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gilbirda · 2 years

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Party like you are dead. First Act

A bit after the end of Danny's last year of highschool, the citizens of Amity Park receive a message: They are cordially invited to the Ghost Zone for a party. A complete cease fire between ghosts, and the ghosts and the hunters, is in place. Booze will be provided.

Did I mention the Party is held in the new King's, aka Phantom's, castle? Duh, nobody is going to miss this! Of course everyone wants to come!

Let's just hope that nothing important happens, right?

Can be read as stand alone fic.

From my series, You and me and our best friend makes three

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

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First Act

Pamela

When a ghost suddenly hijacked the TV signal, they expected a lot of things. Many things entailed crimes against humanity, and a big fight against Phantom and/or even another mass abduction to the Ghost Zone. Look, being the most haunted city in America meant that panic and screams didn’t come easily for the people of the place.

What they didn’t expect, though, was to be looking at the youthful face of the town hero wearing a nervous smile and looking at something behind the camera.

“Is this on? Yes? Ok, ok.” Someone far away said something, making him turn. “Yes, I remember my lines, ugh!”

He took a deep breath and looked back at the camera.

“Okay,” a heavy sigh. “People of Amity Park, you all have been cordially invited to Phantom’s Keep in the Ghost zone the next friday for the first ghost-human diplomatic event. A complete ceasefire will be guaranteed and whoever breaks it, human or ghost, will be removed from the vicinity. And uh….”

“‘Food and refreshments’” a voice said from outside the frame.

“Yes! Thanks, Tuck. Ahem, food and refreshments will be provided and transport will fetch those that wish to come in front of the Town Hall at eight o’clock sharp. See you around.”

Pamela Manson blinked slowly when her cooking program came back on the screen.

Huh, what a weird thing. Sammy hadn’t mentioned anything about this, and she knew the girl had been working with Phantom for a while. I mean, at first she had suspected a secret boyfriend or something, and that was plain unacceptable - who would she even date in this stupid town? The geek? The Fenton kid? Ugh! -; but some time at the beginning of Sammy's last year of highschool Phantom did an interview explaining some things about ghosts and who he was (about time, in her opinion) and that there has been a change in management around the Ghost Zone and that he had been crowned king. And that he had chosen Sam, Tucker and Danny as his human liaisons.

Why those? Well, he answered that the three of them had helped him since he came through the portal and that they kind of stuck as his help.

Pamela had been ecstatic! Her Sammy being the equivalent of a diplomat in another country? And having a good relationship with a king? There was some hope for the girl after all!

And well, maybe all it took for her daughter to step up to a more glorious purpose was to be associated with specters and dead people. But Pamela was not accepting her goth phase as anything else than that.

Whatever the reason, now she has to buy dresses and suits fit for a king for the whole family. Stat!

Damon

Damon Gray adjusted his tie, somehow feeling stuffy in the suit even if he had to wear suits to work anyway. No, that was a disservice. This suit had been something tailored, something he had decided to treat himself to now that things were starting to look up for him and his daughter.

One would say that the promotion he got was a miracle from God, but he preferred to think that his hard work and his history as a chief of security granted him a quicker trip up the ladder. Valerie had been happy about the changes, of course, but somehow she behaved muted, collected, and not that much surprised. That had been weird until an incident in Axion Labs forced her to explain that she wasn’t just the Red Huntress - she was friends with Phantom, who apparently was the superhero alter ego of one Daniel James Fenton. The son of the resident ghost hunters.

That had been a whole reality-breaking discovery, and for a moment he considered forbidding his daughter to keep being Red. But, uh… Well, at least things in the end turned out to be alright.

He looked at her as she frowned at the sheer amount of people that had decided to join the party, muttering under her breath. He thought he heard her say “tighter security” and “stupid Danny”.

The whole town was there. Except people physically unable to go and some emergency workers that had to keep an eye on everything, everyone had way too much curiosity to see the Ghost Zone, and most importantly, Phantom in his castle. A freaking castle!

He once asked Valerie how it was to be friends with a real king and she made a disgusted face, gagging. He never asked again.

Suddenly an enormous portal opened in the middle of the plain they were in, just when the clock in the Town Hall clicked eight o’clock. Ghosts were punctual, it seems. Huh.

“It’s fucking showtime,” Valerie murmured.

He elbowed her. “Language.”

His daughter rolled her eyes.

A gasp from up front, where it was closer to the portal, broke the tense silence. Damon stood on his toes, trying to look above the multitude of people, but he didn’t have to look hard to notice the bulking figure of one of the resident ghost hunters.

“Jack?” he said. He didn’t see him come with the rest of the town. In fact, he thought the elder Fentons would not come to the gathering at all, given their opinion on ghosts.

“Hello, everyone!” The cheery voice of Maddie was amplified by a megaphone. “Thanks for coming! If you please follow us through the portal we will take you all to the castle!”

“It is perfectly safe, as you may have noticed!” Jack’s booming laugh did the trick in calming some people down.

Ah yes. Neither of the humans present had ever been to the Ghost Zone. He looked at his daughter. Neither except one.

Wait. His mind registered the two Fenton’s words. Were they implying…? Did they come from the portal? How? And if they were here to fetch everyone from town, then Phantom must have sent them.

Did- did they know? Know, know? Since when did they know???

Well, apparently he still had some things to learn about the whole situation.

Dash

Crossing the portal was… an experience. At least that’s how Dash could manage to describe the feeling of getting his guts twisted inside his body, like a really extreme rollercoaster. It would have made him puke in his borrowed suit (the same baby blue suit he had used on senior prom); but the feeling lasted no more than a few seconds.

After that, he felt a light breeze on his face and exposed arms, which he purposely showed with the rolled up sleeves, as if it was a calm spring night. When he opened his eyes, they weren’t definitely in Amity anymore.

He remembered vaguely the Ghost Zone from when that crazy dude kidnapped the whole town, Prissy Dark or whatever, so the swirling green sky didn’t surprise him. What did was the absurdly enormous castle, or palace, or fortress, - whatever! It was super big - that received them on the other side.

“Welcome to Phantom’s Keep!”

He jumped at the sweet voice of the only Fenton that wasn’t a nutcase, and his highschool crush. Jasmine looked ravishing in her deep navy dress, a slit on one side letting her long legs showing to the world. The deep neckline almost showed her breasts, but she had on an intricate necklace that resembled a chainmail more than actual jewelry, green stones shining in contrast with the blue on the dress.

Oh yes. Coming here was starting to be worth it.

“Thank you everyone who chose to come here,” the young woman continued, looking at all the people gathered like idiots in front of two gigantic wooden doors. Everything in this place was absurdly big.

Huh. Compensating much?

“Before we continue, a few rules and tips you need to know,” Maddie called for attention as she stepped next to her daughter, her voice projecting in the Ghost Zone like it didn’t in the human world. “Don’t go outside the castle grounds, the air here is toxic for humans. We can breathe in here because of the barrier.” She pointed up and effectively, there was a green dome over the whole floating island they were in.

“Are we trapped in here?” someone asked. Dash thought that was Paulina’s dad, but he wasn’t sure.

“Not at all! At any moment you wish to leave, please find either of us and we’ll open the portal for you.” ‘Us’ being the Fentons.

Not all the Fentons. The wimp wasn’t with them. Weird.

“Next thing: never, and I mean never ask a ghost how they died. Is taboo around here,” Jazz moved on, frowning. “Some ghosts might tell you, but they have to be the ones telling the story.”

It seemed logical, so Dash nodded along with everyone else. He didn’t like to be asked how he got a scar on the upper lip because it was an embarrassing story with a stapler. It could be something like that.

“Lastly, unnecessary violence is not allowed inside the castle. Any person, human or ghost, that breaks the cease fire will be asked to leave.” That it was Jack Fenton who said this made the statement heavier than it should be. The man was known for shooting a bazooka first and asking questions later.

“Any questions?” Maddie said. There was silence. Duh, people wanted to get inside and see some ghosts! And Phantom! “Ok, perfect. Please follow us.”

Inside things were as big as outside, but at least the decoration was more palatable. Dash was vaguely reminded of this period drama Paulina forced him to watch with her when they were together, with marble halls and statues and shit. He hadn’t been that much interested in the backgrounds, preferring at first to gawk at the sexy protagonist and then getting hooked with the plot. Damn that thing was good. They watched the first two seasons together, but he finished the rest in private when Paulina dumped him for another guy.

Even if he didn’t know about architecture and interior design, he thought the whole thing was pretty, albeit confusing. The doors led to more corridors that had more doors. The thing went on forever! He was positive that if left alone he wouldn’t be able to find the exit.

Dash elbowed his buddy Kwan as they passed by some tapestries showing some kind of story in order. They identified their hero, of course, and some of the villains that attacked the city; but not all of them, like the Big Plant Guy and Buff Guy with Flaming Hair. The last tapestry showed Phantom taking the crown from the Prissy Dark dude and putting it on his head.

Hell yeah. Go Phantom! He would give everything to have seen that epic battle and maybe, just maybe, aid his hero in his victory.

Well, maybe not everything. He had worked hard and studied harder to get that sports scholarship. His pops wouldn’t be able to afford the University in Elmerton he wanted to go with that sick football league program and this was his only shot. Not that he let the effort show, of course, he still was Casper High Senior Prom King and he couldn’t show weakness. He hid all the stress and anxiety with football and bullying, letting his hands and his body work through the extra energy.

He still remembers the last time he stuffed that nerd, Mikey, into a locker. Fenturd was there, now that he thinks about it, and the look he gave him… his eyes were-

“And remember, have fun!” Jazz’s voice and the rumbling of another gigantic set of wooden doors opening brought him back from his thoughts. Oh, she had been talking about something. He missed it.

He stole one last look at her cleavage and looked up at a big, big room full of, well, ghosts.

And on the other end of the hall, there he was. His hero. Phantom.

Paulina

“I’m a princess,” Paulina was whispering to herself as the humans entered the ballroom where the party was being held. “I’m a motherfucking princess.”

She didn’t acknowledge Star glaring at her. They were fighting now because Paulina wanted to match dresses with her with the princess theme and the girl had the audacity to laugh at her idea and go with a more modern black sleek dress that showed off her boobs more than it should. Maybe if the blonde had listened to her, maybe if the stupid satellite had considered that they were going to be partying in an actual real castle, Star wouldn’t look so out of place now.

And she, Paulina, was looking like a real life princess.

Oh yeah, Phantom’s castle. What a dream! She looked around and tried to ignore the ghosts roaming around, imagining how this would look emptier and more somber, like the movies she loved watching.

And… woah! Right on a raised dais was the ghost boy she loved so much - well, not a boy anymore, she giggled. Since a while back people of Amity had noticed how the ghost seemed to grow; getting taller and building muscle, hair longer (tied into a half ponytail or a trendy man-bun), and losing the roundness of young age. Also he became more ghostly - even the strongest supporters, like her, couldn’t deny how Phantom had morphed into a creature bordering the stuff of nightmares. Fangs, pointed ears, claws, the whole package.

Weird enough, he did his best to hide it or minimize the impact. Paulina remembers with clarity one time a few months ago, where Phantom saved her from a really close call, not that she purposely stood back to get a glimpse of her future boyfriend, nah, not at all; and the ghost had told her “don’t be afraid, everything’s going to be okay” as if that was his first rodeo in the hero business.

But now he couldn’t look more princely. Or, well, kingly, which was much better, in her honest opinion.

She had seen enough movies about King Arthur to not feel put out by the full set of armor he was wearing. Armored boots, knee guards, hip guards, chest piece, shoulder guards, gauntlets… you name it. He had a theme, which she could appreciate, because why would you dress extra if not to be a piece of moving art? Everything about him was shiny and sparkly, the dark metal full of tiny inlaid diamonds (were those diamonds?) reflecting the light and making constellations. His cape (oh my God!!! A real cape!) was like a dark moonless night, making a nice backdrop to the shiny stars all over his body and helping in sombering the overall look.

From this far she couldn’t appreciate it well, but it seemed like he was wearing mascara and eyeliner, which was a look he totally rocked, by the way.

“I have to get a closer look,” she grabbed Star by the hand and started pushing her way to the other side of the room, not paying attention if the body she moved out of her path was warm, cold, ghostly, or human. She was on a mission.

“Hey!” her former (was it ‘former’ when both were going to go to the same college?) satellite complained.

She shushed the other girl, pushing the last person, ghost?, that was on her way, some blond dude in a black trenchcoat that was sooo last century.

“Ghost boy!”

Phantom flinched at the name, but looked at her. Oh, those beautiful green eyes!

“Paulina.” He sighed from his place on the very tall throne. Oh, this must be his throne room! “How are you doing?”

She smiled brighter, taking a step up the raised dais (did he see how high her heels were? Did he see the glitter body cream she put on her legs to sparkle like his stars?), but a hand stopped her in her tracks.

She followed the gloved hand up a muscled arm and right into-

“Please, step back down the dais.” Samantha Manson was looking at her with a shit eating grin.

“Goth bitch,” she saluted her. If Paulina was paying attention, she would have seen the smile melt from her dear Phantom’s face. But she was only glaring daggers at the bitch that Phantom had apparently chosen, instead of her!, to be his contact with the living.

“Plastic Barbie.”

“Thanks!”

Sam smirked with full purple lips. “It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Sam,” Phantom broke the stand off, gesturing with his chin at everyone staring at them.

Paulina turned back to see some angry faces, probably the losers she had removed from her path to get here, glaring at her and shaking their heads. All of them were ghosts, since the humans were still huddled together near the doors, watching her with big eyes like saucers.

“Paulina, please, step down from the platform. His Majesty will not be disturbed.” Sam said with a detached tone, but the slut was curving her lips a little.

Since she wasn’t stupid and didn’t want to be kicked from the party and make a fool of herself, Paulina chose her battles and stepped back down with a loud click of her heels. She glared at the other as she resumed her position at the right armrest of the throne, legs slightly apart and both hands resting over a big mace with pointy spikes all over it.

Of course, because the goth bitch wouldn’t do it another way, she was wearing another armor, but one simpler than Phantom’s. The knee guards she wore looked used and scratched, her fingerless gloves creased as she gripped the handle of her weapon, her chest plate dented in some places.

This armor wasn’t flashy or ceremonial, like the King’s. Samantha Manson was a trained warrior.

It didn’t matter that she wore more make-up than usual, or that her hair was made up (her usual little ponytail gone and the longer locks of hair at the front had been braided back and bundled into a half up-do); it didn’t matter that the pants she wore under the armor pieces had a few artistic rips on them, or that her fucking nails were painted.

She wasn’t here to party. She wasn’t Phantom’s human liaison or whatever bullshit they had told the town. She was his motherfucker bodyguard, even if the thought that a ghost needed a (human) bodyguard was absurd to her.

Somehow that made Paulina angrier, because that was something she could never be. She would never be that close to Phantom like Sam seemed to be, he wouldn’t look at her like he looked at the other woman, he wouldn’t suddenly break into giggles and relax on the throne, he wouldn’t smile showing fangs like he wasn’t even aware he was moving his lips.

Sam said something Paulina couldn’t hear with the chatter and the noise in the hall, and Phantom leaned in, one arm on the armrest and the other over it, with the hand tucked under his chin. His smile turned cheeky.

Were they… No. No, it can’t be. The mere thought that she and her Phantom were sleeping together... Paulina started to feel nauseous.

That homewrecker had wormed her way into Phantom’s castle and was trying to steal his heart! Or whatever counted as a heart for ghosts.

Fury flowed in her veins. Whatever. Whatever! It didn’t matter that Phantom was into butch women. It didn’t matter that her hero, her crush, her Phantom preferred a fucking loser before the Queen of Senior Prom! Ugh! She was already a Queen! And he was missing it!

Paulina looked around and took a sharp turn, making a beeline towards the “refreshments” table. Now, let’s see if there was any alcohol she could steal...

And then. And then she would expose that bitch. That two timing whore.

Because Samantha Manson was known around school for going out with that other loser Fenton, and she will show everyone. She will show them. Nobody liked cheaters.

Wes

The younger Weston sibling scoffed as he watched the ridiculousness that was going on. Paulina was surprisingly as obsessed as he was with Phantom, for completely different reasons, but he had to commend her passion at still believing she was ever going to date her hero.

So silly.

Early in Junior year Manson and Fenton started going out, no surprises there, and while they were the talk of the school for a few weeks, and the butt of the jokes of the A-listers, they fell into oblivion soon enough.

Wes had to admit, it was super funny watching the two make faces every time Paulina or anyone else began thirsting for Phantom or talking about going out with the hero, among other… less noble things. Samantha looked like she wanted to punch the Queen Bee of the school more than once, and he could see how this situation could be payback for her.

His eyes went immediately to Daniel Fenton, or also known now as the Ghost King. That fucker had everyone fooled under the usual "hero" spell, the awe, the flashy armor and the grandiose castle. There was no way this King was a regular normal human man. It was impossible!

Fools. If they had listened to him, if they had respected him, they would have followed how Fenton and Phantom had grown in similar fashion, at the same time. Fenton thought he could fool everyone with baggy clothes and bullshit excuses, but oh boy, Wes had noticed the changes. And not just those coming from regular puberty, he was not that kind of stalker - arguably, he was not a stalker, just a pursuer of truth, thank you very much -; and he had noticed the same sudden growth spurt, the same hairstyle, the same shadows in his eyes, as if he would get lost in some kind of heavy thought.

Suddenly those same eyes locked on his from across the room, flashing for a moment as Danny smiled at him. It wasn’t a kind smile, but it wasn’t a threatening smile either. Wes glared at the ghost, arching an eyebrow. You fucking did it, stupid. He tried to say with his eyes, projecting his thoughts just as hard. Now that he was an overpowered sonofabitch could he read thoughts? He didn’t know! He didn't know anymore about anything!

Stupid graduation. Now he couldn’t stalk follow and investigate the other without raising suspicion.

Danny stood from the seat and the room fell to a hushed silence. Ghosts that were conversing with others turned to look at him, like they were somehow compelled to look (could he do that, too???). He took Sam’s hand as support while he descended the stairs of the dais, his clinking armor echoing on the silent walls with each movement; his steps, while careful, were amplified by the heavy looking boots he wore. Wes had to admit he looked every ounce of the King he was supposed to be, at least in that moment. In his mind, he had to actually remind himself of the clumsy idiot who couldn’t lie to save his life, who for some magical reason hadn’t been discovered in four years, who Wes had seen trip with his own feet when running to hide and transform into his superhero alter ego.

Maybe holding Sam’s hand had more to do with that and less about being majestic.

The masses parted when he started walking through them, Sam and another ghost Wes identified as the Fright Knight one step behind him, his cape waving like there was an invisible breeze trying to make him stand out more, as if it was even possible. Danny greeted and made small comments to the ghosts he passed by, sometimes just a nod in acknowledgement, sometimes a full on smile and pat on the shoulder.

And he was coming towards the humans. Towards him.

“Wes Weston,” he said in his inhuman echo-y voice.

“Danny,” he glared up, because of fucking course the bastard was now a head taller than him. The stupid boots added more height, not like he needed it. “Nice outfit.”

“Right back at you,” he smiled at the animosity. “How do you like the party? Better than prom?”

“Goddammit, Danny. What are you trying to do?” he growled, fisting his hands. Was he mocking him? Was he blatantly saying things that would make the connection between this ghost and the human Danny? Just to watch him squirm in front of everyone!?

Some people in the crowd gasped.

“Watch your language, human!” The Knight took a step and made a move to unsheathe his sword, but the King stopped him.

“Is okay, Fright. We’re cool.”

The knight didn’t seem convinced, but Sam was doing her best to hide her chuckles with a cough.

“I just wanted to tell you, all of you,” he looked up to the rest of the humans. Wes didn’t quit his glare. “This party is to celebrate. To celebrate the end of an era and the beginning of another. Nothing will ever be the same. I won’t ever be the same,” the last part was less confident, but sounded honest. “Wes, you were right. All along. And I’m sorry for messing with you. Especially this last year.”

“Why tell me this now? Here?” In front of everybody? Went unsaid.

“Take this as the sweet sweet validation you craved all these years. And maybe just find another conspiracy theory to be obsessed with. Please?”

“And stop following you around.”

“And stop following me, yes. It’s kind of annoying.”

“Danny? Honey, what are you talking about?” Maddie appeared right next to Wes, one of her hands making a move like she wanted to reach for the King’s arm, but she seemed to think better of it as she let it fall back down.

The Ghost King shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just a game we were playing,” his smile showed plenty of unnerving white teeth and sharp fangs.

“Games! Maybe that’s what we need here! It’s like somebody died or somethin’!” Jack slapped Danny’s back in front of an audience of ghosts and humans that were honestly looking at the verge of a stroke. “Ow!” the elder Fenton withdrew the hand, suddenly realizing that slapping heavy armor like that was not advisable with your bare hands.

Danny blinked a few times. Then, he broke into a booming laughter, the type of laugh that came from deep in the belly, a sound that the ex-students of Casper High were once upon a time used to. Wes caught a few eyes sparkling with recognition.

Finally!

“You are right, Dad.” He said once he recovered. He turned, opening his arms, snickering a little bit under his breath. “C’mon guys, let’s party like there’s no tomorrow!”

As if on cue, an EDM rendition of “Heads Will Roll” started blasting from hidden speakers around the hall. The ghost crowd went wild, some throwing their hats to the air, and a space was being cleared to dance in the middle of the place. Fright and Sam gave the stinky eye to anyone that tried to approach the entourage, but in general the ghosts gave a wide berth to the monarch, making a bubble of space centered on where he stood in front of the humans.

“What’s the matter, guys? Dance till you’re dead!” He made a move to grab Wes by the arm, probably to pull him into the dance floor.

“I will fucking kill you.” He withdrew his hand like it was on fire.

“Too late for that!” Danny crackled like a madman.

“Danny?”

Both turned at the unusual soft voice coming from the alive-crowd. Kwan, in a blue suit matching the one that Dash wore right beside him, said as he looked at them like… well, like he had seen a ghost.

“Yeah?”

Dash took a step towards the monarch. Samantha and Fright Knight tensed.

“Fenton?” he said, like it was a curse, frowning.

“Ah, yeah, finally.” He made a vague gesture with his hand. “Your brain managed to make the connection, Dash. Congrats.”

He smiled, and the music transitioned to “Another one bites the dust”. The fucker had to be doing this on purpose, he was sure. Everything was on purpose.

Wes looked at Jasmine, the older sister, and when she facepalmed at the confrontation, he knew. This was a coming out party, not a celebration of an era or some other bullshit. Danny organized this to tell the whole fucking town what they apparently weren’t able to figure out on their own.

The younger Weston chuckled, feeling calm for the first time since the TV hijacking. At least Danny wasn’t trying to mess with him on purpose anymore. He was right, he had to find another conspiracy theory.

Just when the thought crossed his mind, he noticed something out of place. Literally out of place. Where the hell was Foley? The three were inseparable and if Manson was here then the geek couldn’t be too far-

His eyes widened when he found the missing piece of the trio, babbling away with some ghosts back at the refreshments table. The ghosts weren't that remarkable - yeah, they were looking like some kind of Anubis cosplayers, with white shendyt, the skirt thingies, and bare chests. That wacky look wasn’t weird for ghosts -; no, the weird thing was that the techno-geek was wearing something similar, but more intricate. Kohl make-up, a scepter with a blue beetle on the top, a freaking chest piece, golden of course, with more gems and precious stones than what Wes had ever seen in his life...

Was that a headpiece!? With the whole red and white parts, the asp on the front… Why? Why in the nine circles of Hell would he wear the crown of the pharaohs¿?

This required further investigation.

Mr. Lancer

William Lancer had his suspicions, especially at the end of last school year, when Danny was so distracted and so out of everything that he stopped caring about the boy and left him alone. If he couldn't fix him and re conduct him towards the better path in four years, he wasn’t going to do it in the few months that were left. Now that he thinks about it, both Manson and Fenton had looked grateful when Lancer didn’t ask for Danny’s homework anymore, or didn’t question his absences.

It made sense now. When did Daniel find time to do, well, everything? Since when was he King? Since when was he Phantom? The first sighting of the ghost had been early in freshman year, but it didn’t mean…

Daniel was a ghost. The more he looked at him now, the less human he realized Phantom was. Gone was the tan skin and the boyish face, features that honestly linked him more to his human self than what he looked like now; and now he showed the more otherworldly ones, his blue-ish skin that glowed with a softly white aura, his fangs and pointed ears, hair that flowed like under an invisible breeze.

Daniel was a ghost. Daniel had died, and no one had noticed.

The realization hit him like a stab in the chest.

While he thought the boy was maybe doing drugs, or maybe addicted to videogames, or maybe hanging out with his friends all day, or maybe, when he and the Manson girl started being an item, fooling around with her… His student had died, and he hadn’t noticed. He punished him, lectured him, told him how disappointed he was in his behaviour.

How could this happen? How could he not see a child that needed help? How could he not notice how the wonder and child-like dreams were gone from his eyes so fast?

He must have been fourteen when he died. Maybe even less.

The man he looked at now may look around seventeen, but his eyes had seen too much. His body had seen too much, too, going by the Phantom fights he had seen in person or in the news. That’s not something a kid should have endured.

He may look like a kid, but he had the responsibility of a whole species on his shoulders. A whole dimension.

Daniel Fenton had been forced to mature beyond what should be asked of a child, of anyone, and no one noticed.

“Fenton?” Baxter’s voice broke him from his maddening thoughts, finding himself watching at a not that unusual stand off between Dash and Daniel. He took a step, ready to intercede, but was too slow, since his guards jumped in between their king and the human.

“I would not recommend going further down that road, human boy.” The Knight in a black armor said.

“Calm down,” Samantha put a hand on Baxter’s shoulder. The boy shrugged it away.

“How?” He narrowed his eyes at Fenton. Phantom? He was presenting as Phantom now.

“How what?”

“How are you… Phantom? How could a wimp like you…?” his question went unfinished, like he didn’t know how to end it. What to really say.

“I died, Dash. I died almost four years ago,” Lancer noticed the elder Fentons flinch and Jasmine looked down in shame. So they really knew the truth, huh.

Baxter opened his mouth to ask the next question, but a gloved hand was slapped over his mouth. “Think carefully before you say your next words, Baxter.” Samantha’s voice was unrecognizable at how low she growled the name. She wasn’t that much shorter than the boy and she took advantage of it to glare at him directly in the eyes. They flashed with something dangerous, looking so out of place in the raging party outside their little bubble full of tension. “While it would be my pleasure to kill you, I don’t think Danny would be happy about it.”

William blinked at the realization. Baxter was going to ask how he died. “Never ask a ghost how they died. Is taboo around here,” were Jasmine’s exact words. And Dash was going to ask that to their King.

Danny didn’t seem that bothered about this. He took a step closer to the boy, their chests almost touching. His smile was a threat without words, his eyes two cold green stones.

“I touched something I shouldn’t have, and I was killed by a gazillion bolts of electricity. Then, the whole Ghost Zone opened through my body. I was remade from the inside out.” William flinched, and he saw he wasn’t the only one. “Does that answer your question?” Phantom tilted his head, the movement breaking some kind of spell everyone was under, letting them breathe at last.

In the background, “Die Young” (William knew this song like the back of his hand) bled into the room. The ghost crowd cheered, some laughing at their king’s dark sense of humor; but none of the humans shared the sentiment, too trapped inside their tense bubble.

The Fentons surrounded the young man touching him where they could reach, trying to give support. “I’m okay guys, I got better,” Daniel threw a smile at his parents, grabbing his sister’s hand to give it a little squeeze. “Okay… So! Leave the questions to my PR team and let’s just party!”

He made a move to go back to the thick of the rest of the crowd, obviously done with the conversation, when a voice stopped him.

“Ghost Boy!”

Oh, Miss Sanchez. She hadn’t been here for the revelation and the girl was head over heels for Phantom. William glanced at his former students now part of ghost society, tensing with them at the approaching steps of the girl.

Oh no.

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#danny phantom #danny phantom fanfiction #danny phantom fics #sam manson #tucker foley #everlasting trio #ghost king danny #ghost king au #polyamory #samxdannyxtucker #fanfic #fanfiction #writeblr #gil writes

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sanchoyo · 3 years

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so I decided to watch danny phantom. I got 3 episodes in and I have Thoughts. im not going to liveblog it necessarily, but just, maybe post my thoughts every 3-5 episodes? because, I have thoughts. (which im sure are not NEW thoughts for dp fans, but, you know. new for me) Anyway. ep 1-3 Thoughts.

- the parents Suck. I love Jazz.

-dannys little 'actually i wanna be an astronaut :)' BABY. im adopting him and his sister. these parents suck so far lol jazz shouldnt have to deal with this and being the most responsible person in the house at age 16. HATE the 'absentminded idiot parents' trope SO much actually. it just makes me mad and makes me want to adopt these kids.

-sam...is so much like me at age 15. at least when I was having a vegan phase. not saying veganism isnt a legit thing or w/e but. my god. shes so Not Like Other Girls. lmfao. if she wanted to go to the dance, she shouldve just SAID so directly!! and I hated her just going up and being catty to Paulina for No Reason Other Than Jealousy UNPROVOKED!!! Like, if anything, the BOYS are the shallow ones, approaching Paulina based on nothing but her looks instead of getting to know her?? it would not have been shallow of her at all to turn them down, she has every right to.

-tbh the way the girls are written makes me cringe. they Deserve Better I think. anyway tbh if a girl came up to me being that rude,, im not saying paulina was RIGHT to lead danny on, but like. I can't be super mad at her for it...sam was bein. hm. rude. and in paulinas little teenager brain thought that was the fastest way to get back at her I guess, by taking the guy she may or may not be crushing on?? I just hate unnecessary rivalry between girls in shows. anyway. glad she did attempt to apologize near the end anyway. I do get that a lot of kids shows have the protags being shitty to teach a moral lesson later and show them apologizing. it still rubbed me the wrong way.

-Was also rolling my eyes at Sam's 'the gorilla needs to be FREE!!' like girl realistically if theres two left,, itll be a huge poaching target, its better to keep it with professionals so it can lead a long, healthy enriched life, and so we can have a lot of footage to teach future generations about so we at least have the memory/history preserved as well as possible! zoos and nature preserves and such can be good. focus on, idk, taking down sea world or smth. (also, the fact it turned out to be a girl gorilla,, and no one noticed until Danny got An Eyeful...of course it would have to be. you cant just tell kids watching this show that theres two male gorillas and theyll DIE FOREVER AND GO EXTINCT AFTER THAT. I GUESS??? but showing danny possessing people is fine. gotcha)

-I liked skulkers design A Lot. it (funnily enough with the episode involving an actual gorilla-) reminded me of the way the gorillaz band got drawn early on. I think its the eyes.

-the voice actor for the box ghost sounded SO familiar. so I went to his IMBD originally thinking he HAD to be a voice actor on ed edd n eddy. THIS GUY HAS VOICE ACTED IN EVERY CARTOON I GREW UP WITH. SO MANY CARTOONS AND ANIMATED MOVIES. funnily enough he was in ed edd n eddy like i thought but in a very very minor role of one of the parents?? I think I just assumed he had to have voiced something I used to watch a lot of. actually, hes voice acted everything, ever. and has been since the 80s, and still does today. Crazy. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0667326/ LOOK AT THIS MAN'S TALENT.

-box ghost has the right idea tho. I wanna haunt a fed ex truck and get that rush of Open Packages Serotonin for my whole afterlife. king shit. (I also just love very silly villains and this show is checking boxes for me. love the monster of the week format stuff)

-did valerie actually cancel on tucker,, or did the boys just lie to take sam to the dance. that seems so unfair to val but we never SAW unless I was looking away. valerie u deserve a date sweetie i am SO sorry. if u already made a commitment to valerie I think sam can take HERSELF TBH. she wanted to be passive aggressive about the dance, it couldve been a lesson in 'just say what you want and dont expect your friends to be mindreaders' lol

-'boys hugging makes every year book funny' TOP 10 SAM HOMOPHOBIC MOMENTS?? let them cuddle while they nap girl wtf. I KNOOOW I know this is how a lot of cartoons were written in the early 2000s but I hate it.

-tucker being freaked out by the cute ghost girl wanting to dance with him at the dance?? no sir. you WANTED A GIRL TO WANT TO DANCE WITH YOU!! and your best friend is half ghost!! tucker top ten ghostphobic moments!!! (also, her having a dragon amulet is a BONUS. coward)

-danny can just. possess people. ALRIGHT! casually terrifying. love that.

#tldr: jazz is best girl so far #and im the kids new dad!#sanchoyorambles #danny phantom #long post #dp thoughts

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dp-marvel94 · 3 years

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Face to Face- Chapter 34

Summary: When Danny went through the ghost catcher, he expected to be cured of the ghostliness that had haunted him since the accident, not to wake up on the lab floor with his parents saying he’d been overshadowed but everything’s back to normal now. But why does Danny Fenton cry himself to sleep to then dream of flying? Why does Phantom, the ghost who was supposedly possessing Danny remember a life that wasn’t his? Most of all, why do both the human and the ghost feel that something vital is missing, in their very soul? Or: Trying to cure himself of his powers one month after the accident, Danny accidentally splits himself but neither his ghost nor his human half know that that is what they did

First -> Last -> Next

Word Count: 5,208

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Note: I'm finally back with an update! It's been a while. I've been busy with my Invisobang story but it's finally finished. There's more about that at the end. But anyway, enjoy this much awaited chapter of Face to Face!

Fenton was distracted staring at the clock...again. His math teacher, Mr. Faluca, droned on in front of him and he was trying to listen. He really was but….there was just so much going on in his mind. Yes, he was less worried now that Phantom was back from the Ghost Zone, but now his curiosity was peaked. Halfa. There was a word for what he was and right now, his other self was talking about that with Sidney, the ghost he’d met earlier.

Fenton was so tempted to peak. He could, he realized. He could softly withdraw and see through Phantom’s eyes and hear through his ears. But… he needed to stay here, stay present. He was the human half right now, just Fenton. He couldn’t risk getting lost, getting tangled up with Phantom again before they were ready and able to really be one person.

So Fenton pushed away the thought. He put his pencil to his paper, copying the numbers and equations down. So this was new material. His brow furrowed, trying to figure out where the teacher was. After a few minutes, his expression relaxed. Alright, okay. This was actually starting to make sense.

Class continued and Fenton continued taking notes. About ten minutes later, the intercom turned on. “Danny Fenton.” The boy looked up, stiffening at his name. “Danny Fenton. Your father’s here to pick you up.”

Fenton’s stomach suddenly flopped with nerves as he felt his classmates’ eyes on him.

Mr. Faluca turned to look at the boy. “Go ahead Danny.”

He quickly started packing up his things, trying to ignore the muttering of the teens around him. Moments later, he stood and slung his bag over his shoulders. Head hung low, Fenton walked past his teacher and opened the door as the lesson continued without him.

Now in the hallway, his thoughts whirled, his worries resurging. Why was his Dad here? Why was he picking him up early? And-

The boy paused, the realization suddenly hitting him like a freight train as he passed by the rusty locker 724. Phantom. His ghost half had run off, in front of Mom. The woman was probably worried out of her mind.

The boy then continued, pulling his phone out of his pocket. Huh...it was actually surprising that he hadn’t got a panicked phone call from one of his parents yet. But that must be why Dad was here to pick him up. Obviously, Mom had told Dad what happened in the lab. And it made sense. If ghost Danny was missing, they’d want to make sure human Danny was safe at least.

Fenton’s heart sank in guilt at that thought. He hadn’t even called his parents. Not after he’d calmed down at lunch and not after Phantom had arrived through the portal. They’d both been silent for the past hour. Well...at least he’d get the chance to tell his parents what happened and ease their worries soon. Actually, he could do more than just tell them that Phantom was safe.

The human reached out with his mind, calling into the empty space between the two pieces of his mind. Phantom?

A gentle nudge was received in acknowledgement.

Fenton swallowed. Dad’s here to pick me up. You need to come too. He’s probably worried out of his mind.

The echo of his own guilt came back, projected from Phantom. Alright. I’ll meet you in the car.

Fenton nodded, humming in acknowledgement before he turned his attention back to walking down the hall. After a quick stop at his locker, the boy continued towards the front office. He pushed open the door, freezing as he saw the people staring back at him.

“Dad….Jazz.” He muttered, eyes flickering between his father and sister’s worried faces.

“Danny.” Dad breathed, relief flashing over his face. He took a step forward, sweeping the boy up in a hug.

The human Danny stiffened, blushing at the attention. His gaze shifted to the secretary who was looking at the large figure blocking the door with barely contained judgment. “Dad. I’m okay.” The boy muttered, pulling away.

His father’s face fell but before he could reply, Jazz advanced. Her face was set with deep worry. “Danny. Do you know where-”

“Yes.” Fenton cut her off, anticipating her question. “He’s safe.”

“But where-” She started.

“Not right here.” The boy whispered.

“Come on. Let’s go to the car.” Dad interjected, placing a gentle hand on Fenton’s shoulder.

The man returned to the desk to sign the two teenagers out of school before the three quickly walked towards the front doors. They exited, crossing the parking lot towards the GAV. Dad unlocked the vehicle and the three piled in.

As soon as Fenton was seated in the backseat, Jazz turned to face him from her place in the front. “Your ghost half ran away to the Ghost Zone?!” Her eyes were wide, tone rising with exacerbation.

“Yes. We did but-” Fenton held on his hands.

“How could you do that, Danny?!” She pointed. “And how long ago was this?”

“Maybe...an hour and a half? But-”

“An hour and half?!” Jazz glared. “And you didn’t come get me! You didn’t even call-”

“Jazz.” Dad cut her off, voice uncharacteristically serious. “Stop berating your brother.” He turned to Fenton, expression softening. “The other you is safe?”

The human Danny nodded. “Yes.”

“And where is he?” The man calmly asked.

His eyes flickered out towards the school. “Still in the school.”

“What?” Jazz gapped.

Dad raised a brow. “Maddie said he ran off through the portal.”

“We...he did.” Fenton bit his lip. “But uh...long story short, he managed to find his way back.”

“How?” His sister asked.

“So...umm...apparently, there’s a portal to the Ghost Zone in one of the lockers? Phantom managed to find it and flew through it.”

“And he’s still in the school because?” Jazz sounded slightly skeptical.

“He’s making sure Sidney gets back to the Ghost Zone okay.” Fenton said plainly, the information suddenly entering his mind. “He’ll meet us out here soon.”

Dad’s brow furrowed. “Who’s Sidney?”

“Oh.” The boy blinked, realizing what he said. “He’s...uh...a ghost who helped the other me find the portal. They talked about ghost stuff and..” He met Dad’s eyes, tentatively. “Apparently, the ghosts have a word for what I am. I’m a halfa.”

His father’s eyes widened in response. For a long moment, he paused as if processing. Then he swallowed. “We can talk about all of that later but your mother….”

Fenton paled, looking down. “Oh...uhh...yeah.” He froze, anymore words dying in his throat.

Jazz broke the silence. “Where is Mom?”

Dad’s frown deepened. “She’s….” He trailed off as if it was too hard to continue.

More tense silence. There was a tickle in the back of his mind, Phantom wondering if Dad was still waiting in the parking lot. Fenton replied with the image in front of him.

Phantom responded. Wait for me. I’m coming.

The ghost’s more active presence withdrew before Fenton could reply. The human looked up. “Phantom will be here in less than a minute.”

True to what he said, his ghost self soon phased through the back of the GAV. He flickered into view beside his human self.

Dad and Jazz both flinched, surprised at the sudden appearance before relaxing.

Phantom bit his lip. “I’m here now. Sorry it took so long.”

“You didn’t have any trouble with the ghost, did you?” Dad asked, raising a brow.

The ghost boy shook his head. “Nope. Sidney’s cool. We had to finish our conversation.” For a second, Dad and Jazz looked like they wanted to ask. But Phantom continued before they could, his gaze flickering nervously around the van. “Where...where’s Mom?”

There was a pause before Dad started, tentatively. “Your mom….she…” He pulled out his phone. “She left me a message on my phone. Here...let me show you.”

Fenton and Phantom both said nothing, anxiety flaring as the man pulled up the voicemail.

“Jack! Pick up your phone!” Mom’s panicked voice rang through the phone. “Come on Jack! You need to pick up! Jack!” Her voice rose as she rambled. “Our son...our son, he ran off through the portal. Through the portal Jack! He...he came downstairs to talk to me and….I f-cked up Jack. I f-cked up!” Fenton flinched, shocked at the language.

“Oh god I...I...Jack, I screwed up.” Her voice wavered, sounding watery. “He...he said...he said he was upset with me and...and...oh god...I just yelled at him. I just sat there and yelled at him and….oh god, I f-cked up Jack.”

There was a clatter, the sound of quick footsteps. “He ran off and…. I need to fix this. I have to fix this. I….” She paused, determination entering her voice. “I’m going through the portal. I’m...I’m going to find our son and bring him home.” More clatter, metal thumping again metal. “Go pick up Jazz and the other Danny. Make sure they’re safe and tell them I love them. And I’ll see you soon, okay? I’ll see you soon and the rest of our son will be with me.”

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

The message ended with a beep. There was a sudden, deep silence. After far too long, Phantom spoke. “She went...she went after us. Through the portal.”

Dad nodded grimly. “I went back to the house before coming to get you and she was gone.”

The ghost’s hands were shaking. “She’s….Mom’s in the Ghost Zone, looking for me. But…” He put his head in his hands. “I’m not there.”

“I know.” Dad said quietly. “You’re safe and...your mom is a capable woman. She’ll be okay.” He turned back to face the windshield. “We need to head home now, okay? We’ll find a way to get up with her and everything will be okay.”

Phantom really hoped so. He did. He took a seat beside Fenton, reaching for his seat belt at the same time the human reached for his. The ghost’s hand lingered over the lock. He hadn’t done this, hadn’t been in a car since he’d split himself, since he was still trying to pretend that he was a normal human. He buckled the seatbelt. Now he was a ghost and he was sitting in the back of the GAV and Mom was the one lost in the Ghost Zone. Suddenly, he wanted to zip right out of this car, through the roof and go home. He needed to find Mom, even if...even if-.

He shivered, a thousand possibilities tumbling around in his head. He’d managed to push it away for a time but what Mom had said to him before he ran off still tore at his heart. The anger had leaked out of him but he was still hurt and scared and confused. And now he was shook up after hearing that message. Mom cussed. She cussed. And she was panicking and scared and said she’d screwed up, that she’d had to fix this. She was determined to bring him home. Was she...maybe she was sorry? Maybe she...she got it now. And...he wanted to hope. He wanted to hope so bad but it hurt and he didn’t know what to do or think or-

Fenton leaned into him, interrupting his thought. There was a brief flash of worry and then...the human was taking deep, purposeful breaths, trying to calm down. Phantom needed to calm down too. He couldn’t panic, couldn’t worry about all this right now. Instead he leaned back into Fenton’s side and tried to relax. Passively, the two clasped hands.

“Danny?” Jazz’s voice interrupted, her eyes focusing on Phantom, who looked up in acknowledgement. “I’m happy you’re safe.” She bit her lip and the ghost boy knew she was nervous like he was. “It’s going to be okay.” The girl could have been saying that for his benefit or for her own.

In response, Dad’s gaze flickered towards his daughter and then at the two boy’s through the rearview mirror. His eyes rounded, worriedly but lovingly, before he focused back on the road as they turned a corner.

The vehicle flew down the road while the passengers sat in silence. For once, Dad’s fast driving was the least distressing thing on Phantom’s mind. And it was fitting, that the man was in such a hurry to get home and figure out what to do. But the ghost had already made up his mind.

After what somehow felt like the blink of an eye and hours at the same time, the vehicle pulled into the driveway and slammed to a stop. All the passengers unbuckled. In a breath, Phantom turned invisible.

Dad looked back, eyes widening. Jazz gasped in worry. “Danny!”

The boy huffed. “I’m still right here. I’m gonna stay invisible until we get in the house. I don’t exactly want the neighbors to see me.”

His sister sighed. “Alright.”

“Come on kids.” Dad said visibly relaxing.

Phantom exited the GAV, following his human self. He shivered in the air. Now that he was here, at the house, it was taking all his self control to not dart forward in front of his family and fly down to the lab, through the portal, and-

Fenton found his wrist without effort and led him to the front door without a word. Dad unlocked it and the kids followed him into the house. Once they’d passed the threshold, Phantom had had enough. With the door closed, he returned to visibility and raced across the living room, kitchen, and down the basement stairs. He stopped at the bottom, eyes falling on the still open portal.

Behind him, the sound of footsteps pounded. His sister’s and father’s worried voices rang out. But the ghost didn’t listen, too focused on the portal and the soft song emanating from it. A sound which he knew the purpose of and wasn’t as scared of anymore.

Fenton jogged through the door and hopped down the stairs with the rest of the family at his heels. The human stopped abruptly, coming to stand beside his ghost who then turned to face his father and sister.

“I need to go after her.” Phantom said quietly but with determination.

Jazz’s expression shifted, turning serious. “You can’t do that.”

“Jazz.” He started, testedly. “I need to help Mom. She’s only...she’s only there because of me and anything could be happening to her and-”

“Your Mom can handle herself.” Dad cut in, equally serious. “I don’t want you putting yourself in danger too.”

The human Danny frowned. “She went off without a plan. No supplies. No idea what she’d face. She’s probably lost.”

His sister argued. “And getting yourself lost wouldn’t help her!”

“I won’t get lost.” The ghost straightened, confidently. “Look. Mom’s not coming back on her own until she finds me. I’ve actually been in the Ghost Zone before. And I can fly. I can get us out of trouble if something happens and get both of us back in no time.”

Dad took a breath considering. “I understand that son. But...none of that will help you if you manage to get lost yourself. You don’t know how far away your mom is. And what if you do find her but get lost on the way back?”

“Mom couldn’t have gotten that far.“ Fenton insisted, holding up his arms. “And Phantom literally can’t get lost.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jazz rose a brow in challenge.

“I literally can’t get lost in the Ghost Zone.” The ghost deadpanned. He grabbed onto Fenton’s arm. “If other me stays here, I’ll always have a beacon to lead me back.”

Dad and Jazz’s brows both furrowed in confusion. “Really?” Dad frowned.

“That’s how he got back to the school earlier.” Fenton supplied. “We’re connected because ya know, same person. He followed that line back to me.”

Dad tilted his head. “You could use that to find your way back after you find your mom?”

Phantom nodded. “And Fenton can keep you guys updated. I can show or tell him what’s happening.”

Dad still looked confused, like he wanted to ask more but after a long moment, acceptance crossed his face. He conceded. “Alright. Go find your mom.” The ghost boy floated higher off the floor and turned to face to portal.

“Hold on a second.” Jazz interrupted. She stepped forward and hugged Phantom. “Be careful little brother.”

“Yeah. Of course.” Ghost Danny returned the hug before pulling away.

A second later, Dad was wrapping him up in a bear hug. “I love you and...I’m sorry.”

“I...it’s okay. I love you too.” He whispered, returning the hug. His core pulsed nervously. The memory of his conversation with Dad last night flashed through his mind. He might have understood what Dad was apologizing for. For how Mom acted, for not being there for that conversation. But either way- “It’s not your fault.”

Dad didn’t reply to the statement, squeezing his son a little tighter. “Hurry back but be safe Danny-boy.”

Phantom pulled away from his father and finally, his eyes fell on the one person left to address. He grabbed Fenton’s hand and squeezed. “I'll be back soon.”

The human put his other arm around him, pulling him into a hug. “I know. Go find her. And…” He bit his lip and the ghost could feel his worry at the idea of facing Mom again. “It’ll be okay...we’ll be okay.”

The ghost squeezed back. “Yeah. We will.” He pulled away before flying towards the portal. With one last look back, he dove through for the second time that day.

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

The Ghost Zone (World of the Dead? Infinite Realms?) was the same as the last time he’d entered. Swirling green, floating rocks, purple doors in the distance. But this time, he was more aware of his immediate surroundings. He paused, right outside of the portal to take in the environment. The portal’s frame was sitting on a shelf of rock. The shelf dropped off about ten feet in front of him. To either side, it dropped off after about twenty feet. He turned back around, facing the swirling green light. There was the portal but...what if he walked behind it?

There was in fact something behind it. The frame of the portal closed off in the back, forming a wall of sleek metal that reminded him of the lab at home. Phantom turned away from the frame, his back facing it. He frowned, spotting the edge of the rock again. It went all the way around, like the portal sat in the middle of an island or...he quickly floated over to the edge. The rock continued downward, like he was on the top of a mountain or a cliff.

He felt the shadow of his heart skip a beat. If Mom wasn’t up here, then had she fallen? His eyes desperately searched over the landscape for a scrap of blue, the color of his mom’s jumpsuit.

“Mom!” He called out. “Where are you?”

There was no reply, her form not in sight. Frantically, Phantom turned to the side. Still nothing. He flew to the front of the portal. “Mom!”

He then looked down, gasping. There was a tiny spot of blue, standing out in clear contrast to the green and brown landscape. It must have been hundreds of feet down, at the base of the structure. The boy started shaking, panic overtaking him. She’d...she’d fallen, hadn’t she? Was she hurt or...or….

His eyes then widened noticing something. The small dot of blue was moving. No, not just moving. But moving quickly as if the figure was running or jogging along a narrow strip of rock, away from him. Stepping off the ledge, the ghost started descending.

“Mom!” He tried again, to no response. Obviously, she couldn’t hear him.

Phantom dove faster, keeping his eyes pinned on the blue figure as it continued down the twisting path. The road, since that’s what it resembled, twisted back, forming stairs and sloping down under itself. Then it met another, darker colored strip, forming something like a crossroads.

The ghost boy flew closer as the figure jogged down the stairs. Then he paused, flinched at what sounded like a motorcycle engine. Reflexively, he flickered invisible. He glanced down the darker path at the crossroads. Something metal glinted in the dim light as the noise approached. Seconds later, the object materialized in the crossroads. It was in fact a motorcycle and...two glowing figures sat on the bike. The blue figure froze.

Phantom paled, his speed increasing. Seconds later, he landed above the crossroads at a raised part of the road. His back faced the stairs that the blue figure had just run down. His eyes widened as he recognized the scene.

In the crossroads, two ghosts, both of whom were in their early twenties, sat on a motorcycle. The man had greasy looking blonde hair and was wearing a biker jacket. Behind him sat a woman with green hair, in a red jacket and mini skirt.

“What is that?” The woman asked.

“Kitty, I think...that’s a human.” The other glowing figure’s voice rose in harsh disbelief. “What is a human doing here?”

The girl scowled, judgmentally. “And what are they wearing?”

The blue clad figure slowly approached, holding something long and metallic to their side. “I’m not looking for any trouble.” A familiar voice rang out, slightly desperate. “Please. I’m just trying to find my son.”

Phantom gasped, his core pulsing excitedly. That was his Mom’s voice. Mom! Mom was in front of him. She was okay. She was alive and walking around and….She was...being pinned by two unfamiliar ghosts.

The ghost boy stiffened at the sudden realization. He sprung into action, calling out. “Mom!”

The two ghosts looked in his direction, brows furrowing at his exclamation. “What was that?” The girl, Kitty, asked.

Phantom ignored the question, darting in between the ghostly couple and his Mom. He tensed, holding his arms out to shield her.

“What’s going on?” Mom startled, taking a step back. “What was that?”

The man’s brow furrowed. He blinked, eyes focusing on Phantom. Then he snorted. “Kid? You tryin’ ta mess with this human too?”

“Mess with?” He muttered. Then Phantom frowned, realization hitting him like a brick wall. He was still invisible. With a slight mental push, he reappeared.

“Danny?” Mom’s disbelieving voice rang out behind him. Then it shifted into something relieved and hopeful. “Danny!”

The boy turned to the side. “Mom.” The same relief was in his voice.

The woman dropped her weapon. She took a step forward until she was close enough to touch. Mom reached out but Phantom was faster. Before he could really think about it, he was clinging to the woman from the side. “Mom! I found you.”

Mom was shaking. Her hand reached up to run fingers through his hair. “Danny. Baby, you’re okay.”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He squeezed her. “And you’re...you’re not hurt or….”

Near the pair, someone snorted. “Mama’s boy.” Then there was yelp. “Ow. What’d you elbow me for?!”

“Give him a break Johnny.” The green haired woman chastised. “He’s what? Twelve?”

Phantom scowled, turning his head towards the other ghosts. “I’m fourteen!”

“Same difference.” The man waved him off.

Ghost Danny stepped away from his mother again. Now that he knew she was really here and uninjuried, he turned his attention back to the other ghosts, though he did cast a worried look behind him.

“So…” The man, Johnny, looked between the two, a curious if slightly up-to-no-good expression on his face. “How did a human end up here?”

“None of your business.” Mom said quickly, seriously.

Johnny raised a brow. “Some ritual to contact your dead son gone wrong?” Phantom and his mother both flinched at the word. “Found a thin spot and you waited for a portal to open.”

“Like she said.” The ghost boy glared. “It’s none of your business.”

The man smirked, opening his mouth to retort but Kitty elbowed him again. “Leave them alone Johnny. Let’s go.”

“Come on kitten. There’s a good story here.”

The young woman crossed her arms. “We’re going to Ember’s party. We’ll be late if you don’t hurry up.”

“Fine. I’m going.” Johnny rolled his eyes. Placing his hands on the handles, he pumped the gas. “See you ‘round kid.”

The two ghosts speed off, Phantom watching them warily until they disappeared into the distance. Finally, he relaxed, turning around to face the woman. For a moment, he hovered. After the initial hug, he was at a loss for what to do. He’d found Mom and she was physically okay. They should head home-

Mom quickly stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him without hesitation. “Danny baby.” She gently cupped the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Somehow, with the stress of the confrontation over, she sounded more relieved than before. Her voice broke, sounding watery. “I shouldn’t...I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I shouldn’t have said that. But I love you. I love you so much, baby.”

The ghost listened to the words, his eyes tearing up. But he didn’t have it in him to return the hug. He didn’t pull away either. Instead he stood there, torn in two directions. He was happy, so happy that his Mom was safe. And the lack of hesitation, the words. They were exactly what he wanted to hear but…..

“It’s okay. You’re okay. It’s going to be okay, Danny. I love you so much.”

What was with the change in attitude? Well, he did run off to another dimension, after telling Mom that he didn’t think she loved him. And well...oh god he had no idea what to think. This was too much. Too much. He needed to just get them home and-

Mom pulled away, peering at him with tearfilled eyes. She gently cupped his face. “Danny baby. Look at me.” Obediently, he shifted his eyes up, to maintain her gaze. But it was a struggle as tears welled in his eyes and his lip quivered. “I love you.” The woman breathed. “I love this you. I love Fenton….” He averted his gaze from her eyes, an ache piercing his core. “And I love Phantom. I love both parts of you. You’re a part...you’re a part of my son. And I love this part.” Her voice wavered, tears falling down her face. “I shouldn’t...I shouldn’t have made you think that I didn’t, that I wouldn’t love you because you’re a ghost but-”

Suddenly looking down again, Phantom pulled away. Damnit, damnit, damnit! This hurt too much. He couldn’t stay here, couldn’t do this, could’t hear her say those words when...when….

Mom’s expression fell. Slowly, she lowered her hand and didn’t reach for him again. “You’re still upset with me?”

Numbly he nodded. Yes, yes he was. Because they’d done this before. He’d heard her say this before, that she loved all of him and then she’d contradicted it with her actions. And he couldn't...he couldn’t hope again, he couldn’t trust again. It was too good to be true. It was-

“That’s alright.” Mom finally said. “You should be upset with me. I deserve that. But I do...I do lo-”

Another stab at his core. “We should get out of here.” Phantom cut her off. “We can have this conversation later, once we’re back through the portal.”

Somehow, Mom’s expression became even more heartbroken but she didn’t argue. “Come on then.” She started turning back the way she’d come.

“I was going to fly us back.” Phantom said plainly.

The woman turned back around. “Oh of course.” Her frown deepened, studying him. “You’re going to carry me?”

His shoulder’s fell, pouting. “You know that I’m perfectly capable of that.”

“That’s not what I meant, sweetie.” She said gently, taking a step forward. “How do you want to do this?”

Phantom hesitated for a moment. “Here, put one arm around my neck.” The woman did so. “And I’ll grab your legs. Now hold on.” The ghost grabbed her legs, adjusted the woman so he was holding her legs and back with his arms. Both her arms looped around his neck. Slowly, he rose off the ground. “Don’t look down.”

A small forced smile unfurled her lips. “I won’t.”

The boy hummed, looking up at their destination. “How did you get all the way down here anyway?”

“I climbed.” Mom said plainly.

“You climbed?” He rose a brow in disbelief.

“It was the only option.” She muttered. “I had to find you, Danny.” There was no anger, no judgement. Just the determination, the desperation he’s heard from her earlier.

Ghost Danny didn’t reply, looking at the portal again. Well, it turned out, he had found her instead of the other way around.

Mom bit her lip. “It really scared me, when you ran off. But...we’re going home now.” She looked at him earnestly. “Everything will be okay. I’ll...I’ll find a way to make all of this up to you.”

Oh god. He hoped...he hoped he could believe her. He wanted to but...time would tell.

Endnote: Thanks for reading! I'm also going to take some time to pump up my Invisobang story. It's 76K, guys! That's literally the second longest fic I've ever written. Posting day is August 23rd so please check it out when it comes out (For the angst, clones, identity crises, friendship, sibling bonding, and Frostbite being a good mentor/dad.)

#Danny Phantom #danny fenton #split danny #double danny #Face To Face #my fic

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five-rivers · 3 years

Text

Questions (Not Answered)

@amabsis MERRY CHRISTMAS FEATURING CRYTIC DANNY AND HIS SPACE FRECKLES (and one other prompt you sent me, but that one’s a mystery).

Bare feet on ice. Breathe, he reminded himself. He was human, for now, and he wasn’t supposed to be here.

Ice. Thin ice.

He was human, for now, but he didn’t have the weight of it.

In slow motion, he saw the much, much heavier man—Boy, really, he hadn’t graduated that long ago—step out on the ice, brow furrowed. A kind of rage lit him up, a paper lantern that burns itself, like the last time Danny had seen him, a frustration born of not being believed and—

The ice gave way.

It took him a moment to remember to fall.

Beeping. White. It took him a moment to remember and remember he had been human. At least then. At least now. Something like a fever danced over his skin. Pinpricks. A heated blanket. Whiteness he has come to associate with a threat.

He—

This is a hospital.

He breathes. He remembers. He wasn’t supposed to be there, but even less is he supposed to be here.

There will be questions.

It isn’t his fault, he reassures himself. No way he could have been anywhere else, done anything else, except by the actions of others. Not with safety. Not with grace. Not with morals.

He can smell the other person in the room. Their sweat. The fabric softener their suit had been laundered in.

“You should be dead,” said the man. Accused the man.

“Well,” croaked Danny, “clearly not.”

“We didn’t pull you out until after Agent W.”

Couldn’t they use the guy’s real name? Agent W. Too many syllables. Too long to say in the heat of battle, or to keep him from running out and nearly drowning in a half-frozen lake.

“You’re not dead until you’re warm and dead,” said Danny. “Heard it in a documentary. Mom and Dad say it’s why you don’t see too many ghosts who died that way. That and the hallucinations.”

His parents don’t think happy people leave ghosts. They’re wrong. In that and many other things.

He does not look at the man. The line on the heart monitor goes up and down, dead steady. He did not think of the ghosts he left behind him. Of the battle and journey that left him on the ice, surrounded by white.

“I think we both know that isn’t true,” said the man with an edge of a growl. His shadow fell on the edge of the bed. “We’ve had our specialists look into you, you know. With your parents’ blessing.”

Blessing. What a strange way to say permission. Danny has received blessings. True blessings. One is not the same as the other. He remembers them, towering, like storm clouds, like mountains, like the forest, like the moon, the sun, the stars. He remembers the lights overhead, circling, and himself, looking up, beneath it all. He remembers the well, the fountain, the door, the path.

He remembers.

And he has none of that right now. No lightning but what he was born with. No ice but what the doctors chased away, if there were doctors, and not simply more men like the one at his bedside. No knife or poison but the words on his tongue. No shield but his disregard.

Human.

Yes.

“We even ran you through some of our pattern recognition programs. Do you know what we found?”

“Enlighten me,” said Danny, dryly. His voice cracked again, painfully.

His effort was rewarded with a finger shoved harshly against his cheek. He winced at the sharpness of the nail and looked directly at the man for the first time since he woke up. He was reflected twice in the man’s sunglasses, and a third time on the warped silver casing of his overlarge earpiece.

“Your freckles,” said the man.

“What, did your program decide I had skin cancer or something? Forgive me if I decide I want a second opinion.”

“Constellations,” hissed the man. “You have constellations in your freckles. The same as the ghost boy.”

Danny endeavored to raise his eyebrows as far as they could go. “I’m pretty sure that whatever Phantom has on his face aren’t freckles. Freckles don’t glow.”

“Don’t play games with me,” said the man. “We aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed. We aren’t the only ones who’ve put two and two together.”

“To me, it sounds like all you’ve done is give a computer pareidolia, but whatever floats your boat.”

“What is your connection to Phantom?”

“You’ve been listening to Wes,” said Danny. If his voice wasn’t wrecked, his words would have been dripping with disdain thick enough to drown the man. Twice.

“Agent W is not the only one to make note of your behavior,” said the man. “Paulina Sanchez, for example.”

“Paulina,” repeated Danny. “You mean the girl who has used every available opportunity to tear me down and mock me since I asked her out in freshman year? You think she wouldn’t lie to your clown squad?”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s what everyone calls you,” said Danny. “Also, you shouldn’t be interrogating a minor without their guardian present.”

“How convenient, that you know that. Reading up on the legal system?”

“My sister had a Law and Order phase. Speaking of, I want a lawyer.”

“You aren’t under arrest,” clearly disgusted.

“Great. So, can you tell the doctor I’m awake? Thanks.”

“We aren’t done here.”

“I am,” said Danny. He closed his eyes. “If you don’t tell the doctor I’m awake, I might as well go back to sleep.” He faked a yawn. Then yawned for real because yawns were like that.

Then the GIW representative shook him by the shoulders.

He shouldn’t have done that. For a number of reasons. Not the least of which being that if Danny was connected to ghostly happenings, he could most likely kill the man with his bare hands.

This is not what occurred.

Monitors need leads, need sensors. Disconnected, they scream. Much like anything else.

In a hospital, such screaming attracts doctors.

How nice to know that they were in a hospital.

Snow underfoot. Booted foot, incidentally. His parents had brought his boots when they came to pick him up, along with other winter clothes. The snow crunched and squeaked, declining to melt when he stepped on it. Which. Rude.

The trip to the car was silent and sulky. Or possibly accusatory. Or morose. The nuances of the emotions escaped him.

“Danny,” said his mother. “Why were you out on the lake last night?”

Danny had been dreading this. Anticipating it as one would the end of a fall. Except he hadn’t hit the ground yet, only the branch of a tree that had the misfortune to get in the way.

He didn’t have a good answer.

“There was something I had to do,” said Danny. Which was both true and vague.

“In your pajamas?”

Danny winced. That hadn’t been his fault.

“We don’t know why you keep sneaking out,” said his father. “But it has to stop. You can’t do this anymore, Danny-boy. Especially not if it’s going to end up with you in the hospital.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” protested Danny. “It isn’t like I lured Wes out. He went out all by himself!”

“Danny,” said his mother. “You almost died. And now the GIW is telling us that your freckles are in the same pattern as Phantom’s ecto-luminescence!” She visibly worried at her lower lip. “What happened?”

“And what did you go out for?” added his father.

Danny shrugged.

“Were you trying to help Phantom?”

“No,” said Danny.

“We know how you and Jazz feel about him, but, Danny, this is dangerous. That ghost is dangerous.”

Danny looked away.

“You’re grounded,” said his mother.

Danny whipped around to face her again. “What!”

“What else can we do?” asked his mother. “What else do you expect us to do? You won’t tell us anything!”

“It was just—” spluttered Danny. He pressed his lips together, considering. “I did not go out to meet Phantom,” he said. Again, it was true. “I went out because one of my classmates said they were being haunted, and I wanted to help.” Also true.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” asked his father. “It’s our job to deal with ghosts.”

“Yes,” said his mother. “In fact, I thought you wanted nothing to do with ghosts.”

“I don’t know,” said Danny. “Sometimes—” He winced, knowing what he was about to say would hurt. “You aren’t very good at catching ghosts. And the part I want to have nothing to do with is the one where you cut ghosts up into pieces.” He paused. “And I don’t know what happened after I got there.” He did not specify where there was. “I think the GIW had some kind of weapon? I didn’t expect them there. Anyway, there was a bright light, and the next thing I know, I’m out on the water.”

Alright. He was leaving a bunch out, but the rest was still true.

“You’re still grounded.”

He felt heavy. Whatever had kept him from making footprints on the ice had left him entirely. Or reversed itself. Either way, stairs, such as the ones he had to climb to reach his room, felt like an imposition. Nonetheless, he persevered.

Right up until he collapsed on his bed, overcome with the unfairness of it all.

“Hey,” whispered the monster that had taken up residence underneath his bed. “Can I come out, now?”

“You’re clear,” mumbled Danny.

The monster, Phantom, phased up through the bed to lie on it next to Danny.

“Where did they even get the Ghost Catcher?” he asked, aggrieved.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out!” replied Danny. “It doesn’t make any sense, and I can’t very well ask Mom and Dad about it.”

“Ugh. We’re grounded, aren’t we?”

“I am. You aren’t.” Danny pulled a face he hoped his other half would recognize from the outside. “Be careful, though. Your escape route is gone.”

“I will. You need to find out how to get us back together.”

“I will,” said Danny. “By the way, just after it happened, I think I still had access to some ghost powers. I think I’m still a little, you know. Not quite right. It might be the other way around for you.”

“I’ll try and keep an eye on that,” said Phantom. “It might be important.”

“Yeah,” agreed Danny. “You should go, for now. I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad are going to be checking on me all night, and if they see you…”

“Yeah. I get it.”

“Sorry.”

Phantom bumped his head lightly against Danny’s. “Nothing to be sorry about. We both know what they’re like. I’m going to patrol a bit, then I’ll probably go over to Sam or Tucker’s. In case you need me.”

“Sounds good,” said Danny. “I’ll just… stay here. Try to make the Ghost Catcher from scratch.”

“We have homework, too, while you’re at it,” said Phantom, halfway through the wall.

Danny groaned and rolled over. He would have to be careful about getting into the lab while he was grounded, and his parents were on high alert. Perhaps he could convince his sister to cause a distraction?

#danny phantom #christmas truce #christmas truce 2020 #fanfiction #phanfic #hope I'm doing this at the right time (:

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what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me · 5 years

Note

Consider: Danny Phantom and Laika, the space ghost dog

Sorry this took me so long to answer, I was sick for a while. But anyways. You. I like the way you think. Hey Anon, I don’t know who you are, but you have earned my undying love. I want to, will, and already have married you.

I have so many emotions after I considered this and really, I can’t help myself when it comes to screaming about space. So here are my considerations (also shhh im ignoring some science facts for the purpose of telling the story)

Also, please take a look at this wonderful art made by the lovely @wolfsongroar because it inspired the ending to this drabble

Danny didn’t exactly remember how or when he first heard of the dog.

He had been young, a little innocent kid so easily starstruck by anything dealing with the idea of space. The kid often went on conquests for information and his parents were always too happy to help their future little scientist. It was probably a children’s book or magazine. He recalled learning the name of the first satellite put into orbit - courtesy of Russia - Sputnik. He learned of Sputnik II, the famous vessel that brought the first animal into orbit.

At the time, the young Danny Fenton knew there was a dog but something bad happened to it. The article was put into simpler, glorified terms aimed for a younger audience, essentially saying the dog died peacefully after a week in space.

The reality of what happened to the dog - Laika - didn’t escape his sharp mind. But young Danny Fenton didn’t quite get the concept of death quite then. Such an idea terrified him, and the poor little compassionate soul was scared for the dog.

The memory of crying in his parent’s laps while having death explained to him was gone but never quite forgotten in the flurry of childhood.

At age fourteen, he became painfully familiar with the concept of death. It still terrified him. This was a memory that was always haunting the edges of his every thought.

It was the push of a button that changed things for Danny, and he would never forget.

He was panicked, a bolt of something stronger than anxiety took over Danny’s being. He wanted to run. Strange sounds, strange lights, and strange sensations were too overwhelming. Try all he wanted, but Danny couldn’t move.

His muscles were seized in a literal death grip on a piece of loose wiring. He touched it by pure chance and now he was wishing this jumpsuit was made of some sort of insulator. An incomplete circuit or some broken wiring, that was the problem with the portal, he realized just too late. The electricity caused all of his muscles to seize, he couldn’t move. Now his body was at the mercy of his environment. Hell, the electricity was probably cooking his body as he stood there.

His heart hadn’t even been beating when a bolt of pure ectoplasm had hit him in the back of the head.

Danny’s mind had been moving a mile a minute as it happened. Everything was too hot, the air was a coarse poison. At least the sparks were pretty, they remind him of the stars.

CRACK.

Nothing had been the same since.

He obsessed over things. He was always depressed or tired or angry or on the verge of tears. He scared everybody (intentionally or not) he knew and they now bend over backwards as to not set the ghost off. Even dogs were scared of him.

This lost, tainted taste of humanity made him upset. This was nothing he wanted.

And on nights like this, when he wished he wasn’t some sort of half breed that shouldn’t exist, he liked to distract his mind and dwell on happier times.

He was reading something online about Laika.

And it wasn’t a happy or valiant story as that children’s book portrayed it to be.

Newspapers and other public sources of the time said that the dog lasted a week and went relatively peacefully. Later on, the actual details were released. The reality was the dog was alive in Space for a few hours at the most.

And now Danny knew it was far from peaceful.

That fact made Danny’s heart hurt. It made his core ache in sympathy.

Laika had been a stray they took off the street, trained to stay in tiny spaces, undergoing various tests that astronauts go through. A ship was no place for a dog.

Something went wrong. She quickly died of stress. She quickly died of overheating. The scientists didn’t expect her to last more than four days in the first place. She had been left completely at the mercy of a cruel and unforgiving environment.

And maybe he was grasping at straws, but Danny couldn’t help but to think of how similar his own death was.

He cried.

Space was an interesting place.

It was terrifying, cold, eerie, beautiful and peaceful. It seemed to be too much to describe or handle, it always contradictory.

He loved it

And Space always had an interesting effect on him - namely his ghostly mind.

The first time he visited had been due to an accident with a new teleportation power. And that was one of the few accidents that lead to some good in his life.

Space made his ghost half feel… completed? There was no good word for it. That place brought back a childish happiness that he thought had been long dead, it felt good. The ghostly parts of him that liked to obsess Latched onto this and made him visit as often as he could.

Later he would find out it was because of his last thoughts. Years later, Danny would find that he couldn’t exactly recall his last thoughts, but if they were about Space then it didn’t surprise him.

Danny had a small collection of souvenirs going, which also made his ghost half happy. A few space rocks he thought looked neat, two tiny bolts, and a piece of a broken solar panel.

The space junk as interesting. Though hard to come by in the sheer enormity of Space, he loved to look at it and for it. One of Danny’s favorite fun facts was of a spatula being lost in space. He would love to find it one day.

Sam and Tuck compare his new collection to that of a bird who collects shiny things. He tells them to shut up.

And while being up there makes him happy, Danny still feels somewhat unsatisfied. At the end of the day, he still has to return home before curfew and he still has to deal with being inhuman. Half the time it’s like putting a bandaid on a wound that needs stitches. It’s like going to Disneyland when you have depression.

Looking at the trash at leasts gets his mind off of things.

It was by pure chance he stumbled upon another ghost in Space.

He was initially lured in by wreckage of a cone-shaped satellite (or capsule? He wasn’t sure what was a better word for it). But oh wow… he hasn’t come across anything quite like this yet. Fascinating! When Danny’s mind became fixated on the celestial trash, he manages to forget everything, just for a bit.

The contraption is larger than him, and he isn’t sure of what to do with it. His mind not-so-helpfully offered the idea of taking it home. That wouldn’t work. Probably. Maybe he would try it but he needs to know more first. The cold metal surface seems to have been worn down by the (nonexistent) environment. He flew closer, maybe there would be some identifying mark.

The last thing Danny expected to happen was for his ghost sense to go off.

The innocent wonder and fascination were gone in a snap. Back were those guarded and aggressive fighting behaviors that he associated with cold lungs. He was unsettled. This was supposed to be his little safe place, no ghosts should be here. After glancing around and seeing nobody, his stance dropped by just the slightest bit.

His eyes were once again trained on the satellite in a suspicious, untrusting gaze.

Something in the back of his mind was itching, though. Despite himself, Danny’s suspicion was melting away into something akin to thoughtfulness and curiosity. It was the satellite. Maybe the Itself vessel was a ghost? Concepts, possessions, and structures have the potential to crossover into the Ghost Zone and be classified as undead. In this case, he doubted that theory.

A satellite with a ghost on it?

He finally touched the cold metal, not really affected by the temperature. He wished there was sound in space, though. The action felt incomplete without some sort of thumping noise. Nothing happened. He further hesitated before phasing his head in near the top, his personal otherworldly glow lit up what he saw. Wires and electronics. Lovely. He continued to slowly work his way down, marveling at the technology.

On some level, Danny knew it was coming. Regardless, the boy wasn’t prepared for when he came eye to eye with a starry ghost dog.

Both ghosts were transfixed.

Danny didn’t even realise he had phased a hand in until the ghost dog had gotten up from a resting position. But the halfa’s eyes gazed to the floor of the small pod, past the legs of the ghost and to the mess on the floor-

Startled, he phased his head out, forcibly putting space between himself and what was in there.

He couldn’t get his mind off of it. He couldn’t get his body to stop shaking. His arms were clasped tight around his body in some attempt of self comfort. A anxiety attack of some sort is what Jazz would tell him what was happening. It didn’t matter, though.

Danny never did good with seeing the aftermath of death. And that? He had reasons for trying not to cry in Space but things were already difficult, that is close to pushing him over the edge. This was supposed to be his solitary corner of reality. The halfa continued with his internal war.

But a little wet nudge on his cheek brought him out of that headspace. There was some ice on his cheek, but Danny didn’t give it any mind.

He cracked open one eye - not even realising they were closed - and there was the starry mutt. ’Laika’, some part of his mind whispered.

Danny didn’t dare to move one bit, only staring. Dogs didn’t like him very much anymore, he reminded himself. But…The mutt was wagging her tail, and little bits of stardust were flung with it. The dog had not run away yet.

Danny reached a hand to it.

Laika didn’t flinch like other dogs he tried to pet. To his delight, she leaned into his gloved hands. And the dog didn’t protest one but as he brought the ghost into his arms.

Both of their cores were pulsing, in something akin to a mutual understanding.

He heald Laika for a while longer. Danny tried not to cry in Space. His tears had the terrible habit of freezing in his eyes and it was often a painful ordeal.

Still, the tears came.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #sputnik #laika #snappy's writing tag #snappy writes #asks #angst #light angst #does character death count for ghosts?#space #i hope this causes a few tears #i adore this idea and i adore you anon #ask to tag #bittersweet

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phantomphangphucker · 5 years

Text

Goo And A Letterman Jacket - Phic Phight

Prompt Creator: @all-hail-trash-prince Prompt: Danny gets stuck in human form, but can still use his ghost powers. Now he has to find a way to disguise himself while still protecting his town. Summary: Danny finally has to cosplay as himself while trying and failing to seem like a regular human.

No warnings apply. Let Danny say fuck

“Oh hey would you look at that. Isn’t this just dandy. I absolutely love it. Just fabulous”, Danny grumbles as he repeatedly tries and fails to transform into Phantom while staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Eventually tossing his hands up he opts to head back to his room.

Grumbling as he goes to fetch his hey-look-it’s-Phantom emergency box. Complete with a well-made jumpsuit, white wig, green contacts and sunglasses. “Honestly, I’m amazed it took 4 years for this bullshit to happen”, he doesn’t even bother trying it all on, knowing full well it all already fits. He tried it all on as soon as he got it all. “My glow is the only thing I can’t replicate, but of all the things why would anyone notice that”, he slips his replica jumpsuit on and then puts his regular clothing over top. Green wife beater, black military pants, black leather jacket and white doc martins. He opts for full black gloves rather than his usual fingerless gloves, to hide his white jumpsuit gloves. Looking himself over in the bedroom mirror, “yeah this'll do”. He shoves the wig and sunglasses in his bag, “it’s not like I can speed put on contacts so just my sunglasses will have to do for any emergency changing”. With that he hops down the stairs to have a quick breakfast before heading to school. On his bus ride there, because it’s just not worth the risk or effort to “change”, he thinks back on how this utter crap came to be.

—flashback—

“Why don’t you give it a rest boxy? This is what? The eighth time today? Do I really have to keep shipping you off?”, Danny sighs as he shoots yet another ectoblast at The Box Ghost. “NEVER GHOST BOY! FOR MY FEARSOME MIGHT SHALL HAUNT YOU ALL!”, The Box Ghost shouts as he throws three boxes at Danny, which Danny easily dodges. Floating sideways, Danny sighs into his hand as he uncaps his thermos, “you need a time out”, as he sucks The Box Ghost in yet again. Not even two seconds after tucking his thermos away he gets coated in green goo. “What in the-”, he gets cut off by Jack excitedly yelling. “Look Mads! I got him!”, Maddie runs up and hugs him before speaking while Danny mutters “Oh fuck”.

“Congrats honey! Now that filthy ectoplasmic scum can’t bother Amity any more! It won’t even be able to leave the GZ!”, Danny barely hears the end of Maddie’s praising of Jack as he just fucking runs; realising he’s turned back to Fenton unintentionally. He dashes inside a bathroom praying to all high hells that the goo covered his appearance, “holy shit, thank Phantom”. Danny pants as he starts wiping off all the goo. “Well either this doesn’t work or its not supposed to hurt. Which is hella weird for my parents”, shaking his head, he gives himself a pat-down making sure nothing looks wrong. “Ok...other than suddenly transforming, nothing is off. Like at all”, sticking his head out the bathroom, he looks around before ducking into an alley. Peaking around the corner he sees his parents following the trail of goo muttering all the while.

“I just don’t get it Jack, the ghost boy should have dissolved from that?”

“And I’m sure all the calculations were right! Maybe that one really is different from all the others?”

“That’s the only explanation we’ve got, for now”

Danny watches his mother shake her head as the couple head back to the RV, “they were tying to dissolve me?”. Blinking a couple times he gives himself another pat down, this time looking for even a hint of melting. “Well I guess I’ll chalk this up to the wonders of being a halfa, for now”, he opts to just walk home because he really doesn’t want to risk any possible melting.

He’s feeling pretty darn good by the time he gets home, so he decides fuck it and tries transforming in his room. Watching himself in the bedroom mirror and still looking completely human, “well fuck me sideways. Fuck me up and down, side to side, and against a wall”. Shaking his head, “well hopefully I can sleep this off, maybe I just need to recharge”. With that he flops down for a nights, hopefully peaceful, rest.

—return to the present—

He’s done his reminiscing by the time he’s at school. Walking up to his locker he sees both Sam and Tucker waiting for him, “well hello guys, isn’t today just fucking peachy”. Sam raises her eyebrow while Tucker snickers, “what happened to you dude? Waking on the wrong side of the GZ? Skulker steal your favourite blankets?”. Sam smirks, “Lunchlady steal all your cereal, again?”. Danny groans and slams his head into his locker before opening it, muttering all the while, “I fucking wish, I got doused in goo stuff and now”. Danny finishes his statement by pulling his shirt collar down enough for them to see his replica suit. “Dude, what? That’s got to be the backup, otherwise you’re are scary fast with hair dye. So what you can’t change? Dude that bites”, Danny groans even louder as he nods, slinging his backpack over his shoulder, after showing them the wig and glasses inside, since he needs to keep it with him for now.

Sam sighs, “well do you even know if you can still use any of your frying Pan stuff?”. Danny shrugs and rubs his neck awkwardly, “I guess that would be a good idea to check but my thermos is fine. So if I got to then I got to”. Sam shakes her head, “just use a damn wrist ray you idiot. Where’d the goo even come from?”. Danny groans again as they start heading to class, “parents, who else? Apparently, it was supposed to dissolve ghosts. Stuff didn’t even sting”. Danny looks around quickly and decides to just shoot Kwan’s laces with an ectobeam. After looking quite content with himself he blows imaginary smoke off his fingertip at Sam, who rolls her eyes at him before snickering, “well look at the bright side then Danny, at least you can still use your powers”. Danny smacks a hand on his chest in annoyance, “Yeah well now I have to go around pulling a damn superman if shit happens during the day”. Tucker scoffs at him and glares judgingly, “dude, learn your superheroes. I’m pretty sure you’ll be putting on, not taking off a pair of glasses”. Danny rolls his eyes as he takes his seat in front of Tucker, “fine, Spider-Man, happy?”. Tucker gives a smug nod as Mr. Lancer walks in. While Danny mutters under his breath, “Oh go eat grass, Tuck”.

It doesn’t take Danny long to realise there’s a bit of a problem, well more of a problem than there already was. As he’s noticing that he keeps having to force himself not to straight up float above his chair, instead of staying sitting in it. By the time first class is over he’s heard basically nothing in lue of focusing on not being a floaty boy and outing himself, which he failed at multiple times but went unnoticed. “So uh, I think this is even more of straight up piss and litter than I thought”, Danny groans to Sam and Tucker. “You aren’t going to just straight up suddenly change in class are you?”, Sam is more genuinely worried now. Danny shakes his head, “I don’t think so but I actually had to force myself not to float. Like how it is when I am frying Pan”. Tucker slaps Danny on the chest, “dude, maybe that shit like gave you full access as screaming Fan”. Danny glares at Tucker, “I fucking hope not Tuck, using shit is way too easy and basically second nature as frying Pan. It’ll be almost as bad as when I first got this shit but with more floating and at full strength”. Sam groans but also snickers a bit, “well hopefully everyone’s just as oblivious as 4 years ago”. As Tucker and Danny sits down for their second class, Danny mutters, “with my luck? Fuck that”.

Again, Danny spends most of the class focusing on not floating and being in general paranoid that his eyes might change colour. He, however, doesn’t get to do this through third class, as his ghost sense goes off half way through. “Oh fuck me, this is just fucking perfect. If this is boxy I will end him”, Danny mutters to himself as he just straight up walks out of class. He stopped bothering putting his hand up or asking to go, 2 years ago; he’d just leave whenever. Much to the annoyance of teachers but they knew he would leave anyway, so this was less of a distraction for the people who actually wanted to be there. Lancer was the only one who even still bothered to write down his sudden leaving, tardies or skipped classes, as he was the only who didn’t consider Danny a lost cause.

Once out of class Danny books it to the bathroom and speed changes, ripping off his clothing and phasing them into the ceiling. Yanking on the glasses and wig, he easily floats through the ceiling. Looking around he finds its Technus, “alright, I guess you’re my outlet for aggression on this fucking fine day”. Technus can see that Danny is not in the best mood but also notices his lack of glow, “ha! Ghost child you are weakened! You do not posses your healthy glow! But I Technus! Suffer no such weakness! For I-”, Technus is cut off as Danny just punches him in the face. “Hot tip techy, I’m never weak!”, Danny jeers as he ectoblasts apart the old computer Technus is holding, which he's sure is a discarded one from the library. Technus looks at his hands sadly before shouting, “it is no matter ghost child! For I will-”. Getting cut off again as he didn’t even see Danny float up to him and shoot him point blank. “You really should use your eyes”, Danny sighs as he sucks in Technus.

Danny shakes the thermos as he floats back into the bathroom, “well thank Phantom that was fast, and look at that! Totally god damn empty bathroom, nice”. Danny gets his stuff and changes back, but opts to just sit in the bathroom since there’s only 5 minutes left of class. He decides it’s probably best to test each of his not super destructive powers, to make sure they all work and to what level. “And that’s body manipulation. Well I’m not sure if I should be pleased or annoyed. All my powers seem to be functioning at full Phantom strength”, rubbing his eyes, “which while great for ghost fights, is not great for seeming like a normal fucking human”. Groaning he gets up and walks to the mirror just before the bell rings. Focusing his eyes, he tried to make them green with no luck, “well damn, still stuck with glasses it seems”. Tossing his hands up he phases out the bathroom door, stops and blinks, “Oh fuck”. Looking around he quickly determines no one saw shit and heads to his fourth class before lunch.

By fourth class, he’s feeling rather wiped, “so I’ve learned trying to force myself to be fucking regular while all frying Pan is not god damn fun”. Tucker chuckles as Danny slams his head against the table, “pretty sure you’re screaming Fan dude”. Which earns him an ectobeam to the knee, as Danny mutters into the table, “outside of looks, no I am not, might as well be frying Pan dressed up as screaming Fan”. Danny then snickers into the table, “I’m literally cosplaying myself, in two different ways”.

“Well if it isn’t Fentit? What you need your mommy to sing you a bedtime story so you can have a little nap?”, Dash comes up jeering, but Danny is just not having it so he doesn’t even bother lifting his head up as he flips Dash off. “Wow, you really do need a nap. Maybe this’ll help”, Dash goes to drop a textbook on Danny’s head but Danny straight up grabs Dash’s arm and strong man flings him over the table. All the while never even lifting his head up or moving anything other than one arm/hand, “I didn’t break him right?”. Sam and Tucker pat him on the shoulders, “all you broke was his ego. Which honestly should be shattered at this point”. Tucker nods, agreeing with Sam, “yeah with the number of times you’ve completely owned him, you’d think he’d give up”. Tucker looks down at Dash as he gets up and grumbles. As Dash walks away Danny can hear him bitterly mutter, “Why doesn’t freak turd just try out for football already”.

Thankfully, there isn’t anymore ghost that day as the final bell sounds. Meeting Sam and Tucker by his locker, “so let me guess, you want both of us to come over, help you figure out what slimed you and how to undo it?”. Danny slowly turns his head and gives Sam an over the top no-fucking-shit face. As Star approaches the trio, “ok, I don’t know what your deal is but the boys egos are too far up their asses so I’m just going to ask you”, the trio waits as Star stops inspecting her nails and puts a hand on on her hip before continuing. “Football try-outs are tomorrow, you are clearly packing muscle so be there, kay?”, Danny blinks a few times before responding. “Uh I ain’t much of a sports guy and do you seriously think I know the first thing about that”, Star shrugs as she walks off. Waving and looking over her shoulder, “just be there, doesn’t matter if you don’t know shit”. Once she’s out of sight Danny tilts his head back and groans, “Oh come on, I get it, but come on”. Tucker snickers as he pats his flat but not muscular stomach, “ah the joys of not being completely fucking ripped”. Sam smiles somewhat sympathetic, “I’m amazed it took them so long, you’re over 7 foot and a literal wall of muscle that knows no fear”. Danny throws his hands up, “except one fear! The fear of being caught, which will be kind of hard to avoid if I fucking break someone in a damn game!”. Sam and Tucker can’t help but laugh at their friends distress as they leave school.

They are treated by Maddie as soon as they get to Danny’s, “well hello kids! Always a pleasure to have you over. You’ll have to mind the mess though, we’re trying to figure out why the Fenton gooster didn’t work”. The three nod as they step over a couple screwdrivers on the floor. “Uh so since there’s such a mess what is it this time?”, Danny asks as he recognises the odd rooster-shaped gun as the one that shot him. He’s gotten a lot better over the years to make it a point to know what anything new is. “Well it was supposed to dissolve ghosts, sweetie. Make it so they can’t hold a physical form and thus can’t leave the GZ. But that didn’t seem to happen with Phantom”, Maddie shakes her head confused before continuing, “but don’t you worry sweetie we’ll find away to keep those scum from coming here”.

Danny gives an awkward nod as the three go to his bedroom, “well shit, no way I can get my hands on it or it’s plans if they’re working on it”. Tucker taps his chin thoughtfully as Sam turns on the tv loud enough that they won’t be overheard, “well I think it’s safe to say you can’t be frying Pan because your ectoform or ghost form can’t physically manifest. Which is probably causing all your frying Pan ectoplasm to be more intermingled or whatever in you”. Danny groans as he flops on his bed, “which hopefully only comes with the negative side effect of having complete access to my ghost everything while still being screaming Fan”. Sam nods a bit worried, “it’s probably best you don’t stay like this for long. Who knows what else could happen from you being all half dissolved”. Danny nods as the three set to work trying to figure out how to get either the plans or the gun.

Eventually, they settle on getting them to chase Phantom and hoping they leave everything else behind, like they usually do when caught up in the hunt. “Whelp, this will either be really stupid or you guys have an hour”, with that Danny gets changed, contacts included, and flies out the wall. Making a point to fly right past the kitchen window, “look Mads he can even still fly! Maybe if we trap him we can figure out why?”, Maddie shrugs as she followers her excitable husband out the door. Even Sam and Tucker hear her mutter, “I’m pretty sure he’s uncatchable, untraceable and possibly immune to every anti-ghost thing at this point”. The two wait all of five minutes before racing over to the gun and plans, looking them over with feverish haste. Doesn’t take Tucker long to smirk, “well this won’t actually be all that hard though Danny is going to be pretty peeved”. Sam looks up from the gun she is intentionally rigging to not work, “let me guess, he’s stuck for a while?”.

Tucker nods just as Danny phases up through the floor, “you two better have shit because for once in my life I have the unfortunate pleasure of sports in the morning. And sleep is a thing, so?”. Tucker and Sam make quick work of putting everything back as they found it and bolting upstairs with Danny as Tucker talks, “it’s fixable dude, probably take me an hour at best. Just need a few things from the lab but dude, it’s gonna take sometime to put your ghostliness back together”. Danny groans has he grabs Tucker and phases them into the lab, “well explain and grab shit. How long we talking?”. Tucker quickly moves around the room gathering random things, hoping to be out of here before the Fenton’s come home, “three days, then you’ll be all Phantom again. Well not all, just half; your norm. Till then”, Tucker gestures at the floating Danny dressed up as Phantom, “this”. Danny groans again as he phases Tucker back upstairs. Tucker’s already half done what looks like a cocktail drink by the time the Fenton’s get back.

Tucker has to hide the thing when Maddie comes up and offers them some cookies, “I know you kids are nearly grown but everyone has room for cookies and you two should really head home soon”. The three all thank Maddie as she leaves. The cookies are pretty much all gone by the time Tucker is done, “dude, shits done man. Can’t tell if it tastes good though, so fucking cheers man”. Danny groans as he basically just shoots it, “yeah that was not horrible but I’d rather not. Really I’d rather not with all this”. Sam snickers, “ah the life of a halfa who won’t man up and tell his family”. Earning a glare from Danny as they say their goodbyes, “and Danny dude, you know we will be there. Watching you likely scare some freshmen and break something”. Danny just grumbles as he heads to bed.

Danny gets exactly an hour and a half of sleep before his ghosts sense wakes him up. “Oh for fucks sake”, Danny mutters as he throws on his wig and glasses, flying out the window.

It is once again, Technus, “dude why?”. Technus spreads his arms out as he summons a swarm of electronic dogs to attack Danny. “Well this is just roof”, Danny spins sideways and then promptly gets his glasses knocked off by a dog. He just sadly watches them fall and get crushed by the wave of dogs, “well shit, dog shit”. By the time Danny has dealt with Technus, again, he’s missing bits of his hair on top of the ruined glasses. Flying lazily into his bed, he doesn’t even bother with pjs.

The first thing Danny does in the morning is check over his powers and try to transform, “Yup, still the same utter bullshit. I lowkey want to fucking die”. Grumbling all the while he puts on basically the same thing as yesterday, having never even taken off his duplicate jumpsuit. “I’m going to have to hide all this shit in the locker room ceiling, pretty sure trying to wear a jumpsuit under gym clothes would be grade A dumb”, Danny shakes his head and hopes that like usual there are no ghosts early morning. Heading downstairs for a quick waffle, Jack spots him, “well you’re up early son, reason?”. Danny shrugs as he puts in the waffles to cook, “pretty much got forced into football tryouts because I’m just too nice to say no when asked, apparently”. Jack beams and pats Danny on the back, “well I can’t say I’m surprised, you’re built for it. I also can’t say I know how you became so muscular”. Danny chuckles, sticking the waffles in his mouth as he leaves; leaving Jack to contemplate Danny’s fitness alone.

Tucker and Sam are two of many people sitting in the stands watching hopefuls and one not-so-hopeful tryout. Danny promptly changes out of his jumpsuit and puts everything into the ceiling; changing into shorts, black under armour leggings, runners and keeping his green wife beater on. Danny knows he’ll get some surprises looks because no ever really sees him uncovered at all, “I’d look fucking stupid if I went out in a fucking leather jacket”.

Unsurprisingly Danny is the tallest and most filled out guy there, he also does indeed get stared at. Overhearing Dash, who’s scouting the talent, “well damn he actually showed and Christ he’s more muscular then I thought. I’ll have to tell Kwan to thank Star”. The coach yells for everyone to shut up and listen, “all right you scraps of meat, to be frank we need anyone who is capable of actually doing anything and taking hit. So if you aren’t practically dead you’re on the team”. Danny can’t help but snicker and mutter, “I came here half dead”. The coach smirks, “then maybe you’ll take hits better”, then turning to everyone she points behind her and shouts, “now run 40-yards!”. Danny is mildly surprised at it being such a short distance but he can’t say he really cares, “the only reason I’m even putting any effort here is cause it’s my last year and I was asked more or less nicely”. Though he is practically chanting “don’t do anything ghostly”, in his head the entire time. Surprising no one really, except some freshmen, Danny finishes first and doesn’t even look like he’s ran anything at all. As he stands there and gives a lazy yawn, while stretching his arms out a bit. Dash can’t help but stare at the arms that had just yesterday flipped over a damn table, “I seriously want to know how the fuck that happened”.

The test for athletic ability and agility go pretty much the same, Danny doing everything with ease and feeling almost kind of sad at how easy it is. If anything he’s found focusing on not just straight up flying his way over obstacles to be harder. By the time they get to hitting and throwing ability, half have been cut. Danny can’t help but mutter, “ok this is sad, I’m not even striving to get accepted and these guys who are, can’t do shit”. Danny is then reminded how damn good the coaches hearing is, as she replies to him, “yup, it’s the same every year. But if I remember correctly, you used to be one of the worst”. Danny blinks, a little surprised to get a response and praise, before shrugging, “have you seen my dad? I got his height but not his diet”. The coach slams him on the back, “nonsense! You don’t get muscles from genetics! Whatever it is you do, keep doing it”. Danny smirks at this, knowing full well he never will stop. While the coach goes back to addressing the whole, much smaller, group, “all right pipsqueaks and people with actual potential! Time to see if you take a hit or actual throw shit!”. Danny is honestly nervous for this because he’s almost certain he’ll break something or someone. “Now because we have shit for money, you get no tackle bots. So you’ll just be tackling into each other, if you’re going to die leave school property”, which again makes Danny snicker. “Little too late for that”.

Thankfully for the other students, the coach isn’t a complete sadist and pairs Danny up against the other largest guy there. Danny feels rather sorry for the guy because if he can take rockets to the face and hundred foot falls into cement, there’s really not anything this eleventh grader can do. Danny, however, feels less sorry when the ass opens his mouth, “you’re that freak Fenton kid, what you going to do? Ball your eyes out as soon as someone slaps you? Muscle don’t mean shit when taking a hit”. Danny officially feels like being a bit of an ass to this guy so he lifts up his shirt, revealing the peppering of scars on his torso; “pal, I’ll be impressed if I feel the impact at all”. Even Dash manages to catch a glimpse of some of the scarring, “does Fenton fight or some shit? Because seriously, how the fuck did that happen”. As the coach blows her whistle, Danny has to physically restrain himself from straight punching the guy or shooting him, as he charges at Danny. Danny charges back only seconds after, since he’s more focused on not blowing the kids head off than charging. Unsurprisingly, the other dude gets promptly slammed into the ground. Danny blinks a little, he’s not used to opponents going down so easily, turning around, “seriously? That’s it? Okay...”.

The now embarrassed guy attempts to punch Danny in the stomach to at least save a little face, “dude, do you want fucking pain or something?”. Is all Danny has to say as the guy promptly yanks his hand backs and shakes it out from the impact, which Danny didn’t even flinch from. A couple other guys around start laughing but the coach gets an idea, she wants to see just what this once punny kid could take. “I want all of you to tackle Fenton, if you make him go down you’re on the team”, with that everyone’s eyes light up as they turn on Danny. Danny though a little off guard isn’t really bothered, he’s pretty sure a bunch of High-schoolers is easier than a bunch of ghosts. He’s completely right, as he lifts the last guy still trying, up with his peck and flings him off. Rubbing his neck, “Uh, yeah, sorry, not happening”. Tucker and Sam laugh their asses off from the benches, pretty well positive that Danny’s idea of human levels of strength is completely skewed.

One of the guys shakes his head at the built as hell Fenton kid, “pal, you could crush a man’s head and never notice it”. Danny rubs his neck and shrugs, “you’re not wrong”. Dash comes up all excited and friendly for once, “Why the hell have you been holding out on us, Fenton?”. Danny just glares, “because you guys are dicks? And never asked? Sports ain’t my thing anyways”. The coach shakes her head, “even if you couldn’t throw for shit you’d be worth having to protect those who can throw and to tackle the enemy”. Danny just shrugs, “you’re not wrong but, like, I’ll be more focused on not breaking someone than winning”. Dash rolls his eyes, “that would just teach them not to mess with you? Why wouldn’t you exert that kind of power?”. Earning a harsh glare from Danny, “because I’m not like you and I’m actually a good guy”. Dash just grunts at this as the coach snaps for everyone to start throwing balls.

When it’s Danny’s turn he has to focus on throwing the ball and not an ectoblast, he does end up ectoburning the ball though, “well shit, hopefully no one questions that”. No one actually does and with that everything is wrapped up and Danny, surprising no one, makes the cut.

Danny joins up with Sam and Tucker for class as he waves bye to what is essentially his teammates now. “So I’m definitely still fucked up, but no one seemed to catch the burnt ball so whatever. Not my fucking problem anymore, now I’m going to get changed before my luck runs out”, the two snicker at him as he heads to the lockers.

Danny manages to get his shit and change uninterrupted, but as he’s going to leave Kwan suddenly appears, “dude, that was sick! We’re so going to pummel literally everyone! Anyways, we already made you a jacket because we’re not as stupid as Dash seems”. Danny shakes his head as Kwan leaves, though realising he froze some of the ground when Kwan came out of nowhere, “really? Oh, come on”. Danny quickly melts the ice before heading out and at the sight of the jacket he’s caring, Sam and Tucker’s snickering returns.

Danny just rolls his eyes at them but knows full well it would be insulting to not wear the thing. So he does change into it when no ones looking, “this looks fucking weird on me, I am impressed it actually fits though”. Sam smacks his arm, “well don’t set it on fire too soon, I doubt they want to replace it every week”.

First class goes pretty well the same until one of the football players that didn’t watch tryouts thinks Danny’s jacket wasn’t earned, “why you wearing that freak? Think you’ll get accepted just by wearing one?”. Danny just glares down at the boy from his seat, “something tells me you weren’t there, if you really want the story just talk to Kwan. He gave me the jacket”. The dude clearly doesn’t believe him and actually goes to grab Danny, which he reacts to on instinct. Grabbing the guys arm and yanking him to the ground, ectoburning the guys jacket and his own gloves in the process. This gets the teachers attention as she snaps for both of them to sit down. Danny mutters to himself, “huh, didn’t get in trouble. Power of the jacket I guess...god that is so elitists”. However, that was not why, as Danny soon finds out.

As soon as class is over the teacher asks to talk to him, Danny mutters as he walks up, “well fuck me”. The teacher looks Danny straight in the eyes and asks, “care to explain what was up with your eyes?”. Danny just blinks a couple times, “Uh what?”. The teacher shakes his head, “they were green and glowing. I know there’s some crazy shit at your house so I’ll assume that’s why. But I’d like an actual answer”. Danny blinks again and mutters “oh fuck, of all the shit times for something to come back to my more or less normal” in his head, “hotdogs literally come to life sometimes, so you pretty well said the explanation. Ectocontamination just shows more if someone’s angry or startled”. The teacher simply nods and waves Danny off. Third period doesn’t go much better as he accidentally freezes and explodes a bunch of test tubes. Resulting in multiple girls screaming and running out, a couple of dudes yelp. “Mr. Fenton, I would prefer if only ghosts caused explosions, not my students too”, at which Danny just rubs his neck sheepishly. After that he completely misses the rest of school as he has to pull another emergency Phantom switch.

“Seriously Skulker, what is that? An overgrown hacksaw?”, Danny shakes his head at the unusual and kind of disappointing weapon. Skulker grins as he makes a move for Danny but Danny easily bats away the weapon, however Skulker promptly knocks him on the side of the head. Knocking his wig off which Danny madly scrambles for, “dude, not the hair. For once I actually give a shit about it”. Skulker just stares at him and tilts his head to the side, “ok I know you have not been wearing a wig for the past years, so what?”. Danny shrugs, “parents trying to dissolve ghosts again. So now I get the fun of cosplaying my fucking self. Horray for me!”. Skulker shakes his head and continues his assault, which has gained some onlookers; namely the Fenton’s.

“How in the hell? It looks as if he was completely unaffected?”, Jack shakes his head but Maddie slaps his arms excitedly. “No Jack! He’s not glowing! And he’s wearing sunglasses! We must have done something! No clue what though”, Maddie shakes her as she prepares the second model of the gun. “I would really like to know why all our stuff stops working right after using it on Phantom too. It’s really annoying to have to start building duplicates”, Maddie shakes her head while her husband smiles. “At least we know this one works! Tested it on some of those ectopusses!”, he finishes speaking just as Skulker and Danny both get drenched.

“OH COME THE FUCK ON!”, Danny snaps angrily at the goo before shouting at Skulker. “Don’t get this shit on you! You fucking tin man! Thermos now!”, Skulker promptly just follows Danny’s orders because he’s learned to tell when Danny’s not fucking around. “You’re parents are a problem ghost child!”, Skulker yells as Danny sucks him in. Danny stares down at his confused parents, who really just want to know why nothing works on him, he then throws his hands up in the air angrily as he goes to sulk in a tree.

“Fuck my entire existence, fuck my life and fuck my death”, after Danny knows Tucker will be home he flies straight into the boy’s bedroom, arms crossed.

“Sweet fucking Plasmius dude!”, Tucker yelps as he jumps off his bed and then throws a towel at the goo-covered Danny. “Care to take. One fucking guess what this is Tuck? Just one fucking guess?”, Danny just lets the towel smack into his face not even attempting to catch it. Tucker just sighs and digs up a second batch of the cocktail, “looks like your parents have finally learned the rules of making goddamn backups”. Danny just mutters as he cleans himself off, “this is the worst joke of my half-life”. Tucker chuckles as Danny flies home, knowing full well the wig and costume will have to be washed all night.

As soon as Danny gets home he goes straight to the bath and tosses everything in, “thank Phantom I got the expensive kind, this shit I can actually clean”. Lifting the cleaned off suit he shakes his head at it, “it’s been two days and this thing is already shredded, how the fuck is it going to last three more fucking days”. With a new appreciation for his real suits natural healing, Danny promptly goes to bed.

Danny’s morning starts out pretty good, he’s well rested and all dressed. As Danny goes to have breakfast, however, his dad barges in with the once again fixed Fenton gooster. “Why does that look like a rooster anyways?”, Danny can’t help but be curious. His dad shrugs, “that’s just what happened son, no need to question creative genius”. With that Jack slams the device on the table causing it to accidentally go off and coat Danny, once again, in goo. Danny sits there with his mouth open about to take a bit of his sandwich, he slowly closes his mouth and puts the sandwich gently on his plate. Danny starts out speaking slowly and calmly, “dad, I mean this with all love and affection. But, could you, stop, FUCKING SPRAYING ME WITH GOO!”, Danny’s sudden angry shout makes Jack jump. Jack blinks at Danny as Danny slowly pulls out his phone, who’s more focused on not crushing it than Jack’s reaction, “hey Tuck, do you, by chance, HAVE A THIRD FUCKING ONE!”. Jack again jumps, not used to ever seeing anger from his son unless it’s Christmas.

Danny snaps his phone closed slowly, wipes off his sandwich and eats it while glaring daggers at the rooster-shaped gun. Jack stands there watching his clearly pissed off son angrily eat a sandwich, not even bothering to wipe off the goo. “Uh, could I maybe clean your jacket and shirt off? Also, it’s uh, awesome you made the team”, Danny glares harder at the gun, and puts down what’s left of his sandwich. “Fuck it, sure thing, just don’t fucking spray me with goo, fuck me, just like fuck all of me”, Danny just straight up makes his stuff intangible falling off onto the floor, with his clean but ripped replica jumpsuit clearly visible. Danny doesn’t even acknowledge his stunned dad, as he angrily finishes his sandwich. Getting up slowly he puts his plate in the dishwasher, slowly turning to his dad who’s starting to come out of shock, “welcome to the joke of the century”.

End.

#phic phight #phic phight 19 #Danny Phantom #phantom #fan fic #phan phic #danny fenton #Tucker Foley #sam manson #kwan #star #dash baxter #phantomphangphucker #have a fic suck my dick #team human #jack fenton #Maddie Fenton

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aggressivelyclueless · 5 years

Text

Notice Me, Sam-pai

prompted by @fabnamessuggestedbytumbler

“Every time Ember comes to the human world, she can't help but notice Phantom's human friend... Sam, was her name? The sight of her makes her stomach do weird flips and she's always oddly anxious around the girl. It's not until one day when Kitty corners her about it that she realizes it- she has a crush on Sam.”

Words: 6042

Warning: excessive swearing. mostly a shitpost. had fun anyway.

"I can't believe I blew it!" Ember shrieked. Kitten watched an empty crate fly across the room, and phased through another one that would have otherwise hit her. It splintered against the metal delivery doors behind her; when Ember was upset, the disused back room of the guitar shop was usually where she'd be found. Sure enough, Kitten had heard the destruction from half a block over. If she was honest, though - she was beginning to wish she hadn't asked. "Ember," she said patiently, "It can't be that bad. I've blown it before, too - we all have - " Ember whirled on her, furious. "Not like this, you haven't! What do you know, anyway? You weren't even there!" "Well, maybe not," Kitten admitted, "but - " "It was going off without a hitch, too!" Ember shouted, "I had him this time - I really had him! - and I was gonna kick him into the dust for good! It was gonna be awesome!" "He's beaten you before, and you've never taken it this hard," Kitten noted with a frown, "Are you sure you didn't - ?" "Fuck off!" Ember cried, ponytail flaring up again. Tears of anger and frustration welled up in the corners of her eyes, and when they fell they took half her mascara with them. "Ugh, stupid goddamned no-good piece-of-shit ghost bastard motherfucker!" She swung her guitar over her head like an axe, decimating another crate. "Hey, calm down!" Kitten exclaimed, taking a step back anyway in case Ember decided to take a few swings at her instead of the next doomed crate. "We can come up with another plan - " "I don't give a shit about the plan!" Ember roared, surrounding herself with flames. "Fuck the plan! Fuck the ghost boy! Fuck you! Fuck me! Fuck everything! Fuck!" Kitten retreated to the doorway. She knew Ember would burn out soon. Her outbursts were hell but they never lasted long. Still, it did make her a little nervous. "Aw, come on, don't be so hard on yourself - " "Like hell I won't!" Ember screamed in blind defiance. She smashed another crate for good measure, but it didn't help. She was burning herself out and she knew it; refusing to acknowledge it concretely, she opted instead to simmer down and wallow in self-pity. She sank down into a heap on the floor, still fuming. "It's all my fault, Kitten. I blew it." Kitten loosened. She floated back to Ember's side now that she'd finished destroying things, and took a seat on the cold concrete floor. "Ember," she started, in the most encouraging voice she could muster, "You'll get him one of these days - " "Oh, shut up, Kitten," Ember groaned. She wouldn't meet Kitten's eyes, glowering instead at the guitar which lay discarded by a pile of splinters. "This one's on me." "It is?" said Kitten, "What happened? Won't you tell me - ?" "I fucking froze up. That's what," Ember snapped miserably, "I'm a damned rock star - I don't just do that! There's got to be something wrong with me..." Kitten could sense Ember's shift - the melodrama would start up any second now, and she couldn't see a way to prevent it. She hesitated, but then asked anyway: "Why did you, then? I thought you said - " "Shut up! I know what I said!" Ember barked, using up the last spark of anger in her. "I meant it, too. I was this close - " (she held up two fingers, less than an inch apart, to illustrate) " - one power chord away from kicking his stupid spandex ass into next week. Then some human shows up outta nowhere and kills my style - god, I'm so useless!" Kitten frowned. "Some human?" "One of the ones he hangs out with, I think - " (she sniffled loudly) " - which means I should have seen her coming - I should have known - but there I was like some sort of idiot - and next thing I know he's got that stupid fucking thermos, and - " "Wait, hold on just a minute," said Kitten, frowning. The gears in her head were turning - when they spat out an answer for her, her eyes flicked back to Ember to confirm what she was thinking. "You stopped and stared, didn't you?" Ember gave her an affronted scowl. "No, of course I didn't, how stupid do you think I am - ?" "No, hear me out, would you?" Kitten pressed, her eyes widening as she came to the full realization of what was happening. "It's like when Johnny and I go out sometimes - " "Oh, spare me," Ember interrupted, "I don't want to hear about your lame greasy boyfriend - " Kitten glared. "Hey, cut it out, I'm serious! Sometimes we'll be out on the town and someone'll catch his attention - he always says they don't, but - " "I'm not looking for anybody," Ember retorted, before Kitten had even finished, "That's stupid." Kitten paused. She thought about it for a moment, but then shook her head. Her voice dropped to almost a whisper, as if anyone might overhear the conversation. "That's the same thing he says too, but I'm starting to think maybe he is. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about it yet, but - " she caught herself before she derailed too far - this is about her, not you. Save it for later, Kitten. " - look, point is I think I know what's going on. I think you have a crush." "What? That's the dumbest thing - !" Kitten crossed her arms. "Well, she somehow caught you off-guard, even though you knew she was going to be there. Tell me, Ember - what was she wearing?" "What?" said Ember, "How's that going to prove anything - ?" "Just tell me," Kitten insisted, "In case I see her sometime." Ember was certain she was being baited; she glowered disapprovingly, but then relented with a defeated sigh. "Black half-tank and combat boots. Little ponytail, purple lipstick, and - oh, dear god..." Kitten's expectant stare widened into a triumphant grin; her suspicions had been confirmed. "I knew it!" she exclaimed, jumping up off the floor and doing a quick spin, "I so knew it! You - " (she pointed one finger) " - have a crush!" "Do not!" Kitten wasn't having it. "Do so! You didn't just see her! You stared long enough to notice her boots, Ember! Don't you get it? That means you love her! You love love love - !" "Quit it!" Ember exclaimed, a little more harshly than she'd meant to. Despite herself, she could feel her face beginning to flush blue. As if Kitten wouldn't notice, she turned away. "I do not! She's a human - and besides, the last time I had a crush on someone was when I was still kicking, remember? I can't go and screw around with that stupid romance junk again - " "You're in for a rough time, then," said Kitten, no longer grinning. She returned to her spot on the floor in front of Ember, and gave her a serious stare. "You can't ignore this stuff, Em. That's not how it works." "Okay, pretend for a second that maybe - maybe - I do like this chick," said Ember, still refusing to admit that she did, "What the hell am I supposed to do about it? In case you haven't noticed - I'm a ghost! The hell am I gonna do, knock on her door one night and ask her to dinner?" "I can't figure this stuff out for you," said Kitten, trying to sound wise, "But I'd say maybe start by talking to her? Find out what she likes. Ooh, and find out if she's even single. That helps." Ember groaned. Kitten might have been her best friend at the moment, but she wasn't the brightest ghost out there. Great, she thought, I can't tell anyone else about this - all the advice I'm gonna get is gonna have to be from her. I'm doomed.

The full moon gazes silently over the town. The people sleep in peace, unaware of the horrors of the night that creep outside their doors. The dead have risen, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. They could be anywhere - skulking around in the alleys, hiding in every shadow, waiting, ready to strike at any moment - they must be stopped. Only one thing stands between them and the sleeping town of Amity Park, and that's me. Danny Phantom, half-ghost superhero extraordinaire, ready to fight evil at every turn, and, um - wait - aw hell I ruined it - "Is he doing that thing again?" Sam whispered from atop the roof of the apartment complex. She and Tucker were up high enough to see half the town; there was a pair of Fenton binoculars between them (they'll spot a ghost two miles away! Jack had assured them - in plain fact, they were just binoculars), and they'd been keeping an eye on Danny's patrol for the past half-hour. It had been unusually quiet tonight - his thermos was still completely empty, even after scoping out all the usual hot spots. Tucker nodded. "Yeah. He's doing it. Hey, quick - " (he shoved the binoculars back into Sam's hands) " - check it, he's doing the stupid pose and everything - " Sam gave the dial a slight adjustment to bring Danny into focus. Sure enough, there he floated, centered under a flickering streetlamp like he was on the poster of some mediocre haunted-house film, and his movements were comically dramatic. He disappeared around the side of the corner store a minute later, and Sam handed the binoculars back to Tucker. "You think we should tell him?" Tucker thought about it for a moment but then shook his head. "Nah." Danny was almost finished. No ghosts tonight - I can't tell if that's a lucky break or really fishy. The alley ahead of him was a dead-end; he phased through the bricks, like he did most nights, and came out in between two shops. Man, I bet Sam and Tuck are almost as bored as me. Wonder what they've been up to? His breath suddenly froze, and he paused. Finally! I was starting to wonder where - A hand clamped over his mouth, yanking him through the side of the shop and to the darkened back room. He pulled himself free and whirled around; there floated Ember McLain, ponytail ablaze and guitar slung across her back. "Ember?" Danny exclaimed, "What do you want? Didn't we just have this fight like four days ago? What's with - " he reached down, hoping to make the fight quick - he was having a lucky break, dammit! - but the thermos had disappeared from his belt. He spotted it in Ember's hand, and made a grab for it. "Hey, did you just - ? Gimme that back!" "No way! Back off!" Ember demanded, holding the thermos up out of his reach. She kept it stubbornly away from him as he made at least three grabs for it, and finally pointed the thing at him to make him float back and put some space between them. "Would you quit it," she snapped, holding his glower for a moment to make sure he wouldn't come at her again. "Look, if I give this stupid thing back would you cool your jets for a sec?" "Me?" Danny cried, wanting to tackle her but keeping his distance anyway, hands raised, "You stole my thermos and you're still pointing it at me and I'm the one that's gotta cool my jets?" Ember took a half-step forward. Her glare hardened. "Shut the fuck up! I'll use this thing! I mean it! It's not comfy in there, y'know!" Danny stiffened, seething. She was probably right, he reasoned. He couldn't imagine the inside of a thermos to be terribly roomy, especially on busy nights when they had to share space. Reluctantly, his eyes turned from the open end of the thermos back to Ember. "Fine. I'm listening. What do you want." "Oh fucking finally," Ember loosened all at once, capping the thermos and tossing back in Danny's direction. She floated down to the counter by a spare register and sat, elbows on her knees. "You really don't understand anything, do you? All I gotta do is show up and you wanna blast me to the next town. I didn't even do anything, for fuck's sake - " "I said I was listening," Danny snapped, returning the thermos to where it belonged thank-you-very-much, "Didn't say I liked it." Ember sighed. "Right. Well. This is gonna sound really fucking stupid. Ugh, can't believe I'm telling you this. You better not tell anyone about this, and I mean it - " "Hey, I'm not promising anything!" Danny argued, a little more shrilly than he'd meant to, "You were gonna stick me in my own thermos - !" "Shut up, dipstick!" Ember yelled, "Jesus fuck - !" Danny gave her an incredulous look. "Really? You throw five fucks at me in a row and you still can't just call me dipshit - ?" "Shut the hell up, I said!" Ember screeched. Her ponytail had been relatively well-behaved until now but it was beginning to flare up again, and she gave Danny an agitated huff. Only after he had actually shut the hell up did she open up her mouth again. "Look. It's about that friend of yours. The cool one. Now you gonna listen to me or not?" Danny, against his better judgment, nodded. "Great. So after that big fight we had - I was talking to Kitten about it, and she made me figure something out." Just thinking about it made Ember's stomach turn; she hadn't felt that in a long time, and she supposed that was just about the clearest sign she was going to get that Kitten had been right. Out with it, Ember. If he laughs at you then whack him. "It's that friend - Sam, I think?" "What about her?" said Danny with a frown. He didn't really like where he thought this conversation was going, but listened anyway. Ember groaned. "I think I like her." Danny faltered. This was definitely not where he had thought this conversation had been going. "What?" "You heard me, dipstick," said Ember, abrasive even when she was doing her best to open up. Attitude was a given; she was sixteen, after all. "I know it's stupid as hell, but - " "Yeah, it kinda is," Danny agreed before he could stop himself, cracking a small grin, "Dunno if you noticed, but you're a ghost - " "You think I don't know that!" Ember snapped, not quite angry but still agitated, "I know how this sounds, okay? You think I decided this was gonna be a good idea? News flash, dipstick, it wasn't! I had no say in this!" "Oh holy hell, you're actually serious," said Danny, sobering in an instant, "You're not even a little bit kidding. You actually for real like her. That's - I'm gonna be straight-up honest with you here - that's not something I thought I was gonna hear tonight." Ember shifted uncomfortably, avoiding his eyes. "Yeah, no shit. I didn't think I'd be the one saying it, either. First time I saw you two I thought you were gonna end up together - " "We're not together!" Danny defended, "It's not - we're not like that." Somehow, that didn't make Ember feel any better. "Look. I can't believe I'm gonna say this - and I mean it when I say I'll kick your ass if you say a word about it to anyone - I might need your help on this one. I know we don't really have the best track record - " "You want me to help you set up a date with Sam," Danny said slowly. Somehow, it didn't sound less ridiculous out loud - and now that he thought about it, that was also on the list of things he hadn't been expecting to hear that night. "You know how crazy that sounds, right? Why would I wanna help you out, anyway?" Ember scowled. I knew he was gonna say that, the little shit. Good thing I've got the dirt on some people. "Because if you do then I'll drop you the latest on what Technus has been working on. One thing, though - he'd better not find out you heard anything from me or I'm never gonna hear the end of it. I got enough shit going on, you know?" Danny considered her offer. He hadn't heard from Technus in a while - he'd dropped entirely off Danny's radar lately, and now that he thought about it that was probably a bad sign. He turned back to Ember, his mind made up, and held out one hand. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but yeah. I'll help you out on this one." The knot in Ember's gut dissolved. Relieved, she took Danny's hand. "Deal."

Three nights later, Danny was able to give his parents the slip. It had become somewhat of a hassle for him lately; after a major fight a couple of weeks ago, they'd caught him out past curfew and had grounded him. His patrols were suffering for it. He'd been keeping Sam and Tucker updated via text; if he went out, he'd ask them to meet up. Most nights, they could. This time, he slinked out of the house on his own. The guitar shop was dark, but he knew as soon as he got close that Ember was there. He slipped into the shadows, vanishing through the cracked window in the alley, and materialized on the concrete floor. "Hey." "About time you showed up," Ember remarked, with less than her usual amount of sarcasm. If anything, she just sounded nervous. "I kicked Kitten out an hour ago. I didn't wanna tell her anything - she'd spread word to half the Ghost Zone by the time you got here." "Were you ever going to tell them?" Danny asked, "I mean - if things work out, at least - that doesn't sound like the kind of thing that's really feasible to keep secret - " Ember snorted. "Yeah? This from a ghost who comes from a family of ghost hunters - that doesn't mean much, kid." Danny shut his mouth after that. She had a point. "So this Sam," said Ember, cutting to the chase, "What's she like?" "You mean, as a person?" Danny asked, "Guess you don't really pay much attention - " "I didn't until recently!" Ember said defensively, "I guess for a human she seems cool." Danny nodded. "Yeah. She's the best. Well, most of the time. She's ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, you know - " "What does she listen to?" Ember interrupted. Danny paused. "I - dunno, does it matter - ?" "I'm a fucking rock star, kid," said Ember flatly, "If anything's going to give me the quickest answers, it's going to be what's on her playlist." Danny thought briefly about it and then pulled out his cell. "Hold on, lemme see if she's got - hey, cool, she's got a pile of stuff on Spotify - take a look at all this, would you?" He dropped the cell into Ember's hands. "I've never heard of half this stuff, but - " "Me neither," Ember admitted, frowning. "Man, I got a lot of catching up to do - wait, TSOL?" Danny didn't follow. "Huh?" "Jesus, I used to listen to those guys all the time!" Ember exclaimed, "Holy shit, Bad Religion's still kicking? Fuck me!" Danny frowned. "You've heard of that stuff? I've never heard of any of it. It's all either super old or super obscure - " "Well, yeah," said Ember, still not taking her eyes off the list of songs on the screen, "The Damned, Bauhaus, Asp, Lycia, All Time Low - hard gothpunk, by the looks of it. I'd bet anything she cares what people think a little more than she'll probably say she does - she's got anything that looks like it might be even semi-popular sorted out from the rest. My guess is she'll only listen to the better-known stuff when she thinks no one'll find out." Danny frowned. "How can you even tell? Why would she - ?" "Because," said Ember, rolling her eyes, "She can't say she's a hyper-rebellious goth punk if she listens to anything that got too famous. I don't blame her for liking it, though. This shit's good." Danny shrugged helplessly, still a bit lost. "I mean, I guess you're right, but - " "Hey," said Ember suddenly, setting the phone down, "This is gonna sound really crazy. What if - what if I wrote her something? No, that's cliche, I'm so stupid - " Danny was quickly coming to the realization that he wasn't going to be as helpful as he first thought. He knew Sam like the back of his hand - but he'd never really thought about doing anything like this for her. Here was Ember, on the other hand - she'd just read Sam with a peek through her Spotify, for crying out loud. "I dunno," he found himself saying, because he felt he had to say something, "What if you did write her - ?" "It'd have to be really spectacular," Ember frowned, determined, "It'd have to be like nothing else she's ever seen in her life. A whole live concert, maybe - fuck, I can't do this. You're the one that hangs out with her all the time. Throw me a bone here, would you?" "I'm thinking!" Danny said defensively, "I've never to asked her out before either, you know!" Ember groaned. "Some help you are." Whatever she decided to pull off - she was certain it was going to be embarrassingly inadequate. Quit freaking about it, dumbass! Just think! Somehow, that didn't make her feel any better. Staying on the topic too long almost made her dizzy. How am I gonna impress her? She probably hates me! Finally an idea came to her all at once. "Holy shit, I've got it." "Got what?" Danny asked, interrupted from his own mess of half-baked ideas. He glanced over at Ember for an explanation. She turned to him, now excited. "I'll give her a song, alright - and I know who's gonna back me up. Lemme see that list again, would you?" Danny reluctantly handed over his cell. "What are you getting at? Back you up - ?" "Yeah, baby," Ember's grin widened, "Oh - oh, here we go. She's got Hell on here. This is gonna be amazing - " "Hold up," said Danny with a frown, "Are you sure this isn't gonna turn into an evil plan or something - ?" "No, these guys," Ember turned the screen to him, showing a group shot of six scrawny musicians dressed up like demons, complete with freakish horns and fangs, "Hell. Looks like she's got everything they ever wrote - even the mediocre stuff. These guys are all dead, too - she's never gonna see this coming. Holy shit." Danny stuffed the cell back into his pocket. "You're going to bring a whole band back from the dead?" "Not as hard as you think, dipstick. I got connections. Hey, listen - I gotta make sure this doesn't flop. I don't even wanna think about if it did. That's where you come in, kid. So here's what I'm thinking..."

It had been a long Friday, and Sam was ready for the weekend. Class had just let out; she shoved herself in between two jocks to get to her locker and grab her stuff. She shoved them an awful lot, and she supposed she'd feel worse about it if they ever decided to stand anyplace that wasn't directly in the middle of the hall. She could see Danny coming down from the corner; Tucker would be at least another minute, since his last class of the day was halfway across the building. She opened up her locker - just algebra for this weekend - and grabbed her textbook. She didn't notice the neatly-folded envelope sitting on the shelf almost until she had slammed her locker shut. She paused, frowned, and turned back. It sat plainly in front of her. The envelope itself was black as night, and the front read, in elegantly spidery red letters: Sam. She picked it up, her frown deepening, and turned it over. Even the back was impressively goth; blood-red wax sealed it shut, stamped with a stylized skull. She glanced over her shoulder, as if anyone might have seen it, before giving it a second look-over. It almost pained her to tear it open, but curiosity compelled her to. She swore she caught a whiff of something as she pulled the note out, and a secondary sniff confirmed it. Roses? She opened the folded note. It read simply: Crawl out of your coffin at sunset. Meet me at the cemetery. I've got a surprise for you. Sincerely, a bleeding heart Bleeding heart? Sam could hardly believe it. Did I just get a goth love letter? She turned it over, hoping for a name, at least, but found nothing. Who could have - "Hey, Sam," said Danny, making her jump, "I was thinking we could maybe go and find a good movie tomorrow and - hey, what've you got there?" "What, this?" Sam blustered, immediately shoving it behind her back, "Nothing! Nothing at all - why do you ask?" Danny opened his mouth like he was going to ask anyway, but then decided against it. "Yeah, okay. Tuck and I were gonna hit up the Nasty Burger on the way home. Did you wanna come?" "Yeah," said Sam, wholly distracted, "Sure, just - give me a minute..." Her voice trailed off, and she barely waited until Danny had turned his back to stuff the letter - carefully, though - back into the envelope and into the side pouch of her backpack. Her mind was suddenly abuzz; she knew most of the goths in school, and none of them had handwriting half that good. Who sent me that note? Part of her was scolding - you shouldn't really care, you know - but she couldn't help it. She knew she'd be thinking about it all afternoon, at the very least - probably all the way until sundown. She realized it hadn't even occurred to her not to go. Why shouldn't I? The cemetery's in the middle of Danny's route. If anything happens, he'll show. Well, she reasoned, he'd show if he wasn't still grounded. With the note stashed safely in her backpack, she turned and trotted out the front doors of Casper High. Danny and Tucker were already down the block, and it took her a minute to catch up to them. "Sorry about that," she said absently, "Got held up by some stuff." "Yeah?" Danny asked, sounding like he might not have been entirely listening, "Like what?" Sam frowned. You may as well tell him. Just mention that it's not important. "Would you believe me if I said someone sent me an anonymous love letter?" she asked in the most uninterested voice she had, rolling her eyes for good measure. "What?" said Danny and Tucker at the same time. Sam shrugged. "They want me to meet them out in the cemetery later. You think I should even bother?" "Do it," said Tucker, before Danny could say anything, "That's just about the gothiest place in town." "I mean, I guess, but - " Sam conceded, but then stopped herself before she said anything else. Caring as little as she did took a surprising amount of effort, and it only took one misstep to let on too much. She turned to Danny, determined to get a second opinion in order to appear to make up her mind - clearly because of how not-interested she was. "What do you think?" Danny gave her a deer-in-the-headlights look. "Beats me. Go if you want. Come to think of it - the cemetery's on my patrols anyway. I can stick around if you want, in case something happens." Thank fuck. She just nodded along anyway, her mind immediately turning back to puzzling over the note. She'd never let on, but she was getting increasingly excited about it, and she found herself glad that neither Danny nor Tucker pressed the matter - that meant she had the entirety of the afternoon to wonder uninterrupted. By the time she got home, it was still on her mind. The sun still had another three hours before it'd even think about setting, and she got the feeling it was going to be a very long afternoon.

The last ray of sunlight disappeared behind heavy clouds. Fog had begun to collect in the lowest dips in the ground, and the air was deathly still. Crickets chirped, unseen, and headstones cast shadows like crooked teeth across the hilly landscape. Sam pushed the heavy iron gate open; it creaked quietly, and she let it swing shut behind her. She had to admit, it was a good night to be goth. She couldn't have picked better circumstances, even if it did set her a little bit on edge. Don't worry about it. Danny said he'd be around. She spotted a shadowy figure perched on one of the marble gravestones. That must be him. She trotted closer, trying despite herself to make as little sound as she could. "Danny," she kept her voice quiet, as if she might be overheard, "See anyone yet?" Danny turned, meeting Sam's gaze briefly, and shook his head. He floated off the gravestone and onto his feet, still silent. He was glad that his ghost sense had gone off earlier when he'd helped Ember set up. If it had gone off now, Sam would definitely have noticed. Keep your mouth shut. Don't you dare put that grin on your face. Don't do it, don't - he turned away suddenly so that Sam wouldn't see it. Get a grip, Fenton! He took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. Fuck, don't ruin it. He turned back to her. "You ready?" Sam frowned. "Ready? Ready for what? Danny, what's going on - ?" Danny met her gaze, unable to fight back the shit-eating grin; he'd been waiting to use this line for most of the afternoon. "We're gonna raise hell." "Danny, what - " It was too late. Danny phased through her, vanished at once, and darted down into the grave where Ember was waiting for him. "Tag," he said, giving her a tiny playful poke, "I'll keep an eye on you. You got this." "Cool," said Ember, psyching herself up. She still couldn't believe she was going to do this. She'd done plenty of shows before - but this one's for her. What if I fuck it up? She steeled herself. No. He said you got this. You can't back out now. Sam turned, now seemingly alone in the middle of the graveyard. "Danny?" Despite herself, her heart began to race. Did he just ditch me? This isn't like him - what's going on? "Danny, where'd you go? What's - ?" Fuck it. Here goes. Ember struck the opening chord, parting the earth over her and sending a beam of ghostly blue light upwards into the sky. She struck another; her spirit guitar kept her in control but from her place in the ground she was orchestrating blind. Riff - stay focused - shit what if I fuck this up - Sam froze, mouth agape, as the ground before her opened up. What's he doing - did he even know about this? One after another, the band ascended from the grave; their horns had become real since their demise, and their fangs had become somewhat sharper, but she could recognize them anywhere. She realized a minute later: Hell. He said he'd raise Hell. Fuck's sake. Ember's mind finally went blank. She'd managed to convince herself that this was a rehearsal, and she'd slid into the Jamming Zone without any effort after that. Her fingers knew what to do, dancing across the strings and the controls of her ghastly instrument, and it wasn't until she began to rise up out of the last grave that her senses came back to her. Come on, you got this you got this you got this - Sam just stood, completely dumbfounded. Her mind slowed almost to a halt, and she let it. This is all - for me? She kept her eyes on the seventh grave; the figure emerged in a dramatic swirl of ghostly fog, hidden under a cloak as black as pitch. It didn't occur to her that Danny couldn't play, or that the cloak was too long for him, or that he'd never heard of Hell to begin with. She only watched. Ember refused to meet Sam's stare, knowing it would ruin her. Come on, you got this. She spotted Danny, watching from another gravestone well out of the way. He gave her a thumbs-up and a stupid grin, and she refocused. Yeah, you got this, baby. She struck the final chord and her hood fell back, revealing her, and she floated down to the ground as the graveyard slowly went quiet. Sam stared, wide-eyed. She realized as her mind began to process again that she'd expected it to be Danny, and she realized a second later that no, of course it wasn't. Finally she just stammered: "Ember?" Nailed it. Ember took a step forward, her eyes now on Sam. She stamped down the knot that wanted to form in her gut - don't you dare, bitch - and forced herself to stay focused. "Bleeding heart, baby," she said quietly, her cloak flowing softly behind her in a ghostly breeze. Sam took a half-step back, mostly out of instinct. Realization crept over her, and her face hardened. "Bleeding heart," she echoed, "That was you, wasn't it?" Ember hesitated. Despite her best efforts, she could feel herself going slowly numb. Hold yourself together, idiot! She nodded. "Look. I want to start over - all the way over, I - " "What are you getting at?" Sam asked warily, "Why would I trust you about any of this? You come after us practically every other week." Ember flinched, as if struck. Her eyes fell, and her face almost immediately flushed a brilliant cerulean. Both hands disappeared back under her cloak so she could clamp them together in an effort to keep them steady. Her mouth had run dry, but she forced herself to speak regardless. "I know it's crazy, I just - I want to know you. I saw you last time - the big fight, and I didn't think it at first, but - " "You froze up," Sam realized. She couldn't believe she was thinking this - that's stupid, you know she's probably hypnotized you - but she couldn't stop herself. "That's what it was, wasn't it?" Ember nodded, barely holding herself together. She was certain she'd melt if Sam came any closer; she'd gone almost completely numb, and she was clinging desperately to the hope that her brain wouldn't fail her as well. So far, it hadn't. "I couldn't stop thinking about you - jesus, that sounds so stupid..." Sam took a deep breath, clearing her thoughts. "Ember, listen - things get complicated really fast. I mean, you're a ghost, for starters. That's - there's kind of an issue there, you know? How could we even - ?" "We can make it work," said Ember desperately, face burning, "I know we could." "Well," Sam conceded reluctantly. Fuck, you're not actually going to consider this, are you? "What about Danny? The fights between you and him - " "Finished," said Ember, meeting Sam's eyes again. "I said I wanted to start over. I meant it." Sam hesitated. You and a ghost? For real? Her doubts slipped away despite her best efforts. "You better be serious." "Dead serious," Ember whispered. Emboldened partially by the numbness receding somewhat and partially by Danny's silent but aggressive support in the background, she reached out and took one of Sam's hands. Realizing her mistake too late to do anything about it, she went quiet as the numbness crawled up into her head and took over her completely. Sam's mind turned slowly. If Ember disappeared from Danny's feuds - what would be the harm, really? She raised Hell for me, for fuck's sake. That was, without a doubt, the most impressive stunt anyone had ever pulled - and for her! Fuck, what am I doing if I'm not even going to give this a chance? It wasn't like anyone would find out about it - aside from Danny and Tucker, at least. Seeing a ghost was one thing; seeing a ghost was different entirely. Jesus, and her parents were going to hate it. She brightened and - for the first time - gave Ember a little smile. "Why not," she said, "We'll figure it out, right?"

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 19 #team ghost

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askthiscpblog · 5 years

Text

Silent Night....Ghostly Night

Ben finally can get out of the mansion for once. Yes, he was still searching the internet for the dumbass Jeff who up and got himself kidnapped a few weeks ago. For now, he was hanging out in Clever Bot as he normally does when bored, curious to see who is going to come up.

Silent maneuvered as fast as she could, ducking for covering every now and then. Run. Hide. Search. Repeat. She's lost, to say the least. She had gone into the forest to rest for a minute, only wanting a place to hide. But she wandered too far and now had no clue which way to go.

Ben had eyes all over the forest, looking and watching for anything and everything. Not that he kept watching, but he did keep alarms set up. Someone entered the Domain, and that caught his attention. Now, who could this be?

"Dang it," the punk teen muttered. She clutched at her growling stomach, willing it to be quiet. It had been a while since she had eaten and she felt exhausted. Give up, it doesn't matter, you don't matter. 'No,' she thought. Silent refused to listen to them, she had to keep going.

Smiling, the ghost curious about this teen. It isn't often he finds someone else roughly his age. Okay, she wasn't anywhere near his age. She was what, 6 years younger than he is? No matter. Deciding that he's bored, he went ethereal and drifted through the mansion heading to check out this child. Even grabbed some leftover Taco Bell from the fridge. If she isn't a dick, he might be nice after toying with her.

'Keep going, keep going,' she chanted internally. Her pace had slowed down by now, her body phasing in and out of existence. 'Not again.' As she forged ahead she began to notice the number of wandering ghosts around, almost all them mutilated. "What happened here?" she whispered to herself.

"Oh, so you're a ghosty goo too?" Ben asked, finding her and materializing from behind a tree. He gave a shit eating grin, the taco bell still behind the tree from where he came out of. "Weird that you can become solid even when in the normal world. What are you, Danny Phantom or something?"

The teen turned to face the owner of the voice. 'He's not real, he is a regular ghost, ignore him,' she told herself. Yet she couldn't stop the sarcasm from spilling out.

"You're one to talk, you died cosplaying Link," she remarked, beginning to walk away.

"At least someone fucking knows who I am. Nah, no cosplay. It's a long story." he responds, giving a grin as the blood and incur flowed out of his eyes. "What about you? You seem to be an in-between. Also, you're hungry. Meaning you have to eat, unlike me."

"It's... more of a curse, I guess. The bastard who gave it to me didn't mention the other stuff, only that I'd been able to see ghosts." She frowned as her stomach growled once again. "And, yeah, I'm starving. Wouldn't happen to have any food would ya?"

"Don't know, think you can give me an idea of who did this to you?" Ben crossed his arms and floated alongside her, laying down as he drifted.

She massaged her temple. "Not sure of the name," she responded, "but I know he was some kind of demon. He mistook me for someone else because he called me Elizabeth, and that's so far off from my real name."

"Oh really now? A demon you believe? What did they look like?" he responded. Maye this girl ran into Zalgo or something, and that could give a lead to him. Would be rather interesting to figure out.

"Like a fucking bastard," she muttered. "Or I guess what a normal demon would look like. I don't know, he's red and black, a bunch of mouths and demonic red eyes."

His face turned white, whiter than his normal skin would allow him to be. His face dropped, but he recovered in record time with his normal shit-eating grin. "Alright, for that I have something for you." He reached behind the tree and pulled out the Taco Bell.

His expression didn't go unnoticed Silent, but her need to eat was stronger than her curiosity at the moment. She accepted the food with greed and gluttony, "Thanks."

Tossing it to her, Ben went back to his more relaxed style watching her chow down on the food. "No problem, it wasn't going to be eaten anyways back where I am."

"Where'd you come from anyways. I don't see ghosts like you a lot, or at all," she asked. As she ate she could feel her body become more solid. Thank God she wouldn't have to phase out again.

"Me? I've been dead for a while now, but I kinda live in a house to haunt and annoy others," he explained, floating up to a tree branch to sit down watching her eat.

"Hm, well, You're don't seem that annoying," she said, finishing up her meal. "So anyway, why'd you asked about the demon?"

"Personal reasons." Was all that he responded with, not wanting to dive into that further.

"Alright then," she shrugged. She was never one to push things. "Since you live around here, can you tell me how to get out of here?" She stood up and stretched, resisting the urge to yawn. She still felt exhausted, but now that she'd eaten she should be able to last until she finds a safer place.

"Out of here?" he asked, looking down at her and grinning. He watched as her body became physical again. Funny, doing things physical brings her back to the material world. "Go back the way you came."

"Uh, about that..." She looked down and rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't exactly... know which way I came from."

"I could show you, or I could let the big man figure out what he wants to do with you." Ben teased, thinking of contacting Slender. If this child met good old Zal, then he would want to know about it and pry into her mind.

"Well, if they're anything like the demon, I'd prefer you'd show me the way out," she reasoned. She didn't want a repeat of last time, that much is for certain.

"He isn't a demon, nothing even close. Maybe. Honestly, I have no idea what the big man is nor do I care or want to." he says, hopping down from the branch to float an inch from the ground.

"How do I know you don't want him to kill me for you, or something?" She crossed her arms and took a step back. This was insane, she's about to trust a random ghost she met to bring her to his 'boss'. But it wasn't as if she had anything better to do.

"Why would I do that? You're a kid, one in a shitty situation I must add. Now that I think about it...yeah probably not a good idea for me to take you to the boss." Ben grumbled, crossing his arms as he scrunched up his body. If he took her to Slender, he might kill her after because of her being a child.

"Well, the way I see it I have to options: One, you lead me out of here and I die or get captured by the police or some shit. Two, I meet your boss and he either kills me or keeps me for his own purposes." Now that she thought about, the ghost was right, whatever she had gotten herself into was shit. "Win-win either way, right?" She sarcastically commented.

"For that, I might as well send you to him and let him eat you alive." Ben retorted, rolling his eyes at the girl his own tone sarcastic too.

Silent stifled back her laughter. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't missed having some form of company to talk to. Most ghosts aren't very talkative. "Got any other bright ideas then, genius?"

"Don't know. Could let you wonder the forest until the end of your days. This place is very dangerous."

"Dangerous how? I mean, I know you said you live with a bunch of psychos, but there can't be that many, right?" She sat down, laying against a tree.

Ben bursts out laughing at the idea of there not being that many. "You would be surprised. Very surprised at how many idiots the boss can keep under control. Idiot Prime is gone for now, so it makes it easier I suppose."

"What happened to idiot prime?"

"Him? Got kidnapped when we got raided."

"See why you call him idiot prime then." She flashed a small smile before shrugging. "So, uh... what exactly do you want with me?"

"More than that, he truly is an idiot. Survived this long based off of sheer willpower and stubbornness alone. And what do I want? You're unique, and am wondering if a child like yourself would be useful to us."

She laughed quietly at that, shaking her head. "Useful for what? If you haven't noticed, I can't even find my way out of the forest without help."

"Deceiving others, getting information. A babysitter for the ghost kid we got."

"You're going to believe that I'm capable of that? That I won't screw up or turn against you?"

"You turn against us, we will throw you to the demon who did this to you." Ben looked over at her with a wide grin, wider than what a human should be able to do. He floated closer, the ooze out of his eyes flowing quicker as he comes to her face to face.

"Alright, alright, I get it." She made a little 'shoo' motion with her hand in an attempt to get him to back off. "So I'm guessing I got to meet your boss then?"

Ben blinked a few time, seeing her shoo him away as if it was nothing. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Nah, he will find you and know what is going on. Come on, I'll take you to the mansion."

#mod.a #silent scream #BEN DROWNED #fanfiction #fanfic #creepypasta #creepy pasta #ask creepypasta #creepypasta fanfic #creepypasta fanfiction #creepypasta fic #oc fanfiction #cpoc #cpocs #fandom #creepypasta fandom

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darks-ink · 5 years

Text

Dead Ringer

When he had his accident and became half-ghost, his old body had been left behind. And, well. What better way to hide a dead body than to dump it into an unknown dimension?

(Alternate stand-alone version based on the same AU as Disinterred. Also on AO3 and FFnet.)

Danny shot another ecto-ray in the direction of the huge specter hovering over Amity Park. The ghost in question, dressed as always in an impeccable white suit, dodged just before the ray hit him.

“What’re you doing here, Walker?” Danny questioned, trying to distract the ghost. If he could just catch Walker off-guard, he could finally capture the ghost. He had already gotten the minions in his Thermos, but their leader continued to evade him.

Walker snorted, a curious sound considering that he didn’t have a nose. “Arresting you, of course. You’re a rule-breaker Phantom, always have been.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “Yeah? What kind of rule did I even break?”

The ghost stopped, eyeing him. Danny suddenly got the feeling that he had asked the wrong thing. Ah well, better roll with it, right?

“Why do you ask?” Walker finally asked, his empty green eyes watching him.

Merging his legs into a ghostly tail, Danny took in the ghost in turn. Then he shrugged. “I figured that if I can make up for whatever crime you’ve pinned on me, hopefully we can get over it?”

Walker crossed his arms, but didn’t answer. The silence lingered for a few long moments.

Then, finally, Walked grunted out an answer. “Littering.”

“Excuse me?” Danny’s tail twitched, and he automatically moved a little closer to Walker. Did he just say littering? What did that even mean? Was this still about the present?

Walker cocked his head, looking like he would’ve rolled his eyes if it had been, y’know, visible. Then he repeated, “Littering.”

“You’re joking… Seriously? You’ve tried to arrest me, multiple times, because I littered?” Danny’s voice cracked, but he didn’t care. Was this ghost for real? “Is this about that present? Still?”

“No.” Walker’s eyes narrowed into something of a glare. “You cleaned that up.”

Quickly, Danny ran through all the times he had been in the Ghost Zone. He couldn’t think of anything that he had left behind on those visits. But Walker seemed convinced enough… Maybe one of the other ghosts blamed him for something he didn’t do?

“So then what did I forget? And if I take it out of the Zone, you’ll leave me alone?” That would be good. If Walker agreed to leave him alone, that would be one enemy less to fight him. That, and Walker was one of the more powerful ghosts who regularly targeted him.

But the grin that started spreading on Walker’s face was… unnerving. Danny was starting to feel like he had misstepped. Again.

He backed away again, but before he had put any real distance between them, Walker had moved in closer.

Then, with a flourish, Walker suddenly dropped something into Danny’s arms. He must’ve been carrying it the whole time, but kept it invisible or inside his coat.

Danny caught it by reflex. Curled his arms around the moderately heavy object, ignoring the strange crisping noises it made as he held it.

And then he looked down. And promptly blanched.

Laughter, cold and harsh, came from Walker. Danny looked back over at him to see the ghost smile. “Now we’re good,” the ghost remarked before fading from visibility.

Briefly, Danny considered giving chase. Then he remembered the corpse in his arms and gave up on that idea.

He repressed the involuntary shiver that came from thinking about the thing in his arms. Now that he had seen it, he had realized what, exactly, Walker had been talking about.

When he had his accident and became half-ghost, his old body had been left behind. Burned beyond recognition, but undeniably his. Once he, and Sam and Tucker, had figured out what had happened, they had decided to dump the body. Back then they hadn’t even realized that Danny was still half human. Danny just… hadn’t been ready to be dead. He didn’t want anybody to find out.

And, well. What better way to hide a dead body than to dump it into an unknown dimension? The Portal had been the thing to cause all of that mess, anyway. It might as well be used to hide it, too.

So they had dumped the body through the Portal. And then promptly forgotten about it. Even the few times they had visited the dimension afterwards, they had never come across it. As a result, it had slipped their mind entirely. Or, well, his mind at least. And neither Sam nor Tucker ever brought it up, so it made sense that they had forgotten about it as well.

And Danny didn’t think that it unreasonable for them to have forgotten about it. It was just an old body, after all. Like a snake that had shed its skin, or a caterpillar that had become a butterfly. No one ever cared about what happened to their leftovers. And they weren’t lesser for growing out of their old bodies.

Just like Danny hadn’t become lesser for growing out of his body. Even if it had been caused by becoming half-ghost. By going through a fatal experience. No biggie.

But now it was back to, well, haunt him. Walker had literally dumped it into his arms. And how fucked up was that? Dumping someones corpse into their arms without warning?

Although, Danny supposed, he had kind of asked for it. Maybe he should think before speaking, next time.

Anyway. Now Danny was hovering over a street with a very crispy corpse in his arms and a crowd gathering below him. Wow, would you look at how few people flee from ghost fights. That’s irresponsible as heck. Seriously, that’ll get them killed, sooner or later.

The crowd started getting louder and louder. Why were they-?

Oh, duh. Their ghostly protector was literally floating over them with a corpse in his arms. They’re probably worried and stuff.

He should… probably fly off and dump the body. His body.

But… the media was already prone to turning on him. If he left now, without explaining himself, he could lose his hard-earned reputation. Probably would. No, he needed to calm down the citizens first. Explain himself, somehow.

Danny eyed the corpse in his arms, then slung it over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The body made an awful crisping noise as he did so, apparently being considerably stiffer than Danny had thought.

He grimaced and turned it invisible. The crowds didn’t need to see this thing up-close. Hell, he wished he hadn’t seen it from this close. The ectoplasm of the Zone had apparently preserved it over the years, but it already hadn’t looked appealing back when the Accident had first happened.

Finally Danny lowered himself to the ground, right hand firmly pinning down the invisible body. He didn’t quite land, but floated low enough for people to easily talk to him.

Several phones were already out and pointed at him. No doubt that they were recording his every move and word.

“Mr. Phantom!” one of the faceless citizens crowed, “Why’d you turn the body invisible?”

Danny’s grimace grew, and then he made a disgusted face. “Trust me, you don’t want to see it.”

But apparently this answer just fired up the rest of the crowd, as they all started shouting out their own questions. They were loud and unrelenting, and Danny flinched back from the sheer noise of them. He couldn’t even try to answer them, because he couldn’t hear what any of them were asking!

“Shut up!” he shouted, eyes flashing a little brighter. He clenched his hands, and promptly grimaced again as he felt his fingers dig deeper into the corpse. Yuck.

The crowd immediately quietened. Then, as one, they started repeating the same question, over and over and over again. “Whose body is that?”

And they all looked at him. Their gazes were so disappointed, so expectant, so… so many things. And Danny couldn’t handle it, he didn’t know what to say or what to do. He had never been very good in crowds.

“It’s my own!” he blurted out.

The crowd fell silent immediately. Suddenly it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

“It’s my own body,” Danny repeated, voice quiet and shaky. The topic unnerved him, as it should, really. He didn’t like to think of himself as dead, or half-dead or whatever. He was just… different. A little ghostly.

His empty hand clenched, the fingers digging into his thigh. He focused on his breathing. Made sure to take even breaths, deep breaths. He couldn’t panic. He had to carefully guide this into a good direction.

Establishing that it was his own body was a good first step. A little morbid maybe, but at least they didn’t think he killed somebody. Besides, as far as they knew, he was a ghost! He must’ve died at some point, right?

Just as Danny was contemplating leaving anyway, an older man in a police uniform pushed his way through the crowd. Trailing after him were a younger man and a woman, both also in police uniforms. The older man cleared his throat, and Danny’s attention immediately snapped to him.

“Mr… Phantom. We need to speak to you.”

Danny glanced at the still-invisible corpse he carried on his shoulder. “About, uh…”

“Yes,” the cop confirmed, his face hard and stern. His voice equally so. “Please follow us to the station.”

And then he turned back around, the other cops wordlessly following him. Danny rolled his eyes but winked out of visibility, following them to their car.

“Do you really think he’ll come?” the younger male officer asked as he got into the back of the vehicle.

The female officer shrugged, already seated in the passenger seat. “Phantom is unpredictable.”

“He will,” the older officer grunted as he started the car. “He cares about his reputation. He can’t go lugging around a dead body, whether it’s his own or not.”

Danny phased himself the rest of the way into the car, plopping down into the empty seat in the back. Remaining invisible, he joined the conversation. “What he said.”

The cop in the backseat started, hitting his elbow on the door in the process. “Jesus, you scared me.”

“Staying invisible?” the female officer questioned, quirking an eyebrow into his general direction via the mirror.

“Yeah.” Danny would’ve shrugged, but, well, invisible. “I don’t want to see pictures of myself in the back of a cop car spread around.”

The younger officer snorted, and the lady nodded, apparently agreeing. The older man remained silent.

Apparently getting tired of the silence, the younger man leaned forward and stuck out a hand in Danny’s general direction. “I’m officer Milligan, but you can call me Mike if you want.”

Danny eyed the hand hesitantly. Then he eyed the officer himself. “Sorry,” he said, sounding apologetic. “I can offer you my left hand, but I can’t recommend shaking my right.”

The officer – Mike – blanched, and withdrew his hand. “Right. Please don’t.”

This, in turn, made the female officer crack up in laughter. When she was done laughing she wiped away a tear and introduced herself as well. “I’m officer Carver. If you��re gonna call Mike by his first name, call me Rosie.”

The man in the driver seat sighed deeply. Then, with a voice heavy with regret, he piped in. “I’m detective Payton. Don’t use my first name even if you learn it.”

“The medical examiner insists on calling him Matthias,” Rosie said with a conspiring tone. She grinned a little cheekily, looking at Danny via the rear-view mirror.

Danny shrugged. Then realized that no one could see that he shrugged, and flushed bright green. Eventually he stammered out his reply. “I’m, uh. Danny Phantom. But I always go by Phantom.”

“Is Danny your actual name?” Rosie questioned, having turned the right way again – but still looking backwards via the mirror. “Because I’m guessing that Phantom is not.”

He huffed in answer, blowing a few hairs out of his face. “I mean, Daniel is. But I don’t like going by that.”

“Family members you don’t like keep calling you that?” Payton asked from the front, having apparently followed the entire conversation. He didn’t look at Danny at all, but then to be fair, Danny was still invisible.

He was also surprisingly close to the truth. “Something like that. Plus people keep using it when I’m in trouble.”

“You get into trouble a lot?” Payton didn’t sound curious, or interested. But he kept asking. Why?

“Not really.” Danny shifted a little, grimacing as the corpse made another uncomfortable crisping noise. “Well, I didn’t use to. Nowadays people keep blaming me for everything and nothing.”

“Is trouble related to the body that ghost dumped on you?” Mike quirked an eyebrow at him. Or, well, at his general direction.

“Uhm.” Danny tightened his grip on the corpse. “Sort of. It is actually mine, and I did dump it into the Ghost Zone.”

“Why?” Payton asked, a single sharp word. He sounded kind of mean, but well-meaning. Probably.

Plus, they had a pretty good reason to be suspicious of him. He was a ghost lugging around a dead body after all. And it was their job to deal with crime, including dead bodies.

Not that he could allow them to properly do their job. If they ID the body they would link Phantom with Fenton and, well, bye-bye secret!

Apparently he had stayed silent too long, because Rosie piped up as well. “You do realize that when the body is never recovered, it is much harder for family and friends to move on from a death?”

“I know.” Jazz had talked about it at some point. He couldn’t remember why anymore, but the information had stuck with him. “I just…”

He wasn’t sure where he was going, but thankfully, he didn’t have to figure it out. The car stopped at the police station before he had a chance to finish his sentence.

The cops must’ve figured out that he wasn’t planning on finishing the sentence, because they sighed and got out of the car.

“Follow us,” Payton instructed, leading the group again. Danny nodded, even though no one could see, and trailed after them.

Once inside, the three cops made their way through the station and into an elevator. A short ride later and they were… oh, in the morgue. Duh. They wanted to investigate the body. Where else would they have gone?

“Hey Matthias,” a woman greeted as she approached the group, quirking an eyebrow. Unlike the others, she wasn’t dressed in a police uniform, but instead she wore a lab coat. “Don’t you usually wait until I have a body to come visit me?”

“We do have a corpse, though.” Mike grinned a little, but seemed somewhat uncertain.

Danny took the cue for what it was though, and dropped his invisibility.

The doctor (?) visibly started at his sudden appearance, but immediately relaxed again. Then she spotted the body (his body) and cocked her brow again, this time at him.

“Where’d you get that?” she asked, already whirling around to clear a space. “Because it doesn’t look great.”

“Supposedly it’s his own,” Payton responded before Danny had a chance to.

Rolling his eyes, he hovered closer to the doctor. “It is my own, and I can confirm that it didn’t feel great either.”

The doctor shook her head but didn’t comment. Finally the table was cleared, and Danny gently put down the body on it. Once more he grimaced at the sounds it made while unfolding, but he was glad to finally be rid of it.

Unfortunately, his fun wasn’t over yet. Now he had to somehow get through this police investigation without anyone figuring out who he was.

“What did you even do?” Rosie asked, sounding a little incredulous.

Oh yeah, the cops hadn’t gotten a good look at the body either. Whoops.

He turned to look at them, ignoring the doctor who was already pouring over the corpse. He shrugged, putting on a sheepish expression. “I, uh. Electrocution. Wasn’t nice.”

Mike opened his mouth to comment, but the doctor cut in. “This looks too fresh to be yours though. You’ve been around Amity for 2 years already, and while I can’t date this corpse, there’s no signs of decomposition.”

“Uh, yeah.” Danny rolled his eyes, turning back to her. “It’s been in the Ghost Zone the whole time. The ectoplasm preserved it, I guess.”

“You never answered our question on why you dumped it there, either.” Payton sounded gruff as ever, expression stern.

“I know! I just…” He sighed. “I didn’t really think about it, okay? So maybe it wasn’t a good decision! Would you have been any better if you had been in my shoes?” He crossed his arms, glaring down the various cops. “I mean, I was fourteen and I had just died. I think that making a stupid decision can be excused considering the circumstances.”

The cops remained silent for a few long moments. Then, finally, Payton was the one to break it.

“Jesus, kid.”

Danny’s shoulders sagged as the anger drained from him again. His ghostly tail flicked, a last lingering sign of his agitation. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. It’s just… a sore subject.”

Then he straightened out somewhat, the corners of his mouth quirking up a little. “Literally.”

Rosie immediately groaned, but Mike grinned back. Payton still looked pained, but now maybe for a different reason.

The doctor was still bent over the body. As far as Danny knew, she might as well have missed the entire conversation. A belief that was strengthened when she spoke up.

“Even if it is yours, we’ll need to confirm it somehow.”

“Excuse me?” He blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden switch in topic.

“We’ll need to ID the body. Even if you say it’s yours, we’ll need to prove it somehow,” she explained, finally looking at him instead of the corpse. “The obvious way of facial recognition is out, and I doubt we’ll be able to pull fingerprints either – from you or the body.”

Danny huffed, pulling at the edge of one of his gloves. “These come off, you know? And I’m pretty sure my fingerprints are still the same, although I haven’t tested it.” Then he looked at the body with a grimace. “Although I guess it doesn’t matter since you can’t get any from that anyway.”

“I thought that ghosts didn’t do layers to their appearance?” Mike asked, pointedly looking away from the body. He looked a little nauseous. “According to the Fentons, at least.”

“Pretty sure that I know more about ghosts than the Fentons,” Danny grumbled, rolling his eyes.

The doctor cut off their potential bickering before it could start. “Doesn’t matter anyway, since we can’t get prints from the body.” Then she started eyeing Danny speculatively. “How’re your teeth?”

“My… teeth?” Danny ran his tongue over them, unthinkingly. Sure, he hadn’t been to a dentist since the Accident, but he was sure that they were fine. He brushed his teeth almost every day – he only skipped it sometimes if a ghost attack prevented it.

“She wants to compare the dental records,” Payton supplied. “The teeth are by far the sturdiest part of the body. They are often used to identify victims when the bodies are too burned for regular identification.”

“Oh.” Danny frowned, then shrugged. “I mean, I can’t imagine that they’re any different. But it’s not like I’ve checked or anything.”

The doctor nodded, moving away from the body and towards a free table with some kind of tube hanging over it. When she noticed that Danny wasn’t following, she impatiently waved him over.

Still frowning a little, Danny followed her to the table and sat down on its edge.

“You’ll have to lie down,” she instructed, patting the surface of the table. “I’ll take one of you first, to make sure it works on ghosts. If we can get a good x-ray of your teeth, we’ll take one of the corpse as well. Got it?”

“Uh, yeah.” Danny shifted to lie down on the table, ignoring how it would usually be used for corpses. He was, after all, a dead person. Sort of. As far as they knew, at least. So it wouldn’t make sense for him to complain. Besides, it would be better to get this over with as soon as possible.

Luckily, it didn’t take very long to the take the x-rays. The doctor was quick to wave Danny off again as the digital files loaded onto a big screen where they could all see them.

“Well, these look like regular x-rays to me,” the doctor declared, frowning a little. “Not sure how that’s supposed to work, but I’m not complaining.”

Then she turned towards the group of cops (and Danny). “Matthias, can you take your gaggle of officers and Phantom away? I’ll let you know what I figure out.”

Payton nodded. “Will do, Olympia.” He started walking off, the other two cops following him.

Danny hesitated for a moment longer. Then he floated after them as well. He wanted to keep an eye on the doctor, but he couldn’t go against them without causing a scene.

That, and he didn’t have any brilliant ideas for excuses to use, anyway.

His discomfort was easily noticed, however. The cops shared glances, but Mike ended up being the one to speak up. “Phantom, are you… okay?”

Danny huffed, splitting his tail back into legs and sitting down on the corner of a desk. “Yeah. Just… a little overwhelmed, I guess.”

Then he frowned, looking in the direction of the morgue. “What’s gonna happen to the body after you’ve ID’d it as mine?”

“Well,” Rosie spoke up, brow creased in thought. “Normally we would arrange a funeral as soon as possible once the investigation is done.”

“But we don’t know your family,” Payton supplied, crossing his arms. “And usually the victim isn’t around to decide what happens to their body, either.”

Well that was nice and all, but that still didn’t answer Danny’s question. “Okay, so what about mine, then? Can I get rid of it my way?”

“No.” Payton glared at Danny. “Because last time you got rid of it your way, you dumped it into an alternate dimension. And it’s illegal to dump bodies.”

Danny rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement. “Alright, fine. Can I ask for it to be cremated instead, then?”

“Why?” Rosie asked, frowning a little. “Why does it matter so much to you what happens to it?”

“Well, it’s just…” He shrugged. “It’s hard to explain. I just… don’t want it hanging around. Besides, what are you going to do otherwise? Bury it under ‘Danny Phantom’?”

“You could just tell us your actual name,” Payton suggested, face blank. “I’m sure your family and friends would like to know what happened to you. Especially considering that you stole your own body, probably before anyone else knew about your death.”

“Yeah, no.” Danny rolled his eyes, shifting on the desk he was sitting on. “My friends and family are fine, thanks. Besides, it’s not like I’m really gone, am I?”

“Not the same, kid.” Payton’s eyes darkened a little, not quite a glare but close to it.

“Either way, I still say that if it’s my body, I get to decide what happens with it.” He crossed his arms, eyeing the three cops. “And I want it cremated as soon as possible. That, or confirmation that you’ll give it back to me so I can take care of it.”

“You’re a minor, though.” Rosie quirked an eyebrow at him. “Family always gets the last say if a case involves a minor, dead or not.”

“You don’t know that,” Danny countered. “I’m a ghost, and ghosts don’t do age. I know a teenage ghost who’s been around for 50 years, and he hasn’t changed at all.”

“But we already know you’re, like, 16.” Mike also raised a brow at Danny. “You said you died when you were 14, that you dumped your body in the Ghost Zone, and that it has been about 2 years since. So you’re 16, maybe 17.”

Whoops. He forgot that he had mentioned that. Stupid math, tripping up his lies.

“I still think I should be able to decide what happens with the body.” Danny huffed. “Since it is my body and all that.”

“You know what? Fine.” Payton flapped his hand impatiently. “Once doctor Beckett is done with it we’ll cremate it. Is that good enough for you?”

Danny frowned, thoughtful. Really, he would’ve preferred getting the corpse himself, or… being able to watch as it was immediately destroyed. But it would be weird to ask if he could stay to watch, right? But maybe… “Can I… get the ashes, afterwards?”

“Why?” Rosie asked. “If you dumped it into the Ghost Zone, you obviously don’t care about it that much.”

“That’s different,” Danny insisted, crossing his arms.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.” Payton shuffled through some files on his desk, looking like he was barely paying attention to the conversation. “Yes, Phantom, you can take the ashes. Since you refuse to tell us anybody else to release the body to, I suppose you will have to do.”

“Thanks.” That was one problem solved, at least. If they linked the body to himself, well, his Phantom self, he might even get away with all of this without being off any worse. Well, the cops would know that Phantom was only a teenager, but that was a small loss. And, if his body gets cremated, no one else will be able to find it or link it to Danny Fenton.

Although it does make him wish that they had burned it in the first place. Or dealt with it in a more human way. Maybe burying it would’ve stopped anybody from finding it?

But before he could continue this line of thought, the doctor came in. Seeing him sitting among the cops, she nodded, seemingly pleased. “Good, you’re all here.”

“Doctor Beckett,” Payton greeted her with a small nod. “You got the results for us, then?”

“Yep.” She wrung her hands together excitedly, glancing over at Danny. “Turns out that Phantom was telling us the truth. The teeth are an exact match.”

Well, that was good news at least. Also a little unnerving. And hopefully they wouldn’t try tracking down his human identity using these records… but as far as he knew they had no database for that, unlike facial recognition. They would need to know his identity before they could check it.

“So… Does that mean we can burn it and I can go?” Danny lifted off of the desk, hovering a few inches above it.

“Never knew that the protector of Amity was such an impatient teenager,” Payton grumbled under his breath. He likely didn’t mean for anyone to hear it, but Danny, as a ghost, had better hearing than most people. He decided to let the comment slip, though.

“Burn it?” Beckett questioned, letting go of her own hands. “We’re cremating the body?”

“Yep,” Rosie confirmed as she pushed herself out of her seat as well. “Phantom refuses to tell us who his family is, and instead decided that since it’s his body, he gets the final say, minor or not.”

“I guess he’s got a point.” Beckett turned around to start leading them towards the morgue again. Mike stayed behind – Danny was about to question him when he remembered the man’s nauseous expression last time. “If he had a will we would’ve followed that, too. It gets a little more complicated when ghosts get involved, I guess.”

“Everything gets more complicated when ghosts get involved,” Payton countered.

“Welcome to my life,” Danny grumbled, floating beside the three. “Or, well, afterlife. You know what I mean.”

None of them answered. Danny huffed, but let it go. It didn’t matter anyway.

In the end, the cops were true to their words. Danny’s corpse was immediately cremated, the ashes collected in a simple urn and handed off to him. He briefly considered asking for them to delete his dental records, but he couldn’t think of a good way to ask.

Instead he had taken his leave, intending to ask Tucker to delete the files later. First, he had an urn to hide.

Not even a week later, the doorbell rang. Now, normally this wouldn’t be very notable. But almost everyone knew not to ring the doorbell to FentonWorks, lest they be greeted by a very enthusiastic Jack Fenton wielding an ecto-gun.

Danny sped down the stairs, making it to the door before his dad could. “I’ve got it!” he yelled, hearing the thundering footsteps coming from the lab. They quietened immediately, confirmation that his parents would stay downstairs.

The door swung open, and standing there were… cops. Not just any cops, but the three officers he had met as Phantom. That was… a little too coincidental, right? No matter what their reason for visiting FentonWorks was, surely there were enough policemen in Amity that someone else could’ve been send here?

Unless this was a continuation from the case surrounding Phantom’s corpse? Maybe they wanted his parents’ ghost expertise. Maybe they weren’t here for him.

“Uh, hi?” he greeted the cops, a fake smile plastered on his face. “How can I help you?”

Payton, at the head of the group, frowned at him. He didn’t sound any more disgruntled than usual, however. “We need to speak with you.”

“Me?” he questioned, stepping aside to let them in. That… probably wasn’t good. Did they link him with Phantom, somehow? “About what, exactly?”

The four of them entered the living room, and Payton turned to frown at Danny. “Look kid, the secret is out, alright? We’ve figured out that you somehow died and are playing superhero around the town.”

Damn. Very much not good. Still, Danny quirked an eyebrow at the cops and crossed his arms, the picture of disbelief. “You think that I’m a ghost? Me, the kid of Amity’s best known ghost hunters?”

Rosie and Mike seemed to be caught off-guard by this statement, exchanging uncertain glances with each other. Payton remained as unreadable as always, but maybe… maybe he could guide this into safety still.

“Look, I don’t know what brought this on,” Danny said as he moved closer to the couch, “But I can assure you that I’m no ghost.”

Suddenly a faint beeping came from the cushions of the couch, before a feminine voice repeated him. “But I can assure you that I’m no ghost. I am a ghost. Fear me.”

Danny groaned, palming his face with his hand. Of course his dad had left the Ghost Gabber hanging around the living room. Heavens forbid that their inventions stay in the lab for once.

“Right,” Payton drawled. “Very convincing. If you’re done, could we please get to the point, Mr. Fenton. Or do you prefer Phantom?”

Shooting the man a short glare, Danny quickly stepped away from the couch again in the hopes of avoiding the Gabber. If it was lost in the sea of cushions, there was no way he would find it and turn it off. “So my parents’ invention malfunctioned. They do that all the time, that’s no proof of anything.”

“No, but the proof we gathered thanks to you is.” Payton quirked a challenging eyebrow. “We know when you died, and how old you were. From there, we could figure out your birth year. Add to that the fact that we knew your full first name, and it was easy to find matching teenage boys. Throw in the dental records for confirmation, and there you have it.”

“But I’m alive,” Danny countered, crossing his arms. “Even if I somehow match the records of some ghost, that doesn’t matter. Because I can’t be him. I’m not dead, or a ghost.”

“I’m not dead, or a ghost. Fear me,” the Ghost Gabber repeated, as Mike pulled it out of the couch cushions. Apparently he had been looking for it while Danny was distracted.

“Funny, because this invention seems to think otherwise.” Rosie made a thoughtful face. “And it’s not just malfunctioning, because it’s not picking up anyone else. Strange, huh?”

“So I’m tainted with ectoplasm from being in the lab without safety gear. Whatever. Still doesn’t mean that I’m a ghost.” Maybe he was being too stubborn. He probably wouldn’t be able to talk his way out of this. But still, had to try, right?

Payton sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look, you’re not talking your way out of this. No matter how convincingly you can play being alive, no matter how well you still blend in.”

“Besides,” Mike pitched in, looking at the Ghost Gabber instead of Danny. “You’re kind of following a superhero stereotype. Phantom is your hero alter-ego, and Danny Fenton is your ‘secret identity’. You’re following a theme, just like every other ghost.”

Danny glared more angrily this time. A rush of cold energy from his core suggested that his eyes glowed green – and the shocked expressions of the cops confirmed it. “Fine. Whatever.” He forced the energy back down again, and his eyes blinked back to blue. “So what if I am Phantom? Why does it matter?”

“It matters because you’re dead, kid.” Payton shook off the surprise quickly. “You can’t keep playing pretend forever. Your parents don’t even know, do they?”

“Of course not.” Danny flapped a dismissive hand. “They’re ghost hunters, and they hate Phantom. Those are two very good reasons not to tell them.”

“Does anybody know?” Rosie asked, her voice soft with… concern, maybe? Or worry? “Or does everybody who cares about you think you’re still alive?”

Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping down. He really didn’t want to talk about this. “My friends and my sister know. My friends were there when it happened, and my sister saw me transform not long after.”

“So what happened, then? You’ve mentioned electrocution before, and your outfit as Phantom seems to match your parents’ jumpsuits, but if they don’t know they mustn’t have been around for it.”

Putting off the urge to glare at Payton again, Danny shrugged loosely. “That’s basically it. A big invention that my parents built failed to work. They left, together with Jazz. My friends and I decided to take a look, and I accidentally turned it on while I was checking it out. Next thing I knew I woke up with white hair and green eyes.”

“So your friends saw you die and kept quiet?” Payton sounded vaguely amazed. Or very very upset.

Danny wasn’t sure which one he preferred.

“I, uh. Yeah, I guess so.” Danny shrugged again. “I asked them not to tell anyone, and they agreed.”

“That’s… unbelievable.” Rosie stared at him, blankly. “Your 14 year old friends watched you die and didn’t mind keeping quiet so you could continue to live life like nothing happened? And if you woke up as Phantom, then they must know that you are the one fighting ghosts all hours of the day. That your own parents are hunting you.” She groaned. “Why haven’t they spoken up about this?”

“They’re just really good friends,” Danny countered, frowning. Sam and Tucker hadn’t told anyone because he asked them not to. Hell, they actively helped him keep his secret. “And yeah, they know about my hero work. Heck, they even encouraged me, and often help me patrol. Sometimes they help me fight too, but I try to keep them out of that.”

“Look, as nice as their loyalty is, that isn’t the point.” Payton held up a hand to stop Danny’s protest before he even opened his mouth. “You died, kid. And apparently it was even caused by one of your parents’ inventions. Even if it isn’t their fault, which is arguable, they need to know. Especially since they hunt Phantom. They hunt you. That can’t continue.”

“Okay, fine.” It wasn’t that bad. He had been thinking about telling his parents for a while, anyway. He had done it before, and that had gone alright. The only reason he hadn’t yet in this timeline was because he was hoping to change their opinion on ghosts first. Wanted them to believe in the goodness of ghosts without getting skewed by the knowledge that their own son was one.

“There’s more. You’ll also need to take responsibility for what you’ve done as Phantom.” Payton straightened himself out, standing up taller. “While you do a lot of good, and we understand that most of the damage is a result of your fighting, there are other things. In the past, Phantom has caused trouble – things like taking the mayor hostage and robberies. We’ll need to know about these things, and if the circumstances call for it, you will receive due punishment.”

That… wasn’t too bad either. He would get a chance to clear his reputation, assuming that they believed him. That, and they didn’t even blame him for the property damage! Which was better than most adults, at least.

Danny nodded his approval. But Payton wasn’t done yet.

“And, last but not least, you need to pick. You can’t continue this split life forever, and you can’t play pretend forever.” He sighed, some of his stern exterior melting away. “You can either choose to stick around as Danny Fenton, with the authority figures informed about your… condition. Or you can go Phantom full-time, without shifting to a less notable ‘human’ form.”

“No.” There was no question about it. He couldn’t just pick one or the other. He was half-ghost, and both of his identities were part of him. He couldn’t just repress one of the two. Besides, Amity Park needed Phantom, but he couldn’t stay in ghost form permanently.

He would have to explain his half-ghost status. He didn’t want to, but it was unavoidable. They had to understand.

Payton seemed surprised by his immediate answer. “Daniel, you can’t-”

“No,” he repeated, cutting off the detective. “I’ll tell my parents, and I would love a chance to explain the events that tarnish my reputation. But I can’t pick between my human life and my ghost life.”

“Why not?” Rosie asked, skeptical. She crossed her arms. “Even if the choice is difficult, surely you understand that you can’t live a split life forever? That you can’t play pretend forever?”

“No, you don’t understand!” Danny felt his ectoplasmic energy surge again, his eyes lighting up green. “It’s not playing pretend! I’m not actually dead, and I’m not a real ghost! My accident turned me half ghost. I’m still alive. I can just shift into a more ghostly form.” His voice gradually quietened as he spoke, his anger fading again. After a few long seconds, the glow faded from his eyes, too.

“Can you… prove that?” Payton asked, finally. “Can you prove that you’re still alive, still somewhat human?”

Danny nodded, and offered his wrist to the police. To Payton specifically. “I still have a heartbeat. I don’t know how much you guys know about ghosts, but… that is one of the tells for hunters. No matter how convincing a ghost is, they can’t fake a heartbeat.” He shrugged with one shoulder. “Well, that, and the bleeding red. Ghosts are made exclusively out of ectoplasm – they only bleed in ecto-green.”

Payton accepted the hand, pressing his own fingers against Danny’s wrist. He frowned in concentration. The silence lingered for a few long moments. Then, finally…

“He’s got a heartbeat.”

“Told you so,” Danny muttered, rolling his eyes when Rosie stepped forward to try too. “You want to look at my blood too, or was this enough?”

Payton sighed, stepping away to give Danny some room again. “No. This was enough. Still…” he fell silent, apparently lost in thought.

Rosie nodded to herself, and then to Mike, and released Danny’s arm. He took his hand back, rubbing the wrist a little. They waited, quietly, as Payton was thinking.

“You’ll tell your parents and explain your previous actions?” he asked eventually, finally breaking the silence. When Danny nodded his confirmation, Payton nodded back. “Then I suppose I can amend the third term a little. You will be allowed to carry on, both as Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom. We won’t register you as dead, however… we will be keeping an eye on you.”

Danny nodded again, opening his mouth to speak up. Payton was faster, though. “And because of this, the police will be working with Phantom, of course. If we’re keeping an eye on you, we might as well give you direct support. You’ll no longer be a vigilante – that should help with your reputation as well.”

Eyes growing wide, Danny blinked at Payton. “I… Really? You’ll do that for me?”

“It’s the least we can do,” Payton said with a shrug. “You’ve been keeping this town safe for years, and keeping up with your own life in the meantime. With… less than spectacular results, but still. No matter how much the town opposed you, you went above and beyond the call of duty to help your fellow people. That is something else, kid.”

Having caught up with Payton’s train of thought, Rosie and Mike nodded their agreement as well.

“For most of your first year, the people of this town hated you. I don’t think that I could’ve fought through that to protect them regardless,” Mike admitted. “And yet you, at a mere 14 years old, struggling with powers no one knew about, did it anyway. That’s… pretty incredible. That shows some unbelievable strength of personality, man.”

“Let us help you,” Rosie agreed. “You talk to your parents, and we’ll look into arranging ways to help you with your schooling and such.”

Danny nodded, forcing down the tears that threatened to come up. “I- Holy shit, thank you. I don’t have the words for this. Just… Thank you, so much.”

Payton clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, kid. We’ll take care of you.”

#danny phantom #danny fenton #phanfiction #phanfic #dp fanfiction #dp fanfic #dark writes #dead ringer #disinterred #tumblr is bullying me and refusing to post this #actually it was because my internet cut out for a minute but that broke tumblr so #hopefully it'll post this time around

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ladylynse · 6 years

Text

Ectober 2018, Day 15: Explain

After what happened, Star wants some explanations, and she’s not going to let Danny get away with brushing her off. (Part II of this fic for Day 13: Help)

By the time Star managed to find her way out of the school’s basement (it would’ve been easier if she’d had a flashlight, but she’d lost her phone in the fall and couldn’t even use that), the ghost fight was over. The door had been busted clean off its hinges and the classroom was empty but for the melting ice.

She wasn’t sure how long she stood there, just staring at the mess, but eventually Lancer found her. “I’m glad you and Mr. Fenton are safe,” he said. “Please, consider your detention over. You’re free to go.”

She didn’t have the heart to tell him she had no idea where Danny was, but maybe he’d already sent Danny home. Maybe she was just…late. That could be why Danny wasn’t here, right? Not because the ghost had taken him somewhere.

She started walking to the Nasty Burger on autopilot, though she was aware enough to keep an eye out for any sign of ghosts—or of Danny. She still had no idea how she’d gone through the floor and ended up in the basement. It had been solid. Solid. And then…it hadn’t been.

But Danny hadn’t fallen with her.

And that didn’t make any sense.

If Phantom had come to save them, why not save both of them? Or even just take the ice monster ghost away so they work on thawing a window or something so they could get out? She had no idea why Phantom would separate them. It just didn’t make sense, not when they were both vulnerable. Why leave Danny behind if he was the target? Wouldn’t it make more sense to get him away first?

Star reached for her cell phone, remembered it wasn’t in her pocket, and groaned. Lancer had begun cleaning up when she’d left. If her phone was in the classroom, he’d find it and give it to her tomorrow.

If it wasn’t…. Well, if it wasn’t, she’d have to explain how she’d ended up in the basement. And she couldn’t. But it had definitely sounded like Danny could, which is why she needed to find him. He…. He knew what had happened. He must. But how?

The Nasty Burger was busy as usual, but not so busy that she couldn’t tell at a glance that Danny and his friends hadn’t claimed their usual table—or any table, for that matter. Paulina was there with the other A-listers, and Star hunched and turned away, not wanting to be noticed or at least to able to pretend she hadn’t seen them if she was. She hadn’t stopped to fix her hair, and it was no doubt a mess, but that worked in her favour right now. It would make her more invisible to her friends, someone beneath their notice. And that’s…. That’s what she needed right now. She couldn’t talk to them, tell them what had happened, until she came to terms with it herself.

And until she got some explanations.

Star stood off to one side, half-hidden by the dwindling line. Once it disappeared entirely, she went up to Valerie, who was on cash. “I need to borrow your phone,” Star said.

Valerie frowned. “I just got on shift. I can’t—”

“I’ll be like five minutes. Please.”

Valerie glanced behind her, but her boss didn’t materialize, so she passed Star her phone. She didn’t have time for questions now, but Star knew from the look she received that Valerie expected answers later.

“Thanks,” Star murmured, already scrolling through Valerie’s contacts. She knew Valerie had dated Danny, and it hadn’t been a messy breakup, so surely—

There. Star hit dial and held the phone to her ear as she left the restaurant and walked around back. He had to pick up. He had to be safe. He hadn’t lost his phone, and with the fight over—

“Hey, Val. I thought you had a shift today. What’s up?”

“Danny?” Star’s voice cracked. She couldn’t stop it. “I…. Can we talk?”

Silence.

She wasn’t even sure if he was breathing.

“Danny?” she ventured again, just to make sure he really was still on the line.

“I’m…I’m still here.”

“Can we meet up and talk?”

“Now?”

“No, next week,” she snapped, her nerves frayed. “Yes, now. And we’re both still supposed to be in detention, so don’t pretend you have something on.”

“Why are you calling from Valerie’s phone?”

“Because I lost mine and don’t have your stupid number anyway.” She took a few steadying breaths and then said, “Look, I’m sorry. I just…. I don’t know what happened back there, and it’s freaking me out. I just…. Please. I want to talk. Somewhere quiet.”

It was a few long seconds before he sighed and said, “Okay. Football practice will be over by now. Meet me by the bleachers behind the school. I’ll see if I can find your phone.”

He hung up before she could agree, let alone ask him how the heck he expected to find her phone.

She slipped back inside, passing Valerie her phone with a quiet thank you before running off. Another customer behind her ensured that Valerie’s questions would have to wait, and Star was back out the door before Paulina had time to realize that she was out of detention early.

Danny wasn’t anywhere to be seen when she got there, so Star sat down on the bleachers to wait for him. It occurred to her that he could easily just not show up and she wouldn’t be able to track him down if he stayed away from his usual haunts. He’d know better than to answer a call from Valerie’s phone now, and she didn’t know if anyone else would have his number.

“I’m such an idiot,” she muttered, drawing her knees up to her chest so she could hug them. “I’m going to be waiting here half the evening, and tomorrow he’s—”

“Star?”

She straightened up and looked over. Danny’s voice sounded small, almost like he was afraid of her. It was so unlike how he’d been while facing down the ghost that she almost started to laugh. She might have, if he hadn’t been holding her phone out in front of him.

“Where’d you find it?” she demanded, snatching it out of his hands.

“I, uh, found it in the classroom? After the fight?” He was rubbing his neck and staring at his feet.

She frowned. “Then why not just tell me you had it all along?”

He froze. “Uh—”

She rolled her eyes. “Fenton, I’m not stupid, okay? Just tell me how you got it.”

“I went to look for it,” he mumbled.

Sure he did. Inside the school when the doors would be locked from the outside, so people couldn’t get in even if the people inside could get out.

She sighed. That wasn’t important right now. “Look, Danny, thanks for finding my phone, but that’s not really the pressing issue. Just…you can explain, can’t you? What happened?”

He met her gaze now, still looking like the spooked kid Dash routinely shoved into his locker. “There was a ghost fight.”

“I know that. But…. What happened? Who was that guy? How come he knew you? Why was he going after you?”

Danny laughed, but he sounded more nervous than she did. “Well, you heard him. Apparently he’s called Icebreaker.”

He didn’t continue. Star crossed her arms, not willing to let him get away with playing dumb when she knew he knew more than he was telling. “So who’s his brother? Frosty-something? Frostbite? I didn’t even know ghosts could have brothers. Especially ghosts like that.”

He gave her a nervous smile. “You, uh, ever hear about yetis? I’m pretty sure they’re related. And the ghosts of those guys.”

“Yetis aren’t real, Fenton.”

“Yeah? Well, most people would say the same about ghosts.”

He had her there, but she was willing to concede such a small point. “But most people don’t know ghosts as well as we do. And most people here don’t know those guys as well as you apparently do.”

Danny held up both hands. “Hey, that was the first time I’d even heard of Icebreaker, let alone met the guy.”

“Maybe, but you were his target. You told me that. And he didn’t seem to have much trouble tracking you down. Why would some ghost want to kill you if you’ve never met him?”

Danny raised an eyebrow. “My parents are ghost hunters. That’s, like, a natural target on my back.”

She glared at him. “But that’s not the reason here. You guys were talking about secrets. Teaching or training or something.”

Danny pulled a face at her. “Why ask me questions if you already know the answers?”

“Because I don’t know all the answers. And because you’re still trying to lie to me!”

“Technically, the only thing I lied about was finding your phone in the classroom. And that hardly counts.”

She narrowed her eyes and stepped into his personal space. She wasn’t big enough for it to be a good intimidation tactic, but Danny still backed up. “Then forget about the phone,” she growled, taking another step forward, “and forget about this Icebreaker guy. New question, Fenton. How’d I wind up in the school basement?”

Danny hit the chain link fence, but he actually looked relieved. “Phantom,” he said. “He showed up. Phased you down there and me through the wall, actually. I guess so Icebreaker wasn’t sure who to try to follow? Anyway, Phantom dealt with him pretty quickly.”

That…actually made sense. She hadn’t thought about it like that. If Danny really was Icebreaker’s main target, then having her out of sight might put her out of mind. And if he’d decided to get rid of both of them, since he’d seemed pretty set on it earlier, then dividing his targets might make him hesitate long enough for Phantom to get in a good hit.

“Did you see they took out the classroom door? I dunno who hit that, but I bet it hurt.”

Star stared at him, stunned at how easily the lie had left his lips when he’d been so bad at it earlier. But maybe that was it. He’d been comically bad at it earlier. This time, he’d almost had her fooled.

He must’ve read her expression. “What?”

“How did you get back in if Phantom sent you outside?”

“Huh?”

“The doors. They lock.”

“Oh, that?” More nervous laughter. “This was earlier, when people were still going in and out. I was back in looking for your phone before everything was locked up.”

But he couldn’t have been. He shouldn’t have been able to get in either time. “Danny, Lancer would’ve pulled the alarm. Locked the doors so no one could just walk in and accidentally get caught in a ghost fight. Your parents installed it last month, remember? The only people it’ll let through are them, first responders, school staff, and the mayor.”

He opened his mouth, hesitated half a beat too long, and then said, “Right. Tucker hacked that system a while ago. I’m, uh, one of the ones included on the clearance list.”

She’d been so ready to believe it, so ready to believe all of it. It had made so much sense. And now she had no idea what was truth and what was just a clever lie. “Right,” she echoed. He started to relax again, and she asked, “What’s a halfa?”

He paled. “It’s, ah, a nickname. The one Frostbite gave me.”

“Meaning?”

“That it’s a nickname?” He winced at her look. “Okay, okay, sorry. But, seriously, it’s just a nickname. I wouldn’t think about it too much.”

“Nicknames always mean something. Even if it starts with an inside joke and spreads so people who don’t know the origin use it, it always has to start somewhere. People don’t get nicknames for no reason.”

“Yeah, this would be one of those inside joke things. Trust me, it’ll take way too long to try to explain it.”

“I’ve got time. I don’t care if it’s a long story. Hearing how the son of ghost hunters spent enough time with a ghost that the ghost decided to give him a nickname should be an interesting tale.”

Danny sighed. “Star—”

“Please don’t lie to me, Danny.” She shoved a lock of hair behind her ear just to give her hands something to do, but it was hard not to fidget beyond that. “This…. This doesn’t all make sense. There has to be something you’re not telling me. And I think it might have to do with you being important enough to warrant whatever that was.”

“Everyone in this town is important,” Danny said, deflecting things again, “because Phantom will try to save all of us.”

“But Icebreaker wasn’t after Phantom. He was after you!”

“I help Phantom sometimes, okay?” Danny mumbled, not looking at her. “Mom and Dad would flip if they realized, so I keep it a secret. Jazz gets enough flak defending him as it is.” He finally looked her in the eye, adding, “Frostbite and his tribe in the Far Frozen—they’re good ghosts. Like Phantom tries to be. Mom and Dad don’t understand that, but Phantom does, and he took me there so I could train with them to be a better ghost fighter. Hone some skills. I guess Icebreaker found out, hated the idea of a human learning stuff like that, and wanted revenge. But that’s why I could hold him off for as long as I did; this really isn’t the first time I’ve done this sort of thing.”

It made sense.

Star just didn’t know if she could believe him anymore.

She stepped back anyway, giving Danny some room to breathe. He hadn’t told her what halfa meant. He’d outright admitted that he had lied about where he’d found her phone, and why lie about something like that? She wasn’t sure she believed his explanation about having security clearance, either, though she didn’t doubt that Tucker could give it to him. And he’d said Phantom had phased her through the floor, even though she’d never seen him. But what other explanation was there?

Trust me, he’d said. I can help, he’d said.

If he’d just meant that he had more skills when it came to ghost hunting than she knew about, why not say that?

“Okay,” she said. “I’m sorry for freaking out over this. Thanks for meeting me. And finding my phone. I’m glad you’re okay.”

He smiled at her. “No problem. See you around, Star.”

She let him walk off. Cornering him and demanding explanations wouldn’t get her any farther than she’d already gotten. Letting him think she was just going to let this go? That might do it.

She could be patient.

She could wait.

And then she could find out exactly how much of what he’d told her had been the truth.

Continued for Day 19: Mistakes

(see more fics)

#danny phantom #danny fenton #ectober 2018 #ectober2018 #ectober #dp fanfiction #fanfiction #phanfiction #my writing #ladylynse #snippets #dp snippet

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dp-pastandpresent · 5 years

Text

Past and Present: Chapter 7

There were few things Danny could remember from his previous life.

He had faint memories of his death and it's cause and his family was becoming clearer every day, what with the discovery of the Fentons' computer.

And then there was the girl: The one he couldn't name but remembered leaving behind. The one who's eyes haunted his memories. The one he had loved.

Could her really say love? ; maybe they were more like close friends.

Either way, when Sam told him her name atop the music store, several more memories of his past came flooding back.

"Sarah Manson," he said quietly to himself as things began to click.

"Hmmm?" Sam asked, but he wasn't listening.

''Sarah Manson. Where is this coming from? I had a girlfriend right? Is this the name? It can't be, because that would mean…"

"DANNY!"

At the sound of his real name, he quickly came out of his daze. She was still next to him, a worried look on her face.

"You did want me to call you Danny right?" She seemed very concerned.

Honestly, that was the least of his worries at this point, but he nodded anyways.

"Listen, Sam, right? I just caught wind of an accident, and this time they really do need me, so I should probably be going. But I'll be back this time. I'm just a ghost, don't worry about me."

Before she could even reply , he was flying off into the distance.

'No. You're more than a ghost. You were human once, you have feelings too. You deserve to live.'

She stayed up there a bit longer before something dawned on her.

"How do I get down?"

"She moved on, had a family, and now I'm falling for her daughter…"

He was sitting on a nearby rooftop, thinking out loud about what had just happened.

'Sarah…'

Sarah had been the one. The girl he had grown up with, started dating and eventually had come to love. But because of the fire, he had never even shared his feelings.

The fire.

Even though he was unable to remember the details, he clearly remembered how he had come to be where he was today, and it was all because of a fire.

'Hold up Fenton. Let's forget that for now and think about HER.'

His mind was right, he had more to worry about right now then how he had died.

"It's been fifty years… she's moved on"

'Of course she has, who wouldn't? I wonder how long it took her? Wait! Fifty years? That would make her — and me — 68. There is no way Sam is over 17, which can't make her the daughter. '

"Grandma," he whispered out loud.

'I'm falling in love with her granddaughter'

Just that thought scared him enough to phase through the roof of the building.

It had been a whole day since they had met last, and Danny had tried to move on and forget the whole grandmother/granddaughter relationship.

He had gone back to saving people, though not as often, and there usually wasn't a TV camera there anymore, But who needed that anyway?

However, today there were several surrounding a local fire that had broken out at the town hall.

Danny felt obligated to help the people; fires were his weak spot. He knew firsthand what could happen if the fire got out of control, and he didn't like it.

So naturally, when Sam came down that morning to find her grandma in the kitchen watching the local news, her heart jumped at what she heard.

"And local firefighters have given up! The fire is completely out of control, and going in would risk more lives than already are at risk. However, our very own Phantom, able to handle the intense heat and smoke, is in there right now, searching aimlessly for our illusive mayor!"

"Too bad the firefighters always seem to rely on that Phantom fellow lately," Grandma mumbled.

"Danny," Sam whispered as she sat down next to her, eyes glued to the screen.

The screen flipped to another scene of the fire as a figure emerged from the flames carrying the mayor. Having paid close attention to his recent TV appearance, Sam noticed that the hero seemed a bit more worn this time, walking slower as if the fire had affected him.

The TV announcer seemed to notice as well, adding the very blatant "Well, it seems as though our local hero may have had a bit too much today!"

"I'd be worn out too if the whole town relied on me to save them," her Grandma continued as they showed more footage of the fire, waiting to see if the mayor was ok.

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, Danny does a good job." Sam added, only to realize too late she slipped.

"Danny?" The Grandma asked, looking from the screen to her granddaughter.

'CRAP! Think! How do I get out of this mess?'

The last thing Sam needed was her family involved In her ghost love affair. She quickly made a straight face and tried again.

"Who?" she casually asked.

"I just thought you said… never mind, I must be getting delusional in my older years. You know how I get Sammy." Her grandma smiled innocently.

'Whew.'

"Yeah, you are getting up in there. You know, you're almost 70. Maybe you should take the chair out for a spin?

Sam had grown up knowing her grandma as always being in that chair. An accident early in Sam's childhood had paralyzed her, causing her to be confined to her hover-round. But grandma didn't care; she loved it!

And right now Sam wanted to try everything in her power to get her grandmother off the subject of the ghost boy.

"Good idea!" Her grandma grinned as she rode out of the room.

Sam didn't know it, but her grandma was a lot more alert than she let on.

"Danny? Why would she use that name? I haven't heard it in over 50 years…" She was trying to put the pieces together as she went on her morning trip around the block.

The more she thought about it though, the more she didn't want to. She had been thinking about him a lot lately, what with Sam's sudden happiness.

Every time she delved back into those memories, she felt worse about that night. How could she have not known something was wrong when he didn't call? How could she have just let whatever happened happen? As his girl, she shouldn't have just stood by.

'It's been fifty years, you moved on, met someone new and have had a wonderful son and granddaughter. He's in the past, so why should I worry about him now?"

But the line between past and present had slowly begun to blur over the past few days. It was the ghost boy, Phantom as he was called, that she believed had caused this.

She had yet to get a good look at his face, on TV or in real life, but there was something very familiar about him. Could he possibly be?

'No. If he's a ghost, which I can't believe, but with today's technology…. Ok stop rambling. If Phantom's a ghost, who's to say it's even…'

Sarah hated to even think the name

'There is no way the two can be related. It's just not possible. He disappeared over fifty years ago.'

She kept on scooting, trying to sort out the mess without getting too emotional.

'He seems so familiar, though…'

She was about halfway across the street when it happened. It was instantaneous, nothing more than a blur and a gust of wind going right in front of her face. But it was enough.

'Danny.'

#danny phantom #sam manson #phanfiction #fanfiction #danny phantom fan fiction #danny phantom au #danny phantom fanfic

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five-rivers · 4 years

Text

Interview With a Ghost (Epilogue: Diner)

(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 4) (PART 5)

Unlike many of the eating establishments in Amity Park, Cecilia's Diner didn't cater to ghost-hunting tourists (To be technical, they didn't cater at all. It was a strictly sit-down establishment. They didn't even do take out.). Its clientele was strictly local. Pointedly so. The proprietress maintained a strict policy of banning all ghost hunting paraphernalia from the premises. A tourist could, theoretically, come in and order a sandwich, but if they gave any sign that they were there to hunt ghosts, they were summarily ejected.

There was a reason for this: Cecilia's Diner had the dubious distinction of sitting across the street from the cemetery. No one wanted ghost hunters watching them while burying a loved one, and Cecilia refused to add to what she considered to be a veritable plague.

The diner was not Danny's usual haunt. But it was useful, and gave him a good vantage point to watch the comings and goings in the cemetery. Of which there were many, even if the funeral had ended over an hour ago.

"Danny?"

"Hm?" said Danny, not taking his eyes off the window.

"Are you going to finish your fries?"

"Tucker!" scolded Jazz.

"What?" said Tucker.

Danny finally turned back to his friends. Jazz was giving Tucker a rather severe glare.

"It's fine," said Danny, "I don't want them."

Tucker reached out, but Jazz intercepted him. "Danny," she said, "you've hardly eaten all day." She nodded significantly at his plate full of fries and the sandwich he'd only taken two bites out of.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled.

"You need your strength."

"I don't want to throw up all over myself when I do this," said Danny.

"You are doing it, then?" asked Sam. She hadn't eaten much, either. Then again, the diner didn't have a lot of vegetarian options. "Telling your parents, I mean."

"I don't really have any choice," said Danny. He picked up a french fry, and let it hang limply between his fingers. "I have to, don't I?"

"You do have a choice," said Sam. "I know you want to stay with your parents, and I like them too, but..." She drummed her fingers on the table. "I'm worried about how they'll react."

"I know," said Danny. He looked back out the window. "This is so weird. People are mourning for me, but I'm right here."

Sam and Tucker exchanged a glance. "Well, you get to do what you want," said Tucker. "It is your fune-" There was a meaty thump, and Tucker fell over, clutching at something beneath the table.

"I guess so," said Danny. He closed his eyes and sighed. He did feel calmer, now, with his body safely beneath the earth. Vlad might try to steal it again, six feet of soil and a couple inches of wood didn't do much to deter a person who could simply phase through them, but between the layer of Ghost-Zone-sourced paint Danny had stealthily applied to the inside of the coffin and the continuing threats and disdain of the ghostly community, Danny didn't think that he'd be terribly successful.

Danny would know if he was, anyway.

Tucker straightened out and pulled his PDA from his pocket. "When are those officers supposed to come get you again?"

"Detectives," corrected Danny. "Any minute now."

As if Danny's words had summoned them, the bell on the diner's door rang. They looked up to see the detectives walking in.

Jazz slid out of the booth, followed shortly by Danny.

"We'll call when it's over," said Jazz. Danny tried to smile and gave them a little wave, before turning to greet the detectives.

The ride to Fentonworks in the detectives car was long and mostly silent. Mostly.

"Can you stop staring at me?" asked Danny.

"Sorry," said Paterson.

"Mhm," said Collins, who, as he was the one driving, had much less of an excuse for staring.

Danny sighed.

The car pulled up in front of Fentonworks.

"During our investigation last week," started Collins, undertaking to explain why their children had been brought home by the police, "we came across certain facts that made us, and our captain, concerned for the safety of Jazz and Danny. Especially Danny." Of course, Collins was only doing the initial explanation. Danny was going to do the big reveal himself.

"What kind of facts?" asked Maddie.

"Facts about Phantom?" exclaimed Jack.

"Well, yes-" started Collins.

"That no good spook!" roared Jack, pulling a wicked-looking gun from... somewhere. "I'll teach him to mess with Fentons!"

"Whoa!" said Collins, leaping to his feet and holding out both his hands. He did not miss Paterson reflexively reaching for her own weapon. "No! There's no threatening going on! No threats! Let's put down the guns!"

"Don't worry, detective," said Maddie. "It's designed to only hurt ghosts."

Collins took a deep breath, and kept himself from glancing at Danny. "Why don't we continue this conversation once you've put all the ghost weapons away," he said.

Jack frowned. "Why?" he asked.

"I just think it'll make everyone involved more comfortable," said Collins. "Just as a general proposal."

It took some time for Jack and Maddie to divest themselves of all their weaponry, and every second just made Danny more nervous. He wanted to just get this over with. He wanted it to be done. His mind whirred, trying to come up with the best way to start explaining, and, oh, he should have decided earlier. He should have written a script, or a letter, but he didn't, thinking that the right words would just come to him.

So when Jack and Maddie came back into the room, Danny blurted out, "It was my corpse."

Jack and Maddie stared at him. Jazz put her head in her hands.

"What?" asked Jack. "What was your corpse?"

"That they found, in the park." Danny waved his hand in Collins and Paterson's direction. "The body." They still looked bewildered. "I've been dead, sort of, for two years."

Maddie stepped forward. "Danny... I don't know what's going on, but you're just- You're confused. You have a pulse, Danny. You're alive." She turned on the detectives. "And you! You know he's alive. How could you-?"

"Mom," said Danny. "I'm not lying. Look." He held up his hand and slowly rendered it invisible. "When I turned the portal on," he said, "I was- The button was inside. I was inside. It turned on right on top of me."

"Oh, Danno," said Jack, eyes wide.

"The best I can figure is, ectoplasm replaced half of the mass in my body and the other half... just sort of..." He made a splitting gesture with his hands. "Fell out. I kind of freaked out and buried it in the park. I didn't know what else to do."

Maddie sat down heavily on the couch, one hand over her mouth.

"So, like, the parts of my body that are still there, they all work fine," said Danny. "So, you know, pulse and stuff. And the ectoplasm is pretty well integrated. It's, you know, the thing keeping me together. But I'm not one-hundred-percent dead. Just, like, half." He paused. "Also, I'm Phantom."

"What?"

Collins cleared his throat. "This being the case," he said, "we're going to have to ask you to make some changes to your home and behavior."

A week later, Danny sat in the same booth at Cecilia's Diner, looking out the window again. The cemetery was much quieter this week, but he could still see people stopping by his grave.

How bizarre.

"Have you decided what you want yet, Danno?" asked Jack. Danny turned away from the window, to smile at his family.

"No," he said. "Not yet."

#danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay 2020 #day 28

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dp-marvel94 · 3 years

Text

Face to Face- Chapter 29

First ->Last -> Next

Word Count: 7,787

Also on AO3 and Fanfiction.net

Phantom’s worry wouldn’t seem to ease even as he and Fenton struggled to relax the rest of Saturday. They tried to distract themselves with YouTube, books, calling Sam and Tucker. They even tried homework much to both Danny’s chagrin but the anxiety was ever present. And as day turned to night and the human Danny went to sleep, the unease just got worse

Phantom floated, watching the stars and the quiet street outside the window with a furrowed brow. All this, this waiting, it was really getting to him. He was trying to be patient and he hoped, he really hoped things would turn out okay. That Mom and Dad would figure out the ghost catcher but….

Mom not trusting him, her not apologizing was still bothering him. And it really hurt. The illusion of his stomach flopped. Things weren’t getting worse at least but...they weren’t getting any better either. He sighed. He’d been in positions like this before, when he’d been upset with his parents. An initial fight, feelings get hurt, and then...no resolution. The hurt would linger for a while until he’d eventually forget about it. He could do that now, just ignore and try to forget about what she said. But...the problem with hurt feelings was they always crept back.

Phantom turned away, deciding to do something else. Maybe he’s read some more or… For some reason, he really wanted to sit in the lab in front of the portal and just listen to its song. It was a bad idea but he had to do it anyway. The ghost sat on the stairs, ears keenly listening to the ebb and flow of the voices. He enjoyed the feeling of the green swirling light shining on his face and penetrating through his suit. But of course, the ever present worry lingered below the surface. Some of it was his human side’s natural reaction to the portal but the rest of it was much more mundane.

The ghost rubbed a hand across his face. “What are we gonna do?”

No answer came and yet….Phantom couldn’t seem to stop worrying, even as the morning came.

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

Fenton blinked awake, a dream of watching the portal lingering in his mind. Or….likely not a dream, if he knew himself. He rolled over and there of course was his ghost half, floating above their desk chair with a book. Huh….he must have….left the lab at some point.

Yawning, the human closed his eyes again. He drifted in and out of consciousness for a little while. Then there was a rustling. Again, the boy’s eyes fluttered open. Oh yeah, Phantom again… that must have been the sound of him turning the pages.

The ghost’s head slowly rose up and he half smiled at the human Danny. “Morning.”

“Morning.” Fenton muttered in acknowledgment.

With squinted eyes, he reached for his phone. He noted the time, 10:40 am, with little interest as he scrolled through social media for a few minutes. Eventually though, he sat up and left the room to use the bathroom.

Fenton returned to find the ghost where he left him. Phantom looked up at the sound of the door opening. He put down the book, his expression carefully neutral though his shoulders were tense. Overall, he looked somewhat cross; it was a little concerning to see even if Fenton knew the attitude was not directed at him.

The human raised a brow. “You’re worried.” Again, it wasn’t a question but a statement, an observation.

Phantom bit his lip, his shoulders falling. “Yeah...I’m sure you felt it.”

“Yeah.” Fenton shrugged sadly but said nothing else. He felt no need to continue; both of them knew what they were worried about and why so there was no need to say it out loud.

Then the human’s stomach growled.

“Breakfast?” Phantom questioned with a raised brow.

“Breakfast.” Fenton agreed.

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

Sunday progressed much like Saturday had. The pair tried to distract themselves and managed to finish with the rest of their homework within two hours. Then they lounged in the living room and watched tv. Softly, the sound of Mom and Dad working in the lab drifted up the stairs, occasionally punctuated by the louder sound of something being welded or hammered.

Fenton frowned, remembering his conversation with Jazz yesterday afternoon. She’d said something about convincing the two adults to take a break. He’d only seen them briefly around dinner time last night and they’d looked just as tired then as they had yesterday afternoon. Obviously Jazz’s appeals feel on deaf ears. They must have gone up to their room to sleep at some point at least because Phantom had been down there in the middle of the night but….

“I think they came upstairs about midnight, after you’d already fallen asleep.” The ghost supplied, apparently having picked up on that train of thought. “And Mom came down around 6:30.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “She just missed spotting me down there.”

A brief memory sprang into the human’s mind. Floating crossed legs in the air and basking in the light of the portal, he was startled at the sound of the lab door being unlocked (Yes, apparently his parents had actually started using that lock again. Too bad it did nothing to keep out someone who could phase through solid objects). With a quick gasp, he flickered invisible and rose in the air to be just inches from the ceiling. Watching Mom, hair still unkept and bags still under her eyes, trod down the stairs, he phased out of the room.

Back in the living room, Fenton wrinkled his nose. “Yeah….that would not have ended well.”

For a moment, he imagined the berating his other self surely would have gotten for being in the lab alone and in the early morning no less. From the ghost’s paled face, he was picturing the same.

“She would not have been happy.” Phantom shook his head. Then his face hardened somewhat as he crossed his arms. “But then again, she never seems to be satisfied with me.”

Fenton frowned, his heart clenching at the statement, the bitterness in it. He opened his mouth, wanting to argue that that wasn’t true but…their conversation on Wednesday after Mom and Dad’s argument in the lab rang in his mind. ‘She doesn’t trust me. It’s me, not you…..Why does she accept you but not me?’ He had been trying not to think about any of that over the past few days. He and Phantom hadn’t even talked about it since then. Fenton had thought they were being patient and waiting for things to get better but maybe that wasn’t what they were doing. Maybe-

But then an explosion rocked the house. Fenton screamed in fright at the same time Phantom grabbed for him, instinctively turning both of them intangible. The human’s eyes bulged, his heart pounding out of his chest. The smoke alarm started blaring.

Feet pounded above them and Jazz appeared at the top of the stairs. “What was that?!” She shouted, alarmed even as she ran down the stairs.

The Dannys returned at tangibility, as their sister stopped beside their spots on the couch. The siblings’ eyes feel on where the sound had come from.

“The lab!” All three yelled with equal panic.

Before Fenton could register what he was doing, he’d leapt from the couch, ran across the kitchen, and flung the lab door open. His heart dropped at the sight. His parents stood around a singed and cracked lab table, Dad brandishing a fire extinguisher and spraying the remains of a certain invention.

Jazz ran past him. “What happened?! Are you okay?”

The large man released the trigger on the extinguisher. “Fire’s out. See, it’s fine.” He said, much too casually.

“Fine?! You blew up the ghost catcher!” Mom yelled, pointing angrily.

The kids all ignored the statement, running (or flying) forward now that it looked safe to approach. “Are you guys okay?” “Are you hurt?” “What’s going on?” A cacophony of questions rang out as Fenton’s panicked mind tried to piece together what was happening. But the parents ignored the questions.

“I blew it up?!” Dad jabbed a thumb in his wife’s direction.

“I said those batteries would overload! I said that!”

“I did the calculations, Maddie! Twice! I did them twice and they’re fine!”

“They still blew up, Jack!”

Jazz cut in. “Mom! Dad!” The adults just yelled over her.

“I can see that!” The man growled. “Your wiring must have been faulty!”

“My wiring?! My wiring!? Well, if we’d stopped when I’d said, then maybe-”

“Stop!” An echoing voice suddenly roared. The arguing adults instantly froze, turning to look at the only ghost in the room. “What is going on here?!”

Mom’s eyes widened, taking in an angry and panicked Phantom. Dad shrugged sheepishly. “Well we-”

“Never mind that!” Jazz waved her arms. “Are you two hurt?”

“We’re fine, sweetie.” Mom waved off the concern.

Dad gave an over eager attempt at a comforting smile. “Yeah, Jazzerincess. Your mom and I are fine.”

Fenton frowned, crossing his arms. His eyes trailed the adults, looking for injuries. Though they still looked disheveled and their hazmat’s suits were dirty, there were no tears in the fabric. No burns or visible bruises or cuts. The human’s shoulders relaxed in relief. “You guys don’t like hurt.”

“We’re not, Danny boy.” Dad confirmed holding out his arms as if to display how uninjured he was. “We’re fine.”

Their sister was only barely placated. “Fine! The lab’s a mess! And you both...you both….” Her lip quivered. “It’s lucky you’re both uninjured.”

The human Danny nodded in agreement. Slowly his heart rate was decreasing as his initial fear for his parents lessened. Now a different feeling was welling up in the back of his mind.

Phantom pointed at the invention on the table. “Is that…” His voice and his hand shook. “Was that the ghost catcher?”

Fenton’s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach, his eyes widening. “Mom? Dad?”

The man bit his lip. “Danno….”

The lack of confirmation was answer all the same. “You….you blew up the ghost catcher.” The ghost mumbled quietly, his voice strangely haunted.

“Yes.” Mom said equally quiet with a large measure of guilt ringing in her voice. “But….”

“You blew up the ghost catcher.” Phantom repeated, this time gritting his teeth.

“We’ll fix it, I promise.” Dad pleaded.

Fenton could feel his anger rising, a pale reflection of that which was seething in his other self. And the words, they did little to comfort.

The ghost’s eyes burned, flashing brighter. “You blew up the ghost catcher!” He stuttered. “That...we...we can’t... without it...How...how could you?!” He gritted his teeth in an almost snarl before disappearing.

The human Danny’s heart seemed to lodge in his throat as the phantom sensation of phasing through something crashed through him. The living room flickered into his view before he was phasing into his bedroom.

Somewhere far away, voices called his name. “Danny!” Was that Jazz? Dad? Mom? Wait, no….they weren’t far away….

“Danny?” Jazz asked quietly.

He, Fenton, blinked. Yes, he was Fenton, just the human half. He was still in the lab with his parents and sister.

“Danny?” His sister repeated.

The boy shook his head, dispelling the fog. “Yeah, I’m here.”

Mom crossed her arms, giving him an uncertain look. “Do you know where he went?”

“Of course.” Fenton said, like it was obvious. Because it was.

His eyes flickered to the stairs and then back to his mother’s face. She raised a brow, asking the silent question.

The human bit his lip. “Our room….I should…..I should go...” He pointed up stairs before looking down and muttering. “Before I do something stupid.”

Fenton glanced up tentatively, taking in the worry and guilt in his parents’ faces. Then his eyes fell on the destroyed ghost catcher. All air seemed to leave his lungs as his heart throbbed. Tears starting to collect in his eyes, the boy ran up the stairs without another word.

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

Only moments later, the human Danny barged into his room before slamming the door. He took a shaky breath. His hands were shaking, maybe from his emotions, maybe from the cold. The temperature had dropped since he’d last been in here, enough to make his breath visible. And like he told his parents, the culprit was in the room.

The ghost floated in the middle of the room, his back facing the human. His posture was stiff with his shoulder’s hitched almost all the way up to his ears. His hands were balled at his sides, lit with green ectoenergy.

“Phantom?” Fenton softly ventured.

No verbal response came, but there was a mental and emotional one. The human could feel it in the tensing of his muscles, the heartbroken anger. Phantom wanted to hit something or shot something. He wanted to scream or cry or…..

Fenton balled his fists, taking a steadying breath. He felt the same of course; he too wanted to lash out but instead he slowly walked around the ghost, keeping his distance from the neon green light. “Danny?”

The human took another step, opening his mouth to call his other half’s name again. But then tearful green eyes met his. Fenton’s eyes instantly watered...or had that already been happening?

“Are you-” The human started, taking in the other’s expression. But he stopped. He was going to say, are you okay? But that was a dumb question. He could visibly see that Phantom was not okay and if he couldn’t see it….he could feel it.

Phantom vigorously shook his head. He floated forward, towards his human self before stopping. His frown deepened as he looked down at his green-lit hands. With a sigh, he extinguished the lights before looking back up at Fenton’s face. “You’re looking kinda blue.” He said both concerned and worried.

“Yeah.” Fenton shivered, again registering how his hair was raised in goosebumps. He wrapped his arms after his chest, his hands under his armpits to warm them. “So are you.”

It was subtle but there was a very slight icy blue tint to the skin of Phantom’s face.

“Oh.” In response, the ghost’s expression fell. He pitched his eyes closed in concentration for a long moment. “I can’t turn it off.” The ghost sounded alarmed.

Then there was a knock at the door. “Danny? Can I come in?” Jazz questioned.

Both Dannys’ eyes widened in identical panic. “Umm...no.” “Don’t come-”

At the same time, their sister quickly said. “That’s it. I’m coming in whether you want me to or not.” Jazz bursted into the room, her arms instantly wrapping around herself. “Why is it so cold in here?”

That just brought back Phantom’s growing panic. “I can’t...I can’t stop it…” He choked out.

Jazz frowned. “You’re doing this?”

The ghost nodded. “I..I don’t know how to stop!”

“Oh Danny.” Their sister walked forward, hands reaching out to touch him.

“Stop!” Fenton grabbed her arm. “We could...we could hurt you.”

Both Dannys’s eyes met, Phantom’s lip trembling. The human could tell he was remembering that night he’d accidentally burned Fenton. But the boy shook his head; there was no need to feel guilty about that. Or about the possibility of hurting Jazz.

The girl looked between the two, giving Fenton a cautious look.

“Cold burn.” Phantom said simply. “I can’t...I don’t know how to stop!” He shook his head. “You...you guys should go.. or...I’ll…” He glanced up at the ceiling, floated upward.

“Danny, wait!” Jazz exclaimed. She pulled her arm out of Fenton’s grip and started walking towards the closet. “You can do this. Just calm down.”

Again, the ghost shook his head, his chest starting to heave. “No, I..I can’t.”

“Yes, you can.” The girl said earnestly as she riffled through the closet. She threw something at Fenton.

“What is…” The human looked down at the object in his hands, a hoodie with gloves in the front pocket. Understanding, he started to pull on the garments.

Jazz was pulling on one of Danny’s coats herself. Lightening fast, she put on a pair of gloves.

“No I…” Phantom argued, tears falling down his face.

Their sister planted herself in front of him. “Yes, you can.” She took one of his gloved hands in hers. “You are in control, Danny. You are. You control your powers; they don’t control you.” The ghost boy shook his head. Jazz squeezed his hands. “Just breathe with me okay. In...and out….” Phantom tried to copy her actions, still panting. “Okay, Let’s think warm thoughts….alive thoughts.”

Even with his core inside his other chest, Fenton felt how the words stung. “Alive...alive thoughts? I’m...I’m not alive…” The ghost gritted his teeth. “I’m...I’m dead….I’m stuck like this, ‘cause Mom and Dad blew up the ghost catcher! I’m...I’m trapped! I’m...I’m just a ghost, ‘cause….” The words blurred together into an ugly mix of anger and despair.

Jazz didn’t recoil. “They’ll figure that out but right now, you need to-”

“Figure it out?” Phantom scoffed. “They...they have no clue. They’ve been arguing about it all week and...it’s not like it’ll fix anything.” His eyes flashed brighter. “Mom will still look at me like it’ll turn into a monster any moment or...like I’m not even here.”

“Danny, that’s not true.” Their sister chastised, trying to get the ghost’s attention.

“And she hasn’t even apologized. I mean… she knows she said horrible things. She should know she hurt me but she'll barely acknowledge it. Is she...is she even sorry?!”

“Danny!” Jazz tried again, now visibly shivering.

That finally broke Fenton out of his trance. He’d been so caught up in the anger, he’d been frozen beside himself. But now he sprang into action.

The human stepped forward, taking Phantom’s other hand. “Phantom! We can worry about that later. But now we need to fix this.” His voice was stern, the determination instantly drawing his other self’s attention. Green eyes met blue as the ghost realized what he was doing. He tried to pull away but both humans’ grips remained firm.

Fenton continued. “Jazz is right. We need to think warm thoughts, alive thoughts.”

“But-” The ghost started.

“We are still alive.” The human implored. “Remember who you’re talking to.”

Phantom nodded slowly, barely perceptibly as more clarity entered his vision.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Fenton cracked the most subtle of smiles. “Here, breath with me.” He breathed in and out, his ghost copying. “You remember what lungs feel like. And our heart? I know you can still feel it.” He focused inward, on the distant churning of his spectral energy. “‘Cause I can feel our core. And I can feel how much it hurts.”

Slowly the cold lessened as the temperature rose.

“That’s it. You’re doing it.” Jazz encouraged. The girl also breathed in and out, following the Dannys’ rhythm.

Fenton felt his heart rate slow as the rhythmic action calmed him. Fenton and Phantom breathed in unison, the pulsing of the ghost’s core paradoxically increasing. The human could actually feel it physically through his glove but also somewhere distantly in his mind. At the same time, the ghost’s skin also warmed, slowly reaching a temperature that no longer threatened to burn bare hands, and then farther, to something that could be comfortably hugged.

The human Danny did just that, taking a step forward to embrace his ghost half. Phantom eagerly returned the hug, sniffling. Now that he was calmed, the ghost had started crying. Fenton was too, his throat closing up with emotion. With his powers under control, everything that had just happened hit him. What happened with the ghost catcher and everything Phantom had said. Harsh, painfilled, despaired words but….he’d be lying if he said he didn’t think and feel the same way.

After a long moment, Jazz’s arms wrapped around both boys as she joined the hug from the side. “Shh, it’s okay.” She cooed. “It’s okay.”

“No it’s not.” Phantom muttered. “I could have hurt you.”

“Well, you didn’t.” Jazz comforted. “You got things under control.”

“Yeah.” The ghost agreed passively, only slightly comforted.

“You did.” Their sister reassured. “You’re trying so hard. And I know you’d never hurt me.”

Phantom did seem to relax at her words, the guilt he was projecting to Fenton lessening. For a few more breaths, the hug continued until the siblings pulled apart.

“I am so sorry about what happened in the lab.” Jazz finally said.

“Yeah, that.” Fenton frowned, crossing his arms. Then he looked up at Jazz. “Is that why you came upstairs?”

The girl’s face softened. “I wanted to check on you.” She glanced between the two cautiously. “I’m glad I did. You were really upset.”

"Do you blame me?" Phantom muttered, crossing his arms.

"Of course not." Jazz said kindly. "You're feeling what you're feeling and that's okay. And I know it doesn’t feel like it. But…." The girl bit her lip. "It’s going to be okay. This might delay things but Mom and Dad will figure out how to help you."

Fenton frowned at the statement. He wanted to disagree, that previous anger that his other self had displayed still lingering in his mind. But at the same time… the human boy sighed. "I know."

"You're right." Phantom continued also sighing. "I'm...I'm still mad at them for what happened to the ghost catcher but I know they're trying. I shouldn't….I shouldn't have said they weren't earlier."

"You were angry, Danny. It's understandable. Although…" Jazz frowned. "Speaking of earlier, do you want to talk about what you said about Mom?"

Phantom suddenly stiffened. "No." He said flatly.

“Danny.” Their sister pinned the ghost with a glare before turning towards the human.

Fenton crossed his arms and raised a brow. “Why are you looking at me? I’m not gonna contradict myself.”

Jazz blinked twice, her frown deepening. “Really? You don’t want to talk about how you’re clearly still angry at Mom about what she said on Wednesday?”

“No. I don’t.” Phantom ground his teeth.

“Danny, this isn’t healthy.” Jazz started.

“Jazz.” The human boy scowled, with the same angry and closed off posture as his other self.

The girl continued undeterred. “You can’t keep bottling stuff up like this.”

“I’m not-” Phantom started arguing.

Jazz cut him off, pointing seriously at Fenton. “You promised me, you promised you’d talk to me, that you’d let me help you.”

That caused both Dannys’ mouths to snap shut. The human half looked down. “I did promise you that.”

The girl seemed to notice the change in attitude, her own tone softening. “So then talk to me.”

The human Danny opened and closed his mouth, searching for words but none came out. He couldn’t decide what to say, where to start. Tentatively, he glanced at his other self. The ghost still had his arms crossed, expression screaming that he’d already said too much.

Jazz groaned, rubbing her eyes with her palms. “Two mouths and I still can’t get you to talk to me.” She then sighed. “Look, I already know you’re upset about the stuff Mom’s said about ghosts and you want her to apologize.” Both versions of her brother said nothing, looking anywhere but at the girl. “Am I wrong?”

After a long pause, Fenton begrudgingly muttered. “No, you’re not.” Unhelpfully, he offered nothing more.

His sister sighed again. “Danny, things aren’t going to get better with Mom unless you talk to each other.” She pointed. “You said you would talk to her if things didn’t get better. And they haven’t gotten any better.”

“Well, they haven’t gotten worse.” The human Danny wrinkled his nose.

“Just because they haven’t gotten worse doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do something.” Jazz held up her hands.

“Look Jazz.” Fenton sighed. "Dad said to be patient with Mom and that she'd come around, okay? That’s what we’re doing, being patient with her.”

“Or maybe you’re ignoring the problem because you don’t want to deal with it.”

The human Danny opened his mouth to argue that that wasn’t true but he stopped. He’d been thinking something approaching that line of thought not even an hour ago. He bit his lip. “Maybe-”

Phantom cut him off. “Mom hurt us. Repeatedly, multiple times.” He grit his teeth. “She’s supposed to make the first move. She’s supposed to apologize. But she’s not even sorry.”

“That’s not true.” Fenton immediately argued. “She changed her mind about training us and about the flying and...we’ve seen how guilty she looks.”

“Have we?” The ghost held out his arms. “All I know is she’s been avoiding me. Mom won’t touch me. She won’t look at me, barely talks to me. She’s always working in the damn lab.”

The human huffed. “She's been working to find a way to fix this, Phantom.”

The ghost glared. “Like that’ll do anything to fix all the sh-”

Jazz interrupted. “You’re not being fair; you can’t know what she’s thinking. Mom might not even know how much she’s hurt you, let alone-.”

A flicker of anger reingnited in Fenton’s heart. Beside him, Phantom hissed. “Is she stupid?” His eyes flashed. “What? She’s just not paid attention the multiple times we’ve cried in front of her. She just somehow can’t see how much pain we’re in! No, Mom knows the shit she’s said. She knows it’s wrong and she should know that it hurt me!” The ghost waved his arms. “But she probably thinks I’m an unfeeling monster; why would it matter if I’m in pain? I deserve it.”

“Danny. Stop.” The human boy grabbed his other half’s flailing arms. “We both know we don’t really believe what. Mom doesn’t think that either.”

“Then why hasn’t she apologized?!” Phantom shouted, pulling his arms out of Fenton’s grasp. “If she knows, if she cares that she hurt me, why won't she apologize?!”

Jazz looked between the two versions of her brother, eyes wide with concern. “You’re right.” Both heads, one with black hair and one with white hair, turned to look at her. The girl sighed. “It’s absurd to think that Mom doesn’t know that she hurt you or that she doesn’t care but...you haven’t even talked to her about this, Danny. She doesn’t know that getting a verbal apology is this important to you.”

There was a pause as both boys took in the girl’s words. Then Phantom gritted his teeth. “I shouldn’t have to ask for an apology.”

“Danny.” Jazz sighed again. “I know that-”

“Mom's the adult.” The ghost cut her off again. “She's supposed to apologize. She’s supposed to reach out and try to fix this. Not me, I'm 14! I'm a kid. I shouldn't have to beg her to say she’s sorry!”

“You’re right. You shouldn’t.” Their sister held out her hands. “You shouldn’t have to beg for an apology. We shouldn’t be having this argument because our mother should be emotionally mature enough to actually talk to you and try to fix things. But apparently, she’s not. For some reason, she’s ignoring the issue and burying herself in work or she’s a lot more oblivious than we think. Now…” She pointed. “You can keep doing nothing and hope that Mom will get her act together and tell you she’s sorry. Which is not going to happen. You can keep waiting for an apology that will never come. You can just keep making yourself more angry, bitter, and miserable. And keep on feeling sorry for yourself. Or” She emphasized the word. “You can actually talk to Mom. If you want there to be a chance for things to get better, you have to talk to her!” Jazz finally stopped, looking thoroughly exacerbated.

And rightfully so, Fenton thought. Guilt squirmed in his gut. Even if Phantom had been the one to actually voice all those thoughts, they were all still his thoughts. The human still desperately wanted Mom to apologize. He just wanted things to be better but he didn’t want to talk to the woman because he was afraid….

“What if…” Phantom swallowed. “What if we do talk and she’s not sorry at all?”

And that was it. If they talked and learned Mom still thought all those horrible things about ghosts. What if he was still wrong, still unnatural, still lesser in her eyes? What if….

“Then you’ll actually know.” Jazz said softly. “And we’ll figure out what to do from there.” She put a hand on Phantom’s and a hand on Fenton’s shoulder. “No matter what Dad and I have your back.”

She smiled at the pair, obviously trying to comfort. But it stung. Guilt wiggled through his insides; Fenton remembered Mom and Dad fighting, arguing because of him. He imagined: Escalation, shouting, tears. Mom storming out. Dad taking him and Jazz to their grandparents. Their family ripped apart because he was stupid and got himself killed. Anguish rippled through him even as Phantom’s cold hand found his and a hint of emotion pressed into Fenton’s portion of their mind. If it was anyone else’s hand, it might have been comforting but that was his own hand, his own mind trying to say it’s okay. And he wasn’t sure he believed what he was thinking.

Jazz was in front of him, gently brushing his bangs from his face. “Just think about what I said, okay? Everything’s going to be fine.” Silence lingered as neither boy responded, not that any part of them knew how. Finally their sister ventured. “Danny?”

Fenton looked up, meeting her eyes. “Yeah. We hear you. We’ll….” He glanced at his ghost half, a wordless conversation passing between the two in a matter of seconds. “We’ll think about it.”

The girl raised a brow. “You will?”

“Yes.” Phantom agreed, passionlessly. “You...you made some good points, I guess. We’ll have to talk about it.”

Jazz nodded, studying the pair for a long moment and seemingly judging their sincerity. “Okay.” Her expression finally softened, though the glint in her eyes said she wasn’t exactly satisfied. “If you decided you want to talk to Mom today, I can come with you but….fixing things is on you and Mom. You guys are the only ones who can make things better.”

Fenton looked down and frowned, considering the words. A heavy sadness fell over him; with the previous anger evaporated, the grief and fear weighed down heavily on his shoulders. Still, he said nothing.

Meanwhile, Jazz lingered for a moment. She glanced towards the door. “I should probably check on our parents. They were cleaning up the lab when I left. Although….I need to make them take a break before they kill themselves.” The girl then turned to face both versions of her brother. “Unless you want me to stay with you.”

Phantom shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I think...” He glanced at Fenton who met his eyes. “I think we need to be alone.”

Again, Jazz studied them, a deeply troubled expression maring her face. Finally she conceded. “Alright. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” She paused for a moment, before again wrapping her arms around Fenton and Phantom. “I love you, little brother.”

The human Danny just stood there; he didn’t have the heart to return the gesture or the words. After a long moment, Jazz pulled away. Her concerned eyes fell on both boys, even as she left the room.

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

For a short eternity, Phantom and Fenton just stood and floated side by side in their room. Their fragmented mind struggled to process what just happened as the fire of their anger cooled into a freezing despair.

The human Danny was the first to move. Slowly, like his limbs were weighed down, he stumbled to the bed and flopped down. The boy put his head in his hands. “Mom and Dad….they blew up...they blew the ghost catcher.” He stuttered the words painfully.

Phantom sighed. “Yeah.”

“That really happened.” Fenton said numbly.

The ghost nodded in sad confirmation. After a few beats of silence, the human looked up. Frowning heartbrokenly, he pulled his legs up onto the bed and then his knees to his chest. He met Phantom’s eyes. “What are we gonna do?”

The ghost’s core clenched. He knew that question wasn’t asked expecting an answer but oh, how he wished he had a solution. But he didn’t. There wasn’t a solution, not one within his grasp at least. With a deep sigh, Phantom floated forward. He sat down on the bed, hip to hip with his other self. With his own knees pulled his chest, the ghost’s posture mirrored the human’s.

“I guess...we keep waiting.” Phantom grumbled.

“I don’t wanna keep waiting.” Fenton mumbled.

The ghost said nothing; there was no point. They had to wait. And that hurt, the thought of this lasting for weeks or even months more. But…. “We can do this.” Phantom leaned into Fenton. “We can keep doing this. We’ll be okay?”

The ghost was getting so tired of saying that, of trying to hold on to hope.

“What are we doing?” Fenton interrupted, looking at his ghost.

Phantom blinked at him, in confusion.

The human shook his head. “We run into one roadblock and we fall apart again.”

“This isn’t one roadblock.” The ghost huffed. “Things keep...things keep getting worse. Everything’s falling apart.”

“Not everything.” Fenton’s hand found his.

The ghost looked to the side, studying him. “Yeah...not everything.” He still had himself; things were still good and getting better between his two halves. He had Sam and Tucker. He had Jazz and Dad. And the ghost catcher, it was….it was broken. Although knowing Dad? With that man’s eagerness and determination, he’d find a way to fix it, come hell or high water. But still...there was the main issue.

“We need to talk to Mom.” Fenton said, following his thought.

The ghost paled. “I don’t...I don’t want to.”

“I know.” The human whispered, the word conveying the great depth of that knowledge. “I...I don’t want to either but we have to.”

“No we…” Phantom shook his head. “We can’t.”

Fenton bit his lip. “We need to, though.”

“But…No, I don’t...I don’t want to.” Fear wrapped a cold hand around the ghost’s core. “We can’t.” He whined.

The human’s voice rose slightly in heartfelt concern. “Phantom?”

“I...I can’t...I…” The ghost stuttered. “Fenton.... I’m scared.” Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around the human, clinging to him desperately for comfort.

Fenton returned the gesture without hesitation. “I know.” He was scared too, Phantom felt.

“What if…” she still thinks I’m a monster? What if I’m still wrong? What if the only reason I’m safe is because I look like her Danny? He couldn’t say the words, hardly think them but the thoughts buzzed anyway, stabbing at his core. And the last. What if, really, Mom loves Fenton but not me? The last question burned. Something like jealousy, a horrible, ugly feeling, rippled through him. What if she loves you but not me? It burned at him, this envy he’d felt before. And Phantom hated himself for it, even as he dared to think the thoughts.

“No.” Fenton squeezed him harder. “We are the same. If she doesn’t love you, she doesn’t really love me either. She loves who she thinks I am, and that’s not real.”

Yeah, that was right. That was true. Phantom let the feeling pass. Yes, he didn’t need to punish his other half with that jealousy. But he didn’t need to punish his current self for that feeling either. He needed to be kinder to both sides of him.

Both Dannys stayed like that for a long time, as the presence of his human slowly dulled the ghost’s fear. The feeling didn’t go away but...it was dampened, muted. Even so, it wasn’t enough to bolster Phantom’s courage.

Finally, Phantom pulled away. “I...I’m sorry.” He wrung his hands. “I...I can’t talk to her, not today.”

“Danny, if we keep putting this off…”

The ghost interrupted. “I know but...I just...I need some time to work up the courage. To think about what to say.”

The human sighed, giving his other half a deeply concerned look. "Okay."

Fenton didn't sound happy, understandably, but to the ghost's relief, he didn't press. The human probably figured it would do little more than start an argument and he would be right. The ghost didn't have it in him to budge, even if he knew what he should do, even with his human half's determination.

"I'm sorry too." Fenton leaned into his counterpart. "I hate that this is happening at all. But we'll be okay. We'll talk to her together. And maybe it won't be as bad as we think."

"Yeah." Phantom said passively. "I hope so."

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

The pair sat for a few minutes with no more words shared. Just turbulent emotions and a soft attempt at self soothing.

Downstairs, a door opened and closed.

Phantom looked up. "We should stop sulking." Floating off the bed, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I should probably apologize for blowing up on our parents."

"Yeah." Fenton said with a slight frown. He stood and gave an attempt at an encouraging smile.

With that, both Dannys left the room and walked towards the stairs. They paused at the top, looking over the livingroom and kitchen. Mom, Dad, and Jazz were standing around the table, talking in hushed voices.

The ghost nawed on his lip, the shadow of his stomach flopping. What were they talking about? Were they mad about how he reacted? Disappointed? What would they say if he went down there? Was he going to go down there? No. Who was he kidding? He couldn’t-

“Phantom.” His human half whispered. “It’s okay.” He put a comforting hand on the ghost’s arm and squeezed. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Numbly, Phantom nodded. “Yeah. I’m coming.”

The pair started down the stairs, Fenton’s feet stomping along the way. All at once, the room fell into silence as the other three family members looked at both boys. Keenly noticing his other self’s reddening face, the ghost blushed and looked away from his family. He couldn’t make eye contact, not after how he’d acted earlier and...not after what he’d said upstairs.

Coming to the bottom of the stairs, Fenton and Phantom stopped. There was tense silence for a moment, the room completely still. Until…

“Danny-boy.” Dad took big steps across the living room, his arms outstretched to embrace both halves of his son in a hug. A step away from the pair, he stopped and lowered his arms. His eyes widened and concern marred his features. “Oh, kiddo. Are you okay?”

Phantom frowned; clearly, he and Fenton didn’t look as put together as they were trying to look. “Fine.” He muttered, denying the truth.

At the same time, Fenton looked down. “Yeah.

Dad’s lips turned down, though his eyes shone with love. “Danny.” Something in the tone of his voice said he saw through the act. “I’m so sorry.” Without preamble, the man wrapped his large arms around both versions of his son. “I am so sorry son, about what happened to the ghost catcher. I’ll fix it, I swear.”

The words stung; they stung so bad but Phantom did believe them. He returned the hug, even if tentative. “I...I’m sorry I blew up on you guys. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”

“It’s okay, kiddo. I get it.” Dad comforted.

The ghost shook his head. “No it’s...I know it was an accident. You didn’t mean to do it. But you’ll…”

“We’ll fix it.” The man reassured. “Your mom and I will fix it. Or...we’ll make a new one. We’ll get you fixed up in no time.”

“Yeah.” Phantom said mildly.

Both Dannys and their Dad lingered in the hug for a long moment before pulling away. The ghost felt somewhat better after his father’s reassurance, especially that the man was not upset at his outburst. And then he looked up. For a second, he met his Mom’s violet eyes before she looked away.

Despite that, the woman stepped forward. “Danny.” She said softly, for once no anger or annoyance in her voice. “I promise we’ll remake the ghost catcher and have you re-fused before you know it.” She then sighed. “We should have been more careful with the invention but we’ve learned our lesson.” Mom took another step forward. She gently placed a hand on Fenton’s arms before hesitating on Phantom’s. After a too long second, she touched the ghost’s arm. “I swear to you,” She looked to Fenton and then Phantom, expression sincere. “We will fix this. We’ll get you back in one...back on one body.” Her gaze turned back to Fenton. “And then we’ll put all of this behind us.”

Phantom closed his eyes, biting his lip. Those words, they sounded so sincere, so loving. He should be comforted, he would be, except...His core still clinched, previous bitterness lingering. We’ll put all of this behind us, she said. As if they could, as if they even should. Things had changed, things would stay changed. Hadn’t he already talked to Mom and Dad about how Phantom, his powers, were not going to go away after they remerged? Or….maybe he was reading into things too much.

“Okay.” Fenton finally said, speaking for both of them. “We believe you and…” He glanced down muttering. “Thanks….thanks for not being mad about…”

He trailed off, peaking at Phantom who paled before attempting a glare at his counterpart. Really? Did he have to draw attention to that?

Fenton raised a brow, shrugging almost imperceptibly. Across from them, Mom looked between the two with a slight look of confusion before she furrowed her brow. “Oh sweetie, it’s fine. I understand you getting upset.” Despite the attempt at comfort, she sounded too nervous. The interaction quickly turned awkward as all eyes seemed intent on avoiding each other.

Across the living room, Jazz was glaring at both versions of her brother. She mouthed something, making a waving motion before Phantom vigorously shook his head. His sister’s eyes narrowed, her lips turning down in disappointment. Meanwhile, Dad looked vaguely confused, obviously trying to decipher the silent conversation between his children.

Then, after a long pause, Mom took a step back. “Anyway, your father and I need to get cleaned up.” She motioned to her soiled jumpsuit, earning a frown from both Dannys. “We’ll make some lunch and then…” Her glaze flickered back towards the door to the lab.

“No.” Jazz crossed her arms. “You are not going back in the lab today.”

Mom turned sharply, narrowing her eyes at the tone. “Jasmine.”

The girl held out her arms, undeterred by the use of her full name. “You guys have been working yourselves to the bone. You need a break.”

“We need to be working on remaking the ghost catcher.” The woman countered.

“You need to rest.” Jazz pleaded. “You and Dad have been exhausting yourselves. Danny and I can see how tired and stressed you’ve been. And well this morning….” The girl trialed off, biting her lip.

Phantom gave his sister a wary look; they all knew what she was referring to but to the ghost’s relief, Jazz didn’t go into it. His gaze then flickered between his parents. Though Mom did look vaguely annoyed at being told what to do by her teenage daughter, she was clearly stressed and tired. And Dad….the bags under his eyes and the sag of his shoulders said it all.

Dad sighed. “That is true; we’ve been over doing it but...” He glanced at Fenton and Phantom. “Fixing the ghost catcher is very important.”

Phantom frowned; there was a weight to the statement, an undertone of guilt, a desperation even. It wasn’t about fixing the ghost catcher but what that action would accomplice, the mistake it would correct. Part of him, the impatient part, wanted to agree; fixing the device so he could re-merge was the most important thing in his world right now. And he was so tired and waiting and being unable to do anything. Even the thought of adding a day to his wait felt agonizing but…

Jazz was looking at him expectly. And Phantom knew he couldn’t be selfish; he knew what he needed to say. “Yeah it is but...Jazz is right. You guys need a break before you hurt yourselves. The ghost catcher can...we can wait a day.”

Dad raised a brow, looking at the ghost version of his son. “Are you sure?”

Phantom blushed, looking down. “Yeah, of course.”

Guilt lashed out at him. Was him coping badly really having this much of an effect on his parents, driving them to work harder and harder to fix him to the point of exhaustion?

He shook his head, Fenton’s memory of talking to Sam and Tucker running through his head. He didn’t need to think like that. He didn’t need to look put together for his loved ones. And anyway...how they reacted wasn’t on him. He couldn’t control what Mom and Dad thought and did.

Finally Mom agreed with a sigh. “Alright. We’ll take a break today.” She started taking off her gloves. “I still need a shower.”

“And some food!” Dad piped up with a grin.

“Then maybe we can play a board game together.” Jazz added, a satisfied smile growing on her face.

Phantom blanched, glancing at his human who wore an identical look. Please, not board games. Not when he was unsure of his ability to interact with Mom for any length of time without saying something he’d regret.

His sister rolled her eyes. “Fine. We can watch a movie then.”

“Sounds good to me, Jazzrincess.” Dad said, already walking towards the kitchen.

At the same time, Mom walked towards the master bed and bathroom. A moment later, Jazz followed the man into the kitchen, leaving Fenton and Phantom standing in the living room. The pair looked at each other, nebulous worry and unease drifting between the two pieces of their mind.

Phantom sighed, not looking forward to the rest of the day.

Fenton shook his head. “Maybe they’ll let us pick the movie.”

“Oh joy. Like that’ll help.” The ghost muttered unhelpfully.

The human rolled his eyes. “Come on. I actually do wanna get some lunch.” He walked towards the kitchen and Phantom followed.

#Danny Phantom #Face To Face #Ghost Catcher #split danny #double danny #My fic #danny fenton

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