Per the Usual
Summary: Usual has never defined Danny's life, but, against this, ghost hunting parents are per the usual. Danny's become half ghost, virtually hijacked to a school for the supernatural, made friends with an cocky boy with tech-ESP and a Goth girl who could wrap you in thorns if she had it her way, and has made myriad foes in his first week. Tea, anyone?
I can't say that I've lived a normal life. Even if my dad wasn't a dun (sorry Dad) and my sister wasn't a control freak (considerably less sorry Jaz), there would still be a bright, blinking sign of "WEIRDNESS!" in neon colors over my head, because, when it came down to it, parents who were more ghost hunters than parents were bound to lead to a life full of oddities. For instance, once, when I was around 5 or 6, Dad's "homemade microwave" turned into a "ghost vessel machine". Let's just say the food we were going to have that night gave it their best to make sure it was the other way around. Or when I was 8 and I wanted some ice cream. I went into the freezer to have my frozen deliciousness, opened up the ice cream container, and found a ghost begging to be my friend inside. I wouldn't eat ice cream for weeks.
But, compared to today, it was the poster boy life.
It wasn't like it began all that differently from all the other days in my life; I walked downstairs to find Jaz holding out an apple for me, explaining that Mom and Dad were down in their lab working on a new experiment (cue Jaz's eye roll). I took the apple and went to school, to be shoved in my locker one or twice and made to eat alone behind the bleachers. All in all, it was the average day of Danny Fenton.
Then I went home, feeling great as ever (at least I'd gotten an A- on that math test), I went down to the lab, knowing full well that Mom and Dad would need my help.
I walked down to come face to face with the biggest invention I'd ever seen them create, and, being the one who'd seen the disaster of the Fenton Ghost Satellite, that was saying something. I took off my backpack distractedly, looking at all the things that Mom and Dad (mainly Mom, I hoped, if this was going to work) were doing the machine.
"Woah…" I tailed off as I looked at it.
" 'Woah'?" Jaz complained, " 'woah' would mean you like it. This does not deserve a 'woah'. This deserves a 'take this down immediately!'"
"Please," I joked, "The government would need to say that of we wanted Mom and Dad to do such a thing."
Jaz huffed, gathered her bags, and walked up the stairs.
"If you need me, I'll be in my room doing normal things."
I rolled my eyes as she slammed the door at the top of the stairs.
I walked over to whatever Dad, who was holding two plugs, likely to activate… wait. What was this?
"Hey, Dad?" I asked, hoping to be getting a legitimate answer out of him and save a breath before going to Mom, "What is this?"
Dad, whose features lit up as bright as his orange jump suit, patted my back and led me over to some blue prints.
"It's a ghost portal. It'll connect our world to the Ghost Zone and we hunt ghosts!" Declared Dad.
"No, honey," Mom cut in, "its where we're going to put the ghosts. We can't hunt ghosts in the place where ghosts come from."
Dad had the look on his face that meant Mom's words went right into one ear and out the other.
"Yes, yes. We can figure out all the technical stuff later. Let's get this baby moving'!" Dad exclaimed, and jumped right back over to the plugs.
"Are you ready? One, two, three!" Dad plugged the two chords together and sparks ignited…
…
…
…and then nothing. It died down and it looked like nothing had happened.
Dad dejectedly dropped the plugs to the floor and Mom patted his back.
"It's okay, Jack, maybe another time."
They both left the lab without another word.
I looked into the portal. Well, if there was nothing going on in it, then it was fine to have a look around. It wasn't like Mom or Dad would mind. It was perfectly safe. I jumped as some other sparks went off. Okay, so maybe it wasn't entirely safe. I could always put on a suit. I walked over to the jump suits. To my dismay, they were all either orange, Mom's, or too big for me. Finally, I found a black and white jump suit that would fit me. I put it on and looked down, to find that there was Dad's face in the front.
"Let's not wear Dad's face," I said to myself as I peeled off the sticker.
Then I looked inside the Ghost Portal. It didn't look very deep. I stepped in a few steps and was suddenly amerced into darkness. I fumbled around and found out the hard way that Mom and Dad had made this portal deeper than I'd expected. I felt around on the wall for both support and in hope to find a light switch or something (reflex, I guess). Then I felt my hand press down further than all the other time and electricity go off. I knew I'd pressed a button.
Before, I could get out, I was blinded by light, and, suddenly, I felt as if every molecule in my body as being rearranged. It sounded like the lyrics to a bad rap, but it was the first class example of pain. I screamed and screamed, like a banshee on karaoke night, until blissful darkness set in.
Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, outside the portal (in the lab), feeling as if I weighed nothing. And not in the good way either. I didn't know why, until it came back to me in flashes. Whether it was my jumbled memory or if it had really happened in flashes, I couldn't tell, but I knew there was no way possible that I was actually alright. I hurried over to the next mirror and looked in. What I saw both surprised me and horrified me.
There wasn't a scratch on me. But that didn't mean nothing happened. I, for one, knew I definitely hadn't been born with white hair. Or, for that matter green eyes. And I knew I'd never been able to float before.
I also knew I had no idea what happened.
.:.:.
Somehow, in a miracle itself (as in, I had no idea how I did it), I was back on the ground with black hair and blue eyes, out of a jumpsuit, and in the kitchen, looking at my family as if I'd never seen them in my life.
"Honey, are you okay?" My mother asked.
"Yeah, you look like you've see a ghost! You haven't seen a ghost, right?" Dad added, reaching into his back pocket, presumably for an ecto-gun.
I was in the midst of shaking my head in reply, when something hit me. Had I seen a ghost? At Time A, I was normal Danny Fenton and Time B I was some weird kind of Danny Fenton. Cause: Ghost portal. New thesis: I'd seen a ghost.
And I was so dead.
I perked up, holding my back up straighter.
"I'm fine. No ghosts! No ghosts at all! … Gosh, its late, I really should be getting to bed. I'll skip dinner. Daylight savings really takes a toll on ya. Love you!" When I reached the end of that incessant ramble, I bolted up the stairs to my room, perfectly content to do exactly what I'd said I was going to do.
My stomach rumbled at the thought, but there was no way I was going back down to my ghost hunting family.
Not when I was 99.999% sure I was a ghost.
.:.:.
I slept fitfully, waking up time and time again from dreams of Mom and Dad locking me up in some contraptions that they'd made and some that my imagination fixed up for me.
At one point, I had a dream that men in white were coming through my window, into my bedroom, taking me away to some place they called the "Academy for the Supernatural".
It took me a while to figure out it wasn't a dream. And when I did, it wasn't pretty.
A/N: I've written Sisters Grimm, Austin and Ally, Jelsa (Jack Frost x Elsa), and HTTYD fanfics, but this, by far, takes the cake for "the weirdest category I've ever written for".
But, I've still got life to live.
So, you could guess that I've never done a Danny Phantom fanfic before… so, not the greatest first impression, but, a first to everything, I guess. I'm eager to see what this community it like. Ever since I hit the Big Four (six), I've never really had to go out of my comfort zone.
Eh, review so I know I'm not the only one thinking this could be a good idea?
~ Sam (I know, I know… get it out now… my name is Sam… or Samantha...)