RadioRat

Danny had his accident way earlier –at 9– and so (to compel to his childish fanboyness) his suit is even more astronaut-themed to give him a (what should have been) foolproof full Hazmat suit;

due to the complicate attachment of the helmet, tho, kid Danny never had the time/chance to take it off to ask the rogues to stop attacking the town (and the glass visor is too thick and stuck (thanks Jack) for anyone to understand him);

my usual headcanon (which I use to justify why Danny's power level is so high from the beginning) is that since the energy of a whole dimension flooded inside him, he could be "on par" to the reading of an Ancient to the more experienced ghosts (thus leading them to the misunderstanding that Danny IS a small-sized Ancient that's hoarding Amity Park and its permanent Portal);

the misunderstanding could have been cleared in an instant if the Rogues had seen Danny's face, because he's scarred from the accident and you can't fake the freshness of a Death Scar to date how long a person has died (but, alas, the helmet takes too long and humans are in danger);

I'm shaking things up with the Truce to make it more star-aligned than religion-related, and so the Solstices (both) are established as one day without fighting AND one of the Ancients (following a rotation) can organize an event to which few elected can participate through invitation (it's a great honor);

this year is conveniently ((⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)) Clockwork's turn, so they invite most of the Rogues (mainly the ones who can be redeemed), some just as spectators and other as participants:

The Lunch Lady and Ember are part of the show-and-snack Hot Chocolate song;

Desiree is just a passenger, but her meeting with Danny is very much a stab to the Core;

Sidney Poindexter is also a guest, but he's also accompanying his kid cousin Robert on the Polar Express for the pre-teen's journey;

Skulker and Technus pair up in the broken toys wagon to try and invent a new weapon;

Johnny Kitty and Shadow decide to try and race the locomotive to see who's the fastest;

And last but not least the "villains" of the story, the Box Ghost, who wants to steal all the presents in Santa's sack since they're in boxes, while Walker had been pursuing the troublemaker trio on their motorcycle, but seeing so many "magical violations" he decides to imprison everyone.

Now back to Danny:

The accident happened 6 months or so before THE Christmas when the crossover takes place;

He's 9, so while he may be wary thanks to some "stranger-danger" conditioning, due to some previous positive interactions with Youngblood (kid-to-kid communication -> he already knew Danny was a kid and told no one) he's also brutally honest if a ghost asks him something, even if he's in human form;

(this leads to several Identity Reveals, Moral Crises and Epiphanies during the ride on the Polar Express for the Rogues);

Danny joined the ride to the North Pole (along with Sam and Tucker because they were at the Foley's for a sleepover) because he's this close (🤏) to give up on Christmas already and when the Conductor tells him that he could see Santa, he jumps at the opportunity to get proof that he exist and so his parents would stop arguing and ruining the holiday;

...upon learning this and that Danny is Baby™, they decide that just "not fighting" the kid isn't enough, they have to adopt him!

But where's Clockwork in all of this, you may ask?

They're watching from the sidelines, masquerading as the rooftop hobo with cryptid messages and suggestions, while the Rogues and Team Phantom scramble to stop Walker's and the Box Ghost's separate attempts from destroying Christmas.

Obviously they succeed, but... neither Santa nor Desiree (who had been asked) are powerful enough/able of such a feat (making Jack and Maddie stop arguing and/or hunting ghosts), so... there's the next best thing!!

✨Baby Acquisition!✨

On Christmas Day, when the Mansons and the Fentons come to retrieve their offsprings, Sam and Tucker can only offer two sealed envelopes (but no Danny).

One from Santa's (who offers the proof that he's real and not exactly a ghost, but also points out all the ways they killed their children's Wonder for the holiday so it's no surprise that Danny came to him to seek help) and the other from Clockwork.

The Ancient's letter reveals that since they're unfit to be Danny's parents in this timeline independently of any manipulation/choice/explanation/plea, once they'll get out Tucker's house, they'll forget about Danny and any trace of him would be erased from the town. This is just a polite/formal communication.

The duo stalls, trying to find a loophole or a way out of this, but all comes unfortunately to an end when the parent that was having Jazz for her own sleepover calls them for an emergency due to a ghost, so they have to go. There's almost no hesitation as they run out of the door, they just falter when this sensation of overwhelming loss hits them, but they charge on to get to Jazz and the ghost. (Because Danny had always been their last choice.)

From then on, Jack and Maddie go on their life as aggressive ghost hunters with this constant sensation of something off/missing, always out of reach, but with sometimes slivers of glimpses immediately forgotten afterward. (Jazz, Sam and Tucker still remember Danny and get to talk and meet with him sometimes in secret, but they are forbidden to speak about him to anyone beside among themselves.)

As their "crimes" against ghosts pile up despite Team Phantom still trying to convince them to stop during the years, they age until their time comes and due to the ecto-contamination they become ghosts.

It's only at this point that they meet Danny again, now grown up and with a life of his own and they immediately get it. That's what- who they were missing.

But it's too late, they have done too much and kept NOT choosing him (CW had put in the fine prints that they could have remembered everything and get Danny back if only they had sincerely –and without external input, like an identity reveal– rejected their biased researches).

So they get a(n after)life sentence for crimes against the Infinity Realms and this is the last time they'll see Danny.

Danny is... disappointed, but not surprised. He grew up with the ghosts and became a well-adjusted adult, so he had realized way back that the Fentons had been a danger to him. So he just tells his parents to spend the rest of eternity regretting their life-choices and flies away from their prison.

Sometimes... the only good choice for yourself is to cut away what hurts you and choose your Family, your Persons, on your own.

꒰(@｀꒳´)꒱

Uh. I ended writing a piece of this anyway. (・–・;)ゞ I guess sleep-deprivation after not going to sleep after new year's party is useful for something! (≧∇≦)

Anyway, here, as a thanks for enduring my rambling (and your patience for waiting for the almost late gift), you get an alt. version of the art piece without the Polar Express in the foreground!

(Was this angsty enough? >:3c)

(A thanks to @phantommoon-art @halfalix for their support and enabling through Discord. Sooner or later I'll be able to write this phic, I promise you! ( ◡̀_◡́)ᕤ)

Happy New Year and hope 2026 will bring good things to ya!