Phantom, Danny

Section 2: The Series

This starts a new 'section' of the Phantom, Danny universe. From here on, each chapter will be various scenes out of the series as this AU slowly diverges from the canon timeline.

YOU ARE HEREBY WARNED: This is my VERSION of the events portrayed in the show. I haven't watched the episodes. They are not incredibly canon-compliant for several reasons. PLEASE don't send me long descriptions of the episodes and lists of what I got wrong. I already know what I am changing from canon and I promise you I'm doing it on purpose.

These scenes are not pre-written and updates will post when I get something done.

Phantom, Danny

The story you know from a slightly different point of view.

Chapter 1: The Meat

-Day 37-

Tuesday dawned bright and clear. Daniel yawned and stretched, silencing the buzzing alarm clock. Rolling over, he stared out the window. Sunshine shown through tree leaves, casting green-tinted shadows on the sidewalk. A grin grew on his face as he sat up and watched the clouds float by. He poked at his human counterpart, getting nothing but Danny's sleepy groan in response.

Giving up on his human actually waking up, Daniel rolled out of bed. As was becoming the norm for them, Danny slept through the early morning rituals. The human boy's presence was a warm, heavy feeling in the back of Daniel's mind as he grabbed his favorite shirt and rushed for the bathroom, hoping to get through the worst of the task in record time. He ran a brush through his hair, then hesitantly grabbed the toothbrush and scrubbed at his teeth. The taste of the toothpaste made his nose wrinkle.

In was unfortunately necessary. They'd gone to the dentist a few days ago and Daniel had listened - in absolute horror - at what having a cavity meant. He'd vowed that it wasn't ever going to happen to him, but that meant he needed to do certain things to care for the body he was using.

He was slowly coming to the realization that this body needed to be kept safe in ways his ghost form had never needed. Humans were vulnerable. He had been small, insignificant, and powerless as a ghost, but even he'd been stronger than this fragile human form. Brushing his teeth was just one of the many horrifying things that needed to be done to keep this body healthy.

Spitting out a mouthful of the disgusting toothpaste, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. Black hair. Blue eyes. A pale, slightly weak-looking body. Danny Fenton - a name he was also borrowing.

A body that was part ghost.

He laughed and leaned closer, letting energy swirl into his eyes. An alien, inhuman green misted through them before dying back down.

"Are you going to be in there all morning?" came an annoyed voice.

Daniel shot a glance at the door, trying to place the voice. He was starting to be able to pick out various humans based on their appearance, but voices still threw him for a loop. This voice likely belonged to Jazz or Mom, as they were the two females that lived in this house. "I am done," he answered, making sure his shirt was straight and opening the door.

The human blocked the doorway as its eyes flickered over his clothes. "Same shirt again," it commented.

He edged past the female, sending her a smile and doing his best not to touch her. Humans were clingy things, and he still wasn't sure if this was Jazz or Mom. The two humans simply looked too much alike. Jazz was the one that tended to grab and touch without warning and needed to be avoided. "I like this shirt."

It rolled its eyes as it headed into the bathroom. "You should buy a few more of them, then."

"There are more of them?" he said, incredulous, but the door was shut and he found himself in an empty hallway. "Where?" He poked at the sleeping human, but he didn't care enough about having an answer right then to wake Danny. He had his shirt for today. He could ask later.

Breakfast was the same ordeal as always, never failing to snap Daniel out of the good mood that clung to him when he first woke up. Danny refused to wake up for the meal - merely rolling over and muttering sleepy, dark threats about not getting to fly later - which forced Daniel to deal with the morning ritual of eating. He slunk around the kitchen, poking and prodding at the various objects in there and wasting time, hoping that School would start before he had to actually eat. He was aware this frail human body required it, but he still wished he didn't have to participate in the disgusting act.

The procrastination never worked. Mom always plopped breakfast on the table and made him eat some of it before he was allowed to leave for School. Oatmeal, today.

"I don't know what's gotten into you," Mom said after it set the bowl down and got a dish of its own. "You used to love breakfast."

Daniel shrugged, hoping to avoid having to speak to it. He picked up the spoon and swirled the oatmeal around.

"I put honey and brown sugar in it," it said after a minute, adding a significant glance towards the bowl.

He slowly scooped up a small bite and set it in his mouth. The sweetness from the honey and sugar made him pause. Surprised at the fact that it didn't taste as bad as he'd been dreading, Daniel picked at the oatmeal, carefully scooping up as much of the honey and brown sugar and as little of the oats as possible.

"Do you want me to just hand you the jar?"

With a blink of incomprehension, Daniel glanced up at Mom. "What?"

Mom smiled at him. "Eat the oatmeal too, Sweetheart. Not just the honey."

He sighed and made sure his next spoonful had more oats on it. The sweet honey nearly covered up the bland flavor of the oats. As he nibbled at his breakfast, he thought that perhaps this eating thing wasn't too horrible. At least, if you ignored all the chemical processes involved in digestion and the wastes that were created and would need to be gotten rid of later.

He shuddered and set down his spoon, that thought driving away even the slightest bit of enjoyment in the sugary taste, and glanced up at Mom. It was busy reading a newspaper. "I am going to School," he told it.

It nodded. "Have fun."

Setting his half-full breakfast bowl in the sink, Daniel stuffed his feet into his shoes, didn't bother with trying to tie them, and hurried out the door. Maybe Sam would be waiting for him at the corner and they could walk to School together.

.

.15.

.

-Day 37-

He took the 'eating is not so bad' sentiment back at lunch. Fortunately, the vast majority of the students at School seemed to agree with him.

"This… this isn't food!" The Tucker complained louder than necessary.

"It's called a salad," came Sam's instant retort.

"It's garbage!" The Tucker snapped back.

I agree. It's garbage, Danny muttered from the back of his mind. You and me finally agree on not eating lunch. This is disgusting.

Daniel picked at the bits of green on his plate, moving them around with his fork. He picked up one of the leafy bits with his fingers and took a small bite. It was tasteless and crunchy.

Eating was one of the most disgusting and annoyingly scheduled habits the humans had - but at least they had developed taste in most of their food. What was the point of eating if there wasn't even any taste to it?

Sam was sitting up straight in her seat, a deadly look to her eyes as she leaned over to the table towards The Tucker. "It's great for the school, Tucker! With the obesity epidemic-"

"Meat doesn't cause obesity!" The Tucker said. "Find me one article that says that."

"Vegetables are full of nutrients and vitamins important for growth and development. I can find you dozens of studies that say we don't eat enough of them."

The Tucker scowled. "I eat things that eat vegetables. That's good enough for me. And do you want to talk nutrients? Let's talk protein."

Do you want me to take over? Danny asked. They're just going to do this the rest of lunch period.

Daniel thought about it, then nodded and took a step backwards in his mind. He felt the heavy, warm human mind rush forwards and take over. The transition was seamless. He curled up and settled on simply watching the drama unfold.

"It is a little extreme, Sam," Danny said, overriding The Tucker's sputtering disgust over something Sam had said. "No meat at all?"

"It's one lunch!" Sam said darkly, stabbing her salad with her fork. "You can eat all the meat you want when you get home and the rest of the week when the menu goes back to normal."

"I'll die before then," The Tucker muttered, pushing its salad away from it and moaning pitifully as it buried its head in its arms. "Died from lack of meat. I want that on my tombstone."

Danny rolled his eyes. "You're not going to die from eating one salad."

"What if I have a lettuce allergy?" The Tucker asked, picking its head up enough to glare at Sam.

Sam arched an eyebrow. "A lettuce allergy?" she parroted, sounding annoyed. "You don't have a lettuce allergy."

"How would you know?" The Tucker shot back. "I've never eaten lettuce before!"

Could we go find a different place if we must eat lunch? he asked. Perhaps then he could bother Danny about getting an extra copy of his favorite shirt. Maybe even two extra. Someplace quieter?

"Yeah," Danny muttered, grabbing his tray. He glanced over at his bickering friends and said, "Hey, guys? I'm going to-" His words broke off when the horrible cold feeling of a nearby ghost swamped over him, making goosebumps rise on his arms. The next breath came out fogging the air.

The octopuses are back already? Daniel asked, feeling a curl of fear at the thought of the predatory ghosts having returned yet again. They had survived the previous encounters through a combination of luck and Danny's stubborn mindset. Those two things wouldn't last much longer if the octopuses were this intent on stalking them. What should we do?

Neither Sam nor The Tucker seemed to notice Danny standing over them. "But it's organic!" Sam argued.

"I happen to like my food genetically modified," The Tucker sniped. "It adds flavor."

Danny sighed, set his tray down and fought off a shiver, but he didn't sit back down. He gazed blankly at his friends, seeming to think something through.

Do not try to find the octopuses! Daniel said, panicking as he caught on to Danny's thought process. They hurt us really bad last time.

Walking away from the table, Danny shook his head slightly. "What if those things came to the school? I need to know," he mumbled.

But why?

"Someone might get hurt," he muttered, skirting around student-filled tables. The cold got steadily worse. By the time he reached the food service area just past the rows of tables, Danny's teeth were chattering.

We will get hurt! Daniel reached out and momentarily took control of Danny's legs, bringing them to a stop. No. I do not want to! If the ghosts are here, they are not after Dad.

Danny stared over the counter into the School's kitchens. "But…" he trailed off. "Why would the octopuses be here? What if they're after something new?"

Mentally gritting his teeth, Daniel refused to allow the legs to move. He felt Danny push against him, causing spikes of pain to lance through their head as they struggled for control. I do not want to get hurt again, he cried as his control of Danny's body started to falter. Please.

Shivering from the ghost and wincing from their new headache, Danny rubbed his hands against his arms. "I won't go anywhere near the ghost," he promised. "I just need to see."

Daniel relaxed his faltering grip on the lower half of their body. The pain in their head faded slightly. As Danny crept towards the empty kitchens, Daniel curled up in a little ball in Danny's head and turned the world off as best he could. He didn't want to see what was going to happen.

Wrapped in darkness and silence and the distant throb of a headache, it was less than a minute before he felt Danny prod at him. There was a whispering sensation of surprise along with it, and a momentary image of the ghost in the kitchen. It wasn't an octopus.

It was a woman.

Daniel reached back for Danny's body, allowing his eyes to see and his ears to hear again. Danny was crouched by the door, peering over a few boxes and doing his best to contain his shivers. The ghost - complete with apron and hair net - was quietly reading the menu next to the door. "It's not an octopus," Danny whispered. "It's just an old lady."

I see that, Daniel answered. He was still tense. Despite her appearance, she is still a very powerful spirit to exist in this world.

"I'm not gonna let her know I'm here," he breathed. "Relax."

Danny knew so very little about how the ghost world worked. It was simple survival of the strongest: the more powerful ghosts destroyed any weaker ones they could find. Daniel had find no way to properly explain that to his human half. She will eat us!

A hand on his shoulder and a voice in his ear made him jump. "Danny?"

Jerking around, Danny stared at Sam and The Tucker, his heart beating in his throat. "Guys."

"What are you doing?" Sam asked.

"Ghost," Danny said, turning back around and looking into the kitchen. The old lady ghost was gone. "Or, there was," he corrected. Getting to his feet, he edged further into the doorway and looked around the empty room. The cold faded.

Daniel relaxed, hoping that the ghost had simply gone back to wherever she had come from.

The Tucker stepped in front of him. "Really? What'd it look like? Another ectopus?"

"Octopus," Danny corrected, crossing his arms. "And no. It was some sad-looking old lady wearing an apron and that net thing over her hair."

The Tucker grinned. "A lunch lady ghost? Awesome!"

"Casper High might have it's very own ghost," Sam added. "That's kinda neat."

No, no it is not, Daniel muttered. Powerful ghosts like that are dangerous.

Danny shrugged. "Whatever she was, she's gone now."

"Maybe she'll come back," Sam said.

I hope not, Daniel added quietly. He settled into the back of Danny's mind, his nerves on edge, wishing he could take Danny's body and just go home for the day.

"Let's just go finish lunch," Danny said, stepping away from the kitchen door and rubbing at the residual headache, "before someone comes over here and asks what we're doing."

"Don't you think you're going a bit far to call it lunch?" The Tucker muttered. "It's garbage."

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.15.

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-Day 38-

Daniel fled. His ghost form lent him the speed and maneuverability his human form couldn't match as an ectoplasmically-charged pile of mystery meat chased him, inches from his feet.

The old lady ghost hadn't stayed away. She'd come back, just as Daniel had feared. He'd been all for running away as far and as fast as he could, but Danny had disagreed, fearing for the safety of the other humans at School. The human mind just didn't understand the danger they were in.

They'd been at an impasse until the ghost had captured Sam. Daniel's pleas to head for the hills had stopped at the sight of the old ghost grabbing Sam's arm and dragging her away. He didn't want Sam getting hurt - the girl was his favorite human, with the possible exception of the one he was stuck in the mind of. So he had, extremely hesitantly, agreed to help free her. Or at least to help try to free her. Daniel was convinced they would be eaten in the attempt.

They hadn't been eaten yet, although their prospects were looking increasingly dim.

Faster! Danny yelped as something grabbed their foot.

"I cannot," Daniel panted, struggling to maintain his speed as he dove up and down, around in circles, and through trees and walls. The meat didn't seem to be fazed by the gymnastics, never straying more than a few feet away from him. "We need a new plan."

Think Tucker's found Sam yet?

"I do not know." Daniel raced towards a tree, flipped around at the last minute and pushed off the tree trunk with his feet, zipping back the way he came. The meat splattered into the tree, gaining him a precious second of lead time as it regrouped. "And I do not have time to find out."

We need to distract the ghost until Tucker gets Sam free.

Daniel clenched his teeth, taking a second to glance over his shoulder at the stuff that was chasing him. It was back in fast pursuit. He could feel exhaustion pulling at him; although he could leisurely fly for hours without tiring, this frantic chase was draining him of energy at a terrifying pace. "I cannot keep this up much longer."

I know. Just for-

The world suddenly seemed to tear apart. Daniel screamed as the energy he was using for his flight simply vanished from his grasp.

His ability to fly gone, he tumbled to the ground, barely missing slamming into several trees. Coming a stop, he lay in a crumpled, dazed pile. The faint, sort-of-pain of his ghost body hummed through him like a gong. Had he been human, the impact with the ground would have killed him.

What happened? Danny asked.

Daniel wrenched his eyes open and staggered to his feet. The world spun crazily and there was a horribly hollow feeling in his chest. His arm ached - he must have landed on it when he fell. He wanted nothing more than to collapse onto a bed and allow his body to rest. "I think-" He froze, flinching backwards a step.

The old lunch lady ghost was standing only feet away, green eyes peering at him from under her hair net. Globs of glowing meat hovered around her like guardian angels. She looked concerned. "Oh dear! Are you okay?"

Daniel's mouth moved silently as he tried to come up with something to say. Images of being eaten flashed through his mind, crushing any thought of attempting to answer.

When Danny pushed against him, he fled to the recesses of their mind and let Danny take over. Danny staggered a few steps, put a hand to his head, then curled his fingers around his injured arm. "Yeah, I think so," Danny replied.

Run! Daniel screamed when he saw the ghost's green eyes flicker with insane red lightning.

Danny managed two steps before his ghost form disintegrated around him. What little bit of energy he had left slammed into his chest, knocking him back to the ground. Human again - and in more pain than Daniel could have ever imagined could exist - Danny rolled onto his back and groaned. "Ow. Wasn't expecting that," he moaned.

The ghost waved her arm. The circling globs of meat flew towards Danny's prone form, wrapping around his ankles and towing him into the sky.

Danny! Do something!

Danny tried to kick his feet, but every movement was torture. Pain spiked through him, leaving him panting for breath. He twisted and bucked as the meat-blobs carried him higher and higher. "Let go!" he snarled. Already, they were at the height of the treetops.

"Danny!" came a shout.

Danny managed to twist around to see The Tucker standing on the roof of School with Sam next to it. "Tucker!" Danny yelled. His voice broke on the name.

The Tucker pulled back its arm, then threw something shiny and cylindrical towards him. "Catch!"

The thing tumbled a few times, Danny having to reach out and barely getting hold of it. It was cold and metallic in his fingers when he finally brought it against his chest. A thermos. "My dad's thermos?" His eyes widened in understanding.

The ghost catcher? But it doesn't work.

Danny didn't have time to do anything else. The globs of meat chose that moment to release their grasp on Danny's ankles. Danny fell. Air whipped past his ears.

Fly! Daniel yelled. The freezing presence meat globs and the lunch lady ghost fell away, replaced by that singular thought. It was just like all those nights Daniel had spent trying to teach the heavy human mind how to break itself out of a fall. It was so simple even a human could do it.

Their fall slowed, then came to a stop. Danny hung in the air, only a foot from the ground, panting heavily before dropping to the ground in a groan. The thermos dangled in his limp arms. His eyes tracked the lunch lady ghost as she raced towards him.

Danny… Daniel pushed weakly at Danny's mind, trying to get the human to run. Standing here, staring down this ghost was suicide!

"Please work," Danny whispered. He closed his eyes, pulling at the last little bits of energy and pushing it into the thermos's circuits. In his hands, the thermos started to vibrate.

What are you doing? Daniel felt the world start to teeter and wobble around him as his energy drained away into the thermos. Danny?

Blue light suddenly erupted around them, filling their world with an intense, otherworldly glow.

Someone shrieked. It was a long, painful wail.

But Daniel wasn't paying any attention. He felt the last of his energy vanish like the a stopper being pulled from a drain. Danny! he screamed as the world disintegrated.

Everything vanished.