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nelkcats · 1 month

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Hood Assistant

Prompt Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Next Ao3

Part 4

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Hate is born from fear, and rebellion from curiosity, so what is love born from?

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Jonathan Crane wasn't always a clinically insane villain, or that's what he tells himself inside his cell; he was a brilliant scientist, and everything was going perfectly until the conflict of morality entered his practices.

It was just a couple of people, there are millions of them. Crane saw no problem in subjecting his own co-workers to his new invention "fear gas" and it was a success! for a few minutes at least; and then he was accused of so many absurd things that he can't be bothered to try to remember.

The worst part was not that, but the thousands of eyes that always watched him from the window, reddish eyes judging the center of his soul, those damn feathered creatures that mocked him, since he was a child he could remember the flying rats circling around him, he hated them!

Always there, always watching, judging, judging, judging, yelling loudly, laughing at him, Crane had had enough; even when "Scarecrow" was born he tried to drive them away, that was the whole purpose of the damn body protection, the research suit of him, but even during his last fight with batman they were there. The "Robins" themselves caused him dislike because they alluded to those flying monsters.

Finally he could get rid of them, he had decided to share his research to the world by testing it on humans in the past, when he still cared about general opinion; That was apparently disapproved, however if he got rid of the airborne pests it should be better right?

"I am a genius!" Crane exclaimed between laughs as he walked through the desolate streets of Crime Alley, his escape was not difficult at all, there were as many corrupt guards in Arkham as there were in the police, only one of his men got the job and before anyone knew it he was free.

He had made up his mind, if he could combine his research and get rid of those flying beasts it would all be worth it, literally two birds with one stone! a little infection in the legs of one of them and not even Batman could stop him.

"I have to get close to those things, though," Scarecrow muttered in disgust, watching the crows watching him from the telephone wires, "I suppose sacrifices must be made for human progress."

From the top of a telephone tower, a light-eyed crow watched the villain curiously, flapping its wings and following him through the streets. It was normal since he wasn't an adult yet so most things made him curious, a few days ago he had followed a bright red helmet and he fed him, he assumed it would be the same situation.

"Sacrifice, sacrifice," the crow exclaimed, echoing Crane's words, albeit in a slightly broken way.

"That's right, sacrifices" although he was reluctant to agree, Scarecrow nodded "now where was my safe house? I had one around here"

With easy steps, not caring too much about the fact that he was a fugitive at the time, Crane headed toward a mostly abandoned apartment complex, he recalled setting up a safe house on the spot.

"Here it is!"

—-------

"Ugh, Cujo turn off the alarm," Danny muttered, tiredly rolling over on his bed, and trying to put a pillow over his ears.

Failing to accomplish his task, he gave up and removed the pillow, getting up and trying to open his eyes to focus on his surroundings. Even though it was mostly dark in his room, ghost powers were quite useful when it came to night vision.

"Johnny what the hell are you doing here?" The half questioned seeing not only Cujo sleeping next to him but also a blond ghost glowing like a radioactive pit in the middle of his room. He wondered if he was watching him sleep but ended up dismissing the thought, Johnny would get bored doing that.

"I came to notify you and this is how you pay me?" the ghost asked, offended, he'd hung up on his late night call with Kitty and all.

"Notify me what?" The doubtful boy questioned as he petted the ghost dog, which instead of waking up just rolled to the side reluctantly "and how did Cujo not wake up with all that noise? Did you set an alarm?"

"No, it's all over the city" Johnny sighed, although he didn't need sleep he liked to "Something about a place called Arc Ham, an escape, I didn't quite understand what they were talking about"

"Uh, I don't know what they mean either" the halfa frowned and checked his phone, it was 4:42 in the morning and he had an unread message.

Early Meeting - Jason

Johnny moved closer to read because privacy in the apartment was apparently optional, or so Danny thought wearily.

"Oh, he wants to see you early? More time for you to fantasize about your life together and your future cat" the blond scoffed.

"Shut up Johnny, I still have to ask Hood about his relationship, I'm not breaking up a couple" Danny said resignedly, he really needed to confirm that.

Deciding that it wasn't really possible for him to go back to sleep he stretched and yawned, maybe it would be a good start to his day early.

"Let's go have breakfast, it's going to be 5 o'clock anyway and I don't think we'll sleep with all that noise" he commented leaving his room and going to the living room of the apartment, to be part of an abandoned building in one of the worst places from the city it was quite spacious; Of course, both Technus and Danny made some improvements, avoiding touching the strange room in the back.

"Sure Hun, I could use some ecto" the ghost followed him, letting the pup sleep for a bit longer.

When they turned on the kitchen lights, something began to knock on the door. It seemed that they were trying to open it, the ghost and the halfa looked at each other doubtfully.

"Sacrifice, sacrifice!" The voice of a crow was heard outside.

—----------

"What do you mean Scarecrow escaped from Arkham, Replacement?" Jason questioned with annoyance as he walked through his apartment, a couple of hours ago he had finished his rounds on Crime Alley and it turns out that he couldn't sleep because he had a crazy person on his streets.

"Yes, he is in your territory so we decided not to interfere until we told you first" Tim said, his relationship with his older brother was strained at best.

"Don't you dare invade, I'll take care of him." Jason frowned, he didn't need the whole gang in his house.

"It'd be safer if we could go now, Little Wing-" Dick tried to reason.

"No, I'll take care of him" Jason stated again.

"Fine, but let us know if you need backup" Dick sighed, there was no reasoning with his little brother when he was like that, he was too stubborn.

"It's too early anyway, he's probably hiding, Crane is dramatic enough to wait until dark." Jason sighed reluctantly, waving goodbye and disconnecting the communications.

"It's better if I gather the gang earlier, don't you think, beautiful?" He questioned bending down and stroking Dog's head affectionately, although at first he was going to leave the pitbull at a shelter, he had grown fond of her.

Deciding that this was the best course of action he sent a message to all the "Hoodlins" or whatever they decided to call themselves that week for an earlier meeting. It was better to coordinate a delivery of gas masks in the community, for any mishap. Just in case Crane decided to go even crazier than usual.

"At least they didn't ask about the helmet" he hummed uncertainly, technically there was nothing wrong, but after a confrontation with a gang and some baseball bats it ended up being dented, his communications were pretty affected.

He could quickly repair it in the Batcave but he refused to set foot in the place before the weekly meeting Alfred forced them to attend. He decided to check it out in the afternoon, he was pretending to be just "Jason" and could claim that the Hood was looking for Crane, which wasn't a lie.

In the worst case he would call Babs to alert the bats if he ran into Scarecrow while he was camouflaging himself as a "civilian", he hated being rescued but it was unlikely to happen.

He couldn't be that unlucky, right?

—-------

"Uh, I wonder if it's the owners calling," Danny muttered under his breath as the door kept swinging.

Deciding to ignore the strange phenomenon for now (what could happen to them? They were already dead) he passed a container of ecto to Johnny while he poured himself a coffee, with radioactive green foam of course.

"Didn't food used to come alive when you did that?" questioned the ghost looking at the coffee uncertainly, he had fought alive hot dogs before and didn't find it a fun experience.

"Not in such small quantities, my parents had a full fridge; it's like comparing putting a drop of acid in water with putting a drop of water in acid" the halfa commented nonchalantly, all of his ectoplasm was arranged to isolate itself from food and being properly protected, the radiation was basically nil.

"Right." Johnny internally wondered if no one had called child protection or OSHA, but looking at the boy who was literally a foot from the grave he figured it was too late.

The ghost decided that it was better to change the subject before going into an existential crisis about his friend/ex/roommate with little sense of survival and unsafe home, Danny was not a Fenton anymore after all. Luckily he remembered an important question that Kitty had asked him earlier.

"Hey Danny, if you didn't have money to pay for an apartment when you got here, how did you get this place?" Johnny questioned curiously as the thought came to his mind again, he remembered the halfa complaining about it, and Kitty was curious too.

Danny didn't answer and just looked away, which made the blonde suspicious.

"Danny?" he asked again

"Maybe there was an empty apartment in good condition and I just...occupied it" the halfa replied, drinking his coffee and trying to get out of the conversation.

"DID YOU STEAL AN APARTMENT?" The ghost exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, it's not stealing if no one is claiming it" the boy defended himself.

"Weren't you supposed to be the hero?" Johnny questioned in dismay.

"No, I'm retired," Danny shrugged.

Johnny looked at the boy again, trying to connect the current image with the teenage hero he remembered, guessing he had simply slipped more to the gray side of things.

Was it his fault? He questioned himself for a few seconds before remembering all the boy's influences in his life and denying, no, Danny definitely had worse examples.

"Actually there is a room that we decided not to check for that reason, it felt weird" commented the halfa looking at the end of the corridor "Technus said it was creepy and I left it alone"

"Aren't you curious what can scare even a ghost?" The blond asked, now he wanted to explore the room.

"No Johnny, leave the place alone" Danny dismissed the comment.

"Oh come on, you can't just say there's a secret and unexplored room and forbid it" the ghost frowned, maybe he was getting carried away by the same influence of rebellion that had led him to die but he didn't care.

"I'm literally Schrödinger's cat, I don't want to be the cat that dies of curiosity too, the next thing we know I'll grow cat ears" the halfa denied, what works, works.

"Coward" the blond frowned annoyed.

"Fine, you can search the room but it will be at your own risk, okay? You have to face the consequences if something happens" Danny resigned himself to letting Johnny discover whatever was in there, he didn't care so much but maybe it would be nice to know .

"Cool!" The ghost lit up like a Christmas tree and floated to the mysterious door, opening it.

The room was quite strange, it looked like a study full of chemicals and various things, there were multiple glass bottles bubbling and had formulas on the walls; the final result, if the annotations could be trusted, it looked like some kind of spray, the ghost approached the container with curiosity. It was obvious that the place hadn't been used in a while, but someone had left a job unfinished.

"Uh, it looks like some kind of gas, I think this was a mad scientist's house" Johnny commented uncertainly as he sprayed some gas, it didn't seem to do anything, but to be fair he didn't really need to breathe, and there was no way it would affect his skin if it wasn't meant for ectoplasm.

"A gas?" Danny peeked down the hall, seeing the chem lab Johnny was in, he supposed it was ironic moving from a house with a lab in the basement to an apartment with a lab down the hall.

"Yeah, there's a trap door here, so there must be more, maybe even a basement" the ghost commented curiously, it was obvious what he planned to explore next "the gas doesn't do anything though"

"It's probably meant for humans, you don't breathe so it doesn't affect you" the halfa theorized more than determined to get away from the lab if Johnny was spraying dangerous substances all over the place.

"I guess" The ghost agreed, he was about to open the hatch when he heard the front door give way; he left the laboratory alarmed and closed the door, he could see the place when someone was not invading his temporary haunt.

"Sacrifice, sacrifice!" was heard again.

—-------

"Damn, the door is locked" after twenty minutes of pushing the apartment door Scarecrow was starting to get annoyed, he knew the place was old but this was just ridiculous.

To top it off, the number of crows that were watching him had increased, what was the point of the disguise if they were going to follow him like lost ducklings?

"Get out, get out, get out" he tried to push them away, it probably looked ridiculous, considering that the little annoyances flapped their wings and came closer, he could see in their eyes how they were judging him again, it was frustrating.

"Get out, get out, get out" the crows repeated together.

Crane's anger was building, were the damn birds kicking him out? He couldn't believe the nerve of the things, he really needed to get rid of them as soon as possible. If only the bloody door would give way.

"Shut up!" He exclaimed in annoyance, although he knew that wouldn't work.

"Shut up, shut up" repeated the crows with joy, they really were very intelligent.

Deciding to ignore the creatures he turned his attention to the door again; after all his attempts the damn thing had opened and he could access his safe house.

"Finally!" Scarecrow smiled, he just needed a few minutes in his lab and everything would be solved.

—----------

Shadow wasn't very forthcoming, unlike most concept-born ghosts who expressed their opinions freely, they preferred hiding; They could understand that most of their acquaintances had thought they were just part of Johnny and honestly they didn't care. Because as stupid as it sounds bad luck marveled at love, and he learned the most important thing: to spend your existence learning by your Soulmate's side, protecting and caring for them was worth it.

And maybe it was true, that nothing and no one was immune to falling in love, platonic or romantic; and as is well known, everyone does stupid things for love.

So, you can understand why as soon as Shadow felt danger near their haunt, they decided to check the surroundings; Johnny would probably wake up soon but it was more important to ensure the safety of his light. Their obsession might not be protection like the halfa's, but they were going to vanish before leaving the blond unprotected against an unknown threat.

They found it curious to see a man in a strange costume on the streets. At first they thought it was a ghost but they couldn't feel any ectoplasm inside him. Curiously, they hid within the nearby shadows. It was probably for that reason that the strange term attracted many crows, it was said that they were the symbol of bad luck and they honestly liked them.

"Sacrifice, sacrifice" sang one of the younger crows approaching, Shadow couldn't help but get out of the shadows and approach the little thing, instead of moving away the crow flew towards them and snuggled into their arms, or what was supposed to be their arms.

The disguised stranger continued to walk away, the crows that had surrounded them at the beginning seemed to take more interest in the disguise and decided to follow him. That was probably better, the human was talking to himself, which could teach the birds more, after all Shadow preferred not to talk at all.

Seeing that there was no more danger, they decided to go back to their haunt companions, the weird guy followed by crows didn't seem like a threat so they could go back to Johnny and make sure the surroundings were safe again. With the goal in mind they walked away with the raven in their arms.

—------------

"Shadow?" questioned Johnny curiously seeing his partner at the door, his thoughts about the strange lab almost forgotten, "what do you have there?"

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" exclaimed the crow in the ghost's arms, flying around the apartment.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no more pets in this apartment" Danny immediately shook his head upon seeing the little bird singing "much less sadistic pets"

"The only pet we have here is Cujo" Johnny claimed, offended.

Danny decided not to mention that taking care of both Johnny and Shadow was equivalent to taking care of two more pets, because they required almost the same as Cujo: food and attention. Well, more Johnny, Shadow was pretty quiet and didn't demand anything.

"Uhu, we're not adopting a crow." Danny rolled his eyes at the pleading eyes of both ghosts.

“Crow! Crow!” Exclaimed the excited crow.

"But he's so smart, and he's a quick learner" the blonde said "Let's not adopt him, just let him stay around often, please?"

"Please, please!" It seemed that the crow itself was begging, so the halfa sighed.

"Fine, we'll let him go, but he can climb out the window if he chooses and we'll feed him." Danny said, it was obvious he was going to have another pet to take care of.

"Excellent!" Johnny looked at Shadow expectantly, Shadow simply nodded, clapping their hands and hugged the blond before merging back to their original place "Shadow agrees too"

“Gree, Gree" the crow was learning too many words and sounds.

"You're a very smart crow aren't you?" Danny called the bird that had landed on his head "I'll call you Poe."

"Poe! Poe!" The crow moved over his head and flew to his shoulder.

"Fine, but I have to go to work in a few minutes anyway, Johnny don't wake Cujo up, and if anything happens call me okay?" The halfa couldn't help but go to get ready for work, probably a little better than he should.

"The Twinkcito is lost" Johnny laughed as he sat down next to the crow that was now perched on the sofa "I'm sure he dressed up too much to go see Jay"

"Twi!Twi!cito!" Poe tried to get the word out.

"Yes, Twinkcito head over heels in love," Johnny encouraged him.

"Love love!" Poe exclaimed proudly.

When Danny ran out of the apartment, after spending too much time considering what he should wear, Johnny decided not to comment on how his little visitor had followed him.

—-----------

"Sorry, am I too late?" Danny hurried to meet Jason at the right place, he had come running because it took him too long to decide what to wear, which was a little ridiculous when he ended up wearing the same jacket Johnny gave him in reverse.

"No, you're just in time, I was going to make the announcement" Jason smiled a little relieved, he had been scared that some of his men were missing "Okay, listen up"

He raised his voice to get the attention of most of the people gathered, although it didn't have as much effect as the moment a crow landed on his head, Jason looked at him strangely, but decided to ignore it as Danny waved the crow off.

"Scarecrow escaped last night" Jason continued, grunts were heard from the crowd "yeah, I'm not excited either, but we'll spend today handing out gas masks around Crime Alley, okay?"

After a general agreement he turned to Danny who was looking at the crow in a panic "Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes, perfectly, yes" the halfa replied a little upset.

"Twinkcito! Twinkcito!" Poe exclaimed happily.

"Johnny" Danny growled as he heard the crow.

"I suppose it's yours?" Jason chuckled but tried to cover it up by coughing, which didn't have much of an effect when Danny saw his betrayal.

"It's not mine, my roommate brought it and he's been following us but I thought he'd leave as soon as I got out of the apartment" the boy sighed.

"I guess he's taken a liking to you, what do you think about joining us today buddy?" Jason questioned patting the crow's head, though he wondered if he should look up more about that Johnny.

"Love! Love!" The crow exclaimed excited.

They both stared at the crow's words for a few seconds, Danny was the first to look away embarrassed, he was going to find out how to kill Johnny twice. One word shouldn't cause you to instinctively look at someone damn it.

"Right." Jason cleared his throat and led Danny over to the gas masks he had collected for these occasions, most of the goons were grabbing their own bag but since he was technically still a suspect, and fairly new, he had decided to join the boy for the task.

The morning passed quickly as Danny followed Jason carrying a bag of the masks that they were handing out together through Crime Alley. In general it seemed that Jay was focusing on the children, it was common for them to change places so he was worried that his companions would not reach them in time. The crow had moved away a while ago.

Danny greeted the kids who had arrived last time and they asked when he would be back at the soup kitchen.

"Well, I don't eat much, but if it's for work, probably next week" the halfa admitted.

Both Jason and the children looked at him uncertainly. Jason wondered if he should raise his pay since he hadn't given him any money yet, so maybe he didn't have food; or whether he should prepare refreshments for him. The children were more direct.

"Don't you eat much? Don't you have food at home?" A surprised girl questioned.

"Yes, I have food, although today I only had coffee for breakfast" Danny shrugged "my friend makes sure I eat something during the day, I usually forget about it"

Jason frowned at the answer, so the problem wasn't money.

"You're going to have breakfast with me on the days we work together" the vigilante pointed out, probably more demanding than he intended.

"Huh? Okay" Danny blushed, thinking that Jay had indirectly asked him out "Won't Hood have a problem with that?"

"Why would he?" Jason looked at Danny doubtfully. "I'm pretty sure he'll feed you as soon as I mention it to him."

The children looked at each other and after a quick conversation where Danny assured that he was not starving, they said goodbye. Each one with a mask in hand and a new tidbit about "Jay, the new guy and Hood"

After a while of distributing the masks Danny decided to ask.

"Jay, what's a Scarecrow?"

"Right, you're new to Gotham" Jason reminded "he's a recurring villain, he likes to scare people with fear gas"

"Oh" Danny remembered the lab at home "green gas?"

"Not necessarily, I really don't know what color it will be as he updates the formula." Jason was pretty sure Crane preferred purple for some reason.

"And by any chance he wears a Scarecrow mask and dresses weird?" Danny questioned looking across the street in a bit of a panic.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Jason asked curiously.

"Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" The crow flapping in front of them in a panic, Jason noticed that Danny was reaching into the bag.

It was at that moment that a building exploded behind him and Jason could hear Crane's characteristic laugh from across the street. He was relieved that he hadn't noticed them until Scarecrow fixed his gaze on the crow near them.

"Finally, I will get rid of those monsters and fear will rule all of Gotham!" Crane exclaimed with glee, laughing as the gas began to spread out down the street.

Jason cursed his luck, the only day the mad scientist had preferred to attack in the middle of the damn afternoon and he didn't have his weapons or his helmet with him "Danny you have to get out of here"

"No" Danny continued searching, but at the end of the bag he could only find a mask "you have to get out of here and gather the others"

Jason fixed his gaze on the approaching gas, Crane closing in on them too fast, driven to get rid of the crow next to them.

"Danny, the masks" Jason was cursing, he had to be stuck as a civilian.

"There's only one left" the halfa murmured worriedly.

Before Jason could say anything else, the gas was beginning to spread until almost reaching his face, he turned to Danny in a panic when he felt a weight on his nose.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You've never faced fear gas before, you have no resistance!" Jason exclaimed in concern, trying to remove Danny's hands from his face where he had put the only gas mask on.

No matter how hard he tried to struggle, the boy had more strength than he appeared. Jason didn't have time for pretty boys with a hero complex, it was too dangerous.

"Love! Love!" The crow exclaimed in panic, rising to where the gas was not reaching.

"Yeah, I'm probably being an idiot, I know." Danny was aware of that, he didn't know how his own unique physiology would react to the gas, but he could handle Frighty's dimension, and if anything happened he would at least know that Jay would be safe. His core couldn't bear to leave someone in danger, much less someone he likes.

"Now is not the time to be a hero!" Jason complained angrily when the boy adjusted the mask on his face, he could see Danny being surrounded by the damn gas.

"I'm not a hero Jay" Danny denied, it had been a long time since he was one, he swallowed looking around, not knowing what to expect "But I know some people are worth going crazy for"

Was he being a hopeless romantic? Yeah; logically he knew he could have gotten rid of the effects another time where he was paying more attention, there were many solutions: not breathing, surrendering to his ghost form, becoming intangible, but as he had mentioned earlier, he was a fool; he could feel his head start to cloud over, he had gasped in reflex panic, he was scared of not finding a mask for Jay and he forgot about himself, it was too late.

"Damn," Jason growled as he pressed the button that called Oracle, he held Danny close to his body as he saw him start to tremble "fuck, fuck."

"Jason? What's wrong?" Barbara's voice sounded shaken, it was early for anyone in the family to call, and Jason calling was rare.

"Crane, I'm engaged, tell the bats to hurry up or I swear I'll shoot him in the head" he said annoyed "he's not paying attention to me but I'm in front of him, I'll hide in a nearby alley, tell them to hurry up fucking immediately"

Oracle hastened to call the bats tracking his current location as Jason walked off into one of the nearby alleys, leading a trembling Danny along with him.

"You're an idiot" he murmured sadly, hugging the boy; he held him when the boy couldn't stand up and began to mutter in panic.

He knew there wasn't much he could do, he had a gun hidden in his thigh but if he killed Crane he would have another argument with B, and he was honestly not in the mood, he didn't want to leave Danny alone either.

"They better hurry up, damn it" even though he knew there was no point getting upset, he couldn't help it, he was aware that it would take a while for the bats to even process an antidote for Scarecrow's new formula.

"No wait, don't leave me alone" Danny stirred where he was still nestled in his arms, Jason stroked his back lovingly.

"Shh, its okay, you're not alone, I'm here" the vigilante knew it was useless, most of the victims of the fear gas were not aware of their surroundings, but he needed to do something to console the stupid man who decided to jump into an unknown danger for him, who did not think twice before deciding that he was worth it.

"You make it very difficult to suspect you, you know?" Jason sighed "I think I grew fond of you too, Doll."

And really, this guy was unfair, how could Jason resist falling for this asshole?

-----------------------------------------------------

Aaand tag time, sorry for all the wait, honestly it was a bit of a difficult week but I wasn't going to let the week go by without an update so here we are, I hope you liked it (Hi Nixxie), I don't know how I keep accidentally making my chapters bigger but hey, I was really excited to write this scene and here we are, I hope this story doesn't go too fast for you, tell me your theories about the lab or anything else haha

@skulld3mort-1fan @sorryiwonnoob @idfk-man10 @avelnfear @criticaloverthinker @confusedandghostly @lunadoll36 @spidey29phangirl @suppengott @yjfk @apointlessbox @mimilikey @thegatorsgoose @jaggedheart11 @dyinggirldied @pyramaniac @akikkobara @thedragonqueen1998 @lostlightandfoundcrazy @xye-chan @saltyladynightmare @ashleysmshly @thewondersoflebanon @illusionwolfwriter24r8 @littlefeather345 @asphyxia778 @amercurio @leftmiraclechaos @dixiwoods @satoshy12 @lyra689 @meira-3919 @quietlyscared @plotwholls @kyrianclawraith @blacksea21090 @basilf1res @flowers-n-fauna @8-29pm @jaxinkh @luer-mirin @taniaundertaleau @cloriform @readerkayden @oddlydrawnpuppets @basementloser @little-green-asparagus @echoednonny @yummy-yummy-mmmbones @confusionchaos @ectoplasm024 @autumnwulf @666deaddash999 @redhoneysugarorange @blue-avis @sailor-goddess @satanicrutialspecialist

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kellyvela · 2 months

Note

Why are so many br*ime shippers also San*an shippers?

I particularly think it is because they believe one ship reinforces the other as a version of the so called beauty and the beast motif in ASOIAF.

That's why this cover-art by artist bubug exists:

You can also read "parallels" like: "Sansa and Brienne both crushed on gay boys first (Loras and Renly)" to later fall in love with older dangerous dark knights (Jaime and cujo)."

#anon asks #sansa stark #sansa stark deserves better

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floralflowerpower · 2 years

Text

Chipped

Chapters 1-6 (originally published in 2012) (If this does well I will continue it)

this might be a little weird for some people. this is basically a post apocalypse/ societal collapse fic.

Vlad gets his wish to rule the world and runs it into the ground.

Takes place in the year 3010

( relies on the headcannon that halfas age VERY slow)

@scarf-it-box Jokingly also called this my Pokémon ghost fic and I cackled for 10 mins. cause yes sort of, but that's a less messed up way to describe what chipping is LMAO

-----------------------------------

Nyx helped his brother, Salem, over a large chunk of rubble.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Salem hesitantly asked his older brother. Salem wasn't too happy about entering the ruins that used to be Amity Park. "Aren't you worried about the radiation?"

Nyx scoffed a bit before he pulled his oxygen mask over his head. He turned the lever on the side of the mask and it gave off a slight hiss as it sealed closed, clean filtered air flooded the mask and Nyx breathed it in greedily before he responded to his little brother.

"Na," Nyx said with a smile as he watched his brother activate his mask. "That nuclear bomb went off here back in 2013; I think the land's had more than enough time to air out."

"Well, what about the ghosts? They're supposed to be stronger than any of the oth-." Salem began but he was cut off by his brother.

"Those Ghosts are the whole reason I decided to hunt here!" Nyx proclaimed. "We need to chip a strong ghost if we're going to win any of the arena fights!"

Salem sighed; he knew his brother was right. The stronger the ghost they chipped, the more likely they would win in the arena fights. And the more fights they won, the more money they would earn. Salem smiled at the thought of having a shack, a warm bed, and water, fresh clean filtered water! He always wanted to know what clean water tasted like! He had heard that clean water used to be common before the global nuclear war, he wasn't sure if that was true though because no one really remembered the life before the disaster. To the people of his generation, small stories like that seemed like fairytales though.

Salem's thoughts were interrupted by a very loud and very ferial growl. He and his older brother whipped their heads around in the direction of the sound to find a huge green dog standing about twenty feet away from them. Salem and his brother stared at the red eyes and drool covered fangs of the large beast that was in front of them with their mouths hanging open, pure terror on their faces.

"!" The boys screeched at the same time and ran into each other in a panic, Salem fell on his butt, and on impulse, Nyx picked his brother up and swung him over his shoulder before he broke into a full out sprint in the other direction. Nyx hurtled over rubble and jagged pieces of metal panting severely. He stopped dead in his tracks when he came to a wall, in fact, he almost ran into it because it was so dark out and he couldn't see anything! 'We're trapped!' Nyx thought in panic. His thoughts were scattered once again when he heard the same spine-shivering growl from before.

"Nyx…" Salem whimpered from over his brother's shoulders. Nyx quickly placed his brother on the ground and stood in front of him protectively; his knees turned to jelly as the dog trotted forward and sniffed him. His hair blew back as the dog snorted warm wet air into his face, completely covering him in snot and spittle. The dog opened its mouth once again to growl, and the boys watched as the droll fell from its mouth and stretched across its teeth. Salem hugged his brother tightly around the waist, scared out of his mind; Nyx returned his brother's hug while he was cowering in fear. They both thought that they were going to die but just as the dog was about to launch at them it stopped suddenly at the sound of something squeaking. The dog turned around and cocked its head to the side before it bounded off into the bushes. Nyx slumped on to the ground exhausted and Salem breathed out a sigh of relief before he sat down next to his brother. It was at that time that a white-haired ghost boy popped up in front of them a few several yards away, the ghost laughed a bit.

"I can't believe Cujo still reacts that way to his squeaky toy!" The ghost laughed.

Nyx smiled and took out his chip launcher from his back pocket, aimed at the ghost's neck, and fired. The ghost crumpled to the ground, which was a sure sign that the mind control device was working. Nyx pulled out a controller from his coat pocket and turned it on, he then typed a demand into the controller and the ghost stood up.

"Care to check out our new ghost," Nyx said with a smile. Salem smiled and walked forward to study their new fighter. The ghost had green eyes and white hair; he was dressed in a black and white jumpsuit and had a white D with a P in it on his chest. Salem turned toward his brother with a smile.

"Do you think we'll actually win now?" he asked.

Nyx smiled at his brother and nodded his head. "Yeah bro, I think we will, I have a good feeling about this one!"

----Chapter 2----

While Nyx was busy recalibrating the controller and testing their new ghost's reflexes, Salem decided that he wanted to take another look at the wall that had nearly gotten him and his brother killed. Call him crazy but he had a weird feeling about that wall, he quickly pulled out his emergency flashlight that had been carefully tucked away in his sock. The light cast across the large wall and illuminated a large symbol that was in the center of it. There was a large D with a p within it carved into the stone. Salem's flashlight froze on that spot as he glanced back at his brother. Nyx had his flashlight in-between his teeth as he was rewiring the controller, Salem's eyes flicked from his brother to the ghost that was standing next to him. His eyes froze on the symbol in the center of the ghost's chest; it was the same one that was on the wall.

"No way…" Salem whispered as he swept the light over the rest of the wall, he stopped when the light illuminated a giant hand.

"Holy!" Salem yelped and dropped his flashlight.

The extra noise caused Nyx to stop what he was doing and glance over at his little brother.

"Salem, what's the matter? You ok?" Nyx called after he pulled the flashlight out of his mouth and pointing it at his little brother.

"I, I,-There's a hand!" Salem cried as he shakily picked up his flashlight and pointed it at the giant stone hand. "An-and lo-look at this!" Salem stuttered as he pointed his flashlight at the symbol that was carved into the eroded stone.

Nyx farrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he stared at the symbol in the stone.

"Is that his?" Nyx said as he pointed at the ghost that he was standing next to.

"Yeah, I think it is…" Salem responded.

Nyx glanced over at the wall again and turned the power level on his flashlight too high. He swept the light up and down the large wall only to discover that the wall was actually a statue, and not just any statue, it was a statue that resembled the ghost they just caught. The statue was huge and it was on its side, completely covered in vines and the occasional flower, the hand that Salem had pointed out was broken off from the statue but everything else was still together. The statue looked like it was a memorial of some kind and Nyx knew that memorial's always had plaques of recognition on them somewhere.

"Quick, hold this," Nyx said as he passed the controller to Salem. "Don't move and don't touch anything!" Nyx said as he began making his way to what he assumed to be the base of the statue.

"What, why?" Salem asked. "Nyx, where are you going?"

"I'm just going to look at something, see if it's there or not," Nyx replied over his shoulder as he began to pull off the vines and small roots from what he thought was the pedestal of the statue. Finally, after removing a number of plants he stopped when he saw a gold plaque gleaming in the light of the flashlight. Nyx spotted some faded writing on the plaque; he quickly rubbed the dirt off the writing.

"What's that?"

Nyx jumped before glancing in the direction of his brother's voice, "Don't do that, and didn't I tell you to stay put!"

"Sorry, I, it's just creepy to be by myself out here," Salem replied quietly.

Nyx's expression softened, "It's alright bro, I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"It's ok." Salem answered, "But you still didn't tell me what that is."

"It's a plaque, they sometimes have writing on them and I think this will tell us what this statue was built for. That and I think it will tell us something about the ghost we just chipped." Nyx replied as he finished rubbing off the dirt.

"This statue is placed in every capital of every nation around the world, and it will stand there for as long as we have our world because without Danny Phantom we wouldn't have one." Nyx read out loud.

Salem and Nyx shared a glance before they looked over at their ghost.

"Hand me the controller," Nyx said to his brother. Salem handed his brother the controller without taking his eyes off their ghost.

Nyx typed 'tell us what your name is' into the controller and hit enter.

The ghost's reply was shocking to both of them.

"My name is Danny phantom." The ghost replied in a monotone like voice.

-DP-

Shortly after the discovery of the statue, Nyx had decided to take pictures of it with his camera, before making their way back home. Nyx and Salem climbed over the fallen rubble as they made their way out of Amity Park.

"Nyx I think I've heard that name before..." Salem said slowly as Nyx pulled him over another chunk of rubble. Their ghost was following behind them silently floating a few feet off the ground, occasionally phasing through rocks, broken pieces of buildings, or just random pieces of unrecognizable rubble.

"Really? Where?" Nyx asked after his brother had fully climbed over.

"I was at the chop shop and old man Archer was telling stories and—."

"I thought I told you to stay away from Archer!" Nyx scolded, "That man is off his rocker and he's been filling your head, and the head of every other person who's stupid enough to listen, with nonsense stories!"

"They're not nonsense!" Salem retorted.

"Right," Nyx said with sarcasm "Because stories about a half-human –half-ghost hybrid, which saved the planet on a bi-weekly basis totally isn't a load of crap!"

"Well, it isn't when the hybrid's name is Danny Phantom!" Salem snapped. Nyx became silent as he stared at his little brother, trying to decipher whether or not he was lying.

"You're sure he said the hybrids name was Danny phantom?" Nyx asked.

Salem nodded "Cross my heart and hope to die." He replied seriously while making an X over his heart.

Nyx glanced back at their ghost, making eye contact with the lifeless green eyes.

"You're quite the conundrum aren't you?" Nyx muttered underneath his breath.

Salem's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked up at his brother "What's a conundrum?"

"Uh... nothing forget I said it," Nyx said dismissively.

"Do you think we should cover him up somehow before we get back to the village?" Salem asked, "I think he'll stick out like a sore thumb if we don't and the last thing we need are some control thieves finding us."

Nyx sighed and ran his hand down the side of his face, he didn't even think of control thieves! The last thing he needed right now was to have their ghost stolen from them.

"Come on, there's a small market place in between Amity and Endora. Maybe we can get a cloak for him there." Nyx replied as he typed the command 'Turn invisible and follow us' into the controller and hit enter. "I'll keep him invisible until we get it ok?"

Salem nodded, a little relieved that his brother had thought this out.

-DP-

Finally, the two brothers and their ghost arrived at an old market place that marked the halfway point to their home village.

The market place resembled a small shantytown made from the rubble and jagged parts that were salvaged from the neighboring destroyed towns that had met a fate similar to Amity Park's. Bedsheets and blankets were nailed to the front of the different, crude, and misshapen buildings, and they fluttered in the desert wind revealing the entrances to the shops. A number of people busily walked in and out of the buildings carrying clothes, food, and the basic essentials. Meanwhile, beggars made their way through the crowds asking people if they could spare a few morsels of food, or maybe an article of clothing.

The sight of the busy market caused electric sparks of excitement to flow through Salem. He had never been to a place like this before. Nyx entwined his hand in his little brothers and pulled him closer to his side.

"Don't talk or look at anyone, the merchants here are bloodsuckers," Nyx whispered to his brother.

Salem's eyes widened. "They're vampires?" he asked with a frightened tone.

"What? No—I, it's an expression ya dimwit!" Nyx said with a laugh as he griped his brother in a headlock and gave him a noogie, completely messing up his brother's hair in the process.

"Nyx -stop it- already!" Salem said between his shrill laughter. Nyx smiled at his little brothers' reaction before releasing him from his playful grasp.

"Alright, alright," Nyx said in a teasing tone before pointing at one of the run-down shops. "Let's go pick a cloak for our friendly Phantom."

The two brothers headed off towards the shop. Salem was the first to get there and he eagerly pulled the fluttering bed sheet back so he, his brother, and an invisible Phantom could enter the hot and dank clothing/ grocery shop.

The shop keeper looked up at her now entering customers with a lopsided grin.

"Hey Nyx, catch a ghost yet?" she teased lightly.

Nyx glanced around the shop, just to make sure it was empty before he smiled back at the shopkeeper.

"If you close up the shop I'll show him to you," Nyx said in a sing-song voice.

The shop keeper squealed in delight before disappearing outside.

Salem glanced over towards his brother with a look of confusion, but then he saw Nyx's half ladled eyes and realized that a love-struck expression was set on his older brothers' face. Salem couldn't help but smile mischievously.

"So… what's her name?" Salem asked.

"Huh?" was Nyx's unintelligent response as he snapped out of his thoughts.

"I asked what her name was," Salem repeated as he bounced up and down on his tiptoes. "And why haven't you said anything about her? You obviously must come here a lot. Waite is this where you go for hours on end?" Salem didn't get to finish his questions because Nyx had slapped his hand over his mouth when he saw the shop keeper had come back inside.

"Hey Sasha, all closed up?" Nyx asked.

Salem noted that the shop owner's name was Sasha.

"Yep, all closed up. So… who's your young traveling companion?" she asked with a curious smile. "And why are you covering his mouth? I'm pretty sure he doesn't like that all too much."

"Mhm, mham, mahamma." was Salem's annoyed muffled reply. Tired of waiting for his brother to remove his hand he decided to lick it.

Nyx pulled his hand away from his brother's mouth in disgust.

"Dude, you just licked me!" Nyx cried as he wiped the saliva off on his pants. "That's so sick!"

Salem laughed at his brother's expense, before smiling at Sasha. "Hi, I'm Salem! I'm his little brother; I helped him catch our ghost earlier today."

"Well it's very nice to meet you Salem; you know what? you look hungry." Sasha said with a thoughtful smile "I just got in a new shipment of green apples this morning, would you like one?"

"YES!" Salem cried without a second thought, he loved apples and he hadn't had them in so long because they were so expensive.

"I thought so…" Sasha replied as she walked behind the wooden counter and retrieved a tray of apples from underneath it.

"Go ahead and pick one." She said as she set it down on the counter and Salem gladly helped himself.

Sasha smiled lightly before turning her attention back to Nyx, who was leaning up against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"So are you going to show me the ghost or no?" she asked shrewdly.

Nyx responded with a teasing half-smile while he pulled the controller out of his back jean pocket. He then typed the command 'show yourself' and hit enter.

Phantom then became visible again to Sasha's delight.

"Oh gosh he's so color coordinated!" she cried "That's adorable!"

She quickly circled the ghost to get a better look at him.

"And those green eyes are almost hypnotizing." She said very giddily. "I've never seen anything like it! Where did you say you got him again?"

"Uh… Amity Park." Nyx replied as he ran his hand through his hair.

Sasha froze. "Y-you went into Amity Park! Are you crazy! You could have gotten you and your brother killed!"

"Well I didn't, now did I" Nyx replied smugly.

"Well we almost did die cause' there was this BIG green ghost dog that tried to eat us up!" Salem explained as he got into a cross-legged position in front of the wooden counter. "But this ghost saved us and then Nyx chipped him. So he's ours now!" Salem finished before taking a large bite out of his apple.

Sasha glared at Nyx and folded her arms over her chest. "You chipped the ghost that saved your life?"

"Well, I had to chip some ghost and he seemed like the easiest," Nyx replied with a nervous laugh.

"That's horrible you know!" she scowled, she opened her mouth to lecture Nyx, but was cut off when several screams and shouts filled the air followed by the roar of motorcycles.

All three of them paled.

"Control thieves…" Sasha gasped out in worry, "Quick hide the ghost!"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." A man called out casually as he entered the shop, he pointed his gun at Salem. "Give me your controller or his brains are going to be splattered all over the front of that counter." The big biker said with a toothless grin.

"Okay, Okay." Nyx said as he took the controller back out of his pocket, planning to command Phantom to attack the guy.

"Eh, don't try to be a hero. I'm not stupid, put it on the ground now!" the bicker growled out.

Nyx paled and followed the biker's directions.

"Kay now kick it over!"

Nyx kicked it over to the biker, but that was a big mistake on the biker's part because the controller switched off when Nyx kicked it.

A now free Danny phantom shook his head as his vision came back to him.

'Where the heck am I?' phantom thought in confusion as he glanced around his surroundings. It was at that moment he noticed the man with the gun and his instincts kicked in. He sent a green ectoblast at the man's back. The impact of the ball of energy sent the biker spiraling through the air and he crashed into one of the metal walls of the shop. His limp, benumbed body slowly slid down the wall.

Salem, Nyx, and Sasha stared at Danny, their mouths agape.

Danny farrowed his eyebrows in confusion at the reaction.

"Are you folks ok?" he asked with concern.

Sasha was the first to snap out of it. "Uh… yeah, yeah—we're fine, thanks to you I mean." Sasha bit her lip. "Uh… Y-you're not going to hurt us are you?"

Danny tilted his head with a calculating look on his face. "Well are you going to try and hurt me?" he asked.

Sasha shook her head. "N-no we won't."

A kind smile erupted on Phantom's face. "Then I'm not going to hurt any of you then." He replied, but then his smile was replaced with a look of confusion once again. "Though do you guys know where I am, or how I got here?"

"Well, you're at the middle-way market, just outside of Amity Park," Sasha replied, before jabbing a thumb towards Nyx. "This Jerk here chipped you after you saved his life and you've been under his control till now."

Phantom's eyes flashed a bright green. "You put me under mind control!" He growled.

"W-we-well, I, I'm S-sorry it's just that I need to be A-able to T-Take care of my Li-little brother and fighting ghosts is the only way I know how." Nyx stuttered out.

Phantom's eyes soften slightly.

"You don't look much like a ghost hunter, usually they're carrying ecto guns and screaming 'the moment I get my hands on you I'll tear you apart molecule by molecule'!" Phantom explained as he acted out the 'molecule by molecule' bit.

Nyx blinked. "Well I usually catch a ghost in order to have it fight against another in the battle arena. I would be controlling the ghost threw out the fight and if I won then the ghost would remain under my control and I would get the ghost of the person who had lost and vice versa. No one actually destroys ghosts anymore, they've become too much of a large portion of cultural entertainment. Though if you don't mind me asking, what's and ecto gun?"

Danny's eyes practically bugged out of his skull. "You don't know what an ecto gun is!"

'How many years was I asleep….' Danny thought with dread.

-FLASHBACK-

Danny woke up with a killer headache and the heat of the morning air was not helping him.

'God all mighty, what the heck did I do last night' Danny groaned as he rubbed his eyes and sighed.

He shifted his body so he could sit up, but he smacked his head on a hard surface.

Danny jolted and quickly glanced up to see what was hindering him and found that he couldn't see.

'Ok Fenton breathe… don't panic. You're not buried alive! You're just… stuck in a confined space that's made out of wood and just so happens to resemble the shape of a coffin.'

-Flashback End-

Danny quickly shook the memory from his head before it could fully play out. He didn't want to relive what he had seen, or what he had felt when he realized what had happened to his family and friends along with the rest of Amity.

Danny closed his eyes a look of pain eminent on his face.

"Are you ok?" a young voice asked softly. Danny opened his eyes and glanced in the direction of the owner of the voice. He found a young boy staring at him from a cross-legged position on the floor.

"I think I'm doing just fine considering I woke up this morning to find that everyone and everything I ever loved or knew was destroyed," Phantom replied miserably.

---Chapter 3---

Danny sat down on the floor and stared at the trio in the room. An awkward silence was currently filling the thick, dusty atmosphere.

"But if you don't mind me asking, do you know what today's date is? I want to know how long I've been asleep." He inquired softly.

"It's October 20, 3010," Sasha replied.

"I'm sorry, what?" Danny responded with a dumbstruck expression, "That's not… that can't be possible!"

Nyx looked at the ghost with confusion. "What do you mean that's not possible?"

"The year was 2013 when I fell asleep! There's just no way that it's 3010. I couldn't have been asleep that long! I shouldn't have been able to survive that long either!" Danny cried out in a panic, practically pulling his hair out.

"Whoa, wait a second. You're saying that you were alive the year that the global nuclear war started?" Nyx breathed in disbelief.

"Well, he is a ghost, you idiot!" Sasha snapped while whacking him on the back of the head. Nyx cringed in response to the unexpected blow before glaring daggers in her direction. Though all of that went unnoticed by Danny, due to the fact he was having an anxiety attack.

Danny's eyes widened in realization, "Oh, I didn't even think about that! I haven't turned human..." Danny paused to count on his fingers, his already heavy breathing speeding up some more, "In 1,097 years!"

Sasha blinked. "Turned human?" She was about to ask what the ghost meant but she was cut off when the room was suddenly filled by a blinding blue light.

Sasha, Nyx, and Salem simultaneously shielded their eyes behind their hands.

When the extraordinarily bright light finally stopped they glanced at where the ghost had been sitting, only to find a pale scrawny boy, with raven black hair and icy blue eyes. He was wearing a pair of torn blue jeans and a red and white tattered T-shirt that was falling off of him because he was so undernourished.

The boy keeled over and gasped for air while clawing at his throat.

"Do you—have any water?" Danny gasped out in a raspy voice.

"Y-yeah let me go get it," Sasha replied, a little shaken. Her brain was too shocked to do anything but do what the boy had asked of her. She wandered numbly out of the front of the shop and disappeared into the back room.

Nyx stared at the now human boy on the floor in front of him. "How… but… you—you were just a ghost!" he sputtered out, dumbstruck. "How… what are you?"

"Old man Archer was right!" Salem cried, "You really are a human-ghost hybrid! The stories about Danny Phantom/ Fenton are true!"

Nyx went wide-eyed, 'There's just… no way,' he thought silently, his mouth dropping open slightly.

Danny glanced up at the young boy. "Well of course I am, but everybody should know that already, so why are you all acting so surprised?"

"We're all surprised because the adventures of Danny Phantom/Fenton are considered to be a fairy tale, an old legend, a story told around a campfire to keep the morale of children up," Sasha said as she entered the room—she seemed to have gotten over most of her shock—and handed Danny a large glass of water. The young halfa brought it up to his parched lips and chugged it down without a second thought. Once he was finished he wiped his mouth on his arm and smiled up at Sasha.

"Thank you." He said as he handed the tattered metal cup back to her. Sasha carefully took the cup from his shaking hands.

"You're welcome... gosh you're shaky, and so thin too. Do you want something to eat?"

"I'd love that, thank you!" Danny replied with a smile.

Sasha nodded. "Sure thing,"

Danny turned his attention back to Nyx. "You said that 2013 was the year of a nuclear war?"

"Yeah… why?" Nyx replied tentatively, but then he suddenly came to a realization, "Wait, you don't know anything about the war do you?"

"Uh… no… I don't." Danny replied softly with a sad look. "How many other cities were destroyed?"

Nyx hesitated for a second before he quietly said, "All the major ones were wrecked."

Danny looked like he was going to cry. "If I had been awake I could have stopped all of it..."

Nyx watched as Danny pulled his knees to his chest and buried his head in his hands, black hair shaking slightly with silent sobs before a few audible cries finally tore their way out of his throat.

"I'm so sorry…" He apologized, not really knowing what else to say.

"What do you mean you could have stopped it? It was a war between nations, there's no way you could have done anything. You're only one person, after all..." Sasha said as she entered the room once again with a bowl of hot stew. She handed the bowl to Danny, who accepted it gratefully.

He took a sip from the bowl in an attempt to at least make one part of his body feel less crappy before he managed a reply to Sasha.

"I succeeded in uniting the world once. Who's to say I couldn't have been a mediator? I might have been able to talk them out of conflict." Danny argued with a depressed expression now on his face.

"But you were – and still are – just a kid, they might not have listened to you anyway. So if you think about it they still could have had the war regardless of whether or not you were awake, and 2/3 of the earth's population probably would have been wiped out anyway," Nyx chimed in, giving his best try to comfort Danny.

Though in reality he just made Danny sink deeper into his current depression. He watched as the seemingly young halfa buried his head deeper into his knees.

Since Danny's knees were still pressed against his chest and his arms were loosely crossed over each other and resting on top of his kneecaps, Nyx could only see the raven top of the boy's head due to the fact his face was hidden by his knees and arms. The bowl of stew Danny had been so gingerly sipping from was now resting on the floor beside him with steam slowly wafting up from it.

Sasha scowled in Nyx's direction and shook her head. She bent back down in front of Danny and tapped him gently on his head.

Danny glanced up at her with dull crystal blue eyes that looked like they were just about to spring a leak any second.

"Hey, listen," She said seriously, "What Nyx is trying to say is that as long as you did what you were capable of doing at the time and you put your best effort into it then you shouldn't blame yourself, because you did all you could. Okay?"

"But I didn't do all I could, instead I was 6 feet under in some weird coffin contraption-like thing," Danny replied softly, his eyes cast on the dirty wooden floor in front of him.

"But you couldn't help the fact that you were there, just like you couldn't help the fact that you were asleep while you were in it." Nyx supposed, he knitted his eyebrows together and then nodded sagely. "And technically you did do all you could before that happened... I mean you saved the entire world from the Disasteroid. How many people do you know that can claim they saved the entire planet?"

Danny laughed lightly at Nyx's enthusiasm. "Not many… but it still doesn't make up for the fact all of my loved ones are…" He paused before stuttering out, "D-Dead."

Danny's bottom lip started trembling when he said the word 'dead'.

"Hey," Sasha said as she ran her hand through his wild black hair. Danny leaned into the soft gesture, remembering how Jazz used to do the same thing whenever he was upset and venting to her about some ghost attack or an outrageous homework assignment. "They may be gone, but we're not."

"Yeah!" Salem cried as he got up and ran over and hugged Danny, smiling up at the ghost as he said, "You are officially my adopted big brother!"

Danny's lips curved up into a small smile as Salem buried his head into Danny's chest, and he hugged the little boy back.

He knew that Sasha was right in a sense. He knew he was never going to get to see his family again, but these three people in front of him were offering to help him and to treat him like their own family. They would never replace his family and friends of course; no one ever would, or could, for that matter. Though Danny wasn't entirely sure he could trust these people, after all, he had only met them a few minutes ago; he didn't really count being put under mind control by one of them as a first meeting.

Danny quickly transformed back into Phantom; he wasn't sure he really wanted to stay with them once he realized that Nyx had tried to take advantage of him.

"Wait, what did you do that for?" Sasha asked, startled by his sudden change in demeanor.

"Yeah; why?" Salem echoed questioningly, shivering from the sudden close-contact exposure to the cold, ghostly energy of Phantom.

Danny smiled at the two of them. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I think it would be safer for me to leave. I don't think I really belong here."

"Yes, you do!" Salem proclaimed as he met Danny's gaze. Salem's arms tightened their grip on the thin ghost boy as he said; "I don't want you to leave!"

Danny was silent; he was obviously stuck between a rock and a hard place.

"HEY!"

All the occupants in the room jumped and looked in the direction of the door. There was a man standing in the doorway dressed in what Danny could only guess to be a futuristic cop costume.

"Is that ghost registered?" The cop barked coldly, narrowing his eyes.

Nyx and Sasha froze. Salem snuck behind Danny's shoulder.

"Well, don't just stand there like a bunch of morons! Is he registered or not?"

"Uh..." Nyx scrambled for an answer to the cop's question, "No, he's a newly captured ghost; I haven't had him registered yet…." He finished lamely.

The cop nodded in understanding, his glare melting away. "Let me see your hunting license."

Nyx quickly pulled the collar of his shirt aside so he could expose his shoulder. His shoulder was covered in a bunch of dots and squiggles – tattoos? – that looked like complete gibberish to Danny.

The cop pulled out what looked like a portable version of the scanner that was used to ring up groceries at a supermarket. He held the scanner over Nyx's shoulder; it hummed for a couple of seconds before making a short and high pitched 'beep'. Shortly afterward a holographic screen popped up right above the small device.

"So… your name is Nyx Smith?" The cop chuckled lightly, "With a fist name as unique as that I was not expecting your last name to be so… ordinary."

"Heh," Nyx laughed nervously, shifting his weight to his left foot awkwardly, "I get that a lot."

The cop flicked the screen to read further down. "Uh… let's see. You were born in the year 2992. Your parents are deceased. You are the legal guardian for Salem Smith. You're 18… Ah, here it is! You were licensed in 3008. Sorry about all the trouble, it's just with all of the control freaks coming through earlier I have to make sure everybody who owns a ghost is actually licensed."

"That's understandable… Oh and speaking of control freaks, my ghost took one out… because I totally commanded him to, it's not like his chip is off or anything; 'cause that would totally be against the law!" Nyx blurted out hurriedly, his eyes darting around the room.

Sasha stomped on Nyx's foot in order to get him to shut up before smiling sweetly at the cop. Danny couldn't help but think of Tucker and Sam as Sasha jerked her thumb in the direction of the wall. "The thief is over there."

The cop raised an eyebrow at the sight of the limp body right next to the wall. He walked over and scanned the thief's shoulder as well. "Well, well, it seems like you guys caught Peyton Baxter. U.S. enforcers have been looking for him for quite a while now." The cop paused, clearly thinking something over before cheerfully saying, "Tell you what, I'll register your ghost right now for free since you went ahead and stopped the wretched dirtbag. I'll even brand him for you that way he can only be controlled by you!"

Nyx's eyes widened as his eyes nervously flicked between the cop and Danny. "Uh... I really don't think that's necessary, besides you do so much for the community already."

The cop just dismissed Nyx's comment and went ahead and did it anyway. He registered Danny in his scanner and then branded him with an electric brander.

Danny had to bite his tongue in order to keep from screaming when the cop branded him.

"Well..." the cop said as he walked back over to the control freak and swung the guy easily over his shoulder, "That's that. Have a nice night folks!"

The four of them watched as the cop left and once Danny was sure the cop was finally out of earshot he immediately grabbed at his shoulder and cursed almost every ghost hunting weapon known to man. His father would have been both offended and very proud.

"That freaking hurt like hell!"

"I'm so sorry! I wasn't expecting the enforcer to do that, I swear!" Nyx exclaimed.

Danny glared daggers at the boy and in a dangerously quiet voice asked; "What did he just do?"

Nyx gulped. "He registered you and branded you so legally your mine."

"I'm not legally anybody's! I'm a person, I have rights!"

"Well, unfortunately now you are because we can't undo the branding or the registration," Nyx replied hesitantly, not at all liking the look that Danny was currently giving him.

In fact, the ghost boy looked like he was about to strangle the young hunter.

"Hey, look at the bright side; at least no one else can chip you anymore because you've been branded and I'm sure Nyx will keep your chip deactivated…" Sasha tried to reassure Danny, "Right, Nyx?" She asked, jabbing Nyx with her elbow.

Nyx nodded his head. "But the branding does have one bad side effect… Uh… It also works like an invisible leash. You can only be so far away from me, so…I guess you leaving is out of the question now, huh?" He finished with a nervous chuckle, warily meeting Phantom's electric green gaze.

Now Danny really looked like he wanted to wring Nyx's neck.

"Yeah! So that means you can be my new big brother!" Salem exclaimed as he happily hugged the hybrid once again.

"Yeah, you really are family now Phantom, and don't worry, you'll be treated just like a brother not a piece of property. I promise." Nyx swore.

Danny's anger depleted. "Cross your heart and hope to die?"

Nyx nodded and made an 'x' over his heart, never looking away from Phantom.

"Okay, then maybe this isn't as bad as it seems." Danny sighed, trying to be optimistic.

"Uh... Danny, do you mind finishing your stew? It's expensive to make and if I give it out for free then I want it all eaten." Sasha said.

Danny nodded in understanding before allowing the two bright blue rings of light to wash over him once again.

Once he was completely human again he sat back down in his previous spot and began to finish his stew.

"Uh… Danny?"

Danny looked up at Nyx, lowering the spoonful of stew he was about to eat back into the bowl. "Yeah?"

"What happened to your body?"

Danny's human body had gained a little weight, he was a lot less pale and he looked a bit healthier.

Danny blinked after glancing himself over. "I-I don't know. I mean I always knew I could heal superfast, but… this is something else!"

Sasha and Salem laughed.

"Well while you're eating I'm going to go see what cloaks we have in stock."

Danny raised an eyebrow at that. "Cloaks?"

-----Chapter 4-----

Danny stared at the selection of cloaks that Sasha had placed on the counter for him. They were all very long and had a hood attached, in fact, they kind of reminded him of something he thought Clockwork would wear.

Sasha picked up the first cloak and stretched it over Danny's chest to make sure that the cloaks she had pulled were the correct shoulder width.

"Okay, so it looks like all of these will fit just fine!" She said with a smile as she glanced up at the seemingly young halfa before she continued, "You might want to change back into Phantom though."

Danny raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well… The cloak is supposed to be for your ghost half; it's to make you look more human when we enter my home town later." Nyx explained.

Danny glanced at Nyx with a hurt expression.

"More human…. Isn't my human half-human enough?" He asked softly, blue eyes dulling with a seemingly long-forgotten sadness.

Nyx blinked, picking up on the hurt tone in Danny's voice.

"Well yeah, your human half is plenty human but you don't have a social security symbol on your shoulder in your human form. This means if you were to ever get caught by the enforcers that would be a huge problem." Nyx explained as if it was obvious.

"Yeah, they'd arrest you!" Salem chimed in as he tugged on the bottom of Danny's shirt, a worried expression set on his face. After all, he didn't want his new big brother to be taken away.

Danny looked down at the young 10-year-old with a raised eyebrow.

"Even if they did arrest me they wouldn't be able to hold me for very long, all I would have to do is go ghost and phase-out of the restraints or whatever," Danny replied with a soft smile as he ruffled the boy's hair. "So don't worry about it."

"Well, regardless, your human half looks like a bum; your clothes are all torn and they do kinda look like they are from another time period. It's probably better to stay in your ghost form."

Danny bobbed his head in understanding.

"I see what you're saying, I really do, but you don't understand. I can't stay in my ghost form forever. It takes up too much energy, and when I use too much energy I pass out and revert back to my human form anyway. Not to mention I can only eat and sleep in my human form, and I need to do that in order to regenerate all of the energy I need in order to change into my ghost half in the first place." Danny explained, scrunching up his eyebrows as he thought about the complications of his weird existence.

Sasha and Nyx shared a look; this was going to be a lot harder than they thought.

"Well, why don't you just turn into your ghost half so we can pick a cloak, and then I'll work on finding clothes for your human half?" She asked with a slightly hesitant tone to her voice.

"Thank you… I really do appreciate what you're doing." Danny said with a small reassuring smile.

Sasha blushed and fiddled with a strand of her hair.

Meanwhile, Nyx shot silent icy daggers in Danny's direction. He didn't like the fact that Danny had gotten Sasha to blush so easily when he had been trying to get that reaction from her for years. Nyx loved her, he was sure of that and he wanted to make her happy. He wanted her to look at him with the same look she had just given Danny. He knew he was sounding really self-centered, but he really couldn't understand how she was falling for a guy who was at least a thousand years old.

"Nyx?" Danny asked pulling Nyx from his thoughts. "You okay?"

Nyx's eyes shot up at the halfa, some of the earlier ice still sparking within them.

"Of course — I'm fine — why wouldn't I be?!" He responded in a rushed, sardonic tone.

Danny raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. Soon a bright blue ring erupted from Danny's waist and split up and down his body, changing him into his ghost half.

Once the bright light from the transformation faded the group heard a loud crash from the front of the store. The three kids and the halfa glanced at the front of the room to find an older blond-haired man with tan skin and a large backpack slung over his shoulder. Another bag of what looked like pans and pots was spilled out in front of him.

"Dad!" Sasha gasped out "What are you doing? I— you weren't supposed to be home for two more days!"

Sasha's dad paled as his eyes flicked toward the young hybrid.

"Y-you, y-you're D-D-Danny P-Phantom!" he stuttered out in astonishment, eyes growing to the size of dinner saucers.

Danny blinked dumbly in surprise.

"You know my name?"

"You're Sasha's dad!" Nyx blurted out. This was the first time he had met the man, not just heard other people talking about him.

Sasha's dad ignored Nyx's question and dropped his backpack on the floor next to him before, walking over to Danny, sticking his hand out in front of him.

Danny glanced at the hand before reaching out to shake it.

"How…" the man trailed off, not entirely sure how to ask the question that was rattling around in his brain.

"...Am I alive?" Danny guessed, finishing the man's sentence for him.

Sasha's Father just nodded his head; his look was a mix of astonishment and what seemed to be slight hero worship.

Danny shrugged his shoulders slightly "I'm actually not entirely sure, I just kinda woke up and your daughter and her boyfriend Nyx had been helping me out. I don't know where I'd be without them right now."

Sasha's father blinked.

"Her boyfriend?" He asked, now finally glancing toward Nyx for the first time.

"What? Nyx is not my boyfriend! We're just friends!" Sasha exclaimed shortly after Danny's remark. Danny couldn't help be reminded of how Sam and him used to act whenever Tucker said something like that.

Her father's face scrunched up in confusion and he quickly repositioned his glasses on his face. The action sort of reminded him of Tucker.

Danny frowned slightly as he felt a pang of sadness go through his heart. Man, he missed them...

"Okay," Sasha's dad said as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Anyone care to explain what's going on?"

-DP-

DP-

Danny busily pulled the top cloak off of the pile. Trying to keep his mind off the fact that his new 'Family' had just stepped outside to have their own little meeting with Sasha's father. He felt like they didn't trust him to some level. It wasn't fair; they had no right to not trust him. They weren't the ones who were put under mind control! Anger, resentment, and frustration all began to swell within him. They had no right to treat him like this; they had no right to leave him in here alone and in the dark!

He didn't want to be in here alone… his mind wandered when he was alone. It wandered to places he didn't want it to like it was right now as he stared at his reflection in the mirror while he tried on a mustered yellow cloak.

That color reminded him of Tucker, his longtime best friend who was now...

Danny whimpered, not allowing himself to finish his thought as he ripped the cloak off his shoulders before violently tossing it across the room. It hit one of the shack's roughly made walls and slid to the floor in a crumpled heap. The impact caused small dust particles to fall from the makeshift ceiling.

Danny quickly turned his back to it. Turning his head to the pile of cloaks, hoping to distract his mind from its forming memories. But unfortunately, his mind was only launched into more painful memories as he stared at the vibrantly colored turquoise-colored cloak on top of the pile. Turquoise was Jazz's favorite...

Fresh tears sprung to his eyes as he desperately hurled it to where he had thrown the other cloak. The next one was blue, his mother...

Danny felt more hot tears roll down his cheeks as he disposed of it much as he did with the other two.

Orange... His father.

Purple... Sam.

Danny's sob caught in his throat, he couldn't do this anymore… He couldn't ignore their memories or the fact that they were gone. He couldn't go on and pretend that all of this was just simply okay; he couldn't continue to fake his smile...

Danny broke down; uncontrollable sobs soon began to wrack through his body as he slid to the floor. His back was up against the mirror. The dusty silver surfaced showed his reflection as it mimicked his every move.

He couldn't do this…

-DP-

"Wow," Sasha's father whistled and shook his head sadly, "He's been through a lot."

"Yeah, we know." Nyx said as he crossed his arms over his chest, "And he's also been borderline angsty since we met him. I think it has something to do with his family."

Sasha shot Nyx a condescending glare.

"Of course it has to do with his family!" She proclaimed before punching him in the arm, "How would you feel if you suddenly woke up and everyone you loved was dead?"

"I've already almost had that happen," Nyx mumbled as he sent a longing glance towards his younger brother. Salem was all he had left...

Sasha dropped her glare, it had been so long since Nyx had even brought up the death of his parents that she had almost forgotten that they were pushing up daisies and lying ten feet under in the first place.

"I'm sorry Nyx I didn't—"

Nyx put a hand over Sasha's mouth.

"It's alright; I really don't want to talk about that."

She nodded and gently pulled his hand off her face.

"Uh... okay." She replied awkwardly.

Sasha's father looked between the two with a worried expression. Wondering just what his daughter had gotten herself into.

-DP-

Hale made his way through the vacant halls of Armistice Dalv's castle, dragging an unwilling but handcuffed, Peyton Baxter behind him.

"Will you stop your squirming!" Hale yelled over his shoulder as he yanked on the glowing blue cord that was attached to Peyton's handcuffs, causing the young Control Thief to stumble forward slightly.

"I'll stop squirming the moment that Dalv croaks!" Peyton spat.

The Enforcer frowned and pressed the red button at the top of the cord he was holding. The simple action caused the blue cord to spark and send about 30 volts of electricity through Peyton's body. Peyton's form became ridged as the electricity shot throughout his body before he crumpled to the ground with a muffled yelp the moment it stopped.

"I'd hold your tongue if I were you," Hale replied simply, not even looking at the boy.

Peyton glared at the enforcer with another hateful sneer while he panted, trying to catch his breath.

"Bite—" he wheezed, "—me."

Hale let out a growl and glared down at the rebel, his thumb hovering over the red button. Hale was going to press it too, but—fortunately for Peyton—Hale stopped when he heard someone shout his name.

"Hale!"

Hale turned around to see who had just called him and let out a slight gasp when he saw who it was. An elderly man who was at least in his 80's was striding quickly down the hallway with his arms crossed behind his back. He was wearing a fine black silk suit top and a pair of ordinary ratty slacks. His completely gray hair was pulled back into a small pony tail.

"Uh... Armistice Dalv!" Hale called out hesitantly as he saluted the man.

"Good evening Hale," Dalv said with a short nod before turning his attention to the chained prisoner on the floor. "And who might this young man here be?"

"This is Peyton Baxter, sir," Hale explained. "He was a member of a band of Control Thieves that were raiding the middle way market. I was bringing him to you for questioning."

Dalv frowned and looked Peyton over.

"It's a shame," Dalv tisked softly before continuing, "With a few weeks of training you would have made an excellent Enforcer. After all, you have the build, and if you have been retaining important information for so long that you had to be brought here… then you must have a strong will. Both are good qualities I look for in someone that I employ."

Peyton blinked and stared at the man like he had grown a second head.

"So," Dalv began, "Which member of your team managed to catch our little thief, hmm?"

"Uh... No one, sir..." Hale answered quietly, "He was caught by a teenager named Nyx Smith and his newly caught ghost... I believe he named it Phantom?" The man paused for a moment before continuing, "But anyway I registered the new ghost for free for him since he did lend a major hand in catching this hooligan here." Hale motioned carelessly toward Peyton.

Dalv's eyes widened and he pressed his lips together in a thin straight line, a look of silent disbelief overcame his expression.

"You said the ghost was named Phantom?" Dalv asked.

Hale nodded, wondering why the other man was asking about that little fact. What could be so important about the ghost's name?

"I wonder…" Dalv mumbled under his breath before glancing back up at the enforcer again, "Tell me, Hale, did this ghost happen to have pure white hair?"

-----Chapter 5----

"Do you understand what I wish you to do?"

Hale studied the letter he was just handed before looking back up at Dalv.

"No, not entirely... The kid's 18 and... you want him to become an Enforcer?" Hale questioned with slight disbelief.

Dalv pinched the bridge of his nose in response to that. Hale was a good Enforcer but he swore that the man had been hit over the head one too many times.

"I am not hiring the child; I just simply wish to talk with him. I'm planning to invite him to participate in the annual 'Battle of the Spirits'. Something tells me that the competition will be interesting this year, assuming he does decide to attend." Dale replied as he folded his arms behind his back.

Hale simply cocked an eyebrow before asking, "Why... why is he so important?"

Dalv scowled and glared at the 25-year-old. "The child isn't all that important, no, what I'm interested in is his new ghost."

Hale stared at his employer's devious expression for a moment, slightly perplexed at his words. In truth the man had always made Hale nervous, he always seemed to carefully hide things from not only him but from the public as well. Hale had also seen how good the man was at manipulation and torment... two skills that Dalv was especially famous for using during his interrogations. It often left Hale wondering just how many times Dalv had manipulated him into doing something he didn't wish to do. He wondered if he had been doing it to his father, Dominick... heck, he might have been doing such things all the way back to his great grandmother Valerie.

His great grandmother had been the first Enforcer. It was said that she was fearless and was incapable of being led astray from making the right decisions. When he was younger Hale completely believed that. In fact, he even looked up to his great grandmother as a hero and always wanted to be just like her. Hale wanted to follow in his ancestor's footsteps and work for his family's seemingly immortal boss. Yes, you heard him right, immortal; Dalv had been around for centuries but the general public didn't know that. No, that little secret was well guarded and kept among select people and their families.

"Hale, my boy, are you alright?"

Dalv's voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"I'm fine, sorry… I'll take that letter now," Hale said, flashing his boss a fake smile.

-DP-

Sasha and her father lifted the flap to the shop, entering the musty space once again with Nyx and Salem following close behind them.

"Hey Danny, we're back!" Nyx called out. He was expecting an immediate response from the halfa but when he didn't get one he immediately stiffened. He pulled Salem behind him out of habit. He was always overly protective of his little brother.

Calling out once more, though this time with a more worried tone, Nyx yelled, "Danny?"

All that he received in reply was silence, the likes of which only cause him to worry further.

Sasha watched, mortified, as her father pulled a gun out of his back pocket.

"Stay together, I'm going to go check things out… After that control thief scare earlier today... I just don't want you guys to get hurt. Stay behind me, alright?"

The trio of kids nodded and followed after Sasha's father. They checked the shop through and through, everything seemed normal and fine but... they couldn't seem to find Danny anywhere.

"Something's wrong..." Nyx breathed out, still on edge, "Where is he?"

Salem farrowed his eyebrows in confusion. He didn't get why the all the grownups were acting so strange and he also didn't get why they couldn't see Danny. Salem could see his outline in front of the mirror on the far side of the room. The young ten-year-old left the safety of his older brother and walked over to where Danny was. As he got closer he could hear the faint sound of sobbing.

"Salem?" Nyx called. He watched with curiosity as his little brother knelt in front of the mirror.

Salem reached out and lightly grabbed Danny's see-through shoulder. It was at that moment that Danny jumped in surprise and dropped his invisibility. He lifted his tear-stained face from where it had been previously resting on his knees. Haunted, dulled green eyes seemed to stare straight through Salem.

"Danny?" The group called out in astonishment.

Danny didn't respond, he just buried his head back into his knees. It was bad enough that Salem got a full view of him crying, the others didn't need to see him like this. He was such a mess... such a broken, weak, pathetic mess...

Salem looked down at Danny and squeezed lightly on his shoulder before asking kindly, "Are you okay?"

Danny didn't answer; instead, he just wrapped his white cloak tighter around himself. He had found the cloak at the very bottom of the pile. He liked the color white. It was bland, pure, and unfeeling, and to top it off, it didn't bring back any of the agonizing memories that he didn't want bubbling back to the surface of his mind. For now, it was his safeguard, his anchor.

"Danny?" Nyx inquired softly once again as he walked over and bent down in front of the halfa. He had a pretty good idea about what was bothering the white-haired teen.

"Please just leave for a little bit Nyx... I... I need some time by myself." Danny mumbled half-heartedly.

In truth Danny didn't really want to be alone again, he never ever wanted to be alone, but his pride wouldn't allow anyone to see him crying.

He then snorted internally; if Jazz were here she would probably be screaming at him... she would probably sprout some form of psychological mumbo-jumbo that proved that all healthy men cried. She would probably also threaten to sick their parents on him if he didn't tell her what was wrong. That had seemed to be her favorite new threat since that whole Disastroid incident, since he had told them and the rest of the world about his ghost half. It was also one of the most effective threats Jazz had ever used on him.

Danny laughed slightly, the noise creating a sad, echoing sound.

God... he missed Jazz... he missed everyone.

Danny scowled as new ghostly tears began to flow down the sides of his face. He was starting to get sick of all this touchy-feely crap that his mind was putting him through. Danny sniffled and buried his face further into his cloak, feeling miserable and slightly embarrassed.

Nyx frowned and glanced up at Sasha's father, asking, "Could you and Sasha take Salem outside for a few minutes?"

Sasha's father nodded in understanding and dragged the said two out the door with him. Once the familiar rustling of the tarp that acted as the front door stopped, Nyx sat down crossed-legged in front of Danny. His hand fiddled with the crucifix that was hanging around his neck. Anyone that would have known him would have taken the simple action as a sign that he was anxious or uneasy.

"So... you... want to talk about it?" The blessed gold jewelry flashed in the fading light that was leaking through one of the nearby dusty windows.

Danny froze. Did he just hear what he thought he just heard?

Seeing Danny's less than stellar reaction, Nyx continued hurriedly, "Listen, I know that you probably don't want to even talk to me about something like this-"

"You remind me of my sister," Danny interjected quietly, something unidentifiable lacing his voice.

Nyx paused and gave Danny a disbelieving look, not entirely sure how to respond to that, "Um... excuse me?"

Danny looked up at Nyx for the first time since he had come back in. Teary, red-rimmed, dim green eyes met with shocked sliver-blue ones.

Nyx stared at Danny's disheveled appearance for a moment, taken slightly aback by Danny's messy white hair and tear-stained face. Danny was supposed to be a hero, right...? He was supposed to be a strong and invincible hero, something of a legend. But from what he saw of the boy that was sitting in front of him... he didn't see anything that even remotely resembled a hero. What he saw was a frightened and desperate 14-year-old boy... Truthfully Danny reminded Nyx of himself shortly after realty had set back in on that awful day his parents had died.

-------Chapter 6-----

Hal was never one for long country trips; especially after dark. It wasn't that he was afraid….well actually it kinda was…..but it wasn't a fear of the dark but rather a fear of what was hiding within the shadows. Call him paranoid if you wish, but it was that primal fear that's kept him alive for all these years. Everyone knew just how dangerous the world became after dark, especially if you were traveling at a fast rate on a hoverboard through the darkest parts of the Misty Forest. The forest was dense and always covered in a mixture of polluted air and fog that was so thick you almost couldn't see your hand in front of you. Not to mention it also doubled as a breeding ground for unchipped ghosts and a hideout for gangs of control thieves. So if you didn't harm yourself by accidentally crashing into a tree, thanks to the smog, then you had a pretty good chance of getting a few bruises while tangling with the forest's unfriendly inhabitants.

The only good news about the Misty Forest was that it was a direct route to the midway market. That's where Nyx was and by the looks of it Hal would have Dalv's letter in the kid's hands by morning. Well, assuming the tracer in Nyx's arm wasn't malfunctioning. They tended to get a bit glitchy whenever a new ghost is bound to the security mark; it makes their signal flit in and out and that sometimes makes it hard for his tracker to get a read on. Still, signal or no, Hal probably would have started at the market anyway since it was the last place that the kid and his brother were reported being seen. So at least he wasn't wasting time even if the kid wasn't there. He would just have to play detective till either the kid's signal became stronger or till he found him.

"You really should stop pouting like that whenever you're in thought. You're gonna get frown lines."

Hal frowned and turned his attention to his ghost. She had been in the family for generations; passed down from his grandmother all the way to him. Hal had a tendency to keep her controller off unless he was visiting Dalv's palace. It was against the law, but what people didn't know wouldn't hurt them. Besides she's never hurt him and he generally preferred having someone to talk to, even if that someone was technically dead.

"You don't need to be such a smartass, Dani." He grumbled.

The ghost girl chuckled as she tucked a few strands of her stark white hair behind her ear. She had been fiddling with her hair since they began the trip this morning. Her hand would often wander to the peace of white and red cloth that she often used to tie off her hair into a ponytail.

"I'm not being a smartass; I'm just trying to start a conversation with you. You're boring when you get all broody and pretentious." Danni said flippantly as she grabbed a hold of Hals board and turned both it and him intangible so they would avoid hitting the tree he obviously couldn't see. Hal jumped at the sudden change. He hated when Danni did that without warning. He hated the cold chill that came with the intangibility; it almost felt like someone randomly pushed you into a vat of Ice water. Though, he would rather be cold than run into a tree at 90 miles an hour so he really didn't have that much room to complain. "So why exactly did the old dictator send us on a field mission? Not that I'm complaining, I enjoy being as far away from that man as possible."

Hal raised an eyebrow at that. "Why do you hate him so much? If it weren't for Dalv the human race would have died out years ago. He saved us! I mean, I know he makes some questionable decisions sometimes but I'm sure he has everyone's best interests in mind."

Danni huffed at that. Best interests….The only interests that Vlad kept in mind were his own and if Danni hadn't already made a promise to Val all those years ago then she would've let Hal hear exactly what she thought of Vlad; In all his despicably shitty glory. Unfortunately, though that knowledge could possibly put Val's great, great, great, grandson at risk and she wasn't about to go back on the promise she made. Just because Val passed away didn't mean that Danni was going to stop protecting her family. They were all she had left in this world… Hal was all she had left in this world.

"Anyway," Hal said, deciding to move on since Danni didn't answer him. "He wants me to give a letter to some kid named Nyx."

Danni squinted at the paper that Hal held up for her to read.

"Is that a personal invite to the annual battle of the spirits?" The amount of astonishment that was in her voice was almost humorous. Vlad never personally invited anyone to anything what so ever. Something was up.

-DP-

Hal had been right when he had estimated that they would get to the market by morning. The shop owners were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, which was the exact opposite of how he was feeling. Man, he hoped that one of these shops sold something that was caffeinated. He clicked his boots together and his hoverboard folded up and disappeared into the bottom of his shoes. He landed steadily on the ground and walked over to the nearest shop, Danni was trailing just behind him.

The old woman looked up from the cloth she had been folding and smiled at the young man and his ghost.

"Can I help you?" she kindly rasped out in a rickety voice.

Hal smiled

"Um, yes actually. I'm looking for someone." He paused to mess with the PDA that was ingrained in his suites arm and pulled up a holographic picture of the kid he was looking for. "Have you seen him around?"

The old woman studied the image for a few seconds before slowly nodding her head.

"I have seen him hanging around the grocery shop. It's just two shacks down from here."

Hal smiled and blurted out a quick thank you as he made his way to the shop in question. Once he got there he pulled on the entrance flap only to find that it was still tied shut to the side of the door. That was a little strange. He shot Danni a confused look as he turned off the safety on one of his smaller blasters and then lifted his hand to knock on one of the shack's meatal walls.

He heard the faint murmuring of voices for a few minutes before a young girl pulled back the entry flap.

"I'm sorry we're closed—Oh, wait, hello officer." The girl stumbled over the last part of the sentence when she realized that she was talking to an enforcer. "Is there anything I can do for you….?"

Hal put on his best professional smile.

"Well yes, I'm looking for a Nyx Smith," Hal said as he flashed her Dalv's letter. "I have a special delivery for him."

#danny phantom #dani phantom #vlad masters #vlad plasmius #seedlings #chipped

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mlmxreader · 3 years

Text

Cats & Dogs | Dan Torrance

summary; your first meeting with Dan doesn't exactly go well.

AU where Cujo lives and is adopted and rehomed bc that dog deserved so much better.

"Woah, Cujo! Heel!" You gasped, gripping tightly onto the thick green and black lead that was clipped to the massive Saint Bernard's collar, trying to pull back the massive beast as he perked his ears up and began to pull you in the direction of a white cat he had seen. You knew your good natured hound would never hurt a soul, he only wanted to play, but he didn't know his own strength, and while he was incredibly gentle, he was also incredibly clumsy. "C'mon, boy, please?"

As you struggled to contain the overexcited and energetic dog, you couldn't help but to notice the extremely handsome stranger who darted out of the front door of the nursing home, and made a beeline for the cat; he scooped it up in his arms, shaking his head and daring to approach.

"I'm sorry, Azzie must've-"

"No, no, no," you shook your head, smiling a little. "It's fine... Cujo's just a little bit overexcited, is all - he's a friendly dog, but he doesn't know his own strength."

The stranger nodded, scratching the cat's neck gently, looking down at your large dog; he could feel something ghost up his spine, a tingling feeling that told him that this was almost certainly not a dog to be unguarded around. He would've reached out and pat the dog's head, but he worried what he would see if he did. "Cujo?"

"Yeah," you chuckled, scratching the dog behind the ear and nearly laughing when his tail wagged so hard that you could hear the way it swished and swayed. You leaned forward, gently tutting at the cat. "Azzie, huh?"

The stranger confirmed the name of the cat, adjusting her in his arms a little. "She's a little shy, but... you can pet her if you want to."

Gently, you ran your fingers through the soft fur for a moment, but when Cujo started to whine and try to get a sniff of Azzie, you took a step back. You swallowed thickly, daring to steal a glance at the stranger's eyes, how magnificently blue they were and how they seemed to be glittering, you awkwardly cleared your throat, scratching at the back of your neck. "I'm, uh, I'm (y/n), by the way."

"Dan," he told you, a flash of a smile darting across his lips. "So, uh, do you live nearby?"

You nodded, chewing at your lip. "Yeah, I'm local, been living here since I got Cujo about... must've been about three years now - you?"

"Not that long," Dan admitted, still wary and cautious of your dog; there was something about it, something that told him that, beneath the stains of three years, was a layer of bloodshed and misery. He didn't want to get on the wrong side of such a dog. "About a year, now... how did... how did you get Cujo, if you don't mind me asking?"

You shrugged, kneeling down beside the massive dog and ruffling the fur on his head with a smile. "Rescue. There was a place up in Maine that had taken him in - he was in awful shape when I first saw him, and the vets doubted he would make it past a week. But, here he is, fully recovered and like a completely different dog."

Dan was curious, for some reason, as although his shine told him that there was undoubtedly something about the dog that seemed bloody and gory, the way you interacted with it was just like any other owner with their own four legged friend; frowning, Dan looked back at the building he had come from, clearing his throat and waiting for you to stand before he spoke, "listen, we should probably head back, but... if you'd like, I wouldn't mind meeting you again."

"Sure, Dan," you smiled as his name left your lips, stuffing your hands into your pockets. "Should we say the coffee shop round the corner, about three o'clock?"

"That sounds good," he agreed, offering you a kind smile before turning to your companion with a wary and cautious one. "It was nice to meet you both."

"And you," you agreed, turning on your heel to go your separate ways, but Cujo wouldn't budge, and when Dan grew close to the building, the cat jumped out of his arms again, and sat herself between the dog's front legs. You looked at the animals, raising your brows and laughing a little softly. "What? You don't want us to go?"

Both the cat and the dog shook their heads, pleading with you and Dan not to go your separate ways just yet.

#dan torrance imagine #dan torrance x reader #dan torrance #danny torrance imagines #danny torrance x reader #danny torrance #the shining #doctor sleep fanfiction #doctor sleep imagine #doctor sleep x reader #doctor sleep #cujo #ewan mcgregor imagine #ewan mcgregor x reader #ewan mcgregor #mlem writes

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leahxx129 · 3 years

Text

Tragedy of Butterflies (Peter Quill x Reader)

Hi there. Quick personal note: it appears that the personal thing I’m struggling with at the moment will go on for around another month, but I have lots of story ideas and will try to write & post some.

As for the story... I feel like that Chris Pratt is the most underrated Chris from all the MCU Chrises, so I wanted to show a little love for him & one of his more famous character.

Summary: As a result of the Snap, Peter Quill dies in your arms and your heart shatters to pieces since you’ve been secretly in love with him for quite a while now. What happens 5 years later when everyone is brought back to the battle field, including some very unexpected people?

Warnings: cursing

Word count: 1.630-ish

You have no idea how much time has passed since the wizards brought everyone to the field and the guy with the shield commenced the battle against Thanos, but you’re pretty sure about one thing - within the next couple of minutes you’re going to suffer an excruciating death.

The creature knocked you over in a blink of an eye, you never even saw it coming, and both of your machetes flew out of reach. You can brush one’s handle with your fingertips but it’s still a far stretch... You desperately try to take in a few punches, but the damn thing is clawing at you with a foaming mouth, wanting to tear your throat out like a freaking otherworldly Cujo, so the majority of your energy is invested in self-defense. Even through the beast’s grumble you can hear the battle screams and death rattle of warriors trying their best to defeat the other army and fail at it.

Your arms are getting numb and a strange mixture of calmness and serenity dazes your mind. Maybe death wouldn’t be the worst-case scenario. You’re tired and you’ve certainly done your fair share over the years… Then his face flashes before your eyes and you relinquish every single thought of surrender in an instant.

He always demanded everyone to call him Star-Lord, but to friends he was Quill and to you, only Peter. You can’t just go down like this, you owe putting up a real fight to him. That’s the least you could do since you were unable to save him the first time you all faced Thanos…

You’ve known Peter since you were a little girl. You happened to be in the hospital when his mom died and followed him outside just to accidentally be snatched by Yondu as well...

He was nothing but a silly boy to you for a very long time – he would pull your hair, try to frighten you by telling ghost stories or play mean pranks on you... Then one day you suddenly realized he became so much more, and the mere fact that you had no clue how it happened scared the crap out of you.

Naturally, this escaped his notice, so every time he obtained a new notch in his belt, you died a little inside and swore an oath that you’d never be one of his conquests. An oath you broke not long after having sworn it... You fell so miserably in love with the man that you let yourself turn into his occasional bed warmer because even a relationship like that was more than nothing. At least that’s what you made yourself believe to help you sleep at night...

His lips felt incredibly soft as he peppered your neck with featherlight kisses in the dark.

His fingertips almost made you catch on fire when they traced your skin under the covers.

And the way he whispered sweet nothings into your ears when nobody else was around brought you to the verge of losing your goddamn mind every single time.

You found him completely and utterly intoxicating. Peter was addictive like a drug. And you lived for the high.

For a short period of time it looked like as if he was beginning to return your feelings, but then Gamora showed up and shattered every illusion to a thousand pieces. You couldn’t blame her - it’s not like she demanded Peter to shower her with his attention. But you couldn’t blame Peter, either, because Gamora was close to perfection… so, all you did was blaming yourself and pretending to be happy for the slyest thief in the galaxy day after day.

Truth be told, every night when you closed your eyes you imagined how it would feel like if the Zehoberei woman just simply got out of the picture, but with God as your witness, you never wished for her departure to be this way. When Thanos revealed on the Titan that he’d murdered her, the confession broke Peter and seeing him like that broke you.

Then came the Snap.

Peter pulverized in your arms and you would have given everything in the entire galaxy to trade your life for his. Later on, you joined Rocket and you’ve been by his side ever since as he appeared to be the only one to share your grief and understand your pain, but more importantly, he was the only other remaining member of the guardians and being close to him reminded you of better times.

Your fingers inch a bit closer to the machete’s handle but when you try to flick it in your direction the only thing you manage to do is just push it farther away.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” you yell as a generous amount of the monster’s saliva lands on your neck a second later. “Could this situation get any worse?”

The answer comes right away when the thing overpowers you and you feel a set of razor-sharp teeth sink into your shoulder. The scream ripping from your lungs makes your own blood run cold. You close your eyes and await the next – and probably the last - lash out but it never comes. Instead, you hear a gun shot and the beast collapses onto you. Realizing that you’re still alive and kicking, you push it off and freeze at the sight of your savior. He’s standing far away, face not visible, but you could recognize that stance anywhere.

“Peter?!” you scream his name and hope he heard it through all the turmoil.

The stranger touches the side of his mask to reveal the face you haven’t seen in the past five years but dreamt of every single night.

Not minding the shoulder wound you jump to your feet and start limping towards him, picking up the pace when you see him do the same. Within a couple of seconds, the distance is closed, and you fall into his arms, tears streaming down your face. The familiar minty scent invades your nostrils and you can feel his stubble tickle your face. It’s him. It’s really him. You hug him even tighter.

“Peter…” you lean away a few inches to be able to look into his eyes but before you can say anything, he crashes his lips onto yours, leaving you completely dumbfounded. You kiss him back, nevertheless.

“What was that for?” you ask after breaking apart, shielding your genuine curiosity with a small smile.

“I love you.” He breathes against your lips, panting heavily.

Your eyes widen.

“Okay, I must have a little monster saliva clogging my ears because what I heard was that you love me and that cannot be the real reason.”

He lets out a chuckle.

“I don’t know about the saliva sweetheart, but you heard me right.”

You eye him suspiciously.

“I don’t get it.”

His signature lopsided smile appears on his face, but his gaze radiates sadness. You remind him of what his mom used to tell him about the tragedy of butterflies. Their wings are exquisitely beautiful and yet they can’t see them, just as you can’t see your own beauty and worth.

“I’ve loved you for quite a while now, Y/N.” he caresses your cheek with his thumb. “When we became friends…uhm… with benefits… I-I thought it was better than nothing, so I went along. But deep inside I knew it was not enough for me. And I couldn’t imagine a galaxy where someone like you would seriously be interested in someone like me. So, when Gamora showed up I decided to move on and try to develop a healthy relationship with somebody else… so much for that, huh?”

“Oh, Peter…” you begin but he hushes you.

“Ssshh, okay, just let me finish please.” He takes a deep breath, obviously struggling to hold back tears. “I cared for her. I really did. But when I woke up in that strange place, do you know who’s name I was screaming for hours? Yours. I loved her but I’m in love with you. Promise you’ll never leave me, please.”

You open your mouth to respond but a series of gunshots rip through the air missing your head just by inches and one of Thanos’ mutant soldiers collapses behind your back.

“I’m really glad you two idiots have finally figured your shit out but we’re on a battlefield right now and I can’t keep on saving your asses while you’re having a heart-to-heart!”

Nebula’s familiar voice provides an explanation for the shots but when you both turn to her direction, she’s not alone. You can feel a knot form in your stomach.

“Gamora?” Peter asks incredulously.

“Who’s this guy?” the person in question turns to Nebula with a clueless facial expression.

“He was hitting on you in an attempt to forget how desperately in love he was with the girl he’s holding right now.”

Gamora’s eyebrows fly up.

“Wow… and the me in this dimension didn’t see through the situation? No wonder she’s dead.”

“This dimension? What’s going on? Is she from a different one?” you find your voice and address the question to Nebula.

“We don’t have time for this. I’ll tell everything after this is over... you know, on the off chance we survive...” She flashes a mechanic smile and disappears with her sister.

Peter is still staring at the place where they stood just seconds ago. You gently put your palm on the side of his face and make him look you in the eyes.

“I promise!” you vow and kiss him hungrily.

There are two things you’re hoping for at the moment - you want to survive this battle more than anything so you could be with Peter and you also pray that Gamora’s return won’t affect a single thing.

#peter quill #reader #peter quill x reader #Starlord #mcu fic #mcu #fanfic #guardians of the galaxy #gamora #end game #nebula

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cyroclastic · 3 years

Text

Truce gift ‘19 part 2!

The piercing sound of the school bell was always a pain to Danny’s heightened senses, but thankfully he had advanced healing to go with it so he wouldn’t go deaf. Didn’t make it any less annoying though. He hit his palm against the side of his head to try and stop them from ringing while stumbling out of the classroom and trudging to his locker.

He slid his backpack off his shoulder and grabbed a crumpled stack of notes, chucking them in his locker. He huffed and slammed it shut, looking around for his friends. Suddenly he was shoved against his locker with a grunt.

He turned to see Dash walking away without so much as a snide remark or rude comment to Danny, which was rather unusual since Danny would normally end up in his locker at this point. Dash’s gang shot dirty looks at him but Dash kept walking. Danny blinked in surprise as he watched them disappear into the lunch break crowd.

Danny thought back to the few meetings he had with Dash in the park walking Cujo since that day. They talked about stuff, Danny being careful not to accidentally talk about his life as Fenton. He did is best to be a good listening ear for Dash because that’s what a hero would do and had gotten to understand the guy a little better. He also tried to channel his inner Jazz and subtly persuade him to deal with his anger management issues.

Dash sometimes asked Danny questions about what it was like to be a ghost. Danny hesitated speaking about it at first, unsure of what he could reasonably say without revealing his secret. He slowly opened up to the jock, who was a surprisingly good listener himself. The who slowly realised they had more similarities than they thought.

He and Dash had an unspoken mutual agreement that what was shared in these conversations would remain between them.

“Hey Danny.” Tucker called. “Nice to see you not in your locker for a change. Didn’t Dash just pass-by here?”

“Yeah he did.” Danny said, looking to where dash left. He must finally be getting through to the guy about the way he treats other people.

“Dash has been acting super weird lately.” Sam commented as she appeared to Danny’s left. “No wedgies and putting people in lockers for almost a week. You sure he isn’t possessed by a scheming enemy of yours.” She asked skeptically.

“Positive. No ghostly funny business here.” Danny replied. He hadn’t told Sam and Tucker about his late night chats with Dash. It felt like a weird thing to talk to Sam and Tucker about. He didn’t like keeping secrets from his friends, but those conversations were a personal matter.

“Whatever it is, I just hope this doesn’t come back to bite us in the butt.”

“Tucker! Don’t jinx it! Can’t you just let Danny enjoy some good karma after everything he goes through?” Sam said, kicking Tucker in the shin. Not a minute passed when Danny’s ghost sense abruptly went off and screaming was heard.

“Argh! Tucker why couldn’t you just keep your mouth shut?” Danny groaned as he ducked into a near-by broom closet and shifted into phantom, zipping off towards the source of the screaming.

He arrived at the cafeteria to see an unidentified green blob gripping a certain redhead around the waist and flailing him about. Most of the other students and lunch ladies were already evacuating, but Danny noticed Dash staying behind flinging lunch trays at the ghost like frisbees trying to get it to drop the redhead. The agitated ghost tossed the poor frazzled redhead out the swinging cafeteria doors and moved to block Dash from escaping.

“Dash hide!” Danny called out, ramming into the ghost shoulder first so get its attention off Dash. The creature growled in agitation, flinging tables at Danny and unfortunately for Dash, unintentionally barricading the doors.

Danny hurled ecto-blasts at the ghost, dodging the slimey punches it was hurling out from its body and blocking a few of the hits with his shields. He skidded across the ground when the beast managed to land a hit on the ghost boy, groaning as he pushed himself up. He threw a few ice shard attacks at the ghost, managing to impale its gelationus form. The creature screeched in anger, shooting globs of sticky goo at Phantom, gluing him to the wall. It growled triumphantly and approached Phantom menacingly. Danny panicked, struggling to free himself from the goo.

“Hey! Over here!” Dash yelled, throwing random debris at the ghost to get it away from Danny. The ghost roared at Dash, furious that it was interrupted yet again. It hurled punches at Dash how just barely dodged them and chased him into a corner. It absorbed the ice shard Danny threw at it and reared up preparing to strike. Danny’s eyes widened and he pulled himself free with a sudden burst of strength.

“No!” He flew full speed towards Dash, throwing up a hasty shield. Dash screamed in terror as the shard flew towards him, his eyes closed as he held his arms up in front of himself.

There was a sound of glass shattering followed by a blast of cold. He lowered his arms to see Phantom standing in front of him, while the creature stood frozen looming over them. He let out a sigh of relief when he noticed he was uninjured and cheered for Phantom for saving him in the nick of time. He reached forward gave the ghost a congratulatory pat on the shoulder, but he didn’t expect him to suddenly cry out in pain.

Phantom hunched over, yelling in pain as he clutched at something in front of him. Dash rushed around Phantom and gasped in horror as he saw the giant icicle that was protruding from Phantoms stomach. He rushed forward, unsure of what to do. He had seen some pretty bad injuries on the field, but never anything quite as bad as this. He was way out of his depth, but Phantom looked like he needed all the help he could get.

“Phantom! Oh god this is really bad. I’ve never dealt with anything this bad before. What do I do? What do I do?” Dash rambled in a panicked tone. Danny shakily unhooked the thermos from his belt, but fumbled and dropped it onto the floor. Dash scooped it up and looked at Phantom.

“P-Point it… at the g-ghost. The green bu- *cough* -button.” Danny struggled, his form trembling in pain. Dash did as instructed and the frozen beast was swiftly sucked into the thermos, the ice holding it in place crumbling to the ground. Danny collapsed on his side, suddenly losing his support. He curled up and hacked out some ectoplasmic blood.

“You need help. I’ll -uh- call an ambulance or something. Maybe they can help.” Dash knelt next to the fallen ghost, gentle setting the thermos down on the ground beside him.

“No! N-no hospital.” Danny wheezed. He reached down and begin to wrench the shard from his gut, his face scrunched up as he slowly pulled it out. Dash grasped his wrist to stop him, the sudden jerk causing another wave of pain to course through Danny’s body.

“Don’t! You’ll bleed out!” He said in a panic trying to stop Phantom, who despite his weakened state was still somehow stronger than Dash. He tried to pry Phantom’s fingers off the shard.

“Need… Need to remove… to heal…” Danny panted, yanking it out in one swift motion before curling in on himself in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus on his breathing, ectoplasm leaking from his lips. The world felt fuzzy and he could feel his consciousness slipping from his grasp.

“Don’t t-tell…” Danny voice was just a whisper as he tried to get his eyes to focus on Dash, but within moments he had passed out, slumping to the floor.

“Don’t tell what- Phantom no! Stay with me man!” Dash exclaimed, trying to shake the ghost awake.

Suddenly there was a bright flash as two rings burst from the ghostly hero’s waist, splitting and travelling over his prone form before vanishing into thin air. When Dash’s eyes finally he adjusted, he looked down to see-

“FENTON WHAT THE FUCK?”

-----------------------------

chapter 2 of 4

part1 part2 part3 part4

sorta angsty reveal, hopefully this is what you had in mind!

#Late night dog walks #danny phantom

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heyheyitsstillgay · 4 years

Text

Respect the Dead

Phandom Phic Phight Entry #2 based on a prompt from @whosvladagain

#TeamGhost team leader @ibelieveinahappilyeverafter

Previous Entry ; Also available on FFN ; Next Entry

Words: 3,635; Status: Complete

TW: Panic, Vomit mention, themes of death.

Okay, he looks significantly less friendly than Wulf. Though, perhaps a tad nicer than Cujo's angry form. Maybe Danny can calm him down, slowly lead him somewhere safer. Coax him away from Casper High, without getting into a fight that promises to be filled with sharp teeth and claw marks. Clockwork forbid the school bell goes off when a ghost wolf who clearly has a lot of pent up anger is stalking the halls not far from the gym.

"Easy, boy." Phantom mutters, hand stretched in front of him in what he hopes is a non-threatening manner. When he first tried to aim the thermos at him the ghost-wolf lashed out. Danny's unsure if the animal knows what the thermos can do, or is aware it's a threat, or perhaps is confusing the metallic contraption for a gun. Either way the ghost boy is too close to the animal right now to try anything like that again without getting his glove bitten off. Sure, his Hazmat got ruined all the time, he's slightly more concerned about the hand residing in the glove though. It would be nice to return to class in one piece rather than partially digested by a wolf or exposed to some kind of spectral rabies. Maybe? Do ghosts have rabies? Okay, we'll be wondering if bacteria has the possibility for an ecto afterlife when we're in a slightly less half-life threatening situation, perhaps.

Danny keeps his knees bent and his stance wide to improve his balance and increase his reaction time whilst still making himself smaller in hopes of appearing less threatening. He moves around the spirit in a circle, not wanting to risk getting any closer. Maybe if he can find a blind spot he can shoot the thermos from there. He's hesitant to put distance between them. Surely the last thing to do when faced with a growling wild animal, is give chase. Would the animal freak if he floated or phased? Was hiding in the air vents a really idiotic plan?

Given the direction he was walking he was about to hit a wall, or rather go through it and into the boys locker room. If he left the wolf's line of sight he had no doubt it would bolt after him. After all, Phantom's the only person the wolf has seen here, if he's going to try to hunt anyone down then it's him. Class is still in session so there's no humans nearby enough for the wolf to go after.

There is a door to the boys locker room which would make entry less hazardous than phasing, he thinks. Going through that entrance however would require moving closer to the beast, which isn't going to happen.

Side hitting the wall, he phases through. From within the plasterboard he kicks upwards into the ceiling as he hears the crash of the animal splintering the wooden door open. Great. More property damage. He floats into the air ducts and regains his solidity. For some reason the crashing sound hasn't stopped. The wolf is yelping, growling, whimpering, the clattering going on sounds almost metallic as it echoes through the vents. Danny tentatively places his fingers onto the walls around him. Tail rippling as he meanders forward, slowly, towards the light leaking in from below, the grates of the vent. If he can aim the thermos through it unnoticed, then that's this confrontation solved.

"Damn it! Pesky mutt!" Danny freezes as a deep voice reverberates from below. "Where did he go?!" It growls as a sickening splat cuts through all other sounds of chaos. Danny's habit of breathing stops as he remains as still as he can. That sound… that wasn't good.

The smell of copper and formaldehyde bites at his nose hairs and he almost chokes. He can taste it at the back of his throat against the rising acid. Ectoplasm.

That wasn't all, Skulker is down there. Quiet settling over them that yelled louder in his ears than anything previously from that room.

The wolf was gone. Must have been. Scent alone told him that much. Smoky as though it's very ectoplasm had been grilled. He knew the smell of destabilisation. Skulker swore. Why could Danny smell pine needles now? And fresh grass? Why did that make the urge to vomit even harder to suppress?

He doesn't want to see, doesn't want to know. Unbidden, his body floats forward without him telling it to. He reaches the grate, can finally see the state of the locker room below him. Pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks, his throat closes at the sight.

Skulker isn't looking at him, fortunately, though it's clear the hunter can sense his prey is still nearby. The wolf, the bait, Danny realises, is barely recognisable. It's clear where it happened, a glowing blue net loose against the wall next to the door. With his enhanced hearing, Phantom can hear the net humming faintly. Was it, supposed to do this? The halfa wonders to himself.

Chunks of green lie below the net, barely touching it. Ectoplasm was usually viscous, think cornstarch in water, able to change between thin liquid and liquid thick enough to stand on its own. The chunks down there looked more like raw lime jello. With lines of black from where it had clearly made contact with the net. Dark smoke continued to rise from it in wisps. None of the discernibly wolf features remained. A light in the pile, a natural forest green compared to the now dark rotting green of the rest, it glowed like a flickering light. Something was oozing from it, but it wasn't ectoplasm, it was something deeper, more important, vital. It evaporated into mist immediately after contact with the air. The wolf's core had ruptured, cracked, shattering, it was bleeding out right in front of them and neither of the ghosts were trying to do anything about it. There wasn't anything they could do. An involuntary shiver wracks Danny's body as another wave of tree bark and pine passes over him.

They shouldn't be so close, this is so incredibly personal. No one should be looking at this, no one should be smelling this. But the animal died with them. It shouldn't be alone for this. It's too much, a new level of suffering and death that no spirit should ever have to go through. It's essence and soul is clinging to the scents in the air around them. Phantom and Skulker are the only people who can accept it, so they must.

It takes another fourteen minutes for the glow to leave the core and the smell around them to disperse. After which time, Skulker lowers his head. Placing a hand against his chest plate, the hunter mumbles an apology in ghost speak before he turns tail and leaves the room through the wall. This was hardly a situation to continue the hunt, so he doesn't.

Danny didn't like toast already, why the hell would Skulker have a ghost toaster? It was barbaric. Intentional core damage was very taboo, by everyone's standards, not just Walker's. The ghost boy moves through the vent and descends until he drops onto the floor by his toes. Neither of them have moved the net or disturbed the remains. Regular ectoplasm would evaporate naturally over time, he hopes that's able to happen now. He feels a slight territorial growl at the thought of any humans interfering with the animal husk. Glaring at the splintered door, he drags a bench in front of it. Stepping back with his head at a tilt, he uses his ghostly strength to stack another bench on top of it, in hopes that the humans would get the message. Stay Out. Sighing to himself, he mumbles a "good luck" in ghost speak before turning and leaving via the wall.

"Oh good grief." Ms Tetslaff grumbles as she passes the boys locker room on her way to the gym. She doesn't care who did it but if she does find out who then they're in for one hell of a kickboxing match. She slams her fist into her other palm and cracks her knuckles. How could someone cause chaos like this on tonight of all nights!? They needed to have the gym looking it's best! If she discovers even a hint of disturbance in that room too, she just might lose it.

The gym is fine, thankfully. Principal Ishiyama is in there with Mr Falluca, discussing the layout for the room. Tonight was supposed to be prom night, they had around 5 hours to decorate before students were meant to be arriving. Laraine calms herself and marches over to the folded tables to set them up along the wall.

"An Inspector Calls! Laraine!" Edward Lancer poked his head through the doors to the gym, exasperated. "Could you lend us a hand please? It seems that door has been barricaded from the inside, as well as broken into pieces!" Mrs Tetslaff nods and sets down the table she was carrying.

Ghosts then? She huffs. At least that means the students will live to see another day, unless the culprit is still inside. In which case they won't be having anything to do with tonight's celebrations if she gets a say in it. She punches her arm through the wide crack in the wood and grasps tightly onto the edge of whatever's blocking it beneath. Bracing her shoulders against the door, she flicks her wrist and shoves against it. They all hear the clatter of the barrier as she steps back and slams against the door again. This time it gives, they force through into the room.

Mrs Tetslaff's eyes dart around the mess. Yep, definitely ghosts. Wheeling his cleaning cart next to her, the long suffering janitor heaves a huge sigh and grumbles to himself. She shoots him a sympathising look before returning to the gym with Edward.

In the past, proms at Casper had always had themes; Medieval times, Fantasy, 70's night. Some genius on the PTA decided this year's should have a supernatural theme. Oh the hilarity. Some adults were in one corner blowing up black balloons and preparing to decorate the walls with the Halloween supplies, while the librarian and Mr Falluca seemed to have had the idea of putting an orange feather boa on the skeleton from the biology department. As if that could only ever end well. Mrs Tetslaff finished setting the tables up, lined with black plastic table cloths, ready for punch, nibbles and candy.

"Oh for- The Legend of Sleepy Hollow!" Laraine marches over to the exasperated English teacher.

"Whatever is it now, Edward?" The man was reaching the end of his tether and responds only by shoving the Halloween bunting into her hands.

"Ah." Or rather, the remains of the Halloween bunting. Disintegration appears to have occurred while it was in the box. Although, upon closer inspection, the plastic maintains an unnatural cold and there are faint scorch marks at the edge of the ribbons. Ghosts, again. So they were going to have a prom in a room with a skeleton and a lot of black balloons, seems more like a particularly gothic funeral than a celebration for teenagers.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Mr Lancer sighed, picking through the box and watching it all turn to dust at his fingertips.

"Quit mopin'," she began, "I'm sure we'll think of something. I'll head to the shops and see if there's anything I can find."

"But it's the middle of May?!" He exclaimed, she simply levelled him a glare and stepped towards the gym doors with heavy feet.

On her way out when she crossed paths with the janitor, something in particular catches her eye. She does a double take, taps the elderly man on the shoulder and points towards the object in question.

"Can I borrow this?" She asks, "I might just have had a really good idea." She remembers the art teacher is stood just a room away, he is going to love this.

The trio had left for prom a tad early, expecting to be caught up in ghost attacks and ending up fashionably late. None of them want to inconvenience any dates so they've decided to go together as friends, just in case. If somehow no ghosts attack and Tucker ends up meeting someone he likes while they're there, then good for him. Danny and Sam will just have to despair at his absence. As if they don't have the pleasure of seeing him everyday.

For once in their lives, however, Amity was actually being pretty quiet tonight. The trio are left to their own excitement for the upcoming party. Tucker is smiling gleefully, pride rolling from his shoulders over his hand-made costume.

"I say we have a contest tonight, see how many girls Danny Phantom can get, versus how many girls the far superior, younger, fresher, finer, Tucker Phantom can get?" He brushes his fingers through his white anime wig and glances over to his friend.

While said friend is undeniably Danny Phantom, at this time he's just Danny Fenton, black hair, red trainers and blue jeans. The only difference being his shirt, while still white, this shirt has black text that reads 'Nobody knows I'm dead.'

"Or you can spend tonight enjoying yourself in ways that don't involve pressuring someone into showing you affection." Sam rolls her eyes playfully at her friend.

"You're just jealous that you couldn't put together a cool ghost cosplay in time!"

"Um- you think I'm a cool ghost?" Danny cracked a smile.

"Hell yeah man, you're friends with me aren't you? That alone makes you the coolest, never mind the awesome super powers and the teen idolisation." The halfa just shakes his head and feels his cheeks heat in response.

"For the record," Sam spoke up "I don't feel the need to dress up as a ghost, not to infringe on or appropriate the culture of spirits or anything, but I'm dead inside all the time anyway. I can be a creature of the night any old day of the week." she stated with pride. It's not like she isn't making an effort, this year she has a black gothic dress with green and gold detailing, no one questions how she is able to speak so clearly with those fangs in her mouth again.

"Speaking of effort," Tucker redirects his attention, "Hey Danny, what happened to cutting some holes in a bed sheet and layering them over that outfit? You know no one's going to get that t-shirt, right?"

"Firstly, you've met my dad. In what universe is it safe to walk within 9 yards of him with a bed sheet over your head, regardless of species. Secondly, you guys get the t-shirt and I'm not wearing it for any one else, I'm wearing it for me because it is hecking hilarious. I paid good money for this online okay? You can't take this away from me, I won't let you." He pouted exaggeratedly at Tucker while the teen giggled at the imagery of Jack Fenton single handedly destroying a whole bed section of a store.

Turning into Casper High, Sam's heels click against the concrete as they walk towards the back entrance to the gym. An aged looking banner adorns the entryway, the double doors are closed. Nearby stood the ticket stand, the line for which is considerably short, though it makes sense considering how early in the night it is.

The trio slow their pace as they near the queue. A slight chill is in the air, Sam folds her arms into her torso, Tucker's jaw clenches, something like liquid nitrogen tries to crawl up Danny's throat. It's not too unusual, it's early evening but more notably - they live in a ghost town. Usually there's plenty of cold spots dotted around the place, even more so when the halfas are around, which is why he's not particularly off put. That is, until the couple at the front of the queue head inside, the moment the door cracks open.

A sense of foreboding increases tenfold. The first thing that hits him is the smell. It's odd but his head still snaps up and his breathing slows instinctively. He's not sure why it has his attention. It reminds of cheap watered down bleach, or the stuff he uses to clean his parents lab when there's been a particularly bad explosion that demands his attention. It looks fairly dark inside, but there's an unpromising quality to it, a light glow that resonates within him. Eyebrows creasing, Danny remains silent as the three teens take a few steps forwards in line.

Eye contact is maintained with the door the whole wait. If Sam and Tucker notice his examining gaze then they don't comment on it. Next time the door opens it has his full attention. The room, it almost has an aura of its own. His core doesn't poke towards it in curiosity like it would a ghost and obviously his ghost sense hasn't gone off, so what's going on? Maybe there's some kind of giant ghostly relic that's somehow found its way into his school gym. Okay, that sounds stupid. They're almost in anyway, he'll see what's happening for himself then.

When they reach the table the ghost boy doesn't spare a glance for whoever's manning the stall. He simply slams his money down and marches over to the door, arms outstretched. With a tug of the handle he drags the door wide open.

The lights are off, but it's not pitch black. The walls are covered with something that he's certain everyone else here is under the delusion of being glow in the dark paint. It forms shapes that dance across the walls, little characters whose faces are mock attempts of scary, but it's not the smiles that are sinister. His friends are at his side as the realisation settles further. That is not glow in the dark paint.

Yes, it smelt like his parents basement. Ectoplasm mixed with disinfectant. He recognises the smell now there isn't a barrier in the way. His pupils faded from his eyes as realisation dawned, exactly where this ectoplasm was from, who this ectoplasm was from. Green is all he can see, it's swarming his senses, filling his oesophagus, thrashing against his sides.

No, that wasn't the ectoplasm. People had their hands on him, grabbing him, holding him, trying to drag him one way or another. It feels like he's drowning but his mouth is dry, his chest is constricting. Faintly, a part of him is surprised that his soul hasn't left his body yet. His core is flaring, trying to reach out.

He wants to hunt down whoever is responsible, wants to hurt them. Wants to rip the building down by shaping the ectoplasm in his fingers into claws, wants to chase everyone away and carefully peel the remains from the walls and find somewhere safer to put them. Idiot. Leaving someone's final remains in a public school. What were Skulker and himself expecting from humans?

Woah, back up. Stop. He could calm down from this. Blinking, his eyes burn with un-shed tears. He grips the grass between his fingers until his knuckles turned white. He releases a shaky breath and takes another one. Regaining his bearings, it registers that he's sat in the grass a little away from the building but still on school grounds. His head feels too heavy for his neck to hold, so he drops it. Facing down towards his knees, he clasps his eyes shut and focuses on evening his breathing to that of a regular human being. He shoves down the panic that rises as his vision is clouded by eyelids that carry a faint green tinge. His throat feels red raw now that the numbness is leaving his body, like someone had forced him to swallow acid. He hadn't vomited had he? He cracks his eyes open to check his surroundings. Tucker is sat next to him, hovering a hand over Danny's shoulder but hesitant to actually touch him. The techno-geek looks startled, the thumb of his left hand moving swiftly across his PDA as his eyes scan the text. Sam isn't nearby. She's a distance away, closer to the gym than she is to him, waving her hands frantically in the face of one of the chaperones.

Danny rubs the heels of his hands against his eyes and fully raises his head. The movement draws a flinch out of his best friend whose head snaps up to check over him with wide eyes.

"You okay, man?" The boy asks, voice soft and steady, "Blood Blossoms gone?" "Blood Blossoms?" the halfa croaks, hand clutching at his throat in a vain attempt to fix the cracks. "Yeah, it looked pretty bad. I couldn't see the red lightning like last time though. I was trying to check if there was some other subspecies with slightly different properties, we couldn't see the circle anywhere either. You seemed kind of… mad when we tried to get you away but you started to calm down after a minute or so, so like…" He trails off and smiles reassuringly, Danny pretends not to notice the dark circle beginning to blossom on his friend's jaw or the feeling of drying red blood cracking beneath his own fingernails. The trembling across his form is dying down as he shakes his head slowly. "That wasn't-" His voice creaks and he tries again "wasn't Blood Blossoms. Th-they, um…" biting his cheek to centre himself, he swears, it comes out as a shaky whisper.

"What kind of awful, terrifying creature, lines their walls with the blood and broken soul of the dead and gone?"

Based on WhosVladAgain’s Prompt: They're doing prom decorations and ran out of glow in the dark paint; luckily ectoplasm does too…

#panic //#emetophobia //#death //#its like a minor ghost character its fine #i just saw this prompt and was like 'im sorry how is that not ominous as hell??'#phic phight #phic phight 19 #phic phight 2019 #own post #owly writes #teamghost #danny phantom #danny fenton #((the net was supposed to get hot enough to make a halfa transform back into human form))#ficlet

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