By Any Means
Disclaimers: Danny Phantom does not belong to me. Neither does the box ghost… (oh gawd, say it aint so!!)
AN/ Welcome to my newest story. If you haven't read anything by me before, nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at a Danny Phantom fanfiction.
First off, some tips. This is not in any way shape or form a mary sue. I believe there is only a few original characters and none of them are main characters. Please remember that and pay close attention. Some characters may be going by different names- hint hint, wink wink.
Second, this story is called an AU- otherwise known as an Alternate Universe. Meaning, it wouldn't necessarily follow all the guidelines in the actual show. I'll say now that I'll be making up a lot of ghosts and altering the lives of other ghosts and humans so that they better fit in this world.
Third, I'm writing this story out before I post it. Which will be a considerable change from my usual habit of posting as soon as I finish a chapter. There will be sneak peeks at the bottom with actual clips from the next chapter. Please skip these if you dislike spoilers!
And fourth, my author notes will not be this long every time. I promise. First song quote is "Invisible Man" by Queen. So without further ado, onward to the fanfic!
Chapter One: The Fenton Legacy
I'm your meanest thought
I'm your darkest fear
But I'll never get caught
You can't shake me- shake me dear.
-Queen
Jack Fenton had always wanted to meet a ghost. Meet a ghost; meet as in shake hands, exchange pleasantries and perhaps if they had gotten to know each other really well, he could ask to do a little electronic magnetic experimentation, (just once or twice amongst friends).
But he hadn't exactly anticipated this.
Jack climbed back to weak knees. He had to catch his balance on the control panel keyboard- which lit up by his light touch. The screen jolted out of sleep mode, instantly alerting all the other numerous joint computers in the lap to wake up as well.
GHOST ALERT! each said in giant block letters across red flashing screens. GHOST ALERT! GHOST ALERT! GHOST ALERT!
A little late, thought Jack grimly.
Wiping the congealed blood from the corner of his lips, Jack glared back at the floating specter that had just effortlessly tossed him across the room. Jack never held any disillusions about being thin. He had been a "big guy" ever since he stopped being a "big kid". So for this… thing to have hefted his weight across the lab meant there was much to be desired in his current research of the paranormal.
Like the fact that ghosts could and would indeed hurt humans.
The thing in front of him didn't even look like it had been human once. It had a male body builder-like physic (as if a thing like sex could be attributed to something undead). But its skin was opaque, eyes a bloodshot red, and teeth vampiric.
Weren't ghosts supposed to be transparent, formlessly, and cheerful? Well, perhaps basing some his research off of Casper the Friendly Ghost really was as ridiculous as Maddie had said it was. But it wasn't like he had much material to go off of! Most of his encounters with the paranormal had been via bodiless EVPs and shadowed apparitions, if even that much. This… this was quite unreal.
If he weren't being attacked by the thing, Jack felt certain he'd be in state of shock. What a wonderful experience! To see a ghost with his own eyes! To be able to physically touch it! This was the thing he was waiting all his life for! Oh the scientific break through they had made!!
"Jack," said the wondrous monstrosity.
Jack didn't know whether to shudder or jump for joy. Intelligent life! Communication! It even knew his name! Wait until he told Maddie! She'd be sure to believe in ghosts now!
"You know my name?"
"Of course you miserable dolt," replied the ghost.
"Incredible," said Jack in spite of himself.
"What's incredible, Jack, is that your incompetence hasn't gotten yourself killed yet. Although I was hoping. Sincerely," The ghost let a beleaguered sigh as if it really caused him distress that a human could barely make ends meet. Leaving his wife practically the sole supporter for him and the kids, while he played with his expensive and ineffectual toys in the basement. So far, Jack figured things had worked out pretty well. His wife, although frequently annoyed by his fantasies, supported his work. And the kids loved learning about the craft.
Well, Danny did. Jasmine, his oldest, had hit a bit of trying period but Jack was sure she'd come around.
As the ghost spoke, Jack fumbled beneath the computer counter for his tool belt. Surely there was something he could use to defend himself. Unfortunately, Jack had been mostly concerned in documenting and apprehending ghosts- not defending himself against one.
"I tried to… push it along a little. But I'm afraid you have long since tried my patience."
Jack raised a single eyebrow. Perhaps it was distressed. And why? Surely something that no longer had any earthly ties couldn't possibly be concerned with a human. And certainly not him, not his family.
Finally, his hands fell upon a small palm-sized device. Thumbing the body, he knew it wasn't one of his electronics but- perhaps the defense it offered against attacking humans might also work against attacking ghosts.
"Uh… I'm sorry?" offered the ever humble ghost enthusiast, careful to keep his weapon behind his back. "Perhaps if I knew what it is that you wanted me to do for you… I could- um. Do it?"
The words came out sounding stupid, even to him. So when the ghost threw its head back and laughed, Jack couldn't help but offer a meek simper of his own. But the coldness in his humor, numbed the man's insides with fear. Somehow, Jack wasn't sure he would like the answer to his own question.
"Oh yes, Jack. Please. By all means," He came close so fast that Jack fell back upon the control panel. The ghost's eerie crimson eyes only inches from his own. "Kill yourself."
The instinct to protect himself finally kicked in.
"Take your own advice, ghost freak!" shouted Jack thrusting the front end of Maddie's taser into the ghost's astro-form. It seemed that luck, for a change, was on Jack's side. His hunch proved beneficial. The electrical sparks surged into the ghost- sending it backwards in a convulsing spasm.
Jack took the distraction to his own advantage. He fled for the stairs, scrambling up them two- three at a time. He slammed open the door and took two steps into the kitchen before freezing.
Daniel, clad in his blue teddy bear pajamas, looked up from his glass of milk with his inquiringly blue eyes. The glass looked ridiculous huge in his small hands. Barely half a decade old, he stood in a sleepy stupor staring up at his startled father.
"I was thirsty," said the boy, not at all bothered by his father's haggard appearance.
"Oh God, Danny," sputtered Jack. "No."
The six year old cocked his head curiously at his father's strange words. He was completely oblivious to the shadow forming up out of the floor behind him.
"Something wrong, Daddy?"
The formless hands were in level with the little boy's neck.
"Get away Danny! Now!!"
Surprised by his father's sudden shout, seeing how Jack was not prone to raising his voice with the children, Danny was given a start. And it clicked somewhere in his young mind that something lay in wait behind him. Perhaps it was the direction of his father's eyes or the sudden goose pimples that were rising up his arms. Whatever it was, Danny decided to turn.
The sight of the red eyed and fanged shadow would have caused even the most courageous heart to quake. Danny blanched. The glass of milk shattered against the floor before Daniel filled his small lungs up with the air to scream.
Jack couldn't reach his son in time. The ghost had the child off the floor by his throat. His one shriek was subsequently silenced- leaving Jack to watch in horror as his son attempted to bat off its intangible grip.
"Two birds with one stone!" cackled the spirit. "Don't worry, Jack. I'll kill your son first- and then you. No need to let you suffer too long. Then the two of you will have all eternity to worry about what to do with yourselves. After all, once I'm done with you, you'll both be so emotionally torn you'll never be able to pass on."
He gave the little boy's throat another squeeze. Danny's body constricted accordingly causing the ghost much pleasure. And Jack's horrified expression was worth every miserable and lonely second of his afterlife.
"Why are you doing this?" pleaded Jack. "Please. Let my son go! I'll do anything- just please… don't hur- don't kill him!"
The ghost rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I'm not negotiating, Jack."
Bored of the child's dry gasps, it drew back and threw Danny at his father. Jack only just managed to catch his son before falling down the stairs. The two tumbled backwards in a violently confusing mess of limbs, before coming to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.
Jack pushed himself back onto his knees. Danny had fallen out of his father's arms and laid unconscious a bit further up on the staircase. Apprehensively, Jack watched as his assaulter took step after calculated step down the staircase. His footsteps echoed in the open basement.
He stepped over the motionless form of Jack's son, instead proceeding downstairs towards the fallen father. Seeing that his son, for the time being, was safe spurred action back into Jack. He tried to climb to his feet but was caught tight by a sharp pain from his leg. Broken.
Undeterred, Jack crawled his way back to the Fenton control station. The ghost followed a leisurely pace behind, amusement coating his voice as he taunted, "Jack. Where do you think you're going, Jack?"
Jack drug his body across the floor, ignoring both the pangs from his leg and the encroaching unconsciousness in the corners of his vision. He painfully pulled himself up onto a control panel, deliberately punching in a series of coded sequences. Still the ghost approached.
A teardrop fell upon Jack's palm as he typed, giving him only momentary pause. He hadn't even realized he had been crying. He blinked past the welling tears as he sent one last sidelong glance his son's way.
I'm sorry, he wanted to say. Somehow Jack knew that his son would be doomed to finish this. Purpose pulsed deep inside his heavy heart. Destiny caught thick up in his lungs. He finished the last string with a purposefully push on the enter key.
"Are you going to have your computer attack me?" said the ghost, right behind him now.
Jack didn't even bother turning. He wiped the tears from his eyes and smiled weakly into his own reflection and that of the ghost behind him. Incredible, Jack couldn't help from thinking. Ghosts have reflections. Wait until Maddie hears-
He corrected himself with a slight shake of his head. Come now, Jack. Don't kid yourself anymore.
The ghost's hands began to flare a gruesome incandescent green. It cast both the ghoul's and Jack's features in an almost timeless glow. Jack took a deep breath and looked into the ghost's red eyed reflection. The coldness in his eyes startled even a creature of the dead.
"See you in hell."
He pressed the enter key once more.
And the Fenton's basement, in a violent explosion, ripped itself free from the rest of the house.
To Be Continued…
Please Read and Review!
Oops. Sorry about the cliffy, folks. Well not really. But those who know me, should know by now I have a tendency to cliff hang everything.
Anyway, that was fun. Writing in Jack's perspective. That was a lot easier to pull off than I thought it would be. This is actually more like a prologue than the actual first chapter. But I lose count of the chapters if I start with zero.
PREVIEW CLIP FOR NEXT CHAPTER!
The three still standing individuals looked on in bewilderment when someone from the crowd decided to suddenly and recklessly cut through. Nonsensical as it was, they had accidentally managed to save Sam from entering a potentially fatal catfight. After all, Paulina's nails were something to be feared.
The interceder was a young boy hardly older than Sam herself was. He wore a rather dull assortment of colors- red and white shirt and blue jeans. But his eyes. His eyes were an astonishing blue from underneath an unkempt mess of dark hair. Sam thought for sure she had seen him around before, but his name escaped her at the moment.
He met her questioning stare unflinchingly. Something passed between them, something that Sam herself wasn't yet aware of. A spark? The sense that something was starting? Was that ridiculous?
And then it was over. Dash had the boy by the collar- finally something he could actually wail on. The boy squeezed his eyes shut, just before someone caught Dash's wrist.
"Roots of Western Tradition! Just what is going on here?"
END CLIP!!
Please review! I'd really appreciate the feedback people, since it's my first Danny Phantom fanfic and all. I wanna make sure I get all the characters right.
And by right, I mean personality wise. Obviously I've changed a few things for the A/U (i.e. Maddie not being a ghost fanatic like Jack).
Let me know what you think! Next chapter will be posted two weeks from today! Keep your eyes peeled!
BEWARE!