For Phic Phight 2022

Prompts used are listed at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 1: Emergency Contact


William Lancer is grading papers when he gets the call. The number comes up unknown, so he lets it ring a few times before answering. He has contacts saved anyone who would need to call his cell—friends, family, coworkers, et cetera—and their ID would have shown. For it to be an unknown caller leaves only two likely options: a scammer or an angry parent who somehow scrounged up his number. If it's the former, he can ignore it. But William also doesn't like to be rude. At the very least he will answer the call long enough to tell them to buzz off and forget his number.

If it's the latter, then he needs to figure out which child is losing a letter grade on their next assignment for having rude parents. Oh, if only. The urge is tempting, especially with some more difficult parents. If it is a parent, they deserve to sweat for a few rings before he answers, and then he can ream them for tying up his personal line with school matters.

He lets it ring four times before answering.

"Is this William Lancer?" someone asks. Hurried, somewhat urgent, but no note of anger. That coupled with the first name eliminates the possibility of a parent. Very few parents bother to learn William's first name.

William puts down his pen and answers. "This is he."

"I'm Dr. Alejo calling from Amity West. I have an underage patient here who has named you as their emergency contact."

"What?" A minor? A student? William stands up so fast that his chair flies back and crashes into the wall. He hurries around his desk. "Who? I—oof." A jolt shoots up his side and the phone slips from his fingers. He fumbles to catch it with one hand and massages his hip with the other, giving his desk an affronted look.

"—tom," the doctor finishes.

Tom. Tom? William can't think of any student named Tom. No, not Tom. He missed the first part of the name, probably misheard the end of it. Ton. Fenton.

"Danny?" William asks.

"Yes, sir. He requested you."

That is all William needs to hear. "I'll be right there." He dives back to his desk, snatching his keys from the top door, and is out of the classroom before the doctor can say another word.

The hospital is far from the school, and the fact that it's the five o'clock rush doesn't help. Forty minutes is a long time to spend in silence. William tries the radio after the first couple of red lights leave him with spinning thoughts. He flicks through the channels but can't focus enough to know if he's listening to music or commercials. It becomes another layer of noise on top of the hurricane in his head and he shuts it off soon enough.

Danny Fenton is in the hospital and William is his emergency contact. Was there another lab accident? It's possible. It would explain why his parents aren't being called if they were there, if they were hurt, too. And Jasmine. William can't remember if she's eighteen yet or not. Maybe, maybe not. She's not his student anymore—graduated early and went to college. Even if she is an adult now, she's out of state.

The Fenton children have an aunt, William thinks, although he's not sure. He doesn't make a habit of knowing his student's extended families unless they're also his students. Like Mikey and Lester, who are cousins. Or Star Delisle and Lance Thunder, niece and uncle. William remembers Lance. Nightmare student. Always worried about his hair during gym class. Unsurprising that he changed his name to suit his field of work. Maybe Tiffany Snow's name is made up, too.

William doesn't know if Danny has anyone else.

He resists the urge to step on the gas when he hits the last block, nearly runs the last light. His good sense gets the better of him, though, and he stops when he sees the yellow. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel. This is fine. Everything is fine. The doctor hadn't sounded worried, not life-or-death worried. At least William didn't think so, but they only exchanged a few words, and he missed half of them thanks to his desk.

When the light turns green, William slams his foot on the gas and lurches across the intersection, tearing into the parking lot that waits just on the other side. He walks, walks, not sprints—although it is a very brisk walk with pumping arms and huffed breaths—through the door and right up to the front desk.

"My name is William Lancer. I was called as an emergency contact for Danny Fe–"

"Mr. Lancer!" a shout pulls his attention to the left hall. A woman in dark red scrubs and a doctor's coat stands at the entrance. She glances around the room, shooting the nurse at the desk an apologetic look, and strides over. "William Lancer?"

"Yes," he says. "Dr. Alejo?"

"Good. Come with me. And be discreet if you can."

"Discreet?" Shouting his name from across the room wasn't exactly discreet. And neither is the way she keeps glancing over her shoulder. At first, he thinks she's checking to see if he's following her, but after the third time, he realizes she is looking behind him. The next time she looks back, William does the same and finds nothing out of the ordinary. Nurses. Doctors. A patient walking the hall. Some lingering visitors.

They cross a red line after a few turns and here, Dr. Alejo grabs William's arm and steers him around the next bend toward an elevator.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused. Is– is Danny okay?" William asks.

Dr. Alejo hits the down button before looking up at him. "So you really know him?"

"Excuse me?"

"Danny? You know him?"

"I– uh. Of course, I do. He's my student."

"Oh. I'm sorry. That must be hard."

William blinks, taken aback, and a little insulted on Danny's behalf. Not that she's wrong. Danny is a challenging student, but he works hard. "Is he okay?"

"I guess that's pretty relative, isn't it?"

William doesn't think so. A simple yes or no will answer his question.

"He's–" Dr. Alejo snaps her mouth shut when the sound of footsteps approaches. Someone in scrubs darts past their hall. The elevator opens then, and Dr. Alejo pushes William inside before anyone else can pass. She hits a button labelled B.

"I couldn't look him over in the clinic, or anywhere upstairs. Too many people," she says. "So, I brought him down here. It's a bit of a weird situation. I didn't even know ghosts could bleed, but they can control plants, and the weather, so why not?"

She laughs. To William's ears, it sounds a bit hysterical, but he might be projecting because Dr. Alejo just used the word ghost to refer to his student and he can't quite process that. Danny. Ghost. There could be a hundred reasons for that. His parents are ghost hunters after all.

That number quickly narrows when the elevator doors open, and William sees a sign pointing left and right. First to the loading bay, and second toward the morgue.

Please go left. Please go left.

Dr, Alejo turns right.

"I would have told you to park by the loading bay, so you could enter through the door down here, but just as well. It should stay clear in case an ambulance comes. Oh, don't worry," she says when she sees William's stricken expression. "The loading bay has an entrance for the first floor, too, so no one should be coming down here. The basement entrance is just for when people come to pick up bodies."

She opens the morgue door and disappears inside.

William hesitates. What is he going to see when he steps through that door? His student, cold and dead, laid out on a metal slab? But... Dr. Alejo didn't say he was dead. She said he was fine, relatively. William is here as an emergency contact, not someone to identify the body. He doesn't remember taking the few steps toward the door. The handle is cold under his palm.

"Danny!" Dr. Alejo's voice comes through the door, caught between a whisper and a shout. "If you ran away I swear I'm going to hunt you down! You better not have ripped your stitches!"

A click followed by a thunk. A deadpan: "Really, Danny?"

William turns the knob and opens the door. It takes a good while to process the sight before him. Dr. Alejo stands before a wall of metal doors, holding at shoulder height open. She gives the opening a familiar look, the same kind of look William gives his students when they are being particularly rowdy or disobedient. The same look he gives one student in particular.

"Sorry!" a familiar voice says from inside the cabinet. "I just heard someone coming and panicked."

"So you hid?"

"Yes."

"In a body drawer."

"Is that really what they're called?"

"Can't you turn invisible?"

A moment of silence. "Yes. Yes, I can."

"Can you explain what's going on here?" William asks.

Dr. Alejo lets go of the door and steps away. A head emerges. Familiar, yes, but not the head he expected. Not the Danny he expected.

"Um, hi, Mr. Lancer. Care to be my guardian for a few hours?" Danny Phantom peeks out from the body drawer and smiles.


Prompts:

Submitted by Ghostanimal: When Danny gets admitted to the hospital as Phantom, he's asked if he has anybody who could come be with him since he's a minor. Not sure who else to pick, he requests Mr. Lancer to come.

Submitted by Avearia: Lancer & Danny, reveal fic.