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oliverreedmasterass · 1 year

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Words: 4k

Synopsis: Jake insists that everyone should participate in a new drinking game, bets are made, and things almost immediately descend into chaos. You should definitely listen to "Roxanne" by The Police while reading this.

Warnings: drinking (not underage though), language, allusions to being physically ill

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“Who’s ready to get this party started?” Jake whooped as he walked through Sam’s front door, his arms loaded with a crate of Coronas and a Costco-sized bottle of Jack.

“Aren’t we going to the bar?” Sam called from the dining room where he was sitting with Danny, both of them scrolling on their phones.

“Change in plans, Sammy boy!” Jake replied. He dropped the booze on the kitchen counter with a loud clunk and made his way to his brother’s side so he could beam down at him and Danny.

“You freak me out when you’re like this,” Sam looked up at his older brother.

Jake found his hands moving to Sam’s tense shoulders, where he gave them a loving rub. Sam only stiffened at his touch.

“I found a drinking game that we have to try before we set our sights on the bar,” Jake explained to the two. “It’ll be a lot of fun, I promise.”

“The last time you promised we’d have fun, Josh wound up in the emergency room,” Danny murmured just loud enough for Jake to hear.

“It’s not my fault he fell off the hiking trail,” Jake frowned.

“We were hiking it at night ,” Sam cut in. “And he thought he saw a mountain lion.”

“That’s on Josh,” Jake argued. “He should have known there hasn’t been a cougar sighting in Tennessee since the early 1900s.”

“I beg to differ, I saw quite a few cougars last weekend,” Danny joked.

Jake rolled his eyes at his bandmates and wandered over to Sam’s impressive turntable setup in the corner of the room. He grunted and, with an agonizing pop in his knees, squatted down so he was at eye-level with Sam’s album collection.

“It’s got to be here somewhere,” Jake mumbled to himself. Sam was known to be a tad bit over-obsessed with vinyl: over their years of touring, he always made an effort to duck into at least one record store in each town they played. Considering how many shows they had under their belts, he had accumulated enough records that he could probably open his own store if he wanted. The great thing about Sam was, out of the four of them, he had the most extensive taste in music. Sure, he was prone to beeline straight for the jazz section in each shop, but he also made a habit of grabbing things he had never heard of before, or never thought to listen to. Due to that, his record collection spanned across a pretty impressive range, from The Spinners to Amy Winehouse to Iron Maiden. This was why Jake was confident he would find a specific new-wave album.

While Jake sorted through Sam’s albums, Josh let himself inside, wearing his typical white long sleeve shirt and khaki pants combo, his hands unfortunately free of any booze. As he made his way deeper into Sam’s house, he slowed down at the sight of the Coronas and whiskey.

“Are we throwing a rager?” he asked the room. “I thought we were just going to the bar tonight.”

“Jake had a change in plans,” Sam reported to his older brother. “But he won’t tell us what he’s fixing to do.”

“I’m working on it,” Jake called over his shoulder. “One sec.”

Josh, Sam, and Danny watched Jake in a mixture of confusion and interest as he continued to sort through Sam’s stash, growing progressively more disheartened.

“Why don’t you alphabetize these?” he turned back to face Sam.

“I know where all the good ones are, why would I alphabetize them?”

“So I can find this stinking album,” Jake huffed. Sam took a hint and hurried over to Jake, kneeling down so he could scan through his collection.

“What are you looking for?” Sam asked under his breath.

“Outlandos D’Amour?” Jake replied so only Sam could hear. Sam leaned away from Jake for a brief second, shooting him a bemused look.

“I didn’t realize you were a Police fan,” he couldn’t help but poke fun.

“It’s for the drinking game,” Jake tried to explain. “It’ll make sense soon.”

Sam’s eyes danced over the album titles, trying to find what Jake so desperately wanted. Right when it looked like he was about to throw in the towel, Sam’s mouth hung open.

“Oh,” he whispered. “I do have it.”

“I knew you would,” Jake had trouble containing the large grin that was stretching across his lips. He watched in eager anticipation as Sam slid the album out from its spot on the lowest shelf, tucked off to the side. The album cover looked to be in rough shape, as if Sam had used it in an ultimate frisbee competition, but to Jake it was just water off a duck’s back. All that mattered was there were no scratches on the vinyl.

“I’m pretty sure I grabbed this one from a bargain bin in Scottsdale,” Sam remembered. “It was like a buck. I don’t think I would have bought it otherwise.”

“I thought you played bass because Sting is your Messiah,” Jake faked shock.

“Haha,” Sam rolled his eyes. He handed the album over to Jake and stood back upright so he could rejoin Danny and Josh and give them a confused shrug. Jake heard him mutter that he thought Jake was having a midlife crisis 25 years too early or something, but decided not to bite Sam’s head off since he was too focused on getting the music going.

“Grab a drink,” Jake said over his shoulder to the three, making an extra effort to motion back to the drinks he had gone out of his way to bring over. “The harder the booze, the more fun we’re gonna have.”

“I’m playing golf tomorrow,” Danny sounded apologetic as he opened the box of beer. “I need to be clear-headed.”

“I’m going all in, Jake,” Sam countered Danny. “I’m definitely not playing golf tomorrow, and I want to be mentally tapped out if we’re gonna be listening to The Police all night.”

“The Police?” Josh looked confused. “Why would we listen to them?”

“It’s a drinking game,” Jake answered, finally turning around from the record player, which started to blast the first track of the album. He liked the feeling of everyone’s eyes on him as he moved into Sam’s kitchen, grabbed a crystal glass, and joined Sam’s side to pour himself a hearty helping of whiskey. “It’s about the easiest drinking game out there. We’re going to listen to ‘Roxanne’ and, every time Sting says, ‘Roxanne’, you have to take a chug of your drink.”

“How many times does he say ‘Roxanne’?” Josh looked worried.

“If I remember right, a fuck ton,” Danny studied his bottle, as if gauging how much beer he would have to drink through.

“It’s not gonna kill you,” Jake assured Josh. “This is meant to be fun.”

“You see,” Josh begged to differ, “whenever you say that, I always end up feeling like shit for one reason or another. It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to wonder if you pull shit like this just to put me through the wringer.”

“That’s nonsense,” Jake waved him off. “You just have bad luck.”

“Maybe. Considering I’m related to you and all.”

Jake scowled at his brother. They were constantly bickering back and forth like that, trading blows as if they were permanently trapped in a boxing ring, but he knew that Josh didn’t mean it. Their bantering was more a love language than anything else even though, to an outside perspective, it might have come across like they were mortal enemies.

The record moved to the next track and Jake turned his attention away from his twin to address the rest of the room.

“Roxanne is coming up next. Whoever taps out first has to pay for drinks tonight.”

“What if we all make it through the song?” Sam asked. “We’re not exactly new to this whole drinking thing. Hell, Corona is like lemonade to me.”

“Trust me,” Jake assured him, “one of us is definitely not going to make it.”

Just to make things especially interesting, he decided to squint his eyes at Danny to get him on edge. That seemed to do the trick since Danny’s shoulders shot up to his ears as he cradled his bottle.

“I’m good at drinking games,” he stammered. Instead of replying, Jake continued to stare. “I do keg stands all the time,” Danny continued to ramble. “This will be a piece of cake.”

“I say we place bets on who won’t make it,” Jake decided.

“My money’s on Josh,” Danny cut in, still looking like stress was on the brink of eating him alive. “Not me. Don’t waste your money betting against me.”

“Just because you said that, I’m gonna bet against you,” Sam said, reaching into his pocket and fishing a $20 bill out of his wallet to slap on the table. Danny fumbled around and got his own wad of cash from his jacket pocket, which he threw on top of Sam’s.

“You’ve obviously tried this out before,” Josh said as he studied Jake’s face. “And I feel like you weren’t able to do it, so you want us to try it as well and fail so you feel better about yourself.”

Jake was terrified of just how well his brother knew him.

“That’s your interpretation,” Jake attempted to give his best poker face. “I’m gonna bet against all of you.”

“Then I’m betting against you,” Josh quickly retorted, grabbing a post it note from Sam’s kitchen and a pen to scribble “IOU $10” out as his contribution. “I don’t have cash on me,” Josh looked around at his friends to explain.

“How were you gonna pay for drinks at the bar?” Danny asked.

“I was gonna steal some money from Jake.”

Jake shook his head and dropped a neat $100 bill into the money pot.

“Good luck stealing a Benjamin Franklin under my nose.”

“I’ve done it before.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Jake started to complain at Josh’s confession when the second track faded and the opening chords of ‘Roxanne’ started to pulse around Sam’s house.

“Oh boy,” Sam groaned out. “Here we go.”

Jake readied his drink and looked around at his friends. Danny looked like he was on the brink of passing out from nerves, Sam looked excited, and Josh still seemed like a part of him wasn’t sure he wanted to participate.

I’m gonna drink you losers all under the bus, Jake eagerly thought to himself.

“Roxanne,” Sting crowed from the scratchy record. To Jake’s relief and joy, all of them lifted their drinks to their lips and tipped them back.

“Take a bigger swig than that, Josh,” Jake called to his twin, who had just barely stuck his tongue into his cup of whiskey.

“Hey, no peer pressure,” Josh barked back.

You don’t have to sell your body to the night…

“Roxanne,” Sting sang out again. Jake, with a bright smile, took another drink from his glass and felt the whiskey burn down his throat. He looked around and saw that Sam’s face was twisted in disgust at his own drink, but he still looked determined. To his surprise, Danny was already halfway through his bottle.

“This is doable,” Danny stated with utmost confidence right before Sting launched into his third ‘Roxanne’.

“You’re gonna take that back soon,” Jake told Danny.

You don’t have to put on the red light…

“Roxanne,” Sting sang again, causing all the boys, with the exception of Jake, to flail to bring their drinks back up to their lips.

“Best of luck to you, boys,” Jake raised his glass in a cheer.

“Oh no,” Sam’s face paled as it became increasingly clear that he suddenly remembered how the chorus of ‘Roxanne’ went. Josh glared Jake down and slowly shook his head.

“You evil, evil bastard,” he whispered right as Sting launched into the chorus.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“Jesus christ,” Sam choked on his drink.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“Are you okay?” Danny turned to Sam after downing his drink. He held his hand up to smack Sam on the back, but Sam looked at him and rapidly shook his head.

“I’m fine,” he croaked.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“I don’t know how you made it through that, Sam,” Josh commented as the song entered the next verse. Sam was looking a bit green to the face and, putting his head down in embarrassment, he rushed to the kitchen to fetch himself a glass of water.

“Is that cheating?” Josh asked Jake as they watched Sam gulp down the water and messily wipe at his mouth with the back of his hand.

“He’s drinking more than you are, so I’ll allow it,” Jake replied, motioning down to Josh’s glass, which was still half-full.

“I’m taking a good gulp every time,” Josh protested. Jake observed his glass again and made a clicking noise to disagree.

Danny had managed to drink through two bottles of Corona up to that point and, as Sting sang the verses free of any ‘Roxanne’s, he worked on opening his third bottle. While Sam was focused on his glass of water, Danny used the corner of Sam’s dining room table to pop the cap off.

“You’re going down,” he called over to Jake.

“Yeah, okay buddy,” Jake replied back. He was glad that getting under Danny’s skin had worked as well as it did. While Danny more often than not came across as the level-headed, mature one of the group, once his competitive side was brought to the light, he was like an entirely different person. Jake had learned that the hard way once when he and Danny went mini golfing: let’s just say you should never dare Danny to tee off at the windmill hole and then tell him there’s no way he can bust the golf ball through the windmill’s wooden base.

Sam finished his glass of water and let out a loud burp that nearly made him keel over.

“This is torture,” he moaned.

“You can tap out,” Jake responded, arching his eyebrow in a testing way while motioning towards the $20 bill Sam had deposited on the table.

“I’ll never hear the end of it if I do,” Sam frowned.

“Wanna switch to beer?” Danny asked. Sam looked to Jake to see if he would let him, and Jake gave a slight nod. The kid was trying his best.

“Yes,” Sam quickly said. Just as he got the cap off, Sting was back at it again.

Roxanne, you don’t have to put on the red light…

Everyone got back to it, taking their drinks and looking around at one another to see who was going to drop out first. Sam, obviously feeling guilty about quitting with the whiskey, made a concerted effort to down as much of his beer as he could before Sting got to his next “Roxanne.” Jake was about ready to call Josh out again for not drinking as much as everyone else, but he stopped himself when he saw that Josh was already pouring himself a new glass of whiskey. When the next “Roxanne” came around, Jake decided he needed to catch up to his twin, so he downed the rest of his glass. Was it stupid, considering they were seconds away from the chorus? Absolutely, but Jake needed to win this thing fair and square.

Roxanne (You don't have to put on the red light)

Jake snatched the whiskey off the table and, looking around at his friends with an air of confidence that even he acknowledged was over the top, took a chug straight from the bottle.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

Danny finished his third bottle and hustled to get the next one prepared, but his hands were shaking as he struggled to force the cap off. Sam, looking as if the life was being sucked out of him in real time, motioned to Danny to hand him his bottle and, like a fucking heathen, unscrewed the lid with his teeth, spitting the cap off so it clamored to the floor. Danny took the bottle back from him, looking troubled.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

To Jake’s surprise, Josh was actually drinking him under the bus. It was as if he was meditating while participating in Jake’s drinking game: his face remained stoic and, like a robot, he methodically raised his glass up to his lips at each “Roxanne”, tipped the glass back slightly, and easily swallowed the hard liquor. Then, he let in a deep breath, as if to recenter himself.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“My head is spinning,” Danny’s guard came down for a split second as he held onto the table for support.

“My world is spinning,” Sam agreed after accidentally knocking all of Danny’s empty bottles onto the floor.

Jake was still feeling good.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

While it was obvious that Sam was going topple over and eliminate himself at any second, Jake set his sights on Josh. Not being the first to tap out wasn’t enough anymore: he needed to outdrink his brother. In that moment, that was all that mattered to Jake.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“I fucking hate The Police,” Sam sounded on the brink of tears.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“Their music stinks.”

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

Jake had his drinking down to a rhythm, right on time with the drum beat of the song. He could feel his cheeks flushing a vibrant red from the liquor, but his head remained placid and his stomach calm. He was far past the point where he had had to tap out during most of his attempts the night prior. He continued to watch Josh and, for the life of him, he couldn’t tell if Josh was showing any cracks. The fucker would have to back down at some point.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

Josh had finished his second glass and held a hand out to Jake to pass him the bottle. As much as Jake didn’t want to, he handed it over and Josh took a deep drink from it before giving it back. Jake followed suit.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“How long is this song?” Danny cried in agony.

“It’s The Police,” Josh calmly explained after finishing his sip from the bottle. “Their music always fades out, so technically a Police song never really ends.”

“I hate you,” Danny turned to Jake. Jake could only shrug.

Roxanne (You don't have to put on the red light)

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Sam gargled from his side of the room. Danny hopped away from him in an attempt to preserve his white sneakers.

“You’re so close, Sammy,” Josh told him. Sam gazed down at his bottle in disdain, but nodded his head.

“I’m doing this for all the people out there who hate The Police,” he slurred.

“There you go,” Danny tried to encourage him.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

It was obvious that Jake and Josh were having a drink off at this point in the song. They stood facing each other, only about a foot and a half away from each other, their eyes locked as they passed the bottle back and forth. Jake made sure to keep his gaze in a narrow squint as an extra step to get under Josh’s skin. It was mildly unsettling that Josh looked back at him with a bored look on his face, like he was daydreaming of being off somewhere else.

Jake was certain that he was sporting the complexion of the Kool Aid man, just based on how hot he felt, but Josh’s cheeks were hardly showing a light rosy color. Jake made a mental note to talk with Josh about how he managed to handle his booze later. He was really starting to feel like, genetically speaking, he had been given the short end of the stick.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

Danny was onto his fifth bottle and, rather than carefully setting his fourth bottle down like he had with his previous ones, he slammed the glass to the ground so it shattered everywhere. Sam let out a small squeak which morphed into a hiccup, causing him to force a hand up to his mouth.

“Oh lord,” he said in between hiccups. “This is a nightmare.”

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

“You’re not finishing this,” Jake told Josh as he watched him take a long drink from the quarter-full bottle. “I’m the whiskey guy in this family. This is my game to win.”

“We’re all getting through this, Jake,” Josh told him. “Whether you like it or not, I’ve been playing this drinking game for years.”

As Josh said that, Jake started to choke on the whiskey he was in the middle of gulping down. Josh watched in wonder as Jake threw the bottle onto the table and started to thump at his back, coughing and gasping while his face somehow managed to turn even more red.

In between his tears, Jake could see that Danny and Sam were watching him with concern. On the contrary, Josh almost seemed to have a twinkle in his eye as he looked down at his twin, who was keeled over and letting out window-rattling coughs.

Roxanne (Put on the red light)

Sam and Danny took their final drinks as the song faded out and, in a shocking rush of adrenaline, Sam let out a loud whoop, which he automatically regretted.

“I’m going to the bathroom,” he excused himself, hustling down the hall.

Josh gulped down almost all of the rest of the bottle, but left a sip for Jake. Jake was still struggling to catch his breath and, in his moment of weakness, the booze had finally caught up to him. He hoped it wasn’t obvious to Danny and Josh just how awful he finally felt. His head felt staticky, his body ablaze, and his stomach was screaming out in protest.

“They said ‘Roxanne’,” Josh told Jake, shaking the bottle down in his face. Jake felt like he was on the brink of blacking out. He let out one last deep cough, finally clearing his throat, and looked at the bottle with a grimace.

While Josh’s expression had remained stoic throughout the entire drinking game, it unleashed into a face of childlike glee as Jake grunted and pushed the bottle away from Josh.

“Can’t do it,” Jake heard himself admitting.

“Oh my god,” Danny said from the other end of the room. “I out-drank Jake Kiszka.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake waved Danny away. “Mark this day on the calendar or whatever.”

Jake felt his knees buckle and he somehow managed to awkwardly book it to Sam’s couch so he could throw himself on the cushions before he toppled over. With a grunt, he planted his face into the intricate stitches of one of Sam’s decorative pillows.

“How many bottles did you get through? Five?” Jake could hear Josh asking Danny.

“I told you guys, I’m good at drinking.”

“Try it next time with whiskey.”

The toilet in the bathroom down the hall flushed and then the sound of Sam’s bare feet slapping against his wood floor grew louder.

“So we all made it, right?” he asked to the room.

“Jake didn’t,” Josh replied. Jake could hear the beam in Josh’s voice.

“No way,” Sam sounded incredulous.

“Mmrph,” Jake droned from the couch.

“Someone’s paying for all of our drinks tonight,” Josh added.

“The only drink I’m having the rest of tonight is some Pepto Bismol,” Sam replied. “I don’t know why I agreed to do that.”

“That was pretty stupid,” Danny agreed. “I wonder how many times he says ‘Roxanne’ in that song. Wait, I’m gonna look it up.”

“I think it was a tremendous demonstration of determination, strength, and wit,” Josh announced. “A fine evening activity for us all, and an educational one as well. I feel so well-informed about who can handle their booze and who really, really can’t.”

From the couch, with his head still buried in the cushions, Jake lifted a middle finger in Josh’s direction. He was met with Josh’s jovial laugh.

“Twenty-six times,” Danny said to the room. “He sings ‘Roxanne’ twenty-six fucking times. And in three minutes too.”

“Jake,” Sam called to his brother, “that has got to be the stupidest thing you’ve ever made us do.” He thought on his words. “And that’s saying a lot,” he added.

Jake heard footsteps come closer to him and then felt Josh’s warm hand on his shoulder.

“I gotta say, little bro,” his brother cooed down to him, “it’s nice to finally be the one that doesn’t feel like shit.”

Jake could only manage to lift his head for a second to glare at his brother.

#greta van fleet #gvf #gvf fanfiction #jake kiszka #josh kiszka #sam kiszka #danny wagner #fanfic #Spotify

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redrobin-detective · 3 years

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#behind me dips eternity #god I want to write this but its just not going #Ive been trying for over a month #I cant finish the outline #I've only gotten a paragraph into actually typing #but there are so many vivid images from this fic that live rent free in my head #was lowkey thinking of comissioning an artist to depict Danny bc I've tried and its not coming out right and it drives me INSANE #bc this world is very vivid to me #i love it even if it hurts me #anyway here's wonderwall

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ladylynse · 3 years

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Dimensional Displacement [FFN | AO3]: Danny has a love-hate relationship with the Fenton Booo-merang. This time, it didn’t do him any favours. This time, it knocked him through a portal—and from what he can glean from the Water Tribe siblings he meets, odds are, there’s a reason for that.

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For @geronimo-alonzi as a thank you for donating to my ko-fi. (Yes, they won my fic giveaway, but I finished this one first.) Loosely based on this three sentence fic.

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Danny had been clobbered in the head by the Fenton Booo-merang more often than he’d like to admit, let alone count, but this was the first time it had knocked him through a portal.

That wouldn’t have been a particularly bad thing if the portal hadn’t immediately closed behind him.

One minute, he’d been minding his own business in the Ghost Zone, coming back from a visit with Frostbite that Jazz must have forgotten about if she’d sent the Booo-merang after him. (Sam was stuck with her parents at some fancy dinner party thing somewhere and Tucker was working on designing a computer game for his comp sci assignment, a class neither Sam nor Danny was in, so it had to have been Jazz.)

The next minute, Danny was…. He didn’t even know where he was. Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. He’d caught the Booo-merang before either he or it had hit the ground, but once he’d righted himself to look around, there was no familiar skyline or something equally useful to him. There were only trees and rocks and dirt roads as far as the eye could see, even from a considerable distance up in the air.

Well.

That wasn’t quite fair. He could see a silver river cutting through the trees in a path roughly parallel to the road, but in terms of helpful things, he was coming up empty.

He didn’t even know which direction he’d need to fly to get to a city. It was too light out to see any distant glow of city lights against the scattered clouds, and all he could smell when he breathed in was fresh air and pine needles and something else—moss? The general mix that was pretty much mulch on the forest floor?—that was decidedly natural, not the signs of human activity he’d been hoping for. Sure, following the road or even the river would get him somewhere sooner or later, but what was he supposed to do, pick a random direction or go eenie meenie minie moe?

Danny did another loop above the trees, looking for some sign of anything, and came up with nothing.

“Come on!” Danny yelled at the patch of blue sky where the portal had closed. He spun in a circle, the Booo-merang clutched tightly in his fist, but it didn’t pull in any direction, and he didn’t catch so much as a glimmer of the familiar green of the Ghost Zone. “Just open up again already!” It was as effective as he’d expected it to be, which was not at all, but screaming out his frustrations made him feel a bit better. “Now! Please?”

Unsurprisingly, the portal didn’t listen.

Out of appealing options, Danny threw the Booo-merang. Logically, he knew it wasn’t the Infi-Map. Logically, he knew that the universe did not often do what was convenient for him, even if he sometimes got incredibly lucky in a fight. Logically, he knew that the chances of the Booo-merang deciding to reprogram itself to find portals just because it had done it this one time (likely coincidentally) were slim to none.

Illogically, he didn’t expect the stupid thing to circle around and hit him in the back of the head again.

Danny cursed and landed to retrieve the fallen Booo-mang from the roadway, muttering under his breath about how much he’d like to just dismantle the thing and hide the pieces. He wouldn’t, of course. It worked too well to risk Sam, Tucker, and Jazz losing the ability to find him if they really needed to. It had been dicey enough the few times his parents had decided to try to ‘fix’ it, only for disaster (Vlad) to strike in the meantime.

That didn’t mean Danny couldn’t fantasize about bashing it against a rock, though. There were plenty of those around.

“That’s a weird looking boomerang,” someone said from behind him, and Danny nearly jumped into the air right there.

He didn’t, mostly because he was getting used to Sam and Tucker trying to surprise him, but it was a near thing.

He wasn’t used to people sneaking up on him. His ghost sense was reliable, Dash made more noise walking around than even Jack Fenton, and, well, most of the people who hunted him couldn’t be subtle if they tried, especially since a good chunk of them liked hearing their own voice. He’d only ever really had to worry about Jazz, and self-preservation in the face of tickle attacks had given him the ability to be extra sensitive to her presence whenever she was in a certain mood.

The two who’d caught him by surprise now must have come from the trees on the other side of the road, and he hoped that meant they hadn’t seen him do anything particularly ghostly. Granted, neither of them was screaming, so he should be safe. They didn’t look terrified, either. Wary, maybe, but not scared.

Danny guessed that they were both somewhere around his age. Siblings, by the looks of them, but probably not twins even if they’d both decided to leave the house wearing oddly styled blue clothes today, at least compared to the usual jeans and T-shirt combo Danny was used to seeing. Unless he wasn’t anywhere near the States anymore? Or unless he’d been flung through to a different time. But the boy had spoken English, and it hadn’t sounded funny to Danny’s ears, no lilt of a foreign accent or strange phrasing that he associated with Shakespeare or something.

The girl was his height, the boy a bit taller, and they were both staring at him.

They probably thought he was the one who was dressed strangely.

The boy pointed. “Your boomerang,” he repeated. “It looks weird.”

The girl elbowed him in the gut—none too gently, judging by his immediate wheeze—and hissed, “Sokka!”

Yeah, those two were definitely siblings. And even if the girl wasn’t older, she definitely had the annoying (and annoyed) sister tone down pat. Danny had heard (and been on the receiving end of) the same from similar exchanges with Jazz more than once.

“Sokka’s going to apologize, right, Sokka?”

The boy frowned and then threw up his hands. “Right. I apologize for saying your boomerang looks weird. It looks interesting.”

The girl stepped on his foot, and he yelped. “What was that for?”

“You know what that was for!”

“It’s fine,” Danny said. He still wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Maybe the portal had dumped him out in the middle of some historical re-enactment thing. Granted, there should really be more people around if that were the case—or at least hidden cameras. He was better at spotting them now. Vlad and his creepy spy tendencies aside, Danny had gotten good at noticing (and avoiding) cameras so he didn’t let his secret get caught on tape. (There were a surprising number of places in Amity Park not under video surveillance, or at least not under real video surveillance even if they had fake cameras out; he could practically transform in the middle of the street sometimes.)

Still, nothing about this felt staged. It didn’t even feel like one of his enemy’s tricks, some giant setup that was meant to trap him or whatever. That’s not to say Danny was wholly convinced this meeting, whatever it was, was merely chance—he didn’t particularly trust Clockwork not to arrange things as he saw fit without warning anyone—but it didn’t feel overly contrived, either. There was just….

Something felt off, and he couldn’t explain what it was.

“It’s fine,” Danny repeated, since the two were looking at him dubiously, but the familiar phrase felt strange on his tongue, almost like—

Wait.

“Okay, this is going to sound like a weird question, but where are we?”

The boy, Sokka, blinked. “Did you hit your head or something? We’re in the Earth Kingdom. Or, wait, do you mean where in the Earth Kingdom? Look, if you need new supplies, there’s not much in the last few villages, but we’re about a day from—”

The girl elbowed him again, and he fell silent. Danny could see the growing suspicion on her face for what it was, could see suspicion settling on the boy’s face as well, but he wasn’t sure if it was because he’d asked the wrong question or because he’d asked something at all. He’d been paying attention this time, watching Sokka’s lips, and Danny didn’t have to be a good lip reader to know that he hadn’t been saying the words Danny had heard.

Well.

More accurately, he hadn’t been saying them in English.

And Danny, in answering, had somehow not been speaking English.

That was not, as far as Danny was aware, something Clockwork could do to him.

He didn’t know a ghost who had power over language, though, unless the Ghostwriter had something else up his sleeve and this mess was it. Nocturne would be able to pull anything in a dream, but Danny couldn’t see why he’d bother including something that would be an obvious tell like this, so it shouldn’t be him even if he had decided to come back. More likely, it was someone he hadn’t fought before, someone who had targeted him, seen an opportunity when the Booo-merang had hit him and seized upon it to throw him…here.

Wherever here was.

The Earth Kingdom, apparently.

“Um.” The girl still looked like she expected him to start fighting, and her stance…. Danny didn’t recognize it, but he did know that she looked ready to move at any moment. Her brother had taken her cue and, while Danny hadn’t been paying attention, pulled out a boomerang of his own. That couldn’t be good. “Look. I know how this sounds.” How he sounded, more like. If he had some accent he couldn’t hear because he wasn’t speaking their language properly, whatever it was, this had to be a setup after all.

Someone had sent him here to be dealt with. By this world, this dimension or construct or whatever it was, if not necessarily by these two people.

Granted, Danny wasn’t sure why someone would go to the trouble of letting him understand and be understood in the first place if that were the case, since he could get in just as much trouble without speaking the native language.

Surely he wasn’t actually supposed to help someone here, right? This wasn’t even his world. Or the Ghost Zone. Whatever was going on here was most definitely not his business.

Except now he was in the middle of it, so if there was something going on, it would be beneficial to find out what it was sooner rather than later.

This wasn’t some Jumanji kind of thing where he’d been tossed into a game and had to do whatever it was to get out again, was it? It didn’t feel like the time he’d gone into Doomed, but that had been intentional, and this….

Okay, no, he didn’t have enough information to speculate, which meant he needed to get some information out of these two in order to get somewhere. “I just…. I was kidnapped and dumped here for some reason, and I’m trying to find my way home.” That was close enough to the truth that it shouldn’t raise any red flags. Hopefully. “My name is Danny.” Introducing himself as Phantom, even in ghost mode, wasn’t something he wanted to do when he had no idea how these people felt about ghosts. Besides, it wasn’t like they’d ever see him as Fenton. He just needed to stick to the ground and pretend to be a normal human being, which he could most definitely do—at least when the sun was bright enough that his slight glow was basically nonexistent. He doubted it would be terribly noticeable even under the cover of trees.

“Danny,” the girl repeated, not relaxing her stance. “That’s an unusual name.”

Sokka just cocked his head at Danny. “Why would anyone kidnap you?”

It was spoken like it was an innocent, thoughtless question, something that could be brushed away with a laugh, but Danny could read an underlying tension in each of their faces. Sokka was waiting on his answer, and so was his sister. Danny’s response might very well determine what happened next.

Consequently, Danny didn’t miss the fact that Sokka didn’t offer up any potential explanations that he could jump on.

Another lie wasn’t going to do him any favours, not when he knew so little. “I don’t know.” He could guess, but he didn’t know. From the looks of it, though, these two wouldn’t be satisfied with that. Chances were good they wouldn’t be particularly satisfied with his suspicions, either, which was that someone wanted him out of the way for whatever they were planning—or maybe that someone had decided they wanted to have a little fun with him at his expense, if world domination wasn’t on the table. “My parents are inventors. Maybe that’s why?”

“That doesn’t explain why whoever took you would leave you here,” Sokka pointed out, and Danny wished these two weren’t so smart. “If you were taken because you were valuable, you wouldn’t have been left behind unguarded.”

“So maybe they kidnapped the wrong person and realized that I wasn’t who they wanted?”

Sokka exchanged glances with his sister before murmuring, “We can ask Toph. I mean, it’s possible they found us, but if he is really a Fire Nation plant picked solely for his eye colour, they’d have at least dyed his hair and given him some normal clothes.”

Danny decided not to ask who the heck picked people for something based on eye colour and not skill or merit or experience or something normal like that. Aside from derailing the conversation from anything potentially useful, Danny was pretty sure Sokka hadn’t realized he’d been overheard, and it wouldn’t be in Danny’s best interests to let them know how good his hearing was.

Still, he took the opportunity to tuck away the Booo-merang before they could ask any questions about it that he wasn’t up to answering. Maybe it would make him seem like less of a threat if they didn’t think he was ready to use it as a weapon—not that he knew how to use a boomerang as a weapon, but he was pretty sure Sokka hadn’t pulled his out to see which of them could throw it farther or throw it properly—and maybe then they’d trust him enough to answer his questions. Hopefully. He was perfectly willing to meet this Toph if it meant figuring out where he was and how to get home, especially since it would be easy enough for him to cut and run later.

The movement was enough to draw the attention of the siblings, though, and both pairs of eyebrows rose. Had they not expected him to make what he hoped would be taken as a gesture of trust or were they wondering how the heck he’d gotten it into his pocket? Maybe they thought he was trying to hide it, which wouldn’t help matters at all. Then again, if they thought that he thought it had been a subtle move, then maybe—

No.

He had to stop doing this. He didn’t know enough about these two to try to guess their thoughts, let alone what actions they might take against him.

Danny shifted on his feet, glad they hadn’t jumped to attacking and that they weren’t even asking questions about the Booo-merang, since practically anything about it would be difficult to answer. At least they hadn’t seen him flying. Even for people familiar with ghosts, unknown ones tended to be cause for concern until their threat level was assessed, and Danny didn’t want to invite trouble and immediately find out what this world had that messed with ghosts. Sure, he wanted to know what could hurt him here, but finding out while it wasn’t actively being used against him was infinitely preferable.

“Where did you say you were from?” the girl asked after a beat, even though they all knew he’d never said anything about that.

“Nowhere you would know,” he hedged, which was true enough.

“We travel a lot,” the girl said, and her brother snorted.

“What Katara means is, try us. If we can help you get back to your family, what do you have to lose?” Sokka offered Danny a grin, and his stance had visibly relaxed, even if he hadn’t put his boomerang away. It might be just for show, especially since he still had a weapon out, but at least the girl hadn’t drawn any knives or something like that. “Look, from one guy to another, you don’t need to make up some crazy story if you’re a runaway or something like that. We’re basically runaways.”

“We’re running towards something, not away from it.”

“We were almost runaways.” To Danny, Sokka added, “Gran caught us, but she let us go.”

Katara rolled her eyes, and Danny looked between the two of them as Sokka continued talking. It was obvious that they’d changed tack for some reason, no doubt trying to get him to trust them, but the blatant switch made him uneasy. Did they not realize how obvious that was or was this just their usual dynamic?

“I’m from Amity,” Danny eventually interrupted. He knew from the way that they were looking at him that neither of them had forgotten he had yet to answer the question. He’d already told them they wouldn’t know the place, so technically he could’ve said Amity Park, but for all he knew, these two had been sent to get information out of him, and the less he told a potential enemy, the better.

Come to think of it, maybe he shouldn’t have told them his real name, and maybe he should’ve just made up a village name rather than dropping heavy hints about his hometown.

“Which is near—?”

Danny ignored Sokka’s prompt. He didn’t even have a good enough idea of the geography of this place to make that up, especially when there was a chance they knew the area, runaways or no. “Do you know where I could get some water? I haven’t found any since I woke up.” That wasn’t true, but they wouldn’t know that unless they were getting some more intel about him from someone unseen.

The siblings looked at each other again, and then Katara faced him and said, “We’re headed to the river. Come with us. You can get your water, and we can share our catch if we get anything.”

“Wait, I didn’t agree to share my meat!” Sokka exclaimed. Katara’s only answer was a dirty look, but it was enough to have Sokka subsiding into grumbles.

“I’m not hungry yet,” Danny said, which also strictly wasn’t true, but he knew he didn’t need to eat much.

“You might be hungry by the time we’re finished,” Katara said over Sokka’s griping.

Danny hesitated, trying to figure out how weird it would be if he made up some excuse not to go with them. What were the chances that this was a trap when he’d brought up the river—or at least water—before they had? It wasn’t that he thought they’d be able to take him out if it came to that, even if Jazz had more experience fighting normally than he did, since he typically relied a lot on his powers when he could.

These two might be better fighters than him—there were almost certainly better hunters, given how silently they could walk—but he’d always have something like intangibility in his back pocket if it came to it, and they wouldn’t. Still, when it came down to it, he wasn’t used to fighting humans. What if he didn’t pull his punches enough and seriously hurt one of them?

“You can tell us about Amity,” Katara added. “We’ve never been there.”

Danny really hoped that was true and that there wasn’t a place in this world called Amity that they knew well. Still, when they started walking, spreading out so he was always in sight and they never had their backs to him, even when they hit the trees on the other side of the road, he kept pace with them. “It’s pretty much like you’d expect.” Except for the ghosts. At least his ghost sense hadn’t gone off here. Yet. “This is probably the farthest I’ve ever travelled from home.” He couldn’t get much farther away than a completely different dimension that (probably) wasn’t as connected to his world as it was to the Ghost Zone, anyway—unless he counted when he’d time travelled, but he wasn’t about to bring that up.

Katara opened her mouth to ask another question, maybe to press him for details, so Danny cut her off. “What about you two?”

They looked at each other again. How many times were they going to do that? Hadn’t they already decided how far to trust him? Danny knew it wasn’t very far, but they’d clearly decided he wasn’t going to straight up attack them at this precise moment, so even if they didn’t tell him the whole truth—

Sokka gestured at their clothes. “We’re Water Tribe.”

He said it like it was obvious, like Danny should’ve known already, but of course it explained absolutely nothing.

“Southern Water Tribe,” Katara added unhelpfully, despite Sokka’s frown. “We wanted to see the world, and now we are.”

As cover stories went, it was better than Danny’s. Barely. “Right,” he said, wondering again why he’d been dumped in the path of these two. “It’s a nice world to see.”

Somehow, that was the wrong thing to say, because they were both looking at him like they’d expected him to say anything but that. “What?”

“There’s a war on, you’re supposedly kidnapped and dropped off somewhere in occupied territory without any of the proper paperwork, and the best you can come up with is it’s a nice world to see?” Sokka turned his incredulous look from Danny to Katara. “He cannot be Fire Nation. This kid is more sheltered than Toph was supposed to be.”

Danny, who had stumbled at the word war, kept walking and hoped they hadn’t noticed. If they had, maybe they’d think he’d tripped over a tree root or fallen branch or hole or something. They weren’t following a trail, so that was a perfectly reasonable explanation, right?

“It’s all right,” Katara said as she reached out to touch his arm, and, okay, from that gentle tone, which was a complete change from anything earlier, it must mean she had noticed, knew he hadn’t tripped over anything in the terrain, and—from how she was looking at him now—thought it wasn’t surprise that had tripped Danny up, either. “Trust me, I know what it’s like to be a little naïve until you have a chance to leave home for the first time, but unless you’re got a camp around here, you’re not prepared at all.”

Sokka finally put his boomerang away and smirked at Danny. “We at least left home with supplies.”

“Did you have to run without any warning?” Katara asked, giving her brother a pointed look.

“Oh, uh, kinda.” Danny winced, knowing that had to sound like a lie. “I…I didn’t really plan on leaving when I did. This just…happened.”

Sokka raised an eyebrow, but Katara said, “You don’t have to worry. We’re the last people who would turn you in to the Fire Nation.”

Right. So the Fire Nation were the bad guys, at least according to the Water Tribe and, if he was putting things together correctly, the Earth Kingdom, where they were. Meaning the Fire Nation had invaded the Earth Kingdom if this was occupied territory. Danny thought about asking why these two had come into occupied territory themselves and then decided he didn’t want to risk getting into a discussion that would show off how little he knew. If they had decided he was a runaway who knew practically nothing about the world, well, that worked in his favour.

“Thanks.” Danny wasn’t sure what else to say. “Why are you helping me, though? Won’t that put you in danger?” That had to be a fair question in this situation.

“We can’t help everyone,” Katara said quietly, “but we can help some people, even if it’s just a tiny bit. Sometimes, that has to be enough.”

Danny really didn’t know what to say to that, because she certainly wouldn’t understand if he said he knew the feeling, so he smiled weakly in thanks and let the conversation drop.

They were still watching him, but they were more subtle about it now, and it didn’t look like they were watching him more closely than they were watching everything else.

Being downgraded from a threat was a win, though. Danny hoped he didn’t do anything to mess it up.

“There’s no shame in being a refugee,” Sokka said after a moment. “Being from a richer family might’ve bought you an isolated childhood, but it wouldn’t guarantee your safety.”

“We won’t try to hold you for ransom if you tell us where you’re really from,” added Katara.

Danny glanced at her. “I said I was from Amity.”

“I could say I have a platypus bear as a pet,” Sokka interjected. “That doesn’t make it true.”

“We know what it’s like, thinking you understand the way things are and then realizing how little you know,” Katara said quietly. “It can be overwhelming.”

“And it would explain why you’re in your nightclothes,” Sokka said. He’d come in range of Katara’s fist, but he danced out of the way as she swung in his direction. He hadn’t even needed to look at her to know it was coming. “You didn’t know enough to keep your valuables hidden and got robbed your first night on your own, didn’t you?”

“I—” Danny knew it was an excuse for his ignorance being handed to him on a silver platter, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep up with a lie like that when he knew so little. “These aren’t my pajamas,” he said instead. Let them believe what they wanted to believe; that would make his life easier. Even if it blew up in his face somehow, he could truthfully say he’d never said they were right.

They might be suspicious that he hadn’t outright denied it, but then again, he’d already told them something a lot closer to the truth.

“Uh huh.” Sokka glanced at Katara again, and she gave a slight shake her head that Danny didn’t understand.

“Let’s get you some food and water first,” Katara said. “Then we can see about finding you other supplies.”

Danny decided not to point out that they’d already told him it was slim pickings for supplies around here. Not that he had the money to pay for anything, but Sokka had already guessed that. Besides, they thought he was running around in his pjs.

Judging by the sour look on Sokka’s face, he’d evidently translated his sister’s words to mean that she wanted to give him some of their supplies, something Sokka clearly wasn’t sure he approved of.

Katara must have had similar thoughts on Sokka’s expression, since she murmured, “It’s this or bring him with us, and you know what’s safer.”

Katara might not have minded that Danny could overhear her last words, but Sokka closed the distance between them, pulling his sister farther away from Danny before hissing, “It’s not the only option, and you know it. We can’t afford to give away any of our supplies, and just because Toph can make sure he’s not coming in with the intention of stabbing us in the back, doesn’t mean he wouldn’t blab to anyone once he figures out who we’re travelling with. You know as well as I do that that wouldn’t take very long.”

“He’s just kid.”

“Technically, like Aang keeps reminding us, we’re just kids. Who very much cannot afford to so much as drop him off in the next village. Show him the river and teach him how to catch and cook his meals? Fine. Picking him up as a stray when he’s not bringing anything to the table? Not fine.”

“He’s lost.”

“So? He’s not hurt. He’s already in a better position than some refugees. He’ll survive until he can walk to the nearest settlement. Then he can try to get help from people who can actually give it.”

Katara bit her lip and slowed to a stop. “There’s something else.”

“What?”

Danny very much wanted to know the answer to that—what had Katara figured out?—but he tried not to react so they didn’t know he’d been listening in. He deliberately turned away and stared around the trees instead, a mix of deciduous and evergreen. He couldn’t pick out any specific types of trees—nothing distinctive like oak leaves that he could see—and, as far as he could tell, the woods were utterly devoid of critters. He had no idea if that was because this world wasn’t real or if it was simply because all the animals in the region had had warning of their coming and hidden accordingly.

Danny knew his disinterest wouldn’t be very convincing, but if he was lucky, they’d think he’d given up on trying to eavesdrop.

“There’s something…off about him. Not necessarily something wrong, but something different. I can’t…. When he asked about water, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t hiding any on him or nearby in case it was a trap, and— He didn’t feel the same as you or me. I can’t explain it. Toph might have a better idea than I do. Or…or Aang.” The last word was a barely audible whisper.

“You think this might be a spirit thing?” Sokka’s response was closer to a suppressed shriek than anything else, and Danny winced.

“I think he might be spirit touched,” Katara answered, and Sokka’s sharp inhalation was painfully audible. “I wasn’t good enough back then to notice anything about Yue, but—”

“Fine.” Sokka’s voice had gone flat. “I don’t want to shun someone and accidentally anger the spirits. I’ll teach him to fish. You go back and interrupt advanced earthbending practice and pick a meeting place, but make sure everyone’s packed in case this doesn’t go the way you think it’ll go.”

“I know to be careful.”

“We all know to be careful. Some of us just need more reminding than others.”

Katara didn’t say anything else, but she must have nodded or done something similar because Danny heard Sokka stalk back over to him. “Katara’s going back to talk to the rest of our group about what we might be able to spare,” he said as Danny turned back to face him, “and I’ll show you how to fish in the meantime. If you don’t catch anything, I’ll give you one of mine.”

Danny wasn’t about to admit that he’d overheard their entire conversation, so he smiled and said, “That sounds great, thanks.” It didn’t stop the uneasiness from settling in his gut, though. Sure, now he knew these people believed in ghosts, and Sokka’s response made it clear he didn’t want to get on their bad side, but Danny had no idea what being spirit touched meant. He didn’t know if that was seen as a good thing or a bad thing.

More to the point, if it was a bad thing, he didn’t know if these people had something suitable with which to attack spirit touched people, since if they did, chances were good that it would work on him.

He was not lucky enough to get a free pass here.

Still, the odds were good that he’d be able to escape if they did attack since he’d know to be on watch for something, and he wasn’t about to turn down an offer of food. He had no idea when a portal would open and he’d be able to go home. Until then, the best he could do was survive.

He’d survived this much, and his life had hardly been a walk in the park since the accident, let alone before. He wasn’t about to let some ghost fling him into an unknown world and succeed in taking him down. He needed to get out of this to kick their butt and prove to them that they couldn’t get rid of him that easily.

Assuming this wasn’t all a series of genuine coincidences and not the result of the careful manipulation of events.

Danny didn’t want to think about that, though.

He had a much better chance of getting home if there was someone he could beat, and he was going to get home.

Somehow.

(see more fics)

#danny phantom #atla #avatar the last airbender #danny fenton #sokka #katara #crossover #fanfiction #dp fanfiction #atla fanfiction #my writing #ladylynse #snippets #crossover snippet #geronimo-alonzi

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reading-wanderer · 3 years

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Ectober Day 17: Found Footage

Sam, Danny, and Tucker find something interesting while they sort through Jack’s old collage tapes.

Ectober Masterlist

“Do you think your parents have anything cool in here?” Sam asked as they rifled through the stacks and stacks of VHS tapes Jack had brought up from the lower basement and recruited them to sort through while he worked in the lab

“Knowing them? It’s probably all just ghost hunting stuff,” Danny snorted.

“How about this one,” Tucker asked, waving a tape that read ‘JF, VM, MW Mirror Witch exorcism’. “What do you want to bet VM stands for Vlad Masters.”

“I’m not taking that bet,” Sam snorted, “You think there’s any blackmail in there?”

“Only one way to find out,” Danny grinned mischievously. With both his parents in the basement working on something or other and Jazz out at the library, there was nothing stopping the trio from running over to the TV and putting their find in the VHS player.

“I can’t believe you!” The trio jumped as the video immediately opened to a much younger Maddie yelling and throwing things at a younger, mullet-ed Jack and the camera, “I can’t believe you dragged me into this and now I’m going to get murdered by a fucking demon.”

“Mirror witch,” Vlad’s voice corrected almost absentmindedly from behind the camera. The view twitched back as younger Maddie turned and gave the camera the stink eye. “Don’t look at me,” he complained, “I told you she was real.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed, glancing at something off screen, “you’re the one who didn’t believe in Bl—”

“Don’t say her name,” Vlad hissed, the view suddenly flailing around over to a door, “you’re going to attract her. Those candles won’t last forever.” The three teenagers exchanged looks.

“Candles?” Tucker asked. Danny shrugged. Sam, on the other hand, looked contemplative.

“You said it wouldn’t work,” Maddie accused.

“I said I didn’t think the real summoning ritual was still being spread around,” Vlad corrected, returning the view to Maddie with Jack still standing over to the side, “not that it didn’t exist. I also said this was a bad idea—”

“Yeah, after you and Jack spent three days researching how to summon her.”

“Uh, guys?” Jack interjected from the side.

“You didn’t think it would work either!”

“Guys?” Jack brought a silver and cyan gun like thing up and pointed it towards the door.

“You didn’t even look up a way to un-summon her after!”

“There isn’t one,” Vlad hissed, “she kills her summoner in order to un-summon herself. Why do you think I tried to stop you when I realized you were actually summoning her? At this point we just need to figure out how to kill her instead.” Younger Maddie looked ready to start beating on Vlad when a sharp cracking noise tore through the room. The trio watching jumped at the sound as the camera whipped around to look at the door again.

The door to wherever they were was pierced by long, straight black and red things that seemed to be wiggling back and forth. The familiar sound of an ectoweapon echoed through the room as a bright cyan blast hit a couple of the wiggling things. An unholy screech echoed out of the tv speakers, sending a chill down the spines of the three teenagers as the things retracted back.

The view twisted again to look at Jack with his silver weapon in one hand and a screwdriver in the other. “At least we know Anti-Ghost weapons work against her,” he said brightly.

“Yeah, until we run out of ectoplasm,” Maddie snapped as she walked into view with another gun in her hands.

“Here,” Jack said offering her his, “pass me yours. I need to adjust a couple things. Mine didn’t want to work at first.”

“We really need to get out of here before she starts targeting someone else,” Vlad murmured, just barely audible. The three teens watched as Vlad moved slowly towards the door. The view zoomed in on the splintered wood. Through the the holes they could see the hall lights flickering and, despite the fact they were in a collage dorm, none of the other students had come to investigate the screech from earlier.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker leaned forward as the sound of the door knob being turned. The camera slowly peaked out of the door. Nothing down to the right.

The camera slowly panned the other way. None of the other door in the hall had holes. Then, just as the camera was revealing the other end of the hall, the screen jittered before skidding across the ground. The trio jumped as Vlad’s voice rang out, “Sugar Lumps!”

Another unearthly screech rang out as shots started firing. The trio was on the edge of their seats, waiting, when—

“Hey kids, what are you watching?” They screamed, jumping from the couch as Jack’s voice suddenly cut through the room. Danny scuttled forward, practically slamming the stop button on the VCR as an excuse not to reveal his glowing green eyes. He squeezed them shut and tried to force his ghost energy down as Sam answered for them, “Just one of the tapes you were having us go through.”

“Sounds like you found a good one,” Jack cheered, “have fun kids, we’ll start dinner once we’re done calibrating the Fenton Ghost Analyzer.”

#ectober month 2021 #ectoberhaunt 2021 #reader writes a thing #danny phantom #Sam mason #Tucker Foley #Jack Fenton #Maddie Fenton #Vlad Masters #this absolutely got cut off early #Vlad got tackled from above but it threw the door open so Jack and Maddie had clear shots #they did eventually manage to kill it #Jack hears ectoguns going off and assumes it’s one of the more recent videos

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ghostgothgeek · 3 years

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Awkward.

DP Shiptember 2021 - First Date

Pairing: Danny and Sam

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“Ugh!” Danny groaned as he threw another shirt to his growing pile. “None of these are working!”

“Dude, they all look fine to me. Just pick one!” Tucker picked some lint off his shirt.

“I can’t just pick one! It has to be perfect!” Danny pulled on another button up shirt.

Tucker sighed and slid off Danny’s bed and onto the floor. “It’s just a date.”

Danny almost tore his shirt in half in anxiety when Tucker said that. “But it’s Sam! And it’s our first date! If it goes wrong she’ll suck me in the thermos and throw me down a well or worse - never talk to me again!”

Yes, Casper High’s lovebirds finally got together. Surprisingly enough, it was Danny who made the first move. Sure, he was nervous and had some encouragement from Tucker (and Jazz and Clockwork and just about every ghost or human who would listen to his anxious rambling), who assured Danny that his friendship with Sam would most likely be okay no matter what happened, but he finally asked Sam out. Sam was cautiously optimistic (she wanted to be sure it wasn’t a prank) but finally said yes. And Danny has been a nervous wreck ever since. He asked her out two days ago, and Tucker’s patience was being tested.

“Interesting how you think her not talking to you is worse than being trapped in the thermos forever. But exactly. It’s Sam. She likes you for you. Just be yourself, you’ll be fine,” Tucker reassured his best friend for about the twentieth time in the past 5 minutes alone.

“But myself isn’t good enough for her! She’s so pretty and smart and kind and strong and she has a good heart and she has my back and oh god have you seen her with the Fenton Bazooka? It’s so hot and -“

“La la la don’t want to hear that!!” Tucker put his hands over his ears.

“Well she is! And I’m just dopey Danny Fenton,” Danny sighed and plopped down on the floor next to Tucker.

“Dude, that's one of the things she loves about you. She knows who you are. You guys have been best friends for years. You know everything about each other already. It’ll just be like hanging out, but with kissing or something.” Tucker patted Danny supportively on the shoulder.

“I guess…I just don’t want to disappoint her.”

“You won’t. Trust me. I know you guys will have a great time and you’re perfect for each other.”

Danny’s face twisted into a goofy smile, “you think so?”

Tucker snorted, “everyone and their parrot thinks so and has for years. Including Sam.”

Danny exhaled in relief. “Okay good.” He stood up and reached for another shirt in his closet.

“Just go with the light blue one. It matches your eyes. She’ll love that.” Tucker dug his phone out of his pocket after it vibrated.

Danny looked at Tucker in bewilderment then shrugged and put on the aforementioned shirt. He quickly buttoned it up and stood in front of Tucker, bouncing up and down anxiously. “I think this is the one. I feel ready. I can do this. It’s all good from here on out.”

Tucker rolled his eyes at the text he got from Sam asking for his help choosing an outfit for tonight. She and Danny were definitely made for each other. He shot her a quick response saying he’d be over in ten, and looked up at Danny. “You missed a button,” he pointed out.

Danny looked down and groaned. “Fuck!”

——

Danny wiped his sweaty palm off on his pants and took a deep breath before ringing the doorbell. He tried shooing away a bee that was trying to get at the lilies he bought for Sam, but the bee kept coming back.

“No! These are for Sam, not you!” He held the bouquet of flowers over his head thinking it would be out of reach for the bee, then started whipping the bouquet in the air, the bee following the flowers in every creative direction Danny could think of. “Stupid bee! You’re gonna ruin everyth- ow! The little fucker stung me! I’ll show you…” He began to form an ecto ball in his hand before he realized the front door was open, and had been for quite some time. Sam was leaning against the door frame, arms crossed and trying to suppress a giggle. She was so cute. “Um…hi. How long have you been standing there?”

“Oh no, please don’t stop on my account. Want to introduce me to your friend?” Sam smirked as she pushed herself up from the door frame so she was fully standing.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and held the flowers out. “These are for you!” He yelled a little too loudly. Danny narrowed his eyes when he noticed the bee on one of the flowers and let out a low growl.

“Thanks!” Sam grabbed the flowers, blowing gently on the one with the bee (which promptly flew away in response). She admired the flowers with a smile on her face. “Wow, you remembered my favorite flower.” She signaled a butler to put the flowers in a vase and grabbed her purse. “Are you ready to go?”

Danny stood there stupidly. He was just staring at her. She looked so pretty. Her hair was down and in loose curls, lavender eyeshadow and black lipstick adorned her face, and she was wearing a simple black sundress that fit her like a glove until the skirt flowed out. The dress landed mid thigh - which is where Danny’s eyes stopped. He couldn’t believe she was this dressed up for him. He was so lucky! His goth goddess was showing off her sexy long legs for him and he couldn’t help but think about how amazing they would feel wrapped around his waist while he loved on her and-

“Danny! My eyes are up here, babe.” Sam smiled smugly.

Danny blushed as his eyes returned to her face. “You look amazing! So pretty-gorgeous! Your legs and your face and wow!”

Sam laughed at his babbling as a small blush dusted her cheeks as well. “Thanks. You look really handsome too. That shirt really brings out your eyes.”

Danny smiled and noted he would have to thank Tucker for that one. Sam turned around and locked her door, and Danny took the opportunity to admire how amazing that dress made her backside look too.

He wiped off his sweaty palm again and grabbed her hand before immediately letting go. “Sorry! Is that okay? Friends don’t do that but I guess we aren’t friends anymore and no not like that I mean we aren’t just friends anymore because we’re dating you actually said yes to me and we’re going on a date and you look amazing! Nice boobs, I MEAN BOOTS! Well, your boobs look nice too but it’s not like that’s your only asset, and speaking of ass,”

Sam busted out laughing and somehow refrained from ruining her makeup with her tears. “Oh my god, I can’t believe I was nervous about this!”

#DP Shiptember 2021 #hi yes it's me showing up late for my OWN EVENT #danny phantom #danny fenton #sam manson #amethyst ocean #tucker foley #stephanie writes sometimes

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q-gorgeous · 3 years

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Frozen

fanfiction

ao3

continuation of lightning and doorway

theres nothing frozen about this i literally just used the word in my fic once

Dash stepped out of his truck, locking the door behind him. Shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder, Dash headed towards the front entrance of Casper High where he could see his friends waiting.

“Hey! Dash! Where have you been? I was trying to text you all day yesterday but you never answered me.” Kwan said, throwing an arm around Dash’s shoulder.

“Haha, sorry.” Dash said, scratching the side of his face. “I kind of wanted a sort of relaxing weekend. Decided to just go for a couple walks and all that.”

“Where’s your jacket?” Paulina asked. “Not that I’m complaining. It’s nice to finally see you wearing something other than your letterman jacket but something must seriously be up if you don’t have it.”

Dash scoffed. “I do not wear my letterman jacket that much.”

“Sorry to break it to you bro but you’re hardly ever seen without it.” Kwan said.

“Ooh did you finally meet some girl Dash? Did she sweep you off your feet enough for you to lend it to her?” Star asked, a teasing look on her face.

“What? No!” Dash exclaimed.

“Well then where is-” Paulina got cut off.

“Uh, Dash?”

Dash turned around to see Danny standing behind him, sheepishly holding his hoodie and letterman jacket in both hands. He held them out to him. “Here.”

“Thanks.” Dash grabbed them from Danny, who gave him an awkward thumbs up and walked away. When Dash had put his jacket on and re-shouldered his backpack, he looked up to see all his friends following Danny with their eyes.

“Why did Danny have your jacket?” Kwan asked.

Dash was trying to loop his hoodie over part of his backpack strap when he replied without thinking. “I gave them to him on Saturday.”

“YOU’RE AN ITEM?!” Star and Paulina shrieked together.

Dash stilled, frozen to the spot. Slowly he turned and looked back up at his friends again. Star and Paulina looked very confused but Kwan looked like he was trying not to laugh at them.

“What?” Dash asked, chuckling nervously.

“When a guy gives their letterman jacket to someone else that means that they’re in a steady relationship.” Paulina said, gesturing with her hands. “Why else would someone give someone else their jacket?”

“Uh, because it’s cold out?” Dash said.

“But it’s part of the high school code, Dash!”

Dash snorted. “You know what also had all sorts of dumb rules and codes? The A-Lister club. That’s why we got rid of the membership and paperwork, remember?”

“But why would you give Fenton your jacket if you’re not dating him then? It doesn’t make sense.” Star said, crossing her arms.

Dash ran a hand down her face. “Haven’t you guys ever thought of being nice? It was raining? And cold?”

“It sounds so romantic!” Paulina fake sobbed.

“If you and Danny aren’t dating then what were you guys doing before you gave him your jacket?” Kwan asked.

“Uh.” Dash hadn’t thought he needed to come up with a lie. He didn’t think through the fact that in order for Danny to return his jacket and hoodie at school on Monday would involve doing it in front of someone. It didn’t matter if it was his friends or not, Casper High’s rumor mill was faster than even the news station covering ghost attacks.

What was he gonna say? That Danny was being chased by ghost hunters? That he literally ran right into Dash and punched him? That he was actually thinking about Danny before he showed up and couldn’t stop thinking about him all of Sunday?

Apparently Dash had taken too long to answer because the next thing he knew the bell was ringing and Kwan was patting him on the shoulder with a knowing look.

“Don’t worry. You can tell us when you’re ready.”

Dash groaned and begrudgingly followed after his friends into the building. He looked up and after a moment saw Danny with his two friends across the school yard. They looked like they were both reaming into him in different ways, Tucker teasing Danny while Sam seemed to be lecturing him about something. After a moment all three of them looked up and met Dash’s gaze.

Tucker was trying very unsuccessfully to stifle his laughter and Sam was sending a glare his way. Danny gave an awkward pair of jazz hands and smiled nervously at him.

Dash rolled his eyes and put on his biggest smile, making eye contact and waving at Manson. Turning back towards his friends, Dash could only hear Tucker’s raucous laughter directed at Sam.

“Did you just wave at Danny? Oh my god.”

Dash groaned at Paulina. As if his friends weren’t bad enough, he was gonna have to deal with Fenton’s friends too. He snuck a look back at Danny.

After a moment Dash felt a nudge on his arm and looked up to see Kwan giving him a teasing smile. Dash scowled and walked into the front entrance of Casper High.

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bubblegumbeech · 3 years

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Passing Through

Dannymay Day 5: Doorway

“Don’t go in there,” his mother warned. Her voice shook. “Never go through that door.”

Danny had no intention of ignoring his mother, especially since the night she’d given him that warning was seared so thoroughly in his mind he didn’t think even as an adult he’d ever forget it.

It had been dark, but not any darker than any other night with Danny’s myriad nightlights and glowing stars stuck everywhere he could reach and then some. The night had long since settled, and Danny was supposed to be sleeping and was instead, like any young child, not doing that.

In fact, he’d been staring out his window, arm balanced on the sill and face pressed up against the glass so he could see the night sky in all her glory. It was one of the only times he felt truly comfortable, alone and with his parents and sister asleep. He often imagined himself sailing amongst those stars. Or flying high enough to reach out and cradle one to his chest.

Jazz always told him that was impossible, that each star was as far away from each other as they were from earth, if not further. He told her she could eat dirt, and she got a hurt look in her eyes that made him feel bad, but he didn’t apologize because she was being mean first.

He’d been preoccupied, that’s why he didn’t notice it at first.

When the soft pink touch of the sun started obscuring the night’s stars, Danny realized he’d been up all night and he was probably going to fall asleep in class again. He turned around to quickly dive into bed to at least feign having slept so his parents didn’t scold him and feel like they had to check in on him at night the way they threatened to last time.

He hadn’t expected the door.

It was small, very small compared to a normal door. It was just large enough that Danny could crawl through on all fours, and he knew there was no way his dad would ever be able to get through. At least not more than an arm. Maybe his head if he tried to dive through it.

The door was closed, a soft, purple light on the other side painting the carpet beneath where it stood, balanced, in the middle of the room. Acting as if it was placed in the wall like any good door, but missing the wall itself entirely.

Danny walked closer, his mind off bed times and getting ready for school entirely. Now he was thinking of adventures and stories Jazz used to read him before he could read himself. Stories of exploration and hidden worlds. His hand brushed against the polished brass handle, and a jolt of electricity flowed through him, causing every hair in his body to stand on end.

He probably should have let go then, released the handle and backed up, frightened. But instead Danny’s grip tightened and he twisted the nob, pulling it slowly open, his heart beating in rapt anticipation. It was barely open a sliver, the tiniest bit of purple light spilling out onto the frame, when his mother ran into the room and slammed it closed.

She was wearing a hazmat suit, as if she’d just come from the lab downstairs, with thick rubber gloves and ominous red goggles that reflected a twisted version of Danny’s face back at him as she pulled him into a tight, unforgiving hug.

“Thank goodness you’re safe,” she said, her words heavy with exertion. Had she run up here? How did she know there was a door?

Danny looked over his mother’s shoulder to take another look, but the door had vanished at some point when his eyes were no longer locked upon it. That was when she gave him her warning. The one he had no intention of ignoring.

The one he was disregarding now, for no reason other than he was sick of it. He was tired of the nights, laying awake and seeing a door that promised so much and had yet to be given the opportunity to deliver.

His mother would skin him alive if she knew, but she’d probably never find out. Honestly, if Tucker’s theories were true and it was some monster trying to trick him into its lair Coraline-style, it’d probably take at least a week for her to even realize he was gone. His dad probably wouldn’t notice at all.

Jazz…

Danny shook his head. If anything, Jazz would be the one to forgive him for being dumb. She understood what it was like to have this burning curiosity, this need to know.

The door didn’t always appear. Most nights it did, but only when Danny was distracted by something, usually the stars outside his window, sometimes a particularly fun video game or a good book. It only ever appeared right on the cusp of night and morning, before the sun rose fully but after the stars hid away. And it always waited for him to look away before it disappeared.

He didn’t plan on looking away tonight.

The first night after his mother’s warning, he’d stayed up all night, terrified, waiting for the door to appear. It never did. In fact, the next month, he spent every second awake expecting it to appear and being almost disappointed when it didn’t.

It appeared again, in much the same way it had the first time, while Danny was star gazing.

That’s why, now, knowing the rules (or rather what few rules he could tell from this side of the door), Danny was determined to follow through. None of his questions would be answered just waiting for the door to appear or not appear, nor would they be answered by spending time staring at it and studying it from the outside.

He needed to go through.

The brass knob was cold against his palm, and it turned easily. The click of the mechanism was loud in the night’s quiet. He held his breath. He opened the door.

There was no resistance when it swung open. Almost the opposite, in fact, like it had been waiting for an excuse. The soft purple light that had teased the edges of the door was much closer to a deep, swirling purple that looked almost like mist and obscured the path forward.

But Danny wasn’t scared.

He was curious.

He stepped through, and heard the door close softly behind him. Just like in a horror movie really, and exactly like the stories his mother told him, warning him of monsters and things from the other side.

It didn’t matter anymore, if he’d made the right choice. He’d made his choice and there was only one path to take. Danny walked into the mists and kept walking.

No more than an hour could have passed, but it felt like much longer. Time seemed to stretch along with the endless path, and Danny hadn’t come any closer to the answers he wanted.

He sighed. “Hello? Is anyone here?” he tried calling out, to no avail.

This was turning out to be a waste of a trip. With all the cryptic warnings, he’d hoped it wouldn’t be boring at the very least, yet here he was. The only difference between this and one of Sam’s ‘nature hikes’ was that Danny couldn’t see anything through the damned purple mist.

Or could he?

Danny squinted his eyes, catching something moving just to his left. It was very much hidden, the deep purple of its cloak camouflaged perfectly against the swirling purples all around him. He took a step closer, off the path, and felt the air still around him.

A voice, haunting and deep, startled him.

“A quick learner,” it said.

Danny felt his mouth go dry. There was actually someone here, someone that might not be human. Someone that could summon a door into a kids room for half a decade waiting for them to open it.

Someone who might have answers.

Danny stepped closer, and the mist seemed to gather, catching on itself and folding into a physical shape. The hooded figure. Danny forced himself not to blink. It felt like anything was possible, that if he looked away, he’d miss too much to make sense of it later.

The hooded figure turned to him and beckoned with one gloved hand, the other holding a twisting, intricate staff covered in shapes and symbols Danny couldn’t quite make out. Danny didn’t step any closer.

It was clear this man wasn’t human, or at the very least hadn’t been for some time. The only thing Danny could see hidden under the cloak was an old clock. But even then, Danny couldn’t tell whether it was something he was wearing on his chest or if it simply was his chest and there was nothing else.

“You’re still cautious, even now when you’ve already made your decision?” the figure asked. “Did you not seek an answer to your curiosity?”

Danny frowned. This whatever-it-was knew more than he was comfortable with. Had he been watching from the other side? How? Is that why the door only appeared when it did? Why couldn’t he just open the door and step out if his goal was to spirit Danny away like in the stories?

There were just so many questions, and Danny still didn’t have any answers.

“Do you actually have any answers or are you just going to eat me?” he asked, growing irritated. It had been a long night, made longer by his fruitless walk, and it was starting to affect his temper.

Instead of answering, the figure lowered his arm, tilting his head to the side. “If you thought I was going to eat you, why did you come through the door? You’ve been very good at ignoring it so far.”

“Yeah see,” Danny said, throwing up his hands, “that kind of stuff only makes you sound more creepy and suspicious, you know! If your goal is child eating you should set up, idk a candy house or something. Pretend to be a grandma, I hear that works wonders provided you stay out of your own oven.”

The figure laughed. It sounded, off, not like a noise Danny recognized, but more like a collage of sounds: a ticking clock chiming with heavy clanking clockwork all wrapped in canary song and it vibrated all the way through Danny from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. It filled the air around them much like the mist once did and Danny felt glee himself, caught up as he was.

He looked up desperately at the figure, trying to keep ahold of himself and how he truly felt, lost in the sudden sea of emotion. The figure’s cloak was bunched up, as if he was doubled over in laughter, his gloves clutching at his staff and the entire collection shaking with slight tremors.

The hood turned towards him, empty, and Danny’s panic spiked. The laughter stopped, and the figure stood once more, pulling the hood further down and hiding the nothingness underneath.

“I apologize,” he said, sincere. “It’s been some time since I’ve felt in such good humor, and you took me off guard. I hope you didn’t get too swept away?”

Danny, who was still definitely feeling the effects of the other’s laughter, shook his head no. “I’m alright. I just- what are you?”

“I am like Clockwork,” he answered readily. “Though the question you should be asking, Daniel, is what are you? That is a much more interesting answer.”

Disagreeing vehemently, Danny shook his head. Like Clockwork? Was that his name? Why he had a clock, er, was a clock? How did that work? What was he? Simply what his name implied? Something more? There were a billion and a half questions he wanted answers to that were more interesting than that.

Then again, there had to be a reason he said it, right? “Okay Clockwork, I’ll bite. What am I?”

He could swear the thing smiled. “You are halfway there.”

#dannymay2021 #danny phantom #clockwork #danny fenton #horror #horror themes #loosely based off TPoH #but not nearly that well thought out #Bee's writing

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ecto-american · 3 years

Text

Prom Season

Phic Phight Oneshot for Rikaleeta and ghostgothgeek: As Prom draws nearer, Danny finds that he has competition in asking Sam to prom. Danny/Sam

Read on AO3 and FFN

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"Dude, you're staring again," Tucker nudged him. Danny blinked, snapping out of his daze, and he stood up straight, tapping his fingers anxiously on the counter.

"Sorry, dude, it's just. What the hell would Dale want with Sam?" he scowled.

The jock was standing near Sam, the two chatting idly by Sam's favorite part of the comics store, the vinyl section. Sam was smiling, nodding and agreeing with whatever Dale was talking to her about.

"Dale's been eying Valerie lately, maybe he's asking Sam about her?" Tucker suggested. He smiled politely at a customer who came into his line, promptly beginning to check them out. "Even so, why do you care? Sammy's a big girl."

"Prom season's coming up, somebody might ask her," Danny argued lightly.

"And why's that matter?" Tucker asked. In no time at all, the customer had paid and left, and the two were left standing in the mostly empty comics store.

"Dude, you know guys!" Danny grumbled, throwing his hands up as if it was obvious. "They only want one thing, especially after prom! You should know. Don't you and Star plan on finally doing it after prom?"

"Probably, but mostly because we've already been doing it," Tucker shrugged. Danny choked on nothing.

"Wait, what? How come you didn't tell me!?" Danny asked. Tucker opened his mouth to reply, only to jerk his head to Sam.

Dale had left the store seemingly, and Sam was already at the counter, clutching a new vinyl. Danny chuckled.

"This is why we can't visit Tucker at work, you'll always end up with something," he teased her. She rolled her eyes.

"But Tucker works here now, so he'll be sweet and let me use his employee discount?" she half-asked hopefully, staring at Tucker with a bright smile. He sighed, and he entered his employee discount code as he rang her up. "Thank you!"

"Anytime," he assured her. He handed her her bag. "So did Dale ask you to prom?" Sam snorted in amusement.

"Oh hell no," she replied. "He wanted to know if anybody had asked Valerie, and if I thought his plan to ask her would go over well."

Tucker sent Danny a sideways "I told you so" smirk, and Danny made an annoyed grumble.

"Either way, you ready to drag me to Hot Topic?" Danny asked.

"Only every day," Sam said. She turned to Tucker. "You close tonight, right? Do you want us to swing by and take you home?" Tucker shook his head no.

"Nah, it's okay!" he assured her. "I have my uncle's old car now, remember?" Sam lit up a bit.

"Oh yeah! Well, just drive careful!"

Tucker waved her off with a grin.

"Don't worry about me. You two lovebirds have fun," he teased. "But not too much fun."

Danny could feel his cheeks burn. A glance at Sam, and he could see her own face flushing some. However, she rolled her eyes and jokingly flipped Tucker off, getting one in response as they walked out and into the mall.

"Do you want me to carry your bag?" Danny offered, holding his hand out.

"Sure!" Sam agreed, and she handed it over. "Have you thought about the piercing? I'll buy you one if you're going for it."

"Eh, I'm still trying to figure out how badly my mom would flip if she saw that I got my nose pierced, and if it'd be worth it lecture," Danny shrugged.

"You should totally do it, then deflect it by coming out as Danny Phantom," she joked. Danny snorted. "Come on, we could match!" Sam had gotten her left nostril pierced almost a year ago, currently occupied by a tiny black skull, as well as four total piercings per ear. As expected, her mom nearly lost it over the nose charm. She poked his nose. "You could get a little white ghost charm." He couldn't help but smile.

"Now you're tempting me to risk it," he admitted.

He gestured to the Hot Topic, and Sam went inside first, him right behind her. She went right for the piercings display, looking. After a moment, she tapped on the case, looking over her shoulder for Danny.

"See? Right there, you could get that cute little silver ghost," she told him. Danny peeked over her shoulder. She pointed at another charm, one in the shape of a laptop. "Oh! And Tucker could get that one! We could all kinda match!"

"Pretty sure Tucker's mom would actually kill him if he came home with another piercing," Danny replied. Sam had already convinced Tucker of getting his ears pierced, and his mom was Very Unhappy about it. "Just like my mom would kill me if I came home with a nose piercing."

"You're already half dead though," Sam pointed out. Danny gave a half shrug and smile.

"Got me there. Alright, I'll get it," he said. Sam grinned widely, going to the counter to immediately ask for an employee to retrieve it.

They only browsed a bit more before they finally left. No sooner were they out the door…

"Sam!" a familiar voice called out excitedly. The not-lovebirds glanced over to see Paulina and Elliot coming up to them, Paulina a few steps ahead as she excitedly half-jogged over to Sam. Elliot was carrying two Starbucks cups, taking his time following. Paulina threw her arms around Sam, hugging her tightly, the goth only giving a half smile and lightly patting her back. "If I knew you were coming to the mall, I would have invited you to get your nails done with us! Look, Elliot and I match!"

Paulina pulled away to show off white nails with pink details.

"Oh they look nice!" Sam complimented. "It's okay though. Coming today was kinda a last minute thing." Or rather, they decided to hang out here after catching the Box Ghost, who was making himself home in one of the new stores that hadn't quite opened yet.

"You got me Starbucks?" Danny joked as Elliot finally came close enough to properly hear him. Elliot rolled his eyes. "How sweet."

"If you wanna give me the four dollars it costs, sure," he joked back. He handed Paulina the clear pink drink, and she took a long sip from it. Danny noticed that he did kinda match her, with black nails and matching details, only in a pastel blue.

"What are you guys up to?" Paulina asked. "We were just about to see if Macy's had any cute prom dresses out yet." The mentioning of prom made Danny's stomach feel a bit weirdly queasy.

"We're gonna go get Danny's nose pierced!" Sam replied, pointing to his nose. Danny snapped out of the feeling.

"Wait, what? We're doing that today?" he asked. Sam grinned.

"You're eighteen, they'll let you!" she replied. She reached into the Hot Topic bag to pull out the piercing. "I gotta make you put it on before you change your mind." Oh, a bit too late already.

"Ooh, that's a lot more interesting than prom dresses!" Elliot mused. "I can drive us." He put his free hand to his ear. "I've been thinking about getting another piercing anyway." Paulina hummed thoughtfully.

"Spike should be working today, so I might see if he has my new tattoo design ready," Sam mused.

Another thing that her mom, if she were to ever find out, would flip out over. Sam already had two that her family were oblivious to. Danny knew that she had a spider on a web on her ribcage; he had held her hand while she got that one done (and nearly ended up with a broken hand). The other was a black and deep purple rose and vine on her thigh, which he had only seen right after she had gotten it. Jazz, out of everybody, had gone with her to get it, and even came back with a tattoo herself. Though Jazz, like a nerd, had opted for a book tattoo. Danny had never seen it before outside of the photo Jazz took of it, but knew that it was on her ribcage and something Spike gave her as an anniversary present.

"I guess that settles it!" Elliot grinned. "Let's go to the tattoo and piercing shop!"

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After somehow surviving Elliot's crappy little car, only somewhat affectionately called "the shitbox", they were huddled in the waiting room area of the shop. Paulina, already filling out the usual safety and health and consent forms, was standing and staring at the wall of previous art done.

"You gonna get a tattoo instead?" Elliot teased her as he handed the receptionist his own filled paperwork. Paulina shot him a smile, but still slapped his shoulder.

"Papa would kill me," she insisted.

"So? Get it where nobody will see," Elliot replied. Paulina playfully slapped him again.

Danny rolled his eyes, continuing to fill out his form as he drafted all the excuses he'd have to give his mom when she inevitably chewed his ass out when he got home. Whelp, he was already bound to be grounded sooner or later cause of the ghosts. Might as well spice up the grounding reasoning once in a while.

Sam appeared from the back, clutching a piece of paper up. Spike was behind her. Sam made a beeline for Danny.

"Dude, look at how nice it is!" she told him, holding it out for him to see. Danny glanced up. It was a skull with flowers growing out of it.

"Oh, that's sick," he commented.

"I know, right?" Sam grinned. Danny smiled, returning his attention to the paperwork.

"So you wanna get that this Saturday?" Spike spoke up.

"Uh, Danny are you free Saturday?" Sam asked. Danny glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow.

"After today I'll probably be grounded," he joked, signing his name for the last time on the forms. Sam chuckled.

"True," she replied. "Hmm, ah whatever. I can tough it out." Danny quickly looked up again as it suddenly hit him why he needed to be free. Sam had already turned to Spike. "Yeah, let's go for Saturday."

"Oh, if you want somebody around, I can come," Elliot popped up.

"That'd be awesome!" Sam grinned. "This one's going on my back, so it's supposed to hurt."

"Well, you can break my hand, I don't care," Elliot assured her. Danny's chest squeezed a bit as he felt a hot flash hit him.

"No it's okay, I can just sneak out!" he said immediately. Sam glanced at him.

"Nah, it's okay. I don't wanna get you into anymore trouble," she assured him.

"I don't care," Danny quickly blurted out. Spike chuckled.

"Man, Mrs. Fenton's scary when she's pissed, your best bet is to just obey her," Spike told him. He nodded at Danny. "Did Jazz tell you about how she nearly got into a fistfight at the bridal shop a few days ago?"

"No?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "What happened?"

"Basically when Jazz went in for her dress fitting, she had apparently gained a little bit of stress weight since the last fitting, cause she's been driving herself insane over grad school applications," Spike explained. Danny nodded understandingly. "and the lady fitting her dress kind of gushed over it cause she thought Jazz got pregnant. It made her cry, and man. Mrs. Fenton went off on her, and apparently nearly began throwing hands with the manager."

"Oh man, poor Jazz," Sam said somberly. Danny couldn't agree more as he gave a low short whistle at the audacity. Between graduating early, grad school applications, and getting married, he had never seen Jazz look so stressed out. "Why don't you guys push the wedding back a bit?"

"She'll get more money from FASFA and scholarships, plus better housing, if we get married sooner, and she doesn't wanna just elope and have a party later," Spike shook his head a bit. "But uh, either way though, I got some numbing cream for ya Sam if you're worried about pain." Spike shot Danny a reassuring smile and a wink. He felt a little better. Sam sighed with relief.

"Please," she confessed. "It's not too bad when Danny's here, but if I'm alone I know I'm going to get a little anxious."

"Aw come on, I'm not reassuring?" Elliot teased. To Danny's relief, Sam also playfully slapped Elliot on his shoulder.

"Are you kidding me? You'd probably actually ruin my tattoo by making me laugh the entire time," she told him. Danny's heart squeezed again, and he got up to silently hand the receptionist the forms.

"I think I might get a tattoo," Paulina finally spoke up. Elliot's interest was immediately piqued.

"Oh?" he asked. Paulina nodded, pointing to a tattoo on the wall, a pretty collection of flowers.

"This is sooo pretty, I think I'd get something like this," she said. Sam glanced at it.

"That'd be like, what? Four hundred-ish dollars, Spike?" she guessed. Spike glanced at the reference photo and nodded.

"Yeah, give or take," he replied. Paulina made a face.

"Maybe one day in the future," she decided. "I need money for a prom dress." Sam waved a hand.

"Prom dresses are temporary, tattoos are forever!" she told her. Paulina made a noise of disinterest, and Sam shrugged.

"Danny, did you wanna go first?" the receptionist asked as she glanced at the three stacks of piercing requests.

Danny coughed a bit nervously. He glanced at Sam, and he nodded.

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"Thanks again, Spike!" Sam beamed. Spike smiled fondly at her, offering her a hug. She gladly accepted it.

"Anything for my favorite future sister-in-law," he teased. Sam's face instantly burned. Danny scoffed as he lightly touched his new piercing anxiously.

"Sam isn't related to us, dude," he told Spike. Spike gave him a weird look, then shook his head.

"You're lucky you know how to do math, man," he told him. "Also let me know if Mrs. Fenton kills you." Danny gave a nod.

"Don't worry, you'd be invited to the funeral," he joked. Spike chuckled. "Also I give you permission to tattoo my corpse before they put me down."

"Sick," Spike grinned. "I'll give you some of those lil blob ghosts the float around."

Elliot and Paulina were chatting a mile a minute outside the shop. When the not-lovebirds came out, Paulina immediately pushed her hair behind her ear to show off her new helix piercings. Danny could already see Elliot's singular orbital piercing.

"Look! I feel so punk!" Paulina gushed. Sam snorted in amusement.

"Girl, I'm gonna have to get you into a lot more black and leather before you're anywhere near punk," she teased. Paulina giggled.

"Maybe some leather pants," she mused. She shrugged. "Anywho! Elliot and I were gonna go look at the prom dresses! Wanna tag along?"

"Yeah, sounds fun!" Danny agreed.

"Yeah! I still need to get mine," Sam agreed. "I really want your opinion on a dress anyway," she said to Paulina. "Cause you know I'm going to customize mine no matter what I get."

"Yeah, I might ask you to do the same to mine, like help me tailor something if needed," Paulina mused. "I need my dress to be absolutely perfect. But we need to make another Starbucks run."

"Really?" Elliot raised an eyebrow at her. "Boo, this is your third trip today." Paulina pouted cutely at him. He playfully chuckled. "Alright, alright. I kinda want another iced coffee anyway."

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"So, has Elliot talked to you about it yet?" Paulina asked, taking a long sip of her drink as they waited near the door to the popular coffee chain. Danny made a confused "hm?" noise as he took a sip of his own. "That he wanted to ask Sam to prom?"

Danny's heart stopped, and he instantly returned his attention back to the pair of goths. They were customizing their Starbucks drink at the counter, smiling happily and chatting casually about something he couldn't heart.

God, of course! Fuck, he was so focused on every other dude that he forgot that Elliot wasn't gay. God damn it, and Sam would potentially actually say yes to him too.

"Uh. Um. I-uh." Danny coughed into his elbow as he tried to think of some way to respond that sounded normal. "No, he, um. Hasn't said anything to me yet." Nice response, Fenton.

"Oh, well, be prepared I guess," Paulina replied, taking a sip of her fancy-looking pink drink in the clear plastic cup.

Danny took a huge gulp of his coffee as he tried to process it. Fuck, fuck, fuck. He needed to think of how to reply to Elliot if the guy were to actually confront him or talk to him about it. His gut twisted. How was he supposed to reply? Elliot didn't deserve to go out with his Sam. What the fuck was that moron thinking? They were just friends.

"You guys ready?" Elliot glanced over his shoulder at them.

"Yup!" Paulina chirped. Elliot walked over with them, Sam quickly behind.

"You got your hourly Starbucks?" Elliot teased her.

"Mhm!" she hummed.

"You almost need to start working at Starbucks," Elliot told her.

"But then I'd just spend the whole paycheck on Starbucks," Paulina playfully protested.

"Fair, fair," Elliot hummed.

They exited, and they all piled into Elliot's car. Danny and Sam in the back, Paulina in her normal position in the passenger's seat.

"Do you know what kind of dress you're looking for?" Paulina asked as Elliot pulled out of the parking lot. Sam nodded.

"Yeah, definitely something black or purple," she said. "I'm really into long dresses lately, so probably a long dress, but I dunno! Short dresses are cute too."

"Oh short dresses are sooo in right now," Paulina agreed. "I want a short dress! Definitely pink, I want a really cute pastel pink maybe? But any shade of pink, I think it looks best on me."

"Hmm, yeah but greens look really good on you too," Elliot spoke up. "Like pastel and light greens?"

"They do but it's prom so I really want something pink," Paulina replied.

"Hmm, I think I look good in purple and black," Sam mused. "What do I look good in Danny?"

"Purple, black, red, and green, but like? An ecto green if that makes sense?" Danny said. Sam thought about it.

"Yeah, I really do like ecto green," she agreed. She shot him a sly smile. "Reminds me of Danny Phantom. And well. Ya know. I think he's really cute." Danny flushed, shyly smiling back.

"Ugh he's sooo cute," Paulina gushed. "His eyes are the most beautiful shade of green I've ever seen. Elliot, why are your eyes so dark." Elliot chuckled.

"Cause both of my parents have dark green eyes," he replied. Paulina huffed.

"I think that was rude of you. You should have bright green eyes like the ghost boy," she said.

"Yeah, it's pretty rude," Elliot agreed. "I'll fix that tomorrow."

"Do you actually think Danny Phantom's cute?" Danny asked Sam. She smiled, giving a half-shrug.

"Absolutely one of the cutest guys I've ever seen," she confirmed.

Danny took a long drink of his coffee, hoping that chugging some of it would help explain why his cheeks were beginning to burn.

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"Oh, this is sooo your color!"

"Oh my god! I love it! Do they have it in my size?"

"Hmm, um, lemme see...yeah! They do! Here!"

"Ugh I cannot wait to try it on! Oh! Oh look! Look at these sleeves, it's like a princess dress! I'm going to grab one to try it on."

"Ooo, that's going to look so good on you. Hm, I think I might try on that one too, cause it comes in dark purple and those sleeves kinda look witchy...Danny what do you think?"

Danny snapped out of his zoning out to look at Sam. The goth was holding up a short dress with long, flowy sleeves. It was a mid-dark purple and plain, though he had no doubt that Sam would likely customize it to her liking. She did that a lot with clothes.

"Yeah, looks good," he said neutrally.

"Oh, that'll look so good with your bat heels!" Elliot pipped up. Danny nearly forgot that the dude was sitting with him on what was dubbed the boyfriend bench near the dressing rooms. "Especially if you wear a corset over the midsection. Like if you found a purple version of that red one you have, with the black lace over it."

"Oo, that would potentially look so cute," Sam mused. She put the dress over her arm on top of two others. "I'm gonna go try these on."

"Oh, I should too," Paulina mused. Unlike Sam, her arms were overflowing with four, five? Danny counted at least ten different potential dresses if he went by the different looking fabrics alone.

"Yeah, you need to narrow some down," Sam told her.

"They're all just so pretty!" Paulina complained. "I wanna wear them all!"

"Well, let's just eliminate some," she suggested.

The girls went off to the dressing room, and Danny leaned back against the boyfriend bench. He pulled his phone out, and he replied to a message from Tucker and another from his mom. Man, was he not ready to face her later.

"So, Sam huh."

Danny glanced at Elliot.

"Uh, yeah. She's great," Danny replied shortly.

"She is, she is," he agreed with a slight hum. Elliot shifted to rest his elbows on his knees. "Ya know I was thinking about asking her to prom." Danny felt a lump stick in his throat.

"Really?" was all he could think to reply.

"Yeah!" Elliot smiled. "I mean, yeah. I wasn't the best dudes four years ago, but I feel a lot better about myself, ya know? I think I finally know who I am now, and I still really like Sam. She's funny, smart, really pretty. Love hanging out with her. Kinda wondering if she feels the same, and if she'd be down to go with me. What do you think?"

Danny bit his tongue to avoid an unnecessarily harsh reply, but he did get anger. How dare he. After all the lies he told Sam, and the way he lied and manipulated her. Sam deserved better than that.

"I um. I don't think you should go for it," Danny said hesitantly. Elliot raised a curious eyebrow.

"Why, did she tell you something?" he asked. "Or did somebody else ask her?"

"Um. Well, not exactly," he hesitated. Danny bit his lower lip. "I mean, I know she likes you. As a friend!" he quickly added. "But uh, I dunno man. Just don't think it's a good idea."

"What do you mean, is somebody else going to ask her?" Elliot asked.

"Why does it matter?" Danny nearly snapped. "You asked me what I thought, and I said it."

Elliot snickered in amusement, rolling his eyes. It only served to irritate Danny even more. Foreign phony. God, why did they even hang out with Elliot? Paulina and Elliot made sense, cause they were both huge prep kids and did cheerleading and soccer respectively, making them both jocks. But why did he have to hang out with Elliot. Well, because Sam and Paulina were friends now, and that meant that Danny also had to be friends with Paulina's friends. Of fucking course.

"What's so funny?" he demanded to know.

"I think I get why," Elliot smirked.

"What do you mean?" Danny questioned. Elliot just shook his head. Danny opened his mouth to question again.

"Hey! Whatcha think?"

Danny shut his mouth as Paulina bounce out in her first dress option. It was a bright pink dress that came to her knees, the skirt incredibly puffy and reminding Danny of a ballerina tutu, with inch wide straps.

"Oh, it looks so good on you boo," Elliot cooed to her. Paulina beamed, twirreling. "But that may also just be you, you look fabulous in everything." Paulina put her hands over her chest.

"Thank you," she gushed. "Can you take my photo? I wanna compare all the dresses I wear."

"Of course," Elliot agreed, pulling his phone out. He snapped a photo of her.

"Oh Sam!" Paulina squealed.

Danny noticed the goth coming out in a fully black dress that also came only to her knees, with a much slimmer skirt and short sleeves. It looked fairly plain, but man. Sam still made it look great. Danny was glad he was sitting, because he knew he was weak kneed.

Sam was smiling brightly, giving Paulina a light wave.

"I take it you like it?" Sam questioned, doing a quick turn around.

"Girl you always look so good in black," Paulina praised.

"She's sooo right," Elliot agreed. "It just looks so good on you, no matter what. Just." Elliot made a chef kiss motion. Sam flushed a light pink, and Danny glared at him. Dude, shut up. "No wonder you're goth. You were just made for black."

"I dunno, I think you're exaggerating," she replied. Sam glanced down at her outfit. "I mean, it's fairly simple. What do you think, Danny?"

Danny swallowed hard.

"Oh uh, I think it looks great!" he said, smiling brightly. Sam returned it. "I mean like. It's kinda? Plain but I know you'd make it something great. You always do." Sam hummed.

"Mm yeah. It's pretty plain, but I dunno if I wanna put in the amount of work it'd take to make this dress really poppin'," she mused. "I'm gonna go try another one on."

The two girls went back to the dressing room, and Danny could hear their lighthearted conversation. Soon as they turned the corner, he spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Danny demanded to know. Elliot snorted.

"Bro, just admit that you like her, and that you don't want me to take her to prom," he said.

"Where on earth would you get that idea!?" Danny scowled. Elliot rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you've been crazy about her since like, what? Ninth grade at the earliest? Paulina says you two have been making googly eyes at each other since like third grade," he said. Danny felt his cheeks flush. It had not been since the third grade. Had it?

"It's not like that," he insisted. "I just, you know. Really love and worry about her, she's my best friend."

"Best friends don't get worked up like this, this much, over a mutual friend asking them out."

Danny just glared at Elliot before rubbing his face with the palms of his hands. He took a deep breath, exhaling hard.

"How's it look?" Sam's voice asked. Danny glanced up, and his heart just absolutely flipped.

She looked amazing. Beautiful. Stunning. Like a plant goddess, a model, an angel. He felt like there wasn't a flaw to be found, and he had never seen somebody look more enchanting. Her dress made her look even more divine, emphasising and showing off the best parts of her. The purple matching her eyes, the dress fitting her absolutely perfect as it flowed almost to the floor and the strapless feature making her hair flow smoothly over her shoulders. This dress was perfect for her.

But none of those descriptors came out. Instead all he could do is nervously swallow, tongue tied as he felt his cheeks burn up. He struggled to pick just one of those adjectives, and his brain settled for just saying nothing at all and simply staring at her instead.

"Oh, you just look so lovely!" Elliot spoke up. He stood up, going over to walk around her. "It fits you perfect, like it hugs your hips just right and really shows off your-"

"Pretty!" Danny suddenly half-yelled. The group looked at him oddly, and he felt his face flush harder. "It makes you look pretty!"

"Thank you," Sam replied, pausing a bit as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"...Uh, yeah. Um, yes!" Elliot clasped his hands together. "Just stunning. I love this purple on you, it's such a beautiful color. This dress specifically was made for you."

"Dude, chill," Danny grumbled. Sam gave him a Look, and he flinched.

"Danny, can I talk to you for a moment?" Sam asked through gritted teeth.

He had no opportunity to respond, as she grabbed his arm, painfully hard owwie, and began to drag him away, towards another boyfriend bench near a jewelry display counter and out of earshot.

"What's going on?" Sam demanded to know. She finally let go of his arm, and he huffed for a moment. Instead of responding, he put his hands behind his head, pacing back and forth. She quickly grew impatient. "Well? Say something!"

"Elliot wants to ask you to prom!" he blurted out, letting his hands fall. Sam blinked.

"He does?" she asked, sounding clearly surprised and...not angry. Sam smiled a little. "Really?"

"Oh don't tell me you're gonna actually take that foreign phony up on the offer!" Danny snapped. Sam instantly glared at him, crossing her arms.

"Elliot's our friend, dude," Sam reminded him. "Why do you care?"

"B-b-because!" Danny's arms were moving wildly as he talked. "He lied to you for months, and you're just going to ignore all that!"

"That was years ago, and he apologized," she said. "He's more than made up for it. And he's a super sweet guy. I like him."

"You like him!?" Danny nearly shouted. Sam slapped his upper shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Calm down and lower your voice," she told him. "And well, yeah. As a friend. Maybe I kinda like him more than that too."

"What the fuck, Sam!?" Danny, in fact, did not lower his voice. He dry-heaved for a few seconds, briefly making Sam start to watch him worriedly. Finally, he took a deep breath, and he returned to a normal inside voice. "What does he have that I don't?"

She went from worried to a blank stare.

"Apparently liking me enough to say or do something, especially when I've dropped so many hints or made moves myself," she replied. She brushed past him and left, returning to their friends.

Danny found himself taking a seat on the bench as he tried to collect his thoughts and the wide range of emotions that accompanied them. He put his head in his hands, rubbing his face. God he was so fucking stupid.

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"And it's just! Why him! Why Elliot?" Danny continued to vent after spilling the whole story. Jazz gave a small hum of acknowledgement as she finished writing another name out on the envelope. She set it aside for Danny. "I've liked Sam for so long, and I thought she liked me too."

"You're an idiot," Jazz immediately concluded. Danny glared at her as he folded another wedding invite, slipping it into an already addressed envelope before putting the sticker on the back to keep it sealed shut, and a stamp on the other side. Both were sitting on the floor of the apartment she shared with Spike, with each sibling on the opposite side of the coffee table, with Jazz resting her back against the couch and Danny sitting within reaching distance of their TV.

"Hey!" he protested. Jazz gave him a Look, grabbing another envelope.

"I mean it. She does like you, and she has for a while," she told him. She began to write out another address. "You just always never responded. You pushed her off in favor of another girl or because of some weird commitment issue that you seem to have going on. So be honest with me, and yourself. What's the problem?"

Danny silently folded two more invites, repeating the process of putting them in addressed envelopes and putting the sticker and stamp on.

"...I'm scared," he finally admitted.

"What of?" Jazz asked, not looking up from her activity. Danny had to really think. He casually tossed the finished wedding invite into the 'finished' basket.

"I guess just...it not working out. What if it doesn't work out? What if it drives us apart, and we lose each other?"

"You won't know that until you try," Jazz replied.

"She might also reject me, cause of the same mentality. What if she still likes Elliot more, and-"

"Danny," Jazz interrupted. She finally looked up from writing. "You will never know what the future will and won't hold. Just talk to her, and let her be part of the choice rather than blowing it all off due to fear."

He thought about it, and he gave a small sigh.

"Yeah...I think she's kinda pissed that I haven't been letting her be part of the choice anyway," he mused. He glanced at the pile of envelopes next to her. "How many invites do you have left?"

Jazz checked her list.

"Least a hundred more to go," she sighed.

"What the fuck, you have like no friends! Who are these people!?" Danny cried out. Jazz glared at him, reaching behind her to grab a pillow to hit him with.

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Knock knock knock.

Danny floated awkwardly outside of her window. She didn't answer, but he could tell that she was there. Her light was clearly on, and he could hear her music playing.

Knock knock knock.

"Sam?" he called out. "Sam, can we please talk?" He knocked some more.

The longest minute of his life passed before he heard the music turn off. The curtains opened, and Sam was on the other side, staring incredibly annoyed at him. She gestured for him to come inside, and he did. His feet landed on the floor, and she reshut the curtains.

"What do you want?" she snapped. Danny exhaled deeply.

"Sam…" He took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry about how I've been acting. I've just been…"

"Stupid?" she suggested.

"Yeah. But more importantly. I." He paused. "I've been honestly such a huge coward. Still kinda am, actually. Like…" He swallowed nervously, glancing at the ground. "I've been too afraid to bring it up or to really even talk to you about it."

Sam cocked her head to the side. She took a few steps back, sitting down on her bed and patting the spot next to it.

"Talk to me," she encouraged. Danny plopped down next to her, turning human as he did so.

"I want to be with you," he said bluntly. "But just...I get so caught up in all these what-ifs. What if it doesn't work out? What if you get tired of me? What if you eventually realize that it sucks being with somebody who has to cancel dates or who ditches you because I have to stop Skulker or Technus or Ember? What if you get hurt because of me? What if…" he trailed off, not even wanting to get into deeper thoughts.

"I wish you had told me this sooner," Sam spoke softly. "We could have talked about it." Danny sighed.

"I know, I know. I just." He rubbed the palms of his hands up and down his thighs as he tried to provide some kind of a rational answer. "I'm afraid. Even now. I don't want to lose you."

"You're not going to lose me," Sam reassured him. She put her hand on top of one of his, and he stopped. "You're one of my best friends, and I love you so much."

"...I love you too," he confessed. He turned his wrist, moving to intertwine their fingers together. "I can't imagine a future without you being there in some way. And I just...I guess I've always been worried about you not wanting to be there anymore."

"I'll always want to be there," she smiled. She leaned in, lightly pecking his cheek. He sighed deeply in relief. "Even if we tried, and we found that it didn't work, that doesn't mean we can't still be friends after. But we'll never really know unless...you know. We tried."

"So, I guess that means that um...you'd be interested in maybe going to prom with me?" he asked.

"Of course, ya dingus." She lightly tapped his new nose ring. "So. How much trouble are you in with your mom?" Danny flinched.

"Man, let's just say I'm surprised she didn't fully kill me."

#phic phight 2021 #danny phantom #amethyst ocean #phics #my phics

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five-rivers · 4 years

Text

Nascent

*Throws a oneshot at my followers, beans one of them in the head, then leaves.*

Ever since the Accident, everything had felt different. Way different. Maybe part of that was the whole ‘nearly caused the death of best friend, but apparently holes in the universe can give you superpowers’ discovery. Sam still couldn’t get the sound of Danny’s screams out of her head, and it had been over a week.

Although it was possible the nightmares contributed to that.

Yeah.

Anyway, being concerned (not necessarily worried) about Danny and Tucker all the time was normal after something like that, right? They hung out all the time before, what was a little more? What was a lot more?

(It annoyed her parents. They complained that she was never home.)

So, yeah. Normal. Trauma response. Also, Danny needed someone to pull him out of the floor when he phased partway through it or (ironically) hide his sudden spurts of involuntary invisibility.

If that were all that had changed, Sam wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

But she was curled in front of her computer, writing the fifth email haranguing a school official about having a vegetarian week next year. It was nearly eleven. This was not normal behavior. Not even for someone who was avoiding sleep.

She’d also been spending more time in her greenhouse, lately, and had been getting in more (and louder) fights with her parents, but she wasn’t sure if those two things weren’t just stress (or being a teenager). Even factoring in how long she’d spent getting the fertilizer around her tomatoes just right.

(The only reason she’d stopped was because she would have been late to meet with Danny and Tucker otherwise. And she was still stressing about it. She hadn’t gotten it quite even around the last plant.)

Back to the emails.

She’d been thinking about proposing some changes to the school menu. The vegetarian options were laughably limited, and the monthly plan had been the same since the fifties, it looked like. It was actually sort of impressive that it had held up for so long, given all the school lunch reforms and programs the government had done over the years. Whoever had put it together had really cared, Sam decided.

But it wasn’t good enough. Not anymore. People knew more about food, now, and whoever was in charge of inventory had contracted with the absolute cheapest suppliers. Everything they made was full of preservatives.

It had to change. Now. Before Sam and her friends were forced to deal with it.

She’d started the project the night Danny got out of the hospital. She hadn’t been able to sleep then, either.

How many emails had she sent, in total? It had to be nearing fifty. That one night, she hadn’t slept until four in the morning.

She probably wouldn’t sleep until then, today, either.

This couldn’t be normal, right?

(Since when did she care about being normal?)

Tucker scanned through the programming tutorial with an almost fevered fervor. It wasn’t quite what he was looking for, but he was more than ready to drink in any information he could.

He had always loved technology. Especially hand held technology. This was about that, but also not.

Danny had shown him and Sam the portal because they were curious. Sam because ripping a hole to the afterlife sounded metal, and Tucker because Fenton tech was cool. Even if the ghost stuff never worked, the Fentons did live on Jack and Maddie’s patents.

‘Because it was cool’ was a really stupid reason to die.

If Tucker had known more about engineering, about programming, about the tech he had begged to see, if he could have properly read even one of the dials and instruments attached to the portal, would he have noticed it was still powered up? That electricity was running through it? That it was a death trap?

(Sure, Danny had grown up around Fenton tech, and between the two of them, he had been the one more interested in the engineering side of things, but that didn’t matter.)

Tucker was determined not to let that happen again. Hence his current course of study. He was going to know everything about technology, all technology, or die trying.

Well. At least the technology he interacted with on a daily basis.

If that meant losing even more of his eyesight as he labored over poorly formatted readme files at midnight, then so be it. His friends were worth it.

Danny jolted into wakefulness with a gasp, his heart hammering. He was freezing, despite being wrapped in his sheet and comforter, despite how hot it had been when he went to bed.

Something was wrong.

Immediately, his thoughts jumped to his family. Something was wrong. They were in trouble. He had to help.

In a daze, he phased through his blankets, barely noticing that this was the first time his ghost powers had done what he wanted and exactly what he wanted. He padded out into the hall, not noticing that his feet weren’t leaving impressions in the carpet.

Jazz slept with her door open, so it was easy to check in on her. She was safe. No mysterious shadows menaced her as she slept. Her breathing was slow and even.

His parents? He crept towards their door, part of his mind whirling while the other was deadly sharp. How could he protect them without revealing his… whatever this thing that had happened to him was? That he would have to protect them, that he could protect them, that thought went unchallenged.

He put his head against the wood of his parents’ door and let his fingers skim the surface. He inhaled, exhaled, and stepped through the solid object.

Jack Fenton’s snores were deafening. Neither he nor Maddie stirred. Nor did they notice that their room was bathed in dim green light.

Danny’s eyes locked on to the green blob’s pinpoint red ones. His lips drew back, and he hissed, his eyes burning oddly as he did so. The little… ghost? Was it a ghost? It fled from the room.

Whatever was going on with Danny’s brain settled into a kind of contentment. Right up until he realized he was in his parents’ room and had no reason he could give them for being there.

Getting the very squeaky door open so he could get out again gave him five separate heart attacks, even if his parents couldn’t hear him.

“Hey,” said Sam, as they met in Danny’s room the next morning.

“Hey,” echoed both boys, tiredly.

“Trouble sleeping?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Danny.

“Same,” said Tucker. “You, too? Your makeup is heavier than you usually do it.”

Sam stuck out her tongue, then sighed. “Yeah. Have you guys…” The question trailed off, and Sam’s face twisted.

“Have we what?” asked Danny.

“Had any, like… weird thoughts?”

Danny scrubbed a hand through his hair. His friends did not mention that he briefly flickered out of sight. “I mean, I did di—almost die, I guess?” said Danny.

No one mentioned this slip, either.

“That’s…” Danny’s voice went soft. “I’m not like Jazz, or anything, but that’s trauma, right? Like, feeling weird or overprotective or… or whatever, it’s just… That’s just how it is? It’s a—a normal response?”

Despite Danny’s uncertain delivery, Sam and Tucker both nodded.

“Yeah,” said Sam. “That’s all it is. Okay.”

(They did not think of this moment again until they discovered the term liminality.)

#danny phantom #in the same universe as mortified #i'm using the same headcanons anyway #fic #phanfiction #comments for the poor?

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avaritia-apotheosis · 3 years

Text

Phantom Children [DP x Batman Crossover] Ch. 2

In which: Danny thinks, Talia is concerned, and we finally see Ra's al Ghul's pride an joy: the Lazarus pit

AO3 | Prologue | 1 | [ 2 ] | 3 |

---

DANNY COUNTS THE DAYS by the hours he is in the monitor room. One hour is all that he is allowed. One hour after a day of learning and fighting, of ‘yes ma’am’ and ‘no sir’ and ‘stand up straighter, boy’ and ‘remember that you have feet.’ Of being handed a sword only to have it knocked out of his hand (pickitup-pickitup-pick-it-up). Of ‘here’s eight plants, only one of them is the antidote to the poison you just ingested, and you better hope you remember the difference because this is the life you live now, Danny.’ This is what you agreed to for some time in front of a few television screen.

One hour. Sixty minutes. Three thousand and six hundred measly fucking seconds was all he got to see his family before he’s ushered back to his room. Dark. Barren. Windowless.

God, when was the last time he saw the stars?

He spent his multitude of ‘one hours’ simply watching. That was all he could do, really. Watch and collect snatches of Amity—of Before. Like torn pieces of an antique photograph, unable to be restored but too precious to throw away.

Talia would call him too sentimental. Danny would love to remind Talia that if it wasn’t for her and her freaky older-than-dirt dad, Danny wouldn’t even need to be fucking sentimental.

Breathe in for four. Hold for seven. Breathe out for eight.

Repeat.

Repeat again.

One more time.

There’s a voice in Danny’s head that sounded too much like Jazz telling him that this kind of behavior was unhealthy. The Jazz in Danny’s head didn’t exactly know why, though they’re both pretty sure that constantly watching your family and friends move on after your death probably isn’t good for one’s sanity. Especially since Danny isn’t really dead.

Well.

Dead-er.

He isn’t—

(family-love-mememe-why aren’t they looking harder-don’t they care-they care-for their own good-what about-happy-no-me-them-me-them).

Truth be told, Danny isn’t angry that everyone in Amity seemed to be getting on with their lives. God, he’s seen how his suppsed-death affected them. He can’t—he won’t be responsible for holding them back from living when he can’t even be sure if he’ll ever be able to return to Amity again.

(He’s seen what happens when someone refuses to move on. Hell, the Zone is full of it. It’s either you obsess with grief…or you try to rip it out of yourself entirely.)

Danny wanted them to live on. Be happy. (With him.)The FentonWorks portal remained under constant vigilance, and since Pariah Dark, most ghosts recognized Amity as his haunt and tended to stay away. With any major threats he could only hope that Clockwork would step in somehow and at least keep it contained. Tucker and Sam were more than capable enough to handle most of his regular rogues gallery, especially if Red Huntress was backing them up too.

Amity…didn’t really need Danny anymore to protect it.

(Family-happy-protectprotectprotect-what?-safe-not safe-not needed).

For all that they tried to find out, Danny, Sam, and Tucker never did manage to figure out what his ghostly obsession was. Sam went out on a limb and said Heroism which…wasn’t quite right but fit the bill well enough.

And what was the point of heroes?

To build a world where they aren’t needed.

------

There was a noticeable shift in her son’s demeanor after he learned of the true nature of his parentage. Though it should be noted that while Talia showed a photograph of her beloved to Daniel, she did not disclose his true identity as to Ra’s al Ghul’s orders. Her father reasoned that it was more advantageous for Daniel to develop a closer connection with the maternal side of his family as opposed to the Waynes—a name that would be more familiar and thus better viewed than the strange people who kidnapped him.

No; ‘Recovered’ would be the most appropriate term. Daniel was her child. Would always be her child, no matter who raised him.

Daniel was…quieter. Somber. His eyes glazed yet sharp—blue eyes bloodshot despite maintaining a regular sleep schedule. Like pit madness with neither the madness nor the pit; simply the look of rage that bubbles beneath the skin, close to boiling over yet never there.

He continued to watch his false family obsessively. Yet…he had taken to watching Talia as well. Quietly. Unobtrusively. Small glances at the corner of his eye. Contemplative looks with furrowed brows whenever he presumed she did not notice. He had even taken to meticulously check his reflection in the mirror; pinching cheeks and turning his face this way and that, cataloguing his features as if to find what parts of him was from her—or perhaps if there was any part of him that ever resembled the paranormal scientists he once called parents.

Even if the physical similarities were not there, the DNA testing—regardless of the anomalies found in Daniel’s genes—was proof enough that he was her son.

“You have been keeping with your diet regimen, yes?” Asked one of the League’s physicians. He pressed his gloved fingers against Daniel’s skin, brushing the ridges of his ribcage. Marring her son’s skin was a large, faint scars. Fractals branching across his torso like the branches of a gruesome tree. “You are still too thin.”

“Fast metabolism,” Daniel mumbled. He is sat on an examination table in their medical wing, black shirt neatly folded beside him. His figure, though not skeletal, per se, was gaunt. His ribs poking from his pallor skin, stomach still concave for a boy who ate double the portions than any other member of the League of Assassins. “I’ve had it since the accident, but it’s never gotten this bad.”

The physician hummed, jotting his notes down along side the results of Danny’s vitals. The exact numbers were unknown to Talia, standing as she was by the door, though she could infer the results from previous physical examinations. (Low blood pressure and core body temperature. Faint pulse, slight tachycardia,) “Do you have any ideas why?”

Daniel’s lips thinned, eyes darting to the side as he always did whenever Phantom was related in anyway. His face was too open; Talia needed to train him out of that. “My…” He took a deep breath. “Ghosts aren’t supposed to stay very long in the Material world. It lacks the ectoplasmic energies that helps them ‘stay alive,’ so to speak. Usually they can supplement some of this by filtering some of the ambient energy in the atmosphere to strengthen themselves—it’s why Amity was such a hotspot for ghosts because of the large concentration of ectoplasm in the atmosphere—but it still isn’t a good long term solution.”

He scratched the back of his head. “Since I’m still somewhat human, I’m able to spend way more time in the Material world and can substitute spending days in the Zone by instead filtering ambient energy and eating.”

The physician made another noise, the tip of his pen tapping against the side of the clipboard. “So I take it then that, as your other half doesn’t have access to this ‘ambient energy’ as you call it, it is forced to take what energy it needs from the calories you’ve consumed, yes?”

“Basically.”

“What will happen if you do not have enough calories to supplement this energy?”

Danny shrugged, a rueful smile on his face. “Dunno. Maybe this time, death will stick.”

Talia narrowed her eyes.

Such a thing will not happen. She had been forced to give up on Daniel once, and then later on she lost her youngest to her beloved. Never again.

This child was hers.

------

“Father, did you not say that the anomalies found in Daniel’s DNA were similar in composition to the Lazarus pit?”

Ra’s al Ghul did not pause in pause in his reading to look up at Talia. The bird shaped magnifying glass held steady above the ancient manuscripts spread across his desk, eyes focused on the words and figures carefully inked onto the page. “Yes.” He set aside the magnifying glass and gently flipped the page. “It is what strengthened my belief of the connection between the Lazarus pit and these spirits.”

Talia straightened. “With your permission I would like to place Daniel into the pit.”

Her fathered looked up, curious. “You forget what the pit does to those who are in good health.”

She placed the results of Daniel’s most recent physical exam on to of his desk. Ra’s sat back in his chair and idly flipped through the folder, reading the contents as if no different to reading the newspaper instead of how his grandson is slowly being starved by his own biology. “Well, well. This would be a problem.”

He closed the folder, a wry grin curling at his lips. “Have him ready for tomorrow. I am curious as to how the pit would affect one already half-dead.”

------

Danny is awoken by Talia sometime the next day. “Come,” she said. “You do not need to change, so come quickly.”

He got off the bed with a silent groan, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with the heel of his palm. “Where are we going?”

“Not far. Somewhere that will help you.”

He snorted. “Letting me go home would help me.”

Talia doesn’t answer, simply waiting for him at the door. Danny groaned, combing away as much of his bedhead with his fingers as he followed her.

For the first time since being dragged to Nanda Parbat, Danny is allowed to venture beyond his small section of the compound.

He didn’t really know what to expect.

Still didn’t stop everything from being so…anticlimactic.

Beyond the steel door, normally kept locked and guarded by two of his shadow guards, was a hallway. Endlessly long with a wide pathway, lit enough by the fluorescent lights overhead but not enough to banish the shadows that clung to the stone walls. The hallway looked empty. ‘Looked’ being the key word, here. Even if he couldn’t see them, Danny would bet on his half-life that the shadows were teeming with life.

Talia led the way through the maze of twists and turns (were they underground?), a couple of shadow guards quietly following behind them.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

Talia looked at him from over her shoulder for a moment, then turned away. “Have you heard of the Lazarus pits?”

“Lazarus? Like the guy who came back to life?” Neither of his parents were really religious. His dad only really Baptist in name because he was born into a Baptist family that, too, wasn’t overly strict in their religion. The only reason why Danny knew of this Lazarus guy was because of Mr. Lancer’s unit on Greco-Roman and Christian allusions.

Talia nodded, turning a corner. “The Lazarus pits are natural pools with restorative properties, capable of rejuvenating the body, healing grievous injuries, and even bringing the dead back to life.”

Danny nearly tripped over his own feet. “What? That’s—” Impossible. He ran up to Talia, wildly gesticulating with his hands. “What’s dead is dead. Resurrecting the dead goes against the natural law of the universe!”

“Well, you seem to be doing fine.”

He frowned, crossing his arms. “That’s different. I’m still dead, even if my entire existence seems like the but end of a Schrodinger’s joke.”

“Be that as it may, what I speak is truth.” She stopped in front of a door and opened it. Then, stepping aside to usher Danny in first. “See of yourself.”

Danny stepped inside, Talia following behind him, and—

Oh.

Before he even saw the pit, he could feel it. A low and steady hum reminiscent of the ghost portal. But…different. Not necessarily fainter but garbled, like hearing someone speak underwater.

The room was a large, open space, with stone walls framed by red wooden pillars. It was dim, lit only by the green glow of the pit that consumed the majority of the space. A square pool of too-clear waters and toxic-looking steam rising from the surface.

The waters felt of the Zone but…not.

“Ah, Daniel.” He nearly jumped out of his own skin. Ra’s al Ghul stepped out of the shadows behind him, hands folded behind his back. The green glow highlighted the sharp contours of his face; the shadows that clung to him only making his visage harsher. “It is good to see you.”

Danny greeted the Demon’s Head with a League salute. “Grandfather.”

The word felt foreign on his tongue despite being in English. To formal for a boy who never really had the chance to interact with his own grandparents. But Danny was told to refer to Ra’s like this, and so he did. (He was only grateful Talia didn’t insist on calling her ‘mother.’)

Ra’s al Ghul was an enigma. Centuries old yet he looked only about a decade older than his mom and dad. (Jack and Maddie Fenton will always be his mom and dad. They raised him. Loved him, in their own eccentric, science-y way. No blood test or adoption or ninja-assassins could change that). Like Danny’s still-unnamed biological father, Ra’s carried himself with theatrical purpose. Comically villainous in his attire and grand gestures, though unlike Vlad, Ra’s had this overwhelmingly intimidating presence that engulfed whatever room he stepped in.

Ra’s was a man that commanded attention as opposed to demanding it. And now, at the focus of the man’s calculating gaze, Danny could not help but stand stiff at attention.

“You’re mother was right,” Ra’s said. Danny barely restrained himself from perking up at that word. “You are wasting away, Daniel.”

Tell me something I don’t know.

“Well, at least you still have that fire in you.”

Danny startled, slapping his hand over his mouth. Shit, he didn’t know he said that out loud. Out of the corner of his eye, Talia suppressed a small smile.

“You have that in common with the Detective,” Ra’s continue, circling Danny like a carrion that spotted its next meal. “That and the rather foolish notion on not properly reporting the extent of your injuries.”

“With all due respect, grandfather, I wasn’t expecting on staying here for this long.”

Ra’s gave him a knowing look. “But something is keeping you here, isn’t it?”

“Keeping my family and friends hostage is a pretty good motivator, apparently.” An insidious thought bubbled in Danny’s mind. But that isn’t all, is it?”

“I have consulted your mother and your physician as to the nature of your condition, and I have decided that the Lazarus pit would be a sufficient way to restore your health.” He gestured to the pool. “It appears that your DNA shares several similarities to the composition to the Lazarus pit.”

Danny crouched at the edge of the pit, hovering his hand above the water’s surface. “It’s because it contains ectoplasm. An impure kind, I think.”

“Will the impurities be harmful to you?”

He pursed his lips. “I don’t think so? My body can filter out the impurities just fine, it’s just that I’ve never encountered thistype of ectoplasm before. It’s so clear and—aqueous, I think is the word.”

There’s a strange glint in Ra’s eyes. Dare Danny say it, it even looked mischievous. It made him uneasy, and just as Danny made a move to step back, Ra’s al Ghul picked him up by the collar of his night shirt—

And threw Danny into the Lazarus Pit.

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #phantom children.txt

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flutteringdreams-matw · 3 years

Text

Out of Time (7)

First/Last

Read on AO3

Word Count: 6357

Previously: Danny and Dan clash in the Ghost Zone

Now: What everyone else was doing during the fight, some exposition, angst and answers. Did I mention some angst?

Bonus chapter since I'm feeling generous! Link to the next chapter will be in the replies once posted. As always - please let me know what you think!

---

"Danny!" Maddie yelled as she saw her son's transformation. Sam and Jazz turned around quickly at her outburst. "Wait!" It was too late; Danny dove into the portal, completely unaware of her pleas.

Sam gaped at the almost empty side of the lab; Clockwork – who apparently arrived in the commotion –hovered on the ground, red eyes watching the swirling portal with apprehension. "Why didn't you stop him!" the Goth yelled.

Clockwork turned to her, eyes narrowing at her tone. "It is not my place to alter his decisions. Danny made his choice."

Sam opened her mouth to argue, but Ethelwulf stepped forward, putting a large claw on her shoulder. "He's right – let's do what we can to help him hmm?" Ethelwulf walked past her, yellow eyes filled with burning questions for the Time Master. Clockwork said nothing more. Ethelwulf sighed, but stood ready to fight whatever would come through the portal.

Maddie, observing the interaction, finally snapped out of her disbelief as she determinedly went back to the control panel. Jack and Tucker were bantering back and forth about various codes and systems about the Fento-drones as her violet eyes glanced up at the tracker. She could see Danny flying toward the threat, stopping only once as he interacted with the first ghost he saw. The exchange only lasted two minutes before he took off again, flying deeper into the Ghost Zone. "Jazz – you and Sam get the containment field ready," Maddie told her daughter, a plan quickly coming to mind. "Jack- release those Fento-drones as soon as they're ready okay? We need eyes on what Danny's facing."

"Oh, we'll have more than eyes Mrs. F," Tucker said smugly. He connected the control pad onto the main system, finishing the connection before switching it on. Bright lights flickered as two robots flew from the walls, zooming through the air before dashing into the portal. The screens lit up in green as both robots turned their cameras on, giving two different viewpoints of the action. As the robots flew deeper into the zone, Maddie gasped, pointing toward the screen.

"Damn – we've got incoming!" she yelled, grabbing an ecto-gun from her belt and turned to face the first ghost out of the portal.

She nearly dropped the gun when the blue skinned Box Ghost popped into her lab. He looked around widely, desperately looking for something before his red eyes found Maddie. He turned back toward the portal. "This way! Head for the town!" he yelled into the portal, before flying directly toward Maddie. "Ghost Child's parents!" he exclaimed, moving his hands widely. "I have a message for you!"

Maddie's eyes narrowed as Sam yelled from around of the containment chamber. "Is it from Danny?"

"Yes! It is from the Ghost Child!" he yelled. Maddie winced at the volume but gestured for him to continue. Ghosts started to flood the portal, flying up out of the lab in one fluid movement. "He said to close the portal when we get through. Head to the town just like the Ghost King!" He said nothing more, turning intangible and up through the ceiling of the lab.

Jack grunted in confirmation from his position at the console. "Danny must have a plan," he said, monitoring the Fento-drone's path through the Zone. In the distance, he saw a black and white blur racing away from where they were currently. "There! I've got eyes on him."

Tucker frowned, looking over from his screen to Jack's. "I'm switching mine to manual," he said, typing into the computer before manoeuvring the controls. The Fento-Drone he piloted jerked slightly, but steadied itself as it changed its path to follow the half-ghost. His frown deepened as he realized that it was going top speed, but was hardly moving quickly at all. "Mr. Fenton – these are still super slow."

Jack cringed, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. "I didn't have a chance to test drive these puppies after I added the weapons system," he admitted, also changing his Fento-Drone to manual. "But they pack quite a punch!"

Tucker groaned in frustration, but continued to try following Danny past the multitude of ghosts.

Sam frowned, watching her friend pilot the Fenton's machine almost like he was in a RPG game. "Any sign of Dan?" she asked worriedly, holding one panel of the containment chamber open. Jazz's head shot up at the mention of the name but said nothing.

Tucker sighed, sagging slightly. "No, and we lost Danny too," he replied glumly.

As the last of the big wave of ghosts came through and into the town, Frostbite came through the portal, landing on the metal floor with a loud thud. "Mighty Fentons!" he greeted quickly, before turning his attention to Ethelwulf and Clockwork with a frown. "The Great One told me to seek you out. He's gone after Skulker and Ember."

"Skulker!?" Jazz asked, confused. "Why would he go after him?"

Frostbite looked at the red head. "Skulker and Ember volunteered to stay behind when our ice blockade fell. The Great One wanted to help." He turned his large furry head to Ethelwulf, locking eyes with the friend. "It's started, hasn't it."

Ethelwulf moved to answer, but Clockwork responded instead. "Yes," the Time Master replied, reaching inside his cloak. "And we must act quickly." He pulled out six of his time medallions, gesturing to Frostbite. "Here – one for all of you. Ethelwulf – keep yours close. " Clockwork held a tighter grip on his time staff as he moved toward the humans slowly. "I cannot control Time anymore. With these, you'll be able to move freely."

Frostbite took a medallion, throwing it over his head as he observed the lab around him. "I see," he said solemnly, taking the remaining medallions from Clockwork, passing them out to the humans. His eyes found Ethelwulf's, nodding in an unspoken agreement. As he came to Jack and Maddie, Frostibite gave them a toothy grin. "You will need to shut the portal as soon as the Great One returns –there'll be little time before the Monster follows."

Jack and Maddie looked at each other, concerned, but nodded nonetheless.

Tucker made a noise at the console, making everyone turn their attention to the boy. "There's something coming toward us!" he cried, zooming the camera in to try and get a better image. Maddie moved over her husband's shoulder, looking at both her husband's screen and Tucker's. "It looks like…. Ember?"

Maddie frowned as she recognized the fiery blue hair from her takeover of Amity a few months ago. She was being carried by a robotic ghost, recognizing him from Danny's ghost files. Both looked a little worse for wear. "Danny's not with them," she noted, watching the two ghosts zip past the two Fento-drones toward the portal.

"I think he's up ahead," Tucker said, moving closer to the screen. "I see a few explosions in the distance."

Jack's face paled slightly as he watched a particularly large explosion occur across the screen. "Let's head toward it then," he replied, flying directly in the line of fire.

Both drones moved further into the Ghost Zone, noticing the destruction around them.

"Whoa," Sam said from somewhere over Tucker's shoulder. Somewhere in the commotion, both girls had moved back toward the console.

"Dan did all this?" Maddie whispered. Her mouth grew dry as she noticed the flying debris. "Aren't those all realms?"

"What's left of them," Frostbite confirmed grimly, turning back to the portal.

There was a bit of movement before Skulker flew out of the portal, clutching an unconscious Ember in his arms. He looked at Frostbite helplessly, before he collapsed out of the air onto the floor. "Help her," he said, shaking her gently. Frostbite moved toward the newcomers quickly, trying to assess what he could do to help.

Ethelwulf growled at the scene. "I'm going after him," the black wolf said, running toward the portal. "I'm not leaving him in there."

"Stop," Clockwork commanded. His voice made Ethelwulf pause. "He needs to do this without your help."

"Are you blind Clockwork?" Ethelwulf asked viciously. He gestured to Skulker and Ember being helped by Frostbite in the corner. "We cannot let him fend for himself – he's already compromised."

Clockwork sighed, red eyes scanning the room. "He made his decision," Clockwork repeated. "I'm inclined to trust his judgement."

"There!" Jack yelled, pointing along the screen. Two blurs of black and white gained speed, the smaller of the two disappearing and reappearing closer to the Fento-drones. "He's headed back."

"Not alone!" Jazz exclaimed, watching the bigger ghost speed up slightly. "Mom, the portal!"

Maddie nodded, getting to her place at the main console. "Standing by – as soon as Danny gets through, we'll close it."

The humans and ghosts watched closely, waiting with baited breath as the half-ghost kept teleporting away. As Danny teleported again, Dan also disappeared, reappearing in the same spot as the younger ghost. Dan slammed Danny against the rock, a white glove reaching around the boy's neck. They all gasped, watching Danny's legs thrash as he tried to break free.

"Tucker – do something!" Sam yelled desperately.

The techno-geek's hands moved quickly, steering his drone toward the fight. Danny started to slow down, legs relaxing as he gasped for air. "Eat this!" Tucker cried, pressing a small red button on the controller. The Fento-Drone opened a hatch on the bottom side, releasing an ecto-gun. It charged green energy for a few seconds before launching a powerful stream of energy at the evil ghost. It hit its target, freeing Danny from his grip. The young half ghost coughed, regaining himself before the floated up to the two drones.

"Thank you, Fento-Drones!"

A collective sigh of relief made its way through the lab as Danny froze Dan and made his way back. The Fento-drones hovered in place, watching the young ghost speed off toward the portal before they floated back to the frozen Phantom left behind. Dan rattled under the ice, steam coming through the barrier.

Maddie and Jack looked between the images from the drones and the radar showing Danny's status to the portal anxiously. As the evil ghost melted his prison, Jack stared at the blue skinned ghost. Danny had told them about Dan – but they weren't prepared for how much the spectre truly looked like their son. He found Maddie's unsure expression, the shock getting to her also. He turned back to the screen, suddenly very angry at the ghost in front of him. His large hands curled around his controller, pressing his weapons system also. "Bonzaii!" He yelled, flying straight for Dan. Tucker followed suit, both Fento-drones attacking Dan with various Ghost Rays.

"Really?" Dan sneered into the camera of a drone. "My parents' dumb inventions?" He dodged them skilfully. "I wonder who's behind this little plan?" Dan roared in anger, releasing a series of ecto-energy toward both attacking robots. The attack hit Tucker's Fento-drone, sending it tumbling into one of the rocks. Tucker tried manoeuvring it out of the stone or attack, but the small robot was unresponsive.

"I've been hit!" Tucker cried out.

Dan grabbed the drone piloted by Jack from the air. His snarling face filled the screen as he laughed, ripping the robot into two pieces. The camera went dark on the one screen. All eyes turned to the radar, eying that Danny was so close to the portal, but had also stopped. The figure behind him barrelled through the zone, heading right for him.

"I still have eyes!" Tucker told the onlookers, trying to zoom in from his trapped bot. People crowded around him, seeing large flickers of light flash across it. "What the-" he started to mutter as the lab was once again illuminated with white light. Humans and ghosts whirled around; Danny was on his hands and knees in front of the portal, panting as large blue and white sparks flowed through his small frame.

"Danny!" his friends and family called out.

The white haired ghost shook his head. "The portal!" he barked, biting his lip as his body contorted in agony. Ethelwulf attempted to move toward the injured teen, concerned, but Clockwork grabbed his paw.

Maddie hit the button, closing the portal. Danny relaxed slightly as the portal doors closed in front of him, sparks still moving through him. He managed to sit on his legs, breathing heavily as he glanced around the lab. Finally, his gaze rested on Skulker, Frostbite and Ember. Skulker's green eyes were wide at the young ghost in front of him. "Hide here," he told the surprised hunter tiredly. "Blend in, don't cause trouble. Should be safe." He grimaced as the sparks increased moving his hands outward to grip onto the ground.

Frostbite stood up, moving away from Skulker and Ember; the latter had just seemed to start to come to. "Great One – those sparks are attacking your core!" He exclaimed worriedly, moving toward Danny. The yeti ghost stopped as a set of large blue energy sparked outward from the teen. Frostbite's eyes widened with disbelief. "Wait… that's not raw energy."

Ethelwulf stopped pulling against Clcokwork at Frostbite's words, turning his gaze quickly to the young boy. The sparks were increasing now, more blue than white. Danny's green eyes were shut tightly, trying to regain any composure he could. "It's not core energy either," Ethelwulf said soflty, yellow eyes widening as he also realized it.

"What are you two talking about?!" Sam yelled worriedly. Danny's eyes flew open, pupils rapidly changing colours between green and blue. The sparks started to form a dome around Danny as he started to stare into space. "Danny!"

"It's time energy," Clockwork confirmed. His red eyes looked pitifully at the young ghost in front of him, who had gotten eerily quiet. Ethelwulf moved to Danny, dodging the sparks that seemed to want to protect the boy. "Time has stopped."

All the humans looked at each other, slightly confused. Clockwork gestured to the corner of the lab and they were startled to find Skulker and Ember, frozen in place. Danny's body tensed as Ethelwulf got towards him, seemingly unaware of the sparks of energy attacking his body.

"Hello Danny."

Everyone jumped as the heart stopping voice came through the main console. As Tucker turned around, he gasped; Dan was staring right into the camera, smiling smugly.

"Let me guess, Tucker and Sam are probably there too." Tucker, Sam and Jazz all looked at each other worriedly. "Maybe even my meddling older sister." He moved closer to the screen. "You probably think you've won with that little trick of yours." Dan split himself in two, not breaking eye contact with the camera. "But I have tricks of my own." The duplicate's hand lit up green, creating a portal before it flew into it and disappeared. The Phantom on the screen then turned around, and released a large ecto-blast toward the portal. It hit Danny's second shield, making his body twitch as he sank deeper to the ground. "You don't think these shields will hold me for long? I wanted to divide your attention." A shrill beep sounded, causing Maddie to pull up the scanner around the town. A large mass of ecto-energy was blasted across the shield. Maddie and Jack paled as they locked eyes at severity of the attack. "One of them will break eventually." Danny's body twitched again, back arching as he continued to stare off into space.

The Phantom outside of the town suddenly disappeared as the Phantom on screen stopped his attack. "I will break you Danny," Dan sneered. "You and your promises won't save your world." His body glowed dark green, before various shadows started to appear behind him. "I can create a shadow army to attack day and night – but where's the fun in that?" He paused, floating backward as shadows continued to appear behind him. "I'll give you a sporting chance. You have thirty-six hours." Dan's hand lit up in green ecto-energy before the screen went dark.

As the screen went black, Danny's body contorted strangely one last time before it fell limply to the ground. Ethelwulf knelt beside the boy, concerned as he transformed back in his human half. The lab was silent as blue sparks continued to move through the fallen boy.

:-=-:

When Danny woke up, he was dismayed to learn that he had passed out and landed him in the infirmary again. He sat up slowly, groaning at the massive headache throbbing through his brain.

His heart felt like it was ripped out of his chest multiple times. How could they just be gone?

Danny gasped, groaning as images flew across his mind. Sparks started to flow up and down his core. "You know," he muttered, doubling over in pain, "I'm really getting tired of this."

Vlad was saying something. He definitely paid someone off – but he couldn't seem to care anymore. They were gone and he couldn't save them. He deserved to live with Vlad.

Danny gasped again, feeling slightly sick as he realized what he was seeing. He buried his eyes in the palms of his hands, stifling a cry of pain as sparks continued to wrack his frame.

"Come now Daniel, this is for the best," Vlad told him. He felt cold icy rage fill his entire body as the man came closer. The jerk at least had the decency to look sympathetic. "I don't want you to have to hide anymore. Going with your aunt would only hurt you more." Danny felt himself nodding.

"Stop," Danny whimpered, pressing his hands into his face a little harder. "I don't want to see this." He heard the door to the infirmary open, soft footsteps turned frantic as someone called his name. He groaned in response, causing the newcomer to rub his back soothingly.

"You're alright sweetie," his Mom whispered from above him. "They're just Time Visions. They'll pass."

He was angry. Everything was wrong – if they weren't alive then he didn't deserve to be either. If he was a ghost all the time, he would've saved them. His memory of that day drifted back as bile rose in his throat. Never again.

Danny bit back an angry sob as frustration washed over him. "Make it stop," he pleaded, hands moving to his head as he gripped his hair harshly.

Maddie stopped rubbing his back and instead hugged her son closer. "You can get through them Danny," she encouraged quietly. "Clockwork said these are just residual visions from your clash with Dan. Whatever you're seeing is part of an alternate timeline. It's not real."

He hadn't spoken to Vlad since arriving. It's been a week since he had to live with him. Three weeks since the Nasty Burger. All the condolences, people who insist they'll be there for him. They need to feel what he felt; The rage, the helplessness, the grief. If his loved ones were dead – then the world will feel his wrath. Green eyes burned as he looked Vlad in the face.

Danny gasped as the final vision left him. He sat up slowly, vaguely aware that he was shaking and clammy before he managed to look at his mother. Maddie watched him, slowly brushing his hair back with her hand. "You're alright now," she said lovingly as he stared at her with wide eyes, not quite believing she was in front of him. "Yesterday was rough for all of us."

Danny swallowed, nodding in confirmation. He looked down, suddenly feeling self-conscious and ashamed as his memory came back to him. Maddie frowned, but didn't comment at his movement. Instead, she patted his leg affectionately and leaned toward the bedside table.

"You must be hungry – you haven't eaten since you woke up yesterday," she said, grabbing a couple sandwiches. Danny realized that she must have brought them with her. "Sam and Tucker will be here soon. After your second battle with Dan, time energy moved through you continuously and then you just collapsed. The shield you put up to protect the portal was apparently interacting with the time energy, so Ethelwulf put one up. He said you should take yours down so you can focus on the one around the town. Frostbite and his people are here to help – and even Skulker's agreed to help keep the ghosts in line!" She handed him the plate. "Here."

Danny took it from her, staring at it absently as it sat in front of him. Maddie came back beside him, staring at him worriedly. After a few moments of silence, she sighed, settling in closer to her son.

"Danny," she said gently. "You can't bottle these visions up. Clockwork said you were being attacked by time energy – left from the time medallion being fused inside you. Those sparks aren't from your raw energy; it's time attacking your core. These visions are all from moments in time that you aren't supposed to see."

"They can keep them," Danny said bitterly, still not looking at his mother. "I don't want them."

Maddie gave him a sympathetic smile as she continued. "Don't you trust us?" she asked.

Danny looked up quickly. "Of course I trust you!" he exclaimed. His mother raised her eyebrow at him. "Mom," he said earnestly, "I wouldn't have made it through this without you and Dad. I trust you guys completely."

"Then why did you neglect to tell us that Dan was made up of Plasmius' ghost too?" she asked him pointedly. Danny looked away again. Maddie sighed, softening her tone slightly. "Why are you shutting everyone out?"

Danny sighed. "I don't mean to," he said quietly. "I just… I'm afraid I guess."

Maddie looked at her fifteen year old son, looking tired and defeated with a frown. "Of turning into him?" she asked.

Danny shook his head. "Not anymore," he told her. "I promised that I would never turn into him. It's all the other stuff I'm afraid of. I don't want to lose you guys." He clenched his fist in frustration.

Maddie nodded, putting a hand over his. "It must be scary, having to relive it."

Danny looked at her desperately. "Do you have any idea Mom? Any idea how hard it is looking at that ghost and thinking that was me? How one stupid mistake keeps coming back to haunt you and can make the world just crumble around you?" A tear fell onto their joined hands. "Reliving it for months on end and now actually seeing how much it took to get to that point? Everything… it was all my fault."

Silence descended on the pair as quiet tears continued to fall, mother and son looking at each other. Eventually, Maddie reached over and wiped a tear away from his face. "You are not Dan," she told him fiercely. "There may have been a point where you would become him, but you beat him. With Clockwork's help you saved us. You may see these images from time to time Danny, but you are stronger than him."

"You don't understand," he mumbled, looking away again.

"Oh really?" Maddie asked him. "Because I definitely know what it feels like to look one of your mistakes in the face every time there's a ghost attack on this town. How one faulty blueprint caused my fourteen year old son to become a half-ghost hybrid and lie to me for almost a year. To watch him carry such heavy burdens on his shoulders like the world would end if he messed up – and that it was my fault."

Danny cringed heavily. "Mom – I didn't mean," he sputtered. "I never-"

Maddie held up her hand. "I know sweetie," she told him gently. "I know you don't blame me -or your father. And regardless of how it happened, your ghost powers are not a mistake. How can I argue with anything you've done?" She smiled at him. "You're a hero Danny but that doesn't mean you have to deal with this on your own. Regardless of the battles you've faced, any horrors you've seen – you're still my fifteen year old space loving teenager. We're here for you sweetheart."

"You're mother's right kiddo," Jack boomed from the door. Danny and Maddie both turned, seeing the orange jumpsuit wearing man smiling kindly at his wife and son. He walked over to the pair; sitting on Danny's other side. "Now that we've seen what we're up against, it's time to put these fears behind you. You won't be alone. Everyone here is going to fight with you Danny. We'll be ready for him."

Danny beamed at his parents, forgetting everything about time visions and prophecies. They were right – he wasn't alone. They were going to figure out a way to beat Dan, together. "Then let's get to work."

:-=-:

Skulker paced in the air, frowning. Ember was recovering slowly, resting from the battle -The battle that the ghost child saved them from. The ghost hunter growled at that. Who did Phantom think he was? Flying in like that, rescuing them from that…other Phantom. Skulker stopped his pacing, lost in thought.

Even Skulker had to admit it; if any ghost stood a chance against that abomination, it'd be Danny Phantom. The halfa took down Pariah Dark! But this foe… he said he was the Ghost child. After Danny Phantom passed out – almost out of the blue- Skulker watched the human hunters gather close to the boy, talking about time energy and visions.

It wasn't until he saw Clockwork that he realized how important this battle must be. No one ever goes up against the Master of Time – let alone cross him. If the abomination went against the Time Master, and Clockwork has aligned himself with the boy, this ghost must be a force to be reckoned with. Skulker left quickly after that – his priority being Ember and the rest of the ghosts hiding throughout the town. Let Clockwork and the whelp deal with this ghost. He was perfectly content to avoid the next battle while hiding out at his human hunting store.

"Skulker."

The robotic ghost stopped pacing, turning to face Plasmius' crossed arm glare. Plasmius floated a little higher from the ground, glaring down at Skulker with his beady red eyes.

"Plasmius," Skulker greeted.

Plasmius grinned, flying down to Skulker's level. "I heard there were ghosts hiding in my town," he told his employee.

"The Zone was threatened," Skulker said simply.

"Ah yes," Plasmius replied, waving a hand. "I heard from the Fentons. They want me to secure the town and grant you all sanctuary. I had a different proposition for you."

"No."

Plasmius' eyes widened. "No?" he repeated incredulously. "Come now Skulker, this is a perfect opportunity to strike. While Daniel is busy with whatever threat he believe is out there, we can use this as-"

"No," Skulker repeated firmly. "Plasmius – this ghost is not to be trifled with."

Plasmius scoffed. "Please, the only ghost that can get me rattled is the Ghost King, and no one has made that mistake again. Not after last time."

Skulker shook his head. "Whoever attacked us had no remorse, no reason. He was cold, calculating and precise in any movement he did," Skulker explained. Plasmius started to pace, Skulker watching him anxiously before he continued. "He destroyed multiple realms with this… wailing cry." Plasmius stopped pacing, looking at Skulker with wide eyes.

"A wail?" Plasmius asked slowly. "Skulker, please don't tell me whoever you're afraid of doesn't have the same attack as Daniel?"

"Worse," Skulker replied bitterly, shuddering slightly. "If it wasn't for the whelp, Ember and I wouldn't have escaped. Even he could not stop him. The boy's allies said they had over a day to prepare for an attack – less now."

Plasmius looked at him for a moment, thoughts racing through his brain. Skulker waited as his occasional employer seemingly came to a decision and schooled his face with a smile. "Very well," he said smartly, taking flight again. "Hide away here Skulker – I won't stop you."

Skulker watched as Plasmius disappeared, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. He stared down toward the attic of the hunting store. "If Clockwork has aligned himself with the Ghost Child, then we must too," Skulker said out loud. He grimaced slightly. "Why can't I just hunt easy prey?"

:-=-:

Danny closed the door of his bedroom, leaning his forehead against the door with a sigh. After a bit of training earlier in the day, a small planning session with friends and multiple interruptions by the Box Ghost, he had wanted to clear his head a bit. He could hear the mumble of voices from the various ghosts in the house, but up here seemed like a dead zone. Deciding to join the party, he walked down the hall towards the steps before he stopped, surprised; Sam was standing at the bottom of the stairs, lost in thought and frowning at… old family photos?

Danny frowned, curious as he started to go down the stairs. "Hey," he greeted from halfway down the stairs. Sam jumped slightly, before smiling back at him. She hadn't even noticed.

"Hey yourself," she replied. Forgoing the rest of the stairs, Danny jumped the rail and landed beside her. "Show off," she said, rolling her eyes.

"We're in the middle of a paradox here, there's no time to waste," Danny told her, a goofy smile on his face.

"I'm sure the world wouldn't end if you walked down the remaining five stairs."

"On the contrary, we don't know if could. Thought I'd take my chances."

Sam scoffed, crossing her arms, but a playful smile danced across her lips as he came up beside her. She was back in her regular clothes now, he noticed; hair pulled back slightly but fell gracefully at her shoulders. A time medallion hung around her neck, shining eerily under the florescent lights. He watched as her violet eyes scanned one of the photos from a few years ago. Her hand brushed against one where she, Tucker and himself were in the back of Fentonworks, looking carefree and lighter than they all must feel now.

"Seems like a lifetime ago, huh?" he said quietly, a twinge of sadness in his voice.

"Do you miss it?" Sam asked him softly. Her eyes were still glued to that photo, fingers gently moving over the three friends.

"Miss what?" Danny asked in response.

"Being normal."

Danny looked at Sam curiously, realizing that it wasn't just worry or nostalgia that brought her here; it was guilt. He frowned slightly, the question looping in his mind as he turned back to the photograph on the wall. Of course he missed being normal – that was all he ever wanted for high school. A nice, normal high school life to just… blend in. Normal kids didn't have to worry that one wrong move might destroy all of reality. Normal kids didn't have to stay up late trying to protect the city. Normal kids could date without worrying that their girl -friends would get possessed by evil plant ghosts. Yeah – he'd love to be just a regular fifteen year old kid… and yet…

He glanced over at her from the corner of his eye before shrugging. "Nah – who needs normal anyway? He replied wistfully. "My family were never normal. Tucker's not normal and he's one of my best friends. Besides, you hate normal – we wouldn't be friends if you thought I was normal before all this."

Sam smiled, a small chuckle of agreement escaped her lips and Danny's heart leapt into his throat. He watched her shuffle sideways, looking for another photo to look at. He watched her smile as she found another one, finding a small smile gracing his lips too.

"Where is everyone?" he asked, feigning interest in one of the photos.

"Tucker's downstairs at the main console," Sam said, not looking away from the photo on the wall. "He and your parents are working on separating your ecto-signature from Dan's." Danny frowned, reality slamming his happiness down in full force. "Jazz, Frostbite and Ethelwulf are prepping the lab and weapons for a planning session later. No idea about Clockwork."

"Ah," he said softly. Sam looked at him suddenly, and he inwardly cringed.

"I wanted to get away for a bit," she replied. "Everyone's working hard to help you Danny. You're not alone."

Danny sighed, berating himself for ruining the moment. "I know," he told her. She raised an eyebrow at him. "I do! I just…"

Sam turned back to the wall of photos, smiling sadly as she looked at family photo with a baby Danny hiding under a table while Jazz sat on top of it with a broom. "Wanted to get away from it all?" she supplied.

"Well, yeah."

Sam nodded. They fell into a comfortable silence after that, looking at the wall of photos and lost in thought. It was just the two of them – no battles, no plans, no fear. Danny felt lighter again, content at this small moment of time.

Tell. Her. Danny jumped as he felt the presence of his ghost half awaken in his mind. He glanced at Sam briefly, his heart bursting with emotion. They were in the middle of the biggest threat they've ever faced… was this really the right time? It could be the only time.

"Sam?" Her name escaped before he could stop himself.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, his mouth went dry and words were very difficult to think of. "I… um.." he sputtered, cringing at the high pitch that came out of his mouth. She turned to him, amusement sparkling in her eyes. His stomach flipped with nerves. "Do you remember when we faced Nocturn?" he blurted out, panicked that he was pushed into a corner.

Sam's brow furrowed, eyes darkening with embarrassment and confusion. "Uh-huh…"

"And how I had to go into other people's dreams to wake them up?"

Sam blushed and turned away. "I think I hear-" she started, before Danny cut her off.

"I had the same one." The words came out of Danny's mouth before he could stop himself.

Violet eyes met blue, both slightly shocked at the admission. Danny's hand went to the back of his head, rubbing it nervously. There was no turning back now. "Sam, I –"

"Stop" Sam cut across, breaking their eye contact. Her arm grabbed the other, gripping it tightly as she seemed to fight with herself. Confused and hurt, Danny stopped talking, looking at her. "You don't get to do this."

Now thoroughly confused, Danny asked the first question that popped in his head. "What?"

Sam met his eyes again and he saw anger and hurt reflected back at him. "You don't get to say what you want to say and just run off into battle. This isn't some cliché movie scene Danny – this is real life. You had plenty of time this year to say what I think you're about to say. Why now?"

Danny stood there, wide eyed as he watched Sam seethe in anger. "I-" he started, but his voice cracked. What could he say to that? She whirled around suddenly, making an attempt to head back to the kitchen before he broke out of his stupor. "Sam wait!" he reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing it slightly. Sam didn't turn back towards him, but did stop. "Sam…" he whispered sadly. "I didn't –" he sighed heavily, staring at her tense back in concern. "You're right. This is real life." She stiffened slightly in his grip, but said nothing. "I didn't know how to tell you – to change things. I guess I was afraid before," he breathed. "I'm not now."

Sam relaxed in his grip and turned around, watching him curiously. "Why?" she repeated, her voice full of gentle curiosity. She moved closer to him, staring up into his face.

He struggled slightly, trying to find exactly what he wanted to say. Sam, to her credit, waited, giving him all the time he might need. "I'm not afraid anymore."

"Right now you're not afraid," Sam told him, frowning at him. "What happens after this Danny? After you say what you want to say and go off to face Dan… would you regret it?"

"No," he said simply. They were inches apart now, staring at each other. Something was shifting in their friendship; it was terrifying for them both, yet it seemed so natural. This was his moment. "Sam –"

A cough from behind them made both teens jump apart, blushing furiously. They both turned, looking at the intruder darkly, before their expressions turned ones of surprise.

"Clockwork!" Danny exclaimed, his voice going higher than intended. "How… how long have you been there?"

Clockwork ignored the question. "We need to talk," he said. Danny's brow furrowed at his tone.

Sam sighed, bringing the boy's attention back to her. "I should be heading back down anyway," she replied with a small smile.

Danny frowned. "Sam wait," he started, but she shook her head.

"It's fine," she told him, her smile was bittersweet. "This can wait."

No it can't he thought bitterly. His frustration must have shown on his face because Sam gave him a look of bemusement.

"It can," she said again. She turned, giving him a small wave. "Let's talk later."

Danny watched her go, sighing as Sam disappeared into his kitchen. Later; he could do later. Turning to the ghost hovering at the entrance of his living room, Danny cleared his head. Clockwork, as always, betrayed nothing. "That was important," Danny said quietly.

"Not as important as this," the time ghost replied honestly. Clockwork turned, floating into the empty living room. Confused and slightly concerned, Danny followed him. Back still turned to the young half-ghost, Clockwork sighed. "Have you had anymore glimpses of the future?"

Danny crossed his arms. "You're the one who's all-knowing. Wouldn't you already know?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. When Clockwork didn't answer nor turned, Danny's stomach dropped in anticipation. "No," he answered. "Nothing else from what I've already told you. Just glimpses of the alternate timeline."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Clockwork's head dropped slightly, making Danny frown in worry. "What's this about Clockwork?"

"Do you remember what I said about paradoxes?"

Not quite seeing the connection, Danny answered anyway. "That they're like dead ends. Eventually they'll go into roads where they have to go on and not have as many turns right? Eventually, they just come to the main parade road and branch out again."

"My powers are fading Danny," Clockwork reminded him. "The paradox is solidifying, meaning that once it starts, my ability to control time will disappear temporarily. As will my ability to foresee any possible futures. The paradox already can manipulate time – as it has already done during your most recent encounter with your future self."

Danny sighed tiredly. "I'm guessing this paradox solidifies when I face him, huh?"

Clockwork finally turned; his solemn face more grave in his older form. "Danny, there are three possible outcomes here. Only one of them is favourable."

Danny sighed again. "Clockwork, I appreciate you giving me the heads up, but –"

"Stop," Clockwork cut Danny off. Danny stared, mouth open slightly before closing it. Clockwork's usual demeanour was gone, replaced by something Danny only vaguely remembered from their first meeting. "The first time we met, you escaped into that possible future attempting to face Dan. Do you understand why I let you go?" Danny, wide eyed, shook his head. "Think – what happened in the future?"

"Ghostly Wail," Danny said automatically, listing it off his index finger. "Faced Valerie and Vlad, found out about the Nasty Burger Explosion, the Time-" Danny stopped, looking at Clockwork in confusion. "Dan fused the Time Medallion in my chest keeping me in the future."

"Precisely," Clockwork said. The old ghost floated closer to him, looking down at the confused teen in front of him. "Time let you see glimpses of the future due to that Time Medallion but contrary to how I describe it – time isn't just a parade. It lives continuously; pulling from wherever it feels is needed. When Dan merged the Time Medallion with your core, Time gave you access to every ghost power you could possibly develop between your time and his. That's how you developed your Ghostly Wail."

Shaken, Danny sat down on the couch, rubbing his chest absently as if to placate his core. "So the Ecto-storm? My core powers?"

Clockwork nodded. "Were all dormant until that point."

Danny swallowed. "But you saw that," he said, frowning in concentration. "You saw all that and still needed to save my family? Why would I need to gain all these powers if I wasn't powerful enough to stop him?"

Clockwork looked at Danny expectantly. "Parade, Danny," he said, a hint of annoyance directed to the boy. "And you did stop him- you just didn't stop the rest of it from happening."

Danny looked down at his hands. "But, he exists outside of time," he retorted. "I sucked him into a thermos and because I couldn't save my family fast enough, he's here and your powers are weakened."

Clockwork sighed heavily. "Danny, you have come a far way from letting your fears control you. Do not let your doubt do the same." Danny sighed, acknowledging he heard the ghost's words. "And you're still missing the point. I knew the outcome of that battle. I knew what you acquire in going to the future. I knew you would need my help, which would make Dan exist outside the time stream. So if I knew all that, why would I let a fourteen year old child create the only paradox that does not let me see past it?"

Danny looked up at Clockwork, realization slowly dawning on him. "You… you wanted this," he said astounded. "The powers, visions… All of it."

Clockwork smiled supportively. "Dan Phantom grew up to be one of the worst ghosts in the history of the Ghost Zone; he destroyed the world, and the ghost zone, multiple times over. In meeting you, he inadvertently created the one ghost powerful enough to stop him. He would have continued to raze the world if I hadn't saved your family, leaving no one left to stop him." Clockwork's smile fell, and dread started to pool in Danny's stomach again. "This paradox is the best shot of defeating him once and for all."

Danny nodded, feeling the crushing weight of his powers and responsibility. "Three outcomes?" he asked, bringing it back to Clockwork's original conversation.

"Three outcomes," Clockwork confirmed, frowning.

"One favourable," Danny finished, closing his eyes. Silence descended on the pair for a few minutes, Clockwork watching Danny's body stiffen as he slowly realized what that meant. "Clockwork," he said eventually in a small voice, looking up at the Time Master. "I'm not… I don't… survive this…. do I?" Clockwork didn't answer. A memory of the Ghost King fight fluttered through his brain. I don't have to win, I just have to make sure that you lose!

Again, silence blanketed the pair, the tension and unease of the current situation suffocating the younger more than he cared to show. "That's why you asked Ethelwulf to train me, why more of these ghosts seemed to help train me rather than fight me? You knew that it might come down to this." Danny put his head in his hands, distraught. "All this time… you knew."

"I thought we had more time," Clockwork said sombrely. "You're fifteen; I gave you this second chance so you could live more -learn more. Even I cannot deny fate for a moment of my choosing." Clockwork's face softened, genuine concern for his young charge peeking through his indifferent persona. "The observants have barred me from interfering with the events of the paradox. It's why I'm telling you this; if there's anyone I believe can defy the rules of a paradox, it is you Danny."

Danny nodded, swallowing determinedly. "One favourable…" Danny repeated, curling his hand into a fist. Determined blue eyes looked up into saddened red eyes. "Okay."

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