Changeling
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
Called to Be Light
Author's Note: There was some confusion over the present state of Danny. He isn't the first halfa the Fentons have gotten their dirty mitts on. What they've done that riled up the Observant Prime is to dare experiment on their own flesh and blood. The abrupt change in Danny could well lead to his death.
"Mrs. Sanchez, sorry to bother you, but is Paulina by any chance home?" Bullet asked, bowing low in respect. The Sanchez's were recent arrivals in the neighborhood, and were Paulina's biological parents. Their deaths were the result of the Fentons ripping away their little girl and putting her in the exchange program against their wishes.
"May I ask why?" Maria dared to ask.
"It's about that Phantom boy, isn't it?" Emilio, her husband, demanded, coming to investigate.
"Yes," Bullet admitted, outlining the situation for them.
"How horrible!" Maria whispered. "To neglect their own son at a tender age and then to abuse him when they have a chance to be reconciled. PAULINA!"
"Yes, mama?" the beautiful ghost girl said, coming downstairs, hesitating on seeing Walker's second at her doorstep. "Uh, Sidney didn't do it."
"Do what?" Bullet glowered at her. "Are we talking about the mishap involving a couple of feathers and a water balloon in Phantom's locker from the week before last? Or we talking about the recent hacking of Walker's computer to where it now belts out "Oops I Did It Again" every time he turns it on?"
"Uh, the latter," Paulina said. "Phantom's idea."
"Should have known," Bullet grinned. "That was a classic." He sobered. "I need you to fetch Mr. Pointdexter, Miss Sanchez, and come with your parents to the Hall of Observation. King Plasmius has been observing them for decades and finally enough evidence has been gathered to bring them to trial. You and yours are required to give evidence. We won't force you, but Phantom's life hangs in the balance."
"We will give evidence," Emilio answered for his family. "I am sorry that I killed myself and my wife, but what they did to my daughter and their son is inexcusable. Paulina just completed her journey and the boy was finally given approval for his own."
Bullet bowed low. "Please go now as the Great Council is expecting you. I must gather the rest of the witnesses."
The Sanchezes bowed in ghost fashion to return the honor that Bullet had bestowed upon them.
"Finally," Emilio said, hugging his wife and daughter, "they will receive their due."
From the Time Master's lair were called forth Ember and Skulker. Youngblood, his parrot, and Danielle Phantom were found within the confines of the goddess Pandora's hedge maze, trying to solve it. The argus grinned toothily at them and told them to try again next time. Dashiel Baxter was practicing a few throws on the football field with Ranger, a new player on the team.
"Dash?" Bullet called, crooking his finger at the boy.
"Yeah?"
"Phantom's journey has been disrupted. You were present at the Refuge when Phantom called his impromptu meeting. The Observant Council needs you ready to give evidence."
"Alright, Mr. Bullet, sir," Dash said, nodding his assent. "Hey, Ranger, mind we put this off until the storm blows over."
"Right with you, Dash."
Bullet nodded. Both young ghosts would be there. Phantom had a strong support group. In the normal timeline, Phantom would have been both idol worshipped and bullied by these young football players.
King Plasmius intercepted Ember and placed her in a quiet chamber. "This is going to hurt," she was told, "but you need to be strong."
He pulled out the orb and told her to watch.
A raven-haired teen with pale blue eyes the color of the winter sky fixed his eyes on the quartet who entered. He struggled to get free of his bonds, but they were too tight. Jazz was sad to see her brother treated like a guinea pig, but was too terrified of being next in line to let him loose.
"I'm sorry," she repeated to Danny for the hundredth time that day.
"Okay," he said.
"Oh my gosh, Danny!" Sam shrieked. "What have they done to you?"
"Elixir to turn human," he said in anger, shooting a dirty look at the door. "How long?"
"Today is Saturday, man," Tucker said. "You missed two days of school. We can only stay for a minute to give you your homework."
"How are you feeling?" Valerie asked.
Danny's eyes clouded over. "Cold sick. Warm sick. Sick. Don't know."
The view shut off.
"Jasmine didn't know this was going on until this morning," Plasmius explained. "I still don't think she understands the full ramifications of what will happen when her parents are brought here."
"She's going to tried as an accessory, isn't she?" Ember asked.
"No," Plasmius answered. "She's as much a victim of abuse as Daniel was. Desiree told me of her when she brought Daniel to me, but by the time we remembered, the gate was closed. We couldn't bring her across. I wish to the Ancients that we had. I never wanted to separate those two."
"And now?"
"It is up to the council if she'll be allowed to begin her journey. Daniel will be tested and if the changes aren't permanent, he will be immediately given the black and white elixirs."
"I hope so," Ember said. "You're going to fetch Danny back now."
"Walker is seeing to that aspect of the gathering."
"Good," she said. "I hope they spend an eternity with Klemper, with Technus thrown in for added measure."
The King of all Ghosts smiled for the first time that day. "Not such a bad idea," he mused. "I'll keep it in mind."
"Chrona over?" Danny asked the dark-skinned teen.
"Yes," Tucker said, "why?"
"The bonds aren't ectoplasmically reinforced," Jazz whispered, then her eyes widened. "Danny, don't!"
"Chrona over," he said, summoning the rings, changing to his ghost form. He had enough power to phase through them, before the energy faded, forcing to return to human form. "D-d-darn it!"
Alarms and an almighty din came from downstairs, followed by silence and a scream.
It was a nasty fight between the Fentons and Walker's crew. Two of the five guards carefully handpicked by the Warden were wasted by the ecto-cannon the burly hunter blasted into their midst as soon as they entered the human world.
"The boy is upstairs," Walker announced, tracing the ectoplasmic signature.
"Leave my son alone, filthy ecto-scum!" Maddie shouted, swinging her ecto-staff at his head, which he dodged. "You dare trespass onto our plane to steal him back."
"We are taking him home, woman," he stated. "Two of my men are dead. You have psychologically and physically abused the boy; I should never given him into your hands-the law be damned."
"We will fix him," Jack said, aiming the cannon at the ghost. "Get out."
"YOU ALMOST KILLED THE BRAT!" Walker shouted. "CHILDREN AMONGST OUR PEOPLE ARE VERY RARE. YOU AND YOUR WIFE HAVE SINGLE-HANDEDLY DESTROYED ANY HOPE FOR PEACE BETWEEN OUR WORLDS!"
The ghosts advanced and overturned the tables jammed with Fenton weaponry. Jack and Maddie gasped in fear when they realized the magnitude of trouble they were in. Maddie's eyes flicked upwards to the ceiling. "Jazz, Danny," she whispered, as a rod was placed to her neck and a small click sounded. Her world went dark; her husband joined her not long after.
"Pathetic," Walker sneered, and then turned his focus on the humans and the half-ghost peeking around the corner.
"Well?" he asked, arching an eyebrow at the halfa.
"No go back," the boy wearily told him. "Cold sick."
"No, Phantom," Walker told him, as the humans helped him down the stairs. "The Observants have rescinded the decision to allow you the final sojourn. What the Fentons have done must be taken into account and you will be tested."
"I will die," Danny pointed out, as Tucker's translation device took over. "Ember will die. We broke the law and belong to the Fentons now."
"That is for the Observants to decide," Walker replied. "Will you help Phantom into the portal? We require you to give evidence of these events."
"Do we have a choice?" Sam wanted to know.
"You always have a choice," Walker replied, kicking the silent of form of the male hunter. Turning to his nearest guards, he ordered them to bind the hunters tightly and place them in a ghost-proof/human-proof cell.
"Many things will be decided at the trial," Walker told the red-haired girl. "Your parents are murderers and may well be gifted with the Kiss of Oblivion. Your brother's testing will begin the moment we arrive. You may be tried as an accessory or you may offered a chance to begin your own sojourn. I would not refuse the offer."
"Become a ghost?" Jazz whispered, stunned. "But I..."
"They're giving you a chance to be with Danny, Jazz," Valerie interrupted her. "I speak for the group. We will do as you ask, ghost."
"I ask no more, human," Walker acknowledged.
"Why did you do that?" Sam and Tucker yelled at her, after he left.
"Think about it," Valerie replied. "Now, let's go before we get thrown into jail ourselves."
"He looks a bit scruffy," Nurse Coal said, as they gently placed the comatose halfling on the bed. King Plasmius had taken one look at Phantom and ordered him knocked out at once.
"After what the Fentons did to interrupt his journey, we're lucky he's not dead or worse," Doctor Bert Rand replied. As much as he hated the boy, he did provide dinner and entertainment once in a while.
"Right, Doc," the black and white humanoid cat ghost replied. "So what are we supposed to do?"
"Evaluate him, you idiot! We have to be able to restore him to 75/25 before the Observant Council will allow him to travel further."
"Okay." Ding!
"Are you wearing a bell on that choker?"
"Yes."
Deep sigh. "Never mind. Hand me my gloves."
"You're supposed to called me "Mary Anne", Doctor," Nurse Coal pouted.
"Shut up, Alice, and give me those gloves!"
The holding cell that Maddie and Jack were placed in was smack dab in the middle of the exercise yard with full exposure to the elements. It was little more than a sardine cage with a little tin roof that barely sheltered them from the rain.
"You don't deserve kindness," Walker said, sneering at them. "You are lucky I'm not allowed to execute you; that would have been merciful compared to what King Plasmius or the Observants will decide."
Jack and Maddie were both supporting various bruises and cuts; Maddie thought her arm was sprained. "Let us out of here," she demanded. "I want a lawyer."
"A human has already agreed to step up in your defense," Walker drawled, lighting a cigarette. He blew a puff ring in the air. "You went to college with him, I've been told."
Jack's head snapped up. Looking with shock at the Warden's hazy visage, he whispered, "Vladdie's here?"
"You're lucky to have him still stick up for you after all the crap you have put him through," Walker drawled. "Why, if it wasn't for you and your lovely wife there, we wouldn't have him as our king at all. So, thank you, dear Fentons. You really have been quite useful."
He looked at his watch. Snapping his fingers, two grinning ghost guards appeared and unlocked the cage. Dragging Maddie and Jack to a nearby wall, human proof chains were slid through their manacles and secured to bloody hooks embedded within the concrete wall.
"What are you doing?" Maddie yelled, trying to get free.
"Giving you some exercise," Walker explained, a sadistic grin on his face. "We're playing dodgeball today and Ward H is getting real ansty."
The guards snickered. Ward H was where the criminal masterminds were placed. Amongst them were Technus, Vortex, and Penelope Spectra. News spread fast in this place.
"I told you not to kill them, Walker!" Maddie barely heard the vampiric looking ghost yell at the Warden through the ringing in her ears. The ghosts of Ward H had been ruthless when they were told what 'crimes' they had committed; only Walker's stay of Vortex's last ball had saved them from utter annihilation.
Penelope Spectra had smirked and reduced her strong, confident husband to a quivering mass of jellied nerves with just the sound of her voice. Vortex and Technus were the ones who battered them with dodgeballs as their powers were shorted out of the silver arm bands they sported. Maddie turned her attention back to the argument at hand.
"I'm allowing the fat oaf to be evaluated by the prison doctor as he was more battered than the female," Walker shot back. "A little exercise won't kill you, either, Plasmius."
"I train every day, thank you," King Plasmius said drily. "So why is she still in this barbaric cage?"
"Kindness eludes her," Walker replied, walking around the cage and peering at Maddie who flinched away from his gaze. The human would be sporting bruises in the most improbable of places soon. "She nearly killed her own son."
"Maddie understands reason," Plasmius argued, "but I see your point. Madeline?"
Maddie looked upwards at the ghost who was addressing her. "What?"
"The doctor who is attending Daniel has managed to stabilize him. He's going to be fine. They are working to restore the ectoplasm in his blood stream to where it should be at his stage in the journey, " the vampiric ghost told her.
"Who are you?" she demanded, not seeing the guards unlocking her cell. "Where are you taking me? Put me down!"
"That's better," Walker drawled, after his guards bound and gagged the female.
"I am sorry, dear sweet Madeline, but there is someone I would have you meet," Plasmius told her. "Take her to the holding room near the fat oaf. They are not to be placed in the same room together."
"Whatever, Your Majesty desires," Walker stated.
"Don't patronize me, Walker."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
"How is he?" Desiree asked, approaching King Plasmius, now in his human form.
"He's going to be alright," Vlad replied. "As are the humans. Walker took it up in his head that the Fentons needed exercise and arranged for them to play Dodgeball with Ward H."
"Is he out of his freaking mind?"
Vlad laughed. "I wonder that myself sometimes. Jack and Maddie were not seriously hurt, though Jack had a little session with sweet Penelope."
Desiree brightened at that news. "Good."
"Desiree, would you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"I want you to talk to Madeline," Vlad told her. "You raised the boy. Besides me, very few of our people can speak the human tongue fluently; you are the bested gifted person I know of for this task. For all purposes, you are Daniel's mother, not the human in that room."
"I will do this for Daniel," she told him solemnly. "Do not ask anything else of me."
He smiled faintly. "Thank you, my love."
She pulled him in for a short passionate kiss. "When this is all over, you and I are going to have a nice long talk about our relationship."
"I'm looking forward to it," he replied.
Maddie Fenton was standing in the far corner of the room when the door opened, admitting a dark green-skinned Arabian harem girl with long black hair and bright ruby eyes. "Now what?" she demanded of this new tormentor.
"My name is Desiree," she announced in a loud, clear voice. "I am Phantom's mother."
"No," Maddie corrected. "I am Daniel's mother."
"Good," Desiree said, smiling. "We are off to a good start."