Mob was quite fun to draw! I had a lot of ideas for him but I really wanted to embrace the fact heâs an enderman :) the last time I made an enderman was probably in 2020âŠ..
Unfortunately, I find Verity so difficult to draw when giving him a humanoid form! I have zero ideas đ so no humanoid Verity yet.
D.C. K.O. killed Billy in the first fucking issue, heâs canonically able to go toe-to-toe with Superman⊠Billy never survives in Alt Universes đ
Summary: Danny isn't sure how this all got started but he's really not happy about being a part of it.
Word Count: 1,284
Prompt 1: For centuries, the cult has anticipated the glorious rise and return of Lord Phantom. That time is at hand. All they need to bring him fully into the mortal world is the perfect sacrifice: Danny Fenton.
Prompt 2: Danny learns he can't die from dismemberment.
For: @five-rivers & @strawberrycamel
Warnings: Depictions Of Violence, Blood & Injury, Decapitation
You can read it on AO3 or down below the cut if you don't mind the horror movie vibes đ
Danny couldnât help but laugh. This was a joke. It had to be. There was no way they actually believed that nonsense.
Right?
Laughter echoed around him but it took him a moment to realize he was the only one laughing.
The others were silent.
The ropes were starting to chafe.
âThat was a joke, right?â
There was no response.
Just him in the center of a big room full of hooded strangers.
âWell, this is awkward,â Danny muttered hoping one of them would say something. Literally anything.Â
They could at least yell at him for laughing.
How was he supposed to know there was a cult in Amity Park? Like, come on! That stuff only happens on tv!
Or in the eights, or whatever.
It didnât happen here.
It didnât happen to him.
Because of him?
All that time saving the city and for what? Just to get himself kidnapped by a bunch of confused weirdos in an attempt to honor him?
That had to be the worst luck in the history of forever. Sorry Johnny, you and Shadow are no longer the unluckiest duo around. It was Danny and his own alter ego.
âSo, is this the part where you let me go?â
He heard them moving but couldnât tell what they were doing. The perks of being tied to a table he supposed.
Or maybe that was the downside.
He really wasnât sure what they wanted from all that cryptid monologuing. Whatever it was it didnât sound like they just wanted to talk about Lord Phantom.
They said they wanted to give something to him. An Offering?
Danny didnât see any gifts lying around. Not that he saw a whole lot from this angle. Just some shadows on the ceiling from the candles that surrounded him.
It didnât seem like they had anything else.
What did they think ghosts wanted as offerings anyway?
And what did he have to do with it?
He was just a kid, he didnât have anything.
Unless this was a ransom situation? Not sure who would pay though, his parents spent all their money on their work. Unless they thought Vlad would pay? Or Sam?
He certainly hoped it wasnât supposed to be a way to get Phantom to show up. That wasnât going to work.
He still hadnât quite gotten the hang of duplication yet.
The cultists started humming in unison.Â
Yeah, he wasnât a fan of that. Heâd seen enough horror movies to know that was bad.
Wait a minute.
Horror movies.
Cultist with a victim on a table.
Oh.
Uh-oh.
Now would be a really good time for someone to come and save him.
He attempted to phase the ropes off but it stung when he tried.
They must have coated it with some anti-ghost stuff.
Or it was Fenton Rope.
If this was Fenton Rope he was going to scream.
Oh! Duh!
Scream!
He took the deepest breath he could but then one of the cultists was standing over him.
Was that a knife?
He should have screamed sooner.
It was so quick he didnât feel it until a warm liquid started to flow around his neck. It filled the divots of his collarbone and dripped down past behind his ears.
Why did they think he wanted blood? What was a ghost supposed to do with blood?
He wanted to ask but he couldnât quite form the words.
His mouth tasted like pennies.
His head felt so heavy all of a sudden.
He fought so hard to keep his eyes open but the room was getting so dark.
Why was it so cold?
There was a loud noise and suddenly everyone was yelling. There was a weird popping noise, sort of like firecrackers.
Everything was so loud. Didnât they know he was tired?
The cultist who had been standing above him suddenly fell onto him.
Their body slumped against him and the table and bent his head back towards the table he was tied to.
The strain on his neck was so overwhelming he wanted to scream.
He couldnât.
But he wanted to.
He felt something snap.
His vision went white from the pain.
He was falling.
Falling.
He hit the floor.
He was still tied to the table.
He hadnât moved.
His head was on the floor.
His body was on the table.
What?
Someone ran up to the table. Possibly to check the cultist who fell. Maybe to check on him.
It was a police officer, all decked out in a bulletproof vest, gun in hand. He looked like they do on tv.
He looked up at them and blinked when they made eye contact.
The officer sighed when he saw him and holstered his gun. âAh geez. This is bad.â
The officer turned away and yelled to someone Danny couldnât see, âFound the kid. Weâre going to need a coroner.â
âCopy that.â replied another officer.
Coroner? No. Danny didnât need a coroner. He needed a doctor.
He wasnât dead. He wasnât dead!
He tried to tell the cop, but his voice still didnât work.
He tried to mouth what he was saying but heâd never been very good at that.
The cop was looking around at everything but him.
He started to cry.
Danny hated it, but he couldnât help it.
What else could he do?
His vision blurred from the tears he couldnât wipe away.
Then the cop finally noticed.
âNo way.â He turned back to shot again, âGet the EMTs in here! now!â
==============================================
A few hours later Danny was laying in a hospital bed staring at the ceiling.
This was a much nicer ceiling.
Also, his head had been successfully reattached and secured with a very bulky neck brace.
The doctors had no idea how he survived.Â
They didnât say it, but Danny had the feeling they didnât expect him to live a whole lot longer.
They didnât tell him how long it would take to heal. They didnât say when heâd be able to take the brace off. Didnât say anything about his inability to speak.
Or move.
He really hoped theyâd let him go home soon.
If he was going to die anyway heâd rather die at home.
Or maybe outside if the stars were out.
He took a breath. He wasnât going to cry about it.
There was a knock on the door, âDanny?â
He did his best to see who was there but not being able to move really cut into his ability to do so.
Not that he needed to see who it was. Heâd recognize that voice anywhere.
âOh sweetie,â his mom said as she came into view. She turned and asked, âI can touch him right?â
âBe very careful and donât move his head.â the nurse that Danny couldnât see replied.
She gently brushed his bangs to the side and lightly traced down the edge of his face to his chin.
His eyes started to water and he hated it.
He didnât want to cry.
He didnât want her to think she was hurting him.
It was just the opposite.
He wanted her to hold him.
He wanted to hug her and bury his face in her shoulder while she rubbed the tension out of his back.
He needed this.
His fingers twitched.
He focused on the feeling and they twitched again.
âWhatâs that smile for?â his mom asked.
He looked in the general direction of his left hand, the one nearest to her. She got the hint and he focused again.
She gasped when he wiggled his fingers.
âI need to get the doctor.â the nurse said just before she ran out the door.
Grover and Hermes probably have an interesting relationship because Grover finding Pan, Hermes' son, was the reason Pan finally managed to die. And then he immediately went around telling everyone he could that Pan was dead and then took over his job a year later. Imagine your child going missing for over a millennia and then suddenly some random kid starts yelling at anyone who will listen that he saw him and he died and there's no body to bury or mourn because he disappeared into the aether.
But his son was suffering. Like. That's clear. That's obvious. Nature was dying so his child had to be suffering and he was never going to get better because he was born and made when nature was pure and plentiful and that's not how it is now, and this kid, as sad as it is, helped release him from that suffering.
He also contains a little of Pan's life essence. So I wonder if Hermes ever walks past Grover without looking at him and gets a weird jolt of "my son, my son", only to turn around and remember, oh right, my child is dead, and this satyr has replaced him.