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phantomphangphucker · 5 months

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Phic Phight - These Lies Festered Like Roaches, You’ll Have To Gut Him To Exterminate Them

@ Balshumet @darthfrodophantom @ Deathcomes4u @ EctoplasmicSoda @fentoaster @fruity-hub-blog @camels-pen @redactedgoose @underforeversgrace @ itallcomesbacktoandreil @sheabeeprime @ LumianaKatenke @schrodingersfic @sapphireshield @summerssixecho

Crawling through one body, laying eggs of hurt in all our minds, struggling just to be okay surrounded by roaches shaped like safety. Can’t help but react, because this bite’s too detrimental, who knows if time can heal the infections and repercussions. Maddie, Jack, Danny, Vlad; secrets will see them consumed, relationships and bodies left behind to be scraped back together, if they can be.

:Chap. 1:

Little Hero, Put On Your Cape, Someone’s Made A Mistake

Danny’s been having a rather… strange week, month really, but this week specifically has been odd. The ghosts were all being weirdly friendly to him, were causing a lot less damage, heck they weren’t even bothering him when he was sleeping! It was odd. The Lunch Lady even brought him a balanced school lunch and it wasn’t even his death day. But weirder than that was the fact that even Vlad wasn’t causing him issues. No snide remarks, no unprompted visits, no threats to murder his dad, no bonding attempts, no abductions, he wasn’t even making public appearances. It was strange. What made it even stranger was that his dad wasn’t saying anything about it, wasn’t demanding they show his ‘best friend’, wasn’t complaining about him not visiting recently, wasn’t encouraging Danny to go over to his mansion to see if the guy wanted to come over. Even Red/Val didn’t seem to care, in her words ‘good riddance’, which tells him she absolutely found out about Vlad being a ghost.

Which, on one hand, her reaction was concerning, a little. But on the other hand, this was Vlad, the guy who nearly tricked her into helping müder a little girl and whom tried to blow her up to frame Phantom for her death. He could absolutely understand her not giving a rats ass about the man now, or utterly despising him. So the truly strange part was how she didn’t seem to care at all. Sure the guy could be an utter fruitloop but he was still the mayor, you’d think even she’d care about that at least.

Sam and Tuck thought the guy was just plotting, which Danny would be inclined to agree with if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t find Vlad anywhere. His cat didn’t even have food last time he went snooping around the mansion! Vlad might be vaguely villainous, but even he would never neglect an animal. Zone Danny would place money on the fact that he’s positive that if Vlad was going to fully die or be ended, the first thing he’d do is try to get word to Danny to take care of his cat. That is, without a shadow of a doubt, what Vlad would do.

Meaning…

He’s missing.

And not missing of his own free will probably.

Danny’s first concern is, surprising to even him, Val, because she definitely knew now, because her temper controlled her more often than not, because she was supremely vengeful, because Danny was a good ghost and she abducted him for a torture session. The thing with Val though, is there wasn’t a lot of places she could be keeping Vlad and Halfas were way too durable for her to have actually ended him in a week. So he eliminated her pretty quick, just a snoop of her room, a few abandoned buildings in Amity and Elmerton, and a snoop around her dad’s workplaces backroom. He’s fairly certain she doesn’t have Vlad. Unfortunately she was Vlad’s best option though, since she was the least likely to do something horrifically screwed up or actually end the guy; she wasn’t down with murder, ghost or human.

Of course he suspected his parents next, especially with his dad acting a bit weird, but neither one of them was spending an excessive amount of time in the lab, or bragging about catching a ghost or making new discoveries; and, there was no one trapped down in the lab or the dungeon. As far as he knew neither of them had any storage facilities or even a rented trailer for storage, and they couldn’t keep quiet about things so he felt secure in his belief that it wasn’t them.

So that left the G.I.W., arguably his and Vlad’s worst option. Because they absolutely would do as many horrific experiments as they could, and with their funding that would mean a lot of experiments. Plus, those nut jobs wouldn’t even care if he transformed back human, they had no problem with harming or killing regular humans even teenagers; they’d have no problem harming or ending a halfa too.

So Danny decides to take advantage of the ghosts being ‘nice’ and ‘considerate’ of him, even if they were still picking fights and getting him hurt… just not nearly as seriously as before. He figures his best option is Skulker, considering the guy was a hunter and employed by Vlad. If anyone knew where he was, it would be that guy; and if he didn’t know, he could track him down better than Danny could. That Greatest Hunter In The Ghost Zone title wasn’t for show, regardless of Danny being uncatchable.

And that’s how Danny finds himself here, landing his feet down on Skulker Island and knocking on the guys door; barging into a ghosts lair was rude and the poacher hadn’t done anything to warrant Danny’s break and entry ways. Skulker looks almost nervous when he opens his door, “Phantom?”, he sticks his head out and glances around, as if expecting Danny to have brought company, before looking back to the half dead teen, “what’s up with the lair visit? And so respectfully. Are you sick? Those parents of yours trying to end you again?”.

See this? This was just weird. Danny quirks an eyebrow, “no?”, shaking his head, “I’m just checking to see if you’ve seen or heard from Vlad lately, he’s mia”, frowning, “his cat didn’t have food”.

Even Skulker looks alarmed, see even ghost poachers who skinned people and hung their heads on walls didn’t neglect animals. Skulker shaking his head immediately, “no, Phantom, no I haven’t”. He pops up a screen on his suit and stares at it, the reflection of messages and data reflecting off of his robotic eyes, “I don’t have any messages from him currently either. Not for jobs, assistance, or to pester you”, quickly adding on, “not-that-I-would-agree-to-that-or-anything”.

Being word vomitted at by Skulker was just bizarre, so much that he can’t even bring himself to question it, just in case he triggers him to do that again. What the fuck? Danny taps his chin, “yeah I don’t like that”, looking back to the metal ghost, “think you could track him down? Mr. Greatest Hunter In The Ghost Zone?”; is Danny mocking him a little? Yes. Will the guy care? Not a chance.

As predicted Skulker grins menacingly, “with pleasure”, and is off the second Danny steps out of his way.

Cool.

Okay.

Danny’s got a plan of action here. He’d ask Val/Red to join in the hunt but she clearly wasn’t interested in finding the guy, either half. Though now that he’s thinking about it he should probably give Skulker’s girlfriend a heads up before she gets pissed at the guy for ‘doing a job’; Danny and Ember usually got along already so shouldn’t be a problem. Meaning now he’s off to her little island, or giant concert venue really, searching for a Popstar.

He finds her tuning her guitar, humming a tune. “Sup Ember”, she jumps from his voice, whirling around and blinking in a bit of shock at him.

Her flying at him, stopping a bit away, “ghost ki- Phantom! What brings you around here?”, and like Skulker she glances around like she’s expecting someone or someone’s to be with him or something. Again, strange. Or perhaps she’s just concerned he brought Tucker with him, aka mister can sing so horribly it has the power to end even ectoplasmically enhanced concerts.

Danny quirks an eyebrow at her too, “I just figured I should stop by and let you know that I asked your boyfriend to go track down Vlad. Guys been too quiet for too long”.

She smirks at him fondly, “man you are so overprotective, you’d think you’d relax more when he’s not harassing you but nope”, and ruffles his hair up before wincing and floating a little back from him for some reason, “appreciate the heads up, Phantom”.

Danny… is only more confused, but he shrugs, gives her a goofy little salute and floats his sorry ass off; the slight relived sag she does only weirds him out more, frankly.

Okay, time to head back to Amity. At least he never had to worry about the portals doors being locked these days, his energy was strong enough for him to just force it open with his hands and some ecto-energy. It was probably also a little because he was, you know, killed by a portal, this one specifically. Slipping his way through with ease a phasing intangibly up through the roof instantly. Glancing around Amity from above the ops centre for a little bit before deciding to check in on Vlad’s mansion(s) again.

Plus, even though Maddie the cat might be slightly evil thanks to Vlad’s encouragement, she was still a cat and deserved all the pets and treats.

Danny’s working a little on his English philosophy of death paper -this embracing the towns ghost theme shit is part of why Danny actually liked Lancer- when Skulker barges in through Danny’s window; well at least the guy didn’t break it. Danny standing up immediately at Skulker’s serious expression; it wasn’t often the ghost looked ‘haunted’ or ‘Hopeless’, so it was super worrying. Skulker makes the motions to grab Danny’s arm before wincing and dropping his arm, “follow. You’re not going to like this”, and turning back to fly back out of Danny’s window.

Danny already doesn’t like this.

Danny absolutely follows immediately. Frowning, “I don’t even like the sound of that, Skulker. Did you find him?”.

The ghost scoffs, “of course I did, I’m Skulker, the Greatest Hunter In All Of The Infinite Realm”, grimacing, “I didn’t see him with my own eyes, but the traces of his shed latent ecto-energy and the sensation of his ecto-field are there”.

Danny quirking an eyebrow as they move into Elmerton, shit, outside of Amity. “Why didn’t you confirm though? Too excited?”; the bit of humour falls really flat but Danny is a jokester through and through.

“You’ll see, and you’ll probably feel and smell it too. You were right to be concerned, he’s definitely trapped and injured. I’m not narcissistic enough to think I know halfa medical care better than an actual halfa, even that fraid of yours would do better”.

They’re leaving Elmerton. Alright, it was looking more and more like G.I.W., meaning this was going to be bad. “Is he at a G.I.W. compound? That’s one of my suspects”.

“Reasonable, I guessed the same. Since I know you’d be able to check the Red Huntress easily and your makers. However, no. No he’s not. That… would be better”.

Danny muttering, “that’s extremely ominous”. At this point he thinks they’re above Naperville? But he’s never been this far out so he’s not exactly sure on that. The two slowing down, Danny copying Skulker as the hunter goes invisible, as they approach a warehouse district area.

Danny pausing in the air, shocked, when a mini GAV comes into sight. What? How was one of those all the way out here? Why even? His folks didn’t sell them so… Danny doesn’t like this one bit. Should… should he have looked into his folks a bit more seriously? He hopes not. He hopes he’s wrong. If he’s not… then he doesn’t really know what he’ll do.

But Skulker’s absolutely right. He can sense Vlad’s ecto-energy in the air, the way it lingers screaming that he’s bled a lot, lost a lot. Skulker was likely right to get him, and that both scares and pisses him off. Especially with the mini GAV right by. Skulker pausing in the air by holding up a hand, nodding his head at the mini GAV, then tapping his eye. Danny nodding back, the message of ‘go have a look’ is obvious, Skulker following him.

It’s…

It’s his dad. Jack.

He’s drinking… and looks like shit.

He’d been off, weirdly quiet about things and stand offish. Bummed out. But this was a lot worse. Part of Danny wants to hope he’s only here by chance, that he comes out here to ‘break down’ sometimes. But the chances of that are pathetically slim. Did Jack hurt Vlad? Enough for him to transform back? Did Jack see it was his ‘old friend’ he was hurting and freaked out? Was he still hurting Vlad? He knows his aura flares a bit protectively and possessively, in that dangerous way. But if his dad hurt the guy that Danny sometimes actually liked and was still hurting him, Danny won’t be able to hold back from ripping him a new one. Would he even still be able to see him as a parent? Ha. No. No he wouldn’t.

Skulker snaps his fingers twice, just loud enough to get Danny’s attention, watching him cautiously; Danny can see his own glow and eyes reflecting off of the meta mecha suit. Skulker jerking his head at the building, then putting a hand to his chest, tapping his eyes again and points at Jack. Danny nodding and zipping off towards the building, Skulker could keep an eye on Jack.

Danny lets the feel of Vlad’s ecto-field pull him around on pure protective instinct, that aspect of his obsession was always handy when rescuing ghosts, even blobs, from the G.I.W. or his folks. He hates it a little though, the way it felt almost controlling of himself and how it sometimes made him want to hurt the people responsible; it also felt like he was being disrespected these days, like how dare whoever harm someone on his watch? The audacity. Him jerking to a stop by a door, there’s green and red stains everywhere. Phasing his head through the door with a pit of unease coiling in his core and stomach.

A̴̸̵̸̵̵̸̵̴̴̵̢̢̙̙͍̘͚̦͉̠̦͇̙̟̙̪̪͚͍͔͚͔̙̻̺͉͚̙͙͍̠̘̝͓̙͎̾͋͒͐̽͋͊͊͒̐͆͊̔̿̈́̓̔̾̀͊͊͌̾̾̚̚͘͜͜͠͠͝N̸̸̸̸̸̴̵̴̴̵̴̡̡̢͇̼͖͓̞̺̟͚̼͉̻͕̟̘̝̟͍͍̠̞͙͚̼͙̙͙͎͙̙̠͓̦̻̔͛͋͛̒̓͐͒͆͌̀͐̀͑͛̒͋͋̕̚̚̚̕̚͘͜͝͠͠C̴̸̵̸̵̸̸̸̴̸̵̢̢̡̢̡̡̢̫̺̻͖͎̦̟̟͍̟̫͎͙͙͕̝͉͔̙͇͓̻͕̠̞̻̼͙͇̿̾̓͒͌̽̽̈́͊͒̈́͌́͋̿͋̽͋͑̔̿͛̕͘͘͜͠͝͠͝͝͝I̸̵̴̴̸̵̸̴̸̵̸̢̢̢̢̻̼͓̝̟͙̞̻͙͖͉͔̝͚̻̻͎͇͇͓͚̙͇͍̙͙̝̺͆͐̾̾͋͋̈́̿̀̿̀̿̈́͊̈́͆̐̒͌͛͑̓̀̓̒͋̽͊̚͘͜͝E̸̴̴̸̴̴̵̴̴̸̴̡̢̡͍͇͕̪͍̟͍͖͎͇̟͍͔͔͎̟̠̠͙̟̙̘̪̼̫̠͓̙͋͋̈́͒̿͛̀̓̓́̓͌̿͆̒͌͛̈́͑̀͊̓̽̔͒͘̚̕̚͜͜͝͝Ǹ̴̸̸̵̸̵̸̴̵̵̴̡̡̡̢̢͎͍͍̘̠͚̘̝͕̠͍͙̙̫̪̻̙͎̫̪̼͉͚͙͔͚̠̻̦̼̐̽̐͋͊̿̈́̈́̈́̿͒͑͊̓͆͒̈́̒̐̕̕͘̕͜͠͝T̴̴̵̵̴̵̵̵̴̴̸̡̢̢̡̢͎̦͕͚͕̟̞͇̺̙̺͔͓̠͚͓͍͔͉͍̞̻͓̦̺̫͖̻̼̝̝̒̐͋͌̓͆͛͐̿̓͒̈́̽͛̈́̾́͑̓̐͆̓̕͘̚̕͠͝͝͝͠S̴̵̸̵̵̵̵̸̸̸̴̢̢͙͚̞̺͇͇̫͚͚̪̪̺̝̻͍͍͚͔͕͉͓̫͍͓͉̟̟͎͙̫̼̪͖̈́̿̓̀͒̓̓͊͛̿͊͑͛̀́̀̓͑͊̒͋̀͐̐͌͘̚͜͜͝͝͝ Ǹ̵̸̵̵̵̵̵̵̵̸̴̢̡̡̡̡̡̝͙͓̠̪̞̝̙̝͎̻̦͍̘̞͍͔͕͓͇̫̼͙͔͕̫͉̠̟͚͇̓̀̐̐̓̔̈́͊̒͑̽͛̒͛͌͋̾͒̿̔͘͘̚̕̕͝͝Ö̵̸̵̴̴̸̵̵̵̴̴̡̢̡̡͔̼̺͍͙̻͇͍̪͇͉͎̝̟̫̪͔͔̞͉̪͔͕͚̦̦̝̻͉͇́̽͆̽̐͛́͌͋͆̐͆̀̒͌͊͒̐̓͒̓͑̕̚̕̕͜͜͝͠͝͝A̴̸̵̸̵̵̸̵̴̴̵̢̢̙̙͍̘͚̦͉̠̦͇̙̟̙̪̪͚͍͔͚͔̙̻̺͉͚̙͙͍̠̘̝͓̙͎̾͋͒͐̽͋͊͊͒̐͆͊̔̿̈́̓̔̾̀͊͊͌̾̾̚̚͘͜͜͠͠͝N̸̸̸̸̸̴̵̴̴̵̴̡̡̢͇̼͖͓̞̺̟͚̼͉̻͕̟̘̝̟͍͍̠̞͙͚̼͙̙͙͎͙̙̠͓̦̻̔͛͋͛̒̓͐͒͆͌̀͐̀͑͛̒͋͋̕̚̚̚̕̚͘͜͝͠͠C̴̸̵̸̵̸̸̸̴̸̵̢̢̡̢̡̡̢̫̺̻͖͎̦̟̟͍̟̫͎͙͙͕̝͉͔̙͇͓̻͕̠̞̻̼͙͇̿̾̓͒͌̽̽̈́͊͒̈́͌́͋̿͋̽͋͑̔̿͛̕͘͘͜͠͝͠͝͝͝I̸̵̴̴̸̵̸̴̸̵̸̢̢̢̢̻̼͓̝̟͙̞̻͙͖͉͔̝͚̻̻͎͇͇͓͚̙͇͍̙͙̝̺͆͐̾̾͋͋̈́̿̀̿̀̿̈́͊̈́͆̐̒͌͛͑̓̀̓̒͋̽͊̚͘͜͝E̸̴̴̸̴̴̵̴̴̸̴̡̢̡͍͇͕̪͍̟͍͖͎͇̟͍͔͔͎̟̠̠͙̟̙̘̪̼̫̠͓̙͋͋̈́͒̿͛̀̓̓́̓͌̿͆̒͌͛̈́͑̀͊̓̽̔͒͘̚̕̚͜͜͝͝Ǹ̴̸̸̵̸̵̸̴̵̵̴̡̡̡̢̢͎͍͍̘̠͚̘̝͕̠͍͙̙̫̪̻̙͎̫̪̼͉͚͙͔͚̠̻̦̼̐̽̐͋͊̿̈́̈́̈́̿͒͑͊̓͆͒̈́̒̐̕̕͘̕͜͠͝T̴̴̵̵̴̵̵̵̴̴̸̡̢̢̡̢͎̦͕͚͕̟̞͇̺̙̺͔͓̠͚͓͍͔͉͍̞̻͓̦̺̫͖̻̼̝̝̒̐͋͌̓͆͛͐̿̓͒̈́̽͛̈́̾́͑̓̐͆̓̕͘̚̕͠͝͝͝͠S̴̵̸̵̵̵̵̸̸̸̴̢̢͙͚̞̺͇͇̫͚͚̪̪̺̝̻͍͍͚͔͕͉͓̫͍͓͉̟̟͎͙̫̼̪͖̈́̿̓̀͒̓̓͊͛̿͊͑͛̀́̀̓͑͊̒͋̀͐̐͌͘̚͜͜͝͝͝ Ǹ̵̸̵̵̵̵̵̵̵̸̴̢̡̡̡̡̡̝͙͓̠̪̞̝̙̝͎̻̦͍̘̞͍͔͕͓͇̫̼͙͔͕̫͉̠̟͚͇̓̀̐̐̓̔̈́͊̒͑̽͛̒͛͌͋̾͒̿̔͘͘̚̕̕͝͝Ö̵̸̵̴̴̸̵̵̵̴̴̡̢̡̡͔̼̺͍͙̻͇͍̪͇͉͎̝̟̫̪͔͔̞͉̪͔͕͚̦̦̝̻͉͇́̽͆̽̐͛́͌͋͆̐͆̀̒͌͊͒̐̓͒̓͑̕̚̕̕͜͜͝͠͝͝. A̴̸̵̸̵̵̸̵̴̴̵̢̢̙̙͍̘͚̦͉̠̦͇̙̟̙̪̪͚͍͔͚͔̙̻̺͉͚̙͙͍̠̘̝͓̙͎̾͋͒͐̽͋͊͊͒̐͆͊̔̿̈́̓̔̾̀͊͊͌̾̾̚̚͘͜͜͠͠͝N̸̸̸̸̸̴̵̴̴̵̴̡̡̢͇̼͖͓̞̺̟͚̼͉̻͕̟̘̝̟͍͍̠̞͙͚̼͙̙͙͎͙̙̠͓̦̻̔͛͋͛̒̓͐͒͆͌̀͐̀͑͛̒͋͋̕̚̚̚̕̚͘͜͝͠͠C̴̸̵̸̵̸̸̸̴̸̵̢̢̡̢̡̡̢̫̺̻͖͎̦̟̟͍̟̫͎͙͙͕̝͉͔̙͇͓̻͕̠̞̻̼͙͇̿̾̓͒͌̽̽̈́͊͒̈́͌́͋̿͋̽͋͑̔̿͛̕͘͘͜͠͝͠͝͝͝I̸̵̴̴̸̵̸̴̸̵̸̢̢̢̢̻̼͓̝̟͙̞̻͙͖͉͔̝͚̻̻͎͇͇͓͚̙͇͍̙͙̝̺͆͐̾̾͋͋̈́̿̀̿̀̿̈́͊̈́͆̐̒͌͛͑̓̀̓̒͋̽͊̚͘͜͝E̸̴̴̸̴̴̵̴̴̸̴̡̢̡͍͇͕̪͍̟͍͖͎͇̟͍͔͔͎̟̠̠͙̟̙̘̪̼̫̠͓̙͋͋̈́͒̿͛̀̓̓́̓͌̿͆̒͌͛̈́͑̀͊̓̽̔͒͘̚̕̚͜͜͝͝Ǹ̴̸̸̵̸̵̸̴̵̵̴̡̡̡̢̢͎͍͍̘̠͚̘̝͕̠͍͙̙̫̪̻̙͎̫̪̼͉͚͙͔͚̠̻̦̼̐̽̐͋͊̿̈́̈́̈́̿͒͑͊̓͆͒̈́̒̐̕̕͘̕͜͠͝T̴̴̵̵̴̵̵̵̴̴̸̡̢̢̡̢͎̦͕͚͕̟̞͇̺̙̺͔͓̠͚͓͍͔͉͍̞̻͓̦̺̫͖̻̼̝̝̒̐͋͌̓͆͛͐̿̓͒̈́̽͛̈́̾́͑̓̐͆̓̕͘̚̕͠͝͝͝͠S̴̵̸̵̵̵̵̸̸̸̴̢̢͙͚̞̺͇͇̫͚͚̪̪̺̝̻͍͍͚͔͕͉͓̫͍͓͉̟̟͎͙̫̼̪͖̈́̿̓̀͒̓̓͊͛̿͊͑͛̀́̀̓͑͊̒͋̀͐̐͌͘̚͜͜͝͝͝ Ǹ̵̸̵̵̵̵̵̵̵̸̴̢̡̡̡̡̡̝͙͓̠̪̞̝̙̝͎̻̦͍̘̞͍͔͕͓͇̫̼͙͔͕̫͉̠̟͚͇̓̀̐̐̓̔̈́͊̒͑̽͛̒͛͌͋̾͒̿̔͘͘̚̕̕͝͝O

:Chap. 2:

Break Down Facades Too, Let Your Entelechy Consume You

(this is the torture horror style character injury, feel free to skip it if you don’t like that stuff. Everything after this chapter is hurt/comfort aftermath)

Danny’s form shakes a little as he takes in the room. It’s splattered in greens and reds, metal tools laying around haphazardly, there’s spots of rust and decay, the room reeks of stale air as if none have entered for days. Reeks of the metallic rot of dried b̸͕̟͜͝͝͝l̴̢̢͙̈́̽͝ò̴̝͜͜͠o̸̼͚̺͌̓̓d̸̢̠͖͑͆͒ and lime tang of old e̵͖̘͒͋͜͝c̴͉͓͔̿́͊t̴̢̟̓̓͛ó̸̞̝͌͜͝p̴͙͕̺̕̕͘l̸̼̞̟͆̈́͝a̸̡͖͍͊̽s̵̘͕͙͑̕͝m̸͖̝͉̈́͠͝. There’s metal wires and steel rods coming off of the roof, stringing down to stretches and slabs of f̵͕͉̻̿͐̔l̸̘̪̙̀̓̕e̴͚͖̠̿̿͒s̴̢̻̝̈́̕͘h̵̢̝̐̈́̈́ and b̴̡͚͚͒́̽o̵̞͔̫̓͘͠n̴͙͔͔͒̀̿è̸͕͕͇͒͒ and m̵͇̼̙͑͆̈́é̴͉͇̟͆͌a̸̪̠̼͆͌͘t̵̟̙͌̓͜͝. Mù̴͍͉͖̿͠s̴͇̞͔͆̚͝c̴̼̈́͘̚͜l̸̢̝̐̀̾ë̴̻͚̠́̈́̒ and s̴̺͇̘̔͝͝k̴̡̙̝̓̈́̚i̸͓̼̪͊̔͌n̸̻͕͇͊̀͘. It all dripped, half dried and half wet, crimson red tinted green sheen. Chunks of bone, broken, disjointed, peppering through pale human flesh. Yet also not. Sections and spattering of ghostly white fabric, ghostly outer ectoplasmic layers, move and warble, as if the being attached to it couldn’t place itself right. Couldn’t hold itself together. HIMSELF.

The flesh bone suit amalgamation connecting down, down, down, to flat neck splayed out, esophagus expanding and deflating, utterly exposed to open air unnaturally. Blackened cut hip bones jutting out the other side, the patches of suit seem more together there and over the one leg. Him managing to move his eyes to look, to search, to seek what’s missing. The leg pinned, skin flayed back to reveal muscle and pumping pulse against a wall. That location bringing his attention back to the man on display. That, and, the sound, the thump. A head turned to watch him. It’s a face he knows well, whether there are eyes or not. Exposed cheek bone, sharp and angular, twitch in an almost smile; the odd patterning of teeth, some gone and some not. One fang. A tooth dribbling out with strings of saliva as the mouth opens at him, “həy, Pʮ∀ntoɯ”. Patches of bloodied ectoplasm washed hair flops and scrapes the metal table with the motion. With the sound. Hands, fingers bent at hundreds of wrong angles as if there’s too many joints, twitch to grasp the metal surface; as if in an attempt to pull up, to sit up. The attached arm limb spasming with effort, blood ectoplasm nightmare seeping out through the spaces between bone, no flesh nor muscle remain to complete the action. The shoulder pops, limb detaching entirely to fumble down to the ground; slapping it wetly. Fresh blood and ectoplasm pooling and moving to flow down to a drain on the gunk covered crusted floor.

He moves immediately, on instinct, in. The ground crunches under feet he was unaware weren’t floating. The sensation of hardened blood and ectoplasm crumbling underfoot sending shivers up his entire frame with every step he takes. His glow fills up the room, seems to rip anti-ectoplasmic paint off the walls in chunks and flakes. He is so angry, so hurt, so sad, so enraged, so EMPTY. He has to fix this. Wants to. Has to repair one of his. Cupping the man’s face, bone and muscle touching his own gloved hand, “V̴̸̸͚̞̼͍̟̙͍̘͎̈́̀͆̈́͊͋̈́͑̚l̴̸̴̡̢͉̫͚͕͋̾̾̓̐̕͝͠a̴̵̵̢͇̞͚̞͙͎̼͒̈́̒͌͊͆̔̚d̴̴̸͓͖̙͎͉̞͚̞͒̿͆̐̐͜͠͝͠“, part of the ceiling caves in, crumbling down, under some unknown pressure.

“Iʇ’s oʞɐʎ, ᗡɐuᴉǝl. ⅄on’ɹǝ oʞɐʎ. ᒋnsʇ ɥǝld ɯǝ”.

He doesn’t know what’s said. Doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter. This mangle of misshapen parts can’t be here. Leave. Be safe. P̸̵̡̡̢̙̞̫̐̈́̈́̈́͒̕r̵̴̡̠̠̞͎̓̽͒͘̚͜o̵̵̞͇͓͇͓̟͑̿͌̈́̚͠t̸̴̢͓͉͖̝͖̐̈́̐͠è̴̵̡͙͕̦͚͚͑̒̿̚̕c̴̵̝͓͔͚͚͆̽̈́̾̒͘͜ț̵̸̢͙͉̟̈́̾͊͋̓̔e̴̵̢͙̝͙̟͚̿͊͌̐̈́͝d̵̴̢͚͎̫̻̀͐͑̽͜͠͝.

The straps are brown, covered slick in gore; they burn to ash from the slightest of touches. They don’t deserve to exist. Begone. Nothing can stay to hold back what must leave here, be taken away. The connected tubes, attached to remaining muscle and structure, buckle and crack and splitter to fragile shards in his grasp; pieces plinking to the ground little unfortunate freezing rain, the ice encroaching on the room in spiralling circles with him as their epicentre, only increase the noise. That same ice becoming claws for him to wield as blades against the ceilings cords and wires and rods, the tension releasing like gunshots as flayed open chest wings of flesh slap down on to the opened chest cavity; their owner groaning from the impact.

Hurt

HURT

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He didn’t mean it. Mean this. Mean that. Mean HURT. 尸尺ㄖセ🝗⼕〸.

There’s too much of him but that’s okay, it’s okay, this is okay, that’s okay, he’s okay. He can scoop up what remains, arm under leg, arm under shoulder arm neck head, to scoop up and pull to his chest. Pull to his core. To sustain the hurt one.

A solid slab of metal hits the ground, thunder in a room of ice rain.

He’s wet.

Snow is falling.

His head snapping, inhuman, to the sound, the door, the rooms door, gone. Laying on the ground as if it is innocent. It is not. Nothing here is. As if it is safe. Nothing here is. No one here is. No one here will be.

Orange and blue stare at him. Orange reeking of grain, wood, stale fruit, and burnt caramel. Then a metal one of his is there, holding orange at gun point; no more hurt no more hurt NO MORE HURT N̴̢͓̈́̒̈́͜O̵̙͎͒͠ M̵̡̺̻͑͌͘O̵̺̟͔̐͝͝R̴̘̘͓͌̒̚E̴̻͎̟͛͒̕ H̴͙͙̦̓͘U̵͓͉͒͘͝R̵͕͓͌̽̚T̴̙͍̪͐̈́ 𝓝龱爪龱尺㠪廾ㄩ尺ㄒ. The metal man flinches, scrunching up, “ʇᴉɥs”. The blue one stepping forward with a crouch, he growls, metal man grabs blues arm; regardless a mouth opens, “ynnaD?”.

A name. His? His. Attached to mouths that don’t deserve it. He’s snarling now. Right. Them. JACK. Orange. Did this. So much HURT. “H̵͕̝͙̿́͠O̴̢̞͉̽̔͝Ẅ̸̢͓̼́̾̚ D̸̦̟̀̓͋A̵̡͙̘̓͒̿R̵͚̫͋͌̚͜E̵͔͖̦͊͝͝ Y̵̟̝̽͛̚O̵͙̫̟͐͊̚U̴̻͎̦̔̽̈́ D̵͚͓͇͑͆O̸̙͉̪͋͘͠ T̴͖̙͉͊̾̽H̴̝̫̿͋͜I̵̫̘̐̕͜͝S̴̡͔͉̈́̀̓”. The room shakes with him, he wants to be understood, he doubts he is. The metal man flinches, floating back slightly in a jerky fashion, it’s something at least. The wrong thing but still a thing.

The one he’s protecting, encasing muttering a quiet, “ǝibbⱰM ,ʞƆⱰႱ”, with feeling.

The metal machine hissing, “noʎ ʇɹnɥ ll’ǝɥ ɹo ɟɟo ʞɔɐq”.

Hurt? Hurt. He won’t. Pulling into himself, around the hurt one; he won’t HURT anyone. He snarls a warning at the liar. He wants out of here. Walls creak and flake off dust at that mere desire, he doesn’t get why.

The blue one steps back at least, almost a whisper, “ʇsoɥɓ ɐ ,pɐǝp ǝq oʇ pǝsoddns s’ɯoʇuɐɥԀ ?ʇɐ ɓuᴉʞool I ɯɐ ʇɐɥM ?ʎuuɐᗡ puɐ uoʇuɐɥԀ ǝɥ sᴉ ʍoɥ”. As if the accomplice has place to ask anything of himself. As if blue would not have done the same. As if blue didn’t cause hurt. Others hurt. He hurt. So much 尸闩讠𝓝.

Orange gets it, orange doesn’t ask, orange already knows. Orange bent, prodded, sliced, broke, cut, destroyed, tore, took; for ill gotten knowledge. “?ǝuop I ǝʌɐɥ ʇɐɥʍ ,po⅁ .ǝᴉppɐlΛ ǝʞᴉl ,pɐlΛ ǝʞᴉl …s’ʎuuɐᗡ”. And grabs at hair, pulling at it. Hurting.

Danny snarls again and steps forward. Metal man giving warning, “ʇɐɥʇ ǝʞᴉl ʇ’usǝop ǝH .ɟlǝsɹnoʎ ɓuᴉʇɹnɥ puɐ ʇᴉɥs pᴉdnʇs ɓuᴉop doʇs”, pulling both colours back, pull through what would be a doorway. Is maybe a doorway.

Good. Metal knows. Metal gets it. Hurt is wrong. Hurt doesn’t belong. Even hurt shouldn’t hurt. No more pain here. Ꮆ龱闩山闩ㄚ.

The exit is clear. He’s clear. The hurt is clear to leave. He leaves. He moves up and down, sideways and not, through it; his package held close to him and only him. But the blue one touches him, brushes against his self, his energy. It’s a static boom instantly, blue smacking into a wall, him forming a cushion of ectoplasm goop behind the body smashing wall, to cushion, to protect. Blue wheezes, “ɥɔnɯ ooʇ sᴉ sᴉɥꞱ .ǝsɐǝld ,ʎɐʍɐ ʎɐʇs ʇnᗺ .oɓ -ʇsnᒋ .o⅁ .ʎɐʞO”.

Away. Blue wants him away. Maddie. And… away. Maddie and away. Okay. He can do that. He can be gone. He has this one, hurt one, has to fix, how to fix, can? fix. He gets out of the room of pain. Room of rendered flesh and bone.

:Chap. 3:

Realm Latching Onto Thee, It’s Part Of Your Dichotomy

He gets too more familiar land, land that’s been mixed and tainted with him, before he feels tapping on himself, a pulse from a crying pain-filled core, its calming or restraining or chastising. “jusʇ thɹoʍing euǝrgʎ ɐt mǝ is ʇoo mucɥ, yon’rǝ ʇoo ɯucɥ rigɥt noʍ, ᗡɐuiel”.

Then what is he to do? What else is there to do? Hurt lost too much. Hurt needs energy. “七卄🝗𝓝 山卄闩〸闩爪工セㄖ ᗪㄖ?”, he thinks he makes more sense now. Not a lot of sense, but sense.

Hurt twitches, getting him to look at him, at Vlad’shalf face and no eyes. Right. This is a who not just a pain being. Crap. He’s really out of it. Out of himself? Ow. Things aren’t right. Things are in wrong places and shapes, he thinks.

“⅁et yonrsǝlɟ toɓǝʇher, firsʇ. ⅄ou’ll ɟrigɥten tɥe ʇown oʇherʍᴉse. Miɓhʇ gǝʇ huɹʇ in sɥock”.

Danny stills in the air, right, yes, no major shows of power, no body horror morphing, no inhuman sounds, don’t freak out his lair folk. Everyone startles easier than his fraid. Things… snap back, maybe, he thinks. There are two arms now, there were more? There were more. He sees a little less, less eyes. Can’t taste air so well, too many mouths? Not now. His teeth don’t fit right though. So no smiling, not that he feels like smiling.

“⅁ood goop, geʇ aholp of yonrsǝlɟ, ᗡɐuiel”, he shudders a little in Danny’s grasp. They’re back in Amity. In his lair. In what’s his. “ᒋust, usǝ ʇhe cɹown, to pull ǝuǝrgy from ʇɥe zonǝ, fǝǝd thɐʇ to ɯǝ”.

Danny doesn’t get it. It doesn’t make sense. “c̶r̶o̶w̶n̶?̶ 㠪𝓝🝗尺Ꮆ丫?̶ V̶l̶a̶d̶ I̶-̶ w̶h̶a̶t̶?̶ D̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ g̶e̶t̶ i̶t̶”. Oh he thinks he sounds much better now. His throat must have been wrong. His energy warping his speech.

“ᗺoy, hoʍ ɔan yon noʇ- ah, I sǝǝ”.

“S̶e̶e̶ w̶h̶a̶t̶?̶”. Danny gets them into Vlad’s mansion, ghostly tail coiling them up on one of the guys oversized lounger chairs, the kind he drinks in. Alone. Maddie the cat bounds over, he almost wants to hiss, but she smells of them both, she means no harm. She digs claws into jumpsuit, pulling herself up, he doesn’t notice any pain of it as she curls up on Vlad.

What a good cat.

A very good cat.

She can help heal him right? Cat purrs? He’s read about that. How they heal, heal others and themselves. Cats are good creatures. She purrs, he purrs back; copies the healing sound in hopes it works for him as it must her.

Vlad sighs, sagging a bit, this must help. “ᗡɐuiel, my boʎ, liʇʇle badger. Tɥǝ zonǝ can ouly, go so loug, ʍithout ᴉts, ruler. ⅄ou hɐp ɯore claᴉm, tɥan I. Yon fǝllǝd hᴉɯ, you’ɹǝ thǝ ʞing, now”.

What…

Is he saying that? Danny, him, is the… ghost king? Now? Because he won the fight? That’s… a lot. Especially right now. But… Vlad was saying to use the crown, the high ghost king crown, to heal him. Danny could heal him. Could fix him. Make him well. And better. Okay. No more hurt.

So the crown’s… okay.

“H̷o̷w̷ d̷o̷ I̷ d̷o̷ t̷h̷a̷t̷ V̷l̷a̷d̷?̷ T̷e̷l̷l̷ m̷e̷ h̷o̷w̷?̷”.

“I am bafflǝd, hoʍ ʎou didn’t, aɔɔidenʇallʎ makǝ thɐʇ, a ɔommand, of mǝ. Thᴉuʞ of ᴉt lᴉke, your coɹe, excedʇ oɟ pull!ng ᴉu ǝuǝrgy, from ʇhe resʇ oɟ, youɹsǝlf, to focus, ᴉnstǝɐd pull, from outsᴉdǝ, youɹsǝlf, yet connǝɔʇed sʇᴉll”.

Danny blinks, his eyes are much to wide, but he does as instructed, trying to direct his attention to his head… the area above his head. It’s… actually there. And it is pulling in energy, it feels like, from elsewhere. So he focuses in on that, it perhaps seems like it’s not the most effective way to do this but he doesn’t know how else so it will have to do today. Pulling in energy, through himself, out through his limbs and torso and other bodily connections to Vlad’s self, and feds it into him. Vlad gasping and groaning immediately.

Also immediately, things begin to stitch themselves back together. Face skin patching over bone, eyes boiling up out of empty sockets, ghostly clothing- ectoplasmic outer layers forming to cover human flesh turning blue, limbs reform like pieces from the air were snapping together in a puzzle of limbs, and destroyed chest fillets rearranging into its proper state. He’s healing, he’s doing it, and something happy and content in him sings in purrs and chimes and bells and chirps. The sensation nearly bowls him over, it’s so much.

It’s everything and he loses himself a bit, the room too small suddenly and he doesn’t want to be like this at all. It was so not human. Maddie the cats warning growl, angry at his movement, is impressively chastising and grounding, but not enough to snap him back down. He has too many limbs, he doesn’t know how many, it feels like an incomprehensible number. His legs are too long and bend more than they should; like an animals, a wild animals. Mouths and eyes in places they shouldn’t be, even filling the cape he can feel over himself and covering Vlad as well; to protect him. That crown that he’s almost too aware of now, feels like it’s trying to freeze himself yet that feels right; snow falls from his hair.

It’s…

Not great.

His fingers are too skinny, too long, too jointed, in icy points, and Vlad fits in his palm. Vlad holding his pointer finger and pant wheezing a little, “bǝγonnⱰ γɿǝv ǝd lliw I ,ƧllⱰw γm ʞⱰǝɿd uoγ ʇI .ǝniʇ ǝɿ’uoγ ,ɿǝϱbⱰd ǝlɈɈil ,γⱰʞo ǝɿ’uoY”.

Vlad’s voice doesn’t sound like English again, but he still understands it. Him huffing and trying to shrink himself away from the walls. At least Vlad looks pleased with himself, “ʍou ɹoɟ ʇsǝɹ ǝɯ ʇǝl ʇsnᒋ .doʇs uɐɔ no⅄”. Danny thinks he’s slowly getting the hang of this strange way of hearing. It’s so… sensation focused. He nods, stops feeding the guy raw zone energy; Vlad seems a bit relieved at that.

Maddie the Cat starts kneading the guys glowing white suit almost aggressively. It’s… calming and Danny feels okay just sort of kneeling down, bent over and cradling Vlad in his palm. Protecting him from the world and trying to join Maddie the Cat in purring him to sleep. He’s all wrong but he’s not the one who matters right now.

Danny comes into awareness -he didn’t sleep, he knows he didn’t sleep. He… can’t? like this- to Vlad, human Vlad, just standing on his face. Shiny shoes just barely within eyesight from far too many angles on his eye bags. The man’s… grabbing? what feels like a horn… an almost bunny ear like horn. He has three pairs of ears overlapping each other, was nothing of him human shaped like this? It’s a bit awful.

Vlad scowls at him, “ʸᵒᵘ’ʳᵉ ᵗᵒᵒ ᵇⁱᵍ, ᵃⁿᵈ ᴵ ᵏⁿᵒʷ ʸᵒᵘ ʷᵒⁿ’ᵗ ᵇᵉ ᵃᵇˡᵉ ᵗᵒ ᶜᵒⁿᵗᵃⁱⁿ ʸᵒᵘʳˢᵉˡᶠ ᵗⁱˡˡ ʸᵒᵘ ˢᵉᵉ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ᴵ’ᵐ ᶠⁱⁿᵉ‧ ᔆᵒ ᴰᵃⁿⁱᵉˡ, ᴵ‧ ᴬᵐ‧ ᶠⁱⁿᵉ”.

That was… more? human, he still winces from it being wrong though. Using his hands to push himself up off the floor a little, Vlad just glaring more while Danny stares all his eyes at him, some move through the air to stare more closely. He… did seem fine. His energy felt, weakened and not entirely his own, like Danny was still holding him together some, but he was fine.

“t̸̠͖̞͌̽̚h̵͍̺͕́͑a̸̘͉͕̓̈́̽t̵̡̢͖̽͘͝’̴͓̫̠͌̕͠s̴̝̼͚̔̚ ǵ̴̙̦͌͘o̸̝͎̝̓̿o̸͉̠͙̕͠d̴̢̝̓͑͘͜“, oh zone all the floating eyes became mouths for him to speak with, it’s so disorienting that he sways to the side and jerks a little, “O̴̢͇̝̐̔̽h̸͍͚͔̓̕ t̴͖͉͚̀̒͐h̴͙͖͖͛́̈́a̸̢͇͊́͠ẗ̵̟̠́̈́ w̵̢̻͕͒̚͝a̴͕͚͒͐͛s̸͓͍͋͆͜͠ f̴̡̡̻͆͘͠r̸͙̪͌̿͜͝e̴̡̠̼͆͆̔a̵͇̘̞͋͊͌k̵̪͉̻͋́̕y̸̪͓̫̿̐”.

Vlad huffs, rolling his eyes, “ᴵ’ᵐ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵍᵒⁱⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ᵈⁱˢᵃᵍʳᵉᵉ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ˢᵗᵃᵗᵉᵐᵉⁿᵗ‧ ᴺᵒʷ ᵃᵗ ˡᵉᵃˢᵗ ᵍᵉᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳˢᵉˡᶠ ᵈᵒʷⁿ ᵗᵒ ᵃ ʳᵉᵃˢᵒⁿᵃᵇˡᵉ ˢⁱᶻᵉ ᵒʳ ᴵ’ᵐ ʲᵃᵇᵇⁱⁿᵍ ʸᵒᵘ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖˡᵃˢᵐⁱᵘˢ ᴹᵃˣⁱᵐᵘˢ”. Danny wincing immediately, that thing sucked.

How did he even get himself into this state though? ‘Expanding’ wasn’t right, engulfing? No.

…

Unfolding perhaps.

So he could… fold in? Maybe? People shouldn’t be able to fold at all. Ugh. But trying to, like, fold himself up like origami seems to make himself and his energy shudder and twist in on itself. Vlad grinning proudly and dropping himself off of Danny’s face. Danny kind of… faceplanting into the ground, knees and arms on the floor, ass up in the air; groaning, “Iͥ feͤeͤl liͥᴋⷦeͤ aͣ oͦvͮeͤrͬs͛ᴛⷮuͧffeͤdͩ noͦoͦdͩleͤ”.

Vlad scoffs, “ᵛᵉʳʸ ᵍʳᵃᶜᵉᶠᵘˡ, ᴰᵃⁿⁱᵉˡ”, sounding to be walking near him, Danny doesn’t feel like opening his eyes yet, there’s still so many of them. It’s like he compacted his physical self while instead spreading out gaseous aspects of himself. Vlad still sounds wrong, his hearing is still wrong. At least he’s down from three sets of ears to two sets.

Danny pushing himself up with his hands, staggering upright fully, he’s… at least twice Vlad’s height. Damn it. Wiggling his mouth around, “dͩaͣmͫn iͥᴛⷮ”.

“ᴸᵃⁿᵍᵘᵃᵍᵉ”, Vlad stepping forward, crossing his arms, and glaring up at him. Danny’s tail swishes on the ground, fuck since when did he have a tail! Vlad’s sighs and actually smiles fondly at him, “ᵗʰⁱˢ ⁱˢ ᵍᵒᵒᵈ ᵉⁿᵒᵘgh, I suppose. There’s ᵖʳᵒᵇᵃᵇˡʸ ᵗᵒᵒ ᵐᵘᶜʰ ᵉⁿᵉʳᵍʸ ⁱn you to get ʸᵒᵘʳˢᵉˡᶠ ᵇᵃᶜk to normal, either ᶠᵒʳᵐ”, glancing around at the starry mist and floating eyes, “I ᵗⁱˡˡ ᶜᵃⁿ’ᵗ ᶠᵃᵗʰom how you didⁿ’ᵗ ʳᵉᵃˡⁱˢᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ʷere the king now with all ᵒᶠ this”.

“Iͥ… Iͥ’vͮeͤ neͤvͮeͤrͬ вⷡeͤeͤn,̓ liͥᴋⷦeͤ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛,̓ вⷡeͤfoͦrͬeͤ”.

Vlad blinks, looking back to his face, “strange, this, or that I suppose, should simply be your natural state now”, tilting his head and humming, “perhaps ᵃⁿᵒᵗʰᵉʳ ᵃᶠᶠect of being a halfa?”, shrugging, “well I can harᵈˡʸ ᵗᵉˢᵗ ⁱᵗ ᵒut. Now let’s sit ᵈᵒʷⁿ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗᵃˡᵏ, ᵇᵉᶜᵃᵘse-”, sighing, “-this deᶠⁱⁿⁱtely must be talked about”.

Danny only turning his head, watching his sorta uncle sorta arch enemy sorta god father sit in a gody high backed chair, gesturing at the large lounger, “Daniel, your energʸ ⁱˢ ˡⁱᵗᵉrally repressing my ability to feel emotions strongly right now, I am okay, but ʷᵉ ʰᵃᵛᵉ ᵗᵒ talk or I’m not going to do wᵉˡˡ when you leave and neither will you”.

Danny nods a little jerkily and attempts to walk over but these legs don’t move right and he stumbles over onto the ground immediately, at least he manages to catch himself with his hands even if he cuts up Vlad’s rug in the process. He can hear, and see with the mist eyes, Vlad pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing. The man walking back over and helping Danny up and over to the chair.

It’s weirdly grounding sinking into soft cushion, even if it crunches up the tail weirdly. He’s got most of his back smashed into the seat, shoulders and head against the chair back, and his legs just kinda bent up and simultaneously sprawled on the arm rests and the floor; it probably looks horribly awkward and uncomfortable; didn’t feel it at least. “S͛oͦ”, looking most of his eyes -fuck this Is weird- up at the ceiling, “Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ… cͨaͣuͧghͪᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ. Dͩiͥdͩ t̸̝̻͎̀́̕h̸͍͔̽͊͆͜a̸̪͔̻̐͛͠t̴̡̙͕͆̈́͝ ᴛⷮoͦ yoͦuͧ”. There was always a chance of this happening, he always thought it would be him though. It hurt. And he had always known it would hurt. He just hadn’t realised how much. One of his ‘parents’ doing this.

Vlad rubs his face, wincing, then composing himself and nodding. Danny kind of wants to break something and that tail smacks is weird quill cover spear end thing on the ground. Vlad doesn’t seem to care at least, “indeed”, sighing, “it would seem Valerie was a fair bit more vengeful and vindictive than I was prepared for”.

Oh hey! His hearing isn’t super super weird anymore, titling his head enough to rub his left ears on the back of the chair- or ear he should say, seems he’s back to more human with that. Clearing his throat, “Vͮaͣl? S͛hͪeͤ goͦᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ cͨaͣuͧghͪᴛⷮ?”, scowling, “Noͦ woͦndͩeͤrͬ s͛hͪeͤ dͩiͥdͩn’ᴛⷮ s͛eͤeͤmͫ ᴛⷮoͦ cͨaͣrͬeͤ whͪeͤrͬeͤ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ ‘Vͮlaͣdͩ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ mͫaͣyoͦrͬ’ weͤnᴛⷮ!”. He was going to rip her a new one for this, Vlad got hurt. HURT. In all caps. HURT bad. Danny twitches a little, shit it feels like those horn things got longer on him.

“Try to keep a handle on yourself?”, Vlad running a hand through his hair, “thank you, and I mean that, for caring enough to try and find me. To rescue me”.

Danny blinks, that… might have been the only time the man had ever genuinely thanked him for anything. It meant he did a real good job, his core hums happily a little. Grinning, too too too many teeth, at Vlad, “aͣww Vͮlaͣdͩdͩiͥeͤ oͦf cͨoͦuͧrͬs͛eͤ Iͥ cͨaͣrͬeͤ”, frowning and shuddering a little, “ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ waͣs͛ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ woͦrͬs͛ᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪiͥng Iͥ’vͮeͤ eͤvͮeͤrͬ s͛eͤeͤn”.

“It was worse to experience, I assure you”, massaging his temples, “and the fact that it was Jack of all people. Once I’ve ‘healed’ properly I’m going to be incredibly embarrassed”.

“mͫy dͩaͣdͩ cͨuͧᴛⷮ oͦрⷬeͤn mͫy uͧncͨleͤ,̓ hͪoͦw dͩoͦ yoͦuͧ ᴛⷮhͪiͥnᴋⷦ Iͥ feͤeͤl”.

“Uncle huh”.

Danny frowns, “Iͥ feͤeͤl woͦrͬldͩs͛ вⷡeͤᴛⷮᴛⷮeͤrͬ aͣвⷡoͦuͧᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ ᴛⷮhͪaͣn ᴛⷮhͪeͤmͫ,̓ rͬiͥghͪᴛⷮ noͦw”.

Vlad nods a little, “reasonable”, sighing again and looking off to the side, “and Valerie?”.

Danny’s… conflicted about that. He knows she probably didn’t mean for all of that to happen to him. She probably just thought Jack would embarrass the guy by beating him up and take simple ectoplasm samples. Danny knew better, Vlad did too, even before this. Jack’s and Maddie’s dehumanising of ghosts was extreme and made them okay with doing awful things. “Iͥ… waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ ᴋⷦnoͦw whͪaͣᴛⷮ s͛hͪeͤ mͫeͤaͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ hͪaͣрⷬрⷬeͤn. Iͥf s͛hͪeͤ… ᴋⷦneͤw hͪoͦw dͩaͣngeͤrͬoͦuͧs͛ ᴛⷮhͪeͤy cͨoͦuͧldͩ вⷡeͤ”.

“And if she did?”.

“ᴛⷮhͪeͤn s͛hͪeͤ’s͛ noͦᴛⷮ woͦrͬᴛⷮhͪ вⷡeͤiͥng neͤaͣrͬ oͦrͬ ᴛⷮaͣlᴋⷦiͥng ᴛⷮoͦ. Iͥf s͛hͪeͤ waͣnᴛⷮs͛ ᴛⷮoͦ ᴛⷮhͪrͬoͦw hͪaͣndͩs͛ ᴛⷮhͪeͤn fiͥneͤ”. If she’s remotely okay with what was done to Vlad, then he seriously misjudged her and he’s taking that suit away from her. He’ll rip the nanobots out of her, she doesn’t need them to be healthy or live. She can hate him all she wants for it, he doesn’t care. “S͛hͪeͤ woͦn’ᴛⷮ geͤᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ вⷡeͤ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ Rͬeͤdͩ нⷩuͧnᴛⷮrͬeͤs͛s͛ aͣnymͫoͦrͬeͤ”.

Vlad nods agreeingly, “you’re far too protective”, frowning, “though I suppose it’s needed far more than I wanted to acknowledge previously”, rolling his wrist, “she led me into a trap, one I’m assuming she got Jack to set up by telling him Plasmius would be in that area. He had the place rigged with launchers that shot spiked balls that destabilised my ectoplasm enough that I couldn’t move. It was quite unpleasant realising that”.

Danny wincing, “mͫoͦdͩdͩeͤdͩ dͩrͬyeͤrͬ вⷡaͣlls͛,̓ eͤcͨᴛⷮoͦ-̄liͥnᴛⷮeͤrͬs͛. Iͥ feͤll oͦn ᴛⷮhͪoͦs͛eͤ oͦncͨeͤ,̓ рⷬaͣiͥnfuͧl. ᴛⷮuͧcͨᴋⷦ mͫoͦvͮeͤdͩ mͫeͤ aͣrͬoͦuͧndͩ liͥᴋⷦeͤ aͣ cͨaͣrͬdͩвⷡoͦaͣrͬdͩ s͛ᴛⷮaͣndͩeͤeͤ foͦrͬ aͣn hͪoͦuͧrͬ”.

Vlad eyes him, “I couldn’t move for days. The perks of being king I suppose”; he sounded a bit jealous, but… if it had worn off quicker then perhaps Vlad could have gotten away.

Danny swallows, “Yeͤaͣhͪ”, shuffling to sink into the cushion a bit more, engulf himself with it, “aͣmͫ Iͥ rͬeͤaͣlly,̓ yoͦuͧ ᴋⷦnoͦw?”.

Vlad looks at him like he’s dumb, “yes, Daniel. Yes you are. I would think your current and previous form would have made that clear”.

“hͪuͧhͪ”.

Vlad rolls his eyes fondly, the two sitting in silence for a bit, Danny aggressively wanting the chair to just swallow him into the black void or something. Then Vlad speaks up again, “what are you going to do now? After what… he did? They know, about both of us”.

Danny frowns, he’s honestly not sure. He can’t, won’t, go back to FentonWorks, not right now maybe not ever. Obviously he can’t right now while looking like some kind of messed up forest monster, even if he was almost more human sized now. Ugh, his bones felt so freaking long; it makes him want to wiggle them out but that feels like he’ll just make them longer and he doesn’t want that. Can he even look Jack in the eye? Yes, clearly his… dad? was extremely upset and disturbed by what he did or found out, he didn’t even know his dad drank! That Jack drank. Then there was the… state -flexing a few toes- that room was left in. Scowling a little, disgusting as it was, horrific as it was, as much hurt was in there; Jack left and didn’t re-enter. Forcing himself to stop basically baring his teeth, too many teeth, Ancients. Staring at the wall rather than Vlad, ignoring how the light from his eyes bounces off things, “dͩiͥdͩ hͪeͤ leͤaͣvͮeͤ,̓ aͣs͛ s͛oͦoͦn aͣs͛ yoͦuͧ,̓ yoͦuͧ ᴋⷦnoͦw,̓ cͨhͪaͣngeͤdͩ”.

Vlad frowns and nods, “he vomited, actually. Practically had to drag himself out, staggering and sweating the whole way. He… didn’t look that bad back when I had my accident”, furrowing his brows, “I think he cried, but I couldn’t exactly focus on the sound”. He’s got a distant look in his eyes, a sad one. Sometimes Danny wonders if, just maybe, if Jack and Maddie had just visited Vlad and supported him, then perhaps they’d still be friends. Maybe not great friends, but actual friends. Those two failed him miserably, even if that didn’t excuse him being a fruitloop at them. This though, Jack ripping him open, did excuse it.

Danny clenching his hands up and huffing aggressively at the air, he seemed to be… even more protective in this, er, state. Or maybe just had a harder time controlling his ghostly behaviours and shit. It made him feel a lot more monstrous. “ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ’s͛ goͦoͦdͩ,̓ Iͥ ᴛⷮhͪiͥnᴋⷦ”, scratching his head and wincing at how sharp the ice claw things were, “aͣndͩ ᴛⷮhͪeͤy вⷡoͦᴛⷮhͪ leͤᴛⷮ mͫeͤ leͤaͣvͮeͤ,̓ leͤᴛⷮ uͧs͛ leͤaͣvͮeͤ. Eͤvͮeͤn wiͥᴛⷮhͪ S͛ᴋⷦuͧlᴋⷦeͤrͬ ᴛⷮhͪeͤrͬeͤ рⷬoͦiͥnᴛⷮiͥng aͣ guͧn aͣᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪeͤmͫ”.

Vlad blinks, surprise barely hidden, “Skulker was with you?”.

Danny nodding, a little surprised himself, that Vlad hadn’t noticed. Guess the guys attention was really only on those more important to him, Danny’s self was probably really distracting too ‘cause he knows he was messing up with his human and ghost forms. “yeͤaͣhͪ,̓ Iͥ aͣs͛ᴋⷦeͤdͩ hͪiͥmͫ ᴛⷮoͦ fiͥndͩ yoͦuͧ aͣndͩ hͪeͤ dͩiͥdͩ”.

Vlad hums, “I suppose I’ll have to up his pay then”. Danny just huffs a snort at that. Vlad continuing after a beat, “Jack, I’m not surprised, he believes he made a mistake. Maddie… I’d like to say she was as, if not more, upset at my state than him; but I know that would be a lie. She was upset because of you, the reveal of you, and you being a proper ghost at her”.

Danny wincing, tail coiling in on itself and the quills ‘frilling’ out or something, “Iͥ hͪoͦрⷬeͤ Iͥ dͩiͥdͩn’ᴛⷮ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮ hͪeͤrͬ ᴛⷮoͦoͦ вⷡaͣdͩly. ᴛⷮhͪeͤy… aͣs͛ᴋⷦeͤdͩ mͫeͤ ᴛⷮoͦ s͛ᴛⷮaͣy aͣwaͣy,̓ dͩiͥdͩn’ᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪeͤy?”.

“Daniel, you and I both know she didn’t mean permanently”. Danny glances at him and then goes back to staring at the wall. Vlad wheezing a little, “you’re thinking about not going back, aren’t you?”. Danny nods a little, prompting Vlad to continue, “you’re welcome to stay with me, of course”.

Danny fiddles with the claw finger things in front of his faces eyes, some of the floating eyes staring at them too. On one hand, living with Vlad is what wound up resulting in Dan, but that was years ago and Dan wasn’t some kind of eldritch ghost king. On the other hand, or one of his other hands he guesses geez that was freaky, he can’t imagine living with Vlad without them trying to break each other eventually. However… Vlad being alone right now feels incredibly wrong in an instinctual and primal way, a non-human way that’s possessive and hungry. He doesn’t like it. But he likes the idea of Vlad having a break down by himself over Danny not wanting to stay with him, even less. And sure, the guys kinda crazy, but he’s gotten a lot better. He was never going to be his dad, never. But maybe being uncle a little more genuinely wasn’t such a bad idea, “yoͦuͧ’vͮeͤ goͦᴛⷮ aͣ cͨoͦoͦl cͨaͣᴛⷮ”.

Vlad smirks, chuckling a little and shaking his head. Resting his chin on a palm and rubbing his chest a little with the other, “you know where your room is. There’s gummy bears in there like always, you child”.

“iͥs͛n’ᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ rͬuͧdͩeͤ ᴛⷮoͦ s͛aͣy ᴛⷮoͦ yoͦuͧrͬ s͛oͦrͬᴛⷮaͣ goͦdͩ?”.

“Start acting like a god then”.

Danny squirms or squiggles and makes a point to stick his tongue out at the man, even if his heart and core aren’t really in it. Neither of them really have anything in the banter anyways. “Iͥ feͤdͩ yoͦuͧrͬ cͨaͣᴛⷮ,̓ вⷡy ᴛⷮhͪeͤ waͣy,̓ whͪiͥleͤ hͪeͤ hͪaͣdͩ yoͦuͧ”.

Vlad sags a bit bonelessly, looking genuinely relieved for the first time, “good. I’m glad she wasn’t left alone”.

Danny twitches, he really doesn’t want to be laying/sitting here anymore. Flopping his feet and legs on the ground fully, that long lower part of his legs attached to a weird backwards knee laying flat on the ground as he does actually try to push himself back standing up. Vlad quirking an eyebrow at, “and what do you think you’re doing?”.

Danny shaking his arms out a bit, why did his arms feels so much lighter than his hands? Ew. “Iͥ waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ mͫoͦvͮeͤ aͣndͩ Iͥ waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ рⷬuͧᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ feͤaͣrͬ oͦf aͣ goͦdͩ iͥn Vͮaͣl”, pointing at Vlad and struggling not to stagger a bit, growling at him, “Iͥ aͣmͫ cͨoͦmͫiͥng вⷡaͣcͨᴋⷦ aͣndͩ ᴋⷦnoͦw ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ iͥf yoͦuͧ’rͬeͤ noͦᴛⷮ hͪeͤrͬeͤ,̓ Iͥ’mͫ goͦiͥng ᴛⷮoͦ fiͥndͩ yoͦuͧ aͣndͩ s͛waͣdͩdͩleͤ yoͦuͧ oͦrͬ s͛oͦmͫeͤᴛⷮhͪiͥng eͤquͧaͣlly вⷡaͣвⷡyiͥng”.

Vlad puts his hands up, standing up as well, “understood, even if I wanted to I wouldn’t make very far”, dropping his hands, “it’ll be a while before I am genuinely healed, Daniel”.

Danny quirking a worried eyebrow, stepping forward a little jerkily, “eͤvͮeͤn wiͥᴛⷮhͪ whͪaͣᴛⷮ Iͥ dͩiͥdͩ? Yoͦuͧ feͤeͤl s͛ᴛⷮaͣвⷡleͤ?”.

“I lost blood too, far too much, you can’t fix that beyond packing me with enough ecto-energy to have plenty for my core to transition over to blood. I’m stable, yes, but my energy is quite volatile, I’ll fall apart if I so much as try to transform”.

Danny winces, okay, point taken. But he was better, healed, healing, it’s enough. Right now… he has to protect Vlad by making sure this never happens again. Him going to float up in the air and instead slamming himself into the ceiling, him snarling at said ceiling on instinct before blushing, whoops. He’d thought he’d been strong before, now it felt like he had a direct connection to the Infinite Realm and it was just shoving raw power at him; he… seemed to be sending some back but still. Weird. Not really good. Putting a hand on the ceiling to help hold himself in spot, looking down at Vlad with all his eyes, “dͩoͦ yoͦuͧ ᴛⷮhͪiͥnᴋⷦ hͪuͧmͫaͣns͛ cͨaͣn hͪaͣndͩleͤ s͛eͤeͤiͥng mͫeͤ? Liͥᴋⷦeͤ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛? Oͦrͬ liͥᴋⷦeͤ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ? Iͥ feͤeͤl liͥᴋⷦeͤ Iͥ loͦoͦᴋⷦ liͥᴋⷦeͤ aͣ niͥghͪᴛⷮmͫaͣrͬeͤ“.

Vlad gives him an actually encouraging smile, “it’s not a bad look, Daniel, for a ghost”, then giving him that judgmental look he often did, “if you let loose your full ghost king form on her then she will pass out and your voice won’t make sense to purely human ears”.

Danny groaning exaggeratedly, figures, that, frankly just makes him feel worse about that form. Tail flicking a bit, this was… going to take a while to get used to. He also doesn’t really want anyone, who wasn’t a ghost anyways, knowing about his apparent freaking kingship. Moving the hand that isn’t on the ceiling to grab the crown a bit and trying to will it away, jerking when that seems to work, “oͦhͪ! Oͦᴋⷦaͣy. Iͥ cͨaͣn? woͦrͬᴋⷦ wiͥᴛⷮhͪ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛? Iͥ ᴛⷮhͪiͥnᴋⷦ?”.

Vlad chuckles at him shaking his head and walking over to his china cabinet, pulling out a bottle and a whiskey glass, “ridiculous”, sighing as he pours a honestly excessive amount, “do not bring Ms. Gray back here, I will hurt her”, his eyes flashing red dangerously just to make his threat very clear; even if that also seems to make he’s knees buckle a little before he can straighten himself out.

Danny is having none of that but he gets it, “Iͥ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ waͣnᴛⷮ hͪeͤrͬ neͤaͣrͬ yoͦuͧ aͣndͩ wiͥll juͧs͛ᴛⷮ s͛ᴛⷮaͣrͬᴛⷮ s͛hͪrͬiͥeͤᴋⷦiͥng aͣᴛⷮ hͪeͤrͬ liͥᴋⷦeͤ aͣ feͤrͬaͣl cͨaͣᴛⷮ iͥf s͛hͪeͤ s͛hͪoͦws͛”. Vlad huffing a small laugh while Danny eyes the liquor, “ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ s͛ᴛⷮuͧff’s͛ вⷡaͣdͩ foͦrͬ yoͦuͧ”.

“I really do not care, Daniel. I need to drown myself into numbness right now”.

“Rͬiͥghͪᴛⷮ…”, Danny’s not going to touch that one.

:Chap. 4:

You Set Up This Fall, You Get To Know It All

By the time Danny’s spotted Val, in her Red Huntress gear, he knows he’s a bit bigger, bit longer? than when he was at Vlad’s but he thinks he’s got a handle on himself. At least he got the cape to go away in that same time, and the size increase has definitely decreased the amount of star mist and random floating eyes that can be mouths.

She’s in a fire fight with Skulker, the one ghost that Danny doesn’t want her fighting right now, the one full ghost he doesn’t want her fighting right now. But Skulker doesn’t look like he’s ‘enjoying the hunt’, he just looks pissed. Jack… must have told him what happened, who set everything in motion. Danny watching, head peeking over a roof top and claws scrapping into the rooftop, as she grumbles, “what is with him today? What happened to ‘it’s just sparring’ Skulker? It’s like It’s actually trying to kill me or something. Ugh. Stupid ghosts”.

Skulker shooting at her again, “you truly don’t get what you’ve done”. Yeah, Skulker knows, and he’s pissed. Was he pissed because he did care somewhat about Vlad? Or because that level of hurt was just plain wrong? Or because his king was pissed and completely lost his shit?

Whatever. He’s the one who’s going to have this conversation with her. She’s his too and Skulker doesn’t get to hurt her either. Him putting a hand to his head, wincing and noting how his fingers can curl around his whole skull, ugh. He wants her to be scared of him right now though, so he’ll accept it.

Skulker gets in a good hit, smashing a mini bomb into her shoulder, making her wince and zip away from the ghost some. Now. Danny lunges, all snarl, “R̴̢̙̪̀̈́͝E̵͚̦͎͒̐D̸̠̙͉́͐”, and smashes her down into a roof top, torso and shoulders pinned under his claws and palm. Skulker jerking in the air with a startled, “shit, Phantom”.

Danny putting his face in a very startled Valerie’s face, hissing, “weͤ,̓ aͣrͬeͤ hͪaͣvͮiͥng aͣ liͥᴛⷮᴛⷮleͤ ᴛⷮaͣlᴋⷦ. N̸̪͖͇̽͋́O̸̡͇̻̾̚W̸̦͓̐͌͋“, lifting his head to look at Skulker and narrowing his eyes, “yoͦuͧ dͩiͥdͩ goͦoͦdͩ,̓ вⷡuͧᴛⷮ leͤaͣvͮeͤ”. Skulker nodding rapidly and effectively fleeing; Danny’s tail swishing contentedly before he turns his attention back to Val.

She shoots him point blank in the face immediately, “what the zone are you? Who are you, ghost?”.

He barely cares she doesn’t recognise him, he bites her gun into thirds, spitting the middle part that’s inside of his mouth out across the roof as the other pieces clatter down, “aͣвⷡs͛oͦluͧᴛⷮeͤly noͦᴛⷮ,̓ Rͬeͤdͩ”.

She blinks at him, muttering, “‘Red’”, to herself, and then her face visor opens up, “Phantom? What the zone happened to you?!? And what are you doing!?!”.

Danny chuckles meanly, dropping his feet and legs out of floating in the air, so that they’re planted on the roof, him basically hunched loomingly over her, “whͪaͣᴛⷮ hͪaͣрⷬрⷬeͤneͤdͩ iͥs͛ yoͦuͧ рⷬiͥs͛s͛eͤdͩ mͫeͤ oͦff”. She stills when he grabs her helmet with his other hand and crushes it off in pieces, sticking his face in hers, even if his is much bigger right now; the mist eyes crowding around her face to stare further. She smells scared, good. “Iͥ foͦuͧndͩ Vͮlaͣdͩ,̓ waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ ᴋⷦnoͦw hͪoͦw Iͥ foͦuͧndͩ hͪiͥmͫ? whͪaͣᴛⷮ s͛ᴛⷮaͣᴛⷮeͤ hͪeͤ waͣs͛ iͥn?“.

She nods stiffly and slowly at him, voice sounding a bit strained, “yes?”.

Danny snarls, all teeth, too many as there are, “нⷩaͣvͮeͤ yoͦuͧ eͤvͮeͤrͬ s͛eͤeͤn s͛oͦmͫeͤoͦneͤ fiͥlleͤᴛⷮ aͣ fiͥs͛hͪ вⷡeͤfoͦrͬeͤ? Oͦrͬ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ Aͣngeͤl ᴛⷮrͬaͣрⷬ iͥn S͛aͣw? Whͪaͣᴛⷮ aͣвⷡoͦuͧᴛⷮ s͛oͦmͫeͤoͦneͤ wiͥᴛⷮhͪ ᴛⷮhͪeͤiͥrͬ eͤyeͤs͛ ᴛⷮoͦrͬn oͦuͧᴛⷮ oͦf ᴛⷮhͪeͤiͥrͬ s͛ᴋⷦuͧll?н̡̼̘̫ⷩ͜͜a̟̻̠̪͔ͣv̡̙̞̠̦ͮe͍͚̟̦̺ͤ y̠̘̻o̻͕̠̫̘͔ͦu̦͉̙̘̫͎ͧ?͎̞͖!͚̙̫”.

She pales, good, shaking her head, “Jack- he- he wouldn’t-”.

“нⷩeͤ dͩiͥdͩ”, narrowing his eyes at her, all of them, “Aͣndͩ cͨaͣrͬeͤ ᴛⷮoͦ guͧeͤs͛s͛ whͪaͣᴛⷮ hͪeͤ’s͛ dͩoͦiͥng noͦw? Aͣfᴛⷮeͤrͬ Vͮlaͣdͩ cͨhͪaͣngeͤdͩ вⷡaͣcͨᴋⷦ aͣndͩ hͪeͤ rͬeͤaͣliͥs͛eͤdͩ hͪeͤ’dͩ mͫaͣngleͤdͩ hͪiͥs͛ oͦncͨeͤ вⷡeͤs͛ᴛⷮ frͬiͥeͤndͩ?”, his glow feels like it’s moving and wiggling more like flames than a proper glow.

This time, her voice is a squeak and she’s shaking lightly, “w-what-t?”.

“Dͩrͬiͥnᴋⷦiͥng. Aͣfᴛⷮeͤrͬ vͮoͦmͫiͥᴛⷮiͥng aͣndͩ cͨrͬyiͥng foͦrͬ fuͧcͨᴋⷦ ᴋⷦnoͦws͛ hͪoͦw loͦng”, moving a foot to be pinning her with that instead so he can stand more up right and stare down at her a bit more menacingly, “dͩoͦ yoͦuͧ hͪaͣvͮeͤ aͣny cͨluͧeͤ hͪoͦw mͫuͧcͨhͪ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮ yoͦuͧrͬ s͛ᴛⷮuͧрⷬiͥdͩ vͮeͤngeͤfuͧl cͨrͬaͣрⷬ hͪaͣs͛ cͨaͣuͧs͛eͤdͩ? Noͦ,̓ yoͦuͧ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ”, pointing a claw in her face, “yoͦuͧ’rͬeͤ cͨoͦmͫiͥng wiͥᴛⷮhͪ mͫeͤ rͬiͥghͪᴛⷮ noͦw,̓ weͤᴛⷮhͪeͤrͬ yoͦuͧ liͥᴋⷦeͤ iͥᴛⷮ oͦrͬ noͦᴛⷮ. Aͣndͩ ᴋⷦnoͦw ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ iͥf iͥᴛⷮ waͣs͛n’ᴛⷮ foͦrͬ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ faͣcͨᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ Iͥ ᴋⷦnoͦw yoͦuͧ dͩiͥdͩn’ᴛⷮ mͫeͤaͣn foͦrͬ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛ ᴛⷮoͦ hͪaͣрⷬрⷬeͤn,̓ Iͥ woͦuͧldͩ rͬiͥрⷬ ᴛⷮhͪoͦs͛eͤ naͣnoͦ вⷡoͦᴛⷮs͛ oͦuͧᴛⷮ oͦf yoͦuͧ mͫys͛eͤlf,̓ вⷡy aͣny mͫeͤaͣns͛ neͤcͨeͤs͛s͛aͣrͬy”. And floats up with her trapped in his one foot, moving to float off back to Naperville.

He hated that town now. Wanted nothing to do with it. But she was going to see this, even if it gave her some nightmares. Because, by fuck, were him and Vlad going to be having them.

Val doesn’t even try to fight him, mostly staring wide-eyed, possibly in a bit of genuine medical shock. Muttering to herself after a long while, “I- I didn’t- the Fenton’s- I- zone”.

Danny ignores that the mini GAV’s gone, he’s not sure he cares. If they were still here or not it wouldn't matter. If they thought him more a monster now then whatever, they already thought he was a monster anyways. He’s tempted to toss her on the floor, but he doesn’t want more hurt. So he just drops her gently on it, her pushing herself up with her hands, sitting on her ankles and staring into the room; arms falling to her sides. Danny planting both his feet on the ground, looking at the pain room instead of her. There’s been no attempt to clean. Good… he… doesn’t want those two touching Vlad’s blood and ectoplasm. It makes him want to wiggle himself out and cover the room, consume up everything and destroy what’s left to ash and dust; nothing but broken pain memories remaining to be seen.

His head smacks into the outer ceiling, him wincing and putting a hand to the ceiling, making a point to fold himself up a bit again. He thinks he’s got too many arms again. He pokes her with a finger… from his lower left arm, ugh, he doesn’t know how much he does or doesn’t want that to be noticed by her.

She jerks forward, catching herself with her hands; at least she finally says something, “I- this is horrific. I didn’t- didn’t think they’d ever… go this far. Zone- It’s- this is… there’s so much”, putting a hand over her mouth and gagging, eyes watering.

… Danny, almost feels like a jerk. But she needs to see this. Huffing, it’s almost a snarl, “dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ foͦrͬgeͤᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ’rͬeͤ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ niͥcͨeͤ ghͪoͦs͛ᴛⷮ hͪuͧnᴛⷮeͤrͬ eͤvͮeͤrͬ aͣgaͣiͥn”.

“I- I won’t”. Some of the wires and metal sway in the breeze, making her flinch.

“ᴋⷦnoͦw ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ iͥf Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ geͤᴛⷮs͛ aͣlcͨoͦhͪoͦl рⷬoͦiͥs͛oͦniͥng oͦrͬ dͩoͦeͤs͛ s͛oͦmͫeͤᴛⷮhͪiͥng ᴛⷮoͦ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮ hͪiͥmͫs͛eͤlf,̓ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ’s͛ oͦn yoͦuͧ”, scowling, “aͣndͩ s͛ᴛⷮaͣy ᴛⷮhͪeͤ Zoͦneͤ aͣwaͣy frͬoͦmͫ Vͮlaͣdͩ. Iͥ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ hͪaͣᴛⷮeͤ yoͦuͧ foͦrͬ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛ вⷡuͧᴛⷮ iͥᴛⷮ’s͛ aͣ dͩaͣmͫn cͨloͦs͛eͤ ᴛⷮhͪiͥng. Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ… Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ Iͥ mͫiͥghͪᴛⷮ juͧs͛ᴛⷮ hͪaͣᴛⷮeͤ. S͛oͦ cͨoͦngrͬaͣᴛⷮs͛ oͦn ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ“, turning away and floating up, moving away a little, “fiͥndͩ yoͦuͧrͬ oͦwn waͣy hͪoͦmͫeͤ. Feͤeͤl frͬeͤeͤ ᴛⷮoͦ ᴛⷮaͣᴋⷦeͤ yoͦuͧrͬ ᴛⷮiͥmͫeͤ”. That’s a bit of a threat and he’s pretty sure both of them know that. She just nods slowly, and shifts into a different sitting position.

Perhaps… he can see her in a bit better light and be more okay with her if she stays here a while, just stares and takes in the aftermath.

Him heading off back to Amity, he’ll burn everything to nothing when she’s not here.

“I screwed up, I screwed up real bad, dad”.

Is Vlad still at home when Danny gets back there? Yeah. Yeah he is. He’s also extremely drunk. Extremely. Just laying on the tile in one of his bathrooms, button up shirt completely unbuttoned and splayed open wide. The room smells like vomit. It’s… not great. Danny’s still a little jerky about walking and his stance is weirdly wide, but he walks himself over to the man, “yoͦuͧ loͦoͦᴋⷦ liͥᴋⷦeͤ s͛hͪiͥᴛⷮ”.

Vlad grumbling, slurred, “weeeelll, I feee ‘reate”, and makes zero attempts to move. Danny’s sigh is almost fond as he moves to lift the man up, he only drags him out by one step before the phone goes off.

On Vlad’s personal line.

Only a few people used that. Himself, Sam and Tuck in emergencies, Val, and Maddie and Jack.

He doesn’t want to answer it.

He knows he has to.

But still.

He doesn’t want to.

He puts Vlad down gently, his aura felt better but he still felt like shattered glass. One wrong push and, oops, everything crumbles.

“Is… is Vlad okay?”.

It’s Jack’s voice.

It’s Jack.

The one who 尺讠尸尸🝗ᗪ ᐯ㇄闩ᗪ 闩尸闩尺七.

He unfolds more than he’d like but he’s… more himself? still aware and not a pure obsessive nightmare. Him hopping up onto the counter and crouching like a goblin as a way to be off the ground but not floating, those bunny ear horns bending and glitching like searching tv antenna, “山͉͍͖卄͙͎͉丫̝̺”. Him twitching, rolling his shoulders and eyeballing the ceiling with a few mist eyes to make sure he’s not getting too close to it with his size. Growling, “hͪeͤ’s͛ fiͥneͤ,̓ noͦ ᴛⷮhͪaͣnᴋⷦs͛ ᴛⷮoͦ 丫ㄖㄩ”.

He can feel the wince over the line, good. He hopes he sounds like a nightmare right now. “Dan…ny?”. Danny huffs, dragging an ice clawed hand down his face, instead of responding. Jack speaking back up when that becomes clear to him, “the silent treatment makes sense, I… did a bad thing. How was- how was I supposed to know that- to- that. God. Ghosts… are supposed to be dead”.

Danny shouldn’t be spending his time consoling Jack, this situations true monster. Eyes become mouths and his voice reverberates loudly, “工’ᐯ🝗 爪闩ᗪ🝗 闩爪讠丂〸闩长🝗⸝ ⻏丫 🝗ᐯ🝗尺〸尺ㄩ丂〸讠𝓝Ꮆ 讠𝓝 丫ㄖㄩ”.

“Dann-”.

“𝓝ㄖ丫ㄖㄩ ᗪㄖ𝓝’七 Ꮆ🝗セ七ㄖ ᗪ闩𝓝𝓝丫爪🝗. Wiͥll yoͦuͧ faͣcͨeͤ yoͦuͧrͬs͛eͤlf aͣndͩ ᴛⷮeͤll hͪiͥmͫ whͪaͣᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ rͬeͤaͣs͛oͦn iͥs͛? Whͪy yoͦuͧ 七ㄖ尺🝗 hͪiͥmͫ aͣрⷬaͣrͬᴛⷮ? Oͦrͬ wiͥll yoͦuͧ s͛ᴛⷮoͦрⷬ waͣlloͦwiͥng iͥn yoͦuͧrͬ s͛eͤlf рⷬiͥᴛⷮy liͥᴋⷦeͤ yoͦuͧ hͪaͣvͮeͤ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ rͬiͥghͪᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ. Whͪaͣᴛⷮ iͥf hͪeͤ 尸🝗尺讠丂卄🝗ᗪ вⷡy yoͦuͧrͬ hͪaͣndͩ? Вⷡuͧᴛⷮ Iͥ guͧeͤs͛s͛ iͥf aͣ ghͪoͦs͛ᴛⷮ iͥs͛ 🝗𝓝ᗪ🝗ᗪ,̓ iͥᴛⷮ laͣcͨᴋⷦs͛ aͣny mͫeͤaͣniͥng,̓ s͛oͦ whͪaͣᴛⷮ s͛hͪoͦuͧldͩ yoͦuͧ cͨaͣrͬeͤ”.

“That’s not- zone Vlad- he’s not going to… perish is he? Oh who am I kidding, neither of you probably want- I didn’t mean- I thought- Ghosts are… they’re not human, they’re just not. There’s no heart, there shouldn’t be sentience- I- research of humanities safety should be good but- all it was wrong, I was wrong”.

At least he can admit that much. At least him being freaked out still, broke still, meant this truly impacted him, truly hurt him. Danny using one leg to stretch down to the floor, barely having to unbend the limb, and walk over to Vlad. He’s muttering about wanting his cat, Danny can do that. Danny can help. Be good. Heal. Moving some of his mist self to pick her up from a study room and move her to him. She grumbles, hissing, at Danny but doesn’t object to Vlad grabbing her to him and snuggling her. Danny blinking harshly, “Whͪaͣᴛⷮ’s͛ ᴛⷮhͪeͤ dͩiͥffeͤrͬeͤncͨeͤ вⷡeͤᴛⷮweͤeͤn uͧs͛,̓ вⷡeͤᴛⷮweͤeͤn ghͪoͦs͛ᴛⷮs͛ aͣndͩ ᴛⷮhͪeͤiͥrͬ cͨoͦrͬeͤs͛,̓ aͣndͩ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ вⷡuͧndͩleͤ oͦf faͣllaͣcͨiͥeͤs͛ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ cͨaͣll aͣ hͪeͤaͣrͬᴛⷮ. Yoͦuͧrͬ aͣnᴛⷮhͪrͬoͦрⷬoͦcͨeͤnᴛⷮrͬiͥs͛mͫ hͪaͣs͛ ᴛⷮaͣiͥnᴛⷮeͤdͩ yoͦuͧrͬs͛,̓ hͪuͧвⷡrͬiͥs͛ cͨoͦns͛uͧmͫiͥng yoͦuͧ”. He’s talking like Vlad almost, because he was near? Because, in a hind brain way, he knew what the man wanted to say to Jack if any aspect of him would be up for such a thing.

“I- you’re right. You’re right. We were, never trying to disprove ourselves, I never was. We should have known, we should have seen, but the lies fit what we wanted to believe”.

Danny huffs, cracking his neck sharply from side to side and folding himself up a bit better, he almost… feels like he could be human again but things… just keep aggravating him. “Iͥ guͧeͤs͛s͛ aͣ s͛ᴛⷮoͦrͬmͫ oͦf вⷡloͦoͦdͩ,̓ fleͤs͛hͪ,̓ aͣndͩ guͧᴛⷮs͛ waͣs͛ aͣll ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ waͣs͛ neͤeͤdͩeͤdͩ ᴛⷮoͦ rͬiͥрⷬ eͤvͮeͤrͬyᴛⷮhͪiͥng wiͥndͩ oͦрⷬeͤn,̓ hͪuͧhͪ? Cͨoͦrͬrͬoͦdͩeͤ aͣwaͣy ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ вⷡliͥs͛s͛fuͧl iͥgnoͦrͬaͣncͨeͤ?”.

“Yeah… I- I’m so so sorry. Not for knowing, for- for doing. Is your… form better now? I want to know how you two are like this but- zone I don’t have the right. Are you okay?”.

Danny sighing, running a hand through his hair, over the small horn bumps, good that’s… good. He’s still too long, everything too long and stretched out, still hugging his middle with those second set of arms he spawned when he was around Val. But he was at least more folded in in some places. “noͦ,̓ Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ,̓ noͦ Iͥ’mͫ noͦᴛⷮ. Noͦ hͪeͤ’s͛ noͦᴛⷮ. Aͣndͩ noͦ yoͦuͧ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ. Iͥf yoͦuͧ hͪaͣdͩ aͣs͛ᴋⷦeͤdͩ aͣrͬoͦuͧndͩ aͣᴛⷮ oͦneͤ ᴛⷮiͥmͫeͤ,̓ yoͦuͧ mͫiͥghͪᴛⷮ hͪaͣvͮeͤ foͦuͧndͩ oͦuͧᴛⷮ. Oͦuͧrͬ iͥns͛iͥdͩeͤs͛ aͣrͬeͤ iͥnfaͣmͫoͦuͧs͛. Noͦneͤ woͦuͧldͩ dͩaͣrͬeͤ ᴛⷮeͤll yoͦuͧ noͦw,̓ aͣfᴛⷮeͤrͬ ᴛⷮhͪiͥs͛,̓ aͣny goͦoͦdͩ wiͥll oͦrͬ ᴛⷮoͦleͤrͬaͣncͨeͤ yoͦuͧ mͫiͥghͪᴛⷮ hͪaͣvͮeͤ hͪaͣdͩ wiͥᴛⷮhͪ ghͪoͦs͛ᴛⷮs͛ iͥs͛ goͦneͤ. ᴛⷮhͪeͤ oͦnly rͬeͤaͣs͛oͦn S͛ᴋⷦuͧlᴋⷦeͤrͬ dͩiͥdͩn’ᴛⷮ goͦ aͣfᴛⷮeͤrͬ yoͦuͧ,̓ iͥs͛ вⷡeͤcͨaͣuͧs͛eͤ hͪeͤ ᴋⷦnoͦws͛ Iͥ woͦuͧldͩ hͪaͣvͮeͤ вⷡrͬoͦᴋⷦeͤn hͪiͥmͫ foͦrͬ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ. Mⷨaͣdͩ aͣndͩ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮ oͦrͬ noͦᴛⷮ,̓ mͫy mͫaͣᴋⷦeͤrͬs͛ aͣrͬeͤ oͦff liͥmͫiͥᴛⷮs͛ foͦrͬ s͛eͤrͬiͥoͦuͧs͛ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮ”.

“Will… you be okay? Vladdie? I… understand if you don’t want to come home but, we do want you back though. Me, and your mom. I- you don’t even have to call me dad anymore, if you don’t want”. Danny can tell being called ‘Jack’ by who he knew to be his son, hurt the man. But ‘dad’ was a word that felt like lead and poison in his mouth right now.

Danny grinding his teeth, sharp points clinking against each other, “yeͤs͛. Whͪy woͦuͧldͩ Iͥ goͦ вⷡaͣcͨᴋⷦ ᴛⷮoͦ aͣ hͪoͦuͧs͛eͤ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ aͣᴛⷮᴛⷮaͣcͨᴋⷦs͛ mͫeͤ aͣs͛ aͣ dͩeͤfeͤncͨeͤ mͫeͤcͨhͪaͣniͥs͛mͫ? Aͣ hͪoͦuͧs͛eͤ wiͥᴛⷮhͪ рⷬeͤoͦрⷬleͤ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ woͦuͧldͩ hͪaͣvͮeͤ 七ㄖ尺𝓝 爪🝗 闩尸闩尺〸 iͥf Iͥ’dͩ вⷡeͤeͤn ᴛⷮhͪeͤ oͦneͤ yoͦuͧ cͨaͣuͧghͪᴛⷮ iͥns͛ᴛⷮeͤaͣdͩ? Yoͦuͧ’rͬeͤ mͫy mͫaͣᴋⷦeͤrͬs͛,̓ рⷬaͣrͬeͤnᴛⷮs͛,̓ s͛ᴛⷮiͥll,̓ вⷡuͧᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ geͤᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ ᴛⷮiͥᴛⷮleͤ rͬiͥghͪᴛⷮ noͦw. Vͮlaͣdͩ’s͛ waͣnᴛⷮeͤdͩ ᴛⷮoͦ вⷡeͤ aͣ faͣᴛⷮhͪeͤrͬ fiͥguͧrͬeͤ oͦf mͫiͥneͤ foͦrͬ aͣ loͦng ᴛⷮiͥmͫeͤ,̓ mͫaͣyвⷡeͤ Iͥ’ll juͧs͛ᴛⷮ leͤᴛⷮ hͪiͥmͫ dͩoͦ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ”. Danny… doesn’t fully mean that, he knows he doesn’t, but… maybe he did want to upset Jack a little and maybe he just wanted to know how the man would respond.

“I- yeah. He’d… probably do right by you more than I have. Sorry. You… you don’t have to come back and we’ll leave you alone, stay away, if that’s what you want”.

He’s not sure if he’s angry Jack just agreed to that or content that Jack realised how much wrong he’d done and so many times. “Iͥ’ll cͨoͦmͫeͤ вⷡaͣcͨᴋⷦ,̓ Iͥ wiͥll. S͛oͦmͫeͤdͩaͣy,̓ noͦᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ dͩaͣy,̓ вⷡuͧᴛⷮ s͛oͦmͫeͤdͩaͣy. Вⷡuͧᴛⷮ Iͥ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ s͛eͤeͤ mͫys͛eͤlf вⷡeͤiͥng aͣвⷡleͤ ᴛⷮoͦ s͛leͤeͤрⷬ iͥn aͣny hͪoͦuͧs͛eͤ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ hͪaͣs͛ yoͦuͧ iͥn iͥᴛⷮ,̓ eͤvͮeͤrͬ aͣgaͣiͥn. Yoͦuͧ 尺讠尸尸🝗ᗪ 闩尸闩尺〸 ᴛⷮhͪeͤ oͦnly oͦᴛⷮhͪeͤrͬ naͣᴛⷮuͧrͬaͣl oͦneͤ oͦf mͫy ᴋⷦiͥndͩ,̓ iͥf yoͦuͧ hͪaͣdͩ eͤndͩeͤdͩ hͪiͥmͫ Iͥ woͦuͧldͩ hͪaͣvͮeͤ вⷡeͤeͤn aͣll aͣloͦneͤ. Aͣndͩ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ rͬoͦoͦmͫ,̓ hͪiͥs͛ s͛ᴛⷮaͣᴛⷮeͤ,̓ ᴛⷮhͪaͣᴛⷮ’s͛ goͦiͥng ᴛⷮoͦ hͪaͣuͧnᴛⷮ mͫeͤ рⷬrͬoͦвⷡaͣвⷡly foͦrͬeͤvͮeͤrͬ”. Alone like Vlad had been, for twenty years. Except he didn’t even have a science made clone for company, like Danny would have. Sighing and scowling, looking at his one arm, it’s more… human length now, “Yoͦuͧ ᴋⷦnoͦw,̓ Vͮlaͣdͩ’s͛ ᴛⷮrͬiͥeͤdͩ ᴛⷮoͦ ᴋⷦiͥll yoͦuͧ mͫuͧlᴛⷮiͥрⷬleͤ ᴛⷮiͥmͫeͤs͛”.

“What? We… had that one fight I know, but, multiple?”.

“Yoͦuͧ leͤfᴛⷮ hͪiͥmͫ ᴛⷮoͦ rͬoͦᴛⷮ iͥn aͣ hͪoͦs͛рⷬiͥᴛⷮaͣl вⷡeͤdͩ s͛loͦwly hͪaͣlf dͩyiͥng wiͥᴛⷮhͪoͦuͧᴛⷮ eͤvͮeͤrͬ aͣ vͮiͥs͛iͥᴛⷮ. Vͮlaͣdͩ hͪaͣᴛⷮeͤs͛ yoͦuͧ. Iͥf yoͦuͧ goͦ neͤaͣrͬ hͪiͥmͫ eͤvͮeͤrͬ aͣgaͣiͥn,̓ hͪeͤ’ll ᴛⷮrͬy ᴛⷮoͦ ᴋⷦiͥll yoͦuͧ. Dͩoͦ noͦᴛⷮ cͨaͣll hͪeͤrͬeͤ eͤvͮeͤrͬ aͣgaͣiͥn. Yoͦuͧ’rͬeͤ aͣ hͪoͦrͬrͬiͥвⷡleͤ рⷬeͤrͬs͛oͦn,̓ Jaͣcͨᴋⷦ,̓ ᴛⷮrͬuͧly. Вⷡuͧᴛⷮ Iͥ s͛ᴛⷮiͥll cͨaͣrͬeͤ aͣвⷡoͦuͧᴛⷮ yoͦuͧ aͣndͩ dͩoͦn’ᴛⷮ waͣnᴛⷮ ᴛⷮoͦ s͛eͤeͤ yoͦuͧ hͪuͧrͬᴛⷮiͥng,̓ s͛oͦ рⷬleͤaͣs͛eͤ geͤᴛⷮ ᴛⷮhͪeͤrͬaͣрⷬy”.

“I- oh- I’m a fool. I… I really am sorry. And yeah, yes, me and Maddie are already set up to, uh, go. We… were going to offer to set some up for you and Vlad but, that’s, that’s probably crossing a line. Sorry”.

Danny sits down on the ground, Vlad’s absolutely unconscious and Maddie the Cat’s still here. It’s.. nice, comforting he supposes. And then he lurches, feeling his insides snapping and that folding happing at a nauseating pace. Ice claws to white gloves, mist eyes snapping into a single face, those second arms liquifying and squelching up into his stomach, tail melding into a leg. He bends over, vomiting green goopy ectoplasm immediately.

“Danny?! Are you-!?! Zone I- crap-”.

Danny groaning a little as he straightens himself up, “ugh”, and wiping his mouth. Tilting his head and giving his attention back to the phone, “ｴ’𝓶 ⨍ιɳҽ, ʝᥙട𝜏 ⨍σɬԃҽԃ ᥙρ αցαιɳ. Ɛɯ”, he felt too… encapsulated? Compacted? Stuffed inside a sausage skin? Like there was too much of him to move without exploding? Massaging his throat cautiously, legit worried he actually will just spontaneously unfold again or start glitching out his two forms again. His throat seems to pop back in place, “And Jazz has been my therapist for years. Vlad has his cat”.

“Oh”.

“Yeah”, Danny sighs, choosing to just lay on the ground next to Vlad’s healing ass, “a normal therapist wouldn’t be useful anyways. Our minds are… different”.

“Right. I… are you okay with that? Being… different?”.

Danny rolls his eyes, he felt like he didn’t have bones. “Yes, Jack. Yes. What I am and who I am just go hand in hand now”, that wasn’t even mentioning the whole ‘ghost king’ thing, that was pretty dependent on him being a ghost and well. The ghosts seemed okay with that, based on how weird they’ve been to him which… now that he thinks about it, is probably partly out of them being afraid of him or thinking he’s going to drag an army to their doors. Crap that’s why ghosts kept looking over his shoulders when he cropped up in their lairs! Damn! How’s he supposed to establish that he’s not going to do that? Rubbing his forehead, “Jack, I should probably be looking after Vlad, full offence”.

“Right right, um, how will I get in touch with you now? If I… shouldn’t call Vlad’s?”.

Danny huffs, “Jack, I’ll call you if I feel like talking to you, not the other way around”, and hangs up on him. He’ll see if Jack’s willing to give that little bit of respect or not. If he can’t… then it’s probably not a relationship worth saving. Dropping the phone on the floor next to him, laying spread out.

It’s silent for a long while.

He feels like he can think more properly, less like there’s an entire realm rumbling inside him and in the back of his mind. His core’s still pulsing a little much in that way it did when his obsession was a little more at the forefront, but Vlad’s still healing, still might need Danny to throw more energy at him. Thinking of that…

He pushes himself upright with a grunt, standing with a stagger. Trying to feel for that connection to the crown, the cape, the ring, all of it. Attempting to pull it out felt kinda like grabbing onto a taught fishing line, he can sort of pluck the connection and the items of regalia sing back at him as if asking to be used or shown off, to adorn him. It’s… strange. But it’s his, so he should play with it some right? Just hopefully actually pulling that connection to him doesn’t force him into that… state instantly again. It’s going to be a long while before he’s used to his body being in that kind of shape or how freaky it probably looked. Well nothing for it, it’s like hocking his finger on it and just tugging into forward to his head, eyeing his left hand as the ring forms around it there. Cape settling around his shoulder, lazy flaming collar bursting to life around his throat, secured by skull clasps and a dark smokey shadow chain; at least it matches his black and white themeing. The green ring and crown went with his eyes so that was… okay.

When he tries to float up he nearly smashes into the roof again, barely stopping himself short this time; still glares at the ceiling though. Being a bit more cautious about going to find a mirror, one of the bathrooms will do.

Of course the thing cracks instantly from Danny’s general pressure. Ugh. At least he can still see himself. He still looks like himself, Phantom him currently, his glow was more flame-like than his normal soft static-like glow. His eyes are too bright to see his pupils or sclera, not super great; his pupils and sclera made him more readable by the human mind so… The crown is, of course, its blazing green flamey self, but he can see frost coating it when he leans forward, some frost even creeping across the mirror. Him giving it a poke, watching it wiggle in the air, and eyeing how the ring just simply didn’t have a glow. Odd but he can tell that energy comes in through the crown, to him, through him, his own energy sort of mixing in, then leaving out through the ring. Huh. Cool. Ghost king functioned as a weird filter battery system for the zone.

“You're energy makes-”, yawn, “-makes you a lot easier to find now”.

Danny jerking, his body spazzing out like a video game clipping all over the room with bits of starry mist and eyes in between before he snaps himself back together. Shaking his head out then looking to Vlad, “ɯαყ 𝜏σ ട𝜏αɾ𝜏ɬҽ 𝓶ҽ, ყσᥙ ʝҽɾƙ”. Oh hey his voice is all weird again, great. Why didn’t Pariah have this voice issue? Ten bucks says it’s because of Danny ghostly wail, his voice was literally an uber powerful weapon so he could probably, like, hold more ecto-energy in his throat or voice box.

Vlad quirks an eyebrow at him, its only slightly judgmental, “I’d tell you to do a better job holding yourself together, but you’ve already corrected it”, and shrugs, his shoulders were a bit sagged and his eyes look sunken. He didn’t look great. “What did Jack have to say for himself”. It’s not even a question.

Danny sighing, moving himself to be sitting on the counter, eyeing his reflection over his shoulder, making the slack connection go taught and send away the regalia, “a lot of sorries, that I can come home but don’t have to, if we’re okay, how we’re okay, will we be okay, he’s booked therapy apparently”, smirking a little half-heartedly and looking back to the guy, “he offered to pay for your therapy. Like you’re not rich enough to do that yourself”.

Vlad scoffs, his hearts not in the annoyance either, “that fool”.

“Yeah”.

Vlad humming after a bit, eyeing the broken mirror, “so they’re alright with what we are”.

Danny nodding, “seems so, confused and I got that ‘I thought he was dead dead, a ghost’ thing as if that made what he did any less fucked”.

“Language”.

Danny sticks his tongue out, “bleh”, sighing, “I’m pretty sure both of them already know the how, since our little portal accidents are shit they know about. But he didn’t really asks questions that weren’t ‘are you and him okay’, and he hasn’t called back since I told him not to”.

Vlad growls, “that doesn’t mean much of anything”, and glares at Danny like that’s a challenge.

Thing is… Danny doesn’t disagree, “no it really doesn’t. Him knowing he messed up massively and still being freaked counts for more than a little bit of respect does”. Him full body twitching a bit, ah it must be patrol time, humming and floating up, “I’mma be really ticked off if there’s ghosts tonight”.

Vlad rolls his eyes but steps out of the bathroom in a way that’s both likely well practiced fluid and like he feels like he’s made out of glass, “isn't it a little unbecoming of a king to be playing superhero?”.

Danny sticking his nose up in the air, “I think it’s more unbecoming or whatever to not do whatever I want and let others boss me around”. Like wasn’t that the entire point with monarchs really? Like yeah their wants were suppose to line up with that of the people but still. Plus ghosts were inherently free, do what you want, beings.

Vlad waving him off with a, “I’ll make chicken carbonara”.

“You shouldn’t be making anything”. Vlad doesn’t respond to that as Danny goes up through the ceiling.

:Chap. 5:

What Is Dug Too Deep, Makes A Hole Too Steep, In It Let Him Sleep

He sticks to keeping himself mostly invisible, since he really doesn’t want to deal with any more people today, as he floats through alleys and over rooftops. Yes just patrolling pacified that Obsession of his but he honestly didn’t really feel like doing it right now, so his travel is pretty lazy and more done out of ‘I’ll be paranoid out about this all night if I don’t’ than out of actual want. He’s seriously glad that Sam and Tuck, and Jazz really, aren’t in town right now meaning he doesn’t have to check in with them. Jazz he’ll… call eventually, or wait till he has a screaming nightmare to do that. He didn’t want her freaking out about him while she’s supposed to be focusing on university. Danny’s not about to interrupt Sam’s little goth convention thing, that Tuck went along for because of the whole ‘cyber goth is just another style of goth so I’ll fit in too’ thing. Fair and they were both a little annoyed he wanted to stay in Amity, sometimes he wondered if they were losing their interest in his protective ways and then they’d do something crazy and wildly overprotective. Really he was just a freaking workaholic and a ghost of course; most ghosts spent almost all their time and energy focused on their Obsessions after all. It was kinda funny that all of them were a bit on the goth side now. Black hid blood and ecto better and made it easier to hide in the shadows, and cargo pants and tripp pants had so many pockets and the good ones were durable as fuck.

That bit making him chuckle a little, feeling a ton more relaxed doing something so normal for him, as he moves around the park. The Signal Shines twirl in the fountain water, perhaps if Vlad still had open wounds he’d take some back to get the little things to clean out said wounds; at least they were safe to drink or swallow though. The blob ghost chilling on the fountain top deciding to boing onto his head, eh he’ll take them for a little ride.

What was he thinking about again? Ah yeah goths and a goth convention, the weirdo trios fashion choices. It’s… as good a distraction as anything he supposes. Better than stringing himself out about what state Vlad might be in back at the mansion.

Right. The goth thing. Tuck liked the neons, the apocalyptic aesthetics, all the glowy ‘radioactive’ stuff was also great for hiding ectoplasm. Zone, Tuck had actually found a small business in a couple cities over that sold stuff actually made with ectoplasm. Danny had been a bit concerned about it, but turned out the place was actually ran by a ghost with a definite Obsession for fashion designing; who was he to interfere with someone satisfying their needs in non-harmful ways? Tuck argued with her to make him ectoplasm dreads and cyberlocks, she ripped into him about how his look was too plain for cyberlocks, Tuck was very offended. Guy got the dreads though, even if his hair wasn’t long enough yet to get Sam to put them in for him; if it wasn’t for the ‘this is so goth’ thing Sam wouldn’t do it for the guy at all.

Danny startles a few birds, the blob on his head warbling in amusement, moving through the trees, at least Vlad had the smarts to make Amity more green to avoid Sam’s plant princess wrath. Plus, that gave him more trees to nap in, something a lot of teens seem to have taken up too, it was comfy and a random teen falling out of trees startled the crap out of people. At least the richer areas were easier to patrol during summer, since most of the rich folk took summer long vacations or went on cruises.

Or at least it’s normally easier this time of year.

But right now?

After what happened?

Jack and Maddie knowing?

Yeah… she’s here, him stilling in the air as they lock eyes.

Maddie looks up at him from the ground, his ghostly tail swishing back and forth as he stares back; she walks to a bench and pats it after a beat. He’s taking the olive branch for what it is, floating down to sit next to her, not touching her, not a chance, but on the same bench at least. She’s… not Jack, she didn’t do what he did. That does matter. Even if he thinks she’d be less upset if it had been her who did it, and that matters too.

Maddie doesn’t look at him, “I’m sorry”.

… Danny blinks, fiddling with the end of his ghostly tail, “is that it? All you have to say?”. He… expected more, more what? he’s not sure. Maybe a bit more questions about his well being or being hurt he never told her of himself.

She frowns, “there’s… not much I can say. I don’t know what in all happened, your father- Jack can’t explain in a way that makes sense, he gets too upset”, sagging a bit, “all I know, is that you and Vlad, aren’t human anymore and haven’t been for a long time. That neither of you, you especially, felt comfortable telling me or Jack. And that Jack, really hurt Vlad. And all this awful aftermath”.

He supposes that’s fair enough. The reminder that Jack truly is bothered by what he’s done is a welcome one. “Red set it up, for Jack to catch Vlad, without knowing how bad that could go. I think… she only meant for Vlad to feel embarrassed being caught by him genuinely”, rubbing his neck, “I, took her to that awful warehouse in a bit of a fit of rage at her and she was definitely not okay with what happened there either”.

“I’m glad no one’s happy with what happened, that explains her calling to berate and talk at him. And that doesn’t make Jack less responsible.”.

“No it doesn’t, and it should have never happened in the first place”, Danny scowling, “your bigotry wasn’t supposed to be this dangerous. Maybe I was a little blind to that, too innocent”. Calling himself innocent was a fucking joke, his sorry ass hasn’t been ‘innocent’ since dealing with Pariah. Then Dan beat it down a little more. And now Jack’s gone and obliterated whatever was still left. The blob slips down from his head and plops itself into his lap, him patting the thing and digging his fingers in a bit out of tired annoyance. Damn, when did he last sleep?

“We were too blind too, and we shouldn’t have been; we’re the adults, the parents. There’s nothing either of us can do to make up for that now, though. But-”, she looks at him, him eyeing her before meeting the gaze, “-do you want us to? To try?”.

Danny already knows his answer. It was the same answer that he gave Sam and Tuck when they asked him if he’d still want to be their friend when they die, when they’d become UnderGrowth’s Garden Care Taker and Ranatheo’s Pharaoh in genuine. “Yes. Just, just don’t push it about what I am, how I work. Or try to influence my decisions”. He refused to be their little science experiment, especially now.

She nods at him readily, actually smiling now, “I’m glad, and I won’t. You’re welcome back home, at FentonWorks, any time, okay? And we modified the defences so they won’t attack you or Vlad”.

“Put them back for Vlad”.

Maddie blinking, staring at him again, “what? Why?”.

Danny frowns, “because I know Vlad, once he’s healed, probably has a nightmare about that crap, and he decides to drink, he’s going to try and burn the house down or kill Jack”. Vlad had done those things over far less already after all. And frankly? Any non-protective type ghost would do the same over what Jack did.

She pales a little, “oh. I… I guess that’s understandable. Disturbing, but understandable”.

“I’ll follow him and stop him of course, but, like, protecting yourselves isn’t a bad idea. And just the fact that I’m staying with him right now might make him not, since I’m pretty much giving him another chance to try too”.

“So he messed up too then”.

Danny eyes her, it really wasn’t the same. Vlad has never done something Danny couldn’t genuinely fight back from, “yeah, but not nearly as badly. He’s tried to kill Sam, Tuck, Jazz, Val, Jack, pretty much everyone close to me, but it was always far more simple and there were reasons that weren’t compete utter shit. You and Jack? It’s just bias. Stupid stupid bias. Sam and Tuck? He was just trying to get help and didn't think I’d help him without basically holding them hostage, the idiot. Even Sam doesn’t hold that against him, ‘cause sick desperate people do crazy things especially when they’re in pain. Jazz? She did her psych babble crap and basically tricked him into the situation, that was almost as much her fault as his, both of them were being idiots. Val? What happened with that was a lot less okay, but she chose to be near him, she put herself in that situation and wouldn’t listen when I tried to warn her that his money and aid didn’t come without a cost. And Jack? Jack basically killed him and hospitalised him and never visited and then had the audacity to act like they were still best buddies, so”, and shrugs. Grimacing, “that attempted cloning crap I only forgave him for because he recognised he went too far pretty much immediately and the end result from that crap pretty much gave me a little shit head of my own so”. He loved little Elle, little gremlin menace as she was. And that care for her was part of why he didn’t want her in Amity, what happened with Vlad, all the hurt, felt like being proven horribly right.

Maddie blinks almost owlishly, wheezing, “so I’m? A grandma then?”, and runs her hands through her hair, “something else we’ve messed up on then, since you never brought them? home”, sighing, “and I should have known, paid more attention, to why you seemed to have a feud with Vlad”.

Danny snorting, him and Vlad were hardly subtle so things would have been obvious if either of them just paid the tiniest amount of attention. They’ve literally shot at each other in the same room as her and in human form. Zone, Vlad literally tore one of his legs off when Maddie was practically right next to him, “no shit, at least we’re more rivals than actual enemies these days. He nails a dead badger to my door, I mail him soggy moldy cereal. He halts the Nasty Sauce production over safety concerns, I blow up his house again. It’s a back and forth, no major harm really meant, standard ghost bantering. He still punches me in the face, I still punch him in the face”, side-eyeing her with a bit of a glare, “and why would I bring her around? I wouldn’t be able to explain her existence and you people might have covered her in goop or something”.

Maddie wincing, “exactly. We messed up. And, that’s a strange relationship but I suppose it’s normal for you two, being ghostly to whatever degree you are”.

Danny doesn’t really appreciate the fishing for answers but… he supposes her can give her that one. She’ll probably hear it eventually, from Val or a ghost or Vlad or himself off-handedly. “It’s a half and half thing, we’re called Halfas”.

She nods, “that’s probably more of an answer than I’ve earned, but thank you. I definitely wi-would have rather found out another way than this, you’re still my son. Make sure to tell Vlad that I really am sorry for what happened to him”.

Danny nods back, his relationship with her wasn’t great right now, but it still existed. “And you’re still my mom, you’re maybe just really not good at taking care of the ghost half, not that you ever really got a chance to try”, shrugging, “kinda late now, I know”, pushing himself up to float back up in the air, blob in his arms being held up against his chest, “anyway, I should go, ghosts to pester you know? Even though nothing but little guys seem to be around”. She just nods and watches him go. That… went well he thinks. Okay enough. Mentioning Elle was a little more information than he meant to give, but oh well. Maybe she’d understand better now that their relationship was rocky before all this happened. Before Jack decided to attempt to unmake Vlad.

The blob wiggle floats Its way up to Danny’s face, poking his cheek, guess the coreless guys didn’t really care much about the King thing, he probably just came off as just another powerful ghost to them; plus, this one formed in his lair so It was used to him, perhaps knew his mood and how his body still felt like a little too much and wrung out all at once. Rolling his eyes at It prodding his cheek more and deciding what the heck why not and biting It. It trilling happily is not the expected reaction but it’s what he’s getting, and just sorta nibbling on It is sorta mind clearing and softening; It happy to just wiggle there.

He makes the rest of his patrol a speedy one, he doesn’t want to be out and about right now at all. He suspects that Skulker probably told the other ghosts to stay away for a while, that ‘King Phantom’ had gone all eldritch and lost his shit.

Popping his head through the ceiling, flinging the blob out of his mouth and onto his head like mouth flipping a hat. Danny pointing to the blob still on his head, as he moves into the kitchen that smelled like food, “I brought company”.

Vlad’s, “yes well, I find I have enough already”, response is annoyed.

Danny pausing in the entry way at what he’s seeing, Vlad’s… basically bundled up in a swarm of blob ghosts. The man scowling down at the mass of blobs, “they took your nighttime absence as an opportunity. Sometimes I forget that Amity is your lair and that means it’s natural ghost fauna are in line with your Obsession”, scowl deepening, “I do not appreciate being coddled by blobs, especially when I can’t waste energy trying to scare them off”.

It’s a struggle for Danny to not grin smugly, “this, is adorable. Bite them, they apparently like it”, pointing at his one, “or this one’s just a masochist”.

“So It takes after Its creator then”. Vlad squeezes one anyway and it balloons out on either side of the guys fist without any complaints.

“Hey!”. Danny floats in fully, “did you actually make chicken carbonara? I forget you actually know how to make edible food”. And like every time he’s reminded of that, he internally wished Jack or Maddie knew how to too. He liked and could eat contaminated food but burnt soggy food not so much, and then Jazz wouldn’t have had to learn how to cook so young… so she could feed both of them. The blob snuggles into his hair some, it’s nice. He probably needed this. The little comforts.

Vlad struggles a bit to move his one arm to gesture at plates, it was indeed a fancy looking chicken dish, huh. Danny having to bops some of the blobs away just so Vlad could actually sit down and eat his own food. Danny eyeing the blobs coiling and wriggling on the chair and the guys lap, his hair too, before Danny takes his own food and sits down. He… changes back human for the first time too. It’s anticlimactic and tense all at once.

The food’s good, him stuffing a whole bit of sliced chicken in his mouth, “stu’id ‘ich ‘eo’le an’ air ‘acny ‘oo”. At least that gets a fond smile out of the man, even if he scowls immediately after when Danny makes a point to be noisy about slurping noodles. Then, of course, typical Danny luck, being human catches up with him, him passing out face first into the food. Blob ghost warble shrieking loudly and getting him swarmed by most of the other blob ghosts who shove him off the plate and onto the floor with a thump.

“Daniel!”, Vlad sighing, “why do I try? This boy is such a disaster”. A disaster who had saved him, one that he had another chance to raise and see grow. A king and a boy, his through pain. Jack and Maddie, Valerie, he wants nothing to do with them; he’ll stay here with Daniel and only him, as long as he’ll have him at least.

:Chap. 6:

Epilogue: Roaches Becometh Buzzing Flies, Over Grime Left By Lies

Vlad crosses his legs, poised and put together as always, regardless of the situation.

“So, what made you want to seek this out now? Especially to go through the effort of having an eldritch god convince me to keep this off of the records?”.

“Well, as my godson would put it, I recently went through ‘the Angel trap from Saw but horizontal and with more limb removal and ice cream scoopers taken to my eyes’ at the hands of the same man who killed me with an experimental dimensional worm hole. Who, upon releasing whose face he’d decided to half flay off, proceed to vomit, get drunk, and leave me there for my godson to find. Said godson also highly encouraged me to come and to also mention that I have a habit of attempting to kill people who get in my way and nailing dead badgers to his door; his words, not mine”, Vlad inspects his nails, “I have a cat, and my godson lives with me now, as such this is likely the healthiest I’ve ever been”.

The man stares and wheezes, “Jesus”.

Danny throws up his hands as his ghost sense goes off for the fourth time in an hour, why was everyone on his ass right now? Ugh! Sam -whom he still hasn’t explained things to beyond: it was traumatic, Jack’s not my dad, I live with Vlad now, be mean to Vlad and I’ll bite you, and I don’t want to talk about it- waving him off to do what he needs to do. At least he explained Vlad spelling it out to him that he’s now basically ghost god and that’s why ghosts were being weird around him, small steps, baby ones.

Last time it was Boxy, if it’s him again he’s gonna be so annoyed, not annoyed enough to make the guy think he’s actually mad but still. He’ll also be annoyed if it’s Skulker ‘worried’ again, now if it’s Skulker ‘I’m going to hang you on my wall’ the poucher then Danny’ll be pleased the man’s back into the swing of things finally.

He was absolutely not ready for who it is. Or who plural. Why the actual Zone are Walker’s goons here??? The buildings have scorch marks in them, street lights had electric wrapping cuffs on them, multiple trash cans are physically embedded into the ground, one ghost cop is stuck to a wall by a net, multiple people appear to be attempting to board up their windows, there’s over turned cars and ones even been sliced in half.

How did so much happen so quickly?

That’s not even touching the fire fight going on. Maddie and Jack exchanging shots with Walker’s Walking Prison ghost cops plasma batons, it somehow looked like the fight had been going on for a while with both of them looking scuffed up, dirty, cut, bruised; it makes him wince and twitch in that Obsessive way. It seems like these ghosts are genuinely trying to hurt his makers, absolutely not. Finger claws digging into a building, “WALKER!”. If that ghost isn’t already here there Danny’s going to pull him here.

The goons all jerk to a stop, cautiously eyeing the ghost whose lair they’ve barged into, the high ghost kings capital city they’ve intruded on, and whose citizens they’re attacking with genuine threat. Everyone knew he was a protector.

Walker, the jack ass, appears in sudden dramatics, looming his sixty foot form over buildings and Danny and Jack and Maddie and his own goons, “he has BROKEN THE RULES!”.

Vlad throws one of the table mints in his mouth, one of the blobs that still insisted on following him around consuming one as well, “I met him twenty years after my own death, up until then I was alone, in both a socialisation sense and a species one”.

The man nods, “is your godson the only like you then? It must have been overwhelming to meet him”.

Vlad scoffs, it was but even here he wouldn’t quite admit to that, “it was exciting. A thrill. A treat. He was young, mouldable, full of potential but unskilled enough to ever win against me. And, we were, in a sense, killed by the same man; a cruel twist of fate perhaps”.

“Do you believe you were destined to meet?”.

Vlad shakes his head immediately, his ego’s not nearly that large, “hardly. And it very well likely would have been better for both of us to never have. At first I was only interested in the potential protege, the possibility of a Master’s heir, of seeing that man crushed by his own son and losing that son. Eventually it became more of seeing him as an overprotective fool, inappropriately focused on-”, scowling, “-helping people of all things. Then he grew more, became something I couldn’t really compete with in fair play, perhaps I saw him as more of an equal then, and I believed it would have been better if we never met”.

“And why is that? You clearly care about him, and you’re someone he helped”.

Vlad sighs, tired, “you saw him earlier. Young gods become so by beating old gods, one I freed from slumber. He’s better for how and who he is, but that does not mean he likes it. He’s an idiot for trying to help me”.

“Do you see me as a fool as well?”

… “Yes”.

Danny’s got Walker’s stupid oversized jacket collar in his fist, pointing at his face aggressively with the other hand, “oh don’t you be using your size to try and be an intimidating prick! What the Zone is going on here?!?”.

Of course, the man and his oversized ego pulls out a whip and cracks it at the ground, making a gouge, glaring at Danny and sneering, “THAT MAN HAS BROKEN MULTIPLE INHERENT LAWS! INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO VIOLATING THE COMMONS OF THE DEATHLESS UNFADES SECTION TWO-FOURTY TWICE OVER, VIOLATING THE WHITE HEART CARDINAL OF THE LAW OF AGES-”.

Jack tore out Vlad’s core!

“-VIOLATING A BREAK DOWN LITHEES, VIOLATING THE BLACK ABSOLUTION OF THE LAW OF AGES REPEATEDLY OVER A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME! IF THEY WERE GHOSTS I’D CHARGE THEM FOR HUNDREDS EVEN THOUSANDS OF COMMON LAW VIOLATIONS! AND THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE EXEMPT FROM MOST EXTERIAL LAW IS BECAUSE OF THEIR RESIDING IN YOUR LAIR!”.

Okay, Danny knows, okay, he knows that Maddie and Jack have violated a lot of ghostly laws, even creating the portal was technically a violation, but his death in it made it a vital belonging to a ghosts demise and thus ‘not usable’ for chargers. And them being in his lair gave them certain protections, even being ghost hunters gave them certain protections. But how dare Walker go after them at all.

“HE VIOLATED MALICIOUS DECONSTRUCTION AGAINST A ROYAL CITIZEN UNDER HIGH LAW!”.

Danny growling at the ghost, “you don’t think I know that? But he’s mine too, you don’t get to dictate shit”.

“THEY’RE PORTAL IS INSIDE MY JURISDICTION! I WILL NOT HAVE THEM BEING UNBEHOLDEN TO THE LAW! REGARDLESS OF THEIR RESIDENCY!”.

The location of the portal on the other side was a bit unfortunate but absolutely not, he knows Walker thinks he’s too soft but damn does he not care. But worse than that is this man is doing this publicly because he knows Danny’s going to watch his tongue more and hold back more, but if he thinks Danny won’t stop him from basically taking and torturing Jack, that’s bullshit. Danny clinking his tongue, glow wiggling and flaring his eyes at the ghost, “is that a c̴͕̺̦̈́̐͋h̵͕͉̞͑͛͘a̵̘̞͑̽̚͜l̸̘̘̫̓̓͝l̴̟̦̈́͐͊͜è̵͇͎̪͘͝n̸̺͇̒͆͜͝g̸̡̟̻̒̿͘ë̴̠̠̠́͌?”.

Walker sneering at him, “YES”, yelling over Danny at his guards and eyeing Jack, “SIEZE HIM!”. The fire fight starts back up immediately and Walker smashes Danny with the whip.

“Now, about the core reason you came in today, besides the many long standing issues you’ve been encouraged to sort out, you understand that others harm upon you is of no fault of your own, yes?”.

Vlad hums, “that buffoons actions are his own, but had certain things not been left to fester or had I not underestimated others vengeful desires, it would have never happened”; using a thumb to push small circles into the blob ghost.

The man crosses his legs, holding his pen leisurely, “others are not entitled to know everything about you, every secret you keep. Any reason you may have to keep a secret is an acceptable one, especially if there’s a belief of potential harm. We also can’t know how strongly others feel about our acts towards them, regardless of your actions being cruel or harmful, in their eyes or your own. I may not know too much about ghosts, but I know enough to know that they’re inclined to egocentricity and god complexes. If something falls outside of your obsessive focus it makes sense not to focus on it too deeply. Even if being human still means you will more so than a ghost. Your secrets allowed further chasing of your possessive focuses, it’s reasonable to keep”, tilting his head, “and, it could be said, that keeping those secrets is part of what allowed you to get out of that situation without further harm. Sometimes, things left to fester become more impactful as a result”.

Vlad frowns a little, he couldn’t see Maddie or Jack being willing to… harm him in such a way if they had known. However… Daniel was right those years ago when he said they’d still love their son but not him because of everything he’s done. Would they justify cutting him open as research, to aid their child? Would they mentally categorise him as ‘a villain’ and thus less worthy of kindness that way? That… would have been worse for both him and Daniel in a great many ways. “He was deeply disturbed when my secret was revealed, whether purely because of Plasmius being me or because of Plasmius not being entirely a ghost. They do justify their actions towards ghosts on a basis of what they believe ghosts to be, halfas go against this inherently, I suppose. I… could see that man trying to twist my behaviors as being a result of my half state”; and trying to remove his ghost half, like Daniel had had nightmares over more than once, to fix him. He’s never been sure exactly why Daniel clung on to being ‘separated in two’ so specifically, to have fears over. The blob warbles, as if It knows.

“Even if it’s not?”.

Vlad nods to the side, shrugging, he can admit he’s not a good person, “I’ve never been well aligned with standard human morals or decency. My powers simply give me more ability to ignore those same morals and decencies, the laws that enforce them. Though I have my limits of course”.

“Limits this man crossed”.

“I wouldn’t do that to any being, even if I thought them non-sentient”.

In the time Danny’s been with Vlad, outside of focusing on making sure he was healing and using blobs as a weird amount of stress relief, the man had been explaining aspects of being the High Ghost King, including trying to get Danny more comfortable and in control of himself in his full High Ghost King form -or as close to full as he could get without his size being too problematic- not that Danny felt much better about said form; at least Vlad had repeatedly assured that he was still just as physically species-wise human as before even if his mental state was less human. But part of that was having more control over environments, all ghosts could alter their lairs -Amity sometimes changed colours or weather slightly based off of his mood for example- but Amity was a living town not made out of ectoplasm, so he couldn’t affect it much. However, as The High Ghost King he had more power and will he could force even in the Mortal Realm; even if that made him feel more like a controlling monster.

Why does this matter?

Because it means Danny’s able to move the buildings away and make the road wider to protect everyone… practically setting up a battle area was an unintentional side effect. But, with Walker slamming a fist down into the ground, shaking the earth, he’s glad people still evacuated if they could.

Danny zipping up and around to ecto-beam Walker in the back, slamming into the ground chest first, both of them growling at the other.

Maddie and Jack have their backs to each other, used empty weapons littering the ground in random areas as they continue firing off at the ghost cops. Maddie huffing, “ghosts shouldn’t even have a legal system”. Jack muttering right back, “I think, at this point, we don’t really know anything, Mads. And… this is probably deserved”. Maddie only frowning as she shoot’s a practically taller one.

Danny knows that Jack deserves this, has earned it, but as far as he’s concerned Danny’s already punishing the man even if the two of them might one day end up on better terms. Jack’s still his maker and he’s not letting Walker jail him or hurt him. Some of Jack suit getting burned through making Danny twitch a little. Danny sending a blast at that cop, sending them into a wall and passing out, only for him to get kicked into a wall himself by Walker. He’d forgotten that Walker was genuinely powerful. The ghost pulling his foot off when his ankle gets hit by a red blast. Danny’s glow wiggling, aflame, at Walker instantly grabbing Red’s board and smashing it into a roof a fair bit away. His voice coming out a bit wrong, “s̶h̶e̶’̶s̶ g̶o̶t̶ n̶o̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶o̶ d̶o̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ t̶h̶i̶s̶”.

Walker sneering at him, “THEN CONTROL YOUR PETS BETTER”.

How… how dare he. Danny punches his face into the ground, “I̶ d̶o̶ n̶o̶t̶ c̶o̶n̶t̶r̶o̶l̶ a̶n̶y̶o̶n̶e̶”.

“MAYBE YOU SHOULD. VERMIN NEED TO BE KEPT IN LINE”.

“S̶a̶y̶s̶ t̶h̶e̶ o̶n̶e̶ o̶u̶t̶ o̶f̶ l̶i̶n̶e̶”.

Walker only snarling and trying to shoot him, Danny zipping off near Red, “y̶o̶u̶.̶ L̶e̶a̶v̶e̶”.

“Phantom-”.

“N̶o̶.̶ I̶’̶m̶ s̶e̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶.̶ W̶a̶l̶k̶e̶r̶ d̶o̶e̶s̶n̶’̶t̶ s̶p̶a̶r̶.̶ T̶h̶i̶s̶ i̶s̶ s̶e̶r̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ a̶n̶d̶ y̶o̶u̶ c̶a̶n̶’̶t̶ w̶i̶n̶, Z̶o̶n̶e̶, h̶e̶’̶s̶ n̶o̶t̶ e̶v̶e̶n̶ t̶e̶c̶h̶n̶i̶c̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ w̶r̶o̶n̶g̶-”, cutting himself at finally spotting Bullet with a long distance wrangler.

A long distance wrangler, pointed right at Jack.

Walker used his protective obsession, his obligation to try and get Val to back off to safety, to distance Danny. The large ghost smirking as Bullet’s blast goes off.

“𝓝ㄖ”.

“Having my ribs up and displayed like that was incredibly more bizarre than I’d thought it would be”. Vlad’s almost tempted to see if he can make this man physically sick. However Daniel said this man usually saw far more disturbed and criminal ‘patient's’. And frankly, even if it’s been multiple days, weeks even, heavily remembering everything made him feel strung out, disconnected, deserved. Both wanting Daniel to show up and hoping he never did. An irrational part of himself betraying him with thoughts of Daniel joining Jack, rejecting Vlad all over again, and helping take him apart completely. “Abjectly, I suppose I was curious what he would find, was finding, if I could myself use it. The after was, less pleasant than the during, honestly”, gesturing lazily with a hand, “direction, vivisection, samples, and displays, I can understand the drive and science behind that; unpleasant as it was. I can admit to some self dissection and expirementaion myself”.

“Except that was done by yourself, to yourself, with your full cooperation and sober willingness”.

Vlad nodding, “and that matters, doesn’t it. What I don’t understand, is why he simply… left me there. Like that”. He understood Jack fleeing originally, from shock and horror and disgust. Disgust that man should have felt from the beginning, but didn’t merely because ‘ghosts aren’t sentient’. Squeezing his fist around the blob, “that man left me there, taken apart, he couldn’t be bothered to so much as take my limb off the wall and give it back to me. Or put my face back on”, scowling with a tiny bit of fang, “his fragile peace and normality build on lies had been sliced apart, was dying, and he couldn’t take the effort to try and ensure that his so called ‘best friend’ didn’t die himself. He had nearly a week to just face what he’d done and patch me up, yet he couldn’t bother to even look in on me. To check in”. If Jack had come back, had perhaps made an attempt to help him. Undo everything, clip the wires and cords and metal, unstapled. To patch him up, stitch him even if it wound up sloppy and pathetic. Maybe Vlad could forgive even a little, justify it as he knows Maddie would have done the same. “And her, I’d like to say she would have, however I… think that’s wrong”.

The man nods, looking down at his short hand notes, “yes, one of the objections of your Obsession. A possession you cling on to”.

Vlad glares, flashing his ghostly eyes a bit on instinct, “you know, actively prodding a ghosts Obsession isn’t a safe idea”.

The man simply watches, no fear reaction, “but will it help?”.

“No, we dislike it on instinct and can find it painful. My godson can pester me about it, but not a near stranger”.

The man nods acceptingly, “why do you feel she wouldn’t have done the right thing either?”.

“He may be a buffoon, a moron, an imbecile, an idiot, and a complete dunce; but he’s more… adaptable. Quick to change his inane theories”, frowning, “her, she’d likely… convince herself my changing was nothing more than an illusion to trick her”. The way Daniel talked sometimes… Maddie might have gone further out of anger instead of stopping out of horror. Believing the lie of an illusionary trick, rather than immediately accepting the reality of an unheard of species.

The man nods, “humans are very fallible creatures, it’s far easier and thusly far more likely for them to take the easy way out. Going back in would have been harder and harder the longer that man waited, and accepting reality and responsibility would feel like an impossible task”.

Danny growls, looming, cape down around his torso and the man he’s crouched over, one hand on the ground and another holding the end of Walker’s whip. The ghost at the other end scowling right back at him only slightly flinching, Danny’s tail lashing making it clear the other ghosts annoyance was not fucking welcome. Another sneer from Walker and Danny flicks his tail again, sending spines flinging into the other ghosts shoulder, jerking Walker’s shoulder back.

The cop goons floating around, aiming their batons at him and his protected citizen 丿闩⼕长 but not coming closer, out of caution of him, not wanting Phantom’s genuine wrath. Maddie pointing her weapon, but not firing, at them. He can feel, see, her glancing at him cautiously. She’s not moving or trying to shrug off Danny’s fifth? fifth hand/arm, the one he’s got bunching up the back of her jumpsuit that he’s probably sliced up a bit.

At least he’s only a bit bigger than them, longer. Him barring his too many teeth, “вⷡaͣcͨᴋⷦ oͦff, Waͣlᴋⷦeͤrͬ“.

“CRIMINALS MUST BE PUNISHED, PHANTOM”.

Danny’s lip curls up, “hͪaͣs͛n’ᴛⷮ hͪeͤ вⷡeͤeͤn aͣlrͬeͤaͣdͩy”; it’s not a question, it’s a statement of fact. Zone he, hasn’t been able to have a single ‘normal’ conversation with his male maker even once yet; his voice still breaking when Vlad refused to talk to him.

“HE’S UNDER MY JURISDICTION! HE FACES PUNISHMENT MY WAY”.

“нⷩeͤ’s͛ uͧndͩeͤrͬ mͫiͥneͤ faͣrͬ mͫoͦrͬeͤ”.

Then Walker, hurt, the jerk activates the electrical current on his whip, sending pain, hurt, down Danny’s arm. He hated getting hurt with electricity, and Walker knew that. Danny’s stance wobbling a little, glow becoming static for a beat before flaring and moving to flaming more proper. Mist steaming off of him and blinking eyes and stars, eyes to mouths snapping at any of the goon cops too close, holding tight making them unable to move even if they wanted to. Arm four and six helping arm two hold him stable while his legs lengthen, him bending them more to make sure he can keep 丿闩⼕长 covered beneath him; having to bend his spine more as well to keep that assurance. He dislikes, aggressively, how he must look like a cowering cat with its back arched and throat low before a larger aggressor.

But he can’t simply use his wail here, with fully living humans so near. And even if Vlad’s explained Kings Speak to him he doesn’t want anyone, especially Maddie and 丿闩⼕长 knowing he can effectively command and control ghosts; doesn’t want to be asked to control the ghosts to stay out. This was his lair, ghosts were... well... his people too, he wasn’t going to ban them from his own territory. What if one needed help, needed to be protected, was hurt, or just wanted to stretch themselves out in the mortal realm for just a little while. Who was he to restrict freedom of inherently free beings; it would be wrong on a basic level.

And Danny liked his sparing, like any proper ghost. But this wasn’t sparring. If Walker took 丿闩⼕长 here, Danny’d never rescue him without razing Walker’s Walking Prison to the ground, destroying his lair (again but still) and effectively going to war. And just the fact that Danny let Walker take his citizen would be a blow to him and drive his Obsession nuts. As ‘king’ Danny had to have a ‘fearsome’ rep or ghosts would doubt him, might rebel, might not trust him to protect them or help them. He couldn’t have that, not now, not ever. And 丿闩⼕长 was his, so much hurt, no more hurt. Walker doesn’t get to have him. If Vlad had requested this then maybe it would be different, but no, that’s not this, Danny refuses. No hurting. None of it.

...

There really isn’t much for people around, and the three that are around all have some kind of eye coverings. Red’s picking off ghost cops that stray too far from the battle zone. It’s okay. This is okay. Walker might be a warden, the portal opening into his territory, but he still has to stay in line. No ghost can do absolutely whatever they please in his lair, especially not things that truly stood to hurt people. So... he lets himself unfurl, unfurl properly, exploding into mist and limbs and an elongated form far removed from humanity, his own humanity. Moving a leg to have 丿闩⼕长 in the bend of one backwards knee, using Walker’s whip to yank him towards Danny and slamming his second hand into the mans skeleton face. Grabbing both the other ghosts hands with his third and fourth hands.

Walker ends up imbedded into the large swath of road Danny’s created, Danny snarling all fang and hundreds of teeth blinking with eyes,丫ㄖㄩ. 廾闩ᐯ🝗. 𝓝ㄖ. 丂闩丫. 廾🝗尺🝗. 龱尺. 龱ᐯ🝗尺. 爪丫. 尸🝗ㄖ尸㇄🝗. 工. 山讠㇄㇄. 㠪闩セ. ㄚㄖㄩ”.

“Do you see yourself ever reconciling with them? If your godson went back with them?”.

Vlad sighs a little, a bit tired of this, the blob rolls under his palm, “with him? No. I hate him completely and utterly, I’d see him dead first, his ghost ended as well; before calling that man a friend ever again. I have no interest in so much as allowing him to hear my voice or feel better about anything he’s ever done. And her? My... interest in her is broken, I hardly care for those or things I’m not interested in. Her presence is merely tolerable, I don’t mind her, there is no reconciling to be done”, humming and eyeing he window, “as for my godson, I doubt he’ll never go back with them, but permanently? No. He’ll be a visitor to them, not a resident under their roof”.

“What if you’re wrong about that?”.

“I’m not”.

“If you were, how would you deal with that. Hypothetically”.

“I don’t ponder over impossibilities. That is an endeavour for fools”, Vlad huffs a mean laugh, “I will not join him when he visits. That house will never again know my presence. And wether he chooses to forgive them more fully or not has little bearing on my lack of interest in doing so. All he can affect is how less unkind I am to them”. Though, he supposes he’d be rather disappointed if the boy forgave them fully.

The man nods, “most would likely feel that way, in your situation”.

Vlad would say so, “understandably so”.

“Do you maintain your desire to seek to harm him? Now that your godson is with you and you’ve lost interest in her?”.

“If I saw him dying, I would simply walk away as if he did not exist, I wouldn’t lift a finger to help that man; a fair treatment since he did the same to me twice over. However, losing my godson would not be worth the pleasure of killing him myself or making him suffer directly. And he no longer has anything of mine, nothing that belongs rightfully to me”.

“Do you believe others, your godson, would want you to help him though?”.

Vlad huffs, rolling his eyes in annoyance, “of course, that child is far too protective and moral for his own good. If the world asked him to rip himself asunder, make himself a martyr, then he would. He has. In a sense, I pity him for that”, putting a hand to his chest, “far better to be self centred and thriving, unmared by others helplessness”.

“That’s quite the ego you have”.

Vlad smirking, “it’s earned”.

“Is it now”.

“Oh absolutely”.

“Hmmm”, the man taps his pen on his leg, “in any case, what good do you suppose this is doing you? Change is clearly not your goal, so?”.

Vlad could understand how this could seem pointless, it rather was. But there was no denying he was too ‘involved’ and possessive to be objective when speaking with Daniel and there couldn’t be any degree of honesty else where. He’d never go to a ghost. Daniel said talking helps and despite everything, or in-spite of it, he trusted Daniel. “Ah, conversing with an outside unbiased being is useful, perhaps, yes. And one that won’t get twitchy on me due to overprotective issues”.

“So you do find this to be, useful as you put it”.

Vlad gestures at him, “you’re someone who can drive a conversation, take it directions; I’m not about to try and converse with the thin air. You might, encourage certain things but you won’t outright push for them and there’s no natural instinct to be subservient to you”. The blobs could hardly hold any kind of conversation.

The man blinks before nodding a little, “because of your godsons status?”.

Vlad nodding and humming, half ghost or not he can feel it, feel that Daniel’s his king. There’s a certain pressure to simply residing within Amity’s boarders and even more residing with the boy. He wouldn’t say he didn’t mind it, since he rather did; Vlad was subservient to no one. Yet there was a pride there as well, they were horrible for each other but were good foils for each other. A hero, a villain. One powerful by might, one powerful by wealth. One socially connected with strong friendships, one isolated and anti-social. A self conscious child still coming to terms with his own being, A prideful adult who’s fully embraced all their own monstrous inhuman traits. Inherently harmful to each other, yet... Daniel made a protective man of him, made him more honest, this entire conversation was an example of that. And he made Daniel more of a proper ghost, made him powerful. “Any ghost can tell his place, but I am proud that it’s his place. It does benefit me as well of course”.

“And reconciling with that man doesn’t benefit you?”.

“Being near that man has done nothing but get me nearly fully killed. If my godson truly pushed for it then perhaps there could be some benefit in making him feel more positively about me, however, he doesn’t want that man near me either. Protective fool”.

It’s chaos, he knows it is. Eyes and limbs and mouths and mist pinning so many different cops and their batons to random surfaces. He’s got a portion of his tail coiled around Maddie (who’s shaky and twitchy) and 丿闩⼕长; the restraining wrangle wrap around 丿闩⼕长 stinging his flesh a bit but he can feel him… patting Danny’s tail with a trembling hand.

It’s strange. It’s almost wrong. The man shouldn’t be so okay with this. Wrapped by a ghosts tail, his 丂ㄖ𝓝 being this giant inhuman nightmare of a ghost.

But it… it makes him more pissed at Walker. He didn’t want them seeing him like this, at least not yet, maybe not even ever. They weren’t doing well but they were better even if their house was never going to be home again. But now they got the pleasure of knowing that Danny could unfold and basically demolish that house. He could decide to eat them, the very thing he’d stupidly threatened Walker with, without much effort; his teeth could be as large as even 丿闩⼕长, the fangs could at least.

Him head butting the other ghost instead, but with a twitch some of the eye teeth bite and rip apart the guys arm; flinging the limb off to the side to dissolve into ectoplasmic goop, him absorbing it instantly. Growling into the ghosts face, nose scrunching up against Walker’s nasal cavity, “〸卄🝗讠尺尸ㄖ尺七闩㇄爪讠Ꮆ卄セ⻏🝗 讠𝓝 丫ㄖㄩ尺七🝗尺尺讠七ㄖ尺丫⸝ 丫ㄖㄩ爪讠Ꮆ卄七 𝓝ㄖ〸㇄讠长🝗 卄ㄖ山㇄讠ᐯ讠𝓝Ꮆ ﾁ尺讠🝗𝓝ᗪ㇄丫工闩爪. ㄚ🝗丂七卄🝗丫’ᐯ🝗 ⻏尺ㄖ长🝗𝓝 ㇄闩山丂⸝ 闩𝓝ᗪ 丫🝗丂卄🝗’丂⻏尺ㄖ长🝗𝓝 丂🝗尺讠ㄖㄩ丂ㄖ𝓝🝗丂. 乃ㄩセ ᗪㄖ 𝓝龱ㄒ尸ㄩ丂廾ㄚ龱ㄩ尺㇄ㄩ⼕长. ㄚㄖㄩ闩尺㠪 𝓝龱ㄒ闩乃龱ᐯ㠪爪㠪”, huffing and flaring his energy to press the ghost down into the ground more aggressively.

The ghost smartly holding up his one hand to tell his goons to hold off, not that they really had much of a choice considering they’d all either been caught by Red or pinned by him. “WILL YOU PUNISH HIM PROPERLY THEN”.

And now Danny smirks, because bantering he can do, “𝓝ㄖ. 闩𝓝ᗪ 丫ㄖㄩ⼕闩𝓝’セ ᗪㄖ丂卄讠〸闩⻏ㄖㄩ〸讠七. 𝓝ㄖ山 🝗讠七卄🝗尺丫ㄖㄩ⼕闩𝓝 ㇄🝗闩ᐯ🝗 ㄖ尺山🝗 ⼕闩𝓝 长🝗🝗尸尺讠尸尸讠𝓝Ꮆ 🝗闩⼕卄闩𝓝ㄖ〸卄🝗尺闩尸闩尺〸ㄩ𝓝セ讠㇄丫ㄖㄩ卄闩ᐯ🝗 七ㄖ尺🝗ﾁㄖ尺爪丫ㄖㄩ尺丂🝗㇄ﾁﾁ尺ㄖ爪闩 ᗪ闩爪𝓝 丂尸🝗⼕长讠𝓝 丫ㄖㄩ尺㇄讠〸七㇄🝗 尸尺讠丂ㄖ𝓝”.

Walker glares and jerks, Danny easily picking up on the attempt at forming some ecto construct, so he digs his claws into the ghosts legs enough to rip it off slightly; more damage than he meant. Walker eyes the crown over his head, scowls, and shrinks himself down; Danny telekinetically grabbing the ghosts ecto-field to keep him right by his face. His arm doesn’t reform and his one leg dangles limp. Good. Danny using his mouth eyes to yank all the guy cops over to him, “ㄒ闩长🝗 丫ㄖㄩ尺尸🝗〸丂山讠七卄丫ㄖㄩ”.

“Oh Zone fucking no”, Red flying down and pointing a very large bazooka at the collection of ghosts, “you barge in here, fuck up the road”, pointing at Danny, “you too, you stupid ghost”, her knees buckle for a second before she looks away from him again. Danny puts up his first and second hands in surrender.

At least he’s still able to think properly, even with the raw power running through him.

Her glaring at the ghosts, “and you think I’m not going to shoot you at least once! Dance for me!”, she absolutely starts shooting at them.

Walker makes a portal with a scowl, his men ‘fleeing’ from the huntress while he holds up a shield. Red hurling her bazooka at the ghost, it bouncing off of the shield, as Walker leaves through his portal with a, “tell Jack Fenton if I ever catch him around my jurisdictions, I will break him and he will be held to the full account of my law”.

Danny huffing, “工’㇄㇄ 🝗闩七丫ㄖㄩ尺丂〸ㄩ尸讠ᗪ 丿闩讠㇄セㄖㄖ”. Red kicking one of his eyes and twitching a bit violently, “I don’t know what you said but I know it was stupid”. Danny pouting and turning his head to look down at Maddie and Jack, using the tenth hand to shred the wrangler wrap… His tail’s still coiled around them and now it’s awkward.

“Are you taking the exhausted beat up and probably shocky hunters home, or am I”.

No absolutely not, he has to keep them safe. Make sure Walker doesn’t come back. Make sure they don’t hurt themselves doing something stupid. Should he try and alter the portals location in the Zone? Can he do that? Well he should be able to. Maybe he already has just by wanting to. Ugh this crap was annoying. But it does get him to fold in on himself, not… entirely, but enough that he’s only slightly taller than Jack. Him picking the two up, “noͦ noͦ Iͥ goͦᴛⷮ iͥᴛⷮ”.

Maddie grabbing his wrist, “we’re fine, or at least I am, put us down, Phantom”. She still said his name now like it was painful.

Red just throws her hands up when Danny does actually put the two down and Jack just collapses on the ground, with a, “That ghost isn’t even wrong”.

“It would appear we’re about out of time”, side-eyeing his phone, “and your mayoral jurisdiction appears to be having another ghost emergency”.

Vlad quirks an eyebrow, “you set an alert for my little side responsibility?”.

The man hums, “I like being thorough”.

Part of him wants to mock the man, but, it’s a bit appreciated genuinely. Either way he pulls out his own phone, there are multiple ghost alerts. For, of all ghosts, Walker? Odd. That one had no interest in sparring, wasn’t interested in getting Phantom to try to demolish his lair/prison again. Even if he was here to see Daniel it would be on business, he wouldn’t cause a scene. Especially to bring his lackies along. Humming and moving the blob to rest on his shoulder, “strange”, perhaps he should check in on the boy, not that Daniel couldn’t handle Walker on his own.

Regardless, he should make an appearance, Walker was the type that could cause a lot of damages after all. With a nod, Vlad gets up and straightens his suit jacket, “yes I suppose I could pay you to continue on with this, but that would be rather pointless, since I clearly have places to be”.

“Well hopefully this has been worth what money you did put forth”.

“If it wasn’t I would have left of my own accord entirely, far earlier”.

Then, because Daniel seems to attract ill luck, a portal opens up on the wall. The therapist, to his credit, does nothing more than pause for a beat in standing up. He doesn’t even pause in the handshake when Walker stomps through looking thoroughly displeased and missing most of an arm.

Interesting.

For a ghost as strong as this warden to not heal near instantly, Daniel must have injured his ectoplasm itself. Daniel wouldn’t do such a thing unless quite seriously provoked. Vlad eyeing the ghost as he lets go of the therapists hand, “to what do I own this displeasure, Walker? This is this mans professional place of business, after all, barging in private interactions is incredibly rude and unbecoming of someone so stringent on rules”.

The ghost glares, barely hiding a wince at Vlad jabbing his Obsession directly. Walker snarls commandingly, “control that boy”.

Vlad scoffing, “you say that as if I can or would”. Far be it for he to tell Daniel off for beating up or annoying a ghost: if anything, Vlad most certainly would rather encourage such behaviours.

The therapist cups his hands respectfully over his waist, “unless you have an appointment or meeting scheduled, you should leave”. Vlad would be surprised at the calm demeanour if it wasn’t frankly expected. If he can hold his confidence and ground around a serial killer or cannibal, then a dead prison warden wouldn’t be a hassle; strange, but nothing more.

Walker, as expected of a ghost that did actually have a modicum of respect for authority figures, nods respectfully, “I’ll be out of your hair shortly, however I have criminal matters to discus with this one”. The therapist looks none too pleased, but has clearly realised he can’t do much about this situation.

Vlad waves off the ghost, “well go on then, out with it. If my boy told you off, which I can tell he did, he’s well within his capabilities and social standing to do so”.

Walker glares, “that man should be behind bars, he’s under my jurisdiction”.

“That’s hardly my issue, that man is as out of your reach as I am. Of course, I’m not even under your jurisdiction; frankly, neither is he. Do not be so dense as to think your jurisdiction trumps Phantom’s”.

“You’re the one that the current serious crimes were committed against, and he will take your wants into consideration”.

“I hardly care how my godson chooses to deal with that man’s actions, beyond that he does deal with them”.

“He hasn-”.

Vlad holds up a finger with a smirk, cutting off the ghost and walking to have that finger in the ghosts skeletal face, “oh but he has. Anything you do to that man could never be worse than losing such a special child. That’s not even addressing my absolute uninvolvement with him now”, dropping his hand, “any incarceration or physical harm will do nothing”. The blob opens Its mouth in a soundless hiss.

The therapist nods, sitting at his desk to organise, “physical punishments towards those that actually feel like they deserve it are usually reacted to positively, rather than seen as a truly punishing experience. If anything, removal from the current fall out ‘this man’ is dealing with will actually make him feel better, less punished. The negative treatment from those we care about is of far more consequence than simple physical imprisonment, and that remains true for near everyone not on the psychopathic or sociopathic spectrum. That’s the very reason why interventions work, or-”, eyeing Vlad, “-why people seek out professional help under others encouragement”.

Walker seems to actually consider the man, “hmm, perhaps”, eyes Vlad, scowling again. Vlad’s fine if this turns into a fight, Walker isn’t stronger than him even if it’s close and Vlad doesn’t ever fight fair. “And if I put in a proposal to the Observants”. Less a question and more a threat.

Unfortunately for Walker, and the Observants, that threat would do the opposite of withers intentions. Vlad’s smirk is mean, “the boy would oppose them on principle alone, my godson is far more petty to them than he’s ever been to me”. Daniel would take any opportunity to annoy them even slightly.

Walker huffs but at least actually leaves. Good riddance. Vlad throwing the therapist an extra hundred bill, “for the inconvenience, and the silence”.

The man eyes he money, “I hardly need bribes”.

Vlad chuckling, “I’ve made much of my wealth off of bribery, consider it a habit of mine”, and walks out of the practice.

Danny eyes Jack rubbing his forehead on the couch, at least Danny was mostly normal again outside of being a little too long, and the tail he was keeping hovering around Jack’s ankle for protective reasons. Maddie offering him a plate of cookies even though she’s barely cleaned herself up, “thank you, for that”.

Danny takes the cookies of course, “he messed up yeah, but ghost jail is a little much”, grumbling and sticking a cookie in his mouth, ah okay teeth are still a bit off and pointy, “specially since Walker’s a prick”.

She gives him a bit of a pinched smile, “hard to say”.

Danny rolls his eyes, “you should look after yourself”, tilting his head at the door and the more unique scent of Val’s/Red’s nanobots, “outside of Jack thinking he kinda deserves to go to jail, they’re fine, Red. Want a cookie?”. Both Maddie and Jack jerk a little and look at him, so he shrugs, “people are smelly”. That’s all the explanation either of them are getting from him.

Red popping the door open and sticking her head in, “way to be creepy, now can I get an explanation for what the heck happened? And why I couldn’t just deal with it?”, grumbling, “outside of apparently not being able to win”.

Jack leans back against the couch a bit tiredly, all the burns on his suit still stark, “what I did broke ghost law, like the ghost said”.

“Walker”, Danny butts in.

Jack nodding at him with a little wince, they were getting somewhat better with names. “Like Walker said, and I guess? We, or I, am under that ghost cops? area or however it works exactly?”.

Danny sighing and rubbing his neck a little, “that portal you guys made opened up right into Walker’s territory, the section of the zone that his prison, and thus his laws, have jurisdiction over. Since it’s connected to Amity, Amity is technically connected to his territory; hence why a lot of ghosts who come here wind up in his jail”.

Red sighing, “but he can’t do much because Amity is ‘your territory’? Never thought I’d be happy for that, you nightmare”.

“Hey, I’m still a little insecure about that you jerk”. He’s absolutely ignoring the slight worry on Maddie‘s and Jack’s faces. He didn’t need them worrying about him and it was honestly a bit too late for it.

She grumbles, “didn’t seem that insecure when you went all kaju on that ghost”.

Danny crossing his arms, “considering Walker has a big thing for torture and really likes execution, it was warranted”.

Even Jack winces, “okay, I, don’t think I deserve that”.

Then, of course, Vlad freaking calls him, “what is it? If Walker’s causing more issues I’m actually going to eat him this time”.

“Did he attempt to arrest your ex-father?”.

Danny sighing, “he’s not ex-anything really, but yes”. Jack wasn’t ‘dad’, definitely not, but he also wasn’t ‘not dad’ either. It was a strange in between. “Obviously I wasn’t okay with that so”.

“I could tell, he came by personally to effectively complain about you. However, considering how I know you to be, I take it you’re at FentonWorks?”.

“Of course, that jerk”, Danny eyeing the two adult hunters, “and yeah, I am. You done with your ‘therapy that you don’t want to call therapy’ session?”.

“Considering Amity becoming your little battle ground for asserting dominance, yes”.

Danny rolling his eyes, “that’s hardly my fault, you fruitloop”. Danny completely ignores Jack muttering, “he’s in therapy?”, in shock and almost pain; he seems a little relieved too though. Then Red smacks him one over the head with a, “of course he is”. Because yeah, anyone would need therapy over that.

Vlad inspects his nails, being swarmed fully by blobs again, as he surveys the damage from the sky. Daniel went and altered the terrain again, at least it’s shifting itself back to normal slowly, not quite slow enough for no one to notice but it’s something. The massive indents and chunks taken out of things seem to be repairing as well, he seriously wished the boy would always clean up after himself this well; oh well, it gave him something to blow his money on. Something to spend his money on that made him look more like a ‘good samaritan’.

Vlad eyeing a clear whip mark, “and will you be remaining there, with them?”. A question with an obvious answer, he knows, but he can hope to be wrong. He pushes a few blobs away from curiously inspecting his phone, like they knew it was the source of his slight aggravation now.

“Yeah, gotta make sure they at least get fixed up and that Jack doesn’t do anything stupid like try to go through the portal to ‘hand himself over’”. It hurt, Daniel staying there, he knew it would, even if that didn’t change the facts. Then the boy continues, “I’ll be back for supper of course”.

Vlad blinking, “oh?”. Daniel wasn’t… going to even stay the night there? Still?

“Well yeah? Obviously?”.

The boy says that like it’s such a simple, plain, expected thing. It’s jarring and soothing. Him coming back to Vlad’s residence was as obvious as the sun rising in the morning apparently. Someday it might not happen, but that would require something or someone messing up real bad. So long as Vlad didn’t do anything truly crazy or cruel, maybe just maybe, Daniel will always come back.

Was... was that worth his suffering? Perhaps. Perhaps not. He can’t deny he’s pleased with this end result though; the blobs trilling, pleased, as well.

End.

Prompts: Vlad finally gets therapy. "Time, time, time, see what's become of me. While I looked around for my possibilities" - A character reminisces about what drove them to this point. Do they wish their life went in another direction…or did it get them exactly what they wanted? Worst possible reveal scenario, GO! Walker reminds everyone why he's the warden "I..I need your help." BadgerCereal Vlad gets his second chance, at a cost It hurt. He always knew it would hurt. He didn't realize how much. Jack Fenton finds out. Danny is stressed. He finds out blob ghosts make incredible chew toys and stress relievers. The blob ghosts seem to love being chewed/squeezed as well! It’s like a nice massage, good as enrichment for them Danny Phantom is the new King of the Ghost Zone. Except he doesn't know it. Ghosts just keep acting werid around him. Vlad is probably the one who has to spell it out for him. "A halfa? He's supposed to be dead!" Sometimes you just gotta be an eldritch horror. Newly Crowned Ghost King Danny experiencing his eldritch form for the first time, proceeds to have a meltdown at the further loss of his humanity. (Optional: Finds himself in space & a ghostly mentor comes to comfort him.) Forced Identity Reveal to the parents via Vlad and they don't take it well at first but don't try to attack him, they just ask him to leave for awhile so they can process this. That one time Sam had convinced Tucker to go goth, he hadn’t hated it—there were elements he actually found he enjoyed—but it ultimately wasn’t his “thing”. Then he discovered the CyberGoth subculture. Valerie enacts a plan to finally take down Vlad. Vlad has been quiet. Eerily quiet. No evil plots, not threats or pranks. Danny doesn't know what to make of it. On an unrelated note (Jack or Maddie, your choice), are acting kinda strange.

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hello-im-not-a-possum · 10 months

Text

Shattered Identity

Chapter one. Chapter two. Chapter three. Chapter four. Chapter five Chapter six. Chapter seven. Chapter eight. Chapter nine.

Chapter Ten (Final Chapter): Dead men and living men tell tales.

It was a surrealized landscape of his once familiar home. The way the surroundings waved in the world's most intense heat haze, the pinkish orange hues of the sky contrasted to the bluish grays of the melting Amity Park, the sidewalk squished under Danny's feet like warm mud. …Well, it wasn't his feet, not technically anyway. He wasn't controlling the copy of Vlad, just seeing what it was seeing and feeling what it was feeling. He assumed that this would what it would be like to be lucid while being overshadowed, still aware but just along for the ride.

Danny was worried about this, it was only annoyingly hot to him, he knew why and how he and the copy was surviving this, but what about the people? How could THEY survive thousand-degree heat?! In stark contrast, Vlad's copy and Vlad himself remained perfectly, scarily calm.

He saw his parents' RV stuck in the road, it's tires screeching occasionally to free itself from the melted mess that they were trying to drive on. His father even got out of the vehicle, got behind it, and tried to push it free with little success. His mother also got out and looked at the road-gunk in the tires with some kind of thermometer.

He was as confused as he was relieved. How were they surviving this..?

But the copy wasn't there to linger on these mysteries, only to make sure they weren't getting hurt before going after his real target…

At the same time as the copy was on a manhunt, there was a journey to the supernatural tundra going on at the same time.

The halfa trio didn't go to the Far Frozen without a vehicle, sure, even despite the injuries the older two sustained, they could've flown there themselves and it would've been faster, but it would've been beyond stupid for them to do so when the recovering teen would've had to be carried for miles by either a tiny girl or a frail hospital patient, neither of which had that much endurance and it would've been very dangerous to expose the ghost who just shattered his own core to the elements.

But as they got closer and closer to their destination, Dani was starting to feel unsure about bringing Vlad here in the first place. Sure, right now he was the one driving and he would have an easier time explaining what happened to Frostbite, but it seemed that even though the temperatures inside weren't too high or low, Vlad was seemingly getting weaker the colder it got outside.

It made sense to her, he was the one who said that fire and ice don't mix well…

“We're here.” The older teen in the gold sweater alerted the younger two as he parked the submarine-like device, unbuckled his seat belt, and used the chair as balance. “Now we just need to find Frost-”

“…Maybe you should stay inside, I'll find Frostbite and tell him everything.” Dani gently pushed the scrawny older teen back in his seat and handed him one of the blankets in the supply box. “In fact, I'll bring him here, you look like could use a check-up too.”

He looked like he wanted to protest but knew it would be a loosing battle, especially given both his own current condition and Danny's. As Danielle left, Vlad got back up and limped over to Danny's position to check on him, carefully unwrapping the bandages on the boy's face and neck with the intent of checking his vitals, only for the boy to cough, gag, and sputter as soon as his head was free.

Danny felt disoriented as no longer covered up, he adjusted to seeing out of his own eyes instead of Vlad's or his copy's. What made it worse was that every time he closed his eyes, he saw out of either Vlad's or the copy's.

Every time he blinked he either saw himself or saw the melted Amity Park.

“How do you manage to keep a copy up for so long?” The former cocoon muttered, still blinking the double-triple vision out of his eyes.

“Oh good, you're not dead.” The silver haired teen gave him a thumb's up.

“Did you spend half the trip here putting extra wrappings on me?” Danny returned him an unamused look while trying to wriggle his limbs free from the tightly-wrapped bandages.

“No, I think the ectoplasm on them got denser as they dried out.” Vlad thought out loud as he helped Danny free his limbs from the bandages, ignoring the boy's exaggerated gagging for both of their sakes. “Anyway, how are you feeling? Scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”

"Uh.. two I think?" Danny shimmied the rest of the bandages off and shook his head. "Listen, that's not what I'm worried about right now, something weird happened, I started..? Feeling what you're feeling?"

"…Literally or metaphorically?"

"Literally."

"Apple pie a la mode…" He 'cursed' under his breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Great, he's feeling side effects already, at the very least they were already here and could get that fixed.

"…And I can see out of your eyes and the copy's eyes. What the heck are you doing in Amity?!"

In that moment, Danny discovered a new emotion by feeling it emanating from the other halfa. The only way the hero could manage to describe it was internal screaming but made out of static and maybe grief too?

"I can explain." The older teen's voice cracked a bit, betraying his attempt to sound calm and collected as if Danny's current ability to sense what he was feeling didn't already do that.

The teen hero crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow, not sure he *could* explain but what else could he do but listen.

"I was going to reveal Vlad's secret at the funeral-"

"WHAT?!" Danny gawked. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard! In case you forgot: YOU'RE Vlad! And if you're posing as your own son, they'll figure you out-"

"Give me a second to explain." He rolled his eyes. "Your parents are the ones who made the gun, if they knew that they killed a human being with it, one that they knew personally, do you think that they would keep it around?"

"No..."

"Exactly, because at the end of the day, regardless of how they would feel about me if they knew about Plasmius when I was 'alive', they would have to live with the fact that they designed something that killed a *person* instead of a *ghost*."

"Speaking of ghosts, what about the ghosts you invited? What do they have to do with this?"

"In their case, the funeral's just a way to bribe them into not stirring any trouble. Everybody gets their own slice of the pie and if they want more, they'll have to fight each other for it instead of me or Dani. I've divided up the will in a way where if any of them was unhappy with what they got, attacking us would make the least amount of sense."

Danny nodded in thought, in hindsight, he was probably right about his previous assumptions on Vlad's social ghost life; he probably only knew the Dairy king and vultures on a personal level and that was because they lived together.

"Now for the wrench the guys in white threw into the mix; they don't care about humans. They won't give two flying figs if they knew they killed a human being in their attempt to destroy a ghost so... different measures and precautions need to be taken."

"Uh huh, and how does turning Amity park into a gooey mess do that?"

"That can be reversed. (...I think)" Vlad waved it off which didn't convince Danny in the slightest. "And what it does is introduce a sense of hopelessness in them."

"Hopelessness?"

Danny blinked in confusion, also seeing through Vlad's double's eyes at the same time, watching the figure starting to let the previously encased GIW being freed by him which only added to the said confusion. If he just left them in the melted cement he might get it, but freeing them? How could that be hopelessness?

"Despite all their weapons, all their training, all their funding... They've been knocked down and put at the mercy of a single, sickly, ghost." Vlad smirked. "I've shown them what I can be capable of without even doing it. They saw the readings on their scanners before they melted into unusable pieces of smoldering plastic and metal, they've seen my effects on their territory first hand: They can see that it took more energy from me to keep everyone that town alive during that heatwave than it would take to let everyone in it burn to a melted mess that mixed with the roads and buildings, they can imagine what would ensue if I *chose* not to-"

The black haired boy took a cautious step back from the older teen, starting to feel nervous with his demeanor and mentally reminded that lost memories or not, potential inner change or not, this was still very much Vlad.

He seemed to notice this hesitation and cleared his throat to play it off.

"O-of course it was just a bluff that luckily they didn't see through."

"…Are your memories coming back or did you go through a very weird mid-life crisis mixed with teen angst while you were left alone?"

"Er- Well, I think a few might have returned…" Vlad wrung his hands nervously while avoiding Danny's suspicious stare.

Both were very grateful that Danielle returned with Frostbite in tow.

"Great one! Thank goodness you're stable!" The former worry on the yetis face melted off as soon as he saw him. "When the little one explained what happened, I was expecting the worst…"

"It's fine, really! Vlad stopped it from breaking me just as the shot hit." He gestured to the shivering ghost burrito who was quietly begging them to close the door behind them as the cold was getting let in.

"I see…" The yeti's gaze drifted to the frail former villain.

While he shouldn't have been surprised to see him like this, he… couldn't help it. It was true that the nature of his core was unpredictable at the time, part of him assumed that the core would retain well… 'core' values to the broken ghost, so he was anticipating (or maybe hoping) that he would try to retain his power by sacrificing his memories. Frostbite remembered the disgruntled would-be conqueror the first time they met, a man that sought after power, so why would his subconscious throw what power he did have away? Was it just really bad luck or was there something so much more important to him that he was willing to sacrifice to protect..?

Vlad covered himself up more with the blanket, starting to feel self conscious about the giant Yeti's staring. "We came to give him a more thorough check up." he gestured in hopes of keeping the snowy leader's attention back on the boy. "It was the first procedure of its kind and done impulsively."

"And we also need to look over his core." Danielle added, pointing at the halfa burrito. "Because he shattered it like an idiot to do the procedure in the first place."

"…So soon after he just narrowly survived that weapon's attack?" Frostbite cringed in sympathy and turned back to Vlad. "How did you even survive that? In fact, how did you survive getting your core shattered at all…?!"

"Okay, I get it! I was incredibly stupid and it's entirely possible that the only reason why I'm alive today is most likely the will of a potentially sadistic god that refuses to let me die and stay dead.” His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and annoyance. "But in my defense, what other options did I have?! Let him die while wasting precious time looking for a healthy donor? Create an artificial core via cloning which is a delicate process that, and I cannot stress this enough, is *not* a quick process? Will an ice core part out of thin air? I'm not a miracle worker darn it! Now, can we please just get this over with?"

Frostbite nodded and looked over Danny's core, It looked a little different from the last time he saw it as it had fully elementally matured and there was a faint pinkish spot on the otherwise icy blue surface but it was smooth all over, not a single crack in sight and it was a healthy, strong color.

If he didn't know the context behind the spot, he'd assume it was just the core equivalent of a birthmark or something.

"All of these are great signs" Frostbite smiled. "You might not even have to deal with any problems at all given how quickly your case was treated and how the shard is adapting to the rest of your core."

"That's good." Danny let out a relieved sigh he didn't know he was holding in. "…But do you think there's going to be any long term side effects from this? I've been seeing out of his eyes when I close mine and feel what he feels… am I going to get powers normally exclusive to Vlad? Fire ones for example?"

"Although this…" He gestured to the boys in general "is very uncharted territory, I suspect that 'seeing what he sees' and 'feeling what he feels' is temporary and will stop as your core and body adapts the donated parts to themselves as sees them as yours rather than his. As for gaining other powers… That would depend on a variety of factors, like the overall health and medical history of the donor's core-"

"…Chocolate cheesecake, I think I just condemned that boy to a fate worse than death." Vlad muttered under his breath as Frostbite continued.

"-your own health and medical history, and how your own core adjusts to the donated piece. And if you do get any powers from the donor, I wouldn't expect them to be particularly strong ones. Especially ones that would conflict with your own core."

"So no fire powers?"

"No fire powers." The yeti cracked an amused smile.

"Got it."

"Now for you…" Frostbite looked over Vlad's own core. "OH DEAR ANCIENTS!"

"What?" He held up the broken melting core as if nothing was wrong. "It usually looks like this, just give it some more time to meld together again. and it'll be just fine."

It was the most horrifying yet beautiful thing the Chief of the far frozen had ever seen; a broken core fusing itself back together with a spectral substance that resembled lava. He could tell that it had been shattered before, in fact, the subtle cracks on the visible molten layers of it seemed to imply that it was broken apart several times before. While it was a mature core, there were parts of it that seemed stunted, especially the elemental aspects, if he didn't know any better, he'd ask if they were intentionally damaged. As he looked at it more, he wracked his brain for any explanation but couldn't find any…

"Forgive me if this sounds …antagonistic but how in the infinite realms are you still alive?! Your core is... It's almost as if it's held together with nothing but luck and faith!"

"I..." The first halfa stared at his own mending core for a bit, not finding an answer for the guardian of the infinite map as he started to loose himself in his thoughts. Over the course of twenty years, how many times did he survive something that could've killed a human being? Could've killed a ghost? How many times did his illness do him in? How many creatures was he mauled by? How many close calls did he have in battle? How did he survive the fire in the hospital..? How did he survive the drowning after? Could he die? Or was he cursed to always feel the pain of death but never the release afterwards- How was he still alive? "...I don't know..."

"...Vlad..?" Dani hesitantly tapped him on the shoulder.

The silver haired boy shook his head as if shaking out water and put his core back into his body.

"So... healthy color and the cracks are mending, I take it that means I need a lot of rest and to not push myself too hard, but there's nothing to worry about after it's fixed, right?" He nervously smiled at the yeti.

"I... Well... I want to say 'yes' as in this case you know your core better than anyone else ever will. But frankly, I think we should arrange further visits just in case."

"...While we're here and doing checkups, what about her? I mean, just to make sure."

The yeti gave him a look as he was suspecting that he was just trying to hide himself from him, but did so anyway, inspecting the light yellow core the smallest of them had...

___

The town was still healing from the 'unknown ghost attack' when the funeral was being held.

Danny hated it here, but he put up with the annoying suit, and his father bawling before the main part of the funeral itself even started, and 'Jack' Masters copying himself so that Patient Zero could also attend despite the headache Vlad copying himself now caused him (The pair running around with chickens like their heads cut off in their attempts to make sure that the funeral was going smoothly was also incredibly obnoxious and even a little headache inducing when he could see out of their eyes every time he blinked), and the weird tense atmosphere made by exclusively inviting ghosts and ghost hunters (and their immediate family), and the feeling in his gut that this was a ticking time bomb about to go off, and-

Frankly, the boy internally wished that he pretended to be sick to get out of it, but part of him was also curious as to how his parents would react to the news.

At the very least it wasn't all misery here, the decorations weren't as obnoxiously packers themed as he anticipated, the food was nice, and it was always... well *something* to see how ghosts behaved during temporary truces. He'd say it was 'nice' but that didn't feel like the right adjective for it.

Comfy? Maybe?

No, that didn't feel quite right either, especially given the funeral's hosts behavior.

Most of the ghosts came and went, paying their respects and leaving with an envelope given to them by Jack Masters, but some of them stayed after receiving their envelope.

When the funeral attendees were cut down to just the hosts, the Fentons, the Grays, the Vultures, the Dairy King, Skulker, Ember, Amorpho, and Walker, the lights started to dim and what seemed to be a ghost-power dampening fence lit up.

"Hey, Danny," Dani nudged him "just a head's up, the open mic speeches are going to start soon."

"It's an open mic funeral?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you guys sure that's a good idea?"

"I figured it might lighten the mood after the reveal."

As he opened his mouth to ask what she meant by 'after', the screen lit up, showing the recording of the 'deceased' Vlad Masters adjusting the camera pointed at him and clearing his throat before speaking.

"If you are watching this, it means that you deserve answers to questions that I couldn't give you when I was alive for one reason or another." The AI spoke and moved in a stiff way, but in the sense of stiff in which many would just assume that the man was reading from a script. And, well, they wouldn't be *wrong*... "Starting from where it all began: Twenty years ago, I got into a terrible accident that I survived, but it cost me my life. I can't explain how I both died and lived in any way more meaningful than showing you."

The black rings appeared and as Masters turned to Plasmius, the remaining funeral attendees were in shock but some got in an uproar.

Jack Fenton stared at the screen in disbelief, this entire time... His best Friend was a ghost! So many things made so much more sense but only raised more and more questions the more he thought about it.

Maddie shared her husband's disbelief and enlightenment, At one time, Vlad was also her friend and now his bizarre change from the man he used to be to the... strange obsessive creature that disrespected her and her husband made so much more sense. He was a GHOST the whole time! Any humanity he had probably decayed to nothing when he isolated himself from them! Too focused on the reveal itself than the notion that she had killed her own old friend, she also looked to the silver haired teen who was currently running the funeral as well as his bandaged doppelganger, noticing how the two seemed to resemble the late billionaire and the Wisconsin Ghost...

Jack Masters paused the recording as he noticed the brewing discord, they didn't seem to notice him do that.

Skulker always knew about Masters, but not that he used to be half human. He felt like such an Idiot! All this time! The ultimate catch was his goddamn client!

The Dairy King already knew this, but was caught off guard to learn that both the humans and ghosts were reacting like this was so unusual and surprising. ...In hindsight, maybe he was a little *too* ignorant of the goings on in the ghost zone...

Valerie already knew this secret and was mildly disappointed to learn that he died before she could make good on her promise to hunt him down, but relieved to know that he'd never hurt or trick another soul. She what *did* surprise her was that he was planning to tell others, that he was going to tell her considering that she was invited...

"THAT SONNOVA- HE'S BEEN BAILING *HIMSELF* OUT OF MY JAIL ALL THIS TIME!" Walker exclaimed at the screen with righteous fury, breaking the silence.

"Care to elaborate?" Dani handed the irate ghost cop the microphone and gestured to the podium.

Still clearly mad, but somewhat willing to humor her, he marched up there and started to speak.

"I should know better than to speak ill of someone who's died their second death, especially so soon, but this sorry son of a gun has been a thorn in my side the day I first arrested him." He pointed at the closed coffin. "I can't believe he's managed to pull the wool over mine and my boys' eyes all this goddamned time! He's been arrested a handful of times for theft, artifact robbery, assault on officers of Ghost Law, bio-terrorism, and unleashing powerful forces of mass destruction."

Maddie, Jack, and Valerie were more confused by the notion of ghosts having a law system that somewhat mirrored the human world's law system then the fact that Vlad was arrested by ghost cops before.

"No matter how high I set the bail, Mr. Masters always paid it in full, in cash, with the smuggest damn smile on his face. Part of me always kinda suspected that it was a game to him, when he showed up to pay, he *always* showed up in a solid gold limo in the gaudiest gold and green outfits I've ever seen in my life and I couldn't do CRAP about it because whenever I tried to make something he did that annoyed me against the rules, HE'D do something twice as annoying to bug me even more by following my rules exactly to the letter but never the spirit."

Danny couldn't help it and burst out laughing at the mental image of the escalating ridiculousness in the Bail war between his 'dead' nemesis and the Prison Ghost.

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up in the bastard's absence since he can't get the last laugh in person.."

Walker rolled his eyes, but was sobered out of the blind fury to be reminded by his surroundings that this was still a funeral, an event which one needed to be respectful at, even if it was the funeral of someone who made a complete mockery out of him in 'life'.

"I guess it's a little funny..." He tried to play it off. "I never once thought I'd be attending this thing in the first place until I read his letter. It's corny in hindsight, but it talked about how apparently, I was the first to discriminate against him for what he did instead of what he was, and that while he hated me as much as I hated him, he was at least grateful for that bit. I didn't know what he meant back then, even now, I still don't know what he meant, but something about it... stuck with me."

He looked back at the closed casket and sighed before grabbing a glass and raising it up.

"Shine on you crazy diamond, I hope the cops you're punching down in the inferno deserve it and you find other people who hate you for the reasons you want to be hated."

The second he finished his speech, he walked off stage, handing the mic to the next person who came up, Jack.

"I was there during the accident that had cost my old friend his humanity." He spoke into the mic with a somber tone. "We were best friends before it happened, roommates, and lab partners too. Some days, it felt like it was just me and him against the world back then..." The man softly smiled at the old memories. "On the day itself, it was an accident... His face was up against the portal's rim, I think he was inspecting the structural integrity, Mads was double-checking the calculations and I, I didn't notice that he was so close to the portal, I didn't hear that the calculations were wrong, I thought that this was the moment, and I turned it on without thinking of the consequences or how drastic they could really be. I can only wish that I knew this sooner, I have so many questions about this that only he can answer, but I know he never would've told me if he was alive for one reason or another. I know he blamed me for the accident back then, and he's not entirely wrong... Vladdie.. If you can hear me... I just want to say I'm sorry-"

Amorpho pushed him off the stage and took the mic in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

"The first time and place we met was Sardinia, Italy, 1998, I think it was march 8th, but don't hold me to it. I was doing what I do best before I noticed that there was a witness trailing me. I wasn't worried, very few places outside of this town think ghosts are real so I figured nobody would believe him if he tried to tell, but he did something unexpected when he did finally catch me." The ghost vividly explained as if he was the narrator in a detective noir film. "He gave me his card and said 'keep this number, I could use your skills in the future'. I'm dumbfounded but keep it anyway because I don't see the harm in it. A few months later, I get a call, it's the same guy from back then, he says he has a 'job' for me. I'm typically not the guy to go to for commissions, but it's hard to turn down easy money, especially when it's a ton of it. I never knew about Plasmius to begin with, but in hindsight I guess we shouldn't be surprised that a human has closer ties to ghosts then we all think when that human has a portal to the ghost zone in their basement."

The attention-craving prankster was happily drinking in his audience's suspenseful stares as he continued to build up for the punchline.

"Masters and I had a strictly professional, non-homosexual, business-type relationship when he was around and it was something of an enigma. At times, I felt like a gun-for-hire with all the secrecy and the terms used. 'Your target is X', 'Use the Russian Script', 'Your payment will be delivered in an unmarked PO box in Blank Street at 2am', stuff like that. The jobs themselves are simple, the type that really, he himself could do and it's frankly a little weird that he went through all the effort to get little ol' me to do it for him. At first, I don't think much of it, why question a gift horse and all that, but I am everything, including curious, so one day, after a job, I show up to where he plans to pay me early and wait. Masters shows up in casual clothes and puts the payment in before looking around and leaving, but instead of taking the money and going my own separate way, I tail him to see what all the fuss is about, to answer the questions I have for why he paid me to do what I did to so many people..."

When he could tell all of them were hooked, he knew it was time to deliver. He changed to the Deceased man's form but still spoke with his own voice.

"All the strange jobs, all the secrecy, the payments, why he picked me out of every other ghost in the world... It all made sense the second I overheard what he said when something he was working on fell apart right in front of his eyes; 'Pumpkin pie'. He was hiring me to use actual cusswords at people when he decided his food swears weren't strong enough!" The shapeshifter wearing Vlad's face cracked up. "Honestly, I think this makes him the funniest rich person I've ever met," He cleared his throat and started using Vlad's voice. "'Yes I have no qualms about committing arson or committing various forms of fraud, but the FUCK word? Absolutely not, I have STANDARDS. I *need* to pay a ghost to wear my face and use my voice to commit this heinous deed in my place, I will gladly walk to hell for my war crimes, but I refuse to go to there for saying 'bitchass' of all things'."

He took a bow and drank in his audience's laughter as he wrapped up his own speech and switched back to his 'default' state, handing the mic to the next person who came up.

"I don't know who this guy even is and to be blunt, I don't really care about his half-human-ness at all really." She shrugged. "But, I do know his relative, Zero. And Zero's one of the most ride or die friends someone could ever ask for. He and I died in the same hospital wing twenty-ish years ago. He was in for a facial reconstruction surgery gone wrong, I was in because my house burned down and they were trying to resuscitate me. ...It didn't work out well for either of us and we died, but got to know each other pretty well. The kid's a mad genus, great at playing the drums, made some of the best macaroni pizzas out there, and really helped me out of some pretty rocky times. And sure, Plasmius isn't the *greatest* person out there and all that, but you know what, if he's even half as cool as Zero was, then he's a pretty good guy in my books."

She tossed the mic into the crowd like it was a bouquet at a wedding and Skulker caught it and went up.

"Unfortunately, I cannot say the same regarding my own relationship with him." The ghost hunting ghost started. "Plasmius and I had known each other for a very long time and I didn't consider him a just client who is knowledgeable about engineering himself, but a friend. Unfortunately, he was a friend who hid something that would've changed everything. I would have killed him and hung his pelt on the wall had I known the truth. All this time I assumed he was just one of those ghosts who disguised themselves as a human and lived among them for whatever reason instead, he was playing me like a fiddle for his own survival. It's one thing to made a fool of by a target once or twice, but for as long as I've known him?! Mark my words, Plasmius, if you AREN'T dead, then so help me I will finish the job."

Skulker narrowed his eyes to the coffin and left the podium and the mic, leaving it for the next person to take it.

"He changed my life the day it all went downhill. I got a suit from him in the mail and a bunch of ghost hunting supplies. I didn't know his motives, or anything about him at all at that point. ...I still don't know his motives now, but I figured him out before today, when he thought no one was looking, I found out that Phantom was right and he WAS playing me for a fool all this time. He was playing both sides, ghosts and humans all this time..." Valerie shook her head. "Part of me's still mad about it, but honestly, now that I know that there are other ghosts that were gunning him just for being human- or half-human, I can't say it surprises me that he became what he was."

She kept her speech short, not wanting to bring up any bad memories around Dani, or to give her a hard time about the nature of what she and Vlad happened to be. It wasn't her fault that she was half human and half ghost after all...

Jack Masters was the final person to take the microphone.

"It's kinda crazy how fate and the world and all that play out sometimes... I originally came down to Amity to live with my dad and learn more about him since my mom never really talked about him. ...Boy did I get a lot more than what I bargained for." He nervously chuckled as he picked at the sleeves of his sweater. "I never got to meet him and talk face to face, he died before I ever got the chance to meet him as a person. But I found his journals, his letters that went unsent, and... I found all of you. I've learned a lot about who Vladimir Masters is and was, the good, the bad, and the downright weird, from all of you over the short time I've known you. And for that, I just want to say my thanks, thank you for attending, thank you for your rage, your bittersweet words, and your stories about who the deceased was in your eyes. ...I'm sure all of us here can agree that not everyone saw the same man, but all of us can agree that he was kinda a hot mess and if he's out there somewhere... ...he still is."

The rest of the funeral went as planned, the rest of the video left unplayed, some attendees shared more humorous stories as tension died down, and the burial went smoothly, but after the last of the ghosts left, Danny and Dani found Jack Masters outside the funeral home staring off into space, feeling a sense of exhaustion that the teenage hero could definitely understand.

"Oh, hey, I was wondering where you went." He sat beside the silver haired teen.

"Hey Danny, Dani." he halfheartedly waved. "Got enough of the catering?"

"Yeah..."

"...So now what do we do?" The black haired girl spoke up.

"I've been thinking that myself. Now that the funeral's over, now that I can rest assured that Jack and Maddie likely won't keep that thing around, now that the ghost thing has been handled... what do we do from here? I mean- I know there's the obvious; I need to fix whatever's going on with my core and head, find a ghost-therapist, *maybe* see a physical doctor too... It's pretty clear I can't keep living how I used to live, but I don't know how to live now. I don't know how to take care of anyone like this, let alone myself."

"Well, we can still take care of each other." Dani offered as she floated by him. "I don't see why we should stop just because the funeral's handled."

"Wait, you really want to stay? Despite everything..?"

"Yes, but I'm serious about the therapist!"

Jack half chuckled in response to her pouting expression.

"I mean it!"

"Are you leaving two for Colorado or Wisconsin or just staying here?"

"I figured it only makes sense to stay." He shrugged. "The mansion is still intact and nobody's going to be surprised that the only living heirs of the Masters fortune got the place. Besides, there's no point to me giving up the cats."

"Well, if you're looking for something to keep your hands busy, dad told me to tell you that that apprenticeship offer is still on the table." Danny handed him the Fentonworks Business card.

Jack Masters smiled, despite the uncertainty, there was always something he could count on.

#danny phantom #vlad masters #danielle phantom #frostbite danny phantom #warden walker #amorpho #jack fenton #maddie fenton #valerie gray #skulker #ember dp #fanfic #shattered identity

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