A World Unseen

Pairing: Dash x Danny

Warnings: Homosexual relationships. Main DP characters of the story are in their senior year of high school and are 18 years of age. Violence. Foul language. Rape. Death. Supernatural AU.

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is a product of Nickelodeon. All characters in this story are imaginary.

Summary: Life has never been normal, but when he makes the move to Amity Park, Danny finally feels like he has found some place where he belongs. But can he protect his friends from a looming threat?

Note: This story is a complete revamp of my story "New Kid at Casper High" with a lot of changes to the original concept.

Originally Written: July 2004-October 2005

Chapter 01

It wasn't the first time. In all honesty, he should be used to it, but it never failed to amaze the crap that some students put the "new kid" through on the first day. He would have been happy to simply stay home, a sign of rebellion against his parents, but his mother forcibly dragged him out of their new house and carted him off to yet another new school where he be forced to survive the "new kid" stigma once more. A heavy sigh escaped him as he stared into his locker, the shredded remains of what were once his textbooks filling the small space with a few tattered bits of paper floating to the tiled floor like snowflakes. What possessed someone to do this? Did they really have to ruin all of his textbooks? He groaned at the thought of making a visit to the front office of the school to inquire about replacements. His parents would probably be furious after receiving a phone call about the incident and likely the cost of buying new books to replace the ruined ones. It wasn't his fault! But he would end up taking the blame for it. He couldn't prove who the culprit was, though he had a very good idea who did it.

At least this should be the last time, Danny thought as he slammed the locker shut. It was his senior year. And really, his parents couldn't let him stay one more year at his old school before they decided to pick up and move, yet again, to a new town? He supposed he should count himself lucky that his parents stayed two years in the last town. He actually had the time to make friends, for once, but it felt like a part of him was ripped away when he had to leave them. Pressing the heels of his palms into his eyes, he wished he was back at his old school, back with his friends. His sister Jazz was lucky. He envied her so much at that moment. She was currently a sophomore in college, and the last time he saw her was when she left to move into her dorms her freshmen year. They spoke to each other through e-mails, but that was it. Jazz didn't want to come home. Ever. She always hated all the moving around, and Danny couldn't blame her. He hated it too. Now that she was finally in a stable environment, making friends and having fun, she didn't want to leave it. He would feel the same way if he was in her place, and right now, he really wished he was.

He wasn't exactly fitting in with this new school. Already, he had more than one run in with some of the school bullies, namely James Radcliffe, who Danny happened to suspect as the culprit behind his shredded textbooks. Earlier at lunch, James purposely tripped him, causing him to get coated in the sludge the school considered food. The lunch lady doled out each sloppy scope full with a kind smile, but the food smelled fouled and possibly weeks old and rotting. While Danny tried to clean the greenish glop from his face, the cafeteria filled with laughter, everyone pointing at the poor new kid. James wore a cruel, smug smirk at his deed. Danny rolled his eyes at the memory, thankful that he thought to bring a change of clothes. Past experiences told him to be prepared and expect situations like that one. It happened more than a few times his first year at his last school.

The incident only made him miss his friends all the more. Eating alone in the cafeteria was depressing. He kept looking for the familiar faces of Tucker and Sam then sighing miserably when he remembered they weren't here. Why couldn't he simply skip this year and jump immediately into college? He didn't feel like go through all this harassment again, even if it was the last time before settling into a college life like Jazz. Danny reached up, his hand closing around the strap around his throat, which was a sort of going away present from Sam. The fake morgue tag was a not so funny joke among him and his friends. Sam thought she would at least get a smile out of it. Danny tried, but the memory of the incident that occurred only seven months ago was still as fresh and vivid in his memory as the night it happened. He wished he could wipe it clear from his memory or make a joke out of it, but it hurt too much simply recalling it. Sleep was no comfort to him because every time he closed his eyes, he relieved the nightmare. But he wore the tag like a choker, turned inside out so that the details on the tag weren't visible, as if that somehow kept his friends with him when he was so far away from them. He rubbed his thumb over the back of the tag, like he could summon them here to him through the desperate desire to see them again.

"I see those jerks are still acting like totally jackasses to new students."

Danny managed not to jump at the voice. Not many people bothered to talk to him during the day, at least not in a friendly manner. He heard plenty of insults slung his way or rude whispers as he passed other students. "Yeah," he mumbled for lack of anything else to say as he turned to face the speaker.

The woman dressed in a fuzzy pink sweater and tight fitted jeans. She stood with one hand on a hip the jutted out to the side as she smiled. Danny gulped, wondering why such a pretty woman was talking to him. He was hardly the popular type. In fact, he was generally on the lowest tier of the popular scale. He was the kid always getting picked on by the jocks. His parents didn't exactly help with his social image. Everywhere they moved, he was immediately targeted as a weirdo with crazy parents who believed in the existence of things like ghosts and werewolves. His parents weren't simply nuts about the supernatural. They hunted it. The whole decision behind their move was because his parents heard word, from a reliable source according to them, that this place Amity Park was a town booming with supernatural beings. His parents were thrilled with the news and started packing up their things at once. This wasn't the first time Danny wished his parents were normal.

"I'm Paulina." She stepped closer to him as she held out her hand to him.

Danny blinked, taken aback. Was she actually trying to make friends with him? This would be a first for him and completely threw out all he knew about the social hierarchy of high school. The pretty popular women didn't simply go around making friends with the losers! "Danny," he replied stiffly, forcing a smile onto his face. He stared at the hand outstretched before him with hesitation. Paulina tilted her head as she waited expectantly for him to shake her hand. Danny chewed on his lip, thinking quickly of what to do. He tugged the long sleeve of his white shirt until his hand was well hidden by it then shook her hand so that his flesh didn't come in contact with his skin.

Paulina blinked then laughed. "Well, that's a new way to greet someone!" Amusement danced in her green eyes, but Danny remained nervous about this encounter. Now he would be the weirdo with a germ phobia or something else to make him seem as crazy as his parents.

Danny's gaze darted to the clock hanging on the wall opposite of where they stood. "I'm going to be late to my next class." He sighed, shoulder drooping. "I hate math. Trigonometry is such a headache."

"Is your teacher Lancer?"

Danny hugged his arms around him as he watched the curiosity play across her face. If Sam and Tucker could see him now, they would hardly believe what they were seeing. Sam would probably grab him by the collar and drag him away from what she would call a "shallow, superficial bimbo." Tucker, on the other hand, would be rooting him on, if they were still in their sophomore year, or trying to get Danny to put in a good word for him. A ghost of a smile appeared on his face as he thought about his friends. "Yeah," he answered Paulina. "Please tell me he's not a horrible teacher."

"He can be a bit tough, but I think he just wants every student to reach their potential." Paulina reached a hand into her pocket. "I have this friend in that class. Could you give him something?" She handed a folded piece of paper to him. "He's blond and looks like a football player. You can't miss him." With a wave of her hand, she jogged down the hallway on her way to her next class.

"I'm not a messaging service!" Danny called after her but didn't think she heard him. Sighing, he turned his gaze to the note in his hand and read the name scrawled out in loopy writing on one side. "Dash Baxter?" Danny groaned. "Even his name sounds like a football player!" He hung his head as he stuffed the note into his pocket. After all his run ins with James, he wasn't looking forward to meeting with another football jock. This was his last class of the day, and he hoped he could avoid any further harassment. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen. When the bell rang, he hurried to his class.

"How nice of you to show up," Lancer drawled dully as he stared flatly at Danny the moment he stepped into the classroom. The middle aged man looked out of shape with a round belly hanging over his belt. His head was balding though he had a fairly well groomed goatee. He had bags under his eyes and a weary expression behind the annoyance of having a student show up late to his class. "Class, we have a new student," he announced, turning to address the classroom. "His name is Daniel Fenton, and he just moved here from Wisconsin." He gestured for Danny to go find an open desk. "Now, everyone, please turn to page four thirty-five, and we'll begin." He turned to the board and began writing.

Danny glanced around the room until he spotted the only remaining desk that wasn't already taken. He headed down the row of desks, thankful that it was in the back of the room. Front row desks were always the worst as he discovered in his prior class where his English teacher Mister Gore decided to direct every question at him, even when half the class had their hands raised ready to answer. Maybe Gore liked picking on new students as much as the bullies. Now Danny was stuck writing some lame poem for part of his assignment. He hated poetry! And rhyming! Could his life get any worse?

He didn't miss all the looks that followed him on the walk that felt a hundred miles longer than it really was. When he finally reached his desk, he tried to curl himself up and disappear from their prying eyes. He never wished he could turn invisible more than he did at that moment. A loud cough from Lancer drew all eyes back to him, except for Danny. His eyes were scanning the other students in the classroom until they landed on the man sitting to his right. Blond hair, tall, board shoulders, muscular. Yup, that man certainly fit the bill when Danny imagined all the qualities that made up a jock. Danny almost wanted to kick him for being so good looking.

His experiences with jocks were never good. They were bullies that pushed him around and treated him like a personal punching bag. But apparently Danny was doomed to have a thing for the big, macho, muscular type. He wasn't embarrassed to admit he was gay. He came out to Tucker and Sam at the beginning their junior year. He came to the revelation over the summer when they went to the beach, and he found he was drooling more over the hunky guys than the girls prancing around in skimpy bikinis. He spent the rest of the summer freaking out about this new found attraction to other men before deciding to give in and just accept that he was gay. He would only make himself miserable if he kept fighting who he was attracted to, but he wished he would at least be smart and fall for someone that would actually like him back, someday. In the future. Which was definitely not right now. He simply couldn't do it right now.

Steeling his nerves, Danny reached out between the aisle and poked the man in his arm, being sure to touch where the sleeve of his shirt covered the beefy arm. Why did he have to look so damn gorgeous? He was exactly Danny's type! Danny swallowed when he thought he saw a flicker of a smile on the man's face before he turned his head. When he met with those dark blue eyes, Danny thought his heart literally skipped a beat. Damn, you stupid gorgeous jock! For a moment, Danny could only stare dumbly, completely forgetting why he was trying to get the man's attention. He leaned back in his seat, feeling utterly flustered as the man's eyes remained on him.

"Uh, um," Danny's eyes darted about the room before he finally remembered what he was supposed to give the man. "You're Dash Baxter, right?"

"Yeah." Dash leaned on his arm, resting on his desk. Mild confusion played across his face, probably wondering why the new kid even knew his name.

Deciding it best to get this over and done with as quickly as possible, Danny pulled out the note and tossed it onto the other man's desk. He pretended to turn his attention to Lancer as he reviewed the problems that were listed on page four thirty-five of their textbooks. But he glanced back at Dash as the man unfolded the note and read it. His breathe hitched when Dash smiled with a shake of his head. The note was folded again and dropped into the bag at his feet. Danny forced his gaze away before he was caught staring. His right hand raked through his dark hair, and he kept it there to block his view of Dash. Of course he has a girlfriend, he berated himself as he scribbled down the math problems into his notebook. He would deal with his ruined textbooks later. And he probably wouldn't be able to read his notes later since he wasn't exactly left handed. The problems were barely legible, but if he switched back to his right hand, he would be too tempted to glance at Dash.

Why wouldn't Dash have a girlfriend? He was in a word hot. And in another word straight. Both Dash and Paulina obviously ran in the popular circle, and Danny shouldn't be surprised that the two were most likely the hottest item in the whole school. He released a heavy sigh, wishing he could stop himself from feeling attracted to the jock. It didn't matter. He wasn't looking for someone right now. He probably wouldn't be looking for several more long years, if that. His jaw clenched tightly as he pushed back the memories so far into the back of his mind that he hoped they wouldn't be able to find a way to resurface anytime soon.

But they always did.

"Hey." A finger poking his shoulder made Danny jump. "Do you want to share my book?" Dash inquired once Danny jerked his head around to face him.

Danny swallowed. He couldn't just ignore me, could he? Against his better judgment, he nodded. The smile slipped back onto Dash's face as he moved his desk closer so that Danny could better see the page they were on. Danny nearly melted right then and there, because the man's smile was seriously like the beaming sun. And no jock ever gave him a smile like that! "Thanks," he mumbled in a soft, shy voice. He switched his pencil to his right hand and started fixing the horrible mess of his notes. Just don't look at him too much, he instructed himself, trying to keep his focus on math. He'll probably just squash you into football shape and use you for punting practice. Danny resisted the urge to bang his head on the desk.

Dash laughed beside him, and Danny stared, completely unable to look away as the soft, warm sound made his cheeks tinge pink. Why was this happening to him? He couldn't like a football jock! He didn't even want to have feelings for anyone, but a jock was the worst option available.

Dash leaned over, and his voice was a low whisper when he spoke. "I don't." The two simple words and the feel of warm breath over his ear made Danny's heart jump into his throat. Dash's eyes rolled at the startled reaction he received. "I don't play football. I'm not a jock." His shoulders lifted in a shrug. "I like sports but never cared much about playing them."

"Oh," Danny responded blankly. What was he supposed to say to that? He didn't even ask anything before Dash started rambling. What brought that on? Danny scratched at his head, dropping his gaze back to his notebook. What was going on here? Why was Dash trying to be all friendly with him? Paulina acted nice to him too, and that was making his head spin. They both looked popular. Why weren't they treating him like everyone else? James certainly went out of way to mark Danny as a loser.

"So has Skulker and his gang done anything to you yet?" Dash busily copied down problems and notes on how to do the equations.

Danny's brow pinched as the question played over in his head. "Who's Skulker?" He didn't recognize the name.

A short laugh left Dash, and he smirked. "Sorry. You probably met him as James. Lots of us call him Skulker though."

"Weird name."

"He's a weird guy. It's best if you don't get on his radar."

Danny released a suffering sigh. "Too late. He completely shredded all of my text books."

"Hate those jerks," Dash muttered, shaking his head. "Skulker thinks he can get away with pretty much anything. He thinks since he's pretty much the star football player that somehow makes him the king of the school, but it just makes him a dick."

Danny laughed softly as a smile tugged at his mouth. "You're probably the coolest person I've met here so far." Or at least the nicest since Dash actually seemed to be friendly. His left hand wrapped unconsciously around the morgue tag as he glanced up at the board to see what Lancer was writing. He was pretty certain he wouldn't be able to figure out any of his homework later. Why did math have to be so difficult?

"Paulina's cool too. She's a little on the popular side since she's pretty and she's always giving great love advice. But she's pretty nice to everyone." Dash shrugged, quirking a small smirk. "I, on the other hand, am pretty much at the bottom of the social ladder."

Danny bit back a laugh, fearing he might draw the teacher's attention if he laughed too loudly. Dash unpopular? His eyes raked over the man's body. He couldn't believe that. "I don't care about popularity." He shrugged, pulling his eyes away from Dash before he stared too long. "I've been a loser at every school I've gone to, so I'm pretty used to being at the bottom of the social ladder."

"I guess we can be losers together." Grinning, Dash nudged Danny in the ribs with his elbow.

Danny ducked his head, praying the man wouldn't notice the color rising to his cheeks. Being anything together with Dash sounded good to him, despite an overwhelming fear of being intimate with anyone. That thought actually made the color drain from his face as his stomach lurched. He swallowed, hoping he wouldn't do something entirely embarrassing like vomiting in the middle of class or having a panic attack.

"Your homework," Lancer announced as class wound to an end, "is to finish all the problems on pages four thirty-seven and four thirty-eight." The class groaned but quickly fell silent when Lancer shot them a glare that promised more homework if they continued acting like children. When the bell rang, everyone gathered up their things and headed for the door.

"So, Danny," Dash said as they walked out of the classroom together, "how are you liking Casper High so far?"

"Bullies aside?" Danny grinned. "I guess it's not so bad. Seems like every other school really."

Dash smiled with a twinkle of something mysterious in his eyes. "Well, if you'd like-"

"Daniel Fenton, please report to the principal's office," a woman said, the PA system cackling to life with the announcement. "Daniel Fenton to the principal's office." An awful static followed as the PA system shut off again.

Dread ran down his spine like a trickle of icy water. What could he possibly have done to warrant a visit to the principal's office? Danny sighed and hung his head. "Uh, I guess I'll see you later, Dash." He smiled shyly as he glanced over at the man. "Maybe we can hang out sometime." He waved a little before hurrying down the hallway to the principal's office. By the time he reached the office, Danny was chewing on his thumbnail with nervousness.

"He's expecting you," said the woman at the front desk as she filed her nails. "Go right in."

Apprehension washed over him as Danny stared at the door. Nothing about this bode well, and he had plenty of experience from previous schools. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and slipped into the office. The curtains were drawn shut, and the ceiling light offered barely enough light to see anything around the room. Shelves filled with ancient looking books lined the left and right walls. Before him stood a desk with two plastic chairs set before it. Danny gulped, hesitating to take either one of the seats.

"Daniel Fenton." The voice drew Danny's attention to the man sitting at the desk. He lifted his gaze from the papers he was reviewing to look over the teenager. His piercing blue eyes made Danny sweat. The look in those eyes felt like they could see right through him to his darkest secrets.

"Please don't call my parents about the textbooks," Danny blurted out, begging before he could snap his mouth shut. It wasn't even his fault that they were shredded beyond use! Yet under that gaze, Danny felt compelled to confess to the damage.

A smirk twisted upon the man's face. It wasn't cruel but there was something about it that didn't sit well with Danny. "I already had replacements brought up for you." He gestured to the stack of books sitting at the corner of his desk. "I'm very much aware that the incident wasn't your fault. I see no reason to contact your parents about this."

Danny sighed, his body relaxing somewhat. "Was that all then, Sir?" He fidgeted, wanting to grab the books and run. There was something about this silver haired man that Danny didn't like, though he couldn't put his finger on what.

The principal leaned back in his seat. "I just wanted to see how you were adjusting to the school. I know it can be difficult for new students starting late." The smirk left his face as a sour frown replaced it. "I must apologize for the behavior of some of my students. There are always some unfortunate bad eggs at every school."

Danny's head bobbed. He was very much aware of that fact. "It seems nice enough so far, Sir." His gaze moved about the room, unable to sit still for too long. He especially couldn't keep his eyes on the principal.

"How are Jack and Maddie?"

The question made him jerk, and his eyes snapped back to the man. "Uh," Danny blinked rapidly, mouth hanging slightly open. "You know my parents?"

The principal laughed, the left corner of his mouth trying to twist upward. "I guess they've never mentioned me then? Vlad Masters?" An eyebrow lifted with curiosity as he waited for an answer.

Danny shrugged, shaking his head. "They never said anything about knowing you."

"Ah, well," Masters leaned forward, scribbling down something on the papers on his desk. "That's probably for the best. We had a bit of a, heh, falling out if you will." His gaze rested on Danny, who swallowed, trying to force down the lump growing in his throat. "Perhaps it's best you don't mention this little meeting to them. I wouldn't want our past dispute to interfere with your schooling." He gestured with one hand to the books. "That was all."

Danny hesitantly stepped toward the desk. Trying not to look spooked, he picked up the stack of textbooks. His mouth opened then snapped shut when he couldn't think of what he should say. With a quick bow of his head, he hurried out of the office. Once he was in the hallway, he managed to breathe easy again. What was that all about? How exactly did Masters even know his parents? His name never came up in any of his parents' stories. Danny frowned as he thought over the whole encounter. Well, I guess whatever happened between them isn't really any of my business, he decided. He had enough to worry about with his homework and surviving senior year without the mystery of his parents and principal hanging over his head.