Hey I'm Madi, and before I get berated with safety warnings, that's NOT my real name. Anyway, I just wanted to say "hi!" also, I would like to thank DragonAce1999 for letting me adopt her story. Oh! and my beta reader DarkFoxPriestess! So helpful! :)

This is my first story, but I didn't really write this chapter, this was mostly written by DragonAce with a few edits on my part to make it work with the story plot I had in mind. So even if you already read her version of this chapter, I would give this a gander :) Enjoy!

Broken to Silence

A Danny Phantom Fanfiction

.: Chapter One - My World, Shattering :.

I do not own Danny Phantom at all.

Danny's P.O.V.

I hissed in pain as I landed silently behind a pile of rubble that used to be part of the GIW lab I had been stuck in for so long. I welcomed the fresh, cool air of night time, but that meant that the green fire consuming the lab was very noticeable. In addition, I was hurt.
I touched my chest gingerly, quickly retracting my fingers when pain blossomed from the contact.

"Hurt" was an understatement.

Wailing lights came closer as people gathered. I summoned the energy to fly off again, wincing as my sore body protested.

I needed help.

I could only scream as the pain ripped through me, the arcing lights of electricity racing throughout my body. The torturers - sorry, "scientists" - felt nothing for me as I writhed, trying to escape the inescapable.

"Okay, I think that's good enough. We can start the dissection now."

I couldn't hold in a whimper of pain as they injected me with some sort of sedative that paralyzed me. The liquid burned as it traveled through my veins, freezing every muscle, every cell it came in contact with.

The next few hours were a blur. I'm glad. I don't want to remember. The wounds are enough.

However... One thing burns itself into my head, forcing itself into my memory, and refusing to budge.

The pain...

I glanced around his house, but it was dark. His room, abandoned. Where was he? Tucker, my best friend, was not in his house. Maybe he was at the Nasty Burger...? I prepared to push off again, wincing when my arm turned intangible a moment too late and ran into the side of the wall.

No, I decided. I need to get help first... I don't think I'll make it to Nasty Burger, and Tucker might not even be there... Not my parents, they're still after my ghost form persona... What about... Sam? My mind made up, I quickly shifted directions and headed to Sam's house, silently praying that the trip would be smooth.

"This is the perfect time to try out our new toy, hmm?"

My head still spun from being kicked, my neck burning where the whip had laced it. I struggled to locate and identify the voice, but my headache kept snatching my attention. What was going on? I had no clue.

"Yes, and if it works to the extent we want it to, we don't have to worry about that horrible screaming it does."

My mind vaguely registered 'horrible screaming' and somehow managed to connect it to my Ghostly Wail before all logic fell apart again, battered by the pain humming through every nerve in my body.

I remember twisting, vainly attempting to get away before the whip cracked down on my back and a stern voice ordered me to still. My head was roughly pushed into some sort of cube, where wires automatically located and attached themselves to me.

"Powering up the system... It should start now." The voice was faint and hard to hear, as I slipped from consciousness and into a living nightmare. From there, everything blurred again. What I remember... My worst fears, played again, again, again... For several weeks straight, I screamed myself sore, my throat burning within the first few moments. I don't know if my Wail was triggered or not, but it didn't matter.

By the end of the torture, when the scientists finally powered down the machine, my screams had become soundless.

I phased into her house and knocked on her locked door twice, silently begging her to be there. When a faint "Who's there?" reached my ears, I attempted to say her name before remembering my inability to speak. So I phased myself through her door and stood unsteadily before it. Sam was sitting on her bed, eyes closed, hugging a pillow. I waited awhile for her to notice me, when she didn't show any signs of doing so, I shuffled my feet on the carpeting of her floor to get her attention.

"Wha?" she asked, opening her eyes. When she saw me swaying before her, her eyes widened.

"Danny!" she gasped, jumping up to catch me as my legs buckled. "Oh my god, Danny. What happened to you?"

I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.

"Sam,"I mouthed. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she pulled me into a hug.

"I'm so sorry Danny! I'm really, really sorry! I tried to tell them, but they wouldn't listen, and then, then..." she broke off in a sob as she cried into my shoulder. I let a single tear slip down my face.

She looked at me, eyes clouded.

"Why won't you say anything?" she mumbled, reaching out to touch my throat. I flinched and met her gaze. Her eyes widened a little. "No," she whispered. I shook my head. "They... You..."

"I'm sorry,"I mumbled without sound. Determination flashed through her eyes as she reached her bed and pulled out a first-aid kit.

"I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use this, but... well, we can't have you walking around with that much bleeding." She began removing my blood-soaked shirt and gasped. She looked like she was going to begin crying again before her previous determination was back and she started cleaning my wounds. She began talking again, "So, I'm guessing you have no clue what's happened?" She glanced at me, and I nodded to confirm it. "When you were...captured, Tucker and I tried to cover for you. Your mom and dad blamed Phantom for your disappearance when they finally found out, which was about two days later. Then they realized that Phantom wasn't showing up either, and that the ghosts were going out of control. We had to tell them, Danny. They were going crazy, creating weapons every day, getting ready to killhim. Er, you. Tucker let it slip by accident, and everything just went downhill from there. Then the Guys in White showed up. They wanted all the information your parents had on you, and when your parents refused, they left... but not without threats."

She stopped, concentrating on not hurting my chest. The Y shaped incision was still there, hardly healed at all. My healing powers had been required elsewhere, such as my broken bones. At least they were now mended...

"Tucker hacked into their systems and discovered something... I think he found what they were going to do. He texted me saying that we had to get your family out of Amity Park ASAP, or at least hide them somewhere. I was driving over to your house when it... Exploded..." Sam choked out the last word, fresh tears gathering in her once clear eyes. "I almost got caught in the blast... Just a few yards closer and I would've... But Tucker wasn't so lucky, he was already in the house... Danny, they pinned all the blame on you. They used some sort of holographic thing to make it look like you were there, and caused the explosion."

The confusion must've shown in my eyes, because she clarified.

"The Guys in White, Danny. They killed your family and Tucker, and they said it was your fault... They 'chased away' the holographic image, and claimed they saved my life... I didn't even get a say in it. Everyone hates you now, and they think you're in hiding because of what you did."

A moment passed by in silence. It was broken by her sob.

For a moment, nothing seemed real to me. Sam doesn't cry. There's just no way. It's as impossible as my family and best friend dying, as impossible as me being captured and tortured for a year straight... There's no way my voice was gone from screaming for a few weeks (or so) straight.

This is all just a nightmare...

...right?

Nightmares... This place... A nightmare... My spirit... It's being broken, slowly... Painfully slowly...

Voices come again, and I know my brief break from them is over.

Hands come and drag me into the flames of hell, the flames inflicting pain every second. It would be so easy for them to just end me, and then I would be free from this prison. I wonder if I will make it this time, or if I will be released from this nightmare.
...then again, I always wonder that.

"Okay, we have to get you out of here," Sam hissed after my chest was tightly wrapped. "They'll be all over you in minutes! And... Wait a second. What about your 'Fenton' half?"

I shake my head in a you-don't-want-to-know-and-neither-do-I kind of way. Still, she gives me a sharp look - triggering painful memories and feelings -mainly fear -so I quickly obey, shifting to my human form for the first time in a year.

During my year of torture, my ghost half had aged at the same rate my human half would've. So, it was easy to predict that I would've aged a little (obviously - I'm still half human!), but the condition of it could not be good... No food or water for a full year. The only thing that stopped me from dropping dead of malnutrition was that my human form doesn't require as much when I'm not using it... Personally, I'm surprised I managed to stay ghost throughout the whole thing.

Sam stares at my emaciated state for a while. I switch back quickly when I feel the intense weakness that comes with my human form right now.

The human part of me doesn't have many of the wounds my ghost part does. I guess it's something my body did to try and keep it alive. Still, all the major wounds, such as the large Y-incision, did transfer over in the form of scars. My clothes were in the same torn-up state as my hazmat suit as Phantom, red spots dyeing the cloth were green stains were before. I was horribly thin, and I could feel the effects of starvation and dehydration affecting me the moment the transformation took place.

Phantom was keeping Fenton alive.

Sam walks away for a moment, leaving me alone. Briefly, I wonder where her parents are... Recalling the Circus Gothica incident, I bet they were leading some sort of anti-Phantom protest or something. Who knows?

Sam returned with a cup of water and handed it to me.

I thanked her silently and brought the cup to my lips, slowly draining the cup. Receiving a drink for the first time in a long while, it took quite a bit of willpower to fight back the urge to gulp it down as fast as possible. Focusing on my drink, I didn't notice Sam fussing around until she slipped on a new black backpack and sat beside me. The water soothes my throat and I enjoyed the relief it brought for a few moments before there's no water left and I set it down.

"The Ghost Zone's the only safe place for you now," Sam tells me as she wraps a blanket around my shoulders. "Pariah Dark was released by Fright Night and took control about a month ago; a lot of ghosts are under his command. But," she added as a panicked look crossed my face, "There is a rebellion. Wulf's been coming every night to update me, and now he's coming to take you to the Far Frozen where everything is set up. Pariah hasn't gotten that far... yet." Sam seems to hesitate for a moment before speaking again, "And Danny, there's something else you should know about the rebellion…its mostly lead by Vlad."

I stare at her for a moment before mouthing, "What?"

"Yeah Danny, when you went missing Vlad freaked. He tore apart the entire Ghost Zone looking for you. It wasn't until after Fenton Works...exploded that we figured out where you were all this time." She looks up at me, and there must have been a wary expression on my face because she added, "Please trust him Danny, he's really changed in all this time."

With that she helps me stand, insisting that we move now. Wulf will wait until she shows up, and in order to ensure his safety, we'd better not keep him waiting for long.

I phase myself and Sam through the wall, and she leads me to the meeting place.

What's going on?
"What's going on?" a voice echoes my thoughts, but in a far louder and more panicked way.
"I don't know! Something blew up, I think!"
"The system... Overheating?"
"Maybe!"
I hear the voices fade, their footsteps rapidly fleeing from the room in which my cage rests. Once again, the thought crosses my mind. What's going on?
An explosion answers me, far too close to the cage.
I shrink away, bringing my hands over my head in a feeble attempt to protect myself.
Another resounding boom, this time even closer, brings down part of my prison's wall. My mouth is working, but no sound escapes me. Well, it's been fifteen days since my voice became unreachable.
Glass cutting into my skin brings me to lift my head.
The clear sheet of material that had composed one of the walls of the prison had shattered, and green fire - ghostly fire - flickered all around the room. The emerald flames matched my eyes as they advanced through the jagged hole.
I scrambled to my feet as the flames crackled, coming closer. Summoning the last of my energy, I ran to the hole, ignoring the burning pains of fire, and pushed myself through the hole, since the material was phase-proof.
The jagged edges cut into my body, but I push away the pain once more and pull myself out. Faint explosions register in my ears as I flee through the open door and dash down the hallway. Following my instincts, I select random turns whenever the path forks, refusing to slow down. I know the flames are chasing me, and I must keep moving.
Time passes. Only Clockwork knows how much.
Eventually, I find a hole in the wall. Praying that there would not be anyone there, I jump out, landing just as another explosion rocks the building and ground around it side to side. Stumbling, I struggle to catch myself before I fall. I jump up and fly for a few yards, just to a pile of rubble, before the lack of strength forces me to stop flying.
I hissed in pain as I landed silently...

"Stop right there!" I flinch and shied away from the sudden noise that broke the silence Sam and I were sharing as we ran. Subconsciously, I hide behind Sam, trembling. She gives me a look of confusion and surprise before focusing on getting us away from whoever that was.

"Hey, I think that's Phantom... He's kidnapping Samantha!"

"It's Sam," she grumbles under her breath as we turn a corner - right into a huge group of armed people.

"Get away from her, traitor!" one of them yells as he fires a green-colored blast at me. It hits my chest and I open my mouth in a silent scream of pain as my hold on Sam's hand vanishes. I fall back onto the ground, my chest burning in pain.

"Wait, wait!" Sam's voice reaches my ears as she tries to stop the attack, but rapid footsteps tell me it's not working.

"I didn't kill them," my mouth tries to say.

"What, cat got your tongue?" one of them laughs as he shoots at me. It hits half of my face, and from what I can tell of where the pain is, only my left eye is working now.

"Maybe he's too scared to talk! He was never a hero anyway," another shouts, and several agree.

"Murderer!"

"Traitor!"

"Ghost!"

"Ecto-Plasmic Scum!"

I can't locate Sam, and panic builds inside me. Then, a sudden half snarl, half bark breaks the panic. Hopefully, I scan the crowd as I raise a hand to try and ebb the bleeding of my head.

"Wulf!" Sam's voice cries, and the familiar ghost suddenly appears beside me after a moment, Sam on his back. He grasps my arm with a claw before tearing a hole into the Ghost Zone. Before we can go through, a booming laugh reaches my ears and Wulf looks up, snarling. "Dark!" Sam yells as several weapons shift from us to the powerful ghost king.

"My my, I must thank the Guys in White for this," he chuckles as my vision starts to swim. "They did a great job of experimenting on you, and another great job killing off the Fentons and blaming it on you. Your other friend was a bonus. How does it feel, Danny? To be chased out by the very ones you fought to protect?"

Sam's hand tightens around mine. When exactly she grasped it, I'll never know.

"Wait, what?" the crowd questions. I tap Wulf's arm, urging him to leave. Thankfully, he listens and jumps through the dimming portal. I slip through just as it closes, and I the last thing I hear is Pariah's' triumphant laughter and the confusion of the people.

Tears stream down my face, quickly freezing in the cold of the Far Frozen.

Minutes later, Frostbite found the three of us in terrible condition. Some of my wounds were torn open in addition to my new ones, and tears streaked my cheeks as I curled in a fetal position on the snow-covered ground. Sam had her arms around me, trying to comfort me as my world broke apart. Wulf was trying to stop my bleeding, but he didn't have any supplies.

"Come, Great One," Frostbite whispers to me as he holds Sam and I in his arms. Wulf follows as we head towards his village. "I think I have someone that may stop your tears."

The moment we step into the village, a black and white blur streaks towards us.

I gasp soundlessly in pain as a rib-crushing hug wrapped around me. Despite the pain, I was almost instantly comforted by the new presence.

Eyes bore into my own as my clone whispers a single word.

"...Danny..."

And suddenly, I wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was more of my family left than I had thought.

"Dani."

Did you like it?! If you did (or didn't) leave a review, you have no idea how happy it would make me! If there's anything you'd like to see happen in this story just let me know and I'll try to fit it in. I'm flexible like that.

Also don't be afraid to yell at me for any writing mistakes or whatever you feel like yelling about...I'm a big girl I can take it. Plus in order to improve I have to know what I'm doing wrong :)

Finally, it may take me a while to get the next chapter up, just because I am a slow writer. Sorry, I just don't understand how some of the writers on here can get chapters up so quickly! It's crazy!

Sorry to be rambling!-Madi :)

(Leave a review!) PLEASE!