Danny Phantom Short Stories

Abused au part 2

I got inspired and so I return from my years long hiatus to write this short. I don't know what came over me so yeh. *Looks both directions before running away*

Btw this is inspired by Alice_Hazelwood and PurpleDragonfly2002

It wasn't supposed to go like this. In all the outcomes Danny's (admittedly poor) imagination had festered he'd never expected this.

He'd expected the reveal of his identity to bring forth confusion, disgust, contempt. From the town, from his parents, from the government. He'd expected to be locked up and experimented on. He'd expected to be treated like the freak of nature that he is.

He hadn't expected to suddenly be adopted by an entire overprotective town who has set it's watchful eye on the wrong people.

Danny hadn't seen his parents since the court case in which he revealed his secret. He could only imagine how they were taking it. Jazz kept him updated. "Badly," she said. "They're still coming to terms with you being half ghost. They're feeling very guilty."

This didn't make Danny feel any better. And he wasn't sure how to feel about the townsfolk either.

On the one hand they had taken the fifteen year old from his family and his home. As a ghost catered to care a lot about his loved ones, it hurt.

On the other hand they shouted out encouragement during his fights. (Ghosts were very curious about this new development but otherwise left it alone. They'd never meddled with things surrounding his secret identity before).

On the other hand students he'd never talked to before handed him food during lunch, stacking his tray with more food he'd previously eat in a week.

On the other hand they threw rocks at any man with sunglasses wearing a white suit that looked at Danny weirdly.

On the other hand the teachers handed him passes when a ghost showed up and handed him summaries of books he had to read and gave him the short version of homework sheets and let him retake tests and come on he's an overstressed teen with the world on his shoulders let him have this.

So Danny might be a little conflicted. He's grateful, but simultaneously situations like these happen:

The half ghost dodges a blue ectoblast and responds in kind. The screeching, glowing manta ray he's fighting is pushed back by the hit but recovers quickly and dives in to bodily slam Danny into the side of a building.

The building shakes. Danny kicks the dead animal back and encases the wall he's been slammed into with ice for good measure. No buildings going doing on his watch.

"You're doing great, Phantom!" A kid shouts, jumping up and down in excitement. "Punch it in the eyes!!"

Danny's a little worried about the example he's setting here.

He throws a temporary shield around the kid before jumping back into battle. Citizens have been growing more and more reckless and it's gonna give him white hair to his human form as well.

A gang of adolescents are clustered in the opening of an alley, facing the fight. One of them lazily raises his beer in acknowledgement of Danny's exasperated expression. (He's given up on telling people to evacuate during fights).

The teen's eyes doesn't leave the two fighting ghosts. "Ten bucks says he catches it in five."

Another one snorts. "You kidding? I hear the kid's been taking lessons from Martha down the street. Fifteen says two."

"Anyone got food and drinks? He looks kinda tired."

The first one puts their beer down and searches through their beat up backpack. "Yeah. My mom gave me the leftover pasta to give it to him. And I got a coke."

The one on the floor grimaced. "Coke?? You know how much caffeine is in that? Kid needs to sleep. We're giving him my water bottle."

Danny meanwhile was busy capturing the ghost in his thermos. He gave a sigh as he lowered to the ground to catch his breath. He wondered what kind of unfinished business a manta ray could have.

Suddenly a mike was pushed in his face. He mentally groaned when coming face to face with a reporter and a cameraman.

"Mr. Phantom! Could you answer a few questions. The public wants to know!"

Danny almost rolled his eyes at that. What could the public possibly want to know more about. Everyone's been all up his business lately. But whatever, he didn't want to go back home yet anyway. His foster parents always let him out as long as he wanted. Which was nice.

He turned his body fully to the reporter. "What does the public want to know?"

The reporter lit up. "Could you tell us a bit about the fight you just had. Was it a hard one? Do you know anything about the ghost?"

Danny rubbed the back of his head, mussing up his hair in the process. (He'd long since stopped trying to look presentable to the public. They wanted to catch him after a fight? They'd get the whole picture.) "It wasn't a hard fight. It's honestly been getting easier." He wasn't sure whether that was because of Martha's training lessons (the woman had insisted) or because Danny was becoming gradually stronger.

The reporter seemed to think there was a third option. "Is it because your parents have stopped shooting at you?"

Danny froze. "Huh?"

"The restraining order that was put on them is certainly helping, isn't it?" The reporter continued. "Are you glad you don't have to see them anymore?"

Sleep pulled at his body because of restless nights. Hunger constricted his stomach as it did after a fight. His back hurt because of being slammed into a wall. His core throbbed because of being ripped out of his home life against his will. Danny's mouth seemed to finally catch up to him. "Am I...glad?" His ectoplasmic green eyes glowed brighter along with the rest of his body. "Am I glad???? To not see my parents anymore?"

The reporter took a step back, bewildered. "They. They did nothing but hurt you?"

The audacity.

"They raised me! They loved me! They tried to protect me!" The people witnessing it weren't prepared to have the feeling of a powerful specters anger wash over them in waves.

Danny's voice echoed. "They didn't know any better. No one had seen ghosts before this and it was all up to speculation! Everyone in this town has spit at my name before. None of you are any better. I've been a loser! I've been a freak! I am an abomination. I'm not a human! I'm not a ghost! My greatest wish was for my parents to know that and still love me as I do them!" All of a sudden the storm settled and Danny Fenton's eyes bore into the camera lens. "You took that from me."

He disappeared without eating his leftover pasta or drinking his water bottle.