Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Absolutely fucking not.”

Yeah, nope. No way in hell was he, John mother-fucking Constantine going to let this happen. Only over his dead body, which might actually be the case by the end of the bloody day if they couldn’t come up with something else other than that. And he wasn’t going to change his mind no matter how much the kid currently gallivanting as a demi-god whined. Wasn’t that a news when he found out several months ago.

“Come on Constans, we both know he wouldn’t mind. Besides what else can we do, we’ve tried everything.” Captain Marvel pleaded with the older man as he gestured their surroundings.

It couldn’t be described as anything else other than apocalyptic. A complete fucking shitshow.

Apparently a prophecy of some kind came to fruition right under their bloody noses and they were left grasping straws to try and stop the end of the world from happening. If only-

“Call him or I’ll call him John! Your choice.” Pressed Marvel who was getting fed up with the magician’s nonsense but he wasn’t bugging, no siree!

“Shut up, we don’t need his help! Just let me-” John yelled while buried head first in his spell book, desperately trying to find away that didn’t require him to relinquish the last few pits of his shabby dignity. Or what was left of it anyways. But Marvel was having non of it.

“Nope, that’s it! I’m making the call!” The red glad man shouted over the blonde brit and pulled out his personal phone which looked like it had been pulled strait out of a sci-fi movie.

This caused John to lunge at Marvel who in return floated away out of his reach.

“Are you daft? I’ll never hear the end of it so don’t even- Hey! Don’t you dare, I swear-!” They were quickly interrupted by a black looming silhouette quickly approaching them.

“I hope that you two have come up with something since you’re able to play around like this.” Batman demanded in gruff manner, man looking worse for wear just like the rest of them. Marvel swiftly positioned the dark one between him and his would-be assailant.

“Oh we did have a solution from the very start but someone thinks that we don’t need any help. His poor ego wouldn’t be able to handle it.” He told as he threw a look over his makeshift barrier’s shoulder.

“Shut your cakehole.” John hissed but was reluctantly put in place by a hard glare from mister darker and gloomier who turned to the floating magic-user.

“What is this solution exactly? Help from who or what?” At his inquiry the boy-man hero couldn’t help but beam when he began to explain what, or rather who he had in mind.

“Well I was thinking calling our-” But he was rudely cut in before he could get far.

“We aren’t calling anybody because we don’t need his help! We can take care of this on our own!” Batman turned back to the blond and was clearly at the end of his patience.

“We are running on borrowed time Constantine, if there is any chance to for us to stop this then we should take it since we don’t have any other options left.”

The two began to argue so heatedly that they didn’t pay attention to Marvel speed dialing the number he kept close to his heart. With a dopey grin he bounced on his heels while he waited for the other side to answer. After just two rings the line connected.

“Hi kid! What are you calling in for, did you get out of work already?” A jovial, baritone voice rang out which instantly relaxed the kid-not-kid hero. The all-composing feeling of warmth, protection and safety could almost be felt through the phone which never failed to make him feel comfortable and at peace.

“Hi dad! No, I’m still at work and we kinda shorta need your help. Badly.”

He could near feel the change in his father’s mood and he definitely heard it in his voice.

“What do you need? Where are you?” Came the rapid questioning. His smile never left as he thought how dad always went strait to business when it came to his family and friends. Always ready to help no matter what or why.

“Well, apparently the apocalypse is happening and we have no idea how to stop it… Can you help us? Please?” He tentatively asked as he glanced back at the bickering duo. Sometimes he asked himself if he really was the only secret child there.

“Ha ha, no need to beg, let alone ask. I’ll be there in a jiffy once I know where you guys are. Just try and hang in there kid.” Voice on the other side commented in lighter tone.

Marvel let out a sigh. He knew that everything would be okay after all.

“Thanks dad. We are currently stuck on Metropolis in it’s central, it’s a complete mess in here.”

“Everything will be fine. See you soon.” The voice chuckled and cut the call.

Yes, everything would be just fine. He turned to call out to the idiots who looked to be near ripping each other a new one.

“You two can stop now, he’s already on his way!”

He had to wince at the speed which the blonde turned his head to stare at him. Then came the familiar cursing.

“Fucking shite!”

He merely rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in irritation. He glared at the magician.

“Seriously, what’s your problem? It doesn’t have to be this difficult you know.”

Before John could comment, Batman pushed pass and stalked up to Marvel.

“Who did you call?”

He couldn’t say much before more of their fellow heroes started to trickle in. Flash no surprise being the first.

“Hope you got something up your utility belt Bats, we can’t take this much longer.” Pleaded the red speedster. He was joined by Green Lantern carrying injured Superman and ouch did he look roughened up.

“Have to agree with Flashpoint. Were running out of juice fast, and even Big Blue is out cold.”

Marvel looked at the others coming in. Martian Manhunter, Zatara, Wonder Woman, Black Canary and even Doctor Fate was there, none of them looking any better.

“Well, I’m glad to announce that help is on their way so we can all sit back and relax for a bit. This will be over in no time.” He declared brightly.

The others goggled at him like he made the most outlandish statement in all of history, minus Constantine who has decided to use this small window of calm to drown his headache in his flask while he still can.

“What the hell are you on about? What help? Who could possibly help with this!” Flash yelled out the question in everybodies mind.

“I would like to known this too finally.” Batman demanded this as well.

Seeing everybody hanging onto his up coming explanation he smirked at John who gave him oh-so-eloquently middle finder in retaliation. Well to bad, he would have to just deal with it, the big baby.

“Oh nobody too important, just the most powerful and influential being in all multiverse. Some of you might know him by his monikers like the First Champion, the Balancer, the High King and the Great One.” He said flippantly as he pretended to check his nails, trying his absolute best to hid his smug smile when he noticed Zatara and Fate going rigid and pale.

Zatara near stumbled thanks to his shaking knees. He took couple faltering steps towards the Champion of Magic. His expression mix of reverence and fear as started to whisper as if dreading that someone or something might hear him if he spoke too loudly.

“Y-You couldn’t possibly mean King-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence for they all felt the change in the air, in the ground.

He has arrived.

Time came to a crawl, the world slowed it’s movements in face of approaching force. It quaked, it trembled, it slithered. Leak becoming a downpour, a tear in reality of sickly green opened above the group, high out of reach. What little light still had remained in the hellish landscape around them were drained as if all the world’s shadow congregated around the opening to greet its master like a deprived servant. Then a figure of black and white caped in light seemingly holy, descended from it. Even from afar they could distinguish their towering form who’s muscles failed to hide under its full-body armor. Their mountainous presence becomes more and more apparent the closer they came. What they thought as wings of pure and white was actually a cape of moving light.

Blazing green eyes as that of the tear gazed upon them from under their moonlight hair, which coupled with the iron grown of flames created figures of shadow dancing across their hardened features as if to praise their beholder’s glory.

Zatara had already collapsed on the ground in utter disbelieve. All the myths and legends were true all along.

“King Phantom.” He spoke in awe and bowed before the king as did equally shocked Doctor Fate.

“Hi dad!” Marvel yelled and dragged the laughing magician by his coat to greet their new arrival.

All of their associates looked between the clear powerhouse of a being and their red heavy hitter in utter incredulity at the revelation. Zatara and Fate near had a heart attack at the way their magical colleague addressed the mythical presence. Marvel had a father? And this horrifying existence was it? What sent them reeling even more was how the king’s responded.

With his arms stretched he lowered himself fully to gather the two smaller men in his embrace.

“Kids! Boy, when you said that you needed help bad I think you might have underestimated a tiny bit.” He joked with a toothy smile as he moved to get a better look at his more-or-less willing captees of his affection. His expression softened even more at the face of Constantine, not the others could see.

“John, it’s so good to see you as well.” He said softly and ruffled both of their hairs, eliciting a laugh from his youngest and indignant pout from his fourth oldest who tried to swat the offending hand away.

“Whatever.” John growled but Phantom didn’t mind since he could see the blush caking his scratched up cheeks.

Now this drew his attention, both of his boys were in horrendous shape and he would do something about it after his job was completed. Looking at the blood willed sky no longer colored by his green and the burning wreckage that is this dimensions earth, he knew he didn’t have much time.

“I suppose we should get this over with then. You two better get back to the Keep after this, understood.” He stated and then was gone just like that.

Now that the oppressive feeling of death and power has left along with the godly being, every single one of the heroes present turned to the two for explanation. Marvel send a pleading look towards his brother, but John pointedly turned away and began to nurse his briefly forgotten drink which was now empty, damn you dad.

Discreetly gulping his nerves down he twirled to face his peers.

“Okay, let’s start with one question at a time please.”

This caused the floodgates to open and Zatara practically jumped him in his feverishness.

“You are a son of King Phantom? The King Phantom? I thought he was nothing more than a myth! A legend told through out several histories!”

As Marvel was trying to dislodge the man he was approached by Doctor Fate.

“I too held the believe that he was nothing more than a story to strike fear onto the forces of evil and to aspire heroes of both old and new. To think he was real this entire time.” He mused, and before Marvel could say anything, Flash barged in as well.

“And what about you John? This might be the first time I’ve seen any otherworldly being be happy to see you.” He pointed at the man who chose to wisely stay far behind.

“Fuck you too!” Shouts the offended man from the back. Even if it’s true doesn’t make it any less rude. And oh look here comes Batman.

“Enough! Marvel, explain.” He demands as he moves effortlessly to the front of the pack.

“Well… you see-” Marvel stammers as he tries under the pressure to come up with something to say but was thankfully saved by the sky shifting again.

As quick as a snap the red sky was returned to its blue color, signaling the King’s victory over his enemy. Marvel smiled widely and even John couldn’t stop a heavy sigh of relieve from escaping his mouth. Good old dad, always up to any task he comes across.

“Incredible.” Wonder Woman gasped, even Lantern had to give an impressed eyebrow at the instant change in atmosphere. And while everyone was distracted by his dad’s handiwork, Marvel shimmied his way to the grumpy magician who was in progress of making his getaway.

“I think we should continue this some other time, there’s a lot of cleaning up to do and me and my bro need to do a little house call. So bye!” He called out with a wave as he was crapped and transported to their destination before anyone could stop them.

Others could do more than blink as Batman stewed in his place. In Lantern’s arms Superman began to stir.

“H-huh, what did I miss?”

Chapter Text

Danny really didn’t know whatever he should laugh, cry or flip the nearest table he could get his hands on. He never really thought highly of the Justice League to begin with, hell, you would be hard-pressed to find anybody in Amity Park who did nowadays.

But this… this could just as well take the metaphorical cake of bullshit that has been piling up over the past three years.

He took a deep, measured breath before focusing back on his boyfriend. His sweet, lovable, very-much-chaotic-immortal-man-child of a boyfriend.

“...They think I’m what now?”

On the other side of this conversation sat Klarion, the witch boy extraordinaire, who was combing his slender fingers delicately through his precious familiar’s fur as he watches his beloved having a hard time grasping at the situation. And since he regarded himself to be a rather fantastic boyfriend, he repeated what he said.

“The League of Simpletons have somehow gotten in their heads that I must have enthralled you in one way or another in order to get my hands on some ultimate power, as part of my apparently evil master plan.”

Danny took another breath, this was just getting ridiculous. But then again what else was new, these people really knew how to make a mountains out of a molehills. Even Wes didn’t have this severe of an apophenia, he at least ended up being right more often than not.

“So they think you’ve put me under a love spell or something?”

Klarion merely shrugged in mock-helplessness. “Apparently you wouldn’t be dating me otherwise.” In all honesty he probably shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he currently is, but he couldn’t help himself.

His ever present smirk widened when his beloved Starlight’s face twitched in irritation. “For Ancient’s sake… seriously?” A simple nod was enough for Danny to want to throw the next Justice Idiot who was stupid enough to come close to Amity Park’s boarders through the nearest window!

Calm down Danny, calm down. Just remember Jazz’s breathing exercise. One… two… three…

…

Wait a minute… would that mean- no way in hell way they’ve been…

“Wait a minute- Is that the fucking reason why they’ve constantly been ruining our dates these past few months!?”

Another nod.

Yeah, fuck being calm and shit, ya boy is absolutely livid! All this time they were doing it on fucking purpose!! He so is going to burn all of their ugly ass capes and dye all their ugly ass costumes pink! Better yet, he’ll paint their entire HQ with the most obnoxious and clashing colours possible.

Klarion let the halfa rage about for a good moment before interjecting. It wouldn’t do to have the lounge destroyed, especially when that energy could be used on something else he has in mind.

“We could have fun with this you know, at their expense.”

Danny stopped in his track and turned his inquiry gaze towards Klarion. He knows that smile and it could only mean trouble, trouble which he was more than willing to partake in. A smirk of his own began to grace his lips. “What do you mean exactly?”

Once again Klarion was reminded why he’s dating this gorgeous creature in the first place. Trust him to be able to match his chaotic nature despite his hero persona.

“Oh you are going to love it, my dear.”

Chapter Text

Jazz really deserved this vacation in Danny’s humble opinion. She’s done so much for him and this was the least he and uncle Os could do, an all-payed luxury spa weekend with the girls which included Harley, Ivy and Selina.
What could go wrong? Apparently a lot, nothing related to the girls but to the boys. Who knew that sending away the only person keeping a hyperactive teen with zero self-control on a leash and leaving said boy to the sole care of their mildly diabolical and eccentric adoptive father was a bad idea.

A good chunk of the mansion was missing with some of it’s iced over remnants embedded to the ground around the plot. Danny looked like he’d gotten to a fight with a fridge and Oswald wasn’t looking any better to either. A distance away some of the goons could be seen dragging their half frozen brethren away from the site, he’ll have to apologize to them later. It was a miracle that none of the police or even the bats were there to question them about this mess. Really, all their were trying to do was to create a new ice machine for the Iceberg Lounge with the help of his ice core that wouldn’t run out of ice as fast nor would it melt as quickly, it would safe quite a bit of money and time too.

Now, Danny was intelligent but whatever he was smart was another question entirely. He knows how to make a fully operational hoverboard equipped with weapons any day of the week, but drop some cold hard common sense in front of him and it’d be like alien language to him. In summary:
an intelligent man knows how to built a bomb, a wise man knows not to go and poke at it. And that wise man was be Jazz who was absent. Danny knew exactly what to do in this scenario.
“We’re not going to tell Jazz about this.”

Oswald, who has been quietly contemplating about his life choices for a while now finally opened his mouth “…We can pin this on Mr. Freeze.” Danny nodded sagely, clad to see they were on the same page on this one. Neither of them wanted to face the disappointed rage of the red head.
“All right, let’s start planting ‘evidence’ before the girls come back and she’ll never know a thing!” Danny said as he clapped his hands, only to stop when they both heard a very distinctive voice they both didn’t want to hear at that moment.

“You so sure about that dear little brother?” Since the jig was up both Danny and Oswald turned around to face the music. Behind very disapproving Jazz stood Harley, Ivy and Selina with various degrees of amusement. She gave the boys a hard glare “Want to try that again?”

The two glanced at each other for something before Danny nervously started “Ummm… How was your weekend ladies?”

Chapter Text

Finally, it was going to be over. At least that was an elderly man known as Henry Stein, the former head animator of Joey Drew Studios or what was left of it, hoped for.
In his ink stained hand he held an old film reel labeled as ‘The End’. He took another look at it before looking at the monstrous form of his beloved cartoon character he created decades ago, Bendy. The hulking demon made of living ink stood in front of him in seeming anxiousness of what was about to happen. Henry didn’t blame him, trapped in the studio for who knows how long now with no way getting out had made all the denizens of the studio lose all of their hope, not to mention most of their sanity. He was close to that fate too couple of times if not for the unexpected but welcomed company of his not-so-little devil darling that blossomed into a proper friendship over the past hundred cycles.
“The moment of truth bud. Hope this works.” He said as confidently as he could muster. Their crazy plan was almost complete, after much trying and failing.

Henry had started to think and theorize just how Joey Drew, his former friend and coworker, managed to do all of this. From his knowledge the bastard was a regular human just like him, yet he was still able to bring cartoons to life and trap an entire studio along with it’s workers within a time loop. There were hints of course, but it took him more than a dozen retries to connect the dots.
All the pentagrams, sacrifices, Joey’s memoir along with some other things, big and small, told him of three possible theories. Joey either made a deal with an actual devil, he actually was a devil himself, or he used dark magic of his own.
In the past he would have laughed at such notions but after everything that has happened it no longer seemed too out of realm of possibility. Since Henry didn’t want to explore his first and second theory, not yet at least, he went with the last one and started to research and experiment as much as possible without attracting Joey’s attention. If his hypothesis was proven correct, then he would be able to level the playing field a bit.
If Joey was able to learned to use magic they why couldn’t he? He would make that bastard taste his own medicine.

Through trial and error he managed to make progress constantly, he hated to give Joey any credit but just like he had said in one of his recordings, “You just have to believe”.
The power of imagination is truly terrifying down here, just a single strong thought is enough turn ink into metaphorical gold. But like with anything else in life, nothing is free. The magic and soul infused ink around the studio he used for his experiments had started to seep into his very being with the constant interaction, it became part of him and he part of it. He learned to manipulate it, and when ever he did the ink would start to glow golden light. Only thing remotely similar to it he has seen was whenever he died and had to crawl his way out of the inky abyss towards the exits of golden light. He learned to created simple objects using the tainted ink as long it was nothing extravagant, and they didn’t last more than fifteen minutes, and it would leave him too tired to try and created anything else for a half an hour at least.

It took lots of planning, detective work, and hundreds of retries to make his plan come to fruition.
What he had learned is that Joey had managed to create a pocket in time and space, isolating the studio within itself. And that also needed anchors to determine where the loop began and where it ended, as well as some others to create extra stability. Easiest way to describe it would be to imagine a rolled out paper that has paper weights on top of it to preventing it from rolling back in on itself.
It took time to identify and locate all the anchors and at some of them he felt like strangling Joey or kicking himself. First was that cursed letter Henry always sees which he was certain marked the cycle’s beginning and second is the reel at the end that would bring you back to the beginning. Others were the Ink Machine to nobody’s surprise, the door that led from Joey’s apartment to the studio and a creepy looking Bendy cutout holding a sign saying “Wandering is a terrible sin.”, which almost scared the life out of him when he was testing his magic by traveling between spaces.
These were all key components to his plan to set everyone free and he needed to destroy them all. A theory he had come up with is that if the anchors were destroyed then this makeshift world should pop like a bubble when it was no longer being held together and return everything to it’s original place.
Or it could wipe them all out of existent entirely.
Or it would fail miserably and the cycle would continue like nothing had happened. But in all honesty they had nothing to lose at this point, plus the chance of getting out of here or being erased completely were far more appealing options than being stuck in this hell hole for the rest of eternity.

With a new wound energy the ex-animator had strode through the halls and rooms with practiced ease after using his new powers to destroy these objects in his wake. With destruction of each anchor he felt the space around him shake just like a house would if you demolished it’s support beams. This gave him confidence that he was on the right track and to keep going, but he needed to be quick so that Joey wouldn’t realize what was going on until it was too late for him. And as if knowing that this was their only possible chance to finally be free, everybody who he came in contact with quietly let him pass without an issue. Some of them had even helped him with some tasks so that he could reach the end faster.
And now here Henry was, reel in hand, standing on a podium that housed a makeshift throne in the middle of a circular room, it’s walls decorated with movie screens. Bendy is standing still, looking at him intently. Closing his eyes to concentrate on the feeling of the final anchor and its hold on the world around him, he started to unravel the inky spider web acting as glue. One thread after another dissolved under his golden touch, and each time the world around them shook as the remaining supports were destroyed. And when the last thread broke, so did the reel into golden particles.
Then nothing. The tremors stopped.
Henry opened his eyes in disbelieve. Did he really fail? All the energy left his body along with any hope of getting any of them out. Crashing to his knees he couldn’t stop tears from falling, not that he cared. It should have worked, they should all be free now.

While Henry’s mind was reeling from the horrid possibility of being truly stuck because of him destroying both the beginning and the end, making them unable to even restart the cycle, he didn’t notice when Bendy began moving towards him.
The man’s mind was somewhere far away when Bendy clumsily laid next to him. Slowly the elderly man lifted a shaky hand to pat the toon next to him, and with as shaky voice contemplated.
“I-I don’t u-understand? I-It should have w-worked. Everything pointed t-towards this working, s-so why…?” He turned to look at the passive demon next to him.
“I’m s-so sorry.” Bendy moved a bit closer to the man whom he knew was his true creator, who in turn leaned in so that their foreheads touched.
“I just w-wanted to help everyone. To set us all free from t-this hell. Was it really too m-much to a-ask?”
He cursed his inability to fix this, but more then that he cursed the one who did this to them all.
“Curse you Joey Drew!” He shouted at the ceiling of their personal prison before slumping on top of Bendy, having lost most of his will to even move. Before closing his eyes he muttered.
“I just wanted all of us to finally have peace, to finally be free.”
He closed his eyes only to snap them open when he felt like his entire body along with his mind and soul being carved open.
He screamed.
Bendy was startled and rose to his full height, looking at the man who was now writhing in absolute agony on the floor. The ink demon whined in distress and circled around, not knowing what to do or what was happening.
Golden cracks started to run across the animator’s body and bleed into his surroundings. Tremors from before were back and stronger than ever. Walls and the ceiling cracking from the force, letting golden light dazzle the once dismal halls with never before seen warmth.
Bendy did the only thing he could think of and dove to cover his creator. Henry, despite still feeling like he was experiencing his most painful death yet, noticed this action and with great difficulty reached to touch the toon on top of him.
“B-Bendy-” Was all he managed to say before closing his now glowing golden eyes when a next jolt of pain shook his body, seemingly in tune with the tremors that are destroying the place. This caused Bendy to curl even more around them both and he would swore that he heard his creator say.
“L-Love you b-bud. Always.” Before they were engulfed by blinding light.

Chapter Text

Why is the world so unfair? It wasn’t fair! All it took was just one simple mistake. A mistake that any teenager could’ve made and yet when he does it, the entire world is put in peril. A mistake that his family had to pay the ultimate price for.
These are the thoughts of an injured teen kneeling in a crater of his latest fight with the most terrifying foe he has ever met. That day had started like any other, a teen worrying about an important exam that could effect his future. He’d thought of even just winging the whole test since he never got enough time to study thanks to his secret hero duties keeping him occupied even at nighttime, if not for the test answers he had picked up from the ground that was accidentally left behind by his English teacher. If only he would’ve known that his decision to cheat would cause for the literal apocalypse to happen then he would have never even considered doing such a thing.
No, that wasn’t true, he knew that this would be the outcome yet he still did it thanks to his stupid teen impulses. The master and lord of time himself had warned him personally of this but he still didn’t listen. And now he has nothing.
A scrawny fourteen year old stares blackly at the hellish inferno that had consumed all the ones he cared about along with a fast food restaurant they had been held captive in by his evil future self. His glazed eyes turn to a silver thermos that now housed said monster. He can’t bring himself to care that his baggy t-shirt and jeans are in shreds, and covered in blood and dirt. Nothing mattered to him anymore.

In a distance the blaring sound of multiple sirens can be heard even through the sound of roaring fire around him. So lost in thoughts he’s that he didn’t notice the world around him going deathly still and quit, nor the wisp of gold air escaping past his pale split lips. Not until a familiar, deep voice gently calls out to him.
- Danny.
Danny blinks for what feels like the first time in a good while as he’s trying to process what was said to him and by whom. He didn’t move from his spot on the ground when a blue-skinned ghost moves in front of him, his purple cloak flowing along. His form ever shifting between that of a child, an adult and an old man, never staying as one for long. Seeing the ghost he can’t stop tears from rolling down his face as he demands.
- Why didn’t you stop this Clockwork?
When the ever age shifting ghost says nothing he becomes angry.
- You are the master of time aren’t you? Can’t you just turn back time and let me fix my mistake?
Clockwork regards the distraught boy silently for a moment.
- I won’t nor can do that Daniel, for multitude of reasons. You also seem to have misunderstood some things regarding me. I do not rule over time, I manage it. My duty is to take care of it, not to bend it to my will and do whatever I please with it. If I were to meddle more than I already have the consequences could be catastrophic. This was the most optimal outcome, he calmly explains. The ageless being truly wishes that it wouldn’t have come to this, but he had no other choice. This of course doesn’t sit well with the boy.
- O-Optimal outcome? Optimal outcome! he screams with his already hoarse voice. He was absolutely livid hearing that. He lets go of the thermos shaped capture device and wobbly stands up.
- You are saying all this like it’s nothing! Like we are nothing more then pieces on a game board that can be thrown away! he screams more as he unsteadily lunges himself at the ancient ghost who does nothing to stop the weak assault.
- Why did they have to pay the price for my stupid decision? Just take me instead! he begs but Clockwork’s unmoved, so Danny continues to throw punches, ignoring how heavy and in pain his arms feel.
- You are the master of time! Just turn back time and let me fix this! he begs again and still only silence greets him, so he doesn’t stop.
- Please! If they are taken away from me I’ll have nothing left worth living for. If you can’t bring them back then take me as well! Third time he begs and bargains, and again nothing.
Danny collapses on the elder who wraps his gloved arms to keep him from falling while being careful with his clock staff. With no more rage, all that is left was absolute sorrow and misery belonging to an orphaned child.
- P-Please bring them back. Please. I-I beg you, I’ll do anything, he tries to beg feebly one last time as he lifts his head to look into Clockwork’s solid red eyes.
-I’m sorry.
The resolute answer he gets shatters any illusions of this all is just a messed up dream or a sick joke.
That’s it then, he’s lost everything and there’s nothing he can do about it. Maybe his parents were right about Danny Phantom being a monster, they weren’t that far from truth looking at the destruction that Dan had caused… It would be better for everybody if he were to just-
- Don’t.
Clockwork’s stern voice rouses him from his spiraling dark thoughts, who’s looking at him with equally stern gaze.
- Do not think that taking your own life would atone anything. You must keep on living Daniel, for your family’s sake at least if not yours. Stay alive so that their memories may live on as well with you. They would want that and you know this too deep inside.
Even though his speech ends in softer note it still stings a lot. He’s the cause of all of this so it would be only fair that he pays the price as well. But there seems to be no way fighting the powerful ghost of time on this, no matter how hard he tries. Danny slumps further into Clockwork’s firm embrace as if it would help him somehow to escape the cruel reality.
Clockwork would let the boy get his bearings but this isn’t the place nor time for it. He shifts his free hand to soothe the messy black mop of hair as he continues.
- Unfortunately I can’t let you stay here. The future only holds terrible things for all if you do.
Danny squeezes his eyes shut as he grits his teeth; even if Clockwork didn’t say it outright he knows what he means. What is he suppose to do then? There’s no going back and fixing this, nor is he apparently allowed to end his own misery. The only thing he can think of is to ask the one who knows everything.
- …What should I do?
- Come with me and you’ll find out, Clockwork suggests as he lifts his staff.
Danny doesn’t think too long since he has nothing else to do or place to go. If he stays then he would be just put in foster care or adoption since he’s still a minor, and would end up with Vlad one way or another. Once felt connection to this town seemed to have shatter into pieces when his loved ones perished. He has nothing left to keep him there, so at a complete loss he agrees.
- A-Alright, he mutters and takes the offered hand.
At his consent they are both along with the thermos transported away with a single wave of a staff, never to been seen by that world ever again.

Danny only opens his eyes when the feeling of momentary weightlessness ceases and he’s gently pried off by the older ghost. He is led to a purple bed of what seem to be a guest room from lack of personal touches in it. Once he’s made comfortable Clockwork doesn’t waste time in explaining.
- Like I said before, you can’t stay here. But there’s another way. I happen to have acquaintances who would be willing to foster you, the only catch being that they live very far, far away. Danny’s getting a sinking feeling about where this is going so he has to ask.
- How far exactly?
Clockwork stops, seemingly to give the boy a second to prepare himself before answering.
- In another world, in another reality, he tells him truthfully. This of course gets a reaction out of the teen.
- What! W-Why so far away? What about my-, he stops himself from finishing that sentence. Tears once again start to gather and fall with earnest. What about his home? His family? They are gone for good and he wouldn’t be able to live in Amity Park without constantly being reminded of his failures.
Clockwork places a firm hand on the skinny shoulder to draw his attention away from his spiraling thoughts again. He hates the soft look directed at him. He doesn’t deserve it.
- This is why you can’t stay and why I’m offering you this opportunity, to heal and give you a second change at life, to move on.
Danny shook his head violently. No, he doesn’t deserve any of this.
- H-how can I just move on from this!? From them! There’s no way- It’s just not right! He doesn’t deserve help. He doesn’t want it! He can’t continue on with his life when the others lost theirs. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair.
- I didn’t say that you should forget about them, but to accept that this is the unfortunate reality. The pain never goes away, it merely becomes easier to deal with in due time if you let yourself heal by at least attempting to forgive yourself. What do you think your loved ones would say to you right now? Samantha, Tucker and Jasmine? Your parents? Would they want to see you in this state?
Danny winces and glares hard at the elder. He has no right to use his family against him like that! But now that the idea’s been planted, he wasn’t able to think anything else. What would they say?
He can definitely see Jazz and Sam scolding him for being an idiot, for ever thinking that they’d blame him, that they knew what they were getting themselves into. Tucker would reassure him that he wouldn’t forget them even if he found a new meaning to his life. Hell, he would even offer some ridiculous ideas to try out in the new world, like pick up some alien girls. He liked to think that his parents would wish the best of luck and happiness, to show the world what Fentons are made of.
He let his tears fall freely. The last thing he wants to do was to dishonor the ones he loved the most. He won’t do it, he’ll make sure their memories would live on, brighter than ever. He doesn’t want to disappoint them no matter what, even if it still left a sour taste on his tongue. Was he really allowed to move on with out them?
Clockwork decides it would be a good time to leave the boy to mourn in peace, yet he can’t help but lament quietly as he floats out of the bedroom.
- Oh Daniel, you think that you still have to pay for what had happened. Those who have passed have no need for tears, you’ll only end up drowning yourself in them. I truly hope that this will help you find peace of mind someday.
The Observants have always told him that he cares to much for the young halfa, and every time he denies them even though he knows that they are correct much to his dismay. He has cared for the boy even before he was born. He can see all of time: past, present and future. All of it’s endless twists and turns. And out of all of them he enjoyed Danny’s the most. Whoever said that time doesn’t have favorites was a liar.

Clockwork glides through the finding halls and corridors of his clock tower till he arrives at his destination. His viewing room, filled with screens, mirrors and cogs that hold within images of old and new, as well as those yet to come to pass or never will. He moves deeper and deeper till he came to a simple silver mirror, so unassuming and hidden away from any unwanted eyes.
Lifting his staff he gently taps it’s surface. It ripples like a calm lake disturbed and white figure manifests in it.
A white equine like creature accented with gold, radiated majesty and power. Emerald crusted ring of gold attached to its abdomen outshines any crown a king could wear. It’s red and green eyes seem to glow when it notices the time master who has contacted it. And with a mighty voice they spoke.
- Clockwork, it has been ages since we hast last spoken. How hast thou been, those Eyeballs still causing trouble for thee?
Clockwork lets himself chuckle, trust his friend to take a stab at his ‘coworkers’ just to make him laugh. Not that he’s any better.
- Well met Arceus, my old friend. As nice as it would’ve been for me to have only called you for pleasantries, we’re here to discuss some business. He leans on his staff as his friend could only sigh.
- We had a feeling this was so. Thou rarely contact us for any reason other, Arceus laments and bores a tired glare at the cloaked man who in turn shrugs rather unapologetically.
- What is’t, now that thou summon us? he asks in almost bored tone.
- I’m calling for the old dept.
Clockwork states simply. Or it would have sounded simple to anyone else, but Arceus stills as their eyes blow wide open before narrowing in suspicion.
- What hast thou gotten into for thou to arriveth and claim due. They demand and watch when with a wave of the staff, a hand mirror appears on the other’s unoccupied hand. They lean in for a closer look as a visage of an adolescent boy with midnight black hair becomes visible. This was not what they had expected.
- We fail to understand what thou crave us to try, other than it most like hath to try with thy human child, they inquire due interest. This was Clockwork they were dealing with and should never be underestimated.
- He’s a child who’s been dealt an unnecessarily cruel hand in both life and death. He just a moment ago witnessed the loss of his friend and loved ones in the hands of his ultimate enemy, he tells this as he looks at the image.
- E’en if that is the case, why hie so far for this one single being? There are many others whom suffer like fate as him, if not worse. Time favors none, doth it not? Arceus keeps questioning. It doesn’t make sense since they’ve seen countless beings succumb to many fates both good, bad and horrid. What is so different about this one?
- This world holds nothing but sadness and pain for him. In another timeline things would have gone so much more differently and he would have had his happy ending, but this timeline is unfortunately not it. He will never truly recover if he stays here were everything reminds him of his ‘failure’; he’ll keep dwelling deeper in his misery till it drives him over the edge. A change of scenery is what he desperately needs, so I’m finally asking for the favor that you own me. My request is that you take this child and allow him to build a new life for himself in your world.
They hear and see the clear care their old friend holds for the child but they need to remind him of the weight of what he’s asking of them.
- This is no bawbling crave Clockwork, they press.
Clockwork fiddles idle with the clock that is embedded on top of his trusty staff as he conversationally mentions.
- Just like it wasn’t a small act I committed back then for you.
He lifts his red eyes back at them, challenging the other to try and back down. Arceus knows a losing battle when they see one, besides they do own him big time.
- What is the name of this child? they ask as they turn back to look at their future charge. The victorious smugness emanating from the other nearly causes them to roll their eyes.
- His name is Daniel Fenton but goes by his monikers Danny or Phantom depending on his current form. A bright young lad when given the chance, even if his grades might have taken a plunge due to his hero work, Clockwork informs.
Arceus watches in keen interest as they’re shown many of the boy’s ventures through the small looking-glass. They can’t help but laugh when he realizes how Clockwork sounds like when he talks about the boy, causing said ghost to raise his brown at him.
- And hither we thought thee were suppose to be impartial to all’s… Regarding the favor, all preparations shall be done ‘i no time. Clockwork discreetly snorted at the pun which Arceus valiantly ignores. - We are content to receive him whenever seen meetest.
Clockwork’s shoulders slump ever so slightly as he gives a grateful smile, which quickly turns to his usual smirk.
- Excellent, I won’t be holding you any longer then. Besides I need to prepare young Daniel for his departure, as well as some ‘guests’ to entertain when they finally decide to arrive, he purrs but before the call was ends Arceus gives a final warning to their old friend.
- We hope that this doth not end poorly. If it doth, thy shall bear the consequence. The ghost only laughs at their threat.
- No need for worry. Knowing my Daniel he will do more good then harm. But then again, I know everything. And with that final farewell the mirror returns back to its unassuming state. Clockwork creates a duplicate of himself and sends him away while making his way back to Danny.

Arriving at the bedroom door he knocks out of courtesy on it before entering to see the poor boy lying face down on the bed. Softly floating to the bedside he tentatively begins to pet his grimy hair. Danny stirs slightly but made no move to get away or to stop the hand on his head. Instead he starts to hiccup and tries to smother his sobs on the duvet.
- I’ll never see them again, he cries.
Clockwork continues his petting as he lets the boy release his emotions.
- They’re never coming back, he cries more and all the elder can do at the moment was to offer comfort.
- I’m sorry, he says as sincerely as he can. He would’ve felt regret over the whole situation if he didn’t know that this needed to happen. It still doesn’t stop his core from breaking a little when he hears him say in such a small voice.
- I don’t want to be alone.
Lifting his hand from the dirty hair he moves to shift it away from the boy’s face to reveal pair of red puffy eyes looking at him in complete loss.
- You won’t be for long. Here, lets get you cleaned up a bit and you can go back to rest a little while longer.
Not having energy to argue he’s helped up from the soft bed and into a bathroom connected to the guestroom. Clockwork helps him all through out the whole process of undressing and bathing since Danny doesn’t want to do much of anything in his current state. Being gentle with all the injuries, he helps Danny up from the bathtub while he ignores the grimy rags that were the boy’s old clothes laying on the floor. He moves them both back to the bedroom where a set of new identical looking garments rest on the bed along with a black and white duffel back with Phantom’s logo on it. Danny, who’s bundled up in light purple towel, shows only slight interest in the assorted items before going back to being docile dead weight. He doesn’t react much to being once again manhandled and laid back down to rest on the soft mattress. His eyes already closing shut when he was being tucked in.
Clockwork takes a second to look at the now peaceful form slumbering away, he deems him well enough to be left alone for the time being. After shutting the lights and closing the bedroom door behind him, he leaves to continue his many tasks still left unfinished.

It takes a good while for Danny to wake up and when he does, he’s feeling completely sore and tired. He looks around to see the familiar room and tears began to fall again.
It wasn’t just a nightmare then. They were really gone forever now.
His talk with Clockwork plays around in his head, about how he should keep on living. But he doesn’t think he deserves a new chance, not that he had been given any other choice. He was going to be dragged towards a “new life” kicking and screaming anyway so what’s the point in even trying to fight back. What was there to fight back for?
Rolling his head to its side he was faced with the duffel bag he vaguely remembers seeing before going to sleep. And since it has his logo on it he could only assume that it was meant for him. He rolls to his other side and tries to ignores it to best of his ability. Few moments pass as he tosses around in frustration before he lets his curiosity win.
- Whatever, he sighs and moves to sit and drags the full bag in closer to him.
Hesitating for a second, he grips the pull tightly and opens it. He only sees a glimpse of what’s inside but it’s enough for him to stop complete. His hands start to shake uncontrollably as he oh so carefully pushed the opening wider to see if his mind was playing tricks on him from grieve. Only when his trembling fingers caress the items revealed inside does he believe them to be real and there with him.
Inside are meticulously placed items belonging to all his lost loved ones. He reverently takes them all out and spreads them neatly in front of him.
His mom’s red goggles glisten along with his dad’s favorite fudge spoon which sit right next to a giant pair of black gloves also belonging to his dad. To the right is his sister’s well loved teddy bear nicknamed Bearbert Einstein, which thankfully hasn’t gained anymore tears. Even his little lab coat was still on.
Next is Sam’s much sought-after combat boots she swore to wear when she’d grown enough to wear them properly and beside them are Tucker’s trusted PDA and signature red beret which he owned multiple of. There are even two of his own favorite items from his room; a red toy model rocket from his childhood and vintage collector’s poster of Apollo 13. All the other irrelevant items such as the Fenton thermos, wrist ray, Fenton phones, Boo-merang and Fenton rod, some extra clothes and a memory stick he left inside the bag.
He places both of his hands to his mouth as he tried fruitlessly stifle a sob. Clockwork must have gathered all of them for him, and he would be forever grateful for it.
He takes his dad’s oversized gloves and fastened them on his much smaller hands. Mom’s goggles now hanged around his neck as he situates Tucker’s beret backwards on his head, and after putting on Sam’s boots he gently lifts Mr. Bearbert to look into it’s one remaining little eye. Hugging the bear tightly, he curls into a ball and he manages to catch a whiff of a painfully familiar sweet scent. It still smells like Jazz’s cheap candy perfume. He no longer hold back on his cries as he’s surrounded by the only things he still has left of his shattered life.

He didn’t know how long he had cried before he felt a hand landing on his shoulder. He only looked up at the new arrival when then hand squeezed in lieu of trying to get his attention. It’s Clockwork who’s gazing down softly at him.
- I thought you might appreciate having some mementos of them to take with you, he explains. Danny can only nod in utmost thanks, not trusting his voice to work at the moment. He can feel his eyes starting to moisten up again but no more tears are left for him to cry. The hand on his shoulder continues to sooth him as he gathers himself up to sit, still clutching on to his sister’s bear for support. He’s offered a napkin to dry of his now wet face.
- I suggest that you pack your bag back up; it is time to leave, the ghost encourages him and moves to stand by the bed’s side.
- Already? he asks and winces at how his voice sounds. Clockwork nods.
- Unfortunately. Now come, I’ll help if you want me to, he says and gestures at the bag. Danny didn’t want to put away the items just yet and seeing how he’s hesitating the ghost continues to reason.
- The road to you destination is a turbulent one, it will be much safer to put them away for the time being and you can always take them out afterwards.
He thinks about it only a second before caving in; he doesn’t want to loose any more things dear to him just because of his stubbornness. Carefully, one by one he takes the precious items and puts them away to safety of his duffel before zipping it up and securing it on his person. Clockwork opens the door and gestures for him to follow which he dutifully does along with his bag.

Their walk is silent for the most part, not that he minds too much, it leaves him time to look at all the cogs, clocks and other glowing green metallic structures that litter the place. Makes sense considering who the owner is.
It’s probably because of Clockworks own influence or because their destination was that close by that they arrived to their stop faster than he thought it would take, and to his surprise and dread the room they enter was the viewing room he and his friends had broken into. The guilt that immediately starts to twist his guts make him look down at the ground and keeping his eyes only on the end of his guider’s cloak. He’s so focused on not seeing anything on the screens and mirrors that he pumps into Clockwork when he stops them at the very end of the cluttered room. Finally daring to look up he sees in front of them on it’s lonesome, is a person sized clouded mirror with ornate frame hanging on the wall, with stone steps leading up to it.
Clockwork turns to him and speaks as he gestures it.
- This gateway will take you to the world which hopefully you’ll learn to love and call home one day. There are things in that world that are similar to ours, but also many things that you’ve never even imagined. Don’t worry, your new caretakers will share more information with you once there.
He places his hand on his back and guides the hesitant teen up the stairs to his uncertain future. He pauses in front of the mirror and now that he stands so close to it, he can see that the glass isn’t exactly clouded but seems to have actual moving clouds trapped on the other side of it. He thoughtfully looks at it then at Clockwork.
- Will I ever see you again?” He asks after a moment of hesitation. The elder tilts his head to the side as if thinking before smiling enigmatically.
- Only time will tell young Daniel, he simply states which almost makes Danny snort, but his slightly better mood is snuffed out when a promising grin takes over his aging face.
- Good luck.
With this he pushes the fumbling teen into the mirror who embraces for collision but is shocked when he passes through the glass and keeps on falling. He screams.

Clockwork watches impassively as his charge leaves this world and into a new one. He glances at nearby mirror to see Fenton Works blow up to smithereens, leaving absolutely nothing to the unscrupulous vultures that would’ve used this tragedy to their advantage. Someone must’ve forgotten to change the Ecto-Filtrator, how unfortunate.
He silently counts down till the door to his workshop slams open and three very loud creatures whom have once again barged into his domain uninvited, decide to make tier unhappiness known.
- You must have thought it really funny to leave us in a time loop at your front door!
His lips twitch minutely as he regards them dully.
- Who knows, and did you really need to take out your frustration on my poor door.
The trio float closer, all of them wearing identical white robes and black collard cloaks decorated with gold. Their heads were nothing more then a giant eyeball with no necks. Middle one closes in and points its sharp-nailed finger at him as it narrows its one eye.
- Were not here to play games, Time Keeper. Were here because of that hybrid you seem to favor.
He raises an eyebrow and tightens his hold on the staff. The being notices this and wisely moves back to stand with his peers. Satisfied he turns to look back at the many screens that kept switching from view to view.
- You won’t have to worry about him. He’s long gone, he provides which certainly caught their interest.
- He is? For good? third one asks, sounding a bit too exited.
- And he won’t be a problem in the future? second one asks more apprehensively.
- Yes. I trust you are satisfied now, he near spits at the unwanted company standing behind him. Dressed in fine robes they look more like noblemen than officials, which irks Clockwork to no end. So high and mighty, it made him want to defenestrate a good few of them if it weren’t for the fact that they were needed in this anarchist paradise of a dimention.
- Where did you send him anyway Clockwork? pries one of them. He merely shrugs in response.
- That is none of your concern since he won’t be coming back. Now, care to observe the door. And don’t let it hit you on your way out, he motions carelessly behind him at the exit.
As they turn to leave with indignant huffs, they do not notice the mysterious smile stretching on the time ghost’s face.

Chapter Text

- You sure you want to spend this trip only in the company of your books?

This question is the same he’s heard many times before. And just like many times before, his answer doesn’t change.

- We’ve looked almost all the sights around, pater, and I quite find them to be more desirable company than these tourists, the boy says and lifts his head from his text towards his favourite adoptive fathers.

You can tell that they aren’t a what is considered a “normal” family. Thomas Peverell, formally Tom Riddle is a rather handsome nine year old with his pale aristocratic features and styled jet black hair, who was adopted by a strange but clearly powerful gay couple.

Lord Hades Peverell who prefers to go by his mundane sobriquet “Harry”, is of clear Indian heritage. A very pleasing to the eye middle aged man; his long luscious dark hair braided over his shoulder frames his soft, near feminine profile like a painting. Then there’s his partner, Lord Mortemus “Morty” Deathly. Somewhat lackadaisical man who seems to go by his own rules. Gaunt complexion, blood red hair loosely tied at the back and pitch black eyes that stare right in and through your soul.

Tom has hard time understanding how some like Mortemus managed to catch the attention of someone as beautiful as Harry. It can’t be purely magical prowess since Harry possesses power both magical and political in his own right, if not more so. Both of the men say it’s because of love, but he was never a believer of such nonsense. At least that’s what he believed before taken in by the Lords. How annoying.

- As you will, Harry sighs. He then takes a quick glance at their surroundings.

They are currently seated café table outside to enjoy the sunshine of Florence after sightseeing the more obscure and magical sights. Yet their family was missing a member.

- Where has Morty gone off to? It has been fifteen minutes now. Tom refrains from rolling his eyes; it would be uncouth from a noble.

- You worry too much dear pater, he can take care of himself, he comforts his more delicate parental figure.

But if we’re lucky, he’ll never return and then it’ll be just the two of us dear mother pater, he thinks.

Their peaceful time is ends when vixen come running down the street screaming. Tom isn’t as well versed in Italian as he’s with Latin and French, but he does discern “Run” and “Nundu”… Wait, nundu? Harry almost chokes on his coffee, having understood everything.

- Who in their right mind would ride a nundu through a populated city? Who’s the absolute idiot-, he moves to take another sip and regrets it immediately when he hears a very familiar voice shout.

- Hi Harry! Look what I wound!

Both Harry and Tom turn to stare at the chaos happening before them. Lord Mortemus Deathly, Harry’s darling husband, his dearly beloved was riding a Merlin damned nundu like some wannabe cowboy while laughing his arse off. While being chased by the local law enforcements.

Harry spits his coffee out, nearly hitting Tom as he did.

- THAT’S MY IDIOT, he screams and proceeds to run after his wayward partner. Not before shouting back at Tom.

- Tom sweetie, just stay where you are and I’ll take care of this.

The boy sits there and after some debating turns to the dumbfounded waitress who had come to check up on them.

- I have no relation to these people, he states.

Chapter Text

That morning had stated as normal for Delia. Making porridge and berry smoothie for breakfast, and waking up her son and his pikachu, who have returned from another one of their long trips. After eating they prepared to leave to meet up with Sam at his laboratory, only to stop at a very unusual sight.

A striking red sports car is parked in front of their house from an expensive brand she remembers seeing in her childhood, with its backseat is stuffed to the prim with gifts.

Delia is so dazed with confusion and gnawing feeling building in her stomach that she fails to keep her child put as he dashes up to the vehicle.

“Wow, mom! When did you get a new car, it’s so cool looking”, Ash gasps and peeks inside the car with pikachu pressing their face against the glass.

“I didn’t”, she denies too quiet for him to hear. The gnawing feeling grows and she doesn’t like it.

Ash, you can go ahead! I forgot something in the kitchen, she yells.

Ash looks back to her and shrugs before turning to his partner.

All right! Come on pikachu, last one there is a rotten exeggcute.

Delia watches as Ash starts to race with pikachu down the dirt road to their destination. She turns around back to the house once Ash was far enough and furiously types out a number she wishes she had forgotten. She taps her foot impatiently as she waits for the call to connect..

“If you think you can buy back my forgiveness you have another thing coming Mr. Rocketto”, she states with unprecedented iciness that laces her every word, refusing the other party to speak before her. Her entire demeanour has shifted from the usual cheery small town mom image to something more gold and calculated. Her warm eyes now hold hardness to them that would make even the most bravest of men second guess themselves.

Seconds pass before a distinct male voice resonates through the landline.

“Sigh, Dalila-”

“Delia,” she reminds sharply, but the man pushes on.

“-is this really how you treat you own brother? Resorting to last names even.”

“Tsk, you lost all good will I still had for you when you endangered my son and his friends the first time around! And many times after”, she hisses and slams a nearby table to punctuate her point.

“Now that’s not fair; I didn’t know he was yours back then. Not to mention they were constantly getting in my business”, he tries to placate her, unsuccessfully of course.

She has to force herself to breath slowly and pray to whatever deity is out their before she strangles this man with her bare hands.

“Even if by some miracle I did forgive you without asking for forgiveness from my son first, I left that live style behind me. Me and my family will never join the “family business.””

There’s a moment of silence before he asks, “Am I not your family as well sister?”

A pause from her end. “… Debatable. I appreciate that you helped me get out of there, really I do. But like I said, that live is not something I want to ever partake in ever again. I’m perfectly happy here in my little countryside haven. Why can’t you just accept that Gio.”

“… I’ll call you on a later date. Pleasant day Delia dear”, he says and ends the call without much fanfare.

Delia stands there for a bit before putting the phone down too. She sighs and slumps against the phone table. She knows that her brother is one of the most stubborn individuals out there, and just hopes that this doesn’t end in fire and more tears.

Chapter Text

“Umm… Would you repeat that”, Red Robin- otherwise known as Tim asks, utterly perplexed.

He had been put on monitoring duty at the Batcave due to his injured leg. He was prepared for a mind-numbingly boring night if it weren’t for the glowing man floating in front of him. A glowing stranger to be precise; a stranger who has managed to get inside one of the most well protected hideouts without tripping any alarms. He’s was seriously debating if this was a hallucination created by his sleep deprived brain.

The white haired man growls- like actually growls in frustration.

“Urgh! I want you guys to help me file a restraining order against one Ra’s Al Ghul. My very much obsessive crazy ex. I mean, I already have one sanctioned by the Council but that doesn’t seem to deter the man one bit and since you guys are suppose to be heroes or whatever, so I thought that you would be filling to help me out with this. Didn’t you guys have beef with him? Perfect time for some payback.”

Tim blinks, then rubs his eyes and looks again. Nope, the man is still here. He nods slowly and taps his communication device.

“B, you might want to come and see at this.”

The man or Phantom as he had introduced himself as earlier and Tim stare at each other for a bit before he can’t contain his curiosity.

“Soo… You and Ra’s”, he asks like this is just the most normal thing ever.

“One of many flings of my youth unfortunately”, Phantom admits with a cringe.

Tim can only nod.

“My condolences.”

Chapter Text

“This is so embarrassing,” Lex mutters under his breath. Well, there is one silver lining that came with this situation he thinks and looks at Superman some distance away from him.

The boy scout is still struggling in utter futility against an icy prison similar to his. Lex barely holds back a snort, at least he himself takes his loss with dignity (as much as one can have in such situation). He knows it’s impossible to breakout from the ice encasing them neck to toe so he’s already resigned to his fate and hopes that their jailer chooses to show some mercy for them sooner rather than later.

And speaking of their jailer, he move his gaze from the pitiful man in front of him to a much more appealing sight and what a sight it was.

On a makeshift throne of ice sits his personal assistant Danny Fenton, dressed in pristine dark blue dress shirt and black pencil skirt, his lean legs crossed languidly as he regards them both with a look of a disappointed mother. He manages to catch the attention of those beautiful glacier blue eyes and gifts his lovely assistant his best award winning smile.

“Danny-”

“Don’t even start with me Lex. You are as much responsible for this mess as he is. And no talking while in the chill out corner”, Danny scolds sternly whilst pointing at him and Superman.

No, Lex Luthor doesn’t pout. He doesn’t.

And of course this is the moment Superman decides to open his big mouth.

“Danny, release me! You have no-”

Danny cuts him off with a literal stop sign he takes from behind his throne.

“And I’m stopping you right there Supes. Both of you are staying right where you are till you can settle you disagreements like proper adults instead of taking it out on the entire city!”

As he shouts he motions at their surroundings. The spot they currently occupy is a park with a fountain monument… or it used to be before Lex and Superman totalled it alongside with many buildings and structures.

One can hear sirens going off all around as well as shouts from both responders and civilians. Lex can see from his position some folk who have been brave enough to come for a closer look after their brawl had come to an abrupt end thanks to the infamous office siren Danny. He can see few of them recording their rather humiliating state. Oh, this is going to be such a PR nightmare.

“How many times do I need to say this: If you want to fight take it outside the city limits! There’s a perfectly good field not too far you guys could use but no, we need to duke it out like couple of teenagers behind a Denny’s! Almost took out my apartment too! Again!!”

Lex can’t help but wince at the reminder, he knows Danny can hold a grudge longer than even Ra’s and has many times before threatened to move in with his sister Lena and taking their son with him if he didn’t “cut that shit out”. As much as it pains him to admit but most of the time he deserved each tongue lashing he gets whenever he acts to closely like Danny’s “fruitloop” of a godfather.

Of course the Big Blue decides to dig himself even deeper with their already ticked off keeper.

“Now listen here-” He doesn’t get to say much when the ice travel from his neck to cover lover face, effectively cutting him off as Danny levels him truly icy glare.

“I won’t repeat myself. You’re supposed to be a hero yet it seems that you cause as much destruction as the rest of them. You think yourself so high and mighty on your ‘moral high horse’ but here’s a news flash for you smallville, life isn’t black and white; evil isn’t evil just for the sake of it, it very rarely is and people don’t always do good things because it’s the right thing to do. I honestly couldn’t give two shits about your little dick measuring competition as long as you keep the rest of us who just want to live a peaceful safe life out of it. Capisce?”

With each word his eyes glow brighter and more frigged as he dares Superman to try anything, His hand tightening around the stop sign he still brandishes like a kings scepter. For once the superhero lowers his eyes in defeat after he seems to realize that he isn’t going to win this one much to Lex’s disappointment (it would’ve been entertaining to see where this could’ve gone) and that cold gaze is now pinned on the businessman. Lex doesn’t falter but nods his head in submission feeling rather chastised himself from the tirade. Though it left him feeling something *ehem* else too which the tightly packed ice on his body conceals rather well. The way he’s able to talk down Big Blue himself… Damn, Lena was right: he does have a competence kink.

As he tries and fails to think anything else to lessen his ever hardening problem their tentative silence of self-reflection is shattered by a youthful laugh, “Hahah this is hilarious! Guys takes pictures quick.”

Lex wishes he could bang his head against something when a familiar group of teen heroes waltz in and take in their unfortunate state. Kid Flash openly laughs as he takes as many pictures as possible and highly amused Artemis looks on, Robin is tapping away on his wrist device with a smirk while Aqualad seems more perplexed than anything with the whole ordeal. Miss Martian giggles as she follows another teen called Supernova- also known as Conner Fenton up to the throne and its occupant. Dressed in a distinct black and white suit with blue accents that seems to pay homage to another hero there even if they haven’t worn theirs in years. Danny visibly softens at the sight of them and gives his greeting.

“Hey little star, been busy?”

The teen, a male with same hair and eyes as Danny shrugs, “Not really. Nice weapon,” he says and points at the stop sign. Danny shrugs and tosses it to the side.

“You can’t beat the classics, besides the thermos of course. So what are you kids doing here?”

Supernova rolls his eyes, “Big wigs up in the atmosphere want to know whats up. They fighting again?”

Danny nods and mutters, “Yep. Seriously, it feels like instead of being a high payed assistant I’m a glorified babysitter to adult sized children. And just you know that out of all of these children you two are my favorites.”

Supernova snorts, “Sure hope so, considering I’m your only biological one. Anyway I’m going to go and make fun of dad and not-dad, see ya mom.”

Lex can only sigh in resignation as Supernova walks up to him, leaving Danny to chat with Miss Martian about new muffin recipes.

“Hi dad”, he says with a shit-eating grin.

“Son”, Lex huffs. The little shit puts his arm over his frozen shoulder and leans casually over.

“Sooo, how’s it going? Other than pissing off mom for the fifth time this month.”

Before Lex can defend himself another more gruffer voice carries over.

“I would like to know as well.”

Oh look it’s Batman, what a joy. He’s standing by Danny’s throne and examining them, then he turns to the still sitting male. “Danny”, he greets.

“Batman”, Danny gives a two-finger salute in turn.

“Hmm”, comes ever so eloquent response, which Danny counters.

“You can’t tell me they don’t deserve this. I’m going easy on them in my opinion.”

“I know. Saw the footage”, Batman states. Danny raises an eyebrow.

“And?”

A second then two…

“Carry on.”

He then turns to the two men still stuck in place, “Superman we will discuss about your shameful conduct and disregard toward civilian lives and property.”

He turns to leave since the other is still silenced by ice but not before saying to the assistant, “and Mr Fenton will have no problem in educating Mr Luthor in same manner.”

Danny gives a sharp smile.

“Oh I will don’t you worry.”

And just like that the Dark Knight is gone like a shadow in a broad daylight. Danny claps his hands to gain everyones attention, “Now then, since were going to be here for a while would you kids like to have some triple-chocolate muffins I managed to make before those two interrupted my stress baking session.”

Predictably all of them are on board.

“Ooh me me me!”

“Yes please!”

“Sure why not.”

“I would be delighted.”

“Hm.”

“You didn’t mix sugar with salt this time did you?”

And Lex can only hope that Danny would give him one out of sheer pity.

Chapter Text

Harry was tried in near catatonic state to shove some good ol’ English breakfast down his throat after waking up from three hour sleep, lacking due to cramming much of his schoolwork till last minute when it happened. Through the open double door entry sprinted two identical red heads with manic glee towards their unsuspecting housemates at the gryffindor table, many whom have yet to still fully awaken.

Harry tried his best to understand with his sleep addled brain what was happening as the two menaces sat either side of him. One of them, he’s too tired to care which one, showed a piece a parchment.

“Our dear Harrinski, you will never believe what we’ve wound,” says Weasley to his left.

“It’s positively scandalous,” whispers Weasley número dos to his right.

Harry blinked one lethargic eye, then another.

“Wha’ you talkin’ ‘bou’?”

“We’ll Fred and I managed to slip into dear ol’ Snape’s chamber-”, left Weasl- George begins to explain, and those words alone are enough to snap Harry fully back to the waking world. He looks at the twins in mounting horror and maybe a bit of awe.

“You did what?”

Fred dares to roll his eyes at him, “We broke into Snape’s room, keep up will you.”

“So, we got in and started looking around when lo and behold, we find letters. And not just any letters”, George continued, ignoring the wide eyed look he received at their blatant admittance. Then as one they say, “They are love letters!”

Harry has to really put all of his processing power into that last sentence, because there is no way he heard that correct.

“Love… letters?” he mutters in disbelieve, because what? Letter of affection, to the most surliest person he has ever know besides his uncle Vernon.

Or rather he used to be from from what he has heard: Snape used to be so much worse until just couple of years ago before he himself stated to go school here, that’s when he apparently started to mellow out quite some. Still a hard-ass though.

Fred and George nod in unison and show him the parchment; it’s unique looking and definitely expensive, green in colour and almost fluorescent in quality- blimey, is that glittery lipstick on the paper!? He ignores it for his sanity’s sake and reads;

Mine own dearest Prince,

I desire this lett’r finds thee well; t’hast been far too longeth since we has’t lastheth seen, and mine own heart aches to beest by thy side once m’re. I regreteth not visiting anon’r but duties cometh first. F’r many a moon I has’t hath slav’d hence to meeteth thee again, to gazeth into thy dark ‘rbs, and to heareth the timbre of thy voice. And finally I has’t hath found myself free with timeth to spareth and thus has’t hath decided to cometh to thee in p’rson, at long last. Just waiteth f’r me belov’d.

At each moment yours always, DP

Harry can only stare, mystified by what was written. Who writes like this nowadays? Who the bloody hell is this DP? Dearest Prince? Timbre of thy voice? Eww, he so did not need to know about his professor’s love life in any capacity; certainly not Snape’s of all people. What did this ‘DP’ see in the gloomy potion professor anyway?

Harry is brought back from his thoughts when Fred whispers too close to his ear, “You see! Definitely a love letter. Who knew you local dungeon bat had it in him.”

George leans in too, “It begs the question: who is this mysterious DP? From the lipstick stain you’d think it be a woman-”

“But that would be too narrow minded my dear brother. We don’t really know which broom he flies with, he’s always been secretive when it comes to his privet matters”, Fred continues.

“Honestly, I didn’t think ol’ Snape had any privet life. I thought potions were his entire life”, George says.

As the two continue on with their theories, Harry ignores them and chooses to focus on his forgotten breakfast instead. But no matter how much he tried he couldn’t keep his eyes from drifting back to the parchment. He might be too curious for his own good but he can’t help it; he’s always been kept in the dark about things so he has learned to find answers by himself. No, he shakes his head, this isn’t any of his business and he’d rather not get in more on Snape’s bad side by intruding like this.

After taking couple of bites he notices that it has gotten quiet, too quiet. He looks up at the twins and sees them frozen and pale, looking behind them as if death itself has come for them. He slowly turns too and… oh bollocks.

The infamous dark potions master stands there in his looming glory, glaring down at them red faced. Oh if looks could kill. And when he finally speaks you could here the hot red rage in every word of his.

“Mister Potter and the Weasley menaces. What. Do. You. Have. There.”

The three of them looked at each other for a workable answer, but came up with nothing.

“Detention for rest of the term, for breaking and entering into teacher’s quarters and theft. Starting today,” Snape growls and marches forward. He snatches away the letter before briskly walking out of the dining hall.

As the man leaves Harry to glare at the twins for dragging him into their mess, he discreetly smooths over the letter to make sure it didn’t have any wrinkles and pockets it close to his heart. He’ll make sure to hide all his other letters and mementos somewhere safer.

Chapter Text

Red Hood has experienced many things in his life; he’s done many things, most of them which he’s not proud of. But out of all the bullshit his fucked up existence has thrown at him, this might just take the proverbial cake. He was doing his rounds without any issues on a very quiet night, which should have already raised some flags. Gotham was being too quiet, at least on his side of the city when it happened. He was ambushed from all sides and packed pretty easily without him getting even a glimpse of the perpetrators. Only thing he managed to do was press the emergency button!

Since his captors have shoved a back over his head he couldn’t see them, but he could hear them as could rest of the bats.

“The fuck is the deal!? Where are you taking me?” he demanded.

A female voice had answered him, and he could make out a clear mid-western accent mix in with a Spanish one.

“Oh don’t get your helmet in a twist lover boy~ You’ll find out soon enough.”

And so here he is now.

Sitting on a chair free of his restraints, seemingly having a candle lit dinner in an allay way decked out in fairy lights, softly scented candles, flower petals; really, the whole shebang. On the one other seat across the clothed table sits a well dressed twink. He can’t see what he looks like exactly since he’s hiding his face in his hands.

And if things couldn’t get any weirder, an older teen with glasses and curly hair walks to them with an accordion along with a burly asian carrying a guitar, both dressed to the nines. The accordionist starts to play and- no fucking way…

When it registers what the two boys- men? are playing and singing, his coms start to flood with laughter and hooting. It’s the fucking song from Lady and the Tramp movie.

Red Hood, or rather Jason is so confounded that he doesn’t do much other than nod in thanks when a blond chick comes in with some italian pasta. The twink mumbles something and curls further in on himself. Jason just stares; was he seriously kidnapped (rather efficiently he has to admit) for a date of all things? He allows himself relax a smidgen since it appears he wasn’t brought here out of malice.

Alright, focus and take stock of the situation. These kids seemed to be older than high schoolers, and they have some training under their belt if they were able to get a drop on him in his own territory. The bats share some of their own tidbits they’ve been able to gather from tailing these particular teens. Apparently their here on a three day field trip from Illinois and have been causing mayhem ever since they’ve arrived. Tim’s caffeine infused theory is that they are magic users from a magic school that taught necromancy which Jason chooses to ignore indefinitely.

The twink finally raises his head and Jason stills.

Oh, oh no.

He’s not just a twink.

He’s a really pretty twink.

No, focus and catalog!

They have raven black hair that is playfully tousled, making him look even younger than his short slim build already does. His ivory skin is dusted with freckles like decoration help bring out his big doe eyes, and oh those eyes, like baby blue sapphires frames perfectly by dark luscious lashes. He wonders if those rose petal lips would taste like-

No! No, bad Jason! Bad!

The poor boy, all blushing and overwhelmed apologizes, “I’m so sorry Mr. Hood! I-I told them not to do anything drastic since I don’t need a boyfriend o-or partner, but they won’t listen!”

The asian dude intersects from the side, “Of course we won’t. Otherwise you’ll never get a date who isn’t a back stabbing brick or world conquering megalomaniac like your creepy uncle Vlad.”

“Were are doing this for your sake Danny!” shouts the curly haired boy.

Okay, ignoring those concerning remarks for now Jason turns back to the pretty twink named Danny.

He smirks “So… this happens often?”

Danny groans and blushes more all the way to his ears, “Only twice before thankfully. I mean I appreciate that they want me to be happy but… after all my past relationships I’ve gotten in terms with the fact that I might never find someone right for me; after all who would want a half dead guy like me as their boyfriend.”

Jason’s heart kinda breaks at the resigned smile forming on those soft lips. He can hear Stephanie cry vehement denials and righteous encouragements trough the link.

“Hey now, don’t say that. You seem like a nice guy so it’s their own fault for not seeing the beaut that you are. Hands down this has been most pleasant kidnapping I’ve experienced so far.”

Jason smirks when he sees Danny blush even more at his complement, while ignoring Damian’s demands to seize fraternizing with the other party.

“And since were both here why not make most of it. Care to tell some about yourself?”

Danny shifts a bit and thinks, “Umm… Well, I should probably introduce myself since it’s kinda my fault your here; I’m Danny Fenton and I study engineering at Casper University. I really like space and astronomy, I also like animals and volunteer at the local zoo and animal shelter when I can. And I’ve also started to take interest in reading, mostly sci-fi and murder mysteries.”

So far so good, he thinks as he discreetly looks the other over. He says he’s in university but-

“Quick question: how old are you if you don’t mind me asking?”

Please be legal, please be legal, please be legal-

“Oh, I’m eighteen soon to be nineteen.”

Thank fuck.

“What about you? I can you tell about yourself, it doesn’t have to be anything too personal with secret identities and all. I actually used to be a teen hero before going fully public so I understand.”

Jason blinks. The coms are silent.

“What do you-”

His words die on his tongue when pair of gloved hands grip Danny’s shoulders. Green rage fills his vision when he seen the face of the monster that plagues this city. The Joker.

He growls and craps his gun.

“Well what do we have here? Couple of love birds~” comes a grating voice right above Danny, causing him to turn around.

He screams and throws a punch.

The Pit Rage coursing through Jason’s veins that was demanding him to attack, to kill, to protect, to take-Danny-and-never-let-go came to a freezing halt. He watches in awe as his gorgeous twink decks the clown fucker in the face, eliciting a satisfying crack. Joker goes flying in beautiful arch and lands on his neck.

They all watch his limp form. He doesn’t rise.

“Damn it, not again. Third one in two months, hopefully this time they won’t seek compensation.” One their musicians mutters.

Danny turns back to him and begins to ramble and gesture with his bloodied hand, “O-Oh gosh! I’m so sorry, please don’t tell Batman! I don’t want him to kick us out just yet; I haven’t gotten to visit the planetarium yet.”

Welp, now Jason knows where to take Danny on their second date. He takes his helmet off as his siblings yell at him but he doesn’t care about that, all he cares about wooing the fuck out of this murder twink. He fixes his hair a bit and leans on the table, giving his most charming smile.

“Never dream of it. Anyway~ ever read Jane Austen?”

In his opinion the name Jason Fenton has a nice ring to it.

Chapter Text

It hasn’t been even couple of days from the start of a new school year at Babyls Demon School and yet already the rumour mill was going strong. And it all revolved around a certain blue haired beauty who’s seen dutifully trailing behind Babyls’ notorious watchdog: the assistant teacher Irumi. The same teacher who despite her sweet and gentle appearance caused quite a commotion at the entrance ceremony.

It was something that the new Abnormal Class had heavy interest in.

“Hey hey. Did you guys see the new teach?” asked Lied from his fellow classmates.

All of the misfits had made themselves at home at their dingy classroom, waiting for their teacher to arrive. And what better way to pass time than to gossip.

“The pretty blue one? Yeah I did, and did you see her patch? How the hell is a soft looking thing like her a Tet at her age; why haven’t I ever heard of her?” said Jazz whilst twiddling with his stolen borrowed loot.

That was one other thing demons were going crazy about in the school halls, an eighteen years old demoness managing to climb all the way to rank Tet and becoming a teacher at the prestigious Babyls School. There were many who would kill to know her secrets to success. Sabro especially was eager to fight such a promising demon.

”Right! There are only a handful of Tet demons, so a ranking of a new one should’ve been all over the news,” mused Goemon, many of his classmates nodding along.

Lied then jumped back into the fray, “Forget about that! Did you see her with Kalego-sensei? I swear I saw him smile at her! I’ve heard stories about him and the guy never ever smiles.”

That certainly got every demons attention; the Babyls watchdog was infamous for a reason.

“Huh!?”

“No way!”

Elizabetta though had a different reaction.

“Oh my Devi! You think they’re lovers?” she swooned at the prospect.

“Isn’t she like way too young for him? Besides, she started going here at the same time as us. There is no way that they’d develop feelings for each other that fast.” Schneider tried to reason, but the ever romantic succubus was having none of it.

“Humph. You guys are so unromantic, ever heard of love at first sight?”

Sweat dropped from each of their foreheads at the passionate declaration, but there was someone else who shared the same sentiment.

“There’s no question! Who among men wouldn’t wish to be with such delicate flower! Sweet, elegant, such effortless charm and beauty!! I never thought I’d be envious of a man like Kalego-sensei but if I was in his place I’d-”

Thankfully Kamui the pervert was silenced by a well timed kick from Elizabetta.

Schneider ignored them and continued on, “…Anyway, my theory is that she’s his niece; he’d only tolerate his own family, right?”

Jazz shrugged, “I’ll bet on lovers, it’s the more interesting option.”

“Thirty vills on her being a secret love child of some super powerful demon who’s been hiding this whole time!” said Goemon vehemently.

At this point Sabro also entered into the conversation, since nothing interest him more than strong demons and their history. “She has to be. A Tet and a teacher at her age? She must have some serious background,” he nodded at Goemon.

“His niece. Twenty vills.” declared Schneider.

Elizabetta waved twenty vills confidently, “Secret lovers.”

Clara came pouncing from her little corner of toys, “Maybe Sensei is Irumi-teach’s daddy!”

The room fell into silence as they all tried to picture the scary teacher with a baby.

… Yeah, there’s no way.

Lied snorted, “Yeah right. That would mean that Kalego-sensei has a lover to have a kid with. Who’d marry that stick-in-the-mud? Plus they look nothing alike.”

Their conversation had to but on hold when the door to their classroom opened softly and sound of dainty steps heralded the approach of whom they assumed was either a new classmate or teacher. A poised form entered, clothed in Babyls teacher uniform thou it differed in that it was blue in colour to match the long shiny locks of the demoness it belonged to. Wait a minute, they recognized this woman, it’s the same one they have been talking about. So their homeroom teacher was the famous Irumi, damn they’re lucky!

…Oh no, they forgot to take down rest of the traps that they’ve used to test out their peers!

But it was already too late, she was inside and the trap has been sprung. They terror quickly turned into awe as they watch her effortlessly dodge all the incoming projectiles. Her movements so fluid it seemed like she was dancing on air, and as a pièce de résistance she caught the final arrow between her slender fingers. She gave the stunned students a bright smile and they all exploded into cheers.

“That was awesome sensei!” Lied shouted.

“Lovely!~” applauded Elizabetta.

Irumi chuckled as the rest of them gave their own compliments “Thank you for the praise everyone.”

Then she switched to more serious tone “Even though I do not mind pranks you all should be mindful of to what extent you pull them, some could get seriously hurt. Not to mention you would be in far more trouble if this hit your other homeroom teacher.”

The students looked each other, feeling slightly chastised.

“…Umm, what other teacher?” asked Schneider having noticed the final two words.

As if summoned an oppressive air filled the room and some swore they could see lightning crackling from the doorway. To their dismay in trudged Babyls’ notorious Guard Dog, Naberius Kalego. His sharp eyes did a quick sweep of the assembly and of course noticed all the weapons sticking from all surfaces and Irumi holding an arrow. His gaze hardened and he marched forward. He held out his hand and Irumi handed the arrow without further prompting. With a bit too much force he incinerated the damn thing and spun to face the hellions.

“You’re too loud, you fools! They can hear you all the way outside! And attacking your teacher? Height of stupidity right there and one way ticked to detention.”

Before anybody could question why they had two homeroom teachers, Kalego turned to leave the same way he came. He commanded over his shoulder.

“Get outside right now, idiots! Class is starting.”

Chapter Text

P.S. Had an idea to make this prompt after reading these fics.

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

Megatron would never admit it out loud but he’s glad for the silence that encompasses the bridge, even enjoys it. The only sounds to be heard are rhythmic tapping of his crew going over gathered information on consoles and datapads, and the constant hum of the ship itself. No bickering underlings, no autobots, no pesky fleshbag talking his audials off; just peace and quiet as he goes through his own datapad. For a moment that is.

“Are you guys like exes?” asks a certain juvenile voice from inside his processor.

Mehatron pauses for a moment to process that question. He knows that term only because of his unwanted passenger’s ramblings related to fleshbags he couldn’t care less of. “What.”

The voice or ‘Danny’ as it likes to call himself, vents in frustration.

“I mean the way you two act with each other, not to mention how much you talk about him even in your spare time. You act like you’ve gotten over each other but it’s clear that you really haven’t. Like come on, you even have this Opti-guy’s pictures on your computer!”

Megatron’s intakes have to work overtime to keep him calm, which seems to happen more and more with the insolent bug, who has taken residence inside his brain module against his will some time ago. He makes sure to keep his voice low as he corrects the brat, can’t have his minions think that he’s glitched.

“We have and never will be ‘sparkmates’. One has to know his enemy in order to know their weaknesses. We might have worked as comrades before our views started to clash, but that’s it. Now we are two generals fighting for our causes, and Optimus Prime will be the one to fall.”

Danny snorts. “Alright Sun Tzu. But seriously, the amount of stuff you have on this guy goes way beyond just having a massive hate-boner. ‘Former comrades’ my ass.”

Megatron chooses to firmly ignore the boy for his own sanity’s sake and continues to tap away at is datapad. But Danny wasn’t about to let this go.

“Are you sure you two were never a thing, not even hint of romance? A whirlwind of bromance perhaps.”

Megatron stays silent, and Danny pushes further.

“You know, at one point there was a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy used in the army in USA. Did you have something similar, is that why you won’t talk about it? It’s alright, I get it. It takes courage to come out like that and I want to just tell you that I’m an ally to my brothers and sisters, I’m Pantom after all.”

The Mech snaps and near shouts, “Will you ever shut up! There is nothing between us!”

Heavy silence envelops the deck at his outburst, his underlings twitching nervously as they discreetly looked at each other to see which one of them managed to anger Megatron this time. Even Danny falls silent. At least for a moment.

“I hear some bitterness in there, Tron.”

Megatron’s optic twitches. “This conversation ends now.”

A minute of tense peace passes.

“… totally exes.”

The pad in his servos snaps in half.