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redrobin-detective · 3 years

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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

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coolingdownanddrawing · 4 years

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Alright so the whole “protagonist oc possesses danny phantom” au has been rotting my brain since this post so I’m gonna draw some stuff for it and list ideas under the cut ok? ok

(psst list of survival goals and threats under cut too!)

So first off- characters name is conner but he’s not gonna be called conner for like, any of this outside his own head so it doesnt matter so much

what does matter is what enemies of dannys he’s going to have to worry about, along with his goals for long term survival (he doesnt know how long this will last, or if its permanent, or how long the show goes beyond cycling through a year at least)

Enemies he remembers

Skulker

Desiree

Vlad

ghost hunters (million dollar ghost, valarie, all vlads fault)

freakshow

Pariah Dark(vlads fault)

Clockwork????

dan phantom??? ( half vlads fault, kinda, a bit? dont cheat on test)

clones (vlads fault again!)

vortext (Vlads fault)

Undergrowth (vlads fault)

Nocturn

Stupid Meteor (avoid blowing up vlads satalite, avoid phantom planet!)

Note: Avoid snapping at people or defending youreself againts dash, half of danny’s problems are self made, dont make them

Thus his long term survival goals are as follows:

AVOID FIGHTING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Get job for expenses ( land, equipment, lamp, ect)

Acquire pumpkins (fright night insurance)

Focus on duplication and intangibility training first

Keep secret from vlad

dont let family go to college reunion

keep vlad out of office

make amity more environment friendly (overgrowth prevention)

prep for pariah dark (get ring of rage and destroy it?)

skulker proof town

destroy ghost portal?

get power gem from control freak freak show

Find a wish that will make desiree a none threat (have money for her lamp)

try and be polite and not suspicious to dannys friends

get good grades, avoid fenton family

if or when I post more about this au we’ll go through conners bullet points and see how everything goes sideways, off the rails, or just ring out every ounce of energy conner has to spare

after all, he’s danny “nothing goes right for me without a fight” fenton now

he’s forgotten important threats, and doesn't realize he might make enemies of dannys allies

but on the plus side, he might gain allys he wouldnt expect

#danny phantom oc #danny phantom au #danny phantom #danny fenton #dopple duties au

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glassprism · 3 years

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sooo if alw and the phantom team came to you and said celina, we are doing a new phantom anniversary performance + proshot. we need you to cast it but only with phantom vet and favorites; how would you do it? Who would you give cameos to? outside of casting, what would you want them to do differently than the 25th anniversary concert? :)

Gonna be honest, if ALW and co. came up to me, my first conversation might be something like this.

Me to Charles Hart, Richard Stilgoe, and the ghosts of Hal Prince, Gillian Lynne, and Maria Bjornson: I am so honored to have been contacted by you. Just know that I love what you created and respect each and every one of you so, so much.

Me to ALW: I know we’ve had our differences. I have called you several bad names in the past. I still don’t agree with you on everything. But thank you for your 2020 redemption arc.

Me to Cameron Mackintosh: Absolutely nothing I said above applies to you. Why are you even here. We don’t want you here. We don’t need you here.

Now as for casting... I’m sure you’ve heard me talk occasionally about the four most popular Phantoms, Christines, and Raouls in the phandom, so if we really want to cast based solely on that, it might look something like this:

Phantoms: Michael Crawford, Gerard Butler, Ramin Karimloo, Ben Lewis

Christines: Sarah Brightman, Emmy Rossum, Sierra Boggess, Anna O’Byrne

Raouls: Michael Ball, Patrick Wilson, Hadley Fraser, Simon Gleeson

This assumes that I do not have necromantic powers (though I am apparently talking to ghosts, so hmm...), otherwise I would raise Steve Barton from the dead to perform. But honestly, I would pay big money to see that cast. The Raouls will be fine, the Christines probably fine (a little iffy on Brightman’s voice, but at least Rossum has acquired a lot more training). I just really, really want to hear whatever Gerard Butler sounds like now against Michael Crawford’s light tenor, Ben Lewis’s dark baritone, and Ramin Karimloo’s untrained-but-he-can-fake-it voice. Come on. Imagine it.

But if I was to cast an actual stage cast... I would probably try for a mix of actors from older and newer productions, the flagship productions vs. international productions, long runners with newcomers, gearing towards people who have made a bit of name for themselves in theatre. So maybe something like:

Phantoms: John Owen-Jones, Hugh Panaro, Alexander Goebel, Henk Poort, Saulo Vasconcelos, Osamu Takai, Hong Kwang Ho, Ivan Ozhogin, Peter Joback, Anthony Warlow, Jonathan Roxmouth

Christines: Gina Beck, Ali Ewoldt, Luzia Nistler, Joke de Kruijf, Giulia Nadruz, Sae Yamamoto, Kim So Hyun, Tamara Kotova, Emmi Christensson, Ana Marina, Claire Lyon

Raouls: Danny Whitehead, John Riddle, Timothy Breese, Peter de Smet, Fred Silveira, (realizes I don’t know many Japanese Raouls), Son Jun Ho, Evgeny Zaycev, Anton Zetterholm, Alexander Lewis, Matt Leisy

Carlotta: Claire Moore / Rebecca Caine

Firmin and Andre: Edward Staudenmayer and David Benoit

Piangi: Uh... Larry Wayne Morbitt

Madame Giry: ... Jacinta Mulcahy?

Meg: ...Kelsey Connolly

And yes, I had to be selective, so don’t anybody start coming at me going, “But where’s Peter Karrie / Earl Carpenter / Franc D’Ambrosio / any other actor???” This list is long enough, life is about hard choices, etc. And yes, I included the the restaged tour by bringing on its managers AKA the best thing about the tour and most deserving of a chance to be in the original. I envision the different actors each taking on a different scene (don’t ask me to break down which one, I haven’t thought that far ahead) or even singing some of them together, and then having one massive sing-fest at the end.

I’m going to leave off the cameos, but as for what I’d change from the 25th anniversary, I’d probably just bring back some of the things it omitted, such as the Mirror Bride and the chandelier crash. I’d also eliminate the use of projections, which just made the stage seem too bright and empty.

And there you have it, my absolute mess of a concert.

#Anonymous #GP gets asks

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bitch-i-migth-be · 4 years

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Crash Course | Chapter 02: A sister's musings

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman,

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton,

Words: 1′778

Tags: BAMF Danny, BAMF Jazz, Sibling bonding, Shenanigans, Swearing

Summary: He swore his sister was trying to make him go into cardiac arrest - considering his halfa status that was quite the accomplishment-

But there was no other explanation to his sister’s stubbornness, and if he knew her at all there was just no talking her down from interning at goddam Arkham.

A/N: Author liberties were taken by someone who doesn’t own shit at the moment.And they will continue to be taken. Enjoy.

CHAPTERS: 1, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

Jazzmine Coraline Fenton had not planned any of this for her future.

In fact, no matter how many people thought otherwise, she didn’t have anything planned for her future.

Not anything concrete anyway.

Even since she was little she had been good at a great many things and excelled in a few more, much to her parent’s delight and the chagrin of the parents of the other children in her class. But there had never been something she particularly loved, nothing that could convince her of which way to focus herself, so she decided to just- spread and conquer, in those years.

Looking back on it now, she supposed the main reason she held herself to such high standards was so she could get some proper attention from her parents, who, unless there was a need for basic interaction or an academic event, tended to focus on their career.

Not to say that they didn’t care for her, they did, but they couldn’t be called role model parents by any means. They could get so encased on their research that sometimes it was safer for everyone involved to just let them to it and enjoy the little ghost-free interactions that could be encountered every now and then.

When Danny had grown up enough to be an acceptable company (which was still pretty little considering the standards of human interactions the senior Fentons could provide to other people, let alone a child. At that point Jazz was more than ready to take anything she could get) there was not as much reason to keep striving for their parent’s attention, but the habit had been already ingrained, and good notes were not a bad thing to have, so there was not a motive to stop.

Danny was as cute as a button (still was, but he got all flustered and retreated to safer pastures whenever she brought it up, so she refrained. No way she was reprieving herself from her brother), and she was ecstatic to have someone to play with that wouldn’t, couldn’t really, run away screaming from the crazy-psycho-wannabe ghost hunters.

What with them sharing parents and all.

It would be a good empathy exercise if anything else.

So Jazz made sure to teach Danny her ways. They took care of each other and then promptly proceeded to have their very own improvised survival training in their own home. Sadly, even with all of this, she worried it might not be enough.

In other words, the main reason she had to get into psychology? Her family. Specifically her brother.

It was clear to her, and to anyone else if they had bothered to look into it, that their parent’s main concern was not their family dynamic, and as long as the food was not openly engaging in hostilities against the younger ones, they refrained to paying more than the basic of attention to their doings. Which was a good thing for when the kids wanted to play around, but not so much for when they really needed parent supervision.

Jazz had taken it upon herself to learn more about what made people tick. Taken it upon herself to learn how to take her family from barely functional to something a little less distressing to witness. And she would succeed even if she had to glue their parents and them together to make it work.

For a while, it looked like it was going to stick.

And then the Ghost Portal had backfired on all of them.

Their parents had been over the moon that their apparent failure had been a ruse, a ghost trying to mess with their work, they said. In either case, it had only caused them to become even more invested in the ghost research, and now that they had legitimate proof of the existence of ghosts and their realm it would be even harder to talk them down once they got going.

Unlike her progenitors, she was more concerned with the impact the frequent ghost attacks that followed the accident would have, and the obvious repercussions there would be against her family if anyone put two and two together and realized her parent’s shenanigans were at fault of all the public destruction via ghost.

And Danny-

For the first time since she could remember Danny was pushing her away.

It was telling, than even neck deep in ghost attacks the thing that could hurt her the most was his reticence to talk to her. Nonetheless, her brother needed her and she would always rise to the occasion no matter how stubborn he could get about it.

It had taken a while for her to understand, but eventually, she did.

He had died.

Her parents had, however unknowingly, put the final nail in the coffin.

Literally.

Jazz had been devastated. But then, she was not the one who died, was she? Or did he?

She stuck by her brother. She listened. She observed. And by whatever miracle, she confirmed that her brother, while wary, was still her brother. He was not a vague impression, not a faded memory, not unfeeling, not uncaring.

Au contraire, her little brother was, if the ghost fights were anything to go by, caring way too much to be healthy.

It was, to some point, comprehensible. Danny thought the activation of the portal was on him. He felt compelled to help however he could.

Which was unfair because honestly, their parents were the ones that fucked up. But alas, the responsibility they held for the attacks didn’t mean they were capacitated to deal with the consequences.

So she continued to stick by her brother. Talked him down when it was obvious he would keep going his merry stubborn way even if it half killed him again. And then brainstormed together how to make the best out of this god-awful situation.

Jazz was not a fighter, so she had to resign herself to back up, running interference, and dealing with collateral damage. It was not as much as her brother, but in needed to get done.

And then, in one of the many attacks to Amity Park she had been able to talk down a small group of ghosts.

She prevented them from attacking, all thanks to her knowledge of psychology. It was not her fighting prowess that ‘defeated’ them, it was her words.

She had been useful.

So, maybe, she didn’t need to be an excellent fighter to help her brother out. Maybe- maybe she just needed to understand better.

Because, really, weren’t most the ghost just people? Dead people, yes. But still people. Persons whose feelings had amplified at the moment of crossing over. And that just translated to tons of unfinished business. And what was the point of a psychologist if not help people? She could help others in her own way.

She wanted to.

That was a thing that apparently she shared with her little brother

Danny took it upon himself to protect the humans.

But who was helping the ghost?

Not all the ghosts were evil. If her brother’s tales about the Ghost Zone and its size where anything to go by, with the Ghost Portal they could have completely razed over the town if they wanted to. It didn’t add up. Some of the ghosts would even just come to the living world to mess around, not hurt, just play.

She had seen her brother herding the tiniest-non-humanoid ones that would sometimes flock in their neighborhood around as if they were little sheep. It was kinda cute, actually.

So maybe, if they learn what made them tick in an emotional sense, they could talk it out with the ghost. Maybe not all of them, but most. And wouldn’t that be a great help to relieve Danny’s load?

When she brought it up to the others- well. Sam and Tucker had just stared at her.

“What are you talking about?” They asked.

She had tried to explain, and they just looked at her like she had a screw loose. She was flabbergasted. They had spent way more time than her in the presence of ghosts. How had they not noticed?

The two teens had exchanged glances, gotten up, said their goodbyes, and made their way home. And that was it, an easy dismiss. She could only gape after them, and turn to her brother.

He was already looking at her.

He stared at her too, but he gave her a melancholic smile

“They don’t want to understand.” Was all he said.

That was enough to comprehend.

And that was the thing everything reduced to, wasn’t it

You could not see what you did not want to acknowledge. Not even if it was slapping you right in the face. Their parents were proof of that.

Because the truth was that no matter how many people bitched about it her little brother was a hero.

Phantom was a hero.

And at the end of the day, Sam and Tucker were just civilians.

They didn’t know how bad it could get.

They didn’t know the grimmer parts. They didn’t think about them, they didn’t have to, because her brother was shielding them too.

That all the ghostly abilities her brother had acquired were not just “cool ghost powers”, that no matter how many times Sam talked about the responsibility she was not the one losing sleep over it, that no matter how Tucker sometimes wished he was ‘special’ too, there was always a price to pay. And Danny’s had come with interest.

They didn’t want to acknowledge that Danny had died.

Jazz was the one waking up to her brother screams, the one constantly smuggling medical equipment into the house, the one fretting about whether her brother occasional lack of pulse in his sleep was a bad thing this time, the one to share sleepless nights along with her brother just talking trivialities so they could pretend for a moment.

Danny had always been hers like Jazz had always been his.

If their constant quarrels and natural stubbornness could not tear them apart in the middle of their parent’s madhouse but made them stronger, then a triviality as whether one of them was dead or not was not going to tear them apart.

And maybe someday she would have to join him on the other side. But that was cannon fodder for the future.

For now, she would only concentrate on ways to help. The faster she learned the better.

And if She and Danny had flourished and learned to cope in the madhouse their parents had built.

What better option to have an intensive course than another madhouse, right?

-.-.-.-

NOTES: :D

I like to believe that clothes were not the highest priorities in the Fenton household because Jack and Maddie can survive off jumpsuits alone and probably tried to convert their children too.

So Jazz and Danny would get their hands in any scrap of normal clothing they could, and by this point, Danny doesn’t even care if he has to use Jazz’s hello kitty sweater because that is better than his dad’s face.

He was already bullied anyway, might as well bite the fucking bullets.

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greyheartwriter · 4 years

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Part One

For Phic Phight 2020. Prompt by @five-rivers--Jack and Maddie acquire the pieces of Freakshow’s staff.

"Look at this Jack," Maddie said, staring intently at the radar screen. She and Jack had been up in the ops center since the kids had left for school a couple hours ago, working on some unfinished projects.

Jack put down the ectoblaster he was working on and walked over to look over his wife's shoulder. He scrunched up his face in confusion. He honestly had no idea what he was looking at. Maddie sighed and realized she'd have to explain.

"It's a strange ecto reading, out near the train bridge south of town. It's been popping up for a few weeks now, every so often." Realization dawned on Jack's face.

"Is it a ghost?" He asked.

Maddie shook her head. "No, I don't think so. The signature isn't powerful enough to be a ghost. I'm not sure what it is."

Jack's eyes suddenly lit up. "Let's go find out."

It took almost four hours, but they eventually tracked the ectosignature down, right beneath the train bridge. It was emanating from a few small red shards that looked like they were from some sort of crystal.

"That's strange. I know objects can be infused with ectoplasm, but this seems to be creating its own." Maddie's voice was full of curiosity.

"That's impossible. That would mean that this thing was created by ghosts," Jack argued, picking up a shard.

"I know, it's fascinating." Maddie carefully picked up the rest of the shards and put them into a small collection jar, along with the one Jack was holding. "Let's head back to the lab. I want to analyze these as soon as possible."

By the time they got back, Jazz and Danny were home from school. Jazz was sitting on the couch, reading, and hardly looked up when they came in the door. Danny on the other hand, was grabbing something to eat in the kitchen.

"Hey, Danny!" Jack said to greet his son. Danny just smiled back, then noticed that the two of them had their ectoguns with them.

"Where did you guys go?" Danny asked cautiously, worried that they might have been out ghost hunting.

"We detected a strange ectosignature and when to check it out," Maddie answered, she pulled the shards from her pocket, holding them up to eye level. Danny went pale when he saw them, but neither Jack nor Maddie seemed to notice, because she just kept talking. "The signature was coming from these strange crystals. We think they might have been a part of something larger, and that it may have been created by ghosts. I've never seen anything like it."

Danny gulped done the lump that had formed in his throat and forced himself to answer. "That's great. Hey, is it alright if I go over to Tuck's? He said he needed some help with... a thing. Anyway, can I go?"

Maddie had hardly heard him, she and Jack were already heading towards the lab stairs. "Go ahead honey, just be back by dark."

Danny didn't hesitate to dart from the kitchen up to his room to grab a few things and call Tucker. He rushed back downstairs and through the living room, saying goodbye to Jazz as he left. Jazz told him to be careful and to call her if anything happened before going back to her book.

When Danny got to Tucker's house, they went straight up to his room and dived right into the new video game that Tuck had bought that night. While they were playing, Sam showed up. Tuck asked her if she wanted to play, but she said no. She would rather watch Danny and Tucker beat the crap out of each other's avatars than play herself. Sam was more into the online rpgs. She watched them play for awhile, but started to think something was up after Danny lost three matches in a row. That hardly ever happened when the boys played each other.

"What's up Danny? You seem kinda distracted," she said.

Danny sighed and put down the controller before flopping backwards to lay on the beanbag he was on. "My parents. They came back after school today with pieces of Freakshow's crystal ball."

Sam and Tucker suddenly looked very worried.

"What? How'd they even find it?" Sam wondered.

"Yeah, we looked all over after it got smashed and we couldn't find it," Tucker added.

"They said it was giving off an ectosignature and that's how they tracked it."

"So what are they going to do with the pieces?"

Danny shrugged. "No idea. Probably experiments or something."

"Maybe you should avoid the lab for awhile, Danny. Who knows what could happen if those things can still control ghosts." Sam's concern clearly showed in her tone of voice.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on getting anywhere near those things."

When Danny got home that night, his parents were still in the lab and Jazz had gone upstairs to bed. He also went upstairs and tried to sleep, but he couldn't stop thinking about the shards in his basement and what they were capable of. He eventually gave up on sleep and went for a short flight instead.

The cool night air rushed past him and calmed his nerves just a little. As he flew back towards Fentonworks, he decided to just take a look in the lab and see if his parents had made a ny progress. He phased through the roof, clear down into the basement, staying invisible in case his parents were still working. They were. Danny hovered near the roof and watched.

Maddie was making some notes in her lab book and Jack was sitting nearby performing their most recent experiment. He was holding a shard near a small containment unit containing a blob-like ghost. Its eyes were glowing red. Danny tensed, remembering what it felt like to be under the influence of that crystal.

Maddie looked up and spoke. "Alright Jack. Tell it to do something."

Jack thought for a moment, then said, "Turn around." The ghost inside the container instantly faced away from him. Danny felt a sudden slight urge to do the same, but it wasn’t strong. Maybe it was because the crystal was in pieces, or because his dad wasn’t aware that Danny was there at all. That feeling wasn't a good sign. His parents already seemed to know that the crystal could control ghosts.

"It's just as I thought. This crystal seems to be able to influence ghosts' behavior." Maddie said thoughtfully. Jack placed the shard on the table and Danny saw the small ghost's eyes clear. His mother continued her observations. "It wasn't created by ghosts, though. It's definitely manmade, but whoever made it had to know an awful lot about ghosts. Enough to know how to control them."

Jack nodded in agreement.

"This could prove very useful in our research. We wouldn't have to catch ghosts, they would just do whatever we told them."

"What's the fun in that?" Jack grumbled.

Maddie ignored him. "We could even capture more powerful ghosts, like Phantom."

Danny inhaled sharply. His parents were already planning on using those things on him? He suddenly didn't feel so good. He phased up to his room and transformed back. He'd hated the way Freakshow had used him, trapped him inside himself and made him do all those terrible things. He'd nearly killed his best friends. His parents though, they would rather use him-Phantom-for research, dissection. He felt his breath becoming short and knew he was on the verge of a panic attack. He took several deep breaths to calm himself.

Okay. He thought to himself. This is bad, but, if they don't have the shards, they can't control anyone. I'll just get the shards back after they go to bed.

He waited, listening for his parents to come up the stairs to bed, but they never did. When the sun's light started to peek through his window, he gave up on waiting and got ready for school.

#dannyphantom #phicphight2020 #multichapter fic #part 1

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255940g · 4 years

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Holiday gift to @differentjasper. Happy holidays and I hope you enjoy!

Read on Ao3 here : https://archiveofourown.org/works/22012411

Holiday Truce Gift- Wes Weston study

I will admit this was supposed to be a character study of Wes Weston but then I saw a prompt on Tumblr about the lack of logical scars. Of course, the canon show isn’t really logical but they should have at least put vague lines there to show scars. We know scars can be kept on ghosts due to Clockwork. Be warned times passes quickly as I wrestled with this idea.

Looking at my bedroom wall I couldn’t help but think of how it has changed through the past school year. At the beginning of the year, there were pictures of a few famous basketball players.

Then came the emergence of the Phantom or the Ghost Boy as he was called in the beginning. The change of the wall came slowly and then all at once.

It started simple with one sketch of Phantom that I commissioned an artist on Tumblr that I followed and admired. Then a poster dedicated to a few sightings of Phantom around town.

By November, the first basketball poster came off to make room for more images of Phantom. I convinced myself that after I minimalized when I had more time-probably over Winter break- it would go right back up.

However, I knew even then, in my heart if secret hearts, that I was trying to fool myself. When I furled it back out in the middle of February for the annual garage sale my parents insisted on doing, I threw it semi-carefully into the box labelled ‘Garage sale’.

It mattered even less when I quit the basketball team. It seemed shocking to my parents yet they understood my decisions eventually. A week after quitting I saw a black-haired male transform into Phantom. It took another week of school for me to learn his name. Well, what I mean is, is that I heard of him but I never connected the person to the name.

The person that transformed into Phantom was Danny always picked on by Dash Fenton. Who wasn’t to be confused with his older sister who Dash had a crush on. The Friday two weeks after I figured out who Phantom was would be the most accurate spot place where my obsession began.

Looking at the wall now, there is only images of Phantom, the enemies he faces, and a few pictures of solely Sam, Tucker, and Danny. I couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride and accomplishment of the detailed work that I have done.

Each enemy has at least one detailed notecard with details on visible powers, personal info, and where and when they have attacked. A few even had who they were before they were ghosts. Take the lunch lady ghost as an example. It was easy to figure out who she was. A dedicated lunch lady that made the lunches the exact same way as they are now 50 years after her death. Of course, I had backups of all this data written down multiple times in different books and google drive just for same keeping.

Sam, Tucker, and Danny’s notecards were different. They had what they helped Phantom and Fenton with. When those two were eventually transformed into ghosts another notecard was added for their ghost half.

For Sam, it was when she managed to transform into a plant ghost. Not overly surprising that her ghost self had powers over plants when Sam adores her greenhouse and the plants inside there.

Tuckers ghost self was unusual. He didn’t get ghost powers for all that he has a ‘girlfriend’ in his beloved PDA. He was some sort of Egyptian Emperor. Either way, neither of them had ghost powers anymore and that is what had mattered to everyone at school, their teachers, and parents.

Knowing that Fenton was Phantom doesn’t seem to have any perks for me. Danny took every opportunity to show off how blind everyone in town was. For the annual Casper High Halloween party festival thing that went on Danny dressed up as Phantom. The only difference was that Danny kept his human half blue eyes. That shit. No one even suspected a single thing. Not even Paulina who was self-proclaimed in love with Phantom! Asshole Fenton.

Almost a full year later since Phantom first starred on the news.

Ok so in actuality it was the first full week of summer vacation when everything shifted. I was no longer joked and teased. In as much secret as possible other students came to me to hear my ideas and possibilities of Phantom and about Phantom. Finally, people were listening! Yet, at what cost to Danny?

*Flashback*

I was both on my phone and watching the news displaying Phantom creating a small snow cloud over a portion of Amnity’s main and only park’s grass. Well, the small children seemed to adore having snow to help with the unusual heat of the afternoon. The news report changed to a ghost attacking another part of Amnity. Phantom quickly found out about the attack and first rushed over to the parents of the children then rushed to help the fleeing people there. I haven’t heard a name yet but I grabbed my supplies of notecards, pens, and switched to recording the audio of the news report to my phone.

I knew that depending on what ghost powers this new ghost had it would take a few minutes or even days to defeat them.

About 5 minutes later I watched as Danny was repeatedly beaten soundly and squarely. While the camera focused on the attacking ghost I took a few quick pictures to print out and size later.

I was already taking notes on what powers the new ghost displayed.

About an hour later I was highly concerned. Danny still was being beaten and unable to get many good hits to the new ghost. While I was watching my eye caught a small detail. Dany’s jumpsuit was coming off and apart slowly but surely. The next attack flung Phantom sailing backwards with his back to the camera above taping the report.

It was only able to be seen due to the fact that functionally all of the tops of the jumpsuit was destroyed. There on his back were scars that looked all connected like lightening. From what I could see was that it was one scar that disappeared over his front. The scar was a bright red, there were thicker and thinner lines and all of the liner were jagged.

The usual yapping by the reporter was cut off and there was silence. The eerie silence gave the report a feel for even more shock then what I thought possible. Once Danny crashed through a building-luckily turning intangible before impact so there wasn’t any more structural damage. The last things I heard and saw before the camera shut off was the attacking ghost clearly looking for Phantom and the reporter asking “What were those scars?”

The next time that the same report came back on it was showing how Phantom was now defeating the formerly attacking ghost.

‘Damnit! I still don’t have a name!’ I thought furiousely.

At least the jumpsuit was repaired completely. Although it was clear to see that Danny was still in pain, but was giving his all. As usual, he was able to eventually able to defeat the ghost and it was quickly sucked into the thermos. Then, as usual, Dany turned invisible soon after making sure that there was no one stuck in any rubble.

It wasn’t surprising to see another report of Phantom gracing the news. This time the topic was how and what those scars were and meant. It was made clear by the close-up -yet still a bit grainy- picture of the scars in the discovery of them.

There was a guest speaker who was a doctor -a forensic pathologist- speaking confidently on what those scars were and how they are gained a human body.

With confidence, she declared when prompted “Scars like those will only ever appear on a human body due to electrocution. There is the argument that I know nothing on ghosts. This is true. I functionally know nothing on ghosts. What I do know is how human acquires scars. Specifically how those scars are kept on a dead body. With my 14 years of working solely on dead bodies and 3 years in the medical field I can guarantee with absolute certainty that those scars are both more numerous then what the camera picked up at that great distance and that they were caused by any kind of electrocution. Most commonly it’s by lightning yet, with circumstances being they are the only certainty is that they are electrocution scars.”

Ms Doctor person continued describing attributes of scars. But I was still in a slight shock.

I wasn’t taking any notes with only a single thought in my mind when did Danny get electrocuted. I didn’t tune back into normal time until commercials came on. I had more research to get to.

It took two weeks to track down Dany Fenton and research on scars. But I did. The only thing he confirmed was that he was electrocuted ad it was how he died.

In the months I was contacted quietly and secretly by classmates who asked to confirm. All of them were sombre and quite fearful. But hey I was being listened to. … Right?

By the time that school started Danny and Jazz were adopted by their godfather Mayor Masters due to their parents being negligent and more concerned with their in-home science lab both in the basement and above Fenton wors than the overall saftey of their children.

In a semi-small town, any news is still news and reporters do need to find stories and get paid.

By November, Phantom seemed to have two mentors where he trained with his powers. The Guys In White warned the public to stay away at all costs because they were ghosts. Yet no one really listened.

#holidaytrucr2019 #@differentjasper #here is your gift

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ilikepensandships · 5 years

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Gray Ghost for Christmas Truce 2018

For @sonysakura

A Gray Ghost fanfic where Valerie shows Danny that you can have a good time in December without worrying about Christmas. This is my first Truce, and I know that I’m pushing my submission to the last possible second. Sorry about that. I really hope you like it!! Thanks goes to @stray-weebs for supporting me while writing this. Story under the break!

It was their first Christmas together. She wanted to do something to get his mind off the fact, but she wasn’t sure what. After much thought and consideration, Valerie Gray decided the best thing she could do was invite Danny Fenton over for a Christmas- free night spent at her place. Money was still tight, so there wasn't much preparation taking down tinsel or the like before Danny got there. She considered everything, moving even the small tree her dad had gotten from the second hand store into his bedroom. Not one thing remained to remind Danny of his least favorite holiday, save for the television programs running ‘round the clock. The t.v. would not be coming on for now, if at all.

Danny arrived at 6 o'clock pm. Valerie opened the door for him, glad that he made it on time; it happened so rarely. He was slightly disheveled, snow coating his tousled black hair. His red and white coat was thin, more appropriate for fall or spring than a walk through the snow in the dead of December. Valerie smiled at him; he frowned back.

“Do you know what my parents were yelling about before I left?” he asked with a huff. She knew. It was always the same: Mr. Fenton would fervently insist that Santa Claus was real, while Mrs. Fenton would spew facts about how impossible the mere idea of his existence was unrealistic. Every year it was the same, and every year it would put Danny in the same damn slump. She was sick of it. That’s what this night was for: taking his mind off of that stupid fight.

Danny and Valerie had moved to the couch. She had snack foods spread across the coffee table, tediously saved up over the past few weeks. There was all his favorites, including plain tortilla chips for dipping in guacamole.

“Danny, there’s no use in getting stressed over what your parents fight about. They’re going to do what they’re going to do. You can’t change that.” Valerie paused, seeing that flick of green in his eyes. Now was not the time to ask. “How about we play cards?” She pulled a pack out from seemingly nowhere and offered them to Danny.

He considered them, shirking out of his coat and laying it on the back of the couch. “Sure,” he said, reaching for a bag of doritos. “What do you want to play?”

Valerie opened the tattered pack of cards, trying to decide whether the moment called for a calm game like Memory, or a more exciting game, such as Slap Jack. Looking at Danny, fidgeting and antsy, she went with a calm one. “You know how to play Kings’ Corners?” she asked, not taking him for a card player.

“Yeah, it’s really fun,” he responded, momentarily distracted from opening his chips. “Jazz taught it to me a while back. She said that it’s a ‘good coping mechanism’, or something.”

Valerie shuffled the cards, pondering how much she didn’t know about the pale, skinny boy sitting in front of her. This kid was still so mysterious, so elusive… yet he still managed to surprise her in the softest, simplest ways. It caused an affection to bloom in her every time that fueled her toward wanting to give him a happiness she knew he could not achieve on his own.

“Okay. Since you know the rules, are you ready to lose?” she asked, all in good humor.

“Bring it, Val!” he said enthusiastically. His demeanor did a 180°, going from gloomy teen to competitive card player in two seconds flat. They swiped the snacks to the side of the coffee table, some toppling to the floor. Val swiped 14 cards to her and Danny respectively, each hand totaling to seven cards. She placed four cards face up in the centre, one on each side of the extra stack.

“Alright, Danny, you first,” she said, eyeing her cards with a skeptical glare. Her hand was trash. He picked up the mandatory card from the pile, then got to work on dispelling his cards. He placed down two kings, both red, and placed most of the rest of his hand down on the surrounding cards.

“How well did you shuffle these?” he asked, head tilted, eyebrow up and quizzical.

“I’m usually a great dealer,” Valerie responded, lips slightly puckered. She glanced back down at her cards. How did he end up with such a great hand? “You done?” He nodded, grin still plastered to his face. Danny never did have a good poker face.

The game didn’t last long. Danny quickly disposed of his hand within the next few rounds, Valerie seeming only to collect. This pattern continued throughout their next few games of cards, all passing relatively swiftly. Danny had quite the nice winning streak going, and he wasn’t prepared to quit just yet.

“I’m getting tired of Go Fish,” Val sighed. They’d played five rounds of it, and Danny was ready for another round.

“Pleeeeease, one more round,” he begged. She looked at him, the way his eyes glimmered with those otherworldly green specks that seemed to glow. His clasped hands begging her for one more round. His pitch black hair messy from all the times he ran his hand through it in their previous rounds. She couldn’t resist.

“Alright, one more round,” she relented. “Then we should do something else. It’s already getting pretty late.”

“Nine o’clock isn’t that late,” Danny argued, crossing his arms. “I’ve been out way later fighting gh-” He cut himself off, mouth still open from forming the word. His eyes grew wide, and he almost seemed to stop breathing. The sound his teeth made snapping shut was awful, and his eyes darted to his right. “I’ve been out way later... playing fight games with Tucker,” he corrected, still uneasy.

Valerie didn’t know how to feel about that. He was clearly lying. Should she call him out on it?

She shifted, Danny’s large eyes tilting the mood on its head. “You’re right,” she said quietly, “Nine o’clock isn’t that late.” She dealt the cards, exercising her patience to the limit. All she wanted to do was release the flow of questions and accusations building up inside her, but she knew that would ruin any chance she had of giving Danny a relaxing night in the midst of the Christmas bustle. For now, they would continue as though nothing had happened, though both knew there was a deeper meaning behind that bumble.

“Ha!” Danny shouted, slamming down his final match. He had won almost every game they played, from the initial game of Kings’ Corners to Crazy Eights to Go Fish. Valerie wasn’t sure exactly what Jazz had taught him, but, whatever it was, she might have to pay her a visit or two.

Looking at the time, Valerie decided what would happen next. She set down her cards, and prepared to take the next step of the night, however much later it was than she’d originally planned. Who knew Danny loved cards so much? “Hey, Danny?” Val asked, almost shyly.

“Yeah?” he looked at Valerie, victory gloat momentarily forgotten.

“I- uh, have a little something for you. I’m gonna go get it, okay?” With a nod of consent from Danny, Valerie rose from the small table perched in front of the couch and entered her bedroom. She passed the corkboard full of wanted ghosts, dodged the ectoweapons scattered on the floor, and grabbed the neatly wrapped present hidden under her bed. It wasn’t much, certainly nothing he couldn’t acquire on his own, but it’s the thought that counts, right? She hoped he liked it.

“I’m back,” she announced. The present was held behind her back, it’s baby blue paper crinkling with her nervousness. The rocket ships printed on the paper was a special treat, one she had scored from a friend.

While she’d been gone, Danny had cleaned up the cards, placing them back in their worn box- if you could even call it a box anymore, it was so shredded from use. He watched her with expectancy, ice blue eyes trained on what was hidden behind her. “I got you a gift,” Valerie confessed. At Danny’s frown, she continued. “I know, I know, tonight is supposed to be Christmas- free, but… I wanted to give you your gift early, and… I don’t know, it just feels like the right time, and-”

“Valerie.”

She looked to the boy across from her. “You’re babbling,” he said, gentler this time, quieter. There was that soft streak again. The gentle caress in his tone, the kindness shining through those bright eyes. “Can I see it?” he asked, holding out his hands, a small smile dancing on his face.

She handed him the small package. “You can open it right now if you’d like.” A nod of acknowledge, examination of where to attack first.

“The paper’s great,” he said, grinning. He went in with an attack to the paper, small tears at first, turned large as excitement grew.

“I hope you like it.” Valerie sat, fidgeting with her hands. This was what took the longest to save up for. She had waited weeks to purchase it, even then she had to count out the exact change. It difficult, but she knew that Danny deserved something great for Christmas. As great as she could afford, anyways.

“You got me Trinity of Doom!! I’ve been wanting this movie since last year!!” he looked up at Valerie, a grin as big as could be spread across his face. “Thanks a ton, Val!” He sat, smiling and reading the cover while Valerie checked the time: 10:30 pm. It was getting late….

“Could we watch it?” he asked, startling her out of her thoughts.

“Yeah,” she agreed. They moved to the couch, Danny turning the television on and popping the movie into the DVD Player on the way. They snuggled close in the mildly chilly room, enjoying chips, a horror movie, and each other’s company.

#christmas truce 2018 #truce2018 #phicc #gray ghost #danny phantom #danny fenton #valerie gray #maggie writes

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phantomrose96 · 6 years

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Souls Follow After

Half an hour late--here’s my Christmas Truce fic for @bloodblossomtea, who requested something based on an old fic of mine, Minds Follow!

So, here’s the companion piece to Minds Follow: Souls Follow After

The death of Daniel Fenton had been called a lot of things.

“Tragic” ranked among the most common, near-tied with “heroic” and “untimely” and “heart-breaking.” Every new media account blended the themes, calling Daniel soft-spoken and meek and kind, unpopular and unnoticed and bullied, culminating into a sacrifice all the more tragic, all the more heroic, all the more heart-breaking when he gave his life for the sake of his classmates.

Vlad Masters had stopped listening to the media accounts.

He saw it differently, in a light the papers and newscasters and forums didn’t capture.

It had been a betrayal.

Daniel had cut their game short.

He’d thrown his life away with no regard for what it meant to those around him, no thought spared for how many of Vlad’s plans came crumbling down, long-term intentions and near-solidified future snipped short.

Vlad raged, and Vlad grieved. He mourned for his son who’d died, his child in everything but blood, and he destroyed his lab in an outpouring of rage for the manner in which Daniel had gone out. It had been that one most irritating trait, that one so distinctly un-Vlad-like quality that Vlad so despised, that Daniel so reveled in—that self-sacrifice for others. It had been as though Daniel’s final words were “I’m nothing like you Vlad,” and as though he had died before Vlad could offer so much as a single word in rebuttal.

Vlad called in with his condolences to Maddie, as any politician and any bachelor would, but he did not expect anything to come of this. That family of him, Maddie, and Daniel no longer existed, and that resentment of his spilled over to Maddie. She’d raised her son to be like this. She shared the blame.

Vlad did not attend the funeral. It was the right choice. He wouldn’t have wanted to be present when Danny turned up anyway.

Because unlike everyone else, Vlad Masters was not interested in giving Danny a second chance. When his ghost form appeared at his own funeral, disoriented but still so charmingly Danny, everyone had been so quick to forgive. Joyful, tearful, thankful relief greeted him from a gathering of loved ones and admirers who had believed him truly dead. Vlad alone wasn’t so quick to forgive.

He’d considered it. In the mangled twist of emotions gripping his heart, sipping wine in a living room so far away and removed from Amity Park, he thought about revoking his grudge. Maybe he would still pursue what had been rightfully his. That family and that half-ghost—…whole-ghost son. But the more Vlad considered it, the more he seethed against the pieces that Daniel had irrevocably tainted.

Daniel had thrown away his half-ghost identity, that single uniting tether between him and Vlad, setting them apart as the two isolated individuals who could ever hope to understand each other. Daniel had revoked that. And he’d imprinted himself on society as that thing Vlad so despised—a “hero.” The childish kind. The comic book kind. The kind that threw their life away for high school nobodies, useless sniveling pathetic teenagers who’d only ever mocked him.

And, perhaps the thing that Vlad detested the most about the whole situation—Daniel was now holding all the cards. He made this clear to Vlad with an irritatingly smug phone call a few days prior, because now Danny’s identity was common knowledge, and so now Vlad’s identity was held hostage. Danny offered to keep Vlad’s identity secret under the condition that 1) Vlad stayed away from Amity Park. 2) Vlad no longer targeted his dad. 3) Vlad forked over $10,000 to Danny, for the hell of it.

The $10,000 was nothing. It was the blow against his pride that stopped the words in Vlad’s throat. He hated it all, but more than anything, he hated being held by the neck.

So he did what made most sense. He moved on.

Vlad wouldn’t say he lost. That wasn’t in his vocabulary. Instead, Daniel just wasn’t worth his time anymore. He was an idiot, a traitor, a fool, and worst of all a ghost. Not a half ghost. Just a ghost, a ball of proto-plasm, a construct of filthy spiritual energy. He had no claim to his humanity anymore, so he had no claim to Vlad’s interest.

Vlad buried himself in projects far more important. Vlad’s networking through the ghost zone expanded. Plans to successfully acquire Pariah Dark’s powers formed from the ether. His A.I.s advanced, a Maddie who understood him intimately, and now a Daniel who would never betray him. They’d rule at his side, timeless and ageless, important features since Vlad intended to procure the immortality that came with the Crown of Fire.

Money bought power, and experts, and silence. His laboratory evolved into a labyrinth of cutting-edge breakthroughs and ghost weaponry the likes of which no one had seen, the likes of which Maddie and Jack Fenton could only dream of. As the years passed, the contact that Jack made with Vlad slowed to a trickle, and stopped all-together. Vlad left all of Jack’s messages unopened and unread. He wanted nothing more to do with the Fentons, as he understood finally the truth of the matter: they had only held him back. He never needed Daniel, dead now. Nor Maddie, dead to him now. Nor Jack, who was simply not worth the energy to make dead.

The A.I.s developed. They understood him. They valued him. They called him “Dear” and “Dad.” The Maddie A.I. occupied the bed with him at night, gentle light and soft buzzing warming the room. The Daniel A.I. Vlad altered over time. He removed the most Jack-like features from the boy’s face—that wide nose and flat jaw, those blue eyes, that idiotic stubbornness—telltale in the crease of his brow and quirk of the eyebrow. Vlad took them away. He swapped them for features recognizable in himself.

They were Maddie and Daniel Masters. Ten years on, the name “Fenton” hardly crossed Vlad’s mind.

…

When the phone rang, it was a number instantly recognizable. It was embedded in Vlad’s memory from years back.

On a whim, Vlad answered.

“Hello.”

“Vlad?’

Vlad trailed his hand along the arm of his recliner, sweeping around it and sitting down, legs crossed, leaning into the phone. “Oh if it isn’t Maddie Fenton. What a pleasant surprise hasn’t it been ages? How are you? To what do I owe this distinct pleasure, my old flame?”

A beat of silence followed.

“Hi Vlad… Yeah it’s um. It’s been a while. I’m fine. But it’s um, it’s Danny…”

Vlad investigated his manicured nails. There was such an organic nuance to Maddie Fenton’s voice, something he hadn’t quite perfected in Maddie Masters. It was almost nostalgic to hear that again, so…lacking in adoration for him. He’d train the Maddie A.I. on this voice recording. Maybe he could barter to get Daniel on the line as well.

“Oh how is the young lad? Last I saw him he was only a teenager. When, ten years back? How time flies. Has he married that little goth friend of his yet?”

“…No, Vlad. Danny’s not—It’s um… it’s more complicated than that.”

Vlad bounced his foot. That was right, Maddie used to over-enunciate the first syllable of her words, pitching up. He’d tweak Maddie Masters’s speech program to incorporate it.

“Complicated how, my darling?”

“It’s something about his ghost form… He’s been acting strange. Slowly. For a while Jack and I thought he was maybe um, just coping with losing his friends to college.”

“Has he attended college?”

“No.”

Vlad faltered at this, jaw tensing. His foot stilled, and an old tinge of anger licked just beneath his ribcage.

“I see. He’s given up all aspirations of the future to stay home and play hero. Typical of him. It’s rather cute.”

“Yes but… no, Vlad. God um… I thought Jack told you.”

“Jack?” Vlad eased. The Fentons weren’t his problem anymore. He’d answered the phone out of simple nostalgia. Vlad kicked the recliner footrest up. “I haven’t heard from old Jacky in years. How is he?”

“Jack… No he’s messaged you. He—it—never mind. Danny. Something’s off with him—been off with him. Ghost theory. Well it—he—sorry, Vlad. I thought you knew most of this from Jack.”

“Knew what?”

“I’ll—” Through the phone, Vlad heard the sound of a door shutting. “I’ll start over. Danny’s not been himself. Slowly. Since the incident. He can’t leave the town, and he’s been…” Static crackled through. “Jack and I have theories. It would be easier to explain in person. Samples and tests. But, explanations don’t fix anything. We’re at a loss. You’re the only other expert who maybe. I know you don’t owe us any favors, but if you could just—somewhere in your soul find it to… We still live in the same house Vlad. We aren’t going anywhere. If you could come by, and maybe just, see if you can find something we can’t.”

Vlad pursed his lips. He’d been growing rather bored lately, and Wisconsin winter had been growing cold.

“Ooh, sorry Maddie Dear. I’m quite the busy man these days. It’s just not feasible.”

“I’ll have dinner with you.” The phoneline crackled again, the shifting of hands. “I talked it over with Jack. I know what sort of man you are Vlad. I still am your friend Vlad… even if I don’t trust all of the person you’ve grown into.”

Vlad let a smile pass over his lips. “You’re assuming that I haven’t moved on from you.”

“Vlad, please…? For Danny, if not for me.”

Vlad stood, and stretched, and mulled the offer over in his head. He quirked an eyebrow, and nodded only to himself as he realized, if nothing else, it was a perfect opportunity to record Maddie’s mannerisms in person. And his A.I. deserved only the best training data.

“Alright Maddie. I’ll see what works with my schedule, and I’ll let you know.”

…

Jack had grayed. Maddie herself was not far behind. Vlad eyed her thinning hair and bag-creased eyes with a twinge of smugness. Maddie Masters retained her youth.

“Hey there, V-man, safe trip…? Um, do you still go by V-man?”

Vlad set his suitcase down, and he shook Jack’s outstretched hand. “I never went by V-man.”

“Oh, haha.” Jack looked away after a moment, hand moving to the back of his neck. He was just as hefty as he’d been ten years back, orange-clad and aging. His small eyes were watery, veined with crows feet. Laugh lines ridged through his cheeks, set above peppery stubble. He’d lost something. His buoyant energy had vanished. “Been a while, yeah? Um, y’know I’ve sent some messages to ya here and there. They must’ve gotten lost in your spam filter, huh?”

“Oh, must have.”

Vlad broke off conversation, and he stepped over the Fenton threshold to Maddie, who he pulled into an all-consuming hug. He let it linger, smelling her scent, tracing the contours of her back. As much as he preferred his Maddie A.I., he had not yet figured out scent and touch. Future models, he planned, would have a physical body.

Finally, Maddie pushed away.

“It’s nice to see you Vlad… Thanks for finding the time to come out here.”

“Oh it’s all my pleasure,” Vlad answered, his eyes roving over Maddie, drinking her in. She’d aged too, once-smooth skin scrunching with wrinkles, cheeks more pallid, more sallow than the rosy ones he’d fallen in love with. Her eyes were tired, and Vlad was so glad that Maddie Masters was eternally pleased to see him.

Vlad broke away from her. “Now, I was thinking Italian for dinner. Or, if you would prefer, an upscale Hibachi restaurant. Money is no object, my dear.”

Maddie studied him, eyes wide, words chosen carefully. “Danny. He’s in the basement.

“Oh right, the little badger. It’s such a shame to hear he’s been feeling off.”

“I sent you a document,” Maddie continued. She stepped closer to the basement, eyes lingering behind on Vlad, as if pleading him to follow. “It’s all of what Jack and I have theorized so far. Experimental procedures and results. Have you read it yet?”

Vlad waved her off. “My apologies. I haven’t found the time. I am very busy these days. I’m sure you can get me up to speed.” He followed, arms folded behind his back, attention set on the basement. Maddie walked next to him, visibly tense.

“He hasn’t left the basement in a few days now,” Maddie continued.

“I think he’ll change his tune when he sees me.”

Maddie remained silent. She set a hand to the basement door, easing it open cautiously. Vlad paused behind her, stealing glances. She’d lost weight, instantly obvious in comparison to the Maddie A.I., who’d been a flawless duplicate of Maddie Fenton ten years back. Vlad pondered absently on how much Daniel may or may not have changed. Certainly something mental had changed—it was what he’d been called in for. But the state of Daniel Fenton had no bearing on Daniel Masters, so it mattered to Vlad little.

Vlad followed Maddie down the creaking stairs, and ten years’ worth of petty, vengeful thoughts filtered through his mind. It may have been his last chance to make Daniel owe up to the grief he brought into Vlad’s life.

The lights were off, the portal open. Vlad blinked as he noticed the gleam, starkly emerald and blindingly bright, swirling through darkness, casting a swath of light that sent shadows dancing across the wall. Someone small stood just in front of the blaze—floated, rather. Tail flickering listlessly, gloves trailing worn patterns into the dusty portal edge, eyes hypnotized in the gleam.

Maddie folded her arms in against her stomach, taking a step back as Vlad overtook her, a twisting discomfort swamping through his mind.

“Daniel? Haven’t aged much my boy, have you?”

Vlad paused. Danny did not move. His tail flicked, his hands traced, his eyes remained consumed in the brightness before him.

“Daniel.”

No response. Vlad pressed forward. He stood beside Danny, right hand raised to shield his eyes from the brightness of the portal. His brow furrowed, investigating the glassy nothing that seemed to exist behind Danny’s eyes.

He turned to Maddie. “Certain ghosts possess hypnotic powers. He could potentially—”

Maddie shook her head, resigned. “Jack and I ruled that out already. It’s not hypnosis. This was gradual…”

Heavy footsteps creaked down the first few stairs. Vlad glanced, finding Jack hovering just as the door to the stairwell.

Vlad ignored him, fixing his attention back on Danny. “So it’s something to do with his ghost core then?”

Danny’s eyes sparked, shoulders dropping, head perking. He twisted to face Vlad, a single, sudden, jerking movement. “Ghost?”

Vlad stared. The spark in Danny’s eyes seemed to be little more than an echo, glassy glazed and empty, like a recording. Like a reflection. Like a memory, rather than a person in and of himself.

“Is that what you’re doing Daniel? You’re hunting ghosts?”

“Where?” Danny asked, firecracker-like excitement. His tail flicked, and he floated closer to Vlad, until mere inches separated them. Vlad stepped back. Danny’s breath froze over.

It was as though the gun fired. Danny pounced, throwing himself against the portal with the fervor of an animal at feeding time. His gloves skimmed the swirling surface, tracing ripples through the portal as his aura flared like fire around him.

“Show yourself!” Danny shouted. “How’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3? If the blast doesn’t wreck you, the shockwave will!”

“That’s all he responds to,” Maddie said quietly. “Ghost.” She moved beside Vlad, putting a hand out to rest on Danny’s shoulder. The boy studied it quizzically, rolling his shoulder to free himself. Maddie let her hand drop without resistance. “We think it’s—”

“An obsession.”

“…Yeah,” Maddie conceded.

Vlad rubbed his forehead a moment, thoughts sober. His smug giddiness drained away, replaced with something dense in his chest. “Why though?”

Maddie leaned a shoulder against the portal. “We have… a couple theories. It’s maybe a flaw in…what he is. That ghost-human hybrid… It made something about him unstable.”

Vlad chewed his lip, feeling out a twinge of power beneath his palm. “No. I don’t believe that theory. What else?”

“…A ghost sickness, perhaps…”

Vlad shook his head.

“No.” He offered no further elaboration. The Fentons were not entitled to his research.

Maddie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Jack doesn’t like this theory, but I’m—it’s what I’m most convinced of.” She moved forward again, and trailed her hand along Danny’s cheek. He’d calmed down once more, only hazily aware of his surroundings, eyes fixated on the portal. “I think it’s… maybe that Danny wasn’t meant to come back. And it was this obsession that brought him back. He died saving people. It’s what his ghost half knows to do. Fight the ghosts. Save the town.”

Maddie lowered her hand to Danny’s shoulder once more, turning him to face her. He turned, but he did not look at her. His eyes saw through her. Scanning. Eternally searching. She leaned in and kissed his forehead, lingering against him, eyes shut to forget.

When she leaned back, she continued. “It was his obsession that came back, that’s his ghostly fuel, and the rest of him just came along, the parts that were supposed to be dead. We didn’t notice. We didn’t do anything. Those pieces can’t live in the human world. …And they rotted away. And they left behind just what a ghost is… just an echo.”

Vlad backed away.

“Something doesn’t make sense. So many ghosts still have their identity. This is different.”

“If Mads is right, then… it’s our fault,” Jack answered, easing down a few more steps. “He had other things keeping his spirit alive, back when he was in school and had his friends and his sister. He had a job even, once. But those things… Danny graduated, and his friends went to college, and he just kinda… He lost those other things that mighta been keeping him healthy… Danny can’t leave—it’s this radius—some kind of barrier that keeps him a certain distance from the portal. And it just kept shrinking. It—we were trying to make it easy on him. He was losing so much. So when he doubled-down on ghost-hunting… I was excited. We let him… We let him just… boil down to an obsession…”

Vlad hesitated. “Maddie, Jack, would you two kindly leave the basement for a few minutes? I’d like to speak to Daniel.”

“Why?” Maddie asked.

“Just something I would like to test.”

“What, though?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes but—”

“Then leave. I won’t harm him. It’ll be quick.”

Reluctantly, Maddie backed away. She retreated to the steps, climbing until Jack set a heavy hand to her shoulder and guided her out. Vlad heard the door click shut behind him.

“Now then.” Vlad squared his feet, breathing deep, allowing a sudden lash of power to envelop his body. It swept over him, chilling, invigorating, sparking like electricity. Aura swamped him, skin turning pale sickly blue, eyes red, fangs glistening, cape sweeping out behind him. Vlad rolled his shoulders, and he cracked his neck.

“Ghost.”

Danny turned with an instantaneous flicker. His eyes were consumed in fire, deliriously giddy and yet hardly present. He fired off a blast that Vlad absorbed into his shield.

“Daniel, we’re going to have a little chat about this.”

Danny lunged, firing off round after round of ectoblast. Vlad dodged and blocked with ease, spinning and catching Danny by the neck. The boy choked, sputtered somewhat, and then squirmed under Vlad’s grip. Vlad turned, and slammed him against the portal edge.

“Listen, Daniel. It’s Vlad. Vlad Masters. Vlad Plasmius. If there’s an ounce of the real you left in this shell you’ll recognize that name. Tell me you recognize the name!”

Danny’s struggling eased. He stared back instead, eyes filmy and neon. He blinked, brows twisting in pained concentration, his face just as young and boyish as the last day Vlad had seen him a decade before.

Danny set a hand against Vlad’s chokehold, inquisitive, stressed, the tiniest spark of thoughts trying to form behind glazed nothing.

Then Danny squeezed, and Vlad’s fingers cracked, and Vlad howled, dropping Daniel to the floor.

“Thought you had me, didn’t you ghost? How’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3? If the blast doesn’t wreck you, the shockwave will!”

“Daniel, stop.” Vlad closed in. “It’s bad enough you died. It’s bad enough you betrayed me. It’s absolutely unacceptable that you tarnish your own dignity in this way. Is this how you’d like me to remember you, oh Hero of Amity Park? Like this?”

Danny raised his hand. Green energy gathered in his palm. “Hey ghost, how’s about an ectoblast that fires off at mach 3?”

Vlad snarled, and then he screamed, and he let off a single shot of violet energy that struck Danny dead center. The boy flew back, cracking against the lab wall. And the rage welling in Vlad’s chest—the anger of betrayal, of loss, of grief, of insult to the boy he’d once called his son—all vanished in a sudden new ice front. Some other all-consuming feeling that climbed his throat and snuffed the fire in his chest.

After having given up so many years ago, he realized with a jolt that, perhaps, he was staring at his own future after all. Not the one with Daniel dressed in a tailored tuxedo, and Maddie in a ballgown by his side, as guests made of the world’s most affluential people flocked to the Masters’ mansion for Vlad and Maddie’s engagement party.

This was a different future, one of empty feral eyes and one-liners, repeated on record, until all identity had sapped away. Vlad stared at Danny’s bruised ghost form, and he understood instantly. Daniel’s transition to full ghosthood hadn’t been a measure to separate himself to Vlad. Rather, Daniel had just gone ahead first. He died and found the future that, someday, may be the fate awaiting Vlad. Empty eyes and repeated one-liners about, what exactly? His A.I.s? Maddie? Danny himself?

Vlad gave one last look at the green nothing staring back at him. And then the lab door burst open. And Vlad vanished through the wall.

…

Maddie had reached out to Vlad three more times since then. The first time had been the very same day, leaving a heart-felt apology for whatever had provoked Danny to attack Vlad like that, and begging that he not give up on helping. There was still hope. She was still available for dinner.

The next time she called came a decade later, the day that Maddie’s sister died. Maddie left a message, rambling and incoherent, broken mutterings seeking reassurance. She’d been leaning on her sister for support all these years, and breast cancer had taken her away. She had no one left to tell the things that hurt Jack too much to hear about. Danny hadn’t spoken in years. Jazz almost never called home. Maddie had these dreams, recurring nightmares, that she went to the basement and found Jazz there too, empty eyes on the portal, gone. She wanted to shut the portal down. She wanted nothing more to do with it. She was afraid that Danny might vanish all together if she did that.

She left this all in a message. Vlad did not pick up.

The third phone call came after seven more years. She was calling because Jack had died, peacefully, in his sleep. He felt no pain. He did not suffer. It was just her now, her and Danny, in the house. And Maddie could not sleep at night. Not without Jack’s snoring beside her, not without his warmth. Not with the sound of the portal humming through the night. And then she trailed off, silent, voicemail recording nothing but the shallow sound of her breath. Vlad had not answered. Maddie put the phone down.

Perhaps she did it because she had no one to stop her. Maddie pulled the RV out of the garage, and she kicked the engine to life, and she drove. It took two days, hardly sleeping, hardly stopping, just the nav and the hum of the engine around her. It was easier not to think like this, easier to believe none of it had happened.

When Maddie pulled up to the Masters’ mansion, she took out the key she’d stuffed in her pocket, a decades-old relic, given to her back when Vlad still craved her company—“if she should so ever get tired of that bumbling fool she married.”

Maddie let herself in, and the mansion was dark. She flicked on light after light, calling out Vlad’s name, scanning the walls with wary eyes. A thin layer of dust coated the windows, the book shelves, the sills, the light switches that Maddie flicked. Looming granite archways felt hollow, abandoned, like the dark catacombs of a cave, untouched. The living room was icily cold, a window left cracked, water damage staining down the length of wall beneath it. The wind blew, and the window howled. Maddie kept on.

She came to the library, and she pulled out dusty book after dusty book. She knew Vlad Masters well enough to know he had a lab hidden away somewhere—that an empty house did not necessarily mean he was not in it. And she knew Vlad Masters well enough to know he would hide it away in the most grandiose way possible.

One of the statues clicked under her touch, cold and copper-headed, and the nearby wall opened up to a stairwell below.

Maddie followed it, shivering with the temperature drop. Her breath curled in front of her, crystalized. She hunched her shoulders in and braced herself. Marble stairs carried her footsteps with resounding echoes, clacking forward, consumed in the dark nothing ahead of her.

At the bottom, the floor leveled out, and another few steps brought her around the corner, where everything she expected met her eye. Crackling equipment stretched floor to ceiling, strung up with wires and flashing warning colors. The air turned sharp and citrusy, poorly ventilated. Maddie walked, heels clacking, carrying her through rooms of lab tables lined with beakers whose contents had solidified to the bottom, incubation tubes large enough to house humans and lit from the inside, monitors flickering with jagged static images. The citrus smell turned to rot as she came upon the last room.

“Vlad?”

Maddie looked around her, peering through darkness.

“Vlad?” her own voice echoed back.

Maddie spun, and found herself staring into her reflection. Though it wasn’t her reflection exactly—it was a younger Maddie, eyes bright and untroubled, hair curled, jumpsuit unzipped just a fraction down the front. This reflection batted her eyes. “Are you ready to snuggle, Vlad?”

Maddie let out a strangled gasp and kicked back. She knocked against a table, and grabbed it to steady herself.

“Dad?”

When Maddie turned, it was as though chains had tightened around her heart. Danny watched her from the other side of the room—her Danny—human Danny—his hair dark and his head quirked, blinking quizzically. “Are you home yet, Dad? I was hoping you could show me how to use my powers.”

“Do you like them?”

Maddie gave a third startle, ducking forward and clutching at her chest with a pained gasp. She looked up, eyes wide, certain she’d grown too old for surprises like these.

She squinted, recognition bubbling beneath the fear. It was a familiar form, glistening fangs, pallid blue skin, piercing red eyes.

“It’s you! The Wisconsin Ghost. You’re still here?”

“Please. Call me Plasmius.”

“Are you home yet, Dad? I was hoping you could show me how to use my powers.”

Maddie pushed herself away from the table. “You’re still around.”

“Indeed I am. Does that surprise you?” the ghost asked. He quirked an eyebrow and stepped closer. A fiery acid-green crown sat atop his head, casting a light ghoulish and sickly across his face.

Maddie didn’t answer. It wasn’t worth dwelling on anymore.

“I’m looking for Vlad.”

“Vlad dear, I baked you a pie. Let’s cuddle up.”

Maddie flinched, but managed to ignore her own voice. Another side-long glance revealed that her look alike flickered and wavered, her form cold blue and transparent. The fake Maddie smiled, and it was a look full of love.

“Why are you looking for Vlad?” Plasmius answered. He inspected his manicured nails, a ring as bright as his crown nestled on one finger.

“I don’t have anyone else to turn to anymore,” Maddie answered. She watched the Danny hologram from the corner of her eye. There was emotion in his eyes. It twisted Maddie’s heart to recognize it.

“Maybe consider making a few new friends then. Vlad isn’t really around much to be your emotional shoulder to cry on.”

“Where is he?”

“Preoccupied, at the moment. He’s absolutely crushed with work.”

“Dad, are you home yet?”

Maddie shut her eyes. She breathed deep. Jack. Oh god, Jack…

Her nose curled, on the air, something rotten drifted. Under different circumstances, Maddie might have fought away the thought that crossed her mind. Lately though, she’d been dealing with enough grief to believe it.

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” Maddie looked up, inspecting the emotionless nothing in the Wisconsin Ghost’s eyes. “…Did you kill him?”

“Oh… in a sense, I suppose.” The ghost shrugged, and he flashed a fanged smile. He jerked his head toward the corner of the lab. “A nasty accident, but for the best I might say. Don’t dig too far through the fallen machinery over there, you might not like what you find rotting beneath.”

Maddie shivered. She didn’t let it show on her face.

“Are you saying it was a lab accident?”

“I’m afraid so. I’d almost be embarrassed—crushed to death beneath some poorly-anchored machinery.”

“And why are you here?”

Plasmius’s face split into an awful grin. He reveled in the moment. “Did you really think young Daniel was the only half-ghost among us?”

Maddie’s heart pounded, pieces clicking. Icy dread washed through her core, shriveling up a part of her that she thought had been too wrung-out to feel anymore. She gripped a hand to the table, and lowered herself slowly.

“…God.” It was a name she’d heard him shout to the portal, time and time again. Plasmius. Images of the 20 year reunion party flashed through her mind. Incidents of Phantom and Plasmius gripped in battle. This cruel, twisted, awful creature, from a world made of cruel and twisted and awful creatures. The last man she had come to for help. “I really have no one then…? Is that really you Vlad?”

“I’m sorry to say it is.” He swept his hand across his body, dark under the sparse lighting, lit by the flaming crown on his head. “In the not-quite-flesh.”

“Are you going to go in the same way too?” Maddie asked quietly. She glanced around the lab, fizzled and dying and abandoned equipment.

“Hey Dad, do you have some time to play football later?”

“The same was as Daniel? No, dear Maddie, I will not.” Vlad gestured behind him, capturing the distant shimmer of a portal tucked away in the very back end of the lab. “I’m only here for a brief visit. My alarm system tripped so I figured it would only be polite of me to come say hello to you after all these years. And to pass along my gratitude.”

Maddie stared at him, losing the will to properly care. Whatever happened to him, or to her at this point, it hardly mattered, not with the way everything had slipped away around her. She fixed her eyes on the Danny hologram once more. He waved. Maddie did not wave back.

“Visiting Daniel was a bit of a wake up call, my dear. I ran some choice experiments after that visit, and your theory was spot on. Daniel gave into his obsession, trying to exist in the human world as a ghost, and he let the rest of himself rot away.”

Maddie glanced to him. Vlad spread his arms wide, cape billowing out. The crown threw shadows against the wall.

“When I woke up from my accident, just a ghost form torn out of a body that had been crushed unrecognizable beneath a two-ton monitor—well, I knew what I needed to do.” He stepped forward, pausing just in front of Maddie and crouching to her level. Vlad gave a fanged smile and tilted his head. “I did exactly what could have saved young Daniel.”

Maddie’s head jerked up. The thought sent something writhing through her, a discomfort like suffocating guilt. “We could have saved him?”

“Most assuredly. It worked for me.” Vlad stood again. “I cut all ties with my obsession.” And he turned, and walked a path over shattered remnants of equipment and fizzling cable. “I cut all ties with you.”

“Were you…really that obsessed with me…?”

“I was consumed with you,” Vlad answered, spinning back, lashing out, his form towering and ghastly to behold. He reeled himself in, and smiled once more. “With you and Daniel both, with the family we would made. My desperation drove me to make a family of my own.”

“How’s about that pie, dear?”

Maddie locked eyes with herself, an expression untroubled, frozen, echoing someone she might have been. Maddie breathed out, her breath in crystals.

“But, I did what had to be done. I stopped caring. These A.I.s? They’ve been frozen here for fifteen years. So has this whole lab. They’re nothing to me—they don’t think, they don’t feel, they’re heartless, empty worthless. I don’t care for them. And I don’t care for you. And I don’t care for Daniel rotting in your lab. I don’t care for anyone really but myself. I’ve beaten my obsession. I get to live my afterlife on my own terms.”

“…You’re a monster,” Maddie whispered in response.

“No.” Vlad retreated, his feet beating a path toward the portal at the far end of the room. He turned once more, eyes locked on Maddie, and he tapped a single finger against the crown on his head. “I’m the king of monsters.”

He vanished, whisked from sight into the swirling matrix of the portal, and it closed down behind him. It threw the lab into utter darkness, pricked only by the glimmering hollow light of the A.I.’s left behind in the lab.

“Hey Mom, when Dad gets home, can we all watch a movie as a family?”

Maddie sunk low to the ground. She crumpled forward, and buried her head in her arms.

“Yes Daniel, your father would love that.”

Maddie did not move. She hardly breathed, because she refused to cry again so soon. She steeled herself, and lost herself to the dark nothing around her.

“Good. I miss him.”

#Danny Phantom #dp fanfiction #bloodblossomtea #dark fic #dp #christmas truce 2017

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myraelvira · 3 years

Text

Terry Kath's Untimely Death

Terry Kath's Fate

Terry Alan Kath was born on January 31st, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois. He is most notably known for having been one of the founding members of the band Chicago.

Terry was born to Raymond Elmer and Evelyn Meline Haugen. He had an older brother named Rod, and was raised in the Norwood Park area of Chicago. He was of German, English, and Scandinavian descent.

His brother Rod played the drums, and his mother played the banjo, which he tried to learn for himself. In the 9th grade, Terry acquired a guitar and amplifier. His influences included The Venture, Johnny Smith, Dick Dale, and Howard Roberts, then later was influenced by George Benson, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix.

Kath attended Rufus M. Hitch Public School, Taft High School, and DePaul University.

Some of his favorite movies included ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Fantasia’.

Unlike several other members of Chicago, Kath did not recieve much formal music training, and was mostly self taught. In a 1971 interview with 'Guitar Player', he stated that he had tried professional lessons, but abandoned them because "All I wanted to do was play those rock and roll chords". According to one source, Terry also didn’t read music.

Kath's father wanted him to have a steady career, but Terry preferred a career in music.

In 1963, Terry joined his first semi professional band, called 'The Mystics'. He later moved on to ‘Jimmy Rice and the Gentlemen' n 1965. From there, he went to play bass in a road band called 'Jimmy Ford and the Executives', which featured band members Danny Seraphine and Walter Parazaider, who would later join him in the band Chicago. In 1966, he joined the cover band the ‘Missing Links’, and started playing in clubs and ballrooms on a regular basis. Parazaider’s friend Lee Loughnane, would play with the band from time to time, as a trumpeter. Terry recieved an offer from James William Guercio to play bass for the ‘Illinois Speed Press’, another band from Chicago, and move to Los Angeles. Kath declined the offer as he considered the guitar his main instrument and wanted to sing lead vocals.

According to Peter Cetera, the band was booked to perform at Woodstock in 1969, but promoter Bill Graham rescheduled them to play at the Fillmore West on a date of his choosing, which was the Woodstock dates. Santana took Chicago’s place at Woodstock, with this performance being considered his breakthrough gig. parents’ basement. Eventually, they added singer and bassist Peter Cetera.

In June of 1968, at the request of James Guercio, who had become their producer, the band moved to Los Angeles. The band moved and signed with Columbia Records, changing their named to ‘Chicago Transit Authority’. They started performing on a regular basis at the ‘Whisky a Go Go’ in West Hollywood, which gave them more exposure, and became opening acts for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix is quoted as having said about the band,

“Jeez, your horn players are like one set of lungs and your guitar player is better than me.”.

---

In 1969, the band released their first album, self titled as ‘Chicago Transit Authority’, which was a double album. It made number 17 on the billboard 200, and had sold over 1 million copies by 1970, being awarded with a platinum disc. Singles from the album included “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?”, “Beginnings”, “Questions 67 and 68”, and “I’m a Man”. That same year, they were awarded with the ‘Best New Artist of The Year’ from the Grammys.

In 1970, the band released their second album, technically also self titled, known as ‘Chicago’. The album has since become referred to as ‘Chicago II’. The second album was also a double album, and went straight to the top ten in its second week on the Billboard chart, before its single had even gotten to the Hot 100. Singles from the album include ‘Make Me Smile’, which Terry sung on, and the titular ‘25 or 6 to 4’. The album quickly went gold, then eventually platinum.

On January 11th, 1971, Chicago released their third album, ‘Chicago III’, which was yet another double album. The band was described as ‘fatigued and road-weary’ by Danny Seraphine, when they went in the studio to record. The album sold well on its release, going gold only a month later. Singles from this album include “Free” and “Lowdown”. Terry is credited as having written the songs “I Don’t Want Your Money”, and “An Hour in The Shower”, and sang on the songs “Loneliness is Just a Word”, “Free”, and of course “An Hour in The Shower”.

On July 10th, 1972, the band released their first single release album, “Chicago V”. It was their fourth studio album, which featured singles “Saturday in the Park”, and “Dialogue (Part I & II)”. The album is considered a ‘back to basics’ type album, with it resembling their first album more. Terry is credited with having written the song “Alma Mater”, which he also sung. Terry also sang on the songs “Now that You’ve Gone’, and the dialogues.

The album was recorded at Caribou Ranch, a studio built by James Guerico that same year, in Colorado. It was on the road that lead to the ghost town of Caribou, CO. Chicago would record their next four records here. Terry loved Caribou Ranch it was an hour out of Denver, 8,600 feet above sea level. The studio burned down in a fire in March of 1985.

On June 25th, 1973, Chicago released ‘Chicago VI’, another single release album. It was certified gold less than month after release, and has been certified platinum twice. Terry wrote and song both songs “Jenny” and “Beyond All Our Sorrow”, which was only included on the 2002 reissue as a demo. He is credited for also singing on the song “Something in This City Changes People”.

Also in 1973, Terry played lead guitar and sang the lead vocals on the closing song “Tell Me” for the 1973 drama movie ‘Electra Glide in Blue’. The song was also used on the final episode of tv series ‘Miami Vice’. Members of Chicago also appeared in the Electra Glide movie.

Chicago released their sixth album, “Chicago VII” on March 11th, 1974. It was their first double album since 1971 and incorporated more jazz instrumentals. This incited various reactions from their audience, though the band enjoyed the experience. Peter Cetera and their producer James Guercio were wary of the commerical risk of the jazz sessions. The band was relatively divided on the jazz material, with some feeling that it was too good to throw away, though other wanted to incorporate more pop and rock material. Singles from the album include “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”, “Call On Me”, and “Wishing You Were Here”. It is the only album for having writing contributions from all band members.

Terry is credited with having written “Song of the Evergreens”, and “Byblos” of which the latter he sung on. Terry also sang on the single “Wishing You Were Here”. The album went gold on March 18th1974, and platinum in 1986.

On March 24th, 1975, Chicago released their seventh studio album, “Chicago VIII”. After five straight years of constant activity, the band was feeling drained when they went to record the album in the summer of 1974. The album was recorded within the timespan of only August through September of 1974. The album went with a more rock sound, and included the singles “Harry Truman”, “Old Days”, and “Brand New Love Affair”. The inside of the original album included an iron on t shirt decal of the album cover, and a poster of the and in station wagon being pulled over by police.

Terry is credited with having written the songs “Till We Meet Again”, “Oh Thank You Great Spirit”, and “Sixth Sense”, which the latter was only released on the Rhino Box Set Bonus Tracks in 2002. Terry sang on “Brand New Love Affair”, “Till We Meet Again”, “Oh Thank You Great Spirit”, and “Aint It Blue?”.

Despite being rated 2 stars out of 5 by Allmusic, the average fan rating of the album in 3.5 stars. It also peaked at number 1 on the Billboard 200.

On June 14th, 1976. Chicago released their eighth studio album, “Chicago X”. It was their eight studio album though their tenth overall including live and compilation albums. It was ceritified gold a week after release, and made number 3 on the Billboard 200. On September 14th, 1976, the album was certified multi platinum. In honor of this, the band was awarded a 25 pound bar of pure platinum, made by Cartier, a French jewelery manufacturing company. The album was nominated for a Grammy for ‘Album of the Year’, to which it won.

Singles include “Another Rainy Day in New York City”, “You Are on My Mind”, and “If You Leave Me Now”, which was the band’s first number one single. The song went on to win two Grammys. The song was almost left off the album, after being completed last, and Terry himself wasn’t too big on the song either. Terry didn’t like the increased emphasis on ballads on the album.

Some members of the band felt that the single changed the public perception of the band, leading Columbia Records demanding mor ballads from the band. Robert Lamm and Terry Kath were most notibly uncomfortable with this change of events.

Terry is credited with having written “Once or Twice”, and “Hope For Love”, having sang both of these songs.

The band released “Chicago XI”, their ninth studio album, on September 12th, 1977. It would be last album to have Terry Kath on it, and James Guercio as producer. Singles from this album include “Baby, What a Big Surprise”, “Little One”, and “Take Me Back to Chicago”. Terry is credited with writing “Takin’ It on Uptown”, and “Mississippi Delta City Blues”, which he also sang on. He’s credited with also singing on the songs “Prelude (Little One)” and “Little One”.

---

Terry had a self admitted history of drug and alcohol abuse. Danny Seraphine knew that Terry had a high tolerance for drugs, and reclled Terry telling him, “I’m going to get things under control... if I don’t, this stuff is going to kill me.”.

Fellow bandmates of Chicago have indicated that Terry was growing increasingly unhappy, though Pankow denies that Kath was suicidal. Pankow remembered in the liner notes of Chicago Box:

“His relationship was not going well. He was also certainly more dependent on chemicals than he should have been. He wasn’t addicted to anything, but he was abusing drugs. We were all doing drugs at that stage of the game. But if you’re incredibly unhappy and depressed and doing the drugs on top of that, it compounds the situation.”

The night before Terry died, he visited bandmate Laudir de Oliveira, who offered him tea, and the two spent all night talking. Producer James Guercio insisted that Terry was finishing writing a solo album.

By 1978, Terry was regularly carrying guns around and enjoyed target shooting. On January 23rd, after a party at the home of band tech Don Johnson, Terry began to play with his guns. He spun his .38 revolver on his finger, put it to his temple, and pulled it to the trigger. The gun at this point wasn’t loaded.Initially, there was a sigh of relief. Johnson warned Terry several times to be careful. Kath then picked up a semi automatic 9mm pistol and while leaning back in a chair said to Johnson, “Don’t worry about it... look, the clip is not even in it.”. Terry’s last words were, “What do you think I’m gonna do? Blow my brains out?”. Terry then showed the empty mag. He replaced the mag in the gun, and put it to his temple, pulling the trigger. Unknown to him, there was a round in the chamber, and the shot killed him instantly. It was 8 days before his 32nd birthday.

He left behind his 20 month old daughter Michelle, and girlfriend Camelia Emily Ortiz.

Terry is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Parkm in Los Angeles California. He was 31.

In 1982 his mother passed away, and his father passed away in 2003. Both of his parents are interred next to him.

---

When Terry passed away, the surviving members of Chicago were utterly devastated, and thought about ending the band. Ultimately, they continued on, and he was initially replaced with Donnie Dacus on their next album ‘Hot Streets’, which was released in 1980. This album explored more disco themes, had the singles ‘Alive Again’, ‘No Tell Lover’, and ‘Gone Long Gone’.

It was their first album to feature the band members on the cover, and have a title that wasn’t the band name, something that wouldn’t happen again until 1991.

---

In 2016, Terry’s daughter Michelle released a documentary that talked about and was in tribute to her father. The movie, “Chicago: The Terry Kath Experience” is available to watch for free on amazon. She stated that the idea came to her many years ago, when she realized that the didn’t know his full story. The movie features interviews with people like Joe Walsh, Mike Campbell, and Dan DeLeo.

---

In a quote about Terry, he was described as:

"Terry had unlimited energy and passion for playing his guitar. His commitment made a deep impression on me and inspired me to become even more dedicated to my craft. The man had a kind, loving and caring soul." - Walt Parazaider

[SOURCES]

Wikipedia

https://www.discogs.com/artist/475104-Terry-Kath

https://www.facebook.com/terrykathfilm/

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chicago-mn0000110161/biography

https://www.rhino.com/article/5-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-terry-kath

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6681/terry-kath

http://rockandrollgarage.com/the-tragic-death-of-terry-kath-chicagos-guitarist/

https://www.facebook.com/terrykathfilm/about/?ref=page_internal

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chicagos-terry-kath-inside-the-life-and-tragic-death-of-an-unsung-guitar-hero-201725/

https://colomusic.org/profile/caribou-ranch/

http://www.terrykath.com/terrykathdocumentary-1/

https://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Terry-Kath-Experience/dp/B076HC1ZYP/

#terry kath #chicago #accidental death

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serenawitchwriter · 6 years

Text

The Super-Switch

(part 3)

being the most responsible member of the justice league was exhausting.

take today for instance, batman had thankfully stopped the potential catastrophe that was two insanely powerful individuals incapable of controlling their newly acquired powers charging into battle. superman and phantom switching places was hedging on disaster even now, because despite the quality of their character, they both were powerful enough to destroy the world, especially if a fight between them were to escalate too far.

batman, ever cautious has been putting counter measures for the possibility in place for years and honestly he was grateful that he wouldn’t have to use them yet. both heroes were be cooperative and despite some sharp barbs at each other and general frustration at the circumstance, they weren’t attacking each other.

however, that did not make the situation any easier. batman would always be thankful that things haven’t reached the worst case scenario but that didn’t change the fact that bad is bad.

they had returned to the space station and the secure training facility within it. they had started to lay the ground works of a plan and were meanwhile getting phantom and superman to adapt to their current bodies.

the plan was simple enough. the flash, wonder woman, hawk man, and hawk woman would be pursuing the ghost that had performed the switch. batman had already acquired a military stock of fenton technology so they were well armed and phantoms profile on the ghost was impressively detailed. though there was some humor to be found in the caps lettered “DON’T MAKE WISHES OR SAY THE WORDS I WANT OR I WISH IN HER PRESENCE OR AT ALL!” the warning was reiterated several times throughout the profile and clarified she’ll grant the wish even when you can’t see her.

phantom and superman were, for their part anxious about leaving the hunting to others. phantom especially holding a sense of responsibility because ghost hunting is his department. superman was insisting his own involvement because a slight sense of guilt over making the wish. batman and several other members of the league had backed phantom up and chastised the hero for his loose phrasing an use of the taboo phrase. phantom wasn’t the only hero with a rule against wishing.

batman had made it perfectly clear that until they could control each others powers they were liabilities. a point that was emphasized when superman, in Danny's body, began to slip intangibly through the floor

which was how they got this point. training their deadly and highly destructive powers.

“look you just gotta feel solid. like continuously be aware that you can touch stuff.”

“that’s what i’m doing.”

“no, i mean you gotta keep that awareness. like...” phantom scrunched superman’s eyebrows together as searched for the right words. “it’s kinda like breathing, you know? most of the time you aren’t aware of your breathing you just let your lungs do their own thing. intangibility is a ghosts natural instinct/state, so to be solid you have to actively think about being solid, like when you’re suddenly aware of you own breathing and have to work to do it.”

“how can you cautiously be aware that you’re solid all the time,” the phantom double growled sounding frustrated. he was once again slipping through the floor and superman pulled him back up by the elbow.

“well, i’m not, exactly. eventually the solid-intangible switch just became a sort of muscle memory thing. most of the time awareness of my solidness is just floating somewhere in the back or my mind, just always running. letting go of the awareness to become intangible is actually weird because like you have to like let go of that awareness. it kinda sucks, because I've gotten so used to being tangible that i sometimes completely forget to turn intangible when i actually need to. it’s kind of confusing.”

“i agree.” superman glaring tiredly up at his own face. it was fascinating to watch the differences in expressions. watching superman’s body act like an earnest but typical teenager was rather cute. phantom sarcasm and sharp smirks looking out of place dangerous on the normally kind or brooding face of the alien but he brought an energy and expressiveness that superman often lacked. he talked with his hands and showed off his small ticks. seeing ‘superman’ nervously rub the back of his neck and tilt his head to the side with a shy smile, was a memory that batman would keep tucked away amidst his fondest memories.

meanwhile superman’s good posture and kind smile softened the ghosts image considerably. gone was the tricksters glint and in it’s place was a bright-eyed child. batman had never acknowledge how cynical phantom was in caparison to superman, but to see his face free of it was a startling revelation. phantom looked younger with superman controlling him. he moved with confidence and his neon green eyes sparkled with optimism. it was nice to see but carried with it slight disappointment that phantom himself couldn’t produce such a smile on his own.

“maybe it’s kind of like with your super strength?” phantom wondered. he was proving entirely more adaptive to superman's powers that superman was to his. he still proved to be clumsy when it came to the finer adjustments of strengths and applications, but he had mastered flying with the newly weighted body and powers like heat vision and psychokinesis were practically instinctive to him. the only real problem he had was focusing with superman’s enhanced hearing, providing a constant din and distraction. “like you have to be consciously aware of your movements and strength so you don’t accidentally destroy everything, right? well, treat it like that only instead of strength it’s how solid you are.”

“adjusting how lightly you touch something is completely different from being constantly aware of your own breathing.” superman griped irritably.

he was having a considerably harder time mastering phantom’s powers. they’d been working on tangibility on in off more the last couple hours because it was apparently the most important skill in terms of functioning normally. superman seemed to be slipping through the floor and dropping objects every other minute. and phantom almost seemed to be silently laughing even as he tried to help. it was quite clear that phantom had dealt with these problems in the past.

when they weren’t struggling with that, they were struggling with the other basic powers. like Danny, superman picked up flight rather easily. but manipulating ecto energy and all the powers that depended on drawing from his ghost core was escaping superman’s grasp. the way phantom described reaching for his core seemed rather meditative and simple to batman, but then again batman wasn’t the one with the powers so he wasn’t in the position to judge.

phantom refused to show superman his more powerful attacks, claiming, “if you can’t even make an ectoblast you wouldn’t be able to perform a ghostly wail. it’s not really something you can do accidentally. so as long as you don’t feel like your freezing to death you should be fine.”

it wasn’t the most comforting statement but batman preferred that they didn’t test those powers here anyway. there was no telling what a ghostly wail would do to the ship, especially because superman would have no control over it. they’d have to travel back to earth to do it and as late in the evening it was getting returning to earth that day for a non emergency seemed too exhausting.

speaking of which, “i think it’s about time for bed,” batman called to the heroes. phantom flinched and the sheepish look on ‘superman’s’ face, yet again, melted his cold black heart.

both were obviously exhausted so they didn’t argue about that, thou superman did mutter. “if i have to be thinking about solidness, what happens if i turn intangible in my sleep.”

“it’s easier not to go to bed tangible at all. just lie by the bed and float intangibly there. you’re less likely to move from there than if you turn intangible mid dream. if you do that i guarantee that you’ll fall through through the floor.”

“it was a rhetorical question.”

batman rubbed the bridge of his nose. this was going to be a long weekend

here’s hoping they’re back to normal tommorrow.

(part 1) (part 2)

#dpjl #Danny Phantom #justice league #superman #batman #body swap #hestiawrites

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