Radioactive
The first things Danny registered when he finally came to his senses were the harsh fluorescent lights overhead, the slow but steady beeps of the heart monitor, and the distinctive smell of disinfectant. The world was rushing back to him as his consciousness slowly pieced itself back together. He felt as if he was trapped under a malleable but unbreakable plastic wrapper, slowing suffocating him little by little.
He closed his eyes again, unable to keep them open any longer. At least he knew that he could break the mental barrier that has kept him unconscious for who knows how long. When he first noticed the blackouts, he had insisted to his friends that he was fine. He had always managed to come back to the surface; back to the real world. Danny supposed that this time, though, nothing his friends could do could wake him up, and they had to send him to a hospital. This fact alone terrified him.
Danny felt numb. He could taste some vile stuff on his tongue, and the vague noise not far off was giving him a migraine. Shaking his head a little, he focused on the source and realized that it was his parents and someone unknown.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Fenton. I'm sure you can understand. We wouldn't want to startle–"
"Move away! He is my son. I have a right to see him. Let me in!" Maddie demanded, pushing past the nurse. Jack was much more reluctant, but he followed Maddie in and shot an apologizing look to the exasperated nurse.
Danny mustered up all his strength as he opened his eyes again and looked at his mother.
Secretly, he was glad that his mother was so worked up about this. He wondered if his mom would ever notice that something was wrong with him if he weren't admitted to the hospital somehow. Would she be this worried? Or would she dismiss his situation as mere exhaustion, overlooking it because she only sees what she chooses to see? He wanted to push away the dark thought, but as always, it continued to plague him.
Maddie Fenton had gotten thinner; her red hair duller and speckled with more gray than ever. Her worried eyes landed on her baby boy. Cautiously, she walked to him and enveloped him in a hug.
Danny didn't know what it meant that he could notice such physical changes in his mother. Had so much time passed that he could identify how much she had deteriorated since the last time he had seen her? Her hug was full of worry and warmth, but she no longer smelled like chocolate cookies and home. Instead she reeked of disinfectant, just like everything else in this hospital.
Just then Tucker and Sam ran in, although Jazz was nowhere to be seen. She was probably busy or held up by something at the moment. Sam held Danny's gaze as she gave him an almost unnoticeable shake of her head. Good. His parents had not discover his secret yet.
At least then his parents cannot accuse Phantom for anything that was happening to his human body. His main concerned settled, Danny looked over the both of his friends again.
His friends were looking worse for the wear. Sam looked so much plainer. Her make up was done half-heartedly, and her hair looked disheveled. Tucker wasn't on his tablet as usual, and his stubble indicated that he hadn't shaved for a couple of days. They boy was currently fidgeting with his beret, watching uncomfortably as Maddie embraced Danny and played with his hair.
Danny cleared his throat. He accepted the glass of water Jack handed him when he blatantly realized that he was connected to an IV. Something was very, very wrong, but he didn't want to find out the truth. He considered making a joke, but decided that it was not the time.
"Hey everyone. Uh, how long was I out?" he rasped, unsure what to ask about first, and slightly unsettled by the whole ordeal. He should have been more reactive about everything, but he felt nothing but an overwhelming numbness. The nurses gave him something-morphine, probably.
"Oh, Danny," Maddie muttered as her breath hitched. Jack moved in to embrace her in a hug. "Sweetie, you've been out for three weeks. We thought…- Well, I'm glad you're awake now."
Three weeks? Danny had trouble comprehending this. How is the town not overrun by ghosts by now?
As if catching onto Danny's confusion, Sam added, "Valerie has been helping with school stuff," emphasizing 'school' to help Danny understand.
"That's good. One less thing to worry about for now."
"Young man, you are definitely not going back to school in the near future."
"Why? I am going to have so much school work to catch up on! Oh man, Lancer is definitely going to kill me now," Danny stated, running a hand through his hair. Of course, school is the least of his worries. Instead, he thought of the ghosts that must have been running around freely and he would have to set up everything and-
He stopped his train of thought when he saw everyone's grave faces. He was going to ask about it, but he noticed the image residing on his bedside. It was the result of a PET scan. Danny Fenton's PET scan, his name scribbled carelessly with a silver sharpie against the black film.
While he was not the best at biology, he understood what it was. Nuclear imaging: a technology that traces the cancerous masses by issuing the patient a small dose of radioactive sugars. It was one of the things that the trio found out about when they were still thinking of a way to test out his powers and new ghostly physique. Well, that explained the funny taste in his mouth, along with just about everything else happening then.
"Mom, I'm fine. I don't-"
By then, Maddie was already broken down to tears. Jack tried to console her, but he resolved to take her out of the room in the end. Danny felt his heart wrench as he gazed at his parents' retreating figures. He thought back to how uncharacteristically quiet his father was; how broken his mother was; how numb he felt from whatever chemicals that were circulating his system-enough to drown his emotions and prevent him from panicking altogether.
"Danny," Tucker said. "I-I'm sorry, man. We should have seen it sooner. We should have gotten you checked up before any of this happened."
Danny shook his head. "It's... It's okay. It's not like we could have done anything about it."
Tucker nodded but shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, look, my mother wants me to be back as soon as possible. I…- She wasn't even going to let me come today, so…," he trailed off weakly.
He couldn't bare to see Danny like that. Danny was suppose to be the strongest person he knew! The past three weeks of sitting, waiting, and walking senselessly like a puppet with its strings cut-the whole fiasco had done a considerable toll on Tucker.
"Don't worry about me, Tuck. Don't let Mrs. Foley wait up," Danny said, trying to go for a weak smile. His best friend gave him a quick, "take care," and left.
"And you, Sam? You should probably go home too. Your parents might be worried."
"They don't care about me. They won't notice anything," Sam assured, her words lacking their usually strong conviction. Danny was secretly happy that she stayed. He wanted someone to keep him company. Maybe illness wouldn't be that bad after all; not if it meant having Sam Manson by his side all the time to talk to.
"Well, suit yourself," he said lightly as Sam sat near the foot of his bed.
After a moment of silence, Danny cut in. "So, cancer, huh?" he asked, glancing at the scan. "Did they specify what kind?"
"No. They couldn't even find out where it's originated from," Sam muttered, her spirits gone. She smoothed out her skirt and the wrinkles on the bedsheet she sat on.
"Well. Any theories?" Danny inquired, knowing that his two best friends must have come up with something. They always did.
"Tucker and I thought it's from your transformations. I mean, it must take some energy to transfer between the forms, right? He said something about electrons and molecules. I don't know. I'm not that interested in science," Sam said, shuddering slightly. She hated to think how this hero business ended this way.
Danny thought over it. He was interested in science, though, and he could see how Tucker came to that conclusion. Radioactivity exists everywhere, but his transformations must be on a whole other level. Everytime he transformed there must have been a chemical change. For him to go through such a through and drastic change on a molecular level, the amount of radioactivity emitted must have been disastrously large. All these radioactive transformations may as well have given him the cancer. (It was always possible. They never fully understood the consequences of his DNA being contaminated in the first place. His accident and its gifted powers were a scientific mystery, and its consequences on his health were always a lingering question in the back of their minds.)
There's always a catch to cool hero super powers. Danny just thought that his suffering would be limited in his grades, but of course, that wasn't enough.
"So, I can't go ghost anymore or I'll die? Is that what it is?," he mused, playing it off lightly. He had been the hero of Amity Park for so long, but he supposed he could try and be a human again.
"Going ghost would definitely accelerate your progression," Sam said, biting her lip, "but the malignant cells are spreading. They couldn't do anything about it," she finished bluntly, not finding any reason to cover it up. It pained her seeing Danny like that. She wanted to cry about how life wasn't fair, how Danny would be the last person to deserve this, but she held it in. If Danny's not breaking down, why should she?
"Huh," and that was all Danny said.
Sam started getting angry. Danny looked like as if he didn't care. How could he not? There are so many people who loved him and cared about him; his ambivalence was seriously upsetting her. Shouldn't he at least want to get better? Shouldn't he at least care?
"'Huh'? Is that all? Damnit, Danny, your family and Tucker and I have tried everything in the past three weeks to get you to wake up and get better or something, and all you say is 'huh'? Do you know how hurt I would be-how hurt everyone would be-if we lost you? Do you even care?," she shouted, standing up. Her anger was aimed partly at Danny and partly at the world. Why were the fates so cruel? No one deserved this, but out of all people, why Danny?
Something in Danny snapped. Perhaps the chemicals were wearing off slowly-his emotions came in waves and rolls. He was aggravated by Sam's little rant.
"What do you want me to say? What do you want me to talk about when I'm lit up here with the neon greens and reds from that stupid PET Scan like a freaking Christmas tree? Do you want me to reassure you that I will be 'okay'? That I will walk out of this fine like I did from every other ghost fight?," he snapped back harshly, trying to control his rapid breathing.
No matter how confident he is usually, Danny had no control in this situation. According to the scan, he was made of cancer. He was cancer. There was nothing else to do but await Death. And he knew it. Denial may come later, but he knew it, and he knew that his family and friends knew it, too.
Surprised by Danny's outburst, Sam stared at him wide-eyed, her lip trembling. Everything was too confusing. Here she was, talking with Danny for the first time in two months, and they couldn't even manage a civilized conversation. She wanted to scream at the world, but that wouldn't help Danny. Nothing could help him anymore.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, sitting down again. She was not sure what she was apologizing for, exactly. The fact that she got irritated at her best friend? The fact that Danny had cancer and how the world was just never in favor of the innocent? The fact that she could not do anything to reverse the situation?
Even though Sam prides herself to be a headstrong girl, tears still managed to find their way down her cheek. Leaning close to Danny's ears, Sam embraced him much like Maddie did earlier, and whispered, "It's just too much. I don't want to lose you."
Upon hearing this, all the anger bled out of Danny. He felt numb again, and heaviness suddenly took him and forced his eyes to close. "I know, Sam, I know…," he said lightly. Unconsciousness rolled over him like a thick blanket, and the last thing he registered was Sam's sudden shouting, the noises from the doors, and the calling of the darkness.
Then, nothing else matters anymore.
A/N: I hope that you all liked the one-shot! I will not disclose what exactly happens to Danny in the end-it is up to you readers to decide. Special thanks to notdannyphantom and chloe-angel on tumblr for proofreading this for me!
Please review and critique-I would like to improve upon my writing skills and your opinion helps a lot. I intended for Danny to feel numb throughout the fic, but I may or may not have overdone it. Thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Just shoot me a message and I'll get right on to that. Thank you for reading!