#but maybe idk its ambiguous

[sirpeachess-casual]

Who Killed Danny?

a glitch in time got me re-reading my old ass one-shot/drabbles and found that i really wanted to post this one :) it's a long one >:) and a sad one >:}

warnings for lots of angst (sort of off-screen character death), torture (again, sort of off-screen), and lots of body horror (clone-style) + vlad being evil

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

When the Ghost King screamed, everyone heard it. Clockwork was catapulted out of a deep meditation, books falling off the shelves around him. The Far Frozen rushed out of their homes, gathering in the town square to sing and pray around their alters. Wulf whimpered and covered his ears, eventually howling along with the dissonant tones. Even Skulker paused polishing his equipment, wondering if he was above taking advantage of their halfa king's current state.

Out of the Ghost Zone, Elle Fenton was snapped out of her hedonistic pursuits. She bolted upright in bed, screaming in a voice that wasn't hers. A thousand shouts tore from her throat, a thousand whines of agony ripping her apart from the inside out. It died off with a whimper, leaving her breathless and shaking. The meager possessions she had amassed during her travels were splattered against the far wall, scattered as if caught up in a horrible whirlwind.

"What..." she gasped. She had only ever heard the Ghostly Wail one time before, and had never been able to produce it herself. And while that first and only time had been bolstered by an undying sense of protection, a deep-seated need to keep her safe, this had been different.

This was pain and despair.

"Danny!"

Transforming, she blasted off the ground, zooming through the air as fast as her ghostly self could move. There was only one person she trusted to find Danny and not immediately tear him limb from limb. She needed to find Valerie.

Hundreds of miles away, Valerie was suited up. Her armored knee was bent into the back of some back alley ghost, an electrified garotte wrapped tightly around its throat. She was demanding information on how to get into the Ghost Zone, information this 30s-era ghoul was denying her.

"I know it's possible for humans to get there!" she hissed, tightening the cord. "Tell me how and I won't snap your head off before sending you back."

"I-I don't know!" the ghost choked. "I don't know what you're talking about! You're one crazy dame!"

"Don't lie to me!" Pressing a button, the cord lit up with electricity. It was a small amount, just enough to zap. She had all night to get information, after all. No need to cause real damage just yet.

The ghost under her feet, however, started howling.

Valerie was taken aback. "Oh calm down, ghoul," she berated. "That's barely enough to burn."

Still, the agonized screams forced her to loosen her grip - just slightly. She had been doing this for a long time and had made these foul creatures emit all kinds of noises before. Screams, whimpers, whines, all sorts of begging and promising. But this, though, was primal. This couldn't have been faked, no matter how good of an impersonator this ghost was.

"It's him!" the thing cried. "Our king!"

Valerie blinked. As far as she had learned, ghosts didn't have any kind of royal hierarchy. She hadn't heard of any unionizing leader or governmental figurehead before. Who was it? And how did this ghost suddenly know that it was in danger?

"Your... your what?"

But the ghost was no longer listening to her. It had seemingly gone rabid, driven crazy by its recent discovery of the so-called king being in trouble.

"Hey!" Valerie gasped, leaping backward to avoid its sweeping tail. "Calm down!"

"Our king! Our king!" it kept bellowing, rolling and clawing, desperate to escape.

"What are you talking about? What king?"

"The halfa king!" She froze. That word... she hadn't heard that word since... that night. "What - what do you mean? What halfa?"

Before it could answer, the ghost managed to wriggle free. Its tail slapped Valerie across the chest, sending her flying backward.

"Hey! Get back here!" she threatened, climbing to her feet as the ghost climbed into the sky, screeching the entire time.

It was gone.

"Dang it!" she hissed, stomping in anger. There went the best lead she had gotten her hands on in weeks. Not only that, now she had more questions than ever.

And that word.

The word that she had heard for the first time that one night in Wisconsin. The word and that night she had been running from for so long now. Secretly, she had hoped that ignoring the memories would make them go away; denying the existence of half-human, half-ghost hybrids would let her world go back to the easy-to-handle black-and-white way the world - and her place in it - used to be.

But now, after all this time, it was back. And it was literally shouting in her face.

With a sigh, she figured she had been running long enough. The mythical Ghost Zone wouldn't be going anywhere. But apparently, this halfa king was.

Typing away on her wrist, she summoned all the research and notes she had done on the subject - which was very little. In order to get more information, she would need to go to the source. Or, at least, the only source she knew of. She needed Danielle (or Elle, as she was apparently going by these days).

Leaping into the air, her hoverboard materialized under her clicked heels, and she took off into the air. It had been so long since she had seen that little twerp, what were the chances she would be able to find her again?

"C'mon, brat. Where did you run off to this time?" she muttered. Her visor recalibrated, narrowing the search parameters to Elle's ecto-signature.

Immediately, everything started flashing red.

"What the-" She looked up, focusing past the screen in front of her face.

Just in time to dodge to the right, barely avoiding colliding with the ghost in question.

They shouted each other's names in surprise, with varying degrees of annoyance and urgency.

Valerie recovered first. "What are you doing-"

"I need your help!"

The hunter blinked at that. Today was just full of deja vus, wasn't it? "Are you melting again?"

"No! No, it's not me, it's-" the ghost girl froze, too-vivid-green eyes flickering to the invisible distance as if she was looking at something only she could see. "We need to go, now!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Valerie scolded, grabbing the ghost by the arm. "Go where? Help who? What is this about?"

"It's Danny!"

"Danny? Danny who?"

"Ugh!" Elle rolled her eyes, palm slapping her face. "Phantom? Invis-o-Bill? The Ghost Boy?"

Valerie blinked, physically taken aback. "Phantom?" she gasped. "What does he have to do with-"

"Please, he needs our help! He's in trouble - you have to find him!"

This train was getting out of control. Valerie crossed her arms, squaring her shoulders against the little ghost's panic. "I don't have to do anything! You haven't told me what's going on, what you're doing here - or why I should help!"

Dani blinked at her. "You're kidding, right? Now is the time you want a receipt?"

Valerie jammed a finger into her face. "Hey, don't reappear out of the blue and start demanding I bend over backward to help you freaks! The only reason you aren't in a containment cube right now is because you're different and you know it. I have no obligation to help you, or Casper the Friendly Ghost, or anybody. Especially not Phantom!"

The ghost girl growled in frustration, pulling her long white hair. (Valerie found herself having to remember that this creature wasn't human, not really, no matter how real she seemed.) "You're insufferable, you know that! How many times have I asked anything of you? Or Danny, for that matter? You don't hear from us, ever, we let you do your whole ghost hunter/destroyer routine without interfering-"

"Hey, I am a professional ghost hunter! I don't need permission from the likes of you to do my job!"

"And I'm trying to do mine!"

"Oh, and what's that? Dragging me around on some ghoulish scavenger hunt to find some public menace I would just as soon shoot myself?"

"Trying to save my cousin's life!"

"Phantom is a ghost!" Valerie shot back. "He doesn't have a life to lose."

"He's more human than you will ever know!"

The hunter scoffed, crossing her arms. "As if. As far as I'm concerned, Phantom is a good-for-nothing troublemaker. Don't act like he hasn't destroyed property or wrecked lives, not to mention kidnapping the mayor and going up against the Fentons themselves. We all saw him rob that jewelry store. Seriously, that freak has issues and if someone finally got the better of it then all I'm gonna do is offer to shake their hand."

Elle stared at her and for a moment and Valerie almost thought she saw real emotion in the bright green eyes. The ghost girl put on a convincing display of shock and hurt but it wasn't enough to dissolve Valerie's rage. It did at least slow her down long enough to consider her options.

The ghost girl sighed. "Listen, I don't know what he did or said last time to get you to help when I was literally melting into nothing, so can we just pretend I have his same people skills and that you do, actually, have enough of a heart left to give a crap? Because he is in danger. And pain." She shuttered, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. "...So much pain. And I can't explain why or how I know but I do. And I have to help him. But I can't find him on my own." The girl blinked and her trepidation was replaced with a fierce determination. "If you want to shake the hand of whoever is killing him, fine! Ask for a selfie for all I care! But at least give me a chance to save the only real family I have."

Valerie frowned, considering the plea. Someone should tell the ghost girl she did, in fact, have her cousin's persuasion skills. It was almost the same line, word-for-word, that Phantom had fed to her all that time ago.

She had fallen for it then.

She wouldn't be duped twice.

Though, she had to admit, the possibility of meeting the ghost hunter capable enough to finally take down the menace that was Phantom was a tempting offer. And she couldn't shake the feeling that this was somehow connected to that king nonsense from earlier.

That was a mystery she couldn't just ignore.

"Fine..." she eventually agreed. "I will help you find him - it. But only that! If Phantom really is in trouble don't count on me lifting a finger to help. In fact, I can't promise I won't make it worse."

Elle grinned, overjoyed. "Yes! Thank you, thank you! Just get me to him and I can take care of the rest!"

Valerie doubted that much, especially considering that the last time she saw Elle, the ghost girl resembled a snowman in the desert more than a ghost.

Still, she shrugged. "Let's go, then."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Unsurprisingly, and to the knee-weakening dismay of Elle, her cousin's ecto-signature lead them straight to Vlad Masters' mansion. It was a long flight, even with Valerie's hoverboard going at top speed, and the longer they spent in the air the more and more Valerie hoped this trip would be worth it. At this point, she wasn't just expecting a selfie; she wanted a chance to punch Phantom herself for all the trouble this was turning out to be.

And no, she wasn't just being mean because she was nervous about going back to Masters Mansion.

As soon as it came into view, Danielle slowed nervously. "Are... are you sure he's in there?"

Valerie checked her HUD. "Yup. His ecto-signature is coming from those coordinates."

The ghost girl sighed. "If he's in there, you can turn off the tracking. I know where he'll be."

Valerie frowned but complied. The mansion was huge and the less time they had to spend pacing the endless halls the better. "You haven't been here since that night, right? So how can you be so sure?"

Gulping, Elle continued forward. "Just trust me on this."

"Uh huh," Valerie replied, unimpressed. "You're down to your last IOUs, you know that? This better be worth it."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Carefully, they made their way forward. The exterior of the mansion looked fine, untouched and unscathed. Except for the ground along the Western wall. The dirt was cracked and bulging as if an explosion had gone off under the earth. It was the only anomaly in an otherwise pristine exterior.

"The basement," Elle informed unnecessarily.

Of course it was the basement. The images of that secret underground lab had plagued the back of Valerie's eyelids ever since that night. She'd rather give up her hoverboard than go into that basement again, but a promise was a promise.

They entered through the main entrance, stepping across the threshold into the large expanse of blackness. Every flat surface was dented and cracked, glowing green and red slime splattered across the room. The gore acted like so many morbid nightlights, illuminating the floor and walls as the industrial lights overhead flickered and failed to come to life.

Valerie took a step forward, her armored foot slipping on the tile. She yelped involuntarily, Danielle being quick to keep her from falling.

"Ugh, stupid ectoplasm," the hunter muttered. With a tap, she turned her headlamp on and looked down to inspect the damage.

Surprisingly, she hadn't slipped on gore like she had expected. In actuality, the slick tiles were covered with a thin layer of frost and ice. And then she realized how cold it was in here. Cold temperatures were to be expected when it involved the supernatural. Ghosts dropped the temperature of the room and ectoplasm would destabilize if overheated. She knew from experience - labs in particular were kept fairly cold to keep the samples and specimens docile. This lab, though, was beyond those levels of cold. It was downright frigid in here, the icy air seeping through the thermals in her suit.

She shivered. "Why's it so cold in here?"

"I don't know..." Elle replied. "I don't remember it being this cold last time."

Dissatisfied, they continued forward, Valerie having to pick a path through the destroyed equipment and containment cages. She didn't know a lot about this Plasmius character that had apparently been haunting Vlad Masters' basement, but she very much disliked him. And for good reason; he was more sinister than anything she had faced before. If Phantom had been in his clutches, she almost felt bad for him.

It.

Almost felt bad for it.

Suddenly, a hologram crackled to life, making the two investigators scream in surprise. "Welcome back, sugar lumps!" it greeted cheerily.

Valerie blinked at it. "Mrs. Fenton?"

Elle, though, seemed unfazed by the fact that this AI perfectly resembled one of the world's most notorious ghost hunters. Or its apparent proclivity for pet names.

"Where's Danny?" the ghost girl questioned, rounding on the projection. "What did Plasmius do with him?"

Valerie reached forward, intent on telling the ghost off. Surely this thing couldn't speak back. It was probably set up to a motion sensor or something and programmed to give some pre-recorded greeting or update. It couldn't actually speak.

Except then, it did: "I'm so sorry, apple fritters, but I'm afraid I don't recognize your wonderful voice! Please confirm it's you, butter bread."

"Ugh. It's me? Elle? Danielle Fenton?"

Valerie blinked. "Fenton?"

"So sorry, cream cakes. Please try again."

"Danielle Fenton! Why don't you recognize me?"

The hunter stepped forward. "Phantom?"

"What?"

"Enunciate. It sounds like you're saying Fenton."

The ghost rolled her eyes. "Of course!" Pivoting, she faced the hologram again. "It's Danielle. Danielle ...Masters."

The hologram beamed brightly in response. "Thank you so much, candy cane! I'm so happy to have you back!"

"Yes, great. Me too. About Danny though - where is he?"

It blinked at her. "Oh, I'm so terribly sorry, rice cakes. It seems all of the clones have expired."

Elle paled visibly.

Behind her, something caught Valerie's eye and she stepped off the investigate.

"I - I'm not asking about a clone..." Elle argued. "I want Danny. The real Danny! MY Danny!"

Valerie rounded a tossed-over fridge, eyes widening as she saw what was beyond. "Um, Elle?"

"Your search parameters are unclear. Please specify."

"Danny! Daniel!"

"Danielle!"

"What!"

Valerie jerked her chin forward, prompting the ghost girl to float over and investigate. As a clone herself, one who had melted and personally witnessed a multitude of failures before her succumb to the same fate, nothing could prepare her for what was waiting around the corner.

"I think I know why it couldn't find the one you were looking for..." Valerie offered as they took in the scene. The room was covered in what Valerie could only describe as living (but rapidly dying) corpses. They half resembled the Phantom character she had grown to hate, but something about their dilapidated features looked much more... solid. Much more human.

They almost reminded her of Danny from school. The Fenton kid she had tricked into going out with her a few times.

One monstrosity was gasping for breath on an exam table, its innards exposed and melting. Another was slumped inside a large containment tube, its wrists still shackled in place above its head. More were piled on each other, moaning and wheezing, in various states of decay. In the corner was a pile of similar incubation tubes, green and red slime dripping from cracks in the glass.

"What the hell..." Valerie gasped. This was unlike anything she had ever seen. Sure, she knew ghosts could melt. She had seen it with her own eyes. She'd even caused some creatures to destabilize slightly a few rare times before, back before she knew what she was doing, before she could stop her methods from getting out of hand. She'd shocked and prodded and, sure, she'd seen some ghoulish insides and been up to her elbows in ectoplasm more times than she could count. But this... these corpses, they looked completely different.

For one thing, they were alive. Or at least badly pretending to be. They moved and whined and she heard wet wheezes bubble out of one that had to have been drowning in its own fluid. For all intents and purposes, they seemed to be in pain. As if they were dying.

But once she got closer, she got a better look at their physicality. Which would best be described as... physical. Usually, ghosts were otherworldly. They were cold and defied gravity by nature and she could stick her hand through one if so inclined with very little resistance. They lacked the normal rigidity that humans did; their bones and muscle structures were different. When she punched a human in the arm, she felt layers of skin and muscle and bone (if she hit hard enough.) Punch a ghost, however, and it felt more like hitting a bag of stiff gelatin. It bounced back and it molded to her fist, like thick liquid poured into a sleeve.

These clones, though, were a mind-boggling mix of both of those realities. The gelatinous qualities of ectoplasm remained, except it somehow adhered to a surprisingly human-looking bone structure. Gravity pulled on their flesh and limbs and wispy hair, but she could still see the cracked floor tiles through them if she looked hard enough.

They were ghosts.

And they also weren't.

What was obvious, though, what she knew beyond a doubt, was that none of them were Phantom.

Also, they were dying. Slowly and painfully.

Before she realized it, she was kneeling before one mangled corpse, sweeping her scanner over its twisted remains. It huffed curiously at her, its one working eye watching her movement curiously.

She shushed it, fighting the urge to run her hand through its goopy hair. It looked so much like Danny (from school) she almost couldn't take it.

Behind her, Elle had recovered from the horror show around them much quicker than Valerie had. The ghost was zipping from pile to pile, asking for Danny, wondering where her cousin was.

The hologram materialized beside Valerie and she had to bite back her growl. "What happened here? Who did this?"

"Would you like to watch the security footage, pumpkin bread?"

The clone at her feet gave one last wheeze. She could have sworn its eye flickered a familiar blue before going dark.

"Yes."

.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

The two gathered around a tiny monitor, the only operating screen in a 4x5 set of them, watching curiously as the AI of Maddie Fenton rewound the footage to "about fourteen hours ago," as Elle had so helpfully supplied.

Shortly, they had found the right scene: The lab was in order, neat and arranged. A stark contrast to the disaster they had walked into. The floors were polished and the equipment was arranged in a way that must have made sense to someone. Valerie recognized the portion of the room they were looking at now as the same area they had found the corpses in. The containment tubes lined the walls, the pile of discards already starting to grow. The exam table was off to the side.

What threw her off, though, was the additional piece of equipment that simply didn't exist in the present. It clearly had been the centerpiece of the room before whatever had happened had happened. Looking at that spot on the floor now, she realized that's where the explosion had come from. The icicles clinging to every surface pointed to this spot as their origin. Even the cracks in the floor started there. It was the epicenter. But what had happened here?

As the recording continued, they saw a figure bent over the piece of equipment. A second, smaller humanoid was strapped to its surface, squirming and wriggling against the restraints. It was mostly obscured by the looming silhouette, though its clenched fists and... red sneakers(?) were visible. The taller figure - Valerie could almost be convinced it was Mr. Masters himself, what with the gray hair and black suit - was hard at work putting its captive through hell.

Valerie recognized some of the techniques and tools being used. She had wielded her own makeshift versions before - except, to her credit, she had done so with much less... mangling than this person was. While her methods were meant to pry information, the figure here seemed to delight in causing pain. They wanted something, she could infer that much, but she guessed at some point their original purpose of hurting to get information had warped into hurting for the enjoyment of it.

It made a small part of her stomach turn. When she was working, she could separate her captive from itself. They weren't human. And the closer she got, the more obvious it was.

With this distant view and grainy sound quality, though, she could be tricked into thinking the captive's screams were, in fact, human. They certainly seemed genuine.

"How long had this been going on?" she wondered aloud.

"The most recently processed experimentations began the first Thursday of this month, sweet tart."

"That's over a week ago," Elle gasped.

"Thirteen days, to be precise, goose lips."

"Unbelievable..." Valerie sighed.

Danielle wiped her eyes, forcing herself to refocus. "Fast forward to the scream."

Valerie frowned at her. "The scream?" she asked, but before the ghost girl could answer, the footage reached the intended time stamp and the AI started wailing.

The two investigators reeled back, covering their ears against the sudden noise.

"What's happening?" Elle asked, wincing as the screeching tore through her head.

Valerie turned to the AI. "Hey! Hologram! Shut it!"

It refused, continuing the ear-piercing scream.

Suddenly, Elle had an idea. "The footage!" she gasped as if Valerie had any idea what she meant by that. "Maddie! Pause the recording!"

Instantly, the room went quiet. It was so sudden it left their ears ringing with the delayed echoes.

"What did you do?" Valerie demanded, watching suspiciously as Elle approached the many monitors.

"She was trying to translate."

Still, Valerie was lost. "Translate what? A banshee listening to heavy metal?"

"No. The wail. Maddie," Elle turned to the AI and Valerie really wanted to tell her to stop calling it that, "resume the footage. But muted this time."

"Muted footage will not be translated. The translation may be lost, lamp chops."

She sighed. "Then let me listen to it. The actual sound, not the translation."

"Elle, what're you-"

"Can do, kind heart! And what a wonderful idea, too!"

This time when they pressed the play button, they heard an entirely different yell: it was the voice of a human boy, one that was strained and crying and in immeasurable pain and fear and sounded so much like Danny (from school) that Valerie had to do a double take.

"Vlad, stop! You don't know what you're doing!" he was pleading. He sounded like, well, like he had been screaming his way through thirteen days of torture.

The taller figure hovering over him was undeterred. If anything, it seemed more and more excited the harder its captive squirmed and begged.

"No one knows what this will do, Little Badger," it teased. "Least of all those idiotic parents of yours. Oh, imagine how excited your mother will be when I present this bombshell of a scientific discovery to her! My sweet Maddie, finally leaving that moron of a husband for the man she deserves - the man that will compliment her immense intelligence instead of constantly bringing her down with his buffoonery."

"Dude," he wheezed, "there are, like, a million other less insane ways of getting my mom's attention. Write her a letter, rent a billboard - hire one of those sky writers! Anything but this." A wet hacking sound garbled the audio. "Please."

"I'm disappointed in you Daniel. Aren't you your mother's son?" They leaned over their captive, snickering menacingly. "Don't you want to, what is that ridiculous phrase your father keeps shouting, 'rip it apart atom by atom'?"

The boy coughed harshly, his strained vocal cords creaking. "It's - and I can't believe I'm about to say this - 'tear it apart molecule by molecule' and no! I don't! I rather like being me - the not-cloned, not-ripped-apart version."

The captor sighed. "And that's where we differ, Daniel. Unless you choose to be with me, and your mother, this version of you simply won't suffice. So I must make the version that will. I will clone you, Daniel. And from your grave will rise the perfect son - MY perfect son!"

There was a pause as the figure on the table resumed tugging at the restraints in a renewed sense of panic.

"Vlad - do, do you hear yourself? Do you hear how crazy you sound? Snap out of it! You don't want this. You don't want to... to kill me."

"Again, you're wrong." The taller figure suddenly pulled out a giant pair of clawed gloves. "I'm not killing you, Daniel. That would involve ridding the world of something it would miss."

Suddenly, the captor plunged the claws into the boy's chest.

And then the wailing started.

"It... it's cold," Danielle said quietly.

Valerie frowned at her, startled by the unexpected words. "What is? What's he doing?"

"...His core..." the ghost girl collapsed to her knees, suddenly too weary from the shock of it all to stay floating.

Valerie was at her side in a moment, checking her for injuries.

"That's what my dear Vladdy-poo was digging out," the hologram chimed in happily. "Quite the genius, my honey biscuits." It waved its hand, the other monitors displaying coordinated sections of a larger image. "Every ghost has a core; it's the source of their power and life force! When fudge nutters tried to extract Little Badger's core, there was an explosion!"

"An explosion?" Valerie questioned. "What kind?"

"The cold kind! It froze everything and destroyed everything else. It was catastrophic!" It clapped its hands together. "Isn't that fun?"

"Danny..." Danielle muttered. "Maddie! Where is he? What happened to him?"

"Unknown!"

Valerie leapt to her feet, really wishing she could punch a hologram in the face. "What do you mean unknown? You have to know! You're this place's security or something."

"Unknown!"

Teeth grinding with determination (and more than a little bit of rage), Elle climbed to her feet. Slowly, her weightlessness came back, lifting her into the air. "We have to find him!"

Valerie held out her hands. "Whoa, ghost girl. We aren't even sure there's anything left to find. You heard what happened. I mean, look at this place! If he survived, then where is he?"

"I... I don't know. But I know he's out there!"

"How? And don't say I have to trust you on this. I've been trusting you and look where it got us! Unless you start explaining and start right now, I am not taking another step."

Elle's shoulders slumped. "You... you wouldn't understand. Danny - Phantom - he's... he's different."

"Oh, I'm sure he is. What, does he donate to a local dog shelter? I bet he serves soup to the homeless on the weekends when he's not too busy terrorizing the city."

The ghost turned her back to Valerie, arms crossed. "I knew you wouldn't understand. Even if I told you, you still wouldn't help."

Valerie mirrored her pose, swinging a hip out to one side. "You're darn right I wouldn't help! You ghosts are all the same. You show up out of the blue, stick your noses into our business, and then get mad when we want you to leave."

"Not all of us."

"Sure, ghost girl."

Elle sighed. Then, she huffed. "Fine."

Valerie raised an eyebrow at her sudden determination. "Fine what?"

The ghost turned on her, using her flying height to hover over the hunter. "I tried to be nice! I tried to do this the right way - to appeal to your humanity, your sense of preservation, your heart. But clearly, I misjudged you. Clearly, you're too wrapped up in your own drama and angst to care about anyone else-"

"Hey, ghosts don't count and you know that!"

"And apparently neither do humans, either!"

Valerie blinked at her. "What, what do you mean?"

But the ghost girl wasn't listening, too focused on her own seething rage. "As if it even matters! You don't care about anyone other than yourself, that much is clear. So forget it! I'll find Danny on my own. I don't need you."

"Says the ghost that practically begged me to help track down your 'cousin' - if you two are even related."

"Yeah? And apparently that was my mistake. So forget it, Valerie. Forget what you saw tonight, forget about all of this. ...Forget about me."

The hunter was taken aback. "Danielle..."

"I'm serious," the girl sniffed angrily. "Lose my number. Don't contact me. Don't look for me. Go on with your life, hunting down ghosts that have done nothing wrong just to fill some empty black hole inside of you or whatever. I don't care." And with that, she kicked off, zooming toward the ceiling.

"Danielle!" Valerie called after her. "Elle, wait! Come back!"

But she was gone. Invisible or fazed through the ceiling, the hunter couldn't tell.

[ofswordsandpens]

I rewatched Zuko and Azula's Agni Kai recently and it's left me wondering – when Zuko begins to goad Azula into striking him with lightning, was he making the decision to kill her?

Because had Azula shot lightning directly at him like he planned and not at Katara, the most forthright implication to me is that he was intending to strike Azula with her own lightning. And Azula, for all her mastery, would not have been able to counter that.

On the other hand, maybe he wasn't planning to kill her at all and was simply planning to redirect it elsewhere (similar to what he did with Ozai). But given the tone of tragedy throughout the Agni Kai, the fact that they both acknowledge that this fight will be "the end" to them, I don't think it's inaccurate to read Zuko's actions as him preparing to kill Azula, even though an Agni Kai doesn't have to end with death (and in canon it didn't). Also, why goad her into striking him with lightning if he wasn't planning on doing something intentional with it? If anything, it adds another layer to the tragedy to me, because I don't believe Zuko wants to kill her. And it stands in such contrast to the way that Azula desperately wants to kill him.

I also think that there would have even been something sadly poetic in that sort of demise for Azula should the Agni Kai had gone this direction: Azula, struck down by her preferred sub-skill. Azula, struck down by the very bolt of lightning that she intended to kill her brother with. Azula, struck down by her own power.

[pigeonxp]

i cant believe there are people who watch 911 who dont think that eddie is gay/is going to come out inevitably.

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

So Witches We Became

YA horror

a girl and her friends go on vacation to a house on a private Florida island, but when a strange mist and toxic tar surrounds them, trapping them there, they have to find a way to survive and/or escape

while she’s being haunted by a traumatic experience with her friend’s boyfriend - who just showed up - that she’s been unable to tell anyone about, and by a shadow from her childhood that she fears might have something to do with what’s happening

sapphic, explores complicated friendships, and surviving assault

[brittlebutch]

working on another I Like You Too fic btw. i got distracted by the whole HRT wait but Im back at it again :3

[lion-buddy]

SUGGESTION: I think the split soul idea is cool, but what if both their souls have the color of a monster's but the shape of a human's? Or vice versa?

oo yeah! i was thinking abt where they would fall on the monster human spectrum. i do think a monster soul shape would be a nice thing to keep up with the upside heart shape they already have going on.

[hauntingblue]

I had some thots about jason pushing that man off that balcony and idc what cheer said but jason being mad at bruce for not believing him makes much more sense and it's more narratively coherent when you look at it retrospectively

[todayisafridaynight]

LISTEN I KNOW HOW IT SOUNDS BUT I SWEAR HE WAS DISTINCT FROM RGGJO STILL 😭😭😭 HIS DESIGN WAS LOUD IN A DIFFERENT WAY 😭😭😭😭😭 though As A Whole it was probably the result of someone saying he should go full RGGJo in 8 several months prior to when I had the dream, so not wrong. But it would be fun to see a shift from "Nothing in life matters...😞" to "Nothing in life matters! 😎" would it not...

I've always thought Drink Link was meant to evoke Social Link? Because in Japan it was called #DRAMA. I was never the biggest fan because it's one of many "translations" in Y7 that are just changing something that was already in English and doesn't require cultural context to understand. Like IMO whether it's seen as an improvement or not, it's just not the localizers' job to "improve on" the original; let them be cringe and let them be free...

And also it gave ammunition to Persona fans who refuse to experience anything but P5 and decided to go "wow! it's just like P5!" at every little thing Y7 did from the VERY FIRST trailers onward (including BE AN RPG) And That Shit Got Old Fast </3 Sorry </3 But I do think this one's very much on purpose, localization-wise. So I forgive you :)

RANTING ASIDE. OR. SEGUEING INTO MORE RANTING. Literally like I don't even care if it's as part of the Kasugang or Kiryu's Geezer Squad... Give Jo five minutes with Tendo or hand him over to me so I can make sure he's enriched and well-nourished... these are my demands... that man is my everything......

Because it would be SO funny both ways. We don't know who all will be in each party, so either he's stuck with Adachi (Definitely A Character) (Affectionate) (Also Has Already Told Him He'd Rather Kill Him Than Send Him To Jail So. Awkward) or maybe with Kiryu's he'd have more people around his agw, But if not, The Inherent Comedy of two bitches called Jo and Joryu who have almost the same haircut 💀💀

Exactly though, nobody in the Arakawa Family is neurotypical and I FULLY believe Jo would be at his best when put into Situations, like Mine is. It's something I reeeally miss from RGGO because of the pre-finale scene with RGGJo and Mitsu having a drink at their favorite bar... they haven't been there in a while, and RGGJo doesn't wanna spoil the mood, so he's not hostile in the slightest... and when he gets up to leave he says he "forgot his wallet" and makes Mitsu foot the bill (ICONIC for completely different reasons depending on whether he's telling the truth or not)... whereas in Y7 I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE ARAKAWAS HAVE A FAVORITE BAR

it could be funny- whiplash inducing, but that'd undoubtedly be why it'd be funny wouldn't it ♪(´▽｀) he could've been some sacred third thing- just more RGGJo influence injected in Y7Jo mayhaps..

anyhow it dont sound like you forgive me when you just got mad at persona players for makin comparisons and here ive gone and done such a thing LMAO（；´д｀）（；´д｀）in any case, i know how you feel about translations so i wont press the topic: if it aint broke etc etc, i understand how you feel so it's ok (❁´◡`❁;;)

double 'jo' def woulda been funny, if not has always been a small thing worth jokin bout that ive had in the back of my mind (though ive already said that: i have a broken record of a brain at this point, if not that it just points out how silly i find the idea) LMAO. i've always enjoyed antag-turned-party member anyhow, so it wouldve been fun to me regardless of what it brought ♪(´▽｀)

[shame-kink]

pretty sure thats the Maggot Devil

[br1ghtestlight]

i agree with the actors and crew and everybody saying that gene isnt confirmed to be gay or genderfluid or whatever bcuz he's eleven years old, he's still a kid just having fun and playing around and he has all the time in the world to figure that out. queer kids exist obviously and theyre important but gene is a fictional character and as somebody who also has fictional kids that i created, it feels almost like violating to decide things like what their future gender or sexuality will be?? it feels like im denying them the ability to choose for themselves who they want to be, and i like having that open for interpretation with the knowledge that they're allowed to experiment now and they'll figure stuff out when theyre older :) i dont think its wrong to think abt the futures of child characters in media obviously or any character in general LOL ppl can do that if they want but its something i don't enjoy doing and i dont feel comfortable with (for my own characters i think its fun to think abt with other peoples), and i get that the bob's burgers crew seems to feel the same way regarding the kids??? totally makes sense tbh

[waywardsalt]

very freeing to actually own up (to myself) abt post-ph being an au. now i can make a little list of the little ways it deviates from leading to st

[termagax]

i just think my cis boy could get a little ambiguous boy with it. is this so wrong.

[moe-broey]

Oh. Huh.

[mayspicer]

Ok, the boss is no more! There were some super stressful moments but surprisingly we all survived o:

My animal companion got hit with disintegrate, but we had hero points to make him avoid it. I would cry actually, because disintegrate means no resurrection x_x

The war is prevented! At least this one, because Cayden's party is right at the center of a much bigger one just starting. Today we saved the country. Cayden is trying to not even save the whole world, just maybe slow the whole thing down and save as much people as possible...

[reignbowarbiter]

people making theories about the fears solely based on the “statements” being a mixed bag rather than 1 specific fear per ep is strange to me bc correct me if im wrong but didnt tma also have statements where there was more than 1 fear at play pretty often???

[boyheros]

people who draw phoenix with brown/black/idk dark gray eyes thank you for your service