#phanphiction

[astatia-ghast]

The King's Quest

At last! Finally, it has come -- my 2023 Holiday Truce gift for @hailsatanacab!

You're a trooper. I'm sure it drove you crazy to wait all this time. I wanted to give you a preview on Christmas Day to tie you over, but it took too long for me to settle on how I wanted to fill this prompt. I hope you'll forgive me for the wait!

The prompt I chose is this one: "To ascend to the throne, Danny must complete a quest. This is great, because Danny doesn't want the throne! Screw the quest — Danny's hanging out with his friends and going to school like the normal boy he is! …Unfortunately, fate has other ideas. No matter what he does or how badly he tries to do the opposite, Danny just keeps fumbling his way into winning the crown."

It was a great challenge for me because while I have spent plenty of time daydreaming about the ghost king AU, I don't typically read or write fanfiction about it. This prompt helped me exit my comfort zone while still letting me work with the characters and tone I love.

Before I began to work on this, I spent a lot of time lurking on your blog to figure out what kind of fanfiction you like, and I must say, you seem like a pretty cool person. I'm glad I was paired with you!

And of course, a big thanks to @phandomholidaytruce for making this whole thing happen! It was my first time participating, and it was a delightful way to end the year.

Alright, enough thanks! On to the fic!

Read on AO3

---

"I never wanted you to find out this way."

Danny leans frozen over a basin still shimmering with the ripples of a just-disturbed future. His eyes are wide, heart pounding, vision tunneling, knuckles white around the rim.

There's no way he saw what he just saw. There's no way.

Behind him, Clockwork watches in silence. He had left the room for only a moment, and Danny had taken the opportunity to sate a curiosity that he now knows should never have been sated. He had stuck his face in the basin, and he had seen a future — a future of him.

"This is my future?"

"It is one of them."

Danny turns around. His eyes are still wide and his body shaking, but Clockwork's words are like a steadying stone he can latch on to. "So it doesn't have to be this way?"

Clockwork's lips grow thin. He rests his staff by the door he had just entered, slowly and measuredly, as if stalling for time. Even once his hands are free, the silence grows longer still; long enough for him to shift into a toddler and then an elder and then an adult again before any word breaks the stillness of the tower.

At last, he speaks. "The truth is, the clock started ticking the moment you deposed Pariah Dark. It is one future of many, but its passing has already been etched in stone."

As if in emphasis, a clock strikes eleven somewhere deep within the tower.

"You will become King."

Ectoplasmically-white petals falling from the sky. Ghostly crowds cheering. A cape. A crown. A parade. A coronation.

Daniel Jack Fenton, King of the Infinite Realms.

Even now, the tower seems to sing to him — regally, mockingly. He wonders if those ripples in the basin are cascading through the timeline, setting in place the bars that will one day imprison him.

"No. I can't be a king." A bead of sweat trails down his temple, tickling him as it goes. "I can barely deal with my life as it is. And no ghost is going to listen to me — all they want to do is attack me. I want to go to school and play video games and at least try to get into NASA. I don't want to be a king."

Clockwork's lips draw even thinner still. In the silence that follows, his gaze falls to one of his many watches, which he begins to twist idly with one hand.

"I remember many things," he says with a hushed rumble. "Pariah Dark was a great king, until he was not."

His gaze grows unfocused. The hand on his watch goes to his face, where it slowly traces his scar. Danny has never seen him do that before.

"I remember the destruction he wrought. I remember looking him in the eyes as he was shut inside his tomb."

His hand falls to his side as his gaze meets Danny's once more.

"You are more than triple the man he ever was. You would make a great king."

Danny's hands go to his head, where his fingers thread through his hair. He takes a step backward in some subconscious attempt to get away from Clockwork and this — this lie, but he runs into the basin still shimmering behind him. Its pedestal rocks dangerously, and Danny wants to scream enough for his Ghostly Wail to take over and shatter the wretched thing into pieces.

But instead of screaming, a fire bursts into life within him. He meets Clockwork's gaze afresh with blazing eyes. "No. I'm not going to become King. You're going to have to find a new future, because that one is not coming true."

Clockwork's expression turns into something like pity. It's enough to quiet the fire for a beat — just a beat, though. "Danny." He drifts forward until the two of them are within reaching distance. He lifts his hands as if to place them on Danny's shoulders, but then he seems to reconsider it and clasps them in front of himself instead. "The Realms have been heralding your arrival since the dawn of my work. You are going to become King."

Danny says nothing. The fire crackles in protest, but it doesn't know what to burn.

Clockwork sighs. He raises one of those hands he dropped before, and at last, it makes contact with Danny's shoulder. "If it helps, it's not going to happen right away. There is a quest you must complete before you take the throne. You can—"

"A quest?" Danny's eyebrows fly up. He latches onto this thread like a rope draped over a cliffside.

"Yes, a quest. Before any monarch can ascend, they must—"

A bark of laughter escapes Danny's throat, and then a font of mad cackling bubbles up behind it. He cackles like a man unhinged, having found the simple yet ingenious solution to all his woes.

Clockwork's eyebrows knit together. "Danny—"

"Don't you get it?!" he jeers. "If I don't know what the quest is, I can't become King!"

Clockwork grows stern. He says his name again — "Danny" — and this time it's clear he wants him to quit laughing and sit down and listen, but Danny isn't having it. He's already lifting himself up into the air and away.

"Start checking your futures, Clockwork, because you missed one! I'm not becoming King!"

Clockwork reaches out as if to restrain him, but the fire finally explodes. Danny violently pushes him away with ectoplasmically-charged hands, keeping one ectoblast at the ready for good measure.

"Stay. Away." His voice is charged in a way that it has rarely ever been before. An otherworldly chill dampens the room. Clockwork is far too powerful a ghost to be affected by it, but if any human had been in this room, they would be screaming.

Clockwork gets the message. He watches with trepidation as Danny flies away.

---

Danny returns to Amity Park determined to slide right back into his normal life and pretend like that moment in the tower never happened. To forget about what he saw — petals, a cape, a crown — is impossible, but hell if he's not going to try his hardest to stay as far away as possible from anything even remotely king-like.

And so he does. He goes to school, fights ghosts, gets bad grades, listens to his parents' mad-scientist ramblings, plays video games, sleeps over at Sam and Tucker's houses, and generally lives exactly the life he'd rather live.

And he doesn't visit Clockwork in all that time, either. It pains him, as he enjoys Clockwork's company a lot and had even become something of an apprentice to him, but he can't risk subjecting himself to some well-intentioned lecture about the virtues of being King.

…Plus, he did kind of assault him and run away. Clockwork probably isn't very happy with him. But apologies would have to wait — for some future in which he isn't King.

School. Ghost fights. Bad grades. Mad-scientist ramblings. Video games. Sleepovers.

Life goes on.

---

Sometime after Danny defeats Undergrowth, Sam drags him along to the Amity Park Botanic Gardens. Well, "drags" is a strong word — he's grateful for any excuse to hang out with Sam — but still, the thought of visiting a botanic garden and admiring plants in the wake of Undergrowth's reign of terror is insane. He expresses as much, but Sam insists that that's all the more reason to visit, as both of them need to unravel their new Pavlovian fear of perfectly innocent plant life.

Plus, apparently admissions are way down — surprise, surprise — and Sam wants to help them out before the dip in finances forces them to shutter. Fair enough.

She tried to get Tucker to come along too, but there was zero chance of getting him through the doors even before Undergrowth gifted the whole city with a healthy dose of botanophobia. So that fine day finds the two of them alone in the Gardens' newly-opened orchid exhibit, Danny antsily resisting the temptation to reach out and hold her hand.

Under the canopy lush with tropical leaves, it's hard not to feel cocooned — in a way that feels remarkably warm and safe. Everywhere they look, orchids peer back, bright and colorful with every color of the rainbow. There are big orchids and small orchids, potted orchids hanging from the limbs of towering trees, orchids that look like pinecones, orchids that look like neat tufts of fur, orchids with stripes and orchids with whiskers.

To Sam's very great credit, the exhibit is astounding, and even his shriveled, technology-loving heart can't help but marvel and be thankful that she convinced him to come here.

In time, he finds himself growing drowsy. It's like the peace and beauty of the place is infectious, to the point where his heart rate seems to slow. Eventually, he turns to Sam and asks, "Would you like to lay down?"

She agrees, and the two of them pick one of the few spots in the exhibit not overtaken by stone pathways or lush vegetation. They spend a few minutes chatting about something or other, but in time, they lapse into a peaceful silence, and Danny begins to space out.

He stares up at the canopy. The sunlight, so radiant and soft, seems to sparkle as it filters through the roof of the greenhouse and the tropical leaves below. Somewhere, a stream gurgles.

And there is a song. It takes a moment for him to realize that he's hearing it, but once he does, it's unquestionably there. It's distant and peaceful, echoing, like standing outside the door of a lofty cathedral while a choir sings inside. Sluggishly, he looks around, and as his lazy eyes focus on the beautiful strands of a white orchid, he is suddenly positive that the song is coming from them. From the orchids. From all the plants in the greenhouse, and perhaps even beyond. He doesn't know how he knows, but he knows.

He falls into a trance, enjoying the song, until suddenly, there is a sharp poke on his shoulder. He sluggishly turns his head to see Sam, who has clearly been trying to get his attention.

"Earth to ghost boy. Anyone home?"

Danny blinks a few times, but his eyes are reluctant to focus. He feels like he just surfaced from a dream. "Sorry. I was just… It's nice in here."

Sam chuckles. "You're really enjoying yourself, huh? Way more than I thought you would."

Danny chuckles too. "Yeah. You were right. I'm glad you convinced me to come here."

Now that his mind is clearing up, it slowly begins to dawn on him how utterly bizarre the last several minutes were. Plants? Singing to him? Surely he's just imagining things — he wants to believe that's the case — but no. Somehow, he's sure. Those plants were singing to him.

Maybe a touch of Undergrowth's power is still in them, like some sort of ectoplasmic residue? That's the only explanation he can think of, and it makes sense, since these very same plants were undoubtedly enthralled by the ghost just a few weeks ago. But why were they singing?

He decides not to tell Sam. He doesn't know why, but it just feels like something he should keep to himself, and not just because it sounds crazy. So he files it under "ghost thing" and leaves it at that. 

It's not until he's watching a video in history class a few days later that he realizes that the song sounded an awful lot like a coronation song.

---

Something similar happens after he defeats Nocturn. Three sleepless nights after he sends the ghost back to the Ghost Zone, he's finally too tired to care whether or not he will show up in his dreams again the moment he closes his eyes.

As he slips into the twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, ensconced in a darkness broken by one particularly annoying street light, his dreams turn into something… odd.

Before him, he sees seven creatures like Nocturn — tall, dark and starry, like the night sky made manifest. He slips into a ready position, poised to either fight or run, but instead of attacking, they bring their palms together and bow, all seven in unison. And then there is at once a horde of similar creatures behind them, stretching as far as the eye can see, bringing their palms together and bowing in turn.

He wakes in a cold sweat. No. There's no way. There's no way this king thing is still following him. That couldn't be real.

He spends the next day convincing himself it was just a dream, but really, he knows better.

---

The moments keep piling up. When he defeats Vortex, the clouds seem to part for him wherever he goes. When he returns Pandora's box, an ornate jewelry box mysteriously appears on his desk, which, when opened, reveals cavernous, physics-defying depths. Danny grows increasingly concerned that the ghosts have waived his quest and are pledging their fealty to him anyway.

When Clockwork appears in his bedroom one night, nearly a full year since their fight in his tower, Danny is no longer nervous to see him. Actually, he's quite relieved, since at this point, the only thing he's concerned about is getting answers.

"Would you like to have a chat?" Clockwork asks with a smile that almost seems sheepish.

It's a non-question, of course; Danny goes readily, and he's sure that Clockwork knew that he would.

Entering the tower is almost like coming home. A calm quiet; ticking; cavernous rooms cast in shadow — the whole place seems to envelop him in a hug, and briefly, Danny feels tears prick at the corners of his eyes. The past several months have been stressful. He regrets the way he treated Clockwork the last time he was here, and he regrets that he didn't have the maturity to return much earlier.

But Clockwork is ever calm and welcoming, and Danny finds thankfulness shooing away the regret in his heart. What a remarkable person Clockwork is.

The two of them stop in the same room with the basin, whose waters stand completely still. At first, Danny thinks Clockwork is going to encourage him to revisit his future, but instead, he opens a cabinet standing against the opposite wall. As he reaches inside, he says, "I have something for you."

Danny waits, more than a little curious and struggling to resist the urge to see if his coronation is still in the basin. When Clockwork turns around, he's carrying a necklace — not unlike the medallions he uses to take people out of time, but much more ornate. Gently and in silence, he drapes the necklace around Danny's neck. Once it settles, he rests his palms against Danny's chest, in a way that makes Danny think something weighty is about to come.

Their eyes meet. "You recall what I said before, yes? That there is a quest you must complete?"

"Yes."

Clockwork smooths out the wrinkles on Danny's shoulders, and then his hands just stay there. "There is a reason I tried to restrain you. By refusing to learn the quest, you expedited its completion."

Everything in Danny goes cold.

"The quest was to either defeat or receive the approval of all seven of the Ancients: Pariah Dark, Frostbite, Undergrowth, Nocturn, Vortex, Pandora and myself. And you have done so for all of them — including me."

A rushing sound fills Danny's ears.

"You have had my approval since even before Pariah Dark was granted the throne. So with the bestowing of Pandora's gift, you have become King."

The necklace feels heavy around Danny's neck — a necklace he now realizes is a coronation gift.

"I am sorry, Danny. But I stand by what I said before: you will make a great king."

Clockwork pulls him in for a hug, and Danny goes willingly. His wailing fills the tower.

Somewhere deep inside, a clock strikes twelve.

---

Ectoplasmically-white petals falling from the sky. Ghostly crowds cheering. A cape. A crown. A parade. A coronation.

Danny's knuckles go white around his scepter, just as they did around the basin all those months ago.

Daniel Jack Fenton, King of the Infinite Realms.

---

(Yes, I may have warped the timeline of Season 3 just a little bit. Clockwork will be waiting in the lobby to take your complaints! :þ)

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Cosmic Bridges

ao3

Danny Fenton, Vlad Masters, Elle Phantom - those were the only half-ghosts in existence, all of them the result of science and the hubris of mortals. They were artificial, and it was rare enough that someone was covered in ectoplasm and got electrocuted simultaneously, so they'd stay the only three of their kind.

Steve Cosmos waltzes into Lancer's English class and reveals to the class and through them the world that half ghosts exist and could be made the good ol fashioned way that any human child is made. Now everyone gets to have their very own existential crisis while Steve enjoys a taste of "standard" public school.

Tada, welcome to the fic I promised earlier!

Chapter 1: The New Kid

“It’s fine guys, just go on ahead without me.  I can handle one giant bat, it’s fine, it’s just a big ol animal, I’ve fought those before.  Stars I’m a moron!”

Danny sighed as he capped the Fenton Thermos, wincing as the motion brought his attention to the acid burns on his arms and leg, and the ice shrapnel that littered his body.  Phasing the ice out, Danny groaned when he found the acid was not, in fact, going to just phase off of him.  Typical.

Before Danny could find the nearest water source, his ghost sense went off again.

Growling, Danny turned around.  Glowing fists raised, he prepared to blast whoever it was apart for trying to kick him while he was down.

“Whoa!  Hey there kid, are you alright?  You look like you just fought a natural disaster - this block looks like it too.  Is that acid on you?”

Danny looked the ghost in front of him up and down, trying to find any threat.  Blue skin, white eyes, white hair, and a sweater covered in lions to go with sweatpants.  Danny didn’t see any theme going on - ah, a lab coat appeared out of nothing around them, wonderful.

“It was actually Batman’s inspiration, cause no normal bat has all those extra features on it.  I think it was one of the only ghosts I’ve met that actually uses being invisible against other ghosts.  What’s it to you, though?”

“Well, I’m a doctor, so when I saw some kid in a costume looking like someone either cut him up or burned him, I thought ‘hey, maybe he needs some help’.  So, if you’ll let me?”

The doctor was holding up a cotton ball he’d pulled from his coat, and Danny arched a brow at him.  After a moment, though, he held out one of the arms burning from being eaten at by acid.

The doctor dabbed the splashed area with his cotton ball and the acid was sucked up into it.  Another few balls were applied to other areas of Danny’s splashed-over self, and he was finally free to start piecing himself back together.

He laughed and swung his arm a few times, giving the doctor a smile.

“Thanks, dude, I didn’t know there were ghost doctors outside of the Far Frozen.”

“Well dying can’t exactly keep you away from helping people forever, can it?  I’m Dr. Cosmos, and this will help you heal up faster.  Your aura’s different from most ghosts that I’ve met, though.  Are you any particular kind of ghost?”

“Oh, I’m a halfa, so I probably register as kinda weird on your ghost-dar or whatever, right?”  Danny reached for the lollipop being held out to him.

It was pulled away, a frown on Dr. Cosmos’ face.

“A halfa?  What’s that?”

“Oh, you don’t know?”

That was new.  Every ghost Danny met seemed to already know what was weird about him as soon as they met.

Danny looked around and saw that civilians were starting to fill the streets again, so he flew up higher, out of earshot of even the most perceptive humans.  Dr. Cosmos followed him up.

“I’m half-ghost, half human.  Sidney Poindexter called me a halfa and we just sorta never looked for a better word.”

“That’s adorable and it sounds like the way my kid would describe it.  Ok, this one’s not the right kind for a bridge spirit like you.  Hold on.”

Danny cocked a brow at the doctor as he rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a faintly glowing lollipop, like the first one except that it was a lot more physical.  He handed it over to Danny, who accepted it easily enough, and waved.

“Well, I’ve gotta go, stuff to do and all.  You have a good day, kid, and don’t go gettin into more fights!”

“No promises!”  Danny waved at the retreating back of Dr. Cosmos before flying off to the school as fast as he could, sticking the lollipop into his mouth.  After all, if it was supposed to poison him or whatever, the doc would’ve stuck around, and Danny couldn’t sense him.

He was even feeling better already, imagine that.

Checking his phone for the time, Danny went intangible to pick up speed.  He probably wouldn’t be thinking about Dr. Cosmos any time soon.

#

The universe proved Danny wrong once more when Lancer introduced the class to a tall, bear of a boy with brown hair, sepia brown, freckled skin, and one brown eye while the other was opalescent.  Danny swore he saw some colors human eyes weren’t meant to see in the new kid’s left eye.

“Class, this is Stefanos Cosmos, an exchange student from Pittsburgh.”

“Hey there,” Steve said with a wave, smiling wide enough that everyone could see his canines were much longer and too pointy to be human.  “My last school was Three Rivers so uh I’m kinda not used to this kinda school, so if I’m weird I’m sorry about that.  Also, call me Steve!”

“What’s so different about Three Rivers?”

“Oh, it’s a Sudbury school, lookit up!  I’ve been told they’re really different from regular public schools.”

“Not a problem, Steve.”  Lancer patted the large boy on the back.  “Your classmates will be doing their best to help you adjust, I’m sure.”  No one missed the look Lancer gave them, and no one even really considered caring. 

“So why is your eye glowing?  Is that a cool contact or something?”  Dale looked interested in getting a set of his own.

“No dude, that’s just cause I’m a bridge spirit.  Wait, sorry, most people don’t know what that means.”

“Holy shit, are you a ghost?!”  

Steve held up his hands with a chuckle when everyone tensed up at that, Lancer included.  He didn’t look the least bit scared though, and his grin wasn’t all that malicious.

“Dudes, chill out.  I’m a liminal spirit, my Dad’s a ghost and my Papa’s still human.  I’m just, ya know, the fun in-between.  This is still all my flesh and blood; I’m not possessed or anything like that.”

There was an entire 2 seconds where nobody said anything at all.  

The room exploded into a chaotic cacophony of overlapping voices as everyone tried to voice their opinion at once.  Danny could pick out a few shouts of ‘that’s fuckin awesome’ and even the delighted cries of fangirls being validated in their dreams to marry Phantom - which, horrible, no thank you.

Still, things were quieter than Danny thought they should be, and when he focused, he realized that there was a layer of calmness washing over him that didn’t come from him.  He couldn’t risk the glow of his eyes to check, but he had a sneaking suspicion that was coming from Steve, who looked a bit freaked out by the explosive reaction.

Danny, personally, was having an existential crisis over the situation and he felt he had every right to have it.  He didn’t know that half-ghosts could just be born.  Sure, Elle was half-ghost from the start, but she was a clone made primarily from ectoplasm, she was more half-human than anything.

“My guys, my dudes, can y’all calm down?  I can answer questions if you want, I guess, but one at a time.  Uh, you?”

“Hi, Lester: what do you mean, exactly?  How does that even work?”

“Well, my dads wanted a kid and dad’s a ghost so his body uh changed to fit.   Can we stop talking about my parents having sex now?  Thanks.”

“So you’re saying that I do have a chance with mi amor, Phantom?  Oh, this is amazing!”

“Oh, oh hey dude do you know Phantom?”

“Yeah, have you ever met Phantom, like in the Ghost Zone?”

“Lord of the Flies, people, settle down!”

It took a few seconds for everyone to shut up, but Lancer’s glare and volume eventually reminded them all that they were in class.  Everyone was buzzing with excitement and confusion, however, and Danny could practically taste it.

Based on the way Steve licked his lips, he could actually taste the emotions in the room, which was nothing short of alarming.

“Antiguos arriba, you guys are wild!  I guess my classmates back in Pittsburg had a lot more time to get used to me, but it was never this big a thing.  Uh, I don’t know who Phantom is or what this Ghost Zone is either.  It’s a big Earth, guys, I only ever really knew the people back home and in a few places my dads took us out to for vacations, like Disney World and the Grand Canyon and - actually, my guys, the Grand Canyon has such amazing acoustics!”

“Hold us, I thought you said you’re half ghost?  How do you not know about Phantom?  Name’s Dash, by the way.”

“Sup Dash.  I dunno how to tell you this but there’s a lot of dead people, and not just humans.  I’ve met so many dinosaurs and ghost cats, though most cats can teleport anyway, they don’t have to die for that.  Unless he did something major, I doubt I’d’ve heard about him.”

“Hey dude, name’s Kwan.  Have you not ever been to like, the Ghost Zone?  I’m pretty sure that’s where the ghosts all usually are.”

Steve scrunched up his face in confusion, staring at Kwan for a long moment before snapping his fingers.

“Oh, you mean the Infinite Realms!  Dad’s been there, but I haven’t.  He said they call it the Infinite Realms or the Liminal Realm over there.  Never heard it called the Ghost Zone, that’s just dumb.”

“Are you so massive cause you’re a ghost?”

“Uh, no, actually.  Not mostly, really.  Abuela has gigantism, she’s like 7’2” I think, so I’m pretty sure this is Papa’s genetics at play.  On the other hand, if it’s a ghost thing then you’ve got Clifford the big brown dog right here.”

“Dude, how tall are you?  You should join basketball!”

“I’m like, 6’6?  I’m not really into playing sports though.  I’m more of a music guy myself.  Actually, Mr. Lancer are there any dance clubs or anything like that at the school?”

“We do, but it is the middle of the school year.  Maybe next year you can sign up.  I do believe that’s enough questions about Mr. Cosmos, class!  You are to respect his privacy and let him tell you what he will on his own time, am I understood?”

There was a chorus of “Yes Mister Lancer”s and Steve grinned.  Danny could swear he’d seen the same smile on his, Sam and Tucker’s faces before, and he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not yet.

“There’s a seat between Danny Fenton and Dash Baxter over there, Mr. Cosmos.  I’ll make sure you get a study guide to catch you up on where we are.”

Steven nodded and vanished from human sight.  Danny watched him, translucent in the way that only a ghost could be, walk right through people and desks, and plop himself down in his seat before reappearing to everyone else.

Despite Lancer’s best efforts, the chattering only got quieter instead of being silenced.  Danny couldn’t blame them.

#

Valerie Grey was having one hell of a month.  Last week she found out half-ghost half-human hybrids existed, and both her multi-billionaire mayoral boss and the little girl he’d sent her to hunt down were half-ghosts themselves.  She was already going through a worse existential crisis than the very discovery of ghosts and an afterlife dimension gave her - the spite and anger revolving around her ruined life had been a great distraction from the enormity of that - and wondering how a good person could enjoy the screaming agony of a boy her age who had already died.

Now there was this guy complicating things even more.

Val hadn’t even considered whether or not ghosts could reproduce, let alone with humans, and now she felt stupid for not landing at that conclusion with the half-ghost discovery in the first place and wondering where Elle’s - and by extension, Phantom’s - parents were.  According to her radar, something had split off from Steve and was wondering the school, but there was no subtle way for her to check what it was.  Asking him would require admitting that she had a ghost radar built into her nanotech ghost hunting suit that appeared whenever she called for it, and sending off a drone to track it down would mean leaving class again, and she wasn’t looking to lose any more of her education to ghost stuff if she could help it.

Nobody was actually paying attention to Lancer’s lesson though, not fully, not even the nerds.  Everyone was stealing glances at Steve, who was looking around every now and then with interest, though Val wasn’t sure it was possible for him to match everyone else’s curiosity.  She could afford to pay him as much attention as Lancer’s words.  She was listening to the lesson at least.

Other than being well over 6 feet tall and sporting one glowing eye, Steve didn’t seem all that different from the rest of them, his roaming gaze landing on Dash, Kwan, and Dale just as often as it did on Paulina and Star.  He even looked over at Valerie, winking at her with that ring of shifting, rainbow colors.  Class wasn’t much an opportunity to see what someone was like beyond the surface.  Maybe having a human dad to raise him kept the ghostly tendencies at bay?

Phantom cared plenty about his twin though, enough to go back to the torture Val had put him through for her.  The only humans he was seen around frequently were that witch girl Mourner and Jazz Fenton - the werewolf didn’t count, even if Ghouly only changed at night.  Was Phantom all that different from a regular human teenager or would any boy go around breaking the town with reckless abandon after getting superpowers?

Val’s gaze drifted from Steve to Dash, and she imagined him with even basic ghost powers.  She shuddered and thanked her lucky stars that she hadn’t ever detected Phantom in the girls’ locker room like she knew she would’ve Dash.  That boy was the last person in the world that should get invisibility, let alone intangibility or flight.

Ghosts weren’t exactly known for their subtlety in Amity Park, even that Biker boy that was constantly arguing with his girlfriend was an obvious spool while flirting with humans, so Val was sure that by the end of the day she’d have a good idea of how dangerous Steve might be.

#

When lunch rolled around, the trio sat at their usual table in the cafeteria, Sam with a salad, Tucker with a whole burger and fries, and Danny with whatever the cafeteria was trying to pass for corndogs and corn.  They really needed to get Danny some actual, proper food.

Danny and Tucker sat on one side while Sam sat on the other, facing them, and arched a brow at the expectant looks they were giving her.  Sam ate a sporkful of spinach and mushrooms, and once she finished chewing, Tucker sighed, tossing one hand in the air in frustration.

“Well, you had algebra with him, anything weird about Steve that you noticed?”

“Other than the size, the eye, and how bright the lights are around him, no.  He’s ahead of us as far as math goes, it looks like, but I only got that from him finishing the work faster than everyone and paying most of his attention to whatever jocks were in the room, especially Dash.”

Sam scowled in clear disapproval as she stabbed a tomato with her spork.

“He walked into class with Dash, whose hair was all over the place and had bruised lips.”

Danny rolled his eyes while Tucker gagged, chin in his palm.

“Guess Dash has been on his best behaviour in front of the new hotness.  Bet he thinks Steve can get him some one-on-one time with Phantom.  I think I sensed him send off a duplicate or something earlier, guess he was scoping out the school.”

Tucker nodded, adding a handful of fries to his burger before he dug into it.  Sam sneered in disgust and Tucker stuck his meat covered tongue out at her, earning a kick from Sam and an elbow from Danny.

After he swallowed, Tucker spoke up in Esperanto.

“This is fucking wild, right?  The fact that there’s a half ghost in our school and he was just fucking born that way?  Oh, Danny, you think he’s got any tips for you?”

“I mean, I guess it’d be cool if he did, but I dunno if I wanna have him anywhere near the house.  Mom and Dad do not need to find him on their own.”

Tucker’s brows furrowed as he set down the latter half of his burger.

“You don’t think they’d try to hurt him, do you?  He’s clearly human just as much as he is a ghost, more so even.”

“I think the Fentons would refuse to believe that half-ghosts can exist, conclude that he’s either overshadowed or severely contaminated, and try to rip the ghost out of him.”

“C’mon Sam, they wouldn’t do that.  Even the Grave Huntress backed out of trying to destroy Elle and helped save her when she found out she was half human.  I’m certain that Mom and Dad would accept me if I explained what happened… what I am.”

“You, their son, they might accept with just an explanation, but the Fentons are anti-ghost bigots, Danny.  They don’t care about facts and logic and evidence, just what their tradition and bias says about whoever it is they hate.”

Danny opened his mouth, brows furrowed and the air around them cold.

“Would you trust them with Elle?”

Danny ate his food, and the table was quiet for a moment.

It was then that Danny noticed the chill he associated with a ghost being nearby and followed that feeling up and around to find Steve descending from the ceiling and flipping right-side up.  Every table in the cafeteria was filled with students and everyone was too absorbed into their food or conversations to notice, save for him and Valerie.

Everyone definitely noticed when Steve split in two, then four, and kept doubling until there were 20 of him.  Each Steve sat down at a different table, next to Val, at the A-list table, with the band geeks and choir kids, and even with Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

“Sup dudes?  I’m Steve, from earlier.  I decided to split off and see all the cool people I can meet, chat with y’all while we eat.  Oh, my original body is on the roof eating the lunch papa made me.  Nice to meet you!”

Steve offered his hands to Tucker and Sam to shake, a third appearing in front of Danny.  Danny chuckled and shook, while Tucker held up his greasy palms, a finger covered in barbecue sauce.  Sam shook his hand then scooted over to invite Steve to sit with them properly.  Tupperware, lunchbox, and food tray alike rattled when he sat down, leaning forward with a grin.

“So, what do you guys like to do afterschool?  I was in show choir back home, really hoping there’s room for me in it here.  I like to dance and do a little singing.”

Tucker wiggled his eyebrows and smirked, gesturing with a french-fry.

“Tucker Foley, or TF as in Too Fine, at your service.  I’m in the robotics club, though I only really show up every now and then.  Ow, rude and uncalled for.  You see the abuse I have to put up with?”

Danny rolled his eyes, relenting in his elbowed assault on his dork of a best friend.

“Excuse him, he’s still learning how to talk to people instead of technology.  I’m Danny, Danny Fenton.  I like astronomy and I stargaze whenever I can, though Amity doesn’t exactly have the most picturesque of night skies.  Light pollution, ya know?  I like to play videogames too though.”

“Hardly the only pollution there is to deal with in this town.  Sam Manson, I have a greenhouse I tend to, and I do activist work when I can.”  

Sam pointed at Steve with her spork, eyes flicking between the boy in front of her and the one sitting with the A-listers.  “Word to the wise since you’re sizing up who to and not to hang out with: Dash Baxter, Paulina Sanchez, Star Thunder, and Kwan Ishiyama along with practically the entire football team are all bullies.”  

Steve blinked at Sam, perplexed, and Tucker swallowed down the last of his burger.

“What?”

“Yeah, the jocks are the muscleheads who go around giving wedgies, swirlies, demanding other people do their homework for them and tossing people into lockers.  Only if you’re a nerd, geek, or freak like us though, of course.”

Danny chuckled and leaned on his elbows, corndog eaten down to the bare stick and corn powered through like a champ if he did say so himself.  Steve was gawking at them, which had Danny laughing a little more.

“Can’t forget that if you accidentally piss off one of the girls, or talk back to the meatheads, or even they just fail their own tests cause they don’t learn shit, they go and find you to beat up.  Well, me, probably not you.  You’re good looking and the fun kinda weird.”

Steve frowned; teeth bared just enough to see that he had more canines than he did when he sat down.  Over at the A-list table, Sam noted that Steve stuttered in whatever their conversation was over there.

“Have they killed anyone or sent someone to the hospital?”  

Tucker snorted and shrugged.  “Not yet, no.”

Steve nodded, and his ghost eye changed, iris now a ruby red ring around his pupil.

“There’s a chance to course correct then.  I can fix em, I’m sure of it.  Don’t worry, I’m gonna see what I can do to get their general attitude all fixed up.”

Sam snorted and rolled her eyes, but Steve only looked more determined.

“I’m serious!  I just gotta talk to em and I’ll figure it out from there.  Now, what do you guys actually wanna talk about?  Oh, hey, favorite animal?”

The boys looked at each other and decided to take the olive branch for what it was.

“I like dogs.  Always wanted one but my parents said no.”

“I for one prefer jackals.  They’re just really cool, ya know?”

“Snakes or tarantulas, I can never decide.  My parents wouldn’t let me get either.”

“Ancients, I wanted a snake so bad when I was younger, I asked my dads just about every day for a month for a pet snake.”

[omegasmileyface]

Halloween Asshole

so this one's a phanphiction premise (they all were. i am a simple man.) and its based off this headcanon i call "Halloween Asshole" which apparently i just wrote down a year ago and expected to remember what it means. hmmph. luckily, i mostly do. so for that headcanon it was basically that on halloween ghosts become pretty fuckin testy for some reason. like, the energy and the veil and whatever makes them easily ajitated and keyed-up. higher energy, but its an aggressive energy, and their inhibition retreats a bit. this usually works for if you plan to spend halloween goofing off and haunting people and retaliating if theyre mean to you.

but for this fic specifically, it was about how danny gets affected by that too, and halloween isnt always on a weekend. so he has to go to school all normal! and he just has to put up with this extra energy like its not even there, and manage the emotions hes not feeling on purpose. being irrationally angry sucks, especially when it feels like youre going to blow up at your loved ones.

and its not just trying to act normal-- the bullies are being a little more judgemental than usual today. and its not just generic insults or whatever, theyre specifically pointing out things about danny that are objectively untrue BUT he needs to maintain as part of his secret identity. and like, they dont know, obviously they cant know, but still.... instincts are saying How Dare They. hes hit right in the ghost pride and he does not take kindly.

i dont have details on this part but he explodes. scares the shit out of them. doesnt completely reveal himself, but he lets it slip a bit, just bc it feels so good to finally stop hiding that from people who dont appreciate it. hes thinking "this is proabbly a bad idea and probably will have consequences" but it also feels too good and like i said his inhibition is shot.

for bonus points there then Arent consequences. they just act like it didnt happen later, except for maybe not talking shit so much.

[homo-emo-porno]

phanphiction

[dorkshadows]

I kept wanting to ask, but kept forgetting! Does anyone remember a phic about youngish Erik learning to read music? I think it was from the pov of a middle-aged noblewoman (Hungarian or Bulgarian?). Erik was one of the workers helping with construction, and she “discovered” his talent. There were vibes, I remember, but it was mostly platonic; she took him under her wing and taught him how to read music.

And I think it ended with her dying(?), so Erik had to leave. There was also a part where she took him shopping and told him that one day his compositions could see the light too. It was on FF.net, and in my memory, it was very well-written but it’s been so long I can’t remember the title at all.

Help??

[zir-ghostly]

When your friends pressure you to write the subnautica fic. Welp, @pokelolmc, guess this is a thing that’s happening. You can totally thank @qlinq-qhost and @bibliophilea for this.

[mandytheo-blog]

TO A BRIGHT NEW YEAR.

I had to fit that in somewhere. Anywhoo...

THE BOOK IS LIVE! For those of you that pre-ordered, the book should now be waiting for you to download and read! I hope that everyone enjoys it! If you did purchase the book, would you be so kind as to leave an honest rate/review on Amazon and/or Goodreads when you’ve finished? 

I’ve started the first of a series of short stories that continue the original story and I’m doing an outline now for a sequel, which I’ll be putting out in late 2019 or early 2020. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KW7GTLG?ref_=pe_3052080_276849420

[rienerose]

Reunions don’t always go as planned.

Please be kind and review?

[trapdoor-lover]

Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber, Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera - Gaston Leroux, Phantom of the Opera (2004), Moulin Rouge! (2001) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Christine Daaé/Erik | Phantom of the Opera, Christine Daaé & Erik | Phantom of the Opera Characters: Christine Daaé, Erik | Phantom of the Opera, Carlotta Giudicelli Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Moulin Rouge! Fusion, Alternate Universe - Phantom of the Opera Fusion, Erik is Crushing Harder than a 12-year Old Girl, Erik has Feelings Summary:

Phantom of the Opera meets Moulin Rouge - Erik, a writer, maestro, and assassin falls in love with poor nanny, can-can dancer, and occasional escort Christine Daae - who just so happens to have the voice of an angel.

OK SO here are the first two chapters of my Phantom/Moulin Rouge fic cause I ended having a bunch of people who were interested which makes me so happy - hope you guys enjoy! I’m gonna tag you angels who showed interest since idk if I’m able to message all of you :) @spooky-mormon-hell-dream @thephantomphan @elemelon-s @justforme-notyou @this-is-so-not-okay @weird-arpeggi @uselessmindfullofchaos @most-euphoric @darlingyouvelostyourlust-er <3 <3 <3 

[eijispumpkin]

tagged by: @malevon​

rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. send me an ask with the title that most intrigues you and interests you and i’ll tell you something about it!

OH BOY okay...

basil haters club

blue evenings

crimis 2

curcubitophobia rights!

im sad about eiji

inconvenient fireworks

its not easy being green (or fifteen)

juice that strawberry lmao

ladies and gentlemen... we have... a HATER

lmao look at this gay nerd

lullaby my love

mixed metaphors

more glitter on these tiddies

phanphiction

pick a god and pray sergei

pretentious ramblings

ready for wonderful

something about hugs

thats not very punk croc of you

this is anges fault

warm fuzzy feelings my ASS

you live in a zoo

and also the two multichap folders:

and they were soulmates

im a one trick pony and the pony is HERE

i have. so many wips. hguhgkjdks aNYWAY

tagging: @be-papas, @wonderburrito, @cuteeiji and @eijis-okuumura !! if yall have any you want to share <3

[daae-dancer93]

🎅🏼 Santa here/ with holiday cheer/ happy to report/ your package has left our fort. The elves predict 10 business days/ praying for little to no delays./ Santa will keep an eye out/ to track the box so there's no doubt/ the gift will arrive safely/ to the giftee young lady./ Lastly we just wish to say/ we hope you have a wonderful day! ♡♡♡♡

Oh how lovely is the little rhyme! I look forward to it! - I spent the afternoon watching LND with my studio director and she said “WHY DID HE HAVE TO END IT LIKE THAT!” I cackled and proceeded to explain the theory’s behind having the sad ending but now she’s seen it and loves all the music but agrees the plot is depressing. I told her that’s what phanphiction is for. 🙃🤣 she ships R/C. .....

While I’m over here... simping over E/C

Soooo there’s that. 🤣🤣🤣

[astatia-ghast]

Clockwork's Odyssey

After far too long, it is my utmost pleasure to bring to you the fanfic I have been working on all summer for Invisobang 2023: "Clockwork's Odyssey!"

Synopsis: Several weeks after the events of “The Ultimate Enemy,” Danny begins to starve from a ghostly hunger that seems impossible to sate. To his surprise, Clockwork appears with a proposition: join him on an adventure into the Ghost Zone, which will provide the nourishment he needs. Danny accepts despite his better judgment, but as they descend into places where time and reality seem blurred — and where Clockwork’s secrets come to light — he begins to wonder what kind of nightmare he got himself into.

Read on AO3

If you like Lost Time, then this is the fic for you. ;)

This year, I was partnered with the absolutely incredible artist @andre93a, who created an astonishing cover image for my fanfic. Thank you so very much! It was unreal to be paired with someone of your skill!

I also received so much help from the wonderful @underforeversgrace, who beta read the fic and listened to me scream about far too many things. Thanks for helping me keep my sanity while somehow also keeping yours.

And a huge thanks to @bibliophilea, @kinglazrus and @strawberrycamel for making Invisobang 2023 a thing and keeping it running! It was such a blast to be part of it, and I'm so, so thankful for all the friendships I made along the way!

I'll be posting deleted scenes and author commentary on my blog in the time between chapters, so make sure to check me out over at @astatia-ghast.

And with all that said -- how 'bout an excerpt?

------

He's so hungry.

He's so hungry, and Amity Park is crumbling.

A gargantuan creak and smash rip the air as the last remnant of the FentonWorks logo crashes to the ground. It lands a few feet to Danny's left, casting great reverberations through the pavement, but he pays it no mind. He can't, really; oh, how dearly he would love to pay it mind, but there is only one sensation taking command of his mind at the moment.

Sam is lying inert beneath him, framed by his hands and knees. She has been dead for a while, but Danny hasn't yet found it within himself to halt his cannibalization of her soul.

His wicked fangs hover hardly an inch from her flesh as he draws in deep breaths, struggling in vain to extract the last remnants of her fear and sorrow. He should have stopped drinking long ago, when her spirit had grown dull and her body weak, but just as it had with every other soul in this forsaken city, his hunger could not be sated.

The last drops of the horror she had died with vanish into his maw and seep into his core like water into dry earth. It is done. She has been drained.

And he is still hungry.

------

Continue reading on AO3

Thank you so much for your support! This project has been, well, an odyssey!

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

A Phantom Adopted

Murder Misery

A devil and a priest go on the hunt, while a late fee collector and his cousins withdraw from attempting to teach a 15-year-old baby. discussions are had, plans are made.

Ao3

One would expect that a soul-sucking shadow demon would be somewhat difficult for people not particularly well versed in tracking others down to find - even more so considering that Leico’s attempt to scry her failed him.  Still, it turned out that feeding on misery in order to sustain one’s looks made one unpopular, and so finding Penelope Spectra was no challenge.  The irritating part was merely that she had someone with her.

A green blob with red eyes, claws, and a fanged mouth arched a brow that wasn’t there a moment ago at them, looking wholly unimpressed.  A corpse-pale woman wearing a cropped black shirt and black pants covered in green flame accents turned around to look at them both, purple lips pulling back to reveal a smile full of fangs.

“My my, it appears someone went about seeking us out, Penelope.  We don’t get many clients who want us, do we?”

“No, we don’t.  I assure you, gentlemen, that I’ll be perfectly able to help you through whatever it is that you’ve got going on in those little heads of yours.”

Leico reached under his cloak, pulling from behind him a silver mace that hummed with power.  Duncan pulled out his pistol, disabling the safety he’d installed after one too many close calls with drunken family.

“You can help me by sitting still and letting us purge you from existence.”

“You can help me by giving me a moving target.”

Five cracks rang through the air as bullets, engraved with infernal sigils, flew and dug into the pair of ghosts with lightning speed and deadly precision.  Duncan grinned at the pair, 3 holes blasted into Spectra and 2 splatters of goo flung from Bertrand’s gelatinous form.

The grin fell and a yelp escaped him as the blob took on the form of a large cat of some kind, and claws sliced into his tail as Duncan tried to dodge out of the way.  Wonderful to learn that one of his opponents could change form like that, very nice.

“What violent little men you are!  You are men, aren’t you, not a pair of monsters trying to make themselves-AH!”

Bertrand was forced back rather quickly when Leico’s hand, wreathed in blinding grey light, slapped the shapeshifter in the center of his body and over half of it was burned away by the light.  The warbling screech Bertrand made as he retreated was music to Duncan’s ears, and he fist bumped Leico while Bertrand turned into a small bird.  

A crackling bolt of violet light flew toward them and the brothers jumped away, putting some space between themselves.  Grey-violet-green light swirled into a ball in his hand, a veritable maelstrom of color, and scoffed at Spectra.

“May your soul face proper judgment at the hands of the Queen.”

“The only Queen I answer to is myself, you pest!”

Spectra rose into the sky, as much as it was the sky, and raised a wall of ectoplasm.  The bolt of holy light pierced it like a rocket through glass, and with a flare of incandescence and a hellish wail, Penelope Spectra was nothing more than a wispy ball of shadow floating aimlessly through the void.

Bertrand flew after the core, hoping to fly his oil stain of a mistress away from the battle.

CRACK

Metal coated in literal hellfire slammed through Bertrand’s wing, and he lost hold of his falcon form.

CRACK

Pain became his world and Bertrand was reduced to naught but his core, the ectoplasm around him too thick with holy and infernal magic from their attackers to pull into himself, to build a new body.  That was fine, he would be fine, they’d assume this was the worst that could be done and walk away.  Humans didn’t know how the soul worked, after all.

CRACK

Another bullet sailed through Penelope Spectra’s core, and even stripped down to a core himself, Bertrand could feel her screams, fire and shadows exploding into nothing.  He shuddered with a violent sorrow that threatened to rip him apart.

CRACK

Rather than joining his precious Penelope, Bertrand was faced with a far more horrific reality.  Without his core, he was unbound from the ectoplasm that made up the liminal realm, and without it there was nothing.  No sight, no sound, no touch or smell or taste.  The countless senses that being a ghost afforded them, gone.  He simply was.

True destruction would have been a mercy, but demons and priests were not known for mercy when dealing out retribution.

Duncan sighed, checking over his pistol before holstering it.  Taking a deep breath, he let fire rise from within, sealing up the miniscule cuts that Bertrand had managed to land on him, and shook out his limbs.

“That was disappointing.  I expected a fight not 12 seconds of executing a couple of weaklings.”

“They preyed on children, Duncan, what did you expect?   I’m honestly just surprised they managed to nick you.”

“Yeah yeah, rub it in.  I just didn’t know that there’d be a shapeshifter, or I’d’ve backed up a bit more.   Whatever.   Think there’s a bounty we can collect on?”

“What currency would ghosts in a multicultural melting pot of an afterlife even use?  Energy?”

“True, it’d probably be a barter system or IOUs.  Whatever, let’s get back home, shall we?  Truly a riveting tale on how long this took to get to.”

Leico snorted and put away his mace, gesturing at the air in front of them.   The ectoplasm swirled up and out into a shimmering grey-violet disc, resolving into a gateway onto the deck of the Rose Phoenix.  Sharp winds and arctic cold flew out of the Gate and Leico shivered, wrapping an arm around Duncan for warmth.

“Well, if Toby and Valdan got wrapped up with the kid, Dave is dealing with learning the medicinal technology.   Hopefully this doesn’t turn into a fight.  I can feel that place sucking in my heat from here.”

The pair walked onto their spelljammer, leaving Spectra and her assistant to think about what they’d done for however long it took for souls to connect with ectoplasm.  Or however long it took until a lich found them, either or.

#

Jazz rushed over to check on Danny, and after several minutes of making sure there were no bruises, bumps, or cuts, she had to admit to that overprotective sister within that he was fine.  She turned to glare at Cole, who drifted lazily down beside her to give Danny his own cursory once over.  She took a deep breath, and spoke in a near hiss.

“What just happened?”

Cole held up his hands in surrender and shrugged, which did little to soothe Jazz’s building irritation.

“I dunno, probably used up a lot of energy learning a new power and tossing it out at me.  I’m not the best at all this spirituality stuff-“

“You’re literally half air spirit but alright, cous.”

“-I do know how to keep people from pulling on my magic to fill up their own drained supply.  Your brother needs to eat more.”

“Most likely needs more food filled with ectoplasm, it’s incredibly energy rich.  Maybe he should spend some time in the Ghost Zone?  Who knows.”

“As I asked, do you know where Elle is?  I personally haven’t tried my hand at scrying her but I’m rather certain that she’d feel it if we did that and I’d rather not creep her out when we go find her to offer her help.”

“I can try to look for her, I guess, but I’m pretty sure that Elle is laying low to avoid grabbing Vlad’s attention.”

“Who exactly is this Elle person, Tucker?”

“Oh yeah, we never did end up telling you about her.  Save any and all yelling until the end of the explanation or I’m going to stop telling you, got it?”

Jazz took a deep, measured breath, and nodded to Sam.

“Ok, before you start telling that tale, I’ve gotta say I’d find her better if I had the Fenton Finder­­­TM since that could track down her ectosignature.  Buuut, I’d need Vlad’s record of that ectosignature in order to look for it in particular.”

“We should also probably get Danny into an energy rich environment so he can recover faster.  How do you kids feel about seeing our ship?”

“No.  We’ve just met you, it’ll take more than one meeting to establish the trust needed to get us to a secondary location, especially with Danny passed out.  I’m taking Danny home now, we’ll contact you when we’re ready to meet you again.”

“Well, that’s a fair enough point I guess.  After we sneak into Vlad’s place to get some more data, I’ll get back to you on finding Elle if we do before you.  Regardless, you should probably tell us before you go to get her, so we can talk with her as a group - familiar faces and all that.”

“Well now, if it’s breaking into some rich guy’s house to steal information, I can help you out with that.  Kinda my specialty and all that.”

“You don’t have a specialty; you just do everything.”

“Thank you, yes.  So, you guys head back to your place, we’ll figure out what we’re gonna do on our end, and we can meet back… well, how about here?”

“Oh sure, we can turn the observatory into a real homebase.”

Tucker paused as he considered that, tilting his head.

“Actually, yeah, why don’t we do that?”

“Tucker, schemes later, getting Danny in the car now.  Thank you, Toby, Valdan, Cole, for helping us out.  We’ll keep in touch, see what you can teach the kids.  For now, have a good day.”

Tempting as it was to ask just how old Jazz was to be calling the others kids, Valdan knew when to cut his losses.  So he nodded and shook Jazz’s free hand, while Cole picked Danny up and carried him over to Jazz’s… car.

“I don’t like the vibes this thing gives off.  You got here in this?”

“Well if you’re connected to the weather like you claimed then I imagine you wouldn’t be all that pleased near a car.  I’ve tried to convince my parents to make an engine that’s eco friendly and isn’t running on ectoplasm, since that’d just animate the car itself.  They’re not much into making things that aren’t related to ectoplasm.  I might just make a new engine myself, actually, that’s probably a lost cause.”

“Welp, you’ve lost me so I’m gonna go now before you start rambling about machine parts the way Duncan and David do.  Bye.”

A cloud of shimmering vapor and ice swirled into Cole’s hand and flew out to an empty spot a few feet away.  Lightning flew from his hand to the cloud and it compressed into a flat circle of sky blue and toxic green, which swept out to the edges.  On the other side was the deck of a ship, surrounded by a howling blizzard and blinding white snow and ice.  Laughing at the sight, Cole grabbed his husband and cousin before jumping through the portal, which sealed shut behind him.

“Alright, a lot of things happened just now.  Let’s talk about that on the way home.  But first, Tucker, you’re going to tell me about this Elle person.  We’ve got plenty of drive to go before we even get to Sam’s house, so don’t try to say ‘it’s a long story’.”

Tucker sighed and settled down in shotgun, sticking tongue out at Sam when she glared from the backseat.

“Ok, so it all starts with Vlad.”

#

The Rose Pheonix was currently in the shape of a submarine, and David wondered about that.  He did not, after all, instruct it to change into any particular kind of vessel when they approached the massive iceberg that bordered the seemingly infinite Far Frozen realm, having no plans to go into it on the ship – he’d modified his and Apogo’s armor to be perfectly suited for the cold after all.  He would have to check the engines and see how the ectoplasm around them was affecting the mythallars.

Returning his attention to his family, however, David looked them all over and sighed.

“Duncan, didn’t we agree not to have weapons at the table?  Put your guns away before Valdan and Leico see them.  You don’t need em to regale us with how amazing your battle with Spectra and Bertrand was.”

Duncan rolled his eyes but got up anyway, stalking out of the room with a shout over his shoulder.

“It was barely a fight anyway!  Next targets need to be tougher.”

“Next time we need you to kill someone, I’m sure they’ll be a better opponent.  For now, we should focus on finding this Elle kid and getting her the help she needs.  Thankfully, the Far Frozen have agreed to lend us their medical technology and offered their services in actually checking out Elle’s stability issues and all that after we mentioned that she’s the clone of Danny.”

“Apparently they had this prophecy about him beating the big bad King of Ghosts single-handedly, and he did, so they find him worthy of worship or whatever.  Makes me wonder what kind of tyrant that king had to be for that kind of love for a kid ya don’t know.”

“Welp, that’s a whole other thing to look into but let’s keep our priorities straight, shall we?  First we need to find and help Elle, then we track down this Vlad character and see how best to eliminate him from the equation.  After that, I kinda wanna stay here for a bit, their world feels like it’s in need of help to maintain a balance with nature.”

“Before we can take out Vlad we need to find out if he’ll come back as a regular old ghost or if there’s a way to properly purge him, because there’s no reason he can’t shapeshift to look like his living self and resuming business as usual.  He’s a threat to everyone we’ve gone and gotten attached to here, and there’s no guarantee that he isn’t a major threat to Elle too since he made her.”

“Find and help Elle, research and kill Vlad, guarantee he stays properly dead for long enough that the kids don’t have to deal with him until they’re adults, and then we can split up jobs between helping the material world with whatever imbalance it’s having with nature and technology.  That sound good?”

There were agreements all around the table, and the twins walked in setting down food along the table.

“Glad you guys decided on a plan, cause it’s time to eat now.”  

“We’ll start actually working on things after, got it?” A chorus of ‘yes sirs’ rang out in a rainbow of tones and the Lumanos sat down to eat.

#

This here is for @floralflowerpower, @ebonyheartnet, and @five-rivers ! I hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely December and feel free to toss out conflicts I can shovel onto Danny's plate if you think I've been a touch too nice to him.

[pedroias]

“More like Phanphiction”

[dorkshadows]

Phic idea: After Persia, Erik returns to Boscherville in the Kayverse timeline. But it’s also an AU so he and Nadir are a thing. So what I’m saying is Erik stops by his hometown with his (boy)friend, and they have to work through a boatload of childhood trauma and just the general unwelcome climate of Boscherville. 

[mandytheo-blog]

Stalking in the Romance Genre

I love Phantom of the Opera and almost all of its incarnations, including a great deal of the published fan fiction that is out there. Especially the novel by Susan Kay. I've now written my own and because of that, I wanted to talk about the inescapable fact that Erik is a stalker.

Erik stalks Christine. He intimidates her, manipulates her, threatens her and verbally abuses her at times, in the original and in the other versions. In my own novel, Erik is still a stalker and for portions of the book, his behavior towards Genevieve, my OC, is also in the same vein of a stalker. He manipulates Genn and spies on her.

This is part of Erik and I'd rather be true to the character than to write him as something that he is not. There's room for reformation and realization, but any true to form book about the Phantom is going to contain stalking.

This doesn't make the stalking romantic.

I've read romance novels that have nothing to do with Phantom, where the hero stalks his heroine, obsesses over, gets violent with others and her if he can't have her and the behavior is treated as deeply romantic, a manic sort of devotion that proves just how much this guy loves his girl.

Stalking is not romantic. It's not sweet, attentive devotion. It's abuse.

Stalking crimes are not taken very seriously in many American states and in some countries. Often, the abuser can't be held accountable until he or she actually hurts their victim in some way. And it could be that by that point, it's too late.

Plenty of the behavior of classic and beloved literary characters is reprehensible. We can still love the books and those characters, but it bothers me to a great extent when I see it in modern-day romances, especially those aimed at the YA audience. Maybe this makes me a hypocrite. These were just my thoughts this morning.