#and that Danny cameo

[letoasai]

Will work for food ~ part 2

Part 1 - Master list

Tim was anxious which wasn’t an emotion he often put into use. Even on a bad day he was calculating, overly prepared, and usually ran on caffeine. He was a young genius and a hell of a detective, but nerves probably didn’t care about his resume or personality quirks. 

He rubbed his thumb against the folded piece of paper kept hidden in his pocket. He’d examined it in the batcave but it held no clues of note. It was just a normal sheet of paper, and the ink could have been a pen from any local corner store. No DNA. No fingerprints. All the same, he kept it out of sight in public. 

Tim had been antsy about summoning Phantom, mostly because he felt like he was disrespectfully late. When he’d first laid eyes on the living form of the Ghost King, he’d felt a familiar ache. Neglect. He didn’t know if the king had neglected himself, or if the blame lay at someone else's feet, but he just couldn’t stand it. 

He’d offered food and company in an instant, the words popping out of his mouth before he could think them through. Despite that, he didn’t regret the offer. He could have done without the teasing from his siblings and teammates, but he didn’t regret the offer once. 

His only remorse was with the clean up efforts. The Infinite creature, Vortex, had left quite the destruction in his wake. Even with many extended members of the League assisting with clean up, it took ages. Search and rescues were active and humanitarian groups had arrived to offer aid but some things couldn’t be done in a weekend. 

The bats returning to Gotham didn’t offer much in the way of a break either. A Scarecrow outbreak with his fear toxin. Three different gangs in the middle of a turf war. A weapons smuggling ring being uncovered… It was one thing after another for a minute. 

When all was said and done it had been nearly two months before Tim had the opportunity to keep his promise. He was in his civvies, standing at the mouth of an alleyway across from a little italian place that looked cheap but was actually the best tasting, most authentic italian place in all of Gotham. Little hole in the wall places often were the best. 

The problem now was his ability to overthink things. Would he summon the king in a glow of green that would light up the street like a beacon? Would he arrive in his ghostly form, crown hovering above his hooded head? 

Phantom looked human enough but was he? Did he come from Earth originally? There were plenty of aliens that looked human. It would be rude to assume… 

What name did he use? Did he need to go full title? Why didn’t he ask more questions when he had the chance?

“King Phantom.” Tim muttered, deciding to just go for it. He still clutched the paper sigil out of sight. “Uh, Ghost King Phantom. King of the Infinite Realm. Um… Or was it High King…” 

“Just Phantom is fine.” 

Tim tensed, all of his hair standing on end at the voice directly behind him in the alley. He hadn’t made a sound but he needed to actively work to exhale and turn around to face his guest. There had been zero indication of his arrival, and he was thankfully, in his living form. 

He was in jeans and an over sized hoodie. Tim could just barely make out a faded NASA written in the front. That was a point in the direction of him possibly being a human from Earth. He wore shoes this time, beat up looking kicks that had seen better days. His hood was also drawn over his head, likely to hide his bony appearance. Tim did spy the tail of his braid over his shoulder though, his hair black to further prove he was in his living form. 

“You…scared the hell out of me.” Tim said, smiling after another hard exhale. “I am sorry it took so long, your Highness.” 

“Phantom.” He corrected, looking around the street and taking it all in. Tim could clock him making note of the turns down the street and the buildings with fire escapes even with his hood up. People just had certain body language when casing an area. “I figured it would be a while, if you summoned me at all. I was not going to hold you to a whim, Red Robin.” 

“I said i would…” Tim muttered. “Uh, it’s Tim, out of uniform. If you don’t mind.” 

“Tim.” He repeated. That softness to his voice remained, and honestly, Tim liked the cadence of it. He liked it as much as he was sure he never wanted to hear Phantom raise his voice. “I understand.” He hesitated only a beat. “You can call me Danny. Phantom is probably a silly thing to call someone in a city like this.” 

“Not if it’s your name.” 

“Danny is okay.” He said, and for whatever reason, Tim noticed now how he kept his hands in his pockets, likely to hide them too. Frail, skeletal looking hands would just frighten some people. “Food? For a favor?” 

“No favor involved. I invited you out.” Tim said. “I mean, maybe we can chat about stuff but you aren’t obligated to answer or anything.” 

Phantom…Danny nodded, shuffling for a moment and looking around again. The height of the buildings seemed to be a mild interest of his. “Where are we eating?” 

“Well, if you like Italian, we’re walking across the street.” He thought pasta and breads would be both filling and flavorful. It would also be something easily packed up for Danny to take with him. 

“I’ll eat anything.” Danny informed him. “I have no preferences after all this time.” He hesitated. “Or maybe i need to rediscover them, but anything will be fine.” 

“Let’s… let’s go then.” Tim said, walking with Danny at his side. He’d made a reservation which wasn’t strictly necessary at such a small place but it gave him the option of reserving a corner table to offer them a little more privacy. 

They walked in, the hostess greeting them with a smile before leading them to their table and leaving them with bread, water, and menus. There were a few other full tables but it wasn’t packed the way it would be in the evening. 

Danny kept his hood up, but it was Gotham and no one questioned the decision. They just left him in peace to not start a conflict with someone who wasn’t causing any trouble. He also kept his hands out of sight until the hostess had left. He sipped the water once and broke off only a little piece of the bread. He buttered it and ate on it while flipping open the menu. 

Tim didn’t know if he was reading the English or Italian parts of the menu but it didn’t matter. Being fluent in reading an Earth language was another check mark for this being his place of origin. 

“Can i…” Tim hummed, keeping in mind that he was speaking with royalty and act a little less like Bruce interrogating a suspect. “Can i ask a couple questions?” 

Danny looked up at him, Tim only barely able to make out some of his features passed the unnatural shadows his hood provided. “Sure.” 

Tim smiled, not even bothering with the menu since he knew what he was getting. “You’re the King of a realm, but was Earth your place of origin?” 

“Yes, but not this Earth.” 

Dimensions! Tim filed that away for later. “You can travel to any of them?” 

“Within reason. Yes. I’m old, but not that old yet. Only eight or nine decades.” He tore another small piece of bread to eat. Tim assumed he was pacing himself. “They call me a baby Ancient still.” 

“That’s cool…” Tim muttered. “Are there many other Earths?” 

“The answer to that would never satisfy you.” Danny said softly. “Trust me. I am the Ancient of Space and i’m hardly satisfied with it.” 

There was a new fact for Tim to latch on. “What’s the-” He stopped when the waitress appeared. Both of them ordered, and Tim was certain he’d end up ordering more halfway through the meal so Danny could take more home with him.  

When the menus were taken and the waitress left again, Tim continued. “What’s the difference between being an Ancient of Space and being the Ghost King.” 

“When i died, or half died, it was my fate to one day become the Ancient of Space. I am that regardless. I won the title of Ghost King.” 

Tim dragged a hand down his face. “That’s…. Endlessly fascinating. I have so many questions.” He didn’t even know how to touch ‘half died’ yet. 

Danny hummed once and fiddled with the end of his braid. “Do i get to ask questions too?” 

“Of course.” 

Danny leaned forward, sipping at his water again. “This Earth has super heroes. That’s interesting. Mine didn’t. How long have you been a hero?” 

Tim nodded, figuring that would be the direction the questions would have wandered towards. They were far enough away from everyone in the restaurant that he didn’t worry about being heard. The music playing in the background also helped a great deal. 

“Hero might be a debate depending on who you ask. In Gotham we’re considered vigilanties. I first suited up at thirteen but it was really more like fourteen after a great deal of training.” 

Danny was quiet for a moment. “And how old are you now? I have trouble telling ages these days…” 

“Eighteen.” Tim said. 

“Young.” Danny muttered. “I was young too. Fourteen when i became the bridge. Sixteen before i really understood what it meant.” 

“The bridge?” 

“Balance. The living and the dead.” 

Tim huffed softly. “You wear a lot of hats, don’t you?”  

Danny made a quiet noise, and it took Tim a beat longer than normal to realize he was laughing. “I do, i wish i didn’t most of the time. It’s fine though.” 

“Just fine?” Tim asked after a beat. He knew a little about expectations and high standards that could weigh you down–both his own standards and other peoples. 

Danny nodded, one of his hands resting on the other. “I’ve seen things. Good things. Bad things. Things that will never happen. Things that have. It’s better i have certain powers because i have no desire to use them.” 

Aah. Tim understood that. “People who want too much power are dangerous.” 

“Exactly.” 

“The power of ruling an entire realm…” 

“Exactly.” 

Tim heaved a sigh. “Damn.” Maybe he should ask something less intense. “Did you enjoy the food we gave you last time? It was just some fast food but there was some worry it wasn’t good enough.” 

“It was great.” Danny said and he sounded sincere. “Nostalgic. It took me a few days to eat all of it. I know the Infinite Realm’s reputation, and it is a warranted reputation, but i’m… hard to offend. Little things are just little things.” 

“I’ll put them at ease then.” 

Danny was quiet for a moment, the silence not an oppressive one. “What is the difference between a hero and a vigilante?” 

“How people perceive us, i guess. Superman will always be seen as a hero. Wholesome and valiant and all that. Things in Gotham are altogether… shadier. Being a vigilante isn’t exactly legal and while we have our boundaries, we break the law all the time.” Tim said. They covered their own tracks well but it was fortunate that no one looked too closely at their activities. 

It didn’t bother Tim when he knew his reasons were still good. 

Danny made a thoughtful kind of noise. “I’m willing to bet Superman’s business isn’t purely legal either. This seems like a nice Earth though, despite whatever troubles you have.” 

“Some hero work is sanctioned by the government so it’s a fine line. Any of it could be argued.” Tim explained, and that was something Danny seemed to find fascinating. 

They paused their conversation again when the waitress appeared with their food, and Tim put in a second order for them to take when they left. The eyes Tim could feel on him told him that Danny already knew what they were for. 

He could hear Danny softly inhale and exhale as he looked at the plate in front of him that came accompanied with salad. He likely wouldn’t be able to eat even a fraction of it but the way he looked at it…. made Tim realize that he could see Danny’s face more clearly. The shadows that obscured his face from his hood had receded. He was still gaunt, but he eyed the food with so much joy. 

The first bite of –non fast food– food nearly seemed to overwhelm him in a good way. 

“You know,” Tim swung hard to change subjects. “We can do a bit of a food tour every time i summon you for lunch. Pizza. Chinese. Barbeque. There’s a great taco truck. We could get something homemade.” 

“You cook?” 

“Haa. No.” Tim said seriously. “But Al… my grandpa is an amazing cook and he seemed to think trading food for world saving services was very sensible but he was appalled that we offered you cheap fries and burgers. He’d honestly love to cook for you.” 

Danny smiled, this shy little look that shouldn’t have fit someone with the title of Ghost King but it sure fit Danny. “That could be nice. Decent home cooked meals are kind of mythological to me.” 

Tim nodded once, and knew better than to ask directly. “I didn’t have a very cuddly upbringing either. There was a lot of take-out involved.” 

“Your food ever come back to life and try to eat you instead?” Danny asked and Tim just stared. 

“I can’t…tell if that’s a real question or if you’re messing with me.” 

Danny smiled and was that a hint of fangs? “Dead serious.” 

Time groaned. “No, no you are a king. You are not making puns.” 

“Thinking i’m too mature for puns is a grave mistake.” Danny said without hesitation. 

“Noo.” Tim groaned, lips upturned into a smile. His brothers could never know about this. Dick would start a pun off and Jason’s morbid sense of humor about his own death…. Ugh, it would be bad. 

It did bring up the interesting question of Danny’s age. He said he’d been alive for decades but how did he mature. Was he still a teenager? Did he age slowly? Asking not only sounded like a bad idea, but Raven and Zatanna had both made sure he knew it was a question to not ask. 

They chatted, they ate, or well, Tim ate. Danny ate a bite every few minutes and looked thrilled about it but he was slowing down. Tim was looking forward to Danny being able to eat more with every visit. 

He flagged down the waitress, gesturing for a box and got a thumbs up in return. 

“You can take it with you.” Tim said when Danny was giving him a look. “It might be a couple days before i can call you again and this way you’ll have enough to eat every day.” 

“I can’t deny that.” Danny said. “You don’t have to keep summoning me.”

“I promised you lunches.” Tim said firmly. “And you said it yourself, you should eat more and spend more time in a living realm. You may as well take advantage of being summoned for food.” 

“Hm…” Danny played with the end of his braid again. “You do make a compelling argument. It’s nice to talk to someone without it being preceded by a brawl.” 

Tim stared, “What?” 

Danny just looked amused. “I’ll explain to you etiquette in the Infinite Realm sometime.” 

“Yeah?” 

The waitress returned with boxes for Danny to pack up his meal and the empty dishes were whisked away to make more room on the table while they waited for their to-go orders. 

They were almost startled when a second waitress reappeared with a few little dishes before they could begin speaking again. Everything was set in the middle of the table, presumably for them to share. There was a piece of white peach tart, a bowl of strawberry gelato, and a slice of frozen chocolate chip meringata. 

“Um…” Tim blinked. “We didn’t-”

The waitress chuckled. “It was ordered for you by another patron. Please enjoy.” She set down another set of utensils for them and walked away. 

Danny made a small sound in his throat. “Well i was full but how could i say no to a couple more bites…” 

“Wait.” Tim said, gaze subtly shifting around the room. Maybe he was trained to be paranoid, but it usually served him well. What he found almost instantly had his eye twitching. 

Not even halfway across the room sat a poorly disgusted Dick wearing large sunglasses, a fedora, and the world's least convincing mustache. When he saw Tim looking and grinned and raised his own wine glass. 

“I gotta kill my brother…” 

Danny sputtered out a laugh, so genuinely amused that Tim could definitely see his fangs as he laughed.

“That would make him my problem.” Danny pointed out, reaching for a spoon to try the gelato first. 

“I’m not seeing your point.” Tim said, delighted by Danny’s teasing. It was a rookie mistake to think one of his siblings wouldn’t find out about this. An absolute blunder that he hadn’t noticed Dick walking in after them at all. He’d never live it down. 

“Guess i’ll have to be more careful next time.” He added. 

Danny hummed again and seemed to have a fondness for the cold dessert. “I could always invite you to my realm sometime.” 

“Cool.” Tim said instantly. Ha, let them try to follow him then…

[ectolilly]

Daniel J. Phantom

Age: REDACTED

Species: REDACTED

Rank: Lt. Commander

Day 6: Immortal AU + Star Trek

The immortal thing is kind of a key part of this crossover. Plus I thought it would be fun to do some more of this with TNG characters.

Some more art and ideas under the cut.

Some additional background:

Danny doesn't really care at this point who knows he's half ghost, but the Federation is concerned what their enemies might think if they knew they had an officer that can phase through walls, become invisible and fly through space. So officially, they try to keep it on the down low.

Starfleet definitely tries to push him into spy work, but Danny is not about that. He will do what he's gotta do to save the day though.

He should definitely be a higher rank than he is, but Danny has no interest in climbing the bureaucratic ladder.

He goes on long 'leaves of absence' to take care of stuff in the Ghost zone and for a change of pace, but he keeps coming back to Starfleet. The exictemnet of exploration never golets old and the good they do fulfills his desire to be a hero. And with his lifespan, he has the unique opportunity to do what no other space explorer could; to eventually experience it all.

Danny was on a long sabbatical when he heard about the successor to the Enterprise. He just had to check it out. Because the stuff the last one got up to? Was Wild.

[chocmoon-latte]

The amount of posts/fanart/memes I've already seen surrounding Cooper and Hancock only proves to me that Hancock NEEDS to make a cameo in a later season. Somehow. I need them to get in a knife fight. I need them to get up in each other's faces and kiss intimidate each other.

Cooper's look was originally supposed to have black eyes and have scars identical to the Fallout 4 design, but the idea was ultimately scrapped. Boy oh boy, who else has black eyes and- HANCOCK. Hancock does. HE looks like that. This was clearly a sign from the universe.

[starry-bi-sky]

I am procrastinating homework and finals studying so I'm making another DPxDC au -- or more accurately, I am making an au of an au. or combining two aus to make a third one, because I am Procastinating And thinking about it.

(the part two for my Danny is Jason Todd au is like,,, half-made and I will get around to finishing it, promiiissse)

So the two aus I had in mind were combining, of course, the two clone aus - the Danny Clone and the Damian Clone au. For folks who haven't seen either posts (or saw one but not the other) here are summaries of both:

Damian Clone Au: The LoA make a clone of Damian Wayne specifically to either kill Damian Wayne and have the clone take his place as the heir to the LoA, or to bring him back. At 6 years old though and through magical teleportation mishaps, Baby Damian ends up in the warehouse district of Amity Park and picked up (and later adopted) by Danny Fenton. They develop a brotherly dynamic with one another.

Danny Clone Au: Danny is straight up a clone of Bruce Wayne, doesn't find out until a year after he has his accident. And, for the fun of it, is also mostly-powerless (he retains his ghost sense and a semblance of a ghost core and signature, but no ghost form). His reasoning for becoming Phantom is because he has walked into the lab watching his parents dissecting ghosts post-portal working more times than he can count. And due to this, changes his beliefs from "ghosts are evil" to "ghosts are sentient and sapient beings who don't deserve this treatment". (masterpost pinned on my blog, its currently incomplete) He is also a little GNC, as a treat. Long-haired Danny ftw. Ellie is a halfa because of the ectoplasm that Vlad used, and also the same age as Danny. They call each other twins and she is viciously protective of him. He uses a baseball bat and brass knuckles that I call 'jawbreakers' to fight ghosts.

Now admittedly, not much probably changes with the combination of these aus other than the potential parallels between Damian and Danny, and Bruce and Damian - and of course, I am always a sucker for parallels. Plus Damian's running off would take Danny finding him much longer, since he can no longer fly, but all the more meaningful because he still took so much time to find him.

(It probably also makes their first meeting different as well - Danny wears a ROTTMNT Casey Jones Jr. esq. mask when he goes out, but Damian would recognize lazarus green anywhere. He'd probably try harder to kill him though once he sees his face, since he knows that its not his father but an imposter.)

It also includes what I consider a hilarious conversation: "Since I'm a clone of Bruce Wayne, does this make me your dad or your brother?" "Don't be an idiot, laeazir." "You didn't answer my question."

The biggest change that comes from this is, of course, the fact that Danny now no longer has a leg to stand on with the "you're a human, I am a ghost" excuse in order to prevent Damian to help him with ghost-fighting, because now Danny is also a squishy, fleshy and fragile human just like Damian. And a human who, arguably, has less combat training than Damian and no powers to make up for it.

Now, Danny in both aus are about 16-17-ish in age, so they've had time to adapt to their new vigilante-hero lifestyle, but its still not the same as Damian's training as an assassin. Damian, unlike in the original clone au, remains insistent on his want to help Danny.

And,,, eventually wears him down after weeks or months of sneaking out after him, helping in fights, interfering, arguing, etc. Danny eventually agrees, exhausted, but he makes Damian promise, promise, that he will be careful and to focus on dodging and distraction. At least until Danny can figure out a safer alternative. He wants him as far removed from the fight as he can, he's a child for ancient's sake, after all.

Which is another issue too - if we follow Damian Clone timeline, then Damian is six years old when this happens. I'll be point blank, I do not see Danny ever actually agreeing to let a literal 6 year old go with him. SO, solution, I bump Damian's age to 7 when he arrives in the Fenton Family, and make him freshly eight years old when he finally gets Danny to agree.

It still SUCKS. He is still very much an itty bitty child, but as someone who has seen the difference between a six year old and an eight year old due to working at a daycare, an eight year old is still... slightly feasible. And an 8 year old assassin even more so (even if he hasn't trained properly in nearly a year or so)

So Danny, reluctantly, agrees to let Damian come with him on patrols.

He ghost-proofs Damian's sword (as he has since learned to do with his bat and jawbreakers), makes him a grappling hook and a Fenton thermos, and reluctantly lets Damian come with in his old LoA uniform that he appeared in (with some tailoring and ghost-proofing, because he has since begun to grow out of the uniform).

(and Danny himself also finally starts looking into alternatives to improve his own "suit" - which is all but a hoodie and reinforced jeans and a hockey mask. He needs to set an example to his little brother, goddammit.)

Then, as they're planning for Damian's eventual (dreaded on Danny's part) debut, they sit in their shared room and brainstorm for what to call Damian. "Ellie already uses the name Spirit." Danny says, sitting criss-cross at his desk with the eraser nub of a pencil chewed between his teeth.

(Behind him he has an investigative corkboard set up -- his accident left him with the ability to see ghosts not capable of being seen on the visible plane. 'Stereotypical' ghosts. Between school work, his social life, and ghost fighting, some of his downtime is spent figuring out ways to help them move on. His most recent is a cold case.)

(Bc with Danny, I loove to have him have some sort of trait that ties him in with his original counterpart. Nature vs Nurture and all that. Investigative work can be part of that.)

"What about Wraith?" Damian suggests from the floor, leaning against the bed frame while he goes over one of his english books. They've been practicing his reading and writing.

Danny furrows his brows. "A ghost seen typically shortly after or before someone's death?"

Damian nods. "Yes, it's of a similar cadence to 'Batman and Robin'."

"What's with you and your thing with Batman and Robin?" Danny asks with a playful half-smile, Damian shrugs and looks at his books. Danny sticks the eraser back between his incisors. "Phantom and Wraith... that works, though."

The first night out together, Danny fusses over Damian, making sure every bit of uniform was secured and in place -- something Damian took mild offense over. His outfit was far more reinforced than the juvenile get-up that his older brother wore.

But he let him fuss anyways. It made him loved.

"Now remember, Wraith--"

Damian interrupts him: "Yes, I know, Dany. Avoid and distract. Stay situationally aware. I fear that is something I should be telling you, however. Mother would have your head if she ever saw what your training was like."

(It was, not for the first time, that Damian wondered how his,,, "mother",,, would react if she ever met Danyal. Not good, he knows.)

Danny's shoulders sag, and he sighs. "I believe that, what with that super-secret spy--"

"Assassin."

Danny sends him a half-hearted chagrined look, "Assassin," he corrects, "organization that made you. I'm sure I'd give your mother an aneurysm." When he's finally okay with whatever make-believe issues he found with his suit, Danny reaches for the nearby side table and carefully slips on a black domino mask over Damian's eyes. It was thin, flexible, and made with some kind of material that Danny reassured was environmentally safe.

("Some kind of matieral that Wayne Industries invented awhile ago, Sam bought it for me." Danny told him when he first showed it to him.)

It was also cold. But the chill was made up for, slightly, with Danny's warmer hands smoothing it out over his skin, and ridding of any ridges that could form. Damian isn't sure entirely what Danyal did to keep it stuck onto his face, but when he touches it with his fingers he feels a very faint seam at the edge, and it doesn't budge against his hands. It felt like a second skin.

"There we go." Danny smiles, pulling his hands back. He still looks nervous. "It's not the same as my hockey mask," which sat atop his head, ready to be pulled down, "but I think a domino mask will work better for you considering your background."

He was right, a hockey mask would only hurt Damian's peripheral vision. This mask was thin enough that it didn't.

"Ready to go, Wraith?"

"After you, Phantom."

+++

Damian has much issue with Danny's suit. He can think of a million ways to make it better. It is one of the things he and Samantha Manson can get along with, and the few times they have spent time together they have brainstormed suit ideas. He knows that since Danny took him on as Wraith, he has started to look into better suit alternatives.

However. They are both aware of the same thing:

Danny is not Batman, nor Superman, nor Wonder Woman, nor Aquaman, or the Flash, or Green Arrow, or Nightwing, or any single hero on the public roster. He is also not rich like Lex Luthor or Vlad Masters or Bruce Wayne himself.

He has no money and no contacts, and thus, no way of properly improving his suit to be something even half as safe as the other supers.

And he refuses to let Samantha Manson help him find a way to fix that - even with all that money, Samantha Manson is on an allowance from her parents, and also, despite her other range of abilities, not capable of getting those materials without putting herself on a list of some sort. They are at a standstill.

Damian knows this, because he has asked.

Until one day when Danny is talking about a case he is working on and telling Damian about old adventures he had in the Ghost Zone, does he see his brother get hit with a lightbulb.

He slaps a hand against his forehead and straightens up from his swivel seat. He huffs a laugh, "Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner?" And he turns on his heel and hurries to his bookshelf, pulling down a notebook and flipping open to an empty page.

Damian frowns, "Laeazir?"

"I know you don't like my suit, Damian," Danny says, striding over to his desk and snatching a pencil out of a cup. He begins jotting something down on the notebook. "And there's nothing I can really do about it because, well, I'm poor in comparison to my facesake, and I don't have the resources to get my hands on someone who would make me a new suit."

"Yes, we have talked about this..." Damian nods slowly, still frowning, and trying to follow his brother's line of reasoning.

Danny shoots him a megawatt, half-tilt smile, his hair tied up into a half-bun. "But! I was thinking about it from the wrong angle. I don't have the living resources to help me get a suit, but..." he trails off, staring at Damian intently.

It dinged in Damian's brain to where he was going, "But you have the undead resources instead." He says, his eyes widening slowly. Of course, of course! Danyal was ridiculously charismatic by accident, and Damian has seen plenty of times where his heart-of-gold had one or two non-hostile ghosts be incredibly grateful to him.

His brother makes a loud, 'ding-ding-ding!' sound, pointing his pencil at Damian as his smile stretches further across his face. In a few quick strides, he was sat down next to Damian and showing him his notebook. "Correct! When I first started out as Phantom a few years ago, I managed to help a ghost who called herself Taylor, and apparently she was a seamstress both in and out of life."

Damian watches as Danny writes the name at the top of the paper, and creates bullet-points down the page. "She said that in return for saving her, I should come find her in the Ghost Zone if I ever need clothes made for me. It's a one-time thing, but I was thinking that she could perhaps help make me a new suit."

Danny turns a bit pink at the ears, and rubs his neck, "I never thought much of it because I didn't think I'd ever go into the Ghost Zone, or ever need ghost clothes, so I forgot about it up until now."

A scoff forces itself out of Damian's mouth, but he is smiling. "Danyal, you are the smartest idiot I have ever met."

For the next hour, both he and Danny make a bullet point list of what both of their suits would need. Reinforcement in certain areas, gauntlets with reinforced knuckles to replace Danyal's jawbreakers. A different weapon than a bat.... a utility belt, reinforced boots. Anything they could think of.

It was Damian's idea to add a cloak to both of their suits, asymmetrical and torn at the edges for a more 'ghostly' look. They have a theme, after all. It's quite fun.

Then Danyal calls up Sam for help in drafting up design ideas. And while Danyal steps mostly to the side when it comes to the design itself, Damian and Sam fill pages with designs until coming up with one they both agreed on and like.

"What about a lightning bolt on the chest?" "Why are we using my traumatic accident as a symbol of my identity?" "Ghosts do it all the time, Danny. Ember sings about her death." "I'm not dead?" "No that won't work, Manson. Shazam already has a giant lighting bolt emblem." "Okay, but I still want to use it somewhere." "How about this?" "...That could work. Okay, now onto your emblem--"

Last was the hard part: getting into the Ghost Zone without the Fenton parents noticing the disappearance of their precious Fenton Specter Speeder. They employed Jazz's help with that. She would get the Fentons out of the house long enough for him and Danny to get into the ghost zone, hopefully find the seamstress, and cash in that favor.

They went through with their plan that following weekend. Danny tossed Damian a small jumpsuit as they both climbed into the specter speeder, but did not grab his own. He had a small duffle bag on him that he threw under the seat.

"What is this?" Damian asks, nose scrunching up at the gaudy picture of Jack Fenton's face square at the center of the chest. He held it far away from it, as if it had a disease.

"Your hazmat suit." Danny replies, settling himself into the driver's seat as the door hissed shut and he began turning it on. He had some sort of gas mask on in his lap, too small to fit Danny's head, but certainly the right size to fit Damian's. "Normally you wouldn't need it since you'd stay in the speeder, but we're both getting out once we find Taylor. It's to protect you from the ectoplasm."

A scowl forces itself across Damian's face, "You don't have one." He points out, finding seat in the passenger chair next to Danny. His arms cross over his chest, and he was not pouting.

Danny looks at him amusedly, "I have enough ectoplasm in my body that I don't need one, you however, do not." He retorts, poking a finger into Damian's ribcage pointedly. "If you don't put it on now, you'll put it on when we find Taylor."

Damian's scowl deepens, feeling petulant as he sunk into his chair. Danny turns back to the console and flips a few more switches. "I will not, it looks ridiculous." He turns it around to show Danny the Jack Fenton Face.

The Specter Speeder hums to life, and there's a moment of turbulence as it lifts off the ground. While it does, Danny turns back to him blankly, stares at the emblem, and then reaches forward and yanks it off with a scriiiiich of the emblem. He crumples it up with one hand, and throws it into a small bin at his feet.

"There, fixed." He smiles. Then turns back to the controls, taking the yoke with both hands. "And I'm calling Dad Rights; you will put it on when we find Taylor or you'll stay in the speeder."

Damian sputters, sitting up incredulously. "You are not my father." He argues.

"Teeechnically, I am." Danny says, "I'm a clone of your father, and since I am fully his clone, that makes you my son by a technicality." He says cheerfully, pushing the specter speeder forward and into the swirling green portal.

Before Damian can retort, they're passing through the portal. This was his first time going into the Ghost Zone, and for a few seconds there was nothing but bright, swirling green filling his vision. His body felt like it was being twisted and pulled, his up and down reversing and returning. It was painless, but dizzying.

It only lasts for a few seconds, but it feels like a minute, and when they exit out the other side, Damian is holding his head while his vision spots and swims. Internally, he felt like those cartoon characters when their eyeballs rolled around in their head.

The dizziness fades away slowly, and as Damian regains his sight, he notices Danny's hand splayed over his sternum, gently keeping him pressed against his seat. It fell away when Danny saw that he was alright.

"Put your seatbelt on," Danny orders, nodding to his chair. Damian listens absently, before remembering their conversation before they went through the portal.

"That is not how it works." He scowls, and, annoyingly, only gets a challenged eyebrow raise from Danny. He could see the words written on his face without Danyal ever having to say it.

Because, dangit, he was technically right. Damian refuses to say this aloud. He screws his jaw shut, and crosses his arms back across his chest.

Danny chuckles under his breath, and turns his eyes back to the ghost zone. "My point still stands, either you wear the suit, or you don't leave the speeder."

"Fine."

+++

They eventually find where the seamstress is. Through quite a lot of Danny stopping to ask questions with any friendly ghost he came across, they eventually locate an island with a strange, urban city bustling with life on it. Massive, rocky stalagmites grew from the ground, and buildings were built on top of it or around it, with strange, warping architecture.

It was oddly beautiful.

Danny parked the speeder on the side of the street with a two hour parking sign on a nearby post. As he turned off the engine, he flipped a switch on the console that darkened the windows. He unbuckles his seat, and stood up, stretching out his back with a deep groan.

"Alright, put your suit on. The windows are tinted, so nobody should be able to see into the speeder." He orders, pulling out the duffle he brought in earlier and unzipping it. He pulls out his hockey mask and the hoodie he wore out for patrol, and the notebook they'd been using to jot down ideas for their suit.

Danny even had the hindsight to write in their respective heights, and with Tucker's help, some of their measurements. While he did that, Damian sourly pulled on his hazmat suit, irritated by the need to wear it.

Unfortunately, he also had to wear the boots and gloves for 'extra precaution'. Damian nearly bites out a grumpy 'you're as paranoid as father', but holds his tongue. He wasn't going to tell Danyal that secret.

Once he was done and Danny has his hockey mask and hoodie on, Danny grabs the gas mask and helps fit it over Damian's face. It was a sleek, simple design, shaped similarly to a regular face mask, with little filters on both sides of the mouth and a clear, protective covering around the eyes and forehead. Danyal improved it from the original his parents made.

He was smarter than he gave himself credit for.

Danny checks, then double checks that it the mask is tight, then smiles. Patting Damian's shoulders before standing up fully. "Taylor's shop should be somewhere nearby." He says, grabbing the notebook and tucking it under his arm.

Damian nods, and follows him out the door and onto the busy streets.

Finding Taylor becomes remarkably quick now that they were inside her city - something that Damian silently wondered was based loosely off NYC. Danny kept a firm arm around Damian's shoulders the entire time they walked down the street, keeping the both of them on the inside sidewalk.

Barely anyone passed them a second glance, spare the few odd looks shot at Damian. Danny whispers to him the first time it happens that it's because he has no ghost core, those more attune to their signatures might've been picking up on it.

They didn't notice Danny, because he had one, albeit a weak one.

Taylor's shop has a big sign on it in logographic writing that Damian has no idea how to read. The text shifts slowly, a jambled squiggle of lines, dots, and connected curves that look like a mix of messy cursive, gibberish, and logographic alphabets. He only knows its Taylor's shop because Danny pulls them towards it, stating that it was the place.

"You can read that?" He asks, incredulous as they draw closer to the door. Danny moves his arm off his shoulder, and wraps his fingers around Damian's instead.

"Yep," He replies, then scrunches his nose up, "sort of. It's - uh--" he stumbles over a word that Damian's ears cannot comprehend, but fills his head with slight static regardless. Danny winces. "It's the written form of ghostspeak, but since I'm not a ghost, I can only read some of it. Like uh, dyslexia."

"...I see." Damian says after a moment of silence, trying to replay the word in his head. His mind can't grasp the sound.

When they enter, the door doesn't ding with the sound of a bell, but rather it makes a low scream. Nobody bats an eye to the sound, keeping to their slow search through the racks of clothes.

At the counter was a woman talking quietly to another woman, one of whom Danny recognizes, as he walks over to her.

He doesn't need to say anything, because the woman behind the counter sees him coming, and her face positively lights up with delight. "Phantom!" She cries, and gestures to come over. "I was wondering when in the high ancients you were going to come see me!"

Danny's face is obscured by his mask, but Damian knows he's smiling sheepishly with the way he tilts his head and the way he tenses his shoulders. "My bad, Miss Taylor," he says, reaching the counter and standing beside the woman she was talking to, "It kinda... slipped my mind."

Taylor waves her hand dismissively, "Well you are here now!" She replies, grinning wide. Then her eyes pop open - literally - and she puts a hand over her chest. "Oh, how rude of me!" She turns and gestures between Phantom and the lady next to him, "Miss Mabam, this is Phantom. I told you about him a couple of years ago. He saved me from humans. Phantom, this is Gigi Mabam, she funds my shop. In return I make clothes for her and her staff."

The 'Gigi' woman turns just as Danny does, and smiles wide at him. Damian narrows his eyes at her, shuffling behind Danny legs as he looked her up and down. She had silvery-white hair and purple skin, and wore a darker purple business suit, a red gem cravat at her collar, and teal cat-eye glasses.

There was a lot of purple.

"So this is the ghost-touched you were telling me about, dear!" The woman, Mabam, said. Her voice was rich and low but she spoke in a whimsical cadence. It made Damian's skin crawl, and his narrowed eyes turned into a glare. "I must thank you for saving my seamstress, it would've been quite a fizzy-wink if she had been lost to those ghosty hunters."

What were those nonsense words? Damian hated it.

"Miss Mabam here runs a five-star hotel nearby," Taylor explains, her body turned to Danny, "she also is in charge of the city's Battle Nexus."

Danny is silent for a moment, and his free hand lifts and places itself on the back of Damian's head, keeping him close. "Battle Nexus...?"

Mabam claps cheerfully, laughing low, "Oh yes! Ghosts from all around the zone come to attend and watch as their fellow haunties are ripped from limbity-limb in a blood-curdling battle!"

Danny is still as stone. "I see." He says, careful. Damian wraps his fingers around his pant leg. "Well, I hate to interrupt your conversation, but I was hoping to cash in that favor, Miss Taylor?"

"Of course! What do you need?"

Danny looks down at Damian, and he looks up at him, locking eyes with the ominous green glowing from the eyeslits of his mask. He nods, and Danny looks back up. "Do you know how to make suits? Of the protective kind?"

+++

The seamstress it turns out, is capable of such a thing. And she ushers the both of them into one of the backrooms, sending off Mabam with a farewell and a promise to continue their conversation soon.

She flips through their design book, and immediately gets to work making their suits. In the end, with the help of her powers, she gets both done over the span of four hours. It's longer than both Danny and Damian want, but neither rush her.

Damian just hopes that Jasmine can keep the Fenton parents distracted for that long. She will have to.

The suits are better in real life than on paper, and Damian preens from the side in his own custom suit as Danny examines his own in front of the three mirrors. They were both dressed in all black, but whatever fabric Taylor used was of a blackest-black, turning Danyal - and Damian's - bodies into a black hole to look at. Both of them were fitted for agility, with reinforced padding around their shoulders and chests, as well as around the joints of their legs. Their boots were reinforced as well.

("It was hard to make your boots shock absorbent," Taylor explains, "since we all fly, but I applied similar stuff to what I did with your shoulders and chestplate.")

On the side of Danyal's legs were raised, black, lichtenberg-like figures that were contained to the seams and disappeared under his boots. There were similar designs going up his sleeves, with spiked gauntlets wrapped around his lower arm and hands. The knuckles were reinforced, just like he wanted.

Damian's favorite parts were their capes, however. Black like the rest of the outfit, but "wrapped" around their shoulders like an apocalyptic shawl with a back that went down to their knees, and at the hems the capes were torn and ripped like a wraith. Danyal's mask had gone through very little change. It was made of a stronger material, and Taylor had gone and made it more skull-like in its shape, with three large grills at the front, and the sides curving inward below the 'cheekbones' of the skull to better fit his face. It was still shock white, the only white part of Danyal's entire costume.

Damian's suit was almost identical. However, rather than having the seams of his suit resemble lichtenberg figures, the seams of his sleeves and upper torso were that of a black skeleton, with bone-y designs over his gauntlets and the fingers an ombre of dark red-to-black. And around his torso were raised lines that looked similar to a ribcage. The edge of his cloak was splatter a dark red as well. And he had a new domino mask that looked similar to the upper half of Danyal's mask, with the outer edges curved downward over his cheekbones. He was briefly allowed to take off the upper part of his gas mask to try on the mask.

The best part however, was that since the suits were made of material native to the ghost zone, they could also be taken off quickly and hidden in a small artifact. It was magic, is what it was. Danyal chose earrings, and Damian chose a ring.

When they got back to the Fenton house, Jazz demands a box of chocolate for her hard work. Damian thinks that's only fair as Danny takes them both out to get candy for Jazz.

+++

But other than vigilante stuff, not else much changes. Danny gets to pull a "Dad By Technicality Rule" card over Damian when he's being a brat. Danny doesn't have his run in with Rift (a ghost who portals him into Gotham) until after he meets Damian/lets Damian join him on patrol and when they get new suits.

My reason? Because I want it to happen after that point in time lol. It also makes the eventual "heyyyyy you have a clone" @ bruce much funnier to me because not only does he have a clone of HIMSELF but also THAT clone has a clone of Damian living with him.

Also when Danny destabilizes for the first time Damian is terrified for his safety. The fentons are surprisingly good at cloning, Danny hasn't had any issues up until this point in time, and that's only because he got hit with a new gun from Skulker that messed up the ectoplasm he had in his dna, which in term fucked with his own DNA.

Danny's destabilization, imo, is not "I cast you with Melt" he's not Ellie, he's not made of 50% ectoplasm. His parents surprisingly knew what they were doing, and he was human. So his destabilization should be unique to himself and different. Thus his destabilization is "I cast you with Compromised Immune System" his body slowly weakens over time as his cells destabilize. He becomes unnaturally frail and sick. Damian calls Ellie for help when Danny doesn't get up after being hit in a fight that he normally, and Ellie helps figure out that he's destabilizing. This is whats gonna happen in OG clone au too, but Ellie is going to be there rather than Damian.

It makes going to Wayne Manor after that slightly more interesting,,,

[a-selkie-abroad]

Vlad really DOES enjoy being mayor (it lets him get petty revenge). x

[kiruyeen]

the entity's punishme- I mean gift :]]

danny just doesnt like eldritch or supernatural horror dont blame him

[ovytia-art]

First day of DannyMay complete! Fantasy AU is just my excuse to draw Moth!Danny

DannyMay Masterlist

[grumpznsuch]

i got a cameo from danny so i requested red wine supernova by chappell roan and it’s truly life-changing <3

i knew his voice would be AMAZING for the song! i love chappell & danny so much, i had to combine them as a special little treat for myself and it was 100% worth it :)

[holypowell]

does it ever drive you crazy..

[thebucketpail]

When You Accidentally Kill a Clown pt.4

Alright bestie you know the drill. Uh, this one's a bit longer than usual though. Enjoy?

Pt.1

To say Danny was having a bad day would be the understatement of the century. Well it wasn’t really a bad ‘day’ more like a terrible series of events that just kept getting worse. Oddly enough, though, this terrible horrible day did not start with killing the Joker, then promptly getting interrogated by a surprisingly cute serial killer/ crime boss/ vigilante. In fact it actually started seven hours earlier at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Danny’s roommate had practically kicked him out of the dorm so he could have ‘date night with his girlfriend’ but it was said in a way that made Danny nope out of there real fast.

‘It’s fine, I’ll just use this time to explore Gotham a bit,” he thought to himself. Turns out Gotham, with its incredibly high crime rate and massive amount of curses - seriously? How could one city be this cursed- has a lot of ghosts. Ghosts that seem to be very happy someone can see them. This would have been fine, Danny would have been happy to help, If they hadn’t swarmed him.

Mere moments after he had addressed a shade Danny had found themself in the middle of a mob, shades, imprints, spirits, etc, all vying for attention, help with something here, or just plain attention.

It took them 3 hours to lose the mob.

And it wasn’t even all of them, a few blob ghosts clung to him as he explored the piers, shades following at his heels, weaving in and out of shadows bringing general bad luck because of course, why not.

Danny just wanted a scoop of icecream? Sorry it fell on the floor. Oh look at that his shoes are untied, would be a shame if he- ouch that must have hurt. Just trying to sit on a bench and relax? Aww that's a cute seagull, here have some of Danny’s pretzel. Okay thats enough- ow what the fuck? Ack no stop! stop-!

So yeah, exploring the pier turned out to be not the most safe idea for all the strangest reasons. Danny had to leave before the shades did any real damage like throwing him into the bay, or splitting the boardwalk underneath him.

Danny had just lost yet another pack of attention seeking ghosts when he felt the eyes. It was the uncomfortable prickling that made the hair on his arms and neck stand on end. “Just find a place to get dinner, it’ll be fine," he thought, quickening his pace toward the batburger he had designated on a map he’d found at the pier.

Now what Danny didn’t know, being new to town and all, was that Park Row was not a place you should be walking by yourself, at night, with black hair and blue eyes. That was just asking for trouble, and oh boy trouble they got. Before a single thought could flash through their head, Danny had been pulled into an alley, a large figure pinning their hands behind their back. Danny twisted around, trying to gain purchase and maybe get a look at their attackers face, but stiffened as they spoke, low and gruff.

“Awww what’re you doing in crime alley all alone kiddie?” he crooned, “Don’t you know it's not safe?” Danny’s growing panic reached a peak as another figure melted out of the shadows of the dingy alley, “Boss, what do you think? He could be a Wayne." The ‘Boss’ leaned forward to inspect Illuminated by a nearby streetlight. Danny’s eyes blew wide at the painted white face, impossibly huge smile, puke green hair, and pristine purple suit in front of him.

He hardly heard him berate the goon

“This isn’t a Wayne you imbecile, it's just some random street rat” Hey

“But- he could be, he fits the bill,” the conversation drowned out as Danny stared, stock still. They could feel the ectoplasm in their blood pooling at their fingertips, the tingling sensation sending prickles down their spine.

The last thought that crossed their mind before a flash of green enveloped the alley was; ‘Fuck, I hate clowns.’

When the light died down they were free, the goon a few feet away on the ground, eyes wide in shock or horror, they couldn’t tell. Danny, eyes no doubt still glowing, followed his gaze to the crumpled purple mass at his feet. Oh shit.

“You- you- I’m getting out of here,” the goon shouted, pointing a shaking finger at him as he scrambled away. Danny just stared down at the clown in shock. Sure he’d fought a lot of dead people but ancients he’d never killed someone himself. Taking a deep breath he tried remembering those grounding tricks Jazz had taught him to ward off panic. He focused on his breathing, closing his eyes as the steady rhythm of his too slow heart beat in his ears. After a few moments he exhaled deeply, running a shaking hand through his hair as the other reached for his phone.

And, well, we know this part.

-------

It was almost 1 am by the time Hood got Danny back to their dorm. They had of course protested that they didn’t need the escort and it's all fine- because truly Danny had no intentions of returning to their dorm- but Hood had insisted, continuing the interrogation as they walked.

“Do you have any siblings”

“two”

“Where are you from?”

“illinois”

“What's your favorite color?”

“Green probably”

At the very least the questioning served to calm Danny’s nerves and distract them from the less-than-happy thoughts. There was also something about Hood that made Danny’s core pull in his chest. Aside from very obviously smelling like death- something he had chalked up to being a serial killer/ crime boss/ vigilante - the man kept making his ghost sense go off, but it always caught in his throat rather than escaping. Danny had almost choked the first time and it was starting to get annoying, it reminded him of being around Vlad. It piqued his interest regardless.

So when the noises coming through the door confirmed that; no, Danny should not go try entering his dorm and that he would definitely not be getting what little sleep his body could manage after the night’s events, he decided on some reconnaissance. Because if he wasn’t getting sleep, he would be at least getting answers for that weird feeling. He let invisibility wash over him and retraced his steps back to the building entrance. Hood was long gone but it didn’t matter. Danny soon took to the sky, staying low enough he wasn’t breathing in the dense clouds

of smog but still high enough to scan the streets from above the rooftops.

It felt amazing honestly. He hadn’t been able to fly since before he got to Gotham, and while it the air wasn’t as clean and the sky wasn’t a glowing blanket of stars like it was in Amity, but with the rush of wind, subtle glow of the street lights, and the soft din of night traffic, it still reminded him of home. In a way it was peaceful, if you discounted the ever present police sirens, occasional pop of gunfire, and general filthiness of the city.

As Danny wove through the street and alleys of Gotham he couldn’t help but to think about his hometown. He knew Amity would be protected of course. The GIW hadn’t been a threat since the Meta Human protection acts were passed, even though ghosts weren’t considered metas the investigation had been enough to disband the agency. His parents probably couldn't pose too much of a threat to any ghosts, especially with the portal being closed (he'd made Valerie promise to keep it shut, since she'd decided to stay in Amity), and even if someone from his rogues gallery managed to make it through, Red Huntress was more than capable to handle it.

Jazz had even managed to drill it into their head that Danny wasn’t responsible for the protection of Amity, as much as they thought they were. Being a hero didn’t make them happy, at least not in the way they were. Danny actually loved helping people, and fighting his rouges on occasion. But being Phantom was so stressful, the late nights, the missed school, the barely dodged calls to cps, it was all so much. So Danny had given up Phantom just in time to start senior year. Granted it was a little late to completely turn his academic career around, but he made an effort and now he’s studying Engineering at Gotham University on a near complete scholarship from the Wayne foundation. All of this though and Danny still felt an inkling of worry for his town, even if it was in capable hands. He was working on it though.

He knew back at the start of senior year that he wouldn’t be able to hang up Phantom forever, afterall he was a part of Danny that couldn’t be ignored (it would quite literally be detrimental to his health), that and the fact that he existed on the precipice of life and death meant he would always have some ghost or another vying for his attention. One of his regulars wanting a fight, someone new deciding they want to test his mettle, or just a lower powered ghost wanting some help, and as long as it didn’t affect his schedule too much or get him too high on the Bats radar Danny would be happy to oblige.

So he didn’t mind it much when, after he’d started losing hope in finding Hood - Damn that guy can disappear- he felt his ghost sense go off. The sharp air escaped his lungs in a sudden gasp, never failing to stop his chest for a moment. Danny felt the ice melt in his mouth as he scanned the streets for whomever had set it off. He couldn’t see anything but something- someone- was pulling at his core, beckoning him to a nearby rooftop.

There wasn't anything special about this particular building, just an old beat down 24/7 convenience store. Danny flew around it a few times before landing gently on the roof’s edge. They didn't know what they should be looking for as the area seemed to be entirely empty. But his confusion proved to be short lived when the surrounding shadows seemingly condensed in front of them. The dim and flickering neon sign to their left somehow got dimmer and more flickery, and what little moonlight that had wormed its way through the thick clouds was all but swallowed by the swirling mass of shadow.

The massive shadow was towering almost three feet over Danny by the time it began taking shape. And it wasn’t quite humanoid, but the flowing gown and veil reminded them of a mourning widow. Her eye glowed a flickering grey, and her skin was made of the same shadow as her gown. She was beautiful, Danny’s breath caught in their throat. They didn’t know why, but they dropped to one knee, bowing their head to the shadowy figure.

The woman chuckled, a sweet chirping sound that echoed and reverberated around the rooftop. When she spoke, her voice was just more than a whisper, yet sweet and full, even behind that recognisable Jersey accent, “Rise child.” Danny obeyed. “You are powerful, young one, I can see it in you.” Her eyes flickered to Danny’s chest, hovering just where his core sat. “You are the ghost child from Amity, yes? I’ve heard much about you and your exploits. I must say, not many could go toe to toe with Pariah Dark and come out victorious.”

Danny’s tongue felt heavy in his mouth as he nodded, “It was difficult, but I had help.”

The woman hummed, “Even still. Is it true he still exists? In the forever sleep, you have not yet consumed his core?”

“I- no I have not,” Danny said. This was another of those things Danny had decided to ignore. A few months after they had locked Pariah away the Observants had tracked him down at school, resulting in a panicked request for the bathroom and a whole week of strife. Apparently, according to ghost politics, Danny had become heir to the crown of the ghost king. All that belonged to Pariah was now Danny’s, won in single combat. And if the news that he would become the new King of The Infinite Realms wasn’t enough, he had also been informed that to take the throne he would have to consume Pariah’s core, just as he had done when he won the throne from his predecessor.

This news had overloaded Danny’s brain and he had spent the past three years pointedly ignoring that fact about his half life. He’d get around to it… eventually. Luckily three years wasn’t much time for immortal floating eyeballs so it hadn’t become much of an issue. But he’d run out of time and would have to face the music at some point.

“But it is true that Pariah still exists, in eternal slumber for the time being.” He continued, squirming under the woman’s scrutinous gaze, “Ah, but if you don’t mind me asking, who are you?”

This elicited another set of giggles from the woman, err, girl? She had shrunk to the size of a young girl in a knee length black dress, a feathered beret sitting on a curly bob of dark hair. Her giggles grew, consuming the rooftop in the joyous sound. The laughing ceased as the young girl tilted her head to the side, just a little too far for a human. A grin spread wide across her face and something sparked in her eyes.

“I am Lady Gotham, princling, I thought that was obvious…” She trailed off for a moment then continued with renewed enthusiasm, “ I heard that you are a protector of your hometown, do you intend to assist my knights while you are here?”

Lady Gotham, Danny had heard of her. The supposed amalgamation of everything that made the city what it was. A combination of the pain and suffering as well as the fierce stubbornness and love of those who called the city home. Being a spirit she wasn’t seen often in the Ghost Zone, but those who passed through the veil brought stories of their protectoress. A Lady fierce, vindictive and unforgiving to those she considered an enemy. A being that collected curses like postage stamps. But also one who cared deeply for her city, and even more so for her knights who cared for her just as much.

Danny felt humbled in her presence.

He ducked his head, sheepish as he answered her, “My apologies my Lady, I have long since hung up my cape to pursue the remainder of my life. But should you call for my help I will not hesitate to do all in my power to aid you, or your knights.”

Lady Gotham hummed, pleased, “I appreciate the promise I will keep it in mind. After all, just tonight you have already helped my city so much. I want you to know that no matter how it may weigh on you; what you did was good. By taking his life you saved countless more, accident or no. And for that I thank you.” Stunned, Danny nodded. “I am afraid I must depart now, holding form isn’t difficult but I must say it makes it harder to spread my shadows. I wish you the best princling.” The girl before him smiled then melted -like actually melted- into a pool of shadow at Danny’s feet. As the cloud dissipated, the faint light of the convenience store returned, casting a dim staticky glow.

Danny stood mulling over her words for a few moments before laying down on the roof’s edge. The silence was punctuated only by the faint buzzing of electricity emitted from the neon sign, but it did little to distract him from the thoughts he’s been running from all night.

The thought that he had actually killed someone.

What Lady Gotham hada said was probably true, the Joker's death was a good riddance, he had killed tens-of-thousands, and probably tens-of-thousands more. Taking him out of the equation was a good thing. But that didn’t change the fact that Danny had killed him. Danny had never killed a person before, not directly at least. He wasn’t deaf to the notion that some people may have died during one of his ghost fights, in fact he was painfully aware of each person he had failed to save. But he had never been at direct fault for a murder until now. It shook him to the bones.

Did this make him a murderer?

He stewed in these thoughts for hours, only being pulled from them by an inkling of sunlight breaking through the towering buildings hitting his eyes. Groaning, he sat up, painfully aware of how tired he was. “Probably not getting any sleep though” He could feel the bags under his eyes growing with the lack of sleep. However he did manage to get off the roof and transform back into his living form, ‘need coffee’ He thought blearily as he began making his way down the street, maybe he’d find a shop or something.

What he did not expect was to be pulled into an alley for the second time that night (Morning? Oh what does it matter he’s getting mugged).

Their assailant, no more than two inches shorter than Danny with an unkempt beard and suspiciously stained shirt, had them pinned to the wall, a knife at their throat.

“Empty your pockets!” he shouted, digging the knife further against their skin. Danny suppressed a yawn, they really did not have enough energy to deal with this. Luckily they didn’t have to. The rumbling of a motorcycle filled the air as a blur of red and black turned into the alley. The mugger barely had time to shout “Hey!” before Red Hood decked him in the face.

“Twice in eight hours?” He asked, the grin almost audible in his voice as Hood tied up the man, “I know you’re not from here, but that’s still gotta be some kind of record,” Honestly Danny would have been more upset if he wasn’t so tired, but even so;

“Wee it’s not like I’m Trying to get attacked. I just wanted some fucking coffee,” he ground out.

“At four in the morning?”

“It’s almost six,” Danny muttered after sneaking a quick glimpse at his watch - a black digital one with little blob ghosts on it, a gift from Dani. “Besides it’s not like I was planning on sleeping anytime soon,” he continued. That same weird feeling from earlier tugged at his core during the silence that followed. Of there being a ghost nearby, but his cold gasp getting caught in his throat before escaping. Danny could almost feel the thrum of another core, but there was something muffling it. It made Danny wrinkle his nose.

Despite his wish to investigate the fact of Hood’s weird probably-a-core, Danny also really wanted to get out of this awkward situation. But hey it seemed like Hood was stalking him anyway so this probably wouldn’t be his only chance.

“I should probably be going now,” they said, moving to exist the grimy alley, stepping over the unconscious form of his would-be-mugger-#2. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a bit more careful this time,” They threw over their shoulder with a grin before leaving.

A weight settled on their shoulder as they walked away. Ancients this night was eventful. Hopefully their roommate was finally finished with ‘date night’ enough to allow Danny a couple hours of sleep. But first; coffee.

+++++

Humans I am so sorry for this chapter (because yes it's a chapter). I was just going to write another little installment from Danny’s Pov and then ended up with over 3k words which is like adding up the word counts of all three other chapters. But i think it turned out good so win some lose some. Anyway, all the exposition is out of the way so we’ll be going back to silly goofy fun times now. Also sorry about the kind-of angst, I didn’t mean to, it just appeared.

What were your thoughts on Lady Gotham? I’m fairly happy with how I wrote her, she will definitely be returning

No I will not add you to the tag list, I don't mean to be mean but I just down have the brain power for that <3

Subscrib to the Ao3

Pt 5

[maniacwatchestheworld]

Here. Have a DPxDC prompt or something. (#1)

Danny, Tucker, and Sam were walking down the streets of Gotham, chatting as they cut their way through the decrepit alleyways and backstreets to get to their favorite comic shop in the city. Tucker and Danny were deep in a debate over the latest storyline in the Road Rage series and so didn't notice the man walking towards them in the dark alley until Sam nudged them both.

"Guys!" She said it in a pointed whisper to catch their attention, but hopefully not that of the stranger's.

Sure enough, heading towards them was a muscular tower of a man. He was wearing what was clearly an expensive suit, tailor fitted for him, and a golden mask over the left side of his face.

"No way...! I-Is that Two-Face!??" Tucker was shivering, suddenly struck by fear now that he was in the presence of one of Gotham's most famous criminal masterminds. "What does he want from us!?"

"Didn't they say that he had reformed...?" Sam asked, less afraid and more curious.

"Maybe if we keep walking, he won't notice us..." Danny mumbled as he continued to shuffle forwards.

A collective breath escaped the trio as they passed the man, but just as they thought they were in the clear, there was a clatter.

Slowly, the three turned around to see the man holding something in front of him.

"Excuse me, young man, but I think you-" but before he could finish, Tucker was yelling.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US, MR. TWO-FACE, SIR! WE'LL GIVE YOU ANYTHING YOU WANT."

"...What are you-"

"Tucker, I don't think-" but before Sam could talk some sense into their friend, Danny interrupted.

"Don't worry guys, I'll take care of this!" And with that, Danny went intangible and entered the body of Two-Face to overshadow him.

Danny could feel the man inhabiting the body go unconscious as he took control. "See, guys! It's no big... Deal... I'll just..." Suddenly, Danny got the very real feeling that he was not alone inside of this body. There was something else in here. Other... People... And they were fully aware that Danny was in here with them. Inside of this man's mind, Danny knew that all eyes were on him. They did not want him here. And whatever was holding them back before was no longer there, now asleep at Danny's feet.

"What are you doing in here, child?" A faceless voice asked into Danny's neck, forcing a chill to run down his spine.

A flash and suddenly Danny was confronted by a mass of anger and scars. "Who are you? You're not one of us! Get out. Get out! GET OUT!!!" He was screaming.

Danny was screaming. The body of the man he had just possessed was screaming for him to get out.

Summary/TLDR: Danny, Sam, and Tucker pass Harvey Dent on the street. Harvey is minding his own business when he notices one of the kids drop something/something falls out of one of their bags. Harvey tries giving it back to them, but Tucker starts freaking out. Thinking that it would solve everything, Danny overshadows/possesses Harvey Dent. However, while he rendered Harvey unconscious, the other members of Harvey's system are still very much awake and do NOT want Danny in here!

Note: Plural system stuff going on here! Danny basically made Harvey (who is mostly harmless and was fronting at the time) disassociate into unconsciousness. When Danny leaves the body, Harvey will probably wake back up, but there is no guarantee that he will be able to get back to his senses quick enough to stop Two-Face from taking the reins to attack whatever/whoever made Harvey black out.

(Feel free to use. Credit is appreciated but not fully necessary. Have fun!)

[dragonshoardofworks]

DannyMerMay 2024

Day 1: Insect/Anchor

The return of Little Baby Moth! (From last year DannyMay)

Something happened since last time the two of them met, so LBMo is reasonably surprised to see Little Baby Man Mer's new form... or is this just an alternative dimension iteration of LBM (by @tourettesdog)? 🤔

(Keep reading to find the answer!)

@pikakaistudios Little Baby Mer inspired me in doing my own, so Kudos and credits where are due!

More fanarts and lore under the cut because it was getting long...

(^～^;)ゞ

Prompt for DannyMay by @dannymayevent and MerMay by @vladdyissues.

〜(꒪꒳꒪)〜

Since I'm a serial procrastinator and I wanted to be sure the art pieces were at least decent/accurate, I was almost late (but thank CW that I did, because some of them had the wrong orca-pattern and I would have brought disgrace upon myself if I published anything not done right since orcas are one of my favorite animals).

That being said, let's continue the DannyMerMay journey!

Day 12: Time Travel/Seafood

My poor Mer-boy got yoinked temporalily into the past when he was still Danny (so even before the "normal" LBM-fication) and he's feeling reeeaaally distressed at the act of practically cannibalism that his past-self is committing...

(≧∇≦)

Day 2+4+29: Wish/Starfish + Wander/Night + Fireworks/Bioluminescence

Wandering in the night, some interesting encounters are bound to happen...

I wonder what would happen if you wish upon a(n alien) star(fish)...

(≧∇≦)

Day 19+20: Iron/Pearl + Pitch AU/Abyss

LBMer found a his rightful Crown (of Fire) sunk into the depths of the ocean!

But since it was rusty and forgotten, what better way to restore it than ghostly mother pearl?

(Works like ghostly ice, but it's an exclusive power of LBMer.)

(The Crown got bigger than canon, but he smol!)

Day 26: Shoes/Camouflage

They say that imitation is one of the best form of flattery, but when you don't want to get caught by a certain dimensional hopper (and be mistaken for one of his foes), it's the best way to blend in!

(Octopi can camouflage in ways that make you think that magic is real...)

ฅ^≧ﻌ≦^ฅ

(Little Baby Terror unfortunately got caught in the same "accident" that LBM did, so they generally prefer to stick together-ish in case they need help.)

Day 16+22: Glowing Veins/Courtship + Song Lyrics/Songs

I couldn't help myself and sneaked in some Everlasting Trio for the soul.

After all, LBM (and therefore LBMer) is still Danny, even if he has new form(s) and instincts.

They do incarnate the "Would you still love me if I was a worm?", don't they?

(◡̀_◡́)

Song: A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay

(It feels such a Danny song to use, plus I checked how orcas court and while there's some posturing, they also sing! It felt only natural from there... >:3c)

Day 11: Mutation/Shell(s)

And finally: the answer!

LBM found this weird shell on the beach while they were on vacation, but when he checked it (read: nibbed it), it reacted and tooted a magical cloud that mutated our Little Baby Man into a Mer!

(The same fate happened to Dani/Little Baby Menace and Dan/Little Baby Terror, changing them into a Seahorse Mer and Octopus Mer respectively.

I've got a lineart done of them for another prompt, but I didn't manage in time to clean and color it yet, along with a couple of others... ( ≧Д≦) )

This has two versions because I couldn't decide which was better. @teacupsandstarlight suggested the first because of the transforming smoke around our boi, but since I saved both, I told myself: why not upload both?

For now, that's all! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

I still have some linearts to finish/digitalize/color, but at least I contributed to these two fantastic events, hope y'all enjoyed them and my works!

Hope to type ya soon! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ

[greeenchrysanthemums]

Thus Always to Tyrants

Chapter 3: An Unwelcomed Guest?

Gem is the commander of the Wintertide royal army, Grian is the leader of a resistance hell bent on taking the crown down no matter the cost. It was only natural that they would become enemies.

Beginning -> previous -> next

Read on ao3 ❀ here ❀

CW: N/A

Words: 6,046

Pov: Gem

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

“Gem!” A voice called out to her from behind. She turned just in time to step back and avoid being barreled into by a short man holding a shovel.

“Bdubs? What’s wrong?” She asked, alarmed. Her hand instantly went to the sword secured around her waist, ready to fight and protect everyone nearby.

After a quick hour-long nap at the table, her morning had been completely occupied with overseeing the safety of those carrying out clean-up efforts in wake of the previous night's activities, so she had only just returned to the castle. It was nearing noon at that point, and she was in the process of making her way back to her office to plan out several new security measures, including an increase in knights patrolling everywhere possible without alarming the civilians and a thorough check of all possible entry points around the castle walls to ensure that they were one hundred percent impenetrable by outside forces. 

Had something slipped past her in that time? Was there an immediate threat inside of the castle?

Bdubs, the royal gardener, was hunched over at the waist in front of her, one hand clutching the handle of the shovel he dug into the ground to steady himself and the other planted firmly on his knee. His wide brimmed hat partially hid his red face, but it did nothing to conceal the sweat drenched tunic clinging to his torso. His hands and forearms, revealed by rolled up sleeves, were covered in a layer of muck and grime that similarly coated the ends of his trouser legs. He was missing his iconic, green cloak, so he must have come here in a hurry. Gem reached her hand out and settled it on his shoulder, politely ignoring the way it made her hand damp.

“I forgot to tell you somethin’ important!” Bdub’s said, standing up straight so suddenly that Gem startled back, retracting her hand.

“What is it?” She prompted impatiently and nervously.

“I saw someone sneak into the castle last night,” He said, eyes wide.

“What!?” She squealed, voice going high pitched. Her hands shot out and she grabbed him by both shoulders, her fingers digging into his muscles hard enough to dimple the fabric in the surrounding area. “When!?”

“It had to have been around midnight or so. I was in bed when I heard something outside of my window. I thought ‘hey that’s weird, we don’t even get very many animals out here, what could that be?’ so I peeked outside and there it was! A person walking by my window!” He exclaimed. She gripped him harder.

“Why did you not say something immediately?” She asked through gritted teeth. “What did you do after seeing them?” 

Bdub’s leveled her with a deadly serious look, “I went back to sleep.”

Gem stared at him. He stared at her. The knights behind Gem stared at both of them. There was silence.  

“You did what?” She asked slowly, unsure if she had heard him right.

“I went back to sleep,” Bdubs reiterated, “I’m not a fighter! I knew if I went out there in the dark all defenseless with nothing to fight with, whoever that was would kill me immediately! I’m not a fool!”

Gem wanted to argue otherwise, but he carried on.

“I tried waiting it out until someone came by to rescue me, but I’m not used to staying up that long. The ol' body just isn't used to it. I fell right back to sleep without even trying to. I thought the encounter was just a really bad dream I had brought on by all the drinkin' I did last night at dinner when I woke up this morning, but then I saw the footprints in the soil when I was doing the weeding, and I knew it was real!”

“Why did you not alert one of the guards stationed on the wall nearby? Logan was only a mere 20 feet away from your quarters!” She said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Then, her eyes snapped open as she fully registered his words. She cut off his loud, long-winded rant about how he couldn’t endanger himself to go alert someone, “Wait, Bdubs. Bdubs, hush up for a moment, would you? You said you found footprints?”

Bdubs paused to nod his head enthusiastically. “Yes!” 

“Show me immediately.” She said, expression firm. Bdubs nodded again and then motioned for her to follow after him as he took off towards the garden. She motioned for two soldiers to accompany them and then said to the rest, "I want you guys to remain here and keep an eye on the area. Report to me immediately if you see anything suspicious... Unlike a certain somebody."

She followed Bdubs through the expansive outside area, holding in her laughter whenever he would stumble on the loose rocks or trip over a well-groomed shrub with a colourful curse. You would be led to believe that someone who has dedicated their entire life to tending to a garden would know the area a little better, or at least well enough to avoid tripping as often as he did. They passed under the vine covered stone arch that served as the entrance to the grand royal garden, and she took a moment to admire the area, as well as scan it for anything that might be out of place. 

Meticulously cared for shrubs made the area into somewhat of a maze, forcing one to weave their way through the area and barring them from stepping on the beautiful grass. Flowering bushes with buds of a million colours mixed in with these shrubs, their vibrant colours somehow blending in perfectly despite the contrast. A few scattered fruit trees, whose spoils had already been harvested this year, stood tall and proud where they were placed in spots most convenient for providing shade throughout the garden. The same trees also lined the back wall, blocking the mossy stone from view almost entirely. 

A fountain carved in the shape of a mostly bare woman with a flowing cloth covering both her eyes and breasts stood in the center of it all, the water flowing from her outstretched, cupped palms, her face twisted into one of sorrow. Fake jewels and sparkling rocks glimmered at the bottom of the crystal clear pool, giving the water's surface the appearance of a sparkling jewel itself. 

Under her feet was a well cared for stone path free of the dirt and leaves one would expect to see but was sprouting with little flowers that crawled through the fine cracks in a way she couldn't help but find beautiful. In the very back of the garden, nestled between two of the tall fruit trees and barely noticeable among the gorgeous scenery, was a similarly well cared for shack that acted as both Bdubs’ sleeping quarters and storage for all of his gardening tools. 

Suddenly Bdubs stopped and she had to stumble to the side to avoid ramming right into his back. He pointed emphatically down at the dirt beneath a shrub he had presumably been weeding before he came to fetch her. The soft soil was slightly dug up off to the side, a few weeds laying on their sides around the shallow holes. There were a few small tools scattered about the area, as well as a pair of gloves and his mossy cloak laying abandoned on the stone path a little ways away. 

And then she saw it, a footstep in the soil just as he said there would be. It was long and slender with no discernable patterns within its print that would be easily identifiable. It could have belonged to anyone within the castle staff, anyone from town, that is how generic it was. However, it was not the only thing of intrigue that she spotted. Her eyes flickered up towards it as it caught her attention. A single red thread, right there on one of the branches of the bush, tangled around it and fluttered in the light breeze that flowed through the garden. She reached out to it and pulled it free with a firm tug. A loose cloak thread in the same shade as the garment that Grian wore. It appeared to have been ripped free when the wearer got caught on the sharp, recently trimmed branch.

She looked around the shrubbery, and just as she suspected, further inside of the foliage were branches that looked out of place, bent and unnatural in a way that indicated the bushes had been climbed through. Bdubs kept the garden immaculate, so it was very easy to spot even a single leaf out of place if you knew what to look for. And she really did have to look, her eyes intently focused on the bushes in a way that must have made her look a bit mad, because whoever had been here had done well to hide their tracks. Not well enough to hide from her though. They had left a trail that she could track, right through the garden.

“Cobble, I want you to stay here with Bdubs, Marabelle I need you to go find Kaya and tell her and her battalion on the wall to keep an eye on things outside just in case whoever was here last night tries to get back in, and that they should not rule out the idea that the intruder may still be on the premise. After that, I need you to find Scott and Impulse and inform them of the intruder. If you can, send them my way.” Gem instructed her knights. Marabelle saluted and then ran off to do as directed. Cobble shifted nervously, looking around the garden with a suspicious eye. Bdubs’ face slowly morphed into one of horror.

“Still on the premise?!” He exclaimed loudly, prompting Gem to flinch away from him with a sigh. He reached down and grabbed ahold of one of his sharper, more dangerous tools. He held it tightly to his chest as he glanced around his garden with paranoia shinning in his eyes.

“I highly doubt that whoever this was would be so stupid as to stick around, but it is not an option I can safely rule out, not after…” She trailed off, realizing Grian’s threat was not public knowledge, and it would do her well to not make it such. “Do not worry about it, just stay here with Cobble and you will be fine. I’ll handle this.”

With that she began her trek into the shrubbery, following the barely noticeable path the trespasser had unwittingly left behind for her. Bdubs momentarily broke out of his paranoid stupor to yell at her for going through them so carelessly, but one dirty look over her shoulder was enough to shut him up.

She cursed her foolishness as she followed the out of place branches. She had assumed that if Grian was planning something that night he would focus his attention on the festival, which was vulnerable and hard to protect due to the high density of people around. But the more she thought about it, it only made sense that he would advance on the castle when security was more lax and divided by the festivities. It was a fairly smart tactic, she had to admit. Keeping her on edge and busy while he snuck someone in? She would never deign herself to admit it out loud that she had been played well, but she had been.

She shuddered at the thought of what he and his people might have done inside while no one was looking. 

She looked around as she trudged through the garden, making an effort to not step on any of the flowers or ruin things too much, but not being overly careful either. Consider the work she was giving Bdubs punishment for being a fool. But as she walked, she noticed something. The trail she was walking was in one big a blind spot. None of the on duty knights would have been able to see the intruder even if they had looked down into the garden from the wall or peered in from any of the entrances. Nearly the whole path was blocked in some way, be it by tree or the fountain or something else, none of it was visible unless you knew where to look. That, coupled with the fact that there would have been little to no light, meant that it would have been alarmingly easy for them to get in entirely undetected.

It was scary to think about.

The trail led her all the way to the garden's East entrance, far right of the fountain and near the apple trees. In the mud at the base of said trees she found a second footprint similar to the last, but this one was smudged, imperfect, as if the intruder had slipped. It only made sense that she found the vines on the entrance's archway to be messed with. They had used the pillar to catch their fall.

If they had stepped in the mud then surely they had to have left more evidence behind, right?

The East Garden entrance led to stables and the couch house, which gave entrance to the ground floor of the castle. There was also the kitchen entrance further East, as well as a smaller, less noticeable entrance to the servant bathrooms, but she knew that both of them were out of the question for possible break-in points. The bathroom had no other entry points other than the one outside, and the kitchen was never not occupied so it would have been impossible for someone to sneak in through the busy area. At least one person would have noticed a face that did not fit in among them.

She made her way over to the coach house and inspected the door. There were no signs that it had been tampered with or forced open, but that didn’t mean anything. They may have simply been skilled enough, or smart enough, to not leave behind such traces. Then again, they had left her an entire trail here. She huffed and looked around. She titled her head up and caught sight of an open window on the second floor and wondered briefly if that was how they got inside, but she shook her head and scolded herself for the silly thought. Not only was that a nearly impossible climb to make, but the window also led to the servants' quarters. Someone, again, would have noticed. It was a bit hard to miss a person climbing in through their window.

She opened the door and made her way inside, giving the area a sharp once over. Nothing seemed out of place. All of the horse gear was in place and a survey of both the carriage and the trading carts told her they were not tampered with. Nothing was stolen, everything was accounted for. She looked over the room a second time and a third before she was satisfied. Well, she would not say satisfied. She was actually quite frustrated. There was nothing here.

She walked up the few stone steps that led to the inside of the castle and nothing in the halls looked out of place. There was no mud on the polished marble like she expected, no, hoped to find to tell her that this was the way they went. Everything looked as clean and pristine as she expected it to.

Her trail had gone cold. 

“What are you looking for, Commander?” A voice asked to her side, startling her. She did her best to school her reaction to not appear a fool as she turned to the person.

One of the young maids was looking at with a curious expression on their face and a bundle of linen in their arms. She raked her brain for their name but shamefully could not remember it. It started with a C, perhaps? They blinked at her, and their face turned a little worried before Gem realized she should probably give them an answer.

“Oh! Do not worry about it.” She said, giving them a reassuring smile. 

“Alright, then…” They said hesitantly. They turned to walk away but a thought occurred to Gem and she called out to them.

“Actually, you might be able to help me,” She said, taking a step forward. They turned back to look at her, shock and a bit of excitement on their face.

“Me? Really? You need my help?” They asked in awe.

“Yes, I do.” She said, “You clean around this area, correct?”

“Oh, no I don’t ma’am,” They said, deflating a little. Gem did as well. “I’m stationed up on the second floor. I was simply running these down to the laundry room since the chute has been damaged and it cannot be delivered that way.”

“The chute has been damaged?” Gem asked, perking up.

“Yes! We think something too large and heavy was thrown down it sometime last night and now it won’t open or close properly. We didn’t find whatever it was that caused the damages, but it left behind a massive mess in the laundry room! It took hours this morning to clean up all of the sheets and cloth spilled about the area.” They said as they shook their head. 

“This was on the second floor, yes?” Gem asked eagerly.

“I can show you where, if you need.” They said nervously, obviously wanting to be of more help.

“No, that’s alright,” She said. They seemed disappointed, but they nodded anyway, “Thank you very much, you don’t know how helpful this has been.”

They smiled at her and stuttered out, “O-of course! It was my pleasure.”

Gem nodded her head to them respectfully before taking off down the halls, heading for the main stairs to take her to the second story of the castle. She turned out of the smaller hallway and into the expansive main hall, where the ceiling was broad, curved, and painted in shades of white and gold. Sunlight filtered in from the windows in the front. The stairs, covered in plush red carpet, were tall and would quickly wind anyone who was not used to their great climb. Gem, however, was on the second floor in no time, having long gotten used to them.

She was greeted by many of the servants as she passed, and she did her best to politely return their greetings even though she was in a hurry. She knew this castle like the back of her hand, so she easily weaved her way through the halls until she came to the end of the servant's portion of the upstairs area, where the laundry chute was located. She grimaced as it came into view.

Usually, it blended in with the decor fairly well, and one could easily mistake it for an ornate design on the wall it they did not know what to look for. The only thing that really gave it away was the weathered handle used to pull it open. It was designed specifically with discretion in mind, was what she was told when she had first moved into the castle as a teenager. The only people meant to know where or what it was were the staff. 

Now, though, the hatch was crooked and not sitting in the wall quite right, the paper around it peeling and showing the damaged walling behind. If she had to guess, there had previously been debris on the ground, which had to have been cleaned up in the aftermath, because it looked as though some of the paper and the wall were chipped away and missing entirely.  A cold breeze came in from the dark hole that peaked out from the mangled remains of the poor chute.

It looked as though someone had either pulled it open with the power of twenty men all at once, or like they had attempted to kick it open from the side. Or.... like someone had forced it to take the weight of a human body.

She pulled on the handle and cringed when it came open far too easily, sending little bits of stone dust swirling down towards the carpet. She pondered it for a moment before concluding that if the person was slight enough, they just might be able to crawl inside of the small space, even if it was with a lot of difficulty and maneuvering. She suspected that someone had done just that, and the belief was only reinforced when she noticed a bit of what looked like dried mud on the back of the hatch.

But what in the nine hells was their little intruder doing going down the laundry chute? Not to mention that both the laundry chute and the laundry room itself were located in the southwest part of the castle, which was a long ways away from the garden. The laundry room wasn’t even accessible from the outside either. Just what had been their route? And what of their intentions? This was a very peculiar situation.

Even after venturing down into the laundry room, she couldn’t wrap her head around it. The only thing that had been amiss in the room (which smelt so strongly of soap and perfumes that it made her head spin) was the broken basket that was used to catch clothing sent down the chute. None of the servants in the laundry room even had any answers for her. No one had been in the room when whatever, or whoever, it was dropped down from above. 

There were no witnesses, no other clues, nothing for her to go off of. She had no idea how they got in, nor what they had done while inside. She knew even less about the way they took to get out.

It occurred to her then that perhaps she was overreacting. It could have been someone within the staff that caused the damages to the chute, and they were too embarrassed to come clean. It could have been anyone walking around in the garden last night. Bdubs couldn’t have been sure who it was that he saw, it was late and he had just woken up. Who was to say he hadn’t dreamt of it and those prints were from the knights she had patrolling early in the morning to quell the same paranoia that was consuming her right now?

She paused her walk back to the garden with a sigh. She groaned in frustration as she ran her hands down her face, fingers gripping the stray curls of ginger hair that hung down in front of it. She was falling right into Grian’s hands, she realized in defeat. She was letting her worry get to her after she said she wouldn’t do just that, and she was losing her straight head in the process.

What was she doing chasing around ghosts and playing detective at a time like this? She had patrol routes to be signing off on and training to be overseeing. She should have asked Impulse or Scott to look into it the second she saw the footprint. No, right when she heard of the potential intruder's existence.  She had let herself get too prideful, too eager to catch Grian and his people in the act all on her own that she’d rushed in headfirst with no plan and without even properly informing her right hands.  She was better than this.

“Curse you, bird.” She muttered bitterly under her breath.

She sighed again, this one longer and more drawn out than those previous. She better get back to her knights, find Scott and Impulse, and explain the situation to them in order to get a second opinion on the matter at hand before informing the king himself of the issue. Loath as she was to admit it, she couldn’t do this alone, especially if she wasn’t overthinking and someone truly had managed to bypass the castles security while her sights were focused elsewhere.

It hadn't even been a full 24 hours and this whole ordeal was already so stressful.

Several long hours later Gem trudged her way to the training yard. The sun was setting in the sky, and she was unbearably exhausted. After locating Scott and Impulse, they discussed what to do and decided that Scott, ever the social butterfly, would be the one to interview the staff and ask them what they had seen, if anything at all.  Impulse was to oversee the implementation of the rest of the new security measures under her orders and guidance. He also took over her evening training sessions with the newbies despite her protests. Bless her longtime friends for making sure she stayed sane.

She should be in her office writing up those routes and assigning people to them, but she needed a moment to clear her head. She needed to beat up some training dummies.

Thankfully the expansive area was empty by the time she made it there, training having ended an hour or so ago. Everyone should be preparing for dinner right around now. She stepped into the marked ring, the soft dirt shifting under her boots. She pulled one of the practice swords out of the barrel and then rounded on the dummy, her movements slow and precise.

Before coming here, she had also spoken to the king and informed him of the intruder. It had gone just as well as her warning about Grian’s initial threat had; badly. He dismissed her once again. Her! His own royal commander, who he had personally selected and appointed! You would think that he would have more faith in her after all she’s done and continues to do for this kingdom! Frustration built up inside of her as his words echoed in her head.

I’ll let you do as you please for now, but I believe you are making something out of nothing, Gem. This so called intruder is nothing but your mind and the gardener's wild imagination playing tricks on you after a stressful night. There is no use getting worked up over nothing. But how could he be so sure that this was 'nothing'?  There were lives at stake, a whole kingdom on the line, and he does not believe they should be just a little bit more cautious?

Channeling her emotions into energy, she lunged at last, the sword slashing across the dummies chest and leaving behind deep grooves in the already scarred surface. It teetered to the side but was steadied by a second slash to the opposite side. She rolled to the right and around to the dummies back before launching herself up with a graceful spinning motion, cutting in a large, broad motion across the wood.

She jumped back, imagining that there was a counterattack that she must dodge away from. She sidestepped around back to the front of the dummy, holding her sword close to her body. Anger bubbled up in her chest as the dummy's wooden face seemed to morph into that of Grian’s. She pictured his cheeky grin, his void-like, black eyes, his taunting words.

Something big is coming, Gem. The end might be closer than you think. He snickered inside her mind.

She sneered as she jabbed the tip of her sword into the dummies face with as much force as she could muster, chipping the wood and sending it toppling to the ground as the weapon was ripped free from her grip, now deeply imbedded in the things head. She stood there, breathing heavily through clenched teeth as she glared down at the fallen dummy. His hands were balled into painful fists, trembling at her side.

“That was pretty violent, no?” A familiar, bubbly voice asked to her left.

She whipped her head around to the source of the voice and there she found a woman sitting on one of the nearby barrels, one leg crossed over the other with her elbows planted on her knee while she rested her chin in her cupped palms. Long, lanky limbs, messy brown curls partially covered by a red hood, crystal blue eyes, a bright smile with a crooked fang showing proudly, a crescent moon shaped birthmark covering the left side of her face; all of these were the features that made up her very dearest friend.

“Pearl!” She exclaimed, her anger dissipating immediately to be replaced with a giddy joy. She bounded up to the woman, stopping right in front of her, their knees practically touching with the proximity. She put her hands on her hips and looked down at her with a tilted head.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite menace.” She said, a painfully wide grin tugging at her cheeks. Pearl feigned offense, putting her hands up to her mouth with a dainty gasp.

“A menace? Me?” She asked, “Nonsense, you know me, I’m an angel.”

Gem belted out a hearty laugh at that, leaning back with her hands on her belly. Pearl giggled, a light blush on the tips of her ears as she unfolded her legs to kick Gem in the shin hard. Gem yelped and jumped away, wiping a tear away from her eye before straightening up. 

“What brings you here this fine night?” Gem finally asked.

She had known Pearl for nearly nine whole years now. They met in this very training yard on a warm summer day with the sun beating down on their skin. Pearl, who worked at the most popular bakery in the capital, had been delivering pastries to the kitchen when she decided to wander around the castle as her boss handled the exchange. She had gotten hopelessly lost and somehow made her way outside and to the training yard, where she found Gem doing her drills.

She was a bit embarrassed to admit that her first instinct had been to attack the other woman and restrain her when she caught her watching from behind a barrel a little ways away from the training circle. Lucky for her, Pearl had laughed it all off before introducing herself and praising Gem's form; their relationship naturally bloomed from there. They had been through a lot over the years, and she could safely say that the older woman was her very best friend.

“Bigb and I are here making a bread and pastry delivery. The festival pretty much cleared out the royal kitchen, so I’ve heard. B and the cook got to talking and it was real boring, so I decided to come and see how you are doing. But~ by the looks of that poor dummy and the sudden increase in knights pretty much everywhere, something tells me not too good, then?” Pearl asked, raising an eyebrow. Gem grimaced and scratched the back of her head.

“It’s nothing you should worry about; I’ll make sure you’re safe.” She promised.

“You’ll personally make sure I’m safe?” Pearl asked with a laugh. This time it was Gem’s turn for her ears and the tip of her nose to darken to a shade of pink.

“If I have to, yes,” She said seriously, if a little flustered, “You’re my best friend.”

“....” Pearl turned away from her with an unreadable expression. “You’re too good to me, Gem. I’ll make sure you’re safe too.”

Gem furrowed her brow. Pearl sounded almost…sad? No…that wasn’t quite it. She couldn’t tell what emotion the other woman was expressing. It didn’t matter though, because it was gone in an instant, replaced by her typical chipper self in the blink of an eye.

“Anywho, I'm too curious for my own good so you have no choice but to answer my questions. What is with the increase in security? Something happen that I don’t know about? As far as I remember the festival went just fine.” Pearl questioned once more. Gem contemplated for a moment before deciding that she could share this with her closest friend. It would not be the first time she had heard all about Grian, after all. Gem had long ago gotten into the habit of complaining about him to her, though it was never anything as serious as this.

“Grian found me at the festival yesterday and made some vague threats about ‘the end being near’. Most, including the king, don’t think it is anything to worry about, but I know his games. It is better to be safe rather than sorry should his threats come to pass, so I've been upping security.” Gem said. Pearl’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

“He said that?” She asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Yeah. It was really weird.” She sighed and dropped herself onto her butt next to the barrel that Pearl was sitting on, making sure to avoid touching her dirty boots. “He went on about how he wanted me to live and that I better prepare myself because he has something big planned.”

“How odd…” Pearl said absently. Gem glanced up at her. She was staring off into the distance, her brow furrowed as she worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Hey, don’t worry about it.” Gem said.. “Whatever it is that he has planned, I’m doing what I can to make sure that warning doesn’t go to waste. I’ll put a stop to it.”

Pearl’s eyes flickered down to her, that unreadable expression back on her face. It was quickly replaced by a shaky smile that looked like it might slip any moment.

“You shouldn’t underestimate him. You have no idea what he’s capable of. I-I mean, none of us really do, do we?” Pearl said nervously. 

“I’m not underestimating him, Pearl. I am taking his threat very seriously. Everything will be just fine, I promise.” Gem said reassuringly. Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring this up to her best friend, it seemed to have put the poor thing on edge. Of course it would, anyone would be at least a little disturbed by such ominous threats.

“Y-yeah…I’m sure everything will work out just fine.” Pearl said. There was a moment of silence between them before Pearl abruptly stood up, her knee knocking against Gem’s shoulder and her frayed cloak brushing against her face in the sudden movement. “I should be getting back, it is pretty late now, isn’t it? I wouldn't want to keep Bigb waiting too long.”

“Oh…Yes, it is quite late now,” Gem said as she stood as well, internally mourning the fact that she would now have to go do paperwork and work out those blasted patrol routes, paying extra attention to those blind spots in the garden. She should have liked to have shared a beer with Pearl, but a glance at the setting sun told her it was for the best they part ways now. “Let me see you in the kitchen then."

“No!” Pearl exclaimed, causing Gem to flinch away with her hand part way reaching out for Pearl’s shoulder. She immediately looked sheepish. “I mean, um, you don’t have to. I’d like a moment to think, if that’s alright.”

“Ah, I see… That’s perfectly alright. I’m terribly sorry if I’ve frightened you with the news I’ve shared.” She said sincerely. Pearl shook her head and gave her a softer, less shaky smile.

“You’re alright. I think that was just a little…jarring to hear. I’ll be alright.” She said.

“Of course… I will be seeing you again soon?” Gem questioned. Pearl nodded her head.

“Without a doubt. You’ll be seeing more of me very soon.” Pearl said, something twinkling in her eyes. 

They hugged, quick and light, before Pearl took her leave, strolling back in the direction of the kitchen she’d presumably gained access to the castle grounds through. Gem watched her go, unease and guilt eating away at her stomach. Gods, this day was really a train wreck right from the beginning to the very end. She hoped that fate would not make a fool of her, and that her promise to her friend would not turn out to be a lie.

Somewhere not too far away, a woman in red confronts an avian, her face twisted with rage as her hand grabs a fistful of his shirt.

"We need to talk"

[picturejasper20]

The Ring of Rage, Crown of Fire and the Skeleton Key, objects that were of major importance for the main arcs and things that Vlad had been looking for months for his plans, not being mentioned nor brought up again after ¨Reign Storm¨ be like:

[justanotherdrfan]

WELCOME ALL DANNY FANGIRLS TO YOUR INSTALMENT OF DANIEL RICCIARDO’S DTS BREAKDOWN! 🍯🦡

I’m leaving this one open since you all skipped straight to this episode! (I waited and I don’t know how)😂

S6E9 (Three’s a Crowd)

GIF by @arturleclerc

DANNNNNNNNYYY BOYYY 😍😍😍😍😍😍

He’s already laughing (god I love him)

‘Alright, what’s up?, Daniel Ricardo, this is season six drive to survive, and yes I’m back’ (fangirling HARD)

WAIT HE WAS IN SYDNEY, HE WAS IN FUCKING SYDNEY (why did no one tell me I would have called sick at work)

Daniel and Blake I really wish you went ahead with that podcast because you two are poetic chaos together

Cue another Daniel montage (they have his whole discography on file don’t they?)

He looks so fucking tried though

Logan and Alex talking about DTS frothing at the mouth about Daniel returning is the most factually, correct thing I’ve ever heard 😂

Logan: ‘All I know is the most excited people when Danny Ricciardo came back was Netflix.’

Alex: ‘I literally think they had to change their pants three times. I know the episode already. Let…let me run it through. Ready? Here we have Danny Ricciardo watching on the sidelines. “Yeah, it hurts to not be racing.” Then all of a sudden, pans to Nyck de Vries. Lock up. [imitates brakes screeching]. Off the track. Crash. Oh shit! Boom. Fast-forward. Silverstone. Test. Daniel Ricciardo. Super quick. [laughs] Danny looking at it like…big smile on his face. “It is what it is. You know?” [man]“I never left” “I never left. I’m back,baby. Honey Badger. Don’t give a shit.” (Hire him now DTS because he nailed that)

Fuck why they got to follow that shit with Zandvoort though

Daniel whoring about in his Enchante tattoo thigh high shorts

“Feels right. Feels good” (It sure does Danny is sure does)

EVERYONE LOVES DANIEL

And they get him straight to a photoshoot to whore him out

THEY DID NOT USE HIM WINKING IN THE INTRO (da fuck you lot doing? Give the people what they want)

Yes Christian 2025 prospect (he’s a shoe in ahh? See what I did there) 😉👟🍾

FUCK YOU MICAHEL ITALIANO (why is he getting air time) I’m glad he’s left F1

OHH NO OHH NO OHH NO NO NO NO NO NO

IM CRYING AGAIN. I CRIED WHEN IT HAPPENED AND IM CRYING AGAIN

Ohh they have his X-ray

Clairey bear

Cue Liam Lawson (I do love you but I missed Danny terribly)

The others telling Liam to be prepared (this is very welcome to our toxic work environment)

‘She doesn’t even go here’ (a Danica story)

Liam out qualifies all the red bull drivers (yes kiddo)

DANNY BACKS (SCREWS AND ALL) for engineering purposes only

Umm why are you hurting him? DONT TOUCH HIM! (Look yes I know it’s physiotherapy and he needs it. But I’ve broken my hand before the left one as well and driving a normal road car caused me to cry in pain so when I say don’t touch him I mean it)

I SWEAR TO GOD ZAK YOU STAY THEY HELL AWAY FROM HIM

Checo clips Yuki and he’s out (he probably thought it was Daniel trying to take his seat. It’s his in 2025 mate there’s no fighting it)

Ohh look Alpine with reliability issues (things you continue to see)

Yes DTS let’s show Russel’s crash from another angle 😂

POINTS FOR LIAM 🎉🥳

Are we positive he was in Sydney and not Perth?

Yes king SWEAT SWEAT SWEAT

Yuki GP time

Not Suzuka having Daniel, Yuki and Liam on all the banners

Poor Yuki being overwhelmed by the fans. I understand fans being excited but he’s cornered in the car and clearly doesn’t feel safe (and for Michael to be like it’s ok the fans are happy is actually the problem at hand. His and all the drivers safety has to come first and he point blank didn’t feel safe you arsehole Michael so it’s not okay)

Yuki honey it’s okay Liam not going to hit you

If we can’t have an Aussie a Kiwi will do

Liam finding out Daniel’s and Yuki are getting announced for 2024 🥺

Liam mate I’m sorry you deserve better

Mexi-coooooo

HES BACK BACK

Yes yes your P10 in the constructors (just you wait, just you fucking wait)

Checo out before turn 1 (its AUSGP all over again)

Ohh look another McLaren/Alpha Tauri incident 😤

No McLaren the plan is not to attack Daniel (haven’t you fucking done enough?)

P7 BABBYYYYYY

ENCHANTE, MON AMI

See your P8 now (told you to wait and see)

Yes Christian, Daniel did drive a good race (remember that and who didn’t)

Look at him and his little moustache

Will: ‘ I think this is only part one of a far wider story.’ (Yes 2024 season will be epic for Danny Ric)