In the depths of Fenton works an experiment was being carried out in secret, an experiment whose outcome would change the fate of young Danny Fenton.
His parents loaded a glowing green vial of liquid into a machine, which began to hum and generate electricity, the ectoplasm in the vial swirled around, reacting to the strange electricity and then twitching and jerking as if alive, drips of red sunk to the bottom of the vial, leaving the lighter glowing liquid on the top as the electricity stopped.
Maddie took the vial and placed it in the scanner, analyzing the contents visually as well as chemically. The machine beeped and whirred as it went about it's work, a couple pairs of eyes watched from within cages to the side, the ghosts not having enough intelligence to realize what Maddie and Jack were doing and what that meant for them.
"50 percent ectoplasm, 50 percent human blood." Maddie read off excited. "The conversion works, but full conversion hasn't been achieved." She mused as she took the vial out of the scanner and set it to the side, making note of the voltage and length that the vial had been exposed on a piece of tape then sticking it to the tube before putting a new tube of ectoplasm in their new device. They called the specialized electricity Promethean fire, and perhaps it was a bit on the nose, playing with such power was like playing a god.
Jack adjusted the dials and then yelled, "More electricity!" Maddie made note of the change for the next vial as the machine cracked and the ectoplasm swirled again, separating out into blood and ectoplasm, this time, more blood was clearly visible. When the electricity once again died down, she took the vial and placed it in the scanner, just as she had done with the first.
"30 percent ectoplasm, 70 percent human blood." Maddie rattled off, the usual notes were taken and they removed the vial and replaced it with a fresh vial of ectoplasm. Feeling a little impatient, Jack turned the output of Promethean fire up to its max output before hitting the button.
This time the ecotplasm glowed and crackled, the light too bright to look at. When the light faded, the green ectoplasm slowly swirled around in the vial, seeming not to have changed at all causing Maddie to frown. Then she saw it, a ribbon of red was working its way through the ectoplasm from bottom to top. Maddie gasped watching the transformation. The red of the blood became more apparent, the ectoplasm changing faster, the change washing through the entire vial until it was filled with dark red blood. Maddie hesitated then took it to the scanner once more, biting her lower lips as the machine did its job and they waited for the results with baited breath.
When the machine dinged both of the Fentons leaned in, reading the result and then jumping, hugging each other and laughing with the joy of their success.
"100 percent human, 100!" They yelled with triumph, hugging and jumping and hugging again, doing little victory dances as they celebrated their world changing achievement, not knowing how it would affect their son who had just entered the house, dragging himself upstairs to do homework. They didn't know, nor could they fathom, that this momentous event would end up killing him.
Danny stared at the table trying to ignore his mother as another painful looking gun was being assembled beside him. He didn't want to know what this one did, nor did he want to think about what it might do to him if he got caught in its cross fire. It looked to be a heavy thing and he shuddered and stood up, going to the cabinet for breakfast.
Danny pulled out a bowl before grabbing the cereal and milk, it was something sugary and sweet, hopefully it would help wake him up. He fixed himself a bowl before sitting to eat, munching silently as he stared into nothingness, the dark circles under his looked sickly in the fluorescent light of the kitchen. The whole house had those bright white fluorescent lights, Jack and Maddie insisted as it was easier to work on their inventions with it, but it did little to make food look appetizing nor help Danny look human.
Danny had finished about half of his breakfast when Maddie dropped a piece of the gun holding a special blue glowing liquid. Somehow the tube gave out an electric shock that turned Danny's cereal blue, the milk and the sugary orbs both. Danny stared at it for a minute in shock before he debated whether or not it was safe to keep eating. He swirled his spoon around in the bowl and picked up some cereal, bringing it towards his mouth before ultimately deciding that he didn't want to take his chances. He dropped his spoon back into the bowl before standing up, dumping the remains into the hazardous waste basket. You can imagine how much fun the Fentons had keeping Danny out of that as a toddler.
Danny discarded the bowl in the sink before he picked his bag up from its position on the floor by the stairs and headed out the door for school, leaving Maddie alone in the kitchen without so much as a goodbye, not that Maddie noticed. Jack came down a few minutes later and headed to the fridge, pulling a carton of eggs and a pound of bacon out and setting it on the counter. He looked over at Maddie and approached her and the new weapon
"Hey sweetums, what'cha you working on?" Jack asked as he kissed the top of her head, Maddie paused at the contact, which was probably the only reason she had noticed him in the first place, she leaned back and smiled before giving her explanation.
"I'm trying to create a more portable version of the experiment in the lab, now that we've found the ratio of electricity to ectoplasm that we need to convert ectoplasm into human cells, we need to weaponize it. I doubt ghosts will be conscious enough to line up nicely and get their humanity back." Maddie smiled. "I have an idea on how to use it in fights, especially after we confirm that it works with our test subjects in the lab."
"Man, you're hot when you talk ghosts." Jack said as he leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Awww, you're sweet, thank you." she smiled before turning back to work on the gun while Jack began to make himself a mighty breakfast of eggs, bacon, and his favorite Jack Fenton toast.
Maddie continued to assemble the gun carefully then smiled plugging it into the wall to charge as she watched Jack continue fixing breakfast for them. Maddie watched and waited, hating that the new Promethean Gun would take hours to charge. She was anxious to see the results of her work quickly, they had spent days in the lab testing and adjusting, the process to create their promethean fire had been difficult to achieve after all.
Jack finished up breakfast and they ate together discussing which subject it would be most advantageous to test the gun on as they cut their eggs and bacon. Jack made a sandwich with his toast and Maddie discussed if the ghost dog or the ghost cat would be a better candidate for resurrection once the gun was ready. Danny would find out the results of their choice when he came home from school.
Danny opened the door and entered the house only to be greeted by a yapping puppy with soft brown fur and the biggest cutest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. Without thinking too much about it Danny smiled and crouched down to pet the puppy, Maddie came around the corner to admire her handiwork as the dog jumped over Danny giving him puppy kisses and making his face a wet mess.
Danny laughed and picked up the dog gently bopping it on the nose before looking up at his mom. "We got a dog? I thought it was too dangerous to have pets with all your experiments and all… you've been saying no to me getting a dog since forever." Danny said before setting the wiggling dog down. His parents wouldn't let him have pets because the last pet he had had died because it had gotten caught up in one of his parent's experiments.
"Well, we are going to need to keep an eye on this dog and monitor it anyway…. I suppose you can keep him. Just make sure he doesn't get into the lab and pick up after him." Maddie smiled, she would need to keep an eye on the dog to monitor her experiment, and this way she wouldn't have to worry about the mundane aspects of resurrecting a ghost dog.
"Really?" Danny smiled and looked back down at the dog before scooping it up again. "What should we name you? How about… Cujo?" The dog barked happily and Danny laughed. "Seems like you like that name, come on then, want to come check out your new home?" Danny asked, Maddie smiled at her son. Cujo yipped happily then licked Danny and wagged his tail so hard he was in danger of falling out of Danny's arms.
"I think that's a yes." Danny laughed and set the puppy down, taking the Fenton Ghost Fishing line out of a drawer to use as a temporary leash to let the dog outside. With the way Cujo was shaking with excitement Danny was afraid the poor pup would pee. He laughed and led the dog outside to do its business before bringing it in and taking it up to his room.
He played with the dog and taught it basic commands, the puppy seemed to pick them up ridiculously fast, but Danny figured it had received some basic training wherever it had been before. Eventually the dog tired and curled up on the carpet near the foot of Danny's bed. Danny sighed, he had used up a good chunk of homework time playing with Cujo, he sat down at his desk to try and at least get his math homework done before he had to go out and patrol.
Danny had started going on Patrol early on in his ghost superhero career. It made him feel safer, and he did often find and catch errant ghosts this way, both Sam and Tucker helped on occasion, but tonight Danny was on his own.
Thankfully tonight seemed pretty peaceful and Danny lazily drifted through the sky, enjoying his flight over the town, even if he was still keeping an eye out for ghosts.
Dying in the portal was terrible and it had come with a ton of problems such as controlling his powers so he didn't get exposed as a freak of nature, not to mention fighting both ghosts and running from his parents. Sometimes it all felt like it was too much and he wanted to run away from it all, from the fighting, from the responsibility, from the lies he constantly told. When he could fly freely about the town without being attacked, shot at, or cursed, it almost made all the turmoil of being half ghost worth it. Tonight for certain was one of the nights it felt worth it.
Danny smiled, flipping over and floating midair on his back for a second before he leaned back as if diving into a pool, slipping through the air before he once more flipped over in a long lazy loop before taking off again, skimming buildings and drifting through cars. All in all it was a peaceful night and he was grateful for the break.
Nonetheless, all good things must come to an end, and he switched his flight to have more purpose as he pointed himself in the direction of home. It didn't take too long to reach Fenton Works and Danny landed softly on the top of the Ops center. He wished the flight had been shorter, he wasn't quite ready to go inside and pretend he was asleep yet, then again it wasn't like his parents would notice anyway. He could probably disappear for a month and they wouldn't notice he was gone unless Jazz pointed it out to them. Danny smiled trying to make the image funny and like a scene in a sitcom. He imagined himself walking through the door after having been missing for a month and his father greeting him as if he had just seen him that morning. The visual exercise failed and left him with a hollow sadness in his chest. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and leaned against a pipe that jutted up from the cool metal beneath him.
"I guess I could still leave and waste some time…" he said to himself, he had gotten into a bit of a habit of talking outloud and he wasn't entirely sure why, Jazz probably had some explanation as to why he did it but he couldn't think of one for the time being.
"Maybe I should go get a Nasty Burger and fries." Danny said, still voicing his thoughts then he shrugged to himself. "I'm not exactly flush with cash at the moment… plus they close soon and it seems kind of lonely to go by myself." he frowned as his thoughts turned dark once again.
"I wonder if anyone would notice if I disappeared." Danny wondered, still talking to himself despite the awareness of the conversation, he figured Sam and Tucker would notice, probably Jazz, but he wasn't sure if his parents would.
"Ha! My own parents don't even notice I'm dead." Danny answered his own thoughts. "You'd think they would notice something like that… would they care if they did?" He buried his face in his hands for a moment and then pulled his knees to his chest, his eyes looking back up to the stars.
"Dying sucks… being half dead sucks." he mumbled. "I can't talk to anyone about it… I don't… I don't have anyone…" he shook his head and looked back down at the rooftops around him. He had people, but no one he wanted to share these thoughts with. He buried them deep inside himself, keeping them from affecting his friends. He didn't want them to worry, he wanted to keep them safe and protected from the darkness that clawed at his mind from time to time. He wanted to keep things upbeat and cheerful… well as much as one could in his situation. He didn't tell them about the nightmares, he didn't tell them about the guilt and the self hatred he felt on occasion, and he certainly didn't tell them how it felt to die.
"Maybe I'm feeling a bit too angsty tonight." Danny laughed out loud sitting up and leaving one knee up leaning on it while the other stretched out to dangle over the edge of the Ops Center. He swung the leg idly and laughed.
"Who am I talking to anyway? Myself? That's crazy, you know? Yeah I know but I'm doing it anyway… I should really stop talking to myself, well… answering myself." Danny said with a sigh as he turned his gaze back toward the stars once more.
"Hello… whoever is up there watching, and I'm guessing Clockwork is one of them… what happens now?" Danny asked, "I mean… I can't go on like this forever! I need a break, I need some rest! I need… I need some help." He cut off a choked sob and wiped at his eyes. He paused as he heard a creak in the metal, he jumped and looked around, finding himself alone. If his heart could beat it would have skipped. He was quiet, looking around for a moment before turning back to the sky and restarting his one sided conversation with himself, or maybe with some higher power.
"Do I tell my parents? They… They don't know I died… what happens if I tell them, what path does that proverbial time parade take if I tell them?" Danny wondered as he ran a hand through his hair. "What do I do? What happens now?" he asked the universe as he leaned back against the pipe, the metal creaking as he did so. He was surprised to hear a voice answer him.
"This!" it said, determination in the tone. Danny gasped in shock whirling around and pushing himself into a float as he was met with his mother holding a gun.
"Oh…" Danny said, his voice soft, even childlike, his eyes widened. He didn't have time to formulate a plan to escape when his mother pulled the trigger, blasting him off the roof. He crashed into the street below him curling into a ball and screaming with pain.
His body burned, as if every molecule inside him was being ripped apart. In a small far away part of his brain he wondered if he was finally being ripped apart molecule by molecule as his parents had always threatened. He writhed in pain, unable to focus as pain receptors fired all over his body.
And Danny continued to scream.
It was eternity, it was instant, it was the portal accident all over again. His hands dug into his flesh as he curled into himself before the electricity running through his body caused his back to arch and his body to spasm.
He wanted to get away, he wanted to free himself from the pain, he wanted to die, maybe he was dying. His vision was filled with spots when he managed to open his eyes as the pain seemed to lessen for a moment. He tried to crawl away from the crater in the street he had created when his body impacted the asphalt. He managed to stop screaming for a moment, long enough to notice something was wrong with his core. It felt wrong, twisted or nearly snuffed out, it felt heavy and the familiar cold began to fade. He noticed that before the pain returned with a vengeance and he screamed again.
Subconsciously he tried to hold onto his core, tried to keep it from fizzling away, but all too soon he was too weak, his body finally relaxing as the last of the energy from the new weapon faded and he shuddered and whimpered in the crater. His body was warming up, and vaguely he realized that it couldn't be right, something had gone terribly wrong inside him, that weapon had done something that defied all logic. He wanted to demand an explanation, rage at his mother for attacking him, fall into her arms and cry at the unfairness of it all, but all he could do was moan and lay on the ground in pain.
The world seemed too warm or too loud, the ground too hard and the air too cold in his chest drifted further away with each passing second Danny whimpered, fear and pain making him feel like a helpless child… then again he was a child, he was only fifteen and a half.
His eyes opened a sliver and he looked at his hand, the ghostly aura was fading and he wondered what that meant, it felt wrong, he felt wrong, he closed his eyes. Whatever was wrong with him he didn't want to see it.
Maddie made it down to the ground level, approaching Phantom as he lay in the crater, the change was strange and wondrous to watch all at the same time. His body occasionally twitched but his less human features began to shift. His unnatural glow faded as each moment passed, his skin seemed so much more human and even sweat began to appear on his brow. His hair stopped stirring as if tousled gently in the breeze as his body shifted planes, no longer moving in the currents of energy only ghosts seemed to feel.
It was fascinating, she had watched the puppy be resurrected but this was different, she was watching a ghost become human, watched life return, ectoplasm that leaked from minor wounds was becoming blood as the boy whimpered again.
He twitched, and a new scream tore itself from his already raw throat, his back arched and his hands dug into the ground, his boots scraping against the cracked pavement. It was a horrible primal scream and it shook her up a little, if this ghost was becoming human, just how much pain was this newly human child in.
The scream was barely audible now, just raspy air leaving a body and then suddenly the boy grew still, his eyes staring up endlessly into the sky, the glow of ectoplasmic green faded from their depths leaving a very human emerald green.
He didn't move, he didn't breathe, and for a minute Maddie wondered if the process had killed the ghost again. She went to the boy's side reaching for his wrist to check his pulse when suddenly he sat up with a jerk taking in a deep breath.
The breath Danny took in burned his newly formed human lungs, his body felt heavy and he let out a sob, he tried to stop breathing but ended up gasping for air again, each new breath burning before he let it out. Danny figured this is what being born would feel like, he didn't envy babies for having to experience it. Danny cried and suddenly warm arms wrapped around him, he recognized the familiar blue jumpsuit and leaned into her touch, holding onto his mom and sobbing. Despite the fact that she had done this to him, whatever this was, he wanted the familiar support of her arms.
Maddie herself had taken Phantom into her arms on instinct. Her body had just moved when he started to cry, it was such a sincere sound that she found herself moving according to her motherly instincts before she had even considered if there was any danger in touching him.
While he had been a ghost moments before, he was certainly human now, the tears and the sobs, the way his heart hammered in his chest, the way he took deep and ragged breaths as he held onto her was proof. She let the boy cry and gently soothed him, murmuring that he would be okay and rubbing his back gently in a motion that she'd used on her own son many times.
She studied Phantom as she held him, she could comfort the resurrected boy and feel sorry for the pain he was in having come back to life, but she was still a scientist. She took in his appearance, the boy's hair was still white, a color she hadn't expected it to stay. She wasn't sure what color she expected his hair to change when he became human again, maybe blonde? It was a curious change and she gently pushed the hair from his face and studied it, his eyebrows, oddly enough, were still black, as well as the tear laden eyelashes. Why his hair was still white was a mystery and was strange, even if it ceased to glow with that silvery ghostly light it was an unexpected carryover from his existence as a ghost.
The more she looked at Phantom the more Maddie realized that the boy in her arms actually bore a remarkable resemblance to her Danny. It was fascinating to see him up close and still more fascinating to see him human, he was literally just a child. Her heart broke as she remembered part of the conversation she had overheard while getting in position to use the Promethean gun. She knew his parents didn't know or didn't realize he was dead, she couldn't imagine not knowing that her child was dead. She wanted to find them and give them a piece of her mind, how could they not know their son had died, was it mere neglect or perhaps Phantom was an orphan.
Phantom's cries were turning into soft whimpers and his eyes cracked open, the deep green of his irises focused on her and his hands tightened into fist for a moment.
"Mom…" he rasped, his voice hoarse and broken from the amount of screaming he had been doing. Maddie froze, the way he spoke was so familiar, almost just like her Danny… but the boy was delirious and probably couldn't tell that the person holding him was not his mother. Maddie shoved the thoughts of Danny aside and smiled. In some ways she kind of was his mother too, she'd given the boy a second chance at life hadn't she? She brought him back into the world.
Maddie looked down to examine the rest of Phantom, the boy's jumpsuit was torn in a few places, scraps covered in barely formed scabs, dried blood dripping down from the injuries. He had a char mark on his chest from where the blast had hit him but didn't actually burn through the jumpsuit. Other than the few nicks and scrapes he wasn't too messed up. Phantom's eyes were still on her, filled with so many emotions that Maddie couldn't place, mostly pain and fear. She gently brushed his hair from his face and patted his cheek.
"It's okay now, it's okay. You're going to be fine." she promised softly, he made a small disbelieving sound as his eyes started to drift shut, it wasn't long until Maddie realized he had fallen asleep. She pulled him fully into her arms, surprised by how light he was, and began to head inside, it was about time they had got out of the street together. She was lucky that there had been no late night drivers passing by to see them or to hit them.
When she entered the house she went to the couch, and laid the now human Danny Phantom down, the teen groaned softly as he settled into the cushions and Maddie looked toward the stairs. She couldn't keep him in his jumpsuit could she? How did a jumpsuit get resurrected, then again she was also spared looking at a naked former ghost boy since the jumpsuit seemed to survive the transformation with him.
Maddie headed up the stairs to Danny's room and knocked on the door, she waited a moment before poking her head in and scanning the room.
"Hmmm… no Danny, he must be at his friend's house." She mused to herself as she went in and began rummaging through his dresser. It wasn't long till she found a pair of pajamas that would fit Phantom. She supposed Danny wouldn't mind too much if the other boy borrowed them, they were about the same size and she would get Phantom his own clothes eventually. She glanced at the bed and hesitated, would Danny mind if she let Phantom sleep in his bed for the night, especially if he was at Sam or Tucker's house. Phantom had just become human and now that he was human she felt more sympathy for the boy, she wanted him to be comfortable, which meant she wanted him to sleep in a bed.
She laid the pajamas on the bed before going downstairs to pick up Phantom and carry him up to Danny's room. She gently roused him and managed to help him change into the pajamas, thanking god that the ghost boy was wearing underwear and not lingering too long on what that meant and if clothes had an afterlife to be resurrected from. After changing she pulled back the covers and helped Phantom into the bed where he snuggled into the warmth beneath the covers. Maddie brushed his white hair out of his face taking a seat on her son's bean bag chair, watching him with fascination.
Phantom slept, rolling over occasionally, Maddie watched his chest rise and fall, it was just more proof that her invention had worked and Phantom was human. She had so many questions to ask when he woke up, but it was late now and it wasn't long before her eyelids were getting heavy, soon they had fully shut and she relaxed into the bean back, falling asleep.