A/N: Well, you could call this a variation of one of my previous oneshots, Home. This time, Danny's having some identity issues. You'll see what I mean. By the way, this is a songfic. The song is Lose Control by Evanescence. This means that I do not own the song. I wish I did. I wish to the heavens that I could write that good. While I'm at it I might as well say this as well: I do not own Danny Phantom or any characters presented herein. If you have the urge to sue someone, sue Nick for canceling the show and all other decent shows that they once possessed, but threw away for the garbage they're showing now.

Please read and review! Thank you.

Madness

Danny Phantom stomped down the street. He was in a bad mood to say the least. His fists were clenched tighter than normal. Green eyes blazed with a feverish light that even in the bright afternoon sunlight glowed visibly. He walked stiffly, stumbling periodically from a previously dislocated knee. As he speed walked down the sidewalk he muttered incessantly about "her" and "her stupid weapons" as well as "her freaking ectophobia". All these symptoms of obvious aggravation lead people to move out of his way. For the most part, the better part of Amity Park trusted Phantom, but, secretly, they all feared what he would do if he got a little too mad. So is it really trust?

"She just shoot me with the blasted weapon," he continued to grumble. He rounded the corner and stared at his school. "And they just had to change the name of the school."

Sure it was nice that people were starting to appreciate him and his efforts to protect the town, but did they have to change good ole Casper High to Phantom High? Was that entirely necessary? And how about the new school colors? Black and green. Even the football jerseys mimicked his ghost costume to some extent.

A billboard near the school blared its colorful message of the newest in a line of DP movies to be released before the end of the month. Danny glared at that too. He hated seeing his face plastered, without permission he might add, onto a billboard of all things advertising this or that. This time, movies. A couple of weeks ago it was milk. Towards the beginning of the month, his almost naked body appeared on the front of a magazine for skin care. Apparently the mere fact that his ghost half lacked acne or any other blemishes was enough for make up marketers to jump the oh so swell Danny Phantom bandwagon. And to add insult to injury, there was nothing he could do about it without risking the truce he drew up with the city… Of course, the truce lacked Valerie's consent. She didn't sign it. She couldn't "stand the idea of letting a ghost walk… er, fly free."

"I hate this. If I'm not being hunted, I'm being used. Why can't I just be left alone?"

Danny rubbed his eyes. Man did he have a headache. When were those rotten pain killers going to kick in?

/I don't think pain killers can get rid of me,/ smirked a voice freakishly similar to his own.

"What the heck?" Danny exclaimed as he jumped nearly two feet into the air. He looked around him. People continued to pass him, giving him some strange looks, but otherwise not really in any way showing that they would talk to him. So where had the voice come from?

/You don't know me do you?/ asked the voice.

You don't remember my name.

Danny looked over his shoulders. Still no one. Who was talking to him?!

/Oh well. Most teenagers can't figure out where they end and where their peers begin. Individuality is really lacking in this century./

I don't really care.

"Where are you?" he asked as he found an isolated spot to "talk to himself". He couldn't figure it out. He didn't see anyone talking to him. His ghost sense didn't go off meaning no ghost was near by. So who was talking to him? Unless… "Am I talking to myself?"

/Finally! Recognition! Took a while but I eventually came up with a mind of my own./

"What do you mean? Am I insane? I must be insane. Crazy people hear voices… them and anime characters, but I'm not an anime character so I shouldn't be hearing voices!" His voice rang out with the harshness of someone obviously in emotional agony. School completely forgotten and the effects of Valerie's new power- depleting weapon gone, Danny leapt into the sky… and ran straight into the billboard. "Stupid, lousy, bleepin' sign!"

/That is a bad picture of us, isn't?/

"No bleepin' duh!" Danny answered while considering giving the offending picture the finger. After a moment of contemplation he figured a little kid might see him and he really didn't want to corrupt the young. That was wrong and uncalled for.

/Oh come on! Live a little. It's not your fault if someone looks up,/ the honey-coated voice persuaded.

"Perhaps not my fault but that doesn't give me a right to do it," Danny said, not quite as certain as he was before. Anger and peer pressure can do that. Or perhaps it was insanity.

Can we play the game your way?

/But you have a right to express your opinion, excuse me, our opinion. We are sentient creatures, aren't we?/

"Yes, but we have to set a good example," Danny said through clenched teeth as he flew back home or wherever he was going. He wasn't sure. He couldn't see past the red tinted world of his frustration.

/And isn't teaching children to express their emotions rather than repressing them setting a good example?/

Can I really lose control?

"No! I mean, yes! I mean… Blowing stuff up isn't setting a good example!"

The voice laughed. /You said it, not me./

Danny stopped and landed on a building. He wasn't sure which one it was, but it was good enough for him. "But that's what you were suggesting!"

/No I wasn't. I didn't even suggest giving the board the finger. That was your idea. I simply agreed with you./

Pacing, Danny pulled at his hair. The obnoxious voice was right.

/And by the way, I'm not just a voice. I'm you. I'd prefer a name./

"What do you want to be called? Annoying?"

/No, I think I like the name Phantom better./

For once in my life…

"Screw that! I'm not calling you Phantom!"

I think it'd be nice…

/Oh, but you want to./

To just lose control just once

"No! Phantom's suppose to save the town and do good stuff. You're not good! You're evil, whoever you are!" Danny shouted. He faced the billboard and screamed at since it was kind of hard to scream at himself. If anything, he needed something tangible to focus his growing anger at.

/So you're evil. Face it, human half, we are one in the same and if I'm evil you're evil and vice versa. You want to destroy stuff. I want to destroy stuff. You and I want to prove ourselves worthy of recognition. And there's only one way to do that./

With all the pretty flowers in the dust

"Shut up!"

/No, this is the truth and like or not you need to hear it./

"It's not the truth. It's a lie! You're a lie! You don't exist! You can't exist! If we're one in the same you couldn't talk to me!" Danny raved as he paced furiously, leering at the picture of his ghost half.

Mary had a lamb

/Yes I can exist because you exist! So long as you're here so am I!/

Danny took a step towards the advertisement. He leaned towards it as he yelled and, in his mind, the picture seemed to the same. "That's great, but I can't talk to myself. A mind can't split in half and started yapping back and forth!"

/What do you call schizophrenia then?/

"Insanity! That's what!"

/So what does that make us?/

"Nothing! There is no 'us'," he sneered. His whole face was contorted, eyes darkening.

His eyes black as coals.

Below, people overheard the yelling. Well, they overheard a one-sided conversation. A lot of phone dialing occurred. The number called, the Fentons.

The crazed ghost continued to have his stand off with the billboard. Helicopters roared overhead. He didn't even realize it.

If we play very quiet, my lamb

Video cameras were focused on him. In Phantom High, students sat around television sets watching the town hero argue with the advertisement. Their eyes were wide, mouths dropped open. Parents at their homes and work places shook their heads in disappointment. For a while there, they were convinced the ghost boy was good. What did this prove?

Mary never has to know.

/Just go ahead and do it. Shoot the idiotic thing,/ the voice encouraged.

"I want to but I'd rather shoot you!"

/You'd shoot yourself you moron!/

"No I wouldn't. You're not me!"

/Yes I am!/

"No you're not!"

/Am to./

"Are not."

/You're making a fool of us./

"I am not!"

/What do you call those news stations?/

"What?"

Finally, the roaring reached Danny's ears and he fell to his knees in shock. Where'd they come from?

The helicopters moved in closer. Some of them landed on nearby buildings, the reporters jumping out of the machines and lining the roof tops all in an attempt to get a good shot of the crazy ghost.

For a brief instant, Danny felt a combination of fear and sorrow well up in him. But that was only for an instant. Then came the fire.

For once in my life

"Hey, ghost boy! Who were you yelling at?" shouted a reporter over to him. His red coat flapped in the breeze the way a bull fighter's red cloth waves in front of a bull's face.

"Are you angry about the billboards?"

"Is it true that you shop at Target?"

The voices of the reporters clamored in his ears as did the voice in his head.

/One shot. Just one. And these fools will leave you alone for good./

I think it'd be nice

Their questions battered his mind and his precious sanity like waves on a beach. They shook him to his core. The frivolity. The shallowness. He was in a perpetual rage and they had the nerve to come up here and disturb him?! Couldn't they at least respect his privacy? They took away his right to object to the advertisements, must they also take away this?!

To just lose control just once

/They have the nerve human. You should have some too. Think of them as ghosts, ghosts of humanity. Corrupted and out to steal what's rightfully yours. Just one shot. One shot only. And you can shut them up. Do it and prove it. You earned your right to be left alone! Take your shot! Now!/

If I cut you down to a thing I can use

Dark green eyes followed the whirling helicopter arms. They travelled down to the moving lips and the rolling cameras. Each and every movement attracted his eyes as moths are attracted to light.

I fear there'd be nothing good left of you.

Finally, his arm shot up, hand glowing and he took aim. The reporters backed up in terror and the too little, too late realization that the ghost was very, very mad. They watched as the emerald light condensed into a condensed orb in the palm of Phantom's hand. With a narrowing of his eyes, he let loose…

To just lose control just once…

The advertisement was nothing but a pile of ashes when he was done.

A/N: Did you like it? I thought he concept was pretty neat. Wouldn't have written this if I didn't think that. Was he insane? Was the voice his ghost side amplifying his feelings? Was it Vlad (everything seems to be his fault after all)? I don't know. Tell me what you think! I'm curious to see what reasoning you came up with. Thank you!