I’ve Seen That Future…

Vlad becoming a Gotham rouge to protect the kids in his custody. Part One

Masterlist | Prequel | Part 2

Gotham was a great place to hide.

A city swathed in shadows and secrets, and drenched with the stench of death. He would blend right in.

Jazz was watching the city pass by through the windows of the bus, fingers clenched tight around a hidden weapon and blue eyes scanning for a threat. She hadn’t relaxed for a moment since they’d left amity, and likely not since her parents passing. She tried so hard to hide it, to be strong, but she looked so tired.

Danny was curled in his lap, grip tight on the lapels of his jacket as he huffed his way through a mild night terror. Vlad wanted to wake the boy, but he’d been sleeping so little since they fled, he needed the rest even if it was fitful.

He purred softly, a rumbling in his core that had once been something he deeply despised.

Danny, sweet innocent Danny, purred back. His baby core, still forming months after the accident that claimed his parents lives and changed him irreversibly, rumbled weakly back.

He hadn’t realized Danny was like him until he’d caught the ghost boy flying through the town, believing he was dreaming. The four year old excitedly told him he was like a superhero now, then collapsed in his arms to fall asleep. He’d recognized Vlad even with his blue skin and monstrous face, chest stuttering through a happy purr as he snuggled against him.

He’d had to talk to Jazz and Danny about how they were different, how he was different too, and that they had to hide. People had begun looking for their kind. Jazz wasn’t quite like them, she was death touched, but not half dead like them. She’d been in the same room during the accident, but her only change was the slight whitening of her hair.

He was doing his best keeping them all mostly alive in the castle, childproofing his precious Packers memorabilia and trying to learn the kids quirks. They didn’t trust food, not until he cut it up very small, and they were adept with guns and weaponry. He knew Jack and Maddie were passionate hunters, but he wondered just what they had taught their children.

It wasn’t helping matters that his obsession had broken during the death of their parents, both the love of his life and need for revenge gone. It left him lost and ill, but focusing on the kids was keeping him from fading away. Maybe they were becoming his new obsession, and maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing.

The castle was old and run down, secluded from the world the way he wanted it be be. He was starting to build a fortune through less than reputable means and they were okay. He’d give the last pieces of Maddie, and that idiot Jack, a good chance.

Then they were attacked.

It happened suddenly. They were in the middle of a family dinner when the door was kicked in and there was yelling. Jazz grabbed the ecto pistol she always had from under the table and began to fire, shielding her brother with her body. She was only six, but she moved like a trained fighter as she began throwing anything within reach at their attackers.

They were wearing white, people Vlad had seen skulking around since Jack and Maddie’s deaths. One of the blasts seared through Vlad’s shoulder, human flesh sizzling as he screamed and tried to shield the kids. They were closing in, he had to do something, he had to save the kids. Their kids. His kids.

Without thinking much beyond that he wrapped his arms around the two children and when intangible, flying them through the ceiling just in time before a green shield he’d once helped blueprint kicked to life and covered the castle.

That led them to now, riding on a bus to a city Vlad only heard bad things about, a city to get lost in.

They were surviving off of the cash Vlad had on him, all his cards dumped. He’d need to make new IDs for the kids as well as himself, and find a place to stay, but right now he just needed to keep going.

A stolen jacket was draped over his shoulders, hiding the hastily bandaged wound that wasn’t healing even days later. Jazz carried a bug out bag everywhere with her, and the few things she had were helping. They’d grabbed a backpack for Vlad with necessary supplies at a department store before hopping on the Bus, all procured by him illegally while Jazz watched Danny outside.

Danny had asked him, brows furrowed, why he was stealing. That the cops and superheroes would come and take him away. His eyes filled with tears, shining a brilliant green.

“I don’t want you to get taken away.” He took a shaky breath, grabbing Vlad’s hand. “I don’t wanna lose you too.”

He’d had to explain that sometimes people stole to survive, trying to explain the grays in the black and white view of good and evil. Vlad knew he wasn’t a good person, but he was doing what he had to and he didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty.

The bus pulled into Gotham, brakes giving an ominous squeal that startled young Daniel awake. Vlad held him in one arm, the other hand winding with Jazz’s that was trying so hard not to shake, and they stepped off the bus.

Danny, homeless and hungry on the streets of Gotham, smells Condiment King and attacks him mid fight with the bats. At this point Danny is half feral from hunger and CK is yelling as this random kid steals all his stuff. The bats quickly lose track of this kid, partially because of thier own laughter.

Or

Dannys already having a hard time in Gotham. He wasn't sure how he got here and Clockwork is either ignoring him or can't hear him so he has to figure something out on his own.

Que Condiment King repeatedly destroying every place he tries to live (usually by accident or by being caught in the crossfire of this rouges fights) eventually Danny loses his cool and creates his own food themed hero/villian. That's right.

Pepsi-man

Of course Pepsi exists in the DC universe (maybe not, but it does now cause I say so) and with it the ye old commercials or Pepsi-man- Pepsi's failed mascot- also exist.

So whenever Pepsi-man appears people are in disbelief and go "Pepsi-man?!" And are baffled. Danny of course isn't that ripped...or tall...or an adult...but his parents were evil mad scientists and he and Jazz were raised from a young age to be thier heirs in a way. So naturally he made a robotic exoskeleton to pilot around. That was Pepsi-man. Danny never speaks as Pepsi-man, and uses exaggerated body language and gestures to get his point across.

Ya know.

Whenever he's not actively making Condiment King eat dirt.

TC DP idea

 I need there to be a Danny Phantom True Crime fic from an outsider POV.  like Vlad died and they're investigating and they end up finding out about his contact with Danny. I'm imagining deaged Ellie and the suspicions around that especially if we also have deaged Dan who is literally a fusion of Vlad and Danny. Every single person they have talked to definitely is like if anyone killed Vlad it'd be Danny but also being like it probably be justified, which brings up so many questions for the police.

 Danny lets these two police officers into his home into a house that's fully funded by vlads money after he's put down Dan and Elle for a nap. Danny is being so dodgy about his whereabouts but also fully not being shy about  thinking that vlad got himself killed by doing something stupid. I also think it'd be very funny if they try and persuade Danny to tell them more by saying that they'll help set him up with some sort of financial compensation or job because his income to them has died but then Danny reveals that he probably gets everything in the will. 

I also think it'd be very funny if Vlad isn't actually fully dead like he ends up getting Resurrected and it gets even weirder. If Danny and Vlad end up talking in front of people they are fully fighting Vlad is being all weird and Danny is actively like I wish you were actually dead. Everything either of them is saying is not helping the idea that Danny actively tried to kill Vlad.

- Masterpost -

Here it is people of Tumblr, I'm gonna update this masterpost whenever there are new parts on the AUs and other stories that I post here in Tumblr. Fandoms will vary.

Danny and Damien are friends (also known as: Damian has a crush on Danny). Danny Phantom x DC comics AU

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 LAST PART

Dr. Danny M.D. Danny Phantom x DC comics AU

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

Not Batman's sidekick. Danny Phantom x DC comics AU

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 PART 4 PART 5 PART 6 PART 7 PART 8

To babysit a mafia boss. Trash of the Count's Family x Katekyo Hitman Reborn Crossover.

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

Accidental Crime Lord/Mob Boss Danny. Danny Phantom x DC comics AU. Oneshot.

Danny is Dick and Barbara's kid. Danny Phantom x DC comics AU.

PART 1 PART 2

PROMPT: Growing Pains.

PROMPT: Pretty Witchy Danny.

PROMPT: Danny Phantom x MARVEL.

Danny is a house husband.

That's it, that's all it is.

As the years went on. Danny retired from being a superhero. There was no need for Phantom when the GIW were dealt with and all the ghosts were under control.

Now what's left for him to do but to just sit back, relax, and finally be able to live his life.

Sam and Tucker on the other hand....

Well, they had plenty of pent up rage, wits, and chaos inside their mind to become villains.

But they had one rule.

Never bring work home and to never involve Danny in any of their supervillain business.

Okay that's technically two rules, but they're kind of synonymous especially since Danny has been taking care of their house while also entertaining himself with trying new hobbies.

Tucker and Sam both make sure that they never bring any of their villainy home to Danny, because all they want is for Danny to enjoy his happy hero retirement.

And Danny in turn, doesn't bat an eye when watching the news and seeing that there were magical plants that were attacking sites that oil companies were digging or that somehow Lex Luthor had lost five hundred million dollars and had somehow leaked records showing he was building weapons of mass destruction.

He also doesn't bat an eye when he sees that Tucker had brought home a telescope that definitely looks like it came from some fancy lab because hey, Tucker was making him an observatory so he can look at the stars and planets. While also how they were able to make a great gaming pc with computer parts that are definitely not sold in stores, because hey at least the newest update of Doomed wasn't lagging.

Or that Sam comes home with various plants and animals that are definitely not from planet earth, but hey the three headed wolf-lizard-eagle- hybrid thing (that Danny has affectionately named Fluffy) is pretty great at keeping the pests away from his vegetable garden and likes to eat any of Danny's new food creations and is a great playmate for Cujo.

So you can imagine how the Justice League thinks when dealing with the pair of new villains: Upload (Tucker) and Sam (I could not think of a villain name that would suit her, so it's up to you what you think her villain name would be)

And how they were currently wreaking havoc in the city either by cyber warfare with robots or by magic plant monster or a Frankenstein of both approaches. The heroes had all evacuated the civilians from the battle zone and are currently fighting a losing battle. When they've been effectively captured and restrained by the two. Right before the villains could go into a monologue, they hear a person clearing their throat.

Everybody looks to see a 25 year old man wearing a sweater vest (he made it himself, thank you very much) currently holding onto the leash of a giant glowing green dog and some kind of giant animal hybrid. The man's arms were crossed and was currently not sporting a very happy look on his face.

Tucker and Sam (looking at Danny with hesitant smiles): Hi honey.

Danny (frowning): you missed our anniversary dinner.

Tucker and Sam both pale as they quickly realized what the date and time was.

The league all watch as Sam and Tucker immediately start apologizing to the man that just walked into a battle zone.

Danny (still frowning): Hmph! I guess since you two didn't want dinner you can go back to your little fight. Don't expect me to make you any lunches for the next month, and since you two are having so much fun here, you'll be sleeping by yourselves for the next couple weeks.

The league all watch as they were let go as Sam and Tucker yell as they run after Danny yelling apologies as he was walking away from them.

This is not the last they see of Danny.

When Danny is displeased with either of his partners, he'll invite a hero over to have lunch of afternoon tea.

Dp x Dc promp

Danny meets the Justice League, but they are mostly just confused, cause they think he has two kids with his arch enemy.

How that misunderstanding happened is actually pretty simple.

Wonder Woman first meet Elle(Dani). And she mentions that one of her parents is also a superhero. She also mentions that the other is evil business man.

Danny don't really correct Elle when she calls him Dad. Even if he is way to young to be her father.

The Justice League thinks that to but then realize that Danny has ghost powers and they could infect his aging.

Later they meet Dan(or Vladiel) and since Danny is his past version he just calls him "old man" when he is bored.

He does the same thing with Vlad.

Danny just explains that the adult one is from the future. Cause he thinks it's pretty obvious what he is.

So the Justice League thinks it's pretty clear Danny Phantom has two kids with his arch nemesis and needs an intervention of how to pick a good partner.

I'm sorry I just had to get the possibility of every one gets confused by Elle and Dan out of my system.

Kon has been kidnapped alongside a civilian by cultists. The civilian is really, really annoyed.

Also, it's the strangest kidnapping Kon's ever heard of.

The cultists have locked them in a room with pizza, the latest video game consoles, the most comfy bed Kon's ever sat on, the fastest wifi he's ever seen outside of something Rob made, and a button for them to request like, anything.

And Kon tested it.

He asked for a puppy.

The cultists literally handed him one less the seven minutes later.

The whole reason Kon hasn't burst out is because he's curious.

He wants to know what the hell is going on.

"So..." he turns to look at the civilian, who was clearly the actual target.

The civilian doesn't move from where he's laying on the ground and glaring at the ceiling.

"Why?" Kon asks, using one hand to motion to the room as the other one gives belly rubs to KingKon, the newly named puppy.

"Because certain assholes don't know how to take no for an answer."

Oh, well if it's a creep creeping on a teenager then Kon isn't sticking around.

"Do you mind watching my new puppy while I go beat them up? What's their name?"

The civilian turns his head to look very dubiously at Kon. Which. Rude.

Kon could beat up a creep.

Kon beats up creeps all the time.

"Pariah Dark, Tyrant of the Dead."

Okay that's a little bit of a tall order.

"Why does Pariah Dark want a teenager?"

"Because I beat him up and now he wants to adopt me, so he keeps trying to win me over."

Oh! Okay. Totally different situation.

Still weird though.

Dpxdc AU: Damian decides that it’s time to go collect his brother from his assignment. Danny is starting to sniff out some non-ghostly bullshit for once.

Damian knew his twin had been exiled from the age of seven, banished to travel and observe how scientists around the world engaged with Lazarus water. The only word that Damian received that his spare was still alive were the letters of lab reports and findings that were sent back to base. As the Heir, he’s pushed to be better lest he himself be exiled or simply executed. Danny becomes a fleeting thought and then once Damian arrived in Gotham, a none existent thought.

They weren’t raised to be friends or even friendly. The were not taught codependency or allotted time to bond. The could have been perfect strangers if not for their appearance and the stories of Danny’s shortcomings becoming Damian’s praise.

It’s only once Tim informs him of an intercepted letter, one sent and saved from years prior, that Damian recalls Danny enough to care. Tim prompts him to share more, especially given the coup recently committed by Deathstroke (Slade) and Talia gone into hiding with her zealots.

At family dinner that night Damian supplies: “I suppose I should be the one to bereave my twin of his assignment. His reports will certainly go unread.”

Chaos in the Batfam ensues- meanwhile across the country- Danny sneezes and finishes writing his yearly report: “No major discoveries aside from public record patents (attached), No assistance required. -Spare”. He doesn’t know why he bothers, he hasn’t received any contact from his mother or grandfather since he was 10ish and certainly hasnt thought about his twin. But, if there’s a chance (even an itty bitty one) that his reports are being read and are holding off his reassignment, he’d rather keep assassins out of Amity Park.

Little does he know that this letter is about to be intercepted by Pru, former assassin and friend of Tim Drake. He hadn’t expected his twin to suddenly arrive and tell him that his job was done. And certainly, seeing a plane filled with an uncomfortable looking ‘family’ that requested he join them and get to know Gotham and his birth father, was not on his bingo list.

Danny does his best to let them down gently- and they seem to be accepting that he’s acclimated to this weird little town and will leave him be- when Danny suddenly has to transform into Phantom in front of them to handle a rocket sent by Skulker.

They are less willing to accept his appeal to be left alone after that… Damian is trying to “bond” with him and all the others are trying to “help” in their own way.

Sam and Tucker howl with laughter at Danny’s suddenly very large family- all while secretly working with the Wayne’s to get Danny the fuck away from the Fentons before the scientists do something they can’t undo.

Vampire? In Gotham! (part 1)

Summary: Danny's 19, a prince, a halfa, and tired of being these things. So he jumps on the idea of a vacation as soon he's given the hint of a chance. The only caveat is that he's going to go undercover as a vampire in a big city - Gotham - far from his home dimension. He finds it's easier than he thought it would be. He's already mostly there.

Relationships: Dead on Main (Jason Todd/Danny Fenton), John Constantine & Danny Fenton

Um? Inspired by several prompts and other fanfics. Lost Between Our Needs and Wants AU definitely, with a background Danny's summoned by Ra's as Damian as a sacrifice. Nothing bad happens (to Damian) don't worry. Also, the one in which Danny decided to fight ghosts as a human too.

And John is almost definitely ooc, he's a character I enjoy a lot even though I don't have a firm grasp of his canon.

Danny's afterlife has been way too interesting for way too long. It's gotten to the point that when things suddenly go quiet for months, he hardly hesitates to give his "human" life some over-due attention.

For obvious reasons he's not going to try his "vacation" in his own dimension. Anyone he once might have stayed for know how to get a hold of him, whenever and wherever.

The Amity Park portal is still open. But between the stricter laws on ghosts wanting to use permanent portals he managed to get passed, and the increasingly feral ways the townsfolk have begun defending each other with, Danny feels confident to finally...let go. In his heart, he had always thought of it as still his, despite not being there to maintain it in truth. But now it's not his Haunt anymore, fully and completely.

They don't need him anymore.

And Danny doesn't want to be needed like that again, to be honest. He sacrificed so much to play hero because he got it into his head that he had to do everything alone in the end. As if he was the only one who could kick ghost butt on the daily in town.

Thankfully, a nineteen year old Danny is smarter than a fourteen year old Danny. He's learned the art of delegation. Any tasks that he doesn't need to be present for, he has a whole team of ghostly assistants to handle things for him. The major multidimensional crises have for the most part been solved - his protection Obsession at the very least fed. And quite a few skeleton thralls he freed near the beginning of his reign were suddenly looking for direction. Among them, a decent amount found the talent and fulfillment in positions of bureaucratic power that Danny never will, filling up spots he's unwilling to give out like the candy the various ghosts of nobility treat the roles as. Or ghost nobility. Like the Ancients. Quite a few of the Ancients are assholes.

(At least all the murderous Ancients aren't problems anymore)

With all their help, he's able to occasionally pop in to do paperwork, meet with the High Court for various lawmaking and judicial decisions, and listening to official petitions to the Crown from his people. It's all good. No mountains of unseen paperwork, no audience with the Observants every waking moment, no one across the Realms screaming desperately for help. Even some of the cults have finally caught on that he's not Pariah!

So Danny starts the process of finding a new Haunt for his new, normal, alive alter ego. Staying as long as he has in the Realms couldn't have been sustainable long-term if he didn't want to become a full ghost. As complicated as his relationship with his humanity is these days, he still doesn't want to die again. And Frostbite definitely has been pushing him to finding new territory, in the Infinite Realms or otherwise. Because even for full ghosts going Hauntless for long periods is straining. To say the least.

Although, being just a human again...didn't sit right. Even after all this time. His human form is still one Danny Fenton, in his eyes.

He can never be Danny Fenton again. He accepted that his duties as Crown Prince would keep him away from the identity of the ghost hunter's ghost hunting son, who went to Casper high and had terrible grades in everything but science; the kid who was shoved into lockers and who was addicted to Nasty Burger and played DOOMED with his friends and who wanted to be an astronaut. He accepted that he had to leave that all behind, and be full ghost in all but form. His parents wouldn't want him if they knew everything he lied about, anyways. He didn't actually deserve the name Fenton.

His new Haunt would preferably be in a place where he could reasonably pass himself off as another species, then, and still be safe. Safer than being a ghost at least. Most universes had well-deserved folklore against the Realms. His people are not inherently malevolent...But he knows that they don't play nice and careful with the living.

He would need an ectoplasm rich environment, too. A big city with lots of crime would go a long way for providing the ambient death and fear vibes that would attract Blobs like a bee to nectar. It would also make it feel like the Infinite Realms - hopefully. He's gotten accustomed to that kind of environment. He thinks he may never sleep again in a place quiet and safe.

He'd like a place with a rich history too. Just for fun!

Danny mulls it over carefully, narrowing down universes he could reasonably start his search in. The only universe he can think of with extensive protections for the non-human written into law is one far-flung flavor of an Earth he's semi-familiar with. He's been there twice, both at 16, just starting out and stressed to hell and back with the sheer load of unattended problems Pariah left to rot.

Both times he'd been more than he'd have liked. One Ra's Al Ghul wasn't technically his problem. He was no one's problem now, and that was current Danny's whole issue with it.

John Constantine is an unlamented saint for putting up with a feral teenaged Danny's slap dash attempt at helping the both of them - John with his soul related doom, and Danny with his paperwork related misery.

But. Considering how he handled the contract with Al Ghul, Danny can't blame John for hesitating to renegotiate their terms already. Ra's Al Ghul was an idiot who gave him what he thought was the life of his grandson, in exchange for immortality.

Him. The Prince of the Dead. Immortality.

Thankfully, the wording was imprecise. What he actually traded was the kid's really cool sword - the kid kneeling, terrified eyes meeting his before darting away, offering his own sword to let Danny slit his throat and "collect his due sacrifice", Danny not being able to breathe through his own fear - for pure ectoplasm, with instruction to drink it everyday until he ran out.

This of course killed even him months later from over-exposure.

The man probably felt a mile high in the air, indestructible, right up until he crashed. Al Ghul promptly became a ghost. Which. Closest thing to true immortality the Prince of the Dead could offer him. He kept his end of the deal. It's not his fault that Al Ghul never specified that he didn't want to die to be immortal. It's also not his fault that Al Ghul had so many dead enemies and victims on the other side who were easy to find. It was ridiculously easy - they made a support group around being taken down by the LOA. And who was he to deny the dead their due vengeance?

Right. So John is understandably nervous about Danny owning all the pieces of his soul, no matter how much rapport they've built these past three years. Danny is mature enough to admit that it is his fault for that bit.

On the bright side for Danny, that means one grumpy occult detective in a sad trenchcoat is a guy who lives in his phone. Like an uncle-shaped tamagachi!

He scrolls though his contact list until he thumbs John's number. Surprisingly, instead of going to voicemail, he picks up on the first ring.

"Before you ask, yes I'm cashing in a favor, finally. No, it's nothing evil, I've just got the first actual free time I've had in five years and I'd like to get suggestions on a city to move to."

-------------------

John ended up giving a very detailed list in response. Suspiciously detailed, and hardly prompted. How long had John been thinking on this? And why?

Danny chalked it up to the man's reasonable paranoia when it came to him. John's aware he can pretend to be (fully) human with relative ease, afterall. And the older man knows where he'd need to be able to actually live long term. After-live. Whatever. Point is, John probably made it his business to know where any sneaky invasions would start if Danny ever became a little less morally ambiguous and a little more bloodthirsty.

Entirely fair! Pariah wasn't always a tyrant!

On the very top was Gotham, a city in this world's Jersey, and the crime capitol of the States. Plenty of ambient ectoplasm, and planty of charged emotions wafting from every street corner. He doesn't voice this, but Danny figures that there must be a whole community of ghosts already living there because of that double whammy.

Something about the city's name tickles his memory, but can't quite pin it down. If it was important he'd have remembered. Right?

John is thrown when he asks about his options of other non-humans Danny could reasonably get away with impersonating.

"And why," the occultist half-accuses, "would you of all spooks, want to live in Gotham, as a 'vacation', just to not even pretend to be normal?"

"First of all, ow. John you know just because someone is different doesn't mean they're not normal. I thought you were the cool uncle." He responds half-heartedly. Danny bites his bottom lip, rolling it between his sharp teeth as he tries to think of a part two to that answer that wouldn't get uncomfortably personal.

John doesn't rise to his bait. Danny hears him unscrew something metallic, then the sound of fluid swishing quietly from the other end. Ah.

The silence wears on. Danny should hang up. But winging things have always gotten him into bigger trouble. And John is the guy to call for this. Fuck. And he's bad at lying bold-faced.

Fine.

"I'm half human," Danny responds as if that would explain everything. It doesn't, so he manages to continue in a small voice that he doesn't even remember the last time he'd used. "Sometimes I still pretend to be one when I can't see any other way. But I had my chance at playing the part of both. And I royally screwed it up, literally! I became freaking royalty and I just couldn't anymore. As far as anyone but my doctor is concerned, I'm full ghost. I had a chance - I don't deserve another one. Screw ups don't get nice things."

John takes another swig from his flask, mutters something under his breath that sounds vaguely like 'of course he's a fecking halfa'. His voice is rough around the edges from whatever cheap booze he just drank a concerning amount of.

"Listen. Sounds like you've got trauma dripping from your ears, kid. But what's the point here, huh? Sounds like you want to be human without all the fuss of it." John drawls out.

Danny takes a deep breath in through his nose. He tries to fight down the feeling of being peeled open for the world to see - being afraid isn't helpful right now. He needs to be silly, nonchalant, like he's always been with John in tense situations. Why do they only talk when things are tense, anyways?

"Essentially. It's more like. I want to have all the human experiences I missed out on, but without having to hide being inhuman. That kinda thing."

"And you can't just be a ghost?"

"I really don't think anyone likes being ghosted."

"Don't you start on that. You know what I mean, Princeling."

"Fine. No, I can't be a ghost. That's boring and no one likes being haunted."

John gives a long sigh. After a beat, he acquiesces. "Alright. You could pull off vamps damn well. Got the hair for 'em. The teeth and claws are only slightly off. There's several clans with different looks the same way humans have ethnicities. Although, I don't think that's the same, now that I'm thinking about it. But subspecies doesn't fit either."

Danny hums, tilting his head in thought. "Like the difference between a banshee and a specter?"

"Yeah, like that. All vamps, just different enough, and no kind older than another to say they're the 'main' species." John clarifies. Another pause. "Unless you count Halfas. Which. Some people do but shouldn't. Bloody idiots."

Danny startles, nearly dropping his phone. "Excuse me?"

John snorts. "What? You didn't know?"

"Musta missed that part in the complimentary instruction manual they gave me for having my molecules redecorated." He snarks. "What do you mean I'm already a vampire?"

"I said people who don't know what they're talking about count Halfas as the original vampires. You lot have been around since the bloody dawn of time, it seems." John sounds exasperated.

"That's not what I - never have I ever wanted to take a chomp on anyone's pulse point, what the fuck?"

John gets that smug tone in his voice that Danny has a love-hate relationship with. "And exactly how many undead folks do you hang out with when you're feeling peckish?"

"...you can't be serious." Danny says instead of denying him. What can he even say to that? He's never met a Revenant or Ghoul.

"As the grave, I'm afraid."

When Danny doesn't outwardly respond for too many beats, John takes another chug. "Phantom?"

"John." He begins, pinching the bridge of his nose as more and more dots connect too cleanly for him. "You might be wrong."

"...What awful lore about your eldritch homeland is going to send me into my weekly crisis this time?" The detective groans out.

"Alright. So you know how part of my whole thing as the Prince makes it my job to stay aware of ectoplasmic diseases?"

John hums in acknowledgement, so Danny sucks in a deep breath. "Then you should know two things. One, that I've been to a few dimensions with vampires in them. And like you said, they're all different from each other. I didn't really pay much attention beyond helping the people survive these world-ending scenarios though.

Two, is that in each and every one of those realities, the vampirism was caused by a virus made by an Ancient - don't worry, they're gone. The disease itself is called False Halfa Syndrome. It was their attempt to weaponize Halfas back in Pariah's time."

"Oh shite." John says elegantly. "Bag o' shite!"

"Good luck on that crisis. Me too." Danny is hardly holding in hysterical laughter. "I can't believe Sam and Tucker were right about this. Holy shit."

"How in the world didn't you piece this together until now?!"

"I don't know! I just thought it was coincidence!"

"Bloody fucking hell, Phantom. Nevermind. You can play a vampire totally accurately because you are one. A ghost one." John growls. "Cause that just had to be a thing."

Danny carefully doesn't think about how Vlad might have legitimate claim to that vampiric aesthetic he's got going on. Instead, he's planning on stealing an aesthetic change for his own ruse.

"Nice. Should I know anything else while we're here?" He asks.

John gave a wry laugh, crackling over the phone's shitty old speakers. "About Gotham or your new undead existence?"

"Both." He says instantly. "Both is good."

"Gotham has vigilantes. The birds and bats are efficient, and they spook easy at unknowns. Batman's technically my coworker if we're gonna call the Justice League a job - we don't get paid for this. He and his family deal with the craziest lineup of human rogues I've ever had the displeasure. It's made him a healthy amount of paranoid. If you're doing anything nefarious, he'll find you. And then he'll call me."

Danny isn't exactly afraid of John. But Pariah wasn't afraid of Danny, either, so the halfa takes it seriously. Internally.

"Yeah yeah old man. You've got your eye on me and all that. Uh huh." He genuinely appreciates the warning, too, but messing with John is his bread and butter.

"Watch it, brat," John says with no real venom, unlike a moment ago. "Or I'll bring out the stakes."

"I take mine medium rare, thank you."

"Piss off."

"...About the vampirism?"

"Normal ghost bullshite applies. It's about the ecto, I think. You go absolutely nutters for the stuff in undead folk. Something about how ectoplasm interacts with the reanimated. Liminals are nutritious too, but I've been told it's the difference between cafeteria food and gourmet. One smells absolutely heavenly, the other is barely appetizing."

Oh Ancients is that why all his exes are Liminal? No, hold on, was part of the reason Vlad was so weird about him just ghost-vamp on ghost-vamp mutual hanger?

"What, I'm not the only Halfa in your life? John. I thought we had something special."

"Please don't make this weird. Do not flirt with me." John instantly scolds. "I know you're just being your little weird brand of playful, but I knew you when you were a kid shaped menace. C'mon."

Danny blinks. He didn't think he was flirting, but apparently he was. "Alright. Sorry, John."

There's a sudden crash on the other side of the phone. Followed by John's muffled cursing.

"Listen, I have to go. If you're serious about this I'll get you some good fakes. Text me with what you'd like your name to be." And then John hangs up. Danny smiles into the lingering silence.

------------

PhantomMenace: Dante Nightingale, pwetty please 0w0

God's Favorite Whore: That's the most main character name I've ever bloody seen.

God's Favorite Whore: You're from a dead family in Illinois, farm boy, meta. Had an accident at 14, with a near death experience for believability. You've also been missing since shortly after it. Anyone looking into you will think that's when you got "turned."

PhantomMenace: thats why your the cool uncle <3

God's Favorite Whore: This should count as another favor, don't you think?

PhantomMenace: Yup. I'll be nice

PhantomMenace: 💚 ~2/20 Favors until Soul Return~ 💚

Vague Fucked Up Idea: Danny and Vlad escape their own dimension together after Danny's parents turned on them and started working with the GIW to capture and dissect them. They already managed to destabilize Dani and Dan. Vlad being too injured was unable to carry their cores and thus Danny was forced to in order to keep their cores from fading completely.

Unfortunately this means that Danny is pregnant with twins and incredibly moody and volatile. Unfortunately he only has Vlad to rely on, fortunately Vlad can take a punch and an ectoblast to the face no problem. It's the crying that Vlad can't handle.

Vlad is doing his best to be a good godfather now that they only have each other. But he really wishes Danny hadn't decided to keep Dan and Dani, they really weren't necessary and only seem to cause problems. He is not claiming those brats even if their ecto is half his.

Of course with Danny's violent mood swings and his powers more powerful to compensate for his fragile state Danny has drawn the attention of the local vigilantes. Those pesky justice seekers are so damn nosy about things not at all their business! A few billionaires getting a few million poorer is nothing to care so much about, honestly!

Luckily Vlad can keep Danny mostly busy by letting him craft his own experiments for eco friendly and affordable technology. Sure he's supposed to be being "homeschooled" but Danny is frankly wasted on public schooling. No, he is better stimulated and utilized in Dalv Co Labs. It keeps him busy and less likely to throw a hormonal fit. Fifteen year olds are already a nightmare when moody but a pregnant fifteen year old was just hellish. Daniel was quite lucky he had someone like Vlad to care about a thing like him!

Now if only those wretched nosy vigilantes would back off!

((It's highly unlikely I'll actually do anything with this idea. Feel free to write about it and tag me is you want to! I'd love to see other people's ideas.))