Guess Who's Back
Three years ago, Danny Fenton's secret was uncovered. Run out of town by Amity, he made a life for himself. But when his former home needs ghost help, who are they going to call? I smell a reunion
Prologue
He breathed heavily, panting, feeling the blood run down his leg from the cut on his knee. Battling this ghost was not the piece of cake he thought it would be. Especially when he learned that it absorbed ecto-blasts and grew larger with each impact. Too bad Danny hadn't figured that out before it grew as tall as a building.
"Danny!" he heard a voice cry out. He recognized it as Tucker. He turned and saw his friends staring with wide eyes at him, and held up a hand to comfort them. But that's when he saw it. His hand, specifically. His normal, flesh-colored hand. Not the glowing silver glove of Danny Phantom, but the normal human hand of Danny Fenton. He looked down, and indeed, he was Danny Fenton once more, and not self-proclaimed town saviour Danny Phantom. Of course, there was blood running down his leg. Had he not been disoriented by the monster ghost, he would have noticed that. Apparently, he reverted back to human form after getting blasted into the cement.
But what was worse were the shouts and whispers he heard. No way were two people making all that noise. Especially when said two people were completely dumbstruck the minute he turned and looked at them. Glancing back, he saw way more than two people there. And cameras. Oh lord, there were news cameras.
Choosing to focus on the ghost, he continued fighting it as Danny Fenton. Which surprisingly worked to his advantage. The beast was not humanoid, and apparently had little sense. It thought that Danny was gone, as he could no longer see the familiar black-and-white suited ghost, and Fenton was able to suck it into the Fenton Thermos at the last minute. Half marveling at the tiny contraption's capacity, he turned and faced the people.
"Oh no." He dropped the thermos and held up his hands in a peace gesture. "Look, um, this isn't what it seems!" Not believing even himself, he tried to think of what he could say to sway the crowd toward his side. "Um, I'm sorry, but I'm not a bad guy!"
"Why should we believe you, Inviso-Bill?" yelled a random voice.
"It's Danny Phantom!" he called back. "Look, see, I'm not really a ghost."
"Yes you are!" called the same random voice.
"No, I'm not. I'm a halfa!" Danny clarified. "There was this-this accident, in my parents' lab, and-"
"FREEZE, PHANTOM!" yelled a not-so-random voice. He turned to his side, arms still up, to see a blue-jumpsuited figure holding an ecto-gun to his head.
"Mom! I-"
"Don't call me that, ghost-kid! What have you done with my son?" Another shot rocketed toward him, hitting him in the side. Another person wearing a jumpsuit ran up to them- his dad.
"Mom, Dad, please! I'm not the ghost kid-"
"Yes you are, we saw you!"
"Well, yes, but I'm not just the ghost kid, I'm Danny, your son! A halfa!"
"No son of mine is a ghost!" yelled Jack Fenton.
Danny stared. What? "W-What? But, but..." weren't they supposed to be proud of him? Isn't that what happened with Freakshow? That's when he knew. He knew that couldn't really happen. That was a fluke. Of course. It was just wishful thinking. Maybe it was the circumstances, or the time stream, but by looking into his parents' eyes, he realized they wouldn't believe him. But he found himself paralyzed, unable to move. The whine of a charging ecto-gun pierced the air.
"Run, Danny!" Sam yelled. He groggily turned back to her. "Run!"
"Wha...?" The blast came, and he ducked, missing it by less than an inch. So he took Sam's advice.
He ran.
The dark city looked so foreign already, and it had only been one day. One blurry, hazy day. One moment he was in a routine ghost fight, the next, he was running for his life. But he was back. He had to say goodbye.
First up was Sam. He silently glided to her window, and happily found her awake. Well, not happily, he hated when his friends suffered, but at least he didn't have to disturb her. He gently rapped on the window, and she glanced up quickly. He phased through, landing on the ground, and immediately found himself in a hug.
"Oh Danny..." Sam whispered reverently. "You're back?"
"To say goodbye." he answered sadly.
"Where are you going?"
"I don't know. But I couldn't leave before saying Bye."
"Of course you couldn't" her words were muffled in his shirt, "I would have killed you." This made Danny chuckle, and Sam smiled slightly.
"I'll be back, Sam. One day. I'll clear my name, get the Guys in White off my back, and I'll visit."
"They're hounding you already?"
"No, but I bet they will once the news reports go national."
They both knew he needed to go. The agreement and understanding was taciturn, almost graceful in a way.
"Be careful," Sam said softly. Then she went to her dresser, pulled out a tiny purple safe, and clicked it open. She gripped a thin plastic card and brought it to him. "Here," she said, "you'll need money. I'll change the account and put it in your name. Don't worry about the cost. As long as you don't buy a million dollar house, my parents won't notice anything. To cover it up, I'll... I'll wear a pink shirt or something!" Danny snorted at that.
"I-I, thanks, Sam. And don't worry, I always am." He smiled, carefully, cautiously, and backed up toward the window. Before departing, he held out his hand, and it glowed blue. Sam stared as an ice sculpture created itself. When it was done, a shiny bluish spider was sitting in his hand. It was beautiful and delicate, but Danny wasn't done. Carefully, he inscribed ice initials in it, "Danny," and coated it in slightly blue ectoplasm.
"It won't melt now," he said, and handed it to her. It was cold, but pleasantly so. She looked up at him.
"Just 'Danny'?"
"Yeah, I'm the same guy- either Fenton or Phantom."
With that, he left, the spider twinkling as it reflected the stars.
Tucker was sleeping, albeit restlessly, but Danny knew he needed it. He left him a note, hid his PDA and replaced it with an ice one, again, one that wouldn't melt, with "Danny: partner-in-crime" on the side.
But now, he had one more stop to make. This was the tricky one, but necessary too. He had to visit Jazz. Seeing the looming FentonWorks sign, he bristled with an unknown anger. For a minute, he wondered why. But his subconscious was quick to answer. After he saved the town countless times and sacrificed half of his actual life and all of his social life, they had the audacity to run him out? He tried to reason that it wasn't their fault, but his stinging knee and wounded soul would not let him believe that for one small reason:
It. Was. Their. Fault.
It wasn't like they couldn't control their actions, they could. And they chose to do this. They chose to hurt him.
It was the first time Danny ever truly hated. And he knew how easy it was to hate his friends too. They just stood back and let it happen. But he couldn't let that happen. He knew they wanted to help but couldn't, and he absolutely loved them for trying. His sister especially. She was preparing for college now, her senior year just starting, and she still spent most of her time aiding him instead doing everything she possibly could to get into Harvard Medical. Not that she wasn't a shoo-in already.
Speaking of Jazz, he stopped outside her window after his hate ranting. Now, he saw her dozing lightly in her chair, a thick book pushed off to the side. Under her head was a picture of them, brother and sister, around three (Danny) and six (Jazz). She had a giant bow in her hair, and Danny was wearing a small white t-shirt with a rocketship on it.
He didn't want to wake her, but she seemed to sense his presence. Soon after he arrived, she stirred from sleep and glanced toward the window. Seeing her brother floating there, she ran over and opened it. He stepped into the room, changing back to Fenton.
"Hey Jazz. You sure I'm not going to get zapped into oblivion?" he half joked, and the sister started crying silently. Dismayed, he made a move to pat her on the back, but was soon swept up in a quick hug. "Jeez! First Sam, then you, what's next?" For that he got a playful slap on the back of the head.
"Mom and Dad didn't wire the house up yet, partly because they're in denial, about you..."
"Yeah. I know. But I want to say goodbye. I couldn't leave without... you know."
"Yeah. Don't worry little bro. I got your back. Call my cell if you ever need anything."
"I have a better idea. Can you run downstairs and get the Fenton Phones? I think we have a few pairs."
Jazz beamed at him. "I always knew some of my genius would rub off on you, Danny," she joked, running down at getting them. Danny looked around the room sadly, one last time until his sister returned.
"Here," she gave him a pair. "I have a pair, and there's two others."
"Perfect." He smiled. "Don't worry, I'll be careful. Don't worry too much." Jazz nodded, and watched him fly off into the starry sky. Despite his words, she would definitely worry. But there wasn't much she could say to him, since she knew he needed to go, no matter how much she didn't want him too. They didn't need to say that. It was understood.
A faint glimmer caught her eye on her desk. She walked over, to find a small ice sculpture. It was a heart, with a tiny detailed book in it. On the book was an even smaller inscription, delicately carved. "To the best Big Sister I know, You'll always be in my heart (and my ear) and I hope I'm still in yours. Danny." Smiling, she placed it on her shelf, in front of her favorite book. The volume was slightly hidden as it wasn't a psychology book or Newberry Winning classic. It was a thick collection of fairy tales and children's stories she used to help Danny learn to read.
Speaking (or thinking) of Danny, she went across the hall to look in his room, and see what he had taken. The room was mostly as he left it that morning, the bed unmande, clothes on the floor, half-finished school work. A book or two was missing from his shelf, as were some shirts and jeans. But the most significant missing item (to her) were two photos he kept on his dresser, one with him and his two friends, and one with her.
Truthfully though, the two missing photos didn't surprise her. It was what he left behind that was conspicuous. A photo of him and mom on his desk, one of dad in his fishing gear by the lake, and their family picture. The older girl swallowed back the lump in her throat and repressed her tears. After all, no use crying over spilled milk. Their family was changed now, forever. Nothing could ever erase that scar.
Not even the tiny green dot on the horizon.
A/N: AH! First Story! That's pretty durn cool, I have to say (And, yes, that's Durn with a 'u'!) I tried to proofread/fix awkward sentences, but I don't know if I caught it all. Let me know if there's anything I missed.
I had trouble extending it this long. Not because writing it was a problem, but because I think it's a tad long for a prologue. The chapters might not even be this long. Which is why the next posting may be a little delayed- I'm gonna try to rewrite it a bit.
Reviews much appreciated, and I really don't care if you flame. I love to make fun of flamers. -grins evilly-
Ciao!
-UA