With Great Power

Danny paced Varric's room in the Hanged Man. The door was closed, muffling the sounds of drunken conversations. Varric sat in a chair, following Danny's movements with interest.

"The Templars are gonna find me." Danny was rambling, he knew he was. He just couldn't stop the sludge of words falling from his mouth. "The Templars are gonna find me, and they're gonna realise that I'm not a mage because they know more about mages than I do. And then they're gonna realise that I'm a ghost. Spirit. Whatever. And then they're gonna use their scary Templar abilities to make me unable to phase and they're gonna stick a sword in my gut and I'm gonna die! Varric! I don't wanna die!"

Varric hummed, Danny took it as agreement.

"And even if they won't kill me, there's no way they'll treat me like a person when they realise I'm not a mage. Heck, they don't even treat mages like people most of the time! And mages are people!"

Varric nodded.

"What should I dooooooooooooooo!?"

Varric shrugged.

"You're no help at all!" Danny threw out his arms in irritation.

"Well, I can't say I've ever been chased by the Templars, Softy. I'll do what I can do help you, but Cullen isn't taking my bribes."

"Yeah, I already tried that." Danny fell exhausted into a chair.

"You should ask Anders, he's an expert on escaping the Templars."

Danny nodded, trying and failing to hide his misery. "I did. He told me to lay low. He thinks things might cool down if I just wait it out." Danny scowled. "It won't do that, Varric! I exorcised someone right in front of them! In my human form! They'll never let this go! I even asked Mouse for any tips."

"I'm gonna ignore how I don't know how that is and just ask you what he said, since that's what you want."

"He told me to possess and kill them all. I don't wanna kill them all. They're only after me because they want to save people!"

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with killing them all being a really bad idea."

"Thank you, Varric, I knew I could count on you."

"Who is this 'Mouse' person? He sounds like a bad influence."

"Says the guy who taught me how to cheat while gambling."

"Touché." Varric sighed. "Really, though, kid. You should get some sleep. You working yourself up over this won't help anyone."

Danny nodded, the very picture of misery.

"Do you want me to walk you back to the Clinic?"

Danny shook his head. "I'll manage on my own. Thanks."

"Just remember, they don't know you can walk through walls. If they catch you, you'll probably manage to escape before they realise you're not a mage. Right?"

"Right. Thanks for letting me freak out on you." Danny smiled as he left, feeling slightly lighter.

Danny ended up alone as the ones leaving the pub in the late hour were mostly headed towards different parts of Lowtown, not going towards the many hidden stairs to Darktown.

As such, Danny noticed immediately that he was being followed.

He looked around as nonchalantly as he could for somewhere he could hide. A dead end wouldn't be a problem with his abilities, and any opportunity to turn invisible would help.

If he had been hunting himself, with the authority of the Templars as backing, he would strike in the open – which meant before they reached the hidden stairs. That meant Danny couldn't count on using them to get away.

Danny felt too open, too exposed. Turning invisible or intangible openly would be giving away his trump cards. It was a last resort.

He didn't hurry his steps, or give any indication that he had noticed his pursuers, even though his entire body twitched with a suppressed need to run.

'Why haven't they done anything yet?'

Maybe he was just being paranoid.

None-the-less, he kept looking for a quick escape.

Danny was about to go invisible as soon as he turned a corner, putting a wall between him and his pursuer, when a strong hand closed around his arm and pulled.

Danny blinked, and when he opened his eyes again he was inside. A thin hand was pressed against his mouth, but other than the other than that he was not restrained.

When he gathered himself enough to look around, he was in a normal warehouse, he found his "attacker" to be a surprisingly normal looking merchant woman. No visible weapons, no hulking muscles. If anything, she was plump. Brown hair, brown eyes, a heart-shaped face. She looked like she was someone's mom.

She winked at him.

Danny decided that he probably didn't need to knock her out and escape.

Outside the warehouse, the much too soft steps of Danny's pursuer passed.

'Shouldn't there be more amour?...'

Danny's breath caught. It wasn't Templars. It was bounty hunters.

Of course they put a price on his head!

Templars couldn't blend in with the crowd if their lives depended on it, a bit like the Guys in White back home. Their standard issue heavy armours made them stand out. Somebody quick and agile could spot them and get away, as long as you didn't let yourself get surrounded.

Bounty hunters looked however they wanted to look. Had whatever skills they found necessary.

When the footsteps retreated, Danny exhaled, shoulders sagging as he relaxed. "Thanks. Not sure why you helped me, but I appreciate it."

The woman grinned, a mischievous light in her eyes. "Of course I did. You work for the Healer, don't ya? You're his apprentice, or something. Right?" Her accent was thick and foreign.

"You mean Anders? Well... yeah. Kinda."

"Thought I recognized you. The clinic has done more for the poor in this city than anyone in charge. Those big rich people with their fancy titles don't care 'bout the little guy, so when Templars and bounty hunters show up, we gotta care for each other."

Danny blinked. That was nice. A bit naïve, perhaps, but it was still...

It felt like something had gotten stuck in his throat.

This kind of thinking, calling people naïve for helping each other... He had never thought like that before arriving in Kirkwall.

Was that the sort of person he was becoming? Cynical and selfish?

No.

No, he would not accept that.

The world didn't get better from people only looking after themselves. And he wanted Kirkwall to become a better place, one with less people murdering each other and more people helping each other.

Danny smiled as brightly as he could. "Thanks."

The sun stood high in the sky, and the small training field was empty save their small group; Aveline, Hawke and Fenris.

It was the first day off of the month, aka Aveline holding extra training for the people in Hawke's circle of friends who used swords.

Maybe it was due to being Captain of the City Guard, but Aveline was fearsome when it came to training. Skipping it was... not well adviced.

Which was why Danny was there, even though he knew what the woman's reaction would be.

Danny took a deep breath as he walked into the field, gaining the attention of the three already there.

"You!" A gauntlet-covered finger was pointed in Danny's direction. Aveline looked livid, except not really. More like she was worried. "Why is there a price on your head? What did you do?"

"Ah, erm, well. You see," Danny fumbled for words. "Templars saw me exorcise this demon and now they want me to work for them, probably."

"Why don't you?" Fenris scoffed, his eyes narrowing. "The Templars are the authority on demons, they could use someone with your abilities."

Aveline nodded, seconding the opinion.

"Because Templars." Danny held up his hands, as if to encompass the concept he wanted to convey. "I'm a... mage. We don't... It doesn't work."

Neither Aveline nor Fenris looked convinced. Hawke sent Danny an apologetic smile behind their backs, but that wasn't particularly helpful.

"I don't want to be locked up."

"You have faced demons before, you know the danger they pose." Fenris was glaring, but he generally glared at Danny, so it was hard to tell his mood from that.

"Is it really his responsibility, though?" Hawke looked practically nonchalant. "I know we help people a lot, but sometimes they gotta deal with the consequences of their own mistakes. People who are possessed by demons all agreed to it, you know?"

That made the two glares zoom in on the swordswoman, rather than Danny. He was grateful.

"Demons are masters of trickery." Fenris practically sneered, which was a bit odd because for somebody who hated everyone, he didn't usually seem to hate Hawke.

"He can save people, and you're the only one capable of it. Does it matter if it was their own mistakes that put them in the position in the first place?" Aveline's tone was resolute.

"Shouldn't it?" Hawke leaned on her sword, which was stuck into the ground.

Aveline's lips thinned.

"Demons kill innocents, people who aren't possessed," commented Fenris.

"Anybody could deal with that. I'm just the only one who can fix things without hurting the one who is possessed." Danny drew their attention back to himself. "And I will, but not with the Templars. We run into plenty of demons in our normal daily lives, and since I can sense them I'm effective enough if I want to search them out on my own."

Neither Aveline nor Fenris looked convinced.

However, it wasn't their call.

It was Danny's.

AN: I thought it was nice in the game where, when you're first looking for Anders to ask for his help with the Deep Roads Mission, a bunch of refugees show up and challenge you to a fight because they think you're threatening their healer. The world of Dragon Age is horrifying in so many ways, but at least some people look out for each other.

Whether Templar anti-magic would work on Danny's ghost powers... well, they work on demons in the game, so I'm going to have to say "yes".

Spider-man references and Danny Phantom go together like ice-cream and sunshine.