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saphiraarts · 6 months ago

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Prologue: A Return of a friend and Accidental Toddler Trauma

It was a perfect day. It was the middle of July in northern Illinois in Amity Park. It was hot but not the scorching heat that suffocated you the moment you stepped aside. It was warm enough to build up a sweat after a bit of movement though. A perfect day to settle down under the shadow of a large oak tree with a cone of ice cream and watch the clouds drift by. It was partly cloudy so the clouds would give you respite from the summer sun radiating down on you. A breeze blew the tended lawn of the park with the maze of concrete walkways and park benches. Trees and bushes were in clusters to give the illusion of a forest in the growing town. A tall, hulking figure of a man stood under a tree with a hand on a stroller with a sleeping two year old. The man and the sleeping toddler both had a shaggy mess of black hair and you could see the resemblance. The man wore an orange jumpsuit and black gloves despite the heat. People swore up and down it was a second skin to him. While Jack Fenton may not be the sharpest tool in the shed he had a heart of gold and loyalty like a golden retriever. He was watching over his daughter who was kicking a ball around. She had ginger hair tied up in pigtails and resembled her mother who was out running errands. She wore a pink dress and purple shorts with barbie strap on shoes. She was four years old and she had been playing with Danny but he got tired especially after he fell. Jazz was giggling happily.

“Come on Jazzy kick it with all your might!” Jack bellowed.

Despite his father’s booming voice Danny remained fast asleep clinging to his sippy cup of iced juice. Jazz looked to her father and giggled nodding and she charged back her foot and kicked the ball. The momentum caused her weight to shift and she slipped and fell, her eyes going wide with surprise at this unexpected outcome. Jack rushed over leaving Danny for just a moment.

“You okay there Jazz?” Jack asked.

She looked dazed and just smiled laughing and Jack grinned helping his little girl up.

“Let me show you how to do a proper kick! Go to your brother, I'll grab the ball!” He called and he stood and jogged over beginning to pant much like a dog caught outside.

“Okey!!!” Jazz called as she walked back to the stroller as her father followed where her ball went walking back carefully to not fall. She was going to start kindergarten that coming september and Jack was not ready for his little girl to grow up so quickly.

Jack entered the brush shifting around to look for the family soccer ball when he saw something that made his smile evaporate. The grass was smeared with red blood and he steeled himself as he crept further. Stealth wasn’t his strong suit but he felt a knot in his throat as he crept closer and found the soccer ball along with a man. It was a man he hadn’t seen in 8 years since he was rushed to the hospital after the accident in the lab. He became much more fit and toned but still couldn’t grow a lot of muscle unlike Jack. His long silver hair was unkept and splayed out under his head that was splattered with blood. His black suit was torn with a massive gash in his chest and cuts on his arms, legs, you name it. He lay in a crater as if thrown and Jack could tell his arm and leg were broken. He pulled out his phone panicked so he called his wife.

When Maddy picked up she said, “What is it jackie poo?” She had warmth to her tone and was clearly in a good mood.

“Maddy! Call an ambulance to the park it’s Vlad!” Jack yelled. He heard a groan in response and an eye opened and he swore he saw red.

“Wait what do you mean it’s Vlad?!” Maddy called her tone immediately shifting.

“He is bad!” Jack was clearly anxious as he threw down the phone and tore off his jumpsuit. “Stay with me Vlad!”

He pressed what was practically his second skin into the wound showing his undergarments of a large white tank top stretched thin by the large man and shorts. He applied pressure as Maddy hung up. He was sweating and felt tears prick his eyes and Vlad just groaned. He heard footsteps and the leaves moving.

“Daddy? What’s wrong?” Jazz asked, sounding worried and she held herself close. “W-what’s that r-red stuff?!” She called. Despite being so young she was hardly shaking and picked up on sentences quite quickly.

“Sweetie, wait by your brother! This man is hurt! I will help my friend until the doctors arrive!” Jack called and he swore he heard a scoff before his eyes rolled back into his head.

Jack was sweating under his gloves and he heard leaves rustling and footsteps running off. Flashes of the past and present were blending together and he saw his vision blur but kept his focus. He heard screeching tires followed by a stop and the sounds of sirens from the local hospital could be heard. Jack heard Maddy with the kids and the footsteps of his wife as she peered at Vlad and gasped. Together the two helped do some treatment before the ambulance pulled up to the park. Jack bolted over surprisingly fast fueled by adrenaline.

“Follow me!” Jack bellowed and he ran back where Vlad was with Maddy.

The emergency responders went into the bush and began to transport and treat vlad while he rushed over. Maddy held Jazz in her arms and held her close and Jack watched Vlad moved to the stretcher.

“I’ll go with him,” Jack said to Maddy who nodded knowingly.

“I’ll take the kids home,” Maddy said as Danny was awake and alert and crying and Jazz was shaking her skin now white.

Jack gave Maddy a kiss then Jazz one and he rushed to the ambulance, “Do you know who this man is Mr. Fenton?” An emt asked.

“V-Vlad Masters. I fo-found him when my daughter kicked a ball o-over and I went to get it… He is an old friend,” Jack said his voice lacking its normal confidence and he took off his glove juggling it in his hands.

The attendant wore the traditional uniform and pulled down his cap as the guy had tufts of light brown hair coming out of his cap against his pale skin and he kept pushing Vlad to the ambulance and his partner was a short female with dreadlocks tied into a ponytail and had a darker shade of brown skin.

“Don’t worry we will,” The female said as she pushed the gurney into the back of the ambulance and Jack was allowed inside climbing in after the attendants as the two began to work.

The two worked like a machine on treating Vlad and put a breathing mask on to help him breathe. After ten minutes Jack climbed out and did as he was told by the staff of the hospital and ended up writing down his report and then waiting for the news when he could see Vlad to make sure he was okay. Flashes of what happened in college kept entering his mind as he waited for some form of news feeling old guilt writhe and twist his insides into countless knots. He felt like he was going to throw up and he vowed he would never abandon his friend again. He would visit him everyday until he was better!

After 24 hours the hospital finally allowed Vlad to have visitors and Jack with Maddy by his side walking into the room. He was in a fresh pair of clothes and Vlad looked surprised seeing them. Vlad was awake and his hair had been tied back. He had an iv drip in his right arm and his left arm and right leg were in a cast. His chest and stomach were bandaged heavily under his hospital gown. Jack carried his son Danny and Jazz held on to Maddy’s hand.

“Maddy?” Vlad said perking up then he saw Jack looming over her like a tower of idiocy and his smile became much more forced. “Jack.” He said then he noticed the children and his eyes widened in surprise.

Jack looked away fiddling with his glove and Maddy sighed, elbowing him hard after he set Danny down. “Jack dear,” She said, giving him a smile as if reminding him when he stayed quiet.

Vlad arched an eyebrow as he watched his friend look like he did before he asked Maddy out on their first date and he watched him lose his chance at the love of his life. A love that had twisted him into a monster. ‘Holy shit they had children. That idiot had children… They have a family that should be mine,’ That bitter thought emerged from Vlad and he cocked his head at the exchange. He knew that well. When Jack needed to saw something that required any sort of emotional intelligence it was always Maddy that urged him to do it often with a sharp elbow to the ribs.

“Um Vladie… Vlad I… um am sorry,” Jack said forcing himself to look at Jack.

Vlad blinked as it was the least painful reaction he could give right now, “E-excuse me?” Jack Fenton? Apologizing? That idiot didn’t know how to apologize!

Danny looked amazed by the cast and was poking it and Jazz hit his hand lightly, “Don’t poke that idiot!”

“I no idit!” Danny huffed.

“Be nice you two,” Maddy scolded, kneeling down. “Danny Don’t mess with Vlad’s cast.”

Jazz stuck her tongue out and so did Danny but Vlad was focused on Jack utterly bewildered.

“I am sorry for the accident that happened all those years ago,” Jack said looking at him now. “I have had a lot of time to reflect lately and well.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he trailed off for a moment. “What I did to you without even thinking was horrible. Seeing you injured brought it all back. I just didn’t want to accept that I nearly killed my best friend and made you suffer.” His voice was shaky as he said it and his eyes shined with tears

“Am I actually dead or is this some medical induced fever dream?” Vlad asked himself.

“No it isn’t fake,” Maddy said, rising as she approached him now and placed her hands on the frame of his bed. “We should have seen you back then but we are here to make up for it now. I am sorry as well for leaving you alone. It was both of our faults…” She bowed her head showing her shame. It hurt Vlad’s heart but he was in disbelief.

“Mommy don’t forget the card!” Jazz reminded and she looked down to her four year old and nodded.

Maddy dug into her purse and pulled out a card and she opened it for him and held it out. Vlad took it with his good arm and he looked at the card. His eyes widened seeing it wasn’t a store bought card feeling the flimsy computer paper. On the front was a drawing of a hospital cross with other doodles around it and on the inside was the clear handwriting of a child: Get well Soon Mister Vlad! Under it were the signatures of Maddy, Jack, Danny, and Jasmine. It… It was the best gift he had ever gotten.

“T-thank you…” Vlad stammered genuinely surprised. None of this felt real.

“It was my idea!” Jazz beamed. “Homemade is best!” She declared with such certainty and Vlad chuckled.

“Yes it is,” Vlad said warmly to Jazz looking down at her.

“Momma I am thirsty,” Danny said.

“Okay let’s go get a drink you two,” Maddy said and she gave a look to Jack and she walked out and it was now Jack and Vlad in his room.

“Do you really think a simple apology can make up for it?” Vlad asked Jack after taking a moment to process this.

“N-no… When you needed us most we weren’t there. Some friends we both are,” Jack said looking down. “You deserved better friends than us. Maddy and I both want to fix things with you.”

Vlad looked to him with wide eyes hearing that as he knew one thing that Jack was incapable of lying even if he had the intelligence of a Golden Retriever. Vlad wasn’t sure he could forgive Jack but Maddy? He would be willing to give a chance and those kids needed at least someone else with intelligence in their lives.

“I would be happy to,” Vlad said to Jack who grew a big smile.

--‐--------------

I am resuming my danny phantom fanfic which is a what if Vlad, Jack, and Maddy acknowledged the problems of their friendship and actually made up (for the most part). This is due to me realizing they never mentioned once visiting Vlad in the hospital and seemed to just drift apart leaving him after his ecto acne.

#artists on tumblr #fanfic #fanfiction #danny phantom #danny fenton #story

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olderthannetfic · 11 months ago

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Just like a small question based on that one ask, but... might the lack of brown/black men in popular M/M ships have to do with people trying really hard not to be racist so they just... never feature black/brown men? Because I know several F/F ships with brown/black women, but I can't remember a single M/M or even M/F with a black/brown male love interest... well, maybe Link/Gan or Zelda/Gan? But besides that one... nothing rings a notable bell.

There are more than that, anon, even if there aren't a lot.

If we're talking about AO3, Link/Gan has 785 works. Finnpoe has 8,636. Sam/Bucky has 10,591. Do you just not watch live action media?

Part of it is "I don't know. I just don't find them hot for some reason..."-style racism. That can shift with time and exposure but there's no instant fix even if someone is interested in changing their own tastes.

Part of it is being instantly screamed at and held to higher standards. (And yes, no matter how much people want to whine and say this isn't true, it is true, and anyone who goes ahead and writes despite the haters will tell you so.)

Part of it is fear of messing up above and beyond fear of reactions. Personally, I think this is toxic white guilt-flavor time-wasting and it's better to try and fail than not try, but it's a massive factor in what some people choose to write.

A lot of it is simply the composition of the mega-franchises that tend to generate the ships with bajillions of works. If we're looking at AO3 circles, the biggest f/f ships are not that big. If you look at m/m ships of the same size, there are some with some guy who is not white and not a pale-skinned Asian.

Here's the AO3 f/f tag where you can directly see what's big in the sidebar.

Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor (20389)

Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan (15516)

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) (14062)

Clarke Griffin/Lexa (12661)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (11492)

Adora/Catra (She-Ra) (10855)

Amity Blight/Luz Noceda (9751)

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (7913)

Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long (7205)

Korra/Asami Sato (6866)

If we exclude nonspecific tags and misplaced dudes, we add:

Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer (6127)

Robin Buckley/Nancy Wheeler (6120)

Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught (5738)

Luz Noceda and Korra have darker skin. Lana Parrilla is Latina, but is Regina Mills? This isn't exactly some paradise for the diversity you're talking about.

Here's the M/M tag:

Castiel/Dean Winchester (107699)

Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (68231)

Sherlock Holmes/John Watson (65757)

Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter (64761)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers (59546)

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) (48169)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (47119)

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark (43665)

Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson (41631)

Sirius Black/Remus Lupin (40374)

Let's exclude some things and see what we get as we head towards the 5-20k range.

Bakugou Katsuki/Midoriya Izuku (38445)

Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V (36025)

Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn (35907)

Keith/Lance (Voltron) (31634)

Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester (30488)

Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood (29568)

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin) (28959)

Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin (28191)

Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter (27775)

Bakugou Katsuki/Kirishima Eijirou (27193)

Well, we've got Lance. (*shudder*) He's one of the most distasteful and useless stock character types in episode one and is the reason I never bothered to touch Voltron again, but his fans are certainly loud enough about him being Latino.

Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov (26087)

Dazai Osamu/Nakahara Chuuya (Bungou Stray Dogs) (26058)

Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF) (21900)

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (21897)

Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV) (21296)

Original Male Character/Original Male Character (21035)

Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion (20224)

James T. Kirk/Spock (18810)

Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru (18703)

Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin (18147)

Eddie Diaz is Latino.

Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel (17787)

Levi Ackerman/Eren Yeager (16950)

Dan Howell/Phil Lester (16818)

Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier (16229)

Blackbeard | Edward Teach/Stede Bonnet (16193)

Harry Potter/Severus Snape (15551)

Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich (15539)

Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki (14990)

Keith/Shiro (Voltron) (14816)

Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio (14780)

We've got the Taika Waititi thirsters in this cohort.

Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier (14413)

Rodney McKay/John Sheppard (14209)

Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto (13135)

Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli (Genshin Impact) (13016)

Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know (12962)

Midoriya Izuku/Todoroki Shouto (12878)

Aizawa Shouta | Eraserhead/Yamada Hizashi | Present Mic (12817)

Loki/Thor (Marvel) (12767)

Armitage Hux/Kylo Ren (12391)

Frank Iero/Gerard Way (12146)

Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams (12050)

Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou (12002)

Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Min Yoongi | Suga (11898)

Jeon Jungkook/Min Yoongi | Suga (11352)

Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin (11101)

Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith (11088)

Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones (11083)

Loki/Tony Stark (10699)

Enjolras/Grantaire (Les Misérables) (10523)

Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin (10415)

Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield (10312)

Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard (10211)

Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi (9950)

Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne (9944)

Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee (9763)

Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington (9686)

Getou Suguru/Gojo Satoru (9625)

Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol (9471)

Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski (9367)

Clint Barton/Phil Coulson (9359)

Martin Blackwood/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist (9347)

Nico di Angelo/Will Solace (9317)

Roronoa Zoro/Vinsmoke Sanji (9186)

Wang Yi Bo/Xiao Zhan | Sean (8973)

Jim Ellison/Blair Sandburg (8785)

Dabi | Todoroki Touya/Takami Keigo | Hawks (8710)

Alhaitham/Kaveh (Genshin Impact) (8657)

Peter Parker/Tony Stark (8607)

Bakugou Katsuki/Todoroki Shouto (8588)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson (8522)

Only here are we finally getting down to the range where a lot of the big f/f ships on AO3 hang out, and here's Sam/Bucky, which is frankly not a small pairing at all unless you only mean in comparison to Stucky.

I'll stop there for m/m since these numbers are getting pretty distorted by me filtering out everything higher up, but you get the idea. Even that wretched Old Guard fandom couldn't completely kill off its ship, though then we get into how you're defining your terms and how much actual skin tone matters.

Here's f/m on AO3:

Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug (32122)

Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy (26417)

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) (23498)

Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren (23403)

Minor or Background Relationship(s) (18497)

James Potter/Lily Evans Potter (18142)

Kylo Ren/Rey (15915)

James "Bucky" Barnes/Reader (15200)

Pepper Potts/Tony Stark (14547)

Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley (13843)

Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin (13551)

Fox Mulder/Dana Scully (13145)

Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak (11318)

Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan (11031)

Castiel/Dean Winchester (10851)

Jaime Lannister/Brienne of Tarth (9236)

Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (9152)

Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson (9141)

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added (9108)

Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper (9046)

Bellamy Blake's actor is Filipino, isn't he? I remember race wank.

I don't see anything particularly significant until we get further down the listings, but there are definitely smaller fandoms like Leverage where everybody loves and ships the black guy.

I mean, yes, clearly, media does have a bias against darker skin, and the darker the skin, the bigger the bias. This bias may be exacerbated by fandom, but in a lot of cases, it just seems to be replicated at about the same level.

That pattern notwithstanding, it seems like you just haven't heard of a lot of ships.

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stelleinthestars · 1 year ago

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DCXDP Fic Recs Complete Works Only

Gaslight, Guilt Trip, Girl Ghost (6646 words) by PunzAnonymous Chapters: 8/8 Fandom: Danny Phantom, DCU, Batman - All Media Types Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Damian Wayne, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Bruce Wayne, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Alfred Pennyworth, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Cassandra Cain, Danielle "Dani" Phantom & Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth & Clockwork Characters: Danielle "Dani" Phantom, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Cassandra Cain, Alfred Pennyworth, Blob Ghost Characters (Danny Phantom) Additional Tags: Gaslighting, guilt tripping, a girl ghost, Danielle "Dani" Phantom is Called Ellie, short for Elizabeth, Dani tricks everyone into thinking she's always been part of the family, Alfred always knows, Danielle "Dani" Phantom-centric, dpxdc Summary: Ellie saw the narrative foil of Vlad (an eccentric billionaire with suitable hobbies like crime fighting and orphan adopting) and decided to get adopted at all cost.

Dash "What the Fuck" Baxter, Officer on Duty (531 words) by Gremlin_bot Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Dash Baxter, Black Bat, Damian Wayne, Robin (DCU), Bruce Wayne, Jim Gordon, Cassandra Cain Additional Tags: Gotham City Police Department, Bat-Signal (DCU), Police Officer Dash Baxter, Prompt Fill, Cassandra Cain is Black Bat, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dash Baxter Redemption, Ecto-contaminated Amity Parkers, I'm Bad At Tagging Summary: Dash is an unusual officer, even for Gotham PD standards. Yeah, he's not the smartest but that's normal. What gets Dash the promotion to the bat spotlight and bat informant is that almost nothing scares the guy.

Ghosts? As my therapy animals? More likely than you think. (21463 words) by bamboozledeagle Chapters: 5/5 Fandom: Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Batman - All Media Types, Danny Phantom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, Damian Wayne, Danny Fenton Additional Tags: Family, Hurt/Comfort, emotional support blob ghosts, Jason Todd Has Issues, The Blobs are working on it, Comedy, Angst and Feels, Swearing, it gets progressively worse with jason's mood Summary: Jason is minding his own business, picking up strange green glowing goops with eyes, and living his not-very-best life. Meanwhile the Batfamily is tracking down flying dogs, overpowered Metas calling themselves ghosts, and someone is having far too much fun with the boxes around Gotham. But this ain't about them.

Lamentation (5591 words) by Olive_of_Vanders Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Danny Phantom, Justice League - All Media Types, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Amity Park Residents & Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton & Bruce Wayne Characters: Amity Park Residents (Danny Phantom), Tiffany Snow, Lance Thunder, Justice League (DCU), John Constantine, Bruce Wayne, Danny Fenton, Maddie Fenton, Jack Fenton, Jazz Fenton Additional Tags: Gore, Graphic Description of Corpses, Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Angst, Bruce Wayne is Good With Kids, Protective Amity Park Residents (Danny Phantom), Corpse AU Series: Part 18 of Furtive – Danny Phantom series Summary:

He glances towards the well.

Danny forgets that his words impact others, but hey at least people like his grave??

[Read the tags]

(Honestly all of their works) You'll Find a Rainbow (62674 words) by DisillusionedDanny Chapters: 25/25 Fandom: Danny Phantom, Batman - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Pamela Isley/Harleen Quinzel, Danny Fenton & Harleen Quinzel, Jazz Fenton & Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley & Jazz Fenton, Danny Fenton & Pamela Isley, Danny Fenton/Damian Wayne, Jazz Fenton/Stephenie Brown Characters: Danny Fenton, Harleen Quinzel, Pamela Isley, Jazz Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Bad Parents Jack and Maddie Fenton, Vivisection, Harley Quinn is Danny Fenton's mom, Past Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, BAMF Harleen Quinzel, Parent Harleen Quinzel, Protective Harleen Quinzel, Protective Pamela Isley, Soft Pamela Isley, Danny Fenton-centric, Hurt Danny Fenton, Danny Fenton Needs A Hug, Tired Danny Fenton, Good Sibling Jazz Fenton, Protective Jazz Fenton, Jazz Fenton Needs A Hug, Adopted Danny Fenton, More tags to come later, no beta we die like danny, mental health, Therepy, Trauma, Healing, this got a lot heavier than I imagined lol, if you’re looking for something fun and crack like it’s not this, Joker is Danny’s biological father, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst Series: Part 4 of 51 Fic Challenge Summary: Hurt and on the run after telling his parents the truth, Danny and Jazz go to the only person they can trust to keep them safe from the Fenton's. Danny's birth mother. Harley Quinn

#dcxdp #dpxdc

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phantomskeep · 2 years ago

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Putting the "Fun" Back in "Funeral" - Chapter 1

AO3 Link | Next Chapter

Chapter One: Furries, Cannibalism, and... The Goonion?

Danny sometimes wished he could travel through time. Don’t get him wrong! He knows the danger of messing up the time stream (Dan, Desiree, and Clockwork all taught him that much) but there are still times when he would sit on top of a building, staring at the stars, wondering what he would change given half the chance.

Currently, however, he was debating on his life choices while very much not on a rooftop.

White gloved hands shakily grasped broken concrete, slowly lifting his beaten body out of a crater in the middle of some random street. The latest ghost who had decided to try their hand at using Danny as a punching bag was one that he hadn’t encountered before. His usual roster of ghostly enemies still came by, of course. They all visited Amity Park at least once a week - if not more. However, the ghostly entity that Danny was currently facing? He had never seen them.

It was something that had been occurring more and more often. A random ghost would show up, declare a challenge against Danny, and inevitably lose.

As Danny raised himself out of his impromptu resting place, he considered the being before him. Dark, void black skin and fur greeted him. The ghost’s face was an odd cross between a horse’s and a dog’s - a long, block-shaped snout with a mouth reaching right up to under their dark red eyes. Pointed ears flicked wildly back and forth between a long mane that reached just up until the collar of the ghost’s thick golden necklace. The ghost’s choice of clothes baffled the white-haired man greatly; black dress shirt and bright, gaudy golden skinny jeans? Really? Who died and thought that was a good fashion choice?

Yeah, Danny was just as baffled.

The other ghost looked down at the young halfa, “I cannot fathom how you are the one Hotep described to me.” He sneered, clearly mocking Danny. “The great Akuris will easily defeat such a pathetic child.”

Danny gasped, mock-offended. “Well, Mr Tall Dark And Barks A Lot, I will have you know that at least I don’t dress like an accountant in the middle of a mid-life crisis.” He smirked before resting a soul-piercing green glare at the larger ghost floating above where Danny stood. “Or would it be mid-afterlife crisis?”

With that, Danny leapt back into action. He swung a powerful punch directly into Akuris’ long muzzle, causing the dark ghost to be pushed back. Amity Park’s ghostly hero did not relent on his assault, though. Danny followed the other ghost’s backwards momentum to bodily slam into his opponent’s soft belly in a move he often saw Dash pull during his football practices. The twenty-year-old halfa quickly grabbed the Fenton thermos off of his belt loop, taking the opportunity to finally capture the winded ghost.

A great sigh left Danny’s body as he hovered in the air, surveying the damage leftover from the fight between the two. It was well around two in the morning, judging by the placement of the twinkling stars. With a jolt, Danny remembered that today was the day of his coronation - exactly five years after he defeated Pariah Dark.

Originally, Danny had been told he was technically king of the Ghost Zone in the aftermath of the battle. The young ghost had argued with the mysterious time-themed ghost named Clockwork who had appeared and was successfully able to get a five-year grace period of kingly procrastination.

Since then, Danny had grown up a little bit. He defeated his alternate evil self, discovered new powers, traveled through time on Clockwork’s request, graduated high school, took a “gap year” to focus solely on fighting ghosts, and successfully never let his parents or the world know about his ghostly half. All in all, Danny considered it a successful time.

All good things must come to an end, though, the half-ghost thought as he kept staring dejectedly at the stars so far away. He knew that even though he probably should tell his parents what was going on, but the fear of everything going wrong lurked in the back of his mind. After the events of Dan, the young man pulled away from his parents’ bit by bit. It was grief that drove Danny to rip out the most vulnerable parts of himself, after all. If he had nothing to grieve about then he would never be pushed into doing something as drastic as destroying the world, right?

Jazz disagreed very heavily with his mentality, but he was fine with that.

Another sigh left the poor halfa’s body, and he re-hooked the Fenton Thermos to his belt loop. He might as well go back home to continue to lick his wounds before he had to, unfortunately, be crowned king. What a shitty Tuesday.

༼ つ ╹ ╹ ༽つ

Later that day, at exactly three in the afternoon, Danny Phantom walked through the ghost portal in his parent’s basement. It felt almost like he was walking towards his own death - a quiet, somber affair with very little fanfare. Danny had made sure no one knew what he was up to; Sam, Tucker, and Jazz all had their own lives to worry about. He was sure that the three of them would give Danny the ass-kicking of the century for making them miss such a big milestone in Danny’s life, but…

Well, from the walk-through of the coronation his ghostly mentors laid out for him, Danny was sure this would not be a pretty affair.

Danny pulled himself from his musings as he stared into the deep green abyss in front of him. The young, white-haired ghost tilted his head forward, letting gravity take hold as the man fell into the Zone like a sort of twisted, backwards Baptism.

Useless lungs pulled in the ambient ectoplasm streaking through the air of the Infinite Realms. A parade of ghosts were waiting for him on the other side, lines of his soon-to-be subjects chanting his name. Ectoplasm-green eyes darted across the various ghosts lining the young king’s path, quickly registering those he knew and didn’t. Many of them wore clothing from various different eras, some seemingly dressed to impress their new ruler. Danny spotted one ghost in particular wearing what looked like a bedazzled bathrobe next to one whose long hair seemed to be braided into their dress. Some of the others who were cheering him on were more animal-like than Danny had come to expect, or were even completely non-humanoid. The odd shadow of a ghostly whale loomed over Danny as he turned his awed face upwards to watch the giant creature sail easily overhead with Young Blood’s pirate ship alongside it. Many loud cheers were heard from the ghostly child’s crew and large booms echoed across the infinite green surrounding them as cannons were fired. Smaller marine afterlife followed closely behind, easily marking the trail Danny had to follow to arrive at his official coronation spot with their different, bright colors.

Even though Danny had gone over what he was supposed to do with his council, he still hesitated a little in the face of all the excited residents of the Zone. He knew, logically, that many were excited for him to take the crown. King Phantom’s reign was projected to be one of peace among the Realms, after all. However, seeing it? All of the souls - passed or created - of the Ghost Zone cheering for him?

Well, it made his core swell with a frosty sense of pride-I did this-they are safe-protect my people. It filled him with a feeling lighter than air and full of confidence, like he was actually making a good choice for once in his half-life.

Danny slowly started moving forward, waving at the Zone’s inhabitants, talking to those he knew. Pariah’s old castle had been slowly moving closer to where the Fenton Portal usually floated in the great expanse of the Realms. What used to be a two-hour flight was now closer to a little under an hour’s walk. So while Danny originally complained to Frostbite about how he didn’t want to slowly make his way there, he realized now the giant ice ghost was probably right when he said Danny’s stroll from his old haunt to his new one would seem faster than ever. It certainly didn’t feel like much time had passed at all when Danny finally laid eyes on the large, ugly castle that was going to be his.

Danny’s first order as king? Tear that eyesore down. Ew.

The thought made the young king snicker quietly, before slightly turning his head to eyeball the thousands of ecto-entities at his back. He scanned the ever-growing crowd under the watchful eyes of his various mentors. He could pick out Ember, Lydia, even that ghost who fought him that morning - Akuris? -, and so many more of his various frenemies watching Danny.

The young man picked his methodical float back up to his new haunt. He could just barely see the figures bobbing at the front doors to the royal eyesore, though he could pick each of the Ancient ghosts out easily. Danny felt his core thrum nervously inside his chest, seeming almost like a heart with just how harshly it pulsed. Underneath his gloves, the white-haired ghost felt sweat start to form. But Danny kept making his way down to the landing where many ghosts were waiting for him to be officially crowned as king.

Danny really, really hoped he wouldn’t make an absolute fool of himself.

As Danny looked up at the stoic figure of Clockwork, the various Ancient Ghosts fanned out beside the Master of Time: Frostbite had a goofy smile on his large face, Pandora wore a proud smirk, Ghost Writer was almost sneering at him as the smaller ghost floated next to his peers. Vortex was grudgingly gazing at the inhabitants of the Realms with his large arms crossed, and, finally, Undergrowth was completely ignoring Danny. Fright Knight, while not an Ancient, was standing alongside the various mentors Danny had throughout the years. Behind the Ancients floated many of the Observants, who gazed upon the Zone with an air of collective anticipation.

Taking a small step, Danny finally presented himself to the various ghosts looming over his much smaller figure. The halfa gave Clockwork a nervous smile, only to receive a tiny nod from the much older ghost. With an awkward about-face, Danny fully faced the entirety of the Ghost Zone steadily. He felt it when Clockwork stepped up to be next to Danny, the Ancient staying in his middle-aged form to address the Infinite Realms and her inhabitants.

“People of the Realms,” Clockwork started, his voice booming over the quickly quieting chatter. “Today is a new dawn for us. Five years ago, Danny Phantom defeated King Pariah Dark through single combat - sealing the King back into his Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. This was a task that the Ancients ourselves struggled to complete in years past,” the blue ghost paused, resting a comforting hand on Danny’s (totally not shaking) shoulder. “And as our laws state, upon the defeat of the previous Ruler of the Realms the new King must take the final step into rulership by consuming all that remains of the preceding Crowned Head.”

Even though Danny knew it was coming, hearing those words out of Clockwork’s mouth made him shudder all the same. When he turned to face Clockwork the young halfa could feel Clockwork’s concern radiating off of him, even as he still went through the process of accepting the box holding Pariah Dark’s core from Frostbite. Danny tried to focus on the box - dark red with black trims, how nice - instead of what he was about to do. This was another part of the whole “you’re going to be king” schtick that Danny complained about greatly.

Eating another person, even if that person was technically a ghost, just felt so wrong to the halfa. Unfortunately, as Clockwork opened the sparsely decorated box, Danny was about to have to become a (technical) cannibal.

Yay.

The white-haired young man cupped his hands like he had practiced weeks prior. Clockwork gently lifted the swirling pearl to place in Danny’s waiting hands. Pariah’s core, despite holding one of the nastiest beings Danny had the unfortunate luck to meet, was honestly a thing of beauty. Dark reds dueled with lighter pinks, with small bubbles of fire and electricity leisurely swirling amidst it all, deep inside the older ghost’s core. Danny almost wanted to shake it to see if it would swirl like a snow globe.

Danny hesitates for a second, glancing up at Clockwork. The ancient being floated patiently, deep red eyes boring into Danny’s own. Ectoplasm-filled air passed through the halfa’s chest as Danny carefully rolled the pulsing core onto one gloved hand, slowly bringing it to his mouth. A shudder racked Danny’s body as he quickly dropped the warm rock-like core onto his extended tongue before hurriedly swallowing it whole.

For a brief moment, Danny only felt the dizzy sensation of nausea before a blinding surge of raw power burst through his chest. His core was practically vibrating with uncontained energy and felt like it was going to push through his chest like some sort of alien baby in a shitty horror movie. The sharp sensation of pain took over Danny’s entire world, his eyes open but unseeing.

It felt like hours had passed by the time the young half-ghost’s thought process was restored. He groggily blinked, attempting to focus on the present. Strength flowed through Danny’s veins - which he dutifully ignored in favor of looking up towards the oppressing castle behind himself. The keep itself was barely shaking, little pieces of rubble spilling into the greenish fog surrounding it. A pulse rushed through Danny’s core and he was in awe as he watched the depths of the Zone light up in tandem. A shaky hand reached up to clutch at the stylized letter displayed on the halfa’s chest - Danny could feel the Zone around himself. Trying not to panic, knowing that Clockwork said this was totally normal, young Danny, he managed to give his mentor a shaky nod.

The other ghost continued on with his speech, like the last few minutes hadn’t happened. Taking a large, glowing green skull ring from the steady hands of Undergrowth, Clockwork spoke. “With the core consumed, King Phantom will bear the Ring of Rage with a fair and just hand.”

Danny held his quivering right hand forward, watching as the older ghost slowly slid the ghostly artifact over his ring finger. Holding his breath, Danny waited. He fully expected the ring to reject him - who would put him in charge of an entire realm, after all? When the sharp sting of electricity never came, the halfa let out the smallest sigh of relief. His eyes met Clockwork’s own, earning a smile in response.

When Danny casted his gaze back onto the ectoplasm colored jewelry, he was shocked to note the colors and overall shape of it had changed. Before he had the chance to further inspect it, he was interrupted.

“The Ring of Rage is coupled with the Skeleton Key,” Clockwork continued as Ghost Writer presented the glowing key to the other ghost, “and is used to access the many realms connected to our own. The Key allows our Crowned Head to reach any of his subjects in their times of need.” With that, Clockwork waved his hand in front of the artifact. When the key was back in Danny’s view, he could see it was attached to a sturdy-looking chain. The young man ducked his head, letting Clockwork slip the necklace over his head.

Clockwork turned to face Pandora, who was holding a flaming green crown in her hands. He gently took the headwear, before meeting Danny’s eyes. “And finally, to fully become Ruler of the Infinite Realms - Land of the Dead, the Eternal Plains, the Place Between, Heaven and Hell - a crown built from the fires of her core must be placed onto the brow of the Realm’s Chosen. King Phantom, kneel before the people you are to rule and accept this great burden for them. Feel their cores with your own, their obsessions alongside your own, and the Realm will fully accept you as her Crowned.” Gingerly, Danny dropped to his knees like he had practiced. He bowed his head, closing his eyes and waiting for the Crown of Fire’s weight.

When the warm metal touched his head, Danny felt the Zone shudder. As a bright light eclipsed Danny’s form, he could feel the metal on top of him change. In fact, as the young king tried to focus on his newest headgear, he could tell he was no longer wearing the white hazmat suit he died in.

The light faded and Danny took stock of himself. Monochrome rubber had turned into fancy-looking black pants tucked into armored white boots, a tight-fitting white shirt with his logo in black blazed across his chest, and a heavy-fitting cloak wrapped around himself. Danny wanted to inspect himself more - but the feeling of the Zone pulsing through his core brought Danny’s attention to the cheering of the thousands of ghosts around himself.

Danny was flooded with the feelings of happiness-hope-rejoicing-euphoria from around him. The Zone quaked, pulsing purple lights blooming across the infinite green void surrounding its inhabitants. A smile cracked its way across Danny’s face, and he didn’t even try to hide it as he faced his subjects. The speech Ghost Writer drilled into his head fled Danny, and for just a second he floundered. Before he could drown in the bottomless pit that was his brain, another pulse of pure hope shot through his veins.

Feeling like he was drugged, Danny spoke around his smile. “When I was a kid,” he started, “I never could have imagined becoming the King of anything. All I wanted to do was go to space, to see the stars watching over me.” He let out a laugh. Usually, these days, when Danny laughed it was world-weary and bitter. Now, high on the feeling of hope, his laugh was one of joy. “Now look at me! Look at yourselves! We’ve all come so far - and I promise to protect each and every one of you. I will be your star - your light in the dark, your guide to a better future.”

“You are the people of the Infinite Realms, and it is my promise to forever keep you all safe.”

The ghosts of the Zone cheered for him. Pandora flanked Danny’s right side, Clockwork on his left. A cold presence at his back told the new king that Frostbite was behind him. Danny could only assume the other Ancients were also surrounding him, but he didn’t dare look away from the mingling bodies before himself. As one, the Ancient Ghosts let their cores hum, speaking in a language known only to those of the Zone. Before him, Danny’s subjects joined in until a swelling song of hope-peace-happiness-new era flooded his senses, leaving the young halfa to float endlessly in the feeling of pure acceptance.

That day, as a chapter of the Ghost Zone’s history ended and a new one began, a song of hope touched the many universes attached to it.

ヾ( ･`⌓´･)ﾉﾞ

Jason’s day was going pretty okay, so far. He woke up a little before noon, made himself some breakfast, worked out for a few hours, and managed to read an entire three pages of a book before he got a call from his siblings about a potential drug bust. A majority of them had recently began working on chipping away at the increasing amount of drug trading going around Gotham. Ever since Red Hood had taken a step back from his self-appointment crime lord duties, other criminals have been attempting to fill in his shoes. It usually ended in one of Gotham’s various vigilantes drop-kicking said criminals into a wall, but still. Criminals were the worst kind of weed.

So with a grumble that was half for show and half pure annoyance at being interrupted, the man suited up and made a stealthily exit out his window. Apparently he had a pre-”Curbstomping the Newest Pain in His Ass of the Week” meeting to attend with a handful of the Wayne family.

Jason can only hope he doesn’t get stuck with the annoying ones for this.

His day was still going pretty well after the initial run-down of the game plan when he and Dick, who was decked out in his Nightwing wear, finally landed on top of a warehouse’s unstable roof. They were near the edge of Crime Alley and Robbinsville, closer to the docks than Jason’s usual patrol routes brought him. Based off of Oracle and Red Robin’s joint intel, a large shipment of illegal drugs was being delivered to the Iceberg Lounge sometime after dusk. The issue came up when the question of how the drugs were going to be transferred from wherever they were stored to Penguin’s business front.

Which is where the Batkids came in, apparently.

“Comms check,” Oracle started. “Nightwing, sound off.”

“Comms confirmed, reading you loud and clear!” The older vigilante chirped from where he was stretching lazily. “Red Hood?”

Red Hood sighed, speaking up. “All good. Red Robin?”

“Also reading loud and clear. Orphan?”

Three taps cut across the comms, letting the other four know their sister could hear them all. “Awesome,” Oracle started. “Plan A is ready on Red Robin’s signal. Remember - do not engage.”

Hood slowly rose from his crouch, shaking his hands out before letting them rest on the many holsters strapped to his body. “How many times is she going to say something like that?” He stated, words practically oozing sarcasm. “Every single time we somehow manage to still end up in a shoot-out.”

The crime lord could practically see Red Robin’s eyes rolling, “And who’s fault is that, Mr. Emotional Support Guns?”

“Shut it, Replacement,” the Hood growled.

He lazily turned to look at Nightwing, a challenging grin hidden behind the red helmet protecting his face. “Race you, Dickface.” Hood stated before turning east and leaping off the roof in a burst of speed. The helmeted man ignored his brother’s sputtering protests as he tried to keep the small gap forming between the two while they parkoured to the docks in one of the most eastern parts of Gotham.

Jason wanted to laugh, to revel in the feeling of messing around with his older brother. Despite all the bad blood still looming between the rest of the Wayne clan (adopted, blood, “family friends” or otherwise) and Jason, he wanted to make up for his past mistakes with the rest of his family.

Does this mean he fully forgave Bruce for never avenging his death? No.

But did he see the man try. Dick told Jason about the full-body cast their father put Joker in as soon as Batman could. Which was more than Bruce ever told Jason, but whatever. All of the Bat’s kids know he’s emotionally constipated on the best days.

Things were still awkward between all of them, though. Jason talked more to Dick than the rest of the Bat Clan, mostly because he was the only one between the original three who actually apologized. For being a shitty older brother, for not being there, for not realizing Jason was back earlier. Really, the older man practically apologized for everything under the sun one night while Jason stuffed his face full of fries and tried his best to not be emotional. He still needed to talk to the others about everything that happened.

However, that meant emotions and Jason? Jason didn’t do emotions.

He was a cold-blooded semi-retired Crime Lord. Anyone who said he had any emotions besides pure, seething rage was a lying liar who lies.

Even though Jason’s head was practically higher in the clouds than his body was, he was abruptly reminded that he was doing some epic parkour when Nightwing finally passed him.

“You’ve gotten slower, Hood!” The older taunted as he did a theatrical flip between rooftops.

Red Hood let out a frustrated noise, all previous thoughts of his family forcibly shaken from his brain when he rolled onto a gravel-topped roof.

The man could tell by the state of the buildings around him that they were getting closer to the docks. Red Robin and Orphan would be further north than Nightwing and himself. The intel collected had stated there were two locations being used that night; one was a dunce, the other had the actual goods. Red Robin originally wanted to only focus on the location with the actual drugs, but Nightwing was able to convince him to also hit up the secondary location for information. So, that’s what they eventually agreed to do.

Hood looked forward, eyeing Nightwing as the other slowed to a stop at the edge of the last warehouse’s roof before the high-chained fences of the port stood. “You ready to bust some kneecaps?” Hood quipped as he walked up behind his brother.

“But of course,” Nightwing playfully scoffed, “hopefully we got the drug side of things.”

“That’s a sentence that would worry most parents.”

Even with the domino mask covering the older vigilante, Hood knew he was getting side-eyed. “And you suddenly care about what parents think?”

“Not the time, Wing.” The crime lord practically growled. He knew that was a remark aimed at the sort-of hostility between Jason and Bruce. And he was going to be the adult in this situation, thank you, Dick, and ignore what his brother said. “Let’s go ahead and get this over with.”

“Alright, alright,” the other pacified, “time to get our sneak on.”

Hood rolled his eyes, even if they were covered by his helmet. He aimed himself towards the edge of the street between the two vigilantes and the fenced in areas. With a quick drop and a well-timed roll, Red Hood was in a secure shadow cast by the metal warehouse. With a near-silent grunt, Nightwing joined him. The two shared a nod while Nightwing let Oracle know that they were about to enter their targeted site.

The larger of heroes quickly moved across the small, broken down street. Nightwing was half a pace behind him, and the two easily vaulted over the tall, barbed fence unsuccessfully keeping out unwanted civilians.

Silently, they hurried deeper into the heart of the port, easily dashing between long shadows thrown between towering cargo containers. Hood only slid to a stop when Nightwing held up a fist - a silent order to stop. A few months ago, Jason would have completely ignored his brother’s signals and simply shoved his way past him. Now, however, Hood stilled just behind the smaller figure. With a hurried gesture, Nightwing grappled as quietly as possible onto the dulled metal stacked around them, Red Hood quickly following.

Hood watched as five figures turned into the alley the two had just been. Kevlar-covered fingers caught Hood’s attention in swift commands to spread out and attempt to follow the people below them. A quick nod of a helmeted head showed agreement and Hood silently stalked his prey from his perch on top of sea-touched metals. Nightwing slowly slinked the opposite direction, going his own route to cover more ground.

The five people, dressed in stereo-typical “Goon in Hiding Garb” (as Dick helpfully named it so many years ago), continued on their journey between the containers. Their silent observant kept close watch on them, doing his best to listen in on their conversation. A fit of frustration ran hot and angry through Hood’s veins when he realized that, in order to clearly hear what was being said, he would have to plant a bug of some sort.

Which meant he would have to get closer. And Jason? He really did not want to do that.

However, since Hood was such a nice person, he would put his frustrations to the side in order to successfully plant a tiny Batbug. He was just that nice.

Hood waited until his unsuspecting targets rounded another corner to take action. Once the end of his grapple line was securely hooked, the helmeted man quietly slung down to the concrete-covered ground. After releasing the grapple’s hold, he continued after Penguin’s goon squad. He carefully peeked around a corner, took aim, and quickly threw a small robotic Batbug after them. He watched only long enough to see the tiny piece of technology successfully bounce and latch onto one of the goon’s shirt before ducking out of sight. Hood tapped the side of his helmet to turn on the listening device and stood still as voices flooded into his ear.

“-and like I was saying, Sal, some days it’s better and others it’s worse.” A woman’s tone was the first Hood could make out. “Just do what the bossman says, take your cut, and keep your head low. So long as you try to not break a lot of laws you’ll be fine.”

A younger man’s voice followed behind the woman’s, “I don’t know… The pay is good, yeah, but I’m not too keen on being someone’s punching bag.”

Hood could only presume this boy was Sal. While the man wasn’t one to put stock into guessing ages based only on the sound of their voice, Red Hood found it very difficult to even begin to think this kid was of legal age. It wasn’t that surprising, but it did make Hood’s heart ache and begin to feel a wash of rage ebb into his mind.

“Don’ listen ta ol’ Tracy, kid,” a third voice joined, this one with a thick Narrows accent. “Jus’ get the money ya need ‘n get out. Boss ain’t gonna fault ya for tha’.”

There was a small pause in the goons’ conversation and Hood took this opportunity to glance around the corner again. The five of them were further down, far enough where he could confidently follow within the shadows without being seen.

“... Thanks, Mark,” the kid’s small voice made the Pit Rage lingering in the back of Hood’s mind swell once again. Kids shouldn’t be joining the many villain gangs that lined Gotham’s streets so young. He knew it was hypocritical for the Red Hood, once most feared crime lord in Gotham to be saying, but he practiced what he preached. Kids that came to the Hood for help were given it, no questions asked. He did what he could to make sure no child in the Alley went cold or hungry. Red Hood protected his people.

The Penguin did not.

It was this knowledge, that Cobblepot was openly risking the safety of these children, that set Jason off. The leather protecting his hands creaked as he clenched his hands. He was shaking as he desperately fought to keep the rage from creeping into his vision, mentally warring with himself. Blue eyes blinked behind white lenses, still tracking the hazy figures through the toxic green fog swirling before him.

He needed to keep following them. At a distance.

Jason honestly wasn’t sure if he could control himself if he got spotted and put into a confrontation.

Quickly grappling back onto the top of the many containers surrounding him, Red Hood continued to follow the people he was eavesdropping on. The five continued to chatter as they unknowingly led a temperamental vigilante straight to the heart of their operation.

Nightwing was keeping tabs on another group he had spotted, if the quiet commentary he was filling the comm line with was any indication. The group Nightwing was following was heading in the opposite direction of Red Hood - meaning that it was likely the older pair who had pulled the short straw of the night.

Which only caused Jason’s frustration to grow. The man really, really wanted to punch something now.

However, Jason was experienced enough in the art of “conceal don’t feel” to not let the raging emotions burning his inside explode outwards. He kept on task, easily keeping up with the small figures below him in an awkward half-crouch.

It was when the small group made it out of the corn-maze inspired cargo storage system that everything went right into the shitter. A massive, green-painted ship swayed gently in the tide, her mooring lines quietly creaking with the strain of keeping such a large vessel moored. Red Hood quickly attached his grapple to a parallel line of containers stacked in the direction Penguin’s goons were heading in. The near-silence of the night, however, did nothing to hide the shocked gasp as the feeling of absolute peace overcame Jason halfway through his leap to the other side.

The worn handle of his grapple gun slid out of Jason’s grasp as he plummeted to the quickly-approaching concrete. Luckily, the man was able to twist enough mid-air to land across his side. Unluckily, he landed directly behind the previously stalked squad of goons.

A quiet, “shit” was all Hood was able to say before the raggedy bunch turned to face him. The man quickly jumped to his feet, pulling out his dual pistols in the same movement. He did his best to try to compartmentalize the growing panic in his chest. Hood kept reaching for the giant void so often full of swirling rage and finding nothing.

He fired rapid shots at the scattered goons, striving to not shoot the smallest one. However, for all of Hood’s training, nothing could have prepared him for being in the middle of a firefight while actively seeking the very cause of all his problems.

Shooting a well-aimed bullet through a hispanic-looking man’s knee, Red Hood rolled behind a sun-bleached blue container. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps made Hood whip around, coming face-to-face with another three of Penguin’s goons. He could also see two suspicious figures booking it down the ship’s gangway. Hood knew he could handle a fight like this, widening his stance and taking lazy aim at the hostile figures. His first shot went wide when a pulse of hope-settled-forgiven rushed through him, leaving Jason’s eyes useless and his legs shaky.

A bullet piercing through the body armor on his shoulder was barely enough to bring the man out of his head, leaving Jason to realize he was about to be surrounded if the feed from the Batbug was to be trusted. The distant phantom feeling of lounging in the sun, on his favorite chair in a giant, book-filled Wayne Manor library made Jason realize something was wrong. What should have been pain was only half-baked fuzzy feelings of warmth and comfort. It was enough to cause Jason to shoot wildly around himself, bringing a hand to clumsily tap on his helmet. When the man finally heard feedback from someone else’s com, he drunkenly slurred to whoever was listening.

“I-I need b’ck’p,” the hooded man said, firing a shot that went through a goon’s abdomen, “‘m drugged?” Jason couldn’t help but giggle as a smaller body got closer to him, turning his near-unresponsive body to slam the other into unforgiving concrete. An armored boot smashed the goon’s head against the ground. “Hemlo to ya’, too!” Jason laughed as the voices of his siblings flooded his ears.

Another burst of gooey happiness reverberated throughout the crime lord’s body, causing his vision to blackout again. He turned to see a woman with a gun pointed at him. She was the last one left, Jason blearily noticed, her friends’ broken bodies scattered across the ground around him. When did that happen? Jason doesn’t remember them playing, he thought with a frown. It was only when a black-clad individual backflipped into Jason’s narrowing view that he realized Dick had shown up at some point.

“Big Bir’!” Jason cheered as his brother smoothly took down the last person playing. “Ya go’ ‘er!” His vision went dark again, but the feeling of something rapidly tapping his cheek brought the world back into focus.

“Hood, Hood can you hear me?”

Jason groaned in response, weakly pushing at his brother with heavy arms. “Shhhh,” he hissed, “‘m try’ng ta l’sten!”

Dick’s masked face, darkened with spots of speckled blood, danced with black spots around his vision, “Hood, what do you mean?” The older one asked.

Instead of responding, however, Jason’s body decided that talking was too much work. A peaceful feeling overtook him as he fell unconscious to the increasingly worried voice of his big brother, and a song of hope sung deep within his being.

( ुᴗᵨᴗ)ु.zZ

A/N: Hello! Please pardon any bad writing, it's been one hell of a hot second haha. Anyways - this has been an absolute labor of love from me. I've had this chapter finished since mid-February but a combination of my jobs, schooling, and a big editing block made it hella late. That being said, huge shoutout to my two betas @the-archer-goddess and Aerois! Legit could not have done it without you guys <3

Taglist: @vixen-uchiha @apointlessbox @mentalcarebear @asphyxia778 @horribly-lost-and-gay @may-rbi @blacksea21090 @kyrianclawraith (Hope I got everyone! If you want to be added to or taken off the taglist feel free to ask <3)

#DCxDP #DPxDC #Dead On Main #fic #Crossposted on ao3 #first fic in a while #cannibalism warning #slowburn #friends to enemies to lovers #its gonna be a long one boys #buckle up

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fandom · 2 years ago

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Ships

Week Ending May 22nd, 2023

Steddie +1 Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson, Stranger Things

Byler -1 Will Byers & Mike Wheeler, Stranger Things

Tarlos +5 TK Strand & Carlos Reyes, 9-1-1: Lone Star

Zelink +6 Zelda & Link, The Legend of Zelda

Tomgreg Tom Wambsgans & Greg Hirsch, Succession

Buddie -2 Evan Buckley & Edmundo Diaz, 9-1-1

Huntlow -4 Hunter & Willow Park, The Owl House

Vashwood -3 Vash the Stampede & Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Trigun Stampede

Hanamusa Jessie & Delia Ketchum, the Pokémon franchise

Reylo Rey & Kylo Ren, the Star Wars universe

Jegulus James Potter & Regulus Black, the Harry Potter universe

Bowuigi -3 Bowser & Luigi, the Super Mario Bros. franchise

Lumity -6 Luz Noceda & Amity Blight, The Owl House

Roy x Jamie Roy Kent & Jamie Tartt, Ted Lasso

Kataang Katara & Aang, Avatar: The Last Airbender

Wolfstar -2 Remus Lupin & Sirius Black, the Harry Potter universe

Ghostsoap -2 Simon “Ghost” Riley & John “Soap” MacTavish, the Call of Duty franchise

Soukoku -2 Nakahara Chuuya & Dazai Osamu, Bungou Stray Dogs

Kavetham Kaveh & Alhaitham, Genshin Impact

Destiel -8 Dean Winchester & Castiel, Supernatural

The number in italics indicates how many spots a ship moved up or down from the previous week. Bolded ships weren’t on the list last week.

#ships #05/22/2023 #tarlos #911 lone star

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little-pondhead · 2 years ago

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Day 10: Bones

DANNYMAY MASTERLIST

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Valerie wasn't known for her tolerance of ghosts. In fact, she hated them so much that she became Amity Park's second vigilante, Red Huntress. The first vigilante, unfortunately, was the most annoying spirit in existence, who still managed to out-preform her in everything she tried to do. Valerie tried time and time again to put Danny Phantom back into the ground where he belonged, but every fight just ended up with her stalking off in a fit of rage while Phantom floated lazy circles in the air, calling out stupid suggestions on what she needed to improve on.

It was infuriating.

Still, the pair had their calm moments when the weight of the world was so heavy they had no choice but to seek the other out under a white flag, desperate for the grounding the other could provide. More often than not, it was Phantom suggesting the truce, usually because some large threat needed to be addressed.

This time, it was Valerie that had tracked down the ghost and presented a deal. It was finals week for her senior year, and Valerie needed all the time she could to study. The relief on Phantom's young face gave her pause, but otherwise, their conversation went smoothly.

"This is perfect timing!" Phantom chirped, flipping around in excitement. Cujo, his stupid ghost dog, bounced between the two, trying to get someone to play with him. "I just made a deal with the rogues to back off for the week, so neither of us should have to lift a finger during finals."

Val coughed, squashing the growl rising in her throat. She used her foot to gently nudge Cujo away, sending him back towards Phantom once more. "Why would you make such a deal?"

Phantom shrugged, sticking his hand in his chest and rummaging around for something. "I've heard how bloodthirsty students can be during finals week. This is kinda for everyone's sake. The only thing I'll be out watching for is the GIW and the only thing you should watch out for is the Fentons." Finally locating what he needed, Phantom scrunched up his face as a loud snap! was heard. Then he withdrew his hand and presented Cujo with a thin, black, curved bone.

The human vigilante watched in detached, fascinated amusement as Phantom threw his rib bone for the ghost dog, who took after it at lightning speed. Phantom turned back, giving Val a winning smile. She rolled her eyes. Phantom was still the same kid she started fighting all those years ago, trapped in an immortal body, doomed to look the age he was when he died. She had no real way of telling his true age. But when he did stupid stuff like this, Valerie couldn't help but feel like he really was just a kid.

"You better get that back before Cujo decides to bury it. That's what he does with all his bones." Was her parting remark. Phantom's look of dawning realization and frantic takeoff toward Cujo made her giggle, even if she'd never admit it.

#danny phantom #pondhead writes #dannymay2023

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dp-marvel94 · 1 year ago

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(Not) Alone - Chapter 9

Summary: Consumed with worry and scared after watching Dani almost die, Danny begs her to come home with him and meet Jazz. He wants to see her safe and happy and taken care of more than anything. An important reveal also weighs heavy on him – Dani isn’t the only living clone… and the other is him. He needs to tell her the truth; maybe that will convince her to agree to the idea of telling his parents. And she'll stay in Amity Park with him, where he'll never have to worry if she's safe ever again.

Meanwhile, Dani has mixed feelings. Still reeling from the loss of her clone siblings, Danny’s unexpected worry and care make her uncomfortable. And her own guilt… she hurt him and helped get him kidnapped twice. How can he care about a mistake like her? But having clean clothes and a bed is wonderful. And things aren’t as simple as she thinks.

Will Dani accept the help she needs and let herself be loved? Or will she push Danny and Jazz away and run again?

Word Count: 5,019

First-> Previous

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: Finally, I'm back to posting this story! I got way behind for a bit there. I was very busy writing my Ecto-Implosion story - a Lost Time Mer AU featuring a very ethereal Clockwork and a very conflicted Danny; it is posted now so go check it out if you haven't! Then there was Thanksgiving and preparing for Christmas. And my sister and I are buying a house! We close on January 5th. So yeah, a lot of excited things going on. Enjoy the second to last chapter of this story!

The time before dinner consisted of a tour of the Far Frozen, given by Frostbite. They visited the library, the hall of murals, the artifact vault (including sneaking a peek at the Infini-map!). The stadium, the ice practice rooms, the guard’s training field. There was a hanger for the hovercrafts. An engineering workshop where an adolescent yeti apprentice was helping an adult with a hovercraft repair.

They passed classrooms, the excited voices of an in-class literature debate perking Dani’s ears. The girl peered through the glass window in the door, curious eyes fixing on the small group of students. One of the young yeti’s gaze met hers, the other ghost grinning toothily and waving. Blinking in surprise, the girl waved back.

“Come, you must see the ice garden!” Frostbite hurried the group through the hall.

“Wow.” The clone girl breathed. “It’s so pretty!”

Trees, flowers, even individual blades of grass sparkled in the light, despite the cloudy sky. Dani darted behind one of the towering trees, thick trunked with heart-shaped leaves.

“It’s almost clear!” She giggled, looking at her brother through the trunk. “You look ridiculous!” Flickers of his ghost form – white, black, and green – warped through the ice.

“Oh yeah?!” He flew forward, making funny faces at her through the other side of the trunk. “You’re the one who looks ridiculous.”

“But you look more ridiculous-er!” She laughed more, sticking her tongue out at him. “Like one of those fun house mirrors!”

The two played for a while, poking fun at each other. Then…. The ice drakes!

“They’re so cute!” Dani cooed, eyes round.

Jazz looked at the creatures. Part wingless dragon, part slinky lizard, they were twenty feet long, with sharp claws, sharp teeth, and blue-silver scales. She side-eyed her sister skeptically. “Cute?”

One of the drakes, a juvenile all of five feet long, stuck out its tongue and licked its eye.

“Just look at him.” Dani gave her best puppy dog eyes. “And look!” She pointed to a disturbed area in the snow, sky blue splotches and small silver bodies standing out against the white powder. “Babies!”

“Ah, the hatchlings have arrived.” Frostbite said warmly. He walked towards the nest, gently brushing snow away. With one hand, he waved to the two girls. “Would you like to hold one, Dani with an i?”

Dani beamed. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Excitedly, she held out her hands.

“Hold her like this.” Frostbite demonstrated. “Close to your body.”

The younger girl nodded eagerly. Gently, she took the hatchling, which let out a squeak. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

Soon enough, the baby lizard relaxed, head resting on Dani’s upper arm, paws curled up against her chest, and tail wrapped around her other arm.

The clone girl cooed. “Yes, you are so cute. Yes, you are.”

Jazz watched over Dani’s shoulder, brow still furrowed skeptically.

Half ghost and hatchling stayed like that for a while, just looking at each other. But after a few minutes, the young drake grew restless. She squirmed in the hold, eyes darting to and then fixing on the human’s red hair. She chirped curiously, head lifting. The hatching half-wrestled out off, was half-released from Dani’s arms. She scrambled up Dani’s jumpsuit, onto her shoulder, and leapt onto Jazz’s.

“Hey!” The older teen protested, to laughs from her younger siblings.

The nosy drake investigated, sniffing, batting at, and chewing on the hair.

“That isn’t food!” Jazz complained.

At the same time, the hatchling spit out the mouthful rather spectacularly, having realized it in fact wasn’t edible. Still, she investigated Jazz’s hair and clothing, eventually wrapping herself around the red-head’s shoulders like a second scaly scarf. Innocent blue eyes blinked up at the human.

Jazz sighed. “Alright. I guess you are a little cute.”

“Yes!” Dani cheered. “Told you!”

The older sister rolled her eyes.

After that, Danny took a turn holding one of the hatchlings. A few more minutes of cooing at the smaller drakes and coaxing the adults into pettings and….

“Can we go back inside? It’s getting colder.” The red-head shivered, frowning up at the sky. “Actually, we should probably leave soon.”

“Yes. Of course.” The chief nodded sagely. “Some food first, very quickly before your journey home. There is still plenty of time yet, before the weather turns.”

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

Actually, there was not plenty of time before the weather turned.

Danny frowned out the window, clutching another mug of hot chocolate. Outside the wind blew fiercely, the atmosphere completely white with the driving snow.

“My apologies, Danny.” Frostbite said surprisingly softly, a hand on the half ghost’s shoulder. “The storm blew in much quicker than anticipated. I should have hastened your departure.”

“It’s okay.” The half ghost looked up at his mentor. “How long do you think it’ll last?”

“A blizzard which arrived this quickly…” The yeti hummed thoughtfully. “Those storms like this are intense but they are short lived. Less than a day, surely. Perhaps eighteen hours.”

“So we’ll have to spend the night.” The boy bit his lip.

“It seems so.” Frostbite patted his back. “Come. We will prepare a feast for all. And a dance! Music and games will surely lift you and your siblings’ spirits!”

The corner of Danny’s lip turned up. “Alright. Let’s go.” With the chief’s enthusiasm, there was no way he could stay so somber.

The feast was amazing. Five courses. Ice kelp salad, with Caesar dressing straight from the Acropolis. Cave mushroom soup, topped with mammoth cheese and spices. An appetizer of garlic bread- a staple anywhere in the Infinite Realms. Giant Bison steaks with neon-colored fingerling potatoes. And for dessert…

Dani poked the shiny yet opaque, gelatinous slab with her knife. “What is this?”

It wiggled unappealingly and yet, Danny’s mouth watered. “Aojngofls.” He answered, grinning.

“What?”

“Aojngofls.” The boy repeated, to his little sister’s continued confusion. “That’s the yeti word for it. Have no idea what it’d be in English.”

“Okay? But…” Dani still eyed the desert skeptically. “What is it?”

“It’s some kind of pudding, I think. The consistency is kinda like flan but there’s nuts and fruit and stuff inside.” The boy greedily grabbed a spoonful, stuffing it in his mouth with abandon. “ ‘s so goof.” He gushed.

The young girl sniffed her portion, giving at another poke. “Why’s it shiny though?”

Danny swallowed his bite. “Ground up Ice Drake scales.”

At that, Dani pushed the plate away violently, a look of betrayal on her face. “No! How could they?”

“The drakes naturally shed their scales and the yeti’s collect them.” The boy soothed. “No drakes were harmed in the making of this dessert.”

“If that’s true….” His younger sister still wrinkled her nose, off-put. But hesitantly, she took a bite.

Danny leaned forward, eyes wide and eager for her reaction. “Well?”

Several emotions flashed across her face in quick succession, disgust turning to surprise and then relief. She swallowed. “It’s… actually good?”

“Yes!” The older half ghost fist pumped, laughing as the younger quickly started on her own piece with abandon.

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

“We have most exquisite merriment for your enjoyment, Great One and Kin!” Frostbite practically dragged Danny and his sisters to the dance hall, so great was his enthusiasm.

The chief flung the doors open, the sound suddenly swelling. Drums banged, pounded. String instruments strummed and shredded, some high and quivering, others low and droning. The winds trilled and rumbled, like songbirds fluttering in the trees and the distant peals of thunder. It was a cacophony, the sounds weaving together in purposeful chaos.

Around the room, yetis stomped, clapped, danced. And Danny found himself pulled into the spiral of bodies. Jazz, her red-hair vibrant amongst the white fur, spun away from him. She danced beside Snowflake, movements at first awkward and unsure but quickly becoming exuberant and ridiculous. And Dani…

The shout barely carried over the crowd but it tickled Danny’s ear all the same. “Come dance with us!”

One of the younger yeti’s took hold of his sister’s hand, pulling her to join the other kids. Dani followed, smiling and then laughing, soon twirling as absurd and excited as their other sister was.

And Danny danced too. Legs jumping, arms flailing, feet pounding, head bobbing. His heart pounded, in time with the music. And the very air around him…. The excitement of the other ghosts, delighted to just be alive, together. His sisters, here and safe and happy. Jazz, her eyes bright and shoulders held high, without the worry she always wore like a heavy weight. And Danielle…. Twirling and laughing with the other kids, grinning like she’d never smiled in her life.

The older half ghost’s core buzzed, light with its happiness, with the warmth of its love overflowing. He laughed, taken by the sheer joy.

Danny danced for some unknowable amount of time after, catching the occasional glimpses of Jazz’s teal jacket or Dani’s midnight black suit. The words, unknown to his ears, and the music, foreign in arrangement but familiar in emotion, flowed around, in, and through him. His hair raised with chills, moved by the shaking drone of the strings, by the long, soulfully sung notes. And his body moved along, joining the song. No, not just his body. It was deeper. The feeling vibrated down, passed his blood and ectoplasm. Down, into his core, the center of himself. He danced, not just with his body but with his very soul.

Eventually though, the music slowed, a profound tranquility over taking the room. The dancer also slowed, many of them pairing up.

Danny stilled with a soft smile on his face as he pulled himself out of the crowd. He meandered to the edge of the room, eyes set on a table of refreshments. The boy picked up a cup of slightly glowing punch. Turning back, his gaze flickered over the gathering, searching for…

Ah, there. His heart squeezed, pleasantly warm. There was Danielle.

He raised the glass to his lips, taking a sip as he watched. His little sister still lingered in the middle of a crowd of younger yetis, though the group had drifted away from the dance floor. They huddled in a corner, a few adolescents giggling to each other about something. And… Dani sat in the air cross-legged, one of the cubs curiously running claws through her hair. A slightly older kid gently swatted away the paw, leaned forward to mutter something in Dani’s ear. The half ghost nodded, eyes lighting up in delighted surprise. The young yeti started braiding the shining white locks.

“Danielle looks really happy.” Jazz’s voice broke his attention from the scene.

Danny blinked, for a moment surprised, but then dismissing her sudden appearance… “Yeah, she does.” He smiled, contented eyes back on his little sister.

His older sister smiled too, just as happy. “I don’t think she’s been this happy the entire week. Bringing her here was a great idea.”

The boy nodded. It was true enough. Despite the slight bumps of the check up and the unexpected snowstorm, Dani looked about the happiest he’d ever seen her.

Across the room, the braiding finished up, the paws removed from Dani’s hair. The girl experimentally shook her head, the ends hitting her cheeks. Her mouth opened, laughter audible in the lines of her face despite the loud music.

“Aw. Look at that. She’s already making friends.” Jazz cooed.

In other circumstances, Danny might have scoffed at the mushy comment. But now, his heart was too full of relief and joy to hold any cynicism. “Yeah, she is.”

Neither sibling spoke for a long moment, just watching Dani talk and play with the other kids. Soon, the song ended, another fast one starting up.

Danny stepped towards the crowd. “Ready to get back at it?”

Jazz took a sip of her own punch. “I still need to catch my breath. I can barely keep up.” She chuckled. “These guys are more rambunctious than Aunt Alicia’s neighbors at a barn dance.”

The boy laughed at the unexpected comparison. “Oh my g-d, that’s what this was reminding me off.”

Just then, Frostbite’s booming laugh cut above the music, his energetic kick nearly knocking down his dance partner. The yetis were just as exuberant as any country folk.

“Do you remember that time Alicia’s neighbor's kid let all the chickens out during the dance?” Jazz asked with a snort.

“Of course.” Danny snorted himself. “They were all line dancing,” Hands on his hips, he kicked each leg and then clapped and turned with a jump. “to Cotton-Eyed Joe. And those stupid chickens...” He landed, leaning forward slightly, and moving his head back and forth in a very poultry-like manner. “Those stupid chickens were trying their best to become footballs!”

“Old Man Roberts kicked one and it sounded…” A laugh broke through the words. “it sounded like a freaking rubber chicken! Like…” The sad chicken noise Jazz then made….

The boy nearly doubled over laughing. “That’s the most pa..pathetic chicken noise…I’ve… I’ve ever… heard.” He gasped, diaphragm flipping with the sound.

“But that’s what it sounded like!” His sister argued.

“Like.. Like?” Danny tried to make his own rubber chicken noise but broke down in giggles.

A second of the red-head’s nose wrinkling, trying to hold but the sound and… hands on her knees, she cackled too. The two laughed for a long while, just the two of them and that memory.

Eventually, Danny caught his breath. Wiping his eyes… “Man, those barn dances at Alicia’s were the best.”

“Yeah, they’re always a good laugh.” Jazz chuckled, again. “The only thing funnier than those chickens is Dad trying to dance to Party in the USA.”

Danny laughed again, just picturing it. Jack Fenton, in all his uncoordinated orange-flanneled glory, stomping and jumping completely out of time.

He shook his head, grinning. “I wonder if Mom and Dad managed to catch a dance on their trip.” But as soon as the words passed from his lips...“Their trip.” His face fell, a chill anxiety suddenly dousing the previous joviality. “They’ll be back tomorrow night.”

His older sister stood up straighter, also sobering. “That’s right.”

Danny’s hand frantically ran through his hair. “I still need to talk to Dani about that.”

The red-head raised a brow. “You didn’t talk to her last night?”

Danny shook his head. “With everything else we talked about…” He bit his lip. “I couldn’t bring it up, not when she was already so upset.”

Jazz stepped towards him, nodding understandingly. “That’s okay. We can bring it up later, after the dance.”

His eyes darted back to Dani and the younger yetis. They were playing some kind of game, one yeti blindfolded in the middle with the others surrounding in a circle. His younger sister’s eyes sparkled, a hand over her mouth trying to hold back laughter.

His heart squeezed. “But she’s so happy. She’s happy and making friends. And she finally called me Danny again.” Such relief that statement brought… she was comfortable with him, all of him. “And we just had to talk about our brothers last night and that was hard enough.” It was painful, just remembering her crying, clinging to him like he’d disappear too if she let go. “But this… how can I do that to her again?”

Jazz glared, suddenly serious, as she pulled him farther away from the crowd and in front of some chairs huddled against the wall. “We still have to have this conversation with her, Danny.” Voice low but harsh, the red-head crossed her arms. “We can’t just let her run off to Ancients knows where.”

“Of course not.” The boy almost hissed, eyes narrowed in offense. “I barely want to let her out of my sight. I’d rather died than let her F-off into the sunset again. I want her at home with us. But…” He slumped into the chair, anger suddenly doused. “She doesn’t even want to meet Mom and Dad. I know she doesn’t.” His head dropped into his hands. “She shuts down any time they’re even kinda mentioned. I barely convinced her to meet you in the first place. You know how hard it was to convince her to let us buy her clothes, let alone anything else.” Her furious words, that first morning…. She didn’t think she needed or deserved help. She was trying to fight that thinking, he knew, from their conversation last night. But did that still linger below the surface? And…

“Jazz.” His voice lowered, shoulders curling in on themselves. “I… I’m scared. I want Danielle safe and happy so damn bad. So bad. But…I’m… I’m terrified that I’ll push her and she’ll run. She’ll leave without a word again. And I can’t… I can’t. I can’t go back to not knowing if she’s safe or okay or even if… even if…” His breath caught, voice choked.

“Oh, Danny.” The chair beside him creaked slightly, Jazz sitting. “It’s okay to be scared.” Her arm wrapped around his shoulders. “I… I’m scared too.” At that, he looked up, brow wrinkling as his older sister continued. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if Dani is going to surprise us and say yes. Or if she will freak out and run. Or any number of things could happen. I can’t make her say yes like I, like both of us want.”

Each word was a stab to his core, driving that desperate fear and sorrow deeper and deeper. If even Jazz had these fears, then how… how….

“But.” The strong conjunction drew Danny out of his growing despair. “Whether or not she stays with us is Danielle’s choice. We won’t know until we asks. There’s no reason to catastrophize yet. And…” Her face softened, kind eyes fixed on him. “I don’t know her as well as you do. But I know Dani loves you. She trusts you. She wouldn’t leave you without a word and hurt you like that. And besides…” Her eyes flickered toward the crowd of yetis. “Maybe staying in Amity Park with us or running off on her own aren’t Dani’s only two options.”

Danny’s gaze followed, fixing on Dani… playing with her new friends. He blinked once, the idea rolling over him. Something in his core loosened, a hint of hope brightening his face.

The boy sat up. “I need to talk to Frostbite.”

Jazz smiled, squeezing his shoulder. “Go on then.”

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

“My turn! My turn!” Dani cheered, moving to the center of the circle.

Her core buzzed with excitement. This was the best day ever! The tour, the feast, the dance. New friends! GlacierPaw asked her to dance. WinterHill braided her hair. And now Icicle was tying the blind-fold around her eyes.

“Now we’ll count to ten while you spin in a circle. You want to find and tag whoever had the ice-shaker.” The yeti girl stepped back, and the sound of counting started.

Dani spun, head quickly growing dizzy. Then she wobbled forward, chasing the sound of crinkling ice. It shifted… there!

“I’ve got you!” The half ghost flailed for the target.

“It’s not me!” The other child laughed.

The sound of shaking again. Dani chased, still woozy on her feet. Another miss, this one near. And…

“Ha! There!” She grabbed the shaker, pulling off the blind-fold.

GlacierPaw grinned at her sheepishly. “My turn?”

With a nod, Dani tied the cloth on his head.

The games continued, with more dizzy stumbling, more running and jumping, and, of course, much more laughter. Eventually though, the fun stopped, the group breaking up as adults came over to gather their children.

“Bye!” “It was fun playing with you!” “See you later!” GlacierPaw, WinterHill, and Icicle shouted the various farewells, each pulled along by their respective parents.

Dani smiled, giving her own wave. “Bye!” Then she turned her attention back to the crowd. Where were Danny and Jazz? After a moment, her eyes fixed on familiar red hair.

“Jazz!” The girl ran forward, nearly crashing into the older teen in her excitement.

“Dani!” Jazz startled with a laugh.

“Did you see?!” She waved back toward the corner. “The yeti kids invited me to play with them! It was so much fun! We played freeze tag with actual ice! And Pin the tail on the Ice Drake. And…” She blinked, suddenly realizing. “Where’s Danny?”

“Talking to Frostbite.” The other girl smiled, ruffling her hair. “What else did you do?”

“The littler cubs loved this game called Rabbit, Rabbit, Hare. We all sat in a circle, one person walking around the outside. The person who was It went rabbit, rabbit, rabbit,” She patted the air with her hand. “On each person’s shoulder. But if you got hare, then you had to get up and chase them around the circle and try to get back to your spot first!”

“Ah. Like Duck, Duck, Goose.” The red-head mused with a nod.

“What’s Duck, Duck, Goose?” Dani stopped her ramble, brow furrowing.

“It’s the same game you just described.” Jazz chuckled kindly. “I played it when I was little. You’d go Duck, Duck, Duck….” She also patted the air. “Then…. Goose!” She furiously ruffled Dani’s hair and the younger girl giggled.

Just then, Danny returned. “Hey guys.” He waved.

A new song started up, fast and energetic. Dani grabbed each of the older teen’s hands. “Come on! I wanna dance!”

The clone girl danced with her two siblings for a few more songs. They drank some punch, snacked on some of the food. Dani talked more about the yeti kids she had met, the older two listening with rapt attention. Each wore an almost relieved smile though Danny’s harbored just a hint of sadness. Actually…. Both of her siblings were being oddly subdued, a heaviness in their responses that hadn’t been there before.

Dani noted the oddity with a wrinkled brow but before she could really dwell on it….

“It looks like everyone is leaving.” Jazz mused, eyes flickering to the musicians. Sure enough, they were packing up their instruments.

Barely a minute later, Frostbite arrived, gathering the three. “Come. I will show you your room.”

A few minutes’ walk through the halls and the group came to a surprisingly mundane wooden door. The chief opened it and inside….

Wooden paneled walls, a fireplace built into one side. Wooden furniture. A bed, a couch, a desk, dressers. The room was cozy and warm, enough so that Jazz started taking off her outer layers of clothing. “This is perfect, Frostbite. Thank you.”

Dani nodded. It did look really nice! But… her brow furrowed. “There’s only two places to sleep.”

The older girl gave her a chastising look, causing the halfa girl to blush sheepishly.

But the chief smiled kindly. “Never fear, we have prepared for this.” He left the room, quickly returning with a foldable cot. “See! All have their place.”

After good nights to Frostbite and a short… discussion (cough*argument*cough) about who would sleep where, the three collected borrowed pajamas from the dresser.

“You can go first.” Danny motioned toward the small, attached bathroom, Jazz agreeing with a nod.

As Dani got dressed and brushed her teeth, she tried to ignore the hushed voices coming through the door. The words were inaudible… but a seed of nervousness still sprouted in her gut.

She exited the bathroom to find Jazz and Danny huddled together on the couch.

“But Frostbite did say it would be okay if she-” Having noticed her, the boy cut himself off. He met her eyes and shuffled over on the couch. Then patting the seat between him and Jazz…

Dani’s brow raised in question. She didn’t ask, instead shifting nervously as she sat.

Her brother took a breath, hands balled in his lap. “Jazz and me need to talk to you about something important.”

Well, Dani did not like the sound of that. She swallowed nervously. “Okay?”

“First the good news.” Her brother started. “I talked to Frostbite about Vlad. Long story short. The Far Frozen has beef with him. So do Fright Knight and the Observants. The Dragon kingdom and the Acropolis don’t like him very much either. Mainly because Dora and Pandora are my allies and they’re not cool with anyone who messes with me.” He shook his head. “Point is, with all the ghosts on our side, we can probably get Vlad locked up somewhere he won’t be able to bother us anymore.” Danny met her eyes then, wide and earnest. “He is going to have to answer for what he did to you and me and all the other clones. He’s going to pay for it. And we’ll make sure he never even thinks about hurting you again.”

The words hit her like a ton of bricks. Not because they hurt but because…. The sheer relief. The feeling washed over her. She’d barely even thought about Vlad the past week, too absorbed in so many new experiences and revelations. But there in the back of her mind… (Would he come back for her? Try to hurt her again? Would he try to hurt Dami again, bring him to his side?)

But Danny’s words, the fervent conviction in his eyes swept those doubts and fears away.

“That’s great.” Dani hugged him. “Thanks for talking to Frostbite about that.”

“Of course.” He hugged her back. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t let this keep going. I had to do something…”

“And you did.” Jazz’s hand on her shoulder. “I’m relieved we have a plan now.”

The clone girl gave an agreeing hum, relaxing for a moment in that relief. Then…

She pulled away, a hint of renewed worry jabbing at her core. “You said ‘first the good news’ so…” She swallowed. “What’s the bad news?”

“It isn’t bad news.” Jazz smiled soothingly. “Remember when Danny asked you about meeting our parents?”

Dani nodded, anxiety sinking like a stone.

“Mom and Dad will be back tomorrow night.” Danny continued. “We’ll be back in the morning, plenty of time before they come home. But we need to make a decision…” The words came out, calm, sincere. But still… the boy bit his lip, betraying his own nerves. “About whether or not to tell them about me being half ghost and Phantom and… About you. And how we’re going to introduce you…”

“I don’t know…” Dani brought one hand up to her mouth, anxiously chewing on her thumb nail. (This. This was what she had been freaking out about last night…)

“You don’t have to meet them if you don’t want to.” Jazz soothed, gently pulling the younger girl’s hand from her lips. “It’s your decision.”

“Yeah.” Danny nodded. “It’s up to you. And…” He looked out, towards the door. “Staying with Jazz and me isn’t the only option. Frostbite already said he’d be happy to give you a place to stay. And I have other allies we could go see if you don’t want to stay here. I’m sure Dora or Pandora would love to have you. But.” With the word, his expression hardened, deathly serious. “No matter what, running off on your own again is not an option. I’m not going to let you just fend for yourself. Not alone, on the street or wandering off who knows where. You deserve to be somewhere that you’re safe. ”

Dani blinked for a moment, startled. There was another option….

Then she scowled, offended. Did she really think she was going to run off on her own? Yeah, maybe a week ago she could have, but-

The anger wooshed out. A week wasn’t that long though, was it?

She shook her head. “I know running off isn’t an option.” She wouldn’t, not now. Not after finally having her brother back and… maybe kinda sorta gaining a sister? The point was, she finally wasn’t alone anymore. And she didn’t think… no, she knew, she couldn’t bear to go back. “I won’t run off. But…” She chewed on her lip.

The choice… that same dread and unease she felt every time she thought about the offer of staying at FentonWorks, those same feelings rose, wrapping around her core. For just a moment, she tried to imagine it. A dad to tuck her into bed. A mom to pack her lunch. Riding the school bus to school. Sitting in class. Making normal, human friends.

Dani frowned. She couldn’t picture it, the very thought turning her stomach. No, she wasn’t ready. She didn’t want that, at least not yet. If she ever would.

But…. staying here, with Frostbite… Danny had mentioned that too. And she had so much fun here today. There was so much to do and see. The food was so good and the yeti kids loved her. A large part of her wanted to stay here.

Another part of her seemed to curl in though, shy and ashamed of her desire. She had seen it in Danny’s eyes, and less obviously so in Jazz’s… they wanted her to meet their parents and live with them. They wanted her to say yes….

“Let me think about it.” Dani finally answered.

“Dani, we’re leaving in the morning.” Jazz countered, just as serious as Danny. “We need a decision before then.”

“I know.” The younger girl put her head in her hands. “Let me sleep on it. I’ll tell you guys in the morning, I swear.”

There was silence for a long moment. Then… “Alright.” Danny sighed, an arm wrapping around her. “Just tell us what you want to do then.”

“Okay.” The girl said quietly, leaning into her embrace.

Dani’s stomach twisted, torn in two. She wanted to keep hanging out with Danny and Jazz like she had this week. All fun and adventure, like an endless, adult-free summer vacation. She wanted to stay with them, to not let them down. But… she wanted the Far Frozen too. To learn to take care of the ice drakes, play hide and seek with the other kids, and get hugged by Frostbite every night.

“No matter what you decide, it’s going to be okay.” Jazz hugged her from the other side.

Dani hoped Jazz was going to be right.

#Danny Phantom #my fic #(not) alone #invisobang 2023 #Invisobang

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