I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.
Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.
Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.
Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.
Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.
I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.
[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]
Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.
But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.
I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.
Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.
But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.
Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.
Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.
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Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.
However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.
So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)
If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.
(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)
Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.
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Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.
(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)
So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.
But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.
Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.
He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.
Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.
Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."
He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.
He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.
Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.
Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.
"Have you been spying on me?"
Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"
His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."
A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".
Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.
"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."
"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."
"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."
"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"
"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)
"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."
Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.
I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.
"I know you do not like me."
"You're right; I don't."
"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."
"...That's correct."
"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."
"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"
"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"
In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."
The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.
(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)
After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.
Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.
The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.
Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.
My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.
So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.
Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.
But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.
Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"
Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.
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Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.
Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]
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Get respored!!!!
[Prev]
[Hop is called Leo here bc it is from his POV!!]
Leo couldn’t move. He was frozen with what he was seeing.
Null was standing in front of Twin-Sync Leo’s corpse, his blade colored red with blood. Something he had seen through Null’s eyes in their memory link was right in front of him. Null slowly turned to him, his expression the same as the day he attacked him. The same as the moment he almost killed him.
Leo wanted to scream. To run and push Null away from Twin-Sync Leo’s body, to tell him to stop because that is not Null. Null has grown to be better, he realized his mistakes and became a better person and he was trying so hard to hold on and–
And–
This wasn’t his brother.
It couldn’t be his brother.
This must be a nightmare.
His eyes focused on the mask Null held– tattered with time, now covered with blood stains.
Not real, not real, not real.
“Hop?”
And yet, Null called his name. Calm. Collected. A contrast to his cold stare. The same way he had found Leo alone, sulking and letting himself freeze.
Leo couldn’t breathe. He was shaking and yet couldn’t take his eyes away from Null. Even when he approached him, blood dripping from his mystic katana.
“Hop, what’s wrong?” He asked, as if everything was okay. As if everything was fine– except Leo himself.
Leo only could shake his head, his eyes briefly landing on the body of his friend laying on the ground lifelessly.
Finally, he managed to speak, “Y-you aren’t real. C-can’t–” He felt his throat knot, and words die before he could finish his sentence.
“Hop?” Null’s deadly eyes didn’t show any emotions. “Are you okay?”
“Stay a-away from me–!” Leo tried to sound serious, but it came out like a frantic beg. Probably because of the panic that didn’t stop. The fear that slipped through his eyes, blurring them, showed itself though his shaking hands.
Null was now right in front of him. Leo knew he should run, or at least fight. But he was frozen on the spot, and he couldn’t look away. He felt like he was stuck, just like every other Leo that was stuck in the Prison Dimension. Except his enemy wasn’t Krang, it was his very own brother.
The deja vu of Raph holding him, ready to kill him, under Krang’s influence. The moment Leo was bleeding because of the wound on his side, Null holding him the same way, ready to kill him. The memories haunted him.
He tried to gasp, and yet, it was much harder. It was too much. The fear’s grip was worse than how it was before. He didn’t have anyone to his tears away from, he was alone. Why should he even fight, if he never had managed to save him. Was it all nothing? Was none of this a reality? Why couldn’t he find the breath to speak, tell he was sorry. A final truth before he dies?
He kept hearing his name.
“Hop?! You’re worrying me–”
Hop. That was his name. After all, Leo wasn’t he. Leo was the kid that lay on the ground dead.
Hop was stuck, frozen.
He was in the Prison Dimension. He was in the Technodrome. He was bleeding on the roof of a building. He was trying to breathe against the grip. He saw the blood and the metal and the last breath of his ancestor. He was alone.
“Kid?!”
He was nothing, letting death himself hold him ever so gently, readying himself against the cold blade sharp as a wolf’s fangs.
“Hey! Hey! Monkey, look at me!!”
Monkey?
Hop– Leo– managed to blink, push himself away. Hardly, with gasps, he looked sharply at Null, “Don’t– Don’t ca-call me that– you can’t— you aren’t him you— no—”
Null silently watched him.
He wouldn’t accept that Null did such a thing, “Stay back!” He growled, biting back a sob. “You changed! I-I know you did!”
He saw Null’s grip on the katana tighten. Leo grabbed his own katana, ready to attack. Then he noticed how strange his hand looked. And then the glitch. The same as Null’s. He gasped for breath when he saw his reflection on the sword. A copy of what Null was, covered in blood and soulless eyes looking back at him.
The same reflection he saw in Null’s memories.
Leo dropped his katana. He couldn’t– no– he—
Everything was too much.
“Monkey, please,” He heard Null speak. “I don't know what you're seeing, but it is not real.”
“Liar.” Leo hissed, his hands still shaking.
In the silence he heard a sigh, “I don't blame you believing it, and I know what I'm asking you is impossible, but I need you to trust me.”
“Trust you?” Leo asked, his voice breaking. He kept looking at the blood in his hands, to the reflection. “I won’t kill like you.”
“We aren’t killing anyone.” Null promised.
“Says the guy with blood on his hands.” Leo retorted. Funny, considering he also had blood on his hands. His friend’s blood.
“I can prove there is no blood in my hands.” Null calmly said.
“How so?” Leo asked, trying to ignore the small desperate hope he felt.
“You said it is on my hands. If so, you should feel it if you touch them.” Null explained.
“You want me to approach you.” Leo replied, cautious. “How do I know you aren’t tricking me?”
Null looked at him, silent. Then he answered: “You don’t.”
But Leo had promised Null he would trust him, didn’t he? He had promised he would be by his side no matter what. Against the fear, his promise, the small light of hope was there. Leo watched him, Null didn’t move. He was just waiting for what Leo would do.
Trust me. That was what Null asked him to do. Could it be..?
He trusted Null. He trusted him with his life many times before, didn’t he? But the corpse of Twin-Sync Leo was still on the ground, and the blood was on their hands.
But he didn’t want it to be real, and a small part of him let the hope beam.
He took a deep breath.
“Okay.”
He walked towards Null, still cautious. He ignored his katana on the ground. He ignored the cold look in his eyes. He stopped for a moment, the fear of what he will feel holding him still for a second. But he reached and touched Null’s hand.
He didn’t feel the blood.
No blood.
He turned to see again and again, seeing the dried sickly red. He gasped, a sob escaping as he shut his eyes and holding his hand tightly. He couldn’t talk, not say a word, just felt the mixture of panic and relief.
He felt Null gently pull him as he walked. Leo followed him obediently, doing his best to push away his fears. “None real?” Leo gasped as he briefly opened his eyes to sit down next to Null.
“None.” Null responded, his tone a contrast to what he was seeing.
“Twin-Sync Leo?” He asked as he held onto Null’s cloak, leaning towards him as he felt like his world was spinning.
“He is fine. Not here.” Null answered.
As if on cue, Leo heard Twin-Sync Leo’s voice:
“Hey guys I– wait. What’s going on?”
Another wave of relief hit Leo and he wasn’t able to hide his tears. He barely heard Null explain what had happened. Then he felt a hand holding his.
“Hey, it’s okay. We are here.” He heard Twin-Sync Leo say. “We got you, pal.”
Leo took a breath, feeling himself calm down a bit. The fear was still here, and he was so tired. He wasn’t sure how long passed since he had lost himself in all of the emotions he felt, and in the nothingness he found himself in eventually. He only focused on Null and Twin-Sync Leo’s presence. It helped that they were here, both grounding him by merely existing. It helped that Twin-Sync Leo kept stroking his hand too. There was a moment they called to him softly, and Leo didn’t find it in himself to answer, but squeezed the hand and held onto the cloak tighter briefly to let them know he was still here… somewhat. He just needed a moment. And he knew they would know. They always did.
Eventually he felt like he was more like himself, he blinked a few times. “Null? Leo?” He looked at them.
“We are here.” Twin-Sync Leo squeezed his hand. “Are you okay?”
Leo hummed, tiredly. “Had been better.”
“Do you still..?” Null began but didn’t finish his sentence.
“No.” Leo answered. He noticed the sighs of relief coming from both of them. He laughed, a bit too forced, “You guys gonna get Raph chasms if you keep worrying like that.”
“Oh shut up.” Twin-Sync Leo pushed Leo gently with his free hand. “At least you are truly doing better.”
“Yeah, I think I am.” Leo sighed. “Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Twin-Sync Leo said.
Null was quiet. A bit too quiet. “Big guy, are you okay?” Leo peeked at him.
“I’m fine.” Null responded.
“Liar.” Leo replied. He noticed Null look at him concerned. “I-I didn’t mean it like that.” Leo quickly fixed his mistake. Too soon. “I mean, there is definitely something bothering you.”
Null looked away.
“Don’t you lie to me or look away, you know you can tell us, right?” Leo leaned a bit more on his arm, putting his head on the cloth.
Null sighed, “You can guess.”
“I probably can.” Leo hummed. And apparently he had to. What a shame, he still felt tired. “Okay then, is it the whole spore accident? Am I on the right path?”
Null nodded.
“Alright. Is it… oh.” He realized the possible reason. His fear of what he could do– of himself becoming like him. Oh no. “Null, I didn’t mean to.”
Null avoided looking at him, and Leo knew he had understood that Leo figured it out.
“No, listen. Look at me.” Leo held him and got back to his feet, holding Null and letting go of Twin-Sync Leo’s hand. “Null, what I saw– it has nothing to do with you. Hey, don’t glare away, look at me.” He held his face and turned it to him, so their eyes met. “Trust me. I am not afraid of you, and I know you. I trust you. Don’t let a hallucination fool you as it fooled me.”
“Are you aware it shows what you are most afraid of?” Null said back.
“It does, but fun fact! I am afraid of many things and losing my family and seeing them troubled is one of them! Ending up hurting them or seeing them hurt is one of them! I know you would never do that! I have seen it!” Leo told him, and every word was genuine. “I trust you. I need you to trust me.”
Null was uncertain. Leo knew that. But he needed his brother to trust him. He knew how he was hurt because of what he did in the past, and now he didn’t want him to be hurt just because of some visions Leo saw. A lie can hurt, but hope… trust… his family. They saved him. He just wanted Null to let him save him too.
“Please.” He added. “I would never believe it if it wasn’t those stupid spores, you know that, right?”
Another silence, then– “Alright.” Null sighed. He wasn’t fully convinced, but he still was trying to trust him. He was trying for them, and maybe for himself, and Leo was so grateful for that.
“Alright’s better than nothing, but believe me. I know you, you’re my brother after all.” Leo grinned. Null smiled slightly, rolled his eyes, and grabbed Leo by the tip of his shell.
“We still got a notebook to take back.” Null said, Leo on his hand held like a kitten doing nothing. Sometimes Null reminded him too much of Raph.
Twin-Sync Leo smirked, “Now you are talking. Let’s go back to action, shall we?”
“I thought you wanted a nice vacation.” Leo grinned.
“First gotta kick some mushroom butts.” He replied.
Leo snickered, “That sounds like a great plan! Mushrooms suck anyways.”
Null nodded, then he turned to see Twin-Sync Leo jumping on his shell, hanging on him like Leo often did. “Onwards, big guy!” He announced.
Leo laughed as Null shook his head and grabbed Leo in a more comfortable way, holding him and keeping an eye both on him and Twin-Sync Leo as he went after the guy that caused all this mess.
Leo smiled to himself, watching them. They definitely were his family, a part of him and not only because they were alternative versions of him. But because they loved him, and he loved them. He trusted them and would trust them no matter what…
[Featuring Null from @noxvee6 's Sub-Zero AU and Twin-Sync Leo from @little-banjo-frog 's Twin-Sync (More Than You Think) AU :3 they helped me a lot with this idea and yall should check out them now!!!]
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