#but there’s no way Jack would leave Maddie to die alone | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

datawyrms · 4 years ago

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Ghostly Mystery Tour

For Phic Fight 2021! dey’s lovely prompt c:

On Ao3

Maddie and Jack had fully prepared for their adventure into the Ghost Zone—or so they thought. The fuel on Specter Speeder had fizzled out about a mile in. They're stuck. At least, until Phantom comes by, offering help.

“I just don’t understand it Maddie, I swear I charged it just this morning!” Jack’s voice managed to be louder than his frantic jabbing at the fuel gauge in the enclosed space, the sickly green glow outside making him look ill instead of agitated.

“I’m sure you did honey, but we need to think of a plan.” Maddie was already trying to think of what they could use. They weren’t too far away from the portal home, with how quickly the Speeder ran out of power. They had plenty of gear and weaponry packed in for their research trip, but the Specter Speeder wasn’t powered with something they could just toss in a gas can and bring along. “Maybe we can hook some of the ropes to the floating land masses and tow it?”

“Oh! Great idea!” Jack brightened, shoving the previous problem aside, hands now occupied with measuring the distance of the nearby rocks. “The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can get back to work!”

The problem about how safe it actually was to breathe in the air when in the realm of the dead had been accounted for, but if they had to waste the air tanks just to get back- well they wouldn’t get to have nearly the amount of time to actually explore on foot, let alone gathering samples. They could learn so much about the ectoplasmic terrors from the world they clawed out of, weaknesses they didn’t need to fear on Earth even! So to have their expedition, a trip that had been months in the making derailed like this in mere moments hurt. At least Jack could keep his eyes forward, his positive attitude the only thing keeping her from screaming from the absolute unfairness of it all. “Just run the best options past me before you open the hatch, okay darling?”

“You betcha!”

She was still going to enable the Fenton Child Safety Lock as a precaution, he could get a little over eager when he saw an opportunity. It was just a matter of what tools could be repurposed into a makeshift claw or skewer to actually keep hold of the rocks. What would be the smallest loss?

The sound of something hitting the roof of the speeder halted her thoughts, turning to look out of the windows, drawing up her hood in case they’d be fighting so soon. Even Jack had stopped with his mental calculations, pulling a weapon from under the seat. “Company already? Guess we’ll show em what for, eh honey?”

“Well it is the Ghost Zone, they’re probably braver here. Not that it’ll be any problem.” A little boasting could help keep morale up, even if the situation was less than ideal. Stranded with a ghost already trying to take advantage, typical.

“Well one little zap with this baby and it’ll scoot right on back!”

If the ghost could hear them, maybe it would be frightened off just by their voices. Whatever had hit them hadn’t shown itself near the window, or hit their vehicle again. It didn’t feel right. There might be no evidence for whatever it was lurking around, but sometimes you had to follow your intuition. Jack was inquisitive, but didn’t ask out loud as his wife stood to knock the ceiling herself.

“Sooo are we doing knock knock jokes, or do you need a tow?”

She should have known. Of all the ghosts, it would have to be the one that always managed to get her hackles up, pretending to be helpful so people trusted him. A ghost that even tried to have a human name to fit in, not that she’d ever call this thing ‘Danny’. It was an insult to her baby boy, quite frankly. “What are you up to now?”

“Asking you if you need this thing moved. Duh,” the ghost snorted, the metal clanking as he knocked it again. “Talking at you from the roof feels dumb, you gonna shoot if I go to the front?”

“Depends on what you do, ghost scum!” Jack had looked pensive for a moment, but spoke up quickly on spotting Maddie reaching for a notebook. He just had to give her time to think it over, and he was great at distractions.

“Is scum what you call all people who help you out, or am I just your favourite?” A white haired head appeared at the top of their window, looking down with an amused smirk at the pair. Still playing innocent when they were at a disadvantage.

“You’re a ghost ‘claiming’ to want to help.”

That earned a frown, though the ghost stopped half hiding to float in front of their stranded speeder. “Riiiight. Put it that way, whatever,” he paused, as if studying their faces. His green eyes lingered on the weapon, notably so even as he went back to jabbering. “I’ve got some stuff to do, but I can drag the s-that thing back to the portal. So?”

The hunters shared a glance, unsure how to handle it. Phantom liked to claim he liked humans and protecting them, but he was a ghost. There had to be something he wanted out of them in return. Or might get violent if refused in the wrong way. At least he shouldn’t be able to see the quickly scrawled message to Jack. ‘You play the doubtful one, I’ll pretend to trust him- it’ll underestimate us’

“As if, spooky! Jack Fenton doesn’t need any ghost’s help!”

The ghost bought the open hostility without a second thought, eyes rolling to a sky that wasn’t here. “Really? I heard tow trucks were expensive out of state! Can’t imagine the out of dimension costs.”

It was going to be difficult to stay civil when it would be so much easier to just demand the ghost stop playing around. “We’re listening. So what do you want?”

“Awwww Mads, we don’t need this punk’s help! He doesn’t even have toes!”

The passion Jack had put into his moping managed to baffle the ghost. “Wait, what? Of course I do! No, stop, why does that matter? I know tows and toes are different things! I’m not that bad of a student, sheesh.” He seemed quite thrown, which was good. If the ghost forgot what the plan had been he might just get lost.

“Yeah, and you don’t have either Phantom!” Her husband managed to keep from laughing, but the shake in his shoulders showed it was a near thing.

Phantom glanced down at the black wispy tail that made up his legs, muttering something. “Well okay I don’t right now, but I normally do!”

It was a bit fascinating that Jack had distracted the ghost from his goal so completely. They’d have to think about an invention that could replicate the effect. “Can we focus please? I already said I’d listen to what you wanted.”

“Oh! Right, sorry,” he coughed, a strangely human expression of embarrassment. “I don’t actually need anything? I just have some stuff to do so you’d need to wait a bit.”

Oh right. Sure, the most dangerous ghost in town wanted to help the ghost hunters that wanted to destroy him ‘just because’. Just wait here while he goes to get some friends to attack them! Honestly, did ghosts think they were stupid? “Then why not tell us when you’re done? We’re not moving very quickly.”

“Cus he wants to make us think we’re safe before WHAM! Outnumbered by cowardly ghosts!” Jack expressed her true feelings effortlessly. “Not that it’d help em!”

“No way, you think I’d leave you guys here where anyone can try something?” The ghost still seemed confused, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. “You guys are here to study or whatever anyway, right? So you can look around while I get my errands done. And you know, you don’t get attacked. Most of the little guys leave me alone.”

As if that was a surprise! A ghost of Phantom’s strength could destroy smaller and weaker entities without effort. Perhaps it was a subtle threat slipping through his mask of ‘helpful child’. The idea of going deeper into the Ghost Zone, completely at his mercy was...well absolutely idiotic. Even if they could probably overcome him...being able to still get some studies done would make it not a complete waste of a trip. “So you think it’s likely we’ll be attacked here, so close to the portal?”

“Yeah, by him!” Jack looked tempted to grab his weapon, but refrained. “So what if we say no, huh?”

“Then I guess you can float here? Up to you, I guess.”

It was strange, to see the cocky ghost a bit hesitant. Even if there was an obvious threat he wasn’t mentioning. “Well if you could pull the Speeder, you could take it even if we don’t want you to.”

“I think that’s called kidnapping.” Phantom’s cocky smirk returned “Which is weird, you’re not kids! Adultnapping? Nah, that sounds dumb.”

“Ah cut the innocent act, we’re not falling for it!”

“Hey, I said it’s up to you! Either you agree to come along and I get you back home, or I just leave you guys to do whatever you plan to do. Even if yes, I could totally just drag the ship anyway. I’m not, because I’m trying to help, remember?” A hint of frustration slid past the confidence at ‘remember’, but the ghost folding his arms behind his head as if kicking back to relax did defang most of the threat. “I don’t have all day here.”

“We don’t have all day either Phantom. We have family to get back to, and no idea how long you plan to be ‘on errands’.” Maddie pointed out, still unsure what they should do. Trusting him was stupid, but he had showed his hand. Refusal might be met with the same result anyway, but ‘agreeing’ might trick the ghost into thinking they fell for his ‘trustworthy’ act.

“Like an hour or two? Not too long.”

“Well I’d use my Fenton Stopwatch! So don’t think you can pretend it’s a shorter time than it is, ghost!”

“Yeah yeah, you do that D-Jack,” he stumbled over the ghost hunter’s name, but otherwise didn’t move from relaxing. “It’s not gonna kill you to trust me for a bit.”

Even though it very much could kill them. He really was a smug bit of ectoplasm, thinking he blended in with humans well enough to be considered one. “So only a few hours, and you won’t stop us from researching or taking samples? Or lead us to a trap?”

“If I wanted people to get threatened by ghosts, I could just take some days off. No trouble, cross my heart. I’d swear to die but I got the jump on that bit,” he snorted at his own joke, but otherwise left the family to consider.

It was just safer to say ‘yes’ so the ghost thought they were fools. It had nothing to do with wanting to salvage something out of this disaster of an expedition. “Yes. We’ll accept your help, this time.”

“And you aren’t getting any thanks until we’re home, got it?” Good, ghost hunter, bad ghost hunter. An easy enough trick. Even if she wished Jack was the ‘trusting’ one. Yelling would feel nice.

“Yeeeah, kinda expected that too. Rude.” The ghost only shrugged before flying up and out of sight. She half expected to hear the ghost grab the Speeder, but they only really noticed when they started moving. Moving very, very quickly.

She couldn’t help it, her curiosity tamped down some of the fear she should be feeling, pointing out interesting landmasses as they passed, Jack just as enthusiastic to discuss what caused them, if the ghost built them or they were simply generated when a ghost squirmed into existence. A great castle that seemed familiar, an island with some sort of skull as a decoration and thousands of doors. Most ghosts they only could get sparing glimpses at, even when carrying an entire vehicle the ghost boy was fast. Ridiculously so. She thought it was his small figure that contributed to how quickly the pest could move- how the ghost could just vanish out of range in moments. That most of the power behind his physical attacks came from the speed they were delivered with instead of raw strength. Clearly that was an incorrect hypothesis, moving this quickly and carrying so much extra weight without any real difficulty. They slowed near what seemed to be another castle, though it was much less foreboding looking then the other one.

That sinking dread returned after they landed. She had some landmarks, but this much distance would be a big ask to get back. That, and this castle seemed more...occupied, judging by some humanoid ghosts loitering near the gates. One even waved. To them, or the ghost carrying them?

“Okayyy so. Ground rules? Don’t shoot anyone. None of these guys even go through the portal, they’re not the fighting type. Other than that? Have fun, I guess?” He’d stopped floating, standing on the ground beside their stalled craft. He didn’t look as if preparing to fight, which is what she’d assumed the ghost meant by ‘errands’. So what was he up to?

“We won’t do anything if they don’t.” A lie, honestly, but the ghost nodded.

“Wait, what’s that stuff for?” White gloves pointed at the masks the ghost hunters were pulling from under the seats. “Like you can hear me, there’s air out here.”

“It might be safe for ghosts, but we aren’t ghosts.”

Phantom opened his mouth as if to protest before shutting it with a frown. Strange, it was hard to get him to shut up most of the time.

“Nice try, we’re not gonna choke on ghost air today, Phantom!” Jack chuckled, adjusting his mask before popping open the hatch.

“I wasn’t expecting you to- oh whatever. Just don’t embarrass me,” he sounded like a sulking kid, only glancing at them for a moment before kicking off the ground to fly closer to the castle. Off to fight whoever ‘owned’ this area, perhaps?

“Well look at that! Regular plants!” Jack shook her from her pondering, crouched over what looked like a tended to flower bed near the walls. “Well, ghost plants that aren’t trying to attack. Think we should sketch em for the kids?”

“Well Jazz has been more interested in ghosts lately, I suppose.” It was interesting, but she was more curious about the ghost meandering past the walls. They seemed docile, almost like people just walking and apparently talking with one another. Not attempting to fight for territory or resources. Perhaps they were just repeating the memories of their lives over and over? Yet none of them had reacted badly to Phantom zipping past either. A different breed of ghost, perhaps? Or ghosts often had ‘kings’ that kept the lesser ones from squabbling. The large brute of a ghost that stole the town had claimed to be a king of sorts, and this was another castle...but she didn’t want to test anything by getting their attention. They might only act savagely towards humans, being jealous of those still alive after all.

“Yeah, she has! Danno might not like em, but that goth chick he’s eyeing might like em too!” He was already sketching away, quickly getting the basics. He’d fill in the details from memory back home. “You want to try seeing if those ones talk? Not sure how the ghost kid thinks we could embarrass him, ha!”

“Oh he was probably just trying to insult us. He likes to pretend to be a teenager,” she waved that question away, double checking her weapon was easy to reach in case of an emergency. No reason to make their predicament worse by being unprepared. While still considering to go near those ghosts instead of safely observing from a distance. Jack’s enthusiasm was too infectious, really, but that’s how they made so many discoveries!

The ghosts didn’t object to her moving closer, but she kept off the busier paths to be safe. So many stalls of what seemed to be goods, clothing and paintings, rugs and nick knacks. Well, the ghosts didn’t need anything to live, so it would make sense for them to prioritize other items first, but the art was strange. What did the dead know of creativity? Were these all recreations of something found in life? No, some of the paintings had the green skies of the Ghost Zone, implying at least some ‘new’ thought. They were strange, very unlike the wild animals that often attacked the town, or the showy inhuman mimics that tried to claim world domination. They just looked like greener, more transparent people. Barely any of them even floated much. They’d need new categories, they broke too many rules that stayed true on Earth.

“Oh that’s a lovely shade of blue! I wish I could make something like it.” The voice echoed, but it wasn’t growling or mocking. In fact, the ghost woman who had paused beside the hunter was smiling warmly, despite the dead red eyes. “Are you just visiting for a bit?”

“We’re mostly stuck going wherever the ghost boy is taking us, our ship broke down,” Maddie struggled not to frown, her natural inclination to get away from the still potentially dangerous ghost strong with so many fights. She could tell it the truth, in a sense. Phantom was far more likely to be dangerous then this waif of a woman. How she could move in so many ruffles was baffling.

“Oh dear! Well if he’s any trouble you can let Dorthea know, she’s a caring ruler. A human helped her get her rightful throne back, so I’m sure she’d be happy to help!” The ghost tittered a little, as if expecting that to be obvious.

So the ghost did know she was human? Far more alarming was the idea some other human had been dragged this far from home, possibly trapped. Maybe this would turn into a rescue mission. Unless it was too late for them, a distinct possibility. “Oh really? How did that happen?”

“Oh I don’t really know the details, but it was a human that inspired our good Queen that she didn’t need to fear that tyrant and she could fight back. I wish I’d seen it!”

It was disquieting how human the ghost sounded, a friendly sort of gossip. If only she had a way to record it. “The human got back home after helping, right?”

“Well I assume so, she had no intentions of staying here very long, that’s for sure!” She laughed easily, apparently blind to Maddie’s confusion and apprehension, or just unable to see it past the mask and goggles. “I’m fairly sure Sir Phantom took her back, you could ask him.”

Sir? That town terrorizing scoundrel was respected around here? And had been taking humans out of the ghost zone? Probably because he made whoever it was get here in the first place, just to rescue them. Was that why he was here? To stage some new act with this ghost queen? “Right, I might do that.” Would she? This morning she hadn’t expected to talk to ghosts, let alone multiple.

“Oh! If you see any of those angry blobs you can just run back towards the guards and they’ll deal with it. It’s their job, and they’re quite good at it. I actually considered doing that job for a bit, but I like looking after the plants more. Maybe I’ll switch in a decade or two!” The ghost kept talking, apparently taking Maddie’s lack of further questions as permission to keep chattering.

“Can’t you deal with them yourself?” Attacking ghost blobs was something she knew about, and if this ghost was strong enough to mimic humans, shouldn’t it be able to deal with the much less sophisticated tactics of blobs?

“Me? Oh no, I’m not not trained. Do you still have lions on the other side? It would be like trying to fight one of those with a stick!” She laughed, but not unkindly.

“You’re both ghosts though, aren’t you?” Perhaps they differentiated themselves by name in the Ghost Zone? It would lend some evidence to the ‘different breeds’ of ghost hypothesis she was rapidly stringing together.

She tapped at her chin for a moment at the question. “I suppose we are, but they’re more like animals. They might have always been animals, or never alive at all! It’s perfectly safe here though, they usually fight more among themselves.”

Well that was fascinating. Some ghosts didn’t instinctively know how to fight and had to be taught? Yet didn’t consider themselves completely separated from the more animalistic ectoplasmic terrors. Perhaps the more ‘domestic’ setting here made the ghosts less feral and more reliant on their previous memories. Well, the ghost could be lying, but she couldn’t see the benefit she’d gain from deception here. “So you’re kind of stuck here then? We saw a lot of those outside of this place.”

“No no, we’ve got safer ways to travel than just flying around! Not all of us are that brave, dear. Though I don’t think I’d want to stay somewhere else very long anyway. Here it’s safe, all my friends are here and we have one of the largest markets in the whole Ghost Zone. Other ghosts come to us!” There was a hint of pride as she spoke about her ‘home’, gesturing over to some of the stalls Maddie hadn't had time to look at before getting interrupted. “I was really hoping to get something from the seven armed bloke over there, but he’s not very interested in my clothing. Maybe next time.”

Said ‘bloke’ had far too many eyes to go with the arms, and a collection of honestly terrifying little statues with strange designs that made her head hurt if she looked at it too long. A clear outsider to the more human ones, but not causing a stir. So much for constantly fighting out groups, but they barely had anything in common either! Not to mention engaging in some kind of simplistic trading. “So this happens often?”

“Pretty much. It’s fun to make new things, but you get bored of just your own stuff after a few centuries you know? So we swap and find new things.”

Well of course, it’s not like the ghosts needed to trade for something vital to existence. Swapping ‘things’ made more sense in that context. So why weren’t any trying to trade strength or favours? Or simply taking what they wanted? Was it related to having a queen? She had so many questions that knowing what ones needed to be asked was next to impossible. “I suppose you would. How can you tell if a ghost that comes is peaceful?”

“Asking!” She laughed again, apparently finding the question funny. So they didn’t deal with constant attacks from spectres like Phantom trying to ‘take over?’ Why?

“Oh geeze, I’m so sorry if she said anything about trying to-” Phantom’s voice interrupted her thoughts, the ghost suddenly floating beside the other ghost and sputtering.

“Sorry? She’s been perfectly lovely! Haven’t you- oh I’m so rude, I didn’t even get your name!” the ghost tisked at herself, once again strangely apologetic.

“Wait, she has?” His doubtful tone made the ghost hunter scowl. As if he had any room to judge them.

“We’re scientists, not uncontrollable monsters.” Like him. She was fairly sure he caught the implication when the boy muttered something she couldn’t hear.

“Cool. Anyway, got another stop, then I’ll get you two back home.” He still hovered, glancing between the two of them a few times. “Oh. Maddie, that’s her name.”

“Lovely speaking with you Maddie! Had a good trip back, I’m Guenivier if you’re ever in the area again,” she smiled and gave another wave before somehow drifting back into the crowd without displacing even a bit of that dress.

“Who said you can give out my name?” Maddie hissed, once certain the other ghost was out of earshot.

He leaned back on teenager mannerisms, scoffing and heading away. “Because she wanted to know and thinks you aren’t a total ghost hater? It’s not gonna hurt anything.”

“How can I know you don’t have a way to locate people by name?”

He was rolling his eyes again as if she was being ridiculous. “You live in a house with a giant glowing sign. Not exactly subtle.”

“That isn’t in the ghost zone.”

“It’s attached to the ghost zone, it totally counts.”

It really was like arguing with a teenager when he bantered on like this. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Yes ma’am. Sheesh.” He hopped on top of the speeder, kicking his heels against the side. “Hey Jack, you coming?”

“Coming!” he bellowed back, jogging over from the patch of plants she’d left him at. However, he wasn’t just carrying his notebook, but a folded glowing bit of cloth. Some sort of tapestry judging by all the stitching? “Just wanted to get a few more lines done-” he broke off after spotting his wife, apparently reminded that he shouldn’t be so chummy with the ghost. “I mean I leave when I want to, you can’t boss Fentons around!”

“Oh come onnn, can you pretend you don’t hate me for like five minutes? I’m not even doing anything!” Phantom complained, flopping backwards onto the Speeder. “You were totally having a good time”.

“How did you get that, dear?” Maddie chose to ignore their sulking captor and instead look at what Jack managed to gather besides sketches.

“Oh, one of the ghosties liked my pictures and asked to trade for one! So I gave em a page for this! We can study how they made it back home, neat huh?”

Apparently he hadn’t been too worried about it being a trap, but a picture he’d just sketched wasn’t a big ask for something that could teach them a lot about the ghosts in here, so it was a good trade nonetheless. “You did great sweetie. Just make sure to store it safely, just in case.”

“Already on it sweet cheeks!” He was indeed, already pulling out a large sample bag to store their find before opening the hatch again.

“Ew. I changed my mind, go back to threatening me. Sappy is worse.”

Well, at least the ghost regretted his actions a bit. He’d be more sorry if he tried anything, but this did just seem to be something to sooth that hero complex it had. So far, anyway. She was tempted to ask the ghost what it had been up to at the castle, but it didn’t really matter. He’d just lie anyway, he clearly wasn’t the same sort of ghost as the weaker ones back there.

“Ha, he crumples in the face of our love Madds!” Jack laughed, hugging his wife and they got comfortable back in the speeder. “You think he’d take us back home if I said how much I love ya?”

“I so don’t need to hear this.” He was muffled, apparently still flopped on the speeder. He didn’t add anything before the Speeder lifted from the ground and resumed speeding through the strange green expanse.

“Clearly he buys his own teenager delusion.” Maddie mused, content to rest against Jack and look through his sketches. “Did they seem strangely lifelike to you too?”

“Oh sure! They just talked and didn’t even seem interested in going to the human world! Even though one was very jealous of how bright my jumpsuit is.” He leaned a bit to flick a few pages forward. “I sketched a couple and got their names, so we can see if we can look em up. See if they’re similar to their old selves according to history and all.”

“That’s a good idea. I didn’t get a complete name, but apparently they have jobs? Not like the wilder ghosts, and they do have a queen…” she paused, remembering the ‘human’ Phantom apparently ‘helped home. “Hey! You did help someone home from the ghost zone before, did you?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, she’s back safe. Wasn’t even a whole day.” He sounded distracted, or at least surprised by the question.

It could be a valuable lead. That, and the human might need help after such an experience. Who knew how ecto contaminated they might be! “Who was it?”

“How should I know? Just because I’m in town a lot doesn’t mean I know everyone’s name.”

She frowned, glancing at Jack who only shrugged. So he hadn’t heard that story, only her. “You know ours.”

“Because you shout them at me and shoot at me a lot? Pretty easy to remember!”

“Ghost kid’s got a point.” Jack admitted, patting her on the shoulder. “We’ll just find who it is ourselves! Just an extra project.”

“What, and just make their life weird again by bringing up ghost stuff? Leave em alone.”

Well now they absolutely had to look into it, if Phantom wasn’t keen on the idea. Better to let him think they agreed though. “True, it could just lead you back to them.”

“Hey! This is all you, not me!”

Jack chuckled. “You’re really good at riling him up. Almost sounds like our Danny like that, getting all touchy about fun family activities!”

“Well he probably copies behaviour from local teenagers,” she didn't like that comparison though. Their children were nothing like life destroying ghosts. It was better to turn her attention to the passing green and how the amount of doors seemed to dwindle as masses of ice started to become the most prominent detail. That made more sense, actually. Phantom had started using ice in addition to ectoblasts, if he came from somewhere with this sort of climate it seemed less out of place with his other abilities. Even if he was otherwise ill suited to snow and ice with how he insisted on looking like a kid.

The next stop felt more like a mistake, with only hills of untouched white powder and ice to see, but the crunch of snow below confirmed they were no longer moving. Good thing they came prepared with heated coats!

“Not a whole lot around here! If it wasn’t for all the green we could pretend we were in Alaska.” Jack chattered as he shrugged a coat on, still apparently too excited to look around to keep his suspicion up. “They don’t all like castles, or maybe it’s a hidden one!”

He better not be thinking Santa had an ice castle. That was probably what he was thinking of, but she didn’t really want to bring up their annual argument at the moment. He could be wrong today, there were more important things to do. “You do realize it’s a frozen wasteland you’ve stranded us on?”

“It’s not that cold.” Phantom objected, circling the Speeder idly.

“Easy for a ghost to say, you’re always cold ghost kid!”

He stopped at that, glancing back at Jack. “It's not that bad, is it?”

“Only because we brought warm clothing. Jumpsuits aren’t enough for the living.” Maddie huffed, looking at the snowfields to find anything worth looking at. The structures of ice were somewhat interesting, but not inherently ghostly.

“Well you guys can stay here, I guess.” The ghost bit at his lip, playing up the concern now that they pointed out a frozen wasteland was cold. Honestly, how did anyone fall for Phantom’s act if he made mistakes like this? “I don’t think Frostbite’s people come out this far…”

“Oh, are they dangerous? We can take any of your little ghostly pals!”

Phantom looked as if Jack suggested exploding a building. “No! Don’t fight any of them! They just look scary, okay? Just ignore them, if any show up.” He didn’t wait for a response before flying off this time, apparently in much more of a hurry this time.

“Sounds like he’s worried about what we can do to his little pals, huh?” Jack elbowed his wife with a grin. “Well, maybe we can find something weird about the ice here!”

It was better to try getting some of the ghost ice instead of doing nothing, though she doubted it would be very different from regular ice, beyond the ectocontamination. Now what would a ghost think is ‘scary looking’? He hadn’t given such a warning when close to all of the other ghosts, after all. It was a bit of a mystery, and none of the ice here had any identifying marks or hints of another odd little ghost ‘civilization’. ‘Frostbite’ wasn’t much of a name either, perhaps they were more like the wild sort that came to Amity?

“Oh hoh! Look at this!” Jack yelled out, pointing to something below him as he waved her over.

A large, clawed footprint left in the snow, and fairly deep. So something monstrous after all, as expected. “Maybe we can get a cast of it?” They had supplies for it, but she wasn’t certain if it would work in the ice correctly. The tracks didn’t go for long, but following them wasn’t a very tantalizing idea. Better to keep a distance and be well armed if they wanted to tangle with whatever left this. It wasn’t as distracting as the previous stop, but the sound of crunches increasing in volume had the couple back on edge and wary.

“Seriously, we should just go-”

It sounded like the ghost boy was near wherever the crunches were coming from, which didn’t improve her mood one iota.

“Nonsense! I have been asking to meet them for how long?” A deep, growling and carrying voice came in response as Maddie readied a weapon.

“Yeah, that’s the problem. You don’t want to, trust me.”

“Seems he doesn’t have a very high opinion of ghost hunters, eh Mads?” Jack was less noticeably readied, still half crouched near the footprint, but his hand hovered where a weapon was concealed. She focused on her breathing as the sound grew louder, eyes narrowed as she spotted a large figure cresting the nearby hill. With the little white haired ghost boy completely at ease near it. Nothing like his regular behaviour, let alone the talking. Why would this huge beast know of them?

“What did I say about not shooting people?” Phantom actually seemed to blush on seeing her holding the weapon, smacking his face. “Okay, you saw them, bye now!”

The large furred creature ignored how the smaller ghost pushed at their shoulder, instead waving with a horrific ice claw, bones gleaming from within as it seemed to rip at the very air. “Well our first meeting was hardly perfect either, I can manage.”

“Yeah but I can’t just pull a ‘won’t shoot a big yeti’ icicle out of their jumpsuits!”

For a human loving ghost, Phantom was certainly very concerned about this giant horned monster being harmed by ‘mere humans’. More proof of his act, at least. Though the large creature did have a cloak of some sort and clothing. He spoke well, if you ignored the fanged mouth and growls. A strange contradiction of appearance and intent. That wasn’t a normal thing for ghosts either, you could gather a decent amount about one by how they looked. So why was this one chatting and apparently interested in seeing two humans? “So, you’re the ‘Frostbite’ he mentioned?” She hazarded a guess, but wasn’t going to put the gun away.

It showed its fangs, maw wide and unnerving. “Yes, I am! It is an honour to meet you” The furry head bowed slightly, as if trying a sort of nod of respect. “Your work assisted the Great One in vanquishing Pariah Dark, we all owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“Please don’t call me that. Especially in front of them!” the green eyed ghost practically squawked, somehow flushing even harder when he didn’t even have blood.

Maddie’s mind almost flipped over from the sheer confusion of what this terrifying ghost said. They had ‘helped’ vanquish something? More likely, Phantom had stolen something. So why did this ghost still give them credit? That wasn’t even starting to touch why the ghost boy would be considered great in any aspect. “Assisted him? Do you mean with that ghost who took our town into the Ghost Zone?” She wasn’t sure if that was what the ‘king’ ghost was called, but it made more sense than anything else she could think of.

“Indeed. The King of All Ghosts would have sent the infinite realms into chaos and conflict. Of course we are grateful for your help in preventing that.”

“That’s when you stole the Ecto Skeleton!” Jack spoke up, no longer tense. “You never brought it back.”

“That’s not my fault, that thing almost wasted me! It was gone once I woke up!” The boy objected, but seemed to settle down when the larger ghost ruffled his hair. “I wanted to bring it back.”

“I’m sure now they understand how vitally important that technology was, for your world and ours.” The ghost’s yellow eyes watched them expectantly, the unnerving void of pointed daggers thankfully closed now.

“Well it did get Amity back where it belonged.” Losing the Ecto Skeleton had been a blow, but an acceptable one to get back to normal. The fact that more ghosts seemed to know and care about their part of it was somewhat unnerving. She very much doubted Phantom just ‘lost’ it either. Jack suffered from the demands of the suit, but the ghost was just ectoplasm and electricity. Quite unlikely he could be drained that much, it wasn’t meant for ghosts to use in the first place.

“Your world? Doesn’t the kid live here?” Jack asked, making his wife blink. She hadn’t noticed that odd phrasing.

“No, no. The Great One prefers the human world and his friends. How are they doing?”

He froze up, eyes flicking to the hunters and back to the yeti. “Fine. They’re great.” He darted closer to the two hunters, gesturing at them to move. “Okay let’s go.”

How much interacting was this ghost doing with humans to have ‘friends’ it told other ghosts about? They could be in danger, or used as targets! “No no, we’d love to hear about your friends.”

“Nope, you don’t, gotta get home right? Big hurry, don’t trust me, remember?” He was practically pleading with them.

Frostbite’s ears twitched as he tilted his head. “Don’t trust you? Surely they’re the ones who taught your friends how to drive that craft of yours?”

Phantom had the gall to turn invisible.

“We were unaware anyone other than us was using it, actually.” Maddie didn’t bother to keep the frost from her voice.

“Ah, well at least the good news is I already knew how to make a replacement battery for it when the Great One came asking for help.” His tail twitched, as one of the great claws scratched at his furry chest. “It should be good as new once you can install it.”

So not only was this ghost stealing technology and bringing humans to the ghost zone, it was teaching other ghosts how it worked! The second that ghost was in their grasp, he’d have some serious answering to do. “Do all of you call him that?” It was the only question she could ask without wishing to spit acid, quite frankly.

“All of the Far Frozen recognize him as such, but not all ghosts are the same. He should be proud of the title, a savour of two worlds.”

“Frostbite I’m begging you, stop! It’s embarrassing!” The ghost dropped his invisibility, still looking more like a flustered kid instead of the heroics seeking fame junkie he was.

“Well if it helps your relationship with these ghost hunters, I think it is important that they know.”

“Yeah no. Let’s not.”

It felt like there was something the two ghosts weren’t saying. That, and the fact Phantom didn’t seem to like being hailed as a hero here in the Ghost Zone didn’t make sense. Why all the grandstanding in Amity then?

“Well we’ll be glad for the lift home. You shouldn’t steal from us, kid.” Jack tried a stern approach, and the ghost actually flinched from the rebuke.

“You’re not the only ones who want to map this place out, that’s all,” he didn’t really seem to be answering them, more talking to himself before launching himself at the Speeder again. “You can shoot at me about it back home or whatever.”

“Travel safely! Do try and explore your other half more often, Great one. You’re always welcome here.” His great furry head watched them all easily, seeking out the ghost hunters eyes as well. "I understand you are less interested, but you are welcome to see the realities of my home as well. It may surprise you, in a good way."

She desperately wanted to ask what that monster of a ghost meant by that, but managed to hold her tongue. If all the ghosts here saw Phantom as some sort of godlike hero, chewing him out here wasn’t safe. Jack’s small nod of agreement and warm hug helped, but it couldn’t stop her mind churning. They’d seen and hurt so much, and none of it made any sense! This Frostbite just threw in several more wrenches in the works with only a few sentences, but with how agitated Phantom was getting now wasn’t the time to push their luck. Perhaps when the shoe was on the other foot, and the boy needed their assistance.

He didn’t speak up or grumble this time as they left the frozen land behind. Though that might be them as well,m sitting close together and considering the notes and samples they had taken. That and the huge list of questions Jack had scrawled down in the margins of a sketch of Frostbite. How could a ghost like Phantom truly manage to stay in the human world most of the time? Did it have to do with this ‘other half’ that ghost had mentioned? Would knowing what it was reveal a weakness in the ghost? So many questions, but no answers. Why had Phantom even let them speak to any ghosts, considering how badly he’d reacted to some of the information given? He couldn’t genuinely be wanting to help.

The inviting glow of the portal appeared sooner than either of them could expect, the ghost dropping the ship on the lab floor with a loud clunk.

“See? Home. No ‘evil plan’” he floated into view, and she was fairly sure he only did so to make those air quotes with his hands.

“So you say, ghost kid. Don’t think we won’t be checking for tricks!”

“Yeah sure,” he shrugged, grinning after a moment. “Oh hey, by the way, you do know what the Speeder is powered with, right?”

Maddie didn’t actually know how to take that question. “Of course we do, we built it!”

“Uh huh.” His grin widened as he kicked back, legs vanishing into that strange tail. “All you had to do was take the cover off. It’s the Ghost Zone! There’s ectoplasm everywhere! I just had Frostbite make a backup.”

...Had they really- They had. They’d been dragged around by a ghost for no reason at all! “Why you little-”

He kept laughing before turning and getting out of the way. “Thanks for flying with Phantom Zone Tours! I’m out.” A jaunty wave and he was gone, leaving two baffled ghost hunters behind.

“I think some fudge is in order after that!”

She couldn’t say he was wrong. Maybe fudge could make sense of that whole affair. All that for a prank? It didn’t add up. They’d have a lot of work to do.

#Danny Phantom #phic fight 2021 #Maddie Fenton #jack fenton #hey look a fun one!#tho they are kinda mean about poor danny-boy #but hey minimal angst! woo!#Team Ghost

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munstysmind · 3 years ago

Text

BREATHE - Maddison - An Original Story

WARNING/S: Anxiety, panic attack

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT GIVE PERMISSION FOR MY WORK TO BE USED IN ANY CAPACITY

Divider by @firefly-graphics

SERIES MASTERLIST

please let me know if you would like to be added to a tag list

It’ss late and Maddie is curled up on the couch watching Chicago Fire, her new favourite show.

She’s a little anxious because Sebastian isn't home. He’d gone to help his mum with something after lunch and still wasn’t home.

He’d messaged her a few times throughout the afternoon to check in with her and promised to let her know when he was on his way back. The episode as just finished when, as if on cue, her message tone goes off.

She puts her phone on the coffee table in front of her and stretches out her entire body while she let out a large yawn. She’s staring to get pretty tired but she doesn't want to go to bed yet.

She knows how stupid it sounds but she doesn't feel safe falling asleep at night without knowing Sebastian is in the apartment with her, she worries that she won't wake up from her nightmares if he's not there.

And besides, he’s bringing her home one of the baked pretzels she loves so much, she has to stay up for that. She decides to start another episode to pass the time.

She only just discovered the show a few weeks back so she still had a few more episodes to watch to be up to date.

As the episode started she settles back into the couch, pulling a blanket over her. About twenty minutes in she begins felling uncomfortable, she can’t place it but something is off.

Pushing it to the back of her mind she shifts about a bit and tries to keep watching but she just can't get comfortable. After several minutes of not being able to sit still she kicks the blanket off and sits up in a frustrated huff.

She can't understand why she’s suddenly finding the cloud that is Sebastian's couch uncomfortable.

She lets out a shaky breath and brings her hand up, rubbing her chest as her heart starts pounding.

At the same time her breathing starts to pick up. She feels like she’s just ran up the stairs.

"What the hell is going on?" she thinks as her hands start to shake. She closes her eyes and shakes her head, trying to get herself to snap out of whatever was going on.

That was a bad idea.

When she opens her eyes again her vision is blurry, she can't focus on anything she looks at.

She closes her eyes again and rubs them, hard. So hard that she almost sees stars from the pressure.

Suddenly, she’s hot and sweaty. So hot and sweaty that she rips off her hoodie, it’s really Sebastian's but she wears it so much that she’s claimed it as her own.

After a few minutes of these weird symptoms she decided enough is enough and tries to get up to go get some water but as soon as she stands up, she knows it’s a bad idea. The shaking in her hands has travelled down into her arms and legs, leaving her unsteady on her feet.

Her heart seems to pound even faster, even harder. She tries taking a deep breath to calm herself but she can't. Her breaths are sharp, shallow, painful.

Her vision starts to get darker, narrower. It’s almost like she’s looking through a pirate's spyglass.

She tries her best to stay calm, knowing there’s probably a very logical explanation for what’s happening to her, but she can't.

"You're dying Maddison. This is what death feels like. You're going to die alone" a voice in her head says, a voice she’s only heard one other time, the night Travis attacked her.

It all becomes too much and she slowly sinks to the floor, gasping for air and waiting for everything to end.

She doesn’t know how much time has passed, it could have been thirty seconds or it could have been three hours, when she faintly hears Sebastian walk through the door.

She tries to call out to him, to let him know she needs help but no words come out.

"Hey, I got your pretzel" he calls out, hanging is jacket up on the hook and putting the bags he’s holding down on the kitchen island.

And that’s when he sees her, crumpled up on the floor. His stomach drops as his brain registers the sight in front of him. He races over, dropping to his knees when he reaches her.

"Mads, what happened, are you OK?" he asks, panicking as he pulls her up into a sitting position, resting her against the side of the couch.

She's not OK, not in the slightest. Everything seems to all come crashing down all over again. There's a weight on her chest so heavy she feels like she can't get any air into her lungs. His voice it too loud, the lights too bright.

Why can't she just answer the question? Why can't she get the words out? Why is she freaking out so much?

If she wasn't so focused on being able to breathe again she would probably be crying. All she can do is look at him with terror in her eyes, gasping for breath and shaking.

Realising exactly what's happening, he quickly sits in front of her, talking her face in his hands.

He so desperately wants to hug her tight but he stops himself, not wanting to overwhelm her any more than she already is.

"Maddie, Mads, look at me. You're having a panic attack" he tells her, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible

"S… Seb..." she manages to gasp, gripping onto him like her life depended on it

"Hey, hey. You're OK, you're safe. I'm right here" he tells her, moving both his hands to the sides of her neck, his thumbs stroking her jaw.

He starts gently rubbing the back of her neck with his fingers, trying to give her something to focus on and hopefully break her attack.

He doesn't know if it’s working or not but after several minutes, her breathing starts to calm.

"That's it. That's it. Breathe. Just breathe. Maddie you got this. You're OK" he tells her, resting his forehead against hers as she starts to cry, hysterically. The exact same way she cried the night Travis attacked her.

He wraps his arms around her, pulling her into his lap and holding her close as she tucks her head under his chin, burying her face in his neck as all her emotions came out at once.

"I got you Mads. You're OK" he says softly, rubbing circles on her back as she continues to break down in his arms, overwhelmed.

They stay like this for almost an hour before she lifts her head and looks at him. She's only a shell of herself, it's like he is looking right through her.

She gives him a tiny smile and continues to look blankly at him for another few minutes before she groans and pushes him away, trying to get up but she loses her footing and stumbles forward.

"Woah, it's OK, I got you" he says, catching her before she falls.

Defeated, she leans against him, letting him take her entire body weight as he walks her to her room.

She's exhausted in a way she's never known. He sits on the edge of her bed as he lifts her blankets and she climbs in. He moves closer to her once she's settled and starts rubbing circles on her back.

"Thank you" she whispers, her eyes heavy. He gives her a soft smile and runs his hand through her hair before leaning in and kissing her temple. She lets out a small hum as he starts rubbing her back again.

He continues to sit there rubbing her back for a while before he gets up, thinking she's asleep, and quietly starts to leave but she stops him.

"Don't leave me" she begs, grabbing onto his wrist with all the strength she has left. She’s terrified. She’s never had a panic attack before. Sebastian has, he knew how debilitating they can be.

"I'm not going anywhere Mads" he reassures her, kicking off his shoes before climbing in with her and pulling her close.

She curls into him, gripping his shirt tightly and burying her face in his side. If she had the energy to cry she would probably be in tears, again.

Wrapping his arms around her, he starts humming a song she hasn’t heard before. It’s nice, comforting. It’s not long before she falls asleep in his arms.

And she slept, for 15 hours straight, as though the life had been drained right out of her.

TAGLIST

@aussieez

#original series #original character #maddison original series #sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #sebastian stan angst #chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #jensen ackles #jared paladecki #supernatural #marvel #captain america #anxiety #PTSD #slow build #domestic violence #domestic abuse #assault

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nocturna-starr · 4 years ago

Text

Intentional Creation

Prompter: @phantomphangphucker

Prompt: Danny created Phantom intentionally and knew full well what he was doing, the first time.

Words: 1508

In Danny’s totally unbiased opinion, his parents were naive. They were creating a portal to another world! Did they not expect said inhabitants from said world to make an appearance in the living realm? Or did they believe that somehow the very creatures they wanted to study wouldn’t be curious themselves?

“Don’t worry Danno! No ghost would dare cross through Jack Fenton’s portal!”

Sure.

“Danny, your parents are the experts, right? Just leave it to them! Everything will be okay!”

Yep… Nothing to worry about…

“Ghosts aren’t even real!”

Was everyone around him actually this stupid?

He should be playing the newest update for DOOM or studying for Mr. Lancer’s test on the Merchant of Venice. He should not be studying his parents research to make sure they didn’t blow up the house or contaminate him and Jazz again like they did the last time Jack and Maddie Fenton tried to invent a green energy source.

Suddenly Danny heard a knock on the door.

“Danny, it’s Jazz. Aren’t you going to get some sleep? We have school tomorrow!”

“Just looking over some papers.” Danny called. He heard his sister huff, but fortunately she didn’t push the issue forward. No doubt she herself would be up all night studying some new psychology book she had found in the library.

And she said that she was nothing like their parents.

He found himself glancing at the numbers. Math may not be his best subject, but to his untrained eye the calculations his mother made had no mistakes. The machine they were going to finish would certainly rip a hole into another dimension.

Then his dad would tell anyone and everyone who would listen that he would protect them from the threat he himself had created. His dad would go up against the wrong supernatural creature and…

Despite how much his father annoyed him, Danny loved the man. He couldn’t imagine a world without Jack Fenton. His mother, a former cop, might be able to handle the situation slightly better, but even she would become overwhelmed by the ghosts eventually. They needed someone who was on the same power level as the ghosts and who would protect humanity rather than harm it.

Didn’t his parents say that someone had gotten ectoradiation due to their naivety the first time they had built s portal? What was his name again… Paul… Chad? It didn’t matter. Maybe it was possible to replicate something like that! But instead of being contaminated, maybe one could fuse with the ectoplasm. But who could he convince to give up their humanity for the world?

Danny put down the papers. Didn’t Sam say she wanted to make a difference?

xXx

“Whoa! I can’t believe it dude! Your parents actually made a real portal.” Danny’s best friend Tucker Foley gawked at the expensive machinery in the wall.

“Yeah, if only it worked.” Danny eyed the knobs at the side of the portal. Everything was still in position fortunately. His dad for once in his life had decided not to fiddle with something he had not done.

“It’s actually pretty cool, even not working. Imagine the worlds that are barely out of reach.” Sam sighed.

Danny smiled. Sam was still innocent. He hoped that her optimism, despite being a ghost, would remain. It would suck if he had to repeat the experiment all over again. Tucker wouldn’t be as powerful a ghost. Anyone after that would be a malicious ghost that Jack Fenton would have the honour of destroying.

The goth gently touched the portal, as if it were something sacred. It was like she knew her place of death was here. Tucker snapped a couple of pictures. Danny watched them, noting each soft smile or excited look sent his way. Would they feel this way when the portal took everything they knew in a couple of minutes?

“Wanna look inside?” Danny asked. He felt his heart begin to race. This was the moment that would forever change humanity. In the future, kids would be talking about the origin story of Sammy Geist or Tucker Ghouly. Would they see him as a good person, or a mad scientist? Would they understand why he did this and not judge him only on his actions? Or would they allow his name to fade to time because no one would ever know that the accident wasn’t an accident?

“Sure Danny!” Sam grinned. Without a second thought she walked inside.

“I’m good dude. I’d rather not be inside, and the thing click on.” Tucker didn’t look up from his PDA.

Maybe he should have tried to get Sam to dress in a Hazmat suit. The extra protection could have led her into a false sense of security which would allow for mistakes to occur. The Hazmat suit also could have acted as a disguise. Sam Manson, Amity Park’s most famous goth, would never have been caught dead in one of those.

“What are all of these wires for? What about all these buttons? Tuck you’re the tech guru, you should really come inside.” Sam called.

“Actually Sam, I think you should get out.” Tucker warned. Did Tucker suspect something? Danny had never even written his thoughts down in a journal let alone share them with anyone else! How could his best friend even know?

Why did he suddenly feel so guilty?

“Just a sec Tucker!” Sam called. Her hand grazed a large red button. Danny wanted to tell her to push it or to startle her and cause her to “accidentally” press it. Yet the words refused to come from out of him. Why did he feel so terrible for wanting to save the world? What was one life to billions? It wasn’t like she was actually going to die!

Why was his life more important than Sam’s?

“Hey Sam, I want a turn to see!” Danny found himself calling. He watched as she safely exited the portal. He grabbed the suit his father had made especially for him and put it on.

Sam grinned, ripping off the picture of his dad’s face that he insisted on putting on everything. “You aren’t going in with that on, are you?”

“I guess not.” Danny tried to smile.

“Nervous? Just think of all the cool worlds that this portal can connect to.” Sam grinned.

He nodded, hoping to disguise his dread as minor fear. He took a step in the portal and began walking towards the button that Jack and Maddie Fenton in their infinite wisdom had chosen to keep. Time seemed to slow the closer he got to it. He could hear his own heart beat and feel every breath he took. Once he was transformed, would he miss feeling of breathing? There was no going back. If he chickened out now, Danny knew he would never build the courage to do this again. Then the world would be doomed.

Once he was close enough, Danny “tripped” and pressed the button. His walk of death couldn’t compare to the absolute freeze in time that occurred just after he pressed the button. The youngest Fenton swore he heard the phrase “All is as it should be…” before the light engulfed him into a world of agony.

He was glad that he didn’t force his best friends to experience it. His essence was ripped apart then sewn back together again. His heart raced before falling into a slow and steady rhythm. He was Danny Fenton, then he was nothing. He was human, until he wasn’t. Everything became dark.

He saw flashes of his life slip by and flashes of the future. He heard the screams of the dying and cries of those who were living for the first time. He felt sudden felt a weight that he had never known fall off of his shoulders. The freedom was only felt for a couple of seconds (or was it years?) before a much heavier weight was flung onto him.

He felt himself begin to walk. A light and a voice beckoned him forward. He felt something grabbing his leg, trying to keep him away. He knew he had to fight against it. If he stayed, then there would be no one to fight against his parents’ mistakes.

As he moved forward, the thing clutching his leg felt heavier and heavier. His steps became smaller and smaller. Maybe it was best if he stayed behind? Just as the it seemed that the thing would win, he broke free. He raced to the light, determined to not be trapped again.

“DANNY! DANNY!” Her heard a woman cry.

As he came closer, the light became a doorway. He smiled and stumbled across.

“Danny is that you?” Sam cried.

It worked?! Danny grinned. Everything would be fine now. Tomorrow there would be problems, but now there could be solutions. Ghosts would attack and he would be right there to stop them. The lack of sleep the previous night and the exhaustion of the portal claimed him. Danny fell into his last peaceful rest.

#phic phight 2021 #danny phantom #danny fenton #au

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goodfish-bowl · 4 years ago

Text

Dead to the World

So, I’ve seen that prompt floating around a couple times, the one about Danny waking up at his own funeral, and have decided its mine now.

Can read it here on AO3, or below the cut.

Also, how the heck should I tag this on AO3, I’m still a bit unfamiliar with what tags I’m supposed to use, especially for this, suggestions?

Extras:

Snippet 1: Alone

Danny remembered exactly what happened after he tripped inside of the portal. He remembered that moment of whirring electricity before he had felt it. A hum in the air before everything fell apart. When it came, it came in full. It had torn and ripped him apart with such ferocity and animosity you’d think he’d done something to offend it. Well, Danny supposed he had been the one to turn it on. It raced and burned through him, a wicked arch starting in his hand and then spreading to the rest of him, like a limb falling asleep, but also getting set on fire. It tore apart his ability to feel in seconds, or at least it felt like seconds.

Danny’s vision blurred out, unfocused, on anything but white, green, red, and black. He could no longer see. His lungs ceased to function, and his throat felt raw and torn apart, had he been screaming? Danny felt like someone had set him on fire, or one of the ecto-weapons had shot him, except it was his entire body, raw and sensitive. But it also felt like he’d been dumped into a frozen river. His senses were shot, and he could barely feel the pain, that awful boring and numbness and cold, but he could no longer feel himself either. Where were his arms and legs? Was he still standing? He couldn’t feel the ground beneath him at all. There was awful strain in his chest, as something tried to continue working before it gave out.

Then it stopped. He was no longer in pain whatsoever, like he had never been hurt in the first place. His mind cleared up and he could focus on something other than the pain, just for that moment. Hadn’t Tucker and Sam been outside the portal when it turned on? Well, this probably wasn’t the most pleasant thing for them to experience. Wow, Mom and Dad weren’t going to be happy he was messing around in the lab, they’d probably be furious, and Jazz would be a mess, lecturing him after his parents were done fussing over him. He wasn’t looking forward to that at all. He was just hurt, right? He’d come out just fine, and then he’d get the lecture and fussing-over of his life.

The lights and pain were gone now, but Danny still couldn’t feel anything. Maybe he was just in shock? He tried to get up, to let out a weak laugh, and imagine the pain he had experienced away, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t feel his limbs. He wasn’t breathing. Danny so desperately tried to take a breath, to at least get the air into the lungs he could no longer feel. Then he felt something. He felt cold and hollow, and the blackness closed around not just around his sight, but his mind as well. He fought against it as hard as he could, because he knew what was coming. He didn’t want to die. Well, he supposed very few people did. Danny fought and struggled against the darkness with everything he had in him, or whatever was left, but it wasn’t enough. The darkness came, and it devoured him whole.

Daniel Fenton had died, days after his 14th birthday, due to electrocution in his parent’s basement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam knew she was never going to forget the moment the portal had turned on. She wasn’t going to forget how the darkness and the strange, too-bright, green lighting had reflected off of the white and black hazmat suit Danny had put on before steeping inside. She wasn’t going to forget the expression on Danny’s face as he tripped over some loose wiring on the floor of the portal. He had been surprised, his eyes had widened just a fraction and he had let out a small, a rather unmanly yelp before his hand connected to the wall to steady himself. She wasn’t going to forget how that expression shifted as the portal powered on, humming with electricity like an old appliance before it unleashed all of its fury at once. She wasn’t going to forget how she had called out his name in warning second too late, as the bright green white of the portal had roared to life, blinding her, and only overcome by one noise. Sam wasn’t ever going to forget how Danny shrieked in agony as it reduced him to a smoking corpse, sizzling and twitching in the blackened metal of the portal, within a fraction of a second. The sound was going to echo through her mind and nightmares no matter what she would tell herself. Sam was never going to forget that she was the one who had killed her best friend.

She and Tucker had sat there for minutes, too shocked to move, just waiting. They were waiting for Danny to take an unsteady breath, then laugh, maybe limp his way out. They were waiting for anything. Any indicator that the glue in their friendship was alright. Any indicator that Danny was alive. But he didn’t move, and the twitching stopped seconds after the portal had shut itself off, and the power had gone out, probably causing an outage on the whole block. With a groan, a back-up generator had kicked on, bathing the lab in subtle, blue-green light, turning all the metal in the lab to ice, just like the blood in her veins.

The power going out had been enough to draw attention to the lab from all the Fentons, the remaining ones at least. Sam refused to believe Danny was dead. He couldn’t be. Yeah, he was just knocked out, unconscious. Why wasn’t she going over there to make sure he was ok? Probably because she knew that if she did, she would know for sure that she had killed her best friend.

Jazz was the first one to enter the lab quickly followed by Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. Jazz quickly took in the situation, demanding to her parents to stop whatever they had done to make the power go out, only to find Sam and Tucker frozen in the middle of the lab and Danny d-… passed out in the portal. Jack Fenton was quick to go by his daughter’s side to where Danny lay. Maddie Fenton, on the other hand, quietly asked what had happened.

Something inside Sam broke then. What had happened? It had been so fast; she couldn’t really wrap her head around it. She tried to tell Mrs. Fenton, she really did, but she choked up. She couldn’t say a thing. Sam, who had always been so vocal and outspoken was rendered mute, Danny’s scream echoing between her ears.

Jazz let out a pained cry from the portal, and Danny was gently gathered into his father’s arms. Mr. Fenton looked pale and horrified; Jazz was on the verge of hysterics. Neither expression suited their respective wearer.

Some words were exchanged, but Sam didn’t hear them, only focused on Danny’s limp form in Mr. Fenton’s arms, he looked like he was asleep, if only it weren’t for his ashen skin, and electrical burns covering most of his body revealed where the hazmat suit had been torn off, exposing the blackened skin underneath. Sam could smell his burnt skin and the scent of burnt up electronics from the portal. She did her best to avoid hurling or even associating the two together. It had been all her fault.

At some point, the authorities had been called, and her parents had come to pick her up. She didn’t refuse the hug from her parents as she was loaded into some unbelievably expensive car and toted off back home, a place she always tried to stay away from except as a place to sleep and eat. She didn’t push them away as they embraced her in the living room, whispering sweet nothings to her, as she finally broke and cried out in anguish at what she had done.

Danny had died and it was all her fault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tucker was faring just about as well as Sam was, to be honest, except he never broke down. It probably wasn’t healthy, to keep everything locked up, but all he could see behind the lenses of his glasses was Danny, charred and burnt in his Dad’s arms. He remembered the sound of the portal coming to life as it took Danny’s. He had been fascinated at the time, with all of the technology that the Fentons created, he had wanted to see the impossible machine for himself and had completely disregarded the danger Danny was in as soon as he agreed to Sam’s stupid, stupid dare to go inside the damn thing.

Tucker had electrocuted and burned himself on electronics countless times while messing with his oh-so-precious technology, so he knew how it felt, but just couldn’t imagine what Danny had gone through in his last moments. Electrocution was not a way he wanted to go. But now his best friend, one of the only ones that he actually knew, a friend that wasn’t behind a computer screen, but a physical, tangible person, one he had known for most of his life, was dead.

Tucker looked over at the lonesome PDA sitting on his computer littered desk amongst the trash and miscellaneous tech-parts he had been messing with or intending to mess with after school. He let out a lonesome sigh, unwilling to leave his place in bed to retrieve it, in fact, the thought filled him with disdain. He envied the Fentons’ for their skill in technology, now he wasn’t so sure. The very tech he loved and worshipped so dearly had taken his one tangible friend from him. He wasn’t even sure he could call the people he had met through the internet friends, since he knew practically nothing about them outside of whatever he had connected with them over in the first place.

There was still Sam, he supposed, but he currently wanted nothing to do with her. She probably needed to be alone right now anyway. If she hadn’t dared Danny to go inside, he would still be alive. But yet again, Tucker hadn’t tried to dissuade her or stop Danny from going in in the first place. Yes, he blamed Sam for Danny’s death, but he wasn’t innocent either. He never would’ve gone near it if he hadn’t been so fascinated with the tech required to pierce through entire realities in the first place. He was to blame for Danny’s death too.

Tucker looked at the PDA and assortment of computer parts on his table with a scornful looked, the whirring of the portal powering up overcoming any sense of self-doubt he had in what he was about to do. He mustered up the will and half-dragged himself to his desk, glancing over every detail of his beloved collection and part of his contribution to the future as a “techno geek”. He pulled the trashcan out from under his desk and with a sweep of his arm, cleared the entire desk inside. Something broke in the bin, but he refused to even acknowledge it. For the first time in ages, he saw the clean surface of his desk. His heart panged at what he had done, but it didn’t last for long. Tech could always be replaced, people couldn’t. Tucker unlocked his door, set the full trashcan right outside for his mom to find, then closed and relocked the door. He trudged back into bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a moment, he took off his beanie and glasses, setting them on his nightstand.

Tucker had no idea where he was supposed to go from here. Should he cry, break down, trash his room? Instead, he just felt hollow, and he refused to seek comfort in the online discourse and disconnect from everything around him like he always did. He refused to do anything, even think. He just sat there, empty and hollow, blank and empty like a wiped hard drive. Tucker didn’t know how he was supposed to mourn his best friend, he didn’t know if he could. He didn’t know if he would ever find anything, he could use to fix himself. Computers could be fixed and modified to work how someone wanted them to, but not people.

Electronics were replaceable, but people weren’t, and that fact left Tucker hollow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daniel James Fenton’s funeral was planned three days after his death. His body had been whisked off to the morgue while his family desperately tried to figure out what had happened. Madeline Fenton had tried to get either of the kids to tell her, but both had been practically catatonic with shock, they had witnessed it, after all. Maddie was near hysterics herself, but she couldn’t yet. She had to make sure her boy got a proper burial first, then she could break down. She had three days.

Jack had wanted to have Danny cremated, but Maddie had vehemently refused. It was a tradition in his family line, not hers. She wanted to have a grave she could visit and mourn over. The funeral was a simple one, just friends and family, no matter how hard the news reporters pushed to come.

That had been another thing Maddie had to deal with, the news. It wasn’t every day a boy as young as Danny died in such a tragic way, and journalists did love tragedies. They had been getting so much unwanted criticism lately. A more opinionate journalist claimed it was their fault Danny had died in the lab because they had failed to put proper safety measures in place to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Another journalist questioned their decision to have a lab in general, claiming that the “science” they did was bogus, and if they really needed a lab, they should’ve rented a warehouse or office, away from the home and their children.

Maddie refused to admit to herself that they were right and moving the lab had been a frequent argument between her and Jack. It was a decision between safety and leaving the kids home alone. A warehouse would’ve also given them much more space to work with rather than the cramped basement. But that decision had been made for them, Maddie and Jack no longer had any disagreements about what was going to happen concerning the lab.

It had been a long and solemn conversation between her and Jack, but they decided the lab had to go, completely. Their science had not only taken their son from them but had also taken away most of the time they should’ve used raising their children. Maddie regretted it deeply that she hadn’t spent as much time with Danny as she should’ve, more fixated on her work rather than her children. Jack and Maddie had decided together that they were dismantling the lab and the portal along with it. They were giving up their search for ghosts, then searching for new jobs to supplement the income they earned from their numerous patents. They were no longer going to be ghost hunters, just the Fentons.

The funeral was closed casket, held in one of the smaller halls Amity had available to rent. Collapsible chairs were lined up in neat rows, parted in the middle, enough to seat 50, but only half were actually being used. Maddie had invited both Sam and Tuckers families, and then the little family she and Jack had left. Alicia, Maddie’s sister, had booked a flight as soon as the news reached her. Jack’s family was unsurprisingly unreachable as always. But what had been surprising was when an old college friend of theirs, Vlad Masters, had reached out to them and offered to come. Vlad had come up with a fortune since their college days and had snatched away most of the bills for the funeral, even helping her plan.

When people began to arrive, everyone was dressed in black, apart from one person. Sam Manson was in blue. She wore a long, deep navy dress, the bottom decorated with silver rhinestones, making the bottom half resemble the night sky Danny had loved enough to reach for. Tucker was dressed in black, beanie missing. He wasn’t wearing or carrying a singular piece of technology that day, no matter how much he used to cling to it. Their families seemed to fade into the background, taking seats a row back with Alicia, while the Fentons, Sam, Tucker, and Vlad Masters sat in the first row.

The casket Maddie had managed to find for Danny was a simple one, but that was enough. It was made of a simple oak, strong enough to withstand the tests of time, meaning it wouldn’t collapse when buried underground. The inside was a soft, silky, black cloth, padded as much as any cot or thin mattress could be. Maddie didn’t have the wits at the moment to be incredibly picky, but she still wanted to get something of quality. Inside, Danny had been changed out of the burned hazmat suit into something else. Maddie had given the morticians in his favorite outfit, his NASA hoodie and a torn up pair of jeans. Jazz had been the one to joke about how Danny would be buried in that hoodie, and now he was. A colorful array of flowers in a variety of cool colors was piled up on top of the casket and around it, courtesy of Vlad, who had ordered the massive arrangement only a day prior, and had it rushed at a massive fee.

Another five minutes after everyone settled down, it was time to begin. Maddie pulled herself out of her chair and steeled herself. She could do this. It had been three days, and she only had to get through this, then she could grieve herself. Maddie walked up to the mic stand and began the funeral.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After the black was gone, there was green. Danny didn’t know where he was, he wasn’t sure if he was really any place at all. It was green, and that green flowed through him like he wasn’t even there. But he could feel it, it was the only thing he could feel outside of his own thoughts, which were convoluted and confused, too many questions, so he preferred not to think. It poured over him like water, swirled inside of him for a moment, then left on its merry way. He couldn’t speak, and he didn’t have arms or legs, he was just a speck of dust in the wind, a small green blob amongst the rest of the green, given eyes to see and nothing else.

Danny, (if he was Danny, he couldn’t remember), floated through the green, wandering through it, a small sense of wonder and curiosity being his only motivation. The green swirled in the distance, forming endless spirals and twists in a continuous pattern Danny would never have been able to replicate on paper. There were occasional masses of black, islands that seemed to disobey all laws of physics as they sat suspended in space. Sometimes there were building on them, and sometimes there were people too. They were odd beings, with strangely colored skin and weird clothes, some looked human while others didn’t. They usually ignored him or couldn’t see him as he wandered about the endless expanse of green before him.

One place looked like a medieval kingdom, peasants going about their daily business, living(?) lives that seemed absolutely miserable. The low lived in filth, toiling away while barely reaping any reward for their labor, suffering, and existing for no other purpose than to be taken advantage of. There were knights and nobles here too, but they only took from the peasants before returning to the great castle that took up most of this floating island. The castle was lavish, covered in draconic symbols and displays of power. Danny didn’t dare go near the throne, only peaked through to see a cruel king on a cruel throne. He wandered through the castle a bit more, finding small nooks and crannies to explore, not tiring as he went. Up in the tallest tower, there was a woman, or at least she looked like a woman, peering down on the miserable little village just outside the wall of the great and terrible castle. She looked just as miserable as the peasants, if not more. She looked a bit like the cruel king, but she was kind, and also locked away. She was sad. He floated around her for a bit, and she looked at him, not through him. He revealed in the fact that someone(?) could see him, and she gave a small smile at his joy, poking him with a finger.

“Thank you, little one, but I think you have a better place to be than here,” she said. Danny didn’t know, but he decided she was probably right. He had somewhere he was supposed to be going, so he left the kingdom with its miserable peasants, cruel king, and sad princess behind.

Another island(?) was covered with forestry, and a river running through it. Some strange animal-like creatures wandered through there, some regarding him passively before leaving. But they were afraid, and it seemed like they had every right to be. Moments after, a large, metal man came bursting through the tree, equipped with all sorts of blasters and rockets, pursuing the animals with a lustful, gleeful fury. Danny decided to hide, slipping easily into small crannies and under bushes, away from the eyes of the hunter. He didn’t dare go near the large skull-like structure at the peak of the island, it gave him a bad feeling. He left that island without discovering much more than that it was a scary, bad place to be, and that it wasn’t where he was supposed to be going.

The final place he went through was a library, large enough that it became its own labyrinth, full of so many books their titles blurred together in his mind. There were so many books, some looked fresh off the press while others looked like they had been saved seconds from turning to ashes, or barely kept from turning to dust, tomes snatched away seconds before their destruction. (Jazz would’ve loved this place). He didn’t care to try and read one of the many books that were splayed open across the numerous library tables. He couldn’t seem to grasp the words for more than a few seconds before they slipped carelessly from his mind. There was only one person(?) in the entire library, mumbling incoherently as he typed away on a strange keyboard, the words themselves incomprehensible, or in some other language Danny didn’t understand. They didn’t acknowledge him, but they knew he was there, since the writer gave him half a glance, then huffed and returned to his writing. The library seemed to be so lonely, full of knowledge yet no one to read it, only the writer who continued to make books without anyone there to take in the story. Danny left this place too, because he felt like this wasn’t the place he was supposed to be going.

There, Danny decided, that’s where he was supposed to be going. Large, black gears floated haphazardly around the green, surrounding what seemed to be a clock tower. A large pendulum, like a grandfather clock, swung lethargically in the center of it, internal gears visible through the glass. A large set of wooden doors were open just wide enough for him to slip through, so he did. The inside matched the outside perfectly, exposed gears working walls and barriers in-between spaces, with a set of stairs ascending to somewhere above. Clocks covered every available wall space, clocks ticking seemingly at random, some fast some slow, others broken and not moving at all. There were screens too, shows places Danny didn’t recognize and scenes he couldn’t make sense of.

“It seems you’ve found the place you’re supposed to be, Danny,” the being said.

They were blue with solid red eyes, a large scar going across the right one. A purple cloak covered his(?) shoulders and he lacked feet, a trailing tail taking their place. His chest was the inside of a grandfather clock, the pendulum swinging away as if it wasn’t part of a person. The being carried a staff of sorts, the top pronging out into a crescent with something that looked like a stopwatch suspended in the middle. Danny didn’t know how he knew his name, (if his name was, in fact, ‘Danny’), but that meant he was in the right place. He wasn’t scared of this being either, he knew he would’ve hurt him. He was supposed to be here after all.

“Now let's get you home,” he hummed, taking Danny from the air and cupping him in his hands.

Danny was brought over to a green circle, it swirled more definitely than the green outside. It went someplace. Danny looked up at the being, who smiled down at him reassuringly. He was given a small toss and thrown through the green disk, vanishing within it.

“All is as it should be.”

And then the green was replaced with black once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny’s bloodless body rested beneath the cool, dark wood, engulfed in dark the dark, silky cloth that made up the interior of the casket, hidden away from the world. He had become a pale, hollow vessel, void of life in any form. And then he wasn’t.

��A small green entity emerged from a portal no bigger than a fist, directly into Danny’s chest cavity, then froze solid, right next to what had once been his heart. It shifted from a small green blob to a crystalline structure, emitting a soft light that would’ve been visibly through the skin, then it seeped out green.

The green slowly filed out what had once been veins, turning what had been red into green, fixing things as it spread. Burns and scars faded away, melting to the skin until they were barely visible lines, only seen when inspected closely. It flooded muscles that had since ceased up and massaged them back into working condition. A finger twitched. The green went upwards, preserving the mind and all the memories it once and will hold. It fixed and reconnected nerves that had been severed and damaged, restoring feeling to every part of the body. And then, once everything else was as it was supposed to be, the green seized his heart, flooding it with a burst of energy. Danny’s heart burst to life once more, as if it hadn’t stopped beating in three days.

Danny’s eyes burst wide open, still alight with green energy as he gasped in musty, still air. He gasped and panted, reclaiming feeling over his own body, confused and disoriented. He glanced around in a panic, who turned out the lights!? After catching his breath, nose wrinkling at the odd smell of his surroundings, Danny reached out an arm, only to hit something solid inches from his nose. He tried a different direction, only to be met with the same result. He was boxed in.

Danny couldn’t remember how he got here, the last thing he remembered was… He thought for a moment. The last thing he remembered was stepping into the portal, then pain, and then green. The first event was perfectly clear in his mind. Sam had dared him to go check it out, and he had, only to trip, and then the portal had turned on. He… he had gotten hurt really bad… right? And the memory of green must’ve come from the inside of the portal… His mind throbbed in exhaustion and pain, unable to make sense of his situation or the hazy memories between then and now. Why was he lying down in a box?

Danny pushed upwards, but the top wouldn’t budge. There was barely enough room inside for him to fit, he couldn’t properly attempt to lift it. Was Jazz sitting on top of it or something? Was this a prank for passing out in the portal? Didn’t Sam and Tucker know he could suffocate in here?!

Danny began to pound on the surface and cry out for help. His voice was course and his throat dry, causing him to cough as soon as he tried to cry out. Why was he so thirsty? Did he sleep with his mouth open or something? Despite the pain, he continued to cry out, pounding weakly on the lid for help. He couldn’t hear anything outside of the box, not even a snicker, and hopelessly wondered if they could hear him.

Suddenly the lid of the box lifted, or at least half of it was, and Danny was blinded by the light that assaulted his eyes. Strong, unfamiliar hands lifted him into a sitting position while his eyes slowly readjusted, wincing as his stiff legs and body were forced to move, it felt like he had cramps everywhere. The green flickered away from his eyes as the lights from the ceiling slowly filtered in and Danny saw a small crowd of people, most he recognized, one he didn’t, the man who pulled him out of the dark box. Danny��s mind could barely make sense of what he was seeing. The looks he was getting from his friends and family, horrified, confused, shock, awe didn’t make sense in his tired and exhausted state. He didn’t like what his mind concluded, somehow making much less sense than any prank he could’ve imaged.

Daniel Fenton had woken up at his own funeral.

#Danny Phantom #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #maddie fenton #clockwork #goodfish writes #help me i don't know what i'm doing #might've put a bit much angst in there but it be like that #fanfic

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reyofluke-ocs · 3 years ago

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As soon as i saw 'NCIS x SPN (Gibbs Adopts Weechesters)' I NEEd to know how does Gibbs adopt the brothers and are they still hunters?

I WAS HOPING SOMEONE WOULD ASK ABOUT THIS OR ONE OF MY OTHER CROSSOVER FICS!!!!!

This got long so a) sorry and b) it's under the cut

So what happens is that John gets injured on a hunt and is in the hospital for awhile in a coma but the hospital has no idea who he is or if he has anyone to contact so he's listed as 'John Doe' during his stay there. Meanwhile, Dean and Sam are staying in a terrible motel in D.C. where they manage to hide the fact they are two kids living there, until a good Samaritan notices it and reports it to CPS. A social worker talks to Dean and Sam and manages to get their trust enough to get Bobby's number from them but because of bad weather, it will be awhile before Bobby can come get the kids. Unable to take them home with her because of ethical reasons and unwanting to subject them to potentially weeks of living in a DSS office after they lived in a crappy motel, the social worker contacts a coworker who is on the list of potential foster parents - Shannon Gibbs. Jethro Gibbs is due home on a couple week's leave (or maybe a longer leave idk yet) and him and Shannon have talked about maybe fostering and adopting when Jethro leaves the service, so she says she'll talk to Jethro when he calls tomorrow but that she can take Dean and Sam for the night.

Random but Sam totally befriended Kelly on the playground by taking care of some kids that were bullying her and Maddie for having military dads. Also, Kelly at least doesn't die because Sam is in the backseat with her. I imagine that Gibbs meets the two kids and just.... almost immediately is like 'give me the adoption papers'. He recognizes his younger self in Dean and Sam is clearly a brilliant and kind kid. When they get picked up by Bobby, him and Shannon give Dean and Sam their contact information, and after John recovers and makes his way to Bobby's to reunite with Dean and Sam, he learns about the nice civilian family that took care of his kids and how Gibbs 'is a Marine just like you Dad!'. Bobby 'convinces' (read: forces) John to consider dropping the kids off at the Gibbs, which leads to him admitting the truth to them (especially because it's not exactly normal for a kid to have a shit ton of weapons, even if Gibbs does have Rule #9: Always Carry A Knife).

Basically: Gibbs (and later the entirety of Team Gibbs) end up being a second family to the Winchester brothers, with Kelly included because screw it I can have her live if I want it. Ari is also a demon that refuses to leave the Winchester's or Team Gibbs alone so everyone reluctantly puts up with his bullshit (though if he asks one more time about Kate, Castiel is going to smite him, he swears to Chuck - )

Also random but: Gibbs totally shoots Lucifer and Chuck at least ONCE, firmly embraces Jack as a grandson, and the entirety of Team Gibbs knows Ziva isn't dead following the missile attack but in hiding and there totally is some sort of communication between her, Tony, Tali and Team Gibbs. Also demon!Ari basically kind of starts to leave Team Gibbs and the Winchester's alone in favor of stalking looking after his younger sister and niece.

I HAVE SO MANY MORE HEADCANONS ABOUT THIS I KEEP REMEMBERING I HAVE TO STOP OR THIS POST WILL NEVER END.

#get to know me #jewel tag #non oc wip

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ghostsray · 4 years ago

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Me, Jack, and the Half-Dying Girl

(‘nother phic phight piece, this time based on @aedelia ‘s prompt: “ In the original portal accident neither Jack nor Vlad manage to push Maddie out of the way. Maddie gets blasted by the portal instead and gains ghost powers and ecto-acne. “)

word count: 1248

ao3 link

Vlad sat in the waiting room, twirling the tulip in his hands. The doctors had informed him that Madeline had awoken and was accepting visitors today, and Vlad was eager to see her.

In his mind’s eye, he felt elated at the idea of seeing her sweet, beautiful face again, and hearing her lovely voice for the first time since the unfortunate accident. However, his mood was ruined when the man sitting next to him stirred, reminding Vlad of his presence.

“It’ll be great seeing Maddie again, won't it?” said Jack cheerily. Vlad clenched his teeth and kept facing ahead.

Jack leaned forward so that he was in Vlad's field of vision. “I can tell you've been worried about her,” he said, “since you haven't spoken to me all week.”

The flower stem threatened to break in his grip as Vlad muttered, “Maybe because it was your fault to begin with.”

“What?”

Vlad turned to glare at him. He was sick of holding back his frustration toward this oaf, and now he stood and fixed him with a look of hatred. “I said, it was your fault!”

Jack’s response to him was a confused appearance. “It was an accident.”

“And whose idea was it to test the portal?”

“All of ours,” said Jack.

Vlad balled his fists and looked away. It was clear that he was contradicting himself in his argument.

Jack noticed this and told him, “Maddie was just as on board with it as we were--more so, even. It wasn't either of our faults that she got hurt.”

Vlad forced himself to take a deep breath. Relaxing slightly, he said, “I know.”

“So why are you angry?”

Vlad lifted the flower in his hand to look at it. In his emotionality, he had cracked the stem, and now it was worthless to give to Madeline.

Jack was still waiting for an answer, so Vlad admitted the truth. “I love her,” he told him. Knowing how often his friend needed further clarification, he explained, “I love love her.” He raised his eyes to meet his. “And I know you do, too.”

Jack’s face was slack with surprise before he gathered himself and exclaimed, “Well, why didn't you say so sooner? If I had known, I would have let you have her.”

Vlad shook his head, trying to keep his emotions at bay. “It wouldn't have mattered.”

“Why not?”

“Because she loves you back.” He ignored the way Jack’s gaze bore into him as he swallowed and continued, “I've seen how you two always click together in the lab. Hell, I don't know why I'm even in the club--I don't love ghosts as much as you and she do. It’s painfully clear that I'm just a third wheel to the pair of you.”

“You’re our friend,” Jack said.

“Am I?” Vlad held his eyes and asked, “If it was me who had the accident, would you even come to visit me?”

Jack sounded distraught as he answered, “Of course we would!”

Vlad searched his face for a moment before turning his eyes away. “You're only saying that.”

Jack was quiet as he struggled to gather a response. “V Man…”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when a nurse walked into sight. Her eyes scanned the room as she announced, “Visitors for Madeline Walker?”

The name of their beloved pulled both men to their feet, and the conversation was shelved as the nurse led them to the patient’s room.

As soon as Vlad walked in, it became clear that his fantasy of this meeting was much too idealized. Madeline’s beauty was visibly affected by her illness; green boils dotted her skin and sucked the color from her. She looked tired, but her expression brightened when she saw her friends.

“Is that for me?” she asked, pointing at the broken tulip that Vlad was holding.

Vlad sheepishly offered it to her. it bent sideways when he held it out. “It...had an accident,” he awkwardly said.

“Hey, I guess that’s why it’s in the hospital,” Jack said, and Madeline laughed. Vlad clenched his jaw as the familiar jealousy flared in his chest. Jack noticed too late his discomfort.

It is no matter, Vlad told himself, letting his hand fall by his side once Madeline accepted his gift.

Madeline smiled at the broken flower. Seeing her again, Vlad decided to retract his earlier thought; she was still beautiful even when sick. Sure, her skin was blemished and her hair was greasy, but her eyes--those beautiful eyes! Those eyes could never change...or so he thought.

As if to mock his thought process, Madeline’s dark eyes seemed to flash bright green. They only stayed that way for a fraction of a second before they returned to their normal color. Vlad blinked, unsure if he had imagined it.

The nurse that had been with them in the room now left, busy with some other hospital business. Madeline’s eyes (dark-colored and not at all neon green) tracked her as she went. As soon as the door closed, leaving the three friends alone, Madeline surprised them by grabbing their wrists.

“I have something to show you,” she whispered. She slowly let go of their arms, then raised a hand.

Vlad watched with caution, wondering what on earth she could be so eager to share. Her fingers strummed the air for a moment, and she twisted her hand, but nothing else happened. Until, suddenly, a light.

Vlad nearly jumped from surprise. A ball of green fire floated in Madeline's open palm. She seemed quite pleased with its appearance.

Jack gasped. He leaned forward to get a better look at the fire. “How?” he asked.

Madeline closed her hand, and the fire disappeared. “If I had to guess, it had something to do with my accident with the proto-portal.”

Jack’s face lit up with excitement. “You mean you have ghostly attributes now?”

“It seems that way, but I haven't gotten a chance to test them, being hospitalized and all.” She fixed the two of them with a stern look and told them, “You have to study me.”

Vlad almost choked from her statement. “What?”

Her display of power must have sapped her energy, because she lay back against her pillows as she continued speaking. “The proto-portal did something to me, and I don't know what. We’re ghost scientists, therefore it is our duty to find out.”

Jack seemed determined to carry out her wishes, and he gripped her hand and promised, “We’ll do it, as soon as you're out of here.”

Madeline quieted down, and she said softly, “If I get out of here.”

Jack frowned. “Don’t say that.”

“Why not? The doctors don't understand what is affecting me. No one has been inflicted this way before me. We’ve basically invented a new disease.”

Jack’s spirit seemed to crumble. It was odd, seeing the normally positive man be so hopeless. Vlad's lips pressed into a thin line. He stepped forward and took Madeline’s other hand.

“You’re not going to die,” he said with firmness.

Hearing Vlad's determination restored Jack's spirit, and he nodded enthusiastically. “V Man is right. We won't let you.”

“And if you do,” Vlad added, “we’ll find a way to necromance you back.”

Madeline smiled. Her hands, though weak, held theirs tightly. “Ghost club, the best club in Wisconsin U.”

Her skin was cold against his palm, but he held on. If he could, he would never let go.

#phic phight #phic phight 2021 #danny phantom #vlad masters #jack fenton #maddie fenton #au #fic #fanfic #mine

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phantomphangphucker · 4 years ago

Text

Ectober Day 19: Shadow - Shadow Of Myself

Danny’s gotten himself hurt, but not to worry Valerie’s here. Now if only that stupid ghost Phantom wasn’t tagging along for the ride.

Valerie shifts her blaster in her arms, the metal creaking slightly, not sure what to do with the situation in front of her. Danny, human Danny, her friend and once love; was lying prone on the ground unconscious. And Phantom, that damn ghost ‘Danny’, archenemy and destroyer of lives; was practically cradling his torso and head, staring at her with a guarded ‘will you hurt me or help him’ look.

Valerie swallows, clicks her visor open and squints at him, but seeing the blood pooling on the ground makes her decision for her. Immediately dropping the weapon and rushing to kneel at Danny’s side. Snapping at Phantom and banking more than a little on him maintaining that ‘superhero’ facade he insisted on, “what happened”.

“Guys In White”.

That catches her off guard, “what?!?”, as she starts pulling out first aid while Phantom phases Danny’s sweater off. She doesn’t care or know why he burns it to ash. At least his freaky powers were useful for something, getting the top off with far less jarring than any human could manage. Him getting his damn shedding ecto-energy or whatever in Danny’s wound, or wounds, seriously doesn’t impress her though.

Phantom grumbles incoherently as he works practically seamlessly with her, using his intangibility to hold the skin over the large bullet hole apparently there closed without getting in her way of cleaning and sanitising. Using an ecto-flame to sanitise the needle to speed the process up. He does give her an actual answer though, probably trying to be a ‘distraction’, “they put a few things together”.

Valerie pushes the needle through and tries to ignore that she’s doing this to Danny’s body not hers, “put together what, Phantom”.

“Things”.

She makes her scowl very audible but doesn’t look away from her task. That’s enough to prompt him to explain further, good, “it’s not entirely my secret to tell, Val-”.

“Don’t call me that”.

She can hear the eye-roll in his voice, “Red. It’s his secret”.

Valerie scoffs, though keeps her hands working smoothly, pointedly ignoring the bits of blood getting smeared around, “like you have any problem spilling people's secrets”.

“That was to stop you from a suicide mission. Telling you his stuff won’t save his life”.

Fine. She’ll give him that one. That thing genuinely could have killed her. And Danny, this was bad but it wasn’t going to die here and now bad. If he was left alone then yes, he would... probably bleed out. And the only reason she was here was her scanner picking up on Phantom. Swallowing a little, “whatever. I would have been fine. But this whatever got him hurt. Even I know the G.I.W. don’t mess around and are extremists-”.

Phantom cuts her off, “coming from you that says a lot”. She pauses to glare at him very quickly before finishing up the stitching, “so we both know they absolutely would kill someone”. He doesn’t say anything as they move to sit Danny up, though his face ‘appears’ to be one of concerned concentration. Not that the ghost actually felt concern, it was just part of his stupid act. “Hold him”, he just nods as she moves to start wrapping Danny up. She’ll get the boy more genuine bandaging from her room, but he needs to be at least somewhat bandaged to get him there without risk. And as much as she’d like to get him the Hell away from the ghost, she’s not going to rush and risk his health just to do that.

Phantom sighs slightly after a while, “you do have a point”. Valerie huffs, at least he was willing to admit that. Snipping the bandaging and grabbing him under the armpits to move him onto her board after summoning it out.

Her actively scowling as Phantom floats up with her, even following after. Her snapping after a bit, “you’re like a damn shadow. I can’t shake you. Go away, ghost”.

Phantom giving a weirdly firm, “no”, immediately; which she glances at him for. The Zone was Phantom’s problem? Even with him insisting on his stupid false persona, he didn’t actively go out of his way to make sure people were fine outside of taking them to a hospital. She was perfectly capable of looking after Danny herself. Hell, she probably had better experience with anything ecto-related than the hospital did. “I don’t need your damn help, Phantom. And neither does he”.

Phantom scowls and rolls his eyes a little, “I know you won’t make him worse. You get along and won’t try sticking him in some anti-ecto bath or purifier dream catcher contraption like Jack and Maddie would”. Valerie has to blink those images out of her head, that was messed up and definitely something the Fenton’s would do but she’s not about to let the Spook distract her, “then get lost. The only reason I’m not shooting you now is to avoid jostling him. That’s it. So go away, or else”.

Groaning over the stupid stubborn ghosts, “no”, as she flys through her bedroom window. Quickly moving to lay him out on her bed and immediately summoning out a small pistol, pointing it at the ghost, “give me one damn reason I shouldn’t pump you full of holes. I told you to get lost. I’ll be nice and let you leave, if you leave right now, for helping but seriously. Get”.

Phantom stares at her for a bit, blinking once, “I... can’t”. Which fine, is enough to get her to pause.

Squinting at him, at him glancing from her to Danny and back. “And why the Hell not”. No point framing that accusation as a question.

The Spook squints at her right back, ghostly tail swishing in the air, “hinting at that answer is what the G.I.W. shot him over”. Now that’s enough to make her lower her weapon slightly. Only a little though.

Blinking and glaring at him, “so you really think I’d shoot him”. She almost feels insulted by that implication. Not to mention him still playing the stupid hero thing. ‘Protecting’ Danny.

He glances from her to Danny and back again for the second time, “that depends”.

Okay now she definitely is offended. Scowling meanly, “on?”. Did he have to be so stupidly elusive about everything and how dare he even claim she’d hurt Danny of all people.

“On how badly you want to ‘obliterate me out of existence’ versus ‘not get Danny hurt as collateral of your hunting’”, shrugging with obviously fake looseness, “or more specifically as collateral for your weirdly obsessive hatred for me”.

Her snapping, “it’s not obsessive when you destroyed my life, the town, and play this stupid hero crap to screw with the town and amass all your stupid ‘fans’”.

“That honestly sounds more like Ember than me”.

“Phantom”. Her pointing the pistol at him more genuinely again gets him to put up his hands in a surrendering motion, “hey hey now”.

“Well then start talking you damn ghost”, scowling a little at the raised eyebrow, “of course I care more about Danny than seeing you wiped off the face of this earth. Fucking duh, Phantom. Now explain”.

He stares like he’s judging her worth or some crap, like he’s anyone to judge that. “Have you ever compared us?”, adding when she just squints at him, “me and Danny, that is”.

She rolls her eyes though not taking her eyes off him, “why the Zone would I. And no, you having the same first name isn’t a reason to”.

Phantom scowls, “it was to them”.

She growls at him because this is getting annoying and she has a human Danny to look after, “stop beating around the damn bush and just spit it out already”. Him snapping right back at her, “because you won’t believe me”.

“Then why the fuck would the G.I.W. believe whatever!”.

“Because they don’t give a shit about him. Ancients, they tried to off a kid for having the same hair colour as me. Our similarities are way more suspicious!”.

Valerie smirks a little to herself at him looking like he hadn’t mean to say all that and seeming sheepish. Then frowning, “I don’t see a single damn similarity”.

“Personal bias due to personal relation. You don’t want to see the ghost you hate in the human you like, or the other way around. So you don’t. Same with the rest of the town. The G.I.W. aren’t blinded by that kind of bias”, him shrugging, “that’s what Jazz says anyway”.

That’s yet another thing that makes her pause and lower her weapon slightly, “you're... friendly with her”. What the Hell was that girl thinking?!? Dash or Paulina or even Sam she’d understand, but Jazz was a Fenton and freakishly smart.

“She knows things, yes. Figured it out on her own”, he sighs rubbing his eyes in obvious annoyance, “your suit has something that can tell a persons body measurements, right? Just use that”.

Valerie scowls, “I don’t take orders from you”, but does pop out the scanner while the ghost's tail solidifies into legs again and he plants himself on her floor dutifully. She scowls at him more for that. The nerve and ego, just entering a hunters home like that. At least this might make aiming at him easier, and locking onto him.

Turning the scanner on Danny though never taking her eyes off Phantom. Well until she pulls the scanner back over and glances at it. The thing read as reading the same body/person, the Hell? Scanning again, because was this thing malfunctioning. Audibly growling when the ghost chuckles at her. Stupid ghost found this funny. The results are the exact same. They had the exact same body shape, even hair shape. What the fuck. “Your bodies are the same”, he nods but frowns when she starts scowling at him, “what? Did you mould yourself after him or-”, scowl feeling and becoming genuinely angry, taking a step towards him, “are you Obsessed with him”, he immediately floats up waving his hands back and forth as she locks her pistol in on him, “that would explain why you constantly are ‘doing the job of a hunter’ and like puns so damn much! You just want to be near your fucking Obsession!”. Him successfully phasing through her floor to avoid the shot she fired off.

Him sticking his head over the window, at least the bastard was outside again, “what! No! That’s not it!”.

“Fucking bullshit!”, she immediately shoots at him again, “I’ve got no reason to believe a goddamn ghost!”.

“This is exactly what I was talking about!”, him phasing through the wall looking genuinely ticked off, “it doesn’t matter what I say or proof I give! You’re not going to believe me!”, and takes out her pistol with a small rock.

Her throwing the small crappy desk at him, all her furniture got an anti-ecto coating nowadays, “you’re a ghost!”.

He smashes the desk apart, “and you’re impossible!”.

Both of them jerking to a stop at a groan from the bed, snapping their heads over and both sighing when he doesn’t actually wake up. But it does knock a little sense into both of them. Valerie pinching the bridge of her nose and breathing. Looking back to Phantom, “get out. I don’t care what weird freaky ghost thing you’ve got for him. Leave. You don’t need to ‘protect’ him or whatever bullshit because I sure as shit ain’t harming him and I even more sure as shit ain’t going to let those G.I.W. asses anywhere near him. So get gone. Seriously. Fuck off”.

“Once again, I can’t”.

“Oh for fucks sake”. Scowling because she so doesn’t have time for this fucking bullshit, at least not until Danny is properly patched up. Moving as fast as she can and actually managing to catch the Spook by surprise with a hooked rope-like energy blast, pinning him to the wall and blocking out his powers. “Then just stay the fuck there and shut up. I don’t want to hear your crap”. Phantom rolls his eyes but thankfully doesn’t say shit, looks incredibly annoyed though; but what does she care. Instead focusing on getting the good bandaging and getting to work.

What does get her caught off guard again was that Danny’s wound didn’t look even slightly healed. Not a scab or nothing. She frowns, “why the Hell isn't he healing”, when she doesn’t get a response she looks to Phantom and scowls, “for the love of everything you pain in my ass. You can speak. Fuck I hate you. Happy?”.

Phantom smirks for a second, “yes. Very”, before frowning, “he’s not going to. Not like this anyway”.

Valerie grimaces at that, what the Hell did those men do to him? “Why?”.

Phantom opens and closes his mouth a couple times before watching her a little, “have you ever noticed that he doesn’t really seem... to heal like a normal person”.

Valerie rolls her eyes, everyone knew about Danny’s contamination problem and all the weird stupid complications of it. Like the clumsiness and just knowing when a ghost was about to show up. Then frowning a little, “so this has to do with his contamination”, that... that might be a problem. Danny’s contamination was unique even in the opinions of his parents. She barely knew the first thing in how to deal with that. No one did. Well, except Danny... and apparently his fucking ghost stalker.

Phantom sighs and looks around a little before looking to her face again, “he’s not contaminated. The ‘contamination’ is weird because he’s not ‘contaminated’”.

Valerie can’t help snapping at that, “then what the Hell is it and why do you know about it?!?”. Which he scowls at her over, “fucking complicated that’s what”, then shaking his head and seemingly calm in himself. Not that he should even be able to actually experience anger. “Ancients, do you have to be so difficult?”, sighing and mumbling something she doesn’t catch seemingly to himself before talking to her again, “I’m the ‘it’”.

“The fuck does that mean. The Hell did you do to him”, if she didn’t have him pinned she absolutely would be pulling another gun on him, she was tempted to as it was.

Phantom leans his head back, banging it on the wall, “ugh! Would you stop blaming me for everything?”.

Her snarking, “then stop being at fault”. He does chuckle a little at that but gives a weirdly hallow, “I hardly ever am”, and rights his head before she can comment on that, “okay look. Obviously not all us ghosties are the same, work the same-”.

She cuts him off, “a ghost’s still a ghost. Get to the point”.

He snaps at her a bit, “I’m bloody well tryin’, Ancients”. She waves for him to go on, effectively saying she maybe might not interrupt him. So long as he doesn’t say anything stupid. Which he will. He rolls his yes at her, “so as I was saying, we don’t all work the same. Surprise surprise, I’m a rare one”. Valerie muttering mostly to herself, “no fucking shit”, which he hears and chuckles at. Though she feels slightly more interested in this because no one had a damn clue why Phantom was fucking weird and this kinda sounded like she was about to find out. Though... apparently Danny was involved somehow. Which, she decidedly does not have a good feeling about.

“I’m what’s known as a Shadow, also called a half shade though. Only three of us exist”. Valerie actually whistles at that because damn. “Shade’s are what happen when the ghost's body was cremated or otherwise destroyed before they formed. Shade’s are... impressions rather than a whole”.

Okay that she has to butt in on, “but all ghosts are just ecto-impressions”.

Phantom looks at her like she’s stupid, “I thought you of all people wouldn’t believe that horse crap. If that were true born ghosts would be impossible, for one. For two, how the fuck would you get an emotional ectoplasmic impression of every fucking plant in the universe into one being? Or the time stream?”.

“There’s a time stream ghost”.

He rolls his eyes, “yes, but irrelevant. Basically none of Amity’s ghosts are Shade’s aka impressions. They are souls. Someone’s spirit. You know, that used to be in their body? Cremation and shit kinda wrecks the soul so you get an impression instead. Anyway-”. Valerie’s pretty sure he doesn’t realise how crazy and horrifying that is if it’s actually true. And sure there were plenty of people around Amity who tried to pitch the ‘ghosts are souls’ thing but literally every actual professional agreed that wasn’t the case. They were impressions not people. The ‘born a ghost’ and ‘timestream ghost’, if those were true at all, raised some questions though she guesses. Not pleasant ones, considering her job. But ghosts hurt people and were evil, not matter how the things were made. “-half Shade equals half impression. Duh”.

Valerie blinks at him, “so you’re half a typical ghost, that tells me nothing about Danny’s issue, Phantom. Though fine, nice to know why the heck things don’t damage you as much as they’re supposed to”, that was something that pissed her off to no end.

“I don’t have a corpse-”.

“Yeah no shit, you literally just said that ‘impressions’ don’t have those. Cremated or whatever. Still not the point”.

Phantom glares at her, “and you wonder why no one likes explaining crap to you”. She scowls at him for that while he continues, “as I was saying, I don’t have a corpse because I never had one. My bodies still walking around. Living. Breathing. Beating heart. You know, the works”. Valerie just stares at him because what the fuck was he trying to say here. That he was a dead of someone still alive? That makes zero fucking sense. “That makes no sense, idiot”.

Phantom actually snorts at that, “unnatural things don’t usually make sense. Hot tip, don’t stand inside a forming ghost portal. Electrocution’s also a pretty shit way to go. Well, half go”.

Valerie will admit to cringing at that, how ghosts died wasn’t really something she cared to think about or know. Especially since she’s sure most went in pretty nasty ways. “Congrats, that sounds.. awful”, tilting her head, “wait”, while Phantom mutters, “oh it was. Don’t recommend”.

Valerie squints at him, “Danny got electrocuted bad. His...”, frowning, “his parents said that gave him the... contamination”.

Phantom nods slowly, almost softly, “yeah”. While Valerie’s having just a slight freak out here. “Me forming was strange for everyone involved. But we hit it off immediately, got along. Makes sense being one and the same. Part of each other”, he does the closest to a shrug he can and she really doesn’t like where this is going, “it was ultimately him who chose my name you know. Danny Phantom for me, because it sounds like his. That, and it’s a pun”, chuckling and not even looking at her, like he was talking to himself at this point, “my suit, chosen by him. My symbol, designed by another human friendly. I am his pride and joy, I exist because of him. I’m his shadow”, looking to her, “Danny Fenton’s Shadow”.

Valerie just stares at him for a bit, “bullshit. You- no you are not part of him. No- what the fuck”, and scowls at him. The stupid thing is, it explained being identical. Stupid stupid stupid. She wanted nothing to do with it and didn’t want it to be happening. Holy fuck.

Phantom sighs and gives her a look that’s close to pitying, which she is absolutely having none of and promptly slaps him lightly; though he moves his head with it likely out of shock more than anything else. “Oooookaaaaay. I go baring my metaphorical soul to you and tell you my freaking death and you slap me? fucking seriously Val?”.

Valerie smacks him again but gentler, “don’t call me that!”.

“That an order to both me’s or just the dead one”. The bitter slightly snarky comment is more than enough to get Valerie’s mind back on track and force her to force herself to calm down. Valerie moving to sit against the bed leg and run a hand through her hair, sighing loudly. “Danny, living Danny, can call me whatever the Hell he wants. You call me Red, Phantom”, leaning her head back and sighing again, “this is really messed up”, sighing for the third time, “are you... are you seriously saying that you are part of Danny?”.

Phantom leans his head back, “intrinsically. Symbiotically eve-”. Valerie cutting him off with a snap, “explain”. That seems to get him upset again, him jerking his head up and eyes flaring green, “explain what!?! I already told you how this crap happened to us!”.

“That’s not what-”.

“Ancients fuck why did I think this was a good idea?!?!”.

“Phantom shut up”.

“No! Fuck you at this point! Ancients fuck!”.

Valerie blinks at him as he just bangs his head into the wall angrily. This didn’t seem faked. It really really didn’t. Maybe being half whatever changed things. Oh goddamnit. Her whispering, “you really actually do have emotions, don’t you”.

“Surprise surprise! All of us fucking do! It ain’t shit unique to me! Hunters are just a bunch of fucking bigots!”.

Valerie cringes at that. Curling up and tucking her knees under her chin, arms wrapped around her legs. “I fucked up”

“Oh you don’t say miss decides to hunt, maim and destroy an entire species because of a fucking dog wrecking some shit and labelling them all less than human things that deserve to be conquered into oblivion like some crappy ass Christopher Columbus”

“Okay that was just mean”.

“Fuck off. I think I’ve fucking earned being mean to you”.

Valerie blinks at him, she had never seen Phantom behave like this. Sure he got ‘mad’ sometimes but what the Hell. Was it because of her less than stellar reaction to him ‘baring his soul’? But how could the bastard blame her? He was telling her that he was an impression of one of her only friends! Someone she had -and still has if she’s honest with herself- a crush on! How the fuck was she supposed to react to that bullshit. Hell! She wouldn’t even consider it if it wasn’t for the identical crap and Danny not healing... Shaking her head, she shouldn’t be focused on some ghost when Danny needed help. Sighing, “ignoring everything. How the Hell do I or we or whatever, get him to heal”.

Phantom scowls audibly and loudly at the ceiling before huffing and looking down at her, “humph. Well I guess that’s one fucking way to make what you care about more obvious”, and huffs again, “well for bloody well starters you'd have to let me off this fucking wall”. Valerie glares at him because Hell no, she wasn’t freeing him so he can just run off or do who knows what. He scowls at her, “for once in your life could you maybe, maybe, believe I don’t have some stupid ulterior motives for crap?! And besides! If I was bloody well strong enough to do shit right now I wouldn’t even be stuck at all! Heck! You wouldn’t even be helping at all”.

Now that catches her off guard, “so they messed you up too”. So Phantom was ‘too weak’ to fix Danny himself, meaning the ghost actually intentionally lured her to them... and she can’t even be mad at that.

He scowls at her some more, before grumbling, “can’t genuinely harm one without the other”. Which makes her pale a little. That was why Phantom had been defensive and asked what she cared about more. To destroy him... she’d have to hurt Danny. Maybe even kill him. Swallowing thickly, “oh”. Phantom gives back the most sarcastic, “yeah”, she’s ever heard.

She shifts a bit uncomfortably, “so... what’s wrong with you? Will ‘fixing’ you ‘fix’ him?”, she can hardly believe she’s asking after a freaking ghosts well being. She absolutely doesn’t blame him for squinting mistrustfully and disbelievingly at her. Him leaning his head back and speaking after apparently deciding she was ‘being genuine’; whatever that meant to a ghost... or part ghost whatever. “Okay it’s easier to just fucking explain what they shot us with”.

“So they shot both of you with whatever”.

Phantom sighs, “they only shoot once. One bullet”. Which makes zero sense, “what? Did they just hit both of you at once? That’s stupid terrible luck even by Danny’s standards”, Danny did have truly awful luck; this ‘Shadow’ thing felt like proof of that.

Phantom shifts a little, “kinda”, moving his hands around as much as his bindings will allow as he explains, “the thing basically caused some heart/core attack bullshit, which made us fall out of sync and kicked me out. Gave me the boot very painfully might I add-”, glares at her, “-for both of us. Also effectively paralysed my Core, hence being stupid weak and not being able to replenish any ecto I spend. Can’t recover for shit”.

Valerie hums a little to herself, “so you can’t heal either”, which would make it brutally easy to destroy the ghost. No wonder the G.I.W. wanted to do this... but with Danny involved no way can she even consider that. Then squinting as that nagging ominous feeling returns, “what do you mean ‘kicked you out’”.

Phantom sighs and looks around awkwardly, “I told you. Symbiotic. Codependent. Coexisting. Cohabitating. Yada yada. Etcetera etcetera”, nodding his head in Danny’s direction, “I know you and everyone else wonder where the heck I constantly fuck off to all the time. When I’m not out showing some ghost what’s what, I pretty much stay asleep in Danny’s body”.

Valerie blinks and gapes at him, “so a weird fucked up overshadowing”. She’s trying not to be ticked off. She really is.

“What? No. There’s no ‘someone taking control over someone else’ going on and you sure as shit don’t share organs with any ghost overshadowing you”. That thought makes Valerie mentally shudder, the idea of a ghost invading her body was bad enough but also mixing in Its organs; Hell no. Her blinking a little though, “you... share organs? Like, the Core? And your ectoplasm which I guess is why everyone thinks he’s ecto-contaminated but it’s really just you being there?”, squinting at the air, “does he need your Core to heal or something”. That would be exactly Danny’s luck; and hers too honestly. Zone damn this stupid ghosts Core having a ‘helpful’ hero complex.

Phantom shrugs and looks around, apparently calmed down fast enough to nearly give her whiplash, “ectoplasm does the healing actually. So the paralysed Core thing doesn’t really matter there”, grumbling a little, “still a fucking pain in the ass, or Core, though”, sighing and nodding his head at Danny again, “but yeah, our Core and heart are basically intertwined”, scowling, “and I’ve never been awake and up and about this long before. Which apparently makes me cranky and emotional”, actually growling a little which pretty well confirmed him being moody, “which is making me deplete my energy even more. Which is annoying and making me more pissy”, grumbling at the floor, “fucking bullshit cycle of bullshit making a giant mound of awful smelly dragon shit and maybe someone threw in some diarrhea to really drive me up the walls in some desperate attempt to escape the literal sea of bullshit”.

Valerie blinks and snorts a little, “oh stop whining you ecto-baby”, then grimacing, “also, that’s seriously disgusting”. He scowls at her but chuckles a little. Her shuffling and standing up, being more serious, “if this keeps up with you, you’ll run yourself dry, right? Probably destroy yourself”, continuing at his annoyed nod, “and what? Will Danny just not heal then?”. That would be bad but if it wasn’t for the fact that he wasn’t waking up then he could arguably live fine. He’d just have to stay on top of the perpetually open wound and be more careful to avoid injuries. But... him healing would be better. Stupid Phantom having to be inside his freaking body or not.

Phantom rolls his eyes, “worse than ‘not heal’. I ‘die’, he dies. A person doesn’t get to exist as half a soul. Our odd crap pushes the boundaries of nature already as it is. Death and life has already had it up to here with us”, huffing, “and he’s not waking up because he’s effectively feeding me emotional energy through the air in an attempt to make up for my stupid lack of ecto-energy. Just the same I’m feeding him shedded ectoplasm to try to encourage healing. It’s enough to stop the bleeding but that’s it. Hence why I can’t leave. Both of us will fall apart. Well okay, he’d hemorrhage blood like a fountain, I’d dissolve into a puddle of ectoplasmic goop. Which would make your floor a very not pretty painting”.

Valerie looks down at him then to Danny, roughing her hair up which she absolutely catches Phantom mutter, “damnit, that’s hot”. Making her snap her head to him and screw her face up, “what???”, his cheeks are practically glowing green so he probably hadn’t meant to say that. But also, who the heck goes from graphic descriptions of death to ‘oh by the way you’re hot’.

He immediately gets all defensive, “we share everything! all right! Memories. Thoughts. Emotions. Feelings. Everything”. That just makes her screw up her face more, “so I basically dated you too. And wait a fucking second-”, going wide-eyed, “-does he know I’m Red then????”.

Phantom gives an impressively awkward, “I mean? Technically? Though yeah on the Red thing, fucking duh honestly”.

She’s not sure whether to be pissed, relieved, or scared. “I can’t fucking believe you... Believe you two”, scowling, “I would hit him if he wasn’t passed out”.

Phantom shrugs, “eh hitting me would achieve the same thing, but I’d rather you not. We’re getting kinda off track here and I’d really like to be home and he’d really like to not have a big hole in his chest”. Valerie scowls but glances at Danny, messing with her hair again though giving Phantom a weird look right after and pointedly stopping. “So is he... going to remember all this? See your memories?”.

“My memories are his memories”.

She absolutely groans over that, tilting her head back and glaring at the ceiling. He probably remembered her shooting at Phantom as if she were shooting at him, at the human Danny. Danny was even more reckless and stupid than she thought but... it made her feel kind of happy and warm.

“You’re blushing”.

She shakes her head and scowls at the stupid smirk on Phantom’s face, “shut up. He’s just stupid selfless that’s all”.

Phantom snorts and rolls his eyes, “I’m no different, you just don’t want to acknowledge that. Like I said”, then speaking in a singsong voice, “hunter bias and bigotry”. She hates that he has a point. She really really does. Stupid ghost. Stupid teenage boy.

She shakes her head, this is stupid, “I’ll freak out about that some other time. How do we fix this? Since I’m guessing you can’t”.

Phantom again gives her a look that clearly questions her intellect, “step one, release me”. She groans and glares at him but relinquishes and deactivates the device. Phantom standing up and brushing off his legs like they got dirty somehow, “fucking finally. Ancients you are difficult”.

“Apparently you’ve known that for a while and explicitly”.

“Shut up, I’m bitchy and moody”, him walking over to Danny, putting a hand on his forehead and frowning, “he’s starting to get a fever”.

Valerie groans, seriously? For fucks sake. “You've got to be kidding me. On top of everything else?”, glaring at the unconscious Danny a little, “you have the worst luck”.

“He can’t hear y-”.

“Shut up”.

Phantom chuckles before frowning again, “it’s because my Core’s ice. His body basically uses my Core to keep cool, regulate body temp. Core’s his own personal little ice pack and ac system. He can’t cool down without it”, grumbling, “not that I can cool him with a paralysed Core”. Valerie sighs, “we’ll deal with that later then. I don’t know how to un-paralyse a Core. How do we get you back in there to heal him with your ecto whatever”. She seriously can not believe she is trying to get a ghost inside someone. Even if that someone was apparently themselves or whatever the fuck. Half themselves? Ugh, this is ridiculous.

Phantom fidgets a bit, which fuck is ominous. “Okay step two, I need that pacifying basifier thingy of yours”.

Valerie quirks an eyebrow but hands it to him. Because at this point why the heck not give dangerous weapons to reckless dead guys that already use their fists like weapons of mass destruction. Fuck her life. “And if I wasn’t going to just give you my stuff?”.

Phantom smirks a bit as he sits down to tinker, “I’m not above mild petty theft”. She shoves his head for that one and grimaces over him ripping her gun apart and messing with stuff. While Phantom starts rambling, “I can’t merge with him all paralysed ‘cause my Core can’t connect and shit past all my ectoplasm. Hooray, a situation where my ecto is a real true pain in the ass, and I’ve been so good to it. That’s a lie, I’ve abused the shit out of it”, waving a hand around, “so need to be just my Core, not that I’ll be able to move like that. See I was just gonna knock you out or something. Sit on his chest, use this modified thingy, letting Core me just sorta fall on his chest and sink in”, doing small jazz hands, “tada”.

Valerie scowls, “fuck you too then”, though she does understand a little. And at least he had a plan.

“Desperate times, desperate measures”, tilting his head and chuckling a little, “in desperate times, desperate measures will be my pleasures”.

Valerie gives a very deadpan, “I hate you”, then sighs and crosses her arms, looking down at him, “well sitting on him probably won’t help his condition”.

Getting a cheery, “nope”, in response.

Valerie sighs again, choosing to ignore him being an idiot, “so what are you doing that doesn’t involve making the sick injured human more sick and injured”.

Phantom looks up at her and squints, “you could... pick me up and put me in him yourself”. Valerie can practically physically feel the cautiousness in that statement. Her swallowing, “and that won’t hurt anyone? Him, me, or, I guess, you?”.

Phantom grumbles, “it won’t feel all that pleasant for me. Our Cores are kinda sacred and sensitive to touch, you know. But no, it ain’t gonna hurt nobody”.

Valerie screws up her face a little, “that’s not meaning ‘sensitive’ in the sexual way is it?”, she doesn’t even want to know why her brain went that route. She emphatically doesn't. Phantom blinks and wheezes, starting to laugh hard enough that he has to stop tinkering, “what?!?!? No! I mean it can be but not like this or like that! Oh my Ancients! I can’t believe you asked that!”, then laughing some more, “that might have made my day!”, shaking his head and smirking at her, which she scowls at him for while he speaks, “don’t worry Red, it’s nothing like that. Haha”.

She huffs and shoves his head, “shut up, asshole”. He just snickers more so she crosses her arms. She’d turn her back on him but he’s still a damn ghost, even if she was apparently around him all the fucking time. He was apparently ‘asleep’ or whatever though, remembering whatever or not. So it’s a little different and that’s what she’s sticking to. Huffing a little while the ghost shakes his head.

Phantom eventually makes a stupid silly little cheer sound, “ah! Alright yeah, this should work”. The two of them kinda staring at each other for a bit, she could practically read caution and worry in his green eyes. This ‘emotional’ ghost thing was weird. But she sighs, she needs to look after Danny and this crap was basically all she had for options. So she takes the initiative, “I’m not gonna hurt your Core or whatever”, at him still staring, “or experiment on it”, getting more staring, “and I’ll put it, you, whatever, right in Danny’s chest. Happy?”.

He watches her for a bit before nodding, though not exactly looking pleased, “alright. But I, and Danny, am holding you to that”. Valerie gulps and nods, watching him stick the now disk-shaped ‘gun’ over his chest and push it to make a little pulse thing. The light’s a little blinding but she hears the orb? hit the ground with some static sounds following.

Blinking down at the pale blue glowing ball. Alright, so this is a Core. Fuck this is weird. “Alright self, time to pick up a freaking ghost organ. Fuck this is so messed up”. It makes some kind of bubble noise. Her shaking her head, “can you hear me or something”, it makes a hum sound that time.

Fuck it. She bends down and picks it up gingerly, hurting this thing would at the very least slow how quickly Danny could heal. Or make the fever worse. “That’s weird. This is weird. Fuck this entire day and the G.I.W. too for good measure”. It makes more bubbles, which she decidedly ignores.

Hold the thing oddly just felt like holding a ball, which probably wasn’t normal especially considering the whole ‘paralysed’ thing. Shaking her head and staring down at Danny some before going for it and simply placing the ball over his chest, near where the fucking gunshot wound was, and staring down as it seeps down through flesh and bone like it’s melting into him. After a bit, she elects to slump down tiredly in her shitty brown chair and just watch him. She’ll check the wounds and apparent fever every so often but there’s not much else she can really do. And that pisses her off just a little bit.

Valerie immediately bolts up and too Danny’s side when he groans, turns his head, and screws his eyes shut even more. “Danny?”. He just groans at her but does open an eye a little bit, “ugh”.

She sighs, at least he was awake, “first, how are you feeling? Second, I am so pissed with you”, she makes sure to add a bit of humour to that last bit.

Danny closes his eye, squeezes them and then opens both of them, “Val?”. She nods, “yeah. I’m here. Do you need anything?”. He exhales a bit heavily, “uh. Cold drink would be nice”. Which she kind of expected and thus had some ice water on hand, immediately passing it over to him, “thanks. So uh, all that, huh?”.

Valerie scoffs, sitting down on the floor leaning against the bed, hearing him turn over onto his side as she speaks, “yeah. Fucking bullshit. You’re bullshit. Phantom’s bullshit”, pausing and fiddling with her hair some, “the stuff he said, Phantom, was all that true?”, huffing, “I guess with remembering it the answer’s kinda obvious”. And fuck her over that. Because damn did this complicate stuff and raise so many moral questions about what she does. Because hasn’t she been effectively trying to destroy her friend, or part of him anyway, for years.

Danny chuckles sounding kinda tired, “yeah. But could we seriously not argue anymore. I kinda threw all my emotional energy at Phantom. Tired now... and hot. Oh and my chest feels like shit”.

Valerie shakes her head, “never can shut you up. And I’m not about to argue with you, Danny”, pulling herself up to sit on the bed next to him, hugging her knees, “but just how you are you? Like, where does Danny start and Phantom end? Is he literally just knocked out right now?”.

Danny sighs, “it’s complicated. We’re just two parts of the same person so there really isn’t an end or beginning. Though Phantom’s sleeping yeah, more like being dormant though“, shifting and looking her in the eyes, “appreciate being gentle with my Core though”.

“It’s stupid weird to hear you say ‘my Core’ especially since you’re talking about Phantom’s Core. Which is technically your Core”, and grumbling into her knees a bit incoherently.

Danny nods, “everything about my life, half-life, is stupid weird. Welcome to it I guess. Can I ask what you got all blushy about? After Phantom commented very stupidly -fuck I can’t believe he said that- on your hair fiddling thing”.

Valerie immediately heats up a little again, because this time it’s Danny not Phantom and that matters. Even if they’re kinda apparently the freaking same. “I... well, I never really stopped liking you. I just thought I was protecting you. Which now feels supremely stupid”. She had been trying to protect him from his fucking Ghostly body roommate. Heck! Danny was effectively protecting him.

He huffs a chuckle, “because it was stupid”, sighing, “though I could have been honest with you, but in a way I was protecting you. So it’s not really all on you. Though more we were protecting you, though when either of us says ‘I’ we usually mean we; same person and all that”. Danny adjusts and shoves the blankets around, probably seeking out a slightly cooler spot.

Valerie hums, staring forward, “stick to singulars honestly. Especially if Phantom’s just... you but a ghost. You constantly pointing out there’s a freaking ghost taking a nap in you is gonna freak me out right now. I’d really rather just make sure you’re alright”.

Danny pats her foot and smiles a little, though she can tell he’s got a fever now. He just looked overheated. “Sam and Tuck find it weird too but they like weird shit”.

She snorts at that, “you don’t say”. Though she’s kinda glad they know about Danny, Phantom, and his/their crap.

Danny smirks in a very stupid Phantom way, “I dare say. But I'm as fine as I can be really. I’m hot, tired both physically and emotionally, and in pain. But I’ve been worse. And there’s not much you can really do for me. I just need to heal and wait out the paralytic... and Phantom needs sleep, that’s kinda obvious though”. She snorts at that, muttering, “he sure turned into an emotional baby for a bit there”.

“Heh heh. Don’t remind me. That was embarrassing. Least it was just you. Though... he had a point. About you. You can be frustrating”.

She huffs at that, “It’s called being a strong woman with a strong personality”. He hums a bit, closing his eyes, “oh that’s fine. I like that. It’s the blindly believing bigotry thing and the hardcore hatred boner”.

“You did not just call it that. I’d hit you but I don’t want to give you a concussion on top of everything”, sighing, “and Phantom... likes me too then. The sharing feelings thing”.

Danny shifts around some more, which honestly makes her want to scold him; he’s gonna rip his stitching. “I’m pretty sure I can’t get concussions. Phantom definitely can’t. And yeah, obviously Phantom does. The trying to murder him thing kinda kills it a little. Makes him a little put off”.

“And you’re not?”.

Danny sighs, “we can tell whose memories are whose, Val. Ghosts don’t see or feel the world the way humans do. You can look like a completely different person through Phantom’s eyes. All the anger that rolls off you and lashes at the air. The... loneliness too. He likes when you get protective though”, he blushes a little though it could just be the fever, “you feel nice when you’re like that”.

Valerie doesn’t know what to do with that information really; so she stuffs it in a neat little box in her brain. Maybe that’ll encourage the Box Ghost to come running and give her something to shit-kick. Instead she just asks, “he can see emotions? That’s got to be a mind trip”, yawning a little and deciding to get up before she falls asleep or something. “It fine if I check that wound of yours? Before I pass the Hell out”. He chuckles and nods though doesn’t really seem to care, “yeah. I’m used to it. Go ahead, might look kinda green though”. Valerie only sighs as she gets to work unwrapping him carefully, and tries not to be totally weirded out by the pale green crusting and the fact that she can literally see ectoplasm bubbling, or something, around the stitching. Pointing as non-judging as possible, “is this normal?”. This was literally Phantom’s ectoplasm sloshing around Danny’s wound.

He hums, pokes at his chest, and nods. Sounding way to apathetic, “yeah pretty much. Dissolving the stitching a little. I have special stitches that don’t cause that”. All she has to do is frown for him to continue, “not a problem though. You can wrap me back up and let me nap now”. She chuckles a little but does as she’s asked, “I could use some sleep too”.

After finishing up she watches Danny a little as he gets comfortable in her bed, this was weird and a bit surreal. Turning to eye her chair, that would seriously not be comfortable. But sharing a bed was a bit much and Danny was injured. And the Phantom thing felt like a weird elephant in the room at the moment to her. Apparently, Danny can read minds now though, and starts scolding her, “no. Bad hunter. No sleeping in that ratty-ass chair. I can share”, tilting his head, “huh. That rhymed”. Valerie glares at the ceiling in fake exasperation though trying not to be weird about him just calling her a hunter, while Danny keeps going, “so long as you don’t mind the bed getting nippy or that Phantom might hop out for a bit to escape the heat”.

Valerie turns and blinks at him, “that fucker better not try shit then”. Fuck it though, that stupid chair will give her a serious kink in the neck. So she crawls into bed, though keeping a blanket between them, “and you keep your hands to yourself and mind your wounds”.

Danny chuckles and clearly goes out of his way to hug her some, “who do you take me for? Tuck?”, him chuckling almost awkwardly but it was more like he knew he should feel awkward but didn’t quite feel it; she’s blaming that on being emotionally drained. “Though I am a bit of a sleep cuddler. Sam’s gotten a lot of blackmail photos out of that”. Valerie absolutely snorts a laugh over that. Though that sounds like he absolutely sleeps cuddled with Tucker mostly. Which was kind of funny.

Danny speaks up again after a bit, with her being nearly asleep, “hey Val?”.

“Hmm?”.

“Where does this leave us?”.

Valerie shifts a bit, eyeing and playing with bits of her hair. She honestly didn’t know herself. Obvious she wasn’t going to off Phantom’s ectoplasmic ass, she is so not going to kill Danny. But friends with Phantom? Maybe. She still hates his damn guts and all the crap he pulls. But that barely aligns with her view of Danny, kind sweet funny Danny. And he was still cute. It was really fucking strange seeing him in Phantom and Phantom in him now. “We’ll see I think. I’m still gonna best Phantom’s stupid butt but I don’t want his ectoplasmic hide anymore. And you’re my friend still. More than that?... I don’t know”, yawning, “but I sure as shit ain’t dating Phantom”.

Danny snorts quietly, “Val. If you did, I think I’d have a heart attack. Ancients, the town would have a heart attack. But yeah, I could do without the second-hand murder attempts. Phantom would be bummed if you stopped picking fights with him entirely though”, chuckling, “he likes fighting and seeing you improve. But if we want to try things again, between us, then you guys need to at least be friends. Dating while you were fighting him all aggression and venom, was difficult”.

Valerie doesn’t have to question that one bit, “yeah”.

“Yeah”.

Valerie rolls her eyes and tries to snuggle into the blankets a bit more, “go to sleep Danny”. He just chuckles.

Valerie absolutely does wake up at one point during the night with Danny’s face smushed into her back and arms around her waist. But she had muttered a quiet, “seriously?”, over noticing Phantom sprawled out over top of everyone. At least there were blankets between all of them.

End.

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blastthechaos · 3 years ago

Text

I posted 57,034 times in 2021

187 posts created (0%)

56847 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 304.0 posts.

I added 482 tags in 2021

#danganronpa - 82 posts

#dr - 68 posts

#makoto naegi - 62 posts

#trigger happy havoc - 60 posts

#thh - 56 posts

#junko enoshima - 38 posts

#naejunko - 37 posts

#dr3 - 28 posts

#end of hopes peak high school - 26 posts

#sonic the hedgehog - 25 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#basically in this au naegi is still the protag but the original survivors die and the ones that die become the survivors (junko still dies)

My Top Posts in 2021

The hilarious part about Danny's suckiness at dodging is that he has a fuckton of powers that should be incredible useful for dodging.

He can open holes in his body with no problem, he can split himself, he can phase through the ground, he can duplicate himself to use as decoys, he can go fucking intangible, I think he uses a teleport once. He has abilities for dodging that Sans would kill for and Spider-Man would die of envy...and he just stands there and takes it 99% of the time, he makes DBZA Gohan look like a dodging prodigy.

And that's hilarious.

258 notes • Posted 2021-11-16 22:09:15 GMT

Makoto, Hajime and Shuichi:Can you just give a clear cut answer for once?

Kyoko, Nagito and Kokichi:Nah fam, we gonna make you work for it

280 notes • Posted 2021-08-10 19:36:47 GMT

Nagito:I am truly in love with the Hope that grows inside of you

Hajime:What does he mean by that?

*Meanwhile outsidd the NWP*

Makoto:Hajime is a great and smart guy but boy is he dense when it comes to love, how could he miss that?

Kyoko, who's sending non stop hints to Makoto for a while, trying not to strangle him:...It's truly a mystery

Byakuya:*Laughing his ass off*

363 notes • Posted 2021-08-15 22:46:18 GMT

Fuck it, Full Halfa Fenton Family AU

Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom

Pretty much same powerset as canon

Ice Core

Has Less baggage because his whole family is roped into this so he isn't alone, he actually thinks being an Halfa is kinda cool

Still feels guilty cause he Kickstarted the accident that Half killed them all

Gets along better with his mom

Maddie Fenton/Maddie Phantom

Didn't care much for names so she choose to follow the same way her son names himself

Ice core

Her attacks are more focused/practical but doesn't have much creativity. Reflecting on how she's better at the fighting part than the inventor part

The best fighter of the four, has the most skill

She's excited to be a ghost because now she can study them better but worries the effect it has on her family

Wants to leave her kids out of Ghost Fighting but Danny insist on joining in, she teams up with him the most, although Jack and Jazz are pretty up there as well

She doesn't think the Ghost are pure evil anymore and is ashamed of thinking that now that she's one of them, she also feels ashamed that it took becoming one of them to understand that

Feels she and Jack are to blame for all of this, Danny disagrees and she disagrees it's his fault

There's no divide between her and Danny because the whole family is roped into this, they're closer than ever

Jack Fenton/Jack Jack-o'-lantern

Name is an alliteration because of course, Danny says that's lame but secretly thinks it's genius

Fire Core

Can't sense Ghosts because doesn't have an Ice Core but on the upside his Fire Core let's him teleport while Danny and Maddie can't because they have Ice Cores

Frequently comes up with new attacks or thinks up new powers reflecting on his inventor side, they range from flashy but impractical, flashy but practical, goofy and goofy but ridiculously useful

Basically the performer to Maddie's Technician

Thinks being a ghost is awesome, internally feels immensely guilty for Half-Killing his family by creating the portal even if it Maddie and Danny also had a hand on it

Much like Maddie he no longer has his toxic views on Ghost, he doesn't show guilt on having them as Maddie does but rather does something similar to what happened with Vlad:Tries to be as supportive of them as possible to make up for his former views, though isn't as overbearing about it, partially because he never actually hurt a Ghost before being an Halfa

Closer to Jazz like in canon, wants to make up for turning her into a Half-Ghost, she eventually reciprocates, it's kinda like the Vlad situation in canon

Has arguments with Maddie about if having a Fire Core is better than having an Ice Core

Power and skill wise seems like the clumsiest of the four, but once he gets serious he kicks ass hard reflecting on his canon counterpart

See the full post

380 notes • Posted 2021-08-07 20:01:11 GMT

I know it's popular to portray Danny has having scars and all, that's fine by me.

But considering Ghost Regeneration in the series is busted (like they regenerate from nearly everything) image just Danny shrugging immensely fatal injuries and be like "well that's annoying" everytime while everyone else freaks out.

782 notes • Posted 2021-11-04 03:41:21 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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radiance1 · 1 year ago

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#what if when danny died in the portal his soul tried to transfer to the clone body but said soul was being bound back to his corpse#so the clone body ended up travelling with the soul because ghost bullshit and being bound to the corpse as well#and thats why he leaves a corpse when he transforms#going ghost either removes the latest clone body or the previous clone body#latest clone means he still has his original body#previous means his original body got expelled the first time he transformed after the portal#either way a new clone gets summoned to him when he transforms back#(this idea would have to mean that the clones are produced automatically via a machine that activates when they die)#branching off of this concept; jazz is slowly dying via ectocontamination#and because of how slow its happening and it being done via ectoplasm her soul starts stretching out#because the clone machine is pulling at it trying to collect the soul to transfer it into the new body#eventually theres so much stretch to her soul that the machine decides 'eh good enough' and makes a body#her soul enters it but doesnt leave her original one#it doesnt produce an independent clone - her soul didnt split at all - so its like a ghost duplicate. one mind two bodies#but its also not like a ghost duplicate because she cant reabsorb it#the only way to get rid of it is to genuinely kill it. but that makes the machine make a new one because her soul is still stretched#and it will continue being stretched. because the machine is constantly pulling and waiting for any loose fenton souls to come#jazz's jazzes will not stop being an expanding problem until the machine is destroyed or her soul cant stretch any longer and it falls apart#theres no ghost to speak of if that happens. she Ends before shes even a ghost. not an easy feat for the living.#if the machine is destroyed it would fix danny's excess body problem too so he would stop leaving corpses

This is an entire addition onto this idea ALONE.

So what I'm taking from this is that Jazz is becoming a literal hivemind, or at least something similar.

Merhaps the Jack and Maddie could figure out a way to fix this, but Jazz just never told them because she herself doesn't know what's happening perhaps?

A 'No one knows' Au and that one au where Danny leaves behind a corpse after death.

With a twist.

Jack and Maddie, not fearing death but fearing becoming a ghost after death have perfected what one would call functional immortality.

Clones.

Which is kind of why they're pretty careless about danger outside of combat, they just, quite literally, cannot be bothered to care less. If they die? Then their souls would just be thrusted into a clone body.

They didn't just cheat death, they walked all over it, spat on it, and continued walking over it a multitude of times.

Which accidently became a plus for Danny and his secret identity.

See, when Danny went ghost to save the day, he came back only to find his body gone. Safe to say, he panicked and looked everywhere for it, or tried to at least, because if that got out he wouldn't really know how to deal with it.

Only to then learn his parents hid and are quite literally experts at hiding bodies, his included.

Jack and Maddie are quite happy that they were the ones who stumbled upon Danny's body and not anyone else, since it would take a quite long amount of explanation as to why their son was found dead yet seemingly walked to school fine hit Monday!

Well, they weren't happy he died really, as any parent wouldn't be, but they're glad they prepared extra bodies for both him and Jazz in case the day ever came.

Danny awkwardly slid himself into said excuse while trying not to externally freak the fuck out. But hey, at least it's a plus that whenever his parents find his corpse they just, hid it no questions asked.

Good, it would be so weird if anyone managed to find either of their multiple corpses.

But hey! At least Jazz hasn't died yet!

#danny phantom

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kotalefanzu · 4 years ago

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Pitch Pearl ATUS AU- Part 2

so where we last left off, danny has been experiencing some weird stuff. it all comes to a point when he finds a DP symbol drawn onto his fogged-up mirror.

at this point, danny has to come to terms with what this all means. he has told nobody about his experiences in the ghost zone, let alone explain the significance of the cursed symbol, made by phantom as a way to ‘tease’ him about their unity and relationship. the royal insignia is a crown lit aflame with green fire. nobody in the human realm should know about DP. the only logical and possible answer is phantom is back.

he starts panicking

but days go by, then a few weeks and no ghosts have shown up. none at all.

sometimes he finds little trinkets on his desk or under his pillow or other little places where he would notice them. he’d get a few nightmares here and there as well. nothing big though. he can almost pretend like it isn’t happening, like phantom isn’t here at all.

but then at lunch, the lights flicker off and a glowing green fog slowly rolls in from the walls. the students watch in quiet horror as is solidifies into a misty DP symbol. danny throat closes up and he is paralyzed. a haunting whisper carried into everyone’s ears.

“The Tale of the Ghost King”

they sit blankly as the voice tells a story, the fog twisting and condensing into vague shapes like a storybook.

the king used to be a small ghost, it says, a small ghost that just wanted the best for his people. he freed them from the tyranny of the old king and promised them that no longer would they ever have to be treated like the lowest class. he uplifted them higher than they could imagine. it tells about the king finding a new realm, a new place to explore, and how cruel the people who lived there were, treating them like monsters and beasts. the king decided to find an ambassador to show the humans the ghosts’ true kindness. to show the humans just how stupid and foolish they are. the king slowly realized that as long as the desire to return home persisted, the human would never see the truth, and with a heavy heart concluded for the sake of education, people needed to die. the human was too blind and naive to appreciate his people’s sacrifice and tossed the poor king’s hospitality and love in his face, sealing the gateway so that they could never meet again. it was so silly to think the king would never find another way. they have a new entrance now. this time, the king’s dear gullible human would never escape.

as the mist fades and whispers and gasps break out around the cafeteria, people slowly putting together the story that danny never told, danny shakes with fear and anger at the patronizing and misleading way his fears were brought to light. he wants to scream and cry and hide away and as people begin asking for answers from him, he taps into a power he never wanted to feel again and vanishes.

he isn’t seen for weeks on end, held up in his room and only leaving when the coast is clear. the other fentons stop trying to catch him out of his room because he knows when they are there and they rather make sure he stays alive and doesn’t starve himself. sam and tucker make sure to keep him informed about the school by leaving his homework and copied notes at the door and setting down by it, just gossiping. they don’t know if he is listening or not but the homework and notes are always gone when they come back the next day so they have hope.

danny focuses on trying to locate the portal by meditating and practicing his magic again. his back up plan to escape amity and leave town if he gets short on time. the ghosts can’t drift too far from the portal. he will be safe if he leaves, but it would be better if he doesn’t have to.

the trinkets and gifts continue showing up and danny stores them out of sight so he doesn’t have to look at him. each one gets progressively more and more sentimental and personal until one day as he is making his bed, he catches sight of a glinting object he never wanted to see again.

the circlet.

bile rises to his throat and he rushes out to the bathroom, emptying his guts into the toilet. the sound alerts jazz, who peeks in and finds him sobbing over the toilet seat. she kneels downn by him, gently rubbbing his back. glancing over she spies their parent watching in concern from the doorway. their mom gets him water and their dad gets him some fudge to help clean the taste out. when danny comes back to reality he looks at them and starts crying all over again, basking in the comfort of his family. they expect him to lock himself away again when he has calmed down, but instead he site there for a second before telling them they need to talk.

in the living room, danny explains in with as much detail he can handle about what happened when he was taken away into the ghost zone. he tries to communicate how he didn’t like it and he really didn’t want to do any of it, like they would shun him if he didn’t. he confesses to the powers and promsises that he is still human and he isn’t a ghost. finally he opens up about what’s happening now and what he needs to do if they want to avoid the apocalypse. he tells them that if he cant find the portal, he will need to flee and hope that phantom doesn’t change targets.

they listen quietly and reassuringly up until that moment before completely vetoing that idea. danny is not leaving. this is his home and nobody is going to take that away from him. they tell him that its best if he starts opening up more about what he knows so they can actually help him. danny is hesistant, but agrees.

the day he returns to school, an assembly is held for him to explain the events of the infamous lunch period and what it all meant. students listen in fear and rage as he talks. by the end some are terrified that they will die, some are yelling to sacrifice danny for the protectionn of the town, and some are standing their ground and demanding war. danny barely manages to calm them down again, promising that everything can ba avoided as long as they just find out where the new portal is and close it down.

going back to vladdy bo baddy, he finally comes back to town and has managed to power himself up. he is ready to go flirt with maddie and kill jack, however, when he goes to visit them, he senses a lot of ectoenergy radaiting from the house, more than he would expect without the presence of the portal. vlad is very clueless about the current events and doesn’t really even know much about what went down freshman year. he uses this visit as a way to learn a bit more about the current affairs and greets the family, complimenting maddie, giving a backhanded compliment to jack, kissing up to jazz, and-

he freezes when he looks at danny because there is a lot of ecto energy raidaiting off of him and it but scares him a small bit and excites him. potentially another half, he thinks. after a few hours of small talk, he excuses himself as its getting late and invites them over

maddie is hesistant and tries to find an excuse not to go when danny happily accepts vlads proposal. she reads in between the lines and takes danny’s lead on this. if he thinks going to vlad’s mansion will be beneficial, then its best to trust him.

a few days later, they welcome themselves at vlad’s house and danny tries sensing for the portal. after locating the rift he excuses himself to go use the bathroom and starts trying to track it down. his senses say its behind a wall, but he can’t find the door. he starts messing around with some of the books of bookself that seemed peculiar before quiet footsteps catch his attention. turns out its just a cat.

the cat meows at him and guides him over a bit before pawing at him to pick it up. once lifted, it swipes ato some of the books causing some to fall but one stops mid tilt and a door opens to a hidden lab.

in it, is the portal. danny immediately starts preparing the concentration needed to seal it up. the last time he did it, it was instinctual and he didn’t have a clear grasp on what exactly he did. he needs to fiddle around a bit before he can do it. unfortunately, hologram maddie senses someone in the lab and scans them, sending an alert to vlad about an intruder. vlad rushes off to fight them off half expecting it to be another weak ghost crawling through, but instead sees danny concentrating on destroying the portal. he yells at him, causing danny to fire prematurely and only somewhat seal the portal, but vlad launches into combat before he can continue building up strenght.

vlad goes on a tirade about how clueless he mist be about himself and how halfas work if he thought that was a good idea and explains the importance of having a portal fueling you as a halfa while attacking and shooing away danny who is hellbent on destroying the portal. midway through he transforms when he notices danny isn’t catching onto what he is talking about and when danny still shows confusion, balks. the misunderstanding allows danny a slight moment to build up more energy while engaging vlad in a standstill about what he is and how danny is different. he doesn’t expand to much on it, just clarifying that he indeed is a live and not a halfa or whatever it is. vlad notices danny is about to fire again at the portal and redirect at the last second, restarting the fighting again. thoughout the fight he continues trying to convince danny that he is mostly likely dead and he should be able to transform but none of what he is saying is getting through to danny and its getting frustrating at this point.

the turning point hits when the fenton’s stumble into the lab after hunting down the two missing people across the entire mansion. their arrival, mainly maddie’s, throws off vlad long enough for danny to finally seal up the portal and for the fentons to rip vlad a new for the complete indangerment he brought upon them. luckily the portal is sealed and they are safe now.

everything is quiet for about a month.

one peaceful month of no paranoia, no nightmares, not trinkets.

then danny has a dream, more like a nightmare, about waking up in a too large bed, cold and the sickeningly familiar weight of the circlet on his head. the room is the one that haunted his nightmares for the rest of freshman year and the first few weeks of sophmore. he slowly pulls off the covers, he is dressed in too fancy night garb that he never wanted to wear, and tip toes over to the mirror hanging over the dresser.

his skin is sickly pale and his eyes are glowing a bright icy blue. the circlet is there, heavy and silver with sparkling emerald gems and its so cold andhe jsut stares at himself in the mirror, unfamiliar yet familiar and so very afraid.

he is so out off it he doesn’t notice another figure creeping up behind him until cold, tight arms lock him into place. there is a low amused chuckle and the figure leans up to his ear and whispers the name he tried so hard to forget.

“Starlight~”

“Did you really think that was the end? That I wouldn’t have anticipated you were going to seal up the new portal? You are still so silly.”

danny freezes and tries to question him btu no sound will come out. he can’t talk.

“You know, at first there weren’t any more portals. I was determined after the new rift formed to rush through and drag you back before finishing where I left off. However, unlike you, I think ahead. I decided to take my time with it. To guarantee no repeats. You were planning to run away to where I couldn’t reach you if I dared take a step too far and that was out of the question. What would I have done without you, Starlight? DId you ever take a moment to think about me.”

nails dug into his skin and his voice hitched.

“Luckily I thought about you. One of us has to put in effort into this relationship. I came up with something genius. I asked myself, why not tear more rifts? Once a cut was made, it was easy to make more from it. Why not fill you entire realm up with them, so that any place could be accessed with just a hint of energy? It took me so long, I was almost ready to stop halfway, but I have so much patience when it comes to you. Now I’m finished and there is not place on your stupid little earth that I can’t find you.”

danny’s blood froze from the cold and the fear. phantom only laughed and tightened his grip before pushing away. as consciousness slowly faded in, he heard slight whispers of phantoms last words.

“I’ll see you soon Starlight. You’ll come running back into my arms soon enough.”

he woke up in a cold sweat, jazz standing above him with a grim look.

“Sam and Tucker have gone missing.

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imekitty · 5 years ago

Note

A prompt that might be from hell. This takes place in an AU where giving danny powers was always the plan: Jack stood by as Maddie deliberately designed the portal to give Danny powers. He stood by his wife's more ruthless hunting. He actually helped her get back at Vlad for what he did to her and danny in the Rockies. But he has a line. And Maddie just crossed it.

This is the worst version of Maddie and I love her.

This addresses the beginning of the prompt, sorry. I just really liked it and wanted to write it first! And then maybe I can address the final part later.

—–

“Jack, I found a perfect candidate,” said Maddie. “Someone whose DNA would meld with ectoplasmic properties so beautifully. Someone who could be a very stable ghost hybrid.”

Jack joined her at the counter in their lab. Ever since their old college friend, Vlad Masters, had become a ghost hybrid, they had been trying to determine if they could create their own, someone who could handle the spectral mutation without the gruesome side effects Vlad suffered.

“Really? Who?” asked Jack, glancing over her notes.

Maddie perked up and bounced on her toes as she clutched a couple papers to her chest. “Our son.”

Every muscle in Jack’s face froze. “What?”

“Yes!” Maddie pointed to her calculations, her samples, her tests. “He’s perfect. His body would handle the mutation splendidly. He would not only survive but thrive. He’d be…” She breathed in, her eyes fluttering. “Incredible.”

“But you’re not serious, right?” Jack gestured to her notes. “We can’t do this to Danny.”

“But he’s all we have, Jack!” Maddie gripped her notes tighter, causing them to crinkle. “We’ve been trying to figure this out for almost fifteen years now! Not a single person we’ve tested has come even close to what we need.”

She held her hands out over the counter, over all of her work, all of her experimentation on their son’s hair and skin cells and blood, bits and pieces of their boy he had no idea she had been collecting and playing with.

“We are never going to find someone like this again,” she said.

“But we can’t,” insisted Jack, not even believing he had to insist this at all.

“It won’t hurt him,” said Maddie. “It will only make him stronger. He’ll be healthier. He’ll live longer. He’ll look young longer. He won’t have to be afraid of anyone or anything.”

“You say ‘will’ instead of ‘would’ like you’ve already decided this is what’s going to happen,” said Jack.

He looked at her hard. She held his gaze.

He knew there was no changing her mind.

—

“Here, let me show you,” said Maddie as she stood in front of their ghost portal. “I’ve calibrated everything to Danny’s specifications.”

Jack poked his head in the portal. “And you’re sure this will work?”

“Of course! It worked for Vlad, didn’t it? And Danny’s body will handle this far better than Vlad’s did. He’ll be stable immediately.”

Maddie’s arms waved up and down and around as she explained her plan. Jack hardly moved at all as she spoke.

“There’s a sensor here,” said Maddie. “It’s keyed in to Danny’s biological signature. So when he trips the sensor, about ten seconds later, the portal will switch on and administer a perfect shock of ectoplasmic energy, the perfect combination that will rearrange his molecules into something part ghost, part human.”

Jack’s eyes darted around the interior of the darkened portal as he imagined the powerful field of energy he knew it was capable of creating.

“And the portal will only switch on when he’s in here alone,” Maddie continued. “If it detects anyone else, it won’t switch on. So see, it’s perfectly safe. No one else will get hurt. And Danny definitely won’t die.”

“You said this wouldn’t hurt him,” said Jack. Accusing.

“Well.” Maddie sucked in her bottom lip. “It might hurt him a little. Because the current needs to be high for this to work. But only for a few seconds, and I promise I made both the current and voltage as low as I possibly could.”

“You’re kidding!” cried Jack. “You’re kidding! You must be kidding!”

Maddie pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes.

“You’re not kidding,” murmured Jack.

—

“Take a look at this,” said Maddie. She held up two pieces of fabric, one black, one white. “It’s what we make our suits out of. I just zapped these in the portal at the specifications set for Danny. This one used to be white, and this one used to be black. They inverted their colors!”

“Uh huh,” said Jack. “And that’s important because?”

“Whatever Danny wears when he’s zapped is going to become embedded with ghost properties. It needs to be something that can withstand the shock as well as his body can. It needs to be something strong and resistant.”

She showed him the patterns she had been sketching for a protective suit. Mostly white with black accents.

“The colors should reverse when zapped,” said Maddie. “Do you think he’ll like it?”

Jack had no answer for her.

—

“Danny, come down here,” Maddie called from the lab.

Danny made his way down the stairs. Jack kept his back turned as he pretended to be very busy at his own workstation.

“Here. I made this for you.” Maddie handed him the finished jumpsuit. “It’s designed to protect you from ectoplasmic spills or contamination. I’m making one for Jazz too, but I just figured I’d give you yours now since it’s done.”

Danny took the suit from her and looked it over. “Thanks, but why do I need one?”

“Oh, you know.” Maddie shrugged. “Just in case you ever want to help us in the lab. We want you to be protected.”

Danny rubbed his thumbs against the fabric. “Well. Thanks. I guess.”

“Ectoplasmic contamination is dangerous, Danny,” said Maddie very seriously. “You really shouldn’t ever be around it without protection. This is why Dad and I wear our suits all the time. Really, you shouldn’t even be down here at all without wearing one.”

She gestured to their ghost portal.

“Even just stepping into that portal when it’s inactivated can expose you to dangerous levels of spectral energy,” said Maddie. “You understand, Danny?”

“Um…yeah.” Danny studied the suit again. “Why isn’t it orange like Dad’s?”

“I just like these colors. Don’t you?”

“I don’t know. It might’ve looked cooler if the colors had been reversed. You know, like black with white gloves?”

Maddie smiled. “Hmm. Interesting.”

Jack’s hand shook as he wrote, turning his notes into illegible scrawls.

Maddie stood up with a heavy sigh and walked toward the portal. “It sure is a shame we can’t get this portal to work, though.”

“Really? It still won’t do anything?” asked Danny.

“Mmm hmm. We’ve pretty much given up on it by now.”

Jack hunched over and shut his eyes.

—

“Danny, Jazz is studying at the library, and your father and I are going to be gone for three hours,” said Maddie.

Danny was slumped on the couch where he was playing a video game with Tucker while Sam watched.

“Okay,” said Danny, not looking up from his game.

“Three. Hours,” said Maddie more firmly. “Do you understand? You three will have the house to yourself for a while.”

Danny creased his brow. “Okay?”

“So look after the house while we’re gone, please.” Maddie slung her purse over her shoulder. “And don’t get into any trouble, okay? Remember our lab is off limits.”

Sam sat up a little straighter. Danny nodded. Jack kept his glassy gaze trained on Maddie, who appeared to be fighting back a grin.

They were leaving their lab completely unlocked. There was no security surrounding their portal at all. Full access to anyone who wanted to investigate it.

And Sam was right here and had just heard their lab was off limits. Exactly what the rebel goth teen needed to push Danny to break the rules and do something he normally would never do.

Jack followed Maddie out of the house. Once the front door was shut behind them, she let her grin break through.

“I really hope this works,” said Maddie. “I really hope he does it. All he has to do is step inside alone. That’s it. Do you think it will work?”

Jack wrapped an arm around her and led her to their parked RV.

—

A few weeks later at breakfast, Jack pretended not to notice as Danny dropped his spoon through his intangible hand and gasped.

“That’s strange,” said Maddie, holding up a device that was beeping loudly. “Our reader says that a ghost is nearby. But that can’t be right. There are no ghosts here, are there?”

She looked across the table at Danny and Jazz.

“Do you two see any ghosts?” she asked.

“No,” said Jazz with a roll of her eyes.

“No,” said Danny with a tremor in his voice.

Jack leaned over to look at the screen on the device. It was not a ghost detector. Of course. They didn’t need one right now. They knew their son was a ghost already.

Rather, it revealed the intensity of the ghostly energy in the room. Energy obviously radiating from Danny. Energy that was spiking in perfect correlation with his anxiety.

Jack’s gaze moved to Maddie’s face. She looked so giddy, so enthralled.

She had taken this too far. He knew that. This wasn’t right. What they had done to their son, what they had turned him into, this was horrible.

And Danny was scared.

Jack turned his attention back to the device. The measurements moved across the screen in mesmerizing patterns. His eyes followed them, spellbound. Data right here and right now they could use for their research, data they could now easily obtain whenever they wanted, right in their own house.

Horrible.

But…

Fascinating.

And maybe a little exciting.

Part 2

#danny phantom #maddie fenton #jack fenton #danny fenton #imekitty writes #planned au #prompt writing #angst #honorable-asshole #this is very contrived to fit in with what we see in canon hahahahahaha #this isn't written that well sorry #soooooo much to cram into as little space as possible #it would need its own full-length fic to be any good #but i hope the idea gets across at least?

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kinglazrus · 5 years ago

Text

When the Time Comes

Phic phight 2020

Submitted by @pipermasters: how does Vlad react to having to spend ten years watching Dan destroy the world

Summary: Knowing you caused the end of the world isn’t easy, but Vlad's had to live with that fact for ten long years. A surprise visitor forces him to reflect on his role in Dan's creation and the destruction he brought to the world.

Word count: 2077

People say not to dwell on the past, but when the present is a hell of brimstone and fire, there's little else you can do. Ten years is a long time to watch the world burn, too long. Vlad often wonders what right he had to survive for so long, wasting away in the crumbling remains of his manor. He doesn't sleep, he doesn't eat, yet still he lives. Even with his ghost half long removed from his body, he lives. It must be some cosmic punishment. His debt to pay to the world. Everything is his fault, and for his crimes, he must witness humanity's slow demise.

Vlad didn't realize what he was unleashing all those years ago, what havoc it would wreak. How could he? When he sank his claws, quite literally, into young Daniel's chest, he truly believed he was helping the boy. It seemed like such an easy solution. Ghosts, despite all their emotions, have always been simple beings. They are not restrained by heartache and loss, left to frolic in the life-after-life without worldly concerns.

At the time, Vlad wished someone had been around for him in his college years, the same way he was for Danny then, to rid him of his pain. Abandoned by his best friends, left aching, alone, and—he believed—dying, a younger Vlad would have revelled at the thought of release. He only wanted to give Daniel what he himself could never have.

Daniel, sedated and unconscious, felt nothing. Despite all his villainy, Vlad wasn't cruel. At least not unnecessarily so. There was always a chance the procedure could hurt, and Daniel had been through so much already. Vlad wanted to spare him whatever pain he could.

The procedure was a resounding success. His modifications to Jack and Maddie's Ghost Gauntlets worked like a charm, not leaving a single scratch on Daniel's human body. The ghost in Daniel resisted at first. Vlad did not expect it to fight back, and he almost stopped, believing Daniel didn't truly want this.. But then he remembered his years of pain and misery and spurred himself on. His arms trembled, sweat beading his brow, as they fought their little battle of wills.

Vlad won out, in due time, dragging the ghost out of Daniel's body, a pale shade of itself. For a moment, the sudden success shocked him. He always had faith in his smarts and his abilities, but there was a little part of him that whispered it wouldn't work, that something would go wrong. When Vlad raised up his arms, Phantom hanging off his claws, that voice was silenced.

Until the monitor watching Daniel's vitals started shrieking. Phantom reacted violently. His eyes, so much duller than they should have been, snapped open and he threw Vlad across the room. Vlad knew, then, that something was terribly wrong.

Daniel's heart was slowing, his lungs failing. Phantom looked moments away from destabilizing, the wounds on his chest bubbling and seeping ectoplasm.

"Wh... at... did y... ou do," Phantom asked.

Vlad wishes, now, that he had tried to explain. If only he had found the words, he could have told Phantom, this was is you wanted, isn't it? Neither of them could have foreseen it going wrong. But Vlad's wits failed him in that moment.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking, wondering if he could have stopped it all back then. Perhaps Phantom would have listened. Or he could have ignored Vlad's harried excuses, and nothing would change at all. Vlad will never know.

His next memories are lost to a haze of pain. After getting his own ghost half brutally torn out of his body, he was left on the verge of death. Spirit broken, his very being ripped apart, he collapsed in agony. He remembers only the shadows and how they writhed as Phantom tried to overpower Plasmius.

Mercifully, he did not witness Daniel's death. Vlad awoke, cold, alone, consumed by a gnawing pain, and found the body. It was mangled beyond recognition, but he knew it could be no one else.

Vlad didn't know what horrors followed that harrowing night until weeks later. He secluded himself in his mansion, mourning everything he had lost. Without Maddie, without Daniel, there was nothing left for him beyond these walls. His wealth meant nothing if he could not have them. Locked in a prison of his own anguish, surrounded by riches most men could only dream of having, he was resigned to wallowing in misery.

He wishes that's how it happened. But Vlad had a price to pay. Fate, the world, whatever or whoever, refused to let him die. So, Vlad watched. Hiding away in his manor like the coward he was, he watched Dan destroy the world.

The killings were brutal. Violent displays of power that levelled whole cities. Nothing could placate Dan. Like Vlad, he was consumed by greed, hellbent to obtain something he could not have. No amount of destruction could bring back the people Danny had lost.

That pained Vlad the most. Dan was a monster, a cruel beast with no remorse. But inside he was a child in mourning. He was confused and scared and hurt, and Plasmius' influenced twiste him in horrible ways.

Vlad tried to stop Dan, but only once. Four years after Dan began his crusade against the world, Vlad finally crawled out of his manor, a pitiful slug, and made his way to Amity Park. By then, it was well on its way to being the last city on Earth, the only place fortified against Dan's power. Vlad stood outside its walls, an ecto-pistol in hand, and waited. He didn't have to wait long.

"What a surprise! I never thought I'd see you again, old man," Dan said. He looked so much worse than Vlad ever imagined. Sickly pale, purple veins throbbing under his skin, bloodshot eyes. Despite all that, he gave off a suffocating aura of power. Vlad was instantly reminded of his own weak state. For the first time, he felt afraid of an opponent.

"Daniel, you have to stop," Vlad said.

"Daniel. I always hated it when you called me that." Dan raised his hand, firing a single beam of ectoplasm from his finger. Vlad flinched as it shot over his shoulder, singeing his cheek and burning his hair. The sight of it made Dan chuckle.

"Danny," Vlad amended.

Another beam shot over his other shoulder.

"That's not me anymore," Dan hissed, his forked tongue slipping between his teeth.

"Dan," Vlad finally said. When Dan didn't immediately attack him, he continued. "You can't do this forever."

"Funny words from someone like you."

"This won't bring them back." Vlad instantly regretted saying it.

Dan rushed forward, grabbing Vlad and pinning him against Amity's barrier. Despite not having a ghost half anymore, the barrier remained firm against his back.

"Don't act like you know me, old man," Dan growled.

"But I do, because you're part of me as well! Is this what Maddie would have wanted for you?"

"It doesn't matter what she would have wanted! She's gone! They're all gone!" Dan roared in Vlad's face, pulling him forward and slamming him back, over and over, against the wall. The back of Vlad's head struck the barrier, rattling his brain. It was like getting hit in the head with a sledgehammer. His vision blurred, dark spots filling his eyes, and he didn't realize Dan had stopped until he blinked and found himself on his hands and knees over a puddle of vomit.

The back of his head felt warm and wet.

Dan, disgusted, sneered. "It's not even worth killing a pathetic thing like you." Turning, he started flying away.

"Stop!" Vlad called weakly after him. Struggling to his feet, he raised the ecto-pistol in a shaky hand. "I will stop you, Dan. I can't let you do this anymore."

"Funny, you seemed okay with it so far."

Vlad pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out of the gun, flying straight for Dan, and... it did nothing. A hole opened in the middle of Dan's back, letting the bullet pass harmlessly through him. He didn't even look back. The gun fell from Vlad's hand with a clatter. He dropped to his knees, useless. That was the day he truly gave up.

—

"Why are you telling me this?" Danny asks.

Vlad pauses his tale, giving Danny a long, considering look. To Vlad, Danny's motives have always been scrutable, his face as easy to read as a children's picture book. Dan shares the same trait. He may be more brutal and more cunning than Danny ever was, but beneath all that sadistic violence are signs of the boy Vlad once knew.

Having Danny in front of him now is such an odd, yet liberating experience. It reminds Vlad of a time untainted by his machinations. This boy's future still has a chance. Vlad despises it.

"Since meeting you, little badger, my one wish has always been to impart my wisdom. You can't blame me for that. Humans are so attached to their legacies." Vlad leans back and gestures to the decrepit room. "This is my legacy."

Rising to his feet, he points to the ceiling. "That, out there, is my legacy. It is not one I want people to remember. I suppose, with how few people remain left, that won't be an issue for much longer. Is it so wrong for me to want to change that?"

"You want... to help me," Danny says.

Oh, how Vlad missed that slow wit of his. "Yes, Daniel. I want to help you."

"Why?"

"Because, as hard as it is to believe, that's all I've ever wanted."

Danny pressed his lips together. Nodding stiffly, he motioned for Vlad to continue.

"There isn't much else to say. I returned here and took up a silent vigil. If it is my fate to see this through to the end, then that's what I will do."

"That is pathetic."

Vlad's eyes hardened into a glare. "I don't expect you to understand."

"You're right. I don't." Danny gets up from his seat on the floor and gestures to the portal. "You all just gave up! So Dan beat you once, and you decided to never try again? That's just stupid. If you had all worked together, you probably could have stopped him. You guys might not care anymore, but I do."

Bitter, Vlad smiled. "Don't you see, little badger? That’s exactly why everything rides on you. Dan is both of us, even though he likes to pretend there's none of me in him. If your human half were still alive, Dan would be as much his responsibility as he is mine. I had my chance to stop him and I failed. Now, it's your turn."

Danny accepts, of course. A hero with a bleeding heart. Vlad removes the medallion from his chest, although not without one last threat, for old time's sake. The second it's out, Danny pops out of existence like a bad cutaway. One second he's there and then the next he's not.

Vlad stares at the empty space for a moment, then turns back to his chair, abandoning his gauntlets on the way. The medallion he keeps in his hand. It's been a very long time since he's seen one.

"It was you all along, wasn't it?" Vlad asked. He didn't need to hear the rustle of cloth to know Clockwork was hovering behind him. "How did you do it?"

"Time is a relative experience," Clockwork says with his familiar lisp. "Not everyone experiences it at the same pace."

"That's a lofty way of saying you kept me from dying so I could be here for Daniel when he finally arrived."

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Vlad turns the medallion over in his hands, running his thumbs across the gold surface. If he puts it on, here in his own time, he could live forever. But it would be in a hell of his own making. Sighing, he sets the medallion down on the arm of his chair and turns to Clockwork.

"What now?" Vlad asks.

Clockwork's gaze his kind, the wrinkles on his pale face tugging as he smiles. "I think you've paid your price."

Vlad closes his eyes and leans back, feeling older beyond his years. "Yes, I think so to."

Ten years is a long time to watch the world burn. He hopes it was worth it.

#phic phight #phic phight 2020 #danny phantom #phanfic #phicc #clockwork #vlad masters #danny fenton #dan phantom #tumblroneshots

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