#Danny already knew about them before he half died

[numinous-scribe]

Siblings by trial and choice

So @noir-renard posted a prompt in Haunting Heroes a little while ago that's had me in a perpetual choke hold ever since.

When the Portal ZAPS Danny, he doesn't just get turned into a half ghost; he gets catapulted halfway across the galaxy. So now he's stuck on an alien ship, trying to deal with new powers, and desperately searching for a way home.

And my immediate thought was "How can I make this about Starfire?", from which everything spiraled.

[Click the pictures for better quality!]

Having assumed that the portal wasn't even supposed to be functional, Danny had absolutely no basis for anything that was happening to him. Not his new look or powers, not for wherever he was, and certainly not for the predicament of where he landed-- A ship he would later come to know as belonging to the slavers known as the Gordanians.

For all Danny knew, he certainly wasn't human anymore, and he might not have even been in the same dimension either; while Earth had been seeing more and more interactions with aliens, he'd never seen any quiet like these, and his parents had said that the portal was designed to view a whole other world.

And that was terrifying! He was Danny Fenton, just fourteen, and so far out of his depth it wasn't even funny. If it weren't for Koriand'r then Danny didn't know how he would have kept it all together.

As it were, Kor'i had already been enslaved for four years by this point. She knew what it was like to suddenly be cut off from everything she'd ever known, and the torment that was awaiting this strange boy that had appeared in a flash of green light. So even though she had nothing to give, Kor'i stuck by Danny's side.

Together, for the next two years, they fed each other hope.

Naturally, returning to Earth was a big ordeal for Danny, and by proxy for Kor'i as well. Over the two years they spent enduring harsh labor and torture from both their Gordanian captors and the Psions, Danny had confided in all sorts of stories about his home world and vice versa Kor'i about Tamaran. After confirming that he hadn't been transported to another reality, and that this was his Earth, Danny had been so excited to return home and to introduce Kor'i to his friends and family.

But while Earth was still the same, home... was not.

His parents were in jail; not only for their unethical and code violating lab, but because they were so neglectful to the point that minors were able to get into the lab unsupervised and one of them— Danny —was able to access their faulty machine and, presumably, died.

Jazz got picked up by the state, but quickly managed to get herself emancipated and now lived in some other state attending college.

The Manson's moved. Sam was a wreck and not coping well at all; her parents were considering having her committed to an institution for a bit to help her last anyone had heard.

The Foley's couldn't afford to move, so Tucker had to carry on with life as well as he could. He's quiet now, not as verbose and shameless as before, more of a hermit than anything.

And since he's been presumed dead, and can't figure out how to disprove that, honestly, Danny doesn't know how to pick back up where he left off. He can't. Because everything, including him, has changed as well.

But, like she's always done since the moment they met, Kor'i was there for him. And now they have a new family in the Teen Titans as well.

Bonus:

Close ups of Phantom and Starfire. Danny's suit design is a mixture of some of his original concept art and @the-stove-is-on-fire's designs :)

#scribe's work #tt!danny&starfire au #dpxdc #dpxdc crossover #dpxdc art #dcxdp #dcxdp crossover #dcxdp art #long post

[clockwayswrites]

Both Ways at Once Part 5

WC: 1766, Masterpost CW: discussions of death, vague mentions of child trafficking and rape

Danny leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He breathed in slowly through his nose, counting. He couldn’t let loose. They didn’t know. John said they didn’t know and Danny trusted John. Not with everything, he knew too much to trust John with everything, but he trusted John with this. The other wouldn’t have done this if he had known.

The gloved hand on his shoulder shifted, sliding to wrap around the back of Danny’s neck and give a little squeeze. It should have felt suffocating. It was grounding. Danny could already feel himself settling and responding to resonate back with Red Hood.

That was dangerous to have that resonance.

“Pomp,” John said. His shoes squeaked as he leaned forward. “Talk to me, Pomp, what did I miss?”

That right there was one of the reasons Danny trusted John, he would step up when he fucked up.

Danny sighed and opened his eyes. “He’s— he was a halfa, John.”

John paled. The color drained out of his face and left him a splotchy grey. His voice was strangled as he insisted, “Halfas are just a myth.”

“Rare, very rare, but not a myth. Think about it John. You said that the Red Hood from before was alive, but you know I’m right, the one here is a protector spirit. He died, John.”

“Red Hood is still alive, he has a heart beat,” Superman insisted.

“I’m still not talking to you,” Danny hissed, not taking his eyes off John. “Constantine. He was a halfa. I don’t know what they are anymore. This one is more ghost than human. I assume that the other one is more human than ghost. But put them back together and they would be perfectly balanced and you’ve been keeping them apart.”

John slumped back, rubbing at his face. “Bloody fucking hell…”

“The other half has been unwell, hasn’t he? Maybe just fatigued, but I bet he’s in pain too. His focus keeps wandering maybe. He’s listless.” Danny finally glanced away from John and over to the trio. Batman was, as always, almost impossible to read, but Danny felt sure Batman was tense. He might even be worried.

He wasn’t even looking at Danny but instead at Red Hood, who Danny was sure was avoiding Batman’s gaze. Even still, Red Hood’s fingers were trembling against the back Danny’s neck.

Danny reached up and took the gloved hand, hooking their fingers together.

“Constantine,” Batman growled, but the word sounded broken, under the bite.

John glanced from Batman to Danny and back again. “If Nightingale says that Red Hood is, was, a halfa, then he was. Nightingale’s the psychopomp, the dead is his realm more than any living I’ve ever met and, hell, more than most people who are dead.”

“And what is a halfa?” Wonder Woman asked, still the calm voice of reason.

“Rare,” Danny bit back, showing his teeth. He made himself take a breath and regulate his tone. “Someone who is half living, half ghost. They are a balance between life and death. If no one knew that Red Hood was part ghost, there’s a chance he wasn’t fully formed before, but I can assure you he’s a protector spirit now, no matter if he’s still alive. It’s also likely why the spell did this. There were already two halves to split. The human who was the living and the ghost who was the death.”

Wonder leaned forward in her seat. “You seem certain that the other half is sick.”

“They have to be— it’s a part of themselves that was ripped out and that leaves a wound. I suspect that because the other one must have more of the human side, he’s suffering more of the human affects of the separation while Red Hood is suffering more of the ghostly affects.”

“And your recommendation?” Wonder Woman asked.

“They need to be together. They need to be together and the place where they’re together needs to be Red Hood’s haunt.”

“His haunt?”

“Likely where he resided before. Or it would be where he patrolled if those are different areas. It would be somewhere emotionally important to him no mater what. As I’ve said, he’s a protector spirit so it should be obvious where his haunt is considering his role as a vigilante.”

“Crime Alley,” Red Hood rasped from behind Danny. his fingers squeezed tighter around Danny’s for a moment.

Danny’s arm was getting sore holding itself up like that, but he wasn’t going to take the comfort away from Red Hood or even deprive himself of that grounding point. It would be too easy for him to lose his temper here and really give the Justice League something to be afraid of.

“Crime Alley then,” he said. He had no reason to doubt what Red Hood was said. A ghost knew their own haunt. “We have to get him back to Crime Alley and they need to be together. I assume you have a place there?”

“No,” Batman said, though he didn’t shift. Wonder Woman placed her hand on his arm again.

“We’re concerned about there being a reaction of some sort should they meet,” she explained. “Constantine said that it might be possible.”

Constantine grumbled under his breath and ducked his head with a little shrug.

“If we didn’t know what was going on, sure, that’s a fair enough worry, but we do and I’m telling you that they need to be together until either they’re back together as one or until they fully settle into two separate people.”

“No.” It was Superman who protested this time.

“You don’t have a choice if you don’t want to torture and kill one or both of them,” Danny said, resisting the urge to bare his fangs at the boy scout again. “They need to go to Crime Alley.”

“He’s dangerous. If he is just the Red Hood half of the personality, which you’ve basically confirmed—“

“I have not. I’ve explained how they were physically split. It has affected how their split in motivation only because motivation is what a ghost is, but I would have to speak with both of them to learn how they are mentally and emotionally split.”

Superman just frowned in a disappointed uncle sort of way, as Danny talked and then continued on like Danny hadn’t even said anything. “Then he’s even more dangerous. We cannot simply let someone like Red Hood go. We have to think about everyone’s safety in this matter, especially civilians.”

“I thought you weren’t killers?” Danny threw back at them, saccharine sweet in his delivery.

It made Superman’s frown deepen, though Wonder Woman actually looked a bit amused.

“We aren’t,” the Big Blue said.

“If you try and keep him here you are. I’m telling you right here and right now that if you do not let him go back to Crime Alley then you are signing his death warrant. You might try to claim that he died in jail, but you’ll still be the cause of it. But that’s how you kill, isn’t it?”

“Nightingale,” John warned under his breath, twitching like he wanted to reach out and touch Danny, maybe to hold him back.

“No, really, it is, isn’t it? You want to to pretend that you don’t kill, that you’re better than whatever Red Hood has done, but are you really? At least he’s Honest about it. Red,” Danny said, tugging at the other’s hand so that he had to move up to stand more beside him. Danny looked up at the mask, looked through it. “You’ve killed.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because they wouldn’t stop. They never stopped. Now that they’re dead, they’ve stopped.”

“Who?”

“Poisoning drug dealers. Rapists. Abusers. Child traffickers. People who threatened my….” Red Hood reared back slightly as if surprised by what his cut off words were going to be.

“Your haunt. Your people. Those under your watch and protection,” Danny said. “See, he’s honest about it. Were all of those deaths in the right? I don’t know. But I’m not sad a rapist is dead. I’m not sad children didn’t get trafficked. Those are the sort of people we’re supposed to be against, isn’t it? Well, us small heroes. You fight bigger names these days, don’t you, Superman?”

“Alright then,” John said, standing suddenly. Red Hood twisted to put himself further between the occult detective and Danny.

Danny patted Red Hood’s arm gently. “It’s okay, John’s trying to protect me. He thinks I’m putting my foot in my mouth and making enemies. And maybe I am. But I’m not going to sit by and watch this hypocrisy. You don’t kill. That’s a damn lie.”

“We don’t.”

“You’ve checked up on ever criminal then?”

“What?” Superman asked, thrown by the sudden question.

“Every criminal you’ve fought, every mugger and back robber and goon, you’ve followed up to see how they’re doing the next day, month, year?”

Superman had that lemon sucking twist to his face again. “No?”

“So you don’t really know, do you, how many criminals walked away from you only to die of brain hemorrhaging later because you punched them into a wall. Or how many died from a complication to their lungs or spine or heart because Black Canary ruptured something with her wail or Flash fucked from contact with the Speedforce. It’s not that you haven’t killed, it’s just that you don’t know how many you’ve killed. It’s impossible to act on the scale that you do and not have killed,” Danny said with certainty.

“Nightingale, I believe you’ve made your point,” Wonder Woman said, still calm, still patient. She was different from the others. She has killed, Danny knew that; she was an Amazon. He remembered his stories from Pandora.

“Have I?” Danny asked. He let go of Red Hood as he stood to lean over onto the table. Danny could feel that snarl building up in his throat again now. The other reached out to touch him again right away. The snarl calmed a little, only a little. “Because what about when Superman has used a building as a barrier to smack an enemy into? No one was ever hurt there? No grannie ever slipped and fell as the building shook and never got up again? At least that would be an accident then, unlike punching someone to death, but don’t pretend your hands aren’t red. Don’t pretend—”

The hiss of the door opening cut Danny off.

The room feel silent.

Danny could see all the heroes tense.

From behind him a voice spoke up, “Well, aren’t you all dramatic.”

--- AN: The mysterious stranger is right! They are all dramatic. Danny was about ready to go for Superman's throat-- literally and just not figuratively. Hope you enjoyed how this all played out! I know people were waiting for Danny to let loose some. Fatigue is hitting me hard right now, so glad to have gotten this out!

Stay delightful, darlings!

I no longer tag, you can instead subscribe to the masterpost!

#dp x dc #dead on main #dead on main street #both ways at once

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #61 part 1

Danny didn’t like thinking about his old life. He was born to a family of assassins and as soon as he was out he never looked back. He had to fake his death and he changed his name, as far as anyone knew Damian Al Ghul had died on a mission to America. He was determined to keep this secret to the grave. Of course he knew who his dad was, Bruce Wayne was a prominent figure and he knew if we went there his secret would get out and he never wanted to be forced to be an assassin again. Once was enough. 

Danny knew he had a soft heart, his adoptive parents, the Fentons and Jazz had told him so. Jazz knew he didn’t have the greatest childhood or past but she never pried, she understood his business was his and wouldn’t let her own curiosity get the better of her. The only issue their family had was their parents obsession with ghosts. Damian never believed in ghosts, the entire thing sounded like a hoax. He probably never would have believed in them but then life happened. 

Danny believed, but it was kind of hard not too after everything that happened. When he had turned 14, his parents finished their biggest project yet. A portal to the ghost zone, of course it doesn’t work at first and his parents were very disappointed. Danny felt conflicted about the whole thing. On one hand he wanted his parents to succeed and he wanted them to be happy, on the other the portal was the reason he ate alone with his sister at night. He wanted a normal family life, something he was never allowed back at the league. 

He did something so stupid that night.

After his parents along with his sister were asleep, he crept down to the basement and stood in front of the empty hole in the wall. He looked around the outside of it first but nothing seemed to be out of place. Then he stepped into it and before he got too far into it something happened. He knew there were a lot of cords on the floor and thought he had avoided them all, but as he realized he was quickly being acquainted with the floor, he out of instinct held his hand out to catch himself on the wall. Right onto the ON button.

He didn’t remember much but pain after that.

A lot happened in the year after the portal was turned on but Danny thought he was taking things well. His sister found out about everything sooner than he liked but having someone to help him was something he didn’t realize he really needed until then. The ghost attacks were frequent and Danny was having trouble finding the time for school, friends, and fighting ghosts that the assistance helped a lot. 

Danny sat at as desk in Mr. Lancers class, who was going on about the play Hamlet. Danny was only half paying attention, he was preoccupied thinking about the latest conversation he had with Clockwork. Danny was recently crowned prince after his victory over Pariah Dark. He didn’t want the crown, ancients knew what Grandfather would do if he ever found out, but he had no other option but to accept. The conversation left him rather drained and it felt like every word his teacher spoke bled together. 

He eventually made his way to lunch and before he could make it to his destination a blue mist wafted out of his mouth. Sighing he ran out of the room to find a place to transform. Once he was Phantom he wasted no time finding the ghost. Of course it was Boxie. 

Before he had time to even fight though a portal opened up right besides Danny and he was kicked in by the Box Ghost. The world seemed to swirl around him until he landed harshly onto some pavement. The pavement was a roof and he appeared to be in a city. 

Not just any city he soon realized as he looked over to a bank that had the words ‘Gotham Bank’ brightly plastered on the front.

Shit… Danny wanted to avoid something like this, unfortunately the portal was already gone. 

After taking a moment to think about his predicament he decided the best course of action was to call Jazz.

He took a look around the rooftop he was on and when he didn’t see anyone he transformed back. 

Pulling out his cell from his pocket he pulled up his sister's contact on it and hit the call button. 

His sister took a bit longer than usual to answer but the hesitation in her voice caused him to pause, “H-hello?”

“Jazz, it’s Danny, we’ve got a code green,”  he knew setting up code colors with his sister would come in handy. Red meant he was gravely injured, yellow meant the ghost got away and he was in pursuit, blue meant he caught the ghost, and green meant he fell through a portal or something similar. 

There was silence on the other line for a moment and Danny was almost going to say something else but she spoke, “How do you know my name?”

Master Post:

Next:

#dp x dc prompt #dp x dc #dc x dp #danny fenton #danny phantom #Damian ran away from the League of Assassins and changed his name #He meets himself in the next chapter #Danny dies #my asks are open #all my prompts are free to use #Honestly a little tired #I got fired yesterday from my job #They just said my position wasn’t needed anymore because they were caught up #I spent the last month helping them get caught up and it just sucks because it sounded more long term lol #Please let me know if I’m doing this right #I’ve never had this many followers or even close it on any other social media account #So this kinda terrifies me but I really appreciate the support I’ve gotten on here

[clinemezes]

change of plans

paring: ethan landry x fem!reader (reader uses she/her pronouns)

*no gf au

summary: you and ethan had plans to meet up with the rest of the group, but there's a slight change of plans.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

it was a rainy friday afternoon, classes were over and you were in your dorm. you were alone since your roommate went on a school trip with other people from her class, but you didn't mind- you had the whole place to yourself.

sam had planned for a "family night" and you, ethan, mindy, chad and anika were all supposed to meet up at her apartment, since tara and quinn already lived there. sam even invited danny, or 'cute boy' as quinn called him.

it was currently 6:45, and you were waiting for ethan, who was at econ. econ didn't end until 8:00 but he texted you and said he was leaving early. you figured he was leaving earlier because you were supposed to meet at sam's but what you didn't know was that ethan was tired.

━

Ethan's Pov:

i left econ early, just like i promised y/n i would. i was going to stop at my dorm first but honestly, i'm too tired. plus her dorm is closer and a shorter walk.

my back was killing me, almost weighing me down from all the heavy textbooks in my bookbag, and my feet feel like they're about to just give up.

i was going to text y/n that i was on the way but my phone died. i didn't care though, i just needed to be with her.

━

7:25

you were growing impatient. you sent him like a hundred texts but he didn't respond to any of them.

is ethan ignoring me?

no, surely he wouldn't do that-

a knock on the front door interrupted your thoughts. you answer it, and it was exactly who you knew it would be.

ethan.

but he looks so stressed..and dreadful?

"hey eth." you say softly.

but he doesn't respond. instead he walks through the door, closing it behind him and wraps his arms around your waist, letting his head fall onto your shoulders.

"i miss you." he mumbled. it was almost inaudible, but you still heard it.

you pull back from the hug and bring your hands up to cup his face.

"are you okay?" you ask him.

"i'm just tired, that's all." he mumbles again.

you nod, taking his hand and leading him into your bedroom. you then sit on your bad and watch as ethan takes off his shoes and dramatically dumps his bookbag on the floor.

you get yourself into a comfortable position, preparing for what you knew was bound to happen next.

"c'mere" you whisper, and seconds later, ethan if flopping himself down on top of you. using you as his personal pillow.

his head lies on your chest, legs tangled with yours and his arms wrapped lazily around you.

with one hand holding the remote trying to find something to watch, the other one finds it's way into ethan's hair, softly playing with it.

you guys didn't say much after that, but occasionally made small talk.

"where's your roommate?"

"she's on that school trip, remember?

"oh yeah."

━

about half an hour later, ethan was out like a light. lightly snoring every once in a while.

and eventually, you found yourself dozing off as well.

that of course was until mindy called you, the familiar ringtone made you jump a little.

however, ethan wasn't fazed and was still sound asleep.

"hello?" you answer, voice a little streaky.

"y/n! where the hell are you and ethan?!"

your eyes widened.

oh shit

you had completely forgotten that you were supposed to meet up at sam's place tonight.

you look down at ethan. he looked so peaceful and you couldn't bring yourself to wake him up.

"y/n? hello?"

"oh yeah. we're uh- we're kinda busy"

"doing what?" she exclaimed.

you're about to respond when ethan stirred a little, turning his head to look up at you.

"who's that?" ethan mouthed.

you smile at him, shaking your head.

"i'll call you later." you said into the phone, not even answering mindy's question.

"y/n wait-"

you hang up before she can finish and ethan gives you a questioning look.

"it was just mindy." you tell him.

he shoots up and starts to panic.

"oh that game night of whatever was tonight wasn't it? oh my god what time is it-"

"hey calm down e, it's okay"

"well i feel bad now."

"it's okay. just lay back down and go back to sleep." you were quick to reassure him.

"are you sure?" he asks, eyes still glossy from the lack of sleep.

you nod your head, you can tell he feels guilty. but y'all were already late, two hours late- so why wake him up?

━

a couple minutes later, ethan went back to sleep, still laying on top of you and you occupied yourself watching the movie that was playing on the tv.

you get a text and you sigh because you already knew who it was. except it wasn't just mindy this time, it was the whole groupchat.

mindy: why'd you hang up on me?

mindy: you never answered my question

tara: yeah where the hell are you guys??

tara: we're having so much fun!

anika: wish you were here 🥺

sam: yeah we even got those cookies that you and ethan like

chad: oh those were for y/n and ethan? i ate them already 😐

chad: my bad

you laugh at the texts before quickly responding.

y/n: i told you guys that we are busy

y/n: sorry we're not there

tara: that's a shame

anika: you guys are totally missing out!

mindy: BUSY DOING WHAT!???

y/n:

anika: aww 😊

chad: seriously? y'all are ditching us so you can cuddle? 🙄

anika: you guys are so cute!!

mindy: gross

mindy: really just blew us off so you can stay in bed all night 😑

y/n: it wasn't intentional

y/n: we'll be there next game night!

sam: **FAMILY night

y/n: whatever

danny: maybe the next family night should be at y/n's place?

chad: wtf

chad: who the hell invited him to the groupchat? 🤨

you put your phone down and laugh. ethan is going to wake up wondering why he has thirty messages from the group and probably like one hundred missed calls from chad.

Sam's Pov:

i walk in the kitchen and smile as i hear the group talking,

"wow." "can't believe we're out here partying and they're at home cuddling." "gross."

even though y/n and ethan weren't here, i'm glad everyone else showed up, well, except quinn. well, she was here, but she hasn't came out of her room all night. she was too busy screwing some random guy from school in her class. she probably didn't even know his name.

i put more chips in the bowl, joining the others in the living room. i was about to ask what movie we should watch but i was interrupted by quinn's faint, loud voice coming from her bedroom.

"STOP BLOWING UP MY PHONE WITH ALL YOUR FUCKING TEXTS. I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING RIGHT NOW!!"

"wait she's been here the whole time?" anika asked, confused.

chad turns to danny and pats his shoulder.

"man, maybe you're right. maybe we should have family night at y/n's place next time."

#ethan landry #ethan landry x reader #jack champion #scream vi

[artemismoorea03]

DP x DC: WHAT THE FUCK, FENTON

I think I've seen something like this somewhere before but I'm also not sure so if there is already something like this, I'm sorry.

WARNINGS: Mentions of Character Death and Grief, Implied/Referenced/Suspected Child Abuse, Depression and Self-Harm? (only implied, but non-graphic) IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING, I PROMISE.

Danny Fenton was dead.

At least, that's what everybody in Amity Park was told after something happened in Fenton Works. Maddie and Jack Fenton insisted that Danny was dead and that a ghost was responsible. Danny's friends and Sister were weirdly quiet though, but not grieving.

No.

Grief was never an emotion that Dash Baxter saw on any of their faces. Instead rage took it's place. A rage that seemed to be shared by Mayor Masters who sudddenly started cracking down on housing laws, regulations, and other issues. He changed is mind of 'Ghosts are the enemy' to 'Ghost Hunting is no longer permitted' much to the annoyance of his "friends".

Dash didn't understand what was happening, what happened to Fentur-Fenton, or why the all the sudden changes but what confused him most was how he felt about it. When he had gotten the news he felt physically sick. He missed two full days of school just because he felt sick. When he went to school and heard some wanna-be A-Listers spreading rumors about how Fenton was in a bad place and had just taken himself out.

Before any of Fenton's friends could even think about shutting them down Dash shut them down by breaking one of their noses.

A few days later he sat with Foley, Manson, and Valerie at lunch. They were surprised and asked him what he was doing there while his friends acted appalled but Dash didn't reply and just put his head down on the table. It wasn't until near the end of lunch that Dash finally spoke.

"I'm sorry... I'll try to be better... for Fenton."

This surprised all of them. Even Dash but what surprised everybody even more was when he started to cry. In the end it was Foley who came over and put his hand on Dash's shoulder.

Nothing was said, but it was enough to comfort Dash and leave him with more questions.

Why weren't they the one's crying? Their best friend had died and they were comforting him? This was bullshit! He didn't even like Fenton!

Right?

It was later that year when Casper High went to Gotham City for a football game against Gotham University. The game was going well until half-time when Star approached them while they were on time out.

"Um... hey guys not to totally like throw off the groove or anything but... isn't that Danny?"

Every member of the gootball team and the cheerleading squad turned to where Star pointed and Dash's eyes locked onto a familiar black haired, blue eyed kid in an expensive uniform. Dash had a split second thought of 'There's no fuckin way that's Fenton. Maybe a look alike?'

But then the kid shrank down slightly between two other teens one with curtained black hair and one with darker skin and Dash knew.

Dash threw himself towards the fence, climbing over the fence and onto the bleachers as Danny held up his hands and stood up quickly. He was pale and anxious, the two teens with him looking ready to fight as Dash grabbed him by teh front of the shirt in front of his whole school.

"WHAT THE FUCK, FENTON?!"

"D-Dash! I can explain, I-"

Danny started rambling out a frantic and bullshit excuse but Dash was just hearing static, ignoring the two teens next to them telling him to put Danny down. Dash then hugged him with a pissed off growl while Danny went stiff.

"We thought you fuckin' died, Man. What the hell..." He whimpered, tears burning his eyes as Danny relaxed and after a moment hugged Dash back.

"Sorry, Dash."

Dash was about to yell at him more when he heard Mr. Lancer shout out.

"TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, WHAT IS HAPPENING, BAXTER?!" Dash let Danny go and gestured for the teacher to see which was when Dash heard his teacher actually swear for the first time ever. "What the fuck?"

"H-Hi, Mr. Lancer..." Was all Danny could say as an awkward reply.

#dp x dc prompt #Not technically meant to be Swagger Bishie but you do you #Dash is a softie whether he likes it or not #Let Mr. Lancer say fuck #out of everybody he deserves to say it at least once #my prompts

[raaorqtpbpdy]

The Nuanced Relationship between Hunter and Prey

Skulker finds a creature like he'd never encountered before, but it's weak, and stupid. If he wants his hunt for it to be worthwhile, he'll have to wait until it's stronger, and maybe nudge it along.

For the prompt: After half-dying in the accident, Danny wakes up in the ghost zone and is raised by Skulker [From @roundaboutnow]

Read also on AO3

[Warnings for canon-typical violence and death threats]

There was a lot of worthwhile prey in the Ghost Zone for the hunter who knew how to look. But none quite so unusual as the one Skulker was currently stalking.

He'd almost overlooked the thing, weak and wounded as it was. It looked, on the surface, like an ordinary ghost, with nothing especially noteworthy about it. But Skulker of all ghosts knew that things could be more than they appeared to be on the surface, and for some reason this pathetic fledgling ghost was causing the sensors in his armor to go haywire. 

Body heat, they were saying. Heart beat. Blood pressure. Blood.

This creature was no ordinary ghost.

But it was weak, and wounded, and there was no glory in hunting prey like that, so Skulker took the thing, whatever it was, to his lair to nurse it back to health and hunt it when it was once more strong and worth hunting. He laid the creature down on a bed of soft animal furs, and examined it.

Chemical burns and Lichtenberg figures splayed out across the thing's sallow flesh. Unusual injuries for one who looked to have died so young and so recently, but a ghost was still a ghost, even a weird ghost like this, so an ectoplasmic poultice should promote healing just as well as if it were covered in regular cuts and bruises.

Skulker had met young-looking ghosts before, although of course, most of them were, chronologically, much older than they looked. He'd also met plenty of ghosts whose deaths were related to laboratory accidents. In all his many years hunting across the Infinite Realms, he'd never met a ghost to which both features applied. This... whatever it was... was a curiosity in many respects.

Finally, after what would have been a few days, if the Ghost Zone had days or nights, the thing awoke. It was still weak, of course, but it was conscious.

"What are you called?" Skulker asked it.

"Um... Danny?"

"No, what are you called?" Skulker repeated.

"I... I don't know what you mean," the thing, Danny insisted. "Who are you?"

Skulker sighed in frustration. "I am Skulker, greatest hunter in all the Ghost Zone, and once you are well enough to run, whatever you are, you will be my prey."

"Oh..." Danny said, speaking and blinking slowly. 

Evidently it had not regained full command of its mental faculties yet. Skulker resigned himself to wait longer before he could expect a proper hunt with this one.

"Rest now, Danny, whatever you are," Skulker commanded. "I will not kill you before you next awake."

"Thanks I guess," Danny said, eyes already drifting closed. "And I'm a boy."

So it was a he, then. Skulker supposed even that information could be valuable to him. A good hunter should know his prey well, after all.

When Danny next awoke, Skulker had a rejuvenating meal ready for him. Ghosts didn't need to eat, just like they didn't need to sleep, but when they were weak or injured, both could still aid in recovery. A Zone-born ghost like Skulker made for a pretty lousy cook, of course, but it didn't necessarily have to be good food in order to help.

Danny's eyes were still foggy and uncomprehending, but he was able to sit himself up to eat the soup Skulker had made him. He didn't appear to taste it as he sipped and swallowed, but his movement grew steadily less leaden as he ate, and he glowed a little brighter.

"What is your kind called," Skulker asked him again, paraphrasing slightly in the hopes that the boy would understand.

"I don't know what you mean," Danny insisted.

"You are no ordinary ghost, boy," Skulker clarified. "You're heart still beats, your lungs still breathe, and you having a heat and lungs to do that in and of itself makes you unlike any ghost I've yet encountered, but you are a ghost. You glow and fly and your veins are shared by both blood and ectoplasm alike. It as if you are half one and half the other. Half a ghost, and half a boy."

"Oh," Danny said, and fell unconscious again. Though, this time, Skulker was fairly sure he'd just fainted.

When he awoke again, he seemed stronger, so Skulker sent him into the jungle, and the hunt was on.

But Danny moved like a frail baby bird. He couldn't even stay upright when he flew, nor did he attempt to turn invisible, not that doing so could have saved him. His behavior was strange. He sought out a water source first, though the lake he found was occupied by ghost-eating piranha. He kept stopping to look at the plants, putting a few of them in his mouth for some reason before promptly spitting them out. Was he... trying to find something edible in Skulker's treacherous jungle?

How odd.

Perhaps his mind still wasn't all there, if his priorities were this out of order.

When Danny was nearly snapped up by a carnivorous plant, Skulker swooped in to save him. He may have been healed, but the half-boy was not nearly fit to hunt yet. There would be no glory in killing him if he would just as easily let himself be eaten by a plant that couldn't even give chase.

"Evidently, I was mistaken," Skulker told him, once they were back in the cave he called his home. "Prey that cannot survive on its own is no prey at all. To hunt you now would be like hunting a hamster that escaped its cage."

"Hey! I know how to survive in the wild!" Danny argued indignantly. "My parents made sure to teach me, and they even took me and my sister survival camping in the woods. First you find a source of water, and you build a shelter, and figure out which plants are edible—"

"The wilds of my domain are nothing like your earthly woods," Skulker interrupted. "The only thing edible in that jungle, as far as the jungle is concerned... is you."

Danny visibly swallowed, his eyes wide with fear.

"Well," he said, his voice shaking. "If you want me to survive until you can hunt me, then you'll have to teach me to survive, now won't you?"

Skulker growled under his breath, but the prey had a point. "Very well," he agreed.

He began to teach Danny about his domain. Warned him of the dangers in the rivers, the monsters lurking beyond his sight, the plants the would kill him if he ate them and the plants that would kill him by eating him. After a few hours, Danny yawned, and his eyelids started to droop.

"Do you tire, whelp?" Skulker asked curiously.

"Yeah," Danny said, yawning again. "It's been a long day. I'm kinda hungry, too."

"Ridiculous," Skulker scoffed, his mechanical lips warping into a sneer to match the tiny ectoplasmic mouth underneath. "Ghosts do not require food nor sleep, so we don't get tired, or hungry."

"I guess my body hasn't realized I'm a ghost yet," Danny replied. "You got anymore of that soup?"

"It's cold, but yes," Skulker replied. "I suppose I'll make you a bowl. Maybe you still haven't fully recovered and that's why your body wants food."

Danny nodded consideringly as Skulker started a fire near the mouth of the cave to warm the leftovers.

"If nothing in the jungle is edible," he asked. "Where did you get the ingredients for the soup?"

"I traded some of them," Skulker replied, "though some did come from the jungle. Nothing was a bit of an exaggeration. There are some fruits that grow which aren't poisonous, and a skilled hunter like myself knows how to hunt for food as well as sport, not that I need to, usually."

"Do you ever fish?"

Skulker scoffed. "Sit by a lake and wait for hours until my prey is foolish enough to kill itself on a hook? There's no thrill in such a passive activity."

Danny hummed thoughtfully. "I guess... but I always thought it was fun when my dad took me fishing. It could get boring, I guess, but it was fun, too. We didn't always catch anything, though, 'cause my dad's voice is really loud and he'd scare all the fish away."

Skulker rolled his eyes and made a sound halfway between a groan and a sigh. He really didn't care about what activities this mysterious creature used to partake in with his father.

"Fascinating," he replied sardonically, and handed Danny a warmed bowl of soup.

Even though he was fully lucid now, the boy slurped it up like he couldn't taste how bad it was—and it had to be terrible. Skulker had never cooked before in his existence, or eaten for that matter. He'd just thrown a bunch of random edible things in a pot and let it stew until he got impatient.

"How... does it taste?" Skulker asked, curious despite himself.

Danny furrowed his brows and swished around the mouthful of soup he'd just gulped up. "A little crunchy for soup," he said at last. "I think some of the vegetables didn't cook long enough. A little... watery, I guess? Weirdly sweet? Over all it tastes fine. But I haven't eaten all day, so I'll be honest, I could care less what it tastes like."

Skulker hummed thoughtfully, unsure what he wanted to do with this information, or why he'd bothered to ask.

"Hey, if I go to sleep, will you kill me?" Danny asked, putting his empty bowl on the ground next to him.

Skulker let out a weary sigh, not his first since picking up with wayward thing, and surely not the last, either. "I would sooner kill a newborn faun," he replied. "Sleep well, Danny. I'll most likely kill you in the morning."

Danny snorted. "Okay, Dread Pirate Roberts."

"I'm no pirate," Skulker sneered, both confused and indignant. "I am a hunter, the best in the Realms."

"No, I didn't mean..." Danny started to say. "It was a reference. I guess you don't watch a lot of movies around here, though. Never mind. I'm gonna pass out now." 

He yawned again and laid down on the furs where Skulker had nursed him to health. For a few minutes, Skulker watched as he nuzzled and adjusted his body to get comfortable before eventually falling asleep. 

It was hours before the boy awoke, but once he did, Skulker sent him back out into the jungle to be hunted again. He fared better this time, not immediately shoving his hands into a lake full of spectral piranhas was a step in the right direction, at least, although he still insisted on trying to find food, water, and shelter, according to what his parents had apparently taught him about surviving in the wild.

When Skulker felt confident the boy wouldn't die immediately if he stopped watching, he went back to his cave to give young Danny a proper head start. It wouldn't be a very interesting hunt if he didn't have to work for it a little.

It had started raining by the time he set out to stalk his prey. It was so easy to find the young ghost's trail that Skulker almost considered dragging him back to the cave to give him a lesson on hiding his tracks. But he'd waited long enough, and he was not known for his patience. 

As he followed the trail, soon enough, he heard laughter up ahead, and he burst out into a clearing with weapons armed.

"Skulker, this rain makes my skin feel all tingly. Is it safe to drink?" Danny asked, as if he didn't have a dozen rockets aimed right at him. "Look, these curly leaves collect the rainwater like cups so I won't have to go to the lake with piranhas in it."

"I'm not here to teach you, whelp," Skulker jeered. "The hunt is on. Are you going to fight back or not?"

Danny blinked owlishly at him.

"How?" he asked.

"Wha—how?" Skulker sputtered, incredulous. "You are a ghost! Use your powers." 

"You mean like... fly away?" he asked.

"Flight is not the only ability you now possess. Invisibility, intangibility, and a whole host of powers unique to you are now within your grasp, but you must reach within yourself to access them."

Danny stared, obviously not comprehending.

"Fine," Skulker relented, disarming his weapons and letting his shoulders slump in disappointment. "To kill a creature unable to defend itself would be... anticlimactic. I wouldn't want this hunt to be a disappointment, so I will teach you how to use your powers to defend yourself."

Danny looked excited, and Skulker scowled and added:

"But after that I'm definitely going to hunt you! Your pelt will hang upon my wall!"

"Gross," Danny said. "So is the rainwater safe to drink or what?"

For about the thousandth time, Skulker sighed. "Yes. The rainwater is safe to drink."

"Nice!" Danny plucked one of the spiral leaves and drank greedily. "Hm... tastes kinda citrus-y. Oh, and I found some of those fruits you mentioned. They're pretty tasty on their own, but I don't know why you'd put 'em in soup, because they're way too sweet for that. I bet they'd make a good fruit salad, though."

"I have no intention of making fruit salad," Skulker told him. "I am going to train you, and then I am going to hunt and kill you for sport."

"Why go to all the trouble? Why not just kill me while I was still unconscious?"

He scoffed. "And what would be the sport in that?"

They returned to the cave that served as Skulker's home-base, but this time, Skulker led the way down a tunnel Danny had never entered before, and at the end of it was a larger cave, lit with green torches, where Skulker trained and tested new weapons and suit upgrades. He gave Danny a few moments to take it in, his mouth agape as he observed the various scorch marks on the pitted cave walls. Then, their training began.

After a few hours of training, Skulker had successfully taught the boy how to fly properly, how to turn invisible, and basic intangibility—although intangibility was a power that could only be utilized to its it fullest capacity outside of the Ghost Zone, in the Human Realm.

"Does that mean that I can go back?" Danny asked.

"What?"

"You said intangibility works best in the human world, that means ghosts can go there somehow," he pointed out. "Does that mean... that I could go back someday? And see my family again?"

Skulker didn't answer for a long moment. The whelp seemed so hopeful, and he didn't want to dash those hopes. A killer he may have been, but he wasn't a monster.

"No," he said finally. Because he wasn't a liar, either. "You will not be able to return because your fate is to become my prey. You will die before you get the chance."

Danny sagged in disappointment.

"It's unlikely you would have been able to, anyway," Skulker tried to comfort him. "Openings to the human world are hard to come by. Even if I were to let you leave and attempt to find a way into the Human Realm, it would likely be a century or more before you were successful. Anyone you knew in life would be long gone."

"Oh... I see."

Danny's movements became sluggish after that, and he wasn't catching on as quickly as before. It was unclear whether is was despair or lethargy that slowed him, but Skulker decided to stop the lessons for now.

"There's no point training when you can barely raise your arm," he said. "Go to bed, rest well. I shall hunt you when you wake."

"Okay," Danny agreed with a yawn. "See you in the morning."

There was no morning in the Ghost Zone, nor no night. There was no sun and no cosmic rotation to produce such things. Time passed in a relative way, so that one could accurately guess how much time had passed by virtue of the fact that it passed only as quickly or slowly as they thought it was passing. 

Some realms mimicked night and day with shadows and glowing orbs of mysterious origin, but Skulker saw no need for that on his island. The natural landscape of the island synthesized weather patterns, mostly rain, but occasionally strong winds, twisters, and earthquakes. Though earthquakes weren't exactly weather, Skulker supposed.

The rain from earlier was coming down in buckets now. It had been for hours, and it showed no signs of stopping. Skulker's armor was water resistant, but it wouldn't hold up in weather like this. The torrential downpour would doubtless cause a short-circuit, or a glitch, and then Skulker's true form would be trapped in a useless metal statue. Or, if he managed to eject in time, be completely defenseless, and at the mercy of the bloodthirsty creatures of the jungle.

If the rain didn't stop, he'd have to postpone his hunt for another day.

Maybe that would be for the best. He'd taught Danny how to use basic ghost powers, but they had yet to tap into any of his unique abilities, and with a creature such as Danny, the unique abilities would be what made the hunt most interesting.

It was still pouring when Danny finally awoke. He yawned and stretched and rubbed his eyes. Then he looked at Skulker, who was watching him intently.

"Let me guess," he said. "You're sending me into the jungle so you can hunt me again?"

"Not today." Skulker stood, and let Danny back down the tunnel to the larger cave used for training. "You've learned the basics, but that's hardly all there is. In addition to the standard ghost abilities, most ghosts also have powers unique to them. Now, I'm going to teach you how to tap into yours."

"Cool," Danny said, sounding awed. "What are your unique powers, Skulker?"

Skulker scowled. The truth was, he didn't have any. He may have abnormally high intelligence for a blob ghost, but he was still a blob ghost, and without his armored suit, there was nothing special about him.

"And why would I give my prey the advantage of knowing what I'm capable of," he said instead, because he wasn't so stupid as to give his prey the advantage of knowing his weaknesses, either.

Though Skulker's pure ectoplasm core didn't afford him the unique abilities of ghosts with elemental, emotional, or conceptual ectoplasmic cores, he had always been a curious thing, and had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. He could apply almost any information he had gleaned in his travels and studies to the hunt. As such, he knew enough to guide Danny through the process of discovering his own unique powers.

"A ghost's power comes for our core," Skulker explained. "The nature of a ghost's core varies from one to another, and no two are exactly alike. Close your eyes and focus inward."

Danny nodded and closed his eyes. He was... breathing... slowly, deeply.

Skulker had noticed him breathing before, but it had never been as pronounced as this. It seemed deliberate. For a moment, Skulker was distracted, watching the boy breathe steadily, and he wondered what the purpose of it was. Perhaps he would have the chance to ask later, but for now, he had to focus on the task at hand.

"Can you sense the energy pulsing through you from your core?" Skulker asked.

"I think so..." Danny said, his eyes still closed, though his nose scrunched up as he tried to concentrate and talk at the same time. "It feels... kinda like a second heart, a little lower and to the write, and beating more slowly."

"Interesting," Skulker said. 

He'd never heard it described like that before, even by other ghosts that had once been human. Skulker himself had never had a heart, so he couldn't have compared the two, but he filed the information away for later. If nothing else, he now knew more or less where this creature's heart was located, and if the heart was comparable to a ghost's core, than perhaps it was as vital.

"Tell me, how does the flow of energy feel?" he asked.

"Like... ripples on a lake," Danny replied. "The come from my core and move out until they stop just under my skin, like reaching the shoreline."

"Good." Skulker nodded thoughtfully. 

The ripple analogy was familiar to him. He'd heard it before, from the sirens of the Bottomless Sea, when he'd studied underwater navigation with them on his hunt for the kraken. After he'd killed it, he'd had to leave in a rush. He hadn't realized it was a beloved mascot of the Bottomless Sea. He'd only been able to bring back a single tentacle of the massive thing as a trophy. He never did find out what had happened to the rest of it.

"Try to make those ripples stronger. Let them push past the shoreline in waves."

As Skulker watched, he saw Danny's glow begin to pulse, brighter and dimmer, brighter and dimmer. Then, all at once, he glowed so brightly as to force Skulker to avert his eyes, and when the light faded, Danny looked... different.

"Did something happen?" Danny asked, opening his eyes. "I think I made something happen." 

He looked around the room, perhaps assuming that he'd caused an explosion or something, despite the lack of a boom. Upon seeing nothing amiss, he looked confused, then turned his gaze downward, at his own hands. It was then that he realized what he'd done.

"I... I'm human again," he said, amazed.

It... looked to be true. He was neither glowing, nor floating. His once ectoplasm-green eyes had turned blue, his shock-white hair a dark black, even the colors of his jumpsuit had inverted.

It looked true.

But it couldn't be.

Skulker consulted his instruments. They scanned his surroundings automatically every few seconds, so he didn't have to wait long before they scanned Danny in his new form.

"No," Skulker said, his tone solemn. "You're not."

"What? But... look at me!" Danny insisted.

"I see what you look like," Skulker said. "But you are not a human, not really. Your core is still there, pulsing with ghostly energy. The blood in your veins is still infused with ectoplasm. "You're as human as you were before, and as ghostly. Only your outward appearance has changed. On the inside, you're the same."

Danny's face fell and he put a hand in the center of his chest where his core would be.

"You... you're right," he said dismally. "I can feel it. I look human, but I'm still..."

"Half ghost," Skulker confirmed. "You're still a one of a kind specimen who will make for exceptional prey once you're not so pathetic. Let us keep training."

Once Danny learned that he could switch between two forms, Skulker had him practice going back and forth, changing from one to the other at will, without having to think too much about it. 

When it came to unique abilities, this had to be among the most unique Skulker had ever observed. He had heard of ghosts who could disguise themselves as humans before. It wasn't common, but it wasn't the rarest ghostly ability either. It was, however, merely disguise. They would look superficially like humans, but could be spotted under scrutiny, and internally, they were still ghosts all the way down.

With Danny, it was different. He truly was as much a human as he was a ghost, a perfect blend of the two, inside and—apparently—out.

Once he had his transformation down pat, Skulker had him try to unlock other abilities.

At first, trying to connect with his core, only resulted in switching forms again, no matter what he did, but after a while, he discovered that he could use ghost rays, another relatively common ghost ability. Notably, however, his ghost rays were green.

Ghost rays had different colors depending on how powerful they were, with blue being the weakest and green being the strongest. Skulker himself couldn't use them though he could synthesize the effect with his technology, it was too weak to be worth the effort most of the time, such a pale blue as to almost be white. Meanwhile, Danny could shoot out bright green ghost rays without even straining himself too much.

Once this ghost-boy realized even a fraction of his true power, he would make for worthy prey indeed.

The spent the remainder of their time before Danny grew tired again working on his aim, with a short break in the middle for Danny to eat the rest of the leftover soup. 

"If you're too tired to keep training, then go to bed so I can kill you tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah," Danny agreed, rolling his eyes.

Granted, Skulker didn't know a lot about human, or half-human sleep patterns, but it seemed excessive to him. Danny would barely stay awake for twenty hours, before going to sleep for a whole four or five. And he had to eat every single day, too, which also seemed like a lot. Perhaps he would talk to Danny about it, make sure he wasn't just being lazy and gluttonous.

This time, when Danny went to lie down on his bed of pelts, he first changed into his human form, then peeled off his jumpsuit to reveal a t-shirt and a pair of polka-dotted shorts underneath. He fell asleep faster than usual, Skulker noted, and wondered why.

It was still raining when next he woke. The storm didn't seem to be dying down at all.

It wasn't entirely unexpected, to be honest. When the weather changed like this, it often lasted for weeks. It was a bit frustrating, but Skulker supposed there was plenty more left to teach Danny until the rain let up. And the more skilled he was, the better the hunt would be. 

Danny didn't say anything when Skulker led him straight into the training cave rather than sending him out into the jungle.

They worked on ecto-energy manipulation, and they tested the limits of Danny's ghostly strength, speed in flight, stamina, agility, and durability until Danny asked for a lunch break.

"There's no soup left," Skulker said.

"That's okay," Danny said. "I'll just go out and find some of those edible fruits and stuff from the jungle. I know how to forage."

Skulker narrowed his eyes, and the mechanical  lenses on his suit followed.

"And how do I know you won't try to run?" he asked.

"Where would I even go," Danny asked. "The Ghost Zone is infinite, and this is the only realm of the bunch I know anything about. If I tried to run, I think I'd die pretty quick. Again, I mean."

Skulker frowned, but he supposed that made sense.

"You could always come with me, if your worried about it," Danny added.

Skulker turned up his nose, "I couldn't be bothered," he said, turning his back to Danny. "I have some housekeeping to do anyway."

"You mean cave-keeping?" Danny joke.

"Weren't you going somewhere?"

Danny laughed as he flew out the cave mouth into the rain. 

Despite Danny's claims that he couldn't really go anywhere else, Skulker didn't fully trust the boy not to try and live out on his own in the jungle. While he waited, Skulker did some maintenance on all his hunting trophies, keeping them from getting to dusty, or faded. He was proud of them, and liked to keep them all in good condition. 

It felt like a long time had passed without Danny returning, and Skulker was about ready to hunt him down rain or no rain. Even if it hadn't been planned, if his prey was on the run, then he was loathe to let it get away.

Just as he was preparing to leave, however, Danny returned, beaming. He shook the water out of his hair, splashing Skulker with it. Luckily, Skulker's armor was water resistant, even if it couldn't hold up long under rain as heavy as it had been.

"Did you know there's a tree at the edge of the island that grows rainbow fruits?" Danny said excitedly, producing one of the fruits in question for Skulker to see. It had a shimmering, luminescent skin, and the colors shifted and changed as he watched. "I wasn't sure whether I should try one or not, but I figured I already lived once, and they're super juicy and sooo good. I must've eaten like ten of 'em. You should try one!"

Skulker took the fruit from Danny's hand to examine it before placing it on a nearby table. If only to himself, he would admit that he was intrigued, but he would have to remove his helmet to eat, and he didn't think it wise to reveal his true form to someone he still planned to hunt.

"Ghosts like me don't eat," he said. "Come, let us return to training."

Danny looked crestfallen, but he followed without argument.

They kept training. Danny discovered the ability to make ecto-energy constructs, the same thrumming, powerful green as his ghost rays. Truly, the boy's raw power was a sight to behold... and he didn't even know it.

The rain was still coming down in torrents with the end of the storm nowhere in sight when Danny went to bed with the usual promise that Skulker would most likely kill him when he woke up. 

Once he was sure the boy was fast asleep, Skulker picked up the rainbow fruit from the table and took it to his trophy room. There, he lifted his helmet and took a bite. The fruit itself was nearly half as big as he was, but that didn't matter as he took another bite and another, until all that was left was a shiny, silver pit.

He'd never tasted anything before, but he couldn't imagine anything tasted as delectable as that rainbow fruit. And had it not been for Danny, he would never have known the flavor.

Perhaps, keeping the boy around wouldn't be so bad after all.

The days continued like that, as the rain did.

Danny would wake up, Skulker would train him until he got hungry, then he would fly out for an hour or so to find some new root, fruit, or berry in the jungle and bring some back. Skulker would always refuse, but leave it on the table to eat in secret. He was sure Danny noticed that the food kept disappearing when he slept, and since he kept bringing it, he must've assumed Skulker was eating in private, although Skulker couldn't guess to what exactly Danny thought about that objectively strange practice. 

Slowly, after teaching Danny about his powers, Skulker started teaching him strategy, tracking, how to find his opponent weakness and exploit it. If Danny thought it was odd that the lessons were getting progressively more advanced, he didn't remark upon it, only made as many puns as he could while they trained.

Then when Danny grew tired, Skulker would wish him goodnight in the form of a death threat.

Then, after weeks, the rain finally stopped.

"So, Skulker, what's the lesson today?" Danny asked upon waking up.

"No lesson today," Skulker replied. 

He was conflicted, of course. How could he not be after spending so much time with the boy, training him, accepting his edible gifts. He was proud of how much Danny had learned and grown, even fond of him. But he was only ever delaying his hunt until the rain stopped.

"Today, you go into the jungle alone, and become my prey."

This was always the plan.

"What? Seriously?" Danny asked.

"Yes."

"You're actually gonna hunt and kill me now? After all those weeks of work?"

"This is what we were working towards."

"But... Skulker—"

"Run and face your fate later, or stay and perish here and now," Skulker said, his voice monotone and cold, even to his own ears. "It makes no difference to me."

When Danny didn't move, Skulker armed a small rocket on the back of his forearm and took aim.

Danny shook his head, uncomprehending and betrayed.

He ran.

Skulker waited, giving his prey a head start.

He would typically give his prey about half an hour. But when a half hour had passed, Skulker didn't move. He kept waiting. Then an hour passed. Then two.

A part of him hoped that Danny had taken the risk to leave the island altogether, but another part of him knew he hadn't. He knew that the reality of the situation still hadn't sunk in for Danny. It hadn't quite sunk in for Skulker either.

But he was a hunter, the greatest in the Ghost Zone, and no head start, no matter how long, would spare his prey a swift demise.

After two hours, Skulker finally left the cave, and the hunt was on.

Danny was much better now than the last time Skulker had tried to hunt him. There was no trail to follow through the thick brush of the jungle, but Skulker knew this island like the back of his metal hand, and he knew Danny just as well.

He went straight to the clearing where he'd found Danny on his second hunt, the one with the spiral leaves that caught rainwater. After weeks of rain, most of the leaves were filled to the brim, but one of them was half-empty. Danny had been here.

Most ghosts drew power only from the ectoplasm around them and their own cores, but Danny was no ordinary ghost. He could also gain power by eating, drinking, and sleeping, and he knew this. It was why, every time Skulker sent him into the jungle, he would start trying to find food and water. Above Skulker's head, some of the branches had been broken, no doubt where Danny had flown up through them.

Skulker flew up through the canopy, looking for more gaps between the branches that might indicate where Danny had flown through. None. Meaning he had reentered the jungle at the lake, where the trees didn't fully cover.

Skulker followed.

As he lowered himself toward the lake surface, he looked this way and that for any sign of Danny's path. The water level was higher than usual due to the recent rain, the same was true of all the rivers and creeks on the island as well. The water now encroached into the treeline, thick trunks jutting out of it, unbothered by the damp.

Then, suddenly, his arms were slammed into his sides as a bright green, ectoplasmic rope wrapped around him from behind. There was no mistaking it. The rope was one of Danny's ecto-energy constructs. The kid had him.

A mighty pull forced Skulker out of the sky and plunged him into the lake. Fully submerged, his suit would short out in no time, but Skulker managed to eject just before he hit the surface, his true, tiny form flying backwards toward the trees.

He saw a streak of gray shoot out from the trees to intercept him, and a white glove wrapped around his middle. Skulker looked up to see a smiling Danny, and he couldn't help the pride that swelled in his chest, despite his failure.

"You're a lot smaller than I was expecting," Danny remarked. "Does this mean I win?"

Skulker laughed, and for once when the squeaky, high-pitched sound met his ears, he couldn't care enough to cringe at his true voice.

"You got me whelp," he said. "Well done."

"Will you stop trying to hunt me if we go home now?"

"Yes," Skulker agreed. "You've bested me for good. Now let's go home. There's still plenty more to teach you."

"Maybe I'll even surpass you and become the greatest hunter in the Ghost Zone."

"Now, don't get ahead of yourself ghost-boy. I earned that title over a long several centuries. You won't take it from me that easily."

The two of them returned to the cave, Skulker got into his spare suit of armor, and they returned to their usual routine of training—with a few changes. The two of them would fly over the jungle together now, and Skulker would show Danny features he'd never seen before. Danny was teaching Skulker how to cook a little—though by his own admission, he wasn't much of a cook himself, so it was more like they were learning together. 

Danny even talked his way into going fishing together. It was as boring as Skulker remembered, but bearable with company. Piranhas weren't exactly the tastiest meal, though.

This comfortable routine continued for months, broken up only by the occasional hunting trip, which Danny was only allowed to join if he promised to only observe, and not get involved. He always got involved anyway, but as long as he wasn't hurt, Skulker wouldn't get too upset.

Then Skulker caught wind of a portal to the human world. One with had been opened from the other side, and even when it closed, it would reopen. When he returned to the cave, he looked dolefully at his charge. He knew how badly Danny wanted to return to the human world, but he wasn't sure he could bear to see him go.

"Danny," he said, "If you could go to the human world, would you even think about coming back?"

"I mean... you said portal were really hard to come by," Danny replied. "Would I even be able to?"

"For argument's sake, let's say you could come back whenever you wanted, and you'd be able to go between the to whenever you wanted to," Skulker proposed. "Would you?"

"Well... yeah, I think so," Danny said. "I want to go home, but... this is kinda like my home to. I wouldn't want to never see you again.... Why are you bringing this up all of the sudden?"

Of course. Danny was too good a kid to just leave and never look back. It was why he wanted to go back to the human world, too. If he kept this a secret, Danny would only resent him.

"I've heard rumors about a man-made portal between the Human Realm and the Ghost Zone," Skulker told him. "One which never permanently closes."

"Really?" Danny asked. "Let's go!"

"Now hold on," Skulker said, holding up his hands to calm the boy. "If you're going to go to the Human Realm, you'll need a ghostly name. You have a human name already, but you're not just a human. I should've had you pick out a ghost name long ago. Have you given it any thought?" 

Danny smiled brightly and nodded.

"Yeah, actually," he said. "Since I'm half human and half ghost, I thought that I should have a name that's both human and ghost, just like I am. When I was fully alive, my name was Danny Fenton... so... I thought my ghost name could be Danny Phantom.... What do you think?"

Skulker maintained a stone expression for a moment, just to keep Danny on his toes, before breaking into a satisfied smile and nodding approvingly.

"I think it suits you."

#danny phantom #dp #danny fenton #skulker #fic #things i wrote #phic phight #phic phight 24

[underforeversgrace]

shattered saviors

DannyMay2023 Day 21: Shatter

title: shattered saviors

words: 2475

Complete

Summary: Danny gets a horrifying glimpse into the intense negative reaction of Amity Park, and especially his parents, when Dani is accidentally revealed to be half ghost and is taken into GIW custody. (Courtesy of @danphanwritingprompts post here.)

AU: None/pre season 3

Warnings: Minor Character Death

Beta: @probably-dead

~~~~~~

“In other news today, the Guys in White have released a statement on the hybrid they recently discovered, dubbed Danielle Phantom for her striking similarity to our own Danny Phantom.” The image of the reporter faded, instead showing a picture of a document against a blue screen, various sentences digitally highlighted in yellow as she read them. “Today, the experiment known as Danielle Phantom was successfully Faded. We were able to confirm the hybridism found in ‘Danielle’ was unique and unable to be replicated, there is no fear of other hybrids at this time. We thank the people of Amity Park who have supported us despite the small group of teenage protestors. We hope peace can return to the city, now that the creature has been disposed of. Its connection to Danny Phantom is still unclear, but we will continue to study the remains in hopes of discovering it.”

The image of the reporter reappeared, easily sliding into the next topic - something about the upcoming holidays - but ice began to creep up the screen.

“Danny?” Tucker asked at his side, shivering at the chill coming from his best friend.

The halfa turned to Tucker and he tried to rein in his ice. Tucker was only human, after all. Before Danny could say anything his phone rang and he fished it out of his pocket, not even checking the caller ID before answering it. He knew who it was.

“I didn’t get her in time.” Vlad said, regret and guilt in his voice.

“She’s gone? She’s really gone?” Danny asked, too numb to even cry.

“I was able to confirm that via my connections, yes. They got me in to see her too late.”

“Okay.” Danny said, ending the call.

His entire being felt disconnected from reality. Danielle was dead. Caught in a trap meant for him. They’d been holding protests for two weeks, trying to insist she was human enough to be released, to not be tortured. Almost all of the youth of Amity had stood behind her, even Wes, who had stopped trying to expose Danny as soon as he heard what happened to Ellie.

But the adults were louder, more able. And they insisted that Ellie was dangerous and needed to be contained. A ghost who could pretend to be human? What havoc could they cause and then fly completely under the radar? The negative influence on the youth of Amity, who were already too pro-ghost to begin with?

Even Vlad had tried to save her - though Danny still was unsure if it was because he genuinely was afraid for her or just that the GIW had a halfa in their custody.

Danny couldn't remember the rest of the night. He just existed, too numb to hurt or think or do anything.

Days passed in that fog. He went to school. He pretended to learn. He stopped ghost attacks. He tried to sleep. Every night, he just faced the same nightmares. Danielle, experimentally tortured until she died screaming, alone and in pain, wondering where her brother/cousin was, maybe even wondering where her father was.

It should have been him. The trap was meant for him. He should be the one dead.

Vlad somehow got Ellie’s body. She had left behind a human corpse, not a pile of destabilized goo. Vlad had tried to check her, to see if maybe she had somehow survived, maybe this was some sort of protective hibernation state. But Vlad looked and he found her still heart, found her shattered core. He and Danny buried her body in the back of Vlad’s mayoral mansion. They didn’t know what else to do. She wasn’t human. She couldn’t get a headstone or a human grave. So instead of being mourned properly, she was placed into a shallow grave, only the other halfas present. No one else had ever met her.

Well, no one else had ever met her who loved her.

No one who had ever met her who hadn’t hurt her, a sin even Vlad and Danny were guilty of.

Still, Danny went to school. Pretended to learn. Fought ghosts. Slept only for nightmares to haunt him.

The other students had looked bad for the first few days. It was hard not to, everyone had seen Danielle’s human side, seen a terrified twelve year old girl who’d fallen two stories after being shot by a power nullification weapon only to be held at gunpoint by government agents while she cried. Eventually, though, even the high schoolers returned to normal.

It should’ve been Danny. Danny should be the one rotting in the ground. Not Danielle.

Not Danielle.

Danny didn’t listen to his parents in the month following Danielle’s death. They wished they had gotten the chance to study her themselves, see how hybridism was even possible. Run their own battery of tests, torture her themselves. The parents didn’t understand why he and Jazz were pulling away from them. 

The numbness didn’t let up until six weeks later. A weekend patrol and he’d stumbled across an animal ghost attacking a human on the edge of town, the person hiding under a personal ghost shield of Fenton creation on their wrist.

Danny didn’t even have to fight the animal, it was low level enough he could just trap it immediately in the Thermos. He was about to fly away when the human stopped him.

“Oh thank God, Phantom!” He said, turning off the shield.

Hmph. They didn’t even feel the need for a shield around him, a full ghost for all they knew, yet had damned Ellie to hell under a scalpel. Danny wasn’t going to even respond, just leave, until he recognized the man’s face.

“I know you.” Danny said, the numb mask he’d hidden behind starting to fracture.

“You’ve saved me a few times!” The man said, a relaxed grin on his face.

“You were an organizer for the pro-GIW protests.” Danny responded, ice beginning to form on the ground far beneath his feet, his words cold and devoid of any happy emotion.

The man paled slightly, taking a step back. “Uh… she was dangerous!” He tried to excuse pitifully.

“And I’m not?” Danny asked, drifting closer to the man, less than six inches from his face as Danny’s mask of numbness shattered under the force of his anger, not even blinking. “I’m not?”

“You’re not…” the man gulped anxiously. “Your obsession is protecting us. You wouldn’t hurt us.”

“Obsessions. Aren’t. Real.” He hissed, grabbing the man’s wrist and squeezing until the man screamed. Danny didn’t even know the man’s name, just that he’d been a very public organizer in the campaign to keep Danielle in the government’s hands.

“Stop! Please!”

“Do you think my sister begged?” Danny growled. “For them to please stop as they tortured her, murdered her?”

“Sister?” The man repeated weakly.

“Sister.” Danny confirmed, danger in his voice. Danny had been numb for over a month and a half at this point and now his anger had cracked through the numbness and he found himself understanding Dan a little bit better.

“You’re a hybrid too?” The man realized, visibly shaking in panic, desperately trying to pull his wrist from Danny’s ironclad grip.

Danny felt the grin creep onto his face. He felt like he should probably care that he was delighting in this terror, in what he was about to do. “I am. But I can’t risk the Guys in White learning that, can I?” He finally answered. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he squeezed harder on the man’s wrist, shattering both his bone and the personal shield he wore.

The man screamed in agony, collapsing to his knees as soon as Danny released him. Danny had never enjoyed hurting anything and had never hurt a human before, but this was downright elating. “I’m sorry!” The man yelled, looking up at Danny’s angry, unblinking, glowing green eyes.

“I’m not.” Danny answered, uncapping the Thermos and releasing the ghostly animal. The man tried to scramble backwards but Danny summoned a shield, trapping the three of them within it. The animal looked to Danny, submitting to the more powerful ghost, before glancing at the trembling human, whose hand was rapidly turning purple, though the animal did sit, deferring to Danny once more.

Danny hadn’t really looked at the creature before trapping it so he took a moment to study it, the man beginning to sob. Maybe a coyote or wolf? It looked too big to be a dog - not that it really mattered, he supposed, considering Cujo. It didn’t help that the animal hadn’t held its form very well, its edges too wispy and curvy for any real animal. Wolf, he decided.

His study of the wolf done, he returned to the man, staring directly into his eyes. The man flinched at the anger, the rage he saw. “Please…” the man tried to beg, crying. “I have a family.”

“So did she.” Danny said, turning to the animal. “Sic ‘em.” He ordered.

The wolf, despite being unable to truly understand Danny’s words, understood his intent and read his aura. It stood, growling as it slowly approached the human.

Danny had always thought the screams of someone being hurt would rip into his very being, a failure for his self-appointed job of protecting Amity.

But he didn’t feel bad. Human blood had already been spilt here and it hadn’t been by a ghost.

If the humans didn’t even care… why should he? Why should he give a damn about human life?

For the first time in two years, a human had died to a ghost. And Danny didn’t care. They were lucky he bothered to catch the wolf at the end of it, petting its cold head as it licked blood from its muzzle.

The next day was when Danny learned the man’s name. Edward Canton, leaving behind a widow and two young children. Still, Danny didn’t care, even as he heard snippets of conversation at school.

“I can’t believe someone actually died.” An underclassman whispered.

“I didn’t think any of the ghosts would ever actually hurt us.” Another said in hushed tones.

“Are we in danger?” Someone else wondered.

The thing he heard the most, the repeated question.

“Where was Phantom?”

“How could Phantom let this happen?”

“Doesn’t Phantom always protect us?”

The questions were echoed in the news, by the adults, even by his parents, wondering if this death would finally destroy Phantom from his ‘failure’ to save the human, ‘failure’ to sustain his Obsession.

For a city who had let a child be tortured to death for being only part ghost, they were awfully reliant on a suspected full-ghost.

“Are you… the death, are you alright?” Sam asked.

“I can’t always save everyone.” Danny said, feigning sadness.

“How are you holding up?” Tucker asked later.

“I’ll be fine. I can’t be everywhere at once.” He’d answered, still pretending to be sad.

He couldn’t tell Sam or Tucker. They’d never understand his decision to let the man - the man who didn’t even deserve a name, as far as Danny was concerned - be killed. To watch and do nothing. To take pleasure in the screams. They’d worry he was becoming Dan. He wasn’t, though.

Danny tried to put his mask back on after, to be engulfed in the comfort of numbness, but the mask was gone and left only anger behind. He could no longer access the fog that allowed him to drift through life.

More weeks passed, now nearly three months since the announcement of Danielle’s death. Danny had at least found a routine… though it wasn’t his old one. He still went to school and pretended to learn. Still struggled to sleep and battled nightmares of Ellie’s screams. But the ghost fights?

Well… the ones who deserved to be saved, he still saved. Children and teens, people who’d joined the protests, who were too young to protest. But no adult had joined to try to save her. No adult was innocent. Whether through action or inaction, all were guilty of her death.

So he would watch the joy and relief on their faces when they saw Phantom come to save them, only to turn to terror and panic when he trapped them, when he simply stared at them and watched them die. When he grinned at their screams, when he asked them if they thought Ellie begged for her life the way they were begging for theirs.

When they realized their savior was not bound to protecting them and they had pushed him too far.

“Aren’t you going to save them?” Vlad Masters asked, watching people run from the opposite direction, a commotion they couldn’t yet see from the restaurant the two sat at. They’d begun to bond after Danielle’s death, Vlad’s guilt finally soothing out some of his more evil edges and Danny growing more tolerant of what was still there.

“I save innocents.” Danny answered, shrugging, poking at the food in front of him. His appetite still had not returned.

“So the rumors from the Realms are true. You’ve stopped saving people.” Vlad stated, taking a sip of his nearly boiling tea. Heat didn’t hurt him like ice didn’t hurt Danny.

“If they aren’t innocent, yes.”

“Who’s innocent?”

“The ones who tried to save Danielle and anyone who was too young to help.”

“So, what? All the adults of Amity are guilty?” Vlad asked, a smirk sliding onto his face.

“Of either encouraging the GIW outright or of the same thing I am.” Danny confirmed.

“Which is?”

“Watching and doing nothing because it isn’t my problem.”

Vlad chuckled. “You’re becoming more and more like me, little badger.”

Danny paused as he realized Vlad was right. He was making decisions based on who he felt had slighted him or Danielle, decisions with potentially fatal consequences. Again, he sought a feeling of guilt.

Again, he found none. “If they wanted a ghostly hero, they shouldn’t have been so obvious in their ghost hatred.”

“How are your friends and sister taking that?”

“They think I’m ashamed. That I care about and mourn everyone I don’t save. Maybe the town will earn their hero back. Until then?” Danny paused, pointing across the street where an adult woman was cornered, cowering under the glare of two humanoid ghosts Danny couldn’t place a name to. She screamed as their claws dug into her. “Until then, it isn’t my problem.”

“How would they earn you back?”

Danny shrugged. “That’s their problem to figure out. An apology to begin with would be nice. But they’ll never do that, will they?”

And the topic moved to more bland conversations even as the woman’s dying screams echoed around them.

But it was fine. Danny wasn’t actively killing anyone, so he wasn’t becoming Dan, and that was all he’d promised.

#danny phantom #grace writes #dannymay2023 #Day 21 #Shatter #danny fenton

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

last night's shower thought that may or may not have been done before but I haven't personally seen it done so I'm gonna write it anyway

so the phandom has dabbled in halfas potentially existing before Danny and Vlad, in the hypothetical million to one chance of 'what if a natural portal opened on top of a human'

gonna take a hard left turn here but we'll circle back I promise, that part will be important later

I love the unreliable narrator aspect of Vlad in TUE but what if Vlad's story about how Dan came to be was completely true, Danny's ghost half really did go absolutely feral as soon as it was torn from him

because even though Vlad says it was his ghost half that corrupted Phantom, in the flashback it was obvious that Phantom had already gone a little wonky before that, considering the acts of actually ripping out Vlad's ghost half and then absorbing it, very weird and out of character

(and I have other headcanons about that but we're ignoring those for now shh)

so the first time Danny was split, it split two of his personality traits that were both dominant at the time, his need to be a hero and protect people, and his need to be a normal teenager just enjoying life

after his family died in TUE tho, his dominant traits would have been more like misery, guilt, and anger, we can guess which one Phantom got

same thing probably happened to Vlad when he was split but we didn't get enough time with future Vlad to get a clear idea on what his dominant traits were, (but I'm gonna guess they were something akin to guilt and spite, spite having been absorbed by Danny and making his whole situation so much worse)

all this to say, what if Pariah Dark was the first known halfa, created by that million to one chance with a natural portal back in the dark ages (or earlier), and he was once, much like Danny, a protector, a hero, keeping a peace between humans and ghosts, whether he also fought a tyrant king for his crown, or was gifted the position by the former king wanted to retire (I kinda like this idea better), he became the ghost king with the support of the ghost populace

but I wanna touch in on the aus people throw around where to become the actual rightful king, Danny has to die

and maybe this is what happened to Pariah Dark, and maybe it was not a 100% consensual affair, maybe the Observants, whether sneakily or by force, somehow managed to separate Pariah from his human half

and in that moment, one of his dominant traits was rage

betrayal by ones he trusted, half of himself stolen from him, his fury was overwhelming, and it was what consumed his ghost half, and began his reign as a tyrant, his human half, whether deliberately or accidental, was killed in the process

this is why the Observants wanted Danny dealt with in TUE, they were seeing history repeating, they didn't care that Clockwork saw an alternate future because they didn't want that alternate future, TUE happened after Reign Storm, they were clinging onto the one excuse they had to get rid of this new halfa before he realised he had a claim to the throne and became the next Pariah Dark

they knew Danny was just as attached to his human half as Pariah was, and they'd seen evidence of that already in Dan, they couldn't have a king who was part human, and they couldn't take his human half from him without dire consequences

so of course their solution was just make him go away

see! in this one particular future he becomes a monster just like we said he would, Clockwork go destroy him, problem solved, good job everybody!

when Danny finds out about all this and presses them on why he has to be a full ghost to rule, assuming it's some mystic law that cannot physically be broken, the Observants are just like

"oh... uh no, technically it's physically possible, it's just... well, it's against tradition"

cue a Danny blowing up

"YOU CAUSED THE ENTIRE PARIAH DARK MESS OVER FUCKING TRADITION?"

"well it would be have been quite embarrassing having someone half alive ruling over the dead"

Danny has to be physically wrangled out of the room by Clockwork before he brings the whole fucking building down

it's completely absurd but the Observants just really feel like the kind of assholes who would stick so rigorously to that kinda shit despite all logic and reason telling them not to

#lula's headcanons #danny phantom #pariah dark #the observants #clockwork #tue

[asleep-in-the-keep-sideblog]

Asleep In The Keep: A DP x BNHA fic

Summary: The Hero Commission hosts another meeting to discuss the Phantom threat

Word count: 4758

Chapter 24: Meeting: Exposition

Shouta was shaking, a bitter cold settled into his chest. He couldn't help Phantom. The boy was right there but it was as if he couldn’t reach him. Shouta was the same when he was his age. He always had difficulty with letting people in, and when he finally did, one of them died. He knows it wasn’t his fault, but even now the guilt hangs over him like a heavy blanket. 

He doesn’t know what Phantom has been through. Whether he was truly All For One’s son (a theory that's looking to be even more true) or not, the boy had clearly been abused. It made sense that he would be distrustful. He might not have ever had someone show him any kindness. 

Where was Shouta supposed to go from here? 

Shouta sighed and his breath frosted, despite it being almost summer. Was he doing the right thing? He wanted to help the boy, and he truly believed that UA would be the best thing for him, but he felt wrong for being underhanded. Shouta barely knew him, but Phantom deserved better than that. 

A part of Shouta took over, the part that he sinks into after a hard day and leaves him raw. He was so determined before. He swore he would drag Phantom to UA even if the kid kicked and screamed. He barely knows this kid and he already feels so strongly about him. But now? Phantom needed to be the one to make that choice, otherwise he would just be a prisoner again. Freedom means the most to people who just got it. 

The question rattled in his brain again, where was Shouta supposed to go from here? Back to the café. Again and again, until Phantom made his choice. If he decides to be alone, he will help him to the best of his ability. It had to be Phantom’s choice. 

However, now wasn’t the time for that. Shouta checked his watch, a quarter till 3pm, just enough time to get there. He walked the familiar street to the Hero Commission headquarters. Another emergency meeting was called after the fight from last night. The topic was kept under wraps of course, but it wasn’t hard to guess. Whispers on the street say they’ve been having meetings all day, officials walking in and out in hurried groups with tightly held briefcases. 

Shouta had no idea what was in store for him, or why he was called. Since Shouta had been posing as more loyal to the Commission than UA, he was able to get pieces of information here and there. He was kept on a tight leash, of course, but it did serve rather useful. The fact he was included however means they must have been desperate. 

He allowed his body to go into auto-pilot mode, recalling everything that happened in the last two hours. He turned over the conversation in his head, finding anything he could’ve done differently. He couldn’t get the boy's face out of his mind, how scared, no- how angry he looked. He might not be able to recall his features, but he remembers his eyes and how electric they felt. Shouta stopped in his steps, half tempted to go back. If he did go back, he wouldn’t know what he would be able to do. Phantom was almost a force of nature in himself, who knew how he’d react if Shouta did something wrong again. An image popped into his mind, it was him holding Phantom when he was as wild as a star. Shouta had a suspicion that it wasn’t the warmth that helped him. 

Shouta was at the steps of the headquarters. Dozens of personal; heroes and suits alike, walked in and out frantically like ants with a job. Shouta looked down at his watch again; 5 minutes left. Shouta rubbed the bridge of his nose, already feeling the headache that would come from such events. After preparing himself, he walked in. It was rude to be late. 

 👁️🗨️

Mirai Sasaki sat in the meeting room. It was last minute- the summons being sent out only a few hours ago. Mirai, unfortunately, had no idea what the topic was about as he had already used his quirk on Lemillion. He trusted Bubble-Girl and Centipeder to look after him, but that wasn’t always enough. 

Mirai had kept him on a tight leash since the Phantom incident, not allowing him to go on patrol without someone present. Phantom. The vigilante, or perhaps villain, knew about him somehow, or at least his quirk. When he was first spotted with Fat Gum, he posed as Lemillion to get closer to the heroes. Whether it was to help or cause destruction was left to be determined. 

Mirai could see both sides. Phantom could’ve been posing as a helpless kid, a distraction to get closer. He was following Fat Gum for a reason, and unfortunately he vanished before they knew why. However, if the villain were truly All For One’s son, like Gran Torino suspected, it would be logical to look for heroes to protect him, especially if he used the Nomu attack as a way to break out. Mirai also had to take into consideration that the “vigilante” had been witnessed saving people throughout the night, even All Might’s protege. But the fact he used Lemillion, Miro’s identity did not entice the hero to trust him. 

Before the night blew out, Fat Gum had contacted him to check on his sidekick. At the time, Lemillion was also out in the city, keeping people safe and directing them along his patrol route. Mirai had no way of knowing if the boy was safe or not, and he had not used his quirk on him that day. At first, Mirai had feared the worst. He wasn’t able to get in contact with Lemillion and it certainly didn’t help matters when Gran Torino informed him of the possible villain spawn. If Phantom was truly All For One’s son, he could have found Miro and taken his quirk. 

In the end that wasn’t the case, but that didn’t ease Mirai’s panic. There was a reason Phantom had chosen Lemillion. It couldn’t have just been based off their shared quirk since apparently, Phantom had an arsenal at his disposal. So why Lemillion? It was a question that haunted Mirai as he slept. 

Mirai fiddled with his tie pin. It was a smiling All Might chibi that was closer to a pin from a game shop than one used for ties. Miro had gotten it for him a few months into his internship. He said it was a thank you for taking him in and giving him a chance. Of course, Mirai already had this one; it was one of the more basic and mass produced designs of All Might’s Silver Age. Still, he wore it like it was the only one in the world. 

It was important to Mirai to do what makes you happy, laughter was one of the best ways for that. Taking Miro in, although started off as a way to help All Might, helped Mirai more in the end. It was strange, knowing when you’re going to die. You start to let go of the big things and focus on what’s in front of you. He felt a strange sense of peace in between the panic that everything he knows will be gone. He didn’t want to die. For the first time since All Might left, he was happy. He still wanted to see the world Miro would bring in and achieve his goal. 

Mirai checked his watch again. It was one minute before the meeting was set to begin. He looked around the room trying to find a pattern to the gathering of heroes. 

It was quite the menagerie. There were less than 5 of them in the room, but most were too highly ranked for this to be an ordinary meeting. A few seats were left empty, either that be by tidiness or leftovers was yet to be revealed. 

Most of the heroes sat with bored expressions- Rag Doll, and Endeavor being the exception. Rag Doll always had a smile on, she must’ve taken inspiration from All Might, as many other heroes did. Endeavor however- Mirai doesn’t think the man would smile even at the birth of his child. He looked angry- angrier than usual. The room was filled with an intense heat and tension radiating from the man. It could be he knew what the meeting was about.  

At precisely 3 PM, Eraserhead walked through the door and took a seat. That seemed to be the signal to get the meeting started. A woman with blue hair and tired eyes stood at the front. Another woman sat beside her with a notebook, clearly ready to take notes. 

“Good afternoon.” her tone was even, monotone, “Thank you for joining us today, despite the late notice. I am Jin Makoto, and will be directing this meeting.” Mirai thinks he’s heard that name before. While being relatively new to the Hero Commission, she was able to get promoted quickly. Despite her accomplishments, she had a bit of a temper and got annoyed easily. 

“I’m sure many of you are curious as to why you were called here today, that or you’re just waiting for confirmation,” she eyed pointedly Endeavor, “I’m sure all of you are aware of the growing threat of the vigilante group, ‘Phantom’. Just last night, they attacked 3 pro-heroes unprovoked, causing several broken limbs.”

None of the heroes looked shocked, already knowing about it through the Hero-Network. Hawks played with one of his feathers, running his finger back and forth, watching the fibers separate and reform. 

“They weren’t as high as a priority before due to them being only vigilantes,” That was a lie and everyone knew it. The Commission has been trying to catch him since he first appeared. This whole speech was a flimsy front. “-But now that they’ve attacked, not only one but three heroes, they have revealed their true colors.”

“What does this have to do with us?” Mirko asked, sitting up straight. 

“Isn’t that obvious?” Hawks quipped, “They think we can take them down.” he pointedly looked at Ms. Makoto.

Despite Hawks being the #4 hero, not much was known of the young man. He came out of nowhere and set up his own agency near instantly. He seemed to have an easy going personality and was approved by the public, smiling and laughing with fans. However, the way he spoke, it was like there was a hidden joke that people hadn’t got yet. Mirai supposed that was a part of his charm- the cool boy act with a secret past. 

“Hey, you didn’t have to give lip, it was a genuine question.” Mirko rolled her eyes, not offended in the slightest. She crossed her arms playfully. 

“Hawks is correct. You each possess a quirk that the Commission believes would be greatly useful to track and take down Phantom. We have been trying to track them down, but one of them seems to have some sort of ‘flight’ quirk, and they move with striking efficiency. Thanks in large part to the sacrifice of the heroes last night, we finally have their location honed down.”

Eraserhead caught Mirai’s eye. His cold and always bored face cracked for just a second, his eyebrows furrowing.  

“If we know where they are, why can’t we take him down now!” Endeavor exploded, pounding his fist onto the table, his flames waving around his face erratically. 

Endeavor slipped, but from looking over the room, no one noticed. It was a guarded secret that Phantom was not a group, but a single person. If the public, or even heroes knew the extent of his power, panic would set in and they would turn against each other (or more importantly, the Commission). 

Ms. Makoto shot him a poorly disguised glare. “It’s not that simple.” She reached her hand down to the other woman, who handed her a manilla folder. “After their fight with one of the Nomu’s, the ice that was left there couldn’t be melted by either natural heat or antifreeze,” heads all snapped to Endeavor, who’s beard got patches of blue, “In the end, it had to be chiseled out and the road had to be fixed.”

If that was the boy’s only quirk, he would be a danger in itself. That was on par with the Himura family, Endeavor’s own in-laws. Mirai had been reading reports of the group's stints, and it was clear it wasn’t his only quirk. The vigilante was the most successful Nomu, one of those things almost took out All Might. A chill went up Mirai’s spine. He had no way of knowing what the boy was capable of until he could use his quirk on him. 

“What’s that have to do with finding his location?” Eraserhead spoke up for the first time. There was no waiver or hesitancy to his voice, but Mirai sensed there was something else in it. 

“I was getting to that-” Ms. Makoto gave him the same glare as she did Endeavor. “You see, after they were extracted, it was sent to the Commission’s labs. There it was discovered that the ice, despite its temperature, was closer to a crystal or element and was bioluminescent. The sample also radiated a unique signature that matched something in our archives. Using this, researchers were sent out to find any matches. They did.” She smiled like a cat. She stepped off to the side and a holographic map was pulled up.

“The first and weakest sample was found here,” she pointed to a section on the map and it zoomed in to show a large warehouse with a broken roof. “This is just outside Musutafu. Here, we found a small patch of the ice and traces of radiation. They matched.” Her smile got bigger. “The sample was small since we assume it's from before the Hosu Nomu attacks, possibly hours.” The map zoomed out and she scrolled quickly to a section of Hosu. “Here is where the ice was first collected and it has the second largest signature. There were also a few other key areas in Hosu like an alley.”

They waited for her to show the alley but she simply moved along with the presentation. “The trial resumes back in Musutafu. It took some time, but the biggest signature was found a few hours ago,” She zoomed in on a shack, smaller than the warehouse but no less run down. “More ice was found at this location, not just patches, but in the very walls. We also found a few nick-nacks suggesting that this is where they have been residing since Hosu.” 

Heroes faces around the table were shocked. Eraserhead in particular looked pale, but he tried to school his expressions quickly. Hawks was the only one not affected by the information. Mirai wasn’t free from its influence. So much information was revealed just now. While radiation wasn’t uncommon with emitter or some mutant quirks, it wasn’t on the scope that it could be used to track down a specific person. Not just that, but it seemed that Phantom was constantly emitting this radiation or signature even when the quirks are not in use if it's in the foundation of his house. 

“Is the radiation dangerous?” Mirai asked. Even if Phantom himself wasn’t a threat, his very existence could be. 

“Only in large doses, which is nowhere near what we’ve been able to find. The most effect it had on subjects who were overexposed were increased appetite, emotional dysregulation and a short burst of quirk power, similar to drugs. 

Mirai froze. He’s been investigating the yakuza organization, Shie Hassaikai, for the past few months. They deal mainly in quirk boosting drugs called triggers, and they have been getting more and more violent as of late. 

“This brings me to the final location and largest sample,” she zoomed in on an alley. “As I said, we were able to narrow down the location thanks in part to the heroes of last night. This is the alleyway that they encountered Phantom and it has the largest signature. Unlike the others where researchers experienced no ill adverse effects of the radiation, when left to marinate in here for too long, they started reporting the previously explained symptoms. Heroes who came to the scene after the fight also reported similar symptoms, but not on the level of the researchers since they were there longer.”

Hawks let out a low whistle. Everyone turned to him, taken aback by his disrespect.

“Gotta say, the kids sure do have some quirks. ” His voice had a sing-song quality. 

“Hawks, if you cannot be respectful during the meeting, you will be asked to leave.” There was an edge to her voice that went more than just the surface level threat. 

“Whatever, whatever.” He put his hands up in mock surrender and leaned back into his chair. 

“Tell me again, why does this means we can’t go after him?!” Endeavor once again boomed over the table. 

“Because you need to understand what you’re up against. Phantom must be taken down quickly and quietly. Their array of quirks leave too much unpredictability, and we don’t know for certain if they’re working with the League of Villains.”

“I say we should give them a chance.”

“Hawks, I will not ask again.” Ms. Makoto rubbed the bridge of her nose. 

“What, come on. They’re just kids, right? What harm can they do?” His body language was open and playful, like he was making a joke about an annoying teacher. “In fact, I think we should extend an invitation to become a hero. I’m sure the Commission would be able to benefit greatly from that. Just think of the approval ratings.” He closed one of his eyes and looked at Ms. Makoto. She looked ready to burst.

“You may leave the room, Hawks.” She pointed towards the door, but the other woman reached up to touch her hand. Ms. Makoto looked down at her, but the woman just shook her head. “Very well, Hawks, you can stay. Just don’t push your luck.”

“Sure.” He smirked. 

Ms. Makoto breathed in deeply and counted to three before she started again. “Okay, back to the map,” She zoomed out of the map so you could see both cities. Red lines were drawn over it in seemingly random patterns. “This is the trail of the radiation. As you can see, it starts from Musutafu, then Hosu, then back to Musutafu.” Most of the lines were in Musutafu and seemed to be around a 20 mile radius. “We compared the locations of radiation and overlaid it with Phantom sightings,” A green line popped up and sat perfectly over the first. “They’re the same, confirming the link.”

The second woman reaches for a briefcase on the ground. With a few clicks it opens, and she turns it around revealing a blocky machine. It’s a little larger than a cell phone with a screen and knobs.

“This is what you will be using to find Phantom. The light goes to green when it reaches 0.8, meaning that he may have been there. It only works in a radius of 10 feet, so it will mainly be used to map out their behavior or routes. There is a margin of error of course. The thing seems to spike when around large clusters of mutant holders or places where quirks are used a lot. The researchers kept being led to UA for example.”   

Everyone looked to Eraserhead to comment, but he just remained silent, seemingly hyper focused on the map. 

Instead, Mirko spoke up, “Is there a reason it flashes at 0.8 rather than 0.1?”

“There is actually, aside from when Phantom is in the area, the radiation is naturally reoccurring.”

“Why not just have it set to 0.1 then…” she mumbled. 

“This machine is very crude, but the researchers are working on the samples to create any devices that could be used more efficiently against Phantom. They also believe it will help with the Nomus, should they attack again.”

“You each will be given one, and should anything happen to it, you will be responsible,” The other woman grabbed more brief cases and slid them across the table to each hero. 

“Also-based on this map, it’s clear that Phantom is sticking close to Musutafu. We believe they’re trying to find something. The Commission trusts me telling you this because we want you to find out what. That is the second priority to finding Phantom of course.”

“As we saw during the Nomu attacks and again last night, if you do encounter any member from Phantom, call back-up. If you see one, the others are around.”

“Why all the fuss? We’ve each taken down several gangs by ourselves, and not to be mean, but Mt. Lady’s quirk isn’t suited for their quirks, and isn’t Kamui Woods still green?”

“While it's not that we don’t trust your abilities, the group still has a lot of unknowns about it. We haven’t confirmed if they’re working with anybody yet.”

“If you really trusted my abilities, you wouldn’t take issue with me sorting out the problem myself,” Endeavor stood up, graphing the briefcase with force, “If any member from the League shows up, then I’ll call for back-up. Otherwise, I can take care of this pest myself.” He glared down at Ms. Makoto in challenge. She met his gaze and held it. She looked like a chihuahua staring down a much larger dog. 

Endeavor walked out of the room, a final glare and door slam left behind him. There was nothing she was able to do. She sucked in a growl.

“I think this concludes the meeting.” Her face was tight with a forced smile, like she just bit into a lemon. She bowed and rushed out of the room. The woman beside her gently gathered up her stuff and bowed to the rest of the heroes, but followed after.

“Ha!” Hawks let out a laugh, “I guess it's true that you should never meet your heroes.”

“He’s such a man,” Mirko rolled her eyes and tsked. “Just because they took two Nomus down in the time for you to get one, doesn’t mean it’s an insult to your pride.”

“Do you really think that's it?” Rag Doll cocked her head, “I thought it seemed more personal than that.”

“Nah, the old man’s always been like that,” Hawks agreed, “A hot head who’s flames can’t compare. He might not have the best approval ratings, but the fact that he’s so highly ranked proves his skill. I think that's a good thing. Getting too caught up in approval can slow a hero down.”

“What, not like you? Is that what you’re trying to say.” Mirko teased, “Careful Icarus, if you get too close you’ll melt.”

“I can’t tell if you’re referring to my ego or Endeavor,” He laughed back. “Still, I think that would be good for heroes. Not getting caught up with public appearances or drama gives us some free time.”

“Is that why you’re rushing everywhere, to save time?” Mirai  wasn’t sure if they were flirting or not. 

“Of course,” He winked at her and she laughed and waved him off. 

“I need to leave,” Eraserhead suddenly stood up and marched towards the door.

“Come on Eraserhead, stay” Mirko called him back, “If anything we could work out a game plan to get these fuckers. I know they’re kids, man, but they could get themselves or hurt.”

“I still think they should be allowed to become pro’s, or at least one of them. Imagine how popular they would be?”

“They’d give you a run for your spot, oh great #4 hero.”

Eraserhead didn’t listen to them and just left.

“What a buzz kill,” Hawks wined, “whatever, we can always work it out ourselves”

“I think it’s time I take my leave as well,” Mirai excused himself and bowed.

“Not you too. I was excited to talk to you. I bet you got some pretty good stories about All Might” There was that look in his eye again, and Mirai had to work to ignore it.

“Another time perhaps.” And he left. He heard them still talk behind the door.

“Parties over I guess. Hey, you wanna get something to eat? I know a good chicken place.”

“As long as you’re buying bird-brain.”

“Uhh, am I invited?”

Mirai didn’t stay to hear the rest of it, he had a plan to make. Firstly, now that he had one of his own trackers, he could find Phantom before either UA or the Commission. He could find out for himself if the boy could be trusted, and then decided the best outcome with his quirk. Doubt swirled in his head since he didn’t know if he would be damning the boy or the world with this plan. What if his quirk shows him that Phantom was evil, but it was only by looking that it caused it. He couldn’t let that sway him. In this case the risks were greater than the maybe. Only problem with that plan was that he didn’t have enough sidekicks to delegate to Musutafu, not that he would ever send Mirio close to Phantom. 

He also had his own investigation to take care of, although he could see how Phantom could become important in that. If Shie Hassaikai were to find out about the boy’s radiation, they could harness it into a more powerful drug. That was wrong. Using a human to further quirk drugs, regardless of their possible alignment was immoral. 

He also had All For One to consider. If he was truly the villain's son, there were two outcomes. Outcome 1, If Phantom truly escaped with the Nomu’s, the League were sure to be looking for him. That would result in a lot of fighting and even death. If UA got him, it would put their students at risk. Class 1-A had already fought them before and succeeded, but that wasn’t going to be a certain every time. However if Phantom were to be captured by the Commission, they would be able to handle the League, but Phantom would not be in a world of good. Mirai had heard rumors about how they train heroes.

Outcome 2, is that Phantom was still affiliated with the League and it was just an act. If he joined UA, he could be using it to get closer to All Might and take him out, resulting in the loss of many children as he escaped. If he were to be captured by the Commision, the least harm would come to anyone. 

Then they’re was the less likely 3 outcome that Phantom has no relation to the League or All For One and is just a phenomenon in nature. That would result in an unpredictable outcome. He also had to consider what it was that Phantom was looking for. It could be something as benign as a lost pet to something as major as a weapon.

Based on these, supporting the Commission is the most logical stance. He just didn’t have the resources to pursue Phantom himself, and there were too many risks in trusting UA. Still, would Mirai be able to live with that decision if Phantom had truly escaped All For One? He would be handing the kid from one abuser to another. He had too. There was too much at stake.

A thought flashed into his mind. The work studies. They were on track to happen in a few weeks, that would give him time to get a few sidekicks and possibly seek out Phantom himself. No, that would just be putting more children in harm's way. Mirai could always set up a task force of his own through the hero network. He’s done so before with equally risky missions. The only problem then was that he wasn’t allowed to inform other heroes of what he knows, otherwise he could lose his hero license. 

A decision was made. They can’t afford Phantom being on the loose in case something happens, whether that be the League or other villains find him. Mirai had to support the Commission to protect the most lives. If UA were to capture Phantom, Mirai would offer his services to see the repercussions. 

He only hopes that's the right choice.

#danny phantom #dp #dp fic #dp crossover #dp x bnha #dp cross #mha #boku no hero academia #bnha #sir nighteye #hawks mha #hawks bnha #mha hawks #bnha hawks #Mirko #Mirko bnha #mha Mirko #my hero academia #asleep in the keep

[thesoulspulse]

Owen's Timeline (Part 3 ~ Teenager Continued...)

And here we have Part 3 of Owen's timeline basically summarizing the rest of the most important events so far in his first story arc.

Owen senses something is amiss about their visitor and rushes down to warn Vlad, horrified to find that it's the same Wraith in disguise who tried to kill him too that fateful day. At the same time Vlad realizes she must have killed the investigator at some point to get those files so she could personally deliver them to Vlad, thereby getting a shot at Owen again too.

Owen's powers start going off wildly in response to seeing his parents murderer and this time the power is so concentrated even Vlad can see those butterflies swarming around him to create a barrier. Taking advantage of the distraction while the Wraith is fixated on Owen -who isn't acting like himself- Vlad attacks her. Then Danny shows up after using Vlad's ghost portal as a shortcut inside and lends Vlad a hand keeping the Wraith busy.

Owen's consciousness is temporarily taken over by the collective memories of all his past lives and tells Danny about Revenants/Living Ghosts who are people who have died but returned to life again.

He also mentions how Danny is “marked by Death” too which is an important detail to keep in mind for later.

Lastly this entity temporarily awakens Danny's ice powers from within his ghost core which he uses to help pin down the Wraith long enough for Owen to banish it.

After the fight Danny tells Vlad about the occult website with haunted photos on it, one of which happens to be of Azrael/Kurst and Owen.

While staying at the Regal Hotel Vlad and Owen get a call about ravens circling the mansion who were most likely called there by Owen's Necromancy powers but Vlad refused to go back to make sure of that since they might be spies working for Azrael/Kurst. (Note: Owen will get his own Familiar later on though.) Also Vlad was half right, some of them were spies and helped track down Eris so he could hold her hostage and entice Owen to come looking for her.

Two days later they go back to the mansion and that night Owen discovers another new power, the ability to use astral projection to separate his soul/consciousness from his body while his body is still alive.

The next day Owen calls Danny and finds out Azrael's name, a part of him unconsciously remembering that's actually the name of an Angel of Death and not his real one which we later find out is actually Kurst.

Owen confronts Vlad shortly after for not telling him Eris had been reported missing. They sort things out then decide to visit Salem in search for answers, hoping to find Eris too.

As soon as Vlad and Owen get there they discover the entire town has been put to sleep by Nocturne, the Ghost of Sleep. Vlad takes Owen back to his childhood home there to escape notice. And while there Owen starts to wonder if his mother knew more about their family ties to necromancy than she let on before she died.

Owen suggests summoning Nocturne to save them both a lot of time and effort wandering around Salem, insisting that the sooner they get the town back to normal the sooner they can get back to searching for Eris and answers about his connection to Azrael

The summoning works but sadly Nocturne breaks free due to Owen's inexperience and Vlad gets knocked out from a nasty blow to the head. Meanwhile Owen astral projects out of his body to escape and takes refuge in his mother's antique shop. There he's found by Eris who managed to escape from Azrael earlier by magically transforming into a cat and she hangs up on his call to Danny asking for help, insisting on telling him the truth about herself at last.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker manage to convince Frostbite to let them borrow the Infimap to reach Salem sooner via a nearby ghost portal and make it to the antique store just before Owen's spirit is forced to return to his body.

Meanwhile Vlad is trapped in a dream until he's shocked awake by it taking a very sudden dark turn and sees the aftermath of Azrael controlling Owen and making him use his powers to utterly defeat Nocturne before Danny and the rest of the gang get there.

Owen wakes up inside some sort of ritual chamber and meets Azrael again face to face who tells him everything. About how they were friends in his past life and made a blood pact as children that has kept them connected all these years, making Azrael a ghost while Owen was reincarnated into who he is now 400 years later.

Azrael tells Owen they're going to destroy the council after his awakening once they renew their blood pact. But Owen remembers the tracker Vlad gave him and uses it to give the others a heads up to where he is.

While Vlad and Danny confront Azrael, Sam and Tucker sneak down to Owen's location but unfortunately are unable to free him and he ends up dangerously close to dying, meeting a Shadow of Death who reveals his destiny to stop Lilith, Azrael's real name, Kurst, and Death's part in creating the Ghost Zone to protect ghosts from becoming one of her Wraiths and destroying the living world.

Sam manages to resuscitate Owen after he had stopped breathing and he rushes off to confront Kurst, saving Vlad's life and then using the same dagger that Kurst killed him with in his past life after being tricked by the council to remake their pact but on his terms, not Kurst's. This releases an incomplete Wraith from Kurst's heart which Owen destroys by incinerating it's core with his now fully awakened necromancer powers.

Two days later Owen wakes up and Vlad tells him about his plans to officially adopt him and help solve the rest of this mystery about the council's schemes and the master of the Wraiths which Owen hasn't told Vlad anything about yet since they've been through enough recently without adding more fuel to the fire so to speak.

Then they pay Owen's parents a visit at the graveyard before heading back to Wisconsin to prepare for the charity event.

Eris lays low at the mansion though since she's still considered a missing person and doesn't want to work for the council anymore after learning what they did to Kurst and Owen 400 years ago.

The charity event starts off smoothly until social workers come for Owen, telling them the director of Mistveil has been arrested because he's suspected to be behind a bunch of recent kidnappings so they have to take him into protective custody. They have until after the event is over so Vlad asks Danny for help again searching for clues about what's really going on.

They soon discover through the combined efforts of Eris's shadow along with Danny, Sam, Tucker, and a vision from Owen that seven people had snuck into the building who had been given orders by one of the council members to capture Owen along with several other children from Mistveil suspected of being gifted as well. They even mistook Danny as one of them earlier and tried to corner him but they got away.

After leaving Owen in their care for the time being Vlad tracks down four of the impostors who attempt to force the social workers to leave the building while posing as fake security guards. Vlad fights against their magic and wins, immediately teleporting to where Owen and the others are to help them detain the final three intruders.

Once the intruders are arrested Vlad convinces the police to send patrols to keep an eye on the Mistveil kids for their protection instead of sending them to a shelter so whoever is already staying in a foster home won't have to deal with the stress of unnecessarily being taken away from a familiar setting, promising to hire more security in his mansion for Owen too.

His timeline ends there for now but I'll make a Part 4 of this once the sequel is finished!

#danny phantom #danny phantom oc #danny phantom fanfiction #owen ravenwood #nevermore #timeline #story timeline #part 3 #fanfiction #fanfic #the souls pulse #the soul's pulse #thesoulspulse

[tanglepelt]

Are we to blame?

AO3

After a reveal, Maddie reflects on everything.

Was it their fault?

Was Phantom because of them?

Were they to blame?

Ever since the reveal. Since they found out their son was Phantom that’s been on her mind.

Did they cause it?

It’s a simple matter of fact. That ghosts are dead. They don’t need to breathe and don’t have heartbeats. They don’t need to hold a physical form. Ghosts were something unknown. Nothing like what their biased research suggests, a whole new species.

Ghosts weren’t alive, at least not in the human sense. Ghosts had to be dead.

Yet phantom… Danny wasn’t dead. Danny was still a human, heartbeat and all.

For Danny to be half ghost and he has to be. Even if hasn’t said that out loud. The transformation turns him into a ghost. Same abilities to fly, the ecto blast, and all the standard powers. There was no doubt about it. Phantom was a ghost, and Danny was human. Yet both are the same person. Even the anti-ecto weapons hurt Phantom.

The weapons...

The guns, lasers, and traps. Their house was designed to keep ghosts out. The security system going off. All of it, it was intended to prevent or capture ghosts. The house was designed to hurt him.

How often had they gone after their son?

How many injuries did they cause?

How many of the bruises, injuries, and nights lacking sleep were their fault? How much was there blame? Going after Phantom over and over. The hunt was never-ending, taking every opportunity they had to hunt him. Going to Casper high, chasing him in the GAV, and the words they didn’t speak.

She shouldn’t have shot first.

They were to blame for never asking questions. Assuming the worse of an entire species, completely forgetting there are two sides to a story. They continually mocked Phantom, and threatened him.

Always screaming about ripping Phantom apart. Tearing him apart molecule by molecule. Hinting him. They hunted their son. Hunted their half-dead son.

When could he have died? How did it happen?

Maddie knew that logically his death happened around when the ghost first appeared. When the portal first opened.

They still didn’t know what caused the portal to suddenly work. Nothing had changed. Nothing new they did. Something and have shifted or changed. A portal wouldn’t just start working out of nowhere, the calculations had been correct. It was the portal structure itself that didn’t work. Neither she nor Jack had touched the portal before it lit up. Things don’t start working without a change.

Around the time the portal began to let beings through was when Danny’s behavior changed.

Phantom showed up at the same time. He had to have died somewhere in that timeframe. He was already turning into Phantom within the first week of the portal being open. The start of the madness they created. They brought the ghosts into the human realm.

All the signs something was wrong had been there. Ignored by the thrill of the portal finally working.

They saw the changes.

How he was always out past curfew, his grades dropped, and how exhausted he always was. Those should have been red flags. They should have investigated it more. They were scientists the evidence had been tight in front of them.

Why didn’t they piece it together?

They must have been too distracted. Every event seemed to revolve around ghosts, even the ones that were meant to be ghost free. When Jack and Danny went fishing only for a ghost attack. While she was home with jazz it wasn’t peaceful. They had to deal with a ghost girls’ night out on the town.

When she tried to take Danny on a trip it ended up with them stuck in the woods, being hunted by ghost animals. When Danny started freaking out seeing things that weren’t there, Jazzs forced vacation. Danny had been freaking out that whole time. The ghost shield looking for anti-ghost weapons. Danny had been acting like a madman claiming ghosts were around. Maddie would bet there had to have been.

Danny wouldn’t have lied like that.

There had to have been a ghost. That paranoia of what he was seeing, a ghost had invaded that trip. Time after time it was all ghosts. Jack fished them out of the portal, his willy-nilly lab safety.

Jack just opened that portal whenever he pleased, letting things in and out at allay every day. Even before the portal was working its all they could think about. Their lack of precautions is so obvious now. Keeping ectoplasm in the fridge, bringing food to life. There aren’t any locks on their lab equipment. No safety locks, really the only warning system they have is for the filter and a ghost alarm.

The weapons are all laid out, and easily accessible. They even have a dungeon and that’s not secure. Anyone could get into it. They could lecture about safety all day but don't actively enforce it. There was no safety in this house.

They were lucky nothing happened when the kids were young.

Without Danny telling them what happened she couldn’t say nothing happened. The portal suddenly working right around when he got powers didn’t suggest anything good. For now, all they could do is move on and do better.

One day she may get her answers.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #maddie fenton #dannymay2023 #day 25 #blame #maddie and jack accept danny in this #shocking #fanfic #phanfic

[clockwayswrites]

City Pigeons - Part 10

WC: 817, Masterpost

Jason sighed as the tablet in his hands flashed with alerts. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“How did the meeting with Black Bat go?” Bruce asked instead of responding, because of course he did.

“You know it went fine,” Jason said, trying not to snap. “Besides, everyone likes her, there was a good chance it was always going to go fine.”

“We both know trauma isn’t always that easy,” Bruce said, his tone carefully modulated to be gentle. It rankled Jason, like it always did.

Jason took a breath and let his chin drop to his chest for a moment. Bruce didn’t mean it like that. He knew that now. This was Bruce trying as best as he was able— it wasn’t just another mask. Bruce just had to put effort into emotions that made it seem forced. Jason pushed away his flair of temper; it was harder to do than he’d like after too much worry and too little sleep.

“Ja—”

“I’m fine. It’s just like you said, trauma isn’t always that easy. I’m fine,” Jason said as he waved the concern away. “And names. You know we’re sticking to code names still.”

Bruce tilted his head, observing Jason through the white lenses. (That used to rankle too.)

“You thinking there’s a chance he’ll run.”

Jason sighed. He gave an exaggerated shrug to cover the worry that ran through him at the question. “Not run, exactly. I think he doesn’t believe that he can stay— that it’s even on the table. I think that we’re his last hope and he doesn’t believe in hope anymore.”

Bruce didn’t move. Jason gave him time to think that over.

“That’s why he doesn’t want to see… Wayne,” Bruce said, slowly, like he was feeling the idea out. “He doesn’t expect to get anything from him so it’s better to be healed up first.”

Jason shrugged again.

“Figure so. But also once that meeting happens, whatever happens, then all of this,” Jason motioned to the safe house, “is over as far as he knows. If he puts off the meeting, he puts off the risk of losing the first safety that I think he’s hand in a long, long time.”

Bruce’s shoulders hunched and he almost blended back into the shadows by the window. “If he’s already posed for it to go badly…”

“B, that’s not your fault,” Jason said— had to say. “The kid’s been through hell, maybe by his own family, of course he’s going to expect the worst.”

It was a long moment and then Bruce nodded, just once. “What’s the plan?”

If Jason really had his way, the plan would be to deal with all these ill feelings, but that’s not what anyone in the family was good at, him included. It would be what it would be.

“We’ll have BB over again for a meal tomorrow. I’m sure it will keep going well and she can help be on watch that night. We think it’s best to give that a few days before we introduce O or anyone else new, so you have to keep the rest of the horde reigned in,” Jason said pointedly. Then a though occurred to him. “Where is the little spawn anyways?”

“He’s on the roof across the block.”

“Yeah, is he? Because that was a lot of alerts—”

“Hood!”

Jason didn’t think before he was striding across the room towards Danny’s room. The kid was standing in the door. White hair stark in the low light. Green eyes bright.

Glowing.

Wide with fear.

“Danny?”

“Someone else is here,” Danny said. His voice was almost too quiet to hear, but Jason could half swear he felt it in his very bones. Danny reached out and clung onto the sleeve of Jason’s hoodie. A cold settled into Jason’s bones along with the vibration of the soft words. “Someone touched by death. Can you feel them too? They’re not not like us. They haven’t died. They haven’t died, but they reek of death. Hood, what are they?”

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re safe here, remember?” Jason assured Danny automatically. The words rolled out of his mouth without Jason having to even think about them, which was good, because Jason’s mind was still caught on Danny’s words: They’re not like us. They haven’t died. “Some Bats just stopped by to check on us.”

Was it Bruce? Did all of Gotham’s death cling to his shoulders like his cape?

Was it Damian? Was it the stench of the Pits?

Or did Jason miss something else slipping in with all of the other alarms.

“We’ll go check on Nightwing together, alright? I bet he has a little red and black guest who slipped in,” Jason said. He twisted his hand to hold Danny’s. The cold bit at his skin. He didn’t let go.

He hoped he was right.

He had a hard time believing in hope too.

---

AN: A myyyyyyyystery *wiggly fingers*. Gods I'm so tired.

I no longer tag, you can subscribe to the masterpost instead!

#jason has therapy but he still hates feelings #bruce doesn't know how people do feelings #this is a problem #dp x dc #batpham #city pigeons

[home-of-renn]

Imagine if Danny ends up marrying Sam in the DPxAddams AU.

Honestly, I’m not really a Sam x Danny shipper. Mostly cause I didn’t really grow up watching the show (I still haven’t actually watched it even though I somehow got sucked into the fandom) so I don’t really ship any of the characters in the DP. I’m a big fan of platonic love/affection and love the idea of Sam, Danny and Tucker just being absolute ride or dies for one another but having it be completely platonic. I feel like romantic love tends to overshadow every other kind of love like; familial love, love between friends etc. 

Plus having a romantic couple in a trio always leaves someone left out which always ends up being a bit cliche and sad. 

-

But I guess if Danny and Sam were to get married, then Sam would be over the moon about finally being officially a part of the Addams family (even though Sam and Tucker had already been long since accepted considering the three of them are a non-negotiable packaged deal).

Before they got married Sam always felt weird visiting the Addamses without Danny. She would drop hints that Danny should check up on his relatives in the hopes that he would let her tag along as well. It didn’t take long for Danny to figure out what she was doing and It kinda got on his nerves a little when she’d bring it up too often, mostly cause it would mean that he’d have to leave Amity unprotected while he was away and it made his Obsession feel uneasy. But he’d give in half the time cause he thoroughly enjoyed visiting the Addamses. Their home always made him feel relaxed and safe and he enjoys having people he could trust to openly talk about his ghostly side and asks questions. That and he always felt a little bad when he’d snap at Sam or turn down her hints when he knew how often she fought with her parents and that the Addamses were kind, accepting people. He knew how much she wished her parents would accept her and he always felt a little guilty.  

Honestly I don’t think much would change in how the Addamses would treat Sam. The biggest change would be that Sam would just be a lot more comfortable coming and going without Danny in tow. She’d love the family reunions (even though Danny had dragged her and Tucker along many times before) and would definitely bring her grandmother. 

Her parents hadn’t been happy that she married the Fenton boy and her mother had almost fainted at the very first sight of the Addamses. Her parents refused to step a single foot in their direction and said that it wasn’t as though they needed to get to know each other since they were only distantly related to Danny.  

I don’t actually know much about Jewish traditions and celebrations so I'm not going to elaborate too much on that aspect without doing some proper research - but the Addamses would be very accepting of Sam and her beliefs and would definitely be respectful and take part in her celebrations if she asked them. 

#dp #dp x addams family #dp x the addams #dp x the addams family #dp x addams #home of renn #danny phantom #the addams family #sam manson #ask #renn #ask renn #renn replies

[yourneighborhoodneighbor]

kool aid

(masterpost to my fics while ao3 is down) AO3

In his defense, Danny had been 14 when he died.

Everybody knew that teenagers were going through some crazy changes on pretty much all levels, and so being a teenager didn't lend itself to the most “rational” of decisions (though Danny would argue that that was subjective, really).

So it was no surprise at all, he thought, that there were only three things Amity Park knew about its resident vigilante for certain: that he was dead, that he was as feral if not more than the people he fought, and that his name was Kool Aid.

That's right, Kool Aid, like the drink. 

See, Danny, he was just fourteen when his whole “being dead” situation had started. And then pretty much immediately the whole “ghosts are attacking now, apparently” thing had followed. Danny, in equal parts guilt over the whole situation and teenage impulsivity had decided he was going to be the one to deal with it. 

At first, it had admittedly been a pretty stressful and awful situation, but pretty soon he had realized that, by having a secret identity, he could pretty much do whatever the hell he wanted with little to no repercussions (aside from the ghost hunters, amongst them his parents, but that would have happened regardless simply because he existed, so he didn't really count that one).

And so Kool Aid had been born.

Danny thought it was a rather clever name himself, having an element of heroism in it (Aid), a nod to his ice core and ice powers (Kool), and an element of nothing but self indulgent fun (Kool Aid, cmon, that was hilarious-).

In order to embrace his namesake, the half ghost had taken to phasing through walls, floors, and generally anywhere that wasn't the door or the window in a grand display of snowworks (like fireworks, but but from snow, get it? Oh, he was such a clever jokester-) when coming across either a ghostly attack or human crime. He refused to actually break through the wall unnecessarily because he was a Very Good Boy who understood property damage and followed the code of “confuse, don't abuse”, thank you very much.

Regardless, he was preparing what he wanted to do next time he needed to stop a crime while floating above the roof of the Nasty Burger when he heard a yelp followed by the sound of someone getting punched. He showed his notebook and pen into The Void and flew toward the commotion, deciding to try out his plan right now.

And so he donned his pizza delivery uniform he had totally legally acquired what do you mean stealing is bad, grabbed an empty pizza box from The Void he had stored just for this purpose, and flew toward the commotion.

What he saw when he arrived, invisible of course, he didn't wanna ruin the surprise, he saw what seemed to be a group of four ghosts fighting amongst themselves. Well, that wouldn't do. Danny was all for letting loose in a good old fight, but these guys were wrecking the place around them. ANd as stated, Danny was a Very Good Boy who didn't condone reckless property damage (unless the property was yours, then by all means, that was fun).

He flew inside the backroom of the Nasty Burger and, deciding to actually use the door for once, slammed opened the entrance to the backroom and stepped out into the alley with the ghosts with a too big feral smile on his face.

“Did y'all order a pizza?” he yelled, stumping the ghosts for a second, them only staring in absolute befuddlement. Really, these guys didn't know how to take a joke. Oh well, he tried.

“No? Bummer. How about some ass-kicking instead? Free of charge! 😊” he exclaimed. The other ghosts barely had time to react to that before Danny was already putting the box (empty, he wasn't about to waste a pizza) upright in front of the closest ghosts face, before punching right through in a very canon-man-through-the-circus-wall kind of way, nailing the other right on the nose. After that it was a pretty quick fight, involving some whack-a-mole to the head with a pizza box and some definitely-not-salsa dripping from said box, ending in some souped ghosts. 

Maybe Danny should see about making a Fenton-Pizza-Box, like his thermos but as a pizza box. It would be so so funny to kneel in front of a ghost as if he was about to propose and then open up the box, just for the ghost to get sucked in. Although, maybe he should do that with an actual ring box. Oh well, he fought enough ghosts that he would probably get to do both.

But for now, the Kool Aid man needed to go back home. There was unfortunately still homework to be done.

#danny phantom #crack #fanfiction #my fics #yourneighborhoodneighbor

[marisandini-chu-blog]

Is it just me? There's no way it's just me.

But the concept of Danny Phantom having Protection as his Core Obsession is NOT WOKE.

Let me elaborate, and I don't care who doesn't read it.

So... let me just say "Protection as Obsession" I love it. The plot device makes use the inhuman quality of Danny being half-ghost combine with his human decency.

But then I see a lot of fics starting to strech this concept as Angsty as possible which results to Danny suffering a symptom called "I must save people on a regular basis because of my compulsion" or "My core will hurt me and I'll suffer if I ignore a cry for help"

And immediately I'm like "Nopenopenopenope!" because that's not what makes Danny Fenton a hero.

Look, I get it. You want the angst. Heck, if the Phandom is a ghost, I'm pretty sure its obsession is Angst with a capital "A". That's how obsessive y'all are and I love you guys for it. And I also know the main core of the fic will always show that Danny is a True Hero.

Which is why I feel people are lost of what makes Danny Fenton a hero outside of the angst.

Which is the fact Danny choose to be a hero.

When Danny became a halfa, he hadn't realize it yet, but he was already acting like a hero before deciding to be one. In the first episode, and ectopuss was the first ghost he fought off screen, and considering his fast reaction, that might not have been the first ghost he fought.

In fact, considering Danny wasn't just hiding his Halfa status, but also the portal working and the existence of ghosts, he might have just been kicking ghosts back to the GZ way earlier but with the mindset of "HOLY CRAP I TURN TO GHOST! THERE ARE GHOST! MY PARENTS CAN'T KNOW THIS OR I MIGHT GET IN TROUBLE! I DON'T KNOW FOR WHAT BUT I WILL!"

The sort of teenage panic when you did something you weren't supposed to do and ended up trying to erase ALL the evidence.

I don't even think Danny knew he died. All he know was that he became something different that might cause him to be ostracise by his peers and family. He doesn't know how his condition might affect his future. He was 14 year old kid, and had a life-altering accident that would change how he live his life from that point forward and wasn't sure what to do with being able to go through walls, disappear, and fly.

Danny was 14 years old and was reasonable confused and scared for himself.

Him dying, was ironically, the last thing on his mind when he has living shit to do.

But then the Lunch Lady happen, and after facing the first sentient ghost, and at the end of the day finally had the revelation of "Hey, my powers aren't so bad and scary when I use them for a purpose, which is to help people." (Boy, is this boy dense. You've been doing that the whole time, Danny.)

Danny Fenton became a hero to feel good about himself. Danny Fenton became a hero to accept himself.

And I think that's such an important take away that a lot of fans miss, the fact that Danny Phantom is a persona for Danny to learn to be comfortable with all aspect of himself; whether it'd be his ghost abilities, his personality, his new-found responsibility, and identity. It's a self-discovery journey most teens finds him the most relatable, especially combine with a lot of episodes has Danny struggle to be accepted by the A-List before deciding he's better off being a better version of himself.

That's who Danny Phantom is.

So when fics degress his heroic actions into "obsession" that he has little control over, it makes Danny Phantom into a forced identity set by a younger version of himself to an older, jaded version of him that no longer being able to accept himself is awfully tragic to me.

Where am I going with this???

Oh yeah, so this is basically my rant for Obsession to be more flexible for a halfa so Danny can use the persona "Danny Phantom" as the best version of himself in more fics.

But that might be difficult with all the vivisiction-obsessed character out there, and you nutjobs (affectionately) running most of the fandom.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #is it just me #dp #dp fandom #thoughts #GIVE DANNY FENTON A BREAK #ghost obsessions #ghost core

[rjalker]

Okay so before I forget and deprive the phandom of this idea, here's the dream I had last night:

Danny got tired of Valerie trying to kill him without giving him a chance to explain his side of the story, so in the middle of the fight he flew up and grabbed her and just started flying straight up as fast as he could.

His idea was that if she saw the stars from outer space, she'd be so awestruck she'd just have to give him the chance to sort out the various misunderstandings that have lead to her hating his guts - Cujo isn't his dog, he's the ghost of one of Axiom Labs(?) own guard dogs that was put down, and he's latched onto Danny through no fault of his own. He was not trying to kill her when he blasted apart her suit - he already knew she wasn't in there, and it was trying to kill him. He does not want to hurt her or fight her, and he doesn't mean her or anyone else any harm.

Her suit will keep supplying her with oxygen and warmth, but the cold will make the outside hard to move, so she won't be able to attack him, just listen.

Surely, this is the world's greatest plan, right? Surely no one can get to look out into space without the atmosphere or light pollution in the way and decide to turn away to fight someone who doesn't want to fight, right?

Welp. Things were going fine, all according to plan, until Danny's powers randomly decided to short out just as they were about to leave Earth's atmosphere.

Danny transformed back, and couldn't transform again. Valie's suit was already frozen on the outside, so she couldn't move to do anything.

They started to fall.

And kept falling.

And kept falling.

Luckily for both of them, Danny's powers decided to start functioning again just a few seconds before they hit the ground.

He was too panicked to turn intangible, and so his ghost half reacted instinctively, using some new power he'd never known he had before.

He turned into a puddle of goo that absorbed the shock of their fall - but both of them were still knocked completely unconscious.

Danny woke up first. And found himself in a hospital room. And found himself in Valerie's body. And he couldn't leave. This wasn't overshadowing, this was something else.

And then Valerie woke up.

And they realized (after much shouting and panicking) that Danny was somehow trapped in her body, but they both had control. They couldn't read eachother's thoughts, no, that would be too convenient, and Danny's powers are never convenient - they had to speak out loud in order to talk to eachother.

They learned when Valerie's dad came in that they'd been unconcious for several days, and Danny was missing. Now that Valerie knew Danny's secret identity, she knew why.

According to the dream, this situation was never resolved. They stayed stuck together until Valerie died as an old woman.

Stuck like this, they could still "go ghost", but it wasn't Danny Phantom that formed, it was some mix up of Phantom and Valerie, with an entirely new set of powers to contend with on top of Danny's original set.

At some point they managed to bring Jack and Maddy around enough to listen without immediately leaping for their anti ghost weapons, and got Valerie's dad to listen without immediately trying to move out of the entire state.

so yeah. Here's the story my dream told me. Have fun. Please feel free to write or make art for this, lol, my brain's the one who came up with it, not me.

anyways they did in fact live happily ever after, since now they actually had time to talk through their problems and misunderstandings, and there's literally no way they can go into danger without inherently endangering the other, so they both learned to trust eachother and trust eachother to make the right decision, even if that decision means volunteering to be in danger to protect others.

It was great.

#Danny Phantom #DP #Valerie Grey #Valerie Gray #is it an E or an A? #Danny Fenton #DP writing prompts #Grey Ghost