#hi danny phantom fandom waves jumps up and down

[saltyb0ba]

trapped in the ghost zone

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 30 - "Are you with me?"

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: G

Warnings: -

A/N: I had absolutely no idea what to do with this one… and it shows I think… also can this be considered crackish?

"Danny you ready?"

"Give me a second Red!"

"No time! Going live in…"

"Wait wait wait!"

"3..."

"I got the popcorn!"

"2…"

"What about the block against the Justice League?!"

"1…"

"Red locked them out of the system. Now get ready!!"

"Go!"

Danny blinked as he got pushed by Superboy in front of the camera Impulse was standing behind. Behind them was Wonder Girl giving him a thumbs up with one hand and holding up giant flash cards with her other one.

"Uh Hi?"

Impulse raised an eyebrow and moved his hand in a keep going motion. Nervously Danny rubbed his neck. He looked left and right as if looking for something until his eyes focused back onto the camera. He coughed, took a deep breath, unnecessary in phantom form but helpful to calm down, before smiling and touching his hands together at their fingertips.

"Ahem. Hello, hi. Now you might be wondering. Who the fuck is that guy to interrupt my Saturday night movie program. I am Phantom, the newest member of Young Justice. King of the Ghost Zone also known as the Infinite Realms. The Dimension that's pretty much gluing our entire reality together." He gave the camera a nervous smile before he continued. "I am here to tell you on behalf of the entirety of the Infinite Realms. That you humans, of this dimension…"

Danny took a deep breath, from the corner of his eyes he saw Superboy giving another keep going sign while Red Robin was checking something on his laptop, making sure none of their mentors was trying to cut short their live feat over the entire world as well as that the subtitles worked for different language countries.

"...well you humans suck." Danny said as he breathed out, closing his eyes and pausing for a moment to let his message sink in. "Look, I get it. It's always hard finding something new, seeing change but come on. Anti-Ecto Acts? Was that necessary?"

He waved his hand around like he was thinking to find the right words while peaking at the flash card Wonder Girl was holding up.

"Like come on, can't you humans get your act together? Why hunt down an entire species just because they are different? You humans are already constantly at war with each other, aside from the idiocy of that, do you really have to add interdimensional war to that list?"

Danny chuckled nervously ignoring the additional flash card Impulse was now holding up to make him call out some of the humans' crimes against, the list mostly containing petty things Impulse didn't like. "Just so you know. I am barely keeping my council from declaring the dimensional one by the way." He added instead.

"Now you all are probably wondering what the hell this random ghost hero is talking about with no solution." He glanced to the side. " Well I have one."

Danny coughed into his hand and right his stance. "Dogs."

He held out his arms and Cujo appeared out of nowhere jumping into them. Off camera Wonder Girl coed. His ghost puppy had pretty much charmed all his hero friends since day one.

"They are loyal, awesome, cute and every beings best friend. Ancients even Superman has one!" Danny said smiling as he held up Cujo into the camera, he was glad he had remembered to infuse Red Robin's equipment with ectoplasm so the broadcast wouldn't get distorted.

"It's something we can all agree on. So, are you with me? Let's discard these stupid acts and all focus on the cuteness of little beings like him? How could anyone want to destroy his entire existence!"

"SHIT!" Red Robin cursed loudly off Camera and Danny blinked head turning towards his direction. "B got our location! Oracle ratted us out and is about to shut down the broadcast!"

"What this soon?! We didn't even get to the juicy parts yet!" Impulse complained loudly and Danny nervously faced the camera.

"Uh… Yea so.. No Anti-Ecto Acts and pro Dogs!" He summed up liften a encouraging fist up as Cujo barked happily in his arms.

"ETA 2! We need to bolt!" Red Robin shouted as Wonder Girl Rushed across the camera to open the window on the other side. Superboy was already picking up Red Robin and Impulse was gone before Red had even finished his sentence.

Phantom gave the camera one nervous smile as Cujo jumped out of his arms. "For the record. This broadcast was brought to you by sleep deprived Red and our opinion that the Justice League is taking too long!"

The next second phantom was seen rushing off to the side most likely following the others a moment later a crash was heard in the distance before the camera tilted and fell to the side. The broadcast was cut off at that point.

Unknown to the audience, a group of young hero's was rushing away from there not so secret broadcasting location, trying to escape their mentors that were not happy about their kids trying to take matters into their own hands just because 'the adults are taking to long'.

[theshiaxartistwrites]

The Forgotten

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Rating: Teen+

Tw: Blood and Violence, Minor Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Verbal Abuse, Physical Abuse, Amnesia, Mental Instability, Manipulation

AO3 Link

Chapter One:

It was one in the morning on a thursday, thankfully the first week of summer, when Danny got a message from Tucker. The tech genius had intercepted an encrypted message from Skulker to Vlad Masters. It had a shopping list of high tech ghost related equipment and a few gruesome details about a ghost Skulker had hunted for Masters to use in a special project. The only details about the project Tucker could decode was the name, the M3 Mark-two. Anything that Vlad and Skulker were working on together was always bad news for Danny and his family, so there was no hesitation when he jumped from his window and headed for Vlad's Wisconsin home.

What had meant to be a quick trip to spy on his nemesis, turned into something worse when he overheard exactly what the machine was. His attempt to sabotage was interrupted and the following brawl ended with an explosive result.

Plasmius let out a low groan, his head pounding as he pushed the rubble that was once his laboratory wall off of his back. The dust had yet to settle, a thick smokescreen and flickering overhead lights making it difficult to see. Part of the laboratory's ceiling had collapsed, slowly trading smoke and dust for moonlight. Even so, Vlad could sense his young rival was still somewhere in the lab.

"Feeling proud of yourself, Daniel?" Vlad called angrily to the open air. "I think blowing yourself up was the smartest thing I've seen you do all week!"

Silence.

Plasmius frowned, slowly pulling himself to his feet and dusting himself off before taking a few cautious steps into the middle of the laboratory. Still, there was no movement, no retort.

"Come on, little badger, you know you can't hide from me." He hissed to the settling dust, glass and bits of metal crunching under his boots. Still, he heard nothing. A weird chill settled in his gut. A cold dread creeping up into his throat.

"Daniel?" He called again, gently reaching out with his ghost sense, searching for him. A weak aura under a small pile of debris from the collapsed roof caught his attention. It wasn't Phantom that he was feeling, though, it was human. Whatever had happened in the blast had been strong enough to revert Daniel back to his human form. Under a pile of rock and metal, it was likely Daniel was actually hurt.

Vlad contemplated letting him stay there, let the idiot boy rescue himself from his own brash decisions, but he could only imagine how quickly Daniel's friends would point the Fenton's in his direction should Daniel be more than a little banged up.

A flick of his wrist was all it took to lift the rubble away with a bubble of ghostly red energy, a few larger chunks taking a bit more oomph than he liked. Spotting the young man under a large chunk of lab equipment, Vlad flinched. Daniel was in his pajamas, a pair of white pajama pants and a dark blue top with the NASA logo on the chest. Had he been in such a rush to see what 'vile plan' Vlad was hatching that he hadn't even taken the time to get properly dressed? He didn't look too bad at a glance, a little singed and dirty, but the fact he had reverted to his human form was very telling.

Daniel's friends were going to kill him if Jasmine didn't get to him first. Vlad had seen that girl angry and it was eerily like her mother. She had a tactical violence to her. Vlad moved quickly to Danny's side, kneeling down and rolling Danny onto his back.

"Butter biscuits…" Vlad muttered, biting his lip. The dark stain on Daniel's left shoulder was less concerning than the blood-soaked hair that clung to his face. Vlad took hold of Danny's face and turned his head, flinching away when he realized Daniel's eyes were open.

"Daniel?" He called, waving a hand in front of the boy's face. No reaction. Not even a blink. That icy feeling in Vlad's throat spread down his back. Vladimir pressed two fingers to the side of Danny's throat, a little adjustment as he hunted for a pulse. There was a sharp twist in Vlad's gut when he felt nothing. The boy was still warm, he just had to convince himself that his own quickened heartbeat was making it difficult to find. Vlad put his ear down close to Danny's nose and mouth, listening intently, filtering out the sounds of hissing air tubes, sparking electronics, and dripping pipes.

A raspy breath caught his notice. A slow, shallow breathing, but steady. Vlad felt relief flood through him, that cold feeling washing away. Daniel was still alive. He could handle that.

Still, he was clearly in bad shape.

Plasmius placed his hands aside Daniel's head once more, this time turning everything but his brain invisible.

No obvious damage or bruising, that was good.

Then he inspected his skull. No cracks or missing pieces, but there was a decent section of bruising just above his right ear.

Showing the veins and muscle, then all the way back to normal, Vlad was able to inspect the large gash that ran from Danny's right cheekbone over his ear and up along the back of his skull. His cheek, eye, and side of his head were swollen and turning a dark blotted purple. It was a shallow cut, already starting to clot, but the location was of major concern. Daniel's eyes being open was honestly unsettling.

"Daniel," Vlad had to restrain himself from patting the boy's cheek. "If you can hear me, I'm going to move you. You're hurt and I need to make sure you're not going to die on my basement floor."

Despite the fact that he was intending to help him, Plasmius couldn't help but sound a little vindictive. It was Daniel's own fault that he had gotten hurt, not Vlad's. If he'd left well enough alone, then maybe he wouldn't have nearly killed himself with his blatant stupidity. Vlad grumbled to himself as he carefully gathered Daniel up in his arms, and started for the stairs. He was surprised by just how thin and light the young man was. It felt like he was holding a skeleton someone had dressed up for Halloween. Were his parents even feeding him? Vlad sneered, trying to ignore Daniel's hollow stare as he marched up the stairs.

Loyal!" He called once he reached the top, waiting a moment for his head butler to appear. The old ghost appeared from the ceiling, an unnaturally lanky creature dressed in a tattered grey suit. Long sparse wisps of silvery hair stuck out of his gaunt blue skull, sunken eyes glowing a pale green color.

"Yes sir?" The old ghost groaned, teeth clacking at the sight of the injured boy in his master's arms.

"Young Daniel is hurt, lacerations and bruising, possible concussion." Vlad carried Daniel past the undead butler, moving to the coffee table where he could lay Danny down without anything in his way. Loyal followed, reaching into his jacket and pulling forth a twin size memory foam mattress from the hammerspace within. He laid it on the table first, only letting Vlad lay Daniel down after.

"Aye sir, it seems you may have gone a bit rough with him this time?" Loyal mused, unfazed by the scathing glare Vlad pointed at him.

"He did it himself, blew the M3 Mark-Two to pieces and dropped the entire laboratory on his own head." Plasmius threw his hands up in anger, Loyal pulling out a pair of sanitary gloves for the man. Vlad snatched them and shifted to his human form to be able to pull the gloves on, frowning at the blood that stained his shirt. Vlad rolled his sleeves up as Loyal fished out everything he needed to care for the wounds, kneeling down on a cushion so he could reach Daniel with a bit more ease. First, he allowed Loyal to numb the boy with a syringe of god knows what, before picking up a towel and razor.

To get to the gash, Vlad had to shave away a good chunk of Danny's hair, allowing himself a snicker for how silly it made Danny look. Then he had to clean it, making sure all dirt and debris was cleared out and no clots would end up in the stitches. Loyal assisted, holding tools and swapping in whatever Vlad needed. By the time they were done, the gash was a nice clean, if jagged, stitched line across the right side of Daniel's head.

Next was Danny's shoulder, his shirt being unbuttoned so Vlad could see the injury. A small chunk of glass had managed to imbed itself deep enough to not rip Danny's shirt when he'd shifted back, but was not big enough to have stabbed all the way through. A bit of work with a scalpel and some tweezers were all it took to get the glass and its broken bits out. A quick cleaning, a few stitches, and some bandages and Daniel was physically fine, all set for his undead healing factor to take over.

For Daniel's sake, and his own petty delight, Vlad took a moment to get rid of the rest of Danny's hair, leaving just a thin layer of black peach fuzz behind. Loyal made no comment as he cleaned up the mess of hair and medical waste. Vlad moved to stand and stepped away to make a phone call, taking off a single glove. After a few short rings, the other side picked up.

"I am Technus! Master of all things technological! Who dares to hack my personal communications line!?" Came the loud, nasally voice of Technus.

"Vladimir Plasmius." Vlad growled in reply, hearing the nervous gulp from the ghost.

"Plasmius! H-Hello! Oh, um, what can I, uh, do for you?" Technus stammered, the sounds of bumping metal echoing through the phone.

"I require your services in removing location tracking off a phone and revising a few already sent messages. The young Halfa destroyed my lab as well, which I need back up and running within the week." Vlad held up his hand for Loyal to peel off his other bloodied glove and take them to discard.

"Text messages or-" Technus started.

"In exchange," Vlad continued. "You will be paid $256,000 and given free access to one of my remote ghost portals to come and go as you like. Deal?"

"Deal!" Technus accepted without hesitation. "I! Technus! Will be there momentarily!"

Vlad hung up when the geeky creature began to cackle to himself. It was surprising how effective cold hard cash worked with ghosts. Skulker was certainly no exception.

“Sir?” Loyal spoke up, Vlad turning to face him. Loyal motioned to Daniel, Vlad followed the motion and froze. Danny had turned his head towards him, but his expression was blank, his eyes barely focused as he stared mutely at him. There was no anger, no panic, not even a hint of a frown.

“Daniel?” Vlad took a step closer. Danny didn’t reply, but blinked slowly, one eye closing and reopening ahead of the other, much like a lizard. Vlad hated it.

“Well, at least he’s not in a coma.” Loyal huffed, floating towards the stairs. “I’ll go open the portal for your guest.”

Vlad wrinkled his nose in distaste, stepping over and kneeling down beside Danny.

“Can you hear me?” He asked, watching Daniel nod slowly. “...Do you know where you are?”

This time it was a slow shake ‘no’.

That was…not great.

“Do you know who I am?” Vlad asked.

Another slow ‘no’.

“Do you know who you are?” Vlad was starting to get annoyed. And mildly concerned.

“D a n i e l?” Danny’s voice was strained, cracking with every forced sound.

“You sound unsure.” Vlad bit his lip anxiously, Daniel either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

“Y..ou call..ed m...e…Dan iel…” Danny turned his head away to look at the room, taking in everything with an empty expression. Vlad stood, crossing his arms so he could cover his mouth and muffle his panicked breathing. There were so many ways this could have gone wrong. While this was far from the worst case scenario, this was not good. Not good at all.

“Who…are you?”

Vlad blinked, looking back down at Danny, who was looking up at him once more. There was an emotion there, something akin to panic knit between the boy’s brows. Vlad was quiet for a long moment. He had to be careful how he handled this. If this was a standard case of amnesia induced by cranial trauma, it could end up blowing up in his face.

But.

If this was as a result of the M3 Mark-Two…

Vlad put on his softest smile and leaned down to place a gentle hand on Daniel’s uninjured shoulder.

“Who else, my boy? I’m your father.”

[ectoentity]

Late Night Answers

Ectoberhaunt Day 5: Witching hour vs Twilight

Fandom: Danny Phantom

Rating: G

Characters: Danny Fenton, Kitty, Johnny 13

Tags: Witching hour, ghost culture?

Danny keeps waking up in the middle of the night. The same exact time every night. He decides to take a flight around town and runs into a couple ghosts who're willing to give him some answers.

Read on AO3 here.

Danny’s eyes opened. It was night. Above him, the stars on his ceiling gave off a dim glow. He was still wrapped in his blanket. There was no cold ache in his throat that would indicate his ghost sense had woken him up.

He glanced at his alarm clock. The red numbers read 3:00. Danny grumbled and turned on his side, away from the clock, and tried to go back to sleep. This was the third night this had happened. For the last two nights he’d woken up at exactly three in the morning for no reason. He’d tossed and turned in bed until around four.

This night apparently wasn’t much different. He laid in bed for about ten minutes, but his brain just kept going back to worries about the next day. It wasn’t restful at all. Danny sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes. If he was going to be awake for a while, he should at least do something useful.

In a flash of light Danny transformed. He flew through the wall into the chilly night air. He could feel the cold against his face, but it didn’t bother him like it would a normal human. There was no moon tonight - it had set before nightfall - but he could see perfectly well. Danny decided to head towards the city park. The night was fairly quiet. There were some cars on the roads, but not very many. Just a few night shift workers and late night travelers.

His ghost sense went off when he was halfway to the park. It felt familiar: kind of spiky but not painful or aggressive. Danny was slowly getting better at identifying ghosts based on how his ghost sense felt, but it was more of an art than a science. He had no idea who this could be. Who would be out at the park in the middle of the night and not causing havoc?

The sound reached him before he saw who it was. A motorcycle revved its engines, and someone shrieked in joy. It had to be Johnny, Shadow, and Kitty. Danny landed near the park fountain. They didn’t seem to be causing much trouble aside from being loud. He sat on the edge of the fountain and waited for them to come around again. It wasn’t long before Johnny’s ghostly bike flew in from the opposite area from where they’d left. As expected, Kitty was hugging Johnny as he did some spins that would have been dangerous if they’d still been alive. They rose up on the front wheel of the bike and spun three times before landing again. Then Johnny pulled into an empty parking spot in front of the fountain.

“Hey, kid,” Johnny called. “Surprised it took you so long to come out.”

Danny shrugged. “Didn’t seem like you were really causing trouble tonight.”

Behind Johnny, Kitty giggled. “You mean the last three nights?” she asked.

That got his attention. Danny floated up into a standing position, though his feet didn’t touch the ground. “What do you mean?” he asked. “What’ve you been doing?”

“Chill out, kid,” Johnny said. He got off his bike and offered his hand to Kitty. She grabbed it and jumped down from the bike. “We’ve just been riding around. Witching hour season, you know how it is."

Danny didn’t know exactly what Johnny meant, but he had a feeling it had to do with why he kept waking up. “I keep waking up at three,” he admitted, settling down to stand on the ground. “What’s that about?”

“How long’ve you been a ghost?” Kitty asked. “Or, whatever you are.”

Danny’s eyes flashed. “A little over a year.”

Kitty put a finger up to her chin. “And you didn’t notice last year? That’s a little weird, with how strong you are.”

“You guys kept me up almost every night for three months straight last year,” Danny grumbled. He was still a little bitter about that. It had ruined his grades. Now that he’d cemented his ownership of Amity Park, ghosts didn’t try to challenge him as much, but it had been a really awful for a while.

“Oh, right.” Kitty at least had the manners to look embarrassed. “Well, this time of night is when we’re more… present, I guess?” She looked at Johnny for confirmation, but he just shrugged. Kitty frowned and looked back at Danny. “The closer we get to Halloween, the more it affects us. I can be out of the Zone a little bit longer, Johnny and Shadow can ride faster, that sort of thing.”

On the one hand, Danny was glad to get some kind of answer for why he kept waking up. On the other… “So I’m gonna wake up in the middle of the night for no reason for a month?”

“Two months,” Johnny corrected. “Sorry, Phantom. It doesn’t just stop on November first.”

Danny sagged. He wiped a hand across his face in frustration. “Great. Thanks for telling me. I guess I could… get homework done,” he said weakly. It sounded like the worst possible thing to do in the middle of the night.

Johnny and Kitty stared at him and then burst out laughing. Danny glared until they quieted down enough to talk.

“Oh, Ancients, you’re such a goody-two-shoes,” Johnny snorted. “That’s awful. No, kid, this is ghost time. You can’t do lame shit like homework.”

“What do you want to do?” Kitty asked. “Really? Do you wanna do homework, or… I dunno, fight people? What do you even do when you’re having fun as a ghost?”

Danny frowned. “I don’t have fun as a ghost.” He gestured to his glowing, jumpsuit-clad form. “I’m only like this when I have to fight ghosts.”

The ghosts shared a glance before looking back at Danny. “That’s really sad, kid,” Kitty said. She brushed a lock of hair back behind her ear. “Do you even know what you’re like as a ghost?”

He blinked at her. “I mean… I’m me? I’m more, uh. Protective of stuff.” He blushed green and looked away. He didn’t really like thinking about all the weird ghost instincts that had popped up over the last year. It made him worry about being less human.

Johnny snorted. “No shit. You spent the last year beating the crap out of anyone who laid a foot in your territory.” Kitty elbowed him in the gut.

“Come on, Johnny, he was just a mote. We weren’t too chill for a few years, either.”

“Ow! Babe, we weren’t… you know!” Johnny waved at Danny, indicating his whole self. Danny raised an eyebrow.

“You did kind of try to take over my sister’s body and then possessed one of my classmates,” he reminded her.

Kitty rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but that was before I knew you were just a kid. Like, really a kid. Most ghosts don’t get near as strong as you in their first year, you know. We both thought you were super old but just acted like you were a kid.”

“Even though my human form looks just like me?” Danny asked, crossing his arms.

“Yeah?” Kitty said with a shrug. “Look, the only other one like you we’d heard about was the old guy. He’s been the same age for like, fifteen years or whatever. Why would we think you were any different?”

A lot of questions crossed Danny’s mind. Did that mean Vlad stopped aging? He knew the fruitloop looked weirdly young, even though he had grey hair, but he figured that was botox or something. Did that mean Danny was going to stop aging in a couple years? He was pretty sure he had grown some in the last year, but what if-

No, he had immediate things to deal with. These two probably didn’t know any of the answers to those questions.

“Okay, so, let me get this straight,” Danny said, “Witching hour is for doing ghost stuff. And I’m supposed to figure out what I like to do as a ghost, so I can do it for a couple months.”

“I guess?” Johnny said with a frown. “Not like we had to figure that out.”

Danny picked up his feet so he was hovering a couple feet above the ground in a seated position, one leg dangling and the other hiked up so his knee was in front of his torso. “I guess I like flying? It’s pretty nice. I can go over a hundred miles an hour.”

“Yeah, we can tell,” Kitty said, a hint of a laugh in her voice. She picked up her legs too so she hovered in a cross-legged position in front of him. “That’s not really a you thing, though, is it? Most ghosts like flying.”

“I still prefer the bike,” Johnny said.

“Objection noted, sweet heart,” Kitty teased. “You like protecting the town, right? Maybe you should fly around to make sure it’s okay?”

It wasn’t a bad idea, but something about it felt sour. “I do that all evening anyway,” Danny grumbled. “It’s not like I hate it, I just… It’s not fun.”

Kitty hummed. Danny was very glad she didn’t poke at that. Fighting ghosts could be fun sometimes, but mostly it was something he felt driven to do. He didn’t enjoy it like he would playing a game, or watching a meteor shower, or…

His eyes lit up. “There’s two meteor showers this month,” he said, remembering it suddenly. “The Draconids are in just a couple of days, and then the Orionids near the end of the month.”

“That’s like shooting stars, right?” Kitty asked.

“Exactly. It's rocks from space burning up in the atmosphere,” Danny said, a smile spreading across his face. Why hadn’t he thought about this before? He could get up above the clouds, away from the light pollution. “I bet I could get the best view in town now.”

“Of course he’s a nerd,” Johnny grumbled. Kitty shushed him.

“That sounds like a great thing to enjoy,” Kitty said to Danny. “Wanna ride with us one day and get out of town? Away from the lights?”

Danny hesitated. “You’d be okay with that?” He glanced from her to Johnny. Kitty seemed friendly enough when they weren’t fighting, but Johnny was the one who drove the bike.

Johnny frowned for a moment. He looked back at his bike. Danny could practically see the gears turning in his head. Finally Johnny turned back to Danny and said, “If it gets us out of this dump, yeah, we’ll take you stargazing.”

Before he knew what he was doing, Danny was hugging Johnny. “Holy shit thank you I haven’t gone in years I won’t let you regret it.”

After a few moments had passed, Johnny gently put his hand on Danny’s shoulder. “H-hey, it’s no big deal, kid.”

Far in the distance, a church bell rang.

“Well, that’s our cue,” Kitty said. “Same time tomorrow?”

Danny straightened up, a little embarrassed that he’d just hugged Johnny of all people. “Yeah. See you then.”

When he made it back to his bed, he fell asleep instantly.

[ashtheshortstack]

dwelling on deceit

Rating: G Fandom: Danny Phantom

Sequel to seeking the truth

Tags: Danny POV, Post D-Stabilized, Pre-PP,

Read on ao3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny sat down on his bed, completely exhausted. Resting his elbows on his knees, he buried his face in his hands. This was bad. This was so, so bad. How was he going to explain his way out of this one? Valerie was smart. She could connect dots more than anyone else could. Especially after what she’d seen.

She must’ve already been suspicious that Danny Phantom was “cousins” with a half ghost. Then he opened his mouth a little too much. Part of him just wanted to tell her. But he couldn’t face her, could he? He dated her knowing full and well that he was deceiving her. Knowing that she absolutely despised his ghost half. Valerie had no idea she was dating what she hated most.

Wouldn’t she be angry? Wouldn’t she hate him for the deceit?

Flopping back on his bed, he let out a groan and covered his eyes with his arm.

“What’s wrong?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Sam’s voice coming from his doorway. Sitting up, he gaped at her. “Man, what’s a guy gotta do for a little privacy around here?”

Scoffing, she crossed her arms and leaned against the entryway. “If you wanted privacy, maybe you should’ve actually closed the door.” Sam strode over to him, sitting next to his feet on the bed and giving him a knowing look. “Are you going to avoid my question?”

Danny grimaced, unable to look her in the eyes as he sighed. “Valerie may know I’m Danny Phantom.”

“What!?”

He raised his hands to calm her, waving them for her to keep it down. “Hey, relax! I’m the one panicking here!”

Sam’s eyes were fierce as she gave him a hard look. “How did this happen?”

“The stuff with Danielle happened,” Danny replied while rubbing a hand down his face. “Valerie knows Danielle and Vlad are half ghosts. That’s what she asked me about today at school. She’d already asked Phantom the night before. I-I wasn’t very good at getting her off my trail. If anything, I probably confirmed it for her.”

“How’d she figure out Vlad?”

“She saw him change,” he paused before letting out a sigh. “I’ve been so good at keeping my identity a secret, how could I be so stupid?”

Sam pursed her lips, glancing away. “Do--Do you still like her?”

“I--No. No, not like that anymore.”

She almost looked relieved, but he didn’t dwell on it. Danny knew Sam couldn’t stand Valerie. The thought of him still having romantic feelings for her was probably annoying. Especially since Valerie was technically the “enemy” even though they really had the same end goal of protecting Amity Park.

Danny shifted, moving to sit beside his best friend. “I don’t know… Maybe a part of me wants her to know. It’d be easier that way, wouldn’t it?”

“How can you say that? Don’t you remember that she shoots first and asks questions never? Do you really think she’d make an exception for you?”

“She did for Danielle! Once she realized she’d be taking part in destroying a human, she helped me save her. That has to mean something, right?”

Sam groaned, pinched her brow. “I don’t know, Danny. I really don’t know.”

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Verboten 12 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:   AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Chapter warning: minor character death. Blood

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 12

After he was cleared to return to school, he found the media waiting for him. Somehow, Danny’s parents managed to keep them away from the house. Actually, that wasn’t too surprising as his dad did have a bad habit of accidentally attacking people who paid unplanned visits to the house. The mental image of a particularly annoying reporter with too much perfume covered in the green goop from one of his parents’ inventions was rather pleasing. Following the events at the campgrounds, the school was closed for a week while the police conducted interviews with the staff and school board The information he got from Sam, whose parents were among those interviewed, suggested the police wanted to verify those involved with the school had nothing to do with what happened. However, a rumor circulated that the staff knew about the original missing person investigation prior to the trip, which prompted the school to release a statement where the park and its employees for the tragedy. That didn’t sit well with the general populace, who began regular protests in front of the school.

Once the school re-opened, the reporters began targeting students for interviews they couldn’t get with the school’s staff. Since most of the students were minors, the police got involved to prevent any potential legal issues. However, their presence did not stop the reporters from trying. Each time one of the students involved in the “mass abduction,” as it was being called, returned to the school, the reporters renewed their attempts.

After successful dodging the reporters, Danny made his way to his locker. Unlike the countless times he previously made the trip, this particular time was different. The tension in the air was palpable as the other students stared at him as he passed.

His friends met him at his locker. When he mentioned the stares, Tucker gave an awkward chuckle. “About that, word got out that you were found hours after the rest of us. There are a lot of rumors about what you might or might not have seen and why you weren’t as injured as the A-listers.”

“Speaking of the the A-listers, which ones are back?” Danny questioned as he grabbed his books. Other than the general aftermath, he didn’t know too much regarding what happened to the other abductees.

“All but Star are back. She lost part of her arm, so she’s in physical therapy. I overheard the queen bee saying something about how Star might end up being transferred,” Sam answered as she kept an eye on some of the students staring at them.

He nodded. “That’s more than understandable.” The noticeable tension gave way to what he could only describer as an overwhelming wrongness.

His friends grabbed his arms to stabilize him. “Dude, what’s wrong? Is it related to your… you know?” Tucker’s voice momentarily seemed distant, and it took Danny a great deal of focus to concentrate on it. “Are you sure you should have returned today?”

“It’s okay… it’s just…”

“FENTON!” The sound of Dash’s voice rang through the hallway. Danny had little time to react before the jock suddenly appeared in his line of sight and pinned him to the lockers. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back. You better have an explanation for what happened that day!” Anger radiated off Dash in waves.

“What is your problem?” He still didn’t understand how he became so sensitive to emotions, but they seemed to affect what Frostbite called his core. “If you forgot, you ran off and left us!”

“Are you telling me that you didn’t see that thing? You didn’t see what hurt Star? You better not be lying to me. You’re the one who gave us that weird warning before everything happened!”

“Get off me,” he snapped as he pushed Dash away. “Regarding what happened to you and your friends, I only know what I was told when I was in the hospital. We,” he gestured to his friends as his chest suddenly seemed to freeze, “never saw you guys after you ran off. So, whatever you saw, we certainly didn’t see it.”

“Don’t play dumb with me. Don’t your crackpot parents study this type of stuff?”

Before he could reply, the cold sensation gripped his chest again as the wrongness from earlier returned. The girl who was on the new the other night walked by and momentarily locked eyes with him. His entire body screamed danger, and his core tried activating in defense. It took all of his willpower to squash it down. The girl just gave him a haughty smile and continued on her way.

“Well, aren’t you going to say something?” Dash’s voice brought him back to the situation at hand.

“My parents aren’t crackpots. If you want information from them, go ask them yourself. Good luck at understanding their explanations though. Come on, guys.”

“Are you calling me stupid, Fenton? Cuz if you are…”

“Dash, even I can barely understand some of their theories, and I grew up exposed to that stuff.” That seemed to somewhat diffuse the jock’s anger as he simply growled and sulked away. After nodding in satisfaction, he caught the stunned looks of his friends. “What?”

“Well, at least we know one good thing that happened from our little romp in the woods, you grew a backbone.” Sam’s satisfied smirk caught him off guard. Was she preening? However, her eyes narrowed as her gaze drifted towards where the underclassman disappeared. “But what was that about? You looked like you were going to have a fit when that girl walked by?”

“You noticed that too? I thought I was imaging things,” Tucker added as warning bell rang.

“Remind me to tell you at lunch. I’m not sure if it’s something others should hear.”

….

A few hours later, Danny and his friends found themselves huddled at one of the lunch tables at the far end of the cafeteria. While his friends took a few bites of their meals, he scanned the area to make sure no one was close enough to overhear them. His eyes eventually fell on the girl from earlier.

She seemed normal enough, especially since she was sitting next to Paulina. They wouldn’t have let her anywhere near them if they thought she was odd. However, even though her hair and clothing seemed immaculate, there was something stiff and unnatural in her posture. It was almost as if she was trying too hard to sit normally.

“Alright Danny, spill it.” Tucker’s voice made him jump. Glancing back at his friends, he realized they were both impatiently staring at him. “What happened earlier?”

“Let me ask this first: what do you know about that girl?” He gestured towards where she sat.

“Oh, you mean Maura?” Sam’s voice was full of spite. “She’s been trying to suck up to Paulina over the last two years. Apparently, she managed to get into Queen Bee’s good graces enough to be acknowledged as her unofficial successor. She’s just as mean and shallow as the rest of them. Why?”

“Because, according to the news, she went missing on a local trail around the same time we went missing in the forest. Eww! Tucker!”

Tucker’s apology for sitting out his drink was short as he brought out his PDA. After a few quick taps, he brandished it in front of him. After Sam snatched it from him, she and Danny discovered he brought up the article that matched the new report Danny saw. “Dude, that’s really weird.”

“I’d have to agree.” After Sam glanced at the article, she glanced towards the girl. “They found her in a dazed state but uninjured?”

“What was she even doing other there anyways?”

“With your attempts to hit on most of the girls in the school, I’m surprised you didn’t know.” Sam raised a questioning eyebrow towards Tucker. “She’s a member of the cross country team. From what I’ve overheard, it’s fairly normal for her to train on the trails around the area.”

“Oh, I forgot about that.”

“Do you know anything else about her? What?” Danny hadn’t expected Sam to scowl at him. “Look, I get you don’t like her, but the news said something about how her parents said she felt off to them. And when we made eye contact earlier, it was like my entire being screamed something was very wrong and very dangerous.” He glanced in Maura’s direction again. “Look at the way she’s sitting. Something doesn’t feel right.”

“Danny, did you ever think it was possibly less supernatural?” A sigh escaped Sam when he just raised an eyebrow. “She honestly could have just seen something she shouldn’t have. I mean, it’s not weird for drug dealers, cultists, and other people who don’t want to be seen do their business in the woods.” After glancing back over towards Maura, a deep frown crossed Sam’s face. “It is weird that it happened the same day though.”

“Hmm… maybe. I mean, it did happen the same day. Can we just keep an eye on her, just to be safe?”

“I’m cool with it.” Tucker adjusted his glasses before glancing back at the A-listers.

“Of course you would be.” Sam shook her head in disapproval before turning back to Danny. “I think you’re being paranoid, but I’ll let you know if I see or hear anything weird.”

“I appreciate it.” While he knew his friends were humoring him, Danny couldn’t help but feel somewhat relieved. After a moment, a memory from the morning came to mind. “Hey, did either of you see a lot of police this morning? There were a bunch a few blocks away from my house.”

Instead of immediately replying, Tucker paled as he quickly checked something on his PDA. “Damn it, there was another one.”

“Another what?” Both Sam and Danny echoed as Tucker shoved the PDA into Danny’s hand. A brief glance showed the article was about a recent death in Amity Park.

Before Danny had a chance to read more, Tucker launched into a hushed explanation. “You guys know my mom works for the 911 call center, right? Well, she said something about there being a lot of weird deaths recently.”

“Weird how? Like normal weird, as in ‘person’s weird hobby got them’? Or strange weird as in ‘that’s effed up’?”

“Like ‘that’s effed up’. Sam, you need to stop laying off the true crime shows if you’re make distinctions like that. Anyways,” the techno-geek leaned in as he lowered his voice again, “when my mom asked a police officer friend about it, he stated that they think there might be a serial killer.”

“A what?” Danny felt the blood run from his face. Did Tucker really just say what he thought he did?

“Dude, keep your voice down! But yeah, that’s what they’re thinking because the victims all have something important ‘missing from their person’.”

An uneasy sensation pooled at the bottom of Danny’s stomach. “What exactly is missing?”

A frown crossed Tucker’s face before he responded. “You know, I’m not really sure. Mom doesn’t want to say anything about it. I just chalked it up to the police not wanting to spread information on what they have.”

“But you’d think if it was something as simple as a personal item, they’d could at least specify that,” Sam mentioned. After glancing around to make sure no one was nearby, she continued. “That makes me worried there’s something more sinister going on.”

“You’re the true crime expert. How common is that?”

“It’s extremely common for killers to take souvenirs, but it’s insanely rare for them to… err… take part of a body.” Her voice pitched in discomfort as she spoke.

“And on that note, I think I’ve lost my appetite.”

Sam grabbed his arm as he went to stand. “Come on, Danny. That’s most likely not what’s happening here.”

“With everything else we’ve recently dealt with and learned, that’s not something I want to hear. Do you remember what Frostbite told us? Do you remember what you said Plasmius talked about? I don’t want to get paranoid for no reason.” With that, he gathered his items and walked off.

….

As the week came to a close, Danny noted it almost seemed the entire town was on edge. People on the streets spoke in quiet whispers about what the police were doing. His fellow students tended to go straight home after school instead of hanging out in the normal spots. Even the animals seemed on edge. Several times he caught dogs whimpering if their owners stopped for any reason.

His parents’ research did little to help his unease. Their scanners signaled several times that week. According to his mother, they were detecting electrical abnormalities, but the abnormalities only seemed to last for a few minutes. His parents were concerned about the sudden spike in them and were doing all they could to attempt to find some sort of explanation. People also started calling around the times of the spikes reporting sightings of odd shadows.

To make matters worse, he was having trouble falling asleep. Normally, he’d chalk it up to insomnia, but his body didn’t seem to feel tired in the morning after only three or four hours. It was as if the normal amount of sleep was just not needed. While he wasn’t certain if it was a weird side effect of his ghostly affliction, Sam’s mention of ghosts drawing energy from strong emotions often came to mind. He hoped that wasn’t the case, but he couldn’t outright dismiss it.

Around eleven in the morning on Saturday, he received a text from Tucker. It simply said he had some important information for him and Sam, and that he wanted them to meet up. Sam immediately offered her home as her parents were out of town for the weekend. After sending his reply, Danny got ready and headed out.

Normally, it only took ten to fifteen minutes on his electric scooter to reach Sam’s, but he decided to take a slightly longer route to give himself a little longer to clear his thoughts. Rounding a corner to go through a commonly used alleyway, he came to a screeching stop as a cold chill and the feeling of wrongness overcame his body. Clutching his chest, his breath misted in front of him as he glanced around the alley.

Nothing seemed off, but the feeling refused to go away. Unnerved, he decided he needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. However, when he rounded the corner that would allow him to pass behind some of the buildings he found something he was unable to register what was in front of him.

His mind eventually processed the sound of dripping and an angry hiss, and almost like fog lifting from his eyes, he finally made sense of the scene. Someone was lying on the ground. Blood completely covered his chest and must have come from the large wound in the center of it. Danny was almost certain the man wasn’t breathing.

Something stood almost protectively over the body. It was mostly humanoid, but the sickly gray of its skin and skeletal frame showed it certainly wasn’t human. Black eyes seemed to glow in hatred. Something red and dripping blood rested in its hand.

Danny backed away in fear. He had no idea what the thing was, but he knew it was dangerous. To make matters worse, it knew he was there. Slowly, he decided to back away from it. At first, it seemed like it was fine with his retreat, but after sticking whatever it was holding inside its own chest, it dropped its hands to the grounds and walked forward on its knuckles.

Not knowing what else to do, Danny ran. As soon as he turned his back, the thing bolted after him. He barely made it halfway back through the alley before the thing was on top of him. As it tried to attack, he managed to knock it aside. The thing growled before lunging again. It was too close for him to attempt to escape, so he help up his hands and braced himself.

But no attack ever came. Instead, the thing bounced off of a translucent green wall with a sickening splat. After a few dazed steps and a shake of the head, it hissed while appraised whether or not it could get to him. It hesitantly touched the wall, only to pull back its hand with a yelp of pain. After baring its teeth, it stepped backwards. As it moved, its body jerked, cracked, and popped as it slowly morphed into what appeared to be an old woman.

As it disappeared around the corner, Danny’s knees gave way, and the strange green wall disappeared. He just stared in the direction where the thing disappeared as his mind tried to process exactly what just happened. It wasn’t until his phone buzzed, that he clambered to his feet and ran out of the alley. His fingers shook as he called the police.

....

The police and paramedics arrived in less than ten minutes. As the police examined the scene, the paramedics treated Danny for mild shock. While he sat on the rear step of the ambulance, he watched the police did their job.

Most of the officers wore grim expressions. Some whispered to each other. One of the younger ones had to excuse himself as he felt sick from the sight of the victim. Eventually, one of the older officers approached him for a statement.

Danny tried to be as truthful as possible. He described the creature as a thin and sickly looking person. After some internal debates, he finished by explaining it looked different as it moved away.

“Son, what do you mean?” There was a deep edge in the officer’s voice. “You better not be messing with me.”

“I… I really don’t know. Maybe it… he had one of those creepy realistic masks or something, but I’m telling you, he looked different right before it disappeared.”

The officer frowned as he stared at Danny. “I don’t think you’re lying, but shock sometimes warps what we think we see. Next week we’ll call you to the station to make an official statement.” He sighed before continuing. “We’ve contacted your parents. One of my juniors will take you home. Take it easy for the rest of the weekend, you hear me?”

After another fifteen minutes, Danny found himself in the front seat of a cruiser. Neither Danny nor the officer spoke for the entirety of the ride, and soon, they were in front of Fenton Works. After telling Danny to stay safe, the officer left him to be swept into the arms of his mother.

His mother was understandably scared. The officer who called the house told her there was an incident and that he was okay, but due to the investigation, he was unable to give any details. After letting her have a few tears of relief, he asked if they could go inside. Maddie ushered him into the house.

His father and friends were waiting for him in the living room. Sam rushed over to him to pull him into a hug while his dad and Tucker shared a smirk. His mother excused herself to go get everyone hot chocolate and cookies. Once she returned, Danny told them what happened. Unlike with the officers, the only detail he left out was the green wall.

He knew his friends would ask why he was so open with his parents, but without knowing exactly what he saw, he figured the two paranormal experts would be the best source for information. And, he wasn’t disappointed.

“Sweetie, you know it was probably a person, but your father and I will do some digging,” his mother promised. “You described something that sounds too much like some of the legends in Native American folklore. And with all of the abnormalities we’ve been detecting recently, I don’t want to be foolish enough to rule it out.”

“Don’t worry, Dann-o.” His father’s grin was infectious. “We’ll find those spooks and take care of them for you. To the lab.”

As the behemoth of a man disappeared down the stairs to the lab, his mother just fondly shook her head. “Get some rest. Sam, Tucker, let me take you home. I don’t think your parents would be too happy with me if I didn’t.”

“Thanks Mrs. F. I appreciate it. Can I take some cookies home? My mom loves your snickerdoodles.”

“Sure, let me go get a container for you.”

When she disappeared into the kitchen, Danny leaned forward and whispered. “Thanks for the distraction, Tuck. Guys, one other thing did happen. I… I think one of my abilities activated. I’ll call you guys later with the details. It’s probably the only reason that thing didn’t kill me.”

Before either of his friends could reply, his mother returned to the room carrying a container full of cookies. “Alright you two, let’s get going.”

Once he was left alone in the living room, Danny decided it was the perfect time to get a shower. After everything that happened, it would help him sort through his thoughts. He hoped his parents were right. Maybe it was just a strange looking man, but the wrongness of what he saw and the thing’s transformation told him otherwise.

========================================

Notes: I’m not sure how familiar people will be with it, but Cross Country Running is a type of long distance running, and at least in the US, it’s a Fall sport. However, it’s not on a track or indoors. Runners are usually on fields, trails, the in woods, etc., depending on the area. If you’re in the Allegheny plateau, it’s common to see the trails involve hills and/or some type of wooded area.

The creature is based off of a story (which I still can't find again) was submitted to a YouTuber channel that goes by “Darkness Prevails.” The channel tends to read a lot of accounts submitted to it. And while the stories cannot be verified under most circumstances, all stories are claimed true by the submitters.

The story that heavily inspired it is from a narrator who explained that her dad barred her from seeing a family friend (who she viewed as an uncle) after something that happened after a camping trip. She ended up encountering the family friend a couple years later and was invited to his home. The house was unkempt and stunk, and there seemed to be a strange substance everywhere. The friend and his wife were both acting strangely. After being lured to the kitchen, the friend tried attacking her, and she managed to escape and called the police. She was told her uncle had seemingly up and left a few years prior. After questioning father ended up explaining that when he and his friend were gathering firewood on that trip, they were chased by something that sounded like a pack of coyotes or wolves. The friend fell when they were running back to camp, and the dad lost sight of him. When the dad got back to camp, he tried to get his wife and the friend’s wife to call for help. However, they heard the friend call from the forest, and the friend's wife went to help him. When they returned, they seemed off. They spoke strangely and walked stiffly. Normal tasks seemed to baffle them. The dad didn’t know what happened to his friend and his wife, but he was convinced that what was left was something impersonating them.

Stories like this pop up in folklore, and there are a lot of online stories telling of similar encounters. However, it is difficult to tell what’s a true account and what might be a “Creepypasta.” There is a rather famous folklore entity in First Nation stories in the Southwest US that is sometimes said to wear others skins. The most famous stories are from the Navajo, but other tribes also have them in their folklore. However, there is also a spirit called Kanaima from the Carib tribes that is somewhat similar. Some renditions of Wendigos (traditionally Algonquin) also put them in this category. A Kee-wakw (Abenaki) might also fall into this.

And then I managed to combine the story with some of the information I know about the entity known as a Raven Mocker (from Cherokee lore). It’s another rather unsettling creature, and some accounts have it change shapes.

[lonely-bored-writer]

Casper High Ch. 1

Fandom: Supernatural & Danny Phantom

Summary: Sam Winchester had experience many different things in his life, it came with the family business. Different schools, people, and motels every week. However, he never quite met anything like the enigma that is Danny Fenton.

Sam Winchesters has been to many different public schools, ranging from terrible to decent to great. He had gone to countless schools all over the United States, joining during different times throughout the school year. There was the school in Florida, where he got in a fight every week. Then there was the one in Maryland where he was able to go unnoticed his whole time. So, you can say Sam knew a thing or two about surviving in a new school as the new kid.

He's been to Illinois before, this wasn't much of a difference. However, he's never heard of this particular town- Amity Park. It was a strange, small town where locals kept mostly to themselves, nothing odd about it... if you ignored the red brick building with a neon 'Fenton Works' sign protruding from the side and a UFO like thing attached to the roof. They were the resident 'ghost hunters' and they were someone his dad wanted to consult with for a case a few hours over in the neighboring state.

Not that the younger Winchester can complain, he did very much enjoy when it was just Dean and him. He missed school lunches with Dean, the older Winchester had actually graduated two years ago, when Sam was starting freshman year. It's his second year going to high school on his own so he can't say he minds all that much anymore.

The one annoying thing about new schools is learning where everything was located again. Every school was different, different winding hallways and room placements. Being the new kid always entailed getting lost.

That's what Sam Winchester was doing in his search for his homeroom, English 3 with a Mr. Lancer. It was then that he saw it, the sight of a small group of people causing him to pause in his search for his class. Sam was not unfamiliar with bullies, having dealt with a few in his time but this was totally new. He couldn't help but note the almost bored look the smaller teen had as four jock looking kids pushed him around, spewing insults at him as they did.

Sam wasn't one for giving bullies the satisfaction of pulling emotions from him, but he couldn't even think that someone would look so passive throughout the whole thing. Kids always had a tick- something that would give away their emotions, but this odd kid had none. Sam stayed behind the corner, waited until the jocks had actually fully shoved the kid into a locker and stumbled off to do god knows what. Sam had made up his mind as he made his way over to the locker. He could always play the 'lost new kid' card if he needed too.

"You alright in there?" Sam calls once he reaches the locker, already messing with the lock to unlock it. He hears a soft yelp and thump inside the green metal box. "I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Sam apologizes, finally opening the locker to see the shorter teen. Sam must say, he is surprised to see that he was nine or so inches taller then the small teen.

"Uh, it's okay." The teen mumbled as he stumbled out of the locker, and pulling out his bag. He then turns to Sam with a hesitant smile; Sam spotting the hidden flecks of worry in the bright blue eyes. "I'm just not used to people finding me so quickly."

"I was turning the corner when they locked you in." Sam offered an apologetic smile. "I'm Sam by the say, Sam Winchester." Sam didn't miss the barely-there flinch the teen gave.

"Danny, Danny Fenton." Danny greeted, shaking the hand the Winchester offered. It was then that Sam noticed just how thin the teen was, and the dark eye bags that rested under bright eyes. "Are you new?"

"Um, yea. That obvious huh?" Sam chuckled, smiling when the teen laughed as well. Before he dawned on him he could use help finding his homeroom. "Do you know where 415 is? English 3 with Mr. Lancer?" Danny's eyes brightened at that.

"That's actually my next class." Sam couldn't help his eyebrows rising in surprise- if he had to guess he would have said Danny was a sophomore not a junior. Danny only chuckled, tugging on the sleeves of his stripped jacket. "Yea, I know. I'm small for junior, but I'm seventeen. Anyways, we can walk together if you'd like?"

"That'll be really nice, thank you." Sam smiled politely falling into step with the scrawnier teen.

"Why would you even move here?" Danny broke the short silence that had settled, glancing over to the taller boy as they walked. "People don't normally come to Amity Park willingly."

"My dad's job needed us stay here for a few weeks." Sam responded, continuing before the teen could ask he's next question. "He buys, fixes, and sells unique cars."

"That's pretty cool." Sam was surprised to see Danny was being genuine with his words. As they slowed in front of a door, Danny took a deep breath. "We're here brace yourself." He warned before opening the door and walking it. Sam felt confusion run through him when he saw the classroom was pretty civil. No bracing needed.

"Mr. Fenton. What a surprise, you're only fifteen minutes late to class." Came the annoyed greeting from the overweight teacher standing up front with a book in hand.

"I was showing the new kid to class." Danny shot back as fast as Lancer had greeted them.

"Ah, you must be Samuel Winchester." Lancer greeted, a warm smile replaced his scowl. "I hope all is going well, you may take a seat next to Daniel." Lancer motioned a hand to the rows of desk, Sam followed behind Danny quietly taking a seat to the desk the smaller teen motioned to. Sam saw it the moment Danny sat down, a kick jolted his chair forward and slammed his stomach into the desk. Sam was a little surprised by the forced used in the kick considering the desk and chairs were attached to each other.

"As I was saying, in Shakespeare's play 'the taming of a shrew', Shakespeare makes it quite evident that without Katherine being wedded off that Bianca will not be able to. You can find this quote in Act II, scene 1. As it reads..." Sam glanced over to Danny who seemed to look up at the exact moment, the smaller of the two offering a sympathetic smile before the two pretended to pay attention- Sam only pretending because he's already read this exact play four times.

When lunchtime rolled around, Sam was a little more than confused. The school only had two lunch periods, which meant half the school should be littered through the cafeteria and the courtyard. However, it seemed only a quarter of the students were on campus.

"Most of us have lunch off campus." Sam jumped, turning to see Danny who offered up a small smile. Since homeroom, Sam hasn't seen much of Danny in the two periods the followed just a small glimpse of him turning the corner most of the time. "I eat at the Nasty Burger, you can join me if you want, it's in walking distance." Sam hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"As long as it doesn't live up to it's name." Sam agreed, pulling a laugh from Danny.

"Don't worry, it's the best fast food joint here." Danny responded as the duo made the seven-minute walk to the Nasty burger.

"This is the first school I've gone to that let's us eat lunch off campus." Sam confessed, eyes trained on the small joint that did have teens in it.

"Casper High is kind of an old school like that. None of the parents complained about kids skipping after lunch so they kept it. Plus the food served here would make other school's look like they served five star food." Danny responded, shuddering at the last part. The duo put in their orders and Sam was relatively surprised when warm food was ready for them under five minutes. He let Danny lead them to a small booth at the corner of room, eyes scanning over all the students he's seen around school already.

"So, what do your parents do?" Sam asked, Danny glanced up from his burger before answering.

"They're scientists." Danny responded, and Sam had a clear feeling that the other teen was keeping some things to himself. "They invent a bunch of things, and work with a tech company called Dalv Co., which is owned by my parent's old college friend."

"That's cool." Sam smiled. The more Sam got to know Danny, the more confusing the teen was. Most kids would brag about their scientist parents working for a billion dollar company. "Any siblings?" That seemed to do it, Danny's face brightened instantly.

"I have a sister Jazz, she's two years older." Sam couldn't help but smile at the fondness in his words and his smile. "She's also in Michigan. She got a free ride to MIT."

"A free ride? She must be really smart." Sam said, words coated with awe.

"It's because she is such a good student and for her great psychology work." Danny paused, seeming to remember something before he turned his attention back to Sam. "What about you?"

"An older brother, Dean. He's actually four years older." Sam laughed at Danny's shocked face. "He helps my dad out with his mechanic business and stuff."

"Wow four years... what that would make him..." Danny paused, glancing up. "Twenty one, that's cool."

"Not as cool as some would think." Sam chuckled, thinking about the few ways Dean's age didn't work in his favor. "He refused to buy me alcohol." Sam gave a clearly exaggerated sad sigh at the end, pulling a loud laugh from the other teen. Sam soon joined in, smiling. He was happy he was able to make a friend today, even if he isn't staying long.

Sam grinned when he approached Danny who sat at the curb, his smile slipping slightly when he noticed how sad the teen looked. A honk pulled his attention away from Danny, eyes finding his brother leaning against the impala, smiling at Sam with a wave. Sam smiled back, before nodding his head to Danny and holding a hand up as a hold on motion, receiving a nod from Dean who took a seat in the driver's side.

"Hey Sammy." Danny greeted with a smile when Sam stopped next to him.

"Hey Dean. Oh Danny?" Sam smiled, before glancing over to his brother's car. "Are you getting picked up?" Sam watched Danny glanced down at his phone before sighing.

"I'm actually going to have to walk home." Danny pulled himself to a stand, typing at his phone. "I need a car." Danny mumbled under his breath, Sam was pretty certain he wasn't supposed to hear that.

"Do you want my brother to give you a ride? Or you can come over?" Sam added as an afterthought. "We're staying in a motel room but its two adjoined rooms." Sam offered with a shy smile, rubbing the back of his neck. Danny paused, and Sam felt like the teen was going to deny his offer.

"That'll be nice. Motel or not." Danny smiled, getting a grin back from Sam, the taller of the two leading the way to the car. "This is his car? It's so cool!" Sam couldn't help smiling some more, at least he knew Dean and Danny would get along.

"Hey, I'm Dean." Dean gave a charming smile when the teen settled in the back seat, holding his hand out over the seat to Danny. Danny smiled, and accepted the handshake.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Danny."

"It's good to see Sammy made a friend on his first day." Dean chuckled. "He tends to be the loner for a while." With that, Dean starts up the car, the Impala purring as it pulled out of the school parking lot.

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Verboten 4 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:   AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 4

Later that night, it was officially announced at dinner that the camper’s death was the result of an unfortunate accident. However, what shocked all the students was the decision to finish out the remaining time at the camp. According to Mr. Lancer, he had contacted the other teachers at the different sites, and that was the mutual decision.

Tucker had surprisingly spoken up and demanded how their teacher managed to get through since the cell phone service issue remained unresolved. After their meeting with the police officer, he had checked with other students, who all said the same thing. Their service was poor, and they hadn’t been able to contact anyone. For the technophile, it was extremely frustrating, and he had put a lot of effort in attempting to solve the problem on his own device. He told Danny and Sam that it almost seemed like there was a weird electrical phenomenon causing the problem.

Lancer stumbled for a moment, but he eventually said the Park Rangers had let him use their landline. He then changed the topic and began explaining what the activities for the next morning would be.

“Alright, now I’m really sure something’s fishy,” Tucker whispered to his friends. “Wanna bet he was never able to contact the other teachers?”

“I’ll pass, because I think you’re right,” Danny told him as he stole a glance at some of the nearby Rangers. They had been closely watching the students since the beginning of dinner. “I don’t think the Rangers agree with that decision.”

“Yeah, and did you notice? They’ve been stone faced during this whole thing.” Sam leaned forward as she continued. “I really think something more serious happened to that poor man.”

Danny nodded. “I don’t have the slightest idea what might have happened. You’d think they come right out and say if it was an animal attack. But, that’s fairly uncommon in our state. I mean, the most dangerous animal here is a black bear, but they aren’t very common.”

“It could have been a mountain lion attack. While they supposedly haven’t been in this state for decades, there are still regular reports of them. That’s something that might be kept quiet. I mean, that was an issue in Pennsylvania with their coyotes and the Game Commission.”

“That would make sense, but you’d think they’d still say something like it was an animal attack and chalk it up to him doing something stupid to upset a bear if that was the case,” Tucker mentioned as he fiddled with his PDA. “I still can’t get a good signal.”

“I guess we need to just remain on guard,” Danny mused as the other students began to stand. His friends agreed with him as stood and went to grab one of the paper schedules which held the next day’s events.

…

After Danny and Tucker headed back to their cabin after then had finished freshening up for the night at the communal showers, they were met with the jocks excitedly swapping information. Dash’s grin was almost cat-like as he caught sight of the pair. “So, I guess you dweebs didn’t hear about what actually happened to that camper.”

“Other than what we were told, no,” Danny told him as he went to grab something out of his bag. “And don’t you have anything better to do than spread nasty rumors about the dead?”

Dash’s grin immediately grew larger as he continued, “It’s not a rumor. One of the band geeks was up for an early piss and saw them bring the body into camp. That guy was in pieces.”

“Wha… what!? What did you say?” Tucker stammered as he dropped his PDA.

“Are you absolutely certain that’s what he saw?” Danny demanded as he stepped in between Tucker and Dash. “The camper could have been really messed up, but if he was covered in blood, dirt, and whatever else he encountered, maybe it looked worse than it really was.”

“As much as it annoys me to admit, Fenton makes a good point,” Dash’s other friend, Lucas, mentioned as he sat on his bed. “Without seeing it for ourselves, we don’t know how bad it was, and the kid was pretty scared when he repeated it. So, let me ask you this Fenton, what do you think happened?”

“I’m surprised you care about whatever I think. But,” Danny paused for a moment, “all I know for certain is that something bad happened, and the police and rangers aren’t happy about it. But, I’m not a cop, and I’m clearly not trained in stuff like this, so my hunches are probably wrong.”

“That’s not much of an answer.”

“Unlike some people, I’m not going to jump to conclusions before I know more.” Satisfied with the stunned looks of the jocks, Danny turned to finish preparing for bed. After a moment, he realized Tucker was staring at him. “What?”

“So, where’s this Danny Fenton been all these years?” his friend whispered at him.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve never stood up your… you know… bullies before. What changed?”

“Nothing changed, not really,” Danny replied as he climbed into bed. “It’s just I can’t tolerate people spreading rumors like this. It brings bad luck, or at least I think so, and,” he paused for a moment before lowering his voice, “you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”

“Did your parents drill that into you or something?”

“Not my parents, but I can’t remember who did.”

……

The next day, the students were kept close to camp. Most of the day was spent learning basic camping skills. Although there were plenty of grumbles from his classmates, Danny found it pretty interesting as his parents wanted to keep him as far away from the woods as possible. He spent most of the morning in a boyish wonder as was instructed on setting up tents, campfires, and basic traps.

Sam spent a good portion of the morning teasing him, but he largely ignored her. Like a lot of boys, he had an interest in camping when he was younger, so this was a chance to experience it, or at least a small portion of it. However, by the time lunch hit, his enthusiasm had been replaced by uneasiness.

In the shadows cast by the trees around the camp, he felt as if someone was watching him. It was possible it was just an animal, but as the hours passed and the feeling continued, he determined that couldn’t be the cause. Most animals didn’t spend that long watching people, unless they were hunting, but most predators wouldn’t dream of getting so close to so many people. Both Sam and Tucker seemed apprehensive as well.

“Hey, did either of you heard those weird bird calls earlier?” Sam asked while they were eating dinner.

“I don’t know how you had time to listen to birds with how much manual labor we did earlier. I’m exhausted,” Tucker whined in between bites of his food.

“We barely did anything too strenuous. You really need to get out more.” The amused smirk on Sam’s face was quickly replaced by a frown. “But, in all seriousness, something sounded wrong. I’m pretty familiar with the birds around here, but I’ve never heard something like that before.”

“Is it possible it was an exotic bird?” Danny questioned. “I mean, it is possible one escaped or someone let one go.”

Sam considered his words for a moment. “While it’s possible, I don’t think that’s the case.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain.” She brought her hand to her chin as she tried to put her thoughts to words. “The sound didn’t sound natural. It was almost mechanical.”

“A mechanical bird? Come on, Sam! Even for you, that’s pretty out there. Am I right, dude?” Tucker playfully nudged Danny, only to realize he seemed deep in thought. “Hey, what’s wrong? Earth to Danny.”

“Gah!” The sudden motion of Tucker waving his hand in front of his face startled him. “Sorry about that. It’s just that… I… I think I know what she means”

“Huh?”

“I don’t remember much about what happened when I went missing, but before things go hazy, I definitely remember a strange bird call. After doing some research, my parents said that calls like that are sometimes heard before unusual missing persons cases.”

“Dude! Don’t say stuff like that! I’m already freaked out enough as it is by this whole mess. Ouch! Did you really have to kick me?”

“Keep your voice down,” Sam warned him as she motioned to the side with a head nod. Danny followed the motion and noticed some of the Rangers seemed to be watching them. “I really don’t want them to pay attention to us. They’re watching us, all of us, like we’re prisoners or something. Anyways, Danny do you know anything more about that weird call?”

“My parents said it might be a type of lure, but I have no idea if that’s true or not. But, I think it was to catch my attention than anything else.” Danny shook his head. “Sam, we wouldn’t be doing this. Whatever that call was, it could have just been some weird bird.”

“Don’t you want to know?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. Look, I’ve been uneasy since we first arrived in this forest. I already told Tucker this, but talking about weird stuff like this brings bad luck. Can we put it on hold until we get out of here?”

“But Danny!” Her argument was cut short as he glared at her. She straightened up as her eyes narrowed. “As weird as everything is, I think the bigger mystery is what exactly happened to you when you went missing when you were a kid.”

“Look, I don’t know what happened,” Danny snapped. What was her problem?

“Clearly something did. What’s every going on here might be digging up some of those memories. Maybe you have a memory that could help, but you’re getting so defensive.”

“Of course I am! Would you like it if someone kept trying to make you remember something that’s probably better left forgotten?”

“Alright, alright. Chill already.”

His only response was to huff and turn away. Her stubbornness was something he both admired and occasionally hated. Whether it was petitioning her teachers to get a menu changed, rallying a protest, or badgering her friends for information, she often wouldn’t stop until she got her way. It was a big reason why he didn’t think they’d ever be able to get together.

They had discussed it the previous year, after Tucker outed their mutual attraction. Neither of them thought it would work out. Sam was too headstrong, and Danny was too reserved for it to be a functioning relationship. There was always a spark of hope, but it was situations like this that reminded him that they hadn’t changed. For the sake of their friendship, it wasn’t something they could safely consider.

Maybe when they got a little older, a little more mature, they would be able to act on their feelings, but that would have to wait. For now, he was just going to sit in an annoyed silence as he finished his… what exact was this food supposed to be anyways?

…..

Sam actually apologized to him the next day. However, he was still too irritated to speak to her, but by the time lunch rolled around, he had forgiven her.

The morning had been spent working on more wilderness survival skills, but the Rangers surprised them by announcing that they would be leading them on a hike on the trail that surrounded the camp. It was only supposed to last a couple hours at most, but three armed Rangers would be walking with them.

Annoyed and uneasy murmurs circled through the students as they formed groups of three and four. Those groups were then lined up; one Ranger moved to the front, one went to the back, and the other moved to the center of the line. Before they began to move, the Rangers warned the entire group that, under no circumstance, was anyone to go off on their own.

Although Sam and Tucker wanted to stay away from Lancer and the jocks who were near the front of the line, Danny would not allow them to be in the very back. After everything else that happened, he would not allow himself to be in the back on the line. The warning to stay away from the very back or front still rang in his ears. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long.

As they began their trek, several of the groups fell to the back of the line. It forced Danny and his friends to have somewhat of a distance between the few band and more nerdy students who were following close to the first Ranger and Mr. Lancer, and the popular kids and jocks who were near the back. The Ranger who was supposed to be in the middle had hung back to help keep an eye on the larger portion of students.

“I don’t like this,” Danny mentioned as Sam had them stop for a moment as she made a quick sketch of a plant off the path. “Is it just me, or is it really quiet?” He had noticed it for a while. Usually a person should be able to hear bugs, birds, leaves rustling, something, but he hadn’t noticed any noise for a while.

“These are older forests, Danny,” Sam explained as she finished her sketch. “Noises often get muffled since plants can absorb sound to some extent.”

“It doesn’t mean it’s not creepy.”

“Actually, Sam, I agree with him,” Tucker mentioned as he looked over his shoulder. “I feel like we’re being watched.”

Sam tucked her sketch book in her bag before pointing to something behind them. “I think you’re right on that, but I don’t think it’s anything out of the ordinary.”

Danny and Tucker turned to see Dash and his friends, as well as some of the popular girls approach them from down the trail. Apparently, they had been spotted as Dash wore an evil grin as he said something to Kwan as he gestured towards them. A round of laughter followed.

“Great, just our luck. Do you think we’d be able to outrun them?” Danny asked as he warily eyed the approaching group.

“Are you nuts, dude? We can’t even outrun Sam.”

“Thanks for that lovely vote of confidence, Tucker.” ==================

Notes:

The coyotes and the Game Commission was an actual thing that happened. Basically, there weren’t supposed to be any coyotes in Pennsylvania, but there were farmers saying their animals were being attacked by something. One of the farmers, who lived nearby where I grew up, got permission to take a shot at creatures and ended up killing a coyote with a Game Commission tag in its ear. Twenty years later, the Game Commission has finally admitted coyotes are back in Pennsylvania, and that they can be hunted. Coyotes can attack people. While there aren’t many documented attacks, they have happened, and Pennsylvanians aren’t very happy about them popping up in towns and parks.

Mountains Lions, also known as Nittany Lions, Pumas and Cougars, are supposedly extinct in the states east of the Mississippi River (ignore Florida – it’s an exception). However, that’s another thing under debate. There have been many sightings of them throughout the years in the east, especially in the Appalachian (app-ah-lay-shin) Mountains. There is actually a picture of one found in Ohio near its border with Kentucky that was taken in 2014. I know there are recent reports in Pennsylvania and New York as well - this includes family members.