#its like 11:35pm here 😅

[camels-pen]

A Host of Strange Times

DannyMay Day 7 - Illusion

Summary: In which Stephen finds himself trapped with a ghost thanks to the magic of Ghost Zone television.

Inspired by @floralflowerpower's marvel dp crossover post (here)

(1st part of the Strange vs. Work: Wife Swap AU series)

Ao3 link

~

A single, small, blinking red light shines brightly in a pitch black room. Purple smoke appears and dissipates in front of the eerie glow followed by the appearance of a tall being in a tux of varying shades of black, white, and grey. They took a moment to run a hand over their short, slicked back hair and adjust their small purple bow tie. They turned to the camera a few meters away.

“We rolling?” The camera nodded. “Good.” The being put on a charming smile and a long skinny microphone appeared in their hand, followed by three spotlights shining from above; one on themself, and one on each of the two people tied to red and blue arm chairs behind them. The sound of them clearing their throat echoed in the room.

“Hey there, I’m-”—the sound of static pitching at strange octaves filled the air, rousing the human in the blue armchair—“the host of this fabulous show, and, oop,”—they leaned towards their camera raising their eyebrows—“looks like our other contestant is finally waking up,” they said, chuckling slightly.

“Wha- who are you? Where am I?” The sorcerer searched the black void around him, eyes settling on the other figure strapped to the red armchair. “And who is that?”

“Oh so many questions, but so little time. I’m afraid you’ll have to find out for yourself on this episode of...”—more static emitted from their mouth, the loud sound grating on the sorcerer's ears. The Host glided behind the two chairs and leaned down, keeping up a smile for the floating cameras. Out of the corner of their mouth, The Host whispered, “I’ll give you two a few moments to get acquainted while I freshen up, but make it interesting; remember the audience loves drama.”

A few more lines of nonsensical dialogue and The Host disappeared in a puff of smoke, a small black and white checkered trailer appearing moments later with what looked like chicken scratch printed across the side. The sorcerer’s head hurt looking at it for more than a few seconds so he averted his eyes, turning to the other captive who seemed much too calm for his liking.

The nearly transparent being without legs (gaseous cloud with arms?) tilted their head to him without breaking eye contact with the cameras. “Daniel’s a bit of a handful at times, but he’s a good kid. Though he and his friends do like to prank me every so often, which can cause immense damage to the time stream if they or I aren’t careful.”

The sorcerer narrowed his eyes. “Okay first, who are you? Second, how can someone damage the time stream with a prank? And third who the hell is Daniel?”

The being shifted ages to appear younger. “My apologies; my powers are being suppressed at the moment so I believed we had already met, but that must’ve been in a different time.” Their eyes glanced to his chest where the Eye of Agamotto once sat.

“Powers?”

The being nodded. “Yes; ghost powers. More specifically, my temporal manipulation,”—they turned their attention back to the cameras—“but now is not the time to get into this.”

“It suppresses ghost powers?” he said, testing the bonds. “Great, I’m not-”

“Part of your abilities were originally based on my own. The restraints will still suppress them.” The sorcerer stopped his struggling to narrow his eyes at the ghost.

“Who-”

“The ghost who trapped us here is called by a name not meant for human ears. Though most call them Bada as that is the sound you hear in your head when you are groaning in pain afterwards.” The ghost sighed, shifting to look older. “You may refer to me as CW, but like I said before, now is not the time.” Stephen raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you said you couldn’t use your powers.”

“Lack of sight does not equate lack of common sense.” CW squinted at the ‘audience’. The floating cameras were beginning to dwindle in number. “Now it’s your turn; tell me about your charge.”

“My… charge?”

“Yes; the way this is going, I believe we will be taking each other’s place. You have someone similar to Daniel that you ask to assist you sometimes, correct?” Stephen hummed.

“Well I guess there is Spiderman,” he mused. “I would hardly call him my charge, but he’s similar enough. Good kid, likes to mess around with things that could break reality. Though I suppose I’d call him something more like a… part-time house sitter.” The cameras faded until only three were left and CW shifted to a much older age, nodding at him to go on. “He’s also a friend that I know I can rely on in dire circumstances and at this point I think I’d accept him as one of my students if he asked.”

“Awww.” The sound of dozens of voices echoed all around them and several more cameras appeared.

“Where is that coming from?” Stephen muttered to himself, eyes searching the room. A larger red glow appeared above his head and he craned his head up, noticing an audience prompter directly above them. Then another thought occurred and he turned back to the ghost. “You were awake before me.”

They nodded. “I was.”

“And you know a lot about this place.”

“I do.”

“So when we escape these restraints, you can lead us out of here?”

“When we escape?” They shook their head. “Sorcerer Supreme, we’re not really here. The Host doesn’t have the ability to teleport others; they can only create elaborate illusions and certain types of physical constructs. They brought our minds, not our bodies.” Stephen pursed his lips. Hopefully, he didn’t tip over onto any of the candles he lit for his morning meditation. He grimaced, thinking about Peter dropping in without warning and startling his cloak.

“Wonderful.” CW relaxed into their chair.

“It won’t be so bad; this swap should only last a week at most.”

The sorcerer's brows furrowed. “If they can only move our minds then how would they be able to do this? From what I recall in a similar show, the contestants have to physically switch locations.” This time, CW grimaced. Stephen groaned.

“Great. Amazing.” He took a deep breath. “At least tell me you know something about sorcery.”

The ghost’s tail flicked once before curling around one of the chair legs. “Knowledge of the mystical is something of which I know well. I have seen the rise of kingdoms and the fall of empires, the age of Gods and the terror of Titans, the Tower of Babel and the Great Flood. I have experienced many wonders in this lifeless death of mine, but beyond time, I am nothing.” The sorcerer stared at him, deadpan.

“Meaning?” The ghost rolled their eyes.

“If it’s not related to manipulating time in any way, then no, I don’t know anything about sorcery.” Ah, that’s not good.

Stephen, while being the former keeper of the Time Stone, is still fairly new to time manipulation spells without the stone. If he were to be thrust into another being’s body with non-sorcery related time powers, well… he’s not quite sure what might happen. He hopes ‘Daniel’ will be able to assist him as well as Peter and his other students do.

“Don’t worry too much about maintaining the timelines,” CW said offhandedly. “I can assure you, Daniel is entirely capable of taking care of it himself.”

Stephen was getting tired of that very quickly. “Thanks, but I think you should focus on yourself. You’ll be in the New York Sanctum and that city always has some kind of incredibly destructive threat every couple days.” He made a face. “Speaking of which, make sure you have Spiderman show you how to refresh the illusion outside. It should be wearing off tomorrow.” The ghost gave no inclination they heard him, keeping their focus on the cameras and the trailer.

Several more cameras had appeared at some point during their discussion, bringing the total number up to thirteen and the door to the trailer unlocked, swinging open. A puff of purple smoke billowed out of the trailer and formed the vague shape of The Host in front of them.

“Wow, wasn’t that interesting folks?” Stephen jumped at the voice beside him. The audience prompter appeared above them followed by the sounds of a cheering crowd as he eyed the ghost. From their spot sitting on the arm of his chair, The Host smiled wide. “Honestly, I can hardly wait to see how this plays out so I think as soon as the kids show up, we’ll get right into it!” The audience cheered once more.

---

Hours passed with frustratingly vague conversation after conversation and the Sorcerer Supreme was mentally exhausted.

“You know, I feel like we’re missing someone,” CW said, furrowing their brows. Stephen doubted there was anyone else even somewhat similar to the two of them. Or rather, if there were, he was hoping they wouldn’t show up and leave another universe without it’s time manipulating protector. “If I had my sight, I would know them.” Well that’s confusing.

“How can you only know them when looking into different timelines?” CW looked like he was expecting something, and by the slight aging of his form, Stephen assumed the ghost was fighting back a headache.

“I don’t know, but I’m certain I can only see and not see them with my sight. Without it, I’m just left with a vague feeling of annoyance.”

That doesn’t make any sense. “How can you see and not see them at the same time?”

The ghost shrugged and suddenly Stephen was even more worried about the duties he would be thrust into; if this so-called Caretaker of Time couldn’t deal with one measly paradox, there must be a miles long backlog of issues that needed to be dealt with. His own universe could manage without him for a while—a multitude of heroes, sorcerers, and others can take over some of his more active tasks and, considering The Host’s plan, Peter would likely be at the Sanctum or somewhere nearby, ready to help the ghost adjust—but by CW’s vague explanations, there are, quote, slimy, no-good, lily-livered eyeball ghosts who trick people into eternal employment contracts that he needs to avoid at all costs, several older and very powerful ghosts who regularly meet at CW’s lair to watch disastrous events in history together and discuss how they would make it worse, and the only other person who is somewhat capable of taking on CW’s duties is ‘Daniel’.

Daniel.

The reckless teenage mentee.

The one who has minor time manipulation powers and pranks this Caretaker of Time in such a way that he could break the time stream if he and his friends weren’t careful.

Stephen let out a long suffering sigh.

“As much as me and the viewers at home would love to hear more,” The Host gestured their free hand above the chairs. “it seems the boys have finally gotten to their places! So without further adieu-” They snapped their fingers and sweet smelling purple mist coiled down their arms to engulf both captives completely. As Stephen started to nod off, the last thing he saw was The Host’s fuzzy grey outline as they spoke to the cameras.

“Let’s get on with the show!”

#dannymay #dannymay2021 #dp marvel crossover #nemo the writing ho #danny phantom #marvel #clockwork #stephen strange #doctor strange #The Host (OC) #mentioned #peter parker #danny fenton #hit enter coward #each day i get closer and closer to missing the deadline lol #its like 11:35pm here 😅 #doc strange is a lil ooc (i think) purely bc i thought it'd be funnier lol