Hey, apologies for the ridiculously long wait! To compensate, I can tell you that this fic is already finished; this is the second to last chapter, and tomorrow I will be uploading the final one! Thank you for your patience, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Nico lets the silence linger for a moment – Danny clearly needs it, and he'd rather not disrespect his decision to open up to a total stranger.
He's conflicted about it, though. Demigods are obviously no strangers to dying, but they're no strangers to killing, either; enemy heroes, evil mortals in-the-know, the more humanoid, sapient monsters...they've all had to kill someone. They all understand, even if they don't like it, that sometimes there isn't much of a choice at all.
Sometimes you have to take a life to save another – especially your own.
Obviously, Danny never got past the actual deed – his actions haunt him, which some might argue is probably an ultimately healthier and more reasonable response to murdering someone than most demigods can manage. It makes sense, he supposes; if all of Danny's previous foes could bounce back from pretty much anything he could throw at them, and thus he never experienced the bloodier side of being a hero, seeing Ellie mutilated and having to kill someone to fix it would definitely be grounds for leaving the life behind.
"How much does Ellie know?" –Nico wonders, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Not much." –he admits. "She knows I saved her, and that Clockwork intervened on her behalf, but she doesn't know anything else. She's a smart one, though; she assumes something horrific happened even though I refuse to go into detail."
"I haven't known her for very long, but she doesn't seem like the type to enjoy being kept in the dark." –Nico muses.
Danny snorts. "No, she isn't." –he says. "It drove a wedge between us for a few months after the fact. Went into the Ghost Zone and didn't come back out for weeks."
Nico hums. He can definitely picture that. "What made her return?"
"The end of my career, I guess." –he says. "I tried to stick it out for a while, but I couldn't do it. It was all over the news, even though our identities were still a secret; Vlad was the town's mayor at the time, so you can imagine there was something of an upheaval when his body was found in the wreckage of a secret paranormal research base. And even though I came clean with my parents, and they understood why I had to do it – and though he was a generally obsessive and abusive person – Vlad was still their lifelong friend, and I'd killed him."
He hovers horizontally, like he's lying on his bed, his hands laced over his stomach. "I guess Dani caught wind that I wasn't fighting the usual suspects. And it's not like they were a real problem – it was almost friendly, by that time. A way to catch up, spar with each other. But other, more malicious ghosts took notice of my retirement, and they started to test the waters."
"That didn't motivate you to fight again, I'm assuming."
Danny winces. "I tried, Nico. I really did. But every time I blasted someone with an ecto-ray, or shot ghost ice at them, all I could see was Vlad, staring back at me with terror in his eyes as he died by my hand. I convinced myself that Valerie and the other ghost hunters could handle it, but...the others weren't up to it, and Valerie's tech was compromised. They needed the Phantom."
Nico hums. "Just not you."
"No. Not anymore." –he agrees. "I didn't mean to put her up to it, but she must've felt like she had to step up. Her getting captured had led to Vlad's death, and I think she internalized that guilt. Thought she had to make it up to me, I guess."
"You didn't try to dissuade her?"
"A little, but...even if we're not the same person, we do share some traits. She's as stubborn as I am, maybe more." –he says, fondly. "So I pivoted; I tried to give her a home at my parents', set her up with an identity as my long lost cousin using Vlad's resources, and I tried to encourage the city to adopt her as their new hero. And it worked…for a little while."
He sighs. "But then she almost got beat by Undergrowth once – big plant-based ghost, very powerful. I had to develop my ice powers in order to beat him, and with her powers stunted, she wasn't able to use her own elemental core. Dani managed to pull out a win anyways, with Valerie and my parents' help, but I got spooked, and...I guess I went too far."
Nico frowns. "What did you do?"
"I went to the ghosts and made them protect her. I went to the Guys in White and basically hired them to keep her safe in exchange for teaching them everything I could about ghosts. And I asked my parents to shadow her, just in case she faced another powerful enemy like that." –he admits, ashamed. "I should've known she wouldn't want that. To her, it wasn't protection; it was a reminder that her powers would never catch up to mine. That – at least in her eyes – she was never gonna be as great a hero as I was. That she really was just another one of Vlad's failed clones."
"That's…less than ideal."
Danny snorts. "No kidding." –he shakes his head. "If keeping her in the dark about that failed timeline was a bad call, this was significantly worse. We had a falling out, and…well, we've never fully patched things up since. I moved to New York, I started college, and I got engaged. Meanwhile, back home, Ellie took over the duties of the Phantom full time – even though the people of Amity Park never really connected with her, not like they eventually did with me, for better or worse."
Nico hums – there certainly isn't a Dani Phantom statue in front of Amity's City Hall. "And the more powerful ghosts? Valerie mentioned that they don't respect her as much as you."
The former hero shrugs. "She got better with time, just like I did. She's learned how to get around her shortcomings, and she hasn't come close to losing since. And if she lacked a bit of power sometimes…well, the town learned how to compensate. My parents developed defensive infrastructure to keep collateral damage to a minimum, and other ghost hunters like Valerie stepped up to support her – organically, now, not because I asked them to."
"So, why not fix your relationship with her, if things have stabilized that way?" –Nico asks. "Surely you're far enough past your mistakes that you guys could figure things out."
"Eh…it's probably a little selfish of me, but…I've tried my best not to touch anything related to my time as Danny Phantom. I don't keep up with the newest ghost-hunting tech, I don't look at the news from Amity Park, and I've never been back in the Ghost Zone." –he confesses.
He shakes his head. "I still have a drive to help, Nico; maybe it's my ghost half's 'unfinished business', maybe it's just years of putting myself on the line urging me to keep doing it. Whatever the case, it's very hard for me to stick to the sidelines. I was incredibly lucky to miss the Chitauri invasion; I would've fought alongside the Avengers otherwise. But I'm not willing to risk the possibility of being forced to take another life. That just gets me closer to…well, that monstrous future version of me."
"The doomed timeline this 'Clockwork' rescued you from." –Nico nods along.
"Yeah…" –he trails off. "I didn't get all the details, but it was bad. The world was in ruins, I took out military forces like they were nothing…I think the only safe place left was Amity Park, shielded and hidden in the Ghost Zone, and even that didn't last long."
Nico frowns. "That sounds…hard to believe." –he says. "In a world where Supergirl and Thor exist, where the Olympians would finally have to get off their divine asses to save the human race – if only to save themselves – I don't see how you kill us all. No offense."
Danny shrugs. "Maybe some other cataclysm happened along the way and took out the Avengers, and he just happened to take advantage of it. Maybe I'm more powerful than even I know. Whatever the case, I was there, in that ruined future – it was no illusion, Nico. I was a genocidal monster, and unless I somehow lose my powers, I have to assume that that potential is still in me."
Nico crosses his arms. "I assume that's why you told Nick Fury to beat it."
"Well, that and the fact that he broke into my house." –he says, deadpan. "Surprised you didn't know about his little home invasion-slash-recruitment attempt."
The demigod sighs. "I've only known the man briefly, but if I had to guess, I'd assume he wanted a chance at first pick." –he muses. "No idea how on Earth my boss didn't know you lived here in New York, though."
"Your boss?"
"Doctor Strange. Sorcerer Supreme, Master of the Mystic Arts, all around magical know-it-all." –he says. "Kind of insufferable, but he means well. He's the one who suggested I try to recruit you, and the architect behind this team-up idea in the first place – not that it's very original, given the Avengers are, y'know, a thing."
Danny hums. "Maybe he just didn't know what to look for."
It's as good an explanation as any, he supposes. He himself didn't know what to make of Amity's particular brand of ghosts – and he still kinda doesn't, even with Valerie's explanation – so it's probably not too far-fetched to assume that half-ghost hybrids are generally a little tricky to keep track of. After all, Danny managed to keep his identity a secret throughout his whole career, even though he was notably something of a reckless teenager. "I'll ask him when I get back, I guess."
"Empty-handed?" –Danny raises an eyebrow.
Nico sighs. "Not exactly the best first attempt at recruitment, but…like I said, I'm not about to force anyone to join up." –he says. "I'm not gonna lie, Danny; as a demigod, killing is an unfortunate fact of life, so it's a little hard for me to truly relate to your anxiety about taking lives. But I do respect it; hell, it's probably a much healthier way to go about it than the way our lives have made us think of it. If you don't want to join our team, then that's that. I'll move on to the next option, and I won't bother you anymore."
Danny crosses his arms. He's silent for a moment, seemingly pondering what to say next. "It was tempting. Fury's offer, I mean." –he admits. "And this is, too. As much as I messed up…I suppose I did do some good as Danny Phantom. And maybe having similarly powered people around me could be a way to keep me in check, if I ever got a little too close to the dark side."
"So, consider it." –Nico suggests. "I don't need an answer right this very moment."
"I don't know, Nico. I also have a fairly established life and career. I'm studying astrophysics, trying to pursue my childhood dream of becoming an astronaut." –he confessed, with a gentle smile. "And things are really good with Sam, too. I honestly don't know if I can balance that kind of double life again, even if I manage to get past my apprehension."
"Well, secret identities seem to be going out of fashion." –Nico notes. "If the Avengers are anything to go by, anyway – secret identities aren't exactly a thing in the demigod sphere. Monsters can identify us by smell, so…don't really get a chance to stay anonymous, much."
"Right." –Danny mutters. "I'll think about it, Nico. No promises." –he says. "But…maybe you don't have to go back to Strange empty-handed."
Nico tilts his head. "What do you mean?"
"I think you should talk to Danielle." –he says.
Nico frowns. "You…want me to recruit her instead?" –he asks, a little bewildered. "Wouldn't that leave Amity Park unprotected?"
"Not completely – you know there's professional ghost hunters in town, the Guys in White, and my parents…they can be a little much, but they're damn good at their job. And even if there's an emergency of some kind, I should be able to get her back to town via portal, especially if you guys are based here in New York." –he reassures him, his gaze softening. "But…beyond all that, Dani deserves a chance to stand on her own merits. She deserves to step out of Danny Phantom's shadow; if Amity Park won't recognize her heroism…maybe your team will give her a chance to shine on her own."
The younger man crosses his arms, pondering the suggestion. He's seen her in action already, so he knows for a fact that, stunted powers and all, she's a formidable presence on the battlefield; on the other hand, if Danny is something of an unknown, recruiting Ellie would be kinda going in blind – he only has the barest idea of what her personality is like, whether she could be trusted to work well as part of a team, or if she's perhaps too much of a lone wolf, considering her obvious hatred of feeling like she's not enough on her own.
"You think she'd accept?" –Nico asks.
"Oh, she'll say that Amity Park needs her – that she couldn't possibly abandon the town and its human protectors to their fate." –Danny says, fondly rolling his eyes. Nico nods; that much was clear from her earlier discussion with Valerie. "But it's clear to those of us who care about her that she's unhappy, feeling stagnant as Amity's protector. She wants more out of life than constantly waiting on the next haunting, and she's not gonna get it if she stays back home, whether she realizes it or not."
Nico looks down and to his left, through the glass skylights on the roof of Danny's home. Valerie, Sam, and Ellie all look like they're chatting and laughing, but he can't help but notice that Ellie seems a little…absent – like she's going through the motions. Ellie seemed at her most excited while she fought Technus, and when she talked to him, genuinely enthused at the prospect of having someone new to explain her wacky corner of the supernatural world to.
It says a lot about her, he thinks, that she felt the need to chat up a random stranger on the bus – even if she could sense that he was different. Nico has a feeling that Ellie might be more willing to join up than even she knows.
"I'll ask her." –Nico decides. "But you should take your own advice, Danny. You should talk to Ellie, tell her why you've been so distant; I'm about the least emotionally savvy person I know, and I can still tell that she misses being close with you."
Danny doesn't answer, simply pursing his lips in apprehension. Nico gives him a half-shrug. "You say she deserves the chance to shine, but…doesn't she deserve to know the truth, too?"
He leaves the roof, leaving the former hero staring morosely at the darkened New York skyline.
It's not a "no", but I think Danny needs some time to really tackle his apprehension before he can consider taking up the mantle of a hero again. Besides, as he says, Danielle deserves a chance to shine on her own merit! Also, do y'all have any theories on what I might do with Dark Dan? Do you think he managed to take down all the champions of Earth in his timeline? How do you think he'd take down someone like Supergirl, or Thor? No spoilers from me, but I'm eager to see any theories you might have!
As I said, only one chapter left, and a smaller one at that, just shy of being an epilogue. It'll go up tomorrow! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me through comments, reviews, or by sending in an ask through my tumblr, darthkvznblogs! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you next time!