Summary: An alternative version to TUE. The future didn't change as expected. Vlad had only made things worse by adding something to Danny's alter ego. What happens to him now that he has another voice in his head? Can he continue on with his life? Oneshot.
Disclaimer: Property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.
A/N: This has been re-edited because of reasons :D
Rated T for violence, a few words and gory images...but if the rating should be different, let me know :)
In a lonely corner of a disregarded street, tired eyes looked out exhaustively into the grimy sidewalks of Amity Park. Choosing to ignore the sorrowful image, Danny tried to point out to himself the start of a new life.
Sort of. Though it wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows, it was more reassuring than staying with that selfish millionaire for who-knows-how-long-until.
Danny sighed and shook his legs a bit to return the circulation of blood right before he standing to stretch. Upon his elevated vision, he spotted a man behind him who was not too far off in the alleyway to be concealed in shadows.
"Beat it, kid." The man growled when he noticed Danny's stare. Danny blinked tiredly at him. The man was clothed in a very worn out jacket that had a number of tears littered all around it. Danny wondered if the the man himself was cold. It wasn't like Danny could ever feel cold.
Following that, he also had a small wrap in his hands of what looked like to be a leftover hamburger from a nearby dumpster.
The man waited for Danny to move, but Danny chose to ignore him and sat back down on the dusty alley once more. He didn't have anywhere to go. Nonetheless, the guy seemed upset by his action and shouted a little louder to get his attention. "Get lost!"
Danny neglected his presence once more and turned away from him, focusing his attention back out into the crowded street. How he could still stay here in Amity was a mystery, even to himself. This place only carried good memories that replay and ridicule him. Enough to the point that starvation and homelessness couldn't get his mind off it.
Danny wasn't even sure how long he gazed at the streets when the smell of garbage filled his nostrils. Danny scrambled his hands to his nose to prevent the putrid stench from entering his airways. Turning around, Danny saw that the package the man was holding was now opened, revealing a half-eaten, half-molded piece of sandwich. The man looked around frantically as if it were a precious treasure and saw the glance Danny gave.
"I told you to get lost!" He roared, burying the food in his coat to try and hide it. Danny shook his head. He concluded that the man's current state involved his interest of provoking people to start a fight.
Soon, an uncomfortable wind blew, which flowed through the entire alley in a single swoop, wistfully taking out the odorous smell of sandwich with it. Unfortunately for Danny, the check he had stolen from Vlad, something that's been protected for weeks, decided to fly out of his pocket at the same time.
The wind made the check fly violently into the air, and Danny would have almost given up hope of catching it before it began to float down like a leaf on a windy day. Just as Danny was about to grab it, however, another hand appeared out from in front of him and snatched it right in front of his eyes.
Panicking, Danny tried to retrieve the money back from the man, who had long forgotten his sandwich at the base of a trash can. Forcefully, the elder harshly kneed the boy in the stomach hard enough for him to recoil back in pain.
"Well, well, well." The irritating voice laughed at the paper in his hand. "What have we got here?"
"Give me that back." Danny threatened as he recovered. Experience was on his side as he positioned himself to an almost forgotten fighting stance. Danny launched himself at him, unable to catch the man by surprise because of a small step-side, sending him straight into a pile of trash bags. Embarrassment made his heart sink lower as he caught the stranger's laughter.
Control. Don't use it. Control.
In one quick motion, the man swung open his coat to grab something from inside. Danny narrowed his eyes as he faced back at his opponent.
A knife.
"Oh how fair is this?" Danny groaned out loud.
"Life will never be fair!" The man answered joyously. Anger boiled inside Danny again, but he realized fast enough to calm down.
Control. Don't use it. Control.
A quick blow to the face sent Danny into the wall just behind him. Fast on his feet, the man grabbed the neck of the boy and pinned him to that wall painfully, with the other hand on Danny's wrist to make sure he didn't move. Danny's lungs screamed for air as he began to thrash his feet and use his free hand to get free. It didn't work. Perhaps it would have been better that way. His breath stank like a certain techno geek's old gym socks.
Control. Don't use it. Control.
"What makes you think a punk like you deserves something like money, huh?" The man growled at Danny's face. Danny thought it best not to respond to save his breath.
"Come on, Daniel."
Danny's thoughts froze at the internal voice.
"Come on. Just once."
Control. Don't use it. Control
Danny jerked his foot forward quickly, sending his shoe flying for the man's weak point and distracted him long enough for Danny to counter his actions and punch the other in the face. Danny began to hyperventilate violently right as the man fell back.
"No one would notice a worthless refugee off the streets missing. Come on."
Don't use it. Danny really wanted the voice to shut up.
"Stop resisting." It replied. "You'll give into it soon. If you don't, you'll die."
"Good." Danny spoke aloud. "Then you would die with me."
Perhaps if the man was a younger youth, it would have been a more bearable pain, but due to his worn out age, the man groaned on the ground helplessly weak. Oh joy. Another memory to add to his collection.
Strolling casually over, Danny jerked the man upward with one hand. Inhuman strength had its ups and downs.
"D-Dying? With you?" The man crackled, putting his hands up. "If the roles were switched, I'd probably let you wither in this hell hole, eh?"
"Shut up." Danny growled. "I wasn't talking to you, you crazy old man."
"Crazy?" The man laughed harder, despite his position in the situation. "I believe you are just as sane as I am."
A sharp pain shot up Danny's arm as he realized the man's knife was embedded in his flesh and released his grip on the lunatic to try and yank it out, successfully able to suck up the scream. The man fell on the floor harshly and scrambled backward to be at a distance.
"How's about you let me take over?"
"SHUT UP!" Danny screamed as he ignored his bleeding arm and clutched his head. The voice was so penetrating, it made him unable to tell the difference between real and nonreal pain.
"If you're that anxious to die," the lunatic swore. "I could end you right now."
Danny rose an eyebrow at the man. "When I have the knife?"
The man gestured to the bleeding arm, which began to look a little purple from lack of blood. "You'll die soon anyway. And once you're gone, I'll take my money and leave."
Suddenly, Danny's practically lifeless arm shot up and aimed at elder.
"If you're not going to do it, I will."
"NO!" Danny's grip on the knife tightened before he could think. As quickly as his instinct came, he realized his arm dropping limply with the instrument jutting out of his skin once more.
"Wow." The man whistled. "You really are a messed up kid, you know that?"
Danny gave the man a deathly looking glare. "Tell me something I don't know."
Danny didn't change his expression. "The name's Fenton. Danny Fenton. Perhaps it isn't worth knowing now, but just to let you know, you've seriously made me pissed."
The man went silent for a moment. "Fenton. It's been a while."
Danny slightly widened his eyes at this but narrowed them even more than before. "And you are?"
"Daemon. Daemon Grey."
All humanity instantly shot out of Danny as the transformation rings traveled up and around his body.
Danny Phantom was loose.
The coldness his heart strengthened when he finished the change. Some stupid fool must have broke his human self enough for the other to take over. Should he curse or bless his human self is the question.
Shocked, the man collapsed back onto the ground.
"Y-You're-"
"Surprised?" Phantom mocked, walking up to Valerie's dad agonizingly slowly to mock him. The Phantom bared his sharp teeth, causing Daemon to jump back in fear and scuffle against the wall.
"You b-bastard." he cursed. "You m-murdered my daughter, you s-son of a-"
"Ah, shut up." the Phantom casually, silencing the idiot father. Were humans always like this? "You're nothing but a coward that deserves to be obliterated. If you're that anxious to die, I could end you right now, no?"
Daemon instantly began to scream as Phantom snapped his fingers to create a green flame from his palm.
"Coward."
Using his free hand, the Phantom formed small ghost shield around the two of them, not wanting to draw too much attention to the passing pedestrians. Not like they would see anything anyway. Daemon, realizing the uselessness in screaming, whimpered when Phantom towered his shadow over the other's shaking body. Phantom jerked him upward by the collar a little harder than comfortable compared to Fenton's last move, and pressed his neck against the brick wall behind him.
"One must return the favor of another." the Phantom laughed. "And your daughter? Remember how they were all executed? By me?"
The ectoplasmic hand met flesh and began to eat away the elder's skin. An ear-piercing scream bounced off the walls of the shield, the wonderful sound filling the Phantom's ears. The aching in the Phantom's core slowly relaxed when Daemon's faint breaths became quieter and quieter, until there was complete silence. He was dead before it started.
"Weakling as well as a coward." Phantom insulted, crossing his arms.
Feeling his human self gaining more control over the body, Phantom smirked and examined the limp man on the ground before changing back.
His work here was done.
Posted July 18, 2011
I hope you guys thought it interesting :P