If You Give A Ghost A Nightmare
*RUNS INTO THE SITE SCREAMING APOLOGIES*
*DROPKICKS THIS ATCHU FOUR YEARS LATE WITH STARBUCKS AND A HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION*
*RUNS BACK OUT, STILL SCREAMING*
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Danny Phantom soared through the skies, shooting back home to deliver that night's catches back to the Ghost Zone. With the wind in his hair and the stars in the sky, he felt more relaxed than he had in a good long while.
There were a few cars going by down below, but he didn't pay them any mind until he was within hit-and-run range.
All in all, it was probably the most serene moment he'd had since his parents decided to capture him.
Ironically enough, that was when they sprung their trap.
"PUT YOUR SLIMEY HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM, GHOST!!!"
Danny winced at the sound of his mother's voice, but held up his hands. From the sound of it, (and the headlights) they had pulled up behind him while he was lost in thought. While he knew he could avoid his dad's lousy shots, his mom was, well, his mom. Even if they were just a regular family, she would only give up an escape route if she intended for her prey to leave.
In short, he was stuck until he could figure out what to do.
"Do ya think you could use the word 'please' more often?" Danny quipped, his voice hiding his worry.
Maddie scoffed. "That's a courtesy only extended to those from the land of the living!"
Danny cringed again. He really wanted to make some witty 'but I'm halfway there' comment, but instead settled for turning around to see what they were pointing at him this time.
A Fenton Foamer for each parent, their jumpsuit weapons all engaged, and the GAV completely fired up. They weren't playing around anymore.
"Alright, Maddie, Jack, what did I do this time?" Danny snarked, his mouth turning up in a grin as he realized he hadn't stumbled over his parents' names for once.
Jack looked like he was ready to fire, but Maddie stayed his hand and turned back to their prey. "This isn't about anything you've done tonight, spook. This is about the mayor, and the jewels!"
Danny flinched at the mentions of the times he was framed. "Aw dang. And I'm guessing I can't convince you that it really wasn't my fault-because it wasn't?"
"You're a ghost!" Jack declared. "It's in your nature to lie and decieve!"
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Danny shot back, now on edge. There was a ghost nearby, one that had no problems with attacking a human, so he had to wrap this up and make sure his parents got back home. "Did you ask one? Or did you put stock in he-said-she-said before finding evidence for yourself?"
"What's it to you, ghost?" Maddie narrowed her eyes, looking down her gun at him, trigger finger twitching.
"Well, considering you two plan on ripping me apart molecule by molecule on the basis of your flawed theory, I figure my existence is kinda in jeopardy if I can't show you the truth." Phantom's eyes shot around, scanning the area for their would-be attacker.
Jack finally ran out of patience, firing his weapon. "You don't deserve an existence, scum!"
A net shot from the muzzle, trapping Danny and making him drop his Fenton Thermos. The kickback knocked Jack on his rear end, but Danny had bigger problems.
His vision swum. "Wha…whadiya do ta me?"
"Like it?" Maddie smirked. "It's an energy-sapping upgrade to our original net. The moment it entraps you, it drains your power until you can't use any of your supernatural abilities. Now, you're coming with us."
With those words, Danny Phantom sunk into unconsciousness, not to wake up for a long, long time.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Jack shut the door to the Fenton Ghost Containment Unit and headed back to his wife. "Phantom is secure. Now can we tear it apart molecule by molecule?"
"Not yet." Maddie flipped a few switches, turning on a monitor in the process. "It did make a valid point. We haven't exactly been adhering to our scientific principles when it comes to ghosts."
"So…no tearing?" Jack grumbled. "Aw man…"
Maddie pressed a button. "The best way to get unbiased information from Phantom is to get it while its guard is down. It appears to be emulating human sleep, which means it could be emulating dreams, as well. If we can find out what it dreams about, we can find out the truth as Phantom believes it to be."
A light came on, signalling that everything being viewed was being recorded.
There was static on the monitor for a moment, then as Phantom snored, an image flashed into being.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
A birds-eye view of the town.
An overlay indicated the feeling of peace.The viewpoint shifted, then flew in loops in every direction.
There was echo-y whooping of joy, and the emotional overlay indicated extreme enjoyment.
The image froze as Phantom was overcome with dread.
'A ghost? Here? But I thought I caught them all!'
Ah, Daniel, that is where you're mistaken.'
Phantom's field of vision whirled around to face Vlad Masters, floating behind him. 'What do you want, Plasmius?'
Oh, it's not about what I want,' Dream Masters (Plasmius?!) chuckled, 'it's about what you want, dear boy.'
'What, is Desiree giving you evil lessons now?' Phantom quipped. 'You've lost your touch.'
'Have I?' Dream Masters pointed back to where Phantom had been facing before he'd shown up.
A feminine scream pierced the air, and Phantom's dread was replaced by fear.
Phantom gasped, spinning around. Suddenly, he was no longer high above Amity Park, but rather, inside a red and white version of Vlad Masters's mansion. In the middle of the foyer, there was an operating table with a young girl who looked a lot like Phantom.
'DANIELLE!!!'
Phantom darted to her side just as she melted into ectoplasmic goop, her final expression that of sadness and pain.
'NOOO!!!'
Phantom fumbled for something, only to find nothing. Dream Vlad chuckled and swept into view. 'Looking for this?'
Phantom's head snapped up, the overlay on the monitor shifting from grief to fury. In Dream Vlad's hands, there was a syringe of something green.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"Hey, isn't that the Ecto-Dejecto?" Jack frowned. "I thought I got rid of that after it backfired and made ghosts stronger?"
Maddie squinted at the monitor. Not only was Phantom dreaming, but it was…he was dreaming about emotional moments.
What was going on?
〜〜〜〜〜〜
'Hand it over, frootloop.' Phantom demanded. His voice had lost all levity, and his emotional state was in turmoil. 'Let me save her.'
'What was that? You want me to' -Dream Vlad crushed the syringe between his fingers- 'handle it roughly? Done!"Phantom's heart(?) fell like a rock.
'HOW COULD YOU?!' Phantom screamed. 'SHE WAS BASICALLY YOUR DAUGHTER! YOURS WAS THE FIRST FACE SHE SAW! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!'
Dream Vlad chuckled again, this time shifting from Vlad Masters to Vlad Plasmius. The resemblance was, quite frankly, uncanny. 'It's chess, Daniel. I wouldn't expect you to understand the importance of sacrificing a pawn to protect the king.'
Phantom leapt at him, and as far as his point of view was concerned, the world became a huge jumble of colors.
Suddenly he was laying on a decimated highway. Rubble lay everywhere, and it was deathly silent.
Phantom made to push himself up, but froze at the sight of his gloves.
They were black as night.
'No…nononono…NONONONONO!' Phantom yelped, but his voice was now deep and smooth, rather than high and squeaky like the preteen he seemed to be.
He looked around at his body, now muscled and dangerous. A black and white cape fluttered in the wind. The emotional overlay signalled fear, horror, and self-hatred, all in unimaginable amounts.
In the distance, he could hear echoes of the word 'inevitable.'
Phantom fell to his knees, sobbing.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"What's so scary about being buff?" Jack tilted his head in confusion.
Maddie added under her breath, "Why would he dream of destruction, and then…hate it?"
"He?" Jack shot a look at his wife, but both were drawn by the sounds of Phantom's shifting in his sleep.
His face screwed up in discomfort as he groaned.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Some rubble shifted, and Phantom flinched, looking up at it
A decaying corpse of Jazz pushed its way into view. In its hand, there was the shell of the Fenton Peeler. 'You're…not…Danny…'
'inevitable inevitable inevitable'
'N-no! It's me! J-Jazz, IT'S ME!' Phantom wept. 'Please…help me…'
More debris shifted, and two more zombies rose up from the wreckage of the Nasty Burger, this time in the shapes of Sam and Tucker.
Zombie Sam moaned. 'You…weren't…fast enough…to…save…us…'
'…how…could…you…' Zombie Tucker continued. '…you…left us…alone…'
'Inevitable! Inevitable!'
'NO! I DIDN'T…I DIDN'T MEAN TO!' Phantom screamed. He fell into grieving again. 'I SWEAR! I TRIED AS HARD…AS HARD…as I…I…I'M SORRY!'
As the three advanced on him, Phantom shot up into the air, sobbing openly.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Jack and Maddie Fenton couldn't tear their eyes away from the ghost or the screen.
Green tears trickled from Phantom's eyes as he shuddered.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
There was a whine of ecto-weaponry behind him.
'Been waiting a looong time for this, Phantom!'
'VALERIE!' Phantom yelled, spinning to face her. 'PLEASE!'
'Me? My future? I'm…'
Valerie's hair couldn't make up its mind. Was it long or short? Wavy or buzz-cut? Held up by her head or her headband? Hidden under the Red Huntress's mask or swept to the side by the breeze?
Her hoverboard also had issues staying the same, but her face never changed. 'I WON'T BE TRICKED THIS TIME!'
'ME? MY FUTURE? I'M INEVITABLE!'
Phantom choked on a sob and shot away, nearly getting nailed by Valerie's blasts. He zipped through the wreckage of the city, eventually beelining for what was left of Casper High.
The moment he flew inside, his body changed into its normal self; lean, lanky, and not at all muscular. He ran through the halls, completely ignored by all the students, very nearly colliding with someone in a letter jacket.
'Hey, watch it, Fenturd!'
The jock grabbed the front of Phantom's suit (which was a white and red t-shirt now?) and pulled him up to eye level.
Dash Baxter glared down at Phantom as he sputtered. 'Sorry, Dash, I just gotta get to class and wasn't looking where I was going-'
'That's right, you weren't looking!' Dash growled. 'We'll deal with this after school, y'hear me?!'
'Hey, leave him alone!'
Tucker and Sam reappeared, this time completely alive.
'Ugh, fine…for now…' Dash grumbled, slamming Phantom into the locker door before leaving.
'Hey, dude, you okay?' Tucker asked. 'Dash roughed you up something hard.'
Phantom waved off the question. 'I'll be fine. Come on, let's try not to be late.'
Sam came up and offered an arm to steady Phantom, something he gratefully accepted.
With no warning, the trio were in class, waiting for the teacher. The classroom was mostly empty, save for their group.
'So, who do ya think is gonna be the sub?' Sam asked, doodling in her notebook.
'Probably Lancer again.' Phantom sighed. 'You two know how much he's waiting for someone to cheat on the CATs so he can "set them straight," yeah?'
The two friends didn't respond.
'Uh, guys?' Phantom started getting a bad feeling about what was happening. 'You two okay?'
The sub sauntered in, but he was not Mr. Lancer.
'I will be your sub today.' The white ghost stated. 'I'm here because I hear you punks like to break the rules. My name is Walker. You will only address me as "Sir" unless you wanna break the rules.'
The door opened again, this time for a pale man with a staff and a top hat. 'And I am Freakshow! If Walker here decides you need punishment, I shall be the one to dole it out.' He gave his staff a shake.
Fear crept into Phantom's mind, but he couldn't look away from the crystal ball on top of the staff.
'ZONING OUT IN CLASS!' Walker's voice made Phantom jump. 'That's against the rules!'
'ACK!' Phantom scrambled backwards, suddenly alone in the room with Walker and Freakshow.
Walker changed into the old mayor and dragged Phantom out the door, wrestling him into position. They stood on the steps of City Hall, where every news crew waited.Walker-the-mayor faked a struggle, crying out, 'Help! Help me!' before shoving Phantom back into the building, now the inside of a jewelry store. 'Now they'll never trust you.'
Phantom's emotional overlay filled with heartbreak.
As Walker vanished, Freakshow walked into view again, this time clutching his staff with some sort of bejeweled gauntlet.
'Now, my slave, you must obey me!' He declared, forcing his crystal ball staff to fill Phantom's vision.
There wasn't much change in the visuals for a little while, just the sounds of sirens and screams. In the background, Freakshow's voice could be heard issuing orders, which Phantom had no choice but to carry out.
There were a few moments of clarity. On a high wire in Circus Gothica, Sam slipped and fell, only for Phantom to swoop down and save her, filled with worry.
Then again, this time on a train chugging away. Freakshow tried to make Phantom return the staff, treating him like a wild animal. Sam and Tucker were trapped by the other ghosts under the staff's spell.
Sam's foot lost purchase on the train, and she tipped over and out of view.
The moment Sam fell off the train, the scene changed again.
This time, Phantom was with Sam and Tucker's zombies in the Fenton lab.Zombie Sam smirked. 'Five bucks…says you won't…go in there…
Phantom laughed nervously as his friend pointed at the inactive Ghost Portal. 'Haha, whaaat?'
Zombie Tucker grinned. 'Your parents…couldn't work it…so…why…not?'
'Alright, you two, you're on!' Phantom raised his hands in mock surrender. 'Lemme just grab the hazmat suit Mom and Dad made for me.'
He reached for a white jumpsuit with black gloves and boots, Jack Fenton's grinning face on the chest.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
"Jaaack, wasn't that Danny's suit?" Maddie's voice trembled as the puzzle pieces started coming together.
Jack couldn't answer.
He couldn't find the words.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Zombie Sam stopped him before he went into the portal. 'Hangon…goof…you can't go…in there…wearing…your dad's face.' She pulled the sticker off and put one of her own in its place.
A black Danny Phantom symbol.
'Alright…now go for it…' She stepped back by Zombie Tucker.
Phantom turned and walked into the portal, apprehension in each step.
He lost his balance and stuck his arm out to the side, hitting something in the wall.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
As Phantom screamed in his dream, he screamed louder in reality. His back arched, his muscles tensed, and the Fenton GCU shorted out.
Green lightning sparked all over him, some of which shot out from the cage and into the lab.
Two white rings of light came into being around his waist, much to the Fenton parents' shock.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
'DANNY!!!'
As the electricity died down, Phantom opened his eyes to find himself strapped to an operating table in the Fenton Lab.
Jack and Maddie's zombified corpses stood over him, their expressions unreadable as they reached for him with scalpels and other machinery.
'I'M STILL HERE! I'M STILL HERE!'
Sam and Tucker's voices could be heard, screaming for them to stop, but their bodies were nowhere to be found.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
The twin rings split apart, one heading for his head and the other for his feet.
His jumpsuit gave way to Sayonara Pussycat pajamas, his gloves and boots to bare skin.
His hair went from white as snow to black as Sam's.
Maddie and Jack held in a gasp as Danny Fenton shifted in his sleep.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
'NO!' Phantom struggled against his bonds as he melted into nothingness. 'IT'S ME! I'M YOUR SON! MOM, DAD, PLEASE! PLEASE!'
'I'M YOUR SON!'
I'M STILL HERE! I'M STILL HERE! I'M STILL HERE!
'IT'S ME!'
ME? MY FUTURE? ME? MY FUTURE? ME? ME? ME?
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE OH OW AH IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTSHURTSHURTSMAKEITSTOPMAKEITENDLETMEGOPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE
I'M INEVITABLE! I'M INEVITABLE! I'M INEVITABLE!
I'MSOSORRYJUSTPLEASELISTENTOMEFORONCEIT'SMEI'MYOURSONIT'SDANNYPLEASE
THAT MEANS YOU
I'LL NEVER TURN INTO YOU!
STILL TURN INTO ME!
NEVER!
〜〜〜〜〜〜
Danny sat up with a scream, only to bang his head against the top of the cage.
"Wh…this isn't my bed…" Danny groaned, rubbing his head.
A choked sob from behind him got his attention, and his head whipped around so fast it was a wonder he didn't get whiplash.
Jack Fenton was on his knees, dazed, tears running down his face.
Maddie Fenton's hands were over her mouth, eyes wide and shoulders shaking.
Danny Fenton looked down at his outfit-his SP jammies, not his DP jumpsuit.
Well, crud.
"…Danny?" Maddie whispered.
He gave the two a little wave. "Heh…hi, Mom. Hi, Dad."
Jack reached for the door, threw it open, and yanked his son into a bear hug.
"WHOA okay I guess we're hugging now." Danny wrapped his arms around his dad as best he could.
Footsteps from above. "Mom? Dad? Everything okay down there? I heard screaming!"
Jazz threw the door to the lab open and darted down the stairs to something she never thought she'd see.
A cage in the corner, the door nearly off its hinges.
Wide-eyed Mom and Dad, with Danny in his jammies.
All the machinery the parents had planned to use on Danny Phantom activated but unused.
Tears on the adults' faces and tension on Danny's.
Jazz gave Danny a meaningful look. "How much?"
"Heh…basically everything?" Danny forced his nerves under a smile.
"Aw, geez, we're gonna be here a while, then." Jazz sighed. Then, to their parents, "I didn't know at first either. I only found out because I was sick of wondering where Danny ran off to all the time, but I didn't tell him I knew until the CATs."
"We're…so, so sorry, Danny." Maddie forced out. "We weren't exactly giving you any reasons to tell us, were we?"
"Not really, no." He sighed. "But you couldn't have known. I never told you, so in your eyes, you were working to save Amity. And it all worked out in the end, didn't it?"
Maddie just pulled him from Jack's embrace ("Hey! Maddie!") and into her own, clutching him to her chest.
Things would never be the same, would they?
It didn't matter. As long as they stuck together, they could beat anything.
This time, they wouldn't keep secrets that could potentially harm anyone, even if it felt better to keep them.
The next person who laid a finger on Danny Phantom had to deal with her.
And she wouldn't be nearly so nice.
For now, though, they were together, and nothing could change that.
〜〜〜〜〜〜
EDIT: WELP THE FORMATTING WAS BEING A BUTT but i fixed it so yey. Note to self-keep an eye on the formatting so it doesn't go haywire again.