#danny contaminated people he love with ectoplasm

[emacrow]

When John Constantine died, he didn't think his last deal actually saved his soul.

Especially with a enormous room full of Gods, Demons, Faes and other being he swindled his soul with.

He didn't expect that deal with the Ghost King in the infinite realm for beating darkseid accidentally contaimnented his poor excused piece soul with ectoplasm to morph into a halfa when he died doing what he never thought he do last.

Save a kid from an illegal ectoplasm extraction from what would've cause the future to end later on.

The next thing he knows, he is in a giant room with all the entity he swindled, sitting on a red plush pillow. Feeling smaller than ever, looking at his tiny tanned pudgy baby hands before a loud whined was heard.

"Fuckin Infinite king got him."

"Yeah, fuck that, I'm not fighting the infinite king after what he did to Chaos last time. He can keep Constantine's stinky soul."

John could only stare in amazement and some twisted sense of shock as one by one, more and more entities were leaving the room, giving up their own contracts, some cursing or grumbling under their voices, even the one who swear she'll get him, could only gritted her teeth, and throw a cursing tantrum before throwing her own contracts on the floor before walking out the room.

Leaving John alone, sitting on a plush pillow with the main person who has caused all this..

Danny Phantom, who was sitting down, relaxed in mid-air, playing with a miniature newborn galaxy like it was a playdoh. White hair full of stars constellations as braids holder, face covered in stardust with a smug grin on his face.

"Why..?" John could only say softly. After all the trouble he cause with the infinite realm high king, he didn't expect this.

"You'd grown on me after accepting that deal to take out the ecto-acts, and seeing your cheese grated soul like that and knowing what going happen after you die. It was the least I could do, plus.." Danny said honestly, waving his hand a bit in gesture.

"Now, there are no excuses that I can't look in your cursed astronomy tower at the house of mysteries!" Danny said with his cheek beaming brightly.

John could only stare blankly for a moment before he started to giggles.. that giggles morphing to a full-blown out crying mixture laugh.

The tiny, purpled hair toddler sobbed like a baby for the first time in years, tears of overjoyed or overly emotional sense of relief that he escaped his own damnant thanks to one deal with a scrawny teen in a outhouse diner 3 years ago.

Hell, being turned into a 3 year old toddler halfa was a better thought than he had in mind, even at the expense of no alcohol for the next 14-18 years would be worth it.

Part 2 -> here

[savanir]

DP x DC prompt [16]

Danny has been with the Wayne’s for a while now and his status as a halfa is starting to affect some things he comes in contact with a little bit.

At first he thought this only happened back in his old home in Amity Park because the ectoplasm samples were kept in the fridge, and though that does speed up the process, it turns out Danny causes the same things to happen just fine on his own. It just takes a lot longer.

This means he now occasionally has to replace or decontaminate some of his things every once in a while. and with the electronics the same applies but usually the protections that Tucker has made do the trick too.

Danny has been very careful, he never borrows anything that’s highly susceptible to ecto-contamination from the others and whenever he needs something from the kitchen he just goes to Alfred (he really doesn’t want to see how the old man might react to the coffee machine starting to act weird because of Danny). Just, the last thing Danny wants to do is inconvenience the Wayne’s by ecto-contaminating something of theirs.

It’s really only when Danny slips back into vigilante-ism that things go sideways.

And Danny really tried. His obsession is space, not heroism, so he figured he’d be fine just focussing on his education. But he kinda forgot about the fact that he just really really loves being a hero.

He loves the thrill, the danger. He loves giving a smackdown and just in general having a good fight, he loves helping people, he loves being a force of good. And yeah, he kinda also likes the praise, but nothing weird and overbearing (some people go way too far in their hero worship, but that’s a story for another day)

So after some back and forth and arguments with Bruce who, contrary to popular belief, was absolutely not thrilled that his latest traumatized kid who was being kept safe in the mansion so far now decided that no, he wants to be part of the family business too please.

Danny eventually threatens to just go out anyway without any of his help and that just gives Bruce flashbacks to the time when he had just taken Dick as his ward. Not to mention some of his other kids and… dammit.

Well then… Danny can go explain things to Jason himself once he finds out and is probably going to be mad about it, Bruce is not taking the blame this time.

So Danny (name pending, he could just go with Phantom again, but he also wouldn’t mind using something bird or bat related) gets back into the game once again! And that’s fine that’s cool. But back to the original point.

Danny figured that he would just do what he’s been doing so far with any bat gadgets as well, and maybe it would be even less of a problem cause he’s pretty sure that these things break a lot more often because of all the fights and stuff.

What Danny had not really thought about though is potential intense high emotion situations. Like for very specific example; Scarecrow taking an obsessive interest in him because of Danny’s ghostly ability to feed on fear (somewhat) and the situation getting out of hand, him getting very hurt, Batman having to carry him out of there while Danny was kinda bleeding a bit (a lot). Bruce being worried and Danny wanting to be anywhere but there anymore and-

Well, you get the point.

So, take all that and add high tech bat armor and what you get is suddenly sentient batsuit.

It actually took a bit for anyone to catch on that something was going on, but it was eventually figured out. and once that was the case Danny couldn’t really help his seemingly endless stream of apologies.

But how can anyone ever blame him for bleeding out on Bruce and the weird reanimative properties of said blood making it so Bruce’s suit can now “talk”

Bruce described it more as like a martian mind link, which would explain why only he could hear things. it’s probably only for the wearer.

It can’t move on it’s own, it needs someone to wear it. But it can sense things and react for the wearer and honestly all that alone is more than enough reason to find a way to exorcise it… if not for the whole,

“but if it’s a sentient ecto entity now we can’t just ‘kill’ it, we literally abolished the anti ecto acts just so that can’t be done anymore”

it’s probably a good thing the suit has grabbed all the ‘Batman’ and made that what it is. All the core values are there, so there isn’t going to be any risk of it killing someone at least.

Still though… what to do now?

[bet-on-me-13]

DPxBNHA Prompt

@evilminji recently made a Post about DP x MHA and I'm in love with the idea of those 2 fandoms together. (I'm gonna tag this dpxdc just to spread it around but there won't be much dc in it. Maybe a few crumbs here and there)

So! Quirks came into existence the same day Danny became a Halfa. He wasn't directly responsible for it, but when the Portal opened it released a truly Massive amount of Ectoplasm into the world at large. The Dr's Fenton didn't notice it at first, because Amity Park had always had that level of Ectoplasm and all of their Sensors were within the City Limits.

The Ectoplasm released onto the world quickly and integrated with multiple Humans across the Planet, and eventually enough Ectoplasm gathered in a single Human to form the first Proto-Core, aka Quirk. That human was the Glowing Baby.

This phenomenon spread across the world as the situation in Amity Park devolved. The GIW knew for certain that these "Meta Abilities" were the result of Ectoplasm Contamination, and doubled down on Amity Park to try and fruitless contain the spread. Not that it would have worked, the Portal opening had sent a Shockwave across the fabric of Reality, creating mini-portals that continued to feed Ectoplasm to the Earth.

Eventually the day came when Amtiy Park was Evacuated from the Mortal Realm by Clockwork for it's own Protection. It's disappearance was blamed on a newly awakened Quirk destroying the entire Town, which was used to feed the flames of hatred in the Early Dawn Era.

Then one day, Amity Park returns. In Japan of all places.

Clockwork had dragged the entire Town through Time, to an Era that would accept their abilities. It was placed in the countryside of Japan. Clockwork had considered putting them in a dimension of Heroes, bur decided that would like to stay in their home dimension for now.

Thats the basic world building, but there are other parts we can expand upon in this AU

For Example, OFA and AFO

All for One was the first True Core in the 1st Gen of Quirks, but he was born with a Defect that made him unable to generate his own Ectoplasm. He felt a Hunger that could never be satiated, and eventually found a way to feed that hunger by absorbing the Proto-Cores of other people into his own True Core, stealing their Quirks.

One For All was the Opposite, born as an empty True Core but without the insatiable Hunger that his brother had. Then AFO force fed him a Stockpile Core and it fused with his own, giving him the power to Generate and Stockpile his own Ectoplasm.

He also had the power to Pass On his Core to another Body, basically just passing on his power. Then his Successor did the same, and their successor, and their Successor. Eventually we reach the 9th Holder of OFA, and the Singularity.

In this world, the Quirk Singularity isn't just an event where Quirks grow too powerful for their Bodies to handle, it is an event where the Proto-Cores of Quirk Users experience an Apotheosis, and change from Proto to True Cores. True Cores which the Human Body can't handle having.

But it's different for OFA. It was a True Core from the beginning, born within a Human Body, and it has the power of 6 other Proto-Cores within itself all ready to Apotheosis into True Cores themselves. When OFA is passed onto zuku Midoriya, it floods him with 7 Cores worth of Ectoplasm, and turns him into a Halfa.

When Danny and the rest if Amity Park reappear in Japan, they find not only a world populated by mostly Liminal Humans, but also a Powerful Halfa who doesn't even know he is a Halfa. Maybe even 2 if All Might also experienced the same Apotheosis?

Thoughts?

[petite-phthora]

Sometimes all you need is a little trust

[DP x DC fic]

[Love at first… murder? - part 21]

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Part 1

Ao3

---

They sit there in the dark for a while, in embrace. After a moment, Danny leans back, shifting to lay his head on Jason’s shoulder. The tears on their faces slowly dry as they are ignored.

Neither knows how long they sat there in quietude before Jason breaks the silence.

“Let’s… try this again…” He takes a deep breath before speaking up next. “I told you about the Pit, how it… how when I’m under its effects, I lose control.” He runs a trembling hand through his hair.

Danny doesn’t speak, letting Jason talk.

“It’s just that, whenever I feel the Pit, it’s usually accompanied by anger and rage but… Ever since you killed the Joker, ever since we met, it’s changed.

“Instead of anger, the Pit feels calm. Instead of throwing things and beating people up, I made chocolate fudge.

“And don’t get me wrong, I don’t miss the madness. But something made it change, and I’m not sure if I can trust that change… and I think that something… has to do with you.” He ends, looking at Danny.

“Well…” Danny puts his hand to his chin as he thinks “Ghosts are beings of emotion. It’s part of how we’re formed, it’s part of our language, and it’s part of our being. While your ecto has only ever been projecting rage to you before, I think I can at least theorize the reason behind the change.” He starts.

“I think a large part of why you came back in the first place was revenge, which initially made you a revenant. But that was before you were thrown into what I can only assume is some sort of pit with corrupted ectoplasm, which is what turned you or, well, tried to turn you, from revenant to halfa.

“The ecto stitched your undead body and soul together, brought back your mind, and tried to form a core within you, but the corruption prevented it from doing so. So it was only able to give you the beginnings of a proto-core, which is what made it difficult for me to sense you until we were close enough when we kissed.

“And this is currently keeping you in a constant state of being on the verge of core formation.” Danny takes a breath before continuing to hypothesise.

“You mentioned it was the Joker that killed you, and that the change in emotions happened after he died. To me, it seems like one of the reasons, if not the reason, you crawled out of that grave in the first place was to avenge your death and kill the Joker.

“As ectoplasm is largely emotion-based, the contaminated ectoplasm you gained from that pit probably latched onto this anger and want for revenge and held on to it. The contamination is what likely increases your feelings and what makes them able to overtake your actions, as it were.

“After he died, the major driving force behind you being undead, and behind the rage, was gone. As a revenant you should have gotten peace and gone back to being fully dead, your soul finally able to move on.

“But the ectoplasm within you that was left behind must’ve fused your soul back into your body again, not letting it escape as the revenant rage left you. This, paired with the beginnings of you becoming a halfa, is probably why you stayed.

“With the revenant rage gone, the pit likely can’t hold onto that specific emotional range any longer. So instead, it latches onto any emotion you currently feel in the moment, which again, since he died, is probably more peacefulness and happiness due to being avenged. So now the corruption will amplify those feelings instead.

“The amplified feelings might also lean more towards the happier side because of me being around. Either because I was the one to avenge you, or because your ecto could have recognised me as the same as you and been calmer because of it. Though…” Danny trails off for a bit.

“I have also heard from other ghosts, I sometimes just have that effect on people as crown prince” Danny says, rubbing the back of his neck a little sheepishly.

Jason had been vaguely following along until the last comment stunned him. “You’re a fucking prince?!”

Danny waves him off unconcerned. “That is something I’ll explain later. There is a lot of other context you’ll probably need before I’ll be able to explain any of… that…”

Jason lets out a breath and runs a hand through his hair once again. “Right, yeah, sure. We’ll come back to that.” As he’s trying to make sense of what he’s been told, Jason decides to get into some of the other concerning stuff Danny mentioned before.

“So… your parents… built an artificial Lazarus Pit?” He tries instead.

“Well, I guess? It’s more of a portal. It doesn’t exactly heal or harm anyone going inside, it just brings them into the Ghost Zone.”

“Right… Where’d they even put it that their children could easily access it?”

“Their lab in the basement of the house.”

“Their lab in the basement?!—”

“Yeah… Looking back on it, I guess the house was practically one big OSHA violation, huh…”

“There was more than just the lab basement?”

“Well, yeah, and I guess the dungeon and the Emergency Ops Center that can turn into the Fenton Blimp on top of the house are another big part of it”

Jason gives him an appalled look.

“A lab and a dungeon?! Why do your parents have a dungeon in their house? I thought parents were some kind of scientists, or like … ghost biologists?! ”

“Mhmm” Danny nods in confirmation. “Technically they’re ecto-biologists, but they also just call themselves ghost hunters.”

“And you’re a ghost?”

“Half ghost. And you are too. That’s what halfa stands for”

“Right, yes. We’ll come back to that in a bit. But first, did your parents know about… “

“About me being dead? Nah, they didn’t. Well, they do now, but not back then.”

“Have they ever hurt you?”

Danny turns his gaze to the side uncomfortably as he considers the question.

“Well…”

“Danny—”

“I guess, not really? I mean yeah, they’d chase after me with guns yelling about how they were going to rip me apart molecule by molecule—”

“They what—”

“But dad’s aim is shit and after a while I began getting better at dodging mom’s shots—”

“They shot at you?!” This seems to give Jason some kind of revelation “Don’t tell me that’s why—“

“But they’re really not that bad. They’ve never actually intentionally hurt me while knowing it was me, their son. But, they’re totally fine now! 

“Like yeah, before they knew they gave me a tough time sometimes, but to be fair they really didn’t know I wasn’t some evil ghost there to hurt and destroy.

“And at least they weren’t like the GIW, you know?”

“No, Danny. I don’t know. But please tell me you know this wasn’t okay?” Jason throws him a troubled look.

Danny frowns, shifting to sit up straighter. “They didn’t know—”

“Maybe not,” Jason cuts in, “But that doesn’t mean it was right or that it didn’t hurt you anyway. The fact that they didn’t know doesn’t make it any better.”

“They never hurt me seriously enough that I couldn’t recover—” He tries to protest.

“You shouldn’t have gotten hurt by them at all! Not physically, and not emotionally,”  Jason states, giving Danny a pointed look. “You shouldn’t have had to recover.”

Danny shifts his gaze towards the ground with a frown, picking at the grass a bit with one of his hands.

“You sound like Jazz,” He responds with a small grumble.

“This Jazz sounds like a wise individual to whom you should probably listen more often.”

“She is” Danny admits with a sigh. “And you’re right, I should…”

A beat, and then “I’m sorry for shooting you”

“It’s fine! It didn’t hurt me and it’s not like I haven’t been shot at before—” Danny tries to reassure, but Jason shakes his head.

“No, Danny. It is not fine. I shouldn’t have done it. And you shouldn’t be used to it.” He says decisively.

“But—”

“Nuh-uh, nope. It is not fine. I should not have done it. Period.”

“You likely had a good reason—”

“I did it because I wasn’t sure I could trust you,” Jason replies.

“I mean, you appeared out of nowhere, basically avenged my death, affected the Pit and made it act in ways it never has before, and then finding out you might have connections to the League?

“I just, it—It scared me” Jason confesses. “And I couldn’t deal with that fear.”

“So, I used my good old Red Hood interrogation techniques to try and get answers. You know? Shoot ‘em in the calf or thigh so it’ll be painful for them without being lethal and make it harder for them to get away.

“But while those are explanations for what I did, none of that is an excuse. There is no excuse.”

“That’s not true.” Danny tries to interject with a shake of the head.

“I’m a terrible person who has done terrible things.” Jason interrupts.

“Not just to you, but others as well. I’m dangerous. I’ve hurt innocent people. I’ve hurt my family. I’ve almost killed some of them— and not all of those times were because of the Pit, either!” Tears have formed in the corners of Jason’s eyes.

“Hey, I’ve killed someone too,” Danny objects, “The Joker counts, and I don’t have a Pit.” He tries.

“Danny, you did it on accident, and if anything the Joker definitely deserv—”

“Well, then I guess I must be a terrible person too” Danny cuts in. “For liking you despite all of that”

“Danny…”

Danny ignores Jason and grabs his hands in his own before looking him back in the eye.

“Maybe you’re not good for me. Maybe I’m not good for you. Perhaps we’re not good for each other, not good together. Terrible together“ Jason opens his mouth to say something but Danny quickly continues, not letting Jason get a word in “But I’d still like to give this a try. To give us a try.”

“Maybe it’ll end in disaster. Maybe it won’t, but… I’d be willing to take that chance… together… If you’d still have me?”

“Danny, I interrogated and shot you. Not just with bullets that didn’t hurt you, but also with a ray gun that you gave me that did hurt you. If anything, I should be asking you if you’d still have me despite all of that.” Jason says, clearly distressed, a few stray tears now rolling over his cheeks.

“And I doubt you’ll pull anything like that again, will you?” Danny asks with an eyebrow raise he learnt from the countless amount of times Jazz threw it at him.

“God no—”

“Then I don’t see the problem.”

“Danny—”

“We can go to couples therapy,” Danny states resolutely.

“Danny—”

“We can each go to normal therapy as well.” He adds on.

“Danny—”

“Jason Todd.” Danny interrupts. Jason stills. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

After a beat of silence, Danny adds on “On the condition we keep up clear communication between the two of us, and perhaps look into getting some form of therapy, of course”

Jason lets out a slightly exasperated huff and wipes the tears away, before giving Danny a soft look.

“You’re too trusting.”

Danny lets out a hum.

“And you don’t trust enough. But I’ve heard opposites attract, so…” Danny pauses. “What do you say?”

Jason gives him a small smile.

“If you’d still have me?”

The response is immediate.

“I do.”

Danny places his hand on Jason’s cheek.

“May I?”

Jason nods.

They both lean in, and they kiss.

---

Jason feels the Pit stir and resolutely ignores it and whatever feeling it brings with, keeping his eyes closed and gently pulling Danny in closer.

You’re not gonna ruin this for me.

---

Taglist:

@i-always-say-yea @uraniumwizard @why-must-i-be-like-this @griffinthing @i23432i @imsotiredfanficlovertm @jaguarthecat @arkita-shadow @noideawhatshappeninghelp @jaitwin5 @apple-juice16 @mossy-bonez @harvestandhearth

[aprocessionofthoughts]

Trust

part 9 of DLM ao3

After the stew was done and Danny got out of the shower they all sat down to eat. They ate in silence for a while neither one of the bats wanting to push Danny into feeling uncomfortable, but Jason had a question he wanted to ask. He probably should have asked earlier, but he’ll blame it on the shock for not thinking of it sooner.

“Hey, Danny?”

“Yeah?” Danny said, setting his spoon down.

“How did you know it was me?”

Danny tilted his head and squinted, “What do you mean?”

Jason gestured with his spoon, off to the side Dick was watching them, his gaze analytical. “I mean, how did you know the guy in a red helmet was me?”

“Oh.” Danny settled and picked up his spoon again, through a mouthful of soup he answered, “It wuz th’ same ectoplasmic signature.”

Jason stared. He glanced at Dick, but he also looked confused.

Across from them Danny paused and glanced between them warily. He stared at Dick for a moment before turning to Jason. “Like I mentioned before, we’ve both been… death touched. And when someone’s been death touched a bit of ectoplasm gets incorporated into their system, the amount of ectoplasm varies depending on the situation. But when ectoplasm binds with a person it develops its own unique chemical signature. You can think of it like DNA. Ghosts and some machines can sense the differences, so when I came across Red Hood, I could sense that it was you.”

“Huh.” Jason said unable to come up with anything else in the face of discovering that he gave of what probably amounted to his own unique radioactive signal.

“And you said some machines can track this?” Dick asked. Jason was thankful that his brother was here because he wasn’t sure if he was up for asking all the necessary questions.

Danny looked hesitant again and looked at jason.

Jason nodded at him and Danny looked a little reassured.

“Yeah. There are a few. That’s how the GIW are tracking me. I don’t think they were around Jason enough to latch onto his ecto-signature so you shouldn’t need to be worried about them tracking you down. Gotham has plenty of low level ghosts so their scanners should be pretty muddled. But that’s also why I should go. My signature is stronger than the shades of Gotham and They know how to track it. I don’t want to give you any more trouble.”  Daanny wasn't looking at either of them, instead he was completely focused on stirring his stew.

Jason and Dick glanced at each other.

“Hey, Danny, look at me.” Jason said.

It took a bit, but eventually Danny looked up.”

Jason smiled slightly, “I told you I’d protect you, didn’t I?”

Danny looked away, biting his lip. “I don’t want to put you in danger.”

Jason reached across the table and placed his hand over one of Danny’s. “I’m Red Hood, kid, I can defend myself. And there are plenty of bats in Gotham who would love to help.”

“The GIW are different. They don’t care who they have to hurt to get what they want. They’ll just keep bringing in more agents until they get me.”

“Well then we’ll bring in the Justice League.” Jason said, Bruce would be okay with it if Jason told him it was to protect a kid. 

“I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire. I won’t let you get hurt.” Danny said, shaking his head. 

Jason glanced over at his brother. Dick was always better with the emotional talk.

“We’re vigilantes Danny. We’ve been trained in defending ourselves and others.” Dick said.

“And they wouldn’t be able to take us down without causing people to go after them for attacking vigilantes.” Jason added.

Danny shook his head harder, he was staring at the table, his eyes slightly glossy. “They won’t care, they'll lie and say you were defending dangerous creatures, that you were being manipulated by evil ghosts.” Danny laughed bitterly. “Or they’ll claim you’re also contaminated and capture or exterminate you. They’ll do anything to get what they want.”

There was more to this, Jason knew. Something bad had happened to the kid, apart from the obvious scar, but now wasn’t the time to push for information. Right now, they needed to convince Danny to stay with them, to let them protect him.

Jason got up, walked around the table and crouched by Danny’s chair. “Kid, look at me.” Jason said gently. He waited till Danny did before continuing. “I know you’re scared,” Danny opened his mouth and Jason continued before he could argue, “and I know you’re worried about us getting hurt. But this is what we do. We fight to protect people. And there are a lot of powerful people on our side. And I’m sorry we haven’t been there for you before, I’m sorry we didn’t get to you in time in the past, but we’re here now. Together we can take down the GIW. Let us help you.”

Danny’s eyes started watering, and Jason reached up to give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Then Jason was falling back as the kid launched himself at him. Jason held Danny as he started to sob. “I’ve got you, kid. I’ve got you.”

“Thank you.” Danny whispered as he cried. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

[elizabethemerald]

Don't Sneak up on People with Swords

@im-totally-not-an-alien-2 made a prompt about Danny sneaking up on Jason Todd and @sky00asara made a comment in the tags about what would happen if Danny did that to Talia. So here is my version of that! Enjoy.

Talia al Ghul watched her beloved from afar. He was out, again patrolling his city for those he considered wrong doers. Her son was by his side. She scowled at how Damian’s fighting style had changed, softened in the company of her beloved. Despite her love for the man under the cowl, he had a tremendous ability to take even the most ruthless of killers and change them to spare the undeserving. He had even tried it with her. 

She was hidden on the roof of an abandoned tower nearby. The tower had succumbed to fire and was now condemned until the city got around to destroying it properly. For now it made the perfect place for her to observe her beloved and her son work undisturbed. 

“Excuse me?” 

Talia whirled, drawing her blade as she spun. Her blade moved fast enough to almost cut the air itself yet the small shape ducked under her stroke and back-pedaled quickly to move out her range. 

“Jeez! Why is everyone in this city so jumpy!” 

The voice more than anything made her realize that the person who had somehow snuck close enough was an actual child. Their black hair and blue eyes made her wonder if this was another of her beloved’s adoptees. Except surely this boy was too young to catch Bruce’s eye? 

“Well maybe you should not sneak up on people?” Talia hissed, her voice soft yet stern. To say nothing of how a child who couldn’t be older than five had snuck up on her at all. 

“Well maybe you shouldn’t brood on the roof of my home!” The child snarked back, just like one of the Bat’s brood would, completely unafraid of the blade still in her hand. Talia raised an eyebrow at him then looked around at the burnt skeleton of the building they were standing on. 

“This building is not fit for human occupation.”

“Neither was the last place I lived.” He said dismissively. “This place hasn’t even killed me yet, so it’s practically a paradise.” 

She was tempted to take the child’s words as sarcasm, yet something in the way he spoke made her think he meant it more truthfully. 

“You’ve died before?” Talia asked. She relaxed her hold on her blade, allowing it to rest at her side. 

“Oh yeah, I die all the time.” He said, then he looked at her curiously tilting his head first one way, then another. “You’ve died too, huh?” 

She nodded, now examining him closely, looking for the signs she would recognize. She could see the hint of a scar on the boy’s palm that might have caused a death. 

“What is it with this town that so many people have died and come back?” The boy asked, apparently rhetorically as he didn’t let her answer. “First the stabby Robin, then the stabby Batgirl, then Batman, and even Red Hood. It’s like everyone I run into is contaminated.” 

Talia’s eyes widened. 

“You can sense those who have utilized the Lazarus Pits?” She would have to inform her father about this child. He could put the entire League of Assassins at risk. The child before her just shrugged. 

“I have no idea what that is. Red Hood mentioned some kind of pit as well, but I’ve never seen anything like that. I just know y’all are contaminated with ectoplasm, though not enough to make a core.” 

“What is this… ectoplasm?” Another name for the Lazarus Waters? Had there perhaps been a Pit outside of League control? In the midwest somewhere based on the boy’s accent. 

“Oh it’s this stuff.” He held his hand out and Talia couldn’t help keep her expression of shock withdrawn despite all her training as his hand filled with the glowing green light of the Pits. He held the Pit Water in his hand then tossed the glowing orb to his other hand in a half juggle as if he weren’t carrying the League's greatest secret and weapon. 

Nevermind telling her father about this child, he could never learn of him. If Ras had the power this child had under his control the world would never survive. There was only one option. She needed to train this child to wield this strength. With the stealth he displayed in sneaking up on her and his power over the Pits themselves he could make an assassin like the world had never seen. He could be the next Head of the Demon under her guidance. She knelt down to the boy’s level, slipping her sword back away as she did so. 

“Tell me, young one. Are you living in this death trap of a building all by yourself?” 

“Yeah, but don’t worry, I’ve got it taken care of. I know I’m little, but that just means people are less likely to notice me. I’m able to steal all the food I need from that big box store down the street.” 

“Oh of that I have no doubt. My name is Talia al Ghul. What’s yours?” 

“Hmm. I’m Danny.” The boy seemed hesitant to trust her, which to be perfectly honest was probably a very smart thing to do, but at least she had a name for this gift of Lazarus. 

“Danny, how would you like to come live with me? You won’t have to steal any more, or worry about food ever again, and I could train you how to fight even better than the Bats.” 

He narrowed his eyes at her, looking her over closely. 

“Would I get a sword?” 

“If a sword is what you want, then once you were trained in its use I would acquire one for you.”

Danny looked like he was about to nod, but then he froze, his head tilting to the side as if he was listening to something. His eyes widened and Talia tensed. 

“Uh-oh. Fruit Loop incoming. I gotta go.” 

Talia half turned as she heard the sound of one of her beloved’s grappling lines catching on the building’s edge. By the time she had turned back to face him, Danny had completely vanished. She hadn’t even heard him leave. She stood and scowled as her beloved landed on the rooftop next to her. 

“Talia.” He grunted at her, glaring all the while. 

“Beloved. Must you ruin every nice thing in my life?” Talia snarled back. The boy, Danny, had the gift of Lazarus at his beck and call and Batman had scared him off. 

Bruce looked momentarily stunned at her fury, but quickly hid it behind his mask. However Talia couldn’t care less about her beloved right now. She just needed to lose him so she could return to find the boy. The boy who would change the world with his power. 

[nelkcats]

Broken Wings

A few days before his coronation, Clockwork came looking for the boy who was staring into the void dejectedly, Danny had really thought that being a halfa would at least give him the chance to stay a little longer with his family.

However, as the ghost features were displayed in his human form and his parents suspicion increased, Danny understood that he had become too ghost for humans, it was just depressing to note that even in Infinite Realms he was too human for ghosts as well.

He loved the green freckles on him, he loved how his eyes had flashes of constellations, and even though it was a bit strange, he loved the little crystal in his right hand made of ice, he felt it made him a bit similar to Frostbite; but when he started to freeze everything with his touch he freaked out.

"Difficult times are coming" the master of time commented, caressing the halfa's hair "your coronation will increase your power and although the ghosts will be fine, you won't be able to return to the human world"

"I didn't want to be king" the halfa murmured sadly "I didn't want to leave the world so early"

"No, I guess not" Clockwork sighed "You must be careful, one of your royal duties will make you see things you wish you didn't, I'm not going to stop you but try to make the right choice"

Danny couldn't understand this until a few days after his coronation, when his consciousness expanded through the dimensions and he began to see people's deaths, their thoughts, regrets, dreams. And he could do nothing more than offer them a home in the Realms or guide them to a peaceful rest, praying that it would be enough.

With each passing day he felt more restless; It was then that the death of Jason Todd played in his head, he saw the boy who wanted to fly and he remembered himself when he had the dream of visiting space, he remembered when he learned to float like a ghost and compared it to the moment when Jason discovered Robin, he couldn't help but want to give him a better ending.

Jason Todd's soul was sad and stubborn, he flatly refused to rest, but he also refused to become a ghost; Danny couldn't help but sigh as he saw the little core forming in his hands.

It was then when he broke the rules, more or less; he waited for the moment when a catastrophe would occur in the boy's dimension and sneaked into Jason's grave, placing the small core in his living body and feeding it with his ectoplasm. He didn't know if that would be enough to make him a revenant or a halfa, but it was the best he could do.

"Please fly into the night sky for me" the halfa said sadly as he walked away. He knew he was being unfair by leaving Jason in his own grave, but what if it didn't work? Would he leave a body far from his resting place? No, he did enough, what happen next depends on Jay.

Danny hoped Jason wouldn't resent him for it if he found out in the future. He clapped with joy when Clockwork told him that it worked, but the time master frowned, telling him that he couldn't return to said dimension for a few years.

So it's understandable that Danny was upset when after a few years he decided to travel back to check on Jason and found the boy alive but with his little core surrounded by contaminated ectoplasm.

[catflowerqueen]

#i bet kryptonians ghosts are rare

#the culture was very strict about what life path you were given

#and people spent their lives fulfilling those roles

#and while there were some like clark’s parents that wanted difference

#they still worked in their given fields with pride and grace

#i think most kryptonian ghosts would be the type who failed in their given roles

#like walker

#who died in a prison riot

Hm... You know that common headcanon about Walker being Maddie's dad--and, subsequently, Danny's grandfather?

We could combine this in some interesting ways.

Walker could have been a rogue Kryptonian--as in, one who disagreed with the status quo, fled his given role, and then decided to hide out and make a new life for himself on Earth, predating Krypton's destruction.

He started a family for himself, had two lovely daughters named Madeline and Alicia, and got work as a prison guard. Not for any particular reason--just that it was very far off from the assigned role he was supposed to fill.

But then... he died in a prison riot. And his dying regrets and remorse were that if he'd chosen a job more in line with his assigned role... more in line with the rules of Krypton, even though he will never regret fleeing the planet to begin with... then he wouldn't have died. He wouldn't have left his beloved daughters fatherless.

So... if he's stuck now as a ghost? If his lair is a literal prison that he's warden to?

Well. He knows better now. The rules exist for a very good reason--and he is going to make sure each and every ghost follows them to the letter from now on.

...And it also means that Danny has some kryptonian blood in him, but due to genetics and the fact that both his grandfather and mother married pure humans, it means that he didn't really inherit much powers-wise. Or weakness-wise--kryptonite would do nothing to him.

But part of the reason his mom thinks ghosts are evil is that she accidentally came across some kryptonite once and mistook it for ectoplasm--a common mistake, really, if you don't investigate farther than the surface--and she did inherit her dad's kryptonite weakness.

The most it gave Danny was possibly a bit more general hardiness and quicker healing which allowed him to survive the process of becoming a half-ghost without just tipping over into full ghost. And it also helped him avoid some of the nastier initial drawbacks Vlad faced, even accounting for the fact that Vlad also had to contend with contamination from the soda.

And we can assume Dani's initial instability was just that Vlad didn't account for the fact that Danny was never fully human when he was calibrating his cloning machines or something.

The turnout for the Batfamily post was incredible so here we go for a Superman Edition!

Write below a Superman meets Danny Fenton story but choose the wildest relationship that you can think of that isn’t adoption, romantic relationship, or clone hate

For instance:

- Clark casually using X-Ray vision while searching for a bomb a villain planted and noticing that one of the random civilians he scanned has absolutely zero organs. While x-rayed he just looks like green goo. Supes goes out of his way to chat with the new meta.

- Wonder Woman introduces a new hero to the Justice League: Superman startles because the new member is his Clark Kent’s noisy as hell upstairs neighbor.

- Danny is a Janitor at the Justice League Museum. Superman accidentally dropped his key to the Fortress of Solitude that is made from a dwarf star and weighs half a million pounds. Superman gets a tap on his shoulder,

“Hi! Sorry I think you dropped this.”

Kal-El turns to see a civilian holding the key he made specifically so no one could lift and break into the fortress.

- Danny works at the corner store next to the Daily Planet and Clark is one of his favorite customers. Clark managed to walk in mid robbery; Danny in the process of crumpling the robbers gun into a ball as the would be theif is crying lying against a wall with zip ties holding his hands behind his back.

[lexosaurus]

Hey Lex, this might be annoying AF, but I was wondering if you could tell me more about the Corpse AU.

I haven't been around the Phandom for all that long, but I do have a general idea what its about.

I want to write a fic that incorporates this AU but I don't really know what is accepted and what is not.

If you dont mind, I'd love to know more about it.

if by 'annoying' u mean you're freely giving me permission to ramble about an AU i love and dedicated an entire Invisobang fic to....THEN ANNOY AWAY!

The Corpse AU is a fairly simple concept actually. It states that when halfa's half-die, they leave a body behind.

That's...pretty much the only rule to the AU.

Now, people's interpretations of this can vary widely. I'll touch over some I've seen as well as my own personal headcanons and headcanons I've stolen from others (*cough* @five-rivers *cough*).

Corpse AU fics usually follow 1 of 2 plotlines: 1. Danny needs to dispose of his body 2. Oh no! Someone found his body!

One of the most popular interpretations, and one you'll see most in fanfiction, is that Danny and Vlad "disposed" of their bodies themselves. Danny's usually shown to bury his corpse in the woods somewhere, sometimes with Sam/Tuck and sometimes just by himself. Usually people don't reveal what Vlad did with his, but it can be assumed he probably did something similar.

In the cases of fics where someone uncovered his body, another popular headcanon is that halfas have a special connection to their corpses and can sense disturbances. When their corpses are uncovered (aka usually just Danny's because he's less careful than Vlad and also we love tormenting our child!), then they will be called to their corpse and will either teleport above it or will immediately fly over to it.

This ^ is actually something I personally headcanon and was featured in my fic Morge. When the police uncovered the body, Phantom appeared and was very pissed off!

The protection they feel around their corpse depending on the creator's interpretation as well. For some people, they hc Danny as viewing his corpse like a nuisance and and stressor. For others, they hc halfas as feeling very protective over their corpse. I've even seen a fic go so far as to have Danny hide his corpse in his closet because he couldn't bear to part from it. So the level of emotions they have is somewhat varied, though I will say that most angstry writers tend to err on the side of "they feel protective."

Another thing you'll see sometimes in fics like mine or Five Rivers' is wtf is in that corpse. The way some people—myself included—interpret this is that ectoplasm replaced half the contents in halfa's living bodies, so the corpse is comprised of half their human mass. Many writers, such as myself, also throw in some ecto-contamination. So for me, I personally like to hc Danny's corpse as half human matter and half ectoplasm, aka equal but opposite of Danny. But not everyone hc's this, so it's something you may see in writing but you may not necessarily want to bring into your own fic and that's totally fine!

I thinkkk this is everything, but if you're reading this and notice I missed something, feel free to add it!

Happy writing!

[spacedace]

Oh, the reason Danny Phantom is popping up is because of the Danny Phantom & DC crossover fandom. The world of Batman is a very popular focus in the dpxdc fandom, and Jason & his back story lends itself really well to Danny Phantom lore so he pops up a lot in the crossover fandom.

The tl;dr overview of why:

Your comic (unintentionally) invokes a lot of tropes in the dpxdc fandom. If you don't want to be spammed by Danny Phantom peeps or the dpxdc fandom you might want to block those tags (we take no offense, we all try hard to tag appropriately so as not to annoy peeps in the various fandoms we pull into the crossover fandom)

A longer/more in depth explanation of why under the cut:

Apologies up top for how wild some (all) of this may sound. The Danny Phantom lore (both canon & fanon) is pretty deep, and adding in DC lore has just made things even wilder haha

Okay to start on the explanation: Lazarus Water in DC & Ectoplasm in DP look a lot alike. Like a LOT alike.

And since ectoplasm does such wild stuff in DP it lends itself well in the crossover fandom as being related (or out right being) to the Lazarus Waters/Lazarus pits. Particularly the Lazarus Waters effects on the living/dead/mostly dead. The fact that Lazarus Water is sometimes shown as causing people who are dipped in it to have really strong emotions also adds to this, since ectoplasm in DP fanon is often considered to be made of emotions.

In DP canon there's the concept of Halfas. A halfa is someone who is both alive & dead (specifically the ghostly kind of dead) at the same time. 2 of the 3 halfas in the show both became halfas by being in pretty violent lab accidents involving portals to another dimension. These accidents are often viewed in the fandom as the person being killed and brought back in a sort of weird supernatural way to cause them to become halfas. Jason's coming back to life the way he did a lot of times has the crossover fandom make him a halfa as a result because it kinda fits.

If he's not made a halfa when he's involved in the dpxdc fandom, he'll usually be made a Liminal. Liminal is a fanon DP concept that is basically the term for anyone touched by death/contaminated woth ectoplasm enough to not quite be human anymore.

In DP fanon ghosts (and halfas) have obsessions (basically incredibly strong special interests driven by intense emotions, often surrounding their death or something thry cared deeply about in life) and Jason's whole Red Hood thing lends really well to that idea especially in tandem with making him a halfa or liminal.

And finally, it's a really popular trope for the GIW (the government agency that hunts ghosts in the DP universe) and a lot of times Danny's parents as well (they're also ghost hunters and yell a lot about tearing ghosts apart in the show) to capture & then dissect/vivisection ghosts & halfas (and Liminals sometimes depending on the fic). Y shaped scars on characters' chests post being horribly experimented on is super popular (we love angst and whump in the dp fandom what can I say lol)

So to put it all together as to why this keeps being tagged as Danny Phantom (and probably dpxdc as well):

Jason being shown with a Y scar while learning that he didn't get it from an autopsy from when he died hits all the dpxdc fandom sweet spots.

It can be viewed from the dpxdc lense as Jason coming back to life and possibly being considered a halfa, or becoming Liminal due to being dunked in a Lazarus Pit (ectoplasm) and then the unexplained Y scar can easily fall in line with Jason ending up in the hands of the GIW or Danny's parents and being vivisected/dissected and somehow not remembering it.

Sorry for how long that was & hoe wild and nonsensical that might sound, but I just wanted to let you know why you might be getting a lot more DP peeps & references popping up on this one haha

Gift piece for @llisona! I love the idea that Jason didn't get those scars from an autopsy, but rather, somewhere else

[underforeversgrace]

i love you (don't kill me)

Title: i love you (don't kill me)

Words: 4591

Warnings: Major Character Death, (semi) Graphic Depictions of Violence

Prompts:

Sherry_A_H: Tearing up Phantom molecule by molecule is something the Fentons will regret for the rest of their lives.

Nocturnal Starr: Maddie struggles to come to terms with Danny being Phantom.

Astatia Ghast: When Danny’s body is purged of ectoplasm, he begins to waste away. It turns out the Accident changed his body so completely that he can no longer survive without ectoplasm.

Even with as many times as it’s been explained to her, Maddie still just can’t understand. She can’t grasp her son, her black-haired, blue-eyed little boy, being Phantom. It just wasn’t possible. It wasn’t.

Maddie leaned back in her chair, rubbing her gloved hand across her tired face as the heart monitor beeped steadily. At least they were able to handle this at home. Express fake concern that it was high level ectoplasmic contamination, that he couldn’t be admitted to a general hospital because of it. But there was nothing to be done, was there? Not anymore. She and Jack had gone too far, messed up too severely this time.

Maddie just sat there, listening to the monitor. Danny’s heartbeat was far too slow. Even his friends had said this was lower than his normal. Well, Tucker had advised them of that. Sam refused to speak to them. Even Tucker had been short and to the point in his response, his voice cold and hard.

Jazz had been the one to fill them in, Tucker nor Sam could be in the same room as Maddie and Jack for longer than a few seconds, far too little time to go over the events of the past two years. Jazz couldn’t bear to look at her parents either, though. She hated them. Maddie could find no kindness or softness in her daughter’s face anymore, no hint of love for them. And she found she couldn’t blame Jazz for her reaction.

They all knew what Jack and Maddie had done.

A small alarm trilled from her pocket, pulling Maddie back to the room. The blue room with the stars on the ceiling and model rockets littered on shelves along the walls. The blue room with the hospital bed, with her dying son.

She pulled the timer out from her pocket, silencing it with a button press.

“Time for another injection?” A male voice asked behind her, near the door.

The man was named Michaels, he was a bodyguard Sam had hired to watch over Danny, because Sam didn’t trust his parents alone with him. While Maddie could hold her own against most people, Michaels was not one of them. He was an even more skilled black belt than she, an even better shot with the human gun at his hip.

He was a stranger in her son’s bedroom, he was an unwelcome figure in her family’s suffering.

He was her son’s protector while she had been his executioner.

Maddie sighed. “Yes, it is.”

“The red one again?”

“No, the blue one.”

“Is it really already time for the blue one again? He’s already had one in the past twenty four hours.” Michaels responded, his voice light but his eyes narrowed at her in distrust. He didn’t know the full story - what Danny was, exactly what his parents had done to him - but he was no fool. Then again, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize something was wrong when he’d been explicitly told to keep an eye on Maddie and Jack.

“He… he didn’t stabilize with that one this morning. Normally, he has an increase in his vital signs - his heart rate, oxygen levels, temperature - but he had none of that. No use in giving a booster when the shot didn’t take.” Maddie replied, her heart clenching in her chest. 

Her eyes strayed to the bedside table, where a small present wrapped in starry paper sat. Her little Danny had turned sixteen eight days ago. He’d been in a coma for ten. He’d never open that present, would he? See the car they’d bought for him? The keys sat in that little box - a singular key with a NASA emblem on the keychain, to an older model car they’d parked at the Mansons’.

Tears pricked at the mother’s eyes and she blinked them away before they could fall. She still held onto hope that Danny would suddenly awake, happy and healthy and whole in whatever way he wanted, and she didn’t want him to see her crying.

“Here,” Michaels said, handing a syringe over to Maddie. Thick red liquid seemed to bubble in the glass, or was it a gas? Ectoplasm was such an odd thing. Michaels shot her a firm nod then stepped back by the dresser, locking the case with the chemicals back up. Yet another safeguard for Danny’s life, at risk from his parents. Their concoction had been tested by ectologists even more renowned than the Fentons, to make sure it would not harm a ghost. It was kept in a locked case and only the other scientists were allowed to formulate more, based on what Maddie and Jack had created. She never touched them except when it was time for one.

Did the Fentons even count as ectologists, Maddie wondered? Or just monsters with guns, shooting down and destroying anything that didn’t fall on the ‘right’ side of the alive/dead binary?

Maddie popped the protective cover off the needle, turning Danny’s arm so the crook of his elbow looked up at her - covered in bruises and needle marks from where she’d been desperately trying to save him.

Ironic, isn’t it? Maddie had fantasized about doing this to Danny Phantom. About strapping him to a table, cutting him open, injecting every possible substance under the sun into his arm to see how his spectral body would react. She’d already known she would have to ignore the creature’s screams. Not sentient. Not able to feel pain. Not able to die when he was already dead.

Her and Jack had discussed the best ways to slice him open - though, then, they’d still been calling Phantom an it - without destabilizing him. They didn’t want his core to give out before they’d even started, after all. They’d wanted to carve off chunks of Phantom’s ‘fake’ skin, rip their way into whatever he had in his chest cavity. Wanted to cut and take samples and biopsies from every inch of the ghost, inside and out. And it would’ve all started with a simple shot, wouldn’t it? Some sort of suppressant to keep the ghost’s abilities at bay.

So, no, Maddie couldn’t be upset at how her daughter and her son’s friends were acting.

She’d gotten her dream. She just hadn’t realized it could ever be a nightmare.

But this was definitely a nightmare she was in, a hell of her own making, as she gently pressed the needle into him, piercing through flesh and injecting the mixture into him. She looked at the monitor connected to him, all the wires measuring all the signs of life in him, desperate to see an improvement.

But there was nothing. He hadn’t reacted. He was just as still, looked just as dead.

Pain pierced her through the heart as she collapsed back into her seat - she would’ve almost sworn she’d been stabbed, the pain felt so real, so tangible. This was their last idea. Human blood supercharged with ectoplasm, with enough electricity going through it to take out a city block, to try to make them bind together, to mimic what they’d stolen from Danny.

But it failed. They had failed. She had failed. How could this be happening? It just wasn’t possible. It wasn’t. How could they have messed up so badly?

“We’ve got it, Mads!” Jack yelled, running to the glowing form on the ground.

“Nice shot, dear!” Maddie called, a wide grin across her face as the two ghost hunters caught up with their prey.

Danny Phantom looked up at them through the net, eyes unfocused, mouth moving without sound.

“It worked! Whatever brain pattern it has mimicked isn’t working!” Jack said, proudly hoisting the overly large gun onto his shoulder, beaming at his wife. 

“The Fenton Scrambler might just be one of our best inventions!” She said, clapping her hands together as her husband grabbed the net and began dragging it behind them, back towards the GAV. Maddie opened the rear doors and Jack tossed the ghost in. It made a noise and placed a hand against its head, slightly shaking its head, doing a very good job of mimicking confusion.

Jack and Maddie hopped into their seats and Jack floored it, sending them flying back towards their home, tossing any and all driving safety recommendations out the window.

Within minutes, they were home, their catch unloaded and dragged down to the lab, still unable to speak. Unceremoniously, Jack tossed the ghost into a containment block at the corner of the lab, all sides blocked by phase proof glass.

“Hmph, Danny still hasn’t done his chores!” Jack whined, looking at the messy lab. The table they needed was half buried under old, never finished inventions. Mess covered every flat surface - from old pizza boxes to ectoplasm and everything in between.

“We’ll remind him when he gets home!” Maddie said, kissing Jack on the cheek. They began to clean, both shaking with excitement.

Maddie kept glancing over at the corner, licking her lips in anticipation. The ghost seemed to be getting some of its limited faculties back, the net had slipped off when it’d been tossed in. It pressed a hand against its eyes and wrapped the other arm around its center. It’s ability to pretend to be human was so impressive! She wondered if its insides would be as impressive. Was it so desperate to appear human that the illusion would go beneath its faux skin? Would there be bones? Kidneys? An appendix? How cold was it? Would it be colder inside?  Butterflies fluttered around in her stomach, excited anxiety burrowing deep into her very being.

Taking far longer than she would have liked, they got the lab in a semi-acceptable state. The table was cleaned off, the scalpels and syringes were sat on trays to the side, and the rest of the mess was, uh, out of sight and therefore out of mind.

“It’s time!” Maddie hollered, jetting towards the door of the containment area, her hand resting on the handle. “Hit the ghost shield!”

Jack hurried over to the side wall and slammed his fist onto a comically large button with his face on it. The sound of machinery whirring and then the ghost shield encased them, an eerie green that made the air beyond the bubble look fuzzy. Jack held up another gun, ready to shoot at the ghost if needed. Maddie was better at hand to hand so she would be the one getting in close contact with Phantom, Jack would provide back up with an ecto-grenade (that had an area of effect even larger than the room, it was physically impossible for even Jack to completely miss).

They nodded to each other and Maddie threw open the door.

Phantom looked at her, pushing itself to its feet, eyes still unfocused.

“Mom?” It asked, the otherworldly echo sounding out of place for such a simple word.

“Excuse me?” Maddie asked, bewilderment temporarily replacing excitement.

“Mom?” It asked again, stumbling forward. A cold hand grabbed her forearm as Phantom continued to look around, confusion painted heavily onto its face. “What’s going on? I feel weird.”

Maddie turned to look at Jack, wondering if she was hallucinating, but the look on Jack’s face mirrored her own emotions.

The ghost groaned, releasing its grip on her and collapsing to its knees, holding its head in both hands, partially out of the containment cube.

“Phantom, what are you-“ Maddie started, but was cut off as bright white lights encircled Phantom’s waist. She heard Jack begin to charge the gun up, though he didn’t fire as the light seemed to split harmlessly, only changing the clothes between the rings as they moved.

She had exactly zero idea how she was supposed to react when Phantom vanished, her son in his place.

“Mom?” Danny asked, the echo gone. “What’s happening…?” The sentence trailed off as he looked up at her. Maddie’s jaw clenched as she saw his eyes - radioactive green.

“Jack, get the Fenton Ghost Catcher!” Maddie barked, grabbing Danny’s arm and jerking him up. Jack nodded wordlessly, concern and fear etched on his face as he ran towards the sub basement, where they’d stored the Ghost Catcher while they made upgrades to it.

Danny yelped in pain as she pulled him up roughly and her chest tightened. She never wanted to hear that sound again. But that did seem to pull Phantom out of whatever haze it had been in - Danny’s voice didn’t sound as confused when he? it? spoke again. “Mom, what are you doing?” He called, trying to dislodge her grip from him, pulling weakly. 

“Get out of my son, Phantom.” Maddie hissed.

“What? I’m not overshadowed! It’s me, Danny!” Her son insisted, doubling up his efforts to escape her grasp. That net must have worked even better than they’d expected since Phantom had hidden itself inside a human. A human would be having a severe headache, nausea, and persistent confusion. But her ‘son’ had recovered too fast. This wasn’t her son, her son was being used as a puppet.

“I don’t know what kind of weird overshadowing ability you have to completely change forms, but get. Out. Of. My. Son.” She hissed the last few words.

“No, no, no, no! It’s me, Danny, there was an accident and I’m half ghost and that’s why I have two forms and why all your inventions lock on me and -“ He began stuttering. Maddie tightened her grip on his arm, pulling him roughly towards her as she grabbed his other arm as well.

“How long have you been in my son?” She growled, holding him tight enough to bruise. But Phantom would protect her son. It was a side effect of overshadowing - the human host got the ghostly parasite’s durability. “Our weapons have been honing in on him for two years, how long have you held him?”

“No! It’s not like that! Please just listen or ask my friends or Jazz! We’re - I’m - the same person! C’mon, even the name is a pun! Fenton? Phantom?” Danny was babbling now, fear etched into his eyes. Maddie stared into his blue eyes, that for some reason now seemed to be flecked with green when she was this close, anger building up in her. That was her son’s fear she saw, the fear she’d continue to allow Phantom to possess him and strip away his free will.

It was then that Jack lumbered back up the stairs, Ghost Catcher in hand. He brought it over to where they stood, sitting it beside Maddie and the ghost, pressing a newly added on button. They’d made adjustments to it - it would purge all ectoplasm from the human body. Who knew how much ectoplasmic contamination her son had after two years under a ghost’s control? She hated herself in that moment - what kind of mother doesn’t realize her son has been taken over by a malevolent spirit? For two entire years? She’d make it right, she’d fix this.

Danny’s eyes widened. Of course, that’s how Phantom knew about all of their weapons and other inventions! It had heard them talking around the dinner table! It knew the Catcher had been improved!

“Dad, mom, stop! Just listen to me! Please!” Danny yelled, clawing at Maddie’s hands. That must be her true son shining through - forcing his much lower strength over Phantom’s so she couldn’t be dislodged. “That’ll kill me!” He screamed as Maddie pushed him towards the device, Jack’s face uncharacteristically solemn. Even he knew they had messed up, they had missed something huge for so long. “Please, stop!” He continued, tears starting to streak down his face. Maddie wasn’t sure if it was Phantom trying to pull on her sympathies or her Danny crying in joy that he’d finally be free of this monster. She hated that she couldn’t tell.

“Everything is gonna be okay, Danny,” she whispered in his ear.

“Stop!” He called out again. Maddie pinched at a pressure point in his neck and he went limp in her arms.

Gently, she and Jack passed Danny through the center of the Catcher and watched in horror as Phantom split from him, liquid ectoplasm dripping to the floor. How much ectoplasm had Danny had in him? Both were still unconscious.

Maddie carefully sat her sleeping son on a nearby chair, smiling as she watched his chest rise and fall as he breathed. Meanwhile, Jack bound Phantom to the table, triple checking that all of the restraints were tight enough. Both parents were angry at this stupid ghost, this awful, horrible creature that had stolen their son from them for so long.

Jack shoved some fabric into the ghost’s mouth, pressing phase proof tape along the outside to keep it in his mouth.

The ghost awoke before their son did. It cried its fake tears, screaming behind the gag as they took out both their revenge and scientific curiosity out on its body. They sliced and diced as much as they wanted, amazed by the exciting specimen in front of them. At one point, Maddie moved her scalpel towards its eyes, holding eye contact for longer than necessary. As pain reflected in its eyes, Maddie found herself questioning her conviction that ghosts couldn’t feel pain. She lowered her scalpel and began excising the eye, viciously hoping this ghost could feel pain, could feel every incision they were making.

They had ripped apart over half the ghost’s body before it finally stopped fighting and went limp in its restraints.

The joy of righteous vengeance enacted brought her so much pride, made even more delicious by finally getting to live out her fantasy on Phantom. It had always been an odd ghost, different in ways they couldn’t understand.

It wouldn’t be until Jazz came home several hours later and found them in the lab that they realized what they might have done when she explained through sobs, her hands covered in ectoplasm from where she’d ran to the table, screaming Danny’s name.

When Danny never woke up, however, they realized what they’d done, just as how much they’d messed up. They hadn’t listened. They hadn’t thought of all the times they’d seen Danny go through ghost shields, how Phantom had grown older with Danny. They’d never even stopped to consider what if they were wrong.

Maddie felt the wet soil beneath her knees, felt the chill settling into her bones as it seeped through her pants. She hadn’t worn her suit since the monitor went off for the last time, since the coroner had come out for her son’s body. Pain, grief, had settled like lead in her chest. She had no more tears left to cry as she gazed at the headstone in front of her.

Daniel James “Danny” Fenton

April 3, 1993 - July 19, 2009

A beloved hero and cherished son

They’d chosen to release the truth after Danny had passed away, so his DP insignia also was engraved onto the stone, above his name. They’d lied about his cause of death. He died from ghost fighting, after being poisoned. His parents, who loved him more than anything in the world and were among the world’s leaders in ghost science, had immediately dedicated themselves to saving him, no matter the cost. Only those closest to Danny knew the truth, and even then, only his parents knew the extend of it. Knew his last words were pleading with them to stop, that they were going to kill him. Knew that they had tortured another part of him to death. Only Maddie knew she’d taken joy in his suffering.

Jazz had informed them she would not be speaking with them again, to not reach out to her, ever. Sam and Tucker made it clear the only reason they weren’t telling the cops Jack and Maddie’s negligence had actually caused Danny’s death was because they knew he wouldn’t want that. He would blame himself for not telling them. For letting himself get caught.

Maddie had had to come to terms with a lot since the day Danny first went into the coma. She’d had to accept she was wrong. Phantom was a hero. Her son was selfless and kind, and she’d been too prejudiced to see Phantom was so, so good.

Thunder cracked in the sky above her, rain began to fall softly. But she didn’t move. The cemetery was quiet.

The funeral had been yesterday and it had just been too much. Fans of Phantom, people who had come to send off a dead ghost. Originally, Maddie had been so angry. How dare these people? Her son was dead, why were they talking about a damned ghost? But that ghost had been her son. She’d lost count of the number of speakers, all the stories of what Danny had done as Phantom.

Employees of a daycare that had caught fire, saved by Phantom. She had written that off as Phantom’s intelligence - he knew saving children would make him look good.

An elderly woman who’s home had been targeted by missiles from Skulker, the only reason it hadn’t been made into wreckage had been Phantom throwing a shield at the last moment. But he hadn’t gotten out of that unscathed - he’d gotten struck and bled green all over her front porch. Maddie had written that one off, too. That ghost was only here to attack Phantom regardless and Phantom had only caught that missile because he’d forgotten to go intangible, like he’d done dozens of times before. Now Maddie wondered if that had been intentional, though. All the times he’d gotten blasted out of the sky - his body would cause much less damage than some of the projectiles the other ghosts would use.

Someone from the local Observatory, who would sometimes see Phantom stargazing. Who’d talked to him and realized he was just a kid who loved the stars, who saw the way Phantom’s cheeks glowed like constellations the more he saw or discussed he stars.

A jock from Casper High, who had mercilessly bullied her son, who now knew how easily he could’ve died if his target had ever fought back, but Phantom - but Danny - was good and had used his powers for good.

Sam and Tucker had gone together, telling stories of Danny, showing the child behind the hero. They never specified Danny Fenton or Danny Phantom when they talked about him. Because there was no difference. It was always Danny. Just Danny.

A thought that routinely haunted her. Those had been some of the last words of his life and they played on repeat in her mind.

A police officer from the local station was outside the cemetery - to guard Danny’s grave in case any of his few detractors tried to hurt his grave. Even the police loved Phantom, it seemed. He helped in a lot of traffic accidents. And the officer had assured her someone would be there around the clock for a while.

Maddie had no doubt that the only reason she was able to be here - alone, kneeling in front of her child’s grave - was because the officer had kept fans and haters alike out.

She leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the cold, smooth stone. Apparently she wasn’t quite out of tears, she realized, as she began to cry again.

“Are you alright?” Came a familiar voice behind her. She whipped around, unwilling to believe it until she saw it.

There, with a little half smile on his face, floated Danny Phantom, white hair dancing in a way that didn’t quite match the current breeze.

“Danny?” She breathed.

“Yep, that’s me! Do I know you?” He asked, tilting his head to the side in curiosity.

“You… you don’t… know who I am?” She asked, her voice stuttering.

“No, I’m sorry! I just heard crying and could feel you were in pain, so I wanted to make sure you were okay!” Phantom said, an easy smile on his face that Maddie recognized. Danny used to smile like that - carefree, relaxed - a long time ago. When had he last smiled like that? When he was eight or nine?

Maddie was unsure what to say. What, exactly, do you say to your dead son that you violently killed, who has no idea who you are, who just wanted to make sure a stranger in pain was okay? “I… lost someone I love.” Maddie settled on.

“Danny?” A new voice joined in. He appeared in the blink of an eye. A ghost clad in purple, clock staff in hand and clock workings in his chest. If he’d been human, Maddie would’ve thought he was nearly a hundred, as bent over as he was, long white beard nearly as long as he was tall.

“Hey, dad!” Danny chirruped, floating higher up and hugging the ghost.

Maddie’s heart felt like it had been ripped out and stomped on.

“Child,” the older ghost chastised softly, smiling, “I told you to stay near me.”

“I know,” Danny whined, drawing out the ‘o’ sound. “But this lady felt like she was in pain!”

The purple ghost ruffled Danny’s white hair. “I know. Can you head home? I will be there shortly.” He said, waving his hand almost boredly. A portal appeared where his hand passed. Danny nodded then zipped through the portal, which closed behind him immediately.

The remaining ghost turned his attention to Maddie, smile sliding away as red eyes bore into her own. Maddie fidgeted under his gaze.

“I am his guardian now. He will not be returning to this plane.” The ghost stated, answering questions she hadn’t even decided to ask yet.

“Is he…still Danny? Is he happy?”

“Yes, he is still Danny, just without his memories. Due to the…traumatic nature of his death,” the ghost scowled at her, “his life is forgotten to him and will be for many decades. You will be decaying before he remembers. But, yes. He is happy. He is still the same ghost child, still with the urge to help everyone.”

Maddie’s vision was swimming with tears. She didn’t know how to feel. She had tortured and murdered her son. But he had come back - again - as a ghost. But he didn’t know who she was, he’d never be on earth again during her lifetime.

“I… I didn’t think he’d be able to restore his ghost side.” Maddie said.

The red eyes continued to bear down on her, unblinking, as though he could see her very heart. “You only killed part of his soul. This is what remains.”

Maddie nodded, wrapping her arms around herself as the rain picked up.

“Goodbye, Madeline Fenton.” The ghost said, waving his hand like he had done before to open the portal.

“Wait!” Maddie blurted, reaching out for the ghost. The portal appeared next to him, swirling and beautiful, but he did not go in. He said nothing, waiting for her to continue. “Can…when he remembers, can you tell him how sorry we are? We love him and we will never forgive ourselves for what we did, but we are so, so sorry.”

“He knows. He may not know what he knows, but he knows you regret your actions. His love for you is the only reason I’ve brought him here, and to your husband, to give you closure.”

Maddie nodded, at a loss for what to say.

As quickly as he appeared, the clock ghost disappeared.

And Maddie was left with the rain beating down on her, soaking her, with only her son’s grave beside her.

[jackdaw-and-hattrick]

The Pull

It is essential that, when dealing with Danny, you remember Gravity is an incidental, not a constant. His effect isn't measurable because his pull only affects what he manipulates directly.

See, gravity loves Danny, lifting him up in its arms and pulling whatever he wants down into his orbit. It gathers him close to lift whatever it needs to move or spreads him thin to pass through walls. It creates dips where light collects in his hair and gloves till they shine like stars or runs away to leave an inky void in the black of his suit. There is a sense of depth in his pupils as if you might fall in and never break free if you ever got too close, a dateline across his cornea you can’t see past. Sometimes he becomes so thin that light forgets him entirely.

Danny’s effect isn't limited to himself; he can pull you into his orbit; let you in on his altered laws of physics. This is, of course, immensely useful. The problem is that most people are not meant for the kind of pressure he creates, and the only way to avoid the damage caused by instant depressurization is for him to lend some ectoplasm. Over time this can lead to some... Consequences. People become a little dead if they use his powers too many times. Usually, the effects are minor; a new eye flash or teeth that are just a bit too sharp. In severe cases, direct exposure can lead to illnesses like ecto-acne or the starts or a core. Within Amnety, these effects are essentially nonissues since everyone already has such high levels of contamination. Still, he tries to minimize his use of these powers on humans.

Concrete objects are the easiest to manipulate; bats and lead piping answer his pull much easier than air or water. He has learned, however, that the gravitational manipulation of gases can be, well, interesting. By reducing the temperature and increasing the pressure, he can create some truly exception bombs, either by releasing control and allowing the air to explode outward or by continuing the increase, leading to explosive decompression of the surrounding air.

[ssv-raven]

This situation was… not ideal.

Jazz had intended to come to this city to find and retrieve another powerful artifact that had slipped from the Infinite Realms into this world. After the incident with Showenhower, she was all too aware of just how disastrous things could get when ghostly artifacts fell into mortal hands.

She hoped that once Danny ascended to the Throne, he would be able to heal the multitude of rifts that Pariah’s rule had left throughout the Realms. It would certainly limit the number of artifacts lost to the mortal plane. But until he did take the Throne, she would continue to recover the artifacts that she could.

She had not meant to catch the attention of others during her journey. This had been her duty for many years now and she had managed to carry it out without attracting any unwanted attention.

It was just her luck that a purse snatcher targeted her while her mind was elsewhere, causing her to fall back onto Pandora’s training. That, she took responsibility for as she had not been aware of her surroundings but she absolutely blamed Clockwork for the fact that Wonder Woman of all people was near enough to see her defend herself and then tend to the poor man afterwards.

And now here she was, invited into the Themysciran Embassy by their Ambassador herself, trying to explain to said Amazon that while Death had a claim on her since conception (thanks mom and dad for the unintentional ecto-contamination) she was not in any immediate danger.

“Really, I’m fine.” Jazz tried to reassure the Amazonian Princess, even falling back on her native tongue to try and make her more comfortable. “Death comes for us all, in time. It will just be coming for me earlier than most.” Even Danny, with his human half, would be living far longer than her.

“Death may come for all of us, Jasmine, but from what you have said it seems that even in death you will be bound to service.” Diana stated calmly but with great sadness in her voice. “What you speak of sounds like a curse.”

Jazz just smiled though she was certain it did not reach her eyes. While it was true she had accepted the fact that her ecto-contamination was slowly killing her and transforming her into a full ghost, she still found herself even now silently wishing for more time to just be herself. But Time rarely gave people what they wanted.

“I thought of it as a curse for a long time,” Jazz found herself admitting. How odd that it was far easier to speak of her fate to a stranger than to her own family. “I hated that most of my life had been taken from me by actions and circumstances far outside of my control.”

Diana felt her heart go out to this unexpected Sister, and Jasmine was a Sister, even if she still put up the pretense of saying she was no Amazon. No one deserved to have the specter of death hanging over them the way she apparently did.

Taking a deep breath, Jazz let her aqua blue eyes glow a bright ectoplasmic green. “But I found comfort knowing that in death, I would serve a purpose, a purpose that I actually believed in.” Her glowing eyes met Diana’s and this time Jazz knew that there was no doubt or uncertainty in her expression. “And in the end isn’t that what we all want? A purpose we can believe in?”

Diana was silent as she considered this Sister’s words. Could she really say that she herself had been much different when she first came to Man’s World? She had been given a purpose, to bridge their worlds and spread the Amazon philosophies of peace and love. It was a purpose that she believed in with all her heart, even if it meant leaving everyone and everything she had ever known behind.

But where Diana had been blessed to find more people beyond her Sisters that she could love in Man’s World, it seemed that Jasmine had become isolated in her duties, left to travel a very lonely road for the benefit of others but at the cost of herself.

“Purpose is a blessing to have, especially when your heart believes in it.” Diana agreed. “But life is about more than just purpose.” Her expression was sad as she watched Jasmine’s grip tighten on her water goblet. “And, please forgive me if I am overstepping, but it seems that you have been consumed with preparing yourself for your role and purpose in death without ever having been given the chance to live.”

Jazz felt her throat constrict and she found that she could no longer look Diana in the eye. Instead, her gaze turned downward to her goblet the slightly distorted reflection of her face. The only truly clear thing she could see in the water was her glowing green eyes. A constant reminder of her contamination and ultimate fate.

She flinched faintly when a strong yet comforting hand settled on her shoulder.

“When was the last time you lived, Sister?”

“…I don’t know.”

The answer surprised Jazz and yet she knew it was true. She couldn’t remember the last time she had truly lived. For years now, her existence had been filled with duty and responsibility, both to Danny and the Realms. Any dreams and hopes she once had for college, a career or even a family of her own had been forgotten long ago.

At twenty-six years of age, Jazz had spent close to a decade ensuring the safety of the Realms from mortal interference. She had made a deal with Clockwork that she would take on any responsibilities he deemed necessary, so long as Danny was allowed to live out his life how he wanted without unnecessary interference. It was a deal that Jazz never regretted making. Being able to see Danny get accepted into college, fall in love, become a test pilot and just enjoy life had made her heart soar with happiness for her little brother.

But no matter how happy she was for Danny, Jazz was realizing more and more that her own life had become devoid of happiness beyond whatever she could vicariously glean from Danny and the satisfaction of a job well done. Sure, Pandora herself might offer complements on Jazz’s performance and abilities but being separated by the veil made any steady communication with her mentor difficult. Even communication with Danny had become increasingly strained as she traveled the planet and even through time for Clockwork.

Her life was her purpose and her purpose was her life, she realized. Without the deal with Clockwork, she had nothing, she was nothing. What sort of life was that?

“Sister?”

Blinking back tears that had welled up at the realization she had made, Jazz looked up to Diana’s kind and all too understanding eyes.

The Amazonian Princess smiled and Jazz was struck by how hopeful and full of love the smile was. She had almost forgotten what it was like to have someone look at her with love.

“I cannot say that I know what the Fates have in store for you, Jasmine. But you are my Sister and I will not leave you to walk alone when I can walk alongside you.”

Diana then extended her arm. An invitation. An offer. A promise.

“Will you let me help you, Sister?”

-

In the Infinite Realms, Clockwork and Pandora both smiled as their student took her first step towards learning to live once more. In the decade since Jasmine had pledged herself in service to the Realms, she had hollowed herself out until she was little more than a drone, just following the orders that she received from her superiors.

While that particular timeline did not lead to problems with the future Queen Regent’s rule, it did lead to a Regent that began to fade once the High King finally ascended to the Throne.

But with a small nudge, the future Regent would go on to be more than just a placeholder in history but a ruler beloved almost as much as the High King for her love and devotion to the Realms.

Pandora chuckled as she watched Diana bring Jasmine to an ice-cream stand which apparently served “the best food that Man’s World has to offer.” She felt her core thrum with relief at seeing the small yet hopeful smile on her young student’s face. “Thank you, Clockwork, for giving her a kinder fate.”

The Master of Time smiled as he nodded in acknowledgement. “She has many trials that still lie ahead of her. Many from other times will target her, believing the mortal Regent to be vulnerable. But now she will no longer believe that she has to face such trials alone.”

He waved a hand and several more viewing portals opened, showing Jasmine fighting alongside the likes of Donna Troy, Artemis of Bana-Mighdall, Diana herself. But more significantly than that, it showed her happy and embraced by her newfound Sisters.

Yes, this was a far kinder timeline for Jasmine and one that Clockwork was more than happy to nudge into existence.

Not for the first time, Jazz had underestimated her strength when it came to dealing with a purse snatcher. Now she was stuck trying to convince Wonder Woman that she really wasn't an Amazon.

[raaorqtpbpdy]

In the Zone (1)

Based on the Phic Phight prompts: Danny and co. go sight seeing in the zone and get lost. Maybe they have to navigate weird ghost logic/physics/laws to make their way home (from @ventisettestars). And Sam and Tucker maybe getting Pharaoh + plant powers? ecto contamination for the win ig (from @corvidspectre).

Chapter 1: The Crab Spire

AO3 Link

[no warnings apply]

After their respective run-ins with powerful ghosts, Sam and Tucker began to notice some changes. Granted, Sam's plants had always been lovely, but now they were immaculate. She could swear that she heard them whispering to her, telling her what they needed. Despite being a geek and a nobody at school, Tucker found that people listened to him more. When he asked people for things, they would do them. It had been months since someone had scoffed at him and tell him to do something himself.

It wasn't anything particularly noteworthy at first. And then it was.

Tucker had been tasked with creating a distraction, and he barely had time to ask, "What do you want me to do? Put a giant monster in the middle of the mall?" before a wave of his hand created a massive Egyptian sphinx, roaring and swiping its claws. Closer inspection revealed that the sphinx was only an illusion, but it made for quite the effective distraction.

Once the was over and the ghost safely captured in the Fenton Thermos, Tucker had the chance to be shaken up about it, to wonder how he'd done it. After he dismissed the illusion just as easily as he'd created it, it was clear that it had been him that caused it. Maybe a few months ago, he would've thought it was cool, and used it to play pranks and have fun, but after the Duul Aman fiasco, Tucker wasn't exactly jumping on the train to Ancient Egypt.

"I'll bet that's the reason!" Danny announced when Tucker said as much, as if coming to some grand realization. "I bet when you were possessed by Duul Aman's spirit through his scepter, you got ecto-contaminated, and some of his powers transferred to you."

"Does that mean..." Sam started to ask. He eyebrows pulled together with concern and she bit her lower lip. "Does that mean I could start developing some of Undergrowth's powers?"

Danny raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you seen your greenhouse lately?" He wasn't allowed inside it anymore since his ice powers developed, but even from the outside he could see how much bigger and more vibrant her plants had gotten, even just in the last few weeks. "If you ask me, I think you already are."

Tucker crossed his arms, unconvinced by Danny's theory. "So are we half-ghosts like you, then?" he asked skeptically.

"Uh... no, not quite." Danny shook his head, lips pursed thoughtfully. "You have to sort of die to become a half-ghost, and neither of you did, thankfully. Trust me, dying sucks." He hummed in thought, trying to think of a better example that himself. "It's like how Valerie got suddenly more tech savvy after Technus upgraded her suit, did you guys notice that?"

"No," they both responded in unison.

"Well, she did," Danny said, not explaining why he'd noticed when they hadn't. In any case, he had a feeling they could guess. He never had been very good at hiding his feelings. "You were closely exposed to those ghosts for several days, and they used their powers through you, so their powers just kind of... stuck, I guess."

"Well, that sounds real scientific," Sam said sardonically, rolling her eyes, "but I'm not convinced."

"Well, more exposure to ectoplasm would, hypothetically, make those powers stronger," Danny told them, recalling some of his parents ghost rants. "How about we take a sight-seeing trip to the Ghost Zone? That'll prove my theory."

"Or disprove it," Tucker pointed out with a scoff.

"Either way, I have always wanted to see more of the Ghost Zone," Sam said. "We tried to map it before, back when we didn't know it couldn't be mapped by traditional methods, but we hardly ever got out of the Specter Speeder. What's the point of visiting another dimension if you only get to see it through a window?"

"Exactly!" Danny agreed. "And maybe you'll even get stronger ghost powers out of it, and we can be the ghost powers trio! Besides, it's the first day of spring break, Tucker, and you were just gonna play video games all week. This is like, broadening our horizons and junk. It'll be great"

Tucker pursed his lips and stayed firm for a long moment before eventually relenting. "I'll pack a bag," he sighed. "The Specter Speeder has an outlet to charge my PDAs, right?"

"Of course, dude," Danny confirmed. "It's a self-sustaining, ectoplasmic vehicle. It produces enough energy to charge a million PDAs and still make it to the end of the Ghost Zone and back. You probably won't even have to plug them in."

"Alright, then I'm in."

"Awesome! Let's go pack and meet in my parents' lab in two hours," Danny said.

"And shower before we leave, and do not forget to pack deodorant," Sam reminded them sternly. "I am not spending a week in the Specter Speeder with two stinky teenage boys." 

Danny and Tucker both sniffed their underarms and grimaced. "Yeah." Tucker agreed.

"Maybe three hours," Danny amended, "just to be safe."

Three hours later found the trio, hair still damp, tossing their suitcases and sleeping bags into the Specter Speeder. They'd all told their parents the three of them were going on a camping trip for spring break, and luckily, none of them objected. They were all sixteen, after all—well, Tucker still had a couple weeks before his birthday, but they could handle camping nearby for a week.

"My parents will be back soon," Danny said, climbing up into the speeder after Tucker. "We've gotta go now."

"Won't they notice the Specter Speeder's gone for a whole week?" Sam asked, accepting the hand Danny offered to help her in.

"I doubt it," he assured her. "They hardly ever use it, and it usually stays parked out of sight of the main lab, so they won't see that it's gone either."

"Okay then."

Sam took the first shift driving. The Specter Speeder had a compass that always pointed to the Fenton Portal, so no matter how far they went or in which direction, they'd always be able to find their way back when they were ready to head home. With that assurance, their plan was to just keep going until they saw something cool and then stop to check it out.

Their first stop had been a huge metal monolith that Tucker had wanted to see. It was a like a gigantic metal needle, as tall as a skyscraper and as wide around as a baseball diamond. Surrounding it on all sides was about half a mile of black sand. When Tucker touched the outside of the monolith it started to hum, a low, steady note that reverberated up the whole needle and made the sand around it ripple. The second he took his hand away, the sound stopped and the sands stilled. Not even an echo could be heard to break the instantaneous silence.

"Woah... cool."

"Let me try!" Danny said, and put both his hands on the monolith. This time it oscillated back and forth between two notes, one much lower than it had made for Tucker and one slightly higher. The sand surrounding the monolith rippled again, but the oscillating notes made the ripples look sharp, like a many-pointed star. That wouldn't have happened with Earth physics, but there was so much still to learn about the physics of the Ghost Zone. "Awesome." He took his hands off and, abruptly, everything was still and silent once more.

"My turn!" Sam put a single finger against the cool metal surface and a pleasant high note sounded with an echoey reverb that made the sand around them ripple into a shape like a rose. "Ooh."

"Wait! I wanna see what happens if we all touch it at once!" Danny said. Sam and Tucker nodded their approval and they all stood, grinning, with their hands poised, ready to touch the monolith again. "Ready? One. Two." They all put their hands against the monolith at once.

A shrill, piercing high note pushed the sand back in a big wave. Instantly they pulled their hands away to cover their ears, but it was too late. The sound had stopped instantly, but something had already awakened under the monolith. Hundreds of hand-sized black crabs with glowing red eyes appeared at the base, and the trio jumped back. Hundreds became thousands. They kept coming, more of them and more of them. The trio started to run, sprinting full tilt back to the Specter Speeder as millions of crabs came after them, sharp pincers and spindly legs right on their heels.

Halfway to the speeder, Tucker nearly collapsed from running and Sam and Danny grabbed him by the arms and lifted him up, carrying him with them.

"Drive! Drive!" Danny shouted the instant they were in the speeder with Sam behind the controls, and she floored it right out of there.

Once they were safely away from the monolith and its crab-infested sands, they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Well, that was cool," Sam commented. "Until it attacked us." Tucker was too busy wheezing from the run to add his own opinion.

"I have a feeling, we're going to be saying that about a lot of things on this trip," Danny said, panting slightly. The three of them broke out into breathless laughs.

Next

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

What if one day, Danny was suddenly has the power to fuse with people like in Steven Universe? Like, when he phases into people, he has a choice of either overshadowing them or fusing with them.

He prefers to do it with Sam, Tucker, & Jazz because they're friends & always on hand. Because of Sam & Tucker having been infected with ecto-acne & possessed by powerful entities before (Undergrowth & Duul Aman's staff), they have slight ecto-signatures & echoes of the powers they had when possessed & this results in a more powerful fusion with new abilities. What do you think?

I am on board, i love me some fusion! and having it be ecto-based is interesting. i'd say everyone in town, especially the high schoolers have at least some level of ecto contamination but the line when it becomes a signature is what interests me. sam and tucker are far from the only ones to be possessed, after all. most of the town has been possessed. but i suppose the power level of the ghost makes a difference. i'd also argue that the fact that sam and tucker have litterally been in the ghost zone, same for val actually(the skulker kidnapping). so that could also be a large contribute to all three of them developing signatures.

however much as i love exploring overpowered character, i'm also a writer and need conflict, so balancing. danny should only be able to fuse with people with ecto signatures. if they're too human his ghost side doesn't have enough ecto to fuse with. if they're too ghost, it mostly becomes fighting over who controls his human half. as such the main people he can fuse with would be sam, tucker, valerie, vlad, and dani. maybe jazz but i haven't seen her get exposed to to much ectoplasm (but then again she has lived in that house for years). i could also see the high schoolers, slowly developing enough of a signature to join the list of potential fusion allies but danny would hesitate to fuse with people he doesn't trust anyway. emergency only basis for them.

aside, i feel it's reasonable to assume this is a adaptable core danny fic, because purely ice core would not explain this ability and it's certainly not something other ghost can do or something vlad knows he can do. i imagine it's a rare power in itself and the fact that danny developed it at all was because a major fight. possibly against a hivemind? a being that would critisize him for not being able to beat him because he's just one ghost against many.

continuing the balancing, separating is harder than fusing and there's a strong chance of danny and friends getting stuck the first few times after discovering this power. and the longer spent fused the harder it is to detach. this is one of the areas that it would differ from SU. in SU fusion is mainly a meeting of the minds, a relationship. unfusing is as easy as a disagreement, of wanting to separate. in DP it's a meeting of cores and well... ectoplasm is sticky. i have the mental image of two globs of ectoplasm slowly mixing into each other and merging into one core. one person/ghost. the longer they're stuck together the more the colors blend and the harder it is to separate them out again. arguments or dislike can still help separate the cores. but i imagine the more you trust and care about someone the harder it is to separate in general. this'll give the trio a reason not to fuse recklessly all the time. they love each other and being fused all the time would be great if there weren't consequences. defusing between the three of them is usually a little reluctant.

i'd also say unwilling fusion, say vlad trying to force a fusion with danny would lead to the cores actively rejecting each other. the cores would just refuse to merge, almost bouncing off each other. no consent, no fusion. sticky fusion would be too parasitic otherwise- Hestia

(tbc)

[melancholicmarionette]

The Radiation AU

So I may or may not have written myself into a bit of a corner on OOtW and so while I procrastinate on fixing that (and also packing, I am moving in less than a month), I thought I would sort of write about the “ghostly radiation” thing that story makes use of. This is something me and @juneluxray use to mess around with on DeviantArt forever ago except slightly spookier, and it’s not at all unique to us I want to just post about it bc if you brilliant people could write more stories like it I would be so so happy.

So there are two kinds of origins in this thing, where

1. Danny’s ghost half gives off a certain amount of ectoplasmic radiation and so Sam and Tucker hanging around Danny all the time gives them latent ghostiness.

2. The portal doors were open when the accident happened and Sam and Tucker were partially contaminated with…bonus ghostiness.

(Ghostiness is a technical term)

The difference between the two is whether I want it to be something Danny feels guilty about (1) or if I just want it to be Sam’s fault (2). Who I feel like upsetting.

So it starts with them being able to heal faster, which they feel kinda jazzed about bc they can better help Danny with ghosts with sturdier bodies, so to speak. Danny still worries about them constantly.

This then evolves into the basic ghost powers, invisibility, intangibility, etc, but Danny still has powers unique to him and can transform into his alter ego and Sam and Tucker don’t really have that luxury. But they develop further as well.

Sam: plant based powers of course bc I love latent plant queen Sam, every story with it is chef’s kiss. We start with just manipulation of how fast and how large plants grow, then there’s a power where she can detect people from far away, like if they step on a vine that she’s currently connected to mentally. This is very useful.

Also, eventually venomous fangs, which is less useful and terrifying.

Tucker: my boy. I at first had trouble bc he doesn’t really have a plant Sam-like thing to go off of, “Pharaoh power” isn’t really a thing that’s easy to conceptualize into something that’s not godmode power. I do give him suggestion/hypnosis, the ability to compel someone to do something bc OH BOY is he gonna have to rein that shit in. I also like manipulating electricity for him, so he can live his nerd dreams. Not shooting it from his fingers, but just like…being able to redirect it in a way? There’s a ghost shield up here, or a bunch of cameras, it’d be a shame if the power were to just fail randomly with no explanation…

Anyway. I just thought I’d post this bc it’s fun and it’s not really a spoiler for the fanfic bc…this is just a thing, it’s not the important part. I may write more with it. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk