Chills, Literal Chills

War Day

After Danny was crowned he decided that the truce party had to have a counterpart, after all ghosts became friends mostly through battles, and he assumed that one day letting them fight wouldn't be a bad thing, it might even help stir up some grudges.

This was how High King Phantom, ruler of the infinite realms inaugurated the long-awaited "Day of War" or just "War Day", a moment when the Infinite Realms naturally became chaotic; alliances were allowed but it was not advisable to trust on them.

And of course, you were free not to participate, you just had to put a blue or green band on your arm, or a little green clock in the backyard of your haunt so the ghosts would leave you, your haunt or your territory in general alone.

Danny thought of it as some kind of giant paintball day, only with no paintballs and full of aggressive ghosts with various powers, it was especially exciting since everyone knew there would be no hard feelings after it and they would end up in the king's palace eating sweets as little children.

They usually celebrated it on a day close to any celebration related to death in human world, when their powers were especially powerful and therefore everyone could have more fun.

The problem was that since Danny had human friends (liminals?) who came to play, they didn't really consider it weird when some humans fell into the realms by a natural portal, and since they weren't wearing any blue or green arm bands they were definitely in the game.

For their part, the family of bats along with some League allies found themselves literally standing on a field of war where everyone seemed to be going for the kill, Jason was strangely excited about it, as was Damian.

When Dick asked one of the locals for an explanation, a guy on a motorbike threw him into the air laughing and yelled "LET THE HUNGER GAMES BEGIN!"

->,,Ectoplasmic Educational Employment(Quirky Danny Fenton The Teacher? More likely than you think!)" by GothMoth on ao3 - Danny Phantom fic that is a gem and must read where Danny is a teacher on the subject of ghosts

->,,Séance" by wastefulreverie on ao3 - Jazz is in collage and decides to summon a ghost. Good thing that she knows one very closely - one shot but locked for non ao3 users

-> ,,Smells like Team Spirit" by: UnluckyAlis on ao3 - another one shot. Danny have a fear inducing quality, it works great during on opposing teams

-> ,,A Snapping Sound" by: Leda (Represent) on ao3 - Sam is new in town and that means she is only beginning to learn what Amity Park is all about

-> ,,Mortified" by Marsalias on ao3 - very long ghost Zone fic that is worth reading (319 chapters)

-> ,,Dodging the Problem" by: Imp_y on ao3 - Danny is being chased by Spectre who has hostages- one shot

->,,An Experiment in Absurdity" series by:Anonymous_Nerb on ao3 - you can find some really interesting works and au's in this series but it is also locked for non ao3 users

-> ,,Something's Wrong With Danny Fenton Vol. I by: Ghostly_Cabbage on ao3 - No one knows au where Danny is a local cryptid

-> ,,Danny Body-Finder Fenton" by: RedGhost1010 on ao3 - one shot where Danny is naturally drawn to death, more specifically dead bodies

-> ,,Just Fourteen" by: aniura on ao3 - fic that covers time before the accident and a month after at Casper High

-> ,,We're Usually About To Die" by: nanaarchy on ao3 - one shot showing Mr Lancer's class during ghost attack, except they are tired of waiting

-> ,,Emergency Contact (with the dead) by: gamma_radio on ao3 - three part story about Danny Phantom and a Hospital

-> ,,To Retire or Not to Retire, That is The Question" by: princessFanona on ao3 - Mr. Lancer and his debate as his class is nearing graduation (senior prank day is there too) - locked for non ao3 users

-> ,,Can I Not Grasp Them with a Tiger Clasp?" By: HeroineofTime on ao3 - story about ghost obsessions

dear phandom, i require some help. i need some fic recs for a friend i want to introduce to the world that is DP fanfiction, so please feel free to leave recs. both essential phandom must reads and personal favorites are welcomed

how to explain to mutuals that while yes you can have my discord, and i wanna hang out! my response time is anywhere between 3-7 business days

lets start wearing cloaks and swords again. its time

Imagine the batkids accidentally kidnapping Danny. Like they see some black haired kid passed out by the bat mobile after patrol and they just stick him in the car without checking bc hey that’s probably one of the batkids and they’re in a hurry. They do a headcount and just completely gloss over him bc one of them is out doing something else (probably red hood) and they completely forgot. Literally no one realizes until Danny wakes up in the batcave and is like whaaaaaat the actual fuck. Just completely ridiculous hijinks

Or if you want to make it angsty, you can set it after Jason died but before Tim became Robin. Bruce, in a rush, hasn’t gotten used to one less number and Dick, who regularly hallucinates his brother (that’s a thing in the comics) doesn’t question it

Danny and Damian are related, with a twist.

Danny is the son of Talia Al Ghul, however he is NOT the son of Bruce Wayne. Ra’s has had his eyes on various people across the world that have either impressed him or show a unique skill set that he’d like to have. One such person was under the both categories and he got Talia to collect a DNA sample and as a result Danny was born.

This was before Bruce’s time with the League by a few years, but very quickly Danny was not meeting expectations. And by the time Bruce did show up Ra’s had lost all interest in Danny, moving on to better things.

Talia always hated Danny because she was forced to have him with a man who she never liked in the first place. Furthermore, because his skillset was lacking she found that even more reason for her distain. In her eyes, he wasn’t worth even considering her blood.

Danny, knowing that he was doomed if he didn’t make an escape, left the league sometime around when Bruce was moving up the ranks and was making waves within the organization. Perfect timing honestly, any attention he might have had was quickly gone when this prodigy showed up.

Danny escaped the League and went into hiding quickly after, settling on a rural area of the United States after bouncing around countries for a few months. This was mainly because Jasmine Fenton saw a young boy pick pocketing strangers while her family was visiting Chicago and scolded him. Her mother and father saw the boy and also lectured him to which Danny responded it was his only option (he was trying to get this loud family off his back so he could sneak away). Eventually the Fentons decide that if he has nowhere to go he might as well go with us, and Danny decides blending in with a Nuclear Family is the best way to ensure that his peaceful life away from the League stays that way. Oh how little did he know.

Flash forward a few years, Talia, who was visiting Gotham to check on Damian, sees a glimpse of a boy (now man) she thought she had forgotten. Her blood runs cold, if this abomination is in Gotham then her son is likely in danger and she would never let anything happen to Damian.

Phic Phight - Surprise Professor Professes Only Violence

For: Chrysanthemum9484

It doesn’t matter who Mr. Lancer picked to teach a class on ghosts, all the options lead to suffering. Danny just happens to be the option less damaging to everything and everyone around, much to his annoyance.

Danny’s a little concerned when Mr. Lancer all but corners him outside of social- what a dumbass class. Danny eyeing the man cautiously, “I swear I didn’t break anything today”.

Mr. Lancer shakes his head, huffing a little out of breath, before fixing his tie, “you’re not in trouble, not this time. However, seeing as you have a spare next I would like you to follow me”.

Oh zone what now? Did his parents drop something questionable off? Or was the guy trying to tutor him again? Were Sam and Tuck fighting again? Or did someone or something blow up his locker for the fifth time this month…

Danny sighs and follows, “what is it”; it’s not even a question, he’s resigned, defeated. His spare has so totally been lost. Ugh.

Mr. Lancer wastes no time in walking off, grabbing Danny’s arm because, as per usual, he doesn’t trust Danny to not just disappear on him. Reasonable honestly. “As you know, this town and school have had to make a few adjustments to deal with the ghost issues. One such adjustment is going to be a ghosts one oh one course-”. Holy shit finally, Danny was wondering when the school was gonna man up and do that. Knowing about ghosts in this haunted ass town was kinda super necessary. And he guesses that Mr. Lancer just wants Danny’s advice? Since Danny was a teen and not insane. “-it’s happening during fourth period-”. That’s this period isn’t it? Why does Danny have a bad feeling about this? “-and seeing as you are not insane or a government funded bigot, everyone agrees you should teach it”. Mr. Lancer coming to stop in front of a closed classroom door, looking at Danny now, “now knowing you, you’d skip town for a week to try and get out of this, and you respect me enough to not simply kick me in the knees and run. Just try alright? It’ll count towards your gpa if that gives you any incentive”, then turns back to the door, opens it, and basically shoves Danny inside. “I know you’ll do great!”. And… and the man has the fucking audacity to just up and leave!

What. The. Actual. Fresh. Fruity. Fuck.

Danny stands there in a wide stance, arms slightly away from his sides, and slowly looks at the goddamn class full of people. Fuck him so much. Fuck Lancer. What the zone man! Danny blinks harshly at everyone, “I’m gonna kill that man”.

Dale snorting at him, “ironic that the first thing you say in a ghost class involves murder”.

Emilie fiddling with her hair, “yeah and why’d he stick you here anyways? It’s not like you’d need to learn this”.

Todd snorting, “probably taking pity on him and giving him a free easy grade”.

Danny drops his arms and glares at Todd, “actually, he just shoved me in here to teach this damn thing”, sighing and rubbing a hand down his face, “hence why I now wanna kill him”.

Someone snorts, “sure. Right. He tOtAlLy DiD tHaT”.

But after a couple of seconds someone else shouts, “holy shit he actually did! The thing online just updated with him as the teachers name!”.

Everyone else just starts screaming and shouting and otherwise freaking out while Danny groans very deeply and moves to walk over to ‘his’ desk. Fuck his half life.

The worst thing was that he knows that he can’t just go crawling back to Mr. Lancer and claim he needs time to prepare. Since he knows that Lancer knows that that shit would be a goddamn lie. His parents have literally made him basically memorize presentations to give at ghost conventions. Danny absolutely can do this. He just really really doesn’t want to.

But…

Ugh. He needs to get that gpa of his up and Mr. Lancer’s a manipulative dick to bring that into this.

Danny wants to just lay on the desk and cry. He is absolutely beating Boxy through a tool shed whenever that guy shows up next. As it stands, he’s just going to slump down into the chair, put his elbows on the desk, and put his head in his hands. Grumbling through said hands loud enough that he knows he’s being heard, “look, okay, if any of you fuck up and fail this shit, thus hurting my grades or whatever, I will personally find and pay a ghost to haunt you”, sighing, “I do actually know how to give seminars, or whatever, on ghosts. And I know none of you fuckers go to goddamn ghost hunter conventions, since none of you have parents that force you to attend them, fuck every last one of you, so I can technically actually teach ya’ll shit; so sit down or stay seated or whatever, and shut up”.

“WOW, someone’s pissy”.

“I will kill you too, Todd”.

“Oh yeah? With what? Your noodle arms?”.

Danny lifts his head out of his hands, stares at the asshole, then starts digging through the desk. He’s not sure why but there’s a sledge hammer in the bottom drawer, it goes on the desk very loudly.

One of the freshman nerds blinks, “why was there a hammer in there?”.

Danny shrugs loosely, “I don’t know, I don’t care, but that can definitely breaks someone’s fingers so, you know. Threat stands”, clearing his throat, “okay so because the preparation time that I was given was precisely jack fuck all, I’m gonna run this shit like a convention panel. Just without any slides, yes I’ve had to make slides shut up or kill you, without all my funny jokes on them”.

Lindsey actually sags dramatically in relief, “oh thank Zone. Mr. Lancer managed to spare us”.

Danny standing up, grabbing the sledgehammer, and swinging it back and forth up in the air a bit, “hammer time threat stands”, puts the thing back down loudly, handle sticking up in the air, and moves to the fucking white board, “ya’ll get my jokes written all over this board now”.

Multiple people shout, “Lindsey!”, at the girl. Danny doesn’t care, Danny thinks his jokes are great. Promptly writing, ‘why did the ghost decide to start teaching? Because he’d heard it was going to be dead fun’; to a class of his groaning peers.

Turning back to everyone, “so since I should attempt to actually graduate, I’m gonna actually start this shit off but with something that’s gonna make all ya’ll suffer, ghost baby making! featuring The Box Ghost and The LunchLady”.

Everyone looks suitably disgusted with him. Multiple people shouting, “oh zone why!?!” and “you’re evil!”.

Does how ghosts have babies have anything to do with dealing with and surviving ghosts in this town? No, obviously not. Does he care? Abso-fucking-lutely not.

Mr. Lancer sticks his head in the room, eyeing the sledgehammer, “why is there a sledgehammer?”.

Danny snarking right back, “why was it in the drawer?”.

Mr. Lancer nodding a little, seceding that, “the janitor must have left it. How are you fairing?”.

Danny just glares at the man violently while Dale sticks up his hand, “Mr. Lancer, he keeps threatening to kill us”.

“Mr. Fenton!”.

“Bitch, you knew what you were doing”.

End.

Prompt: "The teachers of Casper High decide that assigning a student to teach a subject is the lesser evil considering that the other options are a pair of insane scientists and a bunch of government cuckoos. Or in other words, Danny ends up teaching Ghosts 101."

Another part of fanfiction selection:

->,,Regenerate, Fate” by Jellofello on ao3 - Mha piece where Izuku have regeneration, Shinsou is a youtuber and Aizawa is getting a headache every few hours

->,,The Liar’s sin” by Yvette_Kaitou_1412 on ao3 - Not my usual one but this Miraculous x Hazbin Hotel x Helluva Boss crossover makes for one interesting plot and story building. Or: Lila send Marinette to hell

->,,you will find me, friend series” by Ausp_ice on ao3 - Genshin works that explore the idea of the Traveler being immortal world-eaters and their abilities

-> ,,Son of Sea Foam” by CaffeinatedFlumadiddle on ao3 - PJO and a brilliant take on forbidden children where Percy needs to hide that he is son of Poseidon but needs to be claimed

->,,Sunbeams and Seafoam series” by ShadeCrawler on ao3 - PJO scenario where Apollo ’adopts’ Percy

->,,To make a legend series” by WrdofWinters on ao3 - PJO series featuring some extended worldbuilding in Greek traditions and merpeople exploration

->,,The One where Percy is a Magician of Questionable Competence” series by Rynna_Aurelius on ao3- Sally dies, Percy is adopted by one Amos Kane it goes as well as you might think

->,,Grandfather’s day” by WardofWinters on ao3 - Fates lost a bet, Percy and Thalia are whisk away to meet their grandfather ( Kronos) once a year

->,,Pray to the king, the protector,the murderer (Pray to time)” by WardofWinters on ao3 - only 3 chapters for now but Percy prays to Kronos to help him kill Gabe… it goes not exactly as planned

->,,Never Goodbye (Just till next time)” by Feliadox on ao3 - Ninjago time travel

-> ,,What Makes a Gothamite" by: Dragonfly_Dream on ao3 - Neal Caffrey(White collar) is actually 'Dick' Grayson and consequently have some gotham quirks to show for it (People are messed with)

->,,Brother in arms” by SteamGeek01 on fanfiction net - bloody but brilliant HP x Creepypastas crossover that actually work

->,,Of basketball and kitsune tails” by wolfshaman84 on ao3 - Kuroko no Basuke piece with Kuroko as Kitsune

-> ,,Neal, How Do You Know. . .?” by Velvet_Pumpkin on ao3 - Neal Caffrey in Dick Grayson and that leads to him knowing a lot of people and a lot of things/skills he shouldn't

->,,Ouroboros” by NovusArs on ao3 - Harry Potter was and is Salazar Slytherin, interesting take on that trope there

->,,Trolls vs Wizards” by Reuben_Aloway on ao3 - The one where Troll Hunter meets HP and Sirius Black is a father and an idiot

->,,Nameless God, Nameless People” by Literally_To_Die_For on ao3 - Honkai Star Rail take on Trailblazer is connected to Akivili and experiences his memories

->,,The Hunter” by Adishailan on ao3 -AOT piece where Eren is a titan

->,,The Shit Eren Does” by fluffykitty12 on ao3 - AOT cultural differences shenanigans

->,,You Look Like You’ve Seen A Ghost” by ShootingFromAfar on ao3 -Dpxdc Jason know Danny from his dead times

-> ,,Coffee Grounds Series” by orphan_account and widdlewed on ao3 - is a series where Richard is former Talon, have a coffee shop and scares the rouges with 'no fighting' rule

->,,Dick Grayson: A Case Study" by: writersagainstwritersblock on ao3 - Richard is in a team of profilers it leads to discovery of many, many layers

->,,Danny the Intern by”: NikkiPond - DPXDC where Danny is an intern at Wayne Enterprise and there are only four rules to keep him employed, naturally chaos ensues

-> ,,Yesterday Upon The Stair” by: PitViperOfDoom - MHA and a classic at this point, Izuku can see ghosts

->,,Connection series” by: LiterallyThePresident - Bakugan series that is slightly terrifying in its implications and the only Bakugan fanfic that grabbed me and refused to go

Do you know the names of the colors in Latin?

Yes. Here is a list of them:

Colores Latini

You will find discrepancies in the names of colors among different sources. John C. Traupman’s book Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency explains why:

The vagueness of Latin color terms is due to the origin of colors out of dyestuff and pigments. The colors of minerals vary, and dyes produce different effects according to the mode of preparation and the materials dyed. Their applications have to be guessed from literary sources, which for the most part are incidental and vague. Color names used by poets tend to be applied metaphorically or indefinitely.To get a better idea of how the Romans applied color terms, it is necessary to cite the objects to which colors were attached. For example, when Horace describes Augustus as being transformed into a god, he speaks of the lips of the deified Augustus as purpúreus, indicating his health. Purpúreus, at least there, is crimson, not purple.

I find that, even in more modern times, different Latin writers have their own different sets of terms. For example, these are Newton’s terms for ROY G. BIV:

 Rubeus: Red

Aureus: Orange

Flavus: Yellow

Viridis: Green

Caeruleus: Blue

Indicus: Indigo

Violaceus: Violet

Here are the adjectival color words that I usually use:

roseus: pink

ruber: red

aurantius or luteus: orange

flavus: yellow

viridis: green

caeruleus: blue

purpureus: purple

indicus or indigoticus: indigo

violaceus: violet

albus: (dead) white

candidus: (shining) white

ater: (dull) black

niger: (shining) black

griseus or canus: grey

brunneus or fuscus: brown

Some other things to know:

The prefix sub- means “somewhat” or “almost” and can often be rendered by the English suffix -ish: albus, “white,” so subalbus, “whitish”; flavus, “yellow,” so sufflavus, “yellowish.”

Many of the color adjectives derive from the names of the objects to which they are attached: e.g. violaceus, “violet-colored,” from viola, “a violet”; roseus, “rose-colored,” from rosa, “a rose.” Adjectives can be created from nouns by the suffixes -eus, -ineus, -inus, and -aceus. Thus, tumblreus, “Tumblr-blue.”

Mourning Symptoms

Warning: Dissociation, mentions of mental breakdowns, character’s death and canon typical violence.

________________________________________

The death was unexpected, it left all of them feeling empty and finding their own ways to grieve.

And the way it happened?

Well, that too left a lot to be desired.

***

First few days were a blur for Jazz. She honestly was a bit ashamed to admit it, as an upcoming psychologist but it seemed like she dissociated a lot. She would sit at the table, lay on her bed or even start reading her textbooks and then she would realise a few hours have passed.

It was scary when it happened the first time. And then three more times after that. But if Jazz was one thing, it was being highly self aware of her mental state so it didn't take too long to figure out what's going on.

Most afternoons, the young woman would find herself lying in bed, looking at her ceiling.

Her mind would wander, usually, ultimately, taking her to the time of accident. Making her wonder if she could have done something differently. If she could do more. If anything would change the outcome.

Her thoughts would blend with each other and Her Head would start filling up with static-like, white noise. It was just like going underwater, when noises became less and less, until exchanged for the feeling of plunged lug holes, strained from the pressure below the waves.

Her ears would become deaf to her mother's screams from downstairs, telling her about dinner, then supper. Then deaf to words meant to bring comfort. Told through the door as Madeline Fenton worried and promised empty ‘everything is going to be okay’ and ‘we are here if you need us’ before going to turn in and fall into uneasy slumber.

Jazz was deaf to it all. Her eyes unseeing, unfocused, no longer taking in her ceiling.

She wasn't doing anything, just existing. Just losing time. Sometimes she would shake out of the stupor. Jazz would realise what time it was and began doing anything to keep the thoughts away, forsaking the sleep for the night.

Sometimes she would fall into hectic slumber littered with stormy dreams. Waking up during different hours each time.

After those, worst days passed and she finally regained some semblance of time awareness. It had been more than a week since the accident.

Jazz tried all possible ways to deal with guilt and grief. She tried to reason with herself, tried to rationalise it, compartmentalize her thoughts and finally she broke down.

It helped somewhat, she would think.

But it would take a long while for her to feel normal again. The feeling of a rock in her chest grew and she knew, the grief and guilt would not ease anytime soon.

**

Sam was once again lost in thoughts, laying on her bed.

In the month that followed the incident she seemed to lose a lot of time like that.

She still couldn't believe what happened. One of her friends was gone, this time for good and there was nothing she could do. This time there was no supernatural solution. No coming back from the dead.

She remembered, like through fog when a week after, she still held hope. The second, she snuck into the lab, took The Spectre speedster and flew herself to the Time keep.

Sam yelled at the Time Ghost until her throat felt raw and ached.

Then she was gently sent out of the Clockworks keep and cried in the safety of her room.

She couldn’t talk afterwards but she knew without doubt. That accident was partially her fault.

She had been responsible for her friend's death. Twice.

So she did what she always has done.

She kept busy.

In following weeks Samantha created three separate new campaigns dedicated to saving the planet. Remodeled her bedroom four times, until it looked just like at the beginning and created fourteen separate diy articles of clothing.

All in all Sam was doing everything she could in order not to think, what wasn’t an easy task. Her mind was dead set on going back to the accident, again and again. And once she started thinking about the incident, her mind was reminding her about the portal one. Two times her friend died. Two times and only one of them brought the dead one back.

Most nights Sam shed tears in the safety of her bedroom, always making sure no traces of them were left in the morning. Her mind was not a nice place to be these days and her grandmother noticed.

So if there were days when both of them sat holding each other's hands and talking about nothing and everything, pretending in front of Sam’s parents that everything was okay, it was only between them.

**

Tucker wasn't faring much better than his Gothic friend. Not only he worried for all People dear to him, he developed obsession in his own right. Always checking where everyone's where. Always noting whatever words he said that could hurt them and apologising whenever there was a slight chance they did.

Tucker was very pointedly not thinking about what transpired four weeks prior but all signs that something was wrong were there.

The boy was quieter than usual, skittish and keeping track of everyone he cared about.

His parents noticed of course, their son, usually an open boy, was closing up and hiding things from them. He was obsessively noting every detail, every little thing and overthinking everything. It was like Tucker was afraid everyone would disappear.

Breaking point came when his father found the document on his computer, detailing two weeks worth of every single move of both him, his wife and their boy’s friends.

All the times they left their respective houses, what they were wearing, when they got back. It was all there and a worrying sign.

Intervention came soon after that and whatever Tucker’s parents expected was not almost three hours long babbling and denying of everything before a full on breakdown that lasted equally as long.

Tucker didn’t outright admit what happened but he lost the possibility of ignoring that everything was okay.

The road to his mind’s stability would be long but Tucker’s parents were ready to help his son, even if they didn’t know what happened to send him into such state… yet.

**

Valerie Gray was sitting on her bed, out of everyone she seemed to be the most put together it looked like. She saw Sam and Tucker at school and they were a mess.

Just last year Valerie wouldn’t even know there was anything wrong with them but she got to know them through Danny and knew they weren’t okay. Not even remotely and even if they tried to make it seem like everything was fine, putting on a brave facade, at this point there was no fooling her.

To be completely fair to them, Valerie was doing exactly the same thing they did. She was acting like everything was normal, like an accident didn’t happen… like she didn’t play a part in it.

Valerie ate dinner with her father and went to her room, only then she allowed herself to show weakness, sliding down the wall onto the floor. She curled her legs to her chest and turned her head. Her eyes caught the glimpse of the box underneath her bed and she pulled it out of there.

Opening it, she didn’t know what to feel and her Red Huntress costume didn’t have an answer for her either. Only thing she knew was that she would not wear it again. Or at least for a very long while.

It was just like what Phantom told her once before, „can you really take part in destroying the human?”. And the worst irony of all was, he would never be able to ask her that again.

Not to mention, the answer was obvious - yes.

Valerie shut the box and kicked it back under the bed, hot tears already falling.

**

The knock on the door was not expected at four in the afternoon but as luck would have it he was the only one home and therefore had to open them.

„Hello Daniel” greeted Vlad Masters smiling in the nicest possible way a millionaire and reformed villain could.

Danny sighed realising that since Vlad was in fact (kind of) reformed and was actually bothering to knock, therefore he would have to let him in.

Black haired boy stepped aside, motioning the inside of the house.

„Come in.” He said, prompting a wider smile that looked a tad bit too like a villain one.

As Vlad made it inside the house with an actual leather bag that, judging from the smell, contained snacks Danny felt relief.

For the past three months Vlad was trying, more for Dani than him really but he was trying. Today Danny didn’t have to worry about poison in his food. What was more worrying was why Vlad was at his house in the first place. As subtle as he could, Danny shot a message to Jazz.

„What brings you here today?” Asked the younger half ghost, deciding to thread carefully.

Vlad moved to the kitchen like he owned the place and proceeded to deposit his bag on the counter, before proceeding to pull out more and more containers full of food.

„I thought I would drop by.” Intoned the older man, still putting out the boxes „Dani likes to hang out with you and I cannot have my beloved daughter and dear godson going hungry now, can I?” Vlad hummed to himself.

Danny stilled and shifted to a more tense position as his ex-enemy continued to hum to himself while unwrapping the food.

„Vlad, do you remember what happened five weeks ago?” The teen asked warily.

The hand that was about to put a box of meat rolls on the counter stilled, the man’s eyes widened.

„No…”

It wasn’t the first time it happened and Danny knew exactly what was coming.

„Vlad…” started Danny, deciding to be direct. „Danielle is gone.”

„No!” Vlad snarled, meat rolls falling onto the floor as he swirled, his eyes blazing red.

„Yes, Vlad she is gone. Dead. Permanently.”

Vlad lunged, shifting mid way. Danny let his transformation wash over him as he turned them both intangible and let them fall through the floor and into the lab.

His parents never learned the truth and it was way easier to explain the damages done to the lab then the ones sustained by the living room.

Two ghosts grappled for a while, Vlad snarling like a wild animal.

Phantom kicked him off of him and blasted him with ectoblasts.

Vlad deflected and their battle continued for a while longer. They used ectoblasts, threw each other towards walls and onto various appliances, Dany knew well, he will have to repair and grapple with each other. As the time went by, Plasmius attacks kept getting weaker.

Finally Dany pinned Plasmius to the floor, feeling that the ghost was shivering all over. Dark circles moved up and down, revealing human Vlad again.

„She can’t be gone.” Whispered the other half ghost. „She can’t”.

Phantom let go and found himself being latched onto as a grown man wept.

Danny’s eyes were empty.

**

Vlad was lucky, the rest of the Fentons went out on a Jazz college festival thing. Otherwise it would be an awkward situation all around.

It took the man two hours to calm down enough to take his medications and nearly another one before he left, promising to not forget taking the pills again.

Left alone again, Danny stood in front of the Portal, once again in his Phantom form.

He opened the portal and flew into the Zone, moving towards his most frequent destination lately.

Landing behind Clockwork who was monitoring other timelines in his keep, Danny straightened up.

„Hello Danny.” Greeted the Ancient of time, without even turning around. „Ready for our next lesson?” There was amusement in his voice.

„I am.” A short answer came, more and more common these days.

There was silence for a minute before the older being shifted into his adult form and with amusement colouring his voice spoke, finally turning to face Danny.

„Ask what you want to ask.”

Danny kept silent for a moment longer, his eyes hardened and teeth clenched even harder.

„If I do this… is it possible? Were you telling the truth?” Danny’s voice was steady, he clearly wanted confirmation.

Clockwork shifted into his old form and smiled condescendingly.

„I did not lie Daniel. If you become the king of all ghosts, as per your right.” Clockwork began flying closer to young Halfa. „You will have enough power and authority to bring her back.”

Danny looked at his mentor, at his grandfather. Danny looked at the time.

Truth was, Danny didn’t mourn Danielle, he went ahead and tried to find another way. That way turned out to be, for him to forsake his freedom, not just yet but eventually.

He glanced back at Clockwork who was still smiling.

„Shall we begin?” The question sounded like he had a choice.

Danny’s eyes glowed brighter.

„Yes.”