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redactedgoose · 7 months

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I cannot believe that I forgot to post this yesterday. This was the day that I was most excited for!! Since, uh, this may have spiraled away and now I'm still working on it as a multichap fic. Here is the link to Ao3 where I'll be updating it in the future, if anybody is interested.

Anyway! Phantasy Phest day 5- "The Doctors Fenton should have planned for all eventualities." @phantasycentral

---

"Alright, kids!" Madeline Fenton beams at her children, fists on her hips and chest puffed out, nearly bouncing on her toes with just how excited she is. "Remember—stay back behind the line of tape and keep your goggles on at all times! If it gets too bright even with the goggles, look away! Don't just cover your eyes."

"Yes, mom," Jazz says, looking up from her book for a second before turning back to it, posture perfect as she sits at one of their workbenches.

"Danny?" Maddie asks, turning her gaze on her youngest.

"Yeah, mom. Stay back, keep my goggles on. I got it," he says. He, at least, looks more attentive. It makes her smile grow to see him interested in her's and Jack's work.

"Great! Jack, how are we doing?" She turns on her heel to call her question to her husband, back straight and smile wide.

"A-OK!" He booms out, sending her a thumbs up from where he's checking over the wiring and electronics and everything one last time before they start their first attempt to power on their magnum opus. "I'm almost done! Just need to double check the soldering on this..."

Everything's going perfectly.

Jack comes to stand next to her where she stands next to the generator. It's job is to get the spark going for the initial power before the ectoplasmic battery kicks in to handle power generation and supply, making the portal self-sustaining. A genius move, in her opinion, and a really neat piece of engineering due to Jack's prowess.

"Alright!" She glances over to double check that her children are standing back behind the line they'd taped onto the ground. Satisfied that they are, in fact, in the safe zone and do, in fact, have their goggles on, she nods. Even if Jazz wasn't really paying attention, that wasn't too much of an issue. The main show was still to come.

"Let's get that countdown going!" Jack yells out, a wide grin on his face.

Maddie nods at her husband, the movement sharp and decisive. It's time. It's time, after all these years and all that work.

She clears her throat.

"Five."

Jack picks up the plug connected to the portal.

"Four."

Maddie hovers her hand over the generator's switch.

"Three."

She clicks it on, the rocker switch flicking over to the on position.

"Two."

The generator hums to life, rattling under her hand.

"One."

Jack plugs the power cord into the generator. A spark races through the portal and—nothing.

"...what?" Maddie's jaw is slack.

How... how could it not work? After years of research? Of—of blood, sweat, and tears, missed grants, of years of widespread ridicule from the rest of the scientific community...

Jack unplugs the portal from the generator before dropping both cords and smacking himself on the forehead so loudly the sound of his glove hitting flesh rings throughout the room.

"Whoops! Forgot to turn the darn thing on!" He laughs, jogging over to the side of the portal. "Silly me!"

Maddie takes another breath, heart beating harshly in her chest.

There, sitting proudly on the wall next to the frame, sits an on and off switch. The 'off' button is depressed. Jack clicks the on button and jogs back over to Maddie.

Please... please let it work this time...

"Let's give that another go!"

Maddie nods, clearing her throat again and starting up another countdown. Her hand shakes slightly where it rests on the warm plastic of the generator. "Five... four... three... two... one..."

Jack plugs the portal into the generator again and another spark skips through the portal. Then another spark, and then, in a bright flash, everything changes.

Green floods the portal, swirling out from the center point. It audibly roars to life, sounding like a great waterfall.

Maddie watches, enraptured, as it stretches out to the anchors in the portal's frame.

And stays.

Maddie watches the portal with wide eyes for a second, two seconds, ten seconds. Time ticks on as the portal continues to swirl in its housing, not showing any signs of degradation or mishap.

"Jack!" Maddie gasps his name out, hand coming up to clasp over her mouth. Tears spring to life in her eyes as she watches the greatest creation of her life sit there and swirl away.

"We did it!" Jack roars, scooping her up in a backbreaking hug.

Her hand comes away from her mouth in that instant and she pulls herself up him, wrapping her arms around his neck and returning the hug.

"We did it!" She echoes, almost screaming it, cheeks aching from how widely she's smiling. "We did it!" She repeats, hugging her husband back and laughing into his chest, her own light with pure joy. "The portal works!"

"Oh, Mads..."

One of their children makes a faint noise of disgust behind them as Jack presses a kiss to her lips.

"After all these years," she murmurs, still grinning like a fool. "After all these years, we did it."

"We'll have to send Vladdie a letter!" Jack grins, finally setting her down. "Maybe he'll want to get the band back together," he says, waggling his eyebrows. "His chem focus would be wonderful right now!"

She hums, moving to the camera they set up to record the portal's opening. "We should. I'm not too sure what he's up to these days..."

Even if Vlad didn't want to join their research team, there was still so much to do. The portal was open, which meant so many possibilities for experiments!

---

"So, man," Tucker starts, shoving spoonfuls of meatloaf into his mouth, "I saw the news. Your parents did something, right?"

"Yeah," Danny replies, pushing his own meatloaf around his tray. "They opened a portal to the Ghost Zone. Afterlife? Whatever they called it. Got it open a couple days before school started, on the first. I'm surprised that the news only picked it up just now, though. Must've been because the city came by to check it out after they finally finished disconnecting entirely from the power grid."

"So you have a portal to hell in your basement? That's cool. Can we check it out?" Sam asks, forking a pile of lettuce out of her packed lunch.

Danny shrugs, pushing his sad mashed potatoes around his lunch tray. None of it was really appetizing, but he knows he should eat. "Maybe. Mom and Dad have been down there a lot recently, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let anyone go in."

Finally, he scoops up a combined bite of meatloaf and mashed potato and shoves it into his mouth.

Blegh.

"You should totally ask them!" Tucker says, wagging his spork at Danny. "It's your birthday, after all, D. They might feel more inclined to do things for you."

Danny hums noncommittally. He doubts he could pry them out of the basement for much more than two minutes, and there's no way that he would subject his friends to the inevitable lecture about the evilness of ghosts and the importance of telling them if they saw anything.

Like, sure, ghosts were real at this point. They had, as Sam said, a portal to hell in their basement. Danny's seen a couple little blobby things floating around, mostly near the wooded area on the east side of town. They look cute and not at all evil, though, so Danny's not really sure about any of it.

"Oh, yeah. Speaking of my birthday and people doing things for me, are we still on for Nasty Burger today after school?" Danny asks. "I wanna do something with you guys, but I'm pretty sure Jazz is planning a surprise party. She's been harping on about family time recently, since they've been working so much."

"Yeah," Sam nods. "Sorry for being busy tonight, again," she scowls. "My parents are total... downers."

The way she says it very clearly implies she'd rather be saying something else.

"It's all good," Danny says, waving his own spork. "Tuck, you too."

"Sorry, man."

Danny just shakes his head. Them going to Nasty Burger for a meal after school was enough, really. "If you want, you guys could always make it up to me by coming to see the meteor shower with me in a couple weeks. It'll be cool!"

"I'll ask my parents," Sam says, scowling again.

"Pretty sure Mom and Dad will be fine with it, so yeah, I'll come do your nerd stuff with you!"

Danny snorts. "Tuck, you're also a nerd."

"Says Mr. 'I need all the straight A's and extra credit, I'm going to be an astronaut,'" Tucker teases back. "You rank higher in nerd-dom than I do."

"Dude, you made your PDA run Doom."

Tucker sighs dramatically. "It was my test run for DOOMED. Besides, somebody got a high end pregnancy test to run Doom, I'm not that special. I will be, though, if I get it to play DOOMED. I'll get it one day, mark my words," he says, banging his fist against the table. "But you, dude, nerd about science. On the other hand, I nerd about practical things—computers."

"Your PDA doesn't have a mouse, Tuck. How are you even going to play?"

"Heresy!" Tucker gasps out. "There's always a way when you're passionate enough! My baby can do anything!"

"What'd you name your PDA this time?" Sam asks him, smirking and sounding deeply, deeply amused.

Tucker narrows his eyes at her.

"It's Delilah," Danny pipes up, hiding his shit eating grin behind another bite of the gross lunch food, this time with the sad little green beans in there as well.

"Danny!"

Sam cackles.

The rest of the day flies by quickly. Danny's had more than enough time to do his homework, even reading ahead when he gets bored on weeknights and his stupid curfew's too close to actually go out and do anything and none of his books sound interesting to read for the fifth-sixth-seventh-etc time. Today's not a P.E. day either, so he gets to walk out of the school not sweaty and gross.

Tucker's arm catches him around the neck as they walk out of school, Tucker animatedly recounting his Home Ec. period and how Josh from sophomore year lit his omelet on fire.

"Like, who even does that?" Tucker laughs. "How do you light eggs on fire? They're, like, wet. They're literally liquid when they go into the pan."

"I dunno, man. Sounds like my dad."

"Remind me to never eat at your house," Sam says, walking on his other side.

Danny snorts. "You—neither of you would want to anyway," Danny says. "You know how annoying it is to re-kill a turkey after you've already cooked and served it?"

"Danny dude, what the hell, man," Tucker deadpans. "The more you mention stuff about your house, the more I get concerned."

"What, you didn't realize that in elementary when your mom would never let you come over to my house?" Danny asks. "You didn't think it was weird that I only went over to your house and you never came over to mine?"

"Nah, man. I think I was just happy that it was my house."

"Ooh, look at his ego, already so big, so young," Danny coos mockingly, squawking in indignation seconds later as Tucker pulls his head down to attempt to noogie him. "Dude! You have to be nice to me, it's my birthday!"

The three of them get a booth at Nasty Burger.

"Happy birthday," Sam says, shoving a twenty at him as he goes for his wallet, standing there at the counter. "I can use my allowance for something good."

"Thanks, Sam," Danny grins.

She makes him keep the change, too, all six dollars and forty three cents of it. Tucker whines about having to buy his own triple patty Nasty Stacker, but Sam just flips him the bird.

"I have a present for you as well, Danny!" Tucker says as they slide into their chosen booth. "It's just, uh, not done yet."

"You're making me something?" Danny asks, curiosity rising. As much as he ribbed Tuck earlier, the dude was a genius with computers.

"Yup," Tuck nods, taking a sip from his milkshake and refusing to answer any of Danny's wheedling follow up questions. "Ooh, the mystery flavor is chocolate cherry!"

Soon enough, their number is called. Sam waves him down when he attempts to get up to get their orders, going herself.

Conversation stills for the first couple minutes as they all rip into their respective burgers and fries.

Danny's the one to get it started again after he's gone through about half of his burger. "Tuck, how's the robotics club stuff going?"

"Robotics and A/V," Tucker corrects through a mouthful of burger. He swallows before continuing, thankfully for the integrity of his shins. "Really good, actually! Falluca's talking about getting us into a state competition, probably a maze-solver. I'm teaching a couple upperclassmen how to code, actually, since most people are just in it for the hardware side of things."

Danny nods.

"All the shop kids, yeah?" Sam asks, taking a sip of her own blueberry milkshake. "They talk about the club during class. Any luck in getting the astronomy club off the ground, Danny?"

He groans, clutching his own milkshake glass. "No, none at all. We've only got like, three people and no sponsor. And don't say ask Lancer. We've tried. He's club sponsor for like seven clubs or something and has no time."

"I'm surprised that he does all that and teaches like three different subjects," Tucker says.

"Jazz says he only teaches one, but he's the school's default substitute teacher," Danny says. At their looks, he goes on to say, "One of the clubs he runs is the peer mentoring thing that she does."

"Ah."

Eventually, they work their way through their food.

Sam's phone trills, loud and harsh. She yanks it out of her backpack only to scowl at it. "The shrew's demanding I come home. Sorry, guys."

"No problem," Danny says. "See you tomorrow? Or Monday?"

"Tomorrow, hopefully," she grumbles, gathering up her tray and glass. "I'll get bubbe to help me sneak out if I need to."

"Don't get in trouble!" Tucker yells after her as she leaves.

Outside, the sun is just barely setting, the horizon turning a bright yellow-orange. The stars will be out in a little while.

Danny and Tucker finish the last of their fries and milkshakes in peaceful silence.

"Sorry, man. I gotta go before it gets dark," Tucker says after a while. His tray is clean, save for a mostly demolished squirt of ketchup. "See you... Monday, probably, depending on how the thing with Grandma goes."

"See you, dude," Danny waves him off. "It's all good."

"Night! And happy birthday, man!"

"Night!" Danny replies.

Eventually, he gets up and goes to dump his own tray off at the trash, sliding the paper and wrapper into the bin and stacking the tray on the others, his glass going with the other two.

Time to go home, then.

It's warmer than normal for this time of September, with only the slightest chill in the air. It's the twenty second, after all. Not only is it his birthday, it's the start of fall. The fall equinox, when night and day are the same length. After today, the days will get shorter and shorter until the winter solstice when the light is the shortest and the night is the longest. And then it'll start to grow again until the spring equinox, when the day and night will be balanced again and the amount of daylight will start to increase again afterwards.

It's interesting to see such an obvious sign of the earth's tilted axis, Danny thinks. When he was first learning about the earth and how it functioned in space, he was over the moon (heh) to know that his birthday fell on one of those special days.

By the time he reaches his neighborhood, the Ops center having been visible from a couple blocks away, the sun is fully below the horizon, stars blanketing the sky. He can't really see them all very well, but Amity isn't that big of a city.

The house is dark when he gets back.

His heart starts to pound in his chest. Is Jazz really throwing him a surprise party? Maybe Sam and Tuck having to take off early was a cover.

Danny slips his key in the lock, their security system chirping at him. He steps into the house and shuts the door behind him, cautiously walking forward to the light switch. As he flicks it on, his phone buzzes in his pocket. At the same time, the door to the basement is thrown open with a loud crash and Danny just about jumps out of his skin.

"Sweetie!" Mom says. "You're home!"

Danny straightens up slightly, a smile on his face. It's... not exactly jumping out of the dark and screaming happy birthday like they did that one time, but it's close enough. Right?

"Don't stay up too late," she continues. "Your dad and I got a ping on the ghost radar!" Dad bustles out from behind her, arms laden with all sorts of stuff that he's pretty sure look like weapons. "Stay inside and remember to lock the door!" She says, rushing after Dad straight out the door without a glance back or another word to him.

Danny's left there, standing in the entryway, key still in hand and his heart in his stomach.

That's the first time he's seen them all week and...

They didn't even say happy birthday.

Numbly, he takes his phone out of his pocket. One new message from Jazz.

[Hey Danny. Something came up; I have to go do something for one of the kids I'm peer mentoring, a middle schooler. I... might be able to tell you about it later? It's kind of really bad.]

[Sorry, little brother. Don't wait up for me. I'll make it up to you later.]

[Good night! <3]

That's... gosh, that's just so Jazz. Danny blinks hard and sniffles, laughing a little.

It's understandable as well. Jazz wouldn't just not help whatever middle schooler it was. Just like he understood that Sam's parents were overbearing, and Tucker had to go visit his grandma with his parents.

[no prob, jazz]

[i think im just going to go to bed]

[night]

He sniffles again, phone loosely clutched in his hand as he trudges up the stairs. It doesn't ding again. Jazz must be really busy.

Danny tosses his backpack into the corner, the overburdened thing hitting the carpet with a dull thud. His phone goes on his bedside table next before tosses himself this time, straight down onto his bed.

He presses his face against his pillows.

Really, he shouldn't have expected anything different. Not from his friends or Jazz, god no! Sam's parents are notorious douches. The few times that he's met them, they've been cold to him every time; plus, they refuse to let him and Tucker come over to their house to hang out. Tucker's grandma is really old and not in the best health, so much so that she's up at Amity General. Jazz is a bleeding heart at the best of times and it's some kid that's got a problem, so of course she's going to go help them.

His parents, though...

You'd think that physically pushing a little human being out of you would make you remember the date that it happened on. Dad's usually the more forgetful one. Mom looking him in the face, talking to him, and then blowing him off... that hurt.

It was nice to see them so excited the other day, opening the portal. It was their end goal for so long... well. Danny forgot that there was a goal after it, he guesses. The ghosts.

They actually had something new to work towards. And it's not like he's a little kid anymore. He can look after himself! It's...

Mom would at least attempt to make a cake, usually. Dad would be the one to present him with his gift, almost more excited than Danny himself sometimes. Jazz would be taking pictures, the shutter going off throughout them all singing happy birthday and Danny blowing out the candles.

Even if it was usually just the four of them after Danny's disastrous fifth birthday party, they usually had one. Heck, if they didn't because of some accident or mishap or whatever (like when they all had to go down to Spitoon because Aunt Alicia broke her leg and her neighbor was on a trip, leaving her to take care of herself) they would at least still say happy birthday to him.

He grits his teeth, releasing a shuddering sigh.

Danny doesn't want to be mad or sad on his fifteenth birthday.

"Screw it," he mutters, flipping around and pushing himself up. He'll have a good time on his own. It's his birthday, he can do whatever he wants to.

Just in case Jazz comes back before he does, he stuffs his bag and half of the contents of his dirty clothes hamper underneath his blanket, wrapping a black shirt around more clothing to be a stand in for his head. The only thing that he takes with him when he slips out of the house is a flashlight, phone left on his nightstand.

The night air is nice and cool, brushing over his bare arms and cheeks.

Danny meanders to the east, heading towards the woods. His hands are tucked into his pockets, fingers of his right hand toying with the butt of the flashlight. There's a clearing there where he's gone to stargaze before, so it's not like he's just going to go get lost in the woods. He has some sense.

It's far enough out that the lights from the town fade a lot, but not far enough away that it would take him forever and a half to get there and back. It might be Friday, but he'd still like to get to sleep sometime before midnight, thanks.

The temperature drops the deeper he goes into the woods. Maybe he should've brought a jacket.

He just had to get out of his house. His empty house.

A branch snaps under his foot as he walks deeper, intent on the clearing—or any clearing at this point, really. He keeps half an eye on the sky, trying to figure out just how deep he should go to get the best view.

Danny had only ever gone to the clearing with his mom before, after all. She was the one who led the way.

He sighs rather forcefully.

The entire point of doing this was to get away from his thoughts of his parents, not make more of them. All he should be doing is walking to the clearing—a clearing—and watching the stars as his birthday gift to himself. Maybe he'll do a little recreational planning for the yet-to-be made astronomy club. There's got to be more than two other people at Casper High that like astronomy. Maybe tempting people with watch parties would be the way?

He perks up as he spots a light spot up ahead. A clearing!

Danny speeds up, but still takes care not to trip over anything. Breaking his leg out in the woods with no cellphone would really put a cherry on top of this already crummy day.

As he steps into the clearing, he notices a little trail of mushrooms a few steps ahead. It seems to circle much of the empty space, sealing the area in a ring. He steps closer and crouches down, studying them.

His first thought is that Sam would absolutely love them.

In the pale light of the moon, the mushrooms are almost violently purple. With the way that the tops of them—the caps, he's pretty sure they're called—are speckled with tiny white dots, it almost looks like it's glowing. They aren't though.

He almost touches one before one of Sam's screeds on, quote, 'idiot wannabe foragers getting themselves killed by being idiots' rings out in his head. If he couldn't tell what it was, touching it was a bad idea. He's... not sure they're not poisonous, but sitting in the clearing should be fine, right? It's not like mushrooms released any sort of toxic gas or whatever.

Danny straightens back up and steps into the ring, intent on the mossy log nearer to the center of the clearing. It'd be nice to sit and lean against it while looking up at the stars.

The grass is soft and lush under his hands as he lowers himself down, the bark and moss on the log scratching lightly against his back through his t-shirt. He tilts his head back with a sigh, thunking lightly against the log.

There's not much of a moon in the sky tonight, though that'll change soon. It's waxing, just almost a crescent currently. If he remembers right, the next full moon will be in... just a little over a week? It makes seeing the stars even easier.

As he traces the constellations he knows like the back of his hand with his eyes, though, his mind wanders.

Going off to be on his own and look at the stars won't do much for the uncomfortable, squirming feeling that sits at the base of his rib cage. At most, it'll just be another band-aid over a bullet wound, as it were.

He huffs, scrubbing a hand over his face.

Danny loves his parents. He knows, he knows, his parents love him as well. His parents just... also really love their work, too. And it hasn't even been long since they finished their biggest and best invention ever. It's the portal, the one that they've been working on for years and years now. He can't really blame them, can he? They've put so much of their life, of their time and effort, into building it. And now that it's done, they can continue their lives' work.

The squirming at the base of his rib cage twists, heat building behind his eyes.

He just... he just wishes that their lives' work didn't mean ignoring him and Jazz.

Danny tilts his head back again, tears pooling in his eyes. His head rests against the bark, staring sightlessly up at the stars.

God, he wishes he could be up there with them. He wishes he could just... get away from here, go somewhere else. If he could snap his fingers and fill in the rest of high school and college and be standing on NASA's front steps, about to go up there, he would.

Finally, the tears fall from his eyes, tracking down his cheeks. They catch the chill in the air and cool against his skin quickly, even as more keeps coming.

He cries. He's not exactly sure when he stops, but eventually no more run down his cheeks and his sight is clear once again.

Danny stares up at the North Star. Polaris. Part of the constellation Ursa Minor. The way the little bear's tail is shaped, connecting up to the body, is reminiscent of a small ladle, the Little Dipper to the Ursa Major's Big Dipper. Polaris isn't actually just one star—it's three stars all bundled together in the same star system.

He racks his brain.

Polaris Aa, Polaris B, and Polaris Ab, or P. Right. Polaris Aa was a... yellow supergiant. The other two were main sequence stars, or dwarf stars. Polaris Aa is a cepheid, making it an important standard candle.

He yawns, the resulting tears making him squeeze his eyes shut for a second.

Standard candles... used the brightness of stars to gauge distances. Since Polaris is so close to the Earth, it's... studied a lot.

His eyes start to drift closed as he continues to mentally rattle off the facts he knows about Polaris, just as he used to instead of counting sheep when he was younger.

It takes no time at all before he's out like a light, sitting right there against the mossy log in the forest.

---

The Doctors Fenton pierced a hole through the veil to the Infinite Realms.

However... the thing about the Veil, and veils in general, is that they are not, by definition, flat. They are not rigid objects such that can be punctured easily. Veils and the Veil... twist. Layer.

True enough, on the other side of the Veil lies the land of the dead, the underworld, the Infinite Realms—but in the folds in between lies the Others. The In Between layers.

The Doctors Fenton should have taken care to plan for every eventuality of things Other than ghosts coming to their little town.

That night, in the forest outside of Amity Park, the Doctors' son Daniel sleeps in a clearing in the woods ringed by mushrooms.

Faerie rings, faerie circles... humans know them and are wary of them from their various mythologies and legends. By and large, a circle of mushrooms in the woods or the plains means nothing at all. It is simply a biological quirk of the formation and life cycle of mycelium.

But in areas where the Veil is thin, that changes.

And in Amity Park? The site of the largest, most stable, most permanent hole in the Veil in human history?

Danny goes missing that day.

In one moment, he sleeps. In the next, there is nothing in the clearing beside the flashlight that slipped from insensate fingers.

It's hardly noticeable that the boy went missing—he's in his bed in the morning, after all. Staying out for a single night can hardly be called missing, especially when his parents were none the wiser to his location being anywhere else than his bed.

Sure, there may be twigs and leaves in his hair and his eyes are slightly too sharp, too keen, too bright, his teeth much the same and his ears coming to a point, but no one notices.

Except his friends. His friends know.

They get the story the next day, squirreled away in the town park, Danny's back pressed up against a tree, about how he went out into the woods and stepped into a ring of mushrooms and fell asleep sitting against a mossy log, looking wistfully up at the stars and begging, pleading with them to be taken away. How he woke up under sheets that were much too soft to be his own, in a room that looked more like the inside of a living tree than a wooden house. How the person that greeted him upon his waking wasn't human.

And—he looks to the left, to the right, and lowers his voice—how he wasn't human anymore.

#danny phantom #fantasy au #fae and creature au #danny needs a hug #place your bets now. how long will it take before whatever fae on the other side adopts our boy?#phantasy phest 2023

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