Chapter Text
Infinite Realms, Conference Room
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When Danny had fought Pariah Dark only months after first becoming a halfa, it would have been nice to know Pariah’s defeat would make him next in line to become High King of the Infinite Realms. Danny knows that at that time he wouldn’t have cared much about the large details, not when his family and friends' lives were at risk. Now he was starting to regret not poking around for more answers.
At the moment, Danny was stuck in an impossibly boring meeting with no way out. These meetings were not uncommon, but they oftentimes relayed information he already knew from interacting with the other ghost. He didn’t bother paying attention to them any more than he had to.
Instead, his mind was fixed on what he was gonna do once he got home. Jazz was leaving for college due to it starting the twenty-second. That meant Danny would have to deal with his parents. All alone. He had his friends and he knew that if he were to ask, they would let him stay at one of their houses. But Danny hated the idea of being a bother.
He had already spent the entirety of summer with them, staying over many times, and he didn't want to overextend their likeness of him. Jazz would definitely berate him for those thoughts, but it's not like he had any plans to share them with her. He had been the subject to many of Jazz's self-esteem lectures; He wasn't exactly fond of going through the whole spiel again.
Case in point, no telling Jazz of his more negative thoughts only a few hours before she left for college. Ancients knew if she felt that he was a little too uncomfortable being home without her, she would stay. Danny was not about to be the reason she missed out on college and gave himself more things to be ashamed of.
He would just have to avoid Jack and Maddie when he could. It was already good that they were too consumed by their latest Ghost Invention, and that attention wasn't going to be put on him anytime soon. Now that he thought about it, it probably wasn't a good thing for him to be glad about the lack of attention he received from his parents.
Before the lad accident, it did hurt to know they cared more for capturing things that might not exist than their own children. But he realized long ago that while his parents loved him, they loved their work more. At the time, he just didn't want to admit it. It wasn't until after becoming Phantom that he accepted it.
His mind continued to wonder for the entirety of the meeting. After it was finished, Danny gave his thanks to the ghosts that were able to attend the conference. He ended up having small talk with almost all of them. The ones he didn't get a chance to talk at length with apologized profusely. He assured them it was no problem and they rushed off to deal with their own problems in their own lairs.
After all the ghosts had filtered out, it was only Clockwork and Danny left in the conference room, which was strange. Usually Clockwork was the first to leave. The fact he was still floating beside Danny made him slightly uneasy about what he had to say.
"Is there something wrong, Clockwork?" Danny looked up at the ghost standing tall next to him.
"There is nothing wrong, My Prince," He said. "I was only wondering if you would accompany me to my lair."
Danny didn't mind the title 'prince', but he would like it better if the other ghosts only called him that during official business. He also didn't like the way many of them acted around him. The ones he was not peculiarly close with would bow until their heads hit the nonexistent floor, giving him praise for just gracing their presences. No matter how much he insisted they didn't have to greet him like he was above them, they continued to do so.
It rubbed him the wrong way. He didn't deserve to be treated with so much respect. But Danny knew it wasn't respect they were showing him, it was fear.
They feared that Danny would smite them where they stood if they even glanced at him. They kept a wide berth around him at all times and they spoke lowly or waited for him to give them permission to speak.
He hated it. It reminded him of Dan.
Dan, more than anything, wanted all beings to bow at his feet. He wanted them to look at him and praise him for his power. He wanted what Danny was receiving, and Danny wanted none of it.
The only reason he agreed to become King was for the sake of the Realms. The balance of everything depended on the Ghost King; It depended on Danny. In the future it would, at least.
But for right now, he was only the Prince in training.
Danny loathes the amount of 'respect' the ghost would give him after he was crowned king.
"Yeah, sure. I don't have anything else to do today." He did have something to do, like wishing Jazz goodbye, but Danny was positive Clockwork knew that. So there must've been a reason Clockwork would ask him that. Who was Danny to say no?
"If you say so, My Prince,"
Clockwork put a hand on Danny's shoulder and the air around them started to shift. The long table and chairs morphed into gears and clocks. The walls started to stretch higher until they expanded farther that the human eye could see. Soon enough, they were standing in the middle of Clockworks lair.
Danny never enjoyed the way Clockwork used his teleportation. It was as if he was trying to make anyone he was transporting sick. Danny, no matter how many times he experienced it, could never get used to it. Clockwork had told him that after his portal was stabilized, he would be able to teleport to any place he thought of without having to rip open a gateway to it.
The thought had excited him when he first learned of it. The training for it, though, was tiresome. At the end of the lessons, all he could do was go back to his bed and sleep until something woke him up.
Letting go of Danny's shoulder, Clockwork moved to the glowing circle that held the time line.
Danny eyed the soup container that Dan was trapped in before looking back at the time ghost. He had always found Clockworks lair fun to explore with all of the machinery and the like. But at the moment, Danny was too nervous to do anything but stand a few feet behind the Ancient.
He shifted as he waited for Clockwork to say something. But as the minutes grew longer, and the silence became thinner, Danny got the hint he wasn't going to be the one to start the conversation.
The only question Danny had for Clockwork at the moment was the reason for bringing him here. He didn't need to ask this question out loud because Clockwork already knew of it. However, the ghost was too absorbed with the time stream to answer it.
After a while, Danny grew curious at what he was playing close attention to in the time line. He debated a few moments before floating closer to peek over Clockworks shoulder. Inside of the circle was a worried couple in the middle of a large, moving crowd.
The woman had black shoulder length hair and sea blue eyes that were insinuated by her thick eyelashes. Her full lips were painted in a deep red lipstick, causing them to stand out against her pale skin. She looked like a kind and understanding person. If it wasn’t for the fear and worry that was edged on her features, Danny didn’t doubt that her face would have reflected that.
The man also had dark hair. His eyes were blue like his wife's but they were a different shade and gave off a different feeling. A mustache could be seen on his top lip. It helped nudge the idea the man held some kind of authority along with his strong chin and jaw line.
They were dressed in fashion that was popular before the 2000's. It gave them a sense of money and respect. Faintly, he wondered how much money they had. The pearl necklace he saw on the women had to be real. No way fake pearls shine as bright as hers.
But the thing Danny couldn’t ignore was the sense of familiarity he got out of both of them. He couldn’t figure out why he felt as if he'd seen them somewhere before. Not only that, they felt important to his core.
The man and woman looked to be searching for something as they moved against the sea of people, and frantically at that. The lady would occasionally put a hand on someone's shoulder to make them stop. Her mouth moved rapidly, but no sound came out. The man, on the other hand, settled for just shouting something. The people passing by him sent looks of alarm but did nothing to help.
It led Danny to the conclusion that they didn’t lose something, they lost someone.
“Who are they?” Danny asked when the images continued to loop. Clockwork didn’t say anything for a long while. After the third loop he finally began to speak.
“People who lost someone very dear to them, never able to get them back.”
“Why,” Danny started, trying to figure out his words without fumbling. His core ached. “Why are you watching them? Are they important? Do you know them?”
“You will learn soon.”
Danny crossed his arms and raised a brow, trying to ignore the hurt he felt. “How soon is soon? Is this why you wanted me to come into your lair?"
"In part," Clockwork glanced at Danny from over his shoulder. "You know that many do not like the idea of someone so young becoming King, I'm sure."
Danny nodded his head. A large majority of the ghosts were more than happy to accept him as their new King, but there was some dispute when it was announced. A lot of the ruckus was caused by the ghosts who hadn't been in the Realms for long. He was also sure that Vlad had something to do with their dislike for it.
They hadn't given Danny a lot of trouble yet, but he still kept an eye on them. They spent most of their time hidden away in some corner of Prime Earth (which was also called 'Earth 0', but he referred to it as 'Earth'), not seemingly doing anything. Danny knew they were up to something, he just couldn't figure it out.
The ghost from Earth—that is, the ghost who could go to places other than Amity—hadn't reported any malice caused by the rogue ghost. So at the moment, Danny had no reason to convict them of treason. But no matter what he did, he couldn't get rid of the nudging in the back of his mind telling him to pay close attention to them.
"You will have to face things that seem unbelievable, and be presented with choices that are hard to grasp. But, Daniel," Danny startled at Clockwork saying his full name and not his title. His red eyes felt as if they were piercing his very core. "You must not let that shake you. Because if you do, the Realms will fall apart."
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Amity Park, Illinois, Fenton Household
Sunday, September 7th, 11:15 a.m
The setting sun beat down on Danny as he watched from the front door as Jazz packed her luggage into the trunk of her car. He hated to see her leave—packing up everything she owned into so many suitcases that she barely had any room left in her car—but he knew that it was time for her to get out of Amity and finally get to chase after her dream. It would also do her good to get away from ghosts for a while.
Even though she's never complained about it, Danny knew from watching her that it was putting a strain on her as it has on all of his friends. Jazz had never had time to be a teenager nor kid because of the responsibility she felt she had over him.
Jazz was more like a mother than Maddie ever was; more of a parent then either Jack or Maddie was. Jazz would fix him breakfast in the morning, do the laundry and scrub ecto stains from their clothes while cleaning up after their parents. She was always the adult in their family, even at a young age. She had to be.
Whenever Danny was sick, she was the one to make a doctor's appointment; if Danny scraped his knee playing with his friends, she would take him inside, clean it, and add a band-aid. She would wait for Danny outside of school when he was too young to walk home on his own. She did so much for him, but he couldn't help but feel he only made things more difficult for her.
Now, he hoped that in college, she could finally live the childhood she missed out on without having to worry about her little brother not being able to take care of himself.
Thinking about it now, the only dream he knew Jazz had was to become a psychiatrist. Anything beyond that he didn't know. She never told him what she wanted, she only cared for what Danny wanted. She kept those dreams close to her chest, and even if Jazz had told him about every dream she had, he was too young to understand.
"Oh, we're so happy for you, dear." Maddie clasped her hands on the side of her cheek. She actually looked like a proud mother, but for some reason, Danny still saw her as absent. "We always knew you would grow up to be something big. "
"She's right, Jazzy-poo! You take after your mother in that way,"
"Oh, sauger plum!" Maddie threw her arms around Jack, laughing as he spun her deeper into the house. Danny let his tense shoulders relax some, reminding himself that they would never hurt Danny intentionally, and walked over to where Jazz was smiling sympathetically at him.
He had never been able to completely hide his feelings from her.
"Are you sure you're going to be alright here, Danny?" She raised her hand to run it through his hair. She did it when he noticed he was stressed. Danny secretly smiled at the thought. "I'm sure I can do something if you—"
A lopsided grin pulled at his lips. "I'll be fine, Jazz. I can just ignore them like I always do." He gave a half-hearted shrug, but he knew she didn't buy it.
She bit her lip, a complicated look on her face, before she retracted her hand. He almost missed the warmth it provided, but then she was warping her arms tight around him. Her chin rested on top of his head thanks to the few inches she had on him. Danny relaxed into the warmth and comfort it made him feel.
It only made him miss her more when she pulled back, plastered a kiss on his forehead, and settled into the driver's seat of her car.
When she closed the door, Danny peered into the rolled down window, a retreating smile on his lips.
"Remember, if you need anything, call me." She reminded him for the nth time.
"Don't worry. I'll call you so much it'll be like you never left."
The sound of their parents making their way over to the car caused them both to turn their attention on them. Maddie was still pulled close to Jack, excitement in both of their eyes. Danny stood off to the side, his hands buried deep in his pockets, nails biting into his skin. Watching them give their goodbyes made him wonder about the life he could have had. They almost looked like a happy, normal family. When they finally backed up, he approached the window one last time.
He could see the sadness in Jazz's eyes, but he also saw happiness. He smiled at both of the emotions, his own starting to take over.
"I'll miss you, Jazz." His voice was thick with something that felt like longing, his hands were clammy, and his eyes pricked with tears.
"I'll miss you too, Danny." She gave him a sad smile, her checks flushing a light pink. The sun made her hair redder than it already was. It almost looked like a burning fire. "I love you, little brother."
"I love you too." With one last look, the car window rolled up, and Jazz's attention was on the road ahead of her. Danny stood on the curb of the sidewalk, watching as her car got smaller the further out she went.
Jazz had only just left, but he could already feel the gaping hole growing in his chest from her absence.
Turning around, he watched as Jack and Maddie walked back into their house, and Jazz's absence was suddenly replaced with a large sense of dread.
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Fenton Household
Saturday, September 30th, 12:32 p.m
Things had been going alright without Jazz. It was an adjustment, but he got through it. His friends had been asking about his health more and more due to her not being around to ensure he wasn't unintentionally hurting himself. He would always wave them off. Just like Jazz, they were relentless in talking to him about his feelings. He found a sense of comfort in it.
Avoiding Jack and Maddie had been easy. The only time he saw the two of them was when they emerged from the basement to grab wherever they needed, whether that be food, a piece of equipment, or a change of clothes, before going back under. He was positive they showered down there, coming back up when it was late at night to sleep. So it really felt as if Danny was home alone.
On occasion he would hear a piece of their experiments going off or shout when whatever they were tweaking was successful. Besides that it was relatively quiet. He also wasn't at home often.
When school ended, he either went to one of his friends' houses, fighting the ghost that left the Zone—which he would have to leave in the thermos until he knew it was safe to throw them back into the portal—or in the Infinite Realms doing his duty as prince. Thankfully he didn't have to use the Fenton Portal to enter the Realms anymore.
Almost every ghost could create their own portals to the Zone, but most of the time it was only limited to one ghost using them at a time. They could also only portal to the place they died and back. Danny's portals are shaky, that's why, if he could help it, he uses the portal in the basement for throwing things in.
But Clockwork said that with time and training, Danny would be able to transport as many things as he wanted, wherever he wanted. He was wishing he had that amount of control at the moment.
However, it was Saturday, meaning he had no school, no fights with ghost's, and no princely duty's. It was his unofficial day off. He expected to do nothing but lazy around all day, talking to his friends over the phone while playing games, preferably Doom. He might go stay with one of them tonight. He'll probably ask if they wanted to all go stay over at Sam's. He knew they couldn't say no to that offer.
The ringing of the line phone caused Danny to jump from his seat on the couch.
It startled him because no one called from the house phone.
His parents wouldn't be able to hear it from inside the basement, so he was the one who had to answer it. Reluctantly, Danny hosted himself on his feet and walked to pick up the phone.
"Hello?" He spoke into the phone expecting it to be a scam caller. They got a lot of them thanks to how gullible Jack and Maddie were when it came to things that weren't ghosts. It was either that or a prank call saying a ghost was going rampant in the town.
"Hello, this is Bruce Wayne speaking. I'm looking for a Jack and Maddie Fenton, do you perhaps know them?" Danny's brain froze in place at the name. There was no way the richest man in the United States, probably on earth, was on the phone looking for his parents. He was almost tempted to hang up the phone. He's had his fair share of crazy Fruit Loops for one lifetime.
In the back of his mind, he wondered if his calling had anything to do with the man in a trench coat asking about the Infinite Realms and ghosts not too long ago.
"Um, yeah, they're my parents." It was hard speaking around the lump forming in his throat. He leaned against the cool wall, hoping it was enough to ground him.
Mr. Wayne gave a hum on the other side of the phone. "You would be their son, Daniel Fenton, correct?"
"Yeah, but you can just call me Danny."
"Alright, Danny. Are your parents home?"
"Um," He peered around the wall and into the basement door that was tightly shut. He grimaced at the thought of going down there while they were working. "They're in the basement right now. I could go get them for you." He pushed off the wall, waiting for Mr. Wayne to reply.
"If you don't mind." His voice seemed to have had a hint of curiosity and worry. Danny sat the phone on the counter nearby, saying a quick 'I'll go get them'. He didn't really want to know why Bruce Wayne was calling his parents or why he sounded worried.
Opening the door to the basement, Danny ventured down the stairwell. Both Jack Maddie were hunched over a long table with tools skewered about. He slowly approached them, calling out their names as he did so.
"Danny, dear, why are you down here without your hazmat suit?" Maddie called over her shoulder, giving him nothing more than a quick glance.
He shuffled his feet and placed his hands in his jean pockets. His scars were starting to sting. "Bruce Wayne is on the phone. He said he wanted to talk to you—"
"Bruce Wayne!" They both whipped around then, not bothering to let Danny finish his explanation. "Why didn't you say so sooner!"
Both of them rushed past him. They had completely forgotten about their new project. When he heard the door close, Danny ventured deeper into the basement. He didn't go far, just close enough to see the new piece of equipment laying on the table. He eyed the blueprints that were close by.
On them was writing that was scratched out. Under it, the correct information was written instead. It broke down each and every part of the weapon, but they were very vague in its explanation. He could only guess what parts were used in the photo. After looking them over to the best of his ability, he turned his attention to the weapon itself.
It looked like a normal gun, just accented with the usual green highlights, but Danny knew to never judge his parents' projects by their looks. He did exactly that with their portal, not believing it worked like many of their other things, and looked at what happened. Nevermind that, what really caught his attention was the bullets that sat in the guns close proximity.
They were an unnatural color of red. They lacked any shine like a normal bullet would have, so he assumed it was made with something that has the same constancy as wax. Just as he began to grab the bullets to see what they were made of, his eyes caught on a different weapon.
After looking around, he found their blueprints at the bottom of the pile. This weapon's blueprints had the same writing as the first, but the name was 'Version One' instead of not having one at all.
This one didn't look like a regular gun. Attached to where the trigger and bullets were meant to be was a spray bottle filled with some substance that probably acted as ammo. The liquid was a red that looked like blood. It swirled in the bottle even when there was nothing to cause it to move. If it wasn't for its constancy being less dense than blood was, he might've believed that to be it.
Whatever that liquid was, it had to be what the bullets for the gun were made out of. Tempted, Danny almost used himself as a test subject to see its effects, hand reaching out to hover over the one deemed 'Version One'.
As he got closer to the weapon, he noted how he started to get dizzy and light headed. His core also seems to dim—which is to say, he can feel the way it weakened along with his powers—slightly, causing him to feel weak and nauseous. Just as his hands close around it, his symptoms getting amplified, Jazz's words rung in his head.
'Using yourself as a way to see how something would act against ghosts, knowing that it will hurt you, is a way of self harm. You might put others before you, Danny, but you getting hurt won't help anyone. In fact, it'll only make the people—or ghosts in this case—around you in more danger.'
Reluctantly, he pulled his hand back.
As much as he wanted to see how the weapon worked and its effects, he would regret it later. His friends would tell Jazz because they knew he wouldn't and then Jazz would come back home and give up on college because she would feel that he wasn't secure enough to be left alone.
The amount of guilt he would feel from that was unpleasant to think about.
Shaking his head, Danny backed away from the weapons and headed back upstairs.
His mom was still on the phone with Bruce Wayne, so he grabbed his phone from the couch, tidying up the small mess he had made, and headed back to his bedroom.
When he got there, he closed the door behind him. Letting out a sigh of relief, he allowed his shoulders to relax from the tension that made them ridged. He wasn't fond of being down in the basement longer than he had too. Even when releasing a ghost back into the Zone, he didn't overstay his welcome.
Absent-mindedly, Danny scratched his scar that was caused by the Fenton Portal. Only once it got red and inflamed did he stop. Another coping mechanism he supposed.
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2:15 p.m
It had been well over an hour since Bruce Wayne had called, but he suspected that they had already finished talking. He could hear the way his parents yelled in excitement over something, and he was almost tempted to walk down and see what it was about. If he wasn't set on avoiding his parents as much as he could, he probably would have.
Any other time before the accident, he would have loved to spend time around them and learn about their experiments. Even when he doubted what they believed in and didn’t agree with most of them, he still enjoyed their presence. When he was around him, he would feel at ease and that nothing would go wrong as long as they were around. Now, he only got the feeling of impending doom.
A ding from his phone brought his attention away from his thoughts and to the notification. When he looked, he saw that it was Jazz.
Jazz: Are you alright, Danny?
Danny: u wont believe who called jack and maddie
Jazz: It wasn't Vlad, was it?
Danny: now that u mention it i haven't heard bout him in a while
Danny: its kinda weird
Jazz: If it wasn't him then who was it?
Danny: Bruce Wayne
Jazz: …
Jazz: The Bruce Wayne?
Danny: do u know any other Bruce Wayne
Jazz: Are you sure he didn't say Bruce Kayne
Danny: Jazz.
Danny: i have amazing hearing
Danny: y would i make a mistake that simple
Danny: r u doubting my hearing rn
Jazz: I would never do such a thing to my baby brother
Jazz: Whom I hold very dear to my heart
Jazz: And has never made a simple mistake in his life
Jazz: It was honestly wrong of me to think otherwise
Danny: exactly
Jazz: Did you happen to hear what he wanted?
Danny: no
Danny: but i did find a new weapon in the basement
Jazz: What was it?
Jazz: You didn't use yourself as the test subject did you
Jazz: If I find out you did I'm dropping everything and going to you
He winced at the call out. Jazz knew him way too well. Honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if she could somehow tell if he was lying through the screen. She already seemed to have this 'Danny Sense' for whenever he was hurt or was getting into trouble.
Thankfully, he had enough self restraint to not use himself as a test subject only a few days after Jazz left. He was quite proud of himself for that.
Danny: i actually didnt
Danny: but i could feel the effects from just hovering a hand over it
Danny: the prototype was a spray bottle attached to a gun with some kind of red liquid in it
Danny: it kinda looked like blood
Jazz: Whatever it is, make sure you stay away from it
Jazz: You not even touching it and still having side effects is a bad thing
Jazz: It could be deadly
Danny: hate to tell u this jazz
Danny: but i am dead
Jazz: You know that's not what I meant
Jazz: It could kill you completely this time around
Jazz: So stay away from it
Jazz: Understood?
Danny: yes mom
Jazz: Good.
Jazz: I love you, Danny
Danny: love you too
Danny shut his phone off and stared at the ceiling for a while. The glow in the dark stars he had put up years ago were still hanging strong. He traced them with his eyes. They each made up his favorite consolations from when he was a kid. He had long since come to terms with the fact he would never be able to become an astronaut. But even then, he couldn't help but dream to at least go to space.
Thanks to Phantom, he wouldn't have to worry about not having the right equipment to breathe. Phantom was a ghost, the only reason he still continued to breathe was out of habit. It would be worrisome if someone pointed it out while he was Danny and he couldn't explain why he wasn't doing the one basic thing he needed to survive.
He also didn't have to worry about freezing. Not only was Phantom powered by an ice core, Phantom was also immune to being frozen to death. Perks to being dead half of the time.
Glancing out his window, he saw that there was still plenty of time left before dinner, not that they really had dinner anymore. Regardless, he sent the group chat a quick text asking if they wanted to hang out. It took a moment, but everyone said they were free.
They all decided to meet at Sam's house to watch a movie and play games. When the plan was set in stone, Danny transformed into Phantom to fly to Sam's house. He turned invisible and phased out of his bedroom.
Wind ruffled his hair and beat against his face as he flew. He was used to the pressure after flying so many times.
Not many people were out this time of day, but he would still catch a flash of hair. The blob ghosts were also hanging about, exploring what they could without alerting Jack and Maddie.
His parents had put ghost detectors wherever they noticed ghosts appeared most often. It was so they would be the first people alerted when a ghost appeared, but it was easy to avoid it if you knew where to look. That's why by the time they got the heads up a ghost was roaming about, Phantom was already sucking them up with the thermos.
Then that would result in Jack and Maddie chasing him around until Phantom eventually lost them. It would take a while to shake them because they were nothing but persistent in their want to capture him. They never succeeded, of course, but it was tedious.
On the off chance that they did get alerted before Phantom, the ghost knew to hide until he arrived. There were some who didn't run when they noticed a couple heading their way with weapons to capture and maim them. Those were usually relatively new ghosts. Oftentimes, they just wanted to explore and test out their new ability.
After the first few times, Phantom had instructed that all ghosts only venture to Earth once a month if they frequented Amity. Any more than that and they would be put at risk of being caught. He also said to appear at different times and places so his parents were less likely to capture them.
Jack and Maddie would notice if a ghost appeared at the same place, at the same time, on the same day every month and would make a stake out in that spot in hopes of sneaking up on them. It had almost worked, too. A ghost that often frequented the park was caught by surprise and almost captured. Phantom swooped in at the last moment, allowing for the ghost to run off somewhere safe. He didn't get off so easily.
After ensuring the ghost was safe, Phantom had got hit in the side with a blast from a new weapon that took weeks to heal in his human form. Danny still had the scar. He never liked thinking about getting hurt by his parents, but in almost every memory Phantom had with them, he nearly did in each one.
Phantom was pulled out of his head when he saw Sam's house come into view. He transformed back into Danny a few blocks over in an alley and dropped the invisibility. It wasn't a good idea to turn back into Danny in the middle of a neighborhood, not when they had cameras that were immune to ghost corruption. They could also pick out a cold spot for whenever a ghost was flying around invisible.
As ghost attacks started happening more often, many of the richer folks didn't feel safe with a ghost hovering over them. Too afraid they would go into their homes and destroy whatever precious things that they had. It was either that or they thought the ghosts were going to steal from them, which made no sense.
Ghost didn't have any need for tangible objects, not when their lairs in the Infinite Realms had all they desired. But Jack and Maddie saw it as a perfect opportunity to sell them cameras that could pick up a ghost. They had made a lot of money off of it. Money which was used for funding their equipment.
So at the end of the day, the rich had a way to know when a ghost was around and his parents had a way to make money. And it was only the rich who had them. The things were way too over priced, which his parents claimed it was because of the many functions they had.
After walking up to the front door, he eyed the unassuming camera that sat there. Before the Manson's had got them, he could just phase his way in, but now he wasn't given the luxury. He knocked on the door, waiting for someone to answer it.
It had been two minutes and just when he was about to text Sam, the door opened.
"Sorry for the wait," She moved aside so he could make his way in. "My parents weren't happy about you all coming over. But when are they ever." She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes. Danny smiled sympathetically at her.
"If my room was big enough and had the set up, we could have done it there." He said.
"Nah, it's fine." She waved him off. "Plus, it's fun to see them so annoyed." A smile played on her lips from that.
Danny huffed a laugh. He knew that Sam loved to rile up her parents when she could. He would somethings wonder if she got any consequences from it. If he had to guess, he would say she did. Sam had been going to a lot of galas lately. She hated those and her parents knew that.
"Going to any galas any time soon?" He asked just to tease her.
"Ugh, I wish I wasn't. Those things suck." She was walking slightly ahead of him, but he didn't need to see her face to know it had a hint of disdain. "They're way too stuffy, the people there brag over the stupidest stuff, and they last way too long. My feet hurt by the end of them."
Danny shook his head, used to Sam's rants about the things she hated. He had heard them so many times that he's sure he could quote each one of them without missing a word.
Once they got to the game room, they started setting up, grabbing all the games they were going to play, blankets to use, and snacks to eat. The rest of his friends started showing up along the way, pointing out what else that needed, helping them set up, or just watching the others do so(which was Val in this case).
Soon enough, they were all scattered around the room. Val and Wes were sitting on the couch watching as Sam, Danny, and Tucker played a variety of games. Val would join in every once and a while, but Wes was content with watching.
After a few rounds, Danny went over and sat beside Wes, who was eating popcorn. He would snag a few when he was sure Wes wasn't looking. Val would glance at him every time he did, a smile stretching wider each time he got away with it.
Just as Danny was about to eat the last few pieces of popcorn, Wes snapped his attention onto him, mock anger on his face.
"I knew my food wasn't just disappearing!" He pulled the bucket away from Danny, holding it close to his chest. "I thought I was going crazy!"
"You're already crazy, Wes," Sam called from over her shoulder. Wes turned his aghast stare onto the back of her head. Val let out a snort and Tucker laughed.
"Is no one on my side here?"
"Don't worry, Wes," Danny said, patting Wes's back with his hand. "I don't think you're crazy."
Wes used his elbow to hit Danny's ribs.
.
.
.
5:37 p.m
Danny had almost completely forgotten about the phone call with Bruce Wayne. If it wasn't for his parents calling him about it, he would have pushed it to the back of his mind.
"We're going to Gotham?" All of his friends' heads snapped in his direction, completely abandoning whatever they were doing in place of crowding around him. He put the phone on speaker so that they could hear.
"Mr. Wayne wanted to see our ghost equipment in action," She said. All of his friends exchanged alarmed expressions. "He said that if it worked, he would help fund us! Oh, isn't that so exciting!"
"Um, yeah, I guess it is." He shifted on the couch, the places he had gotten hit at from Jack and Maddie's weapons stinging. "When are we leaving?"
"Monday evening!" Her voice was full of overwhelming happiness. If it wasn't for the fact it was caused by weapons with the intent to capture and experiment on him, it would have been contagious. "So you're going to need to come home soon, Sweetie. You need to pack and prepare."
"Can't I just say here?"
"Well, that was the plan, but Mr. Wayne said that he had some children close to your age you could play with." Ruffling could be heard from what he assumed was them packing. "He also said he would like to meet you."
Danny's face screwed up in confusion. He wasn't really up to date with how many children Bruce Wayne had conjured up in the past few years. It was kinda hard to keep track when he had problems of his own he needed to take care of. The last thing he could remember hearing about was how one of them—Jason, he thought his name was—was assumed dead in a terrorist attack before showing up out of the blue.
Apparently, his death allegations were an exaggeration of what really happened. Danny himself didn't know if it was true or not. He would need to get close enough to see if his ghost sense got set off. Other than that, he was completely in the dark about the rest of them.
Vaguely, he can remember Tucker going on rants about a guy named 'Tim Drake-Wayne'.
"How long are we staying?"
"Jack, dear, do you remember how long we're staying?" There was a pause and the ineligible voice of Jack far away. "For about a week. But, if Mr. Wayne decides to fund us, we might have to move to Gotham for work!"
"Oh, that's, um, cool." It was not cool. He had no intention of moving away from Amity. Amity was the one place that every ghost could come to and stay for as long as they wanted. Without him here, he couldn’t allow them to just come and go as they please. A lot of them only came to Amity to fight, no less.
Gotham was also a problem. It had vigilantes and, last he heard, Batman's no meta rule. But the biggest problem was the idea of Jack and Maddie getting even more funding than they already had.
Looking at his friends' faces, he can tell they were thinking the same thing too.
"Okay, sweetie, me and Jack are going to finish packing. Don't forget to come home soon!" Without saying bye, she hung up.
For a few moments, they all said nothing.
"What about school?" Tucker said, leaning against the foot of the couch, arms crossed.
Danny shook his head. "Not like it matters. I'm sure if I ask my teachers, they'll give me the work to do while I'm away or when I get back." If he gets back.
"And the ghost?" Val's eyebrows were pulled together and her mouth had formed into a frown. "I am not dealing with them all by myself."
"I can just tell them not to leave the Zone." Danny sighed. "It might make some of them mad, but what else can I do?"
"And what about afterwards?" Val worried her lips between her teeth. "If you really do move to Gotham, they'll have to stay in the zone for even longer."
"I could try and convince them to let me stay with my Aunt."
"Why not stay with one of us?" Sam raised an eyebrow. "It's not like any of us will mind."
"Yeah, Danny," Wes agreed. "My Mom loves to have you around, you could stay with me."
"Or me," Tucker said. "Not like my parents would care anyway."
Danny smiled at the suggestions, but that fear of being a burden kept springing up in his mind. He tried to show it back down, tried to forget about the feeling, but each time he did, it would only come back ten fold.
He looked at all of his friends gathered around him, the genuine care in their eyes, and remembered that they could never see him as a bother. He knew that he would overthink his place in things and wondered if he really deserved it all, and he oftentimes forgot they liked having him around. But in the end, his paranoia could never outweigh his love for his friends.
"Thanks, guys," He said, a smile on his face.