this just in: danny fenton is just as much of a mask as Brucie Wayne? - another danyal al ghul au
Turns out, being placed in a civilian family who have no knowledge of your background is actually detrimental to the health and development of a child assassin due to lack of proper support! Surrounded by strangers in a foreign city, Danyal Al Ghul does as assassins do best. He hides. Espionage is one of many teachings one learns in the League, and it only takes half a day for Danyal to construct a new persona to hide behind: Daniel Fenton.
By the time dinner rolls around, Danyal al Ghul is safely and securely tucked behind the face of Danny Fenton; brand new adoptive child of the Fenton family who came from overseas. A shy, quiet little boy with a thick accent and curly hair, with brown skin and blue eyes, and an avid interest in the stars. The best fictions are always cobbled together in a little bit of truth, it's some of the only truth he ever lets through. He apologizes in a meek voice for his behavior early, he didn't mean to be rude, and he watches the three of them eat it up with coos.
Lies roll like silk against his lips, he struggles to meet their eyes and offers them his weakest, shyest smile. It's too easy. It's easy to go from there.
Danny Fenton, adoptive son, shy and awkward and unconfident but friendly. Who struggles in his classes and isn't the brightest, but tries his hardest. He makes bad jokes and has a quick tongue and a sarcastic mouth. He wants to be an astronaut. He's got the best aim in school, and is a terrifying dodgeball player. He's one of the least athletic kids in his grade.
It's like playing two truths and a lie, but there's only one truth, and the rest are lies. It's easy to pretend when he knows it's insincere.
Danyal Al Ghul, grandson to the Demon Head. Deadly, trained assassin. Has spilled blood, has had blood spilt from. Environmentalist, animal activist. He loves the stars. He owns a calligraphy set. A sharp tongue, an even sharper blade. He's clever, quick-witted, he would be top of his grade if he tried harder. He purposely doesn't.
He misses his family. He misses his mother, and he misses his brother. Mother visits a few times a year, so few times that he can count it on both hands. He cherishes every visit, as brief as they are. It helps remind him who he is.
Sam and Tucker are Danny's best friends. They've never met Danyal, but Danyal's met them.
It becomes routine to become Danny Fenton. As familiar and as easy as pulling on a shirt in the morning. Danyal wakes up and is always first to the bathroom in the mornings; stares at himself in the mirror until he can finally see Danny staring back at him. At night, he locks his door and sheds the mask.
Dying throws a wrench in his mask; splits a crack straight through the porcelain. He's able to smooth it over with sandpaper and liquid gold, but it's a little hard keeping his ghost form under wraps. It instinctively wants to shift to show his true self. Danyal can't have that, he's spent four years as Danny Fenton, he'll spend another four as him as well. Even if the feeling of the hazmat suit in his ghost form feels restrictive, like a too-small shirt suctioned to his skin that needs to be peeled off.
He'll live. Er-- well, you know what he means. It's frustrating however, trying to keep his Danny Fenton mask up even as Phantom - fighting in the air is something he needs to get used to, and the sudden propping of powers throws him off. But he is nothing if not adaptive, and he hates that he needs to slow his own skills down in order to keep pretenses up in front of Sam and Tucker.
The first time Danyal summons a sword when he's alone, is one of the few times Danyal gets to grin instead of Danny. He's fighting Skulker, and from an invisible hilt he draws a katana from thin air. It startles them both. Skulker takes a step back at the smile that spreads across his face.
They're both silent as Danyal examines his new sword.
"Do you know what people like me do to people like you, poacher?" Danyal finally asks him, the accent he began to hide a few months in slipping through. He drops all pretense, dragging the flat end of the blade slow and appreciatively against his palm. It's a good make, and when he cuts it through the air, it slices through like butter. He looks up at Skulker with a smile; "are you ready to find out?"
When Sam and Tucker ask about why Skulker seems so skittish around Danny now, Danny shrugs at them and says with a playful smile; "I don't know, I guess I kicked his butt too hard after our last fight." and he watches as Sam rolls her eyes exasperatedly, and Tucker snickers with his own joke.
By the time he reunites with Damian before their 15th birthday, Danyal is buried beneath so many layers of Danny Fenton that his brother will need a shovel to dig him out. He's not sure what he'll find.
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Hello hello, S5 ep 9 let's-a-go! Warning, this one is BRUTAL.
QXT: Macaque, what are you doing!
M: Xiaotian, stop! You don’t need to do this.
QXT: I do need to do this!
M: I did tell you before to make your own choices, but this isn’t the way Xiaotian!
QXT: You don’t understand. If I don’t do this, everyone will be done for! Everything will be destroyed!
M: It doesn’t always have to be you! There’s always another way!
QXT: But this is the only way!
M: That’s not true. You don’t get it!
Nines: Who says…*interrupts/traps* ...he doesn’t get it?
Not bad. Who taught you that trick? Who did you make a deal with?
M: What deal?
Nines: Well, that’s not important. Everything’s ending soon anyways. The Harbinger of Chaos knows his mission. Only by sacrificing himself will you all be able to live.
Nines is a real piece of work, making it seem like MK has a choice. That he doesn't care what he does, okay bud. Says that he's tired of being controlled by others LOL. Oh, the irony is enough to make this EP taste metallic. Tired of humans locking themselves in cages, ignoring chaos and destiny, etc. The quiet, seething way Macky asks "what deal?" almost seems guarded. Haha, perhaps he knows. MK saying "not this time" feels like a parallel to another episode, but I can't put my finger on it. Maybe something Wukong said? Yeah, that sounds right. "Sorry bud. Not this time." Yeah, S3 no? Wasn't there something like that?SWK: Xiaotian, no!
Macky, watching this: *sighs* Even if this doesn’t work, I still gotta give it a shot.
HELLO SIR YOU TOTALLY KNOW WHAT IS UP WITH YOUR WEIRD POWERS HUH?
I'm skipping some parts, mostly the gang and Nine bc this ep is loaded, but note the way Mac's shadows infiltrate and surround the midsection where the power core usually is.
SWK: Huh? What?
My boi just turned himself into a shadowy nuclear bomb. I don’t like his prospects for the next season.
Nines: You- what did you do? Why have I been separated from the chaos? I- I can’t feel it anymore! What did you do?! *screams lungs out as Macky gasps for breath on the ground.*
HELLO MACKY IS MY POWER STEALING HC TRUE???? AYOOOOO
Nine's is really flipping here, voice going all glitchy, robotic and echo-y.
SWK: Macaque, you good?
M: What are you waiting for? Stop Xiaotian!
It's all about the tentative way Wukong steps forward and asks and Macky is clearly unwell...Is it worse or better than he was down for longer after fighting possessed!Wukong so we couldn't see his half-lidded eyes/struggle for air. He got himself up in the background of the SunBurst hug in a way that could be memed, but this? Nope. I brought it up bc I wanted to see if possessed!Wukong was holding back bc someone said he was re: laser eyes, maybe they meant him not using it until that fight, or the slow way(?) it charged up bc some part of him didn't want to kill Macky, idk.
SWK: I won’t let you sacrifice yourself!
QXT: Don’t stand in my way, Monkey King. Please.
SWK: Not a chance, Xiaotian. You never abandoned me, and I won’t ever abandon you.
QXT: Don’t force my hand, Monkey King.
EVILLLLLL. JUST LIKE WUKONG SAID TO MACAQUE- don’t make me do this, Liu’er!
SWK: No, Xiaotian. Don’t force mine.
DOUBLE EVIL OH MY GOSH HE SAID THE THING AND HIS EYES WENT BRIGHT GOLD HE MEANS BUSINESS. They gave us serious scary Wukong FR.
I’m starting to see how things so easily went wrong for Macky. Wukong does NOT play around, even if you’re MK. Seeing him use the same spell LBD used to trap Macky on top of all this is making me LOSE IT.
QXT: No! No!
SWK: There is still a lot I haven't taught you yet.
QXT: Monkey King, please! This is my destiny! This is the only way!
Let me just say I HATE the expressions Wukong has been making this entire episode. They're ruining me. This one too.
SWK: Yes. You're right.
It seems like this really is the only way to save everyone.
QXT: Then- Then let me go!
SWK: Nuwa, or destiny. No matter how you look at it, as long as we came from the same stone...
QXT: What?
SWK: You don't have to bear this destiny. Let me bear it.
QXT: No! Monkey King!
SWK: This world needs you, Xiaotian. Thanks...for everything.
QXT: Monkey King! Stop, please!
THE DRAMA FLUFFY THE DRAMA-! AND WUKONG IS CRYING AS HE FLIES AWAY- and then MK USES THE FREAKING SPELL. I swear everybody is trying to hurt each other and squabbling for the right of who gets to sacrifice themselves first and I'm FLIPPING. WHAT IS THIS?!?!?! This is what happens when you put two sacrificial morons with personal issues in a room together.
SWK: No! Xiaotian! No! No! Stop Xiaotian!
QXT: I'm sorry. I will be the one to bear my destiny.
SWK: Stop! Don't Xiaotian!
So anyways, Fluffs. We had all this angsty audio about Wukong crying/yelling if MK got hurt taken from Goku...and now we have to HEAR IT FOR REAL. And like, his VA is seriously good and I think I'll be crying for months if I heard that. I'm going to be crying to YOU about it and that is a threat. We'll cry together. I can kind of see Buddhist influence here since the cycle of reincarnation, while normal here for the characters, is actually the goal to "escape from." So to MK, it's not a good thing. Asides from how much angst Wukong gets from it. You would think it'd be like "oh I get to meet my friends in the next life" but nada, MK here is shook by it. Tho maybe it's because it's not natural, letting them live out to the end, but forcing it early?
OH MY GOD EPISODE 9
I TOOK ALL THE SUNBURST DUO SCREENSHOTS THAT MADE ME FERAL
like…..HELLO?????? 911?????? THERE’S BEEN A MURDER
AND THE FUCKING EXPRESSION BEFORE THE FIGHT🫠🫠🫠🫠 I AM SOBBING
[forgive me for the bad quality 🤧]
AND SWK SO READY TO TAKE MK’S OLAXE BECAUSE “hey, we’re from the same stone, so this destiny of yours should also be tied to me” AND WHAT IF I DIED???? WHAT IF THIS DIALOGUE STABBED ME???? LMK ANSWER FOR YOUR CRIMES
and the way Macky mourned Wukong privately while everyone else cried for MK (bc they assumed the Pillar repairing itsel meant swk failed) since he knew the Monkey King would try to take MK’s place i— 🫠
also Pigsy trying to change MK’s mind and when that didn’t work:
SOMEBODY SEDATE ME 😭
THATS HIS SON!!!! THATS HIS LITTLE BOY WHO LOVES NOODLES AND SUCKS AT DELIVERING THEM AND SPENDS MOST IF HIS WORK HOURS LISTENING TI TABG’S STORIES BUT PIGSY WOULDNT HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY
🫠
also i think @/lunarwandering mentioned this in a post of theirs but Nines is so confusing lmaooooo like bro 🤨 do you or do you not want MK to sacrifice himself???? “i am giving you the choice he free!!! but i will also make sure to stop your friends from stopping me and you from operation Commit Die!”
the way he snaps at being called a monster 👀 Nines please share in a way that isn’t the Allegory of the Cave (like sir, that is Greek Philosophy come on) (tho interesting that the borders of the “cave” from ep8 looked like Nuwa 👀
ans Nines clearly has some beef with Nuwa 👀 so. what’s up with that)
i have so many questions about Nines
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That ruggie thought about him getting you pregnant 👀 u always leave bangers in yhe tags
Putting bangers in the tags is a merakiui speciality. :D
(cw: slight yandere, nsfw, pregnancy, female reader, mentions of abortion)
Ruggie is a sneaky hyena, so naturally you shouldn’t have trusted him when he said he’d pull out before he cums. The two of you are just friends, yet one thing leads to another and the both of you agree to a night of mutually beneficial affairs. School is stressful! Running errands for Leona is stressful! If anything, the both of you deserve to unwind with one another. Ruggie makes it very clear that he will pull out. There’s no way he can risk cumming inside, and neither of you have any condoms on hand either. His pull-out game is elite; don’t worry. You’re in good hands.
Until you aren’t and you wake nauseous weeks later. You’re quick to get a pregnancy test and when it comes back positive and you realize that the only one you were intimate with was Ruggie... Now things are complicated. The both of you sit in his dorm room on his bed, staring at the test and then at one another. It’s so awkward; the silence is stifling. He’d promised he’d pull out and he fully intended to, but in his defense it was warm and snug inside and you’d wrapped your legs around him and!!!! Excuses, excuses, excuses.
Ruggie offers an awkward apology that sounds insincere, but the truth is that he’s never been in this situation before and he has no idea how to smooth-talk his way out of this. So he tells you very bluntly that he can’t afford to take responsibility. He can get Leona to pay for any fees that might crop up if you don’t want to keep the child. He just can’t balance a fussy prince, academics, part-times, and a child. That’s way too much. Not to mention children are expensive and he’s very tight on money. He wouldn’t want to subject a child to a poor life because he isn’t financially stable. You understand where he’s coming from because with your monthly budget there’s no way you can afford a child either. But all of this is so...real. It’s one thing to entertain ideas like pregnancy, but it’s another to actually be pregnant.
So you tell Ruggie you need some time to think things through before you make a decision and he offers his support. After all, it was technically his fault that the both of you are in this predicament. He is genuinely sorry! He really wouldn’t dream of stressing you out with this. If he was rich, it would make your lives so much easier. Leona won’t provide any help because it isn’t his problem to solve. The way he sees it, Ruggie shouldn’t have had such a weak pull-out game. Ruggie’s humiliated that that’s what Leona decides to comment on. Leona does, however, wish you the best of luck. He does care for you in his own gruff way, but don’t expect him to bow to you just because you’re pregnant.
Time passes and with it a dozen decisions fester. No one could tell you’re pregnant because it doesn’t show, but Lilia has popped in to gift you a pair of baby booties he’s crocheted and Malleus has started to visit more often to wish you well and check in. Some of the beastmen seem to perk up when they’re near you, as if they can sense the change in hormones, and the merfolk exchange sly glances. Everyone’s starting to wonder.
When you finally, after much debate, decide to visit the doctor and Ruggie accompanies you (for your sake, he claims. He’s not a deadbeat, so wipe any of those ideas from your mind at once!), the doctor informs you that you’ve waited much too long and that now you ought to focus on preparing for the baby. You and Ruggie die that day in the pristine office, and you leave hollow and nervous. You knew you should’ve gone sooner, but you were never afforded a break. With Grim’s nonsense and then trying to scrounge enough money to fix a hole in the wall (thanks to Ace and Deuce’s foolishness) to managing your own academic schedule, you pushed pregnancy to the back of your mind because you were so certain that you had time.
You try to look on the bright side, but Ruggie’s a realist and there’s absolutely no way the both of you can afford this without having to take out a loan or sign one of Azul’s contracts or work more jobs or... It doesn’t look good, but he wants to try to figure out a solution. So when Ruggie starts working more to afford pre-natal care (Leona’s wallet is always missing Madol, but he never notices, certainly not when he has a habit of leaving his valuables out and about), you try to do your part by looking for work as well. The both of you spend nights in either his dorm or yours (mainly yours, though. Ruggie doesn’t want any of the guys getting any funny ideas) and you’ll read up on pregnancy and parenthood together. You haven’t decided what you’ll do once the child is born, considering neither of you have any romantic feelings for the other and you’re not too keen on forcing a relationship that’s bound to fail.
Despite the initial fears, all poorly concealed, you and Ruggie slowly relax as the weeks go by. The both of you are saving up to afford everything needed for a healthy pregnancy, but there are certain factors that get in the way. Nausea is your enemy. You’ve had to excuse yourself from your shift more than once to vomit, and Ruggie’s started staying in Ramshackle with you and Grim to cook and care for you. He rubs circles into your back when you spill the contents of your stomach into the toilet every morning, sometimes right after your meals. You caught Grim sleeping on your stomach one morning, to which he will adamantly deny it and scoff about how you’re just delusional and trying to spin a lie.
When your baby bump finally starts to show, it becomes harder to hide the obvious. You’ll receive some support from Crowley because he’s so very kind, but you’re still expected to attend classes and such. Although the professors are admittedly a little more lenient with you now that they know of your situation. Ruggie wishes they’d be more lenient with him. Trein advises Ruggie to treasure the blessings that come with children. As noisy and troublesome as they are, it’s so very worth it in the end. His daughters mean the world to him; he’d do anything for them. Ruggie thinks this conversation got weird fast because since when does Trein get sentimental one-on-one like this? But...he’s grateful for the advice. He confides in Trein that he has no idea what he’s doing, but he’s really trying because... Because. He doesn’t have an exact reason, but he’s just doing it.
Trein smiles at him and simply says that trying is better than nothing. Ruggie feels like this was the strangest pep talk he’s ever gotten, yet somehow it’s cleared his head a little.
When your belly is more rounded and you’re a few months in, Ruggie suggests you stop working. Even Azul insists you ought to take leave; the lounge can survive without you. “It better be paid leave,” Ruggie threatens, to which Azul grins and says that a little signature can solve all of his issues.
Every single Madol counts. He’s filled jars and jars with bills and coins and he’s stowed them away in a locked space in his room. He’ll check the days off on his calendar as the both of you get closer to your supposed due date. He’s not sure why, but when you insist that you can work a little longer for his sake he doesn’t like that. He’ll work for you. He’ll do all of the heavy lifting and physical labor. Just relax and let him massage your shoulders or feet when they’re sore. Let him rub lotions and creams into your belly. Let him cook healthy, safe meals for you. Normally, Ruggie would let you do your own thing, but this time he’s a bit more forceful with his insistence. He doesn’t want you to hurt yourself or the baby, and he definitely doesn’t want you around those slimy Octavinelle students.
For the longest time, Ruggie was so certain that there was nothing between the two of you. You’re not in love, you never kiss or hold hands, and you don’t even sleep in the same bed. You’re really just two friends trying to get through a tough situation. But lately he’s felt different. These feelings surface when he’s rubbing a soothing gel into your belly and he feels the slightest kick, and he freezes up and looks you in the eyes and both of your stares seem to say, You felt that, too, right? It finally occurs to him that there’s life inside you. That the little movement within your belly is the result of you and him. That, had you never waited in the first place, he wouldn’t be here with you, feeling a restless baby kick and squirm within. Ruggie finally understands what Trein meant all that time ago. Moments like this—the ones in which he’s reminded of the bond the two of you share, that this child is the one who tethers you and him together—are so very special. An important thing that only he could experience with you.
Ruggie’s been feeling for too long and so he tries to back off, suddenly embarrassed, when your hands cover his. You smile at him and for the first time in his life he thinks that this isn’t a bad situation. Sure, it’s stressful and he’s exhausted every single day, but it’s a situation he doesn’t have to face alone. He’s together with you. With someone who is not quite a friend but not quite a lover either. Somewhere in between all of that. What does that even make you? He has no idea, but deep within his heart he wants you to be more than just a friend.
He’s never had anything that is remotely his. He’s always had to fight for his things. For food. For clothes. For money. He only knows survival because he’s never been granted the luxury of an easy life. So when you smell of him and you’re carrying his child and there are just so many traces of him on you it makes him realize that he wants this relationship. He wants to be your lover and future husband. He wants to be a father. He wants to be yours, and he wants you to be his.
Ruggie’s not sure what will happen after the baby is born and if the two of you will even stay as close as you currently are, but when he discusses potential names late into the night with you he pushes thoughts of the future aside. It’s important to plan ahead, but right now all he wants is to admire the way the moonlight frames you, the way you light up and laugh when he playfully suggests the name Ruggie Jr., and how warm you are. How welcoming your scent is. How comforting it is to know that it’s just you, him, and a precious miracle growing within you. (And a snoring Grim, but he’s too deep in sleep to be woken.) How perfect the two of you are, even when you’re struggling to make ends meet. Even then, he’s happy because you’re really all he needs to get through tough times.
He can’t let you go. He loves you too much, and hopefully by the end of these nine months you’ll love him, too.
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