A/N: Thank you for the reviews!
Anyways, Dan has something rather sinister planned, and some stuff will be revealed in this chapter. Please, enjoy. x3
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, nor do I own most of the cameo characters.
Chapter I: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
School was, to students and to some teachers as well, a prison disguised with books, paper, and the pretenses of learning. Even the principal seemed to be moving in a sluggish manner during this particular day, and who could really blame her? It had only been four days since summer vacation ended, and it seemed everyone was still stuck in a post-vacation haze. The bright, Thursday morning was eerily devoid of youth chatter, or even excited reunions between friends. That had, after all, taken place during the first two days.
It wasn't long until the bell rung, signaling yet another monotonous day of learning in which everyone would still be thinking of his or her summer days. Students shuffled into their respective classes, intent on getting through the day without earning themselves a detention.
Unless they knew that they were already going to be in trouble, that is.
Danny Fenton was your everyday, average teenager whom you probably won't even look at twice. Like others, young Mr. Fenton was running late for his first period, History, and knew that he would probably be receiving a detention for his offense.
It had been his second tardy during the first week of school alone.
Though, unlike most teenagers, Danny had a more valid reason for which he was held up, not that it did him any good considering the fact that it would not only get him shipped to the nearest mental asylum, it would probably earn him a lifetime worth of scorn and fear from all, should he choose to reveal his alternate, ghostly form to prove his point.
He had to admit that he was pretty good at the ghost-hunting gig, despite the fact that he barely had his powers for little more than three weeks.
Danny ignored the few, also late students in the hallway, as well as the hall monitor (who shouted at him to stop running, or to at least slow down) knowing full well that strict old Mrs. Fletcher would probably be giving him a detention, should he arrive later than her. In his haste, however, he failed to notice a stranger in his direct path, which ended in a painful collision that send Danny sprawling, and the man lurching forward.
"Sorry 'bout that." Muttered the teen as he hastily picked himself up, offering his hand to the man, presumably a new teacher considering that he was sort of wearing a suit. The man accepted the raven-haired boy's help, a soft smile playing on his lips.
"Don't you have class to attend to, young man?" he asked softly as he waved his hand in a dismissal of the incident. Danny's eyes only widened as he resumed his race to get into class. Ten minutes late…. Fletcher was going to have his hide for this….
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"Golem's Eye, Mr. Fenton! This is the second time you are late in this week, which, I will remind you, if only the first week of school!" Mr. Lancer, not Mrs. Fletcher, met the late teenager. The overweight teacher's stern gaze was something that Danny did not appreciate at all, especially since it was directed at him. Shuffling nervously into a spare seat, one beside Sam, and in front of Tucker, the raven-haired teen found himself wanting to disappear using his ghostly abilities at the moment.
"Now that everyone is here --" A mild glare was sent at Danny's direction " I would like to inform you all that Mrs. Fletcher will no longer be teaching here at Casper High. She unfortunately had a car accident, and since she is close to retiring age, she decided that she would rather retire now."
As soon as Lancer finished, a tense silence seemed to have filled the room, the calm before the storm, if you will.
Not too long afterwards, excited chatter filled the room as students shared their own theories on what happened to Mrs. Fletcher right after the incident. Claims ranged from a sprained foot, to spinal paralysis. Farfetched, but nobody really liked the old bat of a teacher anyways.
"Dude, have you been held up by ghosts again?" asked the beret-wearing techno geek, despite the fact that he already knew the answer. A standard question, really.
Danny only nodded, and would have probably given a verbal reply, had Lancer not called for attention once more.
"This doesn't mean you will all not be able to learn. A replacement teacher has already been found, and will be taking over immediately. Mister Revenant, if you please…." With that, the balding professor left the room, replaced by a younger, and definitely more fit, young man.
His appearance wasn't quite remarkable, but was a little messier than what one would have expected from a teacher, though he was, by no means, unattractive. Oh no, a few girls gained a dreamy sheen to their eyes as the man walked in with a notebook and a copy of the book issued by the school, his posture relaxed and confident.
The new teacher's skin was pale, as if he had not been out in the sun for quite a few years. His features were a smooth fusion of 'aristocratic' and 'rugged', neither making him look too androgynous, nor too masculine. Bright, copper brown eyes were hidden beneath a pair of unless, horn-rimmed glasses. His past-shoulder length hair was swept into a sloppy ponytail, allowing some of the stray, raven strands to frame his face.
His attire, too, spoke of a laid- back attitude, something that should have been more appropriate for a less 'demanding' job than teaching. He wore a clean, white dress shirt and a gray vest over it. A hastily worn black suit was thrown over the neater garments underneath, a scarlet tie hung around his neck too loosely to have been put on properly.
Black slacks, slightly creased, replaced jeans, and a pair of black, suede shoes completed the look that screamed of a man not yet fully ready to surrender his youth. Considering the fact that he looked to be in his younger twenty's, this was most probably true.
"Good morning, class. I am Dean Revenant, and I recently graduated with a bachelor's degree, though I will be taking my Masters degree by next year probably. This will be my first time teaching, but I will be not make things too easy." His eyes seemed to glint with a sort of 'knowing'. The teacher's voice was soft, but it carried its message well with an authority that even the jocks could not deny.
"An A is something you will have to earn, and I will not take slack from anyone. I will entertain requests for extra lessons after classes, and I will be more than willing to help in most things that you deem ready to impart with me. If I catch you sleeping in my class, expect a pop quiz the next day on the lesson you missed." This caused a few to groan in protest, only causing the teacher to smirk before he spoke once more.
"Now. As a treat, I will allow a free period today. Tomorrow, we will start with the lessons."
The students were quick to gather in their respective 'groups', spending the rest of the period doing as they pleased, as long as it was within school regulations, anyways.
Danny couldn't help but glance at the new teacher. Great, talk about first impressions…. He practically ran the guy over this morning… Though, why did he feel like he knew the guy?
-x-x-x-x-x-
"Dude, I'd hate to get at the new teacher's bad side! I could have sworn his eyes were glowing red for a moment!" cried Tucker right after he had swallowed the bite of cheeseburger that had been in his mouth. He would have spoken while chewing, had it not been for Sam's pointed glare that read 'swallow first, or else' rather well.
"He seems alright. Like he's the type to be hard on everyone, not just the people who have less than desirable reputations." Replied the gothic female as she poked her own lunch, a salad, not really hungry. She had to agree with Tucker on his statement, though; Mr. Revenant's presence gave her the gooseflesh all over. His gaze, which momentarily lingered on her and Danny a moment too long for her comfort, had the hairs at the back of her neck standing.
Why did the new professor make her feel like a caged creature, like he was a beast about to strike?
Danny took no part of the small conversation, his blue eyes glazed over as he was trapped in his own thoughts. The teacher was both familiar, and yet not. It was a strange paradox that sort of frightened him; he wasn't quite sure on the reason….
The stream of blue mist that escaped Danny's lips alerted him to the nearby presence of a ghost. Somehow, however, he felt no compulsion to jump in and intervene as his alter ego just yet. These past few days, only a couple of small ectopuses and the ever annoying Box Ghost, bother Amity Park, as if the stronger ghosts were scared of something in the town.
Did he really make that much of an impact? He highly doubted it, and he was still sure that there were a good number of other ghosts who could kick his butt to next Thursday, should they choose to do so. They were scared of something… something else.
Besides, there were no screams and no one acting weird. No one was even running around, and there certainly were no delayed explosions yet. Considering the slow week, it was probably just the Box Ghost again, right?
Too bad Danny apparently had little good luck that day.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Really now, anyone with a dictionary should be able to know what 'revenant' means." The voice resounded within the locked, teacher's bathroom. Anyone near the said bathroom would have been able to hear, but then again, the faculty was out enjoying the All-Steak buffet.
So that bit of rumor was true after all.
Gone was the countenance of Dean Revenant, replaced with the more sinister appearance of Dan Phantom, ravager of future Amity Park. The ghost wore a manic grin on his face, contemplating lightly on how easy it was to obtain such a great vantage point on his past self's life.
And to think, all he had to do was to get rid of a batty old teacher.
The matter of how was particularly rewarding, sating a bit of his repressed thirst for blood. Being unable to cause wide spread destruction when he wished was something that he had to face, the price to pay for his plan.
At least he'd be able to wreck havoc once he found a suitable disguise for his ghostly appearance. Looking exactly like an evil, future self of 'Inviso-Bill' was something he did not want to be, not with the fact that Clockwork (still alive in this time, as he was a catalyst in the creation of Dan, hence, the evil specter couldn't do much to him. Yet, of course….) might throw a couple of pawns from the alternate future to interfere.
Though, that frustrating know-it-all probably was following time's dictations. After all, why die willing his hands, if there was no purpose to it? The way Clockwork thought, few could even hope to find reasons to justify his actions.
But he digressed…
Mrs. Fletcher met an oh-so horrible accident in her car just two days prior, leaving the school absolutely hard-pressed to hire a new teacher. It seemed that the former history teacher had been cruising along in the highway when a student driver's car smashed straight into her, apparently ignoring a blatant red light.
Said student was carted off to the police station, where he claimed to have no recollection of even going past the small street that led to said intersection where the incident took place. Police believed that he had been under the effect of a hallucinogen, though a drug test proved otherwise.
Hard-pressed with its small staff, the school was forced to hire a new teacher. A young man, apparently just graduated from a prestigious college, applied for the position. Principal Ishimaya apparently hired him on the spot, but claims that she had no memory of what transpired until she was already done with signing his employment sheet.
Really, Dan really did marvel at his own skills. Replication, overshadowing and ectoplasmic manipulation (his new appearance was an end result) were merely three of his powers, and here he was, a teacher in the same school that indirectly caused his creation.
The responsibilities, however, he could have done without. Would the students survive, should they manage to tick him off? And more importantly, as he didn't really care if anyone died, would his cover be blown prematurely due to said possible incident?
But soon, yes, very soon, he would have strings attached to each of his living marionettes, free to make them dance and move as he pleased. How sweet it would be, to use his new position in Danny's life to poison his past self's mind with irrational fear of prejudice. Break the boy slowly, make him see that humans care only for those who benefited them in some manner.
Danny would be begging to have his humanity ripped off by the time Dan was done with him.
With a dark chuckle, black rings swept up the ghost's form, returning him into his temporary human state. He could cause some destruction later on, but for now, he had a few classes to attend to….
Who knows; he might even find time to visit dear old Vlad during the weekends….
-x-x-x-x-
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End of Chapter I.
Uh-oh, Dan's Danny's teacher now, and he's not going to make our protagonist's life easy. Dan will use his position to the fullest, and he'll trouble Danny as a ghost as well. The poor half-ghost has absolutely no luck, huh? XP
I'd hate to have Dan as my teacher, though… I'd imagine getting overshadowed into screaming embarrassing things, or getting my head blown clean off when I get him mad, or even annoyed… ;;
