Authors note: While I technically have up to like chapter 17 typed up as this is a revamp of a former fic of mine, I also need to go through and re-read and edit them, then go through again to double check that it all makes sense. Sometimes it feels like I may go cross eyed! So any and all reviews are appreciated and the keep me motivated to continue to post!
Danny woke up groaning looking up at the ceiling as he blinked, feeling disoriented and lost. He put a hand to his head feeling a headache coming on. He groaned and rolled over in an attempt to go back to sleep. Maddie, who had woken up at the sound of Danny's groan, went over to him, placing her hand on his back and rubbing gently.
"How are you feeling?" Maddie asked softly, Danny frowned wondering why his mom was in his room as he looked up at her.
"Fine." Danny answered softly then closed his emerald eyes, a small groan leaving him as rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Maddie asked, worried about the seeming continuous groans coming from the boy. Danny grumbled and pulled the covers over his head.
"Tired. Sleep now." He mumbled by way of explanation. Maddie pulled away, marveling at how human he seemed, even his mannerisms were similar to her own Danny.
"Ok. If you need anything just ask." Maddie said softly, Danny only gave a short grunt to show he had heard her. Maddie tucked him into bed, worried about how tired he was, then again he had been screaming quite a lot and the transformation into a human couldn't have been easy. Without another word she settled back down into her son's bean bag observing the boy. After a while watching the rise and fall of the boy's chest she checked her watch, it was now one in the morning. Maddie sank further into the bean bag and soon fell back asleep.
It wasn't long however until Danny's bladder woke him up. He usually phased through the door to get to the hall easier at odd hours when he was sure his family wasn't awake. This time however something didn't feel right about calling on his powers, he couldn't feel his core and before he could really contemplate what that meant, Danny walked right into the door with a smack and fell back down, blinking in confusion as he landed on his bottom with a small grunt. He looked at the door in confusion, somehow the room seemed much darker than it should be. That didn't last long as the light clicked on Maddie approaching to help him up.
"Wha-" Danny said, disoriented, his ghost core was gone? He put a hand to his chest before he rubbed his eyes trying to get used to the bright light, his mind was still struggling to boot up as he let Maddie pull him to his feet.
"Are you ok? What's wrong? How do you feel?" Maddie asked, an unexpected curiosity in her face that he didn't understand, particularly while he was just half awake.
"Bathroom." Danny mumbled by way of explanation. Maddie nodded, then opened the door leading him to the bathroom, which Danny thought was weird. Another light blared on burning the teen's retinas. Danny turned, closing the door and taking a leak, his eyes wandering around the room as he relieved his bladder.
Danny fixed his pajama pants and then turned and washed his hands glancing up into the mirror idly then back down at his hands. He then froze, the water was still running, but he was no longer focused on washing his hands. He could see white hair in the warped image of the sink faucet, that didn't make any sense. He hadn't transformed and his powers hadn't worked, what was going on?Danny turned off the sink and dried his hands before slowly looking into the mirror.
His eyes widened as he took in his appearance and he screamed
"I'M HUMAN! HOW! HOW AM I HUMAN!?" Danny said, touching his face as he stared into the mirror. Maddie had come into the bathroom now to check on him and quickly approached while Danny continued to stare at himself in the mirror, frozen with shock, his eyes unable to leave the reflection as he saw that his Phantom half was now human. Maddie gripped onto the boy's shoulders trying to bring him back to reality, turning him to face her, though his head remained turned at the mirror until she started speaking.
"Yes, calm down, it's ok, you're alive again, calm down. I know this is probably a shock to you." Maddie comforted him gently. Danny turned and continued to stare at the mirror in shock, his eyes roving over the strange human image and coming to rest on the deep green eyes that he now had in place of his usual glowing ones. Jazz had heard her brother's scream and came bolting down the hall.
"DANNY!" Jazz yelled, thinking that maybe there had been a ghost attack. She froze in the hallway as she noticed her brother, except he wasn't quite her brother, it was his ghost half but as a human. She began to move again when Jack pulled out a ghost weapon and pointed it at Danny instantly.
"FREEZE SPOOK!" Jack yelled his eyes narrowing when Maddie shielded the boy with her body.
"Jack, put the gun down, Phantom is human now, not a ghost." Maddie said. Jack slowly lowered the ecto-weapon blinking in surprise as he realized that Maddie was telling the truth and the boy was indeed human.
"You mean it worked?" Jack asked, then he swung his wife into a hug and a kiss. "IT WORKED!" He celebrated. Maddie giggled and leaned into the kiss before pulling back and beaming. The two older Fentons began talking excitedly about how the invention has succeeded in its purpose.
Danny however was hyperventilating, his hands pressed against the mirror as he stared before pulling back, wrapping his arms around himself and panicking.
"Not good, so not good!" he said over and over again, his nails digging into his arms through the fabric of his pajamas. Jazz hurried forward and tried to get him to let go before he drew blood. Danny was frantically shaking and trying to keep it together beads of sweat appeared on his skin. Jazz put a hand to his forehead then gently pushed the hair from his face before finally getting him to stop digging his fingernails into his arms. She pulled his hands into hers as Danny shuddered and shook his head.
"What do I do? What should I do?" he chanted to himself, his eyes began to look lost, his body swaying he tried to process what was going on. Jazz gave his hands a squeeze.
"Just breathe, breathe in and out." She instructed. Maddie finally took notice of what was happening with Danny and moved forward pushing Jazz aside and feeling his forehead. He was cold and clammy, his pupils were dilated and he was shivering.
"Phantom." Maddie spoke soothingly, "It's ok." Danny shook his head and shuddered again, looking back at the mirror once more.
"Oh, this is not right, not right at all… I can't… no… what will you do… oh my gods… why is this happening. How is this happening?" He babbled as Maddie continued to try and calm him.
"Phantom, calm down, let's go lay down, ok. I'll explain everything." Maddie said. Danny shook his head again, his deep green eyes darting around worriedly.
"I… I can't… oh god… Jazz what do I do…" Danny looked down at himself. "I can't go ghost… I can't… I can't phase… I can't…" Danny shook his head, "No, not right." Danny muttered. Maddie slowly tried to calm the boy down and got him to his room, laying him down on the bed and placing pillows under his feet. Jazz followed Jack as well as Danny shivered and Maddie tucked blankets around him warming him up and trying to comfort him. Jazz watched wondering if she knew what she had done to her own son.
"Mom… is that… is that Phantom?" Jazz asked at last not sure how to broach the subject, this was so far out of normal, even for them.
"Yes sweetie. Will you go bring a big glass of water?" Maddie asked, Jazz hesitated before nodding, she would have time to talk to Danny later, when it could be just the two of them. Time to plan as usual, time to let him talk out how he felt about this whole situation.
"Hey baby, why are you being so nice to the ghost boy?" Jack asked as he approached, his brow furrowed.
"Jack, he's not a ghost anymore. He's a human, just a kid, and he's scared." Maddie gently. Jazz heard this on her way down the hall and clenched her fists storming down the stairs. She realized her mom had heard what Jazz said about "post-human consciousness" but had interpreted it to suit her needs.
Danny was slowly calming down, the water and muscle relaxer the Jazz brought him helped. He took a few deep breaths and sipped at the water before finally looking around the room. Maddie had shooed Jazz and Jack away and therefore Maddie was the one who Danny stared at for a moment before he spoke.
"What happened to me?" He asked, his eyes were accusatory and his hands gripped the glass of water, trembling. Maddie didn't think too much of it and smiled, gently patting his leg in a comforting gesture.
"We brought you back to life, you're alive again, human again." Maddie said as if it were the best thing in the world, Danny stared at her and Maddie continued talking. "We found a way to trigger a transformation in ectoplasm that will convert it back into real world matter, in the case of your body it means we restored your humanity." She theorized that converting ectoplasm to real world matter was how his jumpsuit had come back from the dead with him instead of melting off when he became human.
"But… oh gods, everything is so messed up." Danny said, pulling at his white hair, "How could you do that! How am I supposed to fight ghosts now? Oh god… my parents." Danny groaned.
"I know about your parents." Maddie said as she gently patted his leg again, Danny's head shot up and he stared at her.
"You do? What do you mean… I…" Danny asked, he cut off his apology as he figured if she knew his secret she wouldn't have done that to him in the first place. Whatever she knew about his parents must have been some kind of misunderstanding.
"I heard you on the roof, I heard you say your parents don't even know that you're dead. If you don't want to go back you can stay here for now. My son probably won't mind, my daughter won't either." Maddie offered with yet another pat on the leg. Danny glanced down at the motherly pat and then shook his head, pulling his leg away and narrowing his eyes.
"Hey aren't you the same woman that has been shooting at me and trying to kill me… again. Don't you want to dissect me, tear me to shreds and rip me apart molecule by molecule? Why are you being so nice all of a sudden? It's creepy… It's really creepy." he said as he pulled his knees to his chest and looked at her suspiciously.
"Well, because you're human. I believe you weren't aware of your actions as a ghost, you were just a manifestation of post human consciousness, now that you are actually human you can adapt, grow, learn and think." Maddie said matter-of-fact-ly. Danny turned red with anger as his fists clenched the bed sheets.
"Are you kidding? Just because I'm human now doesn't mean I'm… I'm suddenly a different person! I wasn't evil!" He snapped.
"Ghosts don't exactly have a proper consciousness, you'll figure it out as you become more accustomed to being human again, you'll realize the evil deeds you did." She said as if she were giving a detached lecture on the subject and not insulting her son.
"Look, Mo-Maddie, name all of the evil things I've done! I'm sure there were extenuating circumstances to each one or just misunderstandings." He said trying not to get upset just yet.
"Kidnapping the Mayor." Maddie pointed out first.
"He was overshadowed by a ghost named Walker that was trying to turn the entire town against me. Needless to say it worked quite well." Danny grumbled and folded his arms, refusing to look at Maddie.
"Going on a rampage and stealing precious items, gold, paintings, even an Egyptian statue." Maddie, shaking her head at him.
"I. was. being. Controlled!" He said as he turned to glare at Maddie. "All that stuff I stole was found in Freakshow's train cars right? You remember that glowing crystal ball on the staff he always had with him? He used that to control me! He… He made me do terrible things, attacking people, theft… kidnapping…" His anger gave way to guilt. "I tried to fight it once I began to realize what was happening but… I just couldn't… I only remember what happened in my dreams… It's terrible, watching my body betray me and commit crimes and harrass people."
"You've caused untold damages to our town." Maddie said growing angry despite the fact that this boy was no longer a ghost, he still insisted that he hadn't been evil.
"So have YOU!" Danny said then he paused and took another deep breath to keep himself from getting too angry. "Would you rather untold damages be taken out on the citizens? I try to keep the ghost fights contained as possible, but when you're in a fight it's hard to keep things straight, it's hard to make sure I'm not being thrown into walls. I don't do it on purpose!" Danny said his irritation showed more as he grit his teeth. "Not to mention you've caused plenty of property damage just by driving around in the Assault Vehicle.
"You were a ghost at the time so I don't hold any of it against you." Maddie said, having taken a breath to calm herself too. This comment ticked Danny off the most and he scoffed and sat up straighter glaring at her and bursting out with anger.
"Oh YEAH?! What if I was a fucking vampire at the time, or a yeti, or Darth Vader! That has nothing to do with it!" Danny threw his hands in the air with his shouting before he folded his arms and lowered his voice again, "I'm going to keep protecting Amity Park, Dead, Alive or in between. I have to protect people! I'm a kid though! I make mistakes! You and Jack are fully grown ass adults and you make tons of mistakes too!" He shook his head and looked down at his hands, his anger fading away as he ran his thumb over the scar on his left palm. The two of them sat in awkward silence for a bit before Danny spoke again.
"What if it was your son that was a ghost?" He asked quietly, looking up at her with an almost begging gaze.
"That's different." Maddie said defensively as she shook her head at him.
"Why? Because I'm alive now I'm suddenly a good person! Because if your son had died and become a ghost you absolutely know he wouldn't be evil?" Danny yelled standing up, "If you knew who human me was would you still have shot at me?! If you knew… If you know that I really did immediately become evil when I died… If you knew that we wouldn't be here right now." He buried his face in his hands for a moment before looking back up at Maddie.
"You really messed me up… I was… I wasn't evil before, and my body…" he looked back down at his hands. "You really fucked me up. There was a delicate balance in place… yes I had died but… I didn't…" he choked back a sob before his anger returned and he began to scream.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING! YOU DON'T SEE! YOU DON'T CARE! IF YOU STOPPED OBSESSING ABOUT GHOSTS MAYBE YOU WOULD HAVE NOTICED. IF YOU STOPPED BEING SO SMALL MINDED, IF YOU STOPPED HATING, IF YOU JUST STOPPED…" Danny had tears running down his eyes despite his anger, he trailed off and buried his face in his knees as he pulled them to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.
Maddie stared at him for a moment before reaching out to gently touch his shoulder, Danny flinched and looked up at her with a glare.
,"Where is your son anyway? He isn't here obviously, this is his room… is he dead? Is he alive? Do you even know? Do you even see him?" Danny asked, his glare softened into a look of desperation. Maybe just maybe if he pointed it out he would see him, she would realize what she had done and she would have a way to fix it. A small selfish part of him hoped that realizing what she had done would make her feel pain. If she felt even a quarter of the pain he did, he would forgive her. He stared at her, she had to see him, she had to.
"Of course I see him, I see him in the mornings, and after school. He's probably at his little friends' house right now. They are always hanging out together." Maddie said, she gently patted his head in a way that felt so dismissive before speaking, " All this emotion you're having is normal. You've been a ghost for so long you haven't felt real emotions in a while, so every little emotion will seem amplified. Just because it's normal though, doesn't mean you should calm yourself." Maddie justified clinically. Danny laughed at the absurdity of it then threw up his hands.
"Fine, I give up. Do what you want." Danny threw himself back against the mattress and stared angrily up at the ceiling, ignoring Maddie entirely. She sat on the edge of the bed for a moment before deciding that talking now wouldn't get them anywhere. She sighed and stood, heading for the door to go back to her own room and give him some space.
"Good night Phantom." Maddie whispered, closing the door. Phantom scoffed at her and rolled his eyes. Maddie gripped the door frame feeling a familiar pang of rage at the disrespectful action, but let it go just as soon as it came. She figured he'd still be in shock and still in his emotional high, she could tolerate it this time. After Maddie closed the door Danny stood up, quietly going to the door and listening to the sounds of the house, making sure Maddie had actually gone to bed before he moved the the middle of his room
"Goin' ghost!" he said, the signature cry would help him focus if there was any semblance of his ghost half left. He didn't feel the world shift around him and become weightless, he didn't feel his body grow cold nor his heart still. He frowned and looked down at his hands.
"I said, goin' ghost!" He repeated the catchphrase as if that would fix things when he was so clearly completely messed up. When nothing happened once more, Danny sighed and put a hand to his chest silently feeling the pumping of his heart beneath his palm. Danny knew that his ghost core was gone, he might have been disoriented when he woke, but there was no denying it now. He felt empty, but in a new and strange way.
"I can't take this anymore." Danny said with disgust before he took off his pajamas and headed toward his dresser. He pulled on his usual set of clothes, blue jeans, white t-shirt, red shoes. He stared at himself in the mirror for a while, it looked so wrong. He shuddered then went to the closed, rummaging around till he found what he was looking for. He pulled a blue sweatshirt out and pulled it on. He paused then took his shoes off, they would make too much noise in the hall when he tried to sneak out.
Danny peered out his door, glancing down both ends of the hall and listening intently for noises of his family; his parents were in their room talking, Jazz was silent in her room, no one would be paying attention to him for now. Danny slipped down the stairs avoiding the squeaky parts in the stairs. There were often times when his ghost powers weren't working or weren't an option for one reason or another, and he had memorized the squeaky parts. He was grateful he had as it made it easier to sneak out, slipping down the stairs like a shadow and very quietly out the side door. He pulled up his hood before taking a moment to slip on his shoes. He walked at a quick pace down the street and away from Fenton Works.
"Damn it." Danny cursed to himself as he felt the cool air of the morning hitting his face, his body shivered slightly before he shook his head. "This is so not good." He mumbled once more as he disappeared in the dark.