AN: Inspired by Buffy season 5.
Vanishing Point
The not-quite-secret lab in the Fentons' basement was hard to navigate. The high ceiling was only there to made room for more clutter, and the metal floor was covered in haphazardly placed wires. Every single surface held piles of papers and suspicious looking beakers, filled with glowing green goo. Random machine parts littered the basement.
In the center of the room were two rickety chairs, which looked like they had been rescued from an abandoned school. Probably a haunted one, for good measure. The blackboard which was mounted on a wooden stand in front of them only served to hammer in that image.
Danny sunk further into his seat, as much as he could on a straight-backed pile of uncomfortable metal. To his left, Jazz sat with perfect posture and a barely hidden expression of boredom on her face.
By the blackboard, their parents were explaining how ghost powers worked. Again.
"We think it's all about subconscious desires, and ghostly obsessions." Maddie smiled and pointed at an overly complicated diagram on the board.
Jazz straightened, impossibly, and turned her full attention towards the lecture.
"The Box Ghost has dominion over boxes because he wants to. Because, to the Box Ghost, boxes are the most important thing. The only thing that matters, even." Jack jumped in with a grin. "Just imagine what we could accomplish, if we could control what ghosts obsessed over."
"But it's not something that can be changed." Maddie pointed to a specific part of the diagram. "Because the desires of a post-human conciousness are set when it becomes a post-human conciousness."
"Ghosts are static, they don't evolve like people do. Their wants don't change," translated Jack. "But maybe, if we can dissect a ghost's brain-"
Danny could only shudder and think that the main thing he wanted was for his parents to not find out he wasn't human anymore.
The benches outside of school were usually full, but Danny and Valerie had one to themselves. The foul weather might have been the cause of that, because despite the sunlight it was cold and windy.
Valerie pulled her jacket tighter around herself and bit stubbornly into her sandwich. Danny sort of wished that he had stayed inside with Sam and Tucker for lunch, but spending time with Valerie was rare enough after their break-up that he hadn't wanted to miss the opportunity.
"Everyone thinks the ghost boy's so great-"
Danny kept himself from sighing through sheer force of will.
"-with his stupid face-"
He must have looked as insulted as he felt, because Valerie stopped in the middle of her rant.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, er... It's just..." Danny took a deep breath, steadying himself. "I don't think his face is stupid."
"Yeah it is." Valerie gave an inelegant snort. "And I don't care what they say, even if he's dead it's still-"
"Don't you think it looks kind of like my face?" Danny clarified quickly, because he couldn't stand the idea of people thinking he had a crush on his alter-ego, and regretted the question immediately.
Valerie paused and gave Danny a long, considering look.
Danny could feel his pulse beating in his ears. This was it. She was going to realise the truth. This wasn't how he had been hoping to reveal his secret to Valerie... Actually, he hadn't wanted to reveal it at all.
"Nah. Your face is fine." Valerie shook her head, as if clearing it. "If anything, Phantom looks like that Weston kid on the basketball team."
"Oh. Okay." Danny blinked slowly. "Can we talk about something other than ghosts, though? I get enough of that at home."
Valerie smiled and nodded. "Have you seen the new Star Wars movie?"
The kitchen was filled with the smell of freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies. Jack and Maddie bustled around the room, preparing milk and coffee.
Danny fidgeted in his chair. Jazz shot him sympathetic looks, but whenever their parents were looking she mouthed stuff like "tell them" and "if you don't, I will". The latter was accompanied by Jazz pointing her thumb towards her own chest.
Danny took a deep, fortifying breath. The burn mark on his chest, which had nearly killed him the rest of the way, ached at the motion. Jazz noticed, and nodded pointedly towards the ones who had inflicted the wound.
Danny blanched.
He didn't want to do this, but Jazz thought it was the only way to keep him safe.
Danny disagreed. He could handle ghost hunters trying to kill him. Their parents, however, wouldn't be able to handle knowing what they had nearly done to him.
Jazz opened her mouth.
Danny spoke before she could. "Mom, dad. I'm Phantom."
"What's that, sweetie?" Maddie had a soft smile on her face as she placed the milk on the table. The expression was easy, with not a hint of her having even heard him reveal his deepest darkest secret.
"I'm Phantom. I'm half-ghost."
"Good one, son." Jack laughed jovially.
Something heavy dropped in Danny's stomach, making him feel cold all over. This wasn't how things were supposed to go down.
Jazz bit on her lip, looking bewildered as she gazed at the scene.
"No, I'm serious. I had an accident with the Portal, and now I'm a halfa." Danny stood up, grabbing onto his mother's shoulder and forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I'm not joking."
Maddie's eyes widened, a light deep within them igniting.
Danny leaned forward.
The light in his mother's eyes died. She blinked and stepped away. "Sorry, sweetie. What were you saying?" Her tone was apologetic and light, not at all fitting for the situation.
Danny opened and closed his mouth, not finding the words. "Are... are you messing with me? You can't just pretend-"
"Danny-boy, we're sorry for not paying attention to what you were saying." Jack placed the cookies on the table. "We've had a long day, but we'll listen now."
Danny could only blink. A quick glance at Jazz showed that she was just as confused.
"You know you can tell us anything."
"No... it wasn't important."
"So, I tried to tell my parents my secret yesterday."
Sam took a couple of potato chips from the bowl currently placed in Tucker's lap before turning towards the bowl of dip on the coffee table. "How'd they take it?"
Danny leaned back in the sofa, turning his head so that he stared at the ceiling in Sam's media room. "They didn't. I'm not sure if they just didn't want to face it, but they just ignored it. It was a bit creepy, actually. I didn't know my parents were such good actors."
"Hmm..." Tucker jammed an entire fist full of chips into his mouth.
"And today they tried to shoot Phantom! But when I got home, they were all nice and parental again." Danny threw his hands out. "I don't know what's going on anymore."
"Why wouldn't they shoot Phantom?" Sam tilted her head, her voice completely guileless. "I mean, they're ghost hunters."
"Because I told them my secret?" Danny sat up properly, narrowing his eyes at his two best friends. Why didn't they get it? Surely this entire situation wasn't normal?
Tucker leaned over and took a soda, as casual as can be. "And what secret is that, exactly?"
Danny couldn't stop himself from flinching, feeling like he had been struck.
Tucker blinked slowly, while Sam looked worried.
"Danny, is there something you haven't told us? Because this seems like it's a big deal-" Sam leaned closer, placing her hand over Danny's.
"You don't remember?" Danny's voice quivered.
"Remember what?"
"That I'm Phantom!"
His exclamation was met by twin looks of confusion.
"So... you're saying you know Phantom?" Tucker's eyes widened. "That's so cool. What's he like?"
"You're joking. Tell me you're joking!" Danny leaned forward, grasping onto Sam's offered hand and squeezing it. "This isn't funny, guys."
"Danny, you're hurting me." Sam looked down at their joined hands.
Danny let go as if burned.
"This isn't happening." He got to his feet and started pacing the room. His breathing turned erratic. "It's not... Must be ghost powers... Did Desiree do something? But who would wish- Vlad." Danny's panic disappeared. Of course. It was so simple. Who else would want half-ghosts to be secret? Vlad must have done something.
Sam cleared her throat, Danny swirled around to face his friends.
"Dude, what's wrong?" Tucker put down the snacks.
"I need to go, but don't worry. I'll find a way to fix this."
Vlad's mansion was dark and creepy, with furniture probably stolen from a gothic horror novel by Edgar Allan Poe. Every single portrait looked like it was looking at Danny, even as he flew invisibly through the rooms.
Despite the ecto-energy wrapped around his ghostly body like a protective shield, Danny felt exposed. If everything that had happened was because one of Vlad's schemes, the other halfa would be ready for Danny to confront him about it.
Danny turned a corner and was almost thankful for the noise, electrical buzzing and muttered baked goods-related curses, and light that slipped through one of the doors.
'Vlad must be in his lab, then.'
Rather than do the normal ghostly thing and stick his head through he wall, Danny peaked through the crack of the barely open door.
The lab was a whirr of motion, with computers running diagnostics and Vlad pacing in front of several screens. Three of the screens displayed candid photos of Danny.
'I knew it!'
Danny was just about to burst into the room and confront Vlad when the man's mutterings increased in volume.
"Surely I would remember if there was another halfa..."
Danny stopped.
Danny's thoughts stopped.
'no'
Vlad wouldn't make a wish that made himself forget about Danny. Vlad was a businessman, he wouldn't allow such a loophole.
Vlad turned back to the computers, opening several files. "This is impossible... Unless..."
Danny found himself holding his breath, though he couldn't have told anybody why.
"Scan for ghostly auras, greater Amity Park area. Recent activity, 500-1000 megacaspers."
"Scanning," said the mechanical voice that sounded uncomfortably similar to Maddie Fenton. "Aura recognized; Danny Phantom."
Vlad swore and left the room, damning evidence still displayed on the computer.
'what'
Danny's hands tensed without his notice, forming claws in the air. His breath came in small gasps. His stomach felt like it was filled with lead.
'I'm the one... No, that's impossible! I would know-'
Danny floated closer to the screen, almost despite himself. There it was, black on white. The ghost responsible for the altered memories of people in Amity Park was Danny Phantom.
Danny was the reason nobody could remember he was a ghost. It was a new ghost power, or something.
He swore. If it had been Desiree, undoing the changed would have been easy. Learning how to control a power he didn't even notice using was something completely different.
Danny wasn't sure he could do it.
'But it's not like this is only a bad thing.'
He deleted Vlad's records of Danny Phantom on his way out.
The kitchen at FentonWorks was a symphony of motion. Maddie was making dinner, while Jack sat at the table tinkering with some sort of spectrometer. Jazz was reading a thick tome on child psychology.
Danny Phantom flew intangibly through the wall and landed in the middle of the room.
In swift, practised motions, both professional ghost hunters had ecto-guns out and pointed at him. "Die, ecto-scum!"
Danny let himself transform from ghost to human.
Jack and Maddie blinked, confused. They took a few seconds to look at their weapons. Danny could imagine their thoughts; why are we pointing our guns at our completely human son?
Jack and Maddie put away their weapons and went back to what they were doing. The confusing moment was quickly forgotten.
Danny exhaled, relieved despite himself.
His powers were the cause of it all. Now that he was aware of it, he could almost sense it.
He just couldn't figure out how to stop it.
Ghost powers came from obsessions and subconscious desires, and a large part of him still wished that nobody would find out he was Phantom.
Danny could handle a lot, but he couldn't stand the idea of his parents not putting down their weapons when he changed back.