A/N: This chapter is short, but I just couldn't resist breaking off here...

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Reality

Danny sat on the floor of the living room, cross legged, chewing on a slice of pepperoni pizza. The TV was on, showing some animal wildlife program Sam had probably chosen, but nobody was watching it. The normalcy of the scene, them sitting together in the living room, eating pizza with the TV on gave him a feeling that could only be described as happiness. He wasn't just Danny Phantom, ghost boy freak, hunted by his parents, Valerie, the GIW. He was just plain Danny. The same as he had always been.

They had talked at great length about Danny Phantom and he was finally able to explain himself, his actions in the past, the events that had made him look evil. To his immense relief his parents had listened carefully to him and they had actually believed him. Because he was their son. They did seem uncomfortable when he mentioned overshadowing, but to his relief they didn't ask him if he had ever done that.

They also, very tentatively, questioned him about his time with Vlad and he managed to stay in control the whole time, trying his best to answer their questions without going into the painful details. He could see on their faces that they knew he wasn't telling them everything, but some things were just better left alone.

Jazz had been taking notes the whole time, frantically scribbling in her notebook and every now and then he had scowled at her for trying to analyze him, forgetting that a month ago he would have given his right arm for her to do so again. He didn't question his mood swings, he was keeping a delicate balance as it was and he didn't want her poking around in his psyche. In the end he just grabbed the notebook from her and told her to just eat her pizza and stop trying to figure him out, he'd get to her later.

"So how did you get to Tucker," Jazz asked him, taking one of the last slices from the huge pizza box that was on the table, carefully pushing the molten cheese back on it.

Sam laughed. "He annoyed the hell out of him by showing off his ghost powers," she smirked, "Tucker used to be jealous of Danny's powers."

She was sitting next to him on the floor, her back against the couch, watching the TV with a half eye. Every now and then he leaned against her to grab a new slice of pizza and she didn't seem to mind.

Tucker blushed. "It's nothing to be jealous off," he said, "I know that now..."

"So... are you going to try to annoy me too?" Jazz asked, staring at him intently. Danny shook his head.

"You're trying too hard. I'll figure something out, Jazzie," he said, purposely using the nickname he had had for her when they were younger, "I needed to get through to Tucker first, because I needed him for the ghost hunting. I can't handle two at the time."

Tucker looked at him in surprise, and also a little pleased. In the silence that followed they started to watch the TV again, where a group of lions was just starting to eat a gnu, tearing at the carcass. Tucker grabbed the remote and started flipping channels at a very high speed. Danny smacked him and tried to get the remote away from him but Tucker held it out of his reach.

"Cut it out!" Danny said, "How can you even see what's on this way?"

"Years of practice," Tucker said, "This is very efficient."

Danny pointed his finger at the remote and blasted it out of Tucker's hand, sending it flying. It landed on the couch between his parents. The happy chattering stopped abruptly and they all turned to stare at Danny. He felt the color drain from his face as he realized what he had done. How could he ever have thought he was normal, just like everybody else... He climbed to his feet.

"I'm...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have... I'll be up in my room."

He dashed out of the living room and he heard his mother call after him, telling him to stop, to wait, but he paid no attention to her and he ran up the stairs. He slammed the door of his room behind him and leaned against it, feeling slightly dizzy, still a little weak from the ghost fight from that afternoon. What had he just done? He shouldn't use his ghost powers that way, they would think he was a freak. Which he was of course, but he had always liked pretending to be normal, as far as you could speak of normal in this house. Now that they knew, everything would be different.

He heard a soft cracking sound outside his room and he knew someone was coming up the stairs. He really didn't want to face anybody right then, so he quickly transformed and shot out of the house, while thinking this was another way of setting himself apart from others. Somehow he couldn't not use his ghost powers. They were part of his very being, it came as natural to him as breathing. Well, breathing in his human form.

He drifted above the house and looked down. Light was shining out the windows, giving the house a homey look, despite the huge 'Fenton Works' sign. He saw a light flicker on in his room and someone opened the window to look outside, casting a shadow on the street. Quickly he flew higher up in the dark sky, going invisible. If he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found. The figure in his room seemed to realize that too, because the window closed and the light went out.

The overcast sky was obscuring his view on the night sky so he flew even higher up, through the clouds, until he could see the stars. The view was magnificent and he looked at the constellations, floating on his back, his hands behind his head. He remembered going to the park sometimes, to go star gazing, because there weren't any street lights there to interfere. The view from up here was infinitely better though, one of the good things about his ghost powers.

The clouds up there looked like a fluffy landscape, forming snowy mountains and valleys, almost glowing in the faint star light. There was no moon and the milky way formed a hazy band of light across the sky. It looked like something from a fairy tale, unreal, magical. Danny wished he could stay up there forever, but was careful not to voice that. Desiree would have a field day if she heard.

He stayed up there for a long time, keeping a wary eye out for airplanes. He didn't know exactly where he was, or if he was anything near an air corridor and being hit by an airplane would be a dumb way to go.

Sighing he let himself slowly sink through the clouds again, embracing their cold dampness. For a while, he was nowhere. He could see only a couple of feet in every direction, his only indication of up or down the slight pull of gravity. The starlight was not enough to protrude the clouds and it quickly got very dark around him. It would stay that way until he reached the bottom of the clouds, which were lit from below by the lights of Amity Park. If he still was anything near the town. The wind could have blown him all out for all he knew.

He realized he had been a fool. Running away like that, not facing reality. It solved nothing, it only delayed the inevitable. At best, it got him completely lost.

Suddenly a soft chopping sound broke the cold, dark silence around him. He strained his ears, but couldn't make out where it was coming from. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on feeling through the fog, but it was messing up his ability to sense any beings, human or ghost. A feeling of dread came over him, and he let himself fall down faster.

Too late.

Something grabbed him from behind, slicing through his suit, cutting him in his arms. He cried out in surprise and started struggling to free himself, succeeding only partly. Yanking his left arm out of the one demon's grip he whirled around and blasted the other in it's face at close range, exploding it's head, showering him in it's cold, black blood. He still couldn't see, but he felt their leathery, cold skin against his neck as another one of them put its arm around it, almost choking him. A third and a fourth demon grabbed his legs and pulled, and then there were dozens of them, grabbing him, cutting him, sinking their teeth into his flesh, growling and hissing.

Danny screamed in pain and he felt his energy leaving him quickly. He had to get free, or he would revert back into his human form and at this altitude that would be a very bad idea. The chopping sound came closer, but he still couldn't see anything and in his panic he did the only thing left to him. He took a deep breath to let out his ghostly wail and then stopped.

"Hold still," a voice said.

He knew that voice. Automatically, he obeyed, months of conditioning kicking in. His mind seemed to shut down, unable to cope with reality anymore. Father had come for him. He would save him as always, take him into the helicopter so he wouldn't fall. He would punish him for disobeying him and after that everything would be alright.

Maddie closed the window in Danny's room. He obviously didn't want to be found right then, and she didn't want to upset him more by chasing after him. She thought she knew why Danny was so upset. All his life, he had desperately tried to be normal, pretending he had normal parents, trying to fit in at school. Jazz did that too, but she had had more success at it, by distancing herself from her family and their weird business.

She felt slightly guilty about that. But she couldn't change who she was anymore than Jack could. And in their weirdness, they had always been a very close family. She had always thought that that was what mattered most and that it would be enough. But maybe not when you were a teenager, unsure of your place in the world, measuring your life by your status at school.

Slowly she descended the stairs and went back into the living room. The others had finished the pizza and were now watching the news on TV. They looked up when they noticed her standing in the door.

"Is he alright?" Tucker asked.

Maddie shrugged. "He took off. He'll be back."

She sat down with them.

"Did he do that often around you, using his powers I mean?" she asked Sam and Tucker.

"Eh, I guess so, yes. Sometimes. When he was sure nobody was watching. He usually grabs his books from his locker without opening it," Sam answered.

"Then why was he so upset about using his powers just now?" Maddie asked.

They all shook their heads. Jazz looked pensive.

"I still don't remember him," she said sadly, "But it seems to me that if he was never reluctant to use his powers in front of Sam or Tucker, it must be because of you."

She pointed at Maddie and Jack.

Maddie nodded and Jack looked surprised.

"Why would he be afraid of us?" he said, "He knows we accept him?"

"But he can no longer be normal," Maddie said sadly.