I have a question about your fic planned, I’ve noticed in the comments section for it you have a tendency to say that “Maddie does love Danny she just also loves science a little too much” are purposely trying to avoid saying that that Maddie loves science more than Danny
Maddie definitely loves Danny more. Like if you gave her that ultimatum, she would give up her research for Danny.
The problem in Planned is that Maddie doesn't believe she's hurting or abusing Danny. She doesn't see what she's doing as loving him any less, it's just he was the only viable candidate and also she gave him cool ghost powers and he's gonna be stronger and look young longer, isn't that great??? She's a great mom, everyone should see that!
Further input from my friend: "Honestly he’s given her more to love about her field of research so of course she loves him more in her weird fucked up way lol. Like he’s given her a brand new horizon to explore and experiment."
Danny holds Jack and Maddie hostage in his room so that they cannot go off and hunt down his clone.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20, Part 21, Part 22, Part 23, Part 24, Part 25
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The room was quiet and dark. Not even a sheen of moonlight streamed in through the cracks in the closed blinds. The only source of light was the eerie glow from Danny's ghost form. His arms were folded as he leaned back against his closed door, his head ducked and his snowy bangs hanging over his eyes.
Jack and Maddie sat on Danny's bed, both upright and tense. Maddie's legs were crossed and her foot bounced in the air, her hands clasped tightly in her lap. Jack pressed his fists into the mattress on either side of his thighs.
Maddie let out a harsh breath. "Can I just say—"
"No," said Danny.
The AC switched off. The distant sound of late-night traffic could be heard from outside.
"So what?" Maddie huffed. "We're just going to sit here in complete silence?"
Danny glared at her. "Yes," he said, his final s hissing.
Maddie met his glare. "Just let us tell you our side."
"I don't want to hear it right now."
"This really isn't fair, Danny."
"Don't tell me what's fair." Danny pushed himself off the door and pressed a couple fingers to his chest. "Do you even realize the absolute hell I've been living in ever since I got these powers? Ever since you tricked me into getting these powers?"
He bared his teeth as his eyes glowed even brighter. Jack winced but Maddie kept a straight face.
"Yes," said Maddie. "We were watching you the whole time."
Danny raised his eyebrows. "And did I entertain you?"
Maddie faltered for just a moment. "This experiment was not for our amusement."
"I see." Danny nodded. "So my suffering was just an experiment to you."
"We did not like seeing you suffer, Danny," said Jack.
"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Dad?"
Jack lowered his eyes to the floor.
"We tried to find another candidate," said Maddie. "We searched everywhere, tested everyone. But you were the only one with the DNA that could—"
"Shut up," snapped Danny. "I said I don't want to talk about this right now."
Jack's veins bristled with adrenaline that shook his limbs. He could hear Maddie breathing evenly beside him, deep breaths in and out. He had no idea how she was able to stay so calm all the time. Especially now when their own son was holding them hostage in his bedroom.
"We really didn't like seeing you suffer," said Maddie. "But that was never something we planned to happen."
"Really? You didn't plan it?" Danny scoffed. "So what did you think was going to happen when you gave me ghost powers?"
"You chose to use your powers to fight ghosts and protect the town," said Maddie. "But you never had to do that; you could've just used them for fun. You didn't have to allow yourself to be a target for violence."
Danny scowled. "So my suffering is my fault?"
"I'm not saying that."
"And what about the ghost hunters? You think they would've just left me alone if I decided to use my powers for fun instead? Ghost hunters don't care how I use my powers, they only care that I'm a ghost." Danny pointed a finger at her and Jack. "You are the ones who made me a target for violence."
Jack flinched and looked at Maddie, but she still seemed unperturbed.
"You were never in any real danger, Danny," said Maddie. "We were always watching over you, always ready to jump in and rescue you, protect you."
"You shot me," said Danny bluntly.
Jack could see Maddie swallow before she answered, "I knew you'd be fine."
"You hurt me, Mom." Danny's voice weakened. "On purpose. You knew it was me and you knew it would hurt me." He breathed out, shaky. "And you did it without hesitation."
The memory of that moment flashed through Jack's mind. Danny cornered in an alley in front of a chain-link fence. Maddie firing a warning shot past his head, then another shot right into his knee and he fell to the ground in pain.
Maddie pushed her shoulders back and lifted her chin. "As I said, I knew you'd be fine."
Danny stared at her, a line of moisture misting his lower lash line. Maddie did not look away as she clasped her shin with both hands.
"We really didn't want to hurt you, Danny," said Maddie. "That's why we asked Vlad to clone you."
"So that really was you?" asked Danny just above a whisper. "Your idea? To clone me?"
Maddie rubbed her lips together. Jack exhaled and slipped a couple fingers into his jumpsuit collar, pulling it away from his hot neck.
"This whole time I thought it was just Vlad." Danny sniffled and blinked up at the ceiling. "I always thought he was the only one sick enough to do that, but no, it was you—"
"No, we weren't sick," insisted Maddie. "What would've been sick was conducting those experiments on you. We had you cloned so that we wouldn't have to hurt you like that."
Danny brought his gaze back down and snarled. "You think you're not sick? What you did to those clones, that wasn't sick to you?"
Maddie said nothing. Jack cleared his throat but it wouldn't open fully now, slowly squeezing shut. He tugged at his collar, lowered the zipper, but his throat only grew tighter.
"I saw my clones," said Danny, hushed and dark. "In the dirt. Decaying. Oozing corpses. Rotting skeletons. They had all obviously been dead for a long time but their pain—I could still see it in their faces." He blinked, tears flooding his eyelashes. "I could see it, Mom. How much they suffered. They were dead but not a single one of them was resting in peace."
He sobbed, pressing the heel of one palm to his forehead, his other arm wrapping tight around his stomach.
"They were all me," he gasped out. "They thought they were me. They all died not understanding why their own parents wanted to kill them."
Jack hunched over and shook his head. "We didn't want to kill them," he panted.
Danny's cold gaze moved to him and Jack shivered.
"I—I didn't want to kill them." Jack sharply exhaled. "Danny, I didn't want to do any of this, I swear."
Maddie shot him a disapproving look. Danny's radioactive eyes pierced through him.
"So when you said you wanted to tear me apart molecule by molecule…" Danny shrugged, his bottom lip sticking out in mock curiosity. "That was just—what, a joke?"
Jack lowered his gaze to the floor, hot blood rushing through his face.
"What your father means is"—Maddie shot Jack another stern look before returning to Danny—"we didn't enjoy seeing your clones suffer. But our research is very important, Danny. You know that."
"So it was all worth it to you?" asked Danny. "My pain? Their pain? Seeing us suffer—that was all for some greater good?"
"It's important work, Danny," said Maddie calmly.
Danny scoffed. "Fine. You say it's important? Then tell me all about it."
Jack and Maddie stared at Danny.
"We've got nowhere else to be." Danny lifted his shoulders in a shrug, his arms dropping and smacking his sides. "Nothing but time until morning. So go on. Tell me what you did to each and every clone in full detail."
Maddie furrowed her brow. "You…want us to tell you what we did to all the clones? Right now?"
"Yup. Starting with clone 1." Danny made a beckoning gesture with one hand. "Go on."
Maddie glanced at Jack, her face pinched with confusion. Jack said nothing, no reaction, no idea how to respond to such a demand.
"We couldn't possibly tell you everything we did from memory right now," said Maddie.
"Really?" Danny sounded skeptical, mocking even. "But I thought it was important work."
"It's extremely important work," Maddie bit back. "Crucial to the paranormal field of study."
Danny rolled his eyes.
"Our notes are all in the lab, stored in the computer," Maddie went on. "You can look there if you really want to know what we did. I'll tell you the password and you can have a look right now."
"Nice try," said Danny. "I'm not leaving. None of us are."
Maddie pursed her lips. Jack glanced at the digital clock on Danny's nightstand. The minutes were moving so slowly.
"Tell me what you were going to do to clone 26," said Danny. "The one that got away just now. Tell me."
Jack shifted on the bed, trying to get more comfortable but he just couldn't. He was sweating under his jumpsuit and he wished he could shower it all off.
"Why do you want to know?" asked Maddie.
"Because I want to hear you say it," spat Danny. "I want to hear you tell me exactly how you planned on torturing him. Torturing me."
"It wouldn't have been you."
"He wouldn't have known that."
"But we would've."
"So that's how you're able to sleep at night, is it?" said Danny bitterly. "You've been killing and torturing clones of me for months and you think it's fine because it wasn't actually me?"
"It wasn't fine," said Jack.
Danny glared at him, moisture brimming in his glowing eyes. Jack looked away.
"I saw your notes," said Danny quietly. "When I took the clone's place, I read what you planned on doing to him tonight." He breathed. "But I want to hear you say it."
Maddie and Jack stayed silent.
"Say it," Danny repeated. He banged a fist against the door behind him. "Say it!"
"All right," barked Maddie. She sighed, groaned. "We are always looking for ways to test the limits of spectral healing abilities. So we were going to flay the skin off of one arm and reattach it, see how it healed. And then we were going to take the skin off other parts depending on what we observed."
Danny's eyes hardened into a fierce glare, glowing so bright his pupils couldn't even be seen. "Now tell me why you think it's okay to do that to anyone, any ghost, let alone an exact copy of me."
Jack turned his face away, unable to look at Danny. He had no idea how Maddie was reacting.
"Do you enjoy hurting me?" Danny's voice broke, rising and falling as it shook. "Watching me suffer? Hearing me scream?" He swallowed, gasped. "Is that why you kept cloning me? So you could have fun torturing me over and over?"
"No, of course not," said Maddie.
"But they all looked like me, didn't they? Sounded like me?" Danny glanced off to the side, his eyes glazing. "Exactly like me," he murmured. He looked at Maddie again with fierce focus. "And that never bothered you?"
Maddie sighed deeply, looking tired and deflated. "It was for science, Danny."
No one spoke for several minutes. The silence was dead and thick. Jack was all but ready to collapse onto Danny's bed and pass out but he forced himself to stay upright.
"Science." Danny crossed his arms. "Fine. If that's all I am to you, then that's what I'll be."
Maddie gave him a curious look. Jack's teeth scraped the backside of his lips.
"Your specimen. Your little science project." Danny stretched out his arms and took a small bow. "At your command, Mom and Dad."
"What are you talking about, Danny?" asked Maddie, her tone low but tight.
"If you want to do any other experiments, you'll have to do them on me," said Danny. "No more clones."
Maddie made a small huffing sound. "Those experiments would kill you, Danny."
"Killing me would not be the worst thing you've done to me," hissed Danny.
Maddie leaned back a little, recoiling before straightening again. "But we don't want to kill you. That's why we had Vlad clone you, so we wouldn't have to hurt you."
Danny's eyes filled with more tears. "You have hurt me," he said just above a whisper.
Jack's jaw tightened and he could actually hear Maddie gulp.
Danny sniffled and wiped at his wet eyes with one gloved hand. He blinked away tears as he looked up at the ceiling. "I'm so tired. God, I want to sleep so bad, just escape this for a few hours." He brought his gaze back down to Jack and Maddie. "But I can't. Because I have to make sure you don't go after that clone."
"We won't," said Jack. Maddie shot him a look but said nothing.
"I don't trust you," said Danny, his voice hoarse. "You know I can't."
"You're right," said Jack softly. "You can't."
Danny glared at him, into him, sharp and hot. Jack breathed in deep and forced himself to hold eye contact, wishing he could adequately communicate his regret, his sorrow, his shame. Wishing he had destroyed the portal before Danny ever had a chance to step inside.
Before his wife tricked him to step inside.
Jack looked at Maddie, who was now looking directly at Danny, her face in profile completely stoic, her arms folded and her legs crossed, unmoving, her back perfectly straight. He wondered how she could be so composed. Didn't she feel anything right now? Remorse, guilt—something?
I just gotta say something about planned that obvious but I’ve never seen directly stated, maddie has been focused on making sure Danny was physically healthy that she has never once stopped to consider the emotional damage she’s causing him, the only time she comes close is when Danny confronts her and jack in the lab which side note my own interpretation of that moment when she asks Danny if he is going to her what she is asking Danny is if he hates her, because that’s what she more afraid losing his love, and when Danny decides not to kill she seems to take it as further conformation that she’s done nothing wrong and goes back to defending her actions.
I imagine she just prefers not to think about the emotional damage lol. Or she's sure he would understand if he would just let her explain!
I also think she's more interested in the physical aspect than the psychological. She just really wanted to see if she could achieve creating her own ghost-human hybrid like Vlad, that was most important to her. And then after that, well, she just decided to take it one step at a time...
Hey this isn’t a fic prompt necessarily but I thought I’d share a funny alt take on planned in the hopes that either you or anyone else who sees this will get a laugh, ok so in Vlad’s first appearance in the canon version of the show Vlad tries to tempt Danny into joining the dark side, well I thought wouldn’t be funny if in an alternate version of Planned Danny figures out what his parents did and what they are clearly trying to do with Vlad resulting in saying yes to Vlad’s offer in order to secretly sabotage Vlad’s attempts at cloning behind the scenes and also getting a bit of revenge on Maddie and Jack for manipulating him and using him as an experiment by making them freak out thinking they turned there son into a super villain.
I’m also laughing at the thought of Vlad having no idea what to do when Danny says yes🤣
That actually is really funny lol. It would definitely turn into a battle as they realize Danny knows and then Danny realizes they know he knows and then they realize Danny knows they know he knows and they both try to see who breaks first lol.
Hi same person who asked about whether Maddie loves science more than Danny in planned, I just wanted that unintentionally answered another question I had about Maddie buying that video game for Danny after she killed a clone of his, when I read it I wondered if she was doing it out of subconscious guilt or was just finding some sick humor in the situation, now I realize that was just her rewarding Danny for being a good son and “helping” her with her research
I realized something about PLANNED, so much of Maddie’s plan hinged on Danny thinking that neither her or jack know he’s half ghost so what would the two of them have done if Danny told them he was phantom or his identity got revealed in such a way that they couldn’t pretend that they didn’t see it
Yeah, that is a good point!
My thought is they didn't necessarily care what Danny did with his ghost powers. They never actually expected him to become a superhero, they probably thought he'd just have fun with them. So if Danny chose to confide in them, they would've restructured their research objectives a little but overall, they would've continued the observations and spying lol.
I don't think they'd pretend to reject Danny or kick him out. It would probably make it easier for them to take regular measurements of his vitals, I suppose. They could just tell him they're making sure he stays healthy.
They would still clone him for sure, but they would keep that secret.
Hey in a previous question about planned you mentioned Maddie potentially doing something just to “make danny squirm” I’m curious how joy did Maddie feel about keeping the ruse of her and jack not knowing, because in the previously answered hypothetical scenario Maddie would have had no scientific reason to make Danny uncomfortable like that other than maybe something similar to the Maddie in the dis series or would she just view that as no different than a mother playing teasing her child. I also thought of a more fun question when writing this one, how would the Maddie’s of the dis series,planned and the end of Danny react to each other if they were in a room together and found out about each other’s actions in the respective stories.
Hahahahaha, I guess I was thinking maybe she'd be curious just what kind of lies he would make up to try to convince her. Just how outrageous could his story get in order to hide his secret from her?
Well, after the initial shock and once they've accepted they are in fact alternate Maddies and not ghosts, I think there would be a lot of validation and justification. You have one Maddie that brutally tortured Danny, one Maddie that purposely rigged the portal to make Danny a ghost hybrid, and one Maddie that killed him. They realize they can't really blame each other and they've all done awful things to their son, so they're maybe angry with each other at first and then there's sobbing and then the excuses because actually they're not bad mothers at all, not really when you think about it...
