#Amity Park doubt all the Fentons business

[nelkcats]

Danny's "boo-tiful" parlor

After college Danny decided to open his own business, but he couldn't do it in Amity Park with so many people doubting his parents businesses or methods.

So he went to Gotham and set up a nice ice cream parlor downtown. Technically he wasn't invading any territory because he was in all of them at once. Both the Bats and the Rogues wondered if that made it a neutral area.

Everything was going well, Red Hood stopped by for pistachio ice cream every Wednesday, Harley came for bubble gum ice cream on Monday nights, ¡even a giant Crocodile came to buy him! (Croc was very surprised to be treated like another customer and it became his favorite establishment)

Until Batman decided to ruin it and investigate the harmless ice cream parlor; which unfortunately for Danny worked with his own ghost ice and sometimes could look a little too green.

He thought it wasn't fair for them to judge his ice, he had been very careful not to mix ectoplasm with his food, he didn't want alive cookies and cream or liminals running all over the city; except Hood, his pistachio ice cream might have a little ecto-dejecto, but it was to heal him ¡healing ice cream!

That's how Monday morning, the owner put up a "No Batman's allowed" sign in front of the establishment, his business was good without disrespectful furrys.

If the bat wanted to investigate, it should do so away from his respectable business and his new Boo-berry flavor. Maybe he needed to rename the place, but Sam and Tucker banned calling it "I-scream" and "Phantom's haunt" was not that obvious ¿right?

[samgirl98]

Forgotten Demon Twin 2/?

Prev | Next

Danny came back early from his patrol. There had been no ghost attacks. All he had found were ghost blobs, and he let them be. They were harmless. He got under his covers, glad that the next day was Sunday. He hoped he would be able to sleep late.

Danny was starting to fall asleep when he heard his phone ring. He groaned. He just wanted to sleep. He looked at his phone and immediately called Tucker.

“What do you mean someone is looking into me?” He asked without preamble.

“I don’t know what to tell you, dude. About six hours ago, I got an alert of someone looking into Amity Park. No biggie, sometimes people get curious. The firewall the GIW and me and Technus have set has kept them out so far. Then, a few hours later, I found out someone was trying to find out about you.”

“I’ve been able to keep them out, but just barely. Whoever they are, they’re good at hacking. Technus and I are having a hard time keeping them away from your information. I’ve had to direct them to your Doom and old Twitter account to get them off your scent, but I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

Okay, okay. This wasn’t the time to panic. It was probably the League (in which case he was [fully] dead anyway). He had to find a way to keep his family and friends safe, hide the portal from his fruit loop of a grandfather and mother, and keep his secret of being half-dead—no big deal.

“Danny, Danny, you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here. Listen, I want you to stop interfering with the hacking. I don’t want you or any of my loved ones in danger if it's who I think it is. I haven’t told you guys the whole truth, and if I make it out alive, I will. Until then, don’t contact me.”

“Danny, wait! What’s going—”

Danny hung up before Tucker could finish asking the question.

His phone immediately started lighting up. He turned it off. Danny moved his bed and pulled the wakizashi hidden under his floorboard; some ninja throwing stars, needles, and poison.

Danny stared at his weapons and knew he was screwed.

He could never measure up to the assassins in the League, let alone his family. He had no doubt the Al Ghuls had learned Danny had lied to them and was here to kill him and his family.

Ra’s Al Ghul did not believe in leaving loose ends.

Maybe Danny could convince his grandfather to leave the Fentons alone if he gave them all his information and let Ra’s kill Danny.

No, Danny would have to win against Ra’s. He couldn’t let the older man win; Danny knew his family would never survive if Danny died.

He didn’t know if he’d come back as a full ghost if he got killed (could he even die?), and he wasn’t willing to find out.

Besides, he no longer was the Al Ghul’s failure. He was Danny Phantom. Hero of Amity Park and the Ghost Zone. Crowned Prince of the Infinite Realms. He would win.

Danny heard a tap on his window and was met with two piercing green eyes.

They were here.

____

Once they entered Amity Park, whatever firewall kept them out went out. Suddenly, they could see everything that was happening in the small city. It disturbed Bruce.

Mentions of ‘ghosts’ attacking the town. A weatherman who predicted and announced the presence of ghosts and the Fentons on the road. The city being sucked into an alternate dimension (without the Justice League ever hearing about it), and a dead teenager taking care of the city. And the mention of a portal into the Land of the Dead, courtesy of the Fentons.

“Danyal never mentioned this portal,” Damian muttered as he looked through old letters he had.

The plane landed at 2:25 in the morning at Amity Park Airport.

It wasn’t hard to find the Fenton’s address once they were in Amity Park. Their address, phone number, and business number were public records in the small city.

The family made a plan.

They decided they would send Damian first. A (kind of) familiar face could help draw Danyal, Danny, out.

(God, it sounded like he was trying to lure out a wild animal. Though, if Danny were anything like his brother, that description wouldn’t be too far off the mark…)

“Remember, Damian, don’t engage if Danny starts attacking. It’s just talking. If he attacks you leave, and we find a different way to communicate.”

“Yes, father,” Damian said through gritted teeth. That was the fifth time his father had said the same thing. He wasn’t an imbecile.

Please, his thoughts intruded; not even an imbecile would forget they had a twin brother.

Shut up, he answered back.

Damian put on his dark clothes (not his league outfit; he threw that away a long time ago.) and the wire so his family could hear what was happening before leaving.

It wasn’t hard to find the Fenton’s house. The giant light arrow spelling out Fenton’s Work toward a house, and the big, he didn’t even know what was on top of the house, gave it away. These people weren’t subtle at all.

Damian climbed the windows. In one, there was a couple. The behemoth of a man was snoring so loudly it shook the whole room. A red-haired teenage girl slept in the next window while holding an old teddy bear. He went to the next one and froze.

For the first time in almost a decade, Damian saw his twin once more.

His back was turned to the window, but Damian saw a wakizashi in his hand. Ah, Danyal probably suspected someone was coming and thought it would be a member of the League.

Well, it was time to put his brother at ease.

Damian tapped on the window and saw blue eyes suddenly looking at him.

The two twins stared at each other for a long time. Then, Danyal adverted his gaze and went to the window. He kept the small sword in his hand.

He opened the window and let Damian in.

“Heir to the Demon’s Head, what a pleasure to be acknowledged and visited by you. To what does this Spare owe the honor?”

Once upon a time, Danyal’s subservience sent a thrill of pleasure down Damian’s spine. Now, it reminded him how far apart he had been kept from his twin. A horrid feeling twisted in his stomach and caused him physical pain.

His brother should never have been treated the way he had been by their grandfather and mother.

Damian should have never treated his brother that way.

“Danyal,” Damian said softly; his brother stiffened, “It’s okay. We are no longer loyal to the League. We are free.”

Danny didn’t dare look up. Was this a test? Was his twin testing his loyalty?

Danny’s heart rate picked up as Damian touched Danny’s shoulder.

“Brother,” Danny felt incredulous; the Heir never acknowledged the Spare as ‘brother,’ “Brother, grandfather is dead. We are free.”

Danny kept his gaze adverted. He couldn’t bring himself to hope that he was free.

Damian let his hand drop to his side.

“You don’t believe me.”

Danyal kept quiet.

Damian took a deep breath, “I have proof. He was killed in public. I brought the newspaper article.”

Damian took out the newspaper clipping and gave it to Danyal. His brother took it with shaking hands.

Danny’s breath caught as he read the title.

Ra’s Al Ghul was…dead. Danny was free! Would his brother let him stay in Amity Park? He was the heir, so he undoubtedly had taken over. Maybe if he pled his case to Damian and promised loyalty, he would let him stay with the Fentons.

Besides, Danny was the weak link of the Al Ghul line. He wasn’t a threat. Maybe Damian would grant him his wish.

Damian felt his heart twist as his twin got down on one knee, bowing his head.

“Demon’s Head, I ask you to let me stay in Amity Park. I’ll send weekly or even daily reports. Please, don’t kill the Fentons. My weakness has made me feel attached to them. If you don’t want me to stay here, please at least grant me the request of sparing their lives.”

Damian’s sadness suddenly turned to anger.

Hadn’t Danyal listened to a word he had said? They were free; they were no longer bound to the League.

“No, Danyal. The League no longer exists,” he spat out.

Danny flinched at his twin’s anger. His hold tightened on his sword.

“Bring it back a bit, baby bat,” Richard said through the comms.

Danny didn’t give any outward appearance that he heard another man’s voice calling Damian…Baby Bat?

What the fuck?

“I apologize, Danyal. My temper still gets the best of me sometimes.”

Danny couldn’t believe his ears. Damian, the Prince of the League, Heir to the Demon’s Throne, was apologizing…to Danny.

“Danyal, I left the League six years ago. I’ve been with our father.”

Father. The Batman. If what Damian was saying was true…

“Father and the rest of our siblings would like to meet you. They’re here in the city.”

…He could be free. All he had to do was convince Batman he was fine and to let him stay in Amity Park. Danny wouldn’t say anything about being Phantom, so Batman wouldn’t find any excuse to make him leave his little city.

Besides, how hard could it be to lie to the greatest detective in the world?

Danny got up, dusted his pants, and asked, “When do we leave?”

[half-deadmagicperson]

Phic Phight Phic 7

Title: The Herbdle

Words: 972

For @phicphight

Prompt:As they grow more liminal, Tucker develops tech based powers. Sam, traumatized by Undergrowth, is afraid her powers will be plant based. (By @everystarstorm )

Summary: Amity Park has been contaminated for years now. People have started sprouting fangs and gaining pointed ears, but when Tucker and Jazz develope powers, Sam fears she is next.

AO3

    It's been about three years since ghosts had been introduced into the lives of Amity Park. Since then, the town has been more and more polluted with ectoplasm. Such contamination has brought about certain phenomena such as people with slightly too pointed ears, or kids sprouting mini fangs, as well as tapetum developing in people's eyes, making them shine like a dog's eyes would in the dark.

    For Sam, Tucker, and Jazz, the changes were more extreme. It started with Jazz, probably because she lived in the same house as the portal.

   Jazz was going about her business as usual when she noticed extra sets of feelings in her head. She looked around to try and see if there's a ghost, but there wasn't any. Quickly, she ran down to the lab to run overshadow tests, but they came back negative.

   When she got to school, she felt even more sets of emotions in her head. It was very overwhelming to say the least. She ended up going home sick. 

   Jazz ran some more tests on herself and learned she'd become an empath. The normal liminal could only sense ghost feelings, but Jazz could sense anyone's emotions within her proximity. It took a little bit for Jazz to be able to fine tune her powers, but eventually she was able to focus them on a specific person or people she's talking to.

    Tucker was next. Tucker had been tinkering around with the Fenton's latest device in order to mask Danny's signature on it. He finished coding the masker and pressed for it to be uploaded. His computer was getting on in years, making the process infinitely slower. 

   Tucker was getting frustrated and started tapping the screen like it would shake the progress bar loose. He pressed the tip of his finger hard on his monitor and the screen went a light blue. What the?

    Tucker told his friends the next day that he thinks he got some tech powers. When Sam and Danny didn't believe him, he pressed his finger on his PDA. Danny received a text on his phone saying, 'Then how can I text you with my mind?' Danny showed the text to Sam who's eyes widened. Tucker sent Sam a message this time saying 'See I told you I had powers'.

    Danny and Tucker both decided they should test his powers after school. Sam scuffed her feet as she walked behind the duo to class.

   "Are you alright, Sam?"

   "Oh, yeah! I'm fine! I just remembered I got something to do this afternoon, but you two can do testing without me!"

   Both of her friends looked at her with doubt and concern. The two minute bell interrupted their thoughts as the trio headed into class.

    The school day was long and boring, and the boys were excited as ever to test out Tuck's powers. Sam wished them goodbye before heading home.

   Sam set her bag down on her floor. First Jazz, now Tucker. She's gonna be next. She looked over at the plants on her windowsill. She didn't want to be next.

   Ever since the incident with Undergrowth, Sam has felt a sort of connection with plants, a connection she was scared about. She never told the boys about this because they probably wouldn't understand NOT wanting powers. Now don't get her wrong. Before the whole taking over the town thing, Sam would've loved to have powers. But right now, she's sitting in her room scared of what her future holds.

    She didn't realize what time it was until she heard a knock on her window. Oh right! Patrol! She quickly wiped her tears before opening the window.

   "Are you red-Sam are you okay?" Danny's voice echoed. She put all her strength towards a smile and nod which apparently wasn't very convincing.

  "That's it I'm coming in," Danny settled before floating into her room, "is this because you don't have powers yet? Because you know we don't care if you have powers or not cause you're our friend, Sam, and you're a very important member of our team!"

   Danny was trying to support her, but he didn't know the issue. Sam hates feeling this vulnerable. She was supposed to be the tough one. Either way, she felt herself start to sob.

   "It's not that I'm sad I don't have powers," she croaked, "it's more that I'm scared of what they will be."

    "Aw, Sam I'm sure your powers will be great! And if it's a control thing, I know we can figure it out and train them!" Sam sniffed.

   "I'm scared, Danny. What if I get plant powers and become her all over again?" At this Danny paused for a second and looked thoughtful. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.

   "Sam, you'll never turn into her. Undergrowth was controlling you. Also who knows! Your powers could be something super gothic like talking to bats! But even if they are plants, it's you who will decide how to use them. I may have the same powers as Vlad, but I'm not Vlad and don't use them to control people. You are not Undergrowth's princess. You are Sam, and I believe whatever power you may have will be used for good. You may have some slip ups and that's okay! Normal even, but we can work through it. Together."

   Sam pulled him into a hug and thanked him. She felt better now. She was not Undergrowth's princess. She was Sam, and whatever power she gets is gonna be Sam's and not anyone else's to use. And although plant powers still kinda scare her, she is ready to face the hurdle.

   

   The next day, Sam woke up and went to water her plants. Her cilantro flourished and grew three times bigger under her care. She smiled. Time to face the hurdle.

[wil-is-done]

When You’re A Mystery Kid - Chapter 47: Obsidian

Summary: The defenders of Amity Park join the fray.

Word Count: 6.331

-

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a repost.

Disclaimer: I only own the story and my OCs.

Danny was bored, and boy does he feel like a douche for admitting that. 

Yes, it’s great and all that Amity Park was safe and sound from any supernatural threats, ghostly or otherwise, and had been so for the past week. In fact, he’s glad that folks could go on their daily business without fearing for their lives for once. But, also, it’s been a whole week since anything happened. Nights spent on patrol really dragged on when all he had to entertain himself with was his thoughts and the occasional petty thievery, and that’s if he’s lucky. Even that he could wrap up in about ten seconds, tops.

So, when he heard a police transmission of four cloaked individuals racing through the city on ‘demonic horses’, Danny practically jumped with joy.  

He wasted no time to fly straight towards where they were last spotted. What he found there, floating above the rooftops, were a ruined stretch of road, a few dented cars that had swerved onto the sidewalk, and a smattering of civilians, rattled and mumbling to themselves, but no sign of any cloaked individuals riding demonic horses. 

Frowning, Danny raised a finger to his earpiece and rang his friends.

“Tuck, I’m at Stoker Street and I’m not seeing anything. Gimme an update.”

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Tucker started, his voice doing that high-pitched whine that he does when he’s nervous, “you might not wanna jump into this headfirst, dude.”

“Oh, come on! I’ve been hanging dry for, like, a week!” Danny moaned. “I am horny for some real action.”

“Danny, say that again, and I will turn you into a full ghost,” came Sam’s indignant response. Danny barely held back a giggle. “And… we’re serious. These… four horsemen are real bad news.”

Sam sounded serious. So serious, it might even count as grim. Maybe it’s time to switch gears. “How so?”

“We just got a call from the Mystery Kids. Apparently they know these guys,” she explained. “They’re a group of vampires calling themselves the Crimson Conclave. They’re ancient, powerful, and don’t take kindly to anyone getting in their way.”

“Vampires, huh? That’s new.” The two long years he spent fighting the supernatural tended to blend together in his head, but he’s pretty sure he’d never fought vampires before. The Disasteroid really did open the floodgates for all kinds of weird shit. “How’d the Mystery Kids know about them?”

“I dunno. They hung up before we could ask any follow up questions.” Sam huffed. Danny could practically see the scowl on her face. “They warned us to use extreme caution dealing with them. If we choose to deal with them at all.”

Danny couldn’t help but frown at Sam’s choice of words. If? Not dealing with the vampires was not an option. 

“Then I’ll be extremely cautious. Promise,” he said, laying it down as gently as he could.

“Daniel Fenton, you are not going after those vampires alone!”   

Ah, great. Jazz’s sharp, know-it-all voice was exactly what Danny needed tonight. He blew a mix of a groan and a sigh. 

“Jazz, come on, have a little faith in me. Been at this for two years.” He understood where she’s coming from, but still, come on. Plus, she’s been aware of what he’s doing for at least one of those years. “Whatever these vamps can dish out, I’ve been through worse.” 

“No, Danny, you don’t understand. You weren’t here when Raz made that call. He sounded like he’s freaking out.” There was a pregnant pause, during which Danny almost felt bad for her. “I still have some doubts about the Mystery Kids, but if this really is the ‘bigger threats’ they talked about, then I won’t let you face them on your own just because you’re feeling restless!” Her tone changed from demanding to pleading. “At the very least, wait for Danielle and Valerie.” 

“This isn’t just about me getting stir-crazy, Jazz. Right now, there’s a bunch of vampires tearing through my city. Our city.” Danny casted a glance at the darkening Amity Park skyline, lit up by a million lights. This place sucked in a lot of ways, but it was still his. “Every second that I waste waiting for backup, the bigger the chance of someone out there getting hurt. Or worse.” Danny shook his head, abruptly cracking a smirk. He got a bit too serious for his own liking there. “Dani and Val can catch up. I’ll make sure to leave some vampires for them to handle.”

“Now, Tucker, where are they?” Danny asked, and all she got was more of Tucker’s nervous, high-pitched whine. “Tick tock, Tuck, come on.”

“Dude, I would tell you, but your sister looks like she will kill me if I do.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “She won’t. You’re off-limits.” Tucker’s not. Not at all. 

“You so owe me for this,” he relented after a beat. “They’re uptown, at Blackthorne Estate.” 

“Blackthorne Estate. Got it.”

Danny took off once more, flying northward this time. Before long, the opulent skyline of uptown Amity Park came into view. He never really liked this part of the city. It looked, and felt, too different from the rest of Amity Park, with its rows and rows of lavish manors constructed by middle-aged fat cats riding the wave of late stage capitalism. Among the many, many mansions, Blackthorne Estate wasn’t the largest one by far, but it still stood out by stubbornly sticking to its gothic Victorian design, while the buildings around it had gradually shifted to a sleeker, post-modern style. Gentle lights spilled out of some of the manor’s windows, but a majority of them were eerily dark. The black-tiled roof and the four jutting spires at each corner of the main building were covered by a thin coat of white, probably from the light snowfall earlier in the day. The same could be said for the gardens and most of the courtyard, save for a few footpaths where the snow had been cleared out. But, details like those are not why Danny started paying attention to the courtyard. 

What caught Danny’s eye were four suspicious individuals, standing under the moonlit shadow of the main building of the estate. They had just dismounted from horses that, in his opinion, could definitely be described as ‘demonic’. One of them waved their hand, and four shining, mystical triangles suddenly came to life underneath each of their horses. With a series of unsettling neighs, the horses sunk into the triangles, before the triangles themselves vanished into thin air.

Danny’s going to go out on a limb here and assume those are Crimson Conclave he kept hearing about. 

Danny touched down at the courtyard behind them, keeping a safe distance. So far, it seemed they hadn’t noticed him. Now, a good strategy would be to take them from behind, and deal as much damage as he could before they even realized what’s happening. However, Danny had a different plan in mind, one that was way, way more fun. 

“You guys here for a Halloween party?” he announced, wearing a restrained, yet decidedly smug smile. “Hate to break it to ya, but you just missed it. By a few months.”

The Conclave stopped dead in their tracks. They turned to face Danny, slowly, almost like they’re in disbelief. One, cloaked in black and crawling on all fours for whatever reason, licked her lips and grinned. One, with a flowing emerald half-cape hanging from one shoulder, turned up his nose in apparent disgust. One, covered almost head to toe in a cerulean hooded coat, drew her rapier, her glowing blue eyes gleaming with interest. One, a grandiose crimson mantle hanging from his shoulders, barely showed any reaction at all to Danny’s appearance. As no one offered a reply to his remark, Danny allowed himself to continue. 

“I mean, I get it, I’m not a huge fan of Christmas either, but still wearing your spooky costumes when it’s only a week away? That’s just… sad.”

“You will watch your tongue when you speak with us, boy,” the man with the emerald half-cape spoke, clearly insulted. 

“No, no, Rodrigo, let him keep talking.” The cerulean hooded woman waved the man off with her rapier. “This is… interesting.”

Danny eyed the rapier the woman wielded, watching her handling the weapon with practiced ease, while still keeping up his devil-may-care bravado. “Oof, shoulda listened to blondie there.” He crossed his arms. “Once I start, it’s hard to stop.”

“Exactly. I’d like this to last,” the woman in blue said. “It’s not every day that we are graced with the presence of a half-ghost. To think that this is only our third night out.”

Danny’s smug smile fell. “Y-you know what I am,” he muttered. He’d expected a lot of things, entering this encounter. That was not one of them.

“We do. We know a lot of things.” The woman briefly glanced back at the man in red, for whatever reason. “Though, I’m afraid we don’t know who you are.”

Alright. Enough messing around. “Name’s Danny Phantom,” he answered, his palms glowing green with ecto-energy. “And I’m gonna guess you’re the folks calling themselves the Crimson Conclave.” 

“One and only!” the woman in black barked, spittle flying out her mouth.

“If you know who we are, you should know better than to meddle in our business, boy,” the man in green - Rodrigo - spat. 

“Your business becomes my business when it involved tearing through this city.” Danny pounded a closed fist against his chest. “My city.”

Rodrigo scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen your type before.”

“A hero!” the woman in black sneered.  

“A half-ghost hero.” The woman in blue twirled her rapier. Danny could practically see the grin forming beneath her hood. “You’d make a worthy prey.”

The hooded woman advanced, taking eager, yet practiced steps, the rapier in her hand poised to strike. Her companion, the woman in black, crawled forward erratically, tongue lolling out of her mouth and drool dribbling onto the cobblestone. Her dark, wild eyes were unsettling, more so than anything else about her. Danny shifted his footing into a fighting stance. His attention flitted between the two women, wary for a sign of which one would strike first. Both looked equally dangerous, equally ready to mess him up in different ways. Whoever struck first, with his glowing fists raised, Danny was ready for them.

“Nina, Circe, stand down.”

Danny blinked. The man in extravagant red, the one Danny had mostly ignored so far, had suddenly spoken. To Danny’s surprise, the two women - Nina and Circe - did exactly that. Nina backed away, and Circe lowered her rapier. The two looked so eager, and yet, at the man in red’s word, they stopped, just like that. Though, Danny could clearly tell both of them were disappointed at the order.

The man walked forward, stepping past Rodrigo, stepping past Nina and Circe. He carried an authoritative air about him that rubbed Danny the wrong way. That, plus having just seen how easily and quickly Nina and Circe obeyed his words, and Danny’s pretty sure he’s now standing before the leader of the Crimson Conclave. 

“We are here to retrieve something that belongs to me, to Marduk, the Blood Lord. We care not who we have to harm, maim, or kill to achieve that goal. Consider this your final warning.” The man - Marduk - growled. “Stay out of our way, or perish.”

Danny was unfazed. As far as final warnings go, he’d heard better. “Hard pass on the first option. Second one, I already crossed out on my bucket list. ” He shrugged. “Well, half-crossed.”

Marduk was hard to read, but Danny caught a hint of irritation behind those burning, red eyes. 

“Nina.”

Nina perked up, her lips curled into a too-wide grin at the mention of her name. Marduk narrowed his eyes at Danny. 

“Kill.” 

Without another word, Marduk turned away, his crimson mantle flaring out behind him. Circe sheathed her rapier and fell behind him as he passed her. Rodrigo shot Danny a knowing, mocking sneer, laughing quietly to himself as he turned to follow after Marduk. Nina crawled to where Marduk once stood, still wearing that unsettling grin. Danny gritted his teeth, his eyes following the three retreating vampires. He antagonized all four of them at once for a reason, dammit, and it wasn’t to lure only one of them to fight him.

“Aw, we’re not doing a fivesome?” Danny called out to the three vampires. None of them graced it with a response. He huffed. It was worth a shot.

His attention returned to Nina, which was harder to do than he’d like to admit. Whether or not she noticed, Danny couldn’t tell, but he felt more comfortable convincing himself she didn’t. Every one of the Conclave gave him the heebie-jeebies, but Nina’s a breed of her own. From how she moved, how her mouth hung open and her fangs were bared, how her wild eyes - especially her wild eyes - followed him, there was something so deeply unsettling, so alien about her. Yet, at the same time, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d sensed something like this, like her, before. He just couldn’t place it. 

“Looks like this is a dance for two, huh?” Danny asked, his cocky persona returning. He couldn’t let her know what he’s really feeling, after all, and other questions can wait. His goal now was to defeat her as fast as he could, and move on to the other three. “Though I’m guessing you’re more into dinner than a show.” 

Nina licked her lips, which Danny took as a yes.

Danny changed his footing and raised his glowing fists. Nina dug her fingers like claws into the ground, leaving cracked grooves on the cobblestone.

“Make this fun,” she hissed. 

Danny grinned. “Lady, fun is my middle na-”

Nina lunged. In a blink of an eye, she crossed the length of the courtyard, her fist connecting with Danny’s gut with a resounding boom. Danny’s grin shattered, his mind suddenly blank with nothing but pain. He damn near blacked out for a second, and as scraps of his conscious thought barely pieced itself together, he found himself flying, spinning out of control through the air, down the streets of the uptown district. A distant part of him reached him somehow, reminding him that this block only goes on for so long, and a building stood at the end of this street. He’d collected himself enough to hastily turn intangible, and just in time. Marble walls and ivory rooms rushed past him in a split second. He emerged out the other side, turned tangible once again, flew over a garden into a different street, and skidded to a halt on the concrete. 

Crumpled on the ground, Danny wheezed and coughed. All the coughing definitely would’ve been accompanied with blood too if he wasn’t in his ghost form. He gingerly placed a hand on where he’d been struck, and immediately regretted it. Pain shot through his body. He had to clamp his teeth down to stop himself from crying out. At least, his scattered mind finally had a chance to piece itself together, and for what happened to fully sink in. To say that he’s not happy was an understatement.

A single punch from Nina just sent Danny flying by half a mile. 

Still wincing because damn that lady could throw a punch, he forced himself to look around. He’s lying in the middle of the street, in that weird transitionary district between uptown and downtown. No cars running, thankfully, only a few parked on the sides. A few pedestrians, maybe a dozen from what he could see, had stopped to gawk, mumbling to themselves. After two years, you’d think the sight of Danny getting his ass kicked wouldn’t be all that interesting anymore. And, of course, some of them even had their phones out already. As much as he’d like more embarrassing videos of him online, those people really need to leave. This place won’t be safe for long. 

“Everyone, clear out! Run! It isn’t safe here!” Danny croaked out. He hated how strained he sounded, but at least it made his order come across as more urgent than it already was. Most of the pedestrians complied, though how they took off was less of a run and more of a power walk. A few stubbornly stayed. 

Danny nearly belted out a second warning, when he’s interrupted by a deafening, inhuman, banshee shriek, the kind that could shatter glass on its own. His heart leapt to his throat, while the slightly perturbed citizens fell into immediate panic, sprinting away from the area. The shriek echoed off of the buildings, but Danny could still tell the source came from the sky. His eyes scanned the dark expanse for anything amiss. It was difficult to spot in the frantic moment, but her gangly, pale limbs were a dead giveaway, even with most of her body covered in black.

It was Nina, hundreds of feet directly above him, and descending fast. 

Danny gritted his teeth and leapt, putting as much distance as possible between him and where he once was. Mere moments later, Nina’s impact sent a shockwave that left snaking cracks across the concrete, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. Danny landed on his feet, and almost immediately doubled over. Pain pulsed through his body from his stomach. Despite that, he forced himself into a fighting stance, fists glowing. He’d worry about bruises once the night had passed.

The dust settled, revealing a massive crater that spanned the width of the road. At the center of it, was a grinning vampire cloaked in obsidian. 

“You don’t do foreplay, do you?” Danny asked, forcing a smirk on his lips. 

As if to answer, Nina leapt from the crater towards Danny, her hand reared back and her fingers curled like claws. Danny’s going to assume that’s a hard no. 

Her move was the similar to before, and this time, he’s ready for it. He might have only seen one attack so far, but it had already taught him one important lesson. Keep her at a distance and steer clear from her fists at all costs. 

A beam of ecto-energy shot out of his fists. Nina took it point blank, the beam sending her crashing against the rim at the other side of the crater. Danny didn’t relent. He took to the air and crossed the crater after her, the torrent of energy from his fists never breaking. The rim Nina’s pinned against crumbled under the force, and any other day Danny would’ve worried about damage to public property. She screamed, whether out of anger or pain, Danny didn’t know, and he didn’t care. The beam scraped her, squashed her, dragged her against yards and yards of concrete, leaving behind a ruined stretch of road. At one point, she somehow found grip and started fighting back, but with a scream of his own, Danny doubled the power of the beam, and Nina quickly lost that fight.

The street ended before Danny was anywhere near satisfied. There was an empty car parked by the roadside, though, which gave him an idea. He diverted the beam to force Nina against the vehicle, and gave the beam his all. After only seconds of concentrated fire, the car erupted into a fiery explosion. Only then, he ended the stream of ecto-energy and floated back. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips as he watched the flames dance, and only mildly concerned that some poor schmuck had just lost their car. He still kept his guard up, though. If she could send him flying by half a mile with a single punch, then one explosion wouldn’t do jack to her. Things had never been that easy

There was movement, a flicker of the flames among the wreckage, just like he thought. When two burning slabs of metal shot out of the flames, Danny was ready. He easily dodged both with more flair than necessary, and was not the slightest bit mad when his hubris was punished instantly. 

He barely caught sight of a third shape leaping out of the flames from the corner of his eye when cold, bony fingers suddenly clamped around his neck like a vice. Unprepared, disoriented, Danny found himself involuntarily sailing through the air for the second time tonight. This time, with the added benefit of having Nina’s horribly gaunt, grinning face only inches away from his. As the arc of her leap passed its apex, Danny realized she intend to chokeslam him against the concrete. A token effort to release himself from her grip amounted to nothing. With the ground coming fast, he countered Nina’s grin with a hardened glare, before turning himself intangible. 

The momentum sent him a few dozen feet underground before he could stop himself. He never liked phasing underground, it’s just too easy to lose track of which way was up or down in the dark, but right now, he had a feeling it’s better than the alternative. From somewhere above him, he heard a series of muffled booms, and he even felt the tremors of the ground passing through him. 

Yeah, going down here was a good choice.

He couldn’t stay here forever, though. Not that it was ever an option. Making a rough guess of where Nina was based on what he could hear, Danny made sure to give that spot a wide berth as he soared to the surface. 

He emerged inside the lobby of an office building - completely empty, thank god - with large windows giving an open view of the street. There, among the rubble of the ruined street, was Nina. She growled and snarled, stalking the street for any sign of Danny. Lucky for him, she had her back to him. It’s an advantage he’s more than willing to take. 

Still intangible and invisible, Danny flew up behind her, held his hands out, turned tangible, and muttered, “Boo.”

Nina whipped around, only to get a face full of ghost ray that sent her crashing against a lamppost. The metal bent, the lamp shorting out, and she fell into a crumpled heap on the concrete. She recovered quickly though, snarling at Danny. Or rather, where she last saw Danny. In the brief moment that Nina was down, Danny had turned intangible again, dove into the ground, and emerged behind a furious, yet oblivious Nina. He shifted his state-of-being back to tangible, raised a hand, a ghost ray charged and ready, and unloaded it against the back of Nina’s head. The blast sent her flying face-first to and through a pane of glass of the building where Danny first emerged. Her body skidded across the ceramic floor until she came to a halt in the middle of the lobby, face down and ass up. 

The sight was honestly kind of hilarious.

It was almost a shame Danny couldn’t spend a little more time to enjoy it. He turned intangible once more, and quickly sunk into the ground. When he emerged behind Nina, she had risen to her feet, and was in the middle of throwing a loud, destructive shitfit. 

“No! Fair!” Nina roared, emphasizing each word with a stomp. To a certain level, Danny agreed. He’d been pulling some really cheap moves, but they’re moves that work. Hell, if Sam was here, she’d probably call it ‘pragmatic’.

Her words sure didn’t stop him from driving her neck to the floor with an ecto-charged dropkick. With enough force to leave a small crater, too. 

Danny didn’t dwell on it, as much he wanted to. He turned intangible and retreated to a safe distance, half submerged into the floor. Nina rose up again, visibly shaking, angrier than ever, but - and this was the part that got Danny worried - without a single scratch on her. Danny gritted his teeth. The beating he gave her should’ve left something.

Danny glanced over his shoulder, in the direction of uptown Amity Park. He hadn’t forgotten about the other three vampires, doing god knows what in the Blackthorne Estate. Those guys still need to be dealt with, fast. But he couldn’t exactly just bounce out and leave Nina here to take a big old dump on his city. Thing was, he couldn’t see himself finishing her off anytime soon, either, seeing how durable she was. 

Or, maybe, he didn’t need to. If taking her out was too tall of an order, maybe he could try knocking her out, not for good, but at least for now. A powerful enough strike at the right spot should do the trick. It’d buy him some time; hopefully long enough for him to go take care of her troupe, long enough until Dani and Valerie could take over handling her. 

His plan decided, he whizzed through the air and ducked behind a pillar. With Nina still throwing a shitfit, he’s got some time to prepare. He made only his right hand visible and tangible, clenched it into a fist, and pumped it full with every bit of ecto-energy he’s got. Only a single visible fist meant there’s less to notice compared to his entire body, which should help since the intent here was to blindside Nina with a strike to the head. If he landed it, awesome. If he whiffed it, he could think of worse body parts to lose. 

Once he’s satisfied with the glow emanating from his fist, Danny sprang into action. He darted out of cover, skirting just outside of Nina’s line of sight. Her shitfit had more-or-less ended and she’s properly on the lookout for him once again. Not a second left to waste. Danny rushed forward, full speed, wind rushing through him, and threw the strongest punch he could muster.

His fist stopped inches from the left side of Nina’s face.

Danny blanched.

Nina’s cold, bony fingers clamped down around his wrist. His intangible wrist. 

She whipped her head, her eyes locking with his, an act that should be impossible. He’s still invisible, intangible, and yet he knew the fact that her eyes found him wasn’t because of luck or a guess. She knew where he was, because she’s seeing him right now. He knew she knew, and fear suddenly gripped his heart. The sensation of something actually touching him while he’s in this state sent his thoughts screeching to a halt. The notion that he should wrench his arm free and fly away very fast in the opposite direction never even crossed his mind. He floated there, frozen, while Nina cracked a toothy grin that showed off her red-stained fangs.

Danny would’ve cried uncle at this point, if his mind hadn’t been turned to mush, but since the universe decided that everything that’s happening wasn’t enough, he sensed a sudden surge of energy bursting forth from Nina’s core. The energy felt so bizarre, so alien, ringing alarm bells in his head and kicked his nerves into overdrive, and yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’s familiar with it somehow. He watched dumbly as the energy flowed from Nina’s core to her shoulder, then down to her elbow, then to her wrist, then to the fingers she’d wrapped around his wrist. For a split second, he saw tiny flecks of red arcing from her fingers. 

In that split second, Danny realized where he’d sensed this energy before. In that split second, he was reminded of a skirmish a few weeks ago, against Freakshow and his minions. In that split second, a name flashed across his mind.

Norman.

Not that he had time to do anything with the information. In the next split second, his world became nothing but overwhelming, excruciating pain. 

Dark red streaks of light snaked forth from Nina’s fingers and consumed his hand, his arm, his entire body in a speed impossible for the human eye to follow. He screamed, and screamed, and screamed, until his throat hurt and his voice was gone. A second became an eternity. Terrible, terrible memories suddenly flooded the forefront of his mind. The portal accident. Hunted by his own parents. Vlad. Dark Danny. Was this his train wreck of a life flashing before his eyes? 

The onslaught miraculously, mercifully, ended. His body went limp, maybe even numb, stopped from falling into a heap on the floor only by Nina’s fingers keeping an iron grip on his wrist. The smell of burnt flesh overwhelmed his nostrils, and he would’ve hurled if he hadn’t lost control of his body. His vision reeled and went blurry, then patchy, then dark. He had no idea how long he passed out, but when his eyes fluttered open, he had been raised to eye level with Nina, who greeted him with a sadistic grin that put her sharp fangs on display.

A distant, lucid part of him was surprised to not feel those fangs piercing the skin of his neck. Instead, he felt the now familiar sensation of being flung through the air.

He was not surprised when he suddenly collided with something solid and painful. The force of Nina’s throw actually forced his form through whatever it was that he hit, only to collide into something equally solid and painful on the other side. Again, and again, and again, the same thing happened, in rapid succession. In the end, he crashed against something that he heard shatter into a million pieces, before he flopped onto the floor, like a dying fish. He sure felt like one. He could barely move. His whole body throbbed and ached, so at least he’s not numb anymore. 

Danny’s vision slowly came into focus, so he took this chance to look around. It seemed he had landed inside a flower shop, judging from the bouquets and arrangements on display, lying amongst splinters of wood and glass. He strained to look ahead and saw a building across the street with a hole on its side. Apparently those solid and painful things he’d been hitting were walls. He’d just been thrown through a block’s worth of buildings. Plus a glass window for good measure.

That would help explain the unbearable amount of pain he’s in. 

He looked down on himself, and saw his red and white shirt, jeans, and a distinct lack of ghostly aura surrounding his form. He’d been knocked out of his ghost form. Did that happen before or after he got flung? Probably after. A normal human spine couldn’t have survived ten concrete walls and a pane of solid glass.

Nina emerged from the hole he left, still grinning like the madwoman that she is. Dark red streaks of lightning covered the length of her arms. It snapped at the air and lashed against the concrete, hissing and crackling, like they’re just as hungry as the vampire wielding them. Except, she’s not just a vampire. She’s… like Norman, whatever the hell that meant. And she’s getting closer. And Danny could barely wiggle his toes. He couldn’t go ghost, no matter how hard he tried. He’s helpless. Alone. Afraid.

Danny let his head fall and his eyes close. 

Guess that’s it. He had a good run, all things considered.

The urge to sleep nearly overwhelmed him, until he heard Nina suddenly crying out in pain. His eyes shot open, he looked ahead just in time to see the last traces of a purple beam piercing through Nina’s shoulder from above. 

Nina buckled to her knees, clutching her shoulder. A figure descended from the sky, clad in black and red armor, riding a sleek hoverboard with a matching color scheme. The hoverboard retracted into her suit as she landed with a roll, putting herself between Danny and Nina. She rose to her full height, wrist cannon forming out of her suit, and aimed the weapon at Nina. Danny genuinely would’ve rushed to up to her and hugged her if he could move, but he settled with a smile for now. He’d never been so glad to see her in his life - his knight in shining armor. 

“Not a step closer, Bella,” Valerie warned. 

Nina glared down the barrel of Valerie’s wrist cannon, and growled, “Nina.”

“Sure, whatever.” 

Valerie looked over her shoulder. The scowl behind her red glass face shield shifted into something approaching genuine concern. Danny offered her a half-assed smile. 

“You look terrible,” she said. And she’s not wrong.

“Trust me, it feels a lot worse than it looks.” Danny forced a chuckle, but it just came out as a series of pathetic coughs. 

Their attention quickly returned to Nina, rising to her feet with a grunt. The small hole in her shoulder didn’t seem to bother her. “Meddler,” she snarled, stepping forward, red lightning flaring out from her arms. 

“I said, stay right where you are!” Valerie barked. Her wrist cannon whirred as it charged to full power, glowing purple. 

Danny, coming down from the relief of Valerie’s arrival, finally realized something was amiss. “Wait, if you’re here, where’s-?”

“Shush.” Valerie’s eyes never left Nina. And she’s trying very hard to hold back a smirk. 

Nina was not deterred in the slightest by Valerie’s threat. She looked delighted, actually. The flurry of red lighting around her intensified, scorching the road beneath her. Her eyes were laser-focused on Valerie, and absolutely nothing else. And that, if Danny had to guess, was exactly what Valerie wanted.

Emerging from the ground behind Nina, Dani rammed into the vampire’s back with a burst of ecto-energy. Caught off guard, Nina was blasted through the air, and straight towards Valerie, who didn’t even flinch. Her wrist cannon reformed, new parts materializing into place, to add a long, red, serrated blade below the cannon’s barrel. She thrusted her arm and impaled Nina through the gut. Nina shrieked in pain, only to be silenced by Valerie unloading the charge of her wrist cannon, sending her flying across the street, and slotting perfectly into the hole Danny made on the opposite wall.

God, what Danny wouldn’t give to show off his middle fingers to that vampire right now.

Dani quickly rushed to him and knelt by his side, so at least he still had something to smile about. 

“Dani! It is so great to-” Danny stopped when he realized Dani was scowling. “Oh. You’re mad.”

“I thought the point of this whole team thing is that we never have to fight alone ever again,” she scolded. And she’s not wrong.

“Sorry, sorry. I thought I could handle it.” He cringed inward at his earlier assumption. Boy, was he proven wrong. “Plus, tonight’s my shift.” 

“Just get your ass up, Fenton,” Valerie said, eyes still trained at the hole Nina disappeared into. All business when she’s on the job, as usual. “This ain’t over yet.” 

He didn’t need to be told that. Dani helped him rise up, first to a sitting position, before he slowly, awkwardly got his feet under him. The paralysis had mostly worn off. Bits of his arms and legs would occasionally lock up, but that was more annoying that painful. At least now he could stand up straight on his own. 

Just in time, too. The opposite wall was suddenly obliterated by a blast of red. From the dust, Nina emerged, furious, and practically surrounded by a storm of red lightning. 

“Don’t get hit by those red lightning,” Danny warned. Just remembering it triggered phantom pains along his body. 

“No, duh.” Valerie rolled her eyes.

Danny narrowed his eyes at her. “I mean it.”

“Are you sure you can still fight?” Dani asked, brows furrowed in concern. It’s really sweet. 

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” Danny put on a confident smile for Dani. Worrying about him in a fight wouldn’t do her any good. She still looked wary, doubtful, but nevertheless shifted her attention from him to Nina. He did the same. 

Standing in the middle of the street, Nina roared, the storm of crimson around her sending out a shockwave that cracked the concrete. It was a challenge - one they had no choice but to accept. Dani clenched her palms into fists, ecto-flames bursting to life from them, and shifted into her battle stance. A trio of cubic cannons detached from Valerie’s suit to float behind her, while the rest of her arsenal hummed as they charged up to full power, and all of them trained upon the vampire. Danny transformed into his ghost form - a feat easier than he thought - and held his glowing fists at the ready. 

Hell yeah. Now this is a team. 

“Team Phantom, let’s kick ass!”

“Still don’t like the name.” 

“Let’s hope we can hold out until the cavalry arrives.”

Danny blinked, turning to look at Dani. 

“The cavalry?”

-

And then Winnie bursts through the door, shrieking, “Cheers, love! Cavalry’s here!”

So! I feel like a lot of chapters I write tend to get away from me, this one included. The scene at the beginning with Danny and his buddies went on longer than I thought, the confrontation with the Conclave also went on longer than I thought, and suddenly I’m 2k words in and I haven’t even gotten to the fight yet. And wow, did that fight stretched on. Can you believe this was supposed to be a short chapter?

Anyway, with this chapter, that means it’s officially been a little over a year since I started writing again. Which is honestly pretty crazy to think about. Back when I wrote The Initiative, it was really just me getting really fucking hyped for Infinity War. And now, standing in a post-Endgame world, this fic has spiraled into 200k+ words of really self indulgent crossover bonanza. It’s fucking nuts. I’m not sure what else to say. It’s just been super surreal.

I dunno, man. I’m just gonna go see Endgame ten more times.

Hope y’all have a good one today!

[tumbling-darkling]

Alien/Ghost Support Groups

Steven had been traveling a lot, he wanted to see the world, find a new place in it for him. After saving it for so long and dealing with the repercussions of that, he found himself enjoying the peaceful towns or busy cities, and generally the people that all lived there. He had made so many new friends, friends he would hope to see again and friends he still stayed in contact with over the phone.

The best part of it all was just seeing how vastly different everything around him was. How much people could range from town to town, the little quirks in each town that only those passing through could notice, the ones that made each place special in its own way.

The next town on his map was a little town called ‘Amity Park’, which was apparently the most haunted place on the planet. All the articles he could find on the town emphasized this, he had to admit a ghost gimmick would make any town quite popular during the fall season. He doubted there were any real ghosts though, despite the town claiming to be haunted, there weren’t a lot of stories to back it up. Not a lot of tragic history or stories, it’s past was pretty normal. They just picked up the gimmick nearly two years ago and haven’t dropped it.

As Steven drove into the town, he noticed how quaint it was. It wasn’t too small of a town, housing a mall, hospital, and fairly large neighborhood. But it wasn’t a city either. He decided to take a look around town to se did he could find a hotel or something to stay in for the night, then jolted as he turned the corner. Across the street was a MASSIVE neon sign that hung off what looked to be a modified house, the sign labeled ‘FENTONWORKS’ then shaped an arrow towards the building in question. Steven didn’t even want to know all the building laws broken regarding whatever was built on the roof of the building.

Glancing out the window, he noticed a teen around his age walking past, and quickly took the opportunity to roll down his window and call out, “excuse me! What’s with the building with the neon sign?”

The teen froze, slowly looking over with the most exhausted expression Steven had ever seen, even he didn’t have bags that dark under his eyes during the worst of his endeavours. “That’s the Fenton’s, so called ‘ghost experts’,” the kid hummed sarcastically. “You’re from out of town?”

Steven nodded and offered a bright smile, “yep! Came to see what the most haunted town in North America has to offer!”

“Let me give you some advice,” the kid slowly leaned towards Stevens car. “Run.”

Steven blinked, “p-pardon?”

The kid grinned, and Steven couldn’t help but notice his sharper canines, “Best to run while you still can, Ghost’s don’t like new things.”

The kid then turned and walked away… then walked into the FentonWorks house.

… what.

Was.

That.

Steven took a moment to collect himself before he did a legal u-turn, carefully parked along the street, and walked up to the house himself. He could play this game. He had a very strong urge to befriend the scary boy, so by the gems he was going to do so!

He knocked on the door and bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited for someone to answer. He did manage to hear yelling coming from inside before the loudest sigh was heard and dragging feet. Then the door swung open to reveal the boy, who looked up Steven up and down, “didn’t I tell you that this town sucks?”

Steven smiled and offered his hand, “my name is Steven! I’d love to learn more about this town and it’s ghosts and seeing that you live with the ghost experts, I’m sure you can tell me a few things!”

The kid eyed his hand, the icy gaze slowly rising up to Steven’s face. Something about it sent chills down the half gems spine.

Then the kid took his hand and shook it, which was freezing cold. “Danny. Might as well invite you inside,” he shrugged and turned around, sauntering into the house. “So why are you interested in Ghosts? Want to hunt them down and tear them apart, molecule by molecule?”

Steven jolted as he walked in, “what?! Why would anyone want to do that?!”

Danny turned around again, walking backwards with his eyes wide, “wow, you really are fresh into town, aren’t you? You probably haven’t even seen a ghost yet, have you?”

“Are they really such a common sight here? Like events and such?”

“Events. Sure,” Danny rolled his eyes as he flopped on a couch, gesturing to a seat near him. “Gonna give you a heads up before you wander in the middle of crossfire. The ghosts here are very real, and when you see one, walk in the other direction. Do not go towards it with your mouth wide open, that’s how you get buildings dropped on you.”

“… seriously?” Steven asked.

“As serious as one who lives in a town constantly under attack by dead people who love to make sure nobody gets more than 3 hours of sleep.”

“That sounds… not very great.”

“Ha! We survive,” Danny hummed, “so where shall we start, the place where ghosts come from, the ghosts themselves, or that Phantom weirdo?”

Stevens mind was reeling, “the- wha- Phantom weirdo?”

“Oh don’t get me started, dude shows up one day and suddenly ghosts are everywhere. He’s so annoying too always breaking his back saving stupid tourists. Never gets thanked, cares way too much for a town that barely gives him the time of day, and then gets blamed for the problems he fixes! What a menace.”

Everything Danny said contradicted itself.

“I am… extremely confused.”

“Welcome to Amity Park!” Danny laughed.

He looked ready to say something else what a small gasp escaped him and he muttered something that sounded like ‘of course they have the worse timing.’

Right before Steven could ask, something flew from the floor, something glowing and magic and supernaturally coloured.

“BEWARE FOR I-!”

Steven acted before he could think, jumping to his feet and throwing up a bubble around him and Danny and pushing the glowing blue man across the room. Danny sputtered behind, “wha- WHAT THE FUCK-?”

The glowing man wasn’t injured, but he glared at Stevens bubble, “HOW DARE YOU USE A CIRCULAR OBJECT TO DEFY ME, THE BOX GHOST! MASTER OF ALL THINGS CUBULAR! I WILL SHOW YOU MY BOXED WRATH!” The glowing man lifted his arms and every box shaped thing in the room flew at Stevens bubble! But harmlessly bounced off it. “IMPOSSIBLE!”

“Hey, maybe we can talk about this?” Steven asked.

“I CANNOT TALK TO ONE WHO FAVOURS THE CIRCLE OVER THE SUPERIOR SQUARE!”

“Boxy,” Danny spoke behind Steven, causing him to glance over his shoulder in surprise, “go back the ghost zone.” He was rubbing his eyes, looking like he had gone years without sleep.

“But… my boxtacular takeover-,” the ghost stuttered, which Danny looked up with a glare, eyes flashing a toxic green that cause Steven to jump and drop his bubble in surprise.

“Ghost Zone. Now.”

The self proclaimed Box Ghost disappeared back into the floorboards in a blink of an eye. Steven was blinking at Danny, and Danny was staring back at Steven.

“Are you a Gem?”

“Are you a Ghost?”

“I’m sorry, What?”

————————————

The two sat on the roof of Danny’s house.

“You’re telling me… you’re half alien?”

“How is that crazier than being half dead?”

“You’re half alien! From like- from space! Half your family is from space! In the stars and on other planets and shit! That’s amazing!” Danny seemed to have stars in his eyes, his personality completely changing at the mention of Stevens alien heritage.

“Well, it’s not as amazing when you find out that they were conquerors that destroy life on various other planets before you managed, at the age of 14, to convince them that maybe killing is bad. Then is left with trauma from constantly being in life threatening danger when only 14, that when everything is finally safe and peaceful you have survival reactions to small things like not being able to help your friends repot a plant over the weekend.”

“… dude… you should talk to my sister, she could totally help you through that.”

Steven laughed a little, “oh, I already have a therapist! They’ve really been helping me work through these things.”

“Must be nice talking to someone about daily life or death battles that isn’t trying to psychoanalyze you or talk about dissecting your alter ego.”

Steven stared at Danny for a moment, “you… don’t have a therapist?”

Danny laughed, “of course not! I can’t even tell my parents I’m part ghost in fear that they will vivisect me! I can’t walk into a therapists office and be like: I died when I was 14 but not all the way and my guilt over opening the portal and letting the ghosts in town has me put my own health on hold in favour of protecting a town from my stupid mistakes!” Danny said it all too casually, but Steven could see the glisten of watery eyes, the hunched shoulders, avoiding eye contact as the other teen stared off over the city. “I thought about it before though,” He said quietly, “but after Spectra… they all will just think I’m some freak. Run away, get mad, or just pretend to care. I just got to keep moving forward. I’ll should be fine.”

Steven was already typing the numbers into his phone.

Danny heard the tapping and looked over, “what… what are you doing?”

“I’m booking you an appointment with my therapist.”

“WHAT NO YOU CAN’T DO THAT!” Danny lunged for Stevens phone but he managed to hold it out of reach.

“They deal with super-powered teens saving the world at young ages and dealing with trauma later in life! It’s all confidential, nothing gets out! And it helps! It’s a support system! Ben can vouch for me!”

“Who the heck is Ben?!”

“A kid who got alien powers at the age of 10!”

“WHY DOES EVERYONE GET ALIEN POWERS AND ALL I GET IS HALF DEATH?!”

[datawyrms]

Happy DannyMay everyone! i say while dropping this. For day one, Memories. sorta kinda sequel to this Half a Decade Late

He said he’d never hate them. Back when he thought it would only be a matter of time until he found a weakness, a flaw and squirmed free. He always had before. He didn’t like being captured, and he certainly didn’t like getting shoved into cages, but it was always temporary. A terrifying inconvenience. Something he’d shrug off eventually and forget. Lately he was starting to realize he’d forget that he ever considered thinking charitably. Just like all the other things he couldn’t quite remember.

They took everything. His freedom, his limbs, his skin, his voice. So many things he had the misfortune of learning he could recover from with enough time. Really broke the idea that anything about you was special. Did it matter that they ripped him open when the green slime he was made of would eventually cover the hole without even a sign of the pain it caused him? He just stopped caring. Ghosts didn’t feel pain. Maybe if he believed that enough, he wouldn’t need to feel it. Hurt was just a matter of perspective.

He was changing, apparently. The spectral copies of his human organs they stole over and over again stopped being perfect copies. Sloppy. Apparently his body was forgetting what the real ones were like. He didn’t remember the last time he’d been human anyway. That was fine. It was the only real way he could bother them now, being ‘less useful’. Obviously he didn’t need them that badly. He envied some of his fellow prisoners. They were just green inside. Nothing the vultures wanted, nothing for them to mutter and prod at while he struggled uselessly.

He didn’t really know why he still bothered to do that. It never worked. Some impulse. Just better than keeping still. He never really was a human, was he? Humans didn’t treat other humans like this. So he wasn’t one. So why did he ever think he was?

Tie was weird. Maybe having a soul made you act all funny. He’d been tempted to change her name, to no-mask or just face, but the words didn’t feel right, sort of caught on his tongue. Even when he didn’t have one sometimes! Tie just slid off easily. Like he’d said it a lot, or something like it.

So the newbie remained Tie. And Tie was weird. A good kind of weird? She didn’t just tell him to shut up, anyway. Most of them were boring like that. Though not getting shocked into unconsciousness did make the days tend to drag a bit more. She did make his head hurt sometimes, with all the weird reactions Tie made. It always passed though.

He kept playing with the lights up there so they would flicker and crackle, just to check if it was a Tie day. Sure, that got a good amount of shocks when it wasn’t Tie, but they were always grumpy after he’d lost a limb or two. It was almost amusing again. That was the word. Maybe?

“You don’t remember Amity at all?”

Frustration and anger that was directed at him, but also not. Tie was super strange like that. “Why would I?” His response just made her eyes narrow more, but she didn’t do anything to take it out on him. It was hilarious. 

“That’s where you’re from.”

“News to me.” Might be a lie, might not. Gun grunts said lots of weird stuff. He shifted position, watching her while upside down didn’t make it easier to tell if humans were lying or not, but did make her scowling funnier. “That’s where you’re from then? Or that other name you keep using.”

“You can’t actually be him. Fuck.” She was rubbing at her forehead, looking away at nothing. “You remember ghost hunters but not Amity Park?”

“Hey! Names are hard, Tie. Isn’t like you know the name of every town you’ve ever been in.”

“No, but I remember the one I lived in most of my life!”

“Good for you! I’d clap but I’m kinda under armed for the task.” Under armed. He snickered as she only rolled her eyes at his joke, but it only made him think of another one. “Isn’t like a ghost lives anywhere.”

“You’re in here for hell knows how long and you can’t get better jokes?!”

Tie’s irritation just made it funnier. “These are gold! Way better than the stuff you guys laugh at.”

“Like what?”

“Oh you know.” The humour of the moment passed as he got back up, wondering if he should give the old ice trick another go. The noises were fun. “Like how the ghost won’t eat, but ghosts don’t breathe either. So the ghost can’t do much to stop ya.” As if Tie didn’t know. She still made the weird pinched expressions though. Why bother? It didn’t really matter if she actually had a soul still. Those ones just quit and then there’d be a new newbie. “Lots of you think that’s reaaaaal funny.” He stuck out his tongue, gagging. “Gross gun grunts.”

“That’s not funny either.”

“Try breaking your funny bone a few times. That’ll fix it. Or was that computers?” He frowned, rubbing his fingers against his chin. Computers. What was it about computers again? Re-re-something? Like with bones when you...did something…

“Phantom!”

That jerked him out of his considerations. “Still not him!” Now that he checked, Tie looked like she’d been trying to get his attention for awhile again. That, or she’d figured out how to teleport closer to his cage. Both were very possible. Probably. 

“You didn’t hear a word I said, did you.”

“You were talking?”

“For someone who says he isn’t Phantom, it sure gets your attention fast.”

He shrugged. What did Tie expect? So what if he noticed it? It didn’t mean anything to him, personally. It was like comp-whatevers. “You could say the coats were coming and I’d do the same thing.”

“Doubt it. You remember Jack and Maddie maybe?” Tie hesitated, as if saying something to him actually mattered. “Your parents?”

“I’m a ghost. And possibly a starfish. Since I do the whole regenerating thing.” He’s pretty sure it’s starfish that do that. “I don’t think they’re big on families.” He thought that was pretty amusing, having like. Little voiceless things that cling to rocks as parents. Actually had a bit in common if you thought of his cage as a rock? Tie didn’t agree, based on how he was biting at her lip and clenching her fists. Still no shooting. Still super weird.

“Be a mercy killing at this point…” Tie wasn’t actually speaking to him, but it was interesting. Killing what? One of the other ghosts maybe. “Sam, Tucker? Any of them ring a bell?”

He certainly didn’t have a bell in here. “Sam...and Tucker are names?” He guessed, shuddering a little. Weird names. Made the gooey mess of ectoplasm he was made of wriggle when he said it. Like when he was struggling to digest something, uncomfortable and heavy and just making him want to move when he couldn’t. Though he could this time. Zipping up to the top of his cage helped shake the feeling off, at least. He wasn’t saying those again, no thank you. “You have weird tricks, Tie”

“They’re just names. I didn’t do anything to make you fly up there. I half thought you couldn’t do that anymore.”

Tie did have a bit of a point. When was the last time he’d flown up here? “Think I forgot I could?” He didn’t really move much in general. Not like he had anywhere to go, his cage didn’t really change.

She just looked tired. “This isn’t fixable.”

He wasn’t really paying attention, poking at the edges of his cage with his feet was pretty entertaining. It tingled a bit when he got pushed back, but flipping over in the air was easy. Why didn’t he float more? “Gun grunts don’t fix things, so Idonno why you care.”

Tie wasn’t paying much attention to him either, muttering to herself. “Manson would kill me for doing it. No way she’d believe you’re like this. Let alone the Fentons...”

Well, that was boring. He busied himself with counting how many seconds it took for the shock to stop coursing through him when he touched the walls. Though it was a bit tricky to keep track between tries.

“Skulker? Ember? You at least remember the ghosts, don’t you?”

“Are you just making names up now Tie?” They just sounded silly. The thought of someone named ‘Skulker’...who was also very tiny. Now that’d be funny. Kinda liked that idea actually.

“Probably don’t even remember the guy who put a million on your head…”

“A million whats? Questions? That’s more a you thing, Tie.”

“No, Vlad. The mayor?”

“The what?” Things weren’t funny anymore. He wasn’t cool and passive. That word, there’d been others but he didn’t even care what they’d been. The V had been enough to set his core to a furious pulsating heat of fury. His ice claws clung to the wall even as the buzzing in his skull grew stronger as the field tried to shove him back. “WHERE” He snared, not caring how his throat burned from the partial wail trying to scrabble out of his throat. Tie didn’t matter, nothing mattered and he actually missed his arm since not having it made it harder to keep his grip and snarl at the one backing away from his prison. “WHERE IS HE?” Oh he’d order anyone, and they’d listen or he’d shred them as soon as he got through- but his claws were cracking- green and red staining and corrupting the fine edge he’d honed so often. Why did he care? He didn’t know, didn’t want to know, he just had to act and now, just in case. The chance might slip away and he wouldn’t, they’d pay they’d pay, they’d PAY.

“Danny! Stop hurting yourself, he’s not here!” Tie was blathering, but at least backed away when he shrieked at her. Stupid Tie. Didn’t know anything. “Hell. You don’t even know why you’re mad, do you.”

He kept slamming the ice back in place, even as his arm weakened and started oozing. He didn’t need his legs, he didn’t need arms, he didn’t need anything. Just OUT. NOW. He snarled and snapped at the metal that grabbed his back and slammed him hard to the ground of his cage. It ignored him and the awful warmth that had consumed everything. He never won against it but now he had to keep trying because-because the anger? Because of something. The metal easily ignored the green surging pulses of electricity, just kept pressing down on him until he wasn’t solid enough to struggle, not strong enough to scream at it. The awful stabbing feeling in his core wanted him to act, but he couldn’t even defiantly flick his tail as he grew colder and slipped out of consciousness.

Everything hurt and it wasn’t even Friday. At least. He didn’t think it was? He’d have to ask Tie about it...if Tie showed up again. Something about her gave him a stab of unease. Might have something to do with all the green stains in here. Didn’t remember getting shot though. Strange. Must have done something. Maybe. Didn’t really matter.

[roundaboutnow]

Two

If Jazz had learned anything in her 16 years, it was that her parents were a force to be reckoned with. The completion of the Fenton Portal was a testament to that.

The portal was an expert piece of technology- where researchers had failed thousands of times before, her parents had finally succeeded. It was constructed delicately, precisely- it had to be, because even the slightest oversight would lead to failure. The portal was a demonstration of not only the Fentons’ expertise in engineering and chemistry, but also their finesse in physics and the supernatural.

When they first began designing the portal, Jack and Maddie estimated that it would take ten years of study and engineering to complete- ten years at the earliest. They finished it in just six, and for the first time in those six years, Jazz let herself feel something akin to hope.

Before that, back when Jack and Maddie were just playing around with the idea of a manmade portal, they spent most of their time studying natural portals. At the time, natural portals were the strongest connection between the ghost zone and the human world- understanding how and why they formed, it was theorised, could help them calculate when and where these portals would appear.

Unlike the researchers before them, though, Jack and Maddie did actually find a way to calculate this. But just as these portals were only around for a short period of time, there was only a small window in which they could calculate where it would form. That window would open when temperatures in Amity Park suddenly fell, about an hour before the portal would form, and would close just as the portal appeared. What other variables were needed to make this calculation was beyond Jazz, but whatever they were, it worked. More often than not, her parents were able to track down a natural portal and study it to its fullest extent.

Back then, this was the height of their careers. For once, their family wasn’t the subject of mockery but of acclaim. After a long period of near-bankruptcy, investors were finally interested in what the Fentons had to offer. Even the kids at school, who paid little attention to what the Fentons actually did for a living, could tell that something had changed and eased up on Jazz and Danny.

Of course, everything went downhill from there.

Danny went missing when their parents were at their busiest- the investors wanted more products, new projects, better results. Whether Jack and Maddie were too busy to pay attention to what their kids did or if they had simply become relaxed in allowing the children near their work, Jazz wasn’t sure. In either case, Danny had been with them when their parents went to study yet another portal.

She didn’t need to imagine what happened that day- there was video evidence that she would go on to watch day after day until the footage was burned in her memories. Her parents’ memories, too, she assumed. She wanted to call Danny an idiot, to blame herself for not being with him, but at the root of it all, she couldn’t help but blame her parents. It was their negligence that had gotten him lost, after all, and as much as she wanted it to, she wasn’t so sure that the Fenton Portal could fix that.

...

The lab alarm was going off.

Jazz became disoriented every time the alarm was triggered, but unlike previous emergencies, this was the first time she was home alone while it was going off. Her parents had given her thorough directions on what to do in this situation, but that didn’t mean she actually knew what she was doing. Instead, she was left with the feeling of panic and the frightening realization that she was the only one who could do anything about it.

She had to find the thermos. It was somewhere in the room- she hadn’t taken it anywhere since her parents had given it to her- but after a while of it just sitting on her dresser, she shoved it into some drawer and hadn’t seen it since. Now, she cursed herself for having been so careless with it- of course the alarm would go off while she was home alone. When did things ever go right with this family?

Jazz didn’t relax when she found the thermos in her dresser- she became colder, picturing what she would have to do. With the thermos gripped in her arms, she made a dash for the lab.

…

She’d seen a ghost in person before- you don’t grow up with ghost hunters for parents without seeing a ghost at least once in your life. But there was a very big difference between seeing a ghost in a controlled environment and being expected to catch one for the first time. Even so, her parents trusted her enough to handle it- and if they trusted that she could handle it, then there was nothing to worry about.

Taking a deep breath, Jazz cracked open the lab door and crept down the stairs, hoping it was all a false alarm. That she could simply turn off the alarm and be on with her day- apparently that had happened before. But peeking around the corner, she found that that was not the case.

There was a ghost in her basement.

With his back to her, she didn’t get a very good look at him, but could see that he was humanoid, whereas previous ghosts had been animals. But luck was on her side this time- the ghost was distracted, studying her parents’ inventions, holding an ecto-gun in his hands and observing it closely.

With a racing heart, she clicked the thermos on, closed her eyes, and pointed in the ghost’s general direction. That’s all she would have to do, her parents had assured her, so when she opened her eyes, the ghost would be gone.

Slowly, wincing, Jazz peeked into the lab again and felt her heart drop.

The ghost wasn’t gone, and he was looking right at her.

…

Danny didn’t have much time to assess where he was or what was happening. When the siren went off, he covered his ears and hurried to his feet- unless he wanted to jump back through the portal, he would need to find an exit.

For a brief moment, he couldn’t help but be reminded of the time he’d escaped Walker’s prison. It had been the first time he’d been in an actual building since falling through the portal, but with a sentence of 8,000 years on his head, he wasn’t about to stick around. Back then, however, Danny had been a human in the ghost zone. Escaping was a matter of walking through walls and avoiding guards. As a human in the human world, there was no reason he would be able to escape so easily.

Under the red lights of the siren, Danny turned to get a good look at the lab, his heart skipping a beat when he recognised it.

This wasn’t just any old lab- it was his parents’ lab.

It had changed- that wasn’t a surprise- but there was no doubt that this was the same lab he’d grown up with, either. On the right was their work table, the wall behind it scorched black. On the left, there were a few finished products, most of which Danny didn’t recognize, but were crafted in the same unique styles his parents so often adopted. In one of the corners was his mother’s chemistry set and in the other, he remembered, were the stairs to the exit.

Logically, Danny knew he should hide or make a run for the stairs- there was always the chance his family would shoot first and ask questions later- but he felt drawn to his parents’ work, looking over the tables full of inventions. He couldn’t tell what all of them were supposed to do- some of them were clearly guns, but others resembled jewelry and old appliances. On closer inspection, he noticed a name stamped across all of the inventions- Fenton- and could feel his eyes tear up. He barked out a laugh and hugged the ecto-gun that was in his hands- he already knew it was his parents’ lab, his parents’ work, but there was something very relieving about seeing their name with his own eyes.

When he had woken up that morning, he hadn’t expected his day to turn out like this- and he certainly wouldn’t have guessed that Skulker of all people would have helped him. This should have been the happiest Danny had been in a long time, except something felt wrong. Beyond the blaring siren and the red lights, he felt something else. A chill. It wasn’t the same as the ghost sense that he’d developed years ago, but the feeling might as well have meant the same thing- he was being watched.

Turning to see who was there, he was taken aback by the fact that he knew her.

He almost didn’t recognise her- she was a lot older than he remembered, but she resembled his sister all the same, with her red hair and narrow face. She was pointing an odd device at him, something that might have been a gun, her eyes squeezed shut in a pained wince.

Again, Danny knew he should run or hide, but he was overcome by the calming knowledge that this was his home. His sister may have been pointing a weapon at him, but this was once a safe space for him. Everything would be okay- everything had to be okay. Why would a few years have changed that?

When Jazz finally opened her eyes, she and Danny made eye contact, but instead of relaxing as he had expected, she stiffened and let out a small shriek. She smacked the side of the device a few times, urging it to work, and backed herself as far away from Danny as possible.

He wasn’t sure what to do then- she obviously didn’t recognise him as anything but a ghost, and unless she was willing to listen, there wasn’t much he could do that would convince her otherwise. There was, however, always a way to prove that he was her brother.

Taking a deep breath, Danny winced under Jazz’s terrified gaze and called over the alarms.

“Jazz!”

...

Thank you guys for your support and for the title ideas! I ended up deciding on just calling it Castaway and I'll probably post it on Fanfiction.net soon.

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Pt. 5

Hey guys, it's been really busy for me at university so I have no idea when I'll have free time to write this month. Chapter 5 is actually still unfinished, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging, so here's the first half of chapter 5.

In Which: Another deal is struck upon the ice

AO3 | Prologue | 4 | [ 5 ] | 6

THE PIT SINGS. A low, groaning thing. Muffled like how sounds distort underwater. It reminded Danny of the sounds of Jupiter he would listen to when he really needed to study; the sounds heavily mixed to be more ambient yet still echoing traces of the original, haunting melody of the universe.

The Pit calls for him. No, not the pit—the ectoplasm in the pit is what calls him. Pulls the waves toward him as if he were the moon, bright and full, whispering with garbled voices hello-hello-hello. His core whispers back the same words every time he is near it. Hello-hello-hello. The Pit lingers in the back of his mind and sings in familiar words he does not understand.

Talia calls it a fascination. Ra’s calls it a connection.

A visceral link. Like calls to like. Strange ectoplasmic middle fingers to the laws of the universe—to the great equalizer that is death.

(Danny thinks Ra’s is wrong. Not completely wrong, but not right either.)

When his ghost form is no longer trying to cannibalize his human self, Talia dials up his training. Before, she was merely an observer. Now, she fights him in the ring, teaching him how to dodge with bruised ribs and broken bones. Brutally correcting his stances with harsh jabs and quick strikes. Sweeps him off the floor with a twist of her leg when he forgets how to use his feet. Each day left him with such bone-deep fatigue that mor more once he fell asleep during his sixty minutes in front of the monitor.

They know, now, that the Pit has no adverse effect on him. That he can use the pit more than once.

Bruises and fractures, cuts and scrapes; injuries mean nothing when a dip in green waters will wash everything away.

Even the possibility of insanity starts to feel far-fetched.

Danny should hate this. He should really hate this.

He loved it.

Phantom had always been a fighter. A protector. An underdog matched up against bigger and stronger foes but always somehow coming up on top. He was popular. Liked by the citizens of Amity Park despite his dumpster fire of a reputation near the beginning. Somehow in the year and a half since Phantom’s conception, he went from town menace to this larger-than-life figure. (Ha!) The hero of Amity Park with all of the expectations and responsibilities that came with it.

But Danny—plain, ol’ Danny Fenton—wasn’t any of that. Wasn’t allowed to be any of that. Because Danny Fenton was a wimpy kid who tripped over air and regularly got shoved inside lockers. He was the ghost hunters’ son who was deathly afraid of the paranormal. A C-average student in a family of geniuses.

A persona unwillingly crafted and carefully maintained, because at least this way no one other than Jazz or Wes will be able to connect Fenton to Phantom. Who would believe it?

But here, in Nanda Parbat, he was neither Fenton nor Phantom— he was something more. He had no secret identity to keep from the people who have vigorously researched him. He had no need to hold back.

Here, Danny was free to be Danny.

“Daniel.”

Even if he was called by the wrong-right name.*

Danny floated up from the pit, his transformation seamless as he stepped onto the edge on quiet feet. Tahlia threw him a knapsack. “Ready yourself, we have places to be.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I get my sixty-minutes after the Pit, remember?”

“I did not forget.” She smiled, resting her hand on her hip. “I simply thought that by beloved child might relish a change in scenery.”

Danny perked up, hands tightening around the straps of the knapsack. “We’re going outside?” Tahlia nodded. “Like—outside-outside. With the sky and trees and—and the stars?”

Amusement softened her sharp features, jade eyes sparkling with mirth. “The very same. Though the place we are going to is quite fickle in nature, and I am unsure if we will get another chance to go. But if you really insist on it then—”

“Wait!” He snapped his mouth shut, clutching the bag closer to his chest.

(Family, his core whispered. Family-safe-safe-protect-need-see-confirm-family-home)

The sixty minutes he gets to see his family was…precious. One of the few times the restlessness in his core would draw back; melt away like frost in the spring, leaving some sense of contentment behind. It was his refuge. Sanctuary. Physical proof that what he was doing here—(staying away-away-why-go back-back-return-home-family-home-protect)—meant something.

But.

Outside.

The Pit might have increased his training regiment, but it also allowed him to leave (escorted) the walls of his rooms. And this—

Danny could go outside.

He could go outside.

If he didn’t accept this now, then who knows when the opportunity would arise again? His family wouldn’t mind, right? Jazz did say something about how spending time outdoors is good for one’s health.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. “My…my family will be alright, yes?”

Tahlia cocked her head. “Why wouldn’t they be? You have done nothing wrong that goes against our agreement, and you have progressed wonderfully in your training. I am quite proud.” At Danny’s disquieted expression, she sighed. She raised her hand. “I swear on the blood of the demon—on our blood—that I will honor our agreement and do no harm to the Fentons and your friends during our trip.”

She lowered her hand. “Are you satisfied, habeebi?”

Reluctantly, Danny nods. An agreement from Tahlia is probably the best he could do at this point. “How much time do I have to prepare?” “Everything you will need is in that back. Though, it might do you good to dress very warmly.”

----------

Danny’s first breath of fresh air was biting. It filled the lungs crisp and clean, chilled him to the bones though he could feel no cold. Each warm exhale expressed itself in swirling mists, disappearing into the slate gray clouds above. A facsimile of his own ghost sense.

Fenton did not think much of breathing; Phantom did not need it.

Danny had never realized how wonderous it was to breathe.

“We head northeast,” Tahlia called out. Like him, she is bundled in thick black layers with long leather gauntlets strapped at the end of the sleeves. Her bag secured tightly, and a sword strapped to her back. Her long black hair is bound in a tight braid beneath her fur-lined hood.

The path is covered with snow, deep enough that his first few steps past Nanda Parbat’s gates sinks his leg midway up his calf with a loud crunch. It was hardly as deep as some parts in the Far Frozen, but over there Danny had the choice to simple float over. Tahlia trudged through the snow with a preternatural grace. The path ahead was marked only by the faint traces of footprints almost—but not quite—covered with fresh snow.

Among the many things the League had taught him, this was one: the devil is in the details.

They speak little on their trek. Not that Danny particularly minds, absorbed that he was with world around him. Nanda Parbat, he learned, was built high in the mountains. Cocooned from the rest of the world by the snow-capped mountain ranges that surrounded it. A fortress of wood and stone that seemed distinct yet so carefully hidden. The high walls protected the buildings within from view. Its roofs—elongated and curved—and tall towers modelled after east Asian architecture. Though which country, Danny does not know.

Their destination—past a large protrusion of stone that covered the fortress from view once crossed—was a lake. Frozen a pale blue with ice, surrounded by more mountain walls and the opening of a cave off to the side.

Perplexed, he said “What, are we gonna go ice fishing? Just so you kno, I’m not that big of a fan. The last time I went with my dad I was nearly eaten by a sea monster.”

“We should have enough food for this exercise, Daniel. And you need have no fear of sea monsters, this lake is devoid of any such creatures.” Once they reached the mouth of the cave, she unstrapped her bag, setting it against the stone wall. Danny mimicked the motion. “We are here to train.”

“With…?”

She gestures to the katana strapped to his back.

“With swords.”

A nod.

“On the ice?”

She smiled, leading him to the edge of the frozen lake. “It has become something of a family tradition of the al Ghuls, to cross blades upon the ice.” She plants a steady foot on the lake, walking towards the center with long strides.

Danny followed behind her with some trepidation. He wouldn’t die from frostbite, he was sure, and if he fell he could always fly himself out. But that didn’t stop him from flinching at the rumbling sounds the ice made beneath his feet.

“My father trained both your father and I on this lake.” Tahlia unsheathed her sword as she took her place across from Danny. “And as your father no doubt trained Damian on his own lake, I have the pleasure of training you.” She slipped into a stance. “On your mark.”

Danny slipped into his own stance, feet apart, both hands on the hilt. Then, something nudged at the back of his mind. “Who’s Damian?”

Tahlia tilted her blade, the polished sword gleaming and sharp. “Your brother. Now—begin!”

“Wait, wha—” Danny barely managed to parry the blow.

Sparks flew as blades crossed and Danny twisted off to the side.

He slipped. Head meeting the ice, the deep crackling sound of the lake making him tense.

Tahlia points the tip of her blade against his chest. A single elegant brow arched high in dissatisfaction. Danny glared at her, brushing the fringes of his hair away from his face. “To be fair, you shouldn’t say stuff like that right before a fight. You caught me off guard.”

“If you find yourself in a fair fight, you have failed to prepare enough.” She sheathed her sword before extending an arm to help Danny to his feet. “The goal of a fight is to end it—no matter the cost. Now, take you place.”

Danny picked up his sword, then, hesitates. He looked up at Tahlia. “Did you mean what you said?” Do I have a brother?

Tahlia smiled, drawing her blade once more. “Impress me and you’ll find out.”

Danny narrowed his eyes.

“Now—”

He adjusted his stance. You’re on.

“Begin!”

Danny lunged.

[a-flower-lover]

Aunt Alicia Didn’t Prevent The Apocalypse

Hello, @phandom-phriend! Here’s your Christmas Truce gift! I hope you like it :3

Word Count: 2680

Summary: When there is an explosion at the Nasty Burger, killing almost her entire family, Aunt Alicia handles it.

It took a good week for Alicia to hear the news. It took only one more for her bags to be packed, the plans laid out, and her trusty lawyer to be prepared for a call just in case. Then she was in Amity Park, for the first time in years and years, only it was not for any good reason. 

The first thing she did after checking into her hotel had been to drive herself to the funeral. 

There were so few people in attendance, it was… Stunning, to say the least. But Alicia hadn't known her sister to have many friends, and Jack even less… regardless she thought at least a few would arrive. Maybe even some family, from Jack's side of course. And the little she had talked to her nephew during the arrangement, made it seem he knew people that she hadn't, and that Jazz would have some people coming for her side of things. 

There was practically no one. No one there to comfort her nephew while she hadn't been there for him, no one to make sure he wasn't blaming himself for it all. Hell. His entire support network had been wiped out in one go. He needed people who cared. Who would share in his grief. 

Alicia was too busy during the service to do any of the comforting. She doubted she even could. She lacked the gentle touch her sister had learned when dealing with children, and she was a mite too rough to handle a kid who witnessed the death this one had. 

Poor kid. 

After the service, she made an attempt to talk to him about the custody matter. She doubted the courts would allow it, given her record, but she did want to keep an eye on him. She doubted he'd be happy in the woods she loved, but she'd be willing to move wherever he wanted within reason. She had the money. You marry a businessman, you get money. If you live off your own land, you get to keep it. She could afford whatever Danny needed, if he asked. 

She knew of a godfather existing. The dick hadn't shown up to the funeral, but she knew he existed. She was told he lived in Wisconsin, was a high n’ mighty CEO of multiple corporations. A single rich billionaire who lived in a mansion no one visited, who was more likely than not gonna be a terrible influence on a hurt kid. But he'd have more of a legal claim on Danny than her. 

She'd already lost a child, the courts were not likely to give her another. Even if she promised to move out from the woods.

But Danny's choice was all that mattered for her. If he wanted her to, she'd fight tooth and nail for him. She'd tear the world apart to help the last remaining family she had left, if he wanted her to. 

Alicia was not good at affection. She was not good at showing she cared. She was stubborn, aggressive, and she'd been hurt in her life. She was not the person Danny needed, who would be endlessly understanding and gentle. She was one of the only options he had. 

So after the service was over she asked him. Did he want to live with her, wherever he wanted to go, or did he want to go with his godfather. Originally he had been confused. He had a godfather? He had a choice? She explained what she knew, and he only seemed to grow more confused. Said he'd met the man, but hadn't known he was his godfather. Said he'd have to think on it more. 

Alicia knew it meant he wouldn't pick her. It wasn’t a surprise when she was proven right. (She was practically a stranger, to Danny. The few times they’d interacted she was sure didn’t leave any semblance of a good impression.)

The legal processes after a death were lengthy, at least when Alicia had to work with Masters. After the courts had said he'd get custody of Danny, he had "helpfully" decided to put his nose in the work Alicia was doing for the inheritance. Not that it was all too confusing for her to handle; everything was being left to Danny, if she had anything to say about it. One would think the man who'd be caring for the child would agree, but you'd be surprised. 

In addition, any time she wished to talk to her nephew she'd first have to undergo a sort of interrogation from Masters, about what she wanted to see her nephew for, or she was simply turned away from the door without another word. She had never seen the Fenton house so dark, and empty, and cold, as she had the month after their deaths. She couldn't imagine any reason Danny would want to stay cooped up in there, especially not on his own, but Masters kept her out and she had no standing if she decided she didn't like being kept out like she was. 

So if she wanted to ask if Danny wanted any of his inheritance readily accessible, or what if anything he wanted sold, or if he wanted the FentonWorks business to be given to Masters or if he wanted to shut it down, any of that sort of stuff was impossible for her to get answers for. Masters thought he could try to play a game of telephone with her, telling her what Danny wanted for Danny, often without asking, but Masters was a stupid bastard if he thought she'd let a businessman speak for her nephew. 

So between attempts to contact Danny before he moved to Wisconsin with Masters, Alicia instead focused on her own personal project. 

After learning the parents of Danny's late friends we're not planning on letting him attend their funerals, because the bastards blamed him for the deaths that day like immature pricks, Alicia had worked out a deal to allow him to attend without being harassed. If he wanted to, anyhow. That was another thing Alicia had yet to ask him. But giving him the choice was important to her. So she had agreed to the deal. 

She was going to foot the bill for a statue the Manson's had planned, to honor their dead daughter, and the Foley's were going to have their son part of the statue as well.

Of course, if they were getting their statue of their losses, Alicia was going to get a statue of hers. (She was not going to lie and say that adding the Fentons to the statue was one of the things she was doing for Danny. She was doing her best to make this loss easy on him, but she knew a lot of her best was neglecting her own grief. If she was going to be forced to commission a damn statue for his sake, she might as well kill two birds with one stone by adding in elements for her sake. The funerals were going to happen before even the statues pedestals were done, let alone the statues themselves, so if the assholes who blamed her nephew didn't like it they'd be too late to do anything about it.) 

So the project was the oversight of the clearing of the Nasty Burger explosion site, and the construction of the pedestal and base for the statues. Thanks to the richer Manson folk, and even Masters after Alicia told the bastard what she was doing the thing for, the statue's plans and location had been legally settled right in time for construction to begin. 

The first few days of it were normal. Just Alicia, the hired construction men, and the occasional terrible reminder of what they were cleaning up as a chunk of metal covered in dried brown markings passed by her eyes and was tossed into the dump truck. 

It was the eighth day, she thinks, when she started seeing the ghost. 

The ghost was familiar. She had chatted with Maddie about a ghost matching this one's description, the last anniversary of Alicia's divorce, between moments of frustration as she tried to tell her sister that leaving a man too stupid for her was a positive. (Alicia. Regretted, that. Not that Alicia was a woman who regretted many things, but. Her last memories of her sister were of getting a nice divorce anniversary party, after being what many would describe as an ass simply because Maddie loved her husband more than he was stupid. Not everything that works for Alicia works for others. Hadn't Maddie said that? At least something like it, surely.) 

Snowy white hair. Black suit. Green eyes, but she couldn't say they were glowing. If they had at one point, they didn't now. Looking incredibly familiar, a face she was reluctant to place because she didn't know what it could mean. But matching Maddie's description anyways. 

He sat, just far enough away from the site that he was out of the way, but close enough that Alicia could see the tremors wracking his body, and the slight shine on his cheeks. 

Ghost or no, that was first and foremost a kid. A kid who looked mighty like another kid Alicia knew. And even if the familiarity was only surface level and coincidental, she could use the practice. Practice comforting someone, she meant. But it took a few more days of the ghost appearing for her to actually approach, as caution overruled empathy. 

"You look a mite troubled, there." She said, hands in her pocket as she approached the figure. It didn't move, hardly acknowledging her. Perhaps it didn't think she was talking to it. "I'd ask what's wrong, but I reckon I already could guess." She crouched down, reaching out to touch the specter on the shoulder, but it was quick to scoot itself out of reach, though she took that to mean that now it acknowledged her. Good. A start. 

"Wh-?" It stopped before it could really start talking back. Alicia took that as her queue to keep going. 

"My apologies. Jus' saw a kid needin' help, but I can leave you be if you really want." She said, and the ghost started to shake it's head vigorously. "Then I'll be glad t' listen to your troubles, kiddo."

"Um, but why?" It said. "I'm not a kid. I'm a ghost."

"You sure don't look a day over twelve, ghost or no." Alicia pretended not to find the responding scowl humorous. Just another small thing, proof it was just a child.

"I'm fourteen." The ghost said. Alicia held back her response. This ghost really was familiar, wasn't it.

"Well, then. Fourteen. Certainly, much much older." Alicia snorted, shaking her head. "No, no, I wasn't here to rag on ya. What's the matter? I doubt your eyes we're shinin' cause the cleanup is so beautiful." The ghost, who had for a moment been distracted from the sight, immediately turned back to it, and a very dreary expression bloomed on its face. 

"'s my fault." The ghost mumbled, almost so quiet Alicia didn't hear. It pulled its tail up to its chest and wrapped its arms around it, resting its chin on them. Not once losing sight of the remains of the Nasty Burger. 

"Now I really doubt that." A week in the town had told Alicia that the Phantom ghostie Maddie so despised was revered as the town hero. While Alicia was of the opinion that most city folk were brainless sheep, she had never bought the idea Maddie got from Jack that all ghosts and similar sort were evil. If they were, then that meant all people were evil, because ghosts came from the dead. Alicia was pessimistic at the baseline, but she'd got nothing but kindness from the neighbors when the worst had happened to her and everyone else was blaming her for it. She couldn't believe they'd turn out any different had they died. So believing this ghost could be a town hero was nothing of a stretch. 

"I did, though." The ghost whined, a sound bordering on animalistic, a clear distress call. Alicia wondered if another ghost would come to answer. "I had a fight, here, days before the explosion. I was the one who damaged the vat, and caused it. I even-" The words broke off into another whine, louder and sadder than before. Tears ran down the ghosts face, tinted green and glowing. 

"Now you couldn't have known what would happen." Alicia said, but the ghost didn't react. "And I bet it wasn't a fight you started." The ghost still didn't respond. "Honestly, you and my nephew. Kids always blame themselves for things out of their control." She sighed, shaking her head. This got a reaction out of the ghost, a small flinch, that if Alicia hadn't been paying close attention to and trying to see she would have missed. 

"Danny’s a good kid. I don't know why he blames himself, but I know it wasn't his fault. I may not know you, but I feel it's the same for you." Alicia said, and she paused. Would it be bad to continue? The ghost was only looking more and more upset, especially now that she mentioned her nephew. 

"It's not the same for me." The ghost eventually said, after a minute of indecision. "If it's not… not your nephews fault, then it has to be mine." The ghost said. 

Alicia frowned. That was a stupid way to reason this. There was no one at fault for this, except maybe the people who decided a Nasty Burger must be prepped to self destruct at any moment. 

She would have said so, too, if the ghost hadn't've disappeared as soon as her mouth opened. 

After that, the ghost kept appearing. To watch the clearing process, and to watch Alicia. But any time she'd try to get close to talk to the other again, it'd disappear. It was a touch frustrating, but nothing to be done. She wasn't gonna go chasing ghosties. That was never and will never be her place. 

She was generally spending less time at the site after that, too, which was another factor in not talking to the ghost any more. Danny had finally started to answer the door instead of Masters, and Alicia was better able to talk to him. While he started to avoid questions any time it got around to how he was feeling, he didn't seem too off. Or, not really any more off than he would be after what happened. 

He attended his friends' funerals, and said that no one gave him a hard time. He worked out what he wanted to keep, and what he wanted to get rid of. He wanted to keep the building, and keep FentonWorks. Masters would keep track of it until Danny was older, of course, but Alicia was fine with Danny's decision. 

He came with her only once to watch the site clearing, to watch the last batch of shrapnel and debris be hauled away, leaving only the broken shell and sign of the old building. When Alicia explained that they weren't planning on rebuilding at the moment, Danny didn't seem to care. After that it was time for him to leave, to meet Masters at his new home. 

Masters had left a week before, looking troubled, but putting on a show of ease when Alicia approached to ask why he was leaving Danny behind. He had a lot to prepare, was his excuse. Bullshit. But Danny had been fine with it. Said he even asked the man to. So Alicia, though it made her unhappy a great deal, left it alone.

Alicia took one last month in Amity to settle affairs, to see the completion of the statue, and to rest flowers at each of her family's graves (yes, even Jacks). The time during which she didn't see the ghost again, to her disappointment. 

Then she left and went back to her home in Spittoon, Arkansas. Alone.

[gladly-be-the-good]

Here's what I have so far. I'm so happy other people like this idea too.

The Fenton's mobile trailer was parked as close to McDuck manor as it could get. As soon as the news about the swirling vortex of shadows spread to Amity, the Fentons started planning a trip to investigate.

Maddy had managed to secure a meeting with the richest man in the world and his top team of scientists to demonstrate some of the Fenton family products. If everything went well, which Danny seriously doubted it would, they would be able to deduced what role if any Mr. McDuck played in the summoning of what had to be another ghost portal.

Jazz had protested bring uprooted in the middle of the school year, but Jack insisted that anything they learned at school, they could learn from their parents. Maddie had agreed with enthusiasm, excited at the idea at passing on the knowledge she had to her two children. Danny had been quiet. Lately, he'd been quiet a lot. Jazz was constantly worried about the obvious depression of her little brother and the clear neglect of her parents. She was sixteen, she shouldn't be reasonable for Danny's mental health, but no one else over fourteen cared. That's why when her parents insisted they come along on this cross country trip two weeks before finals, Jazz came with a plan.

The head inventor for McDuck industries was notorious for breaking rules and boundaries. Gizmoduck was the hero of duckburg and Darkwing was in the next city over. One of them would have to help. Two were heroes, the other, Jazz had learned through some less than legal means, thank you Tucker, had taken in and cared for a machine. Surely he wouldn't turn away living beings that needed help? If he did she had a trump card.

Before leaving, Jazz reviewed everything that had been shoved into her head since before she could talk. Every gadget and weapon and discovery with the Fenton name on it was in her brilliant mind. She was ready to deal with devils if that's what it took. She was ready to do anything to get Danny some help, even if it was just another hero to talk to, or another adult that didn't hurl insults at him or talk about dissecting him or hunted and shot at him. This was it. The crazy train stopped in duckburg.

Scrooge had never really taken notice of the Fenton family before the matriarch had sent him a letter. It changed many hands before it got to his, but he could see why it made it all the way to his desk.

Ghost hunters.

They lived in a small town wracked with paranormalevilence. They seemed like a bright and good hearted family, if not a wee bit reckless and narrow-minded. But they were so young. So many of his employees had started out, as Gyro would put it, wildly misunderstood. If they could learn that not all ghosts need vanquishing, then he would gladly nudge them along toward a better road, one that circumvented the regrets and hardships that so often follows the reckless and narrow minds. Once he thought they were safe, he'd introduce them to Lena, not telling them her history of course. Manny had been given the day off, just in case.

After his magic trial, Scrooge was determined to leave everyone he met better than they had been, if only so he'd have a sure fire defence in the future. He had so much to give to the Fentons, so long as they weren't looking for long term funding.

Gyro had placed little bulb on his shoulder and Boyd was drawing in the seat next to him. Scrooge raised an eyebrow.

"The Drakes are going to family therapy and since he couldn't very well stay over at the mansion with red nephew and others out at Funzo's, he flew here." Boyd nodded,

"I can leave if I'm an inconvenience, I just missed Dr. Gearlose." Gyro cleared his throat. Scrooge smiled knowingly and said,

"You're just fine where you are lad. I understand the family coming have two children as well. Perhaps you could give them a tour of the lab?"

"I'd love to! Anything I can do to help!"

"At's a good boy." He tapped his cane on the floor and sat on Gyro's other side. The seat next to him was empty. Where was- the door to the lab opened and four people walked in.

Two were wearing jumpsuits that even scrooge knew were never in fashion. The children seemed more normal. The girl held herself like a businesswoman, power and determination in her stride. Scrooge could see her working hard making a difference. The boy, if it weren't for the facial features and his dark hair color, Scrooge would think he was looking at Donald when he was fourteen. Blue eyes wondered and held interest, but his posture screamed of indifference and boredom. There was also something there, some weight, that they both shared. A weight far too heavy for a teenager to have to carry.

"You must be the Fenton family?"

"That's us!" The large man boomed.

"Mr. McDuck, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm sure. This is Dr. Gyro Gearlose, he's our top scientist."

"Yes. Hello." Gyro said, with little interest.

"Mr. Crackshell-Cabrera was supposed to be here but it appears something has him detained." In another room there was a sudden clattering, banging, and the sound of something shattering. A tan man with light brown hair and mixed features ran into the room shouting,

"I am so sorry I'm late! There was, uh, long line for the bathroom."

Maddy smiled and said,

"It's wonderful to meet you. My name is Maddy and this is my husband Jack." Scrooge waited for a moment to see if they were going to introduce their kids or ask if there was a place they could go while business was taking place. They didn't. Fenton was the one who cleared his throat and nervously, as he straightened his tie, asked,

"And what are your names? It's my job to remember them." It was an odd thing to say but the children didn't seem phased.

"I'm Jazz and this is my younger brother Danny." Boyd hopped off of his seat and walked up to them, Gyro setting little bulb on his slim shoulders as he did so. Lil bulb would make sure Boyd was safe, and not talked into anything dangerous.

"Hi I'm Boyd, a definitely real boy! Do you want to see the lab?"

[five-rivers]

Stuck

Continued from Science.

.

.

.

Danny took a deep breath. Okay. He had a camera strapped to him, and his parents were probably watching him through it right now, trying to figure out how to ambush him. Yay.

He had to hand it to them, this was inspired. If Skulker were here, he'd take notes. Or maybe not. Despite Skulker's obvious personality flaws, he did have a sense of sportsmanship. Sometimes.

If he stayed here, they would find him sooner or later. He wouldn't be surprised if they put a tracker in here, too, somehow. So, he had to go someplace they couldn't, at least not right away. Then, he could figure out how to get rid of the thing.

The question was, up or down?

Down would be faster, and have less chance of getting hit, but the sewers and storm drains weren't pleasant, and Danny didn't like phasing through solid ground very much. He could never quite shake the concern that he'd get stuck.

But he also wouldn't have to deal with things like tracking missiles, like he would if he went up, above the clouds.

Down it was.

He dropped until he was level with the storm drain tunnels, and then shot sideways. Being directly below where he was last seen didn't strike him as particularly clever, even if the camera included a tracker.

Once he'd passed through enough walls to get to a secluded and reasonably clean juncture, Danny stopped. He felt around the collar again. It seemed to have fused to his suit, somehow. No, he realized, sticking fingers into the neck of his jumpsuit, it had fused to his skin through the jumpsuit, somehow.

Gross. Why did his parents build such gross things?

Okay. First, phasing.

Extending intangibility to the device worked fine, phasing it off of himself, less fine. It was the 'phase along' version of phase-proof, then.

Next on the list was body manipulation, and- nope. He made his body warp into all sorts of horrible noodly shapes, and the device just warped along with him, flowing and misting. The only part that didn't change and twist was the camera itself.

Fine. He'd cut it off, then. It would probably hurt a lot, but he could do it. He'd endured worse than the removal of the top layer of skin from his neck and a small portion of his chest.

He summoned a blade of ice to his hand, made a mirror of the same on the tunnel wall and carefully, very carefully, began to cut away at collar. It bled green, ectoplasm trickling down to his shoulder.

It repaired itself.

Brilliant. His parents had really gone all-out with this one. It was really stuck on him.

Normally, this is when he'd reach out for help, when he'd call Tucker, Sam, or Jazz, but he couldn't exactly do that when his parents could be watching and listening to his every move.

Could the camera bit heal itself, though?

Last item on the list: just smash the camera to bits.

Wait.

Actually, wasn't this sort of an opportunity, a blessing in disguise? His parents were looking for proof that he, that all ghosts, were evil. Obviously, he wasn't going to give them that, but maybe he could show them evidence of the opposite?

Maybe he could do what he had always hoped and change their minds?

Maybe.

He couldn't really do what he needed to here, though. The risk that his parents would find him, or, worse, any ghosts that he interacted with, was too great. He'd just have to hope that the camera continued to work, continued to broadcast in the Zone.

But he couldn't use the Fenton portal. If they saw him getting too close to Fentonworks... well, he somehow doubted that the results would be pretty.

That left him a few options.

There were a number of reoccurring natural portals around town. But, he didn't really want to compromise their positions, though. Ghosts used them to get around, and not just the ones who caused trouble. Besides, none of them were open right now. He have to wait 'til dawn if he wanted one of those.

There was always Vlad's portal, but, well, as much as he liked annoying Vlad, revealing to his parents that Vlad had a portal could lead to unpleasant consequences. He wasn't nearly that desperate.

Which left... one option, actually. Oh, he knew he was going to regret this in some way shape or form.

He turned to face the warehouse district and set off.

.

The warehouse district was bright with security lights and sparsely populated by late-night delivery-people and the odd security guard. Still, there were many shadows and, being able to turn invisible, Danny had no difficulty hiding.

Danny wondered how, and if, the camera functioned while he was invisible. Light would go through it, after all, and Danny didn't see in human colors while he was invisible. It would be good if it didn't work, if it didn't have some kind of ectoplasm detectors or sonar, but he couldn't know, so he couldn't risk it.

Which meant that he had to do this fast, before his parents showed up.

He made his way to the one completely dark building in the warehouse district: the abandoned packing plant.

Correction: the theoretically abandoned packing plant. It had specialized in cardboard containers, after all.

He phased through the walls (and how did the camera register that?) and his ghost sense went off. His eyes rapidly adjusted to the dark, and he rapped his knuckles against a wall. "Hello?" He called into the dark. "Boxy?" He paused. "I know you're here, I can feel you. You realize that, right?"

A mountain of boxes in the center of the room trembled and formed into an approximately humanoid shape, blue light streaming through the gaps. "IT IS I, THE FEARSOME BOX GHOST!"

"Wow!" said Danny. "You're really working on that entrance! Much better than last time."

"WHY HAS THE GHOST CHILD COME TO THE DOMAIN OF THE AMAZING BOX GHOST?"

"I need a favor," said Danny. "Well, a couple favors, actually."

This apparently startled the Box Ghost so much that he lost control of his boxes. His carefully constructed stack tumbled to the ground, the light fading. The Box Ghost himself flew out of the heap.

"A favor?! From me?"

"Well, yeah," said Danny. "You agreed that if I let you stay around, you wouldn't bother anybody and you'd help me with questions about ghost stuff."

"Yeeeeeees, the Box Ghost remembers," he said, tapping his fingers together. "But he did not think it would actually happen. Well, what have you come to ask the great," he raised his hands over his head and waggled his fingers, "BOX GHOST?"

"I need you to help me find a transient portal," said Danny. "My p- the Fentons put this, uh, camera-tracker thing on me, and I can't get it off." Danny made a face. "You'll probably want to lay low for a while, too, after this. Maybe relocate for a bit."

"Back to the Realms?" asked the Box Ghost, sagging.

"No, no, you can still stay, just... maybe not in this building for the next little bit. You remember the other one we checked out for you?"

"Oh, yeah, in the-"

"Don't say it!" Danny took a deep breath. "They could be listening," he said. "The hunters."

"Oh, right. The great BOX GHOST is aware of this."

"So, can you take me to a portal?"

"Yeah, that's easy. Come on," said the Box Ghost.

.

The portal was a bit of a tight fit, but Danny managed. Not having bones could be useful, on occasion.

He spun slowly around, orienting himself. He knew where he was. Good. Now that he was no longer stuck in Amity Park, his first order of business was to get to the Far Frozen. If anyone could help him get this off, they could.

.

.

.

To be continued on day 11: Doctor.

[srsly-messed-up-fruitloop]

Tug of War (Ch 5)

ch 1 - prev

Word Count: 1,574

“Hey Tuck, you busy tomorrow?” Danny asked as the trio walked through the halls after school.

“Um, yea, I’ve got plans,” Tucker replied reluctantly.

His friends both turned to him in surprise. 

“No way, you actually landed a date on Valentine’s Day?” Sam exclaimed incredulously.

Read on AO3 or under the cut

“Wait n—of course I have a date!”

“Who is it?” Danny and Sam simultaneously demanded. 

Tucker began to nervously play with his beret. “Heh heh, um...you don’t know them.” 

Danny seemed to easily accept his response. “Oh, okay then. Have fun Tuck.”

However, Sam was scrutinizing him. He definitely was hiding something. “Tucker, you know you could tell us anything, right?”

“What? Sam, I do!”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m not hiding anything!”

Sam didn’t reply. Instead, her gaze bore right into Tucker. Within a few seconds, his resolve crumbled away.

“Alright, fine! But you guys gotta promise to not tell anyone this, okay?”

Danny raised an eyebrow at Sam. Honestly, he’ll never get how she does it.

Meanwhile Sam smirked. “We promise. What’s going on?”

“Okay, so you know how I’m trying to get into cybersecurity after college?”

His friends nodded, having a slight idea what it was after hearing him talk about it so much.

“Well, I’m working with this group, and...errr...we’re trying to...help? Some companies?”

“What do you mean by help?” Danny questioned.

Sam added on, “And which companies are you ‘helping’?”

“Just, um...companies like Chase and Capital One. We’re just...I guess you could say we’re testing their security?” Tucker hesitantly answered.

“Aren’t those credit card companies?” asked Sam suspiciously.

“That’s so cool man. I don’t get why you had to hide it from us though,” Danny told him right as he opened his locker.

Sam knew there was more to it, but dropped it when all three of them spotted an expensive camera simply hanging by the strap off one of the locker hooks.

“No way, is a Nikon D80?” Tucker exclaimed gleefully before carefully grabbing the camera to admire it.

Meanwhile, Danny was confused. Wes hardly keeps anything in their locker.

“Hold up. Tucker, turn it on,” Sam said.

He eagerly pressed the power button. “Dude, you didn’t have to ask me first.”

Danny pushed aside a nagging feeling when he saw the menu appear on the screen.

“Whoa, there’s over a thousand photos in here!” Tucker blurted out. “And...they’re all of you, Danny.”

Sam scoffed, “This must be what the creep uses to take those pictures he sells.”

As the trio flipped through the undoubtedly high quality pictures, Danny was suddenly struck by a genius idea. His friends grinned mischievously after he shared what he had in mind.

~

Wes was exhausted. The last game of the season was coming up and Ms. Tetslaff was really pushing them to their limits.

He lumbered to his locker, already feeling an ache from the intense practice he just had. Opening his locker, he gasped when he saw his camera hanging in plain sight. Crap!

He quickly retrieved the protective pouch from his backpack and delicately placed the camera inside. How could he be so careless? Practice must be really getting to him. He’s so damn lucky that Fenton didn’t take it.

He’s actually not that lucky at all.

Later that night as he was going to back up his recent pictures, his stomach dropped when he discovered they were all gone. Instead, there was one new video.

Wes hesitantly double-clicked to open the video on his computer.

“Hey everybody! Danny Phantom here,” Danny greeted in the video as he was floating against the backdrop of Casper High’s distinguishable brick wall. Listening real closely, you could hear two other people sniggering in the background. “I’m here to finally come clean about the truth.” 

Wes’ heartbeat picked up. Was he finally going to...?

Danny continued in the video, “If you go to Casper High, I’m sure you all have heard about the rumours. How Danny Fenton is actually me in disguise. That’s...that’s actually not that far from the truth; my true identity is none other than a Casper High student. I’m tired of hiding it. People of Amity Park, I am actually Wes Weston.” The video abruptly cut out.

When Wes’ dad heard a loud crash from his son’s room and came up to check on him, the boy could only growl in response.

~

To say that Wes was pissed the next day was an understatement. It turns out, that video was also posted online. All of his hard work over the years, just gone, right down the toilet. 

People wouldn’t stop interrupting him in the halls, bugging him to turn invisible or shoot an ectoblast. No matter how much he tried to debunk that video, they continued to wholeheartedly believe that he’s Phantom.

In history class, Paulina slapped him for charging her for pictures of “himself”. After that, he honestly didn’t want to find out how much worse Dash’s reaction would be. He should probably ditch class until this whole thing blew over.

As he pried open his locker to get his stuff, he glowered at the sight of Fenton’s first aid kit. Last week, when he showed off the expensive kit as evidence, no one even batted an eye. Are the kids at this school that stupid, that they’d believe a single video of Phantom speaking than years of proof?

He was about to leave until he noticed a pamphlet sticking out of Fenton’s bag. 

Instantly recognizing the logo on it, his frustration melted away and he couldn’t keep himself from chuckling as he flipped through its pages.

As he made his way to exit the school, he spotted Fenton walking by himself in the halls. He smirked to himself. Maybe he’ll be able to rile him up enough this time to expose him and get everyone to forget that video. That’ll be the perfect payback.

“NASA? You want to work for them?”

Danny jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of Wes’ voice. Surprisingly, he didn’t sound mad at all. Regarding him suspiciously, Danny replied, “Um...yeah?”

“Wow. I should’ve pegged you as the type to enjoy fabricating hoaxes for a living. We know you already love doing that in your everyday life.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Oh Fenton, you know exactly what I’m talking about—NASA, the corporation whose whole aim is generating lies about outer space to deceive the public?”

“Right, I forgot you were a total conspiracy nut. Listen, I don’t have time for this, I—”

“I’m betting you’re more than eager to join in on the next fake moon landing. You’d just love the extra attention, wouldn’t you?”

“We—”

“Even if it’s for your measly human disguise. But why go through all this work when you could just possess the next ‘astronaut’?”

“Dude, that is so wrong!”

“Really? I wouldn’t put it past you.”

A moment of silence passed, while Danny’s defiant look faltered.

“Honestly, screw you Wes,” he muttered before walking off.

Wes could only stare after the now despondent boy, wondering what the heck was wrong with him. It wasn’t like him to just leave, this was supposed to rile him up even more!

Dammit.

~

Weeks later, the buzz around the whole “Wes being Phantom” thing finally died down. Eventually, the inevitable situation came where Phantom and Wes were spotted both being in the same place at the same time. Some people still had their doubts, considering Phantom’s duplication ability was well-known by now. But for the most part, Wes’ life eventually turned back to normal.

He sighed in relief as the buzzer rang, signaling the end of the final game for Casper’s basketball team. The Elmerton Owls beat them brutally with a score of 78-36. Ms. Tetslaff was shaking her head in anguish.

He actually wasn’t bothered at all. After all, it was a losing game from the start. Anderson, the best player of the team, broke his leg last weekend in a skiing accident. Wes was just happy that the embarrassing game was over. 

As he fist bumped his team members after finishing up in the change room, he left for his locker. Since the game occurred after school, the halls were completely empty.

When he turned the corner, what he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

There, sitting and leaning back beside his locker was none other than Danny Phantom, covered in glowing green ectoplasm and clutching a large gash in his stomach as it threatened to spill more onto the floor.

Wes could only stand there frozen, taking in Danny’s unmoving form as the pool of ectoplasm inched closer to his white sneakers. 

Suddenly, Danny registered that someone was watching him. Sam? Tucker? Didn’t they already head home? He weakly raised his head to see who it was, only to grimace when he recognized the red-haired creep.

“What do you want Wes?” he barely managed to croak out.

Never in Wes’ life had he imagined seeing him in this position. The worse he thought was watching Phantom’s bravado crumble when the world discovered who he truly was. But this...all of it was already gone in this moment. And as the ectoplasm stained his shoes, he began to question himself.

Wes gulped. He didn’t consider himself to be a caring person. But as Danny sat there, bleeding out before him, he couldn’t…

After sending him one last look, Wes opened their locker, grabbed the first aid kit at the bottom, and got to work.

~end~

[dp-marvel94]

Face to Face- Chapter 4

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul?

Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did.

First ->Last -> Next

Word Count: 3,931

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

For the next several days, Phantom explored every inch of Amity Park- the park, the mall, the pier, both upscale and poor neighborhoods, office buildings and dozens of businesses both large and small, even the warehouse district and the woods at the edge of town. The ghost found himself floating through areas familiar through his connection to Danny Fenton as well as places he knew Danny would never even want to visit. During the day, he struggled to remain invisible or out of sight of humans, often switching between fear of being discovered and boredom from lacking anything meaningful or entertaining. But his nights were more peaceful, enjoyable even, as he could explore more freely without scaring humans. 

In the park, the ghost floated on his back with a book in his hands. He’d swiped it from one of those free little library boxes when he was looking for something to occupy his mind tonight. Lite by his own ghostly glow and his ectoplasmic green eyes, the ghost flipped through the book, eagerly scanning the pages. It was a welcome distraction to his troubled thoughts, though the distraction wouldn’t last long.

An unexpected puff of cold air exited the ghost’s mouth, startling him out of his thoughts. What was that? It wasn’t cold enough to see his breath, not that Phantom actually had to breathe. A green light suddenly shimmered at the edge of his vision and the ghost whipped his head to the side. His eyes feel on...a glowing, floating octopus thing. Its spotted body was the size of a basketball with flexing tentacles nearly the length of his arms. The creature studied him with surprisingly intelligent slitted eyes. Phantom’s jaw dropped. Was he actually seeing this? Slowly, he reached forward as if to check that his eyes were not deceiving him. The octopus hissed in response, backing away. Then it twisted around and vanished. 

The ghost stared at the spot the creature had occupied for several moments, trying to make sense of what he’d seen. The thing had been glowing and floating ...like him. Had that been...was that a ghost? An actual ghost...octopus? Phantom blinked quickly and furrowed his brow. He knew it was ridiculous to be so shocked (he was a ghost. How could he be shocked that other ghosts existed?) but he was surprised. He’d just seen some kind of ectoplasmic octopus, an ectopus so to speak (yeah that sounded kinda cool, like something his...Danny’s dad would come up with). Where had it even come from? ….The portal maybe? That would make sense actually, seeing as Phantom was pretty sure he had come from the portal too (but had he? He didn’t remember coming through the portal or why…?). The ghost cut off the thought before doubts could bloom but new questions and worries arose.

If this ghost could come through the portal, would others follow? Phantom felt the illusion of a stomach churning with worry. If more ghosts came, would they hurt Danny and his friends and family? The thought sent another wave of protectiveness through the ghost as he tried to shove down the anxieties. Even if more ghosts came through, it didn’t mean Danny or anyone else was in danger, right? The ghost might leave them alone and just go about their business. Plus Danny’s ghost hunting parents were around and could protect their son. But the wavering uncertainty remained, pushing Phantom to move from where he was floating in the park. It wouldn’t hurt to check on Danny, right? Just to make sure he was safe? 

The ghost lingered for several moments, resisting his rising desire; he’d promised he would stay away from Danny. But the pull was too strong. Despite his misgivings and even his fear of being discovered by the Fentons, Phantom flew in the direction of Fentonworks. He really tried to stay away, he did, but somehow he was always drawn back to Danny.                                                                                                        

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

The next morning, Danny woke up, blinking at the ceiling. He’d had another of those dreams again last night. This time, he was floating in the park, reading a book when a floating octupus things showed up and hissed at him before disappearing. He furrowed his brow. He kept having these dreams about flying above Amity Park and floating through an empty mall or the library. Why? And why did he still, after days, feel like something was missing?

The boy threw the covers off himself, feeling frustrated. He shivered. And why did his parents have the AC so high?! A draft gently brushed him, resulting in Danny furrowing his brow. That was weird...But the thought was cut off by a knocking on his door. 

“Danny! Are you awake?” His mom called.

A little spike of anxiety (maybe even fear?) pricked the boy’s heart at the sudden voice. But he managed to answer. “Yeah Mom. I’m getting ready.”

“All right sweetie. I’ll see you downstairs.” 

The sound of her footsteps quickly quieted as she walked away. Danny finally stood up, trying to shake off his strange reaction. Actually feeling awake for once, he walked to the bathroom and shivered again at a passing draft. The boy glanced up into the mirror and blinked, startled. Was that a flash of neon green in the mirror? Danny whipped around to find...nothing? He shook his head. He was probably just seeing things ...but the slight chill and the feeling of being watched remained. Danny pushed it out of his mind. He needed to get ready. 

After using the toilet, brushing his teeth, and getting dressed, Danny headed down the stairs, passively noticing that the feeling of eyes on his back had disappeared. 

Once in the kitchen, Dad greeted him from his seat at the table with a grin. “Are you feeling better Danny-boy?”

“Yeah. I actually feel like I got a good night's sleep last night.” The boy said,  managing half a smile.

His mom smiled from the stove. "That's wonderful honey. Sit down, breakfast is almost done.”

With a nod, Danny pulled his chair out and sat. Mom then placed the plate of eggs and cinnamon rolls down and took her seat beside Jazz who had just put down her book. After scoping some eggs onto her plate, the woman continued. “I’m glad the tiredness from the long-term overshadowing is fading like your father and I had hoped.”

Danny’s nose wrinkled in as he grabbed a cinnamon roll. “I don’t get why I was so tired though.”

Mom’s brow furrowed in concern.  “We don’t know sweetie. Maybe it’s from fighting being overshadowed.” Her frown deepened. “Or it was the ghost. I highly doubt it made sure your body was fed and slept so you needed a little time to recover.” Her voice then quieted as she glanced down. “We’re very lucky it didn’t hurt you or use you to do anything horrible.”

Patting Danny on the back with surprising gentleness, Dad agreed. “We are really lucky son. And very happy to have you back.” 

Mom then looked up, studying him with motherly concern and a trace of guilt. “You have not had any other lingering effects from being overshadowed, right Danny?”

“And that ghostly scum hasn’t shown its face again either?” Dad also asked, eyes narrowed at the mention of the ghost.

Danny’s mind flitted to the other weird things he’d been experiencing since going through the ghost catcher: the mood swings, the strange thoughts, the dreams, the ever present feeling that something was missing. And the very real memory of the ghost floating above him and outside his window also flashed. For a second, Danny debated telling them. But how could he explain what was wrong with him when he couldn’t understand it himself? And the thought of telling his parents about the ghost so they could go after it? That sent a wave of guilt, worry, and even some fear through him.

Despite knowing that he was lying, Danny nodded. “Nope. Everything’s been normal.”

Dad grinned, somewhat wickedly. “That ghost knows better than to mess with the Fentons a second time!”

“But you will tell us if you even suspect something ghostly might be happening.” Mom added.

Danny swallowed nervously, turning his attention back to the uneaten food. “Of course Mom.”

Mom smiled, patting his free hand. “Go ahead and finish. You need to leave soon.” She turned towards Jazz. “How do you like the book you were reading before breakfast, Jazz honey?”

As Jazz happily chatted about her book, Danny tuned her out. His eyes remained fixed on the plate, stomach churning from guilt at lying to Mom and Dad. But fear and questions about what was happening with him kept him silent. Yet for some inexplicable reason, he knew he did not want Mom and Dad to find the ghost that had overshadowed (?) him.

Minutes later, Danny had finished breakfast and started walking towards the school. He shivered as a breeze blew over him. Something rustled behind him and the boy tensed. He stopped and turned around again to find... nothing. Danny groaned. Pulling his bag higher onto his shoulders, he kept walking.

Arriving at school, Danny met his friends at his locker. After opening the door, he started grabbing his books.

“Sam! You can’t do this!” Tucker argued loudly.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “What did she do?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “He’s upset because I got the school board to finally listen. They are going to be serving a completely vegan meal today to showcase the new menu options.”

“But Sam!! There’s no meat! How am I supposed to live?” The boy complained.

“It’s only for one day Tucker! Eating vegetables will not kill you.” Sam raised her arms.

Danny half smiled at his friends’ antics. “I think I agree with Sam on this one. It won’t be that bad.”

Tucker pouted. “Traitor.” 

This elicited a chuckle from Danny who turned his attention back to grabbing his papers. Then he froze as something neon green flashed in his locker mirror. 

The boy’s eyes widened and he turned towards his friends. “Did you guys see that?”

Sam and Tucker both blinked at him in confusion over the sudden change of tone. Tucker asked. “See what?”

Danny shook his head. “Nothing.”Just then the bell rang. “We should probably get to class. I’ll see you guys in Math.”

“Yeah. See you later.” Tucker replied.

For a moment, a look of concern passed over Sam’s face. Then her expression softened. “Good luck in English. We’ll see you later.”

The three parted ways, heading to their respective classes. But Danny’s mind remained occupied by what he thought he saw in the mirror- neon green eyes hovering just over his shoulder. He glanced back, eyes falling on ...nothing. He stopped in the middle of the hall. But he felt like something...or someone was there. A so, so familiar, cold but protective presence, the same one that had been following him this morning and even earlier, when he’d meet his friends in the park the morning after going through the ghost catcher. He continued staring into space, mouth opening and closing. He wanted to call out, to ask whoever was following him to show themselves. But...what if he was imagining this? What if he acted and embarrassed himself in front of his classmates? So Danny remained silent as he walked to class, though he could swear he felt cold breath right behind his head.

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

That morning had probably been the most interesting that Phantom remember (that wasn’t one of Danny’s memories, that is). He had watched Danny until he woke up and throughout the morning. Now that he thought about it, it was a little creepy but being close to the boy, just in case something happened, had felt...really nice, right even. Plus he’d given the boy some privacy while he used the toilet and got dressed, though the ghost hadn’t strayed far. Phantom also did not stick around for breakfast, though that had more to do with not wanting to be anywhere near the ghost hunting Fenton parents.

Now Phantom was invisibly floating a few feet behind Danny as the boy chatted with his friends at his locker. The ghost smiled sadly at their antics. Part of him missed hanging out with Sam and Tucker. Danny then froze and asked his friends if they had seen something. The ghost’s brow furrowed at the weird behavior as the group parted. He followed Danny down the hall until the boy glanced...directly at him! The human stopped in the middle of the hallway, eyes falling exactly where Phantom was floating. Despite not needing to breathe, Phantom’s breath hitched in his chest. Could...could Danny actually see him? The ghost glanced at where his hands should be but only the wavering outline that let him know he was invisible was present. There was no way Danny saw him! But the boy’s mouth opened and closed as he stared dumbly. Phantom floated closer until he was almost touching Danny, his mind furiously debating what to do. He couldn’t just turn visible in the crowded hallway. Maybe he could….

His thoughts were cut off when Danny suddenly turned away and continued towards class. Phantom followed close behind, anxiety lessening somewhat as he listened in on another boring English lesson. The most interesting part was watching Danny doodle a picture of… an octopus? It looked suspiciously like the ghostly one Phantom saw yesterday. Phantom raised an eyebrow. Did that mean that ectopus went after his human? A small amount of panic surged through the ghost, which just increased when he realized he just thought of Danny as his human. Danny definitely did not belong to him; Phantom just wanted to protect him (and how nice it felt being close was just an added bonus). 

After that Phantom tried to turn his attention back to the lecture. He didn’t notice how Danny kept glancing behind him.

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

As the school day passed on, Danny kept glancing behind him, as if trying to catch a glimpse of his ghostly stalker. The constant presence made focusing in class more difficult, though the boy actually felt awake today and not nearly as anxious as normal. One would think that he would be more worried about a ghost following him, especially when he suspected it (he?) was the ghost that had overshadowed him after the accident. But he wasn’t really afraid, although he remained very curious about who exactly the ghost was.

This ever present thoughts fled as he greeted his friends at lunch. “Hey guys.”

“Hey Danny.” Sam grinned as they got in the line for food. “Make sure to try everything and tell me what you like. This is going to be great!”

Tucker crossed his arms. “No it’s not. Where’s the meat Sam? Where?”

“Will you stop?! It’s one meal, you baby!” Sam argued.

Tucker’s whining paused as the three reached the front of the line and were served. The friends took a seat at a nearby table. Nose wrinkling in disgust, Tucker poked at a blackish-brown, liquidly paste. “What is this supposed to be?”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Those are refried beans.” 

Beside her, Danny also poked at the food. “Eww, that is so gross.”

“Not you too! Vegan food is not disgusting.” 

“No Sam.” Danny motioned to what looked like lettuce on a piece of bread. “I think this lettuce has gone bad.” 

With an eyebrow raised, Sam grabbed a slimy, wilted, brown piece. Her eyes narrowed. “You’re right. I’m going to have words with someone about this. Maybe the beans are good at least.”

Just as she said that, Danny took a bite… and immediately had to resist the urge to spit it out. He swallowed forcefully but Sam had already noticed his disgusted look. “That bad?” Before he could answer, Sam also sampled the beans. Her eyes widened. “How the heck did they season this?! It’s disgusting!”

Sam stood up suddenly, clearly on her way to give a lunch lady an earful. But at the same time, Dash Baxter marched up to the table. “Fenton! How am I supposed to eat this garbage?”

Danny’s jaw dropped. “Why are you yelling at me? I didn’t do anything!”

Turning red, Dash grabbed Danny by the front of his shirt. “Well, your little girlfriend did!”

Nonsensically, the boy tried to argue. “She’s not…”

But his protest was cut off by the bully. “It’s Friday! We’re supposed to have meatloaf today! But instead, we’ve got mud pies and grass. How am I supposed to play without my meatloaf, Fenton?!”

At that, Dash threw Danny down onto the table and proceeded to dump his entire lunch on the smaller boy. At the action, a spark of anger ignited in Danny’s gut. With a growl, he fisted some of the beans on his shirt and threw them at Dash whose eyes widened with shock.

Somewhere over Dash’s shoulder, someone yelled. “Food fight!”

 As food started flying and yells projected, the cafeteria fell into chaos. Still sitting on the table and covered in food, Danny stared at the chaos dumbly. What the heck did he do?!

“Danny!” Below him someone hissed and grabbed his ankle. He almost shreaked but then saw it was Sam. “Get under here!”

The boy scrambled under the table so he laid side by side with Sam and Tucker. Sam elbowed him. “What the heck were you thinking?!”

Danny paled at that. What the heck had gotten into him? He didn’t fight back again Dash! He had thought about it before but...he wasn’t brave enough for that, not by a long shot. 

On his other side, Tucker excitedly proclaimed something. But Danny didn’t hear what he said, distracted by a flash of green light in the kitchen. What was that? Was it his ghostly stalker? He started crawling out from under the table, ignoring his friends’ calls behind him. He scrambled across the floor until he came to the door to the kitchen. Then the boy slowly stood up, peering through the window. A ghostly glow clearly radiated from the kitchen but Danny couldn’t see what (or who) it came from. Biting his lip, the boy debated whether or not he should enter for a split second, just as Sam and Tucker caught up with him.

“What are you doing?” Tucker hissed. 

But Danny ignored him. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered, his friends following right behind him. All three teenagers’ jaws dropped at the sight. A glowing floating old lady in an apron, gloves, and a hairnet searched the kitchen for something. 

At the sound of the door closing, she turned around and asked sweetly. “Hello, children. Can you help me? Today's lunch is meatloaf, but I don't see the meatloaf. Did someone change the menu?”

Thoughtlessly, Tucker answered. “Yeah.” He pointed at Sam. “She did.”

At the statement, the ghost’s expression morphed into one of rage. Her eyes flashed red and her hair flickered like flames. “YOU CHANGED THE MENU?!” The teens gasped. “THE MENU HAS BEEN THE SAME FOR FIFTY YEARS!” As she yelled, green flames appeared and circled her head.

Despite his pounding heart, Danny put his arms forward placatingly. “Hey, it’s okay. No need to get…”

His pleas cut off as glowing plates flew towards his head. With a yelp, he slammed against the wall. Not a second later, Sam and Tucker also hit the wall, assaulted by plates. Danny shakily tried to stand, the need to protect his friends rising. 

He managed to make it to his feet as the Lunch Lady yelled. “I control lunch! Lunch is sacred! Lunch has rules!” Her voice suddenly calmed. “Anybody want cake?” 

The teens shook their heads, still dazed from hitting the wall. An instant later, the ovens ignited with green fire. The ghost screamed. “Too bad! Children who change my menu do not get dessert!”

As the ovens started moving towards them, Danny ran towards his friends and hoisted them to their feet. “Run!” 

Though dazed, the two obeyed. Behind them, a crash and roar of rage sounded.Something black and white darted at the edge of Danny’s vision. 

“Why you little!” Growled the Lunch Lady.

Then behind him, an echoing voice yelped in surprise before there was another crash and a groan of pain. Meanwhile, Danny and his friends made it as far as the hallway before the lunch lady ghost appeared in front of them again. Suddenly the lights went out as all the lockers flew open. At the same time, something with an eerie green glow zoomed out of the kitchen. Danny wrinkled his nose. Was that raw meat? 

The meat swirled around the ghost, forming a grotesque meatsuit. “Prepare to learn why meat is the most powerful of the five food groups!” Then her face softened as she pulled a cookie out from nowhere. “Cookie?” 

Sam shook her head numbly. In response the ghost raised her clawed hands. “Then perish!”

Eyes widening in fear, Danny dashed in front of her. “Don’t touch her!”

The ghost roared and grabbed the boy, throwing him right into the lockers and Tucker. Danny groaned as his back throbbed in pain. Across the hall, Sam screamed as the Lunch Lady ghost grabbed her and flew down the hall, leaving a trial of meat.

“Come on Danny! We need to go!” Tucker shook him. 

Danny scrambled to his feet and the two raced down the hall. “Sam!” 

Where were they?! Where were they? How did a freaking ghost just kidnap his best friend?! Just as Danny and Tucker turned a corner, the pair slammed into Mr. Lancer, sending all three to the floor.

The man glared at them. “Running in the halls?!” He stood up slowly and pointed at Dash who had been standing behind him. “And according to Mr. Baxter here, you two started the food fight in the cafeteria. My office. Now.” 

“But..but Mr. Lancer!” Danny sputtered though the teacher ignored his widened, distressed eyes. Instead the man grabbed both boys’ wrists and practically drug them to his office while Dash followed looking smug.

The teacher opened the door and pushed the two teenagers inside before slamming it. “Mr. Fenton, Mr. Foley. Take a seat.” Walking to the file cabinet, he pulled out two files, eyes perusing each while Dash leaned against the wall looking pleased. “Tucker Foley. Chronic tardiness, talking in class, repeated loitering by the girl's locker room.” He glanced at Tucker who smiled slyly. “Danny Fenton. Thirty-four dropped beakers in the last month, banned for life from handling all fragile school property, but no severe mischief before today. So, gentlemen, tell me…”  Mr Lancer then slammed the files on the desk, voice rising in anger. “Why did the two of you conspire to destroy the school’s cafeteria?”

Danny’s eyes widened. “Dash started it!”

Mr. Lancer turned his nose up. “According to witnesses, you started it by throwing food as Mr. Baxter, then you tried to sneak out to avoid punishment.”

The boy’s jaw dropped as he glared at Dash; these so called witnesses were probably Dash’s football buddies. “But Mr. Lancer! That’s not…” He tried to argue.

“That’s enough, Mr. Fenton.” The teacher sharply ended the interrogation. He stood up to leave, stopping in the office doorway. “I'll map out your punishment when I return. Mr. Baxter, watch the door.”

After Mr. Lancer exited, Dash smirked and slammed the door, leaving Danny and Tucker to freak out about the fate of their friend.

[nocturna-starr]

The Happiest of Birthdays

Prompt: Someone takes Dani to Build a Bear

Prompter: @currentlylurking

Length: 3097

Warnings: None

Today was one of the days Danielle regretted ever being adopted by wealthy parents. Her parents were gone, once again, on another business trip. Usually, that would mean she could travel anywhere in the city she desired, but her parents had increased the bodyguards watching her. The ghost girl couldn’t give the slip to ten bodyguards! She was stuck in the mansion.

It was her birthday, though no one knew. Danielle had claimed she didn’t know the day she was born to hide from Vlad. They were definitely not on talking terms and Danielle was doing everything in her power to avoid him. When she was adopted, her parents decided that her adoption day would be her new birthday.

She couldn’t blame them for missing her birthday. If she called phoned them now, they would be on the next flight home. Danielle couldn’t do that to them; they had spent years trying to get this contract. She would never forgive herself if the company lost a once in a lifetime opportunity because of her.

That was why she chose to spend the day locked in her bedroom and away from prying eyes. She didn’t have to wear anything elegant to impress anyone. She could put on her own sweater and red beanie. Her hair was allowed to be in a ponytail. Danielle could be her old self for a day.

Her old lonely self…

At first, Danielle had tried to occupy herself with the television. You could only watch so many episodes of The Waltons before one became bored to tears. Video games never interested her as much as they did Danny. The only thing left to do was a doodle, and she just didn’t feel inspired.

“May I come in Miss Danielle?” Casey asked, gently knocking on the door.

Danielle cringed. Casey was one of the only people in the household staff that wasn’t afraid to reprimand her for manners. She had already been the victim of a lecture in table manners earlier that morning. If Casey saw her now, the older woman would very well have an aneurism

“I’m sorry Casey but I am in the middle of something important. May you come back at another time?” Danielle hated how small she sounded.

“Very well Miss. Perhaps you could check under your bed for any misplace objects? It would make tidying the room easier.” Casey was also the only person who would order Danielle to do any cleaning up. The girl had tried resisting once, but after the hot sauce event, she just did what the woman wanted.

Danielle sighed but got off her bed then went on her hands and knees. She pulled out dirty clothes and a few books that had made their way down there. Then she noticed an old cardboard box. Originally, Danielle hid it underneath the bed to hide her freakiness from her new parents. She had forgotten she put it down there!

With a little effort, Danielle pulled the box out from beneath. It was heavier than she remembered. Perhaps she was too far out of practice. Delicately, Danielle unfolded the top. Part of her was curious to see what she deemed so important to hold onto from her old life.

The first thing she saw was her Fenton Thermos. The thing seemed to be operational if the full light was still working. Oops. She pulled out her old journal. Flipping through the pages reminded her about how much her handwriting had improved. She smiled when she spotted her favourite old t-shirt. How could she have forgotten it? It was the first gift she had ever received for her birthday…

“Happy Birthday to You!” Phantom and the Red Huntress sang as Phantom presented her with a birthday cake. Danielle beamed at her closest friends.

The three were currently sitting on a picnic bench in Amity Park’s only park. Their only company were the stars above them. Only Dani was in her civilian form. From what she understood, Danny and Valerie were in a tentative truce, neither was comfortable with the other. Still, the clone was touched that they would put their rivalry aside for her.

Both her closest friends stared at her. Dani looked back confused. What did they want her to do? She wasn’t going to grab a piece, there were flaming candles on that cake! The trio stood for a moment before Phantom was hit with a revelation.

“Make a wish,” He told her, green eyes twinkling, “Then blow out the candles!”

Blow out the candles? Wasn’t that unsanitary? Who knew what diseases she could accidentally give to Phantom or the Red Huntress! Still, a tradition was tradition… She closed her eyes and silently thanked the stars for friends like Danny and Valerie. She took a deep breath and blew out all the candles.

“What did you wish for?” the Red Huntress said. Danielle could almost hear the grin in her voice.

“Valerie! Don’t you know it’s against the rules for the Birthday Girl to tell her what she wished! Then it won’t come true!” Danny childishly reprimanded. The three sat in stunned silence, before bursting out laughing.

“You sounded like a four-year-old!” the Red Huntress giggled.

Danny only grinned in response. Dani had never seen her cousin like this before. It was awesome to see him so free and know he was a superhero. She thanked her lucky stars that she managed to live that long.

“In my family,” Valerie began, “It’s tradition to open one gift before cake.” She presented a prettily wrapped box. Phantom pulled out a gift bag from beneath the table. Both looked at her expectantly. They wanted her to choose?

Dani reached for the gift from Phantom. The Red Huntress nodded as if she expected her decision. Carefully, Dani took out all the blue tissue paper. Hidden among the flimsy paper was a t-shirt. It was gray, with the NASA logo on it.

“I heard you liked space.” Danny winked.

She tackled him in a hug, “THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

She always felt a little guilty for liking the exact same things as Danny. She often wondered if he resented her for not finding her own path. The shirt was a reassurance that he was not angry with her, rather he was encouraging her. It meant more than anyone would ever know.

“As sweet as this is, I think it’s time to cut the cake!” Valerie called.

Part of her felt guilty for forgetting Danny’s gift. She still wore one of the various necklaces Valerie gave her. She took off the sweater and put on the NASA t-shirt. It still fit her like a glove. The next time she went to Amity Park she would wear it.

Danielle turned back to see the rest of the contents in the box. She still had the credit card that she stole from Vlad. Did he even realize he was missing it? Danielle highly doubted that the billionaire noticed the few hundred taken every once in a while. Without a second thought, Danielle snapped it in half. Her collection of random Pokémon cards was haphazardly thrown in there. Then Danielle’s eyes caught on a photograph from her fourteenth birthday…

Danny, Dani and Valerie were standing in line for the biggest roller coaster in the entire state of Illinois, ‘The Raging Bull’. She was practically jumping up and down with excitement, and Valerie was keeping herself just as calm. Danny, on the other hand, was looking almost as pale as his hair.

Valerie noticed this and took it as an opportunity to tease the ‘Great Danny Phantom’. “What’s wrong? The hero of Amity Park afraid of heights?”

“I don’t like roller coasters,” Phantom replied, not taking the bait.

Dani barely paid attention to them. It was almost their turn! She could feel her heart flutter in anticipation. Valerie said that going on a roller coaster was just like flying but with no control. The phrasing intrigued Dani, so she begged to go to an amusement park for her birthday. Valerie was willing to grant the wish and guilt a reluctant Phantom to come along.

“Maybe I should get out of line. I don’t think I want to do this.” Phantom decided. Valerie was having none of it.

“Chicken. Look, even Danielle is excited. You’re a ghost! There is nothing you should be afraid of!” Valerie whispered the last part so that only the trio could hear.

“I don’t like roller coasters.” Danny reiterated. He tried to leave the line but the huntress grabbed his arm, “Please Val…”

“It’s our turn!” the birthday girl shrieked. The line pushed them towards the ride. Danny was practically shaking yet couldn’t phase out of Valerie’s grasp without getting some unwanted attention. He tried to convince the girls to sit in the middle, but they dragged him to the front.

“The only way to get the full experience is to sit in the front.” The older girl’s smirk was a bit too malicious. Dani didn’t care. She was finally going on the ride!

The ride was almost everything she hoped for, if only it were a little faster. Valerie was totally right; it was just like flying! She threw her hands up in the air and screamed. She was pretty sure her cuz was screaming profanities beside her. Good thing the screaming was loud enough that the kids behind didn’t hear him.

The ride was over way too quickly. With wobbly legs, she got out of her seat. Danny had to be helped out. She watched Valerie guide Danny to a nearby trash can. Maybe it was a bad idea to pressure him on the ride after all.

She looked away and tried to ignore the sounds of the boy trying to calm his stomach. She noticed a group of people around a kiosk. She wandered over there to see what they were selling.

“Do you want to buy a picture kid?” The guy in the kiosk asked.

“We’ll take three!” Valerie answered behind her.

A while later, Danny had been able to laugh about the event. When his friends found out, they refused to let him live it down. The picture hung proudly in his room, the last time she was there. Valerie was rather fond of the one piece of evidence that Phantom had a weakness.

She tried to figure out why Danny hated that ride. He didn’t seem to have any fear of the other rides. The only answer she got from Danny was “Clowns and Jell-O”. When she asked Sam and Tucker, they told her that it was a really complicated story.

The box still had other treasures she had not yet unearthed. She pulled out a bunch of keys she had put in there. What they were for, she had forgotten. Maybe her diary could remind her? An old bar of chocolate from Dubai was surprisingly intact. Seeing the chocolate made her long to go travelling again. She wondered if chocolate ever went bad…

At the very bottom of the box was a gift for her most birthday a year ago. Its blue button eyes looked up at her. Danielle pulled out the teddy bear she had gotten from Danny and Val.

“Shopping Spree!” Valerie cheered, “With a chauffeur to carry our bags for us! Are you excited or what?”

“Haha. You know I’m just as much a part of this as you.” Danny retorted. For the first time, he and Valerie were in civilian clothes together.

A few months ago, they told each other the truth. Danielle needed to mediate between the two for a while before they calmed down. They were at the point of calming down. It was awesome to finally not have to be careful what she said to her cuz.

“You and I both know that if you had it your way, we would spend all day at the arcade.” The older girl rolled her eyes.

“I think you have me confused with Tucker again.” The teen sighed, “Where do you want to go first, Dani?”

The pressure was all on her. She needed to find a place that both Danny and Valerie would be able to tolerate. She was curious to try the hair and nail salon. Danny wouldn’t enjoy the pampering. The comics shop looked awesome as well. Valerie didn’t seem to be interested in comics. She had no interest in going to the gloomy occult store. Finally, she spotted a store that she hoped everyone could agree on.

“Let’s go there!” She pointed at the brightly coloured store.

She gained two different reactions. Danny was unphased in the slightest, almost excited. Valerie gawked at her, then shook her head. The huntress headed towards Build-a-Bear with the two ghosts following behind her.

It was no surprise that the store was filled with little kids and their parents. The trio earned suspicious glares from some of the parents. Danny sweetly waved at them. He had been treated worse by those very same people before. It must have been downright friendly by now.

She followed her friends to the area filled with unstuffed animals. Her eyes widened. There were so many to choose from! Did she want a cat or a dog, a dragon or a pony? She spotted a plain white bear. Perfect.

Danny had chosen a sky-blue bear. Valerie got one of the black dragons. Once they were finished choosing, they headed over to the stuffing station.

The three friends joined a crowd of kids and their parents. Each of them was given a red heart and instructions not to lose it. Danny was also snuck a scrap of paper with a number on it.

“Okay, we need to wake up the heart. First jump on one foot.” The lady in charge of the area began.

Each step, Danny and Dani followed almost religiously. Valerie was more halfhearted. The instructions became more and more bizarre as they continued. Why did they need to rub their stomachs and stand on one foot? Some of the kids joined Valerie in barely trying. Seeing that she was losing her audience, the staff member decided to end the waking ritual.

“All bears require a wish for them to be brought to life. What do you want most?” the woman’s whisper was barely audible. She was trying way too hard to make it suspenseful.

“I with for ma tof ta grow bac” A little boy said sadly. The children around him snickered.

“I wanna be a pilot!” A girl yelled beside Dani.

“I wish that I could be as cool as Danny Phantom!”

I wanna be a ghostbuster too!”

“I want a pony, but mommy always says no!”

“I have to pee”

“I hope that my friend will go on a date with me!” Danny said just as cheerfully. The glares from before paled to the ones Danny was getting now. Even the lady with the instructions looked mad. Valerie subtly kicked him.

“EWWW!” one of the kids whined.

“You’ll like it when you’re my age.” Danny retorted, “Great. I sound like my dad!”

“I wish for more happy birthdays,” Dani said, hoping to ease the building tension. A few parents nodded, happy to get the attention off of Danny.

Once everyone had finished, they stood quietly in line while the poor worker focused on stuffing each individual bear.

“Hug it. Now is it perfectly stuffed for you?” She asked Dani.

Dani smiled, “Yep.”

“Give me the heart I gave you so, I can finish sewing your friend together.”

Dani watched her finish at lightning speeds. She must have been working there for months, if not years. She looked older than Danny and Valerie, and they were almost eighteen. It made it all the weirder that she gave Danny her number.

“Head over to the clothing section over there to get your bear some clothes. Then head over to the naming station.” The woman instructed. “Hey, cutie!”

Dani started to head over. She turned around to see a clearly uncomfortable Danny trying to avoid conversation. Served him right for bugging the kids! Valerie seemed to agree. She looked like the cat who caught the canary.

There were so many clothes for the bears, it was actually kind of weird. The price tags were just as confusing.  Some of these things cost just as much as the darn bear! She ended stuck between a pink dress and a blue dress. Danny and Valerie joined her.

“The pink one is more in style,” Valerie told her.

“But the pink one is more expensive. I’m afraid I’ll lose it while travelling.” Dani explained

“Then get this! It’s always in style!” Danny sang.

The girls looked to see Danny holding up a white t-shirt with a strawberry in the center. Above it was the phrase “Berry Best” in cursive. Dani giggled at the pun while Valerie looked unimpressed.  Unfortunately, his outburst had attracted a lot of kids.

“I want one!”

“Mr. Date, can you get me one?”

“Mommy! The man won’t let me have that!”

Neither of the trio ended up buying any clothing for the stuffed animals.

The naming station was the most uneventful part of the trip. Danielle secretly named her bear “Snowball”. Neither Danny nor Valerie would tell the names if their new “furry friends”. After paying for the bears, the three exited with their dignity barely staying intact.

“So, where do you want to go next?” Valerie asked.

Dani thought for a moment. They HAD done something everyone would like or at least be the same amount of embarrassed… “Why don’t we go to the salon?”

The only boy in the group frowned in resignation. “I guess you guys can go ahead. I’ll meet you in an hour?”

“I don’t think so, ghost boy. You’re coming with us!” Valerie laughed.

Danny paled.

Danielle started to put the things she pulled out, back where they had been kept. The only exceptions were the t-shirt, picture and the teddy bear. Those she decided would have a permanent spot in her room. She briefly wondered if Danny and Valerie had expected her to show up. They were in college now and knew she had been adopted.

A knock drew her out of her thoughts. She opened the door and saw no one was there except her guards. They gave her quizzical looks. She gave a small awkward wave and shut the door. That was really embarrassing…

She turned to see the two heroes of Amity Park waving at her from the window. She brightened.

[darks-ink]

Absurdism Chapter 10

Jazz has some patented half-ghost self-doubt, Maddie catches on to Vlad’s sliminess, and Danny has trouble with names.

Rating: Teen/K+ (a lil swearing, because teenagers, man) Warnings: - Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Additional Tags: Sibling Bonding, Family Bonding, Alternate Universe - Halfa Jazz AU, Jazz makes friends

[AO3] [FFN] [more Absurdism on Tumblr] First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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Chapter 10: Maternal Instinct

“Jazz, honey?”

Jazz jerked awake—not that she’d been asleep, of course—and blinked blearily. It took her a moment to realize that her mom had yelled from downstairs.

“Yeah?” she called back, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Ugh. Being half-ghost was seriously exhausting. Maybe she should ask Phantom if it’s normal for her powers to cost so much energy.

“Can you come down, sweetie?”

She pushed herself to her feet, walking to the top of the stairs. “Yeah, Mom?”

“Pack your bags! I got an invite to a mother-daughter science symposium in Florida! Doesn’t that sound fun?”

Jazz perked up further. “A mother-daughter science symposium? When is it?”

“This weekend. Don’t worry about homework—if you don’t have enough time to finish it, I’ll make sure to write a note for your teachers.”

“That sounds great, Mom.” Jazz grinned at her. Since she’d become half-ghost, she hadn’t spent much time around her family. Danny was always busy with Sam and Tucker, and her parents were so busy with all that ghost stuff… This was a great opportunity!

Her dad joined her mom, bumping her gently. Or, well. As gently as Jack Fenton could. “And, to make sure you’ll be protected from rogue ghost attacks on the road, I made this.” He held out an invention of some sort, a segmented metal belt with a lock in the front. “I’m calling it the Specter Deflector! It needs a little more work, but it’ll be ready before you leave. It’ll repel and weaken any ghost who comes in direct contact with you!”

Maddie took the belt, looking it over admiringly. “Ooh. Thanks, hon.” She pressed a kiss against his cheek. “You’re the best.”

“I’ll go pack my stuff!” Jazz shouted at them, already turning around. Look, she could fight ghosts all day, but watching her parents get all lovey-dovey? No thanks.

Besides, she could be sure they were distracted now. This was a perfect opportunity to go talk with Phantom, let him know that she would be gone for the weekend. Hopefully it wouldn’t be like last time, but, well. What were the chances that Vlad would ruin another family-bonding weekend trip for her?

She shifted to her ghost form with ease, turned herself invisible and intangible to fly the short distance to Phantom unnoticed. As usual, he was hiding on a rooftop nearby; it was still too early for him to patrol Amity.

“Hey Jazz,” he greeted her when she dropped her invisibility. “What’s up?”

“Mom got an invite for a mother-daughter symposium this weekend, so I was hoping you would be fine with covering the ghost attacks for me,” she explained. “I could really use some time to just… bond with my family.”

“Of course, always,” Phantom immediately assured her, before he frowned. “Wait. Mother-daughter symposium… Organized by DALV?”

“I… don’t know?” Her core thrummed with concern. “Why? What’s wrong with it?”

He shook his head dispassionately. “Try flipping the name around.”

“DALV… oh my god.” She groaned loudly. “Really, Vlad? God, I can’t believe I didn’t catch that. Is he going to attack Mom, or something?”

“Well, besides the fact that he’s going to crash your private plane conveniently near his mansion with no phone so he can woo Mom and convince you to join him?” Phantom shrugged, faux casual. “Nah, you two will be fine. But in my universe he used my absence to send vicious ghosts after Dad.”

“Oh.” She looked down, watched her feet shuffle uncertainly on the rooftop. “So you… won’t come with? Just to be sure Vlad won’t do anything?”

Phantom sighed, deep and pensive. “I… don’t think it would be a good idea. Dad made it through Vlad’s attack in my universe, but I’m not sure how. I just… I don’t want to risk it not panning out the same, y’know? Besides, you’re smarter than me, and more competent than me, and better trained than me. You’ll be fine. Trust yourself, Jazz.”

She made a face. Trust herself? She wasn’t half as competent a fighter as Phantom. There was no way she could stand up against Vlad, if push came to shove. “Yeah, alright,” she said anyway. “I get it. If I asked you to come along, and when we got back we discovered that… that.” She paused.

“Yeah, exactly,” Phantom said, clearly knowing what she was trying to say. “Look. I know that it’s… hard, to be half-ghost. Your only examples of other half-ghosts have years of experience over you, so you’ll always feel like you’re just… plodding along. That you’re not as good as them. I know. I remember what it was like. I’m pretty sure that, in my original universe, this was the weekend that I had planned to figure out duplication, because I felt so bad that Vlad could do it and I couldn’t. But trust me, Jazz, when I say you’re way better than I was.”

She scoffed disbelievingly.

“No, really.” He nudged her, gently. “Sam and Tucker and I were training, right? A general check-up on my powers, how good everything was, down in the lab. During the intangibility test I hit the wall at full speed, because I didn’t quite have a good enough grip on it yet. Forget making a decent shield. I know that it’s hard not to compare yourself to my current level, Jazz, but I’m still more than two years ahead of you. You’ll get there.”

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. It was more comforting than it had any right to be. “Besides, strength isn’t everything. Your greatest advantage over me will always be your intelligence, Jazz, and don’t forget it. Not everything is about punching your way out of a bad situation.”

“Alright.” And she tried to let herself believe it, really. “You’ve convinced me. If it comes down to it, I’ll fight Vlad with my smarts.”

“There you go!” He grinned at her, his green eyes vibrant and sparkling. “And I know just where to start! Let me know when Dad finishes the Specter Deflector, will you? I know how to tweak its coding so it ignores certain ecto-signatures, so I can make sure it doesn’t work on us.”

She smiled back. “That sounds great. Thank you, Phantom.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said. His grin was almost completely genuine.

---

Jazz watched her Mom shear through some more plants with the machete she (apparently) had hidden in her boot. Phantom had said that they would be alright, but still… she wasn’t looking forward to whatever might come next.

Her mom gasped, and Jazz jerked her eyes back forward. In front of them laid a large building, ornate and grand.

Vlad’s mansion.

“Or maybe we could stay at this ritzy mountain chalet,” Maddie suggested, humor in her tone. “I’m open.”

Jazz opened her mouth to reply, but a horn honked and she shut her mouth. A golf cart pulled up, driven by no one else but…

“Vlad Masters?” Maddie gasped.

“Oh, what an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise,” he purred back, leaning over the steering wheel. “Might I offer you two a stay in my luxurious chalet?”

Maddie laughed, climbing into the seat next to Vlad. “Well, if you insist…”

Looked like they were, in fact, doing this. Jazz rolled her eyes but climbed into the back of the golf cart, letting Vlad drive them back to the mansion. Even if Phantom was sure that Vlad wouldn’t harm her mom, she still intended to stay close and be sure. Although Maddie was wearing the Specter Deflector, so she would probably be fine. Assuming it worked, which, knowing her dad, wasn’t guaranteed.

Vlad led them into a large cozy room, with stupendously large chairs and hunting trophies all along the wall. Vlad was a hunter? Color her surprised.

“So, what brings you two to these parts?” Vlad asked, watching them wander around in the room. “Not that I am unhappy to see you two, of course, but we are quite far from Amity Park.”

Jazz watched her mom pull a book from a shelf, glancing through it. “You would never believe it,” Maddie said, not looking up. “We were on our way to this symposium, and our pilot forced us out of the plane right over your house.”

“Yes, what a rather convenient coincidence.” Jazz scoffed.

Vlad narrowed his eyes at her. “Yes, you two are certainly lucky to have landed so nearby. But…” He slid closer to Maddie, leaning on the bookshelf next to her. “Maddie, I’m so glad you’re here. It gives me the chance to apologize for Jack’s behavior at our college reunion.”

“Wasn’t Dad possessed by a ghost?” Jazz asked, tone light. Her mom had barely even glanced at Vlad. “A filthy, putrid piece of ectoplasm?”

Vlad shot her another glare, his eyes briefly flaring red. He then turned back, snapping Maddie’s book shut and taking it out of her hand entirely. Rude.

“Well,” Vlad said laconically, “If he hadn’t been so weak, perhaps that never would have happened, hm?”

“Now, Vlad, Jack might be a bumbler, but he means well.” Maddie looked at him briefly, before turning back to the bookshelves.

Vlad rolled his eyes, sliding the book in his hands back into place. “I know, Maddie. And I’ve forgiven him for many things: causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident—”

“Whoa, back up.” Maddie jerked back to attention, her voice a little shrill. She was looking right at Vlad, now. “What was that?”

He blinked at her, innocently. “Causing the accident that ruined my life?”

Her eyes narrowed. “No, after that.”

“The… backwash incident?” he tried.

Maddie growled exasperatedly, gesturing with a hand. “No. In the middle!”

“Oh, the stealing you part?” Vlad’s eyes went big, like he’d been surprised, before leaning closer to Maddie. “Ah, you always could see right through me.”

Jazz was pleased to see her mom jerk backwards, looking rather uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Vlad didn’t leave it at that.

“Oh, Maddie, I’m just going to come right out with it. Please dump Jack and stay here. You and Jazz both can. What do you say?”

It was like her mom had been frozen solid. Her hands had balled into tight fists, her shoulders hard and tense. She looked a second away from punching Vlad.

“Jazz,” Maddie said, voice low and flat, “Come on, we’re leaving.”

And leave, she did. Maddie whirled around, stomping back towards the exit of the mansion. Jazz quickly followed after her, shooting a worried glance towards the windows. It had gone dark outside. They would have to rough it through the night anyway.

Hurried footsteps chased after them, but Vlad stopped in the doorway.

“Mark my words, Maddie!” he shouted after them, his voice loud in the quiet woods. “Nobody says no to Vlad Masters! You will rue the day that you spurned my affection!”

“What a creep,” Jazz muttered under her breath.

They wandered deeper into the woods, where her mom set up a camp with frightening efficiency. Before Jazz knew it, a wooden shelter had been set up, and a campfire roared in front of her.

Maddie sat down next to her, the light of the fire glinting off of her metal belt. “Jazz, this weekend certainly isn’t turning out like I planned. But we’re spending it together, and that just means the world to me.”

Carefully, she placed her hand on Jazz’. It tingled, slightly, a barely-there buzz. Jazz supposed that the Specter Deflector picked up on the ambient ectoplasm around her.

“I know,” she told her mom, smiling softly. “I’m glad that we’re out here together, too.”

“Let’s just get some sleep, and we’ll figure out what to do next tomorrow.” Maddie stood up, grabbing both sleeping bags and dragging them into the shelter.

Jazz followed her, taking her own sleeping bag and lying down. “Good night, Mom.”

“Good night, Jazz. I love you.”

She smiled, softly, her eyes closed. “Love you too.”

Of course, the peace didn’t last. Jazz had barely closed her eyes before her core stirred, her ghost sense misting out of her mouth.

She was just considering if she could get away with taking care of it without her mom noticing when a loud roar broke the quiet. Maddie jerked upright immediately, her head turning towards the entrance of the shelter. Jazz followed her gaze, and, oh.

In the opening of the shelter, she could see a short, curled leg, with enormous claws. It looked like a bear’s, except that this bear glowed and had bright green fur.

“Ghost,” her mom muttered unnecessarily. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Uh. Okay?” Jazz stayed hunkered down, watching her mom dig through her utility belt, before she pulled out a faintly glowing rope. “You have weapons in there?”

“Of course I do.” Maddie raised a questioning eyebrow. “But this is just phase-proof rope. I’ll tie it down and make sure there aren’t more.”

“Sounds good,” she said. And it did, she supposed. She just had to trust her mom to handle it. It would be fine, right? Maddie was an experienced ghost hunter. She could handle a single animal ghost.

Maddie jumped out of the shelter with the rope between her hands, tripping up the ghost in the same movement. For a brief moment, Jazz could see the whole animal. It really was a bear, except even bigger than regular bears, with six arms and bright red eyes.

Before she could consider jumping in and helping, her Mom had the animal pinned. The Specter Deflector buzzed loudly, sparks dancing over Maddie’s jumpsuit and into the bear. She tied it up with the ecto-rope like it was nothing.

Huh. Looked like the Specter Deflector worked fine. That was good to know.

Jazz crept out of the shelter as well, sidling up close to Maddie. “Mom, that was awesome!”

“Oh, Jazz, thank you.” Maddie smiled down at her, lit by the dying fire. For a moment, Jazz’ core felt full, rumbling pleasantly.

And then her ghost sense went off again, and she just barely held in the cold mist that formed.

Luckily—or was it?—she didn’t need to figure out a way to warn her mom, because another animal ghost pushed its way through the bushes, growling loudly. And another. And another. And, oh boy, another.

“That’s… a lot of them,” Maddie said, slowly. She reached down in her belt with one hand. “Jazz, are you ready to move?”

“Uh huh.” She shuffled a step or two back, away from the ghosts. They growled louder in response.

There was no way they could outrun a wolf, ghostly or not.

“Let’s go!” her mom shouted, sprinting away. Jazz waited a beat before following, tugging on her core and hoping this stupid plan would work. She hadn’t practiced using her powers in human form much, and by god did she regret it now. Definitely something to work on when she was back in Amity.

Her core churned loud in her chest. Behind her, the clearing grew brighter, like the fire had been stirred up, casting their immediate vicinity in golden light.

The ghost wolves behind them yelped as they ran into her shield, feeble as it was.

Jazz kept running.

Eventually they came to a stop, the clearing around them dark. Jazz looked around warily, but her core remained still. Even with her enhanced vision, it was hard to make out details.

“I think we got away from them,” she said, breathing heavily. “We need to figure out a way to call Dad. Or to leave, at least.”

“As much as I hate to say this,” Maddie admitted, “I think we should go back to Vlad’s.”

Jazz jerked, her eyes flying to her mom. “But— He said all those terrible things about Dad!”

“We both know he’s a creep. But he’s a creep with a phone and transportation.” Maddie sighed, then unlocked her Specter Deflector.

Before Jazz could stop her, the belt clicked closed around her own waist.

“Here. This will keep you safe if those ghosts come back.”

“Right. Um. Thanks, Mom.” She watched as the key was tucked back into Maddie’s utility belt. “Uh. Do you know which way Vlad’s mansion is?”

---

Danny’s ghost sense went off, and he immediately perked up. Several animal ghosts stormed over the streets towards FentonWorks.

“Looks like it’s showtime,” he grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. He shifted into Phantom mid-step, jumping off of the roof when he reached it.

The ghosts had made it before he could, so Danny turned himself invisible when he phased inside. And boy, was he glad he did, because Jack stood armed and ready. The entryway around him was splattered with ectoplasm, the remains of earlier ghosts.

Danny darted around him, figuring that Jack could handle the downstairs, and he would take upstairs. He turned the corner and dropped his invisibility, figuring he’d better preserve his energy.

Another ghost phased through one of the upper walls, rabbit-like. Y’know, if rabbits were bright green, the size of a dog, and armed with tusk-like teeth.

He charged an ecto-blast, hitting the animal square in the side. It thudded against the wall, immediately dissolving into ectoplasm. Ah, yes, that was right. Vlad’s little animal critters were incredibly unstable.

Man, this was bringing back some unfortunate memories.

Two boars phased through the ceiling, and Danny gladly blasted them, too. Their ectoplasm splattered onto the ceiling, and he grimaced. Whoops. Sorry to whoever would have to clean that up.

“What are you doing?”

He froze, then turned around, slowly. Plastered a sheepish grin onto his face. “Uh. Saving your dad?”

“Yeah?” Danny Fenton asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “By splattering ectoplasm everywhere?”

He shrugged. “Kinda. Vlad sent a bunch of unstable animal ghosts here to kill Jack. I dunno how Dad survived them in my own universe, but I figured I would lend a hand here.”

“Vlad… Vlad Masters?” his alternate universe version asked, and oh yeah, he hadn’t mentioned that part before, had he? “Ugh, never mind. Where’s Dad?”

“Downstairs.” His core coiled, and he breathed out blue mist on his next exhale. “Oh, here they come again.”

Other Danny nodded, ducking past him and rushing towards the stairs. “You’re an idiot if you think Dad made it through a fight like this alone.”

“What? There was no one— oh. Duh.” Danny shook his head, turning to follow his human counterpart. “Jazz must’ve helped him.”

“If she could, so can I.” He didn’t even blink when Danny turned himself invisible again, rushing down the stairs and entryway.

They were just in time to watch two bird-like ghosts divebomb Jack, knocking the weapon out of his hands. Danny jerked upwards to avoid it, but human Danny jumped and caught it.

He glanced downwards at it, then back at the ghosts, a determined expression on his face. He put a finger on the button, then rushed towards the ghosts. Danny made a face but followed right behind, ready to blast away the ghosts if necessary.

His human counterpart pressed the button, revealing the invention to be the Jack-o’-Nine-Tails. He managed to tangle the ghosts in the cables, slamming them both against the floor. They destabilized in one hit, their ectoplasm splattering on the floor and walls.

“Wow!” Jack exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet. “Good job, Danno!”

Danny ignored the curdling in his stomach. It wasn’t his dad, and he wasn’t praising him.

“Thanks Dad,” Danny’s voice answered. “Here, take this back. You got an ectogun for me, or something?”

He didn’t want to stay close, but… he was the only half-ghost here. If anyone had to take any hits, or shield the others, it would be him.

Besides, he had kind of accidentally dragged this universe’s version of him into this. Jazz would end him if he got her brother killed.

Still, he could break from them while those two searched for weapons.

There were more ghosts upstairs, and Danny occupied himself for a while blasting those apart. A bear, oversized and six-armed, lunged for him, and Danny raised his arm to blast it away.

A green bolt of ectoplasm flew past him, hitting the animal before he could.

He froze, looking over his shoulder to find… ah, human Danny, of course. He’d swapped his clothes for a jumpsuit, close-fitting but bright orange. Not his own, then. In his arms, he held a large ectogun.

“I had it,” Danny grumbled at him, rolling his eyes.

“Sure you did,” his human counterpart said, lightly. “Let me get a few shots in too, will ya? Someone’s gotta have Jazz’ back when you leave.”

And, ugh. He had a point there.

“Alright, you take point, then.” Danny flew back, hovering over the ghost hunter. “I’ll shield you if necessary.”

“Sweet,” other Danny whistled, a grin on his face. His ectogun whined, then shot another brilliant green bolt, blasting apart the ghost that had just phased through the wall. “You got some way to track these guys?”

“Kinda. I can sense ghosts, and direction if I focus, but nothing really solid.”

“Good enough.” Human Danny heaved his gun onto his shoulder. “Let’s go back downstairs. Try to stay out of sight, will you?”

“Was already planning to.” He followed the other down the stairs, turning himself invisible. “I’m not jumping to get shot by your dad.”

To his credit, human Danny did try to avoid Jack; they mostly fought in separate rooms. And Danny didn’t have to interfere all that much, either. He blasted the occasional ghost, when it tried to attack the others from the back, but not much else.

Well, not until another enormous bear showed up. Danny had just blasted away a ghost from over the other’s shoulder, and thus hadn’t been watching their back.

The bear’s roar shook the walls, and they both whirled around towards it.

“Oh shit,” human Danny whispered, hauling his gun upwards. They both knew it was too close for the shot to fend it off, though.

Danny raised his hands, dropped his invisibility, and poured all his energy into his hands. The shield that formed might’ve been his fastest ever, and it was just barely fast enough.

The ghost thudded against it, claws scraping over the shield’s surface.

“Holy shit,” he heard whispered behind him, as he strained to hold the shield.

“Get ready to fire,” he snarled back, not turning to look. “I’ll push it away, but I can’t fire that soon.”

“Ready,” he heard, and then he shoved. His core spluttered, but the bear was knocked back into the wall. An enormous blast of ectoplasm followed it, hitting the bear right in the chest. It burst apart, coating the entire living room wall with ectoplasm.

Danny panted with the effort. His core churned, but it quickly recovered, ready for another bout of fighting.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he assured the other Danny, flapping a dismissive hand. “I’m just… not used to making shields that quickly. And, to be honest, it’s been a while since my last endurance fight.”

The other watched him for a moment longer, a worried crease to his brow, before he nodded. “Alright, well. Let’s get back to it, then.”

They fought off several more ghosts, darting around Jack where necessary, before the quiet fell in FentonWorks. Danny watched as his human counterpart leaned against the kitchen table, panting, the gun loosely held in his hand. He looked up when his dad entered the kitchen, the man’s eyes settling on him.

Oh, uh, whoops. He must’ve dropped his invisibility somewhere along the line.

“Phantom,” the man boomed, and Danny flinched back, inadvertently hiding behind human Danny.

But Jack didn’t raise the Jack-o’-Nine-Tails he held in his hand. Just looked right at him.

“Uh, hey?” he finally said, realizing that his dad wasn’t going to say anything else.

Jack’s eyes slowly swept over him, then over the human he was hiding behind, and then back to Danny.

“Alone today?” Jack asked, and it took Danny a moment to realize what he was trying to ask.

“Uh, yeah.” He shrugged loosely, vaguely shocked at how civil this conversation was. “Specter is my sister, but we’re not, like, glued together.”

Jack nodded, seemingly pleased, and stepped forward. And then… put his weapon down on the kitchen table, too. Right in front of Danny.

“Um,” he said, before he could stop himself. “Are you sure you should be putting that down?”

“Planning on attacking me, Phantom?” Jack raised a questioning eyebrow.

“No, but there are probably more ghosts around.” He floated away from human Danny, cocking his head at Jack. “Why aren’t you… y’know?”

“You two are not nearly as subtle as you seem to think.” Jack’s eyes wandered back to his actual son. “I don’t trust you, Phantom, but I’ve seen you in here. Seen you shield my son, and watch his back. I know my Danny, and he’s not that good a ghost hunter.”

Said son huffed and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I have any experience with it.”

“Oh,” Danny said, shuffling mid-air. “Well, um. Thanks, I guess?”

Quiet fell for a moment, before human Danny elbowed him in the side. “Not to disturb the peace or anything, but are we actually clear?”

“Uh, hold on.” Danny stirred his core up again, trying to cast out his ghost sense. He hadn’t had much practice with it, using his ghost sense as a radar of sorts, but it was a useful skill to have. He tasted the air, the pulse of cores. “No, not yet. There are a few still around.”

“Well, back to the grind we go.” The teen pushed himself away from the table, raising his gun back up. “Lead the way, Phantom.”

“Hold on,” Jack interrupted them. He grabbed his weapon as well, eyes settling on Danny. “You can track them?”

“Built-in ghost sense,” Danny explained with a shrug. “Usually it just warns me when other ghosts are close, but I can track ones that are close if I really try.”

Jack nodded, then gestured, a grin wide on his face. “Let’s go get them, boys.”

---

Maddie knocked on the door, and Jazz plastered on her most pleasant smile. Vlad opened the door with a startled expression, but quickly smoothed it over with a—frankly slimy—grin.

“Maddie, Jasmine! You have returned to me,” he greeted them, unnecessarily cheery.

He stepped aside to let them in, but Maddie pressed forward a little further than she normally would have. “Jazz, honey, why don’t you go somewhere else while the adults talk?”

“Sure thing,” she replied, creeping past the two of them, practically unnoticed. Vlad’s eyes had settled on Maddie, and only Maddie. “If you need me, I’ll be over there.” She gestured vaguely, but neither noticed.

She watched as her mom smiled coyly at Vlad, and grimaced as she ducked into a different hallway. She wanted to use the opportunity to search for a phone—her ghost powers would make it quicker than her mom could—but she didn’t know if the Specter Deflector would activate if she did.

Well, actually. Might as well go look on foot, right? She would just stick somewhat nearby, so she could check in if Maddie needed her to take over distraction duty.

Her search of Vlad’s mansion was quick, but bore little fruit. Vlad didn’t have a single phone in the whole building! There were several vehicles, though, which they might be able to borrow if Vlad wasn’t around.

She returned to the hallway she’d been hiding in earlier just in time to see her mom ducking around the corner.

“No phones anywhere, but there’s a bunch of different vehicles that we could maybe borrow,” Jazz whispered as she slid up to Maddie. “ATVs, cars, a helicopter… but no phone.”

Her mom made a face. “I want to take a look around, just to be sure. Why don’t we meet up at the helicopter in fifteen minutes, and we’ll use that if I can’t find anything better.”

“Alright. I’ll keep Vlad distracted for you.”

Maddie nodded, then headed off through the doorway. Jazz hung back for a moment, sorting through possible plans of approach.

There was no way that Vlad would just let them leave, so she had to take him out. There was no way she could take him in a fight, though. Not a fair fight, at least. But according to Phantom, he had beaten Vlad by using Vlad’s own invention, a taser which shorted out their powers. She just had to take it from him, and, well. Intangibility made for easy pick-pocketing, as much as she hated to admit it.

She turned around the corner, smoothing out her hair and returning her nice-girl smile to her face. “Hey, um, Uncle Vlad?”

Vlad was sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace, but he looked up from the book in his hands when she spoke up. “Oh, please, Jasmine, don’t try to butter me up. Mentor or not, you’re hardly a threat to me.”

“How can you say that?” She blinked large wet eyes at him, her tone as soft and innocent as she could make it. “You think my mom made the decision to come back on her own? We’re a family. We both talked about it, and I want to stay here with you too.”

Vlad visibly brightened up, his eyes turning suspiciously wet. “Really? You don’t mean…”

“Yes, I do.” She pushed down her roiling gut, the feeling she had to puke just for talking sweet to this man. She apologized internally to her dad for what she would have to say next. “Come on, give me a big hug, new Dad!”

The man grinned widely, immediately dropping the book and approaching for the hug. She wrapped her arms around him first, turning one hand intangible to dig through his pockets. Around her waist, the Specter Deflector buzzed louder and louder, the feeling of static dancing over her skin.

Vlad screamed, immediately letting her go. Electricity still darted over his skin, his suit scorched in places.

Jazz tucked the hand with the taser behind her back.

“You little rat!” Vlad snarled at her, his eyes flashing red. “You tricked me! But you’ve underestimated me! I don’t need to touch you to fight—”

He frowned, suddenly, hand patting at his empty pocket.

“Wow, were you really going to fight me as Plasmius?” she asked innocently, folding her hands behind her back. “Even though my mom might come back any moment?”

Vlad growled, stepping closer to her again. He raised a hand, glowing pink ectoplasm swirling around it. “You underestimate my power, little girl!”

She cocked her head, smirking at him. “Do I?”

Suddenly she darted forward, pressing the taser against Vlad’s side. She held down the button, watched as the ectoplasm around his fist fizzled out again.

“How about now?” she asked, pulling the taser out of his reach. “That shorted out your powers for three hours, didn’t it?”

Vlad blinked at her, frizzled and clearly surprised. “How do you know about— No, never mind. Because, Jasmine, you’ve forgotten about one more detail!”

He whistled, the sound loud and echoing. Jazz’ core stirred with her ghost sense as several animal ghosts phased through the floor, grouping around Vlad.

“Get her!” the man commanded, pointing at her.

“Me?” She pointed a finger at herself. “But why would they be mad at me? I’m not the one who made their pelts into wall art.”

She gestured at the hunting trophies on the wall, the bearskin on the floor.

The animal ghosts turned back to Vlad, growling and snarling at him.

“Go on, get him,” she encouraged them, and the mob of ghosts lunged at Vlad. The man swore, immediately racing for the door.

Maybe not the most polite way of handling this conflict, but, well. Sometimes you needed to use a little more force.

She glanced at the clock, made a face. Time to head up to the helicopter and get out.

Jazz met her mom on the helipad. “Any luck?”

“No. Looks like we’ll be borrowing Vlad’s helicopter. Where is he?”

“I asked him already. He’s alright with it.” She grinned innocently as they climbed into the chopper seats. “And, Mom? It was a little unconventional, and definitely not what we planned, but… I’m glad that we got to spend some time together.”

Maddie smiled back, soft and warm and genuine. “Oh, Jazz, that’s so sweet.”

The helicopter roared to life around them. Amity Park was waiting.

[ladylynse]

Hey, LF Anon, since I’m working on another chapter of Whirlwind for :D Anon (at least once I get back to writing again, maybe Saturday?), I figure you deserve more of Le Fantôme, so here’s the rest of that scene that (should) fill in a couple of blanks for this one. (I’m cheating because I ended up finishing this before I wrote the new scene for you, but still, you haven’t seen all of it before.)

-|-

Amity Park - Three Days Ago

Vlad disliked having to answer the door himself and pretend he’d given his servants the day off, but he could hardly let the citizens of Amity Park know how often he employed ghosts. It was a well-known fact that he worked from home as often as from city hall, so he couldn’t ignore the doorbell every time it rang, either. Really, he needed a better screening process. All Maddie (his program, not his cat) had told him was that he would be pleased if he answered the door, even though she knew he was on a deadline. “Trust me, sugar plum!”

If he hadn’t programmed her, he wouldn’t trust her. He still wasn’t sure who had introduced the virus that had connected her to the Jack program—it was supposed to be defunct—but he suspected young Daniel’s friend. It had taken him too long to disable it for it to be anyone else. Vlad hated to admit it, but Tucker Foley’s skill with electronics and technology in general rivalled Technus’s.

“Yes?” he ground out as he wrenched the door open. It was too early on a weekday to deal with this, especially when he was busy packing for his trip, and if it was another package to sign for—

“Vlad?”

Daniel Fenton stood on his doorstep. He was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt but had a duffel bag slung over one shoulder.

“Daniel? What is it?”

The teenager stared at him, and then he spoke, his words dripping with bitterness. “What do you think? I need to get away. Can I live with you for a while?”

Vlad blinked. He was not aware of any reason Jack and Maddie might have discovered Daniel’s secret, unless the boy’s incompetence and carelessness had finally caught up to him. Moreover, he couldn’t bring himself to believe that he was Daniel’s first choice when it came to something like this. He was far more likely to run to his little friends for help. “I’m flattered, little badger, but do you—?”

“It didn’t go well,” Daniel interrupted. “Didn’t you hear me? I need to get away. Out of the country is preferable. I hear France is nice this time of year.”

Vlad sighed. Daniel was far from subtle, though Vlad supposed he couldn’t really point fingers. He wondered how the boy had found out he was leaving town for the week. His blabbermouth of a father, no doubt, though Vlad didn’t recall telling Jack he was leaving for Paris and not Wisconsin.

“Come in,” he said. “I leave for my business trip within the hour. You can come along and tell me what happened.” It wouldn’t be difficult for him to get Daniel a ticket, even if the flight was full. He could probably have the arrangements made even without resorting to his ghost powers by the time his private jet landed at O’Hare. He had found it a rather accommodating airport in the past; money had so much pull these days.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Daniel said as he pushed his way inside.

Vlad closed the door and turned to follow the sullen teenager. “Do they—?”

“No.”

“You didn’t even give me time to finish, Daniel.”

“They don’t know about you.” Daniel dropped his bag in the middle of the hallway and rounded on Vlad. “You think I’d run to you if they did? You wouldn’t be safe.”

No, he wouldn’t be, but he had no guarantee that would last, either. If Jack and Maddie knew the truth about Phantom, it was possible even Jack could subsequently discover the truth of Plasmius.

“Your friends—”

“They can’t help me either. And it’s not like I can run to Aunt Alicia. Even if she’d be fine with all this, they’d look for me there.”

And they wouldn’t look for him here, at least not right away, because they knew he was going out of town—and, well, even Jack might have realized he wasn’t exactly Daniel’s favourite person.

Vlad decided not to push it right now. Daniel clearly wasn’t about to provide him with more details, and he could guess some of what would be said anyhow. Without knowing the truth, neither Sam’s nor Tucker’s parents would realize the gravity of the situation. Even if the kids conspired to keep Jack and Maddie from their son, they would invariably fail sooner rather than later. He, at least, had the power to properly hide the poor boy, especially in light of all the Fenton inventions that could track them both—and, as Daniel had known, he was leaving the country, not just the city.

Were he remaining in Amity Park, his help would have been undoubtedly asked for even if the reasons for asking were not explained in the interest of discretion. As it was, he could act as Daniel’s guardian without question. He already had impeccably forged documents for everything (passport included) in preparation for the time Daniel decided to renounce his father; he simply hadn’t expected that it would happen so soon.

“You do realize this isn’t a long trip,” Vlad said slowly, reaching down to retrieve Daniel’s bag. “I still have my mayoral duties to attend to; we’ll be gone for a week at most.”

Daniel smiled. “That’ll be enough time,” he said. “Thanks.”

Enough time for what? Daniel wasn’t one to plan, unless his sister or his friends were coming up with something to stage in his absence. Vlad supposed that was possible. They would go to extreme lengths to protect his secret if they felt it necessary, and from what Daniel had hinted about his parents’ reaction, it would be necessary. A trick, perhaps, to make the revealed secret appear to be nothing more than a misunderstanding—or merely some ghost trickery. Vlad’s lip curled at the thought; Jack and Maddie were entirely too quick to attribute things to trickery, whether the truth lay in reality or fiction. Whatever the case, it was no doubt better for the real Danny Fenton to be elsewhere.

“I could take you to Wisconsin afterward,” Vlad found himself offering. “It would be…quiet. I can arrange for the Booo-merang to be disassembled, and they wouldn’t look for you there.” He paused. “We could decide what the best path forward is from there, little badger.”

Daniel nodded slowly. “That might help. We’ll see how things go. If everything falls into place, it might not be necessary.”

There was a plan, then; just not one Daniel felt he should be privy to. That he was used to, and Vlad tried not to grind his teeth over the revelation. He would have to earn the boy’s trust if he was going to find out the details. Knowing their past, that wouldn’t be the easiest thing to do, but this trip….

This trip would help. 

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