Day Twenty-Seven: Exposed
Genre: Drama
Words: 3899
Everybody knew Danny Fenton was absolutely, hopelessly afraid of ghosts. Many speculated that it was years of trauma that had been drilled into him since he was a baby. His parents were ghost hunters, so all his bedtime stories were most likely about the scary specters and all things that went bump in the night. So naturally, he grew up fearing it. There were a few years in middle-school where he seemed indifferent to the notion of ghosts, but once highschool began, his fear of ghosts was instantly rekindled.
Danny's Freshman year of highschool was when ghosts made themselves known to everyone in Amity Park. For years, the Fenton parents had been ridiculed, but now people were faced with the evidence that they had been right all along. Ghosts were a reality, and they were all over the place. And because of that, Danny grew to be a complete mess.
It was normal to be scared of ghosts, but Danny was almost notoriously cowardly to the point that it was ridiculous! Danny would run away from the freaking Box Ghost, if that said anything. Everybody in Amity had learned that the Box Ghost was simply a joke, nothing to be feared, but Danny still fled every time the annoying spirit showed up.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Danny would cut class if he even had a reason to suspect that there was a ghost nearby, and usually there was nothing even there! If a ghost attacked the cafeteria, Danny would be the only person to run out the doors, while everyone else had learned to hide under the tables. Not to mention that he couldn't even be in the same vicinity with the town's hero, Danny Phantom, for some unknown reason.
Overall, Danny Fenton was nowhere to be seen when ghosts arrived because he was terrified of them. It was a well-known fact, one that even his friends Sam and Tucker confirmed. He was irrationally scared of Amity's strange occurrences, and he himself wouldn't deny it.
Which is why Dash believed Danny to be the perfect target for a fake ghost attack. His reaction would be priceless, after all. Everybody else at Casper High had grown immune to the shock of a ghost attack, but Danny was pathetically wimpy and vulnerable. He was practically begging to be pranked! Which is why Dash called up a bunch of his friends, and took the liberty to stage an artificial ghost attack, specially for his favorite little geek.
They had to put all their heads together to figure out how to do it, but Dash and his crew formulated a plan on how to pull it off. To succeed, they would have to actually get help from some real ghosts, but Dash was confident that it would work. There were many ghosts who liked scaring humans, so he figured that it wouldn't be too difficult to find one that would cooperate with their plan.
Apparently one of the guys had heard about some shapeshifter ghost that liked to mess with people, and don't ask Dash how, but they somehow managed to get in contact with him. The whole situation was sketchy as hell, but it was worth it. The ghost called himself Amorpho, and it took a lot of persuasion on Dash's end, but the specter finally agreed.
"I don't know if I'm up for this," Amorpho said. "Last time I was in Amity, Phantom made me promise to keep my business away from this town, or he'd throw me back into the Ghost Zone. If he finds out-"
"He won't," Dash reassured. "It's just some dumb kid in my grade that we're scaring for fun. All you have to do is change into something really scary and he'll wet his pants! Phantom will never have to even find out, I promise!"
"I hope you're not pulling my leg," Amorpho muttered, "but I'll go along with it. What else am I going to do with my afterlife if I don't scare a few teenagers here and there, eh?"
The next day they set their plan in motion. Dash was the director of the prank, and told everyone else what to do. Kwan was given the job to actually lead Danny to the location of the prank, which was Casper's basement. Michael and Tanner had pulled the short straw, and were supposed to ensure that Danny couldn't escape the room, which only had one exit. Meanwhile, Dale and Dylan were tasked with live streaming the prank on Facebook and Instagram, respectively. They were the only ones who were going to stay in the basement the entire time, and would be hiding behind a cluster of wooden crates. All that was left was to get Danny in the picture.
Around fifth period on Friday, Dash and the other guys found Danny outside of his locker like usual. They could've just thrown him in the basement, but he had to be unsuspecting. They had to give him a reason to believe he was 'safe' until the actual practical joke. Or, in other words, stealth. So after Fenturd's daily beating, Dash also stole his backpack. It would come into play later, and Dash felt ingenious for developing such a complex plan.
As soon was class was over, Kwan solely cornered Danny directly outside of Mr. Lancer's classroom. Thankfully, Sam was in another class and Tucker had already made a beeline for his locker, so Danny was all alone for once. It was a rare occurrence and Kwan felt more confident due to his stroke of luck.
"Hey, Fenton," Kwan said, approaching the suddenly skittish boy.
"What now?" Danny rolled his eyes. "You've already taken my backpack today. Come to steal my shoes too, or something? Just get it over with."
"That was Dash," Kwan said, convincingly, "not me. I – uh, actually know where your backpack is. That's why I came over here. I'll help you find it," Kwan offered. He was believably the nicest of the A-Listers to Danny and his friends, which is why he was chosen. But even though Kwan was the nicest, he still had an appreciation for watching others be humiliated. It was natural.
"So... you're not gonna beat me up again?" Danny confirmed, with a hint of lingering distrust. He knew that Kwan had no reason to help him. "Why? You're Dash's friend."
Kwan fake sighed, "Yeah, but I can still help you out, right? Maybe you don't deserve everything we do to you."
He was stringing him along so easily it was almost funny.
"I guess that makes sense," Danny decided. "So where did Dash throw my stuff?"
Kwan tried to mask his grin, "Follow me."
He led him down to the stairwell to the basement, and Danny followed silently. He probably didn't know what to say to Kwan, and Kwan was grateful because small talk would be even more awkward. Finally, they got to the entrance to the basement and Kwan slowly and loudly opened the door, just to give Dale and Dylan enough of a warning to make sure they were completely hidden.
"Dash says he chucked your backpack down here," Kwan said, "but I'm not sure exactly where. My guess would be over there." He pointed in the opposite direction from where his friends were hiding.
"Thanks, Kwan," Danny said. Kwan waited for him to find it. They'd purposely left it in a really obvious place so Danny didn't have to look around much.
Now, it was time for the next step of the plan.
As Danny ceremoniously held up his found backpack, Kwan's phone made a loud noise, and he pretended to look at it in surprise.
"Oh, no!" Kwan said., reading the fake text. "Dash said that the entire upper floor of the building is being attacked by ghosts! It's awful!"
"Really?" Danny tilted his head, his eyes growing slightly alarmed. "I didn't..."
"I don't know what to do!" Kwan monologued, cutting him off. "How about you stay down here, while I go look how bad it is up there?" It was a perfect excuse to confine Danny in the basement. Kwan would be able to leave the basement, while Danny would cower in the basement, afraid of getting caught up in the attack upstairs. Unbeknownst to him, Kwan would lock his only exit on the way out, and Danny would be stuck.
Thankfully, Danny fell into the trap. Kwan watched with satisfaction as a look of worry etched across the boy's face. "Th – that sounds good! You get out of here, make sure people are okay, then get out of the building! Don't even worry about me, I'll be okay down here. Just make sure you get out, okay?"
His adamance was pitiful, and Kwan left the basement without trying to persuade Danny further. He'd expected Danny to at least pretend like he wasn't scared, but apparently he was so much of a coward that he was past acting.
Once Kwan had cleared the area, Danny didn't bother keeping up his terrified facade. It was odd. According to Kwan, from Dash, there were a bunch of ghosts upstairs, but Danny's ghost sense hadn't even gone off yet. Had they been lying to him? No, Danny didn't want to take the chance. He had to transform and make sure there weren't any threats, and if there were, he'd have to get rid of them. Thankfully, he'd gotten his backpack back, which had his Fenton Thermos in it. He'd have been screwed without it.
Quickly, Danny emptied the contents of his bag and fished out the thermos. He was about to transform, but he lost focus on his core when he felt his ghost sense finally go off. Aha! So it'd just been a little delayed, and there was an actual ghostly threat somewhere in the school. That was weird, because usually he was pretty accurate at ghost detection, but he supposed maybe the ghosts hadn't been as close to the basement as they'd been before, and that's why he only felt it then.
Before he could try to transform into Phantom again, an ectoblast appeared out of nowhere and struck him between his feet. Danny backed up reflexively, and immediately took a defensive stance. "Show yourself," he demanded, gripping his thermos tightly.
A familiar face materialized before his eyes. Danny questionably lowered his guard, before remembering that he'd just been attacked. He regained his composure and narrowed his eyes dubiously.
"Amorpho? What the hell are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay away from Amity, not to mention that I was under the impression that we had a truce?"
Amorpho looked at him dumbly, his eyes widening with every word, "Oh my Pariah, they didn't tell me it'd be you! I – I swear I didn't mean to, Billy! Don't hurt me!"
Everyone listening in on the conversation were confused. Dash and Kwan were watching remotely together from the feed Dale and Dylan was uploading, meanwhile Michael and Tanner were listening at the basement's door. There were also various students watching across Amity Park online, who'd randomly come across the live video.
Not only was Danny Fenton standing up to a ghost, strangely unfazed by it, but the ghost in question was also afraid of Danny! Fenton was supposed to be the number one scaredy-cat in all of Casper High, yet he was acting almost like some kind of ghost hunter! Did that mean that he was only pretending to run off and be scared most of the time? Also, Danny and the ghost were reacting to each other like they knew each other, so what was that even about? The entire ordeal was just... off. Something weird was going on, and nobody felt comfortable seeing this new side of Danny Fenton.
"If you didn't 'mean to', then why did you intentionally throw an ectoblast at me?" Danny asked, threateningly. "I was always unsure about letting you go, and I'm starting to change my mind..."
"No, you don't understand! Don't change, you're-"
Danny's hands glowed with green fire, causing everyone watching to do a double take. Many people were questioning if this was a real live stream, or some kind of film project. Because this certainly couldn't actually be happening... Danny Fenton exhibiting superpowers didn't make sense. Dash and his crew on the other hand, observed with a new-found fear that was gradually escalating to something akin to horror.
Danny raised a fiery fist and aimed it towards the opposing ghost, and a jet of energy knocked Amorpho two feet out of the air. It wasn't a serious attack, but more like a warning shot. Since Amorpho was now off-guard, Danny raised his arms in the air, extinguishing the ecto-energy around his hands, and clearly recited, "Going ghost!"
Many people watched in fascination as a white halo formed around Danny's waist, illuminating the entire area and disturbing the white balance of the cellphone cameras. The fuzziness of the cameras made it difficult to see exactly what was happening, but the general transformation was discernible. The formation of light separated to change Danny Fenton into... Amity's infamous, ghostly superhero, Danny Phantom. His expression didn't even change, and many people found themselves mentally reevaluating the two boys, trying to convince themselves that they were still two different people. But they had seen. And he was exposed.
Dash and Kwan stared at the footage in shock. Fenton... was Phantom? Wait, wait, wait. Fenton was Phantom! They'd bullied him! And – and so much more, for God knows how long. But Phantom was a ghost, and Danny was supposed to be just some kid. Fenton was the kid who ran away during ghost attacks, who was afraid of ghosts! But he wasn't... Because he was a ghost and that was his alibi to go stop ghost attacks, wasn't it? He was just faking being afraid of ghosts, because how could he harbor fear for what he was?
Dash resigned to the floor with a numb fervor. Kwan continued to glue himself to his phone. What was real? Who was Danny Fenton? Was Phantom their hero? Nothing made sense. And nothing continued to make sense and nobody knew what was happening anymore when all sense faded into oblivion.
Danny flew up, raising his fist again, and his eyes churned even more dangerously. This was a common tactic Phantom used in his fights, but everything was still different.
(Was that kid dead or alive? What was he, anyway?)
Amorpho didn't react much to Danny's transformation, and tentatively backed up. "Look, Billy, I – I don't want to go back to the Ghost Zone."
"Yeah? You came back into my town, after we agreed that you'd stay away," Danny started.
"Let me-"
Danny ignored him. "And what's the first thing you do?" he asked rhetorically. "Attack me."
Amorpho grew frustrated and changed forms to collect Phantom's attention. He changed into a familiar figure, Sam Manson, who faced Danny with genuine red eyes.
"Billy, if I may explain?"
Danny's eyes placated at the sight of his friend, and let the energy from his hand dissipate. "Only if you stop mimicking Sam," he said.
Amorpho changed back into his regular form and shot at a group of crates. The crates fell over to reveal Dale and Dylan, who were timidly recording everything on their phones. Danny's jaw dropped open, and before anyone could say anything, Amorpho obliterated the cellphones, cutting off the live streaming.
"What the hell?" Danny said, floating down to be at equal eye level with the two revealed jocks. "H – have they been there the entire time." Amorpho cringed and Dale and Dylan stared at Danny, completely mesmerized, yet somewhat afraid. Danny realized that they must have witnessed his transformation and began to panic. "Oh, no no no no no. This isn't... oh, shit."
Amorpho tried to explain, even though Danny was mid panic attack and could only half comprehend what he was saying. "-they told me that they were pranking some human. I would've never – your secret!"
Danny couldn't care less about Amorpho when he was face to face with two of his classmates who now knew what he was... there was no doubt that they would tell everyone. He clenched his fists, grabbing a handful of white hair. Danny was doomed. His secret had just been peeled away as easily as a band-aid, leaving everything beneath exposed for the world to see. Danny's breath accelerated. He was unnatural, he was a freak, and now two new people knew it.
The effect that had rendered Dale and Dylan silent, gradually wore off and they regained their reasoning. Obviously, they were also mentally freaking out, but they were in better condition than the hyperventilating ghost boy.
"Holy shit!" Dale whispered. His thoughts poured out of his head until his mouth sloppily blurted them out. "Fenton is Phantom and- and- and what?"
The verbal statement from Dale finally reigned Danny into coming back into reality. He wasn't in any condition to be, though.
Danny let go of his hair and subtly pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. It was a habit Sam had taught him because of his recent increase of nightmares. He firmly locked eyes with Dale and Dylan. "You can't tell anyone."
It was hopeless, of course they would tell people. Danny knew it. Guys like them had no reasons to keep secrets. Why would they care if some freak got carted off to the government to be some kind of lab rat?
Danny was confused when they both responded with looks of horror. Wait, no, that was fear. They were afraid of him. That made sense too, he supposed, he was a ghost – both Phantom and Fenton, and they probably just realized he could hurt them. They had the option to be afraid, so of course they were going to be scared of him.
"We..." Dylan whispered, shaken to his core, "we were live streaming. All of it. Didn't know. Was a joke. S'posed to scare you... and. Lot of people saw."
Nothing happened. The words simply didn't register within him. A... live stream? Like on the internet? His secret had already been put online, that quickly? It was impossible to process, ridiculous to process. He'd just panicked about two people finding out. However, they'd already revealed Danny to everyone in one go and – and was the floor getting closer? Maybe?
Everyone. Who was everyone supposed to be? His fellow peers? Amity Park? The government agents about to track him down? Whatever, they all knew now. Or would know very, very soon. The knowledge that Fenton was Phantom had just exploded. His normal life was compromised, and now Danny Fenton would never be able to be human again. If he didn't get captured by the government in the next few days, he'd just be known as 'that ghost-kid'. His parents, too. People would tell his parents, and they would be forced to accept the news that their son wasn't even human anymore.
He let his arms collapse and nothing was holding him up from the floor anymore. How pathetic. Everything was over. Would he even see school again? What about Sam or Tucker? Their parents would probably keep both them locked away at home once they realized what they were actually doing at night instead of studying.
This was too fast. His head was too warm for him to be a ghost. Maybe his brain was melting. That'd probably be a preferable fate opposed to what was waiting for him. He didn't want to think about what could be waiting for him.
So he wouldn't think, he just had to move. Quickly. Before the word spread, before people would come after him. He had to get out of the school, probably out of the city too. He shouldn't go to Vlad, people knew he was associated with his parents. Vlad would probably betray him for his own safety anyway. He didn't know anyone outside of Amity beside his Aunt Alicia, so he'd have to improvise. Just like the chase across the country with Freakshow. Except, alone, this time. He wouldn't drag Sam and Tucker into this again, he'd never be so cruel to his friends twice.
Danny let himself be pulled into the invisible realm, and he ignored Dale and Dylan's appalled gasps. He didn't know where he was going yet, but he figured he'd still have time to grab a bag of essentials from his house. In fact, he already had an emergency bag packed for this exact situation. Again, it was just something he'd learned to expect from the Freakshow incident. He'd fly into his room quickly, phase out, and hopefully he wouldn't have to face his parents at all.
When he got to his street, it was completely deserted. He didn't see the GAV either, so that meant his parents weren't there. Maybe they'd seen it on the internet already and had raced out to find him at school. That idea was almost three times as worse.
He went in his room, and there was instantly a gun at his head. There was no attacker, but it was an automated defense from his house's anti-creep mode. Instinctively, Danny changed back to human so he wouldn't be shot. Since the anti-creep mode was activated, that definitely indicated that Jack and Maddie had heard about Danny, so they'd left the house defended while they were out.
Having to change back to human form was definitely going to slow him down, but he had no choice until he got outside of FentonWorkds. With as much energy as he could muster, Danny propelled himself to the other side of his room and looked for his emergency bag that he had stashed in the back of his closet. He rummaged through the messy closet before getting a firm grip on the bag, and began running down the stairs. It was then that he realized he was at a crossroad. He could either hide somewhere in the human world, outside of Amity Park, or he could temporarily hide inside the Ghost Zone. He'd packed enough snacks to last him probably about three weeks in there, so it was a possible option. But he didn't have time to weigh his decision; Danny had to move as fast as possible.
He made a choice. The Ghost Zone was too risky, and he'd probably do better hiding out in the woods or in a big city where no one would recognize him. Plus, he was still alive, which the Ghost Zone wasn't suitable for.
But as Danny made his way towards the front door of his house, he found himself instantly regretting his on the spot decision. Only twenty feet away were around ten GIW agents, all of them armed with blasters that were trained on him within seconds. Even if he transformed, there was little opportunity for him to escape this.
There was a loud clicking noise, and before he realized what had happened, there was a pair of ectocuffs around both of his wrists. He wrestled against his bonds, but the butt of an agent's gun came down over his eyes and he felt his knees pound against the pavement. Everything else lost sensation, and he was missing.