Summary: Maddie and Jack walk in on fives clones waiting for Danny in his room.
Notes: For LovelyUnknown, Hazama_d20. My last story for phic phight! Prompts Below:Maddie finds damning evidence in Danny's room. by LovelyUnknown
Good Dad Jack identity reveal by Hazama_d20
I saw that first prompt and thought "What more damning evidence than a bunch of clones?" 😂 My original idea was a lot more cracky than what I actually ended up writing. But I'm a serious angst writer so that figures.
Enjoy!
Maddie had made up her mind. Tonight was the night. She and Jack were going to talk to Danny about everything. His failing grades, skipping school, missing curfew, getting into fights.
Ignoring the problem hadn't worked. Punishing Danny, hoping he would change his behavior, hadn't work. Talking to Danny, reassuring him that he could tell them anything, even that hadn't worked. Instead, Danny took to avoiding them.
But the mother had had enough. She was getting answers out of her son tonight. Even if they had to wait in his bedroom all night for him to come home. Her son wouldn't suffer alone in silence anymore.
As the couple approached Danny's room, voices rang out through the door.
"Oh! What's this?" A curious voice with a bit of a lisp asked.
"Ezekial, be careful with that." A different voice, smoothly sophisticated, gently rebuked.
A crash. "Oops."
The adults froze at the noise, exchanging worried looks. Jack reached for the door knob.
"That was Danny's favorite model rocket." A third spoke, words with a disappointed note.
Maddie's hand rested on the other adult's arm, stopping him with a nod of her head.
"Let's pick it up." A deeper male voice. "Maybe we can fix it?"
"There's some glue in the desk." The third speaker.
Who were these people in Danny's room? Friends from school?
"Maybe we should wait until Danny gets back." A pre-teen girl's voice spoke up, sounding a bit unsure. "I don't know how this is supposed to go together."
The woman's eyes widened. There was something odd about the other voices, compared to the girl who just spoke….
"I think I remember." The third said. "This one wasn't really that hard to put together. It was one of his first."
The eye-roll was almost audible. "Not all of us received memories from our progenitor, Damian."
Progenitor? What was he talking about?
"That wasn't my fault, Neil." A teasing point, presumably from this Damian.
"I'm pretty sure it was." The girl quipped.
"None of us knew overshadowing could do that." Another audible eye-roll.
Overshadowing…. Something only a ghost could do and… A hint of dread settled in Maddie's stomach. That is what she had been picking up on; every voice but the girl's had a strange echo….
"Memory stealer." The lisping voice teased.
"It's just copying!" Damian, the object of teasing, argued. "Pro, come on. You've gotta defend me. You know I'm your favorite sibling."
"Nah, Ellie's my favorite." The deeper voice joked, the smile audible.
"Yes!" The girl cheered.
Maddie didn't understand. The echoes… these were a bunch of ghosts? Of sibling ghosts? How could ghosts even have siblings?
Then again, it wouldn't be the first time ghosts surprised them. Phantom did, again and again showing that he genuinely wanted to help, hence their truce. Phantom wasn't a bad ghost but, this group, joking with each other in…
"I'm your favorite brother, at least."
"Nah, that's Danny." The deeper voiced speaker again teased. "Speaking of, when is he getting back?"
In their boy's room. Ghost might not have been as bad as she and Jack previously thought. But these were five strangers! Ghosts they'd never even heard before, waiting for their baby in his bedroom.
With that thought, the mother pulled her ectogun out of her belt. She and Jack met eyes, the man doing the same. A silent count to three and…
The knob was turned, door kicked open. "Eat Fenton Bazzoa, ghosts!"
Maddie's eyes quickly took in the scene. Four ghosts. One wearing a white cloak, red eyes and green skin. Phantom or… no, somehow she knew (maybe it was the way he held himself or maybe something else) this was a look-alike. Another Phantom look-alike, though all of four feet tall. And a towering ghost, covered in scars.
The woman set her sights on the big one, finger hovering over the trigger. She didn't want to shot but she was prepared if-
"Mads!" Jack gasped in surprise beside her, his weapon lowering. "Look."
"Jack!" Her eyes darted to the object of his interest. "What-" She cut herself off, eyes widening.
The fifth occupant of the room, the pre-teen girl…. She was human, staring at them with wide, frightened eyes. That wasn't the surprise. But…
The jet black hair and…. those eyes, crystal blue, exactly identical to…
"Danny?" Maddie asked.
Her head shook. No, she wasn't Danny, obviously, but…
"Who are you?" Jack asked, voice as numbly shocked as the woman felt.
"Clones of your son." The Phantom look-alike's eyes widened, mouth snapping shut as soon as the words left his mouth.
Maddie blinked, her own gun dropping at the surprise. "Excuse me."
The ghost's eyes panickedly flickered among the others. "We are all…. Clones of your son, Danny Fenton?" His chests turned green, in a blush(?). "We were created by your college friend, Vlad Masters. He wishes to kill Jack Fenton, blaming you for the accident which killed him and for stealing Madeline from him. He has planned to marry you, Maddie, and claim your son as his heir and apprentice."
Neither parent reacted, numb with shock. The other ghosts and the girl also stared, jaws dropped and eyes wide with disbelief.
The lack of response seemed to just encourage the ramble. "Danny proved quite, understandably, hostile to this plan, refusing to betray his father. Despite his efforts, Vlad could not achieve his goal of acquiring Danny as a son. Therefore he decided to create his own version of the boy, one who would be amenable to his plans, hence…" He motioned awkwardly. "All of us."
Maddie… hadn't registered half of that. Yet her spinning minds caught on one thought. "But…. you're all ghosts?" The words came out surprisingly quiet.
"We all died before becoming stabilized." The Phantom (Danny?!) look-alike raised one brow, before motioning to the girl. "Except for Danielle, of course. Besides, Danny himself is half-"
Something in the statement roused the other Phantom look-alike, an elbow to the side cutting off the word. "Dude! You can't tell them everything!"
The taller's mouth snapped shut, visibility embarrassed. "I may have committed an error…."
"I'll say!" The shorter raised his arms. "I thought you were the smart one, Daniel."
The other look-alike, apparently named Daniel (?!), blinked skeptically. "Why would you think that?"
"You always use long words and…. It's like you don't even know what an apostrophe is."
"Damian, I know what an apostrophe is."
The shorter, Damian, placed his hands on his hips, an eyebrow raised challengingly. "Then use one."
"I don't think I will." Daniel's nose turned up. "You are not the boss of me."
Maddie watched the argument like it was a tennis match. They were… arguing. Like normal siblings. Like… normal kids.
"Mads…" Jack's uncertain voice beside her. The woman half-tuned out the ensuing argument, turning a tentative eye to him. "Mads. I think he… Daniel's… telling the truth." The next words came out more confident. "And if he is, then…"
The man put down the bazooka, uncertainty still in his eyes but no doubt, the action completely deliberate. He stood, shoulders back as if steeling himself. Then, he calmly stepped forward.
The kids froze, chatter cutting off. All eyes widened with fear.
Jack put his arms out, hand up disarmingly. His gaze fixed on the largest ghost "You're a big one. Regular chip off the ole block." A step forward, his expression strangely soft compared to his normal boisterousness. "What's your name, son?"
The ghost shifted nervously, frantic eyes flickering from each of the other clones to Maddie and finally to Jack. He swallowed. "Um. It's Prometheus, sir."
"Prometheus." The adult tested out the name. "That sounds greek. Isn't it?"
"It's uhh…. A long story." The ghost, Prometheus, rubbed the back of his neck. (And didn't the gesture look achingly familiar). "And everyone calls me Pro."
"It's a good name." Jack chuckled. "And look at you! Swimmin' in my end of the gene pool. Those spare hazmats we made for Danny and Jazz definitely won't go to waste now!"
Pro did not respond, trading a vaguely panicked look with the girl. But the tension didn't deter the man from continuing. He turned to the Phantom look-alike. "And you're Daniel. Sharing a name with our Danno, I see."
"Well. Yes, that is true…" A nervous swallow.
"Mads picked out the name. I wasn't the biggest fan but she let me pick out Jazzy's name." He shrugged. Then, taking in the embarrassed face. (Maddie's heart ached… it reminded her of a four year old Danny, caught stealing from the cookie jar). "You're as green as an unripe tomato." A kind chuckle. "Don't feel embarrassed, kiddo. You're not the first Fenton man to panic and say something he shouldn't. And you probably won't be the last."
Daniel traded a look with his shorter look-alike, a silent conversation passing through. (Jazz and Danny had done the same, even this morning. These two… they all really were siblings, weren't they?). Both relaxed ever so slightly.
"You're taking this well." The shortest said cautiously.
"I'm sure it'll hit me later." Jack laughed. "And your name was Damain, right?"
The ghost boy, Damian, nodded, puffing out his chest slightly. "I picked that out myself."
"It's a good one too. And…" His eyes flickered up, over Damian's shoulder. "And who's the quiet one over there?"
The short ghost floated to the side, the cloaked one drifting forward. "He's Ezekial." Damian answered.
"Zeke." The thin figure lisped, spelling out the name with his fingers.
"Zeke." Jack smiled. "It's nice to meet you."
Cautiously, Zeke floated forward, just two feet in front of the man. A tentative hand reached forward. Jack offered, letting the thin fingers brush his for a hand shake. "You are… kinder than I thought."
Something in the man's expression cracked. "Oh kiddo…" With gentle squeeze off the fingers, he removed his hand, the motion deliberate, unlike the falling of his shoulders.
Jack turned, finally smiling at the girl. "And you're Danielle."
"Ellie." She shifted nervously. "Sorry for barging into your house."
"Non-sense, princess." He waved her off. "You, all of you are…." Maddie saw it, in the moment their eyes met. He was seconds from pulling this kid, all of these kids into his arms. "You're all…." That word, on the tip of his tongue….
"Family." Maddie could hardly believe the word coming from her mouth. But… "You're family."
She knew it was true, like the way her heart ached and her hand shook, the ectogun…. Ectogun…. She should holster that. The weapon returned to her belt, eyes fixed back on the children.
The faces looking back at her… she saw Danny in them, herself and Jack's features, despite the ghostly glow and…. The woman felt seconds from crying. That ghostly glow… meaning they, most of them, had died. Her own flesh and blood passed away, gone before she even knew about them, much less held them.
No. Not gone.
Maddie stepped forward. "How many clones…" She swallowed. "How many of you are there?"
Ellie's brow furrowed, eyes on each sibling. "Well, there's the five of us. And… how many does Percy count as?"
Suddenly a green swirling portal opened. Just when Maddie thought her world couldn't be turned anymore on its head….
A ghost with four arms floated through. "I heard someone say my name." The opening closed, leaving a sixth similar-looking figure floating in the room.
"Percy!" The quiet, cloaked ghost exclaimed. "How many do you count as?" The words, again slow and lisping.
One of his hands tapped the new ghost, Percy's chin. "One or…" The three eyes (he had three eyes?!) blinked, brow furrowed in thought. "Twenty-six. Depending on how I feel."
Maddie just blinked at the sight, a hand going to her forehead. "We have so much to talk about when Danny gets home…."
Still…. The woman looked over the group of kids, five(?) ghosts and one human. The girl, human and seemingly healthy was a relief. But the others… even if they were ghosts, they were her children. That was as clear as the siblinghood in-between them, an undeniable truth her heart spoke.
Though, something niggled in her mind. Their apparent relationships with Danny. Their origin, created by Vlad. That sounded insane but… her stomach turned. With his obvious obsession with her, his strange interest in Danny, and questionable behavior, it made a sick kind of sense.
But that comment, about Vlad having… died? And Danny…. Daniel had been about to say something about him.
Her mind was flailing for connections, that familiar ache welling in her chest. That familiar spectral appearance. Phantom look-alikes, she'd thought when she'd first seen Daniel and Damian. There was a resemblance to Danny too. Almost… almost as if….
Just then, Phantom phased through the window. "Sorry that took so long." A bright white ring of light flared from his middle as soon as he landed, passing over him. "What did I… miss?"
The light disappeared, revealing….
"Danny?!"
Note: So that's the story. :) I'm uncertain if this will remain canon to the "Life and Death is All Perspective" Series. I'd always pictured Danny choosing to tell his parent about all his clones but this is fun too. So we'll see.
Also, I can't believe that I finally wrote the "Jack and Maddie meet Ellie" story, despite hinting at it a bunch of times in other phics. And this is freaking it.