#yes he is also still a Halfa but now he has to deal with This too?!

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 305

So. Uh. Danny feels like laughing hysterically, because? Ghostwriter was doing a thing, and one of Pandora’s curses escaped and erm, well, now the six of them are in a whole other dimension. At least this place has a lot of abandoned warehouses but still. And well, he guesses he’s no longer the only ‘monster’ now? 

But seriously they all need to find a way back home sooner rather than later, even if they might now be stuck in this world… Fuck.

[bluerosefox]

Danyal, Danny, Phantom.

Part 1 (Where the idea came from, very bare bones)

Okay wow, wasn’t expecting so many people wanting a part 2 tbh, also thank you for the follows as well (although IDK why you’d want to follow me, I’m random and rarely post sometimes.)

So before I get into this part 2, I just wanna make a few things clear.

I’m still new to DC/Batman most I know if from the animated series and I haven't seen it in ages, I have been able to get bits and pieces here and there though.

ANYONE is welcomed to use these ideas/concepts, just let me know, send me it, allow me to read it please. If anyone wants to draw some the ideas too that’ll be amazing, just let me know! I wanna see!

Also, I might, keyword MIGHT, actually write this idea into a story too, idk yet maybe. its been years since I wrote an actual fic tbh so I’m a little rusty. (You can actually see I used more of my writing style on this one compared to the last one tbh)

Also the reason I split these idea/concept into parts is the fact I tend to ramble and I knew if I wrote it on part 1 it would had gotten so long so here’s a fresh page with the rest of the ideas...

So the reason why I had this idea is because I read some fics where Ra’s always knows about Danny being either the Ghost King or a Halfa, or can fight him cause he has knowledge, I wanted a story where even Ra’s can be surprised and realizes there will ALWAYS be a ‘bigger’ fish even for that old ‘immortal’ (especially if Danny is Ra’s “failure of a heir.”)

Sorry this took a while, I wrote Part 1 at the end of me being sick by Covid, had to catch up on a few RL things, and legit a few days later my AC unit upstairs broke during a CA heatwave and it was pure HECK being in my room.

Danny is a little out of character but this is how I feel he'll be like with a year of being the Ghost King could be, along with the fact he has help from his friends and ghost friends as well. He's learned how to rule and has grown.

Oh be prepared, this is what happens when I’m allowed to ramble on ideas. This... This got rambly. (You should had seen this and part 3 together, it was so rambly)

So, a few things to note about Danny before we begin.

His name was is Danyal al Ghul (Wayne) Daniel “Danny” Fenton.

He was also known as (Ghost Boy, Ghost Child, Ghost Punk, Halfa) Danny Phantom

He also had other names as well such as The Great One, or Savoir of the Ghost Zone

But... for the last year he has been known as...

Ruler of the Infinite Realm, His Royal Highness King Phantom. Or as he would rather be simply referred to as (when he’s forced to have/use a title)...

The Ghost King.

...King Phantom also worked.

Simple yes, but Danny preferred it. (Again only when he’s forced to use a title, which sadly since being crowned the new King is most of the time now and only those close to him still call him Danny or at the very least Daniel (coughClockworkcough).

SO.... Its had been a year since Danny had been crowned the new Ghost King, sure he was still a teen and it was honestly very hard in the beginning. Learning the ins and outs of the royal courts, setting up his inner court (aka those he trusted), dealing with entitled nobles, and how to handle the the weight of the crown he now wore but he knew he didn't have to face it by himself. Well not all of it, there was a few things he did on his own in order to prove he's a fair King, but Danny honestly loved it when he could get together with his inner circle (more like family) and discuss the recent news of the Infinite Realm (which Danny learned was the actual name of the Ghost Zone, he long since switched to using that name over the one his parents coined), problems needing to be addressed, and upcoming important festivals or days (Danny knew of the Holiday Truce but he didn't know of any other Ghost holidays/festivals until his ghost friends explained them to him) along with a number of his Kingly duties. This was just barely touching the surface of what Danny had to do nearly daily and again it took a while but he eventually was getting the hang of being a King.

Funny enough one of those duties turned out to be healing the oozing scars the old Ghost King left on the Mortal Realm during his reign... because those scars eventually became the Lazarus Pits and had they been causing harm in the Mortal Realm.

By the Ancients, the Lazarus Pits.

That was something Danny hadn't been expecting to hear so soon after regaining his memories from before living with the Fenton’s. And when Clockwork explained it to him, a small smirk on the always age changing beings face, that all the Pits would eventually dry up thus they would no longer be able to revive the dead once Danny started healing them...

Danny had laughed when he had been told this information.

He laughed until he had started to cry. He had even laughed so hard he changed back from his ghost form to his living one and then back again because he lost breath from his laughter. (It actually concerned his friends, Dani and Jazz when this happened tbh) It took a while but when Danny’s laughter finally trailed into hiccups, light coughs, and deep breaths, Clockwork merely floated over and asked with all-knowing smirk on his face “Quite done Daniel?”

You see the reason why this was funny to Danny was the fact that he was finally getting revenge on his ex-grandfather for... well for everything. And he was going to enjoy ruining Ra’s al Ghul treasured little Lazarus Pits with pure glee. The amount of pure joy he felt knowing this even surpassed his feelings for when he’s able to mess up Vlad’s evil plans for the month.

As mentioned before, Danny had no memories upon waking up in a hospital after nearly losing his life from wounds no child should ever have on their bodies. It wasn’t until the night after his crowning that as he dreamed of his past, it was in these dreams he had finally remembered everything. When he had woken up he had instantly went flying to Clockwork’s lair to speak with the time keeper, especially when he had remembered the last thing he had saw before waking up in the hospital.

[“Why?” that was all Danny would ask when seeing the ageless ghost, not bothering to say hello or even small talk like they normally would do, if he had been his living form he would had been breathing heavily from the speed he flown to get there.

“It hadn’t been your time, your Highness.” was the only reply before the ticking of clocks in the room filled the silence between them.]

He had been Danyal al Ghul, the second heir to the Demon Head Ra’s al Ghul, the League of Assassins leader and his grandfather, son of Talia al Ghul, and twin brother to first heir Damian al Ghul.

Talia, his mother, was a stoic woman. A true Assassin. Beautiful yet deadly.  Someone Danyal could see now who would do anything to stay in power if he was to be honest with himself. But she did love him and Damian in her own way, only showing them this parental love when they were alone, away from servants and other assassin’s eyes. Some of his fondest memories of the woman had been her cupping his face and speaking softly of how much he looked like her “Beloved”, their father. His eyes, and hair (and his 'soft' heart) were the only things he knew about his father, the only thing he has been allowed to know.

Damian, his twin brother, both of them mostly sharing the same face with small differences and build at the time, his other half, the one that he had came into this world together had, was, is the one Danyal would die for. And he did. His brother was the prefect heir, the prefect budding assassin in the eyes of the others in Nanda Parbat. Much like their mother he tended to try to hide his emotions behind an emotionless mask, he always carried himself stronger than Danyal would, despite them both being five years old they had been born into this life and learned very quickly how to survive that place. But behind closed doors the two would often talk in whispers, of the what ifs of their lives, how their day was, etc etc. Danyal’s fondest memories of his brother was them sneaking out to watch the stars late at night and making a promise to always face any problem together as they held hands and lightly tapped each with their fingers.   

His grandfather, Ra’s however was a ruthless and cold man. An ‘immortal’ due to the Lazarus Pits that always brought him back to life, and he had always hated Danyal. No matter what Danyal would do it was always a failure to his grandfather, it didn’t matter if he tried his hardest to be a ‘perfect’ little assassin like his brother, everything he did in the older man’s eyes was a mistake. Any mistakes Danyal did was often met with punishment and pain. He had no fond memories of the man, only a deep seeded mutual dislike if anything.

And it was with this hatred for Danyal, that had caused Ra’s to summon both his grandchildren one night to the combat room and demanded for them both to fight for heir ship. A fight that would end in one of them dying, something all of them in room knew it would lead to. A fight two five years did not want to do but had no choice. Not even Talia’s disbelieving single protest to the fight could not stop Ra’s command.

As the Demon Head, his word was law.

In the end, Danyal couldn’t wouldn’t harm his brother (his grandfather always hated how ‘soft’ his heart was, "to much like his father" was often said with a tsk). They were both only five years old, they were brought into the world together, they told secrets behind closed doors and whispered dreams under the endless sea of stars they would sneak out to see, they would lightly tap messages with their fingers when the other would have bad days and didn’t wish to speak about it but wanted some sort of comfort.

He wouldn’t do it. He wouldn’t harm his brother but Damian... Danyal knew Damian would follow the order to fight despite not wanting to as well, Damian always followed orders with little to no fuss unlike Danyal who always second guessed with whys and questions, Danyal also knew Damian would believe he would fight back in defense at least...

But he didn’t.

Some of the few things he remembered was Damian’s eyes widen in horror, his mother’s uncaring mask and body twitch for a moment, and his grandfather ‘tsking’ at him before he fell onto the cold stone floor. After that his memory became hard to remember, foggy but he knew of this.The pain he felt hurt and he tried so hard to stay alive for a few moments more, he could barely hear anything over his own harsh and deep breathing, his body felt heavy and his hands felt wet from the blood seeping out around him. Danyal could barely hear his grandfather’s voice, and could barely make out Ra’s leaving while his mother guided Damian out of the room, she did not look back and Damian moved like a puppet on a string being pulled away. Danyal barely registered hands lifting him up and carrying him out of the room, his vision slowly fading as he was carried in the dimly lit halls of his ‘home’. His memory became very spotty after that, barely noticing he had been left outside the compound to die and as he took in a harsh breath in an attempt to get air, he could hear two words as clear as day.

“Time Out.” and the only sound following those two words was the ticking of clocks while the last thing he saw was the always changing form of a ageless being.

After that Danyal would be found outside of a random hospital in America, far from his place of birth, far from his mother and brother, barely hanging as doctors rushed to save this five year olds life. He would awake weeks later, with no memories of his own to speak of, and then one night a strange star plush/pillow would be gifted to him with the name Daniel on it. He would be bounced around foster home to foster home after he was cleared to leave the hospital and the cops had no leads on who or where he came from.

Daniel would eventually meet Jazz at the park and later her parents and worm his way into their hearts, he would later be adopted by them and live a somewhat normal life (as one can be with ghost hunting parents but at least he got Jazz as an older sister, even with Jack and Maddie’s rather unhealthy... obsession with ghosts he knew they loved him)

Ra’s failed second heir was no more, his name and life no longer mentioned in Nanda Parbat, Danyal al Ghul (Wayne) was by all intents and purpose dead to the man and to the League.

Now Daniel “Danny” Fenton lived in his place...

Up until that fateful day when he was fourteen, after that he was only half alive and once again became someone kind of new. A halfa this time. Danny Phantom.

And who would had guessed (not Ra’s that's for sure), he later would become The Ghost King, the Ruler of the Infinite Realm.                   

So imagine Danny’s surprise when as he had left his house for school one morning, he may be a King but hey he still needed his education according to Jazz (and Clockwork), when he had been ambushed and attacked by some assassins from the League and knocked out... (Shush his own assassin training was rusty and he hadn’t had time to practice them too much, his last major battle had been that all out brawl a week before his coronation with him vs his enemies, fun times. He also rarely got kidnapped since his crowning, half awake due to his Kingly duties and studying for Mr. Lancer’s 70% final grade test (Fun fact I had an actual teacher who did this) that Friday and honestly Danny wasn’t expecting assassins from the League to show up since the whole being pretty much declared dead to them thing)

Only to later slowly wake up on the familiar rough stone ground in Nanda Parbat (the smell, the sounds, the stonework. He often saw them in his dreams and memories but knew it was real this time) his hands bound and his body aching from laying motionless on the hard ground for a while. He put on a confused look on his face as he slowly rose and groaned in pain as he subtly took a moment to look around.

Thank the Ancients Danny still knew how to fake an injury, and play dumb/confused from his time tricking some of the his more annoying ex-enemies? (Skulker, Walker, etc.) even though it had been a year since he last had to do so with them (besides Vlad, he’s still his enemy no matter what and still seemed really salty Danny was a King now and was treated like an outcast by most ghosts, none wanting to be the opposite side of their King so hey perks). It had been a good way to make them drop their guards if they thought Danny was still at his ‘weakest’ when they caught him by surprise. It still pretty funny when Vlad tries though, this act always catches that fruitloop off-guard no matter how many times.     

It was a Lazarus Pit room judging by the smell/feel of it at first and later confirmed when he noticed the green toxic ooze nearby. Ugh just being on this side of the Realm and sensing that stuff was disgusting, it wasn’t as bad in the Infinite Realm due to the fresh and clean ectoplasm around it masking most of the bad smell but boy did it reek on this side. 

Danny blinked a few times to sell his acting, whispering a confused “Where am I?” under his breath, and looked around before his eyes landed on someone in front of him and flinched back a bit, no acting needed this time.

Ra’s was in the room sitting on a throne chair staring at him with that ever burning hateful glare yet Danny could see another emotion, an emotion he was very used to Vlad having on his fruitloop face. His ex-grandfather had a plan and it was gonna be painful or annoying for Danny to deal with, he knew it...

And...AND was that knocked out Batman and Robin also tied up in chains and guarded by few assassins in the room as well?! WHY IS THAT A THING?!

-x-x-

Heyyyyy so... umm I decided to split it into another part cause it was getting mega long again when all together and I was like roughly halfway done with it and just... I wanted to write out so much, also Tumblr almost made me loose the WIP of this many many times so I’m being careful. Good news almost done with it (and it won’t take as long as this part did promise)

This is basically Danny’s side of things of being King, his inner thoughts, his past relationships with the al Ghul’s, and snippets how he had grown into his King self tbh. Probably didn't need to do this but as an old school writer I wanted to make a base so to speak. The best and fun part is up next. and to prove it, here’s the title and a sneak peek for it.

Summoning a King (Or alternatively: It was at this moment, Ra’s knew he F’d up.)

Yeah as said before it took ALL of Danny’s training not laugh in hysterics. Oh the irony. Sacrificing the Ghost King... to summon the Ghost King.... Danny honestly wanted to say something, the words on his lips being a sarcastic “You sure that's gonna work out for you, you moldy old fruitloop?” but Danny bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from doing so.

TAGLIST:

Also I’m starting a tag list so if anyone wants on it for the next part please let me know asap so I can add you.

[EDIT: Taglist now closed until next update! Sorry!]

@sxnkisses @thenerdycupcake @sealover89 @remydumb @moonscat @fuck-you-too-world @hecate-hollow @ae-vixrose

[ladydisasterinthemaking]

Not my circus, not my monkeys.

Danny couldn’t believe it. He graduated high school with better grades than he imagined. Everything was also falling into place. His parents had accepted him as a halfa, and nothing bad has happened for almost a year now.

Well, he graduated, yes, but his grades weren’t on his sister’s level. Still, it was something he was proud of. Between making sure that Amity Park is safe from ghosts, going to Clockwork every now and then, and making sure he doesn’t fail at any of his classes, the road to a diploma was a hard one. (Although for some reason, the number of ghost attacks had gradually decreased until his usual rogues stopped attacking. They still visit Amity Park, but only to talk, hang out, or spar with him. It was strange at first, but he eventually got used to it.)

And now, in a few weeks, he is officially moving to Metropolis for college to become an engineer. It wasn’t what his younger self wanted, what with wanting to be an astronaut (not that he could be one, after what happened to him in the lab), but it was something more than what he thought he could ever accomplish.

(The deal-breaker was his parent's promise to protect Amity Park. He would have stayed and enrolled at Amity Community College, but his parents told him to live his life to the fullest.)

To celebrate their milestones together, Danny, Sam, and Tucker, together with Jazz as their chaperone for the summer, have decided to go wander around Metropolis and its neighboring cities as 'tourists' (Tucker and Sam had decided to go to Metropolis University, too, with the former studying Computer Science while the latter would take Journalism), partly because they will spend the rest of their college years in the city, and partly because compared to the other cities, Metropolis was safer because of Superman.

That means they can go anywhere and not fight.

'Not my circus, not my monkeys', as the saying goes.

Then Lex Luthor and Superman decided to duke it out in front of the Daily Planet, while the four of them were caught in a bank robbery.

The large LED TV inside the bank showcased the man of steel fighting the billionaire genius as the robbers scare everyone into submission with their guns.

The four of them looked at the LED TV, then at the robbers, and came to a decision.

-

Superman was in the middle of fighting Luthor when he heard the cries of various civilians, and a couple of criminals demanding a bank to let them in their vaults.

Then he heard gunshots.

Fearing for the worst, he quickly defeated Lex, told the cops to ship him back to prison, and flew to the bank, just to see a floating white-haired meta and a teenage girl conjuring plants tying up and freezing the robbers. In the corner was another boy typing on a PDA, and a red-headed girl comforting the other people in the bank.

The four people in question froze upon noticing Superman.

Two large vines immediately snatched the redhead and the other boy, while the white-haired meta phased them down the bank's floor.

So much for the saying, 'Not my circus, not my monkeys'. 

 - 

(This is terribly written. I haven’t done my research. Sorry for the quality of this short fic.)

[absolutely-esme]

I've been enjoying sharing some of my headcanons, so I thought I might share some little tweaks I like to make to canon when I think up possible fics.

Most of these are not exactly headcanons. These are actual changes to what happened, or interpretations different enough from the view presented that it feels like a change. They don't alter the overall flow of events much. They are mostly just changing little things that bug me into things I like better.

When Danny is talking about his situation in the first episode, Sam doesn't spontaneously switch to complaining about her parents mid-sentence. She stays on the topic of Danny's very serious and potentially existential problem, but her advice on the matter is still influenced by her relationship with her own parents.

Sam is still going through her "not like other girls" phase, but is not correct about other girls. Paulina is a whole human being with her own internal life. Girls with more traditionally feminine interests are not vapid caricatures. This primarily manifests by changing or getting rid of some bits of dialog/actions driven entirely by stereotypes.

In the episode with the dance and the dragon amulet, Paulina didn't say yes to Danny because she wanted to steal Sam's boyfriend as petty revenge for an insult. Sam calling her shallow in a creative and scathing way in front of everyone made her feel self-conscious. She felt the need to prove that she wasn't shallow; she could give the weird kid a chance.

Tucker's reason for wishing for ghost powers is not just envy. Sure that's part of it; superpowers are cool. That's not all, however. Tucker and Danny have been been friends for years. They shared everything and presumably faced everything together. Now Danny is fighting battles that Tucker can't fight alongside him. Sure, Tucker is there and helps however he can, but Danny is the only super-powered heavy hitter on the team. When he's out there grappling with some kind of nightmare monster, Tucker is on the sidelines watching him take hits and hating it. His best friend is suffering, and he's not in the trenches with him.

In the episode where Desiree makes it so that Sam never met Danny and Tucker (and Danny never became a halfa), Sam doesn't immediately set about trying to re-ghostify Danny or change his ghost form purely for her own preference. Both of these things kind of creep me out because they involve imposing on another person in a way that feels like it should merit at least some hesitation.

Upon realizing what has happened, Sam initially decides to try and deal with the ghosts herself. She needs ghost-hunting tech, and the only place to get that is the Fentons. She tries to be sneaky, but Danny notices and realizes something is up. Unfortunately, a lot of Fenton tech is less effective without Danny fixing it, and Sam is working with human limitations like the inability to fly or pass through solid objects, and even if she caught Desiree, there wouldn't be a working portal to send her through. It's not working.

Ultimately, she decides to recreate the accident, this time with her instead of Danny. Danny and Tucker catch her in the lab and confront her (because they were suspicious of this weird girl who started sneaking into Danny's house right when all this other weird stuff started happening, and they want to know what's going on). Sam is incredibly stressed after trying to deal with all this alone while simultaneously losing her two closest friends and ends up spilling everything.

Danny decides to become half-ghost again. Not because Sam dressed up in pink and wore different makeup up for him. Not because he wanted the pretty girl to like him. This person cared enough about him and his best friend that she was willing to let them go for their own sakes, even if it meant she was going to miss them. She tried so hard to protect everyone alone. She was willing to die in his place. He didn't want to let her. He also didn't want to stand on the sidelines knowing there was something he could have done, that he could have protected everyone and chose not to.

Tucker and Sam both argue against it.

Sam says something to the effect of "You're not dying because of me again!" Turns out, she's been harboring some guilt over the accident. Danny says that it's not because of her and he's making his own choice.

Tucker doesn't want his best friend to get hurt in a way that will permanently change him. If he can't talk him out of it, he at least doesn't want him doing it alone. Danny points out that they only really know that Danny can survive this. It's entirely possible that growing up exposed to ectoplasm makes a difference. The risk would be higher for Tucker and Sam.

They all argue a lot more, before settling on a course of action.

The DP symbol was something Sam had previously designed at Danny's request. He hoped that something that would make him look more like a superhero would help him be viewed a little more positively. However, they hadn't been able to figure out how to add it to his ghost form. Once she realizes she's not going to be able to change his mind, she offers to add it to his suit before he goes in. She still has the vinyl decals in her backpack. One of them mistakenly made with black material instead of white.

Rather than wishing everything back to normal during the fight, Sam simply wishes for her friends to remember her.

[mutable-manifestation]

"So he pasted on a stoic expression and gave a simple "No.""

Here's where we differentiated because I shifted to Damian's POV and kinda forced the matter. So we could Get Damian's perspective on Danny's cover." After that was the stuff I couldn't figure out because of this spot right here! Danny's answer had to be "no" the misunderstanding doesn't sink as well if it doesn't.

The memory of tests, the pre-established no-codewords *chef's kiss* because it is always going to be safer for Danny to make contact in some other way. With invisibility and intangiblity even more so.

Closing the box cutter like that, perfect. Danny knows better than to attempt to rival Damian, especially when he's under the assumption that Damian is still acting heir. Oof I can't think of any reason getting called back wouldn't spell trouble.

I love the slight implication with the evil billionaires list and tuckers unspoken question, to me it reads like Lex has also tried to clone Phantom. Which I don't think was intended but, it tracks! He totally would!

Tim's questions, Danny looking to Damian for orders. Yes. Just yes, perfection, right there in front of my face but the question didn't even occur to me. Wonderful.

Everything that follows, YOUR TAGS they look like my notes we were on the same wavelength I swear!

Do you have plans to keep going with this? Can we collab if you do?

See I couldn't bring myself to use the Damian POV because in my mind his internal dialogue would just be. Static.

Like, yes, he's a highly trained assassin. And idk too much about batman timeline but I've seen stuff about how he's had character growth and gotten better about things over time. If he came to them at 10 and he's 16 now, that's 6 years for his personal growth. Learning to care about people again.

But outside of missions the batfam are all hot garbage and personal interaction, and I imagine Damian's had enough growth by this point to get to the "people matter to me as more than murder tools/mission tolls" idea, but without any of the understanding of how to deal without a given context.

And with Danny, the context has always been "avoid/ignore."

Danny isn't a classmate. He isn't one of his adopted brothers that he has learned how to squabble/get along with over time. And, most of all, whatever Danny might believe, he is not a League member. Which leaves Damian with no framework for how to deal with him.

Damian had/has a hard enough time getting over his League training, how does he help Danny get over his? Especially when 10 years of it would have been training he did to himself.

How does he interact with someone he was raised to hold at arms-length^2?

So I figured doing his POV would be too difficult because I couldn't think of much beyond static, panicked rambling, and several mock-conversations on how to break it to Danny that the League is gone without him going off on a suicide mission against the coup-people.

Which is kind of a shame, because you could fit a lot of angst in ala grief for Danny's seemingly emotionless state and guilt for forgetting him (which, not Damian's fault the League just sucks, but people don't stop blaming themselves for things just because they know they don't need to. Emotions be cray).

"Oof I can't think of any reason getting called back wouldn't spell trouble"

idk why but this made me think of an AU version where Damian intercepted the letter but the League actually was calling Danny back at the time (no coup), so they try to find him in Nanda Parbat only to find the (fake) dead body to the resulting tune of: Batfam Grief Rampage Time (TM). Except the League called him back because they found out what he was leaving out of his reports (about the portal & tech, not about him being a halfa) so when the batfam go to Amity to talk to the Fenton's about their "dead" son Amity is walled off w/an anti-liminal shield & armed to the teeth waiting for assassins (bc u know the whole town is in danger of being conscripted after bathing in portal radiation for so long. Call that "League of Assassins Park" at that point - sans the whole cult aspect. Unless u count the Phantom Phans).

"I love the slight implication with the evil billionaires list and tuckers unspoken question, to me it reads like Lex has also tried to clone Phantom. Which I don't think was intended but, it tracks! He totally would!"

You know that really wasn't the implication I was going for, but I could totally see Lex trying to clone Phantom. Maybe he heard about the whole overshadowing thing and was like "yo loyal clone to control the actual superman is way better than a second superman that could (did) go rogue! And this one can even be a (former) human!!!"

"Tim's questions, Danny looking to Damian for orders. Yes. Just yes, perfection, right there in front of my face but the question didn't even occur to me. Wonderful."

Am basking in the positive feedback like a lizard in the sun thanks ☀️🦎🥰 

"Do you have plans to keep going with this? Can we collab if you do?"

I thought about making a follow-up, but the stuff others tagged on kinda satisfied the brain itch for me.

But! I could totally see this turning into a fully fleshed-out fic, and I think I'd enjoy writing for it, so if you want to make it happen I'd be happy to collab :)

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

Transformation au anon:

The irony of little Jazz having dressed up as a fairy and then eventually growing up and becoming a fairy is amazing. and Doyle (and other creatures) just noping out at her Dark-magic-esque brother. I love how even in the supernatural world Danny is an oddity and scary without meaning to be (and super OP regardless). You would think that once Danny discovers the world is full of supernatural creatures and half humans and everything, he would feel a little less alone and stick out less--but no, even to them he's weird.

On the stealing names thing, I'm going to assume this AU's rules of fairies is something like "she stole a fairy's name so she became a fairy herself, but her stealing humans' names doesn't mean those humans become fairies too". But honestly her being a psychologist works so well with this whole "accidentally stealing names = power/control over other people" thing, because her whole job is helping people control their own lives (and obviously she has to get to know them/their name to help them right?) and it's just so subtle that no one notices (and she still doesn't actually USE the name, but like, the fae rules still apply whenever the accidental stealing/power over someone else occurs). Doyle would probably actually be impressed about how she's doing it (like, hey maybe fae should try being psychologists if they can manage to disguise themselves as humans to do it)... if she let them in on the sessions to see how she's doing it in the first place. ("It's patient privacy Doyle!" or "No you can't sneak in even if they can't see you!" assuming fae can be invisible idk.) They just know she's slowly becoming more powerful/stealing names and they don't know how she's doing it lol.

I love Jazz developing an allergy to iron/steel though, given the whole LAB in her parent's basement. Traditionally ghosts are also weak to those things so I hc that the Fenton inventions are also made out of those materials or alloys of them. The Fenton household/weapons becoming just as dangerous to her as to Danny a lot of the time! They have to work hard to protect each other from different aspects of their parents' work.

Also, all of Danny, Tucker, and Jazz developing sharp teeth because of their respective species... fang buddies! Sam is jealous lol. Tho technically I guess she could also have sharp teeth? It's not typical of a mermaid but like... fish do have sharp tiny teeth yo.

And Jazz suddenly becoming good at music is hilarious given how badly she did during the Girl's Night Out episode, I kinda hc her as tonedeaf. Ember being like "????" during some fight with Danny when Jazz accidentally distracts her with it somehow. Maybe she was hoping she'd sing badly again and interrupt Ember's concert like last time. (Could be a potential plot of a crossover of the siblings' worlds - Jazz dealing with Ember while Danny deals with something having to do with Doyle. Oh, similarly for the whole wordplay thing--Jazz gets involved with a ghostly plot to do with Ghost Writer, or a new enemy that's a ghost lawyer!)

the picture jazz and danny have of the Halloween where they dressed as a fairy and ghost will now live in infamy as terrible foreshadowing. yes, to be clear danny's ghost costume was a blanket. their parents usually tried to dress them as ghost hunters, but jazz is nothing if not stubborn

and yeah, danny would be rare. i see necromancy and undead being a thing. vampires, zombies, and other folklores undead. but a halfa, a living creature made by having a portal to another dimension open on them. a being with both a living and dead form, a being that is both living and dead at once. wild. i imagine all the undead creatures follow certain rules and biological functions that danny just doesn't. like he doesn't follow ghosts bio rules either. at least not all of them. so how are you supposed to deal with him? and that's not to mention how he's made a career out of fighting. he's scary and i expect bordering on eldritch as far as the monsters are concerned. i'm willing to bet most don't even believe he exists.

i'm inclined to balance this out somehow though. like certain magic communities don't believe in each other or are natural enemies. that kind of thing. i wouldn't mind if sam, tucker, val, and jazz are equally spooky to each others communities. i think the fact that neither sam nor jazz were born as their respective creatures might be off putting for some. especially with how powerful they all gradually become. because lets be real, i am always down for op characters. so earning a royal title is a vibe. tucker earning a reputation for the fights he's managed to win (usually by using tech but few are aware of that), jazz having so many names and secrets that she a threat in the fairy community despite not being a born fae. and just the fact that they're a friend group. intimidating.

yes to stealing human names being different than stealing a fae's name. to a fairy their name is all that they are and will be. jazz therefore stole all that doyle is and will be. she gave them a different name so they can be someone else, and grow their power anew, but in the meantime jazz kinda straight up stole his power/identity. i think that might actually give her a reputation in the fae world as i think it'd be considered quite rare for a human to successfully steal a fairy's name. they know the rules, it's a whole societal norm not to give your name to anyone. the fact that it was a human who did it is both frightening and impressive. also probably means people speak badly of doyle for being dumb enough to get tricked. i could see fairy's being afraid of jazz stealing their names too though.

i actually like jazz owning her patiants name. that's a tricky territory because it would certainly be an abuse of power. but she's not actually trying to use the power she has over them and she's gaining so many other secrets from them anyway that even if she didn't know their name she would have power over them. i think i'm going to say it's an explicit power now. Secrets and Knowledge have power in the fae world and the more you have the more powerful you are. in that sense jazz is speedrunning becoming a powerhouse. partially because it's not normal for people to freely give people their secrets. but it's perfectly normal to give your secrets to a psychologist. so jazz is getting all this information easily. and using her powers to actually help her patients. meanwhile actual fairies have to spy and wheedle to get the kind of information she receives in one session. i imagine it's quite frustrating for other fairies, doyle in particular who's been playing witness

i see doyle gradually softening and cheering her on in their own way. like initially they hate her because she stole their name and have so much power over them. but then as she gradually establishes herself as a powerhouse and is fighting other fairies, they're cheering her on and probably starting fights on her behalf. i could see them hanging over her shoulder and shouting insults at their enemies. they might not like her that much at first but they will always side with her over anyone else. they're jazz's. no one else's.

the iron and steel allergy is a nightmare. you don't realize how much metal is around you until you have to be aware. i think to be fair. the less pure the iron is, the less it hurts. so steal and other alloys are less effective than pure iron. the difference might be something like breaking out with a rash vs actual burns. either way the siblings are covering eachother and thank god the fenton parents are oblivious as hell. they might have noticed something is going on with their kids, or at least jazz because danny's ghost stuff is actually kinda normal by this point. but as usual they're going to draw the completely wrong conclusions.

fish can have sharp teeth and i'm always partial to predatory mermaids, but at the same time it depends on diet and as a vegan same wouldn't really be needing natural fangs anyway. she can have extra teeth though, as a treat. but yes. i want them all smiling in unison at an enemy or bully and it being spooky as hell. val doesn't get pointy teeth, alas, but she has a helmet so it wouldn't really matter in battle anyway. daily life, she probably has enough going on anyway. still sad she's not included in the creepy smile thing, but also i don't think she'd mind.

also when i sad that music ability suddenly becomes relevent, i didn't mean that jazz music ability is magically enhanced in anyway. no i meant music is culturally important to fairies. the fact that she is bad at it can be an ongoing problem for her. dancing would also be a relevent skill so hopefully she could pick that up at least. but yep her being so tone deaf that it offends random fairies is fun. also means she can go to ember for music lessons. playing an instrument might also help her in place of making her sing. danny dealing with doyle in the meantime would still be fun. i can't see them getting doyle anywhere near the ghost zone where jazz's lessons are. but also doyle not wanting to be anywhere near danny to begin with. so shenanigans ensue, as i'm sure doyle tries to avoid danny and also wreck their own type of chaos amongst the humans. after all they need to regain the power that they had lost. is doyle becoming dimple from mob psycho? kinda. that wasn't intentional.

jazz meeting and manipulating the ghost writer is also just a vibe. that would be a good episode without the fairy stuff. jazz actually mastering wordplay enough to level the playing field with the ghost writer is actually fun. to the point where i could see the ghost writer developing a grudging respect (crush?) on her and trying to interact more with her than danny.

ah, the shenanigans to be had in this broader world. i could see this as a fic series where each fic is from a different characters perspective. and you'd get plenty of recognizable moments and crossover events. so like you'd be following tucker fighting monsters and gaining a reputation, and you'll see danny fighting in the background. or danny would come and help and you'll get both characters perspectives in the different fics. and then major events, like say the town getting pulled into other dimensions would effect all the stories because it's happening to all of them. sounds fun - Hestia

[brokeitwiththepowerofmathamatics]

It Had to Happen Eventually

So today is turning out to be a lot busier than usual so I won’t have time to actually finish this. I’m posting the raw version of this for today, but I will be editing it later into something more complete later.  Today’s prompt was Jazz and the Hospital.  

It took Jazz a moment to realize her phone was ringing. It took Spike asking her if her phone was ringing, but when she noticed, she paled. She pulled out her phone and saw the caller id listed as Amity Park Hospital. Tucker had set up something so that when - not if - the hospital called her house, the call would be redirected to her phone.

“I’m sorry, Spike, but I need to take this,” She said calmly. 

Spike looked her up and down. “Sure,” he replied, voice quiet. “Do you need help?”

“Maybe,” She said, answering the phone. “Hello, Jazz Fenton speaking, who am I speaking to?”

“Hi, this is Doctor Martin. I’m looking for Jack or Madeline Fenton?”

Jazz took a deep breath. “They are my parents, but they’re not available at the moment. I can pass along a message?”

“They need to hear this immediately,” The doctor said firmly.

“May I know what this is about?”

The doctor hesitated for a moment. “There’s been an accident. Daniel Fenton was injured and is currently in our care at the hospital.”

Jazz stood up. “I’ll be there in a few minutes; you’ll find that all the paperwork is in place for me to make decisions for Daniel if necessary.” Jazz begrudgingly thanked Vlad for pushing along so much paperwork. She wasn’t sure if he had done that out of a desire to keep Danny’s halfa status hidden from his parents, or just so he could drive a wedge between Danny and the rest of the family, but Jazz was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“I… Okay, I’ll look for that. I would appreciate it if you’ll pass along the message to your parents.”

“I will,” Jazz lied, hanging up the phone. She turned toward Spike. “I’m sorry, Spike, we’ll have to cut this short.”

“That’s fine,” Spike said, looking up from his own phone. “What’s going on?”

“Danny’s in the hospital. The doctor implied it was urgent.”

“Want me to drive you?”

“No offense, Spike, but you aren’t a Fenton.” 

“I’ll stay off the roads until tomorrow.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” Jazz said, calmly walking away from Spike. She approached her car and took out the fob, unlocking the door and sliding into the front seat. She put on her seatbelt and started the car. 

She took a deep breath, put the car into reverse. 

And floored it. 

She yanked the steering wheel around and spun the car in the parking lot. With an ease that was completely at odds with her calm and methodical personality, she put the car into drive before it had completely faced forward. Slamming down on the gas, she peeled out of the school parking lot.

Almost immediately, she passed by a police car, who immediately began trying to pull her over. She didn’t stop as his lights went on and his siren went off. 

However, after he ran her plates, the sirens turned off, and he slowed back down to normal speeds. Amity park was a small town, and the Fenton’s were well known. The Fenton’s were never pulled over, ever. Perks of being one of the only ones capable of responding to the ghost threats. 

A twenty-minute drive was reduced to five, and Jazz parked in the hospital parking lot. She got out of her car and slammed the door, not bothering to lock it. 

She walked into the hospital and up to the receptionist. “Excuse me. I’m here because my little brother is in the hospital? Daniel Fenton.”

The receptionist looked up at her. “Room 444,” she stated with a calm resulting in a million crises happening every day.

Jazz nodded and made her way to the elevator. After waiting for fifteen seconds, she turned toward the stairway. Jazz might not have been a ghost hunter like Danny or her parents, but she still trained like she was one. She took each flight of stairs in two steps; she made it in almost no time at all. Doctors and nurses glanced at her as she walked by, but she paid them no mind. 

She found the room and found Danny sitting upright in the bed, bandaged heavily. The bandages were red with blood, but Jazz could see hints of green ectoplasm. 

The doctor turned toward Jazz. ”Ah, you’re here. That was quick.” He looked over at Danny, “He uh… he’s doing surprisingly well, but…” 

Jazz nodded. “If you don’t mind, I’d like some time with my brother?”

The doctor nodded. “Of course! Did you message your parents?”

Jazz nodded. “Oh, I did, but they’re out of signal, for now, no idea when they’ll see it.”

“That’s… highly unfortunate.” The doctor turned, “I’ll be back in fifteen minutes to discuss options.” 

Jazz nodded. “Thank you, doctor.” The doctor gently closed the door. As soon as it clicked, Jazz whirled about. “Danny! What the hell!”

Danny waved his arms about animatedly. “Jazz! Thank god you’re here! How do we tell them not to cut off my legs!”

“Oh my god, Danny, what the hell happened! I thought you said it was just the box ghost!”

Danny blushed, though it was more green than red, which was a bad sign, it meant he was really low on blood. “It was!”

“Danny!” 

“Somehow, he figured that a wood chipper was a box maker!”

“What kind of twisted troll logic is that?” Jazz shouted, pulling at her hair.

“You’re telling me?” Danny growled, “You’re not the one who got your leg trapped in it!” 

“Oh my god, Danny!” Jazz marched over and yanked the blanket off of Danny’s lap, revealing a horrific mangled mess of a leg. “You know, I expected worse.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad when I got here.”

“Wait, it was worse?”

Danny rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I’m working on it.”

“What do you mean you’re working on it?” 

“I’m working on it.”

Jazz pinched her nose. “I can’t leave you alone, for five minutes…”

“Hey!” Danny shouted, incensed, “You’ve left me-”

“FOR FIVE MINUTES, DANIEL FENTON!” 

Danny’s jaw clicked shut.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need Vlad.” Jazz began. 

“Oh, hell no! Let’s just cut off my legs.”

“Danny!”

“Jazz! He’s going to be insufferable!”

“You can’t just cut off your legs, so you don’t have to deal with him!”

“Watch me!” 

Jazz put her hands on her hips. “Daniel James Fenton!”

Danny folded his arms. “You know that’s not my middle name.”

“Don’t care, you’re a James now. I’ve decided.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” 

“You know what also doesn’t make any sense? GETTING YOUR LEG MULCHED BY THE BOX GHOST!”

Danny threw his hands up in the air. “I know! He’s going to be insufferable!”

Jazz pulled out her phone. “Anyways, I’m calling Vlad and getting you transferred.” 

Danny started floating off the bed. “No! No! Don’t you dare!”

“Don’t be such a baby!”

“Hey, I’m the one with a-”

The door clicked, and the doctor came back in. “Excuse me, are you ready to discuss options?”

Jazz looked at Danny, who was back on the bed, with his arms folded in a huff. “Yes, actually.” Jazz said calmly, looking back at the doctor, “though if you don’t mind, may I make a phone call? I’d like to involve a family friend who has some medical experience.”

“Oh, of course.” The doctor said. “I’ll be right back then.” 

The doctor left, leaving the door open. Danny grumbled from his spot on the bed. “I still say you shouldn’t call him.”

“You lost decision-making privileges when you lost to the box ghost.”

“You think I lost? You should see what happened to him!”

[five-rivers]

Doctor

The final continuation of Science and Stuck!

.

.

.

Jack and Maddie had never been in the Ghost Zone before, and they watched with fascination as the camera they had attached to Phantom dipped and bobbed, weaving through a complex maze of impossible and decaying architecture. Really, this whole endeavor would be worth it just for this.

But they'd already learned so much more. The interaction between Phantom and the box-obsessed ghost had been enlightening, giving insight to why Phantom did not simply destroy weaker ghosts who trespassed on his territory. They hadn't believed that ghosts could make deals like that.

It put Phantom's fights in a very different perspective. He might be coordinating with the ghosts he 'fought' to make himself look good. After all, if he could bargain with that ghost, why not others?

Admittedly, that theory was a bit out there, but it was plausible.

They had also been interested to see that Phantom was aware of the camera and its function. They had designed it to bond with the ghost's body, to trick it into accepting it as part of itself. They had assumed that the ghost's mind (such as it was) would be similarly fooled. But, it wasn't. Phantom appeared to have understood the camera almost immediately and had attempted to remove it.

Phantom swooped around another twisted staircase. Maddie tapped on the glass screen.

"I wonder what he's trying to hide," she said.

"Well, we'll see it sooner or later," said Jack, cutting off a corner of his emergency fudge. "There's no way he'll be able to get the camera off." He snorted. "Even if there was a ghost intelligent enough, they don't have the equipment."

Maddie nodded. "I suppose it's just frustrating. All this time, trying to figure him out, and now we have to wait even longer." She sighed. "Him knowing it's a camera is going to skew our results, too. He'll be on his best behavior while people are watching. We already know that from his whole hero routine."

On the screen, Phantom turned a corner, and the Fentons were treated to a view of a vast, open expanse. Floating islands charted their own paths against a green and swirling sky. Clouds of ectoplasmic mist scudded along the not-horizon. Disembodied doors flew by without rhyme or reason.

The picture shifted from side to side as Phantom took in his surroundings. It stopped, lingering on an oddly skull-shaped island for several long seconds before Phantom turned away.

.

Danny had known the portal the Box Ghost had shown him was close to Skulker's island, but he hadn't quite realized how close. It was a good landmark, he knew exactly how to get to the Far Frozen from here, but he didn't really want to run into Skulker.

He didn't want to deal with any of the ghosts he usually fought with his parents watching, and maybe listening, through the camera. They might not actively try to expose him, but a number of them were too comfortable with shouting out things like-

"I'll wrap Ember's gifts with your pelt, halfa whelp!"

Ugh. Like that.

Danny twisted and froze a tracking missile, not watching as it began to arc to his left, caught in the orbit of the staircase maze Danny had just left. He sent a few blasts at Skulker.

"I think you should find something to put in the gifts first!" he shouted. "Unlike last year. I heard you were begging MP3 players off of Technus minutes-" he cut off to dodge a net. He hated nets. Why did Skulker even bother with them, when he was trying to kill Danny, anyway? "Minutes before the party!"

"Like you're one to talk! You completely destroyed the party!"

"Hey, blame Ghostwriter for that one!"

"And you don't understand! You don't even have a girlfriend!"

"Well, neither will you for much longer if you don't come up with better present ideas!"

The fight had wound down into the two ghosts just yelling at each other. For all the violence Skulker regularly subjected him to, Danny sometimes wondered if Skulker actually wanted to skin him, or mount his head on a wall, or any of the other threats he belted out, or if he just wanted the thrill of the chase.

"Can't you just give me a break for once? I don't have time for this!"

"Oh, please, you have all the time in the world, whelp!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, what with you being a hal-"

Danny flew over and clamped a hand over Skulker's mouth. "Not another word," he hissed. "We're being watched."

"What do you-?"

Danny cut him off, pointing significantly at the camera. Skulker immediately started laughing.

"Oh, yeah, laugh it up. Wait 'til it happens to you."

"Ha! That is why I, with my modifications, am superior! Something as ridiculous as that could never happen to me!" He started laughing again.

"Whatever," grumbled Danny. "Are you going to keep attacking me, or can I go to the Far Frozen in peace?"

Skulker waved him off. "Consider it an early truce present!" he said. "But don't forget! I'll get your pelt eventually!"

"Sure," said Danny, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He floated backwards for a ways before turning, wary of being stabbed in the back. Or shot in the back. Or blasted in the back. Or whatever having missiles or nets launched at him from behind would be called.

But, once again, he was on his way to the Far Frozen. With his luck, he'd only be interrupted a dozen more times before he actually got there.

He sighed, thinking of ways he could block the camera in an emergency. Ice, perhaps? He could always put his hand over it, too. Maybe he should have done that from the beginning, but a part of him, the part that had argued with them before, wanted to show them the truth about ghosts. Part of him wanted them to see.

So, even though he kept fiddling with the camera as he flew, even though he definitely wanted it off, and quickly, he couldn't quite bring himself to cover it.

"Hey! Phantom!"

Danny turned, trying to place the voice. "Sydney?" he asked, surprised, spotting the sepia-toned specter. "What's up?" He slowed so that the other ghost could catch up to him. Sydney didn't often leave his lair on his own.

"Wow! It's lucky you came out here! I thought I'd have to go through your portal to find you." Sydney shuddered. He caught up to Danny. "I'm throwing a truce party this year!" he said, happily. "I'm inviting everyone." He handed Danny a small envelope. "It's a bit early, because I wanted to make sure that it didn't overlap with anyone else's party."

"Thanks, Sydney," said Danny, both surprised and touched. "I don't know if I'll be able to make it, you know what my l- my afterlife is like." His smile turned into a grimace at the awkwardness of his phrasing.

"Afterlife? But you-"

"I have a camera strapped to my chest right now. I'm pretty sure it's broadcasting. I don't really want to talk about it."

Sydney blinked at him. "Your existence is very difficult, isn't it? I'm glad I didn't manage to steal it from you when we first met."

"That's both of us. The shades in your lair still behaving?"

"Oh, yes. It's all fine. Thanks for asking! I've got to go deliver the rest of these! Good luck with your camera situation!"

"Yeah, stay safe, okay, Sydney?" called Danny, as they sped away from each other.

"You betcha!"

Danny tucked the invitation into a pocket. He'd have to check out the details later, when he wouldn't have to hold it at a weird angle to keep the camera from seeing it.

Now, if there were no more interruptions, he could get to the Far Frozen before- He stopped. That forest had not been there before, and, usually, the floating islands didn't move like-

Not a floating island Undergrowth oh Ancients he looked mad run run run.

It was a good thing Danny was faster than Undergrowth. He didn't want to fight the plant ghost on his home turf... if there even was any turf underneath all those plants.

The chase (not to mention dodging and fighting off the seed bombs that Undergrowth had lobbed his way) had drained Danny, and he was flying significantly slower. The hope that he'd get back home before dawn looked distinctly forlorn. He sighed. That was just his life, though, wasn't it?

.

Maddie had filled half a notebook with questions.

Ghosts appeared to be much more complex than previously believed, even if it was clear that what rudimentary social structure they had was founded entirely on violence. The three encounters Phantom had had in the Ghost Zone thus far illustrated that perfectly.

The first, with Skulker, served as a sort of average. The ghosts had fought, demonstrated that they were more-or-less equals, and then parted, apparently not wanting a more definitive contest. The second had been with a smaller ghost who was obviously submissive towards Phantom. The third, with the plant ghost was more along the lines of what she and Jack had expected: Strong ghosts attempting to defeat and consume weaker ones.

"I wonder what this 'truce' they keep talking about is," said Maddie, tapping her pencil on her notebook.

"I wonder what that sound is," said Jack. "The microphone shouldn't be picking up this kind of interference."

"I think it's core noise," said Maddie. "We can analyze the sound later and compare it to his ectosignature, after we find out where he's going." She glanced at the clock. "And after we get some sleep. Everything is being recorded."

"I'll have to double check all the connections before we do this again. I bet it's a loose wire." Jack pouted.

Maddie nodded. "Where do you think he's going? You don't suppose he thinks he has some way to get it off?"

Jack shrugged. "His lair, maybe? The distance might be why he stays in Amity Park."

"Lairs are still pure speculation, though," said Maddie. "Although, one hypothesis is that they help ghosts reform and heal, so he might think it'll get rid of the camera."

Jack grunted in acknowledgement. "What do you think that white dot is?" he asked, pointing at the screen.

"I think it's one of those floating islands," she said. "It's a different color than the others."

They watched as it grew larger on the screen. "I think Phantom is heading towards it."

"Maybe it's his lair," she said. "He does have ice powers. Ice and snow could be what gives it its color."

"It does look like that could be," said Jack.

The island grew larger and larger, and eventually the picture showed that they had been right. The island was covered with snow and more.

"I think those are buildings," said Maddie, pointing out little mounds. "Crude, but still buildings. Perhaps Phantom is trying to replicate features of Amity Park in his lair?"

"You don't think it could be some kind of," Jack waved his hand vaguely, "rudimentary ghost settlement?"

Maddie wrinkled her nose. "What would they have to gain? Why would you say that?"

"Because I think I see some ghosts moving around down there."

Sure enough, Maddie could see movement where he pointed. The ghosts were white-furred, and difficult to see against the snow, but they were there. They looked fierce. Animal ghosts of some kind, Maddie assumed, but warped over the years.

"They all look so much alike," said Maddie, fascinated. "I wonder what could have caused that."

"Well, they say form follows function!" said Jack. "Or the 'native' theory could be correct, and they formed that way, without human consciousness involved!"

"Hm," said Maddie, making a note. "We'll have to look into that again."

Phantom's hand flashed in the camera's peripheral vision. "He's waving to them," said Jack.

"Great one!" shouted one of the ghosts on the island, voice made small by distance.

"Frostbite!" yelled Phantom in return, voice much louder. He swooped down, and was embraced by the other ghost, who was much, much larger.

The other white-furred ghosts cheered. Maddie frowned.

"If he has this sort of reception here, why come to Amity Park?" she asked. "If his Obsession is attention..."

"Maybe it's human attention he wants," said Jack, rubbing his chin. "Either way, they're... enthusiastic, aren't they?"

"I can't believe they've banded together like this," said Maddie. "It doesn't make sense. The structures... they don't make sense, either. Ghosts shouldn't need things like that, especially not in the Ghost Zone."

"Maybe they're a different species of ghost that does need things like this," said Jack, most of his attention on the ghosts greeting Phantom. "We've never seen any like them here. They might only be able to exist in cold. Or they could have Obsessions related to, uh... igloos?"

"They aren't really shaped like igloos, though," said Maddie. "I think there's stone under there."

"The ice could just be dirty."

"That wouldn't surprise me."

.

Getting to the Far Frozen was a relief. Danny felt a the tension he'd been carrying within him relax as soon as he spotted Frostbit.

It was replaced with embarrassment once everyone started fussing over him. Technically, this was in front of his parents. Still, he'd take embarrassment over what he was feeling earlier. His core was singing that he was safe safe safe among allies and friends, and the cold felt wonderful against his skin.

"What brings you to the Far Frozen today, great one?"

Danny chuckled nervously and reached back to rub his neck. The motion was stopped when he encountered the collar around his neck. "I'm actually here to see a doctor. I've got a bit of a medical problem. At least, I think it's a medical problem." Danny touched down on the surface of the snow, wilting slightly as he tugged fruitlessly on the collar. "I don't really know. Can you help?"

Frostbite's eyes went wide for a moment before shifting into pure concern. "Of course, great one. We'll take a look at you right away. Unless you need to rest? We know we are far from your home."

Danny shook his head. "I want to get this fixed right away," he said.

When Frostbite scooped Danny up and put him on his shoulder, it wasn't a surprise. Neither was the short flight to the Far Frozen's medical 'cave.'

Oh, to be sure, it was a cave, but Danny always felt like calling it something like that, something so crude, was a disservice. For one, the entrance chamber was gorgeous. A huge, underground atrium with an intricately grown and carved ice ceiling, geometric patterns spiraling down the walls; ghost writing above graceful arches, indicating what each space was used for. Shining, high-tech devices that made even Tucker salivate. Some people might judge them on what lay above ground in their village, but appearances were often deceiving in the Ghost Zone, and the Far Frozen was one of the most advanced societies around.

Only an idiot would mistake the tribe of the Far Frozen for savages.

Frostbite carried Danny into the diagnosis area, set him down in a chair, and began going through the routine of cleaning his hands and putting on medical equipment.

"Oh," said Danny, leaning forward, "Frostbite, you don't have to, I know you're busy."

"Nonsense, great one! You deserve the best of care, and I am here to provide." He sat down on a stool across from Danny. "So, what seems to be the problem?"

Danny began to explain.

.

Jack and Maddie weren't talking. This is because they were in shock.

The ruins at the beginning had been one thing... Those were expected, the ghosts of buildings, so to speak, ectoplasmic echos. But this place? This level of technology- It shouldn't be possible!

"I know," said Jack, and Maddie realized she had spoken out loud. "But... it's here, isn't it? We're seeing it."

"It could be a trick," said Maddie. "A facade. There's no way any of this is actually functional."

"But if it is... Jazz and Danny, they might be right," said Jack. He sounded troubled. "If ghosts can form societies, and create technology and art like this, even if the societies are based on violence, that indicates some form of sapience, of intelligence, even if it isn't human intelligence."

Maddie nodded. "I think we should withhold judgement until we actually see results," she said.

"Yeah," said Jack. "Just... I feel sort of like the bad guy in a sci-fi movie, you know? The one who insists the aliens or people with superpowers aren't really human."

"It isn't the same, Jack. These are ghosts."

"But what does that even mean anymore?"

Maddie sighed. "We'll have to change our theories," she said.

"Ah," said the ghost known as 'Frostbite' on the screen, scanning Phantom with some kind of unknown device, "yes. I see what the problem is. I'll take the camera out, now, and then we can work on the other bits."

The screen went blank.

.

Getting the collar removed was both easier and harder than Danny had expected. Easier, because all he had to do was take a drug and let Frostbite peel it off, harder because he had to come down off the drug before he went home, lest he get into a fight and wind up with semi-permanent injuries. At least he was able to send a message to Jazz to ask her to cover for his absence.

He didn't get home until four in the afternoon. Nothing remarkable happened on the way back, because the Far Frozen decided to send some warriors along with him to make sure he got back safely. He was a bit surprised, however, to find his parents passed out at their desks in the lab, apparently reviewing recordings from the camera they had stuck to him.

Recordings like that could be dangerous to him. Should he delete them?

No, he hadn't said anything incriminating, and they were unlikely to be able to use the footage to attack the Far Frozen. The floating islands moved, after all, and he had entered the Zone from a random portal. It should be fine to leave it like that.

He let himself turn human. The air down here was chilly. He should get them blankets or something and let Jazz know he was back, then he'd pass out himself.

While he was draping a quilt over Maddie's shoulders, he caught sight of her notebook and the last line she had written.

The kids are right. We'll have to revise our theories concerning Phantom and the other ghosts.

[dp-marvel94]

The Mystery Shack Spooks- Part 5

For Holiday Truce 2020

Summary:  Elle Fenton had hoped for a normal summer, a chance to make normal friends with people who know nothing about her crazy family, ghosts, or, most importantly, her status as a clone. But ghosts always seem to find her, even in Gravity Falls. Now the Mystery Shack is haunted by a unknown apparition with an unknown connection to Dipper and Mabel, and to Elle herself. The half ghost struggles to open up to her new friends and to find a way to help this lonely ghost.

Part 1 -> Part 2 -> Part 3 -> Part 4 -> Part 5 (Here)

Also on AO3 and fanfiction.net

Note: As I'm sure you can see, this story now has an actual title! Credit to MagicalEevee on AO3 for that. And so here's the last chapter! Enjoy and feel free to let me know what you think!

Again, Elle woke up to sunlight streaming through her window. She blinked up at the ceiling, remembering last night. Her conversation with Dipper, watching the boy and his clone’s reunion, talking to Danny on the phone. And Danny’s idea, using ectoplasm to help Tyrone. Tentatively, hope crept into her heart. Maybe, just maybe this could work. She just had to figure out where the other ghost was.

Sitting up, she called softly. “Tyrone?” 

Again, her room was silent and bare as ever. Closing her eyes, she weakly reached out with her ghost sense. Sadly, she sensed nothing. Not too surprising though. Tracking a ghost once she’s sensed it was one thing. Reaching out to sensing another’s core when it was too far away or too weak was another. 

Elle’s brow furrowed in thought; where exactly was the other ghost? Actually, where did he go when he wasn’t hanging around her? Or where would he have gone after hanging out with Dipper? 

Suddenly, her core stirred in her chest. Cold air swirled in her lungs. 

“Ty?” She questioned.

A moment later, a misty figure phased through the ceiling. Elle frowned, eyes falling on the other ghost. Again, his form was fuzzy and indistinct, blurring his facial features.

Tyrone tilted his head. His static voice formed a question that was probably ‘what?’

The half ghost’s shoulders fell. “I can't see your face now.” She sighed. “I guess Danny was right. The reason me and Dipper could actually see you yesterday was ‘cause it was your...deathday.”

The clone shifted nervously at the last word. Then he asked. “Da...nny?”

“Yeah.” Elle rubbed the back of her neck. “I talked to my brother about everything that happened yesterday. Ya know, figuring out who you are, telling the twins about my powers, Dipper finding out about you.” Her eyes lit up, remembering. “Oh, how did that go? You and him hanging out.”

Tyrone’s head popped up, his gaze fixing on her. He waved his hands, his voice tilted up in happiness.

The girl raised a brow. “So I guess it went well?”

The boy nodded his head enthusiastically.

“That’s good.” The corner of Elle’s mouth turned up but then she turned more serious. “I’m sorry about….” She motioned up and down the other ghost’s body. “But...the good thing is...Danny had an idea about how to help you stay solid.” Tyrone brightened, almost literally as the girl continued. “So I really should have thought of this earlier but...we were thinking ectoplasm.”

The ghost boy titled his head, questioningly.

“Here let me show you.” With that, the half ghost stood up and retrieved one of her bags. She pulled out a vial of glowing green liquid. “Basically...this is what ghosts are made of. We get energy from ectoplasm. Without it, we’ll get weaker and less solid….or at least regular ghosts do. I’m not sure about me. But anyway….” She held the vial out to him. “Do you want to try some?”

Tyrone floated forward, studying the vial. He shifted nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

“It can’t hurt you.” Elle softly said, trying to guess why the boy was anxious. 

The other ghost muttered something sheepishly; Elle could imagine him biting his lip.

The girl’s expression softened as she suggested. “Do you want me to go find Dipper and Mabel and see what they think? Wait...does Mabel even know that you're well...you?"

Tyrone shook his head.

“Oh…” Elle frowned. “We should probably tell her.”

The other ghost titled his head back and forth before nodding in agreement. 

“Okay. How about I go get the two of them and-”

Just then, Mabel’s voice yelled up the stairs. “Elle! Come down to breakfast! There’s bacon!”

“And pancakes!” Shouted Dipper.

At the proclamation, the half ghost finally noticed the delicious scents drifting up the stairs. Her stomach growled in demand for food and she frowned down at it. “I should be getting down there. But…” She glanced back at Tyrone.

The boy waved her off. “Can wait.”

“Are you sure?” Elle bit her lip. He nodded and the half ghost took a breath. “Okay. I’ll go down stairs. We’ll have breakfast. Me and Dipper will tell Mabel about you. I’ll tell them the ectoplasm idea. Then we’ll come back upstairs.”

Tyrone nodded again and gave her a thumbs up.

With that, the girl headed for the door. “Hang tight. I’ll see you in a bit.”

With a wave which the other ghost returned, Elle exited the room. She walked down the hall towards the stairs. She’d just turned the corner to start descending when she almost ran into Dipper.

The boy stopped suddenly. “Oh, I was just coming to get you.”

Elle nodded. “Yeah, I’m coming.” Dipper turned around and they started down the stairs. The girl swallowed. “So...I was talking to Tyrone just now.”

The boy stopped, turning to face her again. “Tyrone? That’s...That really happened last night, didn’t it? He’s really back?” Though his eyes shone with happiness, he sounded like he could hardly believe it.

“It’s really him.” Elle confirmed.

Dipper shook his head. “Man….I half thought I just dreamed it but…..it’s really him.” He smiled.

“Yeah….and I think I have an idea to deal with his tangibility problem.”

The boy’s smile widened. “Really?!”

“Yep. I can tell you and your sister in a bit.”

“My sister?” Dipper blinked at her, suddenly startled.

“Yeah. Your sister. We need to tell Mabel. Ty wanted to, too.”

“He did?” He added, somewhat disbelievingly.

“I mean…he nodded when I asked about telling her.” Elle shrugged. “Actually talking’s still kinda hit or miss for him. But...my idea might help with that too.”

Dipper nodded soberly. “Okay. We can tell her. Come on.”

The pair continued down the stairs and into the kitchen. There they found Mabel pouring syrup on her pancakes. 

“There you guys are.” Mabel smiled teasingly. “I was just about to eat all your pancakes.” She stuffed a heaping amount into her mouth and chewed.

Elle chuckled at the display. She grabbed her own plate and took a seat beside the other girl. As she grabbed a few pancakes, she asked. “Where are your Grunkles?”

Mabel shrugged. “Out somewhere. Grunkle Stan said to call his cell phone only if zombies attack the Shack again and Soos can’t handle it.”

That earned another laugh from the half ghost. Across from her, Dipper was not so jovial.

Mabel tilted her head. “What’s got you down, Dip-dip?”

The boy sighed. “Mabel...I’ve gotta tell you something, something I should have first thing this morning.”

At the serious tone, Elle frowned, a spike of guilt poking her heart. 

Mabel also sobered. “What is it?”

Dipper swallowed. “Elle and I found out who the ghost haunting the Shack is and….” He trailed off.

Elle continued for him, taking a deep breath. “Mabel...it’s Tyrone.”

The girl’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, it’s Tyrone?”

“It’s Tyrone.” Her brother said more confidently. “The ghost who’s been haunting the Shack is Tyrone.”

Mabel blinked in confusion. “Tyrone?....Your clone, Tyrone? But that’s...that’s impossible.”

“I know but...it’s him.” Dipper’s more serious expression started to crack. “I actually saw his face last night.”

The girl’s mouth fell open. “You saw him. Tyrone? Our Tyrone?”

Elle’s brow furrowed; our Tyrone? But she nodded eagerly. “I saw him yesterday too.”

“And I talked with him.” Dipper’s eyes lit up. “Or...as much as we could with body language and short phrases. But it’s really him, Mabel.”

His sister’s eyes continued to widen, her face frozen with shock. “Wow.” She whispered, excitement growing. “That’s amazing! He’s….he’s really alive?!”

Just like that, Dipper shut down. “No...He’s not...I mean...he is a ghost.”

“Oh.” Mabel looked down, face reddening with shame.

The twins’ eyes both focused down, expression heavy with sadness. It hurt Elle’s heart, to see them so subdued after Dipper’s happiness and Mabel’s growing excitement.

“You know….” Elle said kindly, trying to draw the twins out of their somber mood. “With ghosts…it’s not always as simple as dead or alive.”

Dipper frowned, eyes narrowing. “Because half ghosts are a thing?”

“Well yes but...” The halfa shrugged sheepishly. “That’s not the point. Ghosts are complicated. There are different kinds of ghosts. There’s some that are born ghosts from parents that are ghosts. There’s ghosts that just kinda spring out of the ectoplasm from emotions and thoughts and beliefs.” She swallowed. “And yeah, there are ghosts that were once living humans but...I’ve talked to some of those and….some would tell you becoming a ghost was a second chance for them. Yeah, they died and their life as a human ended but...they got to start a new life. They get to do and see things they couldn’t before. They get to find love or a family. They learn and grow and explore and...it’s not so bad.”

The boy’s nose wrinkled in thought. “Okay, I get that, I guess. But...where does Tyrone fit in all this?”

“Well...Ty never was human.” Elle said softly. “He didn’t get much of a chance to live before but...he’s here now and that’s what matters.”

For a moment, neither of the other teens responded, both studying the half ghost thoughtfully. 

Then to Elle’s surprise, Mabel spoke first. “Yeah, that is what matters.” A smile crept onto her face. “I’m actually gonna meet this Tyrone that Dipper told us all about.”

“Yeah.” Elle nodded, also smiling.

“Yeah.” Dipper parroted, though a thoughtful look remained on his face. “Elle….” He bit his lip. “Where do you fit into all of this?”

The half ghost blinked. “What?”

“With ghosts I mean. You said there are different kinds and….yesterday you told us you weren’t dead so...where do you fit?” 

The look on his face, the tone was innocently curious, not probing. But Elle’s stomach flopped with nerves all the same. Where did she fit? That was an impossible question. 

Dipper apparently noticed her anxiety. “I’m sorry. That’s personal.” His face reddened with shame. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No.” Elle shook her head. “It’s...it is personal but….I’ll tell you guys.” She sighed. “I don’t really know where I fit with other ghosts. I’ve never died. Obviously, my parents aren’t ghosts. And…I didn’t just spontaneously appear one day. Well...maybe that last one’s not completely true.” She smiled wryly. “I did kinda randomly show up in Danny’s room one day.”

Across from her, Mabel actually snorted. But Dipper blinked at her confusedly. “What are you...?”

Elle’s smile fell, realizing how weird what she just said was and...where this conversation was inevitably going. She needed to tell them the rest of the truth….and she would. Elle wrung her hands nervously before squaring her shoulders and steeling herself. “I...I didn’t tell you everything yesterday. Actually, I left out something really important but...I decided last night, I’m gonna tell you guys ‘cause I trust you and I know you won’t think any less of me because of it.”

That sobered the other girl, who’s eyes widened. “Elle…”

The half ghost held up her hand. “Let me finish before I chicken out.” She took a deep breath. “So..I told you yesterday that I’m half ghost because someone experimented on me. And that’s technically true but...it’s less I was experimented on and more...I was an experiment.” The girl paused, taking in the twin’s deeply concerned and slightly disturbed expressions. And….she was likely to make it worse.

No...the girl chastised herself. What she’s said earlier was true; she trusted Dipper and Mabel. 

“What do you mean, you were an experiment?” Dipper asked, quietly.

Elle swallowed, looking down. “I wasn’t...I wasn’t born like a normal human.” She painfully forced out the words.  “I was….made in a lab.” 

Pausing, the halfa looked up to to gauge the twin’s reactions. She found Mabel staring at her with wide eyes.  Dipper opened and closed his mouth in disbelief. “You were...made in a lab?”

Elle nodded in confirmation. “The bad man I told you about….his name was Vlad...he...well...he wanted a half ghost lackey to boss around. He tried to get Danny to join him but he wasn’t having it. So Vlad decided he was...kinda going to... make his own halfa. He made a bunch of clones and I’m the only one who survived ...so” She trailed off. 

Again, the twins stared at her in shock.

“Dipper? Mabel?” She asked quietly.

Dipper finally reacted. “But that’s…” He put a hand on his head. “That’s crazy. That’s...How would someone do that and...why?...You said why… But….”

Mabel swallowed, looking at the girl seriously. “You mentioned Danny, again. What does he have to do with this?”

Elle frowned. Of everything to pick up from her ramble, Mabel noticed that. And that….that was the question. Because she’d barely mentioned the big thing, the big secret. Bracing herself, the girl wrung her hands. “Danny….Danny’s the person I was cloned from.”

Dipper’s startled eyes suddenly met hers. “What?”

“I’m a clone. Danny’s clone.” She said with as much confidence as she could muster.

“You’re a clone?” The boy’s jaw dropped. “A clone? Really? You’re a clone?”

Elle shivered. “Yes...you can stop saying that word now.”

“What word?...Oh…” The boy blushed. “So you’re...you’re like Tyrone.”

“Pretty much. I mean…” The girl shrugged. “I came from weird ghost science, not a magical copier but...yeah, we’re not that different.”

At that, the boy nodded. Beside him, Mabel asked. “And the person you were...cloned...” She hesitated on the word clone for a moment before continuing. “from is Danny? The one you’ve talked about and you showed me a picture of?”

Elle nodded in response.

Then Dipper frowned, stating plainly. “You told us Danny was your brother.”

The half ghost crossed her arms, glaring seriously. “He is my brother.”

“But-” The boy started.

“Look.” Elle held up a hand, cutting him off. ”Yeah, I’m his clone and he’s my original. But that doesn’t mean we’re not siblings too. Actually…” She uncrossed her arms. “We’re siblings first..because we’ve chosen to be. That’s more important than where I came from or how we meet.”

Elle paused, letting her friends take in her honest words. She meant every one. While her origin did matter, she was not just a clone. She was a sister, a daughter, and a friend. Having a family, being a Fenton was vastly important to her, a vital part of who she was. And it was one that she’d chosen; she and Danny had chosen to call each other siblings instead of cousins. The Fenton parents had chosen to take her in and she had chosen to accept.

A deep thoughtful look crossed Dipper’s face at the words, his expression softening. She could almost see wheels turning in his head as he considered her words. And maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t just thinking about her but how this related to his own situation with a certain clone.

After a while, Mabel asked. “How did you and Danny meet?”

“Well...that’s an interesting story….” With that, Elle expanded on the story she told yesterday. She properly explained how she met Danny and how they escaped from Vlad together. Looking down, she talked about her time living on the streets and worst of all...the time she almost destabilized.

Mabel’s eyes widened. “Elle...that is horrible. I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine.” The other girl waved her off. “I’m okay now. Danny figured out how to stabilize me.”

“But..you almost melted.” Dipper covered his mouth, a haunted look in his eyes. “No wonder you were so upset about what happened to my clones.”

“Yeah.” Elle agreed numbly. “I uh...I know from experience. Melting’s horrible whether it’s happening to you or you’re watching it happen to someone else.” She shivered again at the statement, her mind momentarily drifting with what happened to her clone siblings. She wrung her hands. “Like I said, I wasn’t the only one. None of us were stable but...I’m the only one left.”

Mabel gave Elle a compassionate look while Dipper’s eyes flickered down. “And you saw….?”

“Yeah.” Elle swallowed. “I was there when all of them, all of my clone brothers,...died.” 

The boy looked up, sorrowful but kind eyes meeting hers. “I know it doesn’t make it better but...I’m sorry that happened and...I’m sorry you had to see it.”

“Yeah.” The half ghost wrapped her arms around herself. “It still hurts sometimes but...all I can do is remember them, honor them, and...I guess, try to live since they didn’t get the chance tp.” She let a small smile crept onto her face. “I like to think they’d be proud of me, if they could see me now.”

“They would be.” Mabel said with conviction. “Your brothers would be so happy for you if they knew.”

Elle nodded, trying her best to believe. It still hurt, talking about all of this but...having Dipper and Mabel to listen was helping.

The half ghost continued explaining the journey that led her to living with the Fentons. “So Danny told Mom and Dad about his powers and introduced me. And now I live in Amity Park with them.” Elle’s story ended and she waited for Dipper and Mabel to respond. Despite their favorable reactions, her heart still fluttered with nerves. “So...what do you guys think?”

Dipper and Mabel both seemed to notice the uncertainty in her voice, based on the concerned  looks they traded with each other. 

Mabel addressed Elle first. “I think you’re really brave, after going through all that.” She gave the halfa a smile. “And I still think you’re really cool.” 

Elle sighed. “Well that’s a relief.” She tried to sound casual, like it was a joke but her tone gave her lingering anxiety away.

Across from her, Dipper swallowed. He addressed her seriously.. “Elle...I remember what you said earlier. We don’t think any less of you, because you told us the truth.”

“Yeah.” Mabel shrugged. “You’re still you...even if there’s more to you than we thought. And you’re still our friend.”

“Really?” Elle asked hopefully.

“Of course.” The other girl said, like it was the most obvious thing.

Dipper nodded. “You’re our friend. And…” The boy bit his lip. “I’m happy you told us. I think I get more why you reacted to the Copier like you did.” He looked down. “Everything I told you, everything I did with the machine. It must sound really awful, considering….your origin.”

“Yeah….” The half ghost rubbed the back of her neck. “Anything about clones is a sore subject for me.  And hearing everything that happened was...well...it was not fun.” She wrinkled her nose before her expression softened. “But...you’ve learned since then and I saw how you were with Tyrone.”

“Yeah, I have learned.” Dipper agreed, sounding more confident. “And thanks for helping me see. What you said about Tyrone not being just a copy...well...I already told you.”

Mabel looked at her brother curiously but didn’t comment on that. Instead she excitedly interjected. “Speaking of Tyrone...when do I get to meet him?”

“And what was that idea you had, to make it so everyone can see and hear him completely?” Dipper added.

Elle nodded. “So I was talking to my brother and he thought…..”

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

With that, the half ghost explained the plan she’s come up with as the trio finally finished their breakfast.

“Come on! Let’s go!” Mabel practically jumped out of her seat as soon as the rest of her pancakes were gone. “Come on!”

The trio headed up the stairs and to Elle’s room, where the girl opened the door with a flourish.

“Tyrone?” The halfa called.

A moment later, the ghost materialized, form as misty as before.

Mabel squinted at the ghost boy. “Is that him?”

“Yes.” Elle nodded.

The other girl grinned. “Hi Tyrone!”

The ghost boy waved eagerly and again, Elle could imagine his bright smile.

Dipper finally spoke up. “Why are you back to looking…. like that?”

“Oh yeah.” His sister nodded. “You said you could see his face last night.”

Tyrone said something but his explanation was lost in static.

Elle sighed. “Danny thought it was because yesterday was his DeathDay and traditional ghosts are stronger on the anniversary of their death. But…” She held up the ectoplasm. “This should help. You should be stronger than ever if it works.” She turned towards Dipper and Mabel, jabing a thumb in the other ghost’s direction. “Earlier, I was trying to convince this one to give it a try.” 

Dipper raised a brow at his clone. “It can’t actually hurt, right?”

The ghost shrugged before shaking his head.

“So you’ll try it?” Mabel asked hopefully. The ghost boy nodded, now more confidently, earning a grin from the girl. “Great!” 

Elle also smiled. “You can absorb it through your skin so I can just pour it on you unless….” The half ghost held the vial out to Dipper. “Do you want to do the honors?”

Tentatively, the boy took it. “Alright.” He took a step towards the other boy. “Here goes nothing.”

Anticipation seemed to swirl through the room. In front of his original, Tyrone tensed, bracing himself as the other boy tipped the vial over with a similar tense posture. Mabel looked between the pair with wide, eager eyes. Elle held her breath as the ectoplasm touched the other ghost’s head. The substance dripped down and Tyrone’s dim aura brightened. Then there was a flash of light.

Elle covered her face on reflex at the brightness. Nearby, Dipper squeaked startledly and Mabel gasped. There was a long silent pause. 

“Did it...did it work?” Someone said. No, not just someone. The voice was young, male, and...echoing.

Elle’s eyes popped open, her gaze falling on Tyrone’s face, his now very visible face. The other ghost’s eyes were pinched closed, his shoulders raised. 

“Did it work?” Tyrone asked again.

The half ghost’s mouth fell open. His voice….it sounded different from the few times she’d heard it before. It was more….physical, like actual sound waves traveling through the air and into her ears. Less like pure thought and emotions telepathically communicated straight to her brain. (It was so weird that she could tell the difference between those things.)

Across from his clone, Dipper wore a similar expression of shock. Numbly, he nodded in response to the question.

Tyrone noticed, his eyes meeting the other boy’s. “Can you hear me?”

Again, Dipper nodded, this time more enthusiastically.

The ghost boy grinned. “You can understand me. You can understand me! Dipper!” He put his arms up, eyes flittering to the other Pines sibling and grinning. “Mabel! I think it worked!” In his growing excitement, Tyrone grabbed one of Dipper’s and one of Mabel’s arms.

The other boy’s eyes lit up as he looked at where his clone was touching him. 

“I can’t believe this!” Mabel exclaimed.

At the same time, Dipper was mystified. “It worked.” He met Tyrone’s eyes again, his own excitement growing.

“Dipper! Tyrone! It worked!” The girl yelled as she took the human boy’s hand and started jumping in excitement.

Dipper and Tyrone both laughed. The clone grinned as he shifted his grip to hold one of Dipper and one of Mabel’s hands. He started jumping as well and Dipper joined a moment later. Soon all three were jumping up and down, all chanting. “It worked! It worked!” 

Elle smiled, watching the elated reaction as the three celebrated with exclamations of pure joy and laughter. They spun, almost dancing in something reminiscent of children playing ring around the rosie. Dipper ran into the bed and fell onto it all the while laughing even as Mabel fell into him. Tyrone dipped forward with the force of gravity but let go of the other teens’ hands. Floating, he darted in front of Elle.

“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” The ghostly clone threw his arms around her, still jumping.

The half ghost joined in, starting to laugh as well. “Ty! It worked!”

A moment later, Dipper hopped up beside the pair. He threw one arm around Elle and one around Tyrone, forming a group hug. “Yeah! Thank you so much Elle!”

The girl grinned, more at seeing her friends so happy than the praise itself. It had worked! Not only did Tyrone look fully solid and visible, he was fully tangible. Hugging him didn’t feel like touching mist but instead like hugging an actual person. He wasn’t warm of course; the ever present cold and electricity that came with touching a ghost was present. But he was here and he could touch and be touched. He could be fully seen without distortion. Though his body and clothes had a very faint blue tint, possibly from his much more visible aura, he looked very human for a ghost and very much like Dipper’s clone. And finally, she could understand him. His words actually came out as English! 

Mabel’s voice interrupted Elle’s thought. “Tyrone?” The girl questioned. Though her lips turned up in a smile, her voice was more serious.

The ghost boy turned, suddenly nervous at the girl’s change on tone. “Yeah?”

“You’re really him? The clone Dipper told us about?” Mabel questioned, her eyes shining with a mix of emotions.

“Yeah, I guess….” The clone said, rubbing the back of his neck. Then he lowered his hand. “Dipper told you about me?” He asked, slightly mystified.

“Yeah. Of course I did.” The living boy said softly.

Tyrone nodded, understanding dawning on his face. “Of course you did. You tell Mabel everything.” He then blushed at the strangely personal statement. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine. ” Dipper shrugged. “You’re right.” Then he turned more serious. “But actually...I told her because you’re important to me, Ty.”

The ghost boy’s face softened. “Really?” 

The other boy nodded. “Yeah.”

“You’re important to me too.” Mabel interjected, confidently through her voice wavered with emotion.

Tyrone turned to her, eyes wide. “What?”

“You’re important to me, Tyrone.” Mabel took a step forward, hesitating a moment before practically leaping forward to wrap the ghost boy in a bear hug. 

The ghostly clone’s eyes widened even more. “Mabel?”

The girl tightened her hold. “I thought...I thought I’d never get to meet you, bro-bro.” Her words rang with affection and just a hint of sadness.

The clone’s widened with something that could be hurt as he sputtered “Mabel. I’m...I’m not your...”

“Of course you are.” The other teen pulled back, enough to see his face. “You’re my brother.” She said, like it was the most obvious thing. “You’re my bro-bro, just like Dipper is.” Mabel smiled kindly. “I’ve got two brothers now.”

Tyrone blinked, totally bewildered. He opened and closed his mouth before muttering in disbelief. “You….you mean that?”

The girl nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. I mean that. You’re my brother and I’m your sister...if you want us to be.” 

The clone also nodded eagerly. “Yes, I want that! Of course I do! But….” He glanced nervously at Dipper.

The still living boy walked forward. He gently placed one hand on Tyrone’s and one hand on Mabel’s arm. “I like that word, brother.” Though he bit his lip anxiously, he sounded sincere. “I think….I’d rather call you that, than my clone.”

Tyrone’s eyes widened as he asked hopefully. “Your….brother?”

“My brother.” He nodded. “We’re brothers.” 

“Brothers…” The clone mused, his eyes shining with happiness. “I liked that. I really liked that.”

Tyrone leaned forward to wrap one arm around Dipper and one around Mabel. The three newly minted siblings collapsed into a group hug on the floor, laughing and muttering loving comforts to each other.

“I’m really happy to finally meet you.” Mabel said.

Tyrone agreed. “And I’m happy to meet you properly.”

She laughed. “Yeah. Two days ago doesn’t really count, Misty.” Her voice pitched up, teasingly.

The ghost boy groaned in somewhat mock annoyance. “No, Mabel! You can’t call me that.”

The girl grinned. “That’s not what you said, then.”

Tyrone rolled his eyes. “Well, it’s not like I could actually tell you guys my real name.”

 “Dude, let it go. You know she’s never gonna give that one up.” Dipper added, with a hint of humor.

“Dipper! You’re supposed to be on my side.” The other boy argued.

The living boy held up his hands. “Not this time, Misty.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Tyrone groaned, putting his head in his hands. “You two are the worst.”

The three bantered back and forth. And again, Elle watched the scene with a smile. It was a beautiful reunion. And….her heart clenched as she remembered being in a similar situation. The first time she met Jazz and the girl called her, her sister. That was the first time she’d called Danny her brother and the older halfa confessed that he’d been thinking of her as his sister for a long time.

And Elle couldn’t help but think what she’d said earlier had had an effect as the trio’s conversation continued without her.

“I guess I should have told you last night but...I know you’re not me, Tyrone.” Dipper said sincerely. “You’re your own person and I…” His lips turned up in a smile. “I look forward to learning who exactly that is.”

“Me too.” Tyrone agreed, eyes shining with gratitude. “And...thank you Dipper. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

“Well….you know I’m happy to get to know you too.” Mabel shrugged. “And I meant what I said; I want us to be siblings.” She grinned. “We can be triplets now.”

“Triplets..” The ghost hummed in thought. He squeezed the girl in a side hug. “Yeah….Thanks Mabel.” The girl nodded. Then Tyrone met Elle’s eyes. “And thank you Elle.”

Dipper and Mabel also looked up at her. 

“Yeah. Thank you.” Dipper said. “We wouldn’t have figured any of this out, without you.”

“That’s not true.” The half ghost waved off his praise.

“Yes it is.” The human boy insisted. “You brought us together.”

“And….you helped me see I’m not alone.” Tyrone blushed. “It’s nice to know there’s someone like me out there.”

Elle’s eyes softened, understanding his meaning. Slowly she lowered herself to the floor. “Yeah. I...I’m happy to not be alone. You guys accept me and….I’m glad to have you guys as friends.” 

“Friends.” Tyrone agreed. 

The ghost held an arm out to Elle and the girl let herself join the group hug with the siblings. In her chest, her core hummed with happiness. She’s helped Tyrone reunite with his new found siblings and find his way on to the material plan. And though the ectoplasm supplement was a temporary solution (and there was the question of what would happen after the summer was over), with her parent’s expertise, Grunkle Ford’s ingenuity, and Dipper and Mabel’s determination, they’d find a way. 

As for herself, Elle finally had friends. Tyrone, who was a clone like her and intimately understood some of the hardships of being a clone- they’d have to talk more later now that he could. Dipper whom she’d shared secrets with and who had shared ones in return. And Mabel, whose positive, fun-loving, and accepting attitude encouraged her. Elle sighed; she really was lucky, not to be friends with normal kids, but with these three accepted her as she was- her crazy family, ghost powers, clone weirdness and all.

[ghostsray]

danny grows baby fangs

truce gift for @phantomofprocrastination!! happy new decade :)

word count: 3,080

____

Being friends with a rival ghost has its pros and cons. The pros are that Danny can call on them whenever he needs help fighting a bigger, badder ghost. The cons are that this does nothing to stop his ally from attacking him whenever they like.

He was awoken in the dead of night (pun intended) by his ghost sense escaping his throat. He quickly transformed and flew outside, preparing to fight a ghost wreaking havoc. Instead, he was met by Johnny, who asked for a spar.

Danny sighed and ran a hand across his face. "Really? You couldn't have picked a better time for this?"

"Of course not!" Johnny delightfully replied. "All the humans are asleep, so you don't have to worry about hurting any of them."

That was...surprisingly thoughtful. Still didn't make it any less annoying. Danny fixed him with a glare and said, "Johnny. I'm half human. I also need to sleep."

The ghost's eyes widened, and his mouth formed a circle. "Oh."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Can you go back to the GZ so I can get back to bed?"

Unfortunately, he already knew the answer he would receive when Johnny's face twisted into a wicked smirk. "But you're already here, aren't you? And I do have some energy I need to let out..."

"Dude, I swear..."

Danny didn't have time to finish his threat because the biker ghost was already sending his shadow to attack him. Inwardly, Danny groaned. Here he thought that he was making good progress this year in befriending his previous enemies, but it turns out they're too trained in Hating Danny On Sight to fully stop torturing him.

Danny blocked another swing from the shadow. He formed a ball of ectoplasm in his hands and used its light to fend the phantom off. As he watched it retreat, he bared his teeth at Johnny with a growl, trying to convey clearly that he wasn't happy.

For some reason, Johnny had the opposite reaction. He held up a hand to hold his shadow back and stared at Danny. "Wait, do that again," he said.

Danny frowned, confused. "Do what?"

"Bare your teeth."

Danny was Hella Confused, but he did as he was asked. Johnny clapped his hands and laughed.

"You're growing baby fangs!"

"...What."

The older ghost got closer until he was floating right in front of Danny's face. He pointed at the halfa's mouth, and his face adopted the kind of expression Jazz would make if she saw a baby animal. "Right there," the ghost said with a smile, "the cutest, widdwest baby fa--"

All of a sudden, a light enveloped Johnny, and he looked down to see the halfa sucking him into a Fenton thermos. "Hey! Not fair!" he whined, his voice shrinking as he went in.

"Sorry, but you deserved it," Danny spoke into the cylinder before he closed it.

He sunk from his spot in the air until his boots touched the ground. As soon as he did, he thought about what Johnny said. Now that he noticed, his gums were hurting. When he touched them with his tongue, he felt something sharp growing among his teeth. What did Johnny say? Fangs?

Danny looked at the building sitting across from his home. The lights indoors were all turned off, and the windows perfectly reflected the street and Danny on it. Danny let himself hover an inch off the ground and floated toward the glass. Once he got close enough, he studied his reflection.

Over the years, his ghost form had changed into something a bit more...ghostly. Before, the only parts of his appearance that changed were his eye and hair colors. Now, his hair became wispy, his skin grew tinted green, and even the freckles that had long ago faded from his human skin now literally glowed in ghost form.

Danny ignored these details. (He especially ignored how uncomfortable he felt seeing himself look less and less human.) Instead, he opened his mouth and focused on the trait Johnny pointed out to him.

Sure enough, two small, white points were growing from where his canine teeth should be. Danny stared. Were those really going to grow into fangs? Honestly, he's not sure why he was surprised. Pretty much every ghost he knew had fangs. Even Vlad did, and he's a halfa too.

He grinned at his reflection, and the reflection grinned back, showing off his brand new pair of fangs. Danny tried to imagine what the would look like on him once they grow, replacing the small points with something longer and sharper.

This was a mistake.

Suddenly the image before him seemed eerily familiar. Wispy hair, almost like fire. Greenish skin bordering on teal. Growing muscles underneath his jumpsuit. And fangs.

The grin was gone from Danny's face, but the reflection still smiled. Since when had its eyes turned red?

Danny took a shaky step back.

It was him.

The thermos slipped from his hands with a clunk. He gulped.

He was turning into him.

Fire entered Danny's nose. Fire, and the smell of burning flesh. He whipped around, eyes out of focus. The Nasty Burger. It was gone. The flames licked the sky and danced on where the building once stood.

His family. His friends. He couldn't save them.

"No," he softly said, as if that could erase the scene before him.

He dropped onto his knees on the pavement. The smoke stung his eyes and filled his lungs. He couldn't breathe.

"No," he repeated, gasping and gripping onto his hairs. "No, no, no."

His eyes fell on the thermos next to him. The metal surface reflected Danny's face, but it wasn't the face he saw in the mirror yesterday. It was his face from tomorrow. Red eyes, wispy hair, and grinning at him with long, sharp fangs.

An ecto-blast shot past his ear, jolting Danny back to reality. He looked up, his eyes finally focusing on someone standing over him...someone wearing a teal jumpsuit and red goggles...his mom?

But he saw her die, didn't he? There was the explosion, and...and she was blasted apart like everyone else...and then...oh, right.

It felt like he was finally waking up. The air around him was clear. He wasn't in front of the Nasty Burger, he was in front of his own house. And even if he was there, the restaurant would still be standing. The explosion never happened. Clockwork erased that timeline.

His family was still alive. Maddie was still alive.

A fact that helpfully made itself apparent by the gun she was pointing at him.

"Why are you doing that?" his mother asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

"Doing what?" he replied.

"Pretending to cry."

Danny touched his cheeks. Was he really crying? Sure enough, his gloves came back wet.

"Answer me, phantom," Maddie's voice cut through his thoughts, sharp and bitter.

Danny let his hands fall onto his lap and gulped. "I'm not pretending."

"Of course you are," Maddie stated matter-of-factly. "Ghosts can't shed genuine tears. After all, it's not like they can feel--"

"Yes, they can," Danny suddenly snapped. "They feel! All they do is feel! That's why they're aggressive. Not because they lack emotion, but because they're created from it! Not that it matters to you, since you never listen to what I say."

Maddie's jaw dropped. As soon as the words left Danny's mouth, he knew it was out of character for him. Phantom was a smooth ghost who only spoke to tell bad puns and mock his enemies. He never snapped at anyone like that. A part of him felt ashamed for yelling at his mother, but he wasn't in the mood to feel guilty about it.

He averted his eyes and wiped at his tears. Man, he must have looked pathetic. Why was Maddie even out here? Of course, he had forgotten that his parents had almost as little sleep as he did. She was probably pulling an all-nighter working on some new invention to kill him when she noticed the ghost having a breakdown outside their house.

Danny tried to ignore the embarrassment he felt and pushed himself to his feet. If Maddie noticed the way he shook as he pulled himself up, she didn't comment on it. He took a deep breath. The smell of fire still lingered in his nose.

"Never mind," he said, not looking at her as he spoke. "I'm not in the mood to deal with you tonight." He turned away and prepared to take flight, but a hand suddenly gripped at his wrist, and he turned back to see Maddie holding on to him.

"Wait," she said. After a moment of hesitation, she let go and...lowered her gun? "Let's assume I believe what you said, about ghosts feeling emotion. Why are you crying?"

Danny had to assure himself that he wasn't dreaming. Talking and not shooting? That was new. He must have stared at her for a long time in surprise, because she frowned and urged, "Well?"

He blinked and looked down. "It's nothing."

"So you are faking?"

"What? No!"

"Then what is it?"

He bit his lip. How could he even begin to explain it? Hey, no biggie, but I sort of saw an alternate timeline where I went evil and killed you, which happened a long time ago but apparently I'm not as over it as I thought. Yeah, no. Instead, he asked, "Why do you care?"

He looked up and saw something soften in her face. Her brows knitted, but in an I'm-willing-to-hear-you kind of way, just like the days in his childhood when she sat next to him in bed, ready to soothe him as he woke up crying from another nightmare. It made him meet her eyes, forgetting for just a moment that they were supposed to be enemies. She was not Maddie the ghosthunter, but Mom.

Then the illusion broke when she said, "With how much power you have, it is my duty as a ghosthunter to make sure you dont step out of line. Anything that would cause you to act differently from usual should concern me."

His chest crumpled. Of course she didn't care, and why would she? He was a ghost. This was nothing more than another duty for her as a ghosthunter.

He tried not to show his disappointment, but it must have shown anyway because Maddie asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"No," he lied. "Of course not."

She sighed. "Of course not." She crossed her arms and turned away, then muttered under her breath, "I don't know why I thought I could help a ghost. I can't even help my own children."

Danny guessed he wasn't meant to hear that last part, but he did. He stared at her incredulously and asked, "What?"

She stiffened, then quickly said, "Nothing. I don't need to tell you about my family life."

He took one step toward her, then immediately took a step back when she aimed her gun on him. Right, he forgot she didn't holster that.

"I mean it," she warned. "This isn't about me."

He stumbled and fell onto the pavement. Maddie stood over him, still aiming her weapon at him. Were they not just having a moment? Obviously not. Maddie Fenton was never one to have moments with a ghost.

"Really, quit breathing. I know you don't need to do that."

Danny only then noticed how hard his chest was rising and falling. He gulped. "I can't keep doing this," he suddenly spoke.

The hand holding the gun faltered. "Doing what?"

His eyes stung, but he held back his tears because he knew she would tell him he was faking again, and he didn't want that to happen. Instead, he fixed his eyes on the red goggles that covered hers and said, "Fighting you, being your enemy, until the day you die."

Maddie remained calm as she said, "You're a ghost. I'm a ghosthunter."

"That doesn't mean we have to fight." He gestured between them and added, "I mean, we were just having a conversation. At least until you pulled out your gun again."

"Is that why you brought me out here?"

"I didn't. You came on your own."

"You were acting strange," she replied. "You still didn't answer why."

His core thrummed against his chest as he continued to stare into her gun. Why are you crying? Because he's still scared of becoming his evil self. Because he doesn't want to hurt his family. Because every time he closed his eyes, he saw their scorched remains, and he doesn't want to be the person to cause that to happen.

"I don't want to be a bad ghost," he answered.

Maddie tilted her head. "That can't be it," she spoke in her snobby scientist voice. "Ghosts dont have a sense of right and wrong--"

"Would you stop making assumptions about ghost morals? I'm the ghost here, not you."

That was the second time he snapped at her. He tore his eyes away from her, instead choosing to glare at the street. Maddie was quiet. "...You're serious," she finally said.

"Yeah, no shit."

She lowered her gun...just slightly. "That still doesn't explain things," she said. "Why the sudden reaction? The tears?"

His eyes landed on the thermos that lay a few feet away, reflecting his green skin and wispy hair and glowing eyes on its surface. His gums hurt.

Danny shut his eyes and gulped back bile. "I...I did something bad, okay?" he said, his voice small. "I thought I could forget about it, but I can't. I--I don't want it to happen again."

A moment of silence hung between them, broken only by the soft whistle of the breeze. He hoped she wouldn't ask, but he knew the question was coming anyway. "What did you do?"

His hands shook. He gripped them into fists, but that did nothing to ebb his emotions.

"Phantom," Maddie urged. "What did--"

"I killed people!" The tears escaped his eyes, which opened to reveal toxic green irises that shone brighter than the streetlights. He faced Maddie, his expression contorted in guilt and pain and Ancients why do his gums still hurt as he cried, "I killed people. They died, and it was because of me. I killed them."

He waited for her to get angry at him, to shoot him. Instead, she gave him a reaction he didn't expect.

"Now I know you're faking," she said, lowering her gun completely.

He blinked away his tears. "What?"

"Feeling guilt over someone's death? Ghosts can't care about that." She held up a hand and continued, "Before you argue again about whether ghosts have morals or not, I'm talking about the concept of life and death. You're dead, so you shouldn't be able to bother over whether others are, too."

Danny sat back and let those words sink in. Was that why his alternate self had seemed so heartless? He had removed his humanity, and along with it, any sympathy he had left toward life. If Danny had fully died in that portal, would he...?

He shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. "But I don't want others to suffer the same fate I did," he argued.

"That's not what other ghosts seem to think," Maddie pointed out. "Even if your obsession was saving others, it should be easy for you to get over a few deaths after some time has passed. It simply doesn't make sense for you to care." She crouched until she was at eye level with him and inquired, "So tell me, Phantom. What makes you so different?"

"...I don't know." What else could he say without revealing his secret? He truthfully told her, "I never asked to be this way."

She scrutinized him, as if looking at him could somehow reveal the truth. After a while, she sighed and stood up...and holstered her gun.

"I can never understand you," she said. "You're just...so human. Your emotions, your thinking, your morals, even your appearance."

He perked up. "You think I look human?"

She looked at him as if he just said the dumbest thing on the planet. "Of course you do," she answered. "Even if you've changed since your first appearance, the change isn't nearly as much as it should be for such an increase in power as yours. Other ghosts your power level would look much more monstrous. But not you. You may grow claws and fangs, but you can still pass as a person."

Danny was dumbfounded. Here he was worried that he might be losing his humanity, and now he was proven wrong by none other than one of the world's leading ghost researchers, his own mother. He thought that was as much relief as he could feel, and then she said,

"You're not a bad ghost, Phantom."

He bit the insides of his mouth to keep himself from crying again because dammit he's already cried enough times this night already. Instead, he blurted out the thing that was on his mind in that moment, which was, "You're not a bad mom."

Mom faltered. For a second, Danny worried that he screwed up. He should not have said that, now she's going to try shooting him again and then everything that just happened would be a waste... But she didn't do that. He couldn't read her face well from underneath her mask, but something crossed her face. She observed him silently, and he squirmed, wondering what she saw. She opened her mouth to say something, but then changed her mind and turned away without a word, leaving the halfa behind as she went back indoors.

Danny sat in the middle of the empty street, watching his mom leave. What just happened? He wasn't sure, but Mom just left without leaving him an injury, which he didn't think could be possible. The world lit up around him as the sun rose from the east.

Shit, he had to return home before someone could walk into his room and find it empty. He fumbled around until he caught the thermos, then paused to look at his reflection. He saw...himself. No evil alternate self. No monster from the future. Just Danny Phantom, existing in the present.

He grinned, showing off his brand new pair of fangs.

Now that he thought about it, having fangs sounds pretty cool.

[anthropwashere]

Phic Phight: it’s all downhill from here (honey don’t be scared)

Prompt from @aggressivelyclueless: Halfa Valerie AU: Valerie becomes half-ghost. Apart from that being a total nightmare, this also leads her to discover Danny's secret as well. How is she going to handle it?

@currentlylurking @phicphight

Word count: 7,825

=

Mr. Heppenheimer, the latest in a long line of chemistry teachers that have come through Casper High since actual, real life ghosts have begun treating Amity Park like their own personal Las Vegas retreat away from the rigors of whatever normal life is like for ghosts in the Ghost Zone, gives Danny a lingering stink eye. Clearly the last teacher, Mrs. Jamshidi (who barely lasted a month, and submitted her two-week notice while recovering in the hospital after an admittedly memorable encounter with Ember), had left notes behind for her successor. Danny doubted a single word of it was in his favor.

"This practical's worth a quarter of your grade this semester," Mr. Heppenheimer says in his usual droll way. "You're not going to make me regret handing you glassware, are you, Mister Fenton?"

Danny, still a bit sore and off-kilter after another Jack Fenton-approved growth spurt, grins down at him. "No, sir."

Mr. Heppenheimer hums doubtfully. Clearly Mrs. Jamshidi had left extensive notes. "Don't make me regret this."

"Short of a ghost attack, I doubt you will," Danny answers truthfully. He really has gotten a much better control on his powers since the last time any science teacher let him near anything fragile, well over a year ago now. Mrs. Gorman hated him from the start for reasons he never figured out, anyway. He's looking forward to a fresh start.

Of course, worryingly enough Danny’s been sensing a pretty powerful ghost lurking around Casper High for over a week now. Along with the usual big green beasties that like to come sniffing around crowds of humans, which he’s had to dip out to handle three times now. No one’s noticed his on-going ghost sense, though it helps that he’s long-since gotten into the habit of keeping one hand cupped lazily over his mouth—just in case. That’ll be harder to pass off here in a practical lab, but there ought to be a lot of things bubbling and steaming soon. He just has to be careful until he’s got some cover.

Mr. Heppenheimer hums again, more dismissive than doubtful, and lets him approach the counter. His partner in this practical is Star, which is—randomized, definitely. Whatever, also definitely. He and Star have as much in common as him and an actual star, which is to say—nothing. He doesn't even generate heat anymore, not really. He's got a modified Maddie Fenton-approved belt buckle that lets him fake it, but it's not remotely the same thing, and not a

ll that convincing at close quarters anyway. Star, at least, knows him well enough that she's been bringing a mint green cardigan to class ever since they were assigned project partners.

Danny, well-aware he’s only good in the eyes of his peers for a laugh and anti-ghost tech, smiles thinly at Star and gestures at her to take the lead. She sniffs pointedly and does just so, which is fine with him. She's well on her way to valedictorian, whereas he's just trying to graduate. If deferring to whatever she wants gets him a passing grade, sure! He'll do whatever she says and accept whatever belittling comment she tacks on along with it. No skin off his back, right?

About twenty minutes into class there's a magnificent crash of glass that puts Danny 110% on edge; it's only Sam appearing at his left with a reassuring hand on his arm that keeps him from blasting a hole through the wall out of pure reflex. Which, maybe, possibly, likely says something about his state of mind after three straight years of fighting the kind of monsters that don't have any place outside of his very worst nightmares, but—whatever. Point is, thanks to Sam, he doesn't trash the lab or draw any unwanted attention to himself, both of which are good things! Another point in his favor: it’s finally somebody else’s turn to destroy a whole tray of beakers.

"Miss—Gray!" Mr. Heppenheimer shouts after a brief glance at the clipboard Danny hasn't seen him put down in the two weeks since he took the job. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"S-sorry!" Valerie stammers, her eyes firmly on the mess at her feet. Her project partner, Wes, is scowling at Danny. Likely because he believes the mess is entirely his fault. Wes can believe whatever he likes; just because he's the only one not fully in on The Big Secret who figured out The Big Secret out doesn't make him automatically right 100% of the time. Case in point: now. Danny's only touched his notebook, where he's got three pages of dutifully written notes on what Star's tasked him to write as she did all the metaphorical heavy lifting. He could swear on a stack of Bibles that this latest chemistry accident doesn't have a thing to do with him. It’s kind of refreshing, honestly.

Mr. Heppenheimer hums again. It seems to be his default over all the loud swearing he'd obviously prefer to be doing. "Clean it up. And do be careful, Miss Gray. I'd prefer to avoid sending anyone to the nurse's office today if I can help it."

"I—yeah. Yes, sorry." Valerie dashes off to the closet where all the safety-slash-cleaning gear is stashed to fetch cat litter, broom, and dustpan. Star scoffs on Danny's right, while Sam, hand still firmly squeezing Danny's bicep, has a worryingly thoughtful scowl on.

"Valerie has been such a mess since her dad lost his job," Star remarks in the usual scathingly cruel A-lister tone.

"He got his job back." Danny points out as he tries to shrug Sam off without making a big deal of it.

"So?" Star's tone has shifted from scathing to incredulous, which means she somehow didn't know something Danny's known since the tail end of their freshman year. It's admittedly bizarre to find himself able to lord some classmate gossip over an A-lister, but—with a glance at Sam to confirm it is, in fact, cool to lord this gossip over an A-lister—he gives Star a slow, sly grin as he gestures her closer. She leans in without an ounce of self-restraint or disgust, which means Danny's moved higher up the food chain since the last time he bothered to pay any attention.

"Valerie's dad used to be some bigwig in Axion Labs," he says, one eye on Sam and the other on Tucker, both of whom in turn are watching the teacher and the rest of the class. Just in case. "After Vlad—uh. Vladco, I mean—took over the company, Mister Gray got his position back despite Phantom screwing him over, and it's been smooth sailing for him ever since."

The sound of Valerie sweeping up broken glass gets discordantly loud, somehow. Danny doesn't have to look at her to know she's glaring daggers at him. He sets his shoulders and sticks the angle of his nose twenty degrees snootier, mostly to spite whatever murderous and/or weepy glower Valerie might be trying to laser into his soul. Which, whatever. He knows the shape of his own soul by now. He knows it's Phantom, plus or minus some degree of fiery white hair and green-tinged skin.

A bit of the old guilt niggles in the back of his head though. Accident or not, it was Phantom who cost Mr. Gray his job in the first place and Vlad who gave it back. And Vlad only did it at all once he realized his favorite little ghost fighting minion would be a better thorn in Phantom’s side if she didn’t have to work a part-time job at the Nasty Burger. Which—well. Danny’s glad she doesn’t have to deal with that anymore, for all that it does make her a better thorn in his side.

But—guilt. Dumb guilt, but on his plate all the same. He manages to edge the conversation to some other Gossip with a capital G that even Star's not aware of. Oh the things a guy can hear when he can literally turn invisible. It's kind of fun, honestly, to fill her in. The rest of the hour is spent hissing old-as-shit hearsay that still manages to make Star's eyes light up like she's watching Paulina’s favorite cabin burn down again. They do, somehow, manage to get their project pushed along to step three, which will pick up with the rest of all the normal and unobtrusive partnered projects tomorrow. He's not sure which of them is to thank for that, but he is more than a little pleased with how neatly he wrote their notes. It's the most like a regular student he's felt in months. It's honestly pretty great!

"We have a problem," Tucker hisses no less than five seconds and no more than ten after the bell rings. It's that perfect middle ground time of everyone shoving all their shit into their bags so they can bolt out the classroom door as fast as normal-humanly possible, so it's also that perfect middle ground time of nobody paying the three of them the least bit of attention.

"You noticed too?" Sam asks with her usual omniscient scowl. Danny truly and whole-heartedly wishes she'd stop with that, but he's yet to find an opportunity where he can say that to her face without coming across as a total shitheel, including now, so he grits his teeth and raises a pointedly baffled eyebrow at the both of them.

"Noticed what?" He asks with a patience he hasn't actually felt since junior high.

"Valerie's—" Tucker does a casual look around to see if anyone's close enough to eavesdrop, intentionally or no, which means this is a Phantom Thing. And if this is something Phantom and Valerie related? Yeah, no, he's in too good a mood for whatever latest gadget or trick Vlad might be cooking up via Valerie.

He holds up a hand with a sigh he automatically pretends is a yawn to cover up the blue wisp that escapes with it. "Can this wait? Better yet, can we just—not? At least for today? I'm really not up for counter-scheming."

"No need for that," Tucker assures way too quickly. The nervous laugh he follows it up with really doesn't help.

"Right," Danny says wryly, but motions to let them talk. Sam and Tucker share one of those weird non-verbal psychic looks where they have a whole conversation in the span of two seconds that goes right over Danny's head. He wishes they’d stop doing that, but if he called them out on it they’d deny it loudly, and it’d be a whole thing, and—ugh.

"Valerie's acting weird," Tucker says once they've finished. "As in, 'we definitely need to intervene' weird."

"Possessed?"

"No. But this might be worse."

"But this isn't the first time she made a mess in class,” Sam says.

Danny slips his one (1) notebook and one (1) pencil into his bag. He's learned the hard way to pack light and get real good at shorthand, as well as keep all his textbooks down in the Fenton dungeon where they're least likely to get torched in a ghost fight. Again. "Isn't it?"

"Nope," Tucker says as they make their way to the door. Danny's sure to give Mr. Heppenheimer some ever-so-slightly iridescent stink eye of his own to make him flinch, and then doubt himself for flinching. One good turn, and all that. "Seventh actually. Third a teacher noticed, but she's been weirding out a lot of the other students."

Danny grunts, more interested in shouldering other people out of the way to make it easier for Sam and Tucker to squeeze out into the hall. Hey, may as well get some mileage out of being one of the tallest guys in school, right? 

Sam touches his elbow to make sure she's got his attention while they make their way to their next classes. She's got sign language, Tucker's got photography, and Danny's got a free hour to nap in the auditorium ceiling. "She's constantly dropping things, she's always shivering, every lie I've heard her tell a faculty member has been total nonsense, she hasn't gone after a single ghost in almost two weeks—"

"Well, that would explain why there's been an uptick in my fifth period snake-wrangling," Danny remarks dryly, then grins nastily at some girl giving him a serious case of side-eye. She squeaks—actually squeaks!—and ducks behind some broad-shouldered guy in an eye-wateringly neon football jersey.

Tucker wacks his other elbow, scowling up at him. "Dude, this is serious."

"I haven't heard a reason to care yet."

He doesn't have to look to see they're doing another round of psychic Concerned About Our Bestie back-and-forth. Sam's the one who trips him—damn her preference for steel-toed boots—but it's Tucker who shoves him into a nook between two battered banks of lockers. "Danny," they both snap.

He blinks down at them expectantly, staying quiet. Hey, they're the one's worried about the badass ghost fighting black belt who would love nothing more than an opportunity to strap Phantom down to an operating table and go wild with a cattle prod. He's just trying to graduate. Preferably with all his teeth.

"Valerie is acting just like you did freshman year," Sam hisses. "Right after the you-know-what."

Danny barks laughter. "Yeah, right."

Sam and Tucker remain stone-cold serious. Worse, they look worried.

They wouldn't suggest something so crazy without a lot of thought put into it.

Fuck.

= 

It's another two days before Danny gets a good—"good"—opportunity to talk to Valerie one-on-one. During that time he sees first-hand no less than 37 incidents of irrefutable acts of half-ghost-hood. How nobody else—including that ass, Wes!—has caught on yet is nothing short of a miracle. Valerie cut ties with every other person in their graduating class after some disastrous party embarrassment Danny never cared enough to find out the details of secondhand. She's kept her head down and her teeth bared at anybody who’s tried to meet her halfway, and it seems everyone's accepted the fact that Valerie Gray is the second worst delinquent in the entire school.

(The first is him, naturally.)

He corners her three minutes before the bell to end lunch will ring. He's got calculus next—an unexpected good turn in his life that still makes him giggle every time he actually has time to do his homework—and she's got English. They can't afford to skip either class, but hey, you only half-die once, right?

She scowls up at him, twitching her head out of a habit she's not yet broken. She only shaved her head a month ago. He's still reeling over how good she looks, and also how much it makes her look like the awesome older Valerie from the horrible future where he and Vlad ghost-melded and murdered a dismayingly large number of humans. If that future is still somehow lingering out there in the tangled fabric of spacetime like a bad hangnail, he’s pretty sure that Valerie died, fullstop. 

He’d like it if he could do something to help this Valerie not die, fullstop. 

She scowls up at him harder. "What do you want?"

He allows himself another couple seconds to just—bask. Yes, she's hot as hell, and if they were both normal humans she could easily break him over her knee like a fistful of kindling. He's not yet gotten an inch of the Fenton width. He's basically all elbows, and it's now all but impossible to find shoes in his size. It's great, really, just super.

Mostly though, he holds his breath and lets his ghost sense settle in a chilly, wriggly knot in his lungs. How the hell did he not realize she was the cause before now?

He smiles down at her. It becomes immediately apparent that this is the worst possible thing he could have chosen to do. He stops smiling. Somehow that's worse.

"We need to talk," he says, and immediately wants to hit himself. Has daytime television not taught him anything? That's the worst thing he could have said!

"I don't think so," she says, and tries to edge past him. He catches her elbow—

—and she's got him smashed up against a classroom door before he can even blink. 

"Uh," they say at the same time. He feels one of her hands go ice cube cold against his skin. Since it's him and not a normal person, it's far more likely her hand just dropped to some negative three-digit temperature. If he were human, he'd be at risk for frostbite. As he's not, it's more like a refreshing breeze. He swears he even gets a whiff of the Ghost Zone off of her; like a hard shock of static on his tongue in a midnight snowfall. It's... nice. Is that what he smell-feels like? 

Hmm. Distracting himself. Best to stop doing that.

She realizes after too long a beat of awkward silence that one of her arms has gone full-ghostly, and springs back with a half-hysterical yelp. He turns around to look at her again, rolling his shoulder out of a long habit of pretending that Dash trying to rough him up actually feels like anything. She looks—

Well. Kind of like some kind of frazzled toy dog that's had to deal with way too many idiot humans manhandling her, and like she's pissed that all the finger-biting she's tried has only gotten her a bunch of braindead cooing. Danny finds himself sympathizing, and also like maybe he needs to vent to somebody else aside from Cujo on their 3 a.m. Thursday walkies. He considers several facial expressions he could make at her, dismisses all of them, and settles on upping the grimacing and shoulder-rolling. It sort of works? She looks guilty, which is honestly one of the better reactions she could be leveling at him right now.

"We really do need to talk, actually," he says, feigning an apologetic tone while pretending very hard he hasn’t noticed her left arm suddenly stops at the elbow. 

"Pretty sure we don't," she retorts.

He makes a show of rolling his eyes, and then a show of looking pointedly at her invisible arm. She looks down at herself, does a double-take, yelps again, and hides both of her arms behind her back as she makes several stammering attempts at a believable excuse. Danny winces, torn between sympathy and secondhand embarrassment. Sam was right; this is exactly how he stumbled his way through the first six months of figuring out his powers. At least he had the benefit of a couple of friends and eventually Jazz too to help cover his tracks. Valerie's on her own. She's going to get found out at this rate, and accidentally or not she will drag him and Vlad down with her.

"It's okay," he says calmly.

"Everything's fine I don't know what you're talking about!" 

He looks at her, unimpressed, until she looks appropriately embarrassed. "Let's try this again," he says, and puts both hands up to stall when she goes to retort. "Please?"

She purses her lips, huffing through her nose, but nods. Good enough.

"You're not okay," he tells her. "You're freaking out because something crazy happened to you, and you don't have anybody to turn to for answers without risking everything. You think you're a monster, or that you're dead, or you're dying, or some shitty combination of all of the above. You're scared because you can't control what's happening, and you're scared because you know you're gonna get caught at this rate, and you're scared because you know exactly what the GIW does to the ecto-entities it manages to get its hands on, because you're the reason half the ghosts that frequent Amity Park have done time in a GIW containment cell. Right?"

Valerie stares.

She keeps staring. 

Eventually her mouth starts making some feeble attempt at protest.

A while after that she musters up the stamina to stammer out, "W-whahaaat are you talking about? I think you've got—ha! The wrong idea! Yeah! I bet you're thinking I'm, uh. Um. Possessed! Yes! I'm definitely possessed! You caught me, oh fuck, I'm definitely just another one of Walker's goons—nobody important though! No nefarious schemes going on either, honest! I just, uh, wanted to take a human… out for a spin? Yes, that’s what I’m doing. You definitely don't need to say anything to your parents—"

"Valerie," he says.

Her mouth snaps shut so hard her teeth click. She looks terrified, furious, and miserable all at once. She looks like she knows she's cornered, caught red-handed, and like she fully expects Danny to rat her out. Does she really think so little of him?

He winces inwardly. Of course she does. She's kept him at arm's length since freshman year because he never owned up the truth to her. She's been protecting him from himself all this time by staying away. She only knows the front he puts on for everybody else.

The bell rings. In a matter of seconds this hallway is going to be packed with students, and this is not a conversation to risk anyone overhearing. He looks around. Their options are to either continue this wedged in a janitor's closet (she'd probably shoot him), ghost her up to the roof (she'd definitely shoot him) or duck into a classroom. Luck's on his side for once. He'd cornered her just outside the wreckage of the wood shop; it's not going to be fit to teach in until after they graduate, and even the other, regular delinquents know better than to hang out anywhere with that much Fenton ectobiological hazard caution tape. 

He nods toward the door. "Please?"

She looks like she'd much rather go toe-to-tail with Desiree, but the sound of a crowd surging their way decides for her. She bolts for the door, Danny at her heels, and they're in and hidden out of sight before anyone could see them go. He watches through a small hole in a stretch of opaque plastic sheeting, patiently waiting for the rest of the school to disperse into their various classrooms. There're too many holes in the wood shop's walls to risk talking even with all the noise out there. 

Eventually the hall outside quiets. The late bell rings. It's about as safe as it'll ever get to have this talk.

"I can explain," she begins, her voice quiet and shaken. 

"You don't have to," he says, and turns on the scary eyes as he faces her. 

Three years of fighting nightmare monsters hasn't done Valerie the right kind of favors either. A metal cube materializes over her shoulder and flares brightly as it powers up a shot. She in turn steps smoothly into a defensive stance, light humming up and down her as she... doesn't pull her ghost-fighting suit out of the spectral hammerspace it sloughs off to whenever she doesn't need it. He blinks. He looks at the cube properly once it becomes clear she isn't going to shoot him. The light coming off it isn't pink anymore, but the same ghost-green as his own powers.

"Explain," she growls.

Probably not a good time for jokes. He keeps his serious face on, scary eyes and all. "I was in an accident freshman year. My parents couldn't get their ghost portal to work. They got lax about not letting Jazz and I down there unsupervised. I took Sam and Tucker down there one afternoon while they were out. One thing led to another, and I accidentally got their portal to work. While I was standing inside it."

She winces. Not like Jazz or Wes did when he stammered out the story to them just so they'd stop asking. Not in sympathy as they tried to imagine what that would have felt like and falling a thousand miles short (not that he ever said so). She gives him the same look he's seen in the mirror every time a bad dream of that day grabs him by the throat and shocks him awake. She knows.

"Don't shoot," he jokes weakly, and reaches for that cold spark that shares the same illogical, impossible space as his heart. 

Another three cubes appear in a neat arc over her head when he changes, not that he blames her. She's just found out she dated her sworn enemy once upon a time. He's definitely surprised she doesn't shoot. She does go a bit deer in the headlights again, but more like a ghost deer that's just as likely to shoot lasers as it might bolt into traffic. "I," she tries. "You. You're. The whole goddamn time?!"

"Okay," he says. "Point of order. Cujo really wasn't my dog yet when I got your dad fired. That was an accident and I'm still very, very sorry about that."

Her eyes go ghost-red. "You wanna try that again?"

He sucks air in through his teeth, sighs out another blue wisp. She's doing it too. Has been the whole conversation actually, and plenty of other times before. He wonders if she's figured out what it means yet. He adds it to the list he's mentally compiling, keeps his hands up, and starts running his mouth as contritely as he can. 

=

The sun's almost set by the time Danny's really, truly, fully convinced Valerie not to turn him into the half-ghost equivalent of Swiss cheese. He's so hungry he feels like he's nursing a gut wound, but he thinks it's the smart choice to not suggest talking all of this out over dinner. It's not like his allowance (and black hole of an appetite) would pay for more than clearing out the dollar menu at Jack-in-the-Box, and no way is he stupid enough to suggest Valerie pay. So he remains perched on one of the few remaining tables left in the wood shop, still in Phantom mode mostly to watch Valerie grind her teeth. She's sitting cross-legged on another table, cubes and scary eyes gone. She's reached the fun sort of balance between bone-tired exhaustion and impotent frustration with no good outlet that isn't the kind of violence that will draw a lot of unwanted attention. She sits there and stews awhile, turning over everything he's told her.

He pulls out his phone—tossing her a wry grin when she flinches—and lets her stew. He shoots out a "safe, taking longer than a thought it would" into the group chat he's got with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. Tucker lets him know he's rooting for him, and also they handled the Box Ghost's usual afternoon showing with a game of checkers, and Wulf's in town avoiding Walker again. Sam reminds him to work on his book report if Valerie doesn't skin him alive first. He shoots back a neutral affirmative to them both, then pulls up Bubble Blaster to kill time until Valerie feels like talking—

"It was two weeks ago," she starts.

Danny resists the urge to sigh and pockets his phone again. Well, he mimes pocketing his phone. It sort of phases into that weird imaginary skin between his halves with a buzz of protest. When he changes back it'll be in his back right pocket, fully charged. 

"Mister Masters," she pauses to make this really complicated grimace, like she'd sort of prefer calling Vlad something like Captain Fuckface but she's too polite to do it aloud. Danny makes a mental note to call Vlad exactly that the next time they run into each other. The fruitloop'll make a hilarious noise, he just knows it. "Mister Masters sent me info on another job. He told me some of his employees at Axion Labs had reported some ghost sightings, and my dad had mentioned seeing some weird stuff too, so. So I snuck out and went to go check it out. It didn't sound like anything bad, just. Y'know. Another ghost."

Two weeks ago her tone would have been one of complete, dismissive disgust. Two weeks ago she was still human though. Danny stays quiet, which is probably the smart thing to do.

"There was something on my radar when I got there. I thought it was gonna be you, honestly—" She glares, a flicker of red coloring her eyes. He shrugs and gives her a charming grin that's all, Who, me? She doesn't buy it for a second, not that he expected her too. Two weeks ago Vlad was being a real prick though, setting all sorts of nasty ghoulies he'd Frankenstein'd in his super gross secret lab loose in the downtown area. Danny's honestly not sure if he got any sleep for like, four straight days. There was a lot of doctored coffee involved, by which he means the kind of coffee a regular human couldn't drink without requiring a fairly immediate trip to the ER. 

(Tucker Foley tested.)

"Most of the reports were from some department I've never heard my dad talk about, and it's all three levels underground. If Technus hadn't juiced my suit up again I don't think I could've gotten down there—"

That's an alarm bell Danny super doesn't like the sound of. "Again?"

She waves her hand dismissively that's all, So last year, honey, try and keep up. "Doesn't matter. Point is, I got down there, and it—well. It looked like the Fen—uh. Your parents' lab. Kind of identical, actually. In a kinda creepy way."

Yeah, that's Vlad all over. Kinda creepy and not all that original. Oh well. He raises his eyebrows pointedly.

"Uh. Well, my radar went crazy down there, but I still couldn't get a real bead on anything. So I went poking around and found the framework of this—well, portal. I didn't realize it was a portal though, since it didn't look like the one in your parents' lab. It was standing on its own in the middle of the room, covered in cables—"

"Ours is a mess too," he points out. "You can't tell unless it's off though. I'm not really sure where all those cables and weird hunks of tech go while it's on...."

She gives him a look like she's regretting not shooting him earlier. He does the smart thing by not pointing out that shooting him is still very much on the table, and that if history's anything to go by she's a huge fan of shooting him. He can't help but think that opinion might, just possibly, if he's very lucky, have changed in the last couple of hours. Fingers crossed? Those cube cannon things hurt like a bitch.

"I was looking around that thing because it was freaking my radar out when Plas—Mister Masters showed up."

He reels a bit. She must've expected it, because it's her turn to raise her eyebrows pointedly. "Wait," he says, holding his hands up in a time out T. "Wait a minute. You knew he's Plasmius? The whole goddamn time?!"

"No," she snaps. "Only after Danielle."

"That's nearly the whole goddamn time. What the hell, he's been lording you over me as a reason not to blab the truth for years. For fuck's sake, Valerie—"

"You wanna maybe shut up and let me finish, ghost kid?"

He scowls. She scowls back, plus scary eyes. He's pretty sure she's not doing it intentionally, so the effect's not as impressive as it could be. Red continues to be a great color for her though, not that he's dumb enough to say that.

"Plasmius showed up, blasted me into the portal, and hit the switch before I could do anything," she bites out, hunching in on herself like she's wishing the ground would swallow her whole—aaaand there she goes, sinking through the table. He clears his throat loudly, she realizes what's going on and ends up flailing around like an idiot for a few seconds until her body gets physical enough to stay put. 

"Sam was right," he muses. "This is entertaining."

"Fuck you," she snaps without much venom. Mostly she sounds tired.

He sighs, hating himself a little for reasons he's not gonna explore right now. He's too hungry for introspection. "Did he evil-monologue why he did that to you?"

"A little. I was kinda out of it, after." She grimaces, gesturing at herself. "I didn't catch all of it. Something about being a distraction for you, though I didn't know that he meant you at the time."

"Oh goodie, this evil plot has layers, and ruining your life is apparently a fucking footnote." He scrubs his face with both hands and changes back into his plain Jane self. Valerie twitches badly, eyes flashing red and a fun eye-watering white shimmer shivering up her whole body. Huh. "Hey, have you tried changing back since that asshat zapped you?"

"Of course not," she hisses, looking at him like he just suggested she go streaking through the administration office. "I'm trying to keep a low profile while I figure out a way to fix what he did to me."

Ah, hell.

"I'm sorry," seems the smart thing to start with. He hops off the table, hands up where she can see them as he approaches her. He takes a risk at reaching for her hands. She surprises him again by continuing to not shoot him. "I'm really, really sorry. But there's no fixing this. You just get—better at being this." He squeezes a little when she starts shaking her head and pulling away, amping up the 'I'm sorry for your loss' face he's had to get way too good at. Superhero, he ain't. "I'm serious. Vlad's been like me—like us—since like, '85 or whenever he got zapped by a proto-portal, and he got really sick after."

Her eyes go big and laser pointer red again. "S-sick?"

"Ecto-acne. Ever hear of it?" She shakes her head. "You'll probably be okay, if Axion's portal is based on my parents' portal, or even Vlad's."

"He has a portal?"

"In Wisconsin," he confirms grimly. "He's been trying to build a second one ever since he moved here, but I kept messing with him. I didn't think to check the basements of any of his evil companies."

"Axion Labs isn't evil," she retorts instead of doing the sensible thing and blaming him outright for the shit she’s mired in for keeps. 

He raises an eyebrow. "Sure. And Invis-o-Bill really is hellbent on establishing a ghost-human empire capital in Amity fucking Park."

She winces.

"Wait. You didn't actually believe that, did you?"

She winces harder.

"Ohhhh Valerie," he sighs, dropping her hands to melodramatically sag against another table. "I'm wounded. Honestly, truthfully, hurt that you'd think so highly of fucking Invis-o-Bill. Haven't you been paying attention to the shit the gossip mags shill about me? I'm either a ghost blob with delusions of grandeur in a skinsuit or the ostracized son of Pariah Dark and Desiree. You don't think my evil ghost parents have been around enough to teach me how to be a good evil emperor, do you?"

She's trying—and failing—not to laugh. "Shut up. How was I supposed to know what to believe, huh? None of the ghosts ever say shit about you."

"Yeah, 'cause they're cool with keeping my secret!"

She presses forward to jab a finger in his chest. She's still kind of flicker-y at the edges, like she hasn't quite decided she isn't going to go full ghost hunter on him, so it sort of feels like another hard burst of static. Goosebumps break out all down his skin; it's all he can do not to shiver. "What's with that, anyway? Most of 'em are so hellbent on destroying you for stopping them again and again, but none of them have ever come blabbing your big life-ruining secret to me or your parents!"

He shrugs. "Honestly? I don't think it's ever occurred to any of them. I'm pretty sure Skulker's the only one who knows like, for sure that Vlad's the same as me, and that's only 'cuz he likes to take jobs from Vlad now and then. The others?" Another, more expansive shrug as he slides sideways out of her range. So she makes him uneasy. What about it? She's only shot him point blank like, five hundred times if she's done it once. He'd really like to get out of this whole situation without any new burns to hide.

"Huh," she says. "Seriously?"

"Yeah. It's not—I dunno. I think it'd be like cheating for most of 'em to go blabbing to some humans or even Vlad. They wanna take me down, sure, but they wanna do it on their own steam. I'm definitely not complaining."

"Course you're not, because you are ludicrously overpowered compared to most of the ghosts out there itching for a little world domination."

He grins down at her, big and sloppy. "Hey, give it some time and you'll be OP as fuck too."

She reacts to that little nugget of wisdom just like he expected her to; retreating halfway across the room and shrinking in on herself like she's dearly wishing for a bit of time travel to undo what Vlad did to her on a selfish whim. Well. A conversation with Clockwork is an option still on the table. He'll give her a few more days of adjustment before suggesting a fun little jaunt into the Ghost Zone. He's honestly not sure if Clockwork and her are properly acquainted. That should be good for a laugh if nothing else. 

"Hey," he says companionably. "I mean it. You're gonna be okay."

She scoffs. He pretends not to hear the dampness to it. "Oh, sure. So long as I do exactly what you say, right?"

"This isn't blackmail," he says, injecting as much calm as he can to his voice. "Honest. I mean, I won't lie and pretend I'm not hoping you listen to me. If you get found out it's both of our necks on the chopping block. Sure, I'll make sure Vlad takes the fall too, so that's some nice revenge wrapped with a bow, but it's not like we'd be around to really appreciate it, y'know?"

She makes another, slightly damper noise. He considers the risk of hugging her against the risk of walking away with all his parts where they ought to be, and he decides the smart thing is to stay put and pretend right along with her that she's definitely not crying.

"I want to help you, Valerie. I've been where you're at. I know how much it sucks. And I had Sam and Tucker helping me while I tried to figure it all out. You... you need somebody to help you. Trust me on this much at least, okay? This isn't something you can do alone."

Her various damp noises evolve into an outright sob. "Fuck."

Yeah. That about sums it up.

"Fuck," she hisses out again, pawing roughly at her face. "This. I didn't want—all this time and you never—I coulda killed you but you didn't—and now I'm—!"

Okay. Yeah. Superheroes don't leave anybody to cry so miserably on their own. He's hardy. Even if she shoots him he can hang out, make sure she's okay to get home on her own. And they both skipped their last two classes. He ought to go rummage around their teachers' desks and try to figure out what tonight's homework is. She's got every reason to burn her textbooks and scream fuck it at the moon (Danny's sophomore year was a personal low point), and it's just as likely Skulker will pull some new scheme to try and skin him tonight as any other school night, but it's the principle of the thing. They're both just trying to graduate at this point, and they're so close. 

It might seem so incredibly, completely stupid, to care about graduating with all the other bullshit in their lives. Most days, it is stupid to care. But there are some days that stupid, pointless piece of paper is the only reason Danny chooses to get out of bed. He chooses to remember that he's still human enough for human consequences. He needs that diploma to get into college, and he needs to get into college so he can earn his bachelor's, and he needs to be stable enough to earn his pilot's license, and then somehow net 1,000 hours as pilot-in-command in a fucking jet, and on and on and on, because there's still this stupid, stupid, stupid little voice in his head that won't shut up about how cool it'd be to actually manage to become an astronaut despite—

—everything.

He wants to ask what Valerie wanted to be when she grew up, but that's... not now. That's a conversation for later, if he's lucky enough that she'll trust him with that little, foolish dream every kid clings to even when they're loudly proclaiming how stupid it is. Everybody grows up and realizes how stupid the dream jobs they wanted when they were kids was; it's the real dreamers that grit their teeth and keep working despite—

—everything.

He takes the risk, the leap of faith. He closes the distance between them and plays a pattern across her shoulder to warn her he's coming in for a hug. No cubes or guns or accidental ecto-rays materialize to blast him into next week, so he calls it a win and finishes the deed. She's all hunched shoulders and hard fingers knotted in his shirt, hot tears and probably some snot at war with how neutrally temperature-wise the rest of her feels. Everybody else—everybody human—feels hot as a sunburn if he gets too close. Ghosts are still too cold, though thanks to his handy-dandy ice powers none of them are ever cold enough to hurt like humans do. 

Here and now, hugging Valerie and whispering soft, pointless bullshit into her frizzy hair is the closest to human he's felt in—

—in too long.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"Don't be," he replies, instead of Me too.

"Thank you," she says.

"Nothin' to thank me for," he replies, instead of You should be blaming me for this.

"I'm scared," she says.

"It's going to be okay," he replies, and means it.

=

It's almost nine by the time he makes it to Sam's house, and he's so hungry he tunnel visions twice on the flight over. Lucky him, his friends and secret keepers know how bullshit his anatomy is, and there's a veritable buffet awaiting him when he gets there. Luckier him, his friends and secret keepers know better than to try and hold a Serious Conversation when he's like this, and leave him alone for the better part of 20 minutes before they both start loudly clearing their throats.

He slows his flawless imitation of a combine harvester long enough to muster a, "Hngh?"

Sam and Tucker waste precious moments he could be upping his calorie count with another psychic conversation that they're clearly both enjoying. He scowls, for all the good it'll do him.

"How'd it go?" Sam asks.

"Well," he says, setting his fork down to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. Manners, schmmaners. "She didn't shoot me."

"Damn it," Tucker says loudly, and pulls out his phone.

"Seriously?" Danny asks.

"He owes Jazz twenty bucks," Same explains as Tucker begins a furiously-typed text. Danny suppresses the urge to shudder. Something about the haptic feedback on cell phones really sets him on edge. He genuinely doesn't know if it's a pet peeve or a ghost thing. Either way he always has to squash the insane urge to pitch Tucker's phone at the nearest brick wall, and right now that is an honest struggle.

"Seriously?" He repeats. "You bet against me?"

Tucker pauses long enough to level an incredulous glare at him. "Dude."

...yeah, okay. That's fair. Danny would've bet against himself too, if he'd known to. 

"Rude," he says anyway, on principle. 

Sam and Tucker both make a huge show of rolling their eyes, but at least Sam pushes another three slices of pizza in his direction. They even ordered in, so there's actual meat and cheese on it. He has the best friends a guy could ask for, even if Tucker is an ass nine times out of ten. Serves him right to lose 20 bucks, voting against him against his sister of all people.

"Details," Sam demands. "How's she doing, what happened, is she gonna stop trying to kill you, et cetera."

"Vlad happened," he manages through half a slice of pizza. Sam and Tucker both wince; Tucker hard enough he actually drops his phone.

"Fuck," Tucker hisses. "Why?"

"Dunno yet. And I dunno about you, but figuring out his latest scheme has definitely become number one on my honey do list."

They both nod. Tucker's the one to ask the important follow up. "And Valerie? How's she doing?"

He makes a seesaw motion with one hand. "Again, gotta stress the whole 'didn't shoot me' thing." He grins real sleazily while Tucker groans. "She's not great though. I foresee the next like, two months helping her out taking priority over all the usual ghost bullshit. Short of like, apocalyptic ghost attacks, of course."

"Fair," Sam and Tucker both say. Sam gives him a pointed capital L Look, going so far as to pull his plate a few inches away so he can better direct his instinctive growl at her. "She's not gonna rat, is she?"

"No," comes out more snarl-y than he means it to, but—pizza. Sam takes him at face value at least, and gives him his plate back, with an extra slice of meat lover's for good behavior. She's his favorite. 

"We're gonna co-op," he adds, and pretends not to notice the Extraordinarily Concerned Psychic Look Sam and Tucker share over that bit of news. Whatever. They can stress over the idea of Valerie being included in their group. Him? He's gonna polish off the rest of this pizza, pull his one (1) notebook and one (1) pencil out of his bag, and he's going to get as much of a headstart on his homework before patrol as he can. If he actually manages to finish his two pages of grammar problems he's going to call it a great day. Anything else? Well, that's gravy so far as he's concerned. 

He grins to himself a little, thinking of Valerie's new phone number burning a hole in his pocket. If anything toothsome decides to show up tonight he got the okay to text her. And honestly? For all that she's in the same bullshit hell as he, Vlad, and Elle are....

Well. It's probably shitty of him, but it's still nice to have an ally and friend in this half-ghost bullshit hell.

[bitch-i-migth-be]

Crash Course | Chapter 03: Ready?

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman,  

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton,

Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, 

Words: 2′246

Tags: BAMF Danny, BAMF Jazz, Sibling bonding, Shenanigans, Swearing

Summary: He swore his sister was trying to make him go into cardiac arrest - considering his halfa status that was quite the accomplishment-

But there was no other explanation to his sister’s stubbornness, and if he knew her at all there was just no talking her down from interning at goddam Arkham.

A/N: I appreciate the comments, guys. :33  Let me know what u think.

CHAPTERS: 1, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

Danny might not be the smartest person out there but he sure was crafty as fuck.

He had needed to be even before the ghost entered the picture. Then, after the portal was up and running the habit of thinking on his feet and the fine art of rolling with the punches had been added to his skill set.

So, Danny knew from experience that no matter how good you could get at improvisation, it was always better to prepare beforehand if you had the opportunity. Because if you let something to chance, it would probably come back later to fuck you over. Or some annoying ghost would get in the way out of goddamn nowhere. He could deal with them, but it was just a waste of everyone’s time. Better get going before someone interrupted him.

Normally one small thing or another would backfire anyway because of his salted luck, but he preferred not to poke sleeping dragons when he could.  

Taking into account all of that, he had decided the first order of business in the Fenton Crash Curse for Suicide Missions: Start packing all the shit they would need to take with them.

Because It’s never too early to pack for the road to hell.

Especially if you are already in a hell all of your own.

-.-.-.-

“What do you mean you are coming with me?” Jazz murmured from the threshold of Danny’s room, eyes wide open, as she watched her little brother try to pack all types of random things into suitcases.

Since she had announced at the Fenton Family Dinner her plans of going to Gotham University and accepting an internship at Arkham, Danny had been behaving like he was possessed, which considering the portal in their basement was not that far fetched; he had started carrying around a book-like-journal and would not stop murmuring about survival-of-the-fittest. Jazz was not going to lie, she appreciated the concern but that part was a little bit concerning. Not the survival in general, they had been playing that game since forever in this house, but they had never really needed to write anything down.

Until now, apparently.

It was kind of weird witnessing all this. Weird as in she wasn’t used to him fusing so much over her. A normal amount, yes. But most of the time it was the other way around, she was the big sister after all. Also,  with the ghosts around and him going all hero on their behinds her brother was in dire need of all the support she could dispatch. So, yes, she wasn’t expecting this reaction at all, and she was even less prepared for her brother declaring his intentions of joining her in Gotham.

She hadn’t asked how he was planning on dealing with the ghost problem yet, but considering he was already packing when she, they now, weren’t leaving until the end of the summer Jazz thought her brother must have had something in mind already.

She didn’t even know how they could need some of the things he was putting in there but it appeared like Danny was on a roll and she wasn’t going to be the one stopping such, umh, productivity.

“I said what I said”

Jazz frowned lightly.

“Are mom and dad aware-?”

“I told them I was going to be your assistant with the research; mostly the field part because I don’t think they trust me with the equipment after what happened the last time,” Danny answered while still hunting down for more essential items to put in bags, those things were handy as fuck. “also, get a job or something”

“A job?” jazz raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe.

“It’s on the list,” Danny waved his journal/diary/thing in the air. Huh, so they were survival tips. “considering you are the only one with a scholarship and I´m not going to school anyway it seemed appropriate.”

“excuse me? you are not going to what?”

“May as well-” Seeing his sister’s expression he quickly backtracked, “but I mean, if you are really that opposed there is always online classes”

Danny tried to smile in her sister’s direction, but his nervousness made it come out more like a grimace. He kept trying. Jazz kept staring at him. Danny kept grimacing back.

Then she smiled back. A proper, full toothed smile. Oh fuuck

“I think I can do you one better” And with that, she turned on her heel and left.

Danny blinked two times. one after the other.  

“D-Do me one bet-? Jazz, wait!”

But it was already too late, his sister had another ball to start rolling.

-.-.-.-

Her brother was not stupid.

If her brother choice to appease her by taking online classes had been born merely of a strategic need, and hence the best course of action to take, Jazz wouldn’t have rebuked at all, there were, after all, some pretty good online options that her brother could take. But alas, that was not the real motive of his decision.  

It pained her and enraged her to see people belittle her little brother without even knowing him. See them think they had any right to decide whether he was worth something.

And it nagged at her than even knowing the basics of what was wrong with her brother’s low grades, she couldn’t help him more than she currently did. Not really. Unless she wanted him to end up in the hands of the G.I.W.

Fat chance of that.

But if there was a thing a Fenton was not it was a settler. And like hell she was going to let these people bring her brother down.

The first order of business would be to scout out the G.S.U. properly, some phone calls could prove useful, after all those who search shall find. 

-.-.-.-

When Jazz had retreated to her quarters earlier Dany had been left on his own with an uneasy feeling nagging at his gut. It felt a bit like foreboding.  

Like most things in life that inconvenienced him when it came to family issues he decided to ignore it until it came back to bite him, so he continued with his preparations and eventually took a seat among all the clutter that had become his room. After that, he didn’t have to wait long.

His sister had come back strolling decisively into the room, only pausing briefly to warily give the evil eye to the sheer number of things spread all over the room that appeared to have multiplied since she left the place.

She stopped right in front of her brother’s seated form and trusted her phone into the smallest Fenton’s unsuspecting hands.

“Look! There is still time to apply to a full-ride scholarship at Gotham Academy” Danny blinked up at her without a word, and at his sister’s insistence looked down at the phone to start reading, then he did a double-take and started re-reading.

Jazz had got to be kidding him.

“You want me to apply to some posh elite school?” He looked up incredulously at the redhead “Elite, Jazz? Me? With my grades and the amount of time I would get to study for an entrance exam I would be failing this just by applying.” grumbled the boy.

“That’s the best part.” Said the girl smiling like the Cheshire cat. “This particular exam is practical in engineering”

Danny froze. His eyes shot back to the phone.

“Practical you say?”

“Yes, lately there have been more scholarships granted for demonstrating a great gasp in the practical portions. Gotham is a little, umh, hard to handle, I suppose, and there have been situations in which people with the knowledge to accomplish great things have been turned down because of a lack of proper school background or support. So they decided to start implementing this.” She explained while her little brother continued scanning the document up and down.

Eventually, Danny shook himself back together.

“Ok, look, let’s say I had a shot at this.”

“Which you do-”

“Which I might.” The younger interrupted her, “This still requires to prepare at least three proposals for the faculty’s designated table of judges to evaluate and grade to get the green card, and this is like two weeks -two weeks!- from now, it doesn’t even specify what they are gonna have the applicants doing for the final test. How the fuck am I-?!”

The redhead decided to cut in before he could drive himself into a frenzy.

“Well if you are that sure about joining me then you won’t have a problem acing this, will you?” she smirked, then it softened into something more fond. “I know you can do this Danny, and so do you. And if you are that worried about the time, I can help you, we can start tag teaming together for ways to deal with the ghost from the get-go. It may not be permanent, but it will have to do.”

Her brother started biting his own lower lip and still looked somewhat unsure, so she decided to use the final big gun.

“Did I mention that Gotham Academy is right across the road from Arkham?”

Danny’s shoulder slumped.

“Ughh, fine!”

Jazz beamed down at him.

“I will leave you to it then!”

-.-.-.-

“Also, those things are not going to fit anywhere if you don’t organize them”

“Oh, ye of little faith.”

-.-.-.-

So. Jazz did have a good reason to believe her brother could get the G.A. scholarship.

The Fenton thermos technology was not only useful for capturing ghosts but could also store other things. That’s to say, more tangible things.

And her brother was the one who made it happen.

Danny has been tinkering with his parent’s things a lot more than some people would be comfortable with. The truth is, some of the things Jack and Maddie have invented could be fucking useful for everyday life if you took out most of the ghost shit or rearranged them a bit, it could have gained them a pretty penny, but like we all know the Fentons are not interested in anything if it’s not ectoplasmic.

Danny, on the other hand?

As much as he ends up believing all the bullshit others say about his sister being the only genius child of the family, he had never been afraid of dismantling and mounting up again some of his parents’ equipment. For him, it was not a question of whether or not he was qualified to do so, after growing up watching his parents tinker random machines all over the house he had inevitably started to pick up their ways almost as if via osmosis.

His parents, of course, had never fully noticed the fluffy-sweater clad toddler waddling after them from time to time watching them work, at first this happened when Jazz was otherwise occupied in extracurricular activities and couldn’t keep the boy successfully distracted somewhere else.

If at the time, Jazz had realized what was going on, she may have panicked and stopped her sweetly feral summer child of a brother from getting anywhere near their parents in the middle of a craze. As it was, she had not noticed in those first years, and by the time it had come to her attention even she had to concede that if her little brother had managed his recon missions without no one the wiser - Her brother was sneaky like that -, then he deserved the benefit of the doubt.

And, had that not been enough to convince the big sister, that had been the moment the sudden realization than her brother, unlike her, was more of a hands-on learner hit her full force, which would have been enough to make her relent. Learning was always good in her books.

Later, Danny would find most of the classes being imparted in Casper high boring as fuck. Not necessarily for the subject, but the way they were imparted. The youngest Fenton needed a good explanation along with a hands-on approach applied to something he found interesting to fully commit to something. At school, the most he could get were the theory and the occasional practical classes.

If the classes had been related to something interesting, say, rockets, stars, maybe NASA, it would have been easy to pay his full, unconditional attention to the teachers. But not one of the teachers had bothered to try and link the lessons to the interest of the alumni, not surprising, considering public school stuck to basics and had a timeline to complete and the classroom never seemed to learn things at the same rhythm so concessions had to be met.

It was still boring as fuck. But if he wanted to someday make it into NASA he would have to suck it up and force himself to survive with relatively good notes this torment.

Then the ghost fights had entered the picture and his motive to keep up the grades had all but vanished, and the little time left behind to work with was not enough to make, at least, an average grade. He didn’t have enough reasons to strive for more.

For this though? A new chance far from the ghost and he could keep protecting her sister?

He had the brains. He had the passion. And a good damn motive to drive him forward.

Once he was done, the luggage - and Loony town - wouldn’t even know what hit it.

-.-.-.-

NOTES:

 Also, the thing about Jack & Maddie not trusting Danny with the equipment was one of Danno’s secret tries at messing around with the things. Needless to say, that one time didn’t stay a secret.

Oh well, it was not like he asked for permission in the first place.

-.-.-.-

“fluffy-sweater clad toddler”

Not gonna lie, I made myself crave some cuddles from toddler danno, so. fucking. cute.

There he goeees just waddling like a little duckling asdfghjkl

-.-.-.-

If someone here is a fan of the Gotham Academy Comic I greatly regret -not really- to inform you I’m only taking hostage the place for my evil fanfic purposes. I don’t know if there is going to be references but that particular comic is not the focus of this story, SO. You have been forewarned.

[burning-clutch]

The Not So Grim Reaper

Read on A03 Here Pairings: None Trigger Warnings: mild blood and cartoon style violence  Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost) Word count: 4291 Prompt by:  All-hail-trash-prince / KitKat Cat  FFN: the-trash-prince

-------

 It was the third anniversary of the half death day of one Daniel Fenton and said teen was not exactly sure how to feel about the matter. He had been contacted by none other than the master of the timeline, Clockwork, to let him know that today was going to be a big important day for him…

 So he was understandably nervous…

 The ancient ghost had taken a vested interest in him, sure, but Danny was pretty sure it was mostly to spite the Observants who had their hands in the old ghost’s work. Regardless of the reason though, when clockwork spoke or rather wrote him a note or some other such thing, he knew well it was important and he needed to heed whatever it was.                  At least it was a Saturday, so he didn’t need to worry about school, however, when his ghost sense went off causing him to exhale a wispy billow of cold air, he silently wished that the ghosts could give him a couple of days off a week as well.

 With a reluctant sigh, Danny transformed in his bedroom before taking off and heading off towards the location he’d felt the strongest pull from the ectoplasmic disruption. It was downtown, a great start overall, though what was odd was as of yet there was no destruction… no running people trying desperately to escape an ethereal threat…

 It was uncomfortably calm actually…

 Danny frowned and spun about trying to focus inwards to locate where the pull was. His eyes flashed open in an instant when he felt it, his ghost sense going off for a second time as he honed into the feeling. Whatever ghost had decided to pay him a visit today was powerful. Scarily so to elicit such a strong reaction from his ghost sense.

 He flew up towards the ghost, he was eager but weary. There was no outright attack yet so he wanted to hold out hope that whatever ghost was up here was peaceful.

 Danny was not prepared for a lanky ghost in a solid black robe looking out over the city from the highest building in Amity. Danny opened his mouth to speak but the stranger beat him to it. “Ah, Phantom… or do you prefer Daniel? Or some other such derivative of that?” the ghost asked, not even shifting in the slightest.

 Danny was unnerved by that. The ghost had a deep voice, gruff but buttery smooth… it had a strange resonance in it that made it sound both soothing and unsettling at the same time. Still, Danny was on guard. Ghosts could go from zero to a hundred really fast, and he’d been bitten by that ruse far too often to have not learned at this point… Still, he was always an optimist and any chance to get out of this without a fight he’d take it.

 “And you are?” Danny asked, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible to this potentially dangerous and powerful spectre.

 “Oh silly me, how rude.” The ghost chuckled out before turning around with a flourish. The ghost was bone white and rail thin, with ruby red eyes that shone with mirth around a deep navy blue iris. With the black cloak closed all Danny could see was the white glow around him and the elongated face of the ghost. As he laughed he revealed a long set of fangs both upper and lower hidden away by bone white lips.

 “My name is Mortimer, Morty for short if you’d rather. Most people prefer it anyway.” the ghost, Morty mused with a small tap of his white slender finger to his lips. “Ah well, that’s not important what is as that you’re a prompt kid, and I like that. Pleasure,” he stuck out a hand to shake.

 Danny eyed the hand suspiciously before grasping the pale appendage into his own. There was a cool and electric feeling radiating from Mortimer, that just screamed of power, but the literal grim grinning ghost before him seemed nice enough.

 “Right, introductions out of the way, now we can get down to brass tax hm?” the pale ghost said releasing Danny’s hand and clapping his own together with a soft and chalky sounding smack.

 “What?” Danny blinked stupidly. “You're a tax collector ghost?” he asked, making a face of confusion.

 “What? Oh Ancients, no! I am a collector of sorts and you Phantom,-”

 “Are going to be the newest thing in your weird collection? No thanks.” Danny scoffed having interrupted the ghost.

 “You don’t even know what the offer is and besides it’s not exactly something you can refuse being what you are, and how you have handled yourself up until now,” Morty said with a flippant wave of his hand. “Your fate was sealed into this the moment Clockwork took an interest in you.”

 “Clockwork? Where does he fit into this? With you?” Danny huffed feeling a little more angered by the second now.

 “Well, it’s your third death day right?” Danny nodded. “Well, today is when you officially transition from a kid to a teen, well from a ghostly standpoint anyway,” Morty said with a tilt of his head revealing a thin whisp of flame like hair that looked to be hardly there at all on his ebony ectoplasmic flesh.

 Danny blinked a few times as his mind caught up with that. This guy had mentioned Clockwork and Clockwork had mentioned today would be important… So…  “You’re who I was supposed to be looking out for today?” Danny asked.

 “I mean maybe? Were you told a reaping recruiter was comin’ to get you?” Morty asked in kind. “Because if you were that makes this a whole lot simpler.”

 “A what?” Danny barely got out before the other ghost grabbed his arm and thrust him forward into a ghost portal. Instantly Danny engaged his flight and rounded on Morty, fists flaring only to stop cold when he saw where he was brought.

 The literal valley of death.

 Morty now had out a scythe as tall as he was, with a blade that was half the length of the pole. The blade, seemingly made of a blinding white plasma dipped into the portal and closed it in an instant. Morty then spun the scythe banishing the weapon to whatever unworld it had come from.

 The weapon itself was impressive enough, but the fact that it matched the exact description shape and apparently portaling powers, from what he remembered the reaper ghosts were usually seen to wield… Danny was very glad he didn’t try to attack this ghost now.

 “You really are a reaper.” Danny gasped out, staring wide eyed at Morty.

 “Yes, I thought I’d mentioned that? No? Eh, well we’re here now and we’ve got work to do boy!” Morty said with a motion aimed at the halfa to get him to follow.

 Reaper ghosts were dangerous, said to kill a living person with just a touch of their hand… Danny’s eyes widened as he stared down at the hand he’d shook Morty’s with earlier. Did that mean…? He rubbed at his neck as he followed, thankful to feel the slow and shallow ‘Ka-thump’ beneath his gloved hand.

 “Wait, you mentioned you were a recruiter?” Danny asked moving quickly to catch up to the other ghost.

 “Yep,” came the simple reply with a popping P. “And you’re here because-.”  he trailed off with a wave of his hand urging Danny to put two and two together.

 “I’m being turned into a reaper?” Danny hazarded out his guess.

         “Got it in one kid. Congrats. Morty said with a nod of approval.

 “Wait… Why me?”

 “Well, the main one is you being a demi-ghost. You’re between the life and death binary system. Meaning, you yourself are the focal point in that scale of life and death,” the reaper responded.

 “What about Vlad? He’s a halfa too…” Danny asked, genuinely curious.

 “Indeed he is, but you are not like him in the slightest when it comes to personality. Tell me do you know what we do? What job does a reaper ghost have?” Morty asked, turning to look at Danny over his shoulder.

 “You take the souls of the living, collecting them and forcing them to die…?” Danny asked nervously. “I don’t want to kill people though! Even if they are on some list or however you decide who’s time is up!” he argued to Morty. He really didn’t want to kill people…

 “Ha! No, Why does everyone always think we deal in the living? Life and death are something that can’t be influenced by us.when your number’s up it ain’t us that's coming to kill you, nature does that plenty well on its own.”

 “Then-”

 “We deal in the souls of ghosts,” Morty stated. “When a living thing dies, regardless of whether they become a ghost or not, the souls flow to the ghost zone. If they do become a ghost it means they had an obsession that was stronger then the pull of the zone’s core, the collective.” Morty explained.

 “That much I know… It’s a basic concept.” Danny nodded curiously now as the reaper led him into a catacomb beneath the garden they were standing upon a moment ago.

 “Right, well, what do you think happens to ghosts who’s obsessions get out of hand to the point the ghosts themselves are a danger? Or ghosts that get trapped in the human realm? That’s where we come in. if they’re a danger it’s our job to force them into the collective. And the easiest way is to slice the obsession right out of them, slicing through their core with your scythe. No obsession, no reason to be and the ghost is absorbed into the collective.”

 “That’s still killing people! Even if they’re ghosts I still can’t-” Danny shook his head unable to think of himself potentially killing or ending a ghost… he would be no better than Dan then…

 “Well you’re not killing or ending, you’re returning them to the collective. Alternatively, you can also repair a broken core so long as the ghost isn’t too far gone. Putting down troubled spirits is our main service as a reaper, secondary is that making sure the collective stays as exactly that, a collective. We make sure nothing in the zone ventures too close, and nothing in, comes out.” Morty said with a sharp look about him as he said that.

 Danny offered the reaper a sheepish smile, before turning away from the glowing gaze to look about the catacombs. There were a lot of dirt torches on the walls and doors and really not much beyond that, but suddenly the door to his left was the most interesting thing on the planet.                  “You do not want to know what happens when something comes out of the collective and back into the ghost zone,” the reaper warned in a stern tone.

 Danny flinched his gaze snapping back into the ruby eyes of the reaper.

 “Besides most commonly it’s a reaper’s job to retrieve stranded ghosts from the human realm and lead them home to the zone. A starved ghost is not something to take lightly after all. And that brings us to why we’re recruiting you, and not the other halfa.”

         “Because I’ve been doing that as it is?” Danny tried after a moment of the other ghost looking at him expectantly.

 Morty grinned at that. “HA! Nice once again in one, and they said you were a dunce,” the ghost chuckled as they finally stopped to enter a large wooden door with a golden trim.

 “Who did?” Danny asked as he followed the ghost inside.

 “Don’t worry about it. Just pick out a scythe that calls out to you,” Morty waved him off dismissing the insult on his intelligence easily.

 Danny couldn’t bother to rebuttal though when he laid eyes on the weaponry in the room. They were in a word gorgeous. All glowing with an array of coloured blades and handles and the teen’s eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store.

 “Woah…” was about all he could get out as he gently reached out to try to grab a scythe with a bright white handle and a blue blade. As soon as his hand touched the pole Danny recoiled from the shock he’d received from the weapon.

 “Nope, that one didn’t like you kid,” Morty said amused. “A reaper’s blade is special to them, and only one reaper can wield a blade, so much so that if a reaper is destroyed the blade shatters along with them. It’s an extension of yourself,” he explained.

 “So then… how do you know?” Danny asked, trying to grab another one with a black pole and purple blade, only to recoil with a hiss and suck on his now burned finger.

 “You really need me to answer that one kid?” the reaper asked leaning against the door and crossing his arms.

 “...No…” Danny grumbled. The teen sighed looking at all the blades in the rows of weapons. They were all scythes and all slightly different, though some not by much to their neighbours. With a thoughtful frown, Danny explored the shelves.

 Morty watched the teen go eyes shining with mirth as he looked on into the rows and rows of weapons. As a halfa, he would become an angel of rebirth, a force to be reckoned with and eventually a great ruler. Until his one-hundredth death day, he wouldn’t know of that tidbit and instead would remain in their ranks as a reaper.

 Danny sighed after the tenth or so blade zapped him, he decided to try a new tactic. He closed his eyes and focused like he would when normally looking for a ghost with his ghost sense. These weapons felt like more than just average weapons after all perhaps they had a bit of life er, rather death in them?                  And so he focused and walked forward, moving along eyes closed until his hand rested in front of a rack. He blinked his eyes open and scanned the handles in front of him. It was easy to pick out the one that he thought was calling to him after that.

 The handle was deep black with coloured sparkling glowing speckles all along the shaft, swirling and pulsing shifting slowly all along the handle. They looked so much like stars that Danny’s core fluttered eagerly at the sight of that alone. When he grabbed the handle, he felt the sheer burst of power that flowed through him and it was both intoxicating and worrisome.

 He quickly regained his focus to stare at the white blade that pulsed and flickered with just the tiniest bit of blue. It reminded him of a comet’s tail with how it waved along when he moved the weapon. It was gorgeous and he knew it was his.

 “Oh, that’s a beaut’!” Mort said with a low whistle almost right into Danny’s ear, causing the teen to jump into the air and float there staring angrily down at the reaper. “Now you’ve got that I gotta teach ya how to use it, well the basics, then from there you’re to come back here every week til we deem you ready to don a cloak.”

 “I- right… so where do-” Danny didn’t even get the chance to ask as no sooner had he started Morty ripped a hole into space with his own summoned scythe and grabbed Danny dragging him through the portal. “Training…”

 “En- Garde boy!” Morty called, pointing the butt end of his scythe to Danny. “First things first summoning and banishing your blade, then portals, and that should do it for today. I’ve no doubt you’ll figure out fighting with it on your own after that.”

 “Yeah, ghost attacks in my town are far too common…” Danny admitted.

 “Well now you can portal them away,” Morty said with a chuckle. “I think that’s why humans all think us to be bringers of death, we’re often seen bringing newly dead ghosts across the threshold to the zone… but you being a halfa you can stay in the human realm and not have to worry as much about ectoplasm intake. It gives you a huge advantage.”

 With a final amused shake of his head, Morty went into army Sergeant mode. Like the flip of a switch, Danny was suddenly being worked over the proverbial coals. He wasn’t sure how long it took him to be able to summon and banish the scythe, but he was suddenly overly glad that there was only two things the reaper had wanted to work on.

 Once he had successfully done the summon and banish three times in a row they moved on to portaling. And this was where Danny felt the drain.

 He had to push his power into the blade to keep it rigid and allow himself to actually use the thing to cut. That alone was hard, but trying to force his power through the scythe to make the portal… after his third attempt, he was already almost ready to pass out.

 Push the power into the blade then past it, force it to burst out of the blade and reach into the human realm, then spin the energy around the blade to pull open the portal. He knew the concept Morty had drilled it into his skull by this point, but for the life of him…

 Danny panted leaning forward using his new weapon to hold himself up. He was almost ready to transform back…

 “Is that all you got?” Morty taunted. “If it is we’ll be here a lot longer. You’re not getting out of here unless you can portal out yourself. Do you have a clear destination in mind?” he asked again for the fifth time.

 “Yes, I do… I -I don’t think I have enough power.” Danny wheezed out.

 Morty shook his head. “You don’t, but your scythe does. You’re only supposed to use your power to supplement and direct that of your weapon. Now try again with that method.”

 Danny sighed and readied himself before standing up once more. With a deep breath, he readied himself and tried to talk with his scythe as weird as it sounded at first to his tired brain.

 “To Fenton works come on now… “ Danny urged. With a force of power from his weapon pulling from his own energy pool he swung his blade and sliced down. The curve went through space and sliced the fabric between dimensions open.

 With a triumphant cheer, Danny whooped out to his teacher. “You’ve done well kid. Now remember, to close it stick the butt of your weapon into the centre of the portal and give a small pulse of energy.” Morty said with a bright grin. “And I’ll see you next week.”

 With that, the Reaper ghost gave Danny a salute before opening a portal of his own and taking off to wherever it was he went when not on duty.

 Danny on the other hand eagerly flew through the portal, dispelled that, banished his scythe and B lined into bed practically collapsing onto the plush surface with a tired and sore groan. It didn’t take him long after that to fall asleep.  

 -.-.-.-

 It was dinner time when Danny woke up, or rather Jazz had brought up some leftovers to him after telling his parents that he was sick… Still, it was an easy win for him to sleep the day away and he’ll take any chance he can get for that.

 Jazz was easy to dissuade from pressuring him too much after he simply said ‘ghost problems’ she dropped it begrudgingly, and he was able to shoo her out of his room to eat his meal in relative peace.

 Or at least half of it since his ghost sense went off not too long into his meal.

 With an angered groan and a forlorn look to the mac and cheese loaf he had been enjoying, he transformed and headed out to knock some annoying ghost sideways… and for once he was almost hoping it would just be the box ghost.

 When a missile came flying towards him a few seconds later he knew that hope was dashed. Even more so when Skulker moved in himself to try to toss a weighted net at him.

 With a quick blast of his plasma the net was no more but the missile he’d dodged before rounded back on him, slamming into his back and launching him down to the ground.

 He pulled himself up with a groan and a small huff of annoyance escaped him when he saw an almost identical him shaped hole right beside the one he’d just pulled himself out from. “Well at least I’m consistent…” he muttered in annoyance, before launching back up towards Skulker.

 “I have you this time whelp!” The robotic hunter called out aiming a blast towards his prey.

 Danny threw up a shield before grinning to himself and summoning his new weapon. “I got something new for my death day and I wanna try it out!” Danny called. “Hope it gives me a new edge.” he offered quickly, swinging the blade around, doing his best to look cool, before pointing the business end of his scythe at Skulker.

 The self proclaimed Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter paused upon seeing the weapon. “That can not be real,” he scoffed out though the worry in his tone was clear as a crystal bell.

 “Like my new toy Skulky? I got myself a new upgrade!” Danny proclaimed channelling a bit of power to solidify the wispy blade into a solid and keen blade. With one two handed strike the thing struck true and sliced Skulker’s hand clean off as if it were butter.

 Skulker would be sweating if he were capable… as it were he could only stare at the halfa in dread and slight awe. “It’s real, isn’t it…” he gulped.

 “Very.” Came Danny’s amused reply as he decided to try something. Focusing hard on the area in the ghost zone just outside Walker’s prison Danny turned and stuck the air right beside Skulker. To the teen’s absolute delight a portal appeared in all it’s spinning glory. “It worked!” He chirped before kicking at Skulker to toss him through it.

 The bewildered robotic ghost hardly stood a chance and sailed through the portal with a yelp of dismay. To think the prey he’d been hunting all this time was a reaper!? It made him all the more valuable… Skulker reoriented himself before trying to zip back the way he’d come only for the portal to suddenly vanish leaving him stranded on this side.

 Danny meanwhile, was elated. This was going to make his job of protecting Amity a whole lot simpler. He wouldn’t need to worry if he forgot his thermos ever again! It was a good feeling. He swirled his scythe around like the leader of a marching band with far too much flare, simply enjoying how natural the weapon felt to him.

 His exceptional high feeling was cut short however when Valerie’s voice hit his ears. “What… What was that?”

 Danny squawked, he didn’t even hear her coming up behind him! He clutched the scythe to his chest, the blade’s wispy form flickering along with his ghostly tail and aura. “What?” Danny blinked stupidly.

 Ever since Danielle Danny had shared a shaky alliance with the huntress, though it was more of a stay out of my way and I won’t shoot directly at you, sort of thing. Still, any sort of relief from attacks, he’ll take.

 “That scythe… it’s new.” Valerie commented suspiciously.

 “Oh, Yeah! I’m three now so I got a cool toy! Apparently, I’m a reaper ghost. Neat huh?” Danny grinned doing his best to keep up his playful hero persona.  He spun his weapon around a few times before vanishing the thing and taking a bow.

 “A reaper?” Valerie asked carefully, floating a little bit further back from the male now.

 “Yep!” Danny exclaimed popping the P and straightening back up to properly face Valerie. “Oh! But I’m a reaper for ghosts, not one for humans,” Phantom added placatingly, hands up in a hopefully soothing manner. “You can still touch me it’s fine!” he added barely making out the frown behind the face shield the huntress wore.

 Valerie grimaced further at that. “I’d really rather not.”

 “No seriously, it’s fine. Come here! Let’s hug it out!” Danny called arms open wide and a shit eating grin in place.

 Valerie called out a curse to him and fired a volley of blasts forcing the halfa to dodge and fly back. “Try that again and I’ll put a hole through your head.” she hissed.

 Danny’s grin never faltered and instead simply used his bodily manipulation powers to do just that. While Valerie shuddered Danny tried again for the hug arms wide.

 “Ugh, you're impossible.” She grumbled, firing a blast with pinpoint accuracy through the hole he’d made in his face.

 “Come on Val~ That’s not nice.” Danny teased smiling brightly, only to yelp and zip off when she brought out her thermos threateningly.

 The citizens of Amity park that night were witness to an hour’s long game of cat and mouse, as the Red Huntress chased the elusive Phantom about. Though if asked about it later Phantom would insist it was all in good fun. Even if the burn on his backside begged to argue otherwise…

 And as Phantom learned more and more from the reaper ghosts, he became a better and more efficient hero to the people of Amity.

 The approval ratings going up felt nice too.

 -.-.-.-.-

 Complete:

 Total word count: 4291

[phantomphangphucker]

Ectober Week Day 4: Artifact - Realities Little Joke For Infinity

A semi-vanquished ally is here for the end game, but way more confusing and completely unable to be taken seriously.

Strange looks to Wong, “is that everyone?”. Who squints back at him, sounding a bit incredulous, “what, you wanted more?”.

AntMan punches down a ship, the small slowly forming portal behind everyone going largely unnoticed. Before massive missiles start slamming into the ground and a little ugly brown van blows up.  

Captain Marvel faces Thanos with a harsh desperate glare. Grabbing his hand and struggling to hold it, to stop him from snapping his fingers. Hearing Strange gasp, slightly started, and both her and Tony turn their heads slightly to look. Blinking, firmly confused, they didn’t have anyone who made green portals did they? As a kid? Teen? Just hops through, smirking slightly and sitting down on the rim of the portal. Followed by a blast knocking Thanos back and one of the stones flying away. The kid swings his legs, carefree, “yes he wanted more”. Then the kids blue-eyes look around at everyone, before he hops to the ground and starts walking forwards, swinging his legs wide and silly as he waves slightly, “what’s up? Was told some crazy shit was going down and, this is a quote by the way, ‘lose the stars to gain the stars. In a clashing of gold fists against one who consumes life’. So, uh, care to explain?”.

Captain Marvel gestures with her hands at the fighting going on. Thanos punching Thor as they clamour over the drooped stone, makes for pretty good added emphasis. The black haired kid tilts his head slightly, hums, and nods, “okay yeah, giant fight and giant purple asshole seems rather self explanatory”.

Hawkeye shots arrows at one of Thanos’s goons as it charges at the damn kid, what the Hell is he even doing here? Blinking a bit in disbelief as the kid just sidesteps a goon and then kicks it in the head, sending it flying. Hearing the kid snicker, “well that was easy”, before siding over to Tony.

Tony glances between the fight and the kid repeatedly, blasting at a goon while trying to figure out what’s going on. He’s all for more help, pretty actively desperate for it actually, but how old is this kid? He doesn’t even look all that bothered by what’s going on. Screwing up his face as the kid just hops around a little, “battle suit, nice. Looks for all the after-world better than Skulker’s. I’m Phantom by the way, from the future. Here to fix your shit, cause apparently you need it”.

Tony squints at him as he blasts away another goon, “how old are you? Better yet, who the Hell sends a random unarmed kid to a battlefield?”. At least Peter had his damn suit. This ‘Phantom’ looks like he just got out of school. But hey, the name implies he’s probably a hero of some kind.

Phantom smiles toothily, “oh that’s easy. Sixteen and some sixty billion year old dead guy did. So what’s going on here? Obviously these army beasts are problem pests, like skeletons, and purple nasty is, well, nasty”.

“Kid, this is the middle of battle. Not really the time for chit-chat and debriefing”, while sending Strange a ‘what the Hell look, will this work out?’.

Phantom laughs and uppercuts a spaceship with a massive mouth, it exploding apart, “naw! Fighting's the best time to open your yap. I mean Zone, talking while getting or giving an ass kicking is basically my shtick!”. Danny kicks another goon, “back in blacks get ready for a heart attack because my dead-ass is here”.

Making Tony shake his head, obviously this kid was extremely strong, “Christ kid. Purple guy’s Thanos. Removed half the life in the universe, trying to stop that. Used the thing on his arm to do it. Infinity Gauntlet, super powerful but needs some stones, just snapped his fingers and we all lost someone we goddamn loved. Now he just wants to destroy everyone, so don’t goddamn waste my time kid. If you’re gonna help then help”.

Phantom chuckles, “tsk tsk tsk, touchy are we?”, tapping his chin dramatically, “though yeah, that’s pretty fucking bad.  Gonna take a gander and say this shit can be undone and stopped?”.

Tony groans calling Strange over and pointing at the kid, “is he useful?”. While a few other magicians take over dealing with the massive waterfall.

Phantom just tilts his head as Strange looks him over, before Strange furrows his brows, “I can’t see him in any timeline”.

Tony blinks, “what?”, being distracted enough to get slammed in the side by a rock.

While Phantom waves Strange off, “expected, cape boy”, lifting up the gear shaped necklace he’s wearing, “‘tis a Time Medallion. Basically excludes me from time. Technically this past isn’t my timelines past, so if I take this off I’ll be transported back to my own timeline. But I’m here to make this past my timelines past! So hooray! Complicated time shit to stop the world from ending”, back handing another goon and putting that hand on his hip, “so how’s we gonna stop this crap?”.  

Strange sighs, ‘complicated time shit’ was one of the banes of his life. “That makes you an unknown to me but fine. Wearing the gauntlet allows the wearer to have one wish, regardless of what it is, granted. At the expense of losing one of the things they care for most or self-sacrifice. But the person must also be able to bear the power of it, though this power could be shared”.

Tony grunts as he flies by, “which is our plan! Now stop being a distraction!”.

Phantom tilts his head and laughs, “well that explains that! So basically this guy’s a strong SOB and doing some reality bending shit with a hunk of arm metal. But he’s doing it like a dick, probably over some weird philosophy”, Phantom slides to the side, avoiding a goon, “don’t worry your pretty little heads. Imma be an ironic copycat and I always did need to lose the one thing I cared for most”.

“Kid, we need help fighting right now, not for the later hand joining circle! Help stop people from dying and let the grown ups handle Thanos!”.

Phantom swings off his back pack and shoves his hand in it, “oh you misunderstand”. Standing up with a massive shit-eating grin, something looking concerningly similar to the Infinity Gauntlet on his arm.

Strange eyes this kid, obviously that wasn’t actually the same gauntlet, other wise paradoxes. Just so many paradoxes. Not even having to ask as the kid speaks cheerily, “this is the Reality Gauntlet. If you know how to activate all the stones, it grants you control over all of reality. Everything really. No limits. No down falls. Purple grape ‘bout to be my bitch”.

Multiple people around cough or choke. There was something even more dangerous and powerful? And some random kid had it?

Watching as the kid waves erratically, with a goofy smile, at Thanos. Who glares with at first anger then deep confusion. Grumbling out, “though I’m unfamiliar, that is nothing but a cheep imitation. Nothing surpasses my grand design and purpose”.

Phantom snorts and laughs exaggeratedly. Flicking his wrist, which somehow seems to result in a bunch of the goons turning into ducks and piles of worms? Twitching his hand again, the trees and rocks seemingly coming to life and chasing after the ducks.

Everyone stops and stares around for a beat, highly confused. Antman muttering, “well what the fuck”.

Tony blinks at this random kid, “thanks?”.

Thanos glares, punching away Captain America and grabbing the stone off the ground. Before charging at Phantom, not about to be seriously harmed by another small creature he doesn’t even know, who laughs and flips in the air. Most watching as Phantom just starts floating before transforming into a glowing black and white kid. Thanos grumbling, “you are a mortal yet dead. Interesting but no matter. I will crush you all the same”.

Phantom laughs and it echoes. Flicking his wrist again, followed by spaceships turning into hundreds of bouncy balls. Phantom flipping in the air slightly, “halfas the word!”, turning his legs into a freaking tail and simply flying out of the way of the titans punch, blasting a green energy ball out his hand as he goes; stopping Thanos from attempting to snap, “so you’re Thanos. You honestly don’t seem all that good at this. I mean nice army and all. But hey, I guess I’m just used to stronger opponents”. Phantom kicks away a random goon, “but props for all the dramatics!”.

Thanos grumbling, “you are foolish to think you can stand against or face things above me. For nothing exists above me”.

Phantom laughs again, “oh I’m something far above you. For you see, I am Phantom. Future guardian of the land of the dead and Earth. Long after all of these fucks, and you, have perished. Even the king of ghosts has fallen to me. If you really want to speak about the most powerful being in the universe. Well then”, giggling, “it’s a sixteen year-old half dead kid and you’re a just a grape”.

Phantom waves his hand and suddenly Thanos turns into a bunch of grapes and falls onto the ground unceremoniously. Infinity gauntlet clattering down next to it.

Tony blinks, “you...you have got to be kidding me”.

Phantom shrugs and sticks out his tongue at the pile of grapes, picking up the Infinity Gauntlet and putting it on. Looking his arm over with a little smirk, watching the power flow through it with mild amusement, everyone else too stunned to move. Phantom chuckles and holds out his two gauntlet covered arms, “too bad they don’t truly match. But hey, this aesthetic is still fucking sick”.

Tony walks up in front of the kid slightly, “do you even know what you’re doing? How powerful that thing is?”.

Phantom hums and spins in the air, “Of course I don’t. I never know what half the crap I do is. That’s the fun of it”, floating upside down and cross legged, “I realise you all seem to take this hero shtick pretty seriously and with heavy hearts. I may be a battered one whose lost plenty myself, and seen worlds destroy and life fall to perish. But I’ll never be weathered and beaten down. Imma a little shit basically”, looking around, “anyway, any o’ y’all know how to fix all the shit? Or should I just start trying random shit or hitting it. That usually works out for me”.

Strange steps up, “are you intending on using the gauntlet alone?”, sighing, this was suitably strange but if it works then it works, “you simply have to push your will into and snap your fingers”.

Captain America frowns, “are you sure you’re willing to give up something dear to you? This is our fight”.

Phantom smiles and for once it seemed more soft and serious even, “oh of course. I figured out that riddle. See for me to exist I must partly die. Lose half my life and the one thing I held most dear. My desire to become an astronaut and see the stars. Sacrificed in the name of fulfilling the role of a hero in a world were no others exist. Damned to exits forever more and ensure protection of everything and one. Yet unable to ever fulfil my one deepest dream and wish”.

Tony blinks, firmly stunned, that was incredibly depressing. But Phantom seemed to be implying that he had to use the gauntlet himself. And that he knows exactly what he’ll lose, that it’ll half kill him, and the fate it’ll force upon him. That was a lot of sacrifices.

Everyone gets stunned again when Phantom laughs, “it’s a blessed half-life indeed! Gaining the best thing by losing the best thing. What beautiful irony”, sighing happily, “ahhh life just loves playing jokes on me. Nothing like a good joke at my expense”. Watching as the kid simply holds up the glove, waits for a beat and snaps his fingers. The people around gaping over the complete nonchalance and watching the mess clean itself up. The people they care about returning in earnest and others appearing in flashes before going back to where they had been before all this. Orange portals slowly closing in the background.

Tony tears up ever so slightly and hugs Peter, whispering, “kid”. While Peter nods rapidly and squeezes back.

Phantom sighs, “ahhh I can just feel and see myself getting 6 billion electrical volts to my whole being now. Sweet sweet tingly nostalgia”.

Antman squints at him, “you have issues”.

Tony walks up closer with Peter, a smiling Phantom floating to land on the ground; hair swaying around untethered to gravity. Tony clears his throat, “thank you. I mean it”.

While Peter awkwardly waves, “hi, um, I’m Peter”, smiling slightly, “nice to see a teen owning the old folks huh?”.

Phantom gives Peter a silly thumbs up before laughing and waving off Tony, “‘tis what I do tincan. Self sacrifice for the betterment of everyone else, is what I see and know day in and day out”, bowing dramatically, “I’m in the sheets with broken bones, bloodied wounds, and never enough sleep”, standing back up straight, “but you know what you could do for little o’ me? A smoothie. I could really use a smoothie. One of those ones with all the little crushed berries. The good shit. Then I can head back to school”.

Half the people asking, “your in school?”. While Tony nods, he really had just came from school...like this was some sort of everyday thing, “whatever you want kid”.

Phantom waves everyone but Tony off, “course. No one actually knows I do what I do, so I’m treated the same as any other teen. The whole secret identity shtick”, shrugging and speaking thick with humour, “but hey, if the world knew they’d experiment on me so I think I’ll take my parents shooting at me instead. Dissection is honestly not that glamorous. Kind of boring after the third time”.

Tony breathes out, “Christ that’s messed up”.

While Strange disappears and reappears with a smoothie, extra large, and shoves it at Phantom. Feeling both humbled and disturbed. Especially being the most familiar with what exactly would go on in any kind of dissection.

Phantom nabs it looking eager and innocent. Like getting a nice drink was the biggest worry he had. Everyone watches him sip it and smile happily. Sighing with contentment, “ah yeeeeeeessssss that’s nice. Been a few days since I’ve had the time to drink or eat anything”, before looking at the Infinity Gauntlet and it promptly exploding into dust. Smirking, “there, problem solved. TimeDaddy will be tickled green”.

Everyone just gapes as he spins around in a little circle, looking cheery and waving at everyone, “whelp been nice and I’ll be taking the drink with me”.

Tony puts his hand on Phantom‘s arm as he grabs the medallion and starts the motions to remove it, “are you sure there’s nothing more you can use or need? You seem like you need it honestly”.

Phantom shrugs, “naw, I’m good. I’m a plenty suffered thing. Which is good”, smiling bright and wide, “so long as I’m suffering then others suffer less”. And like that the medallion is slipped off and the glowing teen is gone.

Everyone standing around feeling awe, shock, respect, and a sense of grief. Happy to have everyone back properly but unable to get the strange oddly mirth-filled Phantom, one who seems to live an existence that’s basically torture, out of their heads.

End.

[duckapus]

My Danny Phantom Reboot (as was owed for the Phight)

Okay, so first off I should mention that this is going to be less “what if someone made a reboot of Danny Phantom now” and more “what if Danny Phantom was done right to start with.” This means there’ll be more emphasis on storytelling and characters, none of H*rtm*n’s usual shenanigans, but the storyline as it was is going to be more-or-less intact, depending on what I think I can salvage.

So, let’s talk powers.

Danny is going to have all the powers he did in the show, given gradually and with clear foreshadowing. His ghost sense is currently just a bit too conspicuous, so I’ll be changing it from a wisp of cold breath to a chill up his spine, though for the sake of the audience there will be a visual and audio indicator of it, much like Spider-Man’s spider sense. Starting out, he just has that and the three basic ghost powers, though they won’t work properly for a while, and I’ll make it clear that this is because his half-ghost status prevented him from gaining the instinctual knowledge to control them outright. While there are some abilities that he gains during times of stress (like ectoblasts and the ghostly wail) he’ll have to actually practice in order for them to work with any level of consistency.

Like I mentioned, there will be some foreshadowing, specifically when it comes to his ice powers. There’s going to be multiple points where someone mentions that he has cold hands, with many of those people being ghosts to imply that it isn’t a ghost thing. There’ll be more emphasis on Ghost Cores and Core Types. Danny isn’t going to be as affected by warmer or colder temperatures as other people, usually being the last one to need to put on a jacket. He’s going to be somewhat weak to fire-based attacks. And there’s going to be a multi-episode buildup to his powers freezing him.

I’m also going all-in on the space motif. His bedroom is covered in star stickers and NASA posters. He tends to look up at the stars whenever he needs time to think. He isn’t afraid of heights at all because up is good, up is safe, up is home, and flight is the only power he never has trouble with as a result.

And now, for Danny’s parents. First off, for this, they do not want to destroy ghosts. They want to study them, understand them, and keep people safe from the ones that cause trouble. They know full well how little they actually know and how small their sample size is- that’s why they’re working on equipment to actually explore the Ghost Zone in the first place! Yes they’ll screw up, and jump to conclusions, and be a bit too enthusiastic. Yes, they’re working off of some pretty big assumptions, because that’s all they’ve got. But at the end of the day, they’re the first to admit they’re not perfect. And as far as priorities are concerned, they’re parents first, scientists second, and hunters third(if even that).

Jazz and Tucker are already good as-is, as are most of the ghosts, so let’s move on to Sam and the “A-listers.”

So starting off, because I’m not Fartman, I will not be vilifying the popular kids just because they’re popular. For Qwan, we’ve already got the fanon of him being a sweet cinnamon roll who’d be a great friend to everybody if he were just able to say no, specifically to Dash. And with Star I’ll be going with a strong-willed girl who’s fully willing to call the others out when they’re bullshit goes to far, though she’s admittedly got a looser definition of “too far” than she should.

And now the big three. So my interpretation of Sam, Dash and Paulina is that a big chunk of their issues come from them not quite growing out of their jackass middle schooler phase(you all know what I mean). That’s not all of it, or even most of it, but it’s a big enough part that them acknowledging it will be a huge step in the right direction.

In Sam’s case, a lot of it also stems from her need to control as much of her life as she can, which developed in response to how little control her parents let her have. This ranges from harmless (her love of gardening and “ultra-recyclo-vegetarianism”) to really not okay (her tendency to manipulate or strong-arm people into doing what she wants) with her harsh judgement of people and trust issues landing somewhere in the upper middle. All of this to say that she’s a lot more like her parents (and Paulina, to a lesser extent) than she realizes.

With Paulina, while she does still have a lot of problems, being a crazy, obsessive fangirl isn’t one of them. She knows full well that her feelings for Phantom are just a celebrity crush and they aren’t about to get together any time soon (the boy’s dead as far as she knows, for god’s sake!). She’s also very observant, not to the point of finding out the truth about Danny but enough to realize quite a few other important details…

With Dash, all I’m really going to be changing is that his Football Star status absolutely does not give him free reign to do whatever he wants, because I respect Mr. Lancer more than that.

Admittedly I haven’t quite figured out their other classmates yet. And Valerie’s arc is already good as-is, though I won’t be including her getting shunned by the “A-listers” because this version of Star ain’t gonna let that fly. I’m also including Wes, because his antics are glorious and I think I can do some cool stuff with him.

Now, along with giving the characters better characterization in general, I’ll also be giving them their own time in the limelight to show what Danny’s situation looks like from an outsider’s perspective. Valerie in particular ends up as something of a secondary protagonist.

And now we come to Vlad. Oh, Vlad.

Okay, so in this version, Vlad inviting the Fentons to the reunion was a genuine attempt to reconnect. Unfortunately ghostly obsessions are powerful things, and he sort of relapsed into hating Jack and wanting Maddie for himself. Things more-or-less continue as normal, though with his desire to take on Danny as an apprentice coming off as him actually, genuinely wanting to teach Danny how being a halfa works, which makes it a little comically awkward when he tries to turn their battles into a teaching moment. He still becomes the mayor, though this time around it’s because he genuinely thought it was a good idea, and he got voted in legitimately.

Unfortunately it all sort of goes downhill after a while. Due to his current mentality of “tired old uncle just wants to get over his issues and help out” clashing with his obsession with Jack and Maddie, he’s sort of cracking, and the fact that Danny adds an extra layer to both isn’t really a good thing.

And then we get the clones. In this version, they all last a lot longer, and sort of act as Vlad’s minions for a while. The Frankenstein’s Monster-esque one sort of acts as a big brother to the others. He’s also very smart, even if he can’t really say much, and as time goes on he starts to realize that something is very wrong with Vlad. It all comes to a head when Dani is created, because Vlad realizes that even with a human half she still isn’t stable and something inside him just snaps. At this moment, there’s now two Vlads in there; Masters, who’s honestly just tired of all the fighting and pushing people away, and Plasmius, who’s essentially season three Vlad in all of his megalomaniacle obsession-fueled glory. Frankendanny’s destabilization is a big moment in this, as are the other clones holding back Vlad as they’re melting so Danny and Dani can escape at the end of the episode.

Dani still ends up traveling after that, though she’s not just ignored as she’ll be sending Danny postcards of places she’s been and there’ll be a few episodes dedicated to her adventures (with some hints to her instability getting worse.)

D-stabilized is where thing get really crazy. This is because while I’ve been distracting you with my Danny Phantom remake, there’s been a secret, second remake of Fairly Oddparents hidden in the background! I won’t go into too much detail, since that’s not what this is about, but It follows the same structure of apply overarching story, focus on characters, trim off what doesn’t work. Because of this, Timmy happens to be in the same city where Valerie finds Dani (I don’t think they were in Amity Park yet, but I’m not sure) and meets Dani before Valerie does. The episode plays out more-or-less the same (Val uses Dani as bait to catch Danny, gives Dani to Vlad, Danny appeals to her better nature, she finds out that Vlad is an evil half-ghost and that not all ghosts are evil thus shattering her world view) but with the addition of Timmy tracking her down to her weird holding cell/torture room place (seriously, what was up with that?) and then tagging along and somehow holding his own against Fright Knight with nothing but a blaster he managed to swipe from her (since not only does he have to deal with having human allies, but also the fact that magic doesn’t work that well on ghosts, which means no fairy help).

After that, there’s a few breather episodes to the end of the third season, mainly to do with Valerie processing everything she’s just learned.

And then Freakshow gets the reality gauntlet, because I’ve been holding that off until now. Danny gets his identity revealed on live television, the Guys in White are after him, and Freakshow is holding Amity Park hostage until Danny can find the three stones he scattered.

There’s just a few small changes I’ve made:

The stones got scattered across the planet, instead of just the country

There’s no easy way to track the stones unless one gets activated, unlike in the original where they had ecto-signatures

Wes and the “A-Listers” get dragged along for the ride

Because Freakshow isn’t a complete idiot and realizes that it will take a significant amount of time to find the stones, the team has until the end of summer.

Instead of everybody being in cages (since that won’t really work with this time frame) Amity Park is surrounded by an impenetrable dome, and both ghost portals are clogged up. Nobody gets in or out unless the ringmaster says so.

The second and third parts of Wishology and an adaptation of Nicktoons Unite are happening alongside all of this, so along with GIW and ghosts the team is going to be dealing with the Eliminators and The Syndicate.

Carl, Sheen and Libby have somehow tagged along.

We’ll be calling this arc the Road-trip from Hell, and it, along with the other two story arcs, will be taking up the entirety of the fourth season. The other two arcs will experience changes as well, such as Dani going with Timmy, Mark Chang and the Villains to find the Wind Wand due to being in Dimmsdale when it happens, Catman, Chip Skylark, Elmer and Sanjay getting captured along with the rest of Timmy’s friends, Valerie and Tootie getting recruited by Jimmy to fight the Syndicate since Timmy and Danny are busy and they’re honestly the only two options, and Anti-Cosmo being the Fairly Oddparents representative for the Syndicate since Crocker is also busy.

For the sake of storytelling, I should mention that GIW is a fanatical splinter group of MERF in this continuity, and have already been established as major antagonists. Also throughout the season Fairy World is basically going to be a warzone locked in a three-way battle between the Fairies, the Anti-Fairies and Syndicate, and the Eliminators, which all three groups see at one point or another.

The final battle is really going to be four going on simultaneously- Danny and Team Phantom(which by this point will also include the reformed agents O and K, because I like them) vs Ghost Freakshow, the robot army just outside of town, and Lydia; the Nicktoons vs the Syndicate’s doomsday device; Cosmo in his Godzilla form vs everything the Syndicate and the Eliminators can throw at him, and Timmy vs The Destructinator (which will actually be a full-on fight, with the outsmarting thing just being Timmy’s trump card). It’s going to be really cool with a bunch of well-timed jump-cuts and everything.

Then in the aftermath I’m going to basically spit in the face of the status quo. Danny still erases peoples memories of his reveal, but leaves out the new members of Team Phantom (because if he has to remember the road-trip from hell, so does everybody else), and it also doesn’t work on Valerie (or Tootie) since they were in Jimmy’s universe at the time, which is going to be Fun for Danny to deal with when she gets back. Timmy, Chester and AJ are also immune, due to AJ secretly making the three of them immune to memory wipes in general so Timmy wouldn’t have to forget his fairies or go through what happened in the first Wishology again. He would’ve done the same with Elmer and Sanjay, but he didn’t get the chance.

After all that, season five is a return to the norm, other than dealing with the new character dynamics, the Vlad situation, and all the Fairly Oddparents stuff leaking in. I haven’t really worked out all the specifics, since I sort of got caught up in the season four stuff.

Note: For obvious reasons, I cannot actually reboot Danny Phantom and/or Fairly Oddparents. Unless I come up with ideas later on down the line, or other people decide to add their own ideas, this is what you get.

(@phandomphightclub, I did it!)

[darks-ink]

Play Your Part 3

Chapter 3: You Might Just See A Ghost Tonight

Chapter title is from Emperor’s New Clothes by Panic! At The Disco! I don’t really have any author notes that I haven’t already posted about on Tumblr so...

[first] [previous] [next] [AO3] [FFnet]

“So let me make sure I got this right.” Jazz’s eyes darted from Danny to Sam and Tucker, then back to Danny. “This is Danny, but he’s not our Danny?”

Tucker opened his mouth, but Jazz held up a hand to silence him. “I wasn’t done yet. So this Danny is from an alternate timeline where everyone but him is half-ghost. He got dragged here because of some strange artifact, and now you guys want to go into the Ghost Zone to find out what it did and how to undo it. Right?”

“I guess?” Danny shrugged. “It was their idea.”

Jazz rolled her eyes. “Of course it was. Clearly you never have stupid ideas, do you?”

“Hey!” He huffed and crossed his arms. “I don’t know about your Danny, but I do my best to stay in the background, thank you very much! The last thing I need to do is draw the ire of people stronger than me.”

“Ah, that’s definitely not like Danny,” Tucker commented, nodding wisely. “He would fight God if he could.”

“Alright, so I’m not a ballsy half-ghost, whatever. Can we focus, please?” He didn’t want to hear more about how, even here, he was lesser. He had hoped, briefly, that maybe he would fit in better in this world of humans, rather than half-ghosts. But apparently that wasn’t the case.

Apparently he couldn’t even live up to the standards set by himself.

“Of course. Well, here’s my first question for you three.” Jazz gestured at him. “Do you know if you only swapped your minds, and kept the bodies in the right place, or is this a full swap?”

“What?” Danny asked, frowning at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, mind swaps are a classic plot device, right?” She shrugged. “But usually that only involves swapping the minds of the people involved. So if that is what’s happening here, you would still be able to access Danny’s ghost powers, because it’s still his body, not yours.”

Danny held out his hands, staring down at them. They looked perfectly normal. He didn’t feel any different, either. But then he was supposed to be half-ghost, too, normally. So what was the difference?

“How can I tell? If it’s his body or mine?”

“Ghost powers, duh.” Tucker’s grin became even wider when Danny glared at him.

“I don’t know, Jazz. I don’t think he has powers,” Sam pointed out, ignoring the two bickering boys. “With that kinda glaring we would be seeing green already.”

“Huh?” Danny’s head snapped back to the two girls, glare softening in a frown. “Oh, yeah, I guess. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to trigger any of them on purpose, anyway.”

“No one ever taught you how to use your powers? No special lessons or anything?” Tucker stepped in closer again, curiosity peaked. “Even though everyone had them?”

“Well, no.” He shrugged. “Apparently it just kind of comes naturally? They usually start manifesting when you’re pretty young. My dad was really late, and he got them by twelve.”

“Hence why you’re so sure you won’t get them.” Jazz nodded in understanding. “I guess that that makes sense.”

“Why does it matter if it’s a body or a mind swap, anyway?” Sam cocked her head, her brow creased. “We gotta learn more about that artifact, anyway. Whether he has ghost powers or not doesn’t matter for that.”

“Yeah, no, you’re right,” Jazz admitted. “Curiosity, mostly, and it could’ve helped you narrow down the search.”

“Eh, we’ll figure it out anyway.” Tucker held up his PDA demonstratively. “You’re underestimating our powers of research, Jazz.”

“Whatever makes you feel better.” She rolled her eyes, then sat down at the kitchen table. “I’ll keep my parents distracted if they come back before you guys, but don’t make it too long, okay? Or warn me beforehand so I can lure them away.”

“Yes ma’am.” Tucker shot her a grin and a salute as he made his way towards the door to the lab. “Let’s go, guys!”

Danny heaved a sigh but followed anyway, Sam right on his heels. “Is he always this enthusiastic?”

“Nah. I think he just wants to see your reaction to some of the ghosts Danny knows. Or, uh.” She made a face. “Our Danny, I guess, since you’re Danny too.”

He snorted. “Yeah, it’s kind of confusing, isn’t it?”

“No kidding.”

They entered the lab, which… actually looked different from the lab back home. Lots of glowing green on their inventions, too. Clearly powered by ectoplasm. Tucker was already standing next to an enormous cylindrical vehicle, which floated a foot or so above the floor.

“And here’s the Specter Speeder!” He threw out his hands towards the vehicle. “Tah-dah!”

He looked it over, nodding despite himself. “Not bad. Looks better than the RV, at least. Less tank-like.”

“Less reviewing your parents’ inventions, more getting in.” Sam shoved him towards the door, and he stumbled in.

“Alright, alright. No need to shove me!”

She clambered in after him, Tucker following suit and closing the door. “Who’s gonna pilot?” she asked the other boy.

“You do it, I’ll keep track on my PDA.” Following this statement, he sat down in the co-pilot seat. Co-driver? What did you call the person steering a hovercraft? “And Danny can sit in the back and enjoy the view.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly. “You sure you don’t need me to do anything?”

“Eh.” Tucker shrugged. “You can help look at stuff when we get somewhere, but for now we’ll be fine. Maybe prepare yourself to meet some of your fans, so you can convince them that you’re not the normal Danny?”

He made a face. “He has fans?”

“Some,” Sam commented, starting up the Speeder. “But mostly just humans. Tucker was referring to some of the non-malevolent ghosts that Danny is allied with, since we’ll be asking them first. You said it was a magical necklace, right, that brought you here?”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure that that was the thing responsible, yeah.” He shrugged, then realized she couldn’t see it. “Why?”

She turned her head some, sharing a glance with Tucker. “I was thinking we could start with Dora, then. She’s our expert on magical necklaces.”

“A magical necklace that lets you turn into a dragon isn’t the same as a body-swapping necklace, Sam,” Tucker pointed out. He then undermined his own statement by leaning forward and setting the destination on the navigational system.

“It’s a good place to start, anyway.” She shot Danny a look over her shoulder, briefly. “Better than Frostbite, anyway, and Clockwork wouldn’t be any help whatsoever.”

Danny frowned, fingers tapping on the edge of his seat. “You’re telling me that he’s the only half-ghost around, constantly fighting full ghosts, and yet he only has like, three allies? And you guys, I guess.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Tucker shrugged, twisting in his seat to talk more easily. “Most of the ghosts don’t like Danny getting in their way. And some are encouraged by Vlad, too, since he’s also half-ghost and doesn’t like that Danny isn’t on his side.”

“Really? Vlad? As in, Vlad Masters?”

“You know him?” Sam asked, not looking away from the front window.

“Well, yeah. Dad says Vlad is his best friend, but he comes around basically never. Old college friends or something, I think.”

“Huh. Yeah, that checks out with how it is around here. He flirts with your – Danny’s – mom a lot, and makes evil plots because he’s half-ghost and wants Danny as his half-ghost son or something.” Tucker shrugged, leaning his arms on the back of his seat. “It’s kind of messed up.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Danny flapped his hand, gesturing wildly. “Why am I human, countered by your Danny being half-ghost, if he gets to be half-ghost in both worlds? How does that make sense?!”

“I dunno, man. This sort of thing doesn’t have to make sense, you know?”

“But that’s so unfair!” Danny groaned, burying his head in his hands. “Why do I have to deal with this shit my whole damn life while he gets away just fine! So he’s not particularly powerful, at least he’s not bullied over it like I am!”

Tucker hummed. “He’s not… powerful? That’s weird. Vlad in his ghost form is among the most powerful ghosts we’ve encountered.”

“Great. So not only is my half-ghost counterpart here way stronger than normal halfas should be, Vlad gets to be all powerful too? So then what’s the damn difference?”

“Well, Vlad is pretty messed up,” Sam piped up from the front seat. “He suffered from ecto-acne after the accident in college, and he took years to get his powers, as opposed to Danny who got them pretty much instantly. Maybe that got mirrored in your universe into an accident that weakened him, but didn’t completely remove his powers?”

“But that suggests that I’ve been in an accident that made me lose my powers.” He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. “But that has never happened. As far as I know I’ve never had powers. I wouldn’t even know what my ghost form looks like.”

“Now that is a question I can answer.” Tucker clicked around on his PDA a little, then held it out for Danny. “Here’s a photo of Danny Phantom for you. I dunno what you guys wear in your ghost forms, if they’re formed naturally, but this is what he looks like, at least.”

“Huh.” Danny took the PDA from Tucker’s hands, eyes roving over the screen. Pictures on there was indeed what he might expect from his own ghost form, bar the clothing. Messy white hair, a brilliant smile, and vivid green eyes. A good mid-point between his parents’ chartreuse and green, he supposed. But--

“Why is he wearing a jumpsuit?” he asked, handing it back to Tucker. “He isn’t following our parents’ style, is he?”

“No, no. That’s what he was wearing when he became half-ghost, only inverted.” Tucker glanced at the front seat, but Sam remained silent. Her hands were clenched around the steering wheel with such force that the knuckles turned white. “He, um. Sam kind of talked him into wearing it.”

“Oh.” He cleared his throat, awkwardly. “Well, um. Why doesn’t he change it, then? That’s what we do, normally, to make our clothes match our current style.”

Tucker shrugged, turning back around in his seat. “It makes him look superhero-y, I guess. He’s never complained about it, at least.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that.” Danny glanced out of the front window, eyes roving over the expansive green landscape. “Hey, is that a castle?”

“Yup. The castle of Queen Dorathea.” The Speeder jerked as Sam slowed it down. “This is our destination for today. If she can’t help us, we’ll have to try somewhere else tomorrow.”

“Alright.” They landed, and he undid his seat belt. “So, uh. Is this one of those ghosts that knows other-me?”

“Yep,” Tucker confirmed, stretching himself out. “Just don’t piss her off and we’ll be alright. Sam can take point, right, Sam?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” She stood up, smoothly, and exited the vehicle. “As long as you two don’t behave like idiots, we’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know, that’s a lot to ask of us, Sam.” Danny shot her a grin as he caught up. “I don’t think Tucker has spent a single moment in his life not being an idiot.”

“Oh, you’re one to speak!” The other caught up and shoved Danny, a fake offended expression on his face. “You’re-- Watch out!”

Tucker’s fingers wrapped around Danny’s wrist, barely preventing him from falling. He stared back, wide-eyed, half his chest and the other arm phased through a wall.

Sam grabbed hold as well, and the two of them pulled Danny back onto his feet.

“Sorry,” Tucker said, grin a little shaky. “I, uh, didn’t realize that you didn’t know you could phase through stuff in here.”

Danny just looked between him, the wall, and then him and Sam again. “Come again?”

“Humans are the ghosts in the Ghost Zone,” Sam explained, entering the castle proper now. “You can phase through stuff if you want. And, since I see the way you’re looking, yes, not wanting to hit something counts as wanting to phase through it.”

“Oh.” He glanced at his arm, then the wall. “Is that… what it is supposed to feel like? Intangibility?”

“Actually, I’m not too sure.” Tucker caught up as well. “I never asked Danny.”

“Seems like a missed opportunity.”

“Yeah, indeed.”

They paused before a large ghost, his empty red eyes peering at them over a humongous ax. Then the ghost nodded, minutely, and floated aside. “Sir Phantom. Our Queen can be found in the library.”

“Uh.” He shot Sam and Tucker a half-panicked glance, then looked back at the ghost. “Thank you?”

The ghost simply hummed. Eyes still wide, he sped past, Sam and Tucker rushing after him.

“Not used to seeing big ghosts like that?” Tucker smirked. “Or was the title getting to you?”

“A little bit of both.” He shot the other boy a glare. “Couldn’t you warn me about that? I thought you two said that I didn’t have any fans among the ghosts!”

“They’re not fans,” Sam explained patiently as they made their ways through the halls. Apparently the two of them knew where the library was, or they were better at pretending than him. “Dora really did knight Danny to thank him for services rendered.”

“That still would’ve been nice to know!” They entered a hallway with two enormous double doors at the end. “A title is still a big deal, you know!”

“Sorry, we kind of… forgot?” Tucker smiled sheepishly. “Danny doesn’t like them, so we tease him about them. I guess we didn’t realize that they could be a big deal to, well, you.”

“Alright, well--” he fell silent as both of his conversation partners walked through the giant wooden doors.

He made a face. Then, not wanting to come across like an idiot – or at least not more so that he already has – he focused on the earlier sensation of phasing through the wall, and walked forward.

Sam and Tucker stood on the other side of the doors. They weren’t alone. A girl, green skinned and red-eyed, with long braided blonde hair, floated in-between them.

“Ah, Sir Phantom,” she said cheerily once she caught sight of him. “A pleasure to see you again.”

“Uh, yes, um. Right.” He shot a wide-eyed look at Sam, then Tucker, hoping that one of them would speak up. “It’s… nice to see you too, Queen Dora.”

“Oh, please.” She flapped a hand. “You know you can call me Dora.”

“Right…” He narrowed his eyes at Sam. Didn’t she tell him that she would take care of it? “I’ll… remember that, Dora.”

She smiled brightly, folding her hands together. “Now, what brings you three here today? Not a social call, I assume?”

“No, sorry,” Sam said, finally taking over. She turned towards Dora. “We ran into a magical necklace, and we think it might’ve been a ghost artifact, so we were hoping to find more information about it.”

“Ah.” She nodded, her brow slightly creased. “Well, what can you tell me about it?”

“For starters, it swapped out Danny with one from a different universe.” Tucker gestured over at him, and he stiffened under the new scrutiny of the ghost queen. “Or, well, technically he was the one who ran into it and swapped with our Danny.”

“Is that so?” Her eyes softened slightly, but lingered on him for a long time. “You are not my Sir Phantom? I’m sorry for the confusion, then.”

“Uh, yeah. Same.” He shrugged, his shoulders lifted high. “I didn’t want to trick you or whatever. I’m… just Danny. No Phantom, no ghost powers.”

“Hmm, really? Is this… Would you consider this a problem, a fault?”

He drew his shoulder up even higher. “Maybe… Why?”

“I think I might know which necklace you found, then.” She cocked her head, one finger tapping on her cheek. “I will look into it, if you wish. But it might take a while.”

“Just like that?” Tucker asked skeptically. “Based only on a body-swap?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Sir Foley, do you really think that that is a common attribute of necklaces?”

Danny laughed, startled. Tucker made a face, then nodded. “Yeah, alright, that’s fair.”

“Can you send a messenger if you know more?” Sam asked, apparently more focused that the rest of them together. “We can’t stay here for long, I’m afraid.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” She rightened herself, her hands folded together. “I’ll make haste, then.”

“Thank you, Dora.” Danny let some of the tension drain out of him, shooting her a grateful smile. “I really appreciate it.”

“It is my pleasure.” Her eyes lingered on him, like she knew something he didn’t.

“If you don’t hurry you’ll be late for school.” Jazz’s eyes on him were steady, unwavering.

He made a face back at her to cover for his slip-up. He’d forgotten to account for the fact that he had to walk to school, now. Most of the time he flew to school, and in all other cases he walked with Sam and Tucker. But he had slept in, and thus had missed his chance.

“I’m leaving already, jeez,” he said, grabbing a piece of toast. He wasn’t a fan of toast, but it was already done, and easy to eat while walking. “No need to rush me.”

“Just looking out for you, since you can’t fly.” She passed him by, ruffling his hair along the way. “Now go, or do you want me to fly you?”

“No thanks, I’ve got it.” He waved her a short goodbye, taking a bite of his toast. “See ya, Jazz!”

The door slammed shut behind him, blocking out any answer she might’ve given. Shouldering his backpack so it laid better on his back, he started walking towards school. He wasn’t late enough to call for running, but if he kept his pace a little faster than usual… well, no one around to comment, right?

“Hey man, I thought you didn’t like toast?”

Danny jerked to the side, then glared at the empty space on his right. “I don’t,” he confirmed for the apparently invisible Tucker, “But I was running late and this was the only thing I could grab.”

Tucker faded into visibility, bright purple eyes and white-rimmed glasses. “You’re running late? Seems like a perfectly good time to me.”

“That’s because you fly faster than I walk.” Danny took a bite of his toast, then dodged to the side as Tucker lunged at him. “That wasn’t an invitation to carry me, Tuck!”

“Alright, alright! No need to snap at me.” He raised his hands defensively. “Just wanted to help, man.”

“I don’t need help, I’m fine.” Another bite of dry toast. “Just need to walk a little faster than usual.”

The half-ghost version of his best friend hummed, then floated along, lying on his back. “Well, I guess I’ll fly along, then. Sure you don’t want a ride?”

“No, Tucker, I’m fine. Can’t go you bother Sam or something?”

“Bother who?” Sam floated in front of him, blocking his path, her arms crossed. Her white ponytail flared like fire, and her cyan eyes sparked dangerously.

Rather than answer, Danny shoved the rest of the slice of toast into his mouth. Smooth, Fenton.

Apparently Sam thought so too, because she huffed out a laugh and floated aside. “Yeah, I see how it is. Get going before you’re late.”

Danny nodded, speeding up his walk even further than before. Still not a run, though. Tucker and Sam now both floated along, one on each side.

Man, that really was annoying. Maybe he should stop doing that to his own Sam and Tucker, back home.

“He didn’t want me to fly him, and apparently I was being annoying about it,” Tucker explained to Sam, still lying flat on his back. “Snapped at me and everything!”

“I didn’t snap at you.” Danny swatted at the floating boy, not surprised when the other simply turned intangible to avoid it. “I just told you that I didn’t want to be carried.”

“You’re not gonna be late again, are you?” Sam asked, some concern in her voice. “Lancer’ll kill you if you follow up your day away by being late again.”

“It’ll be fine if I keep up this pace.” He rolled his eyes at her, quietly wondering how often this Danny was late, and why. It’s not like he had ghosts to fight or anything!

“Just saying. You saw how pissed he was when we were late two days ago.” She stretched, lounging comfortably in mid-air. “And you know what he’s like towards you.”

He didn’t, but he was starting to get an idea of it. “Yeah,” he told her, speeding up just a little more, just in case. “But it’ll be fine, Sam, no worries.”

Before long the school appeared in sight, and he rushed through the doors and into packed halls. He dodged through the mass, ignoring the fact that some of its members were ghosts – or at least in their ghost forms – and praying that his locker and combination were the same in this universe. His ghost sense crawled from his core and into his lungs, but it stayed weak enough to remain unnoticed. No mist crawled out from his mouth – or his nose.

He stopped before his locker, starting to twist its lock quickly, lest he lose focus. Thankfully it unlocked quickly, and he bit down the cheer at things going well for once. Just as he was looking over the books and trying to remember what class he had, Sam appeared by his side, English books in her arms.

“Come on, grab your books and get going. If you’re early you might just give Lancer a heart-attack.”

“Right,” he said, taking the appropriate books out of his locker. Huh. Looked like they were reading a different book in this universe. He slammed the locker closed just as the first bell rung. “Let’s get going, then.”

She nodded, landing softly on the floor as white light washed over her. Now in her human form, looking like she normally did, she led him towards the classroom. He caught sight of more people transforming in the hallways. Must be a rule against ghost forms during class, which, actually, kind of made sense.

They reached Lancer’s classroom without too much trouble, and Sam walked in and to her usual seat without issue. When Danny tried to do the same, his core pulsed more strongly, and blue mist blew out of his mouth. He stilled, but no one seemed to have noticed.

Stepping inside, he saw what had triggered the proper ghost sense; Mr. Lancer sat behind his desk, his goatee and eyebrows white and his irises bright red. As a full-grown half-ghost, he must be powerful enough to set off his ghost sense.

“Mr. Fenton,” Lancer drawled, “How nice of you to join us again. And on time, for once? Color me surprised.”

Danny shrugged, unsure of what he was supposed to say.

“Well, go on and take your seat then.” Mr. Lancer waved a hand towards the desks. “Don’t get in the way, now.”

He huffed, but did as asked. Just blend in, Danny. Don’t draw unnecessary attention. Find out why you’re here and go home.

Slumping into a seat, he set his books down. He wasn’t sure how the lessons would go, but surely there couldn’t be that much difference between this universe and his own?

He opened his locker, then stuck his head inside and just groaned.

“You alright there, dude?” Tucker asked, stepping up next to him. “You’ve been weird today.”

“’m fine,” he mumbled back, not removing his head. It wasn’t like he could tell the guy that he was actually from a different universe and only now realizing how crazy this one was. The fact that everyone was half-ghost apparently wasn’t the end of the differences. Stunning. “Just… haven’t quite recovered from the accident two days ago.”

“Is that why you took a day off yesterday?” Sam leaned against the lockers on his other side, clearly curious. “No one wanted to tell us why you didn’t show up. Started to wonder if you hadn’t gotten jumped and killed or something.”

“Do you really have to be so morbid?” Tucker leaned back so he could shoot her an unamused glare past Danny, his eyes flickering purple briefly.

Danny pulled back his head, flapping a hand to stop them from squabbling. Some things never changed, he supposed. “Tucker, let her be, she’s just being goth. And yeah, had an accident in my parents’ lab, and Mom didn’t want me to come to school.”

Sam smirked at Tucker, clearly thrilled that Danny had taken her side. Tucker just stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

Rolling his eyes at their antics, Danny started putting away his stuff, letting his thoughts wander. This universe was absolutely madness. The only good thing he could think of was that, with his parents as human hunters instead of ghost hunters, ecto-contaminated food seemed to be far less common. Kind of weird, actually, considering that now everyone was half-ghost and wouldn’t die of ectoplasm poisoning if they did eat it, but hey, whatever. He never liked the taste of it anyway, and it had no benefits for healthy half-ghosts like him anyway.

Blending in was actually surprisingly tough. He had thought that it wouldn’t be all that different from usual, pretending to be powerless and a normal human. But here, that made him stand out, made him a target. And honestly? He really didn’t like that.

The bullying wasn’t limited to just Dash and his cronies. Pretty much the entire student body avoided him, like touching him would drain their own powers. Everyone bit insults at him, even the teachers! Like being human was bad, was lesser.

It was a stark contrast to his normal life, where he was constantly hiding and afraid because he wasn’t human. Because ghosts were lesser, were dangerous manifestations that didn’t deserve to exist.

He sighed, then zipped up his backpack. Sam and Tucker both shot him worried looks, but he ignored them.

Really, the only good thing was that these half-ghosts seemed to grow in strength with time. The students were all too weak to really trigger his ghost sense, and hiding it from the teachers wasn’t too hard.

“Ready to head home, Danny?”

“Yeah.” He nodded at Sam, clicking his locker closed. “Let’s get going. I’ve got tons of homework I need to get working on.”

“At least you don’t have detention again,” she said, her voice cheery like it was a good thing. Ah, another one of those things that hadn’t changed. Back home he got detention for being half-ghost, and here he got it because he wasn’t half-ghost. “So you’ve got that going for you.”

“Woo hoo. Lucky me.” He pushed through the doors of the school, ignoring the flash of light that preluded Tucker rejoining him in his ghost form.

“Man, Danny, you’re being almost as depressing as Sam,” the now-floating Tucker commented. “Cheer up.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Eh, good enough for me.” Tucker shrugged, then darted a glance at his watch. “Hey, I gotta get going. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.” They waved him goodbye, and Tucker shot off like a rocket. Man, he didn’t realize he could miss flying so much.

“So, uh…”

Danny shook his head, turning to face Sam. “You have to get going too? It’s fine, Sam, don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, alright.” She grinned, shifting to her ghost form as well. “See you tomorrow, Danny.”

He watched her go, then heaved another sigh. A whole school day had passed, and he still didn’t know why he was here. Clockwork might be fond of vagueness, but at least he usually gave some clue to what was going on. But he couldn’t dive into the Ghost Zone to find out more, either. He had no one to cover for him, and people would surely connect his ghost form with the normal Danny Fenton.

Still encompassed with these thoughts, he walked into the Fenton household without thinking. The moment he stepped inside, thick blue smoke wafted from his mouth.

And, startled, his wide blue eyes met three pairs of eyes looking back at him.