#ghostly-scrypts

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Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Nine

"Dragon"

Ao3 and as a stand-alone

“Would you like a drink, Danny?”

“Just some pop, please.”

Danny’s boss snorted but accepted easily enough, handing Danny a can of cool Pepsi whilst he twirled his whiskey.

“So, do you like your job, Danny?” His boss asked without preambles.

Danny didn’t really need to think about it, he answered honestly, “Yeah, it’s chill. The pay is good and I’ve been kinda nocturnal since I was fourteen so the late hours are no problem for me. The tips are great too, and the patrons are… wild, yes,” his boss huffed a small laugh at Danny’s understatement of the night-club goers, but didn’t interrupt him, “but no one has, like, tried to punch me or something, so I don’t mind.”

“That’s good.” His boss said softly and drank some more of his whiskey. “Look, Danny, contrary to what you may have heard of me, I am not in the habit of conquering other realms and enthralling their rulers, so know that you are not my vassal and I don’t want your Kingdom. I don’t even want my Kingdom! I’ve quit! But! You don’t look like you want to leave.”

“I would very much like to keep my job, if that’s at all possible.”

Lucifer Morningstar, owner of the nightclub Lux and Danny’s current boss (so far, at least), put his tumbler aside and gave his full attention to the young man sitting across from him.

“I don’t want you to leave, either.” The Devil said. “You’re a good employee and even Maze likes you!” He said this like it was either the biggest honour or the biggest abnormality.

Mazikeen was cool, even if a tad violent, so he took the comment both ways.

“But you do know that it’s not a good look for the King of Ghosts to be working for the King of Hell, right? No matter that I’m retired or that you are alive.” He rolled his eyes at the last bit.

“Yeah. That’s, I’ll get an earful for that.” It would be from the Observants, though, and he really didn’t care for their opinion, so it would just be a minor annoyance.

“And whether you stay at Lux or not, the pantheons have certainly taken notice.” Mister Morningstar rolled his eyes again and looked at Danny with pity, which, yeah, inter-pantheon relations was not something the Ghost Zone wanted or that Danny was interested in engaging with.

“Ah, yes, the rammies.” He made a face at that. He really didn’t want any god (lowercase g, all of them) snooping in his realm to see what his relationship with the Devil was.

But if shit was going to hit the fan anyway, why not keep his well-paid job?

“It’s not a problem for me,” the Devil kept saying, “I’m happily retired! For you, on the other hand, they’ll see you as my vassal if you don’t really get anything out of this, –no, a weekly salary with legal benefits means nothing to these beings.” He said before Danny could interrupt. “If there was something I could just give you as a boon–” He stopped and a large smile slowly spread on his face. “That’s it! I am a genius!” He stood up and began pacing back and forth whilst Danny just clutched his can of pop.

“Uh, what is it?” Asked Danny, sipping his pepsi.

“I will give you Hell!” Ignoring his employee choking on his drink, the Devil carried on. “We can say you are my apprentice, or you can be my actual apprentice if you want me to teach you the ropes, and I will give you the Key of Hell and you can add it to the Ghost Zone! No one will be stupid enough to give you any trouble for it, and I will finally get my annoying family off my back.”

“But they’ll be on mine!” Danny protested once he stopped choking. “I don’t want to have Hell! I didn’t even want to be King of the Ghost Zone, I was just the dumbass that defeated the old one! I- I just wanna get through college, afford my half-life, and become an astronaut…” He put his head in one hand, the other one holding the can against his forehead.

Why this? Why couldn’t he be fired for sleeping on the bar, like a normal person?

“Oh, please, Danny, you’re a young King, hardworking too; you must want more than that.” Mister Morningstar looked him in the eye not obstructed by pop and spoke slowly, with intent, “Tell me, Danny, what do you desire?”

“To protect everyone I care about, anyone that needs it, to help them.”

“Mm, kind of basic and boring but-”

“And to reach the stars, to sail through them in the infinite night.” Danny blinked hard and shook himself off. “That’s not cool, sir.”

“Dual Obsession?” The Devil said, easily ignoring Danny’s complaint. “Not very common; befitting for a King. So what you want to do is help. You can do it being King of Hell!”

“That doesn’t sound likely.” Danny’s response only made his boss’s smirk return, and then the Devil really began his sales pitch.

How, if Danny became the new King of Hell, he could totally help redeem the souls of the damned, and since he was already King of the Ghost Zone, he could take the damned souls of the innocent there if Heaven refused to open the Gates for them, wankers that they were.

“What do you mean innocent souls in Hell?”

That only made the Devil lean in cheerily, “Oh?” He asked. “Haven’t you heard?”

Sold souls, of course. From people who sold their soul to delay their loved one’s death, to wronged firstborns whose parents wanted power no matter the cost. All of them, in Hell.

“That’s not fair.” Danny said with clenched fists.

“Well, it’s not like I have a neutral realm where runaway, wronged souls could take refuge in.” Mister Morningstar said, knowing he had the young adult hooked.

“I-” Danny tried to speak, but felt his core thrumming writhing him. He wanted to help. “I will… consult it, first, it’s- it’s too much.”

His boss nodded sagely, and once again looked him in the eye. “I will extend your insurance to your family and include dental.”

Danny would still consult it with Clockwork and his friends, but he knew he was sold.

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #ectoberhaunt23 #day nine #dragon #ghostly-scrypts #cross posted on ao3 #CrossOver #Danny Phantom CrossOver #Lucifer (TV) #Lucifer Morningstar #surprise crossover #Ghost King Danny

[alex-penumbra]

DannyMay 2017, Day Six

“Ghost/Human"

Ao3 FFN

IS NOT MIDNIGHT YET, I'M STILL IN TIME.

- - -

Since Jazz had memory, her parents yad taught her and her little brother Danny about ghosts, what was their physical constitution, their general shape, general after-life-spam, etc.

But what was a ghost itself? “An odd manifestation of ectoplasm over a conscience post-mortem" often said her mother.

So, that meant ghosts were people, but dead and ectoplasmic? “Not at all. Ghosts are just a thought, an idea, the last electric waves in a human brain that somehow gets in contact with ectoplasm, which ‘reactivates' some of the biological process of the corpse; but the person and what made them themselves is already gone."

Then again, can't a ghost be a ‘good' or ‘positive' electric wave of a nice, considerate human brain that somehow got in contact with ectoplasm? Like a... good ghost? “Jazzy-pants, all ghosts are evil, that's a fact."

“But how can you be so sure? I mean... what if ectoplams gets in contact with the conscience post-mortem of a GOOD PERSON? Wouldn't the ghost be a good ghost then?"

Jack Fenton narrowenld his eyes at his daughter and stopped cleaning his bazooka. “Madds, why did we discard Jazz being a ghost, again?" He whispered to his wife, eyeing Jazz suspiciously.

“Ugh! Nevermind!" And with an angry sigh, she stormed out of the kitchen.

Of course not all ghosts were evil. That was absurd. Her parents needed to know, to understand, that ghosts could also be sweet, and good, brave and caring, they could be funny and awkward and misunderstood. A ghost could be a good boy. A ghost could be her little brother.

#dannymay daily #danny phantom #day six #ghost/human #ghost #jazz fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #danny fenton #ghostly-scrypts #wrong blog #DannyMay 2017 #dannymay

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Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Ten

"Occultism"

Ao3

DPxDC. Crack drabble.

- -

“I’m not gonna buy your soul, man! What the heck?”

Constantine pulled a face at the kid-looking royal who floated in front of him.

“Oh, come on, mate! It’s not like I will use it once I kick the bucket.” With all the other deals he had made, John wouldn’t be doing much of anything once his time came.

The Ghost King blinked his toxic green eyes incredulously. “Dude, your soul is you. You can’t just- sell yourself!”

John huffed out an annoyed breath. “What about a loan, then?”

The Ghost King easily broke the summoning circle, and flew away.

#Danny Phantom #DPxDC #John Constantine #ectoberhaunt23 #day ten #occultism #ghostly-scrypts #drabble #crack #ghost king danny #ghost king au

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Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Twenty-one

"Isekai: Past Prompt: Ectoberhaunt 2021. Day Two: Laugh"

Ao3

DPxDC. Inspired by this post.

- - -

Batman observed as his children interacted with… Danny, who was and wasn’t his son at the same time.

A clone created from his and Joker’s DNA, he and his sister Jazz –created from Diana and Cheetah’s DNA– were meant to have their growth accelerated and be programmed to take down their heroic progenitors ‘if necessary’, but the Fentons –their parents–, once they saw the children they had engineered wouldn’t be allowed childhoods, lives of their own, or even personhoods, had taken the children, blown up the lab and all the research and samples there were, and had ran away to an untraceable city, where they grew up as quasi-normal children.

Neither of them had even the slightest intention of leaving their parents.

“… and I naturally say ‘how about a little gratitude for your dashing rescuer?’, you know, ‘cause I deserve it!”

Red Robin muttered a curse and tried to shove at Red Hood, and that bickering was what final made the siblings burst into laughter, loud and young… and frenzied, mocking, and never ending.

Batman’s son froze in their struggle, staring at Danny with apprehension.

It wasn’t long before him and Jasmine noticed, and quieted their laughter. “Is something wrong?” Jasmine asked.

It was Jason who spoke up first. Jason who was the one that had gotten attached first and more deeply.

“Danny, your laughter is just like Joker’s and it’s pretty disturbing.”

Danny looked surprised for a second, but then groaned and buried his face in his hands. Jasmine sighed and rubbed her forehead.

“Of course it is.” She said.

“It’s not really a big deal.” Tim began, looking at Danny with worry. “It just surprised us, we’ll get over it.”

“I’m supposed to already have under control!” Danny bemoaned. “I’ve practiced!” He turned to his sister for comfort. “How much have I been slipping?”

“Barely! Just this time. Your smiles are good.”

At his sister’s words, Danny smiled at the other boys; a small, hesitant thing that might have fooled people that weren’t detectives.

“The autism, on the other hand, you got from Batman.” Red Robin said, and took a sip from his coffee.”

The siblings turned to look at him, clearly curious, and Batman gave them a neutral stare. He didn’t conceal his fidgeting die.

Danny smiled, and their conversation resumed.

#Danny Phantom #DPxDC #Danny Fenton #Batman #ghostly-scrypts #ectoberhaunt23 #ectoberhaunt 2021 #day two #day twenty-one #Red Hood #Jazz Fenton

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DannyMay 2023. Day Thirty-one

"Free Day"

Ao3

Warning: (Continued) captivity. Puking.

- - -

When Jason was kidnapped by the Ghost King, less than twenty-four hours ago, he didn't think he would be sleeping for a while, but maybe the stress of the kidnapping and the subsequent thrashing of Danny's —his jail-mate, it seemed— room (with Danny's enthusiastic permission and encouragement) had left him drained enough for him to doze off briefly —or maybe dissociate, which would be understandable—, and he came to himself still sitting in Danny's sofa, whilst his jail-mate sat on his bed —out of arms reach—, hands on his knees and gazing at nothing.

Jason groaned, rubbing at his eyes through his domino mask.

"Good. You're awake."

Red Hood looked sharply back at Danny, who was now looking at him with the trace of an awkward smile on his face, when just seconds ago he had looked, well, dead.

"Are you- hungry? Do you need anything? Other than freedom, that is, can't give ya something I don't have myself."

Jason snorted despite himself, and that got him a more genuine, if still small, smile from his jailmate. He stood up and wobbled on his feet, taking a hand to his head and cursing softly at the sudden dizziness. "Shit."

"You okay, man? How are ya feeling?" Danny asked him, coming warily closer.

Jason ignored him and sprinted to the door that he had deduced led to the bathroom, and soon enough he was kneeling next to the toilet, barfing his guts out with an intense, burning acidic feeling going up his throat.

"What the fuck is that?" He asked in between heaving, ragged breaths.

Whatever the fuck had been inside him was a dark green mottled with red spots of blood and smelled of decay and rot.

"Ugh; not good, is what it is." Danny, who had been hovering a couple of steps away, said. "Is that all of it, or is there more?" He asked.

Jason was about to snap that he was fine, mind your own business very much, but his words caught in his throat, and a determined expression set itself in Danny's face.

He flushed the toilet, and knelt behind Jason, placing both hands on his shoulder-blades, sending a pulse of cool energy and something else to him, and said, his voice even, "Get it all out, don't hold a thing back. I got you."

And with that little push, Jason resumed throwing up, getting rid of that putrid ooze, with Danny's hands a balm that spread to the- to the very core of him, making it bearable.

Once he finished and Jason was back in his jail-mate's couch, taking hard, open-mouthed breaths and with said jail-mate pressing a cold glass of water on him, he managed to croak again, "What the fuck was that?"

Danny put the glass in Jason's hands and made sure he wouldn't drop it before he answered, "For the looks of it, rotten ectoplasm."

"... what?"

"Think of running water, if water had life-preserving, life-giving, and resurrecting properties," Jason's eyes widened in recognition, and with Danny looking at him, he must have seen it even with his domino on, "now imagine it going stagnant for, how long?"

"... centuries." Jason answered.

Danny made a face at that and recoiled. "Crude." He said. "How long…?" He asked again, and once again, Jason knew what he meant.

First, though, he emptied his glass of water, feeling the cold liquid sooth at his sore throat. "I was fifteen back then, so, four years."

Danny whistled low. "Dude, that's like- that's just- damn! How did you survive that long with that clogged in your system?"

"With unpredictable, uncontrollable bursts of blinding green rage, of course." Red Hood snorted with annoyance.

"That's… one way your body may have tried to get rid of it…"

"Dude, what are you going on about?" Jason asked now.

"Look, man, I'm really no expert, I'm not a doctor of any kind, but my parents are, and I've been around the Zone for four years now, so I know a wee bit about us halfas and-"

"What's a halfa?"

"... sorry, what?"

"Halfa. The other guy said it too, when we summoned him. What is a halfa?" Jason said it clearly, looking Danny in the eye.

Danny opened and closed his mouth once, twice, only to end up groaning in distress and holding his head in his hand.

"Four years without clean ectoplasm, it tracks, it tracks." He said, obviously to himself. Red Hood's jail-mate breathed in deeply and looked back up at Jason. "Okay, we're gonna start from the beginning, but I need you not to flip out, yeah?"

Nodding, Jason sat up, "Lay it on me." He said, determined.

And so, Danny did.

… later, if Danny was upset that his room now sported a fist-shaped dent, he didn't show it.

#Danny Phantom #DPxDC #DannyMay 2023 #DannyMay2023 #dannymay #day thirty-one #free day #Jason Todd #Danny Fenton #Halfa Jason Todd #Ghost King Vlad Masters #ghostly-scrypts #lmao half a month late but here it is #captivity #puking

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DPxDC Week 2023

13: John Constantine/Found Family/Oops

Ao3

To say that Sam was pissed was an understatement, and she let it be known with the intense glare she had Constantine pinned under.

She and her two friends sitting beside her were thrumming with different types of spirit magic, all of them speaking of age and power enough to keep him from shoving his foot into his mouth. For now.

“You sold me to a fucking Ancient.” His daughter said venomously, and John grimaced.

“In my defence, you weren’t even supposed to be born, darling.”

“John!” Zatanna scolded him, backhanding his arm whilst the teens on the other side of the table erupted into chaos with several choice words for him.

“Oi, oi, calm down!” He said firmly, and the kids quieted, though they still looked at him with anger. “Look, Sam,” and it was still bloody weird to be calling her by her name, personal and distant at the same time. She had his eyes’ shape, “I’m sorry for having made that contract and that you had to deal with that, but I needed that favour, and I can guarantee you it’s the only deal where I sold my kid on, no one else after-” he stopped himself and rephrased that, “no one else has any claim to your soul.” Then he realized what kind of beings she surrounded herself with, and added, “From me, at least, I don’t know what you three get up to on your free time.”

“Constantine!” Zatanna cried in indignation.

“Want us to kick his ass?” The (most likely a demigod) asked, while the ghost boy cracked his knuckles, his eyes flaring green.

His daughter, red in the face, looked at him in the eyes, with her fists clenched, and said, “Yes.”

#Danny Phantom #DC Comics #DPxDC #dpxdc week 2023 #John Constantine #Sam Manson #Found Family #Oops #ghostly-scrypts

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DPxDC Week 2023

Dan Phantom/Ghost King AU/Lightning

Ao3

Kid Flash sided to a halt, lightning dancing about his frame, and looked up at the young King that had flinched back from the electricity, but was slowly approaching him again.

“You ok, Kid Flash?” He asked Wally, still eyeing warily the sparks fizzling out.

Wally opened his mouth, tried to speak, but closed it again. Even as he stared at his friend, another image over imposed itself in his mind’s eye, of another version of said friend, of another Phantom, this one with a cruel, twisted grin and fiery hair rather than a fiery crown, blood red eyes and blue-ish skin, wreaking havoc and destruction on his wake.

“I’m…” Wally closed his eyes, trying hard to separate the two Phantoms in his mind. “I need a moment.”

#Danny Phantom #DC Comics #DPxDC #dpxdc week 2023 #Dan Phantom #ghost king au #ghost king danny #lightning #Kid Flash #Wally West #ghostly-scrypts

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DPxDC Week 2023

19: Clockwork/Accidental Baby Acquisition/Misunderstandings

Ao3

yeah i forgot to post this here lol

Me, earlier in EctoberHaunt: I mean,, it's not really a DC Crossover? It's with Lucifer (TV) and that comes from the comic which comes from the Sandman which is kinda in the DC Universe... but that's a bit of a stretch to me, so I won't tag it as DPxDC.

Me, now: LOOK AT THIS SANDMAN (WHICH IS FROM DC, BTW) CROSSOVER, WHICH TOTALLY QUALIFIES EVEN IF NONE OF THE MAIN DC CHARACTERS ARE PRESENT!

Also spoilers for The Sandman.

- - -

“This is perhaps, the most important thing I will ever ask of you.” Clockwork said with a serious face unlike his usual one, where it just reflected his demeanour, but instead showed genuine concern the likes of which the so-called uncaring Master of Time never showed.

And with no hesitation, Danny had accepted the task.

“Get the baby away from the chaos duo, and take him back to his mom…” Danny looked at the baby in his arms, babbling happily whilst patting Phantom’s logo. “Now who exactly is your mom, buddy? And why are you guys so important that even gramps is having me interfere?”

“Baahh!”

“Not saying that you have to be relevant or something to deserve help! I’m just wondering if you’ll be some kind of superhero too! You may even save the world rather than destroy it.”

Seeing Danny’s saddened expression, the baby made an unhappy sound and tapped at his chest again, making the boy smile.

“You’re allowed to kick my butt if I ever grow to be Dan again.”

“Dah!”

“I think we’re around the same age, actually, so it won’t be just some kid kicking my ass.”

“Aass!”

“Oops.” Danny shifted his arms to more securely hold the baby and started floating just a couple of metres off the ground. “Now off to find your mom, future Daniel-defeater.”

“Dan-eel!” The baby cuddled up to him, and Danny felt the blond curls ticklke under his chin.

Invisible and in the air, Phantom looked for a distressed woman similar to the baby in his arms before she made a big mistake, even if he didn’t know about it.

-

Back in his Tower, Time watched as Daniel Fenton carried Daniel Hall to safety and stopped Lyta Hall from bringing doom upon the Dreaming.

He looked away, towards his grandson’s head as he sang his sorrowful song in the face of unending life. Clockwork still had work to do, and having no way to kill himself nor a ready successor wouldn’t simply make his son develop lust for life, but it would stall him, and one more second alive was infinite hope that Dream would choose change, and that was all a father could hope for.

#Danny Phantom #DC Comics #DPxDC #dpxdc week 2023 #Danny Fenton #The Sandman #Clockwork #accidental baby acquisition #misunderstandings #Time #Daniel Hall #ghostly-scrypts

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Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Three

"Black Cat"

Ao3

“Is this yours?” Danny held the kitten by the scruff of its neck, ignoring the pathetic little mewls the feline made.

“I have never seen this thing in my life, officer.” Jhonny, who currently didn’t cast a shadow in spite of the sun hitting his back, said.

Danny placed Shadow the cat, claws extended, in Jhonny’s face.

“Get the fuck out of my city, dumbass.”

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Jhonny 13 #Shadow #ectoberhaunt23 #ghostly-scrypts #black cat

[ghostly-penumbra]

DPxDC Week 2023

17: Jason Todd/Soulmate AU/Funerary Rites

Ao3

Warning: Referenced character death.

- - -

Jason trailed along after Danny, feeling through their bond the core held in his soulmate’s bare hands still pulsing waves of coldness.

More present through the bond, was Danny’s sorrow.

Jason hadn’t been asked to come, hadn’t been required to be here. Danny had been the one Frostbite had chosen as the messenger, and it was usual that they did the trek alone, but as his Soulmate, it wasn’t prohibited for Jason to tag along.

After seven days of walking, with the Zone reshaping itself to allow them an uninterrupted path, the pair of halfas reached the very end of the Ghost Zone.

There, Death sat beneath a tree, its leaves rustling with no wind.

“Hi, boys.” She said, tipping her black top hat at them. “Fancy seeing you here.”

That managed to put a small smile in Danny’s face, and Jason was grateful for that. Still, though, he felt his other half wasn’t ready for cheeky answers, so he did it for him.

“Oh, you know us, can’t go too long without swinging by to see ya.”

The Endless smirked at that, but finally looked back at Danny with gentle, gentle eyes.

“Ready?” She asked.

A courtesy of a few seconds. Frostbite had made his choice, and decided it was his time to go and they would both respect that, even if it hurt.

Danny held the core out to her, and Death took it in her hands with care.

“Take him somewhere nice.” Danny pleaded, voice small.

“That’s for him to find out.” She told him in a kind tone that nonetheless left no room for arguments, and then, without another word, Death left.

#Danny Phantom #DC Comics #DPxDC #dpxdc week 2023 #ghostly-scrypts #Danny Fenton #Jason Todd #Soulmate AU #funerary rites #Death of the Endless #The Sandman #platonic soulmates #but can be read as romantic

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Ectoberhaunt/Ectober Week 2023. Day Thirty

"Ecto-Acne"

Ao3

DPxDC. Ecto-acne is described in a not nice way.

- - -

Batman’s fist connected with the thug’s jaw, and two teeth flew out before the man fell unconscious to the floor.

“Father…” Robin hissed at him, but he ignored the boy.

He threw the next thug against a wall and cracked the ribs of another one, but when he turned around for the next foe his youngest had already knocked them out.

“You need to control yourself.” His son told him ruthlessly. “You will not find the cure to Red Hood’s illness in their cracked skulls.”

Batman growled in frustration, but he knew Robin was right.

Jason’s condition had not worsened, but neither had it improved. He lay in a sterilized medical room, too weak to stand, covered in boils a Lazarus shade of green.

He had nightmares constantly, and what Bruce suspected were flashbacks to his death and to his resurrection, and these always had him scream himself awake with the boils shining a toxic, putrid green.

The word amongst the heroic community was out, and it was well known that Batman was willing to pay a good fortune to whoever managed to cure his criminal son after Zatanna and Constantine’s failed attempts.

Tim had scourged what he could still access from the League of Shadows’ archives and resources, given they had the most knowledge on the Lazarus Pits and it water, and whilst a record of a similar infection existed, it didn’t speak of a cure.

So, as they tried to create one of their own from scratch, they waited on someone, anyone, to shed some light into the matter.

#Danny Phantom #DPxDC #ectoberhaunt23 #ectober week 2023 #day thirty #ecto-acne #ghostly-scrypts #Batman #Jason Peter Todd

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Ectoberhaunt/Ectober Week 2023. Day Twenty-seven

"Circus Gothica"

Ao3

DPxDC.

- - -

Danny sat opposite Robin as the Boy Wonder processed the night’s events. His fists were clenched tight, his gaze lowered to the jet’s metallic floor.

Once he was ready to talk, he asked, “How is he controlling them?”

Grimacing, Phantom answered, “The last time he did it, he had a staff. It had this crystal ball,” he gestured, making a sphere with his hands, “it was filled with red mist and was very bright when he gave us orders.”

“How did you break out?”

Even through the domino mask, Danny could feel the intensity of his teammate’s stare.

“My friend’s begging me snapped me out of it while she plummeted to her death after I pushed her.” Danny’s tone as flat. The memory of Sam’s anguished pleas to him to come back to his senses still featured in his nightmares. “Her appealing to my non-ghostly side managed to drag me out of the fog.”

“Then my parents-”

“To break the others out, we broke the sphere.” Danny told him before the Boy Wonder fell to despair. “If he got another- version of it, he has to keep it on himself.”

“Then we’ll have to get close.” Said Robin with renewed determination. “Phantom, you-”

“I’m benched. Danny closed his eyes and laid back in his seat. “I know, I get it. I don’t… want a repeat either. But I’ll help, and we will get your parents out.”

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Dick Grayson #Robin #DPxDC #ectober week 2023 #ectoberhaunt23 #day twenty-seven #circus gothica #ghostly-scrypts

[ghostly-penumbra]

DPxDC Week 2023

15: Tim Drake/Eldritch Danny/Teeth

Ao3

Warning: Brief teeth-adjacent body horror.

- - -

Robin’s head started pounding and he looked at his teammate out of the corner of his eye.

Phantom was struggling, holding back the inhuman changes his body wanted given the situation at hand.

Another sharp, cutting remark from Plasmius, and Phantom snarled, showing rows upon rows sharp fangs where teeth should and should not be.

Danny closed his mouth with a click, and Tim’s headache was gone.

Robin would have to inform Batman of this development, he knew, but before that, once this mission was over, he would talk to his friend about it.

He owed the boy as much.

#Danny Phantom #DC Comics #dpxdc week 2023 #ghostly-scrypts #Danny Fenton #Tim Drake #teeth #eldritch danny #body horror #DPxDC #drabble

[ghostly-penumbra]

DannyMay 2023. Day Twenty-seven

“Rings”

Ao3

Summary: Danny and Death talk, in a mostly official capacity.

Danny swung his legs back and forth, restless as he sat on the railing o his balcony in Pariah’s- his castle, Danny’s, the King’s.

Clockwork had told him he would meet someone here, and that he better be dressed the part of the King. He had said it with a smile, though, and eased Danny’s worry.

But since he couldn’t just be mysterious and also had to be cryptic, he had then said it was someone Danny had already met, twice.

Prodding and asking got him nowhere after that so Danny dropped it and got ready, wearing his galaxy-print cape (with accurate, moving stars!), the Ring of Rage in hand and the Crown o Fire resting atop his head, its flames licking the air with a constant, soothing crackling.

“Hey, you waited for me!”

Danny turned around and had to blink to clear his eyes, because for a second he thought Sam was here but- no, this wasn’t Sam at all.

“Usually it’s the other way around.” Said the- girl? Woman? Said the goth, because that she was, wearing an all-black outfit from combat boots to top hat and umbrella (maybe it was raining where she had been?), along with what Danny was sure was an Egyptian symbol on her left eye and another that she wore in a collar hanging on her chest.

“Oh, uh, hi. You are- the person Clockwork told me about?” Danny said, and couldn’t help but make it a question at the end.

“Yes, Danny, that’s me.” She said simply, and didn’t elaborate only smiled at him some more.

Danny looked at her for a few more, awkward seconds, and then-

“Ah.” He gaped at her as recognition swept through him. A steady, unmoving presence, a soothing, kind voice that calmed him down even as he was torn apart, a hand taking his, ready to welcome him, except-

Except.

“Hey…” He greeted her anew.

“Hey.” Death answered.

-

“Uh, so… I don’t mean to be rude or anything,” Danny started after a bit of small talk. Death had joined him in the railing, picking a purple flower and adorning her hair with it, “but, well Clockwork told me to ‘dress the part’ as King, so I don’t think this is just a social visit, right?”

Death chuckled at him, “You’re right, dad didn’t just call us here to become friends, even if it’s nice to see you again.”

“Your dad called? But it was Clockw- gramps is a father?!” Danny exclaimed, shocked into using the nickname –the title, really– that he reserved for the privacy of his mind and Clockwork’s lair. “But that means-” His eyes widened like saucer and he felt his jaw drop in horror.

“I see you have connected the dots.” Death said, clearly amused.

“I didn’t connect shit!” Danny hurried to say, mortified and blushing a vibrant green. “In fact! I am autistic, which, in case you don’t know, is a learning disability which makes it entirely possible for me to not have figured anything out about my grandpa that could potentially change the way I see him- stop laughing!”

What had started as repressed giggles had turned into joyful cackles and Death’s smile split her face in half.

“We have business to attend! Royal duty! Formal stuff!”

“Sorry, sorry! It’s just-” Death put a hand on her mouth and calmed herself down with effort. “But you’re right, we should get back in track. Can you show me your ring?”

The change in topic, though appreciated, was so sudden that Danny could only obey bringing his left hand up and staring at the red, angry skull sitting on his finger.

“Do you know the history of this ring, Phantom?” She asked, taking his hand in both of hers.

“Not really, no.” The halfa admitted. “Grandpa- I mean, Clockwork has taught me some stuff, but there’s, like, a lot of stuff he says he still has to teach me.”

“Does he now?” Death said in a tone Danny couldn’t decipher, but when he turned to look at her, she had gotten her amicable expression back in place. “Your ring is a gift.” She finally started. “It used to be mine, one of my tools of office, actually, made to command straggling ghosts that wanted to find their way, and help them move on.

“I gave it to the first Ruler of the Ghost Zone, to officially turn that tear in between realities where souls sought refuge into a proper Afterlife, and end the war between pantheons that wanted it for themselves.”

Danny was paying rapt attention, leaning in closer to Death like a moth to a flame. He had never heard of this; Clockwork had not only been teaching Danny about history, but had sent him on adventures missions across time to gain experience he wouldn’t get in Amity Park, and grandpa was like, very old, so he knew a lot of history and had been there for all of it, so Danny wasn’t surprised he hadn’t been told about this yet; did Pandora know about this, though? Had her pantheon been one of those at war? How long ago had this been? If so, how or why was she here?

Unfortunately, Death didn’t seem about to enter into many details.

“With it, ghosts were allowed to rule over themselves as they saw fit, with no god to oversee them, and the war was over.”

Yeah, he would have to ask grandpa about this.

“That’s… cool. Um, thanks! Really…” Danny stuttered, placing a hand on his nape. “Ah, so…” He didn’t know what she was getting at. “Do you… want it back?” He asked, unsure.

“No, Danny, it’s a gift and it’s now yours.” Death smiled at him kindly. “I’m here to help you with it, actually. May I?”

Nervously, Danny nodded, and Death lifted his hand with hers, and touched the Ring of Rage; Danny saw the skull glow blood red the moment she did, enveloping their joined hands in its eerie light.

“Pariah Dark corrupted it, not long after he took the throne.” Death kept explaining. “Rather than motivate and lead the ghosts, he wanted to control them, bind them to his will.

“That wasn’t the ring’s purpose, I didn’t give it that purpose, so Pariah couldn’t completely overpower it, and instead he let it be a- transmitter for his rage, to make it be felt, to frighten other ghosts into obeying. You have felt it, haven’t you?”

Danny thought of the first time he had put on the Ring, of the furious growl that had reverberated through his head his bones, his core, pushing, demanding something it couldn’t word, its name just out of reach.

Although it wasn’t lie Danny had tried to help it reach out, either. And he now suspected where it had tried to reach.

 A sealed sarcophagus.

“It’s annoying.” He said bluntly. “It’s bothersome and insistent and I already said no, but it keeps on pushing and, honestly, I have been seconds away from chunking it into the sun.”

Death chuckled softly and, finally, covered his hand in both of hers. “That’s what I’m here for.” She clutched at his hands in a tither –yet painless– grip, and the light that filtered through their fingers slowly dimmed out and died.

When she opened her hands again, in Danny’s finger rested an obsidian-black gem with only one reflective face that showed Danny’s own.

Through its serene silence, Danny could feel all the denizens of the Zone, ready and waiting to be rallied around a common cause.

- - -

lmao this is funny to me because the "Clocwork is Father Time (of the Endless)" is a thing I've talekd about in the dp server, but only recently did i board the headcanon "he is an awful father, but an amazing grandfather", which is the characterization i've given him here

he loves his adopted grandson so much that he'll deal with his annoying children for him! asdfghjjklñ that's so awful!

i'll be posting this separate once i finish the event

#DannyMay 2023 #DannyMay2023 #dannymay #Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Ghost King Danny #ghost king au #ghostly-scrypts #Death of the Endless #The Sandman #day twenty-seven #rings #CrossOver

[ghostly-penumbra]

Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Twelve

"Obsession/Repression"

Ao3

Warning: Implied/referenced death.

- - -

The people around him screamed, running with no real destination other than far, far away, but Danny didn’t move.

His hands shook, his knuckles white with how hard his fists were closed. Sweat ran down his forehead from the stress.

He did his best to keep his eyes open, but then a kid stumbled, letting go of his mother’s hand, whilst she was ruthlessly swept away by the crowd, and he couldn’t help but scream out, “That’s enough!”

He collapsed to his knees, heaving in deep, ragged breaths, and felt Clockwork wrap him with his cloak.

“It’s okay, Danny, you did good. That was a long time ago, not your fault nor your responsibility.” The Master of Time reassured him.

“They are all dead.” The boy choked out. “And I didn’t help them.”

“Everybody dies and you will not change that.” Clockwork told him firmly but not unkind. “And if you had tried to help them, I wouldn’t have let you.”

Danny ought to remember that; the world was not under his control and he didn’t want it to be.

He had to hold back on his protective urges, develop some restraint, otherwise someone cunning could manipulate him through it, again.

And for that, he needed to practice.

- - -

This is inspired by another fic, I think it was one of @/five-rivers'? I couldn't find it tho, and it's been a while since I read it.

#Danny Phantom #ectoberhaunt23 #Danny Fenton #Clockwork #death tw #ghostly-scrypts #day twelve #obsession #repression

[ghostly-penumbra]

Ectoberhaunt 2023. Day Eleven

"Dread"

Ao3

Fenton was looking down at Dash with open disdain, and the intensity of that stare in the nerd’s face was chilling.

“What did you see?” The geek asked coolly.

“I-” Dash gulped, and felt his back hit the wall behind him. “I didn’t see anything.”

Fenton looked him in the eye, and Dash was seized by a consuming sense of terror. He felt like he was looking at his very own reaper and an animalistic part of his brain was screaming at him to run away as fast as you can now!, but at the same time all he could think was don’t fucking move, if you move an inch it’s over, don’t you fucking dare move.

“I don’t believe you.”

With these words, Dash felt like he was being sentenced.

“So here’s what we’re gonna do.” Fenton continued, uncaring that Dash was now shaking from head to toe. “You are going to keep your trap shut, not say shit, and I’ll pretend this never happened.” The being that once was his wimpy classmate said.

It wasn’t even really a threat, there was no ‘or else’, Fenton was just stating a cold, brutal fact of life: Dash would keep quiet.

After a long moment of terrified silence, Fenton spoke again.

“I’m glad we agree, Baxter. I’ll see you later.”

#Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Dash Baxter #ectoberhaunt23 #day eleven #dread #ghostly-scrypts