#they accepted Vlad before him even after telling them everything

[nelkcats]

Selfish Desires

Danny was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of running and tired of repeating the same routine day after day. Even Desiree could tell that the halfa didn't take her as seriously as he should, but she didn't complain. The boy had a rough couple of days.

That's why the ghost sighed and called for two chairs instead of continuing fighting. Danny didn't know what made him do what he did, but he told Desiree what was bothering him.

"They still don't understand," Danny murmured, his voice cracking, "I thought they needed time, I gave them time, but I don't think it helped."

"That's probably because you're the only halfa in existence, and they are humans" Desiree shrugged, "you know, neither Plasmius nor your clone are the same as you, that makes it a bit hard for them to understand you"

Danny was frustrated, frustrated because he knew the ghost was right, he was the only one who didn't fit in with anyone, so he made a rash decision. He ignored his own rule and wished.

"I wish there was someone who would understand," Danny said, allowing himself to be selfish, "or someone who could come to understand, someone like me."

Desiree looked at him curiously but shrugged before snapping her fingers. Her power was growing because of the wish, but she didn't really care. Maybe she'd go back to the Realms for a few days, Danny was annoying, but even stupid kids with hero complexes deserved a break.

A few metres away, a boy with a red helmet on his head appeared. Jason had just lost contact with his family and his satellite equipment wasn't working. He frowned and examined the partially destroyed city around him, where had he fallen?

[bet-on-me-13]

Ellie wasn't born a Halfa

So! Jason just found something weird. Or rather. Someone.

A little girl, no more than 6 or 7, crying behind a dumpster in an alleyway. Now, as unfortunate as it is, this isn't that strange a sight in Gotham. Kids are always running away from home, getting lost, being left homeless after a mugging gone wrong, but this time was different.

Because the kid was glowing.

When he found her hiding behind the Dumpster, a medical gown being the only thing she had to protect herself from thr frigid Gotham Winter, he didn't hesitate to give her his Jacket and take her to his nearest safe house.

(Actually it took a little while to convince her to accept the Jacket, and even longer to get her to agree to being taken to his safe house, but they got there in the end.)

When he had finally gotten her set up in a side room of the Warehouse, with the most comfortable bed and thickest Blankets he could find, he tried asking what had happened.

"Daddy lied." She said. "He said he loved me, but then he made another kid and said he didn't care about me."

And, once again, it was unfortunately not that uncommon to see runaway kids from neglectful homes, but the way she said it raised some flags in his head.

"...and, how did you end up in Gotham?"

"I ran. He said I was a spare, and that scared me."

Well, that was even more horrible than he had anticipated. What kind of monster tells their kid that they're a spare?!

"And, I'm sorry if this is a touchy subject but why are you glowing?"

She just buried her face in the Blankets and shook her head.

"Alright then, that's fine. You can tell me when you're ready, or even not tell me at all, I'll accept either or".

For the next few weeks, Jason juggled running his newly created criminal empire and raking care of the kid. He still hadn't gotten a name out of her, but she said to call her "Dp" instead. 'It's the best I'm gonna get', he thought.

It was only after a few more weeks, right before he was about to begin his Plan of confronting Bruce about the Joker still being alive, that she approached him and agreed to tell him everything. He was actually really glad that she finally seemed to trust him enough to tell him.

"Okay Dp, you can start wherever you want."

"...well, I guess I should start with my name..." She started, "...or rather, my lack of one..."

"What?" Asked Jason in a soft voice.

"I, I don't have a name." She explained, "Daddy never gave me one. He just called me DP-2."

"...what do you mean by two?" Asked Jason.

"It-It's my Experiment Number." She said, stuttering a little, "I'm not a normal person, I'm a Clone. I was made to be daddy's perfect child, but I was just the test run. He said that I wasn't needed after he made DP-3, and that all I was good for was spare parts."

Jason felt his throat dry up. Dp was a Clone? Of who? Who made her? What right did that guy have to reject her?! Who in their right mind would make a Clone and then reject the Clone?! How dare he!

The Pits perked up

He felt the Pits rising a little, but managed to push them down. Dp needed support, not the Pits.

"It's Okay kid." He said, holding her had reassuringly. "It's perfectly okay to be different. I accept you as you are, and I'm sure as hell not gonna abandon you that easily. Or, ever really. You're stuck with me, whether you like it or not."

She giggled, and hugged him. A thoughtful look crossed her face, and she pulled away.

"There is one other thing...you know how I glow sometimes?" She asked.

The Pits felt a sense of dread

Jason felt like he wasn't going to like this. "Yeah?"

"Well, when I said I was meant to be a Clone, I never mentioned who of." She explained slowly. "He's a kid named Danny, and when he was 14, he had an accident where he died and came back as a Half Undead."

No...

Jason really wasn't liking where this was going.

"When Da-Vlad tried to make me, he realized that those powers couldn't be cloned..." She paused here, seemingly gathering the courage to continue. "...they needed to be added afterwards."

NO.

He didn't. He had better not have, for his own Fucking Sake, he had better not have done what Jason thinks he did.

"So one day, he took he down to the Lab, and he put me in a big machine." He voice broke a little. "He locked me in there, and then I think...that I died..."

...

For once, Jason felt completely in tune with the Pits. He was going to Kill that guy.

...

Sorry if this feels a little rushed, I kept going back to add or change parts of it.

Basically, Vlad realized that you can't Clone a Halfa. So, he made a workaround. He just stuck his first Viable Clone into a Portal, and let the machine Kill her. When he realized that it worked, he knew he had no use for Ellie anymore aside from spare parts.

And he told her as much, Vlad is a fucking asshole.

Ellie, of course, got scared and ran away. She ended up in Gotham, and was adopted by Jason right at the start of his Criminal Career.

When Jason finally hears about the rest of his kids' Backstory, he decides that Batman can wait his turn. He needs to go Kill that Vlad Bastard.

[tanglepelt]

Dp x dc idea… more of a mini fic 108

Dani is melting in front of Danny’s eyes and Danny is panicking. He reveals that he and Dani are halfas. Begging his parents to help stabilize Dani. That he couldn’t watch her melt away. his parents don’t take it well. Chasing him out of the lab.

He barley got Dani and him out with minimum injuries.

Danny had no access to proper supplies, and risks going to vlad.

Offering to be the perfect son if he saves Dani. Making him promise she would be safe and stable. Telling him all that happened. That his mom wouldn’t accept him, she didn’t even accept Danny.

He has a bad feeling when vlad eye flash red and he agrees.

After a few test the fruitloop announces he got the dna necessary to stabilize her. That he will easily synthesize the necessary components. But he wouldn’t hand over the cure unless Danny proved what he said. That he was capable of following orders and being the perfect son.

He was Holding a vial of some liquid. Telling Danny to drink it.

Vlad wouldn’t kill him right?

So he drinks the mysterious liquid. Last thing he heard was that when he wakes up he and his sister would be safe. Which confused him. Why was Jazz involved.

When he woke up things were too big. Why was everything so big? Looking around they were in a cage… on with no roof. Then he saw Dani. Dani was small. Tiny a mere toddler. Maybe 5 at the most. Wait. No no no. He was the same size.

Vlad: i hear you’re awake little badger. How unfortunate. I was hoping to move the three of us before hand. It’s not as if you’ll remember any of this. I was planning on erasing it once we were across.

Vlad was standing in front of a portal. Not his ghost portal. One separated and with a deficient design.

Vlad: this dimension simply isn’t safe for my little family. I recently recorded an artifact that will allow us to jump dimensions. One time use unfortunately. With no stable portal not even your allies will find us.

Yea. No. That’s not happening. Danny didn’t agree to be turned into a toddler. Nor loose his memories.

He wasn’t going with the fruitloop. He just had to phase out of here. He couldn’t get himself to fully phase. Only a hand.

Vlad who hadn’t even looked up from the now glowing portal: “even you should have realized your powers aren’t working. It’s why i needed more dna samples. To fix both my children. Far to young, body’s to frail to handle them all. You’ll slowly grow into them.”

The fruitloop finally turned to face him and Dani. Approaching them. Picking them up. Did he really just pick him up?

No.

This was not okay with Danny. So he started hitting, kicking and squirming. All while Dani stayed asleep.

Vlad: Daniel behave. Act more like your sister. The portal is only one way trip. You wouldn’t want to be left behind now would you.

The fruitloop was only getting close to the portal. He had to act.

One way trip… Act more like his sister. Act like Dani.

So.

He hit the man as hard as he could. Until the man let go and essentially threw them to the ground oh so close to this new dimension. He didn’t have time to think.

They were so close to the portal.

He just grabbed Dani chucked his shoe at vlad to unbalance the man and fell through the portal.

**

Jonathan and Martha Kent certainly weren’t expecting two toddlers to fall out of the sky into their field. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time they took in two children.

Their oldests could do with some younger siblings.

Even if they did have to coax the two twins?siblings? inside with pie later that night.

[dcxdpdabbles]

I got the Passion For Fashion brainworms, and since you're guilty for it you WILL get my headcannons.

Since Clockwork made them know spanish as if it was their first language, they only talk in spanish with eachother, more often than not completely forgetting that they are talking in SPANISH.

Danny and Dan like bickering and banter but since they were basically eachother once upon a time they know eachother's limits perfectly. That causes them to say a lot of agressive and downright nasty stuff to eachother so it always sounds like they hate eachother and are constantly fighting.

Clockwork gave them the "essentials" for making clothes, so Dan will absolutely just spam Danny's phonenwith pictures and descriptions of a sewing gadget or tool and be like "Danny i need this. Please. I know you keep making stuff don't lie to me. I know you can do it so please just make it. Danny we are too poor to buy this. Danny PLEASE I need it" until Danny accepts making the thing in true Fenton fashion.

Danny and Dan making up names for themselves because no sane parent names both of their twins "Daniel"

"I swear to the Ancients I will NOT hesitate to go Cain Instinct on your ass-"

Making fun of Vlad together. Just. Making fun of him in general.

The pmoment Bruce decides to show some interest in the twins Danny go home running and be like "Dan. Dan I fuckked up. Dan there's another billionaire after us. Dan how do I always fuck this up." and since they're both dumbasses they panic together and the batkids (who are most likely listening in with a bug or smth) are all just laughing at Bruce's sour face.

Dan headcannons cuz i love him:

I think that even if they're identical twins, Dan has longer hair with a dark gray streak (cuz of vlad ofc)

even if he is a fashion maker he probably goes everywhere wearing sweatpants and a hoodie.

Dan forcefully makes Danny do skincare to make his appearance look good but will never even drink a glass of water for his own health.

I love them and spent the entire day without internet so now I'm devoting myself thanks for the content <3<3

I love all of these!! Its beautiful!

Danny and Dan not realizing they slipped into Spanish is such a mood tbh. Sometimes, my coworkers and I do that, and my non Spanish speaking coworker just stares at us until we snap.

Lowkey they dislike each other, but they also love each other, and no one can tell with the insults they threw. Danny and Dan live and breath the "Only I can be mean to my sibling!"

Danny would make Dan anything he asked for if it meant keeping his Obsession healthy. On the one hand, it gives him something to do and, on the other hand, keeps Dan from jumping off the deep end again. He does get annoyed with Dan spamming him at three in the moring for "A machine that could double bedazzled and polish!"

Both kept their names as Danny and Dan, so neither is Daniel. Clockwork did that when he made their files. He knew if he tried to change their names, both would refuse to answer.

They turned Vlad into a verb. Danny trips over air? "You went and Vlad-ed everything bro" Dan refuses to shower cause he has some embroidery to do? "Ugh you Vlad-ed all of my scent receivers" sometimes when the fight is really big Danny will yell "YOUR JUST LIKE YOUR FATHER VLAD!" and Dan will gasp dramatically before bursting into tears. ( Cause he took Vlad ghost that makes him half vlad and Dan has to live with that)

Bruce would never understand why the twins are more freaked out by Brucie Wayne then Batman. His kids think it's hilarious.

Dan and Danny are identical down to the hairstyle in my au, but That will change with time. Dan will grow out his hair to put it in a man bun, while Danny will cut it short. And yes, Dan wears nothing by sweats or PJs. He doesn't care about the clothes after they are finished. He just likes making them.

Dan was a pure ghost for almost ten years before Clockwork messed with his body and threw it back into its teens. He is not used to doing most basic human needs like showering, eating, sleeping, and, of course, drinking water. Danny has to remind him his headache is due to lake of all the things mentioned. That will not stop him from designing a strict beauty regime for Danny, including hourly water intake.

Last little detail, both are terrible at social interactions. Dan beacuse he thinks of himself as a ghost and doesn't like humans so he avoids them if he can and Danny cause he sees everyone as unimportant since he's planning on going home. Neither of them know anything about Batman besides what clockwork told them. As of part 3 they didn't even know he was a vigilante. So this lake of information means they don't know anyhring about the rest of Gotham and that will play a big part in how they react to villains.

Also yes, Dan was being genuinely interested when he flirted with Killer Croc, but that's cause he thought he was a EverBurning. A group of Lizard men in the ghost zone is similar to the FarFrozen society only they live in volcano surrounded by lava.

[flamingpudding]

DPxDC Family Week June 23 (Day 6)

Prompt: Grandparents | Lost

A/N: I felt like writing something with some Angst I guess, tho I don't know what all I need to TW so if I forgot something please tell me.

TW: Grieving Danny, mentions of accidental mass Genocide, Mentions of Character Death

AO3 Link: DPxDC Family Week Contributions

Danny sat on the roof of Wayne Manor staring longingly at the smog and light polluted sky. Trying to get at least the smallest glimpse of the stars above him and ignoring the two ghostly presences that he knew were watching him worriedly. He didn't want to feel like this anymore but at this very moment he resented Gotham. Despite Lady Gotham being welcoming to him and despite the warm welcome the Wayne's were attempting to give him Danny couldn't help but feel like he just wanted everything to end.

Amity had gone up in an ectoplasm powered explosion. The entire town was gone. And so were his parents, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Valery, Wes, and everyone else he had ever known. Even Ellie had gotten caught up in it just when she had gotten officially adopted by his parents. All because he told his parents about Phantom. They accepted him, Ancients, they were even starting to change their ways. Their research was no longer biased and rather filled with the truth Danny was able to provide them. His parents had turned from Ghost Hunters to Ghost Defenders. Helping him and Ellie in sending them back to the Ghost Zone as well as rescuing them from the GIW. It was so nice not having to worry about them hunting him or injuring him any longer.

But of course everything couldn't have stayed like that. His life was doomed to not let him have good and peaceful things. Because the moment his parents changed they also stopped providing their weaponry to the GIW. Apparently that was the only thing that stopped these people from attempting to develop their own stuff. Which resulted in them creating their own highly dangerous arsenal.

Danny drew in his knees and buried his face in them, eyes stinging. Everything has gone to shit then. He knew that Jazz and probably everyone else too, would tell him that it wasn't his fault. But he couldn't help it. If he had never told his parents the truth, they wouldn't have stopped their deal with the GIW, then they wouldn't have started developing their own stuff. And then they wouldn't have come up with a nuclear level kind of ecto-bomb that was supposed to clean out Amity of all the ghosts but ended up destroying and killing everyone in town while leaving Danny as the only survivor just because he had been called by Clockwork for some stupid royal duties.

He remembered screaming, yelling and cursing once he returned and realized that his entire home town was gone. Accusing Clockwork of everything and nothing, demanding for him to send him back at least a couple of hours so he could prevent it from happening, but the other only shook his head telling Danny that even he didn't expect that change to the timeline and that it would be useless to try and prevent it from happening. Danny hadn't believed him at all as he broke down in the rumble place that used to be his home.

Of course that level of an explosion would also finally gain the Justice Leagues attention after all the failed calls he and his friends had made. He had wanted to scream at them too, blame them for so many things when they never offered their help before, but he didn't. His screaming at clockwork already had trained him of all the energy he had left. Besides one of the people coming by to check what happened was Batman and of course when they found him Batman would arrange for Danny to probably get taken care of which meant Bruce Wayne showing up and taking him in.

He guessed Bruce Wayne taking him in was still better than Vlad at this point, if that other halfa had survived that was.

Danny only went with the man because Clockwork had told him too, despite the anger still bubbling in his core whenever the ancient ghost contacted him, he listened albeit reluctantly. Because Clockwork told him that he could still avoid a Dan Timeline by going with that man but the ghostly teenager didn't know how. He had lost everything and right now he felt like he understood Dan better than he had ever before. His core hurt so much and he wasn't sure how long he could hold onto his sanity.

Sure he mimed the good kid for the Waynes, yet it had all been an act at the beginning. He got along with Jason just fine, probably because he could feel something familiar from him. Something he hadn't really paid enough attention to figure it out. Damien was nice company and he liked how the boy reminded him of Sam. Sure the kid had been a bit stabby but that was nothing compared to the time his parents spent hunting him when they hadn't known. Tim also reminded him of Tucker in a way, brilliant and adept to technology like no one else but the guy needed a better sleep schedule. Though Danny could relate to the coffee addiction they both appear to have. He kept his distance from Dick though. The eldest Wayne kid reminded him way too much of Jazz with the oldest sibling energy that came from him. Cass on the other hand was a nice and calming presence, she didn't talk much and sometimes that was all that Danny needed, just a silent presence next to him that didn't try to do something or talk about anything with him. Duke also was nice to be around though the other boy had kept his distance at first he now appeared more curious about him than before, Duke also had subtitly asked if Danny was a Meta, but luckily for the halfa, he had been able to redirect that question without answering it.

Still no matter how nice they were or how much he got along with them. It felt wrong, wrong to be here, wrong to accept their kindness, wrong, wrong, wrong. He could feel how his core fell into the chaos of is emotions as ice slowly spread around him.

"There you are, little Danny." He tensed but didn't look up. A cold wisp left passed his lips as he breathed out and he felt a ghostly presence 'sit' next to him on the roof; one was still watching him from a distance. His ice receded not wanting to end up making that other presence an ice block despite his need of wanting to be alone.

"You know, my son and his kids are pretty worried down there. I am sure that little Jason is currently tearing through every hidden nog and cranny he used to use. And little Damien is just seconds away from stabbing someone in his ire, he gave Titus one of your shirts Alfred hasn't washed yet in an attempt to find you and I believe little Tim is speed watching every video from all the cameras my son has installed. Sweet little Cass and little Duke are slinking along and using the shadows to look for you and little Dick appears to have become a headless chicken while simultaneously trying to calm down my son."

Danny didn't answer nor did he acknowledge Thomas Wayne's presence next to him. This was another thing he would have to get used to. Thomas and Martha Wayne, two of the ghosts that stuck to the Manor had taken to him the same way Lady Gotham had. But for some reasons the two were rather protective of Danny, referring to him as their newest grandchild. Something he just couldn't understand.

He was sure that if Jazz was here she could explain it to him. Ancients, he missed his sister.

"They are postponing their patrol until you're found, you know."

"I didn't ask them to." The halfa muttered lowly, still not looking up. The ghost next to him chuckled. Danny had figured out pretty quickly that the entire Wayne Family were vigilantes. In fact they were the Bat-Clan. If he hadn't figured it out by going around invisible and intangible during his first night here because he was suspicious of Bruce being another fruitloop then Danny was pretty sure that either Martha or Thomas would have spilled the truth to him sooner or later.

They had gushed so much about how proud they were of their child and grandchildren and how Danny would perfectly fit in with them. How they would give him the support he needed and the protection he deserved. He didn't want it, he was not going to replace the support he had before.

"They mean well. I know that my son can be…" Danny peaked up from his knees to see Thomas hand waving in a way that he couldn't interpret but had seen Jazz do too whenever their parents were being difficult. "... but he tries to be a good Dad."

"I don't need them trying to replace Mom and Dad." Was his grief, frustration and resentment leaking through his voice? Because if Thomas was going to give him the 'My son is a good Dad talk' he would not hesitate to change and fly away for good. He had played with the thought of running away before but Martha, bless her ghost, had convinced him to stay longer. How she had done it Danny didn't know but that woman could be very persuasive when she wanted to be or at least that was what Thomas told him.

"No one is trying to replace anyone." He felt Thomas' ghostly hand motion over his head like he was stroking Danny's hair. It took Danny a moment until he actually felt the motion, allowing the others ghostly touch to reach him and ignoring how his core painfully hummed at that action.

"Really, cause it sure feels like it with how they 'care'." Maybe that had been a low blow but the halfa was getting fessed up and bitter with the Waynes. It wasn't like they were mistreating him. No, in fact they were treating him very well despite Danny always drawing a line. Never getting too personal with any of them despite how well he could get along with them. Martha and Thomas kept encouraging him, assuring him that they were all honest with him even when he didn't want to hear that.

Because even if he denied it with his mind, his core knew, he had already stopped pretending to like them after the first week with them. Martha and Thomas constantly sought him out, claiming it as their duty as his grandparents. Checking in on him and how he was settling in, asking how he was feeling. And when Danny would refuse to acknowledge them, the two ghostly resistances would just laugh and start telling him about their family, trying to help him understand. About their son and their grandchildren. About random things the two had seen happening that the rest of the family didn't, like Alfred the cat and Batcow taking a walk around the Manor unnoticed by everyone.

Unwillingly he had learned a lot of embarrassing stories like that about the Waynes all during his first week. Dicks escapades with chandeliers, Jason's special book collection no one knew about, Tim sleep deprived action he thought no one knew about, Cass little pranks she liked to pull and no one ever traced back to her, Duke's hero speech practices and Damian's constant attempts to smuggle new animals into the Manor. His core had ached, lamenting the fact that he would never be able to share stories like that with his sisters or his best friends anymore. Rationally thinking he knew these ghostly grandparents only meant well but it only made him miss Amity more.

He curled up again, once more burying his face in his knees.

Would his core ever stop hurting? He had failed his entire hometown? What was his obsession worth now? He hadn't been able to protect anyone. Would… would his core stop hurting if he let insanity take him? If he became like Dan after all? Was that how Dan came to be? It made sense, didn't it? Dan did come from a timeline where he had lost everything.

"Oh little Danny." The pressure on his eyes became too much and the halfa could feel how wet tears soaked the fabric of jeans as he pressed his eyes against his knees. A cold touch lay across his shoulder and he was sure that Thomas was giving him a hug, he could feel his core calling out to his self proclaimed ghostly grandparents but he ignored it. "Let it out, there is no fault in grieving. Ancients know how nearly everyone in this family had gone and dealt with grief. There is no need to rush, we all will be there for you."

A sob escaped him as his shoulders started shaking.

He didn't know how much time passed as he didn't even register how the cold touch on his shoulders changed to a warm one. How it became more grounding as someone rubbed his back. The ghostly presence that had been next to him had disappeared but instead there were six other warm presences around him and a seventh one not too far away.

Danny didn't look up but he knew, he knew that the Wayne's had joined him on the roof and he was pretty sure that the arm around his shoulder probably belonged to Dick and that the one rubbing his back was Duke. The one sitting close to his legs was most likely Damien as it was the smallest and Tim was probably the presence to his right. There was another silent presence behind him, Cass most likely as well as Jason's sort of ghostly but not presence. He could even sense Bruce close by.

No one said anything and the halfa was fine with that. His core didn't warm at their silent actions but it did hurt just a little bit less. For a brief moment Danny thought that maybe he wouldn't have to become like Dan after all for it to stop hurting. Maybe Thomas and Martha were right that staying here would help him heal.

Thomas watched all his grandchildren silently giving their support and help when his newest grandchild was lost in his grief. He was still worried about the little guy, he wasn't the youngest among them but he was carrying a lot on his shoulders. His trauma and grief are so different yet so similar to the rest of their family and his core ached with that knowledge. Couldn't the children just be happy without any difficulties throwing rocks in their paths?

At the moment Lady Gotham was making sure that no other ghosts would come to bother his grandchild. Apparently little Danny already had his own little group of rogues that were eagerly awaiting to check on him. Thanks to the city's spirit though, he and his wife could make sure that the little halfa was settling in well with his new family without them trying to fight his newest grandchild.

"Don't worry dear." His wife floated over to him, laying her head on his shoulder as they watched the children. "They will help him with his grief and once they have he will fit right in with the lot of them."

A chuckle escaped him as he watched the eldest helping up the grieving boy who was doing his best to bury himself in his oversized hoodie. The second oldest ruffled the halfa's hair when they passed him on their way back into the manor, the youngest hot on their heels, sticking close to the grieving teen. His granddaughter taking the chance to hug the boy and not looking like she would let go anytime soon while the third oldest boy followed rambling about an observatory he would like to take Danny too.

"I know they will. I am just wondering how our son will deal with our grandchild's special status as well as counting as a royal family once little Danny opens up."

His wife giggled. "Well that is a problem for another day, dear. I am sure our Brucie will know how to deal with it and if not Alfred is still with him to support."

Thomas nodded. "And if everything fails, we will be here to help guide them?"

"Of course my dear."

[unadulteratedsoulsweets]

A DC X DP IDEA #13 Mirror

Imagine dis…

It is always Danny being sent to the DC dimension to be loved or it is because "Everything's the way it's supposed to be." As Clockwork quoted. But what if we reverse the roles

The Batfam was transported to the Phantom Universe.

…

It was a normal nightly patrol for the Bats namely Batman, Nightwing, Red Robin, and Robin. Until it wasn’t, the very reason why Batman hated unknown meta in his territory things could go off the rail just by a wild factor.

They were rounding up the goons when they encountered from the body language, a new goon he was shaking and was very afraid at the fact that the entire Bat clan had just surrounded him just because he was the last person who had been hiding behind a dumpster.

Maybe it was because of fear when he suddenly threw his hand in their direction and then suddenly a bright light blinded momentarily the entire Bat Clan.

…

They didn’t expect to wake up in a middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere. They tried contacting Oracle but they could not even receive a signal which should have been a telling sign seeing that signals on their devices should have reached them in any part of the world to outer space.

Nor they didn’t expect a can rolling towards them and quickly releasing some green smoke, they could not even react quickly enough as they inhaled some of the smoke and immediately passed out with only the color ginger and black as the last things they saw before passing out.

…

Waking up disorientated as well as remembering the last thing that had just happened immediately sprung Batman awake, looking around he concluded that he is in some sort of a laboratory if any of those weird gadgets mounted on the wall mean anything. He felt that his cowl is still in place as well as his son’s sons in Jason’s case his helmet seeing that their identities were still not compromised.

Trying to move as well as futile, seeing that he has his hands, feet, legs, chest, and torso bound tightly in some metal. Looking sideways he could also see his other children tied alongside him, he also noticed a table has all of their weapons ranging from Jason’s guns, Nightwing’s batons, Red Robin’s bo staff as well Damian’s katana. Alongside his utility belt as well as countless amount of battarangs and other gadgets leaving them pretty defenses.

Slowly each of Batman’s sons woke up either groaning awake, each trying to remove the bindings that surround their entire body aside from their face. Suddenly they heard the door in front of them open up, the stranger looked at them with a hint of surprise that quickly disappeared seeing that they were awake, as he walked in, they are quite surprised at the large stature of the stranger. Wearing a black t-shirt as well black pants, black hair that is tied in a low ponytail with a goatee, blue eyes that is accompanied by light-dark eyebags below as well a light goatee.

Smirking at them as if he had them where he had wanted them while carrying a double-bladed beam sword that glows eerily Lazarus green.

…

Danny Fenton is living his life, his parents had accepted him as Phantom, and Dan is deemed behaved enough to join them in the living, Dani stayed with them as a part of the family seeing that his parents produced adoption papers seemingly out of nowhere the moment Danny explained Dani’s existence to them. Vlad turned into a new leaf now trying to spoil each child including Jasmine despite herself in college, forging documents for both Dan and Dani so that they have proper identity and identification in the living world. His former rouge gallery as well as the people of Amity has now a treaty as his rogues can now come and go through neither portal to the living world to fulfill their obsessions as long, they don’t commit collateral damage as well hypnotizing and harming the living.  Driving the GIW agents out of their town as well as removing the stupid law about the ghosts after seeing that Phantom had saved Earth from a giant meteor that according to scientists could wipe out the entire human civilization.

Becoming King of the Infinite Realms was something he didn’t plan, his parents marched towards the chambers of the Observants to tell them off and that they have to wait till Danny finishes his human life before starting to be a ghost, King.

Now Danny sports a pair of heavy eyebags under his eyes seeing that he is slowly fixing the Realms due to the damage as well the negligence of the Pariah Dark.  He feels that every time he completes a stack of paperwork ten more appeared in the never-ending stack of paperwork.

Moving to Vlad’s mansion to accommodate the large family as well to provide accompany to Vlad seeing that he needed some sort of human interaction as his cat doesn’t count enough interaction to be considered healthy, despite the Fenton couple's eccentric behavior but for a moment Danny saw the college versions of Maddie, Jack and Vlad where times were simple and they were happy and content.

It has been a few months since they moved in with Vlad their family dynamic is best describe as chaotic.

Dan teases Danny that he is a replacement because he replaced his old, original, and entire timeline to replace Danny’s which Danny just flipped him off. Dani being the gremlin child she is, sees that she had traveled the entire world as well as learned different fighting styles to either a. help Danny or b. put her entire family on edge seeing that sometimes she would throw a dagger towards one of them when she got annoyed. Jazz the ever-peaceful one tries to defuse and fight between the three but the moment she joins in the three immediately quiet down and stop her from committing a felony or two. Danny who became an insomniac just to keep up with the demand of paperwork, refuses to let the pile grow and greet him the moment he steps into his afterlife. Vlad became the targeted uncle and despite him turning into a new leaf he still has that fixation and obsession with Danny to turn him into his heir.

…

A few hours before the Bat-family appears in the Phantom verse

It was yet another daily day of fighting while the supposed adults are watching the three children fighting and wrestling on the ground with a bucket of popcorn at hand while the eldest daughter looks like she is done with whatever craziness her siblings put her in. The matriarch of the Fenton family put her foot down and dragged each of them for a short family trip, since the surrounding environment is just a lush’s grove of trees a quick walk around the forest could clear each other’s minds.

As they were walking at the trail that only the locals of Amity Park can decipher, Jazz kept looking at her brother’s hand, a large cup of pure black coffee that contains a past the legal amount of espresso shots that was mixed with red bull cannot be healthy whether it is human biology or ghost biology.

As Dan was about to tease Dani about her shortness when they suddenly saw a bright light in the direction of the deeper part of the forest. Quickly and quietly the two eldest hides amongst the foliage while the adults stayed back to protect the younger ones, much to the protests of the said kids.

Using Dan’s ability to stay intangible as well as his invisibility both saw the supposed source of the bright light or cause are unconscious, a man dressed in a bat fur suit, not that they were judging. Four more were dressed in some sort of spandex or costume seeing each of them have something different on.

As they slowly woke up Dan has already told Jazz that there was something weird and unnatural about the people in front of them. Jazz asked if his ghost sense is telling him something, Dan agreed that his sense is telling him something but the fact it wasn’t about ghosts made him on the edge, especially to the man who wore a bright red helmet.

Both of them are willing to ignore and even help the strangers but the moment they set off Dan’s senses, now they can’t let them go. Throwing a can packed with sleeping gas can knock both humans and ghosts effectively. After releasing the said gas both Jazz and Dan slowly crept up to make sure that their unexpected guests are fully unconscious before telling the rest of them what they have just discovered.

Stripping down their weapons as well as locking them up using the metal that is powered by ectoplasm making it hard for both humans and ghosts alike to escape.

Danny began researching the guests they have while the rest tried to watch over them as the Fenton couple as well Vlad arm themselves including the house in case they would try to escape as well to harm them.

…

Dan came through the doors when he saw the furry brigade now wide awake, now it is quite surprising seeing that they were supposed to be knocked out by a few more hours but shrugging off seeing that people tend to have immunity to certain drugs if administered frequently.

As Dan is sitting in a corner watching the chattering between their prisoners, he can’t help but notice a faint feeling of recognition in each of them. Especially on the man who wore a leather jacket as well the big red helmet.

Dani suddenly entered the premise making Dan release a high eyebrow at her as of telling Dani why on earth she was there. Dani didn’t acknowledge Dan’s invisible question and began skipping to the bound guests and began threatening the largest one (Batman) that if he ever dares to move with the intent to harm, she will not hesitate to swing the Fenton creep stick at him. Of course, that set off a reaction from the youngest one (Damian) which resulted in Maddie sticking her head in and beginning to bite back a threat on Do not talk to my daughter that way, the dominos effect as each member from both sides butted in to defend and verbally fight whoever threatened their loved one. Now each Fenton member has a Bat clan member that they were focused on as they try to outwit the other.

Danny enters the scene with a fresh new cup of coffee in his hand watching the scene with an amused huff and letting out one of the Fenton alarms that created the loudest and most annoying sound there is. Now each individual quieted down and looked at Danny questioningly, Danny mentioned that he wasn’t paid enough to meditate a verbal match between the two and told Dan that he can release them and turned his head to the bounded Bats and told them to cooperate.

Red Hood didn’t like the new guy's attitude and barked out why they would need to cooperate with the people that held them.

Danny blinked slowly and as it, he just come to a realization and told them what he just found out to his audience.

The bound Bats came to their dimension that contains a far different version of their alternatives selves. Danny is willing to get a DNA test between the two sides but he is pretty sure that the one who wore the red cowl on his head between Red Hood and Robin is his alternative self. He also said that each should take a closer look at each other to find which self is their alternative self.

Batman looked intently at Jack and saw that Jack may be broader than him but didn’t deter the fact that he looked almost like him without his cowl. Nightwing asked why on earth his alternate self is a woman which Jazz took offense and Red Hood snarked that maybe it is the world’s way to play his karma seeing that Dick kept dating redheads. Red Robin looked longingly at the coffee at his alternate’s other self and nodded at his lifestyle of having coffee as the only thing that makes him live. Damian is still skeptical at the supposed newcomer’s answer but one look at his supposed other self is sufficient enough to be his alternate self.

As they were releasing the Bats Vlad came through the door and asked Dan if he wanted some lemon juice while he guards.

Now take note they are still wary of their supposed alternate selves but when they saw Ra, they think a version of him, wearing a pink apron that says “Hey BOO” that has a mini-ghosts designs all over the apron. Never in their entire life they will see Ra wear something so mundane and act warm and homey to their alternate selves.

….

Now it seems each Fenton forgot to tell them the reason why they not only have mountains of weapons in arms but also the fact that they have an abundance of ectoplasm that resembles Lazarus' water.

Cue Misunderstandings and Shenanigans

…

 PS: If someone out there wanted to continue or make a fic about this you are free to do so don’t forget to tag me though.

[grasshopperdoingdogpaddle]

Neither Chase nor Omi thought of destiny as something that could be fought traditionally... until they met each other and decided that destiny is something they’d fight to shape with their own hands. Both each other’s and their own.

They’re stubborn and prideful, have so much faith in their abilities and believe all their own hype, but somehow they’re still very fatalistic.

You poor, naïve fool. You’ll never become a dragon.

Chase accepted it when Hannibal told him his destiny was on the Heylin side, unless he intended to languish in obscurity on the Xiaolin side. He’s not especially enthusiastic about it, at first, but after thinking it over, he makes the decision to throw away everything he believes in to go down that path.

If the choices set out for him are obscurity or evil, he’ll make his choice.

There’s only one path for you now.

When Omi saw through the Crystal that his destiny was to destroy the world, Omi was so unquestioningly certain that he couldn’t stop himself from going down that path that the only viable option he saw was “taking the long walk”.

They were both ready and willing to throw away their dreams. Fate had something else in store for them. They could only rise to meet it or run from it. There were no third options they could carve for themselves.

“Sometimes our destiny is determined by events that are out of our control.”

Omi was paralyzed with fear even when his friends did bring him back. 

In a bout of learned helplessness, he refused to break his ice prison. He’d rather die than let his destiny be kickstarted. And he wasn’t convinced to not be suicidal or fatalist by the end of the episode, he just realized the vision that had convinced him happened to be faked. He still held the belief that if there’s a chance he may be evil, he should sooner die.

And Chase throws away everything to meet his Destiny and join Hannibal. 

He commits atrocities until he acquires a taste for a them, pushes himself through the difficult transition until he wholeheartedly enjoys being evil. Now, he actively wants to watch the world he used to protect, burn.

But after Omi meets Chase, Omi learns the complexity and the spunk to push back against that internal doomerism. 

When Wuya and Jack and Vlad were telling Omi his destiny was joining the Heylin side, Omi took “the long walk.” 

When Chase repeatedly tells Omi that his destiny joining the Heylin side, and even succeeds in tricking him over to it, which directly causes the end of the world, Omi still banters back, “No, you’ll be joining me on the Xiaolin side together.”

And Chase starts the whole plan under the idea of this binary, either Omi joins him or Chase needs to kill him before Omi is strong enough to destroy Chase. The former keeps not happening, but it gets to the point where Chase just refuses to consider the latter.

Chase and Omi make each other remember their pride.

Because they are prideful, and who is anyone else to give them these limited, lackluster options?

“Either I’m wrong or destiny itself is wrong. And I’m not wrong. Even if I am, I’ll bend time and space itself until I’ve force the world to acknowledge that I’m right. I’m the greatest warrior this world has ever known, and I kowtow to nothing I don’t respect. Not even fate.”

[underforeversgrace]

memories of the grave

DannyMay 2023 Day 18: Grave

title: memories of the grave

Words: 2166

Complete

Warning: Major Character Death and Everlasting Trio

Summary/Excerpt: Songfic to the song Sacred by Citizen Soldier - He frequently thought about death. His death, at least.

~~~~~~

Chasing ghosts, chasing dreams

What is next? What might be?

Never content, always hungry

Overlook this moment and you'll be sorry

It was, unsurprisingly, Jazz who first brought it up, towards the end of high school.

“You’ve gotten taller!” She said, clapping her hands together in excitement.

“Uh, yeah? People do that?” Danny answered, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah. People do.” She’d responded, giving him a Look.

“Jazz, Vlad’s aged. We already knew I would. We just don’t know what happens… later. As far as Vlad can tell from the tests he ran after his accident, he’ll still die, he just may live longer than expected, though. Everything’s fine.” Danny said, waving his hand boredly as though brushing the topic away. Sure, death was something he often thought about, there wasn’t really any avoiding it with how injured he got - even if he did disregard the whole half-ghost-half-dead-kid thing. Honestly, he didn’t think he’d live long enough to have a natural death regardless, not with how often he got his ass handed to him, even if that was growing less and less often. He frequently thought about death.

His death, at least.

Don't take the ones you love for granted, not for a second

If you do you've got the rest of your life left to regret it

You're gonna miss these days, I hope you never forget it

The present is precious

It was in his mid-20s, after successfully completing college and graduating easily, his secret long since exposed, that he realized he loved Sam and Tucker more than anything else in the world. They had been roommates their entire college career and when it came time to leave, he didn’t want to. He’d lost track of the number of times they’d ended up all sleeping in one person’s bed, platonically snuggling into each other as they studied and quizzed each other until they all succumbed to exhaustion.

He’d felt nothing but relief when, three days before they were all set to go their own ways, Sam called a meeting and disclosed she felt the same way, Tucker and Danny’s confessions following. 

It helped that being ‘weird’ or doing things an uncommon way was just a state of life for the trio at this point. Side effect of one of them being a ghost superhero and his friends. So all loving each other… it had come easily. Sleeping every night in the same bed, swathed in love and happiness, was just that - easy.  

You get one life, one chance

Give it everything 'cause this is all we have

If this day was your last

Could you hold your head high? Could you live with that?

So take it in, just embrace the adrenaline

This is sacred, we'll never get it back again

It was in their 30s, when they started genuinely discussing adopting a child, that the realization hit. Danny had stopped growing. While lines and the occasional gray hair had begun to show on his lovers, Danny’s face remained unchanged. No laugh lines, no wrinkles, nothing. Still, they kept their belief that it was just Danny aged slowly.

The topic of kids never came back up. Danny always felt like that was his fault, despite Sam and Tucker’s constant reassurances otherwise.

Wasted time, wasted love

What you have now, why can't that be enough?

What you're most terrified to lose

Take it for granted when it's right in front of you

Jack would be the first person Danny ever truly lost. Sure, he’d lost his grandparents as a child, but he barely knew them. But this was his father, who had lifted him above his head and ran around while Danny pretended to be a rocket. Who helped him with his homework, who wholeheartedly accepted Danny when he’d come out to them - both as a ghost and as having two lovers.

Who didn’t listen when his doctors told him he needed to take better care of his health, who didn’t lay off the fudge when they suggested it.

His father’s grave was the first Danny had ever stood next to and sobbed, beside his sister and mom, Sam and Tucker trying to soothe him in a situation that knew only grief. Danny and Jazz had handled the burial, the finances, letting their mother grieve the loss of the love of her life.

Yeah, you're such a slave to anxiety

Your future, your past, pulling you away

It made you so blind, now that must change

'Cause right now with who you love, this is everything

Maddie didn’t outlive Jack by more than a few months. She went peacefully in her sleep at home, at least, didn’t have to suffer through heart failure in a hospital until her last breath.

Danny had taken over the funeral arrangements for his mother, burying her beside his father. Jazz kept trying to help but he could practically feel her pain and grief every time she tried to do so. There was more to do with their mother’s passing. With both parents gone, it fell to their kids to close bank accounts, to notify friends, to sort through documents upon documents, to decide what to do with the house, which had long since been transformed back into a normal family home, when even Maddie could no longer chase ghosts. They knew Danny would do it, after all. They’d had faith in him - in Phantom - even before Danny had confessed. It had been their slow acceptance of his ghost side that had allowed him the confidence to tell them, after all.

When he stood over his father’s grave again, now with his mother’s headstone beside it, he hadn’t even been able to hold himself up on his own two feet. Sam and Tucker had been just as instrumental then as they had been every other time in his life.

You get one life, one chance

Give it everything 'cause this is all we have

If this day was your last

Could you hold your head high? Could you live with that?

So take it in, just embrace the adrenaline

This is sacred, we'll never get it back again

Vlad lived almost another decade beyond Danny’s parents. It was only a few months before Vlad passed that the three of them - now nearly fifty - had to accept fact.

Danny had stopped aging. He forever looked like a college student. Sam and Tucker had begun to pull away from him. He just looked too young and it made them uncomfortable. He’d understood, when they began to pull physical intimacy away from him. He couldn’t blame them.

He’d forever be grateful they never asked him to stop curling up in the bed with them, long since used to the chill of his core, safe with the people he loved.

Vlad’s best guess was since Danny’s fusion with the ectoplasm had been so much smoother, so much more instantaneous than Vlad’s own, is why Danny stopped aging while Vlad continued. Danny was truly half and half - Vlad wasn’t.

Again, Danny was the one left handling the funeral and Vlad’s substantial wealth. Vlad had mellowed out towards the end of Danny’s high school career and they had bonded in that time. Vlad had genuinely become something of an uncle or godfather in Danny’s life. At least Vlad had a will. Danny mainly just had to sign off on some papers occasionally.

When he cried over this grave, Sam and Tucker to either side of him, he mourned more than just Vlad. He was the only halfa in the world, he was the only one of a species. And as he watched his friends, the two people he loved most in the world, age, he feared when he would be entirely alone. Even at fourteen, he’d known the consequences of immortality and been relieved he wouldn’t have to face them.

Now he was facing eternity on his own and he didn’t know what to do.

In this moment, will you live?

Embrace the unknown, your past forgive?

Every minute's a priceless gift

It's all yours, so what you gonna do with it?

Jazz’s funeral was the first he didn’t have to help with, allowed to just grieve. Her son - already in his thirties, Danny remembered when he was born - had handled everything, allowing Danny to simply be. Her son had been confused by Danny, he hadn’t met his uncle since he was a young child. That had been a decision Jazz and Danny had come to together, as ghosts faded back to myth, as his identity fell into legend.

He had never met any of her other children, all born later, though Jazz had made sure to keep him up to date on everything in her life. So he couldn’t blame them for staring at him - an apparent 20-something year old man sobbing until he couldn’t breathe over their mother’s grave.

If they recognized him from her wedding pictures, from where he’d been best man, they didn’t mention it.

Danny couldn’t help but avoid Jazz’s second son. Named Daniel, in honor of Jazz’s lost brother. In honor of him.

Don't take the ones you love for granted, not for a second

You're gonna miss these days, yeah, the present is precious

When Tucker died, Danny thought he would, too, his core ached so deeply. They’d known it was coming. Tucker had gotten pneumonia and fallen and in his advanced age - nearly eighty five now - his odds had never looked good.

Danny hated how helpless he felt then, waiting for the man he loved to die, watching him wither away the longer he was in the hospital - somewhere Tucker hated so fiercely. It was a small miracle he’d never really regained true consciousness after the fall. He’d have hated this so much. 

He had so much power yet he could do nothing against human illness, against the march of time, no matter how much he pleaded with Clockwork, how much he begged to not be left behind.

He’d lived long enough, he was ready to rest. Over eighty years was a good run, he’d had a good life.

“I’m sorry, child,” Clockwork had said, and Danny believed him. “I cannot intervene. Even Pariah Dark could not kill you now. You are strong and your core is long matured. Everything will be okay.”

Still, that didn’t keep him from crying when he was in Tucker’s room as the heart monitor flatlined and never restarted.

You get one life, one chance

Give it everything 'cause this is all we have

If this day was your last

Could you hold your head high? Could you live with that?

So take it in, just embrace the adrenaline

This is sacred, we'll never get it back again

Sam went next, several years later. Every time he’d had to fill out paperwork for her, listing himself as a family friend instead of what he was - her husband, her lover - his heart had broken. But she was over ninety when she died. And he was forever twenty five.

He’d buried them beside each other, just like his parents had been. They’d spent their entire lives together, after all. It made sense for their bodies to rest near each other forever.

“Well, that turn out was more than I expected.” Sam said to his side, pulling Danny from the graves at his feet. He turned to her and smiled. Death had returned her to her youth and she grinned at him, floating a few feet to his side, clad in clothes made of plants, gently coaxing some flowers out of the ground.

“I still had more!” Tucker protested to his other side and Danny laughed. While Tucker had accepted the pharaoh aesthetic upon his death, he still looked like an ancient Egyptian mixed with Technus, technology even now his third love (after Sam and Danny, who tied for first, of course, he insisted).

“Yeah, ‘cuz they hadn’t died yet!” Sam shot back. “You can’t compare it when half the people we knew have kicked the bucket since your funeral!”

Comfort surrounded Danny, filled the air. They had stayed, they had clung to life so fiercely after death, just so he wouldn’t be alone. And as soon as Sam had died, Clockwork had arrived and married them the way they never could have in life.

“Oh shut up, guys,” Danny joked, rolling his eyes and jumping up, letting his transformation to Phantom slide over him. “Let’s go home.”

As the three flew away, playfully chasing and dodging each other, Danny let himself feel a comfort he hadn’t in fifty years, finally no longer being left behind, and remembered what Clockwork had said at the end of the trio’s ghostly wedding.

He’d placed his hand on Danny’s shoulders and smiled. “I told you everything would be okay.”

One life, one chance

So take it in, just embrace the adrenaline

If this day was your last

This is sacred, we'll never get it back again

Song: Sacred - Citizen Soldier

[tourettesdog]

HC/prompt where (trans) Danny really struggles to accept Dani at first

He knows she has no control over her circumstances and that it’s not fair to resent her, but he looks at her and it’s like looking into a dysphoric mirror. She’s everything he hated about himself in middle school. Even her hair length is eerily similar to what his was at before he chopped it all off in the bathroom one night

And then she decides to go by the name Dani, and it hurts a bit. Because he picked that name for himself, leaving behind a very feminine name for one that is His and that he sees as masculine. He knows the name isn’t strictly masculine, sure, but to him that’s what it means. And seeing an echo of his old self wearing that name, regardless of its spelling, sits badly with him.

He doesn’t talk about this with Dani at first. He knows she’s got her own identity issues and that it isn’t fair to pin his baggage on her. He doesn’t have some claim over their name, even if he desperately wishes she’d just gone by Ellie or Elle. He wants to be there for her, but there’s a distance between them and Dani can feel it.

One day Dani just bluntly asks Danny if he doesn’t like her. She doesn’t know what is wrong between them, but she wants to figure it out and maybe fix it. She’s hurt when Danny doesn’t immediately reassure her. After too long of a pause, he explains his feelings to her. That he used to be a girl, that she looks just like he used to, and that he knows it’s not her fault but it still hurts to be reminded of that. 

Dani really doesn’t know how to respond. There’s no real easy way to handle it, being told you make someone uncomfortable because of just-- being you. She’s mad, mostly-- at Vlad, a bit at Danny, a small bit at herself for not noticing. She hones in on Vlad though, and they commiserate over their mutual hatred of him and his actions.

But Danny does reassure her that he knows his feelings aren’t fair to her and that he doesn’t resent her. That he’s happy to have another sister. Regardless of Vlad, she’s her own person, and he wants to be there for her. He just has his own shit to work through-- and maybe that’s something they can do together. Just two fucked up kids trying to figure themselves out.

Dani’s glad they talked. She didn’t even know that Danny was trans-- it just didn’t click to her. She’s only ever seen Danny presenting as a boy. To Dani, he’s just her brother. She tells him as much. She can’t fully understand Danny’s feelings about his past, but she knows how it feels to struggle with your identity. Dani was made to follow in his footsteps, and breaking away to find herself has been its own challenge. In an ironic way, they’re more similar than she thought. 

The next time they see each other, Danny’s shocked to see Dani’s completely restyled her hair, dyed it red with an undercut. It upsets him at first, since he thinks she felt the need to change her look after their talk-- that he might’ve made her feel guilty or uncomfortable with her appearance. She just snorts, echoing his words that she’s her own person. As if he could ever convince her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

She’ll never admit if that’s the real reason.

Besides, the red hair inverts to turquoise when she transforms. Rad.

The name stays, though. And in time, Danny sees less of his old self in her. He just sees another kid who picked out their own name.

[satureja13]

The Nerd and the Jock ;) Disclaimer: This is the whole (kind of short) story of Jeb and Giga/Saiwa until now. ~ 7 scrolls with 8 pictures. I felt the need to put everything in one place before we continue.

Jeb had been attracted to extraordinary Giga for quite a while. But he was always too shy to make an attempt. It was the time shortly after Vlad drank from Ji Ho when Giga needed a place for Ji Ho to stay (because Ji Ho and Vlad needed to be separated). His first thought was to ask Jeb.

Jeb was so reliable and sound in these hard days for Saiwa. It did something to him. As being the oldest, the weight of all decisions and the care for the others with all their hardships, lie on Saiwa's shoulders. To have someone he could rely on when he was at the end of his strength after Vlad's death was such a relief.

To start a relationship after only a short time flirting and under these circumstances wasn't a good idea. But Jeb was so good looking under his bag. And tall. And the muscles... (Why Jeb calls Saiwa 'Giigs' is explained -> here) Shortly after Vlad's death the unthinkable happened: Jeb fell in love with Jack right before Giigs' eyes right after Vlad's death! What a nightmare!

They broke up. Jeb couldn't forgive himself. And Giigs was broken. This happened just one day after Giigs opened up to Jeb and felt confident and strong enough to return back to his old self which he had buried deep down below after his horrible experiences in the Lab. But they stayed friends and even though it was awkward, Jeb was there for his Giigs when he needed him. Jeb even accompanied Giigs to knock on DEATH'S door. And when they went to San Myshuno to find out what had happened to Vlad's body. They were still crazy for each other but due to their diffycult pasts, they found themselves not worthy to be with the other. Jeb's thoughts -> here. Giigs' thoughts -> here

At the end of the year they met again in the Tavern at Mount Komorebi. Jeb knew what Giigs feels for him and decided to end this by writing down what he did in his past (and why he wore that bag on his head!) and why he is not worthy to be with Giigs and left.

They didn't see each other for weeks and no one knew where Jeb was. They found him in Strangerville at the Diner, but he ran away again. It was almost two months later when they met again at Belgraves Institute. Giigs was finally able to tell Jeb that the two kids he tried to rescue had been Jack and him. And how much he had helped them to stay sane with his attempt to get them out there. But Jeb only could think of that he failed to rescue the love of his life... And Saiwa still thinks he is tainted after the cowplants at the lab had eaten him up alive and spit him out and that Jeb deserved better. He also is insecure if his 'dressing habits' are disturbing for Jeb (they aren't!)

After the 70s Party they talked it out and came to the conclusion, that they first have to accept and love themselves before they can start all over again. They also had the same dream in their first night at Belgraves Institute (which is told to come true). It is -> here

To be continued...

And when it rains you're shining down for me And I just can't get enough And I just can't get enough

Just like a rainbow you know you set me free And I just can't get enough And I just can't get enough

You're like an angel and you give me your love And I just can't seem to get enough

I Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode That's their song ^^'

From the Beginning  ~  Underwater Love ~  Latest

[liminalpebble]

The Refugee: Chapter 36

A/N: Very angsty chapter. Self-harming/destructive behavior. Mental health issues. Minors DNI.

Masterlist link

Loki sat heavily on his bed, aquamarine eyes glazed over with sentiment, clothes disheveled. His skin still tingled and buzzed with the memory of her, and the sweet spice of her scent still enveloped him.

 He regretted leaving as he did. He knew she might think it was anger or pettiness that propelled him, but it wasn't, not at all. It was love...a truer love than he thought he was capable of feeling. He fled because he was terrified of hurting her further. He saw into her mind; how she loathed herself for wanting him so much, loving him so much, so soon after losing Magnus. She felt that she had betrayed him. The emperor wished he was strong enough to make sure his darkness could never touch her again, just as he had done with Magnus, but how could he bear to?

How did it all go wrong this time? He came in to talk to her, comfort her. Loki genuinely wanted to show some empathy and concern, but...but what? He heard within himself, you did what he always do. You broke something precious. Looking into her mind had shattered him. He could see everything. The love she kept in her heart for him, in spite of everything, was so deep and incorruptible and patient and...good. She loved him not for his tricks of charm, his beauty, wealth, or power. Lenora saw through all of it, even before the gift of her magical sight. She loved the man who was Frigga's sensitive son; his mother's delicate raven, hiding fearfully in the shadows of his father, brother, and his own nightmares. She loved the brilliant, witty, sometimes ruminating, sometimes playful, often dramatic, wounded man who was so unsure of himself and ached for love and acceptance. She loved the Loki who regretted all the walls and traps he'd built against those very things for fear of being hurt and rejected again, the man whose eyes blazed with passion and relentless curiosity about everything, the man who taught her to dance.  

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed deeply, bracing himself on his elbows as he tried to decide what to do. He couldn't leave things as they were, could he? Loki's rumination was interrupted by a scratching and yowling at his door. Peaking his eyebrow in confusion, he opened it to find Lea's beloved fur ball staring him down.

“Don't look at me like that,” he huffed, but Vlad wasn't content to just stare and judge. He blasted  him with hollering yowls, batted and scratched relentlessly at Loki's leg. The only thing that seemed to make the beast stop was when Loki began to follow him to Lea's quarters. Loki got the sinking feeling that something was very wrong.

----

Lea emerged from the bathroom in the warmest nightgown she could find. She felt so cold now, as if all the heat of her body had been expended in her exothermic love and rage towards Loki. Her hair hung in wet ropes over her repeatedly scrubbed skin. As she caught sight of herself in the mirror, she was started by the wild-eyed ghost staring back. She shivered with cold and, for some reason, a fresh wave of adrenaline. The heavy cold matched the frigid weight of shame sitting in her stomach. Accusations of betrayal screeched through her mind, echoing against her skull. Loki had rewarded Magnus' millenia of loyalty with heartbreak and exile, and what did she do? She gave herself to him freely, willingly, wantonly. In a saner moment, she might have remembered that Magnus would tell her to find happiness and love wherever she could, as he always had, but this was not one of her saner moments. This was the farthest she had ever traveled from sanity.

As the ghost lady in the mirror looked her over, she saw how bare her neck and ears were without her jewelry. Abruptly reminded of them, she hurried across the room to gather them from the  floor, cradling the precious pieces in her hand like a fragile wounded bird. Setting them carefully back in their place, she stroked the edges as if it were a living thing in need of consolation. She hadn't stopped crying since Loki had left her, and now that she looked up into the dressing mirror, seeing herself weeping like a helpless mournful specter she couldn't stand it. Something snapped inside of her and she punched the mirror hard, causing a ringing shatter as the shards hit the floor. Lea's knuckles were bleeding, but she didn't notice or feel it.

She turned as if hypnotically summoned to the bay window. Her mind conjured images of the birds she had watched outside in the whistling wind, mocking her with their freedom as they careened through the mountain air. She saw, in her mind's eye, a raven, a gray dove, and a cardinal flying and circling through the sky, enjoying the freedom she would never have, and her heart ached with lonely bitter envy. Blood dripping from her fingertips traced the languid but inexorable path of her bare feet toward the vast glass wall. Standing upon the window seat she hurtled blast after blast of violet vapor against the thick leaded panes, chipping away as if it were a glacier. The icy shards began to rain down as the window gave way to jagged circles of unobstructed night.

Lenora launched her fists, her feet, and bolt after violent bolt at the window until the opening was wide enough for her to stand in the arctic blast of fresh air. As the wind whipped her hair and nightgown she gripped the jagged edges with her palms and stepped carelessly on the sharp broken peaks under her feet. The blood seeped everywhere but she didn't feel it, didn't care. Her compulsion was that of an animal chewing its own leg off to escape a trap. Feeling the air on her face, and the cold emptiness dropping out beneath her in the real world felt right; the two voids of physical reality and her troubled mind mirroring each other as she felt their siren call.

----

Loki and Vlad sprinted as they heard the deafening shatter of glass coming form Lea's quarters. Loki's hands trembled as he tried to fit the key to the lock, until he finally blasted it open with a jolt of magic. His face fell and his eyes grew wide as he ran towards Lenora's small wavering form, now a tangle of dark hair, pale fabric and crimson blood stains, being whipped around like a rag doll in the blizzard gust.

He teleported to her side, desperate to close the distance, and pulled her back with an arm vice-gripped around her waist. “Lenora! Come on, come back to me. I've got you. I've got you darling.”

She didn't fight him. She looked at him without seeing him, as if sleepwalking. He swept her up in his arms, careful of her wounded hands and feet, though she herself wasn't reacting to them in any way. Lea still in his arms, Loki screamed out to a guard in the hall to summon the medics. He set her down and tried to get her to meet his eyes.

“Lea....Lea, darling, come on. Look at me. Please...please talk to me.”

She only stared, and then her eyes slowly traveled to her bloodied hands and feet. Lea only registered them with a distant kind of cognizance, as if considering a not particularly interesting painting in a museum.

The medic arrived. It was the same kindly lady who had approached Loki in his office. Her face strained with worry, seeing her charge in such a state.

“Sire, stand back,” She said breathlessly.

Loki was trembling, and didn't hear her, still fixated on Lea.

“SIRE, stand back,” she repeated, and this time Loki flinched into understanding and stepped back as the medic picked her way around the floor full of shattered glass.

Loki came to his panicked senses. He had to do something, anything, but he was no medic. He thought with a strange kind of focus, The glass...I...I can clean up the glass. I can fix things.

While the medic worked on piecing Lea back together, Loki used his magic to assemble all the broken glass of the mirror and window back to their original state, erased the many bloodstains, and set the quarters back to their tidy original state as if something horrendous hadn't just happened. As he checked that everything was right again, he spotted her broken jewelry. He wept with a shudder of self-loathing. He held the pieces as gently as he had held Lenora's face, terrified to break them further in his large strong hands. He waved his long fingers in careful magical patterns over the necklace and earrings, exhausting every drop of magical energy left to him to mend them to perfection. Loki returned them very gently to their place, as if placing an infant in their crib.

As he turned, he saw that the medic was nearly done with Lea's bandages and now softly whispered encouraging words to her. She patted Lenora's shoulder in a sweetly maternal gesture. Lenora thanked her so quietly and kindly, ending with “I'm so sorry to have bothered you so late.” Loki and the medic both ached at her thoughtfulness, even in the middle of such a horrible thing. If ever she had a right to be selfish or demanding or nasty, this was the time, and she still didn't have it in her.

“How is she, doctor?” he asked softly, sheepishly.

She gave Loki the look of a disappointed mother, “The physical wounds will heal just fine, and quickly with the magic, but the other wounds,” she exhaled in a sad sigh, “those will take a good deal longer, sir. She shouldn't be left alone at any point for the next few days. We can bring her to the medical wing for several days to monitor...”

“I'll stay with her,” Loki interrupted, decisively. “I won't leave her side. I promise.”

The medic looked at him a skeptically. “Very well,” she finally said, slowly. “But, I cannot stress this enough, do NOT leave her alone. If you can't be with her, you must take her to medical. No locking her in those awful dungeons, young man. NO more of that nonsense.” She surprised herself with her boldness and immediately covered her mouth, afraid for her life.

Loki only gave her a sad, forgiving little smile, “It's quite alright. I know. I deserved that and worse, but I will take care of her. I swear.”

The doctor gave the rest of her instructions to Loki and then left them alone.

Loki cautiously approached the wounded little woman, as if she were a frightened animal that might bite him and asked gently, “May I sit with you, darling?” She finally met his eyes and nodded.

“And may I hold you?” Again she nodded. As he sat down she immediately burrowed herself against him. He was surprised at her willingness, but held her gently and gingerly as if he were afraid his own hands might suddenly turn to razor blades. “You're freezing,” he said, wrapping a blanket tight around her. “Better?” he asked, but she only nodded once more.

Suddenly he felt Lenora's entire body go very stiff, then her eyes shot open meeting his with panic as she began to ramble quickly, “Oh...sire, please...please don't punish Magnus because I've been disobedient. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be...I just...I just couldn't...I wasn't trying to...die. Not really. It's just that nothing feels real...and I'm confused...” She began to weep again in heavy choking sobs.

Loki was shocked by her raw frantic begging. He felt as if his heart was enduring a vivisection. “No...no no no, darling. I won't. I promise I won't. Here, look at me so you know I'm being honest.” Her dark eyes and their seeking violet halos meet his. “Lenora, I promise. I will never hurt him again. That's part of why I did what I did in the first place...so I can never hurt him again. Please come back, darling, please come back to yourself. I need you. I love you. Don't stay out there all alone.”

Lenora's eyes scanned the room, realizing that everything had been righted and repaired. “Did you do this?” she asked.

“Yes. Yes I did. And I fixed your jewelry. I'm so sorry for breaking it.”

“I thought you always said you weren't any good at fixing things. Everything looks perfect again.”

He smiled weakly and met her eyes. “I've been trying very hard, this past year, to learn how to repair things as well as I've always destroyed them. I suppose I never had the right motivation to learn before, but I assure you, I do now.”

Very quietly, she said, “I'm so tired, Loki. I can't keep my eyes open.”

“Rest then, little empress. I've got you,” he said stroking her hair and gathering her tighter into his arms. Loki himself was exhausted, all his magic and adrenaline spent, but he wouldn't sleep tonight, determined to keep watch over her. As she began to drift off, Vlad the cat trotted in and curled up into a little fuzzy spiral on top of her, carefully avoiding her injuries. He licked her arm a few times affectionately, then settled his head upon crossed paws to glare accusingly at Loki with his intense eyes. Loki looked right back and said, “Thank you, little friend, for saving her,” and reached out to pet him. Vlad hissed quietly in return, and turned his face away pointedly. He could only assume this was cat-speak for, I didn't do it for you, and admitted that was fair enough.

@gigglingtigger @sweetsigyn @goblingirlsarah @lokisgoodgirl @peaches1958 @unlucky-number-13 @thenerdyoldersister @thedistractedagglomeration

[ghostly-penumbra]

DannyMay 2022. Day Four

"Videotape"

Ao3 FFN

Summary: In the cursed school of Casper High, a box is unearthed, within it, a ray of hope shines.

Crossover with the anime Another. Contains BIG, HEAVY spoilers for the anime, namely the origin of the curse, the way it works, and how to stop it. No actual character spoilers tho.

WARNING: For descriptions of death and murder. And some swearing.

- - -

Transcript from the video found in an unmarked USB drive, sealed in a Ziploc bag and buried in a metal box next to Casper High's memorial.

The video starts by showing the face of a girl in her teen years, with black hair and violet eyes. Here eyeliner was smudged, running down her cheeks following the path of dry tears, her eyes are red.

GIRL: This is Sam Manson, second year Casper High student from class C.

Sam stops talking and purses her lips in a bitter smile.

SAM: Yeah, the cursed class. So you probably know how this is going to go.

She stands up and steps back from the camera, sitting down in what becomes clear is a classroom.

SAM: [Sigh] I- I'm recording this because- [Sob] because I can't really tell anyone what happened. What I did. Because they won't actually care; their memories already changed, and even now I can feel mine do the same.

SAM: Besides... I don't wanna face what I did. What it cost to break- to pause the curse.

She looks intensely at the camera.

SAM: So if you are watching this, if you went through the trouble of digging this up, it means you're desperate. And you have to be desperate enough to... to go through with it.

SAM sniffles and looks to the side.

SAM: I guess I should start from the very beginning, with how our curse started.

There is a pause, where SAM breathes in and slowly lets it out.

SAM: It all started twenty years ago, with a trio of friends. Jack, Maddie and Vlad. They were the best of friends, a trio of weird, unpopular kids that only each other liked. They were weirdly obsessed with death and ghosts —as in, "I'll study this when I grow up"—, so it's no wonder things ended up like they did.

She sighs heavily and rubs her face with both hands, tired.

SAM: There was an accident. They were working on a science project, I don't really know the details, but I think they were in their second year, right here in Casper. It went awfully bad, that thing blew up in Vlad's face, and I mean that literally, it exploded right in the moment Vlad was doing maintenance, it scarred his face, put him in a comma, and he died a few weeks later. Lancer —the professor that told this to us— had just started teaching when this happened, and he said that Vlad's death affected the whole school, specially his class, but the Fen- Jack and Maddie more than anyone. So much that they didn't even move on from the denial stage of grief.

The recording glitches for a second, but then goes on as if nothing.

SAM: They refused to accept their friend was dead, and pretended he was still there with them, going to classes, having lunch, hanging out... goes to show the need for therapy, but anyway. Lancer said, that the other students felt pity for them, or they disliked the way the school felt after Vlad died, but whatever the reason, soon the whole class had joined in, and pretended everything was alright, to the point that Lancer himself joined them.

SAM pauses for a second, looking tired, and sighs.

SAM: That's really fucked up, man. Nothing happened to them, that year or their next, but once their generation graduated and another one came in, the curse set in, and students or their relatives began dying. The reigning theory is that after the Vlad incident, our class was... marked... as one that welcomes the dead, and every year, there is a student that is a ghost, someone that died before classes started, but no one remembers... not even the ghost themselves. Reality gets warped, school records change, pictures, videos... honestly, I don't know if this thing will be complete or coherent when you find it. I sure hope so, for your sake; I'll put it in a... special container, in any case.

The video glitches again.

SAM: No one remembers who died, and that's the thing, not even Death remembers who died, so it kills us at random until it hits the mark.

There is bitterness in her voice and her lips curl up in a sneer.

SAM: Fucking idiot can't do its one fucking job right and we get fucked over for it.

There is a crash as something breaks off-camera, but SAM doesn't flinch, only glares towards it with the fury of a thousand suns, and after a moment where nothing happens, she continues.

SAM: And now comes the worst part, for me, at least. If you have been paying attention, you know where this is going. It sucked for me and it will suck for you.

SAM's eyes begin to water, and she takes deep breaths. She carries on.

SAM: The only way to... to pause the curse for your class, not to stop it, because a freshman died a few days ago, is by returning the dead to Death. You have to find out who is the ghost in your class, and kill them.

SAM's lips tremble, and her shoulders shake.

SAM: I know this because that's what I did, two weeks ago.

A tear runs down her cheek. The video glitches.

SAM: Our curse was getting worse; the deaths were happening more often, they were bloodier, and the "ignore one kid" method had stopped working when Mikey —our "kid—, died... we still don't know if that was because of the curse, or just another unfortunate death... we were running out of time, and had no more ideas, so we just tried our luck and went to this old church outside Elmerton. It's just a fucking tourist trap, but we needed anything to hope; fuck, I'm Jewish and I went anyway.

She closes and opens her fists where they rest in the hem of her skirt.

SAM: We were praying and shit, when Tucker —my friend who knows a lot about technology— said he had found a weird wifi signal, with a name he recognized, so we went to check it out...

SAM: That church we went to, it has this stupid statue of a Saint or something, and its eyes are supposed to shine really bright in a certain way when something divine happened- I don't know! But lo and be-fucking-hold, there was a fucking panel of control, connected to the lightning system in the statue and... and stuck there, was mister Lancer, choked by several cords, dead... we didn't know how he ended up like that, or when did he get separated from us, but there he was... we freaked out, Tucker ran to alert the others, and Danny- [Sob] our... our other friend, stayed behind with me. He wanted to get Lancer out of there, show respect for him. I told him we should just leave and run away... we started arguing, started yelling at each other... we were very fucking stressed, and taking out on each other, and when push came to shove—

SAM's voice breaks, and she starts crying openly now.

SAM: I pushed him! Right towards Lancer and that fucking hazard of a panel and- and it killed him! Electrocuted him to death...

SAM sobs, and tries to stop the flow of tears with her hands, but only smears more her eyeliner.

SAM: I killed Danny. I killed my best friend. And then I remembered, it wasn't the first time I had done that...

SAM: The summer before our freshman year, Danny's parents, Jack and Maddie Fenton, had built this... thing, they wanted it to be a portal to the afterlife, they wanted to find ghosts, still. But it didn't work, because of course it didn't. So we went to check it out, because I wanted to. I convinced Danny to get inside it to take him a picture, and I don't know why or how... it turned on, with Danny inside. The portal electrocuted him to death, and I didn't remember until it happened again, until I killed him for a second time.

Tears keep running down her face, but SAM is no longer sobbing. She just has a resigned expression on her face as she stares off into the distance.

SAM: I ran to find Tucker, and found the class getting ready to go. Scared. I told him what had happened, how I killed Danny again but... he didn't remember. He only remembered Danny as some kid we used to hang out with when we were little, not as our best friend we had seen die on his basement, or the classmate that had been with us since our first year. So I took him to see his body... but it wasn't there anymore, only Lancer's.

SAM: He- he thinks I've gone crazy from everything, but I know I'm not because since that day, no one else has died, neither a student nor a relative. It's all as it should be... and I hate it.

SAM: So there you have it. To break the curse, you have to kill the extra student. No matter who it is... not matter how much they deserve to live... more than you, or your classmates. Look for someone with gaps in their memory, try finding any records... don't fall into panic... and try not to die.

SAM stands up tiredly and walks towards the camera, presumably to turn it off, but before she can reach it, the video glitches once again, and the dark figure of a boy with his whole body burnt and covered in Lichtenberg figures appears behind her, icy blue eyes staring right at her.

SAM's hand reaches the camera, and the video ends.

-

Holly fuck that’s probably the longest fic I’ve written yet. When I finally finish this (which will be in a long while) I’m probs gonna ask for someone to beta it so it’s better.

Some thoughts:

This portal is still a safety hazard and that’s why it kills Danny. It doesn’t actually work and that’s why Danny doesn’t come back. Danny died because Jazz’s was in the cursed class and Death got to him.

SPOILER: I had other ideas on how this could go down, with a counselor Vlad being the Another to parallel better the anime, and having the OG ghost back again. Or maybe Jazz.

Mikey did die in a normal, non-cursed way. It was a tragedy not only because he was so young, but because it unleashed the curse again.

Lancer died in that church in Elmerton even though they were outside Amity at the time because in my head, a long time ago Elmerton actually used to be part of Amity Park, but it became its own city/town at some point, but the curse doesn’t care.

Should I tag as ambiguous ending?

[dp-marvel94]

(Not) Alone - Chapter 8

Summary: Consumed with worry and scared after watching Dani almost die, Danny begs her to come home with him and meet Jazz. He wants to see her safe and happy and taken care of more than anything. An important reveal also weighs heavy on him – Dani isn’t the only living clone… and the other is him. He needs to tell her the truth; maybe that will convince her to agree to the idea of telling his parents. And she'll stay in Amity Park with him, where he'll never have to worry if she's safe ever again.

Meanwhile, Dani has mixed feelings. Still reeling from the loss of her clone siblings, Danny’s unexpected worry and care make her uncomfortable. And her own guilt… she hurt him and helped get him kidnapped twice. How can he care about a mistake like her? But having clean clothes and a bed is wonderful. And things aren’t as simple as she thinks.

Will Dani accept the help she needs and let herself be loved? Or will she push Danny and Jazz away and run again?

Word Count: 4,858

First-> Previous

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

For a long time, the two talked, sharing memories of their lost siblings. Dani sniffled, leaned against her brother’s side. Her eyes traced the dim candle light. The other halfa’s even, soothing voice rang in her ears, not the deeper pitch she was growing used to but just as comforting, just as right as ever. 

Eventually though, Danny shifted back to his full size. She tucked herself under his chin, just breathing in the scene. The moon rose, the distant sounds of the town quieting as more stars blinked into existence. Here, sitting here next to Danny, felt so right, a soothing balm to her core. This… this was what she had needed.

Danny’s forgiveness, his acceptance of her, rang in her head. He had accepted her apology for yelling at him, unwilling to linger on the hurtful things she’d said to him. (But she… she hadn’t said anything about what happened at Vlad’s. She’d chickened out….) And the lies she’d been telling herself….Her head knew all those were false; she wasn’t a mistake, a burden. She was loved, wanted. She was good enough. And… with her brother’s support and encouragement, maybe her heart was beginning to believe too.

They talked more, cried more, hugged more. And together, finally releasing the tears and sharing the sorrow with another… the grief was somehow less suffocating. It lingered, promising to hurt for a while yet. But now, knowing she wasn’t alone anymore (and never would have to be again), Dani let herself begin to feel hope. 

Things would get better.

Finally, Danny stood. “Come on. Let’s go home.” He yawned. “I’m tired.”

“Yeah.” With her own yawn, Dani agreed. “Me too.”

With that, the two flew back to Fentonworks. A quick goodnight to Jazz. The two half ghosts shared the bathroom to brush their teeth. Danny offered a goodnight hug. And…

Dani was left alone in the guest bedroom. The girl yawned, stretching sleepy muscles. She was tired, she wanted to sleep. But laying here in the dark, in the quiet….

A familiar disquiet washed over her, making her insides twist. Everything had been fine, just minutes before. Her brother and her had talked, comforting each other. She’d apologized for yelling at Danny that first morning, for saying he wasn’t her brother, and he’d accepted her apology. But…

She hadn’t said everything. The words unsaid weighed heavy on her tongue, guilt choking her core. The betrayal, shooting Danny in the back, helping Vlad hurt him. Selling him out again, to the Red Huntress……

For just a moment, she’d thought of saying something, of pouring out all her shame. But…. She’d chickened out. She was a coward, too afraid to bear her humiliation again. Not after she’d lobbed those words at him before, that first morning. Her guilt was a weapon, used to hurt him, to push him away, to prove that she wasn’t lovable or worth helping. 

But he hadn’t understood. Dami had deflected the words, almost ignored them. Instead promising… he loved her. Of course, he forgave her. He knew none of it was her fault. 

And That. That was the cruel irony. The ugly parts of her brain still whispered that it was her fault. She was to blame. She shouldn’t have been so stupid, so naive. Vlad had manipulated her but she should have seen it, she should have known. She should have known better. And that… that was unforgivable.

And yet… Dani wanted to be forgiven. She wanted to be free of the shame, to find the strength to believe that it wasn’t her fault. But she couldn’t. Dami might forgive her but she couldn’t. She couldn’t forgive herself.

And there…there was no way Danny could….

And that was half of the problem right there. A tear slipped out of Dani’s eye at the thought. 

They’d talked about the fusion and she understood better now. But now, the guilt flared, thoughts torturing her. Her brother said he loved her, he forgave her. But was that just Dami talking? Her little clone brother… he wasn’t who she’d hurt and betrayed. That was Danny, just Danny, the person she was cloned from, her original. 

He hadn’t asked to be used and tortured. Betrayed and tricked. Cloned against his will and changed so vitally, so impossibly. He didn’t ask to be responsible for an imperfection like her. Before the fusion, he probably thought (still currently thought) she was a mistake. (And he would be right.) 

Dani rolled over in bed, shoving her face in her pillow. She needed to stop thinking like this. It wasn’t true. Dami was Danny. Danny was Dami. Whoever the boy sleeping across from her was, he was her brother and he cared about her. He wanted her here. He started this by begging her to come home with him. He’d brought her to the park, shown her the little grave for their brothers. Cried with her, comforted her. She’d needed to talk about the others. And…

The conversation she’d overheard this morning…. “I’m not deaf, Danny. I heard what she said to you before you told her about the fusion. She’s putting on a brave face but-”

Jazz… Jazz was right. She was putting on a brave face. The things she’d said then….. But she’d apologized. And Dami… Danny had listened, reassured her. He reminded her of the truth, that she wasn’t worthless, that she deserved to be loved.

But… but…. guilt still stabbed. And… He hadn’t brought up her meeting his parents again.

The thought hit her like a truck and the clone girl blinked, dread (almost terror) suddenly dropping in her gut. 

That… that was what was freaking her out. The thought of meeting the Fentons still… it still… terrified her. (Really? Terrified?)

Okay, terrified was a strong word. Yes, it scared her but….She (was trying to) trust Danny. He wouldn’t suggest telling his parents about him being half ghost, and about her, if he seriously thought it would put her in danger. And if something went wrong….She knew, especially after tonight, he would try to protect her. 

But living here permanently…. that was like too much. Too big a change. She could barely imagine herself having a home. Let alone parents, friends, classmates. (Not that she deserved that-) 

No. Dani shook her head. (She needed to telling herself the truth…) That was wrong. Danny said she deserved help. And she did. She deserved a home, just as much as anyone else. She could accept his help. And she should accept it but….

His parents…. Danny wanted her to stay here, for his parents to be her parents. That’s what he wanted. And how could she disappoint him and Jazz like that, after they’d been so good to her? How could she hurt Danny like that (again)? How… how could she say no? 

How could she say yes? 

But the thought of living at Fentonworks… uncomfortable, out of place, trying to be normal…. 

No, she couldn’t stay but…. What was the other option? Run off and break Dami’s heart again? Hungry, dirty, tired on the road? Alone again? No, she couldn’t do that, couldn’t be alone again. There was nowhere else to go… 

“Ugh.” The girl groaned, core twisting in two. “I’m never getting to sleep.”

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

Well…. She must have fallen asleep at some point. Dani thought as she blinked awake to soft yellow light. 

It was morning. And as is often the case… things looked better in the light. What had she even been freaking out about last night, anyway? Something about-

“Dani! Breakfast!” Jazz’s voice yelling up the stairs conveniently distracted her. 

The food was even better for lifting her mood, Dani digging into the (new, uncontaminated!) bacon the older girl had microwaved

“We should make a trip to the Far Frozen.” Danny suggested, swallowing his bite of cereal.

Jazz rose a brow. “I was wondering when you were going to suggest that.”

“Well, I’m bringing it up now.” The boy rolled his eyes. He turned to Dani. “How’s that sound?”

The younger halfa’s eyes lit up. “And meet this famed Frostbite! Yes, please.”

“Alright.” Danny gave a chuckle at her enthusiasm.

Finishing up breakfast, the three left the dishes in the sink. Danny packed snacks while Jazz gathered puffer coats, hats, and gloves for her and Dani.

The girl furrowed her brow, curious. “Why only two sets?”

Jazz handed over one of the coats. “Make sure this fits.” Then she explained. “You know Danny has an ice core. He never gets cold. He loves it, actually. But….” She gave a nod at the snug fitting puffer, plopping a hat on the other girl’s head. “We don’t know about your core. It’s better to be safe.”

Dani nodded, tugging the askew bean over her ears. “I should be nice and cozy.” She grabbed a scarf, wrapping it around her head, leaving only her eyes visible. Under the fabric, she grinned. 

Danny came into the room. “Speeder’s ready.” Eyeing Dani, he laughed. “Can you put your arms down?”

Head tilted in question, the girl lowered her arms to her side. “Yes?” The word came out muffled through the scarf.

“No, you’re supposed to wave your arms and let out muffled complaints until someone unwraps you and…” He trailed off, waving off Jazz’s eye roll and Dani’s confused look, “Never mind.” He pointed his thumb back towards the door. “Are we ready to go?”

Dani unwrapped herself. “Yeah!” 

“Awesome!” Danny went ahead.

“What was that?” The younger girl whispered to the red-head.

“A reference to a movie. For someone who hates Christmas, he really loves A Christmas Story.” Jazz shook her head, smiling. “We’ll show you later.”

“I triple-dog dare you!” The boy shouted.

“To what?!” Jazz yelled down the stairs.

“To say I like anything related to Christmas again!”

Dani laughed.

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

The three flew through the Ghost Zone, Danny navigating. 

“It’s so big! Oh! What’s that?” Dani pressed her face to the window. Running to the other side of the ship… “What’s that?!”

The ghost boy chuckled, at the display. Huh. It hadn’t occurred to him that Dani hadn’t actually seen the Ghost Zone yet. Still, she was eating it all in with big eyes. Jazz explained what she knew while Danny focused on getting them to their destination as fast as possible.

The boy’s mind wandered, from excitement to showing Danielle the Far Frozen and introducing her to Frostbite, to more practical things. He would need to talk to his mentor about Vlad and what to do with him. And more importantly, they’d need to visit the medical facilities... 

Worry pricked his core. The ecto-dejecto had saved Dani. It seemed to stabilize her, just in time. But… how? How did that work? Danny had no idea. Was it even a permanent fix? His stomach twisted. Or… would his little sister be in danger of melting,… of… of Dying again? The yeti doctors would know. They… they would be able to help her if she did start destabilizing again. Right?

Soon enough, the icy shelf appeared in front of them. Danny flew for the familiar tunnel opening. Carefully, he pulled the vehicle into the cave and drove towards the dim light at the end. 

Less than a minute later, yetis in their hoverships arrived, to excited calls. “Great One!” “The Great Phantom is arrived!” 

Danny smiled at the eager greeting, much of his anxiety soothed at the welcome sight. “Icefang!” He called through the speeder’s speaker system with a wave. “We’re here to see Frostbite.”

Their escort led the trio in the speeder across the icy plains. White-gray clouds, a strange sight in the Infinite Realms, drifted across the even more strangely blue sky, buffeted by the winds. The yeti’s village with its icy futuristic buildings quickly approached. Hovering over the town square, Danny landed the vehicle. He floated out of his seat and looked back at Dani and Jazz, the older of whom was bundling up while the younger transformed. Once the girls were ready….

Danny grinned, throwing the door open. His eyes fell on a familiar furry figure. “Frostbite!” 

The boy flew out, practically crashing into his mentor and wrapping arms around him.

“Danny.” The towering ghost rumbled affectionately, returning the embrace. “How have you been, Great One?”

“Great!” The half ghost pulled back, beaming. “I brought someone you have to meet.” He motioned towards the speeder door.

Dani hovered in her ghost form, peeking over Jazz’s shoulder. “Um. Hi.” She waved shyly.

Frostbite grinned toothily. “You must be the Danielle young Danny has told me so much about!”

The girl blushed. “He’s told you about me?”

The taller ghost nodded. “Yes! I have heard many wonderful things from your brother.” His expression softened, smiling kindly. “He must be most relieved to have found you again.”

“Yeah.” Dani drifted forward, her own posture loosening. She looked at Danny. “It’s been great to be back. Hanging out and stuff….” 

“Wonderful! That is wonderful, young ones.” The yeti spread his arms, one great hairy arm scooping Danny up in a hug. 

“Hey!” The boy complained, laughing.

And the other arm…. For a moment Dani tensed, also swept up in the embrace. She remained frozen, eyes wide in surprise. Then…. She giggled, face buried in the furry chest. A string of muffled words…

“What’s that, Danielle?” The yeti tilted his head in question.

Dani’s head turned up, grinning. “You’re so fuzzy!” She giggled again. “And….” She schooled her expression, serious. “It’s Dani with an i.” She grinned. 

“Dani with an i.” Frostbite nodded sagely. Then…. “Dani with an i. How marvelous!” He laughed heartily, shaking both half ghosts with the sound. “How marvelous, child.” He opened his arms again, releasing the two. “Come! We must celebrate. A feast, dancing! And a tour! The stadium, the library, the Ice garden! And the ice drakes’ enclosure, we mustn’t forget that excitement! Young Dani with an i, you must see all the wonders the Far Frozen has to offer.” One hand waved, motioning towards a square, blue-white building. “But first, hot chocolate for our guests.”

“That sounds great.” Jazz finally spoke up, her breath puffing in front of her for just a second, only to be quickly blown away. “I definitely want out of this wind.”

“Oh! How rude of me to not greet you.” The yeti chief stepped forward. “Older sister of the Great One, Lady Jasmine! You have my salutations. How go your studies?”

“It’s been great, Frostbite.” The red-head’s eyes lit up. “I’ve been working on this new hypothesis and-”

“I thought you wanted hot chocolate.” Danny raised a brow, interrupting her ramble before it could start.

His sister rolled her eyes. “Alright, I’ll tell him later.” She started walking toward the building. “Let’s get inside.”

Danny turned with his own fond eye-roll, flying after her.

“Yeah! Hot Chocolate!” Dani cheered, following.

The group of one full ghost, two halfas, and one human entered through the automatic sliding doors. They continued down the carved ice corridors, Frostbite in the lead with the three siblings behind, Dani in the middle with Jazz and Danny to each side. The boy’s eyes took in the familiar halls, pointing out different parts.

“That leads to the library.” He pointed down a hall. “And there’s a weird mural with me down that hall. Oh! And that’s where we had that big dance that one time.”

They came upon a door sporting neon green, orange, purple, and red splotches, a strange pop of color in the blue-white surroundings. High-pitched giggles and excited chatter rang from the room.

“The nursery.” Frostbite hummed pleasantly. “The cubs sound to be having a most joyous time.”

Turns down a few more corners and they passed a square area with straight backed chairs in a row.

Danny pointed. “That’s the waiting room for all the medical stuff. They’ve helped me out a lot. Like when I first got my ice powers. And after the fusion.” The boy rubbed the back of his neck, looking to Dani. “I was thinking Frostbite could take a look at your core too. Make sure everything’s alright.”

Said yeti looked back. “I most certainly can.” 

Dani bit her lip, nervous. “Oh. Um… You don’t have to. I’m good.”

“It’s okay to be nervous.” Jazz offered a kind smile.

“Jazz and me will be with you the whole time if you want.” Danny added. “Plus, Frostbite’s the best.” He leaned closer, stage-whispering conspiratorially. “If you bring out the puppy dog eyes, I bet you can get him to give you two lolli-pops when you’re done.”

A hint of a smile graced Dani’s lips. “Really?”

“Oh, definitely.” Jazz leaned in too. “No one can resist puppy dog eyes.” She smiled, a little smugly, at her brother. “Danny would know.”

“Is that a jab about me and Cujo?” The boy raised a brow skeptically.

“You let him sleep in your bed. After he got sprayed by a skunk.” Jazz dead-panned.

“There was no ‘let.’” Danny air-quoted. “That dog does what he wants. There’s no stopping him.”

“Mom thought a squirrel had gotten in the walls and died!” 

“So?” The boy shrugged.

“She and Dad tried to knock down my wall to find it!”

Dani laughed, nerves quickly forgotten.

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

The group arrived at the eating area, Frostbite motioning to a long table with bench setting. “Rest here, honored guests. I will bring refreshments at once.” 

Dani looked around, eyes eagerly taking in the surroundings. 

At the same time…. “Nurse SnowFlake!” Danny exclaimed, waving. “Doctor FrozenHeart!”

Said two yetis looked up from their table, the nurse's eyes lighting up in excitement while the doctor nodded, smiling kindly.

“Your hot chocolate!” Frostbite announced, placing three cups on the table; two slightly glowed with streaming dark brown liquid, harboring flecks of green while the other surprisingly mundane mug contained lighter brown hot chocolate, without a hint of a glow. “And enjoy these pastries!”

“Thank you Frostbite.” Jazz grabbed a non-glowing Danish from the smaller plate. “Did you want to hear the theory I was talking about earlier?”

“Of course, Lady Jasmine.” The chief smiled kindly.

While the yeti chief and Jazz discussed her psychological study, Danny and Dani enjoyed their own hot chocolate and baked treats. With another wave, the boy successfully beckoned the other two. “SnowFlake. Frozenheart. You have to meet my little sister!”

The two medical professionals greeted the two kids, Dani still a little wary of the introduction. 

“So you both helped Danny when he came here about the core-fusion thing….” She worried at the edge of her glove.

The two adult ghosts traded worried looks. Then Snowflake smiled comfortingly. “Yes. I assisted Chief Frostbite with the Great One’s examination.” She patted Danny’s shoulder with her massive paw. “This one was a model patient for me.”

“Thanks.” Danny tried to smile but ended up grimacing. He’d been stressed, worried out of his mind then but he’d also been eager for the yetis’ help, desperately hopeful of their skills and knowledge. Guess he had been a model patient… until he’d had a self-destructive panic attack in the exam room and had to be sedated. Still…. Snowflake had helped on his next checkup after that and been as gracious as ever. “You’re really the best though. Both of you.” He looked to Frozenheart. “You and Frostbite and everyone else take really good care of me.”

The four talked for a while longer, Dani growing increasingly more comfortable. The two yetis shared stories of afterlife in the Far Frozen, especially…

“He froze everyone in the stands?!” The girl almost punched the table in her enthusiasm, giving her brother a scandalous look. “And I thought that bowl of mac and cheese was bad!” She snorted. 

“Hey! I literally had just got my ice powers that day.” Danny crossed his arms. “It’s not my fault everyone decided to stand too close and gawk.”

Snowflake laughed, covering her mouth with a paw. “Rest assured, the entire tribe learned our lesson.”

“That is a most astute observation.” Frostbite congratulated Jazz from across the table. “I believe you are embarking on a most remarkable work. I look forward to hearing how it progresses.” He turned to the group on the other side. “Now. I believe we should proceed to the medical area for Dani with an i’s examination, if we are to have time for the tour before the feast this evening.”

Instantly, Dani tensed again. “Oh. Right. That…”

Danny wrapped an arm around him in a side hug. “It’ll be okay. You’ve got this.”

Jazz smiled encouragingly. “We’ll be right here with you the entire time.”

Frostbite and Snowflake escorted the three siblings back through the building to the waiting room. They showed Dani to the examination room.

“You may sit there, dear.” The nurse motioned to the padded exam table.

Shuffling nervously, the girl floated over. She hesitated for a long moment, biting her lip, before settling down on the bench. Danny and Jazz pulled up chairs, sitting on either side. 

Frostbite began. “First, we will start with some basic measurements….” 

Danny squeezed his little sister’s hand, hoping to offer some comfort. More than a hint of guilt stabbed at his core for putting her through this. He didn’t remember much of Vlad’s lab and the man’s examinations. But there had been ectoplasm samples taken, painful tests of his powers. This, now… having her pulse measured, her reflexes checked must have felt uncomfortably familiar. An unsettling reminder of that time. And yet…

Dani gently squeezed back, her shoulders slowly untensing the longer the checkup continued. The yetis’ kind voices, their gentle hands soothed her worries. And… Danny slowly felt the ball of anxiety in his gut uncurl. There were no words, no looks of concern. Dani was calm, taking the exam so well. And everything… everything seemed to be normal….

“You’ve done excellent, Dani with an i.” Frostbite smiled comfortingly. 

“Very well.” Snowflake nodded. “You’ve been very brave.” 

The other yeti stepped towards the door. “Now, if you will follow, we will take a scan of your core and we’ll be done.”

Dani obeyed, rising from the table. The teens followed, again sitting on either side of her while the clone girl laid down on the table, the scanner hanging from the ceiling above her.

The younger halfa swallowed, eyeing the instrument a tad fearfully. “It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“No.” Danny shook his head, patting her shoulder. “No. You won’t feel a thing.”

“You’re almost done.” Jazz squeezed her hand. “Then…” She leaned towards Dani’s ear, the corner of her lips turning up. “You can try for those two lollipops.”

“Three.” The boy whispered teasingly, poking Dani gently. “I’m expecting three.”

Dani laughed lightly. “Three? You’ve got it.”

“Great One, Lady Jasmine, remove your hands for now.” Frostbite gently instructed. “Good. Good.” He congratulated as the two obeyed. “Now on the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

There was a slight hum from the machine. Several flashes of light caused Dani to close her eyes. A pause, after the flashes and…

“Is that it?” The girl opened one eye.

“Yes.” Frostbite nodded. “Snowflake and I will assess your results and return to discuss them shortly.”

With another congratulation, the two yetis left. The younger half ghost sat up.

“See? That wasn’t so bad.” Danny patted her back encouragingly. 

And yet on the inside… anxiety still churned. Nothing had raised immediate red flags but… what horrible things could be on that scan, in those test results? Dani had been unstable to the point of almost dying just a week ago. The ecto-dejecto had saved her but… how? Would it last? 

“It kinda tickled.” Dani chuckled, a tad nervously. “Did you think it kinda tickled?”

The boy’s lips turned up. “Yeah. Kinda.”

He breathed, coaxing the anxiety down. Dani was fine. And the yetis knew what they were doing. They would help if she wasn’t… or if that changed in the future.

The three siblings passed the five-minute wait with light, idle chatter. Soon, Frostbite and Snowflake returned. 

The chief took a seat across from the three, smiling openly. “You appear to be in perfect health, young Danielle.” He began.

The two half ghosts both blinked, taking in the statement. Then….

“She’s okay.” Relieved washed over Danny, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. 

“I’m stable. I’m really stable…” Her eyes widened, just as relieved as her brother.

“It appears so.” Frostbite reached out, patting the girl’s hand. Then he held out an icy rectangle, the portable screen Danny had seen the doctors use on his other visits. “Your core appears healthy. Well formed, without any cracks or deformities.” 

Dani studied the image with a tilted head. “It looks pretty.” She mused. 

Like Danny’s own core, hers was perfectly spherical. But the color… it reminded him of the ocean. A dark, watery blue-green. “Yeah.” Danny agreed. “It’s beautiful.”

The girl smiled at the words, the action. Then her brow wrinkled in question. “What’s that?” She pointed.

The older half ghost looked again, at a specific pattern of lines and spirals. A familiar pattern. “That’s our sibling mark, isn’t it?” His heart warmed at the thought.

“That is correct.” The yeti chief nodded. 

“Sibling mark?” Dani asked, looking at her brother with warm, soft eyes.

“Yes. Your brother bears a similar one.” With a few swipes, Frostbite pulled up the image of Danny’s core. “Or rather… two.”

The boy took in the picture. Oh, how much fear and anger seeing this blue and green circle for the first time had caused. But now he’d grown to accept, even appreciate it. Those twin marks of siblinghood, one for Danny and one for Dami. Now, to know Dani shared the same mark….

He smiled down at her affectionately. “See. We match.”

“Humm.” The girl hummed wordlessly, a hand tracing the pattern on his core. Then on hers…. “We do.” The corner of her lip turned up. “That’s cool.”

“Yeah it is!” Danny held up one arm, half-hugging her with the other.

“Yeah!” The younger girl cheered, one of her arms up too.

Jazz laughed at the display. Then… “It’s a huge relief that Dani’s stable, Frostbite.” Grateful eyes fixed on him.

“Yes, it is.” The yeti agreed. “Although…” He sobered slightly, taking on a more serious tone. “We must not throw caution to the wind just yet.”

Both half ghost’s put their arms down, a stab of worry hitting Danny’s core.

“What do you mean?” The red-head asked, looking just as concerned.

“I must propose caution and continued monitoring, as we have no prior data of Dani with an i’s core, nor knowledge of how this ecto-dejecto worked to prevent her destabilization.” 

The boy’s stomach twisted. Yeah, that was true….

“I do not mean to worry you.” The chief smiled comfortingly. “The information we have collected all support Danielle’s stabilization and her continued health.” Again, he patted the girl’s knee. “You will just require regular checkups, as any ghost child does.”

“Okay, that does make sense.” Danny breathed out, soothed by the explanation. 

He looked at Dani in particular. 

The girl looked up, biting her lip. Then…. She sighed. “Just to be sure… I am stable and healthy.” She put her hands together. “Like… it doesn’t look like I’m in danger of melting anytime soon.”

“No, young one.” Frostbite shook his head, eyes wide with compassion. “You are in no danger of that.” 

A bit more relief crept onto her face. “So I just need checkups with you to make sure everything stays good.”

Another nod. “I will give you the advice I have given your brother. Eat well, including a healthy supply of ectoplasm. Get sufficient sleep. Exercise your body and mind, most especially your powers. And listen to your body; that is the best safeguard against pushing yourself too hard.”

“Alright.” Dani nodded, considering. “So I’ll just do all that and I’m good?”

She looked to Danny who blushed, holding up his hands. “I’m not the best at following all that advice…. But I try!” 

The doctor narrowed his eyes seriously before giving a sigh. “I will send both of you with more vitamin supplements. Lady Jasmine?”

“Oh, I’m on it.” The older teen put her hands together, an almost smug look on her face. “These two can’t get anything over on me.”

The two half ghosts traded vaguely panicked looks.

“Actually, can I get full copies of both their medical information? And,” She pulled a notebook out from seemingly nowhere. “Last time you explained energy flux rates and core morphological changes. I have a few questions about that, as it relates to a healthy diet.”

“Of course, Lady Jasmine.” 

“And that’s our queue to leave.” Danny floated up, grabbing his little sister’s hand. “Thanks again for everything, Frostbite.”

“Wait! I have a question.” The girl looked up, eyes wide and seemingly anxious.

“What is it, young Danielle?” The yeti asked.

She broke into a grin. “Can I have those lollipops, now?”

A hearty laugh. “Yes. Of course.” 

In the end, after some profitable use of puppy dog eyes, Frostbite gave her three.

[fall-cryptid-beetle]

Well I meant to post this much earlier, got kinda busy and couldn’t write this down coherently. Since it’s apparently the anniversary of Danny Phantom, and I have really oddly detailed dreams, why not post my odd Danny Phantom dream from last night? It’s gonna be long as fuck (even with details left out!!) and includes some violence at the end so be warned. Believe it or don’t I don’t care much, do whatever with this info lmao.

So this started with Danny, his friends, and family all sort of hanging out as his house (or at least in the same room together) sometime after the finale (or at the very least his parents know his secret), when suddenly out front this rift opened up and out came these alternate versions of Jazz, Jack, and Maddie. The family had quickly come outside seeing this, their AU counterparts quickly explaining that they’re successful ghost hunters in their world (to the point they unknowingly killed their Danny), however the ghost zone started to merge with the human world, causing extreme destruction and chaos, as good as they are they were struggling to fix things while their world gets torn apart. So the three tried their luck at hopping dimensions, hoping more of their genius could solve the issues and save their world from complete destruction. Maddie and Jazz agree to help, Danny and friends are a bit hesitant about it but ultimately agree, Jack is the most distrustful but begrudgingly accepts it to keep an eye on his family. Which is perfect timing as the dimension hopping actually results in the same ghost zone merging as in the AU, but it’s much slower than before somehow resulting in them being able to close any rifts that pop up. . .

The two families (+Sam and Tucker) use this opportunity to research the phenomenon to save the normal universe and the rapidly dying alternative universe. So they all set off together to do just that, going long distances to figure out why this is happening and close up the appearing rifts. This journey ends up taking them to Wisconsin which catches the attention of Vlad obviously, as they’re driving to the next rift they notice this one is oddly much stronger, needing a key to close it for some reason? Either way it’s a rift to Skulker’s island to which he conveniently tells the two families he has the key and they’re have to fight him for it, though he flies off immediately to a nearby bridge for this fight to take place. Naturally they follow but once they get there and are ready to fight everything on the bridge is noticeably worn down, including Skulker, turns out the bridge immediately got trapped in some time thing? While it was a fairly short drive for the families Skulker had been trapped there for THOUSANDS of years. But the families entering burst that time bubble, meaning Skulker is finally free, so exhausted from that he just surrenders, gives them the key, and reveals Vlad planned this to kill both Jack’s and get both Maddie’s for himself. Vlad who had been waiting nearby (but safe from the bubble) immediately kills Skulker upon him trying to leave for revealing that plan, to which Danny transforms finally and attempts to fight Vlad, but he’s almost immediately defeated, quickly followed by both Jazz’s, Sam, and Tucker, all beaten up so bad they were nearly killed. Of course the parents try to defeat him and do quite well until AU Jack gets knocked out, and normal Maddie is accidentally killed, making normal Jack actually snap and brutally attack Vlad, managing to kill him much to Vlad’s surprise and manipulation attempts. Afterwards AU Maddie and normal Jack take everyone to Vlad’s mansion. AU Maddie burying her alternate counterpart then tending to the others wounds, normal Jack just too traumatized to help much.

[resurrectedclones]

Dan

Dan is an interesting character. Mostly because of all the potential implications he has for Danny’s character development, but also because despite being given his origin story there are some massive holes the fandom has been trying to fill for years. 

What we know is that sometime in the middle of Danny’s first year of being a half ghost, his friends, family, and teacher all die in an explosion. That part we know is real because we see it happen several times and even see the graves of everyone.

The rest, however, is where things get fuzzy.

We’re told that after the explosion Danny goes to live with Vlad. This also makes sense given what we know. Vlad wants Danny as his son and has the money to convince whoever he needs to that he’s the best guardian for Danny. Danny would also not be in a good headspace to really argue, and might even go willingly since Vlad is the only one he can talk to without having to hide his ghost side.

Now we get into the part that has problems. We’re told that Danny asked Vlad to separate his ghost and human halves. Vlad agreed and used clawed ghost gauntlets to pull them apart. Danny’s ghost half then broke free of Vlad and separated Vlad’s ghost and human halves. He then fused with Vlad’s ghost half and was overwhelmed by the ‘evil’ which created Dan. He then did something horrible to Danny’s human half and left to go on his 10 year rampage.

Now most of the fandom doesn’t believe this. Not only because it came from Vlad, who is a known liar and manipulator, but also because it doesn’t make sense.

Danny wanting to get rid of his ghost half can be accepted since he’s shown to want it gone before and given how the explosion happened he might even blame it for what happened to his loved ones.

However, why would Vlad agree to it? Vlad would know that separating Danny’s two halves wouldn’t work the way he wanted it too, and Vlad wants his perfect half ghost son, taking away the ghost half kind of defeats the purpose. So I can’t see any motivation for Vlad to do this.

Also Danny’s ghost half turning evil because it fused with Vlad’s ghost half makes no sense. Ignoring that it would mean that Dan is equally Vlad as much as Danny, which would make the Observants and Clockwork only focusing on Danny kind of stupid, the idea that Danny turned evil because of the evil influence of Vlad’s ghost half is just bad writing. It turns this story about Danny being brought to his lowest point and loosing himself, to none of it mattering and it all being Vlad’s evil ghost half. The episode turned into a completely different story than the one it’s telling.

(This is also why I don’t subscribe to the Dan is a clone theory.)

So this is what I think happened. Danny goes to live with Vlad and since Vlad is the poster child for not letting go of your trauma Danny doesn’t heal or move on. He continues to spiral and blames his ghost half for everything. His loved ones would still be alive if he hadn’t gotten into that fight that caused the explosion, and he wouldn’t have gotten into that fight if it wasn’t for his ghost half.

It comes to a point where he wants his ghost half gone, but Vlad, realizing he has to be responsible for Danny’s well being now, refuses to help him. So Danny takes matters into his own hands and breaks into Vlad’s lab to do it himself. Unfortunately, he’s so angry he ends up hurting himself in the process.

Danny’s ghost half is separated from his human half and it’s clear neither half are in good shape. Human Danny is hurt but doesn’t have his ghostly healing anymore and Ghost Danny is running on grief, anger, and self hatred with no human mind to help him rationalize it. Unfortunately, do to the circumstances of their separation it’s not as easy as just fusing back together.

Vlad hears the screaming and runs down to see what was going on.

This triggers Danny’s ghost half and he lashes out. By the time he calms down he realizes that he’s destroyed the lab, and injured Vlad. He looks for his human half realizing he messed up but it’s too late, his human half isn’t breathing. Danny isn’t a separated half ghost he’s a full ghost with a dead body.

Of course this is when Vlad tries to but in, setting Danny off again, which is where the whole ripping out Vlad’s ghost happens. 

Danny could have either fused with Vlad’s ghost half or just flat out destroyed it doesn’t really matter at this point. Danny is full ghost now, full of very volatile emotions and has only learned to lash out as a coping strategy. He’s in so much pain and only knows hurting others makes him feel better in the moment.

So that’s what he does, he lashes out at everyone. Humans, ghosts, it doesn’t matter, he just doesn’t care anymore and after 10 years of this he’s convinced himself that he enjoys it and doing anything else would send him back to that horrible depressed state he was in before.

This makes Dan a direct result of Danny’s actions, making the Observants and Clockwork focus on him make a lot more sense and it’s also not so far off from what alternate future Vlad said happened.

The only question would be why would Vlad lie about this? Why would he put more blame on himself, when that goes against what we know of his character? Because alternate future Vlad is not the same as present Vlad. This is a Vlad who regrets what he’s done, not just with Danny but with Jack and Maddie as well. He’s also been hiding alone and stewing in his own guilt for 10 years. He couldn’t help his Danny when he should have so when a Danny from the past shows up he might feel a need to help in any way he can. Even if it means taking the blame in order to not burden Danny anymore than he already is.

[queenofanime]

Monoma x Reader

The first time you encountered Monoma was on your first day of class. 

You had been accepted but due to some complications and being an exchange student, you ended up going to U.A. much later into the year than expected. 

On top of that, you were running very late. While running, you ended up crashing into someone else. Yes, it was Monoma and yes I know what all of you are thinking: "typical encounter, where both characters crash and they see into each other's eyes and fall in love at first sight." Well, I can assure you that that is neither here nor there. 

You crashed and hate bloomed. Plus it didn't help you were part of class 1A. 

Whenever Monoma saw you, he would laugh at your height, your (language name's) accent, your every move, every action. 

Quite frankly it was exhausting. It also didn't help that you were hot-headed, sarcastic, and could easily trash-talk Monoma and class 1B just as hard as he did. 

The hate was so bad, that it actually became a problem for all students and teachers. 

That's when principal Nezu decided to do the most inhuman thing anyone could do. He paired you up together for the rest of the school year. He also decided to put you two together inside a roor for like 6 hours. So you could let it all out. 

Most teachers were against it, thinking nothing good would come from it, but the principal insisted, believing you and Monoma would become best friends after it. 

I can assure you that didn't happen. 

But I do have to admit that you did learn who Neito Monoma really was. 

It’s pretty much canon that Monoma trash talks 1-A so much in part because he cares that much… too much… about his own classmates. It’s obvious based on the way he interacts with his classmates and phrases his rants towards class 1-A. (The fact that he’s obviously influenced by Vlad is just the cherry on top.) 

He’s prideful of not just himself but also his friends

He's obnoxious, petty, resentful, egocentric, and basically a little shit

But throughout the year, you also ended up learning why.

First of all, everything he says and does is just an act. 

He is very insecure about himself and his quirk's ability. Basically, he acts like he's the best because he feels he is the worst. 

His self-doubt is very unhealthy. Like, the fact that he’s the only member of class B who failed the midterm despite having an intelligence stat of 5/5 speaks for itself. 

To top it all off, since he's been a child, society has been telling him he can't be a hero with his kind of quirk

Despite all of that, Monoma is surprisingly very empathic. Maybe it has to do with the fact that his quirk allows him to walk in the shoes of other people in ways most will never be able to even if for 5 minutes at a time. 

The kid has a way with words. 

The kid has a weirdly poetic way with words.

He goes out of his way to encourage or reassure his classmates in a deeply thoughtful manner at every given opportunity.

The only reason he doesn't like class A is because he's trying to give his own class a fighting chance. 

In a way, it's very sweet. 

He hyped up Setsuna Tokage before her battle with Bakugo and you saw him grin in pride when Komori took down Tokoyami. 

Whenever Monoma does criticize his classmates, it’s always frank, honest, but constructive, with the intention to help them improve. (We all appreciate honesty don't we?) 

He's very philosophical, gives level-headed advice and all of that actually takes a lot of emotional and mental work. He's more of a mentor than any other adult. 

And you soon realize that that's why all of his peers put up with him. 

It’s during the joint training arc that we can clearly see why his classmates put up with him and are on friendly terms despite how obnoxious and cheesy he is. And despite how often they need to keep him in check.

It’s clear even as far back as the sports festival that his classmates don’t actually hate him, despite the smacks & tough love. Whenever he's doing something idiotic, they also just shake their heads with a smile on their face as they say “sorry about him." They just love him anyway.

And soon, you do too. 

Because despite all of his flaws and all his doubts, weirdly enough he's always there for you.

You've never seen Monoma receive or accept praise or reassurance. He’s always the one giving it. He always makes it a point to put himself in the position where he’s being the emotionally strong one. 

And you highly appreciate it because he becomes your rock. 

With time you also become his rock. 

Everyone thinks you would make a cute couple but there's still a long way for you to actually accept each other's feelings.