A/N: So this is my first fanfic. Hopefully it came out nice and someone will like it. I have always loved Danny Phantom, and I have had many ideas for how he began. This is just a small one-shot. I might make it longer, like maybe my version of the show. But until then the world can enjoy this.

Disclaimer. I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does.

"So what do you guys want to do after school today?" Tucker Foley asked walking out of Casper High School with his two best friends Sam and Danny. Tucker is a dark skinned, glasses and red beret wearing, techno geek.

Sam Manson the violet eyed Goth of the group shrugged. She smirked stating, "Nasty Burger is closed for the weekend. Someone called the health inspector. Says there were so many violations he was surprised the food was edible." Tucker gasped in horror.

"They can't do that!" He cried desperately, "Now where will I get a mighty meaty melt? Meat isn't sold cooked in very many places you know?"

"Calm down, Tucker. It's not forever, just enough time for them to fix the health violations. Maybe with the time off it might save a few cows from being slaughter," She growled defiantly.

"Stop it guys, let's just go to my place ok? You can get some meat there Tucker," Danny Fenton, insisted hating to see his friends fight. Danny was a scrawny kid with black hair and icy blue eye. He glanced nervously at his two friends in front of him. They were both very stubborn and he knew they could be at this for days. Sam is a vegan and Tucker is a full blown carnivore, never having eaten anything but meat and very greasy foods his whole life. They never really stayed angry at each other for long though. After all they are best friends.

"Are you sure your parents won't mind?" Tucker asked as they continued on their way down the road.

"Nah, they're too busy worrying about this new invention of theirs. They'll be down in the basement all afternoon," Danny explained, as they made their way towards his house. Danny's parents were ghost hunters. They specialized in both fields of science and paranormal. But Danny and his sister, Jasmine, both think their parents are delusional. Danny tries to stay out of their work the best he can. Jazz, however, is constantly whining about her parents' career.

The trio turned around a corner and entered the Fenton's house. "What did they build this time?" Sam asked curiously.

"A Ghost Portal, it's supposed to lead to the 'Ghost Zone', as my parents call it," Danny said uninterestedly. He was used to his parents' weird inventions. Tucker and Sam on the other hand found their job more interesting than Danny did. He just thinks it's embarrassing, thank goodness not many people at school know about my parents' profession, though Danny.

"That's so cool!" Sam said excitedly, "Can we see it?"

"You know my parents don't like anyone down in their 'lab'. Besides it doesn't work," Danny objected.

Come on please?" Tucker begged joining in with Sam. Danny sighed. "Fine but we'll have to ask my parents," he said in defeat and they all headed to the basement.

"Mum? Dad? Are you down there?" Danny called curiously calling through the door. There was no reply and he hesitantly opened it and went inside, Tucker and Sam close behind.

The lab was empty and they glanced around in confusion.

"Where are they?" Sam asked cautiously. Danny shrugged.

"They must have gone out. I'm sure they'll be back soon, we can ask them when they get back," he said and began heading back towards the entrance.

"Hold up Danny. Why don't we just check it out now? Your parents will never know," Sam persisted.

Before Danny could protest they had already walked forward towards the giant metal circular object at the end of the room.

"Man Danny your parents may be totally crazy but they really are geniuses with technology. Just think of what they could invent if they weren't obsessed with ghosts," Tucker stated looking curiously at the Ghost Portal with awe as if it was a new PDA.

"Hey, just because they haven't caught a ghost doesn't mean they're crazy," Danny defended. He may think they're crazy but that doesn't mean other people can. Tucker held his hands up in an apology, letting Danny know he didn't mean it in a bad way.

"What's this?" Sam said from the other side of the room. She held up a white Hazmat suit with black boots, gloves and a belt to go with it. "Ugh, that's a jumpsuit my parents got me. Jazz has one too. They tried to get us to wear them all the time like them, but we refused," Danny explained looking at the suit with annoyance and hatred.

"Personally I think it needs more black. But that's just me," Sam noted chucking the suit to Danny. He caught it and turned to Sam who was holding a camera. He looked at her questioningly.

"I just want a picture of the ghost portal."

"Smile," She said cheerfully and snapped a picture of Danny in front of the machine. He was blinded for a moment, as he blinked to get the flash out of his eyes.

"Okay, I showed you the portal. Can we get out of here now? My parents could be back here any minute," Danny said glancing around nervously, "Besides they say it doesn't work anyway."

"Come on Danny, the Ghost Zone? Aren't you curious? You gotta check it out!" Sam persuaded.

Danny knew he shouldn't but he couldn't help feeling curious. He's been trying to avoiding going down there to check it out for weeks. He had sworn off his parents' weirdness long ago. But this invention was different. There was something about it that pulled at the back of his mind. He couldn't help feeling drawn to it, like there was an invisible force grabbing at him every time he came by it. Almost as if the portal itself was aware of his presence. This scared Danny in many ways, but also made his curiosity grow. Danny was thinking over his options when he felt it once again. He could feel his body being pulled towards the portal. It made him uncomfortable and at peace, which confused him greatly. He had to pull his eyes from it.

At that moment the voices came back. Whispering in an echoing voice, come join us…come…with us…Danny…Danny…join us… That creepy whisper that scared him more than the pull did. It only happened once before and that was when he first saw the portal. They taunt him whispering ideas into his head, slowly convincing him. Telling him what a good idea is was to go in, like if it was planed out from the beginning. As if they had known about this since the beginning of time. It was such a sweet intoxicating sound. It drowned his senses, with its sickly sweet words.

The voices did it, with the addition of Sam and his over the top curiosity. Danny Fenton gave in to the temptation. "You know what? You're right. Who knows what kind of awesome, super cool things exist on the other side of the portal," Danny said in wonder before stepping into his hazmat suit he held. After buckling his belt and putting his boots on, he started to go towards the Ghost Portal to satisfy the urges.

"Hang on!" Sam said moving towards him. He looked down at the logo on the front of his hazmat suit; his dad's smiling face sat there. Sam grabbed the sticker and ripped it off promptly, "You can't go walking around with that on your chest!"

"Thanks." He paused hesitantly in front of the portal for a moment. He could feel the power it held, the urges and pulls were even harder to ignore now that he was right next to it. It was so strong, it was almost painful, and he could swear it was trying to yank out his very soul. Come…come…come…join us…join us… was all he could hear as the voices got louder and louder. Taking a deep breath he stepped in the Ghost Portal. Then everything went quiet. The voices that were screaming at him a second ago disappeared like they were never there to begin with. Even the urges and pulls were gone. A little relieved Danny looked around, it was dark and there were various wires and metallic rods around the place. Walking in a little further, Danny caught his foot on a wire. He raised his hand against the wall to balance his self and the next thing he knew he pressed a button.

Looking up to see what it was he saw it was an on switch. Only my dad would be stupid enough to install the 'on' switch inside the portal, Danny thought. But before he could move his hand away, sparks shot out of the wiring and other places. Then there was pain, such agonizing pain. He was being electrocuted. Everything in the portal was bathed in green light.

Screams of horrifying pain came from the portal. There was no way to describe the scream that echoed around the room. They were filled with pain, agony, fear. Like those of a child that has taken its first breath of life. But his screams were not of joy, of welcoming. Instead, they were filled with sorrow and passing. In that moment as his screams resonated about the room, drowning out the sounds of the world.

Danny was dying.

Sam and Tucker could hear the sickening screams. Unable to do anything, they just stood there calling Danny. But their distressed calls fell on deaf ears. As Danny was in so much pain he could not hear anything outside his own screams.

A burning feeling was overwhelming on Danny's body. He could smell his own flesh on fire. At that point he could feel his heart stop. That's when his body had started to run cold. It was as if he was being frozen from the inside out, causing him even more pain. After what to him felt like eternally he collapsed on the floor, fighting for consciousness, violently shivering. The last thing he remembered was the pain stopped and then everything went black.

Sam watched in horror as Danny was consumed in green light. "DANNY!" Tucker and she screamed at the same time. They raced forward but hesitated at the end of the entrance. The portal was glowing in an eerie green. Unsure if it was safe they stayed outside of range of the portal.

Danny's screams died down as powerful energy shot from the portal, like a shock-wave, shaking the lab knocking Sam and Tucker over with many of the items. They did not know it then but it was a massive blast of spectral energy which is very deadly to humans. Such a massive amount of spectral energy that strong made every ghost in the Ghost Zone aware of his presence, making him the target of many malevolent ghosts.

The air cleared allowing Tucker and Sam to see the damage. Luckily there was not much just a few items scattered here and there. Not much different than before.

Tucker looked over at Sam as he just remembered that his friend was in the portal before it blew up. Looking over to the portal they see a hand reach out, as Danny stumbled out of the portal, collapsing on the floor. As he fell every device in the lab went off at once. The noise was intolerable. Both the teens clasped their ears from the screeches of the equipment. Danny was lying on the ground his hair was no longer ebony black, but a frosty white, and a soft glow surrounded his body. Neither Tucker nor Sam at that moment thought much of Danny's change of appearance when he came out. The two of them ran up to him, they were so relieved he was alive. They both paused it shock, as their eyes met with Danny's.

The feeling of relief and peace was shattered. What met the glaze of the two teens were not the familiar cerulean eyes they knew so well, but sickly radioactive neon green. Green eyes that had no life swirled about them, unlike the way it did in theirs. The eyes that met theirs were the eyes of the deceased, eyes which would forever haunt them. Danny has died before them, and now what was at their feet was a memory of a once living boy.

The boy fell unconscious. Unsure of what to do the teens hesitated, scared that he was really dead. But it was lost when they heard him groan. They both ran over to him immediately, no matter what happened this was still Danny.

"Danny?" Sam said softly. This was all her fault, she thought to herself guiltily. She knelt beside him.

The boy stayed unresponsive, still not fully awake.

"We've got to get him out of here," Tucker insisted grabbing Danny desperately, only to see the spots on Danny he touched fade of colour and have his hands go right through him. Sam and Tucker both gasped and jumped back in surprise and fear.

"What was that?!" Sam snapped looking at Danny in shock.

"I have no idea, I couldn't grab him. My hands just slipped right through him!" Tucker cried uncertain.

Sam tentatively outstretched her trembling hand towards Danny and pressed her hand beside his face slowly.

"Well he seems solid now," She mumbled nervously. They stared indecisively at Danny for a moment. Deciding what they should do now.

"Come on. Let's get him out of here. We can figure this out later. We can't let his parents see him like this. They'll never let us near him again," Sam said. Tucker nodded in agreement as he grabbed Danny under his shoulder to lift him. Not realizing it, he picked Danny up bridal style. Stunned about how light Danny was he looked over at Sam. "Wow, Danny is light! Maybe twenty or thirty pounds, is that possible?"

Sam looked back at him with an equally shocked face. "I don't know Tuck. He was never that light before. Last time we had to pick him up, we had to drag him."

Pushing that madder to the side they carried him up the stairs of the basement and all the way up the stairs to Danny's room. Tucker set Danny down with ease on his bed.

"Geez Danny owes me big time when he wakes up," Tucker muttered as he sat down on the end the bed.

"That's if he ever wakes up," Sam snapped in annoyance. Sometimes Tucker could be so selfish.

"Sorry, I know you're worried about him. I'm worried too. I was just trying to lighten the mood," Tucker mumbled looking worriedly at his unconscious friend. Sam nodded in understanding.

She walked up to the bed and carefully placed two fingers gently against Danny's neck searching for any sign that he is still with the land of the living. When her fingers touched him she yanked them back for his skin was like ice water. After the shock she placed her fingers back on Danny's neck, ignoring the cold shivers going down her spine, Sam looked for a pulse. "I can't find a pulse!" She squeaked with fear in her voice.

"What!" Tucker gasped in horror. "Doesn't that mean he's dead?"

Sam quickly scanned her downed friend for any other signs of him being alive. She saw the slight rise and fall of his chest. Confused at what she saw she murmured, "He can't be dead, he's still breathing. That doesn't make any sense." Sam placed her hand in front of Danny's face to feel if he is breathing. But to her surprise there was no air coming from his mouth or nose. Sam gasped pulling her hand away, she looked up at Tucker then back at Danny to watch the fall and rise of his chest again. "That's weird!"

Tucker looked at her, "What's weird?"

Sam looked back at him, "He's not breathing, but his chest, look." She pointed out the movements to him.

Tucker was just as surprised as Sam when he saw that. They both jumped when they heard a car door. Tucker leaned over to look out the window and see what the noise was. He found the Fenton RV pulling up the driveway. He glanced nervously at Danny as he told Sam, "We've got to get out of here."

Sam frowned at him. "We can't leave him like this!" She spat. Tucker clenched his fists in frustration as he stood up to leave.

"Sam, if we stay they'll wonder why we're not with Danny. Then they'll wonder where Danny is. His best chance is if they think he's sleeping," Tucker explained. He grabbed her shoulder to pull her up.

"But what if only they can help him? It was their machine, after all," Sam objected.

"They'll still blame us Sam. What if they make us never see him again?" Tucker stated as he pulled her to her feet. She looked uncertainly down at the boy as he laid there lifeless. Sam knew she would never be able to handle not seeing him again.

"Fine," She sighed in defeat, pushing Tucker's hand off her as she stood up and walked to the door. Tucker met her at the door. They both glanced uncertainly back at their unconscious friend before leaving his room. They closed the door and headed down the stairs towards the front door. A voice from the kitchen stopped them dead in their tracks.

"Tucker, Sam! What are you kids doing here?" Maddie Fenton's curious voice asked.

"And where's Danny? I want to show him this new invention I'm working on," Jack Fenton added.

"Um…we came here after school. It was a really tough day, so we told Danny to go to bed. It'd probably be best if you didn't bother him," Sam said as it was the first thing to come to mind.

"Oh that's nice of you two," Maddie said happily, "I'm glad our Danny has friends like you"

"Yeah well we better be off. You know homework and stuff," Muttered Tucker nervously as he grabbed Sam by the wrist and dragged her out with him.

"Did those two look a little nervous to you?" Maddie said suspiciously.

"Who wouldn't be nervous in front of Amity Park's two best ghost hunters," Jack persisted proudly.

Maddie smiled at him fondly, "You're right dear, I'm sure I'm just overreacting."

"Can I have another cookie?" Jack asked hopefully. Maddie smiled as she told him, "Yes." Jack excitedly ran in to the Kitchen to get a cookie.

Danny woke up to his alarm. He reached over a put an end to the screeches that tell him to get ready for the day. He sat up with a groan; Danny never was a morning person. He looked around his room nothing was different. So, why do I feel like something has changed? He questioned his self. Sitting up in bed he looked over at his alarm. Red numbers telling him it was 6:00am; as in he needed to get ready for school.

He climbed out of bed he felt like every muscle in his body was on fire. He was not only sore but something weird as well like gravity loosened its grip on him. Danny just shook the thought out of his head and grabbed some clothes. He stumbled his way to the bathroom ignoring his cell phone vibrating on his desk.

He walked in to the bathroom closing the door behind him. For the first time he look down at his clothes, but instead of his usual night sweats he found a black hazmat suit. Danny screamed. He flew backwards into the shower curtain. Tangling his self in the curtain he fell down on to the floor, bring the fabric with him. He jumped at a knock on the door. Climbing out of the curtain he ran to the door to keep it shut. "Who is it?" he yelled through the door.

"Your sister, are you ok I heard you yell?" called Jazz, "And there was a loud bang."

Thinking fast Danny replied, "I-I'm fine… I just… I just scared myself. Yea, that's what happened. I didn't see the mirror or something. That's all." He laughed nervously, hoping she would buy that.

"Well ok if you're sure." Then she turned around and walked down stairs.

Danny waited until he heard her footsteps retreat down stairs before he relaxed. He looked back down at his hazmat suit, wondering why he was still in it. But then again I don't really remember what happened when I got out of the portal. How did I get in bed? Danny though. He leaned on the sink, as he tried to figure out what was happening. Looking at his hands he noticed there was a slight glow around him like an aura of some sort. Danny looked up at the mirror; he choked back another scream as he saw his reflection. What happened to me?

He looked at himself, reaching up to touch his face. The boy looking back at him was not the same boy he usually saw. In the mirror where he should be standing was a boy who looked dead. Not figuratively, literally dead as in the diseased. The boy in the mirror had the same messy and unkempt hair as his, but it was white, white as freshly fallen snow that has never been touch before. It glowed, making it unnatural, almost an impossible white. The boy had paler skin then Danny, his skin was white with an almost blue hue to it, like a corpse.

There were dark circles around the boy's eyes. Making it look like he had never slept a day in his life; that if he did sleep he would be haunted by nightmares and terrors. It gave him a look of the insane, that his mind might snap at any giving moment if not already.

The creepiest thing about the boy in the mirror was his unfocused eyes. Such a haunting abnormal colour, eyes of unearthly green. They glowed, like a torch in the blackest of nights, making the mirror light up. But there was something about them. They were eyes of the dead, that's what they looked like. There was no joy in his eyes, just sorrow like a beloved died, and the beloved was him.

Danny backed away from the sink unsure of what he was looking at. The boy looked just as scared as he. Eyes wide, mouth open with fright, shoulders shacking. He was imitating Danny's every move and expression. Danny was so scared; he didn't know what to do. The boy in the mirror couldn't be him, just couldn't. But how could a mirror lie. He had to tear his eyes away unable to gaze into the boys in front of him. He turned around and ran. He ran straight for his room.

The second he got in his room he shut the door and locked it. Danny turned around he saw his room once more untouched, nothing changed. I have changed, not my room, me. He leaned against the door and slid down until he was on the floor. Danny pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his self, as he started to weep. He cried, and cried unknowing what has happened. Danny was lost and confused, his thoughts were so scrambled. Then he heard it, a noise. It was as if something was moving around on his desk. It was so loud. Danny covered his ears to block the noise. Why is it so loud? I don't remember ever being able to hear this well, he thought, Make it stop why does it hurt my ears? Desperate to make the sound go away he got up and searched for the source.

It was his cell phone. Wanting the noise gone he picked up the phone to rid himself from the racket. He looked at the caller ID, SAM, Danny answered.

In a weak, cracked voice Danny whispered into the phone, "H-Hello?"

"Danny! Thank God you're okay. I have been calling you all morning, why didn't you answer?" Sam's voice came screeching through the phone. Danny yanked it from his ear, her voice was deafening. He quickly turned down the volume of the phone. That's weird its half way down already.

After adjusting the volume Sam called out, "Danny? You there?" He put the phone back to his ear to reply. "Yea, I'm here. I just had to fix the volume, it was very loud…I think?"

"It was? Are you okay Danny?" Her voice was still loud, but not as ear piercing as before.

"I-I don't know Sam. What…what happened to me? I looked in the mirror and I don't look like me. I-I look dead, Sam. I'm so scared."

"Shh, Danny it's okay. We will figure this out, okay. Don't go crazy on me," she cooed. "Now what do you look like? I remember you looked different when you got out of the portal, but I need to know if you still look like that."

Danny walked over to his bed and sat down, leaning against the headboard. He ran his free hand through his hair. "I-I'm still wearing the hazmat suit, but its black now."

"Okay, anything else?"

"My hair, my hair is white. Not old person white but bleach white, almost a silver. And my skin, I glow. Sam, I glow!" Danny said as he examined his skin and hair. His hands were trembling with fear. "Sam, what happened? After the portal that is."

"I'm not sure. That's what you looked like when you came out of the portal." Sam then explained what happened when he came out and how he slipped through Tuckers hands. She didn't elaborate on how haunting it was. I am going to have nightmare for the rest of my life, she thought to herself. Then Sam told him about putting him in bed and what they told his parents. "Do you have a heartbeat? 'Cause you didn't when I checked."

Danny moved his quivering hand up to his neck. He pressed to fingers to his neck and felt for anything, anything to show he is alive.

There was nothing.

No heartbeat was found. Danny dropped his phone, and jumped on to his knees. He prodded around his neck with his fingers, desperately looking for any sign of life.

He found none.

He let his hands fall in to his lap as he sat there. A luminescent tear slid down his cheek.

"DANNY! Danny are you there? What happened?" Sam's frantic voice was heard coming from the forgotten phone on the floor. Danny looked down at it, and then leaned down to pick it up. With his shaking hands he lifted the phone up to his ear and whispered a reply, "Yea, I-I'm here, Sam. And no, I don't have a heartbeat." He said with a raspy sore voice. More tears fell as his body racked with sobs.

"Danny, Danny calm down. You need to breathe. Okay, just talk deep breaths," Sam said with a calm voice. Danny stopped everything he was doing. He reached up and gripped his throat. He was not breathing. There was no air in his lungs. "SAM! I'm not breathing, I can't breathe, Sam." If Danny could breathe he would be hyperventilating.

"Calm down Danny everything will be okay." Sam tried to calm Danny down.

"No, Sam everything will not be okay. I'm not breathing. How am I even alive," Danny snapped back.

"Danny this might be hard to hear but, I think…I think you might be a ghost," Sam mumbled softly.

"A ghost! That would mean I'm dead." Danny gasped. This cannot be happening. I cannot be dead, Danny though, I just want to be normal! An everyday human being. Danny put his head in his free hand. What was he going to do now?

Around Danny's stomach started to glow white. Danny jumped back against the wall on his bed. He watched in amazement and fear as the light split and ran up and down his body, engulfing him. As the illumination passed over him, he could feel his organs starting again. He felt his heart start; the blood pumping through his veins, his heart beating a slow but strong rhythm. There was an urge in the back of his throat. He opened his mouth to let sweet oxygen in. It felt good to bring air into his lungs. It burned to draw in breaths. He cried, enjoying the pain. Danny was breathing, he was alive.

"Danny? What's going on are you okay?" call Sam from the forgotten cell phone on the floor once again.

Danny barley heard her. Wiping away his tears Danny jumped down from his bed and reached down to grabbed the phone. Danny put it up to his ear then jerked it away just as Sam screamed, "DANEIL FENTON! YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON."

"Jez, Sam. No need to scream, for some reason I have sensitive hearing now. You're going to blow my eardrum out," he spat in the phone. "I have no clue what happened, but I'm breathing again. And I can feel my heartbeat…Man it feels strange, my heartbeat that is."

"Do you still look like a ghost?"

"Don't know let me look." Danny walked from his bed to the door and unlocked it. He looked around making sure no one was around he walked to the bathroom once again. Opening the door he stepped into the bathroom for a second time this morning. Danny closed the door and reached for the sink to look into the mirror. He braced his self for what was to come.

It was him.

The Danny in the mirror had black hair like normal, just as messy and unkempt; it was a little more oily than normal. He did have paler skin, almost white, but it still had colour. He also had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't had a decent night's sleep. But all was fine, if you did not count his eyes. Danny's eyes were back to being a brilliant cerulean blue. His eyes seemed unfocused, and somewhat dead. Slowly he could see the life coming back in to them.

"So, what do you see," chimed in Sam's voice kicking Danny out of a somber.

"I look like me. The same, nothing has changed."

"That's good. But something weird is happening to you. You're alive but dead, or a ghost," Sam said.

"Sam, we don't know for sure if this has to do with ghosts," insisted Danny.

"Danny, you went into a Ghost Portal, fell through Tucker, you had no pulse and, didn't breathe. It sounds like a ghost to me," she said with a matter-o-fact tone.

Danny grumbled. So much for staying out of the family business. "Okay I guess you're right, now I need to get rea-" Danny was cut off by Jazz hollering at him from down stairs. "DANNY! Hurry up and get ready, you've been up there for half an hour. It's almost time for school. We need to go!"

"Be right there!" Danny yelled back. "Look Sam, I will talk to you at school, okay. But right now I got to get ready." He hung up and striped, jumped in a shower to clean off the dirt and dried blood. After the shower he got dress and ran down stairs, grabbed some toast, Yuck toast, oh well, ran out the door and jumped in the car with Jazz.

At Casper High-

"DANNY! You're okay," cried Tucker as he ran up to Danny. Danny was getting his books out of his locker. "Yea, I'm fine. Or at least back to normal," chimed Danny nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"That doesn't explain what happened to you though," Sam stated as she came up behind Tucker making him jump. "Someone doesn't just di-I mean change like that."

"Wait did you just say die."

"No I said change," argued Sam.

"You did say die. I died didn't I?!" Danny said as he ran a hand through his hair. "I cannot believe it I'm dead, I died in the portal!"

"Danny calm down," cooed Tucker. "Sam is just being negative it could of just been a temporary reaction from the portal. I'm sure everything is just fine."

"Fine but I don't have a good feeling about all this," Sam commented as she stormed off.

Tucker looked at Danny and shrugged. They both walked off after Sam to head to their class.