Danny settled back and folded his hands, inhaling through his nose as he closed his eyes and cleared his mind. This story…had been months in the making. Days after days of just sort of mumbling the various portions of it, alone with nothing more than a too-bright light bulb to keep him company. Sometimes he had written his ideas down, other times the emotions had welled up into self-pitying tears, and other times it was seething anger that left him fuming for hours.
He had plotted out his introduction countless times, no need to hesitate now
"What...happened to the man who got everything he wanted?"
Eyebrows went up just slightly. Danny nodded his head in confirmation of his vague question.
"That's what Willy Wonka asked to Charlie before he told him he lived happily ever after. It's a simple line, great way to end a movie, but completely blind to real life. To the man who got everything that he ever wanted, I think it would be more appropriate for the ending line to be 'he tried to figure out what to do with everything he ever wanted.' A lot of what we want is subliminal and doesn't emerge till we are tempted with it-the craving desires of the mind that bloom in the light of alluring promise."
"Then it becomes a matter of character. What do you do when you find your wants fulfilled, a dream answered, do you gloat? Do you want even more? Do you search for something unobtainable afterwards? I don't think that the human mind really knows limits till it convinces itself that there they exist."
"I try sometimes to remember life before I got…these superpowers, if you can call them that, and I wish, often, that things had continued that way. Only now can I say that I wish that life hadn't changed, and that the future was along a path that most American middle class kids follow, I wish I could have enjoyed nothing more than the simple things, and dealt with simple problems. I wish that I had vanished into the mingling masses of people that grow, age, and become mellow with age and go on to raise a family and continue this chain of quiet living. But of course, that's just wistful thinking. That's another funny thing about the mind; our reality is what we believe it too be. It's taken me a long time to realize what my reality actually is, rather than what I wanted it to be, which is called delusion."
"Of course, what can you really do when the lightning strikes, the murder is committed with the bang of a gunshot, the meteor falls, or you wake up after reincarnation? It happens in an instant, no decisions can determine your destiny at the moment of destiny itself."
"The Justice league was noticeably impressed by Phantom's references, except for Batman, who merely grimaced. Danny shuddered, his words more shaky now that his pre-thought out introduction was over."
"It was painful, I think, and it was a massive dosage all at once. I suppose that villains and heroes can be divided between the time it took for their transformations to occur. The longer it takes, the more embittered the person and the more likely a villain. The quicker it occurs, the more likely a hero. For me it lasted a few seconds, but it felt longer…just a sheering sensation, every nerve firing away even as they were destroyed, and then the cold, cold existence that has followed ever since. My parent's portal has done the action once, never again."
"The notion of hero status hit home a year later. The Disasteroid incident came like a great wind and launched my fate into uncertain free-fall, catapulting over all the doubts and limitations of a bewildered fourteen year old just the year before."
"Phantom?" Wonder Woman interceded. Danny raised his head, eyes coming back into focus. Dark Hair and blue eyes…somehow reminded him of someone else that was long gone.
"Yes?"
He managed to choke out the response. His heart beat was usually slow, a jerky sort of thump that was almost an afterthought that he could rarely ever detect, but he could feel it now, like a steady drum rotating within his rib cage. His voice was wavering under his nervousness, a sweat forming on his hairline and hands trembling slightly.
"You can calm down, we aren't hostile"
"I have a lot of sensitive history behind this…a lot of introspection to deal with. A lot of regret. A lot of bad memory."
"It was a Tuesday when I got back to school, after a long talk with my parents. They knew for the first time, and there reaction was mixed. There was a bit of betrayal at being mistrusted for eleven months, a bit of amazement and disbelief, a degree of excitement and of course, alienation. There was no one discussion that settled the matter, the questions they posed continued for days."
"My imagination had been wild in envisioning their reaction. As scientists, I imagined them on a mission of my destruction by dissection and scientific study. As ghost hunters, I imagined them to be at first fearful, then angry and finally resigned to abandonment. As parents, I knew that they gave me their compassion. All of these things floated through my head over that eleven month inauguration period of Danny Phantom, but in my heart, in my soul, there was something I wanted badly, very very badly, and that was acceptance, and their increased love for their unique child."
"That was hope, that was false dreams, because nothing turns out the way you predict it too when it comes to other people's reactions to a shocking revelation. What I saw was estrangement, and a rifting in the family between myself and them. The anger built up quickly after that, slowly smoldering in my ego which was swelling uncontrollably as the television media and support of a fascinated world poured in. Anger at them, anger at my sister for being privy to their feelings towards me while I was left with a façade of encouragement that they gave, anger at them not partaking in the glory that I was bathing in. It was the beginning of my decent into abyss, gone was Daniel Fenton, slowly replaced by Danny Phantom, not in a bipolar sort of way, but just a slow diffusion that is the agent of change in all people-unless you get brain damage, nobody just wakes up a different person. It only takes time, pressure, and sustained ignorance of such change before you go from one phase of your life to the next, usually without noticing it."
"I need a drink…"
It appeared that he was about to burst into tears and a scream at the same time. Noticeably, silver strands of hair were appearing on Phantom's head and the room's temperature had depressed as though the air conditioning were blowing full blast. Something dark had crossed his mind, and a twitch in his eye betrayed some sort of inner turmoil.
Phantom got up and, as composed as he could, walked out of the room, Robin following.
"I've never seen anyone give quite so thought out a testimony" Superman remarked. "How long was he incarcerated?"
"almost fifteen months now, mostly in alone" John Stewart said coolly "looks like it gave the man a lot of time to think. But I don't trust how honest he's being. Anyone can make a good speech"
"Let's give him the benefit of the doubt" Shayera said, sympathetic.
"Not at all, not after he attacked us in the rear like that, he's a sly guy in my opinion" Flash murmured.
"he's being genuine, even if he is hard to read" J'onn said definitively. "I would move to put him on probation and then an induction program"
The Justice League widened their eyes and looked over. Rarely did J'onn come to so quick a conclusion. And then, to their further astonishment, Batman nodded. He didn't say a word, just nodded. Flash threw up his hands. "I give up. I already told you guys that this meeting is pointless. If Bats and the Martin vote before we do what's the freaking point!?"
"Hush Wally, I want to see this play out, I want to see it before I believe it" Superman raised a hand. "besides his case is unique"
"I think he's got a story that we all don't want to hear because it reminds us of ourselves all too much"
Nobody said anything to Wonder Woman "Easy to just judge and not be judged" she said with a wry smile.
"We'll see" John Stewart sat back in his seat, folding his arms. "We'll see"
AN: Thank you to CrowsMelody
chicaalterego For reviewing!