#guess how many know after Danny fills Frostbite in?

[mutable-manifestation]

Actual Scientists Jack & Maddie AU Part 3

Part 1 & 2

***

The lab is empty when they get to Fenton Works, his parents busy off helping the JLD wherever it was they were working from.

The journey the rest of the way to the Far Frozen passes relatively quickly under the weight of discussing how to reverse engineer the sarcophagus of forever sleep to make Naptime Box 2: Vlad Edition.

Could they probably just beat him up with the right plan and aid? Sure. But then they risk having to play royal hot potato (Danny doesn't want it and he doubts most of the allies he has would want the extra responsibility. Assuming there are responsibilities - Danny wouldn't know since there hasn't been a king, for all intents and purposes, since well before he became a halfa so who knows what the position even means in the context of the Zone).

Plus it would be way more satisfying to shove him in a box. Vlad gets a nice long nap and Danny gets to live the rest of his half-life without worrying about his Dad getting stabbed or something if Vlad starts feeling impatient.

It would also give Danny plenty of time to find some way to buy the Packers - not because he wants them, just because it would be really funny if Vlad eventually woke up to find that the only thing he wanted other than Maddie was now also very permanently out of reach.

The city of Green Bay could fold eventually, after all. But Danny? Danny would never yield, just to spite him, and Vlad would know that.

He probably won't actually do it, seeing as a) expensive and b) probably complicated.

But it would be really funny.

Their discussion on the ethics of using the Fenton Stockades as the base for the Box cut off as they land.

Without the distraction of their chat the adrenaline of panic comes rushing back, and he transforms as he steps out of the Speeder, nyooming to hover in front of Frostbite so quickly that the entire welcoming party - Frostbite somehow manages to have one arranged every time he drops by, and Danny is usually willing to at least try and indulge them since it seems to make them happy - jolts in surprise.

"Greetings!" Frostbite smiles wide, arms open in a grand welcoming, the only hint of lingering surprise the trails of slightly puffed up fur up his arms and the sides of his neck that has already mostly smoothed itself back out. "The Far Frozen welcomes the Great One and friends-"

"Hey Frostbite sorry for being abrupt but I'm kind of freaking out and you seemed like the best person - uh, ghost to go to because you always seem to know lots of things and I kind of need to know what's going on as soon as possible just in case it's a worst case scenario because the Justice League came to talk to my parents about some papers and I probably haven't mentioned them to you before because they're awful and I thought my parents made them but surprise I was wrong! Which is good! Except the League was mostly worried about them maybe causing the new ghost king to war with the human realm because apparently there's a supernatural branch of the Justice League and they think there's a new Ghost KingTM as in the Ghost King after Pariah Dark and I'm kind of freaking out because if there is a new ghost king there's actually a chance it's Vlad and oh ancients please tell me it's not Vlad or that the League heard wrong please."

Sam and Tucker had caught up by then, coming to stand on either side of him as Frostbite blinked.

"You are...asking me the identity of the current High King?" He asks, face scrunched in a bewildered expression.

"Oh my gosh Batman was right!?" He floats a bit higher at the news. "Please just tell me it's not Vlad! Uh, Plasmius."

"Plasmius?" Frostbite asks, eyebrows crawling higher. "Certainly not! What in the realms - do you truly not know?"

"Oh thank goodness," Danny sighs, sinking back to his usual level. "Not Vlad, okay, one less disastrous possibility. And whoever it is probably already knows they're the king and nothing bad has happened yet so it's probably fine, right?"

He looks back to meet Frostbite's eyes.

"Wait, nothing bad has happened yet, right? Like, is everything okay? I know Pariah caused you guys a lot of grief before; the new guy 's not going around causing trouble for you and you just haven't told me because you're worried about being a bother, right?" He frets, eyes flicking about, searching for fresh injuries on the various members of the welcoming party.

"...No, Great One," Frostbite answers, blinking away the surprised expression to be replaced by something soft. "Though I, and all the Far Frozen, are honored by your concern. While Pariah Dark is no longer the High King of the Infinite Realms, I can assure you, with utmost certainty, that you have nothing to fear from his successor. But I believe we have much more to discuss. Come, let us find somewhere more comfortable to talk - and get your human friends out of the cold."

***

It didn't take them long to reach a sitting room, and soon enough they were all settled into the enormous, fuzzy chairs in one of the warmer rooms available, Danny and Frostbite each with a cup of shaved ice tea while Sam and Tucker were offered beverages warm enough to steam in deference to their need for warmth.

Once everyone had taken a sip - or bite - Danny launched back into his questioning.

"So did Dark have a kid hidden away somewhere or did some kind of council finally decide on his replacement? Actually can ghosts even have - wait right Box Lunch, forgot about that on purpose but never mind. Or is there some fourth option that isn't those or trial by combat that we didn't think of?"

"Before I answer that, Great One, may I ask why you have already discounted trial by combat?" He returns curiously.

"Because if it was trial by combat it would be Vlad - er, Plasmius - and you already said it isn't him."

"Or it could be you," Tucker ribs, waggling his fingers at him.

"We already talked about why it couldn't be me, Tuck," Danny huffs, rolling his eyes and taking another bite of his... smoothie?

"Oh? And why do you think it would be Plasmius?" Frostbite asks.

"Because! I may have fought Pariah Dark, and sure I put him back in the sarcophagus, but I was running on fumes by that point, and he was still slamming around in there! Vlad, as much as I hate to admit it, is the one that turned the key and made sure he stayed locked away. It took almost everything I had to keep him pinned long enough. If...if he'd been even a few seconds later I probably would've died the rest of the way before he even had the time to break out a second time."

"But had you not put him there, no key would have mattered," Frostbite begins quietly. "Plasmius was no match for Pariah Dark; he was defeated in an instant the first time they clashed."

"Well, yeah, but so was I," he protests, not liking the direction the conversation is beginning to take.

"And yet, you alone went to face him a second time. You alone stood against the King of All Ghosts while your armies clashed."

"Our-!? I didn't have- you mean the ghosts that came to help me???" Danny sputtered, incredulous. "They weren't an army they were just-"

He pauses, searching for words that would not come.

"They were just a large group of ghosts who sided with you, who aided you in combat and kept the multitudes distracted while you went to face their leader alone. However you thought of them at the time, whatever they were to you up till then or are to you now, after, in that moment they were your army."

"Danny's totally the ghost king, isn't he?" Sam drawls after the brief silence that follows.

"Indeed," Frostbite answers her, but he looks Danny in the eyes as he does so. "You are the savior of the Ghost Zone, Pariah's Bane. And you are the High King of the Infinite Realms."

"I cheated!" Danny blurts out, shooting up to float above his chair.

"Cheated?" Frostbite's lips twitch as he fights down a smile.

"I had the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton! That's totally cheating! Don't combat trials have to be honorable or something?!" He begs.

Frostbite chuckles.

"I apologize, Great One, but I am afraid there is no such thing as an honorable war," he says, expression briefly turning solemn. "And even if it were, just as you had your "Ecto-Skeleton," did not Pariah have his ring and crown?

You issued a challenge and he answered, your armies clashed while the two of you stood against each other and each other alone; you alone put him back into the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, and you alone held it shut long enough for Plasmius to turn the key.”

Danny drifts back down to his seat as Frostbite speaks, then continues slouching further with every word.

“I am given to understand that Plasmius likes to think of others as pawns on his own personal chessboard,” he says, “But at the time he was but another ghost, come to fight Pariah's army on your behalf - as a member of your army. A pawn, to paraphrase his own words, that you used to topple a king - not through any intentional manipulation, but through the sheer magnetic charisma of your willingness to stand against monsters like Pariah Dark and of your ability to do so. The confidence to stand alongside you that such strength inspires. 

He would not have approached if he did not believe you could win - would not risk endangering himself so. At best, you could consider him a referee, calling the match to a close once it was decisively in your favor.

Plasmius may think of existence as a game with himself as the only player, and he may have been acting in his own self-interest overall, but by every measure, in this instance, he was undeniably your piece.

The Zone itself acknowledges your right to rule by the way the crown of fire sits where you left it, unmoving on the floor of Pariah's keep until the day you finally choose to wear it, no matter how many hands may try to move it."

Frostbite's words are slow and measured, but as undeniable as the creeping of a glacier. And by the time they cease, Danny has sunk so far as to end up an undignified heap on the floor before his chair.

The trio remains silent as they absorb his words.

Minutes pass before Danny finally speaks.

"If the crown can't be taken, then how did I get it from Pariah?" He questions, a final hope that Frostbite may be mistaken.

"It will only remain unmoved until you first put it on. After that, it will be up to you whether it stays safe on your head."

Danny groans his despair, final bit of hope shattered.

"I must apologize again, Great One," he says solemnly. "Had I known you were unaware of your station, I would have informed you sooner."

He frowns heavily, looking into the distance thoughtfully.

"The Observants should have informed you long before now."

"Well, that explains it. The Observants hate Danny's guts," Tucker says.

"To neglect their duties for such a reason...," He trails off, his glower highlighting the inhuman nature of his visage. 

The trio fidget.

Danny coughs after a few seconds of tense silence.

“Uh, speaking of duties,” he begins, relaxing as Frostbite’s expression smooths back into something kind and polite as he listens, “What exactly does the Ghost King even do? Like. Pariah was locked away for… a long time? I guess. So does the Zone even need a King? Can’t I just, like, resign?”

“I suppose it might seem that way from a younger ghost’s perspective - Pariah has been locked away for millenia, after all, and the Zone is still in one piece.” 

Frostbite pauses, leaning back in his seat and taking another bite of his drink. 

“However. What you must understand, Great One, is that the problems caused by the absence of a king in the Infinite Realms are not the whirlwind that such a thing would be in the living realm - social order is affected, but the speed of bureaucracy is slower by orders of magnitude in the Realms, and there is not the same level of inter-reliance that the living tend to require - but rather, they are winds and waters sliding against a rock, chipping away at it bit by bit until it is either worn smooth… or the whole structure collapses under its own weight.”

“How does not having a king cause dimensional collapse!?” Tucker shrieks, clutching his cup like a lifeline.

“How long do we have before it collapses?” Sam asks urgently not a second later.

“Oh shit, how long do we have before it collapses???” he echoes, hunching over his cup enough that the steam adds a layer of fog to his glasses.

Danny sits bolt upright, whipping wide eyes away from his friends to join them in staring at Frostbite.

“Total collapse would take millenia more to truly begin,” he placates before taking a more grave expression. “This does not mean that there will not be issues before that point, however; the symptoms of the High King’s absence have begun to show this past millennium. But rest assured, there is time enough to heal the wounds that have been wrought. The only permanent damage would be the collapse itself, and that, as I said, is millenia away.”

“Is… is that why you never mentioned it to me before?” Danny asks, dropping back to the ground in relief. “Because it’s not urgent and you figured I’d just…get to it eventually? Actually, why did you think I knew if you knew that the crown was still in Pariah’s Keep?”

“It is the duty of the Observants to observe, but also, as you have experienced, to oversee - the timeline, trials, the general functioning of the zone. Without a king to report to, much of their ability to act is crippled, of course - their ability to interfere directly with the timeline has always been severely restricted, their options for sentencing are severely reduced, and there are some things the Realms require that only the High King can provide - but one duty remains unaffected: overseeing the ascension of new kings. 

Coronations have taken many forms in the past, from a quick swap in the battlefield to a formal ceremony to a celebration that lasted a decade. Given the dark era we are, at last, able to put behind us and the non-urgent nature of even the most severe problems that the Realms are currently affected by, I had assumed that the large delay was in preparation for that last form - the lead-up to a grand celebration.”

“Except instead it’s just them being petty,” Sam notes, sitting back up from her own relieved slouch. 

Danny groans, leaving his tea to float and covering his face with his hands.

“Why couldn’t it have just been as easy as shoving Vlad in a box,” he whines.

“I mean, we still can?” Tucker offers, prompting Sam to smack him over the head before pausing consideringly.

“OW!”

“He might be right, actually,” she says, ignoring his exclamation. “Given Vortex’s trial and sentencing, there’s clearly some kind of legal system in the Zone that isn’t just Walker on a power trip. No doubt he’s broken some kind of Actual Realms Law - I’d be surprised if breaking Pariah out like he did wasn’t some form of highly illegal - so you could probably send him to actual Ghost Jail. It’s certainly where he belongs, given all the….”

She makes a vague gesture with her hand in lieu of words.

“That doesn’t resolve the problem of I Don’t Wanna Be A King!” Danny exclaims, sitting back and throwing his hands in the air.

Then he turns to Frostbite, eyes pleading. 

“Can’t you be king?” he asks. 

Frostbite opens his mouth to reply, but Danny steamrolls over him.

“It makes sense! You already know how to lead people! And your people love you! You already know about all the king stuff too! You’ve beaten me in spars before! We’d just have to go to the keep, I put on the crown, you beat me, and problem solved!”

Frostbite’s smile is a mix of amused and pitying.

“I have only ever beaten you in training spars, Great One, and you and I both know that is largely because they were focused on improving your skill with ice and ice alone. Even if I could defeat you in a true all-out fight as you are, I believe you underestimate the boost granted by the crown of fire.”

“I can just put it on then take it off again before we fight! And we can stick to ice!”

“I’m afraid it is not so simple,” he shakes his head. “If you do not give it your all, the crown - the Realms - will not recognize the transition. The only way to “throw the match” successfully would require your opponent to fully End you: to crush your core and snuff your spirit from the very fabric of existence. I am unwilling to do such a thing, and I sincerely hope you would not ask it of me - or, indeed, of anyone.”

Danny paled enough that he nearly matched his human form in skin tone.

“Right. Let’s… let’s not do that, actually.”

“On the bright side, you can probably weasel ruling tips out of Aquaman in exchange for not declaring war on the Living Realm!” Tucker chirps, aiming to cheer him up.

“I’m not going to threaten the Justice League!” he yelps, scandalized.

“But you probably won’t have to threaten them,” Sam chimes in. “They’re already trying to summon you, you already know their goal is to avoid a war. As long as you don’t ask for anything unreasonable, they should be inclined to give you what you want in exchange for peace.”

“Once you offer peace, they will be invested in your successful rule of their own volition as a means of perpetuating said peace,” Frostbite corrects. “If you would like to set preconditions to an accord you should make them things that will not readily be given as a result of said accord. But before we discuss further, perhaps you can fill me in on why war was a concern in the first place? I believe you mentioned something about papers?”

#dpxdc #Actual Scientists Jack & Maddie AU #starring: Not Jack and Maddie lmao #Frostbite #the Trio #lots of dialogue #guess how many ghosts knew about the AEA before today #surprise it was just Danny and Vlad #the GIW were too incompetent to bother anyone except Amity Parkers #guess how many know after Danny fills Frostbite in? #surprise its a lot more #Danny: *harmless no longer useful information I can tell my buddy Frostbite bc it's no big since everything is being handled now* #Frostbite: ... #yeah Danny does the casual horrifying trauma dumps to ghosts too

[snackleggg]

City of splintering hopes: Chapter 1 "Frosty conversations"

~~~

Ao3

~~~

Frostbite quickly seemed to realise what he had said and stopped talking, immediately dropping his usually happy attitude. Danny was still processing what he had said.

"Hey Frosty?" Danny asked during one of his semi-regular visits to the Far Frozen.

"Yes Great One?" Frostbite replied as he finished up checking that Danny had fully recovered from a terrible case of the ghost flu he had caught a few days ago.

"You and the other Yetis seem to know alot about my hybrid physiology when I don't even know that. How come?" Danny asked. It was an innocent enough question. Jazz had pointed it out just before he left for his visit and he hadn't been able to shake it from his mind since.

"Well, of course!" Frostbite said with a boisterous laugh "You think you are the only Halfa to have ever allied with our tribe? We have always been friends to your kind Great One!" Frostbite said back with a carefree kind of happiness before he realized what he had just accidentally spilled.

Now they stood there in heavy silence as Danny processed the meaning behind Frostbite's words.

"Other Halfas!?" Danny all but screeched as he nearly fell from where he was sitting with the realisation of what Frostbite said.

Frostbite looked uncomfortable to say the least. He seemed to look around at anything but Danny as he replied "Y-Yes of course! You didn't think you and those two others were the only ones of your kind." Suddenly Frostbite looked Danny in the eye with concern "Did you Great One?"

Danny couldn't reply.

By the heavy look Frostbite was giving him it seemed like there was something deeper to this subject than he was realising. Danny just shook his head.

"Mmm no, the only other Halfas I've ever met were Dani and Vlad" Danny said matter-of-factly. By the look Frostbite was giving him it was obvious he was missing something, some unspoken fact that hung in the air just out of his reach.

Frostbite suddenly broke from his gaze as he huffed while looking to the side "That Plasmius should be ashamed of himself to even dare call himself a Halfa. He may be there biologically but none of his actions reflect on your people" Frostbite said with a tone of bitterness, a tone that was slightly sharper than the bitterness he usually talked with when talking about Vlad.

"Yeah, totally agree, 100% but back to the topic at hand I have a people!?" Danny's brain was trying to understand this new revelation. In a way it answered alot of questions that he had never really thought about. How were the ghosts able to tell he wasn't a full ghost. Why had Pointdexter known to call him a Halfa as if it was a common term. Why ghosts just didn't seem all that surprised about the existence of some weird hybrid. Of course Vlad could've had a part in that but Vlad was always too busy in his cheese castle plotting revenge to really interact with many ghosts outside of hiring them to do his dirty work.

But it also brought up a while slew of new questions. Where had these other Halfas come from? Definitely couldn't be another lab accident caused by his parents. Why wasn't there any information about the existence of ghost human hybrids on earth if there were enough Halfas around to be considered a people, a kind, not just an anomaly that repeated a few times but by the sounds of it some sort of society? And most importantly, where were they!? Danny had never ran into anyone like himself apart from Vlad and Dani.

He looked at Frostbite, trying to pick which question was the most important to ask first. It seemed Frostbite was blissfully unaware of his internal struggle as he just went on.

"Well yes Great One. The Halfas were a strong and prosperous people.... I suppose there isn't really a way for you to know that but I am surprised this is the first you are hearing about this" Frostbite said awkwardly.

Danny probably looked like a fish with how much he was opening and closing his mouth without a word coming out. Finally he managed to say something past his shock.

" 'were'?" Danny asked, his hopes at meeting someone like him suddenly beginning to die.

Frostbite just nodded, avoiding looking at him again as a sorrowful look came upon his face "Yes, Pariah Dark" Frostbite said the name like it was something foul and Danny was inclined to agree "wiped them all out when he sensed they would be a threat to his throne"

Danny almost snorted at that.

Pariah Dark sounded like a character in a tragedy or a myth in that context. In trying to stop Halfas from dethroning him he was indirectly responsible for a Halfa dethroning him. Okay maybe not responsible, Danny would've done it whether the race of people had still been around or not but still the irony was there. So was the karma.

Then he focused on the more depressing part of what Frostbite had said.

"Oh" so there really wasn't anyone else. He shouldn't have gotten his hopes up.

"But!" Frostbite said, a little bit of a cheer coming back to him "the ruins of their old city still stands! Maybe, if you are interested in knowing more, you could visit them? Of course everyone here in the Far Frozen would be more than happy to recount stories of other Halfas to you Great One but our knowledge is limited. Even with our friendship with them, they were always a secretive bunch" Frostbite explained.

Danny didn't really know what to think of the offer. It wouldn't be the same as actually talking to another Halfa but it would still be something, right?

"I'll... think about it" Danny said.

He had gone through too many revelations in too short a time span and he really just wanted to crawl into bed and take a nice long nap, which he could do since it was the weekend.

"Of course Great One. It is entirely up to you what you do" Frostbite said with a smile.

The rest of the visit seemed to fly by but the conversation he had with Frostbite was stuck at the back of his head. He kept on wondering about the other Halfas.

Were they nice? What kind of society did they have? Had they ever been to Earth or did they live exclusively in the Ghost Zone? Why were they as secretive as Frostbite said? Even to their own allies? Why had Pariah felt so threatened by them? Were they really that powerful? What will I find if I go to these ruins?

Even after he left to go back home the thoughts of a people just like him, a people long gone, lingered in his mind.

He was distracted.

He knew Frostbite and the other Yetis had noticed it even if they didn't comment on it but Jazz was alot more proactive about these sort of things. She noticed the far away look Danny had as they were eating dinner and afterwards pulled him off to the side as their parents went back down to work in the lab.

"What's up?" She asked.

"Nothing" Danny mumbled. He didn't know if Jazz would understand his dilemma. Sure he was born human but thinking about the possibility of other Halfas, even if he hadn't been born one, it made his core clench with a need to learn more, to find them

"It's obviously not nothing, you've been distracted ever since you came back from visiting the Far Frozen. What happened?" Jazz asked.

Danny couldn't meet her gaze. He didn't know how to fraze it, to tell her about all the spiraling thoughts in his head, the confusing feelings in his core.

"Danny" Jazz said seriously.

Finally Danny caved and told her about the conversation he had with Frostbite about other Halfas. He told her about his feelings and thoughts on the matter. It was like the dam that had been filling for the last few hours had broken and suddenly Danny was exasperated as he finished recounting everything.

"Other Halfas...." Jazz said thoughtfully.

Danny nodded. For some reason he felt guilty, he felt like he was betraying his family by trying to explore this part of himself.

Jazz, thank the ancients for the observation skills she definitely didn't get from their parents, noticed Danny's dip in mood and quickly went to comfort him.

"Hey, you shouldn't feel bad about this. It makes sense you'd want to find and learn about people who might've gone through similar struggles" Jazz said as she put her hand on Danny's shoulder, a grounding gesture which he was silently thankful for.

"But I feel bad about how if I do learn about this then I'll be keeping more secrets from mom and dad. I already feel terrible lying to them about The accident" Danny shrunk into himself. It's not that he wanted to keep lying to his parents but the perpetual fear of them not accepting him hung over his head heavily and he feared now that if he tried to explore and learn about these people who were like him it would only give his parents more reason to distance him from the family if they found out.

"Danny, look at me" Jazz urged and Danny barely managed to meet her gaze. It was determined and honest, an immovable rock he needed in the swirling river that was his thoughts.

"You don't have to go there if you don't want to but you shouldn't jump to the conclusion that it will only make everything worse. Think about it but don't forget that just as many good things could come from this as bad things" Jazz said and Danny nodded along. That made sense.

"Yeah. I guess the concept just kinda overwhelmed me" Danny said and suddenly he felt emotionally drained all over again.

"Go on, get some rest. Sleep on it but there really isn't a time limit" Jazz encouraged and she was right but Danny felt like if he did want to go then it might be better to do it sooner rather than later.

He crashed onto his bed not really knowing what to think. A few hours ago he was excited by the prospect but now he dreaded what he might find at those ruins, what secrets the Halfas kept hidden away even from those closest to them.

Danny almost laughed at the parallels as he thought about his own secretive situation with his parents. He was in no place to preemptively judge.

Finally he went to sleep.

Dreaming of a lullaby he never heard and a city of people he would never meet.

~~~

First | Previous | Next

~~~

I'll be tagging all content do to with this story with the tag City of splintering hopes so if guys want to you can follow the story easier. You can also use that tag for any questions or content you guys make of the story!

Hope you all like this first chapter!

#danny phantom #City of splintering hopes #chapter 1 #my writing #danny phantom fic #danny fenton #dp frostbite #jazz fenton #dp fanfic #danny phantom au

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Verboten 10 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary:   AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Chapter warning: child kidnappings mentioned

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 10

Frostbite was close lipped on their journey to Clockwork's lair, at least in regards to the mysterious and ancient ghost. He instead talked to Danny about different aspects of ghosts and their realm. Although the yeti ghost wanted Danny to return home, he wanted Danny to know about the realm as a precaution, and Danny reluctantly agreed.

As they passed by some of the floating islands, buildings, and doors, Frostbite would occasionally mention which of his allies or neutral acquaintances lived there. It was all so strange. There were buildings which looked like they were from ancient Greece or Rome, while there was another which looked like a modern library. Frostbite explained the form of the lair was heavily influenced by its ruler. A ghost needed to be a fairly strong to be able to create such a large lair, and while the architecture often reflected what the ghost knew while they were alive, it wasn't a necessity.

Eventually, a dark and imposing clock tower could be seen in the distance. "I guess that's the place?" Danny questioned as he tried to get a better look at it.

"It is. When we arrive, it is unlikely I will be able to go in with you."

"Wait, what?" Danny hadn't expected this would be a one on one meeting. From the way Frostbite spoke, he figured someone would be guarding him, at least until he had answers.

The older ghost gave him a sheepish look. "The invitation was only for you. Unless Clockworks invites me in, I will do no more than ferry you to the location and wait for your return."

"Is this Clockwork really so scary?"

"He is far more powerful than I am, so I have no desire to anger him. There are stories regarding how no foe has been able to sway or harm him."

"So you're just going to allow a teenager to go to meet a ridiculously powerful ghost by himself? That's just great. What if he incinerates me or something?"

Frostbite just chuckled. "I do not think you have anything to fear, unless you try to attack him. Clockwork is not known for going out of his way to do damage to someone."

"Great. That makes me feel so much better." Danny's sarcasm was lost on Frostbite.

…

A short time later, Frostbite's sleigh landed in front of the clock tower. Upon closer inspection, the building appeared to be made of a dark gray stone with large wooden doors. Thankfully, there was a small amount of land surrounding the building, so Danny wasn't worried about falling to his death. After being coaxed out of the sleigh, Danny, feeling incredibly self-conscious, knocked on the door.

The door opened, but he didn't see anyone when he cautiously stepped inside. He half expected the door to slam behind him, but instead, it remained open until he started moving towards the only thing in the room, a stair case. Once he reached it, the door slowly closed on its own.

While uneasy, he wasn't exactly scared. Whoever this Clockwork was, he was at least somewhat courteous.

After reaching the top of the stairs, he found himself in a large room filled with gears, pendulums, and what appeared to be mirrors set within large gears. However, after a closer inspection, the mirrors showed shadowy images which didn't appear to be him or anything in the room.

"Do you see anything interesting?" a pleasant voice asked from somewhere behind him, making him jump. He sheepishly spun around to find a ghost with blue skin, red eyes, and a clock pendulum in his chest watching him. The ghost initially appeared maybe around thirty, but after a few moments shifted to appear much older.

"I'm sorry! I shouldn't have looked." Danny wasn't exactly certain why, but he felt almost as if he was being caught in the act by a favorite relative. There was something familiar and personable about this ghost, even when his form shifted again. This time, his appearance was childlike.

The ghost chuckled as he approached. "It is quite alright. Most of my visitors have been drawn to them." He gestured towards the closest one, and the images suddenly became more vivid. It was almost as if it was playing some sort of video. "As you have guessed, I am Clockwork, master of time. I am able to see all events which may or may not come to pass." His form again shifted.

"Err… Frostbite said you wanted to see me?"

"Correct. Beings such as yourself have only shown up a handful of times over the millennia, and each time one does, it often brings great change."

"But what am I? Am I dead? Am I alive?"

The ghost gave a gentle chuckle. "You are still very much alive. You're just able to access the power of your soul, which is not usually feasible while one is still has a living body. However, this is not possible unless you are able to resist the pull of this realm."

"What does that mean?" Although Danny was relieved to know he was classified as living, he was still deeply confused by everything. "Does it deal with what Frostbite explained regarding what could trigger the change?"

"Yes. This world is similar to the human concept of limbo. It is a place where some souls wander until they are lead to the Evermore – true death. But, it is still a world of the dead, and the living are not meant to be here. It has defenses to prevent the dead from crossing back into your world, which unfortunately can cause the wayward human to become a denizen."

"However, there is more to it than that," Clockwork continued as he gestured to the mirror. Strange images flickered within it. "Over millennia, this realm became corrupted. The guides, beings unique to this realm, which used to help guide those wayward souls, are all but gone now. No longer being able to find true rest, souls that remain here often become tainted and become ghosts. Many can spread that taint as well, and some use that to create others like themselves."

"You're telling me that's why my classmates were abducted?" A cold chill ran through him as his body decided to return to his human form.

"Not in this case." Clockwork gestured to the mirror as an image flickered to the first ghost Danny and his friends saw. After a moment, another ghostly figure who suspiciously resembled Mikey came into view. "In Youngblood's case, whether or better or worse, wanted a companion more than anything else. This isn't an isolated case. However, many abductors have a far more insidious reason." The ghost turned to face him. "The living have an energy that the dead do not. It's probably easiest to refer to it as vitality. Returning to your previous question, you still produce that energy so it is safe to say you are still alive."

"Alright. So what makes that so appealing? Does it give, I don't know, special abilities?"

"Some believe so. Others believe vitality will help them restore some of the memories commonly lost upon death."

"That's so messed up," Danny replied after mulling over the information. "The memory loss thing, does that happen to everyone? Will it happen to me? Will I…?" He didn't want to admit it out loud, but he was worried he might become a danger to his friends and family.

The ghost, who was back in his child form, gave him a soft smile. "As long as you're alive, you don't need to worry. As for death, most souls do not come to this realm, but instead find their way to the Evermore. Also, as long as the soul is strong, it can avoid being tainted by this realm and become a force of good or of balance. Those which do have no need to seek out and harm the living." It was impossible for Danny to hide the relief on his face, which made Clockwork chuckle.

"Now let us move on to some of your other concerns. You want to know if you can return home and how you became like that, correct?" When Danny nodded, Clockwork again gestured to the mirrors. An image of a young Danny berry picking with his aunt and sister. The view changed to show a creature, some other ghost, peering at them from behind a tree. After Danny caught sight of it, his family members disappeared from the scene. "This is where your journey began. As you saw earlier, a distraction from this realm can accidently pull you into it."

"What is that thing?" Danny felt uneasy as he watched the ghost beckon to his younger self which somehow triggered his body to switch forms again. There was something about the ghost which made him unsettled. It looked humanoid with dark skin, but did not have any facial features. "I don't remember seeing it, but then again, I don't remember much from that."

Clockwork stared at the image for another moment before glancing at Danny. "Most of them no longer have names. We call them 'Recruiters', but it was believed they had been destroyed several centuries ago. They worked for the previous king."

"Wait, king? You guys have a king? And what do you mean they were supposed to be destroyed?"

"We once did," Clockwork replied as he shifted to his elderly form. "He waged war against this realm and yours, so he was sealed away. The members of his court, made mostly of purposely modified ghosts, were either destroyed or sealed. It appears someone has resurrected those modification techniques."

Danny was about to ask another question when the images in the mirror caught his attention again. It showed the ghost, the Recruiter, examining him. It then handed him something which looked like some type of candy. After young Danny ate it, the Recruiter watched him for a while before attempting to grab him. When the attempt failed, young Danny tried to escape.

Images flashed as his younger self ran away from the Recruiter. Eventually, the boy collapsed outside of what appeared to be some sort of wall and began to cry as a faint glow started to surround him. As the Recruiter again appeared in the scene, it was blasted away by a strange beam. The boy looked up to see Plasmius staring curiously at him.

"Wow… so Plasmius actually wasn't lying when he said how he first met me."

"For the most part, no," Clockwork replied as he raised his staff, which caused the scene to shift to the inside of Plasmius' mansion. The older ghost had given Danny more food and was watching him carefully. "Plasmius did accidently find you, but if he hadn't provided you with more food from this realm, you may have been able to return home as a fairly normal human, albeit with form of minor psychic ability. However, he saw potential in you and became interested."

The teenager was silent for a moment as he continued to watch the images. After Plasmius took him back to the human world, the scene shifted to show him a little older. With a jolt, he realized it was when he disappeared the second time. Instead of the Recruiter, it was Plasmius who beckoned him. The ghost didn't do anything other than talk and play with his younger self. However, Danny was showing evidence of ghostly traits again. "He wanted to make sure he was right, didn't he?"

"Yes. Plasmius has grand ambitions in this realm. He wants power and having someone like you at his side would be a great boon. However," Clockwork froze the image and somehow zoomed into a spot in the background. There was a Recruiter watching them, "you were not alone. This is troubling."

"You mentioned earlier you are able to see all possible events, didn't you? So why do you seem so surprised?"

The ghost, still in his elderly form, wore a tenebrous expression. "While my abilities allow me to see any number of possibilities, it can be difficult to sort through the amount of information I receive. It is also possible, though unlikely, someone powerful was able to block them from my abilities. However, now that I am aware of the concern, it is much easier to locate similar events." The ghost shifted to his child form. "I had wanted to send you home while you adjust to the changes in your body, but you may need trained first."

Uncertain how to respond while the ghost took a few moments to think, Danny turned back to the mirror. It was no longer showing images of his past. Instead, it was flickering through a multitude of scenes at a blinding rate. For a second, he thought he saw Sam and Tucker, but the image changed before he could be certain. Some of the images seemed to show an army of some sort. Overall, it left him unsettled.

"I believe I will need to let Frostbite into the Clock Tower," Clockwork stated, making Danny jump. "I will need him to spread the word of my discovery, and he has information for both of us."

Moments later, the white furred ghost hurried up the stairs with two of his guards. After taking a moment to collect himself, he bowed towards Clockwork. "I humbly thank you for allowing us into your presence."

"There is no need for that. My abilities and agreement with the Observants force me to remain neutral under most circumstances. As such, I prefer to keep to myself, but sometimes when extraordinary people appear," Clockwork gestured to Danny, "curiosity gets in the way. However, this time, I am glad it did." The ghost brought their attention to the mirrors and showed the Yetis the image of the Recruiter.

Frostbite's shock was quickly replaced by rage. "Who would dare attempt to recreate such a vile creature? However, we have unsettling news of our own. The entourage who were escorting the other humans Danny knows home were attacked by the Fright Knight and a horde of Reanimated." When the yeti caught sight of Danny's horrified expression, he gave a small smile. "Fear not. Pandora herself stepped into assist my men and drove them back; not even the Fright Knight dares raise his blade to her. Your friends should be arriving home soon." His attention turned back towards Clockwork. "Pandora explained one of her spies caught sight of them shortly before they attacked my men and took it upon herself to intervene. Her ambassadors will request an audience of the counsel within the day."

"As much as I dislike dealing with the Observants, I believe this is necessary," Clockwork agreed. "Whoever is employing the techniques of the old king has been able to exploit the blind spots in my abilities. It also seems as if they are aware of Daniel and what his existence means. They may also be watching Plasmius."

"This is most troubling."

"Uh, excuse me, but I have no idea what's going on here," Danny interrupted. The conversation had lost him some time ago, but he was relieved to hear his friends were safe.

Frostbite gave him a sheepish smile as Clockwork explained, "It appears someone is trying to make a grab for power. The last time this happened, war overtook this realm and spilled into yours."

"That… that doesn't sound good."

"No. Last time, it was only through the power of the Ancients that we were able to defeat the King. If someone has found a way to access his abilities, then it needs to be stopped before catastrophe happens." The yeti's expression was grim as he addressed Clockwork. "So what becomes of Danny? Will he need to remain with us, or can he travel home? Is it even safe for someone like him to return to the human realm?"

"As he is still alive, there is no harm in him returning him. His parents are working on several projects, one of which will provide his home with enough ambient energy to allow his core to remain stable. However, the more I attempt to peer into the future, the more muddled the images become. There is definitely interference. So, I am uncertain what route will allow the most favorable outcome." He shifted to his adult form. "So, Daniel, I leave the choice to you."

"You said that whoever attacked my friends know about me?"

The time ghost nodded. "Yes. Since you can traverse both worlds without ill effects, your abilities would be of great interest. You could remain here and train with Frostbite…"

"But I would not be able to guarantee your safety as today proved," the Yeti admitted.

"There is also a concern the Observant and the Counsel will not approve of your existence," Clockwork continued. "You could return home, but you would be forced to develop your abilities on your own. However, you would be much safer there for the time being."

Danny looked down at his hands and momentarily stared at the faint glow surrounding them. "Am I a danger to my family and friends if I go home?"

"No, but it is possible to make them more open to this world. If we are unable to prevent our enemies from gaining power, it may cause them to be targeted again."

"Is it okay if I take some time to think about it?"

"Of course. Take all of the time you need."

=========================================

Note: The Evermore is something within DP lore. It was mentioned in a video Butch Hartman released which expanded upon more information regarding the different residents.

Clockwork's mention of limbo and soul guides. To my knowledge, the concept of Limbo is most prevalent to Christians (particularly Catholics). This is a place in between life and Heaven/Hell. In previous Catholic tradition, Limbo is the place where unbaptized souls go upon death, and there were circumstances which could help those souls find rest (the Catholic Church modified its views on Limbo in 2007). Some people say Limbo is also the realm of the fairies, elves, and any creature/entity which lives in another realm that is not heaven or hell. There is a similar concept in Greek mythology which was referred to as the Asphodel Fields/Meadows.

And for completion sake, Purgatory is not the same as Limbo. Purgatory (also per Catholic tradition) is a place of fiery cleansing after death. It's a temporary stop as once the cleansing is completed, the soul moves on to Heaven. While it is not mentioned much, Purgatory is still considered to exist.

Soul guides, also called psychopomps, are creatures responsible for guiding the deceased souls to the afterlife. The belief in them is ancient. Depending on tradition, they can be anything or look like anything. There's even some thought that certain entities known to spirit away people, faeries come to mind, may have derived from this concept. A great representation of this are the Alebrijes found in Mexican traditions (they were recently featured in the movie "Coco.")

The Recruiters are kind of based of off "Shadow People" mixed in with other legends like "Tall Man" spirit and Stick Men/Indians seen in some First Nation lore. Shadow People are a weird phenomenon, even for the paranormal. True Shadow People are not usually considered to be ghosts, but no one is exactly certain of what they are. The inter-dimensional theory often pops up with them because they don't seem to act like "normal ghosts" and are usually considered dangerous. They are reported to negatively influence and harm humans. There are some reports of them attempting to steal people. 

Stick Men/Indians and the Tall Man are described as creatures similar to that of the modern tale of Slenderman, and they are again said to either negatively influence or take children. I used these descriptions due to some supposed reports from missing and found children saying creatures of similar descriptions wanted to take them with them, but they didn't meet the correct criteria.

Also, regarding Clockwork's powers… per the show, he "knows everything." However, it would very difficult of an entity to be able to take and absorb all of the information he gets at a time. So, my mind is viewing it as if he's skimming the majority of the information, which could allow events in the background to get missed.

#Verboten #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp #dp au #danny fenton #sam manson #tucker foley #vlad plasmius #vlad masters #jack fenton #maddie fenton #supernatural #paranormal #fantasy #dark fantasy #folklore #so i heard you like folklore #sooooooooo much folklore #fanfic #fanfiction #my writing

[datawyrms]

Sightseeing

Dannymay 2020 Day 28: Diner

Really, he should have asked Frostbite about good places to learn more about ghosts and the Ghost Zone before now, but it was always slipping his mind. Really, he almost never thought about just seeing the guy and his people without a problem biting at his heels. Which he hadn’t noticed until Jazz pointed it out, so that was a fun claw of guilt lodged in his brain now.

Which was why he was awkwardly trying to figure out how to ask a ghost what they heck they did just to ‘hang out’, and also did he want to do that. It wasn’t like he could just look up the nearest ghost diner. Trying to ask other ghosts really wouldn’t work out either, seeing as they either wanted to fight him or ran the other way.

At least the yeti-like ghost didn’t laugh at him for very long.

“I still don’t get it. Skulker will beat anyone’s face in for going near ‘his’ island, but there’s just places out here that make you stronger and no one fights over ‘having it’?”

Frostbite smiled at his question, though his ears did droop ever so slightly. “Such places are protected for that very reason, Great One. Eternal truces are in place wherever the flow of ectoplasm is at its strongest. All may benefit safely. They are for healing and social gatherings, not bickering and destruction.”

“You really don’t have to call me that.” Danny frowned, glancing at the spot on the map Frostbite was indicating. “That doesn’t really stop anyone from doing it anyway though, does it?”

“All ghosts know of the truce, and none would be able to break it. It’s said the Realms itself demands it be so. As we’re all made up of ectoplasm, many a ghost as argued we are merely extensions of it ourselves.”

“Well I certainly didn’t know about it. Must have forgotten to deliver the instruction manual to me,” he did his best to make his shrug seem casual. It wasn’t like the so-called truce protected him from Ghostwriter being an absolute pain after all. Maybe half ghosts didn’t count.

“It is a shame the portal you frequent is in that part of the Realms. It is more favoured by those with power and the will to use it, so it’s no surprise that you were so bereft of mentors,” he stared at the portal near the Keep before rolling the map shut with a practiced claw.

“Not that I spend much time here anyway.”

“True, true. You do seem to favour your human half, from what I hear.” He didn’t say it, but the concern was apparent. “I think you might enjoy the Cascade in particular. It’s relatively small and more of a resting point. Plenty of ghosts coming and going, no structures for long term stays, so it’s easier to not attract much attention.”

“Well it sounds fancier than a Nasty Burger.” Was it rude to be mentally associating the place with a fast food joint? Probably. “Maybe I should just check it out while invisible?”

“You could, though you’d probably be noticed anyway.”

“What, can some ghosts just see through invisibility?

Frostbite’s warm laugh took some of the edge off, but he still felt foolish. “No, but most can at least feel the strength a ghost has. One such as you or I would not go unnoticed for very long,”

“I’m not that strong”

“You forget that ghosts strong enough to stay in your world for any length of time are not as common as you think. Many here can only manage the basics, and are content as they are. Not many ghosts are brawling with those stronger than themselves only months after forming, Great One.”

He swallowed. Great. Even for a ghost he was weird. “I’d rather not be the center of attention, is all.”

“Understandable. It is not uncommon for I or my people to frequent these places. With luck I would be noticed with my larger stature and then overlooked.” he draped a fuzzy arm over the half ghost’s shoulder as a sort of hug. “You would draw some attention if noticed, but most would likely be too afraid to approach.”

“Afraid of what? You look way scarier than I do at a glance,” he asked even though he was fairly certain he wouldn’t like any answer his friend could give him.

“You are a hybrid that pushed back the former king and is powerful enough to hold territory outside of the realms. In frankness, a ghost like you is what’s hiding in the closet to scare the little ones into behaving. To the point that some actually do not think you exist.”

“Well that’s embarrassing.” he groaned, burying his face into the yeti’s fur. No wonder most ghosts ran the other way if he was some sort of made up nightmare monster. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”

“Rumor is all most ghosts have of you. If you don’t want to be perceived that way, the best way to do that is to show them how you really are.”

Did he want to seem less frightening? He couldn’t really get to places this far from the portal without the Infi-map’s help anyway. He didn’t have the time to fly that far and back with any regularity, so it wouldn’t change much for the day to day. Yet Frostbite did seem eager to have him stop feeling so out of place in the ghost zone. “I guess. You’re sure it’s okay to go there?”

“It’s for all ghosts, don’t worry. Feel free to stick close to me if you are uncomfortable.”

He wanted to point out yet again he was only half of a ghost, but fiddled with his gloves instead. Frostbite was a large, powerful looking ghost with that ice arm of his. He was some human looking kid in a jumpsuit. Way less noticeable. Hopefully.

He did have to ask the yeti how he made traveling with the Infi-map less of an out of control ride and more like teleporting from place to place, but at the moment he was too distracted by why the place was called the Cascade. It almost seemed like a waterfall at first, the blinding neon green a flowing sheet, but there wasn’t a sort of pool at the bottom. Instead parts seemed to twist away from the main direction in vast swirls, losing vibrancy until he couldn’t tell it from the normal unending movement that was all over the zone.

That, and all the ghosts simply milling around the strange twisted trees and winding paths that flanked the glowing attraction. “Is it always this busy?” he muttered, half hiding behind his friend’s furry bulk.

“Of course. A safe place to rest when traveling between settlements is always fairly busy.” he looked down at the boy, concern muting his smile. “You’ll see why, or more feel it in a moment.”

He let Frostbite take the lead, trying not to look too jumpy as the ghost stomped down a path. Purple grass still seemed weird, but his chosen spot to sit down and watch the spinning ectoplasm did at least feel more familiar with it and the strange twisted dead trees.

“Is it normal to just feel less tired?” More than that really, he felt wide awake. When was the last time he’d felt this awake? He couldn’t actually remember.

“Yes. Though I expect the sensation might be odd to you. You spend so much time over there that I doubt you ever have enough ectoplasm to truly rest.”

It totally was a ghost Nasty Burger. Only apparently way more filling. There was a faint humming in his chest, which felt odd yet also right, somehow. “Huh. I figured that was just the lack of sleep.” He couldn’t help but keep glancing around, wanting to be sure they weren’t being stared at by too many ghosts.

“I’m sure that’s a factor as well. You really should try and rest more, when you can.”

He wasn’t quite sure how Frostbite could think of resting when he felt so energized, but zipping around near a bunch of ghosts he didn’t know didn’t appeal. “I would if I could, you know that.”

“Unfortunately. Do try and remember you don’t only have to rest as a human though.”

“I’ll try?” What else could he say?

#dannymay2020 #Danny Phantom #frostbite #my stuff #ghost headcannons #and other random junk #i wanted to have more ghost background chatter #but #i have to start working an hour early #so i do NOT HAVE TIME #rip

[burning-clutch]

Half A Recapitulation

Fic can be read on A03 : https://archiveofourown.org/works/23491168

Lore Dump, Halfa exploraion, Mysterious book found, Ghost zone exploration, Family history and halfa history.

Complete. Rated G. Word Count: 3392

Pairings: None

Trigger Warnings: none

Author: @burning-clutch (Team Ghost)

Prompt by: Phantomroyalty AO3: PhantomKick

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-  Half A Recapitulation

 -.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

 It was something of a mystery, something unique that he’d never expected to find where he’d found it.

 An old and odd book tucked away in the corner of his grandmother’s attic, bound in leather with an imprinted skull that almost seemed to glow in the dark and under certain light if it had a pearlesque green tint to it. There was no title on the cover and was held firmly shut by a brass clasp and chain.

 Danny had assumed it was a journal of some kind stored away through the years and forgotten, and he would have passed it off if not for the post-it note with a golden CW. That alone told him this was something more. Something significant, and moreover something that needed to be coming with him.

 They had been helping to clean out his grandparents' place after his grandmother, his mom’s mom, passed away at a decent age of 86. He never got to meet his grandfather on Maddie’s side but he’d heard enough stories throughout the years he didn’t feel it mattered much.

 But after the funeral had gone and passed and assets were divided and given to whom they were willed to, it had fallen to the next of kin, and by extension him and Jazz getting roped along too, to clean out the leftover stuff that hadn’t been officially willed.

 Wanting to get away from his mother and his Aunt, along with the handful of other relatives that only ever seemed to come around for funerals or family reunions, he volunteered for the attic. Thus bringing him back to the present where he stood running his hands over the etching on the leather of the old book he’d found.

 He resolved to take it with him invisibly out to the RV, stuffing it under his mattress before heading back in to finish his cleaning of the attic.

 The sun was well gone by the time they were done their share of the cleanout. Danny was tired and more than happy to have the beds in the RV to lay down on. Pulling the curtain closed he fished out the book from where he’d stashed it and pulled the covers up over him for added protection.

 Carefully as if the clasp were made of fine glass or china, he unlatched it. It clicked open harmlessly and Danny poured power into his eyes to allow him to see the text outlined within the book. Latin? It was written in Latin?

 Okay no big deal, he’d been studying it in both English class and the Zone with Frostbite. Why he needed to know that language he couldn’t guess, and Frostbite never seemed too keen to tell him either. The yeti would wave off the query, or dodge it.

 Pushing that matter down and putting it away until later Danny began to read. The first bit of the book seemed to be a timeline of sorts, with a bunch of names before branching off into others, before stopping abruptly.

 He frowned down at the book before noticing a small fold in the corner of the page. Gently he tugged at the fold and freed a piece of rolled and folded yellowed paper. Huh…. this was in English…

 As his eyes scanned the new paper he realized almost instantly that he was looking at; a family tree of sorts. He scanned the names a bit before seeing a few he actually recognized. “Huh… Walker?” he muttered aloud. That was his grandmother’s last name and his mother’s maiden name… was this his family tree then? Was this book detailing his family history?

 If that was the case it was no wonder Clockwork had wanted him to read it... Still, it didn’t make sense, this family tree was clearly new, it wasn’t even attached to the book just hanging in the pages, the writing was vastly different as well.

 He flipped a few pages and felt his blood run cold in the next few words.

     ‘Demi-ghosts are powerful beings brought about the fusion from ectoplasm and an organic, living creature.’  

 This was a book on half ghosts in his grandparent’s attic? He bit his lip and scanned through the pages, reading on and skimming past and skipping over the details of what made a halfa, Demi Ghost or whatever, different, and landed on the history.

 The images gave him chills.

 They were bloodied and so lifelike Danny could almost hear the screams from the slaughter. The area was titled      ‘the great divide and the battle of the Gods.’  

     ‘This area of the grimoire shall be dedicated to the retelling of our history, our understanding of the cycle, and how this all came about. There was a time when Demi Ghosts were seen as balancers. Gatekeepers of sorts. We were in charge of helping the full dead to carry out their purposes and allow them to transcend into the great pooled collective. Doing so allowed that spirit to rejoin the cycle of life, death and rebirth.  

     Ghosts would break the set cycle and strain the delicate balance the two main realms held. For as much as ghosts needed the purely living to fuel the ectoplasm with their energies, emotional or otherwise, they needed the ghosts to give back the purified life energy, or spirits collected there. This soul energy is the purest form of ectoplasm and exists within a ghost’s core.  

     If a ghost can not draw an ectoplasmic base around its soul, then it is absorbed by the zone itself to intermingle. If a soul with strong desires enters the zone it can collect and condense the ectoplasm, a core will be formed and thus a ghost.    

     Demi Ghosts break that rule, break that cycle and permeate the realms by straddling the line. Under natural causes, we can not pass on, fueled by the energy of both life and death in this delicate and overwrought equipoise. We are not invincible however, as even one as powerful as the Great Idol can be taken down. As we can never properly pass on we do not rejoin the collective if we are killed as demi-ghosts.  

     Oftentimes, because of our nature, we will be reformed as full ghosts where we can then rejoin the cycle if we are able to transcend. Thus we help our brethren to move on and complete their path within the great circle. We are balance, and we are the keepers of the laws, our sheer power allows us to rule as a governing body of few to serve many.  

     That all changed when the Kharlan attacked. Seeking power they struck firm against us, with weapons and powers the likes of which we were unprepared to defend against. Our place in the cycle was interrupted that day.  

     With burning wings like seraphim, they struck, changing some of our members into grotesque mockeries of what our ghostly forms were. Those of our numbers who could fight valiantly while those who couldn’t or had underdeveloped cores, fled to the human realm to escape the persecution that was being brought upon us. We still had our human guises after all, and blending among the packs of full humans was easy.  

     Though the attack was brutal and those who fled survived the ones who allowed us this luxury were trapped, as our once noble leader, The Great Idol, now one we call The Dark Perah after his horrid crimes, destroyed our connection, our doorway to the realms.’                                        Danny startled at those words. “Dark Peraih? …. Pariah Dark then?” Danny muttered out under his breath. He was the halfa’s leader at one point? He was a halfa?  He skipped forward a bit taking in the words here and there,

 Pariah Dark had wanted more power, not contented in being the ruler of the Demi Ghost’s tribe, and instead, wanting to rule the Ghost Zone’s collective. He had a few halfa supporters that backed him, but the rest of the tribe had turned away from him and thrown him out of their ranks, only for him to flee, gain more followers and artifacts of power before taking out the very tribe he had once been in charge of.

 The family tree that was at the beginning of the book is the groups of the undeveloped and more human half of the group that fled. Which meant… With the Walker namesake on that list, his grandparents, his mother and to extension himself were descendants of that tribe...

 For the group that stayed behind and fought however, the book held no information on what happened to them, not really anyway. The person who wrote this theorized the mutations their cores suffered turned them into Full Ghosts and perhaps were still within the realms of the Ghost Zone living as best they can.

 He read on enamoured now, and his eyes glowed brighter in response. Some part in the back of his mind was glad that he’d pulled the curtain if for no other reason than the fact his sister would endlessly pester and tease him about being so interested in a book for once in his life.

 It was filled with information about him, his family, and his species even! He couldn’t believe it! There was so much helpful information hidden within the pages of this book, from potential powers, biology, life cycles, all the way over to medicine.

 It wasn’t until he felt a smack on his head through the blanket did he reemerge from the little world he was lost in. Danny blinked up at his sister in confusion, she was silhouetted by the Fentonworks illuminated sign.  

 “We’re home,” she said simply raising a brow at him.

 Danny blinked and craned his neck to look around his sister. “Yeah, right...” He slid off the bed, book stuffed under his shirt, his new coveted item, covered from any family members' prying eyes. He booked it into the house and up the stairs into his room eager to continue his reading.

 Jazz watched him go with a concerned look, though it was quickly pushed aside when she saw her father coming up behind with an eager smile. Figuring that’s why her brother fled she hightailed it away as well.

 Danny shut the door to his bedroom with a soft click, making sure it was locked before he moved across to his bed and hunkered down with the book.

 The details in this thing were astounding! Depictions and diagrams of the different types of ghosts, some of the location names within the name, lives detailed with a meticulous effort that Danny couldn’t help but appreciate. How the uncored Halfa’s hid from the dark king as he ravaged the Zone looking for a way through after the original doorway collapsed.

 It wasn’t until he got into the rituals of how to create a halfa did he feel his blood run cold from worry and dread at the words detailed within. Suddenly this book and guide took on a much more sinister feel. He knew upon seeing this, why Clockwork had marked the book more than anything. If this fell into the wrong hands…

 He didn’t want to think about that now…

 And so he continued to read.

 ‘      While we all share the genes to allow ourselves to bond with the ectoplasm, some who would carry, born of two human parents, or two Demi Ghost parents, will not develop a core as they should when they age as one who has one ghostly and one human parent would. Thus upon reaching the designated age, the right of passage is performed to force the core into existence.  

     Within the teen years of the potential fledgeling, we will prepare them for this harsh undertaking that their body will endure. The sacrificial ritual that is used to jumpstart a fledge’s core to enable them to become a balance or law keeper. The fledge can opt out of the ritual and instead they will become a knowledge keeper, I am one who chose to be a knowledge keeper. I have always been one to value a sharp mind over a sharp sword after all.  

     My love of the written word and books aside, once a young fledge is ready they will approach the altar and lay upon the dias. They and the stone slab are raised into the air by the elders' power, and the prayers and chanting begin. The high elder will then attach the conduit for which the power will be concentrated.  

     If the Realms keeper is pleased, the realm’s own energies will gather, and with a burst of energy, the conduit will be struck travelling down into the chest of the fledge. This then comes down to a battle of wills with the fledge. If they have the resolve to force then energies to their will, a core will form and thus a Demi Ghost is born.  

     If the fledge fails their life is forfeit.  

     Because of the high cost of the failure, we try to push young fledges to at least wait until sixteen before they attempt this.’  

 Following the words, there was a sketch of some kind of altar, in the shape of a pyramid with a pole in a vague shape of a lightning bolt pointing towards the top of the pyramid. A few details surrounding the area along with a set of coordinates, Ghost zone coordinates.  

 Was this right? Was this real? Danny stared at the page for a long time worrying his lip. He makes a face at the numbers before pulling out his phone and snapping a photo of the page. He had to look for this place. He just had to know if it was real!

 He was far too excited to sleep anyway.

 The transformation was quick and silent and once complete, Daniel Fenton was replaced with Danny Phantom in the middle of the bedroom. With a curt nod to himself, Danny phased invisibility downward into the basement.

 A quick check around confirmed his parents were nowhere to be seen. Satisfied he moves to open the portal before slipping through into the green abyss. He focused on the coordinates on his phone and found a vague push of where to go when he read through the names of the quadrants in the image.

 He recognized where the one location was and swiftly sped off towards it, knowing he would probably be here most of the night exploring now.

 Two hours… It took two hours of searching and a few times asking for directions through the quadrants, but he finally did it. He was here, and before him, stood er, floated the pyramid he had seen in the book.  

 If he didn’t know the significance of this place, even if he’d stumbled upon it on his own he never would have gone to examine it without prompting.

 Quickly he flew to the small island that held the building, this temple aloft. Zipping around it to examine it.

 It was a simple step pyramid, a door in the one side and pillars that looked of Greek or Roman influence out front. Carefully the teen floated into the temple marvelling at the stone etchings on the wall.

 The area was rather vacant, all things considered, with many branching hallways leading down and through the pyramid, the front of the room had a slab of smooth stone that looked like it fell from the ceiling, but on further inspection, Danny wondered if that was the dias that the so-called fledges would lay on.

 Looking at the images on the walls that assumption seemed to be the correct one. The large hall was decorated with human like statues and figures, as well as six pillars spaced evenly around the room to support the ceiling. The images on the walls depicted snippets of what Danny had read in the book, along with a few gathering people who were holding a heart with a circle and a very simple etching of smoke within that.

 Danny was amazed, to put it simply. Looking around the main hall he decided to explore a bit more and flew up towards the skyline opening. From up here, he could almost feel the electrified ectoplasm. Tall poles folded into the top of the pyramid, making the proper point of the shape, the four posts holding up a large post that Danny swore looked like the ray gun his mother uses as a weapon.  

 He shivered. This place felt eerie… it reminded him too much of the portal actually…                  “Great one? What are you doing in this sacred place?” A deep voice sounded from behind him.                  “Frostbite? I could ask you the same.” Danny responded in kind taking flight to zip up to the yeti ghost who was riding some sort of segway looking device.

 “I maintain the security in this place, you must have been what triggered the alarm.” The large ghost mused. “Though I am curious, do you know this place’s significance?”

 “I mean, sort of? I found a book on this place and wanted to check it out. It had details of some halfa thing in the book so I just… I was curious.” Danny explained. Though now that he thought on it more it really was stupid to rush off here in blind excitement.

 Frostbite seemed to take this in stride however as a large grin blossomed on his furry face. “Then you know more than you need to.” The yeti boomed. “And have you had any revelations?”

 “What? No? Should I have?” Danny asked eyeing Frostbite suspiciously,

 The Yeti shrugged though his grin never drops. “It is of little consequence. But please. This is no place you should be playing explorer in. If you are unprepared you could set off a trap that was set a millennia ago to prevent unwanted or curious creatures from entering these grounds.”

 Danny nodded and took the invite to stand behind Frostbite on the flying device. “Wait how do you know about this place? And why are you protecting it?”

 “Ah! That Great one is the question you should discover for yourself.” Frostbite chuckled out.

 “Another non-answer great, you’re getting as bad as Clockwork you know?” Danny groused to his mentor. “So did they really… turn people into halfas here?”

 Frostbite nodded and looked down at the dias through the skylight with a far off frown. “There is much you must learn Great One. Perhaps, though these are all stories for another day.” With that cryptic message, Frostbite activated the Infinimap to bring them back to the entrance of the Far Frozen.

 “Do you wish to stay a while? Or perhaps, require an escort back to your gateway?” Frostbite asked once the world around them had settled. The map always had that disorienting effect on people it seemed, not just humans and part humans…

 “No…I should probably head home, and I’m fine doing that by myself.” Danny said jumping off the segway with a lopsided smile. “Though before I go I have one question for you.”

 Frostbite nodded and tilted his head inquisitively to the side, his fuzzy brow knitting together as he did.

 “When I first came here, you’d said something about us having something in common, I had thought it was the ice core… but now?” Danny trailed off examining the yeti with deep scrutiny.

 “I think you know the answer,” Frostbite said simply, smiling bright and showing off his impressive fangs.

 The book said monstrous forms… “Holy- Really?” Danny’s eyes went wide.                  “Indeed. We are part of the tribe that stayed to fight, it took many thousands of years for us to regain any semblance in our sense of self. Twisting one’s core is not something to be taken lightly.”  The yeti said simply

 Danny was simply in awe he had so many questions! The buzzing of his phone snapped him out of his dizzying thoughts, though the time on the phone made him groan. Jazz had noticed he wasn’t in bed and messaged him making sure he was okay, but the time was almost 5 AM. so much for sleep…

 With the promise to return soon (with the book) Danny sped off for home. His head spinning and thoughts reeling from everything he’d learned.

 The best part of it all though was knowing that he wasn’t alone, well not entirely anyway.

 -.-.-.-.-.-.-

 Complete

 Total word count: 3392

#Phic Phight 2020 #Danny Phantom #Prompt fill #Danny #Maddie #Jazz #JAck #Frostbite

[ghostgothgeek]

Hurt.

Merry Christmas Pham! Here is some much needed Sam and Tucker friendship bonding! This is kind of meant to set the tone before Doctor’s Disorders and explain why Sam knows Tucker doesn’t like doctors or hospitals and Danny doesn’t. Hope you enjoy!

Standard disclaimers. Also posted on my AO3 and FFN accounts. Rated T for swearing. 

--

“SAM!” Danny and Tucker cried, Tucker from across the street and Danny approximately 75 feet in the air. 

“Motherfucker,” Sam muttered to herself and gently poked at her right ankle. It was already swelling up and was probably turning red underneath her tights. She rolled her ankle around a bit. It wasn’t broken, but it definitely hurt. “I’m fine!” she called back to her friends, shooting the ghost that had just attacked her, the same one Danny was battling in the sky, with her wrist ray to prove her point. 

Tucker ran over to her, trying to assess the situation. “Are you okay?” He held a hand out to help her from the ground. She grabbed it and hissed when she stood fully, quickly grabbing onto Tucker’s shoulder and letting her right foot hang above the ground. 

“Shit..the ONE TIME I wear sneakers instead of my boots…” Danny and Tucker had insisted that if she wore sneakers to fight instead of her clunky boots, her fighting would be more efficient. Why had she listened to them again? She gets almost as many ghosts as Danny and her boots at least provided ankle support...

Tucker grinned, “It seemed like a good idea at the time. But seriously, are you okay?” 

“Ugh, I don’t know. I didn’t break anything, but I can’t walk, let alone stand.” She glanced up at Danny, who was shooting an ectoblast at his opponent. “I think you should take me to the hospital to get-”

“Nope.”

“Tucker, I’m serious.”

“So am I! You’re fine! You can just lean on me or have Danny fly you home when he’s done. No big deal. No doctor, no hospital.” He shook his head frantically and wrapped Sam’s arm around his shoulder, her arm wrapping around his torso shortly thereafter. She glanced down at her swollen ankle.

“Tucker, this hurts really bad. And you know I’m not one to complain.” 

Tucker shot her a look. “What about the time you complained about dissecting real frogs in biology? Or the time you complained about those really cool monster trucks? Or when you complained about beauty pageants and then joined in anyway? Or any of the times you complained about Paulina? Oh! And what about that one time wh-” 

“Alright, alright, I get it. Well, I’m not one to complain about pain, anyway. But seriously, can you help me get to the hospital?” 

“Do I have to?” Tucker groaned. 

“Yes! What’s the big deal?” Tucker muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t quite make out. “What?” 

“I don’t like hospitals.” 

“Yeah, and I don’t like the possibility of never walking again. Tucker, please.” 

He sighed. Sam didn’t say 'please’ very often. “Alright, alright. I’m doing this because you’re my best friend and I love you, okay? But I’m leaving right after I drop you off.” Sam rolled her eyes but complied. They both glanced back up at Danny, who was still mid-battle but holding his own. “He can catch up with us later.” 

Tucker had gotten Sam into the emergency room, where she sat filling out some paperwork. He turned around to book it out of there when Sam stopped him by grabbing his wrist. “Tuck, can you please stay?” Her face was full of conflicting emotions. She hated asking for help, yet here she was sacrificing her pride and reputation of being an independent woman because she was scared.

He glanced around the room and made a face before his eyes settled on her pleading lavender ones. He had never seen her so vulnerable before. He sighed and sat down next to her. “Thanks,” there was a moment of silence before she continued, “so while we wait, how about you tell me why you don’t like hospitals.” She gently grabbed his hand closest to hers, which was gripping the arms of his chair tightly. He groaned internally; he very well knew that she would pester him until he gave her a straight answer. You could never bullshit Sam. Plus, she had already shown vulnerability to him today. He could at least return the favor.

“Well…I guess it started when I was 6. I had gotten hurt on the playground, so my mom took me to the hospital. A woodchip kinda stabbed me in the hand when some kid pushed me over. They had to remove it for me, and then they stapled the wound shut.” 

“Ah, that’s why you have that scar on your hand.” Sam nodded towards it. He flipped his hand over where the scar in the middle of his palm was clearly visible. 

“Yeah, it was terrible. Who uses staples on a kid? Anyway, they kept stabbing me with needles to take all these tests and stuff. I don’t like needles.” He visibly shuddered. “Then when I was 9, I had to go to a hospital again when my grandpa was sick. I didn’t really understand what was going on, but my dad had left me in the room with him while he called my mom, and I was all alone and long story short he just died right in front of me. That was pretty traumatizing.” 

“I’m so sorry.” She said genuinely. Perhaps it was because she was so close to her grandmother that the statement hit her hard. She squeezed his hand.

“Another time back in middle school, I went to the nurse’s office because I scraped my knee in gym class and needed a bandaid, and while I was waiting for her to grab one, Gabriel Morris puked all over my shoes.” Tucker’s face scrunched up in disgust as he recalled the bad memory. “And then it’s just everything in general. There’s the weird smell and everything is white and they just stab you with needles and there’s people in the building dying right now and it’s all so gross and terrifying. I can’t even look at a hospital when I pass by one. I avoid doctors at all costs.”

Sam squeezed his hand again. “Well, I really appreciate you being here for me right now. I know it’s going to take awhile, and I need company or I’ll go insane.” She smiled at him. She had always been close with Tucker, and though they had conflicting interests on occasion, they had their handful of moments like these.

Tucker returned a small smile and breathed out a small laugh. “Look, I’m not even the one who is in pain and you’re comforting me.” 

Sam laughed, “Hey, we all have our shit, you know.” She glanced at his phone on his lap when it lit up, signaling a text from Danny. 

Tucker unlocked his phone and read the message before shoving it in his pocket. “Danny’s putting the ghost back into the Ghost Zone right now and then he’s going to swing by Frostbite to ask a few questions. He’s going to be a while.” Sam nodded in response. 

“No problem, I have the mighty fine Tucker to help me through this crisis.”

“It’s Too Fine, actually.” He frowned.

“My mistake.” She smiled, turning her gaze from him as the nurse called her name. Tucker pushed her in a wheelchair to a small room with all sorts of wires and things that could poke somebody. He gulped. Sam could sense his wariness, and looked to the young, attractive nurse, who was questioning Sam about what happened. “Oh, I took kind of a hard fall. This here is my best friend Tucker, he’s been getting me through all this. He’s super brave and practically carried me over here. He’s my support system today.” 

Tucker blushed at the praise and stared down at his shoes. The nurse gave him a reassuring smile and held her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Claire, I’ll be taking care of your friend today. Did you see what happened?” 

He looked up at the blonde, whose smile widened when his eyes met hers. He shook her hand. “U-uh, yeah…” Tucker paused as he formulated a response. “We were just walking home from school and this ghost just blasted her out of nowhere, it was pretty freaky. Sam here kinda tripped backwards and fell in a weird way. I am always telling her she should wear boots or something with more ankle support, clumsy little thing.”

Sam tilted her head back and glared up at him. Tucker just shrugged and grinned, letting her know he was just teasing. Sam was just glad his attention seemed to be diverted from the room he was currently in. 

“Oh, you’re very brave for getting her here in the middle of a ghost attack. Let’s take a look at your ankle.” Sam cringed as the nurse took her shoe off and started touching her ankle. “Yes, this definitely needs some attention. I’ll get the doctor to see you shortly and will take you up for x-rays in a few minutes if need be. In the meantime, how about you take those tights off so we can get a better look. I’ll be back in a few.” The nurse softly closed the door behind her as Sam stood on one foot and started pulling her purple tights off. 

“Woah! Hey! I’m still here!” Tucker yelled, covering his eyes with his hands. 

Sam laughed, “Tucker, chill. I’m not naked or anything.” She wrapped her arm around him for support as she put her weight on him and tugged her tights off her good ankle. She sat on the hospital bed and looked at Tucker, who was peeking through his fingers. “I do need your help though. Help me get these off, but be gentle.” Sam pointed to her tights remaining on her other leg. Tucker nodded and carefully pulled her tights completely off.

“You know, I always dreamt of undressing a girl, but you’re not exactly who I had in mind. No offense.” Tucker’s remark earned a chuckle from Sam.

“None taken.” She sat back on the hospital bed and watched him glance around the room nervously. “You don’t have to worry, you know. I’m the patient, not you. And I don’t plan on dying any time soon.” 

“Are you nauseous?” Tucker raised an eyebrow and sat in the wheelchair.

“Tucker, if I was going to hurl all over you, I would at least have the common decency to tell you first.” She sighed when her comment didn’t make him any less anxious. “Thanks for staying with me for this. If my parents were in town, they would be driving me and the doctors insane. You’re a great friend. I know it isn’t said enough.” 

Tucker looked at her bashfully, unsure of how to respond. “I uh...thanks? Or you’re welcome?” 

Sam chuckled, “I’m not sure what the appropriate response is either. Hey, pull up the movie trailer for Trinity of Doom again! The sound is way better on your phone.” She smiled when she saw how proud he was of his technology as he pulled it up. 

Several minutes and a debate over which monster is scarier later, there was a brief knock on the door before the doctor walked in. “So, Samantha-” he started.

“Sam.” Tucker and Sam corrected him at the same time. 

“Let me check out your injury.” The doctor set his clipboard down on the counter and bent down to inspect Sam’s ankle. She winced when he started moving it and held Tucker, who looked ready to pounce on the doctor, back as he stood next to her protectively. 

The doctor paused and pursed his lips at the other miscellaneous scrapes and bruises that coated her legs, some looking more healed and some looking fresh. “Samantha, are you sure this has only been a one time occurance? We can talk in private if your boyfriend wants to wait outside.” 

Sam looked at him confused, ignoring his use of her full name. “I don’t understand.” 

“You seem to have more injuries than just a sprained ankle, and they appear to have occurred over different periods of time. Domestic violence is unfortunately pretty common, even amongst teena-”

“Excuse me?!” Sam interrupted.

“We can talk in private if that makes you more comforta-”

“First of all, Tucker is not my boyfriend. Second, minor bruises and cuts hardly count as injuries. Third, what makes you think he would be abusive towards me when he has shown absolutely ZERO signs of being my boyfriend, let alone an abuser?” 

“Well, I mean, he’s, you know, you never know and typically perpetrators are-”

“Black?” Tucker spat angrily. 

“That’s not exactly what I was...I’m just saying that-” The doctor stumbled over his words, clearly embarrassed and trying to avoid a lawsuit.

Tucker opened his mouth to speak again, but Sam beat him to it. “That is so unprofessional and honestly just plain stupid of you to say. I can’t believe someone who is supposed to be smart enough to get through med school and someone who took the hippocratic oath and has to treat a diversity of patients would be so ignorant to racially profile someone and suggest he’s abusive because of the color of his skin. You damn well know that the cuts and bruises I have are as minor as playground injuries, but no, why would a white girl come in here with a black boy if she wasn’t being somehow manipulated into staying in an abusive relationship? I’ll have you know that Tucker is one of the sweetest people I know and he is a person of incredible character, which is something you, an adult and a supposed professional, are not. Now I suggest you think before you speak next and apologize to my friend here right now or I will have a massive Manson family lawsuit hit you and this hospital so hard your ancestors will be feeling it.”

Tucker’s jaw dropped slightly and his eyes were wide, though he shouldn’t have been too surprised that she would scold an adult like that. 

The doctor looked at the girl, who was lighting panting from how much effort she had put into her rant, in shock. He was honestly a little terrified of how much anger she had in her eyes. He looked over at the boy who now held a stoic expression. “M-my deepest apologies, sir.” He didn’t think he could form any other intelligible sentences. 

“Awesome. Now go get me a new doctor to wrap my damn ankle so we can get out of here,” Sam said sternly. The doctor simply nodded, clearly still stupefied, and scrambled out of the room. “The fucking nerve of that guy,” she started again, clearly still furious. She looked back at her friend to see how he was handling the situation. 

He didn’t even need to thank her, gratitude and pride were written all over his face. She shot him a small smile and held her arms out for a hug, which he quickly accepted. “Thanks, Sam.” He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. 

“Any time.” She smiled and pulled back, taking a deep breath as the energy in the room began to settle. Tucker sat down next to her and stared at his shoes for a few moments before glancing around the room and becoming anxious again. Sam quickly whipped out her phone. “Hey did you see this video of a hedgehog taking a bath?” She gave him a comforting smile.

“No, I didn’t.” He smiled back gratefully.

After a new doctor had come in to wrap Sam’s ankle, apologizing profusely to the teens, the nurse from earlier had returned and handed Tucker Sam’s discharge papers. “I left my personal phone number on there in case you have any questions about your friend’s treatment.” Tucker swore she winked at him before helping Sam stand up on her crutches. He only nodded in response and helped Sam out of the hospital, where a cab was already waiting to take them back to Sam’s place. 

“So, Game of Thrones marathon until Danny gets back?” Sam smiled, texting Danny to let her know she was alright and they were heading home. 

“Hell yeah!” 

When they arrived back at Sam’s house, Tucker helped her up the front steps and watched her make her way into the kitchen to pull snacks out. “I’ll order some pizzas, you carry this downstairs and get comfy.” 

Tucker nodded and did as she asked after she insisted she was fine and could manage her way downstairs by herself, especially because her house had an elevator to help her grandma get around. He sat down in his favorite spot in her theater and settled in, feeling incredibly grateful for his best friend and her safety. 

Sam arrived shortly thereafter and pulled up the episode that would continue her and Tucker’s binge. Game of Thrones was dark enough for Sam’s enjoyment, action-packed enough to keep Tucker entertained without his PDA, and nerdy enough for the both of them. Danny never understood the hype. Game of Thrones was something Sam and Tucker shared, the tradition starting up one afternoon when they were waiting on Danny to get out of detention. 

Later, Danny landed in Sam’s basement, glancing at all the junk food scattered across the couch between his friends. “Are you okay Sam?” 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just have to wear this stupid boot for a week. Fortunately it’s not too much bigger than my combat boots, so really what’s the difference.” She smiled.

“Yeah, Sam’s okay, but the doctor isn’t.” Tucker laughed.

“What?” Danny grabbed a soda and sat in the open seat. 

“Sam threatened a doctor today,” Tucker stated proudly. 

“What?!” 

“It’s no big deal,” Sam dismissed it with a flick of her hand. 

“It was a big deal, Danny! She even dropped the Manson name and threatened a lawsuit! It was awesome!” Tucker said excitedly. 

“It was nothing,” Sam said sheepishly. “Tucker got a hot nurse’s number!” 

“Not really, she was just being nice.”

“Oh please! She was totally into you, and you were just radiating that ‘Too Fine’ charm!”

Danny drowned out their conversation and looked back and forth between his friends flabbergasted. He wasn’t even sure which out of character aspect of his two friends he should respond to first. Before he could even gather his thoughts, the two were already sucked back into their show. 

“How awesome is that dragon?!” 

“It’s incredible! The CGI they do is amazing!”

Danny frowned, feeling extremely excluded. Sam and Tucker were friends of course, but these moments where they were more than getting along were few and far between. “Hey guys, I fought a real dragon remember?” They ignored him. “A ghost dragon? A ghost dragon that Sam turned into? That was more awesome, right?!” 

“Uh huh.” 

“Sure, whatever.” 

“The same dragon I fought today?!” No response. 

Danny huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t leaving the two of them alone ever again.

#Sam is a huge Black Lives Matter advocate and you can't change my mind #I tried to do my very best about writing an issue I personally don't face so I hope I did okay and I'm so sorry if it came off as ignorant #I hope you guys like this we just need some good Sam and Tucker friendship fics okay #Danny Phantom #Sam Manson #Tucker Foley #Danny Fenton #trio #stephanie writes sometimes

[ladylynse]

Together: [FF | AO3] “We’ll always be together,” Maddie had promised, but then there was the accident, and they weren’t. Until she came back. Warning: Character death.

Written for the 2019 Phic Phight! Largely based off a prompt by @hauntedjoanns (After a freak lab accident, the Fentons bury Maddie. But she comes back.) but also incorporating one of @quishaphantom‘s prompts (Start and end the fic with the same sentence, the first time it's positive and happy. The second time it's chilling and foreboding.). This is about 6.7 K and is set after The Fright Before Christmas.

Now with some awesome fanart by @dannyphandump!

“We’ll always be together. We’re a family, and we’re Fentons. A silly little feud like this isn’t going to break us apart.” Maddie sat down on the foot of Danny’s bed and smiled at him. “You know that, right, sweetie?”

She thought he didn’t want to talk about what had happened at Christmas, when in reality he’d spent half his time with his friends and the rest in the Ghost Zone celebrating the Christmas Truce—and, on a more personal level, the end of the Ghost Writer’s infernal rhymes. Had he been in his room when she’d first knocked and begun talking to him outside of his door, soothing him, trying to coax him into opening it, she might not have this impression. She’d believed his apology when he’d come back with the presents, but considering she and Jack had run out fairly soon afterwards…. Maybe she thought they’d ruined it for him again, since he’d disappeared for so much of the evening.

He wondered how late it actually was.

He probably should’ve come back sooner, spent more of his Christmas with them, but once he’d gone, the food in the Ghost Zone had been unexpectedly good. It had been real, fresh, and surprisingly not contaminated, unlike everything in the Fenton household. But he could make it up to them tomorrow; he was off school for another week and a half, and all he had to do was find out from Jazz which weapons it was safe to pretend to be interested in. Once he asked about those, maybe agreed to go on a quick patrol with his parents and take down an ectopus or something, they’d believe the truth when he told it: that he really didn’t harbour any hard feelings about how they’d acted all these years, not anymore.

“I know, Mom,” he answered dutifully.

“Sometimes we fight; every family does. And, sometimes, things escalate. And sometimes our dinner is contaminated and gains sentience.” Her lips quirked into another smile, and he smiled, too. There had been too many disasters in the past for them to ignore that. “But we’ll handle each problem as it comes, honey. I promise you; nothing like that will ever separate us. You and Jazz are more precious to us than anything else in this world or the Ghost Zone. We love you both. I don’t want you to think anything is going to get in the way of that, or of our love for each other.”

He just nodded. It wasn’t like he could tell her the truth about why he’d run away—well, the whole truth, anyway—or how he’d come to be surrounded by formerly-possessed Christmas trees or where he’d gotten the presents he’d given to them in the end. It was easier if she believed his behaviour was due to the Christmas feud, of how she and Jack had carried on, of how they’d run out in pursuit of ghosts. Honestly, it was rather sweet that she’d come to reassure him. He just didn’t need the reassurance.

“You can talk to us, honey. About anything.”

She suspected there was more to this. If he brushed her off now, she’d find a way to bring it up again. Danny untangled himself from the covers so he could give his mom a proper hug. “I know,” he repeated, “and I love you guys, too. Like I said before, I overreacted earlier, and I’m sorry. It’s not that I didn’t want to talk to you when you came up tonight; I just fell asleep early. I didn’t hear you right away.” The lie fell easily from his lips, and he forced a laugh as he finished with the truth. “It was a long day.”

“I’ll let you get back to sleep, then.” She kissed his cheek before he had a chance to contemplate escape. “Good night, Danny. I love you.”

“Night, Mom. Love you, too.”

XXXXX

Danny woke to wailing alarms, sleepiness falling away as adrenaline filled him. He transformed—

—and four ecto-energy seeking weapons sprang out of the walls to focus on him. He groaned and changed back before they could fire. Who had activated the Fenton Anti-Creep Mode? His ghost sense had never gone off, so it wasn’t like someone had breached the Fenton Ghost Portal again. He grabbed his ecto-gun off the shelf with his model rockets (he refused to sleep with it under his pillow, despite what his parents wanted) but didn’t even bother shoving his feet into slippers before running into the hallway.

His parents’ bedroom door was open. So was Jazz’s. A quick peek inside both rooms proved that they were empty, as was the bathroom, so Danny started down the stairs. He saw Jack pushing Jazz towards the front door, but before he could open his mouth to ask, one of Jack’s hands had grabbed his and was tugging him down the last of the steps.

“What happened?” Danny asked, twisting to look behind him.

His father’s face was unusually grim. “Outside, you two. Mads and I will deal with this.”

“Deal with what? What’s going on?”

“Wait for us across the street,” Jack said, and then he slammed the door in their faces, leaving them standing on the stoop in their pajamas.

Danny looked at Jazz, who shrugged and rubbed her arms. “Ghost?”

He shook his head. “My ghost sense never woke me up.”

“And it always does?”

“Kinda hard to sleep through a sudden freezing sensation.” Truth was, though, he didn’t know that his ghost sense always woke him up. How could he? He’d still be asleep.

“Maybe it’s a drill, then.” But the alarm was still ringing inside, and Jazz didn’t look convinced. Every other family drill they’d had had come with reminders—never trust a ghost, always remember technology may have been infected, never back yourself into a corner, always keep at least one weapon within arm’s reach, that kind of thing—and it seemed unlikely that they’d stop now.

They’d never had a ghost drill in the middle of the night before, either, for all that his parents had threatened it. He watched some of the lights flick on in the neighbouring houses and realized why. More than one disgruntled face looked out the window before turning away and disappearing into darkness, realizing it was just the Fentons. Again.

“This is probably to keep us on our toes,” Jazz said lightly. She took his ecto-gun from him and shoved it into a pocket in her housecoat—hers was already in the other pocket, judging by the bulge—before crouching in front of him. “Come on; climb on. You’re barefoot, and powers or not, I don’t want to find out if you can lose any toes to frostbite.”

Neither did he, so Danny climbed on her back. She hadn’t given him a piggyback ride in years, but she shuffled across the street and waited under the streetlight. As the wind picked up, bringing with it a few flakes of snow, he could feel her shivering beneath her thin housecoat. He wished there was something he could do to help, but with the possible exception of a ghost shield—

“Cold wind,” Jazz commented after a moment, but her voice was high, wrong, and Danny suddenly realized that she wasn’t shivering; she was shaking.

He clutched her tighter, turning them both intangible except for the soles of her feet and slippers, as if it would help them escape from the chest-constricting feeling that was settling over them.

Something was wrong.

Something he couldn’t stop.

Something she couldn’t fix.

“We have to go back in,” Danny whispered. He didn’t know how long it had been. Too long. It must have already been too long. Their parents should have come out to get them ages ago. They should have—

The alarms finally cut off. He flew them both back across the street, past caring that someone might see. If they did, they’d just explain it away, like they explained away everything else. It was just the Fentons, after all. Just the Fentons, steeped in their paranormal studies again, inventing strange things and talking about it to anyone close enough to listen.

Danny didn’t drop their intangibility until they were safely inside. Jazz was running for the basement lab before his feet even hit the kitchen floor, but he wasn’t far behind her.

The door to the lab wasn’t closed like it usually was, like it was supposed to be, but he took the stairs two at a time without stopping to wonder why. The Christmas Truce was no longer in effect, but the ghosts weren’t that cruel; they wouldn’t have planned something for the moment the Truce ended.

And his ghost sense had never gone off.

“Dad?”

Jazz’s voice sounded strangled, as if she had to force herself to speak. As if she were trying not to cry. Danny caught up to her at the bottom of the stairs and finally let himself look around. The emergency lighting was on, softer lights lining the walls and disappearing up the emergency exit tunnel to the backyard, but he didn’t need the usual harsh fluorescence of the lab to know that something had happened here. Broken glass, splattered ecto-samples, scorch marks along the far wall.

A lingering smell of burnt something, acrid and plasticky and maybe a bit acidic.

“What happened?”

There was definitely panic in Jazz’s voice now.

Danny followed her gaze and swallowed as he recognized the black boots sticking out from behind the examination table. The rest was hidden by his father’s hulking form, but—

“Dad.” Jazz’s voice cracked. “How’s Mom?”

Jack’s shoulders shook, and something inside of Danny twisted.

A choked sob was Jazz’s only answer.

Danny couldn’t swallow the lump in his throat back again as the world blurred.

XXXXXXXX

Jack explained it to them later, as much as he could explain it. Maddie had gone down to the lab to tinker with something. A surprise, she’d called it. Wouldn’t tell him the details, but he had a few guesses, none of which mattered now. Something shorted out. Something got knocked off the shelf. The order of events wasn’t entirely clear, but some of their ecto-samples had been released, and not just the standard ectoplasm ones. Danny was pretty sure Jack had mentioned a suspected hallucinogen, though he wasn’t sure which ghost was supposed to be involved in that. Maybe it wasn’t a ghost at all. He hadn’t realized his parents had ever done a scouting mission into the Ghost Zone, let alone collected some of the native flora, but maybe they had. Or maybe that had been part of his mother’s surprise.

Whatever the exact circumstances, Jack hadn’t been able to save her in the end. Something had gone wrong, something Danny couldn’t stop, something Jazz couldn’t fix, and now—

Jazz put a cup of hot chocolate in front of him.

He hadn’t realized she’d gotten up to make something. Hadn’t noticed her leave her spot at the table, hadn’t heard the kettle’s shrill whistle or the clink of the spoon against the cup. She’d made one for each of them.

She’d made three.

It wasn’t enough.

Danny wrapped his hands around his mug, lifting it to his face to breathe in the steam, but it couldn’t warm him, and his stomach twisted after the first sip.

He didn’t drink the rest. Jack never touched his. By the time Jazz finished hers, it must have been ice cold.

They sat in silence, trying to come to terms with everything, until the phone rang. Jazz jumped up to get it, and Jack shot her a grateful look, and then there was too much to do to sit in silence. There was too much to do to think. Contacting all their relatives, breaking the news to Vlad, talking to the funeral home and getting all those preparations in order, writing the obituary and getting it in the paper, picking up Aunt Alicia from the airport, talking to the florist, the bank, the accountant, the lawyer, the insurance company, finding out who needed to know what and by when and which places needed a death certificate and—

None of them were sleeping.

It was a good thing he didn’t need much sleep anyway.

People kept stopping by to bring them food and their condolences, which was just as well, because Danny didn’t think they could eat any of the food in their house anyway. Not that any of them were hungry. They were too tired to be hungry, stuck in cycles of shock and grief as reality started to sink in. But they did try to eat, since it was there.

The ghosts stayed away, though.

Danny thought he might have Vlad to thank for that, but he didn’t ask.

XXXXXX

A lot of people turned up for the funeral.

Danny didn’t know half of them, but they knew him, and they shook his hand or hugged him or touched his shoulder. In hindsight, it made sense; everyone in town knew the Fentons. But it was weird, seeing all these people show up, all these people being sad for someone he wasn’t sure they’d really known. Sometimes people cried instead of trying to talk to him, and he always got tears in his eyes, too. If he let himself think about it, he cried. He tried to distance himself, tried to distract himself, just to get through it.

He couldn’t remember anything anyone said to him at the funeral.

He had a vague recollection of being at the cemetery, of the cold seeping into his bones, of the wisps of snow skittering across the ground at their feet, of the way the artificial turf didn’t quite cover the mound of dirt that had been displaced. He remembered looking up at one point and seeing Valerie standing there with her dad, and he remembered thinking that she knew what this felt like. Unlike Sam and Tucker, she knew.

He remembered wondering if he could ask her how long the pain would last, but he hadn’t known how to ask the question, and there had been too many people at the reception, anyway.

He’d nibbled at the food on the plate Sam had brought for him, but even when she and Tucker had sat with him at a table, talking more to each other than to him, it hadn’t been enough.

Was any of this his fault, even partially? Had she been doing something in response to how he’d been acting? Had she been hoping to surprise him? Had it really been a freak accident or had it been a targeted attack on her because he was Phantom? Would things have been different if she’d known the truth? His mom had always taken more safety precautions in the lab than his dad, and he knew theirs wasn’t exactly the safest profession to begin with, but—

At least he’d told her he loved her. At least he had that. But he hadn’t spent…. He’d left them, left them all, when he shouldn’t have, and she’d thought…. She’d…. If only he’d….

Danny cried himself to sleep that night.

Again.

XXXXXX

When Danny woke, it took him a few seconds to orient himself. He was in his room, of course, in bed, but he couldn’t remember falling asleep. It had been after three in the morning when he’d last looked at the clock and sworn to himself that he wouldn’t look at it again, and—

Bright red numbers informed him that it was half past six. It was still dark outside. The house was quiet. He couldn’t remember dreaming. He wondered dumbly what had woken him.

And then a shiver ran through him, and he coughed, and he realized his grace period was over.

He wasn’t ready for normal, wasn’t ready for any semblance of normal, but the ghosts weren’t going to wait any longer.

Danny grabbed the ecto-gun off the shelf, picked up the thermos he’d started storing next to it, and shuffled his slippers onto his feet.

He didn’t want to fight.

But he didn’t want to lose anyone else, either.

And maybe it would just be the Box Ghost, and Danny could give him some cereal boxes and send him over to Vlad’s to look for more and be done with it. He shouldn’t, considering Vlad had agreed to put up Aunt Alicia and take her back to the airport in the morning, but Vlad would just call Valerie anyway. Frankly, Danny was happy to leave the ghost hunting to Valerie for a while.

Something fell. Shattered, from the sound of it. Maybe it was the Box Ghost after all. Or Technus after the toaster again. Or the Lunch Lady, stocking up on semi-sentient meat. Danny headed downstairs and walked towards the kitchen. He didn’t want to do this, but Jack and Jazz hadn’t been sleeping well, either, and if he could deal with this before either of them woke up—

He crossed over the threshold of the kitchen, blinked, and froze.

It was a cloudy night. Some light from the streetlamps spilled inside, but he didn’t need that to be sure of what he was seeing. Ghosts always had their own glow, however subtle, and it was his ghost sense which had woken him up. Even running on very little sleep, Danny knew there was no mistaking what he saw.

Maddie stood over the shards of her glass mixing bowl, and when she looked up at him, she smiled. “Hi, sweetie,” she called softly.

He took a step back.

“Did I wake you? I just wanted to make some cookies.”

He took another step back.

“Did you want some water? Let me get you some water.”

She glided smoothly over broken glass to the cupboard by the sink, and after a moment’s concentration, she had a glass in her hand and was fighting to grasp the tap, to turn it on and fill a glass of water for him.

He was halfway up the stairs when he heard running water, and he didn’t look back.

XXXXXXX

They didn’t talk about it. There was no screaming, no crying, no denials. No one drew any weapons, either.

Not even Jack.

She’d made sure they didn’t have any weapons left to draw.

None of them had ventured into the lab until her return, but she had, probably that first night. As far as Danny could tell, what she couldn’t destroy, she’d simply tossed into the Ghost Zone. Whether the genetic lock recognized her or whether she simply used her knowledge of it to get around all the protocols, he didn’t know. He did know that she’d deactivated the Fenton Anti-Creep Mode, probably at the same time she’d stolen his dad’s arsenal and swiped his sister’s ecto-gun and thermos.

She hadn’t found his yet, despite watching him carefully behind a too-sharp smile.

She didn’t know he’d hidden them in his bedroom wall that first night.

She still didn’t know he could.

She must have never talked to any of the other ghosts. Not that he thought they’d talk to her, except maybe Plasmius, but Vlad didn’t know or he’d be here. He’d probably come even knowing this wasn’t really Maddie anymore; he’d just be desperate to see her one last time. But he wouldn’t come without knowing, and as far as Danny could tell, the other ghosts were still avoiding the Real World—or at least avoiding his little corner of it.

He’d even tried calling Cujo, to no avail. Either Cujo hadn’t heard him or he couldn’t get through whatever Maddie had reconfigured to keep other ghosts out. There was definitely something. Danny kept hitting a barrier, presumably the Fenton Ghost Shield, every time he tried to phase all the way through an outside wall. Trying to phase through the ground didn’t work, either; whatever it was passed through the earth, too, which might be what was messing with Cujo’s ability to create portals if he had heard Danny’s call.

Intentional trap or not, it meant Danny couldn’t sneak messages out that way. Or any way, really, considering Maddie had destroyed their computer, their phones, and everything else she thought they might ultimately use against her. Since their routines had been so disrupted, no one was going to question this. Even Sam and Tucker had been trying to give him space, sending only the occasional message to check up on him with assurances that he didn’t have to answer right away and promises that they’d be there if he ever wanted to do something, whether that involved talking about what had happened or avoiding the subject at all costs. Not hearing from him for a few days would have been weird before, but not now.

It was…strange. They were all walking on eggshells, trying to adjust, trying to figure out the boundaries without pushing too far. They didn’t know what the consequences would be, not yet, but they still feared them. Feared this. Feared what Maddie had become.

Danny was finally beginning to appreciate some of his parents’ theories on ghosts.

Then again, ghosts were as much a culmination of people’s beliefs around the afterlife, around ghosts, as they were people’s spirits and echoes of their lives.

And Maddie had believed ghosts had obsessions.

She had believed they didn’t feel pain.

She had believed they had no true emotions, merely masks, and that they were expert manipulators.

She had believed they couldn’t be trusted.

Some of that certainly held true now, but he didn’t yet know how much.

Danny lay in his bed with his eyes closed. Not pretending to sleep—she wouldn’t believe that—but content to use it as an excuse to think. She was watching him. He knew that. She was watching him the most closely of all, probably because she’d come to realize she could trust him the least.

Danny wasn’t sure, if it came down to it, if Jack would be able to fight her. She was a ghost, but she was his wife. That might change things, just as knowing he was Phantom might change things, if he ever gave it the chance. It wasn’t quite the same—she was dead, a proper ghost; she had no body, no human side to embrace, not anymore—but for every fear he’d ever had about them finding out, he now found himself thinking that the opposite would happen here. They wouldn’t have attacked him for being Phantom, and Jack wouldn’t attack Maddie now.

Even if he had the opportunity, even knowing what he did, he’d hesitate.

She’d know what to say to make him hesitate.

And then she’d act before he could, and the opportunity would be lost.

Jazz wouldn’t be any better. He could pass a weapon to her without explaining how he still had it, but she was trying to get through to their mom. To talk to her. Remind her of who she really was, not this façade, this shadow. Jazz wouldn’t want to attack until she was convinced it was too late, and if he talked to her about this, she’d just ask for him to give her time.

He wasn’t concerned about keeping his secret from his dad anymore; he just wanted to keep it a secret from his mom. It was the only advantage they had. Telling Jack anything now just ran the risk of Maddie finding out, especially since Jack wasn’t great at subtle.

It would be different if Maddie hadn’t changed. But for all that the ghost of his mother smiled at them and baked batch after batch of cookies, the ghost wasn’t his mom. Not really.

There was a thump across the hall. Jazz. Danny opened his eyes, climbed out of bed, and met her in the hallway. Her eyebrows rose a fraction, and he gave his head a minute shake. It wasn’t safe to talk. Maddie was listening.

Jazz risked reaching for the front door handle, but Danny wasn’t surprised when her hand fell away and she kept pace with him into the living room. The doors in the house weren’t locked, per se, but they wouldn’t open, either. Neither did the windows. No doubt the Fenton Ops Centre was locked down as tightly as the Fenton Ghost Portal—and, presumably, the emergency exit to the backyard.

Jack looked up from his needlework. “You kids all right?” The stitches Danny could see were tiny, tight, but he wasn’t much farther along than he had been last time Danny had looked. Likely as not, he kept picking them out.

“We’re great, Dad,” Jazz chirped, but her eyes told the real story.

They were a family of ghost hunters trapped in their own home by a ghost who had been one of them, who knew their usual tricks. Jazz hadn’t been making any progress with her psychology, Jack seemed at a loss for what to do, Danny wasn’t sure of the best plan of attack and couldn’t discuss it with either of them, and she was afraid.

“Isn’t this wonderful?” Maddie asked, materializing as Danny and Jazz sat down on the sofa. “We need to spend more time together, as a family. We’re better this way.”

It didn’t even sound like her anymore.

Danny had thought, if there were a change, that it would be gradual. Time deteriorated all things, even memories. But this was…. She’d never seemed like herself since she’d come back. Maybe not all of her had come back.

“It’s nice to have quality family time,” Jazz agreed carefully. “Too many people have trouble keeping their lives balanced.”

The smile that had been fixed on Maddie’s face faltered. “Oh, sweetie, don’t worry. We’ll make up for lost time. I promise.”

Jazz swallowed and glanced at Danny. He pretended not to see.

“We’re making do,” Jack said. “We…we still have food we can eat.”

As opposed to food they couldn’t eat, like the Christmas oranges the cookies had infected yesterday. Danny had nearly had to reveal himself then and there, until Jazz had fished the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick out of her closet and, between that and Jack’s golf clubs, they’d turned the oranges into pulp and trapped the remains in jars.

Maddie had been suspiciously absent for the entire incident.

“You haven’t finished my cookies.” Maddie’s tone was light, but she was watching their reactions, frowning slightly at every grimace. Danny wasn’t sure if she was intentionally contaminating every batch or not. He hadn’t figured out what she wanted.

Aside from trapping them all inside, she hadn’t given them a lot of clues. Revenge for what had happened to her? As far as he knew, it had been a freak accident—not even the sort carelessness could cause, like not cleaning the ecto-filter on the portal. Unfinished business? Maybe, except ghost hunting had been the family business, and destroying their weapons so they couldn’t be used against her, while beneficial to her continued existence in the Real World, wasn’t conducive to achieving that goal and moving on. He hoped she didn’t want him and Jazz to take up ghost hunting more wholeheartedly than either of them had, but if that was her goal and the reason she was trying to keep them here….

“Just don’t have much of a sweet tooth lately,” Jazz murmured. None of them had tried their hand at cooking a meal yet, but Danny knew they were running out of gifted casseroles—albeit more because they kept getting contaminated than because they were being eaten. Maddie wasn’t exactly careful in the kitchen anymore, but he knew how hard it could be to learn to control new powers. He doubted it was much easier for her than it had been for him, especially since she was spending all her time in the Real World.

Still, they’d have to act soon. Three days of being a prisoner in his own home, and his skin was constantly crawling.

Cold flooded through him, and Danny shivered. “You’re being awfully quiet, sweetie,” his mother said.

“I was just thinking,” he muttered, not meeting her eyes.

“Aren’t you happy? We’re a family again.”

Danny’s head shot up. Was that all it was? Was that what this was? He wished he could discuss it with Jazz—she’d know in a heartbeat; she probably already had a guess—but all he could do now was search Maddie’s face. She was smiling again, and it was more than her usual mask. Cruelness twisted on the edge of it, and her eyes…. He hadn’t seen them look so cold when she’d been alive, even when she’d been cheerfully informing them that ghosts didn’t feel pain.

Maddie stepped back, but the cold didn’t diminish, some combination of her presence and his ghost sense and who knew what else. “You don’t think we’re a family,” she concluded, and her gaze focused on Jack and Jazz. “Do any of you think we’re still a family?”

Even Danny knew their pause was too long, their assurances too late.

Shadows danced across the drawn curtains as the light in the room pulled away and dimmed. Jazz didn’t even look at him, knowing full well he wasn’t the cause. Her gaze was fixed on Maddie. This was the first time she’d openly displayed any of her new powers, and which ones she had would give them the best clues as to what had happened.

“I’ll just have to prove it to you, then,” she said, and Danny heard a thump from the kitchen. He jumped to his feet, and Jazz screamed, and Jack was looking around for something to use as a weapon—

There was something in here with them, something besides Maddie, but he couldn’t spot it, and he was so cold now that he wasn’t sure he’d have noticed his ghost sense going off. Could Maddie really control light and shadows or was there some sort of mutual agreement between her and a shadow ghost, not unlike what Johnny 13 and Shadow had? But when would she have made one—when could she have made one—and who would make such a deal with her without even telling her who he really was? If they’d planned to double cross her—

“Look out!” Jazz shrieked, and she tackled him. Something exploded overhead, showering them with sparks, and then he could smell smoke, and burning cloth, burning hair, and fire crackled and heat swelled and his eyes were smarting, and Jack was yelling at them to get to the door—

And then there was nothing.

“This is what I’m protecting you from,” Maddie said as Jazz rolled off his back and climbed tentatively to her feet. He sat up but stayed on the floor. His eyes were watering. Smoke and ash still stung his nostrils and hung on his tongue. But the heat was gone, and the earlier cold, and he was more convinced than ever that his ghost sense hadn’t gone off.

Not for someone besides his mother, anyway.

He thought he knew what this was now. He’d met enough ghosts that worked with illusions, or near enough, and if Jack was right about what he thought had happened….

“It’s not safe outside,” she continued. “Not anymore. When I broke through, when I came back…. They followed me. They got out, and now they’re trying to get all of you. I won’t let that happen.”

“I’ll fight—”

“You can’t,” Maddie interrupted, cutting off Jack before he could begin his argument. “Not these ghosts. You’re a terrible shot, honey.”

“Not when it comes to protecting my family,” he replied, lifting his head.

“That’s all I’m doing,” she answered. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. And now I can do it properly. You’ll all stay here, and you’ll stay safe. Now, I’ll bring in those cookies in case anyone decides their sweet tooth is back.”

Danny caught Jazz’s eye as Maddie left the room and risked a tiny nod. He didn’t have a plan, not really, but she’d follow his lead, and Jack would catch on soon enough. They needed to move before things got worse, before Maddie got stronger.

While she was preoccupied in the kitchen, Danny slipped upstairs.

XXXXXX

Danny didn’t know if Maddie had any sort of ghost sense. If she knew of his ghost powers, she certainly hadn’t let on. Then again, he’d barely used his ghost powers since her return. Until now.

He wasn’t as good as Vlad when it came to duplicating himself—he couldn’t hold a duplicate very long in ghost mode, let alone in human form—and he risked giving the game away faster if he tried sending one downstairs as a stand-in. He didn’t need it disappearing mid-sentence. Instead, he’d let Jazz cover for him, like she always had before.

Danny turned invisible the moment he was out of sight, though he stayed tangible until he needed to grab the weapons he’d stowed away. He stayed this way as he flew back to the living room and pressed the thermos into Jazz’s hands. She shifted, subtly pointing to the pillow resting against the arm of the couch, and he slipped it behind that instead as Maddie returned with a plate of chocolate chip cookies that emitted a faint green glow.

Danny steered clear of her as he edged toward Jack, but he needn’t have worried. Maddie stopped in her tracks when she noticed his absence. The room grew colder again.

“Danny just ran to the washroom,” Jazz offered before Maddie asked. Maddie looked in the direction of the upstairs bathroom, frowning slightly. Danny shivered even though he was certain she didn’t know—yet—that he wasn’t actually up there.

Maddie’s lips thinned, and Jazz glanced at Jack before snagging Maddie’s attention again. Danny took the opening for what it was. “Trust me,” he murmured in Jack’s ear as he slipped the ecto-gun into one of the side pockets of his dad’s suit. To Jack’s credit, he jerked but didn’t say anything—maybe because he recognized the familiar weight of what had become forbidden weaponry.

Danny sneaked back upstairs, flushing the toilet and running the tap for good measure, before joining the others in the living room again. Maddie didn’t smile when she saw him. Whether or not she knew the truth, she didn’t believe the lie. She’d be expecting something.

“Are you feeling okay, sweetie?” she asked, half turning towards him.

Danny opened his mouth to repeat his usual lie—I’m fine—when he saw Jack draw the ecto-gun and flip off the safety. Maddie was turning back to him even before it finished powering up, but she surely wasn’t expecting the pillow Jazz threw at her or she’d have phased through it.

The distraction was enough for the ecto-gun’s whine to reach its climax. Jack fired. Danny ducked and shot off an ectoblast for good measure. Maddie had also managed to avoid Jack’s blast, but she hadn’t been anticipating his when she’d thought him unarmed. It caught her in the side and threw her across the room. He rolled and transformed, figuring he’d withstand anything she retaliated with better in ghost mode and not wanting to be in the same spot by the time she recovered enough to send something at him. Just because he hadn’t seen her use a ghost ray, didn’t mean she couldn’t.

When Danny came back up in a crouch, the world was thick with smoke. Turning intangible helped—it was easier to breathe, the smoke didn’t sting anymore, and he couldn’t feel any heat from the flames which had sprung up—but it didn’t give him his sight lines back. Jazz and Jack were lost in choking darkness, and Maddie was far enough away that he couldn’t spot her, either. He knew this couldn’t be real, but he also had no idea how he was supposed to see through an illusion like this.

There wasn’t fire, just as there wasn’t really smoke, so trying to do anything to fight it wouldn’t get him anywhere. He’d do more harm than good. But she could have easily removed herself from view in a world spun of her own illusions, and if he didn’t do something—

The world filled with blinding light, and then everything was dark.

XXXX

Reality snapped back into place when the thermos left Jazz’s hands. “Wh…what…?”

“It seems someone’s been keeping secrets,” Maddie said, tucking the thermos under her arm. Jazz’s eyes darted around the room, her heart sinking when she couldn’t spot her little brother. True, there was a chance he was hiding again and biding his time, but….

But that didn’t seem likely, given that Maddie held the thermos and the ecto-gun Jack had used was in pieces on the carpet. Jack was staring blankly at the remains, and Jazz didn’t know if he was shocked to find out he’d spent the last few days living with two ghosts or if he was still lost in Maddie’s illusions.

That’s what it had to be. It was rare for a ghost not to have some power related to either the means of their death or their obsession, particularly a ghost who could keep their form and interact with the Real World for as long as Maddie had. She didn’t have Spectra’s years of practice, and Jazz doubted she’d opened the Fenton Ghost Portal since coming through it from the other side. It was too risky for her to leave such an obvious hole in their defenses, even if she hadn’t known of Danny’s dual nature or Vlad’s personal portal.

Jazz had tried overriding the security system of the Ops Centre last night. She’d tried crawling out through a vent the night before, thinking it a less obvious choice. But while the air could get through, she could not. And Danny couldn’t have had any luck with anything he had tried, either, or he’d have let her know. Somehow.

And Jack….

Jazz swallowed.

Jack hadn’t hesitated before taking a shot at Maddie at the first opportunity.

She hoped he hadn’t merely been acting on old instincts. If this was an indication that he might not accept Danny—

“We’re supposed to be a family,” Maddie said. Jazz flinched at her sharp tone, but Jack looked over, and Jazz edged closer to her father. She’d have to figure out how to get the thermos back later. She’d have to— “Do you not want to be a family, now that things have changed?”

Jazz knew better than to answer that question. Jack frowned, but he kept quiet, too.

“I’ll admit this was a surprise—” here Maddie tapped her finger on the thermos’s lid “—but it works in our favour, really. Danny will come over sooner or later. I’ll just keep him safe in here until you two have come over to my side.”

“To your side?” Jack growled. “You can’t pretend we’re a family when this is what you do.”

Maddie’s smile was all wrong. “You know exactly which side I mean, honey.”

Jazz’s breath hitched. Maddie might not be able to cut off their air supply, but it wouldn’t be difficult for her to contaminate the rest of their food. She might be able to taint their water, too. She might—

“You’ll see things from my perspective soon enough,” Maddie continued. Her tone made it clear that she didn’t intend to give them a choice. Jazz tried to remember if she still had a Fenton Lipstick sewn into Bearbert or if she’d forgotten to replace it the last time half his stuffing had been ripped out. She’d have to check.

Providing she ever had the opportunity.

With Maddie’s apparent control of illusion, with her ability to bend their perspective of reality, Jazz couldn’t even be sure this much was real.

“We’re family, after all, and I’m going to do what’s best for you. For all of you.” Maddie stroked the thermos before looking up at the two of them. Her eyes held no love for them; they were filled instead with possessiveness, with obsession. Their hardness kept Jazz rooted in place, terrified of what a misstep might mean now that Danny was trapped. “We can be a family of ghosts instead of a family of ghost hunters. I’ll do whatever’s needed to make that happen. Don’t worry. We’ll always be together.”

(see more fics | my phight phics | that fanart for this fic you should see)

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[grandfather-time]

Time to Say Good-Bye

((Remember this? I suggest listening to something like this while reading.))

The sound of fabric rubbing together momentarily blocked out the sound of ticking as Dan picked at something on one of his gloves. He’d long since escaped his thermos, and Clockwork had let him stay at the clock tower so long as he didn’t destroy it or go messing around with time. Considering both that Dan liked being free and his existence was now tied to the timeless citadel, he begrudgingly avoided doing so.

Today, it was just Dan and Clockwork in the clock tower since Danny wasn’t visiting. Clockwork wasn’t the most talkative person by himself, and Dan wasn’t a conversationalist. Which meant that it was quiet. Dan was fine with that. Lounging in the top of the relatively stationary gears of the clock tower picking at his gloves was fine by him.

“Dan, I’m going to visit Danny,” cut through the silence. He looked down at Clockwork, who was floating in front of one of his screens. Pictures of Danny, his friends, and Clockwork over the years adorned the console below it. A few even included Dan. “Would you like to come with me?”

Dan thought on it for a moment. Most often, Clockwork didn’t care if he came along. In fact, normally he left right after telling Dan that he was leaving. Clockwork also never made a move to stop Dan from leaving unless something was going to happen.

Now that he thought about it, it was an odd time for Clockwork to ask him to join. Some years ago, before Dan had escaped the thermos, Danny had taken a selfie with Clockwork and printed it out to keep in his wallet. One week ago, Clockwork had asked for it, and had had the photo since. And just now he was going to visit Danny.

Clockwork knew something.

Dan flicked the thing off his glove. “Why not, at least it’ll give me something interesting to do.” Then he got up and flew down beside Clockwork.

Clockwork took his hand. A swing of that iconic staff, and they were surrounded by blue energy that made it feel like they were inside an actual clock. It almost looked like there were numbers and hands around them.

The next moment, they were inside a hospital room. Both of them were invisible. In front of them sat a bed with an old man on it. He had a few IVs in his arms, and several leads presumably stuck to his chest to monitor his heart. All he wore was a standard hospital gurney with a blanket on top of him. The monitor behind him beeped steadily, though the man’s heartbeat was weak.

Dan recognized his hair first. It was grey, but it was still that same reverse mullet. It was his younger self. It was Danny. Danny certainly wasn’t young now, but due to time travel mechanics, Dan was still-and would forever be-ten years older than Danny.

He didn’t recall Danny looking this frail last time. His hair had been grey and his skin wrinkled, but Danny had looked strong and ready to kick ass last week. He’d been spry. Now his eyes and cheeks were sunken, his skin was pale, and what could be seen of his arms was thin. It surprised Dan to see himself in any form like this. It surprised him even more that such a change had seemingly happened in just a week.

A cloud of blue mist left Danny’s mouth in the same moment a cold chill had passed through Dan’s sinuses and exited his nostrils as a red mist. Ghost sense. Danny glanced around, then his body tensed as he gripped the bed. A familiar white ring formed around his torso, crackling a moment before Danny  grimaced and turned to his ghost self.

The heart monitor’s beeping greatly increased.

“I may be old, but I’m still up for a fight, ghost!” He was still willing to fight. He was so weak, and yet he was willing to risk his life and fight. It almost made Dan smile.

Clockwork let go of Dan’s hand, holding his own up in surrender as he let his invisibility wear off. “No need to worry, Danny.”

Danny breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Clockwork. He grinned as the white ring appeared once more, and he quickly changed back to his human form. The monitor’s beeping eased. “Oh, it’s just you, Clockwork. You gave me a scare for a moment.”

“Myself and a friend,” Clockwork corrected, motioning over to Dan. Dan took that as his cue, and let his own invisibility fade as he idly crossed his arms. Danny’s smile vanished. Apparently after all this time, Danny still didn’t trust him.

“Relax, worm,” Dan told him before the heart monitor could start racing again, “we’re only here to visit. Besides,” he motioned to Clockwork, “I’ve got a chaperone.”

That got Danny to laugh. “Some hundred years old and you still need a chaperone, huh Dan?” Old as he was, Danny’s attitude hadn’t aged a day.

“At least I listen to him.”

“Hey, give me credit where it’s due. I started listening to Clockwork!”

“Only after I took you in,” Clockwork chimed in, shifting to his elderly form. Then he rose a hand. “But Dan’s right. We’re only here for a visit.”

Danny pointed a finger towards the door. “Well, you just missed the nurse.”

“That’s fine. We don’t plan to stay very long.”

Danny gave him a knowing smile. “Clockwork, you know guests are supposed to sign in. Even if they’re ghosts now.”

Clockwork smiled. “Only if they know we’re here.”

He arched an eyebrow in response. “Alright, Clockwork, why’re you here?”

“I just thought you’d want some company, and I didn’t want to get stuck in the lobby waiting to sign in.”

“Yeah, and my feet are green.”

“Technically,” Clockwork pointed to Dan, “they are in one timeline.”

Dan rolled his eyes in response, proceeding to look at the rest of the room. It was that obnoxious hospital white tile. It looked so boring and sterile. It felt sterile. And it smelled horrible. “It smells like death in here.” And Dan would know what that smelled like.

“Hey, at least it smells better than that cola’d ectoplasm that gave cheesehead his powers.” Danny chuckled to himself a little. “It smelled five times worse than this.”

Clockwork crossed his arms. Though his tone was stern, he was still smiling. “You wouldn’t have smelled it i you’d listened to me in the first place, child.”

“Hey, it was a great learning experience for me.”

“And you still tried to ask me to keep changing the past after I fixed the time stream.”

“It never hurts to ask. The first time I ever asked you anything, you gave me what I wanted.”

“You asked my name.”

Danny smiled sheepishly. “It was an important question at the time.”

Clockwork shrugged in response. “I suppose it was. At the very least, it set you on the right path.”

Danny laughed a bit, eyes sliding towards Dan. A soft, “Uh,” came out of his mouth. Though he didn’t say it, both ghosts clearly saw he wanted to ask, “Is that really a good idea to say around Dan?”

So Dan placed a hand on his chest and answered Danny’s question with a grin. “I acknowledge I’m not the most ‘good’ turnout of you that exists.”

Danny gave a few chuckles before quieting down. His eyes scanned the ceiling for a moment, as if he was searching for something. “Hey, Clockwork, you see everything, right?” The time master nodded in response. “You remember when Technus got into Doomed, right?”

“Yes.” He shifted back to his adult form. “Your friend Tucker didn’t recognize him somehow and nearly doomed technology by telling him he could access the internet after completing the game.”

“Yeah. And I had to retake that test.” A smile crossed his lips. “But we beat him ‘cause Technus wouldn’t stop talking.”

“He’s quite fond of hearing himself talk.”

“Sometimes I miss those long speeches he used to give. From his initial escape, to Doomed, and then when he drained the city of power. I’m surprised he wasn’t loud and all on Christmas.”

“I’m sure he’d be glad to give you one of his famous Technus speeches now.”

Danny shook his head. “He’d make me fall asleep faster than Mr. Lancer’s lectures used to.” Then he turned his attention to Dan, who in turn looked up. “Was he like that with you, too?”

Dan scoffed. “Yes. He was always the master of annoyingly loud lectures about himself. You would not believe how many times I beat him simply from interrupting his megalomaniac speeches.”

The man shook his head. “I guess some things never change.” A moment passed as Danny took a long breath and traveled down memory lane. “Remember when I got those chills and Undergrowth sent me flying over to Frostbite?”

Clockwork once again nodded. “You were surprised to learn the core of your being radiated ice. It was quite amusing.”

“I didn’t know much about ghosts back then. Cut me some slack. How was I supposed to know being cold and breathing mist was a part of my core being?”

“You could have asked any primordial ghost about that. We’re not unfamilar with ghosts having some kind of element at the core of their being.”

“I wouldn’t have known it was at the time.” When Clockwork didn’t offer him a reply, Danny was glad the time ghost had at least granted him that much. Then he turned his attention back to Dan. “How come you never got chills?”

“I’ll be honest,” the ghost held his hand out, a small grin appearing on his face again as a small flame ignited above it, “I have no idea.” Dan then clenched his hand into a fist, smothering the flame and briefly filling the room with the smell of ash and smoke.

“Alright, show off,” was all Danny said in reply.

Suddenly, light filled the room in the form of little tiny points along the walls and ceiling. Dan glanced around before both he and Clockwork looked towards a tiny machine sitting beside Danny’s bed.

Noticing their looks, Danny began to explain. “I told one of the nurses that I missed looking at the stars. Word must’ve gotten out to the ghosts since a few of them brought this the next day. Technus made it, with Ember helping with the colors and Nocturne helping with the details. It turns on at six so I can see the stars.” He then looked at Dan again, displeased. “Of course, the glow from your hair kinda...offsets part of it.”

His immediate response was, “I’m not dampening my hair for this.”

The heart monitor began to speed up again. Clockwork raised a hand, shifting to his elderly form again. “Take a deep breath, Danny. Don’t let him rile you up.”

The man gave Clockwork a look, and for a moment it looked like he wouldn’t listen. Then he closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath before opening his eyes again. Danny smiled for a moment. “It reminds me of when I used to watch the stars. I’d lay on the grass, or climb on a building and watch from a telescope.

“Sam and Tucker used to watch with me a lot. They were never as interested as I was, but they watched with me anyway. Jazz would, too, on occasion. Mom and dad even watched the stars with me once when I was little.” Danny seemed to lean even further back into his bed and pillow somehow as he sighed at the pleasant memories.

Dan was quiet. He remembered it all, too. He remembered all those years ago, back before he’d escaped, back before he’d fought Danny, back before he’d lost everyone in the explosion, that he gazed at the stars with his friends and family, too. He remembered the late nights watching the universe pass overhead. He remembered the conversations and teasing over wishes made on falling stars. He remembered the drinks of hot chocolate and tea as they theorized and wondered about the night. He remembered Jack and Maddie hoisting him up on their shoulders to show him the night sky. He remembered all of it.

Something deep, deep in his being resonated. There was no emotion, but there was a hollow ring of one, an echo of sorts awoken by these memories. An echo held by these memories he once considered so precious and now didn’t know what to do with.

It almost made him feel something.

Suddenly, Danny’s smile faded. “But they’re all gone now. ‘Been dead for years. I miss them, you know?”

Clockwork drifted over, setting a hand on Danny’s shoulder for comfort. “They’re gone, and that’s hard to deal with. But you have memories of them, Danny. Happy memories. Relish in that.”

“Yeah,” the half ghost mused to himself, “I guess you’re right, Clockwork.” Then he smiled. “I remember once we spent a hundred dollars on a telescope that didn’t even work. Jazz got so worked up about it.” Danny began to laugh.

Then he began to cough. It shook his whole body. It rattled and tore at his throat. The bed trembled. The heart monitor quickly began to race.

Clockwork pulled his hand away as the coughing subsided. “Danny,” he began, voice a tad quieter than usual, “why not take my hand? For luck.” He offered Danny his free hand. Danny contemplated it for a moment or two. Then he, grip weak, carefully took Clockwork’s hand in his own.

Then Clockwork smiled at him. “Why not take Dan’s as well? It never hurt to have a little more luck.” Both stared at him in bewilderment. The two of them still didn’t get along. And didn’t most movies about this say they’d explode? But Dan had touched Danny before and nothing had happened.

Hesitantly, Dan walked over. Danny slowly wiggled his other arm free, and the two held hands.

Danny’s expression turned serious. “Clockwork, I know you’re not here for no reason. I want you to be honest. Am I going to be okay?”

The time ghost closed his eyes, still smiling. “You’re going to be fine, Danny.” He opened his eyes once more. “You’re going to be just fine.”

The man smiled longingly in return, almost like he didn’t believe it. “Thanks, Clockwork.”

For a moment, they smiled warmly at each other while Dan watched, and it briefly occurred to him that a father was watching his child with pride. Then Clockwork glanced at his glove. “Oh.” He pulled a small slip of paper out from under it and showed it to Danny. “Speaking of memories.”

Danny’s eyes widened. “The selfie I kept in my wallet. You-you kept it.” Clockwork’s grin was enough of a reply as he shifted back to his adult form. “No fair, you two haven’t aged a day.”

“We’re special cases. Other ghosts age, just slower than humans.”

Something caught Dan’s attention. He looked up at the heart monitor. Its pace began to slow as the bumps signaling the pumping of the heart’s chambers shrank a little more with each beat. He glanced back at Danny.

The half ghost looked back up at the starry ceiling, mind drifting towards the future. When he spoke again, his voice was much quieter. “Man, when I get free of this place and I’m not sick anymore, I’m going to fly around space and explore a bunch of new worlds.”

Clockwork chuckled to himself. “Perhaps we’ll meet again in a different world, then.”

“Yeah...” Danny sank back into the bed as he closed his eyes, sighing in content. “That’d be nice...”

Suddenly there was a loud ringing that nearly made Dan flinch. He looked over at the heart monitor. The line was flat. Dan’s eyes widened. He looked back at Danny. The man was still. Completely still. And still smiling.

He looked over at Clockwork, who hadn’t even glanced towards the monitor. The time ghost simply let go of Danny’s hand and slipped the photo back under his glove. And that’s when it hit Dan. “You knew. You knew he was going to die now.”

Clockwork only nodded.

He’d said Danny was going to be fine knowing full well the half ghost would die here. He’d said they would meet again in a different world. Clockwork hadn’t been wrong; he’d lied to Danny’s face. Deceived him. With a smile. Somehow, in some way, Dan felt deeply betrayed.

A fire of rage began to build within his chest. He let go of Danny’s hand, fist clenching as he bared his teeth in a snarl. “You lied to him.”

“Yes, I lied.” The time ghost turned towards him, and for the first time in all the years he’d been free of the thermos, Dan witness the years and weight Clockwork carried with him in his red eyes. Though he tried to mask it, he was clearly exhausted and in pain. For once, it made Dan consider just how hard his job as the Master of Time really was.

Clockwork continued, “I would rather him die happy than die with despair. He was often alone in life; I didn’t want him to feel alone in death.”

And with that, the fire of rage died. Dan still felt betrayed, but he couldn’t blame Clockwork when he explained why. After all, When Dan had lost his family, the grief had caused him to become this. A small lie wasn’t much in comparison, was it?

He looked around. “Well, where is he?”

“You won’t find him here,” Clockwork answered him. “His soul moved on.”

Oh. Danny was gone. He really was gone for good. Dan didn’t know what to think of that. Dan hadn’t cared for Danny-he couldn’t feel love anymore-but Danny had been an interesting person to keep around. His reactions and attitude had always kept Dan entertained the most.

And he was gone.

He looked to Clockwork again. “Will we ever see him again?”

The Master of Time shook his head. “He’s in an entirely different world now. Maybe you will some day, but until time ends, Danny and I will never cross paths.”

The funeral was held the next day. The entire city gathered to mourn the loss of their hero. Ghosts of all kind gathered as well to mourn both a friend and valiant fighter. Even some of The Observants came, their eyes red as they threatened to drip with tears. Vortex kept the sky overcast, not too sunny but not raining, either. Ember and her band played songs of mourning while everyone arrived.

Ghost Writer stepped up to the podium beside Danny’s casket right as Clockwork and Dan appeared on the edge of the crowd from a blue clock-like portal. He rubbed an eye, setting a sheet of paper down. He hesitated. Then, voice strong and steady, he began.

“Citizens of Amity Park and The Ghost Zone, we gather here to day to mourn the loss of Daniel Fenton. Or better known to many of us, Danny Phantom. He was a valiant and relentless hero, fighting to keep this city safe, and in the end, Earth and The Ghost Zone as well. He fought not just for humans, but ghosts as well. Look around you.

“Many of us started off on the wrong foot. Years ago, all of us would have been fighting. Ghosts and ghost catchers would have been at each others throats. This park would have been leveled before I would have a chance to step up here. Now, thanks to his actions, we stand here together in peace, untied as one to celebrate and mourn the death of our hero and friend.

“Numerous eulogies have called their people brave, but Danny had true courage. He faced ghosts that had mastered their powers for years that were far stronger than he was to save his loved ones. He risked his life, his well being, his sanity, to keep others safe. Even when his friends and family died, he continued risking his life for everyone.

“If I ask you to think of a time Danny flew in to save you or your friend, or your family member, I guarantee you can think of at least two. If I ask you to think of a time Danny saved this city or this world, you can think of one. Has he not always been the hero we need?

“Danny was also kind. Despite fighting us ghosts, in the end he heard what we had to say, and put in motion the plans for us to walk here with humans peacefully. He learned to listen to us. He helped us learn how to live with humans. He stood as our ambassador. He cared for everyone here. He cared for everyone so much he risked all he had and gave all he could.

“And yesterday, Danny finally gave everything.”

With that, Ghost Writer picked up his sheet of paper and stepped away. A human stepped up to the podium and began to speak her tales of Danny’s, heroics.

Clockwork barely listened. He knew what was going to be said. He knew everyone in the crowd was either brimming with tears, or crying rivers. He knew how much Danny meant to everyone in Amity Park, how much his acts of bravery meant to everyone. And he knew how much Danny meant to anyone that had actually known him.

As speaker after speaker came up and recounted their experiences with Danny, Clockwork merely sighed. An ache in the back of his heart that he had long since become familiar with gradually began to grow. He did not cry, no. But his heart ached all the same.

Eventually, Pandora and Princess Dora walked up, carefully lifting his casket into the ground. Clockwork felt a sharp pang in his heart as the last remnants of Danny were placed and buried. The last bit of his friend was gone. No amount of time manipulation would change that. All Clockwork had now were memories and photographs.

People throughout the crowd began to wail and cry. Undergrowth moved up to Danny’s grave and held a hand over it, causing a small bunch of flowers to bloom.

He caught sight of Dan trying to hide himself wiping a small burning ember out of his eye. “Don’t tell me you actually cared for the boy.”

Dan glanced over in irritation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s not wise to hide from your emotions, Daniel. It causes more harm than good. You should know that.”

“It’s Dan. And I found him interesting, alright? Most interesting guy I ever knew. Now he’s gone, and I have find something else.” Dan promptly crossed his arms and looked at Clockwork, arching an eyebrow. “What about you? You were closer to Danny. Why aren’t you crying?”

He pulled out the photo of Danny’s selfie with him again. In it, Danny was grinning as he placed his head next to Clockwork, who was staring at the camera with just a hint of surprise. Danny looked so young. The ache worsened. In time, he knew it would ease until it was all but gone. But until then, this photo would join the others on his console at the clock tower.

Clockwork closed his eyes again. “In some ways, you and Danny were closer than he and I could ever hope to be.” A moment to breath. To level his voice. To ease the ache. “I’ve known this day was coming for a long time. Before Danny and I ever met. You could say...

“I’ve already done most of my grieving.”

#I WROTE IT OUT #GET READY TO GET PUNCHED WITH FEELS #This is a kind of 'What if" scenario #drabble #free to reblog #Danny Phantom #Dan Phantom #Clockwork #Technus #Ember #Nocturne #Frostbite #Vortex #Undergrowth #Ghost Writer #The Ghost Writer #Pandora #Princess Dora #Princess Dorathea #tucker foley #Sam Manson #Jazz Fenton #fanfic

[snackleggg]

City of splintering hopes: Chapter 2 "Cave of stars"

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Ao3

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Danny woke up Saturday morning feeling well rested and refreshed, so he was immediately suspicious about what the day would bring. The last time he had woken up feeling so well was before The accident so roughly 2 years of either nightmares, insomnia, or a ghost waking him had him jumpy at the prospect of a good night's sleep.

He did all his usual checks to make sure nothing was wrong but as he headed down for breakfast it seemed that everything was perfectly fine. Suspicious.

Danny just shrugged though as he ate his almost certainly ecto-contaminated cereal before leaving the house as quickly as possible to avoid helping his parents test any new inventions. Of course he always kept an eye on whatever they were creating, in case it was anything actually dangerous he would need to destroy but the day had started suspiciously well and he wanted to keep that good times streak going for as long as possible. Not getting hit in the head with the boo-merang was something he was eager to do.

He quickly met up with Tucker and Sam at the Nasty burger but as they talked about school and which ghosts they were betting on appearing today Danny felt weighed down as the events of yesterday found their way back to the forefront of his thoughts.

"Hey, earth to Danny" Sam said, snapping her fingers infront of his face. Oh, he must have spaced out.

"We know you wanna be an astronaut dude but don't you think it's a little early?" Tucker joked between stuffing his face full of fries.

Danny chuckled at his friends attempt at humor but it came out more forced than anything "Sorry, just thinking about some stuff. Can I get your guys opinion on something?" Danny asked and both Sam and Tucker gave him their full attention as he started explaining what had happened yesterday.

At the end of the recounting Tucker exclaimed "Yes! You should totally go!" Loud enough to get a few heads turned but he quieted himself down and soon everyone at the fast food joint was once again minding their own business.

"It does sound like a good opportunity. Plus it's not like anything bad is guaranteed to happen. My prediction is worst case scenario you come back with nothing new" Sam said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I guess your right. I mean it's just some old abandoned buildings and stuff they might've left behind, nothing that can hurt right?" Danny reasoned, finally he was starting to get over his slight paranoia.

"Exactly! But if you do find anything cool be sure to tell us about it" Tucker added and Danny nodded along. Of course he would tell his friends, they knew pretty much everything about eachother and would always come to eachother when they needed to talk to someone.

"Well if you want to go today then you should get going, the Far Frozen is a 2 hour flight and you don't know how long you'll need to travel from there to get to these ruins" Sam said. Danny had also explained to them his feelings on not wanting to wait too long if he did decide to go and she could tell that Danny's curiosity that he inherited from his parents wouldn't let him just walk away from this one.

"Oh, yeah you're right!" Danny shot up but before he could move he looked at his two friends with concern "You guys gonna be okay protecting Amity on your own?" Danny asked.

"It's all good. We have our thermos' and some Fenton anti-ghost weapons that actually work so we should be fine!" Tucker waved off Danny's concerns.

"But, if anything does happen that we can't handle well call you. That ease your worries?" Sam asked with a smirk and Danny rolled his eyes fondly before waving goodbye and heading home.

It was the same as what he did yesterday. Go through the portal invisibly, make the long fly to the Far Frozen and go see Frostbite. Of course now it was for different reasons than a check up or just the usual friendly visit.

Danny's thoughts had nearly spiralled three times on the flight over to the Far Frozen but he had been getting better at grounding himself so he managed to catch any worries or doubts that may have caused him to turn around.

Finally he landed in the freezing tundra and almost immediately was engulfed in a hug from the large Yeti. His white fur made him blend into the surroundings so well Danny hadn't spotted him initially.

"Great One!" Frostbite yelled happily as he put Danny back down. It didn't matter how many times or how often Danny visited Frostbite was always ecstatic to see him.

"Hey Frosty" Danny gave his old mentor a smile before awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, a nervous habit he had for as long as he could remember.

"Have you... thought about what I suggested?" Frostbite asked, immediately understanding why Danny was here. It was always easy to forget that Frostbite was alot smarter than he seemed, he had given Danny wise words of advice on more than one occasion and it was obvious when he was around his tribe how great his leadership skills were.

"Yeah I have and... do you think you could? Take me to the ruins? I want to know more about people like me and this might be the only way..." Danny rambled a little. He didn't know why he felt like he needed to justify himself to Frostbite. Frostbite knew why he was here already, he had suggested it, so why did Danny feel like this was something he needed an excuse for?

"Of course. I can't show you to the ruins themselves unfortunately but I can show you how to get to them" Frostbite said as he turned around and started walking away from Danny, making a 'follow me' gesture.

Danny was as stiff as a board as he followed Frostbite. Hypervigilant and examining all his surroundings closely like he expected something to jump out and attack him.

They walked down a path Danny hadn't seen before, it lead away from where Danny knew the Yeti tribe to be living, leading further and further into the tundra and up the ice mountains.

After maybe around an hour of walking in silence, only the wind and crunch of snow under their feet filling it, they came to a stop on the mountain side. Infront of them stood a large entrance to a very dark cave.

"Through here, on the other side are the ruins" Frostbite gestured and seemed to wait for Danny to go in but Danny hesitated.

"Why can't you lead me the rest of the way?" He asked.

"This cave leads to the hidden lands, as some call them, it is where the Halfas once lived. Only a Halfa or those given special permission to pass can make it through the labyrinth of the cave, I have tried but I always end up coming back out this side despite never remembering turning around" Frostbite explained and Danny just gulped nervously.

"If only a Halfa could get through then how did Pariah Dark attack the Halfas, shouldn't they have been safe in these 'Hidden lands'?" Danny asked nervously.

"I... do not know. Many of the allies of the Halfas thought the same thing. There was a legend- no, a rumour that a ghost that had the ability to track Halfas helped Pariah Dark but that's all that was, a rumour" Frostbite shrugged, a thoughtful look on his face.

Danny nerves weren't calming down but something in his core urged him to go through the cave. He didn't know what it was but ever since The accident Danny's instincts had always been trustworthy so he took a steadying breath before walking forward into the cave.

He heard Frostbite wish him good luck as he entered.

The cave was alot warmer than he was expecting. Of course thanks to his ice core he couldn't get cold necessarily but the change in temperature didn't go unnoticed by him. The light from the snow white tundra quickly disappeared the further in he went until he was engulfed in complete darkness, apart from the soft glow he himself was giving off. The sounds of the howling winds had faded until they could barely be heard anymore and Danny was really considering turning around and leaving because the idea of stumbling around in a dark labyrinth cave wasn't exactly the most appealing.

Then he blinked as he noticed something, a light.

Not really it was more like a dot, a small dot of light in the dark.

He decided to continue walking and the longer he walked the more of these small dots of the light appeared until there were so many it lit up the icy cave in a pale glow, the lights all reflecting off of the ice.

Danny stopped as he stared in wonder at the sight.

The first thing that came to Danny's mind were the stars, the night sky. It was beautiful how the small points of light work together to illuminate the dark cave.

Then Danny noticed something as he continued walking. The dots were disappearing behind him but appearing infront of him as he walked. Then he took a turn and the dots stopped appearing.

"Huh..." Danny backtracked and took the other turn. The dots started appearing again, lighting the way for the young Halfa.

"Cool" Danny whispered into the silence of the cave was he followed the direction of the dots of light. Finally Danny turned a corner and he saw the end of the cave, an end that even from the distance Danny could tell didn't lead out into the cold tundra of the Far Frozen. As he closed the distance he could see the green swirling clouds of ectoplasm only they were lighter? A much lighter green than that of the normal sky of the Ghost Zone.

Finally Danny exited the cave and found his core humming nicely at the sight before him.

A city.

A large and grand one, made of a pale sandy coloured stone that reminded Danny of the housing they had in Egypt. The city was still a distance away so Danny couldn't see the architecture too closely but he could see a path leading down the no longer snowy mountain side to a bridge between the city and the cliff drop of the mountain.

A strange thing Danny noticed was the fact that the city didn't rest on an island that was floating, suspended in mid air. Instead the island stretched downwards into the dark abyss of the Ghost Zone, as if connected to solid ground all the way down in it's depths.

Danny was ecstatic.

He quickly flew down to the bridge, and walked it's length up to the gates of the city.

Standing at the city's ground level made it all the more grand and imposing.

But it also made Danny now notice the ruins part of it. The gate, that Danny had no doubt was once grand and tall standing, was nothing but rubble and fallen stone.

Danny took a fortifying breath.

Up until then Danny hadn't really thought about what he was truly walking into. This wasn't just a museum or some natural history tour. These were ruins, this was the home of a slaughter people. This place wasn't just their home, it was probably their grave as well.

He needed to be careful.

He couldn't go walking into this like a naive child, he came here to understand and to understand he needed to treat this place with the respect it deserved.

So he flew into the city, hopefully he could learn something from what was left behind.

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I'll be tagging all content do to with this story with the tag City of splintering hopes so if guys want to you can follow the story easier. You can also use that tag for any questions or content you guys make of the story!

#danny phantom #city of splintering hopes #chapter 2 #danny fenton #dp frostbite #tucker foley #sam mason #danny phantom fic #my writing #danny phantom au #fanfic #dp fanfic