#he killed vlad but vlad had something set up to out danny if he ever died so danno had to run into a new world

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny slowly lowered himself down onto Luther's newest death machine thanks to his bat themed grappling hook. Making special care not to let his heart beat or his lungs take in breath lest Superman hear him and intervene, he used his intangibility to sink into the machine itself to steal its parts.

Yeah, so a full white outfit wasn't the best choice for stealth, but it was better than dressing like a traffic light. Plus the black gloves and boots made him feel nostalgic. It had been only seven months since the accident that took his life, so much has happened since then.

Biting his lip as he smiled as he began gathering up parts and wires with his intangibility and placing them into his bag. Lastly he grabbed the power source, which-surprise, surprise, is kryptonite.

After he grabbed what he wanted he quickly stuck a note on the maintenance panel of the machine for when someone opened it and discovered it now had a large hollow space, then simply sank down through the floor and flew to freedom.

Danny sighed once he was clear. Or, at least he thought he was.

"Young man." Crud. Danny turned around to see big blue floating behind him in all his red underwear glory. Great. "I believe you have something that doesn't belong to you." The Kryptonian said, looking pointedly at the large chunk of kryptonite Danny held under his arm.

Instead of an excuse, Danny got an idea. "Uh, hello? Recognize the mask?" He said, gesturing to his face.

Superman narrowed his eyes, staring at his face for a few very long seconds and just as Danny was about to cut his losses and book it out of there, a look of recognition graced the heros face. Sweet. "Thats Nightwings mask."

"Yeah. Just smaller."

Superman nodded, then asked, "Why aren't you wearing a bat symbol? I wouldn't have thought you were a thief if I knew you were working with Batman." Danny had to fight to keep his face neutral.

"I haven't decided what symbol I want on my suit yet." And that was true. Danny wasn't sure he wanted any symbol at all. The mark of the bat would mean that he belonged in the batclan, and Danny was a lone ghost. A wandering spirit if you will. He didn't belong anywhere.

Some small part of his mind that sounded suspiciously like Jazz said that might be one of the reasons he's been behaving so poorly lately, but he brushed it off. Superman just nodded sagely. Danny doubted he actually knew how Danny felt and was just nodding along to appear sympathetic. Adults lie, and they lie often. Danny kinda hated them for it.

"Well, I'm kinda on a deadline, so I should get going. Crime to fight, goth furry to annoy, you know how it is." Danny said, waving the arm that wasn't carrying the kryptonite around in the air before using it to readjust the bags strap on his shoulder.

"Alright," superdude smiled warmly, "Tell Batman I said hi." Danny grinned back at him as he jogged away, "Will do!"

That went better than expected. Thank you, Nightwing~! The boy thought to himself as he ran off into a secluded area and turned invisible and flying away.

Just imagining Supermans face if- no- when Batman finally breaks and tells the Justice League about the little menace thats been stealing all his and his sidekicks stuff for the last few weeks nearly sends Danny into hysterics.

Danny still has Robins sword mounted above the fireplace in his favorite safe house in Costa del Sol. Red Hoods "favorite" motorcycle was in its garage and Red Robins wrist computer and chest harness thing were mounded in a glass case next to the first thing he stole from them:

Batmans utility belt.

Sure, its a pain to remove all the tracking stuff from them, but man is he proud of those accomplishments.

Still. Its better to leave Metropolis after he got caught by Superman. Its only a mater of time before someone finds out about the old switcheroo he pulled at the last museum robbery and that combined with the bodies of those creepy rich guys he had killed (human trafficer buyers) well, surely Batman has noticed he had been gone for a while and would pick up on the matching M.O. in Metropolis.

Time to bounce.

[nanenna]

Today I remembered that my favorite thing about having so many AUs is to pick up 2 AUs like Barbie dolls and clack their faces together while making smooching noises.

Behold my beloved DCxDP AU amalgamation monster: DeamonTwinAU and PhantomThiefAU (aka: Selina gives Danny a slutty slutty cat suit, good times)

The story vaguely goeth thusly: Danny is a halfa, the Balance, the Bridge Between Worlds, he is....... the Observants' glorified gofer. You see, there are a lot of cursed/enchanted/ghostly artefacts floating around loose in the living Realm and they need Danny to go retrieve them. Danny would rather not, but they just won't leave him alone about it. Can't a guy just live? At least let him poop in peace! Ancients! Fine, he'll do it if it'll get them to shut up. (Spoiler: it does, in fact, not get them to shut up.)

But you see, Danny has a secret: he was raised in an assassin ninja cult (at least for the early years) before getting adopted by the Fentons. Now the killing? Not a fan, no thanks, he's working on not increasing his kill count, thx. But the sneaking? He could use that. Sneaky ninjas are also good thieves, right? So he cobbles together a knock off League of Assassins outfit, buys a cheap portable lock picking set, and decides to make a game of how far can he get without using his powers (much. He's new at this okay?)

Batman is not having fun. There's some (possible?) League assassin running around stealing verified cursed/magical artefacts! Is Talia planning something? Is Ra's planning something? (Isn't he for real dead? Silly reader, no one is ever for real dead in DC.)

Robin is super frustrated. For all the same reasons Batman is but also because he just knows this new rogue is taunting him. Personally. Because he's Damian al Ghul Wayne and the whole world revolves around him, obviously. (And also because he once pointed at Robin and laughed before jumping out a window.)

Selina is intrigued. Who is this kid? How does he know what to go after? How does he keep evading the bats? Luckily she runs into him mid heist (fortunately they had different targets, she's intrigued but not enough to hand over her shinies to him) and oh he's adorable! She has to train him, it would drive Brucie up the wall. But then she sees his face and oh, she knows exactly who he is, even if he seems oblivious.

Because Danny? He's in Gotham for the ecto, for the Thomas Wayne full ride scholarship he managed to snag, and also because for some reason Gotham is full of so many cursed/ghost artefacts. (Lady Gotham is seething, she worked hard to collect all those curses! But this is her beloved dark knight's kid and she kinda wants him home. But she also doesn't want to give up her curses!) Back to the point: Danny doesn't care about ANY of the rich bougie people. The Waynes give out a lot of scholarships? Cool, that's nice and all. They probably also rub elbows with Vlad or Sam's parents. No thanks. Doesn't care. He's got better things to worry about.

Selina has got a plan though! She's gonna teach this boy how to thief properly, starting with better tools (including the slutty, slutty cat burglar outfit). She also knows that she can't let any of the Waynes (in or out of costume) meet Danny (out of costume). So does Lady Gotham. So does the universe apparently (or just Clockwork maybe), because all kinds of unlikely things keep happening to prevent it.

Danny is having so much fun though! He's learning new skills. Selina is giving him an allowance so he's not living off ramen and peanut butter sandwiches, he's doing well in school, he gets to stretch his ghost powers regularly to go above the smog cover and star gaze in peace. Everything's coming up Danny.

Selina decides it's time to flaunt her find in front of Brucie and makes Danny go to a gala as her date, she spends the entire time clinging to his arm and introducing him around to everyone. Including Bruce himself (who just so happens to have Damian in tow). Danny may not recognize Bruce, but he sure recognizes Damian, and Damian recognizes him if his utterly flabbergasted face is anything to go by. But Danny remembers what it was like living in the League. And so far as he knows Damian is still in it, he was the Demon Head's heir after all. Damian made sure of it.

Oh it. Is. ON! Now Danny is on a mission! A sibling rivalry mission! He is going to make Damian's/Robin's a living hell. Selina going on a heist that has no magical artefacts? Danny's there anyway, always have back up. That necklace in the museum has barely any powers and he wasn't even going to bother with it? Too bad, it's back on the list. He has no reason to be out at all but the bats are on patrol? Well so is Danny. Catch him if you can, suckers!

It's good for Danny, it's enrichment!

[woodland-gremlin]

How to Adopt Your Clone Pt. 3

Previous

Fury burns through her at the words so carelessly thrown around that anyone could easily mistake her having a fire core instead of a wind one. First her crummy Creator corners her in a public place forcing her to split her attention to make sure their fight doesn’t affect anyone else or get attacked by the GIW. Second, the public place was the haunt of one of the founders of the Hypocrite League. Third, she was mistaken as a villain by said founder. Fourth, she still doesn’t know what 16th Century Up-Do is really planning because she doubts it is an apology for all the shit he has put her through. And now the Lying-Liar calls the Packer’s Fanatic her father! She doesn’t care about the consequences of attacking the government's pet lap dogs anymore. After that all bets are off!

“He is not,” Ellie twists her wrist so that she is the one holding on to the idiotic heroes wrist instead, “my,” she tightens her hold, “father!” Ellie wails, tapping into her ghostly wail.

Steal Thong screams, kneeling over, desperately trying to cover his bleeding ears. Ellie’s Wail might not have the raw power that her brother’s has without risking destabilization, but with how well she can control it with her wind core, how close Superdouche was, and how sensitive his enhanced senses it was enough to knock him out.

As the hero struggled in the air, not falling only because of the hold Ellie had on his wrist, Boundary-Bastard began to cackle like those cliche cartoon villains. All he needed to complete the picture was to be sitting behind one of his tacky desks while petting his cat, Maddie. How Danny got more creeped out by the Fruitloop naming his cat after Danny’s mam more than getting cloned she’ll never know.

“Oh Danielle,” More Money Than Sense chuckles while wiping an imaginary tear from his eye, “You really are my daughter, aren’t you?”

Ellie growls, waving her arms in her fury, momentarily forgetting the hero she held captive. “I’m not your daughter you Creep. I’m nothing like you.”

All Ellie’s words did was set off Crummy Vampire Cosplay in another cackling fit. “Oh really,” he purred, “then you didn’t just defeat the world’s so-called greatest hero?”

Ellie stills, turning her eyes downwards towards the hero she was holding. Yelping, she dropped her hold on the hero like a hot potato before grabbing him again. As much as she would like to let him go she doesn’t know if a drop from this height would kill him and really didn’t want to find out.

“I didn’t-didn’t mean,” the youngest Halfa stuttered out, not daring to look into the oldest Halfa’s eyes. Not wanting to look at the one you just stated one of her greatest fears out loud. That she was just like the one she hates the most. That she never escaped his grasp. That everything she did was not out of free will, but something she was programmed to do. That she was just a pale imitation of Danny, in the end becoming Vlad’s perfect child. That she was a monster masquerading as a child.

“You didn’t mean to?” Plasmius mockingly parroted back, “Of course not, just like how you didn’t mean to betray Daniel all those years ago.”

Ellie flinched, absentmindedly tightening her hold on the unconscious hero.

“Face it Danielle, no matter what you do all you will ever do is hurt people, no matter what you intend. After all,” Plasmius crows, towering over the trembling clone, “you are my creation.”

To be continued . . .

Next

[nerdofspades]

Danny is on the run (reveal gone wrong, Vlad went too far, or GIW gaining brain cells, take your pick) and he makes his way to Gotham, the only place he can reasonably hide.

He's injured, scared, and cut off from all his resources, so he's been squating in a rundown half abandoned apartment somewhere, waiting to be healed enough to start trying to figure out something more sustainable.

And it just so happens that this place is where Jason sets up his first safe house when he returns to Gotham to become Red Hood, kill the Joker, and beat Bruce over the head with his failures.

Obviously, because Danny was squating, no one was really able to warn either of them about the other.

So Jason literally walks into the apartment with bags of essentials (including many guns) and basic furniture on the way and the first thing he sees is a half feral teenager in filthy ragged clothes, bundled in thread bare (and just as dirty) blankets just. In the corner.

Now, dirty or not, the kid is obvious Wayne bait. (Sure Bruce had only taken in three at this point, but three is a patern.) And Jason might be pit mad, but he is not kicking out a starving kid that looks like he's waiting for Jason to literally kick him. Not when he knows what it's like on the streets. Not when he knows this kid could wind up in the manor.

So he just. Moves in around him. And makes sure there's enough food for both of them that night. And the next.

He isn't adopting the kid. Definitely not. He's got revenge plans to deal with but... he's not heartless either. Kid can come and go as he pleases, but if he can provide a safe place for him to sleep and some warm food he doesn't have to steal, then he's going to.

On Danny's end. He knows there's something sketchy about this guy. He smells like shit, and he got this crappy apartment, but he also clearly has money? All the furniture is pretty clean and new (though it's all generic and nothing fancy). And of course. All the guns. Hard to ignore that part.

Danny really shouldn't stay anywhere near him. Not safe. (Not for either of them if who ever he's running from catches up and this guy shows up on their radar.)

Hell. This guy should know better than to let a total stranger hang out when he's planning something that requires that many guns.

But all he does is tell Danny he can stay and to not touch the guns.

And then he feeds Danny.

And gives him a spare key.

Neither of them speak to each other for weeks.

Danny is well enough to move. But he doesn't want to.

So he doesn't.

He comes and he goes. But he doesn't leave.

(It's a bad idea. He should leave. But. Maybe there's safety in numbers.)

And then things start shaking up. Black Mask's lieutenant are dead. Someone is starting a gang war.

But no one can figure out who's leading it. No one knows what gang.

Danny sees his... live in acquaintance come back to the apartment injured.

He sees more guns and more ammunition.

He knows it's not a gang.

Not yet.

They still don't talk.

Not until Red Hood comes in through the window one night, and Danny grabs the first aid kit and patches him up without asking any questions.

He makes the first step and tells Hood his name. Only his first name. His last isn't useful anymore.

And they talk.

They share some stories.

Edited. Half true stories.

And they talk through some stupid shit.

But eventually. They stop hiding behind half truths too. It only takes so many times covering each other for the full story to spill.

In for a penny and all that.

Jason convinces Danny he should finish his schooling.

Danny convinces Jason that maybe the new Robin isn't a part of his problems.

Jason doesn't drop his plans for revenge. Or stop blaming Bruce.

Danny refuses to go to a public school, but allows for online schooling.

Jason gets Danny a new name. A new identity. He needs one for school.

Maybe he did adopt the kid after all.

Jason really hopes Bruce never finds out.

Of course Bruce finds out.

[duchi-nesten]

DannyMay Day 26: Art/Fic Switch!

Treats and Threats

Summary:

Valerie was going to kick Phantom’s ass for this! The only problem? She didn’t know where to find him.

Good thing Cujo was more than willing to help in exchange for some treats. Too bad he wasn’t very good at distinguishing which Danny he was meant to find though...

Word Count: 2894 || AO3 Link

Did I use this day as an excuse to try writing something for the shared cujostody au?? Maybe...

it referances this comic a little bit...

[Shared Cujostody AU Masterpost]

---

Valerie was gonna kick Phantom’s ass for this. Did he think she wouldn’t notice?

She looked over to Cujo, who was sniffing all over her room. He just came over as he often did. Phantom liked to think they had a set custody schedule or whatever it was he called it, but in reality Cujo just came by whenever he wanted and to whichever of them he wanted.

She was reluctant to ‘’adopt’’ the ghost dog at first. Yes, she wasn’t as mad at him anymore after she finally listened to Phantom and found out why exactly Cujo was now a ghost, but that didn’t mean she had to like him. He was incredibly persistent though and the more time Valerie spent around the dog, the more she started loving him. He was just a tiny little puppy, a ball of joy who wanted to play all the time.

She even kept some treats for him for whenever he came over and started making and buying him some dog clothes. He loved dressing up, especially when they got to match. And it made Phantom jealous, so it was just bonus points for her really.

Phantom used to insist that the dog wasn’t his, but now it seemed like they were fighting for who gets to have him. Okay, she was fighting. That idiot seemed delighted to share the ‘’custody’’, he kept making jokes about them being a family which was genuinely getting on her nerves. He was so infuriating.

She did agree to a truce with him after finding out he was right about Vlad, but that didn’t mean she had to enjoy sharing Cujo with that menace. He was too careless and brute with the puppy. Which is exactly why she needed to find him right now and kill him, truce be damned.

Unfortunately for her the ghost attacks have been kinda on the down low lately and she had no idea where he hung out when he wasn’t fighting them. She did send him a bunch of text messages and even tried calling (which was still so weird! How did he even get that phone??), but she was sent to voicemail every time.

If only there was a way for her to track him down…

She glanced at Cujo, who had his head stuck in the plastic box of treats. She sighed. Truly nothing could stop a ghost dog. She always tried hiding these from him, but no matter where she put the box he always managed to sniff it out.

Which gave her an idea. If he could sniff these out then maybe…

‘’Cujo, baby. You know you’re not supposed to eat those.’’ she gently pushed his head out of the box. If he really wanted to he could just phase through her hand and continue, but he was a good boy and always listened. Yet he kept his eyes on the treats as if they would disappear at any moment. She chuckled.

‘’I’ll give you a treat if you do something for me.’’ she said and his eyes instantly snapped to her. His tail slowly swayed back and forth. ‘’Can you find Phantom for me? Sniff him out?’’

Cujo blinked at her before barking happily, tail full on wagging now. He phased through her hand and made his way through the bedroom window. She quickly jumped to follow him, nearly yanking the window off its hinges. Her suit making a humming sound as it activated.

He got quite ahead of her, but she managed to keep up just fine. She did have his ecto-signature marked in her tracker just in case she ever lost track of him, but she also had Phantom’s and that one tended to disappear off her radar at random. She wasn’t so inclined to test if Cujo’s wouldn’t do the same.

They flew their way through Amity Park before Cujo suddenly took a sharp turn towards her high school. She saw him growing into his bigger form before he disappeared behind the building.

As she rounded the corner and saw Cujo’s back, tail wagging. It seemed like he was holding someone in his mouth.

Got ya, ghost boy.

She landed behind the dog and could hear his captive yelling

‘’Cujo! I can’t right now! I told you to go to-’’

Cujo turned around to show his catch to Valerie and…

‘’Oh-... Heheh.. hi Red! Uh.. Huntress!’’

That was not Danny Phantom.

That was Danny Fenton.

‘’CUJO NO. Shit, I’m so sorry Da-uh citizen!’’ She quickly raced up to them and coaxed her puppy into releasing her ex boyfriend. Which he did by letting him fall face first on the ground. ‘’SHIT.’’

Valerie knelt down next to him to help him rise to his feet.

‘’Are you okay??’’

‘’Yeah.’’ he said, standing up to his full height, which was only slightly taller than her. He looked at her and sent her a bright smile. ‘’Don’t worry about it.’’

She smiled back knowing that he probably struggled to see it through her visor. His view got even more obscured when Cujo put his huge snout in between them wagging his tail happily. Which ended up with him accidentally knocking over some full trash cans standing behind him.

‘’Ugh. Cujo, I just cleaned that up.’’ Danny said resigned, moving over to the garbage. ‘’Lancer’s gonna have my head if he sees another piece of mutated meat.’’

Valerie looked at the knocked over trash and sure enough it was full of disgusting glowing green meat. Or at least what was left of it. It looked maimed and burned.

Right. He was recording a tiktok during lunch today. She was eating in the library while working on her missed homework, so she didn’t get to see it herself, but she heard the rumors. Apparently he put some sort of new ectoplasmic concoction from his parents lab in his serving of today’s mystery meat. It backfired and spread to every piece of meat in the cafeteria like a disease.

People were saying it was like a zombie apocalypse with all the meat moving around the room. Some even said they saw the Lunch Lady ghost appear for a second before she noticed Danny in the middle of it and left terrified. Which if that was true Valerie couldn’t blame her. Danny’s eating habits probably made her turn in her grave.

‘’You didn’t eat it, did you?’’ she asked, squinting at a small piece of meat that apparently survived whatever happened to the rest of it and was slowly crawling away from them, likely trying to escape. Danny picked it up and squashed it in his hand before it got far.

‘’Obviously I did.’’ he turned to her with a familiar shit-eating grin on his face, moving the thing he caught closer to his mouth as if to prove a point.

Damn him. How could he be so endearing even when he was being disgusting?

She shook her head chuckling and looked at Cujo instead. He was looking right back at her expectantly. Right.

‘’No Cujo, no treats until you find Phantom for me.’’ she said sternly. She saw Danny trip over a trash can lid out of the corner of her eye. ‘’You good there?’’

‘’Wha-Yes! Ha- Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine! Don’t mind me!’’ he tried to act cool, almost losing his footing again. Dork.

Cujo whined at her, stepping from front paw to front paw and cocking his head to the right. He knew damn well he looked cute when he did that, no matter which form.

‘’Baby, no. I’m not gonna cave. Find Phantom and I’ll give you a treat then.’’ she said calmly trying to stroke him behind the ear, but since he was in big mode she had to settle for his cheek.

He whined a bit more letting out a little pathetic bark to go with it. He turned and stalked over to Danny, poking him in the back with his nose, which made the boy squeak.

‘’No, Cujo.’’ she said, sighing. ‘’That’s the wrong Danny you’re thinking of.’’

‘’Y-Yeah, buddy!’’ Danny chuckled nervously, petting Cujo’s snout. ‘’I’m not the one you’re looking for! Definitely not! I’m not Phantom, why would you even think that? You’re not thinking that right?’’

Okay he was acting weird. Almost as if he was hiding something.

Valerie looked him up and down. His eyes were wide, observing her every move with fear. One arm was rubbing his neck, which he always did when he was nervous. The other still stroking Cujo’s fur almost instinctively.

That’s when it clicked.

‘’No fucking way.’’ she uttered absolutely baffled.

It made so much sense.

‘’W-What?’’ he asked, his voice cracking.

‘’How many times did that asshole leave you as a dogsitter?’’

She knew Phantom did that. She caught Cujo in the background of one of Danny’s tiktoks a while ago and when she confronted Phantom about it he admitted to ‘’hiring’’ Danny as a dogsitter sometimes.

If that asshole left Cujo with Danny too often, then no wonder the poor puppy would mistake Danny for his second caretaker. Oh she was going to kick his irresponsible ghost ass even harder now!

‘’Uh… w-wha..?’’ Danny tilted his head questionably.

‘’I know about the dogsitting, Danny. And it looks like he’s leaving Cujo with you so often that the dog thinks you’re him!’’

‘’Oh… you think-’’ he knitted his eyebrows in confusion before his eyes widened. ‘’Oh! Oh, hahah, he didn’t- I mean it wasn’t many times! Maybe like twice! Is this the dog? I didn’t even recognise him, I don’t even remember his name!’’

Cujo whined again, turning into his puppy form and jumped in Danny’s arms, who barely managed to catch him in time. He started sniffing and licking his face distressed.

‘’Cujo stop! I mean! Dog whose name I don’t remember…’’ that made Cujo whine even harder and Danny flinched. He instantly gave up and buried his face in Cujo’s fur. Valerie could barely hear him mutter ‘’I can’t do this to you.’’

That interaction only reaffirmed Valerie’s suspicions.

‘’Don’t cover up for him.’’ she said, crossing her arms. ‘’I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at him. He’s going to pay for this too.’’

‘’Uh…why were you even looking for him in the first place? Did he do something?’’

‘’Yes, he knows what he did! And now this! The moment I find him I’m gonna kick his ass so hard he’ll be the gone kind of dead!’’

‘’… well you definitely won’t find him now…’’

‘’What?’’

‘’Nothing!’’ Danny shoved Cujo in her arms and started walking off before she could even react. ‘’Anyway I’ll be going now! Gotta finish cleaning so Lancer doesn’t kill me! Bye Val!’’

‘’Bye-....wait…what did you just call me?’’

Danny stopped frozen in his tracks. She stared at his back bewildered.

He slowly turned around and stared back at her too.

‘’...Bye Red Huntress! It was nice to see you, I’ll go disappear behind that corner now!’’ he yelled nervously and booked it behind said corner.

It took her a second to shake off the shock. Cujo jumped out of her arms as she quickly followed after the boy.

‘’DANNY.’’

She rounded the corner to see that he did in fact disappear. Shit.

She was sure he called her Val. How did he know about her secret identity? She was always so careful! It did explain his weird behavior though, he probably didn’t know how to act around her like this.

She needed to talk to him immediately, he couldn’t just reveal something like this and run off!

Though that is exactly what he did. How did he even disappear like that? This boy was impossible sometimes.

In frustration she knocked her head on the wall a few times. What was her life at this point?

Her thoughts got interrupted when she heard Cujo’s bark and a yelp come from behind her. Turning around only provided her with even more frustration when she saw Danny mcfucking Phantom laying helplessly under Cujo’s once again big paw.

‘’Why must you do this to the hand that feeds you…’’ he hissed to Cujo before turning his attention towards Valerie. ‘’Hey Red! You look very good today! Are those new arm plates on your suit?’’

Danny Fenton could wait. She was gonna deal with this asshole first.

‘’YOU.’’ she roared stalking over to them. Cujo looked up at her coming closer and switched to his puppy form again laying his whole body on Phantom’s chest, wagging his tail and barking excitedly.

‘’Ah.. hahah, have you been looking for me?’’ Phantom said, raising into a sitting position, even though Cujo was making it difficult for him.

‘’I’m going to end you!’’ Valerie yelled, pulling out her gun and making sure to aim it at his face and away from the dog in his lap.

‘’I thought we had a truce! What did I do?!’’

‘’YOU KNOW DAMN WELL WHAT YOU DID.’’

‘’No, I actually don’t!’’

She let her gun disappear back into her suit and angrily knelt beside them. Picking up Cujo from his lap, she turned him around to show Phantom a charred section of fur on his right back leg.

‘’I FOUND SOME SINGED FUR ON CUJO AGAIN. You were playing too harshly with him! again!’’ she put the puppy down, so she could stand up summoning her gun back and aim it at the ghost boy in front of her.

Phantom looked from the gun to her, at Cujo and then back to the gun.

‘’……. Listen in my defense he really likes fetching ectoblasts…’’

‘’He’s gonna be fetching your ectoplasm when I’m done with you! What were you thinking?! He’s not one of your vile rouge buddies! He’s a little puppy! How many times have I told you to be softer with him?!’’

‘’Valerie, with all due respect…That dog can chew off Skulker’s head, he can take a few tiny burns! He doesn’t even react to it!’’ he defended standing up too. He kept his hands in the air as a sign of surrender. ‘’Can’t I just play catch with my own son?’’

Cujo barked from the side.

‘’UgH your SON that you constantly leave with Danny! Apparently you do that so often that he’s more used to Danny’s scent than yours!’’ she yelled irritated.

‘’Uh…I’m a ghost…. I don’t have a scent?’’ he answered, uncertain before nodding to himself. ‘’Yes. Yes! I don’t have… a scent for him to find. Only uh… Only material beings do.’’ he added still unsure and she swore she could hear him mutter something about being a genius.

‘’What.’’

‘’He couldn’t sniff me out and uh… you and Danny are the only humans who have me on speed dial so he thought that was the best next thing. Yes, that’s definitely it.’’

‘’…What.’’

‘’Yeah! It’s true! Totally! So he did good!’’ he motioned to Cujo which made him wag his tail more. ‘’Give him a treat, he deserves it. He’s a good boy!’’

The puppy barked happily.

‘’Yeah, you are!’’ Phantom crouched to coddle Cujo. ‘’Your mother just couldn’t see it! But don’t worry, your cool ass dad always got your back.’’

There he goes again with the family bullshit. Valerie slumped defeated and hid her gun.

‘’Ugh. Stop saying things like that to him, we’re not a family.’’ she groaned.

‘’Well yeah, we’re divorced.’’

‘’We never even dated!’’

‘’As far as you know.’’ he looked up at her with his dumb trademark smirk.

‘’What’s that supposed to mean?’’ she asked because what the actual fuck did he mean by that.

‘’Nothing!’’ he stood up quickly picking up Cujo to shove him in her arms and woah, did that give her deja vu. ‘’I have to go, can I have a rain check on that ass kicking? I’m very busy right now!’’

‘’Wha- No!’’ she protested trying to keep Cujo from licking her face. ‘’Get back here!’’

‘’Bye Val!’’ he yelled and flew off before she had the time to react. God damn it!

She turned her gaze down to Cujo’s pleading eyes.

‘’Alright.’’ she pulled out a dog treat from a tiny storage in her glove and gave it to Cujo. ‘’You did good baby.’’

She put him down on the ground so he could devour the treat in peace and sighed loudly. Phantom ran off like a little bitch and apparently Cujo couldn’t sniff him out. He would just go to Danny again.

Which reminded her. She still needed to have a talk with that boy. She did trust him not to tell anyone, but she needed to know how he found out in the first place, so she can make sure no one else can find out the same way. She should probably give him a bit of time before she gets Cujo to stalk him out again though.

The puppy had finished his little treat and was now looking at her with those cute red puppy dog eyes. She couldn’t hold back the smile that overtook her face. Whatever. She’ll deal with Danny at school tomorrow. And deal with Phantom whenever she sees him next.

‘’C’mon Cujo. Let’s go home.’’

It was on the way home when a sudden thought hit her.

DID PHANTOM TELL DANNY ABOUT HER IDENTITY THE SAME WAY HE DID WITH HER DAD?

[q-gorgeous]

Frozen in Space

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 1304

Dani's first time in space. @bibliophilea

gogogoogogogoogogogo

This was Dani’s first time in space.

She was so excited. She went and “borrowed” Danny’s helmet he had and flew as fast as she could into the sky. She couldn’t believe how long it had taken her to think about going into space and exploring. That was her whole thing. Exploring! She couldn’t believe she hadn’t done this before now. 

Her first stop was the moon. She brought her own flag with a picture of herself on it to place next to the American flag. The gravity on the moon was fun too. Floating because of a change in gravity was much different than floating because you were a ghost. Floating because you were a ghost was too controlled. The gravity on the moon was a little more unpredictable. 

Then she went to explore some of the big craters on the moon. They were unlike anything she’s ever seen before. When she left, she bid the moon and its craters a good farewell and thanked it for catching most of the asteroids before they hit the earth. 

Next she headed to Mars. She was hoping she’d discover water somewhere, or even find Opportunity and fix her, but all she found was the remains of a potato farm. That was nowhere near as exciting, not when she could find potato farms back on earth. 

The further she got from the sun, the colder it got. It wasn’t too uncomfortable, but it was definitely much colder than her ghost form was used to. 

The gas giants made it worth it though. While she couldn’t go into the planets to see what was there because of the winds and conditions, getting that close to them was still cool.

The storm on Jupiter made her feel like an ant in the best way. Then on Saturn she had fun laying on rocks and getting pulled by Saturn's orbit. Then she found out that Uranus has its own set of rings like Saturn does. Neptune had big dark spots. She read that they were supposed to be storms like Jupiter’s great red spot but they lasted nowhere near as long.

She was just past Pluto and almost to the Kuiper Belt when she saw something odd. She flew forward to get a better look. 

Dani’s heart stopped when she saw what was floating in the space in front of her. 

The big chunk of ice slowly spun around to face her and she met Vlad’s frozen red eyes.  He was still in his ghost form with his space helmet on. How terrible to be lost out in space, cast out and unable to return. 

He was starting to drift towards the belt and Dani had a moment of panic. If he got caught in the belt would he disappear forever? Could she let that happen to him?

She knew he was an awful father. He never really wanted her. He just used her for his own gain. But he was still the only father figure she’d ever had. Those feelings were complicated but she didn’t think she’d want to see him forever lost to space. 

Would he still even be alive? She wasn’t sure. But she could at least give him some sort of memorial.

She quickly flew towards him before he disappeared into the deep vastness of space. She pushed the chunk of ice from behind and made her way back towards their part of the solar system. It would be a long trip back, especially with the new load, but this felt like the right decision. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Vlad woke up groggily. He could hardly move and his head was killing him. And he was so, so, so cold. It felt like he had just spent hours in an ice bath. 

He could tell he was in the ghost zone by the ambient ectoplasm in the air but that confused him. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was getting left behind by Jack in space and flying off deeper into the solar system. 

He was still fairly chilly. Most of the ghost zone wasn’t quite this cold. Where was he?

Vlad slowly pried his eyes open. He was somewhere he didn’t recognize. It looked like some kind of medical facility but everything seemed to be made of ice. This must be where those space yetis that Daniel befriended resided. But how did he get here? 

“We have much to learn about you halflings.” A booming voice said from down the hall. “It’s a miracle that a half-human like him could last for months frozen like that, even in his ghost form. But we believe he’ll make a full recovery.” 

“I don’t think he’ll ever be able to go back to earth, though.” A young girl’s voice said and Vlad’s brain stopped for a moment. “Would he even be happy to have been brought back?”

“My dear girl.” They stopped right outside the room Vlad was in. “He committed the most heinous acts and outlawed himself. This may be the chance that he needs to reflect on his life and his actions.” 

“Do you really think he can change?”

“There’s good and bad in every person and every ghost. It’s just what people do with their emotions that push them in one direction or the other. But ultimately it’ll be up to him.” 

“I guess.” 

“Are you ready to see him?”

There was a large pause and she took a deep breath. “Yes.”

A large yeti ghost with one ice arm walked into his room. And then slinking in behind him was Danielle.

Danielle.

A girl that he only ever used for his own self gain. That he manipulated and lied to to get what he wanted. And she just happened to find him somewhere and decided he was worth saving. 

She stopped when she saw him staring at her and she let the yeti walk up to him by himself.

“Hello, Plasmius. Welcome back. I’m Frostbite.”

“What happened? Where have I been?” Vlad rubbed at his head, his headache was not subsiding. 

“You were lost in space, frozen.” Vlad’s brows jumped up on his forehead. Frozen?

“How long was I frozen for?” Vlad asked. Danielle shifted behind Frostbite.

“It’s been eight months since the disasteroid happened.” She said. 

Vlad looked away from them and up at the ceiling. Four months. He’d been gone for four months. Somewhere no one would have noticed if not for this miracle. 

“Learning so much time has passed must be hard, but be grateful for the time you’ve gained. Your recovery will be swift and there will be no lasting damage.”

Vlad nodded, dazed. Frostbite turned and walked away from them but Danielle hovered nearby. He looked at her.

“Thank you.”

Her eyes shot up to meet his and her mouth dropped open.

“I didn’t treat you well. I should’ve been better. Should’ve acted like the father I wanted to be. It was wrong of me. You didn’t have to save me out there. You could’ve left me to float aimlessly forever, but you didn’t. And for that I’ll be forever grateful.” 

Danielle stared at him for a few moments and he thought she might just leave but tears welled up in her eyes.

“All I wanted was a dad. I was made, born at 12, with no place in society. I didn’t have a childhood. I didn’t have any friends. I just had a dad. That was all I wanted.”

Vlad nodded shamefully. “I know.”

“But neither of us have a place to be.” Danielle said after taking a deep breath. “No one can really understand us the way we do now. We can stick together. If you want. So neither of us will be so lonely.”

Vlad smiled a sad smile at her. “I would love that.”

[underforeversgrace]

the walls you hide behind (I saw the truth inside the real you) - 10

title: the walls you hide behind (I saw the truth inside the real you)

words: 2,646

Story Summary: Jazz is tired of the ghosts, tired of her parents not doing enough, tired of Phantom's recklessness and her brother's persistent exhaustion. When she yells all of her frustration at her parents after nearly getting killed by a ghost, she gets sent to Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin for the weekend - where she's offered a chance. She could have the ability to fight back, protect her brother and her town. Jazz leaps at the prospect. When she returns to Amity Park at the end of the weekend, it's with abilities and strength of her own, and she's fueled by anger and disdain. And she's got her eyes, first, on Danny Phantom.

Chapter 10 of 10: When All the Fires Burn

AO3

Tumblr Chapter One

Beta by: @probably-dead

(Also, check out the AO3 link for some really awesome art by @englandamericaitaly!)

~~~~~~

Ow was her first thought as consciousness slowly returned to her. Did she get hit by a train? Or a ghost driving a train? It sure felt like it.

Her body felt like every inch was covered in bruises - maybe even some bruises inside, too. She shifted slightly, realizing she was on a flat, metal surface. She didn’t want to open her eyes, it just seemed like so much effort, so much energy she didn’t have. She didn’t think she’d ever been this exhausted. Curiosity eventually got the better of her, though.

Jazz forced her eyes open, hissing slightly when bright light burned through her retinas. She heard someone shuffle around near her and the click of a light switch and the room dimmed significantly, lit only by an eerie green somewhere behind her. Well, that answered where she was, and the large assortment of devices she could just barely see with very clear FentonWorks logos on them confirmed it. Why was she in her parents’ lab?

With a groan and a stubbornness that would make a mule proud, she made herself sit up. Something tugged painfully at one of her arms and she frowned as she studied them. Was that an IV in the crook of her elbow? She studied her finger, an O2 sensor clipped on.  There was also a blood pressure cuff sitting on the arm opposite the IV and wires disappeared up under her shirt - she could hear the beeping of the heart monitor behind her, slow and steady.

“I always thought I’d be the one on that table. Not you.” Someone male said. She craned her neck slightly to see him.

“Danny?” She mumbled.

“Don’t think I’d have been this calm, though,” Danny said, tapping a finger on the screen where her heart rate was shown. “I’ve had too many nightmares of waking up on that table to be as calm as you are. Though, I imagine I’d be restrained.”

“I can’t… ugh, my head hurts…” Jazz said, short snippets of memory trying to return, only to be lost in the haze.

“You sometimes appeared to save me, did you know? In my dreams? Well, Jazz did. When the Trapper appeared, it was always to help Mom and Dad slice me open. She liked knives so much, after all.” Danny rubbed at his side and Jazz flinched.

“You know?” She asked, almost terrified of the answer. She vaguely remembered something about being Danny’s gym buddy and then all she had was fragments.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” 

Jazz’s heart nearly broke at the sadness and hurt in his voice. “I was scared you’d be scared of me,” she admitted. “I’d already been hurting you for so long as the Trapper. Every time I’d work up the courage to confess, I’d -”

“Shut up.” Danny interrupted. “Just… shut up, okay?”

As much as she wanted to apologize, she forced herself to be quiet.

“I get the secret identity thing, I really do. But you knew mine. And you just kept lying to me. Mom and Dad figured out the nanobots, just not where they came from. It was Vlad, wasn’t it?”

She went to nod, but just the idea made her head hurt. “Yeah. Told me I could protect the city… could protect you.”

“So he’s the one who set the target on Phantom’s back?”

“No,” she whispered as tears began to fall. “No, that was all me. I blamed Phantom. I thought it was his fault our lives were like this, thought he opened the portal and brought the ghosts here.”

Danny laughed, though it nearly sounded cruel, it was so devoid of humor. “And you were right. It is Phantom’s fault, after all. But let me guess, when you realized it was me, you stopped. Because I’m your brother, because I’m half human?”

“Of course! When I realized it was you, Danny -”

“Why is Phantom never enough? Why can’t any of you see the good he’s - I’ve - tried to do?” Danny asked, grabbing an empty glass vial off a nearby table. “Why can’t any of you just fucking see?!” He yelled, throwing the vial against a wall, Jazz shrieking as it shattered. “I just wanted you to see. That’s what I had been, and am still, waiting for. I had always planned on telling the three of you my secret. I just wanted to see one instance, just one moment of any of you thinking Phantom could be a good person. That’s when I was going to tell. When were you?”

Jazz’s answer was interrupted by the sound of her father’s footsteps stampeding down the stairs. “Jazzy-pants? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, pasting a tired smile onto her face.

“I just lost my temper, sorry,” Danny added. “Thinking about the ghost who did this to her.”

“Well, son, what else do you expect of a ghost? They don’t have a conscience or emotions. All they know how to do is hurt.”

“Right. Of course,” he said, his voice surprisingly level. Jazz could see him behind their father, saw him quickly wipe away tears caused by Jack’s words.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Jack asked, pulling a small penlight from his pocket and shining it in her eyes.

“Yeah. Uh, sore. Headache. Dry mouth. Nothing serious, though. Where’s Mom?”

“She’s just getting groceries. We didn’t think you’d wake up until tomorrow at the earliest, you’ve only been out a few hours. But we had to treat you at home - the… nanobots inside of you read with minor ecto-energy signatures. We worried they’d call the GIW.”

“I hadn’t even thought of that…”

“Well, I’m glad you're feeling better. Now,” he said, straightening up and putting his hand on his hips, using his rarely used I’m your father and you’re in trouble voice. “What in the hell happened? How are you the Violet Trapper?”

~~~~~~

The next few days passed slowly. She was able to be taken off most of the health monitoring devices and sleep in her own bed after the first night, to her relief. That table had hurt her back.

The various injuries she bore faded quickly, thanks to her rapid healing. She had apparently managed to lose a tooth and not realize it, concussed as she already had been when Skulker struck her across the face. She’d needed stitches for the gash on the back of her head, but it ended up not being anything major - though both parents thought that was the work of the nanobots in her system, that they had still protected her, that injury should’ve been more severe.

Not that anyone was complaining that she was less injured than expected, of course. Although, they did have plenty of complaints about Vlad. She’d been tempted to tell them about Masters being Plasmius, but decided against it. Danny’s secret had survived their little - literally - encounter and he intended to keep it that way, and she wouldn’t do anything to risk that. Jazz didn’t know what all was going on between her parents and Vlad now and she didn’t really care. She did know they’d been furious Vlad had experimented on their teenage daughter. Maybe he’d get his comeuppance one of these days.

Most of her waking hours were spent worrying about Danny. He stayed away from her, after that first outburst in the lab. He didn’t come to see her as she recovered, avoided her whenever they ended up in the same room for longer than five seconds. His avoidance hurt almost as much as the head wound did, but she respected his unsaid wishes and gave him his space.

Both Maddie and Jack took great pleasure in going over her suit once they were done being mad at her. Honestly, it almost felt like the anger was because they had to, they seemed more interested in her experiences as the Trapper than anything else. It left a bitter taste in her mouth - their obsession with ghost hunting again overriding their concern for her and Danny’s safety.

So even when she trained with them, she spent a lot of time thinking about the table she’d woken up on and Danny’s nightmares. She’d never considered that she, as the Trapper, would appear in them. She hadn’t realized she had scared him that bad.

That was why, a week after the incident with the Crammer, she found herself in front of Danny’s door, fist held up to knock. How did she even start this conversation? What was her goal with it? To apologize? To be forgiven? To emotionally self-flagellate herself, punishment for all the times she hurt him?

Thoughts spun wildly in her head, causing a dull ache behind her eyes. She was still prone to headaches and dizzy spells if she got too excited. She groaned and let her hand fall to her side. She couldn’t do this without a plan! Last time she’d acted without a plan was -!

…was when she’d fought Skulker, when she’d trusted herself enough to know what to do to get through the next moment, thinking no further ahead than the next attack. It had worked, to an extent - gotten Skulker weak enough that Danny could trap him.

This was her brother. Someone that, even while she was struggling to remember her own name, she knew without a doubt would protect her no matter the cost.

Doing her best to clear her mind of the jumbled thoughts ricocheting around, she knocked before she could second guess herself.

“Yeah?” Danny called through the door.

“Can we talk? Please?”

Danny was silent for so long that she’d begun to worry he was ignoring her when she heard a sigh and a begrudging “come in.”

She pushed the door open, closing it behind her as she sat on the foot of his bed, watching him as he sat on his desk. Neither spoke and silence began to echo in her ears as she struggled for words.

“Jazz -” Danny started right as Jazz blurted out, “The C.A.Ts!”

“What?” He asked.

“The C.A.Ts. You asked when I was planning to tell you. I had planned to tell you then.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Dark Phantom. He… I ended up telling him. And he was just so angry. I still have a scar from that attack -”

“He attacked you?” Danny demanded, launching to his feet. Jazz sighed, pulling up the hem of her shirt and showing him her side, where the outline of the burn didn’t seem to be fading. “Did you think I would, too?”

“What? No, of course not!”

“Then why? Why keep hiding it?”

Jazz hesitated, setting her hands in her lap and messing with her fingers. “He was so angry. He hated me so much. Ten years had passed and he still hated me. I think he loved me too, though. He could’ve killed me and didn’t. He even bandaged me up after attacking me.”

“Wow, what a gentleman. Point?” Danny said, rolling his eyes.

“My point is - he hated me and he loved me, and I didn’t know how much of that was from you. I was confident you loved Jazz more than you hated Violet. But would you trust Jazz or fear the Trapper more? Would you ever feel safe around me again? Could you ever trust me again?” Jazz sighed, dropping her head into her hands. “I was afraid I’d lose you. Future Phantom made the fear worse.”

“I guess I can’t be too mad at you, can I?” Danny asked, suddenly seeming tired. “I keep my identity secret from our parents for the same reason, don’t I? Would they love their son more than they hated ghosts? Yes, I’m confident about that. But would they love me so much they accept me, or would they love me so much they wanted to help me move on so I wasn’t stuck here as an echo? Would they trust I’m even their son? Or would they think I was a random ghost defiling their baby boy’s corpse?”

“There’s too many unknowns and it’s a scary jump, right? You believe in their love. You don’t know how they will love you, though.”

Danny nodded. “And you believed I’d love my sister, but didn’t know if you had hurt me too much and pushed me away too far.”

“I am sorry, Danny. I am really, really sorry,” Jazz said. “Even concussed, all I wanted was to keep you safe, and I trusted you to do the same for me.”

“I forgive you, it’s no biggie. If I didn’t forgive the people who shot me, I’d have no family left.” Danny joked.

“Danny, that isn’t something you should joke about…”

“I can joke about it or face the reality that my sister is a ghost hunter who formerly shot at me and my parents are ghost hunters who actively shoot at me and have to deal with all the unpacked trauma that comes with that. I’ll take the joking, thanks.”

“Maybe we should declare a partnership? Between Phantom and Violet? Only Mom and Dad know I’m the Trapper - that could raise public opinion of Phantom and I could privately also be talking up how good Phantom is to our parents. You told them it was the three of us who got shrunk, right? Me, you, and you? So we already have an event I can point to as the one that made me open my eyes.” Jazz suggested, quickly running through all the things a positive alliance between the Trapper and Phantom could do for each of them, namely Danny. Her parents would listen to her now, at least some. Her words and opinions could carry weight - maybe could even sway their parents enough for Danny to consider letting them in.

“That sounds like a good plan. You can also stop pretending to shoot at me! Uh - that is you pretending to shoot, right? Or is your aim really that bad?” Danny asked, an air of relaxed playfulness finally about him.

“My aim is fine! I stopped trying to shoot you when I found out, yes.” Jazz said, grabbing a pillow from the bed and throwing it at him. He laughed as he caught it, tossing it back at her. She also managed to catch it before it struck her and stuck her tongue out at him.

“We’ll make one hell of a team, won’t we?” Danny said.

“Between my science powers, your ghost powers, and the weapons stolen from our parents? Absolutely.”

He laughed for a moment - a real laugh like she hadn’t heard in a long time - and then his face twisted into one of disgust. “Oh, ew.”

“What?”

“I give it a day after announcing our partnership before people start asking if Phantom and Vi are dating. Less than a week before people make fan art of it.”

Jazz’s face rapidly mirrored his. “Oh, gross. Maybe I should keep shooting you?”

“Trust me, I’m considering it.”

“I could always say Violet is gay or something?”

“Pssh, Phantom can turn any girl straight.”

“Danny, no, that isn’t how sexuality works!”

“It is when you’re hot enough.”

They fell into the familiarity of bickering, laughing with each other as their ideas became more ridiculous, stopping only when Danny’s ghost sense and Jazz’s ghost radar went off at the same time.

“Ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

And out the window they went.

Sure, maybe she’d never have a normal family or a normal life, Jazz thought as they pummeled the newest ghost of the week. Danny grinned at her when she pulled the ghost into the Thermos. Maybe she’d never manage to cast off the mantle of the weirdly smart girl from the weird ghost family.

“I bet I’m faster than you!” Danny shouted.

“Oh, you wish!”

That’s fine, she decided as she chased her brother through the air. Normal is overrated.

[asjjohnson]

Part 4 of my poll adventure fic. Links: the beginning, part 2, part 3.

Hmm... I think I'll split this part up and add an extra poll. I'll have another post/poll Saturday.

I added a Read More thing but there is a poll under there, okay?

---

Vlad's eyes moved back and forth across Dan's face, his mouth open slightly in a stunned expression.

And then Vlad knelt before him. "My boy, what's happened to you?"

Dan didn't know what to think. He closely watched Vlad with suspicion and anger and uncertainty.

Rather than vocally deny Vlad's endearment, he focused what energy he had on recovery. The electric shock had left behind locked up nerves and muscles, like the first time around, and the sooner he could absorb the lingering electricity and heal the minor damage, the sooner he could move.

"I saw you yesterday— But you were locked away before yesterday... But why? And why would Clockwork—" Vlad scanned his face again, eyebrows furrowing in thought. "Of course... You're from the future. ...Oh. You'll follow in my footsteps?"

Vlad raised the small device in his hand, again pushing a button. Dan tensed—another shock already?

"Forget the plan," Vlad said as the collar instead clicked and fell off. "Tell me everything. I want to know all—"

Vlad cut off as Dan, grinning, locked the collar around his neck. "What?!"

Dan grabbed the small device from Vlad's hand. With a glance, he saw which button was which, and pushed the one to activate the collar.

Vlad screamed and collapsed to the floor. Then he lay still, other than ragged breaths and an occasional unconscious twitch. He stared up at Dan with an expression of surprise and betrayed sadness.

Dan stood and looked down at him. "That's your problem—you don't follow through with your plans."

Dan opened and closed a fist, and focused ectoplasm into his hand, trying to judge how much power he currently had at his disposal. "You're a coward. Easily swayed by human emotions." He looked back to Vlad. "Your heart has ruled you for decades, but did you ever act on it when you had a chance? Ask her out?" Dan sneered in disgust. "No. You were too afraid."

Vlad continued to stare with that pathetic expression.

"You wanted revenge on Jack Fenton. But you never did it. Always sending weak ghosts in your stead, always thinking up fallible plans—as though you couldn't bring yourself to kill him with your own hands.

"You want power, you want to rule the ghost zone and the human world. But you don't want to do the work yourself. You run into a little speed bump, and what do you do? Give up. Relinquish all responsibility."

Dan glared at Vlad, feeling his eyes glow brighter with his increasing anger. "You give up on everything. You can't even do one thing right!"

After Vlad had repeatedly tried to gain him as a son, he'd gone to Vlad willingly—but Vlad couldn't handle it. Vlad couldn't deal with it. Vlad had to take the easy way out. The shortcut. Vlad couldn't stick with it. Vlad couldn't live with him as he'd been.

Dan said calmly, "You're a coward, Vladimir Masters. A coward shackled by his weak human emotions."

And then Dan rocketed into the air. He swung his arms, sending a wave of ectoplasm toward the ceiling and walls, the house caving in as he punched through the roof.

He could finish what he started.

He would've broken out of that thermos himself, eventually. Just like he had eventually broken through Valerie's shield.

He didn't give up once setting his mind to something. He didn't let emotion change his mind.

He was Vlad's antithesis—his opposite. His mirror image.

Dan hovered in the sky for a moment, realizing he wasn't in Wisconsin.

That was why he hadn't recognized the room he'd been in—it hadn't been part of Vlad's castle.

He was in Amity Park.

---

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[impyssadobsessions]

Raising Phantom Chpt 8

Raising Phantom on Ao3

Jason sat up next to his favorite gargoyle as a kid, watching the city in thought. Duke, after the party, had confirmed something odd was with Danny and Vlad. Having caught a second glimpse of Vlad as he stormed out after recovering from a punch from Bruce. Which was a shock in itself as he was supposedly knocked out cold. Would have taken a normal man at least a few hours. Duke had tried his best to explain the image, but best he could describe it was a holographic card where it was two images at once. Danny's was a boy with white hair, and Vlad's was a vampire. It sounded ridiculous if Jason didn't remember that weird feeling he had when the boy was near. He had almost forgotten-well forgotten wasn't right word- He had accepted that strange feeling. It was eerie at first but grew comforting around the kid. He tapped his foot on the edge of the stone. Vlad had a weird pull too, he didn't notice until Duke pointed it out. He had assumed it was Danny, until he tried to track Vlad. Vlad always knew where to look for him, so he disappeared once he confirmed the feeling. Dick suggested that perhaps it was a freak accident both of them were apart of? Kept it secret from Jazz? But Jason doubted it. Tim brought up their unknown parents. Jason glared at the city view. That sounded plausible, they were responsible could be the reason they all had a falling out. “..I never known a boring day in my life..” Jason flexing his hand as he recalled Jazz's voice back in the library. Definitely pointed towards parents. Dead brother too. Jason stood up with a huff, he needed to stop reflecting on it. Let the others keep playing this game, but he was going to stomp his foot down if they cross the line. Stretching as he stared over the horizon. He definitely going to keep an eye on Danny. Though the tabloid story was going to make it hard. Stupid gossip. ---

Ever since they've arrived home, Vlad has been on their couch playing the 'pitiful me' card. He would whine about the gala, how foolish he looked. He begged Jasmine and Danny to let him get back at Bruce, which both declined. “Mr. Wayne started most of the foundations and fundraisers in Gotham as well as provide jobs for the city. INCLUDING the improvements made to both my college and future place of work. You can't hurt him because he punched you for threatening his kids!” Jazz would explain for a millionth time as she give Vlad his cup of coffee. Her hair wired and frizzed. Vlad was driving her nuts. “All for show! I bet the money ends up in the rogue's pockets.” Vlad sip his cup of coffee, while sitting in his fancy robs that were out of place on the makeshift bed of a couch. He gagged at the taste of the coffee, and made a face as if to tell Jazz his opinion of it, only to snap his mouth shut at the look she gave him. He cleared his throat, setting the coffee down. “BESIDES I was well within my right! What were you two thinking running off with those brats!?” Danny who was lazily poking at his scrambled eggs, “Thinking of kicking Dick and that it be funny to be kidnapped.” “Danny.” Jazz huffed, hands on her hips as she whipped back to face him. Danny just shrugged at her. “And you Jasmine!? Off with that boy! Have you lost your mind girl?! Bad boy look? REALLY-” “Not the first time-” Danny mumbled, only to get a look from Jazz. Message loud and clear, 'You're not helping!'. “Why can't you go to Harvard?! Or anywhere else!? I have the funds, my girl, just choose a place to go. You and Daniel don't have to stay in this filthy apartment, in this waste of a city! With terrible coffee and cat piss lining the hallways. You don't have to be here. That Asylum will get you killed and these vigilantes are like flies on a rotten carcass. So I trust them as little as I would Bruce to have a thought in his head!” Vlad moving dramatically, expressing with his hands as much as his voice. “I told you, Vlad. This is important to me! If I can learn and improve things here, then I can help so many more people than I could by being a family therapist. I could actually make a difference in their lives and the lives they affect. That's worth more than a comfy job writing psychology books and being a celebrity's psychologist.” Jazz huffed out of breath, tired of arguing her point. “And that's worth more than dying? What about Danny then?!” Vlad pointed out. His words making Danny flinch. Danny just stuffed his face with his eggs, looking away from them. He didn't want to be apart of this. “What if you perished because of your obsession with helping this god-forsaken place?! Of course I would take in Daniel, but his core would be damaged! Ghosts don't take grief well.” He hissed the last part. Danny frowned. Wanting to say he was fine, but the image of Dan made him shiver as he stabbed his eggs. At least growing up again means delaying looking like his future self... past.. self? He would only be four years younger than Dan was... Danny's eye twitched at the thought, hands clenching tight the fork in his hand. “I know that Vlad, but I have you know we TALKED about it. To get a doctorate in psychology will take years, so my plans won't even be in full swing until he's almost grown. Also I like to remind SOMEONE that I have nanobots in my blood stream so I be a bit harder to kill.” She put her hands on her hips. Vlad cleared his throat, looking away from her at the mention. He put the coffee mug to his lips, “Yes, well. I still think your obsession with this city is just as bad as your parents-” Vlad felt a dark chill down his spine that not even his hot watery coffee could warm. He quickly stammered to correct himself, “Oh. .did I .. I mean um. You know what, dear Jasmine. I-i think I may have been a little... dramatic. You are a grown woman and.. have.. your own ...ambitions. Who am I to judge...? hm?” He sipped his coffee loudly, as he stared at Jazz, whose eyes glimmered darkly. He was hoping that was enough to cool the situation. Jazz took a deep breath and turned away to grab her lunch bag and purse. Danny pushed from the table, hopping down to follow her, only for Jazz to put her hand in front of Danny to stop him. “Stay here with.. UNCLE Vlad, Danny. I'll be back at dinner.” Jazz running her fingers through her hair before putting it up in a ponytail. Danny stumbled back, confused. “What?! Why do I have to be punished?! Vlad's the one that-” “Danny, PLEASE. I just want to be alone, okay?” Jazz looked exhausted. Clearly she needed the break. Danny scrunched up his face and crossed his arms with a huff. Cursing Vlad in his head. “Don't worry about making dinner dear Jasmine! I-I'll order from that run-down- I mean quaint Italian restaurant you like.” Vlad doing his best to get on her good side, realizing how badly he slipped up with that comment. “Daniel and I will have a wonderful time.” Jazz and Danny both groaned as she turned to stomp out, closing the door with a hard slam behind her. Danny flinched at the noise, and rubbed his arm. He stared down at his feet. This was first time in a while he seen her so upset. If he wasn't so small, they wouldn't have to argue like that. They could dump Vlad and be on their merry way. Danny sighed, then he glanced over to Vlad who dramatically flailed back on the couch with a groan. A hand over his face as the coffee was set on the table. He too let out a loud sigh. “What am I going to do with that girl? Insisting on living like this- surely you would like somewhere better? Right Daniel?” “Danny. And it's fine.” Danny muttered as he walked over to the table where his breakfast still sat. He picked up his plate and decided to throw it away. He didn't feel hungry anymore. “You two don't even have to live with me! It could be an apartment in a safer place. Nothing too fancy.” Vlad waved his hand as he talked, the other still on his face. Danny snorted. Vlad's version of nothing too fancy was far drastic than their image of it. “Vlad, I don't even want you here, let alone a place you own.” “Yes yes. Because of the cloning, the murder plotting, and all that.” Vlad sighed again, before removing his hand off his face peaking at the corner where Danny emerged from the kitchen. “But seriously, you can't be happy here. Aren't you afraid of what could happen to her?” Danny flinched and stared down at his feet. He rubbed his arm as he swayed in his spot. He debated on answering him. “I'm fine.. and of course.. I worry. But I delayed her life already, she deserves to seek out her dreams, ya know?” Vlad stared at him and then rolled over on the couch with a groan. “You two will be the death of me.” Danny rolled his eyes as he moved through the living room. He glanced at the tv that was playing one of Vlad's favorite soap operas, and then glanced over to the door to his room. He debated on just watching videos or playing in his room, but.. He glanced at the front door. “Hey... Vlad?” Danny asked hesitantly, refusing to look at the man. “Yes, Daniel?” Vlad never moved to look at him either, his voice showing his exhaustion. His tired face staring at the tv screen. Danny stared at his hands, the question catching in his throat. Vlad waited a few moments, then shuffled to get up on his elbows, staring back at Danny with a raised brow. Danny twiddling his fingers, frozen. “Well? Get on with it.” Danny jerked staring back up at Vlad, matching his eyes. He blinked for a moment then glanced back to the side, taking a breath. Gathering his courage to ask in a squeaky, “......How's mo- how's our... parents doing?” Vlad's eyes stayed on Danny for a hard moment. Danny could see out the corner of his eyes, Vlad's flashing red with rage before cooling down. He sat up with a heavy groan, rubbing his face with his hand. Looking older by the minute. “Daniel-Danny.. its best you forget about them.” “I want to know.” Danny stated firmly or as firmly as he could. Vlad shook his head, looking away from the child. He propped his head on his hand, while he drummed his fingers with his other hand on the coffee table. His face morphing into sympathy or perhaps pity as he thinks about what to tell Danny. “They're still alive and bumbling fools.” Vlad rolled his tongue, trying not to let his anger get the best of him. “Do they.. still-” Danny tried to asked, afraid of the answer but wanting to hear it. His fist balling up in his shirt. “Yes. They still think you took their child- Danniel-Danny I really do think its best you stop worrying about them.” Vlad really reluctant to tell Danny more, not wanting to mention how delusional their parents had gotten. “I can't.” Danny stressed, pulling on his shirt. Vlad nodded, “Of course you can't. Oh what am I going to do with you?” Vlad's voice sounded more concern and gentle than Danny was use to. Danny stared at the floor, feeling his eyes water. Stupid. He knew the answer before he asked. He took breaths to keep his tears back and turned to run into his bedroom. The tv clicked off and he felt a ruffle of his hair before he could run. “I think we're overdue for a flight, don't you little badger?” Vlad smiled. “Don't try to teach me anything.” Danny said, his voice shakier than he would have like. “Don't plan on it, now come along. Be embarrassing to be out in our jammies.” Vlad ushering Danny towards the bedroom. “Jammies?” Danny questioned the childish nickname for pjamas. “Pjs, pjamas, sleepwear.” Vlad tiredly explained. Danny just frowned, but just wiped his face and sighed. He ran to his room to change, trying his best to forget about his parents again. He still didn't really get the answer he wanted, but perhaps its better he didn't know how far they were going.

[ventisettestars]

DannyMay Day 8

Day 8: Electric Core AU [ao3]

Summary: How Vlad learns about Danny having an electric core.

———————————————————————————————————–

After the portal incident, and half death, Danny always seemed to have some form of static electricity. He’d taken to trying to ground himself as often as possible, even trying to conceal an anti-static band around his ankle for day to day interactions.

It worked on his human form, for the most part. Save for his could never get his hair to not fluff up when he was getting emotional, he stopped shocking people like he were an electric eel. 

It wasn’t a problem in his Ghost form. His suit was rubber. 

The trio figured since he died in the portal, it made his cells act like conductors or something? And other than the occasional zap, it didn’t seem to interfere with his day to day life anymore than just suddenly being a half ghost had. It even gave him an advantage against Technus from time to time. 

The other thing which Danny had started calling his ghost sense, was when a ghost was around, he would feel them through air currents. Like how the hairs on the back of your neck raised before a lightning strike. That’s how he felt when a ghost entered his haunt. That too became normal enough to joke about how if Danny were in a Lightning storm, he’d be like his parents and blame a ghost before actual lightning. That got Tucker zapped. 

Not thinking much of it, Danny made a mistake with it. He was frustrated, and while charging his ectoblast, a spark joined in, and when Vlad was hit with the blast, he fell from the sky. 

“Fuck-” Danny didn’t like the fruitloop, but that didn’t mean he wanted him to be a pancake. Catching Vlad and making them go intangible so they didn’t hit the ground with the full force of the fall. Danny got Vlad to the ground safely and set him down, not gently, but close enough. 

The man had shifted to being human, and groaned. 

“Good, didn’t kill ya all the way.” 

“What did you do? When did you gain such a skill?” Vlad sat up, limbs shaking slightly. 

“Oh, um, just sort of, you ever do that thing with your socks on the carpet, then touch someone?”

“I was young once. Of course I did.” 

“Well, it’s like that. But more inside me rather then socks on carpet? And bigger?” 

“Oh. That’s- Why Daniel, you’ve probably got an electric core. Were you aware?”

“Th’ fuck’s a core?”

“That would be a no then. We’ll need to check some things to make sure, but-”

“There is no ‘We’ I’m not going to-”

“So you wish to share what being electrocuted felt like with your loved ones? You enjoyed it so much?” 

Danny growled, Vlad was skirting very close to something he shouldn’t have been. “Keep talking. But watch it.”

“As I was, we’ll need to run some tests to see the extent of it. Most aren’t very dangerous, but you’re powerful, so it’s a cause for concern. Especially if you haven’t been expelling it. For example with myself.” Vlad created a fireball. “I have a fire core. If I don’t let loose from time to time, things will randomly start to combust around me. I can last a few weeks before that happens now, but at the start of my developing powers, it was daily. You might have a shorter or longer period of time.”

“So you want to take me to your lab and what-?”

“Not my lab. I’m certain you are aware of doctors in the zone? Many specialize in this sort of thing and would be far more informed than myself.”

“Oh. I guess that doesn’t sound too bad. I guess lead the way?” 

Vlad summoned his rings, and they flickered just slightly before transforming him. “Shall we take your portal?”

So Danny led the way.

             Notes:        

I struggled so hard with this one, but think I figured it out. Hope it was enjoyable cause ended up with a Part 2 coming tomorrow.

[lexosaurus]

Going Angst Week 2021: Instinct

Read: [1: birth]

Warning: Ghost Hunger

---

Ectoplasm was poisonous to humans. Danny knew that, it was one of the first things his parents had drilled into him when he was a kid.

If humans ingested small amounts of ectoplasm, they’d be sick but would likely be fine the next day. If they ingested large amounts of ectoplasm, they’d be rushed to the ER to get their stomach pumped, and if they didn’t make it there in time, they’d die.

Danny had accidentally eaten ectoplasm-infused cookies enough times in his childhood to be able to taste it’s gross battery-acid flavor. He’d felt enough stomach cramps from his mother’s cooking before Jazz insisted that they install a second fridge in the lab to store their samples inside of to know how much the human body hated the substance. 

Ectoplasm was poison. Period.

So then why was it that when he stared down longingly at the carnage before him, did he want nothing more than to dip his hand into the delicious pool of green and scoop it into his mouth?

He knew he should leave—his parents would be arriving soon—but as he stared down at the unfortunate remains of the giant ectoplasm mosquito on the pavement, all he could think about was how hungry he was and how sick he’d been all week and this was it, this was the thing that would cure him, he just needed to reach down...

Danny shook his head in disgust. He was still partially human, he couldn’t just eat ectoplasm. 

But he was so, so hungry.

Nothing he’d eaten in the past week had satisfied his hunger. No, this was something else. Something that originated deep down in his core. No human food could fix this, he knew that on instinct.

Ectoplasm was poison.

But he was starving.

Danny closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. This wasn’t the first time he’d gotten these strange cravings. They’d been happening ever since he learned how to shoot ghost-rays with his hands. 

At first, it was easy to ignore. Just a twinge of his stomach here, a slight watering of his mouth there. Little annoyances, but nothing he couldn’t blame on exhaustion or academic stress.

But lately, the hunger had been getting worse. Just looking at a pool of ectoplasm made his heart skip a beat, and the sight of an entire ghost mosquito carcass was enough to make him want to collapse in relief.

He needed to do something. Leave. He couldn’t stay here, he was going to lose it. 

God, this was horrible. He was disgusting for even entertaining the idea.

Danny glanced back at the mosquito. Its core had smashed somehow during the fight, allowing its fresh ectoplasm to pool onto the pavement before it. The sun was setting, and it was hitting the fresh green in just the right way.

“Shut up,” Danny snapped. He wasn’t some feral vampire, he was Danny Phantom. Amity Park’s local ghost protector. He wasn’t just going to…

He glanced around. No one was here, and no one was passing by on the street either. Maybe he could afford just one little taste…

...just one…

...no one else had to know…

...he just needed to reach down and…

His fingers brushed the cool liquid, and as if he were shocked he jolted up, pressing his back into the brick building behind him and breathing hard. 

That was close. Too close. He needed to get out of here quickly before he lost control.

But as he stared back down at the gooey carcass, it was as if a trance had overtaken him. His mind fogged up, and all his worries and stresses seemed to melt away.

The only thing he knew was that he was starving, and there was food. 

Danny crouched down over the mosquito and shyly stuck his hand back out over the glowing pool of liquid. He hesitated, as if there were still some part of his mind that was trying to resist when he knew that he just needed to chill out, Danny. It’s okay. Trust yourself.

He was a ghost. He knew what he was doing.

Closing his eyes, he dipped his hand into the ectoplasm. He shuddered, allowing his hands to explore the cool liquid. It felt...nice. And his hunger seemed to yell louder until he couldn’t ignore the voice in his head goading him to eat the ectoplasm, just eat it, eat the ectoplasm, eat the food.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, and it was as if something inside him shorted out. 

His brain switched off, all thoughts left his body. The only thing that mattered was the ectoplasm, the food, his hunger, god this tasted so nice. 

His world was green, and that was all he needed.

---

“What’s wrong with me?” Danny cried. “Why can’t I stop?”

His hands were plastered in ectoplasm, and he could feel the sticky substance dripping down his suit, threading in his hair, smearing across his face.

“Well, isn’t it obvious?” Vlad said, hardly looking up from his paperwork on his desk. “You’re starving yourself.”

“But—but I don’t…” Danny collapsed in a chair and buried his head in his hands. 

“Daniel, really. I thought you were better than this pointless drivel.”

Danny shook his head. In a muffled voice, he whimpered, “Please, just tell me how to make this stop. I—I can’t stop. Please. I don’t want to be this monster.”

Vlad sighed and set down his pen. “Halfas have unique biologies in that due to the nature of our deaths, we have naturally powerful cores. The more powerful the ghost core, the more self-generating ectoplasm they can produce for their bodies, which then can offset any ectoplasm lost through daily functions. Like blood cells. Except, if you use more ectoplasm than your body can produce, it starts looking for other ways to replenish it. Typically for ghosts, the ambient ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone would do. But in the human world, there isn’t enough ambient ectoplasm for us to use, so we starve until our core takes matters into its own hands.”

“So, what. I have to move to the Ghost Zone? I don’t understand. Do you get like this?” Danny lifted his head up to see Vlad massaging his temples.

“Well unlike you, I’m not a complete moron who lets themselves get to the point where they can no longer control themselves.”

“But I don't want to do this! I don’t want to...to eat other ghosts.”

“Then don’t.” Vlad stood and yanked Danny through the floor and into his lab. He shoved Danny into the corner of the room. “Clean yourself up. I won’t have you dripping used ectoplasm all over my clean floors.”

Danny hung his head in a mixture of shock and shame as the hot water from the decontamination shower sprayed down on his body, washing the green stains from his suit onto the floor and down the drain.

Meanwhile, Vlad flitted around the lab, wasting no time in between plucking various tubes and files from their shelves to simultaneously berate Danny. “Really, Daniel, I know you’re an idiot but even you can’t be this appallingly stupid. There are many ways to consume ectoplasm that don’t involve tearing the cores out of your adversaries. Of course, if you continue to insist on being a toddler about your different biology then I have no doubt you’ll be back in this sorry state sooner than you can imagine.”

“Please, just tell me what to do.”

Vlad pulled out what appeared to be glowing green lettuce. “These are ectoplasmic vegetables. They grow in the Ghost Zone. I tend to prefer them with a nice cherry vinaigrette and paired with a glass of dry chardonnay. Do you understand, Daniel? The Ghost Zone is a parallel of the human dimension. If there are plants in the human world, there will also exist a variation of those plants in the Ghost Zone. You find the right ally, and you have your dinner.”

Danny stared dumbly at the plant. He’d only been to the Ghost Zone once before, when he was terrified his parents were getting divorced. And that trip had left him too scared to even think about going back.

“Where do you get yours from?” Danny asked.

Vlad put the lettuce back in the metal refrigerator. “Skulker. You know, my lackey? You may have heard of him.”

“Right.” Danny furrowed his brows. He couldn’t ask Skulker if he could have some of the plants—the ghost wanted to kill him. Again.

But he didn’t know anyone else who had ecto-plants either.

“I don’t know where I’d get them. I don’t know any ghosts.”

“Well, that seems like a personal problem.”

“Please!” Danny begged. “There has to be another way. I don’t know anyone! I can’t do this again. Please, Vlad.”

The true question was hidden underneath. But Danny knew what Vlad was going to say, and judging by Vlad’s vicious smirk, Danny’s assumptions were correct.

“Maybe if you stopped fighting your true nature, you wouldn’t have to beg for my food like a pathetic child.”

“Vlad, I—I don’t know what to do.”

Vlad transformed into his ghost form, his eyes glowing a harsh red against the dim light. “You may be a human, but you’re also a ghost. It’s time you started acting like one.”

He could feel it. His core, taunting him from under his skin. Telling him to give in, just trust it, trust his instincts.

But he couldn’t do it. He was scared, he didn’t understand why his instincts were telling him to act certain ways and do certain things. Why were the emotions of his friends and family suddenly so important to him? Why did he feel so compelled to play protector to the town? Why did he have to try to be so normal around Sam and Tucker?

Why couldn’t he go too long without transforming into his ghost form? Why did it feel like an addiction that was impossible to break?

What was wrong with him?

Give in, just give in. 

“I can’t.”

“You have to, Daniel.”

“But if I do that…”

“Then you’ll finally be admitting the truth of what you are. Why is that so wrong?”

Because I’m a ghost, ghosts are evil, ghosts are wrong, they shouldn’t exist, ghosts and humans don’t mix, ghosts are cruel creatures, they’re selfish, they’ll only act in their own self-interest.

But that was what his parents had told him. Was that true?

Did he know anything about ghosts?

Not really. Except for one, crucial thing:

Ghosts were different. 

Danny Fenton couldn’t be different.

---

<previous / next>

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

This may be a minor gripe but something that has kind of bothered me about discussions and depictions of Dan is how often people seem to forget that Dan isn't just an older evil Danny, he's a combination of Danny and Vlad's ghost sides. Like people always talk about him like Danny threw away his humanity and turned evil but that's not even true. Sure, we can say that Dan is the result of Danny's action but that's a little unfair. (1/2)

(2/2) Him cheating on a test, coincidentally putting his loved one's in a position where they could be killed, is absolutely not his fault. Letting Vlad take away his ghost powers with a strange contraption might not have been the smartest move, but we are talking about a grieving CHILD here, of course he isn't going to make the best decisions. If anything Vlad's the one to blame here, and even then, it's not like he could predict what happened

---

you aren't wrong, my friend. it really isn't entirely danny's fault and the whole 'if you cheat on a test, you'll loose everything you love' moral is confused at best. i think as fandom we find it more interesting to look at danny's potential evil and moral struggle with himself. so simplifying it to be dan is a worse case scenario of danny makes the conflict less abstract.

particularly because when it comes to self blame danny isn't going to go easy on himself just because it was excusable mistakes.

i think another talking point should be how danny is the target of the time assassination more than vlad is, even though vlad is part of the evil whole. you could argue that danny is the catalyst of his friends death and vlad inventing the claw things. but vlad invented the claw things. maybe because his human side survived and acted relatively harmless from then on? or maybe it's because the observants based on the available evidence recognized danny as more of a threat. i think that fits actually, for all vlad tried to be an evil mastermind, his achievements outside of terrorizing a teenager and theft isn't particularly impressive. danny was the one who got shit done. all his fights he finished one way or another and i could see how that would bleed into dan defeating everyone.

the real question is how to we fix this. ideally we could shape this idea so it's less confused, though i do honestly find the dynamic of half danny, half vlad interesting. if for not other reason. than two half ghosts make a whole. actually that's something else to be said about dan. his self-loathing is what led him to killing his human half, another negative aspect coming from danny.

i wonder if we could frame it like fusion, from su. obviously dan isn't stable or healthy, or based on love. he's most comparable to malichite. but with less internal debate. dan took the best and worst of both of them. danny's determination, danny's fighting ability, danny's anger, danny's sarcasm, vlad's anger, vlads lack of morals, vlads schemes, vlad's control. heck, vlads desire to rule the world. i don't think we ever got that from danny.

maybe if vlad was more involved in the fight with dan it could have been used as an opportunity to compare and contrast their characters. to go we're not so different you and i. danny gets to recognize that he has that dark potential. vlad gets to be humbled by the fact that what he wants isn't good for anyone, especially himself. and to be fair, we do see some of that humbling with future vlad, but none of that character growth is given to present vlad, so, really it's just another vehicle for danny angst. it also depends on what you want to do with vlad though. he's a fascinating character and could be given redemption under the right circumstances or be a character who has the opportunity for redemption but chooses not to be redeemed every time.

that fits him and makes him both a more pathetic and despicable villain. it's hard to pity someone who ignores the opportunities to heal and grow.

as for danny, he becomes far more aware of the consequences his actions, especially his selfish and cruel ones can have. because that potential was always there. he has a history of abusing his powers. perhaps for this specific incident him abusing his powers can be something less understandable than almost cheating on a test that he couldn't study for through no fault of his own. (maybe i just have flexible morals?). maybe it could be something more character relevant, like he did something particularly vlad like, maybe he set up a prank at the nasty burger to get dash but it set off the explosion that killed his family. or maybe he did something particularly cruel and manipulative. there are better catalysts than a test. either way he recognized that he should never go that far again and strive to avoid being actively cruel.

he also has the opportunity to recognize that vlad does have a human half, even the one he's fighting everyday. he can face some conflict in it's not entirely clear what trait belongs to vlad and what trait belongs to him. he can empathize with vlad and he can recognize that situations aren't always in black in white. those who fly the highest, fall the hardest, after all.

it can be a growing experience. and while making it solely a danny goes bad and learns not to do evil kind of story. maybe we could cut vlad from the equation and just have danny face himself, full evil refection. i think exploring both vlad and danny through this fusion is far more interesting. especially because we can build on what's revealed about vlad in these episodes, in later ones. danny sees a future where vlad chills and that maybe his vlad could get their. later he see vlads past and what he lost to become who he is.

and then there's vlads turning point episodes. i don't know when motherly instinct took place but maddie fully recognizing he's a bastard and rejection him, was a turning point for his sanity, and danny helped it along. then we have danny rejecting him repeatedly, then we the clone episode, which we can all agree was a desperate move on his part, that danny once again thwarted. and we can all agree that this was the cannon turning point for his character where he stopped fighting for a family and started trying to be danny's villain. in that episode, i think danny could potentially pity vlad enough to try and reach out. he's not going to justify what vlad did and he's not going to apologize for stopping him. he went too far. he hurt danny and dani, he crossed a moral line that can't be justified even with his desperation. but if he changes...

he lost this time but if he changes, maybe they'll reach the point where they're ready to accept him.

i think the same thing could be said about his relationship with jack and maddie. if he changes, if he reaches out. if acts like less of a crazy fruitloop, his friends would be there for him. jack is still trying to be there for him, even if he's being oblivious about vlad's faults. vlads the one driving wedges into his relationships and pushing everyone away.

and that's so freaking human and understandable.it would be such a cool thing to explore with his character.

i could also see a potential arc where after valerie finds out vlad and masters are the same person she tries to get close to him, both to sus out how evil he is and to understand him as a halfa. afterall danny got her to acknowledge dani as human enough, the same would apply to vlad/plasmius, right? only he's a bad person and the more she uncovers about vlad masters the man, the more she realizes it's not the ghost half that's evil. but this is a double edged sword because, vlad is getting attached to her and encouraging her to be more evil. he's encouraging her to go darker and darker in her fight against ghosts and her fight specifically against phantom. to the point where she finally draws the line and says, i'm not doing that! boom exploring the moral ambiguity of her character and getting her to take a hard stance on her morals, because there's a line too far for her.

and boom a further breakdown of vlads character because he finally had someone outside the fentons to redeem him. she could have helped pull him out of the hole he'd been digging himself into. she wanted to help him. he got attached to her, but he and his bad decisions decided to dig himself deeper instead. so once again he's 'abandoned and betrayed'.

from that point, i think it'd be time for him to finally face jack head on. not through manipulative schemes. not through veiled threats and insults. but the full confrontation of 'i always hated you. you ruined my life. you're the reason i lost everything'. which is really just his own self loathing speaking. and jack... empathetic jack can see that vlad desperately wants help. and jack would offer it to him. jack would try to hug it out and apologize and give vlad the love and friendship vlad's been fighting to steal this whole time.

and vlad would reject it.

he'd probably lash out a jack and go into a full breakdown/world destroying attack. could finally put the stolen crown to use and try declaring himself king and embracing his megalomaniac thing and actually be a threat this time. and THAT would be our series finally. everyone teaming up to fight 'king vlad'. danny probably finding out that he's technically king because he beat pariah dark but the matter being a bit confused because he had help. val and danny trying to find the ring of rage or at least find someone who can make one. secrets are out. i imagine vlad, upon revealing himself to jack would out danny to make danny as sad and alone as him. except nope, his family still loves him and val has had the character development to come around to him. (she's still gonna punch danny for lying for so long.) the ghosts will come and help because no one wants another tyrannical kind and vlads obviously off his rocker.

ah, the could have beens

anyway, i didn't mean for this to become a full vlad character analysis and rewrite when we were supposed to be talking about dan, but hey, i'm a simple creature. i like good writing, and i have to rewrite things myself, so be it. - Hestia

[five-rivers]

Auction

For @skellagirl

.

“Hey, Jazz,” said Danny, leaning into Jazz’s room, one hand on the doorknob, the other braced against the jamb. “Wanna help me mess with Vlad?”

“Do I?” responded Jazz, pushing her chair back. “What’s the plan?”

“Well,” said Danny, “Vlad left one of his creepy spy bugs in the kitchen again, and I was thinking we could have a loud conversation in front of it about how Mom’s going to that charity bachelor auction.”

Jazz frowned. “But she isn’t. She’s married.”

“Yeah, that’s the point. Vlad’s delusional.”

“Ah, I see,” said Jazz. “Yeah, let’s do it. Should we write a script?”

“Maybe just a backstory. I work better with improv.”

“I’ve seen your fights, Danny. You definitely do not.”

“That’s cold.”

.

Maddie was not here, and Vlad was going to commit murder. Just a little bit. The victim was already half dead, after all.

His teeth squeaked as he forced himself to smile at the vapid, crowds of rich single women below him. He could not, unfortunately, back out now without losing quite a bit of face. The only consolation he had was that he had already communicated the need to eliminate the wealthier bidders, so that Maddie’s bet would win, to his ghostly servants. If only he could get away from the crowds and duplicate himself to take care of the others…

But that would be suspicious too, wouldn’t it? He had to let at least a few bids go through. And some of them had to be high, otherwise he’d never hear the end of it from his ever-aggravating business associates.

Curse them and their golf-playing buffoonery. He didn’t even like golf. It took so long.

When his name was called, he went out onto the stage like a man expecting to be hung. Why did anyone think this kind of thing was a good idea? This was humiliating. Ninety percent of the people bidding were after his money one way or another, he was sure.

Not like Maddie.

He sighed and refused to make eye contact with anyone in the crowd as the auctioneer called higher and higher values. Finally, the number stopped climbing, and Vlad lowered his gaze to see who, exactly, he would have to waste a day with.

Well. At least it wasn’t someone who was after his money.

.

“So,” said Harriet Chin, not even bothering to hide the recorder she held in her hands, “Vladimir Masters. Do you have a statement regarding the Whole World Mission scandal?”

“Harriet,” said Vlad, “please, we’re supposed to be on a date.”

“Yes, and I get to decide our activities. And I want an exclusive interview with the elusive Vlad Masters. That’s what I paid for, after all.”

“And here I was, thinking that it was my ravishing, good looks.”

Harriet snorted. “Maybe for someone who didn’t see you and Jack in that ridiculous hot dog eating contest. Although,” she leaned back appraisingly, “you did fill out since then. Actually… I’m sort of surprised at how early the bidding topped out. Was the room filled with bitter exes, or is there some scandal I don’t know about?”

Vlad rolled his eyes. “I confess, I’m as surprised as you.”

“Now, that’s a lie,” said Harriet.

“Excuse me?”

“You still have that tell from college,” said Harriet, smugly.

“Excuse me? I do not have a tell.” If he did, he had to identify and get rid of it as soon as possible.

“You do,” said Harriet, still grinning.

Vlad weighed the pros and cons of simply overshadowing her and making her lose the day. She’d probably claim that he drugged her or something. Curses.

He sighed, heavily. “At least let me take you out to a restaurant instead of,” he flicked his fingers at his surroundings, “just standing here.”

“Oh, I don’t know. A person’s house can tell you a lot about someone. Didn’t your Wisconsin home blow up? What was up with that, anyway?”

“I released a statement regarding that some time ago,” said Vlad.

“Wasn’t it also raided by the government?”

“That was a misunderstanding. And I also released a press statement about that incident. It shouldn’t take you more than, oh, an hour to look it up online.” This wasn’t entirely true. Once it was out of the immediate spotlight, Vlad had spent quite a bit of money to have the whole story scrubbed. “Dinner? I am paying.”

Harriet looked thoughtful. “Alright, but I’m picking where we go.”

“Of course,” said Vlad, graciously.

.

He regretted everything.

“Harriet, I know Amity Park is small relative to, say, Chicago, but, really… There are good restaurants here.”

“Yes,” said Harriet, “but I wanted to eat here.”

Vlad grimaced and tried not to look at the booth where Daniel and his juvenile delinquent friends were sitting and filming him with a handheld camera.

“Of course,” said Harriet, apparently unbothered by the stickiness of the booth bench and the screaming of children in the other part of building, “if you wanted to go back to a more private setting so that we could continue our interview—”

“No, no, this is quite alright. I said I would get you dinner, and here we are, eating…” He glanced at the menu with derision. “Food.”

He could, just barely, call it that. Even if he’d discovered during his short-term ownership of the chain that certain of its condiments could be used as mid-grade explosives. He didn’t know how Daniel could stand it.

(On the other hand, he had to admit he was enjoying this. Just a little. He so rarely got to match wits against a competent adult.)

(Maddie didn’t count—He was trying to woo Maddie, after all. They were practically on the same side.)

Valerie Grey, looking intensely weirded out, brought their order to their table. Harriet, unperturbed by the grease leaking through the paper wrappings, began to sort though the offerings for the cheap chicken burger she had ordered. Vlad, meanwhile, stared down at his sandwich.

Someone had put an ectoplasm antagonist in the dressing. He glared at Daniel. He didn’t know how the boy had done it, but he was going to pay for it. Along with setting him up for this ridiculous ‘date.’

“Aren’t you going to eat?” asked Harriet.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Oh, stop being such a snob. I remember you and Jack living off of instant ramen.”

“That was then, this is now,” said Vlad.

.

“Seems to be going well,” said Tucker, adjusting the lens on his camera, “all things considered.”

“Kind of surprised they’re here of all places, though,” said Sam.

“I think Ms. Chin’s just trying to get a rise out of Vlad, to be honest.” He’d stopped looking at them, though, instead frowning at the kitchens. “I think Valerie put something in his food. Do you think we should do something?”

“Not really,” said Tucker.

“Yeah, I’m going to choose Valerie every day over the old rich white guy who wants to kill your dad,” said Sam. “Even if she has some slightly homicidal tendencies regarding you.”

“Fair enough,” said Danny. “Want to stalk Vlad and his date until they drive home?”

“I don’t have any other plans,” said Sam, easily.

“Same,” said Tucker.

“Cool,” said Danny.

.

“Are you frequently stalked by teenagers?” asked Harriet.

“No,” said Vlad.

“And isn’t that Jack and Maddie’s son?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Oh ho, there’s a story there, isn’t there?”

“A private matter, I assure you.”

“When you’re as wealthy as you are, Vlad, nothing’s a private matter anymore.”

“I fear I must disagree with you on that count. Where are we going, anyway?”

“It’s a surprise,” said Harriet. “Unless you want to give me that interview.”

“Ugh. No.”

It was a miniature golf course. Of course it was. He could never escape from the accursed ‘sport.’ At least the miniature version was marginally more tolerable. Or it would be, if Daniel and his pack of friends weren’t able to follow them in.

… Or maybe they wouldn’t follow them in. The trio veered off suddenly right before the exit. Vlad smirked. Not enough cash for the little badger to get in, hm?

This assumption was disastrously disproven when a ghost fight tore through the Astroturf that covered the third hole.

Harriet was very nearly thrown into the pond, but Vlad managed to catch her at the last moment.

She was blushing.

Butter biscuits.

.

“Well,” said Harriet, “that wasn’t the interview I wanted, but it wasn’t a total waste of time. Same time next week?”

“Fine, fine, whatever you want,” said Vlad. Then what he said caught up to him. “No. One date. One date was all you paid for.”

Harriet pretended not to hear him.

[arashikitten]

Dark Danny Should’ve Come Back at Least Once

I think most of the Phandom can agree that The Ultimate Enemy was one of the best Danny Phantom episodes ever made, and for good reason. It was incredibly dark of a kid’s cartoon, especially one made by Bitch Hartman, and on top of that, it provided some very interesting lore and characters. We get to see Danny pushed to his absolute emotional limit in a way that I don’t think the show ever did before, save maybe for My Brother’s Keeper in season 1, and we get our first glimpse at Clockwork, who thanks to @five-rivers fanfic Mortified, has become one of my favorite DP characters. And of course, we get to see Dark Danny, or Dan.

But there’s one little thing about this episode that’s always bothered me: the very ending.

Because at the very end of TUE, we get a shot of the Fenton thermos that Dan is sealed away in rocking back and forth, before Dan’s face forms a massive dent in the side, his laughter echoing as the screen fades to the end credits.

You would think, with an ending like that, that Dan would come back in a later episode. That he would return in the series finale is this last big bad, this final demon for Danny to confront once and for all. 

But that’s not what happens. And it kinda pisses me off.

Dan should’ve come back. We should have gotten at least one more episode with this guy, exploring more of his character, more of his side of the story, anything at all. And you know what would be a great way to do this?

Vlad.

Imagine this, if you will.

Dan makes his escape from Clockwork’s lair, dead set on finishing what he started. Eventually, he discovers Vlad’s portal (let’s say that Vlad decided to rebuild his here) and, upon coming face to face with the man who made him like this in the first place, freaks out. Dan makes an attempt on Vlad’s life, and Vlad just barely manages to escape.

Once Vlad is sure this strange new ghost won’t find him so easily, he realizes that this new ghost had Danny’s insignia on his chest, and puts it together that Danny must be involved in this somehow. 

So Vlad makes his way to Amity Park to confront Danny about this new ghost. Danny assumes that Vlad is there to try to kill Jack or whatever, the two get into a massive fistfight, before Vlad finally tells Danny that he’s only here because a strange new ghost wearing Danny’s insignia popped out of his portal this morning attempting to kill him a second time.

And Danny freezes. He goes from snarky and flippant to sheer, raw terror that has Vlad actually worried. Danny demands to know what this new ghost looks like, and Vlad’s concern turns to fear when Danny’s face goes white with horror because this is the same kid who went up against Pariah Dark without a second thought, who has faced countless ghosts who’s powers could be considered godly with a fearless smile on his face, and Vlad may not have much respect for Danny but he knows what the kid lacks in intelligence he more than makes up for in bravery. 

Meaning that whoever this new ghost is must be incredibly powerful, incredibly horrific, and incredibly dangerous.

Danny tells Vlad to go to Danny’s house and tell them to put the ghost shields surrounding the town up, to not try anything funny, and don’t. Leave. The Shields. No matter what.

For once, Vlad decides to take Danny’s lead. He appears on the Fenton’s doorstep, Armani suit ruffled and hair disheveled, telling them that there is a very powerful ghost making it’s way toward Amity Park and they need to put the ghost shields up now, or risk a Pariah Dark-level threat again. 

Then Vlad makes his way toward the edge of town, because he still hasn’t gotten an answer from Danny as to who exactly that ghost was, and he’ll be damned if he can’t get an answer.

Meanwhile, Danny is just outside the ghost shields, waiting for Dan to arrive. He’s absolutely terrified, because what if Danny isn’t strong enough this time? What if he fails again, like he almost did before Clockwork turned back time? Would Clockwork do that for him again? Would he have to watch his future burn down this present that he’s taken so long to keep up?

Then Dan arrives. Right as Vlad makes it to the edge of the shield. 

And Vlad watches with awe as the two fight. He watches as Danny holds his own against this ghost that had almost decimated Vlad barely 2 hours prior, watches as Danny outmaneuvers, outsmarts this menace, watches as Danny fights tooth and nail in a way that Vlad is sure he’s never seen before, and he realizes that Danny has been holding back. Maybe not at first, maybe not during those first few months, but definitely for a while now, because Danny is holding his own now when Vlad couldn’t.

But then that leaves the question as to why? Why is Danny going all out now? Why was he so scared of this new ghost? More importantly, when did Danny encounter this guy? 

Because he had to have fought this ghost at least once before, to have had that reaction to Vlad’s description. 

And then, he hears the other ghost’s voice, one that sounds like a strange mixture of his and Danny’s, and he hears him say “It doesn’t matter what you do, Danny. You might’ve stopped that explosion, but there are still so many other things that lead to me. A car crash, an unlucky ghost attack, the ecto-filtrator, Vlad getting lucky, all of them could still happen. Your friends, your family, all gone, and you still turn into me.”

And suddenly, everything makes sense. That ghost that Danny’s fighting, that ghost that attacked Vlad, that is Danny, or it was, before something twisted him into an unrecognizable monster, and Vlad has a creeping suspicion that it has something to do with him.  And he realizes that Danny is so much more than he ever gave him credit for. He sees Danny, fighting his own future with a hope that Vlad would call naive if not for the fact that Danny had already thwarted whatever horrible future lead to this at least once before, and he understands that he was wrong about Danny.

Because this? Fighting against the personification of all the worst parts of yourself not once, but at least twice? It would require a maturity, a strength of will that Vlad knows he himself lacks, and he comes to the stunning realization that for all the childish quips and petty pranks, Danny is far more mature than Vlad ever was, far stronger than Vlad ever was.

And then, Danny does the ghostly wail.

And if Vlad was surprised before, then he's absolutely terrified now. That’s enough power to destroy an entire city, that single wail, and the sound is a bone-chilling scream that rubs the older halfa wrong in every way possible because that sound should not come from someone as young as Danny.

And now Vlad is caught between two realizations: that Danny is so much stronger than Vlad could ever be in every sense of the word, and that the only reason Danny is that strong is because he has to be, because he’s a child being forced to go against all manner of ghostly and cosmic horror all on his own, and Vlad suddenly feels intensely guilty because he should’ve been helping Danny, and instead he’s done nothing but make his life harder.

At that point, Jack and Maddie arrive. They freak out because Vlad is so close to Phantom and this other extremely powerful ghost, what the hell is he thinking!? And Vlad is trying desperately to get them to leave, because Danny looks exhausted and Vlad might be an ass, but he’s starting his redemption arc now and that means making sure Danny’s secret, and by extension Danny himself, is safe from his parents. Vlad knows what it’s like to be on an examination table, knows how terrifying it is to have doctors looming over you with knives and bright lights while you have no idea what’s going on, and he’ll be damned if he lets Danny (who he again reminds himself is very much still a child) go through that with his own parents.

But it’s too late. Danny detransforms right there on the street, in full view of Jack and Maddie and everyone else who’s gathered there (Dan’s been sucked back in the thermos at this point).

Danny turns around, covered in scratches and burns and bruises, blood in his mouth from where Dan punched him in the lip, left arm hanging in an unnatural angle, and he sees everyone: He sees Vlad, icy blue eyes so similar to Danny’s own filled with uncharacteristic worry.

He sees Sam and Tucker, both with wide, scared eyes, and he can just barely see the faint shimmer of tears gathering in their eyes.

He sees Jazz, face pale and her knuckles white as she grips the Fenton peeler with all her strength.

He sees Valerie, her helmet down and exposing a flurry of emotions ranging from shock to anger to horror to pain.

He sees his mom and dad, clinging to each other as they stare at Danny, at their son, and come to the realization that their son is dead, their son is a ghost and he has been for a while now and how did they never notice? How could they not notice that they had been shooting at their own son for at least a year now, that their boy had been putting his afterlife on the line for them while also trying to keep up with school, and evade capture by the GIW, all at the same time?

And Danny is scared, he’s so scared, because his parents look horrified of him and they think he’s a monster, and they hate him, because why else would they be looking at him like that?

He feels his fathers arms wrapping around him and he’s sure, he’s so sure that they’re about to haul him off to their lab to be pinned down and dissected by his own parents, because they saw Dan, they saw what he would become, they saw what he is now, they know now. But then his mom and dad start apologizing, because they never noticed, and they should’ve, they should’ve seen that Danny’s low grades and missed curfews and skipped classes were because he was putting his life on the line for everyone in this town over and over and over again. They apologize for not making him feel safe in his own house, because how many times did they rant about dissecting their own son right in front of him? How many times had Jack and Maddie shown Danny a dissected blob ghost and effectively told him that he was the next one on the list? How much hell did their own son have to go through on his own, because his own parents couldn’t see what was right there?

And Danny finally realizes that no, he’s not going to end up on a dissection table, that his parents do accept him as he is now. 

But there’s still this lingering fear because they don’t know. They don’t know what Danny might turn into, and he can’t keep that from them anymore, because Dan is a secret he can’t keep anymore.

Jack and Maddie are confused when their son pulls away, and for a moment they’re worried that Danny’s upset with them, that he’s angry at them, because why wouldn’t he be?

Then they see this nervousness, they see how he’s shaking and tense, and they might not always be able to read the room that well but they can tell that there’s something else going on here that Danny wants to tell them, even if he’s scared to.

So Jack and Maddie ask Danny if he wants to talk about whatever it is back at the house, and Danny says yes, but Vlad, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz should also be there, because Danny needs some level of support and he knows that Vlad won’t stop pestering him about Dan until he tells him.

Valerie steps in at this point, finally getting over her shock to demand to know what the hells going on, was Danny Phantom the whole time? Who was that other ghost? Why did that other ghost say that Danny would turn into him?

Sam and Tucker, who have been through the emotional wringer watching their best friend fight his evil future self, then reveal his identity to his parents, are kinda pissed at Valerie, because Danny’s already stressed out enough as is, she doesn’t need to be adding on to it. A fight almost breaks out between the three of them, which only stopped when Vlad of all people, steps in saying that while Valerie does have a right to know what’s going on, all of this yelling will do nothing but cause problems.

The three simmer down, and they all head over to the Fenton’s house, where Danny tells them everything: the portal, Pariah Dark (Vlad suddenly finds a particularly interesting spot on the floor), and Dan. He tells them about how Jack, Maddie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker died in an explosion in that timeline, how that timeline’s Danny turned to Vlad to take him in, how Alt!Danny asked Vlad to remove his human half so he wouldn’t feel that pain anymore. How Alt!Phantom had been driven insane by the separation (he leaves out the part where Phantom fuses with Vlad’s ghost half: he’s not sure Vlad wants him to tell them about his halfa status), killing his human half before destroying most of humanity. How Danny had been forced to fight Dan a year ago, when he had attempted to blow up his friends in family in this timeline to ensure Dan’s recreation here.

When he’s finally done, about an hour and a half later, Danny looks around the room: at Valerie, at Vlad, at his best friends, at his sister, at his parents, and he sees not only acceptance, but respect. Pride. Because they saw that Danny was willing to look his fate in the eye, and say that he would change it no matter what. They saw him fight tooth and nail to protect them, they saw him defend them from his own demons with a bravery most grown adults don’t have, much less a 14 year old boy.

And they accept him.

[allzelemonz]

Mr. Mayor: Vlad Masters X NSG Reader

Decided to make it gender neutral despite the request because I love Vlad and I know other boys and enbys do too. Also made the reader Jack Fenton’s sibling because I think there’s a slap in the face situation part 2 later on.

Visiting your brother’s family was always great. Jack rambled on about something ghost related while Jazz caught you up on her academic successes and Maddie told you about the big new events you’d missed since visiting last. Your favorite part of the visit was taking Danny to hang out. Your nephew was your favorite, not that you’d ever say it out loud.

So taking Danny to the Nasty Burger to meet with his friends was right in your wheelhouse. Sam and Tucker seemed like really nice kids. You admired Sam’s taste in the weird things and Tucker’s understandable love for technology. In talking to the kids you remembered what Maddie had told you.

“So, the new mayor, not your favorite person?” You looked around at the high schooler's faces.

“He tried to make us wear school uniforms, started a curfew at four o’clock, and we almost lost the Nasty Burger.” Danny explained.

“Does he have some sort of vendetta against you or something?” You asked as you went to take a bite of a fry.

The teens looked at you skeptically. As if you knew something you weren’t supposed to.

“What?” You looked around. “Am I missing something?”

“He’s just a bad guy, that’s all.” Sam clarified.

“He’s the guy that’s been chasing after Danny’s mom since they were in college, other than that he never seemed that bad.” You set down the fry you were never going to get the chance to eat. “He and Jack always spent summers between semester doing stupid ghost expermments in th attic.”

“So you knew him before…” Danny stopped himself from finishing.

“Before?”

“Before college?” Tucker filled questioningly.

“Yeah, yeah, you knew him from when my dad went to college?”

“Not really.” You answered. “Just caught glimpses of him. I was in high school so I didn’t really pay attention to what Jack did.” You shrugged. “He seemed nice, but he stopped coming over so often for some reason.”

Once again the teens looked at each other as if they knew something special.

“All right, who wants to tell me?” You broke their little staring contest.

“Tell you what?” Tucker spoke in more of a series of squeaks rather than words.

“Yeah, there’s nothing to tell.” Sam covered.

You turned to Danny. “Nephew.”

He gulped and let out a nervous laugh. “It’s like Sam said, he’s just a really bad guy now.”

“Explain.”

The look of a disappointed (Aunt/Uncle/Auncle-This is the most common gender neutral term I’ve found) was something that could move mountains. Danny shifted in his seat clearly trying to come up with a convincing lie.

“Daniel, tell me.” You narrowed your brows and the kid looked white as a ghost.

Hold on, no. His hand was gone. The one that was resting on the table. Gone.

“Is this a ghost thing?” You asked.

Danny looked down at his hand and tried to play it off as if it was just a weird angle. It didn’t work. With all the nervous muttering and poorly formed excuses it was obvious they were lying.

“You’re half ghost?” It was hard to believe, but it was the only thing that the kids didn’t sound like they were lying about.

“Yes, just keep your voice down.” Danny warned. “Vlad is half ghost too, that’s how he became mayor and got all of his money.”

“So he’s bad because he played to his strengths?” You muttered to yourself.

You gathered up the trash around the table.

“Why don’t you introduce me to him, Danny. I’m sure he’s not that bad of a guy.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Sam chimed in.

“I may be related to Jack Fenton, but that doesn’t mean I’m an idiot.” You looked at Danny who seemed to forget that he could do ghostly things and was trying to hide in his shirt. “Come on, Danny.”

Reluctantly Danny left his friends to introduce you to his arch nemesis. A fourteen year old with an arch nemesis and it had to be your nephew. Town hall was busy, but that’s what town halls are like. Danny helped you walk through a few walls until you were outside of Vlad’s office. The fact that your nephew could just walk through walls was going to take some getting used to. Danny opened the door to see a rather handsome man sitting at a large desk with a fluffy white cat in his lap. He looked up at the sound of the door clicking open.

“Why Daniel, to what do I owe the pleasure?” His voice had a calming effect.

“My (Aunt/Uncle/Auncle) wanted to meet you.” Danny seemed tense in the way he spoke. “I’ll be at home.’ He muttered to you before leaving the room.

You closed the door as he left.

“Good to meet you Mr. Masters, I’m (Y/n), Jack’s (Brother/Sister/Sibling).”

“Oh, yes, I remember seeing you around.” Vlad recalled. “Please sit.”

You did so, taking the seat across from him.

“I wanted to meet you because I’d always been a fan of your work.”

“Oh, thank you, it's always nice to meet a fan.”

“And because I never got the chance to really meet you when you and Jack were friends.”

“I must say, I do regret not meeting you sooner.” Vlad leaned forward and rested his chin in his hands. The cat scurried away to a small tower by the window.

“Why did you and Jack stop talking?” You asked.

“Oh, college passed and we went separate ways.” He waved off the issues.

“That’s it?”

“Well, I used to have a bit of jealousy toward he and Maddie, but I feel it passing more and more with each word.”

“Each what?”

“Each day.” Vlad corrected himself.

“Right…” Your eyes wandered to the framed Packers jersey on his wall. “You’re a Packers fan?”

“Why yes.” Vlad smiled fondly at the jersey. “I’ve tried to buy the team itself, but no luck.”

“I’ve always been a bit of a fan, and I love the jersey.” You complemented.

“Say, would you like to accompany me to a game this season?”

You blushed red. A very attractive man just asked you to go to your favorite team's game.

“I, uh, I’d love to.”

“I have my own box, bottle service and all of the perks.” He bragged. “Afterall someone with your looks deserves nothing less.”

You let out a nervous half laugh. “Thank you, Mr. Masters.”

“Oh, please, Vlad.” He insisted.

“Right, Vlad.”

The name rolled off your tongue in such a pleasant way. Jack might kill you for this, but come on.

“If you’d like we go for dinner tonight as well.” Vlad offered.

“Sure.” You answered right away.

After having to interrogate Danny and his friends you realized you never really got to eat.

“Shall we then?” Vlad waited by you with his arm out to take.

You walked with him to a limo reserved just for the mayor. He sat next to you and gave great conversation. You discussed the Packers, politics of Amity Park, and personal preferences. Dinner was much of the same, but with more food. Vlad wasn’t like Danny had said. He was a gentleman. He may have acquired his money by not-so-legal means, but he was a nice guy.

The ride home was more conversation. Vlad bought the ticket to the game he’d promised and inquired about why you were in Amity Park.

“It was just time to visit, catch up with Jazz and Danny.” You explained. “I try to tune out Jack, he calls every week or so anyway.”

“And how long will you be staying in our fair city?”

“Around a week.”

“And I couldn’t persuade you to stay any longer?” Vlad offered.

“I, uh, I don’t know.” You thought. “Maybe.”

“There is a position open at city hall if it interests you.” He met your eyes. “I’d be happy to pull some string to keep you around.”

“I wouldn’t mind that.” You nodded along.

You hadn’t noticed how close the two of you were. Until Vlad’s hand was already cupping your cheek. He gave you a moment to react before he leaned in and pressed your lips together. It was a sweet kiss, timid. As if he hadn’t done it in a long time.

You scooted closer to him on the seat and wrapped your arms around him, one of your hands finding his pony tail to play with. Vlad rested his other hand on your side and pulled you a bit closer. You pressed further and intensified the kiss. Vlad obliged and kept the pace, kissing you with as much passion.

The car came to a stop and made you both separate. Time was cut short.

“I suppose I’ll see you soon?”

“Of course.”

“Lunch tomorrow?”

“I’d love to.”

Vlad opened the door for you to step out and gave you one last smile before the car drove away. You were definitely going to see him again.

[going-dead]

Phasmophobia

Danny was very sick of tourists coming to explore Amity park. Like very sick of them, especially the ‘ghost hunter’ ones. In the end they just caused more problems than the actual ghosts, getting in the way of the fights causing Danny more stress and injuries than normal. Not to mention they sucked at their so called jobs. He was pretty sure even a single elementary schooler of Amity was a better ghost fighter than all of the tourists combined.

But at the moment it was the dead of winter and probably one of the coldest weeks of the year. So only the stupidest of self proclaimed ghost hunters would venture out to hunt ghosts in weather like this. While it was nice not having to worry about danger prone tourists Danny still was miserable, he could deal with the cold just fine in fact he preferred the cold. The problem was that It was the holiday season, the worst time of the year. At least the ghost attacks were less frequent as they all prepared for the Christmas truce party.

Still he supposed it could be worse. His parents weren’t fighting as much this year, though that was probably due to the fact they were still treating him like he was made of glass half of the time after he told them about the whole half dead thing. Danny figured that was due to the fact they blamed themselves for the portal incident, causing them to coddle him to an almost tortuous degree. It was as if they expected him to disappear if he was so much as bumped in the wrong way. It had gotten a bit better at this point at least, if things continued as it did at the beginning Danny was pretty sure he’d rather have them still be shooting at him. Now they only tensed up when he left the house instead of not so subtly stalking him all day.

At the moment Danny was sitting on the counter in the kitchen with his mom while she was cooking dinner. “Danny dear get off the counter that’s where the food goes not you.” Maddie said shooing him off the counter with a spatula.

Danny floated off in a huff, “This is ghostphobic mom. The counter is a perfect seat.”

Maddie rolled her eyes, “The term would be phasmophobic, and no it’s not it’s; I don’t want your butt all over where I’m making our dinner-phobic.”

“Fine transphobic then.”

“How about asking you to set the table? What would that be?”

Danny mulled it over for a few seconds. “A reasonable request I suppose.” He phased his hands though the cabinets grabbing the plates. Honestly he could have just as easily grabbed them normally but he was still trying to get his parents used to him having powers. “Oh by the way Sam, Tucker, and I are hanging out tomorrow to celebrate winter break starting and school being out for two whole weeks.” “Alright sweetie, but be safe okay?”

“Of course I will be mom.”

“I mean it Danny, please.”

Danny sighed “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to text you regularly to let you know I’m safe. I’ll be fine and stay out of trouble, I promise” Maddie nodded seemingly plated at least for the time being.

The next day Danny was really regretting making that promise. The day started out so well too. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were walking along the park trail. Danny was walking a few steps in front of the other two, subtly making the path easier with his powers. The only people out insane enough to bear the cold were people who had to go to work and teens who were bored out of their minds.

“All I’m saying Danny is that if you want to choose that class you should choose a race other than human for once. Hellspawn would be the best option in your case.” Tucker argued.

“Says the dude playing the race for furries.” Danny shot back turning his head to look back at his friend.

“Hey! The beastmen race is a perfect fit for my class, they have an exp boost for trickery and magic skills  it’s the best for playing a character who mains in ambushing with traps.

“Boys boys stop arguing. Danny will be fine playing as a human he’s just gonna have to spend more time grinding. Also he’s right, beastmen are so the furry option.” Sam cut in.

“Whatever, I just don’t understand why he always plays the most boring race in every game he plays. I mean why would you want to play as a human when you could be a fantasy race like an elf or something.”

“Well that’s easy for you and Sam to say you both are still hum-,” Danny was cut off mid sentence by his ghost sense and a glowing red circle surrounding the group. He hardly had a chance to go ghost before being fully enveloped by the light.

When Danny was finally oriented enough to open his eyes he vowed to never complain about getting motion sick while his dad was driving again if it meant he would never have to go through that awful experience again. It felt like getting sucked into the Fenton Thermos if it was the size of a straw and being spun in a blender all at the same time. He looked around seeing if his friends were brought along with him. And just his luck, of course they got pulled through whatever the hell that was too.

“Ugh, you guys okay?” He closed his eyes again and focused on stabilizing his core and getting the last of the nausea to leave.

“Bleh I think I’m gonna hurl.” Sam groaned from beside him.

Danny heard Tucker shift beside him. “Yeah I’m good, I guess all that time staying up late playing VR games kinda helped against motion sickness. Landed on my arm though so definitely going to bruise later. Where are we anyway?”

That actually was a good question, Danny lifted himself off the ground literally, using legs to stand was lame anyway. The sight he was met with was both confusing and surprising. Looking down he saw that the three of them were in some sort of red magic circle or something, with candles lit around it. Looking past that was the part that was surprising. He was expecting this to be the work of a ghost but standing in a circle around the three of them were six  humans in different colored robes. He couldn’t recognize any of them though, they must have been from out of town or just total shut ins. He was pretty sure he recognized where they were though, it was the basement of an abandoned building next to the mall, Sam was super into urban exploring the year before and it was one of the first places she dragged the two boys to.

“Haha uhh hey didn’t know there was a costume party going on, I would have dressed up, looks like you got all the colored robe thing going on though. Would my hazmat suit work instead of a robe?” Danny looked at the group around him and cracked an uneasy smile. Maybe it was some sort of accidental ghost summoning or something, it wouldn’t be the first time. Though the fact it brought his friends along pointed to it either being on purpose or something much more powerful, or both.

The man in the black robe turned to a woman in a white one. “Why did the spell bring two kids along with it .”

Danny tried to ignore being called an ‘it’ not like his parents didn’t do it before they knew about his identity. “I’m not the murder clown and I do have a name you know.” But his words seemed to fall onto deaf ears.

“I did the calculations right if that’s what you’re trying to imply, as you can see the subject did appear in the circle as planned. We probably just underestimated how much power the sacrifice would provide with the addition of the solstice.” White robe snapped. Great, this was totally just what Danny needed at the start of his winter break. Not only did they seem like ghost hunters they were the crazy obsessed culty ones.

“Either way the goal was achieved in the end, we have the ghost boy.” Black robe pointed to two men, one in yellow and one in blue robes. “Take care of the two bystanders, but don’t kill them. After all we shouldn’t kill our soon to be followers.” Yeah that wasn’t concerning at all Danny thought.

The one in the yellow grabbed Sam and the one in the blue grabbed Tucker at the black robed man's command. Danny assumed that probably meant the black robed one was the one in charge here. “Hey! Get your hands off me you freaks!” Sam yelled, struggling against the man’s grip.

But Danny’s friends didn’t have a chance against people twice their size. Before either of them could struggle more the two men slammed their heads to the ground in almost unison, knocking them out almost instantly. It happened so fast all Danny would do is watch on in horror. He felt like he watched their now limp bodies for ages, their chests shallowly rising at least giving him the relief of knowing they were still alive. But the sight of small puddles of blood forming around their heads snapped him out of his horror and into a rage.

Danny placed his feet to the ground turning to look at the two in the black and white robes. “Why?” He seethed, “You said they were accidentally brought along when you were trying to get me here. Technically in a way this falls onto me. So tell me, why?”

The man in the black robe seemed taken aback from being confronted so suddenly. The woman in white didn’t seem to have the same problem, maybe they both were in charge? Honestly though Danny didn’t care at this point. “We will take over the little town you haunt. After we do that we will find out where all the ghosts are originating from and then make them into our soldiers so we can take over the country and then the world. To do that we obviously needed you out of the way since you seem to be the only one capable of combating the other ghosts that come into this world. Or you would just defeat our pawns before they could take true action. So we found a way to summon and trap ghosts, then brought you here so we could get you out of our way.”

Honestly Danny was disappointed hearing that more than anything, his rage almost completely disappeared after hearing the plan. “Hold up that is the stupidest plan I have ever heard.” And that was saying something seeing as he dealt with Vlad's plans on a weekly basis. “First off you do realize it would be very hard to get or even force ghosts into your service if you don’t offer them, anything in return. Not to mention how some ghosts have almost godlike powers and you expect to overpower them? Also I am not even close to the only one who can fight ghosts. Everyone in Amity Park has at least some know how when it comes to ghost fighting. They sell basic ghost protection equipment at the supermarket. I just happen to be better suited than everyone else because I y’know can like fly and go intangible when chasing them. Using ghosts to take over the world is so stupid do you even know how to properly catch a ghost? Seriously this is like next level dumb, not to mention how did you even know the summoning would work if it didn't you’d just all be standing in a darkly lit room looking dumber than you already do.”

That seemed to anger the white one a lot. Apparently she didn’t like her intelligence questioned. “Why you little-.” She stomped her foot. “This plan was thought through down to the smallest detail. You want to know how it worked huh? How about asking your friend over there. I wonder what happens when the dead are killed? You will find out soon enough.”

Danny looked over to where we gestured and his refound taunting attitude vanished. Laying over in the corner inside a smaller less complex looking circle was a ghost or the ectoplasmic remains of one at least, the core was completely destroyed. Judging by the fact that the ectoplasm was red it probably had a fire core before it was destroyed. From the lingering ecto signature Danny doubted the ghost was even sapient. It was most likely the remains of something like a blob ghost or the ghost of an animal or even a weaker ectopus. Still all he could do was stare at the remains in horror.

“Of course summoning you was harder so we used that thing for its ghost energy to help power the circle. Instead of chalk we used it’s ectoplasm to ensure the strength and longevity of the seal to hold you in the circle.” The woman smiled as if she achieved something great. Achieve something she did indeed, but it certainly was not what she intended.

The rage Danny felt before came back in full force. Before with his friends he at least knew they would recover, all three of them got injured fighting ghosts more often than they should. But to injure a ghost to the point where not even their core remained was something so taboo that only the most despicable ghosts would do. Even Skulker kept the cores of his prey stable enough not to fade away completely. A ghost's form could be completely destroyed but as long as their core remained they would reform back where they first formed in the Ghost Zone. The only ghosts Danny could think of who would go out of their way to destroy a core were some of the ancients like Pariah Dark or Nocturne.

Danny finally managed to tear his eyes away from the ghost's remains to lock eyes with the woman. She and the black robed man took a step back out of instinct. Looking into his eyes they felt the feeling every animal of prey felt when it knew it was being watched, being hunted. The temperature in the room dropped and frost started to crawl across the walls. Danny took a step towards the two leaders before pausing to reconsider and turning and starting towards the two men standing above his friends.

Then men in yellow and blue robes looked to the man in black for guidance, unsure of what action to take. He looked uncertain as well but shook his head. “There’s no way it can pass through the seal, we tested it.”

Danny's eyes flicked over to the man then back to the two who hurt his friends and gave them a predatory grin, his teeth now looking slightly sharper than usual. He made no sound as he stepped over the circle with ease closer and closer to the two men. They both reached for their weapons, small bats, apparently they were the muscle of the group, and swung at the approaching ghost. Danny simply went intangible causing the two to overswing and hit each other instead, knocking the wind out of them both and causing them to drop their bats. While they were catching their breath Danny grabbed them by their hair and knocked their heads together. Their bodies crumbled to the floor just a few inches from the teens they did the same to just minutes before.

The one who had yet to say or do anything, dressed in red, made her way towards Danny while his back was towards her. Just as she got within arms reach of him she slipped and fell. The temperature had dropped even more at this point causing the ground surrounding Danny to ice over. Danny hardly acknowledged the large thud behind him simply trapping the fallen woman up to her neck in ice as he walked past and headed towards his final two targets.

When first summoned by the group Danny could, within reason, probably be passed off as a weirdish looking human excluding the glow around him. But now as he stalked towards his prey that was no longer the case. His chest no longer moved like it was breathing. His feet made no sound as they made contact with the ground. His eyes, non-blinking, no longer had pupils or even whites to them just a void of endless ectoplasmic green. His ears were pointed almost bat like. The tips of which, along with his lips, were tinted blue. His hair, normally white like snow, now was just the white that came from complete absence of any color. The hair was defying gravity almost as if it was underwater while smoke like wisps trailed off from his hair as he moved. His mouth was twisted into an emotionless smile splitting through his cheeks showing needle like teeth all the way back to where his molars would have been, there was no tongue or throat behind them, just another endless green void. The skin of his neck that was showing past the hazmat suit was marked with lightning like scars. The glow around him seemed to absorb all the light in the room.

The man in the black robe looked between the approaching horror and his partner before running towards the exit. Danny moved so fast it was almost as if he materialized right in front of the man. The man stumbled back falling down in shock but still tried to scramble away from him crossing his chest as he did so. Just as Danny started to raise his arm towards the man he paused and lurched back.

He looked down at his chest where an ornate knife was now lodged. Holding onto the hilt was the woman, she gave the knife a final twist before letting go and herding her partner into the corner farthest away from Danny. Danny showed no pain as he grabbed the knife and pulled it out, the blade was dripping with ectoplasm, and dropped it on the ground. The wound in his chest already healing, filling with more ectoplasm to replace what was lost.

The smile that was marring Danny’s face was replaced with a scowl as he made his way towards the corner where the two were cowering. Placing a hand on their necks he lifted them both up against the wall and started slowly burning their skin with an ectoblast. He let them go, letting them fall to the ground only when their screams of pain turned silent as crushed vocal cords and burnt throat muscles took their toll. Both cult leaders looked up at him in horror faces pale. "What's wrong?" Danny smiled, "It looks like you've seen a ghost."

The woman looked at him in fear as she grasped at the raw skin of her throat, which now was covered in blisters and charred in some of the worst places. “Wha-, what, what are you?” She managed to rasp out before coughing up some blood.

Danny let out a dark chuckle, his voice echoed over itself. “I-,” he snarled, “am a Phantom .”

After Danny sent an anonymous tip to the police about the cult, he brought his friends back to his house. Of course his mom freaked out after he stopped responding to her texts and even more when he phased into the living room with an unconscious Sam and Tucker. He was pretty sure she was about to break out the BOOmerang if she didn’t hear from him for much longer. She was more than willing to take the two of them to the hospital to get them checked out.

Danny made a quick stop into the ghost zone to tell Clockwork to spread the word to other ghosts to be on alert and that there were humans that were trying to summon and capture ghosts. After telling Clockwork what happened, in much more detail than the briefest summary he gave his mom, including how he probably went a bit overboard with dealing with the cultists. He also admitted he didn't regret it even if he did go overboard. They hurt his friends and caused a ghost to completely fade, and in Danny’s opinion they deserve whatever came to them. The whole story caused Clockwork to also start fretting over him making sure to let Danny know that his reaction was a completely normal response to someone threatening something that falls within his obsession especially since it happened in his haunt of all places. Danny swore that his ghostly mentor could be worse than his own parents sometimes especially when it came to reassuring him about his more ghostly tendencies.  

Luckily after being released from the hospital it turned out the worst Sam and Tucker suffered were concussions that would heal in a decently short amount of time. That didn’t mean they weren’t complaining about it though.

“Stop laughing about my suffering Danny! I won’t be able to start playing Fantasy War Online VII until my two week tech restriction is lifted by my doctor. It was bad enough I had to go to a hospital but to be taken away from my lovely devices as well is just too much.” Tucker lamented.  

“Quit complaining and suck it up. I’m on the restriction too Tucker.” Sam pointed out.

Tucker huffed. “Yeah well you’ll probably manage to catch up to all the people who are getting it on release day easily, since you’re scarily good at MMO’s.” He flopped back onto Danny’s bed. “Hey at least this gives us more time to convince Danny to play something other than a human for once in his life. Like I said before the hellspawn is the perfect race for the build you’re going for.”

Danny just rolled his eyes. “And like I said before, I like being a human.” “Whatever dude just don’t complain when I utterly beat you if we end up fighting because you wanted to be the lamest most boring race ever.”

Danny shrugged. “Somehow I’ll cope, I just think it’s nice to be seen as normal and not scary.”

Sam laughed. “Danny you are the least scary person like to ever exist. The only things scary about you are your grades and your wacky parents. I doubt you could be scary if you tried.”

Danny looked out the window watching the stars as they started to appear in the sky. “...Yeah I guess you’re right.”