Chapter Text
Act 1: The Ghosts of Amity Park
Drs Madeline (Maddie) and Jack Fenton were very proud and privileged to say they were very abnormal, thank you very much. Yes, they are what many consider lunatics, psychos and so much more but they do such a good job at it, and they have each other, so who cares what the world thinks of them? The Fentons were and still are a strange bunch, a family that stepped in years of superstition and belief in the supernatural.
It’s what one may call an obsession. Generations of Fentons hear the call and are entrapped to pursue the paranormal. For the Fentons there is more to this world than what can be seen, and the Fentons will do what they must to fully comprehend and document it as their duty to the world. Drs Maddie and Jack Fenton are no exception.
Jack Fenton was a big man. Nope, that’s was not exactly right. Jack Fenton was an enormous hulking mass comprised of fudge and other nonsense that made a man. While there is no doubt that he wasn’t kind or caring, make no mistakes he was that but he could be loud, obnoxious, often annoying and a bit of an idiot some of the time. Ok, most of the time and it didn’t help that he often made some massive mistakes such as putting buttons in the wrong place, not including handles or locks to things that really need locks and handles and the list goes on and on.
On the other hand, however, he still more than made up with it with his out-of-the-box ideas, invention and his vigour. Jack may have been a moron, but he was a moron who can and will beat you. For Jack, the most important things in life for him were fudge, Maddie, Jazz and GHOSTS! None of which are in any particular order. These are the qualities that Maddie Fenton neé Hunter fell in love with. A man after her own heart
Maddie Fenton was as brilliant as she was possibly insane, and trust me, she was plenty brilliant. She was tiny in comparison to her husband but anyone was tiny in comparison to Jack Fenton, that’s just the fact. But here she had a slender built body, bulked with muscles from years of training and exercise and was very athletic as a result. And by very, I mean this woman was training for her 6th consecutive black belt, planning on taking many more and was an improbable markswoman, an absolute terror with an ecto bazooka for any ghosts in her way.
She was also as intelligent as she was strong and she was plenty strong and was the brain of the family-run operation FentonWorks. Although Maddie would like to say that she and her husband were equals in the profession and were a team first and foremost. Maddie Fenton was terrifyingly competent in comparison to Jack and made it her life mission to study, dissect and analyse ghosts, why they exist and ghosts in general. Along with themselves, they had an additional member of the family.
Their brilliant and fantastic Jazz, already speaking full sentences at two and a half years. She had fiery red hair like a raging wildfire, and wonderful teal eyes that sparkled with so much potential and promise. Both Maddie and Jack cried when they had her and when she came back from nursery babbling words such as “open door baba”, gesturing to her father to open the door. Along with to her mother with “Mama! Mama! Look. Creep” as she pointed very clearly towards a very embarrassed older fellow who secretly was badmouthing her family behind the Fentons' back and just realized that this child can and will ruin him. While they innocently giggled in the background in her mother's arms at the funniest thing in the world.
Jack and Maddie were so proud.
Tonight, was a special night. It was Samhain or, as it was better called Halloween. It was a perfect night to be, in Jack’s words to hunt down a ghost and rip them apart molecule from molecule. Or in Maddie’s, to dissect and analyze the ghosts' insides, letting their screams fill the air. If not for the tiny external factor that was the raging blizzard blowing everything to bits. Details. So unlike many of their other Halloween, they were stuck inside where the billowy draft from past failed experiments (Jack’s fault mostly) made the building as cold as it was outside. The Fentons bundled up and sat in the living room before a raging inferno. It was nothing they couldn’t handle. Swamped with blankets and a slumbering Jazz in their arms, the Fentons clinked each a hot cup of coffee and began to turn on the news to the weather report.
“Well, folks we can be expected to have a few days of heavy snowfall in east-central Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. This is truly a situation of serious discontent."
This weatherman droned on and on, Maddie just began to disconnect mentally from the report and began to feel a throbbing pain in her head a migraine. Damn why did have to fall on Halloween and to make it worse, why did it have to fall on the following days after it? Urgh, stupid weather and its under-appreciation for their research.
Maddie was casually lounging back with a device in one hand she began to do some searching online around the world. Jack, on the other hand, was asleep, snoring loudly and occasionally muttering “GHOSTS” and “destroy their molecules” to himself as he dreamt peacefully away.
Awww he was so cute while he slept, Maddie softly smiled at her husband as she moved her gaze onto her device which she herself created, keeping track of any notable news and events. Anything unusual? She pondered. Anything particular? She scanned and carefully researched each place she looked at. Maddie has done this many times, often on wild goose chases but it is all in good fun and for science.
Maddie has now been to nearly all the most haunted places in America and the world. She has travelled close and far. To the underground mountain of bones and skulls that were the catacombs of Paris both through legal and illegal methods in the narrow and claustrophobic passages. She had to go alone and with a guide for that one. Jack was too large, sadly but she came back with plenty of new information and data, no matter how limited that particular trip was. They had also been to the ruins of Elizabeth Báthory Čachtice Castle in Slovakia, a woman rumoured to have murdered hundreds of innocent girls and women for their blood. What a derelict place that was, Maddie recalled. Then to the Tower of London in England itself. A place with a long history of torture and execution. A violently quiet place with an uneasy feeling in the air. Almost as if the anger and fury still remained for those who died there.
Wherever there was a story of death, violence and vicious ends, the Fentons followed. For the Fentons knew those were the places ghosts had a far more likely chance to manifest. Sadly their efforts to find ghosts ended up with many false leads and sad hopes fizzled at the end of the day. Yet Maddie did not consider her experiences worthless and useless. Just another bump in the road she would need to overcome.
Maddie and Jack went in any hope for progress and for further research occasionally bumping into other hunters and other paranormal enthusiasts such as the noteworthy encounter with the Guys in White at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia which nearly ended in disaster, a fistfight and it did end with some... Okay!
With many innocent bystanders covered in ectoplasmic goop. The surprise encounter with The Extreme Ghostbreakers on their home turf in Australia didn't help either. It was at around Ararat, Victoria, Aradale’s Asylum. That started and ended with a less than a few pleasant words exchanged, it didn’t help considering the actual place in which they were was an Asylum and the Fentons had to quickly finish it before it got too out of hand. People could be so cruel sometimes.
When her results in America faded and, Australia silent, she turned to Britain. Her brows raised at the report. It was unusual in particular even for Halloween. Owls out in the daytime, shooting stars and unusual folks garbed in clothing suitable for the middle ages. Maddie sipped her hot cocoa contemplatively, the liquid burning her tongue but she didn’t care. This was unusual, potential ghost activity perhaps? Overshadowing or medival spirits out and about?
It seemed possible but AGHHHH- they could not do anything with the blizzard and with a young child expected to return to school when the storm ended. Maddie got a note out and wrote it down about returning to that at a future date. It seemed a venture for the Fentons in the far out future but the news also got her thinking.
Wisconsin.
Vlad Masters.
Maddie wrapped the sheets tighter but the chill in her bones only grew stronger. She wondered how he fared even if she had mixed emotions about him. It was strange she could never really tell if he wanted to date her or not or if she was going insane. Still, did he blame them for what they have done? Their failure and mistake left him forever scarred. She shivered. They were lucky it didn’t kill him. Though she was going to kill Jack for not fixing that draft in the house from the last failure with the ghost portal.
The portal.
Oh the portal. Maddie’s shifted, her face was grim with determination compared to meer seconds ago of regret and guilt. The portal. Her and Jack's life work. Already they tried to activate it put to no avail. Another failure. Still, she would not give in.
The proof was right in front of her with Vlad. It worked even for a second and with the wrong calculations. Maddie stood, tearing the duvet off of her and onto her sleeping family below, her teeth gritting together as she strode ominously to the basement. She stood in front of the mismatched and broken-down portal, it was wrong to activate it too soon. But she and Jack were excited and hoped it would work this time. That was too much to hope for.
Failed sparks and faded smoke still enveloped her nostrils despite the fact this attempt was made hours ago. She heaved a breath and bit her lip recollecting that earlier failure. Still. It won’t matter how long it may take. That portal will open to a world unseen and at long last, they will be proven right. They will be fools no longer. She stood long and resigned to the portal, staring directly at the empty void in front, with her legs standing apart and her hands in fists. It will work, eventually. If not well… They would have spent it all on nothing in the end.
Maddie relaxed. Her eyes were tightly shut, and her head hung low. It could’ve been her imagination but she felt as if someone was watching her at that second, even though that was impossible. Maddie knew she was alone, and her family was asleep. But the presence she thought, it wasn’t malicious. It was just there, judging her and it held heavy in her heart.
“Please”, She begged a silent prayer. “Work one day….Please”.
She opened them. Nothing. It was too much to hope in all honesty.
CRACK!
DING DONG!
The doorbell and the noise that exploded her eardrums slammed into her and shook her out of her stupor.
Who could that be? Who on earth is out there in that weather? There is a blizzard going on out there!
Eyes wide and breath shallow. Maddie sprinted into action. Literally. She clambered up the steps, her arms not even reaching the bannister for support, she nearly tripped in her panic but this was serious. There was no sane person who would be out there in that weather. Not even the Fentons. Finally, she approached the door. On one side was her and the world she knew, on the other a strange, cold, uncaring world. She must know who was calling. Maddie opened the door, the wind blasted into her face, biting and gnawing away, the cold enveloped her bones but Maddie didn’t care. She was in shock at the strange and horrible sight.
“Who would do this? Why?"
Maddie's hands gripped her head in disbelief as she shifted them in a panic and finally to her hair pulling at it before bringing it to her mouth to bite at it. On the step below her was an infant. A child. Someone left a baby on her doorstep.
“...Shit!”
Maddie couldn't help but let it escape. The realization hit like a sledgehammer or an ectoblast to her chest. Immediately and carefully she grabbed the child, before standing once more into the dark, scanning for anything that would incriminate the person who left the child on her doorstep. She couldn’t just leave the child there and also the person who left them. They can’t have been gone long, she thought, but there was no one in sight, just the bellowing trees and their dark shadows threatening to devour the town, the warm street lights long extinguished by the bellowing and howling storm, the cold and the gentle sniffing from the infant.
No one. What?
The cold...Oh no. She immediately slammed the door with a BANG. The loud cries of shock after being woken so suddenly should’ve been expected and honestly should've occurred earlier but Maddie didn’t care.
“FUDGE!”
“AHHH WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!”
It looks like Jack and Jazz were up now. This would make things easier. Maddie only gripped the bundle in her arms tighter. But who would do such a thing? Who would be so cruel? And why them to leave a child to? Maddie could tell as she held the child that he was healthy and well and possibly at least over a year old. Which only heightened the mystery.
Why now?!? Were they not safe where they were?
Oh no. This kid probably doesn’t have anyone to go back to.
“JACK” She called in desperation. Still holding the child tight, she was beginning to cry. “COME QUICK!”
As if she ritualistically summoned him like a demon, Jack was there with an ecto gun charged and ready to shoot, his face grim with determination and terror.
“WHAT IS IT, MADDIE, IS IT A GHOST OR ...oh”.
The whirling noise that came from the ecto gun gradually grounded to a halt as it was dropped onto the ground with a large THUD.
Jazz was crawling onto the floor in the corridor, never leaving the safety of the living room, her bright eyes brimming with curiosity and terror. Jack was pale, he was trembling and it wasn’t from the cold. He reached forward with the care and attention only a parent could have and began to hold Maddie in, to stabilize her. His expression was one of shock, horror and blankness. A rare expression for a man like Jack. Even rarer was the mumble almost unheard from the same man but then again, this was a rare and unusual situation the Fentons found themselves in.
“Who would leave a child out there? It’s freezing outside.”
“I don’t, Jack. I don’t know.” Maddie's face was wrapped in conflict and confusion as she muttered those before blurting out in panic and fear. “But we can’t just leave them out there.”
“I know, Maddie… I know. ''Jack's tone was sombre and resolute as if already knowing what his wife was planning, a rare moment for him.
“Do you think he has a family who would care for him?” She was careful with her words, only coming up with it after nearly a minute’s silence of just staring at the sniffling infant.
Jack was just as quiet, still reeling in Maddie’s world before coming to the horrifying conclusion which he softly spoke. “I hate to say it, Mads but if he was left out there… On a night like that.” He waved his arms widely at that as if emphasising the absolute insanity of the predicament they found themselves in. “Then there is probably no one left for him.”
“He needs someone.” Maddie cried out, once more transformed into a figure of grim, grit and determination.“What about us?” She resoundingly declared, as if this was a natural conclusion and the path they must follow. “What if we would take the child in? Even if we called the police, we could probably adopt them.”
“Of course!” Jack was excited at this idea, he had always wanted another child. Another playmate for Jazz but also for the child themselves. They would honestly have more of a chance with them and well, it was better than nowhere, wasn’t it, even if they called the police, there was still no knowing what would happen to the child.
“But what to call him? Hrmmmmmmmm. Jack contemplated this long and hard, his brow furrowed in thought. This was a really rare night for Jack. “BAZINGA!”
His explosive statement scared the wits out of everyone and nearly spooked them out from their bones. “What about Danny Mads, a stupid name I know but well...?”
Maddie seemed a bit put off at how quickly he conjured up that name like it was out of a hat. He went on his rant, lost to the rest of the world. They have discussed baby names before, but this was unusual even for Jack.
"Danny...What a lovely name Jack but why Danny?”
“Because it’s the name on that blanket, of course,” Jack blathered offhandedly as if it was not any big deal, turning his attention to Jazz by lifting her into his arms and cradling her close, comforting her.
Maddie froze as though she was petrified by the medusa, she shakily reached out her free hand to shift the child’s blanket towards her so she might see what Jack saw. Both child and women stare intently at one another for the very first time. A new bond between mother and son was starting to be forged. Maddie rubbed his cheek with a gentle touch of her finger and Danny seemed to warble hesitantly at that.
He is freezing,
Maddie contemplated concerned and yet even as she held him. Somehow he wasn't crying at this stranger and or fast asleep. Just cautious, constantly looking as if he was about to be attacked. It was there Maddie knew she would need to watch and protect this child as she carefully furrowed and slowly twisted and turned the blanket, trying not to disturb the poor child who made no sound and then she spotted it.
DANNY
Embroidered clear as night and day into the sapphire blanket.