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murphy-kitt · 8 months ago

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Ectoberhaunt Day 1 - Past

Word Count: 1822

AO3

When Jack and Maddie unexpectedly request Alicia take in Danny, she can’t help but worry that there are deeper problems at hand.

Tags: Angst, Slight Injury

—

It was an intervention, they had said. Some time away for him to deal with what had happened. The quiet din of the farm would be better for Danny than the constant clamour of Amity Park.

What has happened, Alicia still doesn’t know.

She sits at the kitchen table, the dogs circling around her feet. It’s only ever been her, Jip and Alec for a while now, at least since her last divorce.

And now Danny should be arriving soon. Of course, she loves her niece and nephew, even if it has been sometime since she’s seen them. The boy, she thinks, was obsessed with space. The girl, intuitive and a bit too in tune with the human psyche.

Alicia sips her coffee, pondering over what could be so bad it forced Maddie to take such a drastic decision. Amity Park and Spittoon aren’t exactly a stones throw away from one another.

There had been an accident of sorts, she remembers. Something to do with that ridiculous laboratory. An electric shock, was it?

But that was nearly a year ago. And Maddie hadn’t sounded half as concerned on the phone about that incident than the current predicament.

Then, she’s taken out of her thoughts by Jip whining, a high pitch that makes her ears ring.

‘Shush, you.’ Alicia scolds, chair scraping the tiled floor as she gets up. The collie dog paces to the door, the sputtering of an engine dying outside.

They’re here. Alicia’s not sure what to expect as she grabs the door handle, yanking it down with extra strength. She’s been too busy to fix that—but now it’ll be backlogged even more with Danny’s arrival.

It’s hard to miss the large tank currently imposing over her tiny house, gadgets arraying green and silver on the roof that she has no clue of.

“Alicia!” That’s the sound of one Jack Fenton leaping out the side of the..thing. Alicia doesn’t miss the clear bags under his eyes, the strain to his voice.

“Do I have to be here?” A sarcastic tone.

Danny is tiny. Alicia nearly topples over in shock, her hand finding the doorframe and feet cementing to the porch stairs. Jip whines, perceptive to the change.

Last time she saw him, a good few years, her nephew had been chatty and incessant about space. He’d always been small, a given since he was born six weeks premature. But this..it’s different.

He’s sickly. Frail. There’s a gauntness to his cheeks, a sharp edge where he was once rounded out with baby fat. His limbs are toothpicks, white needles marred with blemishes and blotches. A bandage twines around Danny’s left arm, clinging on as if it’s holding him together.

His clothes are filthy, torn and stained with green. She remembers Maddie mentioning...ectoplasm, perhaps? But after the accident, she thought Danny would have avoided the lab. At least that’s where she assumes it came from.

“Come in.” Alicia barely stutters through, shoving the door open. “Maddie not with you?”

“No.” Jack's demeanour instantly darkens. He turns to Danny, “I’ll get your things out the car, son. You go in.”

“Fine.” Danny folds his arms, scowling.

Great. Seemingly Danny’s sarcastic phase has set in, just another thing to deal with during this enigmatic stay. How long he’s staying for, Alicia doesn’t actually know. The weekend? Weeks? The whole summer?

They both enter the house, Danny begrudgingly following behind her like a lost puppy. As does Jack, two small duffel bags in his hands.

“Right son, I’ll leave you to it then?” Jack says, moving forward towards Danny, arms outstretched.

“Yeah, dad.” Danny takes a step back, hands in his pockets. Jack falters, the smile disappearing from his face.

“Oh—sorry, Danny. Your arm. I’ll—“

And with that, Jack vacates her small cabin, leaving only her and Danny standing around the table. He’s hunched over, like he’s being scrutinised. Or would rather be anywhere else.

What the hell happened?

—

“You’re in on it, aren’t you?” Is the first thing Danny says to her the next morning.

“What?” Is the only way she can respond as she pours milk into her cereal. Danny regards her, his glare icy.

She’d barely slept last night, ruminating over what could’ve happened. A fall out between Danny and his parents? Had he broken something in the lab, gotten injured?

“Why else would Mom and Dad send me here?” Danny folds his arms, looking down into his bowl of uneaten cereal.

“I don’t know. They thought you needed a break? They’re concerned about you.” An honest answer.

“They haven’t been concerned about me. Care more about the ghosts.” He shoves his chin into his hands, voice muffled so Alicia can barely hear.

She won’t deny Jack and Maddie are…absent as best. But she knows they do care deeply about Danny.

“Is this what it’s about? They’re focused more on their work than caring for you and Jazz?” Alicia asks, feeling the dread pool in her stomach. “Something happened to you and you wished they’d notice?”

Suddenly, the kitchen drops a few degrees.

Although the fire is blasting in the next room over, Jip curled beside, the hairs prick on Alicia’s neck. Tension curdles in her stomach as she watches Danny tense his fists into his hair. Toothpick arms, trembling.

He’s not the same as he was a few years ago. Sure, teenagers are meant to grow, become snappy, but this isn’t sarcasm or wit.

It’s fear.

“Danny,” she reaches forward, despite the trembling in her hands.

His eyes snap up. Icy. Once kind, sweet. Now filled with terror.

“Nothing—nothing happened to me!” He stammers out.

Which means something did.

“I don’t. It wasn’t meant to come out like this. Mom and Dad, they saw me, and I didn’t think. Not all of it, but they saw something. And now Mom won’t talk to me, and now they’re suspicious.”

“Suspicious?” Alicia hesitates. Danny has a secret of sorts? That he’s scared of Jack and Maddie knowing. That Maddie refuses to talk to him.

“It was this.” Danny gives her a fleeting look before gesturing to his shoulder, where the bloody bandage is still wrapped. On closer inspection she sees that there’s flecks of green in the bandage. Ectoplasm?

“You got into the lab? That ectoplasm stuff?”

“No, Aunt Alicia.I—I bleed it.”

What. Alicia’s ears ring as she shoves her chair back, the shrill noise echoing throughout the room. Rounding the table, she goes to Danny’s left.

“Can I?” She asks cautiously, gesturing to his arm.

The hesitance is clear in his posture, shoulders hunched by his ears, eyes wide, unblinking (were they always that blue?).

“You really don’t know, do you?” Danny mumbles, realisation seeping into his gaze. “They didn’t bring me here because they wanted you to get info.”

“You think they’d do that?” Alicia responds, trying to repress how appalled she is, both at his parents and his arm. The injury is far unlike anything she’s even seen, and living on a farm brings a range of afflictions.

Green bruises mottle most of the skin, from dark to lighter patches. It’s a burn of sorts, a mixture of green and red like a dated Christmas store.

“How’d you get this?” Alicia asks, as Danny tenses uncomfortably.

“Does it matter?” he deflects. “I’ve been like this for ages now.”

Ah. The green blood. Bleeding ectoplasm. What was a while back?

“Was it..was it your lab accident?” Alicia tenses. Now that she thinks, she can remember the phone call from Maddie, excitedly telling her about their ‘portal’, their life’s work. And then an extra tidbit about Danny having an electric shock, but that he was okay and seemed fine.

What if it had been worse, and Danny hadn’t told his parents?

“What if it was? What if it..changed me?”

”Look, kid. Trauma from that accident doesn’t mean you’ve changed, you’re still the sa—“

”It’s not like that, okay?! Sure, with the amount of psychoanalysis Jazz does on me, we know the accident traumatised me. But it’s not that.” Danny interrupts, twisting on his chair to face her.

Alicia pauses. Lets herself take a step back from Danny and sit back down, breakfast forgotten.

It’s clear this is serious. Alicia hates to think of the implications. Danny was in an accident much more serious than first thought. And not only he his hid it from his parents in fear of them finding out whatever it’s done, but they’ve never noticed.

How long ago was that accident? A year? And her sister and Jack had never noticed anything wrong until whatever had injured Danny had come to their attention?

”Okay, kid. I get it.” She puts her hands up in a placating gesture. If the accident was seriously altering, then it’s not something she wants to go interrogating him about. “How’d you get your wound?”

“What?!” The switch of topic has Danny sputtering, looking down at his arm. He regards her with narrowed eyes. “Why’d you want to know?”

”So I can re-bandage it. Is it a burn?” She gets up from the chair, opening the drawer besides the sink. Suddenly, Jip and Alec burst through the kitchen door, tails wagging.

”It’s not treats, you silly pair!” The dogs curiously nudge at Alicia’s legs as she approaches back to Danny, bandages and burn cream at hand.

”Yeah, a burn. Ectogun.”

”An ectogun. Isn’t that your pa—?”

”Yup.” Danny licks his lips, looking away, as if he’s considering something. “They didn’t know it was me.”

What?

”They shot you?!” This time, there’s no hiding the horror in her voice. This has to be a mistake. An awful, horrible accident. Maddie and Jack wouldn’t shoot Danny deliberately, they couldn’t. Wouldn’t.

Maybe they hadn’t seen him? Out ghost hunting and he’d got caught in the fray?

”Yeah…” Danny replies. “The accident, when I say it changed me..I look different?”

”What, you’re a ghost?” Alicia scoffs. Maybe it’s her mind trying to find reprieve in the absolute bombshell, to try and find humour.

Then she sees the trembling hands, the frozen posture. Temperature of the room dropped. Jip and Alec pacing, ears pinned back, needle-focused on Danny.

”You—y’know that one Mom goes on about?” Danny’s breath hitches, his eyes bleary, “The one she’s got a real hatred for, the one she wants to dissect?”

She can’t forget. Phantom. News channels have never reached Spittoon with ghost news, but there’s no need, since Maddie likes to update her.

How Phantom is evil, the terror of Amity Park. Yet how he’s different, somehow more complex and never sticks to a routine like the others—how she’d love to capture him.

’That ghost terrorises us, Lise. The day me and Jack capture it, imagine the breakthroughs we’d have. The research potential!”

Phantom, the ghost Maddie wants to experiment on.

Phantom, the ghost that is Danny.

Alicia feels sick.

#danny phantom #ectoberhaunt24 #ectober 2024 #eh past #danny fenton #alicia #maddie fenton #jack fenton #tw injury #identity reveal

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sheepheadfred · 8 months ago

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Ectoberhaunt Day 9: Fall

Summary: Right on the heels of that ghost pirate ship raid and subsequent rescue of their parents, school feels off with some pretty notable people treating him quite differently. Though the only person who hasn't yet caught on is the object of all their affections and attention, Danny Fenton.

direct continuation of [day 8]

(5 times someone started acting weirdly/caught feelings +1 time they all came together and Danny realizes what's been going on)

AO3 link

Dash:

Fenton was actually kind of cool last night! What is this world coming to?

But also humble? He wouldn't accept any compliment and while Dash gets it, but c'mon! He got all of them to fight a ghost pirate crew and soloed the captain. That has to mean something to him!

...

Right?

Fuck! Now Fenton has him concerned. Made such an impression it kind of feels wrong to use his usual demeaning nicknames for him, too.

He can't get it out of his head. That Fenton taking his aggression out on that ghost was a little hot. He's not supposed to feel like this! He's probably just concerned it will be turned on him next!

Yeah, that must be it!

Fenton is so scrawny, of course he'd be worried! He's able to do all of that while still being such a stick of a person. It also feels wrong, though, with how badly he takes care of himself. He's badass but too skinny. Dash wonders if it's because of whatever freaky stuff goes on at that house with his freaky parents. His sister never seemed to have that issue, after all! But he really doesn't know anything about their home lives to know for sure.

Besides his sister was the total package with beauty and brains so, why is he more drawn to the wimp? That's not how it's supposed to go!

Is he really a wimp if he's just hiding what he can do and chooses not to use it?

Maybe if he got him healthier this feeling would go away? Worth a shot at least. He can last in a fight working on adrenaline but what about day to day? No wonder he hates gym!

At school, though, old habits threatened to resurface even as they felt wrong.

Slamming his hand right next to Fenton's head to block him in, he belatedly realized their positions looked a lot like that 'kabedone' (?) pose Paulina fantasizes about. Mainly with Phantom. He just stands there as his brain resets, face on fire, as Fenton just looked at him. A face journey going from surprised to fearful to annoyed and now to worry and concern.

"Uh, Dash? If this is supposed to be a 'congratulatory' beating or something to get back into the swing of things, can you get it over with before class? ... Ooor not? I get last night was wild but, like, maybe you need the nurse? I'm just... gonna... gooooo then?" the nerd rambled before he could fully process any of his words and then bailed when he didn't answer fast enough.

Lame

His concerned gaze and strained smile as Dash stood there caught him off guard.

Of course the loser with freaky parents acted like that. He must be making fun of me! No other reason he's making me feel like this! Gotta be a trick!

Trying to logic it out to himself or not, it's hard to deny that he shouldn't be concerned over him with how Dash has treated him. His undeserved kindness continues to shine though only now he can see it for what it is no matter how hard he tries to reason it to be something else. Something more acceptable to the people around him. Despite the hope starting to burn in him.

In class, he tosses a protein shake at Fenton's head and unsurprisingly, at least now anyway, he caught it.

"Fenton, if you do those crazy stunts all the time you might as well bulk up!"

Confused but seemingly thankful, he just nods before turning to the front as the teacher walked in. Both electing to ignore what happened earlier.

HA! He took it! My job is done.

If only he could convince his heart of that.

Is this how he's always felt or is it just starting? Did he start because the grown ups deemed it ok and never stopped him? Or was it just pressure from home? Or all of it? He's afraid to know the answer.

Paulina:

Dash has been acting weird. And not the fun kind of weird. First, he kabedon'ed Fenton and then he offered one of his protein shakes? Not just the generic kind, the good stuff he usually keeps to himself, too!

She decides to interrogate him during lunch with the rest of their group of friends. Still, she can sort of understand why even if her heart belongs to Phantom.

Even if Fenton did have a charm to his dorky side and can be attentive and kind. And brave.

He never shows that last quality most of the time anyway.

Didn't he not want credit out of fear of being forced to only have that life?

Like most boys in this school, he is clearly into her but as time went on he didn't let it control him.

So he has better self control than a lot of their peers, so what?

Nevermind that 'loser', her friend is off and it's time to get him to talk. Or at least distract him if he's not ready. It's usually the latter knowing him and the pressure he puts on himself.

On top of it being school hours.

"I can't get it out of my head," Dash confessed to her, "But, like, why do I find Fenton hot?"

She knows Fenton's friends act as his guard dogs sometimes for one reason or another. And Manson would sooner wear pink than let it happen for either of them.

All she could do was pat his arm as she turned away, not wanting to admit she feels the same.

Valerie:

Damn!

That bullshit from last night still pisses her off!

First that earbleedingly bad music gets blasted everywhere. Then, and then! It turns out to be an evil plan by the no good ghosts and not just some cruise! Phantom didn't even show like the fake he is! And, while she knows this is not the worst part is feels the most humiliating, a good chunk of their grade level invaded Fentonworks for a party without inviting Fenton or her. Her, she can understand, but he lives there. That's just cruel!

And yet, he still somehow got them to listen to his plan.

She is admittedly still impressed.

It was fun to fight with him. He even gave her a name to go by! She never cared about a vigilante name of her own before but it feels special.

Helps that he's cute, too.

Goth girl refuses to make a move and Valerie might if she doesn't.

Dash and Paulina, too, now if how they've been acting is anything to go by. They did use to be her friends, so she still remembers their tells and hints.

And saw the 'Kabedon Incedent'. If he hasn't been such a bully she'd feel worse for him.

Even the rest of the week, they have been falling all over themselves in their own ways over him. At least Danny will willingly talk to her and they are kind of friends even when his friends don't approve. She hopes that they can all be friends one day, despite how hostile they can be.

"Hey, Danny. Anything crazy happen recently?"

"Nah, just the crazy amount of homework."

"Mr. Lancer didn't assign much this week?"

"I have late assignments and keep having to redo them. Mostly from my parents inventions making a mess everywhere. Not to mention running from ghost attacks, my bag gets singed at times just for being my bag."

"Oof, I see what you mean there!"

The two share a laugh before splitting up.

He's always been fun to talk to. At least after I started giving him a chance. Was I just too stuck up and angry to see this side of him, before?

Sam:

Sam was feeling pretty good about herself!

Bringing back quality music to this town and kicking some ghost butt using those dumb records as scratching boards.

Seeing Danny in the lead like that, getting even the likes of Dash to listen, was really cool.

The fact that even Valerie showed up was very unexpected. But you know how it goes, plans never go unscathed upon contact with the enemy and all. Probably for the best, anyway, that Danny didn't bring out Phantom if she was already on her way.

At least they seem to be starting to see how cool he truly is.

Sam did not like that Danny hung out with Valerie given she tries to kill him when he's Phantom. And yes, that is the only reason!

Stop asking!

Doesn't help that 'pretty in pink' and 'Mr. Angry Issues' keep trying to butt in. She was busy being the ammo in the skies disrupting their broadcast! All she knows is that Danny went feral on Youngblood's ass and now the two seem to be tripping all over themselves around him. Being 'nice' like they actually care. She'll believe they've changed for the better when she sees it. Because right now it seems like they're only doing this to flirt with him! And just!

She's not possessive, she just doesn't want her friend to get hurt is all!

At least that is all she will let herself believe.

Stop denying you want him to look at you like that...

Tucker:

That was awesome!

They got to fight and even win against those pirate ghosts as just kids with Fenton gear!

Too bad Danny couldn't be Phantom at all, though. That was the main reason he had to deactivate the ghost shield. They made it work without Phantom anyway.

Valerie showing up was the least expected thing, though. He thought she had a night off or something? There were so many adults he's not sure if her dad was there in the crowd.

Guess ghost hunting means no time off after all. Kind of like us. Except she wants to get rid of my best friend permanently and doesn't even know it. My guy is a bit too forgiving sometimes.

His best bro has been getting so confused that everyone is nicer to him since the raid they did on the pirate ship. Like his bravery or badassery leading and fighting with them wasn't amazing! Like his feralness to switch to kindness and jokes right after wasn't charming or endearing.

Like its that hard to believe people like him more now that they see more of what he can do and who he is besides the son of the town loons who just so happened to be right about this one thing.

His plan didn't end in public destruction or excess harm. Unlike when his parents go after a ghost or when a ghost tosses him around and he gets blamed for it!

He can be very mad on his bro's behalf because Danny won't be. He's always simmering under the surface for the injustice his friend deals with. Tucker knows Sam is, too. She's just louder about it while he tends to silently judge more often than not.

But he can see why some of them have started to catch feelings for him, even if most are in denial about it. Sam included. Like the queen of denial, holy shit!

As always its up to the best friend to get everyone on the same page.

After all, he has always liked his best friend even if its slowly became platonic but romantic love for him, too. He just wants his bro happy and he's the only one who can see Danny can be with all of them, platonic or romantic. Now he just needs to get through to everyone else, too.

Here's to hoping I survive this intervention.

(+1) Danny:

Man, Danny feels so much better after taking his aggression on Youngblood and those other pirates! Too bad Ember got away, but hopefully that means she wont show back up again for a while.

He just hopes people won't treat him too differently.

Don't get him wrong. He's grateful they helped keep it a secret with how fast they all hid the evidence, but he knows that's partially to save their own skins from their parents and gain his parents' attention.

Getting to fight by Valerie's, or he supposed now it'd be 'Red's, side without even a hint of her trying to shoot him was even better than getting to be Phantom. Though, he only couldn't be Phantom because she showed up.

Good thing, too. Had it been anyone else they'd be dead. At least He's already half way there and has a transformation.

But she has been warming up to Phantom at least, he thinks.

Fighting by Dash's side as an equal is something he never could have guessed would be so rewarding. He hasn't even threatened to beat him up since then!

He thinks?

Dash keeps giving him these weird shakes and powders, talking about working his muscles in what he thinks is supposed to be encouragement. He's been bullied for so long by him that he really can't tell if it's a prank. Still does it anyway because Dash keeps looking at him and he is very unsure if refusing would gain his ire. Especially when he started doing this.

As time moves on, he becomes more settled into this new normal. The kids who were there had enough social sway that he was able to get his grades up with some good tutoring and some good extra credit. His attendance still hurt but they were able to explain it as his parents wanted him to partake in ghost hunting, too! Not the whole truth but a great cover as no one will want to talk to his parents to confirm. It's like the cool kids have been taking 'nice lessons'.

Dash has been helping him build muscle, so now his human form isn't so weak that he can barely catch his breath just after a jog around the block... Or for when his powers are blocked in some way. Those weird shake things have been helping, too. Something safe to eat when the meat at home usually reanimates and they still have the ecto-weenies guarding the fridge, consuming almost anything put in there from ectoplasmic samples to fresh groceries.

Paulina has been strangely nice as well. She hasn't even made weird comments about or hit on him as Phantom as much. She gave him some make up tips when ghosts fights got bad enough he had bruises in human form once turning back. And he's kind of into it! It's fun playing with make up in a way he never expected like this. They now have a nail night where they work on each other's nail art and do facials together. They do it once a month together now. Star shows up when she can but sometimes it's hard to make all three schedules work with how busy school is and all the constant ghost attacks. During their hang outs she sometimes even calls him cute! That's so nice of her. Such a good friend compliment! He can tell because shes not using her mean or fake nice voice while saying it!

He and Valerie continue to grow closer as she teaches him some of her martial arts and encourages him to blather about space. He hugged her out of sheer excitement that he has someone else he can gush over his favorite thing to. Things are so much better between them now, even with her dislike of Phantom. They even teamed up together during Pariah's invasion a little bit ago as their alter egos and she offered him the chance to use the mech suit his parents made as Fenton. Though, she did threaten Phantom to make sure 'Danny' came back safely. Well, both him as Phantom and as Fenton to be safe. He could only promise to do his best given everything.

He's so glad she gave him a chance and he her. He first started offering her companionship out of guilt, but he has grown to truly care about her. His friends don't seem as hostile towards her anymore and now they all even hang out sometimes.

Sometimes Dash and Paulina are even in their friendly hang outs as well, old hostilities are forgotten or put aside, and he is thriving.

Sam still is her usual, prickly self. But it seems like she realized something about herself and others lately or something. Shes been getting along better with the other girls and seems to have come to an understanding of sorts with them. At least he thinks so. Danny is not entirely, sure but at least she has other things to do than get into another meat and veggies debate with Tucker. He hates having to meditate those!

And where would he be without his best of best bros? Tucker has always been his rock. Their whole lives he has been his closest companion practically since he would walk. He's always so chill and smart and skilled with his hands and just. He is grateful he remains in his life.

Or maybe half life? Let's not think about that right now.

Danny thinks he's starting to catch feelings for all his friends, not fully platonic feelings. And not just the girls and not just the new or old. But all five of his closest friends! Is he supposed to choose? He has too much love in his heart and fondness for them all at this point that it would hurt to forsake any of them like that.

Do they even feel the same way?

Would it be worth it?

He has new friends and they are all getting along now.

So why should he ruin such a nice thing for himself?

He was worrying about it so much that it worried the others and he didn't even notice.

Tucker grabbed his hand, dragging him out of his head.

"Where are we going?"

"Your intervention this time, dude. We've all been getting worried. You're pulling away, man! We all have something to say to you together and you're not getting out of it. This could help, bro."

They made it to an empty classroom during lunch. Everyone he was having a crisis about all in one place!

How was this supposed to help?!

At his confused and increasingly distressed reaction, everyone decided to just lay it all out there. All of their feelings and that they don't want to lose him.

Danny starts to cry. He doesn't want to choose or lose any of them, either. He's so relieved and overwhelmed that he can't stop.

"You do have two hands, Danny," Tucker reassured him, "You can choose one of us or all if you want. Hell, it doesn't even have to be romantic! You absolute goofball!"

"Wha? That's a thing?! You can have more than one? Wouldn't that be cheating?"

His concern and confusion was sweet. He truly didn't know and didn't want to hurt any of them, after all.

This time, Paulina and Sam teamed up.

"Danny, you sweet, feral teenage boy," Sam begins, "it's not cheating if all parties are ok with it. It's all about consent and communication. We are the ones bringing it up."

"The goth is right, sweetie. We all talked about it before. And who knows, maybe some of us will work better as platonic partners, we can figure that out down the line. But we can give it a try if you want."

He gave a wet laugh and the sunniest smile in response.

"Yes! I'd love to try it with all of you. Hope we can make this work!"

This really is the happiest Danny has been! He was so worried he could lose a friend if he confessed and they all like him! And that having multiple partners is allowed if they know! And! And!

He rushes in to give them all a hug at the same time. A group hug with their special, feral little guy in the center. Like he is in their hearts.

Yeah, this did make me feel better. Tuck sure was right about that!

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mossy-covered-bones · 8 months ago

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Day 4: Came Back Wrong

Written for @ectoberhaunt

Ao3

"What are you trying to say here, Tucker?"

He took a step back, putting a little more distance between him and the expression darkening Sam's face. "I'm not saying anything about you, I just…"

Other students hurried down the hallway around them, and Tucker couldn't help but doublecheck that nobody was paying them too much attention. "You have to've noticed how… off he's been. Since, y'know." He kept his voice low, just in case.

Sam rolled her eyes, spinning the dial on her locker. "C'mon, Tuck, you're just catastrophizing. He's still the same person." She pulled the padlock off and pulled the locker open.

"Is he?" he hissed, taking one more look around the hallway before leaning in to whisper behind the door of Sam's locker. "He hasn't been eating anything at lunch, and Jazz told me he's been skipping meals at home. She went to get a glass of water, in the middle of the night, and found him standing in the kitchen with the light off, staring at the basement door."

"Maybe he's just having nightmares," Sam offers up, shoving some textbooks from her bag onto the locker shelf. "People don't immediately bounce back from a near-death experience, he just needs time."

"It's been two weeks. Please, just admit that something went wrong," Tucker pleaded, begging her to see sense.

He'd helped, when something happened to Danny when they were messing around in his parents' basement, when he stopped breathing and they couldn't find a pulse. When Sam mentioned a book they'd found, and the two of them crossed their fingers, lit the candles, and swore not to tell anyone about what happened. Of course he did, Danny was his best friend.

"Please, Sam. I just want to help my friend."

"Our friend," she corrected him, slamming her locker shut. "I want to help him, too, Tucker. This is already loads better than it could've been, alright?"

Tucker grabbed her shoulder, holding her in place. "You still have the book, can't you just look for a way to fix it?"

She shook her head, shrugging him off. "I told you, we can't undo what we've already done."

Tucker sighed, following her to their next class.

Danny was waiting just outside the classroom door, eyes unfocused and backpack barely on his shoulder. Sam bumped her shoulder into his, and Tucker watched the slow reaction, the extra split second it took Danny's eyes to refocus on her, for the smile to spread across his face. He still looked a little lost, a little out of it, looking around like he hadn't expected to find himself in the hallways of Casper High.

But Danny was alive. It could've been much, much worse.

#ectoberhaunt24 #ectoberhaunt #ectober 2024 #sev writes #danny phantom #this one was fun

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ectoberweekofficial · 8 months ago

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Happy Ectober, everyone! And welcome back for the ELEVENTH annual Ectober Week!

As usual, we are releasing our poll for the prompts that will be chosen for this year's calendar!

For this year, we will once again be polling for GENERAL prompts as well as TWO SENTENCE HORROR STORY prompts. Examples of each can be found in the poll!

This poll will only be up until this Friday (October 4th). So get your responses in by then!

You can follow the ectoberweek happenings through this blog as well as our tag #ectoberweek2024

#ectoberweek2024 #ectober #ectober 2024 #danny phantom #phandom events

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ghostlyglimmer · 7 months ago

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Ectoberweek Day 31: He thought he'd been prepared to take off the mask on the hazmat suit and see what he looked like underneath. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Summary:

He thought he'd been prepared to take off the mask on the hazmat suit and see what he looked like underneath. He couldn't have been more wrong. The portal messed him up more than he thought.

Notes:

Finally finished Ectoberhaunt/Ectoberweek! I am SO PROUD OF MYSELF! This is the first time I've ever done an october/danny phantom event and I did EVERY DAY! A huge feat for me aaaaaa ;0;

Danny stood in front of the mirror, his fingers trembling as they hovered over the fasteners of his hazmat suit. His heart pounded in his chest, the rhythm unnatural, more of a low thrum than a proper beat. He had convinced himself that he was ready for this, that after weeks of sleepless nights, of nightmares and flashes of what had happened in the portal, he could finally face the truth.

Just a glance, he told himself. A brief peek to confirm that he was still himself under all of this — under the glowing eyes, the strange strength, and the eerie stillness of his pulse. It was just a precautionary suit, after all, something to contain his energy when he fought ghosts. At least, that’s what he had convinced himself it was. But now, as his fingers slowly undid the clasp, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible awaited him beneath.

The latch clicked open, and Danny felt his breath hitch in his throat. He wasn’t breathing, not really — not since the accident. He was pretending to breathe. The reality of that settled in the pit of his stomach, cold and unyielding, like a stone lodged where his warmth should be.

With a slow, deliberate motion, Danny peeled the suit away from his body. His eyes, glowing a harsh ectoplasmic green, locked onto the mirror.

At first, he saw that he had unusual pale skin, the white hair that had replaced his once-dark locks, and the faint glow that always seemed to cling to him in his ghost form. But as the suit fell away completely, his reflection twisted. Shifted.

His skin… no, it wasn’t skin anymore.

Danny’s breath—or the shallow imitation of it—caught in his throat. His face, his chest, his arms, his entire body, charred and burned, was revealed. Blackened skin, cracked and mottled like the surface of scorched earth, stretched over his bones. Green ectoplasm pulsed through the cracks, like veins of molten fire running just beneath his surface. His fingers twitched, and the motion caused flakes of charred flesh to crumble from his hands, only to be replaced by more seeping ectoplasm.

Oh God.

His eyes widened, horror seizing him as he stumbled back, hitting the bathroom wall. His reflection followed, the sickening reality of what he’d become staring back at him. This wasn’t just a ghost form. This wasn’t just some new transformation.

This was him — his real body.

“What… what the hell…” Danny whispered, though his voice cracked, barely audible. He reached a shaking hand toward his face, his fingers brushing against the charred remains of his cheek. The sensation was numb, like touching something distant, not really his own skin. His heart, that dull thrumming echo of a heartbeat, sped up, each pulse a painful reminder of the accident in the ghost portal.

Memories flooded back in fragmented flashes. The screams, the burning sensation, the searing light that had enveloped him when the portal had torn open and ripped through his body. He had never really seen what he looked like after the accident — he’d never wanted to. He had convinced himself that his ghost form was just another side of him, a reflection of his powers, of the energy that had saved him from the brink of death.

But he hadn’t been saved.

He had died.

The boy who had entered that portal was dead, reduced to ash and embers. What stood before him now was something else entirely—something that only wore Danny Fenton’s face when the hazmat suit was on. But beneath it, there was nothing human left.

Just this… charred, hollow corpse.

Danny’s legs gave out beneath him, and he slid to the floor, his back pressed against the cold tile wall. He clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the sight of his twisted reflection, but he couldn’t unsee it. The truth had sunk in, deep into his core.

He was no longer the boy who lived. He was the boy who had died. Everything since that accident, everything he had tried to hold onto—his family, his friends, his life—had been a lie. Phantom wasn’t just a mask or a persona. It was all that remained.

He let out a shaky breath, or at least tried to. It caught in his throat, more of a rasp than anything else. What would his parents say if they saw him like this? If they knew the truth of what had happened to their son? Would they even recognize him as Danny, or would they see him as just another ghost — just another monster to be hunted and destroyed?

He pressed his hand to his chest, feeling the unnatural smoothness of his charred skin, the faint vibration of ectoplasm flowing beneath it like blood. It was a grotesque mockery of life. He wasn’t healing, wasn’t recovering from this. This was him now. This was all he had left.

Tears pricked at his eyes, but even they were tinged green, drops of ectoplasm that burned as they rolled down his cheeks. He looked up at his reflection once more, his glowing eyes locking with the hollow, scorched thing staring back at him.

And for the first time since the accident, Danny Phantom understood just how much he had truly lost.

He wasn’t prepared to take off the mask — not now, not ever. Because the mask, the suit, the human skin he hid behind, was all that kept him tethered to the life he so desperately wanted to return to.

But the truth had always been waiting beneath. A truth as blackened and charred as the body he now inhabited.

And now, there was no hiding from it.

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aprocessionofthoughts · 8 months ago

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Ectoberhaunt 2024 Masterlist

prompts ao3

Pain Day 1- past TW- medical experimentation summary- they just wanted to cure him (continuation of DLM)

Family Vacation day 2- dinosaur tw- none summary- family vacations are the worst

Singing Songs and Being Kidnapped day 3- archaeology TW- none fandom- dp x dc summary- Danny is bored and is making it everyone's problem

Changes of the Ghostly Sort day 4- came back wrong TW- none summary- Danny's skin won't stop itching

The Best Laid Plans day 7- bury fandom- dp x dc TW- implied major character death summary- they can't let them win

Moon Walk day 8- spaceship tw- none summary- James is finally going to walk on the moon!

Fail Compilation day 9- fall tw- none summary- Danny has a lot of powers. Sometimes he forgets to use them

Outsiders day 10- creepy tw- none summary- Danny's always been a bit creepy. He is a Fenton after all.

Break In day 11- a dark and stormy night tw- none summary- Time to break into the school

Summoning day 12- isekai past prompt- occultism fandom- dp x dc tw- blood summary- They will not be too late

Central City day 13- old hero, new world fandom- dp x dc tw- none summary- Danny meets a parka man and a red pajama man

Something's Coming day 14- murder mystery tw- mentions of disappearances summary- Valerie has to do something

To Listen day 15- science fiction fandom- dp x dc tw - none summary- Danny hopes they will listen

To Change day 16- bloom tw-none summary- Sam can feel the energy thrumming underneath her feet

The Beginning day 17- gothic horror tw- none summary- It's getting worse

Are You My Brother? day 18- mirror image fandom - dp x dc tw- none summary- Danny just wants to enjoy his day off

Time day 21- analog fandom- dp x dc tw- none summary- Clockwork must do what is best for the time stream

Star City day 22- steampunk fandom- dc x dp tw- none summary- Danny encounters a Clockwork wannabe

Balance day 23- big bang tw- none summary- when time fell in love with space

Time Loop day 24- time loop tw- none summary- Danny just wanted more time to study for his test

#ectoberhaunt24 #masterlist

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piss-bread · 8 months ago

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Ectoberhaunt Day 4: Came Back Wrong

Complementary drabble and extra info under the readmore! Content warning for death mention.

Came Back Wrong: Drabble - 331 words

A white, clawed hand reached through the portal, gripping the metal edges on the left. Then a white boot. A face with impossibly sharp teeth. The rest of the creature stepped through.

Its eyes were the same base colour as the portal; bright green. One of them didn't even have a pupil, and the other had one that was quite cat-like. A lichtenberg figure branched across the left side of its face, glowing green as well. Its ears were long and pointed, pierced in 3 places each.

The thing that drew Tucker's attention the most, however, was the ball of blue-white energy in the center of its chest. Green lines spread out from it, almost like cracks. It radiated cold.

The creature's pupil dilated as it looked at them, and its ears perked up. "Are you guys okay?" It asked, voice rough like it had been shouting, and sounding like it was talking through a low-quality radio.

"What... are you?" Sam choked out.

"What do you mea-" It cut itself off as it looked down. "Oh."

The creature inspected itself with an expression of mixed horror and curiosity. It shivered after poking the thing in its chest with a claw.

"I'm dead, aren't I?" It asked no one in particular, ears drooping.

Oh... This was a ghost. Crap, that's a ghost.

The ghost ran its right hand through its hair. "Huh." It looked back at them, its expression and body language softening.

"I'm not gonna hurt you guys. I promise. Swear on my honor as a..." Its face darkened in thought.

Sam's eyes widened. It took Tucker a couple more moments of thinking.

Danny would always say something ridiculous when he promised something and really meant it. It would always start with "I swear on my honor as" and end with something important to him, like his dream job or his family name.

"Danny?" Sam asked.

The ghost- Danny- hung his head and gripped his arm. His ears twitched. "Y-yeah."

I don't honestly have a whole lot of closing thoughts this time around. I kinda went with a more "came back a little bit different and probably messed up mentally" than true "came back wrong", but I am still happy with what I put out. Who knows, maybe I'll write a full version of the drabble someday.

#danny phantom #danny phantom fanart #ectoberhaunt #ectoberhaunt24 #drabble #writing

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five-rivers · 2 years ago

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Dream Lantern Chapter 1

For Ectoberhaunt 2023 Day 5: Hunt.

The person who entered the small examination room wasn’t a doctor. They weren’t even human.

Danny, who had been hunched in the less-than-comfortable chair in the corner, waiting for the doctor to get to him, sprang to his feet. “You!” he hissed, green sparking from his fists and his rings snapping into place and sweeping outward to transform him. “You did this!”

At first glance, the person in front of Danny looked human, but that was only at first glance. The ridges of their eyes curved smoothly, owl-like, into the bridge of their nose. Their hair, too black, formed a widow’s peak so sharp Danny wasn’t sure it couldn’t draw blood. They wore a black suit that was about ten times too formal and old-fashioned to even exist in Amity Park.

But all of that could be brushed aside. Sometimes people just looked or dressed strangely. The real indicator was the eyes, which were red from lid to lid and faintly luminous.

“Yes,” said Nocturne, gloved hand touching their face as if to make sure it was still in place. “Did you think someone else could have?”

“Put them back!” demanded Danny. “Or I’ll–”

“Or you’ll do nothing,” said Nocturne. “They are hostages, boy. I’m sure you realize this already, or you would have attacked.”

Danny bristled. “What do you want?”

“Your help.” They laughed, showing off teeth that were both too white and too sharp. “You like that, don’t you?”

Danny scowled. He couldn’t deny the way his core had twitched at the word ‘help,’ but even full ghosts weren’t mindless slaves that could be programmed and activated by their Obsessions’ triggers. Besides, he had better people to help.

Like Tucker and Sam. Jazz. His parents.

They were elsewhere in the hospital, in comas so deep Danny couldn’t touch their minds at all. The doctors had kept Danny here, just in case he was about to slip into a coma, too, but knowing that it was Nocturne, rather than just suspecting it…

He wanted to fight. He wanted to force Nocturne to let them go, to wake them up.

But… hostages.

“With what?”

“With retrieving something,” said Nocturne.

“And if I help, you'll bring them out of their comas?”

Nocturne lazily raised a hand. “I swear it.”

“Fine. What is it and where is it?” If it was something dangerous, he could always sabotage it. He had experience with that kind of thing.

“Oh, you mistake me, child. I will retrieve it myself. I only need you to accompany me to do so. A being of your… nature is required.”

“What, a half ghost?”

“A creature neither alive nor dead,” said Nocturne. “I think you fit that requirement quite nicely.”

The way Nocturne leered at him made Danny’s skin crawl. He forced the ectoplasm swirling around his hands to recede and landed.

“Fine,” he snapped, again.

Nocturne reached out towards his face and Danny swatted their hand away.

“I’ll go there awake, thanks.”

“Very well,” said Nocturne, still smiling. They turned and opened the door. It no longer led back into the hospital. Nocturne’s form liquified, and they oozed through the door, gaining volume as they did so until they were in their massive usual form. The one that could hold and crush Danny in the palm of a hand.

Danny swallowed. He hadn’t realized Nocturne could make portals like that. He followed, and the portal shut behind him.

Nocturne’s smile grew smugger. They turned and made a sweeping gesture. “Behold,” they said, “the Plain of Dreams.”

There… wasn’t much to look at. There was a big island there, sure. One large enough that the other side vanished into the horizon. But the surface of the island was flat and gray, devoid of any point of interest except for size.

“You live here?” asked Danny.

“Once,” said Nocturne, almost wistful. “But there is no time for reminiscing. You have a role to play here.”

“Which is?”

“That of a lantern.” Nocturne reached into the invisible folds of their robes and pulled out a glittering, golden, jewel-studded cage, one shaped like a lantern and floored with rich, plush bedding. They pinched the door open and held it up in front of Danny.

“No,” said Danny. “I’m not getting in there. If you need my glow or whatever for your thing, well, guess what? I glow just as well out here.”

“It’s not quite that simple,” said Nocturne, circling him. Danny turned, trying to keep eyes on Nocturne’s face and hands. “You must be neither alive nor dead, awake nor asleep, willing nor unwilling. Caged, but uncaptured. Hungry, but full. Complaisant, but steadfast.”

Danny’s skin prickled again. He did not like this, and the fairy-tale-like phrasing was not helping his nerves. “I don’t know that I’d call myself complacent.”

Nocturne chuckled. “Different word, little ghost. Or… I can seek out more friends of yours. The girl in red, perhaps?” They switched directions so fast Danny couldn’t keep track of them. Their next words were whispered into Danny’s hair. “She still dreams of you, you know.”

Danny flinched away, glaring, but he couldn’t hold Nocturne’s gaze for long. He frowned at the cage instead. He did not like it. At all.

“I get to leave at the end?” he asked, knowing full well he couldn’t hold Nocturne to that in any meaningful way. Even Nocturne’s word that he’d let his family and friends go didn’t mean much.

But what else could he do? He’d already tried to wake them up himself, and he didn’t know what else Nocturne could do to them when they were in that state.

“Yes, yes, and I’ll wake your family. We have already discussed this. You are wasting time.”

“We hadn’t discussed this, actually,” said Danny. “We’ve barely ‘discussed’ anything.”

“I can send them deeper,” said Nocturne, voice low and dangerous. “Do you want that, child? Perhaps their doctors will notice when they stop breathing on their own. Perhaps not.”

Danny, core making an awful whining sound, raised his hands in surrender and flew into the cage. Nocturne, moving swiftly, closed it behind him.

The exhaustion he’d been holding back all day (or was it all week? All month? All year? Since he died the first time?) poured over him. Against his will, he sank slowly to the blankets and pillows at the bottom of the cage, clouds of golden dust rising around him as his weight settled. His eyelids fluttered, and his vision became blurred, uncertain.

Nocturne threaded their long, pointed fingers through the bars of the cage and pressed one against Danny’s chest, over his core. Inky, starry blackness flowed from Nocturne’s finger and into Danny. He could feel it being pressed into his core, and his core drank it in, growing colder. His aura flared out involuntarily, to a brightness that was almost painful. He groaned and tried to turn his head against one of the pillows.

“That wasn’t so bad, now, was it?” asked Nocturne in a falsely sweet voice. It echoed weirdly, the words warping around their edges, morphing into other voices, other conversations. “A simple waking dream. Look.”

With some effort, Danny raised his head as Nocturne thrust the lantern-cage forward. For a moment, bright colors streaked dizzyingly across his vision, like fireworks and flowers, but then–

What lay before him was not the gray and featureless plain he had seen only moments before. Instead, ringed by the golden haze of dreams was a vibrant forest, decked with vivid colors and bright flowers, brighter and more numerous than they ever would be in reality. Or maybe jungle was a better word. In the distance, majestic mountains rose from the middle of the jungle, tinted blue and purple, glittering cities of gold and crystal built on their slopes. A flight of butterflies bigger than birds exploded from the near edge, and swooped around Nocturne and Danny in a rainbow whirlwind. Some of them had wingspans longer than his arm.

“What,” Danny might have said, aware that his words were slurred into unintelligibility, if they were spoken at all, “is that?”

“The Dream Wilds,” said Nocturne.

They reached into the cage again, adjusting Danny’s position so that he was halfway between sitting and lounging, hemmed in and supported by blankets. They might as well have been chains, and even as that picture developed in his mind’s eye, it developed in reality as well. Blanket twisted around his limbs and grew darker, the fabric taking on a metallic sheen. Pillows grew heavier… but also softer, pulling him yet deeper into the half-dreaming state Nocturne had forced on him.

He was, really, horribly comfy.

If it wasn’t for his hazmat suit and its boots, Danny could almost be convinced he was bundled up in his own bed. Then, he blinked, long, slow, and sleepy, and he wasn’t wearing his hazmat suit anymore. Instead, he was wearing a set of pajamas that, if he’d seen them in the real world, would have sent him into paroxysms of envy. They were a set, a button-down shirt and a pair of pants, the type of pajamas he liked the most. They also were sewn with tiny star-shaped sequins in the pattern of real constellations.

Danny knew they weren’t real. Unfair.

Nocturne chuckled and tugged on Danny’s newly-bare toes.

“Don’t,” mumbled Danny, sleepily, not coordinated enough to twitch away. “Let’s get this over with already.”

“Yes,” said Nocturne, gliding forward. “Let’s.”

The Plain of Dreams was only the greatest of the many places in the Ghost Zone where the ethereal and otherwise elusive energies of dream gathered. It had been tamed, once, and inhabited, brought to the kind of civilization only known in the dreams of visionaries. Crystal cities of philosophy. Hidden villages in perfect harmony with nature. Utopias of justice, science, and art.

But those realms were long gone. When the rulers of the Dream Kingdoms saw the approach of Pariah Dark's armies, they ordered the caged dreamers on whose dreams the foundations of the cities were built woken and released, and their cities faded back into the wilds, and the wilds themselves faded and sunk into slumber until only fragments and memories remained.

There were ways to navigate them, if one had the right tools. Ways to access the Dream Wilds where they slumbered, still beautiful, rich, and powerful. Even with those tools, however, the Dream Wilds were still immeasurably dangerous.

Even in the Ghost Zone, there were few places where one could be destroyed by their own passing fancy.

It had taken years upon years for Nocturne to find the lantern-cage, a relic from one of the Dream Kingdoms, traded to a traveler and sold on as a curiosity not long before Pariah took the throne. Cages not unlike this, but far grander, had held the forever-sleeping dream-architects who had made up the foundations of the great Dream Kingdoms. The only other Nocturne had ever heard of beyond the borders of the Dreamlands had been from their own collection, melted down to be reforged as part of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.

The success of that plan had made the sacrifice worth it, but Nocturne still resented it, and the lost opportunities it represented.

All too often, Nocturne found themself dreaming of what would have been, if they had still had their own lantern-cage. If they had been able to travel back, to reach the Dream Kingdoms before they fell to ruin entirely, to enter the great halls with a dreamer, and once again let dreams be true.

But even dreams must bow to time.

The cage was not all Nocturne needed, nor the only preparation they had to make. Among other things, the cage was useless without the proper dreamer.

The Dream Kingdoms had, for the most part, used volunteers. Specially selected, educated, and prepared, quite literally pampered beyond the dreams of sloth, the dream-architects of old had been remarkable. But even they were unlikely to have had the qualities Nocturne sought.

And seek they did, searching high and low, throughout both the Infinite Realms and the human world. But no matter what dreamer they brought to the Plain of Dreams, no matter how long Nocturne wandered, their lantern did not light the way.

They had thought it must be a matter of power, and set to collecting dream energy from wherever they could, even going to the human world to gather it from living sleepers. That particular endeavor did not go well, and they returned to the Realms with less than what they’d started with.

But then they found that old record, and its list of odd requirements. Neither alive nor dead, awake nor asleep, willing nor unwilling. Caged, but uncaptured, hungry, but full, complaisant, but steadfast.�� A liminal dreamer was required, and not just any liminal.

There were only two liminals that Nocturne knew of. He could, with some effort force either of them to fulfill most of the other conditions. Waking dreams were well within his capabilities, the right pressure on an Obsession would have any ghost, full or otherwise, walking into a cage. Hungry but full was trickier, but the lantern-cages were designed to help regulate what their inmates absorbed, among other things that allowed their function of bringing dreams into reality. A glut of dream energy and a dearth of more traditional forms of sustenance would do nicely for Nocturne’s plans, and if the requirement was more metaphorical, they could adapt.

The difficulty lay in 'complaisant but steadfast.'

The elder half ghost was widely regarded as a coward, having fled from too many fights he himself had started. Even if he wasn't, Nocturne had tasted his dreams. Vlad Masters relished every bit of power he could hold over others, and resented any he could not subjugate or suborn.

The younger… Any being that could escape a dream crafted by Nocturne had to be described as both willful and strong-willed. Yet, while the child had dreamed of being recognized and praised for the service he provided, in the waking world he provided those services unasked and unrewarded.

It wasn't ideal, but it would have to do. Nocturne wasn't about to make more of the creatures.

From there, their preparations were relatively simple. Phantom was young and brash, not stupid. He may have managed to defeat Nocturne once, but the circumstances had been vastly different. Then, Nocturne had been gathering dream energy and assessing the potential of dreamers. They had been spread thin, distracted.

trapping a whole city in slumber.

Which led to the present moment.

As during their first encounter, the boy was far more susceptible to dream sand than even ordinary humans. Nocturne could not recall at the moment whether or not Plasmius had fallen asleep as quickly, or if the weakness was unique to Phantom, but that hardly mattered. What mattered was that he was working.

Where Phantom's aura fell, the Dream Wilds and all their flora and fauna became real, material, some might even say alive. The radius of the effect was miniscule. Nocturne could easily see beyond it, past the golden air and verdant leaves, to where the Plain of Dream was as drab and flat as ever. Phantom was not one of the great dreamers of old. Nor, Nocturne could already tell, would the masterworks once crafted by those dreamers be making an appearance. Phantom's conception of the Dream Wilds was too simple, too imperfect to support such complexities.

Butterflies. Really.

Even some of Nocturne's earlier dreamers had done better, reached further.

And yet… the texture, the depth of color, the quality of light… Yes, with Phantom as their lantern, he would reach the ruins at the heart of the Dream Wilds, and finally claim what they had sought for so long.

Lantern in hand, they glided forward, beneath the boughs of the great trees.

Danny had expected it to be dark under the trees. It had looked dark. Instead, every leaf, every branch, every flower, every crawling, flying, or running thing, every wisp of colored mist was illuminated by Danny’s own aura, which showed no sign of dimming. The shadowless quality of the surroundings added to their dreaminess, another layer of unreality on top of the haze, blur, and dazzle.

Danny slowly turned his head back towards the way they’d come from. The way he thought they’d come from. Already, the open Ghost Zone sky was entirely hidden from view. They could have been walking for hours, not… not…

How long had they been walking? Had it been hours? He couldn’t tell.

Danny really didn’t like this. But he couldn’t really do anything about it. He was in a cage, and Nocturne still had his family hostage. Plus, moving and thinking felt like swimming through honey. Soft, cozy, comfy honey that made him sleepy. The way the cage swung helped with that, a gentle, lulling, rocking motion that had him drifting, distracted.

He blinked hard, rousing back to the half-asleep state Nocturne had put him in. Being caged was one thing. Being totally unaware of his surroundings while caged by an enemy was something else.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

Nocturne said nothing.

“Where are we going?” he repeated, adding volume in the hope that it would let his words carry more clearly.

Nocturne looked down at him contemplatively, clearly weighing options. Then they smiled, sly, smug, and indulgent. “We hunt the Beast of Dreams. A chimera with many forms and faces, it guards the way to our destination. Three times we must face them, and three times we must gain their tokens, else even your light will not shine on our path.”

“What if we, um.” Danny licked his lips, trying to recover the thread of his question. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth. “What if we can’t find them?”

Nocturne tsked at him. “What a terrible attitude to have,” they scolded. “It’s almost as if you don’t care about your family at all. After all, if you are useless, so are they.”

They stopped their glide and reached through the bars of the cage, touching Danny’s shoulder where it joined to his neck. Normally, with his hazmat suit, it wouldn’t even be exposed, but now Danny shivered as Nocturne pushed more energy into him. He whimpered as his aura burned ever brighter in response. His core hummed, high and strained, but his heart beat steadily, and his breathing stayed deep and slow.

“Guide me, little lantern, little light,” whispered Nocturne. “I seek the Beast in the guise of Falsehood, where it lairs at the Gates of Horn and Ivory. Show me the way.”

Danny had no idea how Nocturne thought he could navigate when he had never been here before and could barely see past his own aura. No direction seemed better or more notable than any other direction.

Finally, his eyes landed on a group of trees practically exploding with white and purple flowers. He twitched his fingers in their general direction.

Nocturne withdrew their hand and started moving in that direction at once. Danny let out a sigh as his core gradually returned to a more relaxed state.

They were looking for 'The Beast of Dreams in the guise of Falsehood.' What did that even mean? What did that look like? Some kind of animal? Like a fox? A snake?

"The being we go to meet is the very essence of the deception of dreams. It is that which makes you forget that you are dreaming, that which make you think the dead are living, and the living, dead, that which calls you late to events long past, that which casts you in a thousand roles whose lines you have never learned. It is illusion and confabulation, a fabulist beyond all others. He speaks truth only in service to greater lies."

Danny… understood some of those words. Maybe if was more awake, he'd know more of them.

“Even so, within the bounds of this, our trial, he will be forced to some measure of truth. He must set a true price for his token, when asked three times, and when that price is paid, he must hand it over. But even such a small honesty is one it despises, and it will seek to mislead us.”

“Mhm,” said Danny. Beast guy would lie, and lie a lot. Not much different than dealing with Nocturne themself. Must be a dream thing.

His eyes drifted to the trees and flowers outside the cage. Periodically, glossy leaves reflected his aura back at him, making him blink and wince. The trees here were really big, most of them towering even over Nocturne. Which made sense, if Nocturne was from here, and they had those huge butterflies to contend with. They’d fit their scale. It still felt weird to Danny, and didn’t help with his deepening sense of unreality.

He blinked again, and his blink must have been longer than he'd thought, because when he opened his eyes, they were no longer walking, but standing under a massive apple tree. Its branches spread wide and hung heavy with brilliantly red fruit. No other trees grew under its shadow.

To either side of the trunk, set into the hedge-like mass of greenery beyond the reach of the single great apple tree, were two tall gates made of pale materials. Flowering vines grew around them, holding them shut as effectively as any chain.

Speaking of chains… he shifted uneasily, and listened to the soft clanking of the blankets around him. Yeah. They were still messed up by… whatever was going on. It wasn’t as if Nocturne had actually explained anything, and–

Something in the tree moved. Danny startled as he realized that something was an immense snake. Patterned in poisonous green and red, it blended in almost-perfectly with the surrounding leaves and apples.

Normally, he wouldn’t blink twice at a giant ghost snake. He’d fought more than his fair share of them. Cobras, boas, vipers, rattlesnakes, you name it. But this ghost radiated power far beyond that of a normal animal ghost, and he felt himself shrinking down among the pillows and blankets in an attempt to hide.

He knew it wouldn’t work. He was glowing too brightly.

“Nocturne,” said the snake without moving his mouth. His was deep and smooth, and reminded Danny of Vlad and, oddly, Clockwork. “What an unexpected pleasure!” It extended its head down, beyond the lower branches of the tree, as if in greeting. “I see you have a new lantern with which to light your way. I wish you good fortune on your journey, and hope you gain everything you seek.”

Danny winced at the use of the word ‘wish,’ but Desiree didn’t immediately jump out of the bushes, so he forced himself to refocus on the conversation in front of him.

“Falsehood,” said Nocturne, “I come for your token. What price have you set for it?”

“Is that any way to greet a friend? It has been so long since your last visit, and you have not even thought to introduce your new friend.” The snake lowered itself partially to the ground, the end of his tail still hidden in the trees, and began to circle Danny and Nocturne. “He looks delectable. I would love to just gobble him up. That’s a joke, dear.” It twisted to look more fully at Nocturne. “I would never dispute your ownership of anything, after all. Much less the light you steer by.”

“Enough,” said Nocturne. “What price have you set for your token, that I might move forward?”

The snake shook his head. "Moving forward, my dear? Is that what you call this? I must congratulate you indeed. And in such a timely manner, too, for just the other night, another lantern-bearer came by, and took for herself the last of my to–"

"What must we pay to receive your token?"

"You won’t let me have even the smallest morsel of fun," complained the snake. "Your mother taught you no manners. But very well.” It turned away from both of them, somehow conveying the sentiment of sulking despite its body being a tube. “In exchange for my token, I require either a thing that is both true and false at once, one lie that will become true, or one truth that will become a lie.”

"Any one?" asked Nocturne suspiciously.

"The merchant cares not if you pay in gold or silver, only that he is paid."

"I want an answer, not a riddle."

"That is my sister's domain, not mine."

“Oh my gosh,” said Danny. “Just do it. If he doesn’t give you anything, then you know he lied.”

“Stupid child. What do you think he means by ‘will become?’ So long as even a fraction of this place is held in reality, he has the power to make it so, and his games are far worse than those of the jinn you play with.”

“I know the rules as well as you, if not better,” protested the snake. “I would not break them.”

“You would if you could.”

“I will not break them, then. It is the same. If you do not, perhaps I will assume you did come just to visit. There are so many things you have missed when you were away, dearest. It breaks my heart.”

“I doubt that. This place is an abandoned ruin, the merest shadow of what it was.”

“And many places are, since the reign of the Pariah,” said the snake, mildly. “Yet, even so, you have come here, dreamer in hand. Do you imagine that everything is where you left it, even as you say that this place has fallen? Perhaps. Perhaps not.”

Nocturne shook their head. “I will not listen to your lies. You won’t trick me. Not again.” They hung Danny’s cage on one of the lower branches and started to pace, hands behind their back.

The snake sighed, and, to Danny’s alarm, wound around the branch he was suspended from to peer into the cage. His eyes weren’t like a normal snake’s. Instead of pupils, they had several spirals in varying shades of red, green, and black, and rotated slowly, hypnotically. Danny found himself unable to look away, his awareness of Nocturne and, indeed, the rest of the snake fading.

Until, that is, the snake spoke again.

“It is just as possible for a lie to be told for a greater truth, as it is for a truth to be told for a lie. I do not care for you, but my games, as you call them, are for the greater good of all.”

Danny blinked his eyes, which had begun to water, hard. Crap, that was scary. Not quite to the level of Freakshow’s staff, but scary. The only thing that kept him from trying to find a way out right now was that even if he escaped, his family couldn’t. He needed to stay here, stay strong, for them. He’d already tried everything he could do on his own.

“You will accept a statement that is both true and not in exchange for your token?”

“Yes. Or one truth that will become false, or one falsehood that will become true. I’m not terribly picky.”

“And you only want to hear this thing, not wipe it from my mind?”

“I don’t even have the power to do that.”

“I know for a fact you do. You only want to hear this statement, and you will accept that as payment?”

“Oh, are you asking me three times? It is almost as if you don’t trust me. That’s hurtful, after our long acquaintance.”

“Will you, or will you not, accept a statement both true and false as payment?”

“I will, I will!” The snake sniffed loudly, a sound Danny didn’t even think snakes could make… Then again, this snake was talking, a ghost, and maybe also a dream (Danny was unclear on that point), so, really, they were already far beyond that point. “I know you don’t consider me worthy of respect, but shouldn’t you at least respect the rites and rules? It will go much more smoothly. Quickly, too, if that’s something you’re after.”

Nocturne smothered a growl. They raised a knuckle to their lips, the starry blackness of the digit standing out starkly against their mask-like face. “Then my payment is this: the path I seek is the one that leads to the Crown and Cup of Dreams.”

The snake laughed, an odd, barking noise. “And you say I never taught you anything.”

Nocturne opened their mouth as if to argue, expression pinched and sour, but then closed it, thoughtfully. “You are trying to distract me. I have given you payment. I expect your token in return.”

The snake sighed long and heavy. It wound its way onto a nearby branch and pointed its nose at one of the apples. “Any of these apples may serve as my token.”

Nocturne quickly picked the apple the snake had indicated. Then, they flew to where Danny’s cage still hung.

In Nocturne’s hand, the apple was large. Big enough that it wouldn’t look strange if they tried to take a bite out of it. Big enough that if it was hollowed out, Danny could fit in it comfortably. But that wasn’t what Nocturne did. Instead, they brought the apple to the bars of the cage, and as it passed through them, it shrunk down until it could fit easily in Danny’s hands.

The perspective made Danny’s head swim. It didn’t work. But it did, and it was, and Nocturne was pressing the apple against his lips.

“Eat,” they said. Despite their earlier anger, that smug, teasing smile was once again bending the corners of their lips upward. “The purpose of these tokens is to ensure the lantern can light the way.”

Danny leaned away from the apple, squinting at it. "No," he said.

It wasn't as if Danny's parents had ever sent him to Sunday School (the Holy Spirit was bad enough. The Holy Ghost? You got the picture), but Sam had always been delighted to share the darker stories, and Tucker’s parents went to church on Sunday mornings, whether Danny was staying over or not. Plus, he did try to pay attention to literary symbolism in English, even if Mr. Lancer didn't think so.

A snake offering apples? Bad news.

Maybe if Nocturne was the one being told to eat it, or if Danny's friends and family weren't on the line, he wouldn't have said anything, because screw Nocturne. But they weren't and they were.

"This isn't your token. You're lying."a

The snake chuckled. "Clever child."

Nocturne snarled and darted forward, clawed hand closing around the serpent's neck. The edges of their form were flared out, like feathers or fur. The apple fell down and vanished among the pillows and blankets.

"I have paid your price. I fulfill every requirement to walk this path, and you have no right to keep it from me!"

The serpent evaporated and reformed deep among the branches of the apple tree. “You call me a liar, when you tell such untruths yourself! Every right is mine, and mine alone! Nor was I paid.”

“I gave you my statement, both true and untrue. You will not cheat me. Not now.”

“Did you?” asked the snake, clearly delighted by this turn of events.

“How dare you speak of rules and respect, when you desecrate this ancient rite? How dare you stand in my way, when I–”

“Indeed! Who else should stand in your way? My sisters and brothers? All those with a greater claim to this path?”

As it turned out, despite everything, Danny had been paying attention to the whole conversation, even if he hadn’t followed all of it. Nocturne had been sure the snake couldn’t lie if he was asked the same thing three times… so maybe he didn’t.

“If the token is for me,” he said, slowly, “is Nocturne the one who has to pay the price, or is it me? When you said ‘you’ earlier, you were talking to me, weren’t you? I’m the one who needs to say one of those three things?”

The snake approached again, and Danny hastily averted his eyes. "I like this one, Nocturne. He reminds me of you, when you were younger, and better behaved." He paused, significantly. "And smarter. Yes, little light, you are the one who must answer me, if you desire my token. Of course if you do not…"

Danny understood what the snake was implying, but he did, in fact, need that token.

He really hated hostage situations.

But if what Nocturne had implied about the snake’s powers was true, maybe he could use this. After all, nothing said the lie had to be his.

"Nocturne said they'd bring my family and friends out of their comas if I help them. Can I give you that as the lie?"

The snake started laughing. Danny, meanwhile, felt like his brain had been peeled out of his body and he was floating over his skin. The persistent misty softness had converged on him, and now he was floating.

"I had doubted before, but now I understand how it is that you were the one to defeat Pariah Dark. Nocturne, dear, he has to be able to take the token. I doubt keeping him like that will prevent him from vexing you, anyway."

“I can make him take it.”

“As you would. Now–”

“You have not been this cooperative before.”

“Perhaps I simply want you gone. You are, as I have mentioned, incredibly rude. And ugly. And I find what you are doing to be repugnant, as you yourself would, had you given it thought beyond your base desires. Not that you listen to me–”

“You’re going to try to pass off something random as your token again, aren’t you? And then you’ll claim it is because you didn’t give it to him, you cheat.”

“Me? A cheat? Never. Or only at card games. It is very difficult to play a hand when you don’t have any.”

“You aren’t even a snake. You only look that way because of how he’s dreaming you. But what I don’t understand is why you seem to want him awake. You’re never this transparent.”

“Are you sure I want him awake? Perhaps that is only what I want you to think. Ah, and now you’re tying yourself in circles. A shame. Once you were good at this. Or at least passable. And you wonder why you couldn’t even hold the dreams of a single human city, much less the power that passes through here.”

“I am the Master of Dreams, and–”

“Only because there was no one else qualified.”

There was a long silence, and Danny felt himself drifting back to the surface of awareness. That had been… strange.

“Give him,” said Nocturne, their voice gravely with suppressed rage, “your token.”

Danny noticed with some alarm that the snake was wound around the cage. When did it get so close? Why did it get so close? His scales flashed at him.

“Take two,” said the snake.

“What?”

“Take two of my scales. Together, they make my token.”

“And… am I supposed to eat them or something?” That… was that the right thing to ask? Everything was still a bit floaty. “Don’t laugh,” he said, crossly as the snake started to snicker. It did that a lot. “I’m serious. You wanted me to eat the other thing. The, um, the apple. Are you going to make me eat these, too?”

“Take them and find out.”

Danny glanced back at Nocturne, but they didn’t make any objection this time. Carefully and slowly, he crawled over the blankets to the bars of the cage. Because of the way the bottom of the cage was curved and how the pillows and blankets were ever so slightly higher near the outside edge, he had to hold onto one of the bars to stay in place.

“Any two?” he asked.

“No, the two you get by adding one and one.”

Danny glared at the snake for a moment, but quickly returned to looking at the scales. Each one was only a little smaller across than his palm. They glittered, and Danny blinked sleepy tears out of his eyes. He adjusted his grip on the bars and resisted the temptation to lie down.

He really didn't want to do this.

"It won't hurt you?" he asked. That wasn't his main concern, but… in the moment, it was a concern.

"No more than pulling free a hair."

Depending on the hair, that could hurt quite a bit. He reached out and grabbed a scale at random. It slid free with surprising ease.

Most of it was green, but the edge of it was vivid red, as if it had been rolled in blood. He tucked it quickly into the pocket at his breast, and reached for the next scale. This one was green all over, a smooth gradient from one side to the other.

He let go of the bar and slid back into the cozy nest in the center of the cage as if guided by an outside force. Even without Nocturne’s intervention, the blankets and pillows tucked themselves in around him. If anything, he felt even more secure than before, only head and hands free.

But he was sitting there, holding the scales, one in each hand.

In dreams, occasionally a dreamer is seized by knowledge or need apropos of nothing. They know that this is their grandmother's house, even though it's obviously the grocery store. They know they must hold the cards with only their left hand, or otherwise they'll lose, never mind what game they're playing. Sometimes, too, the dreamer simply acts. The impetus for their actions obscure, not originating from their own thoughts. Jumping from cars, yelling, fighting, eating, smoking, cheating on tests, being unable to stop.

Danny, not thinking about anything in particular, raised the scales to his eyes. They sunk into his skin without a trace.

At first, he rubbed his skin and eyes furiously, hoping to find a way to peel them off, but then…

He saw.

He could see.

Before, it had been difficult to keep his eyes open, impossible to see past his own aura, but now everything looked so clear, from the leaves, to the apples, to the grass, to the gates and the ruins beyond them.

"You see, now," said the snake, kindly. "The purpose of my token is to shield your eyes, so you can see. And, I suppose, better guide the one that carries you. Before, you burned too brightly for your own good, but now…"

Danny nodded as the snake spoke. Vaguely, he felt as if he shouldn't agree with him, but what he was saying made sense. He did see better. He saw more.

Most things were still misty, out of the corners of his eyes, but directly in front of them, they were clear and crisp. Sharp. Well defined.

He could even see the path on the forest floor, where it ran underneath them and to one of the pale gates - which didn't look nearly as overgrown as he had originally thought.

(There was something very wrong with that thought, with all these thoughts. But this thought, in turn, slipped away and disappeared.)

“Which way, child?” asked Nocturne. “We have wasted enough time here.”

Danny’s tongue felt heavy in his mouth, so he pointed instead. It was strange that Nocturne could not see the path. Nocturne walked that way, lantern in hand. And when had he picked the cage back up? Danny was missing something.

“Nocturne,” called the snake. “I meant what I said.”

“About what?”

“All of it. Give my sister-self my regards.”

#ectoberhaunt #23 day 5 #23 prompt hunt #23 calendar science #eh23 #ectoberhaunt23 #danny phantom

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lollystocks · 2 years ago

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The New Kid

Ectoberhaunt 2023 Day 3: White Crow

Summary: Danny continues to mind his own business whist freaking out everyone around him with his mere existence.

A short "Cryptid Danny" fic, with a twist.

Words: 509

CW: mild horror, mild body horror

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"White Crow": a member of a group who is different from the rest. Elaya vorona (бе́лая воро́на) in Russian, kalāg-e sefīd (کلاغ سفید) in Persian. Similar to English's "Black Sheep".

---

The New Kid was exceptionally unnerving.

Friendly enough, if one got the chance to talk to him - which was kinda rare. He was territorial and kept to himself which, fair enough. But he never really seemed interested in getting to know anyone.

But despite being, on the surface, a pretty normal New Kid, there was something very wrong with him.

No-one could put their fingers on it at first. And no-one liked to talk about it. Because how could you talk about…that?

His eyes, for one. A nice, normal, luminous green for the most part. But when he was tired, or distracted, they would… they’d dull. Lose all traces of light, and just go empty. They’d flicker back on as soon as you’d caught it, and one might chalk it up to a trick of the light. He’d smile a normal smile, and you’d forget you’d seen anything. Or maybe, try to forget.

His teeth, too. A perfectly average maw of razor-sharp fangs. But he covered his mouth with his hand when he smiled or laughed. If one looked beyond that, they might see - or rather, sense - a jaw of blunt, flat, incisors and molars. Prey’s teeth. Mortal teeth.

But prey shouldn’t fill you with such discomfort. Should it?

He was probably just developing his shapeshifting skills early. That was probably it.

Youngblood swore he’d seen him drift through a wall, once. In the Ghost Zone.

Youngblood was hardly a reputable news source.

All the same.

Then, then, there was his voice. How sometimes (always when he was tired or injured or distracted) he’d talk and his voice would just… dampen. Vanish into nothingness. No echo, or reverberation through the ectoplasm around him. Nothing to carry his words through to other ghosts. And, once, again, everything would reset, and he’d be a normal ghost.

There was a theme - moments of flatness, dullness, of disconnect. Moments of mortality.

The worst one was when he would breathe. He wouldn’t even hide it. After a territorial spar (which he took way too seriously) he’d float there, victorious, and his chest would expand and retract like some wet, dying thing. Bodies weren’t meant to move like that. Not after death.

And it wouldn’t be so bad if he was weak.

Freaks came and went. There was enough variety amongst ghostkind that any one, or even multiple of these things, could be brushed off.

But the New Kid was strong. Stronger than any of them. He’d been around for no time at all and defeated every one of them in combat, even the strongest of them. His abilities were coming in fast, too fast, and he had too many. No ghost should have a portfolio that large, and know how to use their new powers so well.

He got better with every fight.

They were training him, without realizing. Feeding him.

But there’s the rub. To back off, to withhold from indulging in one’s Earthly Obsession, to bow to his obscenely large territory? The thought alone was obscene.

And what would be the repercussions?

#ectoberhaunt23 #eh magic #day 3 #white crow #cw mild horror #cw mild body horror #fanfiction #cryptid danny fenton #pov outsider #just a good ole inversion of my favourite genre:#“holy hell this kid is creepy”#Danny with a mouth full of fries:#“huh?”#dp #dp fanfic #danny phantom #lolly talks

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13thdoodle · 2 years ago

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[ ECTOBERHAUNT 2023 BANNER ]

I'm doing the banner for this year's @ectoberhaunt event~ The theme is Science vs Magic

I had so much fun making this~ Sam get the fantasy AU fit while Tucker gets Cyber/futuristic style

Sketch Progress

I like the idea of Sam being a druid bc nature connection tm

And Tucker would vibe very well with fancy future stuffs. i was gonna draw him with a bigger puffer but I couldn't figured it out. I like the one we got here too so yay

Okay so I was a bit pressed on time while working on this so I couldn't do as much research and references as I should.

On Sam's part, the somewhat floating book was inspired on how genshin impact's catalysts have their books/weapon just floats and it looks fancy n magical n Sam deserve that honestly

Her glowing tattoo are highkey inspired of this beautiful Sam with tattoos art by @the-stove-is-on-fire Mine is nowhere close to that but that's my main inspiration for this

I was gonna give Tucker his usual orange sweater but I noticed a lot of neon or cyberpunk outfit relies on dark backdrop to pop.

And since the background color is gonna be bright yellow, I gotta put the dark color somewhere else. And his sweater would be the perfect spot to balance out all the brightness with a bit of darkness

And it matches with Sam too so it works out great uwu

The magic circles on their back were mostly there to balance out the composition bc it looks too empty as is, gotta spice it up a lil bit uwu But a direct halo would look.. too out there? I mean I can but like.. Sam is magic/fantasy based, why not lean on that n go for magic circles :D

Tucker's random bits on the background took the most out of me bc like.. its hard qwq I literally try to look up aesthetic bg to figure out how to work with his?? Eventually I just settle on less is more and added shadow under the bits to make em pops out against the orange

source

And for the color choices, I wanted the two of them to have purple, yellow, and green on them. The green color on to symbolize Danny bc I'm an Everlasting Trio shipper lmao

I wanted Sam to have some yellow and green on her magic, which kinda.. got covered with the whites honestly. But the greens stays with the vines so we'll go with that Tucker was harder to figure out, so I settle with him with blue and greens instead of purple qwq

In the end, only the green end up staying lmao It ends up unifying both sides so hell yea it all works out lol

#13thcat art #danny phantom #ectoberhaunt2023 #sam manson #tucker foley

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goodfish-bowl · 8 months ago

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What Little Remains

Chapter 1: Finding the Pieces

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Day 3: Archeology

AO3 Link

Summary: The Terra Zero Archeology Project has received funding to locate a laboratory of both historical and technological importance. What they actually end up bringing back is something of much greater significance.

Warnings: Dissection, gore, blood

Words: 2,374

They had found it on the planet once known as Earth, now known as Terra Zero. It had been buried in a laboratory of historical and technological importance. The laboratory was the target of their mission and this had merely been something they had discovered along the way, but it was likely a much more significant find than their original goal. It was a miracle, really, that the jar protecting this particular specimen was fully intact, and an even greater wonder that they found a second one to go with it. Despite the atypical building practices found at that location, it had managed to survive the several planetary disasters that had befallen Terra Zero since the lab had been constructed. It was truly an amazingly complex and baffling in its own era. The laboratory itself had been buried under tons of sediment, ash, and debris that had built up on the planet's surface over the centuries, yet it managed to preserve the space from the very passage of time.

The Terra Zero Archeology Project, shortened down to T.Z.A.P, had only been able to discover it through a related digital archiving project, following mentions of its existence along with digital records from the time, particularly a set of patents that were of interest to the team's investors. They read like utter nonsense, completely indecipherable despite running them through every algorithm available and having sloughs of intergalactic experts look them over. The only hope of figuring them out lay in the lab where they had been created. A myzack-chase through several databases and many long message chains and holos later, the mission was underway. The promise of new technologies was what got the T.Z.A.P. its funding in the first place. This lab was sure to have them keep their funding for a while longer.

The lab itself had been odd, with unknown radioactive elements non-native to the Terra Zero planetary area found in unusual amounts with a positive correlation with the proximity to the lab. Special suits were created just for this excavation, and entire collections of journals were being written based off of the findings. The interior of the lab looked untouched, only a thin coat of dust covered every surface. It was in a general state of disarray like it had been abandoned in the middle of something, but the walls were intact (except for the portion they had drilled through) with minimal rust and decay setting in. It was an astronomically amazing find.

Then there were the samples.

Most of the samples, which looked to be biological samples from a dissection, were degraded beyond use, a millennium beyond expiration. They appeared to be humanoid in nature, which ended up being one of the most unnerving portions of the discovery. It wouldn’t be confirmed until they were actually processed and tested. It wasn’t safe to assume, they had found ones made of ‘rubber’ before. One jar, containing a singular, whole hand, was preserved properly, in what appeared to be an isotopic solution tinted green. The next samples of interest were a set of small vials containing a viscous green liquid that actively rested in a set of a dozen, three of which were intact, the rest exposed to the heavy, damp atmosphere of the lab. It was an unnaturally bright green substance with a dull glow, flecked with red. The intact vials wouldn’t be opened until after the samples of the broken ones were processed first. It would give them a good idea of the decay rate of the substance. There was a heavy containment unit, made from glass that could rival modern war spacecraft windows, with a glowing crystal orb inside, floating in a similar solution to what the vials must contain. All of the other samples were labeled “Phantom” with a time and date on their collection date. This one was marked with the name “Danny”, instead. They were all within two days of each other, with the orb being last.

The most valuable thing T.Z.A.P. managed to collect from the lab, other than just recording of the finding of an intact lab from the early 2000s era, was the intact digital files located on the ancient external hard drive. Someone on the tech team had managed to reconstruct and restore the files on it and found hundreds of files containing everything from lab journal entries to video recordings, to entire papers. It was an almanium mine of information, shining light on many of the patents themselves, though the blueprints and the construction of the technology remained theoretical at best. Whoever had designed these was using a language all of their own that no one else could decipher.

The samples and digital files were brought into the in-orbit lab and processed while the systems scanned the antique files for relevant information, matching the patents and the surviving samples. The computer pinged a collection of lab recordings almost immediately, curiously matching the time stamps of the sample collections.

Zavier, one of the many interns assigned to this project, absently clicked on one at random, sound on, in the middle of the main research room.

Corroded, the audio snapped and popped, showing its age, but it caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Grainy footage of a woman in a teal jumpsuit, with red goggles covering her eyes, and black gloves covered the screen. A large figure in orange moved in the background.

“This is Doctor Madeline Fenton, it is June 4th, 2006, at precisely 14:23. I am joined by Doctor Jack Fenton in collecting a whole-piece sample from the ecto-entity known as Phantom.”

Ecto-entity. It was a term that popped up frequently in the study of this particular laboratory and the related patents. There were at least a dozen sets of eyes on the monitor at this point, several different people scribbling down notes of interest.

“As mentioned in Recording 632006-334 samples collected from Phantom seem to rapidly degenerate once removed from the central entity. To correct this, we have diluted a solution made from the entity’s own ectoplasm mixed with an isotopic preservation solution in an attempt to preserve the sample for further, future study.”

The woman moved the camera to show a prone figure, heavily strapped down to a mental table, distinctly human, despite their odd features for the time. They appeared young, prepubescent in age, uselessly crying and thrashing on the table they were strapped to. They were covered in past incisions, and missing several fingers from their other hand. Several harsh breaths of horror were taken around the room. Zavier should’ve paused the video there, but he hadn’t.

“Our intended sample is going to be the entire right hand.”

The child on the table let out a heart wrenching whine, barely picked up through the harsh muzzle on their face.

Something in the room broke, it sounded fragile, but no one moved, transfixed by the screen.

The woman, Dr. Madeline repositioned the camera over the child’s right hand. They visibly struggled, straining against the restraint.

“Jack, the bone saw?”

“Here you go, darling!” The man said with a large smile.

The boy screamed and it echoed around the entire room, the video filled with bright colors of green and red as the bone saw ate through flesh.

The video was abruptly stopped before it could finish, and someone immediately rushed to the trash unit in the corner. A few people did. The scream still seemed to linger around the room anyways.

“What in the void of space are you all doing?!” A new voice interrupted.

“H-head Doctor! I didn’t mean to! But it started playing and I didn’t want to stop it so I let it play!”

“And?”

“A… a-and?” the intern stuttered.

“What did you learn?”

“That… that I shouldn’t click on a random video without permission…” Zavier admitted reluctantly.

“I meant about our subject.”

“OH! Oh… um. Young, possibly male humanoid, unusual features… they cut off their hand with a bone saw…” Zavier’s voice trembled, unable to focus on the words coming out of his mouth with the scream echoing even louder in his own head than it had in the room.

The Head Doctor’s eyes darkened. Her grip tightening on her tablet, before snapping down the tech and sending out several messages all at once in a furious efficiency.

“If continuing on this particular project makes you uncomfortable, please report to the main deck for reassignment!” The Head Doctor announced it to the whole room. “I understand that we’re dealing with humanoid experimentation in this discovery. You will not be punished for wanting to be reassigned.”

Several people left the room almost immediately, practically fleeing in terror. Zavier found himself agreeing, but was firmly rooted in place. Others thought about it, before following the rest out. From the two dozen researchers and interns in the room, less than a fourth remained. Zavier rediscovered his ability to move for a moment, and contemplated joining them before staying in his spot. He couldn’t.

“Intern. I need you to find the video of the collection of the orb. The video should be labeled 642006-1746.”

“Yes, ma’am. May I ask why?”

Zavier really didn’t want ot have to watch another video when this one was going to be haunting him for the next decade.

“The sample associated with it refuses to be identified, but it has responded to external stimuli, including sounds and being moved about. Several of our preliminary scans have identified something similar to brain waves emitting from it. We need to identify it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Zavier swallowed thickly before clicking on the video labeled just as the Head Doctor had specified. The video pulled up just like the first, popping and snapping before settling in place. The same woman from the first video appeared in the camera, slightly worse for wear. Her suit was splattered with green and red. Zavier cringed and looked away, but refrained from covering his ears with his hands. He had to at least listen, even if that was the worst part.

“This is Doctor Madeline Fenton, it is June 4th, 2006, at 17:46. Dr. Jack Fenton and I have just finished our full dissection of the ecto-entity once known as Phantom.”

The camera panned to show the same child from earlier, cut up into pieces, a large vivisection cut splaying their chest wide open, cavity practically hollowed out, and several stained jars littered the free space on the table. They boy wasn’t moving anymore.

“We have made an… interesting discovery concerning its biology.”

The scientist paused for a moment, glancing behind her before she seemed to hesitate.

“Not… not only did it possess a perfect copy of human biology, it was a functioning one. However, after considerable loss of ectoplasm and substantial damage to its internal organs, its facsimile of life ceased. We were able to locate its core,” she held up the jar containing the small glowing orb. It seemed so tragic floating in that solution. All that blood and viscera for something the size of a pinging ball. She placed the jar on a table out of frame.

“And have successfully removed it and placed it within an isolating containment unit. Reasons for this have been stated in my husband and I’s previous papers on the nature of cores. However, Phantom’s seems to be behaving differently than expected. It’s fallen completely dormant after drawing in all available ectoplasm. Theories on this will be further elaborated in the paper currently being constructed on the ecto-entity Phant-”

There was a flash of light in the background that glitched out the camera for a moment, before the video returned. There was much more red than there was before. The boy was noticeably different, his appearance much more in line with the humans of the era, black hair and red blood.

The woman swiftly turned around, a weapon she reached for off screen suddenly in her hand. It clattered to the ground soon after. She made a horrible choking noise, like she was being strangled. Zavier didn’t think she had the right to react like that. She and her partner had done this after all.

“Danny..?”

The Head Doctor reached over Zavier and turned the video off, gripping the bridge of her nose and letting out a harsh breath of her own. Zavier himself sunk further into his seat to process the information that was likely going to continue to plague his nightmares. He didn’t know why he felt so terrible, or why it was all knotted up in the base of his throat. That kid had been dead for over a millennium at this point. There was no saving them, just the bits of what little of them that remained, as samples, recordings, and data. He shouldn’t be this horrified and torn up over someone long dead.

“Intern, what is your name?”

“Zavier, ma’am.”

“Zavier, go make yourself something warm to eat and distract yourself. I don’t want to see you until it looks like you’ve had at least a full cycle of rest. Senior members,” she signaled the three of the older researchers who had remained, one of which was trying to light a smoke in the corner, “We are going to be having a long night to figure out the nature of this research. If… If this lines up with some of my current conclusions, then we may have a much more… interesting project on our hands.”

“Ma’am… what do you mean by that?”

One of the researchers asked, coming in closer to relieve Zavier from his seat at the monitor. Zavier hadn’t been expecting his knees to be so weak when he tried to stand and the world spun around him for a moment before he managed to steady himself.

“Simple. We have the current approval and supplies to use the D.R.C.R.A. on a suitable… sample of interest,” The Doctor claimed.

“You don’t mean… by the void,” The researcher with the smoke cackled. “Oh, this is going to get us in so much trouble!”

“Well, it would certainly line up with our objective to study the era. What’s better than a first-person witness?”

Ectoberhaunt 2024 Masterpost

#danny phantom #ectoberhaunt24 #EH Past #Day 3 #cw dissection #cw blood #cw gore #outsider pov #this was living in my old WIPs that just never got posted #and I'm so thankful I kept it becasue this fits with the concept and prompt PERFECTLY #also it think this is an interesting take on a dissection fic #i also love how many questions are buried in this about what has happened since that recording

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murphy-kitt · 8 months ago

Text

Ectoberhaunt Day 9 - Fall

Word Count: 1,619

Part 2 to red in tooth and claw (that’s your fatal flaw)

AO3

Tags: Angst, Death Aftermath, Blood & Injury

Wes deals with the aftermath of Danny’s death.

The past few days feel like they’ve thrown his whole mindset into a paradigm shift. He doesn’t even know where to begin.

Wes does know where it ended.

And that was with Danny Fenton lying battered and bleeding on the floor of Caspar High. His last moments spent as a some sort of real life screenplay, something to gawk at.

Even in second death Danny Fenton got no dignity. And Wes had been part of that crowd.

Danny Fenton was infuriating. Flaunting his secret about, knowing that no one would ever believe Wes.

At first it’d been sheer shock, and incredulity, Wes thinks. That he’d found out Fenton was a ghost and needed to tell someone. And then eventually overtime, Fenton became aware of his knowledge. And the bastard had taunted him.

All his money wasted on cameras, to get proof of what? The pride had been too much.

He stares at his corkboard pinned up on his wall, once his pride and joy, something with hours of dedication. And now where’s all that work come too?

Danny Fenton is dead, at the hands of his own parents.

He doesn’t know how they’re coping, doesn’t really want to. Probably saying that the Phantom had ‘taken over their son’ or the likely. Absolve themselves of blame.

At least Wes isn’t afraid to admit he’s part of this whole mess. Okay, he wasn’t the one to go and lure Phantom with a blob ghost and watch him bleed out.

But he had been the one to spur the theories around Caspar High, even if no one believed him. He’d been the one to not consider the implications or even sheer thought of the Fenton’s actually putting Danny at risk.

And even then, that’s ridiculous. Of course the senior Fentons would do that. Their house is a minefield, for God’s sake. One stakeout with a camera and Fenton’s quippy comments about the kitchen cupboards having ghost lasers had taught him that.

”Wesley, breakfast!” His dad shouts, voice reverberating through the walls.

Admittedly, Wes hasn’t had much of an appetite. Seeing someone bleed out will do that, even if you don’t (didn’t?) like them.

Sure, he’d seen Fenton get injured multiple times. But he’d always picked himself back up and continued on.

“Coming!” He drags himself from being fixated on the corkboard, opens his bedroom door and heads downstairs.

Breakfast is an anaemic slice of toast—barely brown enough it’s still bread—and a mug of green tea.

”To settle your stomach. Something light.” His dad states, sitting at the table opposite his chair.

”Literally light.” Wes quips, picking up the toast by the corners, which sags slightly. “But thanks, dad.”

“How are you..holding up?” His Dad edges awkwardly, not making eye contact. Things between them have never been emotionally open, so the room is thick with tension.

Wes only shrugs. How does he even begin to voice the past few days? His dad knew about the whole situation with Fenton, his conspiracies, the lot. Hard not to when the school would constantly be ringing him about Wes’ behaviour.

”I don’t know where to start.” He finally says.

”I thought you’d stopped with all that…stuff. There was nothing new on your corkboard for ages. And the next thing I know, you’re the key witness to what occurred in that corridor?” Walter straightens up, folding his arms.

Well I was right in the end, wasn’t I? The thought is petty, and Wes pushes it back. This matter never was about being right or wrong, never was about winning. In his eyes, sure, he’d seen it that way.

To Danny, it was simply survival.

”I did.” Wes lies.

A hidden corkboard under the bed. Extra notepads stuffed in his backpack. Developed pictures slipped under the mattress. He just hadn’t made it visibly obvious when the school had started catching on and prevented him.

”Okay.” His dad finally responds, scanning his face intently. “To have seen that…must’ve been difficult.”

He tenses. Even as much as his mind is consumed with the whole…scene. He’s not considered it that way.

”I don’t know.” Wes shrugs again. Now everything is tipped on its axis, uncertain. He crosses his arms, staring at the barely-eaten toast. “I mean, yeah, it’s all I’ve thought about. But not like that. My mind’s thinking about his parents, all the conspiracy stuff that I did. I’d thought they’d never hurt him. But seeing someone die? Bleed out right infront of me, even if I thought he was annoying? I don’t think I’ve process how fucked that is.”

His dad barely even reacts to the swearing, straightening up in his chair, reaching his arms over the table to lean closer.

“You’ve always been too far ahead of yourself, Wes. Even just when you were little, wanting to investigate everything.” His dad finally says, voice weary. “And this time, you got so caught up that I think you forgot why you were doing it. Or what the impacts would be. How many times has that school called me in the past year?”

Well, you won’t be getting phone calls anymore.

The whole time he’d pushed and pushed to be believed. And now everyone knows. He’s always imagined the day where his proof would be concrete enough to feel believed. Satisfied, vindicated, no longer mocked for being a conspiracy freak.

But now, all Wes feels is empty. A nauseating void of being right.

“That’s not—“ his voice falters, and he averts his gaze to the toast, pushing it away. “I didn’t mean for it to get this far. I didn’t actually think his parents would hurt him.”

“You didn’t think at all! You got so obsessed with proving something, you didn’t stop to think if the point even mattered.” Walter sighs, looking weary.

His chest tightens. It does matter. He’s not thrown his life at months of research for nothing. Fenton had been lying to everyone for months—deceived Amity.

And why do you think that was? The Fenton’s proved it enough for you two days ago.

“It does matter.” He says, but his feeble tone betrays the doubt.

“I know you feel that way. I don’t expect that to change in two days when you were so… focused on this.” Walter drags a hand over his face. “The truth, though? Do you think that damn truth was worth Danny Fenton’s life?”

Wes doesn’t know what to say, bunching his shoulders by his ears. He usually feels sure, certain of himself. But now it’s much different. What can he say, he only wanted to expose Fenton, not get him killed? That he didn’t think it’d end like this?

Maybe that’s the problem. He’d never seen an ending in the relentless chase to expose Fenton. For validation.

“I thought—“ Wes mumbles, “I thought if I could prove I was right then everyone would listen. That I wasn’t crazy.”

“Son.” Wes feels his dad’s hands squeeze his, tone softening. “There’s no satisfaction in being right about this.”

Wes’ heart plummets to his chest, and he stares at the beige wood of the table, unable to make eye contact. Being right had been the ultimate goal, but it fixed nothing. It hasn’t changed that fact that Danny is gone. That Wes had witnessed him bleeding out. That he’d played a part, even if it was a tiny drop of ectoplasm compared to the bloodbath the Fentons caused.

First it’s the ectoplasm pooling underneath Danny.

His skin is pale, too pale for a ghost. The way his body twitches slightly, his eyes bleary, tone slurred.

And then the green turns red. It shouldn’t do that—not when he’s a ghost. But it doesn’t stop. And then the halo of light ignites, and everyone knows.

But there’s no quip from Danny Fenton, no stupid smirk or witty remark. Just silence. Just the blood.

A sob catches in Wes’ throat, he splutters. Sour bile threatens to rise in his throat, his stomach queasy.

The chair creaks as his dad stands up, awkwardly hovering besides Wes. A reassuring squeeze on the shoulder is what he gets.

”You’re not a bad kid, Wes. I love you, and I always will. You saw something horrific. You got too carried away with the conspiring, but I think that’s a lesson strictly learnt now.” His dad murmurs, grimacing.

Wes only nods, edging away from the contact on his shoulder. His dad gets the jist, and sidles out the kitchen.

This entire year, Wes had prided himself on being the one who knew Danny’s secret. Better than everyone else who was oblivious and saw his claims as ridiculous.

All the months he’d built up, “knowing” Danny better. And yet, in the face of Danny’s death he’d been a bystander just the same as everyone else.

He badly stifles another sob, eyes stinging. Fenton hadn’t deserved that, didn’t deserve killed by his own parents nor his secret stripped in the process.

Wes had just stood there by the lockers, frozen, and watched. Done nothing. For all the dedication he’d put into investigating Fenton, in the end he hadn’t even twitched a muscle to act.

He remembers beforehand. Fenton taunting him, the stupid smile. That was who Fenton had been. Aloof, weirdly obsessed with space, well-meaning. Moonlighting as a superhero all the while. His grades in the gutter, sleep deprived to hell. Sacrificing everything.

And Wes had plundered through, determined to get his closure. But now, there’s nothing.

The realisation hits him like him like that damned ectogun. Dead. Never coming back again.

For the first time since he witnessed Danny Fenton bleed to death in the school hallway, Wes puts his head in his hands and sobs.

#danny phantom #ectoberhaunt24 #ectoberhaunt 2024 #wes weston #angst #Danny died for real this time #tw blood

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