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twoidiotwriters1 · 9 months

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Daughter of Olympus (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I went to Taylor's first México show, I'm a changed woman now. In other news, taglist has been updated, if you want to add yourself fill out this form -Danny Words: 3,338 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter / Next Chapter Listen to: 'do all my friends hate me?' -by Mckenna Grace

III. Mom? Pick Me Up, the Kids Are Being Mean

"What's your story, Ara?"

"I was six when my satyr found me, Clarisse was his original mission."

"Clarisse was your roadtrip buddy? That must've sucked."

I look at Percy with a recriminatory glare. "She was younger and easier to scare... she kept it together for me, though."

"You've been brave so far," he points out. "Clarisse probably made it sound like a bigger deal."

"Ara's a coward," Annabeth says casually. "She's never wanted to go on quests, I'm surprised she agreed to this."

Percy scowls. "I told you not to come if it scared you."

"I'm not scared."

The truth is that I'm okay, I have two older demigods looking after me. I don't tell him that though, I don't want to pressure him.

"Ara..."

"I mean it!"

"I'm glad you came," Annabeth admits. "I'll take you to my quest too. You're full of surprises..."

"Thank Hades, I found you!" Lily seizes Ara's hand and pulls her in the direction of the Big House. "Piper fainted—Rachel wants to see you."

"Rachel's here?" Ara picks up her pace. "Thank Apollo!"

"Everything okay with the new guy? You didn't look very happy when he got claimed."

She shakes her head. "When we rescued this group, I got this feeling..."

"What kind of feeling?"

Ara dismisses Lily without explaining. "See you at lunch."

"You know where to find me," Lily's not pleased, but she doesn't show it. The girl squeezes Ara's shoulder before going away.

When Ara arrives, Jason's already there and Piper's on a couch, still unconscious. Rachel and Annabeth are standing side by side.

"What happened?"

"We've got to heal her," Jason demands. "There's a way, right?"

"Of course there is, she just fainted," Ara frowns. "What happened?"

Chiron places his hand on Piper's forehead. "Her mind is in a fragile state. Rachel?"

"As soon as I got to camp, I had a premonition about Hera's cabin. I went inside. Annabeth and Piper came in while I was there. We talked, and then—I just blanked out. Annabeth said I spoke in a different voice."

"A prophecy?"

"No. The spirit of Delphi comes from within. I know how that feels. This was like long distance, a power trying to speak through me."

"Chiron, what happened back there—I've never seen anything like it," Annabeth says gravely. "I've heard Rachel's prophecy voice. This was different. She sounded like an older woman. She grabbed Piper's shoulders and told her—"

"To free her from a prison?" Jason guesses.

Annabeth stares at him. "How did you know that?"

Chiron makes a gesture over his heart, then he looks at the blond boy. "Jason, tell them. Annabeth, the medicine bag, please."

Jason explains something about an old woman claiming to be his patron. "So does this happen often?" He asks after a brief moment of silence. "Supernatural phone calls from convicts demanding you bust them out of jail?"

"Your patron," Annabeth frowns. "Not your godly parent?"

"No, she said patron. She also said my dad had given her my life."

If someone knows about patrons, that's Ara. Her mind itches with discomfort, she has to tell them about what she saw with Leo.

"You said the storm spirit on the skywalk—he claimed to be working for some mistress who was giving him orders, right? Could it be this woman you saw, messing with your mind?"

"I don't think so. If she were my enemy, why would she be asking for my help? She's imprisoned. She's worried about some enemy getting more powerful. Something about a king rising from the earth on the solstice—"

"Not Kronos," Annabeth gazes at Chiron in alarm. "Please tell me it's not that."

He keeps his eyes on Piper. "It is not Kronos. That threat is ended. But..."

"But what?"

"But now we have a new threat coming," Ara completes, sort of grumpily. "Someone else decided to shoot their shot—"

"Ara."

"Percy's missing, and the camp's in danger. Ten minutes ago I saw that old lady Jason mentioned and—"

"You saw her?" Jason interrupts her. "Did she talk to you?"

"Piper needs rest. We should discuss this later," Chiron intervenes.

"Or now," The boy presses. "Sir, Mr. Chiron, you told me the greatest threat was coming. The last chapter. You can't possibly mean something worse than an army of Titans, right?"

"You told him what?" Ara steps forward. "You knew this was going to happen?"

"Oh," Rachel says in a small voice. "Oh, dear. The woman was Hera. Of course. Her cabin, her voice. She showed herself to Jason and Ara at the same moment."

"Hera?" Annabeth sneers. "She took you over? She did this to Piper?"

"And your father gave you to her?" Ara glances down at Jason's tattoo. "Like, as an offering?"

"I think Rachel's right," he seems slightly uncomfortable. "The woman did seem like a goddess. And she wore this—this goatskin cloak. That's a symbol of Juno, isn't it?"

"It is?" Annabeth makes a face. "I've never heard that."

"Of Juno, Hera's Roman aspect, in her most warlike state. The goatskin cloak was a symbol of the Roman soldier."

"So Hera is imprisoned?" Rachel questions. "Who could do that to the queen of the gods?"

"Well, whoever they are, maybe we should thank them," Annabeth replies heatedly. "If they can shut up Hera—"

"Annabeth, she is still one of the Olympians. In many ways, she is the glue that holds the gods' family together. If she truly has been imprisoned and is in danger of destruction, this could shake the foundations of the world. It could unravel the stability of Olympus, which is never great even in the best of times. And if Hera has asked Jason for help—"

"Fine! Well, we know Titans can capture a god, right? Atlas captured Artemis a few years ago. And in the old stories, the gods captured each other in traps all the time..."

"So Ares and Aphrodite—they have a thing going?"

"That's old gossip, Percy. Three-thousand-year-old gossip."

"What about Aphrodite's husband?"

"Well, you know... Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, and thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly handsome. Clever with his hands and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"Reason why I'm good for nothing," I huff. "Why couldn't she be the goddess of... I don't know, baking..."

"She seems to like bikers," Percy teases me. "Maybe she'd favor you if you become one."

Annabeth shakes her head. "You just need to find your thing and stick to it, Ara."

"Gee, how didn't I think of that!"

"Hephaestus knows about them, then?" Percy gives me a look that's it's clearly meant to shut me up.

"Oh sure," Annabeth replies. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like... Like that."

"The tunnel of love?" I snort. "A bit cliche."

Grover and I stand to the side while Percy and Annabeth slip down the empty pool. I stare at the cupid next to me and the Eta that's carved on it.

A net starts to close around them, Hephaestus's kids are good at building stuff, but this is a whole other level. Tiny spider robots encircle Annabeth and Percy, cameras appear, ready to broadcast the mess.

"Guys!" Percy yells at us. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

I click and press but nothing happens. Then water bursts out of the tanks at Percy's orders. The cameras follow as they move at great speed toward the exit, they jump out and Grover uses his magical shoes to catch Percy and Annabeth.

I stare at the trap, a creation that's harmless but devastating to godly egos. I'm immediately drawn to the idea of making something with my bare hands that could hold this much power.

"The gods need heroes to do their will down here on earth," Rachel says. "That's right, isn't it? Their fates are always intertwined with demigods."

"But Jason's got a point," Annabeth counts. "Why him? Why take his memory?"

"And Piper's involved somehow. Hera sent her the same message—Free me. And, Annabeth, this must have something to do with Percy's disappearing."

"Let's not forget that son of Hephaestus, Leo" Ara points out. "He was with me when I saw Hera, and he saw her too."

The girls look at the centaur. "Why are you so quiet, Chiron? What is it we're facing?"

"My dear, in this, I cannot help you... I am so sorry."

"You've never..." Annabeth gapes. "You've never kept information from me. Even the last great prophecy—"

"I will be in my office. I need some time to think before dinner. Rachel, will you watch the girl? Call Argus to bring her to the infirmary, if you'd like. And girls, you should speak with Jason. Tell him about—about the Greek and Roman gods."

Ara starts to follow Chiron out of the room, but she stops halfway. What's the point? Harassing her mentor with questions won't help, he doesn't look pleased about their situation either.

"I'm sorry," Jason mumbles. "I think me being here... I don't know. I've messed things up coming to the camp, somehow. Chiron said he'd sworn an oath and couldn't talk about it."

"What oath?" Annabeth frowns. "I've never seen him act this way. And why would he tell me to talk to you about the gods..." Her eyes land on something next to Jason. "Is this gold? Do you remember where you got it?"

"No. Like I said, I don't remember anything."

"Hang on..." Ara draws out her compass. "Annabeth, look!" The item has golden hues, the same color as Jason's. "The element we couldn't identify before... it's gold!"

Annabeth turns to exit the room. "If Chiron won't help, we'll need to figure things out ourselves. Which means... Cabin Fifteen. Rachel, you'll keep an eye on Piper?"

"Sure," the redhead takes a seat. "Good luck."

"Hold on," Jason says. "What's in Cabin Fifteen?"

"Maybe a way to get your memory back," Annabeth raises a brow. "Ara, you're coming or not?"

"I've got no choice," she sighs, putting her compass away.

"Why are you smiling?"

"That trap was really cool."

"You liked the trap?" Percy makes a face.

"I didn't enjoy what it did, though it was a great bonding experience," I joke. "I just... I have a soft spot for flashy stuff! The cupids and the cameras... it was breathtaking."

"Yeah, and it wasn't you trapped in it," he scoffs.

"Percy, there must be a reason why my Mom married him. I know what the myth says," I roll my eyes. "But no one can control love! Hephaestus never tried to, no one's ever been fair to him, so he lets her be free and in exchange, she doesn't ask him to be something he's not."

"Aren't you angry he humiliates your mother?"

"My mother is incapable of feeling that. Anger, perhaps, but not shame," I lean my head on his shoulder. "I'm just saying Hephaestus lives for his machines, so he lets my mom do her thing. That's cool."

Percy thinks Aphrodite married the god to keep Zeus off her back. He doesn't want to mess with my optimism at the moment though, so he keeps it to himself.

I fall asleep.

I'm walking through an ancient town, the road is busy with people."There you are!" An old lady talks to me in ancient Greek. "Arche, stop wandering!"

"But it's tiresome!" I complain. "Give me something to do!"

The woman huffs, looking skeptical. She gives me something to do anyway.

"Hi!" The seller in the first tent I visit starts listing everything, but I can only stare at their warm eyes.

"I..." I gulp. "I am..."

"Agape!" A man yells.

The teen gives a start. "What!" They pout. "You said I could help!"

"You must excuse the child," the man approaches me. "Can't stay still."

"It's fine," I whisper hoarsely. Agape smiles, it's a sort of teasing, crooked grin. I don't want to go, but I don't know why I want to stay. "I'll see you..."

It was a promise.

The trip to Hypnos cabin confirms only Hera can give Jason his memories back, but why did she take them away in the first place?

Since Percy went missing, Ara's expecting to get disturbing nightmares, but all she's seen so far are snippets of past lives that give her zero answers. She hates dreaming.

She stands next to Chiron during the campfire, arms crossed and scowling. She's always sulking nowadays, even before her brother's disappearance. The old campers still treat her like before, and the ones who didn't know her look at her as if she could burst into flames at any moment, neither of those two options are good.

"...alive and with most of your limbs attached. In a moment, I promise we'll get to the s'mores, but first—"

"What about capture the flag?"

Ara glares at the cabin five campers. "Yes," Chiron nods. "I know the Ares cabin is anxious to return to the woods for our regular games—"

"And kill people!"

"—However, until the dragon is brought under control, that won't be possible. Cabin Nine, anything to report on that?"

Nyssa stands up. "We're working on it."

"How, Nyssa?"

"Really hard."

The kids start to complain and Chiron quiets them down. "We will have to be patient! In the meantime, we have more pressing matters to discuss."

"Percy?" Someone asks out loud.

Everyone is looking at her and Annabeth, the blonde girl is the first to speak. "We didn't find Percy. He wasn't at the Grand Canyon like I thought. But we're not giving up. We've got teams everywhere. Grover, Tyson, Nico, the Hunters of Artemis—everyone's out looking. We will find him. Chiron's talking about something different. A new quest."

"It's the Great Prophecy, isn't it?"

"Drew? What do you mean?"

"Well, come on!" She rolls her eyes. "Olympus is closed. Percy's disappeared. Hera sends you a vision and you come back with three new demigods in one day. I mean, something weird is going on. The Great Prophecy has started, right?" She looks at Ara. "And it's her fault."

"Not true," Ara replies through gritted teeth.

"You walked into Olympus demanding to be crowned—You're so selfish!"

"Look who's talking!"

Drew has charmspeak, but it isn't needed, plenty of campers share the same thought and they're less than happy to have a Daughter of Olympus amongst them. "Well?" Drew glares at Rachel. "You're the oracle. Am I right or not?"

Rachel steps forward. "Yes. The Great Prophecy has begun."

Ara opens her mouth to speak, but she can't. A new prophecy? The war ended just a few months ago! Drew's eyes lock with hers again and there is disgust in them. What if she's right? Ara asked for this, but she didn't think it would bring the next big prophecy.

Rachels raises her voice. "For those of you who have not heard it, the Great Prophecy was my first prediction. It arrived in August. It goes like this: Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall—" Jason stands up abruptly. "J-Jason? "What's—"

"Ut cum spiritu postrema sacramentum dejuremus," he recites. "Et hostes ornamenta addent ad ianuam necem."

This boy needs to stop talking about things he isn't supposed to know. Ara wants to dissect him and make sure he's not an automaton.

"You just... finished the prophecy," Rachel gapes. "—An oath to keep with a final breath/And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. How did you—"

"I know those lines," Jason holds his head and grimaces. "I don't know how, but I know that prophecy."

"In Latin, no less," Drew smiles. "Handsome and smart."

Ara's siblings laugh at Drew's remark, she remembers when she used to be just as careless. For the first time in years, she wishes she would've thought twice before stepping out of her comfort zone.

Jason sits down in embarrassment, Annabeth mumbles something to him while Rachel glances back at Chiron and Ara hoping they'll step in. The centaur doesn't move, so it's Ara's turn to speak. She's been dreaming about this... but it's not like she imagined.

People doubt her, resent her, and her friends don't think she's got what it takes. Percy tried to tell her she wasn't built for this and she did it anyway. Why?

"Well," Rachel takes the lead when Ara finds herself speechless. "So, yeah, that's the Great Prophecy. We hoped it might not happen for years, but I fear it's starting now. I can't give you proof. It's just a feeling. And like Drew said, some weird stuff is happening. The seven demigods, whoever they are, have not been gathered yet. I get the feeling some are here tonight. Some are not here."

Once again, everyone looks at Ara. It's evident that even if she isn't, she has to join the quest, she can't turn her back on it, not that she would, anyway.

"Anyway," Rachel continues, "I don't think is Ara's fault. Something wants to take advantage of our situation. We don't know what challenge the demigods will face, but since the first Great Prophecy predicted the Titan War, we can guess the second Great Prophecy will predict something at least that bad."

"Or worse..." Chiron mutters.

"What we do know," Rachel resumes, glancing at the centaur with irritation, "is that the first phase has begun. A major problem has arisen, and we need a quest to solve it. Hera, the queen of the gods, has been taken..."

As she starts to describe what's happened, Rachel mentions Hedge died, and Ara's breath hitches. The campfire flickers for a moment, turning scarlet before it goes back to normal, no one seems to notice.

"Jason—Um... do you remember your last name?" Rachels questions. He shakes his head. "We'll just call you Jason, then. It's clear Hera herself has issued you a quest."

"I agree."

"You must save Hera to prevent a great evil, some sort of king from rising. For reasons we don't yet understand, it must happen by the winter solstice, only four days from now."

"That's the council day of the gods," Annabeth adds. "If the gods don't already know Hera's gone, they will definitely notice her absence by then. They'll probably break out fighting, accusing each other of taking her. That's what they usually do."

"The winter solstice," Chiron says, "is also the time of greatest darkness. The gods gather that day, as mortals always have, because there is strength in numbers. The solstice is a day when evil magic is strong. Ancient magic, older than the gods. It is a day when things... stir."

"Okay," Annabeth scowls. "Thank you, Captain Sunshine. Whatever's going on, I agree with Rachel. Jason has been chosen to lead this quest, so—"

"Why hasn't he been claimed?" An Ares kid shouts. "If he's so important—"

"He has been claimed," Chiron finally gives an answer. "Long ago. Jason, give them a demonstration."

Jason steps forward and Ara knows something big is about to happen. He pulls out the coin from his pocket and flips it, a spear materializing in his hand. Annabeth steps back and frowns. "Wasn't that... I thought you had a sword."

"Um, it came up tails, I think," he replies awkwardly. "Same coin, long-range weapon form."

"Dude, I want one!" A kid shouts.

"Better than Clarisse's electric spear, Lamer!"

"Electric," Jason mutters. "Back away."

The people closest to him oblige at once, he raises the weapon and lightning goes through the spear, redirecting itself toward the campfire. Jason puts his arm down, completely uninjured. "Um... sorry."

Chiron brushes off a bit of cinder, and he nods. Once again, he looks in pain. "A little overkill, perhaps, but you've made your point. And I believe we know who your father is."

"Jupiter," Jason answers. "I mean Zeus. Lord of the Sky."

"Ah, fuck..." Ara complains quietly.

This is why she isn't having weird dreams, Jason must be swimming in them.

"You're a baby bird, that's all," Percy's quite proud of me, my charmspeak edged Crusty to let go of him so my friend could cut him in half. "Give it a few years, you'll be a grown dove one day—that's your mother's symbol, right?"

"It's okay if my life revolves around beauty and feelings only, I'm okay with that," I shrug.

"Then why did you join my quest?"

"I was bored," that's the answer I've been giving him since the start, but now it doesn't convince him.

"It's not safe to hang out with me," he raises a brow. "You could die, you know?"

"I'm not important enough to die," I laugh.

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @ash-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen

#twoidiots writing #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #pjo fanfic #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #doo #heroes of olympus

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judgeverse · 2 years

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various thoughts and discoveries about basher and reuben in ocean’s 13 (while I’m thinking about it, and for the sake of anybody else who ever noticed Them and their wholesome little love story buried in a heist movie):

there are two freezeframes where several of basher’s love letters are visible. "Dearest Reuben” is the specific one that made me go “oh THAT’S why the letters...”, but here’s everything I could get. they are amazing. https://pastebin.com/Dzf4R1pw

“Dearest Reuben, When you want- loving to someone,- expressing your feeling is- ment. When someone you- physically support yourself- your feet firmly- to breathe. Thin- they are trying- When your- you do it wha- Figure out wh- When everything- are overwhelming- comforting.”

the love letters were not in the original script (they were written by basher but were never opened or read). the gay contents of them, and the plot of healing reuben through the power of love, were added later on. not sure if this was a decision made by the actors, director, or both, but the commentary track on 13 says the following (right at the danny, basher, and reuben ending fireworks scene):

“A lot of the scenes in this movie we’d had to rewrite many times, but that ending, that came easily. Seeing who those guys were, and getting to find a way to let them express their hearts, was really exciting, and that was a moment where the actors and Steven just completely elevated what we’d been thinking of.”

more info bits under the cut -

this is very blink-and-miss-it and a YMMV type of thing, but I think there may be an implication basher is gay; linus is uncomfortable with buying him the “mags” (and equally uncomfortable with reading the gay letters out loud), but linus later mentions to the group that he’d learned something in maxim magazine, which he’s fine with reading, bringing up, and discussing (albeit awkwardly). QED, whatever basher wanted him to buy was not that, and my guess is something gay, probably, based on linus’s reaction to the letters also

based on actor heights, basher is 5’8’’ and reuben is 6’3’’. this is important information.

reuben is not in his 70s omg i saw at least one post in the tag somewhere implying this but no!! based on actor ages, in oceans 11, reuben is early 60s and basher is late 30s. definitely an age difference but hey. basher can set his goals wherever he wants to

basher wrote him at least 13 letters in total, based on counting the envelopes (cinematic parallels!)

reuben’s mentioned as having an ex wife, which, provided he’s being honest to bank about that, would seem to contrast with the earlier statement that he doesn’t have any family to support him. presumably that wasn’t an amicable divorce (and, I’d guess, probably happened a while ago) and I have a hard time seeing him or basher as anything other than very gay, but it’s an interesting little bit of material for their story, especially in light of reuben not being immune to pressure to conform to others

this is just a throwaway line from ocean’s 12, but they have a little dialogue piece talking about lifting buildings, where reuben’s like “they did it with the leaning tower of pisa” (which he pronounces pizza lol) and basher’s like “yeah, but it took them 300 men over 2 years to do it” and i just love them both having obscure and specific knowledge, on top of being super smart in their areas

also from ocean’s 12: they’re sitting next to each other in the very last scene with the party! it’s so hard to notice because the scene goes by so fast, but they are. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering how they arrived at the point of Being In Love that they’re at in 13, so that was fun to notice, even if probably not intentional foreshadowing

two out of the three scripts (ocean's 11 and ocean's 12) had bad scenes completely cut that would've made reuben not be as gay as he is. not sure who vetoed them, but i’m thankful. (the drafts of the scripts are a painful read; I strongly recommend not reading 12 or 13. 11 is okay for the most part.)

that’s all. if you have anything else about them, please add. I crave the knowledge

#ocean's thirteen #ocean's eleven #basher tarr #reuben tishkoff #oceans series #ocean's twelve #another case of brainrot strikes me #and so it goes #why has almost no one ever noticed them #it's one of the most wholesome things i've ever seen #reubasher #i guess

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cordria · 3 years

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Fixing Mistakes - DP

Danny groaned and curled up in a ball, very suddenly awake. His head hurt, his leg sparkled sharp and painful, and he felt oddly sticky. “Ow, ow, ow, ow,” he hissed, a few swear words working their way through his teeth as he kicked his brain into trying to think through what was going on.

His eyes crept open, studying his surroundings. Dark. Quiet. Bars.

Bars?

His eyes opened just a touch more, turning his head. Bars on all sides. He was in a cage.

Memory flooded back into his brain - of the school bell ringing, of walking through the park with Sam, of cold rushing down his back, of an unfortunately successful ambush by the ghost world’s most annoying hunter. “Damn it, Skulker,” he whispered.

Having determined himself to be alone in the room full of cages, Danny sat up and slowly pushed fingers through his hair, searching for the source of the pain. It was from right over his left ear, a dull throbbing that was definitely sore, but no blood. Head trauma. Something that would heal with time, nothing to be done about it for now.

He turned his attention to his leg, noting with a frown all the glowing blood smeared across the bottom of the cage. He poked and prodded at his leg, locating the worst of the damage: a huge slash down the side of his right leg. Almost as long as his fingers could spread, it was already mostly sealed over - thank Clockwork for not being knocked out until he was in ghost form. In human form, the blood loss would have killed him.

The fact that a slash that big was almost sealed over made him wrinkle his nose. That had to have taken hours and hours. Perhaps overnight. He’d been out a long time.

He sighed. “I was having such a good day, too.”

Although the cage wasn’t big enough to stand up in, he tried putting his foot on the ground and putting weight on his leg. Would he be able to stand once he’d gotten out of the cage? The pain sharpened, making him gasp and collapse. “Nope, nope, nope,” he whispered. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, don’t do that again.”

Blood started to ooze from the gash again. He’d broken open the scab.

With a scowl, he pushed and pulled himself, maneuvering until he was leaning up against the door. From the fizzy feeling against his skin, knew they wouldn’t be something he could phase through. He’d have to find a different way out. He reached a hand out through the bars to pull at the padlock, studying it. It was the same type of padlock Skulker always used for locking his cages closed. The tiniest of smiles curled the corner of Danny’s lips.

It wasn’t quite true that ghosts couldn’t learn. Skulker had learned new hunting techniques over the last eighteen months. Skulker had learned to keep Danny in human-proof cages. But ghosts learned so very slowly, and struggled with putting together facts they couldn’t see. Skulker knew Danny could get out of his cages - but, never having witnessed Danny perform the feat, couldn’t figure out how. And so he kept doing the same thing over and over.

Danny squirmed and moved around, digging a little box out of one of his pockets. Sam had gotten it for him for Christmas last year, along with lessons as to how to use it. Lock-picking was a skill Danny had assumed would be difficult, but it turned out to be hilariously easy, if a bit time consuming. Danny made sure he kept the kit with him.

It took longer than he’d hoped to open the lock. The pain from his leg kept distracting him and the hit he’d taken to his head was making it hard to focus. But he eventually placed all four of the tumblers, gave them a twist, and the lock fell open.

He grinned, short and sharp, and worked the lock back through the rings on the cage, catching it before it could hit the ground. “Screw you, Skulker,” he whispered, pushing open the cage door and floating himself out, putting the lock into his pocket. He was careful to keep his leg from hitting the ground - even the smallest movements sent sharp shards into his mind. “I’m keeping this as a souvenir.”

Just before he was going to leave, Danny heard a sound from the corner. He tensed, instantly assuming Skulker had been hiding. The glow around Danny kicked up a notch with his anxiety, and he twisted around.

Nothing?

His hands came back down, letting the tenseness fade away. He floated forwards a few steps, noticing a cage far into the darkest corner of the room. There was the faintest glow coming from inside - it was almost like the afterglow of looking at a bright light for a moment too long. Too faint to be a ghost in any reasonable shape. “Hello?” he whispered.

“Mind if I borrow your lock pick set? I lost mine.”

Danny hesitated. The voice was very… human? And didn’t sound at all in pain or sick. The scratchy voice was also not bothering to whisper. “Who are you?” Danny asked, floating closer.

“I’m me, obviously.”

“Helpful,” Danny muttered, drawing up just close enough that if something were to lunge and reach through the cage, it wouldn’t be able to grab him. An odd scent tinged the air, making Danny’s nose wrinkle. He held up a hand, palm towards the thing in the cage, and upped the power flowing through his hand. The glow kicked up and, like a flashlight, illuminated the contents of the cage.

It was a human male, raising a hand to block his eyes from the glow. Red-orange hair raggedly pulled back into a ponytail and a beard that looked hacked short with a knife. Perhaps in his twenties, skinny and tall, and dressed in layers of rags. He had a cloak-looking blanket wrapped around him, and calloused feet wrapped in cloth that left his toes hanging out. Dried, reddish-colored flowers dangled everywhere from his clothes. Danny blinked at the man, startled. “You’re human.”

Teeth glittered as the man smiled - an easy, pleasant smile. At least two of the teeth were missing. “Mostly, anyways.” The scar-covered hand lowered. Eyes that were too bright and green to belong to a human peered at him, blinking against the light. “Lock picks? I’d like to get out of here before the hunter comes back.”

“Skulker’s annoying with his cages,” Danny agreed, lowering his hand and the light. His brain wasn’t working quite right. This… human?... was something like him? ...How? “What happened?”

“I was just a tad too slow. Lock?”

Danny glanced over his shoulder, noted the still-quiet room, and settled his body gently back down at the ground. It took a moment for the world to stop spinning from the pain. Then he opened up the little box of picks and started to work on the lock. It was easier from this side, where he could see what he was doing.

“How did it come to be that a ghost knows how to pick a lock?” the human asked.

“This ghost gets hunted a lot. Not the first time I’ve seen the inside of Skulker’s cages,” Danny muttered. “Friend got me the lock pick set.”

“A human lock pit set.”

Danny hummed. “And how did it come to be a human in the ghost zone?” There was a soft click. He twisted and yanked the lock off.Danny floated back up in the air, fighting a wince of pain, and nodded.

“Very long story. Too long for telling inside this lair.” The human pulled himself out of the cage, unwinding his long limbs and stretching upright. From this close, Danny could see the young man was incredibly lean and tall. Too thin. Too tall. Even though Danny was floating, the man’s head was on level with his. Something was off with this human, and it made the hairs on the back of Danny’s neck raise.

This close, Danny could see the dried flowers hanging around his neck were blood blossoms. Before Danny could float backwards and out of the way, the man reached out and clapped Danny on the shoulder, still with that same easy grin. “Thank you for the rescue.”

“Do you…” Danny hesitated, thinking about the fact that the man was a human and they were on a floating island haunted by a hunting ghost, “need a lift? Like, to get somewhere?”

“Away from here would be nice.” The human’s smile faded just a bit. He was studying Danny. “I’m not a flyer. I’d appreciate a lift to… anywhere, really, that’s not right here.”

Danny held out his hand. “You got a name, human?”

The man grabbed his wrist, his fingers burning hot against Danny’s cold skin. “Flynn.”

The feel of the blood blossoms tingled down his arm, an interesting counterpoint to the drums beating against his brain and the stabbing pain in his leg. Danny lifted the human off the ground and took the shortcut through the window, back out into the glowing green of the ghost zone. “Nice to meet you, Flynn. I’m Danny.”

#Danny Phantom #fixing mistakes #I woke up this morning wanting to write #for once #I've had an incredibly sucky fall.#Very much sucks.#Quick writing.

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redrobin-detective · 3 years

Text

Side Effects of ghost powers

Hey all! I’m writing a DP fic called Side Effects exploring the physical and later mental/emotional impact of Danny initially getting his ghost powers. As an ICU stepdown nurse for 3 years, I wanted to view Danny’s accident through a slightly more realistic, medical lens.

Note: I had to fudge a good amount because Danny really should have fucking died and there’s no getting around that.

I do recommend you read the fic first before reading this as there’s some spoilers. Or if you don’t care you can read on. So! The two factors we are looking at regarding the accident are: ecto-contamination secondary to electrocution.

Electrocution

I was forced to downplay a lot of the severe symptoms of electrocution because, again, a bad enough shock will kill someone. My hand-wavey explanation is simply that the portal didn’t activate at a deadly voltage so he got a good shock but not enough to be fatal. I guess.

Muscle weakness/spasms: intermittent muscle spasms are common from shocks, muscles being activated by electricity and reacting to the lingering impulses. Danny’s is transient but quite annoying for a time. But his muscles are gonna be weak and achy af for days if not weeks after from the massive contractions caused by the shock and the after effects. Sensory issues: lots of things can cause nerve damage, including electrocution so Danny is experiencing some pretty severe neuropathy primarily manifesting with numbness and tingling throughout his body. His entire skin and peripheral nervous system got fried so while its mostly numb it’s also super sensitive for a bit of time causing massive pain and discomfort from your body tingling like a thousand bee stings. It’s worst in the hours after the accident but is something that never quite really goes back to normal both from the electrocution and his ghost half taking over and generally dulling his sense of touch.

Hearing/Vision loss: Like skin/nerves, your sensory organs in your eyes and ears would be affected by such a severe and allover electric shock. Danny has some blurred and occasionally double vision from his eyes not properly receiving/understanding input. Hearing loss is common following electricity given how delicate the inner ear is but I just give Danny some nasty tinnitus (ear ringing) for a bit. This inner ear problem also massively throws off his balance when he’s trying to move post accident. These factors are exacerbated by the ecto-contamination and mostly fade in the days following the accident before going away as his superhuman healing kicks in.

Heart Arrhythmia: an irregular heartbeat caused by the electrical impulses that control basal heartrate not coordinating they they should for a variety of reasons, in this case, massive electric shock. Danny would be somewhat aware of it, its not exactly painful exactly but you can just feel that your heart isn’t beating right. Secondary side effects are dizziness, chest pain, fatigue and shortness of breath. This resolves almost entirely when Danny stabilizes

Cognitive issues: Danny got his brains a little scrambled in addition to his molecules being rearranged. The first third of the story Danny is very clearly NOT thinking straight and Tucker/Sam should not have left him alone. Shocks can cause things like irrational emotional behaviors from hormone release along with memory loss and depression. He constantly waxes and wanes in mood and opinions on what to do in the story and never comes to a true decision that, damn lucky for him, worked out on its own.

Ecto-Contamination

Alright so Danny got massively shocked, sucks right but people live through that all the time. Ecto-contamination is more tricky (not only cause its made up and I had to think about what symptoms it would theoretically produce) but because the effects are more life threatening. It’s also irreversible, once he was contaminated it was only something that could be survived not cured.

So I theorized that Danny got shocked by the accident and was slowly dying of ecto-contamination and was pretty much clinically dead for a brief moment there, the death was enough for the large quantity of ectoplasm in him to immediately coalesce into a ghost (Phantom). So Danny was mostly dead but not quite, I’ve coded and brought back enough people to know it can be reversed somewhat. Danny becomes Phantom but the sudden stable formation of the ectoplasm into what its supposed to be, a ghost, caused his body to stop fighting the ectoplasm as a foreign invader and become part of the self. His core finished forming in his chest and his body started back up again, his ghost safely nestled in his once again living body as he slowly comes to grips with his actual death experience.

Nausea/Vomiting: I likened the idea of ecto-contamination to radiation poisoning, something that is essentially the antithesis to life. One of the first symptoms of radiation is n/v which is also why it’s one of the first overt symptoms Danny has. He was heavily electrocuted/irradiated and his body wants to expunge it all. As for the ectoplasm/blood he vomits, that’s the next section.

Gastrointestinal (GI) Bleed: So I was a little mean here. When one vomits up blood (or in this case ectoplasm/blood mix) it has to come from somewhere and a lot of the times it’s a GI Bleed. These are nasty, they need to be either cauterized or surgically repaired not to mention replenishing the blood lost. Fanon says that ectoplasm is at least mildly corrosive to humans so it is here, as it’s bonding to him, it’s literally eating him very slowly from the inside out which is causing a great deal of his internal pain. It’s not enough to be immediately life threatening but would kill him eventually. He developed some nasty bleeding ulcers in his stomach which let in blood and ectoplasm which were expunged. Danny’s core formed overnight and began healing the damage it had previously been causing but Dan is still gonna be vomiting excess blood/ectoplasm not to mention having black, tarry stools for at least a few days afterwards.

Hypothermia/Tremors: Hypothermia is when the body hits 95F/35C which Danny is just above at the start of the chapter. Danny initially starts shaking really bad (rigors) but as his body temperature cools further his shaking slows and eventually stops, a sure sign that the body is rapidly losing the fight to hypothermia and will likely die soon without immediate intervention. This is caused not only by the ectoplasm but his ice core shakily starting to form inside of him. Once he fully turns half ghost his hypothermia doesn’t change but it just no longer negatively affects him (I say Danny hovers naturally around 96-95F/35-33C getting much colder as Phantom at baseline. His body still can be damaged by going too cold but that’s a whole other post.)

Incoherency/Hallucinations: I mentioned in the electrocution section that Danny is more than a little addled and the contamination didn’t help in that regard. Not only is he not thinking clearly but he’s also getting a little delirious and seeing things. Common hallucinations I see are: someone in the room watching you, things crawling on the walls, creeping shadows, you’re in the wrong place. I think its a solid 50/50 as far as Danny straight up hallucinating but also becoming more aware of natural ectoplasm that hangs around in the atmosphere. (And before anyone asks, yes Clockwork did come and visit, Danny just doesn’t remember)

Pain: Being electrocuted, irradiated, being dissolved slowly on the inside is enough to cause massive amounts of pain. Danny is 14, he doesn’t understand true pain and probably underestimated how much it would hurt. Once it got bad, it was almost paralyzing so it got to the point where even when he wanted to call for help, he couldn’t move or think past the horrible pain of his every molecule slowly dying and rearranging itself.

Weakness/Fatigue: I don’t really have anything much to add for this section that hasn’t been said in the others. Just the combination of all of the above meant Danny is so incredibly weak and fatigued, this will be problematic in the days and weeks following the accident as his body heals from the stress put on it. Poor boy was probably just getting past the worst of his symptoms by the time of the Lunch lady attack one month in.

Ghost instinct: Going off the medical rant for a minute to go into another aspect of the contamination present in the story, the idea of ectoplasm adding inherent ghostiness to Danny. Its common fanon that all ghosts (through ectoplasm) have their own unique code and language that is just omnipresent and instinctive. Such a massive, body altering dose of ectoplasm saw those things start to leech into Danny even before he became half ghost. The biggest is his fear of being seen, majority of ghosts are completely invisible and don’t want to be seen by the living. As Danny’s suffering and literally dying, he can’t bring himself to confess to his loved ones for very understandable reasons but also this ghostly instinct in the back of his head telling him to hide and get away. Other instincts are a strong attraction to the portal/Ghost Zone, lowkey being able to sense living people around him and a bit of an emotional dampener when Phantom.

#danny phantom #danny phantom meta #danny not only got his skinny ass electrocuted #but also the ghost equivalent of radiation poisoning #kid is lucky af he survived #this fic took so long to write bc!!! I kept adding in more symptoms and details #and I just do not have enough words to convey how horrible Danny would have felt at the height of his contamination #poor baby #he's a little better next chapter

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disgruntledspacedad · 3 years

Note

HEADCANONS!!! So a past bad relationship of Ears has been referenced. I'm sure it will play into your story at some point so no spoilers requested! BUT - how does that experience manifest in how Ears interacts with Javi? Is she reminded of that relationship by things Javi does (or - most importantly - doesn't) do? How does Javi help her cope (if he does at all given Ears is proud and likely not to admit to much at first!)? xoxox

Actually, I had not planned to explore this in depth at all, because it’s potentially triggery and because Ears is deeply ashamed of allowing herself to get into such a situation to begin with. It’s one of those secrets that she’ll take to the grave, if she has anything to say about it.

But that’s a crying shame, because Ears’ past abuse is integral to how I perceive her. Strap in, folks. We’re about to take a deep dive into the darker history behind our favorite chaotic sunshine child. Trigger warning for discussions of nonconsensual sex, controlling behavior, and general shittiness below:

Andrew Lewis was Ears’ army recruiter. Ears first met him when she was seventeen. Andrew was 28. He was tall and blond and pretty, with bright green eyes and a smooth as silk personality.

They got on like a house on fire. Andrew complimented her intelligence and work ethic, and Ears, who had very little positive male attention in her life, fell for this tactic pretty hard. It’s not long before they are “dating.” Andrew feeds her all the lines - that she’s special, that he’s never met anybody like her, that he can’t wait to spend his life with her, that bullshit. He buys her all kinds of little gifts and takes her out of town for dinner. Ears eats it all up.

But he’s careful to remind her that the relationship has to stay secret. Fraternization is a word that he throws around a lot. Once Ears realizes what that means, it scares the living shit out of her, but by now, she’s so deeply invested in this relationship that she’s too afraid to do anything about it.

Once Ears starts questioning things, Andrew’s demeanor shifts. There are no more dates, no more compliments. Ears needs to keep quiet or else. Andrew never hits her - he’s smart enough not to leave marks - but Ears is afraid of him anyway. She’s forced to do a lot of sexual favors that she has no interest in, and Andrew is mean as a snake if she doesn’t perform exactly the way he likes. The entire thing is incredibly stressful and demeaning, and it’s not long before Ears resents Andrew, and herself.

Desperate, she goes to her brother Danny (also a military guy) for advice. Danny laughs in her face, tells her she got what she deserves for fucking an officer, tells her good luck reporting. “Better keep your head down and do as your told, Shrimp. You’re just his little whore, and he knows it.”

Ears takes a big risk when she’s twenty years old and transfers from her community college to a state university four hours away. At this point, Andrew was already losing interest and openly fucking other women, but Ears is still terrified that Andrew will trash her career. For the next two years, Ears is at his beck and call on long weekends and during school breaks. She longs to tell him to stick it where the sun don’t shine, but Andrew could easily ruin her and receive nothing but a slap on the wrist, and the idea of disappointing Jack and proving Danny right is intolerable.

So Ears obeys. Sometimes it’s weeks, or even months, between encounters, but still, Ears is never really free of Andrew.

By the time she’s deployed to Kuwait, it’s been over a year since she’s seen him. It doesn’t matter. Ears is constantly looking over her shoulder, terrified that her past choices are going to bite her in the ass. Fear and shame define the first decade of her adult life.

Quitting the Army is one of the most liberating choices she’s ever made.

Ears’ history impacts her relationship with Javi deeply. Really, you can argue that all of Rules of Engagement is just Ears battling her demons. When we first meet her in Rules, Ears is wary and very guarded, almost on a hair trigger. Several times Javi is being genuinely nice to her, or giving her pretty obvious signals, and Ears still looks at him like he’ll bite. She’s terrified of somebody finding out about their relationship, even though they don’t work for the same organization. Her feelings make her feel vulnerable and exposed, she doesn’t want to accept help or money, doesn’t want to give up control of her life. This defensiveness lasts even into Aftershocks, where she’s very quick to snap at Javi, “don’t tell me how to feel.”

Regarding bedroom stuff, Ears isn’t big on being pinned or cuffed. She’s let Javi restrain her with one of his ties before, but that was Javi. She trusts him, and besides, he asked her nicely first.

When Ears offers to let Javi fuck her face in Yours, that’s a very big thing. I think I say something along the lines of, “you’ve never offered this to a man in your life...” She swore up and down that she’d never have that experience again, but Ears ends up breaking lots of her rules for Javier Peña.

Breath play is completely out of the question.

Ears is super sensitive to power dynamics, and her relationship with Andrew is partially to blame. She’s used to subtly navigating so that she’s got the upper hand in a conversation, and she’s constantly evaluating and reevaluating what she should say next, how to leave herself an out. Years of having her career held over her head by an abusive asshole have made her almost paranoid, but it’s a trait that serves her well in Colombia.

This is why Bill Stechner’s swerve in The White Room rankles so bad. One again, Ears has found herself on a ball and chain, and once again, she perceives it as entirely her fault.

She will never, ever admit this to Javier Peña. Ears is fiercely independent, and her deepest fear is for anybody not to perceive her that way. She sees her past as a weakness, and she’ll die before she lets Javi in on it.

Javi might pick up on certain little quirks here or there. He knows Ears well enough to see when she’s uncomfortable, and he adjusts his behavior accordingly. There are moments when Javi might have darker suspicions, but he doesn’t dwell on them. Ears is so unlike any woman that Javi’s ever been with that it’s almost impossible to gauge her behavior as normal or abnormal. Besides, the idea of anybody hurting Hannah Aarons is painful in the extreme, and Javi doesn’t want his mind to go there.

Ears would tell him if it were something like that, surely.

That’s not to say that Javier Peña doesn’t help Ears cope with her trauma. Of course he does. He’s just not aware that he’s doing it.

Every time he looks at her like he really sees her.

Every time he considers her opinion.

Every time he asks her if it’s okay to try something new.

Every time he tells her she’s beautiful and means it.

Every time he drops those soft little kisses to her forehead, cheeks, and nose. The ones that aren’t sexually gratifying at all, the ones that are just barely brushes of his lips because he just can’t restrain himself from touching her intimately.

Every time he asks for for a story.

Every day that she wakes up cradled in his arms.

Every day that he’s patient with her abruptness, or kind when she hesitates, or understanding when she’s wary.

Every time he respects her “no.”

Every time he goes out of his way to pick her up from work so she doesn’t have to walk.

Every time he works his ass off to bring her to completion.

Every time he stares at her with that awestruck, stunned, love-dumb expression.

Every time he waits up for her on the sofa.

Every time he subtly shows her off to the Search Bloc boys.

Every time he tells her he’s proud of her.

Every time he tells her she’s amazing.

Every time he whispers Spanish into her hair.

Every time Javier Peña shows her what it is like to be truly, deeply loved, Hannah Aarons heals a little more.

#Javier Peña #Javier Peña x reader #Javier Peña x ofc #narcos #narcos netflix #better love #Hannah Aarons #javiears #Javi x ears #tw: noncon #tw: abusive relationship

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five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Stars Aligned Chapter 2

Here’s the thing. Danny knew this was a dumb decision. At least as dumb as stepping into the ghost portal (but at least he’d gotten some nifty powers out of that, hey?). Whatever reason his bio-dad had for chucking him out the door within days of his birth couldn’t be good. Putting himself within reach of the man… Yeah. Not his brightest thought.

(Not to mention the wizards. And witches. That was so weird, how they had two different names for essentially the same thing. Then again… actor, actress… Why were people so weird?)

On the other hand, twin brother. Twin brother who had to live with aforementioned baby-abandoning bio-dad. Twin brother who wasn’t allowed to visit America. Or, Danny suspected, a family of squibs.

Yeah.

So, here he was. Getting everything in order for a wizard passport and wizard international travel, because bio-family refused to even look at an airport.

Danny had a suspicion that, based on how they spelled the word and a few other comments in that particular letter, that they weren’t entirely clear on what an airport was.

Fun.

On the other hand, in comparison to the actual, normal, legal passport he’d gotten, just in case bio-family left him somewhere, wizard passports were much, much easier to get. The wait times were practically nonexistent. He could, in theory, get the passport on the same day he traveled. All that was needed was proof he was a wizard and his adoption papers.

Of course, ‘proof he was a wizard’ actually meant ‘wand.’ Wands being something they used as personal ID, despite the fact that they were a) sticks, and b) didn’t actually carry any personally identifiable information. Sure, Jack said that they were somehow connected to their owners, but unless there were, like, giant books of details about everyone’s wands at every place that would, conceivably, need ID, and had people trained to identify all those tiny little characteristics… Danny just couldn’t see how it would work.

Danny’s current theory was that all wizards were just insane, which meant that his twin would most likely fit right in with the rest of Danny’s family, right as soon as Danny figured out how to legally kidnap him.

(No, Danny didn’t have a ghostly Obsession, and it definitely wasn’t family related. He was only half-ghost, after all. Why do you ask?)

Anyway. Wizard passport. Wizard ID. Wizard sticks.

Wands.

Wands meant a nerve-wracking trip to the nearest wizarding town with Jack. Evidently, he’d lived there a couple of years after his parents sent him away from Britain when he was around fourteen because of ‘the war.’

Abruptly, many of Jack’s stories about his childhood made more sense.

(It had always been something of a joke between Jazz and Danny to try and figure out what ‘the war’ was supposed to be, and if Jack’s parents had just… Conned him into thinking he’d eaten horse meat. For some reason. Even if the Fentons hadn’t seemed like that kind of people, no matter how eccentric.)

(Also, evidently Jazz and Danny had never met Jack’s biological parents, who were not named Fenton, although his adopted mother was also a witch.)

(Why was everything so complicated?)

The “wizarding community” was a small town accessible only by a train line invisible to ‘no-majs.’ And also flying brooms. Which wizards used. Danny had seen the train before, not realizing that he wasn’t supposed to. Several times. Usually while flying to Wisconsin to deal with whatever Vlad had done that week.

If Danny was a wizard, was Vlad? Was being half-ghost somehow tied up in being magical? What did that mean for Dani?

(Hey, maybe this whole affair could be used to bring Dani into the family safely. Who was to say that he didn’t have a secret twin sister?)

Danny could admit that the town itself, which had almost a Ghost Zone vibe with how all the architecture seemed to be from fifty plus to a hundred years ago and also the physics breaking magic, was sort of cool. It was… cute, he guessed. He didn’t really like how everyone was staring at Jack, their clothes were just as weird, but it wasn’t a new thing. People always stared at Jack.

That’s what happened when you wore hazard-orange jumpsuits twenty-four seven.

The shops all had names out of a fantasy novel, and at one point they got turned around and wound up on a residential street where they had to ask for directions, but eventually they made it to ‘Willoughby’s Wand Emporium.’

The interior of Willoughby’s Wand Emporium reminded Danny strongly of a shoe store. The shelves were all lined with boxes of approximately that size, and the employees all carried measuring tape. It also smelled like a shoe store: musty and dry, with a hint of polish. Or maybe it was wood varnish? Or some kind of paint.

A young woman bounced up. “Hi, how can we help you today? Replacement wand?”

“First time, actually,” said Jack.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said the woman. “You’re just so tall for your age.”

“I’m fourteen,” said Danny.

The woman began to turn red.

“He was missed,” said Jack. “It happens.” He smiled, but it looked far more strained than usual.

“Oh,” said the woman. “Ahem. Well, if you’ll come right this way, I can start taking measurements, and start trying out wands. The wand chooses the wizard, they say!”

“Okay,” said Danny, shrugging. That was… interesting. Were the wands sentient? Did that somehow make them acceptable IDs?

Seemed really weird to keep sentient things stored in boxes.

… Said the kid who stored sentient beings in a soup thermos.

A really high-tech soup thermos.

Didn’t make it better.

Except he didn’t keep them in the thermos indefinitely. Except for Dan.

Danny didn’t know if the wizards kept the wands in boxes indefinitely, either. Maybe he should stop assuming things. That had gotten him in trouble with ghosts more than once.

The woman took her measuring tape from where it hung around her shoulders, held it out in front of herself, and promptly dropped it. It did not fall.

As basic as levitation was for ghosts, it was really weird to see a human do it. (Especially when it always took so much concentration for him to levitate things other than himself—Hence why he never really used the ability in battle.)

The measuring tape flitted around Danny’s head, shoulders, arms, and body, taking measurements. He had to sit on his reflexes hard to prevent himself from trying to catch it or knock it out of the air.

He was so nervous. Was it normal to be nervous?

The measuring tape snaked back through the air to the woman, who smiled. “Alright,” she said, “we can start with that. Uh, to explain the process, we usually start out with wands in the appropriate size range and try and zero in on the ones that respond best to you from there.” She flicked her own wand, and several thin boxes slid themselves off the shelves. “We use a wide variety of wand woods from a variety of wandmakers. Just about any tree that grows in North America is probably represented here.” She paused. “Except for palm trees.”

“That makes sense,” said Danny. Palm trees were quite different from other trees.

“Alright. Let’s start with pine. The core of this one is dragon heartstring—Harvested humanely, of course!”

“Core?” said Danny, latching on to the familiar word even as he regarded the wand itself dubiously.

“Yes. As with our woods, we also stock a wide range of wand cores. Each wand has a core made of a small part of a magical creature. Dragon heartstring, unicorn hair, and phoenix feather are the standard ones… But that standardization is rather British. We have a few others available. Thunderbird tail feather—Only taken during molt. Wampus cat hair. Dittany. Rougarou hair. Jackalope antler… Those are the more common ones, though we do have others. Even some kneazle whisker, although most people don’t want those.”

“Why not?”

“Ah, they tend not to be very strong. But sheer power isn’t everything. Some prefer control, need lower power output… or are worried about accidents while they’re learning. We do see some adult learners every now and then.”

That actually sounded sort of appealing to Danny, but he supposed he’d better go about this normally. At least at first.

He picked up the pine wand and immediately dropped it.

“Ow,” he said.

“Ow?” repeated the woman. “Oh,” she said, catching sight of the burn on his hand. “That’s… not supposed to happen.”

“Y’know,” said Danny, conversationally, “I’ve only held, like, two magical things in my life, and both of them have damaged my hands. Is this, like, a common thing, or am I just ridiculously unlucky.”

“Second one, I think,” said the woman. “Cynthia’s good at minor healing charms. I’m going to go get her. Okay? Okay.”

Shortly thereafter, phoenix feather wands were also eliminated as a possibility, not because they burned Danny, but because they seemed intent on burning everything else around him. Pine wands were also a definite no-go (“Don’t worry about the lifespan thing,” said the woman, “that’s a myth.”). As was everything but elder, apple, pear, hornbeam, thorn, and yew (this list got another mention of myths from the shop assistant).

At this point, the shop owner, Mrs. Willoughby, was drawn out from the back room to observe the mess Danny was making.

“My,” she said, “I haven’t seen anyone have this much trouble in a while. Heather, why don’t you go get some of the specialty cores.”

“I thought the unicorn was working well,” protested the woman who’d been helping Danny so far. She winced as Danny picked up a new wand and exploded a light. “Comparatively.”

“Yes, we could probably eventually find a unicorn hair wand that would work for him, but all things considered… I feel like we should explore other avenues.” She sniffed. “Nothing associated with fire. Perhaps kelpie mane?”

“I’ll check,” said Heather.

Kelpie mane, it turned out, did the same sort of thing as phoenix tail feather when it came to Danny. Only with a lot more water involved.

“I didn’t think that would work, anyway,” said Mrs. Willoughby.

“Then why,” said Danny, wringing water out of his shirt, “did you have me try it?”

“Oh, cases like you greatly improve our understanding of wandlore,” said Mrs. Willoughby. “You’re not likely to have noticed this yet, but the population of wizards and witches is so small compared to the no-maj population that everyone who gets very far in a profession has to be a bit of an innovator. I’m recording this for future reference, and I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you do in life. If anything. It would be very helpful to me if you became famous.”

“Hard pass on that,” said Danny.

“Or at least come back at some point.”

“I’ll consider it,” said Danny. “But, like, we were really hoping to do other things today, so maybe…” He made a circular motion with his hand. “Or at least, ugh, I don’t know. I feel like everything you give me is trying to kill me.”

It was a very familiar feeling, and a very unwelcome one, nonetheless.

“We really aren’t,” said Mrs. Willoughby. “But perhaps… from now on, we’ll limit to the woods to the Rosaceaes. The others tend to be called unlucky. Well, except for the hornbeam. Is there anything you’re singularly passionate about?”

Singularly passionate? “Not really,” said Danny, who did not think about ghosts or helping people or space. He shifted, uncomfortable, and squelched.

Screw it. He was supposedly a wizard, now, right?

He phased the water off himself.

“Oh my god!” shouted Heather. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Uh,” said Danny. “No?”

“Calm down, Heather. Don’t act like you’ve never seen accidental magic before.”

“Not with a teenager doing it!”

They were now attracting a crowd. Yay.

“He’s not trained, yet,” said Mrs. Willoughby, unconcerned. “Don’t be rude.”

“Yeah, can we get back on track, here?”

After a few more tries, Mrs. Willoughby had determined that the wood that reacted the least badly to Danny was hawthorn. Then she sent Heather into the storage room to fetch more.

“I don’t know why we even have these,” said Heather, under her breath, carrying several boxes marked with stamps that read ‘THESTRAL.’

“Because some people have trauma, Heather.”

“He’s a teenager. I seriously doubt he has deep personal experiences with death.”

“Wow, way to assume, Heather,” said another shop assistant, who was passing by with a far-too-curious customer.

“Here,” said Mrs. Willoughby, handing Danny a box. “Try this one. It’s hawthorn.”

With some suspicion, Danny slid the cover off the box and gingerly picked up the wand inside.

It didn’t do anything like what the other wands had. Instead, the slender length of wood gave him a faint echo of the feeling he got when he was on an emotional high and engaging in either extreme mischief or obsession-adjacent activities (because he did not have a real, ghostly, capital-O Obsession).

Danny declined to hold it with all five fingers, lest he be overcome with mania.

Yes, he was paranoid. But when touching things can go as badly for you as they did for Danny, paranoia was justified.

“Oh, it looks like you’ve found your match,” said Mrs. Willoughby, clapping.

With the ease of practice, Danny did not let any trace of horror or unease show on his face. He ignored the surge of glee from the wand, and carefully placed it back in the box.

Yeah. He needed a wand for passport purposes, but there was no way he was going to use that. He’d just fake magic with ghost powers. It had been working out okay so far.

What was the worst that could happen?

A rather relieved Jack paid for the wand, and they made their way, slowly, to the government building.

“So,” said Jack. “You want to save getting those beginner magic manuals for another day?”

“Absolutely,” said Danny. He wondered if his twin had gone through anything even remotely like this and if it was really worth all this trouble to meet a person he would have basically nothing in common with other than blood.

Blood that likely meant less than usual, considering that his was diluted with ectoplasm. A fact he would have to hide. With no allies or back up. In England.

(Again, this whole endeavor was not his greatest idea.)

Draco supervised the house-elves as they cleaned out the room next to his own, feeling rather blank. He had campaigned vigorously for his twin to come, but now that he was…

The boy, for all that he was as much a Malfoy as Draco, was an American for all intents and purposes. What did Americans even like? What did they call their bastardized version of Quidditch? Would Deneb even know about wizard games? According to the woman from the agency, he’d been raised as a muggle by those squibs he’d been placed with.

Slowly but surely, Draco’s heart sank. He had no idea what his twin would be like. Deneb, despite being his brother, would essentially be a stranger.

He was beginning to understand why his mother was so angry at his father.

#danny phantom #dp/hp crossover #dp/hp twin au #stars aligned

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ladylynse · 3 years

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Chapter 9 [FF | AO3] of Passageway: The Fenton Ghost Portal in the basement lab is empty, broken. Instead, the portal is inside Danny–and even when he knows something’s coming, he can’t stop it. (Danny as the ghost portal AU)

(beginning | previous)

-|-

Danny was halfway back to Johnny and Jazz when he heard, “That was too easy.” He nearly jumped out of his skin but relaxed as his brain identified the voice. The shifter didn’t know about Sidney yet—or, at least, they didn’t know it was Sidney who’d been helping Danny, even if they’d figured out Danny had help—and Sidney had as good as confirmed it was him with that line, seeing as it tied into their earlier conversation. Good thinking on his part; Danny hadn’t thought to make up some sort of code.

Danny turned to face Sidney’s hovering form. “Some warning would be nice.”

“Then give yourself some warning.”

Okay, Johnny was definitely more useful than Sidney when it came to getting information. “How?”

Sidney shrugged.

Naturally.

“Why’re you all wet?”

“I went for a swim.” Danny couldn’t tell from Sidney’s expression if he’d caught the obvious sarcasm or not. “You could help with that. Me getting dry, I mean.”

“So could you.”

Clearly, Johnny was also the more helpful of the two ghosts. Granted, he wanted something more material from Danny than Sidney did. (Come to that, Danny wasn’t wholly sure if he knew what Sidney wanted, beyond eventually going home.) But maybe if Danny gave up some information, he’d get something useful in return. “I know what my power is.”

“Oh? What’s your tale, nightingale?”

Danny spread his arms. “I can heal, see? Which hopefully means I won’t die trying to do whatever I wind up having to do.”

“You also slipped those cuffs.”

Danny frowned as he dropped his arms and turned so he could lean against the wall. No comment on the healing? At all? It couldn’t be that common. “That wasn’t a power. Johnny picked the lock for me.”

Sidney’s eyes narrowed. “You know a Johnny on this side? Or— Earlier, you called someone through. You didn’t bring over Johnny 13, did you?”

“Um. Maybe. Is that a problem for you? He’s been helpful. Like getting me in here. And out of the cuffs before getting me in here.”

“This ain’t a great hiding spot.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a better place than any of my ideas, of which there were none.” Danny hesitated. “You don’t like him?”

“He’s not the worst one out there,” was the grudging reply, “but he’s not the best. Where’s Kitty?”

“Uh. Not here?”

“What, you didn’t—?” Sidney winced. “Ooh, you’ll wanna figure out a warning before the morning. Those two won’t pull their punches if it means getting back together.”

Story of his life now, apparently. “Doesn’t matter so much if I can heal this fast.”

“You think that helps? It’ll just make it worse. Healing doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt in the first place. And, anyway, I don’t know why you’re surprised. Your shiner didn’t stick around for long. You must’ve noticed before this.”

Insults and a dismissal. Why did he count this ghost as a friend again? “Forgive me for not being the most observant person in the world.”

“So you’re trying to make it easy for the shifter? Keeping your eyes peeled—”

“I know, okay? I’m trying. I made sure Jazz was Jazz before telling her anything.”

Sidney’s eyes widened. “You what? What made you think telling your human friends about any of this would be a good idea?”

“She’s my sister.”

“That’s worse!”

“Well, it’s not like I can rely on you guys for everything! Even when you answer my questions, you don’t tell me anything.”

“And you think someone who knows less than you do will be more help?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck and didn’t meet Sidney’s eyes at first. “No, but…. She saw me, okay? She saw me, and she had questions, and she wouldn’t have let this go. I know Jazz. If I didn’t explain anything to her, she’d try to track me down and draw enough attention to herself that the shifter would get that much closer to me, anyway, and after they—” Danny swallowed. “They threatened the people who are close to me, Jazz included. It’s not like ignorance was gonna make her any safer, not after she’d seen me.”

“Being seen wasn’t your first mistake.”

And there that was that ringing endorsement for his handling of this mess. Danny huffed. “Can you at least tell me if ghosts have to do what they say they will?” Sidney just blinked at him, so Danny added, “Johnny agreed to help me. I asked him to guard Jazz until this is over.”

“And you think he might split instead?”

“Well. He said there’s more than one gate and more than one gatekeeper. I’m not his only option if he wants Kitty over here. Or to meet her back over there, seeing as I don’t know how to get him back, either.” Danny still had no idea how the ghosts were getting through, and his parents were still working on containing them. Getting them back to where they belonged wasn’t something he really wanted to think about right now, even if he’d have to figure it out to deal with the shifter. He wasn’t particularly keen on assuming something his parents invented would work on the first go after last time.

Sidney let out a low whistle. “He must be desperate if he’s thinking about that. Not a lot of portals around here are stable, and he’d pay a higher price than guard duty at the other gate.”

“Price? There’s a toll? Like the paying the ferryman thing in mythology?”

“I’ve never gone that way myself. Passage is for a price, but you need to be willing to work for it—or trade a future favour.”

“So you know this other gatekeeper? You could find them?”

Sidney shook his head. “Don’t know him. Don’t want to know him. Even his reputation gives me the heebie-jeebies. You think this shifter is bad news? Those two are cut from the same cloth.”

Danny was struck with the sudden realization that he wasn’t sure if Sidney was lying. He was already too jumpy, too flighty, for Danny to read anything in his body language, and knowing someone for only a few days wasn’t enough for him to read anything finer. He wasn’t Jazz, who’d studied enough psychology to know common tells by heart and have an idea of when someone was faking.

Sidney might be right in thinking that Johnny wouldn’t cut and run and leave Jazz on her own, but that could be simply for the sake of convenience. Johnny had already pegged Danny’s inexperience; he might think he could get what he wanted more easily if he hung around and played along than if he went elsewhere.

If there was another gatekeeper, if there was someone else like him who was even remotely nearby (and by nearby Danny was thinking within the contiguous United States), wouldn’t Danny be stupid not to seek him out? Especially with a ghost around who’d made it painfully clear that they had no problem carrying out threats? Being able to heal himself did absolutely nothing when it came to helping someone else.

Johnny had a motorcycle. Maybe he’d agree to take Danny to this other gatekeeper, assuming Danny could convince Sidney to guard Jazz? Assuming he could convince Jazz to stay behind?

Or was that what Johnny wanted? Was that why he’d been dropping hints, giving Danny tidbits of information so he’d be curious and ask more and think that going to see this other gatekeeper had been his idea all along? What if Sidney wasn’t lying or exaggerating and had very real reason to be concerned?

You’re useful to all of us, Johnny had said, meaning him and Sidney and the shifter and all the other ghosts.

Danny didn’t want to be useful.

He wanted things to go back to the way they’d been before, when he didn’t have all of this hanging over his head.

But wishing it wouldn’t randomly make it happen. He couldn’t rewrite reality like that. There was no magic reset button, no way to undo this, erase all the time that had already past and replace it with something else, simply because he desired—

Danny gagged, trying—and failing—to suppress a dry heave.

“Stop it,” Sidney hissed at him, as if that had ever helped. “We don’t need anyone else over here right now. It’s bad enough you called Johnny over.”

Sidney made it sound like this were all a simple game of red rover.

Danny pressed himself into wall, letting the coolness of it seep into his still-damp skin. Cement blocks, layered with enough paint or sealant or whatever it was that they were bumpy but not rough to the touch like they would be otherwise, made up every wall. They were reassuringly solid, and he tried to use that to ground himself, to focus on the here and now and not the could-be or would’ve-been-nice. Sidney was talking to him, maybe telling him to breathe—Jazz would be—but Danny just closed his eyes and listened to the rhythm of his words and not to what he was actually saying.

Danny became aware of the faint hum of the fluorescent light overhead, the sound seeming to grow louder now that he could hear it at all. There was a clock somewhere, too, an analog one with the steady sound of the second hand ticking forward slower than Danny’s quickened heartbeat. If only there were a way to slow down the seconds ticking away, to give himself more time—

Breath Danny didn’t realize he’d been holding exploded out of him in a fit of coughing. He blinked against the brightness of the world, and Sidney’s face was suddenly right there, filling his whole view. “You’ve gotta stop calling for them,” he said, still not making any sense.

Danny was coughing too much to even shrug, let alone protest that he had no idea how to stop something when he didn’t know how it had started, but Sidney seemed to catch his drift. This time, instead of repeating himself and being thoroughly unhelpful, he reached out and grabbed Danny underneath the arms, lifting him without any apparent effort and flying them both back towards the washroom.

There was a flash of coldness, like jumping into a lake on a hot summer’s day, and then they were through the wall and warmth returned. Sidney left him to clutch the cool porcelain of the off-white sink and try to remain upright as he closed the door.

It was only once Danny heard the lock click into place that he realized he wasn’t coughing anymore. Shocked out of it, maybe?

“Thanks,” he croaked. Being dry was nice, too, though he wouldn’t be surprised if there were a couple puddles of water in the hallway now—one from where he’d been standing earlier and one where Sidney had turned them both intangible. Hopefully that wouldn’t draw too much attention. Maybe someone would think the hallway had been mopped recently and a couple of spots had been missed?

Fat chance of that, but as long as the shifter didn’t put two and two together, Danny didn’t really care.

Sidney was still hovering by the door, and while Danny was confident enough to look away from his hands, he wasn’t willing to release his death grip on the sink. Sidney fiddled with his glasses for a second before pulling them off to wipe on his shirt as he said, “You can’t just put out a call like that. You don’t know who might answer.”

Well, that didn’t help. He knew what Sidney was trying to get at, but really, ‘put out a call’? As much as Sidney had talked about it, he’d never explained it, and Danny had been too busy trying not to cough up a lung to call anyone. How could he stop something that was unintentional if he didn’t even know how he was doing it in the first place?

Danny waited a few beats, hoping Sidney would finally elaborate, but of course he just fidgeted some more, rubbing at his glasses and altogether not being helpful for someone who had whispered a frantic warning barely ten seconds ago. “What?” Danny prompted, now well aware that Sidney wasn’t going to continue if he didn’t press him.

“It’s too general,” Sidney said, which didn’t clear things up as far as Danny was concerned. “You’ll turn the other side of the gate into Antsville that way, everyone jostling for a chance to get through. You could—” He broke off. “That’s how the shifter got through, isn’t it? They didn’t need to force anything. You let them pass.”

Danny had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to say to that, but at least he didn’t feel the slightest bit sick anymore. He turned around so he could lean against the sink instead. “I already told you I don’t know how this calling stuff works. And for the record? You aren’t explaining it. At least not well if you’re actually trying.”

Sidney pulled a face and put his glasses back on to complete the look. “I’ll try harder, but not here. You weren’t subtle. The shifter will be coming after that.” He hesitated. “Least, they will unless they think you’ve gone over yourself.”

“Huh?”

“You just need to reach for it, open a door. They’ll feel that, just like this last one. You really gotta be more specific when you call. Like you were with me. They won’t feel it then.”

“Okay, even pretending I understand that, how the heck am I supposed to do it? Reach for what?”

“You already know. I could see it when you were calling. It—” He broke off, no doubt seeing Danny’s scowl. “You’ve never looked?”

“Looked at what?”

“Yourself. When you’re calling. Your eyes, especially. They’re the same shade as back home.”

Danny stared.

He had a feeling that, whatever shade Sidney was talking about, the colour wasn’t blue. Which did nothing to stop his skin from crawling over the implication. He’d accepted that there was something inside of him now, and the thought of having powers had seemed cool at first, but the thought that whatever was inside him was changing him was distinctly less cool.

Danny swallowed. If calling over a ghost was why it felt like his guts were being put through a blender, then— “Jazz never said anything.”

“Your sis?” Confusion hovered for a moment before melting into understanding. “Johnny 13 was trying to get you to bring over Kitty. He got you to specify it, only call her. But you didn’t?”

“I…I didn’t want Jazz to see anything.”

“So you didn’t look at her when you started calling.”

Sidney wasn’t asking so much as stating, but once Danny thought about it, he realized Sidney was right. He’d been looking more at Johnny than Jazz when Johnny had been talking about Kitty, and he’d gotten out of there the moment he’d started to feel it. He hadn’t wanted to go back until he got himself under control.

Jazz might not know how messed up he was. She might still think that he was normal. Or at least as normal as the Fentons ever were.

“And then you stopped, because you didn’t want the gate to open.”

“I guess?”

“More control than you had before.” Sidney nodded approvingly. “So try again. Open the gate. Just make sure it goes the other way, so nothing can come over from that side.”

“I don’t—”

“Danny?” Jazz’s call was accompanied by a knock on the door. “You okay in there?”

“I’m fine,” he said, raising his voice even as Sidney made frantic motions that were probably meant to indicate he shouldn’t answer at all. “I’m almost done.”

“Don’t be too long. We still need to talk.”

“I know.” He owed her a better explanation than she’d gotten. “I’ll be out in a minute, I swear.”

Danny heard Jazz walk away, and then Sidney disappeared. Danny waited, thinking maybe Sidney had just stuck his head through the door to make sure Jazz had really gone, but he didn’t come back.

Right.

Okay.

Sidney was worried about the shifter. Danny could understand that. But running off without saying a word really didn’t help matters.

Danny sighed and turned back to the mirror. He’d give Sidney a bit of time to show up and explain himself before he went back to Jazz and Johnny like he’d planned. If Sidney was right and the shifter was coming, then Danny couldn’t get away without help anyway. At least, he couldn’t if the shifter was close. Waiting thirty seconds shouldn’t kill him.

“Right,” Danny said aloud as he studied his reflection. “How the heck am I supposed to reach for a place I know nothing about?”

The upside was, he didn’t hallucinate an answer. The downside was, he still didn’t have an answer.

Danny stared, narrowing his eyes and willing something to change in his reflection.

Nothing happened.

He tried to focus on doorways and passageways and gates.

Still nothing.

“I just need a way through,” he muttered, “without going through the other gatekeeper, and there’s gotta be a way—”

The sick feeling abruptly returned, but it cut off just as quickly as he blinked in surprise at his reflection.

His eyes had looked green.

Green.

They were their usual blue now, of course, but he hadn’t imagined that just because Sidney had said something, had he?

“You’re lucky,” Sidney’s voice said from behind him, and Danny jumped, spinning around and whacking his funny bone on the edge of the sink. He sucked in a breath through his teeth and tried not to think about his left elbow as Sidney continued, “I don’t think that was the shifter.”

The pain hadn’t quite faded, but in all honesty, Danny probably would’ve been as blunt without it. “You’re being paranoid. You know that, right?”

“If you want me to help you stay a step ahead of the shifter, we should go now,” Sidney said, which proved Danny’s point instead of disputing it. “If you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’ and wanting to go six feet under….”

“They won’t kill me.” At least not yet. “I’m too useful.”

“The same can’t be said for your sister.”

“Don’t you dare start,” Danny snapped, his hands clenching into fists at his sides as all pain from his elbow was forgotten. “You’re trying to get me to run off with you and leave Jazz with even more questions than she had before, and I’m not going to do it. That’ll make it even easier for the shifter to get to her, because they can go swanning over pretending to be me and she won’t…she might not….” His mood flipped, and he found himself closing his eyes against the burning of tears. “I’m not willing to risk that.”

“You’d rather stay where you can be found?” Sidney raised an eyebrow at him. “You don’t even know how to hide yourself.”

“I’d rather hide her than me!”

Sidney just hummed. “Make it quick, then.”

Danny had no idea if that was Sidney’s way of telling him to hurry up and fill Jazz in quickly or some implication that he was supposed to have the ability to hide other people (with an unspoken so why not get on with it then?), but he was too annoyed to care. He brushed past Sidney, opening the door and giving the hallway only a cursory check to make sure it was safe before bolting back to Johnny and Jazz.

He slowed before he got to the door and then held his breath to listen. He could hear Jazz’s voice, followed by the low rumble that was Johnny’s response to whatever she’d said, but his own voice never chimed in. Thankfully. Relieved, he raised his hand to knock, and the solidness of the door dissolved on the third tap.

“Surprised you came back,” Johnny said as Danny pushed through the door. It was too dark for Danny to see Jazz’s expression, and even if he hadn’t seen Johnny’s, he could’ve guessed it from his tone. Surprise was only a small part of it; suspicion buried under false nonchalance was far greater.

“I’m me,” Danny said, even though that wouldn’t prove anything.

“Who gave you your first astronaut doll?”

“Jazz! It’s an action figure!” Maybe it was a good thing it was dark in here. “And Dad made it for me.”

He didn’t need to see her smirk to know it was there. “It’s him.”

Danny groaned and looked at Johnny’s glowing figure. “Do you know somewhere else we can crash?”

Johnny’s eyebrows rose a hair. “You’re figuring this out.”

The answer wasn’t a comforting one, considering Danny didn’t exactly get the impression that Johnny would’ve warned him that the shifter would be able to find him now.

It made him wonder how specific he’d been when he’d put out the call Johnny had answered. (Danny figured he had to learn the terminology sooner rather than later, assuming Sidney didn’t have it wrong.) Sidney had known, so had it been too general?

If the shifter had realized, had they started preparing Danny’s punishment, assuming they could catch up to him at their leisure?

He couldn’t think about that right now. It wasn’t going to help him. He needed to focus.

“Someone’s helping you,” added Johnny.

“Yeah,” Danny said shortly. “You are.” He wasn’t sure how much—if any—bad blood there was between Sidney and Johnny, and until he did, naming names wouldn’t get him any further ahead. “Grab Jazz, go….” He had no idea where they should go. He didn’t know where he should go. “Just go upstairs until the library closes. You can hide in plain sight. I’ll get a message to you when I can.”

“Are you sure about this, little brother?”

Of course he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore. “Pretend you’re helping him, like you help Spike. Heck, pretend you’re dating—”

“I’m not even pretending to cheat on my Kitty.”

“—just do something so that the shifter doesn’t realize I actually talked to you. Let them think I cut and run before I did. Just…be safe. I need a few hours to figure out a game plan.”

He needed way more than a few hours, and Jazz would know him well enough to know that, but hopefully Johnny wouldn’t call his bluff.

Jazz got up and wrapped him in a hug. “Stay safe,” she whispered into his ear. “I’m counting on you.”

Danny hugged her back, knowing however crazy this got, his sister would have his back. “You stay safe, too.” Stepping away, he looked at Johnny and said, “You guys better get going.”

Johnny shrugged. “Not my funeral if this is the wrong call.” He offered a hand to Jazz. “Shall we?”

Danny’s eyes had adjusted well enough to the dim light now to see how Jazz’s expression tightened. “Fine. Let’s go.”

“Don’t touch my bike,” Johnny added. “Shadow’s watching it.” Before Danny had a chance to respond, let alone ask to go along with them, Johnny pulled Jazz through the door.

The locked door.

Danny tried the handle again, just to be sure, but it wasn’t simply stuck. “Oh, crud.” If this was Johnny’s crazy idea of a test or something, it wasn’t something Danny wanted to deal with right now. He jiggled the handle and banged on the door, but it didn’t budge—or conveniently lose its solidness so he could slip right through. “Shadow? A little help?”

Shadow didn’t respond. He didn’t even move, forming into something recognizably different from all the other shadows. Not that there were a lot in here, seeing as the glow from Johnny’s bike was fading now that Johnny himself was gone.

Maybe Shadow didn’t listen to anyone except Johnny.

Or maybe Danny simply hadn’t done enough to earn his respect, let alone a favour.

“Crud.” Danny sat down on a stack of boxes with another groan and waited, hoping Sidney would come looking for him before the shifter found him.

(see more fics | next)

#danny phantom #danny fenton #sidney poindexter #johnny 13 #dp fanfiction #phanfiction #fanfiction #my writing #ladylynse #snippets #dp snippet #dp-marvel94 please know this chapter was finished now entirely because of you #fic: passageway

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mca-attack21 · 3 years

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Shape Shifted - part 1

Hi guys! This is the next part of the Stiles Sis Fic series based loosely (and even that is generous) off of season two episode two. It can be read as a stand-alone. For the rest of this series and more of my writing, click here. I will be updating at least once a week until the series is finished. Enjoy!

Now that Lydia was home and safe, you allowed your thoughts to drift back to Isaac. You laid on your back and stared aimlessly at the ceiling, wondering what it was that he was about to do, or what he already did. You knew that for him not to be straight forward with you that it must’ve been something that he didn’t think you would approve of. And for him to even be considering it, things must’ve been getting worse for him at home again.

Your heart pained to think how his father could… anyways. You wished that you could talk him into reporting it, but every time you brought it up he got so defensive. At some point, you decided that if he was going to go through it you would make sure that he didn’t have to go through it alone. Thinking over the past two months, you felt bad for not trying harder to be there for Isaac. No matter how hectic things had been with Scott and Stiles, it wasn’t an excuse.

You pulled out your phone to text Isaac but were interrupted by a frantic knock at your window.

Speak of the devil

You opened the window and ushered him inside, “Isaac what happened? Are you okay?”

“I-I think that my father’s dead,” he admitted as his breathing sped up.

No amount of anything could have prepared you for those words out of his mouth under these circumstances.

“It’s okay Isaac, just breath, tell me what happened,” you said calmly as you led him over to your bed. It took a few minutes to calm down enough to collect his thoughts, but even then you could see the fear in his eyes.

“You won’t believe me,” he decides, pulling away from you and taking a step towards the window.

“Isaac, you know that there is nothing you could say that I wouldn’t believe. Now please, start from the beginning,” you invite him to sit beside you.

He reluctantly begins, “That night in the graveyard, after I was attacked, there was this man. He saved my life and then started talking about these crazy things. He knew about my dad, and told me that there was a way I could protect myself, a way to make sure that I could never be hurt again. And he explained that it wasn’t going to be easy, but that it would be worth it. I didn’t believe him, not at first, but then he showed me. He gave me a choice, and I accepted his offer,” Isaac explained.

“I’m confused, what was it that he gave you?” you asked.

“He - I -,” he paused for a moment trying to decide the best way to explain this to you, “okay, what I am about to tell you, it’s dangerous and you have to swear not to tell anyone,” Isaac looked up for confirmation but decided it wasn’t enough, “Y/n, I want to hear you say it, I want you to swear to me.”

“I swear, whatever you tell me will stay between us. But god Isaac, you’re starting to scare me.”

Instead of telling you with words, Isaac allowed his eyes to show yellow. He was surprised to see that you didn’t shrink back in fear or hate. Before he could explain further, you caught him off-guard, “You’re a werewolf.”

“How do you know about this?” he asked taken aback.

But you ignored him, “You are a werewolf, which makes the man you met Derek Hale, and if your dad is dead, the hunters are going to think you did it. And even if they don’t tomorrow is a full moon,” you realized.

Isaac stared at you in shock, out of all of the reactions he had played through in his mind, this most definitely was not one of them.

“Isaac,” you said pulling him out of his thoughts, “what happened tonight?”

“It started out how it always starts, my dad and I were eating dinner and then things escalated until he was throwing things at me. He threw this glass right above my head and it shattered leaving a shard in my cheek, just below my eye. I was just going to leave, but my dad saw me heal, so I ran. He followed me and I managed to ditch him, but then I heard his screams. I circled back, and I could smell his blood, too much blood. So I freaked and came here, I didn’t know what else to do,” he explained as his breathing became more frantic again.

“It’s okay Isaac. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. We just need to go see Derek, he’ll know how to handle this. Come on,” you said as you pulled him up and towards the door. You had him wait in the hall as you snuck into your brother’s room and stole the keys to Roscoe.

As the two of you backed out of the driveway, Isaac asked, “How do you know about all of this? Werewolves, Derek, hunters? Did he offer you the bite too? Are you one of us?”

“Not me, Scott. And it is a long and complicated story, but I promise that I will be here to help you through all of this. It might seem overwhelming now, but it’ll all work out, I promise.”

So, the two of you went to Derek’s loft and explained the situation. Derek ordered that Isaac act like normal and lay low until he could figure it out. But outside of that, his curiosity as to what had actually happened was trumping his need to protect Isaac.

A little annoyed at the alpha, you took Isaac back out to the jeep and decided that you were both going to stay the night at your house. After sticking Stiles’ keys back in his room, you went back to Isaac.

“Okay, so let’s get this straight. Because the police are going to question you once they find your father, so it’s better to prepare now. Your dad and you got into a small argument and you left and rode your bike here. You’ve been here all night and tomorrow morning you will come down and eat breakfast with us so that my father can see that with his own eyes. If they ask about anything else, you don’t speak until you have a lawyer present. They can’t hold you unless there is a witness or you admit to doing something. So after they question you, you come back here and we will figure out how to get you through your first full moon.”

“Okay, I can do that,” he agreed, “How are you so good at this? You’re so calm, while I’m over here completely freaking out.”

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” you joked.

“I’m glad that you are here, I don’t even want to think about what I would do without you.”

“Well fortunately, you don’t have to worry about it. Now get some rest,” you said motioning for him to climb in your bed next to you.

The next morning went to plan. You paraded Isaac in front of your dad. Once you got to school, you stayed in Isaac’s general vicinity offering reassuring smiles every so often. When you weren’t with Isaac, you were with Lydia who was trying to adjust to her first day back after being naked in the woods for three days. She didn’t remember anything, which was probably a good thing, but that didn’t help the fact that everyone was staring at her like she was crazy.

To say that you were relieved when the school day was over was an understatement. If you could get Isaac to stay with Derek past the full moon before the police brought him in for questioning it would definitely be ideal. Now, you just had to make it through practice.

Even as you had that thought though, everything started to go wrong. First, Scott had been able to sense a werewolf and went through the team one by one until he discovered that it was Isaac. Though before any sort of confrontation could occur, the police showed up and took Isaac away for questioning.

You made your way out to Roscoe where Scott and Stiles were and Scott turned to you, “they took Isaac in for questioning, his dad was found brutally murdered earlier this morning.” After seeing your lack of reaction he added, “but it seems like you already knew that.”

“Did you also know that he was a werewolf?” Stiles spoke before you had a chance to say anything.

“He is innocent. And possibly in danger, because in case you haven’t noticed tonight is a full moon. So maybe you should be thinking about what we are going to do if they decide to try to hold him overnight.”

“He’s Derek’s problem,” Scott replied trying to hide the betrayal he was feeling.

“You don’t mean that,” you reply, trying to remember that the full moon was affecting your friend.

“Why not? Maybe this is what it takes for Derek to understand that he can’t just turn innocent teenagers to fuel his power trip” Scott tried to justify, raising his voice.

“Whatever Scott,” you dismissed before turning to Stiles, “take me to the station, I’ll figure this out myself.”

However your brother hesitated not wanting to pick between you and Scott. Having enough of both of them you rolled your eyes, “Fine, I’ll find my own ride,” you said before storming back towards the school.

“Y/n-” Stiles called after you.

“Let her go, we don’t need her,” Scott growled.

“Hey, what is your problem?” Stiles asked defensively.

“If Y/n wants to choose Derek and Isaac over us then we don’t need her, do we?”

“Careful Scott, you are starting to sound jealous,” Stiles said as he threw his bag in the back seat.

“I just think it’s stupid that she is defending them and that she lied to us for god knows how long.”

Stiles decided to just keep his mouth shut as he drove the pair to Scott’s house. Meanwhile, you got a ride to the police station from Danny and were sitting in a chair outside his office. You noticed that there was an officer milling around that you had never noticed before which was saying something considering the fact that your dad was the Sheriff.

You noticed that he ducked into one of the empty offices as your dad came out of the interrogation room, clearly surprised to see you.

“What do you think you are doing here?” he asked as he let you into his office.

“I’m here for Isaac, how are things going?”

“To be honest with you kiddo, not good.”

“Why what happened?”

“We have a witness that the two of them were fighting last night and then his bike was found at the scene of the crime.”

“And if you looked at it, you would’ve noticed that it had a flat tire, which is why Isaac had to walk to our house,” you explained thankful that you had thought to have Derek take care of the tire earlier.

“I know he’s your friend, did you have any idea that his father was abusing him?”

Your face fell, if your dad knew that, it meant that he either had a witness or was able to search Isaac’s house.

“You should have told me,” your father sighed looking disappointed.

“He didn’t want me too,” you tried but you already knew it was hardly an excuse, “but if you know about that, then you should also know that one of the ways his dad punished him was by locking him in a freezer which causes him to become claustrophobic. And locking him in a holding cell would be traumatizing,” you tried to reason.

“So then what would you propose?”

“Find a way to delay the process until tomorrow. Isaac can stay the night at our house so you can keep an on him, take him into your custody or something I don’t know. He just lost his dad, and while their relationship was … complicated, he was still his dad. This is the last thing he needs right now.”

“Y/n…”

“Please Dad, he’s my friend and he’s innocent.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he concedes.

“Can I see him?” you ask as your dad is exiting his office.

“He’s in the first interrogation room.”

“Thank you.”

You let out a breath that you didn’t know you had been holding, and turned the doorknob to enter the room where Isaac had been left alone.

“How are you holding up?” you asked taking a seat across from him and tossing him a reese's from the vending machine.

“Better now that you are here. I heard you talking to your dad, do you really think that I’ll be able to walk out of here tonight?”

“I hope so, but don’t worry if not I have a back-up plan. Just try to stay calm, I know you are going through a lot today.”

“I can’t believe everything could go wrong so fast, I never wanted this. I just didn’t want to be afraid anymore.”

“You don’t deserve this, and I’m sorry that you are here right now. But I promise you that we will figure this out.”

“I hope so.”

“Let’s try to get your mind on something else,” you said before engaging him in conversation until there was a soft knock on the door and your dad came in.

“Well, Isaac, if you agree to staying in my custody, we are going to let you go for the night. We might need you to come back in tomorrow and answer a few more questions,” your dad explained.

“Thank you so much Sheriff Stilinski,” Isaac said graciously.

“Don’t thank me, thank Y/n she’s practically your lawyer,” you dad joked, before adding “I have to finish up some paperwork, but then we can all go back to the house.”

“Sounds good, in the meantime can we wait in your office?” you asked wanting to get Isaac into a different environment.

“That’s fine.”

As soon as you and Isaac were alone in his office, you pulled out your phone and text Derek to update him on the entire situation. You then turned to Isaac, “How are you feeling?” you said referring to the full moon.

“I got it under control for the time being, I think that it’ll be better once we get out of here though.”

“I don’t know if Derek told you, but your first one is always the hardest. You have to find something or someone that keeps you human. An anchor. Otherwise you’ll lose control. Stiles has chains and stuff that he used for Scott, and I’ll be there every step of the way. If it starts to get bad, I’ll call Derek.”

“I’m glad one of us has a plan,” Isaac said before resting his head in his hands feeling exhausted with everything that had happened.

You took a seat next to him and pulled him in your arms, not saying a word. It was about fifteen minutes later when your dad came in and escorted the two of you out to his car. When you arrived home he mentioned something about ordering pizza, you agreed and then rushed Isaac, who you could tell was beginning to struggle, upstairs. You got the stuff you needed out of Stiles’ room and noticed headlights across the street. Hunters.

Realizing how much harder this would make things, you called Derek and told him to stay away. This could actually be a good thing, as long as you could keep Isaac under control, then maybe they wouldn’t suspect him of being a werewolf. That was definitely going to be easier said than done. Especially when you were alone and having to hide everything from your dad.

You re-entered your room and set up the chains, hoping that by some miracle you wouldn’t need them. Your dad brought up the pizza and you accepted it gratefully before quickly closing the door behind you. This was going to be a long night.

#teen wolf #teenwolf #teen wolf imagines #teen wolf series #teen wolf imagine #teenwolf imagines #teenwolf imagine #stiles sis fic #teen wolf x reader #stiles imagine #scott mccall imagine #stilinski imagines #isaac lahey #isaac lahey imagine #isaac imagine #isaac lahey x reader #isaac x reader

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mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea · 3 years

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First Lines

Rules: list the first line of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). see if there are any patterns, choose your favorite opening line, and then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Tagged by @mcfiddlestan Thanks for the tag!

20. Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds (She’ll beat you if she’s able)

Scott Summers/Logan; Words:3914

"I can't believe you're making me do this, Emma."

Scott held the cellphone to his ear with one bare shoulder and stared at himself in the mirror. He tried to adjust what he was wearing. What little he was wearing, and he wrinkled his nose at his reflection.

19. The spheres are in commotion

Bruce Banner/Jane Foster, post-Endgame. Words: 2526

Tony's words echoed in Bruce's head, so much so that he nearly fucked up the experiment he was running with two very volatile chemicals that would've destroyed the freshly rebuilt Avengers base.

18. They Bid Me Take My Place Among Them

Loki + Tony Stark, post-Endgame AU, pre-Valhalla ship. Words: 2293

Tony screamed as the pain of a million suns flayed his right arm and side of his face.

17. She told me to come, but I was already there

Emma Frost/Tony Stark. Words: 1488

"With this ring, I thee wed. I, Emma Grace Frost, take you, Anthony Edward Stark to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death parts us."

16. Take me with all of my beautiful scars

Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes. Post-Civil War (MCU), pre-cryo Bucky. Wakanda. Words: 817

He slept most of the way from Siberia to Wakanda, but T'Challa nudged him awake for the view of sunrise over paradise.

15. The indefinite unshapen dawn with vacant gloaming

Loki/Tony Stark. Post-Endgame AU. Words: 1370

All around the battlefield, the wounded were tended to.

14. Yet what can I give him, give my heart

Scott Summers/Logan. Words: 3470

He came up to his lonely cabin in the middle of nowhere to get away from the after-holiday fuss.

13. And white the fading forests grow

Emma Frost/Loki/Tony Stark, Kate Pryde/Danni (tattoo artist from the comic, I named her because the comic didn’t), Bobby Drake/Christian Frost. Words: 2643

If anyone had told Kate Pryde years ago that she'd wind up spending a whole holiday season at a quaint little (little being relative) cabin in the New England wilderness instead of the Xavier School or any other large gathering of mutants, she'd have laughed them right out of her face.

12. Now is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious

Loki/Tony Stark. No powers, college AU. Words: 12510 (technically posting two lines of this one because the first is short dialogue.)

"Wanna listen to something else?"

Tony glanced over at his passenger. He couldn't tell if Loki was bored or depressed or just lost in thought, but the screen on his tablet hadn't changed from the same page he'd been 'reading' for the last hour.

11. I know you’ll be a star In somebody else’s sky

Scott Summers/Logan, Emma Frost/Scott Summers. Words: 482

Scott let out a soft moan when Logan's mouth crushed onto his.

10. Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me

Loki + Tony Stark. Post-Infinity War AU. Words: 1296

It took months before Tony was well enough to leave the Avengers facility he'd built for a team he'd stopped 'consulting' for after Steve went rogue and disappeared.

9. All the losing and the knowing

Loki + Thor. Thor: Ragnarok canon divergent. Words: 542

The third time Thor's fist connected with his face, Loki heard the crunch of his nose.

8. Ghost of a Chance

Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes + Peggy Carter. Words: 1341

Scratchy tunes faded in and out from the radio in the training facility.

7. Behind Blue Eyes

Loki/Emma Frost; Loki/Tony Stark, Emma Frost/Scott Summers. Canon divergent comic’verse, involves shapechanging and mind-bending. Words: 19142

Emma hissed as the cup burned her bottom lip, and she set it down with a scowl.

6. Supernaut

Loki + Tony Stark. Post-Infinity War, pre-Endgame AU. Words: 2553

Whatever pieces of Loki were left in the wreckage of The Statesman were intact enough that healing from death...again...took only as long as Thanos' snap that ended half of all life across the known universe.

5. We Were Never Boy Scouts

Loki/Steve Rogers. Canon divergent, post-Civil War. Words: 5319

A frost giant and a once-frozen centenarian walk into a bar...

That's where the joke ends. That bar isn't really a bar. It's the middle of nowhere in the North Siberian Lowland, and there isn't a structure or building or person in sight.

4. Far away you were made in a sea just like me Part 1 of Hemispheres

Loki/Tony Stark. Canon divergent, alternate reality. Words: 6730

It was the gray light that gently tugged him from sleep.

3. A spirit with a vision (Is a dream with a mission) Part 2 of Hemispheres

Loki/Tony Stark. Canon divergent, actual reality. Slow burn. Words: 41901 (WIP)

"Tony, this is madness."

Tony finished his third cup of coffee and poured another for himself.

2. A Warrior’s Wound

Kurt Wagner/James Howlett (Logan). Words: 596

In the near-two centuries since he’d been alive, Logan had been stabbed, sliced, gutted, burned, shot, survived grenades, canons, arrows, magic, inter-dimensional weaponry, Dracula’s bite, Sabertooth’s claws, Hulk’s smash, Black Widow’s knives, Cyclops’ eye-blast, Jean’s mind-punches, Hank eating his leg, Remy’s flying sparky cards, Rogue’s touch, Emma’s diamond slaps, Reed’s rubbery choke-holds, S.H.I.E.L.D removing his head, Mystique’s...everything, and sometimes, his own clumsiness.

1. Hey Jealousy

Loki/Tony Stark, but...not exactly. Loki’s jealous that Bruce has gotten into Tony’s pants. Thor: Ragnarok, canon...tweaked. Words: 1011

“Surpriiiiiise.”

Okay, seriously MY first line for this is:

Before they split up to take care of their escape plans, Bruce tugs at the crotch of the pants again.

I’m not sure what patterns I have here other than maybe starting a fic with dialogue or starting with something short and punchy.

Tagging: @scottxlogan @izhunny @kleenexwoman @iamanartichoke @mistressofmuses @stephrc79 @elvenferretots @oceanplait @gold-from-straw @gaslightgallows

#First Lines Meme #fanfiction #fanfic #Tea-drinking Wolfgirl writes het as well as slash oh yes she does

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wingedwalls · 3 years

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Teen Wolf Season 1 from Derek’s POV

So I actually think Derek’s character is very consistently written, and that seasons 1 and 2 are examples of excellent writing (I know, shocker of an unpopular opinion around here 😂). I've been thinking about Derek's portrayal, and what the story looks like from his perspective, and it's like a different show altogether, so I thought I'd share.

Let’s take a moment to think about The Story So Far, from Derek’s POV:

• Derek was an arrogant jock brought up in a loving but very large family (ie used to a certain level of independence, and who would need to really act up for any adult other than Uncle Peter to pay attention and get involved).

• Not going to go into the Paige thing at this point, in case anyone reading this has only seen season 1.

• Falls for Kate, who takes advantage of him and eventually burns down his house, with all of his family in it except one of his sisters. Comes back from school to find his home burnt down, his family dead, and puts two and two together in his mind. What would young Derek have learned from that? A few things: don’t trust people, ever. It makes you too vulnerable. Don’t let people in, it puts you and yours in literal danger. It’s All His Fault and he basically killed his family. And - Seduction is power.

• Moves to New York and tries to get over this trauma. Probably doesn’t get very far, since the number one lesson he learned in his life is Don’t Let People In. He becomes a very angry person.

• Eventually Laura tells him she’s off to Beacon Hills to investigate. This is probably not something that came out of the blue, rather she was probably investigating the cause of the fire as a way of coping with her grief. Not only does Derek not have that, he had to spend 6 years watching her do that, knowing that he was responsible for their deaths (in his mind), and not being able to say anything. Either she wouldn’t figure it out, and he would feel guilty forever, or she would, and she would hate him forever. He lived with this eating him up for 6 years. Then off to Beacon Hills she goes, saying she’s close to figuring something out, but not telling Derek why.

• Then she goes radio silent. Derek has no reason to equate this radio silence with anything other than “she found out it was me, and now she hates me.” But Laura is literally all he has. So he goes to Beacon Hill the next morning, to try and explain. Instead, he finds half of her dead body in the woods. That’s the dead body of the last person who ever cared about him. (Not counting Peter - because while Derek cares for Peter, who was arguably his closest family member before the fire, he doesn’t expect him to ever recover). Laura is dead, and it’s probably hunters, and the only way to not let guilt and grief take over is to focus on his anger. He takes Laura back to the burnt out husk of his family home, and buries her under the family symbol for revenge.

• Literally within a few hours of him finding Laura’s body, two people come sniffing around the exact scene of the crime. He goes to check it out - it’s clear they’ve been here before (he found the inhaler) but it’s also clear they’re not hunters. They’re useless teenagers. One of them smells like a wolf. He tells them to fuck off.

• These two kids might not have been hunters, but there’s something weird going on with them. So he stalks them to try and find out what’s going on.

• Turns out this Scott kid was newly bitten. There’s something else going on here - an alpha who isn’t Laura. He’s apparently turning people, making new wolves. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? He’s not sure.

• But things are getting more complicated - the Argents are back. Not Kate, no, thank god, but her brother and his kid. And Scott is making all of the same mistakes he used to make - he needs to stop this before it all blows up in his face.

• Before he gets a chance to get his mind around any of this, let alone mourn the loss of his sister whose body he just discovered a couple of days ago, shit hits the fan and those asshole teenagers GET HIM ARRESTED FOR LAURA’S MURDER. That’s what he gets for not being distrustful enough of people. These idiots are going around like they know everything, when it’s clear they know NOTHING. He tells them exactly that.

• There’s not enough evidence, and so after this utterly humiliating experience, they let him go. Despite this, nobody doubts for a second that Derek is guilty.

• The one saving grace in this situation is that the Argents don’t know he’s here. But Scott is still making all the same mistakes Derek made in the past. And so Derek, who hasn’t had a single friend in literal YEARS, is poorly socialised, and has only ever had the great example of Peter as a mentor, actually tries to take Scott under his wing. He really, really *tries*. He just sucks at it.

• Scratch that, the Argents know he’s here, and they know who he is. He was just minding his own business at the service station when Argent tried to intimidate him and smashed up his car.

• This rogue alpha situation is becoming a problem, so Derek begins to go out at night and look for him.

• One such night he’s out tracking the alpha, there’s a commotion. The alpha attacks a car. As Derek moves to get closer, he gets shot in the leg. Uh oh. Hopefully it’ll heal. He slinks back to the preserve and his burnt out husk of a house.

• Well, shit. It was a Wolfsbane bullet. It’s not healing. That is NOT good. He needs help, or he’s going to die.

• Derek has not asked for help in a very long time. Not as a teenager, when it would’ve made him look weak, and not since the fire, because he literally doesn’t trust anyone enough to help. But this time he’s completely alone. And if he doesn’t get help, he’s going to die. SCOTT. Scott can help. He’s been helping Scott, so Scott owes him. He’s an idiot, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Scott needs his help, so Scott needs him alive, so Scott will help.

• Scott doesn’t care. Derek makes him to the school, barely conscious, and asks Scott’s peer - Jackson - where he is. That asshole won’t even tell him. He tries to carry on but pretty much passes out in the corridor. He’s literally on the brink of death in a building full of people, and is actively asking for help, and NOBODY CARES. NOBODY even STOPS.

• Eventually he makes it out, finds Scott and his friend, and they tell him to fuck off. Seriously?! He passes out again. Scott is like “Stiles, you deal with him, I don’t have time for this shit.” And leaves. They keep joking about letting him die.

• For all the nasty comments, that kid driving the jeep is the only one who actually hasn’t left him to die. Scratch that, he wants to dump him at his house and ditch him. His house with no locks where everyone who wants him dead knows to find him. Derek starts to panic.

• Derek has hours left to live and nobody is helping. Even though he has made it simple for them and told them exactly how to help. Scott, the one person he thought might care, is literally taking his time having dinner with his abusers’ daughter instead of doing the one thing that can save his life. Fuck it, he’s just going to cut off his own arm.

• Scott makes it back with the bullet in the nick of time. Fuck people.

• To add insult to injury, Derek has a run in with Chris at the service station and he smashes up his car.

• Derek is back at home, minding his own business, when the literal worst thing that could possibly happen happens. KATE ARGENT shows up in his home. The last time she was here, she was burning his family alive. She shows up with guns, incapacitates him, taunts him about his dead sister, his dead family, tries to pump him for information, and when none is forthcoming and it becomes clear he’s “outlived his usefulness” - she tries to kill him.

• Derek runs. The house isn’t safe anymore.

• Derek still tries. He tries to make an ally out of Scott. He’s the only non-psychopathic werewolf left in Beacon Hills. Derek has no pack, no one. They’re stronger and safer together. If only he would stop being such an idiot.

• His search for the alpha points to Deaton. The guy clearly knows things. Things about him. He is not forthcoming with information. Derek has no time for this shit. He roughs him up a bit. Unfortunately, Scott picks that night to come up with the stupidest plan EVER and apparently decides to broadcast his existence to all of Beacon Hills. Aaand then he gets mauled by the alpha.

• To add insult to injury, when he comes to Derek finds out that Scott has thrown him under the bus by telling the fucking sheriff that he, Derek Hale, trapped a bunch of kids at the school, kept them hostage, and killed a man. Great. Now all of beacon hills wants him dead. Back to being on the run. It’s not like his home is a safe place to stay anyway.

• He needs help, but the last time he asked for help that didn’t go so well. Scott didn’t give a shit. A building full of people left him for dead in the corridors and no one stopped. He passed out on the road and the only reaction people showed was annoyance at stopping the traffic. Actually, you know who did help? That Stiles kid. He’s probably Derek’s best bet if he needs a safe place to crash.

• Stiles has a lead - he can hear them talking about it. That other guy doesn’t want to help. Apparently Stiles is the king of brilliant ideas, and an improvised strip tease is exactly what it takes for that Danny guy to help them. (Again, what did Derek learn? Seduction is power.)

• Things are not looking good. Their one lead seems to point to... Scott’s mother? They need to think about this.

• If the hunters didn’t kill Laura... then the alpha did. An alpha more powerful than Laura? Derek doesn’t want to let the hope bloom in his chest, but maybe another one from his family got out? Survived the fire? But then why aren’t they coming for him? Why Scott?

• They need to talk to Peter. Surprisingly, Stiles appears to have a decent sense of priorities and skips his Lacrosse game to help with this.

• Bad news. Peter is the alpha. Uncle Peter. Uncle Peter has recovered?! What?! And now he’s killing people?! He killed Laura?! He attacked him?! Act now, think later. That Stiles kid is in danger, he needs to get him out of harm’s way first.

• After a fight, Derek and Peter have a heart to heart. This is huge. Derek isn’t alone in the world after all. He *does* have family. He wasn’t in control before. He was angry. Derek can understand that. Maybe things can be okay after all... they need to talk to Scott.

• They go to the school, and Peter does something Derek didn’t know was possible. He sticks his claws in Scott’s neck as a way of sharing memories. Well, shit. This reminds Derek of something, but he can’t quite figure out what.

• He feels a bit more powerful now. A bit safer, knowing he’s got someone else on his side. He can go back to the Hale house.

• Scott is at Derek’s house when the hunters attack. This is bad. They’re probably going to take him - he barely got away last time. But he can’t let them get to Scott. He has to protect Scott. So he buys him time. As a last-minute decision, he takes Scott’s phone. Hopefully someone can figure it out. Use it to track him. That Stiles kid is pretty smart. Maybe he can figure it out.

• Derek is held prisoner and tortured by Kate. On his own property. I don’t think I need to go over this - what you see is what you get. Kate shows him off to Allison like he’s some circus animal, and Allison barely reacts with anything but fear. She voices all the guilt and self-loathing and resentment he’s kept to himself for 6 years. He gets physically and emotionally tortured. For days. In his own basement.

• Derek only got caught because he was buying Scott some time to get away. When he hears Scott’s howl he thinks maybe he might have a chance of getting away after all. Except then Scott shows up and refuses to help him out. Derek is seriously freaking out. Kate could be back at any point. They can talk about this later, but he needs to leave NOW.

• Eventually Derek breaks himself out, fuelled by the mix of relief and panic that came with Scott’s appearance. Wait, Scott might actually be saying something important. Now that he’s free he can pay attention. Shit, Scott might be right. Peter didn’t lose control and kill Laura in a moment of confusion. He lured her here. It was premeditated murder. Peter MURDERED his sister.

• Barely does he make it back to the house before Allison and Kate show up to kill him and Scott. Scott won’t listen to him, won’t listen to any of his advice. Kate shoots him. Everyone there leaves him for dead. And this is the sad thing - if Derek did die, right here right now, no one would mourn him. No one would miss him. No one. At all. He’s completely alone.

• By the time he comes to, Stiles and Jackson are on the scene and Peter is being burned alive. Again. It’s a horrible sight, but this time the thought of Peter murdering his only family left alive is worse. Derek wants revenge. Scott asks him to let him do it. But fuck Scott. He’s spent weeks trying to help him, WEEKS, and for what? To die alone in a ditch, with all of Beacon Hills wanting him dead. He wants revenge, yes. But what he needs right now, also, more than anything, is a pack. He needs to not be alone. And so he needs to be the alpha. He kills Peter.

I find it interesting when people say that Derek is intended to be the villain or the antagonist in this season, because to me that really isn't the case. He's more of a red herring than anything. Scott may see him as a threat, but if you actually look at things from his perspective, he actually goes OUT OF HIS WAY to help Scott and Stiles, over and over again, and gets nothing but shit for it.

#teen wolf #derek hale #reposted from my own reddit #teenwolfmusings #scott mccall #stiles stilinski #derek hale pov

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twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years

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Starcrossed Losers 2.II (Josh Wheeler xF!Reader)

A/N: I should’ve told you this earlier lmao but the first half of this season is heavily inspired on the show’s podcast, meaning that the plot follows the podcast’s occurrences of the last episode, if you haven’t you should listen to it, pls -Danny

Words: 2,646

Warnings: Swearing

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to me!

It takes me about fifteen minutes to go back to the mall, my mood has improved and it only gets better once I see the main entrance. Josh made this graffiti of a sunrise on one of the stores' windows to represent our tribe: Daybreakers. I thought it'd be cool to make a bigger version of it and hang it outside the entrance; so that's where it's proudly hanging.

"Where were you?" Alex walks up to me. "We just got a whole box of medical stuff, we need to store them!"

"Glad I didn't miss it," I grin.

As I make my way through I get a glimpse of the small little groups that have settled on the mall and that you probably wanna know about. We'll get there, don't worry. We have time. Right now I have to hurry.

'I fell in love again All things go, all things go Drove to Chicago All things know, all things know'

Wesley passes by, he sees me and hollers.

"Our Doc is back! Any good news, Y/N?"

"Take a guess," I smile brightly. "I have to go and store some things, but I'll see you in a moment, okay?" Wesley raises a brow.

"I don't see why not," He smirks. "I have my own business to attend right now, anyway..."

"What business?" I ask.

"We had this idea for a race across the mall and it's about to start. I'm supposed to be the one who gives the green light so I gotta get moving."

When he says 'we' I know he means Angelica, Josh and him, they're always doing this fun and exciting competitions, and it's been barely a week! They're supposed to make us grow closer, we're about 80 people here, which is quite a lot. A mix of cheeramazons, gamers, former jocks, and og daybreakers. But I know pretty much everyone personally, I have to, I'm their healer after all.

'We had our mindset All things know, all things know You had to find it All things go, all things go'

"Who brought all of this?" I ask Alex while we put the little boxes on each shelf.

"Leila and Tyler, they were doing their rounds when they found this a few blocks away, they're mostly from abandoned houses..."

"Good job, Leila and Tyler," I say in amazement.

"So how did your meeting go?" Alex raises a brow.

"Oh my god, I feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders," I sigh heavily. "Sam finally accepted our offer, but there's a few things I need to talk with the others. I still think everything's fine, though."

"I'm glad, the jocks were the only tribe that was acting up, it was about time..."

"You know it was all Maya's fault. I hate her."

"Don't we all?" He snorts. "She's still living her best life?"

"Sam still has her there with her in the Queen's office, so of course."

"Y/N!" Angelica runs into the pharmacy and hugs me briefly. "Took you long enough! How did it go?"

"A total success," I grin, hugging her back. "But you know, since you're here I'd like to talk to you about some things the jocks are trying to get. I know you'll say no, but I'm still obliged to say it."

"So tell me."

"They're asking if it's on us to provide food for their movie nights."

"Fuck no! They have a full fuctioning orchard and they want us to give them more food?" Angelica frowns.

"It was Maya's idea," Alex says over his shoulder.

"Yes," I roll my eyes, "but Sam wasn't exactly against it, so I had to ask. I did tell them it wasn't likely to happen, so it's okay, we can say no, they agreed to it anyway."

"Good, because we won't agree to that."

"Done!" Alex turns around with satisfaction. "You can go and take off those skates. God, your poor feet must hate you."

"They're used to it," I laugh. "I won't say no to a well-deserved nap, though..."

"Now that we have all of those deals with the tribes, what's next?"

I'm about to answer when I see Josh approaching with his signature grin. He gets over to where I'm standing and lifts me off the ground in a swift movement. I'm aware we're being sickengly cute, but we're still in our 'honeymoon' phase, we tend to be cheesy. I laugh and put my arms around his neck before he puts me back down.

"How's your day going?" He asks me, clearly expecting to hear about the Jocks.

"Well, dearest leader," I smirk, taking off my backpack and rummaging through the papers. "I'm pleased to announce they finally accepted. They're trying to force us to provide the snacks, though. But all you have to say is no and that'll be it. Sam will understand, she's the one growing food, she can't expect us to give away ours."

"You're serious?" Josh asks. "That's awesome, Y/N! I knew you could do it!"

He leans down to kiss me, but before we even touch Angelica yells at us.

"Hey, if you guys can keep it in your pants for a moment," I hear her beside us. "KJ's looking for you at the gamers station."

"Oh," I frown. "What for?"

"I don't know, I think there's some problem with the signal, the gamers' WIFI is slower than the one in the cave so they're whiny about it."

"That's not something I can fix," I roll my eyes. "I'll go and listen to them."

"I have to go back to the Cheeramazon station," Josh comments. "I just wanted to know how it went with the Jocks."

"And here I was thinking you were glad to see me," I tease, and he chuckles. I put the notebook in my backpack. "Oh! Before I forget..."

I tell them about the Tribes book and how they'll send a jock at some point during the week to ask about the subdivisions and all. Angelica thinks is a bit silly but she agrees to receive the jock anyway, Josh agrees with it a hundred percent, he thinks this is the final step to become a real tribe. I agree, it took us a long time to find a home, we're happy.

'I was in love with the place In my mind, in my mind I made a lot of mistakes In my mind, in my mind'

When I find KJ I see that there's an actual crisis happening. Aria and her are arguing and they only stop when I arrive, both coming up to me at the same time.

"The wifi is-"

"I think someone is trying to hack-"

"–We can barely play tetris on this shit-"

"Hold on," I huff. "Aria, you said someone is trying to hack into your computer?"

"Not my computer, the whole net," Aria continues, pleased to see it was her concern the one I decided to talk about. "It's weird, and we're having comunication problems with the other tribes, the signal falls every half an hour."

"I'm no expert at tech," I frown. "Why were you wanting to see me?"

"She says it's my fault," KJ replies. "I helped Angelica with the set-up for the gamers division and the solar panels on the movie theater, she thinks I fucked up the signal."

"It's because we didn't let you join back into our lines, just admit it," Aria rolls her eyes.

"I don't want to be in your stupid tribe! I'm fine here!"

"Enough!" I interrupt them, "Aria, as much as we want to be good hosts while you're our guests, I must ask you to not start fights with the members of my tribe, the daybreakers will always be my priority. KJ, maybe try not to react so aggressively with our guests? Listen, I'll talk to Angelica so we can find a solution, I bet there's something we're missing here and I doubt it has to do with KJ's abilities. Give me two days, alright?"

Both girls nod, KJ glares at Aria one last time before leaving.

"We appreciate your efforts, Y/N," Aria tells me out of the blue. "I wasn't trying to be rude, it's just... even if Triumph is no longer a thing, there might still be threats out there, it's better to remain informed, and for that we need a strong internet connection."

"Yeah well, I'll see what I can do," I give her an awkward smile. "You think the cave's renovation's will be done anytime soon? Not that I'm kicking you guys out, I just... my kids are getting nervous about the lack of food and..."

"One more week and we'll go, I promise," Aria tells me. "We're working no it."

An hour later during lunch, after I tell the whole story to Wesley and Turbo, both seem happy that my meeting was a success.

'Is everyone alright?' Turbo asks me.

The cheeramazons and Josh have been teaching sign language to all of us, so Turbo's life is improving now that he can speak to more people than before. He's also healing, and if I manage to do things correctly, he might be able to speak again in a few months.

"The jocks are just fine," I reply happily. "Don't worry, Sam is taking good care of your boys and girls."

He nods, though I can see he's a little sad about being thrown away from his former home, I know how that feels like. Sort of.

"You know, Doc, I'm really proud of you," Wesley raises a brow. "You went for it, took a place in the community and slayed your demons, now look at you! You're a higher power in our youth!"

I laugh at his observation.

"I'm doing the bare minimum," I shrug.

"It's more than I ever did during my time with the jocks as second in command," He sighed. "But still, you should be proud, sister."

"I'll be, eventually," I say simply.

Before we can continue our chat Josh sits down next to me and offers me water, which I accept with a soft 'Thank you'.

"So what now?" He asks me.

"What do you mean?" I tilt my head.

"You made deals with every tribe there is, now what's the next thing on your list?"

"Keep them going," I reply matter-of-factly. "Just because they said yes doesn't mean it'll stay like that forever, you know? We gotta mantain our relationships healthy and strong, perhaps we could organize events for all the tribes to join us... like New Year's Eve, or another Prom night..."

"Woah, hold on there, Miss President," Wesley scoffs. "We gotta focus on our tribe first. Our food is lacking, so are our living space and medical supplies."

"Well perhaps is because you won't stop organizing dangerous competitions where half of our kids get injured, our supplies would be fine otherwise," I point out.

"Don't take away their joy, Y/N," Wesley says. "Turbo's with me in this one, right?" He turns to his boyfriend and the boy nods.

'Kids need the distraction' Turbo explains. 'So they don't start fighting each other.'

"I know that," I sigh. "We'll find a solution, okay? I'll think of something..."

"You look exhausted," Josh says worringly, he stands up and then helps me to do the same. "C'mon, let's take you to bed."

"Just don't be too loud, it's the middle of the day," Wesley yells at us from his place once we're halfway gone. Josh and I turn to him in outrage.

"Is not- we're not-" I try to say, but the words tangle in my head.

"I'm just walking her to the mattress store!" Josh replies, blushing. "I wasn't going to put my hands down-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," I say.

We share a look but we quickly turn away.

The thing is, Josh and I haven't had sex. We made out a couple times when we were alone, but those times are gone, more so with eighty people walking around the mall at all times. Besides, I've never had sex in my life and I'm terrified of the possibility of getting pregnant during the apocalypse, I mean, that equals to be asking for a painful, slow death.

Josh understands that, and he said he'd wait. He even said that if I never want to have sex that's okay too. But who knows if that's the truth, Josh is an eighteen-year-old. He won't be understanding all the time.

Now that Wesley killed the mood we walk in silence until we reach the mattress store, Josh puts a hand on my shoulder and looks at me, struggling to speak.

"I... uh-" He shakes his head lightly. "I..."

"I know," I say with a reassuring smile. "Wesley's joking. He knows we're not... that I'm not ready."

"I know that too," He frowns. "I... You know I care about you, right?"

"Of course," I grin. "Don't worry about it. I really want to take a nap, so is it okay if I go?"

"Yeah, totally," He removes his hand from my shoulder and gives me a shy smile.

I nod and start my way towards the nearest bed, but an arm grabs me by the waist and turns me around. Before I understand what's going on Josh's lips are on mine and he's kissing me.

It's a good kiss, firm and loving enough to relieve all the tension from my shoulders. When we part I see the softness in his eyes looking for approval. I let out a short laugh.

"What was that for?" I ask in amusement.

"Was it okay?"

"It was great."

"Good," Josh nods, still looking quite insecure. "Just making sure."

"Okay, you freak," I giggle. "See you in a while..."

When I wake up from my nap it's around 7 pm and I still feel a bit groggy. My phone rings and I pull it out to see a notification from Spotify. It's from the podcast the AV club has been doing for a while. I eagerly unlock the phone, it's a reminder that I haven't listened to the last two episodes and that last episode I heard ended in quite a confusing moment. I was afraid they'd been hurt, I'm glad to see that's not the case.

I like those kids, last time they did an episode to honor Eli's death. They also talked a bit about Hoyles but no one really ever liked Hoyles. Eli's part was sweet.

As I start listening to this episode Melissa says they're hiding from some kids in suits? And not many things make sense, why would they be following them? They also talked about their strange poly relationship but that wasn't the point.

The point is that the AV club was about to die, and there was no one listening.

I fearfully click on the next episode, waiting to hear they escape.

'I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes I made a lot of mistakes'

"This isn't about spying like the germans gathering all kinds of intimate information," Melissa aka Harvard continues in a panicked voice, "and we are most definitely not being forced to do this by a tribe that has tak-"

The audio cuts there for a moment, but that's all the confirmation I need.

We have to save the AV Club.

"Josh!" I run out of the mattress store, looking everywhere. "JOSH!"

'You had to find it (I made a lot of mistakes) All things go, all things go (I made a lot of mistakes)'

"Wheeler!"

"Woah! Hey!" Josh's body crashes against me and stops with an amused smirk. "What's going on? Did you have a bad dre-?"

"We need to gather our kids now," I say quickly.

"What? Why?" He replies, stepping back from me.

I gulp, panic raising through my body and cutting my breathe.

"We're being watched."

Taglist.

@letsbe-queer @slythermyg @loving-u-3000 @one-loud-mind

#twoidiots writing #daybreak fanfic #daybreak #josh wheeler #josh wheeler xreader #wesley fists #angelica green #kj karen jane #turbo bro jock

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ghostsray · 4 years

Text

Ch7: Second Chance

(this is a day late oops. but hey, it’s also longer than the previous chapters, so that ought to make up for that, right?)

(first - prev - next)

Niel coughed and waved the last wisps of green smoke away from his face. When his vision cleared, he looked around and saw himself standing in...exactly the same spot he had been in, inside the Fentons' laboratory. Something was off, though. Danny and Ellie were gone. There didn't seem to be any trace that Ellie had melted anywhere in the lab. The table they had landed on was placed against a different wall, and instead of work-in-progress weapons, it was covered with blueprints.

Niel frowned as he tried to recall what last happened. He had made a wish, and then a ghost...a wish-granting ghost? Niel had wished something about change, but that wasn't definite enough to inform him of what that ghost might have done. Then he turned around and saw the portal--or rather, where the portal should have been.

The frame was still there, but in place of the glowing green swirls was a gaping hole. Tangles of cables slithered along the base. Niel didn't even know the portal could be closed.

He wiped away the last tears from his face and furrowed his brows. So he made a wish about changing things...a ghost granted it...and now the portal was closed. That had to be related, right?

He heard footsteps descend the stairs, and he turned around and saw Danny frozen at the bottom, staring at him with wide eyes. Before Niel could say anything, Danny rushed to the nearest shelf and grabbed an ectogun, aiming it at Niel shakily.

"You--you're a g-ghost," Danny stammered.

Niel raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah? It's me."

Danny looked confused. He didn't lower his weapon. "Ghosts--" he began, "ghosts are real?"

It was then that Niel finally noticed that something seemed different about Danny. He had less scars, less bags under his eyes, and...he was shorter? Vlad had designed his clones to be fourteen after the age he got Danny's DNA from, but by the time Niel was created, Danny was sixteen. He had always been a few inches taller than Niel due to the two extra years, but the Danny that stood before him now was the exact same height.

Blueprints, a closed portal, a younger Danny who didn't believe in ghosts...wait. Niel's stomach sank as he asked, "What year is it?"

Danny frowned, but then he said, "Oh, right. Ghosts come from different periods of time, right?"

He told him the date. It was two years ago.

Niel muttered a curse word under his breath. (It was harsher than Vlad's fake swears. The situation seemed appropriate.) He looked at Danny, who was still aiming that gun at him.

"Put that away," Niel said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Danny hesitated, but he didn't lower the gun. "My parents--"

"They told you that all ghosts are bad, right?" Danny looked surprised, but Niel rolled his eyes and continued, "You're probably thinking that I'm trying to trick you into trusting me or something."

"And you're not?"

"No! I just want to find a way back to the Ghost Zone." Maybe then, he could find that wish ghost and make her undo whatever she had done to bring him here.

"How did you even get here? The portal isn't finished yet," Danny pointed out.

"Natural portal," Niel lied. "It shut as soon as I came through. Are you sure this portal here can't work?"

Danny shook his head, then said, "My parents made it. Maybe they can find a way to--"

"No!" Niel interrupted. He did not want to deal with the famous ghost-hating Fenton couple. His exclamation startled Danny so much, the boy's finger squeezed around the trigger of his gun. A blast came out and shoved Niel onto the ground.

Danny dropped the gun in shock and covered his mouth. "I'm sorry," he said, then scrunched his face, as if wondering why he was apologizing to a ghost. Niel groaned. As he tried to push himself up, his hand screamed in pain, and he felt his ghost core pull away. Oh shit.

Danny recoiled as the rings of light spread across Niel. When Niel stood up again, fully human, Danny's jaw dropped.

"You look just like me," Danny said. "How...?"

Niel shrugged, then winced when his hand ached. Right. He'd forgotten that he broke a finger. Not to mention his burn from earlier...

"It's a long story," Niel said.

Danny must have noticed him wince, because his eyes travelled to Niel's hand. "Your fingers--"

Niel covered his injured hand. "They'll heal."

"You were just a ghost," Danny said dumbly. "And now..."

Niel shrugged again with one shoulder. "It's...a long story?"

Danny's face scrunched up, then stretched in surprise. "You asked me what date it was. And you look like me...Are you...me from the future?"

That was...a valid conclusion to jump to. "It's complicated," he answered. "Look, I just want to get to the Ghost Zone."

Danny's mouth moved wordlessly for a minute, and then he slowly slid down into a sitting position on the floor. "I think I need a moment to process this."

Niel tapped his foot impatiently. "Seriously?"

"Hey, I just found out that not only are ghosts real, but possibly time travel, too."

"You think that's bad? I'm the one who's stuck in the past, right after--" Niel clenched his jaw and swallowed. He couldn't just say 'right after I discovered that the guy who cloned me from you doesn't actually care about his kids' without delving into an explanation about the whole clone thing and why Vlad even wanted to clone Danny.

Danny looked up at Niel again and asked, "How did I become part ghost?"

"You part died, obviously."

"That doesn't make any sense. You can't be part dead."

"Yeah, well, you were. Or will be. You get what I mean." Niel shook his head and walked to where the empty portal frame stood. Something must have activated it in the future. He knew it had something to do with Danny gaining his powers, but he wasn't familiar with the details...

Danny stood up behind him. "Why don't you want Mom and Dad to help?"

"They're ghost hunters. I'm part ghost. Figure it out." His eyes traced the lines on the portal's sides. A few panels were sticking out, wires poking from beneath...

"But if you just explained things--"

For some reason, Niel felt a flare of anger in his chest, and he turned on Danny and snapped, "I'm sorry, who here is the half-ghost version of you from the future?"

He didn't know why he felt so angry at Danny, or why he was still pretending to be Danny from the future. Maybe he wanted him to hate his parents just like Niel hated Vlad. He knew that was despicable of him to wish for, but then again, he was raised by a supervillain.

Danny took a step back, watching Niel with crestfallen eyes. A heavy footstep descended on the stairs, grabbing both boys' attention. "Dann-o? Is that you?" a voice called out. It was Jack.

Danny looked back at Niel, but the other boy was gone. Truth was, Niel just turned himself invisible, but Danny didn't know that. He turned in place, trying fruitlessly to spot where Niel had went, when Jack's large form peeked into the lab. "There you are. What are you doing in the lab?"

Danny stammered and said, "Um--"

But Jack just grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's okay, son. If you were curious about ghosts, all you had to do was ask! Just don't be alone in the lab next time, all right?"

"Duly noted," Danny replied.

Niel silently moved toward the lab's exit. He glared at the back of Jack's head as he went. A part of him hoped the man would feel his stare and grow unsettled, but Jack seemed unperturbed.

He swerved past Maddie on the stairs to avoid passing through her as she went to join her husband. Then he picked up speed once he reached the top and phased through the Fenton household's front door.

He wanted to run, as far away from Fentonworks as possible, except moving his arm sent jolts of pain through his hand and he wasn't in the mood for Naruto running, so instead he sat down on the sidewalk and sighed. Welp, he was in the past, before Danny ever gained his ghost powers. That was certainly one way to allow him to "change everything".

The Fenton portal didn't work. Niel hadn't learned how to summon his own portals yet, and he doubted a natural portal would conveniently open up. He wondered if maybe the wish ghost could still be in the human world--she granted this wish, so she must have allowed herself some leverage, right? Maybe he could summon her if he said her name three times, like that musical about a ghost he pirated online once. The problem was that he didn't know what the wish ghost's name was. He was pretty sure he heard about her before, but...ugh, why did his memory have to suck?

Niel's stomach sank as he realized there was only one portal left he could use, and to get to it, he had to go to Vlad's house. At this point of time, Vlad hadn't even met Danny yet. He hadn't begun working on creating a perfect clone. How would Niel feel if he saw him? The image of Vlad's bloodred eyes and glinting fangs snarling at him as he tried to protect Ellie's melting form was still fresh in his brain.

Niel trembled, but he knew he had no choice. He stood up and began walking toward the mayor's mansion. He went a few steps before he paused as a realization hit him.

Was Vlad even mayor yet? It was two years ago. Vlad, from Niel's time, had been mayor for one year. That means he wouldn't move to Amity Park yet until next year.

Great! Not even Vlad's portal was in Amity Park. Niel wasn't sure if that dissapointed or relieved him. He would have to travel all the way to Wisconsin if he wanted to reach the Ghost Zone.

So, his options were either to travel to another state, or go back into Fentonworks and try to open the portal while no one was looking. If Danny turned half ghost from opening the portal, what would happen to Niel, since he was already half ghost? Would he become full ghost, or would the action somehow reverse his genes and make him full human? No, wait, that second option makes no sense. He'd probably just die and go full ghost.

"Danny?" someone said. He looked up and saw Danny's sister, Jazz. She was holding a book from the library and staring at him with furrowed brows. Oh, crackers, was he visible? He glanced down at himself, and sure enough, he was there. Niel mentally berated himself. Losing his invisibility just because he lost concentration? He should have trained his powers better than that.

"What did you do to your hair?" Jazz asked.

Niel unconsciously touched the shaven part of his hair and said with a shrug, "Impulse?"

Jazz frowned. "Carrying out drastic impulses isn't always healthy. It could be a sign of poor psychological health."

Niel was about to wonder why she suddenly started speaking like an encyclopedia, then he read the cover of the book she was holding. A psychology book. So she's into mental health.

"It's fine," Niel mumbled and tried to walk past her, but Jazz grabbed his hand. Unfortunately, it was his injured one, and he hissed as she closed her palm around his fingers. Jazz widened her eyes when she noticed his injuries.

"How did you--nevermind, that's not important. Why did you not heal your hand after you burnt and broke it? We do have a first aid kit."

"It'll heal."

"On its own?"

Right. Humans didn't heal as well as half-ghosts. Jazz shifted her grip onto his wrist and started pulling him inside.

"Jazz, it's fine," he insisted, but she didn't listen. She opened the front door to Danny's house and grabbed him through. His anxiety spiked, and he turned his wrist intangible to slip through her grip. Jazz turned back in surprise when her hands became empty, but at that point, it was too late--they were standing inside the Fentons' living room, and staring at them with wide eyes were the Fentons themselves, Danny included.

"Jazz, sweetie, who is that?" Maddie asked, craning her neck to get a good look at Niel.

Jazz turned around to answer, but her words died in her throat when she spotted the real Danny. "What? How--"

Maddie and Jack saw Niel, and they pulled out their guns. "It's a ghost impersonator," Jack exclaimed.

"That's ridiculous," Jazz quickly argued, but she was scowling at Niel in confusion, trying to figure out how and why he looked so similar to her brother. "Who are you?"

The Fenton couple's weapons began to whir as they powered up, but Danny jumped in front of them and shouted, "Stop! He's me from a different time!"

Maddie frowned. "Are you saying he's a time traveller?"

Jack lowered his weapon and scratched his chin. "If ghosts are real, then why not time travel?"

"Well--" Maddie hesitated. "It's possible in theory, but..."

"None of this makes any sense!" Jazz interrupted, throwing her arms up. "Ghosts? Time travel? Look-alikes? What is going on?"

Niel stepped forward, and everyone quieted down to watch him with anticipation. "Maddie and Jack are right, actually," he said, then made his eyes flash red. "I am a ghost."

Maddie gripped her gun again, but Jazz protested, "You can't be a ghost, you're alive! I felt your pulse."

"He's part ghost," Danny murmured. Everyone but Niel turned to look at him.

"Part ghost? That's impossible," Maddie scoffed, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Of course you would say that." Niel glared at them with his red eyes and said, "You don't care about scientific discoveries. You only care about fitting the world into your narrow theories."

Maddie frowned, obviously not liking what he was saying. Niel didn't care. He tugged on his core, and the others in the room stepped back in shock as he transformed with a flash of light.

He waited for them to raise their weapons again, or shout out ghost insults. Instead, Jack broke the silence by saying, "That was incredible!"

Niel faltered. "It...was?"

"You were just human--and then you weren't. How did you do that?"

There was no malicious tone in Jack's voice. In fact, he sounded genuinely curious. Maddie nodded in agreement, her eyes wide with wonder.

Niel glanced between them, his brows drawn together. "You're not going to shoot me? Because I'm a ghost?"

"You said we don't care about scientific discoveries," Maddie said. "I don't know where you got that idea from. Of course we're intrigued by new discoveries. Danny said you were only part ghost, and Jazz confirmed this by saying you have a pulse, which ghosts cannot have. That must mean you really are a human-ghost hybrid--something we thought was impossible, but we were wrong."

"We want to know everything," Jack said excitedly, then quickly added, "without hurting you, of course."

"Of course not," Maddie agreed. "We're not that amoral. We would never hurt a person, even if they were only part person."

Niel felt like a rug was being pulled from underneath him...until he held onto that last sentence, and his expression returned to a scowl. "So you wouldn't have cared about what happened me if I was a full ghost?"

Maddie hesitated. She and Jack exchanged a glance.

"To be fair, we've only ever heard stories about ghosts," Jack admitted, "and those stories always portrayed them as evil, so that was what we assumed them to be..."

"But if we gain proof against that, then of course we'll change our minds," Maddie completed.

"Really?" Niel said skeptically. "You won't assume the ghost is only pretending to be nice to trick humans into trusting him?" That was what he had always heard the Fentons say about Phantom on the news. The couple shifted guiltily.

Jazz watched the exchange in quiet calculation. "Hold up, so," she said to Niel, "are you or are you not from the future?"

"I am," he answered, which wasn't a lie.

"Then, something must have happened in your time to make you so bitter toward our parents. Am I right?"

Maddie and Jack were watching him apprehensively. Niel frowned. "You thought your son's ghost form is evil."

"We would never think that about Danny!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, well, Danny didn't tell you about his ghost half."

"Why not?" Maddie wondered.

Niel met Danny's eyes. He knew the same thought was going through their heads. Danny glanced away and fidgeted. "Because...you hate ghosts," Danny said.

Immediately, the couple's expressions morphed into guilt. "Oh, sweetie," Maddie said. "We would never hate you if you became a ghost."

"Of course not!" Jack agreed. "Ectoplasmic or not, you'll always be our son."

Danny looked up at them hopefully. "Really?"

"Really," Maddie promised. She smiled, and Danny smiled back. Both of them were suddenly swept up by Jack's burly arms into a hug, causing Danny to laugh.

"We'll always care for our family," Jack said, then gestured for Jazz and Niel to join in.

"And we're sorry," Maddie told Niel. "Really. For anything we might have done--er, will have done in the future."

Jazz's lips quirked upward, and she joined in her family group hug. Niel did not.

He stayed rooted in his spot, watching them, while something akin to panic rose inside him.

"No!" he exclaimed, surprising the family. "No, you're supposed to hate ghosts! You're supposed to hate me!"

"Scientists can be wrong," Maddie said, startled from his outburst. "Whatever we said, we can make it up to you."

Niel trembled. This was wrong. This was all wrong--the Fentons weren't supposed to be such great parents! And yet he couldn't deny the heartwarming scene in front of him. Maddie and Jack cared for their children...

...Vlad did not.

How ironic was that? Niel had spent so much time thinking that Danny would be better off under Vlad's care than under his parents'. Now, everything was flipped. Vlad was horrible, and the Fentons--

The Fentons were gazing at him warmly, Jack's arms still outstretched in an invitation for Niel to join them in their group hug.

"Danny," Jazz said softly. "It's okay. I think they can change."

Niel didn't meet her eyes. Danny, she had called him. They all still thought he was a future version of Danny. And Niel...didn't want that to change.

Danny's family was amazing, he now realized. And they thought he was their son. They thought he was a part of them. Maybe, if he kept lying, he could be a part of their family, and then he'll never have to return to Vlad ever again.

That thought grew in his head until it was all he could think of. He was brought here on a wish, and that wish was being granted. He could be a part of a real family, and as an added bonus, Danny wouldn't have to go through his accident or fight any ghosts if they never completed the portal. Everyone would be happy. He, Danny, and--

Oh. Guilt swam in his stomach as he realized he had forgotten all about his sister--his real sister, not Jazz. If he stayed, Ellie would never had been made.

"What's the matter, dear?" Maddie asked. Niel swallowed.

"I'm..." he sighed and said, "I'm not your son."

He looked at Maddie nervously to see her reaction...and was confused to see that her expression hadn't changed from its warm smile. Then he looked at everyone else and realized she wasn't the only one--none of them had moved one millimeter.

"Um...hello?" he asked and waved in front of their faces. None of them even blinked. What the f--

"Hi," a new voice said, and Niel screamed and jumped in surprise.

He whipped around and found a smiling ghost. The ghost was blue-skinned and wore a purple cloak along with what must have been a dozen watches. As if those weren't enough to tell him the time, he also held a scepter with one more little clock on top.

As Niel watched, the ghost shifted from a young adult, to an old adult, a child, then back again. A light flicked on inside his brain.

"You're that time ghost," he said. "I've heard about you. Your name had to do with clocks or watches...um...Watchman?"

The ghost chuckled. "Close enough. It's Clockwork."

"You're supposed to be a myth."

Clockwork spread his arms and asked, "Do I seem like a myth to you?"

"I guess not," Niel admitted. "Assuming the myths are true, you either control time, or you have a deep obsession with collecting watches."

"Har har, very funny," Clockwork said. His monotone voice somehow made his words sound funnier. "You know, you're just as witty as he is," he said and pointed his clock-staff at Danny.

"I like to think im wittier," Niel said casually. Internally, he may have been freaking out. Clockwork might not be a myth, but he sure as hell was a legend. One who was talking to him.

Clockwork hummed and floated over to the Fentons, who stood still as statues--frozen in time, Niel now realized.

"They're a nice family, aren't they?" Clockwork commented. Despite how legendary the time ghost was, Niel suddenly found himself biting his tongue to stop himself from retorting. If the myths were true, then Clockwork knew all about Niel's (half)life. He knew how much emotional turmoil this revelation caused him.

"Maybe," was what Niel ended up saying.

Clockwork shifted into a child. Maybe he did it to spite Niel. "You were very hateful to the parents."

"They hate ghosts."

"But not their son."

Niel pursed his lips. He looked at the frozen Danny, being held in frozen Maddie's arms as she smiled. "I guess...maybe they deserve a second chance."

"Indeed," Clockwork hummed and returned to the Fentons. Niel found himself wishing the time ghost didn't act so aloof. He was observing the Fentons like they were an art exhibit, and Niel was a fellow tourist. "You know, you were never meant to be transported to this time," he mentioned to Niel. "Desiree--that's the name of the wish ghost, by the way--she grants wishes, but usually they're supposed to stay small. Nothing as big as changing the timeline."

Desiree. So that was her name. "What happened to her?" Niel found himself asking.

"I'm afraid she's being trialled."

"What?"

Clockwork turned away from the Fentons to look at him. His form jumped from child to old man, so his face looked more serious as he spoke. "Like I said, changing the timeline is a big deal. The Observants aren't happy with her. If this were a one-time thing, they might have let her go, but this wasn't the first time she went too far with her wishes. Time was never supposed to be a part of her arsenal."

"What...punishment do they have for her?" Niel asked. Even though he never interacted with her much, he found himself sympathizing with her.

Clockwork shrugged. "The Observants no doubt have some severe punishment in mind, but I might convince them to go soft on her. Get them to sentence her for a hundred years in jail, maybe."

"That's supposed to be soft?"

"Desiree herself is several hundreds of years old. One century isn't long when you're immortal."

"That's fair, I guess..."

Clockwork observed him with his pupil-less eyes. His form shifted again into a young adult. "I don't believe you feel sorry for her because she granted your wish, do you?" He waved at the Fentons and added, "Surely you know you can't stay here forever."

Niel knew. As soon as Clockwork appeared, he figured the time ghost was here to transport him back to his own time. Still, hearing that from him felt disappointing.

"I don't want to go back to Vlad," Niel murmured.

"You don't have to," Clockwork pointed out. "After all, your sister seems to be doing just fine on her own."

Niel wrinkled his nose. "I'm not living on the streets."

"I don't know. It might do you some good humility." Niel wondered if Clockwork was joking, and then he saw the ghost's grin. Niel frowned.

Clockwork chuckled. Then he turned serious again. "But really. You don't belong in this timeline."

"I know," Niel said dejectedly. That didn't make him feel any better.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Clockwork by his side. "You will be part of a family someday," the time ghost told him. Niel didn't believe that. But Clockwork can see the future, so maybe, just maybe, that was true.

Niel looked at the frozen family once more. "What will happen to them?"

"Their memories of their encounter with you will be erased, obviously. Their fate will progress as it has been written. Things will return to normal--as normal as it is considered for Amity Park."

"And what will happen to me?"

Clockwork gave him a knowing smile. "Telling you would be a spoiler, wouldn't it?"

Niel was quiet for a moment. Then he opened his mouth to say something, but when he blinked, Clockwork wasn't there. A few more blinks, and he realized he was no longer standing in the Fentons' living room. The smells of stale ectoplasm, batteries, and sterilizer filled the air. He was in the Fentonworks laboratory, and judging from the light seeping through the crack between the portal's closed blast doors, he was back in his own time.

"--uck!" Danny said, then stopped. "Oh. Nothing happened. Huh."

Niel turned around and saw Danny rubbing his neck in embarrassment. "I thought, since you said the word 'wish'--but nothing happened..."

Niel's vision moved away from Danny and landed on Ellie. Ellie, who was little more than a puddle. Ellie, who had been attacked by her and Niel's own father, if Vlad can even be called that.

Danny followed his eyes to Ellie. "Oh, right. Don't worry, I've got the Ecto-Dejecto right..." He turned back to Niel, but he was gone. The portal doors were open. "...here."

Niel floated aimlessly through the Ghost Zone. He couldn't stand another second inside that lab, seeing Ellie like that. But he couldn't stand the thought of returning to Vlad, either. So here he was, drifting through the Infinite Realms.

Now that he wasn't currently being pursued by Skulker, he had the time to take in the scenery. Blobs of ectoplasm floated here and there, making the world seem like an oversized lava lamp. Islands, rocks, and doors floated here and there. Occasionally, a ghost flew by in the distance.

Niel didn't feel any wonder from seeing the view. He felt empty. He felt...lost.

#Danny Phantom #dannymay #dannymay2020 #niel masters #danny fenton #jazz fenton #jack fenton #maddie fenton #clockwork #fic #fanfiction #writing #mine

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therisinggear · 4 years

Text

Ghost Of a Chance. Chapter 1

A Ghost of a Chance!: The Ghost Queen's Slaughter!

~Amity Park- Three years ago~

The town of Amity Park, a town tied to the paranormal. Ghosts from other dimensions have invaded the living plane of existence time and time again. Most are just relatively normal people. While others are, for lack of a better term Supervillains. Because of the influx of evil ghosts, one young hero fought to keep the peace.

Danny Fenton was just fourteen when his parents built a very strange machine. The Ghost Portal, It was designed to view a world unseen. During its test run, it failed to activate and it was left to collect dust in its parent's lab.

One day on a dare from his friends made him put on a Jumpsuit and go inside it. "I still think this is a REALLY bad idea, Sam! Have you ever even seen The Fly?" Danny tells her before he accidentally presses the On button, activating the portal with him inside with the help of this horrifyingly dangerous design flaw. With a bright green glow, Danny's screams in agony. His friend Tucker holds Sam back when she tries to run in and get Danny out. "NO STOP IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!!" Tucker screams at her.

"LET ME GO TUCKER If We Don't DO ANYTHING DANNY IS GOING TO DIE!!" Sam screams as she kicks Tucker in the stomach. He drops to the floor with the wind knocked out of him. A changed Danny stumbles out, staggered by the experience. His black hair is now snow white and his blue eyes now glowing green. The white/Black jumpsuit had its colors inverted.

After that Life changing day, Danny gained the abilities of a ghost. While learning his new abilities became a hero. At one point even saved the earth with every ghost he ever fought.

~Three years Later~

After fighting ghosts for three whole years, Amity Park has had ghosts become an everyday part of life. With Danny becoming a literal symbol of Ghost and Humans working well together, Ghost has been given rights as citizens. Some of Danny's old enemies gave up antagonizing humans and got real jobs.

Sidney Poindexter got his GED and became an Anti-bully activist. He actively reduced bullying in schools by telling kids how he took his own life because of it.

The Hothead Ember Mclain made it big as a legitimate performer with a record deal. She may even be going platinum soon.

Hell, even The Box Ghost got a job with FedEx.

One day, Danny was out buying new college prep books when he spotted another one of his old enemies in the coffee shop, looking depressed. Desiree the wishing ghost is waiting for her coffee, dressed in a suit. She appears worried about something, checking her watch.

"Oh boy this can't be good." He mumbled to himself, trying not to draw her attention. He starts to feel sorry when she pays for her coffee. A heartbroken Desiree just stares blankly at her phone. Soon she spots him in the distance and politely waves while grinding her teeth. "Fantastic, My date stands me up and now I have to deal with the Phantom boy!"

"Oh man, I'm so going to regret this later." He awkwardly waves back at her before gesturing to her he is leaving. Danny walks away with a sigh of relief. "Talk about awkward running into a former enemy!" Without paying attention he bumps into Desiree. "Ahem!"

Danny would have jumped in shock if his Ghost Sense didn't already let him know she was right in front of him. Desiree looks down at him with her arms crossed. "What do you want, Phantom?" An enraged scowl on her face before she notices the books in his hand. "Oh, you didn't come for me!" She calms down a bit and even laughs. "Forgive me, I've not been in the best of moods."

Danny laughs, nearly dropping his books. "I was just as surprised to see you, Desiree! I almost went ghost like the old days out of habit." The former adversaries laugh at the whole situation. "So how are you, Desiree? By the get up I'm assuming you've gone legit like a lot of other ghosts."

"Yes I passed the bar exam and I'm now a lawyer." She clarifies with pride written on her face. "I happened to order two coffees and my date decided not to show up, care to join me?"

Both of them return to the coffee shop and have a friendly conversation, like the hostilities of their past is now gone."Your date sounds like a real dumbass to stand you up. So you chose to be a lawyer? I have to admit I never saw that one coming. The Box Ghost working at FedEx I saw a mile away, but this takes me by surprise." The ghost boy admits to her.

"In the last three years, I've tried many different jobs but being a Lawyer had the most appeal, so I committed to law school. Getting a GED was the First real challenge because the last time I had a formal education was two-thousand years ago. " She points at Danny's books while taking a sip. "So how about you Phantom? You look like you are getting serious in your studies in these peaceful times."

"I want to be an astronaut one day and with the lack of Ghost fighting, I've had more time to study for it. Good riddance too, I never really liked all the non-stop fighting anyway. Like the first time we fought, You kicked my butt big time before I made a wish."

"I hope one day my wishes can come true," Desiree mumbled to herself with some regret. "The one thing I can never have."

"Your own Kingdom if I remember that gypsy's story right." Danny muses out loud. Desiree shakes her head with a sad look on her face.

"That was just a superficial legend, not the real story. What I really wish for is something I never had."

~Fenton labs~

Four years after Danny got his powers from the ghost portal, the constant battles always took their toll on him every time but he always bounced back. From the Box ghost to the former ghost King, he always came back stronger. However, he might have his hands full this time. His many enemies began the unthinkable. They somehow found a way to make his ability to feel the incoming presence of another ghost useless. Under the command of the new Ghost Queen, they went after his friends and family one by one.

Wave after wave of the Ghost Queen's minions worn the now eighteen-year-old ghost boy down. Soon he was overpowered by her most fearsome henchmen, Beaten to the point he could not fight back.

He is on his knees in a Burning laboratory as his two most powerful foes looming above him. The Fright Knight, the spirit of Halloween and an evil older copy of himself from another timeline called Dark Danny. "Games over kid it's been over before it even began!" His evil parallel self-boast. Dark Danny lifts Danny by the neck, strangling his younger self while charging up a blast in his other hand. Danny is too beaten and bloody to fight back. "Time to DIE!!"

Danny almost gets blasted through the stomach before the Fright Knight cuts Dark Danny's arm off. "Her Highness the Queen ordered us to bring him to her alive!!" The Knight snarls at his partner. An enraged Dark Danny throws a swing before the Fright Knight has a blast aimed at his head. "And I've been given the freedom to eliminate you if I see fit!"

Dark Danny stops baring his teeth at the knight and regains his cool. "You know, I liked it better when you served me in my timeline." He drops Danny and reattaches his arm.

A terrified Danny tries to crawl away but is too gravely injured to get far. "D-Danny?" His sister Jazz is buried under rubble, in tears and reaching out to him as she bleeds out. Dark Danny picks Jazz up off the ground by the hair. A sadistic smirk on his face as he looks down at Danny. "Hello sis, miss me?" Jazz spits blood in his face as a last act of defiance. "Go To Hell!"

"You're already here Jazz, and you are about to meet the devil herself?" He puts her in an ectoplasmic bubble along with Danny. "Lucky for you, she did say to bring at least one living family member."

He waves his hand to make a Ghost Portal.

~Ghost Zone~

The two villains enter it, on the other side is a massive palace in the Ghost Zone. Various ghosts and humans on their knees in the throne room. A ghostly servant blows a horn, "Presenting The new Ghost Queen! Her Highness Queen..." A tall busty woman with an hourglass figure walks down a dark corridor, her red eyes shine in the darkness before she enters the light. Her skin is brown with glowing veins marks all over her arms, veins that change between red blue yellow and green. "...Desiree!"

The (Former) Wishing Ghost sets on her new throne, giving Danny a lustful leer. "Bring him closer and release him." She orders her henchmen, her eyes never leaving the ghost boy. Dark Danny makes his Ecto-Bubble vanish, he kicks his younger counterpart towards the foot of Desiree's throne. The barely conscious Danny can't keep his eyes open as The Ghost Queen gingerly caresses his face. "And I had this grand speech planned and you deliver him to me almost dead!?"

Dark Danny laughs smugly with fangs before a look of rage takes over him. He is looking at his hand as he is being removed from existence in green fire. "We had a deal! I give you what you want, you give me what I want!", He screams.

Desiree picks Danny up bridal style, her expression is cold as she glares at Dark Danny. "Your results are unsatisfactory, enjoy existing no more." Dark Danny disappears, vanishing within the flames.

~Hours later~

Danny wakes up in a large bed with all his injuries healed. "Where am I?!" He gets out of the bed only to fall on his face, his legs feel like jelly. "Oh great, I'm in enemy territory and I can't walk or go ghost!" Arms wrap around him as a pair of soft lips kissed him on the cheek. He spots the Ring of Rage on her finger. He sees Desiree's new look like she is almost human again. The flaming crown of her head gives him a clue, much to his horror.

"The numbness will subside in time, but you need to rest," Desiree whispers into his ear, her embrace getting tighter when Danny struggles to get loose. "Desiree, is this really you? What did you do to yourself!?"

She puts him back in the bed. Danny then remembers Jazz was with him. "Jazz, what did you do to her?!", He shouts at her.

"Healed up and resting in another room. As for what I did to myself..." She puts her right hand up to Danny so he can see the glowing Ring. "...I transcended beyond a ghost or my original humanity, with the power of the former ghost king's ring and crown."

Danny looks at her with abstract terror. "You took those from him?! Do you have any idea what those can do?! If your not careful you can destroy the whole ghost zone and the earth along with it!"

"Worth the risk, I am making an empire, one where ghosts and Humans can be equals. I'm just about finished all I need now is..." Queen Desiree forces him down onto the bed, She Kisses Danny while holding him down. She moans loudly, forcing her tongue down his thought. "...a king to rule beside me!~"

All Danny can say is a flat, "W-What the fuck!? Those things are making you crazy!" His eyes were wide with shock and confusion. "What does this have to do with me anyway?!"

Desiree while still on top smiles warmly, laying next to him. "It's Very simple Danny.~" Her voice is sweet, yet has an undertone of insanity. "You and I marry then rule a glorious empire as Husband and Wife."

"I'm a little young for you, don't you think? I only just turned eighteen." He asks Desiree with a sliver of fear.

"TIME OUT!!"

Time is frozen in place and when it starts Danny is gone. "Oh, no Worries Your of age now. Wait..." The Ghost Queen looks around the room before flinging into a rage. She fires a blast that destroys a wall. "Clockwork!"

Queen Desiree flies out so fast she makes a sonic boom.

~Clockwork's Realm~

Clockwork the master of time opens up a portal in time. A weakened and injured Danny has a Time medallion on him. "If you wish to Save all of the creation, go now!" The normally calm Master of time screams in panic.

Danny limps into the Time portal and in a flash of light is gone. "DANNY!!!" The Ghost Queen screams blows open the wall. *BOOM!* She conjures skeletal arms to bind Clockwork and depower him. "Clockwork Your queen has questions regarding her consort! Return him to me and I'll show you mercy and even forgive your crimes!"

"Danny is already gone and you can't get to him. You may be seemingly omnipotent with the power of the Ghost King but even You have no power over time!" Desiree blasts him into oblivion, leaving no trace of Clockwork. With a snap of her finger, The Fright Knight is Summoned.

"Follow Danny and bring him to me no matter the cost!"

"At once your majesty!" Her knight with his orders enters the portal.

Queen Desiree descends into maniacal laughter. "I will have you, Danny! Even if I have to rip apart time and space! So I wish it so shall it be!!"

#Danny Phantom #fanfic #hartfanart

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poetlcs · 5 years

Text

here’s some wlw books -

Im SICK of u bitches whining about wlw books “not existing” when they do !!!!! and u just haven’t looked !!!! so I’m taking one for the team and making a list of some I liked u can check out. as always there is more so do ur research but @lgbtqreads is a good place to start! ok lets goo

fantasy

girls of paper and fire by natasha ngan - lesbian mc and f/f relationship. Asian inspired fntasy about a girl who gets kidnapped and becomes one of the kings concubines aka a paper girl. tw for sexual assault / rape, death of an animal, sex slavery, war themes and violence

girls made of snow and glass by melissa bashardoust - frozen / snow queen retelling focussing on the relationship between step mother and step daughter. Has villain girls and morally grey stuff, also, an f/f relationship with the main girl!

the abyss surrounds us by emily skrutskie - QUEER !! MORALLY GREY !! ENEMIES TO LOVERS !! PIRATE GIRLS !!!!!!! yes this is an f/f pirate story that is enemies to lovers and features sea monster pets get around it.

labyrinth lost by zoraida cordova - on her death day a bruja called Alex accidentally casts a spell that makes her entire family vanish. Now with the help of a boy called Nova she has to go to Los Lagos to find them. Alex is bi and there is an f/f relationship.

A lake of feathers and moonbeams by dax murray - queer swan lake retelling set in a fantasy world on the brink of war. Has a polyam ship that is f/f/nb !

reign of the fallen by sarah glenn marsh - queer ! necromancers !!! basically a world where it’s necromancers jobs to constantly bring the king back to life. But now someone is purposely trying to stop the resurrections? Mc Odessa is bi and there’s an f/f relationship.

of fire and stars by audrey coulthurst - a princess betrothed to the prince of another country ends up falling for his sister instead. Follows their romance and also a brewing war between their two countries.

unicorn tracks by julia ember - fantasy world where a girl called Mnemba works at a wildlife park housing fantastical creatures like unicorns. When poachers start stealing unicorns, Mnemba and Kara, a researcher from overseas, go to track them down. f/f relationship.

science fiction

the apocalyse of elena mendoza by shaun david hutchinson - about a bi girl called Elena who gains the ability to heal people but everytime she does a random person from somewhere in the world dies. A bit weird and quirky (if you’ve read anything by SDH you know what I mean) main girl is pursuing another girl but no more info bc spoilers !

otherbound by corinne duyvis - Everytime Nolan blinks he becomes privy to the life of Amara, a girl who lives in a fantasy kingdom. Nolan thinks he is imagining things but Amara is real, and bund to protect the princess in her kingdom without knowing her every move is being watched. This is kind of mind bending and weird, but there is an f/f relationship!

dreadnought by april daniels - a trans girl called Danny witnesses the death of the superhero Dreadnought, and as a result inherits his powers. Now with a new body that looks like she always wishes it had, she must track down the villain who killed Dreadnought, before the villain tracks down her. Has an f/f flirtation but it continues into the next book bc SLOW BURN.

contemporary

you know me well by nina lacour and david levithan - pov switches between lesbian and gay mcs. Follows the two main characters over one pride week when they learn they’re both queer one night out. this is short and sweet. f/f and m/m relationships.

queens of geek by jen wilde - follows three friends from Australia who get to attend comic con because Charlie (the mc) is a popular vlogger. Charlie is Chinese-Australian and bisexual and has a crush on a fellow bi vlogger called Alyssa! This is SO cute and fun with some of my personal fav bi rep

under the lights by dahlia adler - set in Hollywood, follows a tv star called Vanessa who finds herself with a crush on another girl and unsure what to do next. The other MC is a hollywood star who has been a typical Bad Boy but is trying to reform. Has an f/f relationship and an m/f platonic relationship.

radio silence by alice oseman - about a called called Frances who is obsessed with this podcast called Universe City and randomly meets its creator leading to them becoming best friends. Frances is bi!

fearless by shira glassman - short story about two mums who meet at their kids music recital and are attracted to eachother. This was so short and cute

the nelody of you and me by m. hollis - two girls who work at a bookstore together start to develop feelings. I think the MCs are lesbian and pan from memory. This is so sweet and fluffy too.

historical fiction

the seven husbands of evelyn hugo by taylor jenkins reid - about a movie star called Evelyn Hugo who was big in the 50/60s but is now retired. She hasn’t done an interview in decades but all of a sudden requests Monique, an inexperienced journalist, write a tell all about her life. Follows Evelyn’s story & why she has seven husbands, but also features the most beautiful epic f/f love story ever. Evelyn is Cuban and bi. Not as hetero as the title suggests !!!

mystery

far from you by tess sharpe - everyone told Sophie her best friend and secret girlfriend Mina died at a drug deal gone wrong, but Sophie’s sure she was murdered. Now that Sophie is out of rehab, she’s determined to expose the truth behind Mina’s death once and for all. ‘

Some more I haven’t read but Reviewers I Trust liked

Everything Leads To You & We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Style by Chelsea M. Cameron (and all CMC’s work)

Soft on Soft by Em Ali

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake

Not Your Sidekick by C.B Lee

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore

Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden

Ash by Malinda Lo

A&B by J.C Lillis

and those are just SOME I have read and liked and only a tiny tiny portion of what is out there. Yeah it can def be harder to find f/f books in your typical library than like an hetero m/f one but they are Out There !!!!!!! If you want more recs you can follow me on twitter or goodreads or my book blog if u would like. thank u, next !

#books #booklr #book recommendation #f/f books #queer books #lgbtq #lgbt books #ya books #book #watch this get no notes bc yall love whining about things but detest putting in The Work

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

Here's a random question for you: I know you're a big (the biggest) proponent of Scanny, but if you had to pick someone else for Danny to have a relationship with, who would it be?

I actually have thought about this! Honestly, my go to after Scott for Danny is Mason, because the younger characters are literally only two years younger than the original characters even if it seemed otherwise a lot of the time. And so given that we never saw Danny and Mason interact due to the whole ‘oh sure, he totally graduated offscreen a year early just in time to not be around for the season that revolved entirely around his specific expertise aka hacking’ nonsense....I can easily imagine a few years in the future, Danny and Mason meet in college or grad school or somewhere they’re on even footing and learn they have mutual friends/experiences/knowledge in common and from there grow into a friendship and also maybe then they’re boyfriends and then husbands and then dads and then grandpas and happily ever after yada yada.

Meanwhile, if Danny encountered Liam at any age, I feel like he would just be like: “No.” And then wave his hand around in Liam’s direction in a circle like to encompass all of him, as he’s all. “All of this is just exhausting, whatever it is. I am too old and too tired to deal with this....vibe you’re emitting.”

LOL I can’t explain it, like Liam and Mason have entirely different energies and I feel that age isn’t even a factor as to why Danny would just not at all have patience for Liam. Like, I don’t think he’d DISLIKE him exactly, so much as just....’I’m going to be over here, and you’re going to stay over there, and I just think that’ll be best for everyone and we’ll all get along great that way.”

Hmm, who else. Controversial I guess, but I actually did kinda like Dethan, waaaay back at the very beginning of it, before that very same season crapped all over any real potential it or even the twins at all had in the show. Given that I’m fine with them and even like them in AUs or fics that diverge before they had anything to do with Boyd’s death, but if that’s at all in canon for a story, I have no interest in them as anything other than cannon fodder. Which let’s be real, you always kinda have a need for in TW stories.

But initially, I REALLY REALLY liked the fact that there was this (at the time) mysterious new character that was there for DANNY, like, deliberately seeking him out because of real or suspected significance....I was all for that, because I was like yes, excellent, clearly this means they have plans to focus more on Danny and bring him into the core group eventually and also obviously Danny’s gonna turn this guy away from the Dark Side and make him betray his pack of overcompensating losers for Danny and the power of LOVE because who doesn’t love that trope, am I right? Its all so clearly laid out!

Ahhh, to be that dumb again.

Anyway, so in AUs or early canon-divergent fics, I can be all for Danny and a better, more fleshed out and non-jackass depiction of Ethan. But by the time Ethan returns in actual canon, the fact that he’s with Jackson just irritates me in a ‘hooking up with your ex’s best friend is a jerk move and we get it, show, you don’t consider Danny important and never did, jfc’ kinda way. Beyond that though, I’m just like, Jackson can have him at that point, they deserve each other, go Team Jerkwad.

I don’t see Theo and Danny ever happening because I like to think that Danny’s view on scheming, ambitious and boundary-breaking friends with possible homicidal inclinations has changed since Jackson and Ethan’s presences in his life, and he’s like.....”Nah, I’m not doing that again. Two of that type are enough for me, and I’m kinda always gonna put up with Jackson at this point because...look, I had my reasons probably, just because I can’t remember the basis of our friendship now, like....just back off, okay?”

Just saying, I don’t think he’d inherently hate Theo if Theo’s story happens in an AU kinda way where he doesn’t murder and betray his way through the show’s social hierarchy, lol, but Danny would still just be like “Look, whatever your issues are dude, I’m not trying to judge you for them if you don’t make me, but like, go put in some you-time offstage and then maybe we can talk. I am not emotionally equipped to put up with the schemes of yet another person whose whole thing seems to be ‘am I good or bad, you decide, because I sure as hell can’t.’ I don’t care how big your biceps are, that is not going to be a deciding factor for me, not this time, no sir, I have learned from my mistakes, I have had hashtag Growth, and you need to go now, and also please put on a shirt. I SAID GOOD DAY, SIR!”

Danny and Stiles is Lol That’s A No For Me, of course, Danny and Boyd I would be totally down for and can picture them being like, a snark queen power couple who hang back and watch all the drama unfold around them while providing entertaining commentary back and forth to each other but otherwise act like they’re not even there, and when someone annoyed by their running commentary finally snaps and goes “Why are you two even here?” like, I can so picture Danny and Boyd just blinking slowly and looking at them, then at each other, then back at them as if confused by the question.

“It’s Date Night,” Danny says slowly, in the tone reserved for being asked to solve the equation on the board that’s already got the answer written out right there.

“Okay, fine. But why are you HERE, then? If its your Date Night, like.....go have your date then. Catch a movie. Its all good, we don’t need you guys here at the moment.”

Boyd squints at them. “This IS our date. Whoppers?”

The latter is directed to Danny, as Boyd extends the box of candy towards him.

“Yes please,” Danny says, reaching for a handful.

Exasperated sighs are heard all around the room.

LOL anyway....who else....Jackson tends to be a no for me too, not for any real reason beyond like....I’ve read too many fics where they’re essentially treated as the Mirror Universe version of S/ciles, and you KNOW how I feel about that ship, so like, all even dubiously associated ships are by mere proxy also noped by me. *Shrugs*

Which mostly just leaves Isaac, and....idk, tbh. I’m not inherently opposed to them, and I’ve actually even read a couple of fairly long-ish and pretty enjoyable Danny/Isaac fics. But enjoyable in the sense of like....just as their own thing, a fun romance set in the TW setting/universe, between Danny and an Isaac-shaped woobiewolf. As the few Danny/Isaac fics I’ve found over the years tend to suffer from the exact same thing that’s always kept me from really ever getting into Scott and Isaac as a couple in anything other than theory...

Like, in the fics I’ve tried, I always tend to run into the same tendency to just....sand down all of Isaac’s rough edges and make him this shy, insecure, soft boy who is withdrawn until Danny or Scott bring him out of his shell....even when its based on the events of the show and Isaac’s already been turned into his leather jacket-wearing, snark-wielding, deliberately apathetic werewolfsona.

And that’s just...not Isaac to me? So if I treat him as an original character basically, I can enjoy those stories, and do, just because there’s sooooo little Danny-centric fic that awhile back, I absolutely spent a good year or so making sure like, I found every last scrap of it, lol. I went spelunking in some deep, dark places in search of even a little spotlight time for Danny, because He Deserved Better and I was willing to put up with a lot to see him get even a little (except for like, blatant and unavoidable Scott hate being front and center in the fic as well. Then I exited with rapidity. I love Danny, but not even for him can I stomach that).

But yeah, otherwise, I very very rarely found a lot of Isaac fics, no matter who he was paired with, where he wasn’t like....constantly soft and vulnerable and the focus of Scott or Danny or whomever else’s regular attempts to comfort and protect him. Which I mean, I love Isaac, and I’m always projecting onto abuse survivors in fiction even if just a little bit, so its not that I object to the comfort and desire to protect him parts, just the sheer unevenness that tends to be present in his dynamics as well. I’ve always said that for me, the true theme of TW was survivor empowerment, that all of these kids had been hurt and exploited and traumatized in various ways and they all struggled individually and together to find ways to cope and to heal, and also to feel empowered enough to protect THEMSELVES from whatever or whomever tried to hurt them again in the future.

And that’s the element that so often is missing from Isaac’s arc in fics, IMO...any hint of the character who he spent a lot of time and effort growing into on the show. Evolving first into a character who reveled in the power he’d been given and that made him feel safe and strong for the first time in his life, to the point where he was quite frankly an asshole a lot of the time.

But then from there he grew into a character who came to terms with the reality that as his own power grew, so did the power of the new tormentors he was now often in conflict with, due to the source of his newfound strength...and his strength and brutality and apathy were not at all the tools able to help him find true protection and recovery in his new world. They just weren’t going to get the job done, and that’s when he started to let Scott’s example sink in and take his lead from that, finding the power and strength in committing himself more to others, becoming more of an active participant rather than just a spectator or a henchman who needed orders before acting.....allowing himself to be vulnerable in exchange for the benefits being more open to others afforded him.

Isaac’s growth onscreen from season to season was the very thing that made him so interesting and enjoyable to me....as well as how his bond with Scott did the same thing....so when the former isn’t really present in fics, even the presence of the latter doesn’t really do a whole lot for me. And its the same thing in the Danny/Isaac fics I read, so yeah. There for it in theory, but the execution I’ve found has never done anything to make it any more compelling a ship possibility than any other random ship.

I think that’s pretty much everyone though? Well I mean like, there’s Corey, but I don’t have strong feelings about that possibility one way or another. And there’s Derek, given the whole ‘Miguel’ thing in S1, but you know me, even in future/aged-up settings, I still tend to be ‘what if Derek dated people his own damn age tho, like just for the sheer novelty, let’s explore that some more’.....not to mention that as the show progressed, the more fandom hated on Braeden and her relationship with Derek, the more I spite-shipped them. To the extent that now I find it hard to picture even AUs where they’re not endgame, or if Derek HAS to be in another ship for some reason, then they still were a super serious relationship before the fic and there’s always that hint of her being the one that got away, kinda.

*Shrugs* What can I say? The enemy ship of my enemy is my OTP. The Art of War, fandom style. I have no problem admitting it, lolol.

But yeah, that’s all of them I think now.

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