#Vlad vaguely remembers what he once was

[radiance1]

@puppetmaster13u You called Danny a space whale in the tags of one of this post.

Now what if that was literal?

Hear me out, Danny outlives his friends, parents, sister. Danny becomes a literal whale.

Well, not a literal one because he's a ghost, but he takes the shape one of at the very least. He's just a giant, glowing white whale that looks pretty divine not going to lie.

Danny leaves earth. It wasn't safe for him anymore, what with the GIW and all that as even the ghosts found it not even worth anymore to visit the mortal world.

Except for Desiree and Spectra, but that's besides the point.

But Danny doesn't retreat to the zone, he's always longed for space, but because of his new half humanness he doesn't get believe he could've ever gone because, well. Yea.

But Danny goes fuck it and goes anyway. His form shifts from human to that of a giant whale, and he swims out into the vastness of space.

Years pass, and Danny does start getting bigger as he aged. He explored the vastness of space, marveling at many things, the different planets, the stars, the formations of rock and other things.

Then he encounters someone he never though he would've.

Vlad.

Well, he knew Vlad was left behind in space by his father but he didn't think he would find him again and Vlad seemed... different, from what he remembered.

For one thing, he didn't even know where Vlad began and space ended. He got only see those red eyes that even hinted at it being the man. His body was void black and filled with stars upon stars, all glittering from his body and Vlad barely even seemed to notice him, or if he did, he didn't seem to care at all.

So, Danny took him.

He was both curious and felt a bit bad about what happened to Vlad, even if he didn't know exactly what happened, and he couldn't just leave him there either.

So on his back Vlad went, and his travels continued.

It seemed to be the correct decision, really, because slowly overtime Vlad seemed to be regaining his awareness. Then slowly, tentatively, started to speak with him through ghost speak.

Vlad only seemed to vaguely remember what he was before space. He remembered hating a man, loving a woman, wanting a son, loneliness and a boy with white hair and toxic green eyes.

Even though Vlad was his former enemy, his nemesis, and someone who took the world hostage.

He couldn't help but feel pity for him.

Then their travels continued.

Years pass unnoticed, when in space, with Danny slowly getting bigger and bigger as the two travel throughout. They've come into contact with various civilizations, some hostile, some peaceful, some neutral.

The hostile ones never lasted long, even if Danny never lifted a flipper to do anything most of the time, Vlad made sure of it.

They came at went as they pleased, and Danny believes that they've gained a bit of a reputations over their adventures, but neither he nor Vlad knew exactly what they said. It did prove useful in some cases, however.

A few more years, and Danny feels that this system is vaguely familiar. Which happens sometimes, considering he's been travelling for so long. He then finds out why it was so familiar.

He came across Earth and, oh. When was the Earth so small?

Well, not small really, but when was he just only a bit smaller than it?

Did it shrink when he was away? Or did he just grow?

That doesn't matter though. What does, is the fact that currently seemed to be an invasion going on, on his home planet thank you very much. He did not like the fact that there was a massive fleet parked right outside his home.

So he spoke to Vlad, expressed his displeasure, Vlad responded back knowingly and went off to make the source of his displeasure disappear. That doesn't Danny was idle either, the fleet was big and, well.

It's been a while since he's stretched himself in a fight.

#dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #dcxdp #dc x dp crossover #Space whale Danny #Void touched Vlad #Yes this does take place after Phantom Planet #Vlad was left in space how can you not expect me to use that? #Danny is BIIIG #Vlad vaguely remembers what he once was #Danny decided to take him along with him #Vlad can use the void itself because he's been touched by it for far too long #Unfortunately for him #Would Danny and Vlad be viewed as gods by the various civilizations they've encountered? #Danny certainly has the divine look because he glows white in the vastness of space #Vlad I think kinda has that because he's just unnatural to look at because of his void touchedness #I mean they don't have to be but its just a thought. #Right also he isn't the ghost king or prince #But he's a giant ass whale the size of a planet and slightly smaller than earth

[nanenna]

Today I remembered that my favorite thing about having so many AUs is to pick up 2 AUs like Barbie dolls and clack their faces together while making smooching noises.

Behold my beloved DCxDP AU amalgamation monster: DeamonTwinAU and PhantomThiefAU (aka: Selina gives Danny a slutty slutty cat suit, good times)

The story vaguely goeth thusly: Danny is a halfa, the Balance, the Bridge Between Worlds, he is....... the Observants' glorified gofer. You see, there are a lot of cursed/enchanted/ghostly artefacts floating around loose in the living Realm and they need Danny to go retrieve them. Danny would rather not, but they just won't leave him alone about it. Can't a guy just live? At least let him poop in peace! Ancients! Fine, he'll do it if it'll get them to shut up. (Spoiler: it does, in fact, not get them to shut up.)

But you see, Danny has a secret: he was raised in an assassin ninja cult (at least for the early years) before getting adopted by the Fentons. Now the killing? Not a fan, no thanks, he's working on not increasing his kill count, thx. But the sneaking? He could use that. Sneaky ninjas are also good thieves, right? So he cobbles together a knock off League of Assassins outfit, buys a cheap portable lock picking set, and decides to make a game of how far can he get without using his powers (much. He's new at this okay?)

Batman is not having fun. There's some (possible?) League assassin running around stealing verified cursed/magical artefacts! Is Talia planning something? Is Ra's planning something? (Isn't he for real dead? Silly reader, no one is ever for real dead in DC.)

Robin is super frustrated. For all the same reasons Batman is but also because he just knows this new rogue is taunting him. Personally. Because he's Damian al Ghul Wayne and the whole world revolves around him, obviously. (And also because he once pointed at Robin and laughed before jumping out a window.)

Selina is intrigued. Who is this kid? How does he know what to go after? How does he keep evading the bats? Luckily she runs into him mid heist (fortunately they had different targets, she's intrigued but not enough to hand over her shinies to him) and oh he's adorable! She has to train him, it would drive Brucie up the wall. But then she sees his face and oh, she knows exactly who he is, even if he seems oblivious.

Because Danny? He's in Gotham for the ecto, for the Thomas Wayne full ride scholarship he managed to snag, and also because for some reason Gotham is full of so many cursed/ghost artefacts. (Lady Gotham is seething, she worked hard to collect all those curses! But this is her beloved dark knight's kid and she kinda wants him home. But she also doesn't want to give up her curses!) Back to the point: Danny doesn't care about ANY of the rich bougie people. The Waynes give out a lot of scholarships? Cool, that's nice and all. They probably also rub elbows with Vlad or Sam's parents. No thanks. Doesn't care. He's got better things to worry about.

Selina has got a plan though! She's gonna teach this boy how to thief properly, starting with better tools (including the slutty, slutty cat burglar outfit). She also knows that she can't let any of the Waynes (in or out of costume) meet Danny (out of costume). So does Lady Gotham. So does the universe apparently (or just Clockwork maybe), because all kinds of unlikely things keep happening to prevent it.

Danny is having so much fun though! He's learning new skills. Selina is giving him an allowance so he's not living off ramen and peanut butter sandwiches, he's doing well in school, he gets to stretch his ghost powers regularly to go above the smog cover and star gaze in peace. Everything's coming up Danny.

Selina decides it's time to flaunt her find in front of Brucie and makes Danny go to a gala as her date, she spends the entire time clinging to his arm and introducing him around to everyone. Including Bruce himself (who just so happens to have Damian in tow). Danny may not recognize Bruce, but he sure recognizes Damian, and Damian recognizes him if his utterly flabbergasted face is anything to go by. But Danny remembers what it was like living in the League. And so far as he knows Damian is still in it, he was the Demon Head's heir after all. Damian made sure of it.

Oh it. Is. ON! Now Danny is on a mission! A sibling rivalry mission! He is going to make Damian's/Robin's a living hell. Selina going on a heist that has no magical artefacts? Danny's there anyway, always have back up. That necklace in the museum has barely any powers and he wasn't even going to bother with it? Too bad, it's back on the list. He has no reason to be out at all but the bats are on patrol? Well so is Danny. Catch him if you can, suckers!

It's good for Danny, it's enrichment!

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dc comics #batman #danny phantom #nenna writes #just having fun playing with my legos #snap these two pieces together and see what we can build

[flamingpudding]

Fictober23 Prompt: 5 - "You're the smartest person I know."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: Mensions of Blood, Injury and Violence

A/N: This is kind of a bad timeline kind of situation that plays into the Gamer Pal Prompt I wrote before but can still be read independently.

Danny gasped as he staggered along the alley wall, with no idea where he was. He leaned with his shoulder against the wall as his left hand pressed against the wound on his stomach that refused to stop bleeding. He was confused, dizzy and pretty sure his father had given him a concussion, so closing his eyes and just sleeping on the side of the street was out of the question.

Tucker had thrown him through a portal Wulf had opened and that portal had spit him out here in… he doesn't recognise anything. But he was pretty sure he wasn't in Amity anymore. His vision was blurry but he was pretty sure that there were skyscrapers or at least buildings way taller than he was used to.

"Fuck." Danny cursed as another wave of pain made his body shudder. If he could just transform than maybe these injuries wouldn't be as bad but next to the pain Danny could also feel electricity surging through his body thanks to whatever Vlad zapped him with that stopped his transformation.

He coughed, squinting his eyes at the red spots that splattered to the ground. Things had gone to shit and real quickly and for a moment Danny thought that maybe they should have listened to their Gaming friend. Listened to his words of caution and advice to find a way to leave or to have at least a couple more of back up plans if things go horribly wrong.

Well it all came back to bite Danny like usually, as he spat out another glob of blood. Maybe Tim hadn't been as paranoid as they had assumed.

"You okay there kid?"

Danny needed to blink a couple of times until the red and brown blob before him finally took the shape of a person. He blinked several times more until his brain also finally caught up with who he was seeing before him.

"You're Red Hood?" Danny somehow managed to say in between coughing again. Tim had told them about Gothams vigilantes and how he could contact them to get them to help with Amity. To get them into contact with the Justice League. They had thanked him but refused the help, citing the fact that even one overshadowed hero could spell even worse trouble than they already had.

Now he felt stupid having refused that kind of help.

"Hey there kid." Don't black out now. Your bleeding pretty heavily we should get you to a doctors and-"

"No hospitals." Danny cut the vigilante off, coughing once more. Even though Tim somehow had managed to get the Justice League started on the removal of the Anti-Ecto Acts they were not yet gone. He couldn't risk that yet.

But meeting Red Hood meant that Danny was in Gotham, which meant he could probably go directly to Tim for help. His Gaming Pal did say that he knew his cities vigilantes personally.

"Okay no hospitals then." Hood confirmed for him as the man reached out to Danny just as he lost his balance falling forward. The last thing Danny remembers was muttering something along the lines of "Tim… I need to find him."

The next thing Danny then became aware of was the soft beeping of a heart monitor and loud arguing not too far from him. He groaned audible and the arguing stopped instantly. A wight rested on his shoulder and Danny blinked through the brightness and blurreyness once more until he vaguely recognised the shape of a person he so far had only seen through video chats.

"Tim?"

"You absolute idiot." Was the response he got and yea that definitely was the voice he had heard so often during all the late night Doomed gaming sessions.

"That checks out. You are the smartest person I know." Danny chuckled lightly until a sharp pain made him gasp. "Shit, I will feel that for weeks."

"The smartest person you know is Sam. Between the four of us she has the best grades, remember? Besides that, do you have any idea what kind of panic you and Tuck send us through?"

Danny peaked at Tim and grimaced at the frustrated glare the other teen was sending him. "Tucker was the one throwing me through a portal."

"You're lucky you landed in Gotham." The other then muttered, shaking his head.

"Again. You are the smartest person I know. You would have figured out some way to track me? Like the time you hacked our phones and tuned in onto Desiree's ectosignature to find her. Works better than the Booomerang that keeps hitting my head."

"That's because that thing is only tuned on you."

"And you somehow got rid of the GIW and I still haven't figured out how you did that."

Danny watched how the other teen shrugged. There was a silence between them. Tim was texting on his phone, probably informing Sam and Tucker. Danny, meanwhile, for the first time took notice that he was in some sort of medical bay, also noting that whoever Tim had argued with had already left. If he could believe Red Hood's words, then even if this looked like a hospital room it was not one.

"Hey Tim?" Danny finally broke the silence and the other teen only hummed. "Is your offer to stay with you in Gotham and to go to school and college here still open? I think I am ready to leave Amity behind now."

Tim looked up from his phone at Danny and gave him a feral grin. "About damn time. I had all the papers ready for you for ages now. It's about time we finally make use of them."

Danny chuckled. "And you still don't believe me when I say, that you are the smartest person I know?"

"Anyone in my family can do at least that, you know? These papers are nothing special."

Danny only raised an eyebrow at the other before both teens started to laugh, with one laugh getting cut short by a groan of pain and the other by fussing over the other right after it.

#fictober23 #danny fenton #danny phantom #dpxdc #dp x dc #Tim drake #jason todd #dcxdp #fanfic #Gaming pal #Danny needed saving #shit when down in amity #Danny escaped to Gotham with injuries #Red Hood found him #Tim and Sam were Panicked #they didn't know that tucker and wulf threw danny into a portal #Tim ended up arguing with his brother about how to best keep Danny save #Tim was prepared #Danny just needed to agree with him #unedited #no beta we die like danny #added tags after posting because I forgot some... sorry

[autumnmobile12]

A question that doesn't come up often enough: Where's the rest of Trevor's family?

We know the entire Belmont line was almost completely annihilated in a mob, but the series is pretty vague on how many people were actually living in the house. With a high mortality of the medieval period, families were often big and with an occupation as dangerous as hunting monsters, the Belmonts were probably no different. This was very much a 'survival of the fittest' and 'heir and plenty of spares' mentality.

Trevor lost his family at twelve, so it's very unlikely he was the only sibling. But even in the event his parents were extremely unfortunate and he was their only surviving child, the multiple siblings theory still applies to the previous generations.

So his immediate family was killed. What about the extended family?

In Lament of Innocence, Leon Belmont was a French baron, but he gave up his land and titles to rescue Sara. Following the storyline of the Netflix series, he then chased Dracula east and neither the games nor series ever mention what became of him other than the fact he fathered the entire bloodline.

Based on the games, it would be safe to assume the Belmonts are not part of the aristocracy, but as far as the series goes, they are mentioned as one of Wallachia's 'great houses' in the first couple episodes. They're not unknown to the Wallachian people. Plus, the reigning Prince of Wallachia did have the power to invest anyone he chose with a noble title. The real Vlad the Impaler actually made use of this power by elevating members of the lower classes, effectively ensuring their loyalty through gratitude. (Because if he was overthrown, things weren't going to go well for the people who benefited from his rise to power.)

So it's not impossible that somewhere in the 400 years between Leon and Trevor, some Belmont won the favor of Wallachia's monarch and was rewarded with a boyar lord's title.

'Not much of a family and not for long' seems to indicate the line was already pretty diminished before the mob attacked.

Trevor only mentions his family a handful of times throughout the four seasons, and the only specific members that come up are his parents with the reference to his mother's books and the story of how his father had once gotten into a fight with a Speaker.

The only other time his parents come up is in Season 2 when Sypha asks if they were magicians, to which he answers no, but they knew a lot about magic. At the very least, this shows both of his parents were alive long enough for him to remember them. Otherwise, the story about the fight with the Speaker could have easily been told to him by another relative that had been looking after him while the books Trevor mentions that belonged to his mother could have just been part of the family's collection after she was long gone.

With some historical context (provided we adhere to accuracy,) this actually gives some insight to Trevor's childhood. He would have known his mother very well. Unlike many other European countries where the nobility left childrearing to a nurse and other staff, the education of a boyar's son in Wallachia was actually left to the women of the household. His mother would have likely overseen every part of his upbringing that wasn't physical combat training, which would have been his father's domain.

Another possibility worth exploring is his mother was the Belmont and his father was the one who married into the family. An unusual if not unheard of dynamic for the times, but the series does subtly imply the women of the family were as much of hunters as the men when Trevor talks about how only one member of his family encountered the Infinite Corridor. It's possible they could have adopted other more non-traditional roles for the times.

This also accounts for his complete lack of surprise in Episode 3 when 'the Elder's grandchild' turns out to be a granddaughter and again in Episode 4 when Sypha reveals herself as a mage.

So we've established both of Trevor's parents were alive and well for a significant part of his early life. On to the extended family.

Unless the Belmonts were practicing Targaryen levels of incest (although marrying one's cousin was an accepted practice in this time,) Trevor should have had other relatives to rely on. Assuming the family had a traditional dynamic and his mother did indeed marry into the Belmont line, and since aristocrats generally married other aristocrats, her father would have been one of the boyar lords of the region. The same applies if his father had sisters who married into other families.

Given the primary goal of marriage in this time period was less romantic and more in the interest of forming alliances with other families for political or financial reasons, there could also be a wider family network among the nobility at play.

Side note: There's a small possibility he's distantly related to one or both of these two.

...

So what happened to those other relatives?

Personally, I think the answer to this question might play into the cynicism and bitterness of Trevor's character in general. If we explore the scenario that he did seek help from his mother's family, people who had no ties to the Belmonts other than the fact their sister/daughter married into the family, with the self-serving atmosphere of the Wallachian aristocracy at the time, I can imagine him being met with a cold reception.

And sadly, this would be an all too realistic situation for the times. As stated above, the boyars were corrupt.  There wasn’t a clear hierarchy among the nobility (That is, Wallachia did not have the equivalent of dukes, earls, viscounts, etc.) so power was determined by wealth or land-owning.  This rivalry for power went all the way to the top; Wallachia's throne changed hands once every couple years as the Dănești and Drăculești branches of the reigning family relentlessly fought over it.

In this minefield of political intrigue, the only surviving member of an otherwise shattered bloodline, especially a twelve year old excommunicate, would not have been of much use in the eyes of the nobility. With the Belmonts disgraced with heresy charges, neither branches of the reigning family would have been interested in their support and probably would have wanted to distance themselves from an alliance that could potentially damage their own reputation.

A public rejection from the Prince would have rebounded throughout the region and put the final nail in the coffin of what the Church started. None of the boyars would have been interested in helping Trevor, distant family or not. On the other hand, helping their orphaned and disgraced nephew/grandson is the Christian thing to do, but since Trevor and his murdered family are now enemies of the Church and out of favor with Wallachia's monarch, that 'help' might've extended only as far as, "We're deeply sorry for your circumstances. Here's some money, now get out."

So Trevor was born into one of the highest and most privileged classes in the region and is the product of literally generations of a family that has had two goals since Leon: protecting the world from Dracula and the destruction of Dracula. The night of the mob would have completely shattered a mentality he'd had since he was born. Throw that on top of that the trauma of losing one’s home and entire immediate family in a single night and then being vilified by both the people his family had protected and the wider circle of his extended family.

That is a brutal shift in world views for a twelve year old to handle, so it's easy to see why the series opens with him already burned up the anger and the grief over what happened and all that’s left for him is the aimless wandering, drinking, and getting into fights.

In all, this statement really summed up the beginning of his character arc perfectly.

#castlevania #trevor belmont #belmont family #sypha belnades #character analysis #castlevania headcanons #castlevania targoviste #character development #speakers #medieval wallachia #wallachian social classes #medieval romania #medieval history #medieval europe #wallachian politics #game of thrones reference

[danny-and-hisshadow]

Bad decisions lead to worse consequences

)no phantom planet, though small aspects from it are used()jazz left for college early(vlad has a hand in that,)Sam was shipped off to boarding school(blame vlad) , Tucker's family moved to Egypt (also vlad)(

Danny's running ragged trying to keep ghosts from destroying amity , his parents are worried,the school is giving up on him, vlad has been cranking the pressure on him, and now he finds out he is going to be the next ghost king.

All the stress and sleepless nights aren't helping Danny figure out what to do, without a support system his friends and sister gave him he feels like the walls are closing in on him. He wants to tell his parents his secrets only to once more overhear them talking of destroying phantom again. He looks at the letter in his hands requesting a meeting at the nasty burger and shivers, anxiousness eating at him, his breath mistings as a ghost lurks around his home, likely a spy from vlad, he also has a scroll from a observant of all things ,who was clearly unhappy to tell Danny he would be the ghost king. All thos pressure had Danny nearly yanking his hair out,he wanted to scream,shout, destroy something,but he couldn't.

He paced his room wishing he had tucker and sam to help him, even jazz,but he was alone. At home and at school he had no one, he was at the bottom of the pecking order, practically a pariah. Lancer always looked so disappointed now a days. As did his parents,'no Fenton gets an f indeed'.

Danny felt like he was losing his mind. He (silently, mentally) wished he could be in two different places so he could divide his responsibilities. It wasn't like he could ask clockwork for help, well he could,but he had a feeling it would not help.

He trudged down to his parents lab to start on his chores, cleaning up spills and fiddling with weapons so they wouldn't be able to hurt him,when he came across a familiar invention, the Fenton ghost catcher. He stared at it groggily, vaguely remembering the last time he had used it. Danny continued cleaning as he considered the invention, remembering the events that lead to super phantom and fun Danny. The franticness of trying to merge back together after splitting powers between them before finding out about a switch on the ghost catcher. Then he remembers enjoying the beautiful sunset with tucker and Sam before his parents got the house moved back to where it belonged.

After finishing up his chores he collapsed in a swivel chair as he debated on what he should do. Should be really split himself into two again? The more he considered everything he had going one,the lack of help,and deadlines,and how exhausted he was , the more it sounded like a good idea. He also briefly considered what would happen if his ghost side was evil, but decided he would focus on putting as much good into phantom as possible,last thing anyone wanted was another evil king. With that he jumped through the ghost catcher.

Phantom floated in the air as Fenton smacked face first into the ground and groaned. Danny picked himself up,"you could have caught me", he grumbled. Phantom cringed,"sorry, I had a lot on my mind", he was mentally checking to see if he was evil like the original Danny worried about, though he really didn't feel evil,and how would one go about discovering you were evil or not? All he felt was just stressed out about becoming the new ghost king and leaving the earth ,his home, his family behind.

Fenton sat on the swivel chair again, crossing his arms to hug himself. "Well, maybe you can order the ghosts to not bother Amity park, king phantom", He had a meeting with lancer and his parents tomorrow, he was busy thinking about how was he going to get out of this mess of trouble he was in.

Danny Fenton was probably going to be doing a lot of groveling. Also, the nasty burger was a terrible place to have a meeting, unless lancer was using the place as a way of saying that Danny's future prospects for jobs were all fast food restaurants. Which rude, and cruel.

Danny phantom, still waiting to see if he felt evil or not, nodded, unaware of Fenton's inner thoughts, and missing the jab out his new title," that's a good idea, I could make it a order to avoid the human world, so mom and dad don't get their hands on any ghosts, it protects them,the ghosts,and the town, win win", he said with a grin. Phantom thought a moment,"are you going to be ok? The guys in white might target you".

Fenton shrugged,"well,we are divided now, I'm human, they don't target humans", thinking quickly,Fenton grabbed the ghost gabber and turned it on," I am Danny Fenton, I am not a ghost", he stated. The gabber reader antenna whirled around wildly before stated," no ghost detected".

Phantom tried next,"I am Danny phantom,I am a ghost", the gabber's antenna once again whirled,this time pointing at phantom and stated,"ghost detected! Translating, I am Danny phantom,I am a ghost, fear me! ".

They laughed as Fenton turned off the gabber so he could put it back were it belonged. Once they caught their breath,they wondered why they thought that was funny to begin with.

#danny phantom #my wriitng #danny phantom au #danny fenton #bad decisions lead to worse consequences

[shinygoldstar]

so I had this question of why is Vlad (a likely victim of US medical + student debt) acting like a Lex Luthor knock off instead of Robin Hood knock off? I played with the idea and it kinda snowballed down from here as to how college Vlad ended up like he is in canon

(tw for uh vague mentions of Vlad being threatened by loan sharks causing him to steal?)

warnings for morally dubious vlad (on topic of theft)

Vlad is most likely just another unfortunate guy with college debt who got admitted into a hospital for something not entirely his fault (he definitely violated lab safety protocols and that's on him but lab goggles still wouldn't protect him much) and probably racked up quite the number of hospital bills which he couldn't pay.

So when you're a penniless kid with piles of debt but you also have ghost powers? He probably robbed someone by accident the first time (knocked into someone, accidentally turns intangible, knocks the person's wallet out without them realizing it). He might want to return the wallet like any decent person but he has *debts* and maybe his needs are a bit more important than the wallet's owner (totally not biased here/sarcasm). With the wallet he managed to pay for his monthly rent with some cash left over which would hopefully tide him over until he gets a new job.

Unfortunately his new powers meant he never managed to hold a job for long. Accidental intangibility making him drop food plates, invisibility making things inconvenient, not to mention floating at the worst timing. Yeah he doesn't hold a job well.

He accidentally trips and fall over a cashier counter but instead of falling over it, he falls through it. And pulled out bits and pieces of cash out in the process. He guiltily returns it back.

His rent and debt installments are due. He doesn't have enough money to pay for it all. He runs. Doesn't contact people so that debt collectors can't find him. Unfortunately for him he borrowed from loan sharks to pay off his first few debt installments (because no one else would loan him money as a jobless kid with only high school degree) and they found him. He needs cash in 24 hours or they'd do more than rough him up.

Vlad was out of options. His powers acted up out of stress, giving Vlad a desperate idea. He tries to intentionally use his powers for the first time to steal money with mixed degree of success but he managed to mollify the loan sharks.

Once becomes twice, becomes a pattern. Once to get enough money so he could finish his degree and get a job. Another round to get him a place to stay. A few more to get him out of debt installments. He tries to pick only the ones that won't miss the money (he needs it more than them so they won't miss it right?) Before he knows it, he's already making a career out of stealing.

It snowballed from there. By the time he built himself up from the negatives it became something he didn't even think about anymore. (i think i accidentally created a kleptomaniac vlad..)

Vlad has money, more than enough money now. He buys a castle because he can, tries to fill it up with shades of green and gold (his fondest memories of his parents were filled with sounds of cheering and shades of green and gold) to make the place more lively. He's used to being alone now that being around other people (so mundanely ordinary) irritates him (why should he care about some popular TV series or celebrity gossips?). He can barely remember what it's like to be normal now (to be like them). There are more important things to think about, to discover. The idea that he might share his wealth to help other unfortunate people like him never occurred to him (because he needs it more than them, right?)

#danny phantom #vlad masters #btw US folks u can negotiate your medical bills for hardship assistance if u have low income #goldpost

[dp-marvel94]

(Not) Alone- Chapter 4

Summary: Consumed with worry and scared after watching Dani almost die, Danny begs her to come home with him and meet Jazz. He wants to see her safe and happy and taken care of more than anything. An important reveal also weighs heavy on him – Dani isn’t the only living clone… and the other is him. He needs to tell her the truth; maybe that will convince her to agree to the idea of telling his parents. And she'll stay in Amity Park with him, where he'll never have to worry if she's safe ever again.

Meanwhile, Dani has mixed feelings. Still reeling from the loss of her clone siblings, Danny’s unexpected worry and care make her uncomfortable. And her own guilt… she hurt him and helped get him kidnapped twice. How can he care about a mistake like her? But having clean clothes and a bed is wonderful. And things aren’t as simple as she thinks.

Will Dani accept the help she needs and let herself be loved? Or will she push Danny and Jazz away and run again?

Word Count: 2,698

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Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: Here's the new chapter! Sorry it's a bit late; the weekend was busy but a lot of fun (D&D and a Red Concert! 😍). Then I went back to work on Monday and they're back to trying to kill me with stress. 😭 I'm applying for other jobs and already have got an interview so hopefully I'll be leaving soon. Pray for me, friends. 🥺

Over an hour later, her brother finished explaining. 

“So let me make sure I’ve got this straight.” Dani’s brow furrowed. “Vlad made Tiny-you overshadow Danny-you. There was a weird memory-sharing, dreamscape thing. You didn’t wanna leave. You were destabilizing and…” The girl swallowed, paling for a second. “You melted while still possessing… also you?”

“It’s easier if you just use the names.” Danny(?), Dami(?) added helpfully.

Dani pressed her hands together, fingers pointed up as if praying.  “So… Tiny… Dami melted while he was still overshadowing Danny….” She moved her hands apart, vaguely miming a spherical shape. “Core combining, merging, fusing thing happened.” She balled her fists together before pointing. “And that’s where you come in? Because you’re both of them?”

The boy gave a nod. “That’s right.”

Dani also nodded. Then her eyes widened, realizing. “That’s why you were being so weird after breaking out of that chamber thing!”

Her brother blinked once, as if just realizing she’d been there. “What do you mean?”

“You were moving kinda jerkily, like you couldn’t get your limbs to work right. Or you were dizzy or something.” She frowned. “And your eyes were blank and glassy, like you weren’t all there.” Dani shrugged, deceptively casual. “I thought Vlad just shocked you real bad.”

“Well, that electricity sure wasn’t fun.” He smiled uncomfortably. “But yeah. There was a lot going on here.” He motioned vaguely to his head and chest. Then he frowned. “I still don’t remember it all that well.”

“I’m sorry.” Dani sympathized. “It sounds like you had an awful time, not even realizing what happened at first.” (How did he not realize it though, being changed like that? ) “And the power flare-ups. And the figuring it out yourself. And that’s where Frostbite comes in, right?”

The boy nodded. “He confirmed what I had already figured out but… didn’t want to admit to myself. He…” A guilty blush. “He helped me out a lot, with really getting all this-  who and what I am now- and learning how to be okay with it.” He swallowed. “It took me a while to tell Jazz, Sam, and Tucker though. And that was rough… but we’re all good now.”

There was a significance, a deep-seated pain to those words. It squeezed at the clone girl’s core.

“And you’re okay too?” She asked.

“Yeah.” He smiled softly, some of the weight lifting. “I’m really happy you’re here.”

“Me too.” Dani reached forward, hugging him again.

The two siblings shared the embrace for a long moment. Then after a few breaths, the boy pulled away.

His brow furrowed, worriedly searching her face. “Are you okay with all this? With… me?”

“Of course!” The girl didn’t even hesitate, grinning. “I mean, I don’t really get it. Like at all. Everything you just told me is crazy…” 

For a moment, his eyes fell, more than a hint of alarmed disappointment.

Dani pointedly shook her head. “I believe you! It’s just….  It all sounds so insane. I can’t wrap my head around it. At least not yet.” 

For a second, the girl’s lips pursed, considering the situation. It sounded impossible. She didn’t understand it at all, despite that hour-long explanation. Or… well, she had understood the words, the general flow of the story. But the details? Fitting what had happened into her mind, her map of reality? (Would she ever be able to?)

Her brother nodded at her words. “Jazz and my friends didn’t really get it at first either. I think they’re still getting there too.” He half-shrugged, blushing.

The clone girl smiled softly; that made her feel better. “What matters is, you’re still here. You’re alive. You’re not melting. You’re stable! We’re both stable!” She grinned, spreading her arms. “And you can actually talk now!”

“Oh yeah?” The boy grinned, wrapping an arm around her. “So I get to torture you with my puns and you won’t complain?” He furiously nuggied her head.

“No, not puns!” The girl complained dramatically, trying to squirm away.

Grinning, her brother’s wiggling fingers went for her armpit. “What was that?”

Dani giggled, body twitching from the assault. “No… no puns!”

“But I thought you were tickled pink, finally hearing my boo-tiful voice.”

“Stop! Stop!” She panted out through her laughter. “Dami, stop!”

The boy also laughed. “Come on! That was spook-takular. I think it ghosts without saying.”

The girl’s chest heaved, unable to word a reply.

“See, I’ve left you speechless.”

Dani flailed, her own wiggling fingers seeking out the other clone’s sensitive underarm. 

“Hey. Hey!” Dami complained, falling into his own giggles.

Quickly, the two half ghosts fell into a pile of limbs and laughter.

“It sounds like you two are having fun.” Jazz’s voice cut through the scene.

The tickling stopped at that, both half-ghosts panting for a few seconds before sitting up.

“I wondered when you were going to get up.” The boy rolled his eyes teasingly. “Thought you were going to sleep all day.”

“As if.” The red-head rolled her own eyes, going to sit on the couch near the pair.

“Seriously though.” The jovial tone dimmed. “I’m surprised you didn’t hear our… discussion.” Dami’s eyes flickered to his clone sister meaningfully.

Dani blushed, a seed of guilt sprouting in her core. Oh yeah… she had started this entire thing with yelling at him.

For a moment, something (almost guilty?) flickered in Jazz’s eyes but it was quickly gone. The older girl nodded. “So, you told her about…” A significant pause.

“About being Dami. Yeah, she knows.” Her brother nodded.

“And you took it well?” The older girl’s gaze fell on Dani, more than a hint of hope in her eyes.

With another blush, the clone girl nodded. “After he explained everything.” Her eyes narrowed slightly. “You know, you should have led with that last night. It definitely would have made things easier.” (Maybe she wouldn’t have been so grumpy about him worrying about her and about accepting help. Maybe she wouldn’t have gotten so angry about him calling himself her brother; he actually was after all.)

The older two traded meaningfully concerned looks. Dani’s insides twisted. Had she said something wrong?

Jazz leaned forward, a strangely deliberate gentleness to her voice. “How about we make some breakfast? Then we can go do something fun together.”

“Breakfast!” That got Dani’s interests. “Can we have pancakes?” Her eyes lit up, already making her way to the kitchen. 

(That segway felt like a diversion but Dani wasn’t going to say anything. Who was she to refuse food?)

“Yeah, pancakes sound great.” Dami enthused. “Chocolate chips?”

“Yes, we’ve got chocolate chips.” Jazz laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny and Jazz made pancakes for breakfast, Dani’s excited eyes on their backs. Part of that excitement was because of the food but the half ghost knew… it was also something else.

Compared to his friends and older sister who hadn’t talked to him for days after he told them, Dani took the secret well. Surprisingly well…. There was a reason for that. He saw it in the way she looked at him, in what she said after their conversation. 

“Are you okay with all this? With… me?” “Of course!” 

Dani hadn’t thought about her response at all. She hadn’t even hesitated.

“I mean, I don’t really get it. Like at all. Everything you just told me is crazy…” 

Danielle didn’t really understand. Of course she didn’t. And he didn’t expect her to; it had taken him weeks to even begin to understand what he was now and he was experiencing it from the inside.

But…

“What matters is, you’re still here. You’re alive. You’re not melting. You’re stable! We’re both stable!” She grinned, spreading her arms. “And you can actually talk now!”

Damian, Tiny, her littlest brother. That was who she saw when she looked at him. And…. Danny was surprisingly okay with that. Part of it was…. It was nice for that part of him to be wanted. But a greater portion…. 

After telling his friends and sister, he had been so concerned with them seeing and accepting both parts of him, all of him. Not just the Danny they were used to, but the clone too. And most importantly…. The new, complete self that he was. Those months ago, that had been so new. He had only just begun realizing and accepting that he wasn’t just the sum of his parts but greater, his own person. Now though….

He knew who he was. Danny wouldn’t be shaken by Danielle seeing him as Tiny. That was what she needed, who she needed for now. She needed to be happy that one of her clone brothers was still alive, right here with her. Learning all those other implications, getting to know him as the new person he was… that could come later.

For now, he wouldn’t say anything. He would take it slow. He would let himself just be Dami, for her.

With those thoughts dismissed, Damian went back to making breakfast with his older sister.

“You know what we need? Bacon!” Excited at the thought, the boy opened the fridge and reached for the meat drawers.

“Wait!” Jazz shouted, eyes wide. “It’s contam-”

Dami pulled open the container to sudden growls. Something ugly green-red-white wiggled through the clear plastic, lunging for his fingers. “Never mind!” He tried to slam the drawer closed. But the strips of meat sprang up, wedging in the opening. “Oh no, you don’t!”

The bacon hissed without mouths, tiny red eyes blinking open. The boy shot at the meat…

“Shit!” The blast of fire impacted. 

The strips shrieked. 

“What did you do?!” The red-head lunged for the fridge, beating at the flames with a kitchen towel.

“It was supposed to be an ectoblast!”

The meat moaned pathetically, still on fire.

“Make them stop!” Dani complained, hands over her ears.

Then the fire alarm started screaming.

“Just close the fridge!” Dami shoved his older sister out of the way. 

The door slammed closed, cutting off the pitiful whimpers. Jazz stomped to the fire alarm, swiping the broom from its place against the wall. She jabbed the handle up, hitting the button to turn the siren off.

Blessed quiet fell over the room. The boy’s shoulders relaxed, smiling sheepishly. “Well, that’s not how I’d been planning to cook the bacon….”

A beat of silence. Then….

Dani started giggling. “You… you shot it, you really just shot it….” The sound was almost hysterical, like this was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. 

The older halfa couldn’t help but laugh with her. “I was trying to ectoblast it, not… not shoot it with fire…” 

Even Jazz joined with her own eyeroll. “Little brother, I swear….”

Dami bent over, taken by the ridiculousness of the situation. That stupid contaminated bacon… and he’d really just accidentally fire-blasted it. What even was his life?

The three siblings laughed together for a good minute, all else forgotten. Until…

The smell of burning, the fire alarm shrieked again.

“The pancakes!”

After Jazz rushed back to the stove, the boy hesitantly opened the fridge. To his relief, the fire was out, the plastic walls of the drawer none the worse for wear. But the contents- luckily just the bacon- was burnt to a crisp, and not the crisp one normally wanted in bacon. Left in the bacon’s place were two moaning blob ghosts which Dami quickly sucked up in a Fenton thermos. Dani helped him clean up the ashes, leaving no trace of the fire he’d caused.

Ten minutes later, the pancakes were ready and the three siblings sat down to eat.

The two half ghosts dug into their stacks. 

“So good.” The younger girl happily moaned through a mouthful.

“Yeah.” The boy agreed, having finished his first. “Sorry you…uhh… lost one because of bacon-shenanigans.” He said sheepishly.

Jazz rolled her eyes, the picture of faux-annoyance. “How did you manage to accidentally fire-blast them?”

“Hey! It’s an easy mistake. I’ll have you know…”

The two squabbled for a bit, Dani joining in once she’d finished half her stake.

“Do you normally have to fight the food in the fridge?” The clone girl asked with a laugh.

The two teens looked at each other. Dami shrugged. “Only sometimes.”

Dani raised an eyebrow, putting another piece of pancake in her mouth. “Do the Drs Fenton store blob ghosts in there or something?”

“It was ectoplasm samples.” Jazz corrected. “And no, they actually don’t anymore.”

The younger girl gave her a skeptical look. “Really?”

“Jazz got them to put a fridge for samples in the basement and stop putting things upstairs.” Dami clarified. “I saw them do a deep clean on the fridge too, right before they left. With real, store-bought cleaning stuff and everything.” His brow furrowed. “I figured that would work to stop making the meat bite back.”

“It looks like it didn’t stick.” Jazz frowned. “I’ll have to tell Mom. Maybe they should just get a new fridge.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” Dani eyed the appliance warily.

“Do you want to meet them?” The boy suddenly asked.

“Who?” The clone girl blinked.

“Our parents, I mean.” Her brow furrowed, like she wanted to argue, but Dami interrupted. “They’re your parents too. Biologically at least. I know they’d want to meet you, if they knew about you. And…” He poked at his last few pieces of pancake. “I’ve been trying to get them warmed up to ghosts. They’ve got a truce with Phantom now. They know that I’m good, that I’m just trying to help the town. They’ve met Cujo and Sidney. And that went well. They don’t shoot on sight anymore. I think…” He worried his lip. “I think if I told them about me being half ghost, about me being Phantom that they’d get it.” The clone-fusion secret was a whole other thing. But… “I really want to tell them.”

And tell his parents about Dani and have them meet her and ask if they would adopt his baby sister… His core squeezed. He wanted that so much, more badly than he wanted them to accept him. He wanted this house, their family to be a safe home for her. And he wanted to tell the clone girl that so badly. But…

Danielle was biting her own lip, staring down at the table with an unreadable expression. She’d closed off as soon as he’d said ‘our parents’.

Danny’s heart hurt; he felt like a hypocrite. Hadn’t he just been thinking about taking it slow and just letting Dani be happy he was alive? She’d already been visibly uncomfortable last night. Just earlier, she’d pretty much yelled at him to stop worrying about her. And now he was pushing her again….

There was a long, silent pause. Finally, Dani said. “I’ll think about it.”

Danny’s eyes widened. That was good, better than he expected. “Alright. I can live with that.” He breathed. “I won’t tell them about you unless you say it’s okay.”

Still, there was a knot in his stomach. It would have to be good enough.

An awkward atmosphere lingered as the three finished their food but slowly it ebbed.

“What do you want to do today, Dani?” Jazz asked, looking at the other girl.

The younger blinked, surprised. “I can pick?”

The red-head nodded, giving her a smile. “Anything you want.”

“As long as it’s in town or not too far away.” The boy added, then with a nervous cough. “Or too expensive. I uh… don’t have that much money.”

“Speak for yourself, little brother.” Jazz raised a brow. Then giving the girl a wink. “I’ve been saving up just for this occasion.”

“Really?” Dani blinked for a moment, all the more surprised. Then her brow furrowed, considering. After a long minute…. “Can we go to the mall?"

#Danny Phantom #my fic #(Not) Alone #Invisobang 2023 #Invisobang

[five-rivers]

Like Kind

Prompt by @dp-marvel94: As soon as Maddie saw Phantom, she KNEW. It had happened, the thing that she dreaded and feared but in the back her mind knew would happen. Her Danny, her baby wasn’t human anymore….but then again he never had been completely human.

 In retrospect, she should have seen this coming from miles away.  Perhaps she had seen it, and her surprise now was the result of having willfully turned away.  But now, it was being rubbed in her face, thrown up in front of her in gleaming neon letters, staring her in the eye.  

The last was literal.  

Phantom floated a few meters above the ground, eyes fixed on hers.  

Phantom, who was undeniably Danny.  Her son.  Her baby boy.

He vanished from sight, flying up through the ceiling.  Maddie waited ten minutes, frozen and holding her breath, before sitting down hard on the floor.  She had thought—She had hoped—

(A memory plagued her.  Out with Vlad and Jack after Vlad was discharged, Jazz with a sitter. Red eyes where there should be blue. Panicked apologies.  Blood on the sheets and an ache radiating through her whole body.)

She had hoped.  

Had hoped that a child born to someone who had been possessed would be entirely human.  

(But even as a young child, something had been… not right about Danny.  He’d stared at empty corners, spoken to thin air, had a bizarre fixation on clocks. There had been other signs.  She’d dismissed them all.  But then.  Phantom.)

(She couldn’t ignore this.)

She went through the rest of the day, even the kidnapping of the mayor and a fight with a whole horde of ghosts in a daze.  Danny was there.  Fighting.  Doing these… these things.  And now she knew.  

Did Jack realize?  Had Jack put two and two together to realize that the boy he’d raised, the boy he’d taken as his own son, was now… this?

Was now a ghost?

.

“He’s our responsibility,” said Maddie, hands clasped under her chin.  She couldn’t meet Jack’s eyes.  “He’s our responsibility, and he’s giving in to his—to his nature.  What he did last night…”

“Maddie,” said Jack, reaching across the table.  “Just.  Stop.  Maybe… maybe there’s another way we can do this. Up until now, he’s been fighting the other ghosts, hasn’t he?  Maybe we could encourage that part.  Guide him to something less, less malevolent.”

“That’s what we thought we were doing from the beginning,” said Maddie.  “It hasn’t worked, Jack.”

“That’s when we thought he was still human,” said Jack. “We can—We could invent something. To help him control his—”

“This isn’t a movie, Jack,” snapped Maddie.  “He isn’t a vampire we can feed animal blood or a werewolf we can lock up during the full moon.  He’s a ghost.  This isn’t going to get better.  It’s going to get worse.”

“We don’t know that,” protested Jack.  “We could at least try, couldn’t we?  Don’t we owe him that?”

“Jack…”

“He’s our boy, Maddie.  We can’t just give up on him.”

“It’s already getting worse.  You’ve seen his grades.”

“It might not be because of intellectual degeneration,” said Jack, urgently.  “If you suddenly found out about—” he waved his hand vaguely “—wouldn’t you have some trouble focusing on schoolwork?  I know I had enough trouble when I was in school…”

“This isn’t the same,” said Maddie.  

“I know, that’s my point.”

Maddie covered her face and sighed.  “Alright,” she said.  She couldn’t let herself hope again.  “We’ll… we’ll try it your way, first.  What do we tell Jazz?”

.

“You already know?” asked Maddie, aghast.  

“Yes, I saw him transform, once, but I thought it would be better to let him come to me, tell me on his own terms.”  Jazz licked her lips.  “Does this mean you’ll stop shooting at him?  Maybe be more supportive of what he’s trying to do?”

“Jazz, he kidnapped the mayor.”

“I’m not sure he did.  A lot of people were possessed this past week.  The mayor could have been one of them.”

Maddie closed her eyes and swallowed, suppressing the feelings that rose in her at Jazz’s casual pronouncement.  

“I mean, a lot of people at school were talking about how little they remember…  Mom, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”  She collected herself.  “Ghosts,” she said, “aren’t human.  They don’t have a human psychology.”

“Danny’s still human.”

“Partially.  For now. We don’t want to lose him to this. Will you help us?”

Jazz looked away, frowning.  “Even if ghosts are different,” she stressed the word, “that doesn’t mean they’re evil.  The wolf ghost helped Danny, didn’t it?  And Danny’s doing good.  I don’t think you should try to ‘fix’ him.  It isn’t right.”

Jack jumped in.  “That’s not what we’re doing,” he said, reassuringly.  “We just want to make sure that he stays himself.  That this doesn’t affect him negatively.”

“But you don’t want me to tell him that’s what you’re doing.”

“Based on recent events,” said Maddie, “we’re concerned that he’ll react poorly and run.  We just don’t want that to happen.  We can’t help him if he runs from us.”

Jazz bit her lip.  “Okay,” she said, finally.  “But you can’t do anything to Danny that he doesn’t want.  No experiments.  No tearing him apart molecule by molecule.”

“That isn’t—”

“Don’t tell me it didn’t cross your mind,” said Jazz, harshly.  “You talked about it at the table at breakfast.  More than once.  I’m keeping an eye on everything you do.”

It was better than her running to the police or trying to free Danny right away because she couldn’t understand.  

“Alright,” said Maddie.  

.

It was a good thing Danny’s physiology hadn’t changed enough to give him a resistance to simple sedatives.  Watching him nod off in the middle of dinner was as cute as it was tragic.

Jazz was… unhappy.  Clearly.  But she didn’t say anything.  

.

Danny knew he was in lab as soon as he woke up.  The buzz of the overhead lights and the hum of the portal made his hair stand on end and his mouth go dry.  

This was bad.  This was a nightmare made real.  

He didn’t move.  Maybe, if they thought he was asleep, they’d hold off on the dissection.

Although… he didn’t seem to be on the examination table. That was a good sign, right?  IT had to be a good sign.  

“Danny.”

His breath caught in his throat and his fingers curled on the surface beneath him.  It wasn’t metal.  Something… not quite soft.  But not hard. Like… a thin air mattress.  

“Danny, we know you’re awake.”

He screwed his eyes shut even tighter.  

“Please don’t hurt me,” he said.  “I’m me.  I’m really me.  I promise.”

“We know,” said Jack.  

That made Danny open his eyes.  “You do?” he asked, hopeful despite the fact he was in a box with thick, plastic walls.  He pushed himself up on the bench.  “Then why—” He was almost hyperventilating.  

“Danny,” said Maddie, “Danny, calm down.  We’re just- We know you’re Phantom, and we’re here to help you.”

“We know how hard it must have been for you, fighting those ghostly urges,” said Jack.  “But we’ll find a way for you to beat ‘em back, son.”

“I don’t- I’m not—” He shook his head.  “If you’re talking about the robberies—”

“That’s exactly what we’re talking about,” said Maddie.  “But it’s okay.  We’re going to keep anything like that from ever happening again.”

Danny bit his lip and felt despair clutch at his heart again.  They weren’t going to listen to him.  But—Jazz. Jazz would notice he was missing. She didn’t even believe in ghosts, not really.  She’d save him.  Or Sam and Tucker would look for him.  

He just had to hold out.  Even if they thought he was… succumbing to his ‘ghostly instincts,’ they wouldn’t hurt him.

Right?

.

“It isn’t working,” said Maddie, head in her hands, surrounded by crumpled by pieces of paper.  “He’s getting worse.”

Jack had to admit that he was.  It was tragic to watch his son fall to what could only be described as a ghostly Obsession.  Just last night Danny had been reduced to clawing at the inside of the containment unit. Crying.  Screaming to be let out to fight ghosts and ‘protect the town.’  

He… didn’t know what to do about it.  Any of it.  

“Maybe…” said Maddie.  “You remember what he said about the portal.  What if he was right?  What if he really…”

What if he really died?

“What if he did?” asked Jack.  “What would it change?”

“He’s not really alive,” said Maddie.  “If he isn’t… maybe we should… let him go.”

“W-what? You mean give up on him?” demanded Jack.  “We can’t do that!”

“No!  Not give up.  Never give up.  But- but maybe it would be better for him if he, if he was among like kind.  If he was…  We don’t have to destroy ghosts after all.  We just have to… have to put them on the other side of the portal.  Close it.  Close it so no more ghosts can get through.”

“You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying,” said Jack.  

“Like kind,” said Maddie.  “You remember that one Grimm’s fairy tale.  The little boy who couldn’t move on.”

“That’s not Danny,” said Jack.  

“I know.  I know it isn’t.  But, still… We…  Please, Jack.  Just… Tell me, what can we do?”

.

Danny tumbled head over heels into the Ghost Zone. He stopped, turned around, sending a blast of ectoenergy from his foot to accelerate himself back towards the portal.

He was too late.  The portal doors slammed shut, then winked out of existence.  

They were gone.  Danny was stuck here.  In the Ghost Zone.  

Fine.  

You know what?  Fine.  

He was here.  He was stuck here, because he didn’t know where or how to find natural portals. He didn’t know what was happening back home in Amity, and he was half out of his mind with worry about it.  

Fine.  

They thought he was a ghost.  A terrible, evil ghost.  Something to be cast off and thrown away.  

Fine.  

He was a ghost.  And he’d be the best ghost.  Ever.

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2021

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Comte’s 4th Birthday Story Event: Before the Clock Strikes Midnight

REEEEEEEE Ik it was a long time ago but life has been a [redacted], so I figured better late than never HAHA

So without further ado, anybody who’s curious feel free to click for more--I’ll put it under a cut for spoilers as per usual~

So in this story it’s the usual, a few days before his birthday, and they’re discussing a bump in the road. Essentially, it appears a friend of Comte’s is going to be celebrating a wedding, and as such he’s going into the suburbs/affluent part of the region to be able to attend. It’s only a few hours away from the mansion, but he will be gone for a few days with the arrangements made for his stay. 

While this wouldn’t typically be an issue, MC has some things to take care of and opts out of attending with him (preparing for his bday probably LMAO) and Comte is immediately big sad. My favorite dramatic fool is already pouting, though he fully accepts and respects her decision. Besides which, he fully intends to be back in time to celebrate his birthday as well. He notes that he’s always admired how driven and independent she is, and has no intention of getting in the way of that. He’s just going to miss her, is all.

He says as much, figuring there’s no point in hiding it: “I really wanted to bring you with me to attend…but I suppose it simply can’t be helped” … “That’s not it…I guess I’m just wondering if you’ll miss me as much as I’ll miss you while I’m away.” 

And MC’s just like “Aw, it’s okay it’ll only be a few days.” While Comte’s response is a very mature, high-pitched whining sound at a frequency only King (Theo’s dog) and Theo himself can hear. When MC tries to reassure him once more, his Hamlet impression continues: “Even the prospect of a few days away from you feels unbearable.” 

Naturally, as any man do that loves his wife, he draws her close and proceeds to bang the living daylights out of her. I would offer details, but I have no deets to give beyond: [Well MC, it appears I won’t be letting you get much sleep tonight.] 

Brief intermission for the vague sounds of fangirl cardiac arrest. 

The scene opens again to him doing his walk of shame (the slut) down the walkway and into the carriage that will take him to his friend’s house. His thoughts carry the regret of burdening her with his desire, though MC is pretty much on cloud nine and unable to stop thinking about the heady night they shared in a good way. Bruh and the sly look when he figures out why she looks like that--I’m boutta call the police, he is going to make women and men alike act up. 

MC scrambles to cool his already returning desire by insisting he will be late if he indulges any further, and he laughs and agrees easily–albeit with the slightest hint of reluctance. My favorite part in this exchange is that he kisses her forehead, adding that it’s because she’s the most adorable person in the world to him (a moment of silence for our uwus). 

Fast forward to Comte trying to get home after the festivities are over. Problem is, it’s been raining like a mOTHERBLEEPER, and as such carriages have no safe way to traverse the roads at the moment. He waited out the first day as patiently as possible, but after the second–and no sign of stopping–his Leeroy Jenkins instincts kick in. He notes to the coachman that he’s aware he’s asking a lot, but they fully intend to take the long way which invites the least risk–and the rain is ebbing, even if the progress is slow. 

It’s interesting because there’s another echo of his main story in this moment. He essentially showcases a desperation to return before the day ends, though without context it’ll probably seem a little strange, so I’ll do my best to explain. Basically, in his main story, MC notes that she doesn’t really care how different they are. Different time, different species, different experiences, so on and so forth. She hammers home that what matters is that the present is something that they actively share. It’s theirs. And no amount of divisions he desperately tries to draw will change that fundamental reality. 

And it’s a little moving to see how deeply he takes it to heart? I think it’s one of those wonderful phenomena, personally–the way a person can influence how you think and act with their sentiments. Sometimes someone says precisely what it is we need to hear, and it changes us–while it can be for the worse, it can also be for the better. He notes that he spent so many birthdays; among the people serving his house when he was little, raising hell with his friends in his younger days, so on and so forth. Not unlike Leonardo, he says that after so many “special” days the faces become a blur, the festivities lose their luster. It’s just another day, at this point. 

Note, one interesting thing here that stands out to me is that I feel like this is a reflection of both of their larger struggles. Where Comte can’t stand the relentless flow of time rendering him the only constant (and something of a ghost, never fully present), Leonardo can’t bear birthdays because it means remembering people who still mean the world to him, but are long gone. People he can never see again, never laugh with again, never share his life with again. And I think that’s a very profound pain, an anguish that just keeps on settling its weight. (Oh, Sisyphus…)

Comte’s is similar, but different. He actively works to keep his distance-- unlike Leonardo, he approaches immortality in the pragmatic way. He knows getting close will hurt, so he opts out of that–keeps a step behind, an easy smile on his face. Betrays only fragments to anyone, always has his guard up. But the downside of being so guarded means you eventually feel hollowed out and alone; nobody truly knows or understands you. There is a distinct loneliness in that approach, where memories only become reminders of how nothing ever improves and how bereft you are of warmth. 

Leonardo, at least, gets to have the joy of being known from time to time. But loss and estrangement from those people means double the pain in the long run, because he loved them fully. Comte chooses to live in the cold to protect himself, but ends up in a kind of catch-22; the cost of forgoing loss means a constant deadening of his own feelings. It means living in a kind of fog, where there is a distinct discomfort in the silent obscurity of your own heart. 

There’s something I’ve come to believe in my short course of living, so I guess I still need time to determine how true it is. But…I feel like, when people live this way, where who they are is a lie or it’s at the very least carefully concealed, we in part start to become that lie. I think it’s fascinating because Comte seems to have so much personality to him. He’s dramatic, he’s thoughtful, he has a sense of mischief about him, he has strong ideals, and he has an even more ironclad moral grounding. And yet, when he talks about himself, he always uses descriptions that hinge on emptiness. Like he’s worth so little, worth nothing. And that’s what I mean–he’s been trying so hard to glide on the surface that he has come to believe he really is equivalent to something that ephemeral. Like there’s nothing more inside him, or if there is, that it will never be worthy of much. I think it really speaks to the ways behavior impacts the psyche, even though the opposite tends to be considered the only possible cause and effect relationship. 

He’s so determined to live for and in the future while he’s in the present, that he forgets to enjoy himself and really live. And while that approach is certainly understandable, I do think he loses parts of himself along the way. Only to be rediscovered and placed back into his hands by MC: [Today–this moment–our now, I don’t want to miss it for anything.] And that's not even touching on how quick she is to make them a we; she's not letting him keep that distance. It’s not “you have the ability to share this day with me” it’s “we’re here and in this together.”

I feel like what I love about this is that it’s not only about how sweet he is on MC, but also about how much he’s truly living again for the first time. His defenses are slowly inching their way down, he’s letting himself hope and want things and look forward to things again. The thing about being a responsible person is that–while responsibility is all well and good–sometimes you become so mired in doing the right thing and planning the most optimal outcomes that you just aren’t thinking of yourself anymore. That is, if you ever were to begin with. He went from the careful cultivation of a life as an aristocrat, to a life that spoke of more freedom and fun beyond those iron wrought gates, before he returned to the structure of what he knew. Freedom speaks to him I’m sure–we all need it in some measure to survive. But I do think a good portion of that was unfulfilling for him after a point. It was only feeding the void that was beginning to form inside him. He was instinctively retreating into himself to avoid pain, and in doing that the only result was feeling like a coward and a fake. He wasn’t happy, he wasn’t able to be himself, and nothing was fulfilling–every single day just another forward march. 

I think it comes as no surprise he took up Vlad’s initial invitation so willingly. 

But then I digress, back to the story. There’s another timeskip and it finds him racing down the hall of the mansion. He’s hoping to make it in time but knows he’s racing against the clock, and fully expects MC to be asleep by this point in the night. Midway along his path he thinks he spots MC and falters in his step, blinking. He decides to hang back, watching the figure enter his room with a great deal of curiosity and resists every urge to burst in after her. He hears MC speak into his pillow, her voice muffled but clearly despondent: “I miss you, Comte. I hope you get back home soon…” 

Comte pretty much dies right there. I literally have no better explanation for it. He freezes, his heart sputters and stops. He’s just completely taken aback. 

And then, naturally, he goes about feral with desire as is his modus operandi: “Oho, I heard something incredibly cute just now. Were you also having a hard time spending so long apart?”

MC: “…!”

[Startled, she turns around and her eyes widen and widen.]

MC: “Comte, how...”

Comte: “Took a detour in areas with less rain.”

MC: “?? Wouldn’t that still be hard in weather like this?”

Comte: “I told the coachman I wanted to see you as soon as possible. Even if it was only for a second, I wanted to spend today with you…”

[Everything I was thinking while in the carriage spills out of me long before I can help it. I am reminded again of just how utterly irreplaceable an existence MC is in my life.]

Comte: “Even so, it seems interesting that I would find you in my bed”

MC: “...! A--Ah, I’m so sorry for entering without permission!”

[I quickly grab hold of her before she can scramble out of my bed, coaxing her to sink back into the sheets.]

In between a lot of intense making out and [redacted], the larger overtone is that her reciprocated ardor just destroys him inside:

MC: “It was...because I couldn’t stop thinking about you, about wanting to see you…”

Comte: “!”

[You know just how to drive me mad with desire.]

Comte: “I’m the same...the first thing I did was look for you. Even though it was only a few days, your voice, your body, everything...I missed you”

[Because today, our ‘now’--I never want to lose a single moment with you as long as you’re by my side...]

Comte: “I’m so happy to be able to be with you, right here and right now.”

It gets funny too because Comte is trying to take it slow, but when she tells him “Happy birthday” and goes on to say she was so glad to greet the day he was brought into the world by his side, he just loses all control LMFAO. It ends with them getting more heated and [redacted], to the point where he doesn’t even hear the clock strike midnight. 

And if him being the cutest and sexiest romantic wasn’t obvious enough, he spends the next morning just sighing blissfully with her in his arms:

[The next morning, when I wake up, MC is still fast asleep. I mean, given she only fell asleep a few hours ago. I’m still reveling in the afterglow of a sweet night filled with her cries, the way she looked at me and held me. MC...]

[I relax to the sound of her breathing steady with sleep, stroking gently at her hair as I hug her from behind.]

Comte: “I’ve had countless birthdays. In an endless life, I was convinced it was just a day that would come and go every time.”

Comte: “It was only after meeting you that I could understand there was no such thing as an overlapping or identical moment. I don’t want to miss a single second by your side...that’s what I think now.”

[I admit the truth of my heart, brushing a kiss against her cheek. Over and over and over again, showering her in my affection--]

But dun dun dun!!! MC was awake the whole time, so when she fidgets a little at how ticklish his kisses are, he 👁

[Oh, I see. Well then, two can play at that game...]

Comte: “Your punishment is to stay in my arms just as we are...how’s that?”

He gets his mischievous (and hilarious) revenge for being revealed (HORNY TIME), though it’s so suffused with love it’s hard to call it revenge hahaha. She reminds him to go easy on her because they have his birthday party to attend later, and he agrees~

Honestly after such killer hurt/comfort spice fluff, I can only tremble at the thought of what his 5th year bday story will be

It’s either going to be Some Angst^TM or even more killer fluff, and either way that means my days are numbered

#ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp comte #ikevamp saint germain #ikevamp jpn spoilers #ikevamp leonardo #the way this man makes me have So Many Thoughts #every time i remember this story i just go dreamy-eyed #hes an absolute romantic and i die head empty only love comte #not incorrect quotes #rambles #fangdad propaganda #comte propaganda

[sansxfuckyou]

Built for survival, not domestication

Months had passed since I found Phantom huddled up in a pile of leaves and twigs out in the woods, he was broken.

When he was first brought home, still knocked out, he freaked when he first opened his eyes to carpeted ground and people looking at him from above. He hid in crawl spaces and all sorts of small spaces, acting like a stray dog that had been abused before being thrown to the street.

Of course, he still is jumpy around people, but he's gotten better. I do hope we don't lose him if we go camping again, he was lost for weeks, found him feasting on an elks carcass, coated in wounds and blood with a smile on his face.

"Hey Danny..." Phantom called out to me, staring intently out the window.

"Yeah?" I asked before walking over and taking a seat next to him.

"How come you didn't leave me to die?" Phantom asked me, I tensed up, a proper answer for a question like that is hard to form.

"I never thought about that before," I answered with sighing a little. "I guess that when I saw you broken down, just barely stable in a pile of brush, I knew I had to save you, I couldn't help doing so, I needed to." I explained, the memory was blurred due to saving him having happened years ago, but I can still vaguely recall what I felt.

"That's all?" Phantom asked. "No side motives? No craving for my hide? No need to dissect me? No hopes of stealing my powers? None of that?" He asked voice beginning to waver.

"Course not, I just had to save you, a gut feeling," I said. "I thought about leaving you to die, but couldn't, I can't think of a better way to explain what made me save you, but for now, that's what I got."

"Thanks, feels good to know you aren't going to end up like Vlad." Phantom said bitterly as tears began to well up in his green eyes at the memories that flashed through his head, he never did tell me about Vlad, only mentioning his name.

"I would never do anything cruel to you, besides, I like to try and keep people I care about safe." I said wrapping an arm around Phantoms shoulders as a few tears began to fall.

"So many tests... No wonder I'm built for survival, not domestication." Phantom muttered under his breath as he wrapped his arms around my torso, burying his face in the crook of my neck.

"Don't worry, he can't hurt you now..." I said softly rubbing his back, he's broken down before, but never spilt anything about Vlad.

"I can still feel the blades digging into me when I lose focus.

"I can still hear the grinding of gears when everyone else hears silence.

"I can still taste the sludge when everyone else tastes food.

"I can still see the gaping, bloody gashes he cut into me when everyone else sees scars.

"I don't want to remember what he did..." Phantom whimpered out, the green tinted tears soaking my shirt and his face sprinkled in green due to ectoplasm rushing across his body as he tried to pull in enough air through sobs.

"Don't worry, I will always be at your side with a pack of bandages and a bottle of water, or whatever you need when the time comes." I said, like Jazz once told me, the answer to negativity is warmth.

"I know... I just want to g-give up, I don't even know why I keep going." phantom sobbed out through hiccups, his grip on my shirt tightening, his nails most likely tearing the fabric a bit.

"I know, just remember I always have a shoulder to cry on." I told him, rubbing circles on his back to try and comfort him as he stumbled over his words.

"P-promise that you'll try to never leave me until you have to." Phantom managed to get out.

"I promise that I'll always be here for you, through thick and thin."

#danny fenton #danny phantom #pitch pearl #phanfiction #phanfic #drabble #writing #fanfic #fanfiction #tw animal abuse mention #tw blood #vlad plasmius #tw flashbacks #tw tears #tw crying #tw ptsd #tw trauma #tw abuse

[meirimerens]

You made me start to ship peterstakh so you’re basically the ceo of peterstakh tbh. Your art of them is so good it lives in my brain rent free. Do you know/remember if they ever interact or talk abt one another in any of the routes??

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST!

now look at me. listen to me. i'm going to put you on in a secret. i do not remember a single instance of them talking about each other. and you know how little i care? the #realones of this blog will remember the time i extensively drew The Evil Within fanart. now, there's this ship nicknamed "mobiusshipping" or "julitati", right. my mobile header still has i think a screenshot of an anon i got telling me "you're the goddess of mobiusshipping" which by GOD i was. you want a secret? these women do not interact in any of the games. we learn they're colleagues in the DLC. we learn they're colleagues, we can assume they bumped into each other but we can't be sure, and y'know what? i have drawn them kissing extensively. i have written (never published because i lost my brain en route) about what they would share together. i Was the goddess of drawing these two women, who haven't shared a word, kissing. and goddess willing i will become it again.

peter and stakh? at least we can imagine they could discuss once. i go with NOTHING but vibes for them i really do. my two types of favored ships are "it makes so much sense" and "makes no damn sense. compels me tho" and peterstakh fits in that second category. now. if you want to know what's the #lore i give them, here it is:

one of the games has lines about vlad jr and rubin being friends. since at heart i am a bit of a vladrey truther, i like to imagine rubin and peter would have a first vague meeting from that.

i like to think about artemy telling rubin "hey... work with me bro... can you check on that drunk guy and make sure he doesn't defenestrate himself." rubin being like "i'm not your assistant" "come on please" "FINE" and when he goes to check on Peter... cue that one "he makes me feel so normal" drawing i did [here] . they hang out.

they start liking to hang out because rubin can vent his problems to someone who's far removed from his earthy inheritance menkhu boddho problems and who doesn't judge. he can say whatever he wants and peter is like (hums and nods). rubin also like the fact that what he hears from this guy is so fucking Out There it makes his problems feel deeply solvable in comparison. and peter likes hanging out with him because he can say the most outlandish psychotic (as in: suffering from psychosis) shit and rubin doesn't look at him like he's a maniac (even though he thinks it, but he understands it's because it is so removed from his own reality). peter also likes his company because he's like nice and a reassuring presence, very grounded to make up for how un-grounded he is. rubin needs a bit of time to Adjust to how absolutely baffling of a person peter is, but he's So Different and such a change of pace from his usual life he keeps coming back well after artemy's told him "dude i think he'lI be fine you don't have to check on him every evening".

ALSO in my brain rubin is not out as gay to artemy because he's been away for 7 years so at this point are they even friends still (/j) but since everybody knows the twins are bi he can be open about that to peter, whose complete removal from rubin's friend group allows them to like. share boy troubles. (until they become each other's boy troubles 😳)

tldr: NO! JUST PURE VIBES!!!

#don't think about it with your brain! think about it with your heart!! that's how you get into heaven 🏄 #neigh (blabbers) #ring ring (answers) #anonymous #peterstakh lore

[galactic-aesir]

Unpopular opinion probably but I don’t like Obsessions? It can make for some interesting writing and conflict for sure but I just don’t like how it robs the characters of agency? Like, Danny with a Protection Obsession: he is compelled to protect rather than choosing to. And it just strikes me as way less heroic since Danny really isn’t choosing between having a normal life vs saving people. He’s not given a choice, he has to.

Instead, I like to think about ghosts having uhhhh let’s call them anchors for now? Anchors are a condition or series of events that need to happen for a ghost to be willing to move on. Anchors are based on the last thought or emotion or regret that a person had while dying. Most ghosts don’t know exactly what their anchor is thought they might have a pretty good idea of it.

Danny for example, his last thought could have been “I’m just 14 I barely got a chance to live” or “I don’t want to leave my friends behind” or maybe both! So to properly move on he would need to fully live his life or wait until all his friends have passed on before moving on.

It’s possible for ghosts to have an anchor that’s difficult to achieve or even one that’s nearly impossible. But anchors are kind of vague and can get fulfilled in unexpected ways.

However, Obsession still exists (I’m not giving rid of it entirely!). Except it’s more like a state of mind or a ghostly mental illness. Obsession happens when a ghost wants to move on but doesn’t know how and just starts doing more and more drastic and irrational things to fulfil their anchor. This state is extremely dangerous because they can make it impossible for themselves to move on at all. You know in video games when you have, say, a quest to deliver something to someone but it turns out that you accidentally killed that NPC a while ago and now that quest is stuck and cannot be completed? Kind of like that. That said, Obsession can be fought against and staved off entirely with proper support and care.

And since I’m already on a roll, let me just ramble a bit more. Fettered ghosts are ghosts that still have their anchor to fulfill. Unfettered ghosts are ghosts who have either fulfilled their anchor and decided to stick around or because they found themselves an entirely new anchor. There are lots of reasons for this: finding a new ghostly family, conditions having changed, sowing more chaos in the world, or just cause. That said Unfettered ghosts, even with new anchors, have a much easier time to move on.

To give another example with Danny, if his anchor was “I don’t want to leave my friends behind” and Sam, Tucker and Jazz all became ghosts after their deaths then he’ll still stay with them even if his anchor was fulfilled. Or, if after they die, he still feels like he needs to protect Amity Park, then that’s a new anchor for him: “to only move on once Amity is safe”. Or if he’s King of All Ghosts and he’s like “aw, well, I can’t just leave now, I got responsibilities and stuff”. Lots of ways to go about it!

Most ghosts that attack Amity would be in a certain stage of Obsession and would be prime material for Jazz to do her ghost psychology thing and help them cope with it better and find better ways to try and fulfill themselves.

Box Ghost focused too much on boxes and forgot his previous life so give him a new purpose and family. Did Skulker wanted to be the greatest hunter known to man or did he just want respect? Ember wanted to be remembered but she won’t need to hypnotize or coerce people if she’s given a chance to publish her own album. Etc, etc, etc.

Listen, I’m a sucker for the Earn Your Happy Ending trope. I just want everyone to be okay and happy ;-;

And all this just makes it so much more tragic when a character: Pariah Dark, Vlad, Spectra, etc refuses to change or accept help for their Obsession and go too far. We do still like conflict here!

Anyway, this kind of got away from me. I’d like to use this in future fics but I dunno how hard it would be to implement? Since Obsessions are such a tried and true fanon (phanon?) concept that everyone sort of uses? I wouldn’t want to alienate my readers.

#Danny Phantom #Danny Phantom meta #meta #unpopular opinion maybe? #I just got some Thoughts about Ghosts #Is this #world building #? #my ramblings #Edit: gah shit gah fuck spelling is hard

[redrobin-detective]

Wanna hear another of baby Robin’s never written DP fic AUs? So when I was a freshman in high school and on the tail end of my first DP hyperfixation, I also became obsessed with the Indiana Jones trilogy (not to date myself but this was before that awful fourth movie). I had a pretty decent outline so here’s what I remember* (IE the bare bones are same and I uh tweaked it a bit)

So! It starts in an AU world where the ghosts attacked the human world and caused society to splinter a bit. Neither side won but they kind of aggressively co-exist, humans interacting in the Zone and ghosts haunting the real world. During the invasion, Jack, Maddie and Jazz were killed by one of the powerful ghosts who led the initial uprising, Plasmius. Danny had been young (I think I said 10) and had hid, watching his family be murdered, unable to do anything. It really affects Danny and he vows to find the ghost that killed his family.

Years later, Danny is in his late teens-possibly early twenties and he is an experienced ghost archeologist (I distinctly remember this title being in my notes lmao). He spends a lot of time researching ghosts and working with them, he’s as well known in the Zone as he is in the human world. He has many ghostly allies as he primarily seeks to understand ghosts and find a way for humans and ghosts to coexist but also not so secretly hunting Plasmius. His sponsor and basically foster parent is Vlad Masters, his parents’ former partner. He’s very encouraging of Danny’s pursuits and need to find the six fingered man Plasmius and often provide information.

The first arc would vaguely follow the plot of Raiders with Danny getting a tip about Plasmius seeking to open Pariah’s sarcophagus in order to gain the power to take the human world once and for all. Danny recruits Valerie to help him stop the ghost king from being unleashed. Val had trained under his parent as a hunter and she and Danny aren’t on the best of terms given how generally passive he is with ghosts. Uh middle bits, middle bits. The sarcophagus was opened but they managed to prevent the ghost king from awakening. Danny and Val part as friends and Danny gets his first look of Plasmius before he vanishes. It spurs him onward.

The second arc followed Temple of Doom as Danny ventured deeper than he’d gone before into the Ghost Zone. He finds the girl he’d crushed on in high school, Paulina, is working as something of an indentured servant in a Zone bar. Danny rescues her along with Danielle, a quirky girl living on her own within the Zone. Danny, Paulina and Dani get trapped by a ghost cult of uh some sort. Danny is suspicious of Dani who not only looks like him but has weird knowledge of both him and ghosts. They all escape, Danny risks his life to protect Dani despite her behavior. She reveals as thanks that she’s not really human, she’s a hybrid clone made using Danny’s DNA by Plasmius to throw Danny off his trail. She flees deeper into the Ghost Zone to escape both Danny and Plasmius leaving Danny wondering how the ghost got his hands on Danny’s DNA in the first place and why.

The third arc revolves around, you guessed it, the Last Crusade. Danny can feel himself getting closer and closer to Plasmius. He’s realizing that things about the ghost aren’t adding up entirely and that he has a special interest in Danny though he can’t figure out why. Masters, sensing Danny’s frustrations, finds another ghost archeologist, Samantha Manson. Danny and her click right away and make good progress. The existence of Danielle proves there can be a middle ground between human and ghost so Danny thinks Plasmius may be in that category and he may be closer than he thinks. Suddenly Danny is nervous of the people around him and for good reason. Sam ends up being another spy to lure Danny into a trap by Plasmius. He promised her access to so much ghost knowledge if only she led the boy along. She instantly regrets it and goes to get reinforcements to save Danny. 

Danny awakens in his parents’ old home, uninjured and confused. He soon discovers that Masters and Plasmius are one in the same, a human with ghost powers created by Jack and Maddie. The ghost who killed his family, who Danny has been hunting half his life, was also the man who gave him a home afterwards. The cruel irony infuriates Danny and he confronts Vlad. He asks why he spared Danny, why the charade? Vlad killed the Fentons in a rage when he learned they were trying to make a portal to the GZ (the same portal that half killed Vlad). He turned on humanity as part of his broader revenge and planned to use the Fenton Portal as a way to mobilize an army. To his fury, he learns that the Fenton portal was DNA activated. That’s when he discovers that he accidentally left one Fenton alive and takes Danny in. Only, somewhere along the way, Vlad comes to love Danny as a son and he’s afraid that activating the portal will hurt/kill Danny. Vlad made the clones to try and find a way to activate the portal without hurting Danny, Danielle was an attempt who fled before she could be killed.

Sam shows up about then with reinforcements, human and ghostly allies Danny has acquired over the years. Vlad is split between wanting to kill Danny for his interference and just, being unable to hurt his sorta son. Plasmius is too powerful and ghosts are wearing out being in the human realm, access to the Ghost Zone would help. Danny doesn’t really think, he just activates the portal and receives a massive shock of ectoplasm to his system. Danny Fenton steps in, Danny Phantom steps out. Vlad is devastated bc he felt Danny die and, deciding the battle isn’t worth it right now, retreats. Only Danny isn’t wholly dead instead a human/ghost like Vlad.

But yeah the story would have essentially ended once Danny became half-ghost with the implication that he would confront and stop his sorta foster father and put the Zone and earth back in order. Blah Blah something about Vlad being the human/ghost to throw the worlds out of whack and Danny, with his foot in both worlds even before his powers, being the one to help the worlds coexist.

#danny phantom #danny phantom au #I swear on 10 bibles the notes outline I had was called Dandiana Jones bc its an absolutely stupid name #honestly this idea was surprisingly interesting and well thought out for 14-15 year old me #I remember being really intrigued by the idea of Danny having ghostly adventures pre-powers #that getting his powers would be *the* end and he was acting as a sort of bridge long before he got them #also the fucked up relationship of Vlad & Danny good job past brain that one hurts #also just the idea of like ghost archeology (as stupid as that name is) #just danny understanding it was ONE ghost who hurt his family and using that anger to gain better clarity into ghost culture #pointedly refusing to be a *hunter* and instead keeping an open heart and mind #sometimes strange things happens when fixations converge

[burning-clutch]

If A Ghost Howls In A Forest…

cross posted to a03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30503925 Danny was hoping his time at a summer camp would be ghost-free, and well, of course not. When would things in his life ever NOT involve ghosts? At least he can hope to get some decent rest tonight, right? RIGHT? Warning: mild descriptions of death 

-.-.-.-.-

Prompt by: KC Summer Camps is not complete without a courage test of walking to the haunted woods at midnight. Amity Park campers are weirdly prepared for this. Other campers are not sure how to deal with that

-.-.-.-.-.-

“Why are we doing this?”

“It’s a sort of initiation type of thing.”

“But WHY?!”

“For the spooks?”

“I’ll get the lipstick…”

“Wait what?”

Danny sighed as he watched Tucker neander off back to their cabin to fetch the Fenton lipstick ray, ignoring the looks of confusion that was shot his way from the other campers that he didn’t know from school. Dash and Kwan had thankfully been, well, not assholes the WHOLE time they had been in the camp. Though to be fair, it had only been a day in this week long fun filled… whatever this was.

Apparently, while things seemed to start out well they were told around the evening campfire and cookout, (which was mostly just them poking hotdogs on sticks and trying not to burn themselves when they ate them,) they were told about a tradition about the new campers being lead up to spend a few hours on their first night on a midnight hike through the ‘haunted’ woods.

Danny was the first to groan hearing this followed by Tucker. Even Dash and Kwan looked unamused as well as the random soccer player that Danny vaguely recognized from school.

To say the councillors were confused by the amity park kids’ reactions would be selling the gambit of expression the councillors had. Teenagers being put in charge of slightly younger teenagers, yeah, nothing could go wrong here, nothing at all…

Tucker came back and tossed Danny a wrist ray while tucking the lipstick he had retrieved into his shirt pocket. A boy from some small farming town an hour’s drive from the camp shuddered. “Haunted Woods? How are you not worried about dark haunted woods? Ghosts are in there!” he exclaimed.

“Cuz it’s just ghosts right?” The Amity soccer player shrugged.

“Yeah, I mean the story they told us said that right? Those hikers that got hurt and died in the woods still haunt it to this day” Kwan supplied with a roll of his eyes. The jock wiggled his fingers doing a decent impression of the box ghost with an even more intimidating “OoooOOOoooOO”

“Yeah, unless they’re gonna be sporting some cool gore this will be lame,” Dash added with a yawn. “Pass.” Dash waved the councillor off before trying to turn and head off.

“Well, you don’t HAVE to go on the hike. But those who skip out will have to endure the punishment tomorrow. If you wanna peel hundreds of potatoes tomorrow morning at the ass crack of dawn you’re welcome to head back…. We’re also going to label you as a coward too so there’s that.”  One of the councillors says with a smug smile on their face.

“Has anyone ever seen anything like that?” A nervous looking twig of a boy asked, wringing his hands nervously.

“Oh I won’t say anything on that matter” The second councillor, Jeff says. At least Danny thinks he remembers the name as Jeff. He should probably learn that given this guy was in charge of the cabin he was staying in, “It’ll be better to leave it as a surprise.”

The first councillor, a jock looking guy, built like a brick house with thick shoulders and neck but a tiny waist and legs looking very much like he needed a few more rounds on leg day, eyed the Amity group with a look as though he were going to try to take scaring them as a challenge. Danny looked the guy over, raising a brow when their eyes locked.

Great, he and Tucker looked like an easy target. He knew that look all too well having spent plenty of time being bullied as well as with angry ghosts who underestimated him. More fun tonight will be had by all he was sure.

“Don’t worry We’ll make sure you’ll get some proper spooks.” the brick house says with what Danny assumed the other thought was an intimidating grin.

Dash snorted. “Fenton’s probably the only one who’ll get scared of the ghosts out there. He runs away from all of them back home.”

“Have you seen my parents? Get too close to a ghost and it picks up some contamination you know exactly what they’ll do!” Danny spat back with a glare of his own only barely managing to stop his eyes from glowing in his rapidly souring mood.

The other kids at the camp blink in confusion. “Wait… You guys are from that tourist town that goes way too far with the ghost theme right?” asked a pale kid with brown hair.

“Oh please, that’s just a gimmick” Answered another kid who crossed his arms in a huff.

“It’s not a gimmick dude, we even have our own superhero!” Kwan answered.

“Uh-huh. Well you’re superhero ain’t gonna save you from the ghosts out here”  Jeff shot back, crossing his arms. “Right, Tom?”

The brick house, Tom apparently nodded knowingly. “Yep, these ghosts are very dangerous and angry ya know..”

“So? It IS Monday,” Tucker offered flatly, earning a snort from the soccer player.

“Can we just… not do this?” A darker skinned nervous boy whined holding onto the arm of the brown haired kid reminding Danny of him and Tucker from two years ago before they got jaded from ghost attacks.

Kinda made him wonder what could have been…

“Nope we're going, so move,” Tom ordered taking up the place at the back of the line while Jeff took the place at the front.

Danny groaned. “Wonder if there will be any ghosts in there?” He wonders to tucker as they were all forced into a line for their ‘spooky’ hike.

“Maybe it’ll be one of Vlad’s abominations?” Tucker suggested.

“Honestly I wouldn't be surprised.” Danny sighed back with a frown. At least if it was a real ghost his ghost sense would alert him to the danger before they got too close.

They entered the treeline and started heading up a hill and towards the supposed site where the hikers had fallen and gotten trapped by a rock or something falling on them. Their legs were broken and crushed and stuck in place, they apparently died unable to get food or drink and unable to free themselves alone, and not able to scream loud enough for help. They still haunt this area… apparently.

Danny had to admit while the tragedy would be able to spawn a ghost but he also doubted there was one sentient around here if there was a ghost at all. He couldn’t sense very high ectoplasmic concentrations around here. Any ghosts that weren’t purely animalistic in nature wouldn’t last long out here without a boost of ecto-energy.

Which means if there was an animal ghost, that boost of energy could come from attacking humans or eating things as animals tend to do... Again attacking humans but instead of feasting on their emotions, well it’s just getting mauled.

More than anything it meant that if there was a malevolent ghost out there that they would have to be on their toes, and Tucker would have to run interference to make sure no one sees Phantom this far from Amity Park.

Well, at least none of the Amity park residents see Phantom this far from Amity.

As they walked up towards the crescent of the hill they noticed it was significantly colder, though it wasn’t a ghostly cold, at least those from Amity knew it wasn’t. The other kids though?

“Oh, man… Why is it so chilly?!” “You think that means the ghosts are close?” “No way man stop saying stupid stuff.”

“It’s probably the river,” Tucker said simply, pointing to the side where there was a winding stream just below the side of the hill. “The way the winds are blowing it’s cooling this area more.”

Danny smirked at his friend's explanation. It was a neat trick sure, but it wasn’t enough to scare the Amity kids. Frowning but not discouraged, the councillors led their troupe up and around towards a cave that was making a moaning noise every time the wind blew.

“They say this is where the hikers were killed, just at the mouth of this tunnel looking for shelter,” Tom says smirking, enjoying the shudders some of the younger teens were giving at the howls of the tunnel. “If you listen you can hear them screaming still.”

“The wind in the tunnel opening?” Kwan asked helpfully.

“No, it’s the howls of the damned.” Jeff encouraged

“And if you look close enough you can sometimes make out the glowing soul of their spirits,” Tom added ignoring the Amity jock.

“Oh neat! I didn’t know they had Panellus stipticus in this area!” The soccer jock said overly happily.

“Dude, when did you become a nerd.” Dash huffed out teasingly.

“I’m studying Bio to get into Uni for Mycology. Dude mushrooms are totally awesome.” Came the smug reply.

“You would know Kevin” Dash snapped back

“Moving on!” Tom called out before shooing the kids away. This was not going according to plan at all… Why are these Amity kids so prepared for this?! Well, hopefully, the next bit will get them…

As they round the cave towards a small rocky outcropping the councillors do their best to draw the younger teen’s attention towards the crevasse where there was supposedly still a shoe from one of the deceased hikers. “If y’all look hard enough you’ll find it I’m sure~,” Jeff told them.

Frowning the kids shined flashlights down into the ditch looking about before one kid called out, “I found a shoe!”

As they did several things happen at once. There was a roaring sound of pain before someone came bolting out of the woods with yellow and green glowing spots all over them. Tucker raised a brow but side-eyed Danny who shrugged.

The Amity kids watched in more confusion than fear as the ‘ghost’ ran out of the woods towards them and took a swipe at one of the youngest teens in their group. “So that’s your ghost? Lame.” Dash huffed out arms crossed. “It’s not even the right colours.” he added with a wave of his hand ignoring the screeching of some of the other kids who were clearly more startled by the ‘ghost’ than he was.

“So, can we go now?” Danny asked with a yawn as the ghost, or really one of the councillors with broken glow stick goo all over them came close to him with an ‘oooooOOOOoooo’

“You guys really didn’t even flinch?!” the ‘ghost complained.

“Oh hey, there you go now THAT looks more convincing.” Someone says just as Danny’s breath fogged a bit before his face.

The halfa looked to where his ghost sense had pointed him to see a big giant green drooling monster beast glaring at the humans towering over the majority of even the tallest in the group. “Yeah, that looks more like a ghost! How’d you do that?” The soccer player said, (Danny really needed to learn his name)

Tom and Jeff and the ‘ghost’ that was harassing Danny all yelp and take a few steps back while the non-Amity kids scrabble and scatter back the way they came.

“No he’s real,” Danny offers with a sigh of exasperation. “Here Cujo down!”

The beast barked and wagged its tail before shrinking down and giving a yip of delight before rushing over to Danny, legs never fully touching the ground as he flew over to the boy.

“Heel! Sit!” Danny calls out stopping the dog in its tracks before the beast could cover him in glowing green slobber.

Cujo did just that sitting practically on Danny’s feet and wiggling his tail so fast it made his butt jiggle back and forth in the effort. The teen sighed and scooped the wiggling beast up into his arms with little effort, mostly due to the fact that ghost dogs only weigh half of what their flesh and bone counterparts would.

“Figures Fent-freak would have a freaky ghost dog” Dash taunted crossing his arms though when Cujo growled, Dash’s smug smile fell.  

“Tha-That’s?” Jeff stammered out, pointing a shaking finger at the wiggling green bean in Danny’s hands.

“A typical Amity park ghost yeah,” Danny replied with a grin.  “So it's cool if we call this hike a night I’m kinda hoping to get some sleep, that’s kinda why I wanted to come here to catch up on that more than anything…” Danny admitted the last part a little quieter as he put Cujo back down.

The councillor nodded dumbly, moving back away from the teen and the ghost dog, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to bolt when Danny picked up a stick and threw it for Cujo to fetch.

“Awe man I think I stepped in Fen-turd’s dog’s invisible crap!” Dash complained as they all started moving back, Cujo yipping as he came back with the stick giving a snort at Dash before loyally following alongside Danny and phasing through trees as they walked.

Seeing this, Tom decided that it would be best if he hurried back to the cabins to get them ready for the new campers. Yes, That’s exactly what he’s doing…

“Dude you can’t seriously be thinking of keeping Cujo around here he’ll destroy the camp,” Tucker muttered to Danny watching the little pup chase its tail as he followed them.

“Eh, It’s not really fair to keep him in the thermos for the week. Besides I’m sure I can use this guy to get you that extra helping of bacon you wanted.” Danny bribed his friend.

Tucker’s eyes light up and he grins brightly “Cujo here boy! Come see the T-man!”

Danny rolled his eyes, but so long as that was the only ghost they encountered out here, he might actually have a decent week of sleep ahead of him.

He can only hope.

Besides, using Cujo as a threat to Dash sounded like as good a plan as any, and if the councillors were too scared to go near the ghost dog that they would let him sleep in, all the better for him.

Danny smirked, perhaps camp wouldn’t be so bad after all~

-.-.-.-.-.-

Complete Total:  2363

#phic phight 2021 #Danny Phantom #danny fenton #camp fun #Danny is done with ghosts #he just wants to sleep

[avaritia-apotheosis]

Phantom Children Ch.4

In Which: exposition for exposition's sake exists, and Vlad looks way more suspcious than he ought

| AO3 | Prologue | 3 | [4] | 5

VLADIMIR MASTERS. Human male in his mid-forties, and most notably the founder and CEO of VladCo, a billion-dollar industry that mostly specializes in manufacturing weapons and technology. Graduated summa cum laude from the University of Wisconsin despite having to drop out due to a lab accident in his second year, landing him in the hospital. Despite being based primarily in Wisconsin, he made an unexpected move to Amity Park Illinois shortly after reuniting with his college friends Drs. Madeline and Jack Fenton.

Not even a year later, Masters ran for mayor of Amity Park and won the election by a landslide. Suspicious, considering Masters being an unknown and the former mayor Montez being quite popular. It’s during Masters’ tenure in office that reports of ghost attacks to the Justice League steadily died down.

“Why?” Damian asked.

Barbara shrugged, pulling up a few files on the screen. “I originally had a theory that related to VladCo’s buyout of Axion Labs—a technological research and manufacturing company that’s mostly local to Amity—being a factor. Within the last couple of years, they had been experimenting with highly volatile chemicals with hallucinogenic properties. Amity had always been known for being extremely superstitious with its ghosts, and if Axion Labs had somehow accidentally released that chemical into the city, well…” She leaned back into her chair, hand twisting in the air. “You could bet how that ended up. The hysteria around ghosts only grew worse in the last two years, with suspected sightings from once every few weeks to multiple in a single day. Early attempts to capture sightings were unsuccessful, and soon enough Amity Park was just written off.”

Much like the mass hysteria surrounding the urban legend of the kuchisake-onna in Japan in the late 1970s, Bruce thought. He pulled up some news footage from Amity Park dated a few years back of citizens being interviewed about their ghostly encounters. Beside these videos were a few photos taken by a shaky camera, showing bright blurs of light streaking across the sky or vaguely humanoid shapes rising from the ground.

“So VladCo., bought out Axion Labs, improved its security, and slowly helped detoxify the town?” Damian shifted his weight onto his other leg and crossed his arms.

“That’s what I thought, but—”

“But the ghosts ended up being real.” Bruce pulled up a video of a field reporter-slash-weatherman taking cover as a figure dropped from the sky, breaking through the walls of a building. The figure—features distorted by an eerie glow—shot out of the rubble just in time before a green blast hit it.

Oracle enlarged other news footage with a few taps on her keyboard. Beings zooming through the air. Massive plants erupting from the ground. Technology coming to life. Each video more worrying than the last, and most showing some footage of a figure bathed in a white glow. “I’d be hard pressed to call any of these faked.”

It begged the question as to how Amity Park survived this long unscathed. Since, if he remembered correctly, even the Dark Leaguers tended to avoid Amity Park like the plague. “They have their own heroes, then?”

“Think along the lines of vigilantes with unofficial support.” A few more files popped up on screen. One showcased a female in a full-length black and red body suit on top of a hover board. The other was a male; young, perhaps a teenager, with white hair and a black and white suit. Hazmat? “The Red Huntress and the Phantom of Amity Park.”

“Partners?”

“More like enemies working on the same turf. Sources place Phantom as appearing first, though it seems Red Huntress has more government support in the end despite there being no official statement. They seem to be the most effective ghost hunters in town, though far from the only ones. The Fentons of Fenton Works are also acting as ghost hunters, though their track record of success leans more towards their anti-ghost tech than any hunting. The town’s even attracted visitors from the Ghost Investigation Ward; a side branch of Cadmus though a now defunct organization.”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Damian said. “If anything, this should be more than enough reason for a League intervention. Why the Justice League didn’t come sooner is the real question here.”

Bruce’s lips thinned. “That’s because we were warned off it.”

“What?”

While there was no rule against heroes entering another hero’s city, there were certain unspoken rules that demanded that JL members avoid claimed cities or stay just outside of city lines until given permission to enter. Some were especially strict about it such as Batman’s ‘no metas or outsiders’ rule. Others were more lenient, simply requesting a warning before entering.

Amity Park, despite having no listed heroes in the database, was marked with heavy ‘Do Not Interact’ warnings for humans and metas alike.

“Justice League Dark said that under no circumstances should the League interfere in Amity. The situation was never explicitly laid out for us except to say that everything was being handled.”

“Oh yeah,” Oracle chimed. “Constantine even had it bolded, underlined, italicized, and in all caps. The occult community was very clear about everyone staying away—and apparently this decision had support from Amity Park too.” She pulled up another document. “That’s probably what led to the decline in their ghost reports, actually. Amity’s claims were considered bogus and brushed aside. No one outside their town—not even their sister town of Elmerton—believed them, so they simply stopped asking for help.”

Strangely, it reminded Bruce of Gotham. Both cities existed in its own isolated sphere, unwilling to let any outsiders interfere in its business.

“It’s safe to assume, then, that whatever Ra’s al Ghul wants with Amity, it has to do with these ghosts. Do we have anyway to contact the town’s vigilantes?”

Oracle shook her head. “Ghost attacks within the past few months have slowly died down along with sightings of Phantom and Red Huntress. Your best bet is asking Masters directly.”

Damian glowered. “Masters blatantly sent out an invitation for Batman to my father. How do we know that Masters hasn’t somehow found our secret identities?”

“Unlikely,” Bruce said. “Vlad Masters, despite his wealth, has done well to keep a low profile. He’s met Bruce Wayne a total of three times within the last decade and Batman not at all.” That, and with the kind of spyware Batman has, he’d be able to tell when, where, and who was trying to dig deep into Batman’s past. Masters hadn’t even registered as a ping.

“Besides, there’s always a few rumors of Wayne Enterprise’s involvement with Batman. All this tech has to come from somewhere, no?”

“How long is Masters staying in Gotham?”

“Umm…” Oracle leaned forward in her chain and flipped through a half-dozen windows. “Going by his reservations at the Gotham Royal Hotel, he’s leaving tomorrow.”

Bruce pivoted on his heel, heading deeper into the Cave. “We better make this count, then.”

------

According to Oracle’s intel, Vlad Masters was staying at one of the executive suites in the Gotham Royal Hotel. A titanic structure with forty-eight floors, two towers, and the gothic aesthetic that never seemed to leave Gotham’s architecture.

Scaling the building as well as entering the suite proved no challenge for Batman and Robin. But upon entrance, it was abundantly clear that the room was vacant.

“Are you sure you guys are in the right room?” Bruce could hear the clicking of Oracle’s keys through their comms. “Masters had reserved the suite on the west tower.”

“Yes we’re in the correct room, Gordon,” Robin hissed.

“Codenames only, Robin.”

Robin clicked his tongue, sweeping the common room for any hidden bugs or cameras as Batman scouted out the rest of the room. The bed was made to hotel standard and the bathroom towels all completely replaced. There were no clothes in the hotel closet or dresser.

The only thing left that indicated occupancy of the room was an unmarked manila envelope unsubtly tucked within a pillowcase.

Robin tensed at the sight of it. “A detonator of some sort?”

Batman rotated the package, holding it up to his scanner. “Doesn’t seem to be. Regardless, it might be better to take it back to the Batcave and locate Masters ag—” The envelope started ringing. A standard ringtone found in most phones. Quickly, but carefully, Batman opened the manila envelope and dumped its contents onto the bed. A ringing burner phone and a flash drive came tumbling out.

Batman threw the flash drive at Robin before answering the phone, holding it up against his ear but saying nothing.

Silence. Then, Masters’ voice filtered in through the phone with a strange echo-like quality. “Good evening, Batman! I’m so glad my invitation managed to get passed along.”

Batman growled into the speaker, “What do you want, Masters?” He signaled Robin to do another sweep of the room for any signs of Masters they might have missed.

“I sincerely apologize for not being there to meet you myself; incredibly rude of me, I know. But it cannot be helped, the shadows are growing ever bolder.”

“So, you are aware then, of the League of Assassins’ presence in Amity Park?”

“A league of assassins? What a terrifying notion that is.” Batman frowned. It was unlikely that they had misread his words at the gala, so why was he acting unaware now? Could he be watched? “Why such a group would appear in my little town, I wouldn’t even dare to guess.”

Robin came back into the room and signaled back ‘negative.’

“Why did you call for us, Mayor Masters?”

“Do you know what is so very tragic, Batman?”

“This is strange,” Oracle said. “I can’t pick up his signal. He’s not appearing on any of my cameras, either.”

“When someone so young dies much to soon.” A pause. “Could you even imagine such a thing? A parent burying their own child.”

Batman could. He had no need to even imagine it because he lived it.

“Some very close friends of mine have been weighed down by the shadows of death and I require help in providing them the closure they need.”

“Are the Fentons the targets, then?”

Masters paused. Then let out a breathy laugh over the phone. “Oh, if only it were that simple.”

“So a different target.”

“Everything you need to know is in the flash drive I’ve enclosed in that envelope Whether you take up the case is entirely up to you—though I do hope you take it. Regardless, if he is not returned soon then I assure you that a disaster unlike any you have seen before will arrive.”

Batman narrowed his eyes. “Is that a threat, Masters?”

“No,” He laughed. “That was no threat. That was promise.”

The phone line disconnected just as Oracle exclaimed that she finally found Masters boarding his flight back to Amity Pak.

#danny phantom #batman #danny phantom x batman crossover #dp fic #phantom children.txt

[andydona-chan]

Monster

Read it at AO3!

Cursed. This was going to be affecting him his whole life, how was he supposed to continue on with this …curse that turned him into a monster!

Vlad was pissed, so angry, and at the same time so sad… It all had been Jack’s fault, the fool must have done something wrong and then… the ecto-acne was something doctors had never seen before, it was affecting him in ways he couldn’t explain.  Well, at least he had avoided any doctors from seeing what he had become. Jack and Maddie never visited, but it was okay, he wouldn’t have left them, he couldn’t stand talking with Jack and blaming him for everything, and he wouldn’t allow Maddie to pity him.

As he looked at his reflection in the mirror and watched how his blue-tinted skin gave him an ethereal look, the red eyes kind of affected the look, he looked like a monster, now the fangs gave him stile, but it was still unbearable to see, he hated it, but he hated more to admit that it was his own reflection.

As time went by, he had isolated himself from other people, claiming he was studying, that his illness had kept him from other people, vaguely he remembered being invited to Jack and Maddie’s wedding, he had thrown the invite to the fire without opening it. He had better things to do, a better life to get, these things were nothing but a distraction.

He had tried to accept his cursed form, but it wasn’t really one that he wanted to use or see, it had certain benefits, like the ability to fly and become invisible and intangible, he had also managed to overshadow people, at first by accident but after some time, he had managed to make them do what he wanted, what he needed. He could be cursed, but if anything, he deserved to live a nice life at least, the best he could in order to compensate for the one he had lost after Jack ruined it.

But he still felt bad, for doing those things, for being dishonest, he wished he had just died that day instead of having to deal with this. Not only had he been unable to return to college after he could leave the hospital, but not many people also wanted to hire him either cause of his limited knowledge or because of his condition, they feared it was still active and it could be contagious; the jobs he did get usually fired him after some time, either he caused some sort of accident or he disappeared more than usual.

After a lot of experimentation, he had managed to finally get to the higher spheres and had got acquainted with the important people, making use of his speech abilities to get the trust and fake image he wanted them to accept, making sure to control those who could help him go where he needed to and learning what kind of things were necessary to prevent lawyers or loopholes to keep him away from what he needed.

One time, things had got out of control, the person he was trying to overshadow had almost completed the paperwork they needed, he had kept him as a trusted friend and managed to be updated on the process, what he hadn’t counted on was that the man was interested in the occult, he had crystals and other kinds of devices, most of them to sense weird entities, when he had accessed the house, he had found that the man even had an Ouija board, and as usual, his pets, a cat and a dog.

It was the latter that caused a problem, he knew animals were supposed to be sensible, but he had never been able to prove it, so when he entered the house only to be received by loud barking, he almost stopped, almost.

Thinking that the animal wouldn’t be too much of a problem while he remained intangible, he continued, the cat also saw him, but the feline remained in his place, only following him with his eyes, he just wanted to make the necessary changes to the last document needed, he had to make sure it contained the correct words so he could become a billionaire once and for all.

But the dog followed him, barking all the time and alerting his victim, he tried scaring him, making odd faces, and even tried to fake throwing a ball to distract it, but nothing was working, and now the man was asking the dog what he was barking at, moving around the room to get some kind of device, like a recorder, it took a minute for him to notice it was an EMF detector, he knew for sure it was going to pick up something in his general direction, he had to destroy it, but how?

Unable to contain his stress he noticed one of his hands had got a pink glow to it, thinking it was something he could control he pointed his hand towards the artifact, what he wasn’t expecting was a ray of pink light to be shot from his hand and hit it. The man yelped and let go of the device, his hand bleeding where the ray had hit, the dog was barking louder this time, getting in front of his master and growling at him from time to time.

This was getting out of control, he didn’t want this, it was the curse that was now getting too far, but the dog kept barking and the man was now trying to retrieve the device with his other hand, instinct took over and Vlad found himself shooting first the dog and then the man again, he was just trying to stop him, but either the rays he was shooting were really powerful or he had luck on hitting a soft spot, suddenly the dog was whining on the floor, bleeding from one of his sides, and the man had also fallen, clutching at his chest and trying to breathe.

What had he done? It wasn't time to think about it, years of being left out and unimportant made him grow bitter, it wasn't the time to stop and think, it was time to act.

The cat entered the room and hissed at him, but Vlad wasn’t going to stop anymore, he flew down and overshadowed the man, he made him stand up and access his files, looked for the document, it was what was important, later he would call emergencies and mention he had tried to call him but got no response, right now, he needed to use his time wisely, it was all that mattered.

He could feel the man’s body starting to give up, so he modified the document and made the man sign the paper, making sure no blood remained or stained the paper, and left it on the desk, a moment later making sure to clean up the place and leave everything looking like it was some sort of accident, guilt was eating him up, but he left, floating for a moment above the house and leaving.

A week later people were congratulating him on being the one to keep the company and prevent a major loss to the industry, he was cursed and he had killed someone because of it, but in the end, he had got what he wanted, no one knew and he wasn’t going to regret this, he was a monster and if things were going to be like this, then it was best if he stopped thinking like a lame teenager, now the next step, not worth to duel on the past, he had a football team to buy…

#Danny Phantom #phan phic #Vlad Masters #ectober2021 #ectober #ectoberhaunt #ectoberhaunt 2021 #ectober month 2021 #ectober month #jack fenton #maddie fenton #curse #ectober trick #day15