#Ectober2019

[wastefulreverie]

Ectober19 Fangs

A Little Off Point

Genre: Humor/Family

Word Count: 2705

Maddie had noticed that there was something off about her son for a while but fangs were really pushing it. She saw the way that they poked out when he smiled… how they pierced into his food, leaving holes in his unfinished meals. But when she looked, they were never there. His teeth were smooth, not pointy at all! She wasn't stupid; she knew that he must be hiding them somehow. That was the only explanation.

Danny had fangs. That wasn't the only thing that was wrong about him, but it was definitely the most frustrating.

Nowadays, he was cold to the touch, cold enough that she'd mistaken his flesh for porcelain more than once. Additionally, he always wore darker, longer clothing—even in the midst of summer. She tried asking him why and he always claimed that it was just a fashion choice. His friend Sam backed him up, defending Danny's emo aesthetic. She knew she shouldn't criticize Danny's clothes but she couldn't just let it go.

His grades were dropping too. Sure, high school was difficult and Danny never made stellar grades in middle school but Maddie knew that this was deeper. She'd spoken with several of his teachers and learned that he often slept in class or failed to show up at all.

That drew Maddie's attention to Danny's sleeping habits, which lead to another can of worms. He was sneaking out at night! She still couldn't figure how he left his room, but he refused to tell her how or where he'd been.

Despite all this, the fangs were what got her. All the other oddities could be brushed off as normal teenage problems. But not the fangs. This was something supernaturally wrong.

"You've noticed it, haven't you Mads?" Jack broached the topic one morning after Danny left for school. "That he's..."

"Not human anymore," she whispered. "He's something else."

"Our son… is he still Danny? He—he acts like Danny."

"I want to believe it's still him, but he's so different now. You know he sneaks out, right?" Her eyes welled with tears. "My baby… I don't know who he is anymore, Jack!"

He shook his head. "Neither do I. I think he's trying to act like nothing's changed, but it's clear that something has. I just… we need to talk to him about this. About what he is now."

"Are you thinking the same thing I'm thinking? That he's a—a—"

"Vampire. He has to be. I've never seen anything else like it."

She nodded. "It would explain the coldness, the dark clothes, and the late-night outings. And his fangs, those damn fangs. I can't really see what else it would be!"

"Exactly. Today, after he comes home from school we'll confront him about it. I can't keep pretending anymore."

"Neither can I, Jack. Neither can I."

Typically, when he returned home from school, his parents were in the lab or out ghost hunting. So, Danny usually flew straight right up to his bedroom. By the time his parents finished their afternoon activities, they assumed he was already in his room, so there wasn't any reason to pretend to use the door. He figured that today was the same as any other day, so he phased right into his room and started on his homework.

As luck had it, today was not like every other day.

He pulled his desk chair across the floor and dropped his backpack onto the carpet. He was about to sit down when Mom's voice carried upstairs.

"Danny! Is that you?"

Shit.

She wasn't supposed to be out of the lab yet. He'd messed up; he shouldn't have started taking things for granted.

Hopefully, she hadn't realized that he hadn't come in through the front door. Otherwise, he'd have to pretend he scaled his window and that wouldn't be easy to explain. Oh yeah Mom, just figured I'd climb two stories in broad daylight because it seemed fun! Like that'll go over well.

"Uh, yeah! Just doing my homework!"

His heart pounded in his chest. Please… leave it at that.

Unfortunately, Mom had other plans.

"Could you come down here? Your Dad and I want to talk with you."

The hairs on his neck stood on end. A talk was never good. It was probably about his grades again. He'd failed two tests in the past week and completely bombed an essay worth twenty percent of his grade.

"Alright!" he called. "Just a minute!"

He pushed his chair back in and hesitantly descended the stairs. Both of his parents were waiting for him on the couch, glancing between him and the floor. Okay… that was weird. If his parents were nervous too this may not be the sort of conversation he'd anticipated. Maybe they had realized he hadn't used the front door.

"Take a seat, Danno."

He sat in the loveseat across from the couch.

"We need to talk about something and I don't really know how to say it. Mads?"

Danny gulped. That really didn't sound good.

"We need to talk about how you've changed. We know Danny, and it's okay. We just… need to talk about it. No holding back, no secrets."

It took a good ten seconds before her words made sense.

They… knew?

This couldn't be happening. They couldn't know! They'd—they'd reject him for sure! But somehow they did know and Mom had said it was 'okay'. Alright, so that meant they didn't want to experiment on him or kick him out (unless it was a trick!), so… they were open-minded. But why? He was a ghost! The thing they hated most in the world!

Maybe they didn't know all of it. Maybe they only knew part of it… could that be it? Maybe they knew that he had powers or that he was half-ghost. Or… maybe he'd slipped up completely; maybe they knew he was Phantom.

All that mattered is that he messed up somewhere. He just didn't know where or when. And now he was facing the consequences. Now his parents knew and everything was going to change. He wasn't ready for this. (But would he ever be?)

"What do you mean?" he tried playing dumb. It was a futile attempt—the look on his face had already given him away.

"You're… not human anymore. We don't know how, but we get it. You're still trying to be yourself despite your nature," Dad said.

Mom nodded. "We just want to understand this and how we can help you. We want to embrace this as a family and move on."

Danny's eyes widened. "You're okay with this? With… how I am?"

This was all too… perfect. He figured that he would have to plead for acceptance, that they'd shoot first and ask questions later. But they were content with their son's inhumanity and maybe that didn't mean they knew everything, but Danny was far too relieved to jeopardize their acceptance to qualify exactly what they knew.

"It doesn't hurt me that you've changed, it hurts me that you've hidden this whole other side from us," Mom explained. "I'm mad, but I can move on."

"We'd never hate you over something you can't control."

"Wow… you guys—" he choked. "You guys actually get it."

"Well, we don't get everything," Dad admitted. "We've figured out that you're… y'know… but we don't understand anything other than that."

"Yeah, I guess it is pretty complicated," he laughed. "It's not every day you find out your son's half-dead."

His parents' expressions fell. Suddenly, he was paranoid about what he'd said wrong.

Mom wrapped her hand around her wrist and squeezed.

"So… so you've died?" she whispered. "Oh, Danny…"

"Uh, yeah." He brushed the back of his neck. "Only half, though. My heart still beats, I need air, and I still need to eat human food."

"But that's not all you need?" Dad caught on.

"Well, yeah… I need to feed my other half. Which is gross and it sucks."

His parents shared a significant glance.

"Danny," Dad said carefully, "we get that it's a personal topic, but we need to know. Have you… ever killed anyone?"

Where the fuck did that come from? Murder? He knew his parents thought Phantom was a criminal, but surely they thought he was better than that!

"Wh—no! Why?"

"It's just—how-do-you-eat?" Mom blurted. "You mentioned feeding your 'other half'."

Did they think feeding his ghost half meant killing people? Huh? Well, in a way… okay, he did have to kill some ghosts from time to time. But never people!

Ancients.

"I uh. I have to drink ectoplasm." His face suddenly felt hot. "I guess sometimes I do hurt ghosts, even though I really hate doing it. Usually nothing sentient, just blob ghosts."

Dad's jaw dropped. "Vampires can drink ectoplasm? Wow! Who woulda thought?"

"Whew! That changes everything. Thank God."

"Hold up," Danny cut in. "Vampires? Vampires aren't real." (At least he thought they weren't…?)

Mom frowned. "But you're a vampire?"

Danny did a double-take.

His parents—ghost hunting parents—believed that he, a ghost, was a vampire. No way. No fucking way. It was so ridiculous that he couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or cry.

Somehow they'd misinterpreted ghostliness for vampirism and were actually ready to accept him even if he drank people's blood! Holy shit. It all made sense now.

He wondered how they managed it. What did they supposedly see that made them jump to the 'Danny's a vampire, not a ghost' conclusion? It was probably the fangs. He retracted them at school, but they got sore being crammed up in his gums all the time, so he let them out at home sometimes. He must've gotten caught with them at some point.

Maybe it wasn't so ridiculous, but it was still hilarious. If everything went over well, he wouldn't let them live it down.

"Mom, Dad," he laughed. "I'm a ghost. Not a vampire."

They both looked like they'd been slapped.

"Oh," Dad whispered.

"I mean, I'm only half-ghost. I guess?"

"How?" Mom asked. "We were so sure that you were—and you can't be—but how?"

"Two years ago, I turned the ghost portal on from the inside and almost died. It fused just enough ectoplasm with my DNA to change me, to save me from fully dying. Ever since I've been half-ghost."

"But what exactly does that mean? How can you be half alive and dead?"

He shrugged. "It's beyond me. I need ectoplasm and food to live, my temperature's really low and my heart beats a bit slow. I have ghost powers and can transform into a ghostly form. Which I guess we need to talk about that too."

His parents were probably going to be upset about Phantom, but if they could accept him when they thought he was a bloodsucking monster they could likely accept anything.

"You're losing us, kid," Dad said.

"And somehow vampires made more sense?" he raised a brow.

"Well, you got me there."

"What do you mean 'ghost form'?" Mom drew out. "Does that mean you can change your appearance?"

"Yeah, pretty much. But it's probably better if you see it," Danny decided. "You're not gonna like it though. My ghost form looks like any regular ghost. Which is why this is so complicated; you guys have seen my ghost form before."

"We have?"

"You don't mean… you change into a ghost and haunt the town! That's where you go at night?"

He laughed nervously. "Guilty. It's not what you think, though. Even when I change… please keep an open mind."

His words did little to console them. If it were possible, they looked even more startled than before.

"Danny—"

Before they could protest, he drew his core out to the surface and let the transformation rings wrap around his waist. He kept his eyes down, looking anywhere but at his parents. To his dismay, he heard their sharp gasps as the rings panned out to reveal Phantom—glossy black spandex, billowing white hair, toxic green eyes, and piercing white fangs. After several seconds, Danny bit back his fear and met his parents' gazes.

Mom had her hands clamped over her face and Dad's mouth was ajar. Sure, their reactions weren'tgood but they weren't bad either. Honestly, Mom and Dad were right where Danny expected them to be. He could work with this; he only had to persuade them that he was still their son.

"I know this isn't what you expected and you're probably pissed because I know you hate me, but before you finish judging me can I explain?"

"Ph—Phantom?" Dad stammered. "But Danny… and what?"

"Dad, I'm still Danny. This is just my ghost form. There is no 'Phantom', it's just a dumb name I made up for myself whenever I transform."

"No, no… you can't be Danny," Mom denied. "You're different. I've seen the two of you together! And—and Danny wouldn't do the things you've done!"

"To protect my identity, I've pulled a few tricks to make myself look like different people. And… I know that some of the things I've done look bad, but most of those were mistakes. I… mess up a lot. I'll explain them if you just listen to me."

"And how do we know this isn't a trick?" Jack accused.

"You're the ones that called me down to have a conversation about what's wrong with me. Do you really think I could've planned this?" he deadpanned.

"Fair."

"So you get it? That I'm still the same person even though I look like a ghost? That Phantom isn't some parasite possessing me? That being a half-ghost means I'm still half-alive and that all that really changes is my appearance?"

"I guess it does make some sense," Mom conceded. "Being half-ghost would explain the cold skin and the sneaking out... oh, and the fangs!"

Danny ran his tongue over his teeth. "I can't believe these made you think I was a vampire."

"Thinking about it now is kind of stupid," Dad chortled. "I can't believe I thought my son was a bloodsucker but he was actually just a spook!"

"I can't believe you guys were okay with me killing people. That's literally the opposite of my job."

"Your job?"

"Uh, yeah," Danny put a hand on his hip. "I'm a ghost hunter? That's what I've been doing and telling you guys for the past two years?"

Dad's eyes lit up. "You have?"

"Yeah, but all you see is the bad stuff! Like, I don't try to cause property damage, it just happens when I'm fighting ghosts! And I don't fight them for attention, I actually want less of it! As Phantom, I try to keep the town safe just like you guys."

"Oh, wow. I'm sorry we doubted you, Danno. We just thought you were like every other ghost… I never thought—"

"I know. You had no reason to believe that I was different."

"But we should have." Maddie declared. "You're our son! Why didn't we see that it was you?"

"Because I didn't want you to see. I was… afraid of you guys knowing because I thought if you knew, you'd hate me anyway. That you wouldn't care that I'm your son and that you'd…" he shook his head, "nevermind."

His parents' expressions softened.

"Oh, Danny…" Mom moved forward and brushed a strand of his white hair. "I'm so sorry I made you feel this way."

"It's fine," he dismissed. "I'm just being stupid."

"No, you're not," Jack cut in. "We said awful things about you. We said it to your face, we said it to the town, hell—we even put anti-Phantom warnings in pamphlets! Even though we didn't know, that doesn't excuse all the horrible things you must've felt. We gave you no reason to trust us and that's not stupid, that's being smart."

"But you're my parents… I should've had more faith. I should've… I—"

"This isn't on you, kiddo. It's on us. You don't deserve to carry this guilt, we do. I'm sorry that it's taken this long."

"We love you, Danny," Mom assured. "You're our son no matter what. Ghost, human, or vampire."

He tilted his head back and laughed. "Okay yeah, I'm never letting you guys live that one down."

[sailor-toni]

I'm super late on #ectoberweek19 but here is my day 5: Grave Robber!

This is a mermaid ghost that uses her sweet but haunting song to lure ghost, before stabbing them with the end of her tail! Paralyzing them before stealing their cores. She hasn't been able to obtain an ice core yet but she's been looking for a weakling to leave the frozen north.

But she heard a rumor, that a certain ghost boy had discovered his core...

There is blood in the water. | Fangs | Tarot | Electricity | Artifact | Grave Robber | Candlelight | Masquerade

[five-rivers]

Tarot/Stalker

Here’s Ectober Day 2!  It’s a continuation of Necromancy from last year.  

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Tarot/Stalker

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It was known, in certain social circles of Casper High, that on days when Danny Fenton came into school with bruises on his head and a faraway look in his eyes, he could see the future, but not remember it. Well. At least, he could prophesy to it, and his prophecies were accurate. Disturbingly so.

Sometimes, he would give one out of the blue. He'd tell a freshman that their cat was going to die, or what scores everyone would get on the next test. He'd slide up beside the jocks in the senior class, and warn them about a party going wrong. He'd sit down at lunch time and spoil an entire week's worth of TV shows for someone- because the power was going to go out at their house, and they'd miss them otherwise; and it would. These would rarely be about anything more than a month out.

But if Danny was caught in the right mood, he could be asked about things. Things that wouldn't happen for a long time, for months, or even years. College admissions, marriage, sports, events, politics, friendships, contests, romance, deaths. No one had tested a prophecy that went out more than a few months, but he was rarely wrong, and when he was wrong, he wasn't wrong by very much. One student was wait-listed for a college, instead of accepted outright. Another found proof their boyfriend was cheating before Danny had predicted. A third managed to avoid being injured in that basketball game.

More importantly, on those days, his advice was always spot-on.

Hannah Weston had been observing Danny Fenton for a while. Unlike her older cousin, she didn't think that Danny was Phantom, that was kind of crazy, but she did have a soft spot for conspiracy theories and occult rumors.

Her current theory? Danny was some kind of esper. Or a necromancer, in the original sense of the word. His whole family was weird. Mad scientists. Everyone knew they had a lab in their basement, and they had done something with the government, according to Amity Park's conspiracy message boards. They could have done... something. Something to make Jazz super smart, and to give Danny precognition.

And what was to say Danny didn't have precognition all the time? He certainly made himself scarce during ghost attacks. He always seemed to know when they were going to happen. His 'prophesy mode' always seemed to come on right after big ghost fights, too. Hannah's working theory was that his powers ran on ectoplasm (ectoenergy?), and the ectoplasm shed in big ghost fights overloaded him, and made him less careful about hiding his powers.

Of course, not everyone followed Hannah's logic, which is why she and some of the other 'socially neutral' girls were trying to corner Danny away from his ever-present protectors, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley.

It was so weird to think of herself as 'socially neutral.' Then again, considering all the ghosts, being a conspiracy theorist in Amity Park was almost respectable. Right along with the occult, and the tiny ghost-centric actual cult.

Which only made Danny's outcast status weirder. Whatever. No one said high school social dynamics had to be logical.

Their idea (not Hannah's) was that if Danny could already predict stuff well, then he could predict it even better with some actual fortune telling paraphernalia. It didn't make sense, as far as Hannah was concerned, but she was willing to humor her friends, and this was the only way she'd be able to ask him questions without Sam or Tucker shooing her off.

Not that she had anything really pressing to ask. She was just curious.

She peeked in the classroom window. Her friend Mia had found out that Danny and his two friends hung out in this classroom during lunch when Danny was in a prophetic mood. It was mostly used for storage, so the teachers didn't care, even though students technically weren't supposed to be in there.

The PA system coughed to life, summoning Sam and Tucker to the office, as planned. Sarah, her other friend, had been in charge of that. Now it was Hannah's turn. She knocked on the window, and waved at Danny.

Danny came over and opened it. "I can help you, Mia, and Sarah," he said, before Hannah could repeat her lines, "but it's too cold by the field."

"Uh," said Hannah.

"We could go stand by the stairs to the roof, since the upperclassmen who smoke there got busted." Danny smiled absently, his eyes glassy. "I hope they stop doing that now. Smoking isn't good."

Hannah thought about it for a second. "Sure, let me text Mia."

"Also, I don't know how tarot works."

"That's fine."

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Sarah brought a magic 8 ball. Mia brought cards.

"I couldn't find a crystal ball," Sarah said, defensively, taking the toy out of her bag.

"It's fine." Hannah peered at Mia's cards. They were black and gold. "Those are pretty," she said.

"Thanks," said Mia. "My grandma got them for me for my birthday."

"So," said Sarah, slightly pink. She held up her magic 8 ball. "What should we do first?"

Surprising everyone, Danny reached for the magic 8 ball.

"Signs point to no," he said. He shook the ball.

Everyone leaned in to see the answer. The ball said, 'SIGNS POINT TO NO.'

After a few more minutes, it became obvious that Danny could accurately predict which answer the magic 8 ball would display every time. It became equally obvious that, as long as he had the ball, that was all he would do.

Hannah pulled the ball away. "Let's try the cards," she said. They were halfway through lunch, and as cool as the trick was, it got boring after a while.

"Oh," said Danny, face falling. "I don't know how tarot works, though."

"That's okay," said Mia, holding out the cards. "Just do what feels right."

"I'll try," said Danny, dubiously. He shuffled the cards. "I think Sam would like these," he said, running a finger over the gold foil back. "What is the question you want to ask?"

"You first," said Sarah to Mia. "They're your cards."

Mia licked her lips. "Tell me about what will happen if I become an exchange student." Mia had wanted to be an exchange student for a while. She was even taking Honors Spanish. Her parents, however, weren't enthusiastic about the idea.

Danny divided the cards into three piles.

He flipped over one card. It showed a pair of clasped hands, each wearing a bracelet. "It won't happen the way you expect it to," said Danny. He turned over the next card. It showed two flowers. "You'll go far away, but your plans won't help." He turned over the card on top of the last pile. It had a pair of skeletons on it. "You'll find something important, though."

"Er, you couldn't be maybe a little bit more... specific?" asked Mia.

"No?"

"I told you it wouldn't work," said Hannah. She was just a little smug.

"Sam and Tucker are looking for me," said Danny. "You shouldn't be here when they come up. Here are your cards."

"Thanks," said Mia. She and Sarah went down the stairs. Hannah lingered.

"Are those two ever going to get together?" asked Hannah, hooking her thumb over her shoulder.

Danny blinked up at her. "Weren't you listening?"

"Hannah!" called Sarah. "Come on, we've got to go."

"Well, bye," said Hannah.

"Bye," said Danny, waving. He stood up and stretched. That wasn't too bad. At least they hadn't asked for lottery numbers.

His concussion would be better by tomorrow.

[bibbumblebee]

Ectober19: In Which Sam Falls Apart at a Halloween Party

My first ever fic for anything before. Not perfect, but it was a lot of fun to write! Also it’s 22 minutes late shhh don’t tell anybody.

Prompt: Fangs/Shatter

Sam’s fangs were really starting to bother her.

They poked at the inside of her bottom lip, and if she wasn’t careful, she found herself sticking them into her tongue or the soft gums behind her bottom row of teeth. She wondered how on earth some of the ghosts Danny fought back to the Ghost Zone could stand having such deadly teeth. All the time. Her fake ones were about to drive her crazy.

Just a few more hours, Manson, she told herself. She took a drink of punch, wishing it was spiked, to soothe the sores forming along her lip and the bristly, nervous anger that had lodged itself in the back of her throat. Gothika, Vampire Queen, doesn’t take her fangs out. Not even for boring parties.

She had come with Tucker and Danny, had actually come at their insistence. Tucker begged her the moment he found an invitation to Paulina’s party in his locker. She’d declined and declined, in varying shades of no, until Danny asked her one day after class. He’d held his invitation in his hands like a secret the two of them could share and looked at her shyly.

“Be more fun with you there,” he said.

Those eyes. Bluer than springtime. That little half-smile that, had she not known him since grade school, she wouldn’t have noticed. Would have thought was sadness. The slight quiver in his voice, like he wasn’t sure he should be saying anything. Afraid he might mess it up. Afraid she might say no. But how could she say no to that? To him?

She realized now she probably should have.

***

Danny had decided to dress up as Phantom for Halloween, saying that it was the only time during the year he could be himself and no one would be suspicious of it. “People love Phantom,” he told her when he announced his plan. “Maybe I can use tonight to get people to like Fenton, too.”

“Dude,” Tucker said, scrolling on his PDA for lists of popular Halloween costume ideas, “Phantom’s public enemy number one. They don’t love you.”

“Yeah, well, they love the idea of me.”

Sam knew how much it hurt Danny that the world feared Phantom as much as they hated Fenton. She’d been so certain that using his ghostly half to save the city from other ghosts would work. Would make him a hero. Would make him realize people loved him. She never suspected Amity Park would turn on him. And judging by how Danny’s face fell every time he saw Phantom on the news, every time Tucker reminded him that Amity Park wanted him dead for real, every time his parents invented another doomsday device, Sam got the feeling that Danny never suspected the hate, either.

***

She sipped some more punch, eyeing her black lipstick stain on the cup. She’d have to reapply soon. Maybe go and find Tucker, trying to pick up girls with his sexy professor costume. Sam tried to tell him that sexy professor was not the costume he thought it was, but his heart was set. He’d come in tight pants that highlighted his (admittedly) nice calves and a shirt he only buttoned up halfway.

Just as Sam figured they would, most of the popular kids assumed he was trying to be a sexy Mr. Lancer. Sam would have felt bad if she didn’t think Tucker needed to learn his lesson.

Still. She could use a dance.

Sam set down her empty cup and adjusted her black gloves where they had slid down her arms. She was going to go and find Tucker when she saw a flash of green from across the courtyard.

Paulina’s Most Perfect Halloween Party was held at the country club, like all her other parties, and the outdoor garden and courtyard had been decorated in purple streamers and smiling Jack-o’lanterns. Candles with artificial flames had been rigged on wires, suspended above their heads. It cast everything into a warm haze, everyone’s costumes cloaked and flickering between shadow and light.

Everyone’s except Danny’s.

He lit up like a star, a star with its own gravity, pulling everyone at the party to him. It was that natural magnetism Sam noticed he had while he was Phantom. Smiling, making jokes, puffing his chest out boldly. Confident. In control. With that smile, and that mop of silvery white hair, it wasn’t difficult to see why people were drawn to him. Why they feared him.

“Oooh, Ghost Boy,” said Paulina. She grabbed his arm. “How do you make your eyes light up like that?”

“Ghost Boy?” Dash said. Sam noticed him lurking behind the two of them, his face painted green like Frakenstein’s monster. Big, hulking, mindless mistake, Sam thought. Fitting.

“If that’s really the Ghost Boy,” said Kwan, appearing next to Dash as if summoned, “then we gotta report him.”

“It- it’s not Ghost Boy,” Danny said, and Sam heard the panic in his voice. “It’s just me. Danny Fenton.”

“Yeah right,” Kwan said. “Don’t lie.”

“Why would Ghost Boy lie about being Fentwerp?” Dash’s voice carried across the courtyard as if he was standing next to Sam at the punch bowl, making conversation. “He wouldn’t stoop that low.”

“Yeah,” Paulina said. Sam noticed her back away from Danny. She tried not to notice Danny’s face as it fell. “Ghost Boy wouldn’t lie about being a loser. No offense.”

“Yeah…” Danny said. “I guess not.”

“But still…” Paulina said, “You do have a pretty sweet costume, Danny. How does it glow like that?”

“My parents’ ghost hunting tech,” Danny said. His voice, which had lost a significant portion of its confidence, strengthened a little.

He and Tucker had rehearsed answers on the walk from Sam’s house. She’d tried to pretend to be focused on gluing her fangs over her real canines, but really she was trying not to turn around and stick the fake teeth through Tucker’s cheek. Asking questions like If Paulina wants to dance with you, what do you say? and If she wants you to turn invisible, will you? and Yo, man, I never thought. Can you turn just clothes invisible?

Sam stopped listening after that.

***

She only came tonight because Danny wanted her to. “Be more fun with you there,” he’d told her. But he hadn’t been with her the entire evening. She’d stood, her back to the garden wall, following his spectral glow around the party, trying not to think about the way he smiled when someone said his name. The way he fidgeted with his hands, more than likely trying to fight the urge to show off too much.

“You can’t shoot ectoblasts, you know,” Tucker told him. “Unless you lie and say you rigged one of your parents’ guns into your suit.”

They were in Sam’s room, waiting on her to finish applying her makeup. She’d decided on a darker, more dramatic look than the one she usually wore, replacing her purple eyeshadow for gray, opting for fake eyelashes over her natural.

Danny hovered behind her, watching her glue her eyelashes on. She felt his t-shirt brush against her shoulder. Caught the smell of laundry detergent and winter air and electricity—something he’d had since the accident. A permanent, static chill where there should have been body heat. Even while alive, he carried the chill of the dead.

“Why are you covering up your lashes?” he asked, watching her in the mirror.

She turned and batted them at him, laughing at the expression on his face. “For dramatic effect.”

“I’d say it worked,” Tucker said, sitting on Sam’s bed to tie his sexy loafers. “Earth to Danny? You in there?”

A second too late, Danny turned away, and Sam noticed the flush along his pale cheeks.

***

“Remember,” Tucker said. “You’re not Danny Phantom tonight. You’re Danny Fenton dressed up as Danny Phantom.”

“I know.” Danny watched Tucker unbutton and rebutton his dress shirt, making what he probably thought were sexy faces in the mirror. “I want them to like me. They already like Phantom.”

“And possibly want to kill him.”

Danny blanched. “Yeah. That too.”

After Sam finished her makeup, she encouraged Danny to sit down so she could cover his face with some powder, too.

Danny was sporting a black eye, only just starting to fade, from his most recent run-in with Dash’s fists. He’d been in worse shape from other fights, but Sam didn’t want Danny to be embarrassed by the bruise. She knew, too, that he carried marks far worse than the black eye, but it was the least she could do for the party.

Though neither of them would say so, Sam had seen the scars. She hadn’t meant to. It had been an accident, walking into his room without knocking. He’d been quick, but she’d seen his side where Valerie shot him. The long burned scar along his ribs. She couldn’t imagine it didn’t hurt, even now nearly a month later. She’d seen the smaller scars along his back, random collections from his fights over the last year and a half. The wings of a purpling bruise along his shoulders—more than likely from his fight with Skulker that ended with Danny’s back buried in ten inches of brick.

And it was all her fault. Because she couldn’t say no. She couldn’t say No, don’t go into the portal. She couldn’t say No, it’s okay. You don’t have to prove anything to me. No, she’d taken one look at those big blue eyes, that mess of black hair, the suit he’d slipped on, highlighting his narrow waist and lean arms. The curve of his back. Of course she wouldn’t tell him no.

And he’d died because of it.

He died a little more every day because of it.

It had taken Sam a few moments of convincing, but she managed to seat Danny at her vanity and powder his face to cover the worst of the bruising.

He fluttered his eyes shut so she didn’t get any powder stuck in them, and she occupied herself with blending over the purple and black blossom around his eye. She tried not to think of his hair, tickling her cheek, or of his cold breath on her hand. Just a brush and powder and a fresh bruise that, if she pressed too quickly, caused him to wince with phantom pain.

***

She didn’t notice she’d been lingering next to the punch table, her cup empty in her hand, her eyes focused on a spot just next to the DJ’s table on the dance floor.

“Sam?”

She looked up to see Danny standing next to her, his eyes glowing like will-o-the-wisps waiting to lure her away. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she said.

His eyes searched her face. Sam wondered what he found there. Anger? Sadness? That oh-so carefully practiced apathy?

“Paulina and the others are actually talking to me. Me,” he said. “Not Phantom. Fenton.”

Sam tried to appear happy at the news, but she’d known that would be what happened. She chewed her bottom lip, no longer caring about the sharp fangs still glued in her mouth.

“I mean, all they want to talk about is my parents’ gear and my costume, but still.” When he stepped closer, a chill fell over Sam and she shivered. It was as if she had decided to step into a bucket of ice water. “They actually seem interested.”

The way his voice swooped up with hope. It was enough to make Sam regret coming, regret hearing that joy in Danny’s voice and know it wasn’t because of her. Sure, she was happy for him. Being accepted is all he ever wanted, Phantom and Fenton. He was obsessed with saving people, protecting people. Being loved.

She wondered if he knew.

“I know,” he said.

Sam froze. About how she felt? She wasn’t sure she knew how she felt. She just knew that guilt that followed her wherever she went, that feeling of walking on ice every time she felt Danny near her. The way the chill traveled up her spine and froze the bones under her skin. And when he touched her...a wayward brush, an intentional hold on her wrist, a thoughtless clasp of her hand...it shattered her. Broke her into a million pieces inside. Thin ice under a heavy weight—gone.

And yet, in amongst those pieces lay a stronger, scarier feeling. The feeling of the life she’d nearly destroyed, the life fighting through the death, the patient blue of his eyes. The slight pout lingering behind every smile. His spidery fingers. His birdlike bone structure.

She had been the death of him.

She wished he’d return the favor.

“I know they’re only going to like me for tonight.”

Oh.

Oh.

Right. Of course. The popular kids. The costumes. The party.

“Well you know you’ve always got me,” she said. After a moment, she added, “And Tuck.”

There it was. That sad, shy smile. “I know.”

“I know you do.”

“The fangs,” he said, glancing toward her mouth. “When did you put those in?”

“Put them in? I’ve always had them.” She tried to lift her voice, dangle it on a thread of humor. She failed.

“I mean,” Danny said, “I guess Gothika, Vampire Queen, wouldn’t be a very good vampire without fangs.”

“You remember Gothika?” She hadn’t talked about her in weeks, and she never believed Danny had really been listening to her.

“I remember,” he said. He looked up at the popular kids, who were clustered on the dance floor, not dancing, just talking. Taking selfies. Checking their friends’ profiles. Even Tucker was out there, Sam noticed, trying to talk to a very harassed-looking Valerie.

“I invited you tonight,” he said.

“Yeah?” Sam knew she was the only person at Casper High to not get an invite from Paulina. It stopped bothering her well over a year ago.

Danny turned and looked at her mouth again. “Stop chewing on your lips,” he said. “You’re going to put a hole through them.”

She tucked her fangs inside her mouth, licking her teeth along them, tasting the sour glue holding them in place. “Nervous habit.”

They shared a silence for a moment, Danny’s eyes flicking away from her face, looking up to the candles above their heads. Sam watched the light bounce around his features, casting his eyes and the hollows of his cheeks into shadow. Be more fun with you there.

She forced her eyes away before he caught her staring.

“I’d love to dance,” he said, answering her unasked question. He turned and gave her his sad half-smile.

“With me?”

“With you.”

He took her hand, and she shattered at the touch.

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 10: Exorcism - Mimicry

Ghosts aren’t that different from demons. And Danny’s got no problem fucking with a priest.

Danny’s sitting, curling his ghostly tail around, on a rooftop building when he spots him. He shows up in an arguably insanely pompous Mustang, the kind with wood side panelling. Danny tilts his head as he watches the car park, at least whoever wasn’t enough of a stick-up-the-ass to double park. The guy stepping out in head to toe black, nearly looking like he’s wearing a dress. At first, Danny figured it was some goth, but sticking his head invisibly through the hotel lobby ceiling -curious about this stranger in his town, his lair- the guy spoke like his car looked; professional but egotistical. Spotting the little white on the guys neck only makes Danny internally groan. Priests. Well, technically only one but still. Though he is a little curious, there had never been one of their types here before. Probably thought ghosts were demons or something.

For whatever reason the guy seems to intimidate Jamey the receptionist, watching as she’s clearly trying to get the guy away from her and is trying not to touch the guy. Which only seems to make priest dude suspicious, intentionally grabbing and holding onto her hand and looking like he’s searching her eyes. Danny floats down closer, invisible of course, at this, in case this guy is legit dangerous and tries to attack her or something.

Thankfully, he lets go and heads to his room with a smile. Jamey shaking herself off after a bit. Danny hangs around the lobby for a bit to make sure she’s fine and priest guy doesn’t come back.

Danny sniffs out the guys' room and promptly puts a SpookSpot, a camera that looks like a little black ghost sticker, to watch priest guys door. And heads back to proper patrolling and enjoying the late afternoon sky.

Two day’s later Danny’s pretty well forgotten about the guy. He just seems to be wandering the town, muttering to himself, and nodding at things. The only real beef Danny had with the guy was that he was creeping people out.

But apparently, the guy was just patient, or spent a lot of time plotting. As Danny comes upon him doing...something? to the Box Ghost of all ghosts. He was seemingly chanting and making erratic hand motions. While the Box Ghost just looks really confused. Eventually, the Box Ghost, seeing a lost cause, shouts, “BEWARE!!!”, and promptly flies off.

The priest looks pleased with himself for whatever reason.

The next day Danny groans at spotting the priest, with a visitors badge, wandering the halls of Casper high, hands clasped behind his back and occasionally nodding at things.

Tucker pokes Danny, “you know, your folks aren’t the weirdest people here anymore”.

Danny sighs, “yeah, guy’s super weird. I think he tried to exorcise Boxy. It was...really sad. Boxy took pity on him”.

Tucker snorts, “that is pretty sad”.

Danny’s ghost sense goes off just as they start heading to class. Danny sighs dramatically, “so much for first period”, Tucker pats him on the back as well slinks off. Never noticing the ever so slightly wide-eyed priest watching.

Danny gets up with a yawn in the morning, struggling into a sweater and ruffling up his hair before heading down for breakfast.

Danny looks around the table, slightly caught off guard. The priest guy, who Danny has figured out was named Jospeh which honestly was a stereotypical as Hell name, is just sitting at the table; letting Jack and Maddie talk ghost at him with a pleasant smile, though it felt rather fake.

Danny shrugs loosely, and goes to make his cereal, “mornin’”.

Maddie smiles, “morning sweetie. This fine man was curious about the ghosts in town, so Jack decided he could stay for tea”, looking to Jospeh, “you’re named Jospeh you said right?”.

“It is”.

Danny sits down with his bowl, nodding at the guy, “mine’s Danny. And if you wanna talk ghosts then yeah, this is the house to do it in”, Danny decides to fuck with the guy a little, “who knows, maybe my dad’ll pull out the portal photo album”.

Jack grins wide, “yes! We should!”, springing up and rushing off.

Jospeh squints ever so slightly at Danny and turns to face him more, “portal?”.

Danny leans back and puts his hands behind his head nonchalantly, “yup, ghosties come and go through it sometimes. Dad fishes trough it”, deciding to be the mild to colossal idiot that he is, “I've come and gone through it here and there”.

Maddie shakes her head, “I remember that time you stumbled out with a knife in your leg. Didn’t you trip in that time?”.

Danny chuckles, ignoring the priests staring, “yup. Dad left some stuff on the floor and you know how clumsy I am”. Maddie giggles at that before going back to drinking her coffee.

Jospeh stares at him a bit before Jack returns with the aforementioned photo album and Jospeh changes to staring at that.

Danny chuckles and fills up a large thermos with coffee and promptly leaves. Only walking for a ways before slinking into an alley, turning invisible and intangible, then going back to the house.

Danny tilts his head Jospeh seemingly convincing his parents to go out hunting extra long and letting Jospeh help house sit so that he can ‘get a feel for ghosts’. His folks were way too easy to trick sometimes. If Danny’s stuck with this stuck up religious nut then he’s gonna mess around, moving closer to make creepy breathing sounds and blow air at the guy; who shivers from the cold temperature, before looking around for the source. Danny facepalms as Jospeh subtly throws salt out in one direction, clearly thinking there’s a ‘demon’ there. Danny absolutely was going to torment this poor prick. He was creeping all his humans out, would probably grow bold enough to interrupt fights, and he was a pompous twat. The last was honestly reason enough.

Danny comes home that night and as soon as he closes the door, Jospeh is staring at him. Danny waves at him, “sup priest boy”, pointing at the guy, “you know you’re creeping out pretty well the whole town? What’s your issue?”.

“Am I now”.

“Yup”.

Joshep squints but takes a sip of tea, “good. The Fenton parents seem to be the only not under demonic influence in this infested town”, Jospeh slowly walks closer to Danny, “but of course you already know that, don’t you demon”.

Danny makes a show of looking overly offended, “me? Some powerful being from another dimension? Why I never”.

“Hell is hardly another dimension, beast”.

Danny chuckles, “well look at you, able to come up with not one but two insulting names to spit like venom”.

Joseph walks closer and pushes a large silver cross into Danny’s chest, “that’s enough from you. Give it up and release the boy who’s body you’ve stolen and this town. You should have known your time was numbered as soon as you saw me”.

Danny rolls his eyes, utterly unaffected, “of a pompous twat who’s so greatly out of his depth? Hardly”

Joshep pushes the cross in hard and glares, “you're using protections, Foul thing. No matter, there’s seals everywhere, you’re trapped”.

Danny chuckles and makes it sound a bit threatening, “sure, whatever you say buddy”. Pushing past the guy to fetch himself some coffee. Pouring it but giving Joshep dramatic side-eye as the guy starts chanting at him.

“Princeps gloriosissime caelestis militiae, sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio et colluctatione, quae nobis adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum, contra spiritualia nequitiae, in caelestibus“. Danny watching as the guy flips a coin with a cross hollowed out of it and clutches at rosary beads. This guy really was going there wasn’t he? Danny chuckles and smirks, fine, Danny will give this weirdo a damn show.

Joseph continues his chant prayer, “Veni in auxilium hominum, quos Deus creavit inexterminabiles, et ad imaginem similitudinis suae fecit, et a tyrannide diaboli emit pretio magno“.

He holds up and waves around the rosary, making sure the light glints off it. While Danny starts pretending to be in agony but like he’s trying not to show it. As Joshep continues, “Proeliare hodie cum beatorum Angelorum exercitu proelia Domini, sicut pugnasti contra ducem superbiae Luciferum, et angelos eius apostaticos: et non valuerunt, neque locus inventus est eorum amplius in coelo. Sed proiectus est draco ille magnus, serpens antiquus, qui vocatur diabolus et satanas, qui seducit universum orbem; et proiectus est in terram, et angeli eius cum illo missi sunt“.

Danny’s just letting out his fangs and ears at this point, curled up on the ground and pretending to be pissed off at the priest. Who only narrows his eyes with resolute determination, “En antiquus inimicus et homicida vehementer erectus est. Transfiguratus in angelum lucis, cum tota malignorum spirituum caterva late circuit et invadit terram, ut in ea deleat nomen Dei et Christi eius, animasque ad aeternae gloriae coronam destinatas furetur, mactet ac perdat in sempiternum interitum“.

Joshep splashes a container of holy water over Danny, who has to try really hard to not laugh and break character, “Virus nequitiae suae, tamquam flumen immundissimum, draco maleficus transfundit in homines depravatos mente et corruptos corde; spiritum mendacii, impietatis et blasphemiae; halitumque mortiferum luxuriae, vitiorum omnium et iniquitatum“.

Joshep starts aggressively pointing the cross at Danny, “Ecclesiam, Agni immaculati sponsam, faverrimi hostes repleverunt amaritudinibus, inebriarunt absinthio; ad omnia desiderabilia eius impias miserunt manus“.

Danny makes a show off grabbing the guys ankle and letting Joshep shake him off. Though taking amusement in the ever so slight startled waver in his voice, “Ubi sedes beatissimi Petri et Cathedra veritatis ad lucem gentium constituta est, ibi thronum posuerunt abominationis et impietatis suae; ut percusso Pastore, et gregem disperdere valeant“.

Danny starts abortedly duplicating, only letting the duplicate start forming or splitting for seconds before snapping them back. Joshep near bellowing now, “Adesto itaque, Dux invictissime, populo Dei contra irrumpentes spirituales nequitias, et fac victoriam“.

Danny once again has to resist laugh as the guy throws salt at him again, “Te custodem et patronum sancta veneratur Ecclesia; te gloriatur defensore adversus terrestrium et infernorum nefarias potestates; tibi tradidit Dominus animas redemptorum in superna felicitate locandas“.

Danny lets a duplicate form halfway but seemingly attempting to snap back ‘into’ Danny. Catching the slight smile on the priests face, “Deprecare Deum pacis, ut conterat satanam sub pedibus nostris, ne ultra valeat captivos tenere homines, et Ecclesiae nocere“.

Danny lets the duplicate fly out of him and slam into the back wall, letting his originally body collapse and pretend to be unconscious. While Joshep stalks after the duplicate, waving the cross and slashing holy water, “Offer nostras preces in conspectu Altissimi, ut cito anticipent nos misericordiae Domini, et apprehendas draconem, serpentem antiquum, qui est diabolus et satanas, ac ligatum mittas in abyssum, ut non seducat amplius gentes“.

Joshep grins wide at the duplicate, pushing the cross into his face, “I cast away any devout dismay, that child in these Christ blessed arms of mine shall never fall at the hands of hellish beasts”.

The duplicate chuckles into the cross, “he’s mine old man”.

Joshep grits his teeth, “you shall evade the one of holy youth, the blessed one of creators uncorrupted, malevolent apparition. Vade retro Satana”.

The duplicate smirks, “ah so foolish, you think you’re some great knowing thing. How much longer till your facade breaks down?”.

“Truth and God shall never waver Beast”.

Original Danny gets up and stretches. Walking over and tapping on Joshep’s shoulder, “if I may turn you away from this rather pathetic display. This child was never one to fall. And I’m only in my own hands”.

The duplicate sits up and pretty well pushes over Joshep. The duplicate roles his eyes, “dude come one. There ain’t no demons here. And do you really think shit like salt and water is going to work on a being bound to eternity?”. The duplicate simply dissipates in the air while Joshep stands up and whirls around to see Danny just standing there and picking at his nails.

Danny pats him on the shoulder, “that was fun, good acting lessons on my part. Anyway, you got that whole need to exorcise out of you system?”.

Joshep sputters, “w-what are you?”.

Danny, deciding to be a dick and really freak this guy out, let’s his transformation ring form around his forehead like a halo for a split second and makes his eyes glow icy blue.

Joshep goes slightly wide-eyed but composes himself quickly. It’s obvious he now thinks Danny’s an angel as he dips his head slightly, “Dânêl. Concede nos famulos tuos, tu pro nobis intercedere dignentur in solio mixtum commiscere divinae miserationis in praesentem necessitatem, quod tu vis quemadmodum nuntiare Mariae in mysterio incarnationis Christi, ut per tua suffragia et patrocinia sentiamus in caelis perpetuae capiamus beneficia eiusdem, et laudem Dei usque in aeternum cantabo in terra viventium“.

Danny holds his hands up and waves the guy off, “you’re freaking my humans out. Stop that. This place is in good hands”, smirking slightly, “as for the shit that just happened. I’m a trickster”.

Danny walks up and pats the guys shoulder with a chuckle, “there are so many things in this world that you’ll never understand. Do not fall to the faults of assuming you know what you do not. Nor that the truths you know are all there is to know. There are no demons here”.

Joshep looks into Danny’s eyes, seeing nothing but fierce protectiveness, twinkling of amusement, and soft kindness. “Then what be they, should you bless me with that knowledge? Could it be that this is why I am here?”.

Danny chuckles and walks to look out the window. Snickering at the seals, “in all the forms of existences there’s bound to be a few you’ve never seen, you could try to achieve it. Become one of the beings of the Infinite Realms. But most of them can never leave or it will be a long time. So I don’t really recommend”, turning to look at Joshep before Danny gestures out the window, “most of them were once living mortals. Some were not. Souls unable to move on granted powering and purpose. Some protect and guide, watching over mortals or time itself. Others try to keep order and punish those who miss-use their power. Others do what you see here in Amity. Scare. Goof around. There are very few who are what you may call evil”.

Joshep walks up next to Danny, and looks out, jerking as all the seals burn away win blue flames. Side-eyeing the chuckling Danny, “you are a well humoured one”.

Danny smirks, “very much so”, nodding his head at the window, “the ones who are dead’s. They all died in brutal fashion. So horrid that existence itself decided they deserved another chance to live free and strong. Make no mistake priest. I protect them as well”. Danny makes his eyes blue and the frost creep across the window to make his point clear.

Joshep nods and dips his head, “but of course. I did not expect my wrongs and I have much to ponder. To none will I bring hassle nor harm”.

Danny chuckles, “good. I will continue keeping an eye on you regardless”.

Joshep blinks but nods with a small smile. And while this was highly enlightening and a blessing, he had zero intentional of imposing on or hanging around an Angel. Angel’s often said ‘be not afraid’ for a reason, they were not truly pleasant creatures and this one had firmly pretended to be a demon and be in agony. So Joshep bows with clasped hands, “blessed you”, before heading out the door.

Danny chuckles, “oh I’m very blessed indeed”.  

End.

[howdoib]

Ectober Day 1: Shatter

This is a day late. Gonna have some misgendering, angst, and a bit of pain here; read at your own risk. I'm sorry humans.

Math class was boring. Obviously it was nice that he could get halfway through the class without being pulled away but what did it matter if everything seemed to be in a code he never had a chance to learn. This is ok he asserted, his jaw set solid, I have a teacher here to help me. His hand darted through the air, pushing past his own hesitance and reaching for the skies. 

And the teacher paused. She sighed.

"No Danny, you may not go to the restroom." Her tired voice heavy laden with surrender as she turned back to writing notes on the board. 

Danny's mouth opened, silently writhing in contrition and his hand slowly plummeted back down to earth. That's not the right response! A couple of kids laughed, turning to chatter slightly. His mouth closed. No! I want to, I need to be able to do this.

"Actually miss," Absently his hand rubbed his neck, "I was wondering if you could explain this?"

"I explained them yesterday. The day you missed." Her voice quivering with irritation, "Maybe if you showed up to class you wouldn't be so confused."

The class erupted into oohs and chuckles as she turned yet again to the board. Danny slumped further in his chair. This doesn't make any sense tough! I can't- I can't do this. They won't help me. His shoulders squared again.

"I'm glad you taught it yesterday," he shot back, his voice only slightly quavering "But I was hoping I could learn what it meant today?"

She started laughing, her face twisting slightly. "No I don't think you will. I really don't. You're never even here, you've breached the point where coming to school is even worth it. I'm not going to stall an entire lesson just because you like skipping class."

Once more the class exploded in on itself. Everyone was laughing, joking, chattering back and forth. Danny's heart skipped a beat abd his mouth opened again. This isn't a fight; she's on my side. Yet it didn't feel like it. It didn't feel like it at all. His shoulders sagged downwards and his head bowed down towards the desk. He could feel eyes focusing on him. Everything felt like it was imploding, the air biting him and his own body crushing his heart, his lungs. Why am I even here? Shivers breached his spine and a ghostly plume breached his mouth. 

He raised his hand again.

In the most defeated voice she replied. "What Danny."

His voice shook. "May I go to the restroom?"

"If you leave I'm calling security." Without even turning from the board.

His legs slowly slid around and he stood up, bag in hand. Giggles bred themselves into gossip as he walked silently to the front. The teacher didn't even turn. And, his throat bobbing and choking, he marched out the door. 

He stood there in the silent halls for a moment feet heavy and oh-so light in their numbness. Until without feeling, he made his way to the restroom to change. The halls were so quiet and empty feeling with only the occasional lonely student or patrolling teacher. 

"Where do you think you're going?" 

The chill of the halls became a burning inferno.

"To the bathroom." He said.

Without even turning he already knew it was George, the oldest and by far most lenient and friendly security guard. Danny heard him sigh. George was surely very disappointed; after all, everyone has their limits. Please just let me get past just this once. Just once. 

George sighed. "You and I both know that's not what's happening here kid." Danny didn't need to turn to see the reluctance in his face.

"Why don't we head up to the security office and talk about it?" 

Danny really really truly did not want that at all. What he wanted was to fight this ghost as fast as he could and not miss another class. To finally get everything under control. But he turned anyways; the old guard's face looked grieved, like he was hoping that this kid would take this treasured olive branch. Like this was his last chance on a chain of many before.

"Ok." 

George turned away, no longer facing him, beckoning for Danny to follow. His sense went off again, more insistent. His ears twitched at sounds just barely in range of hearing. It sounded like screams. George wasn't looking. He had to do this. Someone could be hurt. With his heart twisting in his chest and his stomach weighed down with rocks he let himself fade away.

The sky was clear and cold when he broke through the building. It bit his face. His head head felt on fire. Someone was in danger he had to-has to help. Sharp dust hit his face and stray wind streamed through his nose as he dove forward. 

His ears pounded and head burned. Green. There was green! He slid to a halt. It was Spectra. Fuck. This is just fucking fantastic.

"Spectra!" His voice rose a sarcastic octave- hand reaching to his mouth in fake shock "How are you??! Oh My God have I missed you."

Sharp claws thunked behind him.

"Wow it looks like you missed me too." The witty tone cracked halfway through and his eyes didn't quite crinkle as he smiled; he locked eyes with Spectra- daring her to point it out.

That was a mistake. He was slammed against the pavement as Bertrand with his black tail lashing pounced him. A claw went through his wrist. It burned.

"... Bertrand…" he gritted out "I guess everyone does want to be a cat."

There was no reaction.

"... Pickin up on that feline craze…?"

His voice seemed too high. "Cause a cat's the o-"

He gasped out. His side was bleeding.

"Ah yes, very witty remarks. I wonder if you feel quite so strong as you seem. " Spectra purred. Her rasping voice taunted his ears, her shadowy form curling about like a cloud of biting acid.

He felt his lip tremble. The pit in his stomach seemed deeper. I can't let her- She'll know. She always has. I just- What beat her through your obviously superior skill? Run away? Invisible and untouchable? I just-

"A cat got your tongue? No sharp retort?" Her voice lowed "I would've thought you'd fight harder-"

"... Technically a cat doesn't have my tongue.." Danny gasped out. Chest heaving and arms straining as he squirmed to get away from Bertrand.

"Perhaps that could be arranged. Where would you be after that little ghost child? Pray tell just what good are you then? A silent hero?" She cooed, "The town's great protector?" Her grin widened, laughing, mocking, "You can't even protect yourself."

"I can!" His voice shot back desperately.

"Really?" She tutted. "Do it now!?" Her eyes wide in false amazement. 

Danny struggled against the claws. His stomach spun. The air was choking him. They were laughing.

He opened his mouth. He didn't have anything to say. The pit in his stomach twisted. His eyes were stinging. No she's- She was right. There's no proof of that. Isn't there? Right now. No, jaw clenching and teeth grinding, people needed him.

His arms strained once more against Bertrand. The claw sunk deeper. Everything froze. 

"I was wondering," her voice set in mockong curiosity, "How exactly this heroing thing has turned out for you. Have people managed to forgive your…" her eyes glanced across him, nose wrinkling in disgust "... Flaws."

His face froze. "I don't know what your talking about."

"Oh of course, of course," dramatically swooping her voice, her laughing voice. "What flaws could you possibly have?"

Danny felt his gut drop. She knows. His stomach twisted tighter. Arms shook. I-

"Is it that you're not a boy? Not a ghost either. Certainly oh certainly not a boy. "Isn't that right Desmonda?" She gasped, drawing her hand to her mouth.

Then pit in his stomach shattered. His breathe drew clear again. Air rushed past his nose. He was laughing now.

"You.." Turning intangible he pushed himself through the pavement, beneath and away from the sharpened claws, "Didn't even get my deadname right!"

And with that he brought up the thermos, silencing her and Bertrand for about… Well, however long until he emptied the thermos. Maybe I should just leave them there forever. 

He flew back to the school. The security guard would be mad, he knew. There was another detention in his future. Tomorrow he might secure his binder too tight and just maybe cry in the mirror. But for now. The lunch bell had just rang and He needed to tell Tucker and Sam about how Spectra said the dumbest shit ever. The next? It could wait. Just for a bit.

[q-gorgeous]

Shattered

fanfiction

DUAL PROMPT

The wind was howling through the trees in the dense forest. Rain fell from the clouds, soaking the grass below. There was no trace of the moon in the sky, sending the woods into a deep blackness.

A figure ran through the trees, breath coming from their chest rapidly as tears streamed down their face. Their foot caught on a hidden tree root and they were sent toppling to the ground. Lightning struck, followed by a clap of thunder, and lit up the muddy figure lying on the ground among the leaves. 

Dash Baxter lay on the ground, his hand clenched into a fist as it rose up and down to repeatedly hit the squishy dirt. 

He’d messed up. He’d messed up real bad. 

They had to go on this school camping trip and Dash had thought, what better time to confess his feelings? He’d been trying to follow Kwan’s advice, had apologized to Danny a couple weeks ago. They weren’t friends or anything but they got along a little better now. 

But Dash had pulled Danny aside as everyone else was heading to their tents. He told Danny and as the other boy’s eyes widened and he shuffled on his feet, Dash’s heart fell. 

He hadn’t seemed to be disgusted by the idea but he began to spout off all these reasons why it wouldn’t work. It’s not the right time. He has too much going on. 

Dash had stared past Danny’s shoulder, horror filling his stomach. He knew and Danny didn’t feel the same way. What if he told someone? There was no doubt he’d tell his two best friends. What if they told someone else? What if word spread around so much it got back to his dad?

At that thought, Dash had taken off into the trees, the rain just starting. He ignored Danny’s yell. He just kept running through the darkness. 

Laying on the ground, he began to make his way to his hands and knees. Another sob wracked his body and he laid his forehead against the mud as he angrily hit the ground, heart shattered. 

“Dash!”

His head jolted up and whipped around as he heard the call of his name. Scrawny little Danny Fenton had followed him into the pitch black forest. 

Dash tried to quiet his sobs, hoping Danny wouldn’t hear him and would turn back. He didn’t know when he’d be able to face the other boy. 

“Dash! I know you’re out here! We need to get back to camp! It’s not safe!”

He scoffed. What did Fenton care if he was safe or not?

Footsteps sounded a ways to Dash’s left, leaves crunching as Danny drew closer. 

“Dash, where are-”

Lightning lit up the forest once again, Dash and Danny’s gazes met in the split second of light.

“Dash, stay there. I’m coming to get you.” Danny’s footsteps started moving confidently towards him in the dark. 

“No. Leave me alone.” Dash grumbled.

“Dash we’re in the middle of a thunderstorm. I’m not leaving you out-”

Another crack of lightning flashed in the air, followed by a horrible cracking sound. One of the trees behind Dash began to creak and he felt everything slow as it started falling. 

Just before the tree squashed him, Dash was barreled out of the way. He rolled and flipped over a few times before he stopped. Raising his head, he looked up to glance at where the tree was laying. Where he’d been a moment ago. 

A groan sounded to his right. Danny.

“What the hell, man?!” Dash shouted. “You could’ve been killed!”

Danny scoffed. “Well you would have been killed. You’re welcome.”

Silence fell between them, Dash’s hands shaking. Another sob forced its way from Dash’s throat and he heard Danny sigh before a hand was gently placed on his shoulder. 

“Let’s get back to camp.”

Dash heard Danny stand and a hand met his arm, helping to pull him up. Together, they trudged back to camp to be met with an upset Lancer.

Danny’s tight grip never left the whole way back.

[logicalghost]

ECTOBER2019: DAY ONE- “WHAT IF?”

[tsubaki94]

17. Witching hour

I'm trying to make them all still, making them simpler, smaller with less things happening.

[enigmaris]

Ectober Day 4! Prompt: Artifact/ Nursery Rhyme

Prequel to Wrong Number Danny woke up late one morning to find three ghosts in his closet with an offer he couldn't refuse. Even if he didn't look at the fine print too closely.

[katphantom69]

Hickory Dickory Dock

Once in the ghost zone, in a clocktower house.

Scampered inside a timid little mouse.

Running and scampering, it soon hopped off the ground,

And into the time master chest it's way found!

Time master jumped up, very surprised

As the mouse went crazy! Trapped inside!

The clock in his chest began loudly to chime

And striking one it froze in time!

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Clock is stuck striking one

TICK TOCK TICK TOCK

Mouse can't get out! This is no fun!

Finally loudly , Time Master did shout

Observants came to help him out

They found it silly, and began to mock

Starting the tease with a

Hickory dickory dock!

Hickory dickory dock

The mouse ran up the clock

The clock struck one and the mouse ran down

Hickory dickory dock

And the poor master of time

Has to endure this terrible rhyme

Mouse was kicked out for his horrid crime

And every time a clock now chimes

The observants mock the clock...

With a

Hickory dickory dock!

[wastefulreverie]

Ectober19 Nursery Rhyme

700 Follower gift fic for @lexosaurus! Enjoy dude!

Up Above the World So High

Genre: Angst/Horror

Word Count: 4960

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky…”

To the specimen’s obvious elation, his cheeks glimmered brilliantly with the mark of constellations. In this state, he was docile. Slower. Almost childlike in nature. He would pester the scientists, eagerly asking what they were going to do to him next. Like he wanted to be experimented on. His space obsession was fueled by wonder—as long as they played along, he was easily contained. His admiration of the stars provided them with a plethora of data.

His other obsession… wasn’t as passive. In his hero-mode, Phantom was more skittish, defensive, and cocky. Especially cocky. Unlike his space-mode, he struggled against the scientists and threatened to escape (as if he could). His defiance was a liability and made it difficult to conduct experiments. And he was always insisting that Amity Park—the nearest town—needed protecting and that he was the sole force between that town and oblivion. He just never stopped.

The scientists were trying to devise how to eliminate his hero-obsession, but they were at a loss. Phantom was the first ghost they’d observed with dual-obsessions, so this was completely new territory. They figured that they needed to slowly break down his hero-obsession by employing psychological tactics. Simultaneously, they would reward his space-obsession with subtle encouragement and mental stimuli. They couldn’t predict the result, but it was worth a shot.

“Twinkle, twinkle…” Agent Foxtrot traced a finger across Phantom’s cheeks. “Someone’s shining bright today, aren’t we?”

Phantom gasped. “I am? That means it’s a new moon! The stars always look brightest under a new moon! So mine do too!”

“And so your face… just does whatever the sky does, space freak?” Agent Kilo jabbed.

“Yeah-huh! Except my face doesn’t have clouds. Or birds. It only has astronomical bodies on it, not Earth sky stuff. That’d look really funny. Like you,” he laughed. “You look silly with that mask on.”

“It’s so we don’t breathe in any of the chemicals we’re testing on you today,” Agent Foxtrot explained. “Safety precaution.”

“Oh… okay. What are you doing, then?”

“Testing your reaction to different mixtures. Some have anti-ghost components, others are just regular toxic chemicals.”

Phantom tensed against the lab table. “So this is another one of the hurting tests?”

“Yep.”

Phantom’s face flickered. For a moment the stars blinked from his face before reappearing. “I—I don’t wanna—”

“Shhh,” Agent Foxtrot soothed. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are… Everything’s going to be alright. Just breathe.”

They couldn’t let his hero mode take over for this experiment. His obsessions were in equilibrium, fighting for dominance. His defensive side was trying to protect himself, to combat the pain. However, his space mode was still holding on. The speckled stars across his faces weren’t completely diminished.

“The stars,” Agent Sierra said. “Remember the stars? The ones you were talking about yesterday?”

Phantom blinked. His freckles stabilized and his hero side remained secured. “Oh yeah! Did you know that some stars have rain sometimes? Not like our rain, it’s plasma rain so it’s lethal and stuff, but it’s still rain!”

They all collectively sighed in relief.

“Inject the first chemical,” Agent Foxtrot instructed.

Agent Kilo held Phantom’s arm down with one hand and held the syringe with the other. He steadily inserted the needle into the specimen’s vein and introduced the chemical. The results were almost immediate.

Phantom’s eyes dulled with pain and raw agony slid across his face. The site of the injection quickly became inflamed and visible welts graced his skin. He choked out an anguished sob and pressed his fingers into the metal table. “Ma—make it stop—”

“Which chemical was this?” Agent Sierra asked.

“Blood blossom extract. We hypothesized that he’d be able to withstand it since he’s more resilient than most ghosts, but it turns out we were incorrect. This is interesting, though. Most ecto-entities completely break down into ectoplasm when they’re introduced to this… but he’s only reacting mildly.”

“Must be because of his organic composition. We need to look into that more and investigate why he’s fused with human matter.”

Phantom tried cradling himself, but his bondage prevented him from moving. “Ev—rythin’ burns.”

The scientists ignored him.

“Agent Bravo has a theory that he’s a hybrid. She claims that during her session, his midriff kept trying to morph into some kind of white material. That was right after he fried the laboratory camera, so there’s no evidence.”

Agent Kilo snorted. “That’s convenient. She’s always making up shit, I wouldn’t doubt she’s trying to jeopardize our team’s experiments.”

“I don’t know… some of her hypotheses have been correct in the past.”

“We’ll see, then.”

Suddenly, Phantom made a gurgling noise and started to retch. The scientists, although intrigued, moved back from the specimen.

“Is he… puking?”

“He is,” Agent Foxtrot marveled.

Since he was still strapped to the table, Phantom wasn’t able to aim his vomit anywhere but onto himself. It wasn’t unlike human vomit besides that it was green. Oh, and glowing. It drenched his entire torso and matted into his hair, which was already greasy and gray from weeks of captivity. Phantom coughed up even more bile and growled. “Fuck you guys.”

He’d slipped back into hero mode.

Goddamnit.

Agent Kilo wrinkled his nose. “Should we collect a sample?”

“Sure, but I’m not touching that stuff.”

“What were you asshats trying to accomplish anyway? Get me to throw up so I feel as nasty as you tell I am? Might’ve worked,” Phantom said darkly.

“Should we spray him down in the sanitation chamber? Because I don’t think we’re going to clean that off easily with only bleach wipes.”

“Good idea, Sierra.”

Phantom groaned. “Not that thing.”

The sanitation chamber sprayed its target with as much water pressure as a firehose. Phantom had only been in it once, but he didn’t speak for hours in either mode.

“Do you want to stay covered in your own sick, ghost? Because we can let that happen.”

He fell silent.

“Alright, Kilo collect the sample. Agent Foxtrot help me slide him onto the stretcher and set up the chamber,” Agent Sierra directed.

The scientists obliged and Phantom held his tongue, not dumb enough to risk the shallow kindness of his captors.

The ferocious torrent of the sanitation chamber didn’t help the welts from the experiment. After a few hours, the welts grew into a rash and the scientists dragged Phantom into temporary hospice. Their favorite specimen had to be in good health, after all. They couldn’t let his poor condition skew their data.

“Don’t you guys just want me to suffer? Why are you doing this?” Phantom asked. “You’re not trying to bribe into forgetting that I’m your lab rat, right? Well, I’m never going to forget why I’m here. That you fucking ripped me from my town that’s probably in shambles by now. And all the people that I love… I just want my life back.”

Agent X-Ray resumed rubbing ointment onto Phantom’s rash. He hissed at the contact but didn’t swat the scientist away.

To Phantom’s left, Agent Quebec was working on his tablet, making a few revisions for their next experiment. Quebec looked up from his device and met Phantom’s gaze. “Do you really think anyone noticed that you’ve even left?” he asked innocently.

The ghost’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Just a question,” Agent Quebec shrugged. “Do you think anyone has noticed?”

“Of—of course. I’m their hero.”

“I guess you are. Since you’ve disappeared, nobody in your precious town has been attacked. You’re protecting them by not being there. If that’s what you call a hero, ghost.”

“I don’t understand,” he whispered.

“I guess a creature like you wouldn’t understand the matters of human affairs. Typical.”

“No, I—nobody’s been attacked? Are you sure?” His voice was longing, desperate. “I’m supposed to protect them.”

Agent Quebec kept his glare cold and stern. “They don’t need you. It appears they never did.”

Everything was still for a moment. Agent X-Ray stopped smearing ointment onto Phantom’s rash and Agent Quebec froze in anticipation. They couldn’t place it, but something in Phantom’s eyes died.

In a matter of seconds, stars splashed across Phantom’s face. His freckles pulsated constellations and his eyes sparkled with space dust. His hero mode had been too weak to sustain dominance, so his space mode had taken over.

Agent X-Ray dropped the tube of ointment.

“What just—”

“His space mode. His hero obsession was too weak, so it automatically took over. This is—” Agent Quebec ran a hand over his face “—this changes everything. Our theories were actually right!”

“What theories?” Phantom tilted his head. “I like theories. My favorite theory the theory that when matter in a black hole—which is really really dense—bounces back against the center of the black hole it’ll create a baby universe. Like, imagine a tiny universe inside a black hole! Isn’t that interesting? Some people even think we might be inside a black hole, but nobody can prove anything…”

“You have to tell the higher-ups about this,” Agent X-Ray said. “If we can really eliminate his obsession, then—”

“I know.”

“Phantom will be reduced to a cute, little, babbling space ghost.”

Agent Quebec raised a brow. “Cute?”

“Come on man, those freckles are adorable.”

“Whatever you say.”

He turned back to his tablet and left Agent X-Ray to finish things with Phantom.

“I’ve heard our little star is all healed up,” Agent Foxtrot greeted playfully.

Phantom’s eyes darted around the room. He was strapped to the table again, so he didn’t have a good visage of Agent Foxtrot or the other scientists. He was also still in space mode and hadn’t switched back since his time in hospice—some wounds took longer to heal.

“Yeah,” Phantom chirped. “They managed to get the rash thing to go away.”

“Good. Because we need you to do something very important today.”

“Yeah?”

“We’re taking samples of your tissue from different parts of your body, so you need to stay very still. Some of these incisions have to be precise. Got it?”

His eyes dulled. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

The scientists prepared their tools, laying out everything on the metal tray inches from Phantom’s head. His eyes darted to the tray every time they placed another device on it, but he didn’t comment.

It was strange… his space mode was typically naive, but today he appeared lucid. He was assertive and brooding… like he was anticipating the pain that awaited him. This was how his hero mode behaved, but he wasn’t in his hero mode. Perhaps the trauma he’d experienced in his hero mode yesterday was preventing him from fully shifting? As a result, he was stuck in space mode with hero mode’s mentality.

At least that’s the conclusion that the scientists reached.

“We’re ready to make the first incision,” Agent Foxtrot announced.

Phantom stared straight up, locking his gaze onto the surgical light.

Agent Kilo drew the scalpel along the lines that Agent Sierra had marked along Phantom’s pectorals. The blade pulled the ghost’s flesh and Phantom bit his tongue to keep from crying out. Dark green oozed from the cut, spilling across his chest in rivets.

“Peculiar,” Agent Kilo remarked. “Ectoplasm typically isn’t this… runny. Or dark.”

Agent Sierra dug the scalpel deeper into the slice, trying to get a good piece of tissue of the sample. Phantom elicited a muffled scream and Agent Foxtrot shoved a nearby rag in his mouth. Finally, Agent Sierra managed to get a good chunk out of Phantom’s pecs and used the scalpel to loosen it. Agent Kilo collected the sample and carefully secured it in a sterile cooler.

Phantom heaved, sweat slicked against his skin. His face was a mess of bodily fluids… glowing saliva, snot, and tears smeared against his face. For a moment, the scientists didn’t even notice that the stars had slipped off his face and he’d reverted back into hero mode. He tried to speak, but the gag in his mouth only choked him. The scientists figured that was probably a good thing; they didn’t need another earful from him.

Agent Foxtrot grabbed another rag and wiped off the remaining ectoplasm on his chest.

“This is really runny,” she noted.

Agent Sierra furrowed his brow. “Do you think he hasn’t been fed enough? The viscosity of ectoplasm thins when a ghost is malnourished.”

“No. He drinks ectoplasm on the daily. I think this is just… him. Something’s weird with his composition.”

“Hopefully these tissue samples will illuminate why.”

“If they don’t, then we can always run more tests. Do you think the higher-ups will sign off on a dissection?”

“Oh! I’ve always wanted to do one of those.”

Phantom slammed his foot against the table.

“Knowing our luck, they’ll give it to Agent Bravo’s team.”

“God… that bitch always takes everything. Always stealing our glory,” Agent Kilo grumbled.

“Hey, we just have to push through. Sooner or later, we’ll reach some conclusive results! We’re lucky enough that we get to examine the most complex specimen in this institution.”

“Yeah… I guess. So should we start on the next sample?”

Though the gag, Phantom made a high-pitched whining noise. The scientists exchanged glances and began setting up for the next test.

“Why… am I here?” Phantom asked. He was sitting across from Agent Bravo in some kind of interrogation room. It was one of those rooms they have on police shows, with the double-sided glass. He was thoroughly strapped to his chair and fixed with an additional electrocution collar. They hadn’t had to use one of those on him in a while, but it was just for extra precaution.

“We need to have a chat. Well, more than one chat—starting today, you and I are going to have bi-weekly sessions.”

“Sessions?” he asked incredulously.

“Agent Quebec has recommended them. He has some ideas about how we can… expand your comfort.”

Phantom scoffed. “Are you fucking serious?”

“Quite.”

“But I’m your lab rat—you guys don’t give a damn about my feelings.”

“You’re our lab rat, yes. But it’s important to us that between your… tests… that you’re in prime condition.”

“Oh sure.”

“Your welfare affects our data, so this isn’t something we take lightly.”

“Fuck your data then. I never asked to be here. If it means screwing you out of the satisfaction, I’m perfectly content with being miserable!”

“Well, that’s just petty, isn’t it? Didn’t expect anything less… you only care about yourself. Well, and your precious town that hasn’t even noticed you’ve left.”

“Stop saying that… that’s a lie. They’ve had to notice I’ve been captured,” he growled. “I know there are people that care about me… I know.”

Agent Bravo’s smile curled. “Know… or believe? Everyone’s living their lives as normal—no thanks to you.”

“No, they aren’t! They—they can’t be! I’m the only thing keeping Amity from being destroyed! And then there’s Mo—” he shook his head. “What about the Fentons? They’ve had to have figured it out. Right?”

She shrugged. “At most, the Fentons are fending off small-fry ghosts that stayed behind when all your enemies left. Other than that, they’ve been occupied with other things. I doubt they’ve batted an eye in your direction.”

His eyes welled with tears. “But Jazz promised she'd…”

“Who?”

“No one.” He wiped at the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“That’s what I thought,” she said. “No one’s realized you’re gone. If they haven’t even noticed, what does that say about you? How important were you really to Amity Park? You’re better off here, where you’re actually useful.”

“But I was useful,” he cried. “I worked so hard… and I had to have made a difference. Didn’t I?”

“How many times are you going to make me say it? You didn’t make a damn difference. All you did was make the ghost problem worse by drawing your enemies into the town! Now that you’re gone, the only ghosts left are the weak ones. Let me get it through your thick—or shall I say thin, ectoplasmic skull! You’re the catalyst for all the disaster that ravaged Amity Park and now that you’re gone everyone is safe!”

At her words, Phantom stilled. His sobs started to dwindle and he locked eyes with the double-sided glass as if he could see the other side. Agent Bravo turned to see what he was looking at and almost missed his shift into space mode. Glittery freckles and star-speckled eyes emerged in the wake of Phantom’s tears.

Agent Bravo howled in delight. “Bingo.”

Phantom continued to meet with Agent Bravo over the next few weeks. Every time he’d go into the session, the scientists would ensure that he was in hero mode. She’d talk him down until finally, he reverted into his space mode. If he caught on, he didn’t say anything to his captors or Agent Bravo.

“He almost looks like he’s in mourning. Does that mean that this… ‘anti-therapy’ is working?” Agent Kilo approached Agent Quebec at lunch.

“Is that really the best thing you thought to call it?”

“What am I supposed to call it?” He crossed his arms.

“Not that.”

“Ugh. Whatever. It’s working, right?”

“Seems like it. He’s hardly spending any time in his hero mode unless we prompt him to change. If we keep this up, it looks like he’ll lose it for good!”

Agent Kilo frowned. “Are we sure that’s the best choice? I get that nobody likes his hero mode, but shouldn’t we study his dual-obsessions more before we destroy one?”

“If we study them now, that could jeopardize all of Agent Bravo’s progress. At this point, we can’t turn back. We can just study the next ghost with dual-obsessions. Sure, Phantom’s rare but I doubt he’s one of a kind.”

“Let’s hope not. That’d really suck.”

“Indeed.”

“Well, good talking to you Quebec. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

Agent Quebec groaned. “Only if I’m unlucky.”

“Then it’s no question,” Agent Kilo laughed. “Buddy.”

He ducked out of Agent Quebec’s office, leaving him alone with his work.

“I want you to say it with me this time,” Agent Bravo instructed. “Amity Park is happy and safe without me.”

Phantom kept his head down on the table, arms curled around himself. Usually, he took much longer to break, which was a good sign. They were near the end; his hero obsession was finally giving out.

“A—Amity Park’s safe without me,” he mumbled.

“They’re not my town. My heroic efforts are futile.”

Phantom clenched his fists and released them.

“It’s not my town. My efforts are futile.”

Agent Bravo’s smile ripped across her face like a branch of lightning.

“The ghosts attacks were all my fault.”

“The attacks were all my fault.”

“Good. Very good.”

When Phantom finally lifted his head, he was in space mode. When he spoke, his voice was steady and soft.

“May I go to my cell now? I like the darkness.”

She nodded. “Agent Whiskey will escort you out.”

Right on cue, a tall, bullish man entered the interrogation room. He slammed his briefcase on the table between Phantom and Agent Bravo and clicked it open. He removed the inhibitors from the case and started fixing them on Phantom’s limbs. They were a mandatory precaution each time they moved Phantom around the facility—they couldn’t risk losing him in the hallways, the veins of the Guys in White.

“On your feet,” Agent Whiskey growled.

Phantom obliged, familiar with the weight of inhibitors dragging him down. Agent Whiskey pulled him by the arm and he parroted the man’s gait, step-for-step. Luckily, the interrogation room wasn’t too far from Phantom’s cell so they didn’t have to walk much. Agent Whiskey shoved Phantom into his cell, unclasped his inhibitors, and slammed the deadlock on the door. The ghost was left alone in the dark… with nothing but a creaky, metal bed.

“Finally,” he sighed.

He brought himself to his knees and crawled underneath his bed. He flattened himself out so that no part of his body was sticking out and let go of his transformation. In a flash of light, Phantom changed into Danny Fenton. He was worse for wear; bruised, battered, and broken in a million ways, but he was still alive. It was inevitable that the GIW would discover his duality, but he’d managed to hide it so far.

He’d learned early on that the cameras in his room couldn’t see anything in the dark. They weren’t night-vision cameras because his cell was supposed to have light in it, but they kept it turned off for him. However, the cameras could still pick up on the light from his transformation, so he had to hide underneath the bed so that they wouldn’t catch it.

It wasn’t too difficult, at least. He only had to transform back into human form once every few days. By those standards, his body was low-maintenance. He didn’t have to eat human food since the GIW was generous enough to give him ectoplasm. And since he wasn’t drinking water, he didn’t have to use the bathroom. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.

Danny closed his eyes, basking in the darkness.

“Can’t I just… fly into space? Where the darkness never ends?” he whispered. “Dotted by millions of galaxies, light-years away? Can’t I just be where I want to be instead of here? Where they tear me apart, push me around. Instead of… back home with those ungrateful people. Who forgot about me, who never needed me.”

He unfolded his arm to wipe the tears rolling down his starry cheeks.

“Can’t I live among the stars, just me?”

The darkness didn’t respond.

“A toast!” Agent Quebec announced. “To Agent Bravo, Dr. Laishram, for successfully eradicating Specimen 403’s heroic driven obsession! She’s a visionary in her field of study and bound to make many more accomplishments in the future!”

The scientists raised their glasses and drank.

It’d been two weeks since Agent Bravo’s final session with Phantom and he hadn’t shifted into his hero mode once, despite harsh prompting. After a week, they’d determined that she’d done it; that she’d broken down his obsession once and for all. It was definitely a matter of celebration, so they threw an office party in the facility’s lobby.

“I don’t deserve all the credit,” Agent Bravo dismissed. “If it wasn’t for Agent Quebec, I would’ve never had the opportunity! I owe this feat to my co-workers who helped me prepare for this role. Sometimes… it was hard to keep a straight face, knowing what we know about Amity now. Nonetheless, Phantom ate straight out of my hand.”

“He’s not the only one,” Agent Kilo muttered under his breath.

Agent Foxtrot swiftly elbowed him in the ribs. “Mind your manners.”

“You’re an incredible deceiver, Bravo. You impress me sometimes!” Agent X-Ray remarked.

“I’m not sure that’s an admirable quality, but thanks?”

Laughter rang around the room. It didn’t last long; red lights cast across the lobby and a high, whirring siren punctured the scientists’ merriment. The co-workers glanced at each other in alarm.

“Is that the fire alarm?” Agent Sierra asked.

Agent Quebec shook his head. “No… something’s escaped.”

His words sent the room into a flurry of panic.

“Who the hell’s on security tonight!?”

“Agents Whiskey and Tango!”

Heads turned toward Agent Whiskey, weakly holding a glass of champagne.

“Fuck!”

“I—I thought he had it covered?”

“Jesus, Jacquez. It’s Agent Tango for Christ’s sake!”

“I’m sorry!”

Agent Foxtrot fumbled through her bag and found a portable ecto-blaster. Other scientists were arming themselves with weapons, but nothing like the field-agents carried. They were ill-prepared to make a stand… their only hope was—

“The ghost shields! Are they all operational?”

“They should be? Oh, God.”

“Do we know who escaped yet?”

Agent Quebec waved his tablet. “I’m trying to find out, but half of our surveillance systems are down! Whoever escaped must be sentient enough to knock them out!”

“We only have three specimens that fit that profile… could it be—?”

Several scientists gasped.

“No, no it can’t be him! He’s lost his will to break out, hasn’t he?”

“Losing his heroics doesn’t make Phantom any less dangerous, Delta!”

“Dammit.”

“This is all your fault Whiskey! If you’d just stayed at your post—”

“I got video feed!” Agent Quebec announced. “Help me look for the escapee!’

He casted his tablet to the lobby’s TV and took a step back. There were at least thirty different cameras squeezed into tiny boxes, but it wasn’t hard to pick out where the escapee was. It was only a shadow, but his silhouette spoke enough.

"Phantom’s in Sector 4-F!”

“There’s a ghost shield on the other side of that wall, he’s cornered. Apprehend him before he changes trajectory!”

“Yes, Agent Quebec!” the scientists chorused.

“Wait…” Agent Quebec zoomed in on the screen. “What the hell?”

“… Quebec?” Agent Bravo asked. “What is it?”

“He went through th—the wall! He went through the ghost shield! Did you guys see that?”

“Quebec, there’s no way.”

Agent Quebec swiped upwards on his tablet and switched to exterior security cameras. And sure enough, there was a telltale black streak staggering across the screen. It stretched into the distance, far away from the facility and into the woods.

“Phantom’s escaped. He’s really… gone.”

He’d seen his chance and taken it. Danny had never dreamed he’d be this lucky, but he supposed karma owed him a lot of debt. There was only one guard on duty tonight, and even with his limited powers, it didn’t take much to overpower him when he slipped Danny’s ectoplasm tube into his cell. From there, he had cut the surveillance for the south side of the facility and used his human side to phase through the ghost shield.

He may have been caught on camera transforming, but he didn’t care. He was out. And it’s not like he was returning to his human life anyway, not after all they’d done for him. Or lack thereof. Nobody cared that he’d been captured, not even his family. And Amity Park was happy! They were fine without him! Agent Bravo made that clear, and he was glad she had. Now he could pursue his destiny. The stars.

He could explore the vastness of space without being chained to any responsibilities! He could escape his pain and misery, he could leave all his trauma back on Earth where it belonged. Space was his salvation, it could heal him. He just wanted to be one with it.

He wanted to breathe comets and dance with asteroids. He wanted to pour with Venus’s acid rain and fly through the rings of Saturn. He wanted to let the absence of gravity whisk him into infinite darkness and pour into his soul.

Physical and spiritual freedom. He could finally be himself.

Why had he ever been infatuated with the idea of heroism? That had never been him. Daniel Fenton had always wanted to be an astronaut and somewhere along the way he’d picked up the stupid idea that he was obligated to fight for others. He felt much better this way; he felt like Danny again. Not Phantom.

“I’m ready,” he breathed. And with that, he kicked off from the ground and shot into orbit.

He kept his gaze on the stars, glittering like precious jewels. They were so magnificent! He’d live among them, touch them, and dissolve into stardust…

Jazz crossed the house with a worn resolve. Things were bad. They’d been bad for months, ever since Danny vanished. No one noticed at first, it even took their parents a few days to realize that Fenton was missing. After that, tragedy after tragedy befell their town. With no protector, Amity Park was easy pickings for the ghosts. And thus, the invasions started.

Outside, she could hear them pillaging the streets. Her parents were on the other side of town, taking care of the ghosts tearing apart townhall. She didn’t know why they tried anymore; it was already a dump. They should reinforce the other areas of town that hadn’t been reduced to ruin yet, like their neighborhood. But Jazz was tired. She didn’t want to do anything anymore, she couldn’t fight. So, she let them be. Fuck it! Let the ghosts wreak all the havoc they want!

They needed Danny, they needed their hero. But no one knew where he’d gone. She’d spent days searching for him in the Ghost Zone, but she was at a loss. None of his allies or enemies knew of his whereabouts.

Sam and Tucker thought he was dead, but Jazz refused to believe that. She knew that he was out there somewhere, fretting about them, and she knew that he’d come back and fix everything. That’s what heroes did, after all.

She ascended the stairs and carefully dipped into Danny’s bedroom. Mom and Dad had torn it to shreds when he first disappeared, but now everything was eerily untouched. Layers of dust coated Danny’s shelves and model space shuttles. She didn’t know exactly how she felt, but it was vaguely comforting. To know that this stuff was still here, waiting… just like her.

Ignoring the carnage outside his window, Jazz drew the blinds switched off the light. She found Danny’s star projector on one of his shelves and placed it on the floor. She fiddled with the controls for a moment and managed to get constellations revolving around the ceiling. She laid down on the musty carpet and crossed her arms over her chest.

Danny used to do this. He found it relaxing. Maybe she would too.

As the star projector spun, it hummed a soft melody that haunted Jazz well into the night.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.”

[clarinetily]

Tarot

Hi! My story for today’s Ectober prompt. Hope you enjoy!

~clarinetily

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

Danny was curious. He had heard of tarot cards before, even played with some before the accident, but he didn’t know how they would work on a dead guy. So he asked Sam and Tucker to try using some on him.

Ha was disappointed. They were normal cards. Nothing weird about them. No death omens. Nothing that reacted to his ghostliness,

That is, until a few days later.

He decided to try again, but this time he was already transformed. He had just finished a fight with Ember, and when he mentioned the tarot cards non-weirdness to his friends yet again, they started complaining and saying that he should just try it again and see if he got different results.

So that’s why all three of them were sitting around a deck of tarot cards. Danny was sitting across from Sam with Tucker at his side as they waited impatiently for Sam to finish readying the deck, with some help from Danny as needed.

“Come on, Sam, it’s not that hard.” Tucker whined as he waited for Sam to start. He was hungry, and Danny wouldn’t let him go downstairs to get a snack lest he miss something important.

Sam finally finished with the deck and set them in front of Danny. “Okay, Danny. I want you to pick the three cards that draw you in the most.”

Danny closed his eyes and drew his cards. He kept them closed until he heard Tucker whistle in surprise. “Dude, you’re gonna wanna take a look at this.

Danny opened his eyes and in front of him sat three death cards.

Then he scooped them up, tossed them in their box, closed the box, and threw it out the window. He was so not dealing with this today.

[floating-pisces]

Ectober Day 4: Illusion.

They’re idiots.

[ryntrinity]

Hmmm! Now I want some dark chocolate cookie ÇvÇ I'm hungry...!🍪🍫 ☠️ ☠️ ☠️ I'll dedicate my whole Inktober hours tomorrow just to try to make that buffy anatomy right... Drawing muscle bois is soo hard! #ectober #ectober2019 #inktober2019 #inktober #inktoberbrasil #inktoberbr 🎃 #jazzfenton #jasminefenton #tasty 🎃 #dannyphantom #goghostagain #savedannyphantom #inktoberday25 #inktoberday25tasty #inktoberchallenge #ink #inkdraw  #inkdoodle #traditionaldrawing #traditionalsketch #traditionaldoodle #blackink #blackandwhite #traditional #traditionalart #inktoberbrasil #fanart 👻@inktober @inktoberbrasil 👻 #drawlloween #wip #workinprogress https://www.instagram.com/p/B4DhokbAPCa/?igshid=1wdvimprtheob

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Day 30: Gathering - The Fright In Halloween

Of course ghosts should celebrate freaking Halloween. The fact that they don’t in the show is a goddamn insult. And it turns out that Danny is a scary son of a corpse.

Danny walks into his room to see the FrightKnight, of all ghosts, just...standing there. Danny tilts his head, “um, hello? Can I help you?”.

The FrightKnight seems as if he’s smiling, “seasons greetings Phantom!”.

Danny blinks, “it’s...not the Christmas truce yet”.

The FrightKnight looks slightly offended, nodding and grumbling to himself, “I figured Phantom would be unawares. Which is precisely why I had to come personally”, nodding again and looking to Danny. Who’s really tempted to point out that he can quite easily hear everything he said. FrightKnight speaking to Danny again, “I’m here to formally invite you to the Halloween Rapine!”.

Danny tilts his head and smirks, of course there was some ghost celebration on Halloween. And honestly, he immediately loves how utterly cliche and spooky that is. “Tell me no more, I’m down. Whatever weird shit this is, it’s weird shit I’m doing”.

The FrightKnight seemingly smiles as Wulf pops his head over and onto the window frame, tongue lolling out.

Danny beams, “Wulf! Good to see ya buddy”. Wulf grins devilishly and slashes through the air, making a portal.

Danny points at the FrightKnight as the three walk through the portal, “I will be so very disappointed if this is just trick-or-treating. I expect better from ghosties”.

The FrightKnight laughs, “we share plenty with the mortals”, grinning almost cruelly, “we are tricky things after all”. Danny gives a matching devilish grin. Tricks and jokes were right up his alley. So long as they didn’t harm after all.

Danny’s not even surprised that whatever is held at FrightKnight’s castle. Only acknowledging that fact with a wider smirk. As they dramatically enter. FrightKnight swishing his cape, Wulf howling, and Danny screaming, “THE GHOST WITH THE MOST IS HERE SPOOKY BABIES!!!”, repeatedly raising his eyebrows dramatically.

Skulker shakes his head with a smile before clapping Danny on the back, “you’re indeed here whelp, now we can finally call whatever friends you happen to have. Those snow yeti’s I believe”.

Danny snickers, “my worshipers? Yeah they’re definitely friends”, looking around as Skulker screws up his face, unsure if Phantom is being serious or not. Danny can see most of his frenemies along with others that are clearly friends with his frenemies. And then...there’s the Box Ghost. Chuckling Danny turns his head back to Skulker, “so what? Me being here will just what? Ghostly ping my friends?”.

Ember snorts and elbows him, “that’s exactly what happens dipstick. So long as they’re in the Zone, they get the call”.

Danny frowns, “well that just won’t do. I’m positive one is firmly not in the Zone”.

Skulker beams, “surely I can hunter them down!”. Wulf nods eagerly and steps up.

Danny actually cackles, “good luck with that one! I’m pretty sure none of you have ever met the other Phantom. Her names Dani, with an ‘i’. Smells the same as me Wulf. But a girl. And Skulker, while I don’t honestly mind the hunting me. If you hunt her, I will skin and eat you. Find her fine, with Wulf. But maybe expect to get your ass kicked by a one-year-old twelve-year-old”, smiling happily at their confused faces, “last time I saw her she punched Vlad in the face. And last I heard she was in New York stealing apples and tricking people into thinking she didn’t have hands”.

Skulker laughs, “oh we are getting her. Not going to question how there’s another Phantom”. Wulf grins and makes a portal, the two leaving.

Ember elbows him again, “you have a daughter?”.

“Technically, she’s Vlad’s”, Ember coughs and chokes slightly at this while Danny continues, “but she’s made from my genetics. So technically, I do”.

Ember shakes her head, “the weirdest things happen to you”.

Danny sighs happily, “I know. It’s great”.

A couple seconds later the Far Frozen enter looking like the tough warriors they are. Scowls on their faces and most with weapons on their belts.

Kitty and Johnny, wrapped up in each other, wander over to Danny. Kitty speaking, “I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen the Yeti ghosts. Scary friends you got”.

Danny just smirks as FrostBite notices him, wide grin breaking out and ears perking. The group of yeti’s follow after him as they all come up and bow before Danny. While all of Danny’s frenemies blink and gape. FrostBite stands, shaking Danny’s hand as he speaks, “it is splendid to see you again Great One! I am unsurprised one such as you is enjoying Halloween Rapine. I do hope it lives up to any expectations you may have”.

Danny chuckles, “I have no clue what’s happening other than ticks and my friends will be showing. I’m already amused”.

ColdStep beams, ears perking up, “you are far too easy to please, but I expect no less from the mighty saviour”.

Danny goes about making friendly with all of them. Receiving plenty of cheer, compliments and bits of devotion. While Johnny whispers to Kitty, “the brat wasn’t kidding. He has worshipers”.

Ember shakes her head, “how did that even happen?”.

Danny chuckles, hands behind his head, as he wanders over to the three, “now that would be telling, wouldn’t it?”.

Not even three seconds later everyone but Danny jumps from a booming voice, “where is he!?!”. Danny spinning his head around with a large grin. Shouting, “Pandora!”, quickly walking towards her and spotting Dorathea slightly behind her, “and Dora! It’s great to see you. How have you two been?”.

Pandora claps him on the shoulder hard but fond, while the Box Ghost promptly hinds behind the Ghost Writer. Pandora’s voice quieter but still booming, “I have been well! And I’m sure you have been busy as ever!”.

Danny chuckles and nods as Dora hugs him tightly, tucking her head under his chin, “Prince Phantom, it’s been too long”.

Danny pats her back, “any length is too long. Your kingdoms been well?”. while the ghosts within ear shoot are, once again, gapping.

Ember giving Danny a questioning look as Dora pulls away, still clinging to his hands. Danny chuckles and looks at Ember, “I’m something of an adoptive brother to Queen Dora here. The rest of you best call her Dorathea”. Dora quickly hugging him again before composing herself into the form of a proper queen and sending a curt nod to the group.

Pandora laughs, “you have truly splendid company! How is lady Phantom?”.

Danny shrugs but points up at her, “no clue but I bet she’ll show now”.

And as if on queue, some seriously wondering if this was planned.

Dani, very obviously related to Danny and a Phantom, comes flying through a portal screaming, “THE MINI GHOST WITH THE MOST IS HERE BITCHES!”. Skulker looking disheveled and a little dented while Wulf is snickering.

Skulker points at Danny, “your child is a menace, Phantom”. Both Phantom’s smirk at that.

Danny points at Dani, “that was, almost, my line you little shit! What were you doing when they showed?”.

Dani digs in her pocket and pulls out an avocado, “stealing avocado’s”. Danny chuckles with a smile, “never change, never change”.

Danny walks to Skulker as Dani catches up with Pandora. Smirking at the hunter, “got beat up?”.

Skulker points at him, “menace. Who’s her mom anyway? Are you even dating?”.

Danny taps his chin and chuckles, “well, technically, the ‘mom’ builds and creates the child, the ‘dad’ just provides genetics. So Vlad is”.

Skulker spits out the drink he had nabbed, “is that serious?”.

Danny smirks, “she’s not related to him but yes. He made her”, patting Skulkers startled arm, “have fun with that knowledge”.

Danny wanders over to the drink table, taking a wine glass of fuchsia ectoplasm and swirling it. The FrightKnight next to him looks around and gives a curt nod, “you have more plentiful allies than expected Phantom”.

Danny chuckles, “not everyone’s here actually. I highly doubt Amorpho counts as a friend but there is one who is definitely not here. But they’ll be on time. They always are”.  

The LunchLady coughs, “you are on pleasant terms with that one? The shape-shifter?”.

Danny wiggles his hand in the air, “that’s questionable. We’ve got an agreement, a truce of sorts. Same goes with Nocturne actually”.

FrightKnight nods, “you have strong friends and truces”.

Danny only smiles wildly as a voice sounds from behind them, “indeed he does”.

Danny turns around and smiles at ClockWork, “timely as ever”, looking at the FrightKnight, “which means everyone is indeed here”.

While the FrightKnight is rather confused. He knew most ghosts. Not knowing of lady Phantom made sense, being not a normal or full ghost. But this one, “and who might you be?”.

ClockWork smirks and picks up their own glass of ectoplasm, floating around to be in better view of everyone, “I am a many plentiful thing. Everything you never want anyone to be. Hands on a clock going round and round forever, counting down everything’s existence”.

Technus, who had been walking by, pulls a face, “you have strange friends ghost child”.

Danny blinks at the technology ghost, “sweet Ancients, no monologuing? You sick?”.

Technus blinks, “I’m not doing any evil plots? No reason”.

Danny mouths, ‘wow’. While ClockWork smirks, watching FrostBite side-eyeing them all the while.

FrostBite stands before ClockWork before bowing, “I have seen you in riddles and myths Ancient one. The Great One has mighty alliances”.

ClockWork pats the yetis head, “ever so much more. I do believe I mentor him quite well”. Half the room freezes at that, having not known Phantom actually had a ghost guardian.

FrostBite manages to bow deeper, “then it is an even greater honour to met you”, before standing and nodding his head at Danny, “I feel I should have expected as much, yet you always surprise”.

Danny chuckles, “always will”.

The FrightKnight comes to stand more stiff and before ClockWork, “are you truly an Ancient?”.

Pretty well everyone had gathered around, curious and stunned. None had so much as seen an Ancient ghost.

ClockWork grins, “that I am and more. I am the first. Mortals know me a Father Time and The Norns most commonly. I am ClockWork, master and guardian of time. I have seen every action taken, every word spoken, every choice made. In the past, in the current, and in every possible future there will ever be”.

Danny throws an arm around ClockWork, who shifts into an old man, “the McTimeDaddy! They’re grrrrrrrreat!”.

Ember blinks and mutters, “our opponents are dead, very very dead”.

Danny snorts and points at her, “every fucker here is dead”.

Ember glares, “you know what I mean dipstick”.

“Well, I surely don’t know what you mean by ‘opponents’”.

The FrightKnight nods strongly, “ghosts gather in teams with those they are friendly, and as humans go around for treats, we go around for tricks”.

Kitty blows a bubblegum bubble, making a point to not react to ClockWork shifting into a child as she speaks, “be scary Danny. The gathering with the most scares under their belt wins. You can only actually hit ghosts who have hit you though, so its usually really hands-off”.

Danny smirks, damn well knowing no ghosts really thought him capable of being a scary mother fucker. But Dan got his shit from somewhere and it firmly wasn’t Vlad. “So prank and spread generalised terror to other ghosts? Act out on that ghostly nature, that yes, I absolutely have noticed is stronger closer to Halloween. And everyone hits me so I guess it’s free willy for me”.

Everyone nods while Skulker speaks, “and our first hit is Plasmius-”.

Danny snorts, “Plasmius has friends?”. Quite a few chuckle while Skulker shakes his head, “he’s alone. But well, everyone hates him and he owes me money”.

Danny nods, “fair enough”, while Dani comes up, “I’m skipping that one then. I want nothing to do with Murder Father”.

Danny snorts, “sticking with that title?”.

“He tried to destroy me so it works. Fucking prick”.

Danny, in mock shock, “who taught you to speak like that?”.

Dani grins goofily, “you did!”.

Danny smiles fondly and proud, “damn fucking right I did, you weird-ass daughter of a corpse”.

ClockWork shakes their head with a fond smile, “you have brutalised that phrase to the point it’s almost unrecognisable”, patting Dani’s head and floating in their child form in front of her, “I’ll stay behind with you. Vladimir has no place knowing Daniel’s true mentor”.

Danny chuckles as Dani and ClockWork descend into tale-telling. Before he walks with Skulker and the others to fly to Vlad’s mansion.

Vlad, firmly expecting to get messed with as he was every year, is hardly phased by the floating plates or moaning or random snarls or feral animals chomping at him or eyeballs appearing on things.

Danny watches from afar with Skulker, “he’s really used to this shit I see. I know y’all fuckers probably mean this as a ‘show me how it’s done’ but I’ve got a leg up on this fucker”. Skulker side-eyes Danny slightly, not really believing him. But shrugs, “just don’t embarrass yourself, that’s the opposite of the point”.

Danny snickers, “just know this. I’m not actually injured”. Skulker is honestly more confused because Danny being hurt would not scare anyone actually.

Meanwhile, Danny flies off and duplicates himself. Hiding his duplicates in various parts of the house and, having finally pick up a particular skill of Dan’s, sets them into varying states of seemingly melting into or being ectoplasmic goo. Plastering every face with looks of agony and horror.

Letting the first one seep ectoplasm down from the roof to splash onto Vlad’s desk next to his hand. Vlad rolls his eyes but stills as what looks like Phantoms very gooey melted hand lands on the desk. Promptly screaming like a little girl. Danny snickering, that didn’t take long.

Vlad backs off and heads to the bathroom, fully intending to splash his face with water to make sure he’s not dreaming. Only for a barely intact and crying Phantom head and shoulders to fall out from in the mirror, it’s face slamming into the sink and spattering ectoplasm on Vlad, who stumbles back and falls on his ass.

Vlad looks up as he scrambles to stand, trying to avoid the sight of sink Phantom foaming and overflowing from the sink, making a mess on the floor. Only to scramble faster as a stretched out dissolving Danny torso melts down from the ceiling, splattering to the floor just after he scampers off.

Skulker is firmly gaping from his spot on the hill, impressed and...disturbed. Barely having half the mind to hit record on his binoculars to prove the screams. No one had ever gotten Vlad in years. Watching as another partly melted Phantom staggers down a hall Vlad was hurrying past only to explode. Sending the head flying into the hallway Vlad was in. Vlad turning his head and gagging as the eye flies out and nearly hits him.

Vlad turns to go down into his lab, firmly wanting to make sure there isn’t any experiments going, only to stager down into a goddamn pool of ectoplasm and melting Phantoms. One grabbing onto his rob sleeve making Vlad pass out.

Danny sends away the duplicates and hovers above the unconscious Vlad, “whelp that was exactly as expected. Always is”.

The FrightKnight and FrostBite coming to float next to Danny. FrostBite caps Danny’s shoulder, “remind me to never encourage you to scare me”.

Danny chuckles, “wouldn't dream of it Frosty”.

The FrightKnight shakes his head at Danny, “why did you even need my help with Halloween last year?”.

Danny waves him off, “I was younger then. Plus, I do this to Vlad once every few months or so. He thinks they’re nightmares”.

Ember sticks her head through the ceiling, “not that I’m complaining, but why?????”.

Danny points at her but glares down at Vlad, “so that the idea of cloning me will forever haunt him and be his worst fucking nightmare. In short, intentional traumatisation as revenge”.

The FrightKnight nods, rather impressed, “I’m guessing he did try cloning you and they all melted?”.

Danny grunts as they all fly out through the ceiling and head back, “all but one, but he wanted that one to melt”.

Ember grumbles, “that asshole. Mini Phantom’s adorable”.

Danny points at her aggressively as they land back in the Nightmare Castle, “damn fucking straight”.

ClockWork smiles at the group while Dani’s off stuffing her face, turning her head and a hand a-hundred and eighty degrees, waving and smiling. Multiple other ghosts jerking slightly.

Danny shakes his head and walks over, “you're doing wrong. You’re missing the neck-snapping sound and you’re supposed to grin maliciously”. ClockWork grimaces slightly at Danny using his, creatively named, ‘murder voice’ A.K.A. Dan’s deep evil sounding voice, Danny speaking, “it also helps to say”, deep voice, “hello Dani”.

Technus screws up his face, seriously wondering why that particular tone was deeply unnerving.

Skulker grunts, “menace”, and holds up his binoculars, pointing at the Box Ghost who, like usual, was forced to be the scorekeeper, because he couldn’t scare for a damn. Skulker speaking, “we got five, goddamn five, on Vlad”.

Danny points at him, “that was all me Skulkie”. Skulker nods, not even bothering to deny that after the crap Phantom pulled.

The FrightKnight looks around and nods, “our next hit is an actual gathering. Walker’s”. Pretty well everyone grins maliciously at that.

Danny points, “his ‘gathering’ is just his goons and Bullet ain’t it?”. Danny chuckles at everyone’s nods.  

Danny smirks and wanders to a room with a mirror as everyone else busy with getting this or that ready. Popping out and basically polishing his fangs, this was a great excuse to have the massive bastards out. Knowing full well only ClockWork had actually seen them. Was way too easy to hurt himself if he kept them out in fights. Ruffling his hair to make his tapered ears more noticeable, before tapping his chin. Floating out and over to ClockWork, testing his elbow on the elderly looking ghost, “question. Will the Observants assault me if I pull a Dan? Seeing as I know you know I’ve got that whole transform into any version or age of myself thing down?”.

ClockWork smirks almost cruelly, “sur-”, they don’t even get to finish as screaming from the Observants fills the Zone. Two suddenly appearing in front of Danny. One pointing at him, “absolutely not”.

Danny smirks, “so that's a yes then? Great”, clapping the Observant who was the one in charge of watching him, as every ghost had their own Observant, “I appreciate your support”, the Observant shrieks in annoyance and the two just leave.

The Box Ghost shrugs, “counts”, and adds one more scream.

Danny and ClockWork smile, Danny speaking, “actually, add about ten thousand”. Looking at ClockWork, who says, “eleven thousand and eight”.

Danny blinks and grins, “wow, that many still haven’t gone numb to my shit?”. While everyone else looks at him.

Skulker muttering as he walks over, “you caused that loud screaming?”.

Danny smirks, “I traumatised the Observants too. That and I’m also horrifyingly difficult to them”.

ClockWork nods at Skulker, “they glimpsed the future without proper context. Believed the apocalypse was happening-”. Danny cuts in, “again”. ClockWork picks back up, “-technically never. But, that’s what you get for viewing in passing and with only an eye for futures not presents. It is our present and past that gives us our meaning and definition”.

FrostBite comes up laughing, “though I’m sure time-travel messes with that some!”.

Danny grins, “oh you have no idea. Least I ain’t traumatised by it”, before scooting off to be alone.

Skulker wants to ask what the Zone Phantom did to traumatise the Observants of all ghosts, as a whole, but he also firmly doesn’t want to engage with the Ancient Time Ghost.

Meanwhile, Danny snaps his fingers dramatically and transforms into an adult version of his full ghost self. Only difference between this form and Dan is the lack of red eyes and slightly greener skin. Skin hardly mattered, eyes well, Danny smirks down at the little set of red contacts that weren’t there before, promptly putting them in. Even if it’s was extremely weird and hard to do that with fucking claws and fucking eight-feet tall.

Doing poses and makes faces at the mirror. He firmly wasn’t Dan but he was at least attempting to play the part, minus gratuitous mass murder, for today. Spinning around and swishing the cape, “oh fuck yeah, let’s kill this shit”. Screwing up his face and laughing, that sounded fucking weird with his murder voice.

Dora walks over to Dani, “lady Phantom, what is Prince Phantom endeavouring?”.

Dani giggles, “putting on a costume, sorta”.

Kitty shakes her head, “how human. That sort of thing hardly phases ghosts, he does know that right?”.

Dani snickers, “oh he’s doing it like how Amorpho does it. Very ghostly”.

Johnny blinks and leans over Kitty’s shoulder, “the little punk can shape-shift??? Since when?”.

ColdStep laughs, “who knows? I’ve never seen it myself. Same as his wail. There are things the great one can do that he seldom does”.

Johnny is a little thrown by the whole ‘great one’ thing but it’s whatever, some yetis want to worship the brat, fine. While Skulker walks over hurriedly, wanting any new information on his favourite prey, “wail? Are you saying that Danny’s scream is an attack?”.

ClockWork, far more interested in being a startling bastard than food, claps Skulker on the shoulder, “indeed. It can destroy weaker ghosts and level cities. You all highly underestimate him. I am his guardian because I am the only ghost he can’t destroy should he choose”.  

Skulker pulls a face and coughs, “I find that very difficult to believe”. Only to jump from one of the doors getting kicked open dramatically.

Everyone turns their heads, full well knowing that was Phantom and his dramatics. Everyone gaping or sputtering utterly confused, a couple basically shrieking, “FUCKING ANCIENTS!”, before looking at the one Ancient present awkwardly. As Danny stomps through the door, flames in his footprints, and a cruel smirk on a downright threatening face.

Danny walks over to ClockWork, Dora, Skulker, Johnny, Kitty, ColdStep, and Dani. ColdStep has to actually look up at Danny, ears flicking back and down, “great one? What is this? It is....very unpleasant”.

While Danny stares down and crosses his arms at Skulker, who sputters, “o-okay, I b-believe it”. Johnny grumbles, “what kind of shape-shifting even is this?”.

Danny smirks cruelly, “I am the madness that lurks, violent instincts of mass destruction and brutalisation. Because you haven’t a clue that sanity can be nullified. The one who tears at flesh like snakes”, flicking out his forked tongue and giving a slight hiss.

Skulker stares, those are some serious fangs and the fucks up with the tongue?, “oh fuck me. This is horrifying”. Ember comes up and pokes one of Danny’s massive biceps, “Zone, they’re real. How???”.

Danny shrugs, dropping the whole ‘evil thing’, murder voice staying because of the form making it the ‘natural’ voice, “simply put, I can transform to any state or age of myself. This is full ghost and 24”, snickering, “and red contacts”.

Kitty blinks, “this is how you’d look if your human half died? Just older?”.

Danny nods, “and this”, transforming to his current age full ghost self, the same as young Dan minus the eyes of course and slight skin tone change, “this is current age”, sticking out and flicking his tongue at her before changing back to the older form.

The Box Ghost floats over slowly, “FEARSOME PHANTOM! THE BOX GHOST APPROVES!”.

Danny squints at him, “see you, you’re useful cause nothing fucking scares you”, smirking and giving an exaggerated mocking shrug, “but I'm sure if I take a hand or two as a sssssnack, you might learn a lesson”, chuckling darkly, “or two”.

The Box Ghosts backs up slightly, while Danny laughs loudly. Danny turns his head to The FrightKnight, who’s now a bit shorter than him, “so when we doing this shit? Do some bone-cracking?”, Danny holds up an arm and uses body manipulation to ‘snap’ it, sound included.

Ember looks from Danny’s to the ground, and grins maliciously, “Walker is very very dead”, pointing at Danny, “don't you dare say it”.

“Oh but it’s...inevitable”. ClockWork glares at Danny for that one.

The FrightKnight looks around seems to be smiling, nodding curtly, “LET US RISE!”, before everyone’s flies out followings the FrightKnight’s lead.

Walker, like Vlad, expects to get messed with constantly. Such is the price of trying to achieve some order in this damn place. He knew well enough to hide his rule book but firmly gapes as a purple cloaked ghost seemingly just floats past carrying it like a library book. Flying out after the thief, never noticing the bulky black and white ghost slink into his office. Danny chuckles, sneaking was harder with the bigger form but that wasn’t what Dan did. Brute force didn’t scare Walker though, which is probably why Dan just flat-out destroyed him; instead of handicapping him. Danny was just going to be a dick and creepy.

Cackling as he leaves harsh claw marks strategically. Filling the guys' drawers with blood, this was not one of the way he ever imagined his massive stockpiling of supplement blood, invaded of severe injury, would be useful. Ember floats next to him after hooking up distortion speakers to release barely audible out of beat taps and whispers, “why do you just so happen to have massive amounts of blood and ectoplasm lying around?”.

Danny chuckles darkly, “what can I say? I like to collect beautiful things and I do so love a good bloodbath”.

Ember backs off slightly, “you know, scaring us is counterproductive. Fucking Ancients, where has this side of you been hiding?”.

Danny stands up and looks around. The place looked suitably disgusting and battered, especially is precious chair. Side-eyeing Ember, “underneath the flesh-bag I shockingly failed to mangle”, shrugging, “and y’all have seen this side, just less concentrated. My true enemies are more familiar with ‘goddamn body horror bastard Danny’. Y’all usually get goofy Danny”.

Ember shakes her head as they leave and hide in a nearby cell, “I think I'm content with goofy dipstick”, chuckling, “you know, everyone thought you’d be a weak link. Invited more for your friends”.

Danny chuckles quietly, “well that’s a mistake best corrected. Slowly...with a smile”.

Ember looks at his toothy grin with slight worry, “uh, teach our foes that lesson. Also, you wind up with massive fangs”.

Danny cackles quietly at that, “oh they’ve already come in this size”.

She coughs, “seriously?”, shaking her head at his nodding, “then I guess it’s you who has to grow into them”. Both go quiet as a pissed off Walker starts walking over.

Walker pauses and looks around at the dents and scratches in hall and shakes his head. Subtle was more effective on him but he wasn’t going to let that show. Marking up his prison definitely bugged him.

Ember smirks over noticing Walker is walking a bit stiffer, well damn. She practically has to sit on Danny’s shoulder to fit in their hiding spot, neither being able to phase through walls here. She’s tempted to give him shit for that but Walker might hear.

Walker opens his door and stares, growling at the destruction. Stomping to grab his baton and firmly ignoring the occasional screams from his goons, opening the drawer to find it full of blood. Gritting out, “Phantom”, no one else would have such disrespect and access to human things. Though this was a bit off and disgusting, even for that punk.

Danny smirks over hearing his name, whispering to Ember, “nothing bugs him more than being wrong and the unknown”.

Ember’s got no clue how Danny’s going to achieve that, when Walker clearly knew he was involved. While Danny stands and lets out a deep, heavily reverberating cackle. Which she absolutely shivers from, because damn, part of her is really not looking forward to him ever actually having this voice. She’s assuming the harshness of it is why the sound makes her throat ache.

Walker whips around, that was not Phantom’s voice and he did not like it. Who else could it be though. Sticking his head out the door, only for a massive hand to grab his throat and slam him into the wall.

Groaning and blinking to see a face that seems straight out of his nightmares inches from his own. Snarling with massive fangs in the edge of Walker’s vision. Walker can’t really move and chokes out, “who-who are you?”, trying to keep the waver out of his voice.

Danny tilts his head, rolls his eyes exaggeratedly and cackles; before snapping his teeth right in front of Walker’s eyes. Laughing then, “oh I’m just a silly little thing. Just a pussy cat who’s found a little string”.  

Walker gulps and can feel in move near painfully past the ghost's hand.

Danny licks up the side of Walker’s face, “it’ssssss been a while. You going to stay down like a good little mutt this time? or do I have to tear your skull out through your metaphorical intestines”, Danny rubs together his thumb and pointer finger with a nonchalant smirk, “not that I would mind. It was quite...delectable last time”, chuckling as he cups and pinches Walker’s cheeks and chin, Danny was probably enjoying this a little to much, “but of course you don’t remember that. What a perfect excuse to play this little...game again”.

Danny tosses Walker down the hall and rolls his eyes exaggeratedly as he shuffled across the ground to get away, mouth gabbing all the while. Danny chuckles, “what? Cat got your tongue. Why don’t I take a peek and check?”, walking towards him with flames licking his feet and footsteps, crawling up the walls, “who could blame me if I happen to tear it out by mistake?”, Danny shrugs.

Walker is making something close to a terrified whine when Ember pops up behind him covered in ectoplasm and pretends to vomit on him, seeing that and thinking this random ghost had damn murdered her, Walker flat-out shrieks. Flying out of the hallway and getting splattered in ectoplasm in the process.

Danny still feeling rather vengeful, stalks out after Walker with an amused smirk. Ember grimacing at him as he goes. Danny chuckles and drags his claws across bars and makes loud painful scrapping noises across the walls, “oh come now, I just want to play? Don’t you know how to have a little fun?”. Multiple totality m that spot him immediately start screaming.

Danny kicks open the door to the cafeteria, where he can smell Walker, and lets ecto-flames burst out from behind him. Pandora gapes at the scene for a second, but Walker spots that and is officially convinced that this ghost is not part of their group. About to go on the attack before the ghost coats the entire damn room in flames and cackles loudly. Walker passes out.

Bullet, seeing this crap from afar shakes his head, “nope. I don’t get paid enough for this shit”.

Danny frowns deeply and throws up his hand, “ah come on!”, slouching over severely and letting his arms dangle before lift a hand and snapping his claws, all the ecto-flames going out instantly.

Ember walks up and pokes Danny, who straightens up, “dipstick. I am seriously glad you aren’t our opponent. The absolute fuck?”.

Pandora’s voice booms amongst more screaming goons, being chased off by snakes and monster heads, “I’m quite impressed actually! Even if your look seems to make all my joints ache”.

Danny tilts his head wondering if all the ghosts had a bodily memory of the shit Dan did. Looking to ClockWork with a raised eyebrow, who’s terrorising a few goons with ticking nosies and random perpetually spinning gears. ClockWork gives him a little nod. Whelp, that’s pretty fucked up. But whatever, he’s past his Dan issues.

Danny smiles over the Lunch-Lady terrifying the Zone out goon with chuckle legs. Poindexter is just floating around people ominously and fake bleeding. Dora is pulling the whole dragon eyes and tongue; which Danny beams over. Danny launches near here and slams his claws against the ground next to goons head, baring his teeth wide and letting his tongue lashing at the air; his loudly all the while. The goon passes out. Danny and Dora glance at each other and exchange toothy grins and little thumbs up.

As they all set to head out, fully amused and satisfied with their terrorising, Ember elbows him, “seriously, what the fuck. I though you legit lost it and we’re going to murder him. Which is weird Phantom. You licked him? Why???”.

Danny shrugs, “see that I found pretty funny. Licky licky”, sticking his tongue out and snickering at it, “I just can’t take the tongue seriously. It’s so silly”.

Multiple ghosts grunt, “gonna disagree”.

While Danny points around at different ghosts, “plus, you try watching your shit around humans constantly. The very simplest shit is insanely off and creepy to them. Can’t even growl. So yeah, the being fearsome shit gets pent up”.

The FrightKnight instantly nods, made perfect sense. Slamming a hand on his sword, “then you need Halloweens Rapine even more”.

Danny shrugs, “probably”.

Not even eleven minutes after they get back they get raided themselves. It’s the harpy clans from The Blazes Cross. Danny just snarls at, makes ‘come hither’ motions at, or starts acting like a cat stalking prey, any who genuinely try to startle him. Shaking his head at Poindexter shrieking and batting wildly at the air. But snorting and laughing at Skulker doing the same. By the time all the Harpies have left around half the group had gotten startled enough to make something resembling a scream.  

Danny punches the Box Ghost lightly, “I might be nearly as hard to scare as you I think”.

Skulker shakes his head, “of course you are, we expected that. Considering how used to being stalked or ghosts cropping up randomly you are. Not to mention getting beat up or seeing things you’ve never seen before”.

Johnny nods and leans against a wall, “you’ve probably seen shit no one else ever has”, either that everyone looks to ClockWork. Someone no one else had ever truly seen or met. ClockWork bows ever so slightly in response.

Kitty points at ClockWork, “you and the Observants have an unfair advantage with this technically. Since you know what people will do before they do it. If I’m guessing your powers right”.

Danny chuckles, “sometimes the best scares are the ones that stalk. The thing slowly dragging itself across the ground to chase you into a spiral of constant paranoia, till your mind begins to splint and crack at the seams. Consciousness and sanity pulled too taught till it snaps, nothing left but horror and absolution. Only then it springs, shredding your being till you match your hollowed-out shell of a mind”, waving his clawed hand lazily in the air, “I recommend going for the intestines. They’re the showiest”.

Technus blinks, “did you just monologue us? About drawn-out murder of all things? A villainous monologue?”, Technus grins and wipes away a proud tear.  

The Box Ghost nods, “YOU COULD CERTAINLY BE ENTIRELY FEARSOME IF YOU TRIED! NOT AS FEARSOME AS THE MIGHTY BOX GHOST OF COURSE!”. Multiple ghosts shake their heads at him. Ember crosses her arms after she grabbed some snacks, “well I for one am glad you’re not a so-called bad guy”.

ClockWork nods, “that is indeed a future or present you should never seek to see nor truly know”.

Johnny’s shadow instantly starts laughing and Betrax, a friend of Kitty, snickers into her hand, “Phantom? Evil? Ridiculous”.

Danny rubs his neck and shrugs a little, “you’re faith in me is nice but misplaced. ClockWork isn’t my guardian in the traditional sense”.

ClockWork, deciding to be a little shit, freezes Danny and bops him on the nose with their scythe, “indeed. It’s my duty to destroy him should certain things ever come to pass”, shrugging and unfreezing Danny, spinning their scythe, “now of course I never would let it”.

Danny just chuckles and shakes his head, Skulker points are Danny, “see that is why you basically can’t be startled or scared”, shrugging with a slight smirk, “but I guess we all do have our dark sides”.

Danny points at him, “mine is vantablack”.

The FrightKnight looks around and, sensing the time, nods, “we've done extremely well. Getting the Observants pretty well guarantees our win. So it’s about time for the final hora! The mortals!”.

Both Dani and Danny blink, “excuse?”.

Kitty waves off his slight growl, “not your humans you, currently oversized, protective bastard”.

Danny looks at ClockWork, “is this even actually okay?”.

ClockWork nods, “outside of Amity and with Technus taking out the camera, yes. Though it is rather late, surely it is quite the time for you to lazy about”, Danny easily gets the message of ‘you’ll probably kill someone if you put in any real effort’ as ClockWork winks.

The FrightKnight chuckles slightly, “with mortals lazy works. So easily frightened”.

ClockWork nods, “they have quite the ingrained fear and horror towards that which reads as predatory. Especially some being that has been predatory to them once before. Unremembered or not”. Again the message of ‘everyone is going to be terrified of you because they subconsciously remember you violently murdering them’ is very obvious.  

Danny nods slightly nervously as they head out to the human world via Wulf’s portal.

Danny floats next to the FrightKnight, “so hows this work? Oh frightful one?”.

Chuckling slightly, “we lurk, move things around, making strange noises, stare from dark corners. No actual attacking”.

Danny smiles, good then, harmless and this explains all the myths about ghosts.

Kitty shakes her head at Danny, “your oversized will have a hard time of that. Be hard to lurk or slink”.

Danny grins maliciously, “you forget. I know humans far better”, Danny leans he’s head of the ledge of a building roof, cackling deep and reverberating down at the street. The other ghosts raising their eyebrows as every human in earshot jerks to a stop, looks around in nervous paranoia, and then speed walks out of the area.

Danny points at the few ghosts who were around him, the rest all throughout the town causing mischief, “ClockWork meant something with what he said earlier. Every human that exists is subconsciously terrified of me, if I behave a certain way”, shrugging, “my cackle especially”.

Everyone squints at him disbelievingly as they all head out. Danny hopping down into an alleyway. Deciding to sit down, cross his ankles, have a cup of ecto-coffee, and read the newspaper; he just lets his ghostly aura out fully. Letting it carry cackles and ghosts of the feeling of his claws and teeth. Having to move spots every so often as the area clears out people. Everyone else getting very confused by the strange behaviour of the humans. Poindexter eventually happening upon Danny sipping at his coffee, “are you not try at all buster?”.

Danny lifts his head and sniffs the air, “actually I’ll have to move again soon here. Scared all the humans off with my presence”. Poindexter chuckles but indeed follows Danny as he floats up above a building. Soon to be joined by Kitty and Johnny.

Johnny shakes his head, “most have run home, but the rest seem to be gathering in the centre of town. Weird living creatures”.

Danny tilts his head and mentally maps every spot he had been before snorting. He had been accidentally herding them. Grinning maliciously, “a little corral of lambs”.

Johnny rolls his eyes, “at least you’re putting in some effort. Though we can hardly get these humans when they’re all gathered like this”.

“Course, safety in numbers. The same thing sheep do when stalked by a wolf. And if you sick the wolf inside a room with a hundred sheep, the wolf will die. But get a monster, and what the sheep do doesn’t even matter. They are nothing and they know it”. All three squint at him before following after him as he floats to the centre of town.

The four spots most of the other ghosts from their group. Skulker is shaking his head in annoyance, “what are we supposed to do with this? It’s well lit, crowded and noisy”.

Danny rubs his neck, “eh my fault. Unintentionally stalked and herded them. Easier to pick off crowds. Not for this of course”.

Danny looks around at the others, all trying to be creepy. Some working but mostly people just take comfort in the bright lights and close people. Danny looks down and smirks cruelly, he wasn’t going to mess this night up for everyone and, well, he just really wants to be a scary bastard ghost right now okay? Letting his ghostly aura fully out but sending it to circle around the humans, in ever-increasingly tight circles.

Skulker raises an eyebrow, “why are they bundling together so heavily?”.

Danny chuckles, “if you push a bunch of humans together enough, you get panic. They’re reacting to my ghostly aura”.

Everyone raises at least one eyebrow so Danny coils his aura thick and heavy around them. Watching as their faces drop and they all look at Danny with deep concern.

Ember muttering, “your aura is...it’s....there’s not really a word for this but it’s...not fun and very sharp”.

Danny points at her, “the word you’re looking for is predatory. My aura is all fangs, and teeth, and claws. It’s not a threat or a warning, but a promise of suffering should you cross it”.

Kitty grumbles, “who knew Phantom could be such an ominous bastard”.

Everyone watching as Danny floats to crouch on a light post in the very centre, the light bulb creaking and blinking out while his cape draped down. The light going out allows for all the other lights to cast shadows and light all over Danny. Not enough to truly make out anything more than the outline. Instantly the humans scatter, booking it back to their homes, none daring to look back to the thing that just screamed wrong and danger and death.

The other ghosts coming to float around Danny, highly confused. While Danny nods curtly, “well, anything more than that and someone might keel over”.

Multiple ghosts shake their head, while Skulker pats Danny shoulder, “whelp. I’m impressed and confused. Since the nights pretty well over, i heard you have a scream power?”.

Danny looks around, searches the sky to make sure it’s clear, then nods before tilting his head back and fucking wailing his Ghostly Wail.

Everyone who isn’t one of Danny’s true friends, and Dani, jumps or jerks, a couple even swearing. The air itself seeming to shake from the power of it alone.

Danny stops before it threatens to make him transform back human. Looking around and smirking, “my ‘lets fuck shit up’ power. Reserved for desperate times”.

Johnny mutters, “damn well better be”. As they all head back.

Everyone hangs around the castle until the results come in around one a.m. The FrightKnight handing out the bags of winners chocolate. Danny snickering at his, back in his normal Phantom form, “treats after the trick. Nice”. Most of the other ghosts in the Zone chalking up the FrightKnight’s gatherings win due to the FrightKnight himself, not thinking anything of Phantom.

End.