#amity park probably needs a bit of help not getting destroyed though

[ekat-fandom-blog]

Very Angy Baby

Dani is out traveling the world when she finds a bunch of heroes leaving the premises of a weird government building. She obviously has to explore it! Going invisible and intangible, she enters. The first 3 levels are boring, but the elevator says there's tons more to explore underground.

She's noticed immediately by the genomorphs, but convinces them not to do anything. So they start telling her that the facility is used for making clones, though there is only one left at the moment(because the Roy in the facility is the original). Obviously, she wants to meet this other clone. They don't see any problem with it. She seems to be very strong and capable.

She meets Match and notices that he's very angry and confused. She figures he could use some friends that are more durable. So she gets the genomorphs to agree to let him leave with her and she brings him to Amity Park. She introduces him to Danny and a bunch of ghosts.

Something gets said, no one's sure what, that makes him extremely angry. He started attacking. No worries though. Ghosts socialize via fighting and this guy is just the equivalent of a very angy baby ghost.

[phantomphangphucker]

Phic Phight: If Only You Had Compassion

Prompt Creator: @summerssixecho

The bad blood between humans and ghosts was going to come to a head eventually, and when it did everyone was going to get hurt.

Danny sighs, runs a hand through his hair, and leans back against the wall; staring at the news disbelievingly.

They had lost.

Lost the entire goddamn case. Because the American government had officially decided: Ghosts were not sentient. Ghosts were not beings. Ghosts did not have rights. And ghosts were a threat to the country. Meaning any and all instances of ghosts and anything -excluding weapons or other items used to combat, control, or harm ghosts- were illegal to exist, possess, or help.

Danny, they, had gone about this the human way. Had been respectful. And nice. And friendly. And it didn’t fucking work. They extended a hand and got fucking bit.

And of course, anyone who had been fighting for ghosts and their rights and safety were the first ones to come under fire and scrutiny. And with nearly all of Amity Park being on that list, it was no surprise the G.I.W. were coming here and banging on doors at record speed.

What’s worse? Danny had been the loudest voice. Of course he had. He had to be. He was fighting for his own goddamn rights after all; not that the government or his family knew that. But it wasn’t just that. No.

Danny Phantom was King. THE High King. This was something he had to deal with, had to handle. And well... the cards hadn’t landed in his favour. In their favour.

But that wasn’t the end of it, because on top of it, his parents couldn’t understand what he was doing, to the point that Danny had to just get out of that house.

Technically he was homeless now, but well, being a ghost rather negated that. He had a whole dimension if need be and could get by just goddamn fine on the streets.

In the end, Danny had lost pretty well all his respect and love for his parents. They had become the enemy too and he just couldn’t afford room to old sentimentality and dwelling on ‘what could have been’ if they had been better people and parents.

At least Danny had listened to his gut and firmly ordered all the ghosts back into the Infinite Realm. He didn’t have to worry about any full ghosts getting captured, tortured, dissected, and destroyed.

Elle was safely with the residents of the Far Frozen too, so no worries there.

And Vlad... Vlad could look after himself. Last he heard the man fully intended to blow up his entire mansion and lab should the case fall through, purely to stop the G.I.W. from getting their hands on anything. Money only went so far in protecting yourself and your assets after all. Danny didn’t doubt the man’s willingness to do it either.

So that just left Danny. The one who was really the most at risk. He was damn near the face of the case, of the campaign. He was a minor still, limiting his rights even further. His ‘parents’ were hunters, hunters that idolised the G.I.W. and worked with them gladly and eagerly.

And he was a true halfa. Exactly half and half. He couldn’t even hide himself from the Fenton’s janky scanners, hiding wasn’t an option.

But then again, hiding had never even been an option for him. Hiding wasn’t Phantom’s thing, wasn’t the Kings thing. For now though? He lays low. He watches. And he waits. Waits for the Observants to finally back him proper. For FrightKnight to rally and ready. And finally for ClockWork to give him that melancholic face that says there is no other option.

Because Danny played this like a human. Because Danny gave humanity a chance. Because Danny wanted to have faith in people. Because Danny had hoped his goddamn half-beating heart out.

Because Danny was scared. Because he was still a kid. Because he shouldn’t have to pick one or the other. Because he doesn’t want anyone to get hurt.

Well now there wasn’t much of a choice. He picked ghosts the day he took that crown. The day he agreed to apprentice under ClockWork instead of the Fenton’s. The day Danny Fenton became just a fabricated mask for Danny Phantom to hide behind.

And now everyone was going to have to play their part. Fulfil their role. Dance out repeating history on the world’s stage. Everyone was going to have to pay a price.

Because when you take away someone’s rights in your own eyes, then they take away yours in theirs.

Because when the government decides someone doesn’t get to exist, and then every other government falls in line because the military powerhouse that is America has decided, then that someone is going to thrash and bite and scream to get to exist.

That’s how its always been.

Survival of the fittest.

And humans? Humans weren’t the fittest by miles.

Because humanity had been given coexistence on a paper. Had been given peace on a paper. And had drawn weapons and scalpels and hate instead.

And for that, this means war.

And not just a skirmish or dispute. No. An all-out bloody war. A massive war. A war beyond anyone’s wildest imaginations or worst dreams.

Because what humanity didn’t know is there were laws that existed. Laws that already governed dead and mortal interaction and travel between the realms. The Oaths and Seals. Older than most of the Ancients and predating nearly all mortal life in the universe.

And one of those Seals states simply that any being of death or life could traverse between Realms freely without harm, threat, or unwilling containment from ruling bodies or any species as a whole.

To say ghosts couldn't exist here. It was such a direct blatant violation. There was no way around that. There really wasn’t. If it wasn’t acted on then it could be overlooked as someone making stupid laws and ignored. But that just wasn’t the case. Wouldn’t be. In that sense it was both blessing and curse that Amity would be targeted first. He had a chance to stop them. To hedge them at the gates.

To cut the Gordian knot.

To meet them at the doors to his lair and tell them what awaited them should they choose to pass. Should they choose to continue a damned and forsaken path.

It would mean revealing himself. Would mean ending the lies and double life. It would mean definitively and finally choosing a side. Choosing ghosts. But it was what had to be.

And if they choose to cross him?

Then it’s game over.

Because Amity was Phantom’s lair. The High Ghost Kings land. His people. His subjects. His. It would be treason. Would be a crime against the High Crown. Against not only the Seals but the Kings Decrees and the Law Of Ages as well. There would be no going back.

The punishment was death. Was absolute subjugation. Was the end of humanity's reign upon the earth.

Because in the eyes of the universe, humanity would have forfeited the right to stand as equals to the dead. They would become lesser and treated as such. Any human who refused to kneel and bow to the Infinite Realm, to him, would be summarily cut down and disposed of.

He didn’t want this. He truly didn’t.

But it wasn’t his choice to make.

It was humanities. The G.I.W.’s.

Danny had very little faith.

But at least he could try. He was a determined bastard to a fault. Even when he should probably give up. When it was probably a lost cause.

This was hopeless now. He knew it. But he had to try and when that failed... then he’ll fight. He’ll fight with a frown and tears screaming down his face. But he’ll damn well fight.

Because that’s who he is. What he is. Because if he doesn’t do this for the ghosts then he’ll do it for the humans he protects.

For Sam and Tucker, both nearly halfas themselves due to UnderGrowth and a past life lived.

For Star, Paulina, Dale, Brittney, Kwan, Ashley, Emilie, Todd, James, Dash, Mikey, Nathan, Rosalia, Jasper, and Carrie, so horribly contaminated by Spectra’s and Bertrand’s experiments.

For Jazz, who’s opinions and field of study made her a ‘threat to humanity’ all the same.

For Valerie, who’s nanobot suit ran on ectoplasm that she could never be separated from without her death.

For Lancer, and Trent, and Remi, and Testlauf, and Ishiyama, who all just knew too much.

For every citizen of his home, his lair. Because the G.I.W. would wipe them all out.

Because he was King.

It does not matter how a king cries nor mourns nor wishes things could be different. Because a king sees his people free before he grasps his own. Because a king knows his people safe before he dares relax. Because a king does not belong to himself but to the people he rules. Because they are the kings children dear and he must see them well. Because it is his duty to do what they can not and pay every price. Because a king can never fall unjustly. Because he is their hopes and dreams.

And though he cries and begs and weeps, his blade hand must stay steady and his sword must strike swift without mercy. Even if he wants to run, every friend and family dear he must be willing to sacrifice if the need arises. Even if that leaves him alone and in pain.

Because that is the cost of the crown.

And now Danny has to pay his dues.

Has to see himself a conqueror to the human world he once protected with everything in him.

He doesn’t want this but this is what the world has given him and he must walk with it.

Into a future that may be filled with hurt and pain. That’ll make him hate every breath he takes or the things he’s seen. Or maybe something beautiful will grow from the ashes. One can only hope.

He sighs and stands. What must be, must be. Running a messy hand through his hair and shaking a spray can. He may as well tag the place where he found things changed before he goes.

Goes to wait on the road.

Wait for the men in white suits to make their arrival.

Wait for the end result of the pain the mortal government chose to wrought.

Wait for Danny Fenton’s ending.

The spray cans psssshh is oddly loud. It hurts his ears.

The FrightKnight meets him outside the alleyway. He nods and Danny nods back. It is done. His army awaits him.

He wishes it didn’t.

He knows the humans have armies of their own. Awaiting retaliation or strike back perhaps. But those armies won’t see war. They won’t do battle or struggle to win. This won’t be two forces meeting to oppose each other. No. It will be more akin to an exterminator coming in with his toxic fumes and spraying down annihilation.

The Dread Army stood four billion strong.

That wasn’t a force humanity could face.

And the Dread were truly non-sentient. Casualties on their side was not of issue or concern. And should humanity somehow persevere and fight back. Then there would be so many more ghostly armies ready and waiting for his regretful and pain-filled command.

He senses the pulse from the Observants, sent out through the Infinite Realm’s ectoplasm and across the threshold of life and death.

They approve. And inside, he weeps.

He traces his fingers on the bricks, walls, and trash cans. Everyone is tucked inside. They know what’s coming as much as he does, just not what comes after. They see this as their end. Danny does too, but for different reasons.

He knows Sam, Tucker, Valerie, and Jazz are all hovering over the extractions waiting for his signal. Waiting to pull his lair into the Infinite Realm. Waiting to save them and leave him behind.

Amity will always be home. But it just won’t be the same. Not for him. He won’t be able to just be another citizen in their eyes or to them anymore. And his friends, they’ll have to look at him knowing that he’s was ultimately directly responsible for the demise of at least thirty percent of humanity.

And he’ll have to get used to that being reflected back at him in the mirror. And refusing to look at all was a weakness he couldn’t allow himself to have.

Stopping at the fountain, its waters reflecting gears and cogs and swaying necks of clocks. As it always had since everything began. As if the water was counting down to the end itself. Only Danny knew that was more fact than fiction.

Water flows like time after all. And no matter what it must continue on. For the sake of life. For the sake of growth. For the sake of time itself continuing on. For the sake of everything.

Danny sits on the edge and it is not his own reflection that greets him, a small mercy, but ClockWork’s.

They look old and tired and worn. Aged by the faults of humanity's actions and inactions. Aged by the weathering storm that is change and its cruelties. But above all else, aged by what they know must be and what they must ask of him.

All is as it should be.

And isn’t that an awful thing.

Danny can only look to the sky tinted faintly green and nod, carrying on his way. Changing everything with every step he takes. Aching more with each breath he takes. And becoming more king than hero with every inch the city limit grows closer.

A hero can fall and rise a king.

But is still a fall all the same.

Because a king does not do what is right. He does not do what is good. What is just. What is kind. He does what he must. Decides what is best.

Humanity decided what was best and lost the bet. They gambled against death.

But death...

Death always wins in the end.

It’s the house we all must rest on. It is the debt collector at the end of every tax season. It is our last breath or a snap of the neck at the end of the noose of our own creation. It is the bullet in the gun that we forged ourselves. It is the black screen left after the credits roll, only ghosts going home.

It was always going to be this way.

What will his ‘parents’ do. Will they die. Will they live. Will they force their way back to the mortal world and seek to strike him down. Will the town or ghosts see them hanged as an example. Will they accept reality and learn. He doesn’t know. In a way he doesn’t want to.

Regardless the town’s edge approaches and he finds himself standing on the precipice of everything he has ever known, everyone he has ever loved, every place that has ever housed him.

And now he steps forward to leave it behind. Says goodbye with resounding footsteps. Mourns the loss as the G.I.W.’s armoured vehicles and containment trucks drive toward him.

Toward death.

He wished they’d stop. Turn back. Change their minds. But knows they won’t.

Ignorance would be bliss.

The most decorated vehicle stops barely feet from him. The officer inside hoping out with a smirk that Danny hates down to the bottom of his guts.

“Well how nice for the worst of them to come greet us. What. Here to turn yourself in for your disgusting crimes against humanity“.

Danny honestly doesn’t care about their words. Not how they’re said nor what is said nor who says them.

It’s meaningless.

Danny shakes his head disappointedly, “I tried. I really tried. So sorry about this. But you leave me no choice”.

The man squints at him. Not that it matters.

Danny looks up at the sky, if he didn’t know better he’d say the clouds were swirling all centred around him and waiting for him to do as he must. As the crown commands. Sighing, “I don’t know why humans must make things so hard for themselves”, and lets his human form melt away without any flashy light show. Green energy pulsing out of his feet and shooting skyward like flaming arrows lighting up the funerary ship seeing a fallen warrior off.

The reaction is immediate. They open fire on him, pausing only when every single high anti-ecto round merely bounces of his green shield; the town behind him shimmering green before vanishing like wet oil wiped off canvas.

Danny shakes his head, “that isn’t how this is going to be. Sorry”, and takes one single step forward. Voice bellowing and sturdy though he feels like shaking apart into sand, “the American government, on behalf of the entirety of the human race, has designated that the ghost species is no longer allowed amongst them or on earth. As such, they, alongside the rest of humanity, have broken the True Kept Equivalent Co-Existence Fault Line Seal of the Exterial law of the Realms. Your options are as follows: revoke your illegal actions and halt your approach or continue on as you are knowing that your actions are an act of war and punishable by the immediate annihilation of thirty percent of humanity followed by the forced subjugation of your entire species. Furthermore, any actions of violence or harm taken against Amity Park, her citizens, or Daniel James Janus Fenton Phantom, will count as an act of treason and war against the High Ghost Sovereign, king of the entirety of the Infinite Realm; and is punishable by immediate death and I do mean your death”.

He stands there and stares. Waits for a response. The men take their time, but eventually...

One of them fires.

“There’s your ‘answer’, you lying ectoplasmic scum”.

Danny bats away the weapon, not even bothering with a shield. They would need nukes if they wanted to so much as scratch him.

He had all the Infinite Realm’s ectoplasm at his fingertips after all. And it sings to be used. To defend its lands and king. To strike down those who must be, for the prosperity and safety of its people.

And Danny gives it that.

He must after all. It is his place.

With merely a flick of his fingers the Dread Army make their debut. Some are here, some are elsewhere. But where ever they may be they bring down destruction and chaos and punishment.

You may think Danny wrong for placing all this on one man’s response, but in truth he, as Phantom, had informed every government of this reality already.

The decision was already made. The choice already set in stone.

He just thought that maybe...

Maybe.

These men before him would have some heart. Some soul. Some sense. Some compassion.

And choose to say no. And refuse to follow orders.

He would rather team up with humanity to stage a coup d’état against their respective governments than what has to transpire now.

The FrightKnight appears and gores the man who dared to fire at Phantom knowing the consequences of doing so. Danny forces himself to watch the man fall, knowing his orders and words and actions were as much the sword that killed him as the one his High Dread Knight wields.

The FrightKnight turns back to him and he knows there is sorrow in his helmeted eyes, for he knows his Knight knows he is not a hardened man nor a man at all.

Just a child with too much weight. Too much hope. Too much asked of him. Too much power at his fingertips. And too much of both life and death.

“Go”.

Danny does as he’s told, as he’s asked. Thankful to have even an ounce of personal responsibility lifted off his shoulders.

Humanity was never going down a good path. Never doing the right thing.

Damning the water they drank with oil and plastics.

Damning the air they breathed with tar and fumes.

Damning the earth that fed them with pavement and poisons.

Damning their fellow neighbouring mortal species with overhunting and stolen lands.

It was only a matter of time before they damned themselves with their ego and actions.

Nothing can survive if it burns every bridge around it.

Especially if the bridge it sets its sights on to burn is the bridge with death.

For only nothing lies where death can not be.

End.

Prompt: After a fierce legal battle to end experimentation on ectoplasmic entities, it's determined that, no, ghosts can't have any rights in the human world and possessing ghostly artifacts, materials, or organisms is illegal. With the GIW enforcing the new laws, starting with Amity Park, how will Danny avoid scrutiny?

[ladylynse]

Chapter 4 of Forewarning [FF | AO3]

All Dipper knew was that there was something buried in some special thermos behind the shack; all Danny knew was that he had no idea how he’d gotten here. 

Inspired by this artwork by @hashtag-art

(beginning | previous)

-|-

It wasn’t an ordinary net. Danny could see that much even as he phased through it. There were different kinds of metal woven in with the other fibres, though whether that was to strengthen the net or stop some other kind of creature, Danny really didn’t know at this point. With these kids using magic and now some secret lab in a hidden basement, he really wasn’t—

Somehow, the water that Danny hadn’t even seen follow the net hit him square in the face and shocked him back to tangibility.

He wasn’t recovered enough to go intangible again by the time the first punch came.

Instinct was the only reason he evaded the second, a wicked uppercut that would’ve hurt. Danny slipped out of the crazy guy’s grasp and hovered a safe ten feet in the air, rubbing his jaw and being very thankful that he’d been in ghost mode for that punch since he was half convinced this form was more resilient. Not knowing what else might come, he stayed visible but didn’t go tangible. “Dude, what the heck?”

It hurt to talk, but that would go away soon enough. And it was worth it to get answers. Assuming the guy would give him answers.

“You think I’m ignorant enough that I don’t know what this is?” the guy shot back, as if that helped in the slightest. He was still holding a water gun—not a teensy little pistol but one built to soak people and soak them good. It looked…out of place. Especially somewhere with electronics that were probably expensive. At least, the stuff down here looked more expensive than anything else Danny had seen around here. It didn’t look new, exactly, but it still looked high tech, all sleek surfaces and bright screens. It didn’t have that same sterile feeling as his parents’ lab, but despite the hazard line chalked on the floor in front of the portal that was all too familiar, some of the equipment in here just looked alien to him.

“Um. Is there a safe way for me to answer that question?”

Danny expected something to be thrown at him for that response, but the old guy just kept him in his sights as he edged toward the computer console.

Towards the blueprints.

And whatever else was contained in that book.

Granted, letting him get closer to whatever he intended to reference probably wouldn’t be a good thing. At least, not unless Danny could convince him that he wasn’t the bad guy. His track record wasn’t great with that, but….

“Okay, look,” Danny said quickly, dropping a couple of feet but still remaining out of arm’s reach, “I swear I’m not here to harm you or steal something or anything like that, okay? Can you just…not do whatever you were going to do and instead tell me what you think this is? Since I’m pretty sure it’s not what I think this is? Because I don’t know what’s going on?”

“You won’t stop me from saving Sixer.”

Well, that didn’t help at all.

“I’m not trying to,” Danny said, which he hoped was true. Clockwork really could’ve told him more. The line between interfering and not was already blurred; a bit more smudging would’ve made Danny’s life a lot easier.

The guy squirted him with the water gun. The pressure on that thing was impressive. And annoying, since that meant it reached farther than Danny had anticipated.

Danny wiped the water from his eyes with one arm, still trying to figure out how water, of all things, was messing with his ability to go intangible. Maybe this was actually an alternate dimension and not the future, whatever Clockwork had told him. Or let him think? Danny couldn’t even remember anymore. Or maybe this place was just weird. The water didn’t sting, so it wasn’t like it was laced with blood blossom extract or something like that. Of course, that didn’t rule out it containing something else that managed to affect ghosts without causing them horrendous pain.

“I’m not whatever you think I am,” Danny said instead of puzzling over the water further, “and I’m not doing whatever you think I’m doing, because I don’t even know who or what Sixer is. I was….” Admitting the truth probably wouldn’t help him, but at this point, things weren’t going to go worse for the telling of it. “I was stuck in a thermos because a ghost of time itself wanted me to deliver a message to you.” That wasn’t quite true, but it was close enough. “If I come back down there, will you hear me out without attacking me?”

The guy’s expression didn’t change. It was still a glare, sharp eyes watching Danny’s every move. Danny dropped slowly, keeping out of easy punching range, and the guy didn’t advance, which was probably as good as Danny was going to get right now.

“Ghost of time, eh? Didn’t think the big baby was a ghost.”

Danny let his feet settle on the floor and rubbed the back of his neck. The guy hadn’t lowered the water gun, but at least getting squirted was only bothersome and not painful. “He’s not a baby all the time. I mean, it’s more kid than baby at the youngest stage anyway, and….” Danny hesitated. Clockwork had said that these guys—or at least someone in this area—had already messed with time. He had not specifically said that he’d been involved, or at least more involved than whatever involving Danny counted as. “Never mind. I don’t even know if we’re talking about the same ghost.”

The water gun didn’t waver.

The old guy still said nothing.

Danny wasn’t used to people who didn’t banter. Or monologue. Or otherwise talk to him, even if it was just to yell insults and threats.

“I already talked to the kids upstairs.” That got a reaction, a hardening of the face and tightening of the grip on the gun before a pointed relaxation. This guy was good, which meant he would also be very scary if Danny couldn’t convince him that he wasn’t trying to stop him from saving Sixer.

This would be so much easier if Danny knew what that meant.

“The message I have for all of you is, um….” Danny risked a glance towards the portal. “If you stay on this road, you’ll find yourself on a path you can’t turn away from.”

“You think I don’t already know that?”

That was not the response Danny had expected.

If they knew that, then why did he have to say it?

“I’m not going to stop, and I’m not going to let you try to stop me. I’m going to save him.”

Danny held up his hands quickly, flying back as the man lunged forward with a swinging fist. “I’m not trying to stop you, I swear!” Despite the miss, the man recovered faster than Danny expected and stood at the ready. He might be an ordinary human, but Danny got the feeling he really didn’t want this person as an enemy. “I just…. You need to know what you’re getting into.”

“I already do,” the man said softly.

Before the man schooled his features again, Danny read the guilt on his face.

“Let me help you,” Danny said.

That was apparently the wrong thing to say, if the deadly stillness that settled on the man was anything to go by—which, in Danny’s experience, it was.

“You delivered your message,” the man growled. “Now get out of here.”

“Just…just…hold on a sec,” Danny said, not sure why he was trying to push this. Not sure why he was stalling. Not sure why he wasn’t leaving, even though instinct was screaming at him to get out of there while he still could. Except….

Except he couldn’t go home until he’d done something, something Clockwork figured he’d do even without telling him what to do, and Danny was realizing very quickly that he’d be more likely to survive this entire venture if he told the truth than if he didn’t.

Assuming they listened to him, anyway.

“I…. My name is Danny. Danny Phantom. Fenton. I…. There was an accident, with a portal, kinda like what you’re building, and I…. I think that’s why Clockwork picked me as the messenger boy. So it doesn’t happen to any of you guys. I think I need to help. If you’ll let me.”

“I’m not making a deal with any demon, so you don’t need to waste your time.”

“I’m not a demon. I’m a ghost. And…human.” Danny felt like a fool saying all this. It seemed so counterintuitive when he’d been so careful before, but…. But this wasn’t Amity Park, and these people weren’t exactly like his parents. His time here had made that abundantly clear, so maybe, if he tried to talk, they’d listen. Even if they didn’t, he was safer facing down the barrel of a water gun than an ecto-gun. This was still less of a risk, wasn’t it? He was in the future; he couldn’t accidentally destroy the past or throw himself into a different timeline or wake up back home and realize that the entire world knew his secret because of what he’d done.

Anything he did now might change their future, but it wouldn’t necessarily change his. Besides, for all that a part of him was sure he shouldn’t be saying all of this, telling this guy everything, especially when he hadn’t started with that, the rest of him, well….

The rest of him was ignoring the cautious part because he had a feeling that he knew what had happened.

There had been an accident.

Something had happened to Sixer.

This man blamed himself, and now he wanted to fix it. Even if it meant ripping a hole in time or reality or whatever to do it.

He didn’t intend to stop because he didn’t want to give up on Sixer.

Danny could understand that, doing whatever you could to save your friends and family. And he also knew that, sometimes, you couldn’t do that without help. If Clockwork hadn’t stepped in for him—

“Just look at me,” Danny said, as if the guy weren’t already focused on him. Talking seemed to help. To steady his nerves when he was doing something that could very well get him killed. These people had magic, had technology, had a very good awareness of what was out there—

Danny changed, letting the light wash away his ghost form and leave him as Danny Fenton.

“My friends and I have been studying my parents’ portal since my accident,” he said. “I can…. Let me help you save Sixer. Please.”

-|-

The kid looked human enough, but he obviously wasn’t, and Stan had seen a lot of things since coming to Gravity Falls.

He’d been awfully solid for a ghost. Stan’s knuckles were still a bit sore from that; he hadn’t slipped on his brass knuckles. Still, nothing broken, on either of them, which might be saying something, too. It hadn’t been a bad punch, and it had barely slowed the kid down. Heck, Stan wasn’t entirely sure it had slowed him down at all. It had just made him back off.

Granted, demons weren’t solid in this dimension, either, unless they’d been given form.

So either this kid was possessed by a demon who thought Stan was a complete idiot and assumed Stan knew nothing or there was a modicum of truth amongst what was probably still a slew of lies.

Thirty years, and Stan had spent too much of that time with only one journal, one part of the story. He’d done as much as he could with guesswork alone, but it wasn’t enough. He’d need to get his hands on all three. As it was? His journal didn’t exactly go into detail about demons.

Heck, ghosts were only a passing mention in his journal, hardly more than a promise to follow up on it later.

Stan knew he was missing information, valuable information, but without the next two journals, without the final pieces of the blueprints and last two-thirds of the story to tell him exactly what Ford hadn’t….

Well, without the missing journals, he’d just have to go with his gut.

His gut told him this kid was dangerous. Of course, the fact that the kid hadn’t been fazed by anything woven into Stan’s net ruled out a lot of what he could be, but Stan wasn’t convinced it would slow down a demon or a powerful ghost, anyway. It was designed to counter more earthly threats. Might hold the kid now. Might not. Just because the kid wasn’t glowing anymore, didn’t mean Stan was willing to risk it. Attacking again with another net and having it be just as effective wouldn’t gain him anything right now.

The anointed water wasn’t doing much, either, but if the kid thought this was all Stan had aside from his fists, then he was better off letting the kid make that mistake.

It didn’t seem to hurt him—didn’t seem to do much more than annoy him—but it had gotten him back on the ground. That counted for something. It had also forced him into a human guise. Well. Maybe not forced. Encouraged. Truthfully, that had probably only happened because the kid wanted Stan to trust him. That might be a strike against him being a demon, really. Most demons were smarter than that. They didn’t change right in front of you and expect you to believe that they were just misunderstood or whatever.

Stan wasn’t new to the con game.

This kid’s earnest awfulness at it reeked of him being more genuine than Stan would’ve expected, though.

“I know what this looks like,” the kid said, even though everything else he’d said and done pretty much proved that he didn’t. “I know you don’t think you have any reason to trust me.” That was the one thing he’d gotten right. “I really think I can help, though, if you’ll let me. And listen to me. And, uh, not shoot me.”

Stan debated giving him another squirt for that crack, but he resisted the temptation.

“I just…. I’m an example of things going wrong when people mess with stuff they don’t know enough about. Well, I mean, I guess not wrong wrong, because I survived, but I don’t want this to happen to you. Or the kids upstairs. Or the crazy teen working the checkout. I, um, definitely didn’t leave a good impression on her, either. I’ve messed up a lot. But that doesn’t mean I can’t help!”

A demon might feign ignorance. A demon might claim to be something it obviously wasn’t to try to throw him off the scent. A demon might say anything it could think of to get Stan to shake its hand, to accept its help, to make a deal. A demon might pretend to care about others.

But Stan wasn’t so sure a demon would make so many simple mistakes. So many human mistakes. Stan, certainly, wasn’t any stranger to mistakes.

And if this was a demon who just wanted to strengthen his foothold in this dimension, why not go after Wendy if he’d already run into her? Teens made stupid mistakes all the time. Stan had made more than twice his due, some of them the worst of his life. It shouldn’t have been hard to get Wendy to agree to something, especially if she didn’t know what she was agreeing to.

And every demon knew how to twist words to craft a deal in their favour, however nice it might sound to their victim.

This kid? Not displaying that skill.

“I just…. I just…. I want to go home.” The kid’s voice was quiet now, and he’d dropped his gaze to his shoes. Possibly a lie. Possibly trying to make said lie harder to detect. But also possibly genuine homesickness, longing, and loss.

Stan was no stranger to any of that, either.

“I need to do something before I can go home, and if it’s not helping you, I don’t know what it is.”

There was a ring of truth in those words—if only because it explained something Stan hadn’t been able to put his finger on before.

This kid, whoever he was, whatever he was, was being manipulated, plain and simple.

Someone, something, this ghost of time maybe, was holding him hostage here until he completed his task, even if that task was being left to his own devices long enough to, say, accidentally destroy all the work Stan had done in the last thirty years.

Or destroy the journals that had long been Stan’s only hope of getting his brother back.

But if he was a lackey and not the mastermind, then that changed things. He might’ve played at just being a messenger boy, but he wasn’t just here to deliver a message. He’d been put here to do so much more than that.

They both needed to figure out what that was, and Stan needed to figure it out first so he could stop the kid if he had to.

Stan lowered the water gun, letting its point fall toward the floor, and said, “What do you prefer, then? Danny, Phantom, or Fenton?”

The kid’s head shot up. “You believe me?” he squeaked, staring with wide blue eyes that held no hint of otherworldly green. “And, um, Danny, I guess. Phantom as a ghost, to people who don’t know my secret, but you know it now, so….” His shoulders rolled in a shrug. “I didn’t know if you’d believe me. Thank you. For trusting me.”

Stan had never said he trusted the kid, but he was fine with letting him think that for now.

“Your portal isn’t like the one my parents built,” the kid said as he walked over to it. He knocked on the frame, floated up a few feet and knocked again, and turned back to Stan with a frown on his face. “I don’t even know what this is made out of.”

His eyes were still the same clear blue, even with that little display.

“It was scavenged,” Stan said as the kid’s feet hit the floor again with a nice, solid thud that proved once again that there was weight to him. He kept poking around and asking questions, which Stan answered with one vague comment or another. If the kid noticed, he didn’t let on. Most likely, he assumed Stan didn’t know everything, and that’s why he needed to be here. To help, for whatever value of help that would turn out to be.

The kid would ramble on every once in a while, striving to fill the silence between them, and Stan was happy to let him do it. He could outlast whoever he was up against in an interrogation, so the silence didn’t bother him as much as it bothered the kid. He didn’t strike Stan as someone who was as chipper as Mabel, but the rambling certainly proved he could be as awkward as Dipper in some social situations, this one included. It wasn’t that the kid liked the sound of his own voice; he just didn’t know what to do with silence.

That suited Stan perfectly fine. It meant he found out more about this kid than was meant to be said, and that was useful. While Stan was all too aware of the old trick of playing at something, this didn’t feel like that. He’d fed enough people stories—and lived enough lies—to have a pretty good idea of when it was being done to him.

Keeping quiet meant he learned a bit about how much trouble Danny Fenton had had when he first became Danny Phantom.

Keeping quiet meant he learned more about Clockwork, this supposed Ghost of Time. The guy—ghost—pulling the strings, for reasons Stan had yet to figure out.

Keeping quiet also meant he learned that Dipper had a journal. More specifically, a journal written by some mysterious author. A journal that was, among other things, full of some questionable ideas about ghosts—according to the self-proclaimed ghost expert who was telling him this, anyway.

Dipper had found one of the journals.

One of the missing pieces.

It was likely that journal contained some more information on this kid, whether he knew it or not.

Which meant Stan needed to get his hands on that journal, and not just for the blueprints it surely held.

-|-

“Keep Dipper and Mabel busy out here,” Wendy said to Soos in a low voice. She’d caught him coming out of the woodshed and crossed the yard in quick, long strides. No lolling about today, or at least not anymore; now, she meant business. “There’s something inside the Mystery Shack, and I haven’t figured out what it is yet.”

Soos blinked, not sure why Wendy was so concerned about keeping the twins out of it, and then he remembered that Wendy hadn’t been there for half of the crazy adventures he’d been on with Dipper and Mabel. She knew about the stuff out there, of course, the stuff that no one talked about; you couldn’t work in the Shack and not have some knowledge of that. There was a lot of real mixed in with the fake, even if you squinted and pretended you didn’t see it. “They might already know about whatever it is,” he offered. “Dipper’s always looking for that sort of thing.”

“I’ve seen him handle ghosts,” Wendy said, “but this feels…. I dunno, different somehow. I don’t think this thing is just a ghost.”

“So it’s like a ghost but not?”

Wendy nodded. She had that look on her face, the one that meant she was ready to fight and wrestle something into submission—which was especially funny when her clothes were covered in a light dusting of white powder. Soos wisely decided not to comment on that; he didn’t look much better, considering his own clothes were covered in bits of dirt, dried leaves, and flakes of bark. Still, Wendy had thought this important enough to come out and talk to him rather than clean up whatever disaster had happened with the powder before Stan saw the place—or a tourist stopped by, since if they left because of the mess, Stan would talk about taking the fare out of Wendy’s pay. (He never had, but he liked to talk as if he would. Soos figured that was one way he kept Wendy from just inviting her friends over to hang out while she was working.)

“If Dipper and Mabel know,” Soos said, well aware that he was toeing a line but willing to push it for the twins’ sake, “then they can prepare themselves. In case it’s something they need to be prepared for.”

“They do not need to be sucked into every black hole of a mystery that exists in Gravity Falls,” Wendy countered. “I mean, they’re supposed to be here for a boring summer holiday. I want to pretend that exists for them, y’know? They can’t fix what’s wrong with this town.”

Soos wondered if she could feel it. The hair standing up on the back of your neck. The sensation of being watched. The feeling that the trees had ears, that nowhere was safe to talk about secrets.

There was so very much wrong with their little town, if anyone happened to look below the surface.

But if you never talked about it, nothing ever happened to you.

Probably.

Soos wasn’t wholly sure on that, but he was pretty sure nothing had ever happened to him, beyond what he’d gotten into with Dipper and Mabel. At least, Wendy had never brought up the fact that he’d just stopped talking about something crazy that had happened to him. To be fair, though, he wasn’t sure if she would. It was just something you didn’t do here.

“I think Dipper would try to run headlong into whatever it is anyway,” Soos said. “You know how he is. He’ll find out even if you don’t tell him. He might even find out faster if you don’t. He manages that sometimes.” It was almost a subject change. It might be enough of a subject change to make that feeling go away.

Wendy frowned.

Soos forged ahead before she could come up with a half-decent argument. After all, it was hard to argue safety when not knowing could easily go the wrong way, turning on you as a dagger instead of acting as a shield. “I mean, he’s got that book now. The one he’s always trying to hide, shoving behind his back when you walk unexpectedly into a room? I don’t know if he’s told you yet. I don’t think he’s told Stan. But it’s full of information on this stuff. It might include your whatever-it-is.”

“Ghost stories after marshmallows, then,” Wendy said. “Keep the twins on the wood gathering for as long as you can. Just…in the areas where you know it’s mostly safe. If you can. Until we figure out what this is. I should warn Stan first, anyway. And head into town to actually buy some marshmallows. Is he back yet? Have you seen him?”

“No, but he doesn’t believe in any of this stuff. You know that.”

“If it doesn’t look like he’s going to take it seriously, I’ll just play it off as a gimmick I thought of. If he likes it, he might give me a bonus.” She cracked an easy smile. “The internet is bound to be full of ways for us to pretend the Mystery Shack is haunted, and that’ll rake in a lot from a crowd of gullible tourists.”

“And in the meantime, we try to find something that might give us actual protection and pretend we think it’s fake?”

“Exactly.”

(see more fics | next)

[darks-ink]

Rewind - Ectoberweek 2020

Acknowledging canon episodes? In my fanfic? It’s more likely than you think. Also I’m experimenting by adding the links onto this post so lemme know whether this shows up in the tag or not.

Rating: Gen Warnings: - Genre: Hurt/Comfort Words: 2,834 Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Masters of All Time, Families of choice/Found family

[AO3] [FFN]

---

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Danny darted around Clockwork, refusing to let him turn away. “Clockwork!”

The ghost sighed, heavily and wearily, and looked down at Danny. “I cannot. It is that simple.”

“But that’s— that’s nonsense,” Danny insisted, gesturing wildly. “You’re the ghost of time! How can you not rewind this and fix it?!”

“I warned you, Daniel, that this would be a permanent change.” Clockwork blinked slowly, as if trying to convey some sort of emotion with his empty red eyes. “You did not heed my warning, or considered yourself above it. Now, you must live with the consequences.”

“But you’re—”

“Not all-powerful, no matter what you might think,” Clockwork cut in, narrowing his eyes. “You have altered the past, despite my warning not to. To travel back again would risk the stability of the timeline entirely. Would you rather see all of reality destroyed?”

Clockwork hummed before Danny could answer. “I would not, therefore I will not allow it to be so. The past has been set in stone, but the future is still malleable. Make it into something you can live with.”

“But…” Danny bit back his automatic response. There was no point. He’d tried fighting Clockwork before, and gotten his ass handed to him as a result. He sighed instead. “Can you at least take me back to Mom and Dad, then? The Portal looked like it blew up after I flew through it, and I don’t know where to find another.”

At that, Clockwork smiled. Or, Danny though it was a smile, at least. A small twitch of the ghost’s lips. “That, I can do.”

“Thanks, Clockwork.” Danny watched as the ghost swung his staff, a portal opening in its wake. “And… sorry, I guess.”

“Apology accepted.” Clockwork floated aside, waving a hand towards the portal. “Goodbye, Daniel.”

Danny nodded back, before flying through the portal. Welp. Time to face the music.

The portal spat him out in Amity Park, near his house. For a moment, Danny paused, considering the possibility that it brought him here because he consider Amity to be his home, no matter what. But then he realized that there was a car parked in front of the garage, one far too fancy for the neighborhood. His parents must’ve come this way, taking one of Vlad’s cars.

Thus satisfied, he flew down, phasing through the front door. No need to be secretive—both Jack and Maddie knew his secret already.

Still, he was surprised to find them both in the living room, apparently trying to clean up the place. Maddie saw him first, her body stilling. And how strange was it, that he found it comforting to see her here, in her cyan jumpsuit, with red goggles over her eyes? (That was weird, right? Danny felt like it should be weird.)

“Danny,” she said, quiet with surprise. “What are you doing here?”

At her words, Jack also looked up from where he was standing. He, too, looked almost exactly like his counterpart from Danny’s own timeline. Except with ecto-acne, of course.

“I, uh.” Danny shrugged, unsure. He felt thrown off by seeing his parents like this. It was almost right, but just slightly off. “Clockwork couldn’t undo it. Apparently the timeline is too unstable, or something. So I have to… stay in this world, I guess.”

“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.” She straightened up from her crouch, walking closer to him. “I— It probably won’t be easy, but you can stay with us for as long as you need to. Right, Jack?”

“Of course!” his dad immediately responded, nodding vigorously. “We’re… figuring stuff out, of course. But it’s thanks to you that we reunited in the first place. And you’re our kid!” He grinned, wide and loving, in that typical Jack Fenton way. “Even if the way you got here is a little weird, you’re still our family!”

“I…” He landed, noiselessly. Hesitated for a moment. Then closed the space between him and Maddie, wrapping his arms around her. “Thanks. Both of you. I’m sorry.”

The enormous warm arms of Jack Fenton came up around them. “Don’t be, kiddo. You have nothing to be sorry for,” he rumbled, underlined with an almost audible buzz of his core. It emitted a palpable feeling of family.

“No, but, I…” Danny sighed, crushing his head against Maddie’s shoulder. “It’s my fault. All of this is! I tried going back in time to change the past, to make it so Vlad wouldn’t get ecto-acne so he couldn’t infect my friends with it, but instead you became half-ghost.”

Danny drew a shaky breath, trying to fight past the emotions welling in his throat. They needed to understand. “It’s all my fault! Without my meddling, none of this would’ve happened!”

“Sounds to me,” his mom began, her thin fingers gently combing through his hair, “like you tried to help your friends, Danny.” She clicked her tongue. “Maybe not in the best way possible, but the intention was good.”

“I can’t imagine that Vlad would’ve dealt with being half-ghost much better than I,” Jack added, faint laughter in his voice. “Never mind the ecto-acne. But, of course! That’s how you recognized it!”

“Yeah, um.” Danny drew back from the hug a little. “I can… tell you guys, I guess? About my timeline. The differences, at least.”

“That’d be nice,” Maddie agreed, as Jack’s arms released them. She looked around, and Danny could read the reluctance in her body language, even despite the goggles. “We might have to clear some more stuff before we have the space to sit.”

“We could always sit on the floor?” Jack suggested, shrugging at her look. “Or Danny and I can float as ghosts.”

“Right.” Maddie shook her head, wandering over to the single chair not covered in debris and trash and reaching up to her hood. “If that works for you two, that might be the most convenient.” She paused, frowning at Danny, hood pulled off but still in hand. “But… if Vlad was the one who became half-ghost in your timeline, why are you half-ghost as well, Danny?”

“I, uh.” He shrugged, lifting his feet off of the ground to sit in mid-air. “Became half-ghost in an accident of my own.”

The frown he received from both parents very clearly asked for him to elaborate, so he did. “Okay, so. The point of divergence is the accident in college, obviously. In my timeline, Vlad got hit by the explosion, not Jack, so he becomes half-ghost and stuff. You two, Jack and Maddie, get together, especially since Vlad was cutting contact. You decide to become ghost researchers together and move to Amity Park.”

He paused to gesture to the house around them. “Specifically, you move here, to this specific house. You make it your place of business as well, called FentonWorks. Big neon sign on the front of the building, the basement downstairs becomes a lab, and at some point you two built the Ops Center at the top, which can also be used for inventing stuff. I’m… obviously not very informed of the details, since I was the second kid and you two talked very little about the past. Only,” here he made a face, “ghosts. Everything was always about ghosts.

“Anyway,” he continued, after a short pause to take a breath. “You two have Jazz first, and then me two years later. At some point after that, you start working on a new Portal, full scale, down in the lab. It takes forever to build, because you’re trying to be careful about it, I guess? But you finish it, eventually, when Jazz is sixteen and I fourteen.”

Maddie narrowed her eyes, darting them over his body. The question is clear as day: isn’t he basically fourteen?

“So,” Danny trumped on, ignoring the silent question, “After years of work, their Portal was finally finished! The ultimate proof that ghosts were real! And then it didn’t turn on.”

“It didn’t?” Jack gasped, clearly startled. Danny realized that, somehow, he’d missed the man shifting into his ghost form. “But—”

“It didn’t,” Danny interrupted, holding up a hand. “Because apparently, someone had built a secondary power switch inside the Portal, and they had forgotten to turn it on. So when they plugged in the power, the Portal didn’t turn on.”

There was clear calculation in the eyes of both of his parents, now. Danny continued his explanation before they could figure it out. Needed to tell his story to his parents, for once. He didn’t think he would ever get a chance to tell his actual parents, after all.

“Later that day, after Jazz convinced you two to take a break, my friends talked me into checking out the Portal. Just the three of us, since Tucker was interested in technology and Sam was interested in all things goth and occult.” He shrugged, almost fatalistically. “Sam suggested I take a closer look, and I did. Only, I didn’t realize that the power was still plugged in, so when I accidentally hit the power switch inside…”

“Oh!” Maddie gasped. “Oh, how terrible!”

“That must’ve hurt like hell,” Jack agreed, a painful grimace on his face. It looked strange, the genuine emotional expression with the blue skin, the pointed fangs poking out of his mouth. “Your parents must’ve felt awful, to know that they put their kid in such danger!”

“Well…” Danny made a face. “They kinda… didn’t know? They were both avid ghost hunters, both full of hate towards ghosts. I considered telling them, at first, but then they saw their first ghosts and…” Danny sighed. “I guess I was just scared that I’d be just a ghost to them. That they wouldn’t believe me.”

“That’s… That’s awful.” Jack floated over to nudge Danny. “Kiddo, if your dad was anything like me, I promise you, he would’ve cared.”

“I know.” Danny shook his head dismissively. “I know. That wasn’t why I was worried. I was afraid that they wouldn’t believe that I was me, that I was their son. That they would think that I had hurt or replaced their own kid.”

Maddie touched his shoulder, and Danny jerked, surprised. When had she stood up? Walked over? “Well… At least it is of no concern anymore, right? You’re here now, with us, and we believe you.”

It felt like something had crawled into his gut and died. “Yeah,” he said, with terribly faked enthusiasm. “Yeah, right.”

“It’s not much of a comfort, is it?” Maddie made a face. “I’m sorry. I guess I have very little parenting experience, compared to your actual mother.”

“Honestly?” He snorted. “It makes very little difference. Like I said, she and Dad spent most of the time in the lab, or otherwise occupied with ghost research.”

Maddie clicked her tongue, distaste clear on her face. “Well, isn’t that a waste. They have such a lovely son, and they don’t even enjoy his presence?”

“Well, y’know.” Danny shrugged, trying to ignore the pleased whirring of his core. “They try, now, but with all the ghosts we’re all kinda distracted. Them with trying to catch some for their research, and I with trying to protect the townspeople from the ghosts.”

Jack’s expression visibly brightened—as did the glow around his body. “You’re a ghost hunter! A ghost-fighting superhero! Just like I tried to be!”

“Uh.” Danny felt his brain skip over, then remembered. Somewhere in the blathering when he first arrived, Jack had mentioned that he’d tried using his powers for good. “Yeah, I guess so. But I had a little more success with it.” He grinned sheepishly.

“We should team up!” Jack exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Danny’s shoulders. “The two of us, and Maddie, if she wants to! We’d be a fantastic team!”

Danny laughed, a little uncertain. “Well, maybe. But we’ll need a Thermos to catch the ghosts, and a Portal to dump them back into the Ghost Zone, first. Those were kind of my major tools in managing. And Sam and Tucker, of course.”

“Oh?” Maddie asked, perking up. “Sam and Tucker? You mentioned them before, I think. Are those your friends?”

“Yeah, they… I guess they don’t know me, here.” He sighed, feeling himself drift down closer to the floor, away from his dad’s arm. “They… We were best friends, to the absolute end. Even after the stuff in the lab, the half-ghost stuff, the constant attacking ghosts and hunting them down, they stuck by my side.”

“I’m sorry, kiddo.” Jack landed as well, although unlike Danny, he landed on his feet. “But they’ll be around, right? It might not be the same, but they’re not gone.”

“Might as well be,” Danny huffed. He shook his head. “It won’t be the same. Without the years of shared experiences…”

Maddie and Jack shared a look—not quite as conversational as the ones his parents shared, but a good enough substitute—before apparently deciding to change the topic altogether.

“Why don’t we see if we can clear some rooms upstairs?” Maddie asked, clapping her hands together. “We’ll need at least two rooms clear enough for use, preferably three.”

“Three?” Danny echoed, frowning at them. “You’re not sharing?”

“We haven’t seen each other in years, Danny,” she pointed out, getting up from the chair. “We’re still reconnecting, never mind actually getting together.”

“Right,” he agreed, following her to the stairs. “But you are moving in?”

“Friends can share a house,” Jack pointed out, shifting back to his human form in a flash of white light, and reminding Danny to do the same. “And this way she won’t have to worry about getting kicked out of Vlad’s mansion while all the paperwork and stuff is happening.”

“And I never liked the mansion much,” Maddie admitted with a wry smile. “I liked the Vlad I knew, way back when, but over time it became clear that that wasn’t the real Vlad. I’d been thinking about divorcing him for longer, but… I don’t know. There was no one else I knew, nowhere I could go.”

“Not even to Aunt Alicia? I mean, she’s divorced as well, isn’t she?”

“I… didn’t realize she had married in the first place.” Maddie’s steps faltered for a moment before she continued up the stairs. “I guess I was afraid that she would judge me for marrying Vlad in the first place. I don’t know… It seems rather illogical, now, but I figured I could put up with Vlad well enough. And with his money I could afford my research, even if I had to do it behind his back.”

They stopped in the hallway upstairs, looking around. Danny resisted the urge to grimace. Somehow upstairs was even more of a mess than downstairs had been.

“Which room was yours, in your timeline?” Jack asked, sidling up to Danny.

“Uh.” He carefully stepped past the mess, stopping in front of his door. Or the door that belonged to the room that was his, in his own timeline. “This one. And Jazz had that one,” he pointed over to the room that his sister used. “The one next to mine was a guest room.”

Jack nodded. “Right, that makes sense! You can take that room if you want, Danny. Mads, you can take the other room if you want. The one next to here I used as a lab for a while, so cleaning…”

“Won’t be easy, got it.” She nodded as well. “I’ll take the other one. Let’s start with clearing out this one, shall we?”

“Let’s.” Danny pushed open the door, bracing himself mentally for the whiplash of seeing his room without it being his room.

As a result, he was almost toppled over by the cat that rushed past his legs.

“Jasmine!” Jack cheered, crouching down to pick up the fluffy white thing. “Is this where you’ve been hiding, honey?”

“Well,” Danny said, then stopped. He had no clue what to say. He didn’t even know what he thought of this.

“Well,” he tried again. “At least now I know who picked the name for Jazz, and who picked mine.”

Maddie snorted, gently pushing him into the room. “Personally, I think Danny is a great name, honey.”

“Thanks,” he retorted, eyes darting over the room. It was dark—the curtains were closed despite the time of day—but his night vision was pretty solid. “It’s short for Daniel.”

“And Jazz for Jasmine, then? That’s cute.” She ruffled his hair as she stepped past him, drawing open the curtains. “Hm. we certainly have our work cut out for us.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed, looking at the piles of he-didn’t-know-what lying around. There was a bed buried in one of the piles, which suggested it might’ve been a guest room at some point. Or used by someone else, before Jack moved in. “And we still need to clear yours, too.”

“Better get working then,” Maddie decided, shaking her head as she crouched down. “Things won’t get better on their own, after all.”

[srsly-messed-up-fruitloop]

Supper’s Ready

Word Count: 2,033

Summary: A couple of weeks have passed since Danny’s accident with the portal. Fortunately, so far, he hasn’t experienced any symptoms at all, not even ghostly ones. Until one day, he begins throwing up ectoplasm.

Or, my take on Portal!Danny

Warning: Includes depictions of nausea and vomiting so...read at your own discretion

Read on AO3 or under the cut

Danny awoke with a groan. He clutched his stomach and squeezed his eyes together as a wave of nausea hit him. If he could, he would’ve laid there forever, curled up in a ball fighting the sick feeling in his stomach. But it kept getting worse, and worse, until his instincts drove him to blindly stumble to his bathroom. Kneeling before his toilet, he held his mouth open, wishing for whatever he ate earlier to just come out already. It felt like an eternity before his dinner left him. Panting, he laid his cheek against the toilet seat as he felt the nausea starting to subside.

He doesn’t remember the last time he threw up. Probably when he was a kid. It couldn’t have been mom’s cooking, right? He recalled the glass of milk he had before bed. It did taste a bit funky.

He stood up, sparing a glance at his dinner once again. He was just about to flush it away until something caught his eye. A single translucent drop of something that glowed brightly green. Jazz probably did have a point about not keeping the ecto-weenies in the fridge.

A couple of weeks have passed since Danny’s accident with the portal. Unfortunately, the portal remained unfunctional since the brief moment when he had activated it. At first, Jazz and his friends were extremely concerned for him. After all, he was practically electrocuted. But seeing that there were no lasting effects, over time they’ve let go of the incident. Things resumed back to normal, save for Jazz becoming a lot more protective of her little brother.

Danny flushed and rinsed the foul taste from his mouth. He made a mental note to throw out the milk in the morning as he climbed back into his sheets.

~

A few days later, Danny was sitting at his desk in his bedroom, struggling to understand why he kept getting this one math question wrong. He swears he’s following the same steps in the textbook example. He was just about to give up and move onto the next question when his mouth suddenly felt dry. No, not again. 

Ever since that night he puked, Danny’s stomach really wasn’t having it. More and more often the sick feeling would return, except nothing came out of it. He rested his head on his homework, waiting for the nausea to pass. At this point he just wanted whatever bad food, stomach bug, or whatever to leave him already. Maybe he should ask his parents to take him to the doctor.

At that thought, his gut uncomfortably lurched and he barely grabbed his wastebasket in time. It’s a shame those tater tots from the cafeteria had to go to waste. Just when he thought he was finished, he felt a painful jolt in his abdomen and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt something, with an almost slimy-like texture pour out. The sensation of it running up his throat made him feel even sicker than he was.

He took a moment to breathe before opening his eyes again. He almost dropped the bin at what he saw. It was the same glowing green substance he saw that other night. Except this time, it took up three quarters of his wastebasket! He couldn’t even see his lunch from earlier.

Slightly panicked now, he quickly scrambled up from his desk chair to get rid of it. If Jazz saw him now, she’d never let him hear the end of it. 

After flushing it away, he turned to the sink to clean himself up. But, the sight of himself in the mirror made him freeze.

He saw that green fluid, staining his white shirt as it steadily dripped from his chin. He almost gagged when he still felt it present in his mouth. But what truly frightened him was his now green irises, glowing brightly in the same intensity as the fluid. 

What was wrong with him?

~

Ectoplasm. That’s what was inside him.

Over dinner, his dad was excitedly explaining how he had extracted the substance from a ghost. His mom joined in, explaining its scientific properties. And while Jazz expressed her disgust at bringing something like that to the dinner table, the whole conversation was lost to Danny’s ears. All he saw was the small vial his dad was showing off, containing the same substance he had been heaving out daily in the last week.

~

Danny was in the middle of an English test when he felt it. It wasn’t all that painful anymore, and he’s gotten used to holding it down just long enough until he could get to a washroom. Still, it always was very uncomfortable. And inconvenient, especially at times like now. He raised up his hand and cringed as Lancer stared at him suspiciously.

“Yes, Mr. Fenton?”

“Can I—uh...go to the bathroom?”

Lancer sighed as he glanced at the clock. “Fine. Please hurry back though, you only have 20 minutes left for the test.”

“Thanks Mr. Lancer,” Danny mumbled as he got up from his seat. He fought the feeling of Wes glaring a hole in the back of his head, along with the weird stares from some of his other classmates. Sam and Tucker worriedly watched as their friend left the classroom.

Alone, in the bathroom, Danny used his hands to brace himself against both sides of the stall, as he crouched in front of the toilet, wrinkling his nose at the smell. He hated doing this at school.

He counted to three and then let go, expelling the seemingly endless supply of ectoplasm within him. Every time he did this, there was always that little nagging voice at the back of his head, telling him that he really should tell someone about this. His parents should know what to do, right? But, every time he attempts to do so, he just...he can’t go through with it. Hearing them rant about their pure hatred for ghosts and the inventions they’ve created just to torture them makes his stomach lurch for a whole other reason. He knows they love him...but...what if they try to hurt him?

As for Jazz and his friends, he honestly can’t bring himself to burden them more after the portal accident. After all this time, he still occasionally sees the guilt in Sam’s eyes. Besides, who’s to say this won’t go away on its own...right?

He wiped his chin with the back of his hand after he felt nothing else coming up. However, he was greatly mistaken. 

The next moment, sheer agony shot through his abdomen, causing him to lose balance and hit his back against the stall’s door. It never hurt this bad before!

His body went rigid when he felt a frightening chill freeze his insides. A burning green—almost yellow light was all that he could see as he was overwhelmed by the brutal sensation of his insides being ripped apart. His mouth was forced open by an invisible force as something else crept up his painfully inflamed throat. It wasn’t ectoplasm this time.

Panting heavily, all Danny could do was lay there against the door as the blinding light and pain gradually faded away. The first thing he saw after regaining his vision was a spectral tail disappearing into the ceiling.

~

“Good morning, this is Tiffany Snow reporting Amity Park’s latest breaking news. Recently, we have received several reports of ghost sightings. Witnesses have expressed that these ghosts have been trespassing their homes, destroying property, and terrorizing civillians. The Amity Police Depar…”

“Those no good specters!”

“Jack, honey, do you know what this means?”

“Of course Maddie, the town needs us!”

“But the sudden increase in ghost activity, it must mean something…”

“What are you sayin’ Mads?”

“Where would these ghosts be coming from? Natural portals don’t stay open long enough for any significant entities to escape the Ghost Zone. Unless...maybe something is causing them to stay open longer?”

“You might be onto something, gosh Mads you’re so clever! Well, better get right to sealing up those portals for good. Oh, I got the perfect idea for an invention!” Jack exclaimed as ran downstairs into the lab.

“Danny?”

Danny just realized he’d been holding his breath throughout his parents’ conversation. At the sound of his mom’s voice directed at him, he dropped his spoon. “Y-yea mom?” he stuttered as he anxiously gazed at her.

She was holding a silver-gray thermos with metallic green details. “Today, I’m packing your lunch in the Fenton thermos. We’d be horrible parents let you kids go to school defenseless. Just remember to point and push, okay?”

“Um, okay. Thanks mom,” Danny mumbled. 

She kissed his head before he could protest and said, “I’m going to help your father out. Have a great day at school sweetie.” 

After his mom disappeared downstairs into the lab, Danny morosely glanced at his half-eaten cereal. He’s probably not gonna keep it down anyways. Fenton thermos in hand, he grabbed his backpack and left to catch the school bus.

~

Danny could almost say he’s gotten used to being nauseous all the time. Now when he threw up, more often than not an actual ghost would come up. But now, the guilt from causing all the recent ghost activity grew with each passing day. Yet, no matter how much he’d tried stopping himself, all he did was make the pain even more unbearable. Something was seriously wrong with him.

One day, he recovered quickly enough to see an octopus-like ghost escape into the school’s hallways. As he exited the washroom, he saw the ghost hurling textbooks at students and scaring anyone that got near. 

This was all his fault. He winced as he saw poor Mikey get his glasses knocked off his face by his own math textbook. He had to do something. Wait. Danny reached into his bag, finding the now empty Fenton thermos.

“Just point and push, right?” he muttered to himself as he took aim at the ectopus. A light blue beam shot out the thermos, enveloping the ghost and pulling it inside. Danny blinked as he noticed the small display on the flask read 25% CAPACITY.

“Huh, that was easy.”

~

Using the Fenton thermos to capture the ghosts really helped ease some of his guilt. However, all too soon the thermos had hit its capacity and Danny had no idea what to do with it.

He’d secretly borrowed another one from his parents and already that one was full too. He needed to figure out something quick.

“Hey dad?”

“What’s up Danno?”

“Uh...how do you get rid of ghosts?”

“Son, I’m so glad to see you taking an interest in the family business! Me and your mom are still finding out a way to get rid of those spooks for good. For now, we’ve got the Fenton Ghost Weasel and the Fenton thermos to catch them.”

“But, what if you run out of space to keep them?”

Danny’s dad scratched his head in thought. “Never really thought much about that. I guess when the time comes, we just gotta send those suckers back where they came from. Maybe by then, we’ll find those portals that are causing us all this trouble.”

Back where they came from? 

By now, Danny knows that the accident with his parents’ portal had to have something to do with his...condition. And considering that all the ghosts are coming from inside him...maybe the portal did end up working after all. Except, not in the way he’d expected. He tried not to think too much about it. How an opening to an entirely different dimension was...inside him.

But, he had a more immediate problem to worry about. And as much as the solution grossed him out, he had no choice. 

Currently sat on his bed, Danny stared at the two full flasks in front of him. His dad’s words rang in his ears as he unscrewed the cap off one. His stomach turned uncomfortably as he spared a glance at its contents.

Bringing up the thermos to his lips, he squeezed his eyes shut to brace himself for what he was going to do next.

Here goes nothing.

[hybrid-phantom-archived]

Danny Fenton Social Link (Moon)

“Hey um... you free today?”

You feel your relationship with Danny will deepen.

“Um, cool yeah. Let’s... go do something I guess.”

Rank 6

Amity Park: Mall. Danny brought you here.

“I don’t usually come here that often. Shopping isn’t my kind of thing, but sometimes it’s a necessary evil.”

Danny appears to be looking for a new jacket. Looking at him up and down, it’s clear the sleeves of the one he’s wearing are burned.

“I’m going to have to cut the cuffs off this one too, this is why I wear T-shirts all the time...” he mutters as he fiddles with a charred sleeve.

I take it this isn’t the first time it happened?

How many sweaters do you burn though? +2

“Was... was that a pun?” Danny pauses a moment before a large smile finds its way onto his face.

“I knew I liked something about you. Any fan of wordplay is definitely a friend of mine,” he chuckles to himself. 

“The funniest thing about puns is watching people around you cringe when you drop a good one. Or bad. Depends on what you think of them,” Danny continues smiling widely.

“Back on topic though. Yeah, I burn through a lot of sweaters. Don’t even know why I wear them, even this late in the year...” He continues fiddling with the sleeve, a few charred bits falling off.

“I don’t even FEEL cold anymore. I realized it once winter started setting in. I just, can’t feel the temperature change anymore. In fact, I’m starting to prefer cold weather over hot weather.”

“Crazy, right? Sure, summer has summer vacation, but heat just... irritates me. I don’t know if it’s sun stroke or what, but I was just feeling angry all summer long. And it only started after I got my powers.”

“Summer is officially ruined. If the heat alone pisses me off, high school just got a million times worse for me. Not only is it a slog, but the vacation I have to look forward to is too hot for me to even enjoy it.”

That sounds awful!

Why not cool yourself down with your powers?

“Right... I have ice powers....” Danny mutters. “Honestly, I’d rather forget that detail, or that I have powers in the first place, but I need them for the mission.”

“And it’s not like I can magically wish away my heat intolerance. I’m stuck with it whether I like it or not, I guess.” He shakes his head.

“Honestly the jacket is just for aesthetics, If I went walking around in a t-shirt mid December people would get suspicious. So, I kind of have to wear one to keep what’s left of my image in check.”

Danny continues to look through the the clothing rack.

Recommend the thin, blue jacket. +2

Recommend the puffy, red and white coat.

Recommend he just stick with the t-shirt all winter.

Danny looks to the jacket you’ve pointed out. He pulls it off the hanger and puts it in front of his chest as to look it over.

“This one doesn’t look half bad.”

“It looks puffier than it actually is on the inside. It might be a ploy from the designer to sell it at a higher price than it’s worth, but...”

Danny looks at the tag of the jacket. “Huh. It’s actually pretty cheap. Maybe I’ll get this one.”

Danny appears to appreciate your recommendation. He takes it to the counter to pay for it.

You obtained the 👑 “Plain Jacket Costume” for Danny.

“HEEEELP!”

The sound of someone crying for help across the store puts you and Danny both on high alert. The two of you run toward the yelling, only to see a woman and a man squabbling.

The man appears to pull the purse the woman was holding and begins running away with it. They make a dangerous leap off the escalator in the mall and run for the exit.

Danny, in the heat of the moment, shoves his new jacket into your arms and begins chasing the criminal through the crowd.

Follow Danny

Stand there like a dumb-ass.

You quickly muster up your diligence and pursue Danny and the purse thief through the mall.

Danny seems to vanish into the crowd, part way through the chase. You look around for him and the criminal, and eventually make it outside the mall.

Danny seemed to vanish entirely for the moment, before reappearing out of nowhere, changed.

Danny appears to have donned the look of his alter-ego outside of the Shadow Zone. 

You and the rest of the team are unable to use the powers of your alter-egos and personas outside the Shadow Zone, so this transformation in the real world must be another of Danny’s powers.

Danny, or rather Phantom, you should probably refer to him by his code name when he’s his alter-ego, has the criminal pulled up by the shirt. 

Though Phantom’s eyes are covered by his visor, the fury behind them could be seen by the crowd that had gathered to watch.

“What IS that thing?”

“It looks like a monster, but it’s-”

“Is it trying to take the purse back from that bastard.”

The crowd appears to be muttering about Phantom’s sudden appearance. Being in his more shadow-like form, most of them must be scared of him. The criminal certainly is, and they drop the bag without much more of a fight.

“M-monster!” the man cries. “What the hell are you!? Get the hell away from me!”

“As if! You tried to steal an innocent woman’s purse. And with all this attention on you, I’ll be damned if you get away with it!” Danny declares.

Though he’s trying to look tough, being called a monster and a thing by the crowd around him is really shaking his morale here.

Cheer him on from the crowd. +3

Scold the crowd

Help him keep the criminal contained +1

You mustered up your expression and began cheering loudly in favor of Danny stopping the criminal.

You call him by his code name, of course, and the crowd slowly joins in with your cheering. Danny seems to grow a bit more confident in what he’s doing in that moment.

With the criminal walled in by the crowd, Danny takes the purse and returns it to its owner, in tact and not a thing missing.

The lady gives Danny a shaky thanks and leaves with her purse.

With the purse thief stopped, you see a brief look of sudden stage fright cross Danny’s masked face before he uses his powers to vanish into a puddle of black sludge.

You start heading back home when you see Danny on the path there, back in his human form. He seems deep in thought.

“So uh... with what happened back there...”

It was so cool!

That was really reckless....

You transformed in the real world.

“I did, didn’t I?” he finds himself scuffing his feet. “Not even you can do that, and you’re Team Captain...”

“Something else that makes me a freak, I guess... I can’t even get this personas and shadows thing down properly...”

Danny looks downcast.

“It made a world of difference to that woman.” +2

“You stopped the bad guy from getting away.” +2

“You really think so?” Danny looks up at you, his eyes searching, begging for the validation you’re providing him with.

“I did jump in there pretty recklessly, didn’t I?” he shakes his head with a tired smile. “I wasn’t even thinking. It just crossed my mind that I HAD to do that. I had to stop that guy from stealing.”

“But, now my powers are out there in the world. I’m sure it’ll be making rounds on the news soon... and my parents will hear about it....”

It’ll be okay. +1

No one knew it was you.

You did the right thing. +2

“The right thing, huh?”

His smile slowly returns, the mischievous smirk that always felt so at home on his face finally returning.

“I used my powers to do the right thing. I didn’t destroy anything either...” the smile widens. “I didn’t let my insecurity hold me back.”

“...it felt nice.”

It seems that the spur the moment action has made Danny more appreciative of his powers.

Through the uplifted mood, you feel you understand Danny more.

-

(Danny’s growth of heart has affected his persona as well. Valravn can now learn Hamaon.)

You returned Danny’s new jacket to him and bid him farewell.

[arthurjdrake]

Location: Sandy Shores (White Crest Beach)

Plot Of The Week: Gifts From the Deep

@humanmoodring, @beatrice-blaze and @arthurjdrake make a snappy trip down to further investigate the chest with things getting more than a little heated in the process.

Despite his species natural aversion to water, Arthur always had found himself strangely attracted to it. He’d been feeling restless today, his research hitting a dead end that pushed him to feel inclined to finally investigate this chest in person. To see if there was anything that had been missed. Equipped with a backpack in which he’d put a large blank notepad and pencils (to get a stencil off the chest if he could get close enough) he’d then turned his thoughts to the miniature crustacean army guarding this chest. It was how he had settled on getting his axe out of storage; ancient and heavy-bladed it had served him well over the years. It didn’t take long to drive down and park at the beach. Soon enough he was trudging cautiously over the rise of the small sand dune and taking a knee to survey the misty frost-laden beach in front of him.

Sitting in her truck, Nadia rubbed her hands together as she looked out at the frozen beach. If she’d been asked what the hell she was doing out there, she would honestly be able to say that she didn’t know. It was dumb. It was so dumb. But she was curious about this whole giant lobster and cursed chest business that she had to see it for herself. She’d been bombarded by supernatural bullshit left and right, but did she really know if it was real? If she could just see it in person… She hopped out of the truck and started towards the area where the chest was located, ice crunching under her boots as she went.

Arthur turned his head as movement at the edge of the beach caught his attention. He watched quietly as a woman made her way out towards the frosty ground, that led towards the chest the crunch of ice cutting through the strange eerie silence was jarring. Even the swelling rush of the tide seemed muted, as though the chest drowned out everything else around it. To keep it the sole focus of any that came this way. To forget what else might lurk down there. He continued to watch for a little while longer, wondering just what she planned to do before he spoke up figuring she might be keen to go down to the misty beach. "Careful..." he called from his knelt perch overlooking the beach "it's misty down there today. Means spotting the karkinoids will be a whole lot harder."

Bea had been watching the beach for quite some time. She had been sat, hidden from sight, debating if she should approach the chest alone and observing the chest from a far. No matter what Nellie thought, she was quite capable of handling herself and she was sure if it came down to it her fire would serve her well in a fight. She had seen the man arrive and the woman too. She didn't like the idea of them going down there together without her, as she was determined to be one of the ones to figure it out. She slipped from her hiding space and took a few moments to make it to the other two. With a smile, she approached them, just to hear the end of the man's words. "A couple of pairs of eyes will make spotting them easier. We could investigate together, though, I have heard it is quite cold down there." Not that she would be affected. Cold didn't really bother those who wielded fire.

Arthur watched another young woman approach. He didn't recognise either of them, but the second stranger made a valid point. "That's true," he agreed regarding spotting them, "well, I've been studying the chest a little from photos I've seen people post online. But a rubbing of the sigils would make for better luck at actually interpreting the language..." He shifted his backpack having the paper and equipment for that task already packed. "Either of you got anything to hold off those beasties if they do show up though?" Arthur could always burn, but who could say if either of these strangers knew a thing about the supernatural and he really didn't want to risk exposure if it could be helped.

Nadia startled as two different people spoke up. "Jesus." She looked at the man and woman in front of her. Both of them looked far more prepared than she felt. And karkinoids? "Those are the giant lobsters, right?" She was way out of her element, here, but she didn't want to show it. Taking both of them in, she realized that the man, like several people that she met in White Crest, was a lot harder for her to understand than the woman. Both of them seemed like they knew what they were doing, though. "I'm. Yeah, I'm down to go. Together. I just-- I came here to see it up close, and I didn't realize. Yeah." She knew she should have brought the fucking gun that the ghost had kept on it. "I've got nothing. Sorry. I really just came to observe.” She hoped she didn’t sound too idiotic.

Bea nodded to the other woman, "Try to stay clear of them. They can do some nasty damage I've heard." She hadn't seen this many amass at one time, but she had lived in White Crest long enough that she knew enough about them. She had her magic, but she wasn't willing to just simply go in blazing, literally. It was easier to fight alone or with her sister at her side. Then she didn't have to hide what she was capable of. "I have a bat in my car but that's about it and that won't do too much against a shell like theirs. Do you have anything?"

The way the initial woman jumped made Arthur’s eyes narrow fractionally, both out of surprise that she might startle so easily and curiosity as to why she’d chosen, of all places, this bit of beach to come exploring on. Hardly the most welcoming of terrain. “Yeah, that’s their name. But I guess giant lobster works too.” He looked to the second lady, she struck him as somewhat better prepared for the task at hand. Picking up the old albeit well-conditioned axe that had up until now rested at his side in the sand lifting it slightly into view. “Used to crack shells with this back in the day. Just got to catch them in the right spot... Otherwise, I picked up some, uh, dust bombs from one of the shops on Amity Road. Need to be careful with them though or... well,” he made a face the implications behind that statement obvious. But either way he was going down on that beach one way or another. “Only got so many of them though... So need to make the throws count." He paused before adding, "I'm Arthur by the way."

"Dust bombs," Nadia repeated. "And the axe. I, uh, think you're the most prepared." She took in the scene in front of them, watching the karkinoids surround the chest move about. There were far more of them than she'd expected. And they were huge. Obviously. People hadn’t been joking when they claimed these bad boys could destroy a car. And then there was the chest itself, which was just… off. At least the ever present line of treasure hunters were gone. Save, of course, the three of them. God, she was so stupid. Why didn't she think things through before jumping in head first? What made her think trying to do this alone was a good idea? She was damn lucky that she'd run into these two. She turned back to face them. "Nice to meet you, Arthur. I'm Nadia."

Eyeing the axe, Bea decided that while she would work with Arthur, she'd also have to keep an eye on him. 'Used to crack shells', she wasn't sure she believed that. Still, he seemed to be good to have on her side during this, he was prepared and seemed capable enough. "Alright, Arthur, Nadia. I'm Beatrice." She eyed the beach, she didn't like how many of those things were down there. "How do you feel about us drawing them somewhere else before we go down there? Might give us some time to look over the chest without them trying to chop off our arms."

“Yeah well, I, like everyone else here want to look at that chest” Arthur said as though it was simple logistics. Which, in a way it was, the cold wouldn’t bother him anyway so he was already one up in that regard. He considered their options, before he unhooked the pouch at his belt containing the bombs and held it out for Nadia to take. She seemed more in need if things went down. “Just grab and throw, they’ll explode on impact. Though I’d get the bat as well." What he didn't mention was the fact the dust would cause the lobsters to grow out of their shells making them far more vulnerable. "Booze would also be useful, could set them on fire... Or make a firewall. Lobsters don't usually stand heat too well." He nodded in agreement luring them away made sense, "yeah, that could work. Maybe we could find a way to block them in somewhere?"

"I have a bottle of really shitty whiskey in my truck,” Nadia said as she took the pouch of bombs. “Which, I have never drank while driving, I should probably add.” She shivered a bit and pulled her jacket closer around her. It was so cold. But, you know, frozen beach. Chest that freezes people's insides. Maine in winter. "But, yeah, I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not be lobster chow just to look at a chest. I don't even eat lobster; I sure as hell don't want them to eat me." She looked around, trying to figure out the best way to get the karkinoids away from the chest. "How fast do you guys run, anyway? Like, across ice? And sand?”

Bea stood in her red peacoat rather unbothered by the cold. Her hands were tucked in the pockets, but if she were to take them out they were only covered by thins gloves, truly just to keep up appearances. "Give me a few minutes and I'll get the bat. I have matches too," She added, though she didn't need them. One of her performers had left a little book of them in the car and she had put them away just in case. "Probably good practice not to drink shitty whiskey and drive," Bea teased with a grin. She shrugged,"I haven't tested how fast I can run on ice. I'm decent enough at running when my life depends on it though. Not that I've had much practice at that either." 

“Really shitty whiskey works in a pinch” Arthur smiled a little though it didn't pass his attention how Nadia seemed to shiver against the cold. The ice and snow had melted under his knees where he’d been knelt, and he pushed up to his feet. “Lobsters only eat dead things, so that shouldn’t be an issue.” He surveyed some of the murky shapes below, “their eyes are also on the end of their antennae, so cut those off and you’ll also do everyone a favour.” His mouth twisted into a grim smile at Nadia's question, “can’t say I've had cause to try. But I doubt it’ll come to that...” He brushed off his knees and straightened his winter field jacket out peering back to the road now “I saw a sign for a cave a little further up on my drive down here... Maybe we can get them there and block them in?”

"Cave sounds good to me. Better than anything I could come up with," Nadia said. She didn't know much about lobsters other that, like most living creatures, they couldn't survive in abnormally high temperatures. She wondered... "I'll bring the whiskey while you get the bat and matches, and then we can come up with a good way to get them in the cave." Then she turned to Arthur. "These bombs. How flammable are they? Because I was thinking: we get them in the cave, chuck a few of these bad boys in there and set them off, and then throw a Molotov in. If it catches the dust on fire, that'd be a pretty effective way to say bye bye, lobsters." Then, she paused. She never really worked with other people, never really contributed her own ideas. "But, like, we don't have to do that. It might not even work."

Bea watched as Arthur stood and noted the melted ice. Interesting. She knew that normal human temperatures could affect ice, or rather she assumed they could, but that seemed pretty extreme. She tilted her head as she attempted to figure out if he was just a hot human or if there was something more going on. "Sounds good to me," Bea replied. She grinned at Nadia's idea, she was smart. "I think it's a good plan. We should try it if they're even a little flammable. Now, I'll be back in a flash. The car's not too far away," She said as she made her way away from them. She had parked a bit far, but it was nothing more than a few minute's walk.

“Uuuh, don’t know, but probably a fair bit. I haven’t tried lighting them up but either way they’ll definitely prove a nuisance of themselves for the lobsters regardless.” But Arthur wouldn’t lie in the fact he thought it was a clever notion that Nadia had come up with. “Sounds smart and definitely worth a try I’d say.” With something coming together he headed back towards the road and waited for the others once they were all back with the necessary items he looked around the group. “All set?”

Nadia jogged up to Arthur and Beatrice, opening the bottle of whiskey and stuffing in a shredded piece of a blanket from the back of her truck. She'd been out and about enough, running around like a dumbass, to be able to navigate walking on the rough terrain fairly easy. She held up the freshly made Molotov cocktail with a grin. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. This is either going to work really well or not at all."

With her softball bat slung over her shoulder and a book of matches in her hand, Bea grinned at the group assembled. "I think we're as ready as we can be. And if it turns out that we missed a step, we can always test how fast we can run on ice." She started down slowly, looking over her shoulder to grin at them again, "come on. Let's go before the Karkinoids start to notice us up here."

Arthur watched as Nadia made the makeshift molotov and once Bea had the bat he figured they had everything they needed to get on with this. Shifting his grip on the axe he huffed a quiet laugh under his breath, "hopefully not." With that said, he began to skirt his way down the frozen sand dune mindful of his step so as not to slip and crash. The cold mist thickened as they headed down, and Arthur could see the looming shadows of the karkinoids. Fuck, there are so many of them. He glanced back, hoping the others were ready to lure these things to the cave.

Nadia carefully followed after Arthur, trying to match his footwork; he seemed a lot more sure of this than she did. She glanced back at Bea, letting the other woman's grin and apparent confidence make her feel more at ease. This wasn't going to be that hard. All they had to do was lure these fuckers into a cave and blow them up. No big deal. They weren't really that big, anyway. They had this. "So, seeing as how none of us are dead," At lease, I assume, she thought, "I guess we're just gonna have to piss them off and make a run for it, huh?"

Arthur was mostly quiet as they headed down to the beach, he didn't have a lot to say with his attention mostly being on the karkinoids. "I think so," he agreed in a quiet voice before indicating further across the beach to a gap between two rocks that as far as he knew led to the cave "lets get round to the other side first... We'll go from there."

Bea walked with confidence rather sure that if she kept her steps steady it would work out for her in the end. She tried to keep her steps quiet as they snuck around the other side, no need to get the monsters interested in her before she needed them. Finally when the three of them reached the section that Arthur indicated, she looked back over to him. "What's the plan now?"

Arthur thought on what the best option for luring these things away would be. It was only thud of a nearby fish falling from the sky that he had an idea. He watched its silvery glimmer as it flipped and flopped on the beach before grinning. "Lobster chow. They eat dead things right?" He pointed to some of the fish that had fallen figuring that it was their best bet instead of using themselves as bait. "Let's use that to lure them. Make a pile... Then chop it up to get them interested." Walking over he grabbed a couple of oversized mackerel dragging them towards the cave.

Nadia shrugged. "Sounds good to me," she said, following after Arthur to go pick up fish. She tucked the molotov under her arm and started grabbing fish and following after Arthur. Jesus, the smell. She wrinkled up her nose. "If I ever eat fish again," she muttered, "it'll be too soon." Once they'd seemed to get a decent pile together, she looked over at Arthur and Beatrice. "Now, I guess we just have to get them in here, huh?"

Bea wished that this plan was easier to do. She wasn't a patient woman and so much set up was getting on her nerves. She paced after the pile was made, wishing for action. The sooner they got this done the quicker she could get her hands on that chest. "Let's get them here fast so we can get to that chest before someone else does. During the afternoon people start to show up to look at it and I don't think we need an audience."

Arthur glanced at the pile and the others, it hadn't even been his idea to lure the Karkinoids away in the first place. "well let's get their attention then." He walked over to the edge of the cave, staying near to one of the ledges they could climb up onto once the Karkinoids got close enough out of pincer reach. "Here goes nothing..." grabbing a rock he lobbed it at a nearby lobster, it did the trick, the dark silhouette making an angry clicking noise as it turned in search of its assailant. The noise alerted a few others that began to also turn in their direction. Grabbing another rock he did the same a couple of times more "OI!" he hollered, "come on then you ugly buggers!"

"Oh, shit, we're doing this," Nadia said as the karkinoids turned in their direction and started charging. And they were fast. Maybe it was the fact that Beatrice's apparent impatience was contagious, maybe it was the fact that this was exciting and dangerous, but Nadia felt adrenaline course through her as they took off running over the icy, rocky beach towards the cave. She stopped paying attention to where she put her feet and was more worried about escaping the raging lobsters. That was probably her mistake. She felt her boot catch on a piece of ice, and, as she went down and dropped the molotov, she remembered her promise to Regan to be careful. A spike of pain shot through her chest for a moment, long enough for one of the giant bastards to catch up to her. Nadia turned her body away from it, but not before one of it's claws managed to clip her right side. Yelping, she reached in her pocket, pulled out one of the bombs Arthur gave her, and scrambled to stand, holding her side as she went. She started running again, much slower, trying not to look behind her. She was so, so fucked.

Arthur was all set for the moment the Karkinoids turned and surged down the beach towards them and was several steps ahead of the others and about to make a good leap up for the ledge when he heard a pained noise behind him. His steps faltered as he saw Nadia stumble crimson staining her side. "Fuckssake..." he grunted under his breath debating if it was just worth jumping for it and... No, he couldn't do that. "For fucks sake," he turned heel yelling "toss it!" Hoping Nadia would be able to throw it at the karkinoids. The growth dust in the bombs would force them out of their armoured shells as he neared hefting his axe in a cleaving strike to clear out those posing the most danger to her.

Nadia lobbed the bomb behind her and heard a pop as it hit. She didn't stop, though, until she came to the ledge. Her side was killing her. She refused to look at it but kept her hand firmly pressed against it and... there wasn't anything good about this. Her chest was still hurting a bit, too, and all she could think about was the fact that she promised she would be careful and instead she'd been so stupid and now she was hurt. Badly. She wasn't going to be able to climb unassisted, and she wouldn't ask that of the other two. She wasn't going to be dead weight. "Get up," she told them. "I'll throw a few of the bombs; just get up and I'll follow behind."

Arthur swung the axe in an arc, the edge of the blade cleaving clean into what once was the head of a karkinoid. Without their shells they looked like eerie white-meated aliens from the ocean depths. Using his boot to kick it off he ducked a couple of pincers almost getting clipped a couple of times himself but the dust was doing the trick. Their shells splintering as they outgrew them. After a couple of Karkinoids had sacrificed their guts in an attempt to attack the others following up the charge seemed to sense that advancing wouldn't end well. Their pincers clicked menacingly, see-sawing back and forth on the spot as though debating whether to attack or not. Though the lure of easier fishy prey nearby turned them towards the depths of the cave. For now at least. Turning to Nadia who clearly wouldn't make the climb alone he huffed shaking his head, "don't be ridiculous, I'll boost you up. You won't get up there alone, and don't you dare think about arguing."

"I'm not gonna make it up," Nadia said, rather matter-of-factly. She was surprisingly calm, all things considered. If she was anything, it was slightly annoyed that she'd barely had her body back for a month, and she'd already managed to get herself killed. In six years, the criminal ghost who got itself shot hadn't managed to do that. But here she was, done in by a fucking giant lobster. Fuck seafood. Her vision was fuzzy around the edges. "But, shit, alright. Fuck, this is gonna hurt."

Arthur: "You will," Arthur assured matter of factly, "Beatrice you go up, pull Nadia up once I give her a boost. Yeah?" They didn't have long before the blood would attract attention and hanging around wasn't going to do any of them a world of good. "Come on," he encouraged moving to brace his back against the wall and interlocking his fingers so that he could boost Nadia up to the ledge above.

Bea hadn't thought that this whole adventure would take this turn. Someone getting hurt by one of those monsters wasn't exactly in the plan and she wasn't sure if she should have gotten involved in this little group. It might have ended up being less complicated one her own. Nevertheless, she climbed up and put her hand out to Nadia as Arthur lifted her. "You're gonna be fine, Nadia. You're made of some tough stuff," She told the girl, using the voice she used with her own sisters.

Nadia groaned as she took Beatrice's hand and let Arthur help her up. Jesus Christ, that hurt like a bitch. She leaned back against the rocks, holding her side together with one hand. "One the bright side," she said as Arthur pulled himself up and she looked down to see the karkinoids all gathered in one place, "they should be pretty fucking easy to kill, now. I...shit. I dropped the molotov. Shit." She let out a breath and closed her eyes. Just for a moment. She just needed a moment.

Arthur hefted himself up onto the ledge, thank god for the fact Karkinoids couldn't climb. Landing on his knees he grimaced, but he could at least take stock. "Shit," he muttered under his breath though the curse was two-fold. Mostly because he could now see the blood staining Nadia's clothes. They could worry about the karkinoids in a bit, someone dying was a far more pressing concern. Moving over he took a knee beside her, pulling his bag open to take out his scarf which he folded over on itself, it would work to stem the bleeding depending on how severe it was. Though they wouldn't be able to tell that until they got a look skin level. "Let's have a look at that... I'll need to open your jacket, okay?"

Nadia moved her hand a bit and opened her jacket. Not that it was particularly necessary. Her jacket was ruined, along with the sweater and tank top she was wearing under it. Three layers of clothes. Ruined. She didn't even try to look at what was going on down there. She closed her eyes again and murmured, "Ouch."

Arthur grimaced at the sight, it was bad. Very very bad. And if it wasn't seen to then... Well, he didn't have high hopes for the outcome. He'd seen enough wounds like this across his lifetimes to know what outcome this kind of injury meant. There wasn't enough time to call an ambulance, she'd bleed out before then. "Gods be damned, just... hold still," he cursed shifting the material out of the way to expose the site fully. The wet glisten of bone and sinew certainly a complicating factor. There was one thing that would work... Though he admittedly didn't feel entirely comfortable letting strangers know any kind of truth to what he was. But if it was that or letting someone die... Shifting to block most of the injury from view with his body, he scrunched up his face and let himself sink back into distant memories until he felt a hot sting in his eyes. Several tears tracked hot down his cheeks, dripping into the gaping wound. More than enough to fix the damage. Pressing the scarf to the wound he maintained pressure in the guise of trying to do... something.

Bea could have done healing magic, but she had never been good at it and she wasn't even sure if she had the right parts on her. Arthur seemed to have it under control and if he couldn't fix her, Bea could always take Nadia back to her mother. She hoped it wouldn't come to that. Her mother would be so angry if it did. She sat with them, but her eyes kept shifting to the chest. They needed to go and get to it when it was free. "How's it looking?" She hoped he said it wasn't that bad... For Nadia's sake and for the sake of getting to the chest finally

When Arthur started helping Nadia, something felt... hot where the wound was. Almost burning, like Arizona asphalt in the summer. But it was nice, seeing as how she was so, so cold. Then it felt strange, like everything was pins and needles stitching itself up. It didn't hurt anymore, which was strange because all it really seemed like Arthur was doing was just applying pressure to stem the bleeding. It should still hurt like a bitch. She was pretty sure some bones had been fucked up, and she couldn't even remember what organs were in that part of body. Instead, the only thing she was really feeling was lightheaded from the blood loss. She sat up and moved Arthur's hand and scarf aside, looking to see that... there wasn't anything there. No wound, no scar. Just a bit of dried blood. She looked at Arthur and then back at the wound. "It's... It's fine. I was being a wuss. Let's-- We need to blow these fuckers up and get back to the chest." She stands on shaky feet.

Arthur knew it wouldn't take too long for the wound to heal, and as the scarf along with his hands were pushed aside to reveal little more than dried blood he felt an internal sense of satisfaction. One more life on the roster of those saved over the years. The fates would hate him, but they could get screwed. He shifted back, pressing his hands to his knees and getting back to his feet. A little tired of the roundabout way they were going about this he scanned the beach, spotting where the molotov lay discarded. "Why don't you two go ahead," he eventually said stepping back towards the ledge that led back down to the beach, "I'll figure something out and catch up." What he didn't say was that he was planning to grill these fuckers into oblivion. Just... Once these two were gone and couldn't act as eye witnesses.

Bea watched the two others with suspicion. Nadia had seemed very hurt before and now only after a moment of putting pressure on the wound, she was ready to stand again. Bea was no expert in healing, but that seemed very unlikely to be natural. She eyed Arthur again, not liking the idea of leaving the man alone, but they had wasted so much time already, she wasn't willing to fight it. "Come on, Nadia. Let's go," She said as she sent another glance towards Arthur. She carefully climbed back down, watching out for any more of those monsters and picked up the bat she had abandoned when they climbed up.

As she followed after Beatrice, carefully this time, Nadia kept rubbing her fingers against the undamaged skin on her side. It was still a little hot to the touch, but nothing was wrong. There wasn't even a scar. She didn't know what the hell Arthur had done, but she wasn't going to ask questions. For now. She looked at Beatrice. "So, sorry about that." She scratched at the back of her neck with the hand that wasn't covered in her own blood. "Hopefully Arthur can deal with the karkinoids while we get to the chest. He seems... capable."

Bea watched Nadia carefully, still not completely understanding what happened. How did she go from being unable to walk or climb to being able to do both in a matter of seconds? Either Nadia was supernatural or Arthur was. Her money was on Arthur, he hadn't even reacted when Nadia had been able to get up so easily. "He seems like he knows a little more than he's letting on," She mumbled back, but she was glad for the opportunity to get to the chest. Getting closer and closer, Bea let out a sigh. "Thank god, we're finally getting to this."

Nadia had to agree with Beatrice. Arthur certainly did know a lot more than he was letting on. He'd done something to heal her, and now she was fine. Well, a little woozy, honestly, but fine. "You're right, but..." she trailed off as they approached the chest. It was... strange. And it looked like an ordinary chest, albeit one from like an old pirate movie. She could understand why people were inclined to touch it. Hell, she was inclined to touch it. She looked at Beatrice. "We should, uh, probably wait for him?"

Once Arthur saw the others vanish over the ridge back in the direction of the chest he turned back to the issue at hand his expression grim; a combination of frustration at having to be responsible for all the heavy lifting and the fact it hardly seemed like either of them were capable of doing anything more than getting hurt or standing by. Thankfully the growth dust bombs that had been tossed earlier had done the trick, and now the Karkinoids were simply fleshy clawed beasts with their shells discarded nearby while they feasted. Bracing himself, he carefully dropped back down the way they had come circling back in the direction of the molotov. The click-click-click of the karkinoid's claws was disconcerting, but Arthur steadied himself. He'd been in worse situations. Where he typically tempered the flames he let the frustration fuel them, feeling the familiar warmth engulf him, the flame-avian-like silhouette licking higher and higher until he stood quite literally burning on the spot. A couple of the karkinoids, sensing a thermal irregularity had begun to turn but it would hardly do a thing to save them as he raised his hands and unleashed a twin streams of flames upon them. The karkinoids screamed and clicked and thrashed trying to advance through the molten heat but Arthur pushed, until the last one stopped moving. Dead. All dead. He collapsed to his knees in the sand panting for air, the flames naturally dying as he knelt there engulfed in the smell of burnt flesh that was almost enough to make him wretch. He stayed like that for a few moments, the world spinning, before he slowly stumbled to his feet in the direction of the molotov. A lighter was enough to get the rag burning, and using one of the bombs he had left over he tossed it onto the pile followed by the molotov. The explosion did the trick, boulders crashed down, concealing the burnt pile of karkinoids and evidence of what he'd done.

Wiping his damp brow with a trembling hand he staggered back down the beach feeling light-headed, sick and as if his legs might go from under him at any moment. He slowly made his way over, glancing at the others who seemed intact and okay but said nothing more. Attention drawn by the chest. Let's see what's so special about this fucker then. Dropping to a knee he cautiously bent close but didn't touch the chest for the time being, they'd had longer to look at it than him. Ancient, and hardly about to open. "Looks chalcolithic... Maybe bronze or iron age... What do you think about this writing?" he asked, blunt and to the point. It wasn't Norse and it wasn't Latin, though he had a suspicion from his investigations up to this point.

Bea regretted spending the time she had hiding that morning. She could have easily just gone to the chest herself and not dealt with the crap that they had. At least she hadn't needed to reveal anything magical about herself. She squatted down next to the chest, looking over the chest. "Well, it's not Latin or Turkish. I don't think it's Arabic either." She tilted her head as she looked it over for a moment longer,"The chest doesn't even have hinges. How is anyone meant to open it if it doesn't have hinges?"

"Not Norse either, runes are too angular" which left them with the issue of what it might be. Arthur’s eyes drifted over the runes on the chest, "the answer probably lies in there..." he gestured at it. Definitely magic. Most definitely magic. Shifting his backpack off his shoulder he took his notebook and a piece of charcoal. Holding it with one hand he quickly rubbed the charcoal over until he had a couple of copies of the text. "Weird..." he tucked one of the copies away, getting up to his feet and offering the other for either of them to take.

Nadia looked over the copy Arthur held out before shaking her head. "It's not any sort of language I recognize." Frustrated, she sighed. Ancient languages weren't her thing at all. "It almost looks, and I feel overtly religious for saying, but demonic? I mean, it's sort of similar to...have you ever heard of that weird language John Dee came up with? He was an advisor to Elizabeth I, and was strange and an occultist, but he wrote in his journals in something he called Enochian. This obviously isn't that, but... I don't know. It reminds me of what I've seen of it in textbooks, but weirder." She really wanted to touch the chest. Maybe there was a seam or-- her chest started hurting like it had when she tripped. Nadia pulled her hand away from the chest.

Arthur gave Nadia a long look of contemplation as she made a suggestion that had been lingering on his mind. "Hardly over dramatic," he commented thoughtfully looking back to the scripture. He'd been researching an old possession case from the 1800s, personal attachments to that one and this had partly been something he'd been concerned about. "It's a start," maybe he'd be able to dig up some of the journals with his access back home. "Guess the question now is happen to know any demons that might just happen to be lurking around?" it was a slightly sarcastic quip, but it didn't hurt to ask, did it?

Bea faced turned sour at the talk of demons. She freaking hated demons and she hated that she knew who to talk to for any type of lead. "I don't know anything about demons, but I know someone who might." Why did Nell always have to be her go to call with magical things. She didn't even know if her sister knew anything about demons, but the girl loved to dive into the weird parts of magic and this was something Bea would consider weird

Nadia wasn't surprised by anything at this point. Yeah, okay, so she'd been the one to come up with it, but she hadn't actually expected demon language to be legitimate. She thought about that woman online. Her face scrunched up as Beatrice's turned sour. "Do you... know someone claiming to be a demon? I mean. Not that it matters. I'm willing to accept it, at this point. But, like, wow." She looked closer at the writing. This was something that... No, best not to think about that. She ghosted her fingers along the text, as if that might help her decipher something.

Arthur looked between the two women wondering what was going on in their heads. Though Bea's comment drew his attention however he addressed Nadia initially. "Me? No..." he looked towards Bea then, "but I'd be curious to chat to whoever you think might have a lead. Otherwise next stop is going to be the Archives."

Bea shook her head, "she could be a bust, maybe the Archives is the way to go." She didn't need to drag Nell into this, though she was sure at some point the younger woman was going to get pulled into whatever mess this was, if she wasn't already.

"I've heard of the Archive being pretty reliable with the weird shit," Nadia said. She looked back to the chest. A part of her didn't want to leave without trying her hand at opening it. However, a much bigger part knew how fucking stupid that would be. "Maybe, if we figure this out," she murmured, more to herself than anything, "we can help the people who were affected by this shit. So, the real question is, do we all want to go to the Archive, or does just one of us need to take a copy to get it figured out? If we don't all go, we can easily just chat online or something."

Arthur didn't see any point in trying to open a chest with no hinges or without the right key. Especially if it was potentially demonic. The idea of being able to help the others that had been affected caused him to nod in agreement. "Yeah... Hopefully," he shifted back to standing shouldering his backpack. "I'll scan this in and forward it across to you both if you want? Give you both a copy..." as for who went he adjusted his bag. "Well, I'm probably going to go down and get to work as soon as. Welcome to come along or I'll update you with anything I find - if there even is anything?"

Bea nodded towards Arthur and Nadia. "Send it to me, I'll talk to my person if we find nothing." She debated whether or not she wanted to spend more time with these people, but she knew that being involved in the research would be fulfilling for her. And she would hate if Arthur got to crack it on his own. She was good at research and she knew she could help with this without blowing up her secret. "I'll come with you."

The Archives proved surprisingly beneficial, especially when combined with some of the journals Arthur had brought down from the University's mythology cross history department. Not failing to mention several trips to the nearby coffee shop that kept him lightly tapping his finger near silently on the table while he read. But together they had made rather good progress. Working on different aspects to decipher the cryptic language. Of course, there was no paint-by-numbers guide to these sorts of things but having other people to bounce ideas off of was a welcome relief. "How's that final translation coming along?" he asked looking over to the others situated on the other side of the table they had commandeered for their work.

Nadia's foot bounced a bit as she sorted through five different books and looked over at her translation. She'd sort of taken over her corner of the table rather effectively to try and figure out what the hell was being said. She also felt slightly buzzed, though, and in her element. She wasn't the greatest language person, but she knew how to research. This was the kind of thing that she'd thrived off of in college. It was different to be doing it with other people, but a good kind of different. "The last part is... yeah. I don't quite get part of it, but it's something about 'horrors?' 'The horrors?' A way or something to end them."

Bea researched things on her own often. With a coven so tightlipped about certain types of magic, she had to be willing to spend hours or day in a library searching. She hummed as she looked over her own work,"I don't get your section, Nadia, so I can't really help there." Nadia, Bea thought, got stuck with one of the harder sections. She had looked it over and had trouble even making sense of any of it. "I have needing someone pure of heart over here, though."

Much as the others were, Arthur was prone to working alone on such things. But it was a nice change to have others to work and sound ideas off of. It was slow, but they were making progress. Sipping his coffee he shuffled through his notes, the whole concept of this being some sort of demonic language seemed to be yielding surprisingly beneficial results. "Well, that word seems to refer to some sort of flood" he said pointing to the one Nadia was struggling with having been looking up alternative potential words. "And I've found something here about powers- capable of power? Possessing power? But there's an emphasis on the first letter. P-ower." He jotted down the ideas "why don't we apply some logic... If Bea's section comes before what Nadia translated. Then surely that's who can or what's needed open it... pure of heart and powerful. You wouldn't tell someone what's inside you'd tell them how to open it and then what's inside it, surely?" he pointed to the relevant text trying to make it more rational. "So maybe this is some sort of explanation of what might be inside? A flood or something to stop the Horrors?"

Nadia leaned back and rubbed her eyes. Pure of heart, as Beatrice said, did not apply to her. Not when she was living off of a criminal's stolen cash and had visions of blood on her hands. "Alright, pure of hear. Power. Ending horrors. I, for one, am neither pure of heart nor powerful, so I think this is the time where we hand the torch to someone else. Blast the hell out of the fact that we translated the chest online and hope we find the right people to fix this."

Arthur hardly qualified himself for the criteria this translation supposedly demanded, which was a bit of a shame. Though, the thought of having been able to crack this (granted it had taken almost half a week and the help of other people) puzzle was satisfaction in itself. "I don't think we're going to get anything else from it... So yeah, that's probably the best course of action." He shifted to pull his laptop over, pulling up the forum and logging in.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Halloween Special Villains

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Ah, Halloween, that magical, spooky time of year where ghosts and goblins come out to play and children dress up in the hopes of getting some delicious Halloween candy. But what about all of us who are trapped at home on the night of this pagan costume and candy festival? What do we have to keep us entertained?

Why, Halloween specials of course!

If there’s one thing Halloween delivers on almost as well as Christmas does, it’s spooky Halloween-themed episodes of cartoons, where the show is allowed to get darker and more disturbing than it usually does in some cases. And what is any special without a special one-shot villain? Gotta have someone stirring up some Halloween trouble on this spooky night. And since these characters are usually one and done with little in the way to go super in-depth about, I’d figure we’d look at five of them at once! They are:

Jack O’Lantern from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Pumpkinator from The Fairly OddParents

Bun-Bun from Underfist

Fright Night from Danny Phantom

Ron Tompkins from Toy Story of Terror!

I’m sure some of you feel there are some glaring omissions. Where’s the Flying Dutchman? Where’s Stickybeard? Well, I decided that this time around I’d go with characters whose major appearances and debuts are Halloween episodes; both those guys had major roles in non-Halloween episodes as well, so I’ll be saving them for full reviews at a later date. Also of note: I am aware the story of Toy Story of Terror! does not take place on Halloween, but it is aired as a Halloween special, so I’m counting it.

Actor: So if there’s one thing these guys aren’t lacking in, it’s the actor department, and this isn’t a huge shock since when you’ve got a holiday special you want to splurge a bit, you know?

Jack has one of my favorite actors ever, the always-awesome Wayne Knight. Knight just has that sort of voice that’s perfect for smug jerk characters like Mr. Blik or Dennis Nedry, so really it’s pretty fitting for a pranking trickster like Jack, though I will say that it’s hard to match Knight’s voice to the human version of Jack when you see him in a flashback.

Ron Tompkins isn’t too far behind in the impressive VA department, being voiced by none other than Stephen Tobolowsky, who you may remember as the overbearing Ned Ryerson from GroundHog Day (and how can you forget him? You see him repeating the same scene about thirty times). He does a great job at making Tompkins cartoonishly evil and mostly enjoyable, a tall order for a character who steals toys from children to sell online.

And if you thought the list of awesome actors was done, boy were you wrong! Star Trek’s very own Michael Dorn voices the Fright Knight, and Dorn’s voice is absolutely perfect for a cool, evil, undead knight.

Bun-Bun is voiced by Dave Wittenberg who is an insanely prolific VA, playing characters such as Henry Wong from Digimon Tamers (AKA the beast season of Digimon) to none other than Kakashi from Naruto. I think it goes without saying a VA this versatile manages to make the role work.

And finally, we have the Pumpkinator, who is played by Dee Bradley Baker, and if I sat here listing all the notable roles this man has played we’d be here all night. But here’s a small sample: Appa, Momo, Squilliam Fancyson and Bubble Bass, Klaus the goldfish, Cow and Chicken’s dad, Cinderblock and Plasmus, the Alien and Predator in Mortal Kombat, Lion and Frybo, Numbah 4 and the Toilenator, Remy Buxaplenty, most of the animals in The Legend of Korra… you get the picture. This guy’s a legend. He’ll do any sort of role, big or small, so even if he’s not playing the most complex character here, he’s at least giving it a unique spin with his voice because man, this guy has RANGE.

Motivation/Goals: Jack has a rather simple motivation: revenge. You see, ages ago he managed to steal Grim’s scythe when he was about to be reaped, and bartered for the scythe’s return, asking to be made immortal. Grim reluctantly gave him this, but, as Grim is not someone who likes being tricked, also cut his head off. As anything cut off with Grim’s scythe is permanently cut off, Jack had to replace his head with a pumpkin (of course). This lead to him being shunned as a freak, which just made jis desire for vengeance even stronger; I mean, wouldn’t you want revenge if you could only go to the ding-dong grocery store to get pudding once a year?

If you want to get even simpler, the Pumpkinator is your guy! He exists simply to blow up planets. Tat’s it. He’s very much just an obstacle Timmy needs to overcome so that he can undo his wish for every Halloween costume to be “real and scary” before the consequences end up destroying the world.

Bun-Bun is rather simple as well: he just seems to be a jerk. But they don’t just make him a simple jerk, no, this is a Billly & Mandy spinoff so things have to be taken to their ridiculous extreme. Bun-Bun turns out to be behind numerous extremely petty actions that affected the lives of the main heroes, having haunted Hoss as a child and made him afraid of monsters, made Billy afraid of spiders which estranged him from his son Jeff, and, uh, sawed off Fred Fredburger’s tusks. The fiend! As you might guess, there’s no real rhyme or reason to this, it’s just goofy absurdist over-the-top sort of thing you’d expect from Maxwell Atoms.

Ron has a relatively simple motivation, but frankly it might be the most evil out of all of these: the man steals toys from the children who stay at his motel to sell them for monetary gain. Yes, this is more evil than attempting to blow up the planet, you heard me. I have no idea how sick and twisted you have to be to think that stealing toys from children is acceptable. Funnily enough, this is the same sort of motivation Al (who was played by Wayne Knight, funnily enough) from Toy Story 2 had, though Ron takes it above and beyond.

And finally that brings us to Fright Knight, Much like most of the ghosts on the show, Fright Knight seems to just want to cause a ruckus after he’s released, attempting to take over Amity Park when Danny foolishly releases him. Later in the show he is freed to serve Pariah Dark, and after Dark is beaten he joins up with Vlad. In his final appearance of any consequence he is seen serving the Ultimate Enemy in the bad future. Basically the guy is just a really cool overhyped henchman.

Personality: So let’s get the easy one out of the way first: The Pumpkinator doesn’t exactly have a personality, because it is a big generic doomsday villain meant to act as an obstacle for Timmy to overcome. However, when it returned later in the episode where Timmy goes to Unwish Island, it did have one notable personality trait: an undying hatred for Timmy Turner, It’s a pretty relatable trait the more into the series you watch.

Bun-Bun is also rather evil and simple. He’s just a petty jerk, as can be seen by his crimes listed up under motivation. There’s not much else to him, same with Fright Knight who, again, is mostly just an overhyped henchman who acts as the hardcore badass serving whatever big bad of the week is out to get Danny (or he would have, but more on that later).

Out of all of these, Ron and Jack have the most personality. Jack is an unrepentant prankster who, at least when alive, was heavily implied to just not get he was taking it too far with his pranks (“too far” in this case being tricking people off of cliffs, at the least), and simply morphed into a bitter, jaded, vengeance-seeking supernatural entity after hundreds of years of rejection by society and isolation. Jack’s honestly pretty tragic in that regard, though it obviously doesn’t excuse his actions.

Ron is just a straight-up jerk, putting up a facade of being a charming, friendly motel owner while stealing toys from under his guest’s noses. As the truth comes out about him, he becomes more cartoonish and hammy, which really doesn’t help his case at all, and in his final scene he actually does something so cartoonish he almost feels like he doesn’t belong in the Toy Story universe.

Final Fate: Funnily enough, Pumpkinator actually gets the happiest ending out of anyone here: after being unwished by Timmy, he goes to Unwish Island and, after Timmy eventually journeys there, gets to have fun tormenting Timmy clones for the rest of time.

Ron probably has the second happiest ending, for a given definition of “happy.” Bonnie’s mother calls the cops on him for his theft, and when they show up, he somehow manages to trick them, run away, steal their car, crash it into a telephone pole when backing up, and then run off before they even move a muscle. It’s ridiculously cartoonish, and there’s no way this guy is gonna be getting off easy after that little display.

Onto Bun-Bun. Bun-Bun made one simple mistake: he put any trust at all int Skarr. For those not in the know, Skarr was the “Starscream” to Hector Con Carne, always hoping to overthrow him and take over his world domination schemes for himself before he ended up retiring from that life and becoming a reoccurring character on Billy & Mandy. So, when he joins up with the villain by betraying Underfist, what do you think he does? He betrays the villain, pushing Bun-Bun into hot cocoa and melting him, using his power of treachery and backstabbing to help his team save the world. It’s pretty amusing in that classic Billy & Mandy way.

Good ol’ Jack ends up getting sent to the underworld this time since Grim wasn’t putting up with his crap anymore, and it seems Jack still hasn’t learned his lesson about pranking. When last we see him, he’s now tormenting demons, who all start moving in on him while he laughs at his dumb pranks. The screen cuts to black and we hear a squishing noise. It’s safe to say he won’t have to worry about that pumpkin head causing him problems anymore.

Fright Night is easily the most tricky one to talk about because his entire intended purpose in the show got aborted. After he was brought back to serve Pariah, he ended up under Vlad’s control by episode’s end, but for some reason, nothing ever came of this and it was never mentioned again – well, except in the “Ultimate Enemy” special, in which the Fright Knight cameos at the beginning, acting as something of the hype man for Dan Phantom, softening up Amity Park for Dan’s attack. After that, though, he’s basically out of the series, save for a couple of brief cameos here and there.

Best Scene: Jack has the flashback to his origins, because not only is it perfectly dark for a show’s Halloween episode, you have to give props to anyone who managed to outwit Grim, even if he did end up paying a steep price for it.

Ron has his aforementioned escape from the police. I do think it’s a bit too cartoonish and silly for Toy Story, but I’ll be damned if it isn’t pretty hilarious either way.

The Fright Knight has the aforementioned scene where he mentions he’s serving The evil future Danny. Considering that’s his last real role in the series, at least he got to go out on a high note, though it still sucks nothing ever came of the plotlines set up for him.

Bun-Bun’s best scene is when he revealed that he was the architect of most of the protagonist’s woes. Again, it’s just classic over-the-top Billy & Mandy silliness, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

The Pumpkinator… just doesn’t have one. Sorry.

Best Quote: While most of these guys aren’t exactly a goldmine of quotes, Jack has one of my favorite quotes from anything, ever, and I even already referenced it above: “Three hundred and sixty-four days a year, I can't even go the the ding-dong grocery store to buy pudding! And do you know why?" The why, obviously, is the fact he has a pumpkin for a head.

Final Thoughts & Score: Frankly, this batch of Halloween hooligans is a very mixed bag. We didn’t fare quite as bad as Charlie Brown did on Halloween, but we only got one King Size candy bar out of this lot.

I guess let’s just start with the black licorice of the bunch: Fright Knight. God, I wish I could love Fright Knight, I really do, but considering the overwhelming quality of most of Danny’s rogues gallery and just the fact this guy was totally shafted and everything set up for him was ignored there’s just no excusing how lame this guy looks, Michael Dorn or no. He has a great design and a cool concept, and the ideas for interesting stories with him were there, but he ends up being a 3/10, saved only by his cool first outing, great voice work, and awesome design.

Worse still is the pile of weirdly flavored candy corn that is the Pumpkinator. He has a cool design, but he’s not much of an antagonist to be honest. He’s just a cool-looking robot who wants to blow up the planet. That’s about it. There’s really not much to say about this guy, and his only other appearance doesn’t really add much. I suppose he serves his purpose, but I have to wonder, why even bring him back if he wasn’t going to do anything remotely interesting? I don’t like generic doomsday villains at the best of times, but if you’re gonna bring one back, at least try and do something interesting with them to justify their existence, otherwise they’re just gonna end up getting a 2/10.

Finally, we get into the good candy! Let’s start off with the tasty marshmallow bunny we got, Bun-Bun (isn’t that more of an Easter candy? Weird). Bun—Bun is a funy, goofy, cartoonish villain, perfect for the first (and sadly, only) outing for Underfist. The fact they went above and beyond to cement him as this ludicrous mastermind who just screwed with everyone’s lives for no apparent reason other than the fact he’s a jerk is pretty funny. I don’t think he’s gonna win any Villain of the Year awards, but I think a 6/10 is good enough for this above average nuisance.

Oho, what’s this? A… candycane? Well, it’s a bit out of season, but it’s still tasty! And that’s kind of where Ron is. I do like just how unabashedly scummy he is, and there is precedent for people like him in the Toy Story universe, but I feel he takes things to a cartoonish extreme. For crying out loud, the guy has a trained iguana that acts like a dog! He feels like he belongs in a different series than this one, but again, I don’t really think that’s a bad thing, because at the very least he is funny. He gets a 7/10, a bit higher than usual just because I love how ridiculously nasty his whole scheme is. Stealing from kids, what the actual hell.

YES! A King Size candy bar! Just what I was looking for! It’s just a generic Hershey bar, but hey, that’s a lot of chocolate, so who’s complaining? And that’s Jack, he is simply put a perfect Halloween special antagonist. Most of this comes from his voice work, since Wayne Knight is a national treasure, but his backstory and concept are worth praising too. His origin story is something of a twist on the old legend of “Stingy Jack,” the origin story of the Jack-O’-Lantern appropriately enough. While obviously there are liberties, such as substituting Grim for the devil, it’s a mostly accurate retelling, something that would go over most people’s heads unless they’re really into classical folklore. Jack’s a lot of fun as a character, earning himself a nice big 8/10, only being held back from a higher score because despite being rightfully beloved by audiences, he never really had a major role again, getting a minor shout out in Big Boogey Adventure and… that’s it. I think Jack could have been a really entertaining reoccurring antagonist in the same vein as fwllow ensemble darkhorse Eris, but alas, it was not to be. Maybe if Underfist had been picked up he could have been brought back for that, but the fact is it just didn’t happen. Oh well, might as well appreciate what we got.

And that’s it for this batch of Halloween goodies. Halloween specials seem a lot less prevalent than Christmas specials, but they’re no less important or fun, and as you can see, they do produce at least mildly interesting villains, sometimes. If only they could produce a villain so devilishly Halloweenie that he could perfectly embody the spirit of the holiday…

Hey, what’s that at the bottom of the bag…

Wait… is that…

OH NO.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Things get darker right before they get brighter in the end, something three plucky teens are about to learn. Sometimes you just want that darkness to have never had a reason to come for you in the first place. One has to be careful what they wish for, of course.

Welcome to the end, friends

Danny was on the ground, unmoving.

The ghost left with a cheerful wave, saying, “Tata!”  Like he hadn’t just ruined their lives worse than the first time Tucker had heard Danny’s screams at their loudest.  Like it was simply a wonderful day and they had engaged in the most wonderful of conversations, not a fight that ended with one of them-

Danny was in Tucker’s arms, unmoving and pale.

Tucker was trying everything he could think of, removing most of Tucker’s tops and trying to perform every life-saving action he knew off, pressing against his chest, trying to breathe more breath into his lungs, keeping pressure on the bleeding and burnt wound when he saw it.

Danny was in Tucker’s arms, unmoving, pale, and bleeding.

Tucker knew everything was blurry because tears were clouding his vision.  He knew he was crying. He knew he was shaking with the force of his sobs and for once in his life, he couldn’t bring himself to give half a damn about that because Danny-

Danny was in Tucker’s arms, unmoving, pale, bleeding, and his heart wasn’t beating no matter how long Tucker listened for it.

Sam was doing something, pulling out Danny’s weapons, and Tucker wanted to scream at her that she’d done enough with Fenton weapons already.  He wanted to scream and rage at her for what she had done so far with Fenton Tech. He wanted to go to the Fentons and rip them all a new one for making what they made.

Because Danny was dead in Tucker’s arms, and screaming and crying were the only things he could do about it.

But he didn’t scream at Sam, he just watched as she pulled out one of Danny’s paintbrushes and dipped it in the ectoplasm of the cartridge in one of his guns.  She started drawing on Danny’s face, his arms, his chest, and then pulled out another cartridge of charged ectoplasm in another gun and poured it in Danny’s mouth, tilted his head so that he would swallow.  “Chant with me. Chant with me Tucker, we have to fix this!”

Tucker didn’t know any Hebrew, decided he’d learn both because Sam was his friend and because apparently, she could do things that could save their lives with it.  Tucker didn’t need to know what he was saying to say it, and he did say it, over and over again for the next 10 minutes, until the drawings on Danny’s body lit up like fire and every ray of light rushed toward him and everything went dark.  Tucker could hear the song of the universe dimming in his ears and knew nearly for a fact that Danny was sucking the ectoplasmic energy into him along with every other flavor of power within blocks of him. Tucker would let the sun itself go black just to hear Danny’s laugh again.

The darkness faded, Danny’s body was outlined in light, the markings were gone, and Danny groaned.  His chest rose and dropped, his heart was beating, color was coming back to his skin, he was as warm as he’d been since the accident.  Danny was alive in Tucker’s arms, and Tucker wanted to cry even harder than he already had. Instead, the put Danny’s binder back on him, Sam grabbed his shirt and jacket, and Tucker carried Danny out to their hoverboards.  They flew to Sam’s house, Tucker staying as high and close to the sun as he could to let Danny soak in all the light he needed. When they got to Sam’s house, Tucker didn’t let Danny go until he was being set on a love seat on Sam’s balcony.

There were, of course, jokes to be made about the way Danny curled up in the fleeting October sunlight and how his fluffball curls and height combined with this to make him much like a kitten.  Jokes about him being a cross between Superman and the Martian Manhunter could’ve also been made. Danny was a white-haired anime boy, that could be remarked upon with laughs aplenty. Tucker made no such jokes.

Tucker put to use the information he’d gathered at his last LARPing session at furrycon after a shank attempt by a guy who’d wandered into the park where he’d been LARPing at that took their cosplay a bit too seriously.  That being that leather was wonderful armor, silk blocked stabs fantastically when a blade slid through said leather, and that one should always wear cotton under silk anything because sweating to death after a fight near to death wasn’t fun.  He’d smacked a crazy guy upside the head and gotten a useful lesson out of that. Tucker’s older cousin could supply the leather, Sam could order fine silk jackets and pants for all of them, Danny had cotton shirts already, and Sidney offered to use intangibility to fuse the two together.  Tucker commented that the leather would look fitting on Sam since she was more of a punk anyway. She called him a furry, he called her a weeb, and they both explained the concepts to Sydney.

That was all fine and dandy against most blunt force, stabbing and slashing that even a ghost could probably do, but against ghosts and their intangibility, there were few places to go.  Sam had her magick book but Tucker didn’t want to touch on anything supernatural for a while and unless she could prove that her wards were working, he wouldn’t exactly trust Danny’s life with them.  Convincing Jack Fenton that he needed some easily worn and hidden accessory to prevent possession was almost sadly easy, the only condition being that Tucker had to wear one of those horrible looking hazmat suits.  Tucker let it hang in his closet, as he had no intention of matching Jack Fenton’s fashion sense.

One might feel that Tucerk and his friends were being a bit excessive in their measures to keep Danny padded up against the world, but such an individual hadn’t seen their best friend since age 1 die in front of them by the same person’s hand twice so that particular person could kindly go shove their opinion where the sun don’t shine in Tucker’s very polite opinion.

Danny himself was groggy for most of his recovery time and had clearly caught on that they were being extra protective of him.  While Sam was introducing Sidney to anime and videogames and Tucker was showing him the best comics and music, Danny always had whoever wasn’t with the others within arm’s reach.  He was jumpy when it came to his ghost sense telling him that Sidney was there, had his hood up whenever they were outside, and even though they’d been near forcing Agatha’s cooking down his throat at every meal they could, Danny had yet to Go Ghost.  Sam brought up the idea of taking down the shapeshifter and Danny balked at the topic, bringing up the frogs, the latest anime that she had shown Sidney or really anything else when she did this. Tucker was more than fine with this since no ghost mode meant no seeking out danger which meant that the only fights they were dealing with included Dash, Kwan and Dale making fun of them for being a furry, a weeb and a Fenton.  Seeing Sam put her martial arts to use when Dash tried to stuff Danny in a locker was worth the detention he got for tripping Dale as he rushed in to help. He spent it with Sam anyway so that was fine. If wanting Danny safer than Amity was selfish then Tucker was as far from selfless as possible.

“Hey, Danny,” Tucker said while he worked on finishing up the Spector Deflector that Dr. Fenton had started for him in Danny’s workshop.  “There’s a swap meet coming up in Harrison Park this Saturday. Wanna come with? I’m gonna get a set of dice if I can and see if I can show Sidney DnD.  Maybe we all can play even.” He grinned. “We can get you a new bowling ball so you can destroy Sam in bowling.”

“Bro, you’ll be wrecked with her,’ Danny challenged from where he drew in his art book instead of doing his homework.  Tucker was procrastinating by making ghost hunting tech, he couldn’t blame Danny. “That sounds cool.”

“Awesome.”  Tucker set down his tools and pulled up his safety goggles.  “Can you come over and poke this? Very lightly and just a little in case I’m as done as I think I am.”  Danny obliged and there was a loud SNAP accompanied by a yelp and Tucker patted Danny’s shoulder.  “Looks like I’m done with the internals. Now all I gotta do is adjust it so that it can ignore your ectosignature, and Sidney’s and Agatha’s, and it’ll really be done.”

“Done for your armor idea, right?”  Danny scoffed, slugging Tucker in the shoulder while he looked for the blueprint he’d downloaded of the part that’d track ectosignatures in the Fenton Finder.  “Sidney told me about it while we were watching Star Wars. Or should I call it his guard duty shift? Cause I know what you guys are doing and while I appreciate your concern over my safety, I’m the one with powers here.”

“20 hours straight of unconsciousness and tears say that superpowers don’t mean you don’t need protection against people with the same superpowers.”  Tucker huffed. “If we’d been wearing some armor like we’re making then that fish thing probably wouldn’t have been able to bite through me like it did.  Silk and piercing ya know.” He bumped shoulders with Danny when he went quiet and forced his lips up into a smile. “And besides, your parents have literally no fashion sense.  A leather jacket lined with silk? Leather pants, probably with studs in it since Sam is involved? Dude, that’s cool as fuck looking. You’ll be the best-dressed ghost out there.”  Danny laughed and shook his head. Tucker got to work setting up the design for the Fenton Fabricator™ to make for the Spector Deflector. He also considered asking for a cut of the royalties when the belt inevitably became a Fenton Brand item, since he’d finished it.  “You think putting on clothes in ghost form will invert their colors like your suit?”

“Fuck you, Tuck, now I have to find out.”  Danny huffed and Tucker snickered. For a moment everything was quiet, and then arms were wrapping around his middle.  “Thanks, Tuck. For everything.” Tucker looped an arm around Danny and smushed him against his side.

“That’s what bros are for, man.”  The room was a comfortable quiet after that.  The Fabricator and the generator were humming softly at the edge of Tucker’s once again human limited hearing, the only other sound was their breathing and - Tucker could swear - their heartbeats.  The air was charged with something more than ectoplasm and electricity and Tucker wasn’t sure if Danny knew that as well, but he knew that he could hardly know anything else right then. So naturally, Tucker lowered his hand at Danny’s side and started tickling him.  Danny squeaked, squealed out some giggles, and phased out of his grip when wriggling didn’t work.

“You dick!  Get over here!”

Danny appreciated the effort Sam, Tucker and Sidney were putting in for him, he really honestly did.  Sidney still went to his therapy session with Jazz which Danny could tell were helping him by how bright his aura had gotten, and between him and Jazz at school there were at least a few bright auras to go around, but with how things were going, Danny felt at least a bit suffocated.

Half the auras at school - both student and teacher - were dim enough that Danny almost couldn’t see them.  Dash and company had been especially vicious as of late, calling them every name under the sun and getting into actual fights with him, Tucker and Sam.  Between the three of them they managed well enough - being dragged to martial arts lessons with Sam and fighting eldritch abominations from the afterlife did things for your confidence in facing up to bullies - but it hadn’t ever been this bad before.  And while Tucker and Sam both were clearly brighter than everyone else emotionally, they were skirting around things in the most unsubtle way imaginable and Danny wondered how they kept anything hidden. Sam tried to get him into ghost form to see how fast he could fly, Tucker changed the topic from anything ghostly to something nerdy and Sidney seemed to stare at him as much as he did the movies they were watching.  Sure, Sidney was keeping his eyes on the screen but Danny knew ghosts could see more than just with their eyes and the feeling of being constantly watched was getting more than unnerving.

Saturday was a breath of fresh air.  Sam was maybe coming down with something and Sidney was off exploring the city on his own, so it was just Danny and Tucker buying the stuff they’d come for and laughing their heads off at their dumb jokes.  It was sunny, the crowd was bright with positivity abound, and he was having fun with his best friend in the world. It was nice.

Of course, a ghost attack ruined it.

Cotton candy erupted and flooded the place, and Danny slid under a table while the crowds stampeded away, yanking Tucker under as well.  He reached inside, past the void of darkness into the soft and splintered light at his center. It exploded out to the surface and in a flash of silver glass, shimmering shadows wove his hazmat suit around him and unraveled gravity’s hold on his body.  He shuddered, glitching out of reality - or what he was so very hopeful and sure was reality anyway - and gave Tucker a smile. “Wish me luck.” He slid down into the ground and forward, rising out of a mound of cotton candy as big as himself. There was a woman with long black hair, dark green skin, and blue scarce clothing floating over the sweets and stretching her arms.  “I understand a sweet tooth and all that, but this is a bit dangerously Much.” Danny held out a hand with a smile when a sneer was turned his way. “I’m Danny Phantom, hopefully nice to meet you.”

“ I am Desiree,” she said in some accented blend of every language that Danny knew.  It was headache-inducing and he definitely didn’t like it. “ This confection explosion was hardly my intention boy, I am cursed to use my power to grant the wishes of all those who make them. ”

“What, like a jinni?  If I find and rub your lamp and say ‘I wish I had a dick’ do you complete my tra-”

“ So you have wished it, so shall it be. ”  Her hands went up, green smoke curled around him, through him, within him, caressed that inner light and warmth that was his human body, and Danny shuddered in the wake of power well beyond his ability to fully process.  Before the smoke even cleared, Danny could hear Desiree speaking through gritted teeth. “ Yes, boy I am a Jinni.  One of your kind cursed me, both to be trapped in that infernal bottle, but also to use my power for all who catch my ear. ”

Danny was reeling when the smoke cleared, giving himself a mental review of what he could feel on himself and gawked when he realized what had happened.  “Um. Wow.” Desiree was clearly unimpressed. “Uh, well, I know a way I can he-” a ball of ectoplasma, charged up with energy, raced into Desiree’s gut and knocked her back and Danny really wished that people would stop interrupting him.

“Stay away from him, damn it!  Can’t we have one nice day?” Tucker readied another shot and Danny waved his arms to tell him not to.  “I wish I had stopped you from going into that stupid fucking portal! Then we wouldn’t be in this mess!”  crud.

“ So you have wished it, so shall it be. ”  FUCK .  Green mist filled Danny’s vision, and everything went dark.

[hunterxassasin]

A Fox in Ladybug's Clothing part 2

Idk how I feel about this chapter it's kinda all over the place I guess? I knew how I wanted to end it but I just couldn't seem to get there in a consistent manner. I'll probably revise it at some point but I wanted to get it out for you guys so with no further ado!

-----

Harlequin Harmony raced down the hallway, towards the sounds of the fight. It wasn't hard to find it, especially not with Chat Noir shouting puns trying to be witty every five seconds. Harlequin rolled her eyes as she neared the battle, unlatching her yoyo from where it was hooked on the side of her suit. As she approached, Chat Noir gave her a questioning and defensive look. "You're not Ladybug!" He huffed out, dodging a blow from Lady Amity a second before he was hit.

Harlequin flicked the loose strands for her hair, hands on her hips. "Ladybug is tied up right now. I'm her replacement, Harlequin Harmony." The hero said, puffing out her chest as she swung her yoyo at Chat, pulling him away from another blow from the villain. "I know where her Akuma is hiding, follow my lead." The girl looked up at Lady Amity, eyes narrowed. She slowly stalked forward, yoyo swinging in front of her like a makeshift shield.

"Do not take another step forward." Lady Amity's voice boomed, and Harlequin stopped. Chat Noir was close behind, giving her a concerned look. 

"Don't you think you should use your lucky charm?" Harlequin shot him a look, she didn't intend on using the lucky charm at all during this fight. She had watched Marinette enough to know that she likely wouldn't destroy anything during her time as an Akuma, in fact Lady Amity seemed to only be out for one thing, to have her friends notice her again. This didn't faze Harlequin, in fact, it made her whole plan a whole lot easier.

She shook her head, and pointed to the bag that was tied around Lady Amity's waist, giving her dress a more regal look. "We don't need it, she isn't going to cause any damage. In fact, all I need you to do is distract her for a while. Find some of the kids from Ms.Bustier's class, they'll be good bait for her, distract her long enough so I can grab the bag."

Without another word, Harlequin swung off, using the school's rafters to propel her. Chat Noir was on edge, he didn't enjoy the way this girl was going about getting rid of this Akuma, especially not with her using civilians as bait, but. . .if it got the job done, why not give it a shot. He knew a certain reporter was probably lingering around, and she'd be more than happy to help out.

 

Alya was easy to spot, as she wasn't very hidden in the first place. The girl was on her knees, phone out, recording the action, or lack thereof. She glanced up when Chat Noir walked up to her. "Shouldn't you be helping the new ladybug get that Akuma?"

"Actually, that's what I'm here for. I need your help. Harlequin Harmony wants us to distract Lady Amity. So far she seems peaceful, aside from trying to find and force people to like her. Can you help me?" The hero asked, and received an enthusiastic nod from Alya. He grinned and dashed off, the girl fast on his heels. 

---

The Akuma was taken care of swiftly and efficiently. Harlequin Harmony had cleansed and released the Akuma. She called the lucky charm, which was a pair of black studs. The hero ignored this and threw them in the air, calling out "Miraculous Harmony!" And a swarm of ladybugs fixed the little damage Lady Amity had caused. Harlequin bent down next to Marinette and helped her up, a fake smile on her face. "Are you alright, Marinette?" 

Marinette looked at the hero in confusion, and then seemed to remember the events moments prior to her akumatization. "I'm fine. . . Uh -" 

"My name is Harlequin Harmony, it's a pleasure to meet you." She glanced back as she heard the telltale chirp of her miraculous, giving Chat a look."I've got to go, will you help her home?" She once again didn't wait for an answer, rushing up the stairs and into an empty classroom. 

Lila let her transformation fall, catching Tikki in her hands. The little red kwami looked exhausted, and more than a little bit surprised. Lila had moved with such grace and efficiency when she was transformed, something Tikki was not expecting. The kwami shook her head,glaring up at Lila. "Give the earring back to Marinette, you did your job, its time." She said,crossing her arms over her chest. 

Lila let out a snicker, shaking her head. Did this little thing really think she was going to give up the miraculous so easily? Tikki was stupider than she had originally thought. "Why would I do that? I've got a miraculous now, and the whole of Paris needs to know how much better Harlequin Harmony is than Ladybug. Soon the whole city will forget her and be fans of me!" She held Tikki a bit tighter in her hands, before dropping the Kwami into her bag. "There's food in there if you get hungry, we have a long day ahead of us."

Tikki opened her mouth to say something, but the bag was zipped up too quickly. She thought about phasing out of it, but it would be no use if she couldn't get the earrings from Lila, Tikki hoped Marinette was right in thinking being a miraculous holder would change Lila for the better, because if not, Paris was in for a world of hurt.

---

A few months had passed since the first appearance of Harlequin Harmony, which meant a few more Akumas had come and gone. Harlequin and Chat made a good team, swiftly taking down Akumas, about half the time without the help of a lucky charm. Harlequin was a good manipulator, and found it quite easy to just get an Akuma to get distracted long enough for she or Chat to break the object the Akuma was hiding in. Paris was still fretting over the disappearance of Ladybug, but they still had two saviors of Paris so it wasn't too big on their radar. 

Lila was sitting in the back of class, seething with anger. Her attempt at making Marinette out to be a selfish fool had backfired, their classmates had seemingly come to their senses for the most part after the Lady Amity event. They hadn't exactly ditched Lila, but she was upset they were speaking to Marinette again, as if nothing had changed. Things have changed, Lila knew Marinette was Ladybug, and she had refused to give the miraculous back. Lila knew Marinette was just as much a liar as she was, if only because she lied everytime she had to make an excuse to go be Ladybug. She shook her head, balling her fists on the desk. There wasn't any time for these kind of thoughts. 

Lila stood up and made her way over to Alya and Marinette, who were chatting with Adrien and Nino about hanging out together this afternoon. "Oh! You're going to the park! How nice! Do you mind if I tag along?" She asked, giving Alya a smile. She had been spending more time with the group, in hopes of distancing them from Marinette once more, but if anything she seemed to be slowly becoming a friend to them, at least, that's what Marinette hoped. 

Lila had noticed Marinette was being oddly nice to her, especially since she hadn't given the earrings back. Marinette hadn't even requested them back once, this made Lila slightly uneasy. One would have thought Marinette would have tried to get her miraculous back more than once, but she hadn't even asked about it, not once. It seemed as if Lila was craving out a place for herself, though her lies continued. "I don't mind if you come along." Alya piped up, putting her arm around Lila with a grin. 

Adrien opened his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by a scream coming from outside. The four teens ran to the window, spotting the citizens of Paris running into buildings, away from a giant stone monster. "Ivan. . ." Marinette said quickly, and glanced at Lila. She was the only one who knew Lila held the Ladybug miraculous now, and Marinette was the only one outside of Chat Noir who had an insight on how to beat Stoneheart. It wasn't a surprise that Hawkmoth had akumatized the boy once again, he'd already akumatized some people into a villain more than once, such as Mr.Pigeon or Stormy Weather. Harlequin Harmony and Chat Noir had taken them down easily enough, Mr.Pigeon more so than Stormy Weather but that's besides the point. 

"I better get home! My mom is going to be worried sick once she finds out there's an Akuma running around" she fished her phone out of her pocket, pretending it was vibrating. "Oh here she is now!" Lila said and scurried out of the classroom. She ducked into an empty classroom and called on her transformation. After the bright pink light died down, Harlequin Harmony raced out into the streets, spotting the Akuma she used her yoyo to get closer, eventually slamming it into the monster. To her surprise, Stoneheart grew bigger. Harlequin backed up, stumbling into Chat Noir. 

"You can't attack him head on, he'll just grow in size." The boy explained, pulling Harlequin to safety as Stoneheart began to advance. "Call your lucky charm, last time Ladybug and I-" 

Harlequin yanked her hand away from Chat, seething. "Don't bring up that wretched bug in my presence! I don't care what she did last time, I'm not her! I'm better than her in every way!" She snapped, and used her yoyo to fling across the city after the Akuma. Usually she and Chat Noir worked well together, but anytime he brought up Ladybug and how she did things, Harlequin would get on the defense side, become angry and lash out. She stopped on the roof of a building, watching as Stoneheart continued turning others to stone wherever he went. 

Harlequin was confused and wasn't quite sure what to do. She fidgeted for a minute before trying to attack the monster with her Yoyo once more. He just grew bigger. This went on for what seemed like forever, she thought she could finish him off without using the lucky charm, without Chat's help, but after a few hours of her struggling to keep out of Stoneheart's grasp and trying to figure out a plan, and also making sure chat stayed out of her way, she had no choice. Harlequin through her yoyo into the air. "Lucky charm!" She called, and a gong fell into her hands.  Chat looked at her curiously. 

"Aren't you going to go to the guardian's place and get another miraculous to help? That's what that means." He asked, only to receive an irritated look from Harlequin.

"Stop pulling my leg, I don't even know what or who you're talking about!" Glancing around the area didn't help her figure out what to do with the gong. She hissed, and threw it aside, ignoring the beeping of her miraculous. Chat Noir pinned his faux ears to the side of his head and bounded off. If Harlequin didn't know of the guardian or where he was at, then he'd have to get them help. 

--- 

Adrien entered the small massage parlor wearily, Plagg floating out of his pocket once they were safe inside. "I know Harlequin Harmony said Ladybug gave her the miraculous but if she doesn't even know who the guardian is, I'm not sure we can trust her. Now might be the time to get that miraculous back, Adrien." Plagg said, shoving a piece of cheese in his mouth. 

Adrien stopped in the doorway, shaking his head as he waited for Master Fu to come see them. "I'm sure Tikki just hasn't deemed her ready yet. Everything will be fine Plagg, I have faith in her." His eyes light up when he saw Master Fu hobble out of what seemed to be the kitchen with two cups of tea. "Master Fu! It's good to see you again."

Fu gave a small smile, and handed the tea to Adrien. "I had a feeling you'd be showing up today, Chat Noir." The man headed for the miracle box, bringing it over to Adrien, he opened it. "Adrien Agreste, pick an ally you can trust to aid you in this fight, once the job is done, you will return the miraculous back to me. Do you understand?" The man went through the procedural words, letting Adrien look over the miraculous in front of him.

"Actually master, I have someone in mind, and the perfect miraculous for her is the one on your wrist. . . May I?" Fu nodded, putting the turtle miraculous in one of the boxes. He handed it over to Adrien. The two big farewell, and once in the alley way again, Adrien transformed back into Chat Noir. 

---

Chat Noir bounded over the roofs of Paris, headed towards the school. He slipped in through a window, and glanced around. She should be here somewhere. . . He slowly began to prowl through the seemingly empty hallways, that is until he heard someone smack into the floor. "Alya! We're trying to be quiet!" Marinette's voice echoed towards him, as she seemed to pick herself up off the ground.

"Sorry girl, I didn't mean to run into you." The other voice responded. Chat grinned, just who he was looking for. But he needed a way to separate them. 

He approached the two girls,giving them a smile. "Hey ladies, found a safe place to hide yet?" He leaned on his baton, causing Marinette to roll her eyes.

"We have one spot, but it won't fit both of us -" she was cut off as Chat Noir lifted her off the ground. Alya blinked for a moment before pulling out her phone, ready to record this. Chat held his hand up, shaking his head.

"Go hide Alya, I'll get Marinette somewhere safe." With that he gripped Marinette a bit tighter and bounded off out of the school. He skirted to a halt on a secluded roof, setting Marinette down. Grabbing the box of the turtle miraculous, Chat held it out to her. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, this is the miraculous of the turtle. It grants the power of protection. You will use it for the greater good, and return it to me once the job is over." Chat held the box a little closer to her. "Do you accept?" Marinette blinked for a moment before giving a nod. 

She opened the box,flinching a bit as Wayzz flew out in a ball of green light. The kwami played pretend well enough, acting as if he didn't know who Marinette was. "Hello, I am Wayzz, and I'll be your kwami. To transform just say 'shell on'."

With a nod, the girl slipped the bracelet on, it turned into what seemed to be a simple leather cord bracelet. "Wayzz! Shell on!" She called, and a green light washed over her.

[mr-lancers-english-class]

Bringing a Ghost Hunter to a Laser Tag Fight

Phic Phight Entry! Prompt by @confusedandghostly​: Valerie is questioned after a round of lazer tag with some friends because of her ridiculously good aim.

Word Count: 1368

AO3

It wasn’t until they all made it back home that they began to actually think about it. It was meant to be a fun Friday night, what with Valerie back in the group. All the A-Listers out to celebrate Starr’s birthday. Something fun and stupid and cheap. Laser tag. It wasn’t until they all thought about it that something seemed off.

Dash realized when he was watching Casablanca the next night, at home with his sister. The way Rick held the gun at the end had no confidence. It was the way people hold their first gun: just a bit wary. Admittedly, Dash thought to himself, movies from the 1940s are a whole lot different than now. That’s just how they held fake prop guns back then. So what if she held it better than that? It took another couple of seconds before he realized the she he was referring to was definitely Valerie, and another couple of minutes to dissuade himself of the idea that she knew what she was doing the last night. But his quiet reassurances couldn’t stop the little questioning thought in the back of his head.

Kwan realized the next day when he was throwing a frisbee with his dog. Having hit three trees, his own car, the car next to his car, another dog, and two pedestrians, he muttered to himself “Valerie would never miss the dog. She’d never hit a car or a person, and I’m the one on the football team.” He threw the frisbee two more times before the absurdity of his statement hit him, and was about to release it a third time when he knew for certain that what he had said was, without a doubt, true. His dog barked, so he threw the disc into a picnic table on accident, and thought back to the laser tag game.

Paulina took a week to even begin thinking about the fake guns and their little light shows. It was only watching the Red Huntress weave and dodge Skulker while fighting Phantom that she started comparing the ecto weapons to the laser guns, and it was only after Skulker was gone and the Huntress had no distractions from Phantom that she began to realize just how smooth and natural Valerie was in the game. Nobody should be good at laser tag without cheating, and Paulina was pretty sure she’d never seen Valerie so much as stumble in the dark arena.

While Dash, Kwan, and Paulina were happy and carefree until they started thinking too much, Starr noticed immediately. She had invited Valerie, despite her fall from the social ladder freshman year. They’d always been friends, closer than people thought, and as seniors now, Starr just didn’t care about publicly hanging out with the “right” friends. So when Valerie won the first game by almost a thousand points, Starr paid attention. When Valerie won the next game by double her own score, Starr became wary. After attempting to follow Valerie in the third game and losing her in less than a minute, then watching as she once again placed first, Starr wanted answers. For the fourth game, Starr didn’t even bother trying to find Valerie; she specifically tried to get surrounded in the hopes that Valerie would find her. It worked, and watching Valerie snipe half the enemies and then evade and destroy the other half actually began to make Starr frightened by her classmate. Being a black belt meant Valerie was skilled and strong, but only real life experience could lead to her comfort in the dark, smoky, flashy arena and her comfort with the little laser pistols. After the fifth game, Starr finally managed to corner Valerie at the food counter.

“Hey Val.”

“Starr! This has been so fun. I needed a night off.”

“Well, I’m glad. It’s been too long.”

“Yeah, it has,” Valerie smiled. “Happy birthday!”

“Thank you, Val,” Starr sat down at the counter, and motioned for Valerie to join her. “You want anything? My parents have a tab or whatever it’s called here, and even if you order something big, they’ll blame it on Dash or Kwan. They eat a lot.” Valerie laughed.

“Yeah, they do. Remember, in fifth grade, when they each tried to eat a whole pizza?”

“That was hilarious.” Starr turned back to look at the overpriced menu. Be subtle, Starr. Ask, but don’t make it obvious. “So, Val, you’re really good at laser tag. How often do you play?”

“Not enough. My dad used to take me here, back before we moved. It was our father-daughter thing. He was always really good.”

“What about you? When did you get good?” Starr glanced at Valerie.

“Well, probably, uh, when I started working out on my own,” Valerie trailed off. Starr had always been good with people, she could read them like books. Right now, her friend was hiding something. It was obvious, to the point that she bet Paulina would have seen it if she were here.

“That makes sense. You were pretty fast in there.”

“Thanks. You were good too,” Valerie said. Starr laughed.

“Not really. Not like you.” Before either of them could say anything else, someone came to get their orders. Valerie got a personal cheese pizza, a large salad, and a large drink. Starr got a hotdog and a small drink.

“What were you saying? I don’t remember.”

“You were really good. Like, scary good. And I have a feeling it’s more than just working out more. Val, no one is good at laser tag without cheating, but you weren’t cheating. So how’d you do it?”

“Do what?” Valerie had gotten sharp and defensive.

“Everything. Everything you did in that maze. I mean, you sniped a bunch of them, you took a bunch out on the ground, you even got the ones who had the vests on over their vests. You got both vests. On all of them. How?”

“I told you, I’ve been working out-”

“Please, Val. Working out only gets you so far. You were comfortable in there. You used the little pistols like you knew what you were doing.”

“My dad’s taught me how to use guns. For his job. He’s a security guard.” Valerie’s eyes were flitting everywhere.

“Please stop lying to me,” Starr sighed. “You’re my best friend Valerie. You’ve been my best friend for years. You don’t need to lie to me.”

“I though Paulina-”

“Paulina’s okay. She’s nice enough, but I don’t trust her, not like I trust you. She’s more worried about her social status than anything else.” Starr paused. “So please, Val, you don’t have to hide anything from me.”

Valerie had stopped looking for an escape. Her eyes were locked on Starr, and her gaze was intense. Starr had to physically stop herself from shrinking away. “I’ll tell you, Starr. Not here, not now, but I’ll tell you. You’re my best friend too, and I do trust you.”

Their food arrived then, and Valerie looked away quickly.

“Thank you, Valerie.”

“I can come over tonight, after Dash and Kwan and Paulina leave. Does that work?”

“Yeah, of course.” The two seniors turned the conversation to lighter topics, and finished their meals. They played one more game with the other A-Listers before everyone went their separate ways.

Dash, Kwan, and Paulina spent a few hours at Starr’s house, playing Truth or Dare and watching cheesy horror movies. Valerie went on an extended patrol. She barely even looked for ghosts, instead thinking about how to explain her extra job as the actually good ghost-hunting human to her friend. Starr spent the rest of the evening waiting. She knew she hadn’t been there for Valerie as much as she should have, but she also knew that, starting right then and there, she would be. Valerie was her friend, and she would do anything to be able to help her, especially with whatever her secret was.

As she stared out the window in her room, taking in the stars and the Amity Park skyline, with the bright green sign illuminating Fentonworks and the occasional flash from little ghosts, Starr had a feeling she knew what Valerie was going to tell her.

[phantomphangphucker]

Dealing With The Devil - PhannieMay - Day 6 - Compromise

Summary: Danny is a little too willing to do anything to protect others

Warning: angst, gore, blood, death, character death, murder. 

“So let me get this straight”, Danny puts his hands on his hips and tilts his head at the other ghost, “you’ll agree to permanently wear repression cuffs, if I let you... kill my human half?”. 

Danny still can’t really believe this proposition and normally he would laugh at it, before promptly beating the hell out of whomever was requesting to fully kill him. But this, well this was Dan. The monster who could and would destroy the world and zone. Not only that but Danny didn’t have a leg up on him anymore, Dan didn’t need him to exist. And Danny’s no fool, he knows Dan will kill him now. He’s stronger sure, but still nothing compared to his much older full ghost self. It’s not a battle he’ll win, so he’s left having to genuinely consider this “compromise”. 

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I’ll still try to destroy you child. That, and all the other pathetic humans and ghosts”, Dan chuckles as he crosses his arms. “But you’ll be a ghost, fully, no more playing the line. No more human school, or going home a Fenton; just Phantom”, Danny hates the way Dan sneers at him and he fully gets that Dan is probably trying to turn him against humans or something. Cut him off from those he cares about, “my family will still accept me, human or ghost. How are you gaining anything out of this?”. Danny knows this is true and that only makes him more suspicious of Dan’s “proposition”. 

Dan leans in close to his younger self, with a wide grin, “yes well, we’ll see how that goes when you can’t change into Fenton anymore. I’m sure that spectacle will be very amusing to watch”. Danny refuses to flinch back from him but he knows Dan has a point here. His parents really don’t recognise him as Phantom, at all. There’s no way that won’t be worse fully ghost, but there’s no way he could leave his family, even at the rather nerve-racking prospect of revealing himself to them, “I’m still me, Phantom or Fenton. I’ll convince them”.

“Oh I don’t doubt you will, they’re fools after all”“So what? You’ll just enjoy my struggle to convince them? That hardly seems like you’re getting much here”, Danny crosses his arms and glares while Dan shrugs. “I get the pleasure of killing my weak human half again, always nice to relive your first kill. It really is the most pleasurable”, Dan chuckles at Danny’s grimace. While Danny can’t help but be thoroughly disgusted.

Danny still finds there are too many negatives for Dan in this deal, “I’ll be stronger, you know, fully ghost. And the repression cuffs will weaken you”. “Yes, no longer weighed down by human restraints. A worthy fight would be amusing, now wouldn’t it?”, chuckling deeply, “and I’ll just keep coming back, I’m sure all you’re weak little humans will be quite traumatised to see me”. Danny hates that he’s right there, literally everyone had nightmares for weeks. Tucker often still does, and it certainly won’t help Danny’s mental state much either. But he’s got Jazz, so he’s sure to be fine, “humans aren’t as weak as you think”. 

Dan merely rolls his eyes with a smirk, before brandishing the clawed gauntlets with a, now cruel, grin. Danny can’t help but jerk back from the things, they really do look evil. Dan’s chuckling doesn’t help, “Oh I’m going to enjoy this”. Danny stares at Dan, as he mutters, “I didn’t even agree to this...yet”. Glaring now, “no way I’m letting you do that first. Suppression cuffs”. Dan feigns disappointment for only a few seconds before stabbing Danny out of nowhere, “who said you had a choice”. 

Danny jerks and screams while Dan dramatically rips him in half, laughing all the while. Tossing Phantom out against a wall as Fenton breaks his leg landing on the building's ceiling. Dan builds up his ectoenergy, destroying the gloves before slamming his hand around Fenton’s head. Shoving his claws into Fenton’s gut and slowly tearing them up through his chest. Grinning as Fenton’s organs splatter out and ribs shatter, “Ah my old first kill, how nice”. Knowing full well Fenton's only got a few seconds, Dan promptly crushes his head as the boy screams. 

Laughing loudly as Phantom flies at him, looking utterly horrified. Dan sensing him, turns around with a cocky grin, licking the blood off his claws dramatically, “well now, wasn’t that a mess”. Dan easily dodges Phantoms attack and punches him in the head, “I guess I could live up to my end of the bargain, but I don’t work like that”. Danny, however, isn’t as much of an unprepared mess as he was two years ago. Carrying repression cuffs, amongst other things, with him at all times. Usually, they were for Vlad but... Danny almost can’t believe that it’s still so easy to lock things onto Dan, “you underestimate me old man!”. Dan slides away from Danny and glares at his wrists, “this changes nothing. You’re still a ghost, what hope could you possibly have to maintain your human life”. Dan stands up and grins at Danny, who’s cautiously awaiting Dan's next move. 

Dan simply dusts his shoulder off as he speaks, not even bothering to look at Danny, “it’s not like you can actually stay here, not without your human half to sustain you”. Danny knows Dan’s right, his human half was all that kept his ghost half from needing to spend most of his time in the zone. Though ghosts could stay longer in Amity Park than elsewhere, gritting out through the lingering pain of being split, “I’ll manage”. 

“Ahahaha! You can try and when you fail, inevitably have to spend less and less time here. They’ll move on, you’ll be alone. With nothing but enemies in the zone and unable to stay here, well, we’ll see what you do then. Won’t we?”, Danny can practically feel Dan’s mocking tone. But he smirks anyways, “I have friends in the zone too you know. Unlike you, I’m actually liked and pleasant”. Dan’s smile falters a bit at that, though he snickers, “and I’m sure they’ll just love your new look”. Danny blinks at him confused but doesn’t get a chance to dwell as Dan whips him with ectoplasm into a glass window. Cackling as Danny looks down at his reflection, “now I’ll be enjoying the show so run along home little boy”, as Dan leaves through a portal. 

Danny can’t help but feel a bit freaked out at his reflection, he’s glad his skin is a soft light pale blue rather than Dan’s blueish green. The pointed ears and flaming hair isn’t appreciated though, shivering a bit, “well I’m never having a damn ponytail or facial hair”. Sitting down and running his hand through his hair, sighing, “well, at least my eyes are still green”. Seeing his blunt fingers instead of claws only made him feel better, as he gets up and groans at the dark sky, knowing full well he was expected home over an hour ago. “This is going to suck”.

Danny sits floating above a building across from his home, he’s already tried changing back and nothing. Shaking his head and really wishing Jazz was here. Sure it was great her getting to go to university but not so helpful right now, but knowing full well doing this without her in the know would be extremely foolish, he pulls out his phone. It only takes a few seconds for her to pick up, like always. “Danny? Considering the time, what’s going on?”

“Way too much for phone but mom and dad are going to know. As in know know”

“I’m guessing it can’t be put off till I get home can it?”

“No, it can’t be put off at all. And I can’t change either so”

“Wait...why? What way?”

“Frying Pan and it’s, um, permanent”

“Danny...are you sure?”

“Yeah, yeah it is”

“I’m sorry Danny. Do you want me to stay up for Skype? You know, just in case?”

“Probably for the best”

“Alright, you’ll be ok little brother. Like always”

With that he hung up, smiling a little now, as he floats invisibly over into his room. The first thing he does is throw on some of his regular human clothing, which is extremely odd to be wearing over his jumpsuit. Danny’s honestly thankful for all his parents' odd little inventions, as he chuckles down at the little spray paint like can; all it can do is negate a ghosts natural glow. Snickering at the can as he sprays it on himself, “this is probably the only time you’ll ever be really useful”. 

That just left him with the whole flaming hair situation, which is definitely giving off it’s own light. Looking around, Danny shrugs and throws on a thick black beanie and smirks at the mirror, “nice, well just gotta cut the lights now”. Danny’s glad Tucker managed to make it so that none of the house's defences could sense him as he cuts the main power, back up power, and back up for the backup power. 

Walking in through the front door, he closes it quickly so no light from outside can come in. “Sweetie? That you? I’m pretty sure where out for power for a bit”, Danny can hear her tinkering in the kitchen. “Yeah, it’s me”, he tries to keep his voice quiet and steady, hoping the echo goes ignored. Predictably, it doesn’t, “sounds like you might have a bit of a ghost flu or something, Danny-boy”. Danny mutters into his hand, “well at least he doesn’t sound alarmed”. 

Danny easily navigates to the kitchen door but intentionally makes it sound like the trip was less easy, having night-vision was nice and all but it was so very suspicious. Sticking his head in the doorway, he can see both his parents are tinkering away at the table; neither looking too concerned. With a quiet nervous sigh, he sits at the table, making sure to stay out of reaching distance just in case. 

Dan, meanwhile, is watching from the shadows and looking through a viewing portal; amused. His younger self has become quite the sneaky bastard. Danny rubs the neck of his turtleneck before summoning up the courage to speak, “it’s a bit more than a flu, dad. A lot more”. 

Danny watches as both his parents stop and put down their inventions, looking in his direction worriedly. “Sweetie what’s wrong?”, Danny’s glad she just looks concerned, not like she’s ready to go on the attack. His dad, however, looks way more suspicious. Opting to talk before his dad gets any, probably right, ideas, “there was a ghost attack a bit ago, I got caught up in it and well...I didn’t exactly survive”.

Danny watches as both his parents slowly go wide-eyed as they take in what he said. Most normal parents would not immediately jump to the realisation that their kid was a ghost now, but these were the Fenton’s; ghost was always the first conclusion. Maddie shakes her head, “are...are you sure? You’re not...glowing and none of our security is going off”. Jack blinks a bit but nods, before tilting his head at Danny. “Er, well I didn’t want to be, like, shot at so...”, shaking his head a bit before continuing, “you remember that Fenton de-glow stuff? Yeah, not really any left”. 

Both his parents look rather horrified now, Danny is seriously hoping that is not at the whole I’m-a-ghost-now thing. “Sweetie, we’d never. You still know who you are so you’re not going to...going to hurt anyone”, she almost looks guilty at even implying that her good-natured son could harm anyone. “You cut the lights too, didn’t you? Fenton genius right there, but I’d think we’d recognise our own son”, Jack pauses and frowns a bit, “you don’t look that different, do you?”. 

Danny’s a bit surprised that his dad is being rather toned down, he’s not sure whether to be worried or glad about that, “well I mean you guys get a bit...excitable about ghost stuff. I do look a bit different yeah, still clearly me but...different”. Danny puts a little bit of strength behind his next words, “and no, I’m not going to go hurting or harassing people”. Danny watches as his mom nods strongly, clearly believing him. While his dad looks a bit guilty, “yeah we are a bit overzealous and I’m way eager to see what you can do, but helping you adjust is more important son”. 

Danny can’t help but mutter about good timing, as the red back up light finally comes on. Though he’s got no clue what his light blue skin looks like under red light, he’s dad promptly gives him an answer with lighthearted chuckling, “light purple is a bit of a girl’s colour, Danny-boy”. Danny instantly blushes at that which only seems to make his dad a bit excited, “Oh! Ghost blush is yellow under red light! Neat!”. This only makes Danny blush harder and move to cover up his cheeks, feeling extremely awkward now. Which Jack clearly picks up on, “Oh, right, adjusting. Um, sorry son”. 

Maddie smiles warmly at her son, “ignore your father, but I’m guessing you’re more blue than purple”, snickering a little, “like the Box ghost”. Danny feels a bit bad for Boxy at how that instantly offends him a bit, not to mention embarrasses him more. Enough so that his long pointy ears flick downwards, out from under the beanie. Groaning with his hand on his forehead “mom! I could have done without that comparison”. In his embarrassment, he doesn’t notice his dad move to touch his ears, until he feels it anyway. 

Stiffening a bit and flicking his, currently yellow looking, eyes over to his slightly crouched dad. Jack pulls his hand back gingerly noticing that, “it’s hard not be curious son, um... you can swivel them?”. Danny honestly doesn’t know but considering Dan can, it only makes sense. Rubbing his sweater covered neck again, he flicks his ears back up by simply relaxing them and gives his dad a cautious smile. Jack beams back at him and nods, while Maddie speaks up, “if it’s anything, sweetie. I don’t think you look much different, though I could see how the fangs could be a bit threatening”. 

Danny blinks a bit before running his tongue across his teeth, muttering more to himself, “how did I not notice that”. Jack chuckles next to him, “well, hopefully that means you’re not too bothered by this”. Jack gets up and sits down near Danny before patting his shoulder. 

All of them jump a little as the regular lights come back on, revealing that Danny is very much blue-skinned and green-eyed. “Er, um, hi?”, both his parents can’t help but laugh. Though Maddie shakes her head at him, “I’m pretty sure we could already see you, Danny. You being dead is honestly more upsetting than blue skin”. Jack nods at Maddie before turning back to Danny, “your mothers right and you really don’t look that different. We really would have recognised you”. 

Danny fiddles with the beanie, “uh, well I’m covering up some stuff”. Jack notices his white-gloved hand as Danny plays with his hat, clueing in, “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear a turtle neck in years”. Danny blinks at his dad, not really expecting to get called out on the clothing yet, “yeah, my face is pretty much all I’m not trying to cover up. Kind of a long explanation tied to the clothing. Hairs weirder but easier, if that makes sense”. 

At both his parents nods, Danny slowly pulls the beanie off; revealing the lazy blaze of white fire. Placing the hat on the table before looking to see their reactions. Both of them are wide-eyed and Maddie’s mouth is gaping a bit. Jack, with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, “you’re hair, it’s fire! Can I touch it?”. Danny shrugs a bit, “I mean, I don’t know if you’ll get burned but sure I guess”. 

Dan, still watching through the viewing portal, is glaring at the spectacle of Jack practically patting and petting the flaming hair like it’s a freaking dog. Full-heartedly hoping the idiot gets burned. Cold icy fire is still fire and ice can burn too. 

“It’s cold!? Can’t say I expected that!”, Jack chuckles a bit as he tries to cup some of it and it promptly dissipates. Danny can’t help but snicker, “all of me is ice cold, so I’d say that’s pretty expected”. Maddie gets up then and puts her hand to his cheek nodding, “yeah, you are really cold. But that’s fine, so long as it’s not bothering you”. Danny shakes his head, smiling a little, at his mom. Making his hair wave around a bit as he talks, “no, I’m fine mom”. 

Maddie eyes him a bit suspiciously, which makes him a little nervous, “Sweetie, you seem...kind of like you’re already used to this. It’s like you were more bothered about what our reactions would be, than being a ghost”. Now Danny’s flat out nervous, knowing full well that he probably shouldn’t put this part off anymore, “Er, well, it’s new and I’m not quite sure yet how it’ll affect my life or well, death. But it’s not like I didn’t already know about ghosts, I’m more familiar with the zone than most ghosts, so spending a bunch more time there isn’t much of a worry. If I have a concern I could probably just ask ClockWork, though he might just give me a riddle instead of an answer”, glancing at his parents confused faces, Danny rubs his neck before continuing, “before you ask, he’s a friend and mentor. He knows pretty well everything, actually there’s probably nothing he doesn’t know...and I’m getting sidetracked”. 

Danny shuffles as Maddie shushes Jack, easily picking up that it’s best to just let him talk. Even if what he’s saying doesn’t make sense, “anyways, there really isn’t anything physically for me to adjust to. Outside of looking a bit different and not being human at all anymore, anyway”. Danny feels a bit like an ass, as he’s just confusing them more and more, “look, um, this ain’t really the first time I’ve died. Well, half died is more accurate. You see, I kind of lied...about the portal accident. I didn’t just get a little shock from brushing up against the frame,  when it activated”. Looking down at his hands in his lap and fiddling with them, “I was actually inside of it. So the zone literally opened up on me, completely engulfing me and electrocuting me to half death. See, somehow the zones ectoplasm bonded to me and protected the rest of my living cells. Thus half death, and now, full death”. 

Danny watches his parents nervously while they blink at him. Ranges of emotions flicker in their eyes, Maddie’s settle on worry while Jack’s are dejected. “Son, why? Why did you hide this? I’m sure we could have done something”. Maddie nods before going wide-eyed and looking sad, “you’re only telling us now. Because... because you don’t look human anymore”. 

Dan flat out cackles at this, waiting for them, in their pathetic human hurt, to reject him. Though he knows full well they won’t, but this evil bastard can dream can’t he? 

Danny rubs at his sweater neck and looks away, “you’re not wrong. And I’ll admit it was largely because I didn’t want you to kill me or send me to the zone or experiment or...try to fix it. But it was also to protect you, the less you knew the less likely you’d get involved in some mess or another”. Now both of them look completely dejected, with Jack flinching at his previous comment. Danny chuckles weakly, “stupid thing is, I knew you wouldn’t harm me if you knew. Figured that out for sure after about a year, but hiding it was routine by then and I guess I was a bit of a coward”.

Maddie’s speaks while Jack looks a bit less bummed out, “you’re right that we wouldn’t, I’m sorry that you ever feared we would. And all kids fear being open with their parents, sweetie. But what could you possibly be getting up to, to need to protect us?”. Danny grimaces and that only concerns Maddie more, “you've been abducted or trapped at least four times purely for being related to me. You were even murdered once for it”. Danny frowns and shakes his head as he keeps speaking, “my life is stupid dangerous, but I’m fine, I’m happy. I’m leading a good, um, existence; even if it isn’t exactly safe and I’m not about to say I don’t enjoy all the fighting, hurling witty insults, protecting people and so on”. 

“Son that is both strange and worrying, but I can’t say I don’t get it. What we do is dangerous too but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Except family”, Danny can tell his dad’s trying to give him a meaningful look. Clueing in, Danny waves his hand dismissively, “you guys don’t need to quit being hunter’s, I’m ok with it. Though I could do without the anti-ghost stuff just laying around everywhere. Some of it affected me before, now probably all of it will”. Both nod, feeling more comfortable with this topic over their sons apparently dangerous lifestyle. 

Maddie smiles though can’t help eyeballing his hair, “of course, and I guess we really should put your ecto-signature in everything so you don’t set it off”. Danny can’t help but chuckle, “too late, Tuck did that well over a year ago. That’s part of the reason the house isn’t trying to destroy me. Though, I’m guessing full death probably made my signature stronger”. Jack slaps his son on the back and grins widely at him, “again, sneaky Fenton genius”. While Maddie sighs, “so you’re friends know then?”. Danny nods at her, “they were there, for the accident. There’s no way they couldn’t know, they thought I flat out died. Well, until I changed back into a human anyways”. Now their both looking at him confused again and this time he has no clue why. Jack tilts his head, “what do you mean back human? You were a ghost?”. 

“Um yeah? Can’t exactly be half ghost without also having a ghost form. I could change pretty well on command once I figured out how”, Maddie mouths “duh” and chuckles. While Jack is even more excited now, “so you already know what it’s like being a ghost! No wonder you’re pretty ok with this!”. Danny nods, “yeah that’s pretty much why the clothing is harder to explain. And why I wasn’t sure you’d recognise me. You never have before and I looked far more human before. You’ve see my ghost self nearly every day for the past two years. Heck, I have literally transformed right next to you. You even called me on it and yet...”. Jack and Maddie would feel a bit saddened if Danny wasn’t clearly laughing. 

“Well you sure seemed to have gotten some amusement out of fooling us”, Maddie shakes her head, amused herself, as Danny nods almost sheepishly. “Is it bad that I can’t think of what ghostie you could be? All of them seem so unlikely”, Jack tilts his head at his son genuinely trying to figure it out but no personalities really match is mild tempered, kind and rather shy son. 

Danny smiles almost pitifully, “I’m not sure if it is dad. But considering not even Jazz or the other halfa figured it out without seeing me transform, I wouldn’t feel bad. But if you’re trying to figure it out yourself the gloves are unchanged, and my hair has always been white, just wasn’t flaming before”. Danny will actually be a bit concerned if that doesn’t give it away, because really? How many other white-haired glove wearing ghosts are there? Especially ones that are daily occurrences in Amity. “Wait there is another like you? And halfa? Is that the title?”. 

Danny nods at her, “yup, halfa’s the name and the other one is a prick though. A completely power hungry, manipulative, creepy madman. Kind of sad that the only two of a species completely hated each other. The newer third one also hates him, and he created her so...”. Maddie mouths “wow” while Jack slaps his hand excitedly on the table, before poking at Danny’s turtle neck collar; clearly asking for permission to peak under it. Danny nods while chuckling, pretty well knowing his dad’s figured it out. 

Jack slaps the table more after seeing the, now iconic, white and black jumpsuit. Not enough to see the DP but it was enough to tell who’s classic outfit this was, “you’re a hunter in your own sense! And protecting Amity too!”. Jack shakes his head as he settles down a little while Danny just smirks. Jack speaks up again, “but you seem so different? He’s loud, assertive, cocky even”. 

Danny smirks even more, “if I went around acting exactly the same I’m sure everyone would know. Fenton was shy cause he had a secret to keep. And no way could I get into a fight as Fenton, if I genuinely punched a regular human I’d probably kill them. Even in human form, I was ghostly strong. So I let people push me around instead of fighting back. That and if people thought Fenton was weak and unwilling to fight, they wouldn't connect the dots. Especially since pretty much all anyone ever saw of ghost me was the fighting”. 

This is enough to get Maddie too figure it out, everyone knew who the cocky ghostly teenager that always seemed to be in some fight was, whispering, “you’re Phantom? Wow sweetie”. Danny nods and runs his hair through his hair, making the flames wave around his hand. Before phasing his clothing off rather dramatically, as they fall to a heap on the floor. 

Jack slaps Danny’s DP symbol excitedly, while Maddie talks as she looks him over, “Sweetie you are absolutely right, we would have freaked if you walked in like this; with the lights on anyway. Can’t say how I feel about the new look, it’s definitely more intimidating and fearsome”. Danny rubs his neck, knowing full well that will actually get him compliments from quite a few ghosts. But personally, “I can’t say I care for it either. Sure the fangs, and even possibly ears, would have grown in eventually; halfa or not. But the hair is way too similar to someone else, even if it’s not really surprising”. 

Even noticing Danny’s grimace, Jack grins, “well I think it’s kind of cool looking. Though I do think your previous look was more friendly”. “Yeah, made it easier for people to trust me and see me as the good guy when I kind of just looked like a glowing kid. I know lots of folks are going to be put off, not to mention wonder why my look suddenly changed. No one batted an eye at the addition of my symbol but that was not a major change. This... is”, plus Danny would have to explain it to people without giving away that he was once a halfa. That or tell the whole freaking town that the two Danny’s were actually one and the same, and now totally dead. 

Dan takes this as his cue to fuck shit up, promptly setting off Danny’s ghost sense just as he blasts him with an ectobeam. “DANNY!”, both his parents yell at the same time while Danny phases straight through a wall to avoid damaging it. Quickly zipping back out, crouched and looking around. Thankfully, he’s gotten good enough with his sense to actually tell what ghost had set it off, practically growling, “should have figured. What? You get bored of watching from the shadows, old man?”. 

Jack and Maddie both have weapons out and are frantically scanning the room, though making sure to not point their guns at Danny. Dan decides to be the dramatic over the top shit he is and walks through a wall with fire blazing around his feet and in his footprints. Uncrossing his arms, he shrugs exaggeratedly and sneers at Danny’s glaring face. While the Fenton’s gape at this guy who looks nearly identical to their son, which just makes Dan laugh, “fearsome is quite right I’d say, and it’s too bad those two fools reacted so acceptingly. It really would have been much more fun to watch them kill you”. 

Dan laughs as Danny fires a shot at him, teeth bared. And Dan doesn’t exactly care that the Fenton’s copy their child’s actions, but he’ll mock it anyways, as he easily avoids the fire, “and here I thought mother and father dearest said they wouldn’t shot their boy”. Dan’s a little too distracted enjoying his parents shocked expression to dodge Danny’s ectobeam and stinger attack, Danny growling, “that doesn’t apply to you! You gave that up when you murdered them!”. Dan grabs his side and laughs, “can’t change genetics, and really they got off easy. Highly combustible hot sauce is much more pleasant than what I gave the rest of humanity”. 

Danny, being much more of an up-close-and-personal fighter, promptly punches Dan in the face; though worried at Dan’s smirking. Quickly finding out why, as Dan’s duplicate slams him over the head with his human corpse. Danny can’t help but jerk back, completely disgusted and disturbed. While Dan cackles, “nice isn’t it? I think it’s a wonderful present. Don’t you?”. 

“You’re one sick bastard, it wasn’t enough for you to just kill me was it?”, this comment is enough for Jack and Maddie to fire at Dan very aggressively. Dan rolls his eyes, blocking the shots with a shield and freezing them, “ah ah ah, you’re not doing anything here”. Smirking as he jumps at Danny, claws and teeth bared; tossing the Fenton corpse to slide next to the parents. 

The Fenton parents are stuck watching as their two flaming-hair, black and white sons pretty much try to kill each other. Both of them can tell this is nothing like the fights they’ve seen Phantom in so many times. This is closer to a horror movie monster brawl than a superhero comedy sparring. 

Watching Dan stomp Danny’s face into the ground while Danny fires blind at him, Dan cackles “this is almost sad, child. Even with the agreed upon repressor cuffs, I’m still the stronger Phantom”. But Danny smirks as the houses security system finally boots back up properly, going on full assault against Dan while Danny chuckles, “forgot about that didn’t you?”. Dan glares at him as he jumps across the room, getting hit quite a lot before changing to look like 16-year-old Danny; as the room promptly stops its assault. Smirking at the bewildered Danny, “and what makes you think some security system is going to stop me?”. 

“You have no place wearing my form, monster”, Danny growls out as he pulls out his thermos. Dan responds as he being sucked it, “it’s my form too, always will be”. Danny shakes the thermos aggressively while glaring at it, as his parents unfreeze and collapse to the floor. 

His mom snaps him out of his angry assault on the thermos, “Sweetie, were you just...fighting yourself?”. Jack throws in his two cents, “an evil Danny, clone?”. Danny at first snaps his blazing eyes to his parents but then to his own corpse, promptly phasing it through the ground. Shivering a bit before looking to them and responding, “I wish I could say that thing is a clone. But no, he’s me from the future of timeline that, through cheating, I managed to avoid becoming reality. But due to that cheating, he exists outside of time, and yes, he’s the one who killed my human half. He killed his human half at 14 and wanted the “pleasure” of repeating his first kill”. 

Jack sits down weakly at the table and stares at the bloodied spots on the floor. Maddie walks up to Danny, talking as she notices he’s clearly injured and weakened, “so you... were supposed to become that?”, shaking her head, “you’re hurt, and I think we should all sit down”. Danny nods though his ears flick down in mild shame, talking as they head to the table, “yes, but I’m not him and I never will be. ClockWork saw to that, though I’m not impressed he escaped from ClockWork”. Sighing as he cleans himself off, “though, I guess if ClockWork allowed it then it was better than any other option”. 

Jack seems flat out pissed at this, “how is letting my son get murdered the best option! And he did-that thing did that!”, Jack points aggressively with both arms at the largest bloodied spot on the floor; where the corpse used to be. Danny rubs his neck awkwardly as his mom patches him up, “ClockWork is not really someone you question about things. He can see every single possible future, and he has a major soft spot for me. The only way he’d let something really bad happen to me, is if something far worse would have happened otherwise. That or if either the timeline itself or the world, would be destroyed otherwise. In some ways, ClockWork is better viewed as an omnipotent nearly unbiased god, than some ghost”. 

“As always, you are indeed right in your judgement of me, Daniel”, everyone snaps their heads to the childlike cloaked ghost of time. Danny’s the only one to smile fondly though, “let me guess, there’s some big revelation you’re about to give me. That or hint at something I probably should have already figured out but totally didn’t?”. 

ClockWork sly smile confirms Danny’s guess as ClockWork speaks, “all worlds need rulers, my little apprentice. And who’s to say how to best pick the worthy heir. I’m certain that time on this earth isn’t it”. ClockWork tosses the ring of Wrath to him, making the point crystal clear to Danny. Danny catches it as he gapes at ClockWork, before blinking and glancing at the thermos, “that...would have been more than just catastrophic. Would the Observants have even allowed that?”. ClockWork nods with a frown, “they only watch and somethings simply can’t be undone. Consider this a rare occurrence of only two doors”. With that ClockWork leaves as the two parents sit utterly confused. 

“Danny-boy? What did any of that mean? What just happened?”

“Did he call you his apprentice? And what is that ring?”

Danny looks at both of them and laughs, “well for one, I was right. The other option would have basically been world endingly bad. Pretty easy choice between being full ghost or world destruction. And ClockWork knows I’d gladly make the compromise of my human side for protecting the entire zone and earth. Especially from Dan”. Glaring at where the thermos used to be, Danny’s glad ClockWork took it though surprised he didn’t even notice, “for two, I’m just going with honesty here, you remember my defeat of the ghost king? Well, that stripped him of his crown. And I guess the zone needs a king, so that role fell to the one who beat him. I was still on the path to becoming Dan at that time so thus, he had the same claim that I did. But since he’s technically older, it would be his by default unless I genuinely beat him”. Danny smirks to himself, “and since Dan unwittingly agreed to the cuffs those didn’t count as cheating”. 

“Wait, son, you mean what exactly?”

“Well, it would seem... I’m the new ghost king now”, Danny holds up the ring as if to prove a point. While his parents both gape at their flaming-haired green-eyed 16-year-old Ghost king for a son. 

End.

[dragonfairy1231]

Reversed Quartet

This was partially made for and very much so inspired by queenofhearts7378. Please check them out, they and thier Secret Quartet side blog are amazing!

Chapter 1. Heroines in New York?

“Ugh!” A teenage girl with bright violet eyes, pitch black hair and a fair complexion groaned into her phone, on which was a three way call to her best friends.

“It-It’s not that bad Sam.” Danny Fenton, son of local town (formerly thought to be mad) scientists and known as the boy with his head in the stars around the small town, tried to placate his irate friend.

“Not that bad?!” The girl shot back, springing back up from the bed she’d just laid down on.

“Danny, I’ll be going to New-freaking-York. Just so that my mother can go see the newest fashions revealed. And I’ll be gone for a week! What if something major happens?” She frantically questioned him. Should someone have been listening in, they may have thought she was referring to the Ghost Attacks the small town of Amity Park suffered from nigh daily. However, you would have then been very confused, considering any ordinarily rational person would want to be as far away from those attacks as possible. Yet, Samantha Manson, who’d tell you yes, is usually quite rational, wasn’t a particularly ordinary person. This is thanks to an accident involving the Fenton’s portal into the Ghost Realm a little less than a year ago; the purple eyed girl was, quite literally, only half alive.

Or, more accurately, a Halfa. Half ghost, half human. Her ghostly self was known as Sam Wraith*, Amity’s own superheroine against the other ghosts that came through the Fenton’s portal in order to start and stir up trouble. Sam has made it her job to make sure Amity Park was safe from the more ill-intended ghosts, while calming and even befriending those who were merely sprites born of being wronged in their own life or afterlife.

Thanks to her mother’s plans of going to New York, and dragging her husband and daughter with her though, Sam would not be able to do her job for an entire week, more than long enough for the town to be destroyed. The other voice on the phone call snapped Sam from her thoughts with a scoff.

“Well geez, thanks for the faith, Sam.” Tucker Foley shot back, the Techno Goth of the Trio, who knew how to solve most of the team’s problems either by technology or the dark mythology he so enjoyed. Sam rolled her eyes as she let out a puff of exasperation.

“It’s not like I don’t trust you guys, I just don’t trust karma, fate, chance and all those other universal forces to not send the biggest baddie here the minute after I’m out of state.” She refuted. She heard Danny giggle softly over the phone and resisted the urge to clutch at her heart at the sound, despite neither boy nor anyone else being able to see her. ‘Stupid crush!’ She cursed as Danny began to speak up again.

“Sam, we can deal with a little bit of trouble. If it gets that bad than we have Jazz, Marth*, my parents and even Valerie helping out. The town will survive, promise. Besides, even superheroines deserve a week off every once in a while. And yeah, I know that a fashion week isn’t really your scene, but it’s New York. There has to be plenty of things to do. Not to mention all the different cultures.” Sam bit back a groan and gritted her teeth. He was tempting and daring her now.    

Yet, Danny has always been able to do that, he knew just what to say, always. Whether her and Tucker were fighting about Veggies VS Meat, or she was riled up because of Skulker’s bragging of his ‘accomplishments’ in hunting down others. It was probably bad he had so much power with just a few words, but he never abused it against anyone. That was just part of who he was. As always, Sam let out a sigh.

“Yeah… okay…” Sam relented, “but only because Marth is around.” Danny and Tucker laughed.

“Of course.” She could hear Tucker’s smirk over the phone and solidly decided she’d pinch his ear next time she saw her goth friend.

“Well, I’ve got the last bit of Lancer’s essay to power through, so I need to let you lovebirds go.” Tucker told them.

“WE’RE NOT LOVEBIRDS!” Came the automatic angry yell from Sam and the embarrassed one from Danny. Tucker just laughed as he hung up as he said goodnight, leaving his two friends alone on the line.

“I have to go too,  Jazz and I need to make sure all the ghost gear is turned off so none of it finds Marth in the night or morning.” Danny told her, the shyness he never quite could be rid of evident in his voice, and Sam smiled.

“Okay, night Danny. And, thanks again.” She told him.

“You all are always welcome here Sam, goodnight.” Danny responded as he hung up. Sam sighed again as she stared at her ceiling. She shook her head as she got changed into her PJs and headed off to sleep.

‘Who knows. Maybe a week off could do me some good.’ Sam thought before the halfa drifted off to sleep.

*I choose Wraith to be Sam’s transformed last name because of the switched from M to W is easier to correlate and similar to the F to P of Fenton to Phantom.

*Marth is this AU’s version of Danielle (Trust me, I’m sobbing that’s she’s gone too). His full name is Samarth Manson/Wraith, but he prefers going by Marth to make himself feel more different from his ‘original.’ And, unlike Danielle who could definitely be just Danny’s clone and a girl because of XY genes for male and XX genes for female, Marth got his Y gene from Danny, which is why he stays at Danny’s house instead of with Sam when visiting Amity. That and the fact that he’d have two people looking out for him and if he is sighted or his signature found it can be more easily played off by being in a ghost hot spot. And, yes, Vlad is around in this AU, and his goals still include the death of Jack and Maddie for his wife, as well as Danny as his son because of the boy’s intelligence and skills with ghost weapons. He wants Sam as his protege, the one to which he will teach all of his skills to. However, Danny and Sam both vehemently refused. So it’s actually a bit ambiguous if Marth got Danny’s DNA in him on purpose or accident.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“Marinette! Are you ready?” Sabine Cheng called out to her daughter, her and her husband’s suitcases besides her.

“Almost, Maman!” Her daughter called back. Said girl already had her suitcase packed, and was now looking for her portable charger that she knew was somewhere for the plane ride.

“Ugh! Plagg, could you please help me?” The blue eyed girl begged the small black kwami that floated above her desk, currently eating his apple and camembert cake.

“I could, but… I could also keep eating this.” The black cat countered,cackling as he took another bite of his cheesy cake. Marinette sighed and shook her head, but couldn’t keep the smile off her face. As troublesome as her kwami could be, she couldn’t help but love the mischievous cat-like being.

You see, most people would peg Marinette as a normal girl, with a normal life. Marinette herself would be the first to say as much. But, she had a secret. She was one of Paris’ two main heroes, Chat Noir! With her Kwami Plagg’s help, she was able to transform into the superheroine with the power of destruction at her fingertips with only a word needed to give the command. Her partner, the ever handsome Ladybug, and her had saved the city more times than one could count on both hands from Hawkmoth and his Akumatized victims.

Right now, however, Marinette was going to visit her mother’s cousins along with her parents, the Longs. The Longs lived all the way in New York City, New York, America. Which brought Marinette to her current problem. The aspiring fashion designer could’ve sworn she placed her portable charger on her desk just last night, but it was now misplaced. Which seemed just her luck.

Speaking of… her phone began to ring, and a quick check revealed it to be one of her best friends, Adrien Agreste. Adrien was usually extraordinarily busy, being a model for his father’s fashion line, taking fencing, piano and Chinese lessons, on top of school and basketball. However, all of this had not stopped the green eyed blonde and the clumsy dark haired girl from becoming equally extraordinarily fast friends, almost to the same level as her and her nearly life long friend Alya Césaire. Marinette put the phone to her ear and smiled as she continued to search for her charger.

“Hey Adrien!” She answered happily.

“Morning, Bluebell!” He responded, calling her the same nickname he’d had for her since the sweet valentine he’d shyly given her. “How’re you doing today?” The blonde asked her. Marinette gave a half-hearted groan as she began to check the floor by her closest.

“Well, we need to leave in half an hour, I still haven’t eaten breakfast and the infamous Marinette luck has struck again, this time against my charger.” She jokingly complained. Adrien laughed and Mari had to smile at the noise, he didn’t laugh enough. And honestly, no one could deny the sound was practically sunshine. ‘Just like a certain spot of pure sunshine.’ She thought dreamily before shaking out of her fantasies and back into the present.

“Where have you checked so far?” Adrien asked her. Marinette hummed as she thought.

“Computer desk, where I thought I left it, floor around said desk, corners, fashion desk and floor around there, and now closet.” She listed.

“How about under your bed?” He suggested. Marinette blinked and shrugged.

“Okay, but I don’t see how it’d end u-what the heck?!” She exclaimed as she put her hand under her bed and almost immediately found her charger. Adrien laughed again and Marinette shook her head.

“Adrien Agreste, the everworking lucky charm.” She giggled.

“Aww, you flatter me Bluebell.” Adrien flirted back jokingly.

“So, what were you up to beforehand?” Marinette wondered as she placed the charger (after checking to make sure it was charged) into her travel bag, along with her drawing pad.

“Three guesses.” He responded dryly.

“Model shoot?”

“And she gets it in one!” Marinette laughed at her friend’s dramatic announcer voice.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the shoots, but sometimes I wish I could just sleep in for a little bit. Once I’m up, I’m up until night.” He told her.

“Yeah, I’ve seen and marveled at that.” Marinette replied.

“Marinette? You ready to go?” Sabine’s voice called again.

“Oui maman!” Marinette called down as she grabbed her suitcase and bag.

“You’re going to visit your cousins, right?” Adrien questioned.

“Yep. Oh, hold on a second, Alya is calling. I’ll just make a four way call between us and our favorite couple.” She giggled as Adrien chuckled. Marinette saw it was now time for her family to leave, lest they be late to the airport. As the phone was still ringing Marinette spoke to her Kwami.

“Come on Plagg! We’re going to be late!” The black cat sighed before zipping to Marinette’s inner jacket pocket that she made for him, making a pleasantly surprised purr at finding it newly lined, and with some of the decorative yarn hanging from the edges. Marinette giggled at the vibrations against her heart, and began to make her way down the stairs as Adrien and Alya answered again, Nino joining the call a few seconds later.

“Hey girl! Hey Nino, Adrien!” Alya’s voice called out.

“Sup Alya, dude and dudette!” Nino greeted.

“Hi you guys.” Adrien responded.

“Morning Alya, Nino. And I was already talking to you, Agreste.” The four laughed, calling each other by last names had long since been a running joke. “My parents and I are  about to be heading out to catch our flight.” Marinette told them.

“Well, you seem to be going to New York at a wonderful time for you, Mari.” Marinette could practically hear her friend’s smirk over the phone.

“And why is that?” She questioned her friend suspiciously.

“Yeah, I’m confused too.” Nino told his girlfriend.

“Oh! I remember now. My dad had gotten an invite but he turned it down in order to prepare for Paris’ next month.” Adrien added. Marinette raised an eyebrow and waved at her parents, accepting a cream cheese and berry danish from her father with a smile and mouthed “thank you.”

“Well don’t keep us in the dark, dude! Spill!” Nino implored. Marinette hummed her agreement with her friend through her mouthful of danish. Adrien and Alya laughed and Adrien said Alya could tell.

“You’ll be arriving at the same time New York’s fashion week starts girl!” Alya told her. Marinette was very glad she had just finished swallowing because her mouth had flew open and, if not for her willpower to avoid awakening her napping Kwami, she would’ve bounced in place.

“You’re kidding?!” Marinette nearly squealed, using her napkin to set her danish down. Her parents gave her questioning looks and she mouthed “NY Fashion Week!” with a large grin. Sabine gave a start and a giggle as she checked her phone, seeing that her cousin Susan had just texted a certain question. Tom gave his own deep laugh as he rubbed his enthusiastic daughter’s head.

“I can’t believe I’m actually going to be in New York during it’s fashion week! Maman, Papa, I know we’re going to see family but can we please, please pretty please just take a little peak?” Marinette begged her parents. Sabine giggled as she showed her daughter her phone, which showed her Aunt Susan asking

Susan: Hey Sabine, your daughter wants to be a fashion designer, right? Would she be interested in helping me out with some catering things for NY’s fashion week? It comes with free tickets.

Marinette couldn’t control it now, and did bounce in place, rushing to give her mother a hug and rambling to explain to her friends. It seemed as though her trip to America wouldn’t be able to get any better!

*  Okay so… Adrien likes Marinette as way more than “just a friend” (I’m calling you out Agreste!!!), and I put this in through the nickname of Bluebell, the same way canon Chat calls canon Ladybug My Lady. AU Ladybug (Since male Ladybugs are still called Ladybugs, and with his general reaction to the stereotypically feminine things, I feel like Adrien wouldn’t really mind being called Ladybug. Plus it still allows for a lot of puns.) will playfully call AU Chat Purrincess (because this is still Adrien being a superhero. Just because he’s not Chat Noir doesn’t mean he won’t crack puns every five seconds.) and Chaton, but he likes his partner in a one hundred percent ‘platonic’ way. Or, at least as platonically as Canon!Mari likes Canon!Chat. This Marinette, on the other hand, likes her hero partner a lot, even if he does crack silly puns all the time at her expense as well as his own. And she’s completely oblivious to Adrien’s feelings for her, and will always deny Alya’s claims that the blonde does like her romantically despite his flirting that she always takes as joking. So… the Love Square. It’s still here. Yay! And! Mari likes to pamper her Kwami when he behaves himself. Plagg is anything but complaining when he finds all the little surprises Mari will leave for him, such as small balls of yarn, small knitted blanket piles, camembert treats and cubes, and little softly lined pocket in her purse and jacket so that he can be close by but take all the catnaps he wants.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Theresa Fowler groaned as she popped her back. The flight from her hometown of Norrisville, Oklahoma to New York City, New York, was a tiring one.

“You alright, kiddo?” Her dad questioned her. Theresa smiled back.

“I’m okay dad. My back just hurts from those chairs. They were totally wonk.” She told him. He chuckled and shook his head.

“I will never get your generation’s slang, ‘resa.” He told her. Theresa just grinned back as she blew violet and indigo strands out of her eyes.

“Alright, your mom should be picking us up soon. Why don’t you use the ladies’ room while I call her and get us some food to go. I’ll send you a picture of the menu. After that, we can go to baggage.” He told her.

“Alright, thanks daddy. See you in a bit.” Theresa then jogged off to find the bathroom, the red glow coming from her bag brightening, causing Theresa to almost curse. Grabbing her cell, she put it up to her ear as she talked to the centuries old book.

“Okay, yes I know, just another minute. I’m trying to find the bathroom Nomi, would you calm down?” She told it. The glow died down and she rolled her eyes.

‘So dramatic!’ She thought. Finally, she found the bathroom. And by some miracle, a stall was empty.  After putting a paper down so she could sit (do you know how dirty airport bathrooms are???)

“Okay, what’ve you got for me Nomicon?” She questioned as she shloomped into Nomicom’s lesson world.

Shadowy figures filled her view. One was very familiar, being herself. Well, herself in costume, at least. The Norrisville Ninja’s figure was with two other feminine ones, and one that was a frickin DRAGON, so that was cool. One of the female figures didn't have legs, rather a wispy sort of tail. The other was just a cat girl as far as Theresa could tell. A catgirl with a staff, but still, catgirl. The neon words then filled her view, as the four figure faced off against another figure, this one with a much meaner aura.

“Four heroes, with Power from times ancient, shall face a darkness reawakened. A bond between the Shadow Walker, Fire Breather, Nature Specter, and Sable Destroyer alone can withstand the restless Myth.” Theresa read. She blinked furiously as she looked at the five figures, trying to make out the Nomicon’s strange prophecy.

“Nomi, wha-” She felt herself starting to be tossed out and bit back a curse.

“Oh come on! At least explain it better than that! Nomi!” She yelled before being thrown back into the real world.

Theresa sighed, disgruntled. Sure, she loved being a heroine and all, but why did prophecies have to be so convoluted?

*Yep. Rather than Randy, the Messenger choose Theresa in this AU. I’m not actually sure if the Ninja has ever been female, as the only past ones we see were male, but it has now happened.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Rose sighed as she stared at her ceiling. This Saturday was so far kind of boring. Sun said that there didn’t seem to be any trouble so far, and that Rose should take today to catch up on her homework. Her sister had even agreed, saying she could take care of any problem that came up in the community. Rose was grateful for that, but it was seven o’clock when that happened (curse her internal alarm!), and it was now two p.m.. Safe to say, Rose Penson was very bored. Trixie was visiting a hospital that was allowing high schoolers a chance to see how some surgical procedures were done, and Spud was… well he hadn’t picked up his phone so she assumed he was busy. Which only left…

“Hey Rose.” A very familiar voice greeted softly from her window. Rose’s face lit up as she saw her boyfriend sitting on her open window sill.

“Jake!” She grinned, bouncing off her bed to hug the green haired boy. Jake chuckled as Rose pulled him into her room, as Jake would often come in this way. After all, if anyone from the Huntsclan saw him just walk through the door, Rose and Raquel’s  parents and identities would be in quite a bit of danger.

“Sorry I haven’t been able to come in a while.” Jake grinned sheepishly. Rose shook her head as she pecked him on the cheek.

“It’s fine, I understand. I’m just glad you were able to come over. I was kinda bored.” The blonde giggled.

“Aww, my dragoness was left all by herself? How cruel.” Jake teased. Rose laughed again.

“Dork.” She told him. Jake dramatically put a hand over his heart.

“Oh! How the lady wounds me!” He whisper-exclaimed as he fell onto his girlfriend’s bed. Rose couldn’t help laughing again, and Jake mentally clapped himself on the back. He knew it was cheesy, but man, did he love that sound. Rose sat down next to him, and ran her hands through his surprising soft hair.

“No gel? I thought your hair looked a bit deflated.” She whispered. Jake took her other hand and kissed the back of it.

“Just finished attempting to train 88 and 89 again. It was either hair gel, or you. I think I made the right choice.” Rose hummed, unable to keep her own smile off her face.

“I think so too…” she kissed the top of Jake’s forehead, and the couple just smiled at each other. Both inwardly sighed, content to just relax with the other close by. Jake and Rose may have had more rough patches than most couples, because of what they were. The fire that rested in Rose’s lungs, and the magic in her veins, being the first of her kind to be born with such in America, her role was clear. Being the American Dragon was her fate.

The mark that the swirled around Jake’s hand, visible only when he didn’t gloves or hide it with powder, pronounced that he was to be a slayer of dragons. To kill even the one he knew he loved. Even though Jake had refused, sometimes, he wondered just what Fate and Destiny had in store for them. He just hoped they would be on their side.

It was moments like this, that he remembered why he wanted that so badly. To go against everything he was taught and raised to believe. When he could see the flaxen haired, blue eyed beauty above him. Even when she had turned into a dragon, with sky colored eyes and slit pupils, with glinting scales and hair spun of gold, he couldn’t help but to be awed by her. Likewise, Rose adored him, this was her hunter. With hair dyed green by gel, and eyes so dark a brown they looked like two black holes that would just suck her in. She didn’t care that she was taller than him, it just made it easier to tease him and kiss his forehead and cheeks.  They were each other’s first love, after all. And with how much they had been through, they believed that, just maybe, they were in love.

The sound of a phone ringing cut off their moment, and Jake groaned when he saw the number.

“Hello?” He questioned as he picked it up, gesturing for Rose to keep quiet.

“Yes. … No. … Yes sir. … I’ll be there shortly.” He said emotionlessly, hanging up his cell. Rose looked at her boyfriend, who had assumed a rigid upright position since he answered the phone. She watched him deflate and she put her hand gently on his shoulder.

“Do you have to go?” She asked him. He gave a half smile half frown.

“Sorry lovely, but we can’t have them getting suspicious. I much prefer your head where it is to be frank.” He stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead. She walked him to the still open window, and as he climbed out, she grabbed the front of his shirt, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.

“Come back soon, Hunter Boy.” He grinned.

“As you wish, Dragon Girl.” And he was off. Rose sighed before shaking her head. Geez, sometimes she really did feel like a silly, love struck teenager. Of course, at least her boyfriend was no better. She walked over to her laptop and pulled up a site of what was going on this week.

“Huh. There’s a fair in downtown Manhattan? Sounds interesting enough.” The blonde shrugged. A knock on her door, which Rose answered with a “come in!”

“Hey Rosie, do you have any plans for today?” Her mother poked her head into her elder daughter’s room. Rose has just closed her laptop and was heading to her closet to pick out a hoodie to ward off the spring chill, even if her inner fire usually worked plenty enough to provide her with enough heat.

“There’s a fair going on in Downtown Manhattan. Figured I’d let ‘quel, Trix and Spud know than start heading down there myself.” Rose told her. Amaryllis Penson hummed.

“Well, tomorrow is the beginning of New York’s fashion week. I know you’re not super into the latest fashions, but I figured some mother-daughter bonding wouldn’t hurt.” The elder blonde offered. Rose narrowed her eyes, a small smile playing on her face.

“Raquel said no already, didn’t she?” She folded her arms as her mother groaned.

“Really sweetie? Just have to call me out like that?” Rose laughed as she nodded.

“Yeah mom, I don’t have any plans for tomorrow anyway. It sounds fun.” Rose told her. Amaryllis grinned as she hugged her elder daughter.

“Oh, here. For the fair. You know they’re really expensive, and working at Mr.Long’s* shop only gets you so much.” Amaryllis said as she pressed five twenties in her daughter’s hand.

“That’s for your sister too by the way.” She told Rose. After putting the money in her wallet, and her wallet in her handbag, she gave her mother a quick “thanks” and a hug before rushing down the stairs with her helmet and grabbing her skateboard.

“Later mom!” She called.

So far, today seemed like it’d be a pretty good day.

*so the Longs (and by extension, the Changs) still have Dragon Blood, but they haven’t had the actual transformation in many generations. Lao Shi decided that unless his grandchildren were dragons, the secret wouldn’t be passed on, hence why he still knows of the magical world and has Fu Dog, but isn’t the Chinese Dragon. He just accidentally found out Rose is the American Dragon, and offered her a cover job. She does help out in the store and work there, and Jake has been over a few times and met the man. Lao Shi thinks that his employee’s boyfriend looks an awful lot like what his grandson could’ve, but doesn’t act on any suspicions incase they’re wrong, and he would only cause more harm to his daughter.

[astrodances]

This is That AU + bonus Resistance Cell AU (Danny Phantom)

(This turned out way longer than I intended, but god it’s a fun idea. If anyone creates anything out of this, please send it my way! And if you have any ideas to add, feel free!)

Danny Phantom “The Ultimate Enemy” AU where the future is the Ghost Zone and the Ghost Zone is the future (aka they’re switched, and the future is thought of as a location in time).

Skulktech’s medallion falls off? The gang’s sent 10 years forward in Amity Park, and Danny’s introduced to the mayhem he causes firsthand. Perhaps Clockwork has headquarters set up there now bc Dan drove him (and all the other ghosts) out of the Ghost Zone.

The Ghost Zone itself, much like the human realm, is also destroyed, but even more so. When Dan was done with Earth he invaded the GZ and didn’t look back. He declared himself the Ghost King, and when he learns the Ghostly Wail, he uses it to wreak even more havoc and scare off any lasting threats to his reign.

The ghosts that dare to stay in the GZ are either:

trying to appease Dan by doing his bidding so they’ll be spared (not that it helps much)

actually want to side and fight for him (like the Fright Knight)

got stuck in the aftermath of the invasion and are basically prisoners

or are part of the small resistance cell that tries to take Dan down (like Valerie in TUE)

So Danny and co. end up running from Clockwork into the GZ (which is also 10 years in the future) and Danny meets Dan and all that. Things go pretty much like the episode, except everything’s adapted to the switched environments:

The trio doesn’t need the medallions to stay in/leave the GZ, but perhaps they’re still wearing them from their fight with Clockwork anyway. Perhaps they work the same way for Sam and Tucker, but when they take them off before being crushed, they end up back with Clockwork in the future and not back in present-day Amity Park.

Since Dan knows keeping Danny’s medallion tethered to him would be pointless, he just takes it and uses it to go back to present-day Amity to ensure his future.

Dan throws a tied-up Danny through his self-created portal back to Earth. Whether Danny ends up back where he started with Clockwork or somewhere else entirely is up to you, but oooh, consider the ramifications of both:

He goes back to Clockwork:

he’s with Sam and Tucker again. He can explain everything he learned to them and they can come up with a plan, perhaps form a team with Clockwork and others.

BUT as a result, he doesn’t learn the Ghostly Wail (at the very least, not here, and possibly not at all bc up to this point, he probably hasn’t seen the Wail in action: he didn’t see Dan through one of Clockwork’s screens, and Dan didn’t use it on him during their first encounter. So it’s likely that the first he’ll see of it is when Dan uses it during their fight at the present-day Nasty Burger).

He ends up somewhere else entirely:

he could end up alone somewhere random, and possibly the only thing that saves him is the Boooo-merang that’s floated through time and the GZ (bc Jazz probably doesn’t know which realm he’s in in the future?) and found a natural portal to Earth?

Or maybe he ends up exactly where he needs to be, in Vlad’s lair, and although he doesn’t need the medallion removed, Vlad can at least free him from being tied up and can explain things, maybe help him get back to Clockwork.

Or maybe he ends up alone but then finds/is found by some ghosts (much like in canon). Maybe they still act like his enemies and he gets aggravated enough to learn the Ghostly Wail (à la canon). Maybe he doesn’t and they destroy him and (unknowingly) their chance to have things be different. Or maybe he can convince them that he’s not the same guy as Dan (yet), and they work together to organize an attack against Dan, maybe even with some humans (since this is Earth, and Dan destroyed both their homes, I’m thinking at least some groups of ghosts and humans would sympathize with each other and learn to live together). They also find Clockwork, Sam, and Tucker, since they need Clockwork to go back in time. (And maybe even future!Valerie, if she’s around?)

Or maybe Danny just ends up alone and stuck somewhere, and just...dies completely, leaving everyone and everything doomed.

However he gets back (if he does) and whoever with, the present-day story has a few key notes:

Unless Clockwork decided to send Sam and Tucker back, Jazz’s role is pretty much the same, only she might be a bit more worried about not being able to find Danny or his friends anywhere to confront him about cheating. When she sees Dan (posed as Danny) for the first time, she might be a relieved at first, maybe even hugs him, before going into the cheating thing. She’ll also try to send the Boooo-merang, but again, the odds for it finding Danny in the future are very slim since he’s in the human realm.

Also regarding Sam and Tucker: if they return, they end up tied to the sauce at the Nasty Burger like in canon. But if they’re still with Clockwork when Danny finds him?? Hoo boy, just you wait.

The final battle with Dan is the big present-day difference:

Danny likely doesn’t have the Ghostly Wail, so unless he learns it like right after Dan uses it against him, Dan will probably win and ensure his future (particularly if Danny fights him alone).

But if Danny has allies (regardless of how he got them/who they are)? You better believe the odds go up in his favor. That’s a whole lot of organized firepower, and it leaves Dan with only 2 truly useful powers: the Ghostly Wail and duplication. But Team Danny did a lot of training. Heck, the ghosts probably told Danny about the Ghostly Wail, so even if he doesn’t learn it/hasn’t actually seen it yet, they can all be prepared to take cover or whatever when Dan uses it.

What’s more, while most of the team is fighting Dan, a small group (either humans with ecto-weapons or w/ghosts’ help) can free Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and Lancer (and Sam and Tucker if they’re tied up, too; otherwise they’re probably leading this whole group). Now they got all the Fentons fighting Dan (and a much more motivated Danny).

Basically, Team Phantom wins and then some.

But consider this: in any of the scenarios where Sam and Tucker are fighting Dan alongside Danny from the get-go, something glitches in the plan and while they’re able to defeat Dan, they’re not able to save Danny’s family + Lancer. And for whatever reason (either Dan defeated him or he just decides to let this one play out or whatever), Clockwork doesn’t reset the timeline.

What does that leave Danny with? Two best friends (and possibly some allies, maybe even future!Valerie (which is a whole ‘nother rabbit hole to dive into)) that support him through the grief and loss. Perhaps they make him feel less alone, and he grows stronger bc of this and learns some lesson about the value of friendship or “some such nonsense.” 😉

But maybe Danny doesn’t see that lesson. Maybe Sam and Tucker are there to see him struggle with this new reality. Time after time he tells them that he’s afraid of turning into that monster, and no matter what they do, they watch as their best friend slowly evolves not into a Dan created through a fusion of two ghost halves, but a (still half-ghost?) Dan bred out of fear, anger, and self-hatred. Not the same Dan as the original; perhaps something much, much worse, and much more personal (YOU try shooting your evil best friend when you know there’s still good in him, you hope).

And yet another alternate ending to all this (bc apparently I can’t be stopped): perhaps Dan does survive the Nasty Burger fight and sees his goal through of stalling Danny just long enough to see the Nasty Burger explode and ensure his future (or so he thinks). He just isn’t able to defeat all of Danny’s allies. Heck, maybe they’re even able to free the Fentons + Lancer in time. All that’s for certain is that when the Nasty Burger explodes, Dan vanishes, leaving Team Phantom with their Ultimate Enemy™️ at large (and likely still with a time medallion).

Enter the Resistance Cell AU (and the opportunity for me to work in DS9 references): all the survivors of the Battle at the Nasty Burger band up behind Danny, and while everything’s fine in the world at first, they immediately start hunting down Dan to try to stop him before he can screw things up again.

This, of course, is way harder than it sounds (and depending on Clockwork’s status/willingness to help, could be even doubly so).

Depending on the original battle’s outcome, Danny might be motivated in part by a desire to avenge his family (which could lead to some conflict within the group). In any case, he’s definitely motivated to not turn into Dan, though sometimes he needs reassurance from Tucker and Sam late at night.

The way I picture it, Dan slowly sends the world into chaos yet again, with Team Phantom usually one step behind him. (Though maybe, they’re able to at least form some relief teams to help victims after they hear about an attack and try to gather clues to hunt him down? And maybe these victims join the team and help the fight, and maybe Dan doesn’t end up as powerful this time.)

But to go the angsty route, Dan basically gets a second chance to take over the world and GZ, and ten years later, the only thing stopping him from achieving complete domination is an undercover resistance group led by a young man who’s kept his vow to never become like him.

The only thing is, Dan has an ally of his own this time around (one more powerful than the Fright Knight): Vlad Plasmius.

[theguardiansseries]

From the Beginning Chapter 4

Bonjour, mes chers! Sorry for such the long wait! I was getting back into school and my job and boy is life getting exhausting! Midterms just passed, however, so let's hope I can get a little bit of a routine going here again.

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Summary: Danny Fenton was a simple, sixteen-year-old teenager who loved fast food, video games, and getting a B on surprise pop quizzes. He’s also the half-ghost teenage hero Danny Phantom who defends Amity Park from ghost attacks on a daily basis. Somehow, the ghost attacks make a lot more sense than crushes, friendships, and falling in love with someone he is definitely not supposed to be falling in love with. It was a lot easier to separate Phantom and Fenton before, but now it’s getting harder the more he learns about himself. Just who was he? The dorky son of scientists who loved the stars or the hero that protected the town. He’s starting to feel like he won’t like the answer. (Iambic Prose) (Prequel to Guardians and Partial Show Rewrite)

<<First Chapter>> <<Last Chapter>><<Next Chapter>>

Chapter Four

::

“Have a good day at school!” Yelling back a garbled-out goodbye through whatever he had shoved in his mouth, Danny quickly made his way down the front steps of Fenton Works before running towards the school. As much as he would love to fly there, it was way too cold to even bother with this early in the morning.

God, winter break was both too short and too long, sometimes. It seemed like both minutes and lifetimes ago that Danny’s winter break was starting, and he had been trying to ignore the holidays with everything in him. Maybe he was under some Christmas curse and learning Ghostwriter’s lesson had finally broken it or something. Ugh. He’d have to wait an entire year to find out.

It felt like way too long since he had been back to school, though, and a small part of him was honestly looking forward to just hanging out with his friends and being a normal teenager – well, as normal as a teenager could get considering the ghost powers and everything.

Idly thinking on maybe going back to visit Ghostwriter when he needed help on his homework, Danny didn’t slow down his quick pace until he was getting close to the school steps, catching his breath as he felt every inch of happiness leave his body as he stared up at the now familiar building. He was definitely back at high school, at least.

��Incoming!” That loud cry was all the warning Danny was given before he suddenly had a best friend wrapped around his shoulders. Danny was eternally grateful for his ghost strength, because otherwise he and Tucker would both be collapsed in a pile of snow. “Danny! Buddy, pal, friend, chum, sport-”

“Who did you piss off and who are you hiding from?” Danny probably shouldn’t encourage Tucker’s crazy behavior, but it was hard to hold in laughter when Tucker was shifting and moving around him like a demented squirrel.

“Me? Piss someone off? Danny, please, come on. I’m the most likeable person in this entire school. I really don’t appreciate-”

“Foley!” Biting his cheek to stave off his laughter this time, Danny felt Tucker slap him on the back before he was given a crazy grin.

“And that’s our cue to get to homeroom!” With that, Tucker was pulling him along, Danny easily letting him as he kept an eye out for the color black. Somehow, even with him keeping an eye out, Sam still managed to sneak up on him enough to almost give him a heart attack.

“Jesus, Sammy, are you trying to make me use my ghost powers?” Danny accepted the hug anyways, getting a face full of a furry hood that was attached to a coat and had a sheen to it that made it look like it was forever stuck between being black and being purple. It was probably some fake fur made of human skin or something like that, too. “At least Tucker gives warning.”

“And I give you impromptu training. You’re welcome.” Damn. He really had missed these two. Like, yeah, okay, he hadn’t been that long since he had seen them, but still. “So, I believe you were catching us up on some ghostly poem drama last night before we ended the call?”

“Oh, yeah, right. There’s not much to it.” Danny used the rest of the walk to class to quickly explain the basics of what had happened over Christmas with the whole poem incident. When they dropped into their seats in homeroom, he was completely unsurprised to see that Tucker was holding back laughter and Sam was looking offended.

“A ghost messed with my memories? I mean, I’m glad the town didn’t really remember that mess and they don’t hate you again or anything, but is that why I can barely remember what I did over the holidays? Oh, that’s so-”

“Hey, hey, Ghostwriter isn’t all that bad.” At the look he was given, Danny gave a weak little shrug and half of a smile. “What can I say, I made a new friend. Doing the whole apology thing and spending time at that library probably made it the funnest winter break I’ve ever had.”

“Dude. Now I’m offended.” Tucker, very dramatically, held a hand to his chest. “You don’t count our winter breaks as fun?”

“Last winter break you almost had us thrown in juvie.” That had been an interesting one to explain if nothing else. It made kind of a funny story. At least, to them, it did, but not so much for their parents when they had picked them up at the local courthouse jail or whatever it had been. “You have your own category of fun.”

“I still can’t believe there’s a ghost out there that can control us all like that.” Leave it to Sam to stick to the heart of the matter. “Are we sure he isn’t going to do that again? I mean, we can barely even remember what he did.”

“You’ll probably be fine as long as you don’t piss him off,” Danny shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty good with never again angering the guy who can control reality, although Clockwork did mention there were limits to his powers.”

“It’s because he’d be overpowered, otherwise, and the universe knows that isn’t fair,” Tucker said solemnly. Danny was a little disappointed that Sam beat him to it when it came to kicking Tucker’s chair. “Hey! No kicking in class!”

“You don’t have any proof.” Sam crossed her arms and smirked at Danny. “Let’s get back to the true heart of this matter where you befriended a guy version of Jazz.”

“I did not!” Thinking on his week with Ghostwriter, though, and what he had learned about the guy, Danny supposed that maybe he kind of sort of maybe kind of had. “Shit. I totally did, didn’t I? Well, you know what, he might be a kind of friend, but he’s still annoying!”

“Hey, at least you have another ghost that isn’t out to hunt you down or kill you or anything.” Tucker finally got his chair perfectly straight before Sam nudged it just a bit to the left. “Dammit, Sam!”

“It is nice to have another friendly ghost on our side. Like, yeah, okay, he’s a little weird, but… He can actually be pretty fun.” Danny hadn’t thought discussing books could even be fun until he and Ghostwriter had almost destroyed a couch arguing about one of the books.

“Fun, huh?” Sam raised a single eyebrow which, really, how the hell did she even manage that? Danny bet she practiced it in the mirror. “I can tell since you spent an entire week with him.”

“Whoa, hey, no, I spent five days with him.” That didn’t really sound all that much better, but Danny was on thin ice to begin with.

“That’s a school week,” Tucker piped up. “It counts and there’s no way I believe that you were just ‘organizing books’ for an entire week at that place. Spill it. What else did you do over break?”

“Settle down, students.” At Lancer’s voice, Danny let out an explosive sigh and slumped in his seat. Thank God.

“I never thought I would say this, but thank God, class is starting.” Both his friends choked on a laugh, Danny smiling himself. It was nice for things to be normal, again. “Hey, wanna hit the mall after school?”

“Oh, hell yeah! I hear Techtopia has a sale going on.” Oh, Tucker. He would never change. “I’m sure there’s probably a deal going on at the Hot Topic there, too.”

“Please,” Sam snorted, looking toward the board at the front of the class before glancing back. “There might be a new year sale going on, actually.”

“Mall it is.” A little time to be just a normal teenager was just what the three of them needed. Besides, after ghost hunting, the mall was harmless as could be.

::

“Right. Note to self. The mall is never harmless.” Danny dragged himself out of the pile of store merchandise he had crashed into it and waved at the scared cashier at the counter. “Sorry about that. Send a bill to the mayor, I guess? Sorry!”

“None can stop the all-powerful Technus 2.0!” Oh, God, Technus was worse than ever before. Danny seriously might lose his mind if he had to keep this up for too long.

“Yeah, yeah, all hail the megadork. I seriously can’t believe your upgraded form is just you with a mullet. Where are you from, the eighties?” Dodging the electronic wires that came after him, Danny grinned at Technus and tried to make himself as annoying as possible. At least he was used to being used as a target, unlike everyone else here. “Ooh, did I hit a sore spot?”

“You will be the first to be crushed under my might, ghost child!” Eugh. That was probably the most annoying moniker he had yet. Well, he guessed his break really was over now. It had been nice while it lasted.

“Yeah, yeah, master of technology. Hey, you know what? It’d be more impressive if you actually ever managed to win!” Quickly dodging a blast of energy, Danny gulped as he felt the searing heat just barely brush his arm. God, he really needed to work on never getting hit by those because they hurt-

“Ah!” At the cry of pain, Danny quickly snapped his head around, eyes wide at seeing Valerie on the floor and sitting up with a hiss of pain.

“Oh, I’m gonna break you in half!” Feeling energy pour into his hands, Danny unleashed half a dozen blasts all at once, viciously pleased when most of them managed to hit Technus on at least some part of his body. “Well? You’re after a fight, aren’t you!”

So, alright, maybe Danny had the tendency to jump the gun and get too angry and protective and all that, but he was trying to keep the ghostly stuff away from his friends! They shouldn’t have to worry about stuff like this when he was supposed to be here taking care of it!

“C’mon, Technus! You wanted a fight, didn’t you?!” Readying more energy, Danny narrowed his eyes when he saw Technus looked intrigued. That was never a good look. He would know, too, after growing up with scientists his entire life.

“Interesting.” Technus’ gaze flickered to Valerie and Danny was attacking again at once. The last thing he wanted was for ghosts to put together that Valerie was the Red Huntress. They were less forgiving on ghost hunters than they were on him. “Oh, don’t worry, ghost child, I haven’t forgotten about you.”

“Dude, could you sound any more like a super villain?” Dodging the wires that snapped for his ankles, Danny grunted as he was hit with a blast strong enough to send him crashing into a huge stack of boxes and god that fucking hurt. Pushing himself up and catching his breath, Danny frowned when he saw he had changed back. “Ugh, why do you never work when I need you to?” Stupid powers.

“Danny?” Freezing at the voice, Danny blinked up at seeing Valerie looking down at him with raised eyebrows and, yeah, right. Phantom crashed and Fenton appeared. Right.

“Ah, hi, Val. So, uh, hey, those ghosts gone yet? I was trying to find Sam and Tucker and suddenly boxes were falling on top of me.”

“Yeah, they’re both gone.” Valerie gave a laugh and held her hand out, Danny smiling as he let himself be pulled to his feet. If nothing else, Valerie had a nice laugh. “You okay?”

“Just another day in Amity Park, I guess.” Danny gave Valerie a quick once over, relaxing when he saw that she was just fine. Technus’ blast didn’t seem to do any real harm to her, which, good. “You good? I saw you go down from that one ghost’s attack or whatever it was.”

“Knocked off my feet, I guess, but I’m good.” Valerie’s smile seemed to soften before she suddenly stepped back and dropped Danny’s hand and oh, yeah, that- Huh. He had forgotten they were even holding hands in the first place. “So, uh, you were looking for your friends?”

“Yeah- Yeah. I was. Sam and Tuck. My friends.” Danny really wished he could clone himself some days, just so he could slap himself. He just was never sure how to act around Valerie some days. She was kind and sweet and friendly and had a pretty sharp wit and she was also a ghost hunter who absolutely hated his guts with everything in her.

“Right.” Valerie looked away and Danny was about to move before he heard her clear her throat with a rough cough. “So, um… You’re good at Chemistry and everything, right?”

“What?” At the dry and sour look he was given, Danny gave a slow nod. “I mean, yeah? I usually get by with a low A or sometimes a high B. Why?”

“I was wondering if maybe we could meet up in the library some time and you could run me through a few things? Petricoff is making it way harder than it needs to be.”

“Ugh, I know, tell me about it.” Danny loved science, don’t get him wrong, but that demon that taught the science classes as Casper was pure evil. She probably really was a demon. Danny wouldn’t have been surprised. “But, uh, yeah, sure, I can help.”

“Great. Exchange numbers?” Valerie was already holding her phone out with a new contact pulled up, Danny fumbling to do the same with his own before they swapped. “Thanks. I know I haven’t been the nicest friend lately.”

“We all have our rough spots. I mean, it is high school.” Was he alive? Did Technus’ last hit kill him? Because he was exchanging numbers with one of the more popular girls in school and she was honestly smiling at him.

“Tell me about it,” Valerie laughed, taking her phone back and tossing Danny’s to him. It was a close save to keep it from dropping, Danny slumping in relief as Valerie laughed. “Hopefully having scientist parents pays off.

“Yeah.” Okay, so, yeah, maybe Valerie was the Red Huntress and all that, but she was still pretty amazing, and she actually seemed to like Danny. That alone was an impossible miracle considering the only people who had ever really liked him in his entire school career was Tucker and Sam.  

“So, hey, do you need to meet up with your friends right this second, or do you maybe wanna grab a bite to eat real quick? I was about to grab something before the whole dick measuring fight took place.”

Choking on a laugh, Danny silently nodded as he followed Valerie back towards the food court. Sam and Tucker would be okay for a while yet, and, well, maybe it was time to move on from his puppy crush on Paulina. Valerie’s dad had taken her suit away after that whole Pariah mess, after all, so Danny would be perfectly safe dating a ghost hunter.

Heh. Dating. It was the time for New Year’s Resolutions and all that Jazz stuff. Maybe he could make a resolution to try a little bit harder to be a normal teenager. Sure, he should probably be worrying about Technus getting away, but he could let his parents handle it or something. They were the professional ghost hunters, after all.

“You know what, Val? Grabbing a bite to eat sounds great right now.” Food did sound pretty great but being just an average Amity Park teenager sounded even better.

“You’re pretty chipper all of a sudden. Should I worry about you being possessed by a ghost or anything?”

“Nope. Just possessed with some good company.” Grinning at Valerie’s startled laugh, Danny felt something in him relax.

A little time as a normal teenager was just what this new year could use.

[mewzaque]

Danny’s not proud to admit that it took him a whole two hours post-arrival-at-the-far-frozen to realize that the Justice League probably does not, in fact, know he’s the King of the Infinite Realms.

Now, in his defense, his coronation was a major event in Amity Park, with weeks of news coverage prior to the event. There were so many times where he would be in the middle of fighting one of his regular rogues gallery, only to be approached by a reporter asking him about the coronation (to which the rogue, usually Ember, Johnny, Kitty, or sometimes Skulker, would also insist on being interviewed). When the coronation finally happened, it was live-streamed all the way from the ghost zone… exclusively to Amity, courtesy of Tucker and Technus.

So now Danny, all stitched up, full of coffee, and a bit sore from having his teeth forcibly regrown, is staring at the ceiling of his hospital room, silently hoping that the Justice League will not, in fact, ever need his help, and praying even harder that Ellie never realizes how stupid he was, because he’ll quite literally never live that down.

Oh, and now he’s being summoned.

Fine, cool, he can deal with that. First time being summoned as the king, sure, but it’s not like he hasn’t been summoned as Phantom before, it should basically be the same thing. He’ll show up, explain to whoever wanted a favor that no he does not take souls as payment, no he does not kill people fuck you very much, and be back home in time for dinner. In and out, no big deal.

Danny reached above him, ripped open a small hole between dimensions, and pulled himself through, his ring, crown, and cape of stars manifesting as he flung himself through the portal and almost hit his head on the ceiling. He quickly noted that he was, in fact, significantly larger than he expected to be.

And then his eyes swept around the room.

And he noticed that his own surprise paled in comparison the the utter shock and confusion held on the faces of the Justice League, who were all stanced as if they expected to be attacked.

And Danny, in all his 16-year-old wisdom, brain still tired from holding a form the size of North America, just said,

“Oh! Didn’t expect to see you all again so soon, what’s up?”

You know, as if this were normal, and not absolutely terrifying.

He knew they would probably be scared of him. He honestly didn’t blame them, he was an unknown entity who, from their perspective, could destroy a planet on a whim—though honestly, he doesn’t think he would ever be able to get that big again, nor be able to channel that much power into himself. But they probably wouldn’t believe him. Not for a while, at least. It took a whole year for Amity Park to trust that he actually wanted to help. It took Valerie a year and a half to accept that he and Phantom were the same, and that he never wanted to hurt her. It took two years for his parents to accept who and what he was, realize that he was still their son. Danny was used to being feared and hated for what he was.

He’s not sure why the Justice League’s distrust of him feels so painful.

He knew they didn’t know he was the king. He knew it. He shouldn’t feel hurt by their cautious and, frankly, frightened gazes. He shouldn’t be insulted by the fact that, as hidden as they were, there were obviously blood blossoms kept in a bag in the corner. He knew they knew what he was capable of. It shouldn’t hurt. It shouldn’t.

“Danny. We’d like to ask you a few questions.”

He focused his eyes on Batman, the only one in the room who seemed completely and truly calm. Well, aside from the summoner in the trenchcoat that Danny didn’t recognize, he just seemed… annoyed? Which, compared to everything else, was manageable. Danny could handle unfazed and annoyed.

“Of course, what do you need to know?”

“Well, to start, would you mind telling us about that symbol you wear on your chest?”

…Ok, not what he expected. He was expecting more of a “what species are you,” “are you planning on taking over the world,” or even a “what are the most effective ways to stop you if you ever get mind controlled and try to kill everyone.”

“Uh, well… it’s sort of a Phantom family crest.”

Batman’s eyebrows went up. Danny didn’t want to notice, but he did.

Batman pulled out a photo.

“Do you know anyone in your family who looks like this?”

Danny leaned forward to get a better look at the blurry, cropped photo of… Dan?

“Yeah, that’s… my brother— where— how did you get this?”

“Danny, your brother is currently laying siege to the planet you had been stuck on.”

“… what?”

“As far as we’re aware, there haven’t been any casualties, but—”

Danny couldn’t listen. He could barely think. Why? Why was Dan attacking the planet? He was doing so well, was he falling back into his violent tendencies, why would he attack with no reason, was he relapsing or was this something else? Was there some other evil timeline that bled into this one, the photo was blurry so it could have happened, had he summoned an alternate version of himself in self defense by accident, was this his fault? Why was it getting so hard to breath?

… Why did everyone look smaller?

Why was Danny growing? Why were his claws getting sharper? Was Batman still speaking? Why can’t he breath? Why can he taste blood? Why was everyone moving, why was the tip of his fingers outside the summoning circle, why can’t he breath, what is he going to do, why can’t he focus, why can’t he BREATH,

“Bloody hell, screw this!” was the last thing Danny heard before he fell back onto his hospital bed in the Far Frozen.

He just broke off his one form of communication with the Justice League. He has no way of contacting them, and they have no way of reaching him until tomorrow, and by then it could be too late.

He takes a few minutes. Let’s himself breath. Waits until his heartbeat is back to normal.

He plays back the facts in his head.

1. If he were able to pull versions of himself across timelines, Clockwork would have taught him how to control it before that power manifested itself. There was no reason to think this was a different version of Dan.

2. Dan was doing a lot better. He hadn’t killed anyone. He wouldn’t attack without a reason.

3. Ellie found out about how Danny was treated by that planet. There’s no reason Dan wouldn’t have found out, too.

4. Dan loves him as a brother.

5. Dan saw his family and friends die.

6. Dan would never want that to happen again.

7. After that display, there was a good chance the Justice League would distrust Danny, even if they don’t think he’s outright hostile

8. If the Justice League tries to fight Dan, they will lose.

9. Danny doesn’t know how to contact them.

10. Danny has a couple of tech savvy friends who could track down the Justice League.

And, realized only as he coughed up a bit of blood, 12. there was no way a simple bag could properly prevent the effects of blood blossoms from reaching him. He should have been more careful.

.

.

.

13. Despite everything, he still wants to trust the Justice League.

He wants to believe they’ll trust him.

*slowly shuffles a wooden box of finger bones towards you* so I have two ideas for you

So, what if ghosts like, really screw with video technology, so it all kind of looks corrupted at all times- so when Danny starts recording like a blog of daily like in amity park (maybe as a way to cope with Trauma) and he posts it, maybe people outside of amity could think it’s all just like, an ARG or analog horror- if you want to go with dc/dp here, tim could be trying to solve a nonexistent mystery

For idea two, do you know ab the mystery flesh pit? If you don’t it’s basically an unreality where a gigantic super organism is turned into a National park and it’s then shit down when the organism basically coughs in its sleep and destroys a lot of stuff-( also be warned, there is a lot of body horror involved in this, so if anyone’s sensitive to it maybe don’t look at any content!) so maybe Giant Danny is taking a nap and some villains find the GIANT GHOST TAKING A SLEEP and decide to hook him up to be used as like, a battery or Lazerus pit (if you go the route of his blood being lazerus water) and the heroes get involved trying to figure out what’s happening

oh man that would be so fun. Danny just takes a little school project 10 minute documentary of the town and doesn't think too much of it when he submits it to Youtube so he can send it to his teacher.

A week later and every ARG/Analog Horror nerd on the planet has heard about this brilliantly well produced video called "Amity Park"

Now knowing this, He decides to have some fun. He takes ominous shots of mundane Amity life and splices them between the more normal scenes of himself and his friends having fun and hanging out.

He amps up the uncanny level. Throughout all of his videos, he starts to tell a slightly dramatized version of his life, not the Phantom stuff, but his life as a Fenton.

The whole world watches in awe and delight as this refreshingly new Analog Horror channel posts nearly twice a week with some of the most stunning CGI that they've ever seen. I mean 'c'mon, Sentient food. A child living in the house of two mad scientists who casually mention dismembering and destroying ghosts at the dinner table. An honest to god crazy scientist lab with a massive portal to this 'Ghost Zone' just in their basement?! Yeah, whoever made this has an absolutely incredible imagination. (Some people are even dissing it since this GZ really just feels like a warped version of The Backrooms but it's fine, it's unique enough that it makes up for it.)

------

I am a hoe for any and every topic that Wendigoon talks about in his videos so I very much so know about the Mystery Flesh Pit. (Video is linked but be warned; Benji isn't joking when they say that it's a LOT of body horror.)

I'd like to propose that Danny isn't even on earth, he's on a different planet that has collected his blood and harnessed his core for energy on a massive scale, helping create and produce items that benefit their world greatly.

To Danny, Their mining, harvesting, and energy draining efforts are the equivalent to bacteria moving around his body. He's so massive that this civilization isnt impacting him in the slightest.

The JL get called because this strange planet superorganism is now moving and it's causing the destruction of an entire civilization.

They fly over to the planet and they notice something very very wrong with the shape of the planet.

First and foremost, the two eyes spanning the equivalent width of Texas that stares up at their ship is new.