Danny lazily floated through the outer wall into Fentonworks. It had been an extremely long and tiring day. He woke up to an empty thermos on his nightstand when he clearly remembered it being full of ghosts when he went to sleep, so he had to go out and search for the ghosts that had escaped. Skulker had been stalking him and trying to catch him over and over again, from the second he woke up, until just an hour ago when he finally managed to trap him in the thermos. Johnny and Kitty had gotten in trouble with law enforcement and his parents, so he had to help them escape. Valerie had chased him with one of her new weapons for an hour, animal ghosts had been appearing left and right to attack people, and the Box Ghost had kept showing up over and over again. He had been up since 8:00 in the morning and had done nothing but deal with ghosts and ghost hunters all day.
It wasn't even 9:00 yet, but Danny needed to rest. Let Valerie take care of all the ghosts that night, serves her right. He phased through the kitchen floor and into the lab. He really didn't want any more ghosts sneaking into his room again and taking the thermos to release everything he'd caught while he slept. Once was enough.
The lab lights were on and the portal was wide open, giving the entire lab a sharp green tint. His parents must have forgotten to shut down the lab before they left. That was probably one of the reasons why he'd had to fight so many ghosts that day. He shifted into his human form and put his hand on the genetic lock to close the portal, but before he was able to press confirm, he froze as he heard a click from behind him.
"What have you done with our son."
He slowly lifted his arms into the air as a sign of surrender. How did he not notice them? He tried to turn around to face them, but his dad's sharp voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Don't move Phantom. Answer the question. Now."
He gulped. He didn't know what to say. He had imagined a scenario like this hundreds of times, had scripted out what he would say more times than he could count, but his mind was completely blank. He had no idea what to do or say. His heart was pounding, his legs were shaking, he felt like he could collapse at any second. He wanted out, he couldn't do this. But he had to explain.
"Mom, Dad, I-"
His mother cut him off. "No. You don't get to call us that. Tell us where our son is right now or I swear to god I will rip you apart piece by piece until there's nothing left." He had never heard her sound this angry before. He was almost glad he wasn't facing her, he didn't want to see the expression on her face.
"I-" He was hyperventilating. He didn't know what he was doing, he didn't know what he could say to make them believe him. "I-" He couldn't think, his vision was blurring at the edges and he felt like his throat was swelling up. The buzzing of the lab's fluorescent lights pounded through his skull, cutting through every coherent thought. "The portal. When it turned on, I was inside and now I'm… I'm still…"
"Where is he." His dad sounded unnaturally serious. It was eerie to hear him talk without any enthusiasm. It was like listening to a cheap imitation. He wished it was just an imitation.
He needed to explain. He needed them to see. "I'm your son, I'm Danny. I just, I wanted to tell you. It was the portal, I'm still me though." He could feel his throat closing and tears threatening to spill, but he pushed on. "The portal did this, but I'm still me, you have to believe me. Please believe me."
They were silent. He wanted to turn around and look at them, to see what they were thinking, but he felt like he was glued in place. He stood there for what felt like an eternity, with nothing but the hum of the lights and the swirling glow of the portal. Then his mother spoke.
"You have one chance. Tell us where you've taken him by the count of three. One."
This wasn't working. He needed to move, he needed to get out of here.
"But, I can't-"
"Two."
"He needed to run, but he was still frozen. Why was he frozen?"
"I'm your-"
"Three."
In a split second. Danny transformed and shot up like a bullet, but crashed as he tried to phase through the ceiling. He tried again, and again. The walls, the floor, the entrance to the staircase, he couldn't go through any of them. They must have activated the lab shield while he was emptying the thermos. He was trapped.
An ectoblast grazed against his arm and he dodged another. He couldn't escape, he had nowhere to go, it was all over. But then the portal caught his eye. It was his only chance. The secondary shield around the portal had always been weak. Without the blast doors, it was practically useless for anything above a blob ghost. With speed, he could break through and be free. His parents caught on to his plan and rushed to shut the portal, but he was faster. He broke through the shield, into the portal, and away from his parents. He was safe.
But then he felt a stinging pain in his abdomen and started to fall. Confusion took over for a second, but recognition replaced it soon after. As he fell, his body limply twisted in the air, giving him a perfect view of his mother's upper body poking through the portal.
She always was the better shot.
He tried to fly, but it was no use. He couldn't catch himself, couldn't slow his descent. So he fell, through a vast expanse of green, then through a dimly lit sky before landing on branch after branch, and finally solid ground.
For a long while he just stayed there, face against dirt and fallen pine needles. His eyes were fixed on the ground. He couldn't move them, couldn't move anything. He didn't know what was going on, he couldn't think. Then little by little, his mobility returned.
He slowly pulled himself up off the ground and onto his hands and knees. His whole body hurt and he'd be lucky if he didn't break any bones in that fall, even with his durability. He held a hand to the wound on his torso and tried to put pressure on it to stop the bleeding. With his other hand he pulled himself to his feet with the help of the tree next to him. His head was spinning and he felt like he was going to vomit. He leaned against the tree, not caring that the bark pricked at his skin. He needed to catch his breath. He needed to think.
Danny looked down to his wound, but froze in place. His hands and lower abdomen were covered in black scales. His eyes traced up his arms, following the scales until he got to his shoulders where they faded out. He touched his arm with his free hand, feeling the scales. They were smooth, but each one had a subtle bump to it. It was like touching a snake. He inspected them closer. The scales got smaller as they traveled down to his fingers, and blunt claws replaced his fingernails.
He looked down to his legs. They were similarly covered with the same smooth scales, but unlike his arms, the scales continued up to his torso before fading out.
He felt something shift behind him and looked down to see a tail. Black with a white underside and with spikes along the top, skin webbed between them, almost like a fin. Then there were the wings. He extended one out of curiosity. It was longer than he was tall and looked like a bat's wing.
He felt like he should be scared. He should be panicking. He was lost, his body was different, he was injured, and there was no telling when he'd ever be able to get back home. And what would he do then? His parents didn't believe him, they didn't even give him a chance. What if he got back home and they caught him? Jazz, Sam, and Tucker promised not to tell them, what if his parents spent months, or years even, not knowing the truth and thinking that he replaced the real Danny? Searching for him so they could catch him and torture information out of him.
What if Jazz, Sam, or Tucker told his parents, tried to back him up, but his parents didn't believe them? What if they convinced Jazz, Sam, and Tucker that he was just an imposter? What if he came home and everyone hated him? They could out him to everyone, there could be news headlines labeling him an imposter, accusing him of killing the real Danny Fenton. He wouldn't have anywhere to turn, even Vlad would be too worried about what his mom would think to take him in.
What if his parents believed him, but didn't care. Half ghosts are super rare, they've never had the chance to study them. What if they decide to experiment on him, or tell the GIW about him and the GIW captures him to experiment on? He's seen what happens to the blob ghosts that get captured by his parents, he can't let that happen to him.
It could be fine, maybe his parents will calm down, maybe Jazz will explain it to them, and maybe they'll believe it. But what then? Portals can open into anywhere and any time. What if he's in the past or the future? There's no telling when another portal will open up. What if he never comes home? And what if his parents blame themselves? They could think that they killed him, or that he hates them, and he'll just be stuck here.
He tripped and fell over a tree root. He wasn't sure when he'd started walking or why. His entire body was shaking and he was hyperventilating. He needed to stop, he needed to calm down, but he couldn't. He felt like he was suffocating, he needed to hide, he was too vulnerable. The trees were growing further and further apart, exposing him. He didn't have any cover, he didn't have anywhere to hide. He needed to go, he needed to run.
He heard a voice behind him. It was growing louder and louder. He could almost feel the footsteps of something massive approaching him. He scrambled to his feet and ran, tripping and stumbling over rocks and branches. The footsteps got louder, and the voice started yelling. He just ran as fast as he could. His legs started to give out, but he kept running. He could barely breathe, but he kept running. His vision was starting to fade in and out, but he kept running.
He found a cave, it was tall and open, it would be difficult to hide in, but he had no other options. He ran inside and huddled himself against the far wall, wrapping his wings and tail around himself. He held his legs close to his chest with one hand and desperately tried to muffle the sounds of his breathing with the other. If he was quiet, he wouldn't be found. If he was quiet, he would be safe.