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Note: This story is based in @wastefulreverie 's Clones Wes Weston au. The original oneshot is here. And my post about the Au, which includes many of the headcanons I used in this story, is here. I recommend checking both links before reading this. Anyway Happy reading!
Wes Weston just knew he was cursed. He was a clone, a clone with some minor genetic alterations, but still definitely a clone of one half ghost Danny Fenton-Phantom. Danny freaking Fenton, his arc rival at school, the kid who just loved to mess with him…. And he was the hero of Amity Park (even if no one else knew it). And that was just it. Not only was Wes a clone, he was fully human, with none of the powers he should have inherited as Danny’s clone. His life was over- no more family, no more friends, no more school, no more basketball or photography. Not that he'd even had much of a life before, apparently. Everything before Amity Park was a fabrication and everything after was ruled by his subliminal instructions to follow and record information on Danny. So he’d never really had those things anyway, especially not a family since his ‘father’ Walter Weston was just someone Vlad Masters paid to watch him.
But now both he and Danny knew the truth. And to Wes's pleasant surprise, Danny had handled it well. He had bought Wes a bus ticket and a prepaid phone; he had kept up with Wes as he promised and had given him information to lead him to Danny’s other...clone, Danielle. And while he had been wary of Danielle (who preferred to be called Elle now) at first, after several months of running and hiding from both CPS and Vlad’s goons and surviving on the street together, Wes thought she was pretty cool. Well she was still a little annoying but if he had to be living on the streets with someone, he could be struck with a worse person.
Though having powers would still be so nice.
Wes and Elle were hiding out in the park in some random city around sunset. Wes frowned as Elle curled in on herself. She looked horrible; her eyes red, her nose running, her body shivering. She sneezed and Wes gently put his hand on her back. “Hey, are you okay?”
She nodded but Wes obviously knew she wasn’t okay. He turned to their one bag, hoping they still had some saved up food. He frowned when he found it empty. When Elle noticed what he was doing, she struggled to sit up. “We’re out?”
He waved her off. “No it’s fine.” But then his stomach growled.
He blushed and she rolled her eyes. “I’ll go get us something to eat.”
She sat up the rest of the way and tried to transform but fell over before the rings could spread. Wes put his hands on her shoulders. “No. You need to rest. You’re sick and exhausted. We’ll go in the morning after you get some sleep. You’ll feel up to it then.”
Elle nodded and then leaned into Wes to hug him. As Wes returned the hug, he wished not for the first time that he had ghost powers too. He hated having to depend on Elle’s powers to get food or escape from pursuers. It put an unfair strain on her, having to use her powers to constantly turn both of them invisible and intangible. And Wes hated feeling like he was burdening her. If he had his own powers, it would be so much better. If he could turn invisible and fly like Danny and Elle, getting food right now would be so easy. He could sneak in a restaurant or store and swipe something to eat without getting caught. He hated the thought of stealing something; heck Elle and he made a point of only dumpster diving or taking things that were getting ready to be thrown away. But Wes would steal if he had. But that wasn’t an option for him and he couldn’t leave her alone, not when there was a high chance of him getting caught it he tried to steal food.
After Elle laid down to sleep, Wes laid down close to her, trying to keep her warm with his body heat. Hopefully by the morning, she would feel better.
It was official. Him not having powers was definitely a curse. Wes panted as he ran around a corner. He needed to lose him.
That morning Elle had felt a little better. She insisted on using her powers to get them some food from a large grocery store but unfortunately her powers had failed as Wes tried to help her sneak out. The pair had been spotted and bolted two nearby police officers in pursuit. The two had gotten separated as they ran different directions after dodging cars passing the street.
Wes glanced back to see the officer still in pursuit. He turned down an alley….. And cursed himself when he saw it was blocked off. Heart racing, he darted behind a dumpster, praying to whoever would listen that the officer would run past the alley. He could not be caught. That would lead to getting back in the system, to Vlad finding him, to Vlad killing him. His head whirled with panic and his heart stopped when he heard heavy footsteps. The officer swiped the alley. Wes’s hands shook as he desperately hoped the man would not look behind the dumpster. Damnit! If he and Elle hadn’t gotten separated, this would not be a problem. NO. If he had the freaking ghost powers he was supposed to, he could just turn invisible and the officer would never see him!
Just then the officer’s head whipped behind the dumpster and he just stared at Wes. The boy held his breath as the man’s facial expression didn’t change at all, giving no indication that he saw Wes. The man then turned around and walked out of the alley, muttering in confusion about how the dumb kid got away.
Wes exhaled. How the heck did the officer not see him? Then he finally looked down at himself. But he wasn’t there. He stared where he knew his hands were supposed to be but there was just air. No, not just air but there was a shimmering where his hand was supposed to me. If he really looked like he could see the outline. His eyes widened comically as his mind struggled to process. It...it was just like when Elle turned him invisible. He turned around, trying to see if she maybe caught up with him and hide him from the officer. But it was in vain, he couldn’t see her outline or feel her hand on his arm.
She wasn’t there.
As he stared at his invisible hands, something cold unclinched in his chest. His hands turned visible again and then in the blink of an eye, the shimmering invisibility returned with a lurch in his chest. His eyes widened, this time in panic. His slide down the wall, taking a seat on the dirty ground under the heavy weight of his emotions. His visibility flashed off and on like a light bulb for a few seconds as he stared at his hands.
And then it stopped. The flashing invisibility, the tightness in his chest, the coldness. He clinched and unclinched his hands. That….that had been real. And Elle didn’t do that. Somehow he had. He had turned himself invisible so the officer didn’t see him.
His jaw dropped in disbelief. He had actually escaped the officer. He had turned invisible, using his...powers. His ghost powers. He had ghost powers! Wes’s hands were still shaking somewhat as the adrenaline wore off. He exhaled; he was safe. He needed to find Elle and they would figure this out.
He tentatively smiled. Maybe this was a good thing. He apparently had powers like he was supposed to. He would figure out how to use them and would actually be able to help Elle now, not drag her down.
Maybe he wasn’t cursed.
After he found Elle (she luckily had avoid capture too), both of them were relieved the other was okay and both were confused over Wes’s powers. How did he ever have powers? Vlad had said he was fully human, right? But Vlad of course could have been lying or even mistaken. And why did they trigger now of all time? What even triggered them in the first place? Wes shook his head. Those questions didn’t matter right now. He had an upper hand and was going to use it.
And for about a week, Wes thought he was really lucky. Elle showed him how to turn invisible and intangible. They quickly found out he couldn’t float or form ectoblasts but it was so much better than nothing. Wes practiced over and over again and pretty soon was sneaking in and out of buildings with his own powers.
Wes sat on the floor of the abandoned house at the edge of town that Elle and he were hiding out in. He smiled to himself proudly while eating from a can of baked beans; he’d managed to smuggle that and several other dented unopened cans from a dumpster behind a grocery store by himself.
Then suddenly his hand flickered intangible, the can of beans falling through it and onto the floor. His solidity returned and he stared down at his hand, frowning. That was the tenth time today at least. Elle had said that having power slippage and malfunction was normal when first starting out. But Wes swore that this was happening more frequently and closer together. He rubbed his chest. And the cold tightness that he had felt when he first got his powers had returned, settling into a dull ache.
Elle entered the room, frowning in concern when she saw him rubbing his chest. “You feeling okay Wes?”
He nodded. “Yeah. My chest is just a little sore. I probably overdid it. I’ll be fine in the morning.”
Elle’s brow rose skeptically. “If you say so.” Her expression then softened. “We should get some sleep.”
Wes nodded and laid down with Elle beside him. He rubbed his chest again. He’d feel better in the morning, definitely...probably...maybe.
He did not feel better in the morning. By the time, Wes woke up the ache had intensified into a slight cramp. He sat up, body flashing invisible and visible in rapid succession as his chest clinched and unclinched in time. He frowned, trying to rub the feeling away.
Then Elle yawned and stretched, drawing Wes’s attention away from his discomfort. She sat up and smiled at him, obviously not noticing his frown. “Good morning.”
He smiled back, ignoring his cramped chest. “Good morning, to you too. You want some breakfast?”
She nodded and Wes opened a can of mixed fruit. The two dug in.
The rest of the day was spent relaxing, reading, and resting, though the two were still careful to watch out for any intruders. Wes also turned down Elle’s offer to practice with him, hoping relaxing his powers would help his chest stop hurting. Despite that the power slippage still happened and more often than the day before.
Elle frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Wes nodded, stubbornly. “I’m fine.”
Elle opened her mouth to argue but was stopped when a light blue mist exited her mouth. Her eyes widened in surprise. Then her face took on a serious expression as she transformed. “Probably one of Vlad’s goons. You hide, I’ll deal with it.”
Before Wes even had a chance to stand, a pack of ghostly animals- bears, wolves, moose, deer, and smaller birds and rodent- crashed through the windows. Elle’s fists ignited with ectoenergy and she flew at one of the snarling wolves. “Wes! Run!”
With barely a thought, Wes was up and running. He instinctively flickered intangible and barreled through the door and into the surrounding trees. He ran straight through the trees, using intangibility to dodge branches and flickering with invisibility. After about five minutes he stopped, noticing nothing was following him. His chest ached and his body continued to flicker with invisible and intangible as if it couldn’t decide what form to take. With his heart pounding, he fought to return to normal. He doubled over with pain but squinted his eyes, fighting for control. Then the cold ache lessened a little as he stopped flickering.
Wes then finally looked up, noticing the house was not were in sight. And he’d just left Elle to fight off those beasts alone! His eyes widened in panic. How could he do that?! He had no idea if she was okay. O god she could get captured.
A crash and a scream rickashayed through the forest and We bolted. “Elle!”
Following the noise, he failed to notice when he started flickering intangible and invisible again. He sailed through a tree and into a clearing and then froze in shock. A robotic ghost (Skulker his mind supplied) had captured Elle in a ghost-proof net and hoisted her over his shoulder.
Skulker turned, hearing Wes slam to a stop. “And it’s the other welp. Good.”
Elle gasped. “No! Wes! Run!”
Wes balled his fists, fury igniting at seeing the half ghost captured. “Let her go!”
The ghost smirked. “She is my prize, won fairly. Now... that just leaves you!”
Skulker aimed his arm at Wes and shot a neon green blast in his direction. The boy dodged rather gracefully (hey he had practice from getting in the middle of Danny’s ghost fights while following him around). He growled in annoyance and then winched when his body flickered invisible again.
Skulker paused. “But...you are powerless. Just a human welp.”
Wes bared his teeth at the statement. He was never powerless! He had spent most of his life as a seemingly ordinary human and had not been powerless then. And he was definitely not powerless now. He felt his eyes burn with something, but not tears.
Elle squirmed and pounded at Skulker’s back. “Leave him alone!”
Skulker growled in anger and dropped her like a sack of potatoes. “Be quiet!” And then he kicked her.
At that Wes had had enough. He felt anger burn through his veins. His chest tightened again as cold energy rushed down his arms and into his hands. His eyes widened at they lit green and then in the blink of an eye, Wes shot Skulker with neon green ecto energy, the same color as Danny and Elle’s. Skulker crashed into a tree, his head flying off. The tiny green blob inside yelled out in defeat.
Wes shouted in excitement but he didn’t get time to celebrate because he collapsed on the ground. His chest tightened again but it was 100 times worse than any previous time. He felt his body flickering again as his vision blurred in pain. Elle shouted at him but he couldn’t make out the words.
Gasping for breath through the pain, he rolled on to his side, barely registering two flashes of light, the second of which silencing Skulker’s tiny voice.
He blinked and Elle was beside him, her hand on his shoulder. He curled in on himself. It was so cold! And it hurt! Oh God! It hurt so much. Elle’s words came to him, but it sounded like he was underwater. “Wes! Breathe! Try to relax! Stop flickering!”
He struggled to stop the flickering, mentally prodding his chest but the clinching only intensified. He cried out, tears starting to run down his face.
Her hands touched his shoulder again. More far away, watery words. It felt like an excruciating leg cramp. But it was in his chest! And it wouldn’t go away. Why wouldn’t it go away?
Elle was still beside him but she was talking to someone...on the phone? Her words were going in and out as Wes struggled to focus. “Pl...Dan..y...powers...ghost..powe...wes...flic….hurt.. what if....destabilize…. What..do...please...help!”
Was...was she crying to?
Wes could hear another voice through the phone. “I’m coming.”
Then he blacked out.
Flashes of images and sounds swam through his pain hazed mind.
The wind blowing the grass, a metallic craft, a boy with white hair frowning at him.
Now someone was picking him up. No. it’s the white haired boy….Fen..?Phan….? No it’s Danny.
A male voice. “It’ll be okay Wes, we’ll figure this out.”
Movement. He’s in a car? No a plane? The black haired, blue eyed girl was holding his hand.
The boy and girl are talking quietly ...about him? He flickered, cold flaring.
He passed out again.
Then a jolting stop. Two figures… in orange and blue ran towards the door with green and silver scary sticks.
The white haired boy stopped in front of them. The white rings and his hair was black. What was he doing? Why? Danny no.
The pair dropped the weapons, stared. The red haired girl rushed between the pair and Danny. “We can talk about this later! You need to help Wes!”
The boy turned around. He was holding Wes again. He put Wes on something hard.
The black haired boy and the red haired girl talked to the pair. Wes’s chest flared again and he flickered. The pair gasped. The red-hair girl waves her arms and yelled.
A pinch in his arm. He’s so sleepy.
Then it was black.
Wes slowly awoke sometime later. And...he wasn’t in pain? He shot up and hands were on his shoulders. “Calm down, sweetie. You’re okay.”
He shook his head, struggling to focus on the face in front of him. It was...Mrs. Fenton?
Panicking, he looked down. He was on a bed. He hadn't slept on a bed in so long. His eyes flickered back to Mrs. Fenton and he struggled at ask through panicked breath. “What… where?”
Her grip on his shoulders tightened comfortingly and she smiled. “You’re at Fentonworks.” Her hands moved away and she ran her fingers through her hair. “Danny and Jazz told us everything. About Danny being Phantom. About Vlad. About Elle and...you.”
Her eyes filled with sadness and compassion as she leaned forward and threw her arms around Wes, who stiffed not knowing what to do. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. If Jack and I had known…” She trailed off, arms tightening.” But that doesn't matter now. You and Elle are here, now. And we’re going to make sure you’re okay.”
Wes opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say. His eyes focused on Mrs. Fenton’s hair- red, the same shade as his. Despite himself, he returned her hug.
Mrs. Fenton pulled back, a few tears in her eyes. Wes studied her face and tentatively asked. “So..you know about how Danny and I are...related. And about my powers.”
She nodded. “Danny told us. And we saw when we interrupted Danny trying to get you to the ghost zone.” She bit her lip. “We gave you a sedative, so you wouldn’t be in pain while we figured out what was wrong. And Jack and I gave you a compound to suppress your powers a few hours ago.”
Wes’s eyes widened as he started rubbing his chest. The cold in his chest and the tightness were gone. His shoulders slumped and he felt tears prickling. That...that wasn’t fair. Just when he thought he was getting powers like he was supposed to, they get taken away. Maybe he really was cursed.
Mrs. Fenton eyed where Wes was rubbing his chest and she gently grabbed his arm. “I promise, it’s not permanent.”
Wes looked up, mouth forming an O.” What?”
Mrs. Fenton nodded. “It’s just until we can figure out how to stabilize your powers.”
His eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yes Wes.” She rubbed her hands across the back of his, smiling. “Now get dressed. There’s some spare clothes in the dresser. And then come down for lunch. I’m sure you’re hungry.”
Wes smiled at her. “Yeah I am.” She stood up to walk out and Wes stammered. “Thank you.”
Mrs. Fenton nodded. “Of course sweetie.”
After getting dressed, Wes quickly went down to eat, finding Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, Jazz, Danny, and Elle already at the table. Lunch was understandably awkwardly silent. With the Fenton parents just finding out about Danny being half ghost and meeting his two….clones (Wes still hated that word), it was understandable they had no idea what to say.
And it was even more awkward for Wes, who had met them before, when he lived in Amity Park as Wes Weston. Back then, he was just the weird conspiracy theorist kid who thought Danny was Phantom (And he was right, damnit! And now they knew it!). Now he was Wes...just Wes since he definitely was not a Weston, not anymore.
Jazz gave him a comforting smile. He knew her the best from before and actually thought she was pretty cool. She tutored him in math and he definitely wouldn’t have passed without her help. She would also follow him, trying to keep him out of trouble when he followed Danny. And while that was annoying, she was a good conversationalist. And a good listener when he needed to rant about his annoying teammates...or about Walter. His “Father” who was never home and would barely look at him when he was. Wes shook his head. That was behind him, no point in thinking about that.
Wes smiled back at her and turned at Danny when he spoke. “Are you feeling better, Wes?”
The red haired boy shrugged. “Yeah. I think so. Thanks for coming to help me.”
Danny patted him on the back. “No problem.” His smile turned into a grin. “Though you just love causing me problems, don’t you?”
Wes elbowed him, playfully. “It’s not like you don’t do the same to me.”
“That’s true.” Danny’s expression then turned serious. “You really had me worried though.” He looked towards Jazz, his parents, and Elle. “We were all worried.”
Everyone nodded and Mr. Fenton spoke up, sounding more serious than Wes had ever heard him (not that he’d ever heard him outside of ghost safety assembles and ghost hunting). “We were worried. But Maddie and I will figure out how to help you. We promise.”
Wes smiled at the sincerity in Mr. Fenton’s words. He looked at the faces around the table, people who clearly cared about each other… and him somehow. Maybe, just maybe he would be okay.
After about a week of the Fenton parents taking and analyzing blood and hair samples from him and scanning him with their gadgets, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton figured out how to stabilize his powers.
“Your core is ectoplasm starved.” Mrs. Fenton explained.
Wes sat on one of the lab stools. He tilted his head in confusion. “My core?”
Mrs. Fenton nodded and clarified, realizing Wes didn’t know the term. “Yes. A core is like the combined heart and brain of a ghost, or half ghost in your case.”
Wes’s jaw dropped. “Half ghost...I’m...I’m not...I just have some ghost powers. I’m not half ghost.”
Mrs. Fenton narrowed her eyes, disbelieving his reaction. “Of course you are. You’re like Danny and Elle.”
Wes ran his hand through his hair. “But..but how? Vlad said I was fully human. And I thought that maybe he was wrong and I just had a few powers.”
The scientist shook her head, mumbling. “Of course he would tell you that.” Then she gently took his hand, calmly explaining. “You are half ghost… Most of your DNA is identical to Danny’s and while there were some minor genetic changes, your DNA was still taken from his ectoplasm infused DNA.”
Wes bit his nails; he hated thinking about that but wanted to understand. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Mrs. Fenton continued, gently smiling at him. “Danny’s DNA… and yours and Elle’s are infused with ectoplasm at the molecular level. Meaning the organic, human parts can not be separated from the ectoplasmic part without both being destroyed.”
Wes’s eyes widened; he thought he understood. “So...Vlad used Danny’s regular DNA in me because he couldn’t use just the human part without it falling apart. So...I’ve never been fully human.” Wes frowned cutting the thought off; he could have another crisis about that later. “But then...why haven’t I always had powers?”
Mrs. Fenton also frowned, trying to explain delicately. “You weren’t gestated in an ectoplasm rich environment like you should have been, like Elle was.”
Wes swallowed. “By gestated, you mean… grown, like in a lab.” He wrinkled his nose, really not liking thinking about that.
Mrs. Fenton cupped his face with her hands, eyes soft and caring. “Sweetie. That doesn’t matter. I don’t care where you came from, how you came into this world. You are still a person and you matter.”
Wes started to tear up at her affectionate, motherly words. Not knowing what to say he nodded. After a moment of silence, he wiped the tears, continuing the conversation from earlier. “So why does where I was ...gestated have to do with my core?”
“Your core is underdeveloped because it was starved of ectoplasm while it was forming. It’s not strong enough to convert its own ectoplasm- from the environment, from eating and sleeping, from your own emotions. So when your powers activated, you quickly used up any reserves you gained while living in Amity Park, which has a high level of ambient ectoplasm.”
“But then..why did my powers activate?”
“My guess is you became aware that you should have had powers. You knew what they felt like from Elle and so when you tried, in desperation, they worked.”
Wes nodded in understanding. “So then how do we fix this?”
She pulled out a syringe filled with glowing green ectoplasm. “Ectoplasm injects. Jack and I formulated this with ectoplasm and other nutrients to strengthen and develop your core. Danny and Elle will help you train with your powers as well which will strengthen your core too. And after a few weeks, you should be strong enough to transform.”
For the second time that night, Wes’s jaw dropped. “Transform?! As in transform into my ghost form?!” Mrs. Fenton nodded and Wes’s face brightened. “I….I have a ghost form. I thought I would only be about to turn invisible and intangible, maybe make weak ectoblasts!”
Mrs. Fenton nodded again, laughing. "Yes. Sweetie. You will definitely be able to do that, and more.”
The next few weeks were difficult, but rewarding. After the suppression compound wore off and Wes received his first injection, his stomach churned nauseously but his excruciating pain in his chest lessened into a dull ache. He smiled though as the cold feeling returned and he made his hand invisible at Mrs. Fenton’s prompting.
After about a week of injections and practice with Danny and Elle, the ache receded, though his powers still slipped up, which Danny loved to tease him about.
Danny and Wes sat at the kitchen table, Danny working on summer school homework while Wes read. The redhead groaned in annoyance as his book phased through his hand for the fourth time that day.
Danny looked up, chuckling. “Really, Wes again.”
Wes narrowed his eyes, growling at the other boy. “Shut it Fenton.”
Danny raised his arms. “Sorry to step on your toes, West…” He cut himself off before he finished. Then his eyes widened as he realized something. “Oh my god. You’re not...You’re a Fe…”
Wes glared at him. “Don’t say it!”
Danny’s face broke into a shit-eating grin. “Whatever you say, Fenton.”
The other boy glowered again and hit Danny in the back of the head (admittedly a little harder than he meant to.)
“Ow!” Danny rubbed his head with a frown. His voice tinged with annoyance.. “Fine. I won’t joke about that.”
Wes just crossed his arms and looked down pouting while Danny continued to rub his head. After a few moments, Danny coughed and looked over at Wes. “I’m sorry for...bringing that up.”
Wes glanced over. “It’s fine. I shouldn’t have hit you.” His lips turned up. “At least not that hard.”
Danny opened his mouth in mock annoyance and lightly punched Wes on the shoulder. He then closed his mouth, expression turning serious. He took a deep breath, as if summoning his courage to say what he needed to. “Wes...I wouldn’t have said...what I said if I wasn’t okay with it. I...uhhh know you’re not there yet but if you want to be a part of this family, I’m….uhhh definitely cool with it.”
At the end of the statement, Danny blushed and quickly packed his books fleeing to his room. Wes continued to stare after him, mouth open. He had no idea how to process that. His and Danny’s history was definitely complicated. Before they used to really not like each other, being rivals and get on each other’s nerves but after….Danny kept surprising him. He...was a good person, who clearly cared about Elle like Wes himself did. And he’s been willing to help no question asked since the truth came out. And now Wes didn’t know how to deal with this latest revelation, since Danny was right. Wes was definitely not a Weston but….was he a Fenton? Did he even want to be a Fenton?
Wes knew part of him did want to be part of this family. Because Vlad had been right, damnit. Not only was he jealous of Danny’s powers. He was jealous of Danny’s life, Danny’s family. He had an overprotective but caring older sister and eccentric but loving parent. While Wes himself had just had Walter who was never present and not affectionate at all.
Wes rubbed his forehead.This… this was all too much right now. Dealing with his developing powers now was enough to worry about. Wes smirked. At least he didn’t need to be jealous of Danny’s powers anymore. That part of his ‘curse’ was lifted. He then heard Mr. and Mrs. Fenton yell in triumph over something in the lab and Jazz respond by asking them to keep it down so she could study. Maybe he didn’t need to be jealous of Danny’s family either.
Three weeks after his conversation with Danny, Wes sat on a stool in the Fenton lab again. The rest of the training and injections had gone well with his control and power level slowly increasing. Wes smiled, mentally prodding the cold ball of energy in his chest. It was so much stronger, so much more real than before.
Mrs. Fenton stood in front of him, holding a needle. “This is the last injection. Ready, Wes?”
He nodded, looking at where Mr. Fenton, Jazz, Danny, and Elle had also gathered in the lab. Mrs. Fenton lowered the plunger and Wes grinned as he felt the cold energy flow through him, into his core. His eyes flashed.
The scientist smiled pleased. “Your eyes glowed again this time”
Wes looked down to see this glowing green eyes reflected on the metal table. His lips turned up, pleased with the sight. It looked...right. He looked back up at Mrs. Fenton. “What now?”
“Do you want to try transforming?”
Wes nodded furiously. After putting a hazmat suit on over his clothes (Danny and Elle insisted on matching outfits), Wes stood in the middle of the lap. He focused on his core, prodding it and bringing the cold forward like Danny and Elle had explained to him. The cold surged through his chest, flowing through his limbs. He looked down, mouth forming an O as the white rings formed around his waist, the same rings as Danny and Elle’s transformation. This...this was really happening. The rings passed over him and he closed his eyes as they covered his eyes. He felt everything inside him shift, taking his breath away.
He just stayed stationary for a few moments and then finally opened his eyes. He looked down at his hands. They were glowing, the color of the suit changed from white to black. Then Wes looked down. He was floating! He turned around quickly, laughter bubbling in his throat. He felt so light, so free. This was so right!
He looked up at the people standing in front of him. And they were all staring at him in shock? He tilted his head and looked at Elle, who started giggling.
He froze, in confusion and slight fear. “What is it?”
Elle pointed and managed to stammer. “Just look in a mirror”
Wes turned in panic, barely noticing he was flying as he went towards the lab bathroom. Oh no he must look horrible. What if he had blue skin like Vlad or tusks or a tail or…..? His panicked thoughts trailed off as he stared in the mirror. His eyes were neon green like he expected. But his hair was snow white and his hazmat suit black with a white belt, gloves, and boots.
The spitting image of one Danny Phantom, who was floating right outside the door, studying him.
Wes’s eyes narrowed, exacerbated and he spread his arms, pointing at Danny. “Come on! I look exactly like him! Really!” He’d hoped to have blue hair, maybe. To at least still look like himself!
Jazz stepped forward, putting her hand on his shoulder. “No you don’t. You look like you. Your hair is different than his. And so are your freckles.” She grinned, turning towards Danny. “And you’re still taller than he is.”
Danny huffed. “No he’s not!” Then grinning, he used spectral body manipulation to stretch his legs a few inches so he appeared the same height as Wes. “See!”
Elle giggled while Jazz and Wes gave Danny a disgusted look.
“Ew. Please don’t do that again.” Wes scoffed.
Danny gently punched him but grinned, going back to his normal height. “But she is right though. You do still look like you. Being a halfa looks good on you.”
Wes smiled back at him, feeling better. He’s a halfa, an actual, proper halfa now. With the actual powers and everything.
Just then Elle came up beside him, tugging his arm. “Come on! You have to go flying with us!”
Wes nodded furiously, looking to Danny who grinned and took off in the blink of an eye, laughing. Elle took off after him, sticking her tongue out at Wes who yelled. “Wait for me!”
Their flight turned into a combination of racing and playing tag while the three halfas speed across Amity Park’s sky, laughing the whole time. Wes knew being out there in the open wasn’t the safest thing, with Vlad still looking for them. But just then he didn’t care. He’d never felt more free, and ironically more alive.
Just then something cold hit Wes in the side of the head. He turned to find a snickering Danny, forming another ball of snow. “No fair! My ice powers haven’t come in yet!”
Ignoring him, Danny lopped the snowball, hitting the other boy in the chest. Wes chuckled and in the blink of an eye, flew to Danny’s side. He locked the other halfa in a headlock and furiously nuggied his hair, both laughing all the while. The pair were knocked forward when another snowball hit Wes’s back. He released Danny and turned, seeing Elle with glowing blue eyes.
The two boys looked at each other mischievously and then both body slammed the girl, trapping her in a joint hug. The three paused and Wes smiled, hearing their three cores purring in unison.
The chase continued after a time and ended back at Fentonworks when the three crashed onto the stilled pulled out sofa-sleeper in the living room. The tickle fight which ensued ( which Jazz joined in) settled into a cuddle pile and eventually the now exhausted halfas fell asleep.
Wes woke up sometime later to find Mrs. Fenton lovingly watching the pile of sleeping teenagers. He sat up slowly, trying to not wake up the others. The older woman blushed when she saw he noticed her. She turned to leave but Wes phased out of the pile of limbs and walked towards her.
She quietly asked. “Are you still feeling okay?”
He nodded. Actually having his full powers felt amazing. He looked back at Danny and Elle. And sharing that with the two of them had been wonderful. He’d never had so much fun in his whole life (and sadly that probably wasn’t an exaggeration).
The woman nodded. “That’s good.” Then she motioned him towards the table and they sat down. “So you had not problem with your powers out there, right?”
He shook his head. “No, everything was great. We had a lot of fun.”
She smiled. “I am so glad, sweetie.” Then she took his hand. “Jack and I love seeing happy. I am so happy we could help you. But...we need to talk about what you want to do now...”
Her voice trailed off at the end and she looked down, turning serious. Wes frowned knowing what this was about. He had heard the Fenton parents talking about it when they thought no one heard. They were scared that once Wes was stable, he and Elle would decide to leave. They would fly off somewhere, still running from Vlad, who the adult Fentons had been talking about how to deal with but nothing had happened yet.
Wes looked back at the other sleeping teens on the couch. Danny and Elle- two of the only other halfas in the world, people like him who he could fly and fight with, share life with as both a ghost and a human. And he would need help in figuring out how to be a ghost.
Danny- who had surprised him many times since Wes learned he was a clone of the other boy. He said he wouldn’t mind if Wes wanted to be a Fenton. Read: he wouldn’t mind being Wes’s brother.
Elle - who he loved like a little sister and had even while they were living on the streets, she wanted to stay. Staying here would make her so happy and Wes knew he couldn’t ask her to give that up and he couldn’t leave her.
Jazz- who he had already gotten along with before this. She was a great listener and an even better big sister. Wes knew she would always be willing to listen to and support him.
Wes’s thoughts then turned to Mr. Fenton, to Jack Fenton, who he actually didn’t know all that well yet. But he would like to. The thought of actually having a Father, not someone who had just been paid to babysit him like Walter had, that was enticing.
Then he turned and looked at Mrs. Fenton, Maddie Fenton. She hugged him and called him Sweetie ever since he had turned at her home in debilitating pain. She had figured out how to help him, how to stabilize the powers he was always supposed to have. Both she and her husband had welcomed him into their home, treating him like family from day one.
That's what he would have if he said yes, if he stayed and decided to be a Fenton. The three teenagers on the couch would be his siblings and he'd have an actual father and for the first time a mother (not even the fake memories Vlad gave him contained memories of having a Mom). And if he said yes, this would be for forever. Mr and Mrs Fenton had already talked about getting a bunk bed for Danny's room and having the two room together. And even after he grew up and moved out, there would be holidays and phone calls and letters. And memories there would always be memories. Real memories, his memories.
He would actually have a family, like he always wanted.
Wes finally noticed he had been silent for a while but he'd made his decision. He leaned forward, hugging Mrs. Fen… no Mom, his mom. "Yes. I want to stay….Mom."