#the feeling is foreign to him so accepting danny so easily feels wrong

[elizabethemerald]

Danny is, if nothing else, a magnificent bullshitter. He would almost call bullshitting his way into and out of situations to be his greatest strength, if it weren't for the whole saving people thing. He doesn't know these people. Not the way they seem to know and accept him. But that doesn't mean he can't bullshit like he does.

He takes the time of Nightwing leading him through breathing exercises to come up with a plan. Or at least the approximation of a plan.

Things he knows: His parents cut him open last night, so even if he were to leave the Batcave (Batcave!!) he wouldn't have anywhere else safe to go. And he's still badly injured and in need of medical care and time to recover. Care the Waynes seem willing to give, though he doesn't know how much time he has.

He feels a guilty at the idea of taking advantage of the heroes, learning their secrets, pretending to be someone they care about when they don't really know him and as soon as Desiree's magic breaks they'll remember and hate him.

But maybe he could pay them back? Actually that would be perfect. As soon as he's back in fighting condition, he could help protect them while they are out protecting Gotham. He could infuse their computers with ectoplasm so they could hack through any non infused firewalls in existence. He could make and give them protections against being overshadowed. He could spend the rest of his life paying them back.

With his plan, such as it is, in his mind he relaxed back against the medical bed. He saw the relief on Nightwing's face. And on Bruce Wayne's face, and wasn't that a trippy thought. It's ok, he could do this.

"I'm sorry I made y'all worry about me." He said, his words slurring out of him. Oh, whatever drugs he was on made him speak a little more honestly than he thought.

"It's ok, Baby Spooks!" Nightwing said with a smile. Bruce stepped and put a large hand gently on Danny's shoulder. He had to fight down a flinch at the reminder of what his dad had done to him.

"'Wing, was anyone else hurt?" Danny had to ask, he had to make sure that Desiree didn't hurt Gotham's heroes when she placed him with them. He also hoped shortening his hero name would be an acceptable nickname until he learned his real name.

"Nope, we were able to get you out of there in time. You took quite a beating last night." There was a moment of confusion on his face before it slipped away to acceptance. Got it, don't ask questions about the past, they would put it together faster if he did that. "I'm going to head up, Alfred should be down to check on your bandages shortly."

That left Danny alone with Bruce. Bruce Wayne. Batman. THE Batman! Well Bruce had called Danny his son, so he could play of that. He knew how fathers and sons were supposed to act, even if his relationship with his own dad had been so wrong lately. Danny grabbed the hand that was on his shoulder and placed it on his face, leaning into the gentle touch.

"Thanks for saving me dad." Danny whispered. The drugs in his system were dragging him back to sleep, but he briefly saw Bruce's face twist in surprise before softening into a loving expression.

"Of course Danny. We'll always be there for you."

.

Danny learned a lot in the next couple of days. Nightwing's name was actually Dick (And Danny almost popped a stitch trying not to laugh the first time he heard that. Fortunately he could blame the drugs). Tim was Red Robin, Damian was Robin, Duke was Signal, Oracle and Nightwing had history that everyone made fun of, same with Stephanie (Spoiler) and Tim. He knew there was someone named Cass that wasn't in the manor right now that Steph had the hots for and someone named Jason that Bruce had a complicated history with.

After a few days Alfred, the family butler, but obviously so much more, said Danny was healed enough to return to his room in the manor above the Batcave, but he was still on bedrest for another week. He trusted Alfred even though he wanted to get out and start helping protect the Bats to pay back his debt. Instead he snuck into the Cave and infused the Batcomputer with ectoplasm. Tim suddenly found his multiple hacks and searches that he was running finding results far faster than he had expected.

Not being able to help more was killing Danny a little. He already hated owing people debts, and he hated people he cared about being in danger. And despite his best efforts to the contrary he was starting to care for this strange family. He hoped once he was recovered and could help out more directly they would be able to forgive him for using them, though he doubted they would ever forgive him for learning their secret identities, though he promised himself he would take that secret to his grave, if he actually got a grave the next time he died.

The bats have so many folks around, even if they aren't always working together. Enough that folks like to joke/write about Danny just kinda showing up acting like he already lives there. He just kinda blends in.

I'd love to see more magic motivated versions of this. Some kind of spell that affects the bat's perceptions of the past and present, making them actually miss that this boy wasn't with their family too long ago. Maybe it changes their understanding like it's a time line shift, maybe it fogs their mind just a tad and makes them glaze past something like it wasn't even there. I like the second if only because I feel like that would make it more likely for the bats to realize a spell was a foot.

Imagining this from Danny's side, hes terrified this whole time of getting found out. He knows how and when he showed up here and maybe even how flimsy whatever magic is in place is. Imagining a Desiree wish that was either very carefully worded or Not so carefully worded. Maybe he placed himself with the Wayne family with the expectation that he would quietly mooch of some rich idiot until he was ready to be on his own. Or maybe he wished himself to be a part of the batclan, taking up a mask and patroling with them as a bird that Doesn't Exist.

Ofc eventually the spell has to be broken, leaving the bats confused worried scared angry probably even amused, and a billion other things. WHY did this teenager decide to adopt himself into the Wayne/bat family? Who the hell is he and where did he come from. Someone call Zatanna, there is some magic Fuckery going on.

[monotype-on-phantom]

How would you write season 4? How would you write the series finale?

Well, I should mention that I haven’t exactly finished my ideas for the timeline yet. Plus, a season 4 would have to have mostly new content.

If we’re talking a season 4 that follows my timeline, though, I have some ideas.

With season 3 finishing off with Control Freaks, that’d put everyone into the beginning of summer vacation. It’d probably pack all the summer episodes around that time, and focus initially on the Fentons adjusting to Danny’s secret being out (among just them, though.)

I’d want to keep D-Stabilized pretty much the same, so that’d require moving Vlad near Amity Park for some reason or another. The excuse could be that he was concerned about the events of Reality Trip. I dunno. Regardless, I’d keep D-Stabilized somewhat early on in the season, and focus the majority on developing Danielle and Valerie.

With Danny’s parents in on his secret, his life would get a lot easier. They’d stop trying to hunt him down, they’d be able to help cover for him, they could learn a lot from him and help him figure himself out, and heck, they could help him figure out a school schedule that works with what he does. In a sense, Danny would be reaching the tail end of the development he’s been going through since season 1.

Dani would be an excellent follow up for that, because her struggles mirror Danny’s in a lot of ways while also being totally different. She also has plenty of reason to question her humanity, wonder what she’s worth and what her purpose is, have trouble trusting people, and she’d be trying to adjust to a new life that’s foreign to her.

The differences are, of course, that Danny’s life was changed when he got ghost powers. Dani has never been without hers. What she’s trying to adjust to is a form of normalcy, something she’s never experienced. On top of that, she’s a clone. While Danny would definitely support her (and they do love each other a lot), she’d also struggle with how much of her identity is her own and how much is just a copy of Danny. Danny called the other clones mindless. What made her so special? Was she really that different from the others? Is she just really good at faking being a person?

There are plenty of characters who could relate to aspects of her struggles, but nobody would fully understand. That could lead to a lot of interesting plots. Heck, if we bring in Elmer’s idea of Vlad finally completing a perfect clone, that could add a lot of drama. Vlad would treat his “perfect son” way better than the previous clones. He wouldn’t be expendable. He’d only care about him as an object, really, but when you know nothing different, you can’t exactly know that you’re not really loved.

So we’d have a really messed up character who, ironically, could relate to Dani more than anyone else. She’d absolutely want to help him, even though he’d be pretty warped and do some despicable things.

Along with that, we’d also have Valerie’s character arc to continue. After finding out about Vlad and Dani, it wouldn’t be too long before she pieced together that Danny Phantom was a halfa as well. From there, she’d probably connect him to Danny Fenton eventually. That revelation, combined with everything else, would leave her questioning a lot of things. She’d be struggling between her affection for Fenton and her hatred for Phantom, and who knows which one would win out?

Judging by how she reacted to Dani, I can imagine her morals would prevent her from not at least hearing Danny out. Vlad has proven himself to be vindictive and manipulative, but she’d worked with Phantom a few times, and there were times when he seemed almost trustworthy. She’d have questions, but I don’t think she’d prioritize her desire for revenge over her friendship with Danny.

It’d still be very complicated for her, though. Danny would likely be able to easily accept everything, because he’s known about both sides of her this whole time and liked her anyway. Tucker’s pretty optimistic, so even he’d probably warm up to her if she promised to not attack Danny anymore.

Valerie would have a lot to figure out, though, and one person who would really struggle to trust her is Sam.

Assuming by this point, Sam and Paulina have reached some sort of mutual understanding, Valerie could easily replace Paulina as her rival. The thing about Sam is that her flaws are often very similar to those of the people she dislikes, just sometimes to another extreme. She can be as judgmental as Valerie, and she holds grudges and gets angry in the same way, too.

With Paulina, their shared problem was being unwilling to get to know people who fall into certain groups. Once they come to an understanding, even if they’re never friends, that would help both of them to move past that flaw. That would leave Sam more open to getting to know people, but she’d still have the same level of defensiveness and suspicion that Valerie has.

That’d lead to them butting heads a lot, even if everyone around them is trying to get along and make things work. That would lead to some great and necessary development for both girls. They’d both have to admit they’re wrong in various situations, which is something they both have trouble with, and unlike with Paulina, Sam would have to accept Valerie as somewhat of a part of the group eventually. After all, Paulina’s a popular girl who mostly avoids them. Danny considers Valerie a friend. So does Tucker. And despite her conflicting feelings, Valerie likes them both, too.

There are a lot of possible ideas, but these are a few of the ones I’d probably go with.

As for how to finish the series, I have no idea. I haven’t thought that far, yet. It’s a lot easier to come up with an ending for a show that should’ve finished sooner than one that should’ve kept going. It’d depend on where the story eventually led and, if I was actually working on a real show, how many episodes we were allowed.

This is all a bit more vague than my last post about the timeline, but this stuff hasn’t been given as much thought yet, and I have less material to work with. Hopefully that still answered your question well enough.