#Clockwork is making it to Danny's graduation no matter what | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

letoasai · 1 year

Text

dp x dc

I’m usually more of a lurker in this fandom, you know? But this happened and it just needed to be written down. If someone wants to take the idea or continue it, go for it! Prompt - Consort

~~~ ~~~

Danny is told that while he is officially the Ghost King, there are a few last minute things to check off the list to keep the Observants from being able to mess with Danny's business. Clockwork even subtly confirms that this is something Danny should consider carefully. Being able to keep them in check is important.

While not keen on a to-do list, Danny sighs and trusts that Clockwork is ultimately giving him less work.

He spends a few years doing odds and ends. Whatever task Clockwork mentions and it honestly suits Danny fine. It’s giving him time to grow into his position. It’s going well, that is until he learns that in his last task he has to consummate his newly acquired position in a very traditional way. With someone else...

That's bad enough, but it's thrown out to him that he must do this with one of his own kind. It's never been an issue before since The Ghost King is usually... a ghost and can pick whoever they want in the Zone.

Danny however is a halfa and because he's only one of three halfa's he's forced to pick between Vlad and Dani. A fruit loop and his clone/sister. The first is horrifying on many levels and the second is just plain unappealing. It's not happening, nope.

It's practically a miracle that before Danny can completely fall into panic, Clockwork mentions the existence of a forth halfa.

It doesn't matter who they are, it HAS to be better then his current options. That's how Danny ends up in Gotham.

"I can't believe you went without us." Sam complained. "We could have gone with you. What if you need help?"

"I don't think Gotham is ready for ghost powers, Sam." Tucker commented. "Any trouble he runs into won't know what hit them."

"Could you both stop wishing trouble on me?" Danny asked, he should have known he'd get ganged up on when he had them both on the phone at once. He was looking around and had noticed how he wasn't headed to the...best of neighborhoods. Had he not had ghost powers he might have turned right around.

He'd gotten a fairly nice hotel room for the long weekend in a somewhat nice area. All of Gotham looked pretty damn bleak to him but at least he could easily survive in a place like this. There was so much ambient ectoplasm in the air that he was, frankly, surprised he hadn't spotted more ghosts. It was all to his benefit though.

"Wishing?" Tucker chuckled, the sound of his keyboard clicking on the other side of the call. "It'll find you whether we wish it or not."

"And then you'll be able to say you got to fight in Gotham." Sam lamented.

"So this isn't about me not bringing you along to help me find this halfa, but because you just wanted to see this city in particular?"

"Little bit."

Tucker started laughing. "Damn, Sam. Nothing's stopping you from visiting."

"There absolutely is." Sam grumbled. "Their names are Jeremy and Pam." "We're graduating soon, Sam." Danny commented. "After both your eighteen birthday and graduation you'll find your freedom."

"And possibly your way out of their living will." Tucker commented, but Sam only snickered at the thought.

"That doesn't help me today. Danny's out in one of the coolest cities ever on a quest to get laid, and we’re stuck having a boring weekend." "Sam." Danny hissed as if someone else could have possibly over heard their conversation. This entire situation was beyond awkward. He didn't even know how to start. Hi, you're a halfa too? Wild? Wanna sleep with me so i can make sure my position isn't puppeteered? "What? That's literally why you're there." Sam was back to being amused, conveniently forgetting for a second that she wasn't with him in Gotham. "You're not gonna seduce anyone with that attitude." "I'm not trying-!" "Aren't you supposed to be though?" She hummed. "Gotta put that charm to work, Phantom." "Oh shut up..." Danny grumbled. If this halfa immediately pegged him as king, would they feel obligated to sleep with him? Ugh, this was the worst. If the ghost he was tracking lived in this neighborhood then it was no wonder he was half dead... "I mean, the wording of this could mean anything." Tucker commented right as the clicking stopped. He'd shown his to-do list to Sam and Tucker ages ago, and this hurdle had always seemed so daunting. "Go forth and find what's just. A night of bliss and trust. A match for your soul in desire. A second coming to conspire." Tucker repeated the lines. "Man, someone did not take a poetry class." Danny just made a face, so sick of the instructions that even making fun of it didn't help anymore. "And you think that can mean anything?" Sam hummed quietly. "I guess you were told it was a basic innuendo so that's what you hear. It’s what we all heard." "Yeah, it doesn't say go fuck." Tucker said. "Could just mean you could hang out for a night and vibe. Video games. Take out." Danny made a face. "I can't see me doing that with Vlad either." "I should fucking hope not." He could practically see Sam's disgusted face. "Okay but that still doesn't make sense. I gotta hang out with another halfa? Why? Why would that block the Observants and their never ending input?" Danny wondered. "No idea." Tucker relented, "But it's worth a shot. right? You can always hang out first and see if it works. If it doesn't... well then you know what you gotta do." "Flirt. Bend over and show your butt. It's eye catching." "Sam..." Danny sighed, this was exhausting. She clucked her tongue. "It's good advice. Even Paulina did a double take last week." Danny just made an irritated sound in his throat, nearly tripping over a destroyed section of the side walk. All the businesses nearby had bars across their windows as extra security and more and more people seemed to loiter. "So glad that ship has sailed." Young crushes were painful. "It could also mean cuddling?" Tucker offered. "How'd you make that leap?" Sam asked. "Guys." Danny interrupted suddenly, his ghost sense chilling him. "I'll call you guys back. I might have tracked them down." "Don't forget!" Tucker said, tone only slightly accusatory. Sam just made a noise of agreement. "We'll want the whole play by play." "Well... maybe not the whole play by play." Tucker added, but Danny just hung up on them. His support system was filled with bullies. See if they got their Gotham tee-shirts now! Danny turned down an alleyway, not sure just yet what he was following but it felt fairly powerful. So far he'd seen mostly shades and remnants of what was. He was left to try to find this halfa the same way he had to track down Dani when looking for her, and that usually meant looking for a big source. When he took a turn and nearly walked right into an obvious drug deal, he inhaled sharply and turned invisible. The dealer had looked up at the sound but brushed it off a moment later when he didn't see anyone rounding the corner. Gotham was nuts but at least they weren't clowns. Deciding it really was within his best interest, Danny transformed completely, staying invisible for the time being as he followed his ghost sense through the scary part of town. Minutes felt like hours but he spotted a dude coming closer on a motorcycle and Danny's skin felt like it was vibrating. The halfa was a guy, okay. Danny could work with that, he really could. Even sitting on the bike, the guy looked a head taller than Danny. All the ghost powers in the world couldn't take away him inheriting his mothers build. For fucks sake, did he have to become evil to bulk up?! Danny flew closer, wanting to get a good look, only to have his vision impeded by a red helmet. When the bike swerved and the rider looked around around, likely sensing him, Danny backed off. His jaw was already hanging open in disbelief. Red Hood. That was Red Hood. Red Hood was a halfa?! Okay, he was the freaking Ghost King. When was that memo gonna land on his desk. Holy crap. Was he actually going to ask Red Hood to have sex ...er... platonically hang out with him? Danny's face was going to explode with heat. He flew away, watching him from the sky. Red Hood slowly brushed off whatever he had felt from Danny and rode on, making only a few more turns before stopping at an apartment building that Danny wouldn't have thought was still in use. This had secret lair written all over it. Danny followed, waited, watched. Of course he knew all about the vigilantes of Gotham but he hadn't really expected to run into any of them. Honestly, what were the odds? What did he do? Red Hood was technically a killer but he'd met more then one ghost who'd been avenged. It caused mixed feelings really. After two hours of nothing, a guy walked out of the same apartment. This time in street clothes. Same build, same height, same half energy. Crap. There goes that secret identity. Danny didn't know his name but he knew what he looked like. Dark hair, that curl of white in the front. Light eyes. Permanent looking frown and... Well now, Danny was frowning too. Something about his energy was off putting. Twisted. Wrong. Well... that would need to be looked into. From afar, Danny watched him go about his evening which involved stopping into those little stores and checking on people. Those people seemed to greet him with a friendly smile and know him somewhat well. Danny also got the impression that none of these people knew he was Red Hood, though he wasn't sure it would have mattered if they had. Red Hood was a crime lord but this was his territory... his haunt. Danny wasn't quite sure how this was both incredibly confusing while making all the sense in the world. He'd have an attitude too if his ectoplasm was all jacked up. What was he supposed to do? Suddenly if felt so presumptuous to show up at this guys doorstep to ask for such a favor from a stranger. He could leave and figure something else out, but the guy clearly needed help too. Maybe they could work out a trade or something. Danny felt torn about the whole damn thing and only decided to suck it up and act like an adult when his alternative was to call Jazz and ask for advice and he was not asking his sister about this. He flew ahead of the guy, making it back to his apartment first. He turned human again and sat on the stoop to wait for him. Internally he went over his lines in his head, what he would say, what parts he could leave out but all of that stopped when a shadow towered over him. The guy somehow seemed so much bigger in person. "You alright, kid?" he asked, there was the strange mix of concern and suspicion on his face. "There's housing up the street if you need someplace to go. They take anyone." "Oh uh..." His haunt had a place like that? Cool. So much for all those lines he’d been rehearsing. "I wanted to talk to you, actually. If you have a second?" He raised a brow but gestured to Danny with a nod to continue. Guess they were doing this out here then. "Okay, this is going to sound strange as hell but i've been looking for another halfa to help me with something. It's like.. a stupid huge favor and, fuck i hate even calling it a favor because that sounds weird. I also wanted to say up front that you can totally turn me down too, this isn't like, a demand or anything." Danny started talking, and couldn't seem to stop. His nerves were getting the better of him along side this guys emotions which were confused and itching with something aggravating. "It's not like i wrote this particular law either. I'm not even sure why i agreed to this shit but i've seen bad alternatives before a-" "What the fuck are you talking about, kid?" he interrupted. "Rude. I am actually eighteen." Danny grumbled. His eyes narrowed. Did he think he was lying about his age? "You sure about that?" "Yeah, my birthday is the same day every year." Danny deadpanned, almost getting a smile. "Let me start over, um, my name is Danny." he stood but didn't offer his hand because this guy didn't look like he'd take it. "And i've been looking for you." "Right i sorta got that, but why?" Danny could already feel his ears turning red. "Okay, hear me out because this sound fucking awful. I need to sleep with a halfa." Just rip that baid-aid off right?

Red Hood's frown was back full force. Guess he was still Red Hood since he didn't offer a name. "What the fuck is a halfa?" Danny short circuited. Was it possible this guy didn't know? "Okay." Danny said slowly. "Backing up and starting over again. Did you... You... You know you died once, right?" He scowled. "Yeah, i was there. How the fuck do you know that?" "Oh good, we don't gotta go back that far. Okay. Okay, so a halfa is someone that died. Like me." He gestured to himself. "Who came back. Someone who is half dead and half alive. There's only four of us. I have to sleep with one because of some political bullshit and i know how desperate that has to sound to you but i absolutely can not sleep with my sister or a fruit loop that wants to marry my mom." Red Hood stepped closer, a large hand wrapping around Danny’s bicep and pulling him along with him towards his door. It was opened long enough for the two of them to slip through and then shut and locked again. "Alright, lets unpack everything that just left your mouth and start to pick out the sane verses insane pieces." He said, somewhat exasperated. He was unhappy. Very unhappy. Danny had to hide a wince, guess Hood wasn’t ready to talk about his death. Jazz would be pissed, he needed to learn to be more sensitive about these things. "You're half dead?" "And so are you." Danny said. "Haven't you noticed any ghost abilities?" "Any what...?" Distress. That was an odd reaction. Danny looked around, there wasn't much furniture but there was a couch and Danny made a show of going intangible and walking right through it. "Anything like that?" Red Hood was frowning. "No. Look. Half dead and half alive sounds more like a zombie to me. Where are you getting this ghost shit? How did you find me at all?" "Ghost sense." He scowled. "Of course." Danny sighed a little, biting his lip and brushing a piece of hair from his face. "Okay, this is my fault. I'm bad at explaining and i'm sorta having too many conversations at once. Lets start with you. You ever seen like.. glowy green sludge?" His scowl deepened, for a second there was true hatred etched into his face but it wasn't directed at Danny. The suspicion and distrust however were. "What do you have to do with the Lazarus Pit?" Danny blinked, it was evidently his turned to be confused. "The what?" "The green shit, kid. The Lazarus Pit. It's what did this shit to me. What drives me insane." Danny frowned. "The green sludge is ectoplasm, which we need. It shouldn't hurt you, but if it did...could explain why you feel so twisted up inside." He scoffed. "Twisted up, that's the kindest way anyone has ever put it. I don’t need someone elses insane ramblings on top of what i already got in my head. So if you're looking for a fuck, go somewhere else." "Okay." Danny muttered, he'd known that could be an option. "But would you let me see if i could straighten out to ectoplasm anyway? I think i can help at least a little and uh, i think your's is trying to eat away at your soul which is...bad?" Hood actually dropped onto the couch, looking beyond done with this day. "Do you think you there's anything i haven't tried?" "I bet you have." Danny said, stepping closer. "But my ectoplasm is healthy and isn't trying to eat me. You don't really have anything to lose, do you?" Trustme. Trustme. His expression was nearly murderous and Danny could taste the rage. It seemed like he was having a hard time controlling it, and the more Danny looked, the more he was blaming the tainted ectoplasm. It even seemed to block some of the calm Danny was pushing towards him. "Kid, you have no idea what you're -" Danny stepped closer, hands on Red Hood's chest. He could feel the faint humming of a drowning core, trying to breath through the toxicity that had been forced into his body. Danny added his own ectoplasm to the mix, a sort of ghost transfusion. Ghost King privileges came with a wide aura and a lot of energy. There was a shudder, and the difference was almost instantaneous. The tainted ectoplasm had tried to rear up, tried to roll into rage and snowball but Danny just had more to work with. Danny didn't remember kneeling in front of his new acquaintance, or shutting his eyes, or shifting into his ghost form. He was however, aware of his core tuning into Red Hood's, trying to coax it to life...so to speak. He didn't know what it would have been like, a half ghost but confined only to his human side. Maybe if he'd never known any better it wouldn't have mattered to him but the thought of it now was suffocating,

There was a moment when Danny suddenly felt Hood’s confusion. It seems like he was finally picking up on Danny’s silent messages.

"What did you do?" Red Hood asked, sounding tired, but far less hostile. "You made it quiet. You're also..glowing." Danny looked up at him with a nervous laugh. "Well, i did say i could fix it. This fix is kinda temporary but I know Frostbite can fix it for you permanently. I'll talk to him." He reached up and rubbed at his eyes, "...Thanks...." "No problem Hood." His eyes jerked up and Danny just smiled. "I won't tell anyone..." He hissed in soft irritation but it didn’t match his emotions. He was still riding the high of being in control of that rage. "So i did feel you following me earlier? I swear there was something around." Danny nodded once. "Had to be sure you were who i thought you were... and all..." Excuse. Excuse... Red Hood shook his head. "My name's Jason. I have a hundred questions minimum about this half ghost thing." "I could probably answer most of them?" Danny offered, realizing he was still on his knees in front of Jason and quickly getting up, a cold blush coloring his face as he shifted back into his human form. Jason watched him, brow quirking again but he seemed so much more relaxed now that the tension was drained out of him and the taint to his ectoplasm was quiet. It almost made him seem a little younger too, not that Danny would have pegged him any older than early twenties, if that. Maybe he was still a teenager too. "Halfa's... You said there were four of us?" Jason asked cautiously. "Yeah." Danny sat on the other end of the couch. "My sister who is also my clone, and Vlad. Billionaire asshole who's a major creep." "Clone. You have an interesting life." "That's a lot coming from Red Hood." Jason snorted. "Fair." he paused, proving he'd been listening to all the jumbled up words Danny had been spurting. "Why do you have to sleep with a halfa?" "Aah..." Danny's face went hot again. "So...i..." he paused. "Okay this all sounds bad. I defeated the Ghost King in combat, making me the new Ghost King." Jason brow arched again, "Kudos." "Thank you? Anyway... there's a lot of stupid... add on rules. I didn't make them. Hell i don't even know them all. Some ancient jerk just tells me one at a time. Usually with bad timing which is stupid because he basically is time." "And one of them is fucking?" "Ugh." Danny actually groaned, head falling into his hands. "Someone of my own kind and there's only us four..." he spoke into his hands. "Sucks." "Little bit, yeah." Danny looked up at him, hoping Jason wasn’t actually feeling any of Danny’s nerves or embarrassment. "My friend has a theory that it might not mean sex exactly and might be more of a proximity thing." Jason didn't look overly convinced. "And you decided to try that with some guy you don't know over your clone?" Danny blinked, brain crashing. If he could have just had a sleep over with Dani and avoided all of this... certain ghosts were going to get banished from the Infinite Realm. "Didn't think of that did you?" Jason snickered suddenly and Danny just groaned again. "No.... She's like my sister, i just completely wrote it off." He was going to die... again. This time of embarrassment. Jason laughed softly, the sound not used very often these days. "I mean, i guess i get that. Some times things are easier when you're family isn't involved." "You can say that again..." Danny muttered. Jason leaned back on his spot on the couch, watching Danny with something like amusement in his eyes. He was...so different without the tainted ectoplasm gnawing on his soul. He was finally relaxing. "Well, your Majesty. Would this get me a favor with the king?" Danny's blush stretched down his neck. "Don't call me that. It's too weird." "Nope." Jason was grinning now. "Too much fun. You are way too easy to fluster for a guy that just popped up to ask for sex." "That's not-...!..." Danny winced. "I mean you said no, so that's that." "Changing my mind." Jason said instead, attuned to Danny's look of surprise. Ah, fuck he was definitely able to read Danny now. "Besides. "I have a hundred questions, remember? I'm sure we can mange between rounds." "Rounds?" Danny mouthed the word but no sound came out. Okay, it wasn't a big deal if his heart stopped beating but he was pretty sure it just did. Yeah, it stopped. "O..okay." He attempted, but it just seemed to endear him more as Jason moved again, his time leaning closer. Okay, hot guy in his personal space, he could handle this. It was why he was here. Jason tugged on Danny’s hair. “It changes. Black to white. That’s cool. Kinda wanna see it more.”

Okay, hot guy in his personal space, he could not handle this. “It uh..yeah. Does that. Alive verses dead i guess. I’ll show you once your ectoplasm is worked out. I don’t see why you wouldn’t gain abilities too once your core is sorted out.” “You really love to say words without context, don’t you?” Jason said and his amusement was loud. “I guess... i get ahead of myself.” Danny muttered, unable to make eye contact as Jason slid closer. This was not his first kiss. What was going on with him? "It’s alright, i’m a quick learner. Besides, i really want to say thank you for you clearing my mind, even if it is temporary." Jason muttered. He’d been screaming for help but no one had ever heard him before. "We will get that fixed." Danny promised, voice just as quiet. "First thing tomorrow, if you want." "Second thing." Jason said, reaching out to cup Danny's cheek this time before drawing him closer to kiss. Danny didn't think you could see stars in Gotham but he was sure seeing them now. ~~~~ ~~~~

I kinda wonder who’s going to tell Danny he just found a consort. My money’s on Frostbite.... ...As for who tell’s Jason?....That’s Dani barging in to meet her new brother in law Hope you enjoyed this, feel free to add whatever you want.

Master List

#dc x dp crossover #danny phantom #danny phantom x jason todd #Jason Todd #Red Hood #Clockwork spent years setting Danny up for this #consort #my writing #dc comics #Sam and Tucker think this is hilarious #They'll never let Danny live this down #how Danny met his boyfriend #politely asking for sex #crossover #danny phantom/jason todd #Don't tell Jazz

2K notes · View notes

disillusioneddanny · 11 months

Text

Barbie and Ken {Dead on Main}

The light flashed bright in Danny’s eyes, momentarily blinding him as he held the sign with his name up. He couldn’t believe this was happening. When Jazz had told him that she was going to set him up with a coworker of hers, Danny was expecting a nice night at dinner where they had some wine, talked about shared interests and all that jazz.

What he got instead was a knock out drag out fight with a bastard who immediately started throwing hands as soon as Danny had walked into the restaurant! He hadn’t even gotten to meet this guy that Jazz was setting him up with!

She had set him up with an English teacher at the school she was working at. The siblings had moved to Gotham together as soon as Danny had graduated from high school. In that time Jazz enrolled in Gotham University and got her degree in Chemistry and her teaching license.

Danny decided to go to school for linguistics. When you already know all the dead languages and most languages come from those, the idea of studying all of the others just sounded neat.

But none of that mattered now.

Why?

Because Danny Fenton was in fucking jail.

He scoffed as the police officer booking him in had him step away from the camera and put in his finger prints before escorting him to the hallway where the jackass he fought was already waiting, handcuffed and leaning against the wall, a scowl on his face. All Danny wanted to do was meet this Jason Todd guy that Jazz had been talking up for weeks and instead he got some fucking liminal prick who wanted to fight instead.

Which usually, the halfa was all for getting into a fun ghost fight! Even with fellow halfas or liminals. But not when he’s supposed to be on a date! Not when he’s trying to make himself look good for a guy who sounds like a match made in heaven for him!

Sure, the fight was a lot of fun, and it was the first time in years that he got to fight another ectoplasmic entity, but that was beside the point! Now Jason was going to think that Danny was nothing more than a criminal.

Oh, Danny hoped to the ancients that Jason hadn’t seen his fight with the liminal. He hoped to anyone who was listening, to Clockwork, to the Ghost Queen, anyone who was willing to listen to his pleas, they had to make it where Jason didn’t see him get arrested.

“Todd, Fenton! Follow me,” a guard shouted, Danny glanced over at the asshole and raised an eyebrow.

“Todd?” He said incredulously.

“Fenton?” The man asked with a disbelieving laugh of his own.

“Danny,” Danny said with a small smile, trying not to lose his shit. If his fucking date was the same guy with that fantastic left hook, he was going to lose his mind.

“Jason,” he said, letting out another chuckle. “Jazz was right, we did have instant chemistry, but not for the reason she thought. I’m fuckin’ sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never just attacked someone before. Well, not like that, at least,” he said, shaking his head as the two followed behind the guard.

The officer snapped at the two to shut up and Danny held back a sigh as he glanced over at the liminal. It was likely that Jason didn’t even know he was liminal and damn, that was a story that Danny wanted to hear as soon as possible. In the meantime, though, he looked this Jason Todd up and down and smiled to himself.

Jazz definitely knew what Danny’s type was. That was for damn sure.

Jason Todd was built like a goddamn tank. While Danny still managed to be taller than him by a few inches thanks to that Fenton height, the six foot man stood tall and buff compared to Danny’s own tall and lanky. He was absolutely sure that Jason could throw him around like a rag doll if Danny let him and by the ancients would Danny let him.

The freckles that smattered across the bridge of Jason’s nose reminded Danny of some of his favorite constellations. If he looked close enough he bet he could find quite a few, just looking where he was he found ursa minor, polaris sat right at the tip of Jason’s nose. He wanted to trace each and every constellation on his skin.

“Don’t worry about it, I have a punchable face,” Danny said with a laugh as the two got shoved into a holding cell together. He turned to the officer and called after him. “Don’t we get a phonecall!”

“Shut the fuck up,” the officer said before walking away.

“Gotta love Gotham’s finest,” Jason said with a chuckle as he sat on a metal bed with a pitiful paper thin mattress on top of it and a threadbare blanket laid on top. Danny took a seat beside him and let out a breath of air.

“Well, this wasn’t what I was planning for our first date,” Danny said softly. “I was thinking we’d get dinner, probably bail because I’m not big on fancy dinners and it was Jazz’s idea and then we could go walk around together and talk about books and the fact that the smog in Gotham is terrible.”

“That does sound fun,” Jason said with a chuckle. He glanced over at Danny and gave him a small smile. “You’re not what I was expecting. I mean you’re a lanky mother fucker but that punch to the jaw was no joke, I think it’s already bruising.”

Danny chuckled and took Jason’s face in his hands and turned his face to the side to look at where he had punched him to the face. “Yeah it’s bruising,” he said but smiled softly before he allowed his hand to ice over and pressed it against the bruise. “How’s that feel?”

“Better,” Jason said with a sigh as he smiled up at Danny. “You’re a meta?”

The halfa let out a soft hum. “In a way, does it count if you died in a freak lab accident and then came back wrong and with weird ghost powers?”

Jason looked at him startled before he threw back his head and let out a laugh of his own. “I’m jealous, all I got when I died and came back wrong was a white streak in my hair and an intense rage that never really goes away.”

Danny tilted his head and looked Jason over for a moment before he noticed the little ball of a blob ghost that seemed to be gnawing on his core inside of his chest.

“Remind me when we get out of here, I can fix that rage for you,” Danny said with a smug smile. “And trust me, I bet without that messing you up, you’ll get some fun little ghost powers too.”

Jason just laughed and launched into the tale of how he had come back to life in the first place, telling Danny a wild tale of assassins and weird pits of ectoplasm called Lazarus Waters and how he decided to become a crime lord in the night while during the day he went to school and eventually became an English teacher where he found a passion for helping teenagers who wanted to go somewhere in life.

In turn, Danny told his own story, about being a small town hero and later defeating the Ghost King, only to turn down the throne when it was offered and instead moved to Gotham with his sister to finally live a normal life and managed to somehow become a linguist despite the childhood dream of becoming an astronaut.

He didn’t know how long they spoke to one another, but by the end of it, Danny had completely forogotten he was in jail in the first place! At least until a guard came in and opened the cell.

“Fenton, Todd, you’ve been bailed out!” he barked. The two quickly got up and followed the man out of holding and into a hallway where Jazz and a tall dark haired older man stood giving the two twin looks of disappointment.

“Hey Bruce,” Jason said, a dopey grin on his face as he looked at his father.

“Hey Jazz, thanks for hooking us up,” Danny said with a grin as the guard uncuffed each of them and they immediately held hands. “Now, I know you want to chew me out for getting arrested. But technically this is your fault for setting me up with a liminal, of course we were going to get in a fist fight. Also, Mr. Wayne, interesting to meet you, Jason has told me so much about you it’s batty,” he said with a wink.

“Danny don’t you dare even think about it,” Jazz growled out, pointing a finely manicured finger at him. Danny looked from his sister to his date and smiled.

“Thanks for getting us together, Jazz, you’re a great coworker,” Jason said with a smile. “But we have a date to finish,” he said. Danny turned the couple intangible and the two shot into the air and out of the jail before either of the family members could stop them.

Jazz sighed and turned to Bruce. “I’m so sorry for introducing them to one another, I didn’t think that would happen,” she said with a sigh.

Bruce looked up at the ceiling before he looked back at Jazz. “Would you like a drink?”

“God yes,” she said with a sigh before following the older man out of the jail.

#dpxdc #dead on main #jason todd x danny fenton #deadonmain #dead on main ship

572 notes · View notes

barcingmatter · 1 year

Text

The Beginning (Star Witch Au)

"-And thats why I can't become a witch."

The middle aged person across from Danny hummed quietly for a moment, sipping at their tea while he looked back down at the book in his lap, the title 'A Witchlets Guide To Apprenticeship' taunting him.

"And your parents won't let you apply for the public mentorship? There is one in Amity Park that's always accepting applicants," they set their cup down, looking through the tea leaves left in the bottom.

Danny set the book on the table to join the others he'd been picking through. The library's decent selection on becoming a witch only frustrated him.

How was he supposed to put any of the books to use in his situation?

He huffed, sinking into the plush chair. "No, they're only willing to consider it if I can manage to get a private mentorship. They're only doing it because they KNOW I don't know anyone who can do mentoring. They want me to give up and become a scientist like them," he droned.

The person across from him didn't look up from their tea leaves, like they were looking for something.

"I'm curious," they began, "why do you want to become a witch so bad?"

"Well- its kinda- I mean most people think it's kinda childish-"

"I assure you even if it's childish it won't mean any less."

Danny turned to them and they finally looked back, porcelain cup abandoned on the table. "I... I wanna be worthy of the stars."

They raised an eyebrow. "Worthy of the stars?"

The library was quiet for a moment, save for the subtle 'tick, tock' of a pocket watch hanging from the elders necklace.

"The stars guide people who are lost, and they tell stories and preserve history. They're always there, they help people, kinda... I wanna be like that. I wanna be like the stars, and I wanna know them," he explained.

The elder stood, leaving their cup in its place on the table and picking up one of the books Danny was looking through before their conversation began. "Not many witches do private mentorships outside of family or monetary gain. It would be easier for you to give up and listen to your parents wishes. You might not be good enough to make it to an academy anyways, much less gain an artifact."

Their pocketwatch ticked just a bit faster.

Danny glared at his pile of books, "it would, but that would be stupid. If I gave up on it now I'd probably hate myself for the rest of my life. And then I'd die and still hate myself for not trying." He picked up one of the books and cracked it open, ready to start looking for something, maybe a loophole that would work.

"Alright," they smirked, standing in front of the boy. "I'll mentor you."

The book tumbled to the floor as Danny looked up at the person quick enough to give himself whiplash, "huh?"

"You need a mentor, and I am certified to do so. I only have one condition," they grabbed their necklace, flicking open the pocketwatch.

Danny scrambled to his feet, half sure he was having some weird lucid dream, "yeah anything! Well, not my soul but I mean other than that-!"

"If I mentor you, you will not be allowed to quit. You'll have to push through to graduation, no matter what."

Icy blue met muted red, and Danny nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course! I'm not gonna give up, not when I actually have a chance!" He grinned, hands trembling with energy. Could this really be happening? Could he finally have his in?

"Well then, Daniel-"

"Wait how did you know my name?"

"-I'm clockwork, and I'd be happy to take you on as my apprentice."

They stuck out a hand, Roman numerals and curved lines running along the skin from the palm until it disappeared under a sweater sleeve.

Danny grabbed it, shaking perhaps a bit too excitedly.

The pocketwatch stopped ticking, the stars shone a tad bit brighter, just for a moment.

The tea leaves at the bottom of an old porcelain cup resembled a star.

⏳️____✨️

And that marks the start of danny becoming a witch in this au!

This au is based off of this post I made.

To make it make a bit more sense, in this au magic is practiced by humans and exists parallel to science and the modern world, kinda like little witch academia. Anyone can become a witch but you have to have completed a year long mentorship (at least) to qualify for any magic academy.

Only certain witches are qualified to be a mentor, with it essentially like being certified to be a teacher. Most mentors do public mentorships, mentor a specific family, or get hired on a witch by witch basis.

Clockwork just so happens to be certified, and as a time witch they knew that in quite a few timelines they'd mentor Danny, so they arranged it so they'd 'coincidentally' end up at the library at the same time as the kid trying to look into mentorships. Totally coincidental, not at all staged. Time magic.

Let me know if you want more of this au!

#danny phantom #danny fenton #not barcs art #star witch au #danny phantom drabble #danny phantom au #clockwork #danny phantom fanfiction #dp au

157 notes · View notes

selfignitingimagines · 2 years

Text

Derek- I Think I Can Handle It

A/N- Well this was supposed to come out before Halloween, but spooky season is just a state of mind anyway. I’ve been doing a season 3 rewatch and angsty Derek is *chef’s kiss*. I hope you guys enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Request- Hey :D! For the fall prompts, how about number 7 with Derek? Idk if you’ve done it before but it seems kinda fitting for him, thank you!

Derek sat inside his car, staring out through the windshield. He could see the shadow of the house looming in the darkness. It was barely visible, even with the moonlight shining down through the trees.

He didn’t need to see it to know that it was deteriorating. Month after month, the burnt husk of his old home would sag further under the weight of dead leaves and fallen tree limbs. The wood continued to rot from the moisture and, inevitably, some stupid kids would trek out into the preserve to the see the sight of the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Every. Goddamn. Year.

It usually happened around Halloween, when the urge to be scared overcame the local population. Not that they needed it. Beacon Hills was scary enough as it was, although most people didn’t seem to realize it.

He would never be able to understand why regular people continued to live in this town, raising their kids and commuting to work while monsters lurked around every corner.

Then again, it was probably for the same reason he didn’t demolish the old house. He just couldn’t let go.

He reached for the thermos he kept in the center console. It was filled with chamomile tea he had brewed shortly before he left the loft. Lydia had told him once that it was supposed to be calming.

He was just about to take a sip when, like clockwork, a beam of light began to shine through the woods in front of him. It was headed right for the house.

Derek sighed and set the thermos back down. So much for being calm.

He silently slipped out of the car and headed toward the light. He would go around the house on the other side and wait until the person passed. There, he would hide in the bushes and let out a feral growl. Without fail, the trespassers would freak out and run.

As Derek headed down the hill from where he had parked the car, he smiled to himself. If they wanted to be scared, he would give them just that.

He watched as the flashlight moved up toward the porch. Before he could take another step, the sound of wood splintering echoed up the hill. He heard a scream, and the unmistakable snap of human bone.

“Shit,” he muttered.

------

15 MINUTES EARLIER

“You cannot be serious.”

Your stomach churned as the car rolled to a stop. The headlights cast a glow on the old wooden sign at the edge of the woods. The printed words on it were faded and nearly scratched off. You could just barely make out them out.

Beacon Hills Preserve.

Danny Mahealani looked over at you from the driver’s seat and grinned. “Deadly serious.”

“This is my dare? Go into the preserve at night?” you asked incredulously. “Do you know how many dead bodies they’ve found here?”

He rolled his brown eyes. “Duh. It wouldn’t be scary if they hadn’t. But you can’t just go into the preserve. That would be too easy.”

“What else do I have to do?”

“Find the abandoned Hale House and bring me back something to prove you were there.”

You swallowed nervously. You were beginning to regret coming home after graduation.

Since it was the night before Halloween, Danny had insisted you play games in the spirit of the holiday, something he called “Mischief Night”.

“I thought it was called Devil’s night,” you had pointed out earlier that day.

Danny had waved his hand as he sat on the edge of your bed.“Devil’s Night, Mischief Night, whatever. It doesn’t matter. But we’re both off tomorrow, and I want to do something fun for once!”

“By playing truth or dare?”

“Yeah, but the stakes are upped. If you don’t do something, you have to prank someone.”

“I think you miss high school a little too much.”

“I just miss pranking Coach Finstock.”

“Fine, if it makes you feel better, we can play. As long as I get to crack open a bottle of wine after.”

Now, as you were sitting in the passenger seat of his Toyota, wondering why you had offered to go first.

“This is stupid,” you told Danny. “Isn’t the Hale House private property? And didn’t it pretty much burn to the ground? What happens if a rafter falls on my head or something?”

“Oh come on, if you die, you don’t have to pay off your student loans.”

“True,” you muttered. “But that doesn’t mean I want to.”

“Y/n,” Danny complained. “You work at a grocery store. Your degree means nothing and you’re not dating anyone. You literally have no excitement in your life. Don’t you wanna live a little?”

You huffed. He had a point. “Fine. I’ll do it. But only this one.”

“You don’t want to give me a dare?”

“Unlike you, I don’t enjoy trying to get my friends killed.”

Danny simply shrugged and handed you a flashlight he had pulled from the center console.

“It shouldn’t be that far. The old driveway should be about half a mile into the woods.”

You shook your head in disbelief and got out of the car. Just as you stepped over the chain hanging over the path, Danny rolled down his window.

“Get me a piece of burned wood or something so I know you actually did it!”

“You’re a dick!” you yelled back.

You trekked into the woods nonetheless.

Danny was right. It was easy enough to find the old gravel driveway as you crunched through dead leaves. From there, it seemed to take forever to walk up to the house. The Hales had been prominent figures in town before they died, but they clearly enjoyed their privacy.

When you finally made it to the burnt shell of the house, you stared up at it in awe. While it was dark, the moon outside illuminated its hulking form. It was practically a mansion, or at least it had been at one point in time.

You shined your flashlight onto the structure, illuminating the charred walls and window frames. The glass over the windows was either broken or completely missing, and the only thing that looked like it might have been touched up was the front door. The red paint on it looked to only be a few years old, though it was scratched up a bit.

You wondered why someone would only paint the door and not try to fix anything else. Maybe they started a project that they didn’t have the heart to finish. If it were your entire family that died in that house, you weren’t sure you would be able to come back to the property at all.

The death of the Hale family was a gruesome part of Beacon Hills’ history, and that was saying something. Even for a town that seemed to be plagued by murders and suspicious deaths, Kate Argent burning an entire family alive was one of the worst things that had ever happened there.

It sent a chill down your spine just thinking about what it must have been like to die in that way. You looked around, trying to find something you could bring back to Danny. This place was starting to freak you out.

You shined the flashlight up onto the porch and noticed a loose scrap of wood that must have broken off a window pane. It was small enough to carry in one hand, and looked like it was still stained with soot.

You stepped up onto the porch steps, but before you could get to the top, the wood caved in from underneath you. Your right foot went straight through the rotted board and hit the earth beneath at an odd angle. You felt a sharp, stabbing pain so intense that your vision went black for a few moments.

When you opened your eyes, you were on the ground, lying in a pile of damp leaves and rotten wood. With a groan, you pulled yourself onto your side. When you tried to move, you gasped in pain. There was something wrong with your ankle.

You glanced around, looking desperately for the flashlight Danny had given you. It must have rolled a few feet away when you fell, but you could just barely grasp it with your fingers.

You snatched it from the dirt and shined it onto the end of your leg. What you saw made you gag. It was purple and swollen, and twisted at an odd angle. You had probably broken it.

“Shit,” you gasped.

You fumbled for your phone, pulling it out of your jacket pocket. You attempted to call Danny, but you quickly realized there was no signal in the woods.

Derek watched from nearby as you pulled yourself up. He was surprised to see that you didn’t look as young as he thought you would be. You definitely weren’t a teenager.

“Oh my god,” you muttered to yourself. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

Derek’s lips twitched. “Agreed.”

You jumped, wincing in pain from the sudden movement of your ankle.

When you shined the flashlight over toward the voice, you could see a man standing a few yards away in the dead leaves. He had on jeans and a leather jacket, but he was shielding his face from the light.

“Can you stop shining that into my eyes?”

“Oh my god, sorry.”

You tilted it down, and he pulled out a light of his own. Judging by the shape, he was using his phone flashlight.

He walked over and knelt next to you, examining the state of your ankle. “Yeah. I’d say that was pretty stupid. You know this is private property, don’t you?”

You swallowed nervously. He didn’t seem angry, but his voice was stern. He couldn’t have been that much older than you, and it was embarrassing to have another adult look so disappointed in you.

“I wasn’t sure,” you told him honestly. “Look, I’m really sorry.”

He knelt down next to you, and you were able to see his face clearly. He had a scruffy beard and light-colored eyes, though you couldn’t be sure of the exact color in the dark. He looked like he was in his late twenties.

That was when you realized you knew who the man was. It was Derek Hale...and he had just caught you trespassing in the place where his entire family died.

“You look a little old to be breaking into abandoned houses.”

“I wasn’t trying to break in,” you protested. “It was a dare…and that doesn’t make it sound any better.”

He simply stared at you with one bushy eyebrow raised.

“You’re right,” you said. “It was stupid.”

Derek nodded. Out of all the years he had scared people off the property, no one had ever gotten hurt there. He felt a sinking feeling in his chest, wondering if that meant it was finally time to tear it down.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“I...uh, yeah. Sorry. We should probably get you out of here.”

He looked down at your face, and suddenly got the bizarre feeling that he knew you. He must have seen you somewhere before, maybe around town.

“You’re not going to call the cops are you?” you asked hesitantly.

That was when it hit him. You did look familiar, but it wasn’t because he had seen you before at all.

“Do you know Stiles Stilinski?”

You groaned. “He’s my cousin.”

Derek laughed softly. “I’m guessing you two aren’t close?”

“Not really. To be honest, I think he’s kind of annoying.”

“He’s actually a good friend of mine,” Derek admitted.

You flushed. “Oh, um, sorry.”

Great, you thought to yourself. You had trespassed on this guy’s property and now you were insulting his friend. You were surprised he hadn’t already left you there to hobble back to the car alone.

“But he is annoying.”

He smiled at you, and you felt your shoulders sag in relief.

“Did you drive here?” he asked.

You shook your head. “No, my friend Danny drove us. He’s waiting by the entrance. You know, the one with the Jurassic Park looking sign?”

“I know it. I can take you.”

He reached down, and before you realized what was happening, he scooped you up bridal style. “Put your arms around my neck.”

Awkwardly, you listened to him, wrapping your arms around him. You clung to the smooth leather of his jacket as he carried you up the hill, a little worried that he wouldn’t make it up the slope of the hill with you in his arms.

“Don’t worry. I won’t drop you.”

It was as if he could tell exactly what you were thinking.

“Are you sure? Because I can definitely try to walk…”

He couldn’t help but tease you.

“Are you scared?”

“Of you dropping me down this hill and breaking another bone? Yes!”

Derek suppressed the urge to burst out laughing. Maybe you had more in common with Stiles than you thought.

“Just hold on to me,” he said. “Besides, you’re shivering anyway.”

Though you hadn’t realized it, you were trembling from the cold. Your clothes were damp from the wet ground, and it was unseasonably cold, even for Beacon Hills.

You hated to admit it, but Derek’s jacket was warm, and he was even warmer. The heat radiating from his chest made you want to snuggle in and fall asleep.

You immediately felt embarrassed, suddenly aware that this guy was practically a stranger, and that you were having these thoughts about him after you had trespassed on his property. He was probably going to drive you straight to the police station once you got out of the woods.

“I’m not going to call the cops on you,” he said, as if he could sense your anxiety. “Isn’t the Sheriff your uncle anyway?”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about,” you admitted. “I can’t have another person thinking I’m a fuck up.”

The words came out of your mouth before you could stop yourself. You went red, shocked that you were being so honest with someone you didn’t even know.

“Why do you say that?” Derek asked thoughtfully.

You remained silent for a few moments, but for whatever reason, you felt like he might be able to understand.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” you admitted. “I just graduated with a degree in English and everyone is saying I made a mistake. My whole family is disappointed in me.”

“Were you doing it because that was what you wanted?”

“Yeah. I’ve always loved words and books. I thought maybe I could be a writer, but obviously it’s not that easy...and now I work at a grocery store. Everybody is telling me that I should have done something else.”

Derek smiled to himself. “I have an English degree.”

You blinked. “You do?”

“Yeah. My dad always loved the classics. I guess he passed that onto me, so when I left town and went to New York, that’s what I majored in.”

“And no one ever criticized you for it?”

“Oh definitely. At that point I just didn’t care.”

“Huh.That’s cool.”

“Have you ever thought about teaching?”

“In Beacon Hills? Yeah. But all our teachers seem to have a habit of disappearing or dying.”

“But if that wasn’t the case?”

“I think I’d like it. Getting to teach kids to love English would be cool...you know, despite the low survival rate.”

Derek laughed. A few yards ahead, you could see Danny’s headlights shining through the trees.

“I think you should look into it.”

Before you could respond, Danny’s voice called out through the trees.

“Y/n?! Is that you?”

He was standing at the edge of the woods as Derek’s flashlight beam began to shine out through the trees. When he saw the light coming toward him, he let out a sigh of relief. For the last few minutes, he thought he might have actually gotten you killed.

Then, as Derek stepped into the pool of light cast by the car’s headlights, Danny’s jaw dropped.

“Hey,” you said.

He stood there, looking from you to Derek. “Uh...you wanna fill me in?”

“I went through a porch.”

“Um, okay…”

Danny continued to stare at Derek, and you couldn't help but feel like the two of them knew each other. Maybe Danny had recognized him from all the news about the fire, but how would Derek have known Danny?

“You need to take her to the hospital,” Derek told him. “I think she broke her ankle.”

Danny stood there for a few moments, still staring, until Derek raised an eyebrow.

“Are you gonna open the door or not?”

Danny scrambled for the door handle and pulled it open. You gave him a questioning look, but he wouldn’t meet your eyes.

Derek set you down gently in the passenger seat. You flinched at the pain as your foot touched the floor, but you were distracted by the sight of Derek stripping off his jacket.

“What are you doing?”

“Here,” he offered, holding it out to you. “You’re still cold.”

He was wearing an olive green henley underneath, but it didn’t look nearly thick enough to shelter him from the chill.

“Won’t you be cold when you walk back through the woods?”

He shrugged. “I think I can handle it.”

He gestured for you to hold out your arms. You felt your cheeks growing warm again as he leaned in and wrapped the jacket around you. He buttoned it up to your chin, then smoothed out the lapels.

When you looked up at him, there was a softness in his green eyes that he hadn’t had while talking to Danny. He smiled at you, revealing a set white teeth with a slight overbite.

“How will I get it back to you?” you asked.

He shrugged. “I’ll find you. Plus Danny has my number.”

You blinked. “He does?”

“Yeah, he can explain that one to you himself.”

Before you could respond, Derek turned away with a smile and shut the door. He walked around to the other side of the car and placed one hand on Danny’s shoulder. While it looked innocent enough to you as you watched through the window, he was squeezing Danny’s scapula hard enough to break it.

Danny grunted in pain as Derek pulled him closer.

“You know what’s in these woods,” he hissed. “Why the hell would you send her out there alone?”

“I thought it was safe. Nothing’s happened in months!”

“You could have gotten her killed.”

“Okay, I get it!”

“If you ever do something like this again, I’m gonna rip your throat out.”

“Okay!” Danny cried. “I swear it won’t happen again.”

Derek let go of him. “Good.”

Danny began to rub his shoulder, wincing at the movement.

“God, Stiles was right,” he muttered. “You are dramatic.”

Derek rolled his eyes. “Take her to the hospital...and give her my number.”

He shot Derek a sullen look and opened the driver side door. “Fine. I’m sure I’ll see you later, Miguel.”

Derek suppressed the urge to burst out laughing. As Danny drove you away, he could hear you peppering him with questions.

“What was he talking about? And who’s Miguel?”

He watched Danny’s tail lights disappear down the desolate road. He waited until their glow faded and then headed back into the preserve, thinking about you the entire walk back.

When he got back into the car, the first thing he did was text Stiles.

I need your cousin’s phone number.

#teen wolf imagines #teen wolf #derek hale imagines #derek hale #@bellabadacadabra #selfignitingimagines #Teen Wolf Ships

119 notes · View notes

dekalko-mania · 3 years

Text

D&D: By wastefulreverie: Lester, Mikey, and Nathan were standing beside him. Mikey was fumbling with three jagged-sided dice while Lester and Nathan glared at each other. Realizing that he was awake, Lester broke eye contact with Nathan. Awkwardly, he put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Do you want to join our campaign?" he blurted.

Danny tilted his head skeptically, "Join your what?"

Additional Tags: Dungeons and Dragons, friendship, humor, [really enjoyed the irony in this one]

Making Something Out of Nothing: By wastefulreverie: When Ishiyama calls Danny into her office, the last thing he expected was to be offered a job.

Additional Tags: Post-reveal, Teacher! Danny,

Tiny Little Pieces of Ours: By Bellovebug: Danny Fenton was a dreamer. A dreamer of stars, of galaxies, of spaceships and sunsets and snow. He was a dreamer of wildflowers in the forest, of messages left on the insides of folders set up to take a test, of Polaroids an unknown person has dropped on the street. He was a dreamer of the things that didn't matter, because the things that did scared him.

But dreams don't last forever. And when Danny is gone, he leaves many in his wake.

(Or, a look at Danny's death, and the lives of the people in his life afterwards.)

Additional Tags: Major Character Death, hurt Danny, grieving, Sam and Tucker Centric, [This one hurt so much, but is very beautifully written. Still hurts even now lmao]

A Play to Remember: By AppleScentedLazers: When Danny's drama class puts on a play and Fenton is cast as his own crime fighting counterpart, what's the worst that could happen? With a new villain rising and lines to learn, the people of Amity start to see that there may be more to their resident ghost boy than meets the eye.

Additional Tags: Angst, [interesting reveal concept! more in-depth A-listers]

I’m Still Here: By Cordria: Buried in the backyard, Danny's locked away in a forgotten Thermos. When it's finally found seventy years later, Danny is released and he needs to learn to deal with his new life. Can he survive what the future can throw at him?

Additional Tags: Angst [definitely nostalgic angst]

The Scrapbook: By Dragon Elexus: Fearful of Jazz's idolism of the ghost-boy, Maddie tries to protect her daughter by stealing her Phantom scrapbook. But the book sparks strange questions in Maddie's mind, and she finds herself stumbling on secrets she never knew existed. Pre-PP.

Additional Tags: Family

Exposed: By ADraconicScribe: A mysterious caller has revealed that the infamous Danny Phantom is half-human, placing a five hundred thousand dollar prize to the one who exposes Phantom's secret identity. Coupled with Vlad's disappearance, the ghost fighting, and all of the efforts to capture him, Danny and his friends must tread carefully if they are to make it out with their secrets, and their lives, intact.

Additional Tags: angst, BAMF Danny Fenton, Identity Reveal, Sam and Tucker are good friends, [I cannot stress how amazing this fic is, extremely well written, such an intense plot. Endless twists and turns, so so good.]

Maybe We’ll Find Each Other: By DP_Marvel94: Phantom, the adoptive son of Clockwork, doesn't remember his life but wishes he did. Jack Fenton, ghost hunter, lost his only son at a young age. When the portal activates, a newly half-human Phantom stumbles into Jack's lab, barely a painfully familiar blue-eyed, black haired form.

Additional Tags: Full ghost to half ghost Phantom, Ghosts think halfas are abominations, father-son relationship, but neither know they’re parent and child [very very interesting story, super cool concept!]

Katzenjammer: By DannyPhantomSG1, sapphireswimming: Danny's had enough. Of everything. But thankfully Tucker understands.

Additional Tags: Oneshot, Half Ghost Angst, Hurt/comfort, Friendship

Hope Can Be a Heavy Thing to Hold: By DP_Marvel94: " I woke up here, wherever here is, with no memories. He told me my name is Daniel James Masters. He told me I am a human-ghost hybrid, like him. He told me he is my father. But I know that’s a lie; there is no way Vlad Masters, my captor is my parent. I know I have a real home somewhere out there. I have a family and friends who love me. Too bad I can’t remember anything about them."

Additional Tags: Amnesia, child abuse, Diary/journal, poor Danny can’t remember anything

Abigail the Tree Girl: By EchoGhost: Danny didn’t see his first ghost at 14.

Additional Tags: Haunted Amity Park, Danny has always been weird, clueless Danny

Just Fourteen: By aniura: Danny Fenton is an average high school student whose biggest worry is getting the grades needed to become an astronaut. That is, until his friend Sam convinces him to step inside his parents' broken ghost portal...Updates bi-weekly on Sundays. Covers Danny's time at Casper High before the accident and the month afterwards.

Additional Tags: Angst, origin, the accident, Danny is NOT okay, [really cool fic that fills in the gaps that weren’t delved into during the show]

The Phantom and the Knight: By savya398: After two years Danny Fenton finally felt like he was getting this whole superhero thing under control. So of course something had to come along and ruin everything.

Additional Tags: Danny Phantom/Young Justice, DC Animated Universe, [little twist on Danny’s origins]

Six Degrees of Separation: By Miss_Nihilist: Valerie Gray was not one for doubt and regret, but that was before she fell in love — and then, promptly and without a second thought, threw it away.

She wasn't looking for them to get back together or even to automatically be friends again. But maybe, just maybe, Valerie could get a second chance at being a decent person. For Danny, for herself, and for all the mistakes she had made.

Additional Tags: Moving On, Post break-up, hurt/comfort, identity reveal

Three for the Price of One: By Marsalias: They had only meant to summon ONE ghost...

Additional Tags: cult, summoning

When the Kingdom Comes Calling: By blueh: The Ghost Zone population assumes that Phantom took the crown with dignity. What they don’t know is fifteen year old Danny Fenton just wants to graduate high school, is constantly ready to throw hands with an army of eyeballs, and absolutely will not be crowned the Ghost King without a fight.

Additional Tags: Not PP compliant, ghost king Danny Fenton, fluff and humor, reluctant king au, [so funny and so on character for a little shit like Danny oof]

#lets pretend its friday and not saturday ok lmao #Phanfic Friday #Danny Phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #fics recs #danny fenton #valerie gray #sam manson #Tucker Foley

147 notes · View notes

blu-eh · 4 years

Text

when kingdom comes calling

Words: 7,545 | Chapters: 1/1 | AO3 | Fanfiction

Summary: the Ghost Zone population assumes that Phantom took the crown with dignity. What they don’t know is fifteen year old Danny Fenton just wants to graduate high school, is constantly ready to throw hands with an army of eyeballs, and absolutely will not be crowned the Ghost King without a fight.

-----------------------------------

Danny is fifteen when the first Observant appears to completely ruin his life.

He wakes up with the feeling on the sun on his face and the birds chirping from outside his window. It’s peaceful, really, with his blankets being warm and his pillow soft. He feels more than a little well rested, which is a first considering his usual night-time activities, and thinks that maybe (just maybe) he can make it to school before the first period bell rings.

Belatedly, his ghost sense goes off.

Danny’s expecting it, really. It doesn’t stop the swirling aggravation as his good luck comes to an end. The day started out abnormal simply due to the fact that he had not once woken up at some ungodly hour in the morning to beat up a wandering ghost and send it back to the ghost zone. As per Fenton luck, his morning is ruined before it even has the chance to begin.

He groans, rubs sleep from his eyes, and comes face to face with the giant floating eyeball.

“Holy shit—” Danny turns intangible out of sheer surprise, falls through his bed, and is left grasping the sheets in order to pull himself as far as he possibly can away from the wayward Observant that is conveniently floating in his room. The Observant looks at him without blinking and its long cape flutters around its pencil-thin figure.

For a moment, they simply stare at each other. Danny, on the floor in his space pajamas, and the Observant hovering a few feet from the ground with its weird, unblinking, green eye.

“What are you doing in my room?” Danny says, slowly, and picks himself off the ground. He settles into a familiar fight stance and readies himself for a confrontation; space pajamas, bed head and all.

His previous encounters with the Observants and their weird time-council have not always been pleasant.

The Observant blinks at him, once, and says, “I have come to collect you for your coronation.”

“My what?”

“Your coronation, Daniel,” the Observant says with a sigh (which is really weird considering they don’t have mouths or, well, anything other than their eyes and hands). “It is time for you to take the throne and rule the Infinite Realms.”

Danny stares at him, his mouth opening and closing but no words coming out.

The Observant sighs again, “Please, come. There is much to do before you are crowned.”

Danny rubs his eyes just to make sure he’s not in some weird hallucination. He doesn’t think he’s fought any ghosts that could trap him in some freak alternate dimension or some sort of weird dream, but one can never be too careful. It would explain the situation more than whatever the Observant is trying to tell him, at least.

The Observants hate him. As if his own self-loathing isn’t enough to cover that base already. They’ve made it perfectly clear that should he ever mess up, should he ever become anything like Dan again, he would be destroyed and the council would not spare him pity for being a fifteen year old halfa.

Danny doesn’t remember doing anything bad or anything that could potentially cause his evil-future-self to come about and reign destruction and carnage on the earth, but then again Danny doesn’t have temporal clairvoyance like Clockwork and the rest of the Observants. Maybe he slept through one too many classes? Maybe he shoved the wrong ghost in his thermos?

Not like it matters, anyways. It doesn’t change the fact that Danny promised he wouldn’t turn into that and he isn’t just going to take whatever scheme the Observants dished out for him without a fight.

Danny holds up his hands, “Alright, okay. Listen, you had me going there for a little bit. I gotta admit that I was pretty surprised and kudos for the creativity but if you’re going to come up with a plan to kill me, at least make it believable.”

The Observant narrows its beady eye, “The council does not like it any more than you, child, but even we cannot directly disobey the Ancient Code of Rights.”

“The what?”

“Do you really not know?”

Danny’s irritation bubbles to the surface and he throws up his hands, “Its not exactly like any of you hand out Being a Ghost for Dummies book! Ghosts don’t tell me anything unless they’re trying to post-mortem murder me!”

The Observant blinks at him again, “You bested the previous king and his army in single combat thus earing the rights to the throne, the Ring of Rage, the Crown of Fire and the position of King of all Ghosts. I am to lead you into the Infinite Realms where we shall hold your coronation and crown you king. From there, you shall lead the Realms as did Pariah Dark in his prime.”

“King of all Ghosts—” Danny spluttered out before taking a deep breath and pinches the bridge of his nose. “Alright, ignoring literally all of that for a second—why didn’t I get this position, oh, wow, I dunno, right after I defeated Pariah? It’s been a year now.”

“You did not even know about your own core,” the ghost says, sounding miffed. Danny thinks if anyone should be sounding aggravated right now, its him. “A ghost—rather, a halfa in your case—that does not know his own power cannot take the throne. The council made a decision to wait until your powers were under your control and you have learned more about the Infinite Realms and the power you possess before taking your rightful place.”

Irritation bubbles to the surface as Danny tries to ignore the painful fact that he knows very little about ghost culture and ghost politics. He doesn’t dare tell the observant this, though, because he doesn’t want the power and he certainly doesn’t want to be king of some stupid dimension. His parents shoot at him enough thinking he's a normal ghost. There’s no telling what they would do if they ever were to find out he’s the ghost king.

Ectoplasm sparks to life in his hands as he tries to keep his emotions in check. He’s angry and confused and worried because why couldn’t things just stay simple?

Notwithstanding, it still doesn’t change the fact the Observants have tried to do something worse than kill him on several different occasions.

“You tried to have me obliterated.”

“Yes,” the Observant says simply. “That still would have been the preferable outcome to this entire situation.”

Danny blasts the floating eyeball out of his room and doesn’t once feel bad about it.

-----------------------------------

There’s an eyeball in his locker.

Danny glances around at the nearly empty halls and hisses out, “What are you doing here? Go away before I make you!”

The Observant hardly looks rattled at the threat. If anything, the thing seems even more determined to get Danny to go through with this absolute bullshit plan to make him, someone who is half human, king of the ghosts. “Follow me to the Infinite Realms for your coronation. You are under obligation to meet the council at Pariah’s Keep where you shall receive the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage.”

“No,” Danny snaps. “I have an English test next period with Mr. Lancer.”

“This is no time for your silly human games—"

Danny slams the locker in its eye. He turns to look at his friends, feeling deader inside currently than when he’s in ghost form.

“Huh,” Sam says and blinks in surprise. “When you told us this morning, I thought you were kidding.”

The locker rattles behind him and Danny casually leads against it when people start looking his way. The Observant could easily use intangibility to escape, but, for some reason, doesn’t. Danny’s not going to question it. “I wish I was.”

“Kinda cool that we’re friends with royalty,” Tucker says.

“You’re not,” Danny says. “Because I’m not taking some stupid crown and I’m not ruling the Ghost Zone where I am constantly in danger because ghosts hate me. I’m perfectly fine out here, with my family, and away from all of them.”

“Frostbite doesn’t hate you,” Sam says. Danny shoots her a look but she continues on like she hadn’t seen him. “Neither does Dora or Pandora, I think. And Cujo and Wulf.”

“You gotta admit, dude,” Tucker says and slings an arm around him before meandering away from the rattling locker. “The whole Ghost King thing is pretty cool.”

Danny’s so tired.

“Tucker, honestly, I just want to get to college and maybe not fail at life,” Danny says. He has a horrible feeling in his gut that this is only the start of what might be the end of his entire future. “And I have a very bad feeling that my future is not going to be as normal as I want it to be.”

-----------------------------------

Jazz figures out the entire situation by the end of the first night when she sees a floating eyeball hovering in front of Danny’s bedroom door. She ends up yanking him in her room and forcing him to tell her everything. He tells her, albeit reluctantly, but he does have to admit it feels pretty good to get it off his chest.

It still isn’t a fun conversation for any of them considering Danny’s future hanging by nothing more than a flimsy string.

Life still goes on. Mr. Lancer assigns him an absurd amount of homework. The school gets shut down at least twice a day because of Observant sightings. Unfortunately for Danny, school doesn’t stop just because a bunch of ghostly eyeballs have taken to haunting the school corridors.

Besides, by the third day and seventh missed class, Danny makes it exceptionally clear that the Observants should not—under any circumstance—enter his school and disrupt his classes. If they do, then Danny hasn’t been scared to use force in the past and definitely isn’t scared to punch a giant eyeball in the face should he see them wandering the halls or loitering in the windows.

The Observants learn very quickly. So, instead of bothering him in the halls, they wait outside in the parking lot until he’s let out of class at the end of the day. From there, they float around him (along with an unwilling Sam and Tucker) and try to convince Danny to enter the Ghost Zone and become a king of a realm he doesn’t even totally belong to.

“—Your coronation ceremony awaits you in the Infinite Realms. The council has requested your presence.”

Danny breaths through his nose, shares a sideways look with his friends, and tries not to do anything drastic. The Observant is just lucky that the streets are currently empty because, otherwise, Danny would not be putting up with the constant pestering. “Do you have anything new to say?”

“Should you not come then the council will be forced to do things outside of prior tradition.”

At least it said something new, Danny thinks even though he doesn’t necessarily like the tone the Observant is using. Out loud, he says, “Does that mean you’ll leave me alone and find a new king?”

“No,” the Observant says.

“Damn,” Danny says. “Anything else profound?”

“The Infinite Realms is in need of a ruler—"

“I said anything profound?”

The Observant actually looks a little offended by that. Tucker hides his laugh behind a cough while Sam doesn’t try to hide hers at all. He gives them a wry grin when he thinks the Observant isn’t looking and all three of them burst into laughter.

The Observant narrows its eyes at the group and says, stiffly, “Very well. If this is your choice.”

It disappears in a puff of smoke. Danny glances at the spot where the Observant once floated and shrugs because, well, it’s not like he can do anything about it now. It doesn’t stop the sudden feeling of apprehension that washes over him.

“Do you think they’re actually going to leave Danny alone?” Tucker asks.

“No,” Danny says. “I think it’s just going to get worse from here.”

-----------------------------------

“I’m not coming to the stupid coronation,” Danny snaps the moment he sees the eyeball in his bedroom. It’s a new one, of course, because the council apparently never sends the same Observant twice.

This one is definitely different, though. It's holding something close it its chest in its green, clawed hand. Every couple seconds, Danny catches sight of a flickering green light despite not being able to make out the object’s shape.

“Since you have made your refusal to enter the Infinite Realms for your coronation, then we are forced to bring the coronation to you,” the Observant answers. It opens its hands and presents the object; small, black and flickering in a eerie green flame with a smooth bottom and tiny points at its top. He can’t help the small sense of familiarity as he takes the object in.

Danny feels his heart stop.

“Wait, what—this that the CROWN?”

“Bow your head, child,” the Observant says. “And we shall get this over with.”

Danny backs up so fast he hits the opposite wall before the Observant can move a single step closer. He drops into a fight stance. “Yeah, uh, no. I’m good, thanks. Please go back to the Ghost Zone and literally never come back here again.”

“You do not yet hold power over the council.”

Danny shifts to into his ghost form and charges up an ectoblast. The combination of its flashing light and the fire from the crown cast an eerie green glow on the walls of his room. “Wanna bet?”

The Observant takes a step forward. “This is cumbersome—"

“Oh, wow, I’m sorry,” Danny snaps and spots his thermos right behind the giant, floating eyeball. He mentally makes a quick plan in his head. “Next time you try and make my life a living hell I’ll make it easier for you!”

The Observant makes a move as if it were going to place the crown on Danny's head but Danny's faster. He dodges, rolls out of the way, and blasts the stupid ghost in the side. It doesn’t make a sound, but it does narrow its eye further.

“If you put that thing on my head so help me—HEY, I said don’t. I don’t want your stupid crown or your stupid throne!” Danny tries to keep his frustration under control as the observant moves to place the damn thing on his head again. He lunges to the other side of his room, fingers curling around the familiar metal of his thermos. “Find someone else and leave me alone.”

The Observant slinks back, crown still in hand. It glances at the object before meeting Danny’s eyes. “I see this will not be easy.”

Danny doesn’t give it a chance to move. Before the Observant can even react, he opens the thermos and sucks the thing up (crown and all). The green glow of the room vanishes and Danny is left standing, alone, in the lightly damaged remains of his once-clean bedroom.

-----------------------------------

He finds a new Observant in his fridge with a certain flaming crown in its hand. He slams the fridge door shut without a single word.

Unfortunately, Observants are ghosts which means they have ghost powers and this one is much smarter than the locker-Observant. It phases through the fridge and attempts to place the crown on his head without a single word.

At least they were past formalities now.

“I’d say give it to Plasmius but we all know how that would end,” Danny says and dodges the hands that attempts to pin him down. He’s stuck in human form for the time being seeing as his parents are just a room over and he doubts they would be happy to find Phantom floating in their kitchen with Fenton missing. “Don’t—hey! If you don’t stop, I’m going to blast you, I swear to the ancients—"

“We are the ancients, Daniel—"

“Oh my god, shut up. Please, stop talking.”

“This is your destiny—”

“Has it ever occurred to you or your council that forcing a fifteen year old to become a king is really fucked? Like, seriously, I haven’t even graduated high school yet. I’m barley passing history, I don’t know anything about politics, I can’t even vote in human elections and you want me to become a king?”

Footsteps come from the room next to him. Danny meets the Observant’s eyes as he realizes the fact that there is a ghost in a ghost hunter’s house. There is absolutely nothing good that will come from this.

“Danny?” His mom’s voice calls out. Danny slams a pillow over the Observant and sits on it just as his mom rounds the corner. She looks around the room, once, and doesn’t seem to notice how Danny’s awkwardly sprawled out on the couch in a desperate attempt to keep her from seeing the Observant. “I thought I heard yelling. Is everything all right?”

Underneath him, the Observant squirms in clear discomfort. Danny hopes he elbows it in the eye.

Danny laughs nervously and plasters on a smile that’s just a bit too wide. “Nope, no yelling. I didn’t hear yelling. Everything is fine, mom. Nothing to see here.”

He feels a hand creeping up his back and he whips around to grab the clawed green appendage before it can force the crown on his head. Unfortunately, in his effort to resist being crowned, he forgets all about his ghost-hunting mom who has definitely saw the ghost beneath the pillow.

Danny likes to think that his life is just one string of disasters after another with absolutely no end in sight.

“Is that a ghost?!” Mom says and, oh boy, her gun is already out and pointed at the Observant.

Danny shares a slightly panicked look with the Observant, still holding it’s hand with the crown away from his own head. It might be the stupid eyeball’s fault in the first place, but Danny doesn’t think anyone really deserves to get handed over to his mom. Or get ripped apart molecule by molecule. That would almost be as bad as Skulker skinning him and hanging his pelt on the wall.

Danny scrambles off the couch, “Okay, this is all just a big misunderstanding—"

Mom’s not listening to him, though. Her gun whirls with power and she takes a step forward. “Step away from my son, you ectoplasmic fiend!”

The Observant either wants to die again or is stupidly brave because it stands up, billowing cape and all. “He is to bear the crown and the ring as seen by the council and take his place as the rightful ruler of the Infinite Realms in order to—”

Mom blasts the Observant before it can say another word. Danny has never been so grateful for his mom’s trigger happy finger in his life.

His mom turns to look him over and Danny shrinks back and says, weakly, “I think they have me confused with a ghost.”

The Observant floats back into a standing position, the crown flickering in his hand. Unfortunately, one blast is never enough to force an Observant to leave. Danny should know. He’s blasted them enough times to figure it out.

Danny hates floating eyeballs with his entire being.

“Daniel James Fenton,” the Observant says and dodges the next shot by his mom. It tries to approach him, yet again, with the crown outstretched. “You must take the crown and the ring in order to rule the Infinite Realms as it is your right—"

“Shut up,” Danny throws a couch pillow at it. The pillow bounces harmlessly off the ghost but his mom shoots it a second later so he feels rightfully validated.

“Don’t touch my son!” his mom snaps.

She blasts the ghost enough to send it backward, into the kitchen. The crown goes skidding out of its hands and rolls right to Danny’s feet. Danny meets the Observant’s eye. Then, out of pure spite, he kicks the thing as far away from him as possible. The Observant narrows its eye.

Mom has a ectogun to the Observant’s face before it can protest. Danny tries to hide his smile, but doesn’t do a fantastic job if the look the Observant is giving him is anything to go by.

“Listen here, you odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness,” Mom says and leans a bit closer. “You are going to tell me exactly why you are here and exactly what you were trying to do to my son.”

The Observant doesn't even look at her.

“Another time, then,” the Observant says but it’s glaringly obvious that it is not talking to Danny’s mom. It stares at him with its weird, beady eye.

Mom notices and shakes the thing with her fists. She looks a second away from decking it and, if it had been any other situation, Danny might have let her. He probably would’ve even laughed. This situation, however, is not one Danny finds much humor in.

The Observant gives him one more look before both it and the crown disappear in a puff of green smoke. His mom’s face twists into one of furious frustration but she doesn’t seem wholly surprised. The house plunges into a irreversible quiet and, sitting on the floor of the living room, Danny feels a familiar twinge of apprehension in his gut.

It’s incredibly apparent that the Observants have no qualms about secret identities.

Not a second later, his dad bursts into the room with a gun in hand. “GHOST?”

“You just missed it, honey,” Mom says, fuming, before dropping to her knees and pulling Danny into a hug. “Oh, Danny, I’m so sorry. That must have been so terrifying for you. I know how much those nasty ghosts scare you. I promise that we'll work on the ghost shield and nothing like that will ever happen again.”

Luckily, his mom seems more concerned about the fact that a ghost got into their house and tried to attack their son than to pay close attention to the words the ghost has spoken. It doesn’t stop the rush of guilt that holds his very core.

-----------------------------------

“Take the crown, Daniel.”

“Can’t,” Danny says, tightly. “I have an algebra test tomorrow that I haven’t studied for because someone keeps trying to put a crown on my head when I’m sleeping so, as you can see, I’m trying not to be stressed about that. Can we please schedule this for another time?”

The Observant gives him a look. For a floating eyeball, the thing is shockingly expressive.

Danny shifts into a fighting stance. “Right, of course. I forgot nothing is easy with any of you.”

-----------------------------------

Jazz catches him shuffling down the stairs to the basement at four o’clock in the morning.

“Danny,” she says slowly, “How many of those eyeball ghosts are in that thermos?”

“Twenty seven,” Danny answers and tries not to fall down the stairs in pure exhaustion.

It’s more of a game at this point—try and get as close to the ghost kid as possible to put on the crown and the ring before he blasts them. Danny thinks the game sucks and he wants out.

“You don’t look very good.”

Danny narrows his eyes. “Thanks, Jazz. I hadn’t realized.”

Danny can tell from her face that she’s trying to psychoanalyze him but he likes to think that he’s actually doing pretty well considering the sheer number of Observants that try to force a crown or ring on him. It’s been almost a week and, well, he’s still not the Ghost King so that has to count for something. Danny is holding off hope that the council will get the message and fuck off.

“Don’t be sarcastic, Danny, I’m just worried,” Jazz says and follows him down the stairs. “How are you holding up?”

“My life is a nightmare,” Danny answers. “And my nightmares manifest in the form of lots of floating green eyeballs.”

He takes the last couple steps into the basement and places the thermos in the release shoot. There’s no point in keeping them in there—Danny knows because he’s already tried. No matter what he does or where he keeps them, both the Observants that he’s captured and the crown vanish from the thermos. Then, they show up the very next day and the cycle begins all over again.

“That’s very specific,” Jazz tells him. Then, “If they keep popping up like they have, it’s going to be very hard to keep your secret from mom and dad for much longer.”

“Jazz,” Danny says and tries to keep the worry out of his voice (even if he knows it's a losing battle). “If this keeps going then I’m not going to have a secret to hide from anyone anymore.”

-----------------------------------

There’s yelling on the streets and an ectoblast whizzes past his ears.

Danny’s in ghost form, fresh out of a battle from a rogue ghost, flying high above the streets with his parents following behind him in their assault vehicle. They’re yelling at him, like normal, and trying to blast him out of the air. Had it been any other day, Danny could’ve lost them in mere minutes but he’s exhausted from the fifteen observants he’s been avoiding and the two ghosts that he’s fought just this afternoon.

Another blast comes dangerously close to hitting him.

His ghostly tail flicks in irritation and he turns, just for a moment, to yell out, “Stop blasting me!”

He almost gets an ectoblast to the face in reply.

“Hold it, ghost kid! Listen to me when I’m talking to you!”

Danny races through the streets, the RV curving dangerously on the road behind him. A shot fizzes by his ear and he drives to the right, towards the school. He makes it a good thousand feet when an Observant pops, literally, right in front of him with the crown in his hand.

Danny shoots the Observant on principal.

Unfortunately, Observants are freakishly strong for only being a giant floating eyeball and, sure enough, he had a grand total of three different pursuers behind him. The only thing that could make his day better is if Valerie shows up to join the party.

(He really, really hopes Valerie does not show up to join the party. Danny doesn’t think he can handle his parents, the Observants and Valerie well enough to keep the crown off his head and his secret intact.)

Too add to Danny’s extreme luck, he can only take so many ectoblasts before even he needs to land lest he be forced to transform back into a human. He lost the Observant someone a couple blocks back, but, sadly, his parents will not be bound by important things like traffic laws and speed limits. His parents end up cornering him in some wayward back alley where they stand at the mouth, blocking the entrance. Both guns are trained on his grounded form.

His dad aims his ectogun right at Danny’s face and shouts, “Freeze, spook!”

Danny really, really doesn’t want to fight his parents but he also doesn’t want to be caught and dissected, so he powers up his ectoblasts anyways and waits for a good enough opening to fly away without being shot out of the sky for a second time today. His mom watches him with a wary caution that he matches. Out of the two, she’s definitely the more dangerous one.

“Come quietly, Phantom. You’re trapped,” his mom says.

It’s then that the Observant decides to make its appearance directly next to his parents at the mouth of the alley, holding out the crown. His parents jump at the sudden arrival of yet another ghost but the Observant pays them no mind.

“GHOST!” Jack yells and hoists his gun to the newest arrival.

“You’re the ghost that was in our house the other day,” his mom says with a sort of venom in her voice. She looks mad—like, actually pissed off—which is something Danny’s glad he’s never been on the receiving end of (yet). She seems almost conflicted, like she wants to aim at the new ghost but cant't since her gun is currently trained on Danny's chest.

The Observant hardly reacts, holding the crown out further. It meets Danny’s eyes and Danny has half a mind to blast the thing, despite his parents being there.

“Please do not make this more difficult than it already is,” it says.

There’s a split second in Danny’s mind where he almost considers turning himself over to his parents. Surely, it would be better than whatever awaited him should the Observant actually manage to crown him.

“Listen, guys,” Danny says and backs away. He holds up his hands, placating. “This has been fun and all but I’m very tired and I don’t actually want to deal with this so if I could, like, leave, that would be great.”

His mom’s eyes snap back over to him and she lifts her gun from where she had lowered in during her surprise. “You aren’t going anywhere, spook!”

The order actually got a rise out of the Observant. It turns to his parents with its single eye narrowed. “You have no jurisdiction over Phantom.”

“Phantom is in our town,” his mom snaps right back. The gun unwittingly moves more towards the Observant and less towards Danny. "Therefore we decide what is and is not fit!”

“He is the rightful king—"

“King?!”

"Ghosts don't have kings—"

Through the bickering, no one notices as Danny sinks into the floor, slips out of the alley and vanishes.

-----------------------------------

“Please, don’t,” Danny says.

He’s in ghost form, hovering about two hundred feet off the ground. It had been a normal morning for him so far despite the distinct lack of Observant appearances. Now, with a sick feeling in his stomach, Danny understands why.

In front of him, the Fright Knight stands in all his terrifying, ten foot tall glory. “You must bear the Crown of Fire and the Ring of Rage in order to take your place on the throne."

"Cant we talk about this, maybe?" Danny says, a little leery and more than a little pissed off. It's one thing to deal with a bunch of annoying, flying eyeballs but it's another thing entirely for said flying eyeballs to recruit the ghost of nightmares.

"I apologize, my prince, but there is no option here.”

Behind the Fright Knight, ten or so Observants loiter in the air. The one in the middle holds the familiar flaming crown and another holds the ring. They surround him in a semicircle, looking expectantly at the Fright Knight.

Danny’s life really just sucks.

“Oh, there’s an option alright,” Danny snaps. If there's one thing he hates, it's not being given a choice and while this is going to hurt (it’s so going to hurt), Danny is not going to let the Observants or the Fright Knight get that god-awful crown on his head. “I beat you once and I can do it again!”

The Fright Knight tilts his head in recognition and draws his sword. “Perhaps, but I am not playing to win.”

Has Danny ever mentioned that his life sucks? Because his life sucks.

“Should we help him?” Tucker asks Sam from where they stand below. Danny can just barely make out the words they’re saying with humming of his core and the rush of adrenaline that shoots through his system.

“I don’t think they’re planning on hurting him?” Sam answers back. “Besides do you have anything to go up against the Fright Knight?”

“Point,” Tucker says.

(Danny has great friends.)

“We would rather have done this the easy way,” one of the Observants says. The others bob their eyeballs in agreement.

Danny whirls on them, eyes narrowed. “You forfeited your right to have opinions on what's easy when you brought the Fright Knight into this!”

“It’s for your own good,” the same Observant answers. “The Fright Knight serves the king and the king alone.”

“For your own good,” Danny grumbles under his breath, mockingly. His hands light up with ectoplasm. “We’ll see about that.”

The fight doesn’t take long.

It’s as the Fright Knight said; he is not fighting to win. The knight is not below a few dirty tricks to hold Danny down for just a few seconds. Danny puts up a good fight but he's running on three shots of espresso and maybe a sum total of six hours of sleep the entire week thanks to the constant threat of observants trying to put the crown on his head or ring on his finger. Safe to say, he's not in his prime condition.

The Fright Knight ends up pinning him down in the middle of the destroyed street. His friends rush forward to help, but two Observants hold them back. Danny thrashes from where he’s pinned but he can’t do much more than move his head around. The Fright Knight and his horse are, unsurprisingly, very heavy and apparently very well trained in holding down slippery, intangible ghost-teenagers.

The Observant holding the crown approaches him slowly. Danny tries to bite it’s long, claw like hands out of spite but the Observant goes intangible before he can make contact. It slowly lowers the crown towards his head.

Danny’s eyes flash a dangerous green. “I swear, if you put that crown on my head I’ll—are you kidding me?!”

The Observant drops the crown on his head. It hovers just a few centimeters above his hair and Danny immediately feels a heavy sort of energy expanding throughout his body. The crown flares to life, changing from a small flicking fire to a roaring flame as power gathers in his very core.

“You could have come to your own coronation, however, we were forced to make drastic measures,” the Observant that crowned him says.

Boy, doesn't that just set Danny off.

With a snarl, Danny uses the new energy to twist and blast the Fright Knight off his back. The crown follows his movement, flaring brightly whenever he uses his powers. Instead of fighting back, the knight merely bows and disappears. Danny waits a couple moments, tense and ready to fight, but it seems the Fright Knight has done what he came here to do.

The crown feels heavy on his head.

He blasts the two Observants holding Sam and Tucker, too, just because they’re annoying. They rush over to him, but he holds up a hand and motions for them to wait. There are, after all, still ten ghosts and a ring that Danny needs to avoid.

Danny turns to the Observants, fights clenched and eyes narrowed. “Okay, congrats! You win. The crown is on my head. Please get rid of it now.”

“The Crown of Fire is your right,” one Observant says. “It belongs to you alone.”

An idea suddenly comes to mind.

“Cool,” Danny says, slowly. He takes the crown off and is surprised how little it resist. The fire doesn’t even burn his hand as he holds it by the rim. “Then you won’t mind if I do this.”

He throws the crown as far as he can, watching it sail above the homes. It flies for a hot minute before flicking out of sight. Danny feels strangely satisfied when he turns to the Observants with a grin on his face. However, the Observants don’t look nearly as worried as Danny expects them to. In fact, they look unbearably smug for what is, functionally, a giant floating eyeball.

The looks he's getting ring as very bad in his mind.

Something heavy settles back on his head. Danny’s smile drops and feels a sinking alarm in his gut when he reaches up to touch the flaming crown that he had, just mere seconds ago, thrown across the entire town. The same power settles in his core once again.

“No,” Danny whispers, horrified.

“Holy shit,” Tucker says from across the street.

Danny turns and catches Sam’s eye. She mouths what is going on? at him. Danny wishes he knew anything about what’s happening but, as always, he’s clueless and confused and no small part of him is very, very angry.

The Observants merely stare at him. One steps forward and says, “The crown is yours by right. Hold out your hand and we will bestow upon you the Ring of Rage. Then your coronation will be completed and we shall leave you and return to the Infinite Realms to continue our temporal duties.”

Danny’s flare a brighter green. Ectoplasm pools in his hands and he readies for another fight. He doesn’t know it at the time, but his crown flickers to life. Suddenly uneasy, the Observants back away slowly.

“If you try and put that ring on my hand I will cut off my fingers,” Danny says.

“You won’t,” another Observant says.

“Wanna bet?”

They get the ring on his finger but, by god, Danny doesn’t go down without blasting all ten of them into the ground first. They pin him just like before, in yet another crater in the middle of a street with the crown on his head, the ring on his finger and unimaginable power flowing through his veins.

Apparently satisfied, the Observants let him up and quickly retreat. Danny stands, grumbling all the while, brushes off the remainder of dust on his suit and turns to the Observants. He's staring at the group, wondering just how he should get rid of them after they ruin more lives when all ten of then fall to their knees.

Danny takes a step back in alarm.

“All hail King Phantom,” the Observants say together. Their voices echo across the quiet streets of Amity Park. “Defeater of Pariah Dark and ruler of the Infinite Realms.”

People come out of their houses, peeking and staring up at him in horrified awe. Children point to his crown and laugh while the eyes of the adults reflect unseen amounts of terror. Danny can already see whatever good reputation he had dying like a snuffed out flame due to a single announcement. Danny meets Sam and Tucker’s eyes and wishes for nothing more than to flicker out of existence at that very moment.

Instead, Danny is forced to stand there, arms crossed and pissed off, with a burning crown floating on his head, a heavy ring on his finger and the weight of the entire Ghost Zone on his shoulders.

It’s quite possibly the worst day he’s ever had in his entire half-life.

-----------------------------------

The ghosts coming out of the portal over the next couple days to congratulate him almost make the situation worse.

It’s Johnny 13 who comes out first, gives him an exaggerated bow with a grin and says, “Hope you have a fun time being king, kiddo. I don’t envy you.”

Danny, who has had the worst two weeks of his life, simply rolls his eyes and mutters a sarcastic, “Thanks.”

“Kitty sends her regards as well," Johnny flashes him a lopsided grin and gets on his bike. He raves the engine before suddenly looking back. "Don’t expect the current peace to last.”

Danny watches him go, hands in his head. The crown flickers in the dim light and ring glows. He’s still not quite sure what a normal king is supposed to do; much less king of the Ghost Zone.

-----------------------------------

“The crown looks good on you, dipstick,” Ember says, later, when he’s out flying and trying to clear his head. No matter what he’s tried, the crown and ring simply won’t go away. He's been forced to wear an assortment of hats and gloves in order to keep his parents from finding out. They're pissed enough that Phantom was crowned the Ghost King as it already is.

“I hate this,” Danny tells her. “I want the crown and the ring gone.”

The other ghosts are definitely enjoying his absolute misery, even if they were all on somewhat friendly terms. As it turns out, a lot ghosts tend to play suck-up when confronted with unimaginable power.

Ember's smile widens and she says, “Well they’re your crown and ring. You can do what you want with them.”

Danny wants them gone. Then, he realizes something and stares at her in surprise.

“Was that advice?” Danny asks. "Did you just give me advice?”

“Did I?”

“I thought you hated me.”

“Right now, I pity you more than anything,” Ember tells him. “It’s whatever, babypop. You’re the king now and you’re no Pariah Dark so even if you do get in the way of my plans, I’d rather have you be king than go back to his rule.”

“That’s a very low bar to set,” Danny mutters under his breath. He stands, the crown flaring as he does so. He tries to hide his scowl. “Don’t cause trouble or, I dunno, try and brainwash the entire human population, and you can stay.”

He disappears into the air, content to head home for the night. Behind him, Ember calls out, “Think about what I said, dipstick! It’s your own power. You just have to learn how to use it.”

Later that night, he floats on his bed an concentrates. His own power bubbles to the surface and, in a fit on control, he wills his ring and crown to disappear. The objects flicker once, twice, before vanishing entirely. They’re not completely gone, of course, because he can still feel the power in his body but hidden is better than nothing.

-----------------------------------

Technus gives him some weird ghost device as a congratulations present. Danny’s pretty sure it’s not going to explode and/or capture him, but he can never be certain with a ghost like Technus. He ends up quietly shuffling it to Tucker when the technology-themed ghost isn’t looking.

Youngblood, Spectra, the Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, Desiree and even Vlad (holy shit) come and give him (begrudging) congratulations. Half of them think it's hilarious that he’s the poor sucker who gets the bear the burden of the crown while the other half think it’s too much power for his tiny halfa body to handle. Luckily, Danny now has a much easier time sending them back to the Ghost Zone if they get too rowdy.

Vlad gives him an especially vindictive look when he corners Danny in their human forms. Danny returns his look by secretly flipping him off since he can’t exactly shoot the mayor with an ectoblast in public.

Vlad leers over him in what's supposed to be intimidating. “I doubt you can hold on to that crown forever, boy.”

Danny might not want to be king but there’s absolutely no way that he would ever let the crown or the ring fall into Vlad’s hand.

He pushes Vlad away and clenches his fists, eyes narrowed. “Are you going to try and take it from me, fruitloop?”

“Perhaps another time,” Vlad says with a smile. Danny holds his fists to his side to keep from punching him in the face. “After all, a crown is a heavy burden for a child to bear.”

Danny grits his teeth. “I think I’ll manage.”

“We will see, little badger,” Vlad says and turns to leave.

Danny glances around, just to make sure no one is looking, before creating a tiny ice patch right in front of Vlad. He tries to keep his laughter muffled (but definitely takes pride) when the billionaire-asshole slips and sends him a particularly nasty glare. He gives Vlad the most innocent wave he can muster despite the grin on his face.

Danny thinks he probably needed that meeting with Vlad. While he still doesn’t want the crown, Danny finds that spite is one hell of a motivator to keep the crown as far away from Vlad as possible.

-----------------------------------

Skulker comes last. To Danny’s horrified surprise, he bows low and says, “Congratulations.”

Danny stands in his pajamas at three o’clock in the morning and feeling slightly overwhelmed. “Alright, this is more than a little weird.”

“It’s custom to greet the new king,” Skulker says and straightens back out. Danny’s half waiting for a gotcha! and some missiles but Skulker doesn’t do much more than observe him.

Danny narrows his eyes and crosses his arms. “Do you have to be weird about it?”

“Don’t get me wrong, whelp,” Skulker says as he turns to leave. “This will not last. I hope you realize that just because you are king does not mean I will stop hunting you. Your crown just makes you that much more valuable to mount on my wall.”

Danny shifts between feeling touched and a little relived at the normalcy of the situation and the normal disgust that comes with Skulker threatening to skin him because, really, it’s just gross. Despite his words, he still hears the silent message Skulker is trying to convey.

Just because your king doesn’t mean anything will change.

And that? That’s more than a little relief off his shoulders. For the first time since he was crowned, Danny lets out a genuine bark of laughter and a grateful smile comes to his face.

“Thanks,” Danny says. “I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

#i wrote all 7k of this in one day so Thats Neat #anyways theres too much angsty in the danny phantom fandom so im making it my lifes mission to write not-angst #danny phantom #phic #phicc #i think thats what this fandom calls fanfiction uuuhhhhhhh #danny fenton #danny phantom fanfiction #my fics #phandom #idk what else to tag this as so just take it #do readmores even work on mobile or is tumblr like. broken.

34 notes · View notes

lonely-bored-writer · 4 years

Text

Casper High Ch. 7

Sam Winchester was always good at reading people, even when he was a little kid. Walking into a room, he could assess and categorize people and situations. Regardless of how bad that might sound, it has helped him survive the multitude of schools he went to over the years and it even saved his life a few times. Even if the trait didn't help find the monster, it did help with spotting when or hiding information. It came to help him more times than he could count.

Then there was Danny Fenton. He can't seem to read the other teen, no matter how hard he tried. He'd figure something out, just to have the smaller kid do something that completely threw off his assumptions, always sending him back to square one. The more he got to know him, the more confusing things got. It didn't bother him, he oddly liked the challenge, but this was something he wouldn't have expected. Sam resolutely didn't want this to be Danny's life, the too constant to be healthy changing, because the ramifications of such a fact could be harrowing and dangerous. And he was a hunter.

The youngest Winchester found himself working methodically with his older brother to patch up his friend. The two of them worked in sync, Dean doing the sewing, taping, and wound care while Sam mostly kept the area clean and gathered any soiled items such as gauze and tape from his brother's space. As they worked, Sam was able to block his emotions for the moment, focusing solely on helping his friend, and making sure Danny would be okay.

After quite some time, the patch job was finished. Sam's eyes glanced over his brother's stern stance before landing on Danny. Danny. The teen sat in one of Sam's shirts, too large for the smaller boy, but the only option for the moment seeing as Dean's wouldn't be much better. He was shrunk in on himself, shoulders hunched up to his ears, body folding in as to take up the least amount of space, and his eyes were glued to the ground. Now, without the distraction of patching up Danny's horrifically wounded back, Sam's mind could now race with all the possible things that could have happened to Danny. How did this seemingly okay teen end up with such harsh injuries? His eyes raked over the bruises visible along Danny's arms, places that were hidden with the teen's original jacket, the random collection of small scrapes on elbows and even on his shoulders, and the hint of fading bruising that the two brothers saw on the Danny's ribs gave Sam a sinking feeling in his stomach that this was deeper than he thought at first glance.

"Explain." Dean's voice broke the silence, voice gruff and to the point, the tension growing even more. Danny somehow shrunk back into himself even more, trying to hide from the stares of the Winchesters. Sam could hear Danny swallow in the still silence.

What could have happened? Did Danny get attacked? Was he in danger? Who could have done this in such a small sleepy town, where everyone knew everything?

It wasn't like Sam saw the other teen with many people, aside from himself and Dean; the smaller boy didn't seem to have friends, if anything he was excluded and bullied, the butt of the school's jokes. His mind flipped through memories to try and pinpoint the one person that could have done this. It clearly wasn't Danny's best friends, they were in other states- not that Sam could even imagine the two of them doing it, they obviously loved their best friend way too much to even do so. That leaves only really two people who could...

Then the pieces slowly fell into place. Sam's blood running cold with the realization; it was the only thing that made any sense. Small interactions that he originally ignored now coming into place; the small winces, the limping, chronic lateness, the excuses of his parents needing him for experiments yet being absent whenever they weren't 'conducting' one. His stomach drop at the full realization.

"Your parents." Sam uttered before he could stop himself, and wished he could take it back, seeing Danny tense immediately. The black haired head snapped up fast, wide eyes meeting his. Sam could very clearly read the emotions in those glassy eyes. Surprise, fear, pain. His heart stopped at the realization that he hit the nail on the head.

"Your parents did this?" Dean growled, anger dripping from his words. Sam watched Danny's panicked gaze falling on Dean. Danny's mouth flopped open and closed like a fish out of water as he tried to figure out what to say. "Don't. Lie." Dean growled, angry at the situation, but not at the struggling teen in front of him. Sam watched as all the resolve seemed to leave Danny at once, his body going limp as a deep sigh left him.

"I... yeah." He spoke, eyes falling back to the carpeted floor, the resolve, the fight going out of the teen. Sam felt his heart stop, while he knew he was right, it was different to have Danny confirm it. "I just...It's just... Don't tell anyone. Please." Danny begged, eyes flying back up to meet the brothers. Once again Sam could read the emotions in those blue eyes as clear as day.

"Danny, they are hurting you." Sam spoke, disbelief clear in his voice. He knows the challenges of having complicated family, he really does, but everything has a limit. If the people who were supposed to love was inflicting this much pain on you, it needs to stop. "It's bad, you can't stay there!"

"This is my last year here, guys please." Danny spoke, eyes burrowing into Sam's. "I only have one semester to go through, then I graduate and it's over. Just please... Don't tell anyone." Sam stared back in disbelief, he couldn't imagine leaving Danny alone to whatever his parents might do in the upcoming days.

"Danny-" Sam started, before his words were cut short by a glance from his brother. Sam might know what he wants, but he trusts Dean to know how to handle this better than he would. He might not admit it, but he knows that he'll more likely give into his anger then logically think this through seeing as he was much closer to the issue than Dean was.

"Plus," Danny cut in hurriedly, "I met some people- they are a pair of friends that live together in a house, and they are willing to take me in. My parents would absolutely freak out if they even offered to take custody of me. Charles and Pandora have been wanting to at least have one of them gain custody of me when I was fourteen, and have been willing to fight my parents for it. Trust me guys, I have some people in my corner." Since Danny wasn't exactly lying- just stretching the truth, neither Winchester sensed that the kid wasn't telling the full truth. Clockwork and Pandora were basically his parents at this point, the two Ancients of Time and Hope, respectively, staking their claim over him as his ghostly parents. And they were a damn sight better than Jack and Maddie, but that was another matter altogether.

Pandora offered rooms in her Grecian kingdom of a lair and Clockwork offered a room in his Clocktower. Hell, even Frostbite offered him a place within his tribe to stay. Now it was just a waiting game until he could get the hell out of dodge and into the Ghost Zone. "Seriously, please don't do anything. I'm just fine right now."

"Fine." Dean spoke, making sure to make eye contact with Danny. "But if you need somewhere to go, your first choice better be getting your ass here. And you'd better let us as long as we're in town." The reminder of leaving hit Sam hard. He forgot for a split second that their stay here was never guaranteed.

"Yeah okay... I promise." Danny responded with a nod, eyes flipping between the brothers before he offered a small smile. "Thanks for the help."

"Danny-" Sam was once more interrupted but this time from a loud ringtone cutting through the tension. Sam watched Danny jump before frantically scrambling to answer his phone.

"Hey mom... That was today? No sorry, I forgot..." Danny's eyebrows furrowed, but Sam couldn't help the heaviness he felt as Danny spoke, just knowing that Danny would be facing his parents when he got home. "No no, I can head back home... Yeah we got most of it done... Okay yea, I'll be home soon... Love you, bye." Danny sighed once he hung up and turned to the brothers.

"Promise that you will." Dean spoke, eyes trained on the nervous teen.

"I forgot I promised I'll help my dad clean out the Lab closet." Danny answered, nervously rubbing the back of his neck, the Winchester brothers catching it and sharing a saddened look. "I promised you guys, and I'll hold up to it." Danny said, gathering his things. Sam watched in shock as the teen just packed up as if nothing had happened.

"You better. We won't stay quiet if you don't." Dean threatened. Danny nodded vigorously in response, still pale at the thought of someone finding out.

"I'll see you at school Sam?" Danny offered, a nervous, shaky smile on his lips. Sam held back his feelings, offering his own smile, if only to comfort his friend.

"Yeah, Danny..." Sam paused, before added. "Stay safe." Danny grinned and nodded, tossing a 'bye!' to Dean before rushing out the door. Sam sighed, taking a seat on his bed.

"You okay?" Dean asked, settling next to his little brother, bumping their shoulders together.

"This is bullshit." Sam growled, shaking his head. "He's in danger and we're just letting him go back there. He says that his parents have him help with 'experiments!' We're supposed to save people Dean!" Dean froze before forcefully relaxing; he hadn't thought of the implications of having scientists for parents, much less Danny supposedly having to help his parents in their work. The elder Winchester brother hated thinking about what he allowed Danny to go back to- possibly being tested on his actual joke of parents, who just so happened to be the absolute craziest, most utterly inept people in town. Having immoral and frankly awful scientists who couldn't do the smallest of things right for parents only meant worse treatment for Danny, no matter how much the kid excused them.

"We can't save everyone, I'm not saying we don't try our damned best, but it is statistically impossible to save everyone." Dean said, glancing towards the door, already world weary with his much longer experience with hunting than his younger brother had. "Especially those that don't want to be saved. It's not our place to try if he doesn't want us to. Sometimes helping will just hurt a person more."

"I know..." Sam said, the anger and worry bubbling inside him. It had been so long since he felt this helpless, it felt like he was letting his friend walk towards his death sentence "It's just... Fuck." Sam dropped his head into his hands, mind racing to try and figure out how to word his thoughts and feelings.

"Does this have anything to do with what happened with Danny the other day?" Dean asked, eyebrow raised at his little brother. Sam sighed, turning to look at his brother. He knew Dean wasn't stupid- he knew that Dean was going to bring this up sooner or later.

"Yeah." Sam confirmed, shaking his head. "I just... I don't know how to explain it."

"How bout this." Dean turned facing his brother. "Just say the first thing that comes to mind."

"Dean, I don't think that'll help." Sam said, raising his own brow.

"Come on, humor me." Dean lightly shoved his brother's side. Sam shook his head, but he couldn't help but smile.

"Okay, okay. Fine." Sam paused, taking a breath before blurting out the first thing that came to mind when he thought about Danny. "I like him." Sam felt his face heat up, dropping his gaze to his hands.

"Like... Like like?" Dean asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah..." Sam shrugged, turning to look at his brother to try and figure out what the older was thinking, nervous fingers twisting each other together.

"Does he know?" Dean asked.

"No..." Sam sighed. "I don't even know if he's gay." Sam spoke the words before he realized what he was saying.

"Are you?"

"No... I don't know." Sam swallowed, he hadn't thought of his own sexuality; this was all so new to him. "Danny's the first guy I've liked... If I was though, would that be a problem?" Sam added as an afterthought.

"Dude!" Dean spoke, looking shocked, as if he was insulted that Sam thought that he would even care about romantic or sexual orientation. He shoved his brother again, before continuing. "I don't care who you're into, besides Danny's a cool kid... But you know how you feel right?"

"Yeah, I know Dean." Sam sighed, before giving his brother a small smile. "Thanks."

"Okay, enough of the chick-flick moment." Dean shook his head, quickly ruffling Sam's hair before grabbing the long forgotten food he brought back. "Let's eat." Sam laughed, shaking his head while following his brother to the kitchen area.

"Jerk."

"Bitch."

#I forgot to update you guys #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #Supernatural fanfic #SUPERNATURAL AU #casper high #Danny Phantom #danny #danny phantom fanfiction #phandom #phandoms #fanfiction #fanfiction.net #fanfic #Fandoms #fandom

21 notes · View notes

dp-pastandpresent · 5 years

Text

Past and Present: Chapter 21

His hair was white, his eyes were green, and he had a gold necklace around his neck, but regardless of the changes, Jack Fenton could recognize that face anywhere.

He got up from his seat and stomped over to where Danny was now standing, bending over to look at him in the face before turning to walk around the ghost's whole body.

"DANNY?"

It was all Jack could say, despite the millions of thoughts that were going through his head at that moment.

'We've been searching for decades, I can't believe this moment is finally here!'

"Jack… I…" Danny started before being interrupted.

"How are you here? Why are you here? Why haven't you visited sooner? Why are you with Sam? Why…"

The questions were coming faster than Jack could think them at this point.

"Hold up Honey, take a breath!" Maddie interrupted, seeing the confusion on the young ghost's face.

"But… But… Maddddddie. We've been searching for decades and I need answers!" Jack cried, turning to his wife with a pout.

"And we'll get them, but right now I'm sure the… boy…" Maddie hesitated herself, unsure if she could even call him a boy at this point, "really just needs you to step back. Give him some breathing room."

Jack slumped back to his chair, but not without complaint. "Ghosts don't even breathe."

While Jack had examined him, Danny stood in his spot, silently wishing that he could just go invisible.

'What have I done?'

When Jack finally retreated, Danny took a few more steps forward, fully entering the room.

"Jack, Maddie, I know you have questions, and I'll try my best to answer them. But for a moment, can I talk without interruption?"

Maddie nodded, elbowing her pouting husband to do the same.

Danny continued.

"By now, I'm sure you know who I am. Who I was. Danny Fenton. Brother of Jack's mom, Jazz, and technically Jack's uncle." A small smile crept onto his face at the last comment.

"I died fifty years ago in a store explosion the night before my graduation. It was a stupid accident. I wasn't even going to go into the store, but my emotions were running high that night…" he turned to Sarah at this, a small smile forming on her face now too.

Jack's mouth opened at this. He looked from Danny to Sarah and desperately wanted to speak what he thought he had just figured out. But Maddie, seeing that Danny wasn't done, nudged her husband once again to keep quiet.

"After my death, my soul was placed in the Ghost Graveyard, where all lost souls go. It wasn't until you cracked the code to the portal that I was able to be brought back."

Danny was trying to avoid the subject of Clockwork's intervention for the time being, knowing that bringing him up would lead to even more questions he couldn't answer.

Half expecting it would be Jack to say something first, Danny found himself surprised when Maddie was the one to speak up.

"That night. When the portal opened. It was you that made it work, wasn't it?"

"Yes," he replied quietly.

Now it was Jack's turn.

"But WHY? Why didn't you reveal yourself then and there? Why go out into Amity, save people, plaster yourself on the news, make friends with them," he motioned to Sam and Sarah, "and not at least acknowledge that your FAMILY is right here!"

Jack was getting over emotional: He had waited years to find Danny, and now that he had, he wanted nothing more than answers and confessions.

"Jack… I… Wanted to… So many times when I visited the lab I wanted to show myself. But I couldn't. I was afraid."

Danny could feel a tear forming in his eye as he said this and realized that the amulet's ability to keep him ghostly must be wearing off.

But the emotion coming from Danny didn't stop Jack's questions.

"Many times? You've visited the lab? And you never showed your face?!" Jack was standing now, anger taking over his actions as his face began to turn red.

Maddie pulled her husband back to his chair before he could cause more of a scene, adding in a much calmer tone, "The thermos. The Booo-merang. Ghost DNA. That was you?"

Danny just nodded, not ready to admit out loud all the damage he had potentially caused.

Being controlled by his wife was something that Jack Fenton did not particularly enjoy, even when he knew she was right. But as long as Maddie kept talking, he knew he needed to keep his mouth shut.

"So you've been here since we opened the portal, spying on us?"

Danny gulped. He hated being accused of things without a full explanation.

"Not JUST spying on you. I've been saving people – which I believe you've seen – and doing… other things."

At this he looked to Sam, who had retreated to the couch with her Grandma. Both had been silent up until this point, knowing that Danny and the Fentons needed to work things out without their interruption.

"Of course! Why wouldn't you find your old girlfriend first? After all, you were the love of her life!"

Jack rolled his eyes as he said this, still frustrated at the secrets that had been kept.

Before Danny could say another word, Sam decided she needed to step up.

"Mr. Fenton, please calm down. Danny's been through a lot. Resurrection isn't the easiest thing you know. Trying to figure out where you belong and where you're from, with your first mission putting you in an unknown lab... It's not like he remembered everything either; he's had to work to regain the information he's been telling you!"

Jack and Maddie both looked at each other, each raising an eyebrow in confusion. . In all of their research about ghosts and their origins, they had never once come across anything about how a ghost regained their history; they had always assumed it just was in them when they were formed.

"You mean, you didn't have memories when you were brought back?" Jack asked, his voice becoming a bit calmer as things started to click.

'I was hoping to avoid this subject for awhile, but I guess now is better than ever…' Danny thought as he let out a sigh.

"Only a few, but nothing major. I think it had something to do with how long my soul was in the Graveyard. ". Danny was starting to feel warm again as the pull of whatever humanity inside him finally broke through. And upon seeing Jack and Maddie's eyes get big, he had a feeling he knew what had just happened.

"Is that… is that… normal? Your eyes? Turning colors?" Maddie asked as she and her husband continued to stare in awe.

"Unfortunately, no," Danny responded. "In fact, it's the reason we're here." He walked over to where Sam and Sarah sat, acknowledging that they were a part of his story.

"The past couple of weeks, really since I met Sam and reconnected with Sarah, things have been weird. You see, I was the first ghost to ever be brought back from the Graveyard and had almost no memory of what my past was like. I was told I was returning to help open your portal, but once the portal opened, things got weird. I started to feel… human. Memories came back at odd times and bits of me started to change. Like my eyes."

"We believe it was brought on by the emotions that were being created when Sam and Danny started to…" Sarah said, waving a hand in the air expressively.

"Grandma…" Sam said through gritted teeth.

"What? They needed to know…"

It was Jack's turn to interrupt this time, as he slowly pieced things together.

"You mean you two have been...?" He raised an eyebrow without saying more only to see both Sam and Danny blush.

"It's complicated," Danny said, aiming his eyes to the ceiling and rubbing his arm.

"What they've been doing doesn't matter," Sarah continued. "It's the emotions that it caused. We believe that surrounding himself with human emotions is starting to bring back his own humanity."

Sarah was pretty proud of herself for coming up with such a scientific explanation.

"That would make sense," Maddie continued. "Come to think of it, we've actually never found any evidence of an actual resurrection. I think we just thought that all ghosts were resurrected because they obviously knew about their past."

"Now hold on Maddie! Remember what my mom found out?! About how some ghosts have unfinished business? Maybe that's it?" Jack added, starting to feel hopeful at finding an answer to Danny's lost memories.

"That's the thing. Those ghosts, you see, they're exactly like the movies – soulless spirits who were placed in the Zone upon their death to haunt the world until their business was finished. Like I said before, all others go to the Graveyard and have never come back," Danny explained, further confirming the Fentons' speculations.

"But you did. You were the first. It was Clockwork, wasn't it?"

The group turned to Jack, varying levels of surprise on each face.

"Clockwork?" Danny asked, surprised to hear Jack use that name.

But Maddie stopped them both before they could speak.

"Jack… I thought that information was classified." Maddie emphasized that last word, once again implying that Jack needed to watch what he said.

Danny was confused. The information he had been able to acquire, both through his spy sessions and that annoying computer, had never hinted at the Fenton's knowing who Clockwork was.

"Classified or not Mads, he needs to know. Mom's research only began because of him, and now he's here!"

Jack got up and again stomped over to where Danny was, looking him straight in the eye this time.

"Clockwork is the one who resurrected you, wasn't he?"

Danny stumbled over his words at this, not quite ready to be put on the spot.

"Yes," was all he could say.

"And he told you that you were coming back to open our portal, and that was it?"

"Basically."

"LIAR!" Jack exclaimed before Maddie was able to stop him.

"Jack! Please! Calm down. You don't know that that wasn't his only reason." She grabbed her husband's hand, sending him some loving warmth.

"Maddie," he whispered urgently, looking at his wife with his puppy dog eyes, "remember Mom's research? What she said about him…"

"Yes dear, but those were all just speculations, never anything concrete."

Danny looked to Sam and Sarah, each raising their eyebrows as the Fentons continued the somewhat private conversation, unsure whether to interrupt.

"My mom knew what she was doing, what she was researching. She wouldn't have told me all those stories if she didn't really believe what she was saying."

Danny had to stop them here; he was too curious about the stories that Jack was referring to.

"Hold up. Stories? What stories?"

Jack turned back to look at the ghost boy, almost forgetting he was the reason they were all here.

"Oh man, she had tons of them! All about origins, legends, myths of the Ghost Zone!"

The tone in Jack's voice got lighter again as he started to remember all the fantastic things his mom had shared with him.

Danny, however, found himself on edge as he began to realize there were even more things that Clockwork had failed to share with him. While he understood that he didn't need to know the complete history of the Ghost Zone, if Clockwork himself was a part of it, he would have liked to have known a bit more.

"My favorite was the one about how the Zone was created. Would you believe that it's been around as long as our world has? Created at the same time! Built to hold all those that leave the living!"

Jack couldn't stop talking, excitement growing in his voice as if he were a child sharing a secret.

"It even has its own set of Gods to watch over it the way we believe in our own here! The most powerful is Clockwork of course! He's pretty much the … Oumph!"

Maddie had again pulled Jack back, causing him to stop his story. It wasn't until Jack saw Danny's face that he realized why it was so important to stop.

His still blue eyes were wide, and there was sweat beading down his face, as if he were nervous about what would happen next. His hands were shaking a bit too.

"Clockwork is a…. God?" Danny asked, trying hard not to sound squeaky.

"Well of course! He didn't tell you?"

"I already told you! He didn't tell me much of anything."

"But he was the one to bring you back?" Maddie asked; Danny nodded his head in confirmation.

"Clockwork is the Time God. He controls who gets brought back and why, as well as being able to see the various paths one's life may take. Sometimes I wish I had that sort of power," Jack said, adding that last bit to lighten the mood.

"No, you don't! Can't you see what that power has done to Danny! it's done more harm than good."

It was Sam speaking now, defending her boyfriend and trying to knock some sort of sense into Jack.

"If someone has that sort of power, they can manipulate and control whatever they want. They can lie and make you think that everything will be ok. But it's not ok. It's NEVER OK. What Clockwork has done to Danny has caused more harm than if he had just left him in that damn graveyard!"

Sam put her hand over her mouth at this, realizing she should have thought through her words before she said them.

Danny turned to her, pain in his eyes, trying to make sense of what she had just said.

"Danny, I… Sorry." She put her head down in shame.

"Hold on. The girl is right Jack, you can't wish for that sort of power. It only causes trouble. Look at how much it's caused us already, and we don't even know what else he's manipulated in our lives!"

"It's not like I would ever actually wish for that power! I just made a simple comment." Jack pouteddefensively.

Danny had stopped listening at this point, still a little put off by Sam's comment, but more absorbed in what Maddie had said.

'Manipulated in our lives? How much does she know? Are my theories right? Is Clockwork somehow controlling my actions? My thoughts? My emotions?'

He couldn't hold it in anymore; he had to ask the burning question on his mind. "How far did you get?

"Hmmm?"

"How far did you get in your research of Clockwork?"

Jack gulped, as if he was about to reveal something bigger than he had already."Clockwork's power. It extends beyond the Ghost Zone. Somehow – and I'm not sure why – he's able to manipulate those on our side as well."

He had been hovering above his castle, looking down at the Graveyard to make sure there were no hooligans spraying graffiti on the tombs today, when the tingling started. His whole body began to shake and transform from his elderly self into his child self in a way he'd never felt it transform before.

'What is happening? My form doesn't change without my command!'

Floating back down to his hall, he turned to find his largest screen had somehow turned itself on and was projecting nothing but rainbow static.

'That's odd, I never leave it on when I'm away…'

He floated closer to turn it off, only to stop as he heard a faint voice through the static.

"Clockwork is a…. God?"

"Daniel?" he said out loud as he continued to listen for an explanation. Only short bits of conversation broke through the static.

"If someone…power…. manipulate and control…. They can lie … But it's not ok. "

"The girl." He gritted his teeth, trying to restrain himself.

Anger was not an emotion he liked to show, and he was ashamed of himself for showing it now. But he also didn't like it when others jumped to conclusions, and this girl – Sam – was starting to catch on to a few too many things.

"Something will have to be done, and soon…"

#danny phantom #sam manson #dpau #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fanfic #phanfiction #fanfiction

4 notes · View notes