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torscrawls · 1 year ago

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Fishing for the Truth

It's time to post for @ecto-implosion! I got the privilege to write a fic for the wonderful and talented kad! Check out their wonderful artwork!

Summary:

Two half ghosts, one ghost dog, and one ghost hunter go fishing together. What could possibly go wrong? Now if only Vlad hadn’t gotten it in his head to suddenly tell Jack the truth about being a halfa, and if the fish in the lake hadn’t turned out to be murderous ghosts, the trip might have been quite nice. But of course Danny couldn’t be that lucky.

Word count: 10,575

You can read it on ao3 here!

Danny almost went ghost by instinct when his bedroom door suddenly slammed open with enough force to bounce off the wall, nearly hitting the person bursting into his room in the face.

“Son!” Jack screamed as Danny hastily hid the ectogun he had been tinkering with under the new dog clothes Jazz had made for Cujo before turning around in his desk chair.

“Dad,” Danny answered warily and thanked his unlucky star that Jack was so unobservant.

“What do you say about a fishing trip with your old man?”

Danny blinked in surprise. That wasn’t what he had been expecting, but for once he was having a slow Saturday and it had been ages since he had actually spent some time with his dad one-on-one. “That… That actually sounds fun.”

“Great!” Jack said in a tone of voice somewhere between enthusiastic and foghorn. And then he just stood there.

“You mean… now?” Danny hazarded a guess.

“No time like the present!”

“Yeah, sure. Just give me a minute, alright?”

“Okay! I’ll go pack,” Jack said before turning on his heel and exciting the room as suddenly as he had arrived. Danny let out a long breath, got up, and closed the door after his dad. As soon as the door had clicked shut he became aware of a low scratching sound.

Danny frowned and opened the door again. The hallway was empty.

He slowly closed it again, and… There! There it was again!

“Hello?” he hesitantly called out. He really hoped it wasn’t a ghost looking to mess with him.

There was no answer, except an increasing intensity of the scratching.

Danny slowly turned in place until his eyes landed on his closed closet doors. There. The sound was no doubt coming from inside his closet. Great. Not creepy at all. Danny slowly inched closer, raising a hand and preparing an ectoblast. He really didn’t want to get into a fight right now, he just wanted to have a nice and calm—and above all else; ordinary—Saturday.

The door handle was cold in his hand when he carefully gripped it and then slowly eased it open and—

And was met by a face full of slobbering green ghost-dog.

“Cujo! I almost shot you!” Danny complained with a laugh as he hugged the—currently— small dog tightly.

The dog in his arms simply barked and wiggled with happiness, his tongue leaving long, dripping green streaks on Danny’s cheeks.

“Yeah, yeah, you know I can’t stay mad at you.”

Cujo squirmed out of his arms and jumped to the ground, immediately going for one of his toys, nabbing it from the ground and impatiently showing it to Danny.

“I’m sorry boy. I don’t have time to play right now. I’m gonna go on a trip with my dad.”

Cujo tilted his head cutely in obvious confusion.

Danny couldn’t keep himself from patting it. “Sorry. Not today.”

Cujo whined but then went to the door, looking over his shoulder at Danny, as if waiting for him to follow.

“You can’t come with me. Even dad would notice that you’re a ghost.”

The mere thought of Jack finding out about Cujo made his stomach clench. His parents had gotten better when it came to their prejudices against ghosts, but they still had some way to go.

Cujo wasn’t aware of any of Danny’s internal struggles and simply stepped impatiently in place and whined again, eyes locked on the closed door.

Danny cast about for something to distract the little guy before he got too impatient and decided to simply go through the door. It was a testament to how far he had come that he hadn’t already. Danny almost laughed. What did it say that he trusted his dead dog to behave better than he did his own parents?

His eyes landed on the new clothes that Jazz had made for Cujo. She had insisted that it was a practice run before making clothes for a friend’s dog, but Danny was fairly certain she had just wanted to dress the little guy in some cute clothes. He couldn’t blame her.

“Hey, boy! Let’s see if these fit.”

What followed was a very undignified attempt to get the clothes on him, which Cujo seemed to interpret as a wrestling match; refusing to sit still and turning intangible at every opportunity.

“Come on! Do you want to come with me or not?”

That managed to get him to calm down. Sometimes Danny was certain the dog understood everything he said and simply chose not to listen a majority of the time. The little bastard was lucky he was so cute.

When he finally managed to get them on they fit perfectly. Of course. He hadn’t expected anything less from Jazz.

He held the little dog up in front of him, looking at the cute little sweater and goggles that covered his red eyes.

“Wow, Cujo! You almost look like a real boy!”

Cujo gave a small yip, looking very pleased with himself.

“Danny!” Came a booming call from downstairs, “Let’s go! Are you ready?!”

Danny tilted his head as he considered the dog hanging happily from his hands. “Maybe dad won’t notice that you’re a ghost underneath the clothes?”

Cujo barked, wagging his wispy ghost tail. Well, there was nothing he could do about that detail, but hopefully his dad was as unobservant as always. He also knew, intimately, that if he left the dog home alone he would come home to carnage and chaos. And nobody wanted that, least of all Danny himself.

So he adjusted Cujo into a more secure hold and opened the door. “Coming dad!”

Danny took the stairs two at a time as he muttered to Cujo hanging happily in his arms. “You stay small, alright? I’ll get you a treat when we get back.”

When he entered the hallway, Jack was standing by the door with two big bags and with a bright orange button down thrown over his usual jumpsuit. It was the same garish orange as the fabric beneath it and Danny hoped he didn’t think that made him look casual. Danny was unsure what kind of style he was going for, and he definitely wasn’t about to ask. If there was one thing he had learnt over the years, it was to not get involved in the fashion disaster that was his parents’ wardrobes.

His dad’s eyes lit up when he saw Cujo in Danny’s arms. “Who’s this? I don’t remember us having a dog?”

“I’m gho—” Danny cut himself off, “dog-sitting for… a friend. His name is Cujo.”

“Oh? What a little cutie!” Jack beamed before pausing and frowning. “Why is he so green?”

Danny cast around for a somewhat believable explanation while cursing himself for somehow forgetting that despite the clothes, Cujo was still very much a shining green dog. “Uuuuh, he… was attacked by a ghost? He got covered in ectoplasm and it got stuck in his fur?”

Jack made a cooing sound and leaned over to pet Cujo on the head. “Aww, poor little guy!”

“Yeah. It’s very sad. Tragic.” He cleared his throat. “So, can I bring him with us?”

Jack didn’t even hesitate before saying, “Of course he can come! The more the merrier!”

“Great!” Danny smiled in relief. “Then let’s go!”

And in line with Fenton tradition, they didn’t waste any time before getting in the car and driving off. Cujo sat in the backseat and stuck his head out the window, his ears flapping adorably in the wind and his tongue lolling.

Everything had been going so well, so it wasn’t until they had taken several turns off the main road that Danny straightened up and actually paid attention to where they were going. Or, more accurately, to where they weren’t going.

“…Dad? This isn’t the way to the lake?”

There was nothing out this way, nothing but—

No, it couldn’t be.

Jack turned to face him with a broad and oblivious smile. “Well, we need to pick him up!”

“Pick who up?” Danny asked with growing trepidation, even if he had a sinking feeling that he already knew the answer.

Jack didn’t have time to answer before they came to a screeching halt in front of an elaborately fancy gate.

Just outside there was a man. A very familiar man.

“Why are we picking up Vlad?!”

Jack looked back at him with a confused expression. “What do you mean? This was his idea! Didn’t I tell you?”

“You must have skipped that part,” Danny bit out through gritted teeth. And here Danny had thought that his dad had wanted to spend some quality time with him. Just the two of them without any ghosts or drama, and especially without any meddling billionaires. Of course not.

“Well! No harm! That just makes this a fun surprise! You love your uncle Vlad!”

“Yeah. Amazing. Love that guy.”

Danny watched as Vlad brushed himself off after having jumped back to save his feet from Jack’s patented Fenton parking style, and then he smiled towards the driver’s seat. The expression froze as soon as his eyes landed on Danny and he did a double take, blinked, and then frowned.

Danny took a small measure of satisfaction from the dread he could see growing on the man’s face. It would feel even better if it wasn’t mirrored on his own.

At least that meant he hadn’t planned to torture Danny specifically. Though, it might mean that he had planned to get his dad alone, which wasn’t exactly reassuring.

Maybe it was lucky that his dad had been clueless enough to invite him since it meant that Danny could keep an eye on Vlad and make sure he didn’t try to kill his dad. Again.

Even if that meant he had to go fishing with Vlad of all people. It would be fine, he had survived worse things. At least, that was what Danny tried to tell himself as he sighed and mourned the loss of his calm Saturday, before getting out of the car together with his dad with the same enthusiasm as someone going to the gallows.

Vlad was dressed in his usual immaculate suit and polished shoes. Absolutely deranged for someone that was going fishing.

Danny made sure his feelings about the man in front of him were clear on his face before he nodded in greeting. “Fruitloop.”

“Daniel,” Vlad replied with an infuriatingly disdainful look on his face.

Jack looked between Danny and Jack and then nodded with an overly serious expression on his face. “Jack.”

Danny burst out laughing at the same time as Jack did, only spurred on by Vlad’s groan of dismay. He already looked as if he regretted the whole trip. Danny grinned. Good.

Vlad cleared his throat and asked, eyes narrowed and glaring in Danny’s direction, “So, what is young Daniel doing here?”

“He wanted to join us on the fishing trip!”

Vlad raised both eyebrows in a smooth and practiced motion. “Did he now?”

Daniel raised his own eyebrows in an exaggerated mimicry of Vlad’s expression. “He did now. If it makes you happier, I didn’t know you were about to curse us with your presence either.”

Jack laughed and thumped Vlad on the back hard enough to make him stumble. “It’s great seeing you two get along so well! It’s been ages since we last hung out, just the two of us! It’s like the good old days!”

Vlad coughed before righting himself and straightening out his immaculate suit as if it had gotten wrinkled by simply being touched by Jack. “Yes. And we’re not just the two of us right now either, are we?

“Of course not! Danny-boy is always welcome!” Jack added with a beaming smile, oblivious to the obvious hint and the bite in Vlad’s tone.

“That’s great,” Vlad muttered and he almost looked… Disappointed?

Danny crossed his arms as he thought. This whole thing was a bit too straight-forward in comparison to Vlad’s usual tactics. If Jack went missing under mysterious circumstances while one a fishing trip with him, then surely that would place him under some kind of scrutiny and they would be able to trace it back to him?

It was all way too simple.

Vlad hadn’t been as bad as of late, but that didn’t mean that Danny trusted him. And the increased silence almost made him even more worried. He had to have another, less obvious, plan and Danny would figure it out.

Jack smiled widely, ignorant of the tense atmosphere. “Just imagine, the three of us, all alone on a boat with no one else in sight. Just the silence of nature with no one to disturb us.”

“I can’t wait,” Vlad bit out through clenched teeth.

Danny agreed. “Oh joy.”

“Let’s just get in the car,” Vlad said and made for the front seat. Danny smoothly stepped in his way to block him.

Danny made sure to pitch his voice low enough so that Jack wouldn’t hear him when he said, “If you think I’ll leave you in the front seat with my dad, you must be more delusional than I thought. You get to sit in the back with Cujo.”

Vlad looked affronted. “I won’t sit in the back with the dog!”

Danny turned to Jack and put on his most innocent face. “Daaad, I want to sit in the front with you! It’s been so long since we’ve been on a trip together!”

“Aw, Danny-boy, of course you can sit next to your old man! I’m sure Vladdie won’t mind sitting in the back since it’s such a short trip!”

Vlad sent Danny a nasty glare but somehow still managed to dredge up a tight smile, even if it came off more like a grimace than anything else. “Of course. No problem.”

Danny opened the back door and made a show of gesturing Vlad inside, who hesitated at the sight of Cujo with his hackles raised. Danny was so proud.

Danny smiled and made sure his fangs showed. “Be careful though, he’s known to bite.”

“Great.”

Danny turned up the music until it was impossible to hear Vlad from the backseat and thankfully he stopped trying to make conversation after the first ten minutes.

Somehow they managed to arrive at the lake without anyone ripping out anyone’s throats. Danny was honestly surprised.

They came to a stop in a deserted parking lot surrounded by trees. Danny could just about make out the glittering shine of what he assumed was the lake through the trees and, right by it, the outline of a dark cabin. He really hoped that was the boat rental Jack had been talking about during the drive, and not a murder cabin. When they got back Danny would have to have a talk with Sam about cutting back on the horror during their movie nights.

As they got out of the car, Jack brought out one of the stuffed bags he had packed and proudly pulled out three overalls, two green ones in different sizes—clearly intended for Jack and Danny—and one in a dark gray. “I got us matching clothes!”

“Oh, you didn’t have to—” Vlad began but cut himself off when Jack reached back into the bag. “And you even got hats. Of course.”

And he had; bucket hats, all in matching beige. Danny was delighted. They were going to look so ridiculous and Vlad would absolutely hate it.

On the other hand, he was fairly certain that Vlad would refuse to wear it. Which was why, when Vlad accepted the clothes from Jack, Danny was surprised to see that the man almost looked touched. He could almost swear he even saw Vlad smiling down at the hat in his hands before he put it on.

They all changed into the clothes and Jack looked them over with a huge smile. “What do you think, son? We match!”

“They’re great, dad. Thank you,” Danny said and found that he really meant it. His gratefulness sat like a warm weight in his chest as he fiddled with one of the buckles.

And then the sight of Vlad in an oversized overall with his fancy dress-shirt with rolled up sleeves and polished shoes made Danny snort. Vlad’s subsequent glare, combined with the fact that he didn’t take any of it off, made him laugh out loud.

Vlad sniffed. “If you are laughing at me because of my clothes, I just want to inform you that you look the same.”

Danny did a little twirl in his green overalls and bucket hat, “We can’t all wear it as well as I do.”

Jack sat down on his haunches and petted Cujo on the head with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. “I’m sorry, little guy. I would have brought a hat for you too if I had known you would come with us.”

Cujo yipped and pushed his head into Jack’s hand.

Danny felt an overwhelming wave of love for his dad. Then the moment was broken by Vlad’s irritating voice, “He sure is a strange dog, Daniel. What kind did you say he was again?”

“He’s just a normal dog,” Danny said as he crossed his arms.

Vlad raised one eyebrow. “He’s green.”

Jack looked up from the happy puppy. “The poor guy was in an accident.”

“Really now?”

Danny nodded. “Really. A ghost related accident, poor guy.”

It didn’t get him the reaction he had been aiming for and instead of annoyed, Vlad looked between Jack and Cujo with a thoughtful expression.

Jack straightened up and clapped his hands as he announced, “Well, I’ll go get the boat. You three wait here!”

And before either of them could complain or offer to come with him, he jogged away between the trees, leaving Danny and Vlad alone to eye each other warily and Cujo to whine at the loss of the attention.

After a few tense moments, Danny let out a deep sigh. “Alright, out with it. What are you really planning?”

Vlad tutted. “Don't involve yourself in this.”

“I think I’ve earned involving myself after the first time you tried to kill me and my parents.”

“Fine! Fine. I want to… I want to get them back, okay?”

Danny frowned. “You can't get my mom, I've already told you that multiple—”

“Not like that! Just. As friends. As partners. All three of us.”

"Oh,” Danny wrinkled his nose. “Gross.”

“Not like that,” Vlad repeated as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I just want my friends back, okay?”

It seemed to pain him to admit it and Danny blinked in surprise at the admittance. “Are you saying you're lonely?”

Vlad was silent.

Danny held up a hand. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You turn evil, try to kill your only friends and then you complain because you feel a bit lonely?”

“I didn't—” Vlad began and Danny opened his mouth to argue, but thankfully Vlad cut himself off as he seemed to realize the futility in arguing when they both knew the truth. Instead he said simply, “Yes.”

Danny dragged a hand down his face. “Ancients. I can't believe this.”

To Danny’s horror, Vlad actually looked hesitant as he said, “I—I had actually planned to…” Vlad trailed off.

Danny had a horrible realization of just where that sentence had been going. “You planned on telling him?”

Vlad looked away.

“You were! You have got to be kidding.”

“No. I am not jesting, Daniel,” Vlad said as he dragged all his formality around him like a protective cloak.

“You think that will go over well?” Danny asked incredulously.

“Well. He doesn’t seem to hold your little mongrel over there accountable for his accident,” Vlad said with a nod to Cujo.

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but you’re not a cute little dog, Vlad.”

“I am well aware.”

Danny sighed. “You’re still going to do it, aren’t you?”

“You can’t stop me,” Vlad said and he had never sounded more like a stubborn toddler. “I'm finally ready to be honest.”

“Good for you. I'm not.”

“I really don’t care,” Vlad sneered and Danny almost felt relieved at the familiar disdain in his voice.

He probably would have if he wasn’t suddenly and acutely aware of how uncomfortable this whole trip was going to be. “Ancients, I can’t believe I’m third-wheeling you and my dad while you come out to him!” Then he paused as a thought hit him. “Why only him, though? I thought it was my mom that you were obsessed with?”

This made Vlad look back at him with a scoff. “Have you met Maddie? She wouldn’t let me finish explaining before absolutely wrecking me.”

He ended the sentence with a dreamy expression and Danny wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Again. Gross. I don’t wanna know about your fantasies.”

But he couldn’t really deny that his dad was the easiest to influence out of his parents.

Danny stared up at the sky to gather strength for three blessed seconds before looking back at Vlad and asking, “So what was your plan here? Just to say ‘I’m Plasmius, sorry for trying to kill you but I’m not evil anymore, I promise. And oh, by the way, ghosts aren’t all bad. Trust me’?.”

“I don’t think I like your tone.”

“And I don’t like your face, but here we are. So come on, spill. What was the plan?”

“I know they’ve been getting… better about ghosts.”

Danny nodded. “Because of the hard work of me and my friends, and—you know—actually talking to them. Hard work that was not helped by you attacking them and the town repeatedly, I might add.”

“I haven’t attacked you and your friends, or anyone for that matter, in months,” Vlad hissed out.

Danny threw his hands up in the air. “Well, then! All is forgiven. You haven’t tried to kill anyone in months! How generous.”

Vlad combed a hand through his hair, looking agitated. “I’m actually trying here.”

“And I don’t believe you.”

“I just want to tell him the truth, alright?!”

And damn it all to the deepest parts of the Zone, but he actually sounded sincere. And just like that, Danny’s Saturday had morphed from nice to sit-com level mix-up and all the way to trip from hell.

Vlad couldn’t just tell his dad the truth. Not before Danny even had a chance to do it himself.

“Tell me what, V-man?”

The two of them froze like rabbits in headlights as Jack came back with a wide grin and a set of keys dangling from one hand.

Vlad opened his mouth and Danny gave Vlad a warning kick to the shin. “Nothing. Just that…” Vlad trailed off.

Danny jumped in with an overly cheerful, “That he has missed hanging out with you!”

“Aww! I missed spending time with you too! That’s why this trip is going to be such a blast! Here, I got you two fishing rods and some bait! The boat is down by the water and I even managed to get the motor to start!”

That was when Danny became aware of a continuous roaring sound in the background. He slowly asked, “…And you left it running?”

After a short sprint down to the water to make sure the boat was still there—thankfully it was, even though the cost for the gas would surely be astronomical—they turned the motor off and loaded all their supplies in.

Danny had finally started to relax, so of course that was when Jack decided to whip out a fishing rod that had a suspicious green shine to it. “Meet the new Fenton Fishing Rod™! It’s guaranteed to fish out any dastardly ghosts hiding in the depths!”

Danny took a small step away from the thing. “What does it do exactly?”

Jack beamed, oblivious to the tense atmosphere he had created and the stress of his companions. “It attracts ghosts and entices them to take the bait.”

“That’s… awesome,” Danny said as he exchanged a look with Vlad and hated the feeling of camaraderie that passed between them at their shared discomfort and exasperation in the face of the gadget.

“Right? I can’t wait to see what kind of ghastly catches we’ll get!”

“Weren’t we supposed to catch dinner?” Danny asked carefully, “I’m not really in the mood for the undead kind. Again.”

“Oh, that’s right! Not to worry though, it’s turned off right now and it also functions like a regular fishing rod, fully capable of catching non-dead fish!”

Danny eyed it warily. “That’s great dad, but maybe try not to lure any ghosts to us tonight, okay? We’re just here for regular fishing, remember?”

He had just wanted to spend some ghost-free time with his dad, not to sit in a boat with him and Vlad and use a fishing rod that attracted every ghost in the vicinity to their location. Thinking about it logically, he really should have known better.

Danny heaved a sigh of defeat. This would end in disaster.

Cujo jumped into the boat with enthusiasm.

Jack looked at Cujo with clear worry on his face. “Are you sure the little guy will be okay on the boat? Should I have gotten him a life jacket?”

“He’ll be fine. He floats. Besides, he can help with the catches, can’t you boy?” Danny held out the net for Cujo. Cujo barked back an affirmative, grabbing the net and sitting down in the back of the boat, tail hitting the side of the boat with a hollow thump thump as he impatiently waited for the rest of them to get in.

“Well then, the little guy has the right idea! Let’s go!” Jack said as he too jumped onboard, and then there wasn’t any more time for regrets as both Danny and Vlad had to throw themselves onto the boat to get on before Jack took off.

Half an hour later Danny found himself contemplating how far he would get if he jumped in the water and swam for shore before his dad would come and fish him out of the water.

The minutes crawled by agonizingly slowly as they sat in silence. Just the three of them and the quiet waters around them, the setting sun, the clear sky, the sound of birdsong, the gentle rustle of leaves in the trees.

It should have been exactly what he needed to wind down, but Danny found himself hating every second of it. He was acutely aware of Vlad sitting such a short distance away, surely about to try and—once again—destroy his whole life. The only saving grace was that Jack had situated himself in the middle, creating a small barrier between the two of them.

As if hearing Danny’s thoughts, Vlad broke the silence with a casual, “Actually, Jack, there was something I wanted to tell you.”

“What is it Vladdie?”

Danny panicked. He couldn’t just say it!

Vlad took a deep breath, set his shoulders—oh shit, he was actually going to do it—and said, “I'm actually a gh—”

“Ah!” Danny cut him off, “I think I got something on the hook!”

Jack leaned closer to him, excited about the possible catch. “You do?”

“Oh, no, must have been my imagination. My bad.”

“Of course. A simple mistake to make,” Vlad bit out, but thankfully stayed silent afterwards.

Or at least that’s what Danny had hoped, but not even a minute later, Vlad broke the silence as he turned to Jack, “So… Jack. Have you met Phantom lately?”

Danny narrowed his eyes. “What are you fishing for?”

Vlad smirked. “Dinner, dear Daniel.”

The asshole. Of course he would get Danny back.

Jack paused, uncharacteristically hesitant. “That ghost boy… I think we might have been a bit wrong about him.”

Danny watched with satisfaction as Vlad froze at his dad’s words. “…What?”

A few months ago, Danny would have reacted in the same way, but by now he was aware that his parents had been less prone to shooting first and asking questions later, and that—combined with the fact that they had actually proposed a truce a few months back—had made him realize that they were starting to change the way the saw ghosts. Finally.

It still warmed him to hear his dad say it.

Jack fiddled with the fishing rod in his hands as he spoke, “Well, me and Maddie have been rethinking some things lately and maybe… Maybe we’ve been a bit too zealous and strict with our judgments.”

“…Strict?” Vlad asked faintly.

“Yes. We judged all the ghosts without even really knowing them. We should be using this opportunity to learn more about them, not just destroy them. Some of the ghosts in town haven’t attacked anyone in all the years they’ve been there and there really isn’t anything indicating that they’re planning to.”

“Right. You seem to have really thought this through,” Vlad said, seeming stunned.

Jack clapped Danny on the shoulder, almost tipping him overboard. “It’s mostly thanks to Danny and his friends. They managed to get us to see that we let our emotions cloud our judgment a tiny bit.”

“Quite a bit,” Danny corrected under his breath, but he was still very proud of how far both his parents had come. Only a few years ago he wouldn’t have thought this to ever be possible, that he could have a calm conversation about ghosts with his dad.

Vlad frowned and seemed to mull it over but before he had the time to work up to saying something in response—and probably try to reveal his secrets again and subsequently tear down all the work Danny had done over the last few years with keeping his own secret—there was a tug on Vlad’s fishing rod.

Jack immediately zeroed in on it. “I think you have something on the hook there, V-man!”

“So it seems.”

“Come on, let’s reel it in!”

Vlad got the fish up and Jack grabbed it from the line, unhooked it and snapped its neck before dumping it in the bucket at their feet. Cujo seemed very happy at the new addition to their boat, and wouldn’t stop trying to stick his nose into the bucket, no matter how many times Danny tried to push him away.

“Thanks for the help,” Vlad said and was that… fondness in Vlad’s voice?

This whole situation was starting to weird Danny out.

Vlad hadn’t tried to kill his dad even once during the whole trip. It was unnerving.

Maybe it was time to poke the hornets’ nest a bit.

Danny turned to smirk at Vlad as he innocently asked, “Since we’re on the subject of ghosts, Vladdie, what do you think about the ghost Plasmius?”

To his credit, Vlad simply blinked in surprise before turning to stare deadpan at Danny. “Are you baiting me?”

Danny was mortified to find himself almost laughing at that comment. He needed to get control of the conversation back, and fast. “I fucking hate you,” Danny muttered before turning to Jack and loudly asking, “Dad, what do you think about the ghost Plasmius?”

Jack hummed in thought, leaning forward to help in trying to keep Cujo out of the bucket.

Vlad leaned back behind Jack and, in a warning tone of voice, hissed out, “Daniel. What are you doing?”

Danny whispered back, “What are you doing?!”

Jack didn’t seem to hear the whispered argument taking place behind his back as he took his time to answer.

Vlad let out a frustrated huff. “I'm trying to tell him. I'm finally ready to be honest.

“Good for you. I'm not.” It wouldn’t be a big leap for his parents to take if they found out and accepted Vlad as a ghost.

Vlad opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Jack spoke up in front of them, prompting both of them to sit up straight. “I think that ghost was one of the bad ones even though he seems to have mellowed out a bit, which is fascinating because we didn’t used to believe that ghosts could change!”

“Neither did I,” Vlad said low enough that Danny doubted Jack could hear him. Annoyingly, he raised his voice again as he sucked in a deep breath and said, “Jack. What I’ve been trying to say is that I...”

Cujo chose that moment to turn intangible and simply stick his head though the bucket instead and Danny lunged for him before his dad could see. Which meant that he completely missed trying to interrupted Vlad as he continued,

“I’m a halfa. I’m half dead.”

Danny froze with one hand in the back of Cujo’s shirt and the other trying to pry the fish out of his mouth. Fuck.

Jack patted Vlad on the shoulder. “We’re all a little dead inside, it’s okay.”

“That’s not what I—”

“It doesn’t make me think any less of you.”

Danny burst out laughing and Vlad slumped where he sat, looking utterly defeated. “Lucky me.”

Danny almost felt pity for the man. He managed to get Cujo to let go of the fish, inspected what was left of it and deemed it a lost cause. He held it out for his dad. “Hey, do you want to give him the rest? I don’t think we should eat this.”

Jack lit up and immediately took it upon himself to try and get Cujo to sit and give paw, which Danny knew from experience the dog knew, but often simply refused to do. Danny, meanwhile, turned to Vlad and said, “Don’t waste your breath. He has a remarkable ability not to see what’s right in front of him. Especially if it’s something he doesn’t believe is possible.”

“What do you mean son? I can clearly see this little cutie-pie! Yes, you are. Come on, boy! Sit! No, don’t bark. Sit!”

Danny gave Vlad a meaningful glance. “See?” Then he turned to Jack. “Try ‘play dead’ instead, he’s really good at that one.”

Vlad heaved a deep sigh.

“You are such a good boy! Well, now we have to catch some more fish for dinner. We wouldn’t want you going hungry!” Danny didn’t even feel miffed that his dad seemed more concerned with feeding his dog than him. He understood.

Jack smiled down at Cujo who sat at his feet. “We’re going to have a fin-tastic dinner, just you wait!”

Vlad snorted.

Danny turned to stare at the man, shocked at the genuine sound of happiness, but Vlad wasn’t looking at him. He was making a casual comment to Jack, making him laugh in turn, and suddenly Danny could see them as they must have been in college. With dad and mom laughing and ribbing each other as they tried to one-up each other, and Vlad right alongside them, the voice of reason to his parents’ insanity.

His thoughts were interrupted by something tugging on his line and Danny turned his attention to reeling in the frankly massive bass he had managed to hook. “This one is huge! Help me reel it in!”

Cujo immediately latched onto the rod beneath Danny’s hands and started pulling. He didn’t really help much, but Danny appreciated the gesture.

“Awww, Danno, he seems to really like you! It’s going to be hard to give him back to your friend!”

“Yeah, haha,” Danny laughed awkwardly as he heaved the fish the last of the way into the boat. “When I give him back. Right.”

The massive bass flopped to the bottom of the boat and Danny had to grab for Cujo again to keep him from performing another impromptu dissection then and there.

“Wow! Great job son!” Jack praised as he grabbed the fish and promptly put it out of its misery. “That’s going to go great on the spit later!” He thumped Danny on the back, once again almost pitching him over the edge. “Soon you’re going to be stronger than your old man!”

“Thanks dad,” Danny said, trying to ignore the way his cheeks heated at the praise. Then the moment was ruined as he caught sight of Vlad staring at him with something akin to jealousy in his eyes. So Danny gave him a pointed look and added, “The fish won’t be the only thing getting grilled later.”

Vlad scoffed but didn’t have time to respond before Jack exclaimed, “Aw, you found the marshmallows? I wanted it to be a surprise!”

“What? No, I—” Danny cut himself off. “Wait, we have marshmallows?”

“For dessert!” Jack confirmed, then sheepishly added, “There might not be that many left though since I sneaked a couple while waiting for you in the hallway.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, dad.” He couldn’t help but add, with a glance at Vlad, “At least, if someone doesn’t mess things up.”

“Me? I’m obviously just here because of the good company and relaxation,” Vlad said in an obviously sarcastic deadpan. Despite this; Danny had never actually seen Vlad this relaxed before. No murder attempts. No villainous monologues. No deranged plans to ruin Danny’s whole life.

He didn’t know what to make of it.

Jack didn’t seem to have any such problems but the issue was that he had seemingly decided to land on gratitude since he said, “You’ve been so busy lately with all your new obligations. It’s nice that you take the time to be here.”

And Vlad looked genuinely touched. This was all so weird.

“I’m the one that should be grateful. And also ask for forgiveness.” Vlad took a deep breath. “What I'm trying to say is that I—”

“Want to spend more time with you and mom! That’s so nice of you Vlad.” Danny cut in, a wide smile fixed on his face.

“Aw, Vladdie! I missed you too!”

“Yes. Right.” Vlad drummed his fingers on the handle of his fishing rod. “That’s great, but I really wanted to say was that I’m—”

“Hungry! He's so hungry, dad!” Danny cut him off again. “Better focus on the fishing so we get that dinner!”

“Good to see you haven’t lost your appetite!” Jack laughed, “Do you remember those eating contests we used to have back in college? And that time you ate twenty—”

Vlad looked nauseous when he cut Jack off, “Yes. Yes, I remember. Danny’s right, let’s focus on fishing instead.”

“You’re right! Just you wait, I’m going to catch a massive fish so we can all eat our fill!”

“You really think you can beat that?” Danny asked with a nod at his earlier catch and a challenging grin.

Jack smiled wide, competition making his eyes sparkle. “I’ll show you what the Fenton Fishing Rod™ can do!”

Vlad sniffed, but wasn’t completely able to hide a small smile of his own. “It can’t beat proper technique.”

“Oh, it’s on!” Jack laughed and flicked a switch on his fishing rod. Danny’s smile faltered, he might have—just slightly—miscalculated with this challenge.

The effects were immediate.

As the fishing rod lit up in neon green, it was accompanied by a horrible screeching sound that seemed to reverberate in Danny’s skull. Danny instinctively tried to cover his ears and saw Vlad flinch violently, almost tipping himself over the side of the boat in the process.

“Turn it off!” Danny half-screamed to be heard over the noise.

Jack, apparently unable to hear the ruckus he was causing, said, “What’s wrong?”

From next to Danny he saw Cujo growl and start to grow in size, tearing his new clothes. The boat dipped at the added weight, tilting precariously as the side Cujo occupied almost took in water.

Danny let go of his left ear and gestured for Cujo to stand down. “Down boy!”

Vlad, thankfully, managed to get his hands on the fishing rod and switched it off.

Both Danny and Vlad slumped down in relief when the sound cut off. Cujo immediately started to shrink back to his regular size and Danny absentmindedly patted his head to calm him. He shook his head to try and get rid of the ringing sound still echoing in his skull. “I think that thing does the opposite of attracting ghosts.”

Jack wasn’t listening. He was staring at Cujo who was currently nuzzling up to Danny’s hand. “He’s a… ghost?”

Danny tensed up, cursing himself for not realizing sooner that of course Jack would have put two and two together after seeing Cujo’s little size-changing stunt. He immediately grabbed the pup off of the floor of the boat and cradled him protectively in his arms, eyeing his dad warily. Danny cursed the fact that the three of them were currently trapped on a small boat in the middle of a lake, with the only way out inevitably revealing his own ghostly status. Of course, he would do it without hesitation if it meant keeping Cujo safe, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “Yes. He is.”

“But…” Jack frowned. “But he’s so cute?”

“Yes. And he’s a ghost. We’ve been over this, right? Not all ghosts are evil.”

Jack seemed to war with himself for a while before he bent forward, towards Cujo and Danny instinctively tensed; ready to snatch the puppy away. But his dad simply reached out a careful hand and waited. Cujo didn’t even hesitate before leaning forward and sniffing the hand. Then he started slobbering and licking all over it. Of course. Danny stared at his dad as he laughed at the currently small ghost and positively cooed, “Aren’t you a cutie.”

Cujo yipped and preened at the attention and Danny found himself smiling as he put the dog down on the floor. He immediately jumped towards Jack and before Danny could blink his dad had an armful of happy, wiggling ghost dog.

“What if he’s just biding his time before attacking you?” Danny asked pointedly, but he couldn’t keep a big smile from his face, “Look at him, he’s an evil mastermind. I think he’s planning to slobber all over your face again as soon as you let your guard down.”

Jack laughed, rubbing Cujo’s tummy, much to the dog’s delight. “Ooooh, so evil. Yes you are. Such an evil little ghost.”

Danny joined in the laughter, relief and delight at the sight in front of him making him feel almost light headed. He couldn’t believe his dad laughed. Actually laughed. About ghosts. Danny wouldn’t have been able to dampen the smile on his face even if he tried.

Vlad looked from Cujo, to Jack, and back. “You’re… okay with him?”

Danny couldn’t fault him for his obvious shock.

Jack tried to put the dog back down but Cujo was having none of it as he whined and just jumped back up into his arms and started licking his face instead. “I don’t really see any reason not to be.” Jack tried to speak between huffs of laughter as he did his best to ignore the dog currently doing his best to occupy his whole face. “As long as he’s such a good boy. Yeah, who’s a good boy? You are!”

Cujo barked in agreement, tail going a mile a minute.

Vlad stared at them with an incredulous expression. “You changed your mind. Because of a dog?”

“I know it’s not very scientific. But Vladdie, what we were doing before wasn’t any better! Just think about all the evidence—”

Vlad held up a hand to stop him. “I assure you, you don’t have to convince me. It’s just— A dog. That’s all it took for you to change your mind? Petting a dog?”

“Well, I’ve never really interacted with a ghost like this before! And who can say no to this little guy?”

He got another face-long lick for his efforts.

“You’re impossible,” Vlad said with a shake of his head, but Danny was fairly certain he didn’t imagine the fondness in his voice.

They were interrupted by Jack’s fishing rod almost getting dragged into the water from where it had laid forgotten and propped against the side of the boat. Jack managed to grab a hold of it at the last second and smiled down at Cujo. “Come on boy, I think we got something on the hook! Let’s reel another one in!”

“Wait,” Danny said as he wrinkled his nose, “Is it just me or does something smell fishy?”

Vlad heaved a sigh, “Daniel. I can assure you that I have no ulterior motives. I’ve already told you what I plan to—”

Danny cut him off and watched with a frown as his dad and Cujo wrestled with the fishing rod. “Not you. Something else. Something… rotten?”

Miraculously, Jack managed to get the fish out of the water without tipping himself or Cujo into the lake, but when they got it up into the boat the fish was half-rotted away with big vacant eyes and way too many teeth in its gaping mouth.

The three of them stared at their catch in silence, even joined by Cujo staring down at their disgusting catch without any of his usual antics.

Danny leaned away from it and asked, “…What kind of fish is that?”

“A dead one?” Vlad said with a tilt of his head and an almost hopeful tone of voice.

As if to prove him wrong it twitched, flopping almost aggressively on the bottom of the boat. The wet slapping noises, together with the stench made Danny wrinkle his nose in disgust. “It’s a... zombie fish?”

That got Jack’s attention and he immediately got to his feet, rocking the boat, and raising his fishing rod high in the air. “It has to be the work of some ghost! I knew the Fenton Fishing Rod™ worked!”

And before either Danny or Vlad could stop him, Jack turned the fishing rod back on.

The whole lake seemed to heave. The water churned as if whipped up by an unseen storm just under the surface and the rocking of the boat got even worse. Danny reached up and grabbed a hold of his dad before he could topple over the edge and used a hint of ghostly strength to force him to sit down. The screeching in his ears was overpowered by a gurgling sound emanating from all around them. The fish on the bottom of their boat kept on flopping, its eyes now a glowing red. “That can’t be good.”

A fish suddenly jumped out of the water, aiming straight for Jack’s head. Vlad caught it in his hand, looked down at the gaping mouth with razor-sharp teeth in clear disgust, and hurled it back into the lake.

Cujo whined and grew rapidly in size and Danny desperately tried to not get toppled over into the lake as the boat rocked.

“Maybe you should turn it off, dad?!” Danny shouted over the aggravating noise coming from the cursed fishing rod.

Jack turned to him with an offended expression. “I won’t get scared by a little fish! Don’t worry, son. I’ll protect you! Besides, maybe this ghost isn’t evil.”

Another fish jumped up, and Danny threw himself to the bottom of the boat to avoid getting a chunk bitten out of his face. “Oh, it’s definitely evil.”

Cujo growled at the fish and swiped at the next one that jumped up, hitting it out of the air.

“Good boy!” Danny called as he took shelter between Cujo’s large legs. The boat was tilting precariously and on the verge of taking in water. It wouldn’t hold out much longer.

And of course that was when something bumped up against the bottom of the boat. Hard.

Vlad gripped the railing on both sides as he stared down between his knees at the hull. “…What was that?” Then he winced and looked up, hands coming up to cover his ears as he said, “Jack, I really think you should—”

Jack wasn’t listening as he cast his line over the edge of the boat and into the water. “Don’t worry! I’ll take care of the ghost!”

“No! Just turn it—” Vlad tried to grab for the fishing rod, missed, lunged for it again, managed to snatch it out of Jack’s hand, overbalanced and then slowly tipped over the edge of the boat. Danny watched the whole thing unfold with the kind of delighted awe you got when knowing that you were watching a once in a lifetime event.

As an added bonus, the noise stopped when the fishing rod disappeared beneath the surface of the lake together with Vlad. Danny felt Cujo relax behind him and absentmindedly petted one of his front legs.

Almost immediately the rain of deadly fish stopped, the lake turning almost eerily still and silent. Except for the loud sputtering as Vlad breached the surface.

“Vladdie!” Jack called, “You okay down there? You should have told me if you wanted the Fenton Fishing Rod™ so badly!”

Vlad sputtered as he started clumsily swimming towards the boat, no doubt weighted down by the overall and his fancy dress shirt. The bucket hat bobbed on the surface next to his waving arms. “I don’t want your cursed fishing rod, you oaf! Help me up!”

Cujo let out a sudden growl and Danny turned to calm him, but instead caught sight of what he must have spotted. A teeming mass of something was moving towards their boat, and it was coming on fast. Was it the fishes? Why hadn’t they calmed down? Maybe the fishing rod was still emitting that horrible screeching sound beneath the surface.

Danny eyed the approaching mass and then Vlad’s clumsy attempt at making his way back to the side of the boat. Too slow. “Hey, dad? Maybe start the motor?”

Jack turned to him with a frown. “Shouldn’t we fish Vlad out first?”

“He’ll be fine. Look!” He gestured to the writhing mass that was now way too close for comfort. “Just go!”

“I can hear you!” Vlad shouted from down in the water where he was trying to grab a hold of the side of the boat.

Danny turned to face Vlad, patience long since run out. “Then get in, old man!”

Jack cranked the engine. It didn’t start. He did it again. Nothing. The sound of the motor stalling made dread pool in Danny’s stomach. This was just not panning out to be the relaxing evening he had envisioned with his dad.

Jack sat back on his heels. “I think we’re out of gas.”

“Of course we are,” Danny said with a groan. “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we don’t leave the engine running.”

The mass in the water started to breach the surface in a splashing, whirling mess of small bodies. It would soon be upon them.

Danny resigned himself to having to fight ghost fish with his dad and Vlad. Cujo let out a bark from behind him, reminding him that he at least had someone competent on his side. “I hope you brought some weapons.” He definitely didn’t want to have to reveal his ghostly ability to shoot ectoblasts because of some fish.

“Of course I did!” Jack sounded offended. “I don’t go anywhere without them!”

Jack produced two ectoguns from only the Ancients knew where and for once Danny was glad for his parents’ inability to go anywhere without weapons.

Danny grabbed one of the guns and before his dad could comment that Danny didn’t know how to handle it, he had checked the ammunition, loaded it, and taken aim at the closest part of the writhing, teeming, mass of bodies beneath the surface, now only a short distance away. “This has to be a new record; we didn’t even have time to catch dinner before it started fighting back!”

Jack barked out a laugh and thankfully didn’t question his apparent sudden gun proficiency, simply loaded his own weapon and took aim as well.

Danny fired off a couple of shots, but there were just so many and there didn’t seem to be an end to them. Maybe Vlad could get to the fishing rod and turn it off or destroy it?

“Vlad!” Danny called and Vlad paused in his effort to get back in the boat. “Get the fishi—”

And that was when something grabbed Vlad and dragged him beneath the surface. Well, there went that plan.

No matter. Vlad would be able to fend for himself. But then Danny saw Jack and his distressed expression at Vlad’s sudden disappearance and knew that his dad was too nice to just leave his friend to his apparent fate as fish food.

Danny heaved a sigh and said to Cujo, “Stay boy. Guard.”

Then he tossed the gun to his dad and called out, “I’ll get him! Stay with the boat!” before diving into the murky water.

Ten minutes later Danny found himself dragging Vlad out of the lake and onto the rocky shore, both of them dripping with a putrid mix of water and ghost fish intestines. Somewhere along the way Danny had picked up a fishing line and then promptly tangled himself up in it during the swim-slash-underwater-fight to get out of reach of the now definitely confirmed murderous fish.

He glanced over his shoulder as they stumbled out of the water and noted that the boat was still out on the lake. After everything that had happened he was almost surprised to see it floating, which most likely meant that Cujo and his dad were safe. Even so; he doubted that they would get their deposit back after all they had put the poor boat through.

Vlad groaned from his position slumped over Danny’s shoulder and Danny scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic, they only took a couple of small bites out of you.”

Vlad glared at him but the effect was slightly diminished by the limp hair obscuring his eyes and making him look more like a drowned cat than an intimidating half-ghost. “So sorry if my almost death is inconveniencing you.”

“It is, thank you for noticing,” Danny snarked back, almost glad that they were back to ribbing each other after the day’s strangeness.

But then Vlad blinked and his glare changed into something too soft for Danny’s liking before he said, “You didn’t really have to come save me, you know?”

Danny tried to laugh it off, but it came out sounding strangled. “Well, someone had to drag your sorry ass out of that maw. I would never live it down if my nemesis met his end as fish food.”

“Still, I appreciate it. Especially since I know you don’t want to risk your dad seeing you as a ghost.”

“Well, I’m so sorry that just because you suddenly want to scream to the whole world about you being a ghost, I’m not ready to do the same. You should respect my ghostly privacy, thank you very much.”

Vlad let out a sigh and, to Danny’s horror, he said, “You’re right, I’ll try to find a better way of telling him.”

The surprise he felt at Vlad agreeing with anything he said was overshadowed by the sudden arrival of Cujo as he jumped up on Danny and almost tipped the both of them over. At least he was back to being small again. Small mercies. “Hi, boy! Weren’t you with—”

“A ghost? What do you mean by that?”

Danny whipped his head around and found his dad staring at him with wide eyes. “Oh shit. How did you—” Danny’s eyes jumped out to the lake, but the boat was still there. He shouldn’t have assumed that meant that his dad was as well.

Then he realized that he should have denied it.

“Son. You’re a…?”

Danny couldn’t believe that this was how his dad found out about him being a ghost; with a sopping wet Vlad hanging over his shoulders, guts in his hair, a fishing line stringing him up like a tied up ham, and with Cujo nipping at his heels.

Before he could come up with an answer that was even close to coherent, Cujo grabbed hold of a loose end of the fishing line and pulled, and before Danny could do more than utter a short yell of surprise, he found himself with a mouth-full of dirt after falling flat on his face.

He immediately decided that facing the ground was preferable to facing his dad right now and stayed right where he was as grumbled out, “Of course when you finally manage to out someone it’s me. I guess that’s what I get from trying to stop you the whole day.”

“Son—” His dad said at the same time as Vlad protested, “I didn’t mean to—”

Danny waved them both off, not bothering to pick himself up off the ground. He would just stay here, facedown in the dirt, thank you very much. “I know you didn’t mean to. Yes. Okay. We’re doing this, huh? I’m a ghost. Half-ghost. You got me.”

“Half…?” He heard his dad trail off, sounding very confused. At least he didn’t seem angry. He would take any silver lining he could get at this point.

Danny gave a half-hearted thumbs up from his prone position. “I’m not fully dead, don’t worry.”

There was silence for a short while and then his dad said, sounding exasperated, “Can you get up off the ground so we can talk?”

Danny shook his head, only succeeding in further shoving his head into the dirt. “No, I think I’m good right here, thanks.”

Then he felt a small tongue on his cheek and snorted. “That tickles!” And then he realized that Cujo was chewing on something wet and purple that smelled alarmingly of rotten fish. Danny sat up immediately and grabbed for the piece of fish-intestine that Cujo had nabbed off of Danny’s face. “No, bad boy! Don’t eat that!”

Cujo simply jumped out of the way, still happily chewing away and Danny groaned.

Then he looked up to find both Vlad and his dad staring at him; Vlad with an expression halfway between disappointment and exasperation and his dad with an uncharacteristically hesitant expression. Well, this was awkward. Before he could decide on what to say, Vlad held out a hand. “Come on, get up.”

Danny stared at the offered hand. “Wow. You really just needed to get outside for a while, huh? Like airing out dusty clothes. Aired the evil right out of you.” He grabbed the hand and let Vlad pull him to his feet. “Or wait. Did you hit your head when you fell in?”

Vlad rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

“Thank you.” Danny grinned, trying to grab for any semblance of normalcy in this situation. He dusted himself off as well as he could, decided the effort wasn’t worth it and that there was no real reason to keep up appearances anymore, and simply turned intangible to get all the gross stuff off of him.

Jack kept on staring. Danny couldn’t take the tension anymore and promptly struck a pose, jazz hands and all, and said, “Ta daa!”

Vlad groaned and buried his face in one of his hands, but at least it succeeded in getting Jack to finally blink and take a breath.

“Well.” Jack paused, then sighed. “I think I need to have another talk with your mother when we get back.” He sent a pointed look at Danny. “With you this time.”

“Alright.” This wasn’t how he had envisioned this going down, but he could work with it.

Vlad looked between the two of them with a frown. “Oh, so now he listens.”

Danny couldn’t help it, he broke out into laughter. From the release of tension and from the absolutely petulant look on Vlad’s face.

Thankfully, Jack seemed to finally connect all the dots he had been handed over the course of the afternoon. “Wait. You’re also…?”

“Half ghost. Yes,” Vlad said and made as if to straighten out his suit, but since he was currently wearing an overall he simply ended up grabbing the straps and looking like the world’s most pompous hillbilly. The image was further perfected by a piece of ghostly entrails slowly sliding down Vlad’s shoulder before landing on the ground with a disgustingly wet sound. Cujo barked happily and immediately dove for it. Danny decided to pick his battles and let him have it.

Jack groaned. “How can you be half—” he shook his head. “You know what? Don’t answer that. We should all sit down and eat. This is too much to take in on an empty stomach.”

Danny had to agree and they had managed to get a single—hopefully normal—fish before all this mess had started. Who was he kidding? This trip had been a mess from the very start. Danny stared out at the boat still bobbing in the middle of the lake, all alone. “Yeah, that might prove to be a bit of an issue.”

Jack followed his gaze and then sadly said, “…We still have some marshmallows?”

Danny couldn’t help the snort that escaped him at Jack’s forlorn expression. His dad could teach Cujo a thing or two about puppy eyes. Its effects were only slightly diminished by the fact that he was sopping wet. “I can’t believe you guys swam ashore!”

“Well, we couldn’t just let those pesky ghosts get you both!”

“So you dove in to save us?” Danny felt oddly touched.

“Of course! Now, you apparently didn’t really need saving, but still!”

Danny smiled. “Just wait a second; I’ll go get the boat.” He turned to give his dad a warning look. “Please don’t shoot me.”

And then he transformed into Phantom. He didn’t give his dad enough time to gather himself or to stop gaping in horror at him before taking off.

Later when they were sitting around a green fire, grilling fish and marshmallows, Jack very un-casually said, “Sooo, you’re both ghosts, huh?”

“Yep,” Danny said, popping the p.

Vlad leaned back against a log and said, “Yeah.”

Danny couldn’t help giving Vlad a glare for the relief he could hear in his voice.

Jack looked down at Cujo. “Like this little guy.”

“Yes…?” Danny didn’t know where Jack was going with this.

“So… does that mean that he’s your dog? Can we keep him?”

Danny looked at his dad sitting on a log with a sleeping Cujo in his lap. He hadn’t stopped petting him ever since they sat down and Danny had caught him sneaking pieces of both fish and marshmallow to the dog several times. Danny smiled. “Yes, dad, we can keep him. The problem is trying to get him to leave you alone.”

Jack beamed. “Sounds perfect!”

Vlad gave a short laugh. “Can you believe it? You’re getting willingly haunted by a dog.”

“And the two of you!” Jack added happily.

That startled a laugh out of both Vlad and Danny. Vlad reached for another marshmallow as he said, “That’s fair.”

Danny stuffed his face with his own burnt marshmallow and said, “Nothing like a fight for your lives to bring people together, huh?”

“Or, half lives in your case!” Jack added with a laugh.

“Dad, oh my god!” Danny groaned into his hands, hiding his smile.

Jack chuckled. “What? Too soon?”

Vlad shook his head with a smile. “Not soon enough.”

#ectoimplosion2023 #dp #danny phantom #dp fic #danny phantom fic #danny phantom fanfic #dp fanfic #phic #my writing

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nrdmssgs · 8 months ago

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Serpent tongue

Masterlist Genre: Angst with a happy ending. Characters: Sebastian Krueger, Phayvanh "Nak" Sotsvahn belongs to @vasyandii, Olga 'Zhar" Samoilova TWs: strong language, description of military operation, canon typical violence AN: this is set somwhere arond the begining of Nak and Kruegers interactions, so they are a bit silly around each other. But I promise, they will be in love soon-ish.

“phai bo non maew, si kad kaem.*” Words roll down Phayvanh`s tongue and echoe in the empty, dark hall.

Even if there are any other soldiers around at this late hour - they'll know better than to bother her. Because she's deep inside her thoughts - she's humming and mumbling the words, obscure to their ears. Her very own cantrips to keep others away, her mnemonic spells to help her with the routine. So what if it's just a lullaby? As long as it helps her shut her brain off and run the preparations mechanically…

“phai bo aem, kai noi tod taa.*” On this verse she always checks the flashlights before attaching them to her vest.

Click. The strobe flashlight works perfectly.

“phai bo aem…”

Click. The spare flashlight Illuminates Krueger's face in the semi-darkness.

Phayvanh doesn't flinch nor shriek from the suddenness of him appearing just a few meters behind. She turns off the light and watches Sebastian face.

Pathetic fucker had his own share of humiliation today, much to Nak's enjoyment. Oh, how cocky he was all the way to Zhar's office. Only to get dismissed at the very beginning of a debrief. “I'm not coming, but the baby is?” - Krueger's outburst was so loud, it seemed like the whole base would hear that: “What is that she can, and I don't?!”. Zhar didn't even raise her gaze from the documents, she was checking before the meeting start. But when she answered, Nak had to bite her cheeks to not grin victoriously. “The list would be long, Sebastian, but it would start with the fact, that Nak can obviously read the list of soldiers, I called for this debriefing. The list that contained her, and didn't contain you. Now stand up.” That was the first time she looked up since they gathered around her desk. “And leave my office. I have soldiers to prepare for the mission.”

And just like that the notorious ‘golden boy’, ‘Zhars favorite’, ‘the faceless Chimera’ was shown his place. So it was only natural for him to come mock Phayvanh later, when the audience is not that big.

“Serpent tongue!” His idiotic smile doesn't bode well.

“Going straight for racism this time, moron?” Nak feels almost disappointed about how plain Krueger's attack is. Even calling her little baby hit harder than this bullshit.

“No, I… Wait-wait!” He jumps closer to the table, where she prepares her tactical vest to not get lost from her gaze. “I meant it in a good way! Like these Lao letters, they look like little snakes! I looked it up and there is that one like a confused snake, another one like a happy snake, a bunch of letters with a snake that looks at its own tail. They are lovely.”

Since when this idiot has an interest for Lao alphabet?

“What you're gonna say, I'm seeing shit? C`mon, admit it, your letters are beautiful, but it's easy to memorize them when you think of them as little snakes. Serpent tongue.” He looks so proud, as if he just solved one of Landaus problems, not invented some nonsense.

“Gonna say, that a confused snake, watching his own tail, has more brainpower than you.” Phayvanh goes back to preparation routine, trying to ignore Krueger, who seems to not be in a hurry to leave her alone.

They spend a few long minutes in silence, which is a good thing for Nak. She's not ready for questions like ‘why don't you sleep before the important mission?’, ‘is it really just a preparation, or are nervously fidgeting your own equipment?’, ‘are you afraid to turn out worse than me?’. Krueger takes a step to the desk and start helping her arrange all the essentials. She tolerates it, but everything has its limits. Phayvanhs patience cracks when Sebastian reaches out to one of her push daggers. Her hand is quicker, her smooth movements are more precise, and the blade freezes only in mere centimeters away from a vein pulsing on Kruegers neck. A bold hint, but quite a clear one.

“I just wanted to help.” He raises hands in a surrendering gesture. “Olga likely threw a ton of timings, plans, routes and whatsoever at you. The first time with her is overwhelming, I know. There must be a few ‘tiers’ of action plans for each of you, right?”

Nak doesn't lower her dagger, but nods. There were, indeed, different plans for each step of her part in the mission. She didn't quite catch, why would she need a plan B, С and so on. She either does her job or dies trying - that was always how it went.

“Listen, if anything goes south - just don't hesitate and go straight to the plan B, ok? Forget commander's bullshit about top-tier goals and minimum goals. She always gets what she needs in the end and that is her ‘least satisfied’ plan. Always. So you worry about yourself, ok? Not the goal or plan A.”

Phayvanh doesn't believe her ears. So the golden boy doesn't always hit the top goal? That spoiled brat that dares calling her a baby, turns into a loser, once he's given freedom to operate on any level besides perfect? Oh, he didn't actually hear the real Serpents tongue. The one that pushes her to the limits, demands no less than perfection, accepts no excuses. Krueger wouldn't last a week with that voice ringing in his ears.

“There are either perfect results or no results.” Nak is kind enough to tell this in English, so Krueger understands one of the basis principles, that the Serpent once taught her.

***

The mission under Zhars command feels different from what is going on, when Nikolai is around. With him It's always about what you do in the end. But with his second in command, it's about how you do it.

Naks route is planned to the last meter, her timing has limits of steel - not only can't she fall behind - she will ruin everything, should she appear at her next point too soon. She gets a good reminder, when the street, she is supposed to enter 10 minutes later is being turned into a bloodbath with a drone squadron just before her eyes. Phayvanh hides around the corner of a building and swears while checking her watch.

“Perfect result or no result.” A too familiar voice sounds in her head. But she ignores it.

It works for some time. Nak follows the path of fire, the path paved by other Chimeras and brings death to her objectives. Plan A works so well - they are never prepared to meet her.

It almost feels too easy, until it doesn't. One of them turns out too massive, too full of life, too stubborn. One second Phayvanh has him in her hands, the other she's drowning in a muddy puddle with his hands pushing her deeper. She knows, this is not the end of her: Nak had a fair share of similar situations, both on the field and at the training. It takes just a little patience and dexterity to turn the fight upside down. After all, it's him trying to balance in a sloppy mud. She tries to wiggle her way out of his clasp… and fails. Her body freezes struck by a terrifying flashback.

“Perfect result or no result!” Nagas voice. She was here already. Face pushed deep in filthy water, subtle teenage body struggling to break free from old man's grip.

He was shouting at her. Every time she dared to deliver anything but the perfect result - there was a punishment to come. And there were screams. Not her - Naga made sure, she couldn't even breathe. He was the one screaming.

“Perfect result or no result!”

She hates this voice for keeping her awake before the mission, for destroying her every time anyone refers to her as a child, for drowning her mind in terror. The reals Serpents tongue is made of pain, humiliation and endless requirements, that she doesn't fulfill. Not of ‘funny snaky letters’, Sebastian was babbling about.

Nak gathers all her strength, every part of her body feels like a coiled spring waiting to set loose. And she snaps. The poor fucker believed, he had her. Well his mistake. Because now Phayvanh is on top, and she doesn't even need a knife to end his pathetic life.

Strangling him with her bare hands, she shouts “shut up” on and on. As if the voice taunting her doesn't echo just in her mind. It feels like forever before he stops struggling. But when she lets go of him - a barely audible breath leaves his chest.

It drives her mad. After all she's done - he has an audacity to live on? So she hits face. Hard. And then again. And again.

She snaps out of it only, when a familiar voice appears behind her. “Nak? You're hurt?” Phayvanh turns back and meets Zhars gaze.

“Komandir? Ya seichas… Ya. Ya s nim razberus`!*” For some reason Nak answered in Russian despite Olga rarely using it.

“He's long gone, soldier.” Zhar glances at the guy lying on the ground under Nak and Phayvanh follows her gaze.

Her enemy has no recognizable face anymore, the puddle of mud, he's buried in turns red. His body gave up a long time ago, but Nak was too blinded by painful memories to recognize it.

An unsettling thought appears in Naks head. How long has she spent here over the dead body? She checks her watches and frowns. Too long. She's supposed to be elsewhere a long time ago.

“Go, Nak. Skip your next point, you're on route B now.” Zhar doesn't raise her voice - she never does. But this time Phayvanh wishes she would.

“Perfect result or no result.”

That only means one thing - she failed. And she deserves to be screamed at. She desperately tries to fight the numbness off, but can't even make herself get up.

Better shout at her. She's used to it.

Olga touches her shoulder and Nak flinches. She remembers only Zhars eyes moving closer and a few words in a low voice.

“Get up and go. Now.”

She stands up and doesn't go away - she flies as far as she can. Phayvanh runs as fast as she can, as if that can help her escape the guilt building up. Her body accomplishes the plan B automatically. Point after point, objective after objective.

She is restless on their way back, she barely reacts to her squadmates questions and commentaries. Even at the Chimera base, Nak can't seem to slow down and keeps herself occupied until late night.

***

��phai bo non maew, si kad kaem.*” Words roll down Phayvanh`s tongue and echo in the empty, dark hall. A wet mop draws intricate wet patterns on the floor.

It was nobody's order - Phayvanh just couldn't calm down. So she rearranged all her stuff. Twice. And then she tidied up their armory room. And another one. And then she mopped.

It's a good thing, Nikolai's base is so huge - lots to do in the middle of the night, while others sleep.

“phai bo aem, kai noi tod taa.*” On this verse she usually enters ladies locker room, when she mops.

Click. The light turns on, illuminating the seemingly clean floor. Well, an extra cleaning never hurt nobody…

“Potushi svet, ya tebya umolyaiu.*” Olgas voice. Only it sounds husky and tired, as if she was crying or coughing for a long time.

Nak turns and sees her, sitting on the floor. The ever so serious, busy, on-her-way-somewhere-else commander curled up against a wall like a lost child. Zhars face is red, closed eyes swollen, cheeks wet.

Phayvanh rushes on her knees, pushing the mop away and proceeds straight to inspecting Olgas body, searching for a wound. But her commander only smiles.

“Phay, it's only the tear gas.”

“But… It's been-”

“You live to my age - you'll wonder, how could your body come back to normal so fast back when you were 20. Now please turn out that light.”

Nak does as she told and comes back to sit before Olga. She doesn't care if by doing so she'll provoke her executive to get angry at her.

“I'm not leaving you here, commander. Let's get you to the medbay.” She takes Zhars hand and tries to pull her, but Olga doesn't move.

“I am fine. Just need to sit here for a bit, let my eyes rest.” Zhar stretches her back and reaches out into the void before her, blindlessly searching for Nak. “Stay with me for a bit, ok?”

“I don't understand.” Phayvanh moves closer and catches Olgas hand, letting her know, shes not leaving. “What are you doing here? You have your office.”

“And you have your room, soldier.” Smile never leaves Zhars face. “Yet here we are.”

They sit next to each other in silence for some time. Naks eyes get used to a dim emergency exit light that barely illuminates a small part of the locker room. And then Olga speaks again, as if there was no pause.

“I come here for them.” She points at an old dusty mirror, taken from the wall long before Nak joined the Chimera. One can barely recognize their reflection in the mirror - it is too dirty. “If you find just the right angle and look long enough - you will see your legs, your chest and arms, but not your face. When you sit right - yours hidden in the shadow. I like to imagine - I'm seeing everything, that's wrong with me in these moments. Everybody, who wronged me. And then we talk.”

Nak tries to catch a glimpse of any reflection in the mirror, but barely sees anything. So she leans closer and cranes his neck.

“See a familiar face?” Zhars hand rests on Phayvanhs back. Usually Nak would avoid any informal physical contact, but this time it feels right, to let Olga know, she isn't alone.

“...nope, I see nobody, ma`am.”

“Nobody punished you for aiming anywhere but the ideal?” Now that's a sucker punch. A deserved one, as Naks confusion was painfully obvious to her commander today. But it still hits hard. So she nods.

“I'll do better next-”

“No. After what they have done to you - this is what you're telling them?”

“Commander, I'm telling that you.”

“Fuck me, Phay. I'm a hired soldier, just like you. One word from Nikolai and I won’t be here tomorrow. Krueger will throw a tantrum, but…” Zhar chuckles. “Talk to them. This isn't about me.”

Naks looks in the darkening void of the mirror and sighs. She doesnt even know, where to start, to not sound immature and lose her job right away.

“Let me put the other way: think of what the would tell you right now.”

That Nak knows for sure. Even if Naga is nowhere around - she always knows what exactly would he say.

“Hed ask me if im going to cry.”

“We can cry, Phay. Ive been doing it for past few hours. Well, because of dry eyes, but that still counts.”

“Oh, I won't cry. Not for him. Never.” Nak can't take her eyes of the mirror. The view is somehow mesmerizing: she sees her body, but her face remains in the shadow.

For a split second she thinks, if she should speak in Lao. Nobody in Chimera talks it. She is safe to say whatever, she wants. But then she thinks, that this is exactly what Naga would want: her keeping her pain all to herself. So that his serpent tongue can torture her soul unbothered.

She takes a deep breath and begins to speak.

“Well maybe I should be thanking you. You prepared me for all this shit at a young age. Comrades selling me lies, people betraying me, friends seeing me as just a kid. The next time id pour some love out - ill never get back a single drop of it. You prepared me for that. And for always being not enough. You did it out of the best intentions, I know. You prepared me for the worst in my life. By being it.”

The silence, that falls on her after that, is deafening. But for some reason, Nak feels better for the first time since she came back to senses on the battlefield.

Then she feels hands, someones hands hugging her shoulders. There are no words left for this room or this mirror today. But this wordlessness is a happy thing.

*phai bo non maew, si kad kaem. - (Lao phonetic) If you don't sleep, ghost cats will bite your cheeks.

*phai bo aem, kai noi tod taa - (Lao phonetic) If you don't shut your eyes, tiny chicks will peck them.

*Komandir? Ya seichas… Ya. Ya s nim razberus`! - (Russian phonetic) Commander? I'm going to… I. I'm going to deal with him!

*Potushi svet, ya tebya umolyaiu. - (Russian phonetic) turn off the light, I beg you.

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