The Haunting of Danny Fenton Chapter 5, Part 2
masterpost (please no editing, still sick and now with migraine!)
“We can’t be stuck,” Danny said. He knew he was pouting, but he didn’t care. They couldn’t be stuck. Maybe his pout wasn’t even that obvious with how he was laying upside down on the couch, his legs flung over the back of it.
“Saying that again won’t solve anything,” Raven said.
“Might stop people from giving up,” Danny muttered.
Next to him, Wally sighed. “No one is giving up, Danny. We’re just… being realistic.”
Danny snorted. “Ah, yes, a carnie, two emissaries of time, a demon witch, and a half ghost sit around a room, trying to be realistic.”
“We’re not ‘emissaries of time’—wait, half ghost?” Barry asked, cutting himself off. “What do you mean half ghost? How are you a half ghost? Wait, why are you a ghost? Ghosts aren’t real.”
“Barry, you’ve worked with Deadman,” Dick pointed out, almost absently. All of his very focused attention was on Danny.
It made Danny want to squirm. “Ah. I have I not mentioned that before? I know I’ve said I died in a lab accident.”
“And that it made you a psychopomp,” Raven said dryly.
“Well, it did. I can talk to ghosts. I’m just also sorta… half one. I came back because I was killed by electricity and revived by ectoplasm at the same time. But because it was ectoplasm, not all of me came back alive. It’s complicated.”
“That… actually explains so much about the way that you feel,” Raven said. She was looking at Danny like he was a whole new puzzle to study. He didn’t like it. Immediately she gave a little shake of her head and the expression cleared. “Sorry. I would never study you without your permission. None of us would.”
“Shit, kid, of course we wouldn’t,” Barry said, sitting up from his slump. “Has… I mean…”
“Your parents are ectobiologists,” Wally said slowly, horror dawning on his face.
Danny sighed and twisted around on the couch to sit up. He rubbed at the back of his neck. “My parents never learned what I am, at least not in this timeline. But they pretty regularly hunted my hero form. I’m human like this, and I’m a ghost when I’m Phantom. There were some close calls. And my godfather, who’s like me, cloned me, so there was that whole mess. And there used to be this government organization, the GIW who were intent on studying ghosts… just it was a whole mess. There’s a reason I moved all the way across the country once I could.”
“Is the GIW gone?” Barry asked, “Because if not, I’ll bring it to the League.”
“And what about the clones? Are they somewhere safe now?” Dick asked.
“And your parents…” Raven started, softly.
Danny held up a hand. “The GIW went defunct; no results, no funding. There might be a few zealots out there still, but they don’t have any real power anymore. My parents and I… look, there’s just a lot that we don’t talk about. And the two clones that are around—the rest… destabilized—they’re actually the responsibility of my godfather. He had a… change of heart, you could say. I don’t love the guy or anything, but I trust him with them. And if he fucks up, I know they won’t just take it. Things are… they’re settled enough. It’s just how they are now.”
“Okay. But if shit hits the fan again, you let the Titans or me know, okay? I’m not kidding, I’ll bring it to the League if you need protecting,” Barry said seriously.
It was warming, really, to have an adult say that. Sure, Danny was an adult now, but like, an adulter adult. He never had that before.
“Thanks,” Danny said, eyes on the ground rather than the group of people who had quickly become his friends. “That means a lot really.”
“Okay,” Wally said after an uncomfortably quiet moment, “but what did you mean about timelines?”
“Oh, one of the Ancients, ah, think of them sort of like god or demigod ghosts, is of time. Clockwork is what he goes by now days. He likes to meddle in stuff, sends me bright green post-it notes about the fate of the world and such. The last one I got was actually warning me about my seizures,” Danny said with a little snort. “I wish I had figured that out before I had the first one.”
“Why?” Wally asked with a tilt of his head. “I’m not exactly fate of the world stuff.”
“You’re my world,” Dick cooed, hands on his heart and batting his eyes.
Wally snorted, but he had a fond look in his eyes.
Danny did his best not to laugh at them. “Dick aside, you are a Titan. You being around could be the fate of the world. Or maybe—oh.”
Everyone else in the room exchanged a look, but Danny hardly noticed. His attention was hung up on a tangle of a thought.
“…oh?” Dick prompted.
“What?” Danny shook his head. “Oh. Just ‘two emissaries of time’. It’s what I called Barry and Wally.”
“Yeah, but I told you that we’re not,” Barry said.
“Yeah, but you don’t eve believe in ghosts and I’m sitting right here,” Danny said with a dismissive wave. He got up with a little stumble and started to pace. It helped to move when he was trying to untangle things. Sure, he was a little lightheaded, but he’d deal. “It makes sense that you don’t see the Speed Force as the entity that it is.”
“He never has,” Raven said.
Danny spun and pointed a finger at her. His world tilted dangerously. “But you know what it is.”
“Danny, honey, why don’t you sit down,” Dick said.
When Danny tried to start pacing again, Dick reached out and snagged Danny by the waist. A simple little tug was enough to unbalance Danny and send him tumbling down into Dick’s lap. Obviously please with his capture, Dick wrapped his arms around Danny and rested his head on Danny’s shoulders. Danny gave a a little huff of air, but leaned back against Dick’s chest.
Raven was smiling, just barely. “I know the Speed Force is something beyond my understanding.”
“Sure, but it is something and that something is related to time,” Danny said. As he talked, he started to lean forward again. “Clockwork’s whole thing is about time! He has rewound time at least twice just for my bullshit! It makes sense that him and the Speed Force have a connection. Which means I’ve had this all wrong!”
“Danny, Danny, don’t fall off my lap,” Dick said with a tightening grip. “You can stay right here and tell us what you had all wrong.”
“This was never about me being a psychopomp!” Danny exclaimed, words slightly breathless. Dick held him a little tighter. “This is all about Clockwork being convinced that I need to be his apprentice! That’s why I can see Wally! It’s not about death, it’s about time!”
“Hey, Danny, hon, take a deep breath for me,” Dick urged. His palm tapped a rhythm against Danny’s sternum. Danny grumpily followed along, but it did help the tightening feeling in his lungs. Once Dick was satisfied with Danny’s breathing, he asked, “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Danny said, “that Wally isn’t dead.”
Wally just looked bemused. “I’ve been telling you that.”
“I know, but it didn’t make sense. Now it does! Wally’s not dead, and because Wally isn’t dead,” Danny continued, “I’m not his anchor because I’m half ghost and a psychopomp. I’m his anchor because I’ve got one of Clockwork’s medallions inside me!”
Dick’s hand twitched as if he wanted to hold on to Danny’s very being. “Inside you?”
“Ghost thing.” Danny patted Dick’s hand reassuringly. “I have a cellphone in there too. And maybe a fork still? It doesn’t matter.”
“I think it matters,” Dick grumbled.
“What matters,” Danny continued blithely, “is that I know how to unstick us.”
---
AN: Barry: This is my new nephew Danny. If anything happens to him, I'm declaring war on the government and his parents.
Rest of the JL: ???
