I just felt like writing this with Danny Phantom. This is set after D-Stabilize but before Phantom Planet- or heck, maybe you can pretend Phantom Planet never existed. Anyways, I hope you guys read and enjoy this one-shot!
The Lost One
It was just another peaceful night as Danny Phantom was patrolling the city. After rescuing Danielle from Vlad and from melting, he had never felt better. Although he sometimes likes to imagine one of the clones being a possible twin brother to him- that would've been interesting... Too bad they were all unstable or evil, at least Dani's the closest thing to a possible twin.
Danny landed in the park and looked around, giving himself a small smile and a nod. "Yup, looks like a quiet night tonight."
The young half ghost teen was about to call it a night and head home when a sudden blast of ecto energy shot at him in the chest! Danny yelped as he hit the ground hard, rubbing at his chest in pain.
"Ow… W-who hit me?" Danny demanded as he stood back up, glancing around before looking up into the sky.
A being was floating in the sky, it looked human whoever they are. They slowly landed in front of Danny. Now that Danny had a better look at them, he could see the person had metallic bat-shaped wings for a jetpack. He wore a black coat and dark red pants and black boots. He also wore gray gloves and is wielding a blue sword that was on fire somehow. The person is wearing a dark blue helmet that covered the majority of his upper face, only showing a red eye that looked to be synthetic, almost like a robot.
"What the- who are you?" Danny demanded, glaring at the strange intruder.
The person didn't speak, rather they gripped their sword tightly before swinging it at him. Danny yelped when he felt a searing burn slash through him.
"ARGH! That… hurts…" He groaned, not excepting a weapon like a sword to hurt him as a ghost, but this guy seems very dangerous. "I'd better watch my step..."
The masked person struck at Danny again with the fire sword, but the ghost boy managed to dodge it this time with his speed. He flew up into the sky, but was surprised to see the masked person was following him, able to keep up with him with the jetwings he was using.
"No way! How could anyone keep up with me using that?" Danny wondered to himself, surprised by this since machines usually couldn't keep up with him.
The masked person suddenly transformed his right hand into an arm cannon, surprising Danny even more, before firing an ecto blast right at him. The half ghost boy hissed as his back was hit by such a strong blast but didn't stop flying.
"So you're some kind of ghost hunting robot?" Danny asked, frowning suspiciously.
The masked person didn't answer, instead they fired another ecto blast at him, hitting Danny right in the stomach and sending him down into the road with a CRASH!
"Ugh… not much of a talker, got it." The boy groaned, sitting up and clutching at his stomach in pain before he glanced up and noticed the person flying closer to him.
Danny, deciding it was best to get serious, flew back up and punched the masked person, sending them back a few feet in the air. However, they were far from out, they responded by swinging their fire sword and unleashing a steam of blue fire at him! Danny screamed in pain as the flames consumed his body in pain, he quickly doused it with his ice powers, trying to freeze the fire and get it off him.
"Ugh… I've never felt such fire before…" Danny groaned as he managed to douse the painful flames off him. If he were human his skin would probably have second or third degree burns right now. "This guy isn't kidding around…"
Danny decided to try fighting at a safer distance from the masked person, and he fired ghost rays after ghost rays at him. The masked person was hit a few times, but eventually he began learning the pattern of each ghost rays fired at him. Surprising the ghost he was fighting, the person began beating back the ghost rays by the swing of his sword before blasting at Danny with his arm cannon's ecto blast.
Danny hissed before he decided to try something else, he got in close at the masked person before firing out an ice ray this time. The ice ray did its job as it froze up the masked person's arm canon and Danny smirked, crying out confidently, "Can't fight when your canon's been frozen!"
The masked person didn't even flinch, in fact Danny couldn't see any emotion from them at all. Instead, the ice began melting almost instantly, surprising Danny. "Wh-what the!? That's ghost ice, it can't melt so easily!"
While in shock, the masked man took this advantage and slashed at Danny's side with his fire sword, causing the ghost boy to scream in agony as fresh blood- or rather,- ectoplasm- began seeping out from his side. "Ugh… WHO ARE YOU!?" Danny demanded.
The masked person shot him back down into the ground with another précised shot with his ecto blast from his arm cannon, creating another crate on the road.
As Danny lay there, injured, someone walked up to him. It wasn't someone Danny wanted to see unfortunately- it was a Guy in White. The man smirked down at Danny before he said, "Well, well, well, looks like even the powerful and infamous ghost boy finally met his match."
"W-what?" Danny groaned, glaring at the person irritably.
The masked person landed beside the man and didn't make another move while the Guy in White spoke, "This was our secret weapon we've been developing for months for you. We found him as a lost and useless boy wandering around our turf and we felt sorry for him, so we took the kid in and made a few… adjustments. There was something special about the kid and he certainly rose to our expectations."
"You… you took a homeless kid and turned him into… THAT?" Danny frowned, looking at the motionless masked person… or rather masked boy.
"You make it sound like it's a bad thing. He was practically dead by the time we got to him. Our best scientists had no choice but to replace a few things on the kid so he could survive." The man said with a shrug. "But we had an inspiration while we were doing so. He would make the perfect weapon for you, ghost boy. We had him watch every nook and cranny of your battles, to study how you fight and how you think. We gave him the necessary weapons and training to fight you, and now he's ready to take you out. You'll no longer be a threat to society anymore Phantom, our best weapon will see to it."
"You guys are crazy! You experimented on a human child JUST to take ME out!?" Danny snapped. "You're sick."
"Say what you will, ghost boy, but your time has come." The man smirked cruelly as he turned to the masked boy. "Destroy him."
The masked boy aimed his arm cannon at Danny in the crate, who quickly turned intangible and phased into the ground to avoid the ecto blast. The man only kept smirking cruelly as the masked boy's synthetic eye suddenly began beeping as it was telling him where the ghost boy is. Without hesitating, the masked boy turned around and swung his fire sword, grazing the invisible Danny Phantom's arm and he cried out in pain. "Ah!"
"Did I mention he can also sense invisible ghosts? There's no running from this ghost hunter." The man said, laughing cruelly.
The masked boy flew up at the weaken Danny and slammed his sword into him again. Danny barely managed to move out of the way and tried firing another ice ray at him, trying to freeze his arms and his sword. Unfortunately the ice shattered almost as fast and Danny quickly moved to get avoid getting slashed by that searing fire sword.
Ugh, this kid's got everything to counter my attacks! How am I supposed to stop him? He's not trying to capture me, he's trying to KILL me! Danny thought to himself. I better call Tucker and Sam, maybe they can do something… He reached into his pocket and speed dialed the two.
Unfortunately, while the phone was ringing Danny yelped when he was suddenly knocked back by another ecto blast and his phone fell out of his hand, he hissed in pain, not sure how much more his body could take from the abuse. The masked boy landed in front of him, stepping and crushing the cell phone before he held out his fire sword, ready to pierce through Danny's chest and his core. Something beeped in the masked boy's eye.
"Leave my cousin alone!" Without warning, a weaker but unexpected ghost ray hit the masked boy's side, allowing Danny to jump away from him and his potential fatal blow.
"Dani!" Danny smiled in relief when he saw Danielle had come back and saved him from this masked boy. "Am I glad to see you!"
"Hey, what are cousins for? Besides, you saved me multiple times so now it's my turn." The ghost girl clone said with a smile as she landed beside him.
The masked boy was watching them, surprisingly not attacking. It was as if he was surprised to see Dani there. But after a minute, his grip on his flaming sword tightens and his red synthetic eye narrowed, as if he was angry.
"Dani, be careful, this ghost hunter is no joke." Danny warned his cousin.
"Don't worry, we'll be able to take him out!" Dani said with confidence.
The masked boy attacked swiftly, he fired his arm cannon blast at Danny, distracting him while he moved in on Dani. He turned his arm cannon back into a hand before gripping the hilt of his fire sword with both hands and slamming it down at her. Dani yelped in surprise as she jumped, seeing the fiery crater he left with his sword.
"Whoa, Danny was right- you really don't kid around." Dani said with a frown.
However, she didn't get away from his attack as she initially thought she did. The ground she was standing on suddenly quaked, and before she could even think about flying away, blue flames popped out of the ground and surrounded her into a fiery vortex. The flames licked her body and she screamed in agony.
"DANI!" Danny cried as he immediately surrounded himself in a ball of ice before flying into the fiery vortex. His icy barrier wasn't holding very well in the fire, and that's when he realized something- this was no ordinary fire… He quickly tackled Dani out of the vortex before it could fully consume her.
"D-Danielle! Are you okay?" Danny asked in concern after his barrier melted. He was cradling her in concern as she was unconscious, her body wasn't looking too good from almost being burned alive.
Danny didn't have long to see if she was okay, because the masked boy was beside him and already charging his arm cannon. The ghost boy yelped as he flew away and avoided another potential painful hit from that attack. Danny gently push Dani's body into the bushes, hoping it would keep her safe and hidden since the masked boy was only after him.
"You'll be safe Dani…" Danny whispered before hastily crawling out and making some distance between him and the bushes.
The masked boy landed a few feet from Danny, knowing he had hidden the clone girl in the bushes. It was futile to try and hide her from him as he aimed his arm cannon at the bush Dani was in. Danny turned and noticed but quickly stood in front, acting as a meat shield. The masked boy's red eye widen a bit, as if surprised by this reaction.
"Don't you dare hurt her!" Danny snapped angrily, clenching his fist in fury. "She's a part of my family and I won't let you hurt her!"
"…" The robotic-like boy stopped and was staring at Danny, as if trying to determine something complicated.
"Just because you seem to hate her doesn't mean I'm going to let you hurt someone close to me!" Danny snapped.
The masked boy's mouth was thin like a line as Danny continued. "I don't know what those Guys in White did to you, but if you were really like this then it's no wonder you weren't wanted by anyone!"
The masked boy's teeth began gritting as something wet glistered down his hidden eye on the other side of the helmet.
Danny stopped his angry rant when he noticed the tear falling from his hidden eye. This shocked him… why was the masked boy crying?
"What are you waiting for? Destroy them!" The Guy in White shouted.
As if those words were cue, the masked boy aimed his fire sword at Danny and shot out a stream of blue flames at him. Danny hissed and yelled in pain as he stood there to take it, trying to protect Dani. The masked boy ran at him before stabbing the sword into Danny's shoulder, causing the ghost boy to cry out in pain.
The screams of pain soon turned deadly, however, as his voice started turning into deadly green ecto energy, with massive power that it's able to break bullet proof glass and topple buildings. The Guy in White was caught up in it and screamed as he was thrown back by such destructive power. The masked boy stood his ground, gritting his teeth in pain as his helmet began cracking.
By the time Danny stopped screaming, the helmet shattered and the boy fell to the ground in pain from such a powerful attack. Danny himself was hurt and tired after unleashing the Ghostly Wail, but he struggled to remain ghost as the pain in his shoulder would be far worse if he were to be human.
"Ugh…" Danny hissed as he shut his eyes, trying to concentrate on healing the wound on his shoulder. Then when he opened his eyes to defend Dani if he needed to again, that's when he noticed the boy was lying on the ground, with his helmet shattered. "What…?"
The boy then slowly began standing up again, revealing his face to the ghost boy, whose eyes widen in shock. "You… you have my face!" he pointed at the once masked boy.
Indeed, the boy's face and hair was exactly like Danny's human form. His eyes were off though, his right eye was red and synthetic, while the other that was hidden… was a natural green, organic eye. It was like looking in a distorted mirror to Danny and it horrified him.
"A-are you a clone!?" Danny demanded. Was it possible one of Vlad's clones escaped but was captured by the Guys in White? But it didn't make any sense because all of Vlad's clones were at least partial ghosts, this one wasn't a ghost at all, but rather a human with some cybernetic parts.
The look-alike boy didn't answer, remaining silent as he stared at Danny with an emotionless expression. It was as if he was waiting something from Danny.
"Who… who are you?" Danny asked again, taking one small step back.
The look-alike boy didn't seem to like that, his eyes narrowed before he fired another ecto-blast at Danny with his arm cannon and stabbed at his wound again. Danny cried out in pain, not having enough energy for another Ghostly Wail. Danny couldn't hold on to his ghost form anymore and the ring of light formed on his torso, forcing him to change back into his human form.
The look-alike boy froze when he looked at Danny in his human form. The blood from his gashes and from his shoulder was evident, and Danny was in a ton of pain. The look-alike suddenly gasped as if horrified as he pulled out his sword from the half ghost's shoulder. Danny groaned as he looked at him, only to see he had his cannon at his face.
Danny shut his eyes, awaiting his end in the hands of this look-alike… this unknown twin he never met. But nothing happened… when Danny opened his eyes again, he saw the look-alike boy was… crying? Tears were falling from his green organic eye as he tried to fire his cannon at Danny, but then he backed away from him, lowering his weapons.
Danny watched him, not sure what to do or why the look-alike looked like he was in pain himself. The look-alike was looking at him with tears in his left organic eye as his teeth gritted and he fell on his knees.
Nobody remembers me… I shouldn't exist. Why was I spared from being erased? It would've been a blessing than to keep existing as if I didn't. My links, my ties, all those close to me… they were erased. I never existed to them. None of them remembers me, not even those I was closest to. My friends, my family… I was nothing to them, not even a memory. Why was I spared? Now I have nothing to go back to.
I tried talking to my twin brother as someone else, but no matter what I did… he just looked at me as if I was a stranger and didn't want to talk. He's always so busy with his job as the superhero that he wouldn't even give me the time of day. And why should he? I look like a bum, I've lost everything, even myself.
One day I was taken in by the Guys in White. I was dying from lack of nourishment… I had wanted to die, what was the point of living since I had nothing left? I let them do what they wanted with me. They took care of me, they replaced by bad arm with a mechanical one, and replaced my blinded eye with a more improved synthetic eye. But I could not leave the base, for I was theirs and I had nothing to go back to.
They wanted to use the technology they had and fuse it with me, believing I would make the greatest weapon against the ghost boy Danny Phantom himself. They trained me, making me forget I was human, that emotions will only hinder me. I was to be their soldier and weapon, nothing more, and they will continue to take care of me. I never forgot those days we shared, Danny. Those days when were were twins and carefree. Even when you were a ghost and I was human, we still loved each other. I won't forgive myself anymore if I was gone and forgotten again. I wanted you, most of all, to remember me. But you still didn't recognize me. I convinced myself Danny Phantom was not you, that he was just some malicious ghost that lived inside you… it was less painful that way.
I'm supposed to be heartless, to be a hollow vessel of what I used to be. Only a nobody, a shadow meant to fade. And yet here I am, unable to strike down the one who had hurt me the most by forgetting me. Please remember who I used to be… who am I you keep asking? I'm nothing but a puppet in their game.
It is finished. I can't take this pain anymore. My heart had about all it can take… I can't live like a machine… I can't live knowing I'm forced to kill someone who's close to me even if he doesn't remember. It's time I ended this, the way it should've ended long ago…
Danny opened his eyes, not even realizing he had it closed. The person before him was still crying, but what did he just witness? He heard the person's voice in his head. Showing and telling him what had happened to him. "You… you're… my twin brother?"
Danny looked at the crying boy in front of him, he could see so much pain in those eyes, both synthetic and organic. There it was… Danny still couldn't remember who he was, but he could feel it… That bond he always had with his friends and family, but it felt deeper than that. He felt like they were close, even closer than the best of friends.
The half ghost boy weakly walked up to the crying boy, holding his wounded shoulder with one hand before stretching out his other to him, getting the twin's attention. "I… I may not… remember you. But… I can feel it… we're twins… and we were once close weren't we? I… I don't know what happened to you… but maybe it's not too late… to start over?"
The twin brother looked at him before looking down at his hand, he slowly began reaching out to take his brother's hand, but suddenly slapped it away. Without warning, the robot-like twin stood up and used his sword to shoot out streams of fire past Danny before shooting it with his arm cannon's ecto blast. The fire fused with the ecto blast and bounced off of a mirror and coming right back at the one who shot it.
Danny's eyes widened as he didn't realize what the other was doing until it was too late. The fiery blast consumed the twin, but he didn't scream or cry in agony- he just let his body be hit.
"NO!" Danny yelled, his eyes wide in horror and rushing to the other boy's side.
"W-what… happened?" A groggy voice asked weakly, but Danny didn't seem to notice or care, too focused on the boy in front of him.
Danielle came out from the bushes, looking dazed, before she saw Danny- in his human form- cradling someone and crying. "Danny?"
"This should've been my fate long ago… Nobody should miss me… I shouldn't exist. Thank you, Danny… It was good… to see you one last time… Maybe we would meet again someday… I'm sorry… Please forgive me. Goodbye… Danny…" It was the first time Danny heard the boy speaking this entire time, and even his voice sounded familiar and close.
With those words said, the unknown twin gave his final breath and his body went limp in Danny's arms. Danny hugged the boy's corpse tightly, crying that he lost an important family member and not even remember his name.
"D-Danny? What's wrong?" Danielle asked in concern. "Who's this boy?"
"He's… he was… a long lost twin of mine. He was hurt… and he left before I could remember his name." Danny said sadly.
Dani looked at the lifeless look-alike boy in Danny's arms, she felt sad herself. It hurt to see Danny so broken like this. She put her arm around his shoulder and said, "Whatever happened to him… I'm sure he did it because he thought it was right."
"But it's not fair… I wanted to get to know him again…" Danny said sadly, tears falling from his face.
"I know… but it's too late now… But wherever he is… at least he's not suffering anymore." Dani said gently.
Danny bit his lip as he kept his lifeless twin brother cradled. "D-Dani… please go get Tucker and Sam… I… I want to stay here alone for a while."
"Sure thing, Danny." Dani said softly before she flew off.
Danny gently strokes his twin brother's hair from his face and said, "I wish I could remember you… I know you were someone important to me… please forgive me for not remembering you. May you rest in peace… Andy."
This is actually a tribute for Mother 3. So it will seem familiar for those of you who knows what happens in the end of that game. I just figured the situation would be similar if not almost the same if Andy- from My Brother's a Ghost and We Are Phantoms- never actually disappeared after the end of the movie from My Brother's a Ghost but everyone forgot who he was. Which would've been kinder? To cease to exist or to have been spared from disappearing yet having nobody, not even your friends or family, remember who you are? This was an idea I was thinking about when Blue was talking about a possible AU for if Andy survived from disappearing but nobody remembers him. I know it could've been longer with showing Andy's inner turmoil and how and why he ended up this way, but it was a one-shot, not a series. If you're interested in picking it up as a series to expand upon it, you're free to do so. I hope you guys enjoyed this sad little one-shot, I am DarkFoxKit and I look forward to hearing from you!