*jumps out of the Ghost Zone* ahola, beautiful one!


Traumatized
a Danny Phantom fanfiction by memeteam2016


Chapter 01:
Bright Stars and Big News

. . .

There was something about a clear night's sky that Danny Fenton had always relished in. Perhaps it was the beautiful constellations that speckled across luxurious mightnight blue; silver, red and yellow stars that were unjudgemental, almost forgiving towards a troubled teenager like himself. The freedom they brought exhilerated him, made him feel as if he could do anything, as if he could reach towards them and escape the crummy parade that was his life. They made him stop and complemate viability, wishing that he could disappear within their calming clutches and finally get away from the weight of the world that was the burden resting upon his shoulders. It would be his dream come true - to be free from all responsibilities, only relishing within their beauty and grace. Something that only a teenager with problems like him would ever wish her. If he could fly that high, he would be free from everything. The saying was 'wish upon a star', wasn't it? It made Danny laugh; irony always did that to him.

Or it could be the icy coldness that resides in the air at night, but that was only natural for a supernatural being like himself. The core beside his human heart, constructed purely of ice and ectoplasmic energy, yearned for the colder temperatures. All undead beings practically lived off the cold, save for those with a fire core. While a ghost (or, half-ghost in Danny's unusual case) has a naturally hypothermic temperature, Danny's ice core and abilities only dropped his temperature further; if he were a normal human, he'd be dead. In fact, if he were a normal human, he wouldn't have to endure the torture he recieved at home. Something inside told him that he should just end everything there and then, but something else stopped him. Like he had a purpose in this world - pfft, why would a lanky 14-year-old like himseld have a place meant for him, when his parents told him we was only a 'worthless shit bag' and a 'pathetic, screw-up ghost freak' everyday? Why would he be more important then anyone in the tanned Californian crowds when he was just an 'irritaing brat'? Because his ghost powers were not special - they were a burden. They caused trouble, his torture. They were the reason that there were holes in his bedroom wall.

It was their fault and their fault only.

Danny let out a long sigh and glanced to his left, where the yellow lights of houses smattered the ragged horizon like those beautiful stars in the midnight sky. A playful breeze toyed with his tousled raven hair, brushing away the strands that kept the white streak that symbolised his pain hidden. He didn't care - no one was around to disrupt the beautiful peace, to judge him, to maul him until he was weak and helpless. Nothing mattered apart from the calming silence. The grass of the hillside was damp against his loose-fitting black skinny jeans and emerald strands stuck to the worn fabric of his favourite maroon shirt, but he ignored the wetness soaking into his pale skin and allowed his mismatched eyes to waner across the constellations that spammed the midnight sky. He could see Orion; that was his least favourite one, because it reminded him of the position he used when he was going ghost. It suddenly occured to the troubled teenager that he should be getting home soon and that he was so far away that it would be morning by the time he reached the house if he walked.

Clambering to his feet, Danny stared across the Californian views and let loose a long, regretful sigh. "Goin' ghost," he mumbled his usual catchphrase, and stood stock still as the glowing blue halo appeared around his waist. It hovered for a few seconds, the glow pooling his worn navy Converse shoes in elegant azure light, before splitting into two smaller parts - the pieces moved across his body in different directions, his form changing as the familiar coronas crossed over a part of him. By the time they had dissipated, he was not Danny Fenton anymore. No, he was Danny Phantom. That was what the ghosts in the Ghost Zone called him, ever since his parents had put up a portal to the sickly green dimension and he had a bit of an... incident... with it. He prefered not to think about it so much; electrecution was an extremely painful way to die. Or, half-die, rather. Yes, Danny had half died the day of the portal accident. Instead of icy blue eyes in human form, his left eye had gone an ectoplasmic green to represent his ghostly form - not to mention the white streak that lined his tousled raven hair.

Though, in ghost form, he looked a lot different. For starters, his hair was so white that it could put snow to shame. It would have been considered cool if his parents didn't mock him for having 'old man hair', even though it wasn't grey but simply colourless. The way it sat slightly over one eye and stayed kind of windswept stayed the same in both configurations, giving him that mysterious but strangely adorable style even if he was half-ghost, half-human. His skin was paler in his ghost form, though it didn't bother Danny; at least he wasn't green like Desiree or blue like the Box Ghost. It gave him a humane tint, though no one seemed to notice. He barely went around in his ghost form and when he did he was almost always invisble and/or intangible. Both eyes went from mismatched to the same colour as his left; an unearthly ectoplasmic green. It didn't match his ghostly white aura, but he pulled it off all the same. Instead of normal, human clothes, his Phantom side tended to keep to a black HAZMAT suit (formerly belonging to his parents) with a silver belt, gloves, boots and collar, as well as a strange DP symbol centered on his chest.

It was fitting for a ghost, to say the least.

Hovering a few feet into the air, Danny took a deep breath and allowed his face to errupt into a exhilerated grin. Although his ghost form was a burden to carry, it felt amazing to be able to fly. If only he could get high enough to reach the stars without suffocating to die... again. Or was it half-die, again? He wasn't entirely sure anymore. But right now, he wanted to forget about that haunting (no pun intended) prospect and just get into the air. So that's what he did. Without a second thought the teenage halfa shot into the air, his legs automatically morphing into a slinky spectral tail as a result of his brilliant speed. The strong breeze was icy and numbing against his pale skin but he only smiled and flew even faster in the direction he knew was where home was. Sometimes he didn't know why he returned each night. Where else would he go? The only friend he has was his derpy Joshua 'Joshy' Jallace, who's parents didn't enjoy his precense and would barely even let Joshy call him up every so often on the weekends. It was frustrating, but both teenagers put up with it; Danny loved Joshy as a best friend because he knew he would always be there. He even accepted Danny as the kid with the 'awesome ghost powers'. Their friendship was special, to say the least. Danny relished in it's mere existence.

With a thrilled laugh (something that came out of his mouth very rarely), Danny twisted himself into a graceful backflip mid-air before nosediving towards a paticular house just by the coastal neighborhood beside his own. It was a rough part of California, but he didn't mind. Sometimes he was able to escape onto the beach just after school and take a peaceful walk along the golden sand, his shoes wet in the placid waves that lapped the quiet shore. No one really went to the area that he liked - something he was extremely thankful for. But he didn't feel like going there right now. He kind of wanted to sleep; hopefully, his parents were doing just that by the time he got into his bedroom. As he neared the building, he allowed the ecto-blast to die down and phased smoothly through the wall he had seen the inside of all too much.

And as he went to transform back into his Danny Fenton half to get into his pajamas, he sung. Quietly, but it was there.

"As a child you would wait

And watch from far away.

But you always knew that you'd be the one

That work while they all play.

In youth you'd lay

Awake at night and scheme

Of all the things that you would change,

But it was just a dream!

Hereee we are, don't turn aaaway now,

We are the warriors that built this town

from dust...

The time will come

When you'll have to rise

Above the best and prove yourself,

Your spirit never dies!

Farewell,

I've gone to take my throne above,

But don't weep for me

'Cause this will be

The labor of my love.

Here we are, don't turn away now,

We are the warriors that built this town.

Here we are, don't turn away now,

We are the warriors that built this town

From dust.

Here we are, don't turn away now,

We are the warriors that built this town.

Here we are, don't turn away now,

We are the warriors that built this town

From dust..."

Danny barely even realised that, by the time he had finished singing to himself, he was already asleep.

. . .

"DANIEL FENTON! GET YOUR WORTHLESS ASS DOWN HERE BEFORE I COME AND BEAT IT!"

Ugh. Waking up could possibly be more of a struggle then his life after a night of flying. With a dreading groan, the ghostly teenager allowed his multicoloured eyes to flicker open only to see a blinding stream of golden light pooling underneath his window. Had he been so distracted that he had forgotten to close his curtains after phasing through them? How dumb can he be sometimes? Another thought made his stomach swell up in fear; his abusive parents had just yelled for him, and he hadn't even gotten out of bed yet! Suddenly panicked, Danny threw on the clothes he had worn yesterday (and thankfully, they were dry) and raced down the stairs to see the angered faces of Jack and Maddie Fenton glaring at him, fists grasping a beer bottle and the chair they were stood next to. How the fuck can you drink this early in the morning? Danny thought with a pang of fear, ducking underneath smooth raven locks with an untrusting expression. It had always been this way - ever since his own father had brutally murdered his older sister in front of his seven-year-old eyes, he had looked at them with terror that just won't leave the pit in his heart.

Freezing as Maddie headed towards him, Danny carefully manovered himself around the other side of the table and watched her movements through terrified mistmatched eyes. "Danny," she growled, making the teenager jump, "come here, right now. We just have to tell you something, that's all!" Her violet eyes were darkened and Danny nodded, backing into the fridge absent-mindedly. With ragged breaths, Danny listened reluctantly to what his mother was saying to him. Her gentle voice was scary to him; he'd never known anyone but Joshy who would act this kind to him without betraying him moments after.
"Danny, your father and I have been thinking. There aren't enough ghosts coming to California, even though we keep that ghost portal open nearly all the time. Even if you're one of those... disgusting parasites... we'll need somewhere where there are more ghosts." I'll show you a disgusting parasite, bitch.

"So... we're moving house?" Danny spoke carefully, and stayed frozen against the fridge as his father took a long sip of heavily alcoholic beer. Ugh, Danny thought, disgusted. He didn't understand how his parents could drink so early in the morning...

"Yea," the burly man snarled, making Danny jump again, "to some place called Amity Park. But don't think that we're getting off your tail, worthless brat. You'll get the same treatment as you get here." Tail. What a funny word.

"We'll have a new lab and everything. Jack is gonna get a new dissection table and everything!"

"Of course he will," Danny rolled his eyes sarcastically, then suddenly regretted it. He'd just done something very, very wron-

"What did I just see?" Jack suddenly growled, fully turning towards Danny with his jaw tightened.

"N-no..." Danny willed himself to phase through the fridge, but his body was ridgid and unmoving with terror. None of his ghostly abilities were working out of his stupid fear of getting hit! Shaking his head in dread, Danny backed away into the nearest wall and patted the latch on the window, fingers fumbling to unlock the latch on it. His dad, all the while smiling demonically, lugged down the rest of his beer and stalked towards the shivering form of his son like a wolf approaching its terrified prey. No, no, no... Danny pressed his head against the wall, realising what was coming to him.

"Don't lie to me, ghost brat," Jack raised the beer bottle above Danny's head, watching through uncaring midnight blue eyes.

"N-no.. it wasn't d-dad... I p-p-promise i-it wasn't!" Danny tried phasing again, but his body was still locked in panic mode. Dumb panic attacks - he'd been a casualty of his parents' drinking problem and stereotyping personalities for so long that he'd begun to develop them whenever he felt like he was in danger of being abused again. It wasn't like he could help it, he really couldn't, he just hated the aftershock of having a panic attack. This one seemed more minor, but he was still in compete 'I'm gonna die' mode. His breath had gone ragged with terror and his mismatched eyes widened in their sockets, the teenager only feeling his heart beating faster as Jack stalked towards his shivering form. If Danny had an ounce of control over his ghost powers he'd have already phased through the wall and made a run - well, fly - for it. Even if he knew he'd have to come back. His parents were prepared for when he tried to escape; the Booooomerang was always handy for them, since it was locked onto his unusual ecto-signature permenantly. They weren't dumb (though some could pass off Jack as 'out of it') and knew how to get him back home; he wasn't entirely sure why, or how. Didn't they just want to get rid of him?

Suddenly something hard and sharp smashed into his head with unmistakeable force and Danny cried out in pain, instantly collapsing against the rough wall. Blood, infused with swirls of sickly green ectoplasm, trickled down the side of his cheek and dripped off his chin, the irritating headache morphing into an agonising migrane. The world around him spun like a haunting merry-go-round and Danny found himself disorentated and whimpering out of fear. "Lie to me again, I dare ya," Jack snarled drunkenly, aiming a boot to Danny's ribcage. The teenager gasped hoarsely as it knocked the wind out of his bruised lungs, falling into a fetal position and wrapping his arms protectively around his head to keep it away from kicking range.

"I'm... I'm s-sorr- agh," Danny let out a low moan as a sharp burst of pain shot through his entire shoulder, biting back an agonised scream. Something warm ran down his arm and dribbled off his elbow, and the aching throb in his shoulder remained. Gasping hoarsly in shock, Danny looked up to see that both of his parents had left the room and he was alone. His hand moved to the stinging area and he felt something sharp poking out of the broken skin. Jack... Jack had stabbed him? With a low whimper, Danny manouvered himself into a sitting position and let loose a long, shaky sigh, moving his quivering hands to pull out whatever had impaled his shoulder. Dull mismatched eyes stared at the bloodied object in his hand; a shattered piece of beer bottle, the one that Jack had smacked his head with as a punishment for his sarcastic attitude. Ectoplasm-infused blood continued to trickle down his arm and his body was wracked in a violent shudder as he clambered to his feet. On shaky legs he walked to the door that would lead to the basement (the lab) - he knew that his parents were down their, but he could just go invisible. They had his ecto samples in there and he needed one if he was going to heal without a hefty scar. That would be far too obvious in gym class, if he was ever going back to Biffany High School.

Apparantly, their new location was infested with ghosts that were escaping from a portal to the Ghost Zone, beknownst to Amity Park's innocent residents. That was why they were moving away from sunny old California - for the specters that roamed the streets. There was a school there, ironically named Casper High School, that he would be attending. He was so looking foward to that... not. He had heard of a place named the Nasty Burger too; apparantly a popular fast-food joint and hangout area for the teenagers all over Amity Park. According to research he had done on Casper High (you can never be too careful), some old hag named Mr. Lancer had told his students that working at the Nasty Burger was the fate to those failing students who were doomed to fall through academically. Through more research, it had been once torn down by his worst enemies the Guys in White, who were under the impression that there were ghosts haunting the area and rebuilt into an adults-only hangout named McMasters - his uncle's doing.

Yaaay.

Pushing his disorientated body into his ghost form, Danny phased through the door to the lab and floated downstairs while invisible. Indeed, his parents were both working on some sort of new ecto-bazooka (guess who'd have to give them pure ectoplasm from the ghost zone to power the darn thing?) and had not detected his presence yet. Good, Danny thought, holding his head to draw out the lightheadedness he was experiencing from minor bloodloss. The wound wasn't fatal, but while he was weakened he'd need an inch or so of ectoplasm to help his ghost half with a successful healing process. Emerald eyes caught onto a discarded sample in a test tube just beside the ghost portal (which was thankfully shut) and Danny mentally cheered until a sharp voice pulled him out of his brief victory.

"Danny, I hope that's not you floating around behind me. What are you doing?"

Obviously, I'm eating a burrito. No spectral shit goin' on over in this party.

With a moan of pain, Danny plopped his feet lightly onto the ground and allowed himself the forgiving release of becomng visible again. "It's me..." he whispered fearfully, watching with careful eyes as both parents continued to work on the ecto-bazooka. "Look... I just need some ectoplasm... please, or there will be a scar and-" A large Coca-Cola bottle full to the brink of a familiar glowing green substance was tossed in his direction and the ghostly teenager caught it with lightning reflexes.

"We don't need a scar now, do we?" Maddie purred kindly, making Danny tense up in slight terror.

"Uh.. thank y-you," the ghost-kid stuttered, breathing slightly ragged out of bloodloss. He dwadled awkwardly for a brief moment before suddenly remembering that he had been impaled and phasing out of the lab noiselessly. It was strange to hear his mother's voice being so kind and forgiving when he knew that she had hurt him purposefully before. Beatings, kicks, punches to the stomach... that was all she usually gave him on a good day. There had been one time when she had put a blood blossom into his sandwhich and he literally had to phase his hand into himself to get it out. The mere memory sent dreadful shudders violently shaking his body - ghosts + blood blossoms = screaming, screaming, screaming. A delightful process, to say the least. But her tone had actually been... motherly.

Such an odd word to a troubled teenager like himself.

. . .

"Class! Settle down now; I have an important announcement!" Mr. Lancer flailed around at the front of the room, his heavy beer belly wobbling as he waved his arms to get the students' attention. Only a few pupils bothered to listen to him; the nutbag English teacher had never really had control over his class, even though he loved to teach them. Their sarcastic senses of humor made teaching somewhat entertaining and occasionally he would chuckle at their comical attitdes, watching through proud jade eyes as Tucker argued jokingly with Sam or as Kwan attempted to gently soften Dash's difficult mood. It made him laugh inside, though he tried to keep his proffesional tinge on the outside. Secretly he was so proud of how grown up yet childish his class could be. They were good people with good intentions... sometimes, he was ashamed to say that he did have favourites. It had to be Tucker Foley ("that's T.F for Too Fine") and Samantha Manson (never call her Samantha or be murdered). They were best friends; different from everyone else in the class but perfectly content with that. While they were complete polar opposites, they were comfortable with each other and stood up for one another. He really hoped that they'd take in the new student as a friend. Maddie Fenton had told Mr. Lancer over the phone that they were moving to Amity Park from California, and that Danny was really upset that he was leaving.

At the back of the room, Tucker proceeded to clumsily shush a laughing Sam before the entire class went dead silent to allow Mr. Lancer to speak.

"Okay. So, I have been informed by the princible that our class is recieving a new student on Monday. His name is Daniel Fenton - apparantly, he prefers Danny - and he is moving from California to Amity Park tomorrow, I think. I'd really like it if you guys were friendly towards Danny? According to his mother, he really loves California and is upset that they are leaving," Mr. Lancer glanced at his watch; 8:15am, "you may continue talking until class begins." The students errupted into excited chatter almost instantly, everyone enlivened that they'd be getting another kid in the classroom. While Dash was probably happy about a new punching bag prospect and Paulina was questioning the teacher whether he was good-looking and muscular ("I don't know, Paulina. Go back to your seat!"), Sam and Tucker weren't really thrilled about it... until Mr. Lancer called them up to his desk five minutes later.

"What is it, sir?" Sam questioned innocently, her fake tone and grin making Tucker snort.

"I need you two to help Danny sett-"

"WHAT?! Why do we have to do it?!" Tucker gawked, a hand slapping onto his forehead in minor shock, "we're the nerds, sir! Danny sounds like a jock or somethin', and we don't fit in well with those." It was true; they didn't.

"Shh, Tucker. I need you to understand that the following reason is personal to Danny, and that you two must keep it between yourselves. When Danny was only seven-years-old, he went through something that no child that age should go through. He was forced to watch as a thief brutally murdered his sister in front of him; according to his mother, he was scarred ever since," Mr. Lancer lowered his voice slightly.

"Oh my God," Sam breathed in disbelief, "that's... that's horrific..."

"Also, he tends to get panic attacks when threatened by someone, so I'd need you two to look out for him, okay?" Lancer offered them a smile, full of pride beknownst to the two teenagers. "He's not so good with new people, but he's a good-natured boy according to his mother."

"W-why us?" Tucker stuttered after a shocked silence.

"Because I trust you the most."

. . .


So that's the end of Chapter One!

Please review! They keep an author motivated for the next chapter.

If I get... more then 4 reviews... then I'll do a new chapter!

-Kinetic.