Danny woke up to big slobbery kisses all over his face. Blinking blurry eyed into the brown eyes of a small dog Danny tried to make sense of his surroundings and why there was a puppy licking him awake.
"Oh, Cujo…" Danny wiped his face with the edge of his sleeve before looking around at the neat organized stacks of books, the pile of paper placed neatly on the desk and the photos line perfectly along the walls. Danny yawned and frowned as he looked around.
"Why am I in Jazz's room?" he wondered aloud, taking the enthusiastic puppy into his arms and standing up. He swayed a little before setting down the hall, intent on going into his own room. He paused as he heard his mom down the hall in her bedroom, talking urgently, seeming aggravated by something. He hesitated before going down to his parents' room and pausing by the open door.,
"Well of course I looked for him! Look, I called you people yesterday night and told you all of this! Do you really think I would purposefully let my son out of my sight! You have the nerve to- Oh no you did not just hang up on me!" Maddie glared at the phone and threw it on the bed, her hands covering her face as small silent sobs shook her shoulders. Danny walked hesitantly up to her; confused, he stretched out his hand to put on her shoulder to comfort her. He stopped when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror above his dresser.
Hesitant and scared green eyes looked back at him, his white hair was a mess from being in bed so long. Danny drew his and back hastily and looked at his mom, he didn't want to come across as too strange for comforting her.
"M-maddie?" Danny asked softly. Drawing her attention Maddie looked up and quickly wiped tears from her eyes.
"Oh, Phantom, I'm sorry I didn't see you there." She said as she stood up and pasted on a smile, "I guess you'll be hungry, you slept like a log last night and Jazz said she couldn't even wake you up when she went to school." Maddie walked out of the room Danny followed behind, "I suppose it's time for breakfast then." Maddie smiled walking down the stairs and into the kitchen Danny still holding Cujo and following behind and in his pajamas.
"Let's see…" Maddie said opening the fridge door, "how about a-" a large tentacle came out of the fridge and tried to wrap itself around Maddie's head, but, before Danny could blink, Maddie was holding a gun and casually pulled the trigger, making the tentacle blow up all while not taking her eyes off the contents of the fridge. Smile still in place Maddie closed the fridge and turned to Danny as if nothing was wrong or unusual with what had just occurred.
"What do you say we go out to eat?" she said with a cheery tone that sounded a bit fake, Danny blinked then looked back to the fridge and the goo exploded across half of the dining room.
"Um… I'll need to get dressed." he agreed with a nod before going upstairs.
Phantom sat in the front seat of the RV once more; he fiddled nervously with his jeans while casting nervous glances over towards Maddie. Maddie sighed trying to figure out where would be the best place to go without Phantom getting too much attention while still getting enough to eat. In the end she decided on Nasty Burger and they sat idling in line while Phantom gave her the silent treatment. As they moved up in line Phantom decided now would be an ok time to strike up a conversation.
"Sooooo…" he started not making eye contact but instead seeming to be highly interested in the Nasty Nat Menu ahead, "I was wondering… well… What were you planning on doing with me?" Phantom said hesitantly. Maddie blinked. She hadn't quite thought about that.
"Well… I suppose you were still in school when you died." Maddie said, Phantom winced and Maddie took that as a yes, "so as soon and we figure out all the specifics you'll be getting enrolled in school. You'll probably have to take a placement test." Maddie glanced over at Phantom. "Not to mention we will be looking into your family situation, if we find your family we can return you to them."
"Wait, I'm not going to be staying with you?" Phantom gasped as he blinked at her confused.
"Well if you've got a family, you should probably go stay with them." She reasoned, Phantom gulped and looked away.
"I'm not really… They don't know I'm me… I don't look like me from before the accident." He sighed and shook his head. Maddie glanced over at him.
"I wasn't sure if you had bleached your hair before you became a ghost." Maddie mused. "So your appearance changed when you died? Interesting, but you should still be able to convince your family that you're you with your memories right?" She pointed out, Phantom stared at her as if he hadn't even considered that option.
"My memories… yeah… I guess that could work." He said with a small nod. "But I'm not so certain that they won't think it's some sort of trick… Nevermind that I can't prove that I'm myself…" He trailed off and shook his head.
"Well… if you're not staying with your family we could find you a host family?" Maddie offered.
"Well… then who… might I be staying with?" he asked, his brow furrowing.
"Well… I don't know. We do have an old college pal who's always wanted a son." Maddie thought aloud then glanced over at Phantom who looked like he'd rather be torn apart molecule by molecule.
"I'd rather be torn apart molecule by molecule!" Phantom blurted out. Maddie's eyebrows scrunched up as she looked him over, it was a bit strange that he said exactly what she had been thinking.
"Well, I never said anything was set in stone, something like this has never happened before." Maddie mused.
"Yeah, and thank the gods it hasn't." Phantom mumbled discontentedly and glared out the window.
"Look, I know this isn't easy for either of us, but we have to try." Maddie tried throwing an encouraging smile over, "Let's just try to be friends for now, you promised you'd try trusting me last night, so have a little trust."
"Sure, I'll be best friends with the person who's always shooting at me and talking about dissecting my ectoplasmic remains." Phantom said darkly, setting his head on his hands and glaring out the window. He glanced over at Maddie and saw something on her face that made him look ashamed.
"Sorry." Phantom said looking down ashamed, "I… I promised I'd try, I'm sorry.." He seemed to sincerely mean it and she nodded at him before they pulled up to the window to receive their order. Maddie took the bags from the window worker and paid for the food and quickly checked the bag to make sure that their order was correct. They were quiet for a moment while food was distributed.
"Thanks." Phantom said with a small smile as he took the bag from her. "I… If it's not too much of an inconvenience I could stay with you." He offered. Maddie nodded and looked over at Phantom as she parked so she could eat too.
"You're welcome, and I think that we can do that. I should probably keep an eye on you for the time being anyway, but we should eventually find your family. Plus I'd like to discuss having you stay with the whole family, that includes my son." She said and pulled out her breakfast burrito unwrapping it before Phantom spoke, making her pause.
"Did you find him?" He asked; the words came out awkwardly, forced and foreign in Phantom's mouth, Maddie looked over.
"No." she sighed and looked down at her burrito. "I'll keep looking, he's my son, I need to find out where he went. The paper bag crinkled as Phantom shifted positions and put the empty bag on the floorboards before beginning to unwrap his own burrito.
"Have you tried the cops?" He asked hesitantly, seeming to realize that they wouldn't be much help, Maddie swallowed back some anger as she remembered her phone call from the morning.
"Yes, but they won't do anything… in fact I'm actually headed down to the police station as soon as we're done eating." Maddie said with a small nod in the direction of the police station. Phantom nodded and the two of them sat in silence as they ate. Phantom finished first and put his burrito's tinfoil into the paper bag on the floorboards.
When Maddie finished her food she handed Phantom the trash and started the GAV, heading in the direction of the Police station. The whole interaction was silent and Phantom rolled the top of the bag closed after all the trash was stuffed inside. Maddie glanced over as Phantom tucked the bag back down on the floorboards and then looked out the window. She sighed softly hoping she'd find Danny soon, she was getting more than a little worried. Phantom seemed to be considering something, he glanced over at Maddie before clearing his throat and speaking.
"Mo-Maddie…" Phantom said, "It's blue…" his voice was quiet and hesitant, he sounded more like a child then she expected at that moment.
"What?" Maddie asked, looking over at Phantom curiously, wondering what it meant, if it was a code or something.
"You asked me what my favorite color was yesterday… it's… well it's blue." Phantom said, a weak smile on his face as he looked up at her, Maddie felt a smile come to her face and her heart gave a quick squeeze.
"You know what… mine is to." Maddie said, trying to return the gesture of goodwill from Phantom. To her surprise Phantom laughed.
"I… kinda figured" He teased and gestured to her jumpsuit, "Let me guess, Da- uh… Jack's is orange and he has a thing for fudge?" He smiled as if he already knew the answer. Maddie gave a small chuckle as she glanced over at him.
"I guess that much is obvious." She answered as she pulled up in front of the police station, "Now just stay in here while I fill out a missing persons report." The mood suddenly died, Maddie choked on a small sob that had escaped her, she had tried to keep it together in front of Phantom, but the reality of Danny missing was hitting her and she looked away.
"I'm sorry… My son is missing… It has made me a bit emotional." She admitted and glanced over at him, Phantom looked guilty and avoided making eye contact with her.
"Ok." Said Phantom softly as he looked down at his hands, Maddie hesitated, their moment of bonding was gone. She wondered what he could feel so guilty about, and his conversation with Jazz flickered through her mind. She shook off the thought, she would ask later, she needed to fill out a report on Danny first.
"Stay in the Ghost Assault Vehicle, I don't want you running off again, I worry about you." She said as she put a hand on his shoulder.
"Uh… okay, thanks?" He said his brow furrowing, Maddie nodded once and then left the GAV and headed into the police station, preparing herself for admitting Danny was truly missing.
As his mother entered the police station Danny sat in the passenger seat, watching her and then pulling his knees to his chest and biting his nails. He considered telling her his secret, would telling her and his dad about their shared memories really be enough to convince them he was their son? Even if they believed him they couldn't fix anything could they? If they tried to get Danny Fenton back would they have to kill Phantom? Even if his human ghost half died, that would bring back his human half. He wasn't sure. It was all so he smacked himself across the face.
"Get a grip." He told himself firmly as he settled in for a long wait.
Maddie had dropped Danny off at the house after filling out the report, she needed to do some investigating into Danny's disappearance and had decided that Danny Phantom was probably not the best companion when he needed to keep a low profile. Danny hadn't minded, he really didn't want to spend another day driving around in the GAV with his mom and avoiding awkward questions. With Maddie out looking for Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom was left at home under the watchful eye of Jack Fenton.
Jack had been out buying groceries that morning, but now that he was back there was a Fenton to keep an eye on Phantom. Danny found himself sitting on the couch holding an embroidery hoop and sitting next to his dad. He frowned down at the pattern that had been sketched onto the fabric then looked back up to Jack who was working diligently on his own pattern.
"Uh… Da- Jack…" Danny started. "What… what exactly is the point of this?" he asked as he gestured to the embroidery hoop.
"It's artsy and relaxing!" Jack smiled. "Just a little something to occupy the time kiddo."
"Uh… Aren't you usually creating weapons to tear me and other ghosts apart molecule by molecule?" Danny raised an eyebrow, it was strange enough that his dad wanted to spend time with him when he was Phantom, but embroidery? It was just too weird.
"Sure I am, but Mads suggested we get to know eachother better, after all you'll be staying with us for a while, besides, assembling weaponry next to you might not be the best idea." Jack said with a shake of his head. "You may be human now, but I'm sure it would still make you uncomfortable."
"Wow… that's… surprisingly thoughtful of you." Danny admitted with a small smile, impressed by the sentiment. He supposed he had always seen his dad as being a bit of an insensitive person, not to mention oblivious and a little clumsy. Iit was surprising he could be thoughtful like this.
"I have my moments." Jack laughed and smiled, clapping Danny on the back causing the teen to cough with the force then looked back up at Jack.
"So Mo-Maddie suggested we build a rapport… Why choose needle point? I'll have to warn you, I've never been that good at it." Danny said as he looked down at the pattern he was supposed to be stitching, the Fenton ghost logo seemed simple enough, but he would likely not even get in a few stitches before it somehow turned into a disaster.
"I figured it would give us more time to chat than some of my other hobbies would… plus Danny always told me that I'm too dangerous to play golf with." Jack shrugged, and glanced over at Danny who laughed and smiled up at Jack.
"Unless you can hide in the hole, yeah… I've seen you play golf." Danny said as he started to pull the needle through the fabric in an attempt to follow the pattern.
"You have?" Jack asked with a frown. "You've been spying on our family?"
"No, no! Not spying…" Danny insisted before trailing off. He considered his next words before deciding to open up a little, after all, what harm could it do now?
"I… I used to use your Portal to access the Ghost Zone to put ghosts back where they came from… I guess I've seen a bit in my travels… not to mention you shrunk me and I had to try and make it through your house to get unshrunk."
"So… you put ghosts back in the Ghost Zone? Why not just destroy them completely?" Jack asked, confused, "Aren't they in your territory? What's the point of sending them back?" Danny was surprised by the genuine curiosity in Jack's voice, even if he felt a bit insulted by the question. He tried not to let it get to him as he answered.
"Territory? I'm not some animal." Danny scoffed and rolled his eyes. "I fight the ghosts that are causing trouble because this is my hometown. I'm not going to destroy them, they're sentient beings, even if you don't think so… and I don't want to become a killer." he said as he set the embroidery hoop to the side, he'd only managed a few stitches but had somehow managed to get everything tangled up anyway. He wasn't sure how he always managed to mess things up before
"Huh… interesting." Jack said as he thought. "I guess I've never thought of destroying ghosts as murder… They're not alive."
"Well… not being alive is different than not existing." Danny pointed out. "Not to mention even if they are ghosts… they can still feel fear and pain… I mean I certainly could." He said and touched his chest gently remembering the many times he'd been blasted through walls. "Though… sometimes it's more of an echo than full pain… I suppose it depends on the weapon."
"So you remember being a ghost… how you felt and the thoughts you had?" Jack asked as he set to work untangling Danny's embroidery thread.
"Well… yeah, I was still me, even though I was a ghost… I guess things about me did change. Dying is… well… life changing." Danny said with a weak smile at the pun. "Being a ghost is more complicated than you'd think."
"Tell me about it then." Jack prompted with a small smile as he handed Danny back the untangled embroidery hoop. Danny looked down, wondering how his dad managed such small delicate work with his massive hands.
"Tell you about what?" Danny asked, looking back up, frowning at his father for a moment, his brow furrowed.
"About dying, about becoming a ghost." Jack said. "It's not often I talk to a ghost, and you did help me save my family that one time when the Wisconsin Ghost trapped me and tried to steal the ghost portal. I guess I never considered talking to a ghost before… but now since you're human, I can put aside my own prejudice long enough to talk."
Danny stared at his dad, he was once again surprised by the man, he hadn't expected him to even consider listening, and honestly it seemed like he was legitimately open to conversation. He frowned as he considered the conversation and wondered if this may be a chance to start letting his parents know who he was. He swallowed nervously before he spoke.
"Are… are you serious?" He said, his voice quiet as he looked up at his dad.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Jack frowned, his confusion obvious as he looked down at Danny, not even considering that Danny might think he was lying. Danny stared at him for a moment before shaking his head and shrugging.
"I just… I never thought you'd consider it, you and Maddie just… you're so convinced you're right that you never seemed willing to listen to anything else." Danny said before he could stop himself, he winced a bit as the words left him, hoping he hadn't shut down the conversation by insulting Jack.
"Well… how else are we supposed to learn more about ghosts? Besides, our theories are just theories because we couldn't disprove them in the past, now that you're here and we can have an intelligent conversation, those theories actually have become hypotheses." Jack reasoned. Danny blinked at him and stared before nodding slowly, he sometimes forgot his dad was a proper scientist, he'd even gone to college and had a doctorate. Danny stared at him a moment longer before nodding.
"Yeah… okay… fair point." He agreed as he looked down at his embroidery and tried a few stitches before getting it tangled again and setting it to the side. Jack took it automatically and began untangling it again, this was a common occurrence when Danny tried to embroider things with Jack. Danny watched him in silence thinking it over before deciding what to say.
"It was an accident… How I died…" he said softly, Jack looked up from the tangled thread and over at Danny, letting him have a moment, Jack seemed to sense that it was a bit of a difficult topic. Danny thought for a moment before speaking again, wringing his hands as he told the story.
"I was… I got electrocuted… it was really bad… I didn't understand what had happened at first. I don't look like this… my human self didn't have white hair or green eyes so when… when I became a ghost it was like looking at a funhouse mirror. It wasn't me." Danny said. "But I was still me… I was still myself just… a ghost." He was quiet a moment longer before shaking his head. "Honestly it freaked me out for a good long while before I came to accept what happened to me, but yes… dying did change me a little… but not in the way you'd think." He admitted.
"You didn't have an urge to destroy things or harass people?" Jack asked, Danny laughed, the idea was ridiculous to him and he shook his head.
"No… not really… though I did kind of want to play pranks on my school bully… but I'd hardly call that evil." Danny shook his head. "I did change though, over time… there were a lot of ways I've become more ghostly over the past year, but I feel like the core of me is still me. I do realize that there are more ghostly traits I have now… or had before I turned human like this." He said with a shrug, "But overall I'm still Danny."
"Then what about that time you attacked city hall?" Jack asked. "IHow exactly was that not evil?"
"I was framed! I'm not evil! I was never really evil!" Danny scoffed and looked away. "I never want to be evil." he added in a quieter voice.
"Okay… so.. you were framed." Jack said. "Why? What was the point of framing you?"
"The mayor, and a bunch of other people, were overshadowed by ghosts, and led by this ghost named Walker. He's got this obsession with rules and enforcing the rules, but mostly he likes being in charge."
"He makes up rules and other bogus regulations then claims people broke the rules even though no one could possibly know it's illegal to have real world items in the ghost zone… except he doesn't really make the rules… long story short, I broke some stupid made up rule and he locked me up in this ghost prison… I started a riot and broke out, so he did the whole thing by fake kidnapping the mayor to frame me as revenge." He sighed at this point and shook his head before continuing.
"It didn't help that you and Maddie basically tell everyone that all ghosts are evil protoplasmic remnants or post human consciousness or what have you. It's not like I can deny that there have been ghosts that have done evil things, mind control, attacking humans, feeding on misery… it wasn't too far of a stretch to say that all ghosts are evil. But the ghosts that aren't some form of malevolent or manipulative… they tend to want to just be left alone, so obviously you don't see them, you just get to see the evil ones." Danny pointed out, they were quiet as Jack thought over what Danny had said.
"So Walker… this sheriff or jail warden ghost guy… he overshadowed a bunch of people, but why did you attack Maddie and me?" Jack asked with a frown, he handed over the embroidery hoop with the untangled thread again and looked at the boy, confused, but trying to understand.
"I thought you guys were overshadowed, the ghost ray should have just pushed the ghosts out… but you weren't overshadowed. I miscalculated… I didn't… I'm sorry." He sighed and shook his head.
"Then… kidnapping the mayor… was the mayor overshadowed or… how was that manipulated?" Jack asked.
"Yup, Walker was in the mayor at the time." Danny nodded and looked down at the embroidery hoop. "He staged the whole thing to frame me, but also to make me public ghost enemy number one, he said something about making my prison the town where I live."
"Hmmm… I suppose overall you've done a lot of good…" Jack said, considering the whole thing, "If you're right about feeling the same and acting the same… then perhaps we need to reevaluate our theories. You have definitely saved more people that you've harmed now that I think about it."
"I mean… I try." Danny sighed. "I have a lot of enemies… I can't always keep damage to a minimum… but most of the evil things I've done can be explained… I did tell M-Maddie about this before… and I tried to tell you the other day."
"What about the robberies you took part in?" Jack asked, genuinely interested in the answer and not just trying to trap Danny with questions.
"I… well… that was a case of mind control… I don't… I only seem to remember that week in dreams. It frightens me." He said as he set the embroidery hoop to the side. "The circus guy… Freakshow… he had a crystal ball on a staff that he used to control ghosts, all of the ghosts were under his control… including me." he hung his head.
"Mind control? How does that work? What stops someone from doing it again?" Jack asked. Danny looked up at him, a mixture of fear and sadness in his eyes.
"The crystal ball broke… but I can't guarantee there isn't something else like that out there… that frightens me. Plus there are other ways and other mind control powers… Lucky me but I haven't been controlled like that again… manipulated yes, but not mind control."
Jack looked at the boy before putting a hand on his shoulder in a gesture of comfort, Danny looked up at his father and smiled softly before sighing and looking down at his hands.
"I'm not a ghost anymore… but I don't… my obsession with protecting the town isn't completely gone. I feel so lost, I have no powers and I'm human… and humans are fragile." He sighed heavily and shook his head. "I'm glad you decided to listen and consider my words but… I hate that I'm like this now… I hate that this is what it took for you to listen." Danny looked back up at Jack who was looking at him kindly, Danny almost felt like himself, like Danny Fenton under that gaze.
"Well kiddo, we'll have to make the best of this situation now." Jack said encouragingly. "Plus… turning a ghost into a human is ground breaking stuff, perhaps it would have been better if we had used this technology on someone else though. Admittedly Maddie chose you because you seemed to still have a strong sense of self… and it seemed like you died recently."
"Yeah… about a year ago." Danny nodded. "It's been a learning curve for sure."
"So… let's talk about your ghost powers, I've always been fascinated with how it works." Jack said, handing Danny the embroidery hoop again.
"Sure Jack." He nodded before adding under his breath. "Man, that's cool."
A disgruntled teen in white hair shimmered in the mirror like clock face before the teen's head slammed onto the desk with exasperation, the scene shifted and the boy was covered in mud and walking along the sidewalk, it shifted again, there was a large amount of green ectoplasm dripping from what looked like a hand, once more the scene shifted and a headstone came into view. "Here lies Danny Phantom." It read.
"His fate is sealed." Clockwork said as he watched the future laid out.
Author's Note: Hello!
This chapter is longer than the original one! I've added some Jack and Danny interaction and to be honest I kinda enjoyed it! I think in the past I wasn't quite sure what to do with Jack, hes a well meaning person, but a bit foolish in some ways and I wasn't sure how to portray him without making him look like a complete idiot.
I enjoy the idea of Jack being more than the show portrays him as, even if he is a little naive or misguided.
I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.