Paradoxical (by timydamonkey)
Chapter One: A Traitor to Himself
For a moment of pure horror that seemed to last for an eternity, Danny just stared down at himself. The gloves he had been wearing appeared to have inverted to white, just as the suit itself had become black. The reflection in the portal (ghosts had reflections? He hadn't ever thought so, but he'd never had reason to ask either) was slightly distorted, and he found himself staring at a scared looking boy with snow-white hair and dazzlingly green eyes.
No.
Danny wasn't stupid. He had no idea what had happened, but he also knew there was only one way he could be floating… if he was a ghost… if he was dead. Dimly he wondered why he didn't seem to have any urges to go and wreak ghostly destruction, but maybe that came later. He knew it would come. His parents had told him so. Over anything paranormal, Danny Fenton trusted his parents.
Then the moment shattered with two cries from upstairs:
"…What-"
"….GHOST!"
Danny began to hyperventilate. Slowly his feet sunk to the floor. It was a little odd, he could feel the ground but it somehow felt… different, as if he was treading on a thin sheet of ice that he could fall through at any moment. What was he going to do…? He was a ghost, so maybe they couldn't see him! For all the stories Danny had heard of ghosts, he'd never actually seen one, so he decided it was reasonable – and very hopeful – to just try and get back upstairs.
He had no idea what he'd do when he was up there, but a half-done plan was better than none. Really he wanted to just sit down and scream, but there'd always be time for that later. Besides, he thought morbidly, it looked as if he'd have all the time in the world.
He crept up the stairs as quietly as he could, grabbing hold of the rail at the side. At that moment, he felt like a frail old man. All of his strength seemed to have drowned out of him. Upstairs, his parents were probably conferring about where the scream had come from. Hopefully, this would give him some time –
"Jack!" his mother's voice announced imperiously. "Search the lab!"
Danny didn't know if his heart still beat as a ghost, but he was fairly sure if it didn't, this shock would be at least enough to scare it back into beating. He was terrified. He lost all grip he'd been holding and stared in a daze, then realized he really needed to get moving.
He wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.
Danny stumbled as he climbed, but froze when his foot seemed to fall right through the step.
For a moment, he was paralysed with terror – he really was a ghost; a murderer; a heartless beast waiting to rip anything apart because he was jealous; a villain with a vengeance and no mission but to kill; a complete animal; a – and then he tried to pull out his foot very haphazardly in his terror, and then he fell and tumbled down to the bottom of the steps. He blinked dazedly. The most peculiar feeling had overcome him, an almost electrical sensation that actually felt quite pleasant.
The next thing that Danny knew, the door had opened and his father stood there for a moment before yelling, "Aha! Gotcha now!" In that moment when Danny stared at his father, he saw death himself. He paled, but closed his eyes. After all, he should be happy. His father would… dispose of him – that way he wouldn't have to hurt anybody. It was a blessing, really.
He knew all of that and it made him wonder why he was trembling so badly.
The sound of his father walking down the steps was like a loud gong. He waited for something to happen, but there was a long pause before his father said, "Danny?"
Danny opened his eyes again, still shaking, terrified of himself but wondering how his father knew it was him and why he hadn't attacked yet.
"Danny boy, are you okay?" His father's hands pulled him up. Danny stared at his own hands for an extra moment. His arms were bare, and he appeared to be in his usual attire. What had happened? Where was the jumpsuit? Why did he seem… normal now? Had he been dreaming? Had he perhaps fell down the stairs first and been knocked out?
He really hoped that that was the situation. He felt like he was in an odd sort of dream state. Perhaps he was in shock. He wanted to go to bed, and sleep, and forget about anything that he felt had just happened. He'd been imagining things. There was no other possible explanation…
He didn't really register his father dragging him upstairs, his mother's concerned questions, them settling him in bed or the way they stared at him, somehow knowing all was not right with him. As far as he was concerned, one minute he was in the lab and then the next minute lying in bed.
Pushing the confusion aside, Danny relaxed. He was in bed. It was all just a dream. Satisfied with this situation, he lay down and sleep came almost immediately.
Everywhere was white. It stretched upwards in a void of nothingness; a place that he was pretty sure didn't actually exist. If this wasn't odd enough then someone appeared… he appeared…
No, that was a lie. It wasn't him. He'd seen him before, he knew, and he was scared. The other boy looked scared for a moment, too. The boy seemed to be getting further backwards without actually moving, as if Danny himself was trying to drag himself away from such a… creature.
He wasn't human. He was a ghost. And it wasn't him!
The boy had started moving forward now, and the backing up sensation became more rapid. The white-haired green-eyed youth – the ghost – walked at a leisurely stroll, a slow pace, but he was getting closer and closer as if nothing was moving away from him at all.
All of a sudden, the youth stopped. He quirked an eyebrow and grinned. To Danny, it was like looking at a predatory gaze of a shark. He gulped.
For a moment, the boy did nothing – then two rings of energy suddenly enveloped him and it was like staring in a mirror. For a moment, he was seeing a malicious version of himself, then the mirror image's eyes widened in desperate fear. He looked as if he was going to scream –
Danny woke up, covered in a thin layer of sweat. For the remainder of the night, he stared at the ceiling, and thought, and for a few short moments, cried.
Danny was a wreck.
They'd known it from the moment he'd walked into Lancer's classroom that morning. He had bags under his eyes and looked very deep in thought. Everybody had noticed.
Only they had noticed how much he was shaking. In a way, they supposed it was natural. They were his best friends. And that was how Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley had ended up spending their whole first class wondering what the hell could have happened in under twenty four hours to make Danny act like a zombie.
They'd even taken to whispering to each other, not caring so much if they were found out because helping their friend was more important. (That, and Tucker had apparently had his most recent PDA stolen. Sam was expecting another one to pop up at any minute.)
They hadn't really gotten anywhere. Sam had said that maybe somebody had died, but Tucker pointed out they'd probably know at least something about that. Tucker suggested it may have something to do with whatever Danny's parents had wanted to show him, but Sam pointed out that he was so used to that sort of thing it couldn't do anything to cause him to act like this ("But, Sam!" Tucker said, "Technology can be scary if you're not completely enlightened!") The theories had ended up degrading into Tucker stating that maybe the real Danny had been abducted by aliens. It was about that time that they realized that things were getting ridiculous and that it wasn't really getting them anywhere.
Sam suggested that they needed to confront him about it. For once, Tucker agreed.
Something was going on with their friend. And whatever it was, from the looks of him, it was tearing him apart from the inside.
Author's Notes: Good grief, this really is getting angst-ridden. I hope this is as good as the prologue. I shouldn't really update now; I should be revising. But I suppose, seeing as next week is half-term, that I can forgive myself.
ALSO: I put up a little bit of additional information about this fic in my profile, if anybody's interested.
I thank you all for the reviews. You guys are all great; I've never had such a bunch of cool reviews. I'm sorry if I haven't had time to reply, I'm trying to reply whenever I get a review but I'm quite forgetful. Also, thanks to the people who may not have reviewed but have put this on their favourites or story alert – you guys rock too. Constructive criticism is welcome; flames (read: "mindless insults") are not.