat the other online players and achieve the seven Keys of Destiny.”

“And I was in the middle of an important breakthrough in my self therapeutic psychology research,” their daughter, Jazz promptly stated. In her hands she clutched an open copy anxiety and phobias workbook. “Did you know that high functioning anxiety in adulthood is caused by childhood trauma from never feeling safe in your own home? This would explain so much about me and Danny -” she paused in her speech when she saw the machine her parents were working on.

“Oh, no.” She snapped her book shut and pinched the flesh between her eyes. “ Please do not tell me you called us down here to witness another one of your experiments. Don’t you remember what happened last time?”

“Oh, Jazz, relax,” Maddie said, waving her off. “Those burn marks from the last ectoplasmic gun experiment healed eventually. And look!” She walked over to a closet in the back of the room and pulled out two polyester jumpsuits. “We made you both your own custom fitted, lab safe, jumpsuits!”

Jack appeared beside Maddie. “And we matched them with ours! Jazzy-pants, yours is teal to match your mother’s. And Danny, yours would have matched mine but the store didn’t have orange.” he held out a plain white jumpsuit with black gloves and boots.

“And I haven’t even shown you two the best parts!” he grabbed the jumpsuits from Maddie and spun them around. Crudely pressed onto the fabric of the jumpsuit was a cutout of Jack Fenton’s smiling face, emblazoned on the chest.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Jack grinned.

Jazz was the first to respond. “Dad there is no way you’re going to get me to wear that,” she said while backing away and shaking her head. “How about Danny and I will just go upstairs and you can call us down after  you’ve tested it? That way we’ll be safe and not have to wear those hideous jumpsuits.”

Danny silently agreed with her while struggling to conceal his own disgust at the suits. It was one thing to be forced to wear a jumpsuit like his parents but it was an entirely different level of lame to have to wear his father’s face across his chest. What if his parents insisted he wore it all the time, like they did? Involuntary images of him becoming the laughing stock at his new high school was surfacing in his mind, more than he already was for being the son of the city’s eccentric ghost hunting husband and wife team. He was already struggling to stay above the pathetic nerd social ring in his class. They’d have to create an entirely new category of nerd just for him if he wore that suit. The thought of it made him want to crawl away in a hole and be left there to die.

“Mom, Dad, I have to agree with Jazz,” Danny said. “The suits are kinda...lame.”

“Oh, nonsense,” Maddie dismissed. “These jumpsuits are the latest fashion that every ghost hunter wants.”

“And when we reveal these babies with my face on them, everyone will be scrambling for one. We’ll be rich!” Jack stated proudly.

Jazz snorted. “Um, I somehow doubt that. Look, we’ll just go back upstairs and you two can let us know when it’s safe, okay?” She looped a hand around Danny’s arm and started pulling him away.

“Oh, no you don’t!” Jack clamped a hand on both of them  and spun them back around. “You two are being given the chance to witness scientific history! And we are not going to let you pass up on this.” He tossed the jumpsuits to Jazz and Danny. They unwillingly caught them.

Jazz glowered at Danny. “If you take any photos and post them on the internet, I will kill you.”

Danny held out his suit reproachfully. His dad’s smiling face seemed to be laughing at him, like all of the students as Casper High will be if they ever found out about this.

“Don’t worry about it.”

A few minutes later, Jazz and Danny stood alongside their parents in their matching jumpsuits. Jazz stood with her arms crossed, silently fuming, her foot tapping impatiently. At her mother’s insistence, Jazz was forced to tuck in her long, red hair and wear the hair sealing head cover and thick, dark eye protection goggles that came with it. At equal height, Jazz and Maddie were identical in their suits.

At least Danny couldn’t match his dad. Jack’s suit was bright orange and about twenty sizes larger than Danny’s, due to his father’s obsession with Maddie’s homemade fudge and cookie inventions. Danny’s own white suit was slightly too large for him, and hung in odd places due to his skinny frame. He didn’t have to wear a hood and goggles like his sister either - another thankful shortage from the ghost hunter’s clothing warehouse. He picked at his dad’s pressed on face design on his chest as he waited for his parents to get the machine ready for its test run. His dad had tried ironing it on, but had done it poorly, so that with a bit of a tug, it was already beginning to peel off.

Jack and Maddie Fenton ran back and forth across the lab, double checking last minute calculations. Machines whirred and beeped around them, the hum of electricity warm in the stagnant air.

Danny had a good idea of how this was going to go. If this would be like any of their past experiments, it would fail miserably. The experiment would go haywire, probably spout ectoplasmic goo everywhere or accidentally giving ecto energy to the nearest food item. One year, their parents had tried making the Christmas Turkey in their newly invented Ultra-fast Instant Pot and instead infused it with demonic ghostly energy and reanimated it. Danny remembered hiding underneath the kitchen table as Jazz had to beat it back with a pastry roller, screaming for their parents.

The ghost zone portal was their most ambitious project yet. For most of Danny’s life, they had dinner table discussions, weighing mathematical equations and scientific chemical balances in hopes of being able to one day engineer the world’s first ghost zone portal. He was fairly surprised when he found out at the beginning of the summer that they were finally constructing it, and even more so when they claimed last night it was completed. They had been rushing to get it done in time to present it at the Ghost Hunters Expo this weekend.

He glanced at the table beside him looking at the pile of papers his dad had haphazardly stacked among the beakers and ghost weapons. Sitting on top of the stack was the rejection letter from the National Science Foundation.

“It means that they don’t think what they’re doing is science,” Jazz had interpreted for Danny after reading it when their parents’ back was turned. “And who could blame them? There is zero evidence supporting the existence of ghosts. It’s just superstition.”

That’s all it was. Superstition. And  yet, his parents had at some point in their youth latched on to the idea that ghosts were more than a myth, and even though they’ve never actually seen one in person themselves, they were determined to prove ghosts were real. What amazed Danny the most is the amount of people who also believed in the same theory. In the years past when his parents had dragged him and Jazz to the Ghost Hunter’s Expo, the crowds always seemed to grow bigger and bigger. Scientists, hunters, enthusiasts, and even ghost cosplayers gathered under the same roof for a full weekend, exchanging theories, stories and footage of what they thought were ghosts. The most ridiculous rumor he had heard at the last ghost hunter’s convention was one of a young, blue haired female musician, who became an overnight sensation after one performance at a local carnival. She had also disappeared quite suddenly after the performance, which raised a lot of speculation. Ghost hunters claimed her unusually pale skin and hypnotic vocals were a part of her ghostly powers. Jazz had stated that it was simply because she was a successful female in the patriarchy they had to deem her as a ghost to explain it.

Danny didn’t want to say anything else after that.

“Jack,” Maddie called from across the room, typing away at a computer. “Did you remember to pour in the ecto-purifier?”

“On it, baby!” Jack cried while fumbling with a control panel. Danny watched as grabbed a can of diet cola, which sat next to the similar sized gray cylinder labeled “EP.”

“Uh, Dad?” Danny called. “I don’t think that’s the ecto-purifier.”

“What’s that?” Jack asked. He turned to look at the object in his hand and barked out a chuckle.

“Thanks, son! That was a close one.” He placed the can of diet cola down and picked up the correct cylinder. “Who knows what would have happened if we purified the toxic ghost energies with diet cola. Could you imagine?” He poured the bright green liquid into the appropriate chamber.

In the corner of his eye, Danny saw Jazz shake her head. “Idiot,” she whispered.

Jazz believed she was the only mature Fenton in the family. At some point during her high school career, she had decided it was up to her to convince her parents that ghosts were not real, and to force them to change their careers to something more normal or socially acceptable. She had tried to get them interested in just about any other scientific field she could think of, such as deep sea diving to discover creatures living on the ocean floor, to NASA’s space engineering program. When those didn’t work, she tried to build a case proving the psychological damage they were causing to her’s and Danny’s upbringing. Over the summer, when she wasn’t preparing herself for the SATs she’d have to take later that school year, she poured over every psychological book she could get her hands on from the library. No matter how many times she argued about the permanent damage her parents were inflicting on their amygdala by creating an unsafe environment for her and Danny to grow up in, their parents would say it’s all worth it for the sake of scientific advancement.

Danny tried desperately to stay out of their fights. Most days, he was too focused on trying to survive a day without being called “that ghost geek” by his peers, no matter how many times he told his classmates he didn’t believe in his parents’ work. Maybe it was because of his small, bony limbs that made it so easy for his classmates to mock him. Or the fact that his only two friends in the entire world were also considered a variety of nerd within the social climate. His best friend Tucker was a little too obsessed with the latest technology and his other friend, Samanatha - Sam for short - was the only school’s goth girl, who filled her entire personality and outlook with dark and depressing outfits and literature. In a weird way, it did make sense that the girl who loved to read about the dead, and the boy who loved technology, would want to be friends with the kid whose parents called themselves ghost scientists. Still, they were his best friends and he wouldn’t trade them for anyone else.

He had been telling them about the portal his parents were building all summer. Just like he was, his friends were also doubtful it would work. They deliberated about what the inventions would actually do. Tucker still brought up the time Danny’s parents were testing out an anti-ghost gravity spray, to temporarily make a ghost lose their flight ability. The morning they were testing it out, Danny had woken up in a hovering bed. It had shocked him so much, he fell off his bed and face-planted onto his bedroom floor, breaking his nose. At some point, Tucker and Sam started placing bets about the outcome.

“Maybe the portal will just blast a hole through the wall and you’ll send up in the Amity Park Sewer System,” Sam guessed last night after he told them his parents were getting ready for their first test.

“Bet you five bucks that Danny will lose all of his hair this time,” Tucker had joked.

He absentmindedly ran a hand through his exposed hair and briefly wished he had a head cover and goggles like Jazz. He couldn’t help but notice there was something different about his parents this time. They didn’t have the same, bubbly and excited energy they usually had when showing off a new invention. They seemed more focused this time. Even his dad’s goofy banter towards Maddie had taken a back seat as his dad frowned over the controls. It was weird to see his dad actually concentrating. Maybe it was the hundredth rejection letter they received from the National Science Foundation, or the pressure to present this weekend at the Expo, but it seemed like they were seriously trying to make this thing work. They did not want to fail.

“Okay everyone!” Maddie ran over and started waving her hands. “Backs up against the wall.”

Jazz sighed and turned to walk over to stand behind the boxed in yellow line, the “safe” spot in the lab. Danny thought  a metal containment center with a viewing screen would have kept them safer, but supposedly his parents didn’t have time to build one. Danny followed his mother and sister.

“Almost…” Jack muttered at the controls, typing away. Suddenly there was a loud click that echoed off the basement walls. Machines roared to life and lights winked on. Inside the portal, the metal fans began to spin.

“YES!” Jack punched the air, triumphant.

“Jack!” Maddie called to her husband, gesturing towards the safe zone. He jogged over and squeezed himself in between his two kids.

“This is it!” he shouted over the noise, which was gradually becoming deafening.

All around the room, machines and computers turned on. Attached beakers and graduated cylinders filled up with green, bubbling liquid. A wall lined with dialers bounced up and down. Puffs of smoke expelled out of exhaust pipes. The portal itself began to crackle with electricity, its interior fans spinning faster and faster until it started emitting a bright green glow. The pressure in the room changed, popping Danny’s ears. He felt the tips of his hair begin to rise with the electric waves.

The whirring of the fans inside the machine began to ring out a high pitch squeal as the machine glowed brighter, and brighter, blinding Danny’s naked eyes. He squinted and held out a hand over his eyes, peeking through his fingers. The air around them grew warm and staticky. His father clamped a hand tightly on Danny’s shoulder, as if to hold him back from running away.

It was working. Danny couldn’t believe it. Not once in all of their years of inventing ghost machines and hunting equipment, they may have actually been able to build something that worked like they wanted it to.

What would this mean? That ghosts actually existed? That his parents were not the crackpot fools the town took them for? And if they did exist, there was the one question that no one has been able to answer.

Were ghosts dangerous?

He looked up at Jazz. Her expression was unreadable through the head covering. He looked at his parents, wild and furious excitement in their eyes.

Then, when it seemed like Danny’s ears couldn’t take much more of the screeching noise, a BOOM exploded from the portal. Light poured out of the machine and flooded the room. Danny yelped and turned away. Jack stepped in front of his family and hid them with his massive torso from the explosion. Then, very suddenly, the room went dark. Every light and machine that had been just buzzing with life, died. Danny’s hearing rang in the abrupt silence.

“What the heck?” Jack was the first to say something.

“I got a flashlight, hang on,” Maddie said next. Danny heard her fumbling around her utility belt and a small light winked on. She shined it around the room. Curls of smoke rose up from the machines. The glow from the ecto-purifier had also faded.

“I don’t understand,” Maddie said, dumbfounded as she gazed around the room. “This should have worked.”

“We checked every calculation,” Jack said, equally mystified.

“And tested every single machine.” She threw up her hands. “I even made sure the damn computers turned on!”

“Well, obviously, this wasn’t going to work,” Jazz suddenly said, her anger returning. “You guys were trying to open a portal to nothing . Because ghosts don’t EXIST.”

She ripped off the hood and goggles. “I’m going back upstairs to change and burn this stupid jumpsuit, and work on processing this trauma that you have inflicted on us, yet again.” Without waiting for her parents to respond, she stomped back upstairs, her footsteps echoing off the silent basement walls

Jack shook his head. “What is her deal?”

“Oh, never mind her, Jack,” Maddie said. “We need to figure out what went wrong. We only have a day until the expo and we promised to present this.”

Danny’s parents turned their back on him and began working to restore the power, jumping right into a deep discussion. Danny took the moment to quietly slip away back upstairs.

The second he was back into his room, he let out a long exhale. Suddenly remembering he was wearing the jumpsuit, he hastily ripped it off and then threw it in the trash bin in the corner of his room.

He flopped back onto his bed, and lay in the stillness of his room for a few minutes to collect his thoughts. He stared up at the plastic, glow in the dark stars and planets stuck on his ceiling.

He couldn’t believe there was a moment back there where he thought the machine was working.

He didn’t want to imagine what would happen if ghosts were real. There were no real scientific facts about them. All those convention attendees at the ghost hunters expo all had different theories about what ghosts are - the religiously damned, aliens, spirits with unfinished business, souls that died before their time, another species - no one could settle on a single argument.

But if they did exist, what would happen then? Would they swarm the Earth, like cicadas after their years long sleep? Would they haunt each and every home and building in towns and cities, and try to claim it as their own? Would the world be plunged into a ghost apocalypse, where every human had to fight for their own human survival and soul? Were ghosts malicious or peaceful?

His parents might be arrested for creating the portal in the first place, if it did turn out bad. Or the government might force them to work alongside them to rid the Earth of the ghost population. What would happen to him and Jazz? Would they be put into juvie, just for being the kids of the Fenton Freaks? Would they be put into foster care, once the government decided Jack and Maddie were unfit parents for him and Jazz?

What if the human population adopted a sick fascination of ghosts? Businesses would try to profit off the ghosts by selling fake anti-ghost protection devices or offer tours inside “haunted” houses. There might even be a community in which some would fall in love or even want to become a ghost themselves.

The world would become absolute chaos.

Danny shuddered at the thought. He didn’t understand what his parents saw in trying to prove their existence. What good would proving the undead existed bring to the world?

His anxious, spiraling thoughts were interrupted when his computer dinged. Danny got up and sat down at his desk. He wiggled his mouse to wake up his computer. Tucker had sent him a message.

Still have all of your hair?

Danny chuckled and wrote back.

Yep. Nothing happened though. But the power in the basement blew.

Damn ,  was Tucker’s response. And I had just invested in a 25 pack of markers to color your head in Lancer’s class when you fall asleep.

Danny laughed out loud. I can only imagine all the pensises you’d draw.

I had planned no less than 50. Two for each color.

Well I hope you kept your receipt cause I still have a full head of hair. Unlike you. Danny made a jab at Tucker’s own buzzed haircut. He had tried growing out dreads for the school year, but his mother forced him to shave it off after he got caught staying up on the computer way too late one night. She paid the barber to give him a military buzz cut.

Shut up, dude, Tucker typed back. While you were away not getting your hair fried off your scalp, I was devising up a new battle plan to defeat Chaos.

Danny smiled. Oh yeah? Lay it on me.

[fungalnebula]

Prologue

Chapter One (will be linked when published)

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There was a large tube inside the basement of the Fenton building. It was closed off by a large, military grade door, securing the emptiness of the tube. This machine had been sitting in the basement of the Fenton building, unused, since its conception two long years ago.

“Danny, why didn’t you tell us about this?” One of Danny’s best friends, Sam, asked as Danny punched in a code to release the contents of the empty tube. “This is so cool!”

Sam loved the Ghost Aesthetic. Danny felt a little bad for not telling her about the broken portal because of that.

“It didn’t work so I thought you guys wouldn’t care,” Danny said. “It was broken anyway…”

“Dude, it’s still a ghost portal!” Danny’s other best friend, Tucker, exclaimed. “Even if it doesn’t work, all the bones are still there.”

“I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t know it would be that interesting.”

“Are you insane!?” Sam exclaimed, “this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Let me take a picture of you!”

“No way, Samantha.” Danny groused, “there is no way I’m getting in that thing. What if the reason it didn’t work is because of loose wires or something? I don’t want to die.”

“You won’t die and you know I hate it when you call me Samantha,” she chastised. “You said it’s been broken for years! There’s no way it’ll work if it hasn’t already. It’s like a dead bear, it can’t hurt you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Danny laughed at her analogy. “You can still fall on a dead bear and get maimed by its teeth AND SLASH OR claws, Samantha.” Danny mocked Sam, waving his hands with each syllable of her name.

“Yeah, bad metaphor, just get in there. You won’t get electrocuted or anything. Your parents probably disconnected it from the power when they gave up on it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Danny finally conceded, “let me at least wear one of the suits my parents made for me. You know, just in case.”

“Is it insulated?” Tucker chuckled.

“Yes, Tucker,” Danny retorted. “It is insulated, as a matter of fact.”

Danny walked to a cabinet labeled “Ecto Suits” and pulled out a white jumpsuit with a black collar. He adorned it as well as some black gloves and black boots. He noticed Tucker smirk as Sam attempted to suppress a snort. Danny stuck his tongue out at his two best friends in the world. He’d do anything for those jokers. Danny zipped up his new outfit and took a hesitant step towards the defunct portal.

“You guys really want to do this?” Danny had to force this last word out of his throat. He had been assured that he was safe, but was he really?

“Yeah,” Sam was gentle now. “You’ll be fine. All I want is a little picture of you in that neat thingy.”

Tucker put his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Don’t worry man, it’s unplugged.” Tucker pointed to a plug on the ground nearby, assuming it was the power source for the portal.

“That makes me feel a bit better.” Danny sighed, relieved. He took another few steps and was in front of the portal. It was eerie and echoey. “Oooo” Danny made a noise and heard it bounce off the metal walls inside.

“Go on,” Sam pushed Danny lightly.

“Hey! Okay, I’m going!” Danny took a step inside the portal. It felt … empty and big. Much bigger than it was. Longer too. The tube felt more like a tunnel at this point, Danny could see the end of the tunnel, but it felt like it was miles away. Danny felt heavy just taking one step inside. He took another and felt his body weigh him down even more. It was just the anxiety, Danny thought to himself. Your body gets heavy when it’s dreading something, right? But there was nothing to worry about, Danny assured himself.

Danny took a few more steps inside the portal and turned around to face the outside. He tasted ozone and he felt like his blood was made of lead. There was the quietest of ringings bouncing around in his head making him somewhat dizzy and his eyes felt like they were vibrating.

“Danny?” Sam asked.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” Sam looked concerned.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it’s a bit spooky in here, though,” Danny let out a slight chuckle. “I’ll just suck it up for the picture.”

“Yeah, alright…” Sam trailed off. “Can you do a cool pose? Maybe put your hand against the side and lean or something?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Danny began to place his hand on the side of the portal. As his hand neared the wall, the taste of ozone intensified and his nose started running. His hand was almost to the wall when Sam snapped a picture with her polaroid camera.

“Oops,” she looked nervous as she took out the not-yet-developed picture and handed it to Tucker.

Danny knew she wanted a better shot so he finally put his hand on the wall. Millimeters before his hand made contact, Danny’s fingers felt like cold metal replaced all of his bones. He let his hand rest on the wall to his left as he felt a button depress. Immediately, his heart started racing as he felt panic run up his chest. Daniel Fenton suddenly felt the most excruciating pain he had ever and will ever feel in his life. He felt hundreds of knives stab him at once in every single nerve in his body. An army of knives marched through his nervous system, stabbing down hard with every step. This march of pain within his body moved incredibly fast but at the same time that it moved agonizingly slow.

Danny didn’t feel his throat open up to release a blood curdling scream of pure, horrific pain. He didn’t feel himself drop to his knees, but he did feel that militia of marching, stabbing pain start again at his knees. All he saw was green, neon green, everywhere. He tasted blood and ozone, the lower half of his face, beneath his nose, was wet and sticky. His lips felt like they were drenched in lip gloss that tightened at every breath he took. His left wrist felt like he had laid on it for hours and suddenly moved. Danny knew he was dying.

When his face smacked the metal floor of the now functioning portal, he didn’t feel his nose break, just the pain get more intense and the struggle to breathe increased with his mouth submerged in a shallow pool of blood escaping his nose like a dam had been opened. Danny didn’t feel himself being dragged by his friends out of the portal and he didn’t see the horrified looks on their faces when they saw all the blood and smoke coming from his body. He didn’t feel Tucker grab a broom and poke him with it, he didn’t hear Sam smack Tucker and throw the broom to the wall. Danny didn’t hear his sister pound down the stair and scream at the sight, he didn’t hear Sam wailing and sobbing and pleading with Danny to please wake up, he didn’t hear her whisper, “I’m so sorry Danny, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault, why am I so stupid,” to his head. He didn’t hear his sister, Jazz screaming through her tears at Tucker, “What happened to him? Why is his hair white? Where did all this blood come from?” He didn’t hear Tucker crying, “I’m sorry, I thought it was unplugged, I’m so sorry Jazz, I’m so sorry.”

Danny did hear a ringing, though. He heard waves too. Or was that wind? Danny heard someone whisper but they were so far away.

Then, Danny saw black. Danny saw black and a very dark red. “What did you say?” Danny tried to say, but it was so much less than a whisper. Danny heard a thump, like someone dropping down to sit on a tile floor and the red he saw got brighter.

God, his eyes were so heavy. His lips felt like he had just eaten Elmer’s glue, like he used to do in Kindergarten. When Danny smiled a slight smile, as much as he had the strength to, his lips cracked and he relaxed his face to appease the pain.

Daniel Fenton cracked his eyes. Slowly, sound came back. A ringing gave way to someone screaming, “How could you let this happen? I thought you cared about him.” Someone else bawled, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t want this to happen. Please, I’m so sorry, I love him so much.”

Danny was confused. Did he just walk in on someone's death? He couldn’t have, his back was cold and against the tile floor in… his basement? Who died in his basement?

“Oh, god.” Danny felt his stomach drop to his toes. “Did Tuck get hurt by some of Mom or Dad’s ghost shit?”

The room went silent. Danny pulled his eyes open, worried by what he might see.

“What the fuck was that Samantha,” Jazz had murder in her eyes. “Tell me what that was right now.”

“What was what?” Danny asked. He saw Jazz huddled over something in the middle of the room with Sam and Tucker near her. The body wasn’t Tucker’s.

Danny walked over to Jazz and his friends when Tucker looked his way and screamed as loud and as hard as he was capable of screaming. This spooked Danny who took a step to the side and looked at what was on the ground.

It was him.

Danny was looking at his own body on the floor. His now white hair was singed, his left arm was black, contrasting against his pale skin which had been exposed by a large rip in his not-so-insulated suit. It looked like the hand and half of the arm on the left side of the suit had burned off.

Suddenly the body moved and Danny saw the ceiling and his Sister looking over him. He turned his head and saw two scenes. He was looking at Sam while also looking at the now functional ghost portal with a different set of eyes. Danny moved his head back and was now only looking at his sister again.

Danny attempted to move to a sitting position, coughing droplets of blood when he tensed his muscles.

“Oh, my god.” Jazz breathed a sigh of relief, “Danny! Don’t sit up, here. I’ll help you.”

Jazz sort of dragged, sort of pushed Danny’s body closer to the wall, glaring at Tucker and Sam when they moved to help her. Jazz picked up Danny’s head and sat him against the wall of the Fenton Laboratory basement and inspected his face.

“God, Danny.” Jazz’s voice was soaked with concern. “There’s blood all over this place. Your nose is broken.”

Danny realized he couldn’t feel the ground beneath him the second he felt himself fall an inch and hit the ground. He saw a flash as he noticed a ring of light circling around his waist.

“Sam,” Jazz screamed, “what the fuck? My brother almost dies and you think this is the best fucking photo op to snag?”

“I’m sorry Jazz, I-I,” Sam stuttered, “I saw something.”

Jazz turned her head back to her brother, and gasped. “Danny! Your hair is back to normal!”

Barely audible, Danny mumbled; “myhairwasn’tnormal?”

“It was white,” Sam whisperspoke.

“And your suit went all reverse,” Tucker added at full volume from halfway across the room.

“I taste metal,” Danny stuck his tongue out, it looked like he had just been licking blood off of something.

“Probably from all that blood in your mouth.” Jazz’s forehead was the rocky mountains of concern. “And on your chin, down your shirt, all over the floor. God, Danny. We need to take you to the hospital.”

“No!” Danny and Tucker yelled at the same time.

“I’m fine, I feel fine, watch this!” Danny stood up and quickly fell back down demonstrating how not fine he was.

“Sorry, I just hate hospitals,” Tucker murmured. “I didn’t mean to say that…”

Sam waved a polaroid in the air, then gave it to Jazz.

The picture showed a bloodied Danny on the ground wearing a reverse colored “insulated” suit. It’s just a fucking picture of my almost-dead brother, Jazz thought. Then she saw it. There were two rings of light around his waist that looked like they were revealing the outfit Danny was wearing when he went downstairs. A NASA T-Shirt and blue jeans were peaking through the two circles of light. Jazz looked at Danny again and realized he wasn’t wearing the black version of his ecto suit anymore. It went away with the white of his hair.

“Danny, you’re still going to the hospital with me.” Jazz insisted. “Your nose is broken.”

Danny touched his nose and was immediately met with searing, red hot pain.

“Don’t touch it, idiot!” Jazz smacked Danny’s hand away from his nose. “When a part of your body is broken, that’s not an invitation to touch it!”

Danny looked at Sam and Tucker, scared.

Sam smiled at Danny. “We can talk about it after you go to the hospital. Do you want to have a fucked up nose for the rest of your life?”

Tucker walked closer to Danny and put his hand on Danny’s head. “I’m so fucking happy you’re okay, dude.”

“Can you walk?” Jazz asked as she stood up and reached for Danny’s hand.

Danny grabbed her hand and tried to get up for the second time. He watched his hand disappear from his sister's hand as her grip tightened around nothing. Danny fell back to the floor and screamed at his missing hand before it came back.

“Danny,” Jazz hissed, “we are going to the hospital now.”

Danny stood up on his own and followed his sister up the stairs to her car, parked outside. They drove to the hospital.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

In the Zone (3)

Based on the Phic Phight prompts: Danny and co. go sight seeing in the zone and get lost. Maybe they have to navigate weird ghost logic/physics/laws to make their way home (from @ventisettestars). And Sam and Tucker maybe getting Pharaoh + plant powers? ecto contamination for the win ig (from @corvidspectre).

Chapter 3: The Metropolitan Realm

AO3 Link

[no applicable warnings]

The Ghost Zone didn't have mornings or evenings, or even days and nights, but the teens all woke up around the same time. Danny and Tucker snacked on beef jerky for breakfast while Sam munched on some mixed nuts for a protein boost. You know, road trip snacks.

"Yesterday was a mixed bag," Tucker commented with his mouth full, "but there's gonna be much cooler stuff coming along today. I'm sure of it. Like, I feel weirdly confident about this."

"You mean like a massive ghost city?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, sure, or a video game realm, or a wizard tower or something? You never know."

"No, look!" she pointed out the window. "A massive ghost city! Danny do you see it?"

"Adjusting course!" Danny said. He got up and sat in the driver's seat, flipping switches to shift into gear and taking them down toward the glowing green and purple skyscrapers in the distance.

"Woah!" Tucker said, finally catching sight of the city. "That looks kinda... modern, for the Ghost Zone, doesn't it?"

"It doesn't really fit the whole aesthetic," Sam agreed. "It's too sleek and... almost normal looking. Why is something like that in the Ghost Zone, dimension of the weird and slimy?"

"Is that a monorail?" Danny asked as they got closer.

He parked the Specter Speeder on the street. There was no one around, it seemed like. Tucker walked over to an abandoned hot dog cart, thinking he could steal some grub, but once he was standing where the line would be a ghost appeared on the vendor's side.

"What can I get for ya?" he asked.

"Two dogs with ketchup and mustard," Tucker said.

"Do you have veggie-dogs, and are they cooked in the same greasy water as the regular dogs?" Sam asked.

"I do, and they're not," the vendor promised. "I also got ecto-dogs."

"Ooh! I'll have one of those, please!" Danny said. The vendor nodded as they finished ordering and gave them their food, handing Danny his last. Since it was the Ghost Zone, where there was no money, he didn't charge. Ghosts held down jobs because they loved doing them, unlike people.

"Make sure you eat it before it eats you, eh?" Danny laughed and took a bite.

"Mm, even better than Mom makes." His friends looked at him with matching disgust. "What?" he asked, smiling internally. Ever since Danny had given them a common enemy regarding whose diet was right and whose was wrong, they hardly ever argued about the pros and cons of meat versus veggies. At least their food wasn't glowing. Once they left the line, the vendor disappeared again.

"Wait I just thought of something," Tucker said, finishing his second hot-dog before the other two were halfway done with their first. He walked back over to the cart, and the vendor appeared again.

"Back for more already?" he asked, then chuckled heartily.

"Actually, my friends and I are tourists, and I was wondering if you knew of any cool places for us to see while we're here?"

"Oh, sure!" the vendor said. "You're gonna wanna take the monorail to the boardwalk for sure! The best shopping is on Third Avenue, just past Wail Street. Oh, and if you can get a reservation, there's this great club on top of the Metropolitan Building, that's the highest skyscraper in the city. It's got great food, great music, and great views of the Zone, and it rotates, too, so you can see everything."

"Sounds awesome!" Tucker said. "I guess that's our day planned. And hey, where is everybody?"

"Oh, it's generally considered impolite to be visible in public places if you can help it, to preserve the city's picturesque quality, but since you three can't help it, I don't think anyone'll call you on it," the vendor said. "Mostly, they'll do what I did and show themselves when you talk to them. It ain't you're fault you're alive."

"Uh... thanks," Tucker said, then shook off the strange comment and smiled. "Thanks a lot!"

"No problem!"

The vendor vanished again as Tucker walked away to relay the information to his friends. They grabbed the things they might need out of the speeder, made a note of where it was parked, Danny activated its cloaking, since apparently being visible was rude, and they headed up to the nearest monorail station.

The monorail moved super fast, and Danny poked his head out the window to see how it worked. It seemed to be using ghost levitation to follow the tracks without touching them so the friction didn't slow it down. "That's so cool!" Danny said, making a mental note to try and replicate the phenomenon for some of his experiments back home.

The carnival at the boardwalk wasn't really anything they couldn't get at home, except that the Ghost Zone physics made the rides even more nausea inducing, to their credit. The carnival food was also as deliciously greasy and unhealthy as it ever was. Occasionally, ghosts would turn visible to talk to them, ask them if they were having fun, and what they were doing there, and say how they'd never seen a living person in the Zone before.

They asked some of the other locals about cool things in the city and Sam got so enthusiastic when she heard about the botanical gardens that they had to make it their next stop. Tucker and Danny didn't really understand her excitement, but every plant she went to see brightened at her presence, to the point where one of the employees made herself visible to compliment Sam on how attuned she was with nature. Danny gave he a smug smirk when the employee disappeared again.

"I don't have plant powers," Sam told him, despite the obvious way the flora reacted to her presence. "Stop being ridiculous."

After the botanical garden, they got directions to the Metropolitan Building. In the end, they didn't really need them, since it was about a hundred feet taller than any other building in the city and the only one with a huge, round disc on the top. The Metropolitan building, as it turned out, was mostly a tourist destination. It's many floors made up a combined hotel and shopping center, with the Metropolitan Club on top.

"Remember, we might not be able to get in," Tucker said as the elevator bypassed the shopping center to the club at the top. "We didn't know how to make a reservation, so don't get your hopes up." The doors dinged and opened on the top floor.

"Hi!" Danny said, and the host turned visible for them. "We didn't know how to make a reservation, but we were wondering if you might have room for the three of us tonight?"

"As it happens, we had a cancellation for a party of four earlier," the host said. "May I take your names?"

Danny started to answer but Sam cut him off. "You may not, please list us as Sam, Tuck, and Danny."

"Clever girl," the host said, writing down the names. "It's always smart to stay on your toes around here, especially while you still draw breath. Go on in, all three of you. Enjoy the Metropolitan Club." 

The club was fun, and just like the vendor from earlier had said, it had a breathtaking view. Danny convinced his friends to do ectoplasm shots, just to try it, and laughed when they took them and gagged.

"Eugh, Danny how can you eat that stuff?" Tucker demanded. "It's... so gross... so bitter."

"It tastes like how wet socks feel," Sam moaned. "I'm never doing that again as long as I live. I can't believe I let you talk me into that."

Danny took another shot from a passing tray, no-doubt being carried by an invisible waitress, and downed it in one gulp. "Ah, refreshing," he said, grinning at the revulsion on his friends' faces.

Once they recovered from the shots, they decided to dance.

"I gotta say, I really like ghost music," Sam said. "I wonder if I can buy a couple albums around here somewhere."

"We should check out the shopping center downstairs when we're done here," Danny suggested. "They've probably got lots of cool stuff, and there's no money or scarcity here, so everything's free."

"Good idea!" Tucker agreed. "We should totally pick up some souvenirs from this place! It rocks!"

They spent a few hours up at the club, enjoying the view, and the food, and the atmosphere, before heading down for souvenirs. Sam picked up some CDs and a ghostly portable CD played, just in case a normal CD player would get fried or something trying to play ghost music. Tucker got himself a Metropolitan Club souvenir T-shirt, and Danny got a key-chain for the keys to the Specter Speeder.

Finally, the three of them got tired enough to head back to the speeder. Danny pulled out the key to deactivate the cloaking. Nothing happened, not even a sound to indicate the car was there when Danny tried to unlock it. This was definitely the right place. It was the right intersection of streets, next to the right building, with the hot dog cart across the street. The speeder should be there.

"Did we get carjacked?" Danny said, frantically waving the key around and clicking buttons at random, hoping to hear the familiar chirping of the speeder. "It's gone!"

Tucker walked over to the cart, and the vendor appeared again.

"Good to see you again, you hungry?" the vendor asked.

"Actually, we just ate at the club you recommended, and it was great, so thanks, but it seems like our vehicle was stolen at some point while we were seeing the sights. I don't suppose you saw who took it?" 

"Oh, I'm afraid not," the vendor told him. "That's the side effect of most things being invisible. There are never any witnesses."

"Thanks anyway," Tucker said, then headed back to his friends, uselessly feeling around for the stolen speeder. "Give it up, guys. Were stranded in the Ghost Zone with no transportation, and no idea how to get home."

"We'll find a solution," Danny said determinedly. Sam nodded, stifling a yawn. "For now, lets head back to the metropolitan building and get some rest. We'll come back tomorrow and attack the problem again with a clear head."

"Shouldn't we call the cops?" Sam asked. "The ghost cops?"

"You think ghost police will be any less corrupt and useless than human police? Tucker retorted with a scoff. "Ghosts with jobs do them out of love for the job, remember, not a sense of duty to the community. If anything, ghost cops will be worse than human cops."

"He's got a point," Danny agreed. "Just think about Walker's goons. They weren't exactly paragons of protect and serve." He began to walk back down the street. "Come on."

First | Previous | Next

[ladylynse]

Revision: Maddie can’t deny it any longer. If ectoplasm can become blood, there’s more to this story than she ever realized.

Part 4 [FF | AO3]

(Previous)

-|-

“I tried tracking Danny’s cell,” Tucker said, “but he must’ve figured Vlad would do that and finally turned it off. Or it died. You know he never remembers to charge the thing.”

“I’ll head to Dora’s so you can stay out of the dead zone,” Sam said. “If you don’t want to challenge Skulker to see who can find Jack or Danny first, then head straight to Frostbite. That’s probably where Danny went. Dora can drop me off and pick up Poindexter and maybe Johnny 13 and Kitty if she can swing it.”

“Do you have extra Fenton Phones?” Jazz, being careful as always. Taking the lead, as she’d asked. Maddie stood back, holding the jet packs while the kids went over the plan. She’d checked everything over three times, knew these would work, but—

“Always,” chorused Danny’s best friends in unison.

They’d done this before.

They must have done this so many times before.

How could she and Jack have never noticed?

“Be mindful of the power supply on your jet packs,” Maddie said, hardly believing that she was handing them to two fourteen-year-olds and being perfectly okay with letting them go into the Ghost Zone on their own, virtually unprotected. “They should be able to draw on the ambient ecto-energy within the Ghost Zone, but you will have to stop somewhere to allow it to recharge or risk being stranded.”

“Don’t worry. We got this, Mrs. F,” promised Tucker as he shrugged on his pack. Sam was already tightening the safety straps on hers. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to tell them as much about these as they had; it might not be the first time they’d used this particular invention. “We’ll let you know if we find them. Any of them.”

“We’ll even ask Clockwork,” Sam put in. “I don’t think he’ll tell us anything, but we’ll try. Assuming we can actually find him and he’s not just pretending he’s not home again.”

Maddie didn’t know the names of half the ghosts they mentioned, let alone have any concept of where in the Ghost Zone they could be found.

She nodded anyway, pretending. Pretending to understand. Pretending to be strong. Pretending that this didn’t feel as wrong as it did, letting these kids do what she could not. Adults were supposed to protect children, and she felt like she was asking them to run into fire for her sake.

But they’d tread this path before, gone this way far more often than she, and were much wiser than her for it. She had to trust their judgement. They knew better than she did. They knew more than she did. It was as simple as that.

And if it meant protecting Jack and having a chance of finding Danny and Danielle….

“Thank you.” She wouldn’t be able to say it enough. “Good luck.”

The two flashed her grins and thumbs up, all signs of their earlier tiredness gone by now. They’d been given a mission, and they were ready for it. More than. She waved as they raced each other to the portal and dove into the Ghost Zone.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Jazz said softly. “Not with me, anyway.”

She had to. She had to, or she’d be curled up on the floor of the lab again, crying until she had no more tears. She couldn’t give up on this semblance of sanity. If she let her guard down, if she allowed herself to remember exactly what she’d done and who she’d done it to and—

Jazz walked over and hugged her, and Maddie felt her resolve crumbling.

“We’ll get through this,” Jazz reassured her, tightening her hug. “I know what I said earlier, but Dad will come back safe, and we’ll find Danny and Danielle, and then we’ll figure things out from there. This isn’t going to ruin us.”

It might have already, and she had no way of knowing.

Because she’d never listened.

Jazz waited a moment more before pulling away and stepping back. “Did you have any luck with the Booo-merang?”

“I reassembled it,” Maddie whispered, “and fed it the copy of Phantom’s ecto-signature that we had on file.” She wasn’t sure if it was perfect. The Booo-merang was more Jack’s invention than hers, and she knew he’d made tweaks that weren’t in the blueprints. She’d done what she could. If Vlad—

“We can tie a note to it,” Jazz said as she took out her hairband, “so that Danny knows it’s safe to come home even if we lose sight of it. I’ve done that before. It will get to him eventually.” She moved to the computer desk to get a pen and paper and began to write. After a few moments, she looked back up at Maddie. “You should write something, too. So Danny knows he can trust my word.”

Maddie moved slowly, finally reaching out to take the pen from her daughter with a shaking hand. She imagined accusations��accusations she deserved—and couldn’t think of the right words to say. What could she write to convey what she felt? The depth of the wrong she’d done?

I’m sorry, she wrote. It looked trite. False. I hurt you both. It was an understatement, but at least it was an acknowledgement. I want to do better. She couldn’t ask for forgiveness, not without doing anything, and even then…. Even then, she might not get it. She wasn’t sure she’d deserve it if she did. Please let me try. She could imagine an offer of help being turned back on her, Danny spitting that they didn’t need her kind of help, but…. But she’d rather that than write a plea that they come home and have him tell her this wasn’t home for him anymore and wouldn’t ever be again.

She had always thought she hunted monsters.

She hadn’t realized when she’d become one.

Jazz gently nudged her hand aside and slid the paper away, neatly folding and then securing it to the Booo-merang.

“What if he doesn’t want to come back?” Maddie asked. “What if he gets our note and ignores it?”

“He won’t ignore it forever, even if he doesn’t act on it right away.” Jazz turned the device on, and Maddie saw the light at its head begin to blink. “That’s not who Danny is.” She flashed a grin. “Are you ready?”

She wasn’t remotely ready, but there wasn’t time for her to be mentally prepared for all that this would entail. “We have no way to follow it if it goes into the Ghost Zone,” she said, “and even if we try to follow in the Fenton Ops Centre, we’ll still need to be able to keep it in sight for that.”

“Which we can. Dad added that tracking feature, remember? We’ll link it to the Booo-merang. Just like the Spectre Speeder. And if it goes into the Ghost Zone, we can put Sam or Tucker onto it.”

Maddie let out a breath. “Okay.” She couldn’t afford to argue. She didn’t know enough to argue.

Jazz drew back her arm and threw the Booo-merang. It spun, making a quick loop of the lab.

And then it made a second loop of the lab.

And a third loop.

A lazy fourth.

And then it crashed into the dissection table, skittering across it before falling to the floor.

Something was squeezing the breath from Maddie’s lungs, and she couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t do anything. She just watched as Jazz frowned and walked over to the device. She checked it over and tried tossing it again.

This time, it made two and a half loops before catching on one of their shelving units. Maddie winced as glassware shattered. Jazz fetched a broom and dustpan, sweeping up the pieces while Maddie watched in silence. As Jazz dumped the remains into the shards discard bin, Maddie summoned the strength to walk over and pick up the Booo-merang from where Jazz had placed it on the top of the workbench.

“What’s wrong with it?” Jazz asked softly when she was finished.

Maddie looked at the Booo-merang’s blinking light. “Nothing,” she whispered. “The copy of Phantom’s ecto-signature just isn’t sufficient.”

Jazz furrowed her brow and leaned closer, though Maddie knew there was nothing more to be seen. “What do you mean?”

“Ecto-signatures aren’t like fingerprints; they don’t stay the same unless some change is forced upon them. They change slightly over time naturally, to reflect the changes within each ghost.”

“But it’s always locked onto Danny. That’s never been a problem before.”

“That’s why it hasn’t been a problem. Because it could update its signature to evolve its records. Now, it’s been entirely reset, and the ecto-signature I gave it is just too different to be recognizable as the same one Danny currently has. I….” So much must have happened to cause that change, and she’d been blind to all of it. “I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work.”

Jazz huffed. “It’ll work,” she said, snatching up the Booo-merang and hugging it to her body with one protective arm. “We’ll just have to get the ecto-signature from Vlad.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Vlad. Like I said, he’s obsessed with Danny. Trust me, he’ll have a recent copy of Danny’s ecto-signature.”

“So you wanted to shoot him earlier, and now you want to work with him?”

“Oh, I still want to shoot him. Taking a blast from an ecto-gun in human form won’t do as much damage as when he’s in ghost mode, but it’ll still hurt.”

Human form. Ghost mode. It was jarring to hear Jazz talk about molecular fusion so offhandedly, to the point that she could mention it like that. She must have discovered and accepted this idea ages ago. And Danny—

“But whether I like it or not, it looks like we need him. At least until we hear from Sam and Tucker.”

Maddie took a slow breath. The idea of working with Vlad…. It didn’t sit well with her now that she knew the truth. There was too much of Plasmius in Vlad. He wasn’t the same person she’d known in college. She had to stop thinking of him as such. “I don’t think I can pretend to be ignorant of everything you’ve told me.”

“You don’t need to. Vlad would probably see through an act anyway. He won’t be happy that I’ve told you everything, but he won’t be surprised after what’s happened. He’ll take what he can get.”

Maddie frowned and glanced at her daughter. “Meaning?”

“Meaning this would still give him the opportunity to spend time with you, and that might be enough bargaining power.” Jazz hesitated. “I know that sounds bad. It is bad. I just…. I don’t know if we can afford to wait for Sam and Tucker. Vlad definitely won’t be waiting. And whatever Skulker says, he’s really not the Ghost Zone’s Greatest Hunter. He’s not going to be a better option when it comes to asking for help. Vlad might have him looking already anyway.”

Skulker. The ghost that used a mechanical exoskeleton. She’d seen Phantom—and Danny?—take it down multiple times. It made her want to question Jazz more about all of this, about halfas, about the consequences of which she was currently aware, but there wasn’t time. She couldn’t afford to distract herself that way. Not when Danny…. Not when Danielle….

“All right. Let’s go.” She was afraid that if she didn’t commit, she’d find a way to talk herself out of going. Convince herself that they could find another way, whatever Jazz thought. The idea that Plasmius might have convinced Vlad to—

But Jazz was right. Different, albeit just as unscrupulous, options were out there to explain Danielle and her true relationship to the Fenton family. And Maddie wasn’t in a position to point fingers when it came to unscrupulous behaviour. Not after what she’d done.

You don’t understand.

She was convinced she’d never forget the cries.

I’m not just a ghost.

She didn’t deserve to forget.

I’m human, too.

She couldn’t just pretend this hadn’t happened, that she hadn’t done what she had. In order to do better, she had to remember. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into old patterns and risk repeating the same mistakes, even unintentionally. She wouldn’t be able to ease her guilt right away, but maybe, with time, with enough changes, with enough effort, she could…. She could accept what she’d done, if not forgive herself entirely. She didn’t think she’d be able to forgive herself unless the others forgave her, and they….

They had good reason not to.

She could ask for it, but she knew very well she might not receive it. That hurt, too, just thinking about it, but—

“Come on,” Jazz said, wrapping her free arm around Maddie and steering her towards the stairs, “I’ll drive. I left a note on the fudge in case Dad comes back before we do. He’ll see it there.”

-|-

Vlad had not intended to come back after a quick change of clothes, whatever he’d tried to make it sound like. Maddie realized that now. Still, it only made standing on Vlad’s stoop this early in the morning even worse.

When the door finally opened, Vlad himself was there to greet them, looking like he’d recently stepped from the shower. “Ah, Maddie, how delightful. And Jasmine. I hadn’t quite made myself presentable for—”

“You can drop the act,” Jazz said as she elbowed her way past him. “I told Mom everything.”

Vlad raised his eyebrows. “Everything about what?”

“Phantom and Plasmius,” Maddie whispered. She had to force herself to meet Vlad’s eyes, and she saw motions flicker across his face until his features settled into a careful mask. Practiced. Polite. The same one he used to wear while convincing the higher-ups at the university that they should be allowed funding and space for their projects.

“Ah.”

He didn’t say any more. He simply stepped aside and let her in.

“We need a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature,” Jazz said. “I know you have one, so don’t bother denying it.”

“Showing your hand so early?”

Jazz rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at Maddie. Vlad glanced in her direction as well and then sighed. “I am doing what I can to search for Daniel. Whatever your implications, my involvement isn’t a farce.”

“Then prove it by giving us a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature. You ruined ours, so if it was purely accidental and not on purpose, what’s the harm?”

“Jazz,” Maddie said, a warning in her tone. They could only push Vlad so far. They were still asking for his help.

And she didn’t particularly want to meet Plasmius right now.

It…. She couldn’t see him. She’d thought she would, now that she knew. She’d thought there would be something behind Vlad’s eyes that she’d be able to identify, some little piece of Plasmius. Not because she doubted the truth of Jazz’s words, she didn’t; rather, she wanted to think that she could pick apart which being was more in control of Vlad, Plasmius or one of her former friends.

But all she saw was Vlad.

The same Vlad who’d stood up for her and Jack when they’d made their first group presentation on the paranormal. The same Vlad who’d stayed up late with her to pore over Jack’s last-minute changes to their blueprints. The same Vlad they’d met again at the reunion and seen so frequently since.

“Surely you know I would hardly impede your investigation when it came to finding the little badger—”

“Which is why you deliberately destroyed the Booo-merang?”

“—but I’m afraid I really don’t have a recent copy of Daniel’s ecto-signature. He, ah, deleted my files just last week.”

Jazz narrowed her eyes. “Fine,” she spat. “Say I believe that. Say you really don’t have a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature. Why ruin ours?”

“I never intended to ruin it. I merely wanted to try to obtain a copy of it for myself.”

Jazz pursed her lips and met Maddie’s eyes. Maddie knew that long-suffering look on Jazz’s face. It was the one she made when she was barely restraining herself from parroting back Danny’s words in a mocking tone, trying to convince herself that she was an adult and above such childishness. Jazz was quite mature for her age, but she was still a teenager. Even…even if she knew as much about the world—and the Ghost Zone—as she did.

“I’m sure I could be of help in other ways. If Maddie and I—”

“You’re not getting hours of alone time with my mom,” Jazz interrupted. “What about Danielle’s ecto-signature?”

“You really believe Daniel would allow me to keep that?”

Jazz’s smile was sudden and triumphant. “Then you admit it. You know who she is.”

“She’s a ghost who’s passed through this town,” countered Vlad. “Whatever you and Daniel think, I do try to protect Amity Park. Keeping tabs on ghostly activity is merely part of that.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Vlad,” Maddie said softly, “please. Even if you don’t think it’s important, anything you could tell us would be appreciated. I’d never seen that ghost before, and I know Jack would have told me if he’d had an encounter with a ghost so like Phantom.”

“My dearest Maddie, I can assure you that I harbour no ill will toward Daniel. I want to see him back with us as much as anything.” Vlad spread his hands. “I simply do not have the resources Jasmine thinks—”

“Shut it, Plasmius. We’re not buying that you’re the good guy. If you won’t give me the copy of the ecto-signature, I’ll find it myself.” Jazz turned and stalked away. Vlad, surprisingly, let her.

Or was it Plasmius who had? That’s what she’d called him, but Maddie still couldn’t—

“I’ll make tea,” Vlad said, putting his arm around Maddie and steering her towards what she knew was the kitchen. She managed not to flinch at his touch. Any other night before this, before knowing, she would have been so grateful for the support, but now— “Or coffee, if you’d prefer. We could do with something right now, I daresay. We’ll catch up with Jasmine in a few minutes. I change my security codes daily.”

“So it’s all…true,” Maddie managed. “You and Plasmius—”

“We really don’t need to talk about such things right now.”

Of course they did. How could they not? Vlad and Plasmius. Because of the proto-portal accident. It had to be. Months of hospitalization, bankrupt at the end of it, dropping out of college and—

And turning around and making millions. Billions.

Vlad had been skilled, but not—

“Please,” she repeated. “Please, just…. It’s really true? You and Plasmius? Like Danny and Phantom? And…and Danielle?”

Silence.

Vlad’s steady steps never faltered. She was desperately trying to think of a way to broach the conversation again. She didn’t want to let it go, to let it die, to let it lie between them unspoken. She couldn’t. Not after what she’d done with Danny. And….

It’s not that she felt comfortable with Vlad. After what Jazz had told her, she couldn’t, and it made her realize that she hadn’t been wholly comfortable with him before that, either. She’d wanted to think that maybe it was just her reacting to Plasmius’s presence, but since she’d realized that she couldn’t tell who was in control—

She wished Jack were here.

She wished he hadn’t gone to search the Ghost Zone alone, but she wasn’t sure there had been another choice. If it hadn’t been him, it would have been her, and he never would have let her go alone. But one of them needed to stay on this side. If Danny decided to call—

Maybe they shouldn’t have left the house.

She could have called someone to stay while she and Jazz came here. Or she should have come by herself. In case Danny phoned. He had their cell phone numbers, of course, but she wasn’t sure how many of those numbers he had memorized; she knew he knew the home phone, but if his cell phone really was dead—

“Every situation is different,” Vlad said at last. He led her into the kitchen and left her to lean against a counter while he busiest himself with preparations. There was no table to be had in here, oh no. Counters, islands, workspaces of all sorts, but nothing small and cozy, nothing intended for anyone to sit down and have a bite to eat or something to drink. This was a kitchen meant to be fully staffed, and—

It occurred to her that she had never seen Vlad’s butler.

Or a maid.

Or any staff, really.

They were always mentioned, and she knew he must have someone—he could hardly keep a place this large clean by himself on top of his mayoral duties—but it always seemed to be their day off whenever she came by.

She only ever saw Vlad.

“What…what do you mean?”

“I doubt the girl is quite like the others.”

“Her name is Danielle.”

“Yes.” His words were a whisper. “It is.” He turned around and presented her with a warm cup of— Coffee, by the look and smell of it. Black.

She took a hesitant sip.

He’d sweetened it with sugar.

He remembered how she drank her coffee, even after all these years.

“I—” Vlad paused. “Daniel and I, our circumstances aren’t quite the same.”

He was admitting it, then. She hadn’t thought he would after his earlier denials. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or terrified. A denial she could have spun into truth for herself, at least for a time. Long enough for her to find some steady ground to stand on. Long enough to make sure she wouldn’t have her feet knocked from beneath her again.

“How do you know?” If she didn’t ask, if she kept talking, she’d lose the opportunity entirely, and she knew she couldn’t afford that.

“I’ve spoken with her. The ghost girl. She’s come to me for help in the past. As I daresay you’ve realized, she’s as much girl as she is ghost.”

I’m human, too.

“And you and Plasmius—”

“I’m stable. Daniel is stable. Poor Danielle is not. Or she wasn’t, the last time I had her in my lab.”

“You still have a lab, then?”

Vlad smiled. “Oh, Maddie, I could never give it up. It reminds me too much of the treasured moments I used to spend with you.”

“And Jack,” she added pointedly, remembering Jazz’s words. Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with you.

“Yes, of course.”

The words came quickly, smoothly, but she wasn’t sure they were honest. How could she? Jazz hadn’t had the slightest bit of doubt in her voice when she’d said Vlad hated Jack. Hated. It was such a strong word. Maddie hadn’t noticed anything herself, but she’d never looked for it, either. Jack’s enthusiasm about his friendship for Vlad had always been her lens for their relationship, and Vlad had always been friendly towards her.

But recent experience had certainly taught her that there was so much she could miss—even from people close to her. If she’d never realized the truth of Danny and Phantom, she hadn’t much hope of seeing past the façade Vlad put up around her.

Maddie took another sip of the coffee, buying time to collect her scrambled thoughts. “And Plasmius doesn’t…hinder you?”

“Far from it.” Vlad flashed her a smile she could no longer call genuine. “The situation has grown on me, and I do find ways to make the best of it.”

How much was the honest truth and how much was a carefully scripted truth? Perhaps things had changed, but Vlad had rarely told direct lies in their college years, even little white ones. He’d delighted in misdirection and obfuscation. He had always been quite proud when he’d managed to convince someone of something false, telling perfect truths riddled with oft-unseen holes where he’d lied by omission. It was never in his papers, of course—he’d been far too credible for that and wouldn’t dare risk being accused of falsifying results—but he had always loved a good verbal battle, to match wits with someone he considered worthy.

She’d seen him to do it so many times.

She wondered why she hadn’t thought she could be on the receiving end of it until now.

Best to change tack, then. It was unlikely that she could catch him off his guard—he clearly knew so much more of the situation than she, and how could he not?—but she had to try. She had to know. “Why does Jazz think you have a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature?”

“She is, no doubt, aware of the tracking I do, as is Daniel.”

“So when you say Danny destroyed your files—”

“I’ll admit I don’t think it was Daniel directly; it’s far more likely to be his friend Tucker’s work.”

Vlad said he kept tabs on ghosts to help him protect Amity Park, but Phantom fought those ghosts routinely. Phantom fought Plasmius routinely. Plasmius couldn’t be helping Vlad protect Amity Park—unless Phantom simply saw him as another ghost and acted accordingly? She still didn’t understand how much influence the ecto-entity had over the human host, but it would surely be greater when the ecto-entity was in control, and—

No. She couldn’t make assumptions. She had to stop doing that. She didn’t know how much was Vlad and how much was Plasmius, just as she wasn’t sure how much was Danny and how much was Phantom. The notes she and Jack had accumulated on both ghosts were surely wrong; they had never accounted for human ties, and that would skew their results terribly. They knew nothing. She knew nothing.

Which meant she couldn’t believe everything she was told, whether from Jazz or from Vlad. Each would have their biases, just as she had hers, and what they told her would be coloured accordingly. And there was always the chance that what they knew was wrong, even if they believed it to be true, just as she and Jack had been wrong.

Except….

Vlad was a primary source, and though Jazz’s knowledge was second-hand, it would all come from Danny. She didn’t want to mistrust either of them, but what they told her didn’t always line up, and—

Maddie set her coffee down on the counter and took a steadying breath. “May I speak with Plasmius?”

Vlad spluttered, losing his composure and nearly choking on his own cup of coffee. “I beg your pardon?”

“I’d like to speak with Plasmius. Is that possible?”

“I— Yes, of course it’s possible, but—”

“Then let me speak to him. Please.”

Vlad set his cup aside in favour of closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I should have realized you were taking this awfully well. I am sorry, Maddie. I didn’t doubt Jasmine when she’d said she told you everything—she’s no reason to pretend otherwise, blatant as she’s being—but I hadn’t realized that you didn’t yet understand.”

His words chilled her. “What do you mean?”

He opened his eyes to look at her. For the briefest instant, red replaced familiar blue before it was blinked away. She started and took a step back, only to hit the counter. Vlad looked resigned as he said, “You’re already speaking with Plasmius.”

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