#phic phight 22

[going-dead]

Amongst the Stars

for @lexiepiper

There’s a dead astronaut violently haunting the international space station, and trainee astronaut Danny Fenton offers to go deal with it. (PR322)

Danny had only been in training for a few months, he was still almost a year and a half away from actually making it to space. But after years of college and gaining enough experience on the ground, a year and a half would fly by. Especially since he was literally training to go to space. 

He and his co-workers were in the middle of a mock-up space mission when the voice of the head admin of ground control came through the overcome. “Attention emergency code level 3 all available personnel needed in the ISS mission control room. Attention emergency code level 3 all available personnel needed in the ISS mission control room.”

Danny and the rest of his team turned to Terry ,their supervisor, waiting for orders. “You heard her get moving, no time for lollygagging.” 

The group headed towards the control room. Danny had been in there a few times now having to learn how things work on the ground before he could start learning how to do things in space. He still got excited whenever he walked through the doors to the room, nowhere near the amount when he stepped into the room the first time but he still had a hard time believing he had made it this far. A far cry from when he was in highschool and  had a hard time even getting a C due to constant ghost attacks. 

Ghost attacks were a rarity nowadays in Amity, while ghosts were no rare sight by themselves there, they all seemed to realize by Danny’s junior year that they really had no chance against fighting him. Even when he was all the way in Texas they seemed to stay out of trouble. That’s not to say some of them wouldn’t seek him out to fight anyway. It was mainly ghosts like Ember or Johnny 13 and Kitty, though those were more friendly spars now than actual fights. It gave him enough time to actually focus on school and even develop some semblance of a sleep schedule, even if that was ruined the moment he started college and pulled all-nighters to work on projects. 

The moment the door opened to mission control Danny’s ears were flooded with noise. When they said all available personeel they really meant it, there were over a dozen people crowded around each desk. It seemed like no one actually knew what was going on, people were yelling out ideas left and right.

“Maybe a hallucinogen made its way onto the station or a chemical leak?”

“That wouldn’t explain why we’re seeing it too.”

“They got bored and decided to play a prank?”

“We are talking about professionals here, I would hope they would be smarter than pulling a prank on the people that help keep them alive. Not to mention we had all of the astronauts accounted for. Where would they get an extra person?”  

Danny walked over to a computer to try and figure out what was going on, no one seemed like they were up to telling him, or even knew for themselves. There were clips playing on the computer. At first it was just of the astronauts of the ISS going about their daily duties, soon things started to get weird. Anything not bolted down started to move around through the air as if someone was throwing them, and the lights would flicker every once in a while. The next clip showed one of the astronauts, Maria, floating through the station before getting yanked back as if someone grabbed her by the back of her shirt. The final clip though told Danny everything he needed to know. 

Floating right in sight of the camera was someone in a suit used for space walks, at least an older model of one they stopped using around two years ago. Or a suit that looked exactly like one but in black instead of white. There was a glow surrounding the suit that was definitely not natural.

“Oh.” Danny let out a breath. There was only one problem, finding someone who would believe him. He looked around the room, he’d have the most luck with someone high up in the chain of command. He spotted Jamie, she was the highest ranked in the room, the head of ground control, the same one who gave the order for everyone to make their way here and was shooting down each suggestion as they came up. Well he certainly wasn't going to shout his suggestion out loud to the whole group, so he made his way over to where she was standing at the back of the room.

“Ma’am, I know what’s happening. It might not sound believable but I really need you to trust me on this one.”

She turned to him, after just finishing yelling at someone for suggesting that the team of astronauts somehow managed to hack into the camera footage and alter the feeds. “I’m willing to hear anything at this point. Go on.”

“It’s a ghost.” 

Jamie frowned and Danny braced himself for her to yell at him too, “What did you say your name was?”

Oh no, he wasn’t going to be yelled at, he was going to be fired on the spot. “Daniel Fenton ma’am.” 

“Fenton you say?” She raised an eyebrow. “Where are you from?”

“Amity Park ma’am. It’s just a small city in-” 

“I am well aware of where Amity Park is. Last name Fenton as in Fentonworks Fenton? Jack and Madeline Fenton?” 

“Yes, those are my parents.” 

“And you’re sure?”

“That they’re my parents? Yeah.” It took Danny five seconds too long to realize that that was not what she was asking. “Oh, I mean yes I am positive it’s a ghost.  Only way I could be more positive would be if I was up there myself. I’d be able to help if I was, but I really don’t know how much I could do from the ground, especially if they don’t have any ecto weapons with them.”

She looked him up and down. “You’re one of our astronaut candidates, correct?” Danny nodded his head. Jamie looked through the crowd of people before seeming to find who she was looking for. “Terry, with me!” 

Terry made his way over towards them and seemed to realize Danny had been talking to Jamie. “Is he bothering you miss? I’m sorry he’s a very smart kid, he can get pretty excited about pretty much anything that has to do with space though.”

Danny repressed the urge to point out he was twenty five definitely not a kid, even if he still couldn’t grow a beard. Though compared to Terry he was pretty young “How competent are you in his ability to handle himself in space?”

Terry gave Danny a look that very clearly read ‘what the hell did you say to her’. “He’s very promising miss. He is able to figure out the equipment quickly after being shown how to use it, and he took to the mock zero gravity trials like a fish to water. He even had no issues in the vomit comet, sorry, the KC-135, he even asked if he could try it again because it was ‘fun’.”

To be fair a lot of the equipment is pretty similar to his parents own inventions, the Specter Speeder especially. And experiencing sudden zero gravity doesn’t affect him all that much since he is able to choose if he wanted gravity to affect him in the first place.  

“We’re sending him up to deal with the situation then.” Jamie said.

Terry frowned. “Miss respectfully, but he still has a year and a half left of training before we even could consider sending him up. I can not see any possible situation where we would have to send an unqualified personnel to deal with whatever this is, especially since we have multiple, fully trained astronauts at the ready. It’d be extremely dangerous, and I refuse to let you put one of my men at such a big risk like that.” 

Jamie rubbed at her temples. “Both of you come with me.” She started to move before either of the two could respond. She took them to a side room and closed the door. “Terry, what do you know about Daniel’s childhood growing up?” 

“Is this really a good time to-” Terry started.

“Answer the question!”

Terry leaned back slightly. “He doesn’t talk much about anything before college to be honest.” He looked at Danny out of the corner of his eye. “He has an older sister who despite only being in the field for a short amount of time is already renowned in the field of child psychology, and his parents are some sort of inventors. He grew up in a small city and visits during the holidays. I think he’s mentioned a dog offhandedly a few times. But that’s about it.” 

“The city’s name is Amity Park.” Jamie said. “It’s a hotspot for ghost activity.”

Danny could tell Terry was trying to mask his look of doubt. “Did you say ghost activity? Could you please elaborate?” 

So she did. She gave him a quick rundown on Amity Park and how Danny’s parents were talented in the field of ecto-sciences, Danny interjecting every once in a while to give clarification. By the end Danny recognized the look on his face as one many newcomers had when they moved to Amity, not many of them stayed much longer. Terry however seemd to put whatever thoughts he had aside for the moment.

 “That does not change the fact that he is not fully trained to pilot a spacecraft up to the ISS. Not even counting the fact that it would still take an entire day to make it to the station, leaving the crew alone with apparently a dangerous ghost! There has to be another option.”  

“If you have suggestions I’d be all for hearing them.” Jamie crossed her arms.

He wasn’t wrong. Even with Danny’s own experience with the Specter Speeder he still didn’t have any actual experience with the spacecraft used to get to the ISS. Not to mention leaving the crew alone with a potentially deadly ghost for twenty four hours did not sit well with Danny one bit. 

“I actually might have a solution.” Danny said, raising his hand.

That’s how he found himself in the Specter Speeder in the Ghost Zone, after they paid for him to get rushed back to Amity. He was looking for a natural portal exit that would get him near the ISS. There had to be one somewhere, the ghost wouldn’t have been able to make it onto the station otherwise. It thankfully only took him about an hour to find one. 

Driving through the portal it was actually unnerving how close it was to the station. He quickly shook the feeling off, the Specter Speeder was made for the Ghost Zone; it could only handle the conditions of space for so long he didn’t have time to worry. The moment he docked his ghost sense went off. The docking was a bit rough but nothing was damaged so he would take what he could. He grabbed the bag of supplies, the thermos and ecto-gun he took with him and attached them to his belt. He still wasn't too fond of being around ecto-guns even after telling his parents he was Phantom, but it was either using that or explaining to all of NASA why he can shoot green lasers from his hand. 

He needed to get this done quickly, the Specter Speeder had at least five hours before it started to malfunction, but the portal could become unstable and close any minute. “Danny to mission control, I am aboard the ISS. Proceeding now to where the crew reported they were gathered. Over.” He said into the comms device they gave him before departing.

“Mission control to Danny. Understood, the crew has been notified of your arrival. Over.” 

Danny never thought his first time on the ISS would be because he was sent to fight a ghost but he’d take what he could get. He’d have time to be excited later he reminded himself as he made his way to the crew. He wasn’t exactly met with a warm welcome when he made it there though. 

“Heya I’m Danny, NASA’s resident ghost hunter apparently.” 

“They only sent one person? This thing has been slowly terrorizing us until it actually attacked and they send one person who’s hardly passed basics?” One of the crew protested. His name was Steven and if Danny remembered correctly, which he did, he was the second oldest onboard. 

“Oh you know other ghost hunter astronauts? You should have said something I would have loved to have someone to talk to on the way here.” Danny smiled. 

Steven pushed off from the wall floating towards Danny, his jaw clenched. “They could have sent someone with some space experience along with you at least.”

Danny shrugged. “I mean yeah, I guess. But I’m here to protect you guys because you don’t know how to fight a ghost. If I brought someone else with me who also didn’t know they would just get in my way.” Danny opened the bag he brought and started handing out Specter Deflectors. “Now,” he clapped his hands, “put those on if you don’t want to get overshadowed, that is possessed.” 

“Don’t you need one?” Maria, the same woman who was thrown by the ghost in the video, asked. 

Danny shook his head. “Nah trust me I’ll be fine.”

“You seem pretty confident. How are you not worried about this thing taking the whole station down? If you were smart you’d be a bit more worried.” Steve spoke up again. 

“Wow. I’ll let you off the hook this time because you’re probably just scared for your life. But it’s really disappointing that you seem like a total ass right now.  Especially since you all are living my literal dream working up here, and I looked up to all the astronauts who ever worked here. The rest of you seem pretty chill though, keep at it.” Given, the rest of them other than Steve and Maria had yet to talk. Probably because finding out ghosts are real and one is haunting you while floating in space would make almost anyone freak out and not talk for a bit. 

Danny went around making sure they all put the Specter Deflectors on correctly before he went to look for the ghost. “If the ghost shows up here let me know right away.” He’d prefer to keep the humans away from this as much as possible. Both so they can’t be used as a hostage and in case the ghost says something he’d have a hard time explaining. Even if he didn’t recognize the ghost doesn’t mean the ghost wouldn’t recognize him, or his ecto-signature. Most ghosts in the Zone were at least aware of him at this point. 

He made his way through the station, making sure to remember to push off of the walls to move instead of just flying. No doubt they were watching him through the surveillance cameras. It didn’t take long to find the ghost, it was like it wasn’t even trying to hide it’s ecto-signature, even a normal human would be able to find it, 

“Come on out, I really don’t want to hurt you, I'd rather we just talk this out ghost to Danny.” It wasn’t a lie, if he could minimize damage to the station that would be ideal. The ghost stayed invisible. Danny sighed, it would work best for both him and the ghost if it showed itself willingly. 

He rolled his eyes before letting his core flair, flooding the area with his ecto-signature,  just enough that his physical appearance wouldn’t change. Not like anyone here had the tech for ecto-readings so he wasn’t in any danger of being found out. 

Evidently that was enough to scare the ghost into showing itself. Being this close gave Danny a great opportunity to look the ghost over. Honestly the inverted colors of the spacesuit the ghost was wearing reminded him of the jumpsuit he had as Phantom if it was bulkier. Which made sense, he asked his dad to make his jumpsuit look like a space suit, it was kind of a shame the look got messed up in the portal accident. 

“You can’t be here!” The ghost said.

“I mean I clearly am.”

“No, not like that. You can’t be here, it's not safe! It’s too dangerous for anyone. Everyone has to leave! Why won't anyone listen?” The lights in the station flickered as the ghost yelled the last part. 

Well now Danny was just confused, he was pretty sure the thing making the station ‘not safe’, other than the general danger of being in space, was floating right in front of him. He looked at the ghost closer and noticed a name on the front of the suit.

‘A. Hayes’

It only took Danny a second to recognize the name. A. Hayes, or Anothony Hayes was an astronaut who died three years ago during a space walk after there was a malfunction with his suit. The situation became very clear very quickly. Ghosts usually don’t fully form right after their deaths. It takes time for their form to fully develop around their core, it could take years for a ghost to fully form, or it could just never happen if there isn’t enough ectoplasm around to even form into a true ghost. The portal right outside the station probably provided him enough ectoplasm to finish developing. 

Which meant he probably had only been conscious for a few days. From what Danny could tell he hadn't even been to the Ghost Zone yet which wasn’t uncommon for newly born ghosts but it did mean he might not even have realized he was a ghost. Danny hated having the ‘you’re a ghost now’ conversation, he only had to do it 2 times before now but it was always awkward. 

“Why do you think it’s dangerous Anthony?” Danny asked, he had to get him somewhat comfortable with him first.

“Are you a crewmate?” Anthony asked. “Of course you are, how else could you get up here. Apologies I think that close call on my walk messed with my head a bit, I can’t seem to remember you. We’ll have to let the ground force know, I might have to go down to get checked out.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m Danny. Can you answer my question, why do you think it’s dangerous?”

Danny was pretty sure even if he couldn’t see Anthony’s face through the helmet, was there a face under there or was it just ectoplasm, he was looking at him like it was obvious. “Our equipment all needs to be  rechecked. If I barely made it back alive from the walk because of my suit malfunction, who knows what else was missed during safety checks.” 

Danny winced. “About that. You didn’t. Make it back alive that is.”

“What do you mean? I’m right here, you’re talking to me right now.”

“We’re in a different orbit location than you remember last aren’t we? You can’t seem to recognize any of the crew right? Look at yourself Anthony. You said your suit malfunctioned. Why are you still wearing it, why does it look wrong? You didn’t make it back alive, you’re a ghost.” 

Anthony seemed to truly look at himself for the first time, down at his hands, he went to grab his head but was met with a helmet instead. “But I can’t be. I have a husband at home, I have a daughter she just got into her dream school. We were going to celebrate when I got back home. I had so much I still wanted to do, so much I needed to do. ” The lights were flickering again, a mentally unstable ghost who didn't know how to control their abilities yet could be dangerous . “I’m not even human anymore, am I? Do I have a soul still, did I ever? I never believed in an afterlife, I am a man of science- no I was a man of science. Oh my god I was. I’m not anything anymore.”

“Anthony, I know how you feel. You’re certainly older than me but you still had so much life left. All of your beliefs are being challenged at once and it’s too much.” He certainly had his own freak out as well, and his brain wasn’t even fully developed enough to fully realize what happened at the time. 

“How could you possibly know how I feel!?” He yelled and the station shook. 

Danny had to diffuse this, and fast. “Pull yourself together, do you want to be responsible for the death of the entire crew of this ship?”

“Pull myself together? Did you just tell me to pull myself together? I just found out I died.” Another shake.

Danny rolled his eyes. He was getting nowhere like this. “Fine if you want to keep putting others in danger.” He pulled the ecto-gun from where it was hanging on his belt, and righted himself in an upward position steadying himself on a rail on the wall to keep himself from flying back from the gun's recoil. 

Anthony zeroed in on Danny’s hand. “Is that a gun? I won’t let you kill me a second time.” The station shook even more, not seeming to stop.

“Shut up.” Danny said as Anthony flew at him. Then he pulled the trigger and put the gun back on his belt. Well that was that.. 

The shaking stopped with the ghost, eyes wide as he looked behind him where there was now a destroyed surveillance camera broken and covered in ectoplasm. “You missed.” He laughed.

“Daniel what the hell are you doing? We can’t see anything now.” Jamie yelled through the communication device in his ear. 

“Oops.” He replied before taking the communication device out of his year and crushed it in his hand and dropped it. The pieces floating through the air around him. 

“Now.” Danny started, turning back to Anthony. He let go of the rail, no longer having to keep up the appearance of needing it. “Like I said before I know how you feel. I’m not saying that just to placate you. And trust me I do feel bad for you, but you’re going about this in the wrong way.” 

“The wrong way? I deserve to be angry! My life was cut short because of someone else's mistake.”

“Oh anger sure you definitely deserve to feel angry. But I will not let you endanger the dream job I’ve had since I was five. And I certainly will not let you endanger the lives of seven people because you feel like you deserve to throw a tantrum to deal with that anger.”

“There are eight people on the station counting you?” Apparently the confusion briefly snapped him out of his anger, but only briefly. “It doesn’t matter, I can use you all as hostages to find whoever made the suit and caused me to die.” 

Dang he went from trying to keep his perceived crewmates safe from a danger that wasn’t there to using them as hostages real quick. Newly formed ghosts had the worst emotional regulation. “No. I definitely meant seven. I said the lives of seven people, I haven’t been able to fully count myself as alive in about eleven years at this point.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anthony asked. 

Danny let himself transform. “Hi I’m Danny Fenton also known as the ghost Phantom. I had a bit of an unfortunate accident with my parents' lab equipment when I was fourteen, turns out lab safety is no joke. So like I said. I know exactly how you feel. I can even tell you more if you’d like but first I really should get you to the Ghost Zone. I’d love to talk more after that. So you can cooperate or…” Danny smiled, “...you’ll find out just why even the ghosts of long dead gods fear me. Your choice though!” 

Anthony shrinked back with a shake of his head. Oops he let his core flair up just a bit too much there. He really hoped the humans on the ship were far enough away that they didn't feel that. “Picking the easy way? Good, I’m just gonna put you in this thermos for safe keeping for a bit. No worries you’ll be there for like an hour tops.” 

He made quick work sucking Anthony into the thermos and detransforming. Good thing too, he heard the sound voices coming towards him. “Danny! You’re okay.” Maria said, making her way towards him, the rest of the crew not far behind.

“I mean, yeah? I told you guys I’d be fine.” 

“Well there was a bunch of shaking then Mission Control told us you shot the camera out then your comms went out. After that there was a huge wave of cold and an immense pressure that hit all of us. We sort of assumed the worst.” Steven said.

“Aw I didn’t know you cared.” Danny said, placing a hand to his chest. “But yeah I’m fine. Things got a bit more heated with the ghost than I thought it would.” Not really he had it all under control. “So I went to shoot the ghost but the station shook so much it made me miss my first shot. The ghost got pretty angry I shot at it, it ended up breaking my comms. The ghost getting angry was the source of that cold and pressure feeling too. I got him on my second shot so no need to worry now.” Danny lied through his teeth. 

“That makes sense and of course I would care if you’re okay or not, I’m not a monster.” Steven said. 

Danny hummed. “Well I really need to get back, the ship I took here isn’t what I’d call stable out here. It really was an honor meeting you all, and I hope one day I can call you my crewmates. Until then!” Danny waved and made his way towards where the Specter Speeder was docked. He could tell the rest of them were following behind him. He finally turned around when he made it to the Specter Speeder. “Did you need anything else?”

“No, we just all wanted to say thank you.” Maria said. Then a chorus of thank you’s came from the crew.

“Like I said it really was no sweat.”

“It saved us though so it means a lot to us.” Maria said.

This was why Danny never stayed around after ghost fights, excessive praise was weird. Also because most of Amity hated him at first and yelled at him for the property damage that saving them all from the ghosts caused. Can’t please them all. “We’ll then you’re welcome. I do really need to leave though.” 

He left them with a wave. He made his way back into the Ghost Zone just in time, he could feel the portal start to become unstable. Instead of flying back to his parents' portal he made his way to the Far Frozen. Frostbite would be able to help get Anthony used to being a ghost. He certainly helped Danny. Unfortunately he couldn’t say long to talk, just giving Frostbite a brief rundown and saying goodbye to Anthony promising both of them he’d visit soon. 

It was still going to be a long trip back to Texas. Maybe he could convince them to give him the day off for saving the entire ISS. Or maybe even two days. 

Those hopes were dashed when Jamie met him at the airport, at two in the morning, when he got off the plane and handed him a huge stack of paper. “The higher-ups want an incident report on their desks by the time they get into the office in the morning.” 

Danny groaned. “Really?”

“Yes. You can get started in the car. Or would you rather do mine? It’s about three times larger than yours, and I have to explain why we didn’t have a fully trained astronaut who could fight ghosts.” Jamie said.

“Why would you even need one before now?” Danny asked, looking gloomy down at the stack of papers in his hands. Looked like he’d be pulling an all nighter. 

“We didn't, that's why we don’t have one on hand. Apparently that's not a good enough reason for them though. Not like they know anything other than their cozy little offices.” Jamie huffed.

“Dang that sucks.”

Jamie hummed in agreement as the two of them got in the back seat of the car waiting for them. “Also, congratulations once you’re training finishes you’ll be promoted to NASA’s first astroparanormal hunter.” 

“Wait what?” She didn’t grace him with an answer, already starting on her own paperwork. Man he couldn't escape his parents dream of him to become a ghost hunter even if he went to work in space. 

[phicphight]

As Phic Phight Comes to a Close...

Firstly, thank you guys so much for participating in Phic Phight! You've pushed the ao3 Danny Phantom phic count past 10k, and that's no mean feat! You guys have collectively written OVER 1 MILLION WORDS! That is astounding!

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Thank you so much for participating in this year's Phic Phight, even if the most you could do was submit prompts! Every prompt and every player makes this event great!

[jackdaw-sprite]

A second fic for phic phight, in just under the deadline! Well. Two chapters. And posted to AO3 before the deadline, at least. It's a traditional maim-Danny-with-his-parents'-invention sort of hurt/comfort. For @echoghost1 and @kawaiijohn  There’s a third prompt this will fill, but it hasn’t hit that point yet. 

Danny's parents have come up with their latest invention: The Fenton Hummer! With a dumb name like that, it's no surprise it's innocuous. So why did his dad just point it at him in the middle of a fight?

In which no one has a good time.

[mr-lancers-english-class]

Blood Magic and Ghost Kings: Paulina Sanchez's Guide to Winning Friends and Influencing Politics: Chapter 2

ao3

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She managed to make her escape from Dash less than ten minutes later. He tried to make a move on her (again), she turned him down citing her eternal love for Phantom and only Phantom (again), he tried to insult her intelligence subtly and failed spectacularly (again), she giggled and considered cursing all of his door hinges to screech like a demonic beast of hell no matter how much WD-40 he applied (again), and then she left with a wave and a smile and an overly excited “see you at school” as if she didn’t want to curdle all of his milk for the rest of time (again).

Paulina thought she deserved more credit for not cursing her peers and classmates (not friends, they didn’t deserve that honor) with mild inconveniences and annoyances on a daily basis. But alas, only her mama and papí knew about her little dabbling with magic. Mama was so proud that Paulina took after her grandmother and was bringing back their little family tradition. Papí had been terrified she would get hurt right up until the ghosts started coming through, then he was just relieved she would be protected. But even from the first time she had tried to use magic, both of them had made it very clear that she could not share this secret of hers with anyone else. Paulina could work with that, though that begrudging acceptance never stopped the daydreams of imparting itchy left socks and electrical outlets that never quite seemed to line up with your first guess upon the buffoons she had to endure at school.

When she got home, Paulina said a quick hello to her mama who was on a business call, gave her papí a kiss on the cheek as he was also on a business call while whipping up chicken stir fry for dinner, and then disappeared into her room to consult her new grimoire.

It was beautiful .

The leather binding was worn smooth and soft from centuries of use. The gold filigree, lightly faded, was just the right level of subtle for a spellbook, catching the light as Paulina tilted it this way and that. The pages crinkled as she opened it to the middle. The soft smell of paper and lavender filled the air, and Paulina took a deep inhale. Lavender was older than humanity’s use of magic, and had been part of protections against evil spirits for centuries. That was a good sign. Olimpia must have had something in her book about ghosts if she felt the need to layer such strong wards on it.

Paulina flipped through the pages, slower than she would have liked. The writing inside was much harder to read than the cover. Not impossible, just hard. The same hodge-podge alphabet was used, but whatever care Olimpia had put into the title font had not been shown to the rest of her work. It was small, cramped, curving across the page in varying sizes from letter to letter, and definitely in code. Paulina got that much, at least. Quite a few witches she knew of had written their grimoires in code to protect their secrets from each other as much as to keep the magic within out of the hands of those for which it would be too dangerous to weild. Her own fledgling grimoire was in a similar state, after all.

The code used might have once been top of the line, but it took Paulina an hour, tops, to break it down to more than ninety five percent accuracy. Cryptography had progressed in leaps and bounds since the mid 16th century when Olimpia had crafted her work, and Paulina’s own grasp of Latin, Greek, and Italian made the actual translations quite simple. Then, it was just a matter of finding the right spells.

That took much, much longer.

It was almost midnight before Paulina found anything even related to ghosts, in a short section near the end containing three spells, written in the same cramped code as everything else though with ink that was distinctly redder than the rest of the grimoire. Huh. So Dash was right about the whole “written in blood” thing. Imagine that.

The first spell in the section was nothing Paulina hadn’t seen before; a quick and easy power-channeling built around ectoplasm. Simple, straightforward way to boost the potency of another spell. Paulina had a couple of her own versions, one of them also built around ectoplasm though less refined than Olimpia’s version. She’d definitely look into that further. The second spell was absolutely brutal but not what Paulina was looking for. It was a rather complex spell, supposedly used to bind a foe’s spirit to death. She had to sit back for a minute to think that one through. It didn’t kill living people, but she was like 97% sure that Olimpia had either figured out a way to destroy a ghost, or prevent it from forming in the first place. Paulina wasn’t sure which one scared her more.

The third spell though, that one was golden. Almost exactly what Paulina was looking for. And definitely close enough that she could work with it. She might not get Phantom on the first try, but she’d get someone who could help her get closer.

“Dios mío,” Paulina whispered with reverence. “Voy a invocar al rey de la muerte.”

She set to work.

The spell was almost too easy. A pentagram drawn on the floor in chalk, a few symbols in an alphabet Paulina didn’t recognize written in ectoplasm between the sides of the star, lavender beeswax candles at the five points, and then a short chant. Paulina read through the instructions three more times after she’d set it all up just to make sure she hadn’t missed anything. But no, it was all there, laid out on the floor of her bedroom exactly as Olimpia had written it.

Paulina was going to summon the King of the Dead to her bedroom at two in the morning on a Wednesday. Sure. Why not. Wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened in the past few years.

Sitting in front of the pentagram with the book in her lap, Paulina began to read the invocation.

She wasn’t entirely sure what all the words were, as it kept switching from Classical to Vulgar to Medieval Latin and back again faster than she could keep up, but the phonetics were easy enough. Besides, she didn’t really need to know exactly what it was saying. Spells like this worked on intent more than the soundwaves one used to bring that intent into the world. Paulina didn’t know definitions, but she knew what the words meant . That would have to be good enough.

The spell began to crescendo. She could feel it in the rhythm of her voice, the words speeding up even as she read at the same pace. The air around the pentagram began to crackle and spark with energy, bursts of green flaring and fizzling as the taste of ozone and sulfur filled Paulina’s senses. Ugh, ectoplasm. She’d had enough of that for one lifetime, thank you very much.

The sparks were getting bigger and brighter. The air felt sharper. Paulina could barely read fast enough, words spewing out of her mouth before she’d finished finding them on the page. The pentagram began to glow. Wind whipped around her room, papers from her desk flying off and bursting into flames when they were struck by a stray beam of green light.

The wind screamed, blowing out the candles, as Paulina got to the last line of the spell. With a sudden, painful clarity, she knew exactly what it meant.

“I summon you, king of the ghosts!”

The wind roared, whipping Paulina’s hair across her face. A bright flash of light burst across the room, and as Paulina blinked her eyes into refocusing, a small thump sounded from inside the circle. 

“What the– Paulina?!?”

Paulina stared. Standing in her summoning circle in a black tank top and red boxers, hair a bedheaded mess and eyes sunken and tired, was none other than–

“Fenton?!?”

“Uh, hi?”

[ajitated]

(Originally posted: 22 April 2021)

Summary: Amity always attracts strange and powerful ghosts, but this one might be more than they can handle. It's more than Danny can handle, at least. (or: an excuse for me to write an Eldritch ghost, and set-up a possible Eldritch Danny:D)

Written for Phic Phight 2021, Team human! Prompt by burning-clutch

[underforeversgrace]

14, 21, and 23 if you want !!

from this ask game!

14. a fic you didn’t expect to write

literally i came into this like "I'm gonna write this ONE fic that I've got brain rot over from all the dissec fics I've read (What It Means To Be) and then never wrote again" and then I discovered Phic Phight and Invisobang and... well, now I have over 40 fics 😂 I think the one I'm most surprised about what was Welcome to Intro to Ghosts! Bc I'm not... exactly a humor writer. Although my dpxAngel crossover is also a surprise! (we live our lives like we're ready to die) ...big surprise these are the two I struggle to update...

21. most memorable comment/review

I thought I answer this one... turns out I can't read! I accidentally answered number 22 instead!

There was one, I think it was a Tumblr reblog or Discord server, but it was just something like "so how's your daddy issues going?" after broken trust and the wounds hidden behind got popular!

Also all the "mice" that @duchi-nesten left! They were hilarious "live" reacts and they all killed me.

Also also a few messages from people (including you!) thinking about drawing scenes from stuff I wrote and I was like "???? me??? what????"

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

There were sequels/continuations planned for a few fics! Plus the fics I haven't updated that I wanted to do more with! And my original IB idea which is hush hush bc I MIGHT do it for 2024 instead. Notables ones I wanted to continue include:

shattered saviors

searching for the severed tether (let me return)

wrong paper

[haloburns]

ectoblastfromthepast fanfic review 2022

oh man this was a big writing year. i published more than double what the last eight years on ao3, and i've written probably about an extra 100k that i haven't/cant be published yet. dove into two big phandom events this year (phic phight and invisobang) and wrote almost 90k for each. got burnt out from those and struggled to finish the year strong, but was able to post some stuff in december anyway!

Fic Count: 42 new, 1 carried over Overall Word Count: 369,436 Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Wynonna Earp and Charmed (crossovers with DP), Percy Jackson, and Bones

1. totally worth it

Fandom: Percy Jackson Pairing: Percy/Annabeth (Percabeth) Rating: G Total Word Count: 171 words Completion Date: 03-09-2022 Notes: I wrote this when i was working on fluff practice for ghost light, and a friend of mine asked for this. first and only PJO fic so far, but it's cute and dumb and i like it a lot. this is the shortest thing i wrote this year!

2. it never hurt like this before (and now it's too late to lie)

Fandom: Bones (2005) Pairing: Temperance Brennan & Angela Montenegro Rating: G Total Word Count: 862 words Completion Date: 03-07-2022 Notes: Also a first and only for this fandom. Rewatched the show, and there's an episode where Bones, the MC, sees too much of herself in their case and it kinda fucks her up. She tells her partner, Booth, she loves him. But he's already in a relationship, so he gently turns her down. the episode ends with her leaving and crying, and i wanted her to have some catharsis. the idea stuck with me and i wrote it pretty much in one sitting.

Danny Phantom Works (under the cut because... well... y'all know lmao)

3. when you sneeze so hard you accidentally half-die in front of your boyfriend for the first time

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar (OC) Rating: G Total Word Count: 297 words Completion Date: 05-02-2022 Notes: I was in the midst of allergy season and i was very angry abt it so i took it out on my blorbos lmao my original end fic note: "but no literally im posting this waiting on my inhaler for my allergies by my entire state is trying to kill me. fuck kentucky, fuck maple trees in particular, and fuck myalgic encephalomyelitis 😭 there's so much pollen on my car 😭😭😭"

4. something's not quite right...

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 501 words Completion Date: 10-04-2022 Notes: This is an Ectober prompt fill, and it fills in a chronological gap leading up to my invisobang. I had a lot of fun writing CW's pov and in present tense, something i don't do often.

5. second death by allergy attack

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,024 words Completion Date: 10-22-2022 Notes: I promise i wasn't still having allergy issues by this point lmao this is an ancient wip i had that i started back in my early fandom days but never finished. the idea is gone, my notes are incomprehensible, so i cleaned it up and posted what i had! it's a non-au work, one of very few i posted this year

6. sin fransisco (dp x charmed)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: Teen Total Word Count: 1,107 words Completion Date: Started 06-17-2022, WIP Notes: This fic I started bc I'd been toying with a Charmed/AU crossover for a while (still angling for a buffy one...) and the Charmed episode of the same title proved the perfect opportunity. had to figure shit out and it's been stalled in limbo as more important/deadline sensitive fics came to the forefront. I have another 2k written, but it's not ready for publishing

7. teach me how to fight

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: Teen Total Word Count: 1,206 words Completion Date: 10-05-2022 Notes: Another Ectober prompt fill, this one is a really cute fighting practice between Danny and Teo after the events of Invisobang. Surprisingly stayed very SFW, even though this could easily stray into NSFW territory lmao

8. love at first fight

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom (Pitch Pearl) Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,244 words Completion Date: 09-21-2022 Notes: This is a pitch pearl coffee shop enemies to lovers au that i started with Trance and Emeralds it has been SO MUCH FUN. i love this fic. this is the meet cute in the Perky Beans Cafe AU

9. the last night of sadness (it was clear he couldn't go on)

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,441 words Completion Date: 10-06-2022 Notes: JOAN MY BELOVED i wrote this fic for Ectober, it's an outsider POV for my invisobang with an OC i created. she's a medium that isn't aware of that, and she and danny become friends later on. it's very good and emotional, and the writing style was a lot more fun to mess around with in something that wasn't majorly important to the AU but still fun to write

10. one... two... wait, how many are there?

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,608 words Completion Date: 04-30-2022 Notes: PHIC PHIGHT BABEY. i woke up on the last day of phight with this idea in my head. it's little, and it's mostly just filler in around the series, but i love it so much. dan is babey

11. walk the white line at midnight (dp x wynonna earp)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom (Pitch Pearl) Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,667 words Completion Date: 09-10-2022 Notes: another pitch pearl fic based on my favorite other show wynonna earp. danny is wynonna, and phantom is doc holliday. i want to do more with this au but it takes time to translate it and mix the two

12. you’re the best thing to happen to me

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,780 words Completion Date: 11-22-2022 Notes: i wrote this as a tumblr prompt i think a year before i published this as fluff practice. then i realized i could actually make it fit properly in the au and brushed it off and dusted it up so it was suitable for the AU. it's very cute

13. hold onto me

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,793 words Completion Date: 10-02-2022 Notes: this is a shiptember prompt and it was basically an excuse to write danny taking care of mateo. i write a lot of mateo taking care of danny, and i decided it was time to turn the tables.

14. with every sin, i still wanna be holy

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 1,926 words Completion Date: 12-16-2022 Notes: This one is a set of notes, no actual prose, that Dan sends to the people he wants to make amends to. It also has pictures on the notes that I've drawn in addition to the writing

15. by all means i'm gettin' mad (that don't mean i don't feel sorry for you)

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 2,288 words Completion Date: 10-10-2022 Notes: Another Dan fic, where Danny goes to talk to him about his sentence post-invisobang, and the tenuous relationship they start to build. I loved writing this one, I love Dan 💖

16. feed the boy (like and subscribe!)

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 2,663 words Completion Date: 04-21-2022 Notes: Phic Phight! Danny has to eat fear, and they find a fun way to do it. Involves pranking Wes and teenage shenanigans, which are always the best

17. my resistance was once much stronger (i can't go on like this much longer)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 2,694 words Completion Date: Started 10-23-2022, WIP Notes: this is one of the last pieces for the "this is the road to ruin" arc, the last big one. i'm very very excited to finish this

18. heaven's grief brings hell's reign

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo AguilarRating: T (eventually E) Total Word Count: 2,860 words Completion Date: Started 09-25-2022, WIP Notes: This fic has been fighting me forever, I wanted to finish it before the year was up but I did not. It's the smut. Soft smut is not my forte apparently

19. see the lightning in your eyes

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 2,964 words Completion Date: 04-27-2022 Notes: a phic phight prompt i LOVE. lost time my beloved 💖

20. you better promise me i'll be back in time

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 2,990 words Completion Date: Started 04-27-2022, WIP Notes: another phic phight, and this is one i'm so eager to continue. i've started chapter two, i just haven't finished it yet!

21. morning adrenaline rush

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 3,397 words Completion Date: 09-05-2022 Notes: A continuation of "i'm not okay (i promise)" that didn't fit in the story but I wanted to tell so badly

22. i tried hard to make it inside your arms alive

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 4,050 words Completion Date: 10-14-2022 Notes: ohhhhhh this one is so good. it's mateo's pov of what happens in "this is the road to ruin" at the end and... man. it's hard. it's very emo and i love it. good angst.

23. does anyone in this house knock?!

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 4,156 words Completion Date: 04-21-2022 Notes: a lovely Good Fenton Parents fic post-reveal from Phic Phight. i love this fic so much. the first one is soft and sad and sweet, and the second one is funny and sweet

24. new kinds of firsts

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 4,387 words Completion Date: 09-27-2022 Notes: Writing Danny and Mateo's first date after everything theyve been through was so much fucking fun. They're so cute and stupid, i love them

25. decaf to fenton, we have a problem

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 4,599 words Completion Date: 04-30-2022 Notes: I recently reread this fic from Phight and oh man. oh man it's good. and so funny.

26. sore loser

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: E Total Word Count: 5,024 words Completion Date: 09-30-2022 Notes: this is purely indulgent smut with zero plot whatsoever. i'm very proud of it. it's the first kinky thing i've posted which took a lot of courage. i worked on it for months before finally posting

27. four years, that's all you've got to endure

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 5,118 words Completion Date: 02-12-2022 Notes: Swore to the gods I wrote this in 2021... turns out i did not! i want to do more high school shenanigans with danny and the gang, but i gotta think up some first...

28. slip through my fingers

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Danny Phantom (Pitch Pearl) Rating: G Total Word Count: 6,356 words Completion Date: 11-20-2022 Notes: part three of the coffee shop au!! i love this one so much. the chase??? gods, i love that trope. i really need to finish the next part of this...

29. a christmas surprise

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 6,447 words Completion Date: Started 12-26-2022, WIPNotes: I am literally the worst at finishing holiday fics on time. a hallmark ghost light au i have YET to complete.

30. in the shadow of your heart

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 6,609 words Completion Date: Started 06-18-2022, WIP Notes: This is a self-indulgent Atlantis au i have also yet to finish. me?? starting fics i never finish??? neverrrr

31. when the nightmare fades

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T 2022 Word Count: 6,105 words Total Word Count: 7,014 words Completion Date: 05-26-2022 Notes: I started this way back in like. november of '21, when i started the series. but it took me six more months for canon to catch up so i could finish it. and the last three chapters changed so drastically from beginning to end... man. it feels like it took forever, but i really only took six months??? wild

32. longer than the song of the whippoorwill

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: E Total Word Count: 7,244 words Completion Date: 07-27-2022 Notes: this is the first smut of the series!! my favorite bookmark comment on the series actually relates to this one. its something like "the tags say there is pornfic. i do not see it. maybe ao3 is bugging. EDIT 7/27: FOUND IT!" it cracks me up every time. do they enjoy the pornfic or are they enraged??? i will never know also it's got actual plot in it so i was more comfortable posting it first than say... sore loser that has 0 plot and is literally just smutty

33. nine and a half lives

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 8,804 words Completion Date: 04-18-2022 Notes: THIS IS MY FAVORITE PHIC PHIGHT PROMPT EVER. KITTEN!DANNY. WHOEVER CAME UP WITH THAT (wait i thInk it was catmiint. my beloved.) IS THE BEST. IT ALSO HAS DOOFENSCHMIRTZ IN IT BECAUSE I COULDNT HELP MYSELF (yes u read that correctly. THAT doofenschmirtz)

34. against doctor's orders

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 9,976 words Completion Date: 07-14-2022 Notes: I also really love this one. kinda plot-adjacent but mostly Relationship Stuff, talking and smooching. it's great. i get to flesh out my other OCs too which is fun

35. i fought you for so long (i should have let you in)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Valerie Gray Rating: G Total Word Count: 11,740 words Completion Date: 04-07-2022 Notes: What's this?! a gray ghost fic?! yeah, its a phic phight prompt and i love it. its got some great textures, and it was a lot of fun to write in val's pov for a little bit

36. such a big, big world (and only the tools to deal with a tiny portion of it)

Pairing: None (hints at Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: G Total Word Count: 11,809 words Completion Date: 04-30-2022 Notes: big thanks to bib again for this title, it's literally one of my favorites. this whole thing is great, it's mostly the OCs talking about danny and his weirdness in the early school months. did i use phic phight to flesh out my au a little more?? yes, yes i did (and i'm sure annoyed people endlessly. oh well.)

37. hey, dad, look at me, did i grow up according to plan?

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 11,847 words Completion Date: 04-18-2022 Notes: good (learning) parents fenton!! this follows immediately after my version of phantom planet where danny only reveals himself to his parents, and this is their reactions. the kitchen chapter is my favorite.

38. wait til the day you finally see (i've been here waiting patiently)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/OC Tony, Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 11,958 words Completion Date: 10-23-2022 Notes: *vibrates out of my chair* this one is a whim fic (yes almost all 12k) bc of a weird throwaway line in an earlier fic and i couldnt help but make mateo a little jealous of tony. and then proceed to write 12, angsty, angsty k about it. that last chapter is so fucking good, yall can thank dream_trance for that one. its one of his ideas given extra spicy life

39. and they were history project partners

Pairing: None Rating: G Total Word Count: 17,278 words Completion Date: 04-30-2022 Notes: (i finished so many phics 4-30...) Dunno what it was about phic phight but I think i wrote two wes-related fics??? i either wrote Srs fics or Meme Fics, it seems. (wes is always a meme) but this one is one of my best. i also have a UFS version planned for. eventually. maybe.

40. quit telling everyone i'm (permanently) dead!

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: M Total Word Count: 23,607 words Completion Date: Started , WIP Notes: I AM SO MAD I DIDN'T FINISH THIS ONE BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. listen. i worked my ass off. but then the boys decided on drama, and then i went back to work.... i'm almost done though. only an extra 6k hanging around........ :sob:

41. it's just another day without you (and i can't sleep)

Pairing: eventual Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 37,175 words Completion Date: 01-29-2022 Notes: i'm SUPER proud of this one, especially because i fucked around with narrative stuff, but i think its too subtle to be noticeable... still love it tho.

42. i'm not okay (i promise)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: T Total Word Count: 38,838 words Completion Date: 05-08-2022 Notes: another proud baby. the culmination (kind of) of months of planning and many, many rewrites. i think i was working on this one in tandem with phic phight, actually...

43. this is the road to ruin (and we started at the end)

Pairing: Danny Fenton/Mateo Aguilar Rating: M Total Word Count: 88,917 words Completion Date: Notes: …my four biggest works can literally be summed up "i cause danny and mateo excessive amounts of angst and pain for fun." MY INVISOBANG. MY BELOVED. LOOK AT IT. I SPENT ALMOST NINE MONTHS ON THIS FUCKER. IT IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. I CAN SCREAM ABOUT THIS FOREVER. LOOK AT THAT WORD COUNT. literally one of the first fics i thought of for the au, and i posted it over a year later. (got the idea in sept. '21, i finished publishing like... two days shy of an exact year.)

Man... this last year was a WILD writing year. and this is just what i published. y'all should see my wips.

[murphy-kitt]

red in tooth and claw (that’s your fatal flaw) - Phic Phight 2022

Everyone finds out Wes was right in the worst way possible.

WC: 2054 words

AO3 Link

—

Everyone’s heard of the rumours Wes Weston spouts out by now. And to no surprise— no one believes a single word of what he says.

Phantom being Fenton? It’s absurd. How could never-hurt-a-fly Fenton be the town hero who’s face of bravery never seems to crumble, and faces foes three times his size? None of it makes sense.

“I don’t see anyone else crafting up any reasons why he disappears.” mumbles Wes to himself as he traipses down the corridor. Students passing beside him jauntily change their tread, eager to avoid him, alongside a dirty look which they think he can’t spot. He's not oblivious.

Yet everyone else in this school seems to be. He thinks, narrowing his eyes as he spots Fenton across the corridor clearly sticking his arm through his locker door, pulling a stash of jumbled books with it. Work that’s probably unfinished and weeks overdue.

How does no one ever notice it? The pseudo-human freak isn’t exactly subtle with it.

It’s become a sort of a desperate competition at this point – Wes himself trailing behind, trying his damndest to get proof of Fenton being Phantom, but to no avail, it never succeeds.

“One day, I’ll get you.” He mouths to Fenton, eyes narrowed. In response, the raven haired teen only grins one of his infuriating trademark smirks – looking identical to Phantom. Frustration builds up in Wes as he averts his gaze, fists clenched, trying not to outburst.

Can’t have his reputation diminished more than it already is.

God, Weston. Frustrated by a smirk. He feels his cheeks flush with embarrassment and turns around, slamming his locker door shut.

Sometimes Wes considers giving it all up. Why should he bother? The hours of research, the painstakingly scribbled notes, the amount of broken cameras he’s had to replace with what little money he does have. All for what?

Stupid pride – that’s what.

He knows it’s stupid, petty, immature, eveything under the sun. But the effort is far too gone to give up now. Even when Fenton can manage to infuriate him by just smirking across the corridors – not even throwing a stupid sarcastic quip – he’ll still persevere.

A few minutes later, Wes turns around. Surely Fenton’s gone by now.

Nope.

Piercing eyes stare at him from the other end of the corridor, unblinking, glistening green in a certain light. Fenton simply stands. Frozen on the spot. Nothing.

A chill prickles down his spine as the fourteen year old gathers his books off the floor, trying to ignore the toxic eyes staring at him like a hawk. Yet even though as he scrambles down the hallway, Wes can still feel the ominous, vehement stare fixate onto him.

Seconds later, he’s barely down the other end of the corridor to head to class when a familiar chill fills the air. Everyone else knows it too, from the way they freeze like rabbits, eyes darting around in panic.

No words need to be spoken.

Ghost attack.

He looks back to where Fenton originally was standing like a statue — and sure enough. Gone as if he was never there. All the other students have fled, now he’s the only one standing in the empty corridor.

In the distance, a chorus of shouts and thumps echo down the school, but the teenager ignores it.

Maybe now is his chance — to finally win. To finally set things straight and prove to Fenton — and Caspar High — that he’s not one big joke.

Heart pounding, he fumbles with the zip of his backpack, trying to retrieve the camera inside, silently pleading that this camera won’t be the sixth victim at Phantom’s hands.

“Don't panic, everyone! The Fenton’s are here!”

Suddenly, Jack Fenton’s voice booms down the corridor, the two Fenton’s are there as if they materialised from nothing, brandished in more weapons than an army base and their jumpsuits the oh so eye-bleeding colours that they are.

At exactly the same time that Phantom swoops down through the ceiling and lands in the corridor.

Wes doesn’t utter a word.

“Where’s the ghost?” Phantom mutters, curling in on himself as he glances around the corridor, the weak wimpy posture that Wes sees consistently on Fenton but never Phantom.

The atmosphere of the room chills. If Fenton—Phantom can’t sense the ghost — then they’re all doomed. Even if the Fenton’s have some weird tracker, at least Wes can rely on Fenton to be reliable.

By now, he’d think people would’ve figured out that Fenton—Phantom has some sort of built-in tracker from how fast he’s able to appear at a ghost attack. But none of them have ever figured out the whole “secret identity” thing, so he doubts it.

Strangely, the Fenton’s don’t look the tiniest bit concerned. Maybe they already know where the ghost is.

“It worked!” Maddie Fenton’s mouth splits into a grin as she beams up at Jack, both looking as if they’ve hit the jackpot.

“W—what?” Phantom stutters, floating midair with uncertainty.

“Did you think we didn’t notice?” queries Maddie, raising an eyebrow, taking a step towards Phantom, who flinches back.

For a split second, he wonders if they’ve cracked Fenton’s identity — but that can’t be it. They wouldn’t shoot their own flesh and blood.

…Right?

“Uh..didn’t notice what?” Phantom licks his lips, a hand making its way to rest at the nape of his neck. Yet again, another trait of Fenton leaks through to the ghost side.

”Oh come on ghost. Did you really think that we’re that stupid?” scoffs Jack.

”Well no, actually.” objects the ghost, “You’re the leading scientists in ectobiology. Except from some of your practices being a bit…questionable…you did make a functioning portal into the Ghost Zone. And the weapons all work effectively.”

"Don't be such a soft soap." Maddie scoffs, folding her arms, “We all know that’s just an act.”

Must be hard, having to act like they’re not his parents, ponders Wes. He’s never really thought about it — how both the older Fenton’s actively hunt Phantom, threaten him on a daily basis, sometimes even shoot him. Fenton has to deal with the idea that in his parents eyes — he’s something they hate.

Mainly, Wes’ focus has only ever been on ending the prolonged game of cat and mouse that him and Fenton have going. Once and for all.

“It’s…it’s true though! I want to help people! I want to protect Amity!” insists Phantom, green eyes narrowed towards both ghost hunters.

Unflinching from the onslaught of protests, Maddie steps forward cleanly.

“Liar!” she spits, barely metres away from the ghost who’s secretly her son. “You may have this whole town wrapped around your finger, but you’ll never convince me and Jack. Ghosts are monsters .”

With the ghost and hunter occupied, Wes can’t help but notice Jack retrieving something out of his jumpsuit pocket.

The ghost barely contains a second flinch, curling in on himself.

Ouch.

”What—what do you know?” Dejectedly, Phantom asks, head hung low, deliberately averting his gaze to the floor.

Probably so they can’t see the tears, Wes thinks.

Suddenly, the whirr of an ectogun sounds.

One second, Phantom’s floating, and the next he’s a smoking, pathetic heap on the floor, clutching at his chest. Green spatters on the floor.

Above him, Jack stands, the ectogun still smoking from the shot. He retrieves a second item from his pocket.

A tiny blob ghost, in an equally as tiny containment capsule. The tiny green blob squeaks lightly as Phantom’s eyes broaden in suprise.

”You…” stumbles the ghost, his breathing quickening as he clutches his chest, “I-I don’t get it.”

Worry begins to seep into Wes as he notices the worrying amount of unnatural green begin to pool onto the floor.

”We know you can sense ghosts.” shrugs Maddie, as if the ghost in front of her isn’t writhing in agony from the shot, “And what better way to lure you in with another ghost?”

”Why here?! Your kids go to this school! So many people!” spits the teenager ghost, eyes narrowed with malice.

”Don’t mention my children!” Maddie states coldly, “This is the area you frequent the most. There’s no one here, either.”

”But he’s your kid.” Wes can’t help but hiss under his breath, slamming his hand over his mouth in an instant. If they’d heard his remark…then Danny’s done for.

Three pairs of eyes stare at him like a hawk.

”Scram kid.” announces Jack, “This is ghost hunter business.”

Breath hitching — from the shock of the Fenton’s shooting their own son — Wes presses against his locker, attempting to slow his breathing. They’re gonna confront him, aren’t they?

If — if they’re capable of doing that to Danny…then…then what’ll they do to him?

You’re human, though. Fenton is a ghost — but also partially (?) human.

To his relief and suprise, they don’t do anything — simply turn around and face the wounded ghost — their son — on the floor.

“How do you think we should transport it, Mads?” asks Jack in hushed tones, leaning in closer to his wife.

”Carry it?” she inquests, then shakes her head, “No. We’d be seen.”

”I’d ‘preciate if I wasn't called ‘n it...” Phantom trails off, stealing a frantic glance towards Wes as he begins chattering, “I don’ think capturing me would be a very good idea. Uh…I…I think you’d regret it quite a bit — so if you could just…let me go? That’d be excellent also…”

“No.” Is the instant response.

”Ohhkay…” Phantom slurs off, trepidation clear in his sprawling figure, “..but don’ get scalpels…not much left to look anyway...” His hands gesture out sloppily into the bloodbath.

Wes wants to run up, wants to do something — intercept the Fenton’s, get Danny out of there. In the past, he’s never left an opportunity unturned, any type of rabbit hole he’ll dive right into. Any opportunity to reveal Fenton’s identity as Phantom — he’d take it in a heartbeat.

But now? His feet are glued to the floor. Unmoving.

Bile rises in his throat as the ginger haired teen notices the green liquid still pooling out onto the tiles like a waterfall, now a murky green and reddish mess. Had Fenton’s skin always been that pale — even as a ghost?

All of a sudden, Phantom’s body slumps to the floor limply, and Wes feels his heart drop to his chest.

Oh God no.

Edged with nervousness, he watches Maddie hesitantly bend down and poke the ghosts shoulder, before retracting her hand and wiping it on her HAZMAT with disgust.

”Out cold turkey.” whistles Jack, an impressed edge to his voice as he glances to the ectogun he’d shot the alleged town protector with, “Who new these new prototypes would be so effective? One shot and it’s down.”

Danny doesn’t move a muscle.

Horror flips in Wes’ stomach as an oh-so familiar halo of light appears around Danny’s stomach. The one thing to ignite Wes’ obsession — to reveal Danny’s identity.

Simultaneously, flounders of footsteps sound down the corridors. Students returning back to class.

The halo begins to split.

Maddie and Jack watch with morbid curiosity.

Students, hapless within the whole situation, also watch with a keen interest and concern for their hero.

What’s happening?

The halo spread and dissipates, leaving behind a chorus of horrified gasps, and the limp human body of someone who’s familiar to them all.

Jack and Maddie’s stricken glances can’t be missed. The clatter of the ectogun to the group. Maddie’s bleary face. The naive squeals of the blob ghost in its container.

Clamouring students mulling with confusion. Some pointing with horror. The jumble of horrified remarks and gossip becomes one tangled mess.

He remains silent. All this time — all this time he’d wanted this. To win against Danny and his stupid taunting and finally prove that he was right. To end the torment of not being believed, the strange glances, everything.

Once he won the game, everything would be better.

Better for him.

And what — what about Danny? He’d never thought.

And here it is — Wes has what he’s always wanted. To win. To be proven right.

But — but not like this.

As he remains fixated on the bloody and battered body of Danny Fenton splayed on the floor, Wes begins to think that maybe this was never meant to be a competition.

[charcoalhawk]

Breaking My Bones, Following Ghosts

Written for Phic Phight 2022!

Prompts by @deuynndoodles and @bibliophilea

“Sam finds true crime fascinating, and likes to pull Tucker on the couch next to her while they learn about how another serial killer got locked up. Today's episode is on Danny Fenton's unsolved disappearance.”

“Wes decides to create a podcast investigating all the strangeness of Amity Park. His first episode centers around Danny Fenton.”

Beta’ed by the amazing @dykesville, thank you again for all the help!

Title taken from Friday Breakfast Club’s “Breaking My Bones”

Summary: Of all the mysteries that haunt Amity Park, Danny Fenton’s disappearance is the one most people remember.

The two of them are camped out in Sam’s nice apartment, sprawled out on the two new couches her parents insisted on getting her and eating a half-meat-lover's-half-vegetarian pizza. It’s the first weekend in months where neither of them has any college or job obligations and they are determined to spend it doing absolutely nothing productive.

It’s Sam who brings it up, going down a list of things they’ve been wanting to do together but haven’t had the time for between the spring semester and part-time jobs. Tucker’s was out of necessity, as his love of tech had left him low on spending money, while Sam had simply wanted to spite her parents, who insisted that she was above “menial labor.”

“So no weekend camping trips?”

“Sam, neither of us even owns a tent. And we would get lost so fast.”

“No amusement parks nearby, no town festivals…”

“We’d get sick of the crowds in an hour. Besides, aren’t we trying to avoid spending our money?”

“Are you going to shoot down all my fun ideas?” she huffs. “Well… how about we listen to this true crime podcast Valerie told me about?”

That… doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Tucker hasn’t talked to Valerie much since graduation, but she and Sam had remained remarkably close considering how prickly their relationship had been in the beginning. Which in itself made sense, considering…well, everything. Sam put a lot of value into life, even the un-life that ghosts existed in, and Valerie didn’t.

“Valerie’s got decent taste,” Tucker concedes, shifting so he can look over Sam’s shoulder to her phone where she’s scrolling for something. “When did she get into true crime, though? She always hated it in high school.”

“Apparently, this one is about good old Amity Park,” Sam reads, fiddling with her phone before reaching to turn on the TV sat across from them, navigating through the dozen or so streaming services her parents were paying for. “You remember Wes Weston?”

Tucker makes what he hopes is an appropriately disbelieving expression. Everyone at Amity High–hell, probably everyone in Amity Park–knew Wes Weston. He had been popular enough to not get picked on by the A-listers, with a wide variety of interests that brought him close to just about everyone…

“Welp, this is his,” Sam continues. “It’s supposed to be about all the freaky shit that started happening in Amity Park while we were in high school. The first episode is on Danny Fenton’s disappearance.”

…but what he’d been best known for had been being best friends with a kid who had gone missing five months before the three of them started high school. Danny Fenton. Wes had been distraught, and insistent that he would get a job as a “paranormal private investigator” and help solve Danny’s disappearance.

Neither Tucker nor Sam had been particularly close with Danny, but from what little Tucker remembered, he’d been a sweet kid. Absolutely loved space, and could somehow turn any discussion around to talking about space exploration or different planets.

The Fentons had come under heavy fire in the beginning for the disappearance of their son. Especially when it was revealed that it had been their supposed “ghost portal” that had led to the fire, and then to Danny’s disappearance.

Danny Fenton is an untold mystery if Tucker’s ever heard one, yet nonetheless, he finds himself skeptical. “Really? Valerie told you about this?” he asks. “I thought she hated all of Wes’s theories on it. Considering her, uh, ‘after-school activities’ over the years.”

And by “after-school activities,” Tucker of course meant fighting ghosts. He still remembered the first time he saw Valerie truly fight a ghost, a knight that had attacked the school on Halloween their freshman year. He and Sam had both been inspired to try and fight as well after that, but Valerie had only had the time to train them on the basics, and both of them had felt reluctant to reach out to the Fentons, even when they started offering to train others.

Valerie had always hated thinking of ghosts as people, and Wes’ insistence on talking to ghosts instead of fighting them had caused the biggest rift in the entire high school. To Tucker’s knowledge Valerie still had reservations about thinking of ghosts as people, especially dead people, but she and Sam had come to a middle ground somewhere in their senior year. Valerie and Wes, on the other hand, still had screaming matches in the hallways all the way up to graduation. Her endorsing anything from him was big.

“She did. She still kinda does. But she said Wes did a good job. Lays out fact and fiction, doesn’t glorify the whole thing like some true crime ‘investigators’ would.”

“Well, at least that’s something. But are you sure you really want to listen to this? I’m sure we could find one of those trashy ones with the two billion sound effects and rip into it easily.”

Sam returns his disbelieving look from earlier. “Yeah I’m sure! Those other ones get boring fast.

“Besides, don’t you want to know what actually happened? The last part of our senior year was weighed down with the revelation that he, that his body had finally been found, but no one ever actually told us what happened or where.”

He shrugs, rubbing his arm before reaching out to take the last slice of meatlover’s. “It’s…weird.”

The pizza is just on the tail end of being warm, not cold-stiff, but the cheese has congealed just a bit. Sam watches him eat, a critical look on her face. “I don’t get it, Tuck,” she says. “We practically lived in a horror movie for four years. We’ve fought ghosts, for crying out loud. What’s got you so rattled?”

“I–It’s nothing!” He protests. It’s unconvincing, but he tries again anyway. “I just–this isn’t some mystery from fifty years ago about someone we’ve never met. We knew this kid. We knew Danny.”

“I know,” Sam says, speaking slowly, her eyes still carefully locked on his. “And you’re acting like Danny is something scary.”

Tucker opened his mouth. Closed it again.

“You know what, I’ll be fine. I don’t know–it was just getting to me. Start it up.”

______________________

Hey, this is Wes Weston and you’re listening to my new podcast, “Phantoms of Amity Park.”

Here I intend to lay out the many mysteries surrounding my own hometown of Amity Park, the most haunted place on earth. Keep in mind that while these are firsthand accounts, I’m not here to debate the logistics of ghosts being real. I've seen them, talked to them— hell, I’ve fought with and against them, as have many other residents. So please, if you're listening to this just to laugh at people getting duped by shitty tourist traps, I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place. I’ve got accounts ranging from ghost dogs that follow you home to amulets that made you as angry as a dragon, fire-breathing included.

For this first episode I wanted–no. I needed to focus on a more serious case. I’ll try to sprinkle in some humor here and there, but will remain a bit more grave than my future episodes. The events that I’m about to describe contain some graphic content so please, keep that in mind. I’d also please ask that no one attempt to contact the family I will be talking about today. I reached out to them when I decided to cover this unfortunate event and have their permission to discuss what happened, but please, leave them alone.

With that disclaimer out of the way, I'll give you all some background. Amity Park is a small town located in northern Illinois, surrounded as far as the eye can see by trees, trees, and, oh yeah, more trees. The population sits around five thousand living residents, and our ghostly neighbors can sit anywhere between fifty and five hundred depending on the day.

At approximately 9:00 pm on April 3rd, 2003, a power surge originated from Fenton Works on Main Street, a private ghost research center and home of the Fenton family. The surge cut power to a third of the city and ignited a fire at the same residence. The city’s already-limited police and medical services stretched themselves thin to deal with multiple vehicle incidents caused by loss of power and the now-roaring fire happening at Fenton Works. After a tumultuous three hours, power was finally restored and the fire put out. Three residents of the house had been evacuated early on and were treated for minor burns and smoke inhalation, but the fourth individual who should have been present in the house could not be located.

That individual was fourteen year old Danny Fenton.

After the ruins of Fenton Works had gone cold and firefighters could search the rubble, it was soon discovered that the origin of the power surge, and by consequence the fire, was a large contraption located in the Fentons' basement that they referred to as a “ghost portal.” At the time, Danny Fenton’s disappearance taking precedence, the nature of the “ghost portal” was a relative nonconcern. Well, residents of Amity Park would soon learn exactly what this device could do, but that is a story for another day.

After no evidence of Danny could be found inside the Fenton residence, neighbors were all interviewed to ascertain whether he might have snuck out of the house before the power surge, without his parents’ knowledge. But no one remembered seeing anyone leave the house before the start of the fire. Keep in mind that this was 2003, and most kids did not yet have mobile phones.

As the hours drew on and Danny could not be located, residents were soon swept into a panic. For as great a tragedy as it would have been for a kid to die in a house fire, for there to be nothing, no body at all, was even more terrifying. Surrounding neighborhoods were checked over with a fine toothed comb, and once the wreckage was no longer dangerous, police gathered personal belongings to hopefully find a scent trail.

But none was ever found. It was as if Danny Fenton had just up and vanished.

The Fentons were interviewed extensively, especially the parents, Madeline and Jack, as it came to light that the two had been spending more and more time on their obsession with ghosts, leaving many to wonder whether young Danny might have run away in order to garner his parents' attention.

Theories of what had happened ranged from the benign to the gruesome, but no evidence of Danny’s death in or outside of the Fenton house was ever found.

As the years dragged on the case stayed cold, the town was forced to worry about the more present problem of ghosts lurking about. But because of the nature of our new guests, and the fact that their arrival coincided with Danny Fenton’s departure, his case was never forgotten.

Many people, including myself, wondered if one day we would see a little ghost fly who seemed too familiar, and the less hostile ghosts were asked if they could keep an eye out for a little black haired boy who wanted to be an astronaut.

On April 3rd, 2007, four years to the day after Danny Fenton disappeared from his home the same night as a devastating fire broke out, he was finally found.

Alicia Walker is Madeline Fenton’s older sister, and lives around six hundred miles away from Amity Park in rural Arkansas. While out checking the perimeter of her property that morning she found the body of a young boy, and immediately recognized him as her nephew, Danny Fenton.

It was deduced by the coroner that at the time the body was discovered, Danny had been dead less than twenty-four hours, having passed away due to heart failure caused by an electric shock. His left arm was covered in the spiderweb fractals of Lichtenberg scars, and it was believed the shock entered from there.

The Fentons were called as soon as the body was identified, and later that evening local news reporter Lance Thunder announced to Amity Park at large the finding and identification of Danny’s body.

Now, you eagle eyed viewers may have noticed that this case is still labeled as unsolved even though Danny’s body was found and identified. This is because there remains little to no evidence about the disappearance itself, and still less about where Danny spent his last four years.

This is for a few key reasons, the most striking of which is that the body found was that of fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton, not an eighteen year old one.

This single thing has confounded any theory into what could have happened. Whether Danny died that night or didn’t, he should not still physically have been fourteen years old. There was no wear and tear on his clothing nor his body to suggest decay for any period of time. Rigor mortis having only just set in when the body was found, further confirming that he had only died in the previous twenty four hours.

In the end I cannot offer any single concrete theory into what exactly happened to Danny Fenton. And this fact has…eaten away at me, every night since the night that I’d thought he had died, only to find out four years later that I was wrong. Four years later, and still one day too late to save him.

If you liked this, or at least found it interesting enough to not turn it off within the first five minutes, then stick around for episode 2: the mystery of Amity High’s, well, everything.

[going-dead]

Angel of Death

A03 

PhicPhight 22 prompt by @kiinotasha Wing AU: It started with an itch that never seemed to go away. ( He can have them in both forms or just one )

I thought It’d be funny if he only had the wings in his human form 

Danny felt like he deserved to be pretty annoyed at the moment. To be fair, he felt like that a lot. Between the pitiful amount of sleep he tended to get and ghosts thinking it would be fun to attack the city in the middle of class, he felt like he had the right to be annoyed as often as he wanted. The current cause of his annoyance was that he was attacked by a ghost. As Danny Fenton. Right in front of his parents.  

Now he had been stuck at home for the past four days, and would continue to be until he was healed. Of course he was already pretty healed, a big thank you to ghost healing, but a normal human would still be in quite a lot of pain for the next few weeks. Not like he could explain away why he could walk away somewhat fine from the same attack that had put a Danny sized dent in the GAV. At this point he just had a few bruised ribs, which still hurt, but nowhere near the pain he would be in if they were broken.

Unfortunately healing from being thrown back into an armored vehicle apparently itched like hell. It was by far the most tortuous feeling he had ever felt in his life, and he remembered how dying felt. Was he being overly dramatic? Probably, but he couldn't ever seem to scratch at his back enough for the itching to subside. It didn’t help that he could only try to scratch the itch when his parents weren't around since he had to phase through the layer of bandages that were wrapped around his torso. Part of him wished the ghost that attacked didn’t manage to get away before his parents could apprehend it. Not really, but he was super uncomfortable. He at least hoped that Sam and Tucker waited a while before returning it to the Ghost Zone after the two of them hunted it down, the ghost at least deserved to be cramped for a while in the thermos as retribution. 

His parents would be back  home soon, they were picking up some antibiotics and bandages from the store. He had to enjoy his alone time when he got it, his parents were hovering around him constantly now worried if he so much as had to pick up a pillow he’d break. It’d probably be at least another week until they let him go back to school even with restrictions. 

Two weeks off of school should make him happy but he was already falling behind as it was. Not to mention being in school ment not being around his parents. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to hide his half ghost status when they were paying so much attention to him now. Beforehand they’d leave him alone for the most part, trusting him to be able to take care of his own basic necessities, but now he could hardly brush his own teeth by himself. He couldn’t even confide in Jazz since she was off at college three hours away.

He heard his parents walk through the door and resided himself to once again being overcoddled. “Danny, it's time to change out your dressing.” His mom called over to him. 

He made a show of slowly sitting up from where he was laying on the couch. He did accidentally bump against his side causing him to flinch, they may not be broken anymore but bruised ribs certainly don’t feel great. The hope that his parents didn’t see him flinch were dashed as his mom made her way over to him, her hands hovering over him like she was trying to help him up without actually touching him.  “Oh my poor baby, don’t worry by the time we finish changing out your bandages you’ll be due for your next round of pain meds.” 

Danny didn’t like seeing his mom worry so much, but it’s not like he could tell her he’s dealt with worse without making her worry even more. “I’m fine really, just sore. Honestly I think my back itching is the worst part.” He grumbled. 

His mom nodded. “Well your back did get pretty torn up, it’s to be expected. Hopefully the antibiotic cream and changing the bandages helps at least a little bit. Now come sit in one of the chairs at the table.” 

Just then Danny realized a problem, his mom was about to see his back. His mostly healed back, that shouldn’t be even close to the state it was currently in. “Oh it’s fine, I can do it myself.”

His mother leveled him with an unimpressed look. “Danny you wouldn't be able to properly reach your back normally, let alone with broken ribs.:

“I can figure it out.”

“Danny. Sit. Now.” 

Danny sighed as large as he comfortably could and made his way to the dining table and sat sideways on one of the chairs so his back was easily accessible. Maybe she wouldn't think anything was wrong. She had her doctorate in science not in medicine after all. Even if she did notice he couldn’t see any weapons visible on her, so he’d have at least a few seconds to make a break for it before she activated the ones in her suit. 

He held his breath as bandages were unwound revealing more and more of his back. Halfway though he felt her stop. “That’s strange… Jack, come here for a second!” 

“Mom, trust me I can explain, I-” He said, turning back towards her.

“Don’t move so much, you're going to hurt yourself more.” She said. She gently probed his back with a finger. Danny couldn’t help but wiggle a bit in discomfort, she was poking right where the itch was the strongest. He reached back to try to itch it himself but his hand was slapped away. “I mean it Danny, stop moving. There’s a lot of swelling here, and it looks like two of these lacerations aren’t healing right.” 

“Yes Mads?” His dad asked, poking his head into the kitchen. “Oh that looks pretty ugly.”

“Yes, it does. I don’t want to keep prodding at them with bare hands, it could cause an infection, if it isn’t already infected. Could you grab me a pair of the sterile gloves from the lab while I finish taking off the rest of the bandaging?” She asked.

His dad nodded and left just as quickly as he appeared. His mom continued unwinding the bandages. He was suddenly hit with a thought. What if they figured it out and were trying to keep him from catching on so he didn’t run away, his mom could be activating the weapons in her  suit this very second.  He quickly looked behind him where she was now simply examining his back having finished taking off the bandages, no weapons in sight. He tried his best to suppress a pained gasp from the sudden movement.

She ran a hand down her face. “Danny what did I just tell you? You’re going to aggravate your injuries if you keep this up. Is something wrong?” She moved in front of him and bent down to be eye level with him and seemed to examine his face. 

Danny briefly wondered if enough fear could trigger his eyes to change color similar to how anger could. It took all of his willpower not to turn invisible under his mothers piercing gaze.  “Danny, your father and I both know there is something you’ve been hiding from us for a while now.” This is it, this is where Danny Fenton fully died, his parents finishing the job that their portal failed to do. “We also know that you’ll tell us if or hopefully when you’re ready. But neither of us want you to suffer whatever you may be going through alone if you don’t have to. We’re here for you no matter what, just remember that, okay?” Wait what? 

Maybe he should just tell her now. She wouldn’t try to kill him right after saying all that, not right away at least. “I’m-” 

“Found the gloves!” His dad yelled out reentering the room. 

“Thank you dear.” She said standing up straight and taking the gloves. She quickly put them on and was once again standing behind Danny. 

She still used a very light touch while prodding around the inflamed area. “Let me know if anything hurts too much. What was it you were about to say before?”

He supposed it was now or never, worse case scenario he uses the fact they think he’s more injured than he is to his advantage then makes a break for it to Jazz’s college and lives out of her apartment for the rest of his half life. Hopefully her roommate doesn't mind. “Just promise to keep an open mind okay?”

“Are you coming out of the closet? You don’t have to worry about that, you’ve been talking about the girls and boys you found cute since you were a tyke.” His dad laughed.

Danny could feel his face heat up. “No, it’s not that! I- I mean you’re not wrong but that’s not what I was trying to say.”

“Leave him alone Jack, he’s clearly having a hard enough time as it is.” She chastised her husband, still examining Danny’s back. “Go on, we’re listening.” 

“Well you remember that accident with the  portal?” It had been almost a year and a half since then.  

“Yes I certainly do, gave us quite the scare when you came up saying it gave you a shock and was now working.” His mom said.

“We were worried you’d have to be hospitalized like Vladdy was back in college. We weren’t even mad that you ignored the basic lab safety we taught you about wearing your hazmat suit around that much ectoplasm, we were just glad you were okay.” His dad added.

Oh dear. “Well, I wasn’t exactly… what you would call okay. And I did wear my hazmat suit actually,” He defended himself, “it’s probably the reason I’m only half ghost and not a full one.” That wasn’t exactly the way he wanted to tell them that, oops. Before he could explain himself further he felt his mom tug on something on his back and his world went black. 

Waking up Danny fully expected to be strapped to some sort of experiment table. So it was a pleasant surprise to wake up in his bed, he was confused on how he got there, and why he was lying face down since he was a back sleeper . His phone went off alerting him of a message  he blindly reached for his phone still groggy from sleep. There was a loud thud then the sound of his lamp crashing to the floor. That was weird, he shouldn’t be able to reach his lamp from where he was laying, let alone with enough force to send it flying. 

It only took him a few more seconds to realize it wasn't his arm that knocked the lamp down, because both of his arms were currently pinned underneath him with how he was laying. He scrambled out of bed, his legs getting caught in his blanket. Momentarily forgetting he could float he fell to the ground, before hitting the ground he realized the fall seemed slower than it should have been. Still hurt though. 

The large thud must have alerted his parents of him being awake as they both came running through the door. “Oh  thank goodness you’re awake. Your dad wanted to take you to the hospital, but I didn’t think you’d want that with the state you’re in.” His mom ran over to him trying to help him off the floor. 

Danny wasn’t quite sure what she meant by the state he was in, he actually felt pretty okay. The itching had finally stopped. He was about to ask what she meant but he caught sight of a large black shape off to his side before he could. He quickly turned towards it but it seemed to move with him staying just in his peripheral. After a bit of squirming he managed to catch sight of it, well of them. Two large black wings that had a slight sheen to them. 

It took almost a minute for him to fully realize they were not just randomly floating in his room but were attached to him. “What the-”

“Language young man.” His mom interrupted him.

“I think this is an acceptable time in my life to swear. I randomly gained two new appendages.” Danny pointed out. “Why are they so big?” “For flight probably.” His dad said. 

Danny threw his hands in the air. The wings, his wings, followed suit extending out and up. “I can already fly!”

“So you didn’t know this was going to happen?” His mom asked.

“If I knew this was going to happen I would have tried to stop it.” Danny huffed. 

His mom hummed, tapping her chin. “You passed out on us before we could ask any questions, but maybe this is a ghost puberty thing?”

“How many humanoid ghosts with wings do you see around mom?” 

She shrugged. “Maybe a half ghost puberty thing?”

Danny thought about Vlad who was definitely past puberty and definitely did not have wings. “No, I can safely say it is most likely not. Also you are taking the half ghost revelation very well.” 

His dad gave his mom a look before speaking. “Not really. We called Jazzie while you were asleep and she helped calm us down a bit. We definitely have questions. But those can wait until we know you’re okay.” 

“We were expecting you to have some knowledge on the wing situation actually. But you don’t know anything?” His mom asked.

Danny shook his head.  He never heard of any ghost, or human, randomly sprouting wings before. He might be able to talk to Frostbite about it, or maybe Clockwork or Pandora. He doubted his parents would let him go off into the ghost zone by himself anytime soon though. Not with how they’d been hovering over him, and now that they knew of his status as a halfa. 

“No matter we can figure this all out as a family!” His dad clapped his hands together.  “We can go down to the lab and run some tests.”

Danny could feel his wings puff up behind him, both of his parents eyed them. “It would just be some light testing since you’re still injured. Or we could just not do any if you don’t feel comfortable.” His mom said.

On one hand it would be helpful to figure out where the wings came from, and why they appeared. On the other hand being experimented on by his parents in their lab was literally a recurring nightmare of his. Weighing the pros and cons he relented. “Fine.” He could see his parents perk up. “But no ghost experiments. You can ask some questions, but I have the right to deny answering any of them. I just want to figure out the wing thing, and get rid of them if possible.” His parents seemed to deflate a little bit at the mention of not getting to run tests on his ghostly side, but at least they seemed to respect his wishes. 

Getting down to the lab was an interesting experience. His center of balance was all off and he kept tripping over himself. Not to mention the fact that his new limbs seemed to knock into everything. After trying to go down the stairs into the lab he ended up giving up and just turned intangible and sunk down through the floor. 

His parents stared at him once he landed in the lab, before shakingthemelves out of the shock of seeing their son appear out of the ceiling. “Do you have other ghost powers too?” his dad asked.

Danny nodded his head. “Yeah, pretty much all of the basics.” “Fascinating.” His dad replied. “Alright we’ll need a few things from you Danny.”

They ended up down in the lab for around two hours, running various tests. Studying one of his feathers under a microscope, taking a sample of his blood (Which made him a bit uncomfortable), they even took an x-ray of the wings. Danny didn’t even know they had an x-ray machine. In the end it was pretty fruitless though, they were no closer in figuring out why then when they started. They did find that the feathers had traces of ectoplasm in them, but that was probably just from him being a halfa, his blood did too. Looks like he was going to have to sneak into the Ghost Zone to try to get answers after all. 

“You’ll probably have to start some sort of form of physical therapy. It’s a shame we couldn’t figure out where they came from though.” His mom sighed.

“What? Why would I need to do that?” Danny asked.

“You don’t have any control over those wings yet. You have to learn how to use them like you would with any other body part. Build up their strength.” His mom explained. 

“I never had to learn how to use my arms or legs, why do I have to with wings?” 

His mom gave him a look like she was talking to a young child. “Danny what do you think learning to crawl and walk is? Or how to hold things properly.”

Okay maybe she had a point. It didn’t mean he had to like it though. It was hard enough to learn his powers when he got them, and now that he felt like he had a good handle on the whole ghost thing a whole new issue popped up. He was sick of it. At least his parents knew now, one less thing to worry about.

The next few days passed by quickly. His parents would run through various simple wing exercises with him. Stretching them out as far as he could then bringing them in close, fanning them back and forth, lifting them high then lowering them as much as he could, moving one and keeping the other still, etc.. Somewhere in between everything he did manage to sneak away to the ghost zone while his parents slept. An interesting discovery he made was that the wings weren't there as Phantom, he only had them as a human.

He went to Frostbite first, but the Yeti was just as confused as Danny. He went to Clockwork next, who burst out laughing at the sight of the miffed teen who appeared at the entrance of his clock tower.

“It’s not funny.”

“It’s a little funny.” Clockwork said. The only reason Danny didn’t try to lunge at the ghost right there and then was he’d feel at least a little bad about strangling someone who currently had the face of a toddler. 

“Do you know what’s going on or not?” 

Clockwork cleared his throat. “I have an idea, yes. Your human form most likely mutated due to excess exposure to ectoplasm and having nowhere to expel it. It was probably triggered by you entering a fight or flight response but unable to properly respond to it due to your parents being nearby. While your ghost form wasn’t affected since it is constantly using ectoplasm to stay stable.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Vlad has a constant exposure doesn’t he? He didn’t grow any extra limbs.” Danny said.

Clockwork pulled a face at the mention of Vlad. “He also didn’t get hit with nearly as much ectoplasm as you did during your transformation. He also didn’t have constant exposure to ectoplasm during his formative years, like you did due to your parents’ career. Though his hair color did change if I recall correctly.”  

“Great, Vlad went prematurely grey, while I’m stuck with two giant inconveniences.”  Danny grumbled. “Is there really nothing to do to get rid of them?” Clockwork shook his head. “No, not unless you feel like amputating them. Even then they may just grow back unless you increase how much ectoplasm you use on a daily basis. It would have to be quite a bit of it as well.”

Well that wasn’t fair. Not like he could just go around using his powers all the time to keep his ectoplasm levels below a certain point. He also didn’t like the sound of amputation. How would they even explain that to a doctor? 

So Danny returned home before his parents could wake up and realize he was gone. Another thing that sucked with his new wings is that he couldn’t sleep on his back anymore. He was now stuck sleeping on either his side or stomach. Though his wings did make a soft blanket when he wrapped them around himself. 

Eventually a week passed and Danny’s parents decided it was time for him to go back to school. They figured enough time passed since his injury that it seemed reasonable enough for him to go back now. He’d still have restrictions on what he could do in public to keep his secret safe. But he was fully healed now. The main problem with going back to school was his wings. 

He had accepted he was going to have to live with them at this point but he had no idea how he’d explain it to everyone at school. Hell he hadn't even told Sam and Tucker yet. He briefly entertained the idea of turning them invisible and intangible when he was out in public. But it required too much focus to do both with just one part of his body and he would be bound to slip up sooner or later. Especially if he was focused on his schoolwork, or if he was too tired after a night of ghost hunting. Eventually he and his parents decided they would just end up telling a half truth and say it was due to how much ectoplasm he was hit with when that ghost attacked. His parents already called the school to inform them about his two new situations so the teachers all already knew, but he was not looking forward to explaining it to his classmates. 

It turned out even with all the training he did at home walking through a crowded school hallway was not easy. Even with them pulled in as close to his back as he could get them they still stuck out past his sides. People generally seemed to be clearing the way for him which was nice but with all the stares he was getting made him uncomfortable. He couldn’t reach his classroom soon enough.

There were only a few other students in the class when he entered which he was grateful for. Mr. Lancer binked at him a few times before he seemed to remember the conversation he had with Danny’s parents. “You’ll have to sit in the back of the class from now on Mr. Fenton.” 

That was understandable, his wings would definitely block the sight of whoever was behind him. Mr. Lancer didn’t seem too happy about it though, he tended to have Danny sit at the very front of the class to keep an eye on him. He made his way to the back of the classroom and sat down at his new desk, positioning so his wings draped behind the back of the chair. They brushed against the ground and suddenly Danny was grateful for sitting in the back where they were less likely to be accidentally stepped on.  

Sam and Tucker walked into the classroom together both zeroing in on Danny at the same time. He could see the realization hit both of them as they looked him over before quickly making their way over to him. 

“Dude you get taken out of school because you get bodied by a ghost and you come back with wings?” Tucker said when they got to his desk. 

“Yeah apparently get exposed to enough ectoplasm and your body can kinda just decide to add a few things to itself.” Danny shrugged.

“You could totally be a superhero! Like Angel from the X-Men!” Tucker smiled.

“He already is a superhero idiot.” Sam rolled her eyes “Do you know what kind of wings they are?”

“We think they’re raven wings, or at least that’s the closest we could find.” Danny said, extending his wings a bit to show them off more. 

Sam chuckled, which was basically a full blown laughing fit for her. “That’s ironic.”

“Why? Because it’s our school mascot?” Danny asked.

Sam rolled her eyes. “No stupid. Ravens symbolize death in most places. And you’re you know.” 

“Great, not like people don’t already find me weird as it is. Just had to slap on ‘omen of death’ in there as well.” Danny slumped down, his wings lowering with him.

“Nah, I think it’s cool. Like a dark angel look going on. We just have to get you some black robes.” Sam said. 

“I appreciate it Sam but you’re not exactly a good judge of what others find normal.” Danny said, gesturing up and down at his friend.

“I’m a great judge of what people find normal.” Sam huffed. “I just don’t agree with it.” 

The bell rang signaling the two to go find their own seats towards the front of the class. The first two periods went by as normally as they could, it was third period that he was dreading. Neither Sam or Tucker shared the class with him, and it was the first one he shared with Dash.  It was gym class. 

He changed into his gym shorts quickly. He had to leave his normal shirt on, they hadn't gotten around to tailoring all of his shirts yet to have opening for his wings yet. It wasn’t like he would be doing any physical activity anytime soon. Everyone thought he still had broken ribs. He quickly left the locker room before anyone else entered. 

Ms. Tetslaff waved him over before he could go anywhere else. “Fenton, you'll be with me for the time being. Being injured doesn’t mean you can slack off in my class. You’ll be doing what you can to help improve your health okay?”

“Yes ma’am.” Danny said only half listening. He was more focused on keeping an eye out for Dash. He doubted the other boy would try to do anything in front of  a teacher, especially when it was known he was injured, but he still wanted to be able to know where he was generally. 

Soon enough Dash walked into the gym Kwan trailing behind him laughing, presumably at a joke Dash told from the smirk on his face. The smirk turned into more of a snarl when he spotted Danny, and Danny could feel his own face twist into a frown. The snarl on Dash’s face didn’t last longer than a few seconds before morphing into a more unsure look before he quickly turned away and walked towards the other side of the gym.

“Calm down there kid, you’ll wack someone.” Ms. Tetslaff said as she carefully ducked around Danny’s wings. Which were currently expanded to their full length and raised up into the air, a threat display.

Danny quickly brought them close to his body again. He’d have to keep a better check of his emotions until he can get enough muscle memory in his wings to keep them still without thinking. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Ms. Tetsleff waved him off. “We started the weight training unit while you were out, obviously you can’t lift more than a few pounds right now safely so you’ll be doing some basic stretches and walking laps for the time being. Your parents also mentioned getting you to do wing exercises.” She paused. “I don’t know much about that so I’ll let you figure those out if you’d please.” 

Danny figured he should be glad for once about ghost attacks in Amity, they really made most of its citizens desensitized to some of the oddest situations. A winged teenager was weird, but no weirder than the ghost of an old lady who controls foodstuffs, or a ghost who overshadows your computer if you click the wrong link on a sketchy website. 

So gym went on with surprisingly no issues. As did the rest of the day. Then one day turned to two, then two turned to a week, and a week turned to two months of living with wings. 

Eventually people got used to Danny needing a bit more space in the halls and stopped staring at him through the day. He still struggled with keeping his wings still during class. Cluing people in for how he was feeling for the day.

They made a lot of progress with training Danny to use his wings. He was able to consistently stay in the air now. He still had trouble with taking off from the ground instead of a tall starting point. But that wasn’t a super big problem when he could fly perfectly fine without his wings. But he found flying with them felt more alive than flying with ghost powers. It was nice feeling the air currents run through his feathers, even if he could only fly a short amount of time still without getting tired. 

All things considered things were going pretty well. There hadn't even been any big ghost attacks since he had gotten his wings. Mostly just the Box Ghost causing issues, or Johnny 13 and Kitty bothering people when the two of them left the Ghost Zone for dates. Of course the moment he mentioned that to Sam and Tucker, who were currently  over at his house, the city’s ghost alarm went off. 

“ATTENTION AMITY PARK CITIZENS PLEASE TAKE COVER AT YOUR NEAREST GHOST SHELTER AND STAY INSIDE. A LEVEL SEVEN GHOST HAS BEEN SPOTTED NEAR THE NASTY BURGER. ALL CIVILIANS IN THE AREA SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.”

The message continued to play on repeat throughout the city. He just had to say something, didn't he. Oh well, his semi peaceful life could only last so long. “Guess I should go take care of it. You guys can finish the movie if you want, hopefully this doesn’t take too long.” 

“Be safe, bird boy.” Tucker said. Sam just waved her hand in his general direction. 

“Gee nice to know I’m loved, guys.” Danny rolled his eyes and headed downstairs, he left the thermos down in the lab from the last time he emptied it back into the Ghost Zone. 

He was just about to transform before his mom stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going? There is a ghost out there rampaging.” 

Danny looked to his thermos then back to his mom then held it up for her to see. “Yeah. I know. That’s where I’m going.” 

“Danny I appreciate you taking an interest in our career, but a level seven ghost is not the place to start with ghost hunting, ghost powers or no. They are no jokes, even your father and I struggle quite a bit with anything above a level six.” 

Danny was a bit confused, according to their latest files Phantom was around a level eight. They’ve also seen Phantom take down numerous high level ghosts so he didn’t really know why she was so worried about him. Then it hit him. 

He never told his parents he was Phantom. He was still pretty hesitant to talk a bunch about his powers around them in the beginning and it seemed it slipped his mind to tell them he even had a ghost form.  How awkward. Well no time like the present he supposed. “Yeah, about that…”  He quickly transformed and flew past her and headed towards the Nasty Burger ignoring her shouts of protest once she got over her shock. 

It was weird realizing he missed the feeling of his wings every time he transformed recently.  But there was no time to dwell on it, his ghost sense went off letting him know he was getting close. So did the large plumes of smoke he could see in the distance. He sped up, better end this quickly before his mom gets the idea to chase after him and put herself in unnecessary danger. 

He found the attacking ghost easily. It was practically the size of a semi truck, wrecking things in its path without a second thought. The giant wrecking ball and jackhammer in place of its hands gave Danny a pretty good idea what its goal was. 

Ghosts who were focused on pure destruction were normally pretty dumb in the grand scheme of things. He should be able to take it down with a few well placed ectoblasts.  Thinking that was his first mistake. The ghost easily blocked his first attack, despite Danny attacking from behind.

“Oh, has an ant come to try and fight me?” It asked turning towards Danny. He couldn’t even get out a witty retort before the wrecking ball had a very unpleasant meeting with his face sending him straight into the side of a building. He was really glad he didn’t get hurt as easily as a ghost, otherwise he would have just broken all of his bones. Still hurt like crazy though, he felt like he was just hit by a train. 

He managed to float out of the rubble that was once a building. He threw another ectoblast at the ghost, but it hardly seemed to have an effect on it. No problem, some ghosts are just stronger against certain attacks, but it meant it was probably weaker against a different kind of attack. It seemed to be trying to keep him from getting too close, maybe melee attacks would work best? Only one way to find out.

“Circling around me like a pesky fly will not save you.” The ghost laughed. “Bugs like you should be squashed!” It said batting at him, but Danny was ready for it this time and dodged away right before the wrecking ball could hit him. He used the opening to land a solid kick to its chest. It caused the ghost to stumble back a bit. So that was it, he just had to keep away from the ghosts attacks until there was an opening and then he could go in for an attack, and repeat until the ghost was weak enough to get sucked into the thermos. A perfect plan. 

Or it would have been if he didn’t spot his mom getting out of the G.A.V. rushing towards the ghost with her gun drawn. It seemed the ghost saw her too, it drew back its arm to attack. Danny knew his mom would have no chance to survive that type of attack, it practically leveled the building he was thrown into. So he did the thing he could before the hit landed. He got in the way of it. 

He felt himself get knocked into his mom who didn’t even have a chance to react before they both went flying. Danny definitely took the brunt of the blow, he could feel his ectoplasm run down the side of his face. He got up again if only barely, he managed to stumble a few steps forward before he detransformed unable to hold onto his ghost form any longer. He looked back at where his mom was lying. She didn’t look much better than he did, she was knocked out but still breathing. He’d have to get her to the hospital once the fight was over to check for a concussion. If he survived that is.

The ghost seemed to believe the two of them wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon and was busying itself with demolishing more buildings in the area. He looked around him for what he could use to attack the ghost, his core was in no shape to transform again, but it still had enough power left to it to give him a bit of a boost. He ran to the G.A.V as quickly as he could, hoping the ghost didn’t turn its sight on his mom while he was away. 

He grabbed the first melee based weapon he saw. The Fenton 

Ghost Vanquisher Blade, a sword it was a sword. Damn if Danny wasn’t glad he learned a bit of sword fighting when visiting Dora he certainly was now. Now the problem of reaching the ghost. On the ground he’d hardly reach the ghost’s calf. So he’d just have to fly. 

He climbed up to the room of the G.A.V. and jumped off it spreading his wings. It wasn’t much of a jump off point but somehow he made it work. He steadied himself in the air as much as he could. Flying with the sword messed with the balance he worked so hard to perfect, but he had no time to adjust any longer. The ghost seemed to grow bored with the rubble it was now surrounded by, and it looked like it just remembered the existence of the two of them since it started to make its way over to where his mom was still lying. 

He flew up as high as he could go, imbuing the sword in his hand with as much ecto energy as he could. He’d only have one chance at this. He circled in the air until he saw the ghost start to pull its arm back and then he dived down head first sword glowing with ectoplasm held out in front of him. He flipped the sword in his hands and stabbed down into the ghost’s head before it could finish its attack. 

If anyone asked Maddie Fenton, who had come to consciousness just a few seconds prior, what she saw after the ghost was defeated when she awoke she would say nothing special. That would be a lie. What she would describe to her husband later when she got home was much different. The sight of her son, holding a thermos in one hand and a sword that was surrounded by a green flame from how much ecto energy was being poured into it, his wings spread out keeping him hovering in place silhouetted by the sun that seemed to rest right behind his head obscuring most of his features almost like a halo. It almost seemed like a biblical experience, an avenging angel come to guide her to an afterlife she didn’t even believe in. 

Of course the experience was broken when her son realized she was awake and clumsily landed on the ground before running over to her to check to see if she was hurt. She definitely was, but she wouldn’t worry him by telling him that. It was her job to worry about him after all. Ghost half, wings, and all.

[phicphight]

Results and Pheedback Form

Hello Phic Phighters!

As you all know, the 2022 Phic Phight is done! And you all did awesome! Overall, you wrote over 1.5 million words! That is incredible! You also left 1730 comments on the phics written for Phic Phight! Amazing!

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Thanks again for making Phic Phight phun! We hope to see you next year!

[jackdaw-sprite]

First chapter of my first phight phic is up! Nothing too terrible yet though horrible things will eventually happen. Mind the tags.

[mr-lancers-english-class]

After Death, After Life

Phic Phight 2022 here we go! I am one phic in and already have churned out more words than all of last phic phight, so that's something :D

Prompt from @going-dead: Ghostking!Danny meets one of his parents in the afterlife.

ao3

“Mom?” The word was out of the King’s mouth before he could even think to stop himself, strangled and pained. He hadn’t even said it all that loud, but it carried across the throne room of the Keep, twisting and coiling into the ears of every one of his subjects present today. The light muttering that always dominated the slower of the open court days disappeared in a moment, every ghost present turning in uncanny synchronicity to the throne at the one end of the hall, and half a beat later, to the grand doors thrown open to the courtyard.

The weather had been nice lately, and King Phantom much preferred natural light to the eerie glow of the ghostfire torches.

Of the two ghosts in the doorway, only one reacted as the King spoke. The taller of the two, not The Fright Knight but instead a younger fear knight in their own right, flinched slightly. Glancing between the smaller ghost slumping next to them and King Phantom at the far end of the hall, the knight steeled themself and began to float forward. They passed between the rows of ghosts from all across the zone with back straight and head held high. The smaller ghost followed close behind, light steps still managing to ring out through the hall. 

Not a single word was uttered as the two traversed the length of the room.

When the knight reached the bottom of the throne, they dropped to one knee, bowed their head, and finally broke the silence.

“My King.”

“Sir Ofn.” The knight, Sir Ofn, inclined their head at the acknowledgement, quiet as it may have been.

“I discovered this new ghost in the upper levels of the Realms.” Sir Ofn glanced at the ghost next to them. There was no indication she was processing anything happening around her; she was still slumping slightly, feet planted firmly on the floor of the courtroom, eyes dazed and unfocused. “I know it is not habit to greet every new citizen of the Realms, but this one was a hunter in life and it felt prudent to bring her-” Sir Ofn cut themself off with a light cough. They took a moment to collect, a moment that normally would have been filled with murmurs and whispers from the courtesans over whatever the latest gossip was, a moment that stayed as silent as the moment just before it.

Sir Ofn raised their face to look their King in his eyes, etiquette of the court be damned. Their voice suddenly soft, no longer ringing with the authority of the Knights of the Realm but instead with the care of one who does not wish to see a friend in pain, Sir Ofn said “My King, I’m so sorry. You needed to know as soon as possible.”

The King tore his eyes away from the doors at the end of the hall to finally look at Sir Ofn. He didn’t so much as glance at the smaller ghost, instead holding the knight’s gaze. Sir Ofn didn’t break the eye contact, not until their King seemed to collapse into his throne; his body went completely slack as a marionette doll cut loose from it’s strings. Any breath he might have had left his lips in a pained sigh and he closed his eyes.

Sir Ofn stood, fully aware of just how much they were breaking the rules of the court today, and as the temperature in the throne room began to drop, they turned to the waiting crowd.

“I need to speak with His Majesty alone. You may all take your leave.”

The assembled ghosts shuffled out without so much as a grumble.

It was common knowledge that the new Ghost King was not a full ghost. Not that anyone really cared: it had no bearing on his ability to lead the realm, and while he had been young and naive at the start, the past five years of ruling had sharpened his mind and spirit until he had earned the respect and trust of his subjects. There was not a single ghost who would say anything against him on the questionable status of his death, nor against those in the lands of the living who were just as much his allies as other leaders in the Infinite Realms were.

Even still, it was quite easy to forget just how much of his heart and mind the young King had among the living. His parents were never spoken of in polite company; being descended from hunters was about as shameful a heritage as any ghost could have. His sister was not an uncommon sight in the Keep, but few had ever spoken to her. His two closest friends traveled all across the Zone and were friendly with many of the leaders of the smaller realms and general populous alike, but everyone knew they didn’t entirely belong in the world of the living anymore either.

To see the King’s mother as a new ghost was a stark reminder of everything human about the King of the Dead.

And yet, now alone in the throne room with the King still slumped in his throne and the new ghost next to them just as unresponsive as ever, Sir Ofn couldn’t help but wish that their King would look just a little less like death.

“Your Majesty-”

“Just, drop the title.” His Majesty, King Phantom of the Infinite Realms, cut the knight off. “Please just, Phantom right now.”

“Of course, Phantom.” Both King and knight could hear how awkward Sir Ofn felt using the King’s personal name, but it was not the first time.

“Where did you-” Phantom let out a low exhale. “Where did you find her?”

“The upper levels of the realm, not far from your own portal. I didn’t recognize her, not at first, but,” Sir Ofn shrugged, unsure of how to explain.

“She’s strong. And distinct.” Phantom stood from the throne, unclasping the flowing cape of the King and setting the Crown of Fire on the seat.

“That she is, Phantom.” Sir Ofn snorted without humor. “She seemed… confused. Lost.”

“You could feel her fear.”

“Yes.”

“Has she said anything?” Phantom stepped down off the throne dais, feet just as firmly on the ground as the new ghost’s. “Or, y’know, done anything at all?

“She was quite talkative when I found her. She asked me where she was, who I was, what was happening. When I explained that she was a ghost, she shut down. She hasn’t said anything since, merely followed me.”

“I should call Jazz. She needs to know.” Before Sir Ofn could respond, Phantom had turned away and pulled out a set of Fenton Phones. From where, Sir Ofn could only imagine.

“My King- Phantom. Should you not confirm that this is actually-”

“What, Maddie?” Phantom glanced at the ghost in question for perhaps the first time since she had fully entered the throne room. “I don’t need to. It’s her. I know it.”

He tensed then, body closing off as he spun away from Sir Ofn and brought his hand up to his ear. “Hmm, Jazz? What? No, it was open court today, you know I have everything on silent for that. Jazz, Jazz I need you to slow down. You want me to come back home?” A pause on Phantom’s end as he listened to what his sister was saying. “Yeah, I get that you say it’s urgent, but something came up here and I don’t think I can leave just yet- it’s about mom?”

Phantom froze, hand still raised to his ear. Whatever his sister was saying, it was hitting him hard.

“She’s- yeah, Jazz, I know.”

Sir Ofn could have sworn they heard the yelp on the other end of the Fenton Phones as Phantom’s sister reacted.

“That’s why- that’s what- Jazz I can’t leave. No, I get what you’re saying. That’s- ugh don’t you get it? That’s why I can’t go home! Not right now!”

There was a long pause in which Phantom didn’t speak but it didn’t appear he was listening to anything either.

After far too long for the knight’s liking, Phantom nodded. “Yes. She’s- well, she’s here.” Another pause. “I don't know what I’m gonna do! But I can’t just leave her, not like this. Jazz, I won’t ask you to cover for me, not through this. Just, I don’t know, deflect to Sam and Tucker. I’ll let them know what to expect.”

Phantom glanced back at the two other ghosts as his sister spoke again, but Sir Ofn had the distinct feeling he wasn’t really seeing either of them.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come yet. She’s- I don’t think she’s handling it well. What? No, she hasn’t actually said anything to me yet. No, one of my knights found her- yes, one of the Knights of Fear- no that’s not- just, don’t come yet. I’ll- I’ll let you know when. Please Jazz, I need you to trust me on this.” Phantom’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Thank you, Jazz. I’ll, well I guess I’ll let you know if anything changes.Stay safe. I love you.”

Phantom pressed a button on the side of the Fenton Phones and turned back to the other duo.

“That- I mean- I can-” Phantom stopped to draw in a shaky breath. “Jazz wanted to tell me that mom-” He cut himself off again, voice trembling.

“I understand. You don’t need to say it, not if you aren’t ready. Should you alert your friends?”

“Hmm? Yeah. Yeah no, I need to do that. I’ll just, uh,” Phantom began to turn away again, pulling another device out of another hidden pocket. “It won’t take long, I’ll just be right over-”

“You said Jazz.” The voice was quiet and unsure, but both Phantom and Sir Ofn froze. “Why did you say my daughter’s name?” Maddie Fenton’s ghost finally, finally looked up. She ignored the knight next to her whose hand had drifted to their sword, and instead locked eyes with Phantom. He didn’t say anything, one hand clenching the little communicator tightly. After a moment, Maddie continued. “Is she dead too?”

That was enough to shock Phantom into a response. “What? No, of course not. She’s- Jazz is fine. She just, she called to tell me that you were- that you’re-”

“That I’m dead?” Maddie’s voice was still quiet, but her surety punched Phantom in the gut. “Why was she calling you?”

“I-”

“How do you know my daughter?”

“It’s- she’s my sister? Mom, it’s me. Danny.”

“Danny?” Maddie tilted her head a little, as if to size up the ghost in front of her. “You died too?”

“No- yes- sort of- ugh, kind of, but it’s been a few years now- Mom, I need you to look at me.” Danny took a step towards Maddie and held his hands out in front of him cautiously. Sir Ofn tensed, hand now resting firmly on the grip of their sword.

“Okay.” 

“Mom, can you tell me what you see?”

“I see you, Danny,” She paused, her brow crinkling slightly in thought. “Why do you look so different?”

“Mom, I’m Pha-” Before he could finish the word, Maddie’s eyes widened, her body tensed, and Danny felt himself flying across the room to crash into the base of the throne. Maddie was on top of him before he could get to his feet, pinning him to the floor.

“You’re not my Danny! You’re not- Who are you!” She screamed, less a question and more a desperate cry. “Where’s my son? Where is-”

Danny threw up a shield, hands held above his face as if they could protect him from his mother any better than the sheet of energy. Slowly, he pushed the shield up and away, forcing Maddie to back down as he stood up. He threw a glance to the rest of the hall; Sir Ofn resheathed their sword and backed away a few steps.

“Mom, I swear it’s me. Please can you- Mom I’m gonna let the shield go, but I need you to promise me you won’t do anything. Please, can you promise me that?” 

For a brief moment, there was no response. Then, after an eternity that lasted less than a second, Maddie nodded sharply. Danny dropped the shield and set his feet back on the ground.

“Mom, I promise you, it’s me, Danny. It’s always- It’s always just been me.” Maddie’s eyes ran up and down him in a frantic search. “Mom, can you see? It’s me. It’s me, and I can- I can help you, but I need you to stay calm, and then we can talk about this. Please, we can just sit and talk and I can explain everything.” Danny lowered himself to the edge of the dais. He set his feet to rest over the steps, and slowly, without looking away from his mom, tapped the spot next to him.

Maddie hesitated a moment, throwing looks around the hall now. Sir Ofn glanced back at the open door leading out to the courtyard, and when they felt Maddie’s eyes on them, looked at her with a slight shake of their head. They hoped it was comforting.

“Mom?” Danny asked one more time. Maddie sat next to him, her own feet mirroring his on the steps below them.

Sir Ofn bowed low to their King, and left the hall. Light whispers sounded behind them, and if they had listened any closer, they might have heard crying, but that was not for them to say.

[ajitated]

(Originally posted: 22 April 2021)

Summary: Danny finally gets enough sleep to pay attention in school, and discovers that everyone at Casper High has gotten really weird - and really close with some of his ex-enemies. Ghost hunting is easier then dealing with Paulina's penchant for gossip.

Written for Phic Phight 2021, Team Human! Prompts by faedemon and reviving-dead-fandoms-since-now

[gilbirda]

DANNY PHANTOM

You and me and our best friend makes three - AO3 Series

- Remedy (NSFW) - Race ya! - Party like you are dead:  First Act  |  Interlude  |  Second Act  |  Encore - Never judge a book by its cover (JLxDP crossover) - Hidden identities? Never heard of them (BatmanxDP crossover)

Gilbirda’s Phic Phight 2022- AO3 Series

- What could have been: why don't you love who I am? | I hope you know we had everything | I want you to hurt like you hurt me today - Piece by Piece - Danny loses his humanity with every Wail - The man with a thousand faces - Amorpho backstory

Short fluffy prompts

- Everlasting Trio: “You’re unbelievably cute when you’re tired.” - Dead Serious (DPxDC crossover, DannyxDamian): “Believe me, I will never be tired of you.” - Everlasting Insomniacs (DPxDC crossover, Everlasting Trio x Tim):  “You’re unbelievably cute when you’re tired.” - Anger Management (DPxDC crossover, JazzxJason):  “I think I know what that smile means.”

BATMAN CROSSOVERS

Danny Arkham Security Guard AU - AO3 Series

Mondays, am I right?  |  Employee of the month  |  Can’t have shit in Gotham  | How to confuse a Bat | Clown around and find out

Friendly neighborhood vigilante: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6  | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19  | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24

Safehouse - Jason adopts Dani

Dance with me? - Jazz/Jason meet at a gala: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Can’t help falling in love (with you)- Jazz and Jason are magically married by a ghost: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

BatPham server Summer event: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Family - Anger Management adopts Billy Batson, de-aged Danny and Dani.

Deal - Danny dies at the hands of the GIW and Jazz hires Red Hood to kill them all

Queen Regent - Danny is underage and appoints his sister as King in the meantime. She is summoned by the JLA.

Custody Battle - Anger Management cuddle after winning the custody of Danny against their neglectful parents.

Untitled - Short ficlet. Red Hood, Batgirl and Red Robin come to an Arkham breakout to find that the Fenton siblings already took care of it.

Death’s kiss - Death flirts with Jason every time he is close to dying.

Bluejay - Anger Management soulmate AU ficlet

Movie Night -  short and soft Anger Management ficlet

Drunk Summonings - Jason summons the Queen Regent Jazz in a drunken dare

Another Harley Quinn - sequel to The After. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - Dead Serious (DannyxDamian) ficlet tattoo parlos/flowershop au

The Wonderous Beauty of the Statuesque Scarlet  - Tall!Jazz Anger Management fluff and vibes

The Interview - Lex Luthor and co. attack the JL the day Jazz has a important interview with them.

Weightless - A cute Jazz/Jason scene of them kissing in a pool.

Gil’s DPxDC Week 2022 fics:

Day 1: The Vampire Bat - Vampire!Jazz, short anger management ficlet. Day 2: The Impostor - Jazz impersonates Red Hood Day 3: The mystery of the giggling cape - There is someone giggling under Batman’s cape. Is not a Robin. Day 4: The After - sequel to Deal Day 5: Chapter 4 of Cant help falling in love (with you) Day 6: 101 Salvations - The Talons imprint on Danny like little ducklings Day 7: I’ll cover you in Moonlight - Gala fic, tall!Jazz and werewolf!Jazz, anger management

Gil’s DPxDC Disney Week 2023 fics:

Day 1: What a man can do - POTC AU. Jayroy (Elizabeth/Will) and Jazz as Jack Sparrow.

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[haloburns]

want the whole au timeline?

because baby, i've got it!

the entire au, can't have shit in amity park (not even a slightly normal halfterlife) and the world is having more fun than me (tonight) in chronological order below the cut!

it only includes most things already published, minus the few things that are set vaguely in the future that got written during phic phight, since i don't know exactly where they're falling just yet!!

Aug 24 2007 - going...! to be in so much trouble...

Aug 25 2007 - hey, dad, look at me, did i grow up according to plan?

Sep 1 2007 - four years, that's all you've got to endure chapter one, falling asleep in class

Sep 8 2007 to May 28 2007 - i fought you for so long (i should have let you in)

Oct 25 2007 - pumpkin head ghost boy

Feb 22 2008 - feed the boy (like and subscribe!)

Apr 10 2008 - four years, that's all you've got to endure chapter two, ectoplasm spaghetti (don't do this)

Feb 2 2009 to May 4 2009 - and they were history project partners...

May 25 2009 to May 30 2009 - the end of some good times

Aug 21 2009 - a ghost boy at college? it's more than likely than you'd think

Aug 21 2009 to Sep 11 2009 - such a big, big world (and only the tools to deal with a tiny portion of it)

Sep 3 2009 - the ghost boy can have a little coffee (as a treat)

Sep 14 2009 - i think i'd rather scream

Sep 22 2009 - new cryptid unlocked

Sep 23 2009 - sick ectoburns

Sep 25 2009 - boredom breeds stupidity (and the occasional ghost or two)

Oct 3 2009 - all that glitters is just danny, actually

Oct 8 to Oct 23 2009 - college is a time of firsts

Oct 23 2009 - baby take my hand (don't fear the reaper)

Oct 31 2009 - halloweekend

Nov 1 2009 - actions have consequences, and man, they suck

Nov 2 2009 to Nov 8 2009 - it's just another day without you (and i can't sleep)

Nov 8 2009 to Nov 15 2009 - i'm not okay (i promise)

Nov 15 2009 to Nov 20 2009 - against doctor's orders

Nov 20 2009 - when the nightmare fades

Nov 26 2009 to Nov 29 2009 - quit telling everyone i'm (permanently) dead! WIP

Nov 30 2009 - untitled UNPUBLISHED WIP

Dec 1 2009 - longer than the song of the whippoorwill

Oct 31 2009 & Dec 2 2009 to Dec 7 2009 - invisobang [title redacted] UNPUBLISHED WIP