Phic Phight: Good Parents
Maddie Fenton nearly kills her son trying to take down Phantom. Jack Fenton nearly kills him again, trying to tear the ghost from him.
Clockwork, one of the most powerful ghosts in existence, is tired of the people he cares about getting hurt.
(@five-rivers broke out the same prompt as 2020 and 2021 which legally means I had to update. One day I will not be contained by that. Not any time soon though. Part 1, Part 2.)
3.
Eventually, Sam and Tucker had to return home. Clockwork set up a portal for them with one of his mirrors, and before they left they informed Danny that they would be back soon, school or not. They’d exchanged several minutes of banter before leaving. Jazz, however, had chosen to ignore Danny’s protests and stay for as long as she could.
Unfortunately, that time frame was drawing to a close. Clockwork had taken the liberty of checking her schedule, and she had an unfinished research paper due at midnight tomorrow. He met her in the kitchen while she was grabbing Danny a glass of water. Clockwork tapped his staff against the doorframe before he entered to avoid startling her. “Jasmine, could I speak with you?”
Jazz glanced back at him before turning off the tap. “Sure,” she said, “and you can call me Jazz.”
“Of course. In that case, Jazz, you should contact your professors and request an extension on your paper.”
He could feel the air tense. Jazz took a deep breath in. “This is the extension.” She turned back to Clockwork. “Don’t tell Danny.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Clockwork said. “If you would like me to back you up as you contact them to say your brother’s been injured -”
“You don’t have to,” Jazz cut him off. “I’m fine. I’m almost done.”
Clockwork did not point out he knew that was a lie. With Danny’s situation, the last thing he wanted to do was risk pushing away his oldest and most active support system. “Alright.” He said simply, and moved on. “I wanted to talk to you about your parents.”
Jazz’s expression dropped to a scowl. “Right,” she said, “what’d they do now?”
“Technically, they have completed their first task -”
“Technically?”
“They have sold all their weapons to Vlad Masters,” Clockwork explained, “So while not following the spirit of the request, they still completed it.”
Jazz scoffed. “Of course. And I’m sure he’s not going to use those for any evil plans.”
Clockwork took a second to pull at the Timestream. Between the event’s connection to him and to Danny, what little he could discern was muddled. Yes, the Fentons had dropped their weapons off with Vlad - and Vlad had reacted poorly. The Fentons would be returning to his tower soon to once again attempt to murder any duplicates sent to deal with them. Vlad would...
Most possibilities had Vlad refusing to leave his home for an extended period of time, strangely.
“Fortunately, it looks like he is occupied with more pressing matters.” He said. Jazz didn’t look convinced. “However, your parents are on their way back here. You know them better than I do. I was planning on having their next condition be that they would have to swear off ghost hunting permanently. Beyond that, however, I’m at a bit of a loss.”
“Have them swear it off on my life,” Jazz said automatically. “If they do this to another ghost, it’s my life they’re risking. Maybe that will get them to actually listen instead of looking for loopholes.”
Again, Clockwork took a second to mentally examine the Timestream - it was getting more muddled by the moment. He’d have to stick with using his mirrors in the future. But yes, Jazz’s suggestion did appear to hold weight.
“I’ll use that, thank you.” He said. “Any idea what else I could request? That will only take a moment for them to decide on - I need another long-term option. To be perfectly candid, I feel as if I’m out of bounds by deciding this all for Danny.”
“Hm,” Jazz hummed, thinking deeply for a few seconds. Clockwork waited. “Well,” she said eventually, “if these were your parents trying to prove themselves to you, what would you want them to do to demonstrate they were good parents?”
Clockwork frowned. “I was raised by the Observants after my biological parents abandoned me as a small child,” he said, “I don’t believe they have ever presented themselves as ‘good parents,’ or that I have a true personal experience with proper parental structures and what one should do to be redeemed.”
“Oh.” Jazz licked her lips, and the silence held between them for several long moments. While Clockwork could tell she wanted to pry, thankfully, Jazz did not. “Maybe they could make a ghost friend? Danny has plenty of those. Or some sort of community service in the Ghost Zone?”
“That could work, I imagine.” It certainly opened up a variety of potential Timelines. “Thank you. Please let me know if you have any other ideas.”
“Of course,” Jazz said. Then she scoffed, “not that it’ll matter - I have nineteen years of experience that say if they have to choose between their children and ghost hunting, they’re not going to pick me, and they’ve certainly proved they’re not going to pick Danny.” She held the glass she’d gotten for her brother tighter. “Maybe I should be there when they show up. I can disown them and then we can be done with this.”
Clockwork frowned and tried to examine her body language for a long moment before he, unfortunately, came to the conclusion he had no idea whether or not she was serious. “...Regardless of them,” he settled on, “I would prefer it if you weren’t there. As would Danny. Your parents will be violent towards me, and neither Danny nor I want to risk you getting caught in the crossfire.”
Jazz relaxed a fraction - or perhaps deflated, disappointed? That seemed more accurate. “Right.” She tapped her fingers on the glass. “I need to get Danny his water.”
“Of course,” Clockwork said, and moved aside to let her pass. “Jazz, one more thing - I’d recommend you tell your professors the gist of what happened, at least. I’ll corroborate your story if you need.”
For a short moment, Jazz stopped just a step past him. “...Thank you. But you don’t have to do that for me.”
“True,” Clockwork said, “but I would like to. I know what has happened with Danny is causing you indescribable grief. I want to help you in any way that I can. It would mean the world to me if you would let me.”
Jazz stayed still for a moment longer, not facing Clockwork. He waited. “Thank you,” she said, and hurried back to Danny’s room.
That was rather fair. Clockwork hoped she’d at least consider the offer.
He spent the next hour keeping himself busy, trying to organize the kitchen and surrounding area into something that was safer and more appropriate for someone who was still half-human. Danny was stubborn and determined to be self-sufficient - it was only a matter of time before he refused to let Clockwork keep caring for him. Especially given how Danny currently felt about Clockwork, it wouldn’t be long before the boy decided that acknowledging he was in pain was causing ‘unnecessary stress’ on the people he cared for.
Spirits above and below, even the passing thought of what Danny thought of Clockwork made his core seize. Just as he’d told Jazz, Clockwork had never had a proper parental figure - whatever the Observants counted as, it was certainly far from that. In theory, yes, he knew how a parent should act around their child, and it was true that he cared for Danny in a way that even the Ghost Writer would struggle to put into words. That wasn’t even counting the fact that Danny was a child ghost, and he a mature one, so to some degree his core would naturally respond to Danny’s needs.
None of that changed the fact that Clockwork had no practical experience with caring for children. With the Ancients, he had only briefly existed in presence of the Far Frozen’s youngest citizens and the Dragon Queen’s son, who was barely the human equivalent of four at the time. A collective eight hours of being in the same building as preschoolers and toddlers did little to help him with Danny’s situation. Ideally, he should contact someone for help - but who was there that wouldn’t immediately gossip about it or report their meeting to the Observants? Moreso importantly, which of them knew anything that would be helpful?
There was a pull on his core, and Clockwork reluctantly put his musings aside. The Fentons had entered the Ghost Zone and were searching for his tower. He pressed a hand against the wall and hid his lair from them. It was a simple task, especially for someone with a powerset like Clockwork’s. He could choose how long it would take anyone looking for his home to find it - for Danny, it was always as soon as possible. For Maddie and Jack, he’d raised it to a hundred years.
He’d change it back later, of course, to something more reasonable - Danny hadn’t wanted them cut off completely, and despite Clockwork’s own opinions, he would honour that. But for now, he needed extra time to choose his next words carefully.
.-.
It took hours longer to find the ghost’s lair this time. There were plenty of theories as to why, that the ever-curious part of Maddie’s mind wanted to examine. Perhaps the theories about time dilation and the natural tears between the worlds held some weight, or it could have been entirely psychological. Last time, all she and Jack had been able to think about was saving Danny.
Now, she kept thinking about Vlad.
Judging by how tightly Jack held the speeder’s controls, his thoughts were on the same path.
Hours ago, Maddie would have had no desire to waste any mental energy on Vlad Masters. Hours ago, before all this, he had been nothing more than a fully-human self-absorbed creep with more ego than sense. Now, she knew the truth. He was sick. She and Jack had had plenty of opportunities to notice the ectoplasmic parasite that had turned one of their best friends into an obsessive monster. Vlad had been dealing with this for over twenty years - even if they did manage to save him, would what was left be able to survive?
And the ecto acne - that should have been a sign. They knew that was a possible way the human body would try to fight off the radiation sickness caused from an extreme exposure to impure ectoplasm. They’d read thousands of case studies throughout college, the three of them, and Maddie herself had written an essay on that type of infection for her workplace safety course! Vlad had proofread it for her! It had persisted for years, and came back - they knew it wasn’t as minor as they’d first thought when Vlad drove himself to hospital. They’d helped care for Vlad and Danny’s friends! They should have realized sooner that Vlad was sick.
She’d seen Vlad and Danny’s parasites fighting each other before. Did Danny know? Vlad hadn’t seemed surprised to learn Danny was infected as well, and when Danny confessed that he’d been hiding the ghost things from them, he’d said there’d be no more secrets. But he hadn’t said anything about Vlad.
The tower was in sight now. Maddie forced her attention to redirect; she had to focus. Her baby boy was counting on her.
Jack parked the speeder at the edge of the island, and the ghost of a lawn leaned away from where they stepped. Maddie approached the door.
Jack opened the speeder’s back door and grabbed a tank of gasoline.
Maddie sighed. “Jack,” she said. Her husband grunted and began pouring the gas around the edges of the tower. “Jack! It’s stone.”
“Ectoplasmic stone,” Jack said, and finished dumping the gas. He placed the tank back in the speeder and grabbed a matchbook. “It will still burn. The gas will help.”
“Not well,” Maddie said, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We can try that, if you’d like, but I’m sure I have a grenade or two in the bottom compartment. If we weaken it first the fire might burn better.”
Of course, it was at that moment their vision smeared, and Maddie and Jack found themselves standing in the same circular room as before.
“Is it too much to ask for you to be civil for all of five minutes?” Clockwork said, and appeared in front of them.
Jack wound up and put his entire body weight behind punching the ghost in its face.
The duplicate - of course it was another duplicate - disappeared as soon as Jack’s fist made contact. Maddie helped her husband regain his balance as Clockwork flew around from behind them.
“I would also like to know why you seem to think keeping loose grenades in a vehicle your children use would grant you any favours,” Clockwork said, and turned to face them.
Jack pointed finger at the ghost. “You,” he practically growled, “was my son not enough? You had to take my best friend, too?!”
The ghost rolled its eyes. “Of course. I should never have expected you would hold a conversation about your faults. I have done nothing to Vlad Masters. His actions are his own.”
“Of course,” Maddie sneered back. She couldn’t waste anymore mental energy on Vlad. Not while her baby boy was still in danger. “Where’s Danny?”
“In his room.” Clockwork said plainly, “I’ve made him soup.”
“You turned my son into soup?!” Jack snapped.
Clockwork stared for several long seconds. “No,” it said.
“We did what you asked,” Maddie cut in, “now give us back our boy!”
Clockwork scowled. “Yes,” it said, “you did. You certainly followed your son’s own request for his safety to the letter. At no point have you tried to hack this request for your own benefit - oh, wait.” It flew over to a mirror, and pulled up a still image of them unloading their equipment at Vlad’s the night before.
“You were spying on us?” Maddie glared. She wasn’t surprised, of course not, but it didn’t make this any less infuriating.
The ghost looked back and rolled it’s solid red eyes. It made clear movements to make sure she could tell. Clockwork turned back to the mirror. “You’ve handed all your weapons over to Vlad Masters - congratulations. You’ve given a man who once shot your very human son more weapons.” It waved a hand, and the scene changed. This one moved.
Maddie remembered the moment. She didn’t want to watch it - but the ghost must have realized that, because the air tensed before Maddie could look away, and the scene kept playing.
It was soon after Vlad had been elected mayor. He’d been trying to shoot down the Wisconsin ghost, and in the mess, he’d hit a car that Danny was hiding behind. The car had exploded, and Danny had been so lucky he wasn’t severely injured.
But that wasn’t all there was to what had happened, was it? She knew that now. If Phantom was Danny’s infection, and the Wisconsin Ghost was Vlad’s, then maybe it hadn’t been the tragic accident they’d thought it was. Maybe it was those ghosts fighting for territory - Phantom was often fighting other ghosts, after all, and Danny had said that he felt he had to because they were in his home. Maybe Vlad had had a moment of lucidity and tried to fight back against his ecto-contamination. Maybe Danny - her brave, wonderful baby boy - tried to join in, and put himself in harm’s way in an effort to save himself from the ghost. With all the anti-ghost wards they’d placed in city hall, it wasn’t impossible.
Clockwork unfroze them. Jack barreled full-force into the ghost, disappearing the duplicate and crashing to the floor. He picked himself up as another appeared from behind them - and Maddie punched that one in the face, disappearing it too.
“Just give us back our son!” She snapped, “I’m tired of playing this game with you, ghost! Where is Danny?!”
“If you want to see your son again, then you’ll have to choose.” Clockwork’s voice said, though another duplicate didn’t appear. “Is ghost hunting more important to you, or is your family?”
“What kind of a question is that?!” Jack shouted. “The answer is Danny. It’s our kids, our family!”
“So I’ve heard.” The mirror against the wall began to hum, and the clouded green view on it swapped for another one.
Jazz, at her desk, on her computer, chewing on a pencil.
Maddie silently took her husband’s hand. Jazz barely talked to them anymore - if they were lucky, she’d call once a month and talk to them for fifteen minutes. And of course, they understood completely! They’d been so busy when they were in college, and that was decades ago! Even if they couldn’t talk to or see Jazz as often as they liked, she was still their daughter. They loved her. Besides, she talked to Danny whenever she could!
This ghost was going to tear the last shred of family from her son, and Maddie would not have it.
“If that is true,” Clockwork said, “then prove it right now. Swear on your daughter’s life that you will give up ghost hunting.”
Jack squeezed her hand. They heard the unspoken threat loud and clear - if they didn’t, Clockwork would kill Jazz.
Clockwork continued, “Again, I will give you time to -”
“No,” Jack interrupted, “we accept.”
“We swear on Jazz’s life that we’ll give up ghost hunting,” Maddie said. “Now give us back our son.”
“...This is a binding agreement,” Clockwork said slowly, “if you break this, I’m permitted to kill your daughter.” It’s voice sounded weird - Maddie couldn’t bring herself to care. “I will give you time to consider. You do not have to decide now.”
“She’s our daughter,” Jack said, “and Danny is our son. We agree. Swear. Whatever it takes to get our son back.”
“Jack,” Maddie whispered, and shook her head. Her husband didn’t notice.
“What else do you want to take from us?!” Jack raised his voice, shouting up at the ceiling. “Just give us back our boy!”
“He’s still human,” Maddie tried - there was no point in pulling back now, and Jack certainly wouldn’t. “Danny needs to be in the real world!”
In an instant, Clockwork appeared in front of them once again. Maddie and Jack both moved towards it - but once again, the ghost froze them in place. It floated there for a moment, glaring at them.
“What Danny needs,” it hissed, “is a stable, loving family situation that accepts him for who he is. You tried to kill him. Forgive me for not ranking family high on your list of priorities.” It turned its back to them. “If you really care, you have one week to genuinely befriend a ghost. Now get out.”
Maddie and Jack landed roughly outside of the tower, once again with a deep groove in the ground where it had been. Still hand in hand, they helped each other up and back to the speeder.
After a minute, Jack laughed.
“Stupid ghost,” he said, and smiled at Maddie. “It thinks Danny’s a ghost, doesn’t it? I bet it thinks Vlad is one too!”
The phrase genuinely befriend rang in Maddie’s ears as she faked a smile and forcefully stopped her mind from drifting back to Vlad. “Yes, of course - and after this is all over, we can help both of them.”
They’d sworn off ghost hunting, true - but before they were hunters, they were scientists. They hadn’t sworn off anything about investigating ghosts. Those horrendous, putrid manifestations of intense emotions and ectoplasm could still be destroyed at their hands, they just couldn’t catch them themselves. That was fine, there were plenty of other competent ghost hunters in Amity they could team up with. The Red Huntress, for one! It was fine. Everything would be fine.
Danny, Jazz, and Vlad too - they would all be safe and fine.
***
Actual prompt: Clockwork gets sick of how Jack and Maddie treat Danny and spirits him away. Jack and Maddie have to prove to Clockwork that they’ll do better by completing his challenges. Whether or not they succeed is up to you. (Bonus: Clockwork does something to Danny so he no longer recognizes Jack and Maddie when he sees them in order to make sure Jack and Maddie have to follow through.)
