#Vlad and Danny have a truce

[nelkcats]

Death sentence

We are sorry Phantom, but we need to see by yourselves if you are a threat or not, we will be visiting you tomorrow at 4:40 pm

-Justice League

Danny was unsure about his feelings, apparently the government contacted the JL to eliminate him because he was "dangerous", but Martian Manhunter, knowing the government was not always the best, convinced them, so the League leave a message to Vlad instead.

Vlad didn't want to fight with him, he published the note in Amity newspaper. Now, that was kinda...bad, not for him, but for the rest of Amity Park. It was like being sentenced to death.

While Danny freaked out the entire city was having a meeting, they didn't want the Justice League there, not near Phantom or Fenton, he was a kid, the league have a history ignoring calls and kidnapping child heroes to be part of their "society", and train them "properly". Their kid was already death, they were not going to take risks.

Amity Parkers also know they will start to choose between him as they choose between their "personas", like Phantom and Fenton were different, and yeah, the inhabitants of Amity Park can't judge, it take a while to figure out he was the same but by that point he already saved their lifes and they were already attached to him.

If the League finds out the kid was a halfa they will choose a favorites; "Phantom" being better fighter than "the civil identity Fenton", "Fenton" being intelligent "when he is not at hero work", and to be honest they understand, when a person acts different is normal to separate between the two personalities.

They will obligate him to separate himself, like the "hero" and the "civilian" needed to act different or some stupid thing like that.

But Fenton Phantom was not a personality to separate, they were the same and the small city remembered all the fights, all the favoritism, remembered when Fenton was left out because of his better "half", remembered when they needed to buy the kid an apartment far from his parents cause it taked a while for them to separate "His cute guy Dann-o" and " The Ghost scum"

And the city remembered the sobs, the adults remember leaning out their window at night and hearing the uncontrollable wailing of the ghost, allowing himself to be the scared teenager he always was.

That day, they made a promise, to accept him, all of him, he never needed to be separated in two again, he was not destined to, he was the representation of equilibrium between life and death for god sake. The kid already hidden from them for two years, two years of scars and fighting alone, and they will never repeat that error.

The Justice League have no right to break their promise. And they will never let them ruin another kid, not an Amity Parker.

So, what happened next was just natural; the next day Mr. Lancer called Sam and Tucker, told them to guide Danny to the Ghost Zone for a while, maybe entertain him with his ghost friends, they accepted.

"Team Phantom" was still active (with Dani and Val help) but they had more support than ever, and they trusted their city, all basically united by the guy who literally spends his after life protecting them.

The thing is, it was almost stupid what happened in the past, Danny was sleep deprived, his fight with Pariah ended well but the suit suck too much energy for him, that connected with his lack of sleep ended in a transformation In the middle of town, where everyone could see it.

It took a while to accept the reality, that a boy had fought with the king of the dead for a city that hated him. They even pretended to have no idea about the revelation, acting like they didn't know for another couple of weeks; Although the news spread and gossip was not lacking.

Sam and Tucker expected the other shoe to drop, but they ended surprised when the city called a reunion (since when the totally of the city reunited?), they acted like Danny bodyguards, but what they didn't expected was the Fentons unable to look at them and leave the room.

The people who stayed offered an apology (but Val wanted an explanation) and an apartment (¿the city collected money to give him an apartment far from his home? Danny wasn't sure if he was happy or heartbroken)

When the Justice League arrived the Red Huntress was waiting for them, her weapon pointing the "heroes" who frowned at the sight of the "hero" holding wepons.

"Sorry, ¿is Phantom haunt here?" Martian Manhunter asked cordially, the girl nodded "¿can we talk with him?"

"No"

"¿Why not?¿is he dangerous?¿is he hiding from us? It's okay, we can capture him if that's the case" Flash assured, hoping that would take away the tense atmosphere, the meta ghost was probably the villain of the city or something, so that made the red suit girl the hero.

"We can also give you proper training so you can stop using wepons" Wonder Woman also offered.

"First of all, that's none of your business, you don't go to Star City and ask Green arrow to stop using arrows cause you don't like them, I don't care about your training" the girl answers, obviously annoyed "second, we don't want you here, not near him"

The Martian frowned "Sorry ¿we?"

"We" the girl pointed at the city, all the city was watching them, but contrary to normal meetings they were watching them with resentment.

"Eh, ¿why? Maybe this is all a misunderstanding..." Superman was trying not to look at the people, even the kids on the street seemed to stop what they were doing just to look at them with pure hate in their eyes "can we see the major?".

"I'm here" Vlad appeared behind the girl and greeted them "I see you already meet the Red Huntress"

"Yes, ¿Do you know where Phantom is? We send a note yesterday" Batman asked, the reason of the meeting was not there after all.

"Yes, I remember, the Death Sentence you left on my door cause of the U.S government ¿right?"

"¿Death sentence? That's not-"

"Oh, but it is, you left your precious note in my office, overnight, asking us to hand you over to our local hero for you to search and see if he's a threat, ¿am I wrong?" Vlad was having fun teasing these heroes.

"Sir, we need you to understand, according to the U.S government Phantom is a dangerous individual, maybe he can even destroy your city" Superman tried

"According to the U.S government we don't exist, ¿or did you forget that information on purpose?" the huntress mocked

"I remember, but it was for your safety, the government was trying to contain the threat-"

"The Goverment this, the government that, you see superheroes, we are not ruled by the government anymore, this is a free city, since we were contained here, we produce everything on your own, food, energy, we owe nothing to the government and much less to you"

"¡But we can help you! We can get ride of your meta infestation and-" Flash was trying to mediate

"¿Meta infestation? ¿That's what they told you?, oh poor heroes, getting here with the grown information" the major laughed "Look, I will make myself clear, we have a ghost infestation, Amity Park is now a death city and we prefer it this way"

"And what about Phantom?" Martian Manhunter asked worried.

Vlad sighed "You can visit him, he likes space, however" he pointed at the other heroes "they can't, we don't need the Goverment help, we don't need your help, we are alive because of that boy and we don't want YOUR team near him, Phantom is an Amity Parker and it will stay that way" the major walked away.

"Look, ¿Martian Manhunter? You are a good guy I get it, but we don't want all of you here, the only hero we want is Phantom and we don't need your ideologies or training near him, he is OURS, so please, get out of the city while we are still being nice" Red Hunter stated.

"¿What if you need help?" Batman asked

"We needed help two years ago, the boy you want to take saved us when you decided not to take our pleas, and as such, we won't take yours" the girl said "Amity Park can take care of it's own as always, go save a city that need you"

And with that said she flew away, leaving them at the entrance of the city, the angry shouts and mutters of the citizens saying that they wanted them away in the background.

[radiance1]

Danny Phantom.

Vlad Plasmius.

One day out of the blue they get turned into cats, via the wish of someone living in Amity Park as a joke.

But you never say wish in a sentence in Amity and expect something not to happen.

Danny and Vlad still have their powers, but now they're just cats. Danny is a black cat with blue eyes, but when he turns into phantom he becomes this glowing white cat with glowing green eyes.

Vlad is gray with blue eyes, and when he goes ghost he's completely black with glowing red eyes.

Danny and Vlad still fight, but now it just looks like a literal cat fight, with superpowers.

So somehow while the two were fighting, they accidently went through a portal and landed in the DC universe, but did they stop their fighting to check their surroundings?

Obviously not.

So there they were, two cats fighting in the streets of some random city, maybe destroying buildings, a couple cars, some stands who is to say.

What does happen though, is that they get stopped by some rando they've never seen before, some flying guy with an S on his chest.

And then somehow someway they ended up living with him, Vlad is fucking scoffing at having to live on a reporters salary though, Danny is just here for the vibe in all honesty.

How do they manage to live under the same roof without tearing shit apart?

Clark Kent has his ways.

(He lets them out from time to time to beat each other up, for bonding he says as he stays near them in case shit starts getting too destructive.)

[ew-selfish-art]

DCxDP AU: Danny and Damian are actually twins but were never raised together- Talia would divide her time between bases, spending time with them separately (but spending more time with Damian). Jason technically only met Danny in his time with the LoA.

It still a very tenuous truce that Jason has with his family when he finally joins them for breakfast after a late night of busting a drug ring. And sue him, he's never cared to look at the little one that closely when he's not pointing a knife in his direction. But then the little Bat Brat turned his face towards the ray of light streaming into the family room of the Manor and Jason caught a closer look to the… green color. Huh.

“Hey demon, when you died did you come back with those green eyes?” Jason calls out, and perhaps it’s a little antagonistic but something deeply unsettles the crime lord about this.

“Tt. I’ve always had green eyes Todd. Your observation skills remain dulled-“ Damian begins to berate him but Jason’s scowl deepens and he interrupts.

“No, they were definitely Bruce’s color blue when I met you with Talia- I punched your lights out because of it remember?” Jason supplies, looking perturbed and having a small child look equally perturbed back at him.

“You never met me in Nanda Parbat. And mother would have never allowed you to attack above your station and live.”

“Kid I literally have the scars from my punishment. My memory from that time after the pit might not be great or even good but I know, I know I punched your lights out.”

“No doubt you have been fooled by a clone then-“ Damian says but he looks upset.

“Talia called you Dami then, you’ve never let us call you that.” Jason supplies further, he was certain that Talia had introduced him as her son.

“I was never called such an informal name.” But Damian looks disturbed more than he looks like he wants to fight.

Eventually, after combing through their collective memory of Talia's where abouts and Damian's lack of interaction with Todd, it’s decided that they have to talk to Drake who was there the most recently. Neither wants to add the fact that he's also the most knowledgeable family member when it comes to the LoA now.

“Huh? Yeah, it looks like Talia kept ledgers dividing her time between two places- the journal reads like there is Dami as Damian but… maybe it’s Dami AND Damian…” Tim reviews the books he robbed them of with a fine tooth comb and suddenly this pattern of using the “nickname” and the “full name” start to show a “first child” and a “second child”.

Damian was clearly the favorite. The ‘Dami’ kid was sent away on a suicide mission pretty early in their lives, he would have left right after Todd did at the age of 8-ish. They all groaned at the cold trail following this assignment he failed to return from- it meant that they had to involve Bruce with a DNA search of the local areas the kid had been sent to across the globe. One of which, weirdly enough, was in Illinois.

…

“My name isn’t Daniel” Danny sighs at yet another event the Mansons brought him to with Vlad looking over his shoulder every five minutes.

Then the weird skinny kid who’s the big talk of the town approaches him with some guy built like a tank and says: “It’s Damian, isn’t it?”

Danny literally sinks through the floors, but in his attempts to run out the back door he’s stopped- By a guy that has Danny's own face and a very sharp looking knife pressed to Danny's throat.

In short- Danny introduced himself to the Fentons as “Dami” but they misheard him and called him Danny and fuck it, it’s close enough.

Now it turns out that their mother only planned on one surviving the artificial womb and gave them very different amounts of her time- so she just gave them the same name and reported it like she only had one child.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 291

You know what? I’m feelin’ a Prompt with the whole halfa family, all the clones and everything. 

See, Danny? He’s grown up, he’s moved out, started looking at colleges himself after spending a few years travelling and learning about himself without the threat of a ghost attack. 

He’s kept in touch with his friends, both living and dead, and ignores Vlad for the most part now that they’ve reached a truce of sorts, and honestly? He’s just living his life. 

But see, it’s kind of hard to figure out what college to pick, with his admittedly not-great choices. Look, he might have a new-ish ID but he’s still visibly not exactly human (though thankfully doesn’t have to worry about the GIW after a… summer activity that ended with several missing buildings) 

And most people he goes to? Finds him ‘too unsettling’ which excuse him?? How is he unsettling? He’s a twenty-five year old with six kids ranging from one to six! How is that “scary” huh? Ancients, and all this is making him use the cash he’s saved up over time. 

And then- as though all of this isn’t stressful enough and he’s not genuinely worried that he won’t have enough money to feed the kids if he goes to school- a hero nearly trips over Jordan and starts freaking out. He is so fucking done. 

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DPXDC prompt. Granny al Ghul

Ra's al Ghul believed that there were no former members of the League of Assassins. Maddie understood that perfectly, but it didn’t make her any more prepared when she saw her father.

"Hey, are you my favorite sweet grandpa?" Danny, who noticed his mother freezing in fear after opening the door, immediately stood in front of her. "Want to hug?"

"It was you again! I know for sure." The head of the league hissed in anger. ''Get out!"

"But this is my house." Her son shrugged his shoulders and smiled in a strange snide way. "Do you want me to show you my room or do you want me to chew a cookie for you? You look totally senile. Even your feet can’t hold you."

Ra's Al Ghul was shaking with rage. "Don’t play dumb, I know you’ve been tinkering with water in my Lazarus pits." "They are part of the nature reserve of the Ghost Zone." Danny was rightly outraged. "Write your name on them even a hundred times, they will not be yours."

"But you’ll get a fine for vandalism. You’re lucky I didn’t report you to the authorities." Danny threatens grandpa with his finger. "But it’s only because we’re family, you know?" Ra's frowns but stops arguing. "Would you like a cup of tea?" Danny’s offering a truce. Ra's sighs. "Well, I wouldn't say no."

~~~~~

"Do you like your drink?" Danny asks, pouring grandpa more green tea with milk. "Disgusting." The head of the League of Assassins answers sincerely. "Good." Danny’s smiling like a gremlin. "Hey, do you want to see an album with photos of baby Danny, Ra's?" asks Jack, who doesn’t notice the tension around. "No." Maddie was sitting there with her eye twitching for the last 40 minutes. "I would like to see a family photo album, Madeline." Ra's, who saw an opportunity to embarrass his insolent grandson, did not want to lose it.

~~~~~

"For the last time, why should I participate in this abomination?" Ra's stared angrily at his grandson pushing him into the classroom.

"Come on, grandpa, you saw my photo from kindergarten with a piss on my pants." Danny looked at him, batting his eyelashes.

Ra's rolled his eyes."And why does it mean I have to join this circus?"

"We’re definitely family now! And I promised Mr. Lancer I will take on Career Day this year anyone but not mom or dad. I’m definitely not gonna call Vlad. So that leaves you." Danny pushed him again.

The guard at the Demon's Head got nervous, but Ra’s hand stopped him. "I did not agree."Grandpa moved one of the swords to Danny’s neck.

Fenton just brushed it off with a frown. "Come on, tell everyone a little bit about your plans for immortality and world domination. Maybe I’ll be interested in being your heir then. I promise to listen carefully!"

~~~~

"The most important thing in educating your minions is control. They must feel an absolute fear of your authority." The inspired Ra's continued his speech after the bell. Lancer was taking notes. Tucker looked at it.

"I don’t like it, guys. I stick to the good old-fashioned disciplinary measures, you know?" Techno geek whispered.

"Well, I’m totally fine with it." Danny, who had noticed that after a fascinating lecture about the most effective tortures Dash was sitting two desks further away from him, showed his grandfather fist with the thumb up.

~~~~

"I changed my mind, I’ll kill him." Danny roared, running around the stadium after his thirtieth lap. What idiot from the school board took his crazy grandfather’s advice about organizing extra fitness classes? Next to him Wes fell to the ground. "Do it, Phantom. Avenge us." The boy wheezed at the last breath. "No distractions, five more laps!" Ra's stood on the field with the hand fan. "This bastar-r-rd." Danny roared furiously. "What? My favorite grandson wants to run another ten? Well, I can’t say no, right, coach?" Demon's Head yelled.

~~~~

"You know, it is really nice to take a vacation sometimes. I feel an unprecedented surge of strength." Ra’s reached out to Mr. Lancer standing next to him. "Would you like to meet for coffee sometime?"

"How about Friday, around 7:00 p.m.?" Mr Lancer looked at his schedule. "No, I’m busy at this time." Ra's sighed with regret. "We have a ritual sacrifice scheduled for six p.m." "You have a great sense of humor, my friend." Mr. Lancer laughed. "Who knew Mr. Fenton had such an intriguing and well-read grandfather. You’re full of surprises, Mr al Ghul." ~~~~ Damian, sitting on the roof of Casper High, lays down his binoculars and sighs. "Yes, mother is right, grandfather finally lost his mind." "Well, I’m glad you noticed too." A voice filled with relief rang very close. "Who’s here?" Damian took out the katana. "Um, boo?" Void’s voice answered.

[picturejasper20]

Badger Cereal Week Event

Tag: badgercerealweek2024

Hi there! Me and some mutuals have been working on prompt fandom event we would like to share with you: The Badger Cereal Week Event!

What is this event about? 

This event is about badger cereal (Danny-Vlad frenemy dynamic)  that people can participate in by making fanart, fics, etc by using the list of prompts that are going to be shared in this post down below.

This event is going to last a week, with each day dedicated to a different prompt from the list.

What is badger cereal?

Badger cereal is the fandom platonic ¨ship¨ between Danny Fenton and Vlad Masters. This dynamic usually consists in Vlad acting like a mentor or like father figure to Danny, it can involve him working along with Danny or teaching him. Other cases it can be the two characters having funny interactions between them as enemies, with the person enjoying their hero-villain bantering.

Their dynamic can change depending on the person, with some leaning more towards drama and others more towards comedy, but it is always intended to be platonic, as mentor-pupil or rival enemies, nothing else.

When is the event going to take place?

In November, from Sunday 10th to Sunday 17th Nov. It is going to last a week

Guide and rules about the event:

-Remember to tag any entries/posts as #badgercerealweek2024 -Remember that this is supposed to be a badger cereal event, so please, keep it that way. -Things like horror and gore are allowed but shouldn’t be taken to an extreme. -Not every prompt has to be used while participating in the event. A person can do one or two and that would be enough. -It is okay if the person doesn't post the prompt in the same day it is intended to as long as they clarify which prompt is (like prompt from day 2 in the fourth day)

List of prompts for the event:

It would be: Day 1-Teaching Day 2-Pranks Day 3-Future Day 4-Parallels Day 5-Protection Day 6-Fighting Day 7- Truce

Credits to the @theillustraitor for making the design for the list of prompts!

*In any case you have any questions about the event, you can DM me or send me an ask to my blog.

See you there!

Tagging @skeletalcreature

[vladdyissues]

saw the ask about Immortal Husbands AU and realized i haven't dropped my messy fucking ghost marriage headcanons anywhere.

-Sam and Danny work out, they get married. they eventually deal with an amicable divorce for varying reasons, BUT, over in the Ghost Zone, things agitate, Danny becomes new Ghost King

-somewhere in the process of doing this, he and Vlad end up working together, and Danny tries to give him some sort of official title or position so he knows Danny is grateful for the continued attempts at redemption.

-oops accidental marriage

-"They think I'm married to Vlad?! WHY do they think I'm married to Vlad?! And why does everyone think it was on PURPOSE"

"Might have something to do with the kids you just made legitimate."

"The WHAT"

-yeah they're talking about Danielle and their dark future fusion living in a Danny clone.

-what do you mean genetically they're only Danny the fuck does that have to do with baby ghosts

-Sam finds it fucking HILARIOUS

-Vlad and Danny, less so, because hey actually they kind of have been craving a domestic relationship to each other for a long time

-oh hey this is everything they wanted in a relationship what the hell

-Sam and Danny had a kid, she is actually super stoked to have older (and younger, sooner than later) siblings who GET these ghost powers she inherited (and being a spooky ghost princess)

-Sam is never going to stop being amused by joking about their new relationships after all this shakes out

-Vlad was considering retiring to the Ghost Zone anyway so no one notices he stopped. yknow. aging. doing that while getting power AND domesticity with his family??? maybe he should have baby trapped Daniel earlier

-Danny does not think EITHER of them are as funny as they think they are.

-they very much disagree

ASDLKJFHASLDKJF I love this. Danny does exactly one (1) nice thing for Vlad as a gesture of truce and the next thing he knows he's got a husband and two more kids—and he. Kinda likes it. Fuck.

[reanimatedgh0ul]

i think also makes the reveal where vlad finds out danny is phantom funnier to me on account vlad doing a double take not just from the fact that was maddie/jack's kid he was fighting but the fact skulker and his vultures have described phantom as a being a boy up until now and so now he's like ????

can't seem to find that post rn but iykyk it's that 1 tumblr post that's like parents will be like "oh here's our lovely daughter" and then it's a pic of jesse pinkman

anyways that's maddie and jack when introducing danny to vlad during bitter reunions in my stuff lol

[justalitlecreacher]

okay i got @sykloni for this year's truce (sorry it took so long i got nervous) anyway; the prompt "Vlad's identity gets revealed and it's his own fault" really sparked my interest

So i had an idea where Danny's identity is revealed to his parents somehow and Vlad rushes over as Plasmius out of concern; but once he sees that everything is okay and Danny's parents have accepted him as he is, Vlad flies into a jealous rage, accidentally revealing crucial information on how Danny became a half ghost and prompting Jack to connect some dots between the two portal accidents

I left it open ended but I hope Vlad can salvage his relationship with the Fentons from here

[little-pondhead]

Wanted to hop in on the supervillain Danny au questions! Do we think Valerie would have any interest to get in on this? Between being a pawn for Vlad as Red Huntress and her "friends" ditching her as soon as she stopped being rich, I like the idea that evil billionare mastermind is her general vibe. Heck, maybe she and Tucker flip roles and she becomes the guy in the chair, not being a front line powerhouse and actually coming up with elaborate plans.

And on that note, do we think that if Vlad somehow found his way into this mess, he'd see the whole thing as a fun little game of "opposite world" and try his hand at being a hero? Because I for one think that would be hilarious, I actually don't have ideas for that because I can't imagine a heroic Vlad.

Amyway, that's all I got for now. Love your work!

You're one of the vertebrae creatures who keep hoarding all the brain wrinkles, aren't you??

---

[Okay, so I lost your ask, wrote this shit, then found it again so it's not exact but I'm trying here.]

Let's start with Valerie, or keeping up with the trend, Gray in the DC universe.

Valerie is so tired. It's a different kind of tiredness that has a grip on the others. Danny is tired of being a hero, Sam is tired of her parent's expectations, and Tucker is tired of being unable to protect his friends. Jazz is tired of being the bigger person, and Dani is tired of not having someone to rely on. The DC universe is their escape, and honestly, it's doing wonders for their mental health. Valerie notices. She has a shaky truce with Phantom and his crew, but she can't just let him get a leg up on her, can she? So Valerie follows them, through town, through the portal, through the new world they popped up in.

There, she stops. Phantom is now Fenton, and doesn't that make sense? Many things click into place and Valerie starts to understand as she watches the others from the shadows. She's surprised they haven't noticed her, but a little green sticky note on her visor says she had a little hand in her reconnaissance. So when she's done, she returns to her dimension. Back to Amity Park and back to her bed. Valerie lays there for a while, staring at the ceiling and fingering the sticky note, committing every detail to memory.

And you know what? Valerie gets pissed. How come Danny and his friends lovers? and family get to just visit other dimensions whenever they want a break and have no repercussions whatsoever? Just because hero work is hard?? She's a hero too, dammit!

Obviously, someone out there apparently agreed with her because, in a quick, dizzying moment, Valerie finds herself suddenly in the Ghost Zone, plopped down on a ratty blue couch with a very old ghost sitting across from her. He introduces himself as Clockwork, the ghost of time, the regent of the king, and Danny's guardian. Mentor? She wasn't sure; ghost speech always gave her a headache. Either way, Valerie found herself exceptionally calm and somehow struck a deal with the Ancient. To her chagrin, Clockwork informed her that Valerie was well and truly Liminal now, despite her best efforts. (What did she expect? Her suit was practically drenched in ectoplasm.) As part of the deal, Clockwork extended the same courtesy to her that he had to the others. Anytime she wanted, Valerie could have free reign and access to the DC universe and could do anything she liked with no bad consequences. And because of her liminality, he was able to grant her just enough power for her to create her own portals directly to the other realm.

[What did Clockwork get out of this deal? Well, that's up to someone else who's not me.]

So Valerie goes to this new universe. She switches her name to Gray, as if to mock Fenton, who had no idea she was there. She does not try to become a supervillain. And what's this? Outfit analysis time!!

In the show, I've always liked Valerie as a character, and whether it was intentional or not, her design seems to fit her attitude and actions. They were in high school in the early 2000s before her dad lost her job; Valerie was very popular, from what I remember. Her family had money. Other kids expected her to keep up with social norms, so her outfit looked more stylish than practical. She wears yellow, which is most commonly seen as a happy color. Her hair is slicked back so people can see her whole face. She has nothing to hide. She's confident and youthful, ready to lead, and overall enjoying her lot in life. Then ghosts start appearing, and we all know her backstory as Red Huntress. Her suit is tight to her skin, bright red, and overall she's armed to the teeth. Everything about that screams DANGER! Valerie is a threat now.

Her civilian outfit also never changes, which is understandable because this is a cartoon from 2004. But it's secretly genius because yellow is often considered a cautious color. It turns from being a happy color to a warning. Yellow is also associated with anxiety, betrayal, and even egotism, which is something both she and Danny experience during their interactions. She's uptight and constantly on edge. She feels like she has to provide for her family and is quick to anger.

Now for the opposite of that? Valerie is tired of being angry all the time. Rather than go apeshit on a bunch of poor heroes and villains-been there, done that-she treats this whole thing like an actual vacation. Gray wears a soft long sleeve, sweats, and fuzzy slippers. Her hair is relaxed and in a bun, with her bangs hiding half of her face. It takes some pressure off of constantly keeping her expressions in check. People also can't see how she's silently judging them. She lets the stress melt from her shoulders and lets herself curse like a sailor whenever she feels like it. Her clothes are dimmer colors, which don’t stand out or demand attention. She lets herself be not perfect.

Although, just because this is a vacation for her doesn't mean Gray can't just lounge around doing nothing. She has no money! So Gray, after shuffling through a couple decades of this world's history and discovering that Craigslist is universal, applies for the first work ad she sees. In short, Gray joins the Goonion. She ends up making a deal with the guy who hired her. And her new boss. And her new neighbor. And-

Gray very quickly becomes the John Constantine of the criminal underworld. She brushes up on her people skills and learns to talk rings around other people, getting people to owe her favors as much as she dishes them out. Balance is the key here, as she’s learned from Danny. Gray is never tied down by too many IOUs at a time, and her tight grip on her companions and team quickly earn her a questionable but reliable reputation. She presents a morally-gray character, if you will.

Gray’s quick climb to power-that was definitely sped along by Clockwork-earns her a powerful position in the Goonion. If she plays her cards right, Gray doesn’t have to do any work at all. She just leans back and enjoys being paid for wearing pajamas all day and occasionally signing some paperwork. She siphons away bits of her own paycheck to a dimensional bank account she threatened asked Technus to set up, and Gray is finally able to slip more than a few tens into her father’s wallet when it’s time for him to pay his rent. It’s a good life.

Now, Vlad? Oh, he's fucked. This can work for whatever redemption au you want. He can be exactly like he is in the show or working towards bettering himself as a person. I imagine him being halfway to a redemption plot, and in an effort to gain the Fenton's trust, he starts hanging around with the family more. Jack loves this. The others do not, but what can they do? Everyone is just trying to be civil to each other in an effort to make Jack happy. Since old habits die hard, Vlad very quickly notices Danny's improved state of mind and is attuned to the Zone enough to feel when Clockwork stops time on their end. He starts to purposefully rile up Danny and realizes that the time stops happen right after Danny leaves the room in a fit of anger. Then the boy comes back all smiles and sometimes doesn't even remember what Vlad had said to him in the first place.

So he puts his ear to the ground. Whispers are floating around about a new portal that's been opened near Phantom's Keep. A natural one. A permanent one. No one can investigate due to its location, but the young king and members of his fraid have been seen frequenting it more often than late. Not suspicious in the slightest, Danny would have protested. Vlad goes poking around. Entering the Keep uninvited felt like millions of bugs tugging at his skin, but turning human helped ease the sensation. It was laughably easy to slip between the cold stone walls of the Keep, avoiding Fright Knight's walking path and sticking to the shadows. The portal was in the courtyard, under the watchful gaze of two stone gargoyles leftover from Pariah's reign. Right before Vlad can investigate further stick his head in and see what happens the world warps, and suddenly the older halfa is sitting on his ass in front of a very old ghost.

Looks like Vlad fucked around and found out.

Basically, Clockwork yoinked Vlad to his side of existence right before he entered the portal. Even if all he wanted to do was relate to Danny in an effort to mend their relationship, The Master of Time wasn't okay with Vlad going off into the DC universe all willy-nilly. Oh no. Letting Vlad loose in this world would lead to bad things regardless of his intentions. Even if Vlad promised to play by all the rules and pretended to be human, he was bound to slip up and cause trouble.

So there were two courses of action Clockwork could take here. One, he could pull in a few favors and wipe Vlad's memory, sending him back to his own universe until he inevitably went sniffing around again, and this whole song and dance continued. Or second, he could equip Vlad with similar ghost artifacts Manson and Foley possessed and temporarily seal away Vlad's powers while he was gallivanting around the DC universe. He'd be on Clockwork's payroll, so to speak, and could only act on the older ghost's instructions. Clockwork presented these two choices to Vlad. The older halfa chose the second option after weighing the pros and cons. He didn't want to be controlled by Clockwork, but he also didn't want to lose his memories (over and over again, from how he worded it.)

This is how Vlad's hero persona is born. I'm unsure if he should stick with his last name, Masters, or take on something different to distance himself from Fenton and his family. Let's stick with Masters for now.

Clockwork has this drowning little rat man on a rehab program and uses some fancy ghost jewelry to inhibit his halfa abilities. He doesn't make Masters do much, just drops him in here and there when the DC timestream needs a little nudge. It's not like Clockwork will have Danny deal with it; the kid already helps out with every other timestream when asked. Masters can help out here. And since his halfa abilities are blocked, he gets to do everything as a human, which brings its own set of challenges. The idea is that by throwing Masters face-first into a new world filled with people who could end his existence and be forced to win every fight or else, he'll come to appreciate what Danny goes through on a daily basis.

The JL Dark becomes very familiar with the mysterious Masters, who doesn't seem to have any powers but still fights like he does. The man can be extraordinarily clumsy and short-tempered but still graceful and light on his feet when it matters the most. More than once has someone caught Masters muttering under his breath, cursing out gravity and a 'purple-cloak wearing bitch.' Masters always shows up out of the blue at the most random times. He is literally just there, and sometimes even Masters himself looks shocked about his sudden scene change. But he's always suited up and ready to go, so not many heroes question it. They usually need the help anyway.

In the DC universe, Masters is wearing four magic bands, each engraved with the words Dominion of Time on them. Several bands made from tungsten were buried deep with Clockwork's Tower in an old wooden box made from aspen and diamonds. Each band was a blank slate, glowing slightly from magic long past. Clockwork had simply selected the four he needed, engraved the spells needed in ghost speech, and handed them over. Vlad grumbled and tried to find a loophole in the artifacts, but ultimately accepted his fate and wore them whenever Masters was needed.

Vlad's new outfit for this outfit is similar to Valerie's; it's loose and uncomplicated. (Actually, there are a lot of parallels between these two.) In the show, Vlad always wears a tailored suit and dress shoes. He's well-groomed and his hair is slicked back. He always tries to show off his wealth and power by having full control over his appearance. In layman's terms, he's the walking cliché trope of a rich billionaire villain in every superhero media to ever exist. After all, in a kid's show with a teenage protagonist, what's more intimidating than an adult nemesis who has their life together?

As Masters, Vlad is forced to throw all that out the window.

The hero outfit he wears was literally picked up off the street. If glowing metal bands were not adorning his arms, some would assume that Masters was a homeless man. The top was dug out from a dumpster behind a costume store, and the sandals were given to him by a woman who couldn't wear them anymore. His arm sleeves were sewn together from some blackout curtains he found at an old housing demolition site, and the pants were just some sweatpants that were a tad too short. The mask was bought from the corner store, his belt salvaged from a junkyard, and his scarf was actually a gift from Jack-not that he'd wear it around the oaf. The only 'expensive' things Masters wore were the four magic bands, a handful of large glass beads hanging from his belt, and the sharp metal claws he wore on top of each finger. The claws were bought on a whim years ago when Vlad was building his fortune, and boy, was he glad for them now. They were the only real weapons Clockwork allowed him to carry for some reason.

In other words, Masters is exposed. With his loose hair and flowing clothes, Masters is forced to trust the others around him to have his back. He's humbled every time someone covers an obvious blind spot of his that he's not used to compensating for. He gets dirty and messy, fighting to survive against enemies he knows nothing about. His outfit symbolizes his efforts to change. Masters is re-learning what it's like to be truly vulnerable in a world you don't understand with no help whatsoever. Clockwork has no issue pitting him against demons and ghouls even John Constantine would hesitate at, and his narrow victories quickly earn him an invitation to the Watchtower.

The Justice League is puzzled by this walking lump of wet spaghetti. He disappears so easily into the background and doesn't stand out at all. Every once in a while his eyes scrunch up like he's confused about something, but he won't admit that he's lost the conversation. Masters will offhandedly say weird things and turn as if expecting someone to be there, then suddenly stop himself with a soft flinch. He refuses any form of payment. He can stare down Batman. His appearances are random and the man carries no form of contact. Masters often has an aura of resignation and regret around him, as if he didn't want to be there in the first place. He's awkward around kids but fiercely protective of a few teen heroes. (Mostly Conner.)

It finally starts to come together in the JL's mind when Masters becomes more widely known in the world of supers. One of the higher-ups in the Goonion hates him. Dani held a gun to his head. Manson screeched bloody murder when she saw him. Nightingale declared herself his official nemesis. The final piece was when, after a long and exhausting fight, Masters temporarily removed his mask to wipe away some blood around his mouth.

The Flash, who was sitting next to him, nearly let out a squeak.

Masters' blood was bright green.

Masters' teeth were shaped like a shark's.

Masters was another fucking Fenton, wasn't he?

[nelkcats]

Halves company

Danny had a big problem: since a couple of days ago he had discovered that he didn't look good in pictures. He wasn't a vampire so he was actually in them but his eyes always looked bright green, and the photos left an eerie feeling.

His friends didn't mind, and his family much less (they had gotten along much better after revealing the whole secret), the problem was that he was due to take a trip to Gotham soon and he just knew he would have some pictures taken.

A couple of years ago Danny had accepted Vlad's request to "start over" and together they had formed a research company that specialized in several fields, among them: the technological field, advanced engineering, space engineering, and different ecto-related projects, although the latter was not revealed to the public.

Few months later "Wayne Enterprises" seemed very interested in their inventions for everyday life so they wanted to negotiate some deal and dig into their technology. Danny was fine with that, he had created those things to make people's lives easier.

The problem came when Bruce Wayne invited them to a gala, he told them that the "founders" of the company were very elusive about their identity (neither Vlad nor Danny liked cameras much in those days) and joked that it was a shell company for some illegal activities and it was better to check, Danny was not amused about it.

He accepted Bruce's invitation knowing full well that Vlad couldn't meet the challenge (or be polite about it), but once he got to the gala he saw all the reporters and knew he was screwed.

Would it be better to be unsettling or not appear in the photos at all?, he supposed it would be best to avoid all the cameras and say hello to Bruce or Lucius, talk a bit and then leave.

It was supposed to be easy: walk in, say hello, walk out; Of course, his plans had never been perfect, so before he knew it he was seeing the Wayne "kids", and a reporter from the Daily Planet looking extremely nervous.

[radiance1]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot and basically Danny is Beelzebub from Hellva boss with his own casino performs and the entrance defies reality and all his ghost rouges come in and go as they please and some humans and or mortals stumble in and think it’s just some place where metas party their fucking asses off which wouldn’t be that bad if this wasn’t FUCKING GOTHAM. Danny doesn’t know how they got in Gotham but they just want to party but unfortunately for him the bats hear a rumor some meta trafficking ring has been planning a big raid on a certain casino that’s new ish and they have to stop it so they go in disguise and they get to witness Danny and his rouges beat the every loving snot out of some traffickers

maybe Danny is a clone, maybes he’s reincarnated, maybe he lost a bet, maybe he moved to Gotham for fun, maybe he got tossed across the universe into Gotham

who knows certainly not Danny

Hmm.

I have zero clue if I want Danny to look somewhat like Beelzebub or not, but we won't be dwelling on that right now.

How Danny got to Gotham? I got zero blood clue, but he's there and is about to party.

Maybe this could even be set after TUE bad ending, where the explosion wasn't reversed, and he parties to forget the pain and just focus on the good vibes. Maybe stops using his human form, using his ghost form more and it subtly changing without him noticing into a different form or something due to his habits.

Maybe that some of his ghost form's new features leak over to his human form.

Anyways.

Maybe the casino isn't even in Gotham, like physically. Instead, it's the doors leading into the casino that're in Gotham City, and stepping through him just yoinks them into Danny's Dimension and into his casino.

So, Danny's casino is located smack dab in his own dimension, but somehow the doors pop up in Gotham for whatever reason and a few residents stumble through and see Danny and his rogues (who didn't want to kick a pup while he's down and indulges him) partying up to the high heavens and the lowest hells.

You could even say that, like Beelzebub, Danny is eating up all of the good vibes that comes from other people while partying. How and why does Danny own a casino?

Vlad.

Vlad is indulging him because they both lost something that day, and then Danny was placed into his care, and they were both two disturbed to really continue their entire good vs evil thing and they kinda just, chilled out with each other. Danny asks for a casino one day on a whim, Vlad indulges him, then Danny starts partying up to get away from his own grief while Vlad buries himself in work to avoid his.

So, when the meta trafficking ring tries to capture everyone at the casino and the bats are there to stop them. Every rogue there silently agree to beat them up because one, they have dignity as ghosts and can't just let themselves be captured by humans.

Two, this is the playground of Danny and one of the few things people unanimously agree to never fight in (one of the others is the Christmas truce).

Three, this place is also owned by Vlad Masters. If the man is anything like how he was before the whole kicked pup thing (everyone thinks this applies to both Danny and Vlad) then they don't really want to tick him off and they're basically doing these humans a favor anyways.

Anything they could do to them physically; Vlad could do worse to them in the human world.

The batfamily sees this, and decides that nobody here actually needs their help and can take care of themselves. But also, given the track record of metas becoming rogues in this city, they can't just leave it alone either.

They would make a file about them at the most for the case they decide to run rampant through the city. But they'll leave them alone for the most part.

(Danny doesn't know who or what Batman is, as he doesn't exist in their dimension, yes even the comics don't exist. Neither does the batfamily know Danny Phantom, because he doesn't exist in their universe either.)

[uniasus]

ef it. transitioning from reading DP x DC fics to writing tumblr fills to now writing my own full fic. 3K words and counting.

no official title yet, but I'll be using 'core split' as a tag across snippets if you want

---------

Danny doesn't want to go, but Vlad can't leave him, so Danny isn't given much of a choice. He's going to the Christmas Gala in Gotham.

"Come now, Little Badger. Christmas is a time of peace. Can't we have our own truce?"

Danny's eyes don't flick to the watch on Vlad's wrist. One of the most expensive on the market, he tells people, powered by ice. People usually think he means diamonds. He doesn't.

"We already have a truce." Danny grumbles, but doesn't protest again. Protesting is a luxury, and he's already learned how much he can grumble before Vlad's eyes flash. Danny is allowed to be an ornery teenager, he is not allowed to be rebellious.

So that's all he does, grumble and drag his feet and complain. He says he doesn't want to go to a suit fitting, but he still follows Vlad out the door. He will always follow Vlad out the door.

At least they don't fight fight anymore. It's been ages since Danny has powered up, ectorays pooling in his hands. There's been no ghostly rogues (friends) to spar with. There's been no aggressive spooks attacking town. Vlad has no reason to scheme and attack Danny like he used to - he's gotten what he wanted and no one is left to complain.

From the airplane window, Danny catches the remains of Fentonworks. The neon sign is dark, the ops center on top tilted and dark. It's hard to tell from the air, but Danny can remember the boarded up windows, the ruined lawn. It's been nearly two months. He thought Amity Park would have torn down the ops center at least as soon as they could; there must be some legal reasons they haven't. Danny pries his attention away from where he grew up to try to make out Sam or Tucker's house. Vlad's private jet is small and flies low, and Danny suspects this is the last time he'll get a glimpse of Amity Park, the last chance to see his friends, to gaze on his haunt.

The paperwork has gone through - Vlad is legally Danny's guardian. Vlad can take Danny out of state.

[thesoulspulse]

Danny Phantom Randomness (Principal Masters)

Not sure if this idea has been used in the phandom before, probably not since it’s a pretty common for the principal of a school in a cartoon to be the antagonist in some way, but I thought I’d share it anyways. So here’s what I’m thinking. Personally I think it would have made a lot more sense for Vlad to switch tactics and double down on trying to win Danny over instead of going full cookie-cutter-bad-guy-that-wants-to-rule-the-world after cloning him failed which would make him realize that his little badger really is one of a kind and what he has can’t be replicated.

Up until this point Vlad’s been making Danny’s life more difficult instead of easier which was his whole sales pitch when they first met...

Vlad: Daniel, stop. Think about the things I could show you, the doors I could open for you. You, Danny Phantom, and I, Vlad Plasmius. Together, we could rule.

Then there’s these comments Vlad made to Danny in Reign Storm...

Vlad: Sneak attack, very good, Daniel.You're getting more like me with every battle.

Danny: I AM NOTHING LIKE YOU!

Vlad: Oh, you're not? Using your powers to get back at people you don't like? Throwing the first punch? You're more like me than you know.

I’m so disappointed this didn’t develop into something more interesting where Danny starts to genuinely worry he’s becoming too much like Vlad which would have made the events of The Ultimate Enemy twice as cool because it’d be like a glimpse of that reality where he’d actually become worse than Vlad. But, back to the topic at hand! I’ve mentioned this in a few of my fanfics but I think the whole cloning thing was more of a desperate attempt to get Danny on his side since Vlad never really made any serious attempts to tempt him to join willingly and just spent the whole time bashing Jack and telling Danny he’d be a better father.

With that in mind, rather than being a petty rich bully after Danny gets Vlad’s mansion destroyed in Season 3 what if Vlad decided to put his foot down to “re-educate” him so to speak? What I mean by that is instead of running for Mayor of Amity Park, why didn’t Vlad try to replace the principal of Casper High? For one thing it would have ACTUALLY made sense because the position doesn’t require living somewhere for more than 6 months and its purely based on their education and teaching experience. And I think overshadowing the right people on a smaller scale would make it more believable than the whole Mayor thing.

Vlad could of course still be a jerk about a lot of things to get back at Danny like force the whole dress code thing, however, it would have been an interesting twist if when Danny comes to Vlad to apologize and ask for a truce he graciously accepts which totally throws Danny for a loop. Why? Because that was the plan all along! Vlad wanted Danny to learn there are consequences to his actions, realized that fighting him is counterproductive, and on top of that, to actually show how much easier he could make Danny’s life by letting him become a part of it.

Honestly, I absolutely love the idea of him unexpectedly becoming the cranky overprotective type kind of like what you see in this amazing comic strip by @lilianade-comics​: https://www.tumblr.com/lilianade-comics/703807353584320512/aw-man-dont-you-hate-it-when-your-arch-enemy?source=share

Think about it. If Vlad started to make Jack look bad without actively insulting him to make Danny finally get fed up with being hunted by his parents to the point where he’d reluctantly go there just to catch his breath once the two of them agree to a cease fire. Trouble with the high school bullies? In comes Uncle Vlad who happens to be the richest man in the world and a close personal friend of the Fenton family so Danny’s off limits. Ghost attack? Vlad helps cover up Danny disappearing to fight them or even scares them off if he has an important test that day. The list goes on on what Vlad could do to either make Danny’s life a living hell in a more personalized way by invading his school life or a lot better depending on their interactions at Casper High.

Long story short its basically using the idea that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar and all that so seeing Vlad gradually start doing nice things for Danny from time to time might help change his tune. Because deep down Danny DOES want to learn more about being half-ghost, but he refuses to accept Vlad’s offer to join him because he hasn’t really done anything to make it appealing. Vlad’s always insulting Danny and his father so if you ask me, giving him the praise he doesn’t get at home or at school could change so much between them...

Vlad’s just gotta be smarter about it.

Obviously Danny would be suspicious if Vlad started acting too nice to him right away so the changes would be gradual. And whenever he goes to Vlad for help or at the very least asks if he’ll cut him some slack Vlad will reward him for coming to him first. Especially because unlike his parents, Vlad knows exactly how much he’s dealing with and I’d love it if what started off as a plan to manipulate Danny transformed into an actual student and mentor relationship leading into a redemption arc instead of whatever Season 3 was.

And there you have it. Principal Masters AU anyone?

[maxattax]

A Seed of Doubt

Happy Truce, @jnstudios2! I hope you like my fic! :)

Content warnings: None

---

A teenage girl sat in a plush armchair, her legs crossed on the seat, throwing a ball of ectoplasm back and forth between her hands. “I’m bored, Vlad,” she said.

Vlad looked away from the TV, where some football game was playing. Jordan didn’t recognize the teams, but it definitely wasn’t a Packers game; she knew better than to interrupt Vlad when his team was playing. He made eye contact with her and replied, “Well, it’s a good thing I have a task for you.”

The ectoplasmic ball fizzled out of existence as Jordan leaned forward in her seat. “You do?”

Vlad steepled his fingers. “You have been incredibly helpful to me thus far, and I don’t think I can manage my next plan on my own. So yes, I do.”

Jordan relaxed back into the comfort of her chair. “Alright, alright. I’ll wait.” She glanced over to the TV. “So, who’s winning?”

“Well, what is it?” Jordan huffed, annoyed that Vlad had learned how to block her mind reading. Otherwise she would have been able to just pluck the answer out of his head, but she also understood that he deserved his privacy.

“Patience, child,” Vlad admonished. “The plan is already in motion. I will let you know when it is time for you to do your part.”

---

Vlad tapped his foot as he waited for Danny to answer the phone. A faint voice came from the speaker, barely audible from Jordan’s spot on the couch. Vlad grumbled and hung the landline up on the receiver. He must have reached his voicemail, she thought.

“Hey Vlad, you have, like, billions of dollars. Don’t you have a cell phone?” Jordan asked. She flipped her long, blonde hair over her shoulder and laid down on the couch, propping her feet up on the armrest.

Vlad paced around the sitting room. “I do, but I use it for business. Daniel does not have my cell phone number, and I’d like it to stay that way.” He finished his loop and picked the phone back up off the table, dialing again. “Plus,” he added as the phone rang, “landlines are more reliable anyway.” Jordan shrugged but did not reply.

After a few moments, somebody answered the call. The phone was too far away for Jordan to hear what was said, but he was clearly irritated.

“Why, hello, Daniel. I’m doing well, thank you for asking.” Vlad’s voice was silky smooth, layered with sarcasm. He did not wait for the teen to respond. “I have a proposition for you. And I have a young woman here who will ensure that you listen.”

Vlad listened for a moment, then smiled. “I knew you would see things my way. My lab, tomorrow, noon. I’ll see you there!”

---

The next day, Jordan and Vlad waited in the castle’s basement lab, standing a few feet away from the portal. “You should put some chairs in here, spruce the place up a bit,” Jordan said, shuffling from one foot to the other.

Vlad opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and examined the room. The lab was spacious, with computers and lab equipment lining the walls. The middle of the room was empty, bar the two half-ghosts standing around. After a moment, he said, “Hmm. You’re not wrong. The lab is a bit… utilitarian. I could put a couple chairs in, maybe hang a pennant on the wall.”

The swirling ectoplasm in the portal frame stirred, before spitting out an angry, glowing teenager. Danny cut right to the chase. “Where’s the hostage?”

Vlad smiled innocently. “Who said anything about a hostage?” He gestured towards the boy. “Jordan?”

“Yes, Vlad!” Jordan exclaimed. She jumped into the air and transformed into her ghost form. Her casual t-shirt and pants turned into an all black suit. A black cape lined with blue trim appeared over her shoulders, and a matching blue top hat perched atop her blonde hair. The sclera of her eyes turned blue and her eyebrows furrowed in determination. The transformation took only a moment, and as soon as it was complete, she darted forward and tackled the boy who floated in front of her.

Danny started but did not react in time. He was pinned to the ground, Jordan’s strength holding him in place. He started to go intangible when –

“Ah ah ah!” Jordan scolded. In a flash, she pulled the Plasmius Maximus out of her pocket and jabbed it into Danny’s side. “Don’t you try to escape now!”

Danny convulsed, electricity sparking up and down his body, and shifted back to his human form. His black and white hazmat suit became a t-shirt and baggy jeans. Jordan backed off, allowing him to prop himself up on his elbows.

Vlad stepped towards them and gestured towards Jordan. “This is my associate, Chosen Warrior. You’d do well to hear her out.”

“Oh, so you manipulated another teenage girl into working for you? Is she a clone too?” He rolled his eyes.

“He didn’t manipulate me into anything,” Chosen Warrior said. Her eyes glowed brighter as she glared down at Danny. “I joined him, willingly, because he was the only person who would help me when I was in need.” Her hands curled into fists. “I asked you for help, you and your friends: Jimmy, Timmy, SpongeBob… Do you even remember me?”

Blue fire surrounded Chosen Warrior’s shaking fists. “You’re supposed to be heroes! Where were you when I needed you?”

Vlad stepped forward. “Now, now, don’t get too heated. Remember your exercises,” he said.

Chosen Warrior closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and imagined a calm ocean, the waves rippling in the wind. When she opened her eyes, she saw that her hands were relaxed, no longer engulfed in flames.

Danny looked up at her. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right, we should have helped you. I can make it right. Leave Vlad, come with me, we’ll find some place safe for you. I did the same for Danielle, and she’s happier than she ever was here.”

“You lie!” Chosen Warrior yelled. “Vlad warned me you might try to turn me away from him. You just want me on your side because I’m more powerful than you.”

Danny put his hands up, as if to show he was unarmed. “I’m sure you’re very powerful, but that’s not why I offer. I know Vlad. He’ll use you and throw you aside; he’s done it before.”

“He’s different now! He cares about me!” Chosen Warrior probed Danny’s mind, determined to catch him in a lie. He didn’t seem to be lying, but… she still couldn’t believe him. Vlad was good to her. He had to have changed.

From the way he looked at her, Chosen Warrior could tell he pitied her. She didn’t want to be pitied, she wanted to be respected. Danny stood up and said, “I believe that you believe that. But he’s shown me his true colors and I can’t trust him. I won’t pressure you into coming with me, but I hope you come around and see that he’s no good.”

Danny turned to Vlad. “You can’t keep me here against my will. My parents will notice I’m missing, and you know they’ll stop at nothing to find me. I’m sure you don’t want my mom to know you’ve essentially kidnapped me.”

Vlad scowled. “You have a point. Fine, leave if you must. But one day you’ll join me, willingly. It’s only a matter of time.”

Danny stuck his tongue out at Vlad. Chosen Warrior scoffed, being above such immature behavior. Danny addressed her and said, “If you change your mind, you know how to find me. I’m out of here.” In one swift movement, he turned and jumped into the open portal.

---

Once they were alone, Jordan transformed back to human form and looked at Vlad in astonishment. “After all that, you just let him go?” she asked.

“Yes. He’s no use to me if he’s going to fight me at every turn.” Vlad stroked his goatee. “As I said, he will join me. It’s chess, my dear. Sometimes a move doesn’t immediately pay off, but it’s just one step towards victory.”

“But I failed to convince him to join us,” Jordan said. She should have been able to bring him around. That was her one job today.

Vlad approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. “You did well. He has this ridiculous idea that he needs to save you, which means he’ll be back. We’ll have more chances. This isn’t over.”

Jordan smiled. Yes, there will always be more opportunities. She was disconcerted by what Danny had said about Vlad throwing her aside, though. He wouldn’t really do that, would he? She knew Vlad wasn’t the most scrupulous of people. But despite his evil past, he really seemed to have changed. There’s no way Danny could be right, that Vlad was just using her.

She hoped she put her trust in the right person.

[picturejasper20]

One of the reasons i like badger cereal is because it could been really interesting if the series had explored the implications of identity and existential crisis that is for Danny being one of the few half ghost half human that exists.

I think there could have been an intriguing arc about Danny feeling like he doesn't belong to human world nor ghost world and how he feels so alone in that experience. Then Vlad could have noticed this and use this for his advantage to make Danny joining him by exploiting these insecurities that he has.

Or could have gone the route that maybe he sympathizes with Danny's situation and they have a temporal truce until Danny finds a way to deal with this problem. Danny could learn that Vlad went through similar experiences to him and change the way he sees him.