Chapter Text
Life goes on, even if it's not to the expectations of many people in the world. Time goes forward, circumstances change for many over the years, which leads to all sorts of routes. New friends, lost contact with those in the past, life-changing experiences that alter personalities forever in good and bad ways.
Changes are also made, and that extends to establishments in subtle or obvious ways.
For others, it may not have been seeing a change at all.
Danny Fenton and his wife, Star, had a mixture of everything in the above and more.
Inside the living room of the Fenton household, a modern house in particular, pictures were strawn of the couple, with familiar old faces around them from different times of Danny and Star's life. Graduation, marriages, vacations around the world with their children, Orion and Aurora Fenton on different stages of their lives.
Orion Fenton picked up a picture frame of his parents, Aunt Jazz, and evidently, what is said people from their time in Casper High. "For some reason, it feels kinda strange seeing Mom and her ex in the same picture frame with Dad."
"Or someone that gave Dad his first kiss, or a girl he could've been with." Aurora Fenton added. "Aunt Jazz really knocked it out in the looks and smarts department like Mom does, too."
Orion mentally pictured what it would be like if her mother and the man in the picture had stayed together, and compared it to what he would look like if this man had become his father instead of Danny. Aurora would repeat the same process, but with the black haired goth girl that her parents would tell tales about and supposedly had met when they were in their infancy.
About a decade ago.
"Kwan is okay, but I think our current Dad looks better." Orion said.
"Agreed." Aurora replied enthusiastically. "I like being a Fenton, and our current Dad is the best."
"What is this, being a Fenton the best you two are talking about?" Came from familiar voices.
The duo Fentons heard footsteps and soon came into sight those familiar faces they had been avoiding: their parents.
Danny Fenton and his wife, Star looked at their two children curiously while Orion placed the picture frame back in its rightful place. "Orion, Aurora, what are you two about?" asked Star, raising an eyebrow for a moment, but just curious about the matter.
"Just talking about the people you had together in Casper High with Aunt Jazz." Orion replied in a matter-of-fact tone as he gave the picture frame to his mom. "And how it is strange that you, Mom, had Dad and the same guy you were first with in the same picture."
Danny and Star looked at the picture frame to see an all too familiar sight: Team Phantom in its younger years. Danny would then pick the frame and place it back in its place before returning to his wife's side.
"Or how the first two girls that Dad had a relationship with in the same picture, with our current mom in it?" answered Aurora, sort of with a puzzled look.
Danny and Star merely chuckled, the former taking the lead to speak. "Well, kids, that's just time. Your mother and I didn't exactly have the best first impressions of each other, either."
"What?" asked Orion.
"What do you mean, Dad?" Aurora added.
Star felt a bit of internal cringe coming up inside of her, the moment of past stuff from her younger years creeping up in the current days - a situation many an adult went through. For some, it is enough to warrant sleeplessness. She rubbed her arm and adopted an ashamed look.
Still, Star answered. "When I was with the A-Listers, as we were called at the time with Kwan, Dash and Paulina, I used to belittle your father for being a freak in his face with freak parents, and called him a loser behind his back, to those two that your father first had relationships with. Things happened, but it's not about being stranded in the middle of an island or dealing with a wendigo in Amity Park or a shapeshifter in France that got me and your father together."
"I'm sorry, Mom?" Orion asked with a puzzled look.
"Suspiciously specific denial, Mom." Aurora added as she crossed her arms.
"That is a long tale and will be for another day." Danny said. "But, we eventually got together along the way before I graduated high school, and lasted long enough to marriage and you two." He looked at Star lovingly, who took notice and returned the gesture.
"I love you, Danny." Star said.
"You too, my Shining Star." Danny answered back. "All the way to the Big Crunch, and beyond."
Husband and wife shared a kiss, not minding that Orion and Aurora were there.
Their two children merely looked away for a moment as Danny and Star immersed themselves in their brief expression of love.
After a moment, Danny and Star stopped and looked at their children.
"Now, kids, as your mother and I experienced, the first love may not really be it in the event you two should pursue your own relationships, but who knows, maybe someone else will, and it may come from unexpected people." Danny spoke, glancing at Star for a moment after he finished speaking, then back to his wife. "Take it from how your mom and I ended together."
"There are some who got their first loves, like your Grandpa Jack and Grandma Maddie, but not everyone gets that luck." Star added. "It's not an easy one for sure, and my relationship with your father has its ups and downs, but we work on it, and our labor has produced over twenty years of love, and you two."
Danny clapped his hands. "But that's not what you're in for at the moment, so we'll stop it there. Just remember, some things just may come from the unexpected, good and bad. These just don't apply to relationships, but life's situation as a whole."
Orion and Aurora took the information in and nodded, like any child would to affirm they got their parents' words.
"So, that explains how you two had your different respective people despite being together?"
"Sure does." Danny replied to Orion. "Former people in a relationship can still be friends, as I am with Sam and Valerie."
"And so am I with Kwan." Star said.
Danny breathed in and out.
"Right. Now, who's excited for school soon?" Danny asked, intending to steer the topic.
Orion and Aurora rolled their eyes with audible groans. Danny and Star giggled at their children's lack of enthusiasm.
Such a typical response that really reminded the Fenton couple of their younger selves.
"Oh, you two. You remind me so much of your father." Star said with a smile.
"Hey!" Danny shot back in a mock-offended tone. "Not my fault, I became a hero and had to dabble with work around. Also, I think you too were like that."
"Yeah, sure." Star waved a hand.
Orion and Aurora's minds sparked with interest, the latter speaking. "Dad, are there any chances we could have the powers that allowed you to become Danny Phantom?"
Danny and Star's eyes widened at their daughter's question. Danny cleared his throat for a moment, a hand on the back of his head after a moment's pause of silence. "Well, I'm not sure. I'm not into that kind of science."
"If we have both your and Mom's genetics, surely the powers might be from you?" asked Orion. "Think of it, Dad - I'm basically a blonde you with Mom's eyes, while Aurora is Mom with your black hair and blue eyes."
Danny felt initially overwhelmed by it, and Star took the lead.
"Orion, where are you going with this?" Star asked.
"Well, just curious, especially since Dad is Danny Phantom?" Orion replied, though with more uncertainty on it. "What if our inheritance with Dad goes far more than just looks?"
Just as Star was about to think of things about the matter, Danny's ghost sense kicked off. However, Orion and Aurora suddenly glowed green and their bodies levitated upwards in response, widening Danny and Star's eyes again.
"Ah!" Aurora shouted.
"Dad, Mom!" Orion followed suit, a hint of panic in his tone.
"Orion, Aurora!" Star jumped to grab her son's two legs in an attempt to catch him from floating. Danny did the same to Aurora, then gently placed her on the floor.
"Hey, you okay?" Danny asked, concern in his tone.
"Dad?" Aurora asked, a hint of uncertainty in her tone. Her blue eyes glowed green. "What is happening?"
"Hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay." Danny hugged Aurora and gently patted her back in an attempt to console her. Aurora hugged her father back in the process, feeling a sense of safety over herself.
"Mom?" Orion blinked his eyes. However, his matching turquoise eyes were replaced with glowing green. "Am I okay?"
Danny and Star could only look at each other as they held onto each of their children. Danny took the lead to speak. "Love, I think they have it.."
"Yeah.." Star replied, a sense of something in her tone, but nothing could be narrowed down to exactly.
"What exactly, Dad?" asked the two Fenton siblings.
"My powers..." Danny answered. "We need to get you two to FentonWorks with your grandparents."
Over the decades since Danny Phantom entered the public sphere in Amity Park, nothing much has changed in FentonWorks, or in the functional aspects of it at least. Furniture and equipment may have seen their replacements, but functionally, is it still the same home of a Fenton family branch, and a place for Jack and Maddie Fenton to do their research. As such, it retained the Emergency Ops Center above it with the FentonWorks sign in the same style.
Equipment in the lab has certainly seen much in modernization and, surprisingly enough, safety measures.
Danny and Star sat nearby as they gave Orion and Aurora encouraging smiles, the latter two standing still. Jack and Maddie Fenton, much older nowadays with crinkles in their skin, still retained their same clothing as they bought an X-ray scanner for their grandchildren.
"Orion, Aurora, all will be fine, okay? This won't hurt so much." Maddie said with an encouraging tone and a smile on her face.
"Okay, Grandma Maddie." Orion replied with a nod, though some was shaking in it. "Dad, Mom?"
Danny and Star looked at their son. "Yes, Orion?"
"Is this okay? Am I and Aurora gonna be fine?"
"It will be." Danny said, Star nodding with an encouraging smile. "Just relax, okay? You too, Aurora."
"Okay, Dad." Orion and Aurora answered back.
"Just relax, okay?" Star suggested.
Over the X-ray, Jack and Maddie have noticed something. Normally speaking, DNA cannot be really seen in any X-ray device, but the Fentons are known to be anything but normal - just ask Danny, Jazz, and Danielle from their younger years.
"Well, kids, it seems like you've inherited your father's ectoplasm in your DNA." Jack said, moving on to give Orion and Aurora an encouraging pat each, while Maddie looked down at the results. "But don't worry, it's not harmful, and you two will be okay.
"Ectoplasm?" Orion and Aurora asked."
"It's a substance that makes up the ghosts that we've hunted, and your father has when he stepped on that portal." Jack said, then pointed out to an ever-familiar invention: the Ghost Portal. Orion and Aurora noticed it right away. "Seeing that the ectoplasm is infused in your father's DNA, you two seem to have inherited it right as well."
"You've also hunted Dad, right?" Aurora asked.
Jack and Maddie gave sheepish looks. "Yeah.."
Maddie rubbed her arm. "I still remember in that town hall where I was about to take aim at him, but considering things at the time, I kinda understand why your father opted to keep it a secret from me."
"We were pretty indiscriminate of ghosts at the time, and figured that even Danny Phantom would be a menace." Jack said. "Then well, turns out he's our son, your father."
Orion and Aurora sank the information in, and it matches with tales of what their father and mother would tell sometimes.
A thought came to Aurora's mind, and she spoke it out. "You're gonna shoot us on sight, are you, Grandma Maddie?"
Maddie immediately shook her head sideways and pulled her granddaughter for a hug. "No, no, Aurora! I know better now about halfas, and your father is one." She looked to Orion. "And I'm not shooting you either, Orion."
"Halfa?" Orion asked.
"It's a term for a half-ghost, like your father." Jack said.
This is a bit too much for Orion and Aurora. First, the concept of having their father's powers with school on the horizon. And with so much to think about, many questions ran through them.
"If Dad is a halfa, does that mean there are other halfas here in Amity Park?" Aurora asked.
"Yes." Danny answered, standing up as something that, though it was from a distant time, remained as ever fresh in his mind when he talked about it. He walked over to his kids. "But, everything will be fine, okay? You have us."
"And if any freak tries to get to my babies, they'll answer to this." Star pulled out a device, and with the press of a button, it extended to two glowing edges on it. Star spun the device around, making Orion and Aurora let out a 'whoa'. "Star Fenton, a Mrs. Fenton, proudly and gladly trained by Maddie Fenton."
Maddie smirked at the sight of her daughter-in-law. "Truly living up to the Fenton legacy."
"I have to." Star said with her own little smirk. "I am married to a Fenton, and I have babies to protect despite not having powers."
"We'll protect you." Danny said to his two children. "We love you two, and your safety matters to us most."
Orion and Aurora looked relieved.
"However, we have to be really sure about your condition." Jack went over the table, picking out a device that looked similar to the Ecto-Dejecto. He showed it to everyone in the basement. "I call it the Ecto-Extractor, though basically the Ecto-Dejecto, but instead it pulls out ectoplasm, and in this context, it will be for analysis."
Orion and Aurora nervously swallowed the proverbial lump in their throat, their legs subtly vibrating.
"A needle?" Orion muttered with a dreaded tone.
"Please don't, Grandpa Jack!" Aurora pleaded, hugging her brother. Orion hugged her back. "I'm scared of needles! They're sharp and pointy!"
Maddie crossed her arms with a disapproving look while Danny and Star tried to encourage Orion and Aurora at the moment. "Jack, can we use something else that doesn't scare Orion and Aurora?"
"Right." Jack placed the device back with a sheepish look. "I will see to it, and maybe fudge for our grandchildren."
Jack dug through the varying inventions in the lab for anything that could satisfy the matter, and not scare his grandchildren about sharp objects.
"Hey, it will be fine." Star said soothly, gently rubbing Orion and Aurora's foreheads. "We will get through this, much like how your father and I have through life."
The new Fenton patriarch, Danny, had himself thought of things.
'If they have ectoplasm, can levitate above, what else could they develop? And especially, how will this go on to impact them in their lives? I'd like to think I did just fine on my own, but no way I will allow Orion and Aurora to be in my same predicament. They deserve better, but how?'
"Danny?" Star asked. Her husband seemed to be blankly off at something, clearly deep in thought. "Orion, nudge your dad."
"Dad?" Orion patted his father's back, causing Danny to break out of his trance. "Mom's calling you."
Danny looked at Star. "Yeah?"
"If they can levitate, we need to do a screening of what else they can do."
Danny nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking of that one." He looked at Maddie. "Mom, we need to set up the target mockups, see if they have some other powers I may have."
Maddie pressed a button from a remote in her belt, and sure enough, cardboard target depictions of ghosts popped up. Danny looked down to his family. He took a breath for a moment. "All right, seeing that you two can levitate as I did, we also need to go around on how much of my powers you have. Now, the targets up there will demonstrate some of my powers. But first, let's see if you have a Phantom form to up, or if this is just limited."
Danny raised his fists upward. "Going Ghost!"
As so, two white rings materialized above and below him, then the rings passed through him, turning him into Danny Phantom once more.
Orion and Aurora saw their father turn differently. Instead of his blue eyes, they were replaced with the same green that Star saw in Orion, and Danny saw in Aurora. White hair replaced black, and his clothes were replaced with the black suit, boots and gloves.
"Now, follow after me."
Orion and Aurora did so. White rings materialized on them as well. In a matter of moments, Orion and Aurora changed.
For Orion, his blonde hair is replaced with orion blue, and his eyes return to the same green glow from earlier.
Aurora had her black hair replaced with lavender hair, and her green eyes from earlier.
The adults in the room are surprised, wide-eyed.
"What?" Danny, Star and Maddie initially said.
"How is it possible?" Maddie asked, putting a hand on her chin. "They've not only not inherited your powers, but also your clothes right away as Phantom?"
"But their hair and eye color are different for each.." Star said.
Orion and Aurora looked down to see that indeed, they've changed. Maddie bought up a mirror with the help of a robotic arm that was leveled to Orion and Aurora's level.
"Ah! We've turned into Phantom!" Orion said.
"I look much like the Aurora Borealis now - green and lavender?" Aurora said.
Danny approached his two children from behind - and it was a general match.
Overall, the scene is generally one of puzzling thoughts.
"How is this even possible?" Star asked, moving beside Danny. "Not only ectoplasm, but also to change clothes right away and with a different hair color?"
Danny rubbed his head."Genetics, maybe?"
"Possibly. But still, we are gonna extract some of the samples from Orion and Aurora just to be sure."
Orion and Aurora perked up to their paternal grandmother. "No needles, Grandma Maddie?" Aurora asked.
Maddie let out a light chuckle. "No needles, Aurora." She lightly rubbed Aurora's forehead. "But, I'll just get your hair,
"Danny, we need to talk about this as a family, later." Star said.
"What about?" Danny asked.
"Orion and Aurora's powers, and what it will mean for the family."
A realization hit Danny. "Yeah, right.."
XXXXXXX
First off, the ghost rays. Danny stretched a hand out with an open palm and fired a burst.
"How'd you do that?" Orion asked, glancing at his own palm for a moment.
"Stretch out an open palm and just think of it."
Orion and Aurora looked at their father, confused.
"Yeah, power manipulation is a bit tricky. To best explain it, think of it as a Jedi tactic; use your minds and will it."
Orion and Aurora did just so. Quickly enough, a concentrated ghost ray blast spurred from their palm and into the target cutouts of ghosts.
"Whoa!" Orion and Aurora leveled their palms to eye level.
Quickly, Orion and Aurora made finger gun motions at the targets and tried it again. This time, smaller rays fired semi-auto auto akin to a real handgun gun were the result, and Orion, Aurora began firing, hitting all the stationary targets. Danny, Star, and Maddie whistled.
Orion chuckled and then raised one of his finger guns to blow it, as if to blow the smoke out of a real handgun. "Thank you, Battlefield."
"Well, I'm not sure if Battlefield trains you to float." Aurora said, then something got in her mind.
She clutched her own fists and jumped, prompting her to quickly float up the ceiling of the lab uncontrollably. However, she looked down and froze. "Ah!"
Aurora began falling. "Daddy! Help me!"
"Aurora!" Orion, Star and Maddie shouted.
Danny flew up to Aurora without hesitation and then caught her. Aurora tightly held onto her father as they landed back on the floor. He looked at Star and Maddie. "I think we're gonna be here all day."
"Dad, Mom, Grandma Maddie, are there any chances this can be removed?" Orion asked. "I'm not exactly sure if this is something that I want to have. This is a bit scary to say the least."
"Yeah, I think I'm a bit scared for now with this." Aurora added, a hint of shakiness in her tone.
"It will be fine, kids." Danny said, pulling his two children for a hug. "This can be learned."
"Danny, what are you thinking?" Star asked, a questioning tone in her voice. "You want Orion and Aurora to be where you were when we were their age?"
Danny suddenly felt heavy in his mind, heart, and had stiffened. If Jazz were here, she'd probably get him cooked on the spot with her psychological nitpicking.
"Well, nothing with learning things, right? It's what I did." Danny replied, a nervous smile on his face.
"We're talking about this later, Danny."
Danny could only nod. "Okay."
"Mom, everything good?"
"Of course, Orion. Just wanna talk to your father later, that's all."
Orion and Aurora looked up at their mother.
It was a long while; it even took the entire day just to be sure, but Danny and Star are back at their own personal residence within Polter Heights.
The family gathered together on the living room's television set. The TV played different montages that happened earlier when Orion and Aurora were examined on.
Intagibility, check.
Flight, check. As Aurora flew, so did Orion on his separate moment in the montage.
Enhancing strength? Check.
Ecto-energy constructs? Check.
Photokinesis? Check.
Ghost Stinger? Check.
And, that's about the extent of the montage; the rest is spent on lectures on mental control, discipline and the implications of inappropriate use of power.
Some are left out on purpose, citing time as a factor. The Ghostly Wail was certainly left out, so were cryokinesis and pyrokinesis powers. The power absorption that was learned with Vortex long ago is left out, and if it's something that Danny could even want Orion and Aurora to have.
"Danny, what are you thinking about getting Orion and Aurora to learn this?" Star asked. "What if it's something they simply don't want, or worse, they get hurt or someone else does by their powers?"
"Then we have it removed, simple." Danny replied. "Just that, the idea of them having some of my powers bought me back to those times."
"The times when you got your pants dropped in front of Paulina because of intagibility, or when you decided to engage in a petty prank war with Vlad all those years ago?"
Danny had an embarrassed look at that. "Yeah..."
Star sighed. "Usually, this would be a harder talk."
"Can't blame you; not even Bezos, Zuckerberg, Gates, and Buffet could envision having children with these powers." Danny said. "Just, I didn't envision Orion and Aurora to somehow have them this early."
"We are gonna need to set some boundaries, and the means to enforce them." Star said. "We can't have them be reckless with their powers and have them slip on situations that they could entangle themselves in with the potential to lead to bad habits."
"Yeah, I agree." Danny nodded. He then leaned back on the sofa as he closed the television, making the living room quiet. "Luckily, Dad and Mom have something that can help with that."
Star let out another sigh. It was quite the day to go from normal to immediately having her two children with powers that Danny had, to have them go to school soon. Memories also flooded from her own times when she and Danny were young, and like any parent, ideally, to avert their children from repeating the mistakes they've made.
Orion and Aurora significantly stood out from the fact that they're not just young teenagers, but also empowered teenagers, with the potential to go all sorts of directions.
"I'd like to believe we did well, and Orion, Aurora will do good, even with these powers." Danny said.
"Me too, Danny. I just want to be sure." Star replied.
Danny lightly chuckled. "Now you know where your mom and dad came from when we told them I was Phantom."
"Those were the days." Star felt nostalgic in that regard, then maternal insticts crept up on her. "Now, we are from the perspective of parents. I know you were brave and that I believe we did our best in Orion and Aurora, but still, the idea of them being hurt like you, or potentially being Dan, I can't-"
"No, it won't happen. I can have Mom and Dad go around and help them, and even myself if I have to - just use the same old bathroom excuse if I have to." Danny said with a smile. "I know that my job can be hectic, but I'd be willing to take much for Orion and Aurora."
Star felt sentimental, and her heart felt a sense of weight. Danny is surely dedicated, but the thought of the worst, that statement, worries her.
"I hope it won't come to that." Star snuggled up to Danny on the sofa, burying her face in his shoulder. "I want to see Orion and Aurora grow up, then stay with you until our passing. I love you, Danny, and I want to spend the rest of our time together."
"It won't be, and I love you too." Danny said, putting a hand on Star's waist. "Orion, Aurora?"
Like any teen being called, Orion and Aurora complied. The two young Fentons came from a nearby hallway leading to the living room, walking like normal people.
"Hey, how are you two doing?" Danny asked, a hint of concern in his tone. "You two holding up?"
"I think?" Orion said, a hint of uncertainty in his tone. "Some resemblance of control is nice, Dad, but I think I'll need more time."
"I'm getting there, Dad, Mom - just that, much like our move from Florida, this will take some time for me to get used to." Aurora answered.
"Do you want those powers to be rid of?" Danny asked.
Orion and Aurora perked up at the suggestion.
"Is it possible, Dad?" asked Aurora.
"We'll find a way with Grandma Maddie and Grandpa Jack." Star said with an encouraging smile. "You don't have to live with that burden if you don't want to, and if we have to, find a way."
Orion and Aurora sighed.
"Sorry, Da-"
"Don't be." Danny cut both of his children off. "It's not your fault, okay?" He stood up from the couch to kneel in front of Orion and Aurora, pulling them into a hug. "It can be scary and I myself know it in my day, but, while you make up your minds, me and Mom will have Grandpa Jack and Grandma Maddie a way to get rid of them if possible, okay? We can set up regular training sessions for you two to get a grip on those powers, while thinking if it's something you want to have or not."
"Okay, Dad." Both twins said.
"Hey, don't hesitate to talk to us if you need anything, okay?" Star asked. "We are here, and unlike what your father endured with your paternal grandparents, there's no need to hide things. We will help."
"Sure." Orion said,
"I understand." Aurora said.
"Now, go back to bed." Star added. " It's nighttime."
"Good night, Mom, Dad." Orion and Aurora went off to their private rooms.
As Orion and Aurora climbed up the stairs, Danny smiled. "We'll be okay."
Welcome to Stellar Heroes, everybody. Figured to kick things off with a small prologue chapter to set up the Fentons for the moment before showing off the others and then getting through the typical Danny Phantom adventures, but in modern times with the next generation and with Danny and Star's children.
A Window Through Time will be placed on temporary hiatus as I think of what to do with it - as interesting as Danny reacting to his futures can be, the flow of the story can be jumbled all around with going back and forth on different timelines, and the countless possibilities for it kinda roadblocking me for the time being, so, that will be stopped down (Plus, I'm eager to show off a dedicated next gen fic for a bit with Danny and Star while Stranded's not showing off any major children for Danny and Star just yet).
This will be concurrently developed with Dean Phantom down the line; and don't worry, there will be significant differences between Dean and Orion's tales.