#danny shows up and wants to conceal being a ghost for as long as possible but fucking vlad already possessed some fuckin guy

[ew-selfish-art]

Dp x Dc AU: Danny and Tim are twins- And Vlad is the first to figure this out in his attempts to get DavlCo a new investor.

---

Tim was getting the creeps from this guy. It was as if the room got colder, the seconds got longer and the room's shadows moved to their own volition. He stared Tim down less like 'You punk kid' and more like 'You'll be mine' in a way that Tim didn't appreciate. At all.

The guy kept setting meetings up despite Tim's direct insistance that Wayne Enterprises would never touch DalvCo- not with a ten foot pole or for all the money in the world. Some how Tim's board of directors kept getting swindled by the guy and... therefore more meetings. More looks from this guy that made him want to crawl out of his skin.

Vlad asked him if he ever went by Timothy- Tim couldn't reply "that's not my name" fast enough. It apparently inspired the guy somehow. More meetings that Tim can't reject because of board members pop up.

It's been long determined that Jason doesn't get involved with Wayne Enterprises, but after the Uncle and a few other paid-actor solutions go up in flames- Tim decides to call up his older brother to act as a bodyguard and tell this guy to fuck off for the final time.

Jason apparently also gets the Heebee-jeebies from this asshole but his message is loud and clear to Vlad. There's a flash of green and then all of sudden it's just Tim and Jason in the room... Only Jason isn't acting like himself.

Putting it together- Tim reaches for his contingency F stash of Knock out gas and doses Jason. Vlad doesn't re-appear so Tim assumes that to mean that he'll be trapped in Jason's person until Jason wakes up.

Walking out of the meeting room with his bus of a brother over his shoulders- Tim quickly asks Tam to reach out to Vlad's Emergency contact. Surely there is someone in this man's company willing to explain what the fuck Vlad was trying to pull. Tim theoretically can keep Jason drugged asleep for a long time- surely that threat can get him somewhere.

The day drags on as Tim continues to keep Jason unconscious and eventually Tam lets him know that someone is here for Vlad. She says it with the addition of one of their codes- He mentally prepares himself for the worst and then... His doppleganger walks through the door? What the fuck?

Tim and Danny puzzle about one another for a little too long and Jason wakes up- Vlad pops out immediately. A shouting match between Danny and Vlad commences and...

"Man I knew our family had unresolved issues but seriously what the fuck has your clone dealing with?" Jason asks, as though he could watch this all day with pop corn.

"You made more clones?!" Danny screamed at Vlad who's only response is "Not this one! This one is actually polite!"

"Fuck you!" Tim and Danny reply in tandem.

#dcxdp #dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #danny phantom #dc crossover #dp crossover #long post #tim and danny are twins au #twins au #tim is co-ceo of wayne enterprises and has too much shit that he puts up with because his board doesn't respect him #danny shows up and wants to conceal being a ghost for as long as possible but fucking vlad already possessed some fuckin guy #vlads plan is to abduct and adopt tim #vlad sees the resemblance immediately but when he asks tim the name question tims answer basically confirms it to him lol #jason is collateral damage here and is willing to throw down because of it #jason immediately being like 'oh look its a version of you i havent traumatized yet. i should not fuck up this one.' #jason danny and tim bonding over hating vlad actually brings danny into the family fold #he still lives in amity but now he has unlimited pocket change and a family that acts suspiciously like they're hiding being vigilantes

[redrobin-detective]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[standbi-ghost]

Hand in Mine, Into Your Icy Blues

Words: 2872

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Child neglect, implied abuse

Hey hey, you you, prefer reading fics on ao3? https://archiveofourown.org/works/27850118

AU where ghost hunting is a respected profession and captured ghosts are used as tools in order to find other ghosts, *insert Danny angst because I love seeing the boy suffer*

The Fentons are America's top ghost researchers, famous for their work, infamous for their neglectful habits. Jazz finds their newest research subject down in the lab.

It was weird to live with the fact that your parents are “big shots” in their profession when you have to come home to them every day. Especially when you didn’t seem to know your parents at all when all you saw of them were the shadows behind their studies.

Growing up as an only child was, in the nicest way possible, lonely. Which is why Jasmine Fenton found herself raised by the books on her shelf and the curiosity in her heart. Sure, her parents were there at the start, it would be cruel to leave a newborn baby to fend for herself, but the moment she showed signs of independence.

It was fine. Everything she could ever need she could find on her own. She taught herself to cook, to clean, to spell the extra difficult words in her 3rd grade English class, to solve the laborious equations in her honors Pre-Cal class. She earned the food she made, she reveled in the clean citrus smell of her room, she earned the praise from her teachers. And when she found she couldn’t connect to the other students, she just reminded herself that she didn’t need the warm embrace of a mother, the thunderous laugh of a father, nor did she need friends. She could take care of herself.

Which is why she found herself sat in front of the only thing her parents ever shielded her from.

-

It was a sad sight to say the least. It seemed like it was more bruises and taunt broken bones, if it even had bones, than skin. She had always been known for her soft heart, always giving others second chances even when they were undeserving. Which is why she found herself in front of the very thing that shouldn’t ever be shown that kind of weakness.

Apart from the obvious signs of abuse, it was all teeth and claws, snarling at her even now. She was sure that if she were to let it out, it wouldn’t hesitate in killing her and her parents.

The growl that erupted from its chest broke her away from her thoughts. The cold basement floor seemed to get colder as she stared into its eyes. There was a flash of something before his gaze was consumed by guarded anger.

“Hey, it’s okay,” the closer she got the more aggressive it seemed to get, “it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. Look!”

She opened her palm to reveal a cookie she had snuck down with her. If Pavlov taught her anything, it’s that the favors of any being, be it a dog or undead monstrosity, can be won over through positive stimuli.

“Here see, I’ll have some too! It’s really good, I’m sure you’ll like it!”

At this point in her life, she wasn’t really sure of anything anymore. Life had been so much easier when her parents were just some far to reach superheroes she barely saw. She used to think like them, that ghosts, if you could even call them that, were just balls of left-over emotion from when a person died. That ghosts were some kind of monster in the closet that her parents could just scare away with their presence. That they were less than the dust bunnies under her bed. But there were skeletons in that closet too. Awful, immoral experiments, living dissections, and the screams. She doesn’t hate her parents, far from it, she loves them with all her heart, but the studies they were a part of? The less empathic members in their field? Hunters? Those were fair game to hate.

She split the cookie into two messy halves, popping one in her mouth as she nudged the other closer to the teeth in front of her. The teeth glared back.

“Okay, I get it, I’ll be on my way, but this isn’t the last you’ll see of me.”

With that, she got up, dusted her jeans off, and with her took the only light present in the basement lab.

She didn’t catch the small ‘thank you’ that followed.

-

Once in her room, Jazz let the tears slip. Whatever was in her parents’ basement was really pulling at her heartstrings. The thing looked to be no older than 15 years old, it was a child. But looks can be deceiving. She couldn’t begin to count how many of these child ghosts had attempted a massacre, how many of them seemed innocent enough to fool someone out of their own free will. Child or not, whatever was in the basement was dangerous. She was playing with fire here. But the look of hurt in his eyes seemed real; felt real. And, if anything, he seemed more at risk of being hurt by her rather than the other way around. He was as thin as a twig and too exhausted to do much of anything. If she could only-

Jazz shook the thoughts out of her head, plopping herself on her bed. Since when had ‘it’ become a ‘he’? And more importantly, why was there fear in his eyes?

“Jazzy pants, we’re home! We’ll be in the lab if you need us. “We left 20 bucks on the dinner table, go ahead and order some take-out for yourself!”

She sighed as she pushed herself off and out of her room. As she dialed the number to the first restraint that came to mind, she couldn’t help her thoughts wandering to the bag of bones locked in the lab just beneath her feet.

“Hi, thank you for calling Shanghai Inn what can I get started for yah?”

“Yeah, can I get some Vegetable Chow Mein and two Egg Rolls please?”

-

By the time her parents had finally stepped out of the lab, the food had long since gone cold. She tiptoed down into the basement and cracked open the door into darkness. There was a green glow and something of a soft hum emanating from something shoved in the corner of the lab. Taking a deep breath, she mustered up the courage to fully plunge into the shadows and crept towards the covered cage. One hand holding a plate of Chinese take-out, she fumbled with her phone until it pierced the darkness.

Almost instantly the hum ceased, again plunging her into a deafening silence.

“Hey, um, I’m back and I brought more goodies!”

There was a sudden sound of rustling before a quiet sniffle was heard. At that, she closed the distance between her and the cage in front of her and she peeled back the sheet over it.

She almost threw up there and then.

It- he was barely holding himself together, literally. He was tightly hugging his bleeding torso. A less perceptive person would’ve pegged it as the remnants of whatever was the creature’s last meal, but Jazz saw the jagged cuts he was trying but failing, to conceal. He’d been vivisected. He’d been vivisected by her own parents.

She dropped to her knees, the meal in her hands forgotten. That seemed to startle him back to reality because he began his growling again. This time a lot more defensive and a lot less forgiving.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s just me see? It’s just me.” She said as she put her hands up in what she hoped was a universal surrender.

He seemed to study her as his head tilted, growl dissipating. In another life, she would’ve called it cute, adorable even, but right now she was trying her hardest not to scream out of instinctual fear. After he seemed to deem her safe enough to his standards, he went back to picking at his chest, the quiet hum returning to the room.

“I don’t know if you can understand me, like, at all, but I can help you with that,” she pointed to his exposed chest. She hadn’t noticed it when she first walked in, but it seemed to be the source of the soft glow in the room. He was sluggishly bleeding what she guessed was the ectoplasm her parents studied.

Again, he responded with empty eyes and a head tilt.

Were her parents right? Was this an unfeeling killer she was kneeled in front of? Of course they were right, how could she, someone who’s never even thought of looking into ghosts before, compete with the two most respected researchers in the field. Hell, they’ve got to have their PhDs mounted somewhere in this lab. She should’ve known better. She should’ve-

A whine echoed through the lab. She looked up from her lap to find the dead’s eyes locked on her. Once he seemed sure that her attention was on him, he gave a slight nod of his head, gesturing to his shredded torso.

“You want me to help?”

Another nod.

“Okay, alright, that’s good- I mean, not good, but, okay”

She scattered away from the injured boy, mentally making a list of materials she would need to stitch him back up. She would need a first aid kit, naturally, she would also need some kind of suture that would actually hold, the Fenton net might. Her mind was racing, trying to figure out how to do the task at hand. The poor kid wasn’t in any shape to move, so how could she tend to him from outside the cage? Unless-

“Okay, for this to work we’re going to have to trust each other okay?” she paused, was she really going through with this? “I’m going to have to be able to trust that you won’t just randomly decide to kill me and make me your next meal,”

At that, he made an adorably disgusted face. Ancients he was definitely growing on her.

“and you’re going to have to trust me to not cut you open or something, deal?” she pressed her pinkie into the cage. She didn’t know why she did it, it was a childish gesture she grew out of ages ago, she was 18 making a deal for her life for crying out loud, not some child promising friendship, to a dead who probably didn’t even understand the gesture nonetheless.

The boy gave a small smile a wrapped his own pinkie around hers.

“Deal”

It was small, if she hadn’t been overanalyzing his every move, every sound, in fear of her life, she would’ve missed it. But she didn’t.

“You can speak?”

Everything in her parents’ research pointed to the fact that ghosts were incapable of complex thinking, they were just echoes of a former person after all. Yet here this boy was, spitting in the face of her parents’ years of research.

A small nod was all she got in return.

“Okay,” she was starting to think her vocabulary was slowly diminishing to just the word ‘okay’.

“Alright, I’m going to go upstairs and look for what I need to fix, that,” she gestured to him, “I brought this up here,” she said as she picked up the overlooked food, “It’s not much, and not very healthy, but it’s all I have at the moment and It’ll do. Feel free to munch on it all you want, I should be back in a minute, my parents went out with some old college friends and shouldn’t be back till tomorrow afternoon.”

He simply watched her ramble on in fascination. She didn’t know where these mother-hen instincts were coming from, but she wasn’t complaining. The kid was nothing short of adorable.

“uh- anyways, you probably want this,” she said as she pushed the plate into the cage.

She watched in mirrored fascination as he sniffed the food and began eating it. That didn’t faze her though, what caught her by surprise was that he very clearly knew how to use the chopsticks provided with the meal, especially with one hand fighting to keep himself from spilling onto the basement floor.

Leaving him to finish the meal, she set to finding the supplies in her mental checklist. Once she had what she needed, she made her way down into the lab, making sure to swipe the keys hanging by the entrance to the lab.

She unceremoniously dropped everything in front of the ghost boy, startling him into a flinch. She winced.

“Sorry.” She sent a sheepish smile to the kid who sent his very own.

This is the moment she’d been dreading. There was no way she would be able to stitch him back up and keep him locked in the cage. She would have to defy her parents’ one rule. Never trust a ghost. But her parents had been wrong before. They said ghosts can’t feel pain, yet the ghost boy wined every time he placed accidental pressure on his wounds. They said ghosts can’t form complex thought, and yet he could, enough to speak to her at least. They said ghosts don’t need to eat, that they sustained themselves through ectoplasmic energy, yet here he was eating, using chopsticks.

“Okay, I’m going to let you out, but remember our deal,” she could still go back, she could still take all evidence of tonight, lock herself in her room and pretend this never happened. But as she looked into his green eyes, she couldn’t help but noticed the pale freckles splashed over his cheeks, noticed the way his hair frizzed from the dampness in the air, noticed the way her parents had left her with this supposed monster. The monster that was now attempting to balance one chopstick over the other.

“I trust you, and you trust me.”

With that, she unlocked the cage and instinctively stepped back.

She was expecting teeth and claws like when she first came across him, or maybe a slow crawl towards her, what she hadn’t expected was a pair of pinprick green eyes latched onto her in fear. He was scared of her.

She slowly made her way towards him, exaggerating her movements as to not startle him.

“You think I can carry you out of there? It’ll be easier for me to work out here rather than in there.”

There was a stiff nod before she carefully picked him up bridal style. He couldn’t weigh more than 50 pounds which she had no idea whether or not that was in a healthy range for him. Careful to not further aggravate his injuries, she put him down gently onto a clear area on the floor.

“Alright, I’m not going to lie, this is going to hurt, a lot, do you want me to talk to you while I do this?”

A nod.

“Okay, is there anything you like, or do you just want me to talk random?”

There was a hesitant look on his face before speaking for the second time that night,

“I like space.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know too much about space, but I do know some neat stories I can tell you!”

That’s how she found herself telling story after story of the few constellations she knew while stitching up a ghost kid she met not even 24 hours ago. A couple of stitches in and her hands began shaking, but the boy didn’t seem to mind. He was lost in her words and the worlds she was building for him. She hadn’t even noticed she was done until she went for the next stitch only to find an unmarred surface.

“and in his anger, Poseidon created Scylla to wreak havoc on seas and the seacoast!” she waved her fingers at him.

“Cetus”

“huh?”

“He created Cetus, not Scylla, she’s a six headed monster.” he cheekily pointed out, sticking his tongue out for good measure.

“Okay mister know-it-all,” she cheekily grinned, “I think it’s time to head to bed.”

She quickly checked her phone to confirm it was half-past 4 in the morning and way too late (early?) to be discussing sea monsters.

Pocketing her phone, she looked up to see a terrified look yet again plastered on the ghost’s face.

“Please don’t put me back in there!” he wheezed, “I promise I won’t cause any trouble and you won’t have to see or hear from me ever again!”

“Hey, breathe, remember what I said about trust?”

He seemed to make a point of nodding at a neck-snapping speed.

“Well, right now, I can’t trust my parents, so come one, you’re staying in my room until further notice!”

“...really?”

It would be hard. Sneaking in extra food for him, keeping him quiet, hell, just explaining to her parents how the ghost in their lab escaped from right under her nose, was going to be tough. And her parents weren’t stupid. Neglectful? Yes. Valued their work over their own daughter? Understatement of the year. But it was worth a try for him.

And sure, she had always said she was fine being on her own, she had even declined her parents’ attempts to get her a kitten when she was 12, arguing that she was better off on her own, a lone wolf of sorts. But now, looking into the eyes of a kid, ancients he really was just a kid, who’s seen much more pain than she could ever imagine, having a little brother didn’t seem half bad.

“Yeah little bro, let’s go”

#Danny Phantom #danny fenton #danny is a bit feral #not too feral tho #the fentons arent the best parents #Danny loves space #You can pry that trope out of my cold dead hands #fanfiction #phanfic #danny phantom au #guess I'll just keep making Danny phantom aus #someone stop me #scratch that someone please help me #if you get my title reference just know my messages are open #danny phantom fic

[words-writ-in-starlight]

I'm a little late to the party but for the ask meme: Danny Phantom 5, 13, 14, 18, 20 + Trans!Danny headcanons. I know that wasn't on the list but I have a feeling you'll do it for me anyway ;)

MY NEWEST BOY.  For this ask meme!  Also thisgot long so I made a separate post about trans Danny because I care about it alot byeeeeee.

5)  Guilty pleasures

Barring times where he’s being, A, imprisoned, or, B, hunted forfun and profit, Danny actually—really likes the Ghost Zone.  It’s soothing in a way that he’s pretty sureis not quite right, in a way that Sam and Tucker and Jazz do not seem toagree with, but he likes it there.  Theslow, billowing curls of green drift through the air like nebulae, currents of energyrather than wind that he could drift on like thick water if he wanted, dottedwith doors and islands that orbit whatever passes for gravity wells in a skyscapeof ectoplasm.  Almost every touchstone inthe Ghost Zone moves, although most have a predictable pattern—about once everyten months, Danny tries not to use the Fenton portal if he can avoid it, onaccount of how it comes out practically on top of Walker’s prison—and learningthe rhythms of it is sort of like a hobby, at this point.  Danny doesn’t have a ton of time to kill, buthe’s figured out that, as long as he’s in ghost form, he can go for a longtime without feeling hungry or thirsty or tired, in the Ghost Zone, so onetime he told Jazz he was going to try his hand at cartography and spent theentirety of his parents’ five day out-of-state conference coasting on ectoplasmand trying to plot the place.  It cameout looking kind of like a star map, full of arrows trying to indicate movementdirection and a lot of scribbled notes like Pretty sure Clockwork moved thisand AVOID and Possibly Vlad’s portal, maybe close this.  

Danny doesn’t talk about it much, because the Ghost Zone makes hisfriends, his family, jittery.  He’s prettysure they’re worried he’ll decide not to come back some day.

13) What gets them flustered

One time a reporter manages to get a camera intoDanny’s face before he can book it after a fight, and she’s smart enough toalready be asking her first question before he realizes what was happening.

She’s also smart enough to start her first questionwith “Excuse me, Inviso-bill–”

“It’s Phantom,” he snaps,looking around in annoyance, and the reporter smothers a triumphant smirk.

“Yes, Phantom.  What made you become a hero,Phantom?”

Phantom just hangs there in the air for a moment, gapingat her, and then squeaks, “Excuse me?”

“You’re a ghost,” the reporter says, keeping aprofessionally straight face and a neutral, friendly tone.  “Whatmade you decide to be a hero?”

“I–didn’t?”  Phantom scratches a hand backthrough his hair, and the reporter silently thanks whatever quirk of ghostlyfunction is bringing a green glow like a blush to his cheeks and throat andears.  She’s going to lock down a raise with this interview, even if heflies off right this second–the first person to interview Amity Park’s ownsuperhero.  And he’s blushing.  “I’mjust keeping things under control, you know?”

The reporter grins.  “Well,” she says withfalse nonchalance, “would you mind answering a few questions?”

“Uh,” Phantom says.  “I have to–go.”

He turns invisible and makes a break for it,and the reporter’s fifty-second clip of a conversation runs on the local newsfive times in the next seven hours.  She gets a reputation for being ableto snag the neighborhood super for a few seconds, sometimes even multipleminutes.  She discovers real quick thathe’ll blush pretty reliably the second she drops the H word.

14) Ingrained habits/forces of habit

Danny works hard to seem helpless at school.  It kind of makes him crawl the walls, but he workshard, okay?  He lets himself getpushed around, he occasionally gets punched in the face, he does his best toconceal it when a year or two of ghost hunting as a full time job starts toshow in his human form, he spends a lot of time and energy projecting a façade oflocal hopeless wallflower.  He can’thelp seeming like a delinquent, given that he’s been living the C-average lifestyleby the skin of his teeth and misses about three class periods on a good week,but at least he can seem like a delinquent who would never, ever be a candidatefor competence.  He’s protecting a secretidentity out here.  Official Team PhantomPolicy, much as everyone might hate it, is that no one intervenes with Danny’scharade.  It gives Tucker hives and Samhas a hit list of bullies, but Danny’s always quick to smile off their concernand get on with his life.  He has ahealing factor and it’s been years since Dash was actually concerning tohim except as a potential stalker, Danny can stand to bite his tongue and take it.

Aaaaaaand then when he’s sixteen, Dash punchesTucker, instead.  Over some pettynothing, something that Tucker doesn’t even remember afterward—refusing to makea fake ID for him?  Laughing at Dash forfumbling a catch at the game on Saturday? Joking about how Dash’s grades were even worse than Danny’s?  It could’ve been anything.  It didn’t really even register with Tucker assomething worth getting punched over, whatever it was, but he guesses thatbullies can have bad days too.

So Tucker says whatever he says, and Dash whipsaround and sucker punches him, a swift hidden jab that only someone alreadywatching would see.  And then–

And then Danny dislocates Dash’s shoulder.  It’s not on purpose and it’s not subtle.  Tucker doesn’t really remember what happened—hewas a little busy gasping for air. Mostly he just remembers the crash of someone being slammed into a locker,and Danny’s voice, deep and un-Danny-like, snarling You don’t touch them,and a shout, a howl of pain and shock. By the time Tucker can stand upright, wheezing and clinging to Sam,every kid in the silent hallway is staring wide-eyed at Danny, skinny weakDanny Fenton who isn’t really so skinny and weak anymore.  Danny’s stepping back from Dash, who’sclutching at a shoulder that looks wrong under his letterman jacket, andDanny looks mildly horrified with himself, but he’s still standing betweenTucker and Dash.  

When the teachers show up, Danny goes quietly to theprincipal’s office, and gives a plain-spoken explanation of what happened—Dash punchedhis best friend, Danny slammed him into the wall, and somewhere in there hepopped Dash’s shoulder out of place.  He getssuspended for two weeks and detention for the next month, which he cooperateswith, and non-negotiable anger management counselling, which he mostly just…doesn’tattend.  Danny has decided that he doesn’tdo school counselling anymore, thanks.

After he comes back, Danny slips back into therhythm of things without any change in his behavior, but—it’s hard for everyoneto forget that they watched Dash’s favorite punching bag nearly put the king ofthe school through a wall.

Sam and Tucker enjoy a very peaceful remainder oftheir high school career.

18) Things they’ll never admit

Danny has not and will not talk to anyone about the accident withthe portal.  The actual events, yeah.  But he’s thought about it, and—they just don’tneed to know.  Sam already frettedherself blue over the Lichtenberg figure lacing up Phantom’s left arm to hisheart.  They don’t need to know how clearhis memory of being electrocuted is.

(Jazz watches Danny skirt around the Specter Deflector with abouta five foot radius of nervous respect, and she makes some educated guessesabout why, exactly, her brother doesn’t like being shocked.  But if he doesn’t want to talk about it, for once,she’s not going to wring it out of him.)

20) What Ifs/Alternate Timelines

I’m sure everyone and their cousin has done this but…I love Jazz and Danny’s relationship.  

So.

Jazz has been keeping an eye on herbrother for…ever.  This is partly becauseshe’s a worrier by nature and partly because their parents are both brilliantand affectionate and completely hopelessly scatterbrained.  Jack and Maddie are fine and all, but alsoJazz is frequently awestruck that she and Danny lived long enough to be able totake care of themselves.  Holy shitis she ever going to write a memoir.  TheChristmas I Re-killed the Turkey or something.  So when their parents are out for the day andshe wanders through the living room into the kitchen to see if the Nilla Wafershave been contaminated yet, and she realizes that she hasn’t seen Danny in fourhours, she starts looking around.  

Sam and Tucker’s bags are in hisbedroom, and all three of them have left their jackets by the door.  It’s a cool autumn, and Tucker complainsconstantly that he’s not built for the cold, he’s built for indoor rooms fullof computers, so they wouldn’t have gone out. The TV is off.  Danny’s room isempty.  It’s not dark enough yet forDanny to have dragged them up to the roof for stargazing.  

It’s about this point where Jazzstarts to feel like something is about to go horribly wrong.

She passes the door to the lab andhears Sam’s voice echo up the stairs, and then—

“Fine, fine,” Danny says from thebasement.  “It doesn’t even work.”

Jazz opens the door, already composinga lecture about not poking around in the lab (for Danny) and a lecture aboutremembering to lock the lab when they’re going to be out all day (for herparents), and starts down the stairs.

The crack-boom of the portalkicking on hits like a thunderclap, and then there’s a scream, someonewailing like they’re being killed.

Jazz never does remember how she gotdown the rest of the stairs, but she makes it just in time to see her brotherstumble out of the glowing green portal and fall straight through Sam’s armsand collapse into a pile of black-clad limbs and shocking white hair.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #jazz fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #ask meme #headcanon meme #starlight writes stuff #i have that adhd hyperfixation thing spinning up HARDCORE about danny phantom so...stay tuned #anyway some further thoughts about that au: it doesn't change a TON in the long term #but it DOES mean that danny has an ally in a) lying to his parents and b) handling vlad right out the gate #but what i'm really specifically interested in is jazz being there when danny comes out of the portal #she obviously cares about him a lot! i strongly headcanon that the fentons are a little...benignly neglectful #not because they don't care but because they're just REALLY not actually that equipped to focus on their kids #so jazz has had a huge hand in danny growing up rather than accidentally eating ectoplasm as a three-year-old and dying #so YEAH what i care about is that girl coming downstairs just in time to see her brother's ghost/dead body/indeterminate energy construct h #i think it takes jazz a second to look around the lab and do the mental math as sam and tucker scream danny's name #and then she FREAKS OUT #so that's some chaos to deal with while she flutters over a dizzy half-conscious danny and tries to call an ambulance #i...legit don't think danny admitted to his parents that he had a bad enough lab accident to go to the hospital #in any universe #i think he hedged and said he just got a little shock and felt fine and didn't need to see a doctor and managed to get out of it #but that's a longer story #anyway yeah jazz gets on the Fuck Vlad Train much faster in this one and there's angst about her worrying about danny #also in this timeline since jazz is in on everything from the jump she starts calling vlad 'vladimir' when he won't drop their full names #a queue we will keep and our honor someday avenge #lathori #asked and answered

[auberginesdonthavelimbs]

Phanniemay Day 15: Alternate Ending

Word count: 3595

“The ghost boy is Jack’s son?” Vlad was taken aback by the revelation, though, he had to admit, he wasn’t particularly surprised that Jack’s idiocy had claimed a second victim. He turned human and smiled in a way that an onlooker might reasonably describe as sinister. “Well, whadaya know?”  

Vlad knelt next to Daniel’s unconscious form and carefully lifted him. He was initially worried about waking him, but he seemed to be completely out cold. Vlad felt briefly guilty, but he banished the feeling as quickly as it had come. He couldn’t possibly have known who he was attacking, and, of course, he had no plans to hurt him any further. No, his plans for Daniel were far grander.

As Vlad walked back to the guest bedroom Daniel was sleeping in, he smiled again, the same sinister expression but tinged with a genuine warmth that was unusual for him. No matter their differences, and it was clear already that there were many, Daniel was like him in a way that no one else was, and that, indeed, he hadn’t been certain anyone else could be. Both hurt by the same man, both granted the same powers. It had taken Vlad no time at all to perceive the potential for an alliance. And Daniel was but a child; he needed someone in his life to guide him. He had Maddie already, of course, but she could only help him so much when the challenges he faced were so unique. Vlad would be in a much better position to train him with the use of his ghost powers - training that he sorely needed, as evidenced by his utter devastation in their earlier fight. And, he was sure, Daniel wouldn’t turn down the many benefits that his wealth offered.

Vlad phased through the door of the guest bedroom and walked over to the bed. He could feel that Daniel was starting to stir, so he quickly tucked him under the blanket. As he did so, images sprang unbidden into his mind. He saw himself tucking Daniel in night after night, reading him stories, teaching him how to ride a bike - stereotypical images of fatherhood that were based far more on tv shows he once watched than anything in his own life. Still, those images affected him deeply, and he had to pause to catch his breath, aware that Daniel’s own breath was coming faster and faster.

Vlad walked to the door and pushed it open, apparently forgetting for a moment that he could turn intangible. He had meant to just keep walking, but he could hear Daniel muttering something very quietly. He turned around, standing just outside the door. After a few more seconds, the muttering resolved into words.

“No, please. No, get away!” With that, Daniel started awake, pulling the blanket off of himself. “Huh? Where am I? What happened?” Vlad realized that he was still standing in the open doorway, very much visible. He needed an excuse. Luckily, Daniel had just given him a decent opening.

“I was going to ask you the same question, young man.” Vlad stepped casually into the room as if he had meant to do so all along. Daniel scratched the back of his head.

“I must have been worn out from the long car trip.” That made no sense at all, but Vlad supposed he could forgive the boy for not being able to come up with a good explanation; he had just been knocked unconscious, after all, and now had to deal with a veritable stranger in his bedroom asking questions. “I-I’ll be okay in the morning. I’m sorry for the scare.” Vlad smiled amicably.

“Oh, what’s a little scare between friends, son, hm?” Had Vlad just called Daniel ‘son’? It felt so natural, but Vlad wondered if it was too soon for that. “And I do want us to be friends, Daniel. If you need anything-” Daniel raised his hand to stop him.

“I’ll let you know, Mister Masters. But, right now, I probably should get back to sleep.” Vlad nodded.

“Of course. Sleep tight, little badger.” Vlad walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. He paused for a moment, listening. It sounded like Daniel was, indeed, going back to sleep, so Vlad turned back into Plasmius and made his way to his lab. As expected, his ghost vultures were there, awaiting further instructions.

“You three really are absolutely useless, you know that?” They hung their heads, but Vlad could tell it was an act. “Oh, don’t give me that. I send you to kill the oaf, you come back empty handed. I bring him to you on a silver platter, and you let an inexperienced child knock that platter from your hands.” One of the vultures raised his head.

“Well, technically, boss, we don’t have any hands.” Vlad shot an energy beam from one finger, catching the shoulder of the vulture who had just spoken.

“Silence, you incompetent parrot!” Another of the vultures seemed about to speak, but Vlad dissuaded him with a look. “Tomorrow, guests will be arriving. Wait until there’s a crowd. Wait until Jack Fenton is in that crowd, and then kill him.”

“Uh, boss,” said the vulture with the injured shoulder, “I haven’t been an assassin for very long, but isn’t that kind of the opposite of how this usually works?” Vlad shot him again, and this time all three of the vultures winced.

“How this usually works,” Vlad said slowly, enunciating every syllable, “is that you are hired by someone, and that person tells you what to do, and then you do it. You three have already failed me twice. Frankly, you’re lucky to still be alive, let alone working for me. So shut up and do the job. I don’t want to hear any more complaints or snide remarks.” Vlad emphasised this last point by turning on his heel and walking away. He paused by the door, not turning around. “And don’t call me ‘boss.’ My name is Plasmius - use it.” Vlad walked out without waiting for a response.

Of course, Vlad knew he was going to have to kill the vultures. He needed Daniel to respect him, to see him as a friend, and, in time, as a father figure. Eventually, he would come to see Jack for the monster he was, but Vlad couldn’t expect that change to come overnight. For now, Daniel would have more fondness for his father’s saviour than his murderer. And it certainly wouldn’t do to have those loud-mouths around to implicate him.

Unfortunately, Daniel was well aware that someone had sent the vultures after his father, which meant that Vlad was going to need someone to pin that on. He hoped Skulker was a decent actor.

The next day, at the party, Vlad found Daniel sitting behind a suspiciously empty food table. He looked absolutely miserable, which seemed appropriate, given that his father was leading an absurd and dated dance in the middle of the room and paying no mind at all to what or whom he was hitting. He looked like a dying fish, flopping up and down, gasping for breath that would not come, slowly suffocating, his face turning blue, his organs beginning to fail as he convulsed on the ground -

Vlad shook the image from his mind and walked over to Daniel. He hesitated for an imperceptible fraction of a second, then placed a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. May as well test the waters.

“Well, son, you’re looking much better. I trust you had a restful sleep?”

“Oh, I did, thanks. But, call me, ‘Danny.’ ‘Son’ is what my dad calls me.” That stung more than it probably should have, but Vlad had decades of practice concealing his emotions, so his face remained neutral.

“Oh, yes of course. Now, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favour.”

“Sure thing, Mister Masters. What do you need?”

“Could you go to my lab, second door on the right upstairs? There’s a present up there for your father that I’d like you to bring down.”

“Okay.” Daniel rose and walked off, not even a hint of suspicion in his voice or movements. Vlad remembered the previous night, when he had easily lured Daniel through a wall and into a room whose contents Daniel didn’t know. Twice, now, in less than twenty-four hours, Daniel had willingly walked into a situation that could so easily have been an ambush or some other kind of trap. Indeed, it was a trap in this case, though not a lethal one.

Vlad wondered how Daniel was even still alive, and he suspected that it had rather a lot to do with luck. Well, Vlad was already planning on training him. Avoiding obvious traps would just have to be added to the lesson plan.

Danny approached the door to the lab and was surprised when it slid open. What, was Vlad a Star Trek nerd too? Inside, he saw a small, gift-wrapped box and started walking over to pick it up. He might have wondered why the present had been left in the lab in the first place if he hadn’t been interrupted just then by a net wrapping around him. The net knocked Danny into a wall, and then, just for kicks, electrocuted him. Danny looked up to see his attacker, who was standing ominously in a corner.

“Skulker?” This was bad. Danny tore through the net and flew at the ghost before he had time to react, landing a solid kick to his chest and returning the earlier favour by sending him flying backward. “How did you get back in your ecto-skeleton? What are you doing here?”

“All excellent questions. Catch.” Skulker tossed a small back cube toward Danny. It slid along the floor, stopping near his feet. Danny looked at the cube, and then at Skulker.

“You miss-gah!” The cube had suddenly started unfolding itself, forming into a large box that completely enveloped Danny in a second. He tried to phase out, but he couldn’t - the box was interfering with his powers somehow.

“You like my new spectral energy neutralizer? It’s perfect for containing pesky prey like you. And that’s not all it does.” He pushed a button on his arm, and Danny was overcome by searing pain. When the pain stopped, he felt his body reverting to human against his will, and he collapsed, suddenly exhausted.

“That should keep you out of the way long enough for my vultures to deal with Jack Fenton.” That brought Danny back to reality.

“Wait, you sent the vultures? Why?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He builds anti-ghost weapons, and I want them.”

“But why not go after him yourself? Is Jack Fenton too much of a threat for ‘the ghost zone’s greatest hunter’?” Skulker glared.

“Listen, whelp, I-” He was interrupted by a chime coming from his suit. He glanced at the screen on his arm, pouting. “I have to go to the library and check out a book on a gorilla.” He looked back at Danny and shrugged. “You see my dilemma.” With that, Skulker turned intangible as his hacked suit carried him through the roof, and, presumably, off to the library in Amity.

Vlad was chatting with one of the few people he actually had fond memories with, a fellow former member of the UW chess team named Nadya. Although this whole reunion had been planned mostly as a setup to get close to Maddie and her children, he had to admit that it was kind of nice to see some of these people. And it was very nice to see all the people who had bullied him suddenly kissing up, now that he was rich enough to buy and sell them.

But then Vlad felt the temperature drop, and he heard someone scream. Showtime. Amidst the panic that was caused by the sudden appearance of three ghost vultures, Vlad had no trouble slipping into an obscured alcove and transforming into Plasmius. He turned invisible and waited.

As Jack struggled against the vultures, Vlad noticed Maddie running outside, looking determined. No doubt she was rushing off to retrieve some anti-ghost weapons. Vlad had hoped to watch Jack get trounced by the birds for a bit longer, but he decided he should probably intervene before Maddie returned, lest he end up on the business end of one of her weapons.

Just as he was about to enter the melee, Danny Phantom flew in from upstairs. Vlad paused, raising an eyebrow. Had the boy really avoided the trap and defeated Skulker so quickly? Perhaps he needed to reevaluate Daniel’s skills.

“Hey, bird brains! Why don’t you peck on someone your own size!” The vultures all stopped what they were doing and looked toward Daniel. Then they looked back at Jack, who was now lying on the ground, apparently unconscious, and then at Daniel again. One of them said,

“Both of you are bigger than us.” Daniel raised a finger and opened his mouth, then paused. He put his finger down.

“I, uh, that’s true. But you heard me say ‘peck’ instead of ‘pick,’ right? Like, because you were pecking him.” Alright, Vlad thought, that was just about enough of that. He dropped his invisibility and flew up behind Daniel.

“Yes, it was a very clever pun. Now, how about we actually deal with the threat, hm?” Daniel looked confused, but not as confused as the vultures.

“B-Plasmius, I don’t -” Vlad didn’t wait for him to finish, shooting the vulture out of the air as easily as if he were swatting away a fly. His body crumpled on the ground; unconscious, but not dead. Disappointing.

Daniel took his cue and starting shooting at the remaining two birds. His aim was deplorable, but he managed to score a hit that knocked one of them right toward Vlad. Vlad created an energy wall in the vulture’s path, knocking this one unconscious, too, with the collision. Before the body could slide off to join the other on the floor, Vlad created a second energy wall and slammed it into the first, crushing the ghost in between. Vlad was knocked back by the wave of energy that was released when the vulture’s core was destroyed, but he managed to keep himself upright and floating.

The third vulture didn’t need any more reason than that to flee. Vlad raised a hand to shoot him in the back, but his arm was knocked away by an ecto-energy beam from his left. Vlad turned to see Daniel, hand raised, expression horrified.

“What the Hell are you doing?” Vlad looked back to where the third vulture had been, but he was long gone, now.

“What am I doing? You just let one of them get away!”

“That’s better than killing him!” Well, shoot. This wasn’t how Vlad had anticipated this going. If he were ever going to get Daniel on his side, he needed to convince him that this killing was justified.

“Killing in defence of a human. Surely you can understand that. Aren’t you a ghost hunter?”

“And what if I am? Aren’t you the one who made fun of me for using my powers for good?” Touché, Vlad thought. He really wished he hadn’t made those comments, but he was just going to have to deal with it.

“There’s a difference between being an all-around goody-two-shoes and having some morals, like, for example, killing an innocent person is bad, and we should try to stop people from doing that.” Vlad bristled at calling Jack innocent, but he trusted that Daniel would read the emotion as righteous indignation.

“There are other ways to stop someone besides killing them.”

“For now, perhaps. But what if they should return when you aren’t around? Are you really comfortable letting this man die because you were too obsessed with your own purity to get a little bit of blood on your hands?”

Daniel didn’t seem to have a response, but he was spared from having to admit that when their conversation was interrupted by an RV crashing through the wall. Vlad and Daniel both looked over to see the array of weapons that were being aimed at the two of them.

“We should leave,” Vlad said simply. Then he swept his cape around himself and teleported to his lab. He quickly turned back into Masters, and then leaned his forehead against his hand. Looking back, he should probably have predicted Daniel’s response. He was fourteen, and the very picture of a wide-eyed idealist. Life experience hadn’t yet taught him that sometimes one had to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Vlad straightened up. This was merely a setback. So Daniel wasn’t his biggest fan at the moment, that was fine. He had at least convinced him that he wasn’t evil - an extremist, perhaps, but someone with whom Daniel shared some basic moral beliefs. There would be time later to undo the damage that had been done and build a stronger relationship. Right now, there were other priorities.

Vlad looked around the lab. He was disappointed, if unsurprised, by the moderate amount of damage that had been sustained. It was a shame, but it had been unavoidable; this was the only soundproof room in the castle, and thus the only viable option for staging a fight while there was a party happening just downstairs. As Vlad mentally calculated the bill, his eyes landed on the small gift-wrapped box, which was tragically untouched. He shuddered. This next part was going to test his acting ability.

It had been a few hours since everyone else had left. After Maddie had used two of Vlad’s first aid kits to patch up her husband (Vlad was disappointed that it seemed he wouldn’t need to go to a hospital), the Fentons had packed up their things and were just about ready to leave. They all stood in the front hall with Vlad.

“I realize this reunion didn’t go … particularly well for you,” Vlad said, eyeing Jack’s many bandages, “and, for that, I apologize deeply.” Jack waved a hand dismissively, then winced in pain. Vlad gave no indication that Jack’s pain amused him.

“Don’t worry about it, V-man. I’m a ghost hunter; danger follows me. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m just glad that no one else got hurt.” Vlad smiled.

“You always were so selfless, Jack. I’m sorry that we ever grew apart. Actually,” he began, taking the gift box out of his pocket as he did, “I got you something. I know twenty years is a lot of lost time to make up for, but I’d like to try.” Jack’s eyes grew wide as he took the box from Vlad’s hand. Vlad relinquished it immediately, carefully avoiding any contact with Jack’s skin.

“Oh, Vladdy, you shouldn’t have.” Jack started to unwrap the box, but he winced again, his injured hands apparently not up to the task.

“Here, dad, let me.” Jasmine took the box and unwrapped it herself before handing it back to him.

“Thank you, sweetie,” he said as he opened the box. “A watch? Oooh, I get it, a watch! Make up for lost time!” Jack tried to clap Vlad on the back, but Vlad stepped to the side. The force of the swing threw Jack off-balance, but, unfortunately, he managed to steady himself. “V-man you are a gas! Lost time! This is fantastic.”

“I’m glad you like it. And, Maddie, I have something for you as well.” Vlad procured a smaller box from a different pocket. This was just a simple jewelry box with a tiny metallic bow on the lid. Maddie took the box and cautiously opened the lid.

“It’s … a locket?” Vlad nodded. Maddie sounded a bit overwhelmed, and he wondered whether she was responding to the fact that it was made of solid gold, or the fact that it was shaped like a heart.

“There are pictures inside of you and me in college. Just in case you ever wanted to remember that time.” Maddie closed the lid.

“Thank you, Vlad. That’s very thoughtful. Now, we really should be heading out.” She looked down at Daniel and Jazz. “What do we say, kids?”

“Thank you for having us,” the children intoned emotionlessly. Vlad smiled at them.

“Thank you very much for coming. And know that you are welcome here anytime.” He looked back over at Maddie. “That goes for all of you.”

“Well, gosh,” Jack said, even though Vlad had been explicitly not looking at him, “that’s great to hear. You know, we might just take you up on that. And maybe we can take care of your ghost problem for you in return.”

“Hm, perhaps. Well, then, I’ll be seeing you. Have a safe trip.” The Fentons all picked up their bags and headed out the door, Vlad waving goodbye as they went. After the door closed behind them, Vlad waited until the count of ten, and then sighed heavily.

“I don’t look forward to having to keep pretending to enjoy your company, Jack. But it will be worth it soon enough, when you’re out of the picture and I finally have the life that you stole from me. And then you’ll know my pain when you have to watch your ex-wife call me ‘husband,’ and your children call me ‘father.’” Vlad smiled at the thought, his expression far more sinister than warm. It was a long game, to be sure, but it was one that Vlad was sure he would win.

#danny phantom #phanniemay #phanniemay19 #vlad masters #danny fenton #phandom #my writing #fanfic #holy shit so this is a long one huh? #I really just think about a danny+vlad interaction and then black out until it's done #this is wild #granted in this case a lot of the content was lifted directly from the episode #so I probably can't claim too much credit #but i'm still impressed with this #i realize that in a way this is more of an alternate beginning #but i figured everyone was going to do alternate ending for PP/the series as a whole #and i already did a PP alternate ending back in dannymay 2017 #so i figured i'd do an alternate ending of a different episode #bitter reunions for those who aren't as familiar with the source material

[fountainpenguin]

So... In your "Zone Swap" idea, does Jazz figure out Danny's secret like she does in the main series? And if so, does she try to help keep his secret without letting him know she's figured it out?

Heh heh. It’s not much of a secret, really. I’ll jot out some AU basics here because I’m still trying to figure them out myself and decide where Jazz fits best in the AU. This is kind of a rough draft, so details may change later. Skim to the bold parts if you want to see the answer to your actual question; this first part is just some “ChalkZone” babble as I gather my thoughts on secret identities.

My goal with ZoneSwap is to swap some signature parts of both “Danny Phantom” and “ChalkZone”, but still keep the characters as in-character as possible where I can while taking into account all the ways the worldbuilding has been flipped and taking creative liberties as necessary (like making Tucker a ghost to give Danny motivation to visit and protect the Ghost Zone).

As a result of this swap, Rudy can now “go chalk”, turning into Snap, and even use the magic chalk in the RealWorld (though the effects only last as long as he stays in chalk form, and erase when he switches to normal). I’ve said that he can switch at will, but really, he needs to be standing inside a closed chalk shape like a circle or a square or whatever. If he can’t find one and he doesn’t have chalk of his own on hand, he’s stuck.

He can no longer create portals at will, and has to find them instead. I think they pop up on certain chalk surfaces at random, kind of like the Ghost Zone ones do: for example, instead of drawing the underwater portal in “Water Water Everywhere”, it would have opened itself, flooding the quarry, and Rudy only would have known about it once it started attracting attention. 

I can’t decide yet if he would have tried to repair the breach while in regular form or chalk form. Hmm. I’m thinking the ZoneSwap version of this episode would share some similarities with “Life Lessons” from “Danny Phantom”, by which I mean that Reggie would go chalk and try to help Rudy save the town.

Ooh, yes. They go chalk and have to act like they get along in public because the whole town sees them and thinks they’re superhero and sidekick or something, even though they can’t stand each other. Then when the rain finally arrives, he and Reggie end up stuck under a ledge or something in the quarry / nearby area and have to watch the water rise while Penny runs frantically off in search of an umbrella, heh heh. 

As much as Reggie doesn’t care for the wonders of ChalkZone, he still appreciates the world as his escape from reality, and he doesn’t want to see it found or destroyed. Presumably, he’d use his cape like a scarf to hide his face and better conceal his identity. Gotta have secret identities! (So, for the most part, it’s Rudy who has the secret identity now, not Danny).

Rudy also has to deal with dangerous Zoners escaping into the RealWorld, and Reggie the Red, Vinnie, and Terry are bigger threats too. Finally, he’ll dissolve in water if he’s in chalk form and it will hurt a lot.

Danny, following his being zapped by his parents’ basement portal, still has ghost powers, but in this AU they only work in the Ghost Zone. Even though the Phantom look doesn’t carry over, he still calls himself by that name when addressing other ghosts, because they feel more comfortable with him that way.

He still has ghost enemies, but makes lots of ghost friends too, including Tucker, who’s been dead for the last two years. He can also create portals into the Ghost Zone through the thermos at will, but only so many before the thermos has to be recharged. Probably by dipping it in the portal in the basement and filling it with “ghost soup”.

ZS!Danny’s entire deal is, whereas Rudy is a fighter now, Danny becomes a lover kind of by default. For some reason or another, ghosts can’t survive outside of the Zone for longer than a few hours or days (not sure how long yet, but preferably hours for plot reasons). This might be because they can’t breathe, or they can’t maintain their connection to the world (the assumption being that the Zone is the only thing that keeps them grounded) and they fade away permanently.

There would need to be a definite negative association with fading for Danny to react the way he does, so perhaps instead of just fading, a ghost becomes “corrupted” when away from the Zone too long. They might start to dissolve, losing pieces of themself and some of their sanity. Ghosts who were once friendly, helpful spirits might transform into bitter nightmare creatures and act like feral or even rabid animals. Yes, now we’re getting somewhere.

Anyway, unfortunately, lots of ghosts either don’t know this, or believe it won’t happen to them (Imagine the stories that get in the news sometimes about parents putting their kids in risky situations at national parks, such as by spreading honey on their children to attract bears. Or compare it to teens who regularly have unprotected sex but don’t consider the possibility of getting pregnant or contracting STDs. That sort of mindset. “This is the kind of thing that happens to someone else”, “I’ll be careful”, “I know what I’m doing”, etc.)

Let’s face it: The Human Realm is attractive to ghosts. Technus wants to get his hands on all the flashy electronics that Walker doesn’t allow in the Ghost Zone. Skulker wants to hunt. Box Ghost wants to add to his collection. Ember wants to play her music in front of adoring teen crowds. Tucker wants to hang out with his friends. Other ghosts want to explore, visit friends and family, or just simply cause trouble.

Danny has watched his parents chase down countless of these “rogue” ghosts that I compared to feral, rabid animals here. And they’re terrifying. After reuniting with Tucker in the “pilot episode”, I presume, he learns some missing pieces from Tuck and puts together this whole “being away from the Zone too long makes these ghosts lose themselves”. 

So, he and Sam take it upon themselves to inform all the ghosts about such dangers / keep tabs on which ghosts are out and prioritize which ones need to be caught and returned first. Unfortunately, Danny probably gets pegged as a liar or something, so few ghosts are willing to go quietly back to the Zone and he has to lure them into the portals he creates with the thermos.

And there are some ghosts who are well aware of the danger, but come to him seeking aid, so he has to solve their problems, I guess. Something like that.

Basically Danny’s existence revolves around befriending the restless spirits he can and trying to better their afterlives while having a strict “ghosts are supposed to stay in the Ghost Zone” policy that no one listens to (especially a guy named Vlad who wants to exploit ghosts in some way, possibly by making them pay to leave the Zone? My original idea was that he firmly believed ghosts should be free, but I’m not sure how that will work with this “rabid ghost concept. And later in the series he’d start sending them Danny’s way by painting him as a villain for trapping him… I’m thinking Vlad had a daughter named Ellen who just recently died and he’s also trying to find her. Hmm… Thoughts?)

And of course, on the flipside, Rudy plays hero by keeping Skrawl, Craniac, and various other baddies in ChalkZone while at the same time keeping Vinnie and Terry out of it, and dealing with his school life and Reggie. He has to go chalk in order to draw stuff with the magic chalk, and he’d draw lots of things to fight for him (as opposed to attacking physically) while of course sticking to his oath to never again draw a living thing because he can’t handle the stress.

I’m loosely trying to imagine these two shows as if they were designed and written by the writers of the opposite show, therefore resulting in CZ being a darker and more actiony show and DP being cuter and more focused on world-building. That’s kind of tough though, because I can’t just remove all the awesome worldbuilding from “ChalkZone”, and a show about teenagers and ghosts tends to be angsty by default. I’m trying to find a middle ground.

To answer your actual question, everyone in Amity Park thinks ZS!Danny is a loon who runs around being a goofy ghost hunter like his parents. Since Danny can’t use his powers in the Human Realm, Valerie is Amity Park’s big hero. Instead of Phantom getting his name dragged through the dirt, the citizens of Amity Park by default attribute all of Danny’s good deeds to her, even if she only showed up at the very last minute when the cameras arrived. It’s equally as annoying to him as it was when everyone considered Phantom a villain.

Jazz would have to go into the Ghost Zone to realize that Danny has these ghostly abilities. In the Human Realm, he has to chase ghosts while fully human. Their parents would obviously be thrilled that he wants to join them in the family ghost-hunting business.

BUT Danny is trying to help and rescue ghosts, while his parents want to catch and study them. I think the big secret for Jazz to learn in this AU would be that Danny is using the portal despite their parents thinking it doesn’t work. 

She would learn (possibly during that “Snap Out of Water” parody that I nicknamed “Tuck, Tuck, Loose”) that Tuck is a ghost now, and Danny and Sam are friends with him and regularly sneak off to visit the Ghost Zone. I think she would want to be helpful, but her helpfulness probably has its limits.

Jack and Maddie, I guess, would be very worried/upset with A) Danny for befriending a ghost behind their back, B) the fact that he’s been getting in their way and preventing them from catching ghosts, and/or C) having potentially dangerous adventures in the Ghost Zone, or something along those lines. Once Vlad becomes involved, that would add another factor into the equation.

OR! About a year ago, Bill Burnett (one of “ChalkZone”’s co-creators) confirmed that a human who spends 24+ hours straight in ChalkZone will turn into a Zoner permanently, and said that if the show hadn’t stopped airing, we would have met a “British aristocrat kid” who had suffered this fate, and who teamed up with Skrawl in a big special episode (and Bill hints that this is why Skrawl kept stealing magic chalk since only a human can use it, even though we never found out why he was doing this in the show itself). 

So, I could take that detail and add it to this AU too- ZS!Jazz might find out through her parents (or probably Vlad) that the more time ZS!Danny spends in the Ghost Zone, the more corrupted and “rabid ghost-like” he’ll become (possibly because he’s half-ghost, so Sam might be immune). She might tell Danny this, but he would be upset, and they’d get into a fight over who knows more about ghosts, since he’s the one who’s visited the Zone more. 

Maybe he would begin showing signs of feral/rabid corruption, and she has to keep this from their parents while she struggles to find a cure, despite Danny constantly snapping at her that he’s fine and she needs to get off his back. With him being partly dead, maybe he suffers the same way as the other ghosts when he’s not in the Zone, but his development was delayed. So like, he can’t stay in the Ghost Zone without negative side effects, but he can’t stay out of it without negative side effects either.

If ZoneSwap were a show then Danny would probably show subtle signs the whole season, but the topic of his corruption would probably be the Season 1 finale or something, or maybe Season 2 (Personally I like the idea of Dash building a thermos of his own - possibly with Vlad’s help - as the last scene of Season 1 so he and Danny have the same weapon as a nod to Reggie and Rudy both using magic chalk in “Reggie the Red”, so we’ll make it Season 2).

So yes, in a way, Jazz would discover Danny’s ghost side. Even if he doesn’t become the same exact Phantom he does in canon, he’s still half dead and would presumably be of interest to his ghost-hunting parents, so she does her best to keep him off their radar.

I’m still kind of working out the details, but I’m getting there! I have some vague plans for this AU already figured out, but most of this I’m making things up as I go and get to answer Asks like this~

#ZoneSwap AU #Going Ghost! #Rudys got the chalk! #Ghost Getter Number 1 #asks #Anon #Main Phantom trio #The Val gal #Chalkmeister

[politenuclearbomb]

the only thing ive managed to produce in the last two months is a short wes weston and danny phantom fic i wrote in german today so

here it is feat. a danny somewhere in between canon and fanon in terms of trauma who is just a very angery boy

Six months of hunting the Ghost Boy takes a toll on a guy. Trying to prove some nameless punching-bag freshman’s secret identity as the town hero - that’s enough to drive someone crazy. Especially when said punching bag/Amity Park-beloved superhero sabotages your every attempt. Not that it’s not somewhat understandable, but. Honestly. Does he have to destroy Wes’s camera every time? Can’t he just wipe his memory card? Cameras are fucking expensive.

The problem is that Phantom - or rather Fenton - or - fuck it, they’re the same person - he’s so goddamn jovial about this whole situation. He looks Wes in the eye and transforms right the hell in front of him, with those damned white-blue rings, and grins before taking off to save the day or whatever the fresh hell teenage superheroes do.

Wes just wants people to stop thinking he’s crazy for drawing the connection. Fenton, though - he seems like he’s out for Wes’s sanity.

--

Danny is having one hell of a bad day.

Not that he isn’t used to ghost attacks; he is, but that doesn’t mean he has to like them. And when there’s something approaching a dozen in a day - well. It’s enough to make anyone cranky. After Vlad’s latest scheme - something involving releasing Technus, for some reason, as though he’s anything more than a nuisance to Danny at this point - all Danny wants is to skive off the last two hours of school, go the fuck home, and sleep.

But he can’t. Because, of course, Technus wasn’t the only ghost in town today, and there’s still two of those Ectopusses wandering around. They’re nothing more than minor pests, really, but Danny is frustrated, he’s close to pulling his hair out and letting Amity Park deal with them their damn selves, and he hasn’t gotten a full night’s sleep in two weeks. The dark circles under his eyes show through the concealer he borrowed from Jazz.

He doesn’t need teachers inquiring into his well-being. Not when his parents are already scheming their newest plot to capture the Ghost Boy and dissect him.

And, really, he’s already caught one of the damn octopus ghosts when lo and behold, the prime human pain in his ass, Wes Weston, practically appears behind him.

Danny is having none of it, and the ghostly rage already built up in his chest has nowhere to go but out.

--

The fourth camera these six months goes flying out of Wes’s hand from a concentrated ecto-blast in record time as a blast of cold air rockets through the alley he’s found himself in. That’s strange. And about to get stranger, Wesley, dear.

Phantom turns around slow, eyes still closed and a very, very cold expression gracing ageless features. Fenton looks like a normal fourteen-year-old, but Wes has noticed that the Phantom alter-ego looks like he belongs in any time and no time. He could be anywhere from thirteen to twenty-five and no one would be able to tell any better. Their features match perfectly, but there’s just… something about Phantom. Possibly that he’s a fucking ghost.

Either way, his expression right now is terrifying and Wes - well, he hadn’t bargained for this.

Phantom’s feet leave the ground and his eyes pop open, glaring directly at Wes and advancing on him. “When will you take a fucking hint, Weston?” That voice rings like he’s in a long, cold tunnel. His eyes smoke unlike what Wes has ever seen from Phantom.

He doesn’t have a chance to respond. Instead, he’s picked up by the front of his shirt and slammed into a wall by a glove-clad hand, those smoking green eyes a bare four inches from his face. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave me the hell alone?” He’s growling. For once, Wes is genuinely scared, cold radiating through his sweater and jeans.

“I - I just want people to stop c-calling me crazy, okay?” he manages to get out, shivering from the cold, he tells himself.

“Join the fucking club, Weston. I’m the school nuthouse escapee already. Why are you so damn obsessed with me?” Wes notes the degraded eloquence and shrinks against the wall as much as he can.

“I-I - you - y-you don’t remember anything f-from six mo-months ago? Fucking honestly?” Wes’s nasally voice breaks into the chilled air in puffs, steamed from his breath, shaking even with his bold words.

“Oh. A made-up grudge. Like I’m not used to that a couple hundred times over.” Phantom scoffs, eyes rolling, and Wes puffs up, scowling.

“That fucking game you r-ruined - I c-could be a ch-championship win-ner by now if it - weren’t for y-you - I needed that f-fucking schol-scholarship!” Wrong thing to say, Wesley.

Phantom’s eyes pulse a solid green and he snarls, animalistic to contrast Fenton’s human features. “Oh, I’m so fucking sorry that I was running for my life at the time, Weston, that’s such a goddamn tragedy - really, how have you ever survived this long without killing yourself already? I sure wouldn’t have - oh, wait. I’m already dead.” His words are growled and now his face is a bare two inches from Wes’s. “I died at fourteen. I’m gonna age to about thirty-five and stop. I’m gonna outlive every fucking person I know and care about and I’m gonna look like a peak-of-performance thirty-five-year-old the entire time.” He’s on a roll, eyes pulsing an even more solid green with his rising rage, air dropping below freezing and Wes shivering harder. “That is, if I make it past high school with my secret identity intact, you know - the one you’re trying to expose.”

Wes just scowls. “W-why do y-you ca-care? Y-you’re a- a- a fucking - su-superhero, peo-people l-love you.”

Wes, you’re really good at saying the wrong thing. Phantom’s face contorts and he tosses Wes to the ground, floating down and holding him down with a foot. “You have no. Fucking. Idea. How it’d affect my life, Weston. My parents are ghost hunters. They want to dissect me, Danny goddamn Phantom, ‘atom by atom’. News would get out and I’d be strapped to an operation table faster than you could blink. There’d be no, ‘Oh, Danny, we’re so proud of you, you’re such an inspirational superhero!” Nah. Any explanation would be shot down by ‘get out of my son, ghost!’ or ‘you’re no son of ours!’” His voice is shrouded in an echoing reverberation unfitting of the alley.

He doesn’t get a chance to respond. Phantom’s already let him up. “Next time, you’re dead, Weston.” The growl makes him believe it in his bones, and Phantom’s gone without a trace but for the ice on the brick.

#wes weston #danny phantom #danny fentom #wesley weston #my dear son wes #written #dp #dp fanfic #wesdanny #dannywes #what kinda convoluted fuckin ship name do we have for this one