#especially if he’s not using up a whole lot of energy fighting ghosts like Danny does

[goddess-of-graphite]

The Great Notes App Exodus: Half-Dead and Still Kicking

The thing is, Jason’s been a ghost for a while, okay? Six whole months, and it’s been a goddamn adjustment, being capable of floating through walls and falling through furniture if he’s not careful, if he’s not concentrating. He goes unseen and unheard in a manor too full of grieving to only be residence of two people - Alfred keeps his room tidy and untouched, as if it’s a shrine to keep care of, and Bruce is…

Jason is, was, Robin, so he can’t quite help himself from following in Batman’s shadow as the man patrols, more vicious, more brutal than Jason has ever seen him. He takes more risks, gets injured more often - and it’s terrifying, the way Batman grieves, as if trying to follow him into the grave. So Jason follows, unbeating heart in his throat, and only relaxes again when Bruce is safe in the manor, sleeping off whatever injuries he got during the night.

He can’t interact with the world, but he can watch the shades of past residents going about their lives, and he learns things from doing this even as he fears becoming them one day, mindlessly replaying a life long passed. He can snoop and explore without worry for being caught, and if he ever gets bored he can practice flying (so much harder than it seems - he’s careful never to go too high, too worried that he won’t be able to come back down again, even with the ceaseless curiosity in the back of his mind wondering - just how far can I go? Beyond the sky? Could he touch the stars, if he wanted?) and when everything is terrible, when the memories of his death, his last few hours of life, haunt him, when he is drowning in his own head, he finds distractions; the way the air currents sometimes seem to react to him, trying to move things like ghosts do in those terrible movies, chattering to whoever is around and pretending they can hear him, finding mysteries to solve (what’s up with that camera kid, anyway? He’d never noticed him before…) and trying to read books in the library through sheer force of will, usually ending up just reciting the parts he knows.

(Two months and a bit in to this whole “ghost” thing, he finds out the deal with the camera kid. Jason can only be relieved because, kid’s got a point - and Bruce seems to do better with someone to protect, to teach, to watch over.

He’s not practically tearing people apart with his bare hands anymore. He’s not taking hits he should have been able to avoid anymore. He’s not lurking at the edge of rooftops anymore, staring at the ground as if contemplating how far away it is.)

And Tim… he’s weird, but brilliant, and Jason feels a little protective of him. Follows him whenever he goes out, sharp eyes watching his back regardless of whether he can protect it or not (and maybe it’s his imagination, but the world seems more real when he’s watching over Tim, closer and present in a way he can almost feel, as if he could actually affect the world, if he just tried hard enough - if he just needed to desperately enough).

And then, six months after his-… after this ghost thing started, something… changes.

Something Happens, and he can almost taste the strange Knowing - something, somewhere, has gone wrong, or perhaps right, and the ripples extend beyond the event, slipping into each corner of the universe with the subtlety of a truck, and yet somehow unnoticed.

The ghosts notice. Pale shades lift their heads, existing outside of their own memories for the first time in an age - and Jason, who is new, who is Robin, who lived in Gotham where all things become possible, is hit by the wave of Something Happening Elsewhere Rippling Out and wakes up in a box.

In a coffin.

(But Jason has been a ghost for six months, and the pain of living again is enough to reach for the existence of being a ghost, and by the time he has sorted himself out and half-clawed, half-floated his way out of his grave (again), he doesn’t expect himself to be anything but what he has been for the past six months.)

(And then, of course, he discovers he can interact with the world if he concentrates, if he wants it enough, and he assumes that Whatever That Was made him a stronger ghost.

It’s not an unfair assessment. Incorrect, but not beyond reason.

Why would he think he came back to life, anyway? That’s a bit far-fetched, really.)

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Halloween prompts no. 21

Phantom had died very young, a fact that both friend and foe mourned. It was unusual for an undead child as young as him to end up here, though his method of arrival as a toddler was likely to blame. His parents shouldn't have allowed thier children into the lab, even with custom fitted hasmat suits. They certainly shouldn't have taken thier eyes off of thier three year old to show his scared older sister the new inventions that would keep her safe.

He doesnt remember what he was thinking. He had saw the buttons inside the portal and decided to play with them. And then...there was a loud boom and pain everywhere. The zone wasn't all that bad at first. Sure, there were a lot of people fighting over him which since children were rare in the zone and unclaimed ones were much more so. This lead to him being very good at hiding and escaping.

Quickly he grew very powerful, so much so that he was taking out the likes of Undergrowth and Vortex by the time he was seven, but while the power made him feel safe and secure, it also isolated him as people were afraid of him. He was a halfa. An unknown. "The glitch" they called him, "an abomination" "deaths mistake" "unwanted by life and death alike" so many cruel things, yet he tried to not let it bother him too much. He often failed.

He was six, the first time he killed. A ghost named Skunker or something captured him for his "pelt" and Phantom escaped, setting all of Skunkers other prisoners free. Unfortunately Phantom was recaptured and the robot ghost set about trying to de-pelt him. It hurt and Danny screamed, causing his wail to manifest and destroyed skunkers mech suit and forcing the little gooball in the pilot seat to eject himself.

After that Skunker never stood a chance against Phantoms fury.

Phantom continued killing anyone that harmed him, such as that weird vampire wannabe and that dragon king guy. After many years of violence and destruction he began to dispise his afterlife and yearn for that faint memory of the sun.

At the age of fifteen he came up with a plan. One of his enemies had stolen some of an Ancients medalians, which gave the barer immunity from time manipulation and distortion. Phantom had shoved the medalian into his own chest after the other entity had dropped it so that he couldn't retrieve it. After the victory he kept it inside him for the added protection and so Clockwork couldn't see his future and meddle in his affairs anymore. He used this to his advantage.

He had located a portal door to the living realms. One where there were many people called "metas" that looked odd and had strange powers. He planned to use this as a cover when he moved in.

All he needed was to fake his End in one of the larger battles that would no doubt come.

----

Phantom stepped out into a small bricked place between two buildings. He lamented that the air wasn't nearly as "fresh" or "clean" as he would have liked, especially for his first taste of freedom, but the sun was shining so bright. He stood there for a solid few minutes just staring up at it through squinted eyes. A man in a red helmet that covered his entire head-face included-watched him warily but did nothing to stop him. Eventually he walked off to find a place to set up his new lair. This was so exciting! He was moving all around this crowded human place. Sure, the people were giving him strange looks, but he had been here for a whole two hours and not a single person had attacked him! He picked good!

He stopped in front of this building with many floors and went to investigate. The main entrance was blocked off with a bright yellow tape that had lettering on it. That didn't matter to him. He never learned how to read.

It was a small task to flood the building with his ice and energy. There were no humans to fight for this territory so all was well. Plus the collar around his neck changed his ecto signature so it didn't matter how much energy he used, no one would ever know he was the one here.

Phantom placed the purple door that lead him to this world against one of the walls and began removing the knobs. The interesting thing about the doors was that the worlds they lead to never had any natural portals to slip through, and by removing the knobs from them they can't be opened. So long as Phantom had the door and knobs no one from the Infinite Realms could get to him without making thier own portals and no portal maker would be able to portal to him with his ecto signature changed. It was brilliant!

Danny got to work on his lair, coating everything in ice and creating entire rooms and floors that were just solid ice but for the tight dark tunnels running through them leading to different places in the building. It was basically a maze.

Nodding to himself he went outside and created a balcony out of the ice. The thing was large and looked to be defying gravity, but still Phantom wasn't pleased with it. He wished for a large home, many children and a loving spouse. One of the things this fellow ghosts had talked about was "a large yard and picket fence." The balcony was large but he wasn't sure what classified as a "yard" not to mention he didn't know what a picket fence was. Hopefully it wasn't like the fences Walker had on his prisons, while it would be effective for corraling his potential children, it would look...distasteful...

Phantom tore himself away from those thoughts. Creating a flashy lair was the first step in telling others he was looking to settle down. Surely the large tower of shimmering ice would capture someone's attention.

His first guest entered through an open window on the third floor and Phantom flew down to meet them. They were friendly, if a bit wary of him. Understandable, no world is without danger after all. This man was strong, talented and funny. He wasn't bad looking either. The only real problem he had was that Nightwing was so much older than him and kept calling him a "kid" Phantom was both powerful enough to be considered an adult even before he reached the adult threshold of 13, a fact that he shared with the blue bird. The man looked shocked and tried to convince him to talk to a doctor. He didn't understand. He was perfectly healthy!

Irritated, he flew through he cieling and abandoned the conversation.

The second guest was a green woman with firey hair who was lounging on the balcony. She was inspecting the plants whos roots dug into the ice and fed off of the energy he gave them. He told her this when asked and she was just as confused by him as the blue bird man, but began teaching him about plants and thier various wonders. Phantom listened because back in the Infinite Realms knowledge was power and power was hoarded and kept away from others. If she was willing to give him knowledge so freely he would not turn her away.

His third guest was a younger boy named Robin who tried to kill him with a mortal blade. He responded by phasing the blade into the floor and pinning him to the wall. After a chat in which Robin demanded to know why he was there, Phantom responded with the truth. He left the violence of his home world behind hoping to turn over a new leaf. He wished to start a family and live here happily. Thankfully the child excepted this. Phantom also told him about the flashyness of the ice was a indication he was looking for a spouse and that entering was an indication that one was interested and Robin was too young for marriage

The boy grumbled about Phantom also being too young which Phantom found odd. That was three separate people who all claimed he was too young. Sure, this ye old tradition wasn't in common use anymore and ghosts rarely coupled nowadays but...was he really too young? What was the age of adulthood here?

Not for the first time he envied the other ghosts for thier knowledge. The Undead carry memory from thier first lives, which Phantom is lacking due to his own having been cut so short. Neverborne come into being with knowledge of both worlds and the Deathborne are born from two entities of death creating a child together. These beings are taught about both worlds from thier parents. Another thing Phantom lacks.

----

Meanwhile, the batfam are freaking out at this "undead" pit child that Jason is terrified of. They all feel the need to parent him and try to get him away from all this marriage talk. Maybe let himself be a kid.

After a few weeks they manage to get him to go out to places with them, with Red Robin being the most successful. Appearently the kid found the red coloring of Tim's suit to be "beautiful" and "nothing like the muting reds and pinks from the Infinite Realms" and they planned on putting a pin in that info for later.

For now they needed to focus on rehabilitating this feral child who has lived like a wild animal most of his (after?)life.

Just: Danny never walking as Phantom so when he transforms into his human form he falls on his face cause he doesn't know how to walk.

Phantom doesn't like his human form because he has "constant pain in his stomach area" and they discovered that Phantom hadn't eaten anything at all in the twelve years he's been in the Infinite Realms

Alfred and Bruce teaching him to shower, brush his teeth, and other basic things that he never had to do before as a ghost. Dick and Tim are right behind him with a camera for all of it and are making a "baby book" of all his firsts. They even convince Jason to help teach him to read.

Danny eventually stops flirting with people and tells the family he's happy being a child instead of a father. Dick cries and hugs him.

[survivingnightbyday]

I was told to write my WIP. Here, take my just over a thousand words thingy. (Part One) @lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks (here's the first part of context for the OP marvel crossover thingy)

____

Danny is in the hallways when he gets stopped by the ever familiar pull on his senses. Not the kind of “there’s a ghost nearby” pull, but rather in a “someone’s summoning a ghost and it’s you” pull.

That’s one of the issues with being half-ghost. He could literally be summoned by any halfwit smart enough to somehow find an actual ghost-summoning circle-spell-whatever. He was lucky enough that it only happened twice before.

The good thing was that he had enough time to grab Tucker, who had conveniently been walking with him to their next class, duck out of the hallways, and whisper, “Cover me-” before disappearing.

Distantly, Danny felt kinda bad for Tucker, but he was a bit more busy with being spat out in ghost form on someone’s floor.

Being summoned sucked. Especially when he, Danny, was being Danny Fenton rather than being Danny Phantom, because something forced him to change into ghost form, and that always added to the general disorientation that came from being in one place to nowhere to somewhere.

As soon as the world stopped flashing and he could steady himself, he noticed the room first and the circle second. It was well-lit with warm lights set on the walls near the ceiling, most of it being wood a bit close together. There were glass displays that seemed to have weird artifacts like old papers and swords, and a stairway that led down. There was also a huge window that looked a lot like the inside of a clock.

The energy swirling in the place reminded him very vividly of Clockwork. Although he knew that Clockwork didn’t summon people so much as ominously pop up randomly to bother them during battle or school or while walking down the road. Or-

Danny was then reminded that this was NOT Clockwork’s place, and that someone (probably another dumb group of teenagers) had summoned him. There were even candles and a circle and-

Oh.

Danny was stuck. People normally didn’t know that summoning circles didn’t also trap ghosts. And they also normally weren’t adults who looked like weird monks. The two adults (which, what? What were adults doing summoning ghosts? They weren’t even from Amity Park-) were barely paying any attention, either, which he found really rude. And kind of stupid. Who summons a ghost and then doesn't even pay attention?

The first man had no hair, and was wearing… gold robes. He was also in the middle of arguing with the man with a goatee, with a red cape. “-telling you, Pariah is not some passerby you can just- summon! He’s the-” Pariah? Pariah Dark? The Ghost King that decided Amity Park needed to be in the Ghost Zone before invading? What did these weirdos want with him?

It took him a moment to realize Mr. Bald had stopped talking. Damn. Goatee, on the other hand, took that moment to start.

“I know he’s dangerous, but we’re going to need allies. Is he h-” Goatee said as he turned. Then he caught sight of Danny and also stopped dead. Now both of them were gaping at him.

Danny frowned, drifting up in the air. “Oh, by all accounts, don’t let me stop you. Please, continue.”

The two men looked at each other, wide-eyed and gesturing at him. Ah, silent conversations. Never fun to be left out. He sighed, floating closer to the boundaries and raising his fist to knock on it. It was like a glass wall just popped into existence around him, bolts of what looked like green electricity bouncing away from where he hit it before dispersing. Weird.

“Where is Pariah, ghost?” Goatee asked, standing with Mr. Bald. He was… tall. Both of them were, actually. Danny looked up for a moment before leaning backwards, as though thinking, and shrugged.

He sucked in air through his teeth, before reorienting himself to look at them. “Let’s say he’s in timeout for now.” And that... wasn’t a lie, Danny just left out that the old dictator was stuck in a sarcophogus of ‘never wake up again’. “And… wow, you really must’ve messed up the circle if you got me instead. What makes you think you can actually summon Pariah anyways?”

And now they looked offended and incredulous. “We don’t have time for games, ghost. Who are you?” The one with the Goatee glared, looking as though he was winding up to do something. “We know the circle works, which means that you-” he grunted. Mr. Bald removed his elbow from Goatee’s side, still silently staring.

What is it with people these days? Danny thought, blatantly staring back. “It’s Phantom. Listen, I could humor you all day but I have places to go, fights to fight, stuff like that. So…”

“I think it’d be better if you could explain more, Phantom.” Mr. Bald stated, his arm moving slowly under his robes. Probably to grab something, like a weapon. He did not like that idea. Danny turned away, flicked the barrier again, and looked at the two summoners.

“I think it’d be better if I could leave.” He stressed, eyes narrowing. He hated being caught, hated being forced into somewhere and not being able to leave. It made his very being rebel against the thought, almost- he wasn’t meant to be stuck in a small space.

Ghost barriers worked well on ghosts, though. Danny was not a pure ghost. He was alive and not at the same time, able to switch between the two states almost easily. Things that only affected a ghost or human… well, he could work around them. Sometimes. It hurt his core to use his more human aspects against things that warned off ghosts when he was Phantom, but he could do it.

He grabbed the barrier, straining against whatever kept it there. It wasn't like his parent's inventions at all; there wasn't any device that kept it there. The summoners obviously were well-equipped, but he could be fast- he could hear the mad scramble behind him. His core started to ache, and it felt as though he was benchpressing a bridge- but he kept his grip on the barrier, and when the first crack appeared he squeezed through it.

It felt like time had slowed when he made it out of the barrier. He was half-way across the room about to turn intangible, invisible, the whole nine-yards- and then he stopped. Yet again he was very, very vividly reminded of Clockwork.

“Wong, quick, we need to make a stronger barrier-” Danny couldn’t move. Not yet, it was like he was unfreezing each of his limbs and he was taking too much time- “Did you know ghosts could do that? Was he-?”

“That was one of the stronger barriers against I do not know, Strange, but this does not bode well-”

He felt someone grab him, and that was all it took. He could also feel how they startled when he could finally twist out of the way and through the wall- which felt almost exactly like the barrier but- different, because he could pass through it much easier. Danny didn’t hesitate to book it out of there.

[tumbling-darkling]

Miraculous Ghosts

Danny and friends visit Paris and come across trouble, as well as the cities local superheroes.

Lately, Hawkmoth has been recycling villains. There are only so many people in Paris and not everyone gets emotionally vulnerable strongly enough or long enough to be akumatized. Those that do, and commonly like Mr. Pidgeon, usually had a certain fixation that was easy to exploit. The thing was, both Marienette and Chat Noir already knew their weakness, the items that would most likely get akumatized, the whole schtick. So the battles were really fast and easy.

A new face always had to be met with caution, the lack of knowledge regarding the person was dangerous and if the pair wasn’t careful, they could end up losing the battle. And their Miraculous.

With the start of summer came tourist season, and tourists could be victims of akumatization. Which seemed to be the case within the first week. 3 villains, all new faces, but the pair had gotten lucky with the similar powers that the heroes had faced before and the three were all defeated in a timely manner.

There was a short week of nothing happening.

And then all hell broke loose.

—————————————————————

Marienette knew the start of the tourist season had begun just based on the filled streets of strange faces, sunglasses, cameras, and the use of foreign languages. This also was noticed based on how busy her parents' shop had become, and how rarely she was managing to escape outside to enjoy some of summer's freedom. The good thing was she was able to brush up on some of her English, since the tourists usually spoke the common American language and the experience was always welcome to help boost her grades in the upcoming year. Even if it was a few months away.

She’d figured out the best way to sneak off during any attacks was to ‘use the bathroom’ or ‘accidently’ make a mess and excuse herself to clean up. It had worked during the first week and she didn’t have to do anything the past week since Hawkmoth seemed to take a break. She finished serving a young pair of Americans, a tall girl with orange hair, and a lanky boy nearly the same height with raven black hair.

She had to admit, some Americans had a certain charm, but the bustle of the kitchen quickly caught her attention as she was back to serving the next person in line.

Just as Chloe waltzed in, basically knocking the american boy over as she strutted to the front of the line, causing people to cast glares in her direction. The boy hissed when he fell, the American girl offering to help him up in English as he shook his head and stood up, dusting himself off as Marienette went to deal with the walking form of pure rich privilege. “Urg, Dupain-Cheng’s dingy little cafe? Of course she works here, it just smells like burnt bread.” She huffed.

Marienette bristled, but put on her customer service smile, noticing the poor Americans victim to Chloe leaving the shop. She was hoping to offer them a replacement after dealing with Chloe but it was a little late now. “Ma’am, unless you are here to pick up an order, you will have to wait in line like everyone else.” She strained.

“Ma’am? I am Chloe Dubois! I don’t need to wait in line like some sort of peasant! Just give me whatever you didn’t make.”

Marienette had to swallow down any returning insults and put down one of their most expensive items, handing it over with a clearly strained smile, “have a nice day.”

Chloe huffed with her baked goods in hand but left as soon as she appeared, allowing Marienette some relief. Very little damage. A little annoyance but nothing worthy of an akuma-.

An explosion was heard from outside, and Marienette groaned internally.

She just had to jinx it.

—————————————————————

Ladybug dove off to the side as the villain shot out a ray of white, plasma-like energy. Adrien, fighting as Chat Noir, and his partner were having a hell of a time with this dude. He spotted the chaos on the news, the villain calling himself ‘Black Hole’ and giving his poor Lady a hard time. When he finally arrived on the scene, he wasn’t able to do much either.

The villain was basically a godly powerhouse, floating in the air, shooting burning rays of heated plasma, or even ice! Ice and plasma! Sometimes he MIXED the two beams to create an even WORSE beam! Whenever either of the heroes got close enough to land a hit, their punches and kicks would go right through him. Then he would DISAPPEAR. REAPPEARING AND LANDING ANOTHER HEAVY BLOW. He would fly around like gravity was non-existent, and these abilities didn’t stop there. Every so often, he would yank out this thermos looking thing and shoot out these wormholes. Or… possibly black holes. Calling them black holes felt wrong though… since they glowed green and swirled before disappearing after a few moments.

The villain's outfit was a change of pace too. It was impossible to figure out his age since he was completely covered in a thick fabric material that reminded him of space suits. Yet looked a lot less bulky than actual space suits, thin yet sturdy metal covered his forearms, and formed a backpack that was attached by a wide metal collar that spread to his collarbone and slightly covered his shoulders, as well as a metal strap that wrapped around right under his chest. A plated, metal belt circled his waist with a clip for the green black hole thermos, and thigh high boots with a similar fabric to his suit covered most of his legs, thick plastic looking platform soles attached at the feet. Black bands wrapped around the ankles of the boots. A helmet covered his entire face, a metal frame covering the bottom half like a muzzle while the top was a tinted glass dome following the shape of his head, the inside of it entirely black except for the eerie glow of a single, left eye. The helmet had a tube on the back of the helmet that connected to his backpack, but neither he or Ladybug could figure out if it was essential or for decoration. His entire colouring was monotone, much bleaker than their previous villains. His suit was black, the boots, forearm cuffs, belt, backpack and collar were all a middle shade of grey, the only flash of colour being the glow of the single toxic green eye amongst the darkness of the helmet.

The dude was disturbing. He didn’t make any sound, in fact he seemed to ABSORB the sound around him. Like they were in space.

Paris was getting destroyed more and more by the second and the two didn’t know what to do. The Lady’s lucky charm turned into a thermos, which she didn’t have a clue how to use in the situation in front of them. Maybe it was a hint? A clue about soup? Or getting the villains thermos?

The problem with the last idea was that neither he or Ladybug could TOUCH this villain. And each of them were getting worse and worse for wear by the second. He could tell Ladybug was getting ready to get some sort of help, but who could make something untouchable… touchable? Chat even tried to use cataclysm on the villain's thermos while Ladybug had distracted him, but he twisted at the last moments and grabbed Chat's hand, draining cataclysm before he tossed him aside like it was nothing.

Another blast of plasma sent the two tumbling away from each other, and then a blast of ice caught Chat off guard. Cold shot up his arm as his muscles convulsed, a scream caught in his throat as the ice trapped his arm in such a tight and sturdy prison. He twisted to try and use his free arm to claw the other out of the ice, a shadow in the corner of his vision causing him to twist and jolt in surprise as the villain stood right in front of him. The glowing green eye was cold as it bore into him, and the villain grew closer and closer, drifting off the ground and absorbing every noise around him, the air around them dropping to freezing temperatures. Chats breath formed in front of him as gasps, panic clear in the quick breaths, fear intensifying as the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat and blood roaring through his veins.

The villain's hand shot out and grabbed his free one- the one with his miraculous.

Chat heard Ladybug cry out as the villain gripped onto the ring, a quick glance showing she too was trapped.

That she was next.

Chat tried to keep his fingers curled, but he was battered and weak, and the villain hadn’t even broken a sweat during their fight. Prying open his fingers was easy, the ring vulnerable. This was it. He used cataclysm too soon and now he was powerless. He couldn’t escape. He couldn’t save anyone. He was a failure. This was the end of Paris.

They lost.

—————————————————————

Fucking. Vlad.

This entire trip had Danny on edge and it was all because of Vlad.

At first, he thought maybe, for once, Vlad wasn’t being a piece of shit when offering the family a fully paid trip to France for two weeks. He was suspicious. He probably just wanted the family out of town to do some shady shit. But a two week trip to France wasn’t the WORST thing a man could do. Especially in comparison to kidnapping and cloning.

But then his parents got sick. A common flu. Right before the trip. And they wanted Jazz and him to experience Paris. Then Vlad offered to be a chaperone.

It was all a play to get Danny alone for two weeks and try and manipulate him.

He did manage to get Tucker and Sam to tag along, something about friends being his family and the two unused tickets his parents left behind. But Vlad knew how to separate the group. How to corner Danny at the worst moments and whisper annoying remarks in his ear as he tried to get away.

He survived a week. He only had one more week to go. Tucker and Sam were off checking out some places for lunch while Jazz and Danny went to pick up sweets for everyone to share after their meal.

Vlad was off doing who knew what so Danny had put him to the back of his mind.

The cafe they found was… well it smelled incredible. There were so many baked goods on display and the air was filled with the warm and sweet smell of the goodies. He let Jazz do most of the talking, she wanted to practice her French and Danny had recently discovered that being dubbed the ghost king meant that now he had a natural grasp on all verbal languages, including the dead ones. This meant his speech in French was almost flawless, and his understanding was like he was listening to someone speak English. He couldn’t read other languages though, just speak them. He was told though by a few locals he had an odd accent. It wasn’t an american one, just… odd.

So Jazz ordered the treats and the pair was headed out to meet Danny’s friends.

Then some blonde girl with way too much make-up basically knocked him to the ground, not even sending him a glance that indicated she knew what she did. It was annoying, but he dealt with bullies on a daily basis back at Amity Park. Well… used to. But he knew better than to waste any thought on some jerk like her. He sadly looked at the ruined cat paw shaped cookies, the icing ruined and the cookies crushed under his weight when he fell.

Standing up with the help of Jazz, they left the shop as Danny insisted on finding somewhere to wash off the icing stuck to his shirt. He liked this shirt too… he hoped it wouldn’t stain too badly. It was better than ectoplasm at least, that stuff needed to be burned out, there was no such thing as washing out ectoplasm.

Jazz asked to help, but Danny brushed her off, telling her he could easily clean himself off by himself.

And then Vlad chose that moment to corner him.

—————————————————————

“Hello Daniel.”

Danny splashed water wildly as he spun around to glare at the older Halfa, hissing out an ‘Ancients!’ in surprise. “What the hell, Vlad?” He spat, “sneaking up on a kid in the bathroom? I should just call the police and tell them about all that stalking you like to do.”

“Aren’t you tired of this childish game?” He hummed.

“Not really, seeing as I’m a child and I love games,” Danny sneered.

“I’m older, more experienced, and stronger. I am also patient, little badger. And it’s easy to wear you down. By the end of this trip, you are going to be begging to be my-.”

“Son? Pet? Little slave that does everything you ask? Sorry, Vladdy, but I ain’t the type to listen to crazy fruit loops. How about you go enjoy the company of your French rich friends like that Agreste dude instead of stalking me and trying to get with my mom and kill my dad. Might do you some good to make more friends than just your cat.”

“Oh Daniel, you throw your petty insults but I know ways to break you even further. You know, a lot of accidents happen in Paris. Terrible things.”

Danny felt his eyes flash as he spun on his heel, “listen to me, if you even consider-!”

“Not to mention your brand new ghostly responsibilities as… the ghost king? Imagine that. A child as the king. You don’t even know everything about ghosts.”

“Neither do you!” Danny spat.

“Oh but I know so much more. And I could easily teach you-.”

“Just shut up!”

“When you mess up, when the ghost zone begins to fall apart, you will wish you took my offer, but I may not be as forgiving when that happens.”

“I said shut up!”

“And we both know the moment the ghost zone falls apart, so will this world. All because a boy became king and didn’t take help he was so graciously offered.”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!”

Something inside him shifted, and Danny suddenly felt his mind cloud, a deep voice echoed his mind.

“A cruel man harassing a young teen that wants nothing to do with him. A shame when someone can’t take a hint.

Black Hole. I am Hawkmoth. I can give you the power to show this old man that he never should consider looking in your direction ever again.

All I ask is for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s miraculous. Do this for me, and Vlad Masters will never be an issue for you ever again.”

Danny’s clouded mind and building rage smirked at the offer, his voice echoing as he glanced up at Vlad who was giving him a confused look. “Yes, Hawkmoth.”

Darkness engulfed him and then his memory began to fail him.

—————————————————————

A boomerang slammed into Black Hole’s head, causing it to jerk to the side and a small crack formed on the glass that was hit. The metal boomerang dropped to the ground and Black Hole slowly looked down at it as a robotic voice cried out from it, “ghost detected!” And then a recorded voice spouted out, “take that, spook!”

Black Hole’s head slightly tilted at the noise it made, a hand subconsciously rubbing the crack it left behind. Then he twisted his gaze back to Chat Noir, going back to taking the hero’s miraculous.

Then a shout came from behind Black Hole and Chat caught the eyes of a teenage girl yelling and holding a bat over her head. Black Hole twisted, his body turning that transparent look whenever Chat or Ladybug had tried to hit him before, and Chat knew that it was useless. “No! Stop! Get out of here-!” He screamed at the citizen, but stopped when the bat connected with the villain's head and sent him flying into a wall.

Chat was at a loss for words for once in his life, watching the villain slowly pry himself from the wall from being hit by a baseball bat when he and Lady couldn’t land a single hit. He looked back at the citizen and shrieked as she raised the bat above her head and swung down at him, flinching and squeezing his eyes shut. She hit something, causing it to shatter and then- his hand was free!

He opened his eyes and looked at his hand in awe and then back at the girl, “who the heck are you?”

She huffed, dropping the bat casually on her shoulder, “Sam Manson. Friend of the idiot that didn’t do his research before taking a trip here. I’m surprised this didn’t happen earlier.”

Chat blinked, “you- you know that’s your friend? And knew this would happen?”

Sam shrugged, “the booo-merang is never wrong. And yeah, my friend there is not exactly the most emotionally stable person on the planet. Sorry it took us a while to get here. You guys really do move fast.”

Chat just opened and closed his mouth a few times, then yelled as she suddenly swung the bat again and smacked the villain in the gut as he got close during their exchange, knocking him sideways but not down like the first time. Black Hole turned again, making a snarling sound before he was blasted by some sort of green ray and sent flying sideways, rolling along the pavement before smashing into a car. Another teen jogged over with Ladybug behind him, dropping his hands to his knees as he wheezed, “I have ran… way too much for this to be considered a vacation.”

“M’Lady-, what is going on?” Chat asked.

“This is Tucker, and his friend Sam, and they know how to help,” Ladybug quickly explained, glancing back at Black Hole. “We need to draw his attention and get that thermos off of him, then Sam and Tucker can use this,” she held up the thermos from her lucky charm, “and we can get his akuma.”

“Akuma is in the thermos, knock it off,” Chat summarized. He heard his miraculous beeping, a sign he was close to his limit.

“Let’s end this fast.”

—————————————————————

Ladybug held the booo-merang in one hand as the two teens and Chat drew Black Hole’s attention, the teens equipped with weapons that seemed to get past some of Black Holes abilities.

She narrowed her gaze, waiting for the perfect moment, then threw the weapon, watching it arch in the air then knock the thermos off of the villain's waist. The thermos clattered to the ground and drew his attention, he quickly twisted and dove to try and retrieve it, which was when a bright beam erupted from the polka dot thermos Ladybug had given the teens. The beam caught the villain's legs and he was tugged back, his form pulling towards it like taffy as he twisted and a horrid scream of anger burst from him. He tried to escape it, flailing and reaching for anything to hang on to, but in a matter of seconds he was pulled into the canister and Sam slammed the lid shut. The screaming stopped and Ladybug made her way over to Black Hole’s thermos, stomping on it and crushing it, releasing the Akuma hidden inside. With a flick of her wrist her lucky charm turned back into its original form, dumping Black Hole onto the street, then the butterfly was caught and purified, and another click of her miraculous, she let the little bug flutter away harmlessly. With a shout, ‘Miraculous Ladybug!’, everything around them was engulfed in black and red as the damages were undone around them.

At last, the villain's form was released of Hawkmoth's influence and it left a lanky teen laying on the street. He slowly sat up with a groan and a hand to his head and she then realized it was the same teen as from the shop. So once again, this was Chloe’s fault. She turned her attention to the two teens that helped her, noticing Chat let out a hasty farewell and thanks and disappeared around a corner. “Thank you, both of you. Without your help… well, without your help we may have lost that battle. But how in the world did you do that?”

“What the fuck just happened?” The teen groaned, “I feel like the booo-merang smacked me in the head like… fifty times.”

“That’s because I may have smacked you a few times with the fenton creep stick,” Sam shrugged as she helped her friend up who gave her wide eyes in return.

“You fucking what?”

Tucker took a step forward to answer Ladybug’s question, “let's just say back in our town, we have very specific supervillains that have abilities that make it hard for regular attacks to land. So we have specialized gear. Sam and I did a bit of research before heading here and figured if any of us got Akumatized, we may reflect some of those traits.”

“I… see…” Ladybug hummed, “and where did you say you were all from?” The three cast a few glances between each other, but before any of them could answer, her miraculous beeped angrily as she quickly realized she was out of time. “Thank you again for your help, if we could meet again to exchange some of that tech to make sure this never happens again-,” she quickly tried to set up a meet up before Sam held up a hand.

“This won’t happen again. A lot of what happened here is very unique to Amity, so once we finish our vacation, you won’t see this kind of thing ever again.”

Ladybug only had more questions but the angry beeping only forced her to nod and bid a quick farewell before getting out of sight to let Tiki take a rest. Marienette held out a few macaroons for Tiki as her thoughts swirled in her head. The questions about the odd American trio and how they knew how to deal with a villain as unique as Black Hole.

She may be able to corner them later. They did say they had to ‘finish their vacation.’

And in the meantime, it was time to do some research on this place called ‘Amity’.

—————————————————————

Danny didn’t remember a lot of what happened while he was the villain, Black Hole. It was like a dream, he kinda remembered the feeling, vague details, but nothing specific.

What he wished he remembered was whatever he did to Vlad. He must have done something because his memories cut out right after Vlad harassed him in the bathroom and after the event, the froot loop avoided him during the entire trip. Even refused to make eye contact!

What he would give just for a few seconds of that memory! Or for someone to have recorded it!

For now though he got to reap the rewards, flashing his eyes green when Vlad would glance over and causing the man to flinch. Oh man, he was going to abuse this newfound intimidation ability till the bitter end.

[five-rivers]

What if Danny's ghost form reflected his ghost maturity instead of his human maturity? Halfas are different, especially without being in the ghost zone to speed it up, it must take a lot of energy to develop. (I bet he'd almost never use it if he turned into a toddler when he went ghost)

This is probably going to be more angsty than you wanted, but...

.

When a ghost forms from a death, they generally look about the same as they did when they died and change from there.  No messy second childhoods required.  

Other methods of forming a ghost, however...

Well.  Danny didn’t exactly die, and a ghost started from scratch needs time to mature.  Especially if they’re building off of a human blueprint.  

Danny doesn’t realize he didn’t just get ghost powers until over nine months later.  

.

“Wait, wait, wait,” said Danny, squinting up at Frostbite, who was his friend and therefore not likely to be pulling his leg.  At least not about something as serious as this.  “Are you trying to tell me that I’ve been, what, pregnant with myself for the last nine months?”

“An apt analogy!” said Frostbite, who apparently did not have enough knowledge of human culture to understand why that statement and all its implications were horrifying.  “Of course, you are not giving birth to another individual.  Instead, your other half is maturing.”

“Is there any way to, uh, stop it?”  asked Danny, nervously plucking at the paper on the examination table.  “Because I really, really can’t be randomly turning into a ghost baby for however long this maturation thing is supposed to last.”

Frostbite looked like Danny had just suggested he murder someone.  “Great One,” he said grimly, “you do not know what you ask.”  He knelt next to Danny, and still wasn’t quite short enough to look him in the eye.  “What you’re asking...”  His voice was soft.  “To snuff out a ghost that young...  Not to mention what it would do to you as a whole.”

Danny laughed.  Stupid anxiety reaction.  “It-It wouldn’t kill me, though, right?”

“I do not know,” admitted Frostbite.  “But it would certainly remove your powers.�� Your other half is their source.”

“Right,” said Danny.  “Okay.  I sort of expected that.  So, what do I do?”

“I would suggest,” said Frostbite, “staying here until your ghost half is at least as old as you are now.  For safety reasons.”

“How long do you think that will take?” asked Danny.  

Frostbite’s grin became rather fixed.  “Fourteen years, or thereabouts,” he said.  

“Frostbite,” said Danny, aghast.  “I can’t wait fourteen years.”

“It’s possible that being in the Ghost Zone may accelerate the process somewhat, as compared to staying in the human world.  The high-ectoplasm environment is more nurturing.”

“How much faster are we talking about?” demanded Danny.  

“I would need to run more tests to be certain,” said Frostbite.  “And compare the ectoplasm concentration of your home to the one here.  It is unfortunate, but there are no ghosts quite like you.”

Danny groaned.  “Thanks,” he said.  “But I can’t stay.  Not even for a week.  I have responsibilities.  What should I do to just...  I don’t know.  Manage this?  Keep myself from turning into a ghost baby in the middle of the day, or during a fight?”  

Frostbite looked intensely uncomfortable.  “I am unsure.  You are still intending to fight?”

“Yeah?” said Danny.  “I kind of have to.”

“Don’t let the ghosts you fight see you in your other form.”

Duh, thought Danny.  “I don’t have a death wish,” he said instead.  

“They are extremely unlikely to try to destroy you.  It is much more likely that any adult ghost that saw you would adopt you.  And you wouldn’t have the ability to resist.”

“As soon as I got back to my proper age, I could,” said Danny. 

“That’s another thing I am concerned about,” said Frostbite.  “You have several ghostly mental tendencies already.”  He tapped Danny’s forehead with an icy claw.  “I am unsure how much more your other half will influence this one.  Clinging to an older ghost is instinctual for infant ghosts.  Which your other half is.”

Danny closed his eyes, centering himself.  “Okay,” he said.  “Anything else I should know about?”

“Mh, yes.  Great One, when was the last time you measured your height?”

.

“You don’t think I’m aging?”

Frostbite attempted to explain.  

“You don’t think I’m going to age until I catch up?”

.

Danny flew the Spector Speeder away from the Far Frozen, laden with various health instructions and several gifts the yetis said infant ghosts tended to enjoy.  He was okay.  This was fine.  He’d fought things just shy of godhood with glitchy invisibility, unreliable phasing, lackluster hovering, a magic soup can, and whatever of his parents’ inventions happened to be working that week.  What was one more?

Too much.  

He briefly let his head rest on the steering wheel.  

Apparently, even this respite was too much for the universe to give him, because the Poltergeist Proximity Alarm started to blare.  He jerked his head up.  

Somehow, in his second of inattentiveness, he’d been surrounded.  By eyeball ghosts.  

Maaaaybe he’d just drifted into their meeting, and they’d let him drift back out?

The ghosts raised their hands, each one glowing ominously.  

Yeah.  He didn’t think so, either.  He hit the accelerator and-

Time shuddered.  

He was suddenly very much not in the Spector Speeder, and still surrounded.  How-?

Several of the eyeball ghosts touched him, and his skin pulsed with pain as ectoenergy was forced through it.  He gasped, then choked as white rings sprang up around his waist.  Not now!  Not already!

He couldn’t stop it.  He was too full of energy.  

Just like every time before, his mind went fuzzy as it adapted to radically different sensory inputs.  

“... should keep him in ghost form until it catches up to his human age,” said one of them, as he came back to himself.  “At least.”

“We’ll need a longer-term solution than simply feeding him too much power to stay human,” said another.  

“Clockwork will have something,” said a... a third?  Danny wasn’t sure.  They all sounded the same, and Danny’s field vision was limited from the... basked?  Yeah, it was a basket.  

Who was Clockwork?

“Regardless, we must ensure he is raised correctly,” said one of the ghosts, putting a delicate emphasis on the last word.  “Teach him respect and obedience.”

The others voiced their agreement.  

Danny didn’t like the sound of that.  He reached for his human half, just as a clawed green hand reached into the basket.  Energy flushed through him again, and the warmth of his human half fluttered out of his grasp.  

The clawed hand then pulled a blanket over him, tucking him in.  And...  actually...  he was pretty worn out by everything...  ectoenergy took time to process properly for a body as tiny as his currently was...  it would be okay if he... fell asleep...

Right?

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

Okay. So it wouldn’t do that much to Danny. Now… I’m the Mutant Town AU, how well would this Anti-Ecto medicine and routine work? (I can see Valerie post-Technus suit wanting to get on it and then feeling really out of it once she does)

oooooooh that's a good question, I really hadn't thought ahead about this decontamination treatment when I first mentioned it but I'm enjoying expanding on the concept! I've also decided that it's a slow acting oral treatment, either a tablet or a liquid, it can probably be injected as well as an emergency measure but that makes it more potent and prone to negative side effects

I feel like it wouldn't kill any regular humans no matter how contaminated they are because they are still human, but it would probably have a lot more side effects with people who are more heavily contaminated as it would start destroying human cells to get to the contaminated ones

I also feel like it wouldn't be a perfect cure-all, the Fentons have been using this stuff on themselves after lab accidents for years, but even they still have a level of ecto-contamination that it just can't shake off, like maybe they can take the active ectoplasm out of their systems but it can't unmutate the affected cells, so that mutation will just build and build over time

eg; Maddie and Jack are invulnerable to a lot of physical damage, which is the first level of mutation in every case, tougher, stronger, better immune system, just about everyone in Amity Park has a similar level of contamination, those things don't go away once they're decontaminated, the treatment just prevents further mutation, it's a treatment not a cure

it won't do a whole lot if you can't take the source of the contamination away, and Amity Park itself is the source, meaning that any kids given the treatment will probably have the ectoplasm in their system neutralised for a few days, but it'll just come right back before too long

but if we're talking about kids with powers, and not just physical mutations, then that would probably be different, using powers takes energy, that energy comes from the ectoplasm, neutralise the ectoplasm and there's no energy to fuel the powers

if you treated a superpowered kid, and then removed them from Amity Park, they wouldn't get their powers back, but as soon as they are returned to a contamination source, those powers will return, even if it's been years, the groundwork for the mutation is still in their body so it'll just pick up where it left off

Danny's source of contamination is his own body which is why the medication will never remove his powers for good without destroying his body

Valerie is more interesting, since her contamination source is the suit that is pretty much a part of her, my headcanon for that is that when Technus created the suit, he hadn't intended for Valerie's body to essentially absorb the tech and make it her own, cutting off his control over it

so her body is thrumming with ectoplasmic based tech, that is physically and psychically linked to her, if she wanted the decontamination treatment, she would have to completely disconnect from the suit and remove every particle of it (it's kinda like nano-tech I guess?)

which would be a very interesting character moment for Val, she can fight ghosts using their own power against them, but at the expense of becoming more like them, and if she was to remove all the ectoplasm in her system, she would have to reject the technology she relies on to fight them

she could conceivably remove the suit, get the treatment, leave Amity Park and remain totally human, if she removed the suit, got the treatment, but stayed in Amity Park, her body would probably develop a new mutation, or follow the example of the previous one and simply continue to absorb things

(there are a few ways to interpret this concept like whether or not she can absorb anything or just technology, does she deconstruct and reconstruct things, or do they just attach themselves to her? eg, can she absorb a table and then use the elements from that table to form armour? or would the table fuse itself to her skin so she could use it like a shield? or can she absorb things in their entirety and then have her body spit it back out in it's entirety? I think I like the dematerialising things and rematerialising them as armour and weaponry idea the most)

alternatively if she took the treatment while still connected to the suit, she would risk getting sick like Danny as the physical ectoplasmic particles of the suit she's absorbed are piggybacking the cells in her body, but unlike Danny, it would be possible to eventually break down and destroy the suit with a higher dosage and longer treatment, but it would cause a lot of collateral damage in the process, not killing her but making her really really sick, and possibly damaging her body permanently, it would be a pointless risk when she can simply remove the suit herself before getting the treatment

so yeah that would be a really interesting thing for Val to go through! especially if she asks the Fentons for the treatment without telling them about the suit or understanding how dangerous it will be for her, leading to Danny finally having to reveal that he knows who she is and that she has this suit and it's what's making her so sick

oddly enough, I also think this medication is more dangerous to halfas than it is to ghosts, it would destroy ectoplasmic matter at touch but it actually takes a little time for it to break it down, so it would be like throwing a mild form of acid on a ghost, it would only do some superficial damage, you'd have to dunk them in a vat of the stuff and leave them there for a while to destroy them completely, it would be more effective for torture than murder, ghosts also don't have a circulatory system like humans so injecting a ghost would only damage them at the injection site, meaning it wouldn't be any more effective than a shot from an ordinary ecto-gun, unless you managed to inject it right into the ghost's core, THAT would deadly, but also incredibly difficult as that's the most protected part of their body and contains the most dense, solid ectoplasm

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 27: Cloud - Rainfall Skies

Rain is a wonderful thing and there’s a certain wonderful magic about it. Especially for those who need a little water to rejuvenate their heart, soul, and mind. Danny loves the rain.

Danny walks with his head tilted skyward, letting the rain splash and bounce off his face. It was a nice feeling and it made the world around him smell clean and clear. Sure there was the faint hint of lime from all the ectoplasm contaminated water that’s evaporated up into the thick swirling clouds, but he finds he doesn’t particularly mind nor care. If anything it made the rain all the sweeter, making it a more vibrant gem-like blue and the droplets taste like sugar water on his tongue.

He liked the rain, it never rained in the Ghost Zone and ghosts would instinctively go intangible to let earths rain simply pass through their bodies. He always suppressed that urge and impulse.

Stopping at a stoplight and staring up unblinking, the water getting in his eyes hardly bothers him. In fact, he hardly notices in the slightest. Staring up, it can almost be like the world around him has fallen away, leaving just him and the patter of the rain. The clouds move slowly, sluggishly, almost as if still. He finds he appreciates the lack of wind. Rain is better when it’s just rain, no thunder nor lightning nor wind. Just rain in its purest simplest form. Unchanged and consistently pattering down; and the clouds are dark enough that it gives off the illusion of nighttime, he can almost imagine the stars beyond the dark heavy cover of clouds. Like the stars are just resting on top of the clouds as if they’re a mattress.

Shaking his head and looking to the ground as the streetlight beeps signalling it’s time to cross, watching his old worn-out shoes splash into the small vibrating puddles. Watching the neon green drip off him and dilute into those puddles. He knows the rain’s not doing much to clean him off, he can’t say he really cares. Instead, he’s just enjoying the heavy feeling of being soaked to the bone. The rain lets him imagine that it’s only water to blame for that wetness.

He knows many people like to say that rain is the sky crying, in a way he understands how and why the sky might cry for him. But he likes to think the sky is laughing and dancing so much it can’t help but splatter some of its water down. Chuckling as he jumps a bit to splash in a puddle, twirling around and sticking out his arms. Rain was a happy thing, made the world feel like it was lost in time. Like the whole world was content to just lose itself for a while in the feeling of clean water and the music it makes upon the ground.

Spinning a bit more before deciding to walk backwards and watch the sky some more, humming a soft tune, “the rain falls gently above our heads, reminding us that we aren’t dead”. And that, that probably says a lot about how he feels.

It only rained in the land of the living, and he was part of it. The rain was his to experience and to experience with the rest of humanity. The rain danced and sang with life, a gift of the clouds. And it danced and bounced and soaked his skin without fail, like it was telling him he was just as alive and deserving of the thing that kept the earth alive and growing. Nothing could live without water after all, not even him.

Cupping his hands to pool some of the rain, watching it slowly build up and faintly reflect him back at himself. Green-tinted water dripping from his hair into the puddle forming, ah he should at least attempt to get clean. Once he feels he’s built up enough he splashes it on his face. Shaking his hands off and hair side to side, he doesn’t need to look to see the green splattering the ground like it was part of the rain itself. At least the green wasn’t his own, mostly.

Some ghosts were just vicious and required viciousness in return. He appreciates the cleansing rain as a reprieve from that. Something to clean him inside and out. Left him with the feeling of contentment and whimsy. Even a bit of a feeling of a complete lack of feeling. As if his mind and body were still, fresh, and without care. It was nice when he spent so much of his time and energy caring and hurting and fighting. And the rain kept the ghosts away, none wanting to fight in the pouring down water. It really was a reprieve from everything. Rain washed away cares or worries, washed away time and space, washed away sounds and aches. It was nice. It was comfy. It was freedom in a way.

Though he knows he has to go home soon. He finds he can’t bring himself to mind that. He’ll get there. Eventually. In the meantime, the rain will wash away what of the red and green it can, the overworked muscles and broken bones, clean out the cuts and scrapes. And when he gets where he’s going, maybe all they’ll see is the son soaked wet to the bone and not the soldier returning home from the battlefield. For now, he tilts his head back and opens his mouth. Smiling almost child-like and playfully at the gurgling pattering sounds that makes inside his throat. Like catching snowflakes on his tongue, it made him feel young and new like a young babe; in a way the stars just couldn’t anymore. As those stars carried thoughts of the childhood dream that was so very far out of reach. The stars hurt like they were as sharp as they looked on a clear night sky sometimes, the rain was always soft and whipped away everything else. He was a canvas freshly painted red and green, the rainwater splashing it off before its had a chance to dry. The canvas still gets stained of course, but it feels less permanent and noticeable. Like the sky is telling him ‘hey, you have the chance to paint yourself with more colours than just the blood of the living and dead’. That was something of a lie of course, but the rain made him believe it for a while. And that was as strong and heavy a support as the rain made his clothing feel.

Plus, if you have to cry then do it in the rain, no one will notice. Maybe not even you.

His body doesn’t feel in the mood for that though, too tired and worn to muster that kind of effort. Crying was heavy and hard, dancing and splashing was light as air. He twirls a little more, soaked fabric slapping against his scarred torso; not that he notices. The rain made the gouged in ones feel filled in again. The raised jagged ones, smooth. Any discolouration simply no longer mattered, the sun may show them bright but the rain blurs. It is sweet and he is alright.

Everything is alright.

Right here. Right now. Because the rain is free and sweet and gentle and everything. Releasing its wet weight upon the world and making his drip off him in kind. Weight those clouds have gained from all the earthly water it’s taken in. Water with all its pollutants and spilled blood and swimming life and long drowned dead. No different than him. A little halfa absorbing the world’s violence and intolerance and hatred and pain. The clouds sending down their cleaned refreshing rains, though tainted too. Just like the hope he hopes he splashes onto others.

Stopping in front of his house and staring at the sign, sticking his hands in his pockets and forcing back up his guards and paranoias. Yet still, even the harsh sign that lit up his strange home was seen softened by the rain. Making it seem more as if it glowed faintly rather than shone brightly. It felt more like returning to a comforting cup of hot chocolate from that brand you grew up with, rather than the place of cold scientific minds and where he and his dreams died.

He sends a small fleeting look to the rain thick clouds, wishing he could stay bathed in them for longer. But time, though it feels unreal in the presence of rain, waits for no man. Especially not him.

Pushing in the door, he’s hardly surprised to be met with his mother's only vaguely shocked words, “Danny, you’re soaked and why are you dripping slightly green”. Like usual, she doesn’t sound like she expects an answer from him.

He shrugs loosely, the rains calm still sticking with him, “rain. Ghost rain”, might as well take a bit more of a reprieve from the rain and pass the blame in a sense. She hums and doesn’t question him as he waves and heads up to his room.

Stripping off his soaked clothes and watching the rain patter against the window and fall through the air to hit the ground below. It’s muffled and less real this way, but it’s still nice.

It’s nice too, hearing the rain tinking on the roof as he showers. The waterfall of a shower was always artificial in a way that the rain simply didn’t even know how to be. He chooses to lay naked on the floor and just listen for a while before getting up to head to bed. Where he’ll wrap himself in blankets stained faintly green and red and lay his head down on a pillow too old to give much support or comfort. He’ll watch the rain fall through the window, watch it pool a little in the cracks and on the ledge. And then he’ll sleep, and it’ll be sun in the morning and he’ll struggle through school and fight another fight, as if tonight and it’s rain never happened.

It’s alright.

He’s alright.

He doesn’t mind.

There’ll be rain again some other day. Some other time. He’ll rest again then.

End.

[ecto-american]

Broken Ectoplasm C16

DannyMay themed story don’t bully me over it being WAYYYY past Dannymay 2019 I’m trying my best

Ectoplasm | Broken | Glass | Theory | Community | Eavesdropping | Worldbuilding | Accident | History | Shape shift | Puppet | Ink | Hands | Anniversary | Finals | Or Read on FFN or AO3. |

Day 23: Scream

There was a ghost kid in the hospital waiting for them. No, no, Danny was in the hospital waiting for them. No, Danny was in danger of another, no, of a ghost in the hospital. Well, was he, actually? His condition was bad, of course, but he had always been...impressive.

Man, this line of thinking was going to take a lot of getting used to.

"We shouldn't have left, we shouldn't have left," Maddie was mumbling to herself. Jack's eyes glanced towards his wife. She was rummaging through a bag of supplies, gathering what she needed to shove into her jumpsuit pockets. First aid, Danny's "green bull", various weapons and trackers.

"Hard right," he warned, and Maddie didn't even glance up as she gripped onto the overhead handle as Jack took a sharp turn. "We had no choice. It'll be alright. He'll be okay."

Maddie visibly relaxed.

"You're right. He's done this before."

They both immediately tensed up again. He's done this before. Neither of them spoke again as they nearly crashed their way into the hospital parking lot. As expected, it was chaotic. A flurry of a parking lot crowded with cars being flooded with people as those who could escape were doing so.

Jack didn't bother to park, just rolling as quick as he could to the entrance before slamming on the brakes. He didn't even fully stop when Maddie was already out the door, not even bothering to close the door. Jack was hot on her heels with all of his equipment in record time. They both slid out of the way as a nurse came rushing out, wheeling a patient in a chair out with her. The nurse nodded at them.

"Floor five," she told them, not stopping for any conversation as she made her way into the parking lot. That was Danny's floor.

They went inside, and it was near chaos Of course, it was full of people rushing to exit the building, while other parts were going into lockdown. Right after the Overshadowing Epidemic, the Fentons had helped this very hospital with anti-ghost measures. Supplying the security staff with basic ghost weapons, installing basic anti-ghost security measures in the form of emergency shields placed strategically.

Of course, it was just too much energy to run a ghost shield 24/7, especially in such an energy-demanding building like a hospital. And it would be foolish to only have one big shield, and thus the Fentons had optioned for a series of shields to allow the hospital to go into lockdown for this very situation. A lockdown that she could already tell was being put into place, as there was already a glowing shield blocking the entrance into the ER, and the distinctive sound of shields humming as they came to life several were loudly activated in unison.

"Fifth floor's got several shields," Maddie wasted no time, rushing for the stairs. She was already up a flight by the time Jack reached them. "We can block them in and catch the ghost."

"We should cut off their exit," Jack replied, quickly getting out of breath as he trailed behind her.

She was at the top soon after, and she was staring down at her tracker, patiently waiting for him as she gathered their location.

"They're in the hallway next to Phantom's room," Maddie told him as he finally hit the top of the fifth step. He dreamt of the day that the elevator would be consistently reliable and safe to use. Jack studied his mental memory of the hospital map, as well as the shields. This was far from their first call to the hospital for ghosts, but regardless: They never forgot where their shields were.

"How many?" he asked.

"Two, same location," she said. She squinted at the screen. "They're not moving."

"We should sneak around and block off their exit, then make our move," Jack told her. Maddie glanced up at him, worriedly.

"What if he's hurt Danny?" she asked. Jack's heart sank. Why was it so hard for him to match Fenton and Phantom? "We need to protect him above all."

"You're right," she whispered. She clutched the tracker tighter before handing it to him. "Go save our son. I'm going to block their escape, I can get to the shields faster."

Jack swallowed hard as he pushed the tracker to her. It was one thing when they were hunting ghosts, and whether they escaped or not was just a matter of property damage. But Danny's life was on the line.

"You go, Danny's more important, and you're a better shot," he insisted. Maddie forced the tracker into his hands, and he accepted it. There wasn't a whole lot of time to argue, and they would debate it afterwards.

"Be quick," he told her, and she gave a brief nod before they split up.

It wasn't until he made the first turn that he noticed how...unusually quiet it was for a ghost attack. Ghost fights were horribly messy and loud, as they used everything around them as a weapon and regularly did thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of property damage.

But he didn't hear anything even remotely close to a heavy object being thrown against the wall, or even feel the floor rumble as something was slammed into the floor. He could hear a few rushed scrambles, obviously doctors and patients going for cover. Every door he passed was closed, and the window blocked. It was eerie.

He tried to focus on tracking the ghosts, getting closer and closer with every hurried fast step. He didn't want to run. Jack wasn't exactly...stealthy, and despite intense anxiety about what he'd find, he still needed that surprise advantage.

Jack turned the corner, ready to face the horror that awaited him, only to instantly realize that nope. He was absolutely not ready.

Danny was tied to a gurney that was rocking and shifting from how much he was squirming and struggling to escape, the metal of the gurney being the background noise to muffled screaming. The bonds weren't anything from the hospital, something that looked ghostly and glowing. A familiar robot ghost was grabbing Danny's face, clutching it tightly as to hold him still. In his free hand, he held a large hunting knife and was...cutting.

The mechanical ghost was saying something in a low tone, a threatening one, but Jack couldn't make out what was being said. Not over...all the muffled screams. He was sure he didn't want to know. The way the ghost looked at the helpless teen scared him. It reminded Jack too much of himself. Of his molecule by molecule speech, of how often they talked of dissecting Phantom during dinner...right in front of Danny.

"Freeze, spook!" Jack ordered, and he made his presence known. He jumped over an overturned empty gurney, in the process nearly tripping.

The ghost snapped his head to Jack, glaring at him. Jack returned with a dirty look. With a quick fling of his wrist, the ghost threw his knife at Jack. He tried to dodge as it came for him, but it still hit his arm. Immediately he could feel blood gushing from a cut, and he instinctively slapped a hand over it. He held up his gun, putting his finger on the trigger to blast this menace to hell and back-

Only to hesitate. Oh fuck. This ghost had Danny. That was Danny on the gurney, not just Phantom. Jack swallowed nervously as he tried to quickly scan for his wife. No use. No sign of her. He couldn't take the shot. Not with Danny being so close and his terrible aim, nor with this ghost being within hurting distance of his son.

Skulker did not hesitate. He held his fist up, and netting fired off at him. Jack shifted, barely managing to miss. Despite shaky hands, Jack shot at the ghost in return. The other dodged with lightning speed, hitting the edge of the gurney. Jack's stomach dropped, watching it spin in a half-circle before toppling over. He really, really had to work on his aim sometime.

Skulker gave a chuckle.

"Hunter versus hunter," he lightly mused. "Of course though, it won't be much of a fig-" Skulker was cut off by a hard punch to the back of the skull that pushed him forward a bit. Jack glanced at the gurney, seeing one of the straps broken.

Skulker was already turned around and punched Danny in the stomach, sending the teen backwards. Jack winced hard, put forced himself to aim his weapon. He watched nervously as the fight truly began. He never had to worry about who to hit. Ghosts were ghosts, and the weapons didn't hurt humans, and even if they did, people normally had scattered long ago.

Jack watched a flurry of fists and kicks occasionally blinded by ghost rays flashing. He decided to take his chance, and he fired a shot. He hit the other ghost, forcing the fight to give each other space.

The other ghost put his fists up in front of him, and the metal on his arms and shoulders shifted to expose multiple rockets, all targeted at him. Danny paled, and he turned to seemingly fly behind cover.

But one of the shields had, at some point, been activated. Danny had froze, turning back to face them. Jack hurriedly fired off several shots and just relying on pure luck and a prayer that he wouldn't hit Danny. None of them hit Danny, thankfully, and a few even hit the intended target. Only Danny…

That flash of bright light he saw earlier appeared at his son's waist, and a flash later, he saw the familiar sight of his son hurriedly jumping backwards through the shield just as all the rockets were fired.

The rockets hit the shield in a series of bright explosions. When the smoke cleared, Danny was just silent, staring with wide eyes as he panted heavily, his chest heaving. He was in the shirt and jeans Jack saw him go off to school in just the day before. The injuries had transferred over, resulting in noticeable bruising, deep cuts and more visible of all, red blood that was oozing through his shirt. The sound of feet quietly hurrying towards them snapped Jack out of it, and apparently Danny too. Danny got back to his feet, making a rush back towards the shield, body slamming the ghost and sending him back. Scraps of the metal suit began to fall onto the ground with every hit.

Jack shuffled out of the way. A flash later, and Danny was once again Phantom, just in time for Maddie to turn the corner.

"Jack, the thermos!" she immediately shouted to him. She already had her weapon up, and she blasted at the ghost too.

Jack fumbled in his pockets for the container he was responsible for, quickly finding it attached to his hip. He opened it, and he activated it. The beam of light came out soon after, engulfing Skulker and soon, he was gone. Leaving just the family together, breathing heavily.

"Oh, Danny, are you okay?" Maddie wasted no time pulling Danny to her in a tight hug. Danny's head rested against his mom, exhaling hard with a disturbing bubbly tone to it. He leaned into her a bit more, forcing Maddie to shift so that she could pick him up. She pecked his forehead, but her expression soon fell into concern upon seeing him.

"Jack, get a gurney please," she told him. Jack picked up the gurney Danny was on earlier, turning it back onto its wheels and pushing it towards her.

He held it still as Maddie put Danny back onto it, the teenager wheezing hard. As soon as he was resting on it, Maddie had had gauze from the first aid section of her belt out, pressing it against oozing green ectoplasm that overflowed from Danny's neck. A deep, intense slash across his throat and a jagged cut that went down to the collarbone before it had stopped, a disturbing parallel to the clean slice of the previous...attempt.

"Jack," Maddie's voice snapped him out of it. "Do a quick sweep, make sure there's no other ghosts. I'll alert the staff in a moment."

"R-right." Jack stared for a moment as Maddie gently and expertly began to clean up Danny's neck. He could hear her softly speaking comforting phrases to him, interrupted by the deep wheezing coming from Danny.

He forced himself to turn away and look back down at the ghost tracker in his hands. Nothing, and he tapped it and held it up to make sure. Still nothing, and he walked around his family, staring. Still no sign of ghosts. Well, aside from the one obviously under their care.

"I don't see anything," Jack reported. He took a few steps down the hallway towards Danny's room. The door had been torn off the hinges, and the hospital room was a mess. The bed was flipped, and there was ectoplasm on the floor, some splattered on the walls. The IV stand was broken in half, and the wall itself was exposing the warm air outside, rubble littering the inside of the room.

Somehow seeing it...seeing the actual physical change from Fenton to Phantom...made it feel even more intensely real. He had suspected ever since he found out that the light was how he? Changed? But to suspect it and to see it was different. It was the very last solid confirmation of what he had already found out, and it was a bit unnerving.

He took a few steps forward to look out of the view. Danny had a fairly average view of the city, though the window's curtain was drawn to prevent anybody from potentially being able to see him, even though he was on the fifth floor. Jack could see groups of people huddled worriedly in the parking lot, as well as cop cars that had pulled up onto the scene. He saw a pure white car pull in too, no flashing lights, but the duo who exited wore white suits, and his heart sank. Least the ghost was contained, but the GIW was a much bigger concern.

Jack jerked his head down as his tracker lightly beeped. A ghost had entered their range. He watched the dot enter the tracking radius and stop. It remained there for a moment before completely disappearing off the radar. Huh. He could only assume it was a ghost passing by, but that didn't quite feel right. Most ghosts didn't seem to just hang out or pass by anywhere.

"We got company," Jack called out. He watched the police begin to handle the crowd as several GIW agents began to enter the building.

He returned to the hallway, seeing that a nurse had come out and was finalizing putting a white sheet over Phantom's form to avoid the publicity.

"We're moving him to Room 545," Maddie told him, and Jack gave a light nod as he scurried along after the pair to the room.

"Is anybody hurt?" Jack asked the nurse. She shrugged.

"We don't know for sure yet," she replied.

They quickly reached the room, and the nurse opened it for the Fentons to help her roll him in. The nurse stared intensely at the two, keeping the door open.

"I'm really sorry to do this to you," she began, and Jack already knew exactly what she was going to say.

"We're staying," he insisted.

"We're the only ones who know how to deal with a patient like him!" Maddie added.

"You don't have to leave, but I'm afraid I can't leave you alone in the room with him," the nurse explained. It finally clicked that she was staring at the weapons strapped to them, as well as the tracker tucked under Jack's arm and the ectoplasm-covered gauze Maddie was holding in her hand for now. The couple said nothing, giving each other a light glance. The nurse sighed lightly. "Please don't make this difficult. You just have to wait outside until the doctor gets here."

Jack noticed Maddie's lower lip quiver slightly in worry. Neither wanted to leave him. But it would be too weird or suspicious to fight it. Jack gave a nod, and he slowly sulked out of the room. Maddie stayed standing where she was for a moment, staring back at the nurse before reluctantly following her husband.

The nurse shut the door behind them, and they could hear the click of the nurse locking it as she was left alone to care for Phantom.

"Did you see that cut?" Maddie immediately brought up. Jack just gave a half-nod. "It's awful. The ghost wanted to really kill him." Jack rubbed the back of his neck.

"This ghost wants to skin him," he reminded her. Maddie's face scrunched up in disgust. "I wish we knew why."

"I do too," she sighed, and she paused. "Do you hear that?"

Jack glanced around, keeping his ears on high alert. Indeed, he could hear a faint, angry and familiar voice as it came closer and closer. He already knew it was Vlad before the billionaire turned the corner, hot on the heels of Ohmer and Dr. Carrington, the lawyer holding files to her chest as the doctor was wheeling a medical cart with various supplies resting on it next to her. The pair were walking towards them, Vlad nearly yelling in their ears as Vlad's own lawyer duo was keeping pace behind him, both looking fairly neutral about the situation.

"...and I will sue this hospital if you do not let me into this room, do you not understand? I have rights, and this is my child. I entrust my only child to this dump of a hospital, and you don't even have the proper anti-ghost measures to keep him safe? I demand you transfer him to my hospital, where he can actually get halfway decent medical care rather than you hacks."

"Mr. Masters, until we get that test back, we cannot assume you are the legal guardian, we've been through this." Ohmer sounded tired. Jack and Maddie scooted off to the side as she got to the room, and she knocked. "It's Ohmer and Dr. Carrington." The nurse opened the door, and Vlad tried to go inside, only to be blocked by Ohmer putting her arm out in front of him. "I will call security if you do not comply with the hospital rules."

Dr. Carrington was able to slip past them and into the room with her cart, shutting it behind her. The familiar lock clicked, and soon as it happened, Ohmer pressed her back to the door.

"I will have your job and make it so that you cannot work anywhere within the state of Illinois again!" Vlad threatened. "You and that idiot doctor and every single damn employee of this hospital, from the chief of medicine to the cleaning staff."

"Mr. Masters, you will not talk about my wife like that, and Mr. Phantom is undergoing treatment right now," Ohmer's tone was getting more and more snappy. Jack and Maddie silently watched. "He is not taking visitors of any kind at this time. I cannot legally let you take him home until he is discharged, and not without you proving your parental status."

Vlad's face was red with anger, and he began to explode into another ramble that Jack could only barely make sense of between all the long, legal jargon he used. Every time Ohmer tried to speak up to calm him down, he would cut her off with a thinly veiled insult that followed up with a threat to her job. After a minute, she just stared at him as he just continued on and on with his verbal tirade.

Why was Vlad so focused on having Danny? It was odd, and it was incredibly concerning. What did Vlad want with Phantom? Especially using the claim that he was Phantom's father? It was becoming creepier and creepier.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack noticed two people hurrying down the hallway towards them, both in matching attire.

"By order of the Guys in White, we are placing Phantom under arrest, now, and are bringing him in for questioning," Agent K growled angrily, pulling his badge out as he walked quickly towards them. Agent G was hot on his heels, fumbling but also producing his badge.

Ohmer closed her eyes tiredly, rubbing them with the palms of her hands. The Fenton adults felt bad for her. This poor woman needed a raise.

[etherealseesaw]

Dannymay 2020  --  Day 1: EYE

Title: Don’t keep a eye out.

Words: 2,991

Rating: T

AO3: LINK Tags: Hurt/Comfort , Not too detailed descriptions of pain, Fluff. Summary: With a white flash as if someone took a photograph, Danny changed his forms to the more human one. Nothing out of the ordinary, he did this almost every day. Going from human to ghost and from ghost to human. And sure, he's practically sure that at least some part of him died in the incident... but mentally accepting that was still something he wasn't prepared for. For now, "going ghost" could suffice. Fuck- so why is it that my eyes hurt so damn much!? Or Danny experiences eye pain.  -Keep reading for the whole fanfic-

After one whole week of only sleeping 2 hours per day and maybe some minutes in class, to say that he was beyond tired is an understatement. Was there a conspiracy against him going around the Ghost Zone? That must be the cause, because from Saturday to Thursday almost all his time was spent on fighting some noisy ghost who can't take a hint and leave him alone. Really, it wasn't asking much!

It was unrealistic just how many ghosts were coming through the portal. Right... it wasn't as if anything in his life made any sense from the start. Maybe he could ask Tucker to see if the portal has an actual glitch or something. And yes, Tucker may not be any real engineer, but he was flawless when it came to tinkering with tech.

Anyways, it was a fresh new day and he was up before his alarm rang... which isn't necessarily a great thing since he didn't even get to enter bed yet. Yep, another great day ahead. Hurrah!

Danny could already tell how stressed he'd be by the end of this, it must have become some sort of routine at this point. Not really healthy, but what was health anyways. Ha.. Fortunately, all his NASA and Promotional Space Expedition posters, the glow in the dark stars and space themed stickers all around, helped him calm down enough to not have a mental breakdown on his bedroom floor.

With a white flash as if someone took a photograph, Danny changed his forms to the more human one. Nothing out of the ordinary, he did this almost every day. Going from human to ghost and from ghost to human. And sure, he's practically sure that at least some part of him died in the incident... but mentally accepting that was still something he wasn't prepared for. For now, "going ghost" could suffice.

Fuck- so why is it that my eyes hurt so damn much!?

As soon as his transformation ended, his eyes started to tingle with a hot pain that made having them open a struggle. Unconsciously, his hands made their way to his face and grabbed at the sides, his fingers dipped into the eyelids of the now semi closed eyes. Danny groaned loudly and practically threw himself at his bed, one leg touched the floor while the other bent with the pressure of his body, almost kneeling. His upper body reached the middle ground of the bed and he harshly pushed himself onto it. His head was the only thing not pressed against the bed as he used his elbows to propel himself up. Oh it hurt, it really really hurt.

He couldn't see straight with all the tears that managed to form. Everything was swimming and had a strange ectoplasmic-green glow that was almost unnoticeable. With a little more force than needed, he rubbed his eyes with closed fists. Doing painful and quick strokes as he started to shake and tremble more and more. His mind was buzzing with panic, his ears where ringing and his heart thumped loudly against his chest. He heard a sound, was that the alarm ringing? He couldn't tell, couldn't think. Just kept on rubbing.

How does one go from perfectly normal to -this- in a matter of seconds? What he was doing wasn't very smart, but can you blame him? As much as he'd like to be rational right now, it had taken him by surprise. He hadn't been ready for this.

Ok, stop, stop, stop. Danny commanded himself and abruptly threw his arms to each side on the bed.

His breath came out in short puffs and the skin near his eyes stung from the pure force he'd used on it. Gosh, can't he have any peace? First, the number of ghosts pestering him just keeps on growing. Second, he doesn't have time to spend with his friends and family. Third, his grades are a mess and everyone can see. And now what, this? There most be some logical way, what had he done other than fighting Technus moments prior?

His mental thoughts came to a stop as he noticed the sharp pain he'd felt wasn't there anymore. Sighing in victory, he loosened the pressure on his arms and gently rested his face against the mattress. What the fuck.

Is this some new power forming? He remembered almost freezing himself with his ice when it first appeared and when his intangibility acted up and he almost spilled his organs, literally, but it wasn't the same.. didn't feel the same. Sighing once more, Danny rolled to his back and cradled his arms on his chest.

Well, he definitely wasn't doing a good job Resting In Peace.

After the freak out, Danny shrugged off, for now, any deeper meaning behind the sudden pain he'd felt. It definitely wasn't something good, but he was ok now.

He sat up and fished the fresh clothes he was planning on dressing. It was the usual white with red details and oval in the center T-shirt, dark blue jeans and red vans but washed. The alarm had long ago stopped it's infernal high pitched beeping and was now only showing the current time.

Current time... Wait- It's already 8:20? Oh, he was going to be late. Not that he kept perfect record, not after all those times he had to sneak off to fight some random ghost intruder, or didn't even make it into the classroom. But it never felt good to actively go against his morals, especially if it was in his power to attend classes. As boring as they may be. He really wanted to take a bath, guess it needed to wait. Gross, but school was important.

The clothes were dressed in the time record, mostly because he used his powers to slip out of the old ones in an instant. But no time to dwell. With the school bag in hand, his feet almost flew with the speed he'd taken to dash across the house to the front door. A quick glance around made him realise that his parents were probably in the basement and that Jazz had already left. Can't blame her.

Another thing he was grateful for being that people in the morning were always most distracted, be it because they are going to work or because they are coming from work. He used that opportunity to slip into an alley and switch personas. The same white energy ring formed around him as his hair whitened and skin darkened. The comforting sensation of the hazmat suit pressing on his skin as he'd naturally taken to float a few inches from the ground. Again, no time to dwell. He got to be quick!

His feet shifted into his ghostly tail as he turned on invisibility and intangibility and flew straight through the brick wall. Truth be told, Danny was half expecting a ghost to show up mid way to school, but he guessed he was in luck since he arrived safe and sound.

Oh Ancients, Mr.Lancer was surely going to kill him someday. More than he already was. In his opinion Lancer was one of the best teachers, he tried his best that's for sure. Sometimes may come out as too strict or maybe uncaring, but Danny had grown fond of the behaviour and frankly missed having classes with him.

Thinking just about how many times he'd let Mr. Lancer down made him sad. He already disappointed his parents with the fact that he was what they most hated, disappointed Jazz for not trying enough to have good grades and disappointed his friends for always needing to leave them alone.

He carefully slipped into a janitorial closet, it was a small space with no light and a lot of tools to keep the school clean. There was only one door and it had a small opaque window in the middle. There was no fear of getting caught, as the corridors were bare of anyone so with that in mind, he quickly changed forms once more.

The anxiety was making him feel weak, as if his bones decided to become play-doh all of a sudden. Danny didn't need to look at the time to know classes had started a long time ago. And, of course, he was more than late.

As he left the closet, a small hiss escaped his lips as a product of his frustrations. A habit he'd attracted along the years of ghost hunting, of being a ghost, of dying.

Nausea hit him at full force as the bright light of the corridor fully seeped into his vision. The halfa wasn't happy when the same familiar pain crept behind his eyes and, as if someone blew air against his eyeballs or slightly scratched them, he impulsively closed his eyes in an aggressive matter.

Clenching his teeth and angrily grabbing his T-shirt, he slowly walked without a real direction to what he assumed was his classroom door. The vertigo didn't help his walking as he slightly stumbled and almost tripped.

He was determined to have at least one class today, and this wasn't going to stop him. It simply wasn't. Not today, not the day the ghosts decided merely not to show up.

He didn't feel his upper face, or better explaining, it was as if a cold liquid had drenched the insides of his eyes. His eyelids were on a state of coldness and hotness and the skin around furiously itched. The need scratch it was aggravating, but he maintained his control. The imaginary liquid pooled behind his eyes and dripped from his nose, to his cheeks and finally to his lips. He shivered mildly as his face continued to dance around the sensations of cold and hot at the same time, making him feel as if something had paralysed it. When he opened and closed his mouth, it didn't feel real, but as he did the same with his hands, something more alarming made his way into his mind. He also didn't feel it.

He immediately stopped in his tracks. Where was he even going? He didn't know where his class was. Did he even want to go inside.. like this?

It doesn't matter, he needed Sam and Tucker. He knew they were inside, they all shared this period. Danny just needed to breath, open his eyes slowly and act normal. Yes, that's all.

...

Doing just that, he slightly crouched down and stroked his temple with his shaky hands. What a coward he was. He experienced things worse, so why was he like this?

Taking longs breaths and concentrating on the feeling of touching, hearing, smelling something, anything. Time passed rather slow for him as his eyes strained, almost as if touched with acid. But with effort came the reward, as slowly but certainly he lazily opened his sky-blue eyes. They were unfocused and clouded. He could see where he was, could see his class not so far away. That's a relief.

Pushing aside the weird feeling still all over his face and the burning sensation still in his eyesight, he rushed to the door without paying attention to lingering nausea.

The door opened strenuously and he hurried himself inside. His vision swam less that it was seconds ago, but from the looks Mr. Lancer and other kids were giving him, something must still be off.

"Well, look who decided to show up. Tardiness is not accepted, Fenton." Concluded the teacher, Mr. Lancer, not looking the slightest happiest.

"Sorry, something came up." Danny replied halfheartedly, still feeling weak in the knees. Sam eyed him up from across the room, Tucker doing basically the same, but pausing to copy whatever was on the board.

"Go ahead then, sit down." Lancer gestured to Danny's usual and empty seat, only giving him a short and concerned glace before turning again to the used board.

With a slight nod, the halfa did as he was told and hastened to his seat. The school bag flew on top of his table as he removed the books necessary for this class and sat down with a relieved sigh. Unfortunately, he almost directly started to doze off and only stayed awake because Sam decided to elbow Danny in the shoulder, making him yelp in surprise but not loud enough to alert anybody else.

A comeback was at the tip of his tongue, but died out as he remembered that he was needed urgently to talk with his friends.

"Excuse us, sleepy princess, but we practically haven't seen each other in 3 days or more." Said Tucker with a smug but concerned undertone.

"Sorry, you know how it is... Fighting evil doers and all that jazz." Apologised Danny, blinking the tiredness out of his mind.

He stared at his table, going into a trance of thought. He needed to tell them.

"I-" Started Danny off, but was interrupted by Sam shushing him.

"Whatever you're going to say, save it. Let's talk after class." She nodded to herself as she spoke. "Try to sleep a little now, you look like hell."

And that was it, he'd tell them and they'd probably have to go to the Far Frozen or something of the likes. He didn't want to think about what if the problem was something... human. Something close to his origins, that maybe not even the ghosts could help. It was scary thinking of something so realistic as maybe going blind. He studied a lot of books about NASA and what the astronauts needed to go on a mission. They needed to be healthy, have good grades, exercise. He was far from reaching one of those things.. didn't want that to turn two.

Worries filled Danny as he drifted into the dreamland. Dreams didn't await him on the other side, but it was peaceful and relaxed him enough.

"Sleeping in class?" Jokingly lectured Tucker as he shook Danny awake.

"Come on, it already ended." Continued Sam, already ready to leave.

Getting up and gathering all his not even used supplies into the school bag, Danny walked into their side and let out a little groan. They walked in silence until they've reached a small corner where most students don't stop at. The halfa wasn't sure why they weren't talking as they'd normally do, he himself wasn't just as energised but he did think this was weird. To his surprise, however, Jazz was already waiting for them there. Pacing around the small space, she stopped when seeing the trio approach and smiled.

"Jazz? Why are you here." Asked Danny confused, but not against the situation. It was his sister after all.

"That's the thing, Danny. We're concer-" With a nasty scream, he interrupted the middle of her sentence. The eye-thing came back, with full blown pain. It felt like the first time, if not worst. As if a butter knife tapped against his eye with scorching temperatures and left behind a trail of molten metal. Without hesitation, they all ran to Danny's side and supported him with their arms.

Small crystal clean tears dripped from the halfa's face and he tried to hold back the vertigo that was trying to settle in, he didn't want this to happen He wanted to talk to them normally, fuck.

"Danny? Danny!?" Called out Sam in a frantic manner. They already knew he was pushing himself, but not this much.

"Ok, deep breaths, deep breaths. Tell me what's wrong." Jazz bent down to look better at her brothers face.

Doing as he was told, he'd push air in and out slowly and excruciating. Keeping his mind concentrated in only the task at the time and nothing else. The tingle behind his eye and the strange sensation of being hyper aware of his eyelashes, wasn't helping but, with he was determined.

"Eh-Eye-" A shaky finger pointed at his eye, he wanted them to look at whatever was doing this to him.

With a silent nod, Jazz cupped his face and elevated it to have a better look. Tucker and Sam shuffled to her sides to see too. A gasp passed around them and he felt lightheaded and reminded that he was in school, he couldn't bring so much attention to himself, or them.

"Oh Danny, if we knew you were this bad.." She sighed and gently passed a hand down his hair in a comforting manner.

"What is it-?" His voice trembled as he forced out his voice. He didn't want to hear bad news, not something irreplaceable, please, not that.

"You just seem awfully sleep deprived." Responded Tucker when hearing the panic in the others voice. "There isn't anything sticking out or pools of blood.."

"Wh- Really? But it hurts like a bitch-" As if on cue, he'd let out a small groan and scrunch his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.

"And, And, I see everything in a weird green tint-" He continued ignoring the interruption.

"Language." Jazz said strictly, before continuing. "Hmm.. I'm not a ghost expert, but It might just be your ghost side acting up, because you aren't reacting well enough with your human one." She speculated, hoping it could calm him down as much as it could calm her down.

"I can't just rest, ghosts keep appearing everywhere! I need to- I need to-" Before he could finish, Sam pushed a finger in his lips direction and said with an exciting smile.

"Are you forgetting us? We can keep up." Sam scoffed, gesturing to herself, Jazz and Tucker.

"Yeah. We learned a lot from watching and helping in your fights!" Nodded along Tucker.

"Why don't you take this weekend off while we work, ok?" Finish Jazz, giving Danny's forehead a little kiss.

His eyes still stung, a whole damn lot, but we was feeling better mentally. Giving them a small smile, he nodded in agreement. "Ok, I'll try to do that."

[sporesgalaxy]

You know what? Fuck it. Here's the whole ass WIP script for the Danny Phantom/Ben 10/Deadpool crossover nightmare, which is called #follow ur crossover dreams, by the way. I think copy-pasting on my phone is gonna delete some italics but whatever.

Reminder that it's still a really early draft with a lot I plan on changing (wade Motormouth wilson doesnt say nearly enough bullshit, for starters), but hopefully u will enjoy it. happy birthday to me, my gift is letting myself share ideas without maximum effort

[BEN is running through a crowd of high school students, excitedly. He is on his phone] BEN: C'mon, Gwen, just tell me where to go! I wanna fight some bad guys today! It's been weeks! [GWEN is on a computer] GWEN: Ben, for the last time, you are NOT going into this alone! We aren't even sure what's causing this yet! Seismic activity at this scale is totally unheard of around here, and whatever's causing it-- BEN: Is gonna get it's butt whooped by the one and only Benn Tennyson! BEN: Don't worry, I can totally handle this! GWEN: Yeah, cause things always work out perfectly  when you say that. BEN: Just give me the location, and you can catch up with me there! GWEN: No, Ben. I'll fill you in when we know more, but.until then, don't run off. [BEN is dejectedy watching TV at home, when suddenly, there is another earthquake. Soon after, a newswoman reveals the epicenter just outside of town, and Ben gets an idea] [BEN gets off a public bus at a bus stop far outside of town. He looks out into a dry hilly wilderness, and down to his phone gps to confirm he is going in the right direction.] BEN: all right...I didn't wanna risk timing out before I got there, but I think I'm close enough now... [BEN places his phone gps at his feet, closes his eyes, and slaps the Omnitrix] [BEN transforms into Stinkfly] BEN: Well, I was hoping for XLR8, but I guess I can work with this? [BEN picks up his phonr and flies off] [when he reaches the epicenter BEN finds, embedded into a large hill, an abandoned lab of some sort.] BEN: ooOh [BEN enters the lab, and shortly times out, becoming human again. He sort of tries to sneak, but is clearly too excited/curious to be very effective] [The lab is full of rusting, inscruitable equiptment. Finally, Ben enters a natural cave turned testing area deep inside the lab, a cavernous room machinery littering the floor. There seems to be a fixation on machinery that we would recognize as Danny's parents' portal, but not embedded into a wall, so like a door attatched to a tube. Spare parts and dissasembled prototypes rest along the edges of the room, and a few assembled peices rest towards one end.] [Ben stands on the far south end of the cave, looking around at all of the strange wiring and such.] BEN: I wonder if this is Plumber tech... [BEN kicks a bundle of cords on the floor, and the sound echoes through the room.] [Then, a stranger sound eminates from somewhere just outside of the cavern. And another, similar, closer sound is accompanied by a visible flash. And then-- in a green streak, DANNY bursts into the air in the cavernous space, and then hits the floor and skids. When he stops, he turns human as he falls unconscious] [BEN has no fucking idea what is going on] BEN: uh...h...HEY. ARE YOU...OKAY? DANNY: ... BEN: HELLO? HELO-O? DP: ya think he's dead? BEN: AUGH!!!! [BEN jumps violently, very surprised by Deadpool's presence, and takes a step back] BEN: Who the heck are you?! DP: Call me Deadpool! [BEN gives him a look of utter disbelief. That is the stupidest superhero name he's ever heard. He's about to say that, but then,] DANNY: [groans] DP: [hops down. Puts a hand out, signalling for Ben to stay] Stay here, kid. [Ben is offended to be belittled even if it's reasonable. He stands with an angry look on his face for a moment before following just a few steps behind deadpool, hand at the ready above his watch.] [DP veeery cautiosly walks over to Danny and then....abruptly switches gears, standing up straight and gently bumping the boy's shoulder with his foot] DP: hey. hey. get up. DANNY: five more minutess.... DP: ...7Your mom made pancakes? [DANNY's eyebrows furrow. He groans again. He props himself up, and rubs his head. He's covered in dirt and some blood. He opens his eyes and his expression is full of exhaustion and dread as he processes his unfamiliar surroundings. He looks up at Deadpool] DANNY: ...........I don't smell any pancakes. [DEADPOOL and DANNY stare at eachother for a moment. DANNY seems to be waiting for something. He suddenly looks at BEN, incredulous] DANNY: So are either of you going to attack me, or are we having a staring contest? BEN: I dunno, are YOU going to attack? [DANNY is so tired. He's had a long day] DANNY: I'd prefer not to, but it tends to happen a lot. DP: Well that's depressing! BEN: Well if none of us are fighting, I have a question. BEN: Where'd you two come from? DANNY: Ghost portal. DP: Time travel. BEN: ... BEN: You're not giving me much to work with, here. [BEN points to DANNY] BEN: Especially you. I get time travel, I can live with that-- DP: Thank god. BEN: --But, "ghost portal?" Like a portal for ghosts? Are you dead?? [DP slowly prods Danny with his foot again. Danny is too busy suddenly realizing that he's in human form to be concerned with that] DANNY: I--uh-- BEN: Was that what was up with the green energy? DANNY: Maybe I just went through the ghost portal, ok? I--where are we? BEN: Somewhere on the outskirts of Bellwood, Nevada. DANNY: Nevada? BEN: Nevada DANNY: Huh. DANNY: And why are you here? BEN: [excited to sound smart] There was some unnatural seismic activity around here, and I came to check it out, see if it was anything nefarious. BEN: [cocky] You know, usual superhero stuff. [Danny is a little shocked. He's never really met another superhero before, who wasn't a clone, or accusing Danny of being evil or something] DANNY: oh. BEN: What? DANNY: You're...you're really a superhero? DP: You're like 12 is that safe? [What is the deal with all these young superheroes but say it funnier] BEN: I'm 16!!! DP: Children trying to be superheroes never works out well, trust me kid. BEN: I'm not a child!! Why do you care, huh? DP: Cause I hang out with a lot of superheroes and the heroism business has never done anyone's mental health ANY favors. [DANNY puts his hed in his hands] DANNY: Ugh, tell me about it. BEN: Ha! You AREN'T a normal kid! DANNY: oops. BEN: What can you do?? Do you have GHOST POWERS? [DANNY bites his lip] DANNY: What about you? Do you have powers? BEN: I can turn into any of hundreds of aliens! DANNY: ...care to show me? [BEN looks at the Omnitrix. It's still timed out] BEN: ...in theory... [Danny raises an eyebrow] [meanwhile, Deadpool loses interest. He starts climbing on stuff, looking at the scattered tech.] BEN: Uhhh...can it wait a minute? I just flew here. DANNY: What?? BEN: [gestures to watch, grinning sheepishly] Alien tech! BEN: I swear I'll show you later. What about you! Show me yours! [Deadpool arches an eyebrow at them in the distance] DANNY: ...I guess, since you already guessed it... BEN: What are you so worried about? Ha, haven't you ever met another superhero before? [Ben was sort of kidding, but...] DANNY: BEN: DANNY: Uh, no. Not really. BEN: ...So do you fight bad guys all on your own? DANNY: Uh, yeah? I'm kinda the only person who can. [Reconsiders, and adds with bitterness] Well, the only one who can and will. [Ben thinks about that for a second. He knows how it feels to think you're the only person who can save the world, but Ben is usually wrong when he assumes that's the case. He doesn't like imagining how he'd feel without all the support he's gotten in his hero-ing career. He's genuinely concerned for Danny.] [Danny notices the concern in Ben's expression. Ben seems to be about to say something, but Danny suddenly feels insecure about being pitied. He finally stands up, brushing himself off] DANNY: But like, I have friends, and plenty of tech they can use to help me out. I'm just the only...I guess I'm the only superpowered person willing to deal with fighting ghosts all the time, okay? Whatever! I've been at it for 2 years, I'm used to it. [Ben then adds something together in his head] BEN: Wait, have you never heard of me? Ben 10? DP: Wow! Humble! BEN: No, seriously! Never? Have you ever seen any aliens? DANNY: Uh, no? BEN: Where are you from? DANNY: Colorado. BEN: I've saved the world, like, several times. [DANNY and DP raise an eyebrow each] BEN: Publicly!! People know about me! I'm a big deal!! This is--You guys aren't from here. I need to take you to the Plumbers, so we can-- [A portal powers up again. DANNY seems to suddenly remember something. He goes stiff] DANNY: Oh no. BEN: What? Is that the Ghost Portal? DANNY: Yeah. And you're about to meet the guy who punched me through it. [DP rejoins them to look at the threat] DP: Oh, now that you two have your shit figured out, I should mention I'm from another universe. BEN: WHAT! You said time travel! DP: Yeah, time travel gone horribly, horribly wrong. BEN: How??? I've time travelled a few times and never seen anyine mess it up that bad. DANNY: Yeah since when does time travel take you to other universes? DP: OH SO WE'RE ALL TIME TRAVEL EXPERTS HERE ARE WE??? I'm not telling you two how to live YOUR lives! DP: How about I start bragging about being a superhero expert! Neither of you even know what an X-man *IS!* BEN: Like from the comics? [DP looks at Ben. He won't say it out loud but his expression says "WHAT THE FUCK DUDE"] [BEN shrugs]

[time to get DISJOINTED!!! Here's 2 comic transcripts]

...[some fighting I havent written yet]...

DP: DANNY WHY IS YOUR GHOST DAD SO HOT?? DANNY: HE'S NOT MY DAD. PLEASE DON'T CALL HIM THAT, IT'S A WHOLE *THING* WITH HIM-- [VLAD beams] VLAD: Now, Daniel, is that any way to speak to your father?? DANNY: SEE?! Now he'll never shut up about it! VLAD: I've had enough of your sass, young man! You're GROUNDED. [VLAD spikes Danny into the ground HARD.] [DP is pissed off now. He reaches for his katanas.] DP: Ok I get the picture.

...[more unwritten fighting]...

VLAD: Well, now that I have your undivided attention-- [DANNY has just been punched into the ground. He's sitting up, now] DANNY: --You can start the evil monologue. Joy. VLAD: Evil is such a reductive word. Don't you ever get tired of being beaten half to death to protect people that couldn't care less if you lived or died? [DANNY stands up, with some difficulty] DANNY: You *would* think having a conscience is exhausting. [VLAD is taking a lazy step towards Danny every few moments] VLAD: ...Have you noticed where we are, Daniel? VLAD: Because it isn't Amity Park. It's not even in the same universe as Amity Park. VLAD: And it's not anywhere your idiot father will ever bother finding, seeing as it has nothing whatsoever to do with ghosts. [VLAD is standing over Danny, now] VLAD: Do you know what that means, my boy? VLAD: Nothing I do here can spoil my reputation. VLAD: And none of your little friends are coming to save you. [VLAD places a hand on Danny's shoulder, gripping too tight] VLAD: So VLAD: I'm going to make you the same offer I made you the night of the reunion VLAD: One. Last. Time. VLAD: Either abandon Jack and let me teach you how to really use your powers, [VLAD summons some ghostly energy between his hand and Danny's shoulder] VLAD: Or force me to make poor, dear Maddie file a missing person's report that will never be resolved.

[wow direct segue into comic!]

..[just a tad more unwritten fighting]...

[Vlad has Ben by the neck very far up in the air, and Ben is frantically pressing his Omnitrix] VLAD: [cackles] Goodness, I think your powers might be even more tempermental than Daniel's! It's a little sad, honestly. I was looking forward to a real challenge for once. DP: [on the ground, a distance away] Superpowers shmuperpowers [cocks gun, and fires a couple of shots at Vlad] [Vlad was watching DP talk, unimpressed. He becomes intangible, clearly no longer interested in Ben, allowing him to plummet to his death] [After becoming tangible again, and without breaking eye contact, in a flash of pink energy, Vlad is right in front of Deadpool, and violently pins him to a wall] DP: AWH, you can teleport?! That's not even fair!! VLAD: [close to Deadpools face, crushing his neck harder] No. It isn't. And that's just how I like it. DP: [choking] [thinking] don't say harder daddy don't say harder daddy don't say harder daddy [cut to Ben falling through the air, desperately, repeatedly smacking the Omnitrix] BEN: PLEASE WORK PLEASE WORK PL-- [Danny swoops in and catches him] BEN: [clinging to Danny, obviously spooked but trying to be cool] Thanks! DANNY: [amused] Don't mention it. [Danny puts Ben down on the ground] BEN: Um..where are your legs? DANNY: Oh, they uh...they just do that sometimes. DANNY: Is something wrong with your watch? BEN: [glares at the Omnitrix] It just does this, sometimes. [Danny sees something coming] DANNY: Well you'd better fix it fast! [Ben looks up just as Danny turns them both intangible, seconds before Deadpool is sent hurtling through them and into the ground] [BEN is grinning, watching his hands as they turn re-tangible] BEN: That is SO COOL! I've only ever gotten to do that to myself! Y'know, as an alien! [DANNY was looking at DP's crater, but turns to BEN, surprised at the genuine enthusiasm] DANNY: [maybe blushing a little?] Uh, thanks! [BEN grins at him, and Danny smiles back. They're cute.] [Deadpool's hand pops out of the crater, waving (flailing)...reassuringly?] DP: Don't worry about me, all he did was break [groans] most of my bones. [Danny grabs Ben and pulls him out of the way before Vlad fires an energy blast at Deadpool] VLAD: Still think you can manage without superpowers? [DP sits up painfully and slowly, and coughs] DP: Ac-- [Vlad hits him with a copious amount of energy blasts for an unnecessarily long time as he slowly lowers to the ground] [When Vlad lands and stops firing, he turns around to face Danny and Ben] VLAD: Where were we, Daniel? [Danny is horrified. He's gripping a fistful of Ben's shirt like his life depends on it, expecting to have to save him a third time. Ben is a bit shaken but still determined, and holds his hand at the ready over the Omnitrix] VLAD: ...That was rhetorical, my boy. I had just asked you a very simple question. VLAD: [turning his gaze to Ben] And I don't want to repeat myself. [Ben is not quite picking up on Vlad's thinly veiled threat. Danny, bug-eyed, follows Vlad's gaze to Ben, and is clearly absolutely terrified to be responsible for the deaths of two people he just met. Danny tightens his grip on Ben's shirt.] DANNY: ...I-- [a gunshot hits Vlad from behind. Vlad is completely shocked] [behind him, DEADPOOL is sitting up in the crater, charred to all hell but somehow still alive. He appears to only have one (barely) functioning arm left, which is holding the smoking gun] DP: I never said I didn't have any superpowers, jackass. [DP narrows his eyes] DP: I just like guns. [DP tries to shoot VLAD a few more times, but VLAD has turned intangible, and flies to a safer distance] Vlads gonna say some shit and run off Im not done yet but hoo boy. Oh man.

[idiot-cheesehead-archenemy]

Resistance

My truce gift for @kinglazrus! They asked for Electric Core AU and Clockwork Teaching/Training Danny, which seemed to go together pretty well so I used both. (They also asked for Danny in College but I have no idea what being in an American college is like so … he’s in high school.) Hope you enjoy!

CW for transphobic bullying

Summary: 

Danny struggles to control his new electricity powers, among other things.

Word count: 9069

Also on AO3

Danny took a deep breath and raised his hand. Slowly, he reached forward, his entire body tense. He knew what was going to happen, but he tried nevertheless to hold on. Inch by inch his hand grew closer to the object in front of him. He wasn’t breathing now. Finally, he made contact, a single fingertip touching the cold metal. All at once he felt the rush of energy leaving his body, and he swore loudly. 

“This isn’t working,” Danny said, turning back to Clockwork. 

“You knew this would take time, Danny. Don’t give up yet.”

“I’m not giving up, I’m just being realistic. Whatever I’m doing, it’s not working. We’re just wasting …” Danny remembered where he was and shook his head. “Whatever, you know what I mean.” 

“I know this is frustrating for you, but if you keep practicing, I’m sure you’ll -”

“Stop saying that!” For a second, Danny’s entire body was alive with energy. The brightness of the glow and the loudness of the buzzing, whining tone were unpleasant, but those sensations paled in comparison to the fire that raced through his veins and over his skin. As soon as he realized what was happening, Danny’s eyes widened, and he placed his hand on the metal pole beside him to discharge the energy. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, “I didn’t mean -”

“It’s alright.” Clockwork hadn’t reacted in the slightest, of course. It would take a lot to phase someone who could see the whole of time. Danny sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. 

“It’s just that I don’t think the problem is that I’m not trying hard enough. I think I’m just trying to do the impossible by changing the way electricity behaves. I’m fighting against the laws of physics, here.” Clockwork raised an eyebrow but made no comment. Danny rolled his eyes. “Ok, yes, I know ghosts have a … looser relationship with physics in general, but, evidently, electrons still flow from negatively charged substances -” he gestured at himself “- to positively charged ones -” he gestured to the metal pole. “And I can’t change that. It’s not like my ecto-energy where I can control what it does.” 

“No, the electricity isn’t like your ecto-energy,” Clockwork said, “it is your ecto-energy. It is one of the forms your energy can take.” 

“But it’s not ecto-energy, right? It’s electricity. As in, moving electrons. I can’t control electrons.” 

“No? Why not?”

“Because … I don’t know. I just can’t.”

“You have an electricity core, Danny. Controlling electrons is precisely what your core allows you to do.”

“If that’s true, then why doesn’t the electricity do what I want?” 

“It does.” Clockwork saw that Danny was about to object and raised a hand. “Or, at least, it does what you expect it to do. It’s following instructions that you’ve subconsciously given it. You need to acknowledge that you have control so that you can consciously issue different commands.” Danny huffed.  

“Listen, Clockwork, it’s not that I don’t believe you. You are, by all accounts, the expert here. But, I don’t know, maybe there’s something wrong with me. I’ve been trying, and I’m telling you that I can’t control this.”

“You already do.” Clockwork gestured toward Danny, who looked down at himself and saw that his hairs were standing on end. Of course they were, because he was getting upset again, which meant his body was building up a charge again. He wondered idly whether he took on a negative charge with negative emotions and a positive charge with positive emotions. Probably not, he decided. Somehow he suspected that it was always negative. 

“Ok, so I can, what, summon electricity? Or turn my ecto-energy into electricity? I don’t know what this proves.”

Clockwork sighed. “No, I suppose you don’t. I think we can call it for today. Please think about what I’ve said. Once you accept that you are in control, everything will be so much easier. But you have to truly believe it.” 

“You sound like a fortune cookie. Are you still talking about my powers or is this just general life advice?” Danny was being sarcastic, but Clockwork just smiled warmly and said,

“Perhaps it’s both.” 

***

Danny wasn’t listening to the teacher. He had been earlier, he was pretty sure. She’d been talking about Ulysses S. Grant, but then he’d tried to remember where he’d heard the name Ulysses before. He thought it was someone in Greek mythology, but, no, that was Odysseus. Was Ulysses short for Odysseus? Did ancient Greek people even have nicknames? Then he’d realized that he wasn’t paying attention so he tried to pay attention again, but now he was just thinking about how he hadn’t been paying attention and he’d probably missed something important and this kept happening and he wasn’t sure why because he’d been getting more sleep lately because the local ghost activity was way down and he didn’t feel like he needed to be out patrolling every night and he kind of wondered whether Clockwork had anything to do with that but he didn’t dare say anything because if Clockwork was somehow responsible then he was definitely breaking some rules and it was probably best to keep quiet about it just in case and if he wasn’t responsible then he would probably be offended by the implication so it was best not to say anything regardless and Danny still wasn’t paying attention so he tried to focus on what the teacher was saying but for some reason the words just slid past him and it almost seemed like the harder he tried to focus the less it worked because he was just thinking about whether or not he was paying attention and noticing that he wasn’t and then thinking about how important it was that he pay attention because he knew he wasn’t going to go over this again outside of class and even if he did it would be more difficult to learn from a book than from the teacher so this was the best time to learn the material which he could only do if he stopped tuning out and thinking about other things which really shouldn’t be that hard. 

Science was easier. They all went to a computer lab and spent the period playing what could generously be called a game. It involved breaking apart molecules and building new ones to mimic what happened during chemical reactions. It wasn’t the most interesting stuff, but it didn’t demand too much mental exertion, and when he made a mistake he just got a message telling him to try again. Plus, the teacher couldn’t watch the whole class at once, which gave him the opportunity to check the local news for potential ghost activity. He didn’t expect any, and there wasn’t any, as far as he could tell, but it never hurt to be too aware. Well, it probably did, but he wasn’t worried about it, anyway. While Danny was looking at the news, another student got sent to the principal’s office for going to a website that should really have been blocked on the school internet. Danny went back to building molecules until the bell rang for lunch. 

Danny bought some quote-meatloaf-unquote and a soda and went to his usual spot. Sam was already there, eating a vegetarian dish she’d brought from home with her own biodegradable cutlery. He smiled when he sat down and asked Sam how she was. Pretty good, apparently; she was getting a think piece published in an online paper about local environmental issues. Danny told Sam that he was happy for her, and so did Tucker when he joined them. Then Tucker turned to Danny and asked,

“How’s your training going? Can you shoot lightning bolts out of your eyes yet?” Danny’s smile dropped a bit. Sam tutted.

“Dude, could you lay on the pressure a little thicker? I think Danny is feeling too good about himself.” Tucker seemed to notice Danny’s expression, then, and he smiled sheepishly. 

“Oh, uh, I meant, ‘how’s your training going? It’s totally ok if you haven’t gotten the hang of your electricity powers yet.’” Danny laughed weakly.

“Don’t worry about it, man. Yeah, no gains yet, but it’s …” Mentally and emotionally draining? “It’s just a slow process, I guess. Right now it seems like all I can do is build up a really strong static charge and then discharge it as soon as I’m grounded. If I could hold on to the energy and release it on-command that could be useful, so that’s kind of what I’m working on.” Sam was nodding.

“That’s definitely something, Danny. Even if you can only use it in close-combat, a strong enough jolt could knock a lot of people out in one shot.”

“Not that we know exactly how a ghost will respond to it,” Tucker added. “Ghosts might not be that susceptible to electricity, and even if they are, some ghosts are probably resistant, especially if they have an electric core, too, so …” Danny and Sam were both looking at him with slightly confused expressions. “What? I’m just saying, there’s no pressure. Whatever happens with your powers, we all need to make sure we stay sharp. Always have a backup plan and such.” 

“Yeah,” Danny said, “that’s true.” You probably shouldn’t rely on me. “I probably shouldn’t put so much pressure on myself.” He started cutting up the ambiguous-meat-based loaf on his plate with a plastic fork. “It would be nice to shoot lightning bolts, though,” he said wistfully. There was a slightly awkward silence before Sam said,

“Did you guys hear they’re remaking The Bride of Death?” Danny and Tucker both groaned.

“Of all of Karlos Harstin’s classic horror movies,” Tucker said, “that’s the one that needs a remake? Really?” Danny shook his head. 

“Why are they remaking all these sixties flicks, anyway? Who is asking for these?”

“I don’t know,” Sam said with a shrug. “I think they could do it well. Give the bride more agency, for one thing. I mean, the movie is named after her and what does she do in the original? Nothing; she’s a sexy lamp. I, for one, am looking forward to a more modern take.”

“But why not just make a modern movie?” Danny asked. “Why not have a new character and a new story and actually do something inventive?” 

“Because they need to sell tickets.” Tucker nodded.

“It’s always about money.” 

“Capitalism ruins everything,” Danny said with a scowl. Sam smirked. 

“Are you just figuring that out now?”

Tucker started to ask, “So, who’s directing -” but then he apparently noticed something behind Danny’s head and frowned. Danny followed Tucker’s gaze and realized what he was looking at just as Tucker was saying, “Ugh, Dash alert.” Danny quickly turned around, hoping Dash hadn’t noticed him, but it was clear he and Kwan were already walking toward them.

“Don’t engage,” Sam whispered. Danny nodded slightly, focusing on his food as he heard two sets of footsteps approach and then stop right behind him.  

“Aww, Kwan, look - it always warms my heart to see the losers huddling together for warmth in this cold uncaring world. It’s so sweet that you guys think that being friends with each other will make it any less likely that you’ll all die alone in a ditch.”

“Well, probably not Sam, because her family has a lot of money,” Kwan said. 

“I guess that’s true. Is that why you guys hang out with this goth freak? Is she paying you to be her friends?” Danny saw Sam rolling her eyes, and he smiled. “I bet she pays you to do all sorts of things. Tell me, do you guys both fuck her at once or do you take turns?” The trio all kept their eyes down. “That embarrassing, huh? She must be into the really weird shit.” 

Danny felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder, but he kept still. “Come on, Fenton, give us the deets.”  After another few seconds of silence, Dash knocked on the top of Danny’s head. “Hey, we’re talking to you, Fentina.” 

Danny tensed. Immediately, Tucker was saying,

“Whoa! Not cool, dude,” while Sam said,

“Uh, transphobic much?” 

Danny was glad his friends were there to defend him, but in this exact moment he wished they had just stayed quiet. He really didn’t want to make a scene. He tried to subtly shake his head, but they were both focused on Dash.

“What did you just call me?” Dash’s voice was quiet, and it sounded like he was giving them a chance to back down. Danny shook his head more insistently. Sam opened her mouth to answer, but then looked at Danny, who was silently pleading with her to drop it. She huffed and then looked back at Dash. 

“I said, just leave us alone, Dash. Go eat your lunch.” Danny held his breath during the silence that followed. Finally, Dash scoffed. 

“Fine, but not because you told me to.” Danny rolled his eyes even as he let out a sigh of relief. Dash and Kwan both walked past the table. Kwan stopped for a second and let Dash get ahead before turning and quietly saying, 

“Sorry, Danny.” Then he caught up with Dash as they made their way to the cool kid’s table. The trio all watched them go, and once they were out of earshot, Sam started angrily stabbing at her salad with her fork. 

“Ugh, I wish I could just … ugh!” Her knuckles were white. “He shouldn’t be able to get away with saying whatever he wants.” Tucker was looking at Danny.

“You ok, man?” Danny took an unsteady breath instead of answering. Now that Dash wasn’t breathing down his neck, the cold fear that had filled him a few seconds ago was quickly being replaced with a hot anger that had his skin tingling and his hair standing on end. He was gripping his fork at least as tightly as Sam was gripping hers, which he realized when the thin plastic snapped in his fist. He reflexively turned his hand intangible before the sharp edges could cut him. Sam was looking at him, too, now, with a concerned expression that matched Tucker’s. With some effort, Danny smiled.

“Yeah, I’m good. I mean, who cares what Dash says? He’s Dash. Fuck that guy, right?” Danny idly picked up half of the broken fork and turned it over in his hands. “He’s gonna peak when he’s twenty-four and I’m gonna … go to space or something. Change the face of astrophysics. I don’t know. I’ll have a good half a century when I’m living my best life and he’s desperately trying to fill the void with food and sex. So he can have his fun now.” 

Danny realized that Sam and Tucker were staring at his hands. He looked down and saw that the plastic fork was blackened and partially melted. He looked back at Sam and Tucker, who’s expressions were both now somewhere between concern and fear. Sam was the first to speak.

“I appreciate destructive post-modern art as much as the next girl, but maybe there’s a better time and place?” 

“Yeah, dude,” Tucker added. “I get it, but what if someone saw?” He punctuated this by looking around to the other tables, none of whom were apparently interested in the trio. 

 “Right, yeah, I’m …” Danny felt like he should apologize, but he wasn’t sure what to apologize for. He sighed and picked up the other half of the broken fork before standing up. “I’m gonna get a new fork.” Sam and Tucker glanced at one another, but said nothing as Danny walked away. 

***

Danny was staring out his bedroom window and trying not to think about anything when heard a quiet knock. 

“Yeah?” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Danny saw Jazz open the door and poke her head in. He was sitting in the middle of his bed with his arms wrapped around his knees. Jazz stepped slowly into the room. 

“How are you doing, little brother?” Danny continued staring out his window for a moment before looking at her. 

“Well, I’m afraid to touch my phone, my computer, or my playstation, so, uh. Bored.” She made a face that Danny recognized as a combination of disappointment and concern. Everybody seemed to be concerned lately. Danny didn’t like that, but he had to admit, even if only to himself, that they had good reasons. 

“Have you tried reading a book? Maybe doing some homework?” 

“I …” He had, in fact, but he couldn’t really focus on it. He kept getting up to do other things, or he would just stare at the page and not do anything. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to do it - he didn’t, but that wasn’t the issue. He just couldn’t get into the right frame of mind to sit down and work. Normally, he did his homework either late at night or in the morning before school, since he spent most of his time ghost hunting. As a result, he was usually too tired to get distracted. With the recent lack of ghost activity, he actually had time to do homework after school, but he couldn’t take advantage of the time because he apparently was incapable of doing any work during the day. 

He wondered, not for the first time, whether Jazz’s psychology obsession might actually be able to help him. He certainly felt messed up enough. Not that he would ever tell her as much; it wouldn’t be fair to put that on her. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’ll get started on my homework.” 

“That’s good. And don’t get too worried about your powers, ok? You dealt with all of your ghost powers coming in at once somehow, so I’m sure you can handle all this new electricity stuff.” Danny nodded and didn’t say that he was well aware of that and it made him feel like an idiot that he was struggling so much with something he would have been able to handle easily a year and a half ago. “Actually,” Jazz said, “about your powers …” Danny tilted his head to the side as Jazz averted her gaze. “Uhm, it’s not a big deal, but I found scorch marks around the outlet by the kitchen table. I’m guessing that was you?” It was Danny’s turn to look away sheepishly. He nodded. 

He’d been planning to do homework in the kitchen, so he’d brought his computer and charger down. When he plugged the charger into the wall, it started sparking and burning. Thank goodness the other end hadn’t been plugged into his computer. With his hands carefully covered by a dish towel, Danny had removed the charger - now probably ruined - and quickly brought it and his computer back into his room. He hadn’t even thought about the damage to the wall. 

“Ok, like I said, not a big deal, I get it, but, if it happens again, can you clean the scorch marks off? If mom and dad see that, they’ll want to know what happened, and, you know. There’s no easy explanation.” Danny nodded again.

“Yeah, sorry, will do.” 

“Ok, thanks. The outlet still works, by the way, so we’re good there.” She stepped back into the hall. Before closing the door she added, “And good luck with your homework. Let me know if I can help.” Danny smiled.

“Yeah, thanks.” Jazz smiled back as she closed the door. Danny sighed and looked over at his desk where his math textbook was still sitting open.

***

“No, I haven’t made any progress,” Danny said as he crossed his arms. “I don’t even know what progress would look like. Apparently all I need to do to control my powers is believe harder, and that doesn’t seem like something I can practice. What do you want me to do? Believe six impossible things before breakfast?” 

“It was merely a question.” Danny scoffed.

“A question you already knew the answer to, because you know everything.”

“Yes.” Danny rolled his eyes. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

“You didn’t …” Danny glared at the floor. “I mean, it’s a lot of things, I don’t know. I feel like you’re putting a lot on me, but also, like, these powers are ruining my life because I basically can’t touch things anymore. I keep melting things or setting them on fire when I’m not careful. So that’s kind of a lot. And I’m definitely freaking out my friends and Jazz but I have no idea what to do to make them think I’m ok because, you know, I’m really not, but it’s not something they can help with. And I’m stressed about school. And I still have to deal with any ghosts that try to start shit in Amity. And Dash all but misgendered me at lunch the other day and I really want to just kick his teeth in which I know is bad but it doesn’t even matter because I can’t because if I tried anything I’d probably end up electrocuting him.” Danny looked back up at Clockwork, who’s expression had softened.

“I’m sorry. Of course you’re going through a lot right now. You know I can’t interfere, but I do care, and I am here for you. If you want to talk …” Danny shook his head.

“I don’t really think talking helps.” Clockwork hesitated for a few moments, but at last he nodded. 

“Very well. Let’s focus on getting control of your electricity powers, then. The last thing anyone wants is for you to hurt somebody.” Danny chuckled.

“Can’t have me turning evil, right? The Observants would probably dock your pay for that.” Clockwork smiled.

“I find your consistent misunderstanding of my relationship with the Observants endlessly entertaining.”

“That’s good, because I have no intention of learning.” Danny was very aware of the fact that Clockwork hadn’t dismissed his comment about turning evil. He tried not to read into that. Clockwork gestured forward. 

“Shall we?” 

They flew to the ‘training room’ Clockwork had put together two weeks ago when Danny had first asked him to help with his new electricity powers. It was basically just an empty stone room with a few objects strewn about as targets or obstacles, some conductive and some not. The arrangement of the room suggested that Clockwork had intended for Danny to stand in the centre of the room and try to hit the targets at range, but it had become clear very quickly that ranged attacks were well outside of his ability. Danny had spent pretty much the entirety of their first session just getting to a point where he could consistently produce a charge, and their second session simply trying to hold on to his charge while he was grounded. The latter hadn’t exactly been successful.  

Clockwork stopped in the middle of the room and turned back to Danny. “I want to do something different today.” Danny was relieved to hear that, but he tried not to show it. “Before you can control how your electricity behaves, you need to feel that it is your electricity. You need to believe that it is something you do, rather than something that happens to you. To that end, I want you to try summoning electricity intentionally without relying on your emotions. You should be able to remain perfectly calm while creating a charge.” 

Danny took a deep breath. That sounded good, if difficult. He’d more or less gotten the hang of working himself up until he could feel the electricity, but he’d suspected that wasn’t the best way to do this. He still wasn’t sure about this ‘believing he was in control’ business, but surely, if he could remain calm while using his powers, then he’d have an easier time controlling them. It made sense that his emotions would get in the way and keep him from focusing the way he needed to. 

Of course, it was easy to say that, but he still had to figure out how to draw on his electricity powers. They didn’t feel the same as his regular ghost powers. The electricity, if Clockwork was right, ultimately came from his core, but it wasn’t as simple as drawing energy from his core as he usually did. There was an extra step that needed to happen to turn that core energy into electricity, a step which had only ever happened unconsciously before. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what it felt like when he got angry or frustrated and recreate that feeling without actually becoming angry or frustrated. It was about as impossible as he expected. 

“It’s alright. Do what you need to do to summon the electricity, and, as you do, focus on what’s happening in your body.” Danny nodded and took another breath as he thought about Dash. It was an easy go-to to get himself angry. He remembered various taunts and insults that Dash had thrown his way in the past year. He had become less physical lately, probably because Danny had handed him his ass one too many times with the help of his ghost powers, but the words had only gotten worse since then. Danny felt the familiar buzzing, and he tried to focus on that.

He felt the prickling heat throughout his body, but he had no idea where it was coming from. The buzzing, tingling sensation seemed to mostly be on the surface of his skin, and especially in his hands. Did that mean it was coming from his hands? He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. The tingling disappeared first, while the heat remained. So, then, the electricity must come from deeper in his body. But as he relaxed, he found that the feeling simply faded away. When he started thinking about Dash again, the heat returned, but it didn’t seem to come from anywhere in particular. He opened his eyes and shook his head. 

“I don’t know. It’s just … It all just happens at once. It definitely doesn’t feel like I’m doing anything.” 

“And is that different from all of your other powers?” Danny considered. Certainly, some of his powers did happen reflexively on occasion, and they had done so much more when he first got them. 

“I used to go intangible a lot without meaning to. I don’t think it was ever tied to my emotions, but it definitely wasn’t intentional.”

“And how did you learn to control that?”

“I’m not … really sure? It was kind of trial and error. Now I just do it, same as flying or, I don’t know, breathing. It’s like a muscle I can flex. But early on … I remember trying to - and don’t laugh - to just think intangible thoughts. Like, I would try to picture myself being intangible.” Clockwork didn’t laugh, but then, he so rarely did. 

“And what happens when you picture yourself using your electricity powers?” Danny shrugged. “Why don’t we try that?” Danny dutifully closed his eyes and pictured himself summoning electricity, his body glowing and crackling with energy. 

They spent an hour or two like that, alternating between Danny summoning electricity with his emotions and trying to do so with his mind. By the end of it, he was feeling as frustrated and disappointed as ever, but Clockwork reminded him that it had taken over a month of practice to get his other powers under control. 

“Yeah,” Danny sighed, “I guess. But I feel like it should be easier now than it was then. I should be better at this because I’ve done it before.” 

“Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. This is new, and there’s no reason for you to be especially good at it or to improve especially quickly.” 

“But I could, right? If I just believed that I could?” Clockwork inclined his head slightly.

“More easily said than done, I gather. But yes.” Danny gritted his teeth as he smiled.

“Cool.” 

“I think we can put this particular exercise on hold for now. Was there anything else you wanted to do or discuss?” Danny shook his head. “Are you certain? I know you don’t want to talk about everything, but if there’s anything I can do to support you, all you need do is ask.” 

“I know, and that’s really cool of you, but …” But I don’t even know what to ask for. But I feel like you’d just be wasting your time on a lost cause. But I’m afraid of what would happen if I did ask for help. “But I’ll be okay.” 

Clockwork was silent for a long time, and Danny imagined that he was scanning possible futures to see whether there would be any horrible consequences if he let Danny just walk out. Clockwork had explained once that timelines involving beings who existed outside of time, including himself, were much harder to see and much less certain than most. Considering how much Clockwork interacted with him, Danny wondered whether his timeline was still visible at all. When the silence started to get uncomfortable, Danny said,

“Really, I’ll be okay. And I promise to let you know if that changes.” After another moment, Clockwork finally nodded. 

“Then I will see you in a week.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a week. You’ll see me right now, because time doesn’t exist here.”

“No, that’s still not how that works.” Danny rolled his eyes. “But, if it makes you happy, then yes, I’ll see you right now.” Danny smiled again, more genuinely this time. 

“See you then.” 

***

 Danny had a math test on Wednesday, which meant that he couldn’t think about anything on Tuesday. For the past two weeks, he’d been telling himself that he still had time, but now he didn’t and he wasn’t prepared. History and science passed in a blur. At the end of each class he had about a page of notes and absolutely no memory of writing them. Tucker tried to help him study during lunch, the two of them sitting alone in a stairwell. Unfortunately, Tucker was a lot better at math than he was at teaching. By the third step of an explanation, Danny had already lost the thread. When he got the wrong answers on practice questions, Tucker couldn’t understand where he had gone wrong or why. At one point, a small group of people walked past them, and one of them made a comment about Danny and Tucker’s sexualities, and then another made a comment about Danny’s genitals and wondered aloud whether that made a difference, and the group continued discussing it as they walked away. Tucker yelped at the electric shock he received through the floor. Danny thanked Tucker for trying to help but said he’d rather keep studying alone. 

After lunch was math, which thankfully was a review period. Danny was somewhat comforted by the fact that a lot of people in class had a lot of questions, many of them the same questions that he had. The answers the teacher gave made sense, but then it always made sense in class. He had his pages of practice open in front of him and he wrote on them in pen explaining what he had done wrong and what he should have done. He wrote a lot of exact quotes of what the teacher said. He wasn’t sure it would be enough. When they did practice questions in class he was still getting wrong answers. He didn’t understand why. The teacher would say something and Danny would write it down and then ten minutes later he would be looking at the question and not remember what they’d just talked about. He did get some right, though. He wasn’t sure whether it was luck or skill, but he got some questions right and he had to hold on to that. The test would be worth fifteen percent and that seemed like a lot all at once. Danny knew that being stressed wouldn’t help and he would hate himself if he failed because he was too stressed to focus on that one day.  So he tried to figure out how to do the questions he didn’t understand and to remind himself that he did know some of this and based on the questions other people were asking he probably was doing better than some people and that was a good thing and he just had to relax and trust that he was smart enough to pass because if he didn’t relax then it wouldn’t even matter how smart he was and he wasn’t exactly sure how to relax so he just tried to breathe deeply and hoped that was close enough. 

Gym wasn’t great, but gym was never great. Danny was a lot stronger and more coordinated in ghost form than human. They had recently started their football unit, which was a blessing in disguise as the coach was almost entirely focused on the students who were on the football team, leaving the rest of the class to devote as much or as little effort as they wanted to the class. Danny was barely aware of what he was doing as he practiced throwing and catching with a partner. He overextended his arm a lot and every time he felt a pang in his elbow, but he wasn’t too worried about it because his ghost powers made him an impossibly fast healer. By this time tomorrow his arm would be perfectly fine and ready for him to wreck it again. He knew that if he just threw the ball properly then he wouldn’t have to deal with the pain. He didn’t want to hurt his arm. So he should probably just stop overextending it. He knew how to; the coach had gone over it at the beginning of class. Danny threw the ball back to his partner and winced. 

***

“We’re only bringing this up because we’re worried about you.”

“Yeah, I know.” Danny didn’t make eye contact with his parents, who were sitting on the couch across from him. He was sat cross-legged on a chair, staring at the blank TV screen. He’d been watching some mindless made-for-TV drama flick until a few minutes ago when his parents had turned it off and said they wanted to talk. 

“Can you tell us anything about what’s going on?” his father asked, his voice and eyes pleading. Danny understood their concern, of course, but what could he tell them? That he was frustrated because he couldn’t control his new ghost powers? He didn’t imagine that going over well. He shook his head.

“It’s really nothing. I’m sorry if I worried you, but I’m fine.” His father shook his head.

“Danny, it’s obvious you aren’t fine. Please. Is something happening at school? Are you being bullied?”

“No, of course not. I would tell you. That’s what you do, right? ‘Always tell an adult,’ or whatever?”

“Is it drugs?” his mother asked. Danny rolled his eyes.

“No, mom, I can absolutely promise you that I am not now doing nor will I ever do drugs. I’m not an idiot.”

“Sometimes smart people make mistakes, Danny. We want you to feel comfortable enough to come to us if you do make a mistake.” Yeah, actually there was this pretty big mistake involving the ghost portal … He sighed. 

“Of course I do, mom. You guys have always been supportive, and I know you’ll love me no matter what.” As long as you still believe that I’m me, and not some ghost pretending to be your son. “Please believe that I would tell you if something was going on.” His parents looked at each other for what felt like a very long time. Then his mother looked back at him and smiled, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

“Ok, Danny. But just … just talk to us, ok? Whatever’s going on, good or bad, we want to hear about it.” 

“We want to be a part of your life,” his father added. Danny did feel guilty for shutting them out, but he knew it had to be done. He wanted to believe that they would accept him as a half-ghost, but … well, but he didn’t. 

“You are a part of my life,” he said, chuckling slightly. “I mean, family, friends, school, that’s pretty much all I’ve got going on. By my math, you guys and Jazz are like, an entire third of my life. I’m not sure I can give you much more than that.” 

“Speaking of which,” his mother began, her tone still serious. Danny sighed again. “How is school going? Your grades dropped a lot when you started high school. Are you getting the help you need? Are things getting any easier?” Danny shrugged as he looked at the carpet.

“Yeah, I guess? It was just the workload, you know? I wasn’t prepared for it.” Somehow he hadn’t anticipated that he would have to deal with dying and then becoming a superhero at the same time as he was adjusting to high school. “I think this year will be better. I’m starting to … find my rhythm, or something.” 

“You’re getting your homework done every night?” Danny cringed, but he covered it with another shrug.

“Yeah, I mean, most of it is optional, anyway. Like, we usually go over everything in class, and the homework is just if you need more practice.” Admittedly, that was true for his math and science classes, so he was only half-lying. He also conveniently left out the detail that he absolutely could use the extra practice. His father smiled brightly.

“Ha! So you’re too smart to need their dumb homework. That’s my boy!” His mother frowned.

“I would feel better if you did the homework, even if you don’t think you need to. Practice never hurt anyone.” Danny almost laughed as he recalled how often he and his friends had gotten hurt when he practiced using his powers in the months after he got them. It wasn’t really funny, though. 

“Yeah, I’ll try. Are we done here? Not to be rude, but I was kind of watching TV.” His mother sighed and his father nodded.

“I think we’re done, right Madds? Just remember that you can talk to us about anything that’s bothering you. Especially if it’s ghosts.” He suddenly squinted his eyes. “You aren’t being bothered by ghosts, are you son?” If only you knew. “Because you know your old man could take care of that problem, no … problem.”

“No, dad, I don’t have a ghost problem.” Danny reached for the remote, but hesitated for a moment, partially to decide whether he should say something else and partially to let the tingling in his fingertips subside. The remote was covered in plastic, but he’d learned the hard way that that wasn’t always enough. After a second, he added, “And thanks for reaching out. I know you guys just want what’s best for me. I love you.” His parents both smiled. His father said,

“Anytime, son.” His mother nodded and said,

“We love you, too, sweetie.” Danny smiled back at them for a moment, but he found that he had to look away. After a year and a half, he would have thought lying to them would come naturally, but it still made his stomach twist and his eyes sting. 

***

Danny thought that the math test went alright, which possibly meant that his last-minute studying had paid off and possibly meant that he was so unprepared that he couldn’t even tell when he didn’t know the answers. He wanted to believe he was just being pessimistic, but considering how often he’d gotten wrong answers on the practice questions when he thought he was doing them correctly, it seemed at least as likely as not that he had bombed the test. Or maybe he’d performed completely middlingly. He wouldn’t know for at least a few days. That wasn’t going to stop him from worrying about it. Luckily, he also had a history paper due in less than two weeks, so he figured he could switch things up and worry about that when he got tired of worrying about his math grade. 

Gym class managed to distract him pretty well as they were now learning plays, which meant a lot of moving around and paying attention to where other people were and hand-eye coordination. He was pretty bad at it, and he got some comments to that effect from other students, but he was used to that. 

The football team had practice on the field right after school, and several of the team members arrived a few minutes before the bell. The coach was already completely distracted, so Danny decided he didn’t need to stick around. He changed as quickly as he could in a bathroom stall and sprayed himself with too much body spray because he had long since learned not to shower at school when other students might walk in. He was walking out of the changeroom just as the bell rang, and he saw Dash walking toward him. He put his head down, but there was no way to avoid walking past him. Danny hoped that Dash would ignore him and just go into the changeroom, but when Danny turned down a side hallway, he heard footsteps behind him. 

“Leave me alone, Dash. Don’t you have to get to practice?” 

“Oh, I’ve always got time to make your life harder, Fenton.” Danny rolled his eyes and kept walking. “Hey, how is gym going for you, anyway? You look like such a scrawny piece of shit, I can’t imagine you’re acing the class. Which is funny, because you want to be an astronaut, don’t you? You know that astronauts have to be in shape, right? As in, a shape other than a stick.”

“‘Stick’ isn’t really a shape.” 

“Yeah, that’s what I just said, isn’t it? Jesus, are you deaf, too?”

“Whatever.” Danny was at his locker, now. He turned his body to hide the fact that he opened the door by briefly making the lock intangible. 

“Kind of makes me wonder what you’ll actually end up doing for money once you realize your dreams are stupid. Maybe you’ll join the freak family business with your useless dad and weirdly hot mom.” That one got Danny to look up.

“What was that about my mom?” Dash laughed as he leaned casually against the lockers.

“Oh, does that bother you?” Danny shrugged.

“Eh, not really. You’re not the first creep to have a thing for my mom.”

“Well, it’s no wonder. The poor woman doesn’t have real man in the house to look after her. Your dad’s a fucking joke, and you’re, well.” He looked Danny up and down in a way that made him deeply uncomfortable. “Huh. You know, you’ve kind of got her figure. If you hadn’t decided to be a dude, you probably would have looked just like her.” Danny was packing his bag, now, as quickly as he could. He hated everything about how this conversation was going and he could already feel the heat rising in his veins. “You’ve still got a pussy, though, don’t you? You know, I’ve got a couple ideas for how you could make money, if you want.” 

 What happened next seemed like the kind of thing that should happen in slow-motion, but, instead, it was all terrifyingly fast. 

Danny shoved the last book in his bag and slammed his locker shut. As soon as his hand touched the metal door, electricity was flowing out of him, through the wall of lockers, and into Dash’s back. Dash made no sound as he fell to the floor, his body completely limp. There was a slight whisp of smoke rising from his burned shirt. 

Danny was frozen in place for several seconds, staring at Dash’s body, praying that he would move, or make some noise, or something. Nothing happened. Soon enough, somebody would come looking for Dash, and Danny felt very strongly that he needed to not be here when they arrived. He locked his locker; somewhere in the back of his mind he thought that leaving it open would tie him to the scene, and closing it would give him plausible deniability. Then, without another look at Dash, he grabbed his backpack and ran. 

***

Danny was sitting outside of Clockwork’s castle and thinking. He might have killed someone. He couldn’t control his powers and now he might have killed someone. Dash was an awful person, but did he deserve to die? Actually, Danny didn’t have a good answer to that question. He wondered whether the world would be better without Dash. Then he felt guilty because even if that was the case, it wasn’t Danny’s place to decide who lived and who died. He had lost so much sleep worrying about becoming the kind of person who thought that they could decide who lived and who died simply because they had the power to do so, and now that Dash might be dead he found himself trying to justify his actions and he wondered whether it was already happening and he was already the person he had feared becoming and that terrified him but the idea that he might have just killed an innocent person for no reason simply because his powers were out of his control wasn’t much easier to palette because firstly that meant that he had killed an innocent person which was exactly the kind of thing that the kind of person he didn’t want to be would do and did it really matter why he killed them or whether or not he felt guilty about it when at the end of the day the person was still dead and all of the consequences of that would happen regardless of why he had done it or how he felt about it like all of Dash’s family and friends would be destroyed and all of them were innocent victims too so it wasn’t even just one person that he hurt but countless people in countless ways that he would never even know not that knowing would make it any better and secondly that meant that his powers were out of control and he thought he already knew that but he’d still been careless and acted like he could control them and he didn’t take any precautions and now it was too late and even if it wasn’t too late for Dash Danny still couldn’t avoid the fact that he could have killed someone because he couldn’t control his powers but he had no idea how to control his powers and he wasn’t sure that it was possible and that was really the worst part of all of this because it meant that this could happen again and Danny didn’t want it to happen again of course he didn’t but he remembered what Clockwork had told him that he really was in control but he was just controlling the power subconsciously and all he needed to do was believe that and he could bring that control to his conscious mind and Danny had wanted to believe that before but he couldn’t because it didn’t feel like he was in control but now it was worse because if he accepted that he was in control all along that he would have to accept that he had chosen to electrocute Dash and what really terrified him was that he couldn’t dismiss that possibility out of hand because of course he had wanted to electrocute Dash even if he would never ordinarily have done it and honestly even if he was right and Clockwork was wrong about his powers it was still true that Danny had felt the electricity inside himself and he had seen that Dash was leaning on the lockers and he had touched the metal door so he couldn’t even really say that what had happened had happened because he couldn’t control his power because he could certainly control what he touched and when and he had chosen to touch the locker at that moment which meant that he had chosen to electrocute Dash which meant that he was turning evil and he wanted to say that he didn’t want to be evil but of course he did because if he didn’t then he wouldn’t have done what he did and Danny could swear all day that he hadn’t wanted that to happen but if he really hadn’t wanted to kill Dash then he wouldn’t have but he did or at least he tried to so then Danny must really be evil even though he felt like he didn’t want to be evil and he had no idea what that meant and all he could think was that sooner or later he would probably just accept it and stop feeling guilty and when that happened he had no idea what he might do so he had to make sure that didn’t happen or Clockwork had to because wasn’t that the whole point of their arrangement that Clockwork was supposed to stop Danny from being evil or kill him if he did turn evil but he hadn’t done anything yet which might mean that there was still a chance for Danny or it might mean that Clockwork was just giving him time to process and make peace with what had happened before killing him or maybe Danny was just going to be stuck here in Clockwork’s castle forever where he couldn’t hurt anyone which wasn’t exactly a pleasant idea but he supposed it was better than him hurting people but then if he really believed that then maybe that meant that he really wasn’t evil at all because how could an evil person be willing to sacrifice themselves to save others but then how could a good person have electrocuted someone just because they were being a dick because that was exactly what Danny had done and actions spoke louder than words even the words in someone’s head.

Danny went through the same circular thoughts for what felt like hours, though of course in reality no time was passing. He wondered several times why Clockwork hadn’t come to see him yet - it wasn’t like he didn’t have the time - but he eventually realized that he wasn’t in any state of mind to talk. Gradually, he managed to become … not calm, exactly, but much less agitated. 

When Clockwork did appear, he didn’t speak, and Danny didn’t either. He had a lot of questions, but he wasn’t sure he wanted the answers to any of them. For a long time, they both just stared out into the ghost zone, watching the colours in the sky flow and swirl. 

“Did I kill him?” Danny asked when he couldn’t bear the silence any longer. Clockwork hesitated a moment before responding. 

“You know I can’t tell you what’s going to -” Danny shook his head.

“Yeah, I know. But can you tell me if he was dead when I left?”

“He wasn’t.”

“Ok.” Danny nodded. “Ok.” He didn’t know what else to say. 

“You know that you have to go back.” It wasn’t a question, but Danny shook his head. 

“I’m not sure I should.” 

“I know you’re not, but that doesn’t change anything. You can’t stay here forever. Sooner or later you need to face the consequences of your actions.” Danny closed his eyes.

“I’m not ready.”

“I know.”

Danny tried to take a deep breath, but it caught in his throat. It was only then that he noticed the prickling in his eyes, and within moments the tears were flowing freely. He was dimly surprised to realize that this was the first time he’d cried all day. He’d been thinking so much about what happened, running it over and over and analyzing everything, but he hadn’t really felt it. Now that he was experiencing those emotions, they overwhelmed him. He was scared and sad and frustrated and disappointed and angry and shocked and he had no idea what to do with all of that so he just wrapped his arms around his chest and sobbed. He barely even noticed the other set of arms that encircled him. 

The two of them sat, unmoving, for a long time while Danny cried. He felt like he could stay here crying into his mentor’s shoulder forever. Indeed, they were in the one place where that might be possible. But Danny could still feel the passage of time, and, slowly, his tears started to subside, though his emotions were still a mess. 

“I can’t do it,” Danny whispered, his voice choked. “My powers, I can’t -”

“You can.” 

“I can’t. I can’t even do my homework. I can’t pay attention in class. I can’t throw a goddamn football properly.” Danny sobbed again, and it took him a few tries to get his breath back. “I should be able to, but if I could then why would I be doing this? Why would I make my life harder on purpose? Why would I fucking elecrocute someone? If I could control it then this wouldn’t have happened. Or if I can, then I’m a psychopath.” 

“I’m sorry,” Clockwork said gently. “I know this is difficult, but I promise to help you in any way I can.”

“You can’t help me. If I’m the only one who can control what I do, then you can’t help. I’m the only one who could theoretically help me, and apparently I either can’t or won’t.” Danny’s tears had completely stopped now, and he wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

“We’ll keep working on this together. I won’t give up on you, Danny, and I won’t let you give up on yourself.” 

“You’re going to be disappointed.” 

“Are you implying that the Master of Time doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future?” He said it like a joke, but Danny couldn’t bring himself to smile. 

“Not when you interfere with events.”

“True enough. Even so, I know that you could never disappoint me. And I know that, sooner or later, you will figure out your powers and whatever else you need to figure out. And I know that, impossible though it may sound, you will be happy.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t have to just yet. For now, I will believe it for both of us.”

[goingphlash]

So, I recently finished An All Too Jagged Snowflake by Redhead aka ColdtomyFlash (asfgjjgddyjjfddsrfiloveyoubutIalsoihateyouwhy!!!) and that got me thinking on coldflash Soulmate aus. And I came up with a new concept. Let me introduce you to *drum rolls*

Soulchildren

Okay so, legend says that a long time ago a magical object was found (a cup that is now lost idk) that could bind two or more spirits together. But there’s a catch: only the true love could survive.

Thus the closest friends, families and lovers were reincarnated in every life, each Bond born with an unique Mark to recognise each other. The Mark expands on the skin during the First Contact on the place that was first touched by their Mate.

Now, a Bond can be platonic, familiar or romantic. Usually a Bond consists of two people but there can be sometimes three (or more but that’s rare).

But Soulchildren, well ... they’re special snowflakes (hah). You see, they’re like, the rarest type of Bond. Having a Soulfamily is like seeing a full lunar eclipse and a meteor shower happening in the same time—a rarity and a sight to behold. That’s something people dream of but don’t expect to actually happen.

How do you know you’re a Soulchild and not a Soulmate? Well, usually, a Mark is places in the same place but on opposite ends (if you have it on your left hand, your Soulmate will have it in the same place but on their right hand). A Soulchild has both of the Marks but smaller. And when the First Contact happends, the Extension also appeares on the Soulchild in the same time.

Also, while Soulmates have to wait until the First Contact to Bond and Feel each other, a Soulchild can always Feel their Parents, even though First Contact (of the Soulparents) makes the Bond stronger (to what’s considered a normal level). But Soulparents need to make First Contact with their Soulchild to Feel them.

Now that we’ve established the lore, let’s get to the plot.

———————————————————————

Barry and Len always wanted to meet their Soulmate. Really. Their whole lives have been shaped by their Mark, a snowflake on their chest/back, respectively.

They just didn’t expect it to be like this. While rain was certanly romantic, fighting your enemy-with-benefits during in a dark alley certanly isn’t.

But when Cold’s bare fist (glove somehow lost in the mud) connected with Flash’s neck (cowl down) it—

It so was unlikely yet it made so much sense (opposites do attract, especially with Soulmates). Yet nobody couldn’t’ve predicted that one. As they both stared in shock, Barry shaking his head in denial, hand on the Extension that was cold and hot and electric and now resembled a Lichemberg scar while Len was agap and speechless for the first time in decades and—dear God—yet it was real, it was actually happening. They actually were—there was no doubt—but—Cold and Flash, they were—no—this couldn’t be—it was—it was too much—too much—this—they were—

Danny woke up with a start.

The next day, he started wearing long sleeves.

Danny Fenton was a Soulchild. Soulchildren were supposed to reunite one day with their Soulparents. If they’re lucky.

But Danny was happy with his biological parents. With his actual parents.

There were too few instances of Soulfamilies to have proprer laws for them, especially since the Soulmatch was banned in the 70’s (a law that registered Marks and forced Mates together).

Of course he wondered who they were, how they were like, if he’s ever gonna meet them, you know, the usual Soul-whatever stuff.

Of course the Accident had to ruin that too. Even if his Soulparents were ever gonna get used to ghosts (was he supposed to keep his alter ego from them too?), how was he gonna find them if he can’t leave Amity Park for too long because: a) he couldn’t leave the town unprotected and b) his powers weaken without a source of ectoplasm/ecto-energy and he has to eat a more if he wants to use them (a downside which he learned of during field trips).

All he can do now is stare at the Extension that went from both his Marks to his left fist and neck, feel their strong Bond (wow, that’s a lot of feels coming through. Hope they’re ok) and try to remember that real dream but now everything was blurry (he forgot their faces, what were they doing but their emotions were left like a stain in his brain. Why was having a Bond so bad?)

———————————————————————

Buuut maybe one day something bad happends(TM).

Like, maybe a reveal gone wrong or idk and Danny runs away. And what better place to go than to your Soulfamily. That if he could find them.

So he spends the next days, weeks, on the run, trying to focus on his Bond or even see their dreams (that can be possible if the Bond is strong enough). But all he gets is their just daily angst and feels (again, ARE THEY OK?! Should I really go to them?!).

Luckily, due to writer’s convienence, he ends up in Central City(yay!).

There, he ends up meeting Barry and co but they don’t Bond ‘till much later (your Mark isn’t something you show just anyone! Besides, he already tried touching everyone in the last few towns an yikes).

Maybe Barry and/or Len, whose relationship just started getting better, see Danny’s Mark and—wow.

And I mean WOW! Barry always wanted to have kids, but a Soulkid?! That’s his?! That’s—that’s amazing! And he loves this kid to death. This kid that reminds him a lot of Len but that’s also a hero just like him. His kid!

Leonard, on the other hand, is ... conflicted. Yes, he likes kids (especially this kid that reminds him so much of Barry) but he never wanted to be a father, not with his childhood. What if he becomes like Lewis? But he doesn’t want to be missing from this—his kid’s life. But he also doesn’t want to fuck this up like he normally does. Damnit, he expected just a Soulmate not a whole freakin’ Soulfamily!

Btw once they’re Bonded they can tell when one of them dies. Imagine Barry and Len freaking out when Danny first goes ghost bc it feels like death (it is), and being beyond relived when he explains it to them and turns back to human (it feels like birth).

And on top of all that drama maybe the Soulmatch is becoming legal again and that’s a problem for them (Danny’s complicated relationship with all his parents, Barry and Len’s relationship etc) and then the GIW come in.

That may seem angsty (it is) but there’s also a lot of fluff and shenaningas.

Now I wanna write that but I’ve got like 4 other fic ideas.

[darks-ink]

What A Nice Surprise CH.3

Yay, Jazz is finally here! Can you believe that I initially started writing WaNS because I wanted Jazz to meet Danny in this AU, and then it took 10.000 words for it to actually happen. Yikes.

(First Chapter - Previous Chapter - Next Chapter) (AO3 - FFnet)

Danny rushed through his breakfast. He had been planning on leaving the house early and then waiting a bit before dropping back in as Phantom. Just to make sure no one would connect the two, even if he had been seen hanging out with himself before. Better safe than sorry and all that.

But, unfortunately, he had slept in a little longer than intended. It wasn’t entirely his fault; there had been a couple of ghosts during the night that he had had to fight – including Technus, who put up an actual fight.

Sometimes Danny wished that he knew enough about technology to hack Technus’ robots. Or that Tucker was there, so he could do it for him.

It was just wistful thinking, however. Danny had no time to learn hacking. And he definitely wouldn’t endanger Tucker – or Sam – by dragging them into his fights.

With his breakfast done, Danny chucked his dishes in the sink and shouted a goodbye to his parents down in the lab. Their echoing voices called back, and he ran out of the door. He would’ve turned into the alley next to the house, but a little more time between him leaving and Phantom appearing would probably be good.

So he walked down a few streets. Moved closer to Amity’s park before ducking into an alley. Shifting to Phantom was as exhilarating as always – the feeling of cold energy crackling down his skin, through him.

Then he zipped off. Back towards his house, although the journey was far quicker now. The advantages of flying at high speeds, he supposed.

He made sure to go invisible before he got back. It was a bit of a habit – making sure that no one connected Phantom to the Fentons. Even if they did have a truce now.

The doorbell rang. Loud footsteps could be heard almost immediately, and Danny smiled despite himself. As much as his dad annoyed him sometimes, he couldn’t help but love the man.

“Phantom?” his dad asked, already stepping aside to let him come in. “Mads and I were just in the lab. Want to join us?”

Behind him, the door clicked closed. Danny dropped his invisibility, shooting his dad a smile. “Sure. Lead the way.”

Jack nodded, walking past him to the kitchen. Danny knew where the lab was, of course, but Phantom didn’t. Sometimes it was a little concerning how natural it came to him, pretending to be someone he wasn’t. Someone else.

But then he remembered how often it had almost gone wrong. The times he almost endangered himself or other people. All the work he had put into making it come natural.

His dad entered the lab, and Danny floated in right behind him. His mom looked up, her face brightening when she saw him. “Hey Phantom. Came to get the Thermos?”

“Yeah,” he said, hovering closer. “But I’m in no rush, so if you want you could continue your ghost studies.”

She nodded, leaning over her worktable. When she turned back to him, she chucked something at him.

He caught it by reflex. Looking down, he saw it was a new Fenton Thermos – shiny steel and green accents just like the last one. It was impeccable, smooth metal with a white lid. The only thing that differentiated it from the last one was the metal ring attached to the cap.

“I added a loop so you could attach it to your belt,” his mom explained, seeing his confusion. “Unless you prefer to sling it over your back?”

“No, uh. This is fine.” He bent down to hang it off of his belt as she suggested. “I didn’t like the back strap a lot anyway – too much risk of it getting crushed if I get slammed into a building or the floor.”

“Good thinking, kid.” His dad sat down next to Maddie, still with a smile on his face.

“Thanks.” He grinned back. Somehow he never got over this – over getting complimented as Phantom. Especially by his parents, by the people who had been Phantom’s biggest opponents for years.

It was a little bitter-sweet perhaps. And maybe, maybe, he shouldn’t have forgiven them so quickly. But they were his parents. They would always be his parents, even if they don’t know. He can’t hate them. That’s just… not the kind of person he was.

“So, uh.” He gestured to the lab as a whole. “Ghost studies? What are you interested in learning about today?”

“Would you be opposed to examinations?” His mom folded her hands together, looking pensive. Her goggles were pulled up – a rare sight in the lab. “There is much we could learn from how ghosts function on a physical level.”

Danny grimaced. He didn’t think he could count the amount of times he had feared dissection – at his parents’ hands, mostly. “I, um.”

“Nothing serious!” she assured him. “We will explain everything we’re doing, so you’ll know what’s happening. And you’ll be allowed to tell us to stop any time.”

“It’ll be like a medical checkup,” his dad added. “If we know what is normal for ghosts, for you, we’ll be able to use that later. If we don’t know what your normal body temperature is, we won’t know if you have a fever. If we don’t know what your pulse is, we won’t know if it’s dropping. That kinda stuff.”

That… made a lot of sense. “And I’ll be able to quit whenever I want?”

“Of course sweetie. And anything you’re uncomfortable with, you tell us and we won’t do it.” Her violet eyes were warm, loving. The kind of look he associated with Fenton, not Phantom. He barely repressed the urge to check if he was still in ghost form, even though he knew he was.

“Alright,” he said. Then, more strongly, he repeated, “Alright.”

He wrung his hands together, then squared his shoulders. “What’s first, then?”

“Let’s start with body temperatures,” his dad suggested, digging a thermometer out of a box. “Normally we would try and measure the temperature of your core as well, but I can’t think of a way to do that without, well…”

Danny snorted. “I get it, I get it.” He took the thermometer from his dad, looking it over. “D’you think it would work if I turned it intangible? I could try phasing it part-way through my chest so you can measure my core?”

“It’s worth a shot.” His mom pulled a notebook closer to her, clicking her pen. “Try measuring your temperature normally first, and then you can try repeating that with the thermometer intangible. If that matches your normal temp, you can try using it on your core as well.”

“Sounds good.” Danny twirled the thermometer around, then stuck it in his mouth. He had to admit that he was a little curious. He knew some of the very basics of how his ghost form worked – but only the things he had to know. How blood and ectoplasm measured up against each other, how ectoplasm was visible in his blood but blood wasn’t visible in his ectoplasm. More mundane things, like his body temperature, he had never checked.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Danny couldn’t talk with the thermometer in his mouth, and his parents didn’t seem to be bothered by the resulting quiet. Maybe they just enjoyed the moment of peace that they had achieved. A ghost and two ghost hunters, sitting around. Like a family.

Which they were, but, well. The other two didn’t know that.

Finally his mom gestured for the thermometer. Danny pulled it out of his mouth and handed it over without comment. He simply leaned forwards, elbow resting on his knee, and asked, “And, what’s the prognosis? Am I gonna die?”

She snorted, shaking her head at him. “Might be too late for that, Phantom. Although your body temperature is fairly high for a ghost. Still nowhere close to a human, though.”

Danny nodded. He had figured as much. Ghosts felt cold to him when he touched them, and humans felt warm. It was to be expected that he was somewhere in the middle, then.

His dad pulled out some other equipment. The stethoscope, Danny recognized. He wasn’t sure what the other machine was for, though. He frowned.

“This is used to measure your heartbeat,” his dad explained, apparently catching the cause of his confusion. “It might pinch a little – it’ll inflate to put pressure around your arm. Do you want to start with this, or with your breathing?”

He shrugged. “Might as well start with the pulse thing, right?”

Kneeling, his dad started fastening the armband around Danny’s upper arm. “We’ll measure it twice, if that’s okay with you. Once now, and then again after a few physical tests. See if your heartbeat gets elevated, and if it does, what your normal max is.”

“Sounds good to me.” The machine hummed as the band started to inflate. Like his dad had said, it felt a little uncomfortable, a little too tight. But it was alright. And knowing what it was supposed to do, the purpose behind it, made it feel less like a trapping and more like… well, like the machine it actually was.

After a few minutes the armband deflated again. “Well kid, if you were a human I’d be worried.” But his dad said it with a smile, so Danny wasn’t too concerned. Besides, he already knew his heartbeat was slow, even in human form.

“Good thing I’m not, huh?” He phased the armband off and handed it back to his dad. “Breathing first, or exercises?”

“Let’s do breathing first,” his mom suggested, looking over the notes Jack had taken. “If you’re okay with it, we can test your abilities for the exercises.”

He hummed an affirmative and started to unzip his jumpsuit. It felt a little weird to sit around his parents bare-chested, but, well. They had seen him naked plenty of times, hadn’t they?

His dad kneeled in front of him with the stethoscope. Danny had to repress a shiver when his dad gently put the thing to his chest – the metal was cold even on the skin of his ghost form.

A couple of breathing exercises later, Jack stepped away again and Danny gratefully pulled his jumpsuit closed. It hadn’t been anything spectacular – take a deep breath, now huff it out again – but it was a bit of a hassle.

It might come in handy later, he knew. But for the moment he was mostly doing it to placate his parents.

“Let’s do weight next,” his mom said, snapping Danny out of his thoughts again.

“Weight?” he repeated, frowning at her. “What do you need to know that for?”

“Curiosity, mostly.” His dad shrugged at him, still smiling. “Your structure is a lot more complicated, a lot more human, than most ghosts. We want to see how that impacts your weight.”

A scale was dragged out of one of the many boxes in the lab. Internally, Danny marveled at all the stuff his parents owned that he never knew about. Why did they even own some of these things? A heartbeat monitor couldn’t be normal equipment for people specializing in researching ghosts, right?

Obediently, he stepped on the scale. Made sure to tamper down his ghost powers as much as possible without shifting back. Floating, after all, came naturally to him in ghost form.

“Interesting.” His mom noted down the weight. Danny had to repress the urge to lean over and see what she wrote down. So sue him for being curious! He was the kid of scientists, after all. “Heavier than most ghosts, but not by as much as I expected. Ectoplasm is ectoplasm, I suppose.”

Danny shrugged. “I guess so? I never really looked into it.”

Now his dad stepped forward again, a measuring tape in his hands. Frowning, Danny turned to him. “And measuring my height is good for what, exactly?”

“You look like you’ve grown since you started protecting Amity Park, but we have no real way to prove this.” His dad held up the tape, as if presenting it. “But if we measure you now, and then try it again later, that might do it. If you get taller, that’ll be official proof that you do grow.”

“Oh, I see.” He cocked his head towards the nearest wall. “Want me to stand against that to make sure I stand straight?”

“Good idea, kid.” His dad followed him to the wall, and Danny pressed himself against it. Made sure to flatten himself completely – and made sure not to stand on his toes. He would’ve worried about his parents connecting his two forms because they just happen to be the same height, but his parents haven’t measured Danny’s height in forever. And with his teenage growth spurt (his unfortunately very slow growth spurt) he no longer matched that, anyway.

“5’7,” Jack concluded with a nod. “A good height for a teenager, but with room for more growth.”

“That’s what I’m hoping for.” Danny shot him a grin, leaving his parents to conclude if it was a joke or not. He already knew that he grew – his ghost form continued to match his human one, and he had kept a fearful eye on his height. He hadn’t been able to repress his fears that he might be too ghostly to grow – stuck the same way forever.

Thankfully this hadn’t been the case – and he was not doomed to be a teenager forever. Or the shortest one in his friend group.

Well, he hoped he was still gonna catch up on Sam and Tucker. Sam, at least, he could surely surpass. His dad was enormous – Danny couldn’t imagine being short for the rest of his life with genes like that.

“So, uh. Powers?” he asked, realizing that things had gone quiet.

His mom nodded, flipping to a new page in the notebook. “Well, we would like to record all of your powers, of course. If we know how many you have now, and how good they are, we could look into a training regime to help improve them.”

Wow. It was like Vlad, except less “let me kill your dad”. And less knowledge about ghosts, but that was something that Danny was more than happy to give up on in return for the “no killing” thing.

“Sounds good to me. But I can’t show you everything. Some things, like enhanced healing, I can’t really demonstrate.”

“Of course kiddo.” His dad pulled out another box, revealing a bunch of weights. “But we’ll start with the more mundane things, so we can count them as exercises.”

Danny floated closer, then landed on the floor next to his dad. “Let me guess. We’re starting with my physical strength?”

He grabbed one of the weights out of the box. It didn’t feel very heavy. “So am I just supposed to hold as many of these as possible?”

“Yup.” His dad grabbed a weight in each hand, then handed one over to Danny. “I’ll pile them on for you, you just have to hang on to them.”

Nodding, he took the two weights from his dad. After a moment of thought, he curled his arms against his chest, forming a pit of sorts he could stack them in. “Load me up!”

With a laugh, his dad did exactly that. He started stacking them on two at a time, occasionally glancing at Danny to make sure it wasn’t too heavy.

They kept that up for a while before Danny’s knees buckled and he almost crushed his dad under the weights. The final weight was noted down, despite Danny swearing up and down that he has carried more than that before.

“We’ll try again after getting your elevated pulse,” his mom soothed as his dad pulled out the stethoscope and monitor again. “It’s possible that you can carry more while you’re flying. After all, flying depends on the low-gravity properties of ectoplasm, which might make it easier to carry heavy weights.”

“Yeah.” The armband was fastened around his arm again. “That makes sense.”

So, as it turned out, his elevated heartbeat matched his human one. It made him a little curious to see what it would be in his human form. Maybe he would swipe the monitor at a later moment to test it himself. Like his parents had said, it could be useful to know!

And maybe he was a little curious. Maybe.

Per his insistence, they went back to measuring his strength. And, as his mom had suggested, he was able to carry more while flying. That, especially, was a good thing to know. Knowing that he could lift more while airborne would help him keep people safe, after all.

Testing his enhanced senses was a lot easier. While his range of vision and hearing were the same as a human’s, they were more sensitive. He could see further, had almost impeccable night vision (while in ghost form at least), and he could hear noises from much farther away. Taste and scent were, thankfully, equal to when he was human. He couldn’t imagine those being of much use, anyway.

After that, testing his enhanced reflexes was a logical choice. His parents would throw objects at him, often without warning. Although they did switch to bits of trash or other disposable objects after Danny destroyed the first few things by reflex.

So sue him, usually if things flew at him while he was Phantom they were meant to hurt him! The few times he had caught the weapons, they had always been turned against him. 9 out of 10 times they would turn out to be explosives, or otherwise traps.

Thankfully he hadn’t hit his parents – or anything besides the stuff they threw at him. More training might be a good thing after all, if only to make it so that he wasn’t so quick to lash out.

Wow, it was almost like he always used his ghost form to fight ghosts. If only he had more people in the know, he could spend more time as Phantom without fighting. There was, after all, a limit to how much time he could spend in the Zone with his allies. Sooner or later his parents would start missing him.

Maybe he would have to start visiting more often as Phantom. That might be… nice.

“We have no way to test your enhanced healing, so I think it’s time to move on to your regular ghost powers. Don’t you agree, Phantom?”

Danny snapped out of his thoughts, locking eyes with his dad. “Um. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. Starting with the three main ghost powers?”

“Yes. Let’s start with intangibility, please?” His mom clicked the pen in her hand, ready to take notes.

“Uh, right.” Turning himself intangible, Danny flew out of the lab and back in through the walls. Then he dove through a few tables for good measure. “And as you know, I can turn objects or people intangible as well. But last time Jack said that it felt weird, so I don’t usually if I can prevent it.”

His mom turned to raise a skeptical eyebrow at his dad. The man just shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. “It felt kinda tingly. Made me feel weird in the stomach.”

“Tingly?” Danny repeated, brow creased. “Yeah, I think that that describes it well. That’s how I first started identifying it as well, when I couldn’t control it well yet.”

“You couldn’t control your powers at first?” She turned back to him, looking intrigued. “I would assume that ghosts form with perfect control.”

“Nah. Not over all their powers, at least.” Danny shrugged. “I know I didn’t have good control. I couldn’t maintain powers well, and I kept accidentally using them as well. It was kind of embarrassing. And new powers are difficult as well, but that seems to be common. Most ghosts don’t gain new powers very often, but they often need guidance with them if it does happen.”

She nodded, quickly noting it down. “Would you mind using your intangibility on me as well, then? I have to admit that I’m curious what it feels like, now.”

Laughing, he flew over to her and grabbed her shoulders. “Sure. I’ll fly through the wall and then back again, okay?”

Another nod, this time of approval. Danny tapped into his intangibility again, this time letting it flow through him and over his mom. She shivered but didn’t protest.

He flew them through the wall and then immediately back again. From experience, he knew that it was weird to be fully underground while intangible. A little scary, even. There was always this fear of going tangible again while buried. It had gotten better for him – he often used the ground now to hide for ambush attacks – but his mom wouldn’t be protected by that.

“That was…” she trailed off, falling silent.

Letting go, Danny floated a little back. “We warned you that it would feel weird.”

“Yeah, you did.” She shook her head. “But let’s move on to invisibility, okay?”

“Sure.” And he blinked out of visibility instantly. Slowly, he flew some laps around the lab. While he could turn himself invisible, he could still give himself away with the wind that rushed past him.

Coming to a halt right next to his dad, Danny leaned in right next to his ear. Then, quietly so his mom wouldn’t hear, he whispered, “Don’t be scared, it’s just me.”

Then he laid his hands on his dad’s shoulders and turned the man invisible as well.

His mom started, turning in the direction where Jack had been. “Phantom?” she asked, a little wary.

“Sorry,” he said from much closer, popping back into visibility. A smirk was on his face, and a wide smile on his dad’s face. “I couldn’t resist.”

She shook her head disapprovingly, but sighed somewhat fondly. “I suppose all ghosts are pranksters, even if they aren’t malevolent, huh?”

“Might just be a teenager thing,” Jack suggested with a wink. “But it was a very interesting experience! Didn’t feel as weird as intangibility, but it was a lot different visually.”

“Yeah?” That was interesting. Danny never heard about what his powers felt like to others. The only reason why he knew about intangibility was because his dad pointed it out before – and sometimes people he saved complained that it felt weird. Invisibility he rarely shared with other people. Or never, even. “How’s that?”

“Well, for starters, seeing myself see-through was strange.” He raised his hands, wiggling the fingers. “And being able to see you while you were invisible was pretty unexpected as well.”

“Really?” His mom frowned, eyes darting between the two of them. “You could see Phantom even while he was invisible?”

“I think it makes sense,” Danny admitted with a shrug. “He was piggy-backing off of my invisibility, so it makes sense that he was immune to its effects. I can see anything I turn invisible as well – it just makes sense.”

“Yes, if you put it like that it makes perfect sense.” Maddie shook her head, pen scribbling on the paper. “But knowing that it works the same the other way around is very interesting. Flight next?”

His legs melted together in a ghostly tail. “I’ve been flying around the whole time. What else do you want to know about it?”

“How fast can you go?” his dad asked, looking interested. “Top speeds seem to differ between ghosts, but you might be one of the fastest we see in Amity Park. And it would make sense – you need to be able to catch up with enemy ghosts.”

Danny blinked. Yes, that did make sense. “I’ve… never measured it. Never thought much about it, to be honest. Do you guys have some way to measure speed?”

“We should.” His mom put the notepad down, eyes roving over some of the storage boxes. “There should be a speed gun in one of those boxes. We used it to measure the top speed of some of our inventions – like the GAV and the Specter Speeder.”

He flew over to the boxes, hovering over them. Then he turned his hand intangible and stuck it in, rummaging around. “Shaped like a gun, right?”

“Well, yeah, but you won’t find it–” his mom started to say. Then he pulled his hand back out, white gloved fingers clenched around a speed gun, “– like that. You can touch things even while intangible?”

“Uh, yeah.” He played with the gun in his hand, slowly floating back to his parents. “I can reach out with my power to kind of… ‘feel’ the objects? Like turning them intangible on touch, except I don’t actually supply enough power to do anything?”

“Clever,” his mom complimented, taking the gun from him. Then she grew serious again. “Does intangibility affect your speed?”

“Nope.” He shook his head for good measure. “But corners do, so I’ll fly through the wall.”

She aimed the gun at the wall, then nodded at him. “Ready when you are.”

Zipping through the wall, Danny forced himself to go as quickly as possible. Not just for himself, not just to prove he could do it, but to make his parents proud.

He hadn’t realized how little he saw them with pride in their eyes until now. Seeing how they looked at Phantom whenever he impressed them. It made him realize how far he had grown apart since he had become Phantom. Keeping his secret away from them, from everyone… it had caused a divide. One he hadn’t noticed until now.

Confident that he had reached his top speed, Danny dove through the wall. Wind whistled through him – not just his ears, but his entire body – and he saw little more of the lab than colorful blurs.

Once the world had gone dark again, he slowed and turned around to phase back into the lab.

Panting a little from the effort, he leaned back against the wall he had come through. “And? Any good?”

“Well, 186 miles per hour sure isn’t shabby, kid.” His dad grinned, wide and bright and proud. “That’s about 300 kilometers per hour, too.”

Danny couldn’t help his impressed whistle. “Damn, that’s even higher than I thought.”

“Language,” his mom snapped. Then her eyes widened as she realized that, once again, she had corrected him for cursing.

“Darn, that’s even higher than I thought,” Danny repeated, emphasizing the first word. He re-angled himself so his feet touched the wall, letting himself stand on the vertical surface so he wasn’t floating anymore. “Was that better?”

“How’re you doing that?” his dad asked before Maddie could say anything. “Are you standing on the wall?”

“Uh, yeah.” He walked around a little, demonstrating. Then with a shrug, stepped onto the ceiling instead. “It’s like a subset of flight. But it’s kind of useless – most ghosts prefer regular flight.”

“Fascinating.” His dad’s voice was quiet with awe. Or, well, as quiet as Jack Fenton got. “But what would make a ghost prefer this over flight?”

Danny let himself drop from the ceiling again, flipping mid-air to land on his feet. “Usually overshadowing ghosts prefer it. I think it might be because the bodies are so much heavier than the ghost is used to carrying? But I dunno. I don’t overshadow a lot, but it never bothered me.”

“But you’ve overshadowed people before?” His mom looked at him critically. Criticizing.

He grimaced. Couldn’t exactly tell them that he had overshadowed his dad before to get out of trouble with school. “A couple of times,” he ended up admitting. “But only for short moments, and usually only to drive out other ghosts. It’s either that or ecto-rays, usually, and neither are well-received.”

“No, I would imagine not.” But her eyes softened, and the corners of her lips turned up a little. “The lesser of two evils might still be seen as evil, after all.”

“Let’s not give this one a field test, then.” His dad clapped him on the shoulder, and Danny almost stumbled at the sudden contact. “I already know what it’s like to be overshadowed, and it’s not a power we should train.”

“Definite agree.” Danny lifted up a little, floating at shoulder-height with his dad. “I don’t like using it anyway.”

His mom looked over the notebook, then glanced at the clock. “Maybe we should save the rest of your powers for another time. It’s getting late, and we haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“Same, to be honest.” He looked at the clock as well, surprised to see that it had been a good few hours already. “Jeez, it’s like 3 in the afternoon already. Time flies, huh?”

“We’ll make it a light lunch,” his mom decided, closing the notebook and laying it down on a desk. “If we eat too much it’ll mess with dinner.”

Then she turned to face him, a warm smile on her face. “Speaking of which, do you want to stay for dinner, Phantom?”

Danny froze. Licked his lips, uncertain. “I, uh. I sh– can’t. Gotta patrol Amity, make sure no one is causing trouble, y’know?”

She wilted a little, but nodded. “I see. Will you stay for lunch, at least?”

His stomach rumbled, answering for him. Sometimes he forgot how much energy he burned through using his ghost powers – and maintaining his ghost form in general. “Yeah, I can do that. Just can’t stay until tonight.”

Lunch was a rather familiar event. Not just for him, because this was his family, and it felt natural to sit around and eat together. But also, it seemed, for his parents. Maybe they, too, settled naturally around him because he was their son, even if they didn’t know it.

Or maybe he just ate lunch with them too often. He was pretty sure that this was the third time he had eaten with them as Phantom, despite it only being his fourth visit.

The three of them had teamed up to do the dishes. His mom washed them, his dad dried them, and then Danny floated them to the right places using his telekinesis. He had to ask for instructions a few times, pretending he didn’t know where the dishes were stored, which was a little weird. But not too weird, considering, well, everything about his life.

Besides, it was good practice! Telekinesis was still new to him, after all. And while he had enough control over it to not drop small items, moving with precision was still tricky.

He didn’t even hear the front door opening. Not until a sharp gasp came from the doorway.

The sound startled him so badly that he lost grip of his telekinesis. He lunged forward to catch the glass. Barely saved it from shattering on the floor.

“Phantom?!” his sister said, incredulous. She turned from him, lying flat on the floor with a glass in his hands, to his –  their – parents. “Why is he here?”

His mom, having just dried off her hands, took the glass from his hands. He shot her a grateful smile, pushing himself off of the floor again.

“Well, as you could see, we were doing the dishes,” he explained, with the smirk he knew frustrated his enemies. The stupid snarky smile that everyone loved or hated.

The dry look Jazz shot him back just made him grin wider. “Uh huh. And was that all you were doing?”

“He was just helping us with some research Jazzy-pants, no worries!” Jack quickly started drying the last few dishes. “Nothing he wasn’t okay with.”

She still didn’t look very convinced. “Right. And he chose to help?”

“Well, yeah.” Danny took the dried plate from his dad and put it away – this time not using his telekinesis. It was already tricky enough while he wasn’t maintaining a tough conversation. “That’s kind of the point of our truce, isn’t it? They help me, I help them?”

“Are you telling me you guys have a truce?” Jazz, eyes growing wide, looked between him and Maddie. “Since when?!”

“Couple of weeks, a month? Something like that.” Jack handed the last dish to Danny. “He dropped by heavily injured, and we helped him. After that he forgave us for hunting him, and we’ve been working on being, well, better.”

Putting the last plate away, Danny rolled his eyes. “There was nothing to forgive you for, you know? You were just doing what you thought was best.”

“Unbelievable,” Jazz said, voice quiet. “You’re all frigging unbelievable. You’re just gonna move past all the trauma, just like that?”

“Uh. Yeah?” Danny shrugged, turning to face her properly. “They didn’t do anything too bad, anyway. And they’ve been really helpful since – I wouldn’t be around anymore if it wasn’t for them.”

“Oh.” Some of the tension drained from her posture, and suddenly she looked more tired. Still, she eyed him speculatively. “You’re… different. Not how you usually are.”

“You know, I’ve noticed the same,” his mom admitted, now also eyeing him. “You act different in public.”

“Of course I do.” He sat down on a chair, gesturing for the rest to join him. Might as well sit down for the conversation, right? “Out there, I’m like a hero, right? An icon for Amity Park, a protector. So I gotta be a hero. Not just do heroic things, but I have to act like one.”

“But the snark is all you, huh?” His mom smiled at him, knowingly, as she sat down. “The constant jokes?”

“Oh, definitely. Besides, it’s got a purpose. A well-placed quip can act as a distraction, letting me take the upper hand in a fight.” He shrugged. “Gotta take every advantage I can get, y’know?”

Jazz sat down as well, taking the chair opposite of him. “Doesn’t that ever hurt, though? To put up a facade, to constantly fight for Amity and never get appreciated for it?”

“Absolutely.” He huffed out a breath. “Especially back at the start, when everyone hated me and called me Inviso-Bill instead of my name. When people framed me and ruined the reputation I worked so hard to build up.”

He shook his head. “But I couldn’t – can’t – let that get to me. Protecting Amity Park and its people is more important. Whether or not they liked me didn’t matter.”

“But why,” she insisted, her elbows resting on the table as she leaned forward. “Why is this so important to you? I thought ghostly obsessions were a disproved theory?”

“They are.” He rolled his eyes, looking away from her for a moment to collect his thoughts. “But as I told your parents the first time I was around, I got a good reason to protect Amity. Just because I’m dead doesn’t mean that my family is.”

She pulled back, her eyes growing wide again. “Your family still lives here? Wow. They must be really grateful that you’re here to keep them safe, then.”

Oh, the irony. One day they would look back to this and laugh. But not now – he wasn’t ready to reveal his secret. Not yet.

“Not really,” he said instead. “They don’t know that I’m Phantom. I never told them – they hate ghosts, and I didn’t want to hurt them with that. With knowing that their own kid became the thing they hated most.”

His mom sighed, sad and weary. “I just wish you would tell us who they are, Phantom. Maybe we could convince them. Don’t you miss them, your friends and your family?”

“It’s fine the way it is now,” he insisted instead. “They’re… getting better. They’re changing, slowly but surely. And it’s not like I never see them, anyway. I can keep an eye on them, and when the time comes…” He fidgeted with the edge of his glove, looking for the right words. “When the time comes, I’ll tell them.”

And he wanted to. He really did plan on telling them, eventually. Because, sooner or later, they would all find out.

It had happened before, after all. In alternate timelines, changed realities. And they had always accepted him – in the moment, at least. But he couldn’t know it would go afterwards. Would they still let him hunt ghosts? Would they insist on endangering themselves, trying to help?

He couldn’t know, and he didn’t want to risk it.

“No wonder that Spectra was so fixated on you,” Jazz mumbled, breaking the silence. “She was crazy for negative emotions, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus back on the present instead of what-if’s and could-be’s. “She’s a nasty one.”

“What’s this?” his dad asked, leaning forward as well. “What are we missing here?”

“Phantom saved me from a nasty ghost, back when he was still new.” She shrugged, looking surprisingly casual about it. “She wanted to kill me, I think.”

“I saved you?” Danny snorted, incredulous. “Dude, without your save with the Fenton Peeler she would’ve wrecked me.”

“Alright, so we saved each other.” She smiled, but the corners sagged and she looked more sad than anything. “Either way, what she said was wrong. You shouldn’t believe anything she told you, okay?”

Wait. How much had Jazz heard of that conversation?

“I know. That’s what Spectra does. She finds the thing that hurts you most, that you feel most insecure about, and digs in. And then the negative feelings make her stronger, and she then makes them worse, and it becomes this horrible spiral you can’t break out of.” He paused, licked his lips. “But, uh. How much did you hear from that?”

Wow. Smooth, Fenton.

“Not much,” Jazz admitted. “Only the last bit, I think. But I heard enough.”

She shook her head, frowning. “’Who cares for a thing like you’, jeez. Like you aren’t constantly out there, making a difference. Like it matters that you’re a ghost.” Her smile widened again, becoming more genuine. “If my parents, the most ghost-hating individuals in Amity Park, can be convinced that not all ghosts are bad, what does it matter?”

He huffed out a laugh. “Nothing Spectra says matters. She just spews vile lies. And when you fight her off, you start realizing that. I already knew she was wrong. But, uh. Thanks.”

“No Phantom, thank you. For keeping Amity Park safe.” She looked from him and to their parents. “For doing the right thing, even when everyone was against you. I can’t imagine how hard it has been for you.”

She turned back to smile at him again. Her hand came down on his, the warm fingers curling around his gloved ones. “Thank you, Phantom. And if you ever need someone to talk to, just remember us. Okay?”

“Uh. Yeah.” He tugged his hand away from hers, a green blush crawling up on his cheeks. It felt a little like Jazz was crushing on Phantom, and that thought made him more than a little uncomfortable. “Um. Thanks, everyone. For everything. But I gotta, uh. Gotta go.”

“Patrol, right?” His mom shook her head, resigned. “Stay safe, Phantom. And drop by more often, will you?”

Nodding, he was already lifting out of his seat. “I will, for sure.” He gave a short wave. “See you guys later, and stay safe!”

As he flew off, he heard the three of them shout back, “You as well!”

[ciestessde]

Phantasma Magica Ch. 8

STORY SUMMARY

Clockwork and the Observants send Danny to Hogwarts on a special mission. But, cryptic as ever, that Old Stopwatch never actually told him what would happen on it!!! “All you need to do right now, Daniel, is stay focused on your mission. And remember, the-” “‘The Lions with the time-turner, lightning-bolt scar, and hair like fire are friends; watch out for the rat; and the black dog is not a threat.’ Yeah, you’ve only repeated that a few dozen times today.”

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When Danny arrived in Lupin’s office without the promised rat, well...

Sirius was furious. They now had essentially no way of finding Pettigrew -- except wandering around and hoping against hope that they spotted him.

Remus tried to calm him down. “He won’t have gone far. He has no reason to suspect Danny’s true motives. I’m sure he’ll turn up again-” “But for how long?! We had him! I KNEW I should’ve gotten him myself!” Danny floated down and let his feet touch the floor near the pacing Sirius. “I’m sorry. I can try to track him, but it’s hard to feel a living human soul under an animal’s mind.” Sirius stopped walking and spun to face him. His jaw tight, he growled, “I have a better idea.”

They spent several hours using Sirius’ dog nose and knowledge of the castle (helped by Danny’s invisibility) to search. But with no luck.

Still. The walk and passing of time helped calm Sirius a bit. After finishing by searching the castle grounds -- still with no luck -- they ended their search in the Shrieking Shack.

Defeated, Sirius changed back into a human and sat on the dilapidated excuse for a bed. “...” Danny floated there awkwardly. Remembering how he had almost attacked innocent Sirius in this room... “... I know there wasn’t much you could do.” Sirius head continued to hang -- he was looking at the news clipping he’d shown Danny. The one with the picture of “Scabbers.” “He knows this castle just as well as Moony and me. I just…” A shadow passed over his expression, but he looked up with a fire in his eyes. “I refuse to let that traitor go free. I don’t want go back to Azkaban -- you have no idea what being around that many of those things is like -- but I’d rather that than let Wormtail continue living like nothing happened.” His gaze softened, and his mouth thinned into a line. “That’s no excuse for taking it out on you, though, so… I’m sorry about that. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open for now.”

It had been a particularly long day for Danny, so, despite the sun being up, he decided to sleep in his makeshift bedroom in the Pipes. He had taken some pillows from the Divination classroom, a spare blanket from a closet -- and so on -- to form as cosey a resting area as he could manage in the damp space. Granted, the cold didn’t affect him (thankfully), but these things (the cushions especially) made it easier to relax.

“Scabbers” never showed up again, though, and the disappearance of his beloved pet had a rather unexpectedly drastic effect on Ron. As more and more time passed with no evidence as to what happened, he came to the most natural conclusion: “First the Firebolt, and now this! That bloody cat of yours ate him! He ATE SCABBERS!” If Danny didn’t know better, he probably would’ve agreed with Ron -- Crookshanks had shown a lot of interest in hunting the malnourished rodent, after all. But the extent to which Ron was blaming Hermione for his pet’s “death” was… actually mildly concerning. Danny excused most of Ron’s behaviour as raging hormones, but still… 

A part of him, a large part of him, wanted to tell them what actually happened -- that Scabbers was Pettigrew, that they had no reason to worry about Black anymore… -- But he just couldn’t risk it. If he told them, they’d act differently. And he had no way of knowing if or when Pettigrew might be watching. He couldn’t afford to tip him off. So instead... he let Ron mourn his rat.

Danny had been going with Harry to his anti-dementor lessons, regularly talking with Lupin about phantasms afterwards. The professor had decided to write a book about him. (No personal information, of course!) It was during one of these that Danny’s dislike -- bordering on hate -- of the wizards’ Ministry was solidified. “It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the dementors permission to suck out Sirius’ soul if they find him.” “-What?!” “It’s not that surprising, really. It’s one of the most extreme punishments for criminals -- but that’s the type of criminal they believe him to be.” “How are you so calm about this?!” “I assure you, I am not. But there’s not much more we can do about it than we already are doing. Sirius will just have to be extra careful not to get caught.”

Danny couldn’t argue with that. And besides, he had other things to distract him when he saw his friends the next morning. The teachers had finally satisfied themselves that Sirius’ anonymous present to Harry, the “Firebolt” broomstick, was safe. But while Harry was just excited to have his broom back (him and the entirety of the Gryffindor House, who seemed to think the Quidditch Cup was practically theirs because of it) -- Ron took this as yet more proof of Hermione being a terrible friend. “See, Hermione? There wasn’t anything wrong with it!” “Well -- there might have been!” Danny supposed Hermione’s arguing back didn’t help matters much… “I mean, at least you know now that it’s safe!” “Yeah, I suppose so,” was Harry’s response. ‘Oh wow. I hope I wasn’t this oblivious back when-’ He cut off that thought. There was no point in thinking about that now.

With Ron even more opposed to spending time with Hermione; and Harry thoroughly distracted by the Firebolt, his lessons with Lupin, and the upcoming Quidditch match against the Hufflepuff house… Danny decided to spend more time with Hermione. Hermione, who was secretly using a time-turner to time-travel and attend more classes than she should be able to, but was somehow now drowning in homework in the Gryffindor Common Room… … Danny was very confused.

He tapped her shoulder lightly before speaking so she’d know it was him. “Why don’t you just use the time-turner to get more rest?” he whispered. “What?!” She flinched. That was too loud. She checked to make sure no one noticed, then whispered, “How do you know about the time-turner?” “I was sent here by Clockwork, the Master of Time, remember? That thing is giving off faint time-aura from under your shirt. Although, I can probably only detect it because I’ve been around the stuff so much.” She was silent for a moment. “I’m supposed to avoid changing time as much as possible. Loads of wizards who’ve meddled with time have ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake! To use it for anything other than the absolutely essential is too risky! Professor McGonagall was very clear about the rules I was to follow in order to use it. It’s all part of her agreement with the Ministry.” Danny contained a snort of laughter. “Um… Actually… It’s more like the agreement they have with Clockwork.”

Hermione stopped writing in her notes. “I can personally guarantee that using the time-turner to, y’know… not go insane will be perfectly fine by my mentor.” “... Could we… Speak in private for a bit?” Danny thought he knew where this was going. “You want to know more about Clockwork and stuff?” “If that’s alright.” “I can share a little, anyway.”

Hermione packed up her schoolwork, and they moved to an abandoned classroom. “So the Ministry -- or someone at the Ministry -- knows Chron- I mean, Clockwork?!” “Well… Kind of. I’m not allowed to tell you much, but let’s just say that most of those deaths were actually Clockwork following the orders of HIS bosses. Time travel’s not all that dangerous, really.” “What about paradoxes?” “Things just split into a new timeline.” “Huh… So then, why all the rules?” “To keep humans from abusing the power. They -- Clockwork’s bosses -- don’t like not knowing what’s going to happen.”

There was silence for a few moments while Hermione thought. “Danny… You said Clockwork is your guardian.” “Yeah…” It wasn’t a question. “I’m, uh… Not a normal phantasm…” Hermione winced. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.” “No, it’s alright.”

Danny settled down at one of the desks. “... I used to be human. My parents were ghost hunters -- some of the best in the field, in fact! They built what was supposed to be a portal into the ghosts’ dimension -- the ‘Ghost Zone’ -- but it didn’t work. I, like an idiot, went inside to get a closer look. It turned on with me inside it.” Hermione’s eyes widened, but she didn’t speak. “In order for a phantasm to form, rather than be born, a soul has to come in contact with a large amount of ectoplasmic energy and have a strong enough will to live. Clockwork… He saved me. If not for him, I wouldn’t have become a phantasm -- I’d just be dead.” “Oh…” “...”

“Have you… ever gone back?” “...” Danny looked at the desk in front of him. “A few times. But, uh… Going back for too long or often would… not be good. I could become ‘tied’ there and never able to leave. And if that happened…” He paled, “I’d-rather-not-think-about-it.” “I’m sorry!” “--No, no… It’s alright.” He smiled at her. “You, uh, actually remind me a lot of one of my friends from back then.” His eyes lit up, and he smiled. “Sam, she was this big activist. She was a self-proclaimed ‘ultra-recyclo-vegetarian’ and goth, and she always had a cause -- usually multiple -- that she was fighting for! She would’ve loved your whole ‘free the house-elves’ movement! And my sister, Jazz -- you’re both ridiculously smart and like taking care of your friends.” Hermione was blushing a little bit, but seemed pleased. “You must miss them terribly.” Danny grimaced, his smile fading. “Yeah…”

She moved over so she could rest her hand on his arm. Cold, but not as freezing as she expected. “If there’s anything I can do to make this place feel more like home to you…” She smiled comfortingly at him. “Just tell me. You’re my friend.” He smiled back at her.

“So, uh… You going to start using the time-turner more?” “Oh!” Hermione moved back to where she had spread out her homework and grabbed a blank piece of parchment. She started muttering and working out some math problems. “... Yes, if I take a few hours out of my sleeping schedule, there should be enough room for two of me in my bed… And that room should be empty during this period…” She seemed satisfied after a few minutes. And indeed, Hermione looked much more rested after that. Danny even played lookout on occasion to make sure no one noticed multiple Hermiones wandering around.

‘Now that I’ve solved that problem…’ Ron had noticed Danny was spending more time with Hermione, and he took it as a sign of betrayal. Danny tried to think of some way he could bridge the gap between the two: ‘He’ll come around eventually. Even if it won’t be until he finds out about Pettigr-though... I guess that might just make him MORE upset…’ … But he was coming up empty.

Harry (or rather, Harry’s Firebolt) was more successful at cheering Ron up. There was a lot of excitement as the first match came up that Harry’d be riding it in. And when Danny got to see Harry fly on it, he understood why.

It wasn’t quite as fast as Danny was when he flew -- but it was pretty damn close! No one else on (above?) the field stood a chance! And to put icing on the cake, Harry completely humiliated some bullies who tried to sabotage him, too! Malfoy -- (‘Why is it always Malfoy?! That’s it. I need to ask them how this rivalry started!’) -- and some of his friends had thought it was a brilliant idea to try and scare Harry by dressing up and pretending to be dementors. But, as Lupin put it, Harry “gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright” when he used the “patronus charm” he’d been working on in his anti-dementor lessons against them. The group of Slytherin students got into a lot of trouble for their stunt, AND Harry won the game for the Gryffindor team!

And for a while, things were actually peaceful -- for both Danny AND his friends.

But still without any sign of Peter Pettigrew.

~~~~~

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[scientifically-strange]

Bored part 3

Danny looked around at the small group that had decided to join, all geared up and ready to go. There were more volunteers than Danny was expecting. When he had asked them who wanted to pay Vlad a visit to help Tony out, almost every hand in the room went up. Thor had just shrugged ad left the room with his poptarts, not wanting to get involved with how mortal businesses work. But Steve had immediately volunteered, and because he did Sam ad Bucky joined in. When Bucky sighed and agreed to come along, Danny didn’t miss the worried look on Steve’s face, but he also noticed how Steve didn’t protest. And then of course Tony was more than willing to fight for what was his. Danny could respect that.

The fastest way to get there was through a portal, but with Vlad’s ghost proof mansion he could probably only get them to the fancy gates. When he told them this, Sam groaned.

“You mean we have to go through one of those gross portal things you shoot out of your hands?” He asked.

“Yeah. Relax, it’s not like you’ll be going to the Zone. Just to Vlad’s mansion. You won’t feel a thing,” Danny said with a roll of his eyes. Bucky snickered as Sam groaned again, and the Falcon couldn’t help but shoot him a glare. It had no heat behind it, though.

Danny held up his hand as it began to glow before focusing his ectoplasmic energy into the portal, imagining exactly where he wanted to be. The circle came out of nowhere, swirling beautifully with foreign shades of green. Danny smiled to himself before quickly turning to the others.

“After you,” he said. They all hesitated for a moment, eyeing Phantom with a sort of worry, but in the end it was the great Iron Man who went first. Then it was Cap, Falcon, and finally Bucky, who hadn’t said a word since he agreed to come along. He tested it out with his metal hand first before walking all the way through. Danny was right behind him, closing the portal behind him.

A part of him was happy to see such a familiar place, but a knot formed in his stomach. It was only familiar because Vlad had this-used to have-this obsession with making Danny his son. Danny couldn’t help but briefly wonder if the cat was still kicking.

The mansion hadn’t changed a bit on the outside. It was still the giant green long and tall silver gates and the red brick walls. Danny walked in front of them, his cape fluttering around his ankles. Vlad had to answer to his crimes, and Danny was more than willing to make him pay up, whether it was ghost related or not. You mess with Danny’s friends then you get the full wrath of the ghost king.

“So, do we just knock?” Sam asked, picking up a rock and flicking it at Bucky. He was completely unfazed by the action. It must have been normal, then.

“Something like that,” Danny grinned. He walked up to the lock, giving it a nice coat of ice before stepping back. He brought his knee up and kicked it as hard as he could. The gates opened with no problem, and they were now horribly dented. Oh, Danny had missed this.

“Looks like he’s not home,” Tony observed. “Should we come back later?”

“Nah, he’ll show up. His sensors have already picked up ghost energy, so it’s not like he already doesn’t know I’m here.”

“Wat about the rest of us,” Bucky said. His gravely voice almost sounded worried, but his face remained completely void of emotion.

“I ind of have to agree with him on that one,” Sam said. “If we weren’t going for stealth then-”

“-You guys worry to much. I said he knew I was here. His equipment isn’t going to pick up on you because it’s to focused on me. Now come on, I know where his lab is.”

They all shared a look as Danny turned and started floating up the long driveway and through the front door. He opened it for them, gesturing for them to enter.

The place was just as massive as Danny remembered, and he couldn’t help the feeling of nostalgia of the first time he ever walked these halls, where he didn’t have to worry about his parents’ old college friend murdering him. Ah, good times.

He led them past the lobby and past the display cases filled with Packers shrines. They didn’t stop until hey reached the den, where everything was coated in a very thin layer of dust. Danny eyed the giant painting of Vlad above the fireplace, his eyes boring into your soul. For a moment Danny thought they flashed red, but no. It must have been in his head. PTSD fro his years of fighting the older halfa.

“Grab onto me,” he said. Iron Man took a shoulder, and Sam took the other. Steve and Bucky each took a hand, and Danny slowly brought them down. Somehow he thought holding four grown men up would be hard, but his ghost strength really paid off. It was almost effortless, really.

After maybe ten feet of dirt it opened up into this blinding white room with equipment everywhere, and old inventions that hadn’t been touched in forever. Over on the far wall was the ghost portal, and on the long wall closer to the exit were several chambers that once held clones of Danny. He walked over and placed his hand on the broken on, thinking of the time he and Dani had kicked Vlad’s butt when Dani was destabilizing.  He let his hand slide down as he continued looking around.

Bucky watched as Phantom walked around like he knew the place. The way he looked at the chamber, the weapons, and especially the large doors off to the side with caution tape around the eight edges. What was that? And why was Phantom so chummy with this place? When had he had time to learn the terrain of Vlad Masters’ home?

“I remember this,” he said, picking up a small cube. He threw it to the ground, and it grew. The top of it had a large hole in it, enough to fit a head, but no more. “See, before I became a full ghost me and Vlad always fought. The whole arch nemesis type thing. He kidnapped me a lot, because I was just a scrawny teenager who had had my powers for a few months. He had had his since his college days though. He used to be a lot stronger than me.”

“Why was he always kidnapping you?” Iron Man asked. The helmet gave a sort of ting to his voice.

“He had a major thing for my mom, who married my dad. Bu my dad was kind of an idiot sometimes. He was the one that caused Vlad to get ecto acne, and Vlad wanted him dead. He wanted to marry my mom and make me his apprentice, so I ended up down here a lot. It was awful. Now though, I almost miss it. I mean, not the whole fighting part, but the adrenaline and such. But I’m all ectoplasm now. It made my core feel good.”

“Your core?” Steve couldn’t help but ask. The boy looked so nostalgic, like he was stuck in the past where everything was right. Steve could relate to that more than he wished to admit.

“It’s like a heart, but for ghosts. When I was a halfa is sat right next to my heart. It’s als what gives me the ability to make ice. Different cores for different ghosts, depending on the obsession or how they died. Sometimes it’s random. I think that’s how I ended up with ice.”

“So you weren’t obsessed with the cold or anything, or died by ice?”

“No, not at all. I was actually obsessed with space. See, my parent had a portal just like this, except the on button was on the inside. It’s what killed me the first time. A part of me feels like I should have gotten electricity powers. But when I died it gave me a new obsession.”

“What was it?” It was Bucky that spoke up this time, eyeing Phantom warily. A look quickly flashed over his face, something to quick to read. If you blinked you would have missed it, but Bucky was searching for that reaction ever since they came down here. His shoulder was starting to itch.

“Something wrong?” Bucky asked. His voice still held no emotion, but he knew how to get into people’s heads. He guessed ghosts weren’t much different after all.

“No. But it-” Phantom sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and Bucky couldn't help noticing how the ghost’s hands wrung. “Don’t ever ask a ghost what their obsession is,” he said slowly. Steadily, like he was trying to choose his words carefully. Like if he didn’t control his language he would blow up in their faces. “It’s very offensive. It,” he paused, opening his eyes and turning to him, “it’s like asking you why you’re alive. Why do you keep living? What is our purpose on Earth?”

That made the other heroes think for a moment. They could all see how it was offensive, ad how it could have gone way worse if Phantom didn’t know how to control himself. After all, he had to. He had to keep up his image, even in front of his friends. But within a few moments he was back to normal. Or at least as normal as a ghost could be.

“It was protecting, by the way. I just-I could never stop myself from getting a cat out of a tree or running into a burning building, you know? It-Your core pulls at you. Going against your obsession could be catastrophic to your very being. I didn’t know anything about that at the time, though. I just...Did. Hell, the media even coined this dumb name for me.”

“What was it?” Sam asked, because now he had to know. Phantom chuckled.

“It was,” his chuckles grew, and his shoulders were shaking from contained laughter, “It was Inviso-Bill! God, I used to hate that name so much! It was freaking genius!” He was laughing now, the kind where you can’t stop, and you’re bending over backwards. It echoed around the room, and as they watched this, Phantom looked twenty years younger, almost like a happy-go-lucky teen. They couldn’t help but crack a couple of smiles.

However all of them instinctively got into their battle stances when a figure in while floated through the large octagon doors, rolling his eyes as Phantom laughed. He was so focused on the ghost king he didn’t notice the few others.

“Daniel, don’t you have a kingdom to be running?” The older ghost snarled. His fangs were bright against his pale blue skin and red eyes, almost matching the white suit he had on, with the long cape behind him. This guy seemed more mildly annoyed at Phantom’s presence than anything. Phantom wiped a tear from his eye as his laughter died down, and he faced Vlad, getting serious now.

“What are you doing buying up Stark shit, dude?” He asked, eaning against the table.

“Nothing that involves a child like you, little badger. Besides, I don’t think you’re small mind can handle it.”

“Well, knock it off, Fruitloop. Give it back to Stark,” Phantom snapped at him. He got off the table and stood to his full height, which was  few inches over the other man. “In fact, I’m gonna need you to give it back to him.”

Sam felt as though he was going to get whiplash from this guy’s mood swings. One second he was laughing his ass off, the next he was deadly serious with a flaring aura. Vlad, however, just scoffed.

“And why should I? It’s not like it involves you,” Vlad sneered.

“Oh, but it does, Vlad.” His voice boomed throughout the old chamber, and Tony was jut going to assume that that was his cue to make themselves known.

“Listen, Drac,” he said, gaining the attention of Vlad. he bared his fangs at them. “I don;t like it when people take my stuff. So why don’t you just give it back, and we’ll call it a day. and my boy Phantom here won’t blow you to bits.” As he talked he walked over, finally putting his elbow on Phantom’s shoulder. Phantom smirked, his confidence growing as the others slowly came as well, surrounding Vlad from all sides.

“The great ghost king couldn’t come by himself?” Vlad haunted. “He needs these second-rate heroes to come with him? How pitiful, really. When you were a halfa you were much more frightening.”

“They came because they wanted to. You know good and well I would have gotten the Fright Knight to come if I needed backup.”

Something shifted in Vlad’s face. Barely, but Bucky caught it. His lips dropped, and there was a brief flash of fear that was gone as quick as it came. So apparently Fright Knight was a big deal. He glanced at Phantom, who seemed to have notice the change in Vlad’s mood.

“Just one little call would all it take. Now, you don’t want that, do you?” Phantom asked, a sickly sweet. Vlad growled at him, but after a few moments of consideration, gave in.

“Very well. But if I see your face in here again I won’t hole back, King or not. Now get out.”

Phantom smirked as he nodded, giving Vlad a lazy two-fingered salute as the others began to get behind Danny so he could take them back to the Tower. Before he flew up threw the ceiling, he grinned at Vlad.

“Well, Fruitloop,” he said, “as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you.”

And then they were gone.

------------

It was a matter of minutes before they were walking back into the Tower’s kitchen. The phone inside of Tony’s armor rang, and it was quickly answered. Danny tuned it out though, knowing that it was good news about Stark’s business. Judging from the grin on Tony’s face when his face mask pulled back, he was right to assume everything went well.

“Thanks, kid,” he said. Phantom just nodded at them with a smile, and Tony led him to the tbale where everyone else had sat back down.

“So,” Tony said, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Daniel, huh? Makes you sound like an old man.”

“Whatever, Anthony.”

--------

You know, I really need to work on my essay, not this, but I just couldn’t help myself. You guys are going to be the death of me (hehehe)

[five-rivers]

DP/HP twin fic chapter 1

This would be the first chapter of that DP/HP twin fic...  I need a name for it before I post it elsewhere...  I can’t think of a name... help...  @ladylynse I blame you for this entirely.  It’s 3k and they haven’t even met yet.  What am I doing.

.

Here’s the thing.  Danny had encountered wizards before.  And witches.  Multiple times.  

He was not a fan.  

Burning, or other forms of murder, hadn’t ever crossed his mind as a solution to them, even when Freakshow decided to derail his life yet again.  Still. There were only so many times you could stumble upon members of a certain group zapping people with bargain-bin neuralyzers and leaving hours’ worth of uncertain memories in their wake before you got sort of fed up.  

Memory erasure was great in fiction.  Not so much in real life.  

Danny got it.  He’d erased a couple of memories himself.  Well, a lot of memories, depending on how one took the Reality Gauntlet incident.  But as far as motivations went, ‘trying not to be dissected by the government’ was a lot different from ‘we can’t be bothered to be discreet about our sporting events and we think it’s funny that our venue managed to attract ghost hunters when these magicless fools have never seen a real ghost in their lives so we’re going to mess with them.’  

Yeah.  Danny was still annoyed about that.  Also, about their reactions to him when he crossed an invisible line that was apparently supposed to repulse ‘no-majs.’  

That was before getting into Desiree, one of the few witches to become a proper ghost.  According to her, witches and wizards had a different system, and it was rare for magic users to enter the Infinite Realms.  Dora’s dragon amulet had also been enchanted prior to her death, although that could have been a ghost’s work, and Dora had never shared where it had come from.  

Anyway, the point was that Danny knew about magic as an entity separate from ghost powers and at least a small subset of the living beings that relied upon it.  

So, when the woman who dressed like she was living a century ago and smelled of magic walked up to his house, he’d braced himself for a fight.  He wasn’t going to let his parents be ‘obliviated’ again.  They were oblivious enough as it was!

But.  No. She’d come in, no wand in sight (although Danny still wasn’t entirely sure those were necessary) and sat down on the couch, hands primly folded, ignoring all of the… rather questionable features of the Fenton living room.  

To add to the weirdness, his parents had been expecting her.  They knew her by name.  They wanted Danny to be in the room to meet her.  

“Edna,” Jack said, with a strained smile.  “How have you been?”

“Well enough,” said Edna, her eyes flicking to where Danny stood in the kitchen door, watching. “And this must be young Deneb Alased, correct?”

“Yeah,” said Danny, frowning.  There weren’t a whole lot of people who knew his legal name, let alone his middle name.  So, who was this?  “I am.” He looked at his parents, willing them to clear up whatever this was.  

Both of their faces were sour, but they were trying to hide it.  Maddie was doing better than Jack.  

“This is Edna,” said Maddie.  “Why don’t you come and sit down, Danny?”  She patted the back of Jack’s favorite recliner.

Danny noticed how Edna’s mouth twitched down at his nickname. His fingers curled, ghost energy buzzing under his skin just barely kept from his eyes.  He didn’t like this.  

“It’s alright,” said Edna, smiling kindly.  “This must be very confusing for you.  I would be concerned myself, under these circumstances. What I’m about to tell you may be difficult to process, however.”

“We’d like to start it off, actually,” said Maddie. “When you called this morning—” She broke off, making a face.  “We were told this wouldn’t happen.”

“Yes, well,” said Edna.  She shrugged.  “Purebloods. What can you do?  Evidently—Well.  You should have your say, first.”

Danny gave Edna another suspicious glance.  Maybe all wizards weren’t bad.  Maybe Freakshow was an outlier and sports fans just sucked in general.

Yeah, honestly, that tracked.  (Cough, Vlad, cough, Dash, cough.)

He sat down.  “Okay,” he said.  “Way to be ominous.  What’s going on?”

“Well, Danno,” said Jack.  He laughed nervously.

“You’re adopted,” said Maddie, bluntly.

Danny blinked.  “Wait, what?” he said.  “Adopted?  But I look just like you guys!”

Jack’s nervous chuckles continued.  “We are related to your birth parents…  not closely, but…  Yes.”

“Oh my gosh,” said Danny, feeling several layers of personal identity float away from him.  He’d always blamed his weirdness on genetics and family history.  Especially the ghost stuff.  Then again, his name, which definitely did not match with his parents’ or sister’s, probably should have tipped him off.  “You’re serious?”

“I’m afraid so, Danny,” said Jack, kneeling by the chair and patting his knee.  “But don’t worry!  You’ll always be a Fenton, no matter what!”

Danny nodded, swallowing back emotion.  “And Jazz?  Is she…?”

“She’s adopted, too.  At about the same time as you, in fact,” said Maddie.  “So am I and Alicia.  It’s a long story.”

“Okay,” said Danny, determined to get that story at some point.  “Why is she here, then?”

“I was involved in your adoption,” she explained, “and certain members of your birth family want to get back in contact with you.”  

Ancients, that was sure a thing to hit a guy with right after the ‘you’re adopted’ revelation.  

Hold up.  He was forgetting something.  This was a witch.  How did that play into this?  Because it had to.  Witches and wizards, as far as Danny could tell, tended to isolate themselves from the rest of humanity.  

He decided he did not like the probable trajectory of this conversation.  

“Why?” he asked, because he wasn’t going to say he knew about magic until and unless someone else cracked first.  

“Yes,” said Maddie.  “Why?  Why now? We were under the impression that they would never contact us.”

“Evidently,” said Edna, “Deneb’s birth mother was not properly informed of the decision to put him up for adoption.”

Okay.  Yeah. That was a lead-in to his biological parents being magical because he couldn’t think of a single modern western country where that would fly.  

“So, what?  I was kidnapped at birth or something?” asked Danny.

“Not exactly,” said Edna, wincing.  “It was your birth father who filed the paperwork.”

“And she’s only now wondering where Danny is?” asked Maddie, a little shrilly.  Her stress from before was now spilling over into anger so sharp Danny could taste it like a knife on his tongue.  “Did she somehow manage to forget giving birth?”

“No,” said Edna.  “Which brings us to the other matter.  One of the other matters.  The one who first sent the request for your adoption information was actually your twin brother.”

A third monumental revelation.  Wonderful.  What next?

“We, of course, contacted his parents, and discovered the irregularity regarding your birth mother’s consent.  Hence my presence here today.”  She opened her bag and removed a small glass tube, about twice the length of Danny’s palm and the same diameter as a quarter.   “There was also the issue regarding how young you were when you were put up for adoption.  Generally, our agency deals with the placement of children aged from five to eleven.”  She held the tube out to Danny.  “Could you hold this, please?”

“Do you really need to do this?” asked Jack.  

“Due to all the irregularities involved, yes,” said Edna. “Our organization charter unfortunately requires it.  If the mother was not consulted, as is required, the reasoning is that other required things are not as certain.”

“Hold up,” said Danny, hands tightening around the ends of the armrests.  “These people—” Who were most probably wizards, and wasn’t that a thing to get his head around, “—they’re not trying to get custody of me again, are they? After giving me away?”

“No,” said Maddie.  “We won’t let that happen.”

“We’re not going to give him back to people who were going to abandon him just because—!”  Dad broke off.  “Uh. Because.”

Smooth.  

“You know,” said Danny, deciding to cut off… whatever this was. “Even if this ‘test’ is, like…” He trailed off.  “Whatever result you want it to be.  I don’t know.  I’m still going to find out whatever it is you’re dancing around anyway.  Because I’m not going to forget this conversation.”

Silence.  

The witch twitched slightly towards where Danny knew her wand was hidden.  

Screw it.  “And I’m not going to let you erase my memory.  You people do get how messed up that is, right?”

Danny was treated to the sound and sight of three jaws dropping open.  

“How do you-?” started Maddie.  

“You remember when we went to that camp because people thought it was haunted?  But you didn’t find anything?  Well, they managed to get both of you that time, but not me.  And I know you’re one of them, so I’m betting that whatever this is, it has to do with magic.”  He paused. “It was some weird magic sporting event, apparently.”

“The-?  You went to the Quidditch World Cup?” asked Edna.

“What?  No!” protested Maddie.  “That was in Britain, wasn’t it?  We were just in the next state.”  She scowled. “I’m going to write a letter of complaint.  Even if we’re living without magic, we’re not no-majs.  We’re squibs.  They had no right to obliviate us.”

“Okay,” said Danny.  “Yeah.  You’ve lost me.  Squibs?”

No one seemed willing to answer the question.  

“If you’d just take this,” said Edna, holding out the tube a little desperately.  “It will be much easier to explain all at once.”

Danny looked up at his parents.  Jack looked at Maddie.  Maddie drummed her fingers on the back of his chair.  

“It’ll be fine,” said Maddie, “probably.”

“Fine,” said Danny.  He took the tube.  Almost at once, it started glowing green.  

“Oh,” said Edna, frowning and leaning closer.  “It usually isn’t—”

The tube exploded, embedding several small glass shards in Danny’s hands.  

“Ow,” said Danny.  

“Oh,” said Edna again, evidently not registering the small splinter of glass in her cheek.  “Well. Whoever your birth father hired to test your magic as an infant obviously got it wrong.  Congratulations, Mr. Fenton.  You’re a wizard.”

“My hand is bleeding.”

“Yes,” agreed Edna.  “It isn’t supposed to explode, you see.”

.

Once Danny got cleaned up, which involved a lot of glaring at Edna from Maddie and Jack, they adjourned to the kitchen, which was free of random glass shards.  

“The adoption organization I work for,” said Edna, “places squibs—people born to magical parents who do not have magic themselves—with families of squibs.  Assuming the child’s birth parents do want to give up their child over something like not having magic.”  Her nose wrinkled.  “The common wisdom is that it is easier for such children to grow up in an environment that is not explicitly magical.  In any case, it is my personal belief that anyone who would give up a child over something like that isn’t going to be the best of parents.”

“Alright,” said Danny, “so… all of us are squibs.”

“Except you, apparently,” said Edna.  “It’s hard to tell whether or not someone as young as you were when you were given up will be magical or not.  Which is why we usually only deal with older children.  I don’t suppose you’ve noticed anything odd happening around yourself?  Or unusual abilities?”

Danny stared at her flatly for several long moments.  His entire life could be classified as ‘odd,’ and most of it he wasn’t about to share with Edna.  Or his parents, as much as he loved them.

But, on the other hand, he now had a great excuse for at least some of his weirdness.  His parents wouldn’t think ghost if they could think wizard first.

“Like, define ‘odd,’” said Danny.  Despite his earlier encounters with wizards, he had no idea what was normal for them.  Other than memory wiping.  Which he could not do and wouldn’t have demonstrated anyway.  

Okay.  If was actually a wizard, and Edna’s doohickey wasn’t just reacting to his ghostliness, he probably could learn how to do the memory thing, but he didn’t know now, so the distinction was meaningless.  

(Maybe being a wizard or a squib or whatever was why he wasn’t just.  Dead.)

(Yeah, he didn’t want to think about that.)

“Just…  Being in one place, and then a different place.  Surviving something you shouldn’t have been able to unscathed.  Things moving by themselves or changing color or size. Temperature changes.  Something you want very badly happening, even if it is impossible or extremely unlikely.”

“Okay,” said Danny.  “Yeah.”

“To which one?” asked Jack, concerned.  “I haven’t noticed anything like that except what the ghosts do.”

“Um,” said Danny.  “This?”  He put his hand down on the table, intending to leave an icy handprint.  That should be acceptable, right?  If temperature changes were normal…

His nerves got the best of him.  He knew he was nervous showing even one of his powers around his parents.  He overcompensated.  

The table was covered with frost.  

“Oops?” said Danny.  

All the blood had left Edna’s face.  Jack and Maddie didn’t look much better.  

“Dear lord,” said Edna.  “You can do that at will?”

“Yes,” said Danny, holding his hand close to his chest. “More or less.”

“Danny,” said Jack, “why didn’t you tell us?”

“I thought you’d think it was a ghost thing.  You kind of shoot first and ask questions later about ghost things.”

“Oh my god,” said Edna.  “Never mind that.  You can do wandless magic and you’re fourteen?”

“Fifteen,” said Danny, “but, yeah.  I guess.”

Evidently, this wasn’t normal.  

Also, his comment about shooting first hurt his parents’ feelings.  Go figure. Not like they weren’t keeping a massive secret.  

.

“So,” said Danny, once the other discussions had been shelved for the time being, “I have a brother?  I think a brother was, at some point, mentioned.”

“Yes,” said Edna.  “A twin brother.  He wants to meet you.  Along with your biological mother.”

“And if I don’t want to?” asked Danny.  “If I don’t want to have anything to do with them?”

“I don’t even know,” said Edna.  “I can’t believe you slipped under the national detection spell. There’s going to be so much paperwork involved in this.  International paperwork.”

“Huh?”

“You were born in Britain,” said Edna, as if this were a minor detail.  

Yeah.  Like his sense of self needed any further pummeling.  

“But it isn’t our fault everything is so messed up,” said Danny.  He maybe had some curiosity about his twin brother, but if there was any risk he’d be taken away…

“I understand,” said Edna, “but nothing like this has come up before, as far as we know.”  She sighed. “If it makes you feel better, I will use any influence I have in the matter to recommend that you retain custody of Deneb.  In the meantime…  Do you want to, uh, open communications with any members of your biological family?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny.  “Can I think about it?”

.

Relations in the Malfoy household had been strained ever since Draco’s investigation of his family tree (unrelated to the return of the Dark Lord and how blood purity was now much, much more important) had revealed that his twin brother had not, in fact, died at birth.  

And by strained, Draco meant that his parents had taken to living on opposite sides of the manor, interacting only when there were visitors.  Visitors such as his father’s Death Eater friends, members of society, and various government officials.  All of whom were more alike, and had greater overlap, than even Draco had initially suspected.  

This left Draco walking on eggshells between the two of them and wishing for Hogwarts to start again.  Anything he did to please one had to be entirely out of sight of the other, or else they began to fight again.  Truthfully, Draco was more on his mother’s side, all things considered, but his father was the one with the friends, and Draco couldn’t stay home under his mother’s wings for all his life.  Like his dragon namesake, he had to fly.  

Which he would most certainly do.  Soon.  No, he wasn’t hiding from his parents in his room.  That would be ridiculous.  They knew where his room was.  They could find him if they wanted to, and neither of them was anywhere near him.  He knew.  He’d checked.

This made the inarticulate shriek of rage he overheard from his mother all the more concerning.  

It was enough to make him emerge – cautiously! – from his self-imposed exile.  

He was curious.  And stupid.  It got him into enough trouble at school, why not at home?

Also, he really needed to know.  For his own safety.  Tiptoeing around whatever disaster just happened would be impossible if he didn’t know what it was.  

Instead, he tiptoed after his mother.  

His mother, who was angry enough that sparks were coming off the end of her tightly gripped wand.  Green sparks.  

Draco had never actually seen the killing curse in action, but his mother’s face screamed murder all on its own, no magic required, despite the fact that Draco was only catching glimpses of it as she strode towards his father’s half of the house.  

This was going to be bad.  Terrible.  Possibly the kind of event that saw one of his parents in Azkaban and the other in little, tiny pieces all around the smoking room.  

Lucius, for his part, looked paralyzed where he stood, and Draco briefly entertained the notion that Narcissa had managed to cast petrificus totalis on him without moving her wand or speaking the words.

Narcissa planted herself firmly in front of Lucius and glared up at him, seething, her breath making sucking noises as it passed through her teeth.  

She punched Lucius in the face.  The man toppled, clutching his nose.  Narcissa kicked him.

It was a good thing that the Malfoys had no neighbors, because what Narcissa screamed next likely could have been heard for at least a mile.

“He wasn’t even a squib, you lying bastard!”