This fic was inspired by echobogg's post on Tumblr. She made some amazing artwork for PhantasyPhest2022's day 4 prompt (crossover with a fantasy franchise) that now lives rent-free in my head.
This is something of a crack fic, and I don't really plan to be super OCD on this story about consistency. You have been warned.
It was just an average morning for Danny, really. In that it was frickin' seven o' clock on a Saturday and he was up chasing ghosts. His Sense had gone off just ten minutes ago, rousing him from a dream that pulled at his mind like warm honey, promising sweet delight should he just close his eyes and drift back off. Groaning, he'd let the cool tingle of his ghost form chase away the alluring heat of the covers and shot out of bed, zipping through his bedroom window to follow the elusive pull in his chest.
As he'd passed the city center the sky had lightened from soft black to grizzle grey, the sun unable to penetrate a thick cloud cover that promised snow.
A blip of increased ecto-energy steered his flight left and Danny's eyes narrowed, frustration bubbling in his core.
The mall?
"Goddamnit!" Danny tipped forward in a nosedive. "Just because the stores have fancy boxes right now doesn't mean—!" The wind stole the rest of his words and pulled at messy, white hair, dragging it back from his face as he plummeted through the roof of the multiplex.
Slowing on the other side, Danny scanned his surroundings, color fading from his vision as unearthly eyes adjusted to the gloom of an empty store.
Silent as the grave, he let what little light there was pass through him, invisibility leeching his soft glow as he floated down a short aisle toward the center walkway. Passing a collection of thumbstick drives suspended on metal pegs, he neared an end cap covered in fluffy cotton balls and reindeer figurines.
He could tell the ghost was close, but his Sense wasn't perfect.
Letting his eyes defocus as he stuck his head out over the main floor, he watched for movement over detail.
There. A green shadow flashed in Danny's periphery, and the ghost boy shot forward.
Green? Not blue?
Danny's brows furrowed even as he took a hard left. Contorting around a floor stand, he was just in time to watch a spectral tail disappear into a gaming display, a muted "Nyah-hah-hah-ha-ha!" emanating from the now-glowing Xbox 360.
"An X-box?" Danny whispered, rubbing at an eyebrow with the heel of his palm. "Well that's just great. Right theme. Wrong ghost."
He needed to get Technus out of there before the geriatric computer scientist turned the whole Best Buy into a crappy version of Sharknado meets Transformers.
Engaging intangibility, Danny darted forward, shoulder leading a charge through a "Pre-Order Now!" sign as he beelined for the console.
Green gloves shot out, encircling the teen's waist in the blink of an eye.
Managing only a single, weak yelp as black crept into his vision, Danny felt himself go limp.
Sky-blue eyes opened to a sea of blurry color.
Large, jagged shapes of black and green fought against a pale blue backdrop, sending a wave of nausea climbing up Danny's throat even as an evocative aroma tried to nag him into lucidity.
Uuuugh.
What hit him?
"...ey, you…" A burst of cold shocked his system and he abruptly understood that the crisp, aromatic scent was pine and the looming silhouettes of color belonged to the landscape of a mountain pass. Even birdsong filtered in, accompanied by a string instrument's faint, haunting melody.
Where—?
"...ou're finally awake." Danny's head lolled forward and his mind went from a fish in a whirlpool to a hermit crab in an aquarium, the chaotic dizziness vanishing like it'd never been.
Back stiff, he shifted in place, wood creaking beneath him as he appraised a pair of stinging wrists. Human ones.
Wait. Why was he tied up?!
Danny pulled at his hands, trying to will them into intangibility; then, with some panic, himself into invisibility.
Nothing happened.
"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us and that thief over there."
Hold up. What?!
Author's note:
Let me know what you guys think and if you'd be interested in seeing more of this.