Okay...first time trying to write a DP fanfic...but whatever. I just had the overwhelming desire to write this... Well, if you're reading it, I hope you enjoy it. I don't own anything/anyone depicted.
Maddie: Oh, and Jack, please try not to trash the house while I'm gone.
Jack: Ehh. I suck the house into a parallel dimension one time, and you just can't let it go, can ya?
(Maternal Instincts)
Four-year-old Daniel Fenton ("Danny!" he would insist, if anybody addressed him by his full name, especially his 'nosy' older sister) was curious. Everyone in his family told him nonstop how evil ghosts were…well, his parents did, at any rate. Jazz, who was two years older than her brother, was usually telling them that they were crazy for believing in ghosts; she insisted that they were just stories. Danny…well, he wasn't sure what to think, and as he stood, staring out their front door, he felt that confusion grow…
Outside sure was…green today.
Cautiously, he walked forward, climbing down the stone steps warily and coming to a complete stop before surveying the neon ground. He poked it experimentally, satisfied when it behaved like the ground he knew usually did, even if this one was lime green; thus reassured, he moved from the last step onto the unfamiliar territory. The child looked up and saw little other than empty- green!- space with some purple mixed in here and there. He squinted at the shapes long enough to make out the rectangular outlines, all with a darkened, circular shape on them. It took a bit for this to register, but…
"Those are…doors?" He asked himself quietly, craning his neck to get a better look at one directly above him.
Curiosity striking again, he turned back to look at the house, which stood out like a sore thumb against the emerald-and-violet backdrop. Danny giggled childishly; at least that big old sign fit in! The house wasn't that interesting though; he got to see it everyday! Instead, large blue eyes were drawn to a flight of jade stairs that started just behind his home. Grinning, he set off at a run to go investigate.
"Woooow…" The boy whispered, looking up the staircase from the landing. He couldn't even see how far it went!
Determined, he marched up the stairway, gaze fixed right ahead of himself…and kept marching, right until the path took an unexpected turn to the left. The boy squeaked in alarm as he stared down at the ground, which was a good fifteen feet below him, and backpedaled desperately, forgetting what he had just climbed up.
With another soft shout, Danny fell backwards, eyes clenched shut and fully expecting the tumble that was sure to come…which, contrary to every rule he'd ever learned didn't happen.
Baffled, he cracked one eye open, "Huh?"
The upside down blue and purple shape that he tilted his head backwards to see chuckled. "You're lucky I was in the neighborhood, Daniel." The shape said, lifting him further up with an arm securely wrapped around the boy's midsection.
"My name's Danny!" The youngest Fenton protested, "Only mommy gets to call me Dani…el…and only when she's really mad at me…" He concluded, adding the final part in an almost conspiratorial whisper.
The shape laughed again and set him down on solid ground once more. Danny tilted his head to the side as he took the newcomer's appearance in. His eyes were weird…they were red, and not like his dad's were whenever he stayed up all night working…but that wasn't the most pressing question that the child had.
"Are you cold? Izzat why you're wearin' a blanket? And why your skin's blue?"
"No." Came the calm, amused sounding reply, "That's just the way I am, Danny. As for the clock…you don't need to worry why it's there."
The boy blinked up at the person in awe, "How'd you know I was gonna say that? Who're you?"
"Now isn't the right time for you to know my name." Sensing the impending 'Why not?', the other quickly added, "Maybe you'll understand when you're older." With a knowing smirk.
Danny crossed his arms over his chest, looking annoyed. "If I don't get to use your name, you don't get to use mine!"
The logic just made the blue person chuckle again. "Very well; but you said that your name is Danny…so I should be able to call you Daniel."
The boy just gave an exasperated 'Hmph!' and turned his gaze away from the man.
"Or not." He corrected cheerfully. "How about 'Phantom' then? For the specter in a family of Fentons."
"Specter?" The boy echoed, rubbing at his nose where the other had poked it at the mention of his last name.
"It's another word for ghost. Is there something wrong with that?"
Danny shrugged helplessly, "Mommy and daddy say so; they tell me ghosts are evil. Jazz doesn't care 'cause she don't think they 'xist."
"Ghosts aren't bad, child. I'm a ghost. Do you think I'm evil?"
"No. You're just weird." Came the blunt reply.
The ghost didn't seem to take offence at it though, he just laughed. "So I've been told."
"So…if I dunno you're name, what am I s'posed to call you?" Danny asked, inadvertently changing the subject.
Again, the ghost chortled, shaking his head. "See this?" He asked, tapping the clock that seemed to be imbedded in his chest, "Ask your parents how it functions. If that fails, you'll find out someday."
"Functions?"
"How it works." Came the gentle translation.
"Oh…"
"Good gracious, Jack! What did you do?"
The boy's eyes widened at the sound of his mother's voice; he turned to his new friend in order to warn him away, but…he was gone!
"I suppose I will be leaving, now." The ghost's disembodied voice said. "You should get going, too, before your mother begins to worry."
He grumbled irritably before taking off at a run toward the house when he heard his mom shouting again, this time sounding frantic.
"Jack! Jazz! Have either of you seen Danny?"
Before returning to the front of the house, which would easily put him in his mother's field of vision, Danny turned back to the staircase, blinking in realization.
That ghost had known his name before they even started talking!
"There you are!" Maddie sighed in relief, when she finally caught sight of her son. She immediately scooped him up into a hug, absently stroking his hair. "It's very dangerous out here, sweetie. You can't leave like that again, even once your father puts the house back in our dimension…"
The boy stared at her blankly, having understood nothing past not leaving the house.
"Oh…nevermind." She said, taking his hand and leading him back inside. "Did you see anything interesting?"
Immediately, Danny shook his head; knowing that if he said anything, he'd give his mom a reason to call him 'Daniel'.
"Just a weird staircase." He substituted, before remembering what that ghost had said just before he'd been called away. "Hey mommy, how does the clock work?"
Maddie looked at her son, clearly amused by the fact that he'd been outside in an unfamiliar landscape for well over a half hour, and that one of the first thing he asked about afterwards was a time piece.
"I'll teach you later, honey. Right now your father and I have to find a way to put the house…back where it belongs." The elder Fenton shook her head out of what might have been exasperation. "At least you'll have a story to tell Sam when we get back, right?"
The child just nodded idly as his mother left, puzzling over something else that that ghost had said. He'd called him 'Phantom', right? Like…a Phantom in a family of Fentons..?
He couldn't help the grin that threatened to overcome his features.
Danny the Phantom…he liked that.