#i couldnt find where the Fucking lids were. ended up they were buried under a bunch of other stuff.

[orcelito]

Honestly why am I fucking Like This

#speculation nation #im still overcompensating i know #i got the everliving shit scared outta me and had one of the most humiliating days of my life #and ive been working so hard on being Useful that i have been. putting in a Lot of extra hours... #i didnt Have to do all of this today. i stayed late to do it. 1.5 hours of active lifting the Entire Time #plus some work with counting and general managerial stuff #so that i stayed 2 hours and 20 mins over my 5 hour shift #and im just like. in the moment i was just so bothered by how disorganized everything was #i couldnt find where the Fucking lids were. ended up they were buried under a bunch of other stuff. #so i dug them out. reorganized. did a Ton of lifting. #like... uhmmm. 9 large boxes 7 regular boxes 4 straws 10 sippy lids and 31 dome lids #boxes. all boxes. #oh yeah and 8 paper bag boxes. plus general rearranging. #none of the lids were in one place and all the cups boxes were on top of the other boxes #so i had to pull them out to dig things out then put them back in #the good news is the lids boxes were pretty light. cup boxes not so much. #but thats still. kind of an insane number when i think about it. #i didnt NEED to do this. but i did anyways. because im a neurotic prey animal working desperately to keep the anger away from me #wahoooooo #it's... fine. it feels good to be productive. im just feeling... a bit fed up with myself. #my hip has already been bothering me today bc there always has to be Something wrong with my body #and then i went and did This. who knows what fucking unpleasant side effects this is gonna have on me. #sore muscles probably. maybe bruises. and MAYBE ill fuck my back or ankles up again. or make my hip worse. or #whatever. #it's fine. i'll be fine. im gonna go home and eat dinner and... chill. im gonna chill. #just. ugh. #but im clocked out at least. and i have tomorrow off. i'll make sure it's a good one.

[ghostsray]

Wes Fucking Dies

[originally i wrote this fic for phandom bingo week (using the prompts Someone dies + Wes Weston + Identity Reveal) but then i spent so long on it that the week ended so uh...here, just take it]

word count: 4,655

____

Skulker had a new toy, and of course, Danny had to find out the hard way. Why couldn't Skulker ever invite him to his lair, show him his gadgets, and say "look, I made a new invention!" instead of using it on him on the field?

He narrowly avoided a missile which hit the floor, missing him by inches. The half-ghost grinned up at Skulker, who was looking down at him from the sky. "Really, Skulker," he chided, "you could have sent a letter instead of missing me so much."

Skulker scowled and aimed another shot at Danny. As cocky as he sounded, Danny could feel his body getting exhausted. He had been dodging Skulker's attacks for the past half hour, and if he kept this up much longer, he might run out of energy and turn back into his human form. Here's to hoping that didn't happen.

He flew away just in time to avoid another missile, and this time, it hit a building behind him. The impact sent debris crumbling down toward...oh shit is that a person?

Danny sprinted toward the citizen and picked him up before the rubble could crush him. He let out a sigh of relief as they both made it out unharmed. Well, until he looked down and saw who he was carrying.

"I could have saved myself, Fenton," Wes Weston grumbled in his arms.

Danny's eye twitched, and he considered dropping Wes right then and there. He had to remind himself that he was supposed to be a hero, and heroes didn't drop citizens out of the sky. So, he waited until they reached the ground before setting the redhead down.

"Wes," he began, "what were you doing standing under that building? You know that areas where ghost fights happen are dangerous to be in."

"You just say that because you don't want anyone to see you," Wes spat back. "I know your energy is depleting. I know you'll transform into a human when it's gone. And I'll get the evidence when you do."

Deep breaths, Danny. After taking a deep inhale then letting it out, the hero glared at Wes and spoke, "I'm serious. I know you're obsessed with exposing me or something, but you really need to stay away or you'll get hurt." He looked down at Wes's hand and saw him holding a camera, so he snatched it from him and added, "I'll take this, thank you very much."

Wes simply reached into his pocket and pulled out another camera. Of course he had a backup. Danny rolled his eyes and, after destroying the camera he took, sprang back into the air. He headed back toward Skulker, but not before shouting to Wes, "Seriously, stay back!"

Danny flew into battle, his fists ablaze with ectoplasm. Ectoblasts were shot from his hands at Skulker, but it seemed that the ghost had built a new shield into his metallic suit because all of them were deflected. Once Danny got too close, the robotic hunter punched him, and the halfa slammed against the concrete wall of a building.

He groaned and peeled himself off the cracked wall. When he looked up, he saw Skulker smirking at him. Danny bit his lip. He knew continuing to fight this way won't work... He had to pull out his emergencies attack.

His eyes made a quick scan across the street, but he wasn't that attentive about it. After all, he had already made sure that everyone left the scene when the brawl started. Hopefully, Wes listened to him and did too. There was no one around but him and Skulker.

He floated down to the road and planted his feet firmly on the asphalt. He faced Skulker, took a deep breath, and let out a bloodcurdling scream. That scream transformed into ectoplasmic energy that tore down everything in its path. Skulker was caught in the attack, his body thrown against a building before he could become intanngible. As the wail died down, Danny swiftly whipped out a thermos and trapped the ghost in.

As soon as the lid was on the thermos, he fell to his knees. The exertion finally reached him, and he felt all the energy being sucked from his body. He let the transformation rings run through him as his body went from ghost to human. The wind blew against his human skin--but not before he heard a click.

He turned around and saw...goddamnit. "Wes?"

Wes lowered the camera from his face to reveal a smug grin. Before Danny could say anything, he turned and sprinted.

Danny tried to get up and cursed when he fell back down. Why did fighting ghosts have to be so draining? He glared as the other boy fled from him--and then his eyes widened.

"Watch out!" Danny shouted.

Wes paused just long enough to look at him. The only problem was that he stopped right under the building Skulker had earlier been slammed against. The building that was severely cracked and about to collapse.

Danny pushed himself to his feet despite his body's complaints. He summoned the last vestiges of ghost energy he had to transform himself into a ghost and kicked into flight. He reached out, going as fast as he could to reach Wes before the rubble could crush him.

He was too late.

The last thing he saw was Wes's green eyes staring into his own before he was buried under the building.

"No!" he screamed. He reached the pile of crushed concrete where Wes once stood. It didnt matter if his body screamed at him to rest; he gathered all his supernatural strength and lifted the rubble out of the way. Wes can't be dead. He can't be. If he moved all this rubble away, then surely he'd find him injured but alive, and then he can take him to a hospital and--

His body froze at the sight he had unburied. If he weren't in ghost form at that moment, he was certain he would have vomited. He clamped a hand over his mouth and sunk to the ground, unable to take his eyes away.

There was no way Wes survived, and Danny didn't need to check his pulse to know. After all, the boy was nothing more than a pie of blood on the ground. Danny's form shook, and he couldnt stop the tears leaking out of his eyes. If only he made sure that Wes had left before he used his wail. If only he didn't make him stop underneath the falling building. If only he hadn't reverted to human before he could save him.

If only, if only. None of that changed what really happened.

Wes was dead. And it was Danny's fault.

____

Walter closed the door behind him as he entered the apartment. It was late at night; he had to stay at work to do some extra accounting. He was about to take off his coat, but an unusual cold that permeated the room made him keep it on.

He thought he heard someone in the living room, and his muscles tensed. "Wes?" he called out. No reply came.

He cautiously stepped into the room, and the person came into view. A glowing person sitting on air. He recognized those white hair and green eyes...wasn't he the ghost Wes was obsessed with?

Something was wrong. The ghost looked terrible, both physically and emotionally. But the physical injuries weren't unusual; he did fight enemies daily, after all. No--what made Walter's blood freeze was the intense grief on the phantom's face, evident in puffy eyebags and glossy eyes. And he was looking directly at Walter.

Before Walter could ask what was wrong, he said in a voice so soft he almost didn't hear him, "Your son died."

It felt like the whole world dropped beneath his feet. "What?" he asked, because he had to have heard that wrong, right?

"Wes died," the ghost repeated, his voice one decibel away from a sob. "I couldn't save him."

This couldn't be real. It had to be a dream. It certainly felt like one.

Phantom gave him one last, sad gaze and said, "I'm sorry." Then he vanished.

For a long moment, Walter stood there, trying to process what has been said to him. Once he did, he scrambled to grab his phone and quickly dialed Wes. The phone rang. No one picked up. He tried again, and again and again. But Wes never answered.

Wes was...

No. It couldn't be true. He didn't want to believe it...but he knew Phantom was telling the truth.

He let the phone slip through his fingers, then he buried his face in his hands and mourned his only family.

____

Everyone was shocked when they learned about Wes's passing. The pain was made more apparent when they went to school and realized just how much difference his absence made. The halls were too quiet, the classrooms too peaceful without Wes's crazy blabbering. No one thought they would miss hearing him ramble about conspiracy theories, but then again, you never know when you'd miss something until after it's gone.

Danny's enhanced senses let him pick up whispers around him, and everywhere he went in the school, people were talking to each other in hushed whispers, asking Is it true? Is that Weston kid really dead?

He wished he could shut his ears and forget all about Wes. But everytime he closed his eyes, he saw Wes's bloody, squashed remains, and he had to swallow down bile that rose in his throat.

"It's not your fault."

Danny opened his eyes to see Tucker standing in front of him. He held a look in his eyes that seemed an awful lot like pity. Danny looked down and clenched his hands into fists. "I could have saved him," he insisted.

"You did what you could," Sam said, walking from behind him to stand next to Tucker. "He was the one who stayed around despite your warnings." She tried to say it with confidence, but Danny heard the falter in her voice. Not even she could accept Wes's death without shock.

Danny was quiet. He closed his eyes, but then that sickening image appeared again, so he opened them and sighed. "I just...need some time alone."

He waited for them to leave. A part of him expected them to stay and argue, but it seemed they could tell that he needed space. Sam reminded him that they were there for him, Tucker agreed and added that he could talk to them whenever, and Danny simply nodded wordlessly until his friends turned and left.

He stood in the hallway, leaning against the lockers, until everyone else was gone and he was alone. No matter how much he told himself to go to class, he felt a weight dragging him down and preventing him from doing anything productive. He just wished he could curl on the floor and stay there until the day was done.

Eventually, though, he managed to get his body to walk. He dragged his feet step after step down the hallway, trying to remember which class he was supposed to attend this hour. He made it past a few lockers when his ghost sense was triggered.

As soon as the mist escaped his mouth, his body tensed, and he whipped around in place, trying to spot whichever ghost he was alerted to. He couldn't find anything. While his eyes scanned the hallway, he suddenly heard a click. He turned around and didn't spot anything unusual at first--but then he looked down and found a polaroid photograph on the floor which wasn't there before.

Danny narrowed his eys. He bent down to pick up the photo and studied it. It was...a picture of him. Caught in the middle of a transformation between ghost and human. He was kneeling on the ground, looking tired and haggard in his ghost form. Two rings of light surrounded his midriff, revealing the human clothes underneath his ghost jumpsuit.

Danny's blood turned to ice. He recognized the background of this photo. It was the same street he fought in yesterday. The same one where Wes--

The lights flickered. Danny's eyes snapped away from the photo. He could sense the ghost nearby.

Danny focused the ectoplasm from his body into his eyes. They lit up green, and the world around him changed colors. Everything was blanketed in shades of teal and purple--the colors he saw as a ghost. There, in the middle of the hallway, he saw the outline of a humanoid specter.

The air left Danny's lungs. He recognized that outline. Paired with the photograph... it had to be him. "Wes?" he called out hesitantly.

The ghost came into view, and now it was unmistakable. Even though the eyes that were staring at him were red instead of green, and the skin green instead of pink, Danny was certain that it was him. He had the same messy hair and wore the same basketball shirt.

It was Wes, back as a ghost.

Danny's heart jump in elation. Wes was back! He had an apology on the tip of his tongue, ready to spill so many things he thought he would never get to say to him. But then he stopped at the sight of Wes's expression. He didn't appear to share the same joy Danny felt.

In fact, his face held what could only be described as rage.

"Phantom," Wes growled. Even though he had the same voice, it made Danny's blood run cold in a way it never had when he was alive. Before the boy could blink, Wes lunged at him.

Danny yelped as he was tackled through a wall. Screams rose around him as they emerged in a filled classroom. He tried to convince himself that he did not hear something crack when Wes slammed him against the teacher's desk.

"Hey, let's talk this out!" Danny wheezed out, holding an arm out placatingly. But Wes was not placated.

The ghost that was once his classmate hovered over Danny with a growl. His eyes were glaringly red, his hair burned like fire, and his entire form shined with angry intensity. His hands curled into fists, and Danny rolled out of the way just in time before Wes sent a punch that smashed the entire table.

Danny pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the wincing pain throughout his human body. Behind him, he could hear the students talking loudly amongst themselves, the words "Wes" and "holy shit" sticking out a lot. Wes didn't seem to pay any attention to them; his eyes were focused on Danny.

"Come on, what do you want from me?" Danny pleaded. "I'm sure I can give it to you without fighting."

Wes paused in the middle of a swing. Honestly, Danny wasn't sure the ghost would listen to him, but he hesitated. Then his mouth split into a grin, revealing fangs that looked out of place on Wes's face. "Then transform," he said.

Danny froze.

He understood, now, why Wes was attacking him. He wanted him to fight back...as a ghost. But in a filled classroom, the others will see his transformation. He could feel their eyes boring into his back.

It made sense. Of course the conspiracy theorist would refuse to pass on just so he could reveal Danny.

He gulped. Well, there was always one option besides fighting...

Danny ran.

But of course, the angry ghost fighting him wouldnt let him escape. Wes grabbed a piece of wood from the broken table and threw it at Danny. His first thought was to turn intangible, but then he remembered about the many humans watching them, and he couldn't dodge fast enough to avoid the sharp splinter from grazing his arm. He gasped and gripped at the wound on his limb.

Cold claws clasped around his neck, and Danny was turned around to face Wes's burning eyes. The ghost's claws dug into his skin, enough to draw blood. Danny couldn't breathe. Wes was squeezing his throat, and Danny could see blackness creep into his vision. The halfa knew he couldn't escape without revealing his ghost powers, but if he didn't, he would die.

Suddenly, there was a thump. Danny's vision cleared just enough for him to see a book bounced off Wes's back. Wes whipped his head around to face...Danny couldn't believe it. Dash was standing behind his desk, an arm outstretched. Who would have thought the jock would help Danny?

As Wes growled, another book was flung at him from a different spot in the room. Danny didn't see who threw it that time, but soon more and more students rose up to protect him. A flurry of books, notebooks, and pencil cases flew across the room...not that any of it hurt Wes, since he simply turned intangible and let the objects fly through. They hit the wall behind him, and quite a few hit Danny, but at least there was one good thing resulting from this: Wes was intangible. Now was Danny's chance to phase his way out without raising questions.

He slipped through Wes's grip while the ghost was distracted. As soon as his feet hit the floor, he ran through the classroom door, ignoring the sting on his arm and his throat. His shoes flew across the floor as he sped down the hallway, his lungs gasping for air. There! The janitor's closet. He jumped inside, closed the door behind him, and swiftly transformed. Black became white, blue became green, and blood became ectoplasm. The pain dulled as soon as he became a ghost, and he felt ready now to take on Wes...at least, he was pretty sure he was. Maybe. Probably?

He still couldn't believe it. Sure, Wes was obsessed with him, but he would never willingly hurt him...but of course, that was before he became a ghost. Ghosts were driven by their obsessions. It didn't matter if anyone got hurt or not as long as their goal was achieved.

He shut his eyes and leaned against a shelf, wincing at the slight pain that shot through his form. It was hard to accept, but it was the truth. Wes was a ghost.

For a while, Danny stood there in the silent darkness, taking deep, steady breaths. His moment of peace was interrupted when his ghost sense was triggered again, causing his eyes to fly open. Wes must be nearby.

He took one more gulp of air and steeled himself, then he pushed himself into a straight position and walked through the door, ready to face his former classmate.

Wes the ghost looked the same as he did a few minutes ago, except for the apparent increase of rage on his expression. He wasn't happy to see Danny in his ghost form. "Why do you always have to hide when you change?" he hissed.

Normally, Danny would have cracked a humorous reply, but today didn't feel like the right time. Instead, he calmly said, "This isn't you, Wes."

The ghost tilted his head. His sharp teeth were bared midway between a smirk and a snarl. "Really? And who else would I be, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny told himself that his hands werent shaking as he continued. "You don't have to do this."

Wes gnashed his teeth, and his eyes burned brighter. "Yes I do," he argued. "You'll never reveal yourself on your own, and I can't give up on something I've died for."

Even though those words weren't news, they stabbed through Danny's core. The images of Wes's death flashed across his eyes again. Wes had died in an effort to expose Danny, and now Danny was the one responsible for the existence of the aggressive ghost before him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. What was there to say? Wes had a point.

He heard murmurs and turned his head to see several students peeking out of their classrooms, ignoring their education in favor of their curiosity. This was far from the first time Phantom had fought a ghost in their school, but it was the first time that ghost was of someone they knew.

When he turned back to Wes, he didn't like the grin on the ghost's face at the sight of so many onlookers.

This time, Danny was prepared when Wes attacked. He called up a shield before the ghost's claws could scratch him. Wes didn't relent, and he continued to attack Danny from different angles.

Danny knew that this small hallway was not appropriate for a ghost fight. He also knew that Wes was only fighting him because of the onlookers surrounding them. He had to take the fight somewhere else.

As soon as the opportunity arose, Danny let down his shield just long enough to grab Wes, and he yanked them both through the floor. They landed in an empty cafeteria, where Wes promptly broke away from Danny's grip.

Wes hissed at him, clearly unhappy. Apparently, the ghost decided to take out his anger in the form of violence, because he began to shoot red ectoplasm at Danny. The room lit up with bursts of color as the ghosts exchanged attacks...okay, so maybe "exchanged" wasn't an entirely accurate description. Because no matter how much Wes fought him, Danny stayed on the defensive.

It was stupid, but he couldn't get himself to hurt his opponent back. Not when it was someone he knew in life.

He wasn't sure how long he spent blocking and dodging, but soon enough, the halfa was getting tired. His breaths came out in short puffs. Breathing automatically in ghost form...that wasn't a good sign. He paused for a second to lean against his knees--and that was long enough for Wes to make his move.

He blinked, and suddenly Wes was tackling them through a wall. Students and staff jumped out of the way as Danny was thrown against a row of lockers. So they were back in the hallway, and this time it was even fuller when everyone was going to their next class. (In the back of Danny's brain, he absently noted that he had missed another class. Mr. Lancer would not be happy.)

He barely finished that thought when Wes suddenly appeared in front of him. Before Danny knew what was happening, the ghost had plunged his claws into his chest.

It hurt. Pain flared from his chest and throughout his entire body. It felt like Wes was squeezing his very core. Danny couldn't help it--he screamed. He was paralyzed with pain, and Wes appeared to be enjoying it.

"Let him go!" someone shouted, and Danny blinked through the tears in his eyes to see Sam pushing her way in front of the crowd to face Wes. Wes turned his glaring eyes at her with a snarl. He straightened up and let his scarlet eyes flash with intensity, daring Sam to take another step. The girl kept her back straight, but it was apparent from how pale her face became that she wasnt as fearless as she was pretending to be.

Somehow, seeing Sam gave Danny more clarity. He forced himself through the thick waves of pain, and--ignoring his previous decision of holding back in his attacks--he sent the strongest ecto-blast he could muster at Wes. The ghost was shoved away and smashed into the opposite wall. As he went, his claws scraped at the wound on Danny's chest, making it bleed further. He winced. The damage had been done. Ectoplasm now leaked from a hole in his chest.

Danny could feel his energy gushing out from his wound. All of a sudden, the world tilted underneath his feet, and he staggered. His vision blurred into splotches of color, like a painting caught out in the rain.

Was it normal for him to taste ectoplasm leaking from his mouth? Danny was fairly certain that wasn't normal. He heard Sam calling his name and sluggishly lifted his head to see her standing before him, her hands hovering over his chest. When had she made her way to him? He followed her wide eyes to the spot on his chest. Right, the wound. The ectoplasm was gushing out at this point. He could feel the gravity increasing on him the more he bled. He blinked away the haziness in his eyes, and as he did, he saw something rise over her shoulder.

Danny had just enough alertness left over in his brain to recognize it as Wes. As fast as his exhausted mind would let him, he pushed Sam away and summoned a shield. He strained to keep the last wisps of ghostly energy he had to keep the shield up as Wes beamed ectoplasmic energy against it. How come Wes was so strong, anyway? His ghost just formed. It wasn't fair.

Not much time passed before Danny's energy completely drained away, and the shield cracked like a thin sheet of ice. The blast slammed against him, and he was shoved against the wall before collapsing onto the floor. He tried to stand up after that, but the task turned out to be as easy as walking on slippery oil. He immediately fell back down and stayed there. He was tired. Why was he so tired?

He waited for another attack, but none came. He forced himself to look up and saw several pairs of eyes. At first, he thought he was seeing double vision, but the eyes didn't belong to Wes. They belonged to the several students and teachers who were surrounding the two ghosts, wanting to help their hero but unsure how. In the center of the free space left by the crowd, Wes hovered.

His face was split into a grin. He was watching, waiting. For what? For Danny to die? That sounded fair. After all, Danny let Wes die. It made sense for him to return the favor.

Danny was about to surrender to the blackness creeping around his vision when a movement in the crowd caught his eye. A boy...Tucker?...pushed himself toward the scene, holding in his hand a familiar metallic cylinder. Wes's eyes widened at the object, but it was too late. With the press of a button, a beam of light shot at Wes and pulled him in.

"No!" Wes screamed. "No! I have to see it!" He tried to claw his way away from the thermos, but his effort was futile. He was captured inside the cylinder, which Tucker immediately put a cap on as soon as he was inside.

"Da--Phantom!" the geek cried out and ran toward him. He knelt next to his friend. Beside him, Sam did the same.

Danny's breath was ragged. It felt impossible to keep his eyes open anymore. He let his heavy eyelids fall over his eyes, and as he did, he felt a cold tingle travel across his body.

All around him, he heard gasps. He forced his eyes open again just to see what caused so much shock. Everyone was staring at him with wide eyes. When he looked down, he realized why.

The green leaking from him was turning red. His cotton shirt was wet and sticky from the blood. The hair drooping in front of his eyes was black. In his mouth, the lime taste was turning to copper.

Of course. How couldn't he have seen it earlier? All ghosts had some power related to their obsession. That was why Wes could beat his ass so easily--enough to revert him into his human form.

Normally, Danny would have been more alarmed at the reveal of his identity and the fact that he was maybe possibly dying. But now, he found that he didn't have enough energy to care. He was tired...maybe a small nap wouldnt hurt.

With his friends' voices lingering in his ears, he closed his eyes again and let himself surrender to the darkness.

#Danny Phantom #phango19 #fic #angst #character death #wes weston #danny fenton #mine #fanfiction