Work Text:
BOOM
"GET THE FENTON FISHING WIRE!!"
Heavy footsteps rattled the cup in his hands.
"EAT MAGMA YOU ECTOPLASMIC FIENDS!!"
A loud crash sent the steaming coffee onto his only clean shirt.
"NOT THE SAMPLES!!"
A whisp left his mouth while a familiar blue fire blasted past him and through the walls outside again.
"Bye Baby-Pop!!"
The oozing green trail left in their wake left his clothes glowing and irreversibly stained.
"I CAUGHT 'EM, MADS!!"
He was so exhausted.
"Honey, get this net off me now."
Maybe Jazz would go shopping later.
"...sorry."
Puting the empty cup in the sink, Danny shuffled past the hollow cupboards and back to his spot at the table. Reading the Scarlet Letter was less annoying when he was fueled with coffee, but without coffee, it was just annoying. Why did Mr.Lancer think this was the book to read for class?
Battering up the basement steps, Jack and Maddie peered in on Danny. His shirt was rumpled from sleep, and the room smelled like rotten coffee. The fenton-net finally came off Maddie's leg with a loud THUD.
Danny didn't even twitch.
"DANNO," bellowed Jack, "Take a look at our new Fenton-Net!! With add-"
SLAM!
"No," interrupted Danny, "I'm not failing language arts for another gadget! I need to finish this by Tuesday and this is the LAST EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT I CAN GET WITHOUT SUMMER SCHOOL!!"
Maddie pulled down her hood and scowled through her goggles. "Are you really THAT behind on your school work?"
Tearing open his backpack, Danny ripped out his latest grading sheet and slammed it down onto the table. There were marks everywhere! Glowing stains, coffee stains, bite marks, smeared ink, and a 'SEE ME' in bold lettering. The date is three weeks ago.
Looking back to the exhausted figure at the table, she noticed the array of books splattered around the table. Papers balls gathered in packs. The scars glowing on his hand.
"Sweetie, if we had known how important this was we would have come out of the lab sooner," Maddie asserted. Crossing her arms as she heard him mutter, "Not like it makes a difference."
Jack threw his mammoth arms around his son and lifted him into the air with a lung shattering hug. "Oh Danno we can work on our gadget up here!!" Danny's eyes bulged out as he tried to squirm in his fathers grip. "How about it Mads?" Jack thrust their son back into his seat, and subsequently the floor. Danny wheezed out a, "What," as he tried to clamper upright on his trembling legs.
Rubbing her chin for a moment, Maddie thought about it. The lab was a mess right at the best of times and she really wasn't ready for another ghost to go plundering in there. Preparing their new tools would take time and Jack always did better with a full stomach. Shrugging to herself, she looked back at her expecting husband. "You know, that's not a bad idea! We get to get the kinks out of that anyway, so all we'll need is the Fenton Toolkit," she declared.
Jack let out a triumphant, "HAHA! I'll get the fudge!" "And I'll grab the toolkit dear," Maddie replied sweetly.
Danny's pencil shattered in his hand. Feeling something trickling down his wrist, he noticed the tiny carnage that was now dribbling down his arm as if Minty had just been there. He quickly threw the pencil across the room to the trash can. It missed and silently scattered across the living room carpet. He thrust his arm into his backpack and pulled out another pencil when Jack and Maddie came back into the kitchen with an army of tools and wires.
With a heavy thud, Jack and Maddie dropped everything on the table. And on top of Danny's books.
Maddie shoved aside 'Mathematics of Core Issues' and 'Shakespeare and Steak Hear-ing and Listening, the True Difference' to make room for her wires. Pulling out a couple of wire cutters, she got to work on the project.
For a while they all worked in relative silence.
Pencil scrapes and paper tears.
Twisting metal and clipped ends.
Tile turns and beeping timers.
Maddie looked at Danny. His face is nearly buried in his worksheet. Eyebrows permanently lowered into so many masks that she could never decipher. A sleeve concealing the edge of a purple bruise on his shoulder. His finger twitching minutly to every noise Jack made beside her. A splotch of red staining his paper.
Who was he now? Where did her little boy go? The little boy that loved the stars and his family in equal measure. The little boy that stayed up without fail for every meteor shower she brought him too. The little boy she last saw the night the portal activated.
Where was her son?
"Sweety, how has school been since the Incident," Maddie inquired. Red wire, blue wire, green wire.
Danny looked into Maddies red goggles. Searching for something. Something that Maddie believed she knew. He turned back to his paper. Defeated by his failure to find it.
"I have C's now," he answered lamely. "So ill pass these classes now." Scribble, scribble, doodle, scribble. Thump thump thump.
"Your principal called us about how they've considered that… computer learning stuff. From last time," she regaled. Twist, twist. Screw, slight bend. Undo.
"I know how much that worthless scum tempted you, but you know you can always come to your father and me for help right," she inquired comfortingly. "You don't need some parasite trying to corrupt you more than they already have." Reaching her gloved hand to his arm. Just barely able to touch his freezing flesh. He wrenched away and scowled at her. Using his other hand to cover his baren arm from her grasp. His face was filled with a fear and anger that felt all too common these days. A look she now saw on a nearly daily basis.
"Danny, my hands are clean," she told him with a twinge of irritation. Taking off her glove to let the pungent aroma of soap fill the air, she just saw Danny narrow his eyes at her.
"I KNOW that. I've been able to smell you from the basement," he threw back and scooted away from her reach. Leaving a new stain on his sleeve. He finally looked at his hand and bunched it up in his shirt and looked around in irritation.
"Danny, your father and i just want you to pass your classes-"
"Well it would be easier if I didn't have to deal with ghosts INTERRUPTING me 24/7 and canceling school or hearing those screams from the basement at ALL HOURS of the night," Danny retorded to her.
"How can I study when this house is louder than a Dumpty Humpty concert? I can't even sleep at night with how much you two are 'working late' or 'only a few minutes more,'" he brought his hands up to make quotation marks.
"Why can't I just do that computer school stuff instead? Oh wait, it's because a GHHOOOOST thought of it instead of a living human," he added spitfully. His shirt had two tiny stains on them now.
Maddie clutched the wire cutters shut. "Daniel James,-" she tried to counter.
"NO. Just… no. I can't do this again. I'll just do this in the safety of my own room ," Danny gritted out. Throwing all the books and papers he could reach into his backpack. Dragging it upstairs as he stomped to his room and slamming the door shut with a resounding click.
Maddie slumped in her chair. Looking at the stairs Danny just ascended. The look on his face echoing in her mind.
Beep.
He was so clumsy.
Beep.
Sometimes she wonders where the time went.
Beep.
She asked herself so many times what had happened to her son
Beep.
Now, she knew.
Beep.
"Mads? It's ready," Jack told her. His voice was disturbingly joyful, but she knew the underlying pain underneath. She looked down to the blood droplets on the table. Turning a brownish color, with little flecks unseen to the naked eye.
"I know dear. I just… I'll send Jazzmine to get some groceries. She won't be ready for this until we're done," she finished with a tremble to his hands. The gadget was done. The tools were cleaned.
They descended the laboratory steps together.
The smell of blood blossom bleach filling their noses.
Putting fresh gloves on.
It was time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"... i need more tinsel."
Gently tossing the half-wrapped tree back to the corner, Shriek watched with less-than-mild interest as it floated in its bent shape. Though their favorite holiday was still a while off, they wanted to be prepared to celebrate it with their children.
Looking over the half wrapped packages and torn up dolls, they couldn't help feeling a pang in their core. None of their babies had much of their own before now. Even Danny, as confusing as he was, had little more than a stolen thermos and the clothes on his back. They hoped the next holiday they celebrate together, trees or not, would bring them some joy.
"MOOOOOOOOM!! ARE YOU HOOOOOOME?!?"
Speak of the devil and he shall appear.
Shriek coiled themself into a tight spring, and launched themself upwards. Letting intangibility course through them as they acceded. Seeing the blurry mess of concrete and bugs before an eruption of color once more as they popped themself open again. Letting their hair grow long and wild while their arms stretched across the room, their narrled tail fliting around them. Looking down to her eldest child whom was chewing in his gloves. When he glanced up at their encompassing mother, he could help letting out a cry of laughter as they scooped him up and tickled them with the bends of their fingers.
"Welcome home my child," chuckled Shriek.
Danny curled away from the vicious tickling long enough to ask through his laughter, "Why, why always this?" His sides started to hurt from laughing so much and tears started flowing down his face.
"I thought i taught you how to sneak better," they teased, "Sneaking is an important part of Ghosting, Danny." They released him when he started wheezing incoherently. His laughter slowly fizzling out as he came down from his joyous high.
"I know you can scare me one day, plus a little fear is an important part of a young ghosts diet," Shriek remarked playfully. They shrank themself down a little so they were no longer as large as the warehouse itself. Instead they were tall and lanky, with enough height to cradle her son of course. They ruffled his hair and started to lead him to the warehouse floor and watch the dead animals play.
"So, what insanity transpired today," they inquired. A white snake slithered up a transparent purple vine.
Danny slumped onto the floor. "Uhhhg don't get me started! First Ember wouldn't stop bothering me at 2-in-the-morning, then Jack and Maddie where up before dawn building some new attachment to the 'Ghost Tracker.'"
A black bunny with long torn ears zipped to the purple plant and began to munch on the stem.
"Then after lunch the Lunch Lady decided to throw a fit about… desert i think? I'm still not fully sure. She was a giant cake, then I ate some. Before I could do anything else she… blubbered something? Shoved more cake into my hair then vanished. I dont… i dont even know."
The bunny bit the snake's tail and they both started a tussle.
Shriek let out a chuckle, "Dang, child. Sounds like a pretty bad day."
Danny let out a loud groan in agreement.
Shriek sighed, "It would be nice if you lived at the Lair instead. It would make things so much easier. No one could hunt or haunt your ass here."
"...because you would beat them?"
"Yeah 'cause I would beat 'em up. No one hurts my kids like that," they declared. "Well, if they start a fight I'll help but you also pick fights a lot, child."
Danny gave them a glare from the floor.
"Don't give me that look! You get mad when Skulker DOESN'T fight you sometimes."
Danny conceded and just layed on the floor while their parent cackled.
There was a distant banging on the warehouse door until it slid open, letting a disheveled Tucker and Sam into the room.
Sam grumbled loudly to herself as she dripped across the floor. Pulling out bits and pieces of goop, wire and tree branches out of her hair. Her boots landing with wet squishes on the concrete floor.
Tucker coughed out some odd substance as he stumbled across the goop-laden floor. Constantly trying to brush off the flaking powdery mess from his clothes and electronics. It glittered and smoked everywhere it went.
Shriek looked at the two bounding messes. The teens looked hysterical. "Wow, and I thought MY kids were messes. Do you kids wanna use the shower?" They pointed their thumb to one of the floating rooms with a shower symbol on the glowing door.
"Uhhh… no thanks dude. I think we'll be fine," replied Tucker as he took of his shirt and flung against the nearest wall. "I've got it covered."
"Covered all over my lair," mumbled Shriek. Watching the little bits of glowing steam.
"Eewuhhhg. Unless you have some spare clothes and anti-fenton repellent, i dont think a shower will get all this off," grumbled Sam whom came over to flop on the floor by Danny. Once properly ready to glare holes through the reinforced ceiling, she took off her backpack and slid it into Danny's face. "I brought your stupid homework from FentonWorks."
Danny let out a long, low, groan. "Why is this my life?"
"Half-life," Tucker chimed in. Putting his shirt back on and came over to flop directly onto Danny whom didn't even flinch at the sudden weight. "Dude, it should be illegal to give us this much homework. Even before ghost hunting, this is way to much for any kid. How am I supposed to get a girl if im doing work all day?"
Danny turned his head slightly and commented, "Are you telling me you were getting girls BEFORE we went to high school?"
Sam let out a smirk before bellowing into laughter followed by Danny. Tucker gave an offended look before punching Danny in the arm. "THAT NOT THE POINT YOU ASS," he shouted, but his words were drowned out by their laughter. Sam was rolling on the floor laughing while Danny was clutching his sides. Tucker was unamused.
Resigning himself to his fate, he pulled out Darlien and started looking through his notifications. There was gossip about how a neighbor's dead hamster was spotted eating chalk in the broom closet. A new electronics store was moving from Elmerton. Some fool ate some ecto and got stuck in their aunt's ceiling. Coming out to television was- OOOOOOHHHHH MY GOSH!
"Guys guys guys stop laughing!! The newest Undead movie is out," Tucker exclaimed. Shoving his beautiful electronics into his friends' laughing faces. Sam broke out of her laughter and started critically at the screen while Danny continued rolling on the floor laughing.
"How is this one different from the last one? Last time i saw any of this, we had to deal with that genie ghost."
Tucker added, "And you killed Danny. A second time."
Sam glared at Tucker while he cowered out of her punching range.
"So WHAT was the point of you showing us this," she growled at the cowering techno geek.
"Iiiiiiiii though you would wanna see it," he replied in hope he would not see the bottom end of her combat boots.
Danny floated up from his position on the floor to face his bickering friends. "A movie night sounds great, Tuck. But where do we watch it? I thought that movie stopped showing in theaters." He thought of his house for a moment, then cringed. "There's no way i'm going back to Fentonworks right now."
Both friends nodded.
Sam crossed her arms and pouted. "Yeah, and my parents are planning another party with politicians that care more about man-made concrete than the preservation of rare plants," Sam ranted to them.
"We can't do mine either," Tucker said apologetically, "Mom and Dad have some meetings today so they're using all the internet at the house right now."
Sam raised an eyebrow at Tucker, "I thought you guys had insane internet with all the tech you hoard?"
Tucker shrugged and tapped away at his PDA, "That's what the meeting is about. The router broke so we need a new one and Dad needs Mom to talk to the guy and i want to watch a movie."
The three of them thought for a moment before turning back to Shriek whom was now attempting to turn back into their humanoid form. They ignored the kids' looks while they tried to fit their gangly arm into the sweater sleeve, before giving up and just letting it dangle. "Wazzup," they replied instead.
Danny's mouth broke into a sharp point grin. He zipped over to his dear parent and pleaded, "Hey Moooooooom?" Using his 'innocent face' he inquired, "Soooo since you have wifi again could weeee-"
"Yes you can watch the movie night," Shriek interrupted her child with a smug grin.
The kids were an uproar with cheers as Danny picked up friends and thrust them all to the living room area and onto the horrible looking furniture Shriek decided to keep. With a bed sheet held up as a screen and projector displaying a western movie. Danny grabbed the tv remote and began flipping through channels as if it were a normal tv. Sam and Tucker decided not to question it. Finally it landed on one playing the Undead movie. The opening scene had a teen girl beating a jock with a bat. This was looking good so far! They all settled in while Shriek went on with their own tasks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shriek smiled at the kids as they floated towards one of their projects, letting the kids have their fun. Their project had two of the walls already built with some dark wood they found lying around, while the third was still in shambles for now. There was a circlet of glass they had arranged above the sink to get some natural zone light when cooking. Twisting their head upside down they noticed the glow of their babies napping inside the rusted stove. All in a mushy pile on the right inside wall. Eyes and eye sockets closed in sleep. Even Dani was resting with them. Such sleepy babies… They had such great kids. If only that time ghost didnt try to hog them. "Ow," they said to themself as a purple sticky note was smacked onto their face from nowhere.
"Keep an ear out-CW."
They shrugged and went back to building the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are the calculations ready, Mads," Jack questioned from the weapons vault.
"Just about done! Once I've finished factoring in ecto-acne, we can get started," she explained. Looking at her impeccable work on the white board, Maddie added pimples to the human stick figure and dripping slime from the sick human stick figure. Drawing an equal sign, circling it, then crossing it out with a smile.
"...Jack, dear?"
Bang!!
"YEOWCH!! Yes Mads?"
Thump thump thump.
"Do you know what Jazzmine is up to?"
Jack found one of the first aid kits right next to the door.
"We sent her out for groceries, remember? We'll need celebratory fudge after this! Plus, she can get those fiber breakfasts she always talking about."
Nothing broken, but that cut looks nasty.
"...do you really think they'll change their minds after all this, Jack?"
The chalk felt gritty in her hands.
"I think so! Jazz always talks about proving our theories, and seeing a ghosts true colors. This will be it! And we'll be a living family again."
Wipe wipe, dab, dab. Wrap, wrap, wrap, wrap.
"I hope so dear."
Madeline Fenton circled a picture of Danny Phantom. Then drew an arrow from the photo, to the examination table.
"I just want them to be normal again."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow. That ending sure was something," Danny remarked dryly.
Sam was face down on the couch. "I hate sequels with all my blackened soul," she gritted out.
Tucker leaned on Danny as he calmed down from his laughing fit, "I can't believe that's how they chose to end it!! When that gun fired GLITTER at his face, I knew that was gonna rule."
Danny shoved his friend into the couch as stood up to stretch. Grasping his hands together and leaning backwards until his rubbery bones finally went crackle-crackle-crackle-POP! With a satisfied sigh he hunched over again while searching for the projector remote. "Maybe we should see the next one when it comes out. I have to know if the little sister is gonna use her powers or not. It's too good a cliffhanger!"
Sam slumped onto the floor rug with a loud thud, banging her elbow in the process. Ignoring the pain, she buried her head with a nearby pillow. "I hate my life," she whined to her friends.
Danny chuckled to himself while he searched for the remote. He looked under the table and saw his blue phone laying on the floor. Picking it up he saw that Jazz sent him a text that she was going to be late getting home, but did pick up cereal for tomorrow. Tucking the phone back into his pocket, he continued his search. It wasn't next to the couch, or under the projector. Finally he reached into the abandoned popcorn bowl he found the buttered up remote! At last he turned off the projector. The clicking and whirring of the machine died down as the light stuttered and faded out.
"Looks like I should be heading back to FentonWorks. Jack and Maddie will either be dreaming of catching me, or out catching someone else," Danny spoke more to himself than anyone else.
Tucker took a photo of face-down-Sam as he addressed his friend, "Alright dude, but don't forget you're always welcome at my place! Just, don't ask about hockey, my dad is obsessed with that right now."
Sam flipped off Tucker as she made an effort to scoot her ass under the table to avoid the glare of the pda camera. Not even bothering to throw a shoe at him yet.
"Do you guys need a flight home? I don't even know how yall got here," Danny inquired while he looked at one of the warehouse windows.
"Mmmmmnnnnoooooo. We have a ride for laaaaaaterrrrr," grumbled Sam as she was now hugging the pillow in her grasp. Letting the prominent bags under her eyes become visible. She let out a long yawn.
Tucker yawned in unison. Stretching himself out on the ugly couch before rolling on his side to play a game. "We'll be fine, Shriek lets us crash here anyway. We'll see you later, ok?"
Danny shrugged and let himself change into ghost form. The cold rings washed over him as he felt his heart slow down to a stop. "Laters," he called out to them. He got tired goodbyes from his friends and a low moan from the back of the warehouse as he left through one of the doors.
The stars glittered above him on this cloudless night. Letting out a twinkling hello as Danny watched him from afar. Flying over the restful town as he shot across it to his own destination.
Until he smacked into someone.
"Ahhh what the fuck-" exclamed the ghost. Turning around smack the crap out of whoever ran into her, she stopped as she noticed it was the town hero of course. Rubbing his head from the impact.
"Woops," Danny appologised, "Didn't see ya there."
Ember looked over the kid. His tail was longer than last time, and his hair seemed to be shedding snow. There was even a point to his baby fangs now, and his skin looked… colder somehow?
"The hell happened to YOU baby-pop? You smell like a musty old lady," she quipped at him.
"What about you," he quipped back, "What are you doing out of the Ghost Zone?"
She crossed her arms and huffed. Knowing that if she tried anything, that would end with her in a thermos for way too long. "I'm not looking for… much trouble. I'm looking for an old friend. This is their old haunting grounds." Gesturing to the old antiques stores below then. "They were always looking for things in these old junks. Never my style, but it was fun to get out of the Zone."
Danny scratched at an annoying scab under his gloves. "Long as you're not causing trouble, I guess that's fine. I didn't know ghosts were very sentimental… except for the Lunch Lady."
Ember gave him a very sarcastic glare, "Do you think Techus is very up-to-date on anything recent? Took him like… 50 something years to change and he somehow looks younger now!"
Danny shrugged and scratched at a bump on the back of his head. "Fair point. Well if you're just hanging out, I'm heading to Fentonworks."
Ember flew in his path and inquired, "Why don't you just go to your lair? I don't see why you gotta put up with those old farts when you could be chillin' in the GZ?"
Danny gestured around them, to the buildings, and night walkers, and town around then, "I live here. This is my lair."
The rocker ghost took one more look at him before bursting into laughter. Laughing so hard she could barely float. Drifting down until she wandered on the edge of a dilapidated building. Danny scowled and floated next to her as she calmed down.
"What's so funny," he asked in annoyance and curiosity. His tail coiled up underneath him as he bounced on the roof.
She wiped tears from her eyes before explaining, "This is a HAUNT baby-pop, not a LAIR! You 'haunt' a place and keep every other nosy ghost and human out of it. Lairs are where you rest after a long while of haunting! You can't be serious right now." She looked to him for a sign of a joke or a crack of a smile… but he just stared, bewildered at her. Her own smile faded as she realized… "Didn't you already know that?"
Danny tilted his head and replied, "How would I have ever known that? Seems like every ghost, except me, gets a hand written letter on everything you need to know about being a ghost!" He gestured wildly around them as he spoke, "I had to figure that out with every ghost I've fought since i… since i… since the accident."
Ember noticed how he was aggressively rubbing his left palm. Like how she rubbed her hair.
"I either copy what I've seen other ghosts do, or work with Sam and Tucker on my current powers," he admitted. "Mom and Dad have been helping me out recently but…"
Ember interrupted him, "Wait, your HUMAN parents are helping you now?"
Danny recoiled at the notition, "Are you insane?!? Hell no!! I mean my ghost parents. CW and Shriek." Hearing a gasp, he noticed Ember's shocked expression. "Ummm… Ember? Are you ok?"
"Shriek is your Mom now? Why didn't you tell me," she demanded. Getting into his face while her hair flared behind her in icy blue. "That's who I've been looking for these last SEVERAL months!! After their lair was wrecked i was told they set up camp here in Amity!"
"Wait wait wait, how do you know Mom? They don't talk about anybody, not to me at least," he questioned. Rubbing the growing bump on his head.
Ember smirked and regalled, "We go wayyyyy back, baby-pop. They're the ones that helped me make my first single! I sang and wrote the music, obviously, but they helped get the lyrics in the right order. With a mouth like theirs, i wonder why they haven't blabbed about it!" Looking down at her guitar, she couldn't help running her fingers over a few of the strings. Her own fingers are always bigger than theirs…
Their lair is always louder than theirs…
Her door felt empty without theirs…
"...why didn't they look for me…" she asked herself.
Danny looked back to The Warehouse, then towards Ember.
He let out a sigh.
"You know, Moms warehouse IS right there," he pointed towards the building. "They're home right now with the siblings. Maybe you could say hi," he offered.
He watched as Ember's face lit up. "Wait really? Which building there's like a thousand down there?"
He looked at the correct one.
"It's molded red with complete windows. It's the only one with no shattered windows."
Ember's grin stretched across her face, "Thanks baby-pop. Catch ya on the flip side!" She questured goodbye and bolted towards the building. Danny smiled to himself and continued on his path back to Fentonworks. The moon was full as he landed just inside the house.
Glancing around the darkened room, he saw nothing living. Not even mutant pie, Maddie's newest recipe. He sighed with a smirk, and let the white rings take all the frozen ice from his form back into the little core next to his heart.
Hopping onto the counter, he reached for the bowls on the highest cupboard.
There was the quiet shuffling of the carpet.
He jumped off the counter and barely floated down.
A pair of red goggles watches through the wall.
The boy pulled out the hidden box of cereal and poured them into the bowl with a thousand tiny 'clinks' against the porcelain.
Humans can't reach through solid objects.
He shoveled the food into his mouth as he quickly devoured the forbidden treat.
She stepped out from the corner half way through.
"Hey sweetie!"
Danny paused halfway through his meal. His limbs stiff and gaze glowing like a deer in headlights. Hunched over his food like a gargoyle.
"Mmmmmm."
He gulped down the food.
"Uuuhhhhmmmmm. I was… hungry," he explained to Maddie.
Her smile strained across her lips. Teeth a sickly green in the light. An arm and leg still behind the wall.
"That's nice honey, now that you're home, there's something we want to show you. Do keep it down though, Jazzmine is sleeping." She gestured for him to follow her, then slipped behind the wall again.
The cereal went 'thunk' against the counter as he looked into the hallway, then the living room, until his eyes landed on the figure of Maddie waving stiffly from her bedroom.
Creak.
Creak.
Creak.
Up the steps he went as Maddie continued to wave.
The bathroom light is still dead.
Danny sees a small hand creep over maddies shoulder.
Maddie wont stop waving.
Danny reaches for those goggles
There's a muffled voice in Jazz's room.
Danny turns towards her door.
The net launched at him.
He lets out a shout.
Cardboard rushes across the carpet underneath him.
The door slams shut.
Jazzines phone starts to vibrate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I got 'em Mads, I got em," Jack cheered. One hand holding the Fenton-Net-Launcher, the other scratching the rash on his neck.
"Shhhh! We dont want to wake up Jazzmine, remember," whisper-shouted Maddie. This was their one chance. Their ONLY chance.
Jack shrugged meekishly before dragging the specter across the floor. The reflective table stood at the ready.
"Mad…Mom what's going on? Im not a ghost remember?" Danny looked pleadingly at Maddie. He tried to push against the net, but it barely budged. He tried to kick through the holes, but they stayed as they were. Tossing and turning in the net did nothing. He couldn't move, couldn't get out.
"Honey, where are the rest of them," Maddie asked her husband. Cocking her head to the side as she saw the lack of several items.
"Uhhhhh… oh yeah! I left them downstairs after finishing that project," he tried to exclaim quietly. He hauled up the net while his leg throbbed, and dropped it on the table with a couple of small thuds as the parts smacked the metal.
"They were supposed to be brought up here when you got done," she noted while bending beside the bed. Pulling out the hidden bed panel, revealing a secret drawer. She grabbed a bottle of murky black liquid, and a funnel.
"What is that? Why won't you listen to me," Danny called out. Struggling against the chafing confines of the net.
"I got distracted, sorry sweet cheeks. How about this, I'll get this strapped and go grab them," Jack amended. Holding down the squirming net with one hand, he grabbed a strap with the other. Pulling it up and over the net and clicked into place.
"It'll be fine, we'll just wait until Jasmine goes to school tomorrow. We'll just do this one first," she countered. Turning around to face their project. Seeing the grotesque glow of ectoplasm from the net, her resolve was sealed.
The bottle smelled like everything else.
"No… no please. Let me go! Don't do this!! I don't understand…," Danny continued to plead. Watching those massive hands as he was strapped down. Buckle after buckle. Turning his head from Jack to Maddie, trying for something. ANYTHING. Twitching his fingers through individual holes. The funnel came into view. Those red goggles boring down on him. A sickly sweet grin on her face. On Jacks face.
"I'll be happy when it's all over. Shell be so proud," she blathered on. Seeing the remaining bits of her son poking through.
The last strap was clicked into place. Jack smiled down at the face staring straight at him. "Don't worry Dann-o! We'll be done soon," he cheered.
The funnel thrust through a net hole and into Danny's mouth before he could react. He tried to squirm. The rashes scraped across the net. He tried one more time. "Mom, Dad, please let me go!"
The bottle was twisted open.
"We love you Danny," Maddie cooed softly.
"We can't wait to see you again," cheered Jack through gritted teeth, while pinching the nose closed.
The liquid was poured into the funnel.
Danny couldn't breathe.
The taste was so much worse.
She held the funnel in place.
It burned down his throat.
He heard a loud crack as everything burned into a blinding white light.
Someone was screaming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything hurt. Everything hurt so much. Blood blossoms were supposed to hurt ghosts not humans.
But so many ghosts were human once. They still looked human, but once they're dead, does that make them no longer a person? A mirror reflection that can never quite get the image right? A distorted form that never fits back into frame quite right? Or maybe it's their own eyes that are distorted? That they themselves cant percieve that nothing changed? That everything did stay the same, but the different angle makes it so unrecognizable even though they saw the shift themselves? That is a ghost? And what is she now?
The rashes are on her legs. The cream doesn't work.
Her phone vibrated next to her.
She turned it to the lowest setting, and answered.
There was screaming.
Barely able to walk, barely able to speak, she sent a message.
This may be her last chance to help him.
By the ancients, she hoped this would work.
The phone clattered to the floor, as she stared at the ceiling.
No noise came from the room next to hers.
That scared her the most.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bzzzzzz.
Bzzzzzz.
Bzzzzzz.
"Yo Sam."
"Whaaaaaaat."
Bzzzzzz.
"Jazz is texting us."
"Annnnnddd?"
Bzzzzzz.
"...OH FUCK."
Sam peeled herself off the window and turned to Tucker. Hopping off the dusty windowsill and landing with a CLOMP on the wooden platform. Tucker's PDA pen was stabbing the screen at rapid fire pace as she raced towards him.
"What'd she say? Tucker say SOMETHING," she demanded. Trying to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing. The text was moving too fast for her to read. Wanting to rip that piece of metal out of his hands but the worry of setting something off was greater.
Tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-a-tac-
Finally Sam grabbed his shoulders to shake him while she screamed, "TUCKER WHAT'S GOING ON?!?!?!"
Tucker paled.
The PDA was shaking in his hands.
Sam felt her heart drop even before he told her, "The Fentons have Danny. They're ending him."
They stared at each other.
Barely breathing.
"What."
Came a static voice behind them. Floating under a room until they were in front of the pair.
"What just happened?"
Turning to face the stretched expression of the ghost. Their scraggly hair in a messy ponytail. Sunken eyes staring at their gaping mouths. Floating yet staying so still.
"The Fentons, the Fentons have Danny," Tucker uttered. "The-the new paint, the bleach, the fucking DETERGENT," he shouted. He held his PDA out towards their face.
"They're ending him with blood blossoms."
Static grew in the air. Deep green mist filled the room. Cracking energy began fizzing around them. Sam started to see her hair floating above her head as goosebumps climbed her arms. Tucker felt little poppins at the end of his finger tips and nearly dropped his pda.
From deep in the warehouse they heard metallic clanging.
Shit.
The babies were waking up.
They may have woken them up.
Shriek looked back to the teenagers and declared, "I'm GETTING BACK my son, you two stay here." The green swirled around them.
Tucker shouted at them, "THE DEFENSE SYSTEM WILL RIP YOU TO SHREDS WITHOUT MY PDA!!"
Pops of light wound around them. "THEN UNLOCK IT FROM HERE IF YOU CAN," they shouted back. Throwing the door open with a resounding BANG.
Sam exclaimed, "WE'RE SUPPOSED TO SIT ON THE SIDELINES AND WATCH OUR FRIENDS GET DESTROYED?!?"
Shriek turned to look at them. They were racing for the door, but would not make it in time. Determined and fearful all at once. They distantly heard the unfinished kitchens pots and pans smacking into anything around them.
"No, you're not gonna watch what they did to my son, but I need you two here when I get back," they commanded, "I need a safe spot to return him, don't let anyone in here, and don't let my babies out to their demise. Keep yourselves safe, while I go rescue my boy. "
With that they shot out of the warehouse, the door slamming closed behind them.
Dashing into the sky just high enough to spot the obscene neon sign of the accursed place they need to be. Without hesitation they darted towards the building.
The darkened sky followed the racing trail of the spector. Sparks and bolts shot to the ground in a race against their master. Speeding through every building, every car, every person in their path until they crashed into Fentonworks with the thunderous, screaming, slap of the BOOM .
The house rattled and swayed. The cupboards were thrown open as glass and china and porcelain jumped to their demise in a million tiny screams. The furniture threw itself out of the way of the rampage.
There was an endless scream from upstairs. A scream they wished they never had to hear.
Launching themself towards that horrible cry, phasing through the walls, they saw him.
Trapped in a net.
With those two monsters.
Blood and bile pooling out of his mouth. The net was stained and steaming. A bloodied funnel lay on the floor with an oozing bottle.
Jack laid on his left side. As he tried to push off the floor with his left arm, explosions of pain went racing up his arm, making him yell out in curses. He cracked open an eye to see a blindingly bright ghost at the examination table. It floated around the examination, no doubt doing its best to fake concern for his son and the ectoplasmic scum that had possessed him.
Shriek tried to claw the net away, but it burned their tips down to nubs. In a wild frenzy they encircled the horrific table in search of any opening, any sliver of a space with none of that toxic flower on it. Any chance to free her son.
Jack tried again to push himself up, this time with his right hand with greater success. Seeing how the single-minded waste of plasm was not focused on himself, he used the opportunity to push himself upright. The deep ache on his side told him he was bruised, but he would persevere.
Glancing around himself, he noticed his wife was twitching and groaning on the floor. She was alive, and functioning. He also noticed the toolkit had spilled onto the floor. The silvery sheen of a handle glinted in the frantic light.
Holding himself as steady as he could manage with his right hand, he reached for the weapon with his left. Trembling with every twitch of pain. Once in reach, he tried to close his hand over the muzzle, but arrows of pain shot through him. Huffing and puffing through the pain, he laid his hand on top and dragged it towards himself. Every muscle screamed at him as he pulled his arm back towards himself.
The spector had stopped flying around the table. It reached out one of its disgusting rotting hands and had the AUDACITY TO TOUCH HIS SON.
"HANDS OFF YOU WORTHLESS SPOOK," he shouted. The beast turned its head as he raised his right hand to fire. Pulling the trigger at its head, he was shocked to witness as the thoughtless monster grabbed the table and used it as a shield of sorts. The chaos from this action obliterated one of the straps, freeing Danny's leg.
No doubt faking the opportunity, the vile creature started pulling at the straps. Its elongated fingers grasped the leather, but the lack of sharpness left it unable to slice through.
He quickly went about reloading the gun as another strap came loose. An arm was freed. He didn't have much time. Firing again, this time the worthless ectoplasm ducked as the lazer went to its side, shooting a hole through the wall.
The next strap tore to pieces in their fingers, it seemed that someone wasn't too nice on it beforehand.
His son was almost in the deceptive monster's hands. His son was about to be abducted. They were going to finish the corruption they no doubt started!! He couldn't lose. Not to it.
It would take too long for the gun to recharge. To his side he heard the whimpering of his wife coming back to consciousness.
Pushing himself up, his ankles creaking as he did so. Hunching over himself, he looked into the dead eyes of the uncaring being. Raising his arms up, and charged at it!
There was no time to react as he slammed into the examination table shoving the spector against the wall and it cracked and bent until it burst through. Brick and plaster and dust and wallpaper collided with its back as they fell to the ground.
The table had smashed into its stomach and he had collided with the metal underbelly. Something cracked and he fell off the table and onto the dented concrete.
There was screaming as the specter quickly shoved the table off of them, and sat it right-side-up at the edge of the crater. The net and blood seemed like a spotlight in the moonlight. It was still fiddling with the last strap.
"OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?!?"
He tried to move his arms, but they wouldn't budge.
"Is that the fenton kid?"
Steam was erupting from the blisters.
"SOMEONE GET THIS OFF HIM NOW!!"
He wanted to cry out, but all that came was grunts of pain.
"There's a kid at fentons works, and I think his parents experimented on him!"
He tried to keep his eyes open.
"THE GIW WILL DO MORE THEN KILL HIM!"
Everything went black for him.
Shriek was frantically trying to get the last strap off. Their fingertips were worn down past the nub and no matter how much they tried they just couldn't get a grip on the last strap to pull it off!! Their nubs were too big to get any purchase.
"DANNY!!"
Danny's blood was pooling onto the paved road.
"BABY BOO PLEASE WAKE UP!!"
Shrieks ecto dripped from their worn nubs and mixed with their child.
"I CAN'T LET YOU DIE LIKE THIS!!"
Their baby boy.
"HEY," someone called out. Whipping their head around, they saw someone sprinting towards them. A person with a stained jacket. They whipped out a switch blade and tried cutting the net. Unfortunately the net didn't budge under the serrated edge.
"No! Cut the strap, THE STRAP! It's the only thing ive been able to get free," Shriek exclaimed.
The person said nothing, and turned their attention to the leather straps. Sirens were blaring in the distance.
"That's gotta be the police right? They'll help the kid," the person tried to reassure them.
It was like a strobe light approaching them from behind the buildings. Blinding, fast, and uncaring.
"That's not a cop."
It turned into the neighborhood. The van was all white.
"That's so much worse."
Shriek grabbed Danny with their disintegrating hands and launched towards home. Gore and bile and acid drenching their clothes as their child was nothing more than a flesh noodle.
Speeding past every ghost in their wake. The lair door flung open with the sight of Sam and Tucker at the edges. Once inside, they dove downwards, past the concrete, the metal, the debre, until they reached the room. The one room where no monster would ever find them again.
They brought out a dirty, yellowed comforter and laid him gently on top of it. Already it was being stained. Focusing themselves, they felt the tingling of intangibility set in. Washing over them, then, by some miracle, over their child. The vile concoction splattered as a morbid painting on the sheet.
Danny's eyes were open and staring at something not even they could see.
Shriek leaned down, and tried to listen for any sound in his chest.
One moment.
Two moments.
Three moments.
Shriek had their answer.
They left the warehouse to take care of one, last, thing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An ambulance was loaded with Jazz's body while the police sirens blared all around Fentonworks. The others had already drove off. Yellow tape encasing the building and front door. Red and green splotched painting the cobblestone and brickwork into a morbid display.
A policeman watched as a stray bird flew towards one of the broken windows, only for it to be blasted by the internal lasers. They radioed in.
Revving of another vehicle got his attention. It pulled up from the other end of the street. The pristine limousine sat smugly in front of the bloody crater. Sliding out of the door glowered the mayor himself.
Glancing at the body being driven away in the ambulance. A noise the officer couldn't distinguish came out of his nose. Striding over to the scene as if he belonged there. His long manicured hand brushed against the police tape. Stepping forward, the officer barked, "Stop. This is a crime scene. Mayor Masters, what are you doing here?"
"Officer," the mayor inquired, "What happened here? Where are my children? I mean my godchildren?"
Steeling his breath, he responded, "This is confidential, sir. Even for you."
Glaring down at the officer he insisted, " Jack and Maddie signed me as the children's legal guardian in case of emergencies. I must know what happened to them!" He pulled out a document showing his legality. It was pristine.
Rubbing a hand over his face in both exasperation, and a way to hide his tears, the officer responded, "Fine. We don't have all the facts, but I guess you should know. Some folks heard screaming coming from Fentonworks, until a new ghost-"
Interrupting the man, the mayor asked, "Ghost? Which ghost?"
"-came out of that wall with Jack Fenton on their tail. The kid… the fenton boy, was strapped down, and heavily injured. A civilian helped free the boy, and the ghost flew off with the child in their arms."
"So Jasmine was hurt as well," the mayor deduced.
"No," the officer firmly stated. "She! She… she was fed something. Something horrible. It burned the ghost, the boy, and even the sister. Inside and out. It even hurts our crew."
The coms on the officer were still crackling. A voice crackled among the static. Still, the officer turned his attention to the mayor's scowl.
"At least know this, CPS has been called, and the Fentons will no longer have custody of the kids. If they even live through all this," he finished a warbly sigh.
"So when do I get the kids," the mayor demanded.
The officer turned to stare at him.
Staring into the bottomless abyss that the graying mayor called eyes.
The taser on their hip buzzed.
"That's for CPS to decide."
The mayor stood taller. Arms folded behind his back.
"They have been through HELL, officer. I expect the children in my manor the moment they recover," he demanded.
The taser felt hot and pulsed with his heartbeat. Watching the man he never voted for tilt his head ever so slightly. The shadow under his feet flickered with the flashing police lights. Seeming to grow longer and longer against the pavement. Sweat started to trickle down his brow.
"That's still for them to decide, Mr.Mayor," they firmly stated.
The mayor's grin stretched painfully across his face. Teeth a pristine, glimmering, white. And in the lights, the blue-and-red strobe lights, they looked far too pointy.
The radio blared static into the officers ears. Watching, frozen by his own limbs, as the mayor reached out a hand from behind his back. Letting it grip their shoulder. It felt hot, too hot, it felt burning hot. Searing through his shirt, his vest, his skin. Standing stock still as he stared into the mayor's eyes. Those, hungry, red, eyes.
The air started to feel muggy. Smoke was clouding his vision, all except for the glowing red of his eyes.
From his com, the static seemed louder, and louder, reverberating from his ears until the force threw him back.
A growing pain exploded from the shoulder the mayor held hostage. Collapsing onto the ground from the force of the throw, the impact on the concrete, and lifting of whatever force held him in their grasp just moments ago.
Through half lidded eyes he saw an unfamiliar ghost screeching like the static from his radio. The mayor said something he could grasp. Then the ghost thrust their oozing claws into his chest. Pulling out a ghost he half-recognised. The mayor fell to his knees, coughing up… something vile. There were footsteps approaching as the strange ghost took the ghost they ripped out, and fled to parts unknown.
The last thing the cop thought as everything faded to black, was they hoped their body cam was on this time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything hurts. A throbbing that echoed in every space imaginable engulfed existence. Heat that kept pulsing and stopping at untimeable intervals. Colors of pain danced across the lid of eternity with their pointed feet.
A whisping melody drifted across the horizon. Using notes that could be understood under a stronger microscope.
"-he just-"
Shifting in splintered chaos. Bouncing off the rubber surface. Cords of bitter lilac and singing sand shook the veiled landscape.
"-cant let-"
Trembling at the tip of the burning range, there was a shift across a furried side. Jerking minutely on a small hard rock.
"-salve with burns-"
Running through the carpeted spot, a gust of whine exhaled as thorns and stems erupt from the well.
"-think hes here-"
Each blooming spike releasing more wind from the stone walls.
"-child mine-"
A stampede of thunder choked the noise.
"-deathly red-"
The lightning cracks and illuminates-
Blue.
Blue colors.
Blue arm.
And… white?
White and blue.
Bone.
Soft.
No. Bones aren't soft.
Glancing around their crack of sight, the fuzziness around the edges started to sharpen. Mind clearing as the person came into view. What he was feeling, wasn't carpet. No. They were much better.
"Hello, Great One."
He couldn't crack a smile at the cool of his friend's voice, but his eyes seemed to shine ever so slightly. The tube that was forcing itself down his throat wasn't helping either. As Frostbite didn't seem inclined to remove it, he didn't feel inclined to try. There was an endless buzzing in the room. How annoying.
"You've been asleep a long while. I know you may feel stiffer than you're used to, and I understand that your body is in a great deal of pain."
Understatement of the decade. Danny tried to lift his hand from where it rested, the throbbing of his wrist mocked him for his attempt.
"I shall gather your mother and father."
Who? What?
Turning to the entrance of the room, the white yeti motioned with his frozen, bony arm, for someone to come over.
That someone had wild hair, a stretched gaping maw, and tears falling down their cheeks.
Danny tried to speak, but found his jaw was too depressed to move. He felt his own tears start to build up.
Shriek was gasping through their sobs, taking in air they didn't need. Bringing themself close to his face, and gently rubbing the knuckle of their bandaged fingers on his cheeks.
With a kind cough Frostbite spoke, "Great One."
Danny closed one eye at his moms affection, and with the other he watched his friend.
"Your body is unstable at the moment. You shall be spending a great deal of time here while we find a way to fully purge your system of those accursed blood blossoms."
His limbs shook at the mention of that. Eyes cracking open the slightest bit more.
"But have no fear! Your mother was able to get the majority of it out, and you are not in danger of full destabilization," the yeti claimed.
"We will run a few…"
The poor boy started to shake, even as his mother did their best to soothe them, even through all their tears. The nearby buzzing grew sharp and erratic.
"...programs to see what treatment will be best for you. We have some medical pain relievers for you as you heal," he finished gently.
He wrapped his fuzzy paw delicately on the teens bandaged arm.
"You will be ok. We won't let anyone hurt you," he told the boy. He plugged a bag into a tube that flowed into his other arm, something he didn't even notice until now.
Moments passed, and the release of pain in his body pulled his eyes shut once more.
Letting the adults converse.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is your lair the best choice for him right now," Frostbite carefully inquired.
"It's the closest to his friends, and I don't think those maniac eyeballs should be anywhere near my son," warbled Shriek through wringing hands. "No one can even get in the warehouse unless i let them. Even if they open the door they'll just find an empty building."
Nodding in understanding, Frostbite let out a sigh. "The Master if Time does have unsavory… coworkers."
"That's not the word I would use," they snapped.
Breathing out a chuckle he replied, "Agreed. At least the Great One is among good company now. After a couple months he should be fine to go to your lair, then. I'll prescribe some pain relievers, some ecto boosters, and a good computer."
Shriek coiled their tail around their fingers. "When was electronics ever considered a cure of any kind," questioned the bushy haired specter.
Frostbite looked to the icy hospital bed where his most important patient lay dead asleep. His wrists were being unbandaged, and a glowing cream applied to the burned rings encircling them.
"From what you've told me about his recent activities, and what his friends have lectured me about…" he let out a breath of an empty laugh, "...he will need something to keep him occupied while bedridden."
Both ghosts sat on the floor in contemplation. The old yeti ran his paw along the smooth transparency of his prosthetic arm. Thankful, in a bittersweet way, that the savior of the Infinite Realms didn't need one. Not right now, anyway. He isn't sure what he would do if he was in the banshee's place. He's fought many a foe that would harm or desecrate his home, but they were other ghosts. They could take a fight. But the ones who did this were still mortal.
And somehow.
That made it worse.
Ghosts don't fight the living, they can't withstand the brutality of a ghost's actions very well. The dead will survive as their core will simply regenerate their form, usually in the safety of their lair home. You cant kill what isnt alive, but you can torture them for eternity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"..."
The room smelled… like nothing. It wasn't sterile like hospital bleach. It wasn't nothing like an empty building. There just wasn't a smell at all. It was odd, at the moment.
"..."
Mom was pushing some big bins to the center of the room. When they started to float back down, they would lift the box with their tail to adjust it. It was old, and looked like it was bleeding. Like he was. He is? Bleck. His head still hurt.
"..hhh…hhheyyy…mom," he croaked out.
Mom turned their glowing eyes towards him. Still wrapped around the box like a snake on prey.
"Wazzup," they inquired, then shoved the bin they were using onto a broken, floating table. "Need anything or whatever?"
The bandages were black, but they glowed somehow.
"Whhh…wheennss… whens jazz, coming here," he asked in a raspy voice while rubbing his arms together.
The box and table twirled lazily as Shriek tried to compose themself. They flew over to a floating board and traced some lines with the end of their finger. Pushing up their glasses as they did so.
"Well, your big sister said she'll come by in a few days, and on Saturday she said she'll spend the night. I already got a low-flying room prepared, it has some steps and a handrail so that should work just fine," they replied. Turning hopefully towards their son, but they didn't miss the scrunching of his eyebrows, or the frown on his face.
"Mom…that's not, what I meant," he stated.
They slouched, and sat in the air. Curling up in their tail.
"I know."
Shriek looked sorrowfully at Danny, with no better words on their lips.
"The courts decided, to have her live with your friend. The tech nerd. Since his family, has known you and her for so long," they wished she had her own room, "...and they are," living, breathing, not dead, "...nice… she will," survive, be without her brother, disabled for the rest of her life, "...be in their custody," they finished with a sigh.
Silence booked throughout the warehouse as Danny stared into space. Stared at the floating rooms.
One for him.
One for Dani.
One for Shriek.
One for the quadruplets.
None for her.
Shriek floated over to him. Seeing her little boy stare into a distance they would never see, and kissed him on the head. Giving him a small, one-armed hug, and continued moving the bins around. Making sure to stay in sight of their child. They weren't going to leave him. They just hoped that Clockwork was done with his task, Danny needed him as much as he needed them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Floating over the captured Fentons, Clockworks' fury stared down at them. The two monsters that hurt his child. Seeing all of time did grant him omnipotence, but there are some emotions that not even eternity can bring down.
Unclasping the starry vile from his belt, he unscrewed the cork and dripped the sparking content on their hearts, and their heads. The mortals twitched as the isolating liquid took effect. Chuckling cruelty in his mind, he went intangible and went into theirs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Kiiiiiiids!! It's almost time for school," Maddie called. Striding confidently over to the picnic blanket. Her red wedding dress soaking the grass as she walked. Jack laughed in triumph at his new invention. A tiny doll with a white suit and black hair. He tucked it into his overalls front pocket before turning his attention to his wife.
Her goggles blinked at the accomplishment. "Oh hun, what are we going to do with it? You know that lunch isn't until morning," she teased heartily.
A horse trotted around them. Jack couldn't see it, but its rhythmic stamping danced in his ears.
"Oh I know, but imagine how excited the house will be to have its next meal! I wanted to get the little serving ready. Plus! You always know the best way to cook it," he cooed to his beloved wife. Taking his farm tilled hands in her red gloves.
"Moooooom. Daaaaaaad," a voice whispered. The trotting seemed so far away as well.
"I think garlic is appropriate, but you can't go wrong with iron," Maddie suggested as she scooted closer to him. Her dress was tearing into long strips.
"Mooooooooooooooom. Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-" the voice was cut off by his wife speaking again. The trotting was getting closer now. But the voice was so far away.
"But those new peppers we got will go bad soon. Let's use them tonight," she exclaimed with a grin stretching up and over her face.
"MOOOOOO-" the voice was shouting in his head but he continued to watch his wife. The trotting was nearby, but he was so hungry.
"Maybe I can use my new salad fork! Make this the best meal we've ever had," cheered Jack as he threw his hands into the air. He and Maddie hugged and laughed enthusiastically at the plan.
"DAD," screamed a shrill voice.
Looking behind himself, he saw a little girl with orange hair and a blue dress glaring at him. Her arms folded over her stomach as she demanded, "When's breakfast? It's sun time now, and I wanna sleep."
Jack waved to her, "Oh, sorry pumpkin, we are almost done with lunch! We can all eat soon, alright?"
The child's scowl deepened. "And what do YOU get to eat," she barked questioningly.
Jack looked down to his pocket and pulled out the life-sized doll. Its head swayed side to side at the sound of the hoofsteps.
"Why THIS of course! You can't be picky this time, since this is all the food we'll be getting from now on," he stated proudly.
His child let out a shrill scream. Infilling her arms to show a hole in her stomach where the doll used to fit. The sky turned a deep purple while the ground matched his wife's red dress. The space under the little girl curling white.
Jack rolled his eyes at the sight of her tantrum. "It's not REAL, little girl. It's just food."
Turning his attention back to the doll, he looked down at the little black symbol on the chest and scoffed. Just a bit of mold on it. All their food had mold.
"You're not a boy," he cooed while attempting to rub the symbol off.
The screaming continued.
"You're not a child," he stated while trying to scrape the symbol off.
The pounding was echoing all around him.
"You're NOT a person," he scolded while trying to pull the symbol off.
The screeching was in time with the thundering surrounding them.
"YOU'RE NOT MY SON," he erupted and ripped the doll to shreds.
The screaming and hoofsteps were silenced.
All he heard, was the soft gong of a clock announcing the hour, and his own breathing.
Looking at his hands, he saw green splattered on them.
He tried to rub it off on his overalls, but to no avail.
On the stained ground, he saw Phantom in a crumpled heap. Organs and limbs splayed around him. His emerald gaze locked onto him. His wife trotted over and tutted to herself.
"How dare he match my gown."
Jack stared at the red mess. He grabbed a green eye and pulled it out like a jewel. But once it was in his hands, the emerald turned ruby.
Looking past his wife, he saw his daughter crying on a slab of rock. Overhead a large man with a scythe swung down at them all, and cut Jack and Maddie in two.
Startling awake, Jack's eyes searched for recognition. White ceiling. Ceiling tiles. Beeping. Lots of beeping. Breathing. Not his own someone else. Next to him.
He turned his head towards the sound, and there was his wife. Head covered in bandages, one leg in a cast suspended by cloth. Her eyes were searching for something as well.
Almost as if sensing him, she turned to look at him. He had an arm and hand in a cast, with bandages all around his torso. His eye was bruised and bandaged.
"M-mads," he warbled out, "Did, you have a, a dream about, the kids?"
Her eyes welled up as she gave a solemn nod.
He felt his heart sink.
"What, what did you tell them?"
The heart monitors were getting faster.
Jack felt so cold, and so small.
"...he's…not…human…" she whispered so loudly to him.
His vision became a blurry mess.
His limbs trembled in their confines.
"They… they hate us… don't they," she croaked. Small gasps escaped her mouth as nurses and doctors burst in. Their chatter was drowned out by the monitors, and their own crying.
There was no chance they were going to see their kids ever again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You are so god damned stubborn," Shriek moaned her son was ONCE AGAIN flying around the lair, and knocking into things.
"Ow! Im fiiiine Mom. Ive fought weather, ow, a jerk-faced teen, ow, my evil self, ow, and the fucking Ghost King! OWCH!! I can do this," declared Danny as his flying wobbled, and he collapsed into Shriek's tail. His black and white hair curtaining his pouting expression.
"Yes, you can be a stubborn teen, and a crabby baby, but you also need to rest properly! Your core WILL. NOT SHATTER. From resting." They pulled their child down to the pile of ghostly blankets and cushions. Helping prevent his now, semi-unpredictable-powers, from going haywire all over the lair.
"At least stay near the cushions, would you? If I have to drag your ass back there because of this, I WILL let them mock you," they stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Danny stuck out his tongue and curled angrily around his new beanbag chair. Hissing unhappily as he logged back onto the computer layed out for him.
"It's either the nest, or your mothers baby jail. Please choose wisely," Clockwork teased from the functional floating kitchen. Pulling out a frozen star teething toy, and flinging it as his son's head. It hit his face and fell to the softness below. Danny stuck out his forked tongue in another display of mini rage, then went back to his computer.
The parents sighed contently at their antics and went back to their tasks.
"How long until you tell him about the full arrest," Shriek inquired as they tucked another christmas item into the lower chamber underneath the warehouse.
"Until you tell him that he's technically a father. At least you got them to respond to their little nicknames," Clockwork shot back.
Shriek hummed in annoyance, but conceded. Dani and the Babies were made from Danny's blood, but they would never put the full understanding of that on his shoulder until he was older. For now they were siblings. That's all they needed right now.
Clockwork looked out the window to see Sam, Tucker, and Jazzmine approaching the doors. "It's a good thing the children can actually enter the building, and not end up across town," he commented.
Shriek smacked him with their hair, "That's only for UNINVITED folks. Besides I told Jazz sorry for the ordeal. I forgot she's not a Fenton anymore. Plus I got her that awesome wheelchair! She had fun flying around in it last time." Though Shriek did feel bad for confusing her so badly. Those first few weeks of Danny's recovery were, and still are, hard.
There was collective baby squealing coming from the baby jail as Danny's friends and family came through the door.
Mint was pushing himself against the mesh walls to play with their living siblings. Dark was laughing while poking their own eye sockets. Dart was throwing their toys from wall to wall in their own form of asking to play. Gruff was bundled up with Dani, both taking a nap. Though Dani was in pajamas rather than being swaddled.
Danny perked up from his spot in the corner of the room. The four kids waved at each other before racing to meet in one big pile.
They all would need some love through these months. These years probably. Fentonworks was shut down, Jack and Maddie were banned from every place in Amity, and Shriek was biting the heads off any ghost trying to mess with their kids until they were ready.
For now, the kids were going to hang out, watch a horror movie, stay up super late, be super obnoxious, and be happy.
That's all Shriek wanted.