Hello all! This is a short prequel story for my fic Aftermath. Thank you for reading!

Disclaimer: I'm not Butch?

-Ash

After being hailed a hero, did I expect my life to back to normal? No, not at all. I mean, I'd seen before what the world did when they knew who I was (of course, at that time I hadn't saved the world yet). Yes, I did expect Amity Park to go wild after finding out the "Ghost Hunting Fenton's Son" was the ghost kid. And I did expect my parents to want an explanation… but I just didn't even know where to start.

It was a painful flight home in the Fenton Jet as the entire family sat in silence. My father flew the vehicle as my mom sat quietly beside him. That is until she crooked her head to glance back at me with a smile on her lips, "I'm proud of you," was all she said.

My eyes widened and I couldn't help the grin that snuck its way to my lips. I bobbed my head a little to acknowledge her statement. The smile never left her as she turned her head away from me. Jazz placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, and I didn't even need to see her face to know she was also pleased with me. I'm positive my father was beaming as well. It was the little bit of reassurance I needed until we got home and I could tell them everything.

It made the rest of the ride home less awkward, even if we remained quiet.

My mother swayed in the kitchen as I curled up onto the couch. I knew when dinner was done the talk would begin. I still hadn't even planned out what I was going to say. I had never gotten this far when they found out. In every other scenario they found out, I saved the day, and then their memory was wiped. So being in this situation now was completely foreign. Part of me wanted to go beg Clockwork to take it back, but I know Jazz still would have told them. I'm not upset with her about it at all, I mean, she kept my secret so long and she thought I was dead. Why would that be a bad thing?

My sister took a seat on the couch and lightly elbowed me, "They really need to know the whole truth."

I nodded in agreement, "I plan on telling them. I'm just not sure where to start."

She shrugged, "Why not just start from the beginning? Start with the accident."

"Will they blame themselves?" I asked guiltily.

Jazz merely smiled and shook her head, "Danny, even if they did, there's no reason for them to be upset. Look at all the good that has come from your powers! I'm sure they wouldn't have it any other way. Danny what's important to them is that you're happy. Aren't you happy?"

"To be honest… I've never been better. Being Phantom has given me all the confidence in the world. I've never been this happy before. Even if school has been a struggle and the double life has been difficult… I enjoy the look of joy on people's faces when they see me. I never had that when people saw me as just… me." I allowed the truth to spew out of my lips.

She rubbed my back in reassurance, "That's exactly what you tell them then."

I bobbed my head slightly before gazing up at her, "Thank you."

My body went stiff as I heard my mother call for us to come to the table. It was now or never…

I stared blankly at the plate in front of me, contemplating every word I was going to spew from my mouth. I must've been thinking too hard because, according to Jazz, my face was turning a pale pink.

"Danny."

My mother's voice made me pop my eyes up to attention, "Hm?" I hummed out of habit.

"If you aren't ready to tell us everything, you don't have to." She explained to me gently.

I shook my head, "It's not that. Getting the words together… that's the problem."

Dad grinned at me, "We'll gladly listen to anything you have to say, Danny-boy!"

"Well… I guess this all started with the portal." I began carefully. When my parents nodded in understanding I took that as the opportunity. "When you both looked so disappointed because the portal didn't work, I wanted to see if there was maybe something I could do to fix it? Sam, Tucker, and I went down into the lab and Sam convinced me to go in the portal to investigate… did you guys know that there's an 'on' switch inside the portal?" I smiled reluctantly.

My mother's hands flew to her mouth, "It electrocuted you?"

I nodded, "Yeah… we don't exactly know how or what infected me. Tucker thinks that ectoplasm infused into my DNA. We're not sure if I'm actually half dead or not. At the same time, we do know that my ghost form may have more ability, like rapid healing and stuff, but I still have organs. Ectoplasm runs through me like blood does. It's all really weird and hard to comprehend. So I just don't really think about the how."

My parents soaked in every word. My father seemed puzzled, "That's so… incredible. I never would have thought was even possible."

Mom agreed, "Yes. So when did you decide to start fighting ghost? Did you have your powers long before you started showing up around town?"

I gave that question some thought, "I wanted to be normal again for the first few weeks, but then the Lunch Lady showed up at school. I realized that if I could learn to control my powers then I could help everyone. I thought that maybe this could be my purpose. I was debating within those weeks to tell you guys, Tucker and Sam even encouraged me to."

My father then asked the dreaded question, "Why didn't you?"

I opened my mouth to speak before snapping it shut. I gaped like a fish for a moment as I thought of my response. How do you tell your parents you were sorta… terrified of them? I gulped, "To be honest I was scared. I didn't know if you guys would accept me. You hate ghost. You hunt them. Dad wanted to capture the 'ghost boy' and 'rip him molecule by molecule'. I just… didn't know how you would react."

"Oh hon, I don't blame you. We never gave you a reason to believe that we'd understand. We love you for who you are. No matter what you'll always be my baby boy." My mother cooed.

"I know. I'm sorry I lied for so long. I just wanted to keep you safe from my problems. I just wanted everything to be normal to the fullest extent that it could be."

Dad chuckled, "This is our new normal! We love you and we'll do everything we can to support you."

My grin almost split my face, "Thank you. That means everything to me."

My dad then turned his attention to my sister, "So Jazzy-pants, how long have you been keeping this a secret?"

Jazz suddenly seemed flustered, "Ah ha, isn't this about Danny?"

I sat on the balcony of the Ops Center watching the stars twinkle in the night. The light evening breeze was comforting to my nerves. I knew things would be different, but I wasn't sure how different. I heard footsteps approach from behind and I didn't even need to turn as the figure sat down beside me.

"It was time to tell them." My sister murmured thoughtfully.

I bobbed my head in agreement, "You're right." I paused and gazed at her, "You're always right."

Jazz rolled her eyes, "Not always." She glanced over at me, "Only most of the time."

I snorted and bumped her jokingly, "Yeah, yeah."

"So now that you're a world-wide hero are you going to be any different? I mean, is your ego going to inflate more and that hero complex become completely obnoxious, or…?"She asked with a chuckle.

I gave a scoff before responding, "Oh I see how it is. I guess we'll just see how things turn out in the aftermath of everything."

Jazz smiled before gazing out into the image before us: the beautifully lit town of Amity Park and the glowing night sky. I could see her eyes watering as she meeked out a curt nod, "You did good baby brother. You did good."