Escaped clone au
You know all those fics where Danny and Damian are twins but everyone first assumes Danny must be a clone? How about an au where Danny is Damian's clone who escaped the League after he was assumed dead. Damian could even have been the one to have "killed" him, back when Danny was a newly created, fully brainwashed clone minion and trying to kill Damian himself.
Danny gets adopted by the Fentons and canon goes on as normal, until Dan. Witnessing what would happen to the world should he turn evil really drove home to Danny how dangerous he is.
Even if he was confident he could be trusted with his absurd amount of power (which he isn't), what if the League of Assassins found out about him? Does he still have programming triggers from his evil assassin clone conditioning?
So, Danny does the responsible thing: he goes to Batman to turn himself in.
Cue Danny showing up on Bruce's doorstep with ghost hunting equipment, intel on the afterlife, and an almost unbelievable backstory. Somehow he still managed to be more well-adjusted than Damian.
More thoughts under the read more
Here's how I'm thinking Danny leaving the League went down:
After surviving his wounds but failing his mission, Danny (then an unnamed potential Damian replacement) knew there was no point in returning to the League. As a failure, he was meant to be disposed of. He even thought of simply allowing himself to perish, since that was what the League would do.
But he couldn't help but feel as though that would be a waste of a resource. Surely he could be of more use to the League alive than dead?
That tiny bit of rebellious logic is what caused Danny to go into hiding, only living on based on the off chance he would find opportunities to further the League's goals. Obviously, that mentality didn't last long after being exposed to the real world and meeting one Jazz Fenton.
Being adopted by the Fentons was the best cover Danny could have asked for, since any odd behavior he couldn't hide while he was learning how to be "normal" was totally overshadowed by the sheer bizarre eccentricity of his new parents. He was still the neighborhood weird kid, but even that was a major upgrade from disposable tool, so Danny considered it a win.
Anyway, if anyone likes this idea, please feel free to have at it! Interpret it as you please :)
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You know what's gonna kill me when we get the inevitable Lu Guang flashbacks?
The fact he's always described as "mature" as his post-dive self implies he must be different now than before. It's hard to imagine exactly what his personality was like before, and if it's written well, he shouldn't be completely unrecognisable. But we know he's been changed.
Imagine a first timeline where Lu Guang just follows along with Cheng Xiaoshi, no attempts to reign him in whatsover. Cheng Xiaoshi having the opportunity to come up with more of his complicated tricks but channelling it into lower stakes stuff like pranks and Lu Guang actually enabling him in that and having fun with it. Imagine tragedy striking when Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are both allowing themselves to be genuinely happy, no facades.
We know that Cheng Xiaoshi used to put on a brave face in light of his parents' disappearances and what that meant for how he was treated and what he was missing out on. But we also know that Qiao Ling and Lu Guang together have been able to lift that into something more genuine. Imagine a world where Cheng Xiaoshi was able to do the same for Lu Guang. Where they both mutually brought that light into the other's life.
It's still true to some extent in the current worldline, but it's complicated by Lu Guang's own actions. Lu Guang can never be fully honest with Cheng Xiaoshi without (in his mind) losing him forever. But he has to stick by his side in order to have any chance in his hopeless quest. And so, he must distance himself in other ways, protect Cheng Xiaoshi, enforce the rules. Swallow the guilt. It leads to a more lopsided relationship, one where one side is always hiding something from the other and refuses to open up themselves. A relationship that in the original timeline must have been more equal, as partners.
There's something that's been lost here, and it's not just the original Cheng Xiaoshi.
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floyd/riddle valentine's day headcanons 💙❤️
(okay, this post is more overly detailed than i originally planned because i ended up writing a whole scenario about what their first valentine's day after they start dating could be like. but i still want to share it, so here it is.)
riddle is somewhat conflicted about valentine's day. on the one hand, he was always a bit of a romantic, and as a kid there were times when he dreamed that someday he'd have a special someone to spend this holiday with. but he's changed since he was a kid, and regardless of how he might or might not feel, this year he happens to have an exam coming up in a few days and thinks that studying for it would be a more practical use of his time.
besides, floyd will also be busy working at the mostro lounge that evening. each year they hold a special valentine's event with discounts for couples, and floyd seems to be very focused on helping jade and azul plan for it. what makes valentine's day so important, anyway, when the one you love should be special to you every day? they can just go on a date whenever they like.
he still wants to try and respect the rules of the holiday, though. he knows from books he's read that it would be wrong of him not to get his boyfriend a gift, and he also knows that it's a popular tradition to make handmade chocolates for your partner on valentine's day.
so he buys some chocolate-making supplies and molds--the molds are shaped like hearts and roses, so they're sure to make floyd think of riddle when he eats them. and he does the best he can, knowing floyd will still love them even if they're not perfectly made.
he also buys a card with a simple yet elegant red and gold design, and makes sure it's blank inside rather than having a cheesy prewritten message, so that he can write his own message thanking floyd for bringing so much excitement and joy into his life.
the card he picks probably looks something like this:
he plans to take the chocolate and the card, along with one white rose and one red rose from heartslabyul's gardens, to floyd in the morning and see if they can plan to spend a day together after the exam.
while on his way there, he starts to feel a little embarrassed and wonder if the roses are too much. he doesn't really care about the holiday (or so he claims, but he sure did spend a lot of time preparing for it) and surely floyd doesn't care beyond exploiting it for business purposes, so this is a bit silly, isn't it?
wrong! for floyd's part, they don't have valentine's day in the coral sea, so he's actually been pretty excited for it--which riddle had guessed, since for the last few days he's been constantly asking riddle for advice on decorations and menu items for mostro lounge's event as well as spending quite a lot of his spare time there, presumably helping prepare things.
what riddle fails to realize is that floyd's excitement is about far more than just making money at the lounge.
so, riddle is standing outside floyd's door and about to knock when floyd suddenly comes rushing out and absolutely lights up upon seeing riddle there.
he doesn't even give riddle a chance to get a word in before tearing the gifts from his hands, popping a rose-shaped chocolate in his mouth, and doing a goofy little laugh as he tells riddle he loves him. riddle hopes floyd doesn't see the blush on his face.
"goldfishieee!" he exclaims. "i got you something too, and i just know you'll love it!!"
he runs back into his dorm room and comes out holding a small, very messily-wrapped box of store-bought white chocolate truffles, a plushie of a pink hedgehog holding a heart, and an envelope containing one of those fancy pop-out valentine's cards--specifically, one with a goofy pun on it. i'm picturing something like these:
riddle opens the card and rolls his eyes at the pun while trying to pretend that he's not smiling fondly at it.
he's about to ask about their plans when floyd leans over and drapes his arms around riddle's shoulders, and then says that he absolutely has to come to the lounge tonight for a very special surprise.
riddle is genuinely shocked at this, but he agrees, somewhat reluctantly because he's supposed to be studying--but also secretly excited at the thought of floyd having planned something just for him. he has to enlist cater's help to find something decent to wear.
floyd grabs riddle by the arm and drags him over to a table within seconds of him getting to the lounge. jade takes their order, they talk and tease each other and laugh together like they always do, and they also have fun chatting with some of their other friends who are sitting nearby with their own dates.
riddle almost forgets that floyd was supposed to have some kind of surprise for him, until floyd suddenly excuses himself and then shows back up a few minutes later with a small heart-shaped cake, covered in strawberries and other elaborate decorations.
it turned out that floyd had baked and decorated this cake for him. riddle felt guilty because he'd already eaten more than he meant to for the day, and especially because this must have taken much more work than the chocolates and roses he'd given floyd.
he tells him as much but then floyd tells him he's being silly before snatching the fork from his hand and going "if you're not going to eat it then i guess i'll have to!"
riddle feels a flash of anger because floyd can't just try to take his food, there are rules against such a thing. he takes the fork back and tries a bite of the cake, reasoning that it would be rude not to. it's strawberry flavored and possibly the best thing he's ever tasted.
when they leave the lounge that evening, they end up going back to heartslabyul together and for some reason floyd all of a sudden decides that they're playing tag and makes riddle have to chase him into the rose garden.
floyd didn't have any extra surprise for him, he just wanted riddle to keep having fun with him for a little while longer.
at the end of the day, riddle finds that he doesn't regret having lost a bit of study time for this, and he makes sure to tell floyd how grateful he is. he has to admit to himself that maybe there is something special about valentine's day after all.
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cana before tenrou -- part 1 of a longer post
cana has had 3 parents in her life. the first being her mother. cana's mother was kind, caring, beautiful, and could do no wrong in her eyes. for the first 8 or so years of her life all she had was her mother. sure, her mom had told her stories of her father but he always seemed far away. he was like a myth, the strongest man in the west, he seemed untouchable compared to her mother who was always here for her. then her mom died and cana has no choice but to go on a quest to find this legendary hero.
fairy tail doesn't have any children in their guild. being a mage is dangerous work, not something a child should be doing, at least not one as young as cana. that's what makarov thinks as he looks at this little girl, but she did come all this way and she said she has no where else to go. perhaps it will be okay, just this once. she won't go on any quests yet, not until she's older but she can do some work around the guild.
cana is glad fairy tail accepted her, she really doesn't have anywhere else to go. she's not sure what fairy tail saw in her that her father didn't but small victories. cana's never doubted her mother and she never thought of her father, but now her whole life has flipped. her mother used to tell her that her father loved them and if he could he would be with them, and cana's never doubted that, but now she's not sure. cana can't stop thinking about her father, nor can she stop doubting her mother's words. did he even know he had a daughter? all she wanted to hear him say was her mother loved them and if she could she would be here with them.
macao and wakaba don't want kids. in fact, they don't really like them that much. ivan's ankle biter, laxus, is about as hyperactive and annoying as they come. they hoped another kid in the guild would help mellow him out, but cana isn't playful, she's sad -- really sad. it's honestly hard for them to watch how she mopes around the guild. unbeknownst to them she's mourning her mother and relationship with her father. wakaba worries if it's healthy for a kid to frown that much and her always red rimmed eyes are enough to make anyone feel bad. so they decide to take matter into their own hands and take her out on a job. nothing dangerous, the library needed help sorting some books. it's boring and they'd never choose a job like this but it's good for cana.
it's clear to cana that macao and wakaba have never handled children before. they're awkward, clearly knowing nothing about what children like, and inattentive, just letting her walk off and not even noticing. they're nothing like her mother, but they always come looking for her, so clearly they're nothing like her father either. cana is craving any type of parental affection so she quickly latches on to them and surprisingly they don't mind.
as cana got older more kids came to the guild. cana always welcomed new additions, she liked having more people to play with. laxus had recently entered his angsty teen phase and didn't like running around with her anymore. so when natsu joins she greets him with open arms, the more the merrier.
then gildarts comes back. over the years cana has never gathered the courage to tell gildarts of her identity. not that she had many chances considering he never stayed at the guild for more than a week. still she craved a relationship with him so whenever he left she would bring him a lunch and wave goodbye. she asked makarov once why he didn't stay longer, why he never seemed interested in hanging around. master had seen through her, and told her it wasn't personal, that gildarts' was always like that. he was a nomad at heart and didn't care for children. cana accepted that -- so why was gildarts smiling so much at natsu? why whenever he came back to the guild he would stay longer to hang out with him? was it because natsu challenged him? was it a strength thing? even though he's younger than her, natsu is strong, and apparently he was raised by a dragon. is that what she needs to be to get gildarts attention?
if cana was bitter toward natsu after a visit from gildarts no one mentioned it. although gray did look at her weirdly. macao and wakaba were always so irresponsible with children. what were they thinking leaving alcohol in the reach of her? now cana understood why adults drank alcohol so much, it makes everything a little bit easier. cana has had 3 parents in her life, and not one of them was her father.
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