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camels-pen · 1 year

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ghost of your past

Summary:

Walker was up to his last straw when Danny broke a precious mug gifted to him by his daughter on his last Father's day as a living man.

He didn't expect to lose more than his patience chasing the punk, but then, out of nowhere, he reunited with the mug's creator.

based on @mystyrust's prompt "Walker attacks amity park and maddie recognizes her father/ grandfather/ancestor" and @ectoplasmicsoda's prompt "Walker and the terrible, horrible, no good day."

Ao3 Link

Oh, that little punk. Walker was gonna toss him in the slammer and throw away the key, mark his words. The little half-human abomination was going to pay.

Walker had left his guards to scour the town. Told them to leave no rock unturned until they found the brat, but it seemed he hadn’t needed to bother.

“Walker! Look, uh, buddy, this isn’t a good time—”

“I. Dont. Care.” He moved closer, grabbing the ghost boy by the throat. “You’ve gone too far this time. Putting aside starting a second riot in my prison followed by the subsequent jailbreak of the entirety of the ghost criminal underworld,”—he leaned in close, his voice dropping to a low whisper—“that was a one of a kind mug my kid gave me for my last Father’s day. That was my last physical memory of her and you are gonna pay dearly for breaking it.”

“Danny? Sweetie, where’d you go? I know getting anti ghost possession shots can be a bit scary, but—” A loud inhale. Walker rolled his eyes, turning back to look into the stunned face of a woman who looked starkly like his wife. When he was still alive to have one. “...Pa?”

Walker raised a brow. He looked the woman up and down, the blue and black hazmat suit looking about as stupid as the brat’s, pausing briefly on her dark, red-brown hair. Probably one of those ghost hunters who loved to mess things up, then. “Do I know you, ma’am?”

From one second to the next, her open shock changed to a very familiar scrunched up nose. “What the hell, Pa? You don’t recognize me and you’re going around strangling children now?!”

Recognition struck him. “Madeline!” he shouted, a smile growing on his face. He dropped the ghost brat and rushed over to sweep her into his arms. “Oh, hun, I’ve missed you so—”

Maddie dodged him and moved around to coo at the brat, turning his head at different angles to look at the beginnings of bruises Walker left.

“You’re kidding,” he said. “Do you know who he is?”

The brat abruptly froze as Maddie growled, “I don’t joke about things like this.”

Walker clenched his fists, stalking forward. “That little abomination was the one who—!”

“Do not call him an abomination!” She stood quickly, standing in front of the brat as he massaged his throat with a pitiful look. The moment Maddie’s back was turned, the boy stuck his tongue out at him. “He’s my baby boy and your grandson!”

“He’s your what?!” Is this a joke? This had to be a joke. Please, dear Ancients let it be a joke.

Maddie put her hands on her hips. “Pa, please, I know you don’t usually like my partners, but don’t be a pest about this.”

“Don’t be a—” He stomped right up to Maddie. “Don’t throw my past words back at me, Cookie!”

“Well, can you blame me?” She threw her hands in the air. “I waited years to be able to do it and then you kick the bucket!”

He shook his head. “Whatever. I don’t care about your taste in idiot partners right now! I care about this little punk, breaking the mug you got me for my last Father’s day!” She stared at him, unimpressed. “He broke your mug!” he repeated, indignant. “It was my favourite one!”

Maddie scoffed. “That mug was a piece of shit and we both know it. You’ve never drank out of it in your life.” Didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate fine art. And he’d seen the hours she put into learning how to use the pottery wheel. Or rather, he’d heard her frustrated screams through the walls. “And I heard what you said to Danny; your last physical memory of me? Really? I don’t suppose you only have one physical memory of Alicia?” Walker’s code of avoiding lies as much as possible was really working against him here. Maddie scoffed. “Of course. Of course!”

“Kiddo, I didn’t—”

“Don’t call me ‘Kiddo’.” She glared at him. “I am in my early 40’s. And I have not seen you in over three decades.” Was she really that old already? He was surprised she wasn’t bragging about having lived longer than him. “I will not allow you to diminish my opinion and call me a child.”

Walker hedged, “But you’re still my little lemon cookie—”

Maddie threw her arms up. “I’m married now! I have kids! Two of them! One of them is going off to college soon!”

“I don’t know what that brat’s told you, but there’s no way he’s related—” Walker blinked. “Did you say ‘two kids’?”

“Yes! Jazz—Jasmine. Our oldest child and a wonderful daughter.” Maddie smiled, pulling out her wallet. “She’s got her whole life planned out ahead of her. We’re still a little worried—you know what happens to Walker girls when they try to plan out their lives.” She chuckled a little as she handed over a long sectioned plastic with small photos, folding it up in a way to show off a picture of a girl with Maddie’s red hair and speaking at a podium, her face bright and smiling.

Walker took the photo in hand, staring at the little girl he knew nothing about, given by his own little girl that he was supposed to know everything about.

“Or,”—Maddie sighed—“I guess you wouldn’t know.”

“Know what?” he asked softly, tracing the picture over with his eyes. Jasmine had Delilah’s nose.

“Well, you know how I was doing a biology and chemistry double major and going to go to medical school? And Alicia was going to marry her high school sweetheart?” He nodded faintly. “I switched into an experimental ecto-biology program and Ally’s divorced now, living on her own in Arkansas.” She chuckled weakly.

Walker’s head snapped up. “What?!” He blinked a bit, turning back to stare at the unfamiliar picture. “What?” he repeated, softer.

“It’s—I mean, I finished my degree eventually and Ally finished trade school—” She huffed through her nose. “But we can catch up and talk all about it later, okay? Preferably with Ally. Maybe we can all meet up and have a picnic by mom’s grave.”

“Mom’s grave?” He parrotted, a terrible ache running through him. Dear Ancients, he hadn’t even considered that Delilah was anything other than alive.

“I promise I’ll tell you later, but more importantly—

“What happened to you, Pa? Where did you go?” Maddie asked. “We thought you’d died. Mom and me and Ally, we all buried you—mourned you. What—What happened?”

Walker furrowed his temporary brows. “What do you mean? I did die.”

“But how are you here? Was it temporary? Did—” She gasped, putting a hand over her mouth. “Did we bury you alive?”

“No! Isn’t it obvious I’m—” He gestured down at himself, pausing as he noticed the illusory skin and clothing. Huh, seemed like he’d forgotten to take off his disguise to fool the ghost hunters roaming around shooting at his boys. Now it made sense why Maddie recognized him so quickly.

He should… probably take off the illusory charm. It wouldn’t do to get used to a fake human disguise, especially one as accurate as this.

Out of the corner of his eye, the punk was slowly crawling out the other end of the alley. “And where do you think you’re going?” Walker tried to storm past Maddie, but she held firm.

Maddie snatched the photos from Walker’s hand. “Pa, I’m glad you’re alive, but I don’t take threats to my children lightly.”

He scowled and when he looked back, he noticed a distinct lack of annoying ghost boy. “Darn it, you let the punk escape.”

Maddie glanced behind her and sighed. “Oh, would you quit with the overdramatics?” She shook her head. “It’s always the same with you: ‘This town is full of criminals! You can’t just go out on your own in broad daylight!’ without any further thought and entertaining no other opinions or research other than your own.”

“Our town was full of criminals! I was nearly ‘bout to prove it too, before I was murdered!”

She raised an eyebrow. “You mean when you barged into Ms. Garrison’s house when she was a few minutes late to the county fair? When you knocked down every door, tore her house apart, and then fell through the part of her second story that was under construction to brain yourself on the floor?”

“How do you—” He coughed. “There was surely someone holding her hostage and I was going to be the hero—” he coughed again. “I needed to rescue her. Clearly the perpetrator spread false rumours so they could get away scot-free. And Ms. Garrison already had a faulty memory!

“Cookie, I never meant to leave y’all, you have to know that. I was trying to do good.” Maddie searched his eyes a moment and he kept himself still, a brief hope flickering in his chest.

“Y’know, Pa,”—her face softened, the bags under her eyes looking heavier, more pronounced, and looking at him like Delilah had in those last years he was alive: resigned, tired, pitying—“I almost believed you.”

She turned around, making to leave. He reached out, suddenly desperate to make her stay. “Cookie—Maddie, please.”

“I need to find my son and take care of him.” She tore her wrist from his grip. “Have a good life, Hardy.”

Walker stood there, stunned. Unable to tear his gaze away as his daughter—alive and whole and independent in an entirely new way—strode out of the alley, leaving one ghost for another.

#danny phantom #phic #phic phight #phic phight 2023 #dp walker #maddie fenton #nemo the writing ho

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pedanticat · 23 days

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The big thing that I remembered about this episode was it being the first exploration of the Ghost Zone, the introduction of Walker and Danny teaming up with his enemies to escape prison. And while all of that was great, what I really loved was the fact Danny was worried about his parent's relationship. Really highlights how much he loves his parents and how would be upset if they split. Speaking of them, I truly do love Jack and Maddie's relationship.

#pedanti liveblog #Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Danny Phantom Walker #Jack Fenton #Maddie Fenton

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ghostly-shenanigans-in-progress · 2 years

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TFW you realize your mom’s family friends are related to one of your worse enemies.

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shinigami-striker · 26 days

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Danny Phantom (Season 1) | Wednesday, 04.03.24

What's your favorite episode from the first season of Danny Phantom?

Episodes:

"Mystery Meat" (Series Premiere)

"Parental Bonding"

"One of a Kind"

"Attack of the Killer Garage Sale"

"Splitting Images"

"What You Want"

"Bitter Reunions"

"Prisoners of Love"

"My Brother's Keeper"

"Shades of Gray"

"Fanning The Flames"

"Teacher of the Year"

"Fright Night" (Halloween Special)

"13"

"Public Enemies"

"Lucky in Love" (Valentine's Day Special)

"Maternal Instinct"

"Life Lessons"

"The Million Dollar Ghost"

"Control Freaks" (Season Finale)

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its-rat-time-babey · 2 years

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Danny isn’t the only ghost in Amity Park with living relatives, and all of them have various feelings about their living family members.

Walker is the grandfather of Maddie Fenton and Danny’s great grandfather. He mostly doesn’t care at all about his granddaughter however because of the seriously biased views the Fentons have towards ghosts. In his mind, as long as the Fentons treat ghosts like chaotic evil monsters and continue with their anti-ghost research, he has no granddaughter. He’s also fully accepted that Maddie will never accept the fact that her grandfather is still walking the earth, and will just shoot him on sight if he approaches her and claims to be John Walker.

He does eventually grow to accept Danny however, and eventually agrees to stop trying to arrest him in exchange for Phantom continuing to capture particularly dangerous ghosts as a form of “community service”.

Kitty is the older sister of Damen Gray and is Valerie Gray’s aunt, even though Valerie was born long after she had died. Kitty is fiercely protective of Damen, just as she was in life, but that protectiveness doesn’t extend to the Red Huntress. Valerie’s hatred of ghosts and relentless hunts have made Kitty resent her niece a bit, and she won’t hesitate to fight her if the need arises. That being said, Valerie was under Kitty’s protection before she became the Huntress and Kitty would be willing to go back to protecting her if Valerie ever overcame her hatred of ghosts.

However, neither Damen or Valerie are aware of Kitty’s relation to them, or the fact that she protects them from other ghosts. Kitty really doesn’t want to tell her brother that she’s still wandering around after death for many different reasons and Valerie probably wouldn’t believe her anyways.

Ember McLain and Youngblood are siblings and still have living parents, but both of them stay far away from them. In Youngblood’s case, it’s because he doesn’t remember them. He doesn’t know that he has living parents at all. He doesn’t even know that Ember is his sister. He just doesn’t remember his life.

In Ember’s case, it’s because she absolutely hates them. Back when she was alive, she ended up running away from home, which was the beginning of a series of events that led to her burning to death in a hotel room. She is also aware that Youngblood is her brother, but she doesn’t think she’s ready to tell him yet. Plus she thinks that it’s probably for the best that neither of them see their parents again.

#danny phantom #headcanons #Walker #Kitty #ember mclain #youngblood #Maddie Fenton #valerie gray #Damen gray #ghosts that want to mess with Damen Gray have a big storm coming #because they gotta deal with the Red Huntress protecting her father and Kitty protecting her brother #plus Phantom protecting Amity Park if he shows up

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sailor-toni · 1 year

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The Grandfather You Never Wanted

You can also read on AO3, FF.net, and Wattpad

“Danny? Danny! Danny I can’t understand you. You're gonna have to use actual words,” Tucker said, his phone pressed up against his ear.

“Walker, and my Mom, and him! And ME!” Danny sputtered.

“Is Walker also after your Mom? How many ghosts want to bang your Mom dude?”

“What! NO! Ugh!” Danny took a breath, before restarting his tirade. “I was in my attic with my Mom, and we found some old photos of my Mom’s side of the family, and and and I saw my grandpa, I mean I’ve seen him before but like I’m pictures and such but I know him Tuck, he’s in the ghost zone -”

“Your Grandpa is in the ghost zone? That’s awesome, maybe you can get in more time with him or-”

“No Tuck, my grandpa is Walker.”

The Casper High library was quiet, it’s maroon walls and wooden bookshelves look like they jumped out of the 70’s. Wherever there could be, that shade of deep forest green penetrated the room.

In the far corner, jammed between Emily Dickinson, and the complete 1967 collection of Time magazine sat the trio. Holding a thick scrapbook.

“Your Mom never told you Walker was your grandpa?” Sam said.

“She mentioned him a few times. Like his name isn’t walker but Daniel, and that he died in a prison riot. Also one Christmas he almost burnt the house down with Christmas lights but not much else,” Danny said.

Sam held the picture of Walker up to the scrapbook image of Daniel Walker Smith. In the image he held his wife’s hand as balloons and streamers rained upon them. The next image showed him with his daughters, one looked uninterested to be there, the other had a diamond in her eyes. A shiny new first place trophy in her hands. Walker held them both, a big smile on his face.

“It’s so weird to see him like that,” said Tucker.

“Alive?” replied Danny.

“No, the smile.”

“Walker has never smiled before.”

“Not like that.”

“True.”

“What if you showed Walker this?” Sam spoke up, “Maybe it would jog his memory? Get him to be nicer to you? Or give you a free pass?”

“Oh! Hey Sam's on to something here. Maybe you can pull a few strings and we could finally get somewhere without a ghost map,” Tucker said.

“Yeah, but what if he doesn't care and wipes the floor with me again?” Danny said.

“You never know until you try?” Sam

-----

The cold stone, polished to resemble a large granite wall. Its walls were void of any crack or crevice for one to shove a foot or hand into. And bare of any markings or signs of age. It was the ghost zone eternal prison, where rule breakers could stay for the rest of their afterlife. A dismal existence for sure, and one Danny did not want for the remainder of his mortal life.

What was he even doing here? Even if Walker had forgotten most of his human memories, like some ghosts did, he wouldn't suddenly turn good. Maybe?

Danny envisioned Walker in a pink Hawaiian vacation shirt, khaki cargo shorts, and flip flops with socks on, walking to see Danny's science fairs, or treating him and his sister to a movie, or just hanging out and sneaking him money. Like what Sam's grandma did. But instead of him being dressed in all black, he would be glowing, and floating a few inches off the floor.There was a fat chance of that ever happening but if there was a chance, Danny would like to know if this man was actually his grandfather. Does Walker know already? Does he know and just not care? That would match up with how his Mom described him.

A scream from the prison echoed across the stone walls, the sound bounces off its surface. Danny cringed. Maybe he wouldn't be like that, but if he knew, maybe he would do crazy stuff like frame him for kidnapping the mayor. Actually no, this was a horrible idea. Danny's thought, as he retreated from his grandfather's castle of nightmares. Why would the guy who did that? ! Suddenly try to become grandpa of the year? This was a dumb idea and he knew it.

“Hey who’s there?” Danny froze, behind him was a guard, green oily skin, red eyes, and a face that only a mother could love. Floating there, a baton charged with energy in his left hand. A flashlight in the next.

“Freeze! Ghost boy!” Danny flew, his feet were swept off the ground by his own flight response, their ghostly trail trying desperately to catch up with his torso.

His hands grazed against the wall, he flew in fluent zig zags, his reflection smearing against the stone walls. losing its composer as with each turn he took. The ectoblast from the guard’s batons disturbing both the stone and the reflection, sending deep cracks throughout each. Two more guards, uglier than the last, flew up from the bedrock, to greet him. Then three more came in from the side. If he only acted, he would be surrounded.

He charged the gates but the bars were up. He charged the eternal green sky, only for the guard’s blast to collide with his route, striking his legs and searing his sides. Falling back into the prison’s center field, the horde surrounded him, creating a hurricane of guards with him at the center. All flying into perfect range. Gripping his chest Danny focused on his core, the ensuing ice crawling around his skin like an infection, the frost becoming unbearable as it covered his black suit. His body aching from the frozen mess building up inside him, his fingers were throbbing from the frostbite overcoming them.

When the ground was nearly upon him, Danny let it all out. A shockwave of ice erupted from his body, devouring everything within range. The guards close to him were frozen solid, their green skin now a pale white within the ice. The further back they were the less they were affected. The furthest only having their hands turned into throbbing ice cubes.

Landing hard on the ground, the shockwave, only stalling his fall for a moment. Danny rolled away from the falling ice guards. The sounds of frozen ectoplasm shattering against the rock reverberated around the prison, allowing him to run. His ghostly tail coiled before shooting him up into the green sky. The prison shrinking below him as he reached into the never-ending sky. The wispy mist that made up the Ghost Zone’s swirls acted like shining stars in this thrilling escape.

But there is only so close you can get to any star before you start to burn. With a loud crack he was cast down from the heavens and crashed into his own mess of frozen guards. The ice cut deep into his back and the blow to his head made his vision sparkle. Far above him stood a lone pale rider, with a tall black hat. The image of him faded into darkness as Danny felt a light go out in his head.

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

White blasted his vision before the feeling returned to his body. Danny had been handcuffed to both the steel table and the metal chair. The harsh white light from above sterilized the room, and highlighted the black mirror facing him. This was not part of his agenda today.

Danny didn't even try to phase through the handcuffs, they were probably ghost resistant, like everything else in this prison. So, he sat there. Staring at the ceiling, making funny faces in the mirror, singing a song.

“Ember you will remember, Ember, so smart and brave. Ember you won't surrender! You will remember my name!” Each note was purposely sung in the worst annoying tone he could manage. Adjusting volume as needed to maximize irritation.

“Would you shut up?” The door swung open, and Walker walked in. His white skin blended into his suit.The thick black tie around his neck marked where one began and the other ended. “You break into my prison, a feat that has never been attempted before, and scream as soon as you wake up,” He slammed a thick folder labeled ‘ghost boy’ on the table. “Why.” It wasn’t a question, it was a command.

“I had some questions and I was hoping you would answer them,” Danny said.

“Questions? Don’t make me laugh, Phantom. Why on earth do you think I would answer any of your questions?”

“Madeline Fenton, or I guess you would know her as Madeline Walker.”

“You think I keep track of every human in your world? Unless they come here I don’t care.”

“I never said she was human?”

“Unless a ghost has broken the law I don’t have a record of them.”

“What? No, you know I didn’t come here for a record! I saw your eyes. You know who Maddie Fenton is!”

“What I know is that you were spotted on the westside by two guards and then you caused an incident in my prison. Again. And this time I am not letting you leave. You have broken almost every law-”

“Bullshit.” Danny rolled his eyes. His emotions gathered up in his palms, the light frost building up into a sheet of ice over the handcuffs.

“You wanna repeat that again?” Walker leaned in close, if he were alive Danny would’ve felt his breath on his skin.

“Bullshit! Your laws are just rules you made up. You have no authority, you're not the Ghost King and even if you were I would toss you in that coffin with Pariah!”

“I am the only thing protecting this world from anarchy! My rules-”

“Are bullshit! Just like you! You’re nothing but a dictator who gets off on torturing everyone here!”

“Boy, I would -”

“Would what?! Hit me? I can level this entire prison and you know it!”

“I would like to see you try!”

Danny smashed the cuffs on the table, shattering them before he lunged at Walker. The two tumbled through the glass. A blast of ice echoed through his body and crawled up the walls. The guards' mouths made a feeble eek noise, before the ice froze them to the wall. Walker’s arm’s set themselves ablaze with a dark purple. His limbs cracked free from the icy floor.

“I don’t know what crawled up your arse today boy -” Walker’s body flew from the room, the steel walls breaking upon his back. Danny threw the man into the prison courtyard. The purple dirt and sand smudging all over his white suit.

It didn’t make sense, Danny thought. He pulled out the picture from his pocket and looked again. The man had a pink human skin tone with blue eyes, but everything else was the same. Even down to the stupid white suit. Walker’s reaction was like his mother’s.

He asked her while they were cleaning up after dinner. The question came out of his mouth through a stutter, but once it was understood. The yellows and green of their retro style kitchen felt like vomit on his skin. Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Why do you want to know about your grandfather?” She asked.

“It’s a school project. We are supposed to look into our family trees and talk about someone who did something important. Did you know that Tucker’s second cousin was the first in his family to get a masters? And Sam’s grandfather invented the toothpick thing, the one that spins?” He rambled.

“Your Grandfather was a warden of one of the prisons up north. He worked there from 1954 till the day he died,” His mother set a plate down hard on the drying rack.

“Oh, did he do anything cool? Like, stop a prison riot or something?”

“No, there was only one riot and that was the day he died.”

“Oh! I’m sorry I-”

“The riot didn’t kill him. It was very small and easily contained. But it gave him such a scare that he had a heart attack and died.”

“Oh… um was he well liked?”

“No. Your Grandfather was a prison warden every moment of his life. At his job, at home, and even at his children's baseball games.”

“I didn’t know you played baseball.”

“It wasn’t for very long but, the coach said I was the best batter he had ever seen.”

“Oh really? Well of course he did. You’re amazing Mom.”

“Aww. Thank you sweetie.”

“But um it doesn't sound like you liked Grandpa very much.”

“No one liked him very much. He was a very bitter man who was very cruel to everyone he knew. When he died your Father and Aunt Alicia took bets on when he was going to rise from the grave.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes, I think Alicia walked away with over seven hundred dollars.”

“Dad paid her that much?”

“No! He gave her two hundred. The rest of the family gave her the rest. She was the only one who said he was going to stay there. I’m sure if he tried to come back Alicia and your Father would be first in line to put him back in his grave.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah? You're a ghost hunter right?”

“A ghost hunter, not a zombie hunter.”

“What if he came back as a ghost?”

“Then Alicia owes me seven hundred dollars.”

“Mom I’m serious, if Grandpa came back would you want to see him?”

“Yes, and no. That is a very tough question,” her lips here pressed in a line again. “I would thank him. It must have been hard to raise two girls as a single father. And he tried his best to raise us, even if his best was strict and controlling. I wouldn’t have what I have now if I didn’t rebel against him. I went to a college I know he hated and there I met your father.”

“That sounds very sweet.”

“I would then blast him into several pieces and destroy his cells. That man ruined my prom dress, insulted your father, and then didn’t even show up to my wedding!” She slammed the plate into the drying rack, snapping it in half. “Not to mention that he got me kicked out of the girl’s baseball team for punching the coach! Who even does that? And he scared away any boyfriend I had by having the local cops drive around their houses. The only reason your father stayed is because- and Danny when I say this, know that I love your father more than any man in the world- your father is too stupid to know when his life is being threatened.”

Danny snickered as he handed his mom the Fenton mess cleaner. It was a broom that had been painted silver with a green F vinyl cut out on it. His Mom continued to go on and on about her Father as she cleaned up her mess.

“So… I shouldn’t write my paper about Grandpa?” Danny put the last dish away.

“No. I don’t think your teachers would find him very interesting,” She said.

Would his teachers find this situation interesting? Danny thought. He stared down at Walker, the man pushed himself off the dirt and flung himself at Danny. The picture flew out of his hand, fluttering into the green sky. Blue ice bolted from his palms in short bursts. A few hit Walker but it didn’t slow him down. Black hands tackled him, dragging him to the ground. He grabbed one of the hands and bit down, drawing ectoplasm through the thick leather.

Danny’s vision sparkled when his body hit the dirt, but this time he was ready. The two rolled in the dirt, and attacked one another until a blast of ice blew them both away. The ice had crawled up Danny’s arm like armor, protecting him from injury.

“Your rules can’t be any good if you can’t enforce them!” Danny huffed. Walker took a step forward and froze. He reached down and collected a piece of paper, no. Danny felt around his pockets and realized Walker had the photo. “Hey, give that back!”

“Where did you find this?” Walker said.

“None of your business.”

“Bullshit. Isn’t that one of your favorite words, Boy? Bullshit, you come storming into my prison, with this photo and questions? You’re just as naive as your mother.”

“I- wait! How long did you know?”

“Not the first time, and definitely not the second, But when I went into the human world, my emotions got the better of me and I checked in on my precious daughters. Only to find that she hadn’t divorce that dunce of a man.”

“My Dad might be an idiot, but at least he’s kind.”

“And what did that get him? From the moment I met you, I knew you were no good. Jack Fenton raised his son to be as stupid as he is. One not even smart enough to stay away from prison.”

“You knew this whole time and you still attacked me?”

“OF COURSE! If your father wasn’t going to teach you right from wrong, someone had to.”

“Oh my god. Mom was right. You are an asswhole!”

“Watch your mouth Daniel James Fenton!”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know a lot of things, because unlike your father and your mother, I know that this world is full of dangerous, stupid people who hide in the shadows and take advantage of those who have respect for the law. These laws that you call bullshit? These are the only things keeping the world together. They separate the honest from the thieves. And I am the only one who can find these thieves and protect us all from them. That’s why I built this prison! A place to hold those unfit for the normal, honest people of this world.”

“Am I one of these thieves?”

Walker tucked the picture into his coat pocket. “I think we all know what side you land on.”

“Yeah… the sane one!” Danny let his full powers blast forth from his hands, matching the sudden burst of flames from Walker. The battle raged on until fire took over everything. Walker stomped through the flame and smoke, and saw Danny flying far into the sky.

---------

“To wrap up everything you just told us. Walker is your Grandfather, and he is bat shit insane,” Tucker said.

Danny took a long slurp of a Nasty Burger frosty, “Yep.”

“Great, another crazy villain who thinks he can control everything. Where do these people even come from? Is there a factory that makes creepy old men who want too much power?” Sam said.

“I don’t know, but someone should boycott them. The business practice doesn't seem ethical,” Tucker said.

“Must be making them a lot of money though. Have you seen how many mansions Vlad has?” Danny said.

“Oh, cut it out you two,” Sam rolled her eyes.

“You started this,” Tucker replied.

Danny moved from the booth and grabbed his things. “Well, you two can continue this without me.”

“Where are you going off to?” Sam asked.

“We have that family history project due Monday and if I don’t finish it, Lancer will fail me.” Danny said.

“You're not done yet? It’s like the easiest homework he’s given us,” Sam said.

“Easy for you, your Grandpa invented the spinning toothpick thing,” Tucker said.

“How bold of you to assume I wrote about my grandpa and not my grandma,”

“Anyways, I’ll see you guys at school,” Danny said,

The trio said their goodbyes, and Danny ran home.

---

“Hey Mom,” Danny said, walking down the basement stairs.

“Hey Sweetie, what’s up?” His Mom said. She had a blowtorch in her left hand, and a wrench in her right.

“It’s about that assignment I told you about? The family tree one?”

“Oh Danny, I don’t think I could talk about your Grandfather anymore.”

“No. I was going to ask if I could do it about you?”

She put her tools down, “Me?”

“Well yeah. You’re a star baseball player who has a doctorate in bio engineering. Why wouldn’t I want to talk about that?”

“Well get me a moment to get everything ready.”

#Danny Phantom #Walker #Walker Grandpa AU #Maddie Fenton #Fanfic #Writing #Walker is an ass here

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charcoalhawk · 1 year

Text

A flight without feathers

A persons wings can change any number of times throughout their life, some keep the same wings they were born with, some people change over a dozen times throughout their life.

Fourth fic for the 2023 Phic Phight. Prompt was from @seaglass-skies: Everyone is born with wings unique to them, a reflection of themselves. But that means the wings all have one thing in common - they disappear when a person dies.

Grandpa Walter loves rules.

“No dessert before dinner”, “no flying after dark”, “no roughhousing near the fine china”. He had a whole whole whole lot of em. But they mostly made sense. Danny remembers sneaking out to fly after dark back home once, and almost hitting a power line because he couldn’t see it in the dark.

Grandpa Walter also let them have the most fun. He’d take him and Jazz way way way up high with his giant eagle wings and let them glide back down.

His wings are so big, he remembers one night they had all been visiting aunt Alicia and Dad had been able to hide completely behind grandpa when Aunty had chased him around trying to preen his feathers.

Danny’s wings are still pretty small, and he still needs help to actually get in the air. Jazz had just had her first solo flight on her sixth birthday, and not two weeks later Danny had got to see someone’s wings change.

Danny remembers the day his sister’s wings changed. As long as he could remember they had been these pretty red wings, almost the color of her hair, but those last few weeks after cleanings there had been these darker feathers appearing in their place.

Mom called them iridescent, Danny just thought they were shiny.

Danny liked Jazz’s new wings, and he could tell she did too.

Finally, they went up for their weekly visit to their grandpa, and he helped Jazz finally clean her primaries and the last bit of her molt, leaving these beautiful dark blue-green feathers in their place.

“Let’s fly, let's fly!” Danny cheered, hopping around the circle of feathers on the ground.

“Maybe later,” grandpa carded a careful hand through Jazz’s new primaries, “now come on little blue-jay, little red, let’s head inside, if your hands are washed in three minutes maybe we can have some ice cream.”

“But that name doesn’t fit me anymore!”

“Oh you're right! Maybe over ice cream we can look up your new wings and find a new nickname.”

———

Danny knows grandpa is old, he sees it in the way he sits down and in the gray in his hair in feathers.

But, his mom and dad are old! He doesn’t get why sometimes his parents keep telling him and Jazz to remember how old grandpa is. When he asks Jazz she tells him it’s because grandpa isn’t the healthiest, so they might only have a few more years with him.

For a long time Danny doesn’t understand, he sees his grandpa every week and he always is the same. Maybe as the months go on he has to fly less because he can’t carry them both, but then mom can’t carry them both either anymore, so he can’t see what the big deal is.

But, all feathers fall, eventually.

—————

His mom gets the call right as they’re about to leave for school. Danny is glaring at Jazz because she stole his last pancake while Dad tries to clean the toaster oven on ectoplasm after he accidentally knocked a can of it over with his wings.

Mom reaches for the landline as Danny snatches Jazz’s last piece of bacon in retaliation.

“Oh” Mom’s voice cracks. Her wings droop like they’re full of water.

“Maddie?” Dad looks up from the toaster, his wings starting to fluff up.

She ignores him.

“Yes, yes absolutely.” His Mom seems almost transfixed with whatever the person on the other end of the phone is saying, “Do you need help with-? No, no yes I understand. Send me the address and we’ll be there.”

With that Danny can hear the phone go dead, and for a second the kitchen is filled with the sound of ruffling feathers.

Mom finally looks to his Dad.

“It’s, my dad passed away last night, Alicia found out when he didn’t call her this morning.”

“Grandpa’s, he’s gone?” Jazz asks, pushing her chair back to stand up.

“Yes.” Danny can start to see tears in his mom’s eyes, “I’m- Alicia said he,” she can’t finish.

With two large steps his Dad is completely covering her with his wings as he hugs her, but Danny and Jazz can still hear her muffled sobs.

His Mom almost never cries. Danny can remember her crying when he flew for the first time or when Jazz’s wings changed, but whenever they got hurt she would always be strong.

Oh, Danny realizes. His Grandpa is gone.

They don’t end up going to school that day.

————

The church they arrive at is huge.

Mom looks uncomfortable as they walk inside, shifting with her pressed shirt as they walk down the entrance.

Danny has only been inside churches a few times, mostly when extended family visit for a holiday. Mom says they’re going to meet with the person in charge of Grandpa's memorial service because aunt Alicia needed to do some last minute things.

Dad had gone to get Jazz from a friend’s house so it was just him and mom there with the person who was in charge.

The woman waiting for them seems very nice. She smiles at both of them, and doesn’t get angry when mom can’t smile back.

Mom asks him to stay in the main hall, but the woman had said that Grandpa was in the main room, and Danny just has to see him.

The door isn’t locked, and when he peeked inside the room was empty except for the chairs and the box, the coffin, on the other side of the room.

Grandpa’s coffin is so small.

Mom had told him not to touch anything, but Danny just had to look. The last time he saw Grandpa he had been just fine.

As he approaches he sees that the top of the coffin is off, but he still can see inside because of the elevated platform it’s on.

After a moment's consideration he hauls one of the chairs, and uses it to look into where his grandpa is.

He doesn’t know what he expects to see, but one thing becomes very clear as he looks down at his Grandpa’s still form. Because now Danny understands why they could make the coffin so small, it’s because his wings are gone.

He remembers mom saying that when you died you lost your wings, but to him it always sounded like it was something that took a lot of time, like how mummy’s didn’t have noses because over the million billion years it took for them to find them their wings had slowly gone away.

The only thing that makes sense is if someone stole his wings.

Danny remembers a movie he saw, very late one night after his Grandpa had thought he had gone to bed. In the movie the police had found someone murdered in their own home, body completely unharmed, but the second they saw the body they knew the person was dead because someone had taken their wings.

Danny busts out of the room and runs towards the woman his mom and now dad are talking to. As he gets closer he can see the woman is still smiling, which only makes him madder.

As he finally reaches the group he hears his dad start to ask where he was, but Danny has something important to do.

He winds up his foot, just like Jazz taught him, and crashes his foot into the woman’s shin.

He pours all the rage and grief his little body can handle into the kick, and then he can’t say anything because his throat closes up around his tears.

“You- you stole Grandpa’s wings!”

“Danny, what on earth are you talking about?” His mom has crouched down to him, as his dad apologizes to the woman and Jazz looks towards the room Danny came from.

“”Honey,” mom’s voice catches like when she first told them that Grandpa had died. “A person’s wings disappear when they die, once the heart stops and the brain stops thinking a person's wings fade away in a matter of minutes.”

“But that doesn’t make sense! Grandpa’s wings were real! My wings are real! They can’t just disappear! They’d have to decam- decome- rot for them to disappear!”

“I’m so sorry kiddo,” his dad’s large hand rests against his still ruffled feathers. “We should have explained it to you better after it happened. We thought we had prepared you for what your grandpa was going to look like, but we should have made sure you really heard what we were saying.”

Things calm down after that. The woman doesn’t seem mad that Danny kicked her, which only makes him feel worse. When they enter the room properly as guests start to arrive Danny can’t bring himself to look at the other end of the room.

The entire service Danny has to sit in the back of the room with his head buried in Jazz’s shoulder. He can’t stand to look at that tiny box that is supposed to hold his grandpa.

————

Danny finds out dying sucks.

He can still hear the whine of the portal powering up every night. There are times he can’t concentrate because his limbs hum like they’re connected to a live wire.

And that’s not even getting into the fact that he can somehow become a ghost at will.

The worst thing though, is the fact that he lost his wings.

At least, they disappear when he’s Danny Fenton. Danny Phantom, on the other hand, is a ghost with wings.

When he first wakes up it’s to his parents' horrified screams. He’s rushed off to the hospital, and doctors do just about every test under the sun to try and figure out what happened to him.

He finds out that it’s very rare to lose one's wings and survive. Usually whatever let’s wings manifest is pretty good at judging what’s alive and dead, seeing as coma patients never lose their wings even without brain activity.

But it is possible.

He meets Vlad, an old family friend who also now lives without wings.

Of course, the guy also turns out to blame his dad entirely for the accident and tries to get Danny to be ‘his son’ because he’ll understand him so much better than his dad and mom ever will now. So, he doesn’t think they’ll be bonding any time soon.

The first time he transforms, the first thing he notices is the familiar weight of wings on his back.

They’re not his dark raven wings, at least not fully. Some of them look like they have molted back into his childhood blue, which makes no sense in Danny’s opinion.

He finds he can make them intangible with minimal effort, because the last thing he needs is to give his parents another target when shooting at his ghost form. While around other ghosts he tries his best to play it off as a ghostly mutation, but none of them are fooled. Not even Plasmius has wings, so he knows it isn’t a halfa thing, just another thing that makes him a freak to both sides.

At least his wings are useful in a fight, letting him fly faster.

Most ghosts are at least indifferent to his wings, having been dead so long they seem to have lost how it connected them to life. Some do care, Skulker has made it no secret that he’d like to pin his wings on his wall along with his pelt, which still makes Danny queasy.

It’s as he’s releasing the annoying hunter into the zone for the nth time that he senses a new ghost approaching.

Most ghosts only hang around the portal when they want to try and cause havoc in the human realm, so Danny already doesn’t have a good feeling about this.

The ghost is moving towards him at a leisurely pace, but even from this distance Danny knows they’re strong.

His wings itch from having been kept intangible for so long, he might have to use them to make a quick getaway if the ghost tries to attack while they’re all still in the zone.

The ghost looms. Danny knows he isn’t the tallest guy, but the other ghost has him beat by at least four feet.

“What are you doing here, boy.” The ghost’s voice is very monotone, “according to section 23G subsection 122-456A you are in violation of zone haunts and will need to-“

Yep, definitely getting out of here. With a flick of his wings he zips back towards the portal entrance, wings flared in an attempt to deter the other ghost from following him.

But then the ghost stops dead, staring at Danny intently.

“Little Blue-Jay?”

#danny phantom #phic phight 2023 #team human #no beta i die like danny #maddie fenton #Walker #jack fenton #jazz fenton #wing fic #Walker is Maddie’s father #death #mourning

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daily-dose-of-danno · 1 year

Text

#public enemies #danny phantom #danny fenton #Kwan #paulina sanchez #maddie fenton #jack fenton #daily dose of danno #walker #bullet

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hello-im-not-a-possum · 5 months

Text

Shattered Identity

Chapter one. Chapter two. Chapter three. Chapter four. Chapter five Chapter six. Chapter seven. Chapter eight. Chapter nine.

Chapter Ten (Final Chapter): Dead men and living men tell tales.

It was a surrealized landscape of his once familiar home. The way the surroundings waved in the world's most intense heat haze, the pinkish orange hues of the sky contrasted to the bluish grays of the melting Amity Park, the sidewalk squished under Danny's feet like warm mud. …Well, it wasn't his feet, not technically anyway. He wasn't controlling the copy of Vlad, just seeing what it was seeing and feeling what it was feeling. He assumed that this would what it would be like to be lucid while being overshadowed, still aware but just along for the ride.

Danny was worried about this, it was only annoyingly hot to him, he knew why and how he and the copy was surviving this, but what about the people? How could THEY survive thousand-degree heat?! In stark contrast, Vlad's copy and Vlad himself remained perfectly, scarily calm.

He saw his parents' RV stuck in the road, it's tires screeching occasionally to free itself from the melted mess that they were trying to drive on. His father even got out of the vehicle, got behind it, and tried to push it free with little success. His mother also got out and looked at the road-gunk in the tires with some kind of thermometer.

He was as confused as he was relieved. How were they surviving this..?

But the copy wasn't there to linger on these mysteries, only to make sure they weren't getting hurt before going after his real target…

At the same time as the copy was on a manhunt, there was a journey to the supernatural tundra going on at the same time.

The halfa trio didn't go to the Far Frozen without a vehicle, sure, even despite the injuries the older two sustained, they could've flown there themselves and it would've been faster, but it would've been beyond stupid for them to do so when the recovering teen would've had to be carried for miles by either a tiny girl or a frail hospital patient, neither of which had that much endurance and it would've been very dangerous to expose the ghost who just shattered his own core to the elements.

But as they got closer and closer to their destination, Dani was starting to feel unsure about bringing Vlad here in the first place. Sure, right now he was the one driving and he would have an easier time explaining what happened to Frostbite, but it seemed that even though the temperatures inside weren't too high or low, Vlad was seemingly getting weaker the colder it got outside.

It made sense to her, he was the one who said that fire and ice don't mix well…

“We're here.” The older teen in the gold sweater alerted the younger two as he parked the submarine-like device, unbuckled his seat belt, and used the chair as balance. “Now we just need to find Frost-”

“…Maybe you should stay inside, I'll find Frostbite and tell him everything.” Dani gently pushed the scrawny older teen back in his seat and handed him one of the blankets in the supply box. “In fact, I'll bring him here, you look like could use a check-up too.”

He looked like he wanted to protest but knew it would be a loosing battle, especially given both his own current condition and Danny's. As Danielle left, Vlad got back up and limped over to Danny's position to check on him, carefully unwrapping the bandages on the boy's face and neck with the intent of checking his vitals, only for the boy to cough, gag, and sputter as soon as his head was free.

Danny felt disoriented as no longer covered up, he adjusted to seeing out of his own eyes instead of Vlad's or his copy's. What made it worse was that every time he closed his eyes, he saw out of either Vlad's or the copy's.

Every time he blinked he either saw himself or saw the melted Amity Park.

“How do you manage to keep a copy up for so long?” The former cocoon muttered, still blinking the double-triple vision out of his eyes.

“Oh good, you're not dead.” The silver haired teen gave him a thumb's up.

“Did you spend half the trip here putting extra wrappings on me?” Danny returned him an unamused look while trying to wriggle his limbs free from the tightly-wrapped bandages.

“No, I think the ectoplasm on them got denser as they dried out.” Vlad thought out loud as he helped Danny free his limbs from the bandages, ignoring the boy's exaggerated gagging for both of their sakes. “Anyway, how are you feeling? Scale of one to ten, how much pain are you in?”

"Uh.. two I think?" Danny shimmied the rest of the bandages off and shook his head. "Listen, that's not what I'm worried about right now, something weird happened, I started..? Feeling what you're feeling?"

"…Literally or metaphorically?"

"Literally."

"Apple pie a la mode…" He 'cursed' under his breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Great, he's feeling side effects already, at the very least they were already here and could get that fixed.

"…And I can see out of your eyes and the copy's eyes. What the heck are you doing in Amity?!"

In that moment, Danny discovered a new emotion by feeling it emanating from the other halfa. The only way the hero could manage to describe it was internal screaming but made out of static and maybe grief too?

"I can explain." The older teen's voice cracked a bit, betraying his attempt to sound calm and collected as if Danny's current ability to sense what he was feeling didn't already do that.

The teen hero crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow, not sure he *could* explain but what else could he do but listen.

"I was going to reveal Vlad's secret at the funeral-"

"WHAT?!" Danny gawked. "That's the worst idea I've ever heard! In case you forgot: YOU'RE Vlad! And if you're posing as your own son, they'll figure you out-"

"Give me a second to explain." He rolled his eyes. "Your parents are the ones who made the gun, if they knew that they killed a human being with it, one that they knew personally, do you think that they would keep it around?"

"No..."

"Exactly, because at the end of the day, regardless of how they would feel about me if they knew about Plasmius when I was 'alive', they would have to live with the fact that they designed something that killed a *person* instead of a *ghost*."

"Speaking of ghosts, what about the ghosts you invited? What do they have to do with this?"

"In their case, the funeral's just a way to bribe them into not stirring any trouble. Everybody gets their own slice of the pie and if they want more, they'll have to fight each other for it instead of me or Dani. I've divided up the will in a way where if any of them was unhappy with what they got, attacking us would make the least amount of sense."

Danny nodded in thought, in hindsight, he was probably right about his previous assumptions on Vlad's social ghost life; he probably only knew the Dairy king and vultures on a personal level and that was because they lived together.

"Now for the wrench the guys in white threw into the mix; they don't care about humans. They won't give two flying figs if they knew they killed a human being in their attempt to destroy a ghost so... different measures and precautions need to be taken."

"Uh huh, and how does turning Amity park into a gooey mess do that?"

"That can be reversed. (...I think)" Vlad waved it off which didn't convince Danny in the slightest. "And what it does is introduce a sense of hopelessness in them."

"Hopelessness?"

Danny blinked in confusion, also seeing through Vlad's double's eyes at the same time, watching the figure starting to let the previously encased GIW being freed by him which only added to the said confusion. If he just left them in the melted cement he might get it, but freeing them? How could that be hopelessness?

"Despite all their weapons, all their training, all their funding... They've been knocked down and put at the mercy of a single, sickly, ghost." Vlad smirked. "I've shown them what I can be capable of without even doing it. They saw the readings on their scanners before they melted into unusable pieces of smoldering plastic and metal, they've seen my effects on their territory first hand: They can see that it took more energy from me to keep everyone that town alive during that heatwave than it would take to let everyone in it burn to a melted mess that mixed with the roads and buildings, they can imagine what would ensue if I *chose* not to-"

The black haired boy took a cautious step back from the older teen, starting to feel nervous with his demeanor and mentally reminded that lost memories or not, potential inner change or not, this was still very much Vlad.

He seemed to notice this hesitation and cleared his throat to play it off.

"O-of course it was just a bluff that luckily they didn't see through."

"…Are your memories coming back or did you go through a very weird mid-life crisis mixed with teen angst while you were left alone?"

"Er- Well, I think a few might have returned…" Vlad wrung his hands nervously while avoiding Danny's suspicious stare.

Both were very grateful that Danielle returned with Frostbite in tow.

"Great one! Thank goodness you're stable!" The former worry on the yetis face melted off as soon as he saw him. "When the little one explained what happened, I was expecting the worst…"

"It's fine, really! Vlad stopped it from breaking me just as the shot hit." He gestured to the shivering ghost burrito who was quietly begging them to close the door behind them as the cold was getting let in.

"I see…" The yeti's gaze drifted to the frail former villain.

While he shouldn't have been surprised to see him like this, he… couldn't help it. It was true that the nature of his core was unpredictable at the time, part of him assumed that the core would retain well… 'core' values to the broken ghost, so he was anticipating (or maybe hoping) that he would try to retain his power by sacrificing his memories. Frostbite remembered the disgruntled would-be conqueror the first time they met, a man that sought after power, so why would his subconscious throw what power he did have away? Was it just really bad luck or was there something so much more important to him that he was willing to sacrifice to protect..?

Vlad covered himself up more with the blanket, starting to feel self conscious about the giant Yeti's staring. "We came to give him a more thorough check up." he gestured in hopes of keeping the snowy leader's attention back on the boy. "It was the first procedure of its kind and done impulsively."

"And we also need to look over his core." Danielle added, pointing at the halfa burrito. "Because he shattered it like an idiot to do the procedure in the first place."

"…So soon after he just narrowly survived that weapon's attack?" Frostbite cringed in sympathy and turned back to Vlad. "How did you even survive that? In fact, how did you survive getting your core shattered at all…?!"

"Okay, I get it! I was incredibly stupid and it's entirely possible that the only reason why I'm alive today is most likely the will of a potentially sadistic god that refuses to let me die and stay dead.” His cheeks flushed red with embarrassment and annoyance. "But in my defense, what other options did I have?! Let him die while wasting precious time looking for a healthy donor? Create an artificial core via cloning which is a delicate process that, and I cannot stress this enough, is *not* a quick process? Will an ice core part out of thin air? I'm not a miracle worker darn it! Now, can we please just get this over with?"

Frostbite nodded and looked over Danny's core, It looked a little different from the last time he saw it as it had fully elementally matured and there was a faint pinkish spot on the otherwise icy blue surface but it was smooth all over, not a single crack in sight and it was a healthy, strong color.

If he didn't know the context behind the spot, he'd assume it was just the core equivalent of a birthmark or something.

"All of these are great signs" Frostbite smiled. "You might not even have to deal with any problems at all given how quickly your case was treated and how the shard is adapting to the rest of your core."

"That's good." Danny let out a relieved sigh he didn't know he was holding in. "…But do you think there's going to be any long term side effects from this? I've been seeing out of his eyes when I close mine and feel what he feels… am I going to get powers normally exclusive to Vlad? Fire ones for example?"

"Although this…" He gestured to the boys in general "is very uncharted territory, I suspect that 'seeing what he sees' and 'feeling what he feels' is temporary and will stop as your core and body adapts the donated parts to themselves as sees them as yours rather than his. As for gaining other powers… That would depend on a variety of factors, like the overall health and medical history of the donor's core-"

"…Chocolate cheesecake, I think I just condemned that boy to a fate worse than death." Vlad muttered under his breath as Frostbite continued.

"-your own health and medical history, and how your own core adjusts to the donated piece. And if you do get any powers from the donor, I wouldn't expect them to be particularly strong ones. Especially ones that would conflict with your own core."

"So no fire powers?"

"No fire powers." The yeti cracked an amused smile.

"Got it."

"Now for you…" Frostbite looked over Vlad's own core. "OH DEAR ANCIENTS!"

"What?" He held up the broken melting core as if nothing was wrong. "It usually looks like this, just give it some more time to meld together again. and it'll be just fine."

It was the most horrifying yet beautiful thing the Chief of the far frozen had ever seen; a broken core fusing itself back together with a spectral substance that resembled lava. He could tell that it had been shattered before, in fact, the subtle cracks on the visible molten layers of it seemed to imply that it was broken apart several times before. While it was a mature core, there were parts of it that seemed stunted, especially the elemental aspects, if he didn't know any better, he'd ask if they were intentionally damaged. As he looked at it more, he wracked his brain for any explanation but couldn't find any…

"Forgive me if this sounds …antagonistic but how in the infinite realms are you still alive?! Your core is... It's almost as if it's held together with nothing but luck and faith!"

"I..." The first halfa stared at his own mending core for a bit, not finding an answer for the guardian of the infinite map as he started to loose himself in his thoughts. Over the course of twenty years, how many times did he survive something that could've killed a human being? Could've killed a ghost? How many times did his illness do him in? How many creatures was he mauled by? How many close calls did he have in battle? How did he survive the fire in the hospital..? How did he survive the drowning after? Could he die? Or was he cursed to always feel the pain of death but never the release afterwards- How was he still alive? "...I don't know..."

"...Vlad..?" Dani hesitantly tapped him on the shoulder.

The silver haired boy shook his head as if shaking out water and put his core back into his body.

"So... healthy color and the cracks are mending, I take it that means I need a lot of rest and to not push myself too hard, but there's nothing to worry about after it's fixed, right?" He nervously smiled at the yeti.

"I... Well... I want to say 'yes' as in this case you know your core better than anyone else ever will. But frankly, I think we should arrange further visits just in case."

"...While we're here and doing checkups, what about her? I mean, just to make sure."

The yeti gave him a look as he was suspecting that he was just trying to hide himself from him, but did so anyway, inspecting the light yellow core the smallest of them had...

___

The town was still healing from the 'unknown ghost attack' when the funeral was being held.

Danny hated it here, but he put up with the annoying suit, and his father bawling before the main part of the funeral itself even started, and 'Jack' Masters copying himself so that Patient Zero could also attend despite the headache Vlad copying himself now caused him (The pair running around with chickens like their heads cut off in their attempts to make sure that the funeral was going smoothly was also incredibly obnoxious and even a little headache inducing when he could see out of their eyes every time he blinked), and the weird tense atmosphere made by exclusively inviting ghosts and ghost hunters (and their immediate family), and the feeling in his gut that this was a ticking time bomb about to go off, and-

Frankly, the boy internally wished that he pretended to be sick to get out of it, but part of him was also curious as to how his parents would react to the news.

At the very least it wasn't all misery here, the decorations weren't as obnoxiously packers themed as he anticipated, the food was nice, and it was always... well *something* to see how ghosts behaved during temporary truces. He'd say it was 'nice' but that didn't feel like the right adjective for it.

Comfy? Maybe?

No, that didn't feel quite right either, especially given the funeral's hosts behavior.

Most of the ghosts came and went, paying their respects and leaving with an envelope given to them by Jack Masters, but some of them stayed after receiving their envelope.

When the funeral attendees were cut down to just the hosts, the Fentons, the Grays, the Vultures, the Dairy King, Skulker, Ember, Amorpho, and Walker, the lights started to dim and what seemed to be a ghost-power dampening fence lit up.

"Hey, Danny," Dani nudged him "just a head's up, the open mic speeches are going to start soon."

"It's an open mic funeral?" Danny raised an eyebrow. "Are you guys sure that's a good idea?"

"I figured it might lighten the mood after the reveal."

As he opened his mouth to ask what she meant by 'after', the screen lit up, showing the recording of the 'deceased' Vlad Masters adjusting the camera pointed at him and clearing his throat before speaking.

"If you are watching this, it means that you deserve answers to questions that I couldn't give you when I was alive for one reason or another." The AI spoke and moved in a stiff way, but in the sense of stiff in which many would just assume that the man was reading from a script. And, well, they wouldn't be *wrong*... "Starting from where it all began: Twenty years ago, I got into a terrible accident that I survived, but it cost me my life. I can't explain how I both died and lived in any way more meaningful than showing you."

The black rings appeared and as Masters turned to Plasmius, the remaining funeral attendees were in shock but some got in an uproar.

Jack Fenton stared at the screen in disbelief, this entire time... His best Friend was a ghost! So many things made so much more sense but only raised more and more questions the more he thought about it.

Maddie shared her husband's disbelief and enlightenment, At one time, Vlad was also her friend and now his bizarre change from the man he used to be to the... strange obsessive creature that disrespected her and her husband made so much more sense. He was a GHOST the whole time! Any humanity he had probably decayed to nothing when he isolated himself from them! Too focused on the reveal itself than the notion that she had killed her own old friend, she also looked to the silver haired teen who was currently running the funeral as well as his bandaged doppelganger, noticing how the two seemed to resemble the late billionaire and the Wisconsin Ghost...

Jack Masters paused the recording as he noticed the brewing discord, they didn't seem to notice him do that.

Skulker always knew about Masters, but not that he used to be half human. He felt like such an Idiot! All this time! The ultimate catch was his goddamn client!

The Dairy King already knew this, but was caught off guard to learn that both the humans and ghosts were reacting like this was so unusual and surprising. ...In hindsight, maybe he was a little *too* ignorant of the goings on in the ghost zone...

Valerie already knew this secret and was mildly disappointed to learn that he died before she could make good on her promise to hunt him down, but relieved to know that he'd never hurt or trick another soul. She what *did* surprise her was that he was planning to tell others, that he was going to tell her considering that she was invited...

"THAT SONNOVA- HE'S BEEN BAILING *HIMSELF* OUT OF MY JAIL ALL THIS TIME!" Walker exclaimed at the screen with righteous fury, breaking the silence.

"Care to elaborate?" Dani handed the irate ghost cop the microphone and gestured to the podium.

Still clearly mad, but somewhat willing to humor her, he marched up there and started to speak.

"I should know better than to speak ill of someone who's died their second death, especially so soon, but this sorry son of a gun has been a thorn in my side the day I first arrested him." He pointed at the closed coffin. "I can't believe he's managed to pull the wool over mine and my boys' eyes all this goddamned time! He's been arrested a handful of times for theft, artifact robbery, assault on officers of Ghost Law, bio-terrorism, and unleashing powerful forces of mass destruction."

Maddie, Jack, and Valerie were more confused by the notion of ghosts having a law system that somewhat mirrored the human world's law system then the fact that Vlad was arrested by ghost cops before.

"No matter how high I set the bail, Mr. Masters always paid it in full, in cash, with the smuggest damn smile on his face. Part of me always kinda suspected that it was a game to him, when he showed up to pay, he *always* showed up in a solid gold limo in the gaudiest gold and green outfits I've ever seen in my life and I couldn't do CRAP about it because whenever I tried to make something he did that annoyed me against the rules, HE'D do something twice as annoying to bug me even more by following my rules exactly to the letter but never the spirit."

Danny couldn't help it and burst out laughing at the mental image of the escalating ridiculousness in the Bail war between his 'dead' nemesis and the Prison Ghost.

"Yeah, yeah, yuk it up in the bastard's absence since he can't get the last laugh in person.."

Walker rolled his eyes, but was sobered out of the blind fury to be reminded by his surroundings that this was still a funeral, an event which one needed to be respectful at, even if it was the funeral of someone who made a complete mockery out of him in 'life'.

"I guess it's a little funny..." He tried to play it off. "I never once thought I'd be attending this thing in the first place until I read his letter. It's corny in hindsight, but it talked about how apparently, I was the first to discriminate against him for what he did instead of what he was, and that while he hated me as much as I hated him, he was at least grateful for that bit. I didn't know what he meant back then, even now, I still don't know what he meant, but something about it... stuck with me."

He looked back at the closed casket and sighed before grabbing a glass and raising it up.

"Shine on you crazy diamond, I hope the cops you're punching down in the inferno deserve it and you find other people who hate you for the reasons you want to be hated."

The second he finished his speech, he walked off stage, handing the mic to the next person who came up, Jack.

"I was there during the accident that had cost my old friend his humanity." He spoke into the mic with a somber tone. "We were best friends before it happened, roommates, and lab partners too. Some days, it felt like it was just me and him against the world back then..." The man softly smiled at the old memories. "On the day itself, it was an accident... His face was up against the portal's rim, I think he was inspecting the structural integrity, Mads was double-checking the calculations and I, I didn't notice that he was so close to the portal, I didn't hear that the calculations were wrong, I thought that this was the moment, and I turned it on without thinking of the consequences or how drastic they could really be. I can only wish that I knew this sooner, I have so many questions about this that only he can answer, but I know he never would've told me if he was alive for one reason or another. I know he blamed me for the accident back then, and he's not entirely wrong... Vladdie.. If you can hear me... I just want to say I'm sorry-"

Amorpho pushed him off the stage and took the mic in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

"The first time and place we met was Sardinia, Italy, 1998, I think it was march 8th, but don't hold me to it. I was doing what I do best before I noticed that there was a witness trailing me. I wasn't worried, very few places outside of this town think ghosts are real so I figured nobody would believe him if he tried to tell, but he did something unexpected when he did finally catch me." The ghost vividly explained as if he was the narrator in a detective noir film. "He gave me his card and said 'keep this number, I could use your skills in the future'. I'm dumbfounded but keep it anyway because I don't see the harm in it. A few months later, I get a call, it's the same guy from back then, he says he has a 'job' for me. I'm typically not the guy to go to for commissions, but it's hard to turn down easy money, especially when it's a ton of it. I never knew about Plasmius to begin with, but in hindsight I guess we shouldn't be surprised that a human has closer ties to ghosts then we all think when that human has a portal to the ghost zone in their basement."

The attention-craving prankster was happily drinking in his audience's suspenseful stares as he continued to build up for the punchline.

"Masters and I had a strictly professional, non-homosexual, business-type relationship when he was around and it was something of an enigma. At times, I felt like a gun-for-hire with all the secrecy and the terms used. 'Your target is X', 'Use the Russian Script', 'Your payment will be delivered in an unmarked PO box in Blank Street at 2am', stuff like that. The jobs themselves are simple, the type that really, he himself could do and it's frankly a little weird that he went through all the effort to get little ol' me to do it for him. At first, I don't think much of it, why question a gift horse and all that, but I am everything, including curious, so one day, after a job, I show up to where he plans to pay me early and wait. Masters shows up in casual clothes and puts the payment in before looking around and leaving, but instead of taking the money and going my own separate way, I tail him to see what all the fuss is about, to answer the questions I have for why he paid me to do what I did to so many people..."

When he could tell all of them were hooked, he knew it was time to deliver. He changed to the Deceased man's form but still spoke with his own voice.

"All the strange jobs, all the secrecy, the payments, why he picked me out of every other ghost in the world... It all made sense the second I overheard what he said when something he was working on fell apart right in front of his eyes; 'Pumpkin pie'. He was hiring me to use actual cusswords at people when he decided his food swears weren't strong enough!" The shapeshifter wearing Vlad's face cracked up. "Honestly, I think this makes him the funniest rich person I've ever met," He cleared his throat and started using Vlad's voice. "'Yes I have no qualms about committing arson or committing various forms of fraud, but the FUCK word? Absolutely not, I have STANDARDS. I *need* to pay a ghost to wear my face and use my voice to commit this heinous deed in my place, I will gladly walk to hell for my war crimes, but I refuse to go to there for saying 'bitchass' of all things'."

He took a bow and drank in his audience's laughter as he wrapped up his own speech and switched back to his 'default' state, handing the mic to the next person who came up.

"I don't know who this guy even is and to be blunt, I don't really care about his half-human-ness at all really." She shrugged. "But, I do know his relative, Zero. And Zero's one of the most ride or die friends someone could ever ask for. He and I died in the same hospital wing twenty-ish years ago. He was in for a facial reconstruction surgery gone wrong, I was in because my house burned down and they were trying to resuscitate me. ...It didn't work out well for either of us and we died, but got to know each other pretty well. The kid's a mad genus, great at playing the drums, made some of the best macaroni pizzas out there, and really helped me out of some pretty rocky times. And sure, Plasmius isn't the *greatest* person out there and all that, but you know what, if he's even half as cool as Zero was, then he's a pretty good guy in my books."

She tossed the mic into the crowd like it was a bouquet at a wedding and Skulker caught it and went up.

"Unfortunately, I cannot say the same regarding my own relationship with him." The ghost hunting ghost started. "Plasmius and I had known each other for a very long time and I didn't consider him a just client who is knowledgeable about engineering himself, but a friend. Unfortunately, he was a friend who hid something that would've changed everything. I would have killed him and hung his pelt on the wall had I known the truth. All this time I assumed he was just one of those ghosts who disguised themselves as a human and lived among them for whatever reason instead, he was playing me like a fiddle for his own survival. It's one thing to made a fool of by a target once or twice, but for as long as I've known him?! Mark my words, Plasmius, if you AREN'T dead, then so help me I will finish the job."

Skulker narrowed his eyes to the coffin and left the podium and the mic, leaving it for the next person to take it.

"He changed my life the day it all went downhill. I got a suit from him in the mail and a bunch of ghost hunting supplies. I didn't know his motives, or anything about him at all at that point. ...I still don't know his motives now, but I figured him out before today, when he thought no one was looking, I found out that Phantom was right and he WAS playing me for a fool all this time. He was playing both sides, ghosts and humans all this time..." Valerie shook her head. "Part of me's still mad about it, but honestly, now that I know that there are other ghosts that were gunning him just for being human- or half-human, I can't say it surprises me that he became what he was."

She kept her speech short, not wanting to bring up any bad memories around Dani, or to give her a hard time about the nature of what she and Vlad happened to be. It wasn't her fault that she was half human and half ghost after all...

Jack Masters was the final person to take the microphone.

"It's kinda crazy how fate and the world and all that play out sometimes... I originally came down to Amity to live with my dad and learn more about him since my mom never really talked about him. ...Boy did I get a lot more than what I bargained for." He nervously chuckled as he picked at the sleeves of his sweater. "I never got to meet him and talk face to face, he died before I ever got the chance to meet him as a person. But I found his journals, his letters that went unsent, and... I found all of you. I've learned a lot about who Vladimir Masters is and was, the good, the bad, and the downright weird, from all of you over the short time I've known you. And for that, I just want to say my thanks, thank you for attending, thank you for your rage, your bittersweet words, and your stories about who the deceased was in your eyes. ...I'm sure all of us here can agree that not everyone saw the same man, but all of us can agree that he was kinda a hot mess and if he's out there somewhere... ...he still is."

The rest of the funeral went as planned, the rest of the video left unplayed, some attendees shared more humorous stories as tension died down, and the burial went smoothly, but after the last of the ghosts left, Danny and Dani found Jack Masters outside the funeral home staring off into space, feeling a sense of exhaustion that the teenage hero could definitely understand.

"Oh, hey, I was wondering where you went." He sat beside the silver haired teen.

"Hey Danny, Dani." he halfheartedly waved. "Got enough of the catering?"

"Yeah..."

"...So now what do we do?" The black haired girl spoke up.

"I've been thinking that myself. Now that the funeral's over, now that I can rest assured that Jack and Maddie likely won't keep that thing around, now that the ghost thing has been handled... what do we do from here? I mean- I know there's the obvious; I need to fix whatever's going on with my core and head, find a ghost-therapist, *maybe* see a physical doctor too... It's pretty clear I can't keep living how I used to live, but I don't know how to live now. I don't know how to take care of anyone like this, let alone myself."

"Well, we can still take care of each other." Dani offered as she floated by him. "I don't see why we should stop just because the funeral's handled."

"Wait, you really want to stay? Despite everything..?"

"Yes, but I'm serious about the therapist!"

Jack half chuckled in response to her pouting expression.

"I mean it!"

"Are you leaving two for Colorado or Wisconsin or just staying here?"

"I figured it only makes sense to stay." He shrugged. "The mansion is still intact and nobody's going to be surprised that the only living heirs of the Masters fortune got the place. Besides, there's no point to me giving up the cats."

"Well, if you're looking for something to keep your hands busy, dad told me to tell you that that apprenticeship offer is still on the table." Danny handed him the Fentonworks Business card.

Jack Masters smiled, despite the uncertainty, there was always something he could count on.

#danny phantom #vlad masters #danielle phantom #frostbite danny phantom #warden walker #amorpho #jack fenton #maddie fenton #valerie gray #skulker #ember dp #fanfic #shattered identity

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