Just so you know, I own nothing. Butch Hartman does, and so does whoever the person was who created X-Men: Evolution and the sources I'll draw from. I own the plot and nothing more (except OCs), and I guess my coauthor does as well? I got the concept, made the story until a certain point, and then she joined me, so I'm not sure how this works. Still, we can all pretend she was with me from the very beginning, since she is helping me edit my chapters, and call everything else legalities.
Prologue: Phantom Erasure
A lonely figure flew through the green depths of the Ghost Zone. The creature, neither human nor ghost, but something in between, was but a boy of 16, with white hair and form-fitting black clothes that were torn in places and smeared in both blood and ectoplasm, held in place through memory. He had eyes filled with grief and pain, and nothing but a stubborn will to see everything end once and for all kept him going forwards when his body was begging for a well-deserved rest.
Once upon a time, the boy had been a leader, a hero, a friend and a son. He no longer felt like any of those. He had failed his town, his friends and his sister. And his parents? They were the ones who failed him.
Memories of alternative realities where Jack and Maddie Fenton had accepted their son, forgotten times when their love surpassed the obsession they had with their subject of study... those realities had long since crumbled like sandcastles built too close to the ocean. Now the happier times were gone, the memories of the past a wound that had yet to scar despite it being half a year since the day it all went to hell.
The swirling green void of nothingness was eerily quiet, not even a wisp of a ghost daring to come close to the teen whose core seemed to emanate a black aura. Unstable, dangerous. But the phantom didn't mind the loneliness, he didn't even notice it as he moved towards a medieval island that was a small fly away from Dora's.
This ghost island was very small, probably one of the smallest Danny Phantom had ever been in, and on top of it there were no more than a humble hut with a couple of grey trees. But despite the underwhelming appearance of it, that was the haunt of one of the most powerful ghosts he knew, a ghost whose fame was as great in death as it once had been on life.
Danny landed on the small piece of land, knees crumbling as soon as white boots touched the ground. He was so tired, but he stood up, right hand clutching a small red gem, his ticket to a new start.
A man in dark blue robes appeared in front of Danny, arm stretched and hand open. Danny put the gem on the waiting palm, wrinkled, green fingers curling around it. "I did my part, now it's your turn," Danny declared, both wary and desperate, getting the irrational feeling that he would be double-crossed by the ghost… Phantom needn't worry. With a nod and a look of pity, the ghost started chanting Latin phrases the halfa could barely understand. "Amove phantasma esse argumentum, nunquam invenitur." roughly translated, "Remove all evidence and memory of Phantom", The one once known as Phantom smiled faintly as a wave of purple light formed in the human realm. The teen could not see it, but he could feel the power rolling and singing promises of freedom as the wizard ghost kept on chanting the words that would make sure everything about the boy, every true evidence and memories of him, was erased.
When the spell was finally over, the old ghost sagged tiredly. "It's done." Tears formed in Danny's eyes as he smiled to Merlin, Merlin smiled back. After a few moments basking in the victory Danny turned to leave the reclusive ghost. Danny would get to Dora's island and ask for a bed to crash for a day or two before going back.
"Child," Merlin called to him, Danny looked back, feet frozen in mid-step, "what do you plan to do now?".
Nobody would know about Phantom any longer, but Danny Fenton was still an orphaned minor without a guardian. In the end, Danny just gave him a wry smile "I plan to live".
Rewritten by my coauthor a little-to-a-lot, and based on the first version of this prologue. Remember that a review earns you a virtual cookie (and who doesn't want a virtual cookie?)!
-MiaulinK