#but Amity have an infinite supply

[nelkcats]

Amity Candy Store

It turns out that having a portal to the Infinite Realms gives you resources to materials you've never seen before. Due to the recent peace treaty between Amity Parkers and ghosts they had begun to exchange products.

Some ghosts felt very nostalgic and wanted to try the food of the living again, or have access to objects not available on the dimension. Others simply wanted to show their shiny items to the liminals, after all there were so many portals on the dimension and they had a lot to trade!

One of those items was Kryptonite, ghosts were sure it was candy of some kind and told the liminals that and since ghosts and liminals could eat it without any consequences (Frostbite approved) the liminals assumed it was some kind of special candy. Like shiny rock candy.

So it is not surprising that when they opened a candy store they began to sell Kryptonite there. When the Justice League began to investigate the town's sudden silence from the outside world Clark didn't expect to feel extremely weak walking past the local candy store. Or that being around the local children would make him sick.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 47

Hear me out. Amity Park gets shifted in universes slightly- maybe it’s from Pariah, maybe it was a wish, maybe they did so on purpose to escape something- and they end up in the DC-verse. The thing is, thanks to the media blackout and the shields, no one in the new universe notices. The Amityville Paekers know about outside, can go on the internet and leave whenever they want, but they’ve all become more than a little liminal. More than a little off. Movements too graceful, eyes too sharp, ears too pointed and teeth more akin to predatory fangs. Skin with a soft glow, hair moving as though underwater or being tussled by the wind- bodies seemingly unaging after a certain point. They’re so ecto-contaminated that they’re unsure they can even be counted as human anymore, and it wasn’t like the city wasn’t already practically self sufficient. Add in a portal or two through the Infinite Realms to get supplies to start a few fields or some fish farms and well, they’re pretty good. Sure it’s resulted in them using a mixture of modern and older money and having several extinct plants and animals running around but that’s fine. There’s magic in this world! Actual magic, that they can learn! And use? Oh this makes rebuilding after a sparring incident go so much faster! 

This results in the hero who stumbles across this place to believe they’ve stumbled across some sort of city of fae or elves. 

[sguidwards-bestfriend]

Dp x dc thoughts and stuff

New Dimension, Who's This?

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

Okay okay wait what if ghosts sort of feed off their own energy supply or like humans make our own blood they make their own ecto.

But Danny is a halfa.

Maybe he doesn't make any or just not in his human form. So when his powers use it up he has to find a way to get more.

In Amity that isn't really a problem, but if he's not in Amity? If he's not even in his dimension?

...

Danny is king, he has been for a few years now. Lets say he's 20 something and he's still learning his og powers as well as his new kingly eldritch ones.

He makes a portal, goes in to check it out, and gets stuck when he doesn't have enough juice to make another one to go back.

Portals aren't simple, even a portal for something human at a lower power level needs a lot to make a portal in their own dimension.

Creating one for an eldritch being, the king of the infinite realms, to another dimension requires an insane amount of energy. so he's stuck... somewhere, with no energy source. Transforming back into something vaguely human looking is taxing so he sits on the ground to take stock. The extra arms, paper white skin and hair, and the many ever shifting eyes are gone, but he can still feel the fangs and pointy ears, his crown shrunk down to a broach keeping a cape in place, it's covered in a frost so cold the fabric around it crystalizes, and his clothing is an odd mix of ghostly regalia and a black hoodie. It doesn't look bad, but he doesn't know how this dimension works just yet and he doubts this will help him "fit in".

Thankfully invisibility and intangibility come so naturally to him it's just the switch that requires ecto, similar to transforming, once he's there that's where he'll stay.

He needs to find a power source, wherever it is he's ended up, so he goes looking. He finds Lazarus pits but they aren't bottomless like the lakes in the zone. Some are like a dripping faucet, sure it'll fill back up at some point but who knows how long that'll take. Others were artificial, someone ripped a hole between realities, probably a small one since the leftover feeling of a portal wasn't there.

Danny stays invisible for nearly 2 months as he searches for a way home, time can act differently between dimensions, in Amity he might be gone an hour or a decade. The best thing to do for now is to get in contact with Clocky and hope they can figure it out together.

While emptying another pit he hears an angry man yell "You said this one wasn't empty."

An obviously nervous voice answers, "It was full this morning, Sir."

"This is the last one we have any record of!" there's a crash that intrigues Danny so he pops above the surface to catch a glimpse.

His stomach falls when he sees a Vlad looking fruit loop tearing apart a makeshift lab in a cave. Equipped with the same ridicules cape and beard.

There is a woman sitting on a folding chair, her legs are crossed and she very obviously is done with whatever fruit loop 2.0 is doing.

He was expecting to find more than 4! If that's the last of the leaks he needs to find another source asap.

"We can head to Gotham." the woman says, still uninterested as she pulls at a thread on her sleeve. "That place has always been a cesspool for everything weird."

"Nyssa." the man takes a breath, no longer yelling he continues, "We've tried that."

The woman stands, she looks scarier calm than the fruitloop does angry. "No, we tried to find one. We couldn't search there cuz of the bats, but if there are a few diversions we could get enough equipment into the sewers and we'd continue our search unnoticed."

Danny doesn't care much about the rest, he needs to get to Gotham before they do. He just needs to find where that is.

...

Jason Todd came back from the dead a few years ago. [We can leave him at around 23, idk what age he was when Talia plopped him into the pits.]

He's angry ALL the time, it fogs his mind so much it feels like he's no longer in control of his body. He knows he nearly killed one of his brothers, possibly two, but they ignore it so he does too.

He hasn't seen his family much since he was... brought back. As always, something pushes him to take action when he would rather not.

This time it's a rumor amongst his lackeys about someone planning on killing Redhood. They don't know he and Red are the same person, so he was planning on leaving the helmet at a safe house and sticking around to give orders and keep an eye on things.

That plan falls through when a group of three come up to him, they think he spends the most amount of time with the boss and want to keep their leader safe, but don't feel they have that kind of relationship with him to show how worried they are. They push Jason to take Redhood and hide.

His way of doing things creates a pretty even playing field amongst the lackeys, other than Redhood himself. If he refuses he's not a team player, if he tries to advise against it they'll think he's the one trying to kill his own alter ego.

He has to go somewhere none of his enemies know of, but also where none of his allies know.

That's how he's ended up being shuffled into the manor by Alfred, duffle bag in his arm and a headache so horrendous it's hard to understand what Alfred is saying.

~

Jason had been at the manor for two weeks, in that time he'd heard of two territory fights by crime alley, someone emptying the Lazarus pits around the world, and the assassination attempt on him hasn't played out yet.

He was going insane with his family on him at all times. No matter what he did someone was with him.

He knew telling them he felt ill and didn't want to hurt an innocent if the rage took over wasn't the best idea, but he couldn't think of one that would work as well to get them on his side.

That meant, however, that he wouldn't be able to go out on patrol at all nor leave the manor alone.

Damian, of all of them, was the one that helped him. He still acted like the spoiled brat he always was, but he'd grown. He was calmer, not by much, but it took him longer to be set off than he used to.

It wasn't hard to convince him not to say anything, he still knew his brother after all he came prepared. An intricate knife from 15th century china he nabbed off a man with a sword collection that could rival Damians and a story of wanting to get back his cat that he had to leave at his main safe house was all it took to get Damian to agree.

With his needed entertainment (books and videogames), his cat stuffed inside his jacket (which yes, Emma did exist), and ice cream; they were making their way back to the manor at dusk. Jason froze, someone something was following them.

"Dami, do you have your sensor turned on."

"Of course I do." he puffed out his chest and stopped to push back his sleeve.

"Don't stop walking, check what's to my left." the building was boarded up. It hadn't been like that last time he was here.

"Don't tell me what to do." Damian caught up with him before adding, "The building has no electricity or anything in it, but it's weirdly cold."

Just as they both look over to the building something phases through the boarded up window. "Run, now!"

As they take off towards the manor the creature follows them. He can't hear it, no footsteps, no heartbeat, no breathing, but he can feel it. And he wants to fight it.

"It's still following us." Damian whisper yelled. then Damian answered a question he didn't ask. "We're half a mile from the manor, on the road with the ice-cream shop."

"You have your com on?" His need to fight this thing only grew.

"Just with Tim. We should never have them fully off, something could happen."

Of course, he knew that, he suffered those consequences. He was probably the reason it was so enforced... and why it was followed.

Suddenly the roaring of an engine and a black car with all it's doors open comes racing down the road. Damian jumps in first, with Emma stuffed in his jacket he can't just throw himself in so he chucks his games and slides in feet first, hugging his chest to keep her safe.

The doors shut and the car speeds off past the entrance to the manor.

The winding roads should have shook the creature off their trail. It's not long before the car takes them down a secret entrance to the bat cave.

There's yelling before he's even out of the car.

"You could have got hurt!" Tim is yelling at him, "I don't care who you think you are, you put our brother in danger!" The rage starts back up, he was here first, he was the one who could protect Dami not him.

"Timmothy I fight crime."

Tim swivels on his heels, "That thing wasn't human. How would you have fought it exactly?"

Jason can feel himself being engulfed in it again, he's vision going green and his whole body tensing. "Listen here replacement."

"I am not!" Tim turns back around, the steam in him vanishes when he looks at Jason's face.

"Boys," a calm voice echoes through the cave. "No fighting in the cave. Go up stairs to breath or finish outside."

Jason ignores Tim and Dami as he walks to the elevator. He can't look at Alfred, can't let him see him like this.

Once out from behind the bookcase he lets Emma down gently, then flops onto the couch. If they know what's good for them they'll find another way up.

They don't apparently and all three walk out the same exit, bickering.

The noise erases the effort he'd made to quite the pits, as he stands to shut them up the creature floats up through the table.

A terrifying creature with long teeth, pointy ears, long curved nails and a cap hiding a thin hunched figure leans towards him. As he jumps away the thing grabs him and latches on.

Jason tries to shake it off, but it's almost like it's stuck to him. Not physically, but there is something holding them together and it's not the creature.

Suddenly a bright light flashes and the creature turns onto a young man.

"Why's the ecto in this dimension so shit." It... he looks tired, there are bags under his eyes and his skin looks sickly. He's draped over Jason, at first he thought the man was holding Jason in place, but it seemed more like he was holding himself up.

Tim stopped in his tracks. "What the fuck?"

"Language."

"Sorry Alf, but uh... What's happening?"

The man mumbled something, he rested his head on Jason's shoulder, he could see the effort it took to speak louder. "I'm so hungry dude. Why are you the only liminal person I've come across? It makes no sense."

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

[tanglepelt]

Run Ghost Run 3

Ao3 link Prev Next

Mild descriptions of wounds ahead.

Leaving the lab was too easy. Nothing went wrong, no weapons, no ghost shields, no alarms and not a single lab coat in sight. The main thought Danny had was that it had to be a trap. There was something happening here. He never could be to paranoid. Regardless trap or not it was his best and only chance. He continued forward, leaving the government complex behind him.

Looking ahead he saw that the sun hadn’t set. In just a few hours it would be night. Taking cover in night would work in his favor. Danny could see Amitys town line in the distance. The base had been their normal one. He knew where he was and just how to get home without being caught in the cameras.

His ghost sense had not activated. None of his rouges or allies had come looking for him or were out and about. Hopefully no one important had an inkling of what occurred. Everything minus his personal physical and mental health were great. He could work with this; just never let anyone know. It was just a matter of not getting caught. No going to the infinite realm, hiding from the GIW and avoiding his parents. A normal Saturday prior to the whole Pariah incident. Avoidance was natural to him.

There were only three people who would take immediate notice of his disappearance. Three people who would help. Danny had to get to Sam, Tucker, or Jazz. Any of them would know what to do. Tucker could hack the government again Sam would go all activist on them, and Jazz would actually take charges and adult. They all had go bags ready to take off. The four of them… no that wouldn’t be a good idea. Getting them involved more would be counterproductive.

The GIW and his parents would be gunning for him, not his friends. Jack and Maddie had no reason to go after Jazz. Those in the realm would search for him not them. In the end it all leads back to him.

It may not be his best call, yet it would keep them all safe. He could just leave them notes. Explain why. Seeing them he wouldn’t be able to leave. Clockwork did say that all ecto-entities and contaminated would be evacuated prior. Should the council find out and they were all together it would be easy pickings. The best thing is to leave alone. Tell no one where he is going and just live the best life a runaway fugitive could.

The closer he got to the town line the harder it was to keep moving. The adrenaline spike was dropping. Vison blurring, head spinning. The billboard with the go bag was in sight. The bag was not as hidden as he remembered. Hitting the billboard counted as landing right. The impact forced a de-transformation no longer ghost. He was able to inject himself with the ecto-dejecto.

Sam had the idea for the go bags and set them up herself just having him stash them around town. Danny had never thought he would need one, Jazz was convinced they would accept him once they knew. He just thought he wouldn’t ever get caught. Jazz had only humored them by stashing a few in town with them. She had been concerned about the lab for his health not that they had been doing it intentionally. He so had bragging rights for once. Well as soon as it was safe to see her again.

Bragging rights aside, the injection was clearing his head. Leaving a lab without checking himself was dumb. Sitting on the little ledge he began to check himself over. The wound on his stomach had started to sluggishly bleed. Staples, for easy access. Not great for long-term care, for now it would have to work. There was a Y incision that wasn’t clean, the struggle was obvious. It was jagged and curved. It looked like a massacre, clothes included. The shirt he was wearing was destroyed. Dried blood and torn up, the same could be said for his pants. Removing the remains of the shirt he dug in the go bag for the med kit. The medical supplies in the bad were used, wrapping the damage. There was no time for any reconstructive work. A quick change into a black NASA sweatshirt and some jeans, just enough time to write notes. Disposing of a tracker or two as he changed.

The bag did contain a fair amount. Sam had insisted on being prepared for any situation. Some clothes, the med kit, an envelope, and a communicator. He would leave that behind no doubt Tucker would track him down with it.

Also, from the bag the phantom-ectosignature-hider. Just like Fenton work products Danny named his the same way. Branding does matter, his PR was already dead. It was a belt designed to hide his ecto signature specifically. Skulker had imputed it into his mainframe allowing the hunt to be quicker. The solution was modify and adapt. It only worked when he was human, he couldn’t hide the signature while ghost or when using powers. Just to be safe he clicked the thermos on the belt. Using it meant the gig was up but not having it on him made him uncomfortable. The thermos was a safety net.

All that was left was to drop them in their rendezvous point. It was a part of there escape plan, grab the stuff meet and run. The communicator did have a use. He would send them a message just in case they didn’t think to look. It had to have been at least a day he had been missing. No doubt they were concerned. The notes just explained the situations and his goodbyes. With the three notes deposited and the message sent he took off. Leaving amity and the communicator behind him.

For the sake of everyone he would run for as long as needed. He left just as the sun was setting.

He’d take clockwork seriously this time. That man stalks all the timelines. Even told him what to do when running, follow the bats and birds he said. Leaving him with yet another mind game riddle warning thing. Not even a hey go here or a by the way don’t go home right away. Danny had around 1000 problems and clockwork could solve them all. Where do birds and bats live together? Do they co-mingle? Danny didn’t know, they were two different species after all. The plan was to wing it for now. Once he was all the way in one piece and not within the vicinity of Amity he could try and decipher the clue.

With no clue where to go he just started following a bird. Maybe it could get him somewhere. There was only one out and about and it flew east. So east is the way he went. Heading to the town line was his first hitch. There were white van patrolling the roads and the lab coats were back. Instead of catching him in the lab they most of planned to catch him off guard. Let him go just to recatch him to dimmish his hopes and dreams of escape.

Flying higher he could see that the entire town had these patrols on the outskirts. The guys in white had no other reason to monitor town except for him. A red light flashed on him like a laser pointer. He had been spotted. They may have the sky and field advantage. He was going to have to dig a little deeper so underground it was. Going as deep and as far east as he could.

Once it became too much to stay under, he had to pop up. He kept going being forced to de-transform at several points. He stayed in forest away from roads as much as he could. Taking advantage of the night. Learning to stay low to the ground. There hadn’t been any more lab coats since amity. Not a single bat so far either. He kept going until daybreak. With daybreak he really needed to find a place and just sit down. Going forward only changing directions whenever he saw a bird. He was traveling by a stretch of highway. Keeping tight in the woods. Only ever using his powers when he heard a car coming to go invisible.

The ecto-dejecto hadn’t been the hail Mary for him as it was Dani. Yes, he was awake and fully aware, yet his powers were on the fritz. Random moments he could feel them fading, flying low was a must. If hitting the billboard was annoying falling in a tree was worse. Definitely pulled something. If he tried to summon ice it was little flurries or an ice cube. Invisibility or intangibility just depending on how it was feeling. The voice in the back of his head was blaming the blood blossoms. In Salem he couldn’t move or use his powers, it was still inside him.

A sign for a closed area was up ahead. That’s where he’d recuperate a bit. The facilities were still operational, he’d take that as a win today. Looking in the dingy mirror, deeper bags sat under his eyes. The bags seemed bruised and were discolored; he didn’t even know when or how he got hit there. The most concerning part was a part of his hair that was now white. Coincidence didn’t happen, it was related to why his powers were being wonky. Leaving the bathroom, the sun was long gone. A lot more time had passed then he realized.

The farther east he went the more death was lingering. Tragedies, blood bath and so many traumatic events. Wherever this was stemming from was causing rifts into the infinite realm. To an average person they would never know. He could feel ectoplasma, while corrupt it was in the air. Getting stronger as he went. This wasn’t like amity, the veil wasn’t thin here, this was caused by extreme emotions of the dead. It would be prime breeding ground for a powerful ghost to manifest here if one hadn’t already.

Staying human would be best. The belt would hide him. The only reason he didn’t turn around was the fact he saw a red robin. His ghost sense was linked to his ice core, it would be unlikely for another to sense him. If a ghost had formed here, it could cause issues, they would know the customs and rules. Either a fight that would be noticed by the others or an overly concerned ghost. Both less than ideal. It was time to channel his inner Jazz and plan ahead.

His first step was in progress, keep moving. Second was to form the master plan. Suddenly a bright light in the sky caught his attention. There was a giant bat sign in the sky.

That cemented the fact he should stick around for at least a nap. His walking pace was slow. The sun had started to rise, and the bat light thing was long gone. Why there was a light in the sky for a bat he didn’t know. What he did know was that an unmaintained in need of a cleaning sign was standing.

Entering Gotham City.

I don't really get tagging people. Like am I supposed to include people who asked in the first part or just the second part. I'm only including those who asked in the last one. If its continuous I have no problems adding people in.

@56thingsinaname @manglethemingle

[canofspooks]

DannyMay Day 22 (Cryptid AU)

Summary: Wes gets too curious for his own good, trying to figure out what’s wrong with Amity Park.

Words: 644

Amity Park had been a quiet town, a year ago. Wes wasn't sure what had changed, or exactly when, but the sleepy town had become almost zombie-like. Strange weather, disappearances, lapses in memory, increased reports of paranormal activity… the list went on. Sometimes, Wes felt like he was the only one not overcome with the haze that had seemingly blanketed the people around him. Almost the only one.

Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, and the one they all seemed to be connected to: Danny Fenton.

He was convinced that there had to be some reason they were immune to whatever had possessed everyone else. He just needed to figure out what. So he followed them around. A lot.

It wasn't like he could just ask, "Hey, have you noticed Lancer's eyes have been looking particularly soulless lately?" to complete strangers. That was nuts! Waiting for the trio after school and tailing them on their way home was infinitely more reasonable, and involved less social interaction.

Wes kept a good distance between him and the trio while staying in earshot - not a particularly difficult feat, considering how loud Danny and his friends talked. He was hoping for any clue as to what made them different, but all they seemed interested in discussing was veganism, for some odd reason.

Were they spared from the clutches of whatever supernatural entity had gripped the town because they were vegans? Was the town's meat supply poisoned? The turkey sandwich Wes had eaten for his lunch suddenly had a very delayed, and very sour after-taste.

No, no. Couldn't be that. He would've felt the effects by now.

He picked apart the trio's appearances and tried to think of any shared traits between them. The trouble with that was how different they all were. Why were the three even friends to begin with? It felt like they spent all their time arguing more than anything.

It didn't take long for the group to disperse, leaving Wes to trail along behind Danny in a way he hoped was inconspicuous. He found a bench near Fenton's home and settled down for the long haul.

He wasn't stalking anyone, he was just trying to figure out what to do next. Yeah, that was it.

He just happened to have binoculars.

Danny didn't seem to understand the concept of blinds, so it was easy for Wes to pick out which room was his. The boy had hardly shut the door behind him when Wes could see him gripping his jaw tightly. Skin tore under the nails, but instead of blood there was a dark green ooze. Wes looked away for a moment, holding back a gag. When he turned back to look at the window, the thing that replaced Danny was gaunt, hunched. It looks more like a monster than the person who had stood there before.

Wes didn't waste time. He grabbed his bag, threw it over his shoulders, and left. No way in hell was he going to keep pressing to find out whatever that was. He was leaving town. Forever. Didn't know how, didn't know where he would go instead, but he would never feel safe taking a math test in the same room as that thing.

He stole nervous glances over his shoulder. The walk back home felt like it was miles long. When he finally reached his front door, Wes was flooded with relief.

He rushed up to his room, locked the bedroom door, and emptied his bag out onto the bed. What did he even need to bring? Food, clothes. Start with the basics, he figured. He gathered anything he could think of onto his bed and assessed how to cram it all into one highschooler's backpack.

As he passed by the mirror in the room, he froze.

There, in his reflection, the monster he'd seen in Danny's room. Staring.

[tomboy014]

Dear Amity Parkers,

Enough is enough! We were trying to create a way to supply locally sourced and cruelty free ectoplasm to the humans in a way that would benefit us all, but no! The humans had to escalate to hunting down baby ghosts and coming at my neighbors with knife straws! Knife straws?! No more ectoplasm for you; you've lost that privilege.

Rip and I are working with a number of other local ghost to help evacuate any and all ghosts back to the Infinite Realms if they so desire. This includes all low level ghosts, blob ghosts and the new baby ghosts that have been created in recent days. We are here for you!

@newudistopia and Crayon, hold out the best you can. We're trying to find a way to get around the Fenton's and get Rip inside so they can open a portal for you.

We'd appreciate any and all help from volunteers! Phantom is only one kid; it's up to the rest of us to help each other. If you can't help with the evacuation efforts, then at least spread the word. @lance-thunder-reporting-live, we'd appreciate a signal boost. We want every ghost in Amity Park to know that help is available.

A final warning to the humans: I may not like fighting, but if I have to go full franken-monster to defend someone, I will. Your ecto-weapons don't work on me. My body's physical, not spectral.

To all out spectral neighbors out there, stay out of sight, stay above the rooftops and stay safe. Help is coming.

[friendly-neighborhood-imbecille]

i shudder before the bee....

Analysis Conclusive! Asteroid composed entirely of unique anti-ghost element, Ecto-ranium! Negative effects of which can only be felt by ghosts.

It would be most effective in making anti-ghost weapons and to ease Masters' takeover of the Ghost Zone.

And I shall be the one to tell him the good news!

No, I shall!

I shall!

Your resolution is much too low and your bandwidth is far too large!

Why, you HOLOGRAPHIC-!

What a glorious morning. Defeating Frostbite and pilfering the all powerful Infi-map. If this keeps up, I should be ruling the galaxy by lunch.

Kitchen's closed, Plasmius! Give us back the map! 

Ahh!

Let's rock!

3... 2... 1... Punch it!

I know you're a lost guy, Vlad, but no map is going to help you find your way. You need therapy for that.

Uhh...

Seriously, dude. 

Therapy.

The fusion reactor! If the flames reach it, it will explode!

Taking my map, destroying my satellite, mocking my mental health, it's time I finally finished of Danny Phantom once and for all.

Ah, home sweet home. Nothing like good ol' solid terra firma.

I thought you liked being in space, Sam. All that infinite darkness everywhere.

Yeah. Well, I like my darkness with a little more oxygen and a lot less asteroids.

Still, it's cool we were able to help out Frostbite. I bet he'll be glad to get his map back.

Yeah. We'll return it to him as soon as we can. But right now, though, I'm with Sam. It's good to be back to where things are normal. 

Attention, Amity Park! The Fentons are on patrol! Rest assured the streets are safe! Uh, city water supply A-Okay.

Yep, normal.

Nothing like a lazy day of shopping, lattes, and terrorizing minimum-wage workers. Boo. 

I'm going ghost! 

Well, look on the bright side. At least I'm not downloading them illegally. 

Next register, Cyber-jerk!

Behold, Ghost child!

The perfect combination of technology, past AND present! 

The Car-Puter!

"It will drive you... to your DOOM!" 

Great. My first car accident and I'm not even driving yet!

Hey! Tucker! Sam!

Huh?

Yo, I got it Vid!

Awesome Thrash! Take it Download.

Downloaded. Shaw.

Uh, who are those guys?

I don't know, but those are the coolest jumpsuits I've ever seen! Uh, except yours, of course. Black is very slimming.

Adolescents! How dare you? And another thing, the high tech look is my bit! 

Ghost guy gone, area's safe. Have a righteous day.

Masters' Blasters stop disasters!

Greetings, citizens. I hope you've enjoyed this presentation of Amity Park's newest teen ghost fighting team, Masters' Blasters.

Masters' Blasters?

As mayor, I provided city funding for this top notch troop. Equipped with the latest teen technology, they're going to stop ghosts and succeed where Danny Phantom has so obviously failed.

Teen ghost fighters?

Teen technology?

Where Danny Phantom has so obviously failed?

My plan is very simple, out with the old and in with the new! And the old should give up now now if he knows what's good for him.

If Vlad's funding them, then they're definitely up to something.

Hmm, they can't fight ghosts if there are no ghosts to fight, right?

Uh, right.

So you just fight ghosts like crazy.

Yeah, remind everyone in this town how there's no better ghost fighter than Danny Phantom.

You're right. I'll just show 'em who's boss around here. Buckle up guys, Operation: Danny Phantom Rocks is about to begin!

Hmm, 3 news photos of you in your underwear, 9 more and you can have your own calendar.

This is serious, Tucker. As far as this town is concerned, Vlad's goons have totally replaced Danny Phantom.

Did you say Danny Phantom? He's wonderful!

He's my hero!

But he's yesterday's news! Masters' Blasters gave us cool stuff!

Masters' Blasters stop disasters!

Cheer up, Danny. All you have to do is make everyone see you for the hero we know you are.

You can do it, dude. And try a cool slogan. "Danny Phantom stops..." uh, nothing rhymes with "Phantom"

Keep working on that. I'm goin' ghost!

Haha. Check this out, everyone. There's not a ghost anywhere that can stand up to Danny Phantom, the original teen ghost fighter!

Yes, as you can see, Amity Park is in much cooler, safer hands, thanks to Masters' Blasters.

I always knew that Phantom kid was a menace! Not only did he nearly kill Sam and Tucker, but he destroyed a perfectly good parade balloon and that's just plain un-American.

But, Dad. It was just an accident. I for one am glad there's someone out there protecting us. 

Me, too. And they're called Masters' Blasters. Vladdie's team has style, guts, acne, and they're humans, plus they gave my this zippity-keen-o poster.

Why are your folks messing with the Fenton Portal?

Dad's breaking it down to stage one so he can update the software. He says this way, He'll be able to catch ghosts and download songs faster.

Isn't science awesome?

It kinda looks the same way it did when you first got your ghost powers, Danny.

Can we stop talking about my powers, please? They're causing me nothing but problems, lately. I'm starting to think that maybe we'd all be better off without 'em.

Okay, that's enough for today. Come on Maddie, I'll let you rub my feet and remember, I have bunions.

Thank goodness I'm wearing gloves.

This thing gave me my powers. I wonder if it could--

Danny, what are you thinking?

Name one good reason why I should keep my powers.

You're the target of hundreds of evil ghosts. Oh, wait, that's a bad one. I'll go back to rhyming "Phantom".

Danny, think of all the good you've done and our doing. If you took your powers away now--

Hey, Masters' Blasters, remember me? The old orange guy, I --

Jack and Madeline Fenton, our readings indicate an ectoplasmic entity on the premises.

By order of the mayor, you're both under arrest for harboring a ghost.

That does it! I'm goin' ghost! Can't catch ghosts anymore, almost hurt my friends.

Now my parents are arrested because of me?

Danny, stop. This isn't the way.

You're a hero, Danny. We can talk about this.

Don't do it, dude. We'll find something that rhymes with "Phantom".

Sorry, guys.

Danny, can you hear me? How do you feel?

Human.

Danny. Danny, can you hear me?

Did he just do what I think he just did?

You mean step back into the Fenton Portal, remove his ghost powers and revert his DNA profile back to that of a normal human?

I was gonna say go un-ghost, but that works too.

Greetings, dudes. We're here to, like, police the premises for signs of any spectral activity.

Just go about your business. We're not even here.

There you go, dude. And remember, your mayor, who watches constantly, loves you.

Wha- what happened? Did it work?

You didn't register on the blasters' scanners.

So that means... I'm goin ghost! I said goin' ghost. Haha. It worked! I don't have my ghost powers anymore! I'm normal again. Isn't that awesome?

Yeah.

Great

Thrilling

Oh, come on, you guys, don't you realize what this means?

Yeah, that you're just an average, every day not special human again.

Oh, come on, Sam. think of how great this is gonna be. I won't have to fight ghosts anymore. Now we can all just be normal teenagers and hang out as much as we want.

Yeah. Normal rocks.

Hey, if it's what you wanted, then I'm glad for you, man.

It is, thanks.

Looks like we'll have to find other things to occupy our time, huh?

Looks like.

There's this new Masters' Blasters video game we can play. It's cool. You hunt ghosts. See ya.

I really can't believe you did that. It feels like a lost a good friend. Someone I was just starting to get to know.

Why is everyone but me bummed about this? Danny Phantom's not needed anymore. From now on, Danny Fenton is just a nice, normal kid from a nice, normal family. Now let's go get Mom & Dad out of jail.

Thanks for getting us out of jail, kids. I knew there must have been some sort of mistake.

I was never worried. I was this close to tunneling us out of there with my trusty ice cream spoon, but then they served ice cream, so, well... you know.

By the way Danny, I think it's cute what you've done to your hair.

Yeah. Kinda reminds me of the band I was in back in the 80s. The Skunk Punks.

The Skunk Punks Stink?

Yeah we walked right into that one.

Um, you guys head on home. It's such a nice normal day that I thought I'd kinda walk around and be, you know, normal.

Alright. Just be normally careful. Bye bye.

Don't worry. I plan on being careful for a long, long time.

And it's been another busy day for Mayor Master's Masters' Blasters, who are now charging a small fee to cover their growing expenses.

Yes, quality ghost fighting is getting very expensive these days. Time, equipment, storage, it all adds up. And since that cowardly Danny Phantom disappeared, not that he ever was helpful, there's no one else in town to assist us. Oh there are certainly a few crack pots out there, who think they have what it takes, but they only get in our way. It seems that when it comes to fighting ghosts we're the only game in town. And I do so love games. I-I mean...have a nice day.

Ah this is the life. Just sitting around, not fighting ghosts with my totally ordinary pals. Could you pass me a corndog? Sam. Wait! There's no reason to get mad the corndogs are made of tofu.

I'm not mad about corndogs. You're not you anymore. You're just a normal kid. And a selfish one at that.

How am I selfish? Because I don't want to endanger the people I care about the most?

Danny don't you get it? Your powers gave you a chance to change things. A chance that no one else had, and I was thrilled to help you. But now you're just one of the crowd again.

What's wrong with that?

Everything. You got to fight ghosts after school while other kids fought acne. And you don't seem to care what you gave up.

I care. I just care about you and my family more.

When you had your powers I knew that this town was protected from evil. But now, who knows where we're headed. I'll always be your friend Danny, and I'll always be there for you. But I can't live life just sitting on the sidelines. I'm surprised you think you can.

Blech. Tofu.

How dare they serve veggie burgers today?! And how dare you students eat them?!

Aaah! Somebody help!

No more sitting on the sidelines. Hang on Dash-

Masters' Blasters stop disasters.

Chill dude.

What's with you, Fenton? Who do you think you are? Danny Phantom. You guys are the coolest ghost fighters ever.

Thanks dude. That'll be three hundred bucks.

I'm going ghost! 

There, there dear. So the ghost portal exploded. It's not the end of the world. You can always make another one.

I don't want another one. That portal and I have been through a lot together. And all because I wanted to download music faster. Oh curse me. And my impatience.

We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news from the universal observatory.

Earlier today our stellar readings indicated that a massive asteroid is hurdling across the solar system.

Where its trajectory will send it crashing directly into the Earth.

If immediate action is not taken our entire planet will be completely destroyed.

We estimate we have one week before impact.

The fate of the human race is at stake. One week. Use it wisely.

News of the approaching asteroid, which some are now calling the Disasteroid, circulates around the globe. Countries are combining their greatest technologies to stop the oncoming threat. Sadly it appear that our best may not be good enough. And speaking of not good enough, let's go live to Fenton Works.

Thanks, Shelly. I'm here ringside where a privately funded mission to stop the Disasteroid is underway.

I can't believe I'm just sitting here at a computer console when I should be out there stopping this. And I really can't believe we have to do this with him.

We would have never been able to get this mission up and running so fast if he hadn't paid for everything. So at least until the world is saved, chill.

How's it going young man?

Uh. My dad Jack Fenton is piloting our new--

--My new.

Fenton Rocket. And is on his way to destroy the asteroid.

He looks very serious about his mission.

You'd be serious too if you had to eat this freaky astronaut food. Freeze dried yam smelt surprise. What the heck is that?

With me now is Amity Park's mayor Vlad Masters. I understand you've sent in your own team of experts.

Oh yes. Seeing as the world is in jeopardy, I felt that the Masters' Blasters presence was an absolute necessity. Plus, think of how well their action figures will sell.

Dad. Mission status?

Reading seismic drill charges. Now!

Detonation in three. Two. One.

Everyone cheers.

Ha! I knew we could do it. There isn't a rock anywhere that could outsmart Jack Fenton.

That's the Disasteroid. You had us blow up the wrong one, you idiot.

But I-I couldn't have. Vladdie punches in the asteroid's coordinates for me. Yam smelt surprise?

That…that was our last chance.

Oops. Looks like I set the wrong coordinates. Silly me. You know how bad I can be with computers. Looks like your father has failed once again, and when I time needs a hero the most.

At least he tried, Vlad. What have you done except send others to do your work for you?

And where are you Danny Phantom? It looks like my plan to shame you into hiding was even more effective than I could have hoped.

I'm just getting word that scientists now know that the Disasteroid originated from the rings of Saturn two weeks ago.

Saturn? Your satellite exploded. That's what moved the asteroid. You're the one who caused this catastrophe.

Defeating you was just the first act of my little show. Get ready for act two.

Tell me again, why are we here?

Because we've got to see what Vlad's up to. He says he's got new that will impact the entire world.

Citizens of the Earth. I have news that will impact the entire world. Though every attempt at destroying the Disasteroid has failed, I come to you today offering an alternative solution. One I think you will find most surprising.

No!

I did not see that coming.

Yes, though I use my human half to walk among you, it is obvious that I am a far superior creature.

Who are you?

Though the world has come to know me as Vlad Masters billionaire mayor of Amity Park, I prefer you call me by my chosen slightly more evil name…Vlad Plasmius.

Vlad's a ghost?

I have a proposition to make. The nations of the world must agree unanimously to pay be five hundred billion dollars and make me absolute ruler. In return I shall use my ghost powers

To destroy the Disasteroid?

No. To turn it intangible.

Evil. But ingenious. That way it'll just pass harmlessly through the Earth.

It's your choice world. Be destroyed or me saved. Oh, and ruled by me. I eagerly await your decision.

What happens now?

Looks like we either change the name of the Earth to Vladsylvania, or I somehow figure a way out of this mess.

And that concludes act two of what I like to call one nation under Vlad. On to the finale.

How could you hold the world hostage like that Vladdie? And after the good fortune you've had in your life.

Good fortune?! You infect me with ghost DNA then steal the love of my life and you call that good fortune?

I infected you? You mean…

Yes fool. It was your bumbling that made me what I am today. But, I suppose I should be saying thank you. For without you I wouldn't be moments away from becoming ruler of the Earth.

I never meant to hurt you. What happened was an accident. I'm your friend, Vladdie. I've always been your friend. I even voted for you!

I'll remember that when I steal Maddie from you and make her my queen.

Asteroid contact in five hundred meters oh future ruler of the Earth.

Ah. No. No. No! What is the meaning of this?

Asteroid composed entirely of the unique anti-ghost element ecto-ranium. Ecto-ranium. Ecto-ranium.

Ecto-ranium? Then I can never touch it. No ghost can. That means…the Earth is doomed. And even if it wasn't I could never go back. I've revealed…my true self. I'll be forever hunted. Jack, you have to help me. You wouldn't turn your back on an old friend, would you?

An old friend? No. You? Yes.

Jack!

What are we gonna do?

What if we don't make the asteroid intangible?

Then it would obliterate the Earth

Not if we made the Earth intangible.

The whole Earth? Intangible? Are you kidding?

Yeah you'd need like a bazillion ghosts to do that.

Behold…the addresses of a bazillion ghosts.

Now that's the Danny I know. So much for sitting on the sidelines, huh?

But how are we going to get into the Ghost Zone? Your portal is ruined and we're never gonna get near Vlad's place now that everyone knows who he really is.

I've got it covered. Come on. The Infi-map can lead us into any entrance into the Ghost Zone anywhere on the Earth. And according to the map one's about to open right here.

Now I know how my chili fries feel.

I-I don't believe--

Believe it Jazz. Welcome to the Ghost Zone. Sort of a Ghosts R' Us.

But all the shelves are empty. Where the heck is everybody?

What's going on?

Foolish of you to come here in your human form ghost child. Seeking refuge in the Ghost Zone like all the others?

What others?

All these ghosts! They returned here because you humans put your world in danger. Now the Ghost Zone is bursting at the seams.

But it's the flip side of our world. If the Earth gets destroyed, the Ghost Zone goes, too.

You guys get into the escape pod.

But Danny…

Activate cloaking.

It's not enough you destroy your own world, now you have to destroy ours, too?

Wait. You don't under--

Fire!

You just made a big mistake. Well gang, there's good news and bad news. Good news my powers are back. Bad news…my powers are back!

Danny! It's you! Well, it was always you, but…

I know what you mean Sam. Thanks.

Those ghosts are going to come back and something tells me they're not gonna be too happy about helping us.

You're right. We better get out of here until we've got this thing figured out.

If we went into the billboard's mouth I don't wanna know where we're coming out.

Danny Phantom is back. After a strange absence the teen ghost fighter has returned with a message for the world.

Uh, hello there. I have a plan that could save us all from the asteroid. And this one is absolutely free. How great is that?

If ghosts can't touch the asteroid, then how are you gonna stop it?

Because we're not gonna turn the asteroid intangible, we're gonna turn the Earth intangible.

Ahem. Ladies, gentlemen, various nations and stuff. My name is Tucker Foley and I…am a Techno Geek.

Hi Tucker!

Dudes. The new plan is very simple. With a strong enough ghostly power source and a big enough transfer device, we can send the ghost intangibility across the entire planet. This way the Disasteroid will pass harmlessly through.

That's the plan. Who's with us?

They never put that much effort into their school work.

Tucker Foley will lead the construction team in building the transfer device while Jack and Maddie Fenton's team will spread the transfer cables across the globe. If we all come together, not as separate nations but as one world, we can do this.

Not bad, huh? Now all we need is a massive ghost power source. You sure you don't want us to go with you?

I'm sure. I can move faster on my own. By the way, where do mom and dad think Danny Fenton is right now anyway.

With them. I redressed the Tuckbot 9000 to look and act like you. They'll never know the difference.

Nothing like saving the world with your old man, eh Danny?

Comment does not compute.

Your voice is changing already? Man they grow up so fast.

Gotta go. According to the map a portal is gonna open up over the pole any minute now.

See ya back here soon little brother. And thanks.

It's the ring you were gonna give Valerie. You asked me to hold it, remember? Something tells me it was really meant for me. Take it with you, but promise to bring it back. If you promise, then…then I know I'll see you again.

I-if we make it through this.

When we make it through this.

Right. When we make it through this. I have a few things I need to talk to you about.

I think I'd be willing to listen. And no matter how this thing ends, this whole ride we've been on together, I wouldn't change it for the world. Not one bit.

Me neither. I--. Wow. Remind me to save the world more often.

Go.

Right on cue. Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed. One ghost power source coming up. Okay. One down. Ninety six bazillion to go. Awesome! I think this is gonna work.

Auto eject.

What?

We warned you once, ghost brat.

Wait let me explain. Our worlds are linked. If mine goes yours goes, too. I have a plan. Look, I know you hate my world and wouldn't lift a finger to help it, but I thought you might care about saving your own.

He's coming back!

Danny. No.

He…he can't be.

It's coming!

Listen, I just want you all to know that…I love you. And I'm so proud of each and every one of you for trying your best.

We love you too, dad.

At least we're all together.

I…oh mom. There's something you need to know.

A robot? Where's Danny? Jazz where's your brother? Jack, where's Danny?

Look! The portal!

I still can't believe you guys agreed to help me. Looks like there is a heart under all cyber armor.

Don't get too sentimental. We're not here to save you, we're here to save us.

Let's just get this party started. Tucker. How. Much. Longer?

Now!

Where's the asteroid?

Phew.

Awesome.

Nice job, little brother. Or should I say…hero.

I don't know what to say other than, thanks Skulker.

Don't get too mushy on us, ghost child. Remember, I'll never stop hunting you. And now that you've saved your world, you're a much more valuable prize.

Nice job, Danny. Or should we say, Danny...

What? Uh. Sorry citizens, but I have no idea what you're talking about.

Isn't there something you wanna tell us?

It's okay, Danny. They know.

Citizens of Amity Park and of the world. As the youngest mayor in Amity Park history, it's my great honor to present this commemorative statue honoring the hero who bravely saved us all, Danny Phantom. An exact duplicate of this statue stands proudly in the capital of every nation of the world. And each will stand for as long as we have our world, because thanks to Danny Phantom, we still have one.

I still wonder how Danny was able to fool us for so long.

Good question, but I gotta admit, he was good. After all, it's nearly impossible to fool me. Isn't that right, Danny?

Affirmative, father.

That's my boy.

Where the heck are Danny and Sam?

I don't know. He said he had some unfinished business to attend to.

I can't believe you didn't want to attend your own ceremony.

Eh, you know me. I kinda like sitting on the sidelines sometimes.

And your folks are cool with knowing your secret identity?

Yeah. The time for secrets is over. The world is safe, time for new beginnings. My dad says he even wants me to team up with him now. Says I can be his sidekick.

You're a big star now. Probably the biggest in the world.

Yeah. It's weird, huh?

You'll probably get pretty busy.

What else is new?

And I probably won't see much of you anymore.

Oh, I wouldn't count on that. Sam, I could never have done any of this without you. And I don't care what's coming next I just hope that whatever it is, you're there to share it with me.

I will be. I just have to warn you, I'm no push over you know. I still have my own way of doing things.

That's what I'm counting on.

Actually, being a free roaming space nomad isn't half bad. At least it's quiet and I--

What do you say, wanna go for a ride? See where the future takes us?

Why not? Cool statue. Personally I would have made it out of recycled materials but, you know, that's just me.

[itsclydebitches]

One thing to note on people who say that RWBY’s plan with the Staff was better than Ironwood’s. Besides the fact that they “cheated” in using it, Oz never told the headmasters the specifics on how the Relics work, considering that Leo never knew Jinn’s name otherwise Salem would have known too. Ironwood thought it was simply something that generates infinite energy and based his plan around that. But if he knew what the group knew? I believe he would have come up with something much better.

That's a really good point, anon, one I don't think I've seen come up very often in conversations about Ironwood's intentions. Granted, a potential pushback is that just because Leo didn't know something doesn't mean Ironwood is in the same boat, but the story certainly implies that he's just as ignorant. Like Qrow, Ironwood didn't know about Salem's immortality and if he knew more about the Relic you'd expect him to test Ruby's lie in the office. Where did the final questions go? What did you ask? How did you know how to accomplish that when that password is a closely guarded secret? If Ironwood understands the Relics as thoroughly as the group did at the start of Volume 7, Ruby showing up with possession of a super secret password, two questions (supposedly) gone, and Ozpin conspicuously absent is damn suspicious. But if Ironwood understands the Relics only as objects with vague powers, he has no reason to question Ruby or Ozpin. Ruby says questions are gone? He has no reason to doubt that because — again, like Qrow — the show has implied that Ironwood may not have even known that questions were a possibility, let alone how many, how often, how many should actually be left, etc. (Remember that Ozpin had already lied once about the number.) If Qrow was shocked to see Jinn come out, wouldn't Ironwood be too? Now, extrapolate that to the Staff. If Ozpin said only that the Staff produces energy, why would Ironwood doubt that? And that does seem to be what Ozpin told him:

We are going to take our plan for Amity Tower and apply it to the city of Atlas. It was Oz's plan in a former life, but he didn't take it far enough. If we harness the power of the Staff, and raise ourselves high into the atmosphere, the city's artificial climate will keep citizens and food supplies unharmed.

We've long established that Ozpin gives out information in pieces and keeps as much to himself as he can. So he tells his inner circle that Salem wants these Relics, but not why. Later, he divulges that one Relic allows for questions, but they're gone for the next 100 years. Later still, Qrow is shocked to see a freaking magical woman come out of the Lamp, announcing that two questions still remain, because Ozpin both lies and lets people reach inaccurate conclusions based on what he has told them. So at the end of Volume 7, Ironwood is basically in the position of Qrow prior to the snow scene. He hasn't spoken with Ozpin since the Fall of Beacon and, thus, hasn't gone through the same realization of how many secrets have been kept from him. Or rather, he has, but the responsibility for that has shifted to the group. They said the questions were gone. They said Ozpin was gone. They betrayed him to Robyn. They kept Salem's immortality a secret. Ironwood is fully focused on them in this moment — as one would expect given everything that's gone down between them — and shifting through Ozpin's past claims to test their validity is, you know, not something he really has time for. So Ironwood seems to still be working from what Ozpin told him, accepting it as true:

Ozpin suggested that Ironwood use the Staff to raise Atlas.

The implication is that this is what the Staff is capable of doing and only what it's capable of: producing that kind of energy. This is, as Ironwood says, "the power of the Staff."

Atlas' many years of hovering in the air gave Ironwood the idea to hover Amity and reestablish communication between the Kingdoms.

Neither of these ideas take the power "far enough."

So now that Salem is here, let's rise even higher, hopefully out of her reach.

Unless I'm forgetting a scene that says otherwise (very possible), all of this seems to suggest that Ironwood didn't know the Staff could do others things. Like, say, open a bunch of magical portals for the people of Atlas and Mantle to escape through. Though it admittedly doesn't help that RWBY is so damn vague about who knows what and when and how. The group talks about the Staff like a cure-all solution in the dining room, but when did they learn (or assume) that the Staff could do something like fix all these problems? The God of Light didn't give detailed explanations of the Relics in Jinn's vision. The group (I don't think) discussed this at another point... characters just know things when it's convenient. So yes, we could maybe argue that Ironwood just knew about the Staff like the group just knew about it too, or he should have been smart enough to figure it out like the group apparently figured it out (putting aside that this is more about the authors handing certain characters knowledge rather than which characters are actually thinking through potentialities)... but again, the writing doesn't really imply that. And it's implications like this that paint the group as the more responsible party to me. Unlike Ironwood, they had this information for weeks before Salem's arrival. Unlike Ironwood (presumably, based on the above), they understood how the Staff worked. Or, perhaps more accurately, they didn't fully understand, but they had the means with which to learn. Unlike Ironwood, they knew Ozpin was still around and at any point they could have asked him about the Staff, to try and prepare their resources before the war arrived on their doorstep once more. Unlike Ironwood, they hadn't just been betrayed by their allies. Unlike Ironwood, they weren't suffering from a lost limb. Unlike Ironwood, they had two days — not a couple of minutes — to come up with some kind of plan.

It's so easy to be disgusted by Ironwood because yes, the idea of leaving anyone behind is horrific. But take a couple seconds to consider how and why Ironwood made that decision and it's easy to see that it stems from ignorance and prioritizing the many over the few, not a generic, villainous desire to abandon poor people. The group are the ones who had this information the whole time, had the means (thanks to that knowledge) of bettering their circumstances, hadn't just suffered betrayal and gruesome injury, and were later afforded time to literally sit around contemplate their problem for as long as they pleased. The situations are radically different and, thus, so is the blame. It's like watching a relay race where one party has a broken leg, wasn't told where the finish line was, has reason to think his teammates are going to undermine him, and was given about thirty seconds to complete the challenge. "Why couldn't you have just finished the race? Why can't you be more like them" the spectators ask, gesturing to the healthy group who fully trust one another and possess insider knowledge of the race's rules while also having a two day time limit to leisurely jog it. Idk. Why were they successful? Kinda feels like they had some significant advantages that the other party lacked... If we set aside everything else Ironwood was grappling with — betrayal, the shock of Salem's immortality (which the group spent days coming to terms with), losing an arm (what Yang spent months coming to terms with), the threat of immediate destruction, the responsibility of the entire world, and a canonically ambiguous semblance — then yeah, he might have come up with something other than "abandon Mantle" if he had a better idea of how to use the Staff.

Ruby's responsibility as a hero was not to save Mantle after things had reached their absolute breaking point, doing so by dissolving friendships and panicking the entire world. Ruby's responsibility as a hero was to save Mantle by doing long term work before this all went down, like reconciling with Ozpin, practicing her silver eyes, and extending Ironwood the trust she demands from others, so that when Ironwood has a crazy idea like, "Let's just run and leave half the Kingdom behind" she can go, "No, Ozpin has taught me that we can use the Staff in other ways. My abilities mean we can hold off Salem's grimm long enough to finish evacuations and I've extended enough trust to you that you'll trust me now and help me take this risk. I've prepared for this. I've earned it."

If then Ironwood had rejected a perfectly good plan and the offer to work together to instead run and needlessly leave people behind to die... yeah, then he'd be a cowardly antagonist who needs to be stopped. As it's written, he's just an understandably panicked man doing his best against a buttload of opposition from the people meant to be helping him.

[grub-xd]

The Cryptid Specter of Amity Park

Summary:

AU where the Ghost Zone and Human World are not dependent on each other.

In a tragic alternate future, the Ghost Zone is destroyed. Phantom is alone and suffers the fate of being forgotten and fading into myth. He remains in Amity after the events of the Ghost Zone but gains a new reputation.

Drawing included (at the bottom of the fic). 

Link: AO3

Amity Park, once a smaller city, had grown to become one of the leading energy fuel exporters of the 21st century. During the late 2020s, the nations of the world had to come together to find a new way to generate electricity, as fossil fuels became scarcer and made the climate crisis worse, most of these nations invested into green energy. The town of Amity Park had decided to investigate whether it could harness a different type of green energy, ectoplasm, as a solution to these crises. By 2035, the Fentons, in collaboration with Axiom labs, discovered a way to harness ectoplasm and convert it into electricity. It provided the cleanest energy along with the highest energy yield output than any other fuel source, and the mines were relatively inexpensive to establish. With this success, many nations began investing in their own ectoplasm mines with makeshift portals using Amity Park's technology, while phasing out most other sources of fuel due to its incredible abundance and efficiency, but there was a hidden cost.

By the mid 2050s, most of the world's nations were mining their own ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone. At first, this wasn't a problem. Both humans and ghosts thought the supply was infinite, or would at least regenerate at a rate high enough to never cause an issue. Unfortunately, by the time ghosts started noticing that there were negative impacts from the mines extracting too much ectoplasm in the 2080s, humans were dependent on ectoplasm for energy to continue life, just as they had been dependent on fossil fuels.

Efforts to end ectoplasm mining failed. The detrimental effects of the lack of ectoplasm became evident in the 2090s and by the first decade of the 22nd century, ghosts who depended on the abundance of ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone to maintain their existence had faded. Ghosts who had been stronger in the Ghost Zone than on Earth no longer were, and the rebound effects from the scarcity of ectoplasm made the Infinite Realms hostile. It was no longer worth it. Those who had not fallen to the increasingly hostile environment of the Ghost Zone eventually left, in search of a place to settle on Earth. Many found their own niche places, but no ghost societies ever recovered. Most who fled simply remained as lone individuals, searching for a place to belong and fulfill their obsessions. The Observants disbanded. Clockwork faded from his form, though still maintained a somewhat ethereal presence. The monarchy collapsed. The Ghost Zone was a shell of its former self.

As king, Phantom stayed as long as he could, but even he was forced out too. Amity Park may have been the source of all of this mining and his family had a hand in his home's destruction, but this place still meant something to him. This was what he knew. The people he loved and cared for once lived here. All he has left of them now are in his memory. He didn't want to leave where these memories had been made, so he stayed. Phantom would wander about the town, observing all that had changed. His parent's house, Casper High, downtown, the Nasty Burger, the forest, among other things.

Centuries passed. Humanity was able to use older sources of energy to supply themselves before all the ectoplasm ran out. When it did, most ghosts on Earth had faded. Phantom remained for some reason. He never found Vlad nor Ellie. He's not sure if they are still around anymore. He's looked ever since he left the Ghost Zone but never turned up with anything. Hope of ever finding them left Phantom too. During the passing of that time, Phantom faded from the legend he was in Amity Park into myth. His story about defeating Pariah Dark and saving the town were forgotten. Records that showed his good (and bad) deeds, old newspapers and such, were lost to history.

As with many myths, the kids of the future Amity Park would grow interested in the myth surrounding Phantom. He had earned the name "The Cryptid Specter," as no one could ever get a true look at him before he would notice them and suddenly fade himself out of sight. Most never chased the lost legend. Some kids however would occasionally hear about this myth and attempt to find him. Most of the rumors suggested that he could be found near a specific spot in Amity Park's forest, near its edge where it meets the plain, at night, when the stars were at their fullest.

At that spot, Danny, that was my old name, right? he would think to himself, would hover and gaze at the stars, wondering why he had to be alone and pondering how he could have saved the Ghost Zone from the fate it had suffered. This spot didn't have much meaning to him per say, but it was peaceful and it could bring him a sense of calm that he could find nowhere else. It gave him the strength to just be able to consider these questions.

Why? Why must I travel eternity alone? It's been how many years? 300? Or was it 600? Time blends together more as more of it passes. It's funny, despite forgetting my own name, I can remember Sam and Tucker, Jazz, Clockwork, Vlad, my Parents... heck, I even Mr. Lancer! I guess that shows where my focus was, with others, more often than even my own self. He can't handle it; he breaks and falls to the ground, near a rock.

Finally vocalizing his pain, accompanied by his tears, "I blew it! I really blew it! I failed to protect the Ghost Zone and all of those ghosts. I wish I could have done something different! Something that would have prevented all of this! Something where I wouldn't be left with this fate! Left to suffer alone, in my old home town, but is completely hollowed! All of those who I cared about have moved on! Why can't I!? Why does it have to be this way!?" He collapses completely and falls on the nearby rock, letting the sobs go to hopefully expunge his pain. As Phantom lied there, a stick snapped. Its echo muted his sorrows and drew his attention back towards the dark forest. He heard a couple kids whispering and asking if they could see "The Cryptid" anywhere, and that they had heard the cries coming from this direction. They may have heard him but they are not going to see him tonight. They can't... I'm not ready yet, he thinks to himself as he quickly fades from sight.

[auroraphantasma]

Taxes, life and death and how little we think about it.

[ao3-link]

it was once in a blue moon and the recent Wes debate/discourse has inspired me, so here’s a phic!

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

Teenagers are self-absorbed things, they say.

Which is partially true. Teenagers are only as self-absorbed as any other generation there is. Older ones just like to shit on them more out of frustration, but the point is; everybody can be self-absorbed and each case can be a varying degree of it.

Children also tend to forget about things outside themselves sometimes. Like considering the immensely different life of their peers. It's like taxes to them. Nobody thinks about its existence until it's pointed out, then they spend an hour or so thinking about it and its effect on the world, then forget about it again until it's pointed out once more or come to the age when they need to deal with it and can't escape from it anymore.

Wes Weston was fourteen.

A fresh teen and with a huge personal beef with one Danny Fenton.

You see he was a normal guy. Taller than some his age, talented and sporty well enough to be on the school's very underappreciated, (fuck the football team), basketball team. He just had the misfortune to have a similar haircut to the town's ghostly vigilante, Danny Phantom.

First it was just light jokes by his team when they mused on that day's ghost fight. Easy back and forth jabs between friends where Wes pointed out how much more style he had than the ghost boy, because seriously? Who the actual fuck wears a spandex hazmat suit, beside the Fentons, unironically? It makes the table burst out hysterically, Wes included. 

Sure, others made jokes like these too, meaner ones too, but they were mostly from the football team so they didn't matter much even if they stinged a bit. Fuck the football team.

Then his life turns for the worst.

He catches Fenton transform into Phantom.

He thinks he might be mistaken, then he thinks about Phantom and what he knows of Fenton. A fuse quietly gets blown in his brain as he thinks more and more about it. The jokes, the similar voice; one of his eyes twitches as he fishes out his phone to look up a picture of Fenton and put a negative filter on it and get, a slightly off color, but otherwise identical picture of Phantom, confirming the identical looks, the fucking hazmat suit his family had seemingly infinite supplies of, the fucking D and P on his chest, holy shit he knew Fenton couldn't pass up a joke but is he for real??? And then that his parents' field of work, ectobiology. Ghost science. He might not know the exact details of it but it still made too much goddamn sense.

At dinner he said nothing. His father was swamped with work and tired as always and his brother Kyle was the biggest ghost skeptic on the face of earth.

So it festers in him all night.

Next day he couldn't bear it anymore, he needed to speak about it.

He tells his team, Fenton is Phantom.

They laugh at him.

They congratulate him on finding another target for the haircut joke. He gapes in disbelief.

But before he could find the end of his wits the football team crowds their table. They overheard what he said and while most of them were laughing at him as well, Baxter seemed to be agitated.

He slams the table and makes a joke of him while the rest of the football team keeps the rest of the startled basketball team from intervening. Baxter calls him a loser for even thinking of Phantom and 'Fentit' in the same sentence and finishes the interaction with a couple more threats and his own lunch dropped on top of his head, before he leaves. 

His team only makes an awkward cough and a poor attempt to cheer him up.

After lunch and a missed class to clean his own lunch out of his hair he decides to confront Fenton.

He corners him with his freaky friends at his locker. Fenton looks tired, with bags under his eyes and a bruise kind of showing on his arm.

His frustration with this whole day makes a clear appearance in his voice as he states what he knows and what he had seen. He complains about how his friends laughed at him and how the football team probably won't get off his case ever again. His voice is demanding even though he himself doesn't even know what he is demanding and Fenton-

-Fenton's face goes through a journey of a myriad of emotions before it stays blank. As he looks down he can see his fist clench and an eye twitch before his head snaps back up, his face now sporting a faux smile.

Fenton snarks back and even has the gall to make his eyes glow at him as he tells him nobody will believe his word.

So he storms off enraged.

This is the beginning of their archrivalry and his life gets even worse.

His reputation and friendships tank as time goes and he is adamant on not giving up proving the truth, this was personal now after all.

A joke rumor starts up that he tries to set up Fenton as Phantom so bad because he is actually Phantom.

He stalks him and gains more and more evidence but only grows as a joke in the eyes of Casper High.

Fenton keeps being a ghost, fights other ghosts and then makes fun of him the next day.

And so it goes on.

And then the school and the elder Fentons decide to keep a presentation on ghosts which the entire school is forced to attend.

And then, of course, it gets attacked by a ghost.

And, of course, then Phantom shows up to save the day.

And then, of course, Amity park's most infamous ghost hunters, the Fentons, attack him.

…

There might be a tad tension by the student body as Phantom plummets to the gym floor after being shot down by a bazooka and it really doesn't let up until the bleeding Phantom finally escapes them again.

He doesn't see Fenton again until the end of his next class.

He runs into him as he heads for his own locker and they make eye contact. He can't help but slow down, and glance over at him, brows furrowed, trying to see a show of bandages that might hide under his clothes.

Then the little shit makes his eyes glow as he winks at him and asks him how his last ghost fight went and Wes loses his temper and screams at him.

After all, it's like taxes. You don't think about it.

[geekgirles]

Your Heart

Chapter 9 -- Answers

Word Count: 17199

READ ON AO3

When Danny first visitedーor, more accurately, when he first crashed intoーthe Far Frozen, he shared the same first impression as Tucker; it was ball-freezing cold. 

Frostbite and his people’s homeland was a frozen paradise where blinding white snow went as far as reached the eye. What at first glance appeared to be a rather rudimentary village made out of small houses carved into mounds of ice and frost was infinitely more complex than that. The Realm of the Far Frozen was one of the most technologically advanced territories in all the Infinite Realms; even Technus coveted access to their facilities. A stark contrast to its inhabitants' simple clothing, for instance.

The ice huts were in truth the entrance to a far more elaborate citadel built underground and connected by countless tunnels and caverns, for it provided better shelter. Some shacks did indeed lead to the citizens’ homes, not unlike a rabbit’s den, but the vast majority of them worked as the gates to the tunnels leading to the metropolis beneath the snow. 

In fact, the only cavern that truly was a mere cave, despite its importance among Frostbite’s people, was the cave where Danny’s battle against Pariah Dark was recorded. In reality, everything about Far Frozen was proof that one should never judge a book by its cover. The ice-wielding ghosts had the fearsome looks of canine yetis; their claws alone the size of Danny’s head, their snouts filled to the brim with razor-sharp fangs; even now, standing at 5’9 feet tall, Frostbite’s colossal height and build dwarfed the halfa’s own developed physique, and the number of ghosts who shared the yeti-like species’ proficiency at cryokinesis could be counted with one handーaside from Danny himself, the only other ghost that came to mind was Klemper, and even he relied mostly on brute strength and freezing breath. 

And yet, despite everything that should’ve turned Frostbite and his people into some of his most formidable foes, they in turn were some of the biggest supporters of his rule. If you looked for the definition of ‘gentle giant’ in the dictionary, you’d see a picture of them. Frostbite’s people were noble, kind, and loyal. So long their way of living wasn’t threatened, should a crisis arise, they were always the first ones volunteering themselves to help Danny in any way they could. 

Not to mention Frostbite himself had more than once filled the role of the young Ghost King’s mentor. A role he had no choice but to exploit now. 

Landing gracefully on top of the snow, Danny waited patiently until the leader of the Far Frozeners came flying by on his hoverboard in the midst of his patrolling his land. Soon enough, taking notice of a shadow being cast on him, he looked up to see the ghost’s familiar face grinning down at him, by his side one of his subjects looked on with interest. 

“Great One!” he exclaimed before hopping off the vehicle and coming to stand beside his king, followed by a respectful bow. “To what do we owe the honour of this visit?”

Danny smiled appreciatively at him. “Hello, Frostbite. I know this is probably too sudden, but I could really use your help right now.”

“Nonsense.” The bigger ghost assured him with the raise of a dismissive paw. “My people will be forever indebted to you for freeing the Ghost Zone once and for all from the tyrannical influence of Pariah Dark.” He placed his large paw on his ruler’s shoulder, staring him down with a warmth that shouldn’t belong with a race of tundra dwellers. “Now, do tell, what can we possibly help with?”

Feeling uncomfortable, the halfa looked down on his feet and scratched the back of his head. He really didn’t want to go to Frostbite for help, knowing how cautious he was around the mere mention of them. Unfortunately, he didn’t know who else to go to. “I need your help with…the witches.”

He mumbled that part so low for a moment he worried his old friend might not have heard him, but the sudden look of urgency in his red eyes said otherwise. “Come, we must make haste.” With a nod of his head, Frostbite signalled to the hoverboard’s pilot to lower the vehicle, getting aboard right after Danny. “We will continue where we left off tomorrow at dawn, for now let us head back home.” He instructed the pilot as he ushered Danny to take a seat. 

“As you wish, sir.” The other Far Frozen replied as he changed course. 

“Thank you.” Danny said truthfully. “I’m sorry for bringing them up, but I think you might be the only one able to help me.”

Frostbite shook his head. “Fear not, Great One. My people and I understand you are doing everything in your power to protect us from their harmful ways. Even if we do not wish to come in contact of any kind with them, we will not hesitate to aid you in your quest.”

Even if on the outside Danny was smiling, his words made his insides churn. He felt like he was lying to his mentor. After his last encounter with Lady Arcana a part of him, probably the same part of him who originally told him this was a good idea, resented the way ghosts referred to witches. 

Jazz would probably say that was the result of personal growth. Since the Witch Queen went out of her way to make sure he was safe despite their mutual animosity, his mind had been opened to new horizons, meaning he now understood he’d been unfair to them based on prejudice and naysay, rather than first hand experience. 

At least, that’s what Psychologist Jazz would say. Overprotective, Older Sister Jazz would say something more along the lines of, “Snap out of it, little brother! You’re not fourteen and hormonal anymore; don’t let a pretty face fool you!”

Even so, here he was. Asking Frostbite for help even though it felt like he was just desperately looking for something, anything, that would debunk the reasons behind his people’s grudge against witches, if only to assure himself that his current, improved, opinion of their leader wasn’t unfounded. 

Come on, man, that’s not the only reason you’re doing this and you know it. He tried to reason. How much do you know about witches other than what you’ve been told? Nothing, that’s how much he knew about them. Exactly. You’re the one taking risks by working with Lady Arcana. What if your previous hunch was wrong and they really can’t help? Wouldn’t that mean you’ve been wasting your time? Okay, that’d be bad. Really bad. He only asked for their help because he was sure they were the only ones who could do anything about the portals, but if not even them had the solution to the portals opening, what was he going to do?! Right? And how are you going to figure that out if you don’t know what they’re truly capable of? Really, this is for the best. 

Danny didn’t want to sound conceited, but his inner monologue brought up incredibly good points to the conversation. He was doing this for the sake of Earth and the Ghost Zone alike. His personal opinion on the Queen of the Witches of Amity Park was irrelevant. 

A sudden jerk that almost sent him flying brought him out of his reverie. Looking around he noticed they’d finally arrived back at the village, and Frostbite was smirking down at him in amusement. “I have yet to see you use the powers that come with your position to their full potential,” he started between chuckles, “but I believe not even the Great One is exempt from having to use the seatbelt when travelling.”

Registering the way the leader of the Far Frozen moved his ice-encased arm to his lap, Danny realised he was the only person aboard who didn’t have his seatbelt on. When Frostbite unbuttoned his seatbelt with a pointed look, the green-eyed ghost could only flush in embarrassment. “Uh…oops?”

A low chuckle rumbled through the yeti-like ghost’s chest. “Come, Great One.” Resting his large paw on Danny’s back, Frostbite ushered him out of the hoverboard and began guiding him through his home’s numerous underground passages. They walked in silence, the sound of ice and snow being stepped on was the only thing that could be heard. Even though several detours were carved into the walls, his mentor kept directing him to go straight until he instructed they took a turn. 

Danny was sure his jaw was inches away from touching the ground as his eyes surveyed the colossal ice gates in front of him. Judging by their icy blue hue, they were thick enough to withstand practically anything. He doubted even one of his most charged up ecto-rays would be enough to crash into them. Many intricate designs ran alongside them, and they definitely had to protect something of great value to explain the two guards at each side. 

As if reading his mind, Frostbite supplied an answer for his unspoken queries, “The library, oh, Great One.” With a snap of his fingers, the two guards bowed down before they simultaneously turned the doorknobs and opened the doors for them, granting them access. 

“Wait, the library?” Danny frowned in confusion, which only doubled at Frostbite’s hearty laugh.

“Yes, Great One.” He smiled down at him as he led him inside. “If what you’re looking for is answers, I cannot think of a better place to find them than a library.”

Looking now at his mentor’s furry back, for he was surveying the different shelves most likely in search of a book that might have the information he was looking for, the young monarch blurted out, “How do you know I’m here for answers?”

Frostbite grabbed a book from the shelf he was currently facing, only to think better of it and return it in exchange for another one. “Usually, when you come all the way over here it is because you have questions you need answers to.”

Danny winced at the pang of guilt that pierced through his core. Was he always so self-interested he only ever came when he needed something?

“Worry not, Great One.” The yeti-like spirit said, not looking up from the book in his large paws. “My people will always be at your service. It is an honour to be able to help you, for we know you will always aid us in return.” He closed the book with a low thud, flashing him a friendly smile. 

Danny could only gape at the ghost before him, his mouth opening and closing in a fashion akin to a fish’s. Seriously, did the Far Frozeners have telepathy too?!

“No, we do not possess the ability to read minds.” Looking down at the certainly flabbergasted expression on the half-ghost’s face, Frostbite roared with laughter, the sound echoing throughout the walls. “I jest, Great One. I just know you too well. Also, your expressions speak volumes.” He commented offhandedly before returning his focus to another section of the library. 

And to think he’d managed to fool his parents all these years…Sliding a hand through his mess of shock-white locks, the Ghost King came to stand beside his old friend, scanning over the different titles as well. After a  while, he realised something. “Um, Frostbite?” He called out to his mentor. 

“Yes, Great One?”

“Are we perhaps looking for information to answer my questions about the witches?”

Never tearing his eyes away from the sacred manuscripts in full display in his people’s library, Frostbite nodded. “Precisely, your Majesty.”

“Just one question, though?”

“What is it?”

“How are we going to find a book that’ll help me, if I still haven’t told you what I need help with?” Danny pointed out, tilting his head to his side as he awaited an answer. 

The larger ghost’s red eyes widened in realisation. Indeed, that would prove difficult. “My apologies, Great One. In my haste to be of help I got ahead of myself.” Turning to his king, he bowed his head solemnly, unknowingly making Danny uncomfortable. Back in the day the halfa would’ve tried deterring him in his use of honorifics when talking to him, but it was a lost cause and getting him to stop bowing would be as well. In the end he simply chose to go with the flow. Raising his body, Frostbite used his ice-encased arm to gesture to a corner of the room, where a few chairs were arranged around a table. “Please, allow me to rectify my mistake by listening to your queries and answering them to the best of my ability.”

As soon as he got comfortable in his chair, which wasn’t difficult as the hair serving as upholstery was very fluffy and warm, Danny tried to voice his thoughts. “Well...um...you see…” Key word being ‘tried,’ in the end he blurted out, “How does their magic work?”

As Frostbite met his question with stunned silence, his head tilted to the side and a bushy eyebrow raised in confusion, the green-eyed half-ghost couldn’t blame him. How was it he always ended up asking the exact same thing to every person relatively knowledgeable about witches he talked to?

Before his old friend could ask for some much needed clarification, Danny hurried to deliver it himself. “I’m sorry, that was too random.” He pushed his bangs out of his face, trying to organise his thoughts. Better be straightforward with this one. “Why is it that their magic can touch us while we’re intangible?”

The question had been eating him alive for the last few days. Now matter how long he wracked his brain for answers, he came up empty-handed. Admittedly, most of the times he was hit by an opponent’s attack it was usually because, in the heat of the moment, he all but forgot he could turn intangible at will and effortlessly pass through whatever projectile was thrown his way. It was an embarrassing mistake that haunted himーhow ironic, huh?ーsince he first started gaining control over his powers. 

And yet, when he did remember to turn intangible at the sight of upcoming ecto-rays or laser beams, he could come out unscathed of anythingーother ghost’s using their powers against him, the Guys in White and their tax-money equipment, even his parents’ own inventions. 

Well, almost everything…

Valerie’s own arsenal of ecto-weapons was the only thing that could touch (or, more accurately, hurt) him when he was intangible. He could only guess what Vlad and subsequently Technus had used to create her suit and weaponry. Until now. Now he’d accidentally found out witches could nonchalantly wrap their magical, tendril-like thingy around his ankleーlast time in a successful attempt to help him, which was very much appreciatedーand it actually came as a surprise to them they were even able to do it! 

If only he could figure out why that was…

“Great One,” Frostbite sighed from his own chair, snapping him out of his reverie, “I fear I might not be of help to you. I know nothing of what you speak.” 

At that, the halfa jumped to his feet, almost pleadingly. “What do you mean, Frostbite? How come you don’t know, you know practically everything!”

A mirthless chuckle escaped the Far Frozener’s throat. “You flatter me, my King. But I really am as lost as you are on the matter. I could tell you many other things, but not that.”

“Then, what can you tell me?”

Rising to his feet, the yeti-like creature beckoned his hero and leader to follow him to another part of the library. Once they were in front of a particular shelf, Frostbite slid his finger over the different volumes until he found the one he was looking for. With a triumphant sound, he picked it up and started leafing through it as he handed the book to Danny. 

When the halfa took the heavy book in his hands he almost dropped it when he saw the intricate drawing between its pages. Pictured inside the book were very realistic, if slightly worn out by time, drawings of the Amulets of Aragon and portrayals of people Danny could only assume were Dorothea and her brother while they were alive. 

Frostbite’s booming voice forced him to look up to his direction. “Whatever knowledge on the sorceress’ nature beyond their affinity to magic and ability to free us from the chains that bind us to our world without the use of portals is long gone.” He delicately traced an invisible circle around the image of the amulet with one of his sharp claws as he explained, “After our people's separation, only remnants of their activity were left. 

“It is thanks to their prolonged presence in our lives, and the intertwining of energies resulting from our past interactions, that those with magic-based abilities can still survive today. Without the witches’ previous impact on our society, Princess Dorothea and her brother would have long lost the power to wield their amulets. And, as you know, it is thanks to them that magical items even exist in our world.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me…” He muttered under his breath, resentment coming back at full force. 

“On the contrary, my King. I am enlightening you.” Frostbite corrected, earning himself a confused look from Danny that encouraged him to go on. Instead of answering with words, however, Frostbite merely turned his head with a faraway look in his eyes, prompting the halfa to do the same. The moment his eyes laid on a particular object on the other side of the room, Danny could feel himself go jawslacked. 

With wide eyes, he turned his head so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. “The Infi-map is here because of the witches?” He asked with a strangled voice. 

Frostbite simply nodded. “It was a gift from them, to be precise. Legend has it, eons ago the Infinite Realms were desperately looking for ways to anticipate when the next ghost portal would open when an ancient witch queen from the Old World offered the enchanted Infi-map as the solution.

“She was especially close to my people, thus how we came to guard it. It is also why the Far Frozen is so wary of them now; how a race of beings we once shared such a close bond with could doom our very existence like they did was too much for even our benevolent nature to forgive.” He lowered his head in mourning. Maybe they only had stories of how things used to be, but it was clear the women’s betrayal was a deeply pierced wound that would forever be opening and closing at the very core of the Far Frozeners’ hearts. 

Seeing his friend’s dejected expression, Danny regretted even bringing them up almost instantly. “So there’s no way of possibly knowing how they can touch us while intangible?”

“As I said, only remnants of their presence remain.” Right after he said that, however, his downhearted expression turned thoughtful, his paw stroking his snout in thought. “Although, perchance, there is one ghost that might be able to shed some light on the matter...”

...........

Clockwork. 

He had to go and say Clockwork. 

Of fucking course. Why not? Couldn’t he have said Pandora? Despite her fierce and fearsome demeanour, underneath all that anger and aggression laid a very helpful gal! And besides, she was a spirit that had been roaming the Ghost Zone since the times of Ancient Greece! What could be more ancient than Ancient Greece? 

Okay, fine...maybe the very ghost who’d borne witness to the rise and fall of the Greek civilisation alongside countless others before and after. But his point still stands. 

At least this time he wouldn’t be visiting the all-knowing Ghost of Time by himself; Frostbite had offered to go with him seeing as it was per his suggestion he’d be visiting in the first place. Proof of it was the yeti-like ghost flying right beside him towards the Ghost of Time’s tower. And Clockwork always treated Frostbite with respect. 

Danny would admit he was being a bit harsh. In all fairness going to Clockwork was the most logical thing to doーif there was someone who’d have all the answers he needed, it was the very ghost who knew absolutely everything. The problem would be getting the answers out of him. 

Deep down, the halfa knew he should’ve gone to him from the beginning, it was just dealing with him could really take its toll on Danny, no matter how much he respected and appreciated his guidance. Was Clockwork a good mentor to Danny? Absolutely, he was sure he’d never made it as far as he had without his and Frostbite’s help. In the end, was the greater good Clockwork’s priority? Was it ever! The shape-shifting ghost would never hesitate to go against orders from the Observants (all too gleefully, might he add) if he believed it’d led them to the better timeline. Did his cryptic nature and that frustratingly annoying, knowing smirk he always wore when he needed his help with something sometimes encourage Danny to jump off a cliff in his human form? 

Maybe. 

He just hoped Frostbite’s presence would help matters, if only a bit. 

And speaking of Frostbite…“We approach the Master of Time’s lair, Great one.” Soon enough, the immense clock tower standing proud in the middle of the Infinite Realms could be sighted not far away from them. 

Danny sighed dejectedly. “Let’s get this over with…” he grumbled as he changed course in the direction the ghostly lair resided. 

Once they arrived at Clockwork’s tower, Danny reached a hand out to push the door open and let themselves in. It wasn’t like they were going to catch its owner off-guard, after all. As they ventured inside, their eyes scanning for the ever-changing form of the master of time, the constant tick-tock coming from the numerous clocks scattered around the place reached their ears. Like the ticking crocodile Captain Hook dreaded so much, the tower was a constant reminder of the passage of time. Even if the Ghost of Time had long ago explained to him the essence of his power was never as linear as most beings made it out to be, all Danny could think of whenever that incessant sound registered in his mind was one thing:

Time was running out and the end was nigh.

Shaking those thoughts away, for now wasn’t the moment to get lost in them, Danny cupped a hand around his mouth. “Clockwork?” He called. “Anybody home?”

In the blink of an eye, the child-like form of the ghost in question materialised in front of them with an amused grin on his childish face. When he opened his mouth to speak, instead of an appropriately high-pitched voice came a deep, baritone one, “I’ve been expecting you.” The fact it came from a kid’s mouth made it all the more jarring, but Danny was used to it by now. 

Whereas Frostbite respectfully bowed down in greeting, Danny just stared blankly at the ghost before him, his arms folding over his chest. “‘I’ve been expecting you?’ Really? What are you, a fortune teller?”

Changing to his adult form, a more fitting low chuckle escaped his throat. “We both know I’m one of the very few creatures in existence within his right to call himself that.” Then he added, almost like an afterthought. “Also, I felt like it.”

“Figures,” he muttered. Despite himself, the halfa couldn’t stop the lopsided smile from forming on his face. 

Clockwork then turned to the leader of the Far Frozen. “It’s good to see you again, Frostbite. What business brings you here?”

Standing up from his bowed position, Frostbite returned the greeting. “Greetings, Lord Clockwork. It is good to see you as well. Do forgive my impertinence, but I believe you must already know why I am here.”

The master of time nodded, now taking the form of an old man, the grip on his scepter just a little bit tighter for support. “Indeed, you’re here to support our young king. How noble of you.”

“I am merely doing what it is expected of me.” 

“That you do.” Clockwork agreed, nodding wisely. As the larger ghost had accurately pointed out, when one addressed the Ghost of Time, everything they did became expected. “That you do, my friend.”

“Um, could we please speed things up?” Danny suggested, growing frustrated with the pointless introductions. “As Frostbite said, you already know why we’re here, so why don’t you tell us if you can help us or not?”

“I said I know why Frostbite’s here, seeing as that is a staple in almost every timeline. That doesn’t mean I necessarily know the actual reason why you’re here since it’s more subject to change.” The Ghost of Time countered, but that devilishly knowing smirk of his was back on his face, all but screaming he did know exactly why they were here. “So, what are you here for, boy?”

Resisting the very strong urge to yank at his hair in despair, Danny managed to at least reply calmly. Sarcastically, but calmly. “As if you don’t know the answer already.”

Clockwork’s smirk widened. “Then humour me.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose and sighing through it, the Ghost King thought the best way to formulate his question. Just because the master of time was, well, the master of time that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to at least make sense. “I need answers.” He finally admitted. “There’s a lot going on with Lady Arcana that I can’t understand. I originally asked for Frostbite’s help but, unfortunately, he didn’t have what I’m looking for. And honestly?” He sent the shapeshifting ghost a meaningful glance, hoping it’d be enough to express how serious he was. “I don’t think she has the answers, either.”

Clockwork arched an eyebrow, silently urging him to continue. 

“She can touch me when I go intangible!” Danny threw his arms up. Really, knowing how she could do that was all he needed. If he found out more about her people, wonderful! But as long as he got to know why one of his core powers seemingly meant nothing to her, he was golden. “Well, not her, her magic can.” He amended. “Just the other day, I was intangible and she wrapped one of her wispy tendrils around my ankle, yanking me down. How is that possible?”

For a moment, the Ghost of Time remained silent. With his head resting on his staff, his body kept changing its physical appearance as his deep, red eyes stayed fixated upon the young king. And Danny couldn’t honestly be sure if Clockwork was really thinking his next words carefully or just toying with him. He was an adult again by the time he finally spoke. “Danny, have you ever considered why ghosts can go intangible at all?” 

The unexpected question took him aback. “I...I always assumed it was a natural ghost ability.” He admitted as he scratched the back of his head in thought. 

Changing to his elderly form, the hooded ghost nodded. “And it is, but not without reason.” Next he floated over one of the many portals he used to oversee the passage of time. With a snap of his fingers, the portal began broadcasting many different instances where Danny or some other ghost had turned intangible. “You see, when we ghosts become intangible, what we do is tap into the Ghost Zone while we’re away from it. That is to say our bodies travel through dimensions.” With a movement of his staff, the image changed to show the times he, Tucker, and, surprisingly, Lady Arcana had phased through the walls. “That’s also why humans can phase through things in our world; even if their bodies are here, their essence never left Earth…”

As his mind connected the dots, the halfa’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “...making them lose their physical mass when in touch with things from our world!” He finished, amazed, and from beside the portal Clockwork nodded sagely. “But what about witches?”

The portal abruptly stopped its broadcast. It was almost as if Clockwork didn’t want to show him anything related to Lady Arcana’s people. With that in mind, Danny feared for a second the master of time would choose that moment to close himself off and say nothing more, but luckily, he proved him wrong. “In terms of physical form, witches are still human, but their magic is something completely different.

“As the only human beings capable of tapping into their own essence, their animas are multidimensional, which is why the Witch Queen’s magic affected youーits’ capable of surpassing the laws of physics because it’s not bound to any particular dimension…”

“...just its holder!” Danny gasped out as understanding dawned on him, things were finally starting to make sense. “So you’re saying witches are akin to electricity generators? They depend on no one but themselves to do magic?”

“Pretty much.”

“Wow.” He breathed out, a hand outstretched and blindly looking for support until it met the wall. Noticing his king’s dazed estate, Frostbite hurried to his side to steady him as Danny slowly sat down on the floor. “This...this is a lot.”

“And it’s only the beginning.” The Ghost of Time let out cryptically. Danny would have to remember to think about the meaning of that later on, for now he’d already absorbed too much information in too little time. When his brain finally processed enough information for him to properly function, the green-eyed ghost stood to his feet on his own, thanking Frostbite for his help. “Thank you, Clockwork. You were a huge help today. I know how hard it is for you to reveal anything due to the nature of your job.”

“Don’t get used to it, boy.” The hooded ghost warned, the knowing smirk back on his face. “I’m only doing what I consider best for this timeline. Don’t think spelling things out for you will be the answer to all your problems from now on.” 

Despite his words, the smile on Danny’s face didn’t fall. It’d have been foolish to expect anything else from Clockwork, after all. “Well, thanks anyways. See you, Clockwork.” He waved him goodbye as he took off in the opposite direction, this time heading for the Fenton Ghost Portal; today was far from over. 

Having been left alone with the Ghost of Time, Frostbite approached him. “Lord Clockwork, are we certain we are on the right path for salvation?”

“Trust me, old friend,” a child Clockwork said as he ventured further inside his lair, a different portal opening before his deceivingly innocent, round face, the events being displayed in it pleasing him greatly, “everything is as it should be.”

...........

The FentonWorks sign loomed over her like a bad omen. Looking up to the enormous metallic construction welded to the more average-looking, brick building where Danny and his family lived, Sam couldn’t help but subconsciously grip the straps of her spider backpack tighter. Her stomach churning in nervousness, she lifted one hand up to knock on the door…

And, unable to bring herself to do so, let it hang in mid-air for a good ten minutes. 

Dear God, if anyone saw her lurking around the Fentons’ door they’d think she was some weird stalker who was crazier than they claimed the family to be, or a potential client who needed help hunting a ghost. So basically they’d think she was crazier than they claimed the family to be either way. 

One would think the only family of ghost hunters in town would be held in much higher regard after seven years of consistent ghost attacks, but rumour has it their equipment tended to malfunction or make things more difficult for everyone. Sam remembered one particularly funny, but understandably embarrassing, story Danny had told her about his parents’ accidentally humiliating his English teacher on more than one occasion. And since Mr. Lancer couldn’t punish two adults, he took his frustrations out on their innocent son who had repeatedly stated he wanted nothing to do with the family business.

Add to that the presence of an all-around more powerful and more competent town hero with actual ghost powers, and it was safe to say their credibility had taken a few major blows over the years. 

At first she’d worried about their financial situation. Who wouldn’t? They were professional ghost hunters but nobody took them seriously and any possible job they might have had was immediately handled by a far more efficient superhero who, to top it all, worked for free. With that in mind you’d expect them to have been evicted years ago! But Danny had been quick to reassure her and explain things to her. Yes, his parents’ passion was ectology and ghost-hunting, but they were primarily inventors and, even if their ecto-weapons could sometimes use some work, their more mundane inventions were typically sold like pancakes. So they were fine. 

She sighed at the memory. Oh, Danny…

Hard as she tried, she still hadn’t managed to shake the flutter in her chest off whenever she thought of him or something happened between them. No. Scratch that. She didn’t get that feeling when ‘something’ happened between them, because nothing ever happened between them! All those weird, little instances where her heart would malfunction after twenty-one years in peak condition were perfectly normal occurrences that shouldn’t send her heart running. 

They would simultaneously reach for the same thing, causing their hands to brush against each other. Their eyes would meet and she’d spend seconds that could have perfectly stretched into hours over-analysing every little thing she thought was going on behind them because she suddenly wanted to know everything about Danny. When that happened it’d usually be followed by the both of them hurriedly looking away and Sam feeling bashful for some reason, heat rising to her cheeks. 

And none of those reactions made sense because that was not the way one would react to their friend!

Those were all completely normal occurrences between friends. It was normal to want the same thing at the same time. It was only natural to look your friend in the eyes. And it made sense that you’d want to look away if you think you’ve been staring a little too long because anyone would feel uncomfortable by that. 

What didn’t make sense was the gnawing feeling at the back of her head telling her those little, insignificant moments meant so much more than that!

And now that she was beginning to think she’d misjudged Phantom? Now that she looked at him in a different light and noticed some of his...let’s say...more appealing features, both in terms of physique and personality? Now that her heart was beginning to malfunction at the thought of him too?

Now Sam was seriously contemplating putting an end to her misery and burning herself at the stake. 

Either that or go see a doctor in case she had some sort of untreatable heart disease. 

Regardless of the very strange position she now found herself in, Sam’s resolve in finding more about ghosts was genuine. Her and Phantom’s reactions to her magic being able to reach him even when intangible was proof enough that far too much knowledge on their people’s old friendship had been regrettably forgotten. 

The black hole incident demonstrated there probably was more to their partnership and combined abilities than what had been passed down to the younger generations. If Sam could find solid evidence on an unexplained synchrony between magic and ghostly attributes, then maybe her current alliance with the Ghost King wouldn’t be futile after all.

Maybe it even held the key to solving the portal crisis they faced off against…

The witch was abruptly broken out of her trail of thought when the door she’d been standing in front of for fifteen minutes suddenly opened, Danny’s head curiously poking around and eyes darting from one side to the other, clearly looking for something…

...or someone. 

As soon as their eyes met, the two of them let out startled sounds and subconsciously took a step back in surprise. Unfortunately for Sam, seeing as she was standing on the steps leading up to the door, her foot slipped when it found nowhere to stand on. Losing her balance, she was sure she was going to fall when Danny immediately rushed in to help her, his strong arms swiftly coming to grab her by her waist, their faces mere inches apart. 

Against her better judgement, the hazel-eyed girl couldn’t do anything to prevent losing herself in Danny’s baby blue depths. Certainly, nobody would blame her, not when their breaths mingled from the close proximity, or when his eyes reflected a worry she’d rarely seen beforeーhe was worried for her, she realised with a little too much gleeー, or when they were so, so close all she had to do was inch her head forward just a little to close the distance and feel those hypnotising lips of his onー.

“Uh...what’s going on here?”

Slowly, very slowly, even comically so, the two turned their heads to the direction of the voice. Only to find Jazz propped against the doorframe behind her brother and flashing them a very interested look, a smile dancing along her lips. 

The effect was instantaneous. The two scrambled to get away from each other, almost as if they’d suddenly realised the other was made out of hot lava and they were burning their hands, muttering excuses and such other nonsense Jazz chose to ignore completely. 

Oh, denial. Simultaneously one of the most entertaining and frustrating stages of admitting you like someone. 

Clearing his throat, Danny was the first one to find his voice, even though his cheeks still burned. “S-Sam! It’s great to see you! I was starting to believe you couldn’t make it in the end.”

“Oh! No, no.” She shook her head slightly with a hand raised up. “I’m sorry I made you wait, I, uh, I just had a little trouble finding the place. That’s all.” Fine, so saying she had trouble finding the one house in town with a humongous Ops Centre on its roof was a terrible lie, but no way in Hell was she going to say she found the place just fine but she took a few extra minutes with her hand raised about to knock on the door but finding herself unable to. 

That was just pathetic.

The slightly irritating grin never leaving her face, Jazz ushered their guest in. “Would you like to come in?”

“Yes, thank you.” She let herself be guided through the doorstep to the kitchen, which, judging by the outline of some furniture she could vaguely make out, Sam guessed led to the living room. The space was a large and bright-coloured room that combined a somewhat retro 50’s style with far newer appliances and...was that a toxic-waste container?

“That’s our version of tupperware with leftovers.” Danny came to stand beside her and now Sam was wondering if she’d just said that aloud or if he could read minds. When he looked down at her, though, his expression was dead serious. “If you value your life, don’t open it.”

“Duly noted.” 

She was about to ask where she could sit down when the younger sibling moved a chair for her, gesturing at it with a flourish and flashing her a charming smile. “M’lady, this way, please.”

Rolling her eyes fondly, Sam took his hand and allowed him to help her sit, setting her spider backpack on top of the kitchen table. Once he was comfortably sitting on his own chair by her side, she swatted his arm in mock warning. “Just so you know, I’m only letting you treat me like ‘a lady,’” she air-quoted, “because, as your guest, is the right thing to do.” 

“I’m much obliged, Miss Manson.” Danny countered with a fake posh accent. 

Before the girl could so much as flick him on the nose, Jazz came inside carrying a plate full of cookies. “Care for one, Sam?”

Eying the plate carefully, she had to decline the offer. “Thank you, but I’m good.” In truth she couldn’t be sure the cookies were vegan, but saying she wasn’t hungry was much more polite than imposing her dietary choices on them. 

Sensing her discomfort, Danny smacked his forehead as realisation washed over him. “Duh, that’s right!” Startled by his outburst the two girls turned to look at him, exchanging confused glances. “You’re ultra-recyclo-vegetarian! I’m sorry, Sam. I forgot. I don’t think we have anything for you.”

Bringing one hand to her mouth, Jazz gasped. “Darn! That’s right. I’m so sorry, Sam; it totally slipped my mind.”

Her mind still reeling from Danny, once again, remembering something about her, she didn’t have the heart to say anything. “It’s okay, really. As I said, I’m good.”

“Are you sure?” Danny insisted. “Because I’m sure we have something around here you might be able to eat…” He trailed off, clearly thinking about what they had that Sam could possibly consume without breaking her moral code. Biting down his lip, he tried, “How about water?”

The Goth girl couldn’t help but snort. “ A tempting offer. I might take you up on it.”

“I’ll get you a glass.” As he got up to do just that, his older sister finally took notice of the purple spider resting on the table. 

“Wow.” She breathed out, clearly impressed. “You have quite a collection of badges on your bag!”

“Oh, this?” Sam pointed at the assortment of metallic, glinting badges adorning her faithful spider’s fur. “They’re mostly from charities and previous protests I’ve been in.” She explained. “You could say when something matters a lot to me, I make sure to give it a place of honour.”

“Cool, just make sure my father doesn’t see or he’ll shove a handful of Fenton badges your way.”

“‘Fenton badges’?”

“They’re regular badges with the word ‘Fenton’ on them.” Danny explained quickly, setting down a glass of water before Sam just as he regained his seat. 

After her brother helped himself to some cookies, Jazz left the plate on the counter before picking a seat for herself. She propped her elbows on the kitchen table, her fingers intertwined and her eyes staring at the Goth seriously from behind her hands. The image reminded Sam of the principals from high school based sitcoms whenever the protagonists got in trouble.

The mental image only made her feel like she’d got in trouble. 

“Uh...is everything okay?” She asked carefully.

“Everything’s fine, Sam.” Danny assured her with a smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. That only worried the girl further. “We’re just morally obligated to warn you about a few things first.”

“Such as…?” Sam eyed the Fenton siblings suspiciously, her skin prickling at their uncharacteristically odd behaviour. 

“Such as our parents' eccentricities.” Jazz finished, her voice completely serious. “Don’t get us wrong, Sam; our parents are talented inventors and passionate ghost hunters...” She trailed off, having trouble explaining things to an outsider. They never really had to explain their family’s antics to anybody else, they all knew; the difference lay in how they processed the information. So far, the entire town bar Tucker thought of them as kooks.

“But they’re so passionate they tend to overlook things.” Danny added. 

“Especially if they don’t fit their agenda...” Jazz muttered darkly, probably thinking nobody heard. But she was mistaken.

Sam was legitimately taken aback by the unexpected venom laced in Jazz’s statement. Even though this was only the second time she got to meet the eldest Fenton sibling, their last encounter seemed to indicate Jazz was the type of person who always measured her words. Straight-laced, careful, mature...Maybe even calculating under the right circumstances. She seemed to place great importance on not letting her emotions show, for some reason. But, seemingly, their parents’ job was a sore spot for her. 

As her mind went back to their conversation at Verde Que Te Quiero Verde, Sam found herself thinking she couldn’t blame Jazz for her low opinion on their parents’ chosen career. Who wouldn’t grow resentful of a career path that, judging by Danny’s stories, not only had it brought shame and embarrassment onto their children their whole lives, but also led them to being neglected in favour of something most people didn’t even know existed until recently?

As much as she’d personally wished her mother would leave her alone growing up, Sam knew what emotional neglect felt like all too well. 

“I see.” She said finally, taking extra care in not letting her thoughts shine through. She needed to appear nonchalant, willing to listen. “So, what should I know?”

Danny and Jazz exchanged a look, silently discussing how to approach the topic. Understandably, Danny had been taken by surprise when Sam asked if she could come over and talk about ghosts. After all, who in their right mind wanted to talk about ghosts? Most citizens would just watch him fight them, sneer at him once the battle was over, and exclaim ‘good riddance!’ before turning on their heels to go back to their monotonous lives. 

The only exceptions to the norm were Team Phantom  (and even they’d only started showing interest begrudgingly, since they had no other choice), Danny Phantom’s fan club, and Valerie in her early days as a ghost hunterーnow that she thought she knew everything about mischievous spirits she could possibly need, she’d become more of an ‘attack first, questions never’ kinda gal. 

Luckily for Danny, the moment she noticed his blank expression, she was quick to explain it was her Gothic nature talking. Her passion for the paranormal and occult just couldn’t miss the opportunity of getting to know more from the town’s resident experts. 

Now, if only said experts weren’t almost as single-minded as a certain Red Huntress…

He wasn’t sure why, but a part of Danny just couldn’t bear the thought of Sam disliking ghostsーdisliking your ghost half, you meanーthe same way Valerie or his parents did. She was one of the most accepting people he’d met in a long time, he wouldn’t know what to do if Danny Phantom jeopardised that like it jeopardised his relationship with Valerie. 

That was why it was so important she understood! If he and Jazz could get through to her before their parents started feeding her their very anti-ghost ideas, then maybe he wouldn’t lose another person to Amity Park’s almost unanimous anti-ghost sentiment. He wouldn’t have to pretend to be somebody he was not in front of somebody else he cared about. 

With a nod of his head, Danny allowed Jazz to take the floor. “First and foremost, you should know our parents are far better in practice than in theory.”

Sam blinked, not following. “I don’t think I understand…”

“It’s just,” Jazz started, biting her lip, her hands fidgeting as she tried to find the right words to say, “they know the basics, you see? They know everything on how to take down a ghost and apply that knowledge to their inventions...with varying results,” she muttered that last part to herself. “But we don’t think they really understand what makes a ghost tick, you know what I mean?”

The Goth could only stare blankly at her, her brow furrowed in confusion. “But you just said they know how to take down ghosts...Doesn’t that mean they know what makes them tick?”

“What Jazz means is they don’t understand their motivations.” Danny corrected. “To our parents, all ghosts care about is causing mayhem and destruction, but not all ghosts can possibly be like that, can they?”

Although it was phrased like a question, there was something about the way he said it that made Sam see it as anything but. The certainty in his voice, the almost manic glint in his eyes askingーno, beggingーher to understand. It wasn’t mere, hopeful speculation. As much as Danny liked seeing the good in people, he wasn’t just giving ghosts the benefit of the doubt; it was like he knew they were far more than just ectoplasmic remnants of human conscience. 

Still, despite everything, her mouth started talking before her brain had time to catch up. “But do they even have any motivation at all?” She didn’t know why, but she felt like wincing when Danny’s hopeful expression turned dejected. Like a kicked puppy. “I mean, all ghosts do whenever they come to Amity Park is cause some sort of trouble or even go as far as plotting world domination.” 

Why did she say that? Wasn’t she trying to give the spectres the benefit of the doubt as well? She explicitly came here for answers that’d justify her sudden belief, her sudden need to believe, ghosts weren’t as evil as she’d been told. She was looking for that same reason that led her ancestors to trusting and forming a solid alliance with them all those centuries ago. 

Why was her mind trying to sabotage that?

Sensing his brother’s discomfort, Jazz was quick to step in. For reasons he wasn’t ready to admit, it was important Sam was on their side. “Take Danny Phantom, for instance,” she said, seemingly unaware of the way Sam’s breath hitched at the mention of his name. “Nobody knows what he’s up to, but for all intents and purposes, he seems to only care about protecting Amity Park.”

“That 's...true.” The Goth admitted, trying to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she thought of the town’s controversial hero. “Except for a few incidents, he only ever appears if the town’s in danger.”

Sam didn’t say much, she was just stating the obvious. But hearing her admit he was trying to save Amity Park rather than destroy or rule it brought a grin to Danny’s face. “Our parents don’t get that. For them, it’s more like, ‘you’ve seen one ghost, you’ve seen them all’”, as he explained their parents’ mindset, Danny’s voice took on a deeper tone, causing Sam to guess he was making an imitation of his dad’s voice. “They don’t think Phantom, or any ghost for that matter, can be anything other than trouble.”

A dark, heavy cloud seemed to settle over the raven haired boy’s shoulders. His ocean blue eyes lost their shine, the corners of his lips turned upside down, and he suddenly looked much older than he really was. He seemed so...tired. As if he were carrying a huge weight over his shoulders and were exhausted from it. 

“They…” he began to say before he had to swallow the bitter lump in his throat. It was so difficult to get the words out, knowing what they entailed, without getting emotional. But Sam couldn’t possibly know just how much it all affected him. She just couldn’t. “They dehumanise them.”

Sam could only stand looking at Danny for a few more seconds before she had to avert her gaze, focusing on the kitchen counter instead as she bit down her lip guiltily. He looked so...un-Danny. She began picking at her nails as she realised his parents weren’t all that different from her; not even a week prior she’d also been convinced ghosts were nothing more than ectoplasmic scum. Cold, unfeeling, wicked. Even now, even as she came to understand she should give them a chance, she found herself having trouble trying to move on from that mindset her people had spent a good chunk of her life getting into her head. 

Hating ghosts was second nature at this point. 

“I…” Sam started weakly, clearing her throat to give herself a few more seconds to compose herself. This was going to be hard. “I think I understand. It’s like all those movies, isn’t it?” She said, her voice tinged with a lightness she didn’t quite feel. “Like...like those stories with over-complicated plots that can, ultimately, be summarised by ‘don��t judge a book by its cover,’ right?”

Actually getting the words out was proving itself to be a Herculean task. She didn’t even know what she was saying. Referencing one of the oldest tropes to ever exist? Really? No matter how hard she was trying for the sake of her alliance with Phantomーand not because, for whatever reason, she now wanted to believe he couldn’t possibly be as bad as she initially thought. No wayー, literally all ghosts that’d ever visited Amity Park except for the Ghost King had questionable morals, at best, or were downright diabolical, at worst. 

Just trying to get the words out made her stomach tighten! 

But then she looked over to Danny from underneath her eyelashes, feeling too shy and unsure for her comfort, and her breath hitched. 

Danny was positively glowing. For reasons Sam couldn’t understand, having someone try to see things eye to eye with him meant the world to Danny. The way his expression softened when he looked at her was almost too much to bearーher cheeks felt like they were on fire, but Sam still had half the mind to understand suddenly splashing her face with her, mostly untouched, glass of water would make some eyebrows raise in bewilderment. 

Her heart pounding in her ears and her mind screaming at her not to do anything weird or out-of-place (in a disturbingly similar voice to her mother), the hazel-eyed girl reached a hand across the table and rested it on top of Danny’s, who jolted in his seat upon making contact. “I can’t promise anything, but I’ll try to keep an open mind.” She said softly, smiling at him. 

His mind reeling from the feeling of Sam’s warm hand over his cold palm, Danny let out an almost inaudible gasp, his eyebrows shooting up to the ceiling. But as he registered her promise, he couldn’t help himself from giving her hand a gentle squeeze, his face morphing itself into an adoring expression as his heart did somersaults in his chest cavity. 

Where have you been all my life?

Startled by his own thought process, Danny roughly snatched his hand away from Sam’s, under her slightly hurt gazeーwhich she immediately tried to cover upーand Jazz’s questioning eyes. Before he could try and dwell on his thoughts, however, a booming voice came from down the lab and progressively made its way upstairs.

“Sorry we’re late!” Jack’s jovial voice came from the staircase. “We were finishing up some last minute adjustments.”

“Our latest invention promises to be our greatest one yet!” A feminine voice said excitedly. Sam could only guess that was Mrs. Fenton.

“There’s still much to be done, of course. But as soon as we work out a few twerks and we’re done designing the general outline, everything else will go smoothly.” Coming in before her husband, Maddie moved easily around her kitchen, going over to the fridge to grab some fudge for Jack before reaching up for some plates from the cupboard. She kept waltzing around the kitchen table and her children, so engrossed in her retelling she failed to notice the ebony haired girl sitting down beside them. “You kids haven’t touched the container unit with the ecto-weenies, haveー?” She trailed off abruptly, something far more interesting than her home’s ecto-induced food catching her eye the moment she turned around to finally face her kids. 

There, sitting around her kitchen table, right next to her son, was both the most unique and beautiful girl she’d ever seen him with. Any other mother would be taken aback to see her son with a girl with a side of her head shaved off and dyed purple and green (albeit only the little ponytail sticking out), wearing enough dark clothes to be confused with a mortician or someone in mourning, and heavy, dark make-up coating her face. 

But not Maddie Fenton. 

Oh no. 

Aside from being a ghost hunterーa career path that was, regrettably, not held in high regard by her entourageー, meaning she wasn’t one to judge others’ live choices, Maddie was just shocked to see her son with a girl. Period. 

The last time she’d ever even heard him gush about how pretty a girl was was in his Freshman year of high school. First over that Paulina Sanchez who, going by what Jazz told her, was Casper High’s beauty queenーit was only natural her teenage son would have a phase where he was after the head cheerleader; just like Jazz had a phase where she was into that motorcycle-riding bad boy with greasy hair. 

Whatever happened to that boy?

And a few months after that he seemed smitten with Valerie Gray, the daughter of Damon Gray; a former security expert at Axion Labs that’d helped them during the whole ordeal with the Ghost King. A pleasant man, but even he didn’t seem to hold them in high esteem. 

They went out several times all throughout the extent of two weeks, but just as she was about ready to squeal and tackle his little man for getting his first girlfriend and growing up, one day he dejectedly told them Valerie thought it best to remain friends. 

Ever since then, romance all but became a taboo topic around Danny. 

Aside from a few times he’d tell them he had a date (which never seemed to lead anywhere), not a peep could be heard out of him when it came to girls. Ever since he was well into his Freshman year, at the tender age of fourteen bordering fifteen, girl-talk became nonexistent. 

And, Maddie had to admit, there was a time she came to believe her son never brought girls up because he just wasn’t interested in them. Seeing as the only other person he ever spent time with was Tucker, Maddie once thought Danny was gay but too afraid to come out, fearing they might disown him or something. 

Only for that little theory to burn up in flames when she tried letting him know she knew and fully supported himーto which Danny almost choked to death on his breakfast, before fervently denying any sort of romantic relationship with his best friend. 

He swore up and down the reason he never brought up the topic of romance was because there wasn’t anyone he was interested in. Something he religiously followed, never even talking about a girl (or boy, Maddie still kept that possibility open) who he’d simply come to think was pretty in passing.

Until now. 

Now there was a lovely young lady in her kitchen. Sitting right beside her baby, who looked as embarrassed as if he were a teenager again and was being bombarded with a thousand photos of him and his date for Homecoming. Now, Maddie wasn’t quite knowledgeable on street fashion and subcultures as she’d been back in college, but just by looking at this girl (who was staring, wide-eyed, right back at her) she could tell she used her clothes to express herself and her individuality.

She knew who she was or, at least, who she wanted to be. Good. 

Straightening her back slightly, Maddie tried to put the girl at ease using her most motherly tone. “Oh, hello there!” She walked over to her and reached out her hand for her to shake. She noted with pleasure she had a firm yet gentle grip. Oh, dear God, please let this girl be the one for Danny! “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Maddie, Danny and Jazz’s mother.”

“Oh! Uh…” With a start, she smiled back at the kind woman in front of her, albeit feeling a little awkward. “I’m Sam. I’m friends with Dannyーnice to meet you.”

“Believe me, Sam,” Maddie’s grin widened, “the pleasure’s all mine.”

Feeling self-conscious all of a sudden, probably from the countless hours of etiquette classes her mother had drilled into her head, Sam jumped to her feet to greet the woman before her properly. 

The Goth was in awe at the sight before her. Mrs Fenton had to be a woman in her late-forties to early-fifties, given she’d given birth to two kids who were now in their early twenties, and yet she didn’t look a year over thirty. She had to be one of the most beautiful women she’d ever met, with her auburn bob cut that had only the tiniest hints of a grey hair or two; her smooth, wrinkle-free face that’d make Pamela sick with envyーshe’d spent a fortune on skincare products and even then she didn’t look nearly as young as Danny’s mother; and she had to have the best figure she’d ever seen, even after given birth twice! As unorthodox a piece of clothing as it was, her blue hazmat suit hugged her body perfectly, accentuating all her curves. Mrs Fenton was probably only second to Delilah in terms of voluptuousness, but seriously, that woman was basically a goddess walking on Earth. And her deep, purple eyes hid a mixture of motherly warmth and care as well as an intelligence and sharpness rivaled only by Grandma Ida. 

It was funny, Sam noted. Had Mrs Fenton been born a witch, and she probably would be ruling the coven now, not her. 

“And I’m Jack Fenton, nice to meet you kiddo!” Danny’s father exclaimed, trapping Sam’s hand in a deadly grip. He was shaking her hand so enthusiastically Sam was genuinely surprised he wasn’t shaking her up and down like a rag doll. 

“Nice to meet you too, Mr Fenton.” She said, taking a good look at the man who’d raised Danny. 

Mr Fenton was...how could she put this gently? The opposite of his wife. He wasn’t ugly by any means! But while Maddie looked like she could be on the cover of a fashion magazine, he was a rather plain-looking fellow. Jack was a man of great girth, although not necessarily overweight; he certainly had enough energy to get an electric plant running with nothing but his personality. Clad in a large, orange hazmat suit that somehow both matched and clashed horribly with his wife’s more classy blue, his age was far more apparent. Perhaps he didn’t look like he had a foot on the other door, but the years hadn’t been as kind to him as they’d been to Mrs Fenton. He still had a full head of hair, but his sideburns and his nape were already stark white, while the hair on his head kept some colourーa dark grey. The little bit of skin Sam could see (mostly his face, really), with his strong, squared jaw, was mostly unblemished, except for crow’s feet around his round eyes. He definitely didn’t look too old, just...older than his wife.

Even then, Sam could still make out enough details that showed this was Danny’s dad. 

At first glance it seemed both Fenton kids took mostly after their mother (a never-ending source of comfort for them, she was sure), but there was enough of Jack’s genes in their appearance to tell the kinship. 

Judging from his mop of grey hair, Sam figured he used to have black hair, not unlike his son’s messy locks. If she looked closely, the girl could make out Mr Fenton’s eyes; a dark shade of greyish blue, similar to Danny’s icy stare and Jazz’s inquisitive, aqua eyes. And last but not least, there was the issue with their height. Mr Fenton was huge! Probably the tallest member of the family, and that was saying something. Even Danny, standing at an impressive 5’9, was towered over by his dad. Jazz took after her mum in that regard, thank Goodness.

So, summing up.

A lovely, genius daughter working on her PhD; a charming, witty, hot-as-Hell (who said that?!) son about to work with NASA; a mother who was both gorgeous and another genius, and a huge father who might not be George Clooney but seemed to be a very decent human being (and, considering he was an expert ectologist and inventor, another genius to boot). 

What was this, the over-achieving family? A family specifically designed to excel in everything her own family already didn’t hold a candle to anyone to?! And did she really have to be so short in comparison!?

As much as the stereotypically girly part of herself she worked so hard to push down squealed over a healthy height difference between a possible boyfriend and her, the number of inches Danny had on her was just ridiculous. And now it turns out his entire family is better than hers one way or another. Unless she performed magic in their very kitchen, Sam had no idea how she could possibly impress her in-laws. Ever. 

And, she realised with a start, her mind was veering into insane territory again… She rationalised she was just thinking it’d be very difficult for her to impress the Fentons if she were to date Danny. Which she wasn’t going to do. Ever. They were just friends and her life was too complicated to even be thinking about romance right now. Besides, she’d never be able to live with herself knowing she’d have to keep her partner (be it Danny or someone else entirely) in the dark about a huge aspect of her life. 

Danny deserved way better than the kind of life her dad was stuck with. 

Almost as if sensing her inner monologue, Jack almost gave her a heart attack when he spoke next. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Sam. We thought it’d be Tucker who Danno would bring over.” He placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder and brought her closer to him. “So imagine our surprise when we see you here! We might’ve been a little too overzealous about it.”

“A little?” Sam heard Jazz whisper to her brother, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 

“That’s right,” Maddie agreed, her smile so wide her cheeks hurt and a sense of impending doom gripped her son’s heart. “It’s just been so long since Danny last brought a girlfriend home, and so beautiful too!”

His cheeks practically on fire, Danny was quick to shout, panicking, “She’s not my girlfriend!”, at the same time as Sam, equally embarrassed, exclaimed, “I’m not his girlfriend!”

The Fenton matriarch’s good mood deflated a little at that. “You’re not?”

“No, Mum. She’s not.” Danny confirmed as he scrubbed his face with one hand. Why was it that every time he brought home someone other than Tucker they immediately assumed he must’ve found the womanーor man, Tucker never let him live that one downーhe was going to marry? It wasn’t like he was such a recluse, was it? ...on second thought, better not answer that. “I already told you a friend was interested in meeting you, you told me you were okay with it and, well,” he said with some sarcasm in his voice as he extended his arms to his sides, making a flourish, “here she is.”

“Well, yeah. But when you said ‘friend’ we thought you meant Tucker, son.” His dad admitted, scratching the back of his head. 

“I have more friends aside from Tuck, you know?”

If his parents immediately assuming Sam was his girlfriend and openly addressing her as such right in front of her hadn’t been mortifying enough, the deafening silence that settled in the kitchen then certainly was. 

Was he really that much of a loser his parents didn’t seriously believe him capable of making friends with people outside of Tucker? Granted, most of his friendsーDora, Wulf, Frostbite, Cujo…ーwere the very same creatures from another dimension they’d sworn to hunt down, strap to a lab table, and dissect ‘molecule by molecule’, so they couldn’t possibly know about them. But come on!

Grimacing at the uncomfortable, and a little humiliating, atmosphere, Jazz cleared her throat to catch their parents’ attention. “I think what Danny means is that, if he’d really wanted to invite Tucker over, he wouldn’t have even asked your permission for it.” The moment her mum and dad crossed their arms over their chests and sent her a disapproving look due to the way she’d just disregarded their authority she was quick to backpedal. “A-after all, he practically spends more time here than in his own house! And he’s ever really been into ghosts to begin with, so…”

Jazz had a point. Maddie sighed through her nose, a little disappointed. “I guess you’re right.” Her expression turned cheery again almost instantaneously, clapping her hands before her face as she redirected her focus on the hazel-eyed girl still standing awkwardly near her kitchen table. “So! Sam, Danny’s told us you wanted to meet us, why’s that?”

“It’s not to place another restraining order on us, is it?” Her husband asked dubiously, his eyes narrowing on the young lady in suspicion. 

Jazz facepalmed herself while Danny was too busy all but slamming his head against the table. 

“Whaー? No, of course not.” Sam assured him, shaking her head and hands in front of her as it to emphasise her point. “I, uh, I asked Danny if I could come meet you because I’m really interested in the paranormal and such. I’m a Goth; you see,” she gestured vaguely at her form, “it sort of comes with the aesthetic. So when he told me you guys were ghost hunters I couldn’t help myself; I just had to meet you.”

Before the Goth knew it, the enormous man she’d been talking to grabbed her around the shoulders with just one arm and, with impressive strength, lifted her up off the floor, a broad smile playing along his lips. “Don’t tell me you want to get in the business?” He asked with the same excitement of a kid on Christmas.

“N-not r-really…” she gasped out, the force behind Mr. Fenton’s grasp knocking the air out of her lungs. “I-I’m just...really c-curious...t-that’s all…”

Panicking at the sight of Sam’s face turning blue, Danny jumped to his feet, followed closely by Jazz. “Dad, put her down!” In the blink of an eye he was by his dad’s side, gently coaching the raven haired girl out of his bone-crushing grip. The moment her feet touched the floor, Sam began taking greedy gulps of air, her hand in Danny’s firm but gentle ones and Jazz patting her back comfortingly. 

“Careful, honey.” Mrs Fenton scolded her husband lightheartedly, “You know you tend to get carried away.”

“Right. Sorry about that, Sam.”

Too breathless to dignify that with a verbal answer, Sam limited herself to giving him a thumbs-up. 

“How about we cut to the chase and you guys show Sam what you’re working on, huh?” Jazz suggested, one hand still rubbing her guest’s back soothingly. If after today Sam insisted on being friends with her brother, he would have a lifetime of making it up to her. 

“Great idea, Jazzypants!” Jack exclaimed excitedly. He and his wife then proceeded to usher their kids and guest out of the kitchen and down to the lab. 

Sam miraculously caught herself before she could snort. ‘Danno’? ‘Jazzypants’? She would’ve laughed at the ridiculous nicknames hadn’t she remembered her mother’s horrendous habit of calling her ‘Sammy-kins.’

Did everything that woman do have to bring nothing but pain and misery to her daughter?

Walking down the stairs to what the witch could only assume was the lab Jazz mentioned earlier, Maddie turned her head around slightly so she could look at Sam as she asked over her shoulder. “I don’t think we’ve asked you about your family, dear; not even about your full name.”

“It’s Manson, Sam Manson. My parents…”she trailed off, making a grimace. “Let’s just say in twenty-one years of existence I’ve never been able to understand what they do for a living.” That wasn’t technically a lie. Even if Sam was perfectly aware of her mother’s double life as a witch (mostly because she was destined to follow in her footsteps), the financial side of things always eluded her. For all she knew her dad could be a smuggler. 

“Wait, ‘Manson’?” It was Jack’s turn to turn his head to face her, an bushy eyebrow raised in surprise. “You mean like that stinking rich family living in the uptown part of town?”

Now it was Maddie’s face that lit up in realisation. “Oh, that’s right! Danny and Jazz did mention something like that when they came back from their night out.”

Sam shot Danny and Jazz a dirty look, to which they responded by smiling awkwardly in return and whistling a happy tune while averting all sorts of eye contact, respectively; “You know, before I knew you my family’s wealth was one of my best-kept secrets. Now it’s got to a point where I’ll be walking down the street and some random kid will point out at me and say, ‘Look, mummy! Look! It’s that rich girl!’”

“Come on, Sam,” a devilish smirk made its way to Danny’s face. “You’re making things up.”

“Maybe, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it actually happened.”

Stepping down the last step to the basement, Jack extended his arms high in the air as he announced, “Here we are! The Fenton Lab!”

The moment she descended to the basement and was able to see the family lab for the first time, Sam’s jaw all but touched the floor. Strolling down inside the spacious laboratory, she couldn’t help but spin around, trying to find every single nook and secret laying right before her, marvelling at the sight. 

The Fenton Lab was a greyish room with metal-covered walls and a tiled floor that occupied the entirety of the basement. Various machines whose workings Sam could only guess littered around the room, alongside several lab tables filled to the brim with test tubes, trays, notes, and neon-green liquids pulled up to the walls, as well as different beeping monitors. 

But what had to be, by far, the most impressive device in the entire lab was the large, octogonal gates standing in the far corner of the room. They were currently closed, their yellow and black striped doors in full display, and the big, red lightbulb Sam suspected would blink when used was turned off resting on top of it. 

Taking a step closer, one hand pointing at the machine, she breathed out in awe, “Whoa...What’s that?”

“You have a good eye!” Maddie complimented as she came to stand right beside her guest. One hand directed at their most prized invention and the other on her hip, it was obvious she was about to give a lecture worthy of any college professor. “This is the Fenton Ghost Portal. Our greatest invention yet.”

The Goth’s eyebrows shot up to the ceiling. “The Fenton Ghost Portal…?” She echoed, astonished. 

The hazmat clad lady hummed in response. “That’s right. This baby is our pride and joy; a little pipe dream we’ve had since college. Isn’t that right, Jack?”

“You got it, baby!” Mr Fenton agreed, crossing his arms with a proud smile on his face. “Except there’s nothing impossible about this beauty. Dreams do come true!”

“Although,” Maddie added, a grim look on her face, “we almost indefinitely put the project on hold after...an unfortunate accident back in our Sophomore year in Wisconsin University.”

Taking advantage of the distance between them, Sam, and their parents, Danny leaned in closer to Jazz to whisper in her ear, “Unfortunate in more ways than one.” If only his parents knew that day they created a monster...Although the time he travelled through time to their college days proved nothing could’ve prevented Vlad from turning into the frootloop he was today. The monster inside him had nothing to do with his ghost half.

Unaware of the exchange taking place between the siblings, the Goth girl asked, “An accident? What happened?”

“The prototype malfunctioned and ended up blasting good ol’ Vladdie in the face.” Jack explained, a distant look in his eyes. 

“Maybe if he hadn’t stuck his face right in front of the working portal, none of that would’ve happened…” Danny muttered darkly for Jazz’s ears only. 

“Or at least worn safety goggles.” His sister whispered back.

Their father went on, not having heard a word that was said between his children. “The exposure to the ecto-chemicals gave him a nasty case of ecto-acne that had him hospitalised for years. It took him over twenty years to forgive me.” He said sadly, only to immediately brighten up the next second. As someone who came from a family that usually only emoted silent judgement, fake cheer, or total apathy, Sam was having a bit of a hard time trying to catch up to all of Mr Fenton’s many emotions. “But we finally patched things up seven years ago and now we’re all buddies again!”

Danny smiled in satisfaction at the way his mum’s posture stiffened up, her arms crossed defensively in front of her, and her forehead creased in aggravation. “‘Buddies’ might be a bit of a stretch…” she mumbled angrily, before taking on a more neutral tone, “I don’t know Jack. I still think the years have turned Vlad into a bit of a freak.”

“Oh, don’t be like that, baby!” Her husband whined. “You’d be a little eccentric too if you spent all of your time alone inside a big, lonely mansion like he does!”

“I can attest to that…” Sam muttered to herself as she hugged herself, her eyes on the floor, years of lonely memories coming back in full force. Then she realised, “Wait, did you just say your friend lives in a big mansion all by himself?”

“I wouldn’t say all by himself,” Danny chimed in. “He has a cat keeping him company.”

Ignoring him, she pressed on, “And you said his name was Vlad?”

“That we did! Our good ol’ friend Vlad Masters!” Jack confirmed with a huge grin on his face. His was the only smiling face amongst his family. Something told Sam Mr. Masters hadn’t exactly won the crowd over…

The raven haired girl turned her head to face the Fenton siblings so fast she almost gave herself whiplash as she sent them a pointed look. “You guys are friends with Vlad freaking Masters and you think me having a little money is a big deal?!”

“Actually, you’re filthy, stinking rich yourself.” Jack corrected matter-of-factly and, for a moment, Sam wished she could just forgo her grandmother’s insistence on treating those older than you with respect and glower at the Fenton patriarch.

The only answer she got to her incredulous outburst were a pair of twin nervous laughs and shrugs.

The hazel-eyed girl took a deep breath as she pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration before turning back to their dad. “Um...and what exactly does it do?” She asked dubiously, redirecting everyone’s attention back to the portal with a jerk of her thumb. She just hoped it wasn’t what she thought it was. 

“It’s a portal to the Ghost Zone, where ghosts live and all that.” Danny’s voice confirmed her suspicions. 

With his hands sticking inside his pockets he, too, approached the enormous machine, coming to stand right beside Sam in the process. Turning her head to him, her brow furrowed in worry when she noticed the way his forehead creased as he beheld the portal. 

His face was bare of any telltale signs that would usually expose his true feelings on the matter; no creased forehead, no furrowed brow, no narrowed eyes, his lips were sealed in a thin, neutral line, and his hands in his pockets stopped him from clenching his fists. At first glance Danny was the perfect picture of calmness and indifference but something told Sam a very different storyーcall it sixth sense, call it her witchy instincts, or just plain care for her friend. There was something...dark hidden behind his eyelids. As well as something else. Something oh-so sad it made her heart squeeze in sympathy. Danny’s otherwise baby blue pools had turned the same colour of a troubled sea in a stormy night. Deep, and cold, and suffocating.

Lost in memories of times and misadventures caused by the eerie green hidden behind the portal’s doors, Danny started at the feeling of something warm sliding through his hands. Looking down, he saw Sam grabbing his hand in hers and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He didn’t realise he’d been smiling until his father spoke up again. 

“Well, Sam. What would you like to know?”

“Um...as much as you can tell me about ghosts?”

“Well,” Maddie took the floor, pulling her hoodie up and her goggles down. “That’s quite a lot, and I don’t think you’d feel comfortable staying at a house whose owners’ you’ve just met. So why don’t we start with the basics for now and you come back here anytime you want to continue this conversation?”

“I’d like that.” 

“Great. Now, come Sam. There’s so much to say and so little time.” With a motion of her hand, the ectologist gestured to the girl to follow her. Rolling his eyes and fearing what was to come, Danny pulled a chair out for his guest around a conference table standing in the middle of the room before taking a seat around it himself, Jazz following suit. Instead of sitting down like the youths present did, Maddie stood in front of them beside a blackboard Jack had dragged from the other side of the lab. 

Picking a chalk up, she began to scribble down on the board. “You see, Sam, the first thing you must know about ghosts is that they’re spiritual beings from another dimension, unlike pop-culture and legends where they’re described as the lost souls of the deceased.”

“That is not to say some of those spooks weren’t alive once.” Jack conceded. Unlike his wife, he’d ultimately sat down and was now tweaking with some strange-looking gun. “The thing is, whatever humanity or sense of morals they might have had once is long gone. Now they’re nothing more than ectoplasmic remains of human conscience.”

“Exactly.” Maddie agreed. “They think they’re intelligent, rational creatures capable of free will, but really those are just delusions caused by memories they no longer possess.”

Danny had to hold back a growl at that, otherwise Sam or, even worse, his parents might pick it up and ask him about it. With a furrowed brow he slumped down on the table and propped his head over his crossed arms. They really knew nothing, didn’t they? As excellent inventors as his parents might be, the way they approached ectology was closer to a pseudoscience than the discipline they claimed to have dedicated most of their lives to. As he and Jazz told Sam before, they were experts at everything one needed to know about a ghost’s innerworkings and how to exploit that to their benefitーand by extension his benefit, since he’d been borrowing their inventions for yearsー, but they were absolutely hopeless when it came to their motivations, their ambitions; what made them tick!

Listening to them going on and on about the same old, misguided story was just painful at this point.

Or course they had free will! It was precisely because of that he was constantly fighting ghosts, because they chose to fight him! Nobody said it was a smart choice but, hey, it was theirs. Just like many other ghosts chose to stay in the Ghost Zone and live their afterlives rather than cause trouble. The Far Frozeners, Clockwork, Wulf, Dora once she was free from her brother's abuse...Those were all examples of very powerful ghosts that chose to live peacefully!

But did their parents care? Noooooo! At this point he was sure they just wanted a lab rat. 

“The one thing that truly motivates a ghost to do the things it does,”ーit; could they be any more dehumanising?ー, “is its obsession.”

Okay. So offensive pronouns aside, that was accurate.

“Their obsession?” Sam echoed. She didn’t remember ever hearing about such a thing. 

“Indeed.” Maddie nodded, still scribbling furiously down on the board. “A ghost’s obsession is what ties them down to our world.” She explained as she made a diagram of a human head with the word ‘memories’ written on it and an arrow pointing at the silhouette of a ghost with the word ‘obsession’ scribbled down. “Remember when we said ghosts think they have free will due to memories they no longer possess?” Sam nodded. “Their obsession is those memories. It usually manifests in the form of something they used to hold dearー.”

“Or something that eventually consumed them.” Jack added, not once looking up from the strange device in his hands. 

“That’s right, hon. Something dear or that eventually consumed them that was so important to them it became all they cared about when they passed on. Fulfilling that obsession is what motivates them in the afterlife.”

“So, for example,” Sam started, a finger tapping her chin in contemplation, “if a person was so overworked when they were alive they ended up hating said job with a passion or even lost their minds over it, then anything related to it is their obsession?”

“Very well, Sam.” Maddie nodded appreciatively. 

As Mrs Fenton droned on, her voice became background noise. Sam was a mess. She didn’t know what to make of things so far. On the one hand, not only were the Fentons answering her questions and expanding on the knowledge she’d been brought up with, it confirmed everything she already knew! Ghosts were dangerous and unpredictable; they couldn’t be trusted because they’d turn on you on a whim. It’d happened before and that directly resulted in her people living in the shadows, terrified of being discovered, for centuries. 

Ghosts were immoral monsters.

And yet...she found she couldn’t fully believe anything they were saying. She didn’t want to believe what they were saying. If ghosts were truly that bad, then why did Phantom try to put her to safety? Why was he always fighting other ghosts for the sake of the town? Could it be that Amity Park was his obsession and he was just trying to defend his turf rather than the innocent? But that didn’t explain why he’d go out of his way to try and save her! Her, the Witch Queen, of all people!

Everything she once believed in and the questions that’d been plaguing her mind collided against each other. She didn’t know what to think anymore. But she did know one thing:

She’d promised Danny she’d try to keep an open mind. 

“Then what about Phantom?” She heard herself asking. When the Fentons’ questioning glances rested on her, she had to fight the urge to shrink under their gaze. Come on, Sam. You’re the Queen of the Witches of Amity Park and you’re doing this for your people, and nothing gets in between you and the sake of your people. She cleared her throat. “I mean, what’s his obsession?”

“Fudge if I know.” Mr Fenton mumbled, rolling his eyes. 

“Jack!” Mrs Fenton gasped. “Don’t cuss in front of the children!”

“I said ‘fudge’!” He defended himself. 

“And we’re not children anymore!” Danny and Jazz protested in unison. 

Rubbing her temple, Maddie let out a loud sigh. “What my husband means, Sam, is that Phantom is a bit of an anomaly.”

“An anomaly?” She raised her eyebrow in confusion. “An anomaly how?”

Once again, the Fenton matriarch turned around to write on her board, only this time she began a list. “For starters, the only sightings there’s ever been of him only date back to seven years ago, and even then he was already surprisingly powerful. Then, there’s the fact he’s constantly changing.”

“What do you mean?”

“For one, just when you think you got all his spectral abilities down, he surprises you with some new trick.” Jack explained, ignoring the way what he said next had his son scowling and his daughter giggling behind her palm. “He’s almost like a pageant dog. And then there’s his appearance; when he first appeared he looked like some prepubescent kidー.”

Must every ghost hunter assume I hadn’t already gone through puberty when I got my powers? Danny thought bitterly to himself. 

“ーand now he looks like he could be your age.” He finished. 

“His actions around here are both mysterious and suspicious, too.” Maddie added. 

“We’ve been trying to catch him since he first appeared, but the spook’s been managing to give us the slip every time.” Jack admitted.

His wife patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Aw, don’t you worry, honey. Sooner or later he’ll be all ours. It’s just a matter of time.”

“But by the time we finally catch him he might already be protected by the law or something!” He sulked. “Have you seen the sign when you enter the town? ‘Welcome to Amity Park; home of Danny Phantom!’” He scoffed, narrowing his eyes in disgust. “Might as well just call it, ‘The hauntedest place on Earth’, it’d be more accurate…”

“Uh, I think that’s already taken by some place called ‘Crystal Cove’, Dad.” Jazz pointed out. 

“Even if I do agree his increasing popularity is a cause for concern in terms of the town’s general sanity, there’s still many people who see him for what he is; a menace to society.” Mrs Fenton reasoned.

Just a week before, Sam would’ve agreed wholeheartedly with everything the Fentons said, but now she found herself squirming at the sound of their vile words. Had a few meetings with Phantom really warped her perspective on things that much? Looking down at her fidgeting hands resting on her lap, she had to deliberately stop herself from tucking a loose strand of hair behind her earーbecause she intended to push hair from the shaved side of her head away. When was she going to get used to that spell?

Unbeknownst to her, Danny was watching her every move. He wasn’t sure why, but the prospect of Sam siding with his parents and their misguided theories terrified him more than half the ghost fights he’d had in the last year. She was just so great...Even if they’d only hung out a few times, he already couldn’t believe there’d been a time where it’d just been him and Tuckerーand occasionally Jazz. 

She fit so well in their group it was like she was always meant to be one of them. Luckily she seemed to have taken their advice to heart and was indeed trying to keep an open mind; she even asked about his ghost-half. The halfa guessed it was probably an attempt to convince his parents (or maybe even herself) that not all ghosts could possibly be bad. And for that, pointless as it might be when it came to the Fentons, he was grateful. He just hoped she wouldn’t decide she was better off without him in her life.

It’d taken him twenty-one years to find her, he couldn’t lose her now.

Again, where did that come from?! 

He had to go back to trying to have a somewhat balanced sleep schedule. Sleep deprivation was doing a number on him. 

Just as he observed Sam, Jazz was keeping her eye on him. He looked so glum and tired...It was one thing having to hide who you are from your parents, but having to listen to them talk about how much they hate that thing you were hiding from them time and time again? It was enough to drive someone over the edge. 

Just by following his line of sight it became obvious this time he was far more worried about what Sam may think of this, may think of him. And if there was one thing her baby brother didn’t need, it was more things to worry about. 

Thinking quickly, the redhead scanned around the room, looking for something to divert everyone’s attention away from the topic at hand. As her eyes surveyed the dreaded Fenton Toaster (was that thing ever going to perish once and for all?), she took notice of an arrangement of pieces, wires, and circuit boards laying scattered on the floor. 

How could she have possibly missed that?

Her voice breaking everyone out of their own daze, she jerked a finger in the direction the pile of metal was, “Um, what is that?”

Following her pointing finger, her parents' expression brightened up. “That, Jazzyrincess, is our latest project; the Fenton Fermoir!”

“Dad knows French?” Danny asked, absolutely flabbergasted at the revelation. 

“I’ve known for weeks now and I’m still as surprised as you.” Jazz leaned back to whisper to him. Then she remembered something. “Wait, I thought you guys were going to make a special keychain for Danny; that is not a keychain.”

Squinting her eyes at the assortment of scrap metal on the floor, propelled by her arms, Sam leaned forward to the boy in front of her to join in on the conversation. “At least not one that fits inside a pocket.”

“Oh, don’t be silly, girls.” Maddie waved them off as she made her way to the yet-to-be-built Fenton Fermoir. “We finished Danny’s keychain weeks ago!”

“Which reminds me…” Jack rummaged inside his suit’s pockets until he fished out a simple set of keys with a badge with the company’s logo on it and handed it to his son. 

Bringing it to his face, Danny tried to appear enthusiastic. “Gee, thanks.” He stuffed his new keys inside his own jean pocket. “So. What does the Fenton Fermoir do?”

“Remember the portable ghost portal devices we created a few years ago?” Jack asked his kids, who nodded in response, then he noticed Sam’s blank stare. “Oh, that’s right. You weren’t there, Sam. The thing is, those gadgets could open up medium-sized ghost portals anywhere, so we thought we should perhaps try to create an opposite invention.”

“Wait, are you saying this thing’s supposed to be able to close ghost portals anywhere?” Danny asked. This was great news! If his parents finished the Fenton Fermoir and it worked, then he’d only need to power it up with his ecto-energy and the portal crisis would be over! He wouldn’t need to meet or rely on Lady Arcana anymore!

Somehow, the thought of not seeing the violet-eyed witch made his insides twist and his heart feel hollow. 

Man, sleep deprivation was getting worse each time!

“If we can get it to work.” Maddie lamented, kicking a cylindrical-looking piece around. “Whenever we try something happens and shuts it off! It’s almost as if our regular energy source isn’t the right one...or at least not enough.”

Well, there went his solution.

“So for now we’re stuck redesigning and rebuilding this baby until we find the right one.” Jack said optimistically. 

“It’s getting late, though, so why don’t we go upstairs and have dinner, hm?” Maddie suggested. “Sam, would you like to stay?”

The Goth was hesitant to reply. “Uh, I’d love to. But what are we having? It’s just...I, uh, I don’t eat meat.”

“Don’t worry. I always buy plenty of vegetables Danny and his dad barely even look at. You can have that.”

“Hey!” Both men cried out, offended. 

Giggling, the three women went back upstairs, followed closely by the still outraged men. 

During dinner, the weirdest thing happened. 

Nothing bad, really. But it was something Sam wasn’t used to at all. Most of the time, she only ever felt comfortable with her family when Grandma Ida was present, since she always acted like the understanding voice of reason she was beloved for back in the clan. And ever since she passed away, the atmosphere in her house was so tense you could cut it with a knife. The otherwise deathly quiet family dinners were only ever interrupted by her parents discussing how the business was doing, Mother’s next big, exclusive eventーsometimes they were true, sometimes they weren’tー, or to bring up her inadequacy as their daughter and, hence, heiress to then Manson name. 

The tension only melted away, even if just a little, when it was just her dad and her. 

But the Fentons…

Everything was so different. Animated chatter never left the table. Food was being passed around; conversations took place and questions about everyone’s day were asked; every once in a while someone would make a joke that would either elicit laughter or pained groans from everyone present...even herself. 

Their families really were very different. 

Despite everything, Sam loved her parents and knew, deep down, they loved her back. Her mother in particular just had a very selfish way of showing it. But the Fentons...They weren’t perfect. The way Danny and Jazz learned to rely on each other as well as their parents’ single-minded focus on their career were proof enough of that. But everyone sitting around that kitchen table, eating steak with a serving of mashed potatoes and peas, clearly loved each other very much.

When it came to family, life was a lottery. 

Sometimes you got heartless monsters, and other times you got loving people who were only humans and occasionally made mistakes. 

Maddie stopped mid-sentence, her fork with a piece of steak hanging in mid-air, because she noticed her husband doing something he shouldn’t. “Jack, are you still tweaking with that, even now?”

Stiffening up, for he’d been caught, he tried to play it cool. “Uh, no?” His wife’s arched eyebrow spoke volumes, making him give in. “Yes. But you can’t honestly expect me to stop now, babycakes! Not when I’m about to have a breakthrough!”

“I know I'm going to regret this” Jazz muttered, rolling her eyes, “but what’re you working on, Dad?”

The orange clad man replied by holding out his creation for all to see. It was a funny-looking, double-cannoned gun that had what seemed to be a compartment filled with goo in its back. “Behold, the new and improved Fenton Foamer!” He announced loudly before adding, almost as an afterthought. “Now in pocket size.”

Not understanding a word that was being said, Sam let the family talk, her focus directed at her stir-fried vegetables. 

“Is there something wrong with the old Fenton Foamer?” Danny asked. 

“No, but it never hurts to revisit your old work and try to improve it, son.” He replied, patting the device with one gloved hand. “Not only is this beauty more appropriate for travelling, but I’ve also been tinkering with a new formula for the foam. Trust me, nothing could possiblyー.”

All of a sudden, when the patting became too much for the prototype to handle, a ‘splurt’ sound could be heard at the same time as a bright, green goop flew across the table. Everyone’s jaws dropped in mortification. 

“ーgo wrong.” Jack finished lamely, earning himself the disapproving looks of everyone present but Sam. 

But that might as well be because her eyes weren’t visible. The goop had landed on her, covering her petite form from head to toe in the mysterious substance Danny prayed to anyone who might be listening wasn’t toxic. 

Panicking, he was by her side in the blink of an eye. He was trying to wipe the foam away with a napkin as he apologised profusely. “Oh, my God! I am so, so sorry, Sam. I promise, I’ll clean you up. Or, even better, I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning. Sorry. I’m sorry. I promise, my dad’s inventions aren’t usually harmful to humans; a little electric shock at most. I’m so sorry, Sam. Please, forgive me.”

Under the Fentons’ concerned gaze, Sam lowered her face slightly, enough so they could make even less of her expression. Then she began to shake, Danny was sure from rage, and make indistinguishable sounds. Just as everyone braced themselves for the worst, the Goth threw her head back and laughed so loudly she caught them all off guard for a second. She kept on cackling almost maniacally to the point she had to hug herself, holding her sides that were, most definitely, going to split open if she kept this up. 

A little unnerved by her behaviour, Danny could only ask, “Uh, Sam? Are you alright?”

“W-why...why w-wouldn’t...I-I be?” She replied with a question of her own as her laughter calmed down to giggles. 

“Um, not to be Captain Obvious here, but you just got covered from head to toe in goop…” Jazz pointed out uncertainly. 

“Oh, I know. Trust me, it’s fine.” The Goth said as she used her hands to wipe said goop from her eyes and face. She furrowed her brow in confusion when she finally noticed the family’s worried looks. “Uh...are you guys okay?”

“Oh! Yes, yes we are. It’s just...” Maddie began, unsure on how to address the subject herself, “ not many people react so positively to one of our inventions going awry.”

“Normally you’d have issued a restraining order against us already.” Jack explained so matter-of-factly it made the Goth girl wonder just how much time this family spent at court. 

“Yeah.” Danny agreed, still trying to help Sam clean up with his napkin. “Not even Tucker would’ve taken it so well.”

“I see. Well, what can I say?” She shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “I guess I just can’t get mad when I find this so awesome.”

“You find this awesome?” Jazz parroted, incredulous. 

“Um, yeah. I told you; I love everything paranormal and, you gotta admit, this is the sorta thing that would go viral on YouTube.” 

“I...can’t argue with that logic.” Danny conceded. He still couldn’t believe it; Sam just got bathed in slime and her first reaction was laughing it off? Could this girl get any more incredible?

When she finally got to cleaning her hair free of foam, Sam had to do a double take as she slid her fingers through her hair. “Have you guys ever thought about selling this as a hair conditioner? Because, I kid you not, my hair’s never been this silky! I have a friend who would kill for something like this.”

“You have other friends besides Tucker and me?” The question left his mouth before he could even register it. Sam’s murderous glare made it obvious she didn’t appreciate the jab. 

Then, as if on cue, everyone broke down laughing. They all spend the rest of dinner chatting amicably and sharing storiesーJack and Maddie even began to ponder on the benefits of selling the new Fenton Foam as a conditioner, like Sam suggested! By the time they were done eating, the whole family gathered around their doorstep to bid their guest goodbye. Danny, Maddie, and Jazz hugged her (Sam still wasn’t used to physical contact due to her Goth indifference but this was nice), while Jack patted her in the back with such force it almost sent her falling down the stairs. 

The moment the door to FentonWorks was closed, his parents were already asking Danny when was the next time Sam would come visit, prompting him to groan in exasperation and Jazz to giggle at her brother’s embarrassment. 

[walks-the-ages]

Danny Phantom writing prompt:

(again, we're acknowledging The Content That Doesn't Actually Exist ™)

AU: when Vlad fails to make any headway with the Disasteroid, the people of earth come to the natural conclusion:

If the Disasteroid is made up entirely of antighost Ectoranium, then turning the earth intangible will not save them; the asteroid would still impact them either way, because it negates the abilities of ghosts.

So, that natural conclusion?

Leads to as mass exodus to the Ghost Zone--

Not just by ghosts, but by humans as well.

Jack and Maddie are the first to lead the charge, bundling years worth of emergency supplies into the newly modified Fenton RV and packing Mr. Lancer and as many of the children and teens of Amity Park into it's expanded confines as possible, before sending it into the portal.

Droves of adult citizens from Amity Park are the next to arrive after their children are sent safely to the other side, hauling whatever food and keepsakes they have left in all manner of "transportation" will fit through the portal, after Jack and Maddie demolish the upper floors of their house for better access: cars, kayaks, air mattresses, and even a few couches and mattresses, with all the furnishings strapped into place.

In a plane of existence where gravity is optional, humans find they have a lot more options for housing, especially where needs must.

In areas that are not near the two known manmade portals, families rush enmass into the wilderness, seeking the naturally occurring portals, taking their chances as they leap into the unknown.

When the Disasteroid hits, the entire earth is destroyed, changed beyond recognition as the earth's crust resists the ectoplasmic properties of the Antighost Ectoranium.

Life as we knew it is gone.

But, safe in the Ghost Zone, life... Or, unlife, goes on.

Because the Ghost Zone is known to it's denizens as the Infinite Realms,

And the earth is but a tiny splash of color on the canvas that the Infinite Realms mirror; the entire Universe is it's true mirror image, not one measley planet in a universe teeming with life and potential.

Stuck with his classmates, teacher, two dogs and a cat in an RV that still seems far too small even with all of its fold-out expansion modifications, how do you cope with the end of the world?

[grim-faux]

 2 _ 8 _ Snipping Cables

First

 Lately, he’s had some regrets.

 Perhaps that was a tad dramatic. Keeping attendance of the child hadn't been the labor it was prior, before the boy really got it in his head that he was not to stray too far, or not dawdle so much on inconsequential trinkets. There came lapses, but he didn't need to strain concentration on the transmission so tersely.

 The residence elected to offer the child rest was perfectly eroded, though more spacious than the majority that was not a store or carried endless supplies. Aside from the wind and enduring mist of rain, little of the harsh elements breached the innermost walls. A few outer rooms sat available for use, but he chose centered accommodations with a table and chair set. The kitchen offered little in edibles, but the child seemed to think it was the best space to spend his time. When he wasn’t pestering the Thin Man. Furniture and fringe shadows settled where the sporadic reach of light wouldn’t venture, and the usual decayed pieces of scraps abandoned by the previous occupants remained faithful to the end of days.

 A few television deserted within, likely afforded the escape to those occupants. If the clothing strewn on furniture was anything to go by. While Mono was having an explore, he dumped the devices out a window. He didn’t mind utilizing televisions for travel, but he remained uneasy leaving the child alone in their presence.

 “Ban-dahge.”

 The Thin Man flipped a page on the magazine he browsed through and cast an eye toward the child. Following the usual scout through some room, the boy lifted a container of crayons. But no paper. That would have been fine and well, if not for the discarded packages in the kitchen. Mono tore apart paper and cardboard, on the salvaged bits he did speek. Why didn’t he just do the speek on walls? There was no shortage of space.

 “Box.” Mono shuffled around the page he worked at, choosing another color. “Cer-ate.” He mumbled some jumbled sounds under his breath, as he crouched down and really got involved with the picture.

 “You are quite the artist,” the Thin Man muttered. Many passages in the magazine lay unintelligible, but it was more of a distraction in place of the televisions. When he plucked out the very breezy movement, he took a breath and steeled himself.

 A torn bit of cardboard popped above the horizon of the magazine he perused. “Road. See?”

 The Thin Man exhaled. “Yes. I can see that. An endless road.” When the colorful collage dipped out of sight, he lowered his book. Mono was muttering something to himself studying the image as if he never saw it before. Ever. When he noted the Thin Man’s attention, he held up the picture and pointed to the boarder.

 “Build-eegs.” He blinked beneath the edge of his hat.

 “Buildings. It looks just like every other scenery in this drab city.”

 “In. Th’z.” He pushed up his hat and moved a little closer to the magazine. “Drab? T’drab? Is mean?”

 “Unremarkable. Ugly. Boring.” The Thin Man pressed his magazine further away, to stall the child’s advance.

 “Un-re-mark-Ible. Bor-eng. Boring.” The child continued murmuring to himself, as he tottered back over to his stacks of cardboard and miscolored paper pieces. He stooped low on his knees and resumed marking at a piece, the speek of endless road and buildings forgotten for the time.

 Sighing, the lamp in the corner flickering, the Thin Man kneaded his brow. This had been going on for Hours. He peered beyond the edge of his reading, inspecting discarded pictures of mundane things. A mailbox, a tree. Buildings and buildings. A broken staircase. Inconsequential and unrelated little pictures, and many more. Each and every one he had to inspect, twice, sometimes four times over. At one point a Tower existed in the fray, but without a word the Thin Man delivered the child such a look, that the boy took the likeness and tore it to bits. The remnants lay on the floor, beneath the table.

 “So… mu-tch. Big. Then go.”

 He flipped through a few pages in the magazine, until he reached an uncorrupt segment. He winced, and looked up. The child was back, a new picture offering. “That’s a bridge.”

 “To… go?” The child indicated one end of the bridge. It was a bridge with no real scenery or location to set it’s placement. “Over. Is where?”

 Forget Her trying to teach him speek. Mono insisted on butchering every syllable. Why was he like this?

 He brought a hand to his face. “Where? Where does the bridge go? I don’t know. You tell me.”

 Mono fixed his hat and gave him a look. “Is go?”

 “Where? Does the bridge go? It goes somewhere, yes?”

 The child set down the cardboard piece and took a moment to pluck at the splinters in his palm. “Mm. Bridge. T’go…. Is.” He held his hands parted out. “Cross. Danger. T’danger, in deep.” He pantomimed an area beneath the two polar sides of his bridge. “Safe.” He brought his hands back up, parted. “Goes n’to. Is safe.”

 He understood what the child inferred, but…. “‘Safe’ isn’t a grounded location.”

 “N’to. Is.”

 Was he being messed with? “No. On that note, what if there was a creature at one end? Hmm? Not so safe now, is it?” Mono’s expression flickered. Aw, he hadn’t considered such a scenario. What a pity.

 The Thin Man leaned back in the chair and held the magazine up. This was all likely overlooked by the child, as he once more scampered away to his repurposed pages. The scratching wound up, while the small boy worked at another picture. The Thin Man restrained a groan. H̴͕̬̟͆̽̔Ō̸̼̓͗U̷̹̠͒R̶̰̃S̴͍̮̾̇̈.

 Passive mumbling rolled from the child, intermixed with the dragging crayon. “Dress. Er. Dresser. Chair. Smo-k. No. Room. Chair. Win-dowe.” He spun the page. “Re-sip-or-cant. Re-cip-or-cate? Mean?”

 The child reared off his picture and flapped one of the paper pieces. “Mean? T’speek? Big speek?”

 The Thin Man took a long and agonized breath. “Not return. A gift. Or help. Mean… if I helped you, then you ran off. Or something.” He couldn’t see the child, but he could sense the gears turning in his head.

 “Food?”

 Sigh. “Are you hungry?” Again.

 “Share. Recip. Rerr-sip-orate. Recip-o-ate.”

 “RE-Cip-Ro-Cate.” 

 “Re-cip-row-cate.”

 The Thin Man set aside his magazine and stood from the chair. A while back he thought of shutting the doors to the dining area, though they were glass, and he didn’t need them blown out by a small uncontrollable projectile. Instead, he sauntered through the main room and to the corridor, which led out of the residence.

 “Where?” peeped behind him.

 He stopped at the door and looked back. The child was there, looking very serious and prepared for the venture. “No-no, you stay here.”

 Mono tugged the sides of his coat. “Not safe n'go,” he rasped.

 “Indeed.” He turned around and leaned lower to the child. “It will be dangerous, out there. You must stay here, and I won’t be gone long.” Reaching out, he tipped the child’s hat back an inch and poked his nose. “Keep this place safe, won’t you?”

 The child did appear a little distressed. At least he didn’t flinch from his hand, but he might’ve been distracted. “N’together. S’safe. Two.”

 “Not for you. Now, do as I say.”

 The child retreated a step and nodded.

 “You will be fine. Safe is in here.” The Thin Man returned to the door and stepped out. As always, the door is not locked following his departure, but he does insure the warped frame is fitted securely.

 This was rest time for the child, but it was difficult to settle him in from the wandering and endless surveying for hazards. If the Thin Man removed himself for a while, then the boy was more prone to curl up in his dark little space - out of sight out of mind. It was no bother for the Thin Man to put up in some deserted home for a while, if his charge needed to rifle for some edibles or get off his feet. The problem was this insistent being up and around at every waking minute, blatantly refusing to sleep, then collapsing in a desolate road. Then! having the nerve to act like it was a complete mystery why he blacked out.

 Nonetheless, he would have to brace himself for the bombardment of pictures and explanation when he returned. It would be best not to think of that.

 It was indeed dangerous to venture to a neighboring building, where the television units remained active. This was no lie. Relocating to a place far distant from the Viewers was no difficult feat – for him, that is. A bare room housing a few televisions, the chatter of flat melodies intermingling. Nothing to think about, and no creature demanding his attention. In gaunt space of null, he was content.

 No benefit came through drowning his time in the static transmission. It influenced him in no way, he was not enamored by its call or demands. The static was familiar, perpetual and infinite. Somehow peaceful, despite his penance in the Tower, lost in the despair. The bitter resentment, and how he was so easily discarded. How badly it hurt. How little he understood. He was so utterly... done.

 As typical when he returned to the residency, he made certain to bring back some treat for the child. A little jar of food paste, a token of amity. This was enough.

 The child was pleased enough to receive the item. And, after untangling from the typical debacle of ‘no, I really don’t want that,’ the boy carried the container around the rooms and nibbled out the contents. It kept him preoccupied for a while, allowing the Thin Man to browse through a few pamphlets and other items he’d plucked up on the fly.

 Following his return, he was a little concerned that the child lingered, peering around a corner, observing as the Thin Man sought to busy himself with distractions. He ignored this, and instead went to a window to have a smoke and go through a book. It was a cookbook of all things, but more engaging than the catalog on engines he’d had the misfortune of investing the scarce quiet into. He had some stake in finding information about the Tower, about its origins and theories. Alas, thus far no readings had elaborated a smidgen on its purpose.

 Aside from being a massive headache.

 Then there was the headache of the child, being persistent at being underfoot. He almost missed the pictures he ceased providing.

 The entire drama was grating on his nerves, he was going to step on the boy if he wasn’t expertly cautious. He usually was. The issue now was a child that was constantly on his heels, appearing out of nowhere – teleporting he suspected – just to be RIGHT THERE. Darting in, and keeping close whenever he wanted to relocate to a room or get away. If he wasn’t keeping strict vigil at every pause or turn, the child just was Ṭ̶̖͈͍̒h̶̹̬͆ȅ̵̦͉̬r̶̘̜̈̈̆̋ȩ̸̫͉̱̑̎. He didn’t understand this sport, he's certain Mono did it to be a nuisance. It reached the point where he anticipated the child’s presence and then physically relocated him, a shelf or cabinet. Some out of the way location, where the child would be forced to pause and judge where to go before engaging all over. Enough time for him to reach a room and just… take a breather. Or leave. Then the child had the audacity to give him the most offended look.

 This didn’t compare to the child’s tendency of resting near or curled up on him. He’d thought the boy was broken of the habit, apparently, he was wrong.

 Most circumstances he could get up, take the child, and set him in his usual nest spot. A dresser in a random room, a hole in the floor, the kitchen - set him down without a bother in the world. Effortless. He envied how the boy could just… slumber without a care, and he could deal with that.

 Not always though.

 “Mono.” The Thin Man wanted to sit and read, let the drilling ache of the light burn out his eyes. Then, there was the child. Latched onto his coat. He did not want that excessive needling in his side. “Stop. L̶̥͕̾͌ě̸̺t̶͓.̷̥̔͒ͅ ̸͈̘̑G̸̘̅̚o̷͈̝̾̈́.̵̥̙͋̿” The boy was not deterred, maybe still half asleep. Where did this strength come from? “M̴̛͇ỏ̶̧̠̿n̸̨͌̆̎o̵͕̾̇!̷̛̬̎̽̀”

 “Nuhh!”

 “We've been over this.” He tried prying the hands loose, but his other hand was preoccupied with keeping most of the child extracted. The bulb in the lamp burst a while back, when he was first dealing with this dilemma. “What have I said?”

 “N’t un… leave!”

 “I’m not going anywhere.”

 “Lie—” When finally ripped loose of his coat, the child coiled about his wrist with his arms and legs, constricting. “Caught.”

 The Thin Man can’t believe this. “No. I am in the process of liberating my person from this nuisance. Why? Why are you like this?”

 “Aye… mmhh. N’t—” He gave a little yelp, quite loud actually, when the Thin Man gripped at his waist and tried tearing him loose. But gently.

 “What is the problem? Just tell me! I have no plans of leave, I assure you.” His next ploy was wriggle his fingers between his sleeve and the chest. “Frustrating little….”

 “Nhn… not alone. N’have… keep. But th’n gone, wh-un sh’uld stay.” The child doubled down on his embrace, his current hat falling. “N'haunt! Am lost… M’alone. S’t nuh good. Sad! Not have yuh. You. G’t lost. Lost! M’lost. T’h… wa’r mon-st’EER. N’took! Run! M’was run-Ing. Not to fin’d—”

 “You know what, never mind! Mono! E̷͔̞͆n̵͎̝̐͘o̴̪̊̕u̴͓͂̈g̵̡̖̐h̶͕͚͐!̶̥͉͒͠” He looped his fingers around the child’s shoulder and tugged. “D̷̨͈͋̌̉̈͜ǫ̷̛̪̂̔̓.̸̨̜̳̞̇͋̀͘ ̴͍͈̄̃͊͗A̸̛̻͗̓̔s̵͚̹͚̊̓̚͜.̵̨͖̳̼̃̋̊͘ ̶̢̻̙͐̿̊̊Ỉ̴͚̞̈́.̶̤̈͋̃͝ ̵̳͍̘S̵̞̘̪̬̓̀̊̎â̵̧̱͒ÿ̷̡̨̲́̓!̷͇̔͝” The child gave a muffled squeal. “Stop!”

 “Sa’id keep! N’t uhn leave! For-feet!”

 “You first!” The child bit into his sleeve, and the Thin Man settled him with a glare. Biding time to study this scene, and the small thing latched tight like a tick. “How long do you think you’ll keep this up?” For emphasis, he tugged at the collar of the child’s coat. As expected, the boy coiled up tighter, his glare just as intense. “I do not sleep, child.” Mono hissed.

 This stalemate endured for an hour at least. The child’s resolve and ferocity was something to be admired, but all the Thin Man need do was sit and keep his arm elevated. No matter the tenacity or vigor, Mono was still child and his reserves at their limits. At long last and after an unrelenting hold on the child’s collar, Mono’s grip slackened. Not entirely, but enough that he could pull the boy clear from his arm.

 Before the child could recover and reassert his super adhesive hold, the Thin Man resituated his stance in a glitchy flash. He set the boy onto the floor and teleported beyond the entry of his current lodgings, well out of range should his pursuer attempt to catch up.

 “Hai.” Mono fumbled to get upright and onto his feet, but he was out of sorts with his knotted muscles. He managed two steps under the table before he collapsed to his knees. Bones and nerves alike buzzed, he could scarcely feel his toes. “Wait?” Unable to coordinate himself, he scooted up beneath one of the chairs and peered out.

 At best it only worked to let the child wear himself out. Now liberated from the smaller, the Thin Man could relocate to one of the spare rooms. If the boy came snooping around, he would simply stall time and flicker out. One certainty, he would not have the luxury to be still for some while. But whatever, he spent the better part of his life seated and waiting for… anything. Something.

 He stood beside the cracked window in the room furthest from the dining setup, breathing smoke and remembering the Tower. Lost to his isolation and languishing within the miasma of grim thoughts, left with only memories of what led to his self-imposed contrition. Sometimes he hid under the chair, wallowing and inconsolable. He never went far. As idiotic as it would sound, it became his home. He had no more wants, no more fears – though he was never happy either. How could he? Though refuge was granted, he had nothing and no one else in all the world. He remained because she discarded him, and the Tower encased him with its impenetrable walls of cynicism.

 When at his weakest, the Eyes would appear. To check on him, make certain he had not left them. They did nothing to assure his attendance, nothing short of keeping a room that was his and his alone. Every time they resurfaced, he simply sent them away.

 It was his chore to remind them, they could not, and shall never look at him. If they wanted to use him, then they could not bother him. Not watch, nor think about him. Just as he had limitations of what could be tolerated, they had restrictions of what could be done to him. They had plenty to seek through the transmitter devices and televisions, and then he gave them more. But he could not be reminded they would always be there, waiting. Endlessly hungry.

 The child is only this way because he does not know any better. He never saw the depths of that horrendous pit. Never once saw what was to be his fate, abandoned to endlessly waiting. Continue the cycle. Seek your younger, replace yourself when you have outlived usefulness. Always and perpetually discarded and forgotten. When he first came to that place and that room, buried deep inside a tomb and isolated from the world, it was his fate alone. Not until much-much-much later did he realize the truth. The boy would never understand, could never grasp the reality of their twisted existence. He was yet only child – naïve, sheltered, and excessively needy.

 When the boy managed to sort himself out, the Thin Man would be inclined to let his guard down. It was discouraging that his younger-self was prone to relapse, but it was some facet to keep attention on. Such moods would pass, they always did.

Next

[kob131]

https://rwdestuffs.tumblr.com/post/616806790896680960

Ironwood: Yells, screams, rants extensively, shoots things, breaks things

He never screamed, he never ranted, he broke like one thing (a chess piece) and shoot one guy (who in his mind was trying to stop him from saving people).

Yeah, Ironwood is emotional. He’s a fucking veteran Huntsman fighting a war that he was lied about by the man he trusted and the allies he thought he had. He also kind of just had HIS ONE GOOD ARM FUCKING SCORTCHED AND HIS PARANOIA CONFIRMED. Pretty fucking understandable, you shouldn’t be misrepresenting him.

Fandom: Clearly this man is a rational, logical person who is making his decisions based solely on cold reason. RWBY is being too emotional.

Who the FUCK has argued that James is operating under cold logic? He’s not, of course he’s acting under emotion.

What are you even saying?

RWBYJNR: Lies, cheats, steals, rants about a politician trying to do his best to protect a kingdom from going to shit, and also harassed a kid when they’re lied to

You know, Psyga, it doesn’t help that not only are you ALSO misrepresenting shit (They never cheated, the stealing of one airship pales to the numerous DEATHS that would have been caused, they didn’t rant and ONE PERSON  messed with Oscar while the LEADER RUBY comforted him) but you yourself are guilty of this shit (Lying, cheating and stealing? Gee I wonder who else does that? *cough* RWDE *cough*)

Fandom: Clearly these group of well thinking, mentally scarred teenagers are rational, logical people who are making their decisions solely on reason. Ironwood is being too emotional.

Again, WHO IS SAYING THAT? Also, implying that Ironwood isn’t basically a walking mass of mental scars.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe grown men in charge of armies should be held to a slightly higher standard than teenagers, rather than the other way around?

Has it occurred to you that they’re both adults, they’re both fucking up and everyone screwed Salem’s pooch here? Honestly the only guy doing good is Ozpin. Yeah, he started this mess but he did some damn good work before Cinderella.

Also no Psyga, I am not supporting your hypocritical ass. “they’re taught to be pinnacles of man kind’’ By the headmasters....which includes IRONWOOD.

I laugh at the idea of James “A few city blocks”   Ironwood trying to do the best to protect his kingdom. Especially when he peaced out and decided to scarper not cos of Salem but due to a chess piece, all while ignoring the fact he had Salem agents on his stupid little rock already to instead focus on shrieking at RWBY a bout loyalty. 

The same James “I’ll promote you all to Huntsmen, I’m the one to tell my subordinates the truth first and I SUFFER FROM PARANOIA AND PROBABLY A HOST OF OTHER MENTAL SCARS” Ironwood right?

I mean you support Yang Tumblingxelian because ‘uwu vagin- I mean PTSD’ so SURELY you support Ironwood RIGHT?

Also, he freaked out about a chess piece because it’s SALEM’S SYMBOL. Its like saying “Oh its not Hitler it’s just his CALLING CARD”. And no shit James is calling out Team RWBY, he trusted them and they lied to his face. You know, the same position Team RWBY was in with Ozpin.

Plus Ironwood himself lies and steal in regards to supplies from Mantle and rants too, except unlike RWBY he doesn’t have nearly as good of an excuse save for the fact he’s surrounded himself with enablers and refuses to accept or seek out help. 

Amity? Yes.

Supplies? Where? Robyn says they should be going to Mantle, that doesn’t mean they’re Mantle supplies. Show me where it was shown, said or explained he TOOK the supplies.

Also, what enablers? People who put their trust in him? That’s like saying Team RWBY were enablers for Ozpin: it’s the Ace Ops and Winter’s fault for not looking out for their leader, just as it was James’ issue for not looking out for Ozpin.

Like seriously, nothing is ever done to show RWBY as unstable or irrational, at best they are uncertain which is frank;y better than Ironwood or Opzin’s “I know best” attitude because it means they are open to changing rather than breaking the moment they run into a problem their methods can’t solve. 

Changing, like going from opposing lying to lying themselves right AFTER knowing how bad of an idea that is.

This is the fucking Yang/Adam situation all over again, removing fault and agency just because you don’t like the other side.

We also literally see their rationales, they need to get he lamp to Atlas before either Salem’s agents find them or it potentially lures Grimm in. They make a good plan that only doesn’t work out cos the local general decided t bust out a super mech and prance around screaming and they still hung around long enough to help solve the problem that idiot created. 

Strange that you don’t their talk of telling the truth....

When it comes to Mantle their rationales for why its awful and Ironwood’s decisions are wrong are explained both morally and in terms of practicality, Ironwood sometimes listened but usually ignored them cos he’s an arrogant ass. 

Or, you know, he’s been lied to numerous times, he’s in immense physical pain right now, his mental issues are being played on and he’s in a rushed, fucked if you do fucked if you don’t situation.

You know, WHAT THE SHOW FUCKING SHOWS.

On one side is a pack of teenagers dragged into a lot of nightmarish shit they were in no way ready to deal with, who are trying to work together and find a way to save the world. They do this despite being horribly traumatized, physically dismembered in two cases, having to fight off their abusers (to the death in one case), all the while admitting they’re in over their head, they’ve made mistakes, and trying to fix them and generally improve things.

The other side is a military general blatantly abusing his political power to deprive a city of critical resources, leaving them exposed to man eating monsters, declaring martial law to stop the rest of the government from stopping him from outright abandoning the people of that city (and the rest of the planet) to those monsters, ordering the cold-blooded murderer of an elderly woman to steal her magical powers, ordering the arrest of a group of teenagers and one older man because SOME OF THEM vocally disagreed with these actions, then shot a teenage boy for politely disagreeing with him, with the intent being that the boy would die from either the bullet of the long fall that followed. He does all this while insisting he’s being logical, that he’s making the hard choices on everyone elses behalf, and that he is always right. While hallucinating, ranting and screaming about disloyalty, all of which because he failed once (And that’s ignoring how he backstabbed several supposed friends before that traumatizing incident.)

A. Ironwood is also dragged into this by the same metric.

B. James is ALSO in over his head. Everyone not named ‘Ozpin’ is and Ozpin BARELY qualifies.

C. And James is being abused and used too!

D. ‘physically dismembered in two cases’ One and *taps Ironwood’s metal arm*

E. To try and help EVERYONE he’s ‘depriving resources’ because shit ain;t infinite.

F. Aas opposed to the genocidal, ancient witch CONTROLLING the man eating monsters?

G. And the other option? Have everyone DIE in his eyes.

H. Cold blooded murder...that she agreed to of her own volition....

I. You misspelled ALL as SOME. As in, ALL of the protags disagreed with him.

J. ANd you know, trying to stop him.

K. You know, like literally everyone else

M. He never hallucinated, ranted or screamed

James Ironwood is a coward and a traitor to the Kingdom of Atlas. On top of that, he is an entitled little shit that neglected his responsibilities to the civilians of the Kingdom, and then was so fucking arrogant that he was actually OFFENDED that people were angry with him for not doing his job. Quite a lot of that can be blamed on the culture of the Atlas military, of the demands of blind loyalty and yes-men creating an echo chamber without him even noticing. But in the end, he made the decisions. He decided the people of Mantle are an expendable resource, months or even years before Cinder broke into his office. He decided to order the murder of an elderly woman, to overthrow his government, to arrest anyone that dared to disagree with him, and to personally shoot a boy in cold blood. 

You want to know the twisted part? I think those of us that admit Ironwood is in the wrong actually respect him more. We can see how he came to this point, the cultural indoctrination, the dangers of military culture, the PTSD he’s clearly suffered since Beacon... We can feel sympathy for a fallen hero. Those who support him continue to insist that he’s in his right mind, that all his decisions, from volume two onwards, have all been completely logical... And what kind of person would that make him?

Oh fuck you with that “Because I disagree that makes me better bullshit.”

You didn’t portray a fallen hero, you portrayed a flatter version of Adam, denying Ironwood’s reasons, glorifying Team RWBY and painted it black and white.

And before anyone claims I am supporting Team RWBY:

Actually look up my opinions of them on my blog. Or hell, this single post. I think both parties are at fault for the situation here for their own flaws. ANd I feel sad for both them.

The conflict in the fandom, however?

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 7 Chapter 7 Rundown

This episode was not as stressful and tense as the last... it was just kinda depressing. But I felt better at the end of the chapter than I did at the beginning, which is a good thing.

Much like how last episode started with the aftermath of the rioting over SDC layoffs, this begins with the Grimm attack following Jacques’ election and Tyrian’s killing spree being pretty much over. I had expected it to be a much bigger deal, honestly. But shows what I know. The worst Mantle has ever seen is yet to come.

It starts with somber music on a somber scene: Penny sitting sadly and in deep self doubt back in her father’s Altas lab as she gets a small sign of reassurance and comfort, that being a mechanized arm probably used mostly for maintenance patting her on the head. Other than that, she’s all alone and she definitely feels it.

Ironwood is now in full paranoia mode and has enforced a curfew for everyone in Mantle. No one is allowed to be out at night without good reason, and no one may gather in assembly for any reason. It’s incredibly restricting, but it’s all he can think to do to keep people from grouping up in any place they might get attacked again. At least, that’s the only logic I could think to gather from it. As airships patrol overhead, we see that the thirsty mom who gave Jaune the casserole two episodes ago is still alive with her child, though still very much afraid. Unfortunately... they were some of the lucky ones. We see two of the little kids Jaune helped cross the street hiding from Atlas soldiers behind a dumpster. I can only assume it was their mothers who were slain by Tyrian, and now they may go hungry on the streets or maybe don’t know how to get home. It’s incredibly depressing and upsetting... 

Two people walking the streets are chased by soldiers just for being out late, and a newscast says that despite a public statement about the killer footage of Penny being faked people still think she’s a danger to society and should be shut down. With the rush of a truck in front of our view, we cut to a thrilling scene that lifts our spirits a little. As a supply van, the same sort we saw Ruby, Marrow, Qrow and Penny riding in a few episodes back, drives through the city we see some figures giving chase from the roofs. Familiar figures. Then another welcome face stands in from of the truck and makes it stop. It’s the new FNDM favorite, May Marigold!!! When the robot drivers tell her to step aside, that gets the attention of patrolling soldiers down the block. When they round the corner... there’s nothing there. Not even the truck! Turns out it was May whose Semblance was keeping her and Joanna invisible when they approached the other truck in their first appearance. And even more good news, dear Fiona has made a full recovery! And it turns out her Semblance is really amazing. She just places a hand on the van and the entire thing dissolves into dust as if being sucked into her palm. How exactly it works we don’t know, but it reminds me of Blackbeard from One Piece and his ability to create black holes to absorb anything he touches and save it for later. In this instance it’s a very useful way to take all the contents of the truck without taking up much room. 

Unfortunately it’s also really bad news for Ironwood because now Robyn is officially breaking the law and adding even more trouble to the situation of Penny being framed for a massacre and Jacques getting a position of governmental power. And Winter prompts even worse news out of him. Because of Robyn’s new habit of hitting up supply trucks to redistribute the materials to where the city most needs them, the Mantle suppliers have gotten bold are refusing to supply until conditions improve. So there will be no more deliveries to the Amity Project, no more progress. It’s been stalled completely, so close to the finish line. Nobody likes that. The only solution Winter offers is an even worse prospect though: declaring martial law to make every business obey military demands. And much to Nora’s quite vocal dismay, Ironwood is willing to take that path. He sees the big picture first and foremost and it’s blinded him to how important it is to address how awful the problems are here and now. Global communication? Or keeping their equivalent of a ghetto in good enough shape that the people can sleep safely at night and stop complaining to him? He said before he doesn’t care about his public image being ruined, but if this is what it means to ignore the defamation and bad press then maybe he should?

Nora is having NONE of his bullshit. He’s trivializing the lives and safety of hundreds of people. Saying they have to wait a little longer for things to start getting better is easy to say from the tallest and safest building, in the richest Kingdom ON THE ENTIRE PLANET!!! He doesn’t have to hide in the dark wet streets unsure of where the next safe place to sleep or thing to eat will come from, not knowing if he will be found and eaten by Grimm or arrested by the military just because he wasn’t where they want him to be. He doesn’t know what it’s like to be the little guy. Nora, we can mostly certainly have guessed by the condition she was in when she met Ren, has. Ironwood claims everyone has had to struggle in these recent times, but he refuses to admit he’s making Mantle bear all of the burden because that’s the easiest path for him with the least direct resistance. Ignoring their pain and keeping on with this game of patience is only making it worse on them, and sending more men to bully and order around more people will only create despair and strife, and they all know damn well that will just be trading the current problems for more Grimm than even they can handle. It’s a staredown, and ultimately Ironwood backs down and takes a seat to contemplate. Ruby is on Nora’s side, this treatment of Mantle isn’t right and is only going to make ripping the peace apart easier for Salem. This is exactly what Tyrian is here to cause.

Which brings up an interesting moment. Clover says the only reason Ren, Nora and Ruby are here is to confirm without a doubt that they saw who they say they did. He pulls up a visual of what’s essentially Tyrian’s rap sheet, and Winter explains that he was one of the worst killers Anima had ever seen who disappeared after he was caught and then let free by a Grimm attack on his prison transport. The info page itself tells a pretty eerie story of his past. The arrest was aided by a huntsman with the last name Pickerel, who insisted there should be more guards for the transport to the point he had to be removed from the mission for obstructing the process. A pickerel is a type of poisonous frog, and Tyrian’s inspiration is said to be the fable of the scorpion who asks a frog to carry him across a river on his back. The frog doesn’t want to for fear he will be stung, but the scorpion assures him he would not because it would only lead to him drowning as well. Yet the scorpion stings the frog anyway, for it is just in his nature to do so, he can’t help it. Poetic, especially since after Tyrian’s escape Pickerel is found dead in his home. Despite Grimm activity in the area of the transport route being minimal shortly before, a distress call came from the pilot that a swarm of Grimm came for the ship as Tyrian was in transit. Despite the ship being split in two within 6 minutes and some people whose names seem to be redacted from the record presumably dying, that same pilot named Cornetto continued to talk over the transmission. And a lot of that was just “What are you?!?!” before he too was killed. The last thing anyone heard from the scene was Tyrian himself seeing his unholy savior Salem for the first time and weeping at her beauty. Quite telling of why he worships her so much.

Ruby and Qrow agree that this is proof he’s here as Salem’s agent to start chaos before a major attack; Atlas is definitely her next target. Unfortunately, Ruby’s hopes that the public can be warned about this dangerous suspect and know who to watch out for instead of Penny are dashed by Clover. No one is gonna like the news that a long lost serial killer is in their streets, it’ll only make things worse so this has to be secret too. Nora? Well she hates that too, she hates ALL the secrets Ironwood is making them keep. Cooperation and appeasing tensions would be so much easier if they could tell people who the enemy is, what Atlas is actually doing to help. But that makes the General the Big Angry. Any info getting out is a disaster in the making. Telling people about the Amity satellite means more opportunity for the enemy to sabotage it, and telling people about Salem means people are going to freak the fuck out sooner than the good guys will be ready for. So secret it must stay and complete the tower must be, though hindsight is kicking us all in the ass because a few words said way sooner would have gone a long way to making the situation better. For now, the General implements a strategy the likes of which haven’t been seen since Kyle Rayner in Infinite Crisis! Arrest Robyn Hill and make her cut a deal so the supplies can start running and the tower can be finished. As you would expect, Nora and Ruby don’t like that plan. But Daddy Ironwood don’t care, he’s on a roll here. Priority #1 is Robyn and anyone not on that case needs to find Tyrian and his accomplice to figure out what their plan is and how they’ve gotten this far. And in full totalitarian leader mode he calls Mantle/Atlas HIS Kingdom. Winter and Clover are of course obediently agreeing, but surprisingly so is Ren.  But it’s not hard to understand why. His village was destroyed by a Grimm that there was a possibility might have been defeated if there was a Huntsman or two there, so of course he has respect for the established power he wishes could have been there in his time of need. Inversely, Nora has very likely been a street urchin in the big cities and seen how poorly they treat the common man so she holds a grudge and wants them to make changes for the better. It’s fascinating character juxtaposition that may very well drive another wedge between them...

But that’s a problem for another time. Now we have the Bees in the back of a truck for one of my favorite scenes this episode, nay this Volume. They’re part of the effort to bring in Robyn, being in a decoy truck while most of the Ace Ops are implied to be in other trucks so they can cast a wide net and no matter which one Robyn decides to ambush she will be met only with opposition. Once a truck gets stopped the others will be alerted and come running as backup, but until then it’s radio silence. And in that quiet comes some time to talk. After all this escalation of force Yang wants to know if Blake thinks they should have told Ironwood the whole truth about Salem and Oz earlier on. Blake can tell that’s what Yang thinks should have happened, and the blonde clarifies that even if she does have faith in her sister she still believes the General deserves to know just like they deserved to. Blake has reason to disagree, since Ironwood’s behavior even without that knowledge shows a paranoia and habit of overreaction that could have been exacerbated by such catastrophic news. He didn’t have many good options to work with, to be fair, but those are in short supply for all of them these days anyway. And these two have had to make more of those choices than most recently, not just the secrets but also killing. Yes, after 7 episodes it’s time for these two to actually talk about killing Adam. Because you don’t just do that without repercussions, without feeling some guilt and remorse. But Yang says it plainly: that was the only option they had in that moment. It was what they had to do. They can feel remorse and guilt about killing, but it was in self defense against an evil person who intended to murder them. Still makes the both of them wonder how far down this path they’ll have to go to keep doing “the right thing”. And one thing is for certain, even if it was what they had to do in that moment Blake wants to make sure they never find themselves in a place where they have to again. 

My mind wanders back to the Adam character short between Volumes 5 and 6. When Blake voiced her concerns and apprehension about what they were doing to Adam and said she wanted to stop hurting people, he chastised and belittled her for not having the strength to do what he insisted they had to. He gaslit her into thinking she was weak and cowardly, that she was an insult to the White Fang like her parents and her way of thinking was invalid. He wanted her to be unwaveringly obedient to him and not think for herself. In stark contrast, when Blake says she doesn’t feel right ambushing a Huntress trying to do good for Mantle... Yang agrees. She admits that’s a valid way to feel and that they don’t have to go through with what they were told if it’s going to make Blake uncomfortable. It’s differences like this, not explicitly stated but evident if you’ve been paying attention all this time, that show how much better a partner Yang is for Blake, romantic or otherwise.

The scene shifts once again to Pietro’s lab where Penny seems to be in a charging stand of some kind while they analyze her personal footage to prove she didn’t kill anyone at the party. Ruby and Weiss are there with them, as is Maria!! Our chaos grandma makes her return after 6 episodes of absence!! Ruby wants to make sure Penny is gonna be okay after how traumatizing being framed must have been, and Pietro assures that she likely will, she’s just scared about how wrong things have gone and how she’s hated and feared now. They can prove her innocence, surely, but they can’t just take away the fear and doubt that are in people’s hearts now. In that sense, Watts has won so far. And that upsets Pietro a lot, since Robyn would be dead if Penny hadn’t been there to try and help. But Ruby sees the truth here, Robyn was never in any real danger. Salem just wanted people to think she was and that Penny was to blame so further division and distrust could be sewn in Atlas and Mistral. Penny stepping in was exactly what they wanted, just as many others had been in Vale two years ago (their time, as best as I can guess). Pietro points out that the similarities don’t run there, since Atlas tech is once again working to the enemy’s advantage since the footage everyone is in a tizzy over uses imagery from all the hero work she did in Mantle so it would take a tech genius with a watchful eye to gather what they would need for this deep fake.

Maria gives a point of levity we were all subconsciously thinking and says she misses the days when people just fought to the death face to face. Thank you for that. Pietro admits the Mantle security system is chump change for the kind of hacker they saw the work of at the Fall of Beacon, but Atlas got the better network protection. And a million IRL I.T. people screamed in frustration that they left the ghetto city with outdated security that could undeniably and inevitably lead to their downfall. Weiss asks the important question, how WOULD someone get access to the Atlas Network? Fortunately, only few people have that clearance: Ironwood and other Council members, the leads of surveilance and cybersecurity, and the overseers of critical city systems like sewage and the heating grid. And there’s where the ball drops: Weiss reveals the heating grid is run in partnership with the Schnee Dust Company. Suddenly everything Watts has been doing becomes much more clear. He wouldn’t have helped Jacques win the election for free, so clearly he asked the SchneeEO for access to the heating grid in exchange, and now that’s his in to mess with the security of Atlas as a whole. And we see what he does with that next episode...

But for now, the heroes don’t know as much as us so for now they’re just a little suspicious. Ruby already knows about Penny so now she asks how Pietro himself is doing, and he admits the stress of both building the tower and worrying about people wanting to hurt Penny would have broken him down if Maria hadn’t been helping him. But we see there are still cracks in his composure as he starts tearing up just looking at her. My heartstrings are tugged every time I see the emotion on this poor man’s face. Ruby tries to reassure him that even if the worst does happen to Penny he can always rebuild her like he did after Beacon... but she doesn’t know the whole story. Penny is one of a kind for a very good reason. And so we get her backstory.

Ironwood initially challenged a team of Atlas’s best and brightest to come up with the next breakthrough in defensive technology, and Pietro was the most creative and introspective with his idea. A protector with all the might of Atlesian innovation, but the indomitable soul of a human. Apparently very few thought the same way he did, but the General believed in the project and so it was chosen. It’s likely that many of the other scientists who had pitched their concepts were transferred to help make Penny whether they believed it could work or not. From the photograph Pietro is holding as he recounts this tale, that includes a certain disgraced Atlesian with a fabulous mustache. We now have a plausible motive for his betrayal and defecting to Salem’s side. Considering his skills being computer hacking and enough cybernetic knowhow to build Tyrian’s tail, he may have had a plan for something akin to Skynet or Dr. Gero’s Androids but his idea got tossed aside for something he felt was ridiculous and beneath him. It does still give him enough experience with the development to know how to hack Penny however, and that does concern me a good deal. What worries me even more is what we learn about how exactly Pietro got the Penny Project to succeed. Everyone thinks he managed to create an artificial Aura for her, but that’s not really accurate... He actually gave her a portion of his own, leaving himself that much weaker. He’s had to do this both times he built her, and he doesn’t have enough life left in him to survive a third time. People complained there were no stakes or risk with Penny if she could be so easily rebuilt without consequence, but that all goes right out the window here. If she gets destroyed again, it will either be permanent or mean Pietro will die for her. Because look at that man. You know he would do it. And we really don’t want him to... As Ruby promises they will find the one responsible for all this trouble we get the “dramatic reveal” that Pietro’s thumb had been covering Watts’ face in the photo... but we had guessed it already.

Scene shift again right back to the streets of Mantle as the Happy Huntresses are striking again at another truck, which as luck would have it is the one with Blake and Yang. Robyn opens the back doors to see the Bees raising their hands in surrender, but she panics and runs anyway, telling the rest of her squad to scatter and regroup back at base. The girls chase Robyn into an alley where there is a very cool shot I can best describe as panning up from the pavement to dolly zoom in on Robyn as she checks over her shoulder. Blake tries to trip her up and then has to dodge bolts from the crossbow on the older woman’s wrist, all the while trying to explain that they just want to talk. But Robyn doesn’t stop to listen, she just slashes with her weapon’s razor sharp sawblade of feathers. Very versatile and transforming weapon there, Miss Hill. Blake uses a fire powered shadow clone to dodge, and Yang strikes from above and tries shooting at Robyn as well. But the feathers make a good shield too, as she further demonstrates when both huntresses start attacking up close and she fends them off pretty well. It takes the Bumblebee technique (yes, I’m sticking to the name, it works well and it’s canon) to send Robyn flying back a bit into a more open area with a kick from the airborne Blake. Robyn tries to intimidate the pair by saying they won’t be enough to take her in to Ironwood, and they openly admit they aren’t the only ones looking for her and their backup will be on their way since the truck got stopped. So they need to talk NOW, because she needs to hear this. She thinks it’s just a stalling tactic, but Blake presses on and reveals the plans for the satellite and the Tower... and Robyn is in disbelief. Yang tries to explain what that would mean, but that’s not what Robyn is so hung up on. So we get another reveal that’s been hinted at for an episode or two, her Semblance. Blake is told to take her hand and answer the question again. And with a green glow of the Aura flowing between them, we see Robyn is a human lie detector. The confirmation of the Tower being Ironwood’s secret project only confuses Robyn more, because surely he could just tell people that’s the plan and there would be no argument it should be done. Blake tells her the people framing Atlas for all the wrongdoing could cause a lot more harm if they knew the Tower was being worked on, but they won’t tell Robyn who those people are yet. She almost calls bullshit on that, but we can’t have swears in this show so Harriet radios Yang to check on her and Blake and Yang cuts the conversation short and says Robyn needs to trust them that the Amity project must stay secret since they trusted her enough to tell her this info. Blake runs off to distract the nearby soldiers long enough for Robyn to get away while Yang lingers to make sure she agrees to their terms. Reluctantly the politician turned vigilante does, but she says she’s still determined to learn the full truth. That strikes a deep chord with Yang since she had that same drive to seek answers from Raven for so long... and now she’s keeping the secret that Raven is the Spring Maiden.

For our final scene we shift to a First Civilization vault from Assassin’s Creed... I mean the Atlas Vault for the Relic of Creation!! Sorry, they look very similar. Ironwood is down there with Oscar explaining that he had hoped seeing this place would jog some of Ozpin’s memories within the lad. Plot twist, the Staff is what’s keeping Atlas floating in the sky, an idea originally pitched by Ozpin. The public story is that it’s Gravity Dust doing that job, but the Staff is a constant seemingly limitless energy source that could in theory lift Atlas higher than they could imagine. And that’s where Ironwood got the idea for doing that to Amity. But they have to use Gravity Dust for that, since the Staff can only do one job at a time. And the sky grows much darker from that sudden foreshadowing... Someone is definitely going to move the Staff or use it for some other purpose, and Atlas is going to fall... Oscar gets a surreal feeling from seeing something so complex that his past incarnation built, but Ironwood assures him that he will soon acclimate to the assimilation... real smooth there Jimmy. Ironwood admits he wishes he could get Ozpin’s advice in a time like this, and since he can’t give that Oscar offers his own opinion. The way Ironwood is handling this, trusting only himself, is only going to hurt him. The General asserts that nothing matters more right now than beating Salem, but Oscar has a counterpoint. Keeping their humanity matters, because it keeps them from becoming like Salem. Ironwood worries that’s Salem’s advantage though, lacking humanity means she’s willing to sacrifice more to achieve her goals and that may end up winning her the war. She may not feel fear or hesitation anymore, while her attack on Beacon brought both those debilitating emotions out of Ironwood as he helplessly watched his robots hurt people and was taunted by her calling card of the Black Queen virus being on all the computer screens. As the elevator comes to bring them up out of the vault, Oscar encourages the General that fear is normal but they shouldn’t let it control them. Ironwood doesn’t want to become like Lionheart, and wants to know if Oscar believes in him. Oscar has the only good answer to a question like that, that he believes in multiple people INCLUDING the General. The best thing Ironwood can do is talk it out with the people he’s afraid of, so he can learn to relax and let others in. But be careful what you wish for, because Winter is waiting up top for them with a letter. Jacques has invited them to a dinner party at Schnee Manor where Ironwood will have to go before the Council and defend his position. Sounds like an excuse to see our heroes back in fancy dress and meet Mama Schnee...

[centurion410]

Salem’s Machinations

With all the madness going on in Solitas, especially around the morality of the plans with regards to Ironwood, Ruby, the Maiden powers, Amity. I feel like Salem’s part in nudging things forward hasn’t getting enough attention. 

This woman has either set up directly or put things in motion for her to waltz on in, grab a staff of infinite energy, a knowledge wish granting genie, more maiden powers along with her old maiden minion, and send Atlas crashing into Mantle thus killing several million people, crippling the only Kingdom on Remnant actually capable of defending itself as well as disrupting world wide dust supplies.

OR

She set it up for a potential Civil war should she have just been bluffing so that the Kingdom of Solitas tears itself apart at all levels with the realization of what they’ve done so she can just walk in and take what she want’s with even more ease. 

Seriously she does all this shit with an air of giving practically zero fucks except when Ruby speaks up against her only to be promptly back smacked down.