Work Text:
“Hey Fenturd!”
Danny could not help the flinch that had him hitting the lockers before the much bigger football player slammed into him.
“Oops.” came the mocking response as Dash shoved him back down onto the floor, his notebooks and pens scattering as his bags zipper tore. The footballer's foot came spitefully down on his English homework, grinding it into the ground and tearing it.
Danny knew there was no fighting back. How could he? He could only bite down on the anger and fury and rage, and frustration.
His dad told him he would grow. ‘You are just small, Danny. Nothing to worry about. You’ll catch up.’
Jazz would tell him that she was short at his age too.
And his mom? Well. She would just brush him off and tell him he was perfectly fine.
Danny flinched again as Dash left, hands reaching out to pick up his scattered books and pens. He sighed, resting his forehead on his books before he attempted to stick his homework together.
It would not matter, and he knew it. Lancer would refuse to accept it, which meant he would fail it. Again.
He could handle the name calling. He could handle what was said about his parents. Jazz had told him not to fight back when they said things about her.
When they ruined his work? That he could not handle.
Some tape would have to do, something that he always had plenty of. He grimaced at the look of his homework, even as the bell went and he swore under his breath, grabbing the rest of his books and stationary where it had fallen.
Today sucked.
It was the first class of the day and it already sucked.
He slouched in, eyes going to the quote on the board and sighed.
A quote from a picture book.
’and now’ cried Max ‘Let the wild Rumpus start’
He was not going to ever admit he knew this quote for the daily guess. Never ever. He already caught enough crap for being so small and runty. He did not need to admit that he knew the quote was from ‘Where the wild things are’. A picture book aimed at kindergarteners.
He half slumped towards Tuck, pressing his head against his friend's shoulder.
“You good, Danny?” Tucker asked softly.
Danny shook his head mutely. He already knew he was going to get a 0 on his homework. He did not want to have to deal with the sympathy from his friends.
“I’m going to kick Dash’s ass.” Sam bared her teeth in the footballers direction, the only one of the trio who could get away with saying it. Hell, Sam could even get away with punching him in the face- it was the benefit of being rich.
Danny scoffed. “How the heck did you even know it was Dash.”
Sam looked back at him, giving him a look that screamed at how much she thought he was an idiot. “The shadows have eyes. If you listen, they tell stories. They tell truths.” she informed him before adding, with a smirk. “It's always Dash.”
“Shadows that talk sound terrifying.” Tucker grimaced. “Better stay in the light.” the red hat wearing boy added. “The light is safe. The light is our future.”
Danny looked from one friend to the other and shook his head. “I should ask if you two are alright.” Danny raised a hand to rub the back of his neck as he caught Mr Lancers eyes on him.
“I am going to need to inform your parents, Mr Fenton.” the english teacher did at least sound apologetic.
Danny made a face. “I know sir.” he slumped down further, hiding his face in his arms on the desk. If he was lucky, one of his parents would answer. If he was unlucky, Jazz would answer and he would have to deal with one of her lectures.
If you asked Danny what exactly the class was about, other than that it was English, he would not be able to answer. Time seemed to pass erratically, school passed erratically. It felt like moments that he, Tucker and Sam were leaving the school.
“Hey, are we still coming over tomorrow?” Tucker asked.
“May as well.” Danny grinned. “There is Doomed to play and, I don’t know, some pizza or something.”
“That's lame.” Sam cut in. “At least get some cake. It's your birthday, Danny.”
Danny grimaced, exhaling slightly. “Fine. A cake. Just- no presents. It’s not worth it.”
“You are worth it.” Tuck nudged him “Anything you actually want, Danny? Me and Sam will get it before we come over.”
Danny shrugged before looking from one stubborn face to the other and his shoulders slumped slightly. “I need a new tool kit.” he answered, going for the practical. “Or backpack.” he gestured to the torn zipper of the bag he had been using for three years now.
“You are boring.” Sam rolled her eyes, spying her parents and heading off.
Tucker sighed, giving Danny a small nudge. “I’ll walk you home?” his voice held questions and Danny made a face.
“Nah, better not. Who knows what mom and dad are doing. Besides, you are coming over tomorrow, and have to look after your younger siblings.” Danny answered.
“My parents wouldn’t mind.” Tucker told him “If you wanted to come over.”
“I’m being hopeful.” Danny said “but they told me they would see me after school and that they had something big planned.”
---
They had not had anything planned. Danny crept down the stairs to the lab and watched, glumly, as his parents worked together, words only half comprehensible. He leaned against the wall and swallowed hard, ignoring how much his stomach growled.
He did not want to fight the food in the kitchen and make himself something.
It was his birthday. He was fourteen.
He should feel lucky- he had somewhere to sleep, had food. His parents- they were forgetful, but they loved him.
Danny looked blankly at the cereal box shoved in front of him, more sugar than anything else.
“I got your favourite.” Jazz’s voice was soft. Kind. Everything he would want in a sister.
Danny stared blankly at the cereal box before shoving his hand in, pulling out a handful of sugary cereal masquerading as fruit flavours and marshmallows shaped as stars.
The cereal made him feel a little better at least, and he turned the box to look at the word game on the back.
He frowned slightly as he looked at it- it was new, and took a little bit for him to work out. A word search, the grid of letters almost too much to focus clearly on. He gave a huff of laughter as he mentally ran through the words.
Star.
Nebula.
Pleiades.
Celestial.
Void.
Void felt right today. Nothing and everything.
Jazz stuck her hand in, grabbing her own mouthful and making a face. “That is ridiculously sweet.”
Danny scowled, hugging the box to his chest. “It's mine. You gave it to me.”
“It's better than the hotdogs, which have unionised again.” Jazz admitted “I think I will stick to toast, though.”
“That's just gross.” Danny stuck his tongue out as the exasperated sound his sister made.
“Are your friends coming over tomorrow?” Jazz asked, standing and pulling Danny to his feet.
“Yeah.” Danny answered, heading upstairs. “They are threatening to bring cake and presents.”
Jazz hugged him. “Good. I have to tutor, so I’ll buy dinner. I am not mad that they are coming over. I just don’t want to leave you alone.” She settled him down at the kitchen table. “So, what happened to your homework? I know you did it.”
Danny shrugged. “My bag kind of broke on the way to class.” he told the half truth. “It got ruined.”
“Did you tell your teacher that?” Jazz asked. “I know Mr Lancer is a good teacher. He listens.”
“What is the point, Jazz? Everyone sees me as the stupid kid with the crazy parents.” Danny snapped at her, hands tugging at his hair. “I can’t change those things. They won’t stop doing it because mom and dad don’t care what it looks like. If it isn’t about ghost hunting, they don’t care. I don’t even know why they had kids, Jazz. They may have been more involved with you, but not me. They aren’t my parents, you are.”
“They love us, Danny.” Jazz answered
Danny looked at her and sighed. “I’m going to bed, Jazz.” he flinched at the sound of an explosion and the thumping of his parents storming up into the kitchen, arguing.
“We thought we had it, kids. It should have worked.” Danny’s dad was rummaging around the pantry, pulling out a tin of fudge before grabbing the box of cereal “Oh, thanks Danny-o.”
“Yeah.” Danny crossed his arms about his chest and half glared at Jazz. “Whatever.”
“Oh, kids. Your father and I will be heading out to clear our heads on a camping trip. We will be back in a week or so.” Danny’s mother spoke up.
Jazz spoke up. “Mom, didn’t you forget something?”
Their mother looked confused before realising. Or so Danny thought.
“Oh, here. Take the card.” Their mother set a debit card down on the table. “Be good for Jazz, Danny.” she called as both parents left out of the door, and the sounds of the Ghost Assault Vehicle starting up and leaving.
“Yeah Jazz.” Danny stared at the card on the table, his voice flat. “Our parents really love us.”
---
Saturday led to a withdrawn Danny curled up under his blanket for most of the day. It took his sister letting his friends into his room to even get him peeking out from under the blankets.
“Here.” Tuck shoved a bottle of water at him, eyes worried.
“At least nothing will explode today.” Sam answered, faux cheerfully, sitting on the edge of the bed.
Danny sighed, pulling himself out of his funk enough to wiggle out of the blanket, half worming his way onto the floor with a grumble.
“Smooth.” Tuck teased, grabbing the water bottle again “Drink some water before you dehydrate and get all scaly.”
Danny scowled, cracking open the bottle and drinking it down. “I’m fine.” he grimaced at the taste, and how his mouth tasted coppery now that water was added.
“You aren’t fine and that is fine.” Sam grimaced at him. “What even is their problem, anyway?”
“They finished the portal.” Danny told them.
“Oooooooh” Sam grinned “We should totally check it out.”
“It doesn’t work.” Danny answered, voice flat.
“It will still make for a great picture.” Sam grinned.
“Ugh. That's stupid.” Tucker complained before adding “I guess it could be fun?” he added at the glare from Sam “So long as we play Doomed and get pizza after.”
---
It was not fun.
Oh, sure, Danny found the whole mucking about and joking with his friends fun.
Even found dressing up into his hazmat suit fun for once.
He could have done without the electricity coursing through him.
Could have done without screaming.
Without dying.
He died.
He knew he died.
He spoke to someone- whoever it was that comes after.
He was kind. Gentle. He smiled at him, hugged him and sent him back.
Danny hurt. He felt both alive and dead. Living and not. Disconnected but more alive then he had felt in years.
He groaned, shifting slightly and giving a soft whine of pain, feeling hands on him. “Stop. Stoppit.”
“Holy shit. We thought you were dead, Danny.” that was Tuck’s voice and Danny groaned, breath ragged in his chest.
“Not.” Danny answered. “Hurts too much to be dead.”
“We should get you to the hospital.” Sam paced, and Danny turned his head to look at her.
“M’fine.” Danny grumbled, trying to sit up and feeling dizzy and weak. He stared at his hand, the same one that had pressed the button accidentally. It was almost pretty, red on pale skin. He blinked, momentarily seeing colors inverted, skin so dark and the lichtenberg figures luminescent green.
“You aren’t fine.” Sam snapped, reaching down and holding his wrist, taking his pulse and frowning.
“Do you even know what you are looking for?” Tuck asked her.
Sam grimaced “Not exactly?” her voice was hesitant before she added “I do know hi pulse is supposed to be faster then this.”
“We’re going to get in trouble.” Tucker worried.
Danny huffed in amusement “Off of who? It's not like my parents will notice. And Jazz? She’ll care but she’s not an adult.”
“You know that's not right, don’t you?” Tucker sounded annoyed and Danny looked away.
It may not be right, but it was what it was. It was not like he could change his parents. It wasn’t like he could make them care.
---
It took hours for the first side effects of his death to start kicking in. Intangibility. Invisibility. Flight.
As the months passed, he got more of them. It was up to him to fight the ghosts that came through and send them back.
The ghost rays. The weather manipulation. The Cryokinesis. Making copies of himself. His wail.
He was so damned tired of fighting. Fighting everyone.
His ‘usuals’ weren’t so bad. Kitty and Johnny, Ember, Box Ghost and Lunch Lady. Even Skulker and Technus.
It was the big ones that hurt. The ones he didn’t know if he was going to come out of it alive. Or at least, not even more dead. Ones like Nocturn. Freak Show. Vortex and Undergrowth.
He was just so damned tired. Sam and Tucker didn’t get it- they were still human still glitching. They weren’t him. They didn’t ache with phantom pains from his still visible scars. They did not feel on edge, waiting for his parents to figure it all out, to kill him- or worse.
They were still alive.
Unlike him.
---
Hospitals sucked beyond belief. It was an upside that after the accident he never actually needed the hospital again. Not until now. It was bright, loud and smelled funny. Danny grimaced and curled up where he was sitting, pulling the gown more tightly around him. He didn’t want to be here. He wanted- he didn’t actually know what he wanted.
He wanted to feel safe.
Danny
Danny’s head shifted, looking for the whispered voice.
wake up
He twisted further, catching sight of himself in the mirror and seeing a brief flash of what he could be.
One day.
If he survived.
Same dark hair. Same bright blue eyes.
White hair. Luminescent green eyes shining in the dark. Scaled skin as dark as the night sky, flecked with luminescent star like marks.
Danny slammed his eyes shut, looking back at the mirror. No monstrous form. Just him. Just Danny.
Just Danny, whose parents, yet again, were out of reach. Out of touch. Chasing ghosts and forgetting the living. It had been bad enough when he had been electrocuted had died. This time?
He couldn’t even say what had happened. How it had happened.
He was tired. He curled up tighter, hiding his face against his knees so he didn’t have to see in the mirror. He wanted to stop seeing it.
He was dead but alive.
He drowned. Or should have drowned. Only he didn’t. He remembers being under the water. Remembered feeling his lungs burn and ache. He remembered changing. Remembered the feel of scales and fins and webbing between fingers. Remembered the sensations of breathing in water.
He remembered.
No one else did.
The school had demanded he come to the hospital, only he was fine. He was fine.
Or, well, as fine as someone who was half dead could be.
He did not like this. He wanted away from here- but leaving now? That would worry Jazz.
His eyes closed and he bit back a low whining chirp, feeling something deep in his chest unfurl and reach out and finding nothing out there to reach for.
“Hey Danny.”
Danny looked at his sister and swore that she was there-not-there. She seemed to glitch in front of his eyes, a play of there and then not there only to flicker back as if it was never gone, and he bit back a low whine, shaking his head. He had to be hallucinating- an after effect of whatever had happened to him “I just want to go home.”
“They want mom or dad to pick you up.” Jazz answered and Danny sighed.
“Where are they this time?” the teen looked away from her, not able to handle how she seemed to fade in and out like a static filled image on a tv.
“Not here.” Jazz answered him. “Which is why we are leaving without waiting for them.”
“Not scared I will drop dead again?” Danny asked.
“Nope.” Jazz answered. “What the hell happened, anyway? You were visiting the aquarium.” she asked, even as she pulled him off of the bed, wrapping an arm around him.
“Fucking Dash.” Danny grimaced. “He threw me in the orca pool.”
“I thought they lost their last orca last year.” Jazz blinked, helping him into fresh clothes.
“They did.” Danny grimaced. “Unfortunately orcas are filled with enough spite and rage and loneliness.” Danny blinked back tears as he remembered the orcas total and complete loneliness. How sad she had felt. How grief stricken.
“Oh. Oh no.” Jazz looked horrified as she helped him into a hoodie, pulling the hood over his head.
“If I wasn’t me, I would have died, Jazz.” Danny bit out. “I was unconscious when I hit the water. It must have been something…” he flicked his hand out. “You know what I mean.”
“You are being paranoid, Danny.” Jazz hugged him. “The GIW aren’t here. The ghosts have been quiet. There’s nothing going on that shouldn’t be happening. Amity Park is safe. There is nothing to worry about. Amity Park is a great place to live.” Her voice seemed almost forced, and it made Danny grimace.
“Yeah, so great you left as soon as you could.” Danny snapped at her. He automatically felt bad. Jazz just didn’t understand- hell, she wasn’t here most of the time. It was only that she was home from college that she was even here.
She had only been gone eight months, but she hadn’t been here for it all. The other ghosts had, for the most part, stopped coming and fighting with him. Well- they still came through. They still wanted to fight him- it was just so much less aggressive feeling. Or less confusing for him, at least.
The closer he got to turning eighteen, the more they backed off besides friendly sparring.
“Oh Danny.” Jazz’s voice was soft. “Let's get you home.”
---
Danny stood at the edge of the water, ignoring the flicker of something other at the corner of his eyes. Sometimes it was older him, whispering to him to wake up. Talking to him. Telling him to run, or hide. Telling him he was going to save him. It wasn’t always Him, however. Oftentimes it was like today, the flicker of an oversized eyeball watching him. Only ever one.
It made him feel anxious and paranoid. It creeped him out and made Danny want to fight and claw at the eye. Internally he named them the observers.
No one else could see them.
It had been a week since he had changed in the water. He didn’t think it was specifically a ghost power. It felt different. He felt different.
He had felt like something inside of him had torn apart or shattered, leaving him free to change. He had been far too panicked however to actually look at what that change was.
Which was why he was here alone.
Sure he could have brought Sam or Tuck- only they were off with each other. They were always off with each other, which was expected since they were dating- but even if they weren’t? Something was screaming at him to keep it quiet.
To not say anything.
To not speak of what he looked like now. Of what he could do.
Which was why he was here standing on the shore of Lake Eerie. It was the only place he could think of that people didn’t often come by- at least, not in winter.
Danny stared at the water before grimacing and starting to strip, shoving his clothes into his backpack and tucking the backpack and putting it all under the bushes.
At least the eye was gone now. He didn’t have to worry about his hallucination watching him. At least, he hoped it was a hallucination.
If it wasn’t he was in trouble.
People glitching out, eyes watching him and the older-not-him that he kept seeing in reflective surfaces.
If he wasn’t hallucinating, there was something so much bigger than him going on.
Get in the water, pipsqueek
Yeah, not-him was back. Danny flicked his eyes at him, seeing the heavy metal collar and the back scales and white hair reflected on the water. Always reflected. Never real.
Maybe he should listen to Not-Him.. He stepped forward, swearing at the cold of the water and ignoring the soft, echoing laughter.
All the way, kid.
Danny grimaced before taking the other not-him’s words as advice and dunked straight into the water.
It was as freezing as he thought it would be, and even though he could manipulate ice to some degree- it did not mean he didn’t feel it- he just didn’t end up reacting as badly.
He was submerged, however, and looked at his arms. It was a very different transformation then when he went ghost. He had scales all over his body, and made a soft clicking sound as he looked over himself. Those scales that, in the lower light under the water glimmered softly, for all that they were black. His hands were different, finger tips clawed and the hint of webbing between them. It was his lower body that threw him. A part of him was expecting fins and a tail. He did not have fins- instead he had tentacles. Not tentacles how he would expect an octopus would. His we’re scaled with the same black scales on the outside, the inner part softer and able to grip with suction cups. Which were annoying to try and gain control of them. Moving was easy and instinctual- so long as he didn’t think about it. As soon as he tried to control his extra limbs, he would have more than one mover or he would end up stuck and have to wait until he relaxed enough to have his suckers released from whatever it was that they connected to.
A random stone? Not so bad. Himself? Annoying. Getting stuck to a slab of rock on the bottom of the lake? Really frustrating.
He could still hear not-him laughing at him and snarled back as he got angry, blinking frantically as his body lit up with luminescent green markings like constellations across his scales and tentacles- with the exception of his arm that still held the faint scarring from his electrocution. That scarring lit up just like the constellations across his body.
Constellations and swirls and marks that corresponded with every single injury he had ever taken from the entirety of his life.
He made a small warbling sound that ended with a chirp and felt like he could. Not. Breathe.
This was wrong. Different. Wrong. He could handle being a ghost. Had panicked and flailed around learning his powers.
This was so very different. Wrong. Right feeling but very wrong.
Breathe, Danny
The voice was back, and Danny whined softly, panicked, trying to figure out how to breathe under water when everything screamed at him that he was drowning.
Breathe in. You won’t drown. You are merrow. You cannot drown a merrow.”
Danny breathed in quickly, blurting out, speaking back to the voice. “What the fuck is a merrow?”
There was a sound much like an exhale, and he wiggled around with his tentacles, trying to find out where it was coming from.
You can’t see me, little idiot.
Danny scowled with a low warbling sound, frowning as his voice did not do what he wanted it to.
Merrow are mermaids and sirens and other affiliated creatures here.
Danny gaver a small trill, curiosity taking over the fear he had been overwhelmed with. “Here?” he asked, “That implies there is somewhere else.”
Yes.
“You aren’t going to tell me, are you?” Danny asked him, getting a sound that wasn’t laughter but felt like it.
“Of course not.” Danny scoffed, moving along and getting his tentacles to actually work together and crawl, more than swim. He focussed on getting one tentacle and one only to try and pick up a stone, face frowning.
Isn’t safe the voice answered, the sound of overlapping voices washing over his speech.
---
“You are a weapon.” The voice of one of the trainers had Dan raising his lips in a rumbling snarl, looking away from the psychic interface device that was used to interact with the sleepers. That he was using to interact with his brother who had, from the time they were bought here, been hooked up in a tank used to keep him alive and build muscle and reflexes. If it weren’t infants and children locked away in them, forced to learn to fight, forced to form pseudo bonds with things that were not real, it would be an ideal way of painlessly and quickly training people. Instead it was all lies. False families and memories. False lives. It was a cruelty, especially when they woke them up and they had to grieve them.
He had been a Sleeper once- but before that he remembered. He remembered home, their family, and his baby brother. He had fought about every single part of the program, had known that it was false.
“Don’t be like that. Your brother is lucky.” that same trainer huffed “He, like the others we received as infants, only knows what we have taught them.”
“Brainwashing them.” Dan rubles softly, flinching away slightly as he heard the sound of the shock stick clicking as it is primed.
“You are our weapons.” The Trainer reiterated. “You are not to think, you are only to obey. You are going to be used to fight our wars for us. After keeping all of you alive it is what you owe us.”
Dan made a low clicking sound, deep in his throat, dark scales rippling across his body. “You took us. We shouldn’t owe you anything.”
One day, Dan would remember that talking back to the trainers would only bring pain. Today was not that day.
At least, after hitting him with the shock sticks, they dumped him in his tank. Unlike his baby brothers and all the other Sleepers, his was large enough for him to swim in- if barely. He breathed in, taking in the slight chemical tang of the treated water and grimaced. He hated how they treated them, hated that he and Danny it wasn’t his name, it was just what they called him were held captive, and had been since Denebanny was eighteen months old. His tentacles anchored him to a corner as he worked to flick his fingers out and shake the numbness and tingling out.
He despised them.
His eyes followed the Trainers as they stood in front of his tank, the webbing around his ears twitching and moving to catch all sound from the ones outside.
They didn’t know he could hear them.
“I think it's time we introduce subject P426866 to the alternate timeline.” The first trainer commented.
“We do that and he may never work with P972484.” The second trainer warned, and Dan very carefully did not show he was listening.
“If P426866 is anything like P972484 then he will be just as effective on his own.” the first trainer answered. “Did you hear?” he asked suddenly. “They have a viable offspring from P972484. She is being placed into a pod for a few months before she will be placed into a time dilation field to age her much quicker.”
“Perhaps not electrocution again to force an inheritance.” The second trainer's voice was dry. “We have zero idea on what side effects that P426866 dying is having on his mind. Especially since he did not Inherit how we thought.”
“It was to harness his gifts in order to only give the creature what we wanted him to have.” Trainer one spat out, looking disgruntled. “It worked. He has no other side effects other than what he has called his ghost gifts.”
“The boss was hoping he would Inherit Merrow, not air heavy. What was an air infant doing there?” Two asked. “Stupid creatures have messed up our project. This is why I prefer the infants from the breeding programs and not wild caught.”
“With how P972484 claims him as kin? As his brother.” One sneered “You would think that with how close they look they would at least be the same species. Unfortunately you know what those creatures are like with their multiple partners. They likely don’t know who the brats parents are.”
Dan blinked his eyes as he listened, and as they started to talk more about day to day life over their plans. The one thing that he was certain of was this- he would get his brother- and his daughter- out of here, sooner rather than later.
---
Danny hurt. His whole body throbbed.
He was evil. Would be evil. Could be evil.
He had beaten him though.
Beaten himself.
No, not himself.
Beaten Dan.
He had split off from his family, from his friends. From everyone. Pulled himself away from them and hidden himself away in the one place that he knew that he would not be looked for. He did it so he could grieve and mourn and so when he resurfaced he could pretend nothing was wrong. He was safe here.
The bottom of Lake Eerie was safe
He didn’t have tentacles this time, which, if Danny had to be honest, he sort of missed. Instead he had a sleek tail which was more like a sea snake than any other fish. His skin was still covered in black scales, with every scar, even the spattering of new ones from the battle with himself, glowing ectoplasm green.
“Voice?” he asked softly. “Are you there?”
Silence met his voice, and he finally broke. It was too much. It was all too much. Ever since the accident ever since he died Danny had felt like his life was not real. That everything was a lie. He didn’t want to believe it was true but everything felt wrong.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had an interaction with his friends without them glitching in front of him, like they weren’t real.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore.” Danny sobbed out.
Never alone the voice was back, if sounding small and echoing, like he was struggling to make the connection.
Danny gave a hiccupping sob. “What’s happening to me?” It was more than a question. It was his confusion and distress and fear given voice.
I told you the voice seemed to cut in and out. You are Merrow.
“Not that.” Danny’s voice cracked with the strain. “Everything else.” Danny exhaled sharply “I always- I always had moments when people didn’t feel real. Like it is all a game, and I’m the unwitting person playing it. That everyone around me is an NPC.”
You aren’t wrong the voice finally answered after a brief moment of quiet.
Danny choked on a sob. “Maybe I’m sick. Sick in the head.” he shook said head, refusing to accept what the voice was saying. “Maybe you are a hallucination.”
There will come a time the voice said That you will be faced with the truth. Remember to feel it. Feel the truth
“What truth?” Danny demanded.
That nothing is real and everything you know is a lie.
The pressure and presence that let Danny know that he was not alone was gone and he wiggled around with his skinny, snake like tail. He gave a snarling hiss before grumbling at himself. If the voice wasn’t a hallucination, then he was an asshole.
If he was a hallucination- he was still an asshole.
---
Dan snarled through the glass at the smug looking trainer, lashing out with a heavily clawed hand. He eyed the visitor with suspicion as he stared in at him.
“He does not look like much.” the visitor eyed him and Dan bared his teeth once more before twisting and settling in the furthest corner, ear fins pinned back against his head.
“He seems a lot more willing to think for himself than the drones.” the visitor continued.
“He was much older when we put him in and much more able to tell that the family unit he was inserted into was false.” Trainer one answered. “It took multiple attempts for him to accept it was real- and even then I am uncertain if it is something that can be forced upon another mind. He chose to accept the scenario eventually.”
“I can’t believe that it worked.” the visitor in white looked interested and it made Dan bristle, sharp spines down his arms and back lifting from where they were flat against his skin.
“Oh, he is a delight.” The visitor smirked. “Makes me wish I could have one of my own.”
“There is a group ready for resale. We can write in loyalty and ensure that they are willing to do anything that you wish.” Trainer One offered.
“What about his sibling?” The visitor asked.
“Ah. He is an anomaly. He will be quite a few years off yet.” Trainer one clicked his tongue.
“An anomaly?” The visitor asked.
“Correct.” Trainer one answered. “We have been unable to push him into a complete Inheritance. Even stopping his heart was not enough to do it.”
“So you have zero idea on what species he is, or what his elemental alignment is.” The visitor mused. “Are you able to get samples for me?”
Trainer one straightened “That is something that we can do, yes.”
Dan settled into the darkest corner of his tank, glaring as he watched them take samples from his baby brother. His gaze shifted to the too small form being carried in- an infant form- and he made a low sound of distress as he took in the same-similar features as she was placed into a pod, body scaling up as soon as her face was covered in the goopy liquid.
At least he could see them both.
He could watch them while they slept.
He would get them out. Would get them to sanctuary.
He would keep them safe.
He did not have a choice.
It was getting harder and harder to talk to Danny. Harder to reach out through their sibling bond and into his mind and pass on messages.
Inside the pods, inside the dreams that were made up for them, they experienced and grew and lived. Their bodies built muscle, for all that they were uncoordinated until they were used to moving.
He was well aware that he would have both an infant and his brother fresh out of the pods and uncoordinated. That they would struggle but he did not have a choice.
They had no choice. There was a narrow window in which he could get them out. He was going to have to wait until the night shift. They did not have a choice- he had to get them out- and at night the trainers would be gone.
---
He could hear crying. Danny could hear crying, and it permeated through his nights and his days. He didn’t hear the voice any more, just the constant, plaintive, crying.
The only time it eased was when he was in the water- so he had started to spend a lot of time there. Honestly, he thought it only stopped when he was in the water because he would sing.
It was better in the water, with his snake-like tail or multitude of tentacles. He felt real in the water.
With how everyone seemed to glitch around him, he had started to wonder- were they not real- or was he the not real one? It had only gotten worse when Future-Him came. When he killed them all, only for the past to be remade. For his future to be given back. A future.
The crying had started up soon afterwards.
The baby.
Its cries were shrill and desperate and made him want to find it. To comfort it.
He settled deep into the water, humming a soft lullaby to the baby. Whoever it was, they felt real.
Realer than he was.
Danny
Danny’s voice swivelled and he made a small chirring whine of distress. The voice. His mystery voice. It sounded like Him. Like the Him from the future.
“You killed them.” he whimpered softly.
Smarter than that
The voice practically rumbled and Danny gave a shy little chirring sound of interest. “Was you”
It was a trick. It was lies.
The voice was firm enough, felt true enough that Danny trilled back at it. “Cruel trick. Why?” he asked him, unable to form full sentences with how his mind drowned in grief and anger and betrayal.
To control us.
Danny snarled low under his breath at those words. “Who?” he demanded.
Loathe-despised ones. Child stealers.
Danny tilted his head and hummed a soft song as the crying started up again. “Can you hear them?”
I can
The voice softened slightly. I need you to wake up, Danny
“It’s not real, is it?” Danny asked him, feeling like his very soul was stripped bare. He inhaled sharply in the water. “How do I wake up from this?”
Do you remember how it feels when you catch glimpses of them? Of me?
“Like when everyone goes to static and is not real?” Danny asked.
Exactly like that. the voice sounded proud and Danny beamed.
“You’ll be there, right?” Danny asked him.
I’m right in front of you
So Danny reached with his mind, felt that way of looking at things and twisted it to the side, mentally found his way to push his mind from the sleeping state to one bordering on awake- aware but not quite.
Keep coming, Danny. Almost there.
Danny felt something shift in himself and opened his eyes.
He panicked at the too close feel of the container that he was in. He was in a goop like liquid that seemed to hold a green tint. He clawed against the container, a whistling trill of panic breaking out as he pushed out, trying to go through it with his intangibility.
It. Wasn’t. There.
He whined softly, deep in his throat, panicking now that he could truly feel how things actually felt. He wasn’t- what was happening to him?
The top of the pod opened, and he forced his way out, stumbling and falling to his knees as he looked around the too well lit room. He couldn’t stop the small, soft, whines of distress and panic as he looked around, squinting against the light.
“Breathe, Danny. You can breathe. It hurts, I know this, little brother.”
It was the voice. Danny shifted, tilting his head, his eyes squinted shut.
“I know. It hurts. I need you to suck it up though. I need you to get up.” The Voice pushed.
Danny offered a small, non verbal grumble, struggling to get back to his feet, one hand leaning back to support himself against the wall.
He tried to speak, at first the soft whistles and clicks before finally getting a word out through vocal cords that felt like they had been unused for years. “Who.” Danny swallowed hard, feeling like he needed to drink, for all that he had just fallen out of the rapidly absorbed slime like goop he had been in.
“They call me Dan.” the voice answered.
“Is it.” Danny swallowed hard with a small whine. “Name.”
Dan sighed. “It's not the name my parents gave me, but it is what they call me.”
Danny hummed softly, blinking his eyes open, his voice still rough as he made himself talk. “You should” he grumbled softly.
“Should what?” the Voice- Dan answered and Danny blinked at him finally taking him in.
He looked like him, or like he would with an extra ten years, and if he was cuddling a tiny baby to his chest. The metal of a collar, blinking lights, caught his eye, and he hummed softly. “Take it back.” Danny took a shaky breath “Take your name back.”
“Maybe I will.” the sound of voices hit outside the doorway and Dan swore, reaching out and grabbing Danny.
Danny stiffened, fighting not to lash out at him, going back to whining over speaking.
“I need you to trust me. I’m getting you out of here before we end up dead.” Dan snarled towards the door, towards the voices.
“Don’t know you.” Danny shifted to look towards the door, seeing the flash of red hair in the door way. He tilled, seeing the face. Seeing Jazz- and warbling in distress.
“Fuck.” Dan grabbed him. “Hold tight and don’t panic.”
Danny twisted to see the person- see Jazz, only older, with an anger and rage that he never recognised.
“Don’t look. It’s not her Dan tugged him closer, even as shadows swarmed them and pulled them in.
Danny inhaled sharply, feeling the shadows swarm-feeling them tug and pull at him for attention, worse than any ghost from when he was in the pod. He didn’t know what was happening. Dan who was not evil him, but a brother? He had a brother?
His sister wasn’t his sister.
And the shadows were greedy and were pulling at him, whispering at him. He could feel them feel something darker, something that seemed to pull at every bit of light that they passed through.
They were moving- he could feel that. He knew they weren’t wherever they were. They were heading somewhere else.
He had to trust.
Even when the shadows were greedy. The shadows were hungry.
Tearing at him.
One large thing- he couldn’t say it was a shadow- it was too large. Too hungry. It grabbed him, latching on tightly and yanking him away.
Danny writhed, feeling the too heavy almost wet feel of being swallowed by the not-shadow that tore him away from them and he screamed, the shadow wrapping over him to keep him quiet.
And he fell, body shifting between legs to tentacles to a snake-like tail and back again as he tried to escape the clinging, hungry shadow.
As he tore himself away and fell, drowning amongst the stars.
Until he reached with a power he didn’t know, reaching for safety.
So he could stop falling.
Danny reached and reached and felt something reach back, felt that something bigger then him wrap him up in stars and left him, gasping and shaking somewhere else.
Somewhere other.
His limbs, all ten of them, twitched as he whined softly, blearily looking around, not able to figure out where he was. Hurting because the landing was rough and he was in his tentacled form but not in water.
He could hear voices. He knew there were people around.
People he didn’t know.
He didn’t know where he was.
He didn’t know where he was.
Hopefully somewhere safe.
—-
Dan snarled viciously as he curled around his infant daughter. His child. His.
He lost him. Lost his little brother.
“We aren’t going to harm you.”
The voice was calm and Dan rumbled softly at her.
“Well. Not unless you make us.”
Dan grumbled more, nuzzling the sleeping baby. His baby. He swallowed around growls, forcing words out. “Requesting sanctuary.” He finally bit out. “It- something grabbed him. It should be three but something took him. It stole my little brother from my shadows. He should have been safe.”
“Scout.” The woman’s voice cut in. “Backtrack and hunt. Info-gather only.”
The second woman he had missed nodded sharply and faded back into the shadows. “Now, let’s figure out where we are putting you.”
“You don’t touch her.” Dan rumbled, fangs baring as he half curled over his daughter.
“What are your names?” The woman asked.
He looked down at his daughter, shaking his head, the mechanical collar shifting against his throat. “She doesn’t have one.” he admitted, before lifting his head. “They tried to take my name.” he nuzzled his daughter's head before breathing in her baby scent. “My parents named me Caliban.”