Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, nor any part of the song in italics.
This is honestly just a drabble I thought up, and though it's long, it's kinda like, why? I can't pinpoint why I thought of this, but I had to write it and all... so here.
I really don't want to hear flames or complaints about this, because lately, whenever I put a one-shot out, I get people getting on my case about the quality or fact that "it's not what the creator would have so and so do or think". Well, guess what? It's MY story, therefore, if I want a character to think a way, then they will! I will try to keep them I.C though.
Nobody knows the pains of being me; the final "halfa" of three. It almost sounds like some inspiring story of a person who's entire race was wiped out by an evil army and he was the lone soldier left to fight an already lost battle. Almost. There is no evil army, though. The "evil army" is just the ghosts that were wronged in their lifetime and desperately cling to life and try to right what was wronged.
They way they go about it probably isn't the best way to solve things, I admit that, but it's not like they are entirely in the wrong. I mean; taking a look at the ghosts that I commonly fight, they all died of something that shouldn't have happened to them- in other words, they didn't deserve their death. It shouldn't have happened to them, and because of that, they're spiteful, vengeful creatures who want nothing more than their life back.
I suppose, I, too, am like that, though.
My name is Daniel Fenton; at least, it was. I was a human who was born to Jack and Madeline Fenton- two inspired ghost-hunters. As you can imagine by their career title, they hunted ghosts and hated them with a burning passion. Jack always used to say he was going to dissect any ghost he captured "molecule-by-molecule". I suppose being their son, I should have despised ghosts as much as they did. I should have had that burning ambition to eliminate a ghost and prove to my parents that I, too, was a Fenton.
Only; I wasn't that inspired. In fact, I wasn't really inspired at all. My condition wasn't even my own personal doing. It was a friend who pushed me to try.
Around my fourteenth year, I was exposed to a lab-accident in which I was told to examine my parent's 'Ghost Portal'. A ghost portal is a high-tech portal that utilizes liquid ectoplasm- the same liquid that runs through a ghost- to power and open a portal that links into a mirror-realm that is known to many as the 'ghost zone'.
The Portal, however, was not fully operation when I foolishly stepped inside. However, I was fourteen. My common sense was still just developing. My parents, earlier in the day, had just begun to test the starting-mechanisms and had finally finished the overall power-source. The ecto-plasmic energy had been installed and the software was ready to run- the only thing they needed, was the overall start-up.
How ironic it was, that as two of the smartest people (possibly in the world) failed to start the portal, their dolt of a son managed to start it? Even more ironic, was the way he started it and how stupid of a mistake it was for them.
The reason it started was because they had installed the 'on' switch on the inside of the portal. When I ventured inside, wearing nothing more than a thin jumpsuit that was made only for small heat-protection, my hand ran across a small button. Since it was rather dark inside, along with a bit nerve-wreaking, I had leaned against this button too hard and presto, it was pressed.
Low-and-behold, it was the elusive 'on' switch and from that moment on, my life was completely changed. I awoke to being a half-ghost, half-human hybrid. A 'halfa', as I was so affectionately referred to as. I could walk, talk and interact as plain ole' Danny Fenton, but fight crime and malevolent spirits as Danny Phantom- an alter-ego I came up with.
Things went good for awhile; I got better with my powers despite some powerful and deadly ghosts going after me, I even eventually got the girl of my dreams. It was all good.
Until one day. One day, everything changed again. My look hadn't changed for awhile- in other words, I was still the same scrawny fourteen-year old that everyone knew and was beginning to love. My hair wouldn't grow longer, my nails didn't grow longer, my growth spurt never came and my voice didn't crack. No matter what I hoped, I wasn't changing- which everyone found odd.
After all, Vlad Masters, upon his acquisition of ghost-powers, changed with age. Perhaps it was just delayed and I was being impatient- that was my initial thought.
But after my seventeenth birthday, and still no physical changes, I began to worry- a lot. My family and friends did, too. No one knew what was going on with my body, and why I wasn't aging or changing right. My mom ran several inconclusive tests, my dad did biological studies- we even went to several professors who knew aging like the back of their hand.
Nothing helped.
It wasn't until my eighteenth birthday that my mother figured out my issue.
"Danny, c-can we talk to you?" My mom called from the kitchen. I smiled and pecked Sam on the cheek as I stood up. I told everyone I'd be right back as I walked over to where my parents stood, a nervous expression on both of their faces as I entered. My curiosity, at that moment, spiked.
My dad, usually jovial and loud, was the exact opposite of his usual self. He just wordlessly pulled out a chair and sat down next to it. My mom followed suit, so I sat as well. Whatever they had to say, I knew, couldn't be too good.
"We, we were just doing something in the lab, when we found something." I blinked. What could they have found that was so bad?
My father put his hand on my shoulder. "Danny... it's your aging thing. We know what the problem is."
At that moment, everything became clear and serious. My birthday was put on the back-burner and my happiness was pushed aside. They knew something- something that I needed to know.
I leaned forward. "What?"
"Honey, when Vlad was exposed to that stream of ecto-plasm, he was infected with ecto-acne, you remember this, right?" I nodded wordlessly, remembering the time that Vlad had selfishly infected Sam and Tucker with it as well, just to push me to find a cure. "You also remember how we told you he got it right after the accident then, right?"
Again, I nodded, wondering where this could end up.
"Danny, the burst he was exposed to was so small and controlled, that his body was able to fight off most of the effects. His genetic structure was altered, but he'd already undergone puberty and his body was no longer really changing. Any changes that were to be made, were going to be extremely miniscule and based on his body, not his genes. With you... that's not really the case."
I leaned back, starting to understand the pathway they were getting onto. My body wasn't the same as Vlad's upon his infection. My accident wasn't the same- I wasn't the same. Without me knowing, my breathing began to get faster and my palms began to get sweaty.
"S-so, what does that have to do with my aging?" I asked, my brain no longer working on my side. I knew what they had meant- I just wasn't in the mindset to accept it.
I watched as my parents exchanged a sad glance. I knew what they were going to say. "Danny, when you were exposed to that ecto-signature, you were exposed to a lot more than Vlad was. In fact... it should have killed you on the spot- it changed more than you by just half."
At that moment, I felt my heart freeze and my blood halt. I knew what they were going to say. I knew it.
And I couldn't stand to hear it. But my body wouldn't move. I was stuck in place- in time.
"You're still a human, sweetie... but only in form. You're body... you're biologically 98% ghost. You can't age anymore. W-we're so sorry, Danny."
I blinked back my tears. So that was it.
My dad put a hand on my shoulder. "Danny... son. You're still my son- you're still a Fenton, no matter half ghost, full ghost or no ghost. This doesn't change a thing."
I slowly settled into the hug they enveloped me in, the shock of everything settling into my system. So I wasn't as human as I thought? So I was only human in looks? I wasn't even Danny Fenton, like I'd always thought.
I was Danny Phantom, through and through.
"B-but wait, I don't get it." My parents exchanged a sympathetic look. I almost growled from annoyance, but refrained from doing anything that my future-self would have been proud of. He never had left my mind. "My older-self; the one I told you about. He grew older; how?"
My mom frowned. "If he grew older, it was based on his ghost-half and Vlad's bonding together to form the mid-age that they both would be at equilibrium with. But it wasn't his own body doing the aging."
From that moment on, I began to see myself as less of a human, and more of a ghost.
Something in me, it just lost that Danny Fenton naivety. I was no longer as gullible and hopeful. I lost that spark that everyone said only Danny Fenton could bring about. I still fought ghosts, but no longer was I as into it as I was before. I still won and protected everyone, but I didn't seem to be as... passionate, as everyone said.
My technical twenty-first birthday is when I made the decision to break it off with Sam. Rather; she decided to break it off with me. I didn't blame her in the slightest. I was a ghost- I couldn't give her the passion she deserved so much. The passion she yearned for, of which on Danny Fenton could give her.
A few years later, I saw her marry a boy she'd met in college. She was happy once again. She went into her own restaurant that focused on being an "ultra-recyclo-vegetarian". Yet she never had any children.
She was happy though, and that was enough for me.
Tucker ended up in marriage with Valerie; to which everyone was partially surprised about. Most people who barely knew them just accredited it to the fact that they knew me, and knew each other. That wasn't it. Nor was it based on their heritage as African-American. They both had a love for ghost-hunting; different reasons, but similar love. Second, technology was something they both knew. And with Tucker's general personality being a reason to Valerie's hot-headedness, they meshed perfectly.
They had three kids, who I oversaw as a Godparent; or rather, Ghostparent, as I phrased it.
My mom and dad ended up dying on what would have been my thirty-ninth birthday. It was peaceful, from what I heard, and it wasn't entirely unexpected as they did deal with some highly-dangerous chemicals being scientists. It hurt me a ton, and I attended their funeral as an invisible specter, but I knew that it was destiny to happen.
My sister, being a professor at Yale just like her dream back when we were Team Phantom, was single and thriving, knew I was there. Somehow, she found me after the funeral and told me, although she looked to be speaking to open air, I had the hardest of them all. Because I'd see everyone die- and more. She knew, that deep-down, I was going to take it all the worst.
And she was right.
Sam died first; her diet wasn't exactly the best for her body and she died when she was 68. I attended her funeral, this time though, as my fourteen-year old self. Nobody asked me any questions, nobody approached me, no one did a thing about me. I think I gave off that aura that I was not to be messed with. I saw Tucker, Valerie, Jazz and her husband there, but I didn't say anything to them.
I wish I had.
Jazz went second, but that was a bit expected. She was older than I was by about three years. She died at 73 and her funeral was a big-event for Yale as she was apparently one of the better professors they'd had in awhile. She even got a statue in her honor for what she did for the school. Once again, I went as my fourteen year old self, and was avoided.
When Valerie went next and I did the same thing I did for Sam and Jazz, Tucker finally approached me after he caught a glance of me. Seeing as how he hadn't seen my since my twenty-first birthday, he was insanely shocked to see I was still the exact same as I was when I was fourteen. I'd never told any of them about my condition- I was always too secretive, I admit.
He was amazed how little I had changed, but instantly, he knew how hard I had things now. I'd seen my parents, my best friend and former love, and my sister all die in front of me, and I hadn't even gotten to hit puberty. Pretty soon, I knew I wouldn't have anyone left. He knew it, too.
So that's why, after his death just two years after Valerie's death, I decided to venture into the ghost-zone and seek out Clockwork, the ghost of time. Under his approval, I became his apprentice. I learned of the time-cycle, I learned of the "parade" Clockwork always seemed to be talking about.
I learned of the good inside people that I always believed in, but could never see.
And I learned of the horrible consequences of being immortal. Unlike other ghosts, I could not pass to the next world; I could not find peace. My existing human-half was impossible to remove, and would never die out due to its dependence on my ghostly half. And that kept my anchored to both worlds. Clockwork, like me, was bound to both worlds, and understood my troubles.
We became like father-and-son, and I truly learned why death was a gift of irony. To one, death takes and takes, and it seems to rob one of the life they could have had. It seems too cruel and punishing, when really, it seems to be the relief of a lifetime of pain and suffering. We think of death as the suffering, but really, life is the greater lie.
You fight a battle you will eventually lose- death is the mere salvation that keeps you from experiencing what I am; the void of nothingness. No matter what I try, I still watch as people as born and people are killed. The ones I cared about most, died before me, and no matter what I wish, I'll never join them in rest. Ponce de Leon, a seeker of the fabled 'Fountain of Youth' was foolish to seek out a horrible thing.
For as I've learned, immortality, wished or not, is nothing more, than a curse.
"Daniel!" I was snapped from my thoughts immediately and blinked to clear my vision. "You have been in a state of meditation for some time; I would not have disturbed you had we not an appointment with the Observants. Come."
Standing, I stretched and followed the Master of Time from his realm. The flight was silent, except for one thing he asked me just before we entered the realm of the Observers.
"Daniel, I must inquire, what were you finding peace on?"
I frowned. "Who's to say I found peace?"
Clockwork smiled his 'all-knowing' smile and tapped his head with his staff. His red-eyes flashed playfully as he gave me a small wink.
"I know; I always know, Daniel."
I smiled slightly. "I know; c'mon. Let's get on with this."
And though I didn't say it, I realized one thing.
Life is a gift.
But in the right circumstances, so is death.