Hello Phanfic readers! I'm PhantomWriterDenver and this is my first story! I hope you enjoy - please leave me reviews so I can improve my writing. I'll try to upload a new chapter every week or so, but no promises because college is rough :P Also, I do not own Danny Phantom. Here's the first chapter!
*Directly following the events of Reality Trip*
"Danny!" Jack called as Danny landed before the Fenton, Manson, and Foley families after just having defeated Freak Show and preserving the world to the way it's supposed to be.
"Young man," his mother said sternly, both of his parents looking at him with dismayed expressions.
Danny began to apologize for lying to his parents for all this time, since the accident in their lab. "I- I'm sorry..." He knew his parents would be furious with him for hiding his secret, but how could he not? They always talked about catching his alter ego and ripping him apart molecule by molecule. Anyone would be terrified in his shoes. He would've been strewn up in his parents lab as they ran test after test on him if they knew who he really was.
His parents, along with Sam's and Tucker's steadily marched towards Danny Phantom like a SWAT team about to detain their target.
"Sorry doesn't explain...this," Maddie Fenton exclaimed, motioning to his ghostly appearance. Danny was starting to panic. He had run the scenario of telling his parents about his powers through his head countless times, but hoped that the revelation would've gone smoother than it currently was.
"I- I'm-" Danny just stared at the ground, eyes racing between various spots in the grass searching for the words to say.
Sam and Tucker ran around the hoard of angry parents to stand between them and their best friend. "We can explain!" They both pleaded with their parents.
"Your secret put us in grave danger, Fenton!" Sam's mother spat.
I didn't mean for this to happen, it's not my fault...Danny started to panic, not knowing what to say or do, just frozen.
Sam was quick to defend Danny from her mother, "This isn't his fault!"
"Danny just saved us!" Tucker added.
"What do I do? What do I do?" Danny whispered frantically under his breath, not asking anyone in particular.
Danny fell to his knees, reverting back to the black-haired, blue-eyed Fenton behind the protection of his best friends. He couldn't really hear what was being said, only a buzz heated voices rising in volume as they continued on.
"And this isn't the first time we've had an incident with ghosts," Tucker's father chimed in.
"That's right!" The Foley's and Manson's began bickering back and forth, listing off all the run ins they've had with ghosts. Mr. Manson suddenly pointed a stiff finger at Jack, and hollered, "It's all Fenton's fault!"
"How is this my fault? That's not my son!"
Danny felt as if he'd been stabbed in the heart by an ice spear. Not your son? He was still of the same flesh and blood, just a little rearranged. The ice cold pain in his heart suddenly turned to a fiery rage as Danny recalled the agony he experienced when he first got his powers. He was electrocuted in his parents lab because of a faulty ghost portal that they created! It was his fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't his fault his meddling parents were so obsessed with ghosts in the first place! If they had never even made that stupid portal, none of this wouldn't have happened - no ghost powers, no ghost fighting, no secret identity.
A low growl escaped Danny's clenched jaw as his raven black hair covered his eyes. He shot to his feet abruptly, hunched over with broad shoulders. Sam and Tucker jumped back, taken by surprise at his unexpected movement.
"It IS your fault! You and your stupid portal! That's the reason I'm like this!" The others stood at a standstill, not sure of how to react to the teen's outburst. Sam and Tucker looked at their friend worriedly from where they stood.
" I would've been better off if I had parents that weren't so fucking obsessed with ghosts!"
"Daniel Fenton! You will not spea-"
"I'm not your son? You were the one that made me what I am!" White rings appeared at Danny's waist and travelled along his body to reveal a black and white jumpsuit, followed by snow white hair and glowing green eyes. "I never asked for this. Sometimes I wished I never got these powers in the first place..." His voice steadied, and he visibly calmed as he lifted his right hand which was gloved with the Reality Gauntlet, eyeing the four gems that could change everything.
"Danny wait!" Sam and Tucker realized too late what Danny was planning to do.
"And now I have the power to change that."
"Danny, don't do it!"
Danny began typing out a sequence on the gems, when Sam and Tucker froze mid-run.
"Time out."
Time had stopped, but not by Danny's hand. A blue ghost cloaked in purple appeared floating above where Danny stood, time staff in hand.
Danny only took a moment to recover his composure, "Don't stop me Clockwork, I don't want these powers anymore. They put my friends and family in danger constantly and I can't protect them anymore. I thought I was getting stronger, but so were the other ghosts." Danny paused before determining what he wanted to do with the reality-changing power brimming in his hand. "I want to go back to before the accident."
Clockwork spoke for the first time since halting time," You cannot -"
"Why not?!" Danny cried desperately, already knowing what the ancient ghost was going to say.
"By going back that far, you run the risk of creating an alternate timeline."
"We both know multiple timelines exist simultaneously as we speak."
"You may never have met Sam and Tucker."
"It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Daniel..." Clockwork said, disappointment lingering on the name.
Danny dropped the gauntlet to his side, and looked at his two best friends on either side of him. Tucker's beret was suspended in the air behind his body, probably knocked off when he jumped towards Danny to try to stop him. Sam was closer to where Danny stood, no doubt faster to react than Tuck. Something glimmered in her eye, and when Danny took a step closer, he saw a tear frozen at the corner of her eye just shy of cascading down her cheek.
He couldn't lose them, it was a chance he wasn't willing to take. They meant too much to him, but he was sick and tired of putting them in danger because of his ghost powers.
"I can't do this anymore. They don't deserve this," Danny said, looking up at Clockwork who had transitioned from an old man with a white beard to just a young kid.
"There is another option," Clockwork hinted, nodding towards the Reality Gauntlet that laid limply at Danny's side.
Danny looked beside him, but only took a moment to convince himself of what he needed to do. He activated the gems and paused briefly. "I'm sorry," he said to his friends as he raised the gauntlet in front of him and dispelled it's reality-changing power.
