#phantom and Danny can not compute different ideas of protection

[dcxdpdabbles]

Would it be possible to read what happened during Phantom's mating season peak in The Bakery is a Front from Tim's POV? I just think the pure baffled energy that Tim would be radiating from being taken care of so nicely by his hot kidnapper from another dimension would be hilarious. Really the whole kidnapping had to have been a better experience than some of the galas Tim has been forced to attend; at least definitely the best kidnapping he has ever experienced, 10/10 would be kidnapped again.

It happens so fast.

One second he's suffering through Danny's overdose, and the next, the dead body in his arms is leaping over Bruce and trapping Damian in an iron-clad grip.

Jason and Dick react the fastest, but it does nothing to someone who can density shift. Tim can only watch Danny sobs on top of Damian, speaking in a strange dialect. It sounded like cracking ice every time he wailed.

"Unhand me!" Damian grunts snaping a knife into Danny's side. Despite the apparent red spot growing on Danny's shirt, the other man doesn't flatter in his movements in the slightest. He squeezes harder, but it doesn't seem like he's trying to hurt Damian. If anything, it looks like he's...cradling him? Yes, it did in fact, seem like Danny is attempting to cradle Damian like a baby.

What on earth-?

"Shit! Danny put him down!" A new voice shouts. Three women and a man burst into the room. Tim has yet to learn where they come from, but Bruce wastes no time throwing a pair of Batbolas at them. It hits the target on the man and the red hair women, tangling their legs and knocking them off.

The man yelps while the woman grunts, throwing her arms in front of her in an obviously trained reaction. She can't stop herself from falling all the way, but her reflex is nothing to scoff at.

She doesn't seem to care as she shouts at the drug dealer. "Daniel Fenton, you let that boy go right now! Are you listening to me?"

"Danny is not here right now."

Tim jerks his head in his fake boss' direction watching in horror as the man's usual blue starts glowing green, and his dark hair bleeds into white. There is an unnatural glow emanating from under his skin that makes him appear so beautiful Tim loses his train of thought for a moment.

This transformation seems a bit too much to just be a meta-gene activation. Is Danny....not human?

One of the women- who looks like a younger female version of Danny- blasts him with a zap of green from her hand. It reminds him of Starfire, but while his friend's blast is nothing but heat, the green of the girl seems more light than flame.

He drops, unconscious, letting go of Damian. The newcomers relax when the goth-looking one kneels next to him and presses her hands against his neck. Danny appears returns to the human one Tim is used to in another quick blink of an eye. "No pulse!"

"Thank goodness." The red hair, one says, sitting up. It's then that Tim realizes it's Jazz. The one that talked down Jason and the rest of Danny's men not even two weeks ago. So neither left of the siblings left overseas? How had they tricked Babs? "No pulse means he's still in his mating season. Quick we have to get him quarantined again before-"

"You are not going anywhere!" Jason growls, leveling his gun at her. Jazz blinks down the barrel, then raises a brow. It reminds Tim of Alfred when the man found his hidden coffee machine- disgusted, disappointed, but most of all, unimpressed.

His brother sneers. "I want to know what is happening here and I want to know now!"

"Can you not read?" Jazz returns, speaking as if an annoying customer demands a service she can not provide. "I put up signs that clearly said Quarantine do not enter around Danny's house. Why do you think that is? Oh, maybe, it means to leave this area alone."

"You bats are lucky we got here when we did," The man says, trying to twist out his binds. It's not going too well, as a few electric mobiles slip out of his pockets. "The only way to snap the human side of Danny out of his daze is by making him deny his obsession which is something I hate doing."

What?

"I hate hitting him too" The girl with the energy blasts pouts "I makes my stomach turn."

She twists at her waist seconds before Damian's foot swings through the air, where her head was only seconds before. She sidesteps his three other attacks, face twisting into a sneer. "Hey! Back off! We don't share the same obsession!"

"Silence wrench!" Damian sneers, which makes her even angrier.

"Make me, you wannabe pirate!" the girl hisses, and it's then that Tim realizes they may even be the same age. She is doing a masterful job of barely being out of Damian's deadly reach.

"Don't hurt him, Elle!" Jazz shouts, "Things are already complicated enough-"

The goth woman screams as she is suddenly launched into the air, slamming into Bruce and cutting off the redhead. Dick rushes to the now-standing Danny, aiming a barrage of attackers that the man easily slips through. Bruce throws the woman off him, slamming her against the wall and knocking her out in the same action. The man screams as Jason shoots out his kneecaps and Tim-

Tim suddenly finds himself unable to think as large green eyes overtake his vision. Danny's eyes and hair are bleeding in and out of different colors as the man stares at him. "Mate...."

Tim's mouth dries, and his eyes are drinking in the man. He knows he should be doing something, but Tim can't remember what he should be-.

"TIM!" Dick screams, snapping him out of his daze, and....oh, Tim is falling. Danny- or whatever is pretending to be Danny- has pushed him by pressing his hands against his chest and shoving him through a portal.

Danny is watching his drop with a soft smile, that is at odds with Jason appearing at his side with guns blazing.

Tim drops onto a pile of soft snow- or what he thinks is snow. It looks like it, soft like a fresh full pillow, but it's not cold. If anything, it's the perfect temperature to nap in.....he's exhausted. When was the last time Tim slept? He can't remember.

His eyes are getting heavy. His body is going boneless.....he has never been so comfortable in his whole life....is this what it feels like to rest on a cloud...

Tim blinks, around the room trying to fight the urge to give into the darkness, and he notes that he seems to be in a castle made entirely of ice and snow...like Danny's home.....he also appears to be in a tower? The windows are shaped like one.

Tim takes note of the sky being a bright green color which is..odd, but that's all he can think clearly as he finally goes under.

_________________________________________

It feels like he only closes his eyes for a second when Tim is startled awake by a scream of rage. Jerking away, he sits up, trying to gather his bearings. He needs to find out where he is and where his gear is.

Tim pulls on the crotcheted sweater he's been stuffed into, breathing a sigh of relief when he realizes his Red Robin outfit is still on underneath. He climbs out of the bed made entirely of snow, flickering his eyes about.

He's covered head to toe in other crotchety objects- pants, sweater, socks, gloves, a scarf, and a hat- all big enough to fit comfortably against him and his vigilante costume. Raising a hand to his face, he touches the smooth leather of his trusted mask.

Right. Danny let him keep his secret identity intake. That's... something.

He glances around his surroundings again, this time for sure, that his in some type of castle covered in ice. It's beautiful, like something out of a Disney movie with shiny crystal frozen designs everywhere. He carefully makes his way to the window, looking out into a far darker green of a sky.

He squints into the distance seeing acres and acres of a vast castle and land, but on the far right, there seems to be a drop....a cliff? Or the edge of this island. For you see, he could make out flouting doors and islands in the sky.

This differently wasn't his earth.

Danny, not being human, was becoming more and more plausible.

"Release me!" A voice echo. Damian.

Tim slams the door open, sprinting down the hall toward his younger brother's distress calls. It's a castle; even if everywhere he turns, it seems to be a frozen wonderland.

There are ice sculptures of Danny between every large ice pillar. They portray him as Tim usually is used to or as a being with a tail instead of legs mid-flight. There are portraits of various people hanging on the walls- he can make out Jazz and the others that busted into Danny's apartment- but there all encased in ice.

There are no guards, so when Tim sprints down a giant stairway, he is hyper-aware of his footsteps echoing on the cracking ice. He rounds the hallway, then stumbles to a stop at the sight before him.

It was Danny. At least, he thinks so. The being had a strong resemblance to him, but his skin had a slight blueish hue, his ears were pointed, his hair was pure white, he was glowing, and most of all, he didn't have legs.

The sculptures hadn't been a artistic choice Danny in this form had a tail and he was flying around a restrain Damian.

His brother was in a gaint baby doorway jumper, encased in what looked like a snow swaddle.

Damian is also covered head to toe in crochet clothing, but his Robin costume peaks from underneath it. Danny was flying around him, placing piles of snow on the ground around the struggling child, making noises like creaking ice and purring when he came close to pat Damian.

It also looked like Danny....was nesting with Damian in the center of it.

What in the world?

"I'll have your head!" Damian sneers as Danny gently places a bear beanie on his head. " I am not a child!"

"My baby" Danny coos, then starts making more cracking noise. He rubs his head against Damian like a cat which causes the boy to grimace.

Tim needs to get him out of there. He looks around for a weapon, but his gear doesn't seem near him. The only thing he can possibly use is the ice around the walls-

"Crackle, crack, Clank, Click!" Danny suddenly says in his face. He crossed the room at the same speed Bart would have, or maybe faster since he didn't even see a blur. Tim jerks back, but the glowing figure is already reaching out-.

He places a scarf around his neck with an adorable head tilt.

"Drake! Run! He'll swaddle you!"Damian screams, but Tim can't look away. He's so beautiful. Danny's bright green eyes, sparkling with the stars of the universe, and his lips are so full, he bets they would be perfect to kiss- is someone purring? Tim could fall asleep to that sound- it must be a white noise machine-!

He snaps his eyes open, shocked to find himself back in the original room.

Tim is back in the damn nest. Confused, he blinks around the room, noticing the sky is bright again and that he's tucked into the bed with great care. He's never felt more rest, so he knows he just spends hours sleeping.

He doesn't even remember getting moded, damn it.

""Red Robi- can you- where are you- report!" Tim's eyes widened when he realized Bruce's voice. It's his communicator! He scrambles out of the bed, straining his ears. "Re-Rob-in!""

There! His earpiece is in one of the ice crystals hanging from the ceiling. Miraculously it's still working, as he can barely make out Bruce's shouts. After four kicks of the crystal, he breaks it down, shattering it on the ground.

He quickly places it back into his ear. "Batman, I'm here!"

"Thank goodness!" An unknown woman says, making Tim flatter for only a moment. "Listen to me, my name is Sam, and right now, there is only one way to escape Danny's mating season without bloodshed. See, Phantom is in control right now, which means his obsession is at its highest. What does Danny not deem important enough to protect? Himself."

" We have to snap him out of it by having those under his protection stand up to him and....hit him. Anybody attacks will confuse Phantom so much the human side of Danny will be forced to take the front." Another female voice puts it. Jazz. She sounds unhappy, as she admits. "A punch to the head, or slap or something, just one from enough people under his protection will freeze Phantom for a moment."

Tim frowns. "I have no idea what you mean. How will that help get us away?"

"Well, we have a plan for that," A man says wearily. The one with all the electronics. "You may not like it...but we must get you to sacrifice yourself for Robin's freedom."

His siblings start shouting over the communicator but Jazz silence everyone with her explanation.

A very long explanation of ghosts, cores, and obsessions, but the gist is that Phantom and Danny's balance was disruptive, so the only way was to cause his human side to get clarification was by presenting Phantom with a paradox.

Phantom will protect all. Danny will allow anyone to hurt him because of his terrible self-esteem. Hence Phantom will not know if it should defend them when it's Danny in danger but it will pull at his core because something is still under attack in front of him.

However, as ghost king, Danny is crazy strong, so they need to attack with something Phantom would never try to defend himself from. His sister and two best friends suddenly slapping or punching him? Phantom would typically react by beating them away, but that would mean hurting the beings he exists to protect.

That's just the physical aspect of it too. Tim's sacrifice would pull at Danny's human emotions while Phantom would panic about needing to save Tim from the ghost he was sacrificed to. Which would be himself.

It should snap them both by tugging them in two different directions of their instincts.

Tim wonders if it will work-

He wakes up to Phantom purring and messaging his sore muscles. To his left is a feast of all of Tim's favorites. Even though he is the elite of Gotham, he's never been so pampered in his life.

Dang, it better work. Tim is getting far too comfortable in this castle. He may never want to leave.

"Phantom if you let my brother go ill be your mate."

"!" Phantom pauses then let's out a sound that sounds like twinkling bells glowing so bright he could be a star

"Only If you accept me as a sacrifice in exchange for my brother's freedom" Tim holds his break then jumps at the sound of shattering glass that comes from Phantom's mouth.

He blinks a few moments, fighting himself, until Phantom nods determined. "Mate will bring children. I need children."

"Ugh sure pal. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal"

It's a weird Tuesday.

Damian is home ten minutes later, and within the hour, Phantom overloads from the paradox.

Tim opens a portal home that night, and Danny sleeps through the rest of his mating season, going under when Phantom and he fights about Tim's fate.

[suppose-i-was-worm]

Like A Lamb

**Idea taken from @nerdpoe's post- What the hell is this "Infinite Realms"?**

John Constantine would never call himself a kind man, much less a good man, but the kid at the corner table of this fast food restaurant was making him want to be both.

Not that John’s kindness would really help the kid, in the long run.

He’d seen so many things in all the time he’d been alive- wondrous and horrific in equal measure, but this boy- this teenager, barely out of childhood, was probably the most heart-breaking.

John had known sacrifices- marked by both men and demons. He’d seen the crumpled bodies after the fact, and sometimes he’d been able to save them beforehand. None of them were like this boy. Marked like a sacrificial lamb down to his bones by the universe- an inevitable end.

The teen was the beginning and the end of worlds- his death would shake the foundations of all that was, could be, and is. Time would stutter to a stop before restarting with a different beat, and John could do nothing to delay or stop what was coming.

How in the world could this kid still smile and laugh with his friends? How could he not feel the weight of an entire reality on his shoulders? If John, sitting across a dining room from him, could feel the pressure, why wasn’t the boy buckling under it?

John’s phone alerted him to a text from Zatanna- he was needed by the JLD.

With a sigh, he fished out the strongest protection amulet he had on him. It wouldn’t save the teen, but maybe it would make the rest of his life a little easier.

The kid looked up at him as he approached, all smiles and young innocence. John Constantine thrust the amulet into his hand and then turned, stalking out of the Nasty Burger.

He needed to tell the Justice League. Amity Park needed protection- there was a kid there whose death would change the world.

~~~

Danny flipped the little charm around in his hands, trying to figure it out. The sad trenchcoat man had handed it to him before leaving, and he had no idea why.

“What do you think it is, Danny?”

He shrugged. For some reason he didn’t want to hand it over to Sam for her to inspect it.

“Dunno. It feels important, though. I might take it to Pandora- she’s been teaching me a bit of magic stuff, so she can probably parse it out.”

For some reason, Danny knew he would recognize that man again if he ever saw him, despite only having looked at him for a moment. Something in his core rumbled contently as he tucked the amulet carefully into the back of his phone case.

The next few weeks, Danny found himself having suspiciously good luck. The food at home didn’t come to life, ghosts didn’t attack as much, Dash wasn’t a problem at school, and even the Fentons hadn’t been as insistent on catching Phantom.

That was another weird thing- His brain didn’t seem to compute that Jack and Maddie were his mom and dad anymore. He knew he’d been creeping toward that ever since his death, but it was like a switch had been flipped overnight. The Fenton adults no longer registered as his parents.

Finally he had a chance to slip into the Realms and head for Pandora, who took one look at the amulet he held out to her and laughed.

“You have been adopted, young one, and your core accepted.”

“Adopted?”

“Your nature is to protect- it sings in your blood and guides your instincts. An adult offered you protection, a safe haven, and you took them up on it. Had someone your own age done the same, your relationship with them would be vastly different.”

Danny frowned at the charm, but he didn’t put it down- it didn’t even occur to him to get rid of it.

“Why did he- what made him do that?”

Pandora ruffled his hair.

“He saw someone who needed protecting, I assume, and acted as he ought.”

~~~

“Bats, I don’t know what the Infinite Realms are. Yes, I know they exist. I just don’t know when they started to exist, and when my knowledge of the afterlife became outdated.”

Batman glared, and John rolled his eyes at the other man.

“Magic shit happens all the time. Zatanna can tell you just as well as I can that the Realms didn’t exist a year ago- and also that they’ve existed for millenia.”

“I’ve found a summoning spell for the king of the realms, but it requires a magic user. Zatanna is off-planet, so you’re up.”

John looked over at the speaker, Red Robin, whose slight form and dark hair made him think of the boy he’d left to die.

He’d thought of the boy more often than not- any research into the kind of sacrifice that would have so much power came to a dead end, and John Constantine hated that there was really and truly nothing he could do for the kid.

Maybe this Infinite Realms person might know something?

“Fine. What are the details?”

Red Robin perked up and handed over a heavy tome.

“Batman and I already set up the ritual space in the conference room, and a few other heroes are there to help out if the king is hostile.”

“Of course you have. Let’s go, then.”

The two bats swept off down the hallway, and John followed behind, studying the spell he would need to cast. It was fairly simple, and luckily wouldn’t require blood. He hated the ones that required blood.

As he stood over the sigils and spoke the ritual spells, the floor inside the protective circle began to writhe and bubble a toxic neon green. It was all John could do to stand straight as a rush of air spilled from the portal into the wide room, bringing with it the heavy taste of caution.

The Justice League took a step back as the first clawed hand reached out from the green, white and stretched beyond humanity. It scrabbled for purchase before finding it and pulling.

The creature that exited the swirling mass was something John had never seen before. If the situation wasn’t so tense, he might describe the creature as catlike, with a black body and white legs, as well as piercing green eyes. The similarities stopped, however, when the inky body flickered and lit up from within with the pinpricks of millions of stars and endless void.

This was a baby god, filled with the dreams of deities long forgotten and fueled by the hope of those still clinging on to life.

Its green eyes swept over the gathered heroes before coming to rest on John, and for a moment he felt as if his tattered soul was being judged by the cosmos.

And then the creature folded in on itself, the tense air around it changing from bitter caution to sweet relief, and John found himself face to face with the teenager from Amity Park.

“Hi.”

The boy sounded winded, but happy, and he reached inside his shirt to pull out a small chain necklace. John’s amulet was hanging off it, obviously well treasured and cared for.

“Did you know that you’re technically my dad now?”

Something on John’s face must have told the boy- the god, the sacrifice both dead and alive- that he was unaware of this fact. The kid shuffled a little, looking sheepishly at the floor.

“You- uh. Unintentionally offered safe haven. And I accepted without realizing what was going on, and- it’s weird. I collected your soul for you! Didn’t bring it with me, but I’ve got the pieces you’re missing.”

“I think you both need to sit down and discuss this.”

Bless Diana.

“Can you leave the circle, young one?”

The teen beamed at Diana and stepped out of the protective circle, smudging the sigils as he did and closing the portal.

“I can, yeah. Pandora says hi, by the way.”

John watched as the boy chattered away about his ghost friends to Diana while she led him to a seat, and then sighed, moving to join them. If he needed help with being a new dad, surely Bats could help, right?

[ghostly-cabbage]

Title Challenge:

Two Steps to the Left

Ooo! I really like this title! Thank you so much for sending something!!! Hmm...

Honestly the vibe I get from this right away is maybe like a summoning fic... I think that’s super fun! Also how about a college!AU?

Black magic is often referred to as the left-hand path. I think witchy Sam is delicious so I’m imagining... Sam convinces Tucker late one night to have fun and try this ritual she found in some grimoire from that bookstore she likes.

I love more realistic AU’s but keeping Amity Park weird as hell, so I think I’d keep Amity a thin spot with natural vortexes and portals and plenty of entities and things that go bump in the night. Maybe this particular spell is a protection spell of sorts. Written in latin which Sam knows the basics but isn’t fluent. (i.e. She doesn’t read the fine print.)

Tucker is reluctant of course, but Sam is like, “Come on, Tucker, It’s just for fun. Quit being such a stick in the mud. Plus, are you saying that it wouldn’t be nice to have some protection from all the crazy shit happening lately?”

Tucker begrudgingly agrees, because... yeah. Shit’s been freaky.

So, they do the ritual.

And well. It doesn’t go exactly as they planned.

( Nitty gritty of my thought process for the spell itself, feel free to skip: With left-path magic, intention is the most important, secondary is the objects and components you use to further refine it. Despite the bad rap, satanists that practice left-path magic don’t believe in sacrifice or blood offerings. Emotional energy and intention is far more powerful. That being said, I think I would make the spell be an invocation of compassion, and be something adjacent to spells from the Book of Leviathan. Leviathan, serpent of the black abyss, usually related to evil or the fight of good and evil and blah blah blah. I’m also thinking about the Feathered Serpent, or Quetzalcoatl, from Aztec religion. Quetzalcoatl is a supernatural deity that was said to be able to pass through different planes of existence, like life and death. ANYWAY. These are the places I’d draw inspiration for the spell!)

Sam and Tucker’s desire for protection is real; I think for more things in their life than just the ghosts in Amity. Regardless, the spell works.

Because I’m terribly predictable, I would change Danny’s design from canon and have him look way more creature and entity like. Maybe have him be all black/mostly shadow figure, save for his eyes. And the long tail ovb bc I love Danny being snek.

The “Two Steps” from the title, I’d want the “two” to represent Sam and Tucker. Because they performed the ritual together, Danny (or Phantom) is bound/corded to the both of them (for life or until they break the spell if they wanted to). Again, bc I’m predictable, I would make this an everlasting trio fic because I love the them.

Sam and Tucker, who were not expecting THIS, are rightfully freaked the hell out. That scene would be so fun, because Phantom would look like THAT and yet he’s there to protect them from any and all manner of ills within his power.

I don’t actually like fics where Danny is fully dead, but for this idea to work the way I’d want it to it’s unavoidable I think. To remedy this I’d have him still be able to assume a human form. People can still sense something very... off about him, but he’s able to pass as human.

HOWEVER, the other side of the coin! The fun of Danny being dead, but not knowing who he was or how he died. Leaving the story to Sam and Tucker to pick up and assemble the pieces. A good ‘ol mystery fic heh heh! 

Sam would be an enviornmental science major and Tucker would be computer science and engeneering. Danny is... Well. Dead.

Cue Sam and Tucker now trying to keep their new overbearing ghost hitchhiker a secret while still also being normal college kids. For fun I’d throw in some A-listers but make them chill now. Maybe some of them are in the same dorm hall heheh. 

This idea is also HEAVILY influenced by Loveless’ cover of MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. That song has the vibe that I would chase for the fic.

[redrobin-detective]

Ok, I’ve tried and tried and tried to write this fic because I see it so clearly in my mind but it’s just not going no matter what I do. But I don’t want the idea to die with me. The closest this came to being written was exile which was an attempt to bleed out some of the energy of this au.

Anyway, so it starts off vaguely similar to canon only more aggressive. There had been underlying tension between ghosts and humans for a while, the dead jealous/angry at the living for disrespecting them. The successful creation of the Fenton ghost portal (and another halfa) was considered an act of war and so the ghosts responded in kind. So basically all of S1 occurs fairly close to canon except ghost attacks are more violent and have increasingly more consequences as time passes. Also the attacks aren’t just in Amity Park with ghosts becoming a worldwide issue but Amity is a focal point. Regular people know the ghosts hate them though they don’t know why. Phantom is very much a controversial figure as he is a ghost but also clearly is fighting off the more violent ghosts. 

One day, not long after the events of Control Freaks, Amity Park wakes up to find three of their own are gone. Danny Fenton, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley are nowhere to be found. There’s a massive manhunt, the parents go on TV and beg for information but they cannot be found. Curiously enough, town hero Phantom was also missing. There’s some evidence they left of their own volition so the Mansons and Foleys eventually relent that the kids fled on their own. The Fentons are 100% certain the kids were stolen/killed by ghosts as a statement. And the fact that Phantom went missing around the same time means he was the one who killed them. Jazz knows Danny was Phantom but had no idea what was going on and knew her parents wouldn’t listen she just, kept quiet and privately tried to piece together what happened. 

Three years pass and finally it looks like the Ecto War is coming to a close. Young, naive ghosts attempted to raise Pariah Dark in a bid to win. It went disastrously but Phantom (who was periodically spotted around the world, deep in the worst battles of the war) and group of loyal allies subdued the king. By the law of ghosts, Phantom was named heir apparent and he declared that the fighting would stop. Humans and ghosts would have to negotiate and co-exist in peace. But he’s not king yet, no he needs to be crowned at the place where it began, Amity Park’s Fenton portal (”where it all began” has a double meaning of the beginning of the war but also symbolically where Phantom began as Kings assume the crown where their living life ended to show their abandonment of their first life and the commitment to their second). Amity is NOT happy to hear that their former hero is coming home.

Amity has been through the wringer, ghost attacks got pretty bad. The Fenton’s throw themselves into their work to cancel out the grief, they create a group of ghost hunters nicknamed the Reds (for their red blood, ghosts are nicknamed Greens) to control the threat. Valerie heads the young adult division and is considered one of the best, she drops out of school to devote herself to it full time. Oh also her dad is now the Mayor as most have died or didn’t want the job. There are still people who like Phantom and see him as a hero (a lot of Casper Kids) but it’s generally an unpopular opinion in town. Maddie and Jack are ready to obliterate the ghost that took their son’s life the moment he’s within city limits. It’s a powder keg ready to blow. It all comes to a head when Phantom and his entourage arrive.

First off, Phantom looks very different, much less human looking than when he left. He’s clearly aged like a normal teen but his eyes look much, much older.  His skin is dead white with a blue tinge to it from his ice core and his aura is super cold. His hair is longer and is very misty that kind of swirls around him and his has fangs and claws. When he’s deep in battle or his obsession, his sclera turn black and he looks scary af. His entourage is ghosts who have sworn loyalty to him, who he picked up along the way after battling beside them for 3 years. Fright Knight, Skulker and Frostbite are recognizable allies. They are not happy that their future King is back in Amity (secretly fearing they’ll lose him once more to his human life). J&M have a shot and are going for the kill when they see something that shocks them; Sam and Tucker are in Phantom’s entourage.

There had been whispers that Phantom interacted with humans, that humans were in his inner circle but this is something else together. And so are Sam and Tucker. Sam is Phantom’s General, she is talented and collected and half feral. She used to be a pacifist but the trials of war and understanding that peace sometimes needs to be fought for made her compromise. She’s covered in scars and an extremely talented fighter. She’s missing her right hand up to her forearm, she can form a ‘phantom limb’ (basically borrowing ectoplasm from her future ghost) to do some things with some powers. Tucker is the support, he uses human and ghost tech to organize, weaponize and generally keep things running. He’s covered in homemade tech (shields and weapons and computers) and he rarely removes. Both he and Sam have kinda forgotten how to interact with and really BE human after so long among the dead. They had attempted to conceal themselves but they had forgotten how strong parental love and recognition is. J&M want to know about Danny, the teens don’t know how to respond but assure them he’s alive. Phantom can’t bring himself to look at them.

This is where I start to lose track of things but there will be parallels of Valerie/Maddie vs Sam as female warriors on opposite sides who are willing to go behind, possibly compromising the things important to them, for victory. Tucker will be contrasted against Jack/Jazz as the one making weapons but also generally keeping the human parts of the team mentally/physically afloat. *Severe* PTSD for all three of them. They’re also unnaturally codependent on each other, get super anxious when one of the trio is out of sight and sleep in a big cuddle pile. They will fucking Kill You if you look at one of them wrong. Vlad will be involved, he had been jailed for war crimes but convinced Walker to stage a coup to overthrow Danny and take the crown before he’s actually declared King and is too powerful. Vlad is more unhinged here, more ghost than human (a hint on what could happen to Danny if he’s not careful). He is eventually defeated but he sacrifices his life for ghost power which, in the end, is what makes him able to be beaten.

 There’s lots of ideas on what it means to be live or dead and where the divide really is, is it a heartbeat or it is how you choose to use your existence. On how duty shouldn’t mean you need to give up everything. Because Jack and Maddie believe that Phantom killed their son and, in a way, they’re right. Before they left, the ghost war had gotten so bad and the rumors of Dark being resurrected were going around. Amity attacks were at an all time high, people in their school were being killed just because Danny went there. He realized he had to choose between Fenton or Phantom and he chose to protect the world. He abandoned his human identity and went off to fight in war. Tried to convince Sam and Tucker to stay but they followed him through hell and back. Because Danny spends so much time as Phantom, Fenton is severely neglected. His long hair is cool and floaty as Phantom but is unkempt and stringy, hanging in his face as Fenton. He’s wan and underweight and looks like a walking corpse. He knows his human half will give out soon if he doesn’t give it more attention but he just can’t there’s too much to do, too many people to save.

It would end with Danny being outed to the town, not the world, just the town. Jack and Maddie need to recon with the fact that their boy DID leave of his own choice but only because their failure to protect him (from both the portal and ghosts) made him feel he had to take all this responsibility on his shoulders. Danny also has to recognize that he (and Sam/Tuck) can’t do all this on their own and they can trust and rely on the people around him. Phantom is crowned King but he decides Amity will be his base. The trio eat more, sleep some, catches up on school all the while continuing their duties as King and court. The ghosts also see that Phantom’s humanity isn’t a weakness but a strength and will bring peace to the Earth/Zone so they also take some of the burdens off his shoulder. 

Basically I load up heavily with angst at the beginning and end with all the love and comfort imaginable. I just can’t fucking figure out the middle and my motivation will not let me write this shit out. But I can’t let this AU die bc it fucking keeps me up at night.

[lanuvolanera]

Sept 19th - Cofession

Chapter 1

My first ever fanfic, lads, be nice and enjoy.

---------

Coming out of Casper High mid afternoon, Danny and Tucker made their way down the school steps. Students trickled out the front doors in small groups and split their own ways as the duo began their trek to Fenton works.

"Man, I'm glad Sam didn't come today." Danny said, grasping his backpack strap slung over his shoulder.

"I know, right? She would've been miserable." Tucker replied, pocketing his PDA with a light frown on his face.

The day went well. Steady, in fact. They seemed to have kept off of Dash's radar and stayed on Mr Lancer's good side with the English assignment. Not to mention that it was pizza day at the cafeteria, the only good thing that the cooks knew how to make. Yeah, today wasn't so bad, it just felt empty without Sam by their side.

"She should be feeling better by tomorrow, right?"

"Honestly, I think she'll take the rest of the week off. If it wasn't for that ghost..."

"Oh god, don't remind me, I still feel awful." Danny said with a look of mild horror, still traumatised from the night before.

A pause in their conversation prompted more memories from last night.

Phantom, two feet above the ground, felt paralysed as he looked on and watched as Tucker ducked undercover from the ectoblasts firing in all directions from what looked like a regular bedsheet type ghost, only this one was different, this one screeched and wailed and gnawed it's black teeth, blood dripping from its mouth, staining its torso.

"We'll give her a call tonight, see how she's doing." Tucker said, dragging Danny out of his thoughts.

"Or we could head over, see how she's doing in person?"

"Or we could leave her be and let her rest."

Danny didn't like that idea, he was worried and felt guilty and ashamed that he couldn't prevent her injury. As minor as it was, she couldn't find the strength to come to school the next day, when he'd hoped to apologise again and ask how she's doing again and to offer her anything she needs again. He made his mind up right then.

"I'll fly over tonight then, when everyone's gone to bed."

"Sure, don't forget to bring her homework and tell her you love her."

"What?" Danny gasped in shock, a deep red blush covering his cheeks.

"Nothing." Tucker looked away with a sheepish grin and quickly changed the topic.

"We still need to do some research about last night's ghost, I've downloaded some pdf's which I'll send to you and Sam to see if there are other ways to dispell it if the thermos didn't work."

They turn the corner and can see the large Fenton works sign in the distance, two blocks away.

"Race you." Danny smirked, and sprinted off before Tucker had a chance to realise what was happening.

With a loud "hey!" from Tucker in the background, Danny slowed as he neared the steps to his front door and tried the handle, locked. Hmm, his parents are out, Jazz would still be at school studying in the library, looks like he and Tucker have the house to themselves. Danny pulls out his keys and unlocks the door just as Tucker catches up out of breath.

"That's cheating, you had a head start." He pants.

"Come on, the computer in the lab is free, go down and fire it up while I get some coffee brewing."

"Sounds like a plan."

-------------‐-------------------------------------------------

Later that night, Danny flew Tucker back to his house.

They soared through the night sky, clear and full of stars, street lamps illuminating the buildings below them, his best friends arm slung over phantoms shoulders.

"Look, all I'm saying is if we go back tomorrow, what if we make things worse, pissed it off even more. If its trapped there like we think, what harm will it do if we leave it alone?"

"It's different though, what if when we found it there, we let it loose?"

"If we did then don't you think we would've seen it again by now?"

"I don't want to chance it, we need to find a way to deal with it permanently."

"Don't tell me you're going back there by yourself."

"No, I'm going to Sam's, like I said."

"You'd better."

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

Once he'd said his goodbyes to Tucker, and reassured him he wasn't going to do something wreckless, Danny took off into the air once more and set course for Sam's House.

With a backpack full with his thermos, his laptop, his phone, both his and Sam's maths homework, a couple of pens, pencils, markers and 2 cans of Sam's favorite soda, Danny sped across the rooftops when a blue puff of cold air burst it's way past his lips.

"Of course, I thought it was too quiet tonight."

Taking a quick glance of his surroundings, there was nothing to be seen in the empty streets. A brief pause, his breath held in his lungs, then glass crashing from a shop window a few blocks down caught Danny's attention.

Cackling laughter and bursts of light flashed from the window, Danny wasted no time reaching the building, turning himself intangible and flew through the ceiling.

"Oh, come on! What the hell are you doing here? In a pet store of all places?"

....

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

Danny finally arrived at his destination. Peaking through the window to find Sam laying on her bed, light from her laptop illuminating her face, in her black pyjamas and a cast on her leg.

He knocked on the glass, and smiled as Sam startled.

Waving him in, he floated through the glass and landed with a soft thump on the plush carpet, and settled on the edge of her bed.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" Danny said with concern in his voice.

"Fine. Hey, you need to sign my cast." Sam says with a playful smirk. Danny half expected her to be more upset about being injured, or at least, as upset as he is.

After the escape from the warehouse the night before, with Sam cradled in his arms and Tucker following not too far behind, all Danny could think was this was all his fault. Sam got injured because of him, because he was too late, too late to swoop in and protect her from the falling scaffolding from the ghost fight, that cost her her ability to run to safety. He's the hero, isn't he? And he couldn't save her from something as simple as falling debris? What kind of hero-

"Danny-"

Sam could see the distraught look on Danny's face and he caught himself looking down at her cast. It could've been a lot worse, but still.

Danny looks up at her, he needs to confess.

"I'm sorry, Sam, I'm sorry you got hurt, I should've been more careful-"

"Hey, don't worry about it, these things happen, right? It could've been a lot worse."

"I know, I keep telling myself that, but still-"

"But still, we need to figure out a way to get rid of that ghost, I've been doing some research on this specific type of ghost and I've read through the files Tucker sent me, and I think I have a good idea on what we're working with."

Sam brings the laptop closer and turns it around for Danny to see pages upon the screen filled with information from different historic and religious sites.

"Does it say anything about why the thermos didn't work?" He asked playfully. Of course, the Fenton thermos only being a recent invention, there wouldn't be any information that hasn't been put online by the Fentons themselves indicating its presence in the ghost hunting community across the globe. Sure, there have been other containment methods but for this particular ghost, the best method would be to remove it from this plane entirely instead of just bottling it up.

Other pages on the screen suggest cleansing treatments of the haunted area using a mixture of herbs, minerals and rituals, witchcraft. If that could work, maybe the Fentons have other means of ghost study to pursue, if they believed in that sort of thing, of course.

"Hoestly, this stuff is giving me a headache, I need a break."

"Good thing I have just what you need." Danny says, reaching for his backpack.

He pulls out his own laptop, the 2 cans of soda and their homework, which Sam gives a mild look of disgust.

"Great."

"You don't look at all enthused." Danny says with a cheeky smile, and pops open his can, passing the other one over to Sam who takes it gratefully.

A small awkward pause later and Sam has to snap Danny back to reality again.

"Look, I know you think this is your fault, so here's my obligatory I'm-not-a-damsel-in-distress talk, we're a team, we'll sort this out, and we can forget about it."

"It's not just that, I don't know, it's just that- I don't think I'll be able to forget about it. There's something about this ghost, it's terrifying." Danny says, setting his can aside.

"I know, ugly too." Sam smiles as Danny looks up, he remembers what Tucker said to him earlier.

Tell her you love her.

"I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if something happened to you, I couldn't imagine my life without you."

At this, Sam sits up and puts her can on her bedside table. They're face to face with each other now.

"I couldn't imagine my life without you either, and you're right, that ghost is terrifying, even more of a reason to fight it."

Tell her.

"This ghost fight seems to be putting things into perspective."

You love her.

"I know what you mean."

They don't know when they got closer, or when they started leaning in.

Danny lightly brushes his fingers across her cheek, tilting her head just so, and presses his lips to hers.

It's a little awkward at first, spending a few seconds in that position. Then someone, or maybe both, adjust their lips, and oh.

Oh wow.

The sensation is amazing, sparks running down their spines and they readjust again, and again.

Their arms begin to wrap around each other and oh god, they're actually making out, kissing. They don't even realise they've fallen onto their sides on the bed, eyes squeezed shut applying and reapplying firm presses of their lips together.

They stay that way for a few moments, or is it lifetimes, when a tune came from the bedside table.

They pull apart, dazed red faces inches from each other, before Sam sits up and grabs her phone.

"It's Tucker."

She answers.

"Hey, Sam, I know you're busy recovering and all and I know it's late but I think I have a lead."

"That's great, what've you got?"

"I've found a review online about a book at the town hall library, if we can get it checked out tomorrow we might be able to find a way to exorcise this ghost."

Sam and Danny look at each other with hope.

"What's the title?"

"Ghost hunting for dummies."

"Be serious."

"I'll make you laugh one day, I swear."

"Tucker."

"It's called 'witchcraft untold', there are only 2 copies in town, the other is at the 'Skulk and Lurke'. The review made it sound like a work of fiction, and maybe it is, who knows? But I think it's worth checking out."

Sam makes a mental note of the title. There are a few books she's planning on checking out, some including cultural and religious beliefs on the undead, magic and pagan rituals, and scientific findings surrounding ghosts. If this book Tucker mentioned is as promising as it sounds, things could be looking up.

"I've been meaning to go to the 'Skulk and Lurke' tomorrow anyway, so I'll keep an eye out for it."

"Thats great, we'll talk more later, get some rest."

" I will do, see you later, Tuck."

"See you, and say hi to Danny for me!"

Click.

They glance at each other, and Danny moves to stand up.

"I should get going, um..."

"Yeah, you're gonna need some rest too if we're gonna face this ghost tomorrow night."

"We?"

"Yeah?"

"No."

"What?"

Danny couldn't believe he had to say this.

"Sam, you're injured, there's no way I'm letting you come along..."

"You're not 'letting' me do anything, I'm going. We still need to figure out a plan before then anyway, when I get a chance to check out that book."

The air surrounding them starts to tense.

"How am I supposed to fight this ghost and protect you at the same time? Or have you already forgotten about last night?"

"Excuse me? Have you forgotten what I said only ten minutes ago? I'm not letting you go off and play hero all by yourself!"

"That is not-"

"Save it. I can take care of myself."

"Fine, I'll call you in the morning."

"Fine."

And with that, Danny turns towards the window and lifts off, phases through, and rises into the night sky.

[ladylynse]

Revision: Maddie can’t deny it any longer. If ectoplasm can become blood, there’s more to this story than she ever realized.

Part 4 [FF | AO3]

(Previous)

-|-

“I tried tracking Danny’s cell,” Tucker said, “but he must’ve figured Vlad would do that and finally turned it off. Or it died. You know he never remembers to charge the thing.”

“I’ll head to Dora’s so you can stay out of the dead zone,” Sam said. “If you don’t want to challenge Skulker to see who can find Jack or Danny first, then head straight to Frostbite. That’s probably where Danny went. Dora can drop me off and pick up Poindexter and maybe Johnny 13 and Kitty if she can swing it.”

“Do you have extra Fenton Phones?” Jazz, being careful as always. Taking the lead, as she’d asked. Maddie stood back, holding the jet packs while the kids went over the plan. She’d checked everything over three times, knew these would work, but—

“Always,” chorused Danny’s best friends in unison.

They’d done this before.

They must have done this so many times before.

How could she and Jack have never noticed?

“Be mindful of the power supply on your jet packs,” Maddie said, hardly believing that she was handing them to two fourteen-year-olds and being perfectly okay with letting them go into the Ghost Zone on their own, virtually unprotected. “They should be able to draw on the ambient ecto-energy within the Ghost Zone, but you will have to stop somewhere to allow it to recharge or risk being stranded.”

“Don’t worry. We got this, Mrs. F,” promised Tucker as he shrugged on his pack. Sam was already tightening the safety straps on hers. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to tell them as much about these as they had; it might not be the first time they’d used this particular invention. “We’ll let you know if we find them. Any of them.”

“We’ll even ask Clockwork,” Sam put in. “I don’t think he’ll tell us anything, but we’ll try. Assuming we can actually find him and he’s not just pretending he’s not home again.”

Maddie didn’t know the names of half the ghosts they mentioned, let alone have any concept of where in the Ghost Zone they could be found.

She nodded anyway, pretending. Pretending to understand. Pretending to be strong. Pretending that this didn’t feel as wrong as it did, letting these kids do what she could not. Adults were supposed to protect children, and she felt like she was asking them to run into fire for her sake.

But they’d tread this path before, gone this way far more often than she, and were much wiser than her for it. She had to trust their judgement. They knew better than she did. They knew more than she did. It was as simple as that.

And if it meant protecting Jack and having a chance of finding Danny and Danielle….

“Thank you.” She wouldn’t be able to say it enough. “Good luck.”

The two flashed her grins and thumbs up, all signs of their earlier tiredness gone by now. They’d been given a mission, and they were ready for it. More than. She waved as they raced each other to the portal and dove into the Ghost Zone.

“You don’t have to pretend,” Jazz said softly. “Not with me, anyway.”

She had to. She had to, or she’d be curled up on the floor of the lab again, crying until she had no more tears. She couldn’t give up on this semblance of sanity. If she let her guard down, if she allowed herself to remember exactly what she’d done and who she’d done it to and—

Jazz walked over and hugged her, and Maddie felt her resolve crumbling.

“We’ll get through this,” Jazz reassured her, tightening her hug. “I know what I said earlier, but Dad will come back safe, and we’ll find Danny and Danielle, and then we’ll figure things out from there. This isn’t going to ruin us.”

It might have already, and she had no way of knowing.

Because she’d never listened.

Jazz waited a moment more before pulling away and stepping back. “Did you have any luck with the Booo-merang?”

“I reassembled it,” Maddie whispered, “and fed it the copy of Phantom’s ecto-signature that we had on file.” She wasn’t sure if it was perfect. The Booo-merang was more Jack’s invention than hers, and she knew he’d made tweaks that weren’t in the blueprints. She’d done what she could. If Vlad—

“We can tie a note to it,” Jazz said as she took out her hairband, “so that Danny knows it’s safe to come home even if we lose sight of it. I’ve done that before. It will get to him eventually.” She moved to the computer desk to get a pen and paper and began to write. After a few moments, she looked back up at Maddie. “You should write something, too. So Danny knows he can trust my word.”

Maddie moved slowly, finally reaching out to take the pen from her daughter with a shaking hand. She imagined accusations—accusations she deserved—and couldn’t think of the right words to say. What could she write to convey what she felt? The depth of the wrong she’d done?

I’m sorry, she wrote. It looked trite. False. I hurt you both. It was an understatement, but at least it was an acknowledgement. I want to do better. She couldn’t ask for forgiveness, not without doing anything, and even then…. Even then, she might not get it. She wasn’t sure she’d deserve it if she did. Please let me try. She could imagine an offer of help being turned back on her, Danny spitting that they didn’t need her kind of help, but…. But she’d rather that than write a plea that they come home and have him tell her this wasn’t home for him anymore and wouldn’t ever be again.

She had always thought she hunted monsters.

She hadn’t realized when she’d become one.

Jazz gently nudged her hand aside and slid the paper away, neatly folding and then securing it to the Booo-merang.

“What if he doesn’t want to come back?” Maddie asked. “What if he gets our note and ignores it?”

“He won’t ignore it forever, even if he doesn’t act on it right away.” Jazz turned the device on, and Maddie saw the light at its head begin to blink. “That’s not who Danny is.” She flashed a grin. “Are you ready?”

She wasn’t remotely ready, but there wasn’t time for her to be mentally prepared for all that this would entail. “We have no way to follow it if it goes into the Ghost Zone,” she said, “and even if we try to follow in the Fenton Ops Centre, we’ll still need to be able to keep it in sight for that.”

“Which we can. Dad added that tracking feature, remember? We’ll link it to the Booo-merang. Just like the Spectre Speeder. And if it goes into the Ghost Zone, we can put Sam or Tucker onto it.”

Maddie let out a breath. “Okay.” She couldn’t afford to argue. She didn’t know enough to argue.

Jazz drew back her arm and threw the Booo-merang. It spun, making a quick loop of the lab.

And then it made a second loop of the lab.

And a third loop.

A lazy fourth.

And then it crashed into the dissection table, skittering across it before falling to the floor.

Something was squeezing the breath from Maddie’s lungs, and she couldn’t say anything. She couldn’t do anything. She just watched as Jazz frowned and walked over to the device. She checked it over and tried tossing it again.

This time, it made two and a half loops before catching on one of their shelving units. Maddie winced as glassware shattered. Jazz fetched a broom and dustpan, sweeping up the pieces while Maddie watched in silence. As Jazz dumped the remains into the shards discard bin, Maddie summoned the strength to walk over and pick up the Booo-merang from where Jazz had placed it on the top of the workbench.

“What’s wrong with it?” Jazz asked softly when she was finished.

Maddie looked at the Booo-merang’s blinking light. “Nothing,” she whispered. “The copy of Phantom’s ecto-signature just isn’t sufficient.”

Jazz furrowed her brow and leaned closer, though Maddie knew there was nothing more to be seen. “What do you mean?”

“Ecto-signatures aren’t like fingerprints; they don’t stay the same unless some change is forced upon them. They change slightly over time naturally, to reflect the changes within each ghost.”

“But it’s always locked onto Danny. That’s never been a problem before.”

“That’s why it hasn’t been a problem. Because it could update its signature to evolve its records. Now, it’s been entirely reset, and the ecto-signature I gave it is just too different to be recognizable as the same one Danny currently has. I….” So much must have happened to cause that change, and she’d been blind to all of it. “I’m sorry. This isn’t going to work.”

Jazz huffed. “It’ll work,” she said, snatching up the Booo-merang and hugging it to her body with one protective arm. “We’ll just have to get the ecto-signature from Vlad.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Vlad. Like I said, he’s obsessed with Danny. Trust me, he’ll have a recent copy of Danny’s ecto-signature.”

“So you wanted to shoot him earlier, and now you want to work with him?”

“Oh, I still want to shoot him. Taking a blast from an ecto-gun in human form won’t do as much damage as when he’s in ghost mode, but it’ll still hurt.”

Human form. Ghost mode. It was jarring to hear Jazz talk about molecular fusion so offhandedly, to the point that she could mention it like that. She must have discovered and accepted this idea ages ago. And Danny—

“But whether I like it or not, it looks like we need him. At least until we hear from Sam and Tucker.”

Maddie took a slow breath. The idea of working with Vlad…. It didn’t sit well with her now that she knew the truth. There was too much of Plasmius in Vlad. He wasn’t the same person she’d known in college. She had to stop thinking of him as such. “I don’t think I can pretend to be ignorant of everything you’ve told me.”

“You don’t need to. Vlad would probably see through an act anyway. He won’t be happy that I’ve told you everything, but he won’t be surprised after what’s happened. He’ll take what he can get.”

Maddie frowned and glanced at her daughter. “Meaning?”

“Meaning this would still give him the opportunity to spend time with you, and that might be enough bargaining power.” Jazz hesitated. “I know that sounds bad. It is bad. I just…. I don’t know if we can afford to wait for Sam and Tucker. Vlad definitely won’t be waiting. And whatever Skulker says, he’s really not the Ghost Zone’s Greatest Hunter. He’s not going to be a better option when it comes to asking for help. Vlad might have him looking already anyway.”

Skulker. The ghost that used a mechanical exoskeleton. She’d seen Phantom—and Danny?—take it down multiple times. It made her want to question Jazz more about all of this, about halfas, about the consequences of which she was currently aware, but there wasn’t time. She couldn’t afford to distract herself that way. Not when Danny…. Not when Danielle….

“All right. Let’s go.” She was afraid that if she didn’t commit, she’d find a way to talk herself out of going. Convince herself that they could find another way, whatever Jazz thought. The idea that Plasmius might have convinced Vlad to—

But Jazz was right. Different, albeit just as unscrupulous, options were out there to explain Danielle and her true relationship to the Fenton family. And Maddie wasn’t in a position to point fingers when it came to unscrupulous behaviour. Not after what she’d done.

You don’t understand.

She was convinced she’d never forget the cries.

I’m not just a ghost.

She didn’t deserve to forget.

I’m human, too.

She couldn’t just pretend this hadn’t happened, that she hadn’t done what she had. In order to do better, she had to remember. She couldn’t allow herself to fall into old patterns and risk repeating the same mistakes, even unintentionally. She wouldn’t be able to ease her guilt right away, but maybe, with time, with enough changes, with enough effort, she could…. She could accept what she’d done, if not forgive herself entirely. She didn’t think she’d be able to forgive herself unless the others forgave her, and they….

They had good reason not to.

She could ask for it, but she knew very well she might not receive it. That hurt, too, just thinking about it, but—

“Come on,” Jazz said, wrapping her free arm around Maddie and steering her towards the stairs, “I’ll drive. I left a note on the fudge in case Dad comes back before we do. He’ll see it there.”

-|-

Vlad had not intended to come back after a quick change of clothes, whatever he’d tried to make it sound like. Maddie realized that now. Still, it only made standing on Vlad’s stoop this early in the morning even worse.

When the door finally opened, Vlad himself was there to greet them, looking like he’d recently stepped from the shower. “Ah, Maddie, how delightful. And Jasmine. I hadn’t quite made myself presentable for—”

“You can drop the act,” Jazz said as she elbowed her way past him. “I told Mom everything.”

Vlad raised his eyebrows. “Everything about what?”

“Phantom and Plasmius,” Maddie whispered. She had to force herself to meet Vlad’s eyes, and she saw motions flicker across his face until his features settled into a careful mask. Practiced. Polite. The same one he used to wear while convincing the higher-ups at the university that they should be allowed funding and space for their projects.

“Ah.”

He didn’t say any more. He simply stepped aside and let her in.

“We need a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature,” Jazz said. “I know you have one, so don’t bother denying it.”

“Showing your hand so early?”

Jazz rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at Maddie. Vlad glanced in her direction as well and then sighed. “I am doing what I can to search for Daniel. Whatever your implications, my involvement isn’t a farce.”

“Then prove it by giving us a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature. You ruined ours, so if it was purely accidental and not on purpose, what’s the harm?”

“Jazz,” Maddie said, a warning in her tone. They could only push Vlad so far. They were still asking for his help.

And she didn’t particularly want to meet Plasmius right now.

It…. She couldn’t see him. She’d thought she would, now that she knew. She’d thought there would be something behind Vlad’s eyes that she’d be able to identify, some little piece of Plasmius. Not because she doubted the truth of Jazz’s words, she didn’t; rather, she wanted to think that she could pick apart which being was more in control of Vlad, Plasmius or one of her former friends.

But all she saw was Vlad.

The same Vlad who’d stood up for her and Jack when they’d made their first group presentation on the paranormal. The same Vlad who’d stayed up late with her to pore over Jack’s last-minute changes to their blueprints. The same Vlad they’d met again at the reunion and seen so frequently since.

“Surely you know I would hardly impede your investigation when it came to finding the little badger—”

“Which is why you deliberately destroyed the Booo-merang?”

“—but I’m afraid I really don’t have a recent copy of Daniel’s ecto-signature. He, ah, deleted my files just last week.”

Jazz narrowed her eyes. “Fine,” she spat. “Say I believe that. Say you really don’t have a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature. Why ruin ours?”

“I never intended to ruin it. I merely wanted to try to obtain a copy of it for myself.”

Jazz pursed her lips and met Maddie’s eyes. Maddie knew that long-suffering look on Jazz’s face. It was the one she made when she was barely restraining herself from parroting back Danny’s words in a mocking tone, trying to convince herself that she was an adult and above such childishness. Jazz was quite mature for her age, but she was still a teenager. Even…even if she knew as much about the world—and the Ghost Zone—as she did.

“I’m sure I could be of help in other ways. If Maddie and I—”

“You’re not getting hours of alone time with my mom,” Jazz interrupted. “What about Danielle’s ecto-signature?”

“You really believe Daniel would allow me to keep that?”

Jazz’s smile was sudden and triumphant. “Then you admit it. You know who she is.”

“She’s a ghost who’s passed through this town,” countered Vlad. “Whatever you and Daniel think, I do try to protect Amity Park. Keeping tabs on ghostly activity is merely part of that.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“Vlad,” Maddie said softly, “please. Even if you don’t think it’s important, anything you could tell us would be appreciated. I’d never seen that ghost before, and I know Jack would have told me if he’d had an encounter with a ghost so like Phantom.”

“My dearest Maddie, I can assure you that I harbour no ill will toward Daniel. I want to see him back with us as much as anything.” Vlad spread his hands. “I simply do not have the resources Jasmine thinks—”

“Shut it, Plasmius. We’re not buying that you’re the good guy. If you won’t give me the copy of the ecto-signature, I’ll find it myself.” Jazz turned and stalked away. Vlad, surprisingly, let her.

Or was it Plasmius who had? That’s what she’d called him, but Maddie still couldn’t—

“I’ll make tea,” Vlad said, putting his arm around Maddie and steering her towards what she knew was the kitchen. She managed not to flinch at his touch. Any other night before this, before knowing, she would have been so grateful for the support, but now— “Or coffee, if you’d prefer. We could do with something right now, I daresay. We’ll catch up with Jasmine in a few minutes. I change my security codes daily.”

“So it’s all…true,” Maddie managed. “You and Plasmius—”

“We really don’t need to talk about such things right now.”

Of course they did. How could they not? Vlad and Plasmius. Because of the proto-portal accident. It had to be. Months of hospitalization, bankrupt at the end of it, dropping out of college and—

And turning around and making millions. Billions.

Vlad had been skilled, but not—

“Please,” she repeated. “Please, just…. It’s really true? You and Plasmius? Like Danny and Phantom? And…and Danielle?”

Silence.

Vlad’s steady steps never faltered. She was desperately trying to think of a way to broach the conversation again. She didn’t want to let it go, to let it die, to let it lie between them unspoken. She couldn’t. Not after what she’d done with Danny. And….

It’s not that she felt comfortable with Vlad. After what Jazz had told her, she couldn’t, and it made her realize that she hadn’t been wholly comfortable with him before that, either. She’d wanted to think that maybe it was just her reacting to Plasmius’s presence, but since she’d realized that she couldn’t tell who was in control—

She wished Jack were here.

She wished he hadn’t gone to search the Ghost Zone alone, but she wasn’t sure there had been another choice. If it hadn’t been him, it would have been her, and he never would have let her go alone. But one of them needed to stay on this side. If Danny decided to call—

Maybe they shouldn’t have left the house.

She could have called someone to stay while she and Jazz came here. Or she should have come by herself. In case Danny phoned. He had their cell phone numbers, of course, but she wasn’t sure how many of those numbers he had memorized; she knew he knew the home phone, but if his cell phone really was dead—

“Every situation is different,” Vlad said at last. He led her into the kitchen and left her to lean against a counter while he busiest himself with preparations. There was no table to be had in here, oh no. Counters, islands, workspaces of all sorts, but nothing small and cozy, nothing intended for anyone to sit down and have a bite to eat or something to drink. This was a kitchen meant to be fully staffed, and—

It occurred to her that she had never seen Vlad’s butler.

Or a maid.

Or any staff, really.

They were always mentioned, and she knew he must have someone—he could hardly keep a place this large clean by himself on top of his mayoral duties—but it always seemed to be their day off whenever she came by.

She only ever saw Vlad.

“What…what do you mean?”

“I doubt the girl is quite like the others.”

“Her name is Danielle.”

“Yes.” His words were a whisper. “It is.” He turned around and presented her with a warm cup of— Coffee, by the look and smell of it. Black.

She took a hesitant sip.

He’d sweetened it with sugar.

He remembered how she drank her coffee, even after all these years.

“I—” Vlad paused. “Daniel and I, our circumstances aren’t quite the same.”

He was admitting it, then. She hadn’t thought he would after his earlier denials. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or terrified. A denial she could have spun into truth for herself, at least for a time. Long enough for her to find some steady ground to stand on. Long enough to make sure she wouldn’t have her feet knocked from beneath her again.

“How do you know?” If she didn’t ask, if she kept talking, she’d lose the opportunity entirely, and she knew she couldn’t afford that.

“I’ve spoken with her. The ghost girl. She’s come to me for help in the past. As I daresay you’ve realized, she’s as much girl as she is ghost.”

I’m human, too.

“And you and Plasmius—”

“I’m stable. Daniel is stable. Poor Danielle is not. Or she wasn’t, the last time I had her in my lab.”

“You still have a lab, then?”

Vlad smiled. “Oh, Maddie, I could never give it up. It reminds me too much of the treasured moments I used to spend with you.”

“And Jack,” she added pointedly, remembering Jazz’s words. Vlad has an unhealthy obsession with you.

“Yes, of course.”

The words came quickly, smoothly, but she wasn’t sure they were honest. How could she? Jazz hadn’t had the slightest bit of doubt in her voice when she’d said Vlad hated Jack. Hated. It was such a strong word. Maddie hadn’t noticed anything herself, but she’d never looked for it, either. Jack’s enthusiasm about his friendship for Vlad had always been her lens for their relationship, and Vlad had always been friendly towards her.

But recent experience had certainly taught her that there was so much she could miss—even from people close to her. If she’d never realized the truth of Danny and Phantom, she hadn’t much hope of seeing past the façade Vlad put up around her.

Maddie took another sip of the coffee, buying time to collect her scrambled thoughts. “And Plasmius doesn’t…hinder you?”

“Far from it.” Vlad flashed her a smile she could no longer call genuine. “The situation has grown on me, and I do find ways to make the best of it.”

How much was the honest truth and how much was a carefully scripted truth? Perhaps things had changed, but Vlad had rarely told direct lies in their college years, even little white ones. He’d delighted in misdirection and obfuscation. He had always been quite proud when he’d managed to convince someone of something false, telling perfect truths riddled with oft-unseen holes where he’d lied by omission. It was never in his papers, of course—he’d been far too credible for that and wouldn’t dare risk being accused of falsifying results—but he had always loved a good verbal battle, to match wits with someone he considered worthy.

She’d seen him to do it so many times.

She wondered why she hadn’t thought she could be on the receiving end of it until now.

Best to change tack, then. It was unlikely that she could catch him off his guard—he clearly knew so much more of the situation than she, and how could he not?—but she had to try. She had to know. “Why does Jazz think you have a copy of Danny’s ecto-signature?”

“She is, no doubt, aware of the tracking I do, as is Daniel.”

“So when you say Danny destroyed your files—”

“I’ll admit I don’t think it was Daniel directly; it’s far more likely to be his friend Tucker’s work.”

Vlad said he kept tabs on ghosts to help him protect Amity Park, but Phantom fought those ghosts routinely. Phantom fought Plasmius routinely. Plasmius couldn’t be helping Vlad protect Amity Park—unless Phantom simply saw him as another ghost and acted accordingly? She still didn’t understand how much influence the ecto-entity had over the human host, but it would surely be greater when the ecto-entity was in control, and—

No. She couldn’t make assumptions. She had to stop doing that. She didn’t know how much was Vlad and how much was Plasmius, just as she wasn’t sure how much was Danny and how much was Phantom. The notes she and Jack had accumulated on both ghosts were surely wrong; they had never accounted for human ties, and that would skew their results terribly. They knew nothing. She knew nothing.

Which meant she couldn’t believe everything she was told, whether from Jazz or from Vlad. Each would have their biases, just as she had hers, and what they told her would be coloured accordingly. And there was always the chance that what they knew was wrong, even if they believed it to be true, just as she and Jack had been wrong.

Except….

Vlad was a primary source, and though Jazz’s knowledge was second-hand, it would all come from Danny. She didn’t want to mistrust either of them, but what they told her didn’t always line up, and—

Maddie set her coffee down on the counter and took a steadying breath. “May I speak with Plasmius?”

Vlad spluttered, losing his composure and nearly choking on his own cup of coffee. “I beg your pardon?”

“I’d like to speak with Plasmius. Is that possible?”

“I— Yes, of course it’s possible, but—”

“Then let me speak to him. Please.”

Vlad set his cup aside in favour of closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. “I should have realized you were taking this awfully well. I am sorry, Maddie. I didn’t doubt Jasmine when she’d said she told you everything—she’s no reason to pretend otherwise, blatant as she’s being—but I hadn’t realized that you didn’t yet understand.”

His words chilled her. “What do you mean?”

He opened his eyes to look at her. For the briefest instant, red replaced familiar blue before it was blinked away. She started and took a step back, only to hit the counter. Vlad looked resigned as he said, “You’re already speaking with Plasmius.”

(see more fics | next)

[eat0crow]

Do you mind if I ask how you came up with Danny/Dick Grayson

You know I really wish I could take credit for coming up with Danny/Dick but I’ve been lowkey following Danny Phantom Dc crossovers for a decade.

  Phantom Bat fic idea that’s way too long: Casper The Friendly Bat

So basically, Dick goes undercover at Casper High in order to get to the bottom of what exactly what is happening in Amity Park. Honestly, the town’s a mess. The league is more than a little concerned and no one knows exactly what the deal is with Phantom. Reports are mixed and the jury is still out on whether he’s friend or foe.

Dick…would rather be anywhere else. Gotham Academy was bad enough, Casper high is the stuff cheesy high school movies were made from. There was a literal hierarchy based around jocks, come one.  Yes, he might be the best choice for the mission but that doesn’t mean he’s the most well adjusted. He not so secretly hates his teammates for this.

He’s fully prepared to spend his first year of high school friendless, in the middle of nowhere, deep undercover gathering what “so help me God, better be vital intel”. Batman better thank him. When he bumps smack dab into Danny.

Dick is just about to help him up to when, oh well, wouldn’t you look at his luck. There’s the box ghost. Dick tries to chase after him. Danny is not having that. It’s a good thing the box ghost can be trapped in the thermos without much issue.

“How’d you-”

“My parents are ghost hunters.”

Speed up a bit to lunch and Dick’s sitting alone. Nope! Friends who trap ghosts together stay together. Which works out perfectly, Dick has the chance to study ghost hunting up close. He has an in.

He might come off just a bit too eager. Sam may be convinced he has a massive crush but well, you pick your battles in life, you know.

So Dick sticks to Danny like glue. By extension, Dick sticks to Tucker and Sam like glue. It’s nice. Sometime Dick really will have to introduce everyone to each other. Zatana and Sam would be deadly together.

Dick can’t actually tell anyone why he’s in Amity park, he also didn’t get his story straight and has made up at least five different tales. Somehow, Dick’s backstory becomes a running joke, along with his ghost obsession.

~~~~~~~~

Just!

Group Bonding, the puns. The pranks. The mayhem. Like Dick’s arguably the most component of all the sidekicks the first season of Young Justice. Sure you could argue Kaldur out stripes him but, leadership aside, Dick is scarily efficient. Danny and co. would take one look at this scrawny kid who just showed up one day and started running after the ghosts and collectively decides that he must be protected.

Dick and Tucker bonding over coding! That would so be a thing. Like I want those two to hack the Justice League computer just for kicks. I want that so bad.

Jack and Maddie love Dick. He’s interested in their work! He actually asks to spend time in the lab! They can not drop enough hints to Danny that this is one a keeper.

[phantomphangphucker]

Goo And A Letterman Jacket - Phic Phight

Prompt Creator: @all-hail-trash-prince Prompt: Danny gets stuck in human form, but can still use his ghost powers. Now he has to find a way to disguise himself while still protecting his town. Summary: Danny finally has to cosplay as himself while trying and failing to seem like a regular human.

No warnings apply. Let Danny say fuck

“Oh hey would you look at that. Isn’t this just dandy. I absolutely love it. Just fabulous”, Danny grumbles as he repeatedly tries and fails to transform into Phantom while staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Eventually tossing his hands up he opts to head back to his room.

Grumbling as he goes to fetch his hey-look-it’s-Phantom emergency box. Complete with a well-made jumpsuit, white wig, green contacts and sunglasses. “Honestly, I’m amazed it took 4 years for this bullshit to happen”, he doesn’t even bother trying it all on, knowing full well it all already fits. He tried it all on as soon as he got it all. “My glow is the only thing I can’t replicate, but of all the things why would anyone notice that”, he slips his replica jumpsuit on and then puts his regular clothing over top. Green wife beater, black military pants, black leather jacket and white doc martins. He opts for full black gloves rather than his usual fingerless gloves, to hide his white jumpsuit gloves. Looking himself over in the bedroom mirror, “yeah this'll do”. He shoves the wig and sunglasses in his bag, “it’s not like I can speed put on contacts so just my sunglasses will have to do for any emergency changing”. With that he hops down the stairs to have a quick breakfast before heading to school. On his bus ride there, because it’s just not worth the risk or effort to “change”, he thinks back on how this utter crap came to be.

—flashback—

“Why don’t you give it a rest boxy? This is what? The eighth time today? Do I really have to keep shipping you off?”, Danny sighs as he shoots yet another ectoblast at The Box Ghost. “NEVER GHOST BOY! FOR MY FEARSOME MIGHT SHALL HAUNT YOU ALL!”, The Box Ghost shouts as he throws three boxes at Danny, which Danny easily dodges. Floating sideways, Danny sighs into his hand as he uncaps his thermos, “you need a time out”, as he sucks The Box Ghost in yet again. Not even two seconds after tucking his thermos away he gets coated in green goo. “What in the-”, he gets cut off by Jack excitedly yelling. “Look Mads! I got him!”, Maddie runs up and hugs him before speaking while Danny mutters “Oh fuck”.

“Congrats honey! Now that filthy ectoplasmic scum can’t bother Amity any more! It won’t even be able to leave the GZ!”, Danny barely hears the end of Maddie’s praising of Jack as he just fucking runs; realising he’s turned back to Fenton unintentionally. He dashes inside a bathroom praying to all high hells that the goo covered his appearance, “holy shit, thank Phantom”. Danny pants as he starts wiping off all the goo. “Well either this doesn’t work or its not supposed to hurt. Which is hella weird for my parents”, shaking his head, he gives himself a pat-down making sure nothing looks wrong. “Ok...other than suddenly transforming, nothing is off. Like at all”, sticking his head out the bathroom, he looks around before ducking into an alley. Peaking around the corner he sees his parents following the trail of goo muttering all the while.

“I just don’t get it Jack, the ghost boy should have dissolved from that?”

“And I’m sure all the calculations were right! Maybe that one really is different from all the others?”

“That’s the only explanation we’ve got, for now”

Danny watches his mother shake her head as the couple head back to the RV, “they were tying to dissolve me?”. Blinking a couple times he gives himself another pat down, this time looking for even a hint of melting. “Well I guess I’ll chalk this up to the wonders of being a halfa, for now”, he opts to just walk home because he really doesn’t want to risk any possible melting.

He’s feeling pretty darn good by the time he gets home, so he decides fuck it and tries transforming in his room. Watching himself in the bedroom mirror and still looking completely human, “well fuck me sideways. Fuck me up and down, side to side, and against a wall”. Shaking his head, “well hopefully I can sleep this off, maybe I just need to recharge”. With that he flops down for a nights, hopefully peaceful, rest.

—return to the present—

He’s done his reminiscing by the time he’s at school. Walking up to his locker he sees both Sam and Tucker waiting for him, “well hello guys, isn’t today just fucking peachy”. Sam raises her eyebrow while Tucker snickers, “what happened to you dude? Waking on the wrong side of the GZ? Skulker steal your favourite blankets?”. Sam smirks, “Lunchlady steal all your cereal, again?”. Danny groans and slams his head into his locker before opening it, muttering all the while, “I fucking wish, I got doused in goo stuff and now”. Danny finishes his statement by pulling his shirt collar down enough for them to see his replica suit. “Dude, what? That’s got to be the backup, otherwise you’re are scary fast with hair dye. So what you can’t change? Dude that bites”, Danny groans even louder as he nods, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, after showing them the wig and glasses inside, since he needs to keep it with him for now.

Sam sighs, “well do you even know if you can still use any of your frying Pan stuff?”. Danny shrugs and rubs his neck awkwardly, “I guess that would be a good idea to check but my thermos is fine. So if I got to then I got to”. Sam shakes her head, “just use a damn wrist ray you idiot. Where’d the goo even come from?”. Danny groans again as they start heading to class, “parents, who else? Apparently, it was supposed to dissolve ghosts. Stuff didn’t even sting”. Danny looks around quickly and decides to just shoot Kwan’s laces with an ectobeam. After looking quite content with himself he blows imaginary smoke off his fingertip at Sam, who rolls her eyes at him before snickering, “well look at the bright side then Danny, at least you can still use your powers”. Danny smacks a hand on his chest in annoyance, “Yeah well now I have to go around pulling a damn superman if shit happens during the day”. Tucker scoffs at him and glares judgingly, “dude, learn your superheroes. I’m pretty sure you’ll be putting on, not taking off a pair of glasses”. Danny rolls his eyes as he takes his seat in front of Tucker, “fine, Spider-Man, happy?”. Tucker gives a smug nod as Mr. Lancer walks in. While Danny mutters under his breath, “Oh go eat grass, Tuck”.

It doesn’t take Danny long to realise there’s a bit of a problem, well more of a problem than there already was. As he’s noticing that he keeps having to force himself not to straight up float above his chair, instead of staying sitting in it. By the time first class is over he’s heard basically nothing in lue of focusing on not being a floaty boy and outing himself, which he failed at multiple times but went unnoticed. “So uh, I think this is even more of straight up piss and litter than I thought”, Danny groans to Sam and Tucker. “You aren’t going to just straight up suddenly change in class are you?”, Sam is more genuinely worried now. Danny shakes his head, “I don’t think so but I actually had to force myself not to float. Like how it is when I am frying Pan”. Tucker slaps Danny on the chest, “dude, maybe that shit like gave you full access as screaming Fan”. Danny glares at Tucker, “I fucking hope not Tuck, using shit is way too easy and basically second nature as frying Pan. It’ll be almost as bad as when I first got this shit but with more floating and at full strength”. Sam groans but also snickers a bit, “well hopefully everyone’s just as oblivious as 4 years ago”. As Tucker and Danny sits down for their second class, Danny mutters, “with my luck? Fuck that”.

Again, Danny spends most of the class focusing on not floating and being in general paranoid that his eyes might change colour. He, however, doesn’t get to do this through third class, as his ghost sense goes off half way through. “Oh fuck me, this is just fucking perfect. If this is boxy I will end him”, Danny mutters to himself as he just straight up walks out of class. He stopped bothering putting his hand up or asking to go, 2 years ago; he’d just leave whenever. Much to the annoyance of teachers but they knew he would leave anyway, so this was less of a distraction for the people who actually wanted to be there. Lancer was the only one who even still bothered to write down his sudden leaving, tardies or skipped classes, as he was the only who didn’t consider Danny a lost cause.

Once out of class Danny books it to the bathroom and speed changes, ripping off his clothing and phasing them into the ceiling. Yanking on the glasses and wig, he easily floats through the ceiling. Looking around he finds its Technus, “alright, I guess you’re my outlet for aggression on this fucking fine day”. Technus can see that Danny is not in the best mood but also notices his lack of glow, “ha! Ghost child you are weakened! You do not posses your healthy glow! But I Technus! Suffer no such weakness! For I-”, Technus is cut off as Danny just punches him in the face. “Hot tip techy, I’m never weak!”, Danny jeers as he ectoblasts apart the old computer Technus is holding, which he's sure is a discarded one from the library. Technus looks at his hands sadly before shouting, “it is no matter ghost child! For I will-”. Getting cut off again as he didn’t even see Danny float up to him and shoot him point blank. “You really should use your eyes”, Danny sighs as he sucks in Technus.

Danny shakes the thermos as he floats back into the bathroom, “well thank Phantom that was fast, and look at that! Totally god damn empty bathroom, nice”. Danny gets his stuff and changes back, but opts to just sit in the bathroom since there’s only 5 minutes left of class. He decides it’s probably best to test each of his not super destructive powers, to make sure they all work and to what level. “And that’s body manipulation. Well I’m not sure if I should be pleased or annoyed. All my powers seem to be functioning at full Phantom strength”, rubbing his eyes, “which while great for ghost fights, is not great for seeming like a normal fucking human”. Groaning he gets up and walks to the mirror just before the bell rings. Focusing his eyes, he tried to make them green with no luck, “well damn, still stuck with glasses it seems”. Tossing his hands up he phases out the bathroom door, stops and blinks, “Oh fuck”. Looking around he quickly determines no one saw shit and heads to his fourth class before lunch.

By fourth class, he’s feeling rather wiped, “so I’ve learned trying to force myself to be fucking regular while all frying Pan is not god damn fun”. Tucker chuckles as Danny slams his head against the table, “pretty sure you’re screaming Fan dude”. Which earns him an ectobeam to the knee, as Danny mutters into the table, “outside of looks, no I am not, might as well be frying Pan dressed up as screaming Fan”. Danny then snickers into the table, “I’m literally cosplaying myself, in two different ways”.

“Well if it isn’t Fentit? What you need your mommy to sing you a bedtime story so you can have a little nap?”, Dash comes up jeering, but Danny is just not having it so he doesn’t even bother lifting his head up as he flips Dash off. “Wow, you really do need a nap. Maybe this’ll help”, Dash goes to drop a textbook on Danny’s head but Danny straight up grabs Dash’s arm and strong man flings him over the table. All the while never even lifting his head up or moving anything other than one arm/hand, “I didn’t break him right?”. Sam and Tucker pat him on the shoulders, “all you broke was his ego. Which honestly should be shattered at this point”. Tucker nods, agreeing with Sam, “yeah with the number of times you’ve completely owned him, you’d think he’d give up”. Tucker looks down at Dash as he gets up and grumbles. As Dash walks away Danny can hear him bitterly mutter, “Why doesn’t freak turd just try out for football already”.

Thankfully, there isn’t anymore ghost that day as the final bell sounds. Meeting Sam and Tucker by his locker, “so let me guess, you want both of us to come over, help you figure out what slimed you and how to undo it?”. Danny slowly turns his head and gives Sam an over the top no-fucking-shit face. As Star approaches the trio, “ok, I don’t know what your deal is but the boys egos are too far up their asses so I’m just going to ask you”, the trio waits as Star stops inspecting her nails and puts a hand on on her hip before continuing. “Football try-outs are tomorrow, you are clearly packing muscle so be there, kay?”, Danny blinks a few times before responding. “Uh I ain’t much of a sports guy and do you seriously think I know the first thing about that”, Star shrugs as she walks off. Waving and looking over her shoulder, “just be there, doesn’t matter if you don’t know shit”. Once she’s out of sight Danny tilts his head back and groans, “Oh come on, I get it, but come on”. Tucker snickers as he pats his flat but not muscular stomach, “ah the joys of not being completely fucking ripped”. Sam smiles somewhat sympathetic, “I’m amazed it took them so long, you’re over 7 foot and a literal wall of muscle that knows no fear”. Danny throws his hands up, “except one fear! The fear of being caught, which will be kind of hard to avoid if I fucking break someone in a damn game!”. Sam and Tucker can’t help but laugh at their friends distress as they leave school.

They are treated by Maddie as soon as they get to Danny’s, “well hello kids! Always a pleasure to have you over. You’ll have to mind the mess though,  we’re trying to figure out why the Fenton gooster didn’t work”. The three nod as they step over a couple screwdrivers on the floor. “Uh so since there’s such a mess what is it this time?”, Danny asks as he recognises the odd rooster-shaped gun as the one that shot him. He’s gotten a lot better over the years to make it a point to know what anything new is. “Well it was supposed to dissolve ghosts, sweetie. Make it so they can’t hold a physical form and thus can’t leave the GZ. But that didn’t seem to happen with Phantom”, Maddie shakes her head confused before continuing, “but don’t you worry sweetie we’ll find away to keep those scum from coming here”.

Danny gives an awkward nod as the three go to his bedroom, “well shit, no way I can get my hands on it or it’s plans if they’re working on it”. Tucker taps his chin thoughtfully as Sam turns on the tv loud enough that they won’t be overheard, “well I think it’s safe to say you can’t be frying Pan because your ectoform or ghost form can’t physically manifest. Which is probably causing all your frying Pan ectoplasm to be more intermingled or whatever in you”. Danny groans as he flops on his bed, “which hopefully only comes with the negative side effect of having complete access to my ghost everything while still being screaming Fan”. Sam nods a bit worried, “it’s probably best you don’t stay like this for long. Who knows what else could happen from you being all half dissolved”. Danny nods as the three set to work trying to figure out how to get either the plans or the gun.

Eventually, they settle on getting them to chase Phantom and hoping they leave everything else behind, like they usually do when caught up in the hunt. “Whelp, this will either be really stupid or you guys have an hour”, with that Danny gets changed, contacts included, and flies out the wall. Making a point to fly right past the kitchen window, “look Mads he can even still fly! Maybe if we trap him we can figure out why?”, Maddie shrugs as she followers her excitable husband out the door. Even Sam and Tucker hear her mutter, “I’m pretty sure he’s uncatchable, untraceable and possibly immune to every anti-ghost thing at this point”. The two wait all of five minutes before racing over to the gun and plans, looking them over with feverish haste. Doesn’t take Tucker long to smirk, “well this won’t actually be all that hard though Danny is going to be pretty peeved”. Sam looks up from the gun she is intentionally rigging to not work, “let me guess, he’s stuck for a while?”.

Tucker nods just as Danny phases up through the floor, “you two better have shit because for once in my life I have the unfortunate pleasure of sports in the morning. And sleep is a thing, so?”. Tucker and Sam make quick work of putting everything back as they found it and bolting upstairs with Danny as Tucker talks, “it’s fixable dude, probably take me an hour at best. Just need a few things from the lab but dude, it’s gonna take sometime to put your ghostliness back together”. Danny groans has he grabs Tucker and phases them into the lab, “well explain and grab shit. How long we talking?”. Tucker quickly moves around the room gathering random things, hoping to be out of here before the Fenton’s come home, “three days, then you’ll be all Phantom again. Well not all, just half; your norm. Till then”, Tucker gestures at the floating Danny dressed up as Phantom, “this”. Danny groans again as he phases Tucker back upstairs. Tucker’s already half done what looks like a cocktail drink by the time the Fenton’s get back.

Tucker has to hide the thing when Maddie comes up and offers them some cookies, “I know you kids are nearly grown but everyone has room for cookies and you two should really head home soon”. The three all thank Maddie as she leaves. The cookies are pretty much all gone by the time Tucker is done, “dude, shits done man. Can’t tell if it tastes good though, so fucking cheers man”. Danny groans as he basically just shoots it, “yeah that was not horrible but I’d rather not. Really I’d rather not with all this”. Sam snickers, “ah the life of a halfa who won’t man up and tell his family”. Earning a glare from Danny as they say their goodbyes, “and Danny dude, you know we will be there. Watching you likely scare some freshmen and break something”. Danny just grumbles as he heads to bed.

Danny gets exactly an hour and a half of sleep before his ghosts sense wakes him up. “Oh for fucks sake”, Danny mutters as he throws on his wig and glasses, flying out the window.

It is once again, Technus, “dude why?”. Technus spreads his arms out as he summons a swarm of electronic dogs to attack Danny. “Well this is just roof”, Danny spins sideways and then promptly gets his glasses knocked off by a dog. He just sadly watches them fall and get crushed by the wave of dogs, “well shit, dog shit”. By the time Danny has dealt with Technus, again, he’s missing bits of his hair on top of the ruined glasses. Flying lazily into his bed, he doesn’t even bother with pjs.

The first thing Danny does in the morning is check over his powers and try to transform, “Yup, still the same utter bullshit. I lowkey want to fucking die”. Grumbling all the while he puts on basically the same thing as yesterday, having never even taken off his duplicate jumpsuit. “I’m going to have to hide all this shit in the locker room ceiling, pretty sure trying to wear a jumpsuit under gym clothes would be grade A dumb”, Danny shakes his head and hopes that like usual there are no ghosts early morning. Heading downstairs for a quick waffle, Jack spots him, “well you’re up early son, reason?”. Danny shrugs as he puts in the waffles to cook, “pretty much got forced into football tryouts because I’m just too nice to say no when asked, apparently”. Jack beams and pats Danny on the back, “well I can’t say I’m surprised, you’re built for it. I also can’t say I know how you became so muscular”. Danny chuckles, sticking the waffles in his mouth as he leaves; leaving Jack to contemplate Danny’s fitness alone.  

Tucker and Sam are two of many people sitting in the stands watching hopefuls and one not-so-hopeful tryout. Danny promptly changes out of his jumpsuit and puts everything into the ceiling; changing into shorts, black under armour leggings, runners and keeping his green wife beater on. Danny knows he’ll get some surprises looks because no ever really sees him uncovered at all, “I’d look fucking stupid if I went out in a fucking leather jacket”.

Unsurprisingly Danny is the tallest and most filled out guy there, he also does indeed get stared at. Overhearing Dash, who’s scouting the talent, “well damn he actually showed and Christ he’s more muscular then I thought. I’ll have to tell Kwan to thank Star”. The coach yells for everyone to shut up and listen, “all right you scraps of meat, to be frank we need anyone who is capable of actually doing anything and taking hit. So if you aren’t practically dead you’re on the team”. Danny can’t help but snicker and mutter, “I came here half dead”. The coach smirks, “then maybe you’ll take hits better”, then turning to everyone she points behind her and shouts, “now run 40-yards!”. Danny is mildly surprised at it being such a short distance but he can’t say he really cares, “the only reason I’m even putting any effort here is cause it’s my last year and I was asked more or less nicely”. Though he is practically chanting “don’t do anything ghostly”, in his head the entire time. Surprising no one really, except some freshmen, Danny finishes first and doesn’t even look like he’s ran anything at all. As he stands there and gives a lazy yawn, while stretching his arms out a bit. Dash can’t help but stare at the arms that had just yesterday flipped over a damn table, “I seriously want to know how the fuck that happened”.

The test for athletic ability and agility go pretty much the same, Danny doing everything with ease and feeling almost kind of sad at how easy it is. If anything he’s found focusing on not just straight up flying his way over obstacles to be harder. By the time they get to hitting and throwing ability, half have been cut. Danny can’t help but mutter, “ok this is sad, I’m not even striving to get accepted and these guys who are, can’t do shit”. Danny is then reminded how damn good the coaches hearing is, as she replies to him, “yup, it’s the same every year. But if I remember correctly, you used to be one of the worst”. Danny blinks, a little surprised to get a response and praise, before shrugging, “have you seen my dad? I got his height but not his diet”. The coach slams him on the back, “nonsense! You don’t get muscles from genetics! Whatever it is you do, keep doing it”. Danny smirks at this, knowing full well he never will stop. While the coach goes back to addressing the whole, much smaller, group, “all right pipsqueaks and people with actual potential! Time to see if you take a hit or actual throw shit!”. Danny is honestly nervous for this because he’s almost certain he’ll break something or someone. “Now because we have shit for money, you get no tackle bots. So you’ll just be tackling into each other, if you’re going to die leave school property”, which again makes Danny snicker. “Little too late for that”.

Thankfully for the other students, the coach isn’t a complete sadist and pairs Danny up against the other largest guy there. Danny feels rather sorry for the guy because if he can take rockets to the face and hundred foot falls into cement, there’s really not anything this eleventh grader can do. Danny, however, feels less sorry when the ass opens his mouth, “you’re that freak Fenton kid, what you going to do? Ball your eyes out as soon as someone slaps you? Muscle don’t mean shit when taking a hit”. Danny officially feels like being a bit of an ass to this guy so he lifts up his shirt, revealing the peppering of scars on his torso; “pal, I’ll be impressed if I feel the impact at all”. Even Dash manages to catch a glimpse of some of the scarring, “does Fenton fight or some shit? Because seriously, how the fuck did that happen”. As the coach blows her whistle, Danny has to physically restrain himself from straight punching the guy or shooting him, as he charges at Danny. Danny charges back only seconds after, since he’s more focused on not blowing the kids head off than charging. Unsurprisingly, the other dude gets promptly slammed into the ground. Danny blinks a little, he’s not used to opponents going down so easily, turning around, “seriously? That’s it? Okay...”.

The now embarrassed guy attempts to punch Danny in the stomach to at least save a little face, “dude, do you want fucking pain or something?”. Is all Danny has to say as the guy promptly yanks his hand backs and shakes it out from the impact, which Danny didn’t even flinch from. A couple other guys around start laughing but the coach gets an idea, she wants to see just what this once punny kid could take. “I want all of you to tackle Fenton, if you make him go down you’re on the team”, with that everyone’s eyes light up as they turn on Danny. Danny though a little off guard isn’t really bothered, he’s pretty sure a bunch of High-schoolers is easier than a bunch of ghosts. He’s completely right, as he lifts the last guy still trying, up with his peck and flings him off. Rubbing his neck, “Uh, yeah, sorry, not happening”. Tucker and Sam laugh their asses off from the benches, pretty well positive that Danny’s idea of human levels of strength is completely skewed.

One of the guys shakes his head at the built as hell Fenton kid, “pal, you could crush a man’s head and never notice it”. Danny rubs his neck and shrugs, “you’re not wrong”. Dash comes up all excited and friendly for once, “Why the hell have you been holding out on us, Fenton?”. Danny just glares, “because you guys are dicks? And never asked? Sports ain’t my thing anyways”. The coach shakes her head, “even if you couldn’t throw for shit you’d be worth having to protect those who can throw and to tackle the enemy”. Danny just shrugs, “you’re not wrong but, like, I’ll be more focused on not breaking someone than winning”. Dash rolls his eyes, “that would just teach them not to mess with you? Why wouldn’t you exert that kind of power?”. Earning a harsh glare from Danny, “because I’m not like you and I’m actually a good guy”. Dash just grunts at this as the coach snaps for everyone to start throwing balls.

When it’s Danny’s turn he has to focus on throwing the ball and not an ectoblast, he does end up ectoburning the ball though, “well shit, hopefully no one questions that”. No one actually does and with that everything is wrapped up and Danny, surprising no one, makes the cut.

Danny joins up with Sam and Tucker for class as he waves bye to what is essentially his teammates now. “So I’m definitely still fucked up, but no one seemed to catch the burnt ball so whatever. Not my fucking problem anymore, now I’m going to get changed before my luck runs out”, the two snicker at him as he heads to the lockers.

Danny manages to get his shit and change uninterrupted, but as he’s going to leave Kwan suddenly appears, “dude, that was sick! We’re so going to pummel literally everyone! Anyways, we already made you a jacket because we’re not as stupid as Dash seems”. Danny shakes his head as Kwan leaves, though realising he froze some of the ground when Kwan came out of nowhere, “really? Oh, come on”. Danny quickly melts the ice before heading out and at the sight of the jacket he’s caring, Sam and Tucker’s snickering returns.

Danny just rolls his eyes at them but knows full well it would be insulting to not wear the thing. So he does change into it when no ones looking, “this looks fucking weird on me, I am impressed it actually fits though”. Sam smacks his arm, “well don’t set it on fire too soon, I doubt they want to replace it every week”.

First class goes pretty well the same until one of the football players that didn’t watch tryouts thinks Danny’s jacket wasn’t earned, “why you wearing that freak? Think you’ll get accepted just by wearing one?”. Danny just glares down at the boy from his seat, “something tells me you weren’t there, if you really want the story just talk to Kwan. He gave me the jacket”. The dude clearly doesn’t believe him and actually goes to grab Danny, which he reacts to on instinct. Grabbing the guys arm and yanking him to the ground, ectoburning the guys jacket and his own gloves in the process. This gets the teachers attention as she snaps for both of them to sit down. Danny mutters to himself, “huh, didn’t get in trouble. Power of the jacket I guess...god that is so elitists”. However, that was not why, as Danny soon finds out.

As soon as class is over the teacher asks to talk to him, Danny mutters as he walks up, “well fuck me”. The teacher looks Danny straight in the eyes and asks, “care to explain what was up with your eyes?”. Danny just blinks a couple times, “Uh what?”. The teacher shakes his head, “they were green and glowing. I know there’s some crazy shit at your house so I’ll assume that’s why. But I’d like an actual answer”. Danny blinks again and mutters “oh fuck, of all the shit times for something to come back to my more or less normal” in his head, “hotdogs literally come to life sometimes, so you pretty well said the explanation. Ectocontamination just shows more if someone’s angry or startled”. The teacher simply nods and waves Danny off. Third period doesn’t go much better as he accidentally freezes and explodes a bunch of test tubes. Resulting in multiple girls screaming and running out, a couple of dudes yelp. “Mr. Fenton, I would prefer if only ghosts caused explosions, not my students too”, at which Danny just rubs his neck sheepishly. After that he completely misses the rest of school as he has to pull another emergency Phantom switch.

“Seriously Skulker, what is that? An overgrown hacksaw?”, Danny shakes his head at the unusual and kind of disappointing weapon. Skulker grins as he makes a move for Danny but Danny easily bats away the weapon, however Skulker promptly knocks him on the side of the head. Knocking his wig off which Danny madly scrambles for, “dude, not the hair. For once I actually give a shit about it”. Skulker just stares at him and tilts his head to the side, “ok I know you have not been wearing a wig for the past years, so what?”. Danny shrugs, “parents trying to dissolve ghosts again. So now I get the fun of cosplaying my fucking self. Horray for me!”. Skulker shakes his head and continues his assault, which has gained some onlookers; namely the Fenton’s.

“How in the hell? It looks as if he was  completely unaffected?”, Jack shakes his head but Maddie slaps his arms excitedly. “No Jack! He’s not glowing! And he’s wearing sunglasses! We must have done something! No clue what though”, Maddie shakes her as she prepares the second model of the gun. “I would really like to know why all our stuff stops working right after using it on Phantom too. It’s really annoying to have to start building duplicates”, Maddie shakes her head while her husband smiles. “At least we know this one works! Tested it on some of those ectopusses!”, he finishes speaking just as Skulker and Danny both get drenched.

“OH COME THE FUCK ON!”, Danny snaps angrily at the goo before shouting at Skulker. “Don’t get this shit on you! You fucking tin man! Thermos now!”, Skulker promptly just follows Danny’s orders because he’s learned to tell when Danny’s not fucking around. “You’re parents are a problem ghost child!”, Skulker yells as Danny sucks him in. Danny stares down at his confused parents, who really just want to know why nothing works on him, he then throws his hands up in the air angrily as he goes to sulk in a tree.

“Fuck my entire existence, fuck my life and fuck my death”, after Danny knows Tucker will be home he flies straight into the boy’s bedroom, arms crossed.

“Sweet fucking Plasmius dude!”, Tucker yelps as he jumps off his bed and then throws a towel at the goo-covered Danny. “Care to take. One fucking guess what this is Tuck? Just one fucking guess?”, Danny just lets the towel smack into his face not even attempting to catch it. Tucker just sighs and digs up a second batch of the cocktail, “looks like your parents have finally learned the rules of making goddamn backups”. Danny just mutters as he cleans himself off, “this is the worst joke of my half-life”. Tucker chuckles as Danny flies home, knowing full well the wig and costume will have to be washed all night.

As soon as Danny gets home he goes straight to the bath and tosses everything in, “thank Phantom I got the expensive kind, this shit I can actually clean”. Lifting the cleaned off suit he shakes his head at it, “it’s been two days and this thing is already shredded, how the fuck is it going to last three more fucking days”. With a new appreciation for his real suits natural healing, Danny promptly goes to bed.

Danny’s morning starts out pretty good, he’s well rested and all dressed. As Danny goes to have breakfast, however, his dad barges in with the once again fixed Fenton gooster. “Why does that look like a rooster anyways?”, Danny can’t help but be curious. His dad shrugs, “that’s just what happened son, no need to question creative genius”. With that Jack slams the device on the table causing it to accidentally go off and coat Danny, once again, in goo. Danny sits there with his mouth open about to take a bit of his sandwich, he slowly closes his mouth and puts the sandwich gently on his plate. Danny starts out speaking slowly and calmly, “dad, I mean this with all love and affection. But, could you, stop, FUCKING SPRAYING ME WITH GOO!”, Danny’s sudden angry shout makes Jack jump. Jack blinks at Danny as Danny slowly pulls out his phone, who’s more focused on not crushing it than Jack’s reaction, “hey Tuck, do you, by chance, HAVE A THIRD FUCKING ONE!”. Jack again jumps, not used to ever seeing anger from his son unless it’s Christmas.

Danny snaps his phone closed slowly, wipes off his sandwich and eats it while glaring daggers at the rooster-shaped gun. Jack stands there watching his clearly pissed off son angrily eat a sandwich, not even bothering to wipe off the goo. “Uh, could I maybe clean your jacket and shirt off? Also, it’s uh, awesome you made the team”, Danny glares harder at the gun, and puts down what’s left of his sandwich. “Fuck it, sure thing, just don’t fucking spray me with goo, fuck me, just like fuck all of me”, Danny just straight up makes his stuff intangible falling off onto the floor, with his clean but ripped replica jumpsuit clearly visible. Danny doesn’t even acknowledge his stunned dad, as he angrily finishes his sandwich. Getting up slowly he puts his plate in the dishwasher, slowly turning to his dad who’s starting to come out of shock, “welcome to the joke of the century”.

End.

[dp-pastandpresent]

Past and Present: Chapter 23

The wheels in Danny's head were spinning as he stood with the Fentons in their lab.

'Of course! I knew I had seen something similar to my amulet before! Clockwork had a whole wall of them in his lair when he brought me back. But if he told me their meaning, I sure can't remember it now'

Maddie was sitting in a chair, tapping away on her computer keyboard, trying to piece together the mystery of Sam's disappearance.

Jack was pacing by the portal, rather loudly muttering something about how this was all their fault.

'I wonder how many realms have their own amulets. The one I have isn't the same as his…'

'Is that really what matters right now? After all, Sam is MISSING and we know it had to be Clockwork!'

'But he never struck me as the type to abduct someone. Yes, he lied and has clearly been feeding me memories, but abduction?'

'Maybe he knows something I don't. About this prophecy. Maybe it has to do with Sam…'

The thought of Sam being somehow involved with Danny's apparent destiny made him shiver. As much as he had fallen for her recently, he hated thinking he would be the reason for her getting hurt.

A loud banging sound followed by an "ugh" brought Danny back to reality. Looking over to Maddie at the computer, he saw that her head was down in frustration.

"You would think that Google would know a little bit more about these ghosts!"

"Google?" Danny asked, confused yet again by the computer lingo.

Maddie turned around, a small smile on her face.

"Right, different time. Google – it's a program on the internet you use to find information other people put online."

Danny shook his head , only understanding about half of what she had just said.

Jack walked over and put his hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Trust me, my boy, if Google can't find it, then we're out of luck!"

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Danny sighed as he looked at the ground.

"It's not that the information doesn't exist, it's just that it hasn't been found yet," Maddie added, trying to add a bit of optimism. "There's a reason there are only a few para-psychology schools out there, and your sister got laughed at for attending one of them."

"It's just not fair! Somebody has to know what's going on!" Danny shouted, moving away from the Fenton couple.

"We've tried everything shy of going into the Ghost Zone ourselves," Maddie said, trying to keep her cool.

"And we're not about to do that without a proper map and protection!" Jack added.

A light in Danny's head went on at this, and he turned back to look at them.

"Why not send me? I'm a ghost, I've been in before, and have been wanting to go back for a while. Let me go in and get some answers!"

The two Fentons looked at each other, raising their eyebrows. The look on Jack's face showed how much he desperately wanted to send the boy in, but the look on Maddie's said how much she wanted to keep him safe. As always, Maddie seemed to win out.

Jack was the first to respond with a sigh.

"Danny, as much as I would love to send you in there, we haven't properly mapped it yet. Every device we've created to send in has disappeared or exploded within the first few minutes."

"It's just not safe, especially with your powers on the fritz," Maddie added.

He had been so obsessed with Clockwork and finding Sam, Danny had forgotten that he was still in his human form, having tried to use his amulet after coming downstairs to no avail.

"I know, I know! But we cannot just wait for the answers to appear to us. We have to do SOMETHING! Didn't your examination of his medallion tell you ANYTHING?"

The first thing they had done upon arriving in the lab was to investigate and test Clockwork's medallion, searching its surface for any indication of its origin and power.

"DAMNIT DANNY, DON'T YOU THINK WE'RE TRYING?!" Jack boomed to the boy in front of him, his hands shaking.

Danny was taken aback at this, having never experienced the true wrath of Jack Fenton before. "Yes, of course, it's just…"

"No. Listen here. We have been searching FOREVER to find information about the Ghost Zone. About YOU! And now here you are, and suddenly we're caught in this web created by a ghost we don't have any information about! Don't you think that if we knew more we'd be doing it right now!? This is mine, my wife's, YOUR SISTER'S life work, and now it's put an innocent girl at risk!"

Jack let out a loud sigh before falling to the ground and putting his head in his hands. A muffled sobbing sound followed.

Maddie looked at Danny before bending over to check on her husband.

"Jack, please, we know how important this research has been to you, but you can't blame yourself for what happened to Sam."

Jack raised his head and looked at his wife with big, tear-filled eyes.

"Mads, I always knew our research would get results, but I never thought it would put an innocent girl in danger. I just want to take it all back."

Danny hated what he was hearing and knew that the Fentons needed a bit of privacy. Turning his back to them, he walked over to the table where Clockwork's medallion was currently sitting.

'There has to be an answer to this. Futuristic tech or not, something has to be able to crack this thing!'

Danny's hand brushed across the bottom one last time, only to notice a small hole that resembled the ones he had seen Jack using to plug things into his computer.

'Would Clockwork really put a normal, human hook up in his ghostly device?'

Danny knew next to nothing about current technology, and having investigated the lab on multiple occasions, knew that the Fentons' lab only housed the technology needed for to run their gadgets – never anything normal.

He paused to think, wondering if there were another way to sate his curiosity over the technology that was housed within the medallion. Finally, he remembered something Sam had told him once.

Turning to the Fentons, who had both gotten up from the ground, Jack still with red eyes but no longer crying, Danny smiled.

"I have an idea."

--

"You want me to what?" Sarah asked the boy, eyes getting big behind her thick glasses.

"Those things everyone carries and stares at all the time. The little devices, you have one right?"

"Danny, dear, I think you mean an iPhone?" Maddie offered, coming up behind him.

After having explained his idea to the Fentons downstairs, the group had returned to the living room where Sarah was waiting impatiently for answers.

"Well why didn't you say so! Of course I have one, but I barely know how to use the thing…" she replied as she pulled the device from her pocket.

"Warren insists I keep this thing in case I get hurt," she muttered.

"Perfect!" Danny said with a grin. "Do you have the book on it?"

Sarah raised her eyebrows.

"The book, the one with the friends?"

Maddie stepped in yet again, putting her hand on his shoulder and scooting him over a bit.

"I'll take it from here," she said with a soft smile.

Danny grumped as he stepped back to join Jack.

"Don't worry, my boy, I don't understand those things either!" Jack said, trying to reassure him.

"Sarah, do you have Facebook on your phone?"

Sarah smiled, realizing what it was Danny had been trying to describe.

"I think I installed it once, for Sam. Her phone was on the fritz so I lent her mine. She's probably still logged in and everything. Hold on..." She looked down at the bright glow of the device in her hand, using her fingers to swipe across the screen until finally she found what she needed.

"There it is! But how is this going to help?" Sarah asked as she held the phone out to Maddie.

"Danny, what did you say his name was again?" Maddie said, turning to the boy again.

"I think Sam called him Tuck…"

--

School had been out for the past few days due to Fall Break, so unfortunately, Danny wouldn't be able to track him there. Luckily the digital profile for the boy had listed a place of work, giving Danny a good lead on where to start.

Partially because his amulet STILL wasn't working, and partially because a ghost walking into a store would be weird, he had decided to try and stay in his human form for this mission. Which was harder that he wanted to admit, as getting from place to place was a lot easier when you could fly.

'How did I do this when I was alive?'

He smiled to himself, realizing the irony in his thoughts as he pushed open the door to the store.

If the record store hadn't been such an eye opener, his amazement would have been greater. Everywhere he looked there were glass tables holding devices that ranged in size from the large computer he had seen in the lab to mini screen smaller than Sarah's. At one corner, there was a man standing with a weird hearing aid type thing in one ear, talking away to seemingly no one, while in the other, a group of teenage girls was huddled around what looked to be a plastic cylinder emitting the music of some unknown boy band.

Danny felt dizzy as he took in all the tech, realizing just how much he had missed in the fifty years he had been gone. If he hadn't died, would he have accepted all these things? Found them normal? He didn't want to think about it.

Refocusing on the mission, he tried to imagine the face he was seeking out. He had a faint idea of who he was looking for, having seen a couple of blurry photos on the boy's limited profile, but he knew he couldn't be sure until he saw him face to face.

Seeing as this was his place of work, Danny approached the counter, hoping that maybe the cashier would know who he was looking for. His mind in a daze, he didn't even notice when the clerk called him forward.

"Dude. You're holding up the line. Can I help you?"

Stepping forward, Danny faced the kid behind the counter. He was about to ask about the boy but found himself unable to before the kid spoke himself.

"You?"

Taken aback, Danny put his hand on his chest. He didn't think anyone would recognize him as a human.

"Pardon?" he asked.

The kid leaned forward, his glasses falling down his nose, and spoke in a hushed tone.

"Phantom?"

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, Danny's wheels began to turn as he realized he had managed to find exactly who he had been looking for.

"Actually, it's Danny."

"But, but… why don't you look like… you?" the boy asked, he dark skin beginning to turn pale.

"It's a long story, but I'll explain if you come with me."

--

"So, you're telling me that Sam has been abducted by a ghost – Clockwork – and the only way to find her is by using this medallion to track him, but you can't figure out the medallion because you don't have the tech for it?"

'How is it possible I know more about this ghost tech than the Fentons?'

Tucker had now joined the group in the living room of Fenton Works, having followed Danny there from the store. But with each moment, he felt more and more like he should have just stayed behind.

"Something like that yea," Danny replied.

"Tucker, it's more than that. We believe this Clockwork fellow is behind Danny's return and transformation. We think he's been playing with his emotions. Making him do things," Maddie added.

'He's a ghost! I wouldn't be surprised…

While Tucker had been excited to learn about the technology and ghost happenings when the Fentons first announced their discoveries, the excitement had begun to wear thin on him. What with Sam's recent obsessions and all the ghost attacks, it felt more like an episode of Scooby-Doo than anything innovative and groundbreaking.

"As her best friend, I'm worried about her, really. But you can't expect me to just jump into this cold turkey," Tucker said, crossing his arms.

"We hate having to ask so much of you like this, but we could really use the help," Maddie pleaded.

Tucker just stood, his eyes fixated on the ceiling.

"Maddie, we NEED his help! We can't let any more time pass with Sam in there!" Jack began, his voice a bit loud, startling Tucker.

"I know dear, but we can't just force his hand," she replied through gritted teeth.

"But, but…"

"STOP!"

It was Sarah's loud exclamation that made the group turn this time.

"Can't you see! This is getting us nowhere!"

She wheeled over to Tucker.

"Tucker, you are the only person who has ever stood by my Sam. Spending time with her, looking out for her, making sure she got home safe. I'll admit, I was a bit worried when she brought you home for the first time, what with all your little quirks, but I've warmed up to you. And I believe in you. We all do. Can't you please help us find her?"

'Sam's Grandma has always had a way with convincing people…'

He could see the fog behind her glasses as a few tears began to stream from her eyes.

Maybe it was pressure, or sympathy, or the desire to make sure his best – and only – friend was ok. Either way, he looked down and nodded his head in agreement.

--

"So, I bring a backpack full of cables and cords to work every day in case someone needs a troubleshoot," Tucker said as he opened his bag.

They were in the lab now, having spent the last few minutes letting Tucker take it all in.

"Hopefully one of these is compatible with that medallion you found." He dumped the bag's contents onto the ground.

Danny walked over to the lab table, picked up the gold trinket, and offered it to Tucker.

"The plug is on the bottom, just under the inscription. It's really small, do you see it?" he asked as he handed it to the boy.

Tucker took it with both hands, feeling the weight and examining it closer. He turned to Maddie.

"Do you mind if I look up something on your computer?"

"Go right ahead! But Google already failed us once today!" Jack boomed before Maddie could respond.

"Yea, but Google doesn't know how to hack government technology websites," Tucker muttered as he sat down in front of the screen.

"Government technology? Since when is the government involved?" Maddie asked.

"It's not, but they keep a database of all the cords and cables and outlets and stuff…" Tucker replied as the glow of the computer reflected in his glasses.

A few clicks and passwords later, Tucker found himself on the main page of the U.S. government's catalogue of technology.

Watching him scroll down the page in a blur gave Danny a headache.

'Seriously, how does anyone live with this much tech?'

Finally Tucker stopped, moving out of the way to show the group what he had found.

"I think this is it. A T-95 adapter. If the picture here is a match to the medallion, I may have just the cord!"

He held the medallion up to the screen, comparing the bottom of it to the photo, and a smile formed on his face.

"Good news?" Maddie asked.

"This is it!" Tucker exclaimed as he hurried back to his pile of tangled cords, digging until he found the one he needed.

Everyone smiled as he held it up, but Tucker's smile slowly faded as he realized something else.

"Ummmm, what do we plug this into?"

"Hmmm?" Jack asked.

"Well, it's got a USB on the end but I'm afraid to plug it into your computer without the proper program installed. After all, this is ghost tech, and who knows what kind of viruses that could bring."

"I don't think we need to worry about that," Maddie smiled, "We installed anti-ecto protection on the computer a few years back."

"Of course! It took me AGES to install that stuff, how could I have forgotten. Mads, you think of everything."

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek as the two teenagers looked back at the computer, trying to refocus on their task.

Taking the Fentons' enthusiasm as a confirmation that it was fine to plug the thing into the computer, Tucker grabbed the cord and plugged the flat end into the tower.

He looked to Danny, hope and fear in his eyes, and nodded as he plugged the other end into the medallion.

The computer screen went black, and a loud sigh came from everyone in the room.

"Really!?" Danny complained as he raised his hands in frustration. "Just when we have a lead, nothing…"

Before he could finish his statement, bright green words appeared on the screen.

T.I.M.E. INITIATED. Y TO CONTINUE. N TO STOP.

"I'm guessing you want me to hit Y?" Tucker asked; everyone nodded.

As he hit the button, the group watched the screen change to what resembled a large, pixelated map with several glowing dots in various places.

PLEASE SELECT ITEM TO TRACK AND HIT Y.

"Sooo, now what?" Tucker asked.

"Hold on son, let me see this thing," Jack responded, coming forward to take the boy's place at the computer.

"It looks like there are lots of locations on here, but it's hard to tell which one we need to track."

"Danny, do you remember anything about places or names?" Maddie asked as her husband squinted at the screen, trying to decipher the tiny writing under several of the locations.

Danny stepped back to think for a moment before answering.

'Did Clockwork ever have a name for the Graveyard? His home?

--

He was on his knees, head facing down at the ground with hair hanging in his face. White hair.

"I've done it. At last, I have finally found an answer."

The boy looked up, eyes wide with confusion.

A figure floated in front of him, dressed in all purple with what appeared to be a grandfather clock showing through his chest. In his hand he held a staff, also resembling a clock, and when he got closer to the boy, his appearance suddenly went from old to young.

The boy lurched back, afraid of the figure's touch.

"Don't worry son, I won't hurt you. I'm here to help." The young figure spoke with a bit of compassion in his voice.

"What? Where? Who?" was all the boy could say in response.

"Of course, you're confused. You've only been back for a few hours now. Your mind hasn't fully returned yet. I should have known that would be a side effect of resurrection."

"Resurrection?"

Confusion spread across his entire face now; he still couldn't understand what was happening to him.

"Of course. You, Daniel, are the first soul I've ever been able to retrieve from death."

"Death? You mean, I…?'

"Died, yes. But I've brought you back." The figure smiled.

"Back to where?"

"I believe the humans call it 'The Ghost Zone,'" he answered with amusement, "but this part, my home, is the Island of Lost Time."

--

Danny opened his eyes and looked at the group, all of whom had turned face him once again.

The amulet around his neck was glowing green, and he could feel its heat permeating his body.

"Does he do that a lot?" Tucker asked.

"Change his appearance? Yes, I'm afraid so," Maddie answered.

"The Island of Lost Time. That's where she is," Danny replied, his green eyes glowing down at them.

[kimurasato]

Unexpectedly You: 04

Summary: Danny got better at balancing his life since high school, mostly. He had a good job but still managed to deal with ghosts whenever they popped up to cause trouble. But can that peaceful life last for long? Characters: Dash x Danny and others.

               Dash rubbed at his eyes. How long had he been staring at the screen? It was making his eyes ache. Fourteen years worth of news articles was a lot to search through, and he was already regretting trying to get through all of it in one day. In the hours he already spent in front of the computer, he hadn't found any article featuring a ghost that looked like the one Phantom battled against last night. He dropped his gaze to the paper sitting next to the computer. When he got home from the bar, he made a quick sketch of the ghost.

               And maybe a few doodles of Phantom.

               Glancing over the doodles, the corner of his mouth tugged up in a fond smile. When he came back to Amity Park, his first time seeing Phantom again was a bit of a surprise. He had expected Phantom to look much like he did back during high school, but Phantom was taller and buffer, though still lean. His hair was different too. No longer a messy mop on his head, he had shaved the sides. Even his costume was changed, though it still kept to the black and white theme. His black suit felt more like regular clothes rather than that skin tight jumpsuit, but it still fit him well. Boots, gloves, belt; all still white. But he added a short white jacket with the sleeves bunched up above the elbow. A surprising change, but Dash liked the new look.

               "Are you finding everything all right?"

               Dash jerked out of his thought, lifting his gaze to the woman, smiling politely at him from the other side of the computer. "Oh, um, yeah." He shook his head as he tried to recollect his thoughts. "Actually, I was wondering about something. Is this everything you have on Phantom?"

               She walked around the desk to stand behind his seat. Leaning over his shoulder, she pushed a lock of red hair behind her ear as she stared intently at the screen. "Hm, yes, that seems to be all the articles complied over the years." She stood up straight again. "Since he's become such a hometown hero, we've collected every news story and photograph possible to build a complete database on him." She smiled, a light blush coloring her cheeks. "I think Mr. McCord, he's the head of the library, is trying to get funding for some kind of museum displaying everything about Phantom. He thinks tourists would really like it."

               Dash nodded, recalling something about that being mentioned recently. He was sure there were a few people who would oppose such an idea. Or at least, one stubborn organization that still wanted to capture Phantom. "It's just," he frowned, "I noticed a few years where there's no coverage at all about him."

               "Huh." Her brow wrinkled. "That's odd. I never realized the gap." Her mouth pursed. "Though now that I think about it, Mr. McCord did talk about it a couple of times. I guess no one really knows what happened, but Phantom just stopped appearing for a while. But when a big ghost came threatening the town, he showed up again and knocked that ghost on its butt. Or, that's how Mr. McCord tells it. Uh, with a different choice of words though."

               That was curious. Dash stared at the screen. What was it that he had said yesterday? Protecting people was his obsession? It didn't seem like that was a comment he meant to slip out, but Dash still found it puzzling. If it was his obsession, why would Phantom disappear? Did that mean during those years, he felt like no one needed him to protect them?

               Dash turned back to the librarian. "You wouldn't happen to recall a ghost that looked like this?" He held up his sketch of the ghost for her to see.

               "Oh, um, well," she scrunched up her face as she looked over the sketch, "it's a very interesting looking ghost. But," she shook her head, "if it doesn't show up anywhere in the database, then I don't think we have anything on it."

               "Oh." Dash lowered the paper back to the desk, disappointed. "Thanks for the help."

               "Sure." She smiled brightly. "If there's anything else, just feel free to ask."

               Dash shook his head. "I think I'm done with my research for today." He stuck the paper in a folder then shoved that into his bag. "But if I need anything else, I'll be back."

               Throwing his bag over his shoulder, he bid the librarian a good day then headed for the front entrance of the library. The bright midday sunlight nearly seared his eyeballs when he stepped outside. He sighed heavily as he stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and walked down the street. Looking through all those news articles only brought up more questions than answers. He still didn't have any clues about that ghost, and now he had another mystery on his hands. His mouth pursed, and his brow furrowed as he thought deeply about that new little tidbit he discovered.

               He bumped into another person, the front of him suddenly very wet and very hot. He gasped.

               "Oh gosh! I'm so sorry!" The flustered woman hid her face behind the to-go tray, now empty of the cups of coffee which lay scattered on the ground at their feet.

               Dash winced. Coffee. That explained why it burned. "Ah, it's okay. I, uh, should have been paying attention."

               She lowered the tray enough to peek over it and stare at him with worried eyes so dark they were almost black. Her dark hair was pulled back in a low ponytail. "I'm really sorry. They sent me out to pick up some drinks, but then I got lost. I don't know where I am. I panicked. I was trying to look up how to get back on my phone, so I didn't see you." She flinched, like she expected him to yell at her.

               Dash frowned. She was practically to the point of tears. "It's okay. Really. Don't worry about it. Accidents happen." Though as he said it, he recalled high school. If Fenton had done something similar, and Dash was pretty sure he had, Dash would have responded quite differently than he did today. "Where were you trying to go?"

               "Oh, um." She tucked the tray under her arm as she checked her phone. "It's, um, that big building on Elm Street."

               Dash's brow furrowed. "That place that's been empty for, like, ten years?"

               She lifted her gaze, wide eyes blinking at him. "Yes! You know it?"

               "Uh, yeah." Dash rubbed the back of his neck. A ghost had taken up haunting the place to the point of driving out the original owners. Even after Phantom dealt with the ghost, no one had seemed interested in setting up a new business there. It seemed silly, given just how many ghost attacks happened in Amity Park, but he guess maybe it was some kind of superstition. Or they feared the ghost would return to haunt the building again. "Do you want me to help you find it?"

               "Oh, no!" She shook her head. "I couldn't ask that." Her gaze dipped, and a blush darkened her soft bronze cheeks. "I've already caused you enough trouble. And I should be the one offering to help with the mess I made."

               Dash chuckled. "Ah, well, you don't have to do anything. It was just an accident." He tugged at his wet shirt. "Other than the coffee burning me, it's not really a big deal. I was on my way home anyway."

               She worried her lower lip. "If you say so."

               Dash sighed inwardly. "My name's Dash." He stuck his hand out toward her. "Are you new here?"

               "Oh," she adjusted her glasses, "yes!" She fumbled with her phone and the tray before taking his hand to shake it. "I'm Kylie. I just moved here a few days ago."

               Dash nodded. "Amity Park seems like a strange place to just move to. Why would you decide to come here?"

               "My boss." Kylie shrugged. "It doesn't seem too bad here."

               She couldn't possibly be oblivious to all of the ghost activity in Amity Park, or their local ghostly hero. But Dash decided not to scare her with the dangers of living here. "I hope you enjoy it here then. And I hope your boss isn't too hard on you."

               At that, Kylie paled. "Right. I was supposed to be back in fifteen minutes. And now I don't even have the drinks!"

               "Hey," Dash placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to calm her, "it's going to be okay. Do you want me to go with you? To explain what happened?"

               Kylie shook her head. "No, no. I should face the consequence myself. But thank you. For offering. Ah! I really should be going!" She crouched down, scooping up the emptied coffee cups. "Bye! See you! Maybe!" She waved with a hand holding three of the cups as she hurried down the street.

               Dash blinked at her fast escape. He was pretty sure only Phantom could beat her on a fast get away from him. With a sigh, he raked a hand through his hair. What a day. He dropped his gaze, looking over his coffee soaked front. Back to his apartment it was.

               About a block and a half away from his apartment, he felt his phone vibrating in his back pocket. Dash pulled it out, giving the call a glance. A smile sneaked onto his face as he answered it.

               "Kwan!" Maybe he was a bit loud, but he was stupidly excited to hear from Kwan so soon after their night of drinking. He actually hadn't expected a call, not for a while anyway. Maybe Kwan was trying to act like everything was fine last night, but he should have known Dash and Valerie could pick up on even the subtlest hint of something being wrong. With that in mind, Dash thought Kwan would go radio silent for about week, at least.

               "You sound like you're in a good mood." Kwan's voice sounded like he was smiling.

               Dash hated how closely he was paying attention to pick up on any little nuance to further cement their suspicions. He snorted. "Sure. If you calling getting coffee spilled on me good."

               Kwan hissed over the phone. "Please say it at least wasn't hot coffee."

               "Not piping hot, but hot enough to burn." Dash glanced at the stain on his shirt. It was still warm but thankfully cooling off some as he walked.

               "Well, sorry about your misfortune."

               Dash squinted ahead of him. "I know you want to laugh."

               "Nope." Kwan popped the "p" sound a little too loudly. "That was totally not a funny thing to have happen to you."

               Dash rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I know you're laughing on the inside."

               "Maybe just a little." Kwan chuckled. "And here I was thinking maybe something good happened after Valerie and I left last night."

               Dash furrowed his brow. "What are you trying to imply?"

               "Nothing!" A smirk in Kwan's voice earned a scowl from Dash. "Anyway, I was just calling to say I have Saturday free, if we wanted to hang out. Or something."

               "Sure. I shouldn't have anything on Saturday. Just let me know the time and where to meet up."

               "Okay. I'll check in with Valerie too before making plans."

               Dash opened the door to his apartment building. "Hey, so, this might be a little out there," he frowned as he hit the button for the elevator, "but I was doing a little research into Phantom today."

               "You know this is the first time I've been back since high school. I'm sure there's a lot about Phantom that happened since then that I couldn't even begin to tell you about."

               Dash sighed as the doors opened and he stepped onto the elevator. "Yeah, I guess you have a point."

               "But you know who could probably help you?"

               After hitting the button for his floor, Dash scratched the back of his head. He racked his mind but came up without a clue. "Uh, who?"

               Kwan exhaled dramatically. "Danny."

               Dash groaned, throwing his head back to bump against the wall of the elevator. "Why did you have to go and say that?"

               "Because you know I'm right. Come on, Dash. His parents did all that research and stuff on ghosts. They even invented stuff to fight against ghostly threats. Whether you like it or not, he's probably going to be the one person who knows the most about Phantom."

               Dash closed his eyes. He could be civil to Fenton. Last night ended up being not that bad. But he wasn't sure about going out of his way to ask Fenton for help. "You sound a little too cheerful suggesting that, you know."

               Kwan snorted, and Dash could imagine the flat stare on his face in that moment. "I caught you glancing his way."

               "Uh, yeah," Dash spat out, maybe a little more sarcastically than he meant to, "because when someone talks, you generally look at them. It's called being a good listener."

               "Whatever you say."

               Dash huffed when he heard the elevator ding. "It's not that amusing." He stepped off the elevator and headed down the hall to his apartment. "I don't know what you're thinking, but you're probably wrong."

               "Uh huh. Well, I should probably be going. Snuck out on my break to make this call, and I should probably get back to work."

               "I'll see you this Saturday."

               "Right! See you then!"

               Dash hung up the call then sighed as he stared at the phone. Some might like to think of him as a dumb jock, but he wasn't dumb enough not to pick up on what Kwan was hinting at. Unlocking his apartment, he pushed open the door. So he snuck peeks at Fenton last night. Big deal. Dash entered his apartment and kicked the door closed behind him. So he took notice of Fenton's smile and the way he laughed. It was only because it was completely new for him. He never experienced hanging out with Fenton until now. Even during that one time when Fenton was in the A List, they didn't do the hanging out as friends thing. And he purposely ignored Fenton that one time he came to one of his parties.

               "Damn it, Kwan," Dash muttered, shaking his head, and hopefully the thoughts right out of his head. He did not need to be thinking about Fenton for any reason. After setting his phone on the stand by the door, he headed for his bedroom. Before he did anything else, he needed to get out of his coffee soaked clothes.

               After a change of clothes, Dash busied himself with some of his other projects. He had a few stories outlined and ready to be written up for publication. He just had to sit down and do the writing. That was, sometimes, the hardest part. He sat on his couch, typing away at his laptop, mostly, until the sun set and the sky darkened. He hit the save button for the hundredth time, to be safe. Then he leaned back, pressing the palms of his hands against his eyes and groaned.

               "Okay! Fine!" he shouted to no one. As much as he tried to keep his focus on his work, his mind would drift back to Phantom and the mystery of his disappearance.

               Dash closed his laptop as he stood. He wouldn't get any answers sitting around, and he had no way of actually contacting Phantom. Not that Phantom seemed willing to answer any of his questions in the first place. His only other option seemed to be to pay Fenton a visit, as Kwan suggested. He grabbed his jacket and his phone as he left his apartment.

               When he stepped out onto the street, Dash frowned. It seemed rude to just show up at Fenton's house. He walked down the street, debating how exactly to go about this whole thing. He doubted Fenton would respond well to him coming over just to ask questions about Phantom. There had to be some way for him to win over Fenton's favor. When he passed a grocery store, Dash paused. Maybe some drinks and food would do the trick. He stopped inside to quickly pick up a few things.

               Forty-five minutes later, Dash walked up to the front door of Fenton Works. He stared up at the tacky sign still jutting out from the side of the house. He was nearly ninety percent certain Fenton's parents converted it from an old fire fighter house. The observatory still sat on top of the house, though it looked a little less precarious. Then he dragged his gaze back down to the door right in front of him. He was here now, so he might as well go through with it, even if a voice in his head was telling him to run away now before it was too late. Taking a deep breath, he rang the doorbell.

               Part of him hoped no one would answer the door, forcing him to turn around and go back to his apartment. Before he could make the decision to do that, the door opened to reveal Fenton's grumpy face. He stared for a long minute before he blinked, standing up straighter.

               "Dash!" His blue eyes darted about then landed back on Dash. "Um, w-what are you doing here?"

               Dash held up the plastic bag from the grocery store. "I brought some snacks." Even as he said it, it sounded lame, and he cringed inwardly.

               Fenton's brow knitted slightly as his gaze dropped to the bag. "Okay. Still really confused, but, uh, come in. I guess." He stepped aside, holding the door open for him.

               Dash entered the house and took a glance around as Fenton closed the door. It felt a bit like he stepped back in time and they were still in high school. The house didn't seem to change much, from what he could tell, except that couch in the front room was definitely new.

               "So what did you bring?"

               "Huh?" Dash snapped his head back to Fenton. "Oh. Uh, just some beer." He pulled out the six pack to show Fenton. "And you know, chips and dip."

               Fenton lifted an eyebrow. "Guess you weren't kidding about it just being snacks. Unless that's what you think of as dinner."

               Dash frowned, lowering his arm holding the beer. "Were you expecting me to come prepared to make a five course meal?"

               Fenton chuckled, shaking his head. "Considering I wasn't expecting you to come over at all, I would say beer and chips are just fine." He walked down the hall toward the kitchen.

               Dash hesitated then followed after him. For a brief moment, he thought he might have angered Fenton, but the sudden chuckled made him relax. Maybe this wouldn't go as badly as he envisioned in his head. Fenton, at least, didn't seem annoyed with him showing up out of the blue. When he entered the kitchen, Dash walked over to the table and set the plastic bag and the beer on it. He found Fenton standing in front of the stove, stirring something in a pot.

               "What's that?" Dash walked over, curious about the delicious smell wafting through the kitchen.

               "I was in the middle of making some sauce for spaghetti." Fenton grabbed a spoon out of the drawer next to the stove. "Give it a try."

               Dash took the spoon presented to him. He stared into the pot of simmering tomato sauce. As good as it smelled, he had no idea what kind of a cook Fenton was. For all he knew, the sauce could be lethal. Now I'm just being over dramatic! Dash dipped the spoon into the pot. When he tasted it, he was surprised by how good it was. He turned to Fenton with wide eyes.

               "That's really good! Who taught you to cook like that?"

               Danny laughed as he turned off the burner. "Definitely not from my parents." His mouth curved into a crooked smirk, like there was some joke there that Dash missed. "Mostly, Jazz taught me growing up. She thought it would be a good skill to have once I left home for college and all that. I guess it's come in handy." He nodded his head toward the cupboard near Dash. "Grab some plates."

[survivormetaverse]

Rites of Passage

Elle: I never met you, here's a joke!Never trust a pirate duck.They have the power to unleash the quackin'.🦆🏴‍☠️

Amy: I wish I got to meet you! You seem so wonderful.

Jodi: Hey Bri, we never got to play together but you destroyed my guy Jared’s perfect game in the first tribal council and I thought that was pretty funny. Cheers!

Elle: I was SO sad when you were voted out 🥲 because I figured we'd swap into the same tribe or make merge and we could work together and talk about Stardew Valley, I also started listening to the Penumbra podcast (which I know you listen to The Magnus Archives, but there's a lot of overlap between the fandoms so I thought maybeeee you had listened to it too) Anyway! It doesn't really matter I just was really sad when you were voted out ❤️Here's a joke ^_^: I asked a French speaking man if he played video games.He answered, "wii".

Amy: I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you. I loved your intro video and I had heard of you from past games. You seem so cool.

Jodi: Also never got to play with you, but Brayden told me you’re cool so hopefully I’ll meet you some time in a game!

Elle: I just know you from Kyoshi where you voted me out and we didn't really talk that much… so 😅 I hope you had fun in Metaverse?Here's a dad joke: My grandma started walking 5 miles a day when she was 65She’s 91 now! But we have NO idea where she is 🤷🏽‍♀️

Amy: I was so hoping to chat with you again because we barely got the chance in HB. You are wonderful and I hope to one day actually play on the same tribe as you!

Jodi: I heard you were my guy’s ride or die until you weren’t, you won the very first comp of the season so good job, hope to see you around in the community!

Elle: A truly unanimous vote, I never met you, but you dropped this, king 👑✨A joke: There once was a king who was exactly 12 inches tall!Terrible king, but he made a great ruler!📏🤴✨

Amy: The legend! All I know about you is you have some chaotic energy and I love that! 

Jodi: The truly unanimous vote of the season....we really wanted to give you your first W but you literally just did not show up even for your vote out. I still wonder to this day if you’ve found out you got voted out yet. Nevertheless, nice saying hi to you a couple times!

Elle: You were super nice and I'm sad that you were voted out as soon as you were 💔 we should've talked more when we were on the same tribe.You know every time I see a Jennifer Aniston movie, it seems like she's playing the same person.I guess she's a victim of Rachel profiling.

Amy: Girl I wish I got to know you better because once you came back online after the tribe swap you were so sweet. I really enjoyed your presence and I think the game could have been very different had we worked together. Wishing you all the best.

Jodi: I’m glad I got your vengeance :) Sorry you didn’t last longer in the game! Bye mittens

Elle: I don't know you, but here's a dad joke:Yesterday I spotted an albino dalmatian.It was the least I could do for him🖌

Amy: Oh Danny how I wish it would have worked out with us two! You were so fun and I loved working with you but I’ll never forget sitting on call for an hour when you ghosted our challenge. I’m sorry it ended like that, but I hope we get to play again together because I adore your vibe!

Jodi: All my Fools paragraphs are going to involve Jared since that’s the only relation I have with you all, but Danny I heard you’re my guy’s other ride or die and he told you about his idol. I grilled him when he told me about it at the merge because damn you were connected. You would’ve told everyone (but everybody knew already lol) hope to see you around!

Elle: Ginnyyyyy 💔 I'm sorry I didn't really want to vote you out but I wasn't trying to ruffle any feathers that early into merge, I truly did believe you when you said you were done being chaotic. Your lipsync TikToks are very fun🎶A joke for you: What do you call a singing computer?A Dell! 🎤🎶

Amy: I’m so sorry girl. I didn’t want to see you go, but it was decided. I enjoyed playing this game together through all of premerge and making it through the cursed Fools tribe with you and sitting in that hour challenge call just vibing. I hope we can chat more in the future. I am wishing you all the best because you deserve great things.

Jodi: Girl, you were my first comp partner and I wish we got closer and could play together more. I really thought you were super connected with other Stings players and that’s why I had to boot you before the Jury phase, because I wasn’t sure I could get close enough with you to work together. Regardless, you were fun to have on Phantom and I hope we can cross paths again!

Elle: My Libra rising sibling ♎️✨ I wish we got to work together more in this game, without that ‘no items’ twist round you definitely would've made it far. Thank you for talking astrology with me, giving Colin your items which ended up helping my game too, and just the existence of Neptune 🥰 big Brookyln 99 "I've only known [Neptune] for a day but if anything happened to him I would kill everyone in this room and then myself" vibes.Le joke: My partner just broke up with me. They're sick and tired of my constant zodiac puns.It Taurus apart, I'm in Pisces writing this.(a second one): Why did the nurse carry a red pen?In case she needed to draw blood!💉

Amy: Dennis 😭😭😭!!! I am so so sorry you were voted out that way. There were whispers the previous round too and I was able to squash that, but for your round it was decided before I could act and I saw Colin being villainized for sticking up for you. I am so, so sorry for how things went. I so wish we would have stayed closer in this game because we could have done great things together! I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for our conversations before you went because without them I would not have flipped to protect Colin. You were our guardian angel. Thank you for giving Colin your gifts and still trusting me to confide in me. I hope we can play in another game together because I wanted to work with you from Day 1! You are incredible and I wish you all the good vibes in the world!

Jodi: Dennis, you truly were the one to watch this season, because your reads and intuition were amazing. That’s why I aligned with you, because I like working with other thinkers. I’m really sorry that I voted you out that round, because I knew that if I were to strike, I could not miss with you. I rightfully knew that you had something really good, in not just 1, but 2 idols. After going for 15.5 hours on that Hunt, I knew that the only person that could’ve beaten me was you. You pushed me to be a better player and you definitely made it a very tough hill for me to climb to get to this point. I’m not sure if you gave me your vote this time, and I understand if you didn’t, but I adore your love for the game and I hope that next time we can align and blaze through some games. I give you props for figuring out my game so early on and you were the one that kept me on my toes and pushed me to play harder. I have lots of respect for you as a person and a player of this game, I hope we can be friends after this. 

Elle: From our first real interaction I knew you should be someone I'd work with. Unfortunately, I didn't end up reaching out really until it was a bit too late 😅 And we kinda ended up on opposing ends… whoops!I still think we could get along really well! ☺️ We're both creative and funny (though my humor is more an… acquired taste 😂 dad jokes aren't for everyone, I suppose) and have a lot of the same pop culture references from that one challenge lol.I hope your first ORG experience was still a good one, though 💖. Maybe I'll get to ally with you in the future?Un joke: Whenever my artistic partner is sad, I let them draw on my body,It's always good to have a shoulder to crayon.🖍✨

Amy: Babs! I don’t know how many times I wrote to other contestants and my host chat “I just want to be friends with Babs!” I wish we could have chatted more because I absolutely adore your energy. I had the best times on call listening to you. And like you said, great minds think alike. Our double tie was so fun! Hope to chat more soon!

Jodi: Babs, I truly adore you and you were the light of the tribe. I understand that your vote out seemed like a big betrayal, but I truly did not want you to go there. Colin and Elle both played things and everyone else was immune. I had to pick between you and Jared and I just could not vote out Jared due to our relationship. I hope you can forgive me on a personal level after this and we can talk because a lot of my joy in this game came from you. 

Elle: Well, this turned out better than Kyoshi did between us 😅 so at least there's that. It was fun being allies for a sec, and here's hoping neither of us gets swap screwed in the future 😂.Your joke: I have a friend who writes songs about sewing machines.He's a Singer songwriter, or sew it seams.

Amy: Brayden! Omg Brayden first I am so sorry I gave you that fake idol. I didn’t know it was going to you; I only knew it was going to second place. When Raffy told me it was you I was like omfg I accidentally gave a fake idol to one of my closest allies 🤦‍♀️. I want to see your creative challenge submission bc I think you probably deserved the win over me. Brayden, you were incredible in this game and I kept trying to see if you wanted to flip with me with some hints haha but you were closer with Jodi. Congratulations on graduating and on being Anastasia’s best friend! I loved getting to know you and working with you. I’m so sorry it ended the way it did. Hopefully I’ll see you in another game or mini! You’ll do great things!

Jodi: Brayden, I severely underestimated you in this game, even though I knew that you were going to be incredible since you’ve played before. When we met up at the merge, I was so grateful to have you be somebody I could bounce ideas off of. Anastasia and I said this later in the game, but you two and me and Jared should’ve come and done a 4-person alliance and rip through the late game. You were such a loyal ally and I really hope we get to play again some time. 

Elle: You have a very rational and sort of quietly analyzing mind that I noticed almost immediately and knew that I'd want you on my side, not only because I'd love to be allies with someone like that, but because I knew as an enemy you could easily be a death sentence.I appreciated your love for Survivor and lived in fear of a super idol since the first moment you mentioned their existence 😂. I really wish corn tribe could've made it to FTC 🌽💔, Ohioans for life! (I'm kidding I'm getting out of this state as soon as possible, but it was fun to bond over Ohio with you!)An edited! joke (see that was a slight joke right there… okay I'll see myself out): Did you hear about the guy trying out for editor for the sums series of Math Magazine?It was an addition edition audition.

Amy: JAY! My Disney buddy!!! So I didn’t know Raffy and Jay Bee were going to expose me in that all or nothing tribal for being at Disney lol I was trying to keep it on the DL. Otherwise I would have freaked out more with you over WDW and your trip and my upcoming trip the next week haha!!! We have to catch up after this! I adore you and our chats. I hope you don’t have to sleep on any more chairs and you are having a great summer at work! Love your positive energy. You are on your way to big things!

Jodi: Jay, I have so much to say to you both about the game and about you as a person. As an ally, you were so loyal to me even when people were not nice to you about it, and you stood up for me and always had my back. You played your role in the game to perfection and people are mad about it just because you were never actually on the bottom. I’m sorry I had to vote you out because they made me force my hand. I love you to death and I am so glad we got to play this game together. Having this opportunity showed us that we can absolutely do this again and I will be your goat next time we play together. I promise. 

Elle: Colin 🥺🥺🥺💗 When I say I literally almost gave up on this game when you left (Amy can testify). We were a little devious team and it was so much funnn, Amy was the double agent super spy, you were the person on comms with all the connections and gadgets, and I was the nerd in the van planning out the heist routes and typing really fast until I look up really dramatically and say, "I'm in".Also here's the list of book reccs you asked for✨:

The Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson, it’s a mysteryyyy and it's a lot of fun! A fun little cast of characters to get attached to ^_^

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, I mentioned this one before, it's a classic but you can read it in one sitting And it's funny. We love to see it💕 Plus it's pride month and we love Victorian era gay poet/playwright/authors.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston, Look. This book is amazing, it is queer🏳️‍🌈 (mlm protag relationship but also way more queer characters), it is well written, it's romantic as hell, it's spicy, I don't know how to describe how good it is I'm getting emo thinking about it read ittttttt 💖 (Casey McQuiston also has a new book out with a wlw relationship and we also love to see thattt✨)

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson. Okay soooo this isn't a mystery, but I feel like people into mystery novels would enjoy the way the plot unravels. Also I love this book. That is all ^_^ Also it is queer as well🏳️‍🌈, mlm relationship.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. Haven't read it, but from what I know about it and what books you said you were into and it's acclaim/reputation, I think you'd be into it.

Generally speaking, I am more in the YA/romance/fantasy side of things but I tried to tailor the list to things I genuinely think you'd enjoy ❤️A joke ^_^: Everyone tried so hard to figure out why Mr. Edwards changed his name to Mr. EvansBut after all these years, it's still a Mr. E

Amy: 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭!!!! I won’t even lie here before writing this I spent 20 minutes crying thinking about seeing you at FTC because I am just so sorry. I wanted to sit next to you as you won and I feel like I let you down. I am so sorry for how that round went. I was MAD mad after. When you said you, me, Elle F3 I was all in and when I lost you I made it my mission to get both Elle and myself to the end in your honor. I also regret not grabbing drinks with you in KC because that would have been absolutely hilarious even if our planned tribe fight didn’t pan out hahaha. I loved every second of working with you in this wild game. Your social game is incredible and I am so thankful to you for doing everything you did. I’ll never forget sitting on a 20 minute call with Brayden and Jodi about voting you out, hanging up, and immediately calling you to plan how to keep you safe. Sorry I didn’t tell you about the tricks up my sleeve, too. Thank you for making this game so fun to play that I ignored my family in Disney World. All my love ❤️

Jodi: Colin, I wasn’t quite sure what direction to go with this, but I’ll just be open and honest. I really did want to play this game with you, but after realizing the true threat of you having all of Dennis’ stuff (which was correct), I had to get rid of you not because I didn’t want to play, but just because I wanted my game in my own hands, and with 3 immune advantages, you were able to cruise from F7 to F4 with no risk. Sort of like James in China, you have to blindside them before they cruise to F4. That’s one less guaranteed spot for everybody, and I didn’t want to rely on whether you liked me enough to keep me around. For the same reasons that you were upset with Jared and Jay, I too, did not want to play somebody else’s game. I wanted to put my game in my own hands and that’s what I did. You were not supposed to go at F7, we were just trying to get rid of your idol. I was hoping you’d appreciate the gameplay that I was not willing to rely on riding coattails and be in someone else’s good graces to keep me around. Hopefully I’ve explained this well enough during FTC as well. I had no ill will, just wanted to play my own game, not somebody else’s. For the record, if I didn’t make it back into the game or got voted out again with you at the end, I was going to vote for you to win. You pushed me to play harder and be a better player because I knew you would not be easy to outwit and outplay. I’ve told many people this and I can respect and appreciate being outplayed. 

Elle: Joshhhh, my buddy 💔 I'm really sorry you got rocked out, Amy and I were willing to take the risk of being rocked out but we didn't tell you because you had voted for Colin the round previous. To be clear we were still willing to work with you, but the wound was kind of fresh and it seemed silly to give you sensitive information at the time. You did get past F8 this time! But I am sorry about going to rocks, didn't mean to lose you, king.A bit of humor: What does a panda use to make pancakes?A pan...duhI had multiple cooking themed onessss:A student baked a loaf of bread for home economics class.At the end of the class, his teacher returned the loaf and told him that he had gotten an A.The student said: “Thanks, that’s just what I kneaded.”

Amy: Josh I am so sorry you went out on rocks. I know that is the last way you wanted to go. You probably won’t forgive me but I really didn’t want you to go there. I was aiming for Jodi or Jared, but had already mentally prepared for rocks before the twist was announced. I truly hope you get to play again and not be victim to a twist or rocks. You are an absolutely incredible player which made me cautious and frustrated at times haha! Love your energy and I am manifesting that you get a new job that you absolutely love because you deserve it!

Jodi: We had such an incredible story arc to our games. We weren’t close on Phantom, got in touch on SEES, then grew apart again before my vote out, pulled off a beautiful move at F7, and continued to work together until you got rocked out at 6. You were the surprise blessing to my game. When you approached me at F7, I found light in my game again. You had the same agenda as I did, with the same intentions and same concerns. You gave me a real chance to reintegrate into this game and I’m so happy and grateful that you decided to trust me. On top of that, your energy and personality was super fun and I’m glad we got to have fun writing each other’s names down a couple times. I treasured your trust in me a lot and I really wanted to play to the end with you. I think you’d win the game if you were in my spot today. I hope we continue to be friends and good luck with your new game.

Elle: Thank you for remembering my birthday before Raffy reminded everyone 💛 that was very sweet and in my introduction I literally said if anyone remembered it I'd love them forever and then I proceeded to be on opposing sides with you… oops!

Granted, it wasn't really on purpose, I just happened to not be in that alliance of six people and that happened to kind of decide how lines were drawn for the rest of the game in a way.

Impressed with your sudoku skills, being on a tribal call during graduation (congrats again!), and with your coolheadness, if I had an idol while that chaos one was played you bet I'd be playing it 😂 you had a really good game and I hope you think so too ^_^

A fitting joke: If you keep trying the same sudoku puzzle, you willl eventually solve it.

It's just a numbers game, really.

Amy: Jared! You unintentionally became one of my biggest rivals because you are so good at this game! I envy your way to lie in such a believable way that I had to spend so much time convincing Colin you were lying even though I was copy/pasting your exact plan haha! You are great at challenges and frustrated me to no end when you would ONLY tell me lies. You are so smart and I can’t wait to see what you do next. For the cards that were dealt to you, you had an incredible game. Congratulations on graduating! I hope to see you in another game and actually get to work with you.

Jodi: Dear my beloved idol holder, thank you for being my in-game simp. Thank you for having your idol on deck at all times to use on me at my request :) Jared, by now I would’ve shared with everyone at FTC about our 10 year love affair, but I want you to know just how much playing this game has meant to me. After drifting apart for a good 7 years, I’m glad that Survivor brought us close again last year and that you signed up to do this. I couldn’t have played the game that I ended up playing without you despite you WANTING ME OUT AT F4. I’m glad we did this game before signing up for the show together. I cannot wait to do Blood Vs. Water 3 with you. Basing off of our track record this time, we’re going to kill it :)

Elle: Anastasiaaaaaaaaaa💔 I'm not sure how much left I have to say to you 😅 (I am writing this kinda right after tribal so I was talking to you like an hour ago). Congrats on graduating again!! And congrats on this game kinda jealous of your streak so far 😂 you've literally never done worse than F4 do you know how many people can say that? Not many!! Definitely not me lol.

Here's a dad joke!: How do you handle a redhead's temper?

Gingerly!

Amy: Anastasia you are absolutely incredible and I am so thankful Ginny put us in an alliance together on new Fools because I loved playing this game with you. We went back and forth on working together but every time I was glad we were both still together making it farther in the game. I truly meant when I said I would force fire for you, but I respect your decision. I am so sorry I had to keep things from you so much since you were closer with Brayden and Jodi. I hope to play another game with you because you make it so fun and you are such a great player and your social game is so good! I was so excited when you wanted to flip but I am sorry I couldn’t say yet that I already had. Congratulations on graduating and being absolutely incredible!

Jodi: Anastasia, you are the reason I got to the end, and I owe so much to you. In this game, I’ve had to play so dangerously, and my game heavily relied on having ride or dies have my back. When I came back in, we talked immediately about me throwing out your name and you writing my name down, but we got together instantly and made magic happen. You had my back and I had yours. We pulled the most iconic move in this game at the final 7 together (by now you’ll all have heard me talk about it, my plan to create immunity for 3 people) and I truly had you as my ride or die to the end. Thank you so much for playing with me, believing in me and recognizing the game that I played. I love you and can’t wait to be best friends with you and Brayden 

[monotype-on-phantom]

ok since im dannyXsamXtucker trash do you have any headcanons about the 3 together :))

At long last, I’m here to deliver! I actually do, as a matter of fact. Most of my headcanons for them were listed in the Team Phantom Headcanons post, but I’ve got a few specifically shippy ones. I’m more than happy to share them with you.

Sam and Danny totally get together first. Tucker would not allow it any other way. He’s been the biggest shipper of those two since grade school. Once they started dating, though, Tucker just…sorta stayed around. It didn’t feel right to not have him there. Dates without Tucker were weird, so he always came along.

Sam and Danny are the most shy about kisses, but with the kiss barrier now broken, kisses are a frequent thing among all three of them. Sometimes they’ll annoy Tucker by giving him cheek smooches instead of kissing each other, and Tucker gets revenge by butting in on smooches when the two of them are giving them to each other.

Speaking of kissing, Danny is the worst kisser. It’s horrible. He has no idea what he’s doing with his mouth. How do lips even work? Sam and Tucker think it’s cute, though. Sam’s the best kisser, and Tucker’s alright, though he thinks he’s much better than he is.

Danny is the damsel who must be protected. He was out voted on this. Superpowers or no, Sam and Tucker will protect him at all costs. If you mess with Danny, there will be blood. There may be things they have done that Danny must never know about. This has always been the case since the dawn of time, and there’s nothing he can do about it. It helps that both Sam and Tucker can actually pick Danny up because he weighs like nothing, but he can’t lift either of them unless he’s using his powers. They like sweeping him off his feet to tease him. (He gets harder for Sam to pick up when they’re adults, but she’ll work her muscles to make sure she can, because even if the boys are taller than her, she!!! Must!!! Be!!! Stronk!!!)

Danny and Tucker are huge cuddlers, while Sam vehemently insists that she is not. As such, they obviously like squishing her between them. They call her a Samwich. They think they’re hilarious because she’s squashed between them and she’s Sam and she’s a witch, so it is a hilarious pun. She always acts annoyed, but never tries to squirm away.

Sam and Tucker fight the most often, but they make up the quickest and easiest. When either of them fight with Danny, there is much drama. Because Danny’s a drama king. His emotions are fragile. He needs more recovery time.

They all absolutely get a place together when they turn 18. It’ll be good to get away from the parents, and they have their own lives they wanna start. Danny’s the only one who applies for college. Sam takes some private courses online and stuff because she can afford it and thinks the education is important, but she spends her days doing more volunteer work. She’s got a limited allowance now that she’s on her own, but she’s still got enough money. Tucker’s more of the breadwinner, though. He fixes computers and such for big companies, and he’s hoping to climb the ladder of success and start his own huge business someday. For now, though, he’s content with small things.

Sam and Tucker can both cook, but they can only cook the things they like. Danny cannot cook at all, and he’s even picker than they are. He usually orders out or something while Sam and Tucker make their own meals. They sometimes insist that he eat some of their cooking, though. He needs to be healthy.

While they could easily afford a house because Sam’s filthy rich, they start off in an apartment for the experience of it. And Sam has a rooftop garden. She needs it. It’s very important.

The three of them go nuts for the holidays. Sam celebrated Hanukkah her whole life, Tucker celebrated Kwanzaa, and Danny still gets Christmas blues. So, the three of them just do this huge conglomeration of different traditions and celebrations and end up with their own specific way of doing the holidays every year (and they eat tons of junk food). Danny greatly prefers it to Christmas.

They do not have beds. Those are overrated. Instead, every night they pull out some mattresses and blankets and pillows and huddle together on the floor in front of the TV.

That’s all I got right now, but hopefully that’s satisfying! I love these three.