#Portal turns on with Danny inside but his family is here to listen to his screams

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #86

Danny and Damian are twins but they never get split up. Their life growing up in the league of assassins was rough and unforgiving. Damian was older by a few minutes but Danny was always seen as the lesser twin in Ras eyes. Danny is seen more as a tool to improve the heir instead of his twin. Talia eventually has enough of one of her babies being seen as inferior and she takes both of them to their dad, Bruce Wayne when they turn 10. They become the Robin twins and train under Batman.

4 years go by and Jason is visiting the manor talking about how his new neighbor Jasmine Fenton (He totally has had parents that had a lab and sounded like they were very close to becoming rouges especially since they’re apparently building a portal to another dimension. They decided to raid the house and investigate the lab. Red Robin and Batman were investigating the computer and files. And both Danny and Damian were investigating the giant hole in the wall. Damian is looking at the circuit board panel on the wall and Danny investigated the giant hole in the wall. Oh no he tripped.

[draco-kasai]

A DPxDC prompt I Guess?

So, like, I'm half asleep and I have work in 40 minutes but like what if Ra's were to FINALLY die and Batsy and his family were there by coincidence to watch as Phantom took his soul. Maybe they were kidnapped or they were investigating if Ra's truly came back. Again.

Like, newly crowned King Phantom was going over all the paperwork Pariah Dark didn't bother doing. And while doing it he finds a list of people who escaped death though a Lazarus Pit and on top of that list is Ra's. So Danny looks into who Ra's is and what the fuck a Lazuras Pit is. He isn't happy with the info he finds. Claimed the pits, formed an assasination cult following yada yada.

Pits are pools of waters that had become contaminated with ectoplasm when a natural portal accsedently opened inside. Turns out that this random dude just so happened to find it and found it could heal so he claimed it for himself. Due to the greed and amount of death that was submerged into the waters it had become contaminated causing horrible side effects.

So Danny decides it was finally time to collect the dude's soul and destroy these pits and he's not escaping death this time and Pariah Dark should of done his damn job. After all, everyone who has used the Pit has a ghost core that is unable to develop properly because of the contamination of the Pits corrupted ectoplasm and that falls under his jurisdiction.

He even decides on hunting down everyone who used the pit, so Danny being himself looks into everyone who's used the pit and goddamn there's so many people, and many of them have used it more than once. So to spare himself a headache, he decides to just get everyone who's used it more than twice and fuck, it's still a long list but it'll have to do.

So now Danny is left cleaning up all the shit Pariah Dark didn't do, starting with destroying the pits and oh look, half his targets, including Ra's is nearby, might as well get em too while he's at it.

So now Danny is just floating around the league base collecting souls like fucking pokemon cards.

Batfam is baffled and disturbed by the trail of dead bodies. Those who are alive are terrified, curled into a ball, begging for forgiveness and thanking Death for sparing them.

The group decides to continue with caution. As they near the Pit they hear people talking, well, more like arguing really. They lean against the walls of the cave and listen in.

Ra's is arguing with Danny, trying to strike up a deal with him so he can continue to live. He's obviously desperate but the Ghost King won't budge and it's making him angrier.

Meanwhile Danny is just over it already, the dude can't offer him anything he'd actually want anyway, but is humering him cause he's pretty bored. He thought this would be more interesting considering they are all assassins.

Eventually Ra's gets fed up and tries attacking Danny but his attacks just go through him nd Danny just rolls his eyes.

"Listen dude, you've escaped death for way too long and I'm just doin my job taking your souls." He just swoops in, taking the soul, the body falling over like a puppet with it's strings cut.

That's when the Batfam decide to make themselves known, cause this unknown has just killed Ra's and apparently killed everyone else they saw too.

Danny is surprised to see Batman and his group here. He's doing his best to control the fanboying, but he doesn't really succeed as he's floating around them with a huge grin complementing them with how cool they are.

This is when the group takes in the unknowns appearance. White hair that flowed as if it were under water and sparked off at the ends like fire. Brilliant green eyes. A black and white hazmat suit. Pointed ears and teeth. He looked young, maybe 17 or 18. Pale, sickly pale skin.

Batman cuts in on the boys speaking, asking why he killed all those people and who he was. Danny sobers up and floats a few inches away, back straight.

"They have used the pits for too long, so I'm collecting what's not meant to be alive." He pretends to not notice as the family crowds slightly closer to Jason. He knows who he is. He did his research on everyone who was dunked into the pit, plus he can feel the Ecto contamination on him and his corrupted, unfinished sickly core.

Batman is mad, saying stuff like "you have no right to kill all those people, who made you the judge? They should be put through the justice system where they will receive their punishment fairly" Or something like that.

Danny gets upset cause Batman is basically walking all over the laws of his people by basically telling him 'your laws are stupid, do it like this' which is the equivalent of 'Gotham doesn't need Batman, we have cops' so he bares his teeth and lets out a small growl in warning.

"You have no right to meddle in business that doesn't pertain to you."

"You are killing people, how does that not pertain to me?"

"These people were already half dead to begin with. They had no right to escape death nor to use these pits that belong to my people, of which they have contaminated with their greed. I have simply come to gather them back up and bring them back to where they belong."

"Your people?"

"The pits are contaminated?"

"Your pits?"

"Where do they belong?"

"Who even are you?"

Danny allows for the invisibility on his accessories to fall. The crown of fire is the first to appear, the green flames form the shape of the crown, sparks flying about in a calm rhythm. His white cape, clasped around his neck by a button in the shape of an hourglass, flowed down his back. The inside was a pitch black that held slowly moveing stars and galaxies. The ring on his left hand flowed a brilliant green.

"I am the king of the Ghost Zone, or as you may know it, the infinite realms. I am known as Phantom. Those who have fallen into these corrupted pits have corrupted,sickly cores of which make them part ghost, of which are my people. I am simply taking them back to where they belong and getting rid of these pits. Something my predecessor should have done. This has nothing to do with the living. Now if you'll excuse me"

Danny holds up a cupped hand. The waters of the pit begin to splash and whirl before the ectoplasm seperates itself and comes flying up into his hand, condensing and shapeing into a sphere. He creates his own ecto ball in his free hand, the color a softer green than that of the toxic green of the pits.

Slowly he mixes the two together causing the toxic green to slowly turn the same color and murge with his ecto ball before eating it. did he have to eat it? No, absolutely not, but he just wanted to freak out the bats more, and the look of horror that fell upon most of their faces was totally worth it. Even Batman's lips parted slightly in shock.

With that, Phantom bids them a ferwell and disappears before their eyes. He can't wait to tell Sam and Tucker that he met and scared the Batman.

Meanwhile the bat family is freaking out because, "What the absolute fuck just happened?!"

[ghosttrolls]

Writing prompt:

"please, I don't want to fight!"

From the DP Phantom reverse evil trio AU, if you've heard of it?

(if not, I recommend searching for it in @13thdoodle 's tags, I think you might enjoy the aesthetic!)

Thanks, anon! I took some time to research the AU before writing, so it took a hot minute, but here it is! Enjoy!

Edit: I read the message back and it seems I entirely forgot the prompt. I did start with it but the whole thing just changed so much... sorry. I can make a part 2 later that actually has the "please, I don't want to fight!" I just got so carried away!

Corruption never felt so good. Danny sometimes admitted to himself that he’d never felt like there was a pivotal moment where he felt himself change - aside from when he got his powers, of course. But he felt like, the way that things had turned out, there was only ever one way he could be. The boy who tried to do good, and failed so many times - it just was never really him, after all. It was better this way. He was meant to be.

It was morning. Danny stood in his room, the sun shining through his window, and stretched: arms out high, then to the side. “I think I’ll skip school again today!” he said out loud to himself, so very cheery. He put on his clothes - a white button up shirt, a vest he embroidered himself, black slacks - and nearly skipped out of his room. Another fantastic start to an amazing day.

He hopped down the stairs, pulling up his phone to call Sam. When she picked up, he said “Hey! What do you want to do today?” He pinned the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he stooped to put his shoes on.

“I’m not sure,” said Sam on the other side of the line. “Let’s get breakfast and think about it. Tucker’s pretty impatient, but he won’t say what for. Maybe he has an idea.” Tucker loved tech, and he used to be a pretty decent hacker - but his powers, when he got them, made it difficult if not impossible to get a cell phone to work. So Sam and Danny would meet up with him to talk.

“Okay!” said Danny. “Gotta check downstairs, first. I’ll meet you soon.”

“Of course,” said Sam, a sombre tone in her voice. He knew she didn’t really like what he’d done. But they’d chosen this path, and she understood the danger his parents offered them as well as he did. Danny hung up.

Danny straightened upright from wrestling with his left shoe. He walked through his kitchen, which led to the front door. But instead of heading outside, he went into the family lab, down in the basement, through a closet door. His parents had always had this obsession with ghosts. For so long, he didn’t believe they were real. Until his parents made a working portal to the ghost zone.

Danny stepped downstairs, carefully, listening around the creak of the wooden steps. If there was any movement, a single sound, he’d have to use his powers, which he didn’t really like doing so early in the morning. Especially when he wasn’t showing off. He fit a hand in his vest’s pocket, which had the pattern of a blood blossom on it. The anti-ghost flower. He gripped the seed inside for security.

His foot hit the flat concrete floor, and he checked on his flowers. Still good, still healthy. They needed a bit of water, though. He turned to get the watering can from the other side of the lab. “You know,” he said as he did his work, “it didn’t have to be this way for you. We could have stayed a happy family. But of course, being the idiots you are… always fighting for good. You left me no choice.”

He said this to a silent room, but not an empty one. Deep down, he had a need to justify himself, his actions. He knew this was necessary. Right? That’s why he had to grow these flowers, the ones that always put humans to sleep. His parents and sister could not resist it. And so they lay, in their beds, in their basement, in their coffin. He intended to keep them there as long as he could. And he knew that he could keep this up forever.

After the plants were watered, he made sure they were placed properly among his family. “I miss you,” he said, so quietly he could convince himself he didn’t. And he turned, walking back up the basement stairs to meet his friends. He was in control, Danny reminded himself. We are in control. No one crosses the trio. He shut the door in the kitchen, closing that part of his mind. On to better things. Destructive things! The thought made Danny giggle as he walked out the front door.

In the dark of the basement, in the silence of it all, Jazz sneezed. The darn plants, she must be allergic or something. She decided that Danny was gone, and she opened her eyes, irises glowing green. His morning ritual was so routine, you could know where Danny was just by looking at the time. His grip on the town was stifling - his and his friends, Jazz reminded herself. She crawled out of her bed, standing and stretching. “Okay,” she said to herself, “I’m ready.”

In a flash, she changed - her orange hair now white, her clothes becoming the stealth suit she’d put together from what she could get her hands on. She was a ghost. Half ghost, really, because she could still “turn back human,” but ghost enough to be immune to her brother’s plants. She was still new to it all, and she knew she would never be able to stop the trio’s reign by herself. That’s why she called on a friend.

She walked over to the Ghost Portal, pressing a few buttons on the keypad, and the door to the Ghost Zone opened. She peered through - the ghost zone looked flat and 3D at the same time, like it was made of paper, or maybe some type of goo, or possibly a universe of stars. Whatever it was made of wasn’t important. The people who came out of it were.

After not too long, she saw a form approach the surface of the portal. She backed up, giving them space to come through. As the form stepped forward, Jazz recognized the ghost instantly. Blue-green skin, red eyes, and long hair - it was Vlad Masters.

“Vlad,” said Jazz, “he’s gone again. We should hold another meeting, if we can. The humans of this city can’t protect themselves… I can’t bear to see my parents asleep like that” - she pointed behind her into the darkness, wherever her they were - “for another second!” She was on the brink of tears, falling apart with each breath. How can you stop someone who can engulf you with vines in seconds? Or someone who can send massive plagues to decimate the entire town with a snap of her fingers? Or someone who can touch anything, and turn it into nothing? An endless void, an Egyptian goddess, and a corrupted gardener… As silly as it sounded, Danny’s powers scared Jazz the most. She fell to her knees, lost in despair.

Vlad knelt, resting a hand on Jazz’s shoulder. His eyes, full of concern, watched hers. “Jasmine,” he said, “don’t blame yourself for what has happened. You’re only 18 years old. Even I couldn’t have seen this coming.”

“We’re doomed,” breathed Jazz.

“Perhaps,” agreed Vlad. “But it doesn’t hurt to try. Good versus evil… such a black and white concept. Everyone is ‘morally grey’ one way or another.” He gently pulled Jazz to her feet. “And no one,” he said, “is irredeemable.”

Jazz sniffed. “You really think so?” She knew he worried about her attachment to her brother, so it was comforting to hear. Even if it wasn’t really true.

“I know so,” said Vlad. He held her hand and stepped back towards the portal. “Come,” he said. “Let’s work on saving your brother.”

[five-rivers]

What Was Bound, What Was Loosed Chapter 3

Written for Dannymay Day 6: Core.

.

Ellie took to spending her days in the palace library.

Danny thought he was trapped. Believed he was trapped. So did everyone else. But Ellie didn’t believe it. All cages had keys. Danny had opened hers. It was only right that she return the favor.

(Of course, she wasn’t happy about being stuck herself. There were still things she wanted to see on Earth. She missed the stars.)

The books were old and new. Some were in English, others were in languages she couldn’t even begin to recognize. Most of them had nothing to do with what she was looking for. Like in any library, they were on a wide variety of subjects, all spread out.

Still, she searched. The stack of tomes that had to do with ghostly kingship and the laws of the Infinite Realms grew progressively larger. Occasionally, one of the shades would attempt to put the books back, but they were easily dissuaded, having no will of their own.

She was making progress. Not a lot, but some. Enough to keep her going.

.

Vlad knew when to quit.

Oh, maybe it didn’t seem like it, he was easily as obsessive as any ghost, but he did. Sometimes, a plan just wasn’t feasible, and he had to cut his losses.

Cutting his losses, in this case, meant getting incredibly drunk on ghost wine. Fright Knight didn’t approve, but who cared what he thought? Fright Knight was part of the reason he was in this situation in the first place!

If he had just been warned this would happen, he’d have been able to make arrangements, to find some way to keep his portal open, or to stay in the human world, where his life was.

But no. They were all trapped here. No way out.

When hundreds of ghosts all said the same thing, Vlad was inclined to believe them. Danielle, as motivated as she was, was simply experiencing denial. Or, perhaps, bargaining. He had to admit he was never exactly clear on the stages of grief.

Then, there was Daniel, who seemed to be firmly trapped in the ‘depression’ stage, more of a ghost than Vlad had ever seen him as. He lingered in corners, at the edge of Vlad’s vision, quiet, sad, always flanked by Fright Knight and that other ghost, the one with the clocks.

There were parts of him, his Obsession reasserting itself, that yearned to reach out to Danny, but… He didn’t even know how to begin.

.

Danny felt like a pale, wandering shadow of himself.

Most of the time, he slept, exhausted by the demands the Zone made on him and the continuing changes he was undergoing. The expanding circle of vitality, of rejuvenation, of reconstruction and growth, that so many ghosts were celebrating had to draw energy from somewhere, after all, and even though Danny was absorbing just as much as he was expending, that process made him drowsy in and of itself.

Pain, too, plagued him. His missing eye ached, and sometimes it seemed as if the crown was burrowing into his skull, not merely resting on it. His hand hurt from all his attempts to take off the ring.

He could hardly care for himself in even the most basic of ways. Clockwork often had to remind him, or help him, and he was always so excruciatingly gentle.

Then Vlad and Ellie came.

Their arrival was a relief. Ellie was a friend, was family, and hadn’t been complicit in his betrayal and binding. Vlad had been an enemy, and not even an honest one at that, but essentially everything they’d been at odds over was moot, but he was familiar.

Despite the relief, despite his desire to connect with people who hadn’t hurt him, at least not as badly as everyone else, he hung back. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to bridge the gap.

So, he lurked and lingered. When Ellie went to the library, when Vlad moped and bothered the shades that ordered the kitchen, he followed, he watched.

Clockwork and Fright Knight, of course, followed and watched him in turn.

At least, this is what happened when he was awake and aware enough to do anything. Danny was under the impression that being awake and independently mobile at all this soon after being… coronated… was unusual, perhaps even unnerving. Normally, he’d be curious, excited about new abilities and what they might mean. Maybe he’d even throw around a quip or two about how awesome he was but…

It wasn’t the time, and he didn’t have the willpower to reach for even that dubious coping mechanism.

In the too-numerous times when Danny was both awake and not well enough to follow Ellie and Vlad around, he liked to sit in the garden. It was almost peaceful there, by the fountain, although the plants had a distressing tendency to reflect his every change in mood.

Today was one of those days. He was too dizzy and lightheaded to drift after Vlad or Ellie, even if neither of them moved very much, but he didn’t want to stay in the bedroom, or, worse, the throne room. His core seemed to pulse, sluggish and painful in his chest. Or perhaps that was his heart. He couldn’t really tell with this mixed-up form. It could even be both.

Another slow wave of transformation swept out from him, making his extremities tingle. He watched, tiredly, as it briefly interacted with the walls of the palace and the scattered shades before moving on. The shades… another aspect of all this that Danny wasn’t comfortable with, but couldn’t bring himself to learn more about. They were sustained through his power, but what were they? Extensions of his will? Aspects of his personality? Constructs generated by the palace? By the Ghost Zone itself? He didn’t know.

As much as he should try to learn, he couldn’t help but think of them as yet another imposition, another burden he was being forced to bear.

This wasn’t a healthy mindset. Jazz would tell him as much. Jazz wasn’t here.

“Danny!”

He looked up, his one eye already searching for Ellie. Fright Knight stepped forward, as if to protect him, but Danny snarled at him, annoyed. He wasn’t going to let him get in between him and one of the few people he could currently stand. Clockwork stayed back, passive, but he looked… worried. Uneasy. As if anticipating a disaster.

“Danny!” exclaimed Ellie again, bursting from a bush, a thick book raised above her head. “I found it!”

“Found what?” asked Danny, leaning forward slightly as Ellie joined him sitting on the edge of the fountain.

“A way out!” She opened the book and started flipping through it, obviously looking for a specific entry.

Both Clockwork and Fright Knight looked extremely tense, now. They probably didn’t want him to find this, didn’t want him to leave. Would they try to stop him?

He hunched his shoulders. He might not be well, but he could fight and make it hurt.

“Here!” said Ellie, triumphantly. “Look at this.” She tapped a picture of a bright, spherical object.

“The core of the Infinite Realms?” asked Danny, reading the legend of the picture.

“Uh huh. Apparently, it’s what determines what the Ghost Zone is like as a whole and controls the rules and laws and stuff. Like, even when it comes to what ghosts act like, and what they can physically do, or how the Ghost Zone’s physics behave. But the important part is that you can go talk to it and petition it and stuff, and sometimes it’ll listen. I bet we can get it to listen to you and make it so that the Ghost Zone doesn’t need a king anymore.”

Danny felt a flutter of hope. The book was old from what he could see, and, ignoring Ellie’s paraphrasing, the language was fantastical and couched in metaphor, but still if there was a possibility…

Near their feet, small, bright flowers began to bloom, each no larger than the head of a pin.

“Daniel,” said Clockwork, in a careful, soft tone. It wasn’t pity, not quite, but it was the verbal equivalent of being handled with kid gloves. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“Then what is it like?” asked Danny, hunching his shoulders and leaning protectively over Ellie.

“What do you think the King of the Infinite Realms is?” asked Clockwork.

Danny shrugged. Clockwork gave him a small, pained smile.

“The King of Ghosts and the core of the Ghost Zone,” said Clockwork, “they’re the same.”

Danny shook his head, unwilling to let this scrap of hope slip through his fingers so easily.

“Please, Daniel,” said Clockwork. “Why do you think it was so vital that you be crowned? The Realms cannot exist without their core.”

It made sense. A horrible, horrible sense.

“That doesn’t make sense,” said Ellie. “The core’s supposed to be the basis the whole Zone is built on. That can’t just be one person.”

“The library has some books on the subject,” said Clockwork. “But you can see how Daniel is changing things.”

Danny felt his hope collapse and doubled over, hands on his head, face almost touching his legs. A scream bubbled up in his throat, but he swallowed it. All those people, everywhere, his responsibility, his… Not just the people, everything. Everywhere. Not just his responsibility, but relying on him, modeled on him, dependent on him, centered on him.

He wasn’t just the Ghost Zone’s ruler, nominal or not, he was its heart.

“Danny?” asked Ellie. He looked up.

There were blast lines in the ground, radiating away from him. The fountain was cracked and leaking water. Fright Knight had, evidently, grabbed Ellie and leaped away, into the air.

Clockwork hadn’t left, still leaning towards Danny. There was a jagged, dripping slice across his shoulder. Danny gasped, reaching towards him.

“It’s alright,” said Clockwork. “It’s alright.”

“I can’t be,” said Danny. “I can’t be. I’m—I can’t be part of the Ghost Zone. Not—Not like that. That’s not—I can’t be what the Ghost Zone is built on, it doesn’t make sense, I…”

“It’s alright,” repeated Clockwork. “Would you like to go inside? You may feel better if you eat something.”

“Don’t want to bother Vlad,” mumbled Danny. Didn’t want another person to see him crumbling like this.

“We can send something up to your room,” said Clockwork.

He did feel tired. The fountain was repairing itself behind and underneath him. He groaned as the ground beneath him pulled together as well.

“I don’t want to be the core of the Ghost Zone,” he said, knowing that what he wanted was not and never had been a consideration. “I don’t want to be king. I don’t want to be in charge of anything.” He grabbed the edges of Clockwork’s robe, ignoring the moisture despite the pang of guilt it brought him. “I want to go home. And I…” His words failed as he reached for Clockwork’s injury. “I don’t want to do this.”

“This is nothing, Daniel,” putting a gloved hand over the wound. “I have had far worse.”

It started to rain. Great, heavy droplets of water tainted with just enough ectoplasm to glow.

It was one way to hide tears, he supposed.

[cleanlenins]

Ectober Day 5: Ouija

Words Spoken at the Witching Hour

Chapter 1

AO3

Warnings: None

“Jack, please don’t get your hopes up. We disproved this in college,” Maddie sighed, flopping into her chair at the kitchen table. She had just checked to make sure that both of the kids were snug in their beds. Danny had gotten into a concerning habit of sneaking out at night. Jack fiddled with the candles on the table, lighting them one by one.

“I know. But now with the portal open, maybe it will actually have a chance of working,” Jack set the planchet in the middle of the board, before turning out the light.

“Ouija boards don’t work, Jack,” Maddie huffed as the light clicked off. The light from the candles was the only illumination. She could just barely make out the thick salt circle around the ouija board, and blinked to try and adjust to the low lighting as well as stay awake. It was well after three am.

“Yes, but communicating with ghosts is a common practice across many cultures. It was all in my great-great-great-great-um-some-amount-of-great grandfather’s book,” Jack said. “Think of it as an archaic version of the ghost gabber.”

“The ghost gabber didn’t work, sweetie,” Maddie said.

“Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Jack grinned at his wife. He thumbed an ectoblaster on the table. Maddie smiled at her husband fondly.

“So, who did you want to try to talk to?”

“The ghost boy, of course!” Jack boomed. “If we can somehow trap him here, it will be so much easier to drag him into the lab.”

Maddie nodded along to that thought. She didn’t believe this would work, but it would make Jack happy to try. Almost all of the things written in the Nightingale journal were nonsense in her opinion. Why would ghosts be afraid of random flowers? The man also went on about witchcraft, which was complete foolishness. Magic didn’t exist. Everything ghostly could be explained with scientific fact.

Even so, she had humored Jack into doing her best on this. She had found an older talking board, one before the commercialization of the late 1800s. One that, honestly, deserved to be in a museum. As she had researched this board in particular, she couldn’t even pin down what kind of wood it was made with. Technically, it wasn’t a Ouija board. It didn’t have the same layout as the popularized version. Instead of using English letters, it used Ogham. It was an ancient way of writing Irish script she had studied back in high school when she was learning more about her family history.

The elderly lady she had bought this from had given her a long spiel about how the board works, what to do to protect yourself from spirits. A lot of it was superstitious nonsense, but Maddie had written it all down anyway. Hopefully, if they followed it to the letter Jack would concede defeat when it didn’t work.

“You ready, Mads?” Jack asked, pulling off his glove. Maddie sighed and followed suit.

“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Maddie pulled out a sterilized needle. She pressed it into her finger tip and squeezed a few drops into a divot on the board. Jack followed suit, grinning wide. The two of them reached for the planchet, a worn old stone piece that was so dark it seemed to absorb the light of the candles. They each placed only the bloody finger on it, lightly so as not to push it by mistake.

“We invite the spirits of the other side to speak with us today,” Maddie said, trying not to roll her eyes. The candles flickered dramatically. “We wish to speak with the ghost of Phantom. Phantom, will you speak with us today?”

The two of them sat in the dark waiting. The candles continued to flicker, but the planchet on the board did not move.

“Ask it again, Mads,” Jack prompted. Maddie complied.

“Phantom, we would like to speak with you. You can move the planchet to tell us anything you have to say,” Maddie said again. She waited a moment more before huffing. “Jack, I told you-”

The candles all went out. The two of them sat in pitch darkness for a breath before the candles reignited. They glowed with a fell light. Maddie couldn’t describe the color. It was impossible to look at, but left her with the impression of a corona from a solar eclipse. She couldn’t bear to look at it.

“Maddie, it’s working,” Jack whispered, a childlike grin on his face. Maddie swallowed convulsively.

“Phantom? Is this you?” Maddie asked, listening in the room for the characteristic childlike voice of the Amity Park scourge. Instead she felt the little planchet under her finger move, her eyes snapping to the board. It rolled over different symbols before stopping.

“What does it mean, Maddie?”

Maddie tried to parse it out. Ogham wasn’t made for English, but this was only one word and she translated for Jack.

Yes

“Phantom, where are you right now? We can’t see you,” Maddie gulped as she watched the spirit board.

Sleeping .

“Sleeping? How could you be sleeping? You are talking to us,” Maddie scoffed. Of course, the ghost was probably lying. Why would ghost’s sleep?

Dreaming

“So what? This is the equivalent of sleep-talking?” Maddie was getting irritated.

I don’t know

“You don’t know,” Maddie deadpanned. “How could you not know?”

I have never done this before.

“Ask him about why he is in Amity,” Jack prodded. Maddie nodded.

“Why are you in Amity Park, Phantom?”

Amity Park is my home

“You are dead, Phantom. The Ghost Zone is your home, not Amity Park,” Maddie said. She watched the little stone cursor flit around the board.

Amity Park is my home

“We’re not going to get anywhere with that,” Maddie grumbled. She tried to remember some of the questions Jack had wanted to ask.

“How did you die, Phantom?” Maddie asked. The planchet seemed to hesitate, before it slowly spelled out the words.

An accident

“What kind of accident?” Maddie urged. The planchet did not move. She waited a full minute before asking again. “Phantom, what kind of accident killed you?”

I don’t want to talk about this

“Phantom, answer the question. How did you die?” Maddie pressed.

It will hurt

“You’re a ghost, Phantom. You can’t feel pain.”

Wrong. But that is not what I meant.

“What did you mean, then?”

It will hurt you

Maddie blinked and looked over at Jack. Her husband had his brow furrowed as he met her stare.

“How could it possibly hurt us?” Maddie’s voice trembled.

You will blame yourself

“Why would we blame ourselves?”

Because it was your invention

Maddie stopped breathing. She felt a twinge of fear before it was overshadowed by anger.

“Our inventions don’t hurt humans,” Maddie spat.

They hurt Vlad. They hurt me.

Maddie felt like she was punched in the gut. How did Phantom know about Vlad? It’s true that Vlad had been injured in college. And it had been one of their inventions. Was it possible? Could they have inadvertently caused someone’s death?

“Ghosts lie, Mads. No one besides our family had even been around our inventions before the ghosts showed up. And Phantom was one of the first,” Jack said. Maddie took a deep breath.

“We won’t fall for your lies, Phantom,” Maddie said. “We are not to blame for your death.”

I know. It was my fault.  

“So stop evading the question, Phantom. How did you die?” Maddie asked more forcefully. Once more the planchet paused, before it slowly started to move.

The Portal

“What do you mean?” Maddie pressed.

I was inside. When it turned on.

Maddie scoffed at the obvious lie as she translated it to Jack. But the planchet kept moving.

I just wanted to look inside. I tripped over a wire. I hit the button on the inside. The portal turned on. And I died.

“There is no button on the inside of the Portal, Phantom,” Maddie looked up to share a look of irritation with Jack. However, the man was pale as a sheet. “Jack?”

“I-Maddie. There is a button on the inside of the Portal,” Jack’s voice trembled.

“What?” Maddie gaped at her husband. The man swallowed.

“I put it in at the last minute. I thought it would be useful to have a failsafe if one of the kids-” Jack suddenly froze, a horrible expression on his face. “Maddie. Ask Phantom where he is sleeping at. Right now.”

“Phantom, if you are asleep right now, where are you?” Maddie’s voice shook.

In my room

“Where is your room?”

Upstairs

“Phantom...Are you Danny? Are you our son?” Maddie whimpered. The planchet moved once more.

Yes

The two parents sat in horror, staring at where the planchet rested.

Maddie grabbed her gun and blasted the board to ash.

[imekitty]

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

A twist on Bitter Reunions.

-----

Jack and Maddie listened to the ringing on Maddie’s phone, waiting for an answer as they sat together on the sofa in their living room.

“Maddie?” answered Vlad.

“Vladdy! Good to hear your voice,” said Jack.

“I’m here too, Vlad,” said Maddie.

“It’s been a while,” said Vlad. “I was just thinking about you two last week, wondering how you were doing.”

“We’re doing great,” said Jack. “You?”

“Oh, I’m doing very well.” Vlad chuckled. “I would love to show you sometime. You two are welcome to come visit me at my mansion anytime, you know.”

“Well, that’s sort of why we called,” said Maddie.

“Oh?”

“Yes.” Maddie paused. “We would like your help with our research.”

“Your ghost research, I presume?”

“Yes.” Maddie shifted her weight on the couch. “Remember when we said we were working on creating a ghost hybrid of our own?”

“How could I forget?”

“Well, to make a very long story short, we succeeded. We found the perfect candidate and were able to configure our portal to give him ghost powers like yours.”

Jack pressed his lips, not liking how she kept saying “we” like he actively helped her in this endeavor.

“Did you now? Really?” asked Vlad. “May I ask who was your candidate?”

Maddie released a loud breath. “Before I tell you, just know he was our only choice. We had been searching for over a decade and couldn’t find anyone else who came even close.”

Vlad did not respond. Jack leaned back into the couch.

“It was our son,” said Maddie

Jack looked up at the ceiling, rubbing an itch on his neck against the couch cushion.

“Your son?” echoed Vlad.

“That’s right.”

“You mean Daniel?”

“Danny. And we only have one son, Vlad.”

“You really turned your own son into a ghost hybrid?”

“Yes,” said Maddie. “And we’ve been watching what he does with his powers for the past few months. But he doesn’t know that we know. He doesn’t know that we have anything to do with his portal accident that turned him into a ghost hybrid.”

“Wait, wait, you mean to tell me that he has no idea what you did to him?” Vlad chuckled. “And by extension, am I right in assuming that he didn’t exactly consent to it?”

“No, of course he didn’t,” said Maddie. “We couldn’t let him know. Part of our research is seeing what he chooses to do with his powers without our influence.”

“You are just perfect, my dear,” said Vlad. “Truly a rarity in the science field.”

“Should probably keep it that way,” muttered Jack.

“And what has Daniel chosen to do with his powers?” asked Vlad. “Play pranks? Or is he using them to get more of what he wants like I did?”

“Danny’s choice for his powers is...interesting, to say the least,” said Maddie. “He decided to turn himself into a...superhero, I guess you could say.”

“Superhero?”

“Yes. But he doesn’t fight crime or anything like that.”

“Well, not crime by humans,” said Jack.

“Right, he fights ghosts,” said Maddie. “Ghosts who enter our world through our portal and wreak havoc. Danny uses his powers to capture them and return them to the Ghost Zone, thus protecting the people of our town.”

“Oh, my God.” Vlad’s breath loudly whispered through the speaker. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve heard about him.”

“You have?”

“Yes. There’s been a lot of talk about him in the Ghost Zone among all the ghosts. The half-ghost child who lives with humans but also possesses ghost powers.” Vlad laughed. “I had no idea he was your son. But that makes so much sense now.”

“From what we’ve observed, he is indeed becoming very well known in the Ghost Zone,” said Jack. “So I guess we shouldn’t be surprised you’ve already heard of him.”

“It’s interesting that he’s chosen to use his powers to fight other ghosts, though,” said Vlad. “I’m assuming that must be linked to his ghostly obsession. Do you know what it is yet?”

“No,” said Maddie with a shake of her head. “But we are working on figuring that out. All we can gather so far is that he feels responsible for the ghosts coming through the portal in the first place, so he thinks it’s his duty to return them all to the Ghost Zone.”

“Why would he feel responsible for that?” asked Vlad.

“Maddie made him believe that our portal was broken until he switched it on and shocked himself,” said Jack. “So in his head, it’s his fault the portal works and is letting in all the ghosts.”

Maddie gave him a look. “Right, yes, we made him think that. It was the only way to trick him to go inside the portal.”

“I see,” said Vlad. “So he’s trying to clean up the mess he believes he created.”

“That’s all we know so far,” said Maddie. “Not sure how it might be linked to an obsession just yet.”

“But a superhero, that’s cute,” mused Vlad.

“That leads to our request.” Maddie cleared her throat. “Given that Danny has chosen to use his powers to become a superhero, we were interested in giving him…well, a supervillain to fight.”

“A supervillain?”

“Yes. Obviously, there are plenty of ghosts, but we were thinking a nemesis who has something in common with him might be good.”

“Let me guess: a fellow ghost hybrid?”

Maddie smiled. “I knew you’d catch on to that quickly.”

“I can’t say I’m not intrigued,” said Vlad. “And I’d be very interested in meeting your son.”

Maddie lifted her back off the couch. “So you’ll do it?”

“Let’s discuss it in more detail,” said Vlad. “Would you two be able to make a trip to Wisconsin soon?”

“Yes,” said Maddie. “Absolutely. We could bring the whole family, actually, so you can meet Danny.” She paused. “Might need to come up with some excuse he’ll believe. My plan for you to become his archenemy relies on him believing you don’t exactly like us. Or you don’t like Jack, anyway. Because of the portal incident.”

“Oh. Right.” Vlad’s voice became bitter. “Well, that was Jack’s fault.”

“I said I was sorry,” grumbled Jack.

“No, this is good,” said Maddie. “This is what we want for our backstory to make this work. But we just need a reason why you’d invite us to stay with you if you hate Jack so much.”

“I was recently asked to host our twentieth college reunion,” said Vlad. “Would that work?”

Maddie grinned. “That would be perfect.”

Jack slumped into the couch as Maddie and Vlad continued chatting. He wondered how things might’ve been different if he just hadn’t been careless with his cola in that college lab so long ago.

Then maybe Danny would still be one hundred percent human.

Part 9

[miss-nov]

Over-Emotional: Danny Phantom Oneshot.

Original idea by @amabsis on their post right here!!

[Originally written on a reblog of the prompt but it went all screwy and left an incomplete version so I made it it's own post and I've made a few grammar and spelling edits. Sorry for any confusion!!]

(This is the first thing I've ever written for the DP Phandom so I apologize if it's a little OOC)

⚠️(TW: DESCRIPTIONS OF A PANIC ATTACK AND GORE!!!!!)⚠️

  Danny drifted through the skies of Amity Park, following the streets which were slick with recent rain. The stars twinkled merrily above and the beams from the street lights seemed to buzz through the comforting, crisp air. Not a sound disrupted the mellow atmosphere and ghosts had appeared to leave tonight alone and retired to their lairs. A soothing night such as this would have been Danny's favorite; it would have been a much needed break from his overly stressful life.

  Yet Danny couldn't shake off the creeping apprehension even as he twisted in and out of alleyways back into the lit roads.

  His parents had been working tirelessly  on a project that they wouldn't tell him and Jazz about. Jack, their father, would always jump at the chance to describe what he was doing and couldn't keep his antics quiet for long. Maddie's, their mother, eyes would have brightened as she recounted the innovate idea she had conjured and the necessary calculations she could toy around with. These facts coupled with Jazz and Danny casually inquiring about their latest project would make them incredibly ecstatic.

  But whenever the two had asked about it, put off by the unusual quiet of the parents, had only been given an amused smile and an occasional wink.

  Tonight, before Danny's patrol and during dinner, Jazz had managed to weasel some information out of them. Though, it left more questions than answers.

  "So, you guys have been in the lab a lot recently," Jazz said conversationally. "Working on some new ghost stuff? It seems important if you're spending most of the day down there."

  Maddie had given her a deliberate look like someone who'd finally decided to take a second cookie.

  "It's our greatest invention yet," she said lowly and excitedly. "I think your dad and I have found the solution to our little ghost problem."

  The siblings gulped and tried to suppress their shudders.

  "It's not going to hurt them is it? Phantom and the other ghosts." Jazz's voice was even and didn't show a hint of a tone shift.

  "Surprisingly, no. No harm will be dealt to them. It's not like they can feel anyway. That's exactly the problem," Jack chimed excitedly before going back to his ectoplasm contaminated lasagna.

  "Besides, we wouldn't want to hurt the object of our daughter's affection.  We all know about your crush on Phantom," Maddie teased but then added with a small frown. "Though it's not healthy to have a crush on ghosts at all."

 Jazz gave an aggressive gagging noise and Danny was torn between hysterical laughter and a gag of his own. Dinner resumed as normal —well, as normal as you could get being a Fenton— and Danny took note of the fact his parents had refused to say anymore.

  Danny was busy going over and dissecting the conversation and lax in his attention to his surroundings by the inactivity that he didn't notice the two shadow-cloaked figures tailing him. The taller one with a broader build was holding an intimidating gun, that looked like it was straight out of an eighties sci-fi movie, on his back.

  Maybe I should head back, Danny thought to himself. I have so much homework due and a test tomorrow. A pop quiz in calculus and a lab in science. I have to meet Nathan at my study hall period and at lunch. Liz needs my help…

  On and on the list went as Danny subtlety started flying home. Just thinking of things that needed done was making him more anxious and tired.

  "Phantom, we'll have you now," Jack cried, his voice echoing in the hollow streets.

  Danny turned around, slightly aggravated when he was struck by a violet beam and plummeted, crashing to the sidewalk.

  "Jack! I told you to wait," Maddie chastised as they walked over to Danny who had barely sat up.

  His head swam and Maddie and Jack looked like the reflections of a carnival fun house mirror. Though his vision corrected itself quickly.

  "I think you might have given him a concussion. But that doesn't make sense, ghosts don't have brains," Maddie said, slightly confused. She reached out to gingerly place her fingertips on Danny's temple and he flinched.

  "Don't touch me!!" Danny had yelled louder then he meant to and his voice came out with an extra echo; like he had been about to use his ghostly wail. The three stilled before Danny began crawling backwards, keeping his eyes on Jack and Maddie at all times.

  "I don't wanna hurt you," Danny whimpered and tears sprang to eyes like a line of men ready to battle. Why the hell was he crying!? He didn't cry easy, at least not of late, and he'd been in these situations and worse without crying so why was he breaking down now??

  Maddie looked at him with wide eyes and her hand, which had still been suspended in shock, dropped to her belt and Danny panicked.

  "Don't hurt me!" Danny tried to pick himself up to fly, to get the hell out of dodge but when he went to stand his vision and black an —god why were his veins burning with adrenaline???

  Danny's chest was caving, that was the only explanation as his ribs seized and threatened to crush his lungs. His heart had left its place and sprinted from the back of his throat down to right beneath his collarbone before starting all over again. Has his hands always been this sweaty??? Tremors wracked through his limbs —he couldn't deal with this now!! He needed to finish his Hamlet essay, and review his history notes, and hadn't Liz asked him to buy popsicle sticks for their art project??? That's what he had forgotten!! He can't think of this now!! Maddie and Jack could easily catch him now —but oh, God was he screwed when —if— when he went to school the next day.

  "Phantom, you're having a panic attack," Maddie said calmly.

  "No, shit there, Sherlock." Danny bit his bottom lip to prevent another scathing comment from escaping. Usually he had better control of his mouth believe it or not. He put his head between his knees, closing his eyes and trying to focus on, well, nothing. He felt tears slip from his eyes and barely stopped himself from screaming.

  "You know what a panic attack is?" Jack titled his head as he scanned over his shaking form.

  "Jack did you put the settings up too high while we were following him?"

  "Of course not! I was very careful not to bounce anything out of place. You've Done the math, four times, it should be perfectly calibrated." Jack twisted the purple and silver metallic gun in his hands, giving it a thorough look over.

  "What the fuck are you two talking about!!" The scientists' head whipped back to see Danny's eyes glowing a tad brighter than before and his mouth transfixed into a snarl. Maddie slid a careful hand to her holster.

  "Our newest invention. Ghosts, well most of them, are just whispers of feelings that people once had. They can't actually feel and so they do bad things or... or they mimic human behaviors really well to make it seem like they do, like they're human." Maddie's voice trailed off at the end as if seeing if he would explode.

  Danny felt that normally he would have but he started to hyperventilate. How was he going to reverse it??? Was there even a way to do so or did they not include a reverse button by mistake (on purpose?) like they had mistakenly put the 'on' button inside the portal??

  "We're going to take you to the lab. Check your... concussion and to stabilize your mood. Run a few tests..."

Ohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodoh—

   They would strap him down and cut and lay his chest open like a butterfly steak and their hungry eyes would roam over him and their hands would devour him by pulling at his nerve endings and removing his organs and Danny would scream until his voice was hoarse and then some like a helpless lamb. Would he bleed blood or ectoplasm when they drained him? Would they take turns as he bleed out?? Or would they flow out together like some sort of demented, holiday dinner?? Or—

  "Phantom! You need to calm down." Maddie was at his side (when had she gotten there?) and was squeezing his hand. Danny briefly noted her eyes were filled with worry as her goggles hung at her neck. "Just breathe with me okay, please."

  "Breathe with her, buddy" Jack, who sat on the other side of Danny, whispered as he gently rubbed circles on the boy's lower back. "It's gonna be okay. We aren't going to hurt you."

  Danny wanted to say a smart aleck remark about them not having the same sentiment five minutes ago but instead focused on his breathing. He faced his head skyward and tried to count the stars. Nothing but him and the stars, no home— just the stars.

  Danny was reminded of the time he went stargazing with the rest of his family. A rare occasion as Maddie and Jack seemed to always be working. They had smiled so big at him as he pointed out constellations, awestruck. Jazz had nodded along as she listened attentively with a smile of her own. The night hadn't been more clear in months and more stars then usually were out. The picnic blanket they laid on was soft and him and Jazz had rested in between their parents and God they had been so happy then—

  Danny let out an involuntary sob. The melancholy seemed to come from the depths of his chest but at least it seemed to push out the panic.

  "Phantom," Maddie asked as she huddled closer to him. Phantom, not Danny. It hadn't really bothered him before; they didn't know it was him so why would they call him by his name?

  But it still made him cry harder. He wanted to tell them. He wanted to so, so bad.

  Jazz had urged him to tell them. But Danny had always been afraid. Scared that they wouldn't want him anymore.

  Now the sadness had overwhelmed the fear and the panic. He felt so isolated even when his parents were next to him, right there, trying to coax him into being calm. He had to tell them. He had to do it now because he wouldn't be this impulsive again.

  He felt the white rings gloss over him and heard Jack yell out "Phantom". When it was over he heard them gasp.

  "D-Danny," Maddie choked out.

   "I'm so sorry," Danny said through his tears. He chanted it over and over again as his parents reassured him that he had nothing to be sorry for and that they should apologize.

  The three sat there for quite some time, huddled close and crying together.

  Soon they would head home and take care of Danny's quickly healing concussion and reverse the effects of the gun. They would ask questions tomorrow after school but, for now, they tucked him into bed, something they hadn't done since he was eleven, and gave him their good night kisses on his temple before creeping to their room unaware of Jazz watching them from her bedroom door. She would text Sam and Tucker an explanation and ask them to give Danny the answers to the homework in the morning. She slipped into bed and fell asleep.

  The streets were barely slick with rain anymore. The stars twinkled merrily and the street lights buzzed. The crisp, cool air was calm and mellow. The night soothing and the Fentons were a family once again.

[goldenchan-fx2thepeacock]

Don’t Go Running Off Into Danger, Even If I Do pt 2

So, I have no clue what a publishing schedule is. So here, have more of this dumb fic at 11 pm. FUCK SLEEP! SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK!

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Chapter 2

Danny and Jazz managed to finish just in time to put everything away before their parents got home. He’d actually managed to have a ghost free night. But the peace wasn’t going to last. And this wasn’t about ghosts. He got slammed into his locker.  “Hey look, it’s Fenturd. What’s with the dumb picture of Phantom? You’ll never be on his level,” Dash said and laughter broke out. Danny groaned. At least they didn’t know he was trans. He’d be beaten twice as much if they knew. The locker door closed and locked.  “Seriously Dash? I have to get to class!” He yelled through the metal.  “Whatever Fentina. No one cares! Oh hey, it’s fresh meat!” Dash went away from Danny’s locker. Danny had found out a way to make it so he could open his locker from the inside without it being outerwardly compromised. He jumped out. It was those kids from last night.  “Leave them alone Dash. They haven’t even been here for a day yet. The rules are that newbies get a probation period,” Danny crossed his arms.  “I don’t know Fentoenail. Would you like to take their beating?” Dash mocked him. Danny sighed. He’d have to do this.  “Any day,” 

Danny regretted everything. Dash had hit him twice as hard as normal and his locker trick wasn’t working. Everything hurt. He was going to miss Lancer’s class. At least his ghost sense wasn’t going off or something. Lancer wouldn’t miss him. Suddenly, his locker opened and he tumbled out. He yelped. “Are you okay?” The girl twin said.  “No worse than what I’m used to,” Danny brushed himself off.  “You didn’t have to do that,” The boy twin told Danny. “Yeah, I kinda did. The probation period is sacred. Dash knows that,” “Probation period?” The boy said. “A rule we made up last year. If Dash really wants to break it, I take the beating instead. Fenton gets to take the beating so the new kids don’t have to,”  “That’s not fair. You should report him,” “Nah, he threw like four perfect throws last night and is exempt from punishment,”  “Football?” The boy gave Danny a knowing look.  “Danielle- I mean Daniel Fenton to the main office,” The loud speaker said. “Oh come on! At least it was probably just a misread,” Danny was fuming. The beating plus being deadnamed was getting on his nerves. “We have to head there too,” The girl said. Danny shrugged and let them follow him.

Lancer called them all in at once. “Sup Lancer. Can I help you?” Danny leaned against the wall. “Mr Fenton. You and I both know that you need to show me more respect. W-what happened to you?” Lancer looked up from his papers. “Just a certain football star. Nothing I can’t handle. He broke the probation period,” “That’s a rule between students. I have no need to enforce it,” Lancer sighed. “I have no clue why you of all people were chosen for this, but you are too be Mr and Ms Pines guide around the school,” “Jazz not good enough for you? Had to pick the ‘slacker’ Fenton?” “Daniel, mind your tone. Jazz is our top student,”  “We all know I’m destined to fail in life. Can I get their timetables?” “Yes of course. Listen Danny, both you and I know you’re capable of better grades. I don’t understand why you don’t try,” Danny wasn’t in the mood for Lancer’s pep talks.  “I’ve got more important things to worry about,” Danny grabbed the papers and stalked off with the Pines Twins on his heels.  “Why didn’t he do anything about Dash?” the boy asked. “He has no reason to. Not like I’m about to ask,” Danny handed them their timetables. He’d seen that the girl was named Mabel and the boy Mason. “We’ll start with your classes Mason,”  “I prefer Dipper,” “I’m not calling you by a dumb nickname. Let’s go,” Danny growled.

Just as he was about to lead Mason to his first class, a royal pain in his ass showed up. “Daniel! I require your assistance, little badger,” “It’s bound to be another plan to get in my mom’s pants. Go away,”  “Now, don’t be like that. I’m the mayor after all. You should be honored,” “Plasmius, shut your goddamn mouth. I. Don’t. Give. A. Fuck,” Danny said so that only Vlad could hear.  “Well, something’s got you in a tizzy. I’ll ask later. I should tell you though, it’s about Danielle,” “What did you do to Dani?” Fury. Wait, he had to get the kids to class.  “Nothing. It wasn’t me. You should ask your ghost hunter girlfriend,” Vlad grinned. Fucking Valerie.  “Come on kids. You’ve got to get to class,” Danny ignored Plasmius. Valerie was going to die. 

At lunch, he purposefully turned into Phantom and waited for Valerie on top of the school. She took no time at all. “What. Did. You. Do. To. Dani,” He glared at her.  “I didn’t do anything to her! You’re going down ghost!” “Am I really?” Danny was pissed. She wasn’t getting any mercy today. He teleported behind her.  “What the... HOW?” “Where is she?!” He growled. “What do you care? She’s always off on her own,”  “Does it look like I care Valerie?!”  “How did you know?!” “I know more than you seem to think. Tell me where Dani is. NOW!” He froze her feet. She looked terrified.  “What’s wrong with you!? Why do you care so much about her? Ghosts don’t have feelings,” Danny lost it at that point. The laughter was dark. Hollow. Horrible. Val’s terror was visible.  “Don’t have feelings? DON’T HAVE FEELINGS? FUCK YOU! I’M SO TIRED OF ALL THIS!” “Phantom, calm down,” Val was terrified. Danny wasn’t done. The rings were threatening to come down and expose him to her.  “So you admit this is real? Would you like to know how it feels to die Val? How it feels to live on the line between life and death? Wait, I can’t do that! You don’t have a deactivated portal in your basement that I can make you turn on while your inside. I don’t have a stupid jumpsuit with your dad’s face on it so I can take off the that sticker. You don’t have parents that threaten to rip you apart molecule by molecule for just exsisting! You don’t have to see a future where you become evil because you cheated on one test and your family all died! Can you even begin to comprehend what I go through? Ever been cloned? And forced to do something incredibly painful so that one clone can get fixed and watch another get lied too? And that’s just the brunt of it Valerie. Keep telling me how I don’t feel. How I’m nothing!” Danny screamed at ice engulfed their feet. Val’s eyes went wide.  “D-Danny?” She said quietly. “Congratulations! You aren’t as niave as the rest of Amity Park! How does it feel?” He’d snapped. “Calm down! I’ll tell you where Dani is!” She shrieked. That hollow laugh came back. But instead of an angry rant afterwards, he just sunk to his knees and screamed. It wasn’t a wail. It was a scream of pain. Of being done with the world.  “I can’t do this anymore,” He sobbed and the rings went down. All that was left now was a beaten, broken Danny Fenton.  “You should change back. I’ll take you to Dani,” Danny nodded and followed her.  “Sorry I broke down. I’m just sick of people telling me that I can’t feel. That all ghosts can’t feel. You don’t even bother talking to us, ya know?” “Ghosts lie,” “And so do people! I’ve talked to the ghosts. Listened to them. Heard their stories. I protect people, but I protect them too!” “How do you know those aren’t just acts?” “Cause they make sense. I’d have the same response if it was me. If my parents burned down the place I was in because I got caught being gay,” “I’m confused,” “Ember. I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone. But you need to know that they all have reasons for being the way they are. Skulker’s family was hunted, so now he hunts to prove his strength,” “Maybe we should talk to you more,”  “Maybe you should. No one asks to die,” “But your parents say that ghosts don’t remember their lives. They’re the leading experts,”  “That’s like putting a ten year old in a room of babies. They’re the expert by default in that situation, but an adult would be the expert the moment they walked in,” “Why don’t we know about that,” “Dying is traumatizing. Even half dying is traumatizing. It’s taboo to mention it unless you’re told. No one explains it until they’re ready. And talking about a life before that is almost wrong,” “How did you learn?” “Skulker told me during the Christmas Truce. Ember told me one day when she just wanted to be left alone, but I did too. I guess things end up working out in weird ways,” “The Christmas Truce?” “On Christmas Eve and Christmas, ghosts have a truce. No one is allowed to fight anyone that day. The Ghost Writer broke the truce and Walker got to haul him off in just means,” “We really know nothing about ghosts, do we?” “No, you don’t. They even have a party. I got invited last year. Skulker let me make the star! It took me weeks to get it right,” Danny smiled at the memory. He’d made a scale model of a blue giant that went through it’s life stages.  “So there’s a whole society?” “A government. Systems. Main rules. Taboos. Just cause we’re ghosts, doesn’t mean we don’t have a system,” “I’m sorry,” “What?” Danny nearly froze. “I’m sorry that I made so many assumptions. I never should’ve chased you or any ghost like that,” “Keep them out of Amity Park and send them back to the Zone. Most ghosts forget that living is dangerous, so they just rampage. I keep trying to talk sense into them, but they’re pretty stubborn,”  “What about the dog?” “Dog? You mean Cujo? I was trying to stop him from trashing Axiom. He was trying to get a toy. I’m sorry that recked your life Val,” “My life? Wrecked? When compared to you, my life is a dream. It’s not like I died,” “I guess you’ve got a point,”

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Thanks for reading. I just like fics where Val finds out, and this one seemed like an okay place to stick it. Dani is fine. I’ll fill you in on that next chapter, but I should get some sleep.

[ladylynse]

Part 7 of Passageway [FF | AO3]

The Fenton Ghost Portal in the basement lab is empty, broken. Instead, the portal is inside Danny–and even when he knows something’s coming, he can’t stop it. (Danny as the ghost portal AU)

(Beginning | Previous)

-|-

Crud.

This had been a bad idea.

He didn’t know what he was doing. This was definitely a bad idea. He shouldn’t have left until he had a plan. He knew his leaving would put the others in danger, and now he didn’t even have a good place to hide. What had he been thinking? He didn’t have the energy to run very far or very fast, and he needed to move. He’d been so stupid. When he got recaptured, things would just be that much worse—

Danny coughed.

A few steps later, he coughed again.

As realization dawned, cold fear wasn’t the only thing clawing at his throat.

No. This was bad. This was very bad. He couldn’t do this now. It left him exhausted at the best of times, and it’s not like he had his phone to call Sam or Tucker despite the danger it would put them in, and—

Danny choked and staggered up the street. He was too exposed. Couldn’t do this here. There might be cameras. Or the shifter. Couldn’t risk anyone seeing.

He was gasping, unable to draw air.

He stumbled through an empty parking lot, trying to make it to the dumpster on the far side.

Any cover was better than this.

The coughing continued and turned into choked heaves.

He couldn’t breathe.

Danny fell to his knees in the shadow of the dumpster, retching and heaving and just trying to get it out—

Darkness.

More darkness.

Danny couldn’t tell what it was anymore. Outside his head, inside his head, out of his mouth or always there or just from the spots swirling in front his eyes….

“Hey, kid.”

Danny groaned. He could breathe again. Was it really over? Had it stopped? His jaw hurt, and his throat was raw, but all of that could have been from before, so maybe—?

“Kid. Wake up.”

A boot toed his side. Gently, thankfully. Danny rolled onto his back—again, he couldn’t remember lying down—and opened his eyes, staring up at the night sky.

At the edge of his vision, he could see a blackness deeper than the rest of the night.

He blinked.

It didn’t go away.

“You gonna be okay?” the voice asked again, and Danny turned his head slightly. After a split second, the boy’s smudged face resolved into that of a rather sickly-looking teenager, someone closer to Jazz’s age than his.

“I dunno.” He still ached all over, he was still exhausted, and hungry and thirsty and whatever else, but he wasn’t…. He didn’t think he felt as bad as he should feel, given that he’d been kidnapped for— Was this really only the second night he’d been gone? Had it only been twenty-four hours? Maybe even less?

“You okay enough to help my girlfriend?”

Danny wasn’t sure he felt okay enough to sit up yet. “No?”

He heard a whistle and then something that was undoubtedly a command: “Shadow, help me with him.”

It was a sign of how much he’d been through by now that Danny didn’t scream when the darkness moved and curled around him. He leaned into it, letting it lift him off the ground and deposit him in a standing position. He staggered, and the shadow returned to steady him. He wasn’t sure if the face he thought he saw grinning up at him was imagined. Hallucinating at this point might be normal, right?

The nearest streetlight flickered out.

Yup, perfectly normal.

“You’re doing better now, right?” the teen pressed, despite vast evidence to the contrary. Danny hadn’t thought anyone could look anxious while lounging against a motorcycle, but this guy managed it. “I miss my girl.”

“I can’t….” He didn’t have time for this. He needed to hide. He moved his arms, his shoulders, in something that might be construed as a shrug by the generous. “I don’t have time to help you look for her. I’ve gotta…. I need to go.”

“No, no, you can’t go!”

One cold hand wrapped around Danny’s arm, and he suddenly realized what he hadn’t before.

“She’s stuck on the other side. If I can’t get back to her right now, I need her over here.”

Danny stared at him. Part of him wanted to cry, but he felt too worn out to do even that. Just…. Couldn’t he catch a break?

“I’m Johnny, Johnny 13, that’s Shadow, and Kitty…. She’s the best girl, my Kitty. You can’t separate us like this.”

“I can’t…. I can’t do this right now.” Danny tried to shove at the shadow and pull away, but it tightened around him again, still substantial in a way it shouldn’t be substantial.

“Look, I’ll help you,” Johnny said. “You said you need to go somewhere, right? I’ll take you there. And you can repay me for the ride by getting my girl to me.”

“I don’t….” Maybe flat out refusing to help a ghost when the ghost’s friend—or pet ghost or whatever Shadow was—had him in what could very easily become a stranglehold was a bad idea. “I can’t right away.” He wasn’t sure he could help later, wasn’t sure he’d want to help later, but later was better than now. “Someone’s hunting me down.” If he’d been thinking more clearly, he might not have put it that bluntly, but it was too late now. “I need to hide from them and figure out a way to help my friends and family.”

Danny saw Johnny’s eyes flick down to the cuffs still visible on his wrists—Shadow had avoided covering them—and nod. “I’ll help you. In exchange for being with my girl.”

“I….” Agreeing and not being able to deliver would just make his situation worse. “I can’t promise anything beyond trying.” That was safe enough, right? Not that he wanted to try, exactly, but….

“Climb on, kid.” Johnny moved aside, and Shadow pushed Danny forward. He stumbled, and the older teen—ghost—helped him onto his motorcycle.

Danny was rather glad he didn’t remember that coming through.

His perch on the motorcycle in front of Johnny wasn’t precarious, but Danny didn’t have a helmet, and he’d survived too many years of his dad’s driving to not really regret that. Also seat belts. And, frankly, being able to hold onto something properly.

He used to think he’d love to own his own motorcycle.

He was fairly sure he still would, but he was absolutely sure that he hated the fact that he wasn’t in control of this particular ride.

“Where are we headed?” Johnny yelled in his ear as they sped down the street. Danny had had him turn left, away from the docks, but now….

Now, it was very evident that he didn’t have a plan.

“I…I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I don’t know! I need to hide, but I don’t know where!”

Silence but for the roar of the motorcycle and the wind.

“Been a while since I’ve been through here,” Johnny said at last. “The public library. That still the same building?”

Danny had absolutely no idea. Jazz practically lived there, but the only library he went to was the school one, and he only went there when he had to. “Maybe?”

“We’ll risk it.”

Johnny took a sharp turn and then pulled back on the handlebars. Danny shrieked as the motorcycle lifted into the air and he was thrown back against Johnny. He scrambled for what handhold he could, but with his hands still cuffed—

The motorcycle hovered in the air. By this point, Danny didn’t know whether it could do that because of Shadow or because Johnny 13 was a ghost and he could just do that. Right now, Danny didn’t really care. He was much more preoccupied by the fact that this skyward detour made it more likely that the shifter would track him down sooner rather than later. A flying motorcycle wasn’t exactly inconspicuous.

“Why’d you do that?” Danny hissed, and Johnny jabbed a finger into his shoulder and then pointed. It took Danny a moment to get his bearings and realize that, yes, that was the flag that flew over the public library. “Yeah, that’s still the library, but wh—?”

He didn’t get a chance to finish before they were suddenly plummeting towards the earth again.

It was not like a roller coaster.

It would have been so much better if it had been like a roller coaster.

As it was, Danny probably would’ve flown clean off the motorcycle if Johnny hadn’t wrapped one arm around him just as the plunge started.

If Johnny hadn’t kept his arm around Danny’s middle, he might’ve tried to jump off anyway once it became painfully clear that they were headed for the library and Johnny wasn’t about to slow down.

The motorcycle was moving entirely too quickly toward the stone wall of the corner lot building, something that was solid brick at the base with windows higher up, and Danny hoped fervently that his assumptions about ghosts and their powers weren’t wrong.

And then he remembered what Sidney had told him.

“I can’t go through the wall!” he screamed, and some distant part of his mind was aware that that wouldn’t be enough. Of course Johnny would think that Danny thought he couldn’t go through a wall. He wasn’t a ghost, after all. He wouldn’t be used to that kind of thing. “These handcuffs are immune to a ghost’s ability to do that!” Would that make sense? He didn’t really have time to try again. “Let me off!”

Danny’s panic continued, and it got less intelligible, but Johnny swerved the motorcycle before they hit the wall anyway. Not that Danny saw him do that. He had his eyes closed by that point, busy babbling and praying to whoever would listen to let him keep the use of his hands after the handcuffs were ripped off of him.

When Danny did open his eyes, it was to tire tracks burnt onto brick. The imagined flip must not have been so imagined after all. His stomach turned just thinking of what had nearly happened, and he leaned to one side and heaved. Bile burned its way up his throat. Johnny yelped, and the bike’s shadow shifted out of the way as stomach acid dribbled from Danny’s mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he managed, coughing and trying to spit the last of it free. “I…. I just….” Another heave, this time dry. He sucked in a shuddering lungful of air. He was shaking. When had he started shaking?

“Easy there, kid.” Johnny patted him awkwardly on the back. “You’re fine.”

“You don’t need to keep calling me a kid, you know,” Danny said finally. He kept his gaze firmly on the ground, just in case his stomach decided it wasn’t done. “I’m only a couple of years younger than you are.”

“That’s what you think?”

“Pretty sure I’m not wrong.” He was starting to feel better now, so Danny tried to wipe his mouth on his shoulder—it was dirty already anyway—before twisting around to face Johnny. “Look, I appreciate the ride, and I get that you miss your girlfriend, but I’ve got some stuff I need to deal with before I can help you.”

“Starting with those, right?” Johnny asked, pointing at the cuffs. Danny hesitated and then nodded; his family and friends were more important, but he couldn’t really do anything if he couldn’t even use his hands. “Pull up a clean patch of grass. I’ll teach you how to get out of those.”

“Um….”

“Unless you want to keep them on. Just seems like it might be a necessary life skill for you, from what I’ve seen. But you can leave them on. I don’t have to show you the spot Kitty and I would sneak off to, even if it would be a nice place to cool your heels and hide out.”

Danny blinked. “Wait. You two—? In the library?” He glanced down at the handcuffs. “Oh, man, I did not need to know that. I think I would rather that you knew how to get out of these for criminal reasons.”

Johnny grinned at him and pulled a paperclip out of his pocket. “Never said I didn’t, kid. Now, if you’ve got a thin bit of metal on you, you can do it the easy way….”

It was…nice, taking the time to breathe. To stop and do this, even with everything he had hanging over his head. And, well, it was really nice to get the full use of his arms back once Johnny had freed him.

Danny was taking full advantage of being able to stretch again, knitting his fingers together and pushing them skyward and then pulling them apart and rolling his shoulders and thrusting his hands behind his back—

He had really taken this for granted before.

He was not going to forget how good this felt. He wasn’t going to let the shifter ghost get the better of him again, either. He’d bury the cuffs—couldn’t just pocket them if he was going to let Johnny pull him through the wall, and he wasn’t about to throw them out in case he needed them later—and then he could figure out how to get a message to his family and friends, something that only they’d understand in case the shifter intercepted it, and—

“Danny?”

That was Jazz’s voice.

“What are you doing here?”

He didn’t know if it really was Jazz.

“I thought…. We thought…. Oh, little brother, are you okay?”

It sounded like Jazz.

And the person who rushed towards him and wrapped him in a hug certainly looked and felt and smelled like her, too.

Danny tried to twist in her grip, to see if Johnny had vanished like Sidney had earlier. He caught sight of the ghost leaning against his motorcycle again, arms folded as he watched their reunion. Assuming it really was a reunion. There was no attempt to knock him out this time, but they weren’t alone, either, and—

Danny finally pushed Jazz away, ignoring the hurt expression on her face. “I need to go,” he said. “I’ll explain later.” He couldn’t afford to make a mistake and tell the shifter his plan. Not that he really had a plan. If this was the ghost who had kidnapped him, the cat was already out of the bag. But that didn’t mean he had to make it even easier for them.

“What’s going on?”

“I said I’ll explain later.”

“But….” She was shaking her head. “No, seriously, Danny. Look at you. You look awful. And you smell.”

Maybe it really was Jazz.

“Ghosts are real,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “Look, little brother—”

“What’s the name of your stuffed lion?”

She blinked. “Did you hit your head?”

He couldn’t tell if she was avoiding the question.

“I know this sounds weird, but if you answer me, I’ll explain now instead of later.”

“Danny, you’re scaring me.”

“Please, Jazz. Your stuffed lion?”

“I don’t have a stuffed lion. I have a stuffed bear. You know that. He’s called Bearbert Einstein for a reason. Are you sure you didn’t hit your head?”

Danny let out a sigh of relief and turned to Johnny. “She’s safe. I’m sure of it. Can we take her, too?”

Johnny smirked. “We can make room.”

“Wait, who’s—?”

But Danny had already tossed the Fenton Cuffs into the bushes, grabbed Jazz’s hand with his left, and reached for Johnny with his right. He tugged Jazz forward, trying to shush her even as she ignored him and tried to pull away. Instead of taking his hand, Johnny nodded towards his motorcycle, and Danny put a hand on it instead as Johnny climbed on and started it up.

“Danny,” Jazz hissed, still twisting her arm in an attempt to escape his grip, “what the heck is going on?”

“It’ll be easier to explain if you come with us,” he said, and she huffed but stopped fighting him.

At least, she stopped fighting him until it became all too clear that Johnny—for all that the motorcycle was moving forward slowly enough that Danny could keep pace with it while walking—was heading for the wall.

“What—?”

Danny shushed her again, adding a kick for good measure. Jazz paused long enough to kick him back, and then Danny felt that…that feeling wash over him. Not cold, exactly. Light, maybe. Detached. Distant.

Johnny’s motorcycle passed through stone.

Still walking, one hand still on the motorcycle and the other keeping a death grip on Jazz, Danny followed, dragging his sister with him.

(see more fics | next)

[whimsicalwhespir]

As I've said before, I have a lot of aus! My friend @deuynndoodles said I should make a masterlist of all of them. So I did! I was so tempted to keep writing stuff about them because I'm horrible at writing short summaries while also getting thr basis of the story across so it was a bit of a challenge cause when I start it's hard to stop me.

Anywhoooo heres a list of all my aus at the moment! There are minor ones I have and ones I've tossed out or forgotten but these are the ones I like so I hope you like them! (And if you have any questions at all please feel free to ask! I love talking about my aus!)

MY HERO ACADEMIA:

Ratiocination (Indigo Jets)- Vigilante Izuku, he has a quirk called pause that allows him to stop time but he cannot move and the longer he stays paused the more of his memories get erased. He's childhood friends with Bakugou and Shinsou who both worry when he disappears from their lives. His vigilante name is Indigo Jets.

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Emerald Eyes (Manx)- Short Izuku with cat eye syndrome, he has a quirk that allows him to make bubble-like force fields similar to Steven universe. He's found by the Wild Wild Pussycats and they train him and later on becomes a part of the team. His hero name is Manx.

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House of Glass (Rose/Grim/Grimrose)- Izuku is raised by the League of Villains and they're his big happy family. He has a quirk that allows him to erase and manipulate people's memories as well as a telekinetic quirk given to him by All For One. He's sent to UA as a spy but he ends up making friends and enjoying himself. He has the hero name Rose and the villain name Grim.

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My Angel (Starlight)- Izuku has a quirk that gives him the powers of an Angel. He has wings and a halo and he's also an empath with healing abilities. He also has the power to visit the dead, his mom, and it's difficult not to fall in love with him when people meet him. His hero name is Starlight.

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Out Of Reach (Tapeti)- Izuku Midoriya is taken by the league after making a deal with Shigaraki on the roof where All Might leaves him. They turn him halfway into a nomu, experimenting with quirkless candidates. Meanwhile, Bakugou is trying to find his friend through his years at UA, only to find out Izuku doesn't remember him, having been brainwashed and taking up the villain name Tapeti.

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Green Thumb Garden- Izuku was sold to villains as a child because Inko couldn't afford to take care of him. He escapes a few years later and is shrugged off by a hero. He's taken in by a family who runs a garden shop and as they get older, he begins to run it. He believes he is quirkless but later on finds out he has a quirk that allows him to speed up the growth and healing of organisms like an enhanced fertilizer would.

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Cerulean Flames (Deku)- Izuku gets lost in the crowd during a villain attack and can't find his mother. Instead, he finds a runaway Touya Todoroki who leads him back to safety. Izuku visits him almost every day and Dabi teaches him how to fight, play dirty and is there like an older brother for Izuku. When getting one for all, he also participates in helping Izuku train with All Might.

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Glass Wings (Sterling)- Izuku is taken in by the Shie Hassaikai when he runs away from home. Over the years he learns that they're not all they seem, trying to unravel it from the inside out with his sister Eri and friend Rappa. They're about to run for it during the raid but are caught by heroes. Izuku, being so close to Eri and not having any recorded crimes, is put in a villain rehabilitation program at UA. His old villain name is Sterling, turned codename.

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All For You (Deku)- Older Izuku, he went to school with Aizawa, Nemuri, Yamada, Oboro and Tensei, he being the closest with Tensei. In an accident with Oboro, Izuku is blinded in his right eye. Both are injured but survive. They all grow up to be heroes, Izuku also acting as an older brother figure to Bakugou. Izuku is also a teacher at UA in the heroics department, he teaches the students how to be safe and reduce damage to their surroundings and self. 

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Ignite (Phoenix)- Vigilante Izuku, he loves to sing and perform at the hotel and karaoke bar his family owns. The hotel is open to heroes, villains, vigilantes, civilians, the poor, discriminated against and everyone in between. His father was in an accident when he was young which paralyzed him from the waist down because a hero failed to save him. 

Izuku becomes a vigilante to look for people to come to the hotel. People who need the safety and those who have no place to stay. He has a quirk that allows him to manipulate fire. He doesn't need to look for people to pay because so many patrons already donate. Later on, Phoenix stops being a vigilante and becomes a full time singer. His name is Phoenix.

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Circus Caliber (Ringleader)- Inspired by The Greatest Showman, it takes place when quirks are only beginning to appear. People believe them to be freaks and shun them from society. Izuku is quirkless but admires quirks and looks for people to join his quirked circus (everyone in 1a and thensome). He wants to show the world that quirks aren't bad or destructive. That they can be good if given the chance.

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Panacea Paradox- Post quirk era, Izuku is a scientist who is fascinated with quirks. He tries to bring them back through experimentation and tests the completed formula on volunteers (1a). The experiment goes wrong, they have quirks yes, but they're all painful and grotesque. (An example would be Bakugou's explosions burn his hands horribly, mutation quirks have dead limbs, much bleeding and injuries, etc).

Izuku panics and drinks the last of the liquid, he gains a quirk that allows him to temporarily remove other's pain by inflicting it on himself. He desperately tries to find a cure but people die in the time he isn't able to. He means well but he makes many mistakes. (It's a rather dark au)

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Fractured But Not Yet Broken (The Free Hero:Arrow)- Izuku has an incredibly self destructive quirk, it's called Fracture. It allows him to impact incredible telekinetic force to the point of breakage but in turn harms him immensely, broken bones, internal bleeding, lots of pain. The quirk gives him a slightly higher pain tolerance as well. 

Inko is immensely overprotective, sheltering him entirely from the outside world besides internet access. He goes to UA secretly while she's at work and becomes very close with his friends and the UA staff, Nezu especially. They take away inkos custody later on and he gets to live in the dorms. His hero name is Arrow.

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Send A Sign (Beetlejuice)- Izuku dies hundreds of years ago (he's the same age as All For One) by being struck by lightning. He wakes up in the current day with no memories of his past.  He can only remember the word "Beetlejuice" as it was the musical he and his mother were going to see before he died. He wanders around and begins following a 4 year old Bakugou and it stays that way. Izuku's like his guardian. 

One day Bakugou says "Beetlejuice" 3 times while listening to the song and Izuku is now visible to him (part of quirk). Izuku is his friend, teaching Bakugou lessons and acting like a big brother. Izuku goes to UA with Bakugou and after the blass says his name, they all see him and he spends time with them, trying to regain his memories and joining them through the ride of becoming heroes. (I'll explain all of his powers some other time, it's a long list)

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DANNY PHANTOM:

The Spectral Hero: Danny Phantom (Danny/Phantom)- Danny has a quirk that allows him to breathe and survive in space with no equipment but he doesn't know that since he's never been. The Fentons move to Japan from Amity. He's shocked by the portal and gains his normal ghostly abilities, telling people that is his quirk and not the result of a freak accident (he tells Aizawa later because he can't erase Danny's ghostliness). He has the persona of vigilante Phantom as well as Danny, the UA student. Aizawa knows it's him and they have a playful relationship, him acting as Danny's mentor. He later reveals to his class he is Phantom when moving into the dorms.

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Pink Slip- Danny is more affected by the portal accident, as Fenton it makes him weaker and more vulnerable but it feeds into his ghost half with more power. He misses school for a month after the accident and doctors take the ectoplasm in his blood as some disease. They give his school a pass so he can visit the nurse at any time. Since he has an excuse, he often leaves class with full permission of the teachers cause they think he's just going to the nurse's office. People don't question why he always looks tired and has bruises on his body, just thinking he's weaker due to the accident.

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Broken Watch- Danny is an ex a-list student who leaves when they start bullying kids. He takes a larger hit from the portal, giving him an electric core and powers that are more difficult to control but pack more of a punch. He gets taught about the ghost zone and other things by Clockwork after Dan and is given a defective pocket watch. Clockwork says by the time Danny fixes it, things should be alright. All or the numerals on it represent people in his life he must get closer to and those who will help him throughout his life to reach his full potential. 

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GRAVITY FALLS:

In A Black And White World- Dipper has the ability to see a dimension in between his and another, it's a dimension filled with magic. He is able to manipulate it but nobody else can see. He keeps it a secret until later on. It allows him to feel, see, taste, hear and smell others emotions and intentions. Their energies and feelings. He can see creatures that travel in the dimension, including Bill who teaches him about magic. He eventually manages to develop it enough so it becomes visible after seeing Bill use it in his body after his betrayal. 

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DUCKTALES: 

Operation Oversight- On an adventure, a bracelet with an intelligent sentient robot attaches itself to Louie when he examines it and through nightmares and threats convinces Louie to pursue Louie.Inc through any means necessary. This means forgetting his loved ones to reach his goal. His family finds out months after the adventure and they manage to break Louie out of the trance enough so he can destroy the bracelet. 

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Adroit- (similar to the concept of epithets) A small population of people in this world have superpowers and it just so happens everybody in the mcduck family gains powers. The story is basically all of them using their abilities and discovering different parts of them. (I'll get into all of their powers later on)

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EDDSWORLD:

Chaosworld- A scientist with a vendetta against Tom attempts to steal his monster abilities but instead manages to give harmful mutations and powers to the gang. They try to revert the mutations and find a cure before it's too late for them all.

(Also also, I'm very sorry to those who follow me solely because of Chaosworld. I probably wont be writing anything for it for a very long time if I ever do get back to it. It just dosent really inspire me anymore, I'm sorry qwq. )

[ohshitmyship]

Happy Dannypocalypse 2020 – Danny Phantom deserves a dark and gritty rewrite bc it has really good potential so I wrote the first chapter

Danny was used to weird shit in his life.

It came with the territory of professional ghost hunting parents. Danny had grown up moving from place to place, his family following the strongest haunting, always in search of potential for a doorway to the other side. 

Five years ago, the Fentons settled down in a small city named Amity Park, declaring that the ectoenergies surrounding the area were exactly what they needed to finally punch a hole through time and space to reach the Ghost Zone.

Danny and his sister Jazz finally settled into their new school, made new friends. The hauntings, oddly enough, kind of stopped aside from the occasional poltergeist. Their parents came up with some explanation, but neither of them listened. They were used to weird shit.

Enough so, that when their parents finally built their dream portal to the Ghost Zone and it failed, Danny brought his friends over.

It made sense, honestly. He only had the two friends; Tucker, who was a tech genius; and Sam, who was a self-proclaimed gothic witch and loved all things ghost.

“This is so cool,” Sam gushed, snapping pictures with a vintage black polaroid, “There’s so much weird energy here.”

“There’s no energy,” Tucker scoffed, poking carefully at the large round tunnel that sat in the basement, which Danny’s parents had converted to a lab.

“There is too,” Sam shot back, “You just don’t feel it.”

“I don’t feel it because nothing’s here. This thing is broken.”

“It’s still dangerous though,” Danny warned, zipping into an ectosuit his parents made for their ghost adventures.

“You told us it doesn’t work?” Sam asked, moving towards the mouth of the portal.

“Yeah,I don’t know specifics,” Danny admitted, “Apparently they said they did everything right, calculations and all, but it just...didn’t work. They’ve been troubleshooting all week.”

“This is some complicated stuff,” Tucker said, moving to stand beside Sam at the entrance, “Even I don’t know how they did it.”

“Mom said that it was a combination between ectobiology, computer science, and physics.” Danny stood between the two, everything from the neck down covered in a tight white and black ectosuit. 

“Why do you have that in your exact size?” Sam teased.

Tucker scoffed, “You’ve met Danny’s parents, right? They have an ectosuit for each of their kids. Probably have some for us too.”

“We should put them on and go in too!” Sam suggested.

“No,” Danny said, quite firm, “I shouldn’t even really have you guys down here. If we all go in and something happens, my parents are going to kill me.”

“Yeah I don’t really wanna go in all that bad,” Tucker admitted, “I know your parents have like, seven PhDs between them, but this does not look safe at all.”

Danny sighed, tugging on the edges of the gloves nervously, “Okay so I get in there, you take a couple of pictures, and we’re done.”

“Why are you using that thing anyways?” Tucker asked, gesturing to Sam’s polaroid, “It doesn’t even take good photos.”

“Everyone knows that polaroids are better for ghost activity,” Sam replied.

“Yeah, Tuck,” Danny added, “Everyone knows that.”

“Shut up and get in,” Sam said, smacking his arm playfully.

“That’s what she said.”

“Tucker!”

“Sorry.”

Danny sighed and stepped forward, his foot hitting the metal panelling. 

Nothing happened.

He stepped inside fully, turning around to smile at the two as Sam snapped a photo.

“So far so good.”

Danny turned back around and made his way through the tunnel. It was about ten feet long and seven feet in diameter, all shimmery steel and green wires. There were some buttons but Danny didn’t really think about them too much, his parents had already spent countless hours inside the thing.

It was strange, being inside of the tunnel. It felt as though everything was muted, he felt lighter, his strides perhaps a bit longer than they had been before. 

When he finally reached the end, he turned around again. The tunnel seems far longer somehow, Sam and Tucker too small to only be ten feet away. His head was heavy and he heard a light rushing sound in his ears, like someone was playing ocean noises in another room.

“This is so cool!” Sam’s voice called, echoing slightly through the tunnel. Danny could see her camera flash.

Danny stood there for a little, looking around him at the panelled walls. He knew a decent amount about physics, but aside from that he was lost – he was a space sorta guy, not a ghost hunter.

When Danny’s head started to hurt, he decided to make his way back out. His parents didn’t mind them checking out the ghost portal, so long as they didn’t mess around too much. Jack and Maddie Fenton had put them all in ectosuits and walked them through the portal, explaining what each button did. Danny didn’t pay any attention. He rarely did, to be quite honest. 

The tunnel seemed to be playing tricks on his mind, because it seemed to get longer with each step he took. He dragged his right hand along the wall, using it for support as his headache began to worsen. He wondered what the hell was going on, he had never felt like this in the portal before, why now was he suddenly feeling so strange?

Maybe he was coming down with a cold – that might explain it.

And then everything happened at once, but it happened in slow motion.

Danny saw Sam’s camera flash go off, but it lasted far too long. His hand brushed against a button – green, some small part of his brain registered – and pushed it by accident. Sam’s eternal flash was suddenly lost in a wave of green as he felt a shock lace through his body, starting at his hand and travelling throughout his whole body.

It was...strange. 

A memory was brought to Danny’s mind, a rather old memory. He was maybe five or six and they were playing around on their aunt’s farm. One of the farm hands, Danny forgot his name, had jokingly dared him to touch the electric fence. He had, and of course he’d been met with a sharp jolt of pain. 

This sensation was similar to that, but a thousand times stronger, and it didn’t stop. When Danny removed his hand from the fence, the pain had gone away immediately, leaving only a small tingling sensation. 

His whole body felt like that, as if each vein was filled with electricity rather than blood.

He had never been in so much pain in his entire life, which was probably about to end.

Danny could only see green, feel pain, taste metal, smell the scent of something burning, hear a distant scream. Was it him, or his friends? He couldn’t tell.

“It is time.”

The voice seems to be coming from deep inside him, but all around him at once. It is a low voice, a baritone. Through the intense and never ending pain, Danny felt something cold in his gut.

I don’t want to die.

“Few ever do. But you are not going to die just yet, Danny Phantom. This is not the end, but the beginning.”

And then everything went black and the pain finally, finally stopped.

“Danny! Danny! Tuck, I think he’s waking up!”

“Danny, c’mon man, open your eyes!”

As if obeying the command, Danny’s eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright, gasping for air.

“Danny!”

He looked up to see Sam and Tucker on either side of him, tears staining both of their faces, Sam’s eyeliner has made little trails down her face.

“Wha–what happened?”

His voice cracked and his throat was dry, as if he hadn’t spoken in years.

“We don’t know,” Sam babbled, not bothering to wipe her eyes, “Danny you were just in there and suddenly there was this bright green light and the portal turned on and, and –”

“And then you just stumbled out!” Tucker continued, in no better shape, “You were smoking and glowing.”

“Glowing?” Danny brought a hand to his head, rubbing at his forehead. He noticed that the glove was white, not black like it used to be.

Then the sinking feeling is back and he struggles to his feet.

“Danny, no!” Sam argued, trying to pull him back down.

“You were in there when it was activated!” Tucker grabs his other hand.

His hands tingle for a moment and then his hands are free.

He stumbles his way to the basement bathroom, for the mirror that he knows is above the sink.

Danny doesn’t recognize the person in front of him. 

Well, the face itself was the same, but everything else seemed to be reversed. His hair, which used to be inky black like his dad’s, was now a pure white, even his eyebrows had changed. His skin used to be somewhat tanned, but he was pale enough to look like a corpse.

His ectosuit was reversed too – the body of it used to be white with the boots, gloves, and neck black. Now, it was the opposite. But that wasn’t the weirdest – no, the weirdest was his eyes. They used to be a soft blue, like his mom’s, but now they were bright neon green, they even glowed in the dark light of the bathroom.

“I’m...a ghost.”

Danny felt his knees buckle and he slid down, his back hitting the door as he slumped on the floor.

“Danny….”

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Sam kneeling next to him, Tucker beside her.

He could tell that they wanted to say something, but he knew that no one had any idea as to what to say. What did you tell your best friend who just died and returned as a ghost before your very eyes?

Instead, Danny began to cry. How could he not? He died.

He died.

Sam and Tucker weren’t far behind him. They both dropped to their knees to hug Danny on the bathroom floor, tears flowing freely from their cheeks. The only sounds to fill the basement were soft sobs and sniffling.

Danny didn’t know how long they were sitting there, sobbing on the bathroom floor. But eventually, Danny began to calm down. Maybe this isn’t so bad, a small part of him tried, Maybe we can work with this. Mom and Dad will have a field day. Jazz will get to learn the psychology of a ghost, that’s kinda cool I guess.

As the tears began to slow and Danny was able to catch his breath, something strange happened. Danny had his eyes closed, but the flash of light turned his eyelids red and he heard Sam and Tucker gasp.

He felt...warmer. Danny suddenly noticed how cold the bathroom floor was, how sore he felt.

When he opened his eyes, Sam and Tucker were staring at him in awe. He looked at his hands. They were no longer pale. He took a breath and felt it fill his longs. He raised a hand to his neck and felt his pulse. Slowly, he stood up to see his reflection back to normal. Maybe a little paler than before, his hair wild, but he looked like his old self. He looked alive.

Sam and Tucker still knelt on the floor, staring up at him silently. He knew they were all thinking the same thing: had they imagined the whole thing?

Danny poked his head out of the bathroom. The entrance of the portal was a bright neon green, shimmering like water in sunlight. He went back into the bathroom, holding his hands out for Sam and Tucker.

They both took them, or at least tried to. Their hands passed right through Danny’s, as if he were a hologram.

“Okay,” Tucker finally spoke, “This is getting weird.”

“Getting?” Danny scoffed, trying for some light humour, “We’re way past weird.”

Sam and Tucker stood up on their own, and Danny unzipped the ectosuit covering his regular clothes.

The three of them walked out of the bathroom, Sam and Tucker sitting on the old couch in the corner while Danny paced in front of them.

“What happened after I… passed out?”

“Well there was a great big flash,” Tucker began, “Then the portal turned on and you stumbled out, then you collapsed.”

“We checked your pulse but we couldn’t find it,” Sam added nervously, “You were so cold.”

“Did you call anyone?”

Sam and Tucker glanced at each other nervously.

“We didn’t know who to call,” Sam finally said, “We thought about calling an ambulance, but it was pretty obvious something ghost-like had happened.”

“We were about to call your parents, but then you woke up.”

“So we’re the only ones that know this happened?”

Sam and Tucker nodded.

“Okay.”

“What….happened?” Tucker asked after a minute.

“Tuck!” Sam hissed.

“What?” Tucker demanded, “We saw it! Why shouldn’t we ask about it?”

“It’s alright,” Danny assured, stopping his pacing and sighing, “It all happened pretty fast. I just remember Sam taking a photo, then pressing a button by accident, I think I was electrocuted, everything went green, I heard a voice then...then everything went black.”

“A voice?” Tucker asked.

“Like, the Grim Reaper?” Sam asked.

“I don’t think so,” Danny said, trying to remember, “I think it was a man’s voice, it was really deep. He said something like ‘you’re not going to die just yet, Danny Phantom. This is just the beginning’.”

“Wait, Danny Phantom?” Tucker asked, “You sure he didn’t say Fenton?”

“No, I’m sure,” Danny said, “He definitely said Phantom.”

“But he said it was the beginning of something?” Sam asked.

Danny nodded, “Yeah, not the end, but the beginning. No idea what he meant though.”

“Maybe it’s like the tarot card, Death,” Sam suggested, “Like, it means a transformation. Something ends so that something else can begin.”

“That’s all well and good,” Tucker said, “But what does it mean?”

“I wish I knew.” Danny sighed again and rubbed his eyes, “I’m sorry guys, I’m really tired.”

“Don’t apologize,” Sam said, standing up to lay a hand on Danny’s shoulder.

“Yeah,” Tucker added, “I mean, you did get electrocuted in a portal to the afterlife, so I think you’re allowed to be a little tired out.”

The three of them laughed, but the laughs were preceded by so many tears that they sounded almost forced.

Danny led his friends out and they promised to call him once they got home. He waved to them as they walked away and sighed when he closed the door.

He was glad no one was home, because he was sure that someone would’ve heard him scream. Danny wandered back downstairs to put everything. 

“Wonder what I’ll tell my parents,” he said to himself as he folded up the ectosuit to put back in the wardrobe, “Maybe I’ll tell them it just...came on.” Danny groaned, “That’s no good. Maybe I’ll say there was an electrical surge and it turned on. Yeah, that makes sense.”

He put the ectosuit away and began to pick up the photos littered across the lab floor. Sam would probably want them so he didn’t throw them out, but he didn’t look too closely at them.

Until he found the last photo that Sam took.

It was the same one that had flashed just as he pressed the button and it was...kind of haunting.

The photo was all kinds of distorted, even the white edges tinged a sickly green. In the centre was Danny, his arm touching the edge, his body looking to be in the middle of a convulsion. It was hard to tell with the distortion, but it looked as though there was a ring of white light around his chest and waist. He looked like he had as a ghost, but in the middle part, in between the two lights, his suit looked like it had before.

Danny was about to put the photo away, slightly disturbed that Sam had managed to catch the exact moment of his not-death, but something else caught his eye.

There were two shadows in the background, blurry and pixelated at the same time. One shadow looked humanoid, while the other looked like a blob with a head and arms holding onto something long. He wondered if the shadows belonged to whatever had spoken to him while he was in the portal.

Danny shook his head. There was nothing he could do at the moment, and he was too exhausted to think properly. The only thing he wanted to think about was his warm bed – he wanted to get in it and sleep for a very, very long time.

Danny gathered all of the photos and took them upstairs. Mechanically, he got ready for bed. He didn’t remember brushing his teeth or putting his pajamas on, but when he climbed into bed, his breath was minty and he was changed.

Danny was worried that sleep wouldn’t take him, but he could already feel the darkness settling in, far calmer than the darkness before.

As he drifted off to sleep, Danny mulled over the words from the mysterious figure. Two words in particular held firm in his mind.

Danny Phantom.

[ghostsray]

Ch6: Stuck

(first - prev - next)

Skulker tossed the nets holding Niel and Ellie like potato sacks onto the cold metal floor. Niel saw his dad stop pacing around the lab and come toward them.

"There you are," he spoke in his smooth voice, his deep blue eyes latched onto Niel. Without glancing up at Skulker, he asked, "Why is my son inside a net?"

Skulker grunted, but he pulled out a blade and cut Niel's net open. Niel staggered to his feet. His muscles felt sore from being tangled up for so long, but he didn't give himself time to stretch. Instead, he quickly stood in front of Ellie's net in an attempt to hide her from Vlad.

Unfortunately, this didn't work. His dad spotted the other figure Skulker had brought, and his eyes widened. Then a smile formed on his lips. "Do my eyes deceive me, or is that Danielle?"

Niel wavered, but he didn't move from his spot. Behind him, Ellie groaned, stirring awake.

"Move away, son," Vlad ordered. "I want to see my dear daughter."

"Fruitloop," Ellie muttered.

Vlad looked over Niel's shoulder at the girl. "How unoriginal. Is this how you greet your father?"

Ellie's eyes opened so she could glare angrily at Vlad. "You're not my father," she hissed.

Vlad pouted and placed a heart on his chest. "Am I not the person who created you?"

"Sure, right before you tried to melt me down," she spat back.

Vlad's eyes drifted to Niel. Niel gulped.

"Don't hurt her," he pleaded. Vlad's eyebrows rose.

"You care about her."

"She's my sister."

Understanding dawned on Vlad's face, and he said, "So that's why you were so keen about what happened to the other clones. You've befriended one."

Niel stood his ground despite the nervousness that was steadily growing in his chest. "Is it true?" he asked his dad. "You were going to kill her?"

"Kill?" Vlad laughed and said, "Of course not! I was planning on fixing her afterwards. It's like turning a computer on and off. She would have reformed."

"You're a liar," Ellie snapped from inside her net. Skulker gripped his blade and growled, but Vlad held up a hand placatingly.

"It's all right. You're here now, and you can be fixed. After all, I'm sure you don't enjoy looking like this from time to time," he said and nodded at her face. That was when Niel saw it. Ellie had once told him she didn't look so pretty when she was emotional, and that was true. The right half of her face looked like whenever Niel left a piece of chocolate out for too long and it began to melt. Ellie cupped that side of her face with her hand and looked down, blinking angrily.

Vlad cooed. "Yes, you hate that. But don't worry. I won't hurt you. Isn't that right, Niel?" and he turned his eyes to the boy.

Niel felt like he was stuck. He looked at Ellie, and her visible eye watched him pleadingly, begging him not to side with Vlad. But Vlad--his dad--was watching him as well, his eyes cold and expectant.

Niel gulped. He shifted his feet and mumbled, "Maybe you can trust him..."

Ellie looked devastated. The hand hiding her face began to melt, too. Vlad smirked.

"See? You can trust me. Skulker, cut open her net. I want her to see that I'm trustworthy."

Skulker seemed reluctant, but he did as he was told. As soon as the net fell away, Ellie turned on Skulker and kicked his face.

It was easy to forget that such an innocent-looking girl like Ellie still knew how to fight, and even better than Niel. She had trained under Vlad during the brief time she was under his stay, and she no doubt must have fought for her life multiple times while living on the streets. Niel watched with dumb amazement as Ellie punched Skulker in the gut, dodged all his swings, and finally brought him to his knees by kicking his legs.

She didn't have time to enjoy her triumph over Skulker, because as soon as he went down, Vlad shifted into Plasmius and shot her with a pink ectoblast. Ellie was shoved onto the far wall and tumbled to the ground. The areas in her body that were melting had begun to turn green and slowly dripped onto the floor.

Seeing Ellie hurt snapped Niel out of his stupor. He whipped his head to look at his dad and saw him wearing a grin, his ghost form's vampiric fangs long and visible. For the first time, all those things that Danny and Sam and their friend told Niel about the evil deeds Vlad had done finally sunk in. His dad was a villain.

His dad was a villain.

Vlad made his way casually to where Ellie lay. She was trying to get onto her feet, but she kept falling down. The fact she was about 60% liquid now didn't help.

Niel was spurned into action. He ran in front of Ellie and spread his arms open, glaring Vlad down.

Vlad's mouth twitched. "Niel, move away."

Niel shook his head. "She doesn't want to stay. She doesn't have to."

"Ah, see, I wish that were true. Unfortunately, when you start to wonder about something like her moving around town...well, it's not a very normal sight, is it?" Vlad eyed her cheekily. "Sooner or later, someone will notice how odd you are, and then they're going to look into your past and link you back to me. I can't let that happen. So, you have only two options: let me fix you. Be my daughter. Or else, die."

Ellie managed to half-stand by leaning against the wall. She raised her chin and said, "Go to hell."

Vlad tutted. "I'm afraid that's a no. You heard her, Niel. If she doesn't want to join me, then she's not your sister. No need to protect her anymore."

Niel didn't move. "You--you want to kill her."

Vlad rolled his eyes, like this was another obvious math problem that Niel wasn't getting. "Were you not just listening to what I said?" He saw Niel's horrified expression, and he sighed and forced himself to soften. "Come on, Niel. This is for the safety of our family."

"You want to kill her," Niel repeated. "You don't care about family."

Vlad frowned. "I'm your father. Are you going to side with her over me?"

Something wet and cold wrapped around Niel's hand. He looked down and saw Ellie holding his hand, looking up at him pleadingly.

He swallowed back his bile and stared Vlad in the eyes. "Yes."

Vlad would never hit Niel outside of training. Vlad would never harm his son. Niel thought that was true.

Niel was wrong.

As soon as Vlad realized that Niel was serious and that he was not about to change his mind anytime soon, his face darkened. He grabbed Niel by the arms and shoved him aside. Niel fell onto the hard floor. He fell on his hand, forcing his fingers to bend at odd angles, and Niel had a feeling that would become very painful once he shifted back to human.

He bit his tongue and blinked his tears back, then turned in place to see Vlad. The villain reached toward Ellie. Niel's jaw tightened, and he pushed himself off the floor with his good hand and landed next to Ellie, hugging her melting form to his chest.

Vlad sighed. "Really?"

Green-stained liquid leaked from Ellie's eyes, though Niel couldn't tell if they were tears or more ectoplasm. He held her goopy form protectively and glared at Vlad.

In the corner of his vision, he saw Skulker stand up and approach them. Faced off against both him and Vlad, the odds were pretty obvious that Niel wasn't going to go free with Ellie in tow. He had already lost against Skulker once, and Ellie was in no shape to fight.

If he tried to go forward, or sideways, or up, he knew either of the ghosts would intercept him. But maybe not all hope was lost yet. Only a few feet to the side on the wall behind him lay Vlad's ghost portal.

Vlad caught Niel glancing at the portal, and his eyes widened. "Don't," he warned.

Niel, carrying Ellie, shot toward the portal. Both ghosts tried to stop him, but he was too fast. He pulled the lever that opened the blast doors and squeezed himself and Ellie through before they were fully open.

"Stop! I order you to come back!" Vlad shouted after them, but Niel ignored him. He sped through the Ghost Zone, not bothering to look back to see if Skulker was following them. The Ghost Zone blurred around them in lines of green and purple. Niel had never been allowed to visit this realm often, but now was not the time to appreciate the view.

He found a floating cluster of rocks and hid between them to catch his breath. His core thrummed anxiously, and the phantom sensation of his heart seemed to beat against his ribs.

"Danny," Ellie murmured. Niel looked down and had to hold himself back from grimacing. Her face was barely noticeable as a face now.

"I'm Niel," he softly told her.

"I know that, you idiot," she replied, her speech slurred from the fact that her mouth was melting. "I meant we should go to Danny's. He has Ecto-Dejecto."

Niel didn't know what an Ecto-Dejecto was, but he guessed it must be able to heal her problem. He peeked his head from around a rock and looked around. Just as he was beginning to despair the possibility of them getting lost, he spotted it: a metal frame in the distance. He knew it wasn't the one they went through, which meant it was the Fentons' portal.

The stone they were hiding behind suddenly burst. Niel shielded his face from the debris, then looked up to see Skulker flying toward them. Adrenaline high, Niel carried Ellie with him and zoomed toward the portal.

As he made his way toward it, his stomach sank again when he noticed that the blast doors were closed. They weren't going to make it. Skulker was going to catch them, they weren't going to make it--

Miraculously, the doors opened. Niel's core leapt with relief, and he burst through the portal and was greeted by the human world's air.

He and Ellie landed on a table full of half-built weapons, knocking most of them off. When Niel allowed himself to sit up and look around, he found Danny, in Phantom form, gaping at them with wide eyes. He was standing right next to the portal, a thermos in his hands, so he must have been about to empty the device into the Ghost Zone when Niel and Ellie came in.

Before Danny could ask them what the heck was going on, a third head poked through as Skulker followed them. Danny was quick to jump into action. He shot Skulker with an ectoblast and shoved him back into the portal. As soon as he was submerged in the green swirls, Danny slammed the button next to the portal, and the doors closed.

Once that was dealt with, Danny dropped his forgotten thermos and rushed toward Niel and Ellie. "Dani!" he exclaimed when he saw the melted girl.

She was little more than a puddle by now. Niel slid off the table and watched her with horror.

"It's my fault," he said. "If she wasn't with me--Vlad wouldnt have--"

"Vlad?" Danny said, then shook his head. "It's fine. I can help her, she just needs some Dejecto." He started rummaging around the lab for the Ecto-Dejecto while Niel stayed rooted in place.

"Vlad," Niel said, then sobbed. "Vlad was going to kill her. He was going to kill his own child."

Danny glanced over his shoulder briefly at Niel before continuing to search the lab. "It sounds like you went through some shit with the fruitloop, and I'd comfort you, but Dani really needs her..."

Niel covered his face and cried. All the shock and trauma cascaded down his cheeks in the form of tears as his shoulders shook with every sob. He felt stuck, trapped inside a bubble with no air, suffocating inside.

"I wish I can change everything," he whimpered.

The rummaging stopped. "Please tell me you didn't say the W-word," Danny said.

Niel brought his hands away to look at Danny. Instead, his eyes landed on the thermos on the floor that Danny dropped. The lid was open.

A green cloud of mist formed around Niel, and he heard a woman's chuckle. "So you have wished it," she said, "so it shall be."

The last thing he heard was Danny shouting a very rude swear before the green mist thickened and filled his vision.

[mischiefandspirits]

Doppelgänger (5/?)

Previously on Doppelgänger ~ Masterlist ~ Next time on Doppelgänger

Danny, Sam, and Tucker were just 14 when they took a look inside the portal Danny’s parents had built. From there, everything changed. They woke up with white hair, green skin, and powers they could learn to control. They were hybrids, halfas.

They were the hero Doppelgänger.

{Fright Night}

“So a trio of ghosts need to create a haunted house room,” Danny said, smirking at his partners as he dropped down on his bed.

“Think we could just stick Audrey II in there and call it a day?” Tucker asked and sat backwards on the desk chair.

Sam shrugged and sat next to Danny so she could put his head in her lap. “If I stopped pruning her, she should be big enough to give someone a scare by then. I don’t think just one thing will cut it though.”

“We could bring in some more plants for you to move around and have it be a haunted jungle,” Tucker said.

“Oh, so Danny makes a stupid bet and I have to do all the work.”

“Hey, I’m the one who gave Twoey sentience and unless you force her with your powers, she only listens to me. I think that counts for something,” Danny pointed out.

“You know, what is it with you and the non-sapient ghosts and ecto-beings?” Tucker asked. “Twoey, Cujo, those will-o'-wisp blob things that follow you around when we’re in the zone. You’d think Sam would be the one they're attracted to with her nature thing.”

Danny hummed and pressed into Sam’s hand so she’d start carding her fingers through his hair. “Well, like I said, I brought Twoey to life, so maybe she imprinted on me. And Cujo might just be able to sense that you guys hate dogs.”

“We don’t hate dogs. They're just loud and annoying,” Sam said.

“And Cujo is literally as demonic as his namesake,” Tucker added.

“He’s a good boy and this is why he doesn’t like you.”

“He trashed a lab for a toy!” Tucker said.

“And they put him down. Fair's fair.”

“Can’t disagree with you there,” Sam said with narrowed eyes. She’d launched quite the internet scandal when she’d dug up why, exactly, the old kennels she’d found the toy in were abandoned. “Back to the matter at hand though, you still haven’t explained the blobs.”

Danny blushed. “I, uh, might feed them chips sometimes when they show up while I’m cleaning the lab.”

There was a moment of silence before both his partners started snickering.

“Don’t feed the wildlife, Danny,” Sam said mockingly.

“All this time, they’ve been the ghost equivalent of pigeons.”

“Not pigeons! They're actually really sweet. Like… hummingbirds!”

“Sure, dude.”

“Whatever you say, Danny.”

“Can we just get back on topic? Sam, you’re goth, shouldn’t that make you our resident creepy person. What would go good with a living jungle and a literal man-eating plant?”

Sam patted his cheek condescendingly, but leaned back to plot. “I had something else planned, but if you guys insist on the jungle idea…”

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

“This has to beat whatever Dash has,” Danny said as the trio looked over the room.

Audrey II’s pot had been attached to the ceiling so her stalks could hang down, dripping -- thankfully only harmful to ectoplasm -- acid. Once the haunted house was open, she’d been instructed to snap at anyone who came near. She luckily didn’t like the taste of humans so there wasn’t any worry about her going overboard.

Sam had brought in some crawling vines and tropical plants to cover the walls and floor so she could have them tug at or trip people as they moved through the room and make it harder for people to find their way through.

Danny’s herd of blobs were drifting around the makeshift jungle, making soft lights flicker through the semi-darkness.

Tucker had set up electric field generators to give the room an eerie feeling.

The pièce de résistance, however…

“Did you get it set up?” Sam asked.

“Try it out,” Danny said.

The boys watched as she walked over to an archway on one side of the room. She walked through it, only to come out an archway on the opposite side a second later.

“Yes!” Tucker cheered, high-fiving Danny. “Thank you, Space Fold!”

Sam tested out all the other archways to be sure they had a similar effect then came over to join the boys. “Congratulations, you’ve built a cartoon hallway.”

“You’re just mad you didn’t think of it,” Danny said and she ruffled his hair.

“Well, my work here is done. Now if you’ll excuse me,” Tucker grabbed the empty pumpkin-shaped candy bucket waiting by the door, “I’m a little late to start scamming some free candy.”

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

Danny flinched when Sam pinched him for squirming.

“I’m almost done, you big baby.”

“Sorry if I’m a little creeped out by you sticking sharp things very close to my eyes.”

“Just be glad you don’t need contacts. There, perfect.”

Danny smiled when Sam held up a mirror. His hair was covered by a long, braided black wig that a crown of thorns sat atop. His face had been given a slight green tint while his lips were a deep forest. His smile showed off fangs that were just as long and sharp as their ghost form’s and prosthetic ears gave him the same points. Dark makeup made his eyes look sunken, which highlighted his eyes when he let the red of his ghost form glow through. His hands had been given claw-like fake nails before being dipped into blood-red paint while he’d been dressed in black and dark green princely clothes. It all came together to make him look like a ghastly elfin prince.

He stood up and turned to Sam. “Thanks, Sam. This is great.”

She frowned and shook her head. “No, more brooding.”

“I really don-”

She pointed a finger in his face. “You wanted my help. This is me helping. More brooding. Imagine all the light draining from your soul.”

Danny pushed her hand away. “You’re just using this as an excuse to make me goth for a night.”

“Only for a night, but yeah. It’s a good look on you. Now brood or I’ll leave and you can do without my plants.”

Danny rolled his eyes, then tried to channel his angstiest self.

Christmas Danny.

Sam blinked at his scowl. “Wow, I didn’t think you could even get that dark. You’re usually our resident prep.”

Jingle Bells. Gingerbread. SANTA.

Danny shoved it all down, but the scowl only lessened slightly. “That’s because your family always goes away for the holidays.”

Sam looked confused, but didn’t get a chance to ask before they heard footsteps approaching. She transformed, saying, “Showtime. Maybe lose the anger a little.”

“I’ll try.”

She disappeared and all the plants except Audrey II started to sway and glow slightly. They seemed to thicken, making it impossible to see more than a few feet into the room.

Danny shooed the flytrap’s stalks up towards the roof. “Alright, Twoey, just like we practiced. Remember, be a good girl and you get a nice big bottle of ectoplasm as a treat.”

One of the lobes nuzzled him then they all retreated into the darkness Tucker had carefully maneuvered the lights to create on the ceiling.

“This is why she likes us. We spoil her,” a voice whispered in his ear.

“I don’t… I only spoil her a little.”

Sam chuckled and he felt her drift off.

“Mr. Fenton, it’s time,” William Lancer said as he arrived at the door to the room Daniel had taken. It was painted with toxic green glowing runes and vines as well as the words, The Kingdom of Thorns.

The door creaked open slowly to reveal Daniel standing a few feet away.

Automatic door, nice touch, William noted. The boy was also in a more elaborate costume than Dashiell’s. His contacts were actually a bit disconcerting with how the light made them appear to glow. It wasn’t helped either that the normally cheerful, if downtrodden, boy had on a scowl that looked rather resentful and fell.

The boy gave a graceful bow. In an empty voice, he announced, “Welcome. May your stay be eternal.”

A shiver went up William’s spine. The boy’s voice sounded off. Echoey-perhaps, except it didn’t sound like Daniel’s voice echoing back. More like multiple someones were whispering his words alongside him. Some sort of speaker setup, maybe? But the teacher swore the voices were coming from Daniel.

Pushing down the emotions, William pointed to the door. “I hope that’s not permanent.”

“What?” The eerie expression and voice were gone in a blink. “Oh, yes. I mean no, it’s not permanent. It’s just a little ectoplasm from my parent’s lab. I have the dissolving agent.”

That… was not as comforting as Daniel seemed to think it should be. “Is that safe?”

“Yeah, sure. Pure ectoplasm is harmless to humans in small doses. You could eat the amount on there and still be perfectly fine. It’s the charged stuff that’s dangerous.”

Still not as comforting as the boy’s smile made it out to be. “Right. Shall we begin?”

Daniel gave a toothy -- fangy? -- grin and stepped to the side, gesturing William forward.

The door slammed closed once the teacher started walking, not close enough to hit, but enough that he could feel the breeze of it passing on the back of his neck. He glanced back and was surprised to see vines covering the door. He made note of it.

“You’re free to roam, but I would stick to the path,” Daniel said as William passed him, his show voice back on and just as creepy as the first time. “And I wouldn’t recommend eating anything. Or being eaten.”

William glanced back, only to see the boy was gone. But he had just heard him right behind him.

He shook his head and continued forward.

So far the room itself didn’t look particularly scary. It mostly looked like a poorly lit and abandoned greenhouse without the glass walls and ceiling. Though there was the odd lights flying about, like fireflies the size of softballs. The plants almost seemed to be moving as well, like in the wind though William couldn’t feel anything, and he swore they were glowing a bit. Some sort of paint?

“You didn’t put anything harmful on these plants, right?”

“Of course not,” whispered something in his ear and he jerked away. He looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

“No, they’re Sam’s. She’d kill me if I hurt her plants,” came Daniel’s normal voice from somewhere across the room.

“G-Good.”

“Are you alright, Mr. Lancer? You’re not lost are you?”

“No, Mr. Fenton.” He shook himself. He must have been hearing things. He took a step forward and immediately felt like he’d stepped into something, or through something. He rubbed his arms as goosebumps began to crawl up them. He made a note and quickly moved on.

After a few moments more of the random goosebumps and the feeling of vines or leaves brushing him despite being sure he wasn’t getting close to any of the plants, he reached an archway. The teacher frowned and he pulled aside the curtain to look in. He swore the passage was supposed to lead directly into the next room, but instead he found a short hallway. It appeared to be a pitch-black void littered in stars that went on forever, but directly ahead, perhaps two feet in, was another doorway with a curtain. Some sort of mirror trick?

He made another note and walked carefully through the hall. Perhaps it was the star pattern, but he almost felt weightless as he passed through. He pulled the curtain aside… and found himself in the room he’d started in? But that was impossible! And yet, the windows were on the archway’s left, just as they had been for the arch he’d come from. The chandelier hanging above, original to the house though Daniel had wrapped it in vines, was also the same one that had been in the previous room. He must have curved around, except he was sure he’d gone in a straight line.

“Something wrong, Mr. Lancer?”

The teacher jumped and spun around to find Daniel standing right next to him, staring up at him through half-lidded eyes. His head was tilted almost unnaturally to the side and he was giving his usual smile, though the sharp fangs made it feel like he was baring his teeth instead. Some of the flying lights were perched on his crown, but their shapes were indistinct which made it appear the crown was alight with swirling green flames.

“Just-just taking in your creativity, Mr. Fenton. I wish you would put such effort into your schoolwork.”

His grin grew and his eyes glowed brighter. “What can I say, I guess I have an affinity for all things ghostly and dead.” He turned on his heel and disappeared into the foliage. “I’ll leave you to it.”

If William was shaking as he moved through the room, there was no one around to tell. He kept a careful eye out, but even still it felt like more plants were brushing against him and he was in a constant state of goosebumps. Then, just as he reached the center of the room, a hand grabbed his shoulder.

He shrieked and spun around, dropping his clipboard in the process. There was no one there. He looked all around him, but couldn’t find any sign of a person.

Something creaked above him.

He slowly looked up and saw something moving in the shadows, multiple long necks and wide heads with gaping maws.

“Mr. Lancer?”

“The Iliad and the Odyssey!” William shouted, looking down to see Daniel standing right in front of him, looking worried.

Aside from his glowing crown, none of his showman’s grace was on him anymore. Not even in his voice as he glanced down and said, “Oh, you dropped your stuff.”

William’s eyes widened as he spotted the three long stalks that had lowered down from the ceiling, each carrying the heads of a horror-movie approximation of a venus flytrap. The flat lobes were all around a foot long and would have looked normal, if not huge, except for the toxic green acid dripping from their centers.

At the same time that Daniel leaned down, one of them shot forward to strike like a snake, its jaws closing around the space his head had been not a moment before. They all darted back to the ceiling as Daniel stood up, appearing his normal awkward and helpful self.

He held out William’s pen and clipboard. “Here you go.”

The teacher’s hands were shaking as he took his things from his student.

Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. “Sorry, I guess we might have gone a little overboard. Was it the halls? I can take those out.”

Something grabbed William’s ankle. “No! No, it was wonderful. Leave it as is. I just remembered I have somewhere to be.”

“So… does that mean…”

“Yes, Mr. Fenton. You win. Now how do I get out of here?”

Daniel pointed to the side.

There was a straight path to the door that most definitely had not been there before.

William shook the vine off his leg and walked quickly out of the open door.

Danny threw his hands up and cheered as soon as the door shut behind Lancer. He turned and gave Sam a high-five. “That was great! He didn’t even stay long enough to see Twoey in action.”

“We’re an oblivious idiot,” she said as she turned visible.

“What do you mean?”

She plucked off one of the blob ghosts nuzzling his head and shook her own. “Nevermind. Come on, we’ve got a few new ideas from that test run.”

“Cool.”

“By the way, that line about eating ectoplasm. We haven’t actually done that, right?”

“Well, not on purpose, but you’ve seen my house. Sometimes a bit of ectoplasm ends up in the food.”

“We’re never eating at our house again.”

“Hey, it’s okay. I never let you guys stay for dinner when my parents or I cook and Jazz sterilizes everything so she never gets ectoplasm in anything.”

“Never again.”

“And besides, we’re ghosts now. Ghost food is made of ecto-”

Sam put her hand over his mouth. “Never.”

He nodded. Once she’d removed her hand and floated off, he muttered, “It’s not even bad as long as the food doesn’t come to life. Just kind of citrusy.”

“We’re going to throw up!”

[phandom-phriend]

Phic Phight 2020 - Unrequited Love

“Reveal fic--Danny, Valerie, Vlad, or Dani gets outed in the most inconvenient way.” | Prompt by @pesky-poltergeist

Word count: 2,181

A lot has happened since Fenton became Phantom.

It’s only been a year and so far the teen has fought countless ghosts, was cloned, has constant targets on his back from both ghosts and humans, lost his sleep schedule entirely, saved the world (a few times), found out that the only other half ghost that could possible help him adjust is kind of crazy and infatuated with his mom, became a town icon, ect..

Oh! And he died. So there’s that.

But recently, maybe the most horrific event to date had occurred. After a long battle with a ghost who-shall-not-be-named, he came home tired. Clumsy. A little out of his element. And may have...sort of...transformed back in front of his parents whom he didn’t even notice were in the kitchen with him.

Typical Danny luck if you ask him.

And since then things have been weird between them. Weirder than normal, at least. Neither one of them brought up the incident. Danny chalked it up to them not believing what they saw, or maybe thinking the illusion was a byproduct of handling so many chemicals in the lab for long periods of time. But they were quieter now. As if listening for his footsteps and breathing. And watching him more closely, closer than they ever paid attention to him before. They smiled, but their eyes. Their eyes held fear and apprehension. A dangerous combo for anyone with as great of an artillery as they had.

So Danny wasn’t exactly keen on the idea of bringing up the topic himself.

But when Jaz left for a study date with her friends on some random Friday evening, Danny had the unfortunate luck to be caught by his parents in the kitchen. Not literally! But they were set up with serious faces at the table just… waiting for him. Like they used to do when he got in trouble at school but now the air felt darker. It wasn’t sufficateing, no. They were still his parents after all. Even with all their blasters and ghost-hating ideals Danny wasn’t scared of them. Something just felt off. A little uneasy.

He sat at the table across from them anyway.

“What’s up? You guys are usually in the lab around now. Got a new breakthrough?”

“Not quite, Danny.” Maddie began, voice even. “Your father and I have something to talk about with you.”

“Alright, shoot.” The teen noticed the way his mother's hand flinched from its spot on the table. He ignored it.

“In the kitchen, a few nights ago. Phantom came in.”

“Oh, uh, really? What did he say?”

Jack sighed. “Danny, he transformed. Into you.”

“Oh, well-”

“Are you an imposter? Answer honestly, and don’t think for a second I won’t know if you are lying.”

“Mom?!”

“She’s just a little spooked, son. We just want to know what’s going on.”

Danny froze. Did they know so little about him that they thought he was some...fake? Not knowing him apart from Phantom was one thing. But not telling him from himself…? He shook his head to clear those thoughts. He’s seen stranger things. And he has been impersonated before. There’s good reason to be wary, it’s fine. “No, mom. I’m not some fake. I’m Danny.” he spoke calmly.

She stood from the table, eyes blocked by the red of her goggles, expression flat. It’s always bothered Danny that no matter how she moves, her suit is always silent. How can such a material rubbing against each other as she walks, as she moves, stay so silent? Well, his parents were always on the odd side. Maybe it was nothing. It is probably nothing.

“How can we be so sure?” her voice is as flat as her lips. He can’t tell what she’s thinking. No, he doesn't want to know.

“Well, what are some questions only I would know the answers to?”

Jack took this opportunity to jump in. “What’s your least favorite holiday?”

“Christmas.”

“Who are your best friends?”

“Sam and Tucker.”

Maddie clicked her tongue. “These questions are too obvious Jack. What if the ghost was able to take his memories?”

“Then how am I supposed to prove anything to you?”

“What is something you know that we don’t?”

Well, that was a tough one. Danny knew a lot that they didn’t know. But most of it was centered around his ghost half or the ghost zone, and that felt like dangerous territory to tred in without his parents leading the conversation there. That leaves his school life, which is a mess. And his time that he spends with his friends. But that, unfortunately, is typically one of three things recently. Ghost fighting, the Nasty Burger, and other illegal activities as a result of ghost fighting. Not exactly the best idea, but he’s certainly had worse.

“Uh, well. I snuck into the lab yesterday and took one of your in-progress projectors and may have sort of broken it. But it’s okay! Tucker is helping me fix it!”

“What?! How didn’t I notice!” Jack yelled from where he still sat, shock clear in both his face and tone. Danny didn’t bother to tell him that a lot of things happened without his notice, although his mom seemed to have the same thought with the side-eye she gave her husband.

“Mabe because he was a ghost when he snuck in.” she supplied with snide.

Well, she wasn’t wrong.

“Then how am I supposed to have you believe me? No matter what I say, you’ll just throw that “he’s been replaced” or “he’s being possessed” nonsense back in my face. I just want to go to my room and take a nap. What do I have to do to make that happen sooner?”

“We could take blood samples.” Maddie nodded to herself as if that had all the answers. 

For the first time that night, Danny felt his blood run cold. That was a bad, bad idea. Not only would it look more suspicious for how his DNA has so drastically changed and morphed, but being down in the lab… it does things to him. Makes him paranoid, mostly. But sometimes, when certain gadgets are left about on their work benches, it hurts. Leaves him dazed. Has the air left his lungs so forcefully it feels as if it were stolen.

Confession time, it is. A horrible, very bad time. But he’s so tired. He just wants this to be over, for things to be okay again. He was going to tell them eventually anyway, he just wishes he never had to. But he still can’t bring himself to just blurt it out, so he’ll have to twist his parents into that direction.

Danny can’t help but wish for Jazz to be here with him.

“Well, there could be other possibilities for what you saw.” Danny shrugs, hiding the panic he feels about the tests she wishes to conduct. Divert, divert, divert.

“Annd what would that be?”

“Wellllll…. Dad! You have a theory, right? The one you told me about last week?”

Almost as if there was a buffer symbol where his brain should be, Jack froze, leaving the room in a stiff, still silence as the older man tried to recall whatever it was from a week ago. Right before Maddie could break it herself, Jack shot up with a grin. “That’s right! Ghost molding!”

“Ghost...molding? Jack, honey, what are you talking about?”

“There are ghosts that look a lot like things, right? That one that looks like a tornado, or that other one that looks like some cartoon mad scientist.”

“Yes, dear. What are you getting at?”

“What if some ghosts mold how they look based on things they have a strong connection to. Like a family member, what killed them, or something like that. That’s why some ghosts look similar to one thing or another but have their own traits.”

Maddie seemed to think for a moment before turning back to her son with an eyebrow raised. “I suppose it would explain why Danny and Phantom look so similar. But what connection does our son have to a ghost?”

Man, where does he even start? What connections doesn't he have?

“He could be related to us?” Jack asked, thoughtful.

“No, no one who knew us has died that young. Even if they took their looks after our Danny, they would still have an age to them.”

“Well, there’s no way Danny killed them!” Jack said thoughtfully.

Well, that was only half true. They were getting closer.

“Do you think he was… there? When he died? Or when he came back?”

Danny snapped his fingers with a smirk. Both proud that they got as close to the truth as they did. “Bingo!”

Instead of a smile, Maddie just glared at him, causing him to shrink in his seat. “Explain.”

“I was there when he… died. And when he came back.”

“That’s not possible. Ghosts take time to manifest. Even then it’s in the ghost zone before they make their way back.”

“True, true. Unless…”

“I’m not playing these games with...you.”

“Alright! Unless… they died in the Ghost Zone, right? Or, more likely, at the portal.”

“How is that even possible. We would have discovered a body in our lab.” Maddie sneered with distrust at her son's words. Before he could say anything, his father jumped in.

“What if there was no body?!” Jack jumped up, hands accidentally hitting the table and making the whole thing shake. “Danny!” But then his tone changed. Quieter, reserved. A tone that didn’t belong on the vibrant man. “What… happened to you?”

“Don’t be crazy, Jack! What are you even thinking?! Nothing happened to our son. If this isn’t him, then he’s somewhere else.”

“He’s right.” Danny cut in shyly, hating the new dynamic. This had to change, and he had to change it. “Something did… happen.”

“No…”

“It was the day the portal turned on, two years ago.”

“Danny…” there was a warning edge in her voice, but he pressed on. He was too far now. They needed to know.

“I went inside to check it out. I tripped on some wire…”

“Danny, stop.”

“And pressed the ON switch by accident. A strange place to put it, really.” Danny chuckled awkwardly, trying to lift the mood. It didn’t work. “The portal turned on when I was inside.”

“Danny!”

“It hurt, a lot. But only for a moment. When I woke up again, I was Phantom. Well, a ghost at the time. I didn’t really choose a name until later.”

Maddie pulled out her blaster and pointed it at him, armed and ready. Thankfully, Jack leapt from his seat as Danny did the same, although Jack took a hold of his wife's wrist and forced her to aim upwards. She didn’t pull the trigger, but Jack didn’t let go.

“Mom!”

“Don’t call me that!” she spat out through clenched teeth as my heart seemed to fall through the floor. This isn’t how it was supposed to go.

“I’m not a ghost!” he pleaded, although he began to back away from his parents in case things went more south. “I didn’t die, not fully!”

“Don’t lie! Don’t use my son's form to lie to me!”

“I have a pulse!” the teen cried out desperately, tears threatening to spill. “I need to eat, drink, sleep! I’m still human. I’m just different now, don’t you see that?”

“Maddie.” Jack sighed out.

“Don’t be fooled! Either our son is dead or this thing is an imposter, honey! You can’t seriously believe it!”

“I mean, -I” Danny felt his throat close up. Was being half-ghost so bad? Sure, he didn’t think this talk would go well. But a blaster?! Was it really so hard to believe he wasn’t the monster they were making him out to be?

Was she right?

Danny shook his head and stood straighter. “I’m only half dead if you want to get technical. Even then, I consider it more as having powers than being dead.” He could see she wanted to say something but cut her off anyway. “Is it so bad? I help people! I-I fought a king, saved the world! What will it take for me to please you?! For things to, to be okay again?”

To his surprise, she dropped the blaster from her grasp, Jack slowly letting her arm go and taking the blaster for himself. But he did not point it at Danny, instead he set it on a far counter. Now looking at him, Danny could see how… sad his usually vibrant eyes looked. What was he supposed to do now? What had he already done?

His mother slowly walked to him, lips pressed in a frown. Danny stood his ground even as she leaned over him and whispered, no amount of affection in her tone. Only a stone coldness he’s never had directed to him before. “You may not be fully dead, but you are not my son.”

Mind clouded and fuzzy, Danny ran from the mother he loved, but no longer loved him.

[five-rivers]

Isolation

BIG ANGST ahead.  Don’t let the fluffy start fool you.  The core of the idea behind this is actually from @agent-jaselin.  :)

.

.

.

Yesterday had been perfect. Danny had woken up on time, feeling rested. His mother had made pancakes for breakfast. No ghosts attacked. His homework was already done. He had been able to spend a lot of time with his friends and family. The weather during the day had been good, and the night had been ideal for stargazing. It was great. Wonderful.

This morning had also been good, nice and slow and soft. Danny felt more at peace than he had for a long time.

It was with a light heart and a broad smile that he left his house to go meet up with Sam and Tucker in the park. He actually skipped a bit as he walked down the sidewalk.

He caught sight of Sam and Tucker waiting near the park entrance and waved. They waved back. He picked up his pace, breaking into a jog and-

His foot didn't hit the pavement. It fell, and kept falling, and he fell after it, into a green-tinted void. He turned around just in time to see the natural portal close after him.

He groaned, then smiled wryly. Of course, he couldn't have two good days in a row. What was he thinking?

Well, this wasn't the first time a natural portal had decided to eat him, and it probably wouldn't be the last. At least exploring the Ghost Zone was always interesting. His smile perked up a little. Silver linings. Jazz would be proud.

He went ghost and looked around, trying to see if he could spot any familiar landmarks. His smile twisted into disappointment as he realized that there were no landmarks. At all. Just green, as far as his eyes could see.

Alright, maybe this wouldn't be interesting. Great.

All directions being equal... He started flying.

.

Lacking clock, sun, or stars, telling time was just about impossible. Still, Danny felt certain that he had been flying at nearly full speed for hours, and nothing about his surroundings had changed.

He was beginning to become concerned. What if the portal had dumped him into the Ghost Zone's equivalent of outer space? What if he was just getting farther in, farther away from home? What if he was going in circles?

Well, at least he could do something about the last one. He formed an ectoblast in his hand and coated it with ice, making himself a little ghost lantern. It would take days to burn itself out. He'd make one of these every few minutes as a sort of bread crumb trail. Then he'd at least know if he was crossing his own trail.

He let the ghost lantern go and kept flying.

.

Danny thought it might have been a day. Maybe even longer.

The ectoenergy here was plentiful, the ectoplasm thick, more than enough to sustain him, so long as he stayed in ghost form, but he still got tired, still needed sleep. He was beginning to feel like he usually did when he stayed up for more than twenty-four hours, but the utter blandness of his surroundings, the boredom, might have been contributing to that feeling.

Danny didn't know it was possible to be this scared and this bored at the same time. The emptiness of the place was wearing at his mind.

.

Falling asleep floating out in the open was, in Danny's opinion, a bad idea. He made a tiny island and igloo out of ice for himself. It wasn't the most comfortable place he'd ever slept, even after he molded the ice to fit his body, but it honestly wasn't the worst, either.

.

He was no longer sure how long it had been since the portal deposited him in this place, but it felt like forever. Time didn't mean much here.

He was still leaving behind ghost lanterns, but now he was decorating them, just to have something to do other than fly. Starbursts were the main shape he was making, as well as ones with his name on them, just in case.

Just in case what, he wasn't sure. In case someone he knew ran across them, maybe?

That would be nice.

.

Danny had slept three more times since he fell through. There was no change in scenery. He had a new strategy: shouting.

His hope was that someone would hear him and come and investigate. Heck, he would settle for something coming and investigating.

He shouted for help. That he was lost.

He was so lonely.

.

Danny's shouts had turned into names. Not that he really thought that the people he was calling for were listening. It was just something different to do.

He would admit that he carried on conversations with them. And why not? There was no one here to hear him.

Maybe Clockwork could hear him. But Clockwork wasn't answering.

.

The one-sided (and rather annoyed) conversations with Clockwork had turned into begging. A lot of begging. And crying. That, too.

But maybe Clockwork couldn't hear him. What was time, in a place like this?

Nothing.

He didn't bother to make and ice house for himself. He fell asleep floating, weeping, in the void.

(He wanted somebody to save him.)

.

When he woke up, thin strands of something were all over his body. They were like spider silk, and extremely fragile. He brushed them away.

They were the first new thing he had seen in... he didn't know how long. It could have been weeks or months. His sleep schedule was too erratic to do any good. But they unnerved him. It couldn't have been a ghost that made them, he would have felt them come close.

It had to be something from the environment, and it couldn't be healthy.

He resolved to sleep inside from now on.

.

His evil future self had been able to make portals. So why not Danny?

He had no idea what he was doing.

.

This had to be what hell was like. Or at least purgatory. What did he do to deserve this?

.

Danny started talking again. This time, it wasn't to call for help, but simply to remember how to talk. How to carry on a conversation.

He pretended to be talking to Sam, to Tucker, to Jazz, to Jack and Maddie, to Mr. Lancer, even to Dash. His eternal flight took on a daydream-like quality. He imagined conversations with the Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost. He congratulated them on the birth of their child. He had a conversation with Ember about her latest album, he was so excited to hear it...

He started talking to Clockwork again. Clockwork was the only one who could even possibly hear him.

Please, please, he just wanted to go home. He would do anything.

Why was Clockwork doing this? What had Danny done?

What was Danny going to do?

He just wanted to go home.

Please.

.

Danny decided to take the day off. It had been... It had been a long time. He was tired, and a creeping thought in the back of his head mused that, maybe, the reason no one had found him yet was because he wasn't making himself available to be found.

He built himself a house of ice. No. A castle. It was grand and beautiful, the spires tall, the dungeons deep. Fine sculptures and murals lined the walls. The halls were lit by intricate chandeliers.

He lived there for a while, and left it floating as he flew away.

.

'Howling mad' is not as fun as it sounds.

.

Danny turned over the memory of his last day on Earth over and over again in his mind. In retrospect, it was almost too good. It was like a farewell. A last gift. A goodbye.

He held on to it, tightly, anyway. He could go back to that. He could.

It was something to live for.

.

It had been a long time.

.

Danny didn't notice at first when his memories began to blur around the edges. They weren't important ones. Trivial things. Who sat where in math class. Which day of the week it had been when he first fell through. The order of the shops on main street.

But then he started forgetting names. That was unacceptable.

He started his litany again. He would not forget. He refused.

.

He had hope. He did. He had hope. He had hope. He had...

.

He was forgetting. The nothing- it did that. He made himself another house of ice, this one a perfect replica of Fentonworks, except for the colors. He made statues of his friends and family. He made constellations out of ghost lanterns, so that if he laid on the roof it almost seemed like he was looking at the night sky.

They weren't right. None of it was right. He left, quickly.

.

Every time he slept, he woke covered with silk. He no longer cared.

He thought about going human, about how long it would take to starve to death. Could he starve to death, even in human form?

He doubted it. He was going to be trapped here, forever.

A cage without bars or walls... He was sure Mr. Lancer had mentioned a poem or a saying like that once. He should have paid more attention in class.

.

He fantasized about getting hit by the boo-merang. He no longer had any hope of actually being rescued, but it would be nice to know that they had tried. That someone had looked for him. That someone had missed him.

He missed them so much. Even Dash and Vlad.

If he could just see someone, anyone... He'd even take Pariah Dark. He'd take Spectra.

.

Raging against the heavens was almost cathartic.

Almost.

It reminded him that no one was raging back. There was no answer to his insults, to his curses.

It would be a long time until he spoke again.

.

Danny drifted to a halt, slowly. All this time, flying in one direction, and still there was no change in scenery. He looked back over his shoulder. His last two lanterns were just barely in sight. Normally, he'd be making another one.

Normally. He sighed.

Since when had this become normal? How long had he been doing this?

Long enough for all his memories to fade around the edges. Long enough to lose all but the faintest ember of hope.

He tilted his head up- insofar as 'up' had any meaning in this void. He coughed, clearing his throat. "Clockwork," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, hoarse from disuse, "please. Whatever I did to deserve this, I'm- I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, and I'll do anything to make it up, just, please. Please. Let me go home. Just- Even for a minute. Please."

There was no answer. The lantern that formed between Danny's hands was misshapen and small. He let it tumble carelessly from his fingers.

He kept flying.

He did not speak again.

.

The silk that grew while he slept was getting thicker. He suspected, but didn't know, that he was sleeping for longer, too.

.

The lantern he made was huge and beautiful, a beacon that would be visible for miles and miles, even through the gloom and mists of this void. Smaller lanterns, practice runs, orbited it slowly in a mockery of a solar system. This lantern was going to be his last one.

He wasn't going to fly any more after this. He was going to go to sleep and hope that he wouldn't wake up. Not until someone found him.

Into the side of the beacon, he built a little cranny, a dark, secure place, and imbued it with enough purpose to give it the illusion of gravity. Somewhere a ghost wouldn't mind sleeping away the years.

He crawled in with a sigh. As he closed his eyes, he tried to think of his family. If he was lucky, maybe he would dream of them.

.

He woke, briefly, to the sensation of being touched. His eyes sprang open, a wild hope blooming in his chest.

It died almost immediately.

The thing brushing against him wasn't a loving hand or a curious ghost. It was that odd, silky residue. The strands were thicker than he had seen before, and if he had any willpower left after all this time, he would have wondered if he could have woven it into something. He'd tried before, with thinner strands, but had been unsuccessful. There had been many things he had done to stave off the boredom.

As it was, he simply went to sleep again.

.

Nightmares were better than being awake. Nightmares held the chance that he'd see people again, even if they were fake. Even so, that particular nightmare, seeing his friends and family die like that, was enough to jostle him awake.

Instead of green, the color that greeted his tired eyes was a dull, soft, silver. He shifted, trying to get a better look at it. Whatever it was, it was too close to his face for his eyes to easily focus on it.

Oh, it was the silk. Apparently, it had grown enough to cocoon him.

Alright, then.

His friends, his family, and his teacher... What was his teacher's name again...?

.

Wakefulness again. His brain buzzed with fatigue and confusion. He felt weak. Perhaps the long time he had spent in ghost form was finally catching up to him.

Whatever 'ghost form' meant. Was there another?

Green light, more than could be accounted for by his eyes, reflected off the walls of his cocoon. His eyes moved slowly, looking for the source. He found it in ectoplasm dripping off his body. No, from his body. He was melting, destabilizing, his ectoplasm pooling at the bottom of the cocoon.

Oh, well. Whatever. He had the vague impression that someone he once knew would have scolded him for the attitude, but he couldn't quite recall who.

Speaking of which, hadn't he known someone who destabilized? He couldn't remember.

There had been other people, once. He knew that. It would have been nice, to see them one last time. Or the other thing. The other thing he liked. What were they? Right. The stars. It would have been nice to see the stars. He had made some stars before, out in the void, but he couldn't see them from here.

Gooey eyelids slipped closed over his eyes.

.

It wasn't fair, that he should still exist enough to wake up as a puddle of ectoplasm. He didn't stay awake long.

.

There were sounds. He forced his eyes open. Eyes. He had eyes again. His hands came up to touch them. Hands. A body. He had a body again.

Again?

What had he had before? He didn't remember. He didn't remember anything.

Where was he? It was small and grey. He touched a silky wall. What was that sound? It was rhythmic and regular, like a heartbeat. What was a heartbeat? He put a hand over his chest. Should he have a heartbeat?

His hands... They were as dark as night. He could see stars in them, nebulae. They seemed to blend with the fabric of his sleeves, which continued the pattern. Was that normal?

On contemplation, he decided that he wanted the sound. He wanted to go to it. He rolled over in his cocoon, trying to determine where the sound was coming from. Was it bigger than before? Before what?

Here. He knocked against the side of the cocoon before digging into it with his claws. Layers upon layers of silk fell away as he tore at the side of the cocoon. He kept having to stop, to rest. He was sure he had been sleeping for a long time, but even this little bit of work felt like a marathon.

Finally, he pierced the surface. The sound became clearer. A beam of light from outside fell through the hole. He redoubled his efforts, pushing and pulling and clawing. A tear large enough for him to slip through opened up, and he sprawled out of the cocoon onto a hard surface.

A pair of hands- Not his!- picked him up and set him on his feet. A person, a man, half-floated, half-knelt in front of him. He wore a long purple robe, his skin was blue, and his eyes were red. As he watched, the man's form warped, becoming older. Behind the man floated other people.

They weren't outside. They were in a... a room. That was the word. A room.

The sound was coming from all over in the room and also from the man.

"Greetings to you, youngest of Ancients, Master of Space," said the man, gravely, his voice deep. "We congratulate you on your completion of your trial, your becoming, and welcome you to our council."

None of these words made sense. He tilted his head in confusion.

"I am Clockwork, Master of Time, eldest of Ancients."

Clockwork. He knew that name. He knew-

He took two small steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Clockwork, and fell against the older ghost.

.

Clockwork stayed crouching and held the small ghost that had once been Daniel Fenton until he went limp in his arms. With a small sigh, he straightened, adjusting his grip on the child, who shifted unconsciously.

"I must admit," said Pandora, drifting forward, "I had not expected his appearance to change so much. And yet... so little." She teased a strand of silver-green hair away from the little ghost's head. "He looks younger. Is he still half human?"

Clockwork nodded. "It will take time and care before that part of him can heal, however." His lips twisted as he looked down at the child curled against his chest.

"You did the right thing," said Pandora, voice pitched low. "Had he been anywhere else when he started coming into his power, the Observants would have found him and destroyed him."

Clockwork did not acknowledge the statement. He turned towards the other Ancients, who drifted closer, curious. It had been a long time since their family had welcomed a new member, and never a child.

"What shall we call him?" asked Nocturne, Master of Dreams, subtly comparing his stars to the child's.

"I think," said Clockwork, "that he will like 'Cosmic.'"

[sellyoursoulforagoodfic]

Runaway Chapter 1

Vlad Masters x reader

Summary: Danny and Jazz have an estranged older sister, you, that had an accident in the lab that was almost entirely her parents’ fault so she left, started a life, and moved on. Overall, everything was great. Until that damned reunion, that is.

Word Count: 1142

Y/N Fenton was long estranged from her parents after an incident when she was twelve that ended up making her less than human--half ghost to be exact. She left her younger brother and sister behind to go to college in Wisconsin but kept in touch with them. Her parents, not so much. Since then, it’d been five years, and she’d been married for three--not that anyone knew about that little detail. She’d also abandoned her last name for a false one to keep her parents from finding her, but in getting married she took her husband’s, making the fake one irrelevant. He knew that her discarded name was a lie, but he never pried into what the real one. That was her business, and he respected her decision to have nothing to do with her parents. Other than that there were no secrets between them. Not even his own ghostly half.

~

It was a day Y/N hadn’t particularly been looking forward to: her husband’s 20-year college reunion. That they were hosting. And having his ex-friends and their kids stay in their house rather than a hotel like normal people. Needless to say, she was a little annoyed at the situation in general. The amount of flak they would catch from their age difference alone would make the next few days a living hell for both parties.

She curled into the couch unhappily when she heard the doorbell that announced their guests’ arrival. Her fingers tightened on her husband’s wrist. “Do we have to?”

“Given the fact that they are already here, I’d say yes,” Vlad chuckled. “I’ll go let them in so you have a few minutes to brace yourself.” He leaned down to kiss her sweetly before exiting.

“At any rate, my wife is waiting in the sitting room. It’s been a slow morning, and she’s having a hard time getting up and around,” Vlad informed them as he escorted the Fentons to the mentioned room. He jumped when Jack clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“V-man! Why didn’t you tell us you got married?!”

Jazz added, “And the news hasn’t even heard about it!” while Vlad gritted his teeth.

“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t any of your business after you let me rot in that hospital alone for ten years!” He took a few gasping breaths to calm down before his eyes started flickering red and betraying his secret. “To answer your question, we’ve been married for three years. I would advise against pissing her off. Isn’t that right, darling?”

Y/N’s gaze was only on her husband as he rounded the corner of the couch to enter her field of view. “Absolutely,” she smiled at him as she accepted his offered hand to help her up. She turned to introduce herself, “I’m--” and immediately broke off when she recognized her family, “leaving,” she finally managed and started moving towards the hall that would lead her to the solace of their bedroom.

“Y/N, wait!” Danny called, chasing after her.

Vlad quickly found himself pinned to the wall via Jack’s forearm across his throat. His eyes flashed red and his fangs took up residence in his mouth; he only bothered to return his eyes to their human state. The fangs would come in handy as a weapon if things came to a head. “What in hell do you think you are doing?”

“What are you doing with my daughter?”

“Your daughter?” Vlad echoed. 

“You didn’t know?” Jazz questioned. “Y/N’s our older sister. She stopped talking to Mom and Dad when she went to college . . .”

“I know the story,” Vlad snarled. “I just wasn’t aware that your idiocy almost killed someone else, let alone the fact that it was the woman I love and. Your. Child!” He shoved Jack away from him. “I understand why she didn’t tell me about who her parents were.” He straightened his suit. “Ring the bell and Elliot will show you to your rooms. I believe I need to talk to my wife before we have this little . . . confrontation.”

Outside the room Y/N was running to (the master bedroom), Danny finally caught up to his sister. “Y/N!” he cried one last time as he snagged her hand. “Why are you ignoring me?” They’d always been close, even after she left. He even knew her secret about her ghost half.

She sighed. “Because before I knew it was you guys coming I was perfectly happy with my life and my husband. I especially don’t want you and Jazz of all people second-guessing my choices.”

“As long as that guy makes you happy, I don’t care! He seemed cool even for an old guy!”

A laugh left her as she elbowed him. “Shut up.”

Their joy calmed quickly, and Danny’s face fell. “Listen, Y/N, there’s something I need to tell you. Something happened a few months ago--”

“There you are!” Vlad’s voice exclaimed. Even Danny--who didn’t know the man well enough to be able to read all the nuances of his facial expressions--could see the worry ease off Vlad’s face as soon as he saw his wife.

Y/N leaned into his touch when he reached her and caressed her cheek. “Here I am,” she echoed. “Danny and I were just talking.” Her e/c gaze returned to her brother’s. “You were saying?”

His eyes widened. “W-well, uh . . . It kinda involves the, uh, thing . . .”

“He knows about that, Danny. Jack caused an accident in college that did it to him, too.”

Danny’s jaw dropped. “So there’s three of us?!” He seemed to catch himself. “I-I mean--”

Y/N’s eyes flashed to a glowing yellow. “What. Happened?”

“I-It was my fault. They were so sad that the portal wasn’t working, so I went inside . . .” When he looked up at her his eyes were glowing neon green as if to prove that his story was true. “I’m sorry.”

Again, she sighed, eyes reverting back to normal. “I’m not mad at you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah! I’m totally fine now. Mostly in control and everything. The only downside is all the ghosts are after my hide.”

“We’ll train you,” Vlad volunteered. “Once you’re more experienced they’ll back off.” Bright blue eyes widened as Vlad smirked. “Trust me.”

The teen’s face lit up. “Really?!” At their nods he hugged them both. “That’d be amazing! Thank you!”

Y/N laughed once more. “Come on. You’re probably tired after being in that stupid RV with them for so long; I’ll show you to your room. We can talk more tomorrow while Vlad mingles,” she turned around to wink at her husband as she walked with Danny down the hall. She could only hope that flirtatious little move would keep her little brother from realizing just how deep the pit of terror in her heart had gotten.