#i'm gonna stop tagging this as dannymay because it's november and we all know that i'm just 40 years later with my Nonsense

[ecto-american]

Broken Ectoplasm C12

Ectoplasm | Broken | Glass | Theory | Community | Eavesdropping | Worldbuilding | Accident | History | Shape shift | Puppet | Or Read on FFN or AO3. | shoutout to @qlinq-qhost for betareading

Day 20: Ink

There was just simply too much to think about. The most annoying part was how that's all there was to do. Think, think, think. Zero action.

Agent G sighed boredly as he sunk further into his couch. He had nothing to do, nothing to prepare for tomorrow. His work clothes were already hung and ready for tomorrow. Everything needed, including lunch and his briefcase of paperwork, was packed and sitting on the kitchen counter. Part of him wished that he had been able to just stay the night at the hospital instead of passing over shift duties to the night team. Ghost activities always spiked at night. But given that the night team had come in white sweatpants and personal laptops, headphones and snacks, they likely suspected that Phantom was going to be very quiet that night. Which made sense, given his condition.

God the Guys in White was boring.

Where was the action? The excitement? The cool jet planes and armor and shootouts? That's what had enamored him, that made him curious and interested in the organization. While the initial introduction to his current career path was certainly not...ideal, it definitely caught his attention. Nothing really could do so better than accidentally being shot at over being mistaken for the ghost boy. Hell, after he joined, he learned that the very agent he was partnered with now was the one that nearly shot him out of the Amity Park Observatory. So it's not like he was in the wrong department.

Agent K didn't even really seem interested in being a detective of any kind. Agent G, the entire ride back to the main office, had tried to ask about his thoughts. His theories, his predictions. Agent K had none, and he didn't really care to listen to Agent G's either. Even after they got the medical records, and Agent G was left floored, Agent K had no insight into the situation.

Skinning? A skinning? That was so disturbing, the reported account. Maybe, maybe he could understand why a ghost researcher would wanna skin a ghost, even though that in itself was kinda creepy. But a ghost, skinning another ghost? Skinning them "alive" so to speak? That was some dark stuff. Something he'd imagine hearing some kind of serial killer did. Even a ghost as supposedly evil as Phantom didn't deserve that.

Emphasis on the supposedly.

Agent G's mind continued to wander as he tuned out the low background noise of his TV going. The Guys in White...was simply so boring. So much waiting, he had entertained himself via reading, and re-reading, and analyzing every case file that Agent K and Agent O were assigned to. It caused him to notice some odd details in the finely printed black ink that led him to have doubts when he began to match Phantom's long, detailed case file with various other cases that were on file within the GIW archives.

The mass public report and stories, the personal accounts and statements taken from dozens and dozens of people during what was dubbed the Overshadowing Epidemic. Many people, whose names he even recognized, had come forward with their accounts and to be interviewed about their overshadowed experiences. Their accounts were similar. Most experienced a loss of time, feeling constantly cold for a while afterwards, being dazed and confused following the immediate aftermath. Some felt physically and mentally exhausted, as if their bodies were never given rest or they had been running a marathon. None of them could pinpoint truly how they knew that they were overshadowed, but they always knew when it ended, and many could immediately see the ghost in question leaving their body. While a number of people came forward with their concerns, the case author reported that given security, news and personal footage, that it was estimated that anywhere from twenty-five to forty-percent of Amity Park was overshadowed during this time while only a hundred people had personally come forward with their account. And for what purpose? Why did this mass overshadowing even happen so suddenly, and why did it end? Nobody was really sure, and the case author made no attempts to even answer the question, nor did he even suggest the question even being a reason.

According to both Phantom himself and eyewitnesses, Phantom stated that he was on their side during this time. At least five eyewitness accounts, names of people he recognized from his high school years, had come forward to claim that Phantom had saved them from being overshadowed. This was dismissed as being ridiculous according to the case author. But this matched up reasonably well.

Frederich Isak Showenhower, more commonly known as Freakshow, was taken into custody after being in possession of stolen goods. After his initial interview with the Amity Park police, he was extradited to GIW's headquarters due to his story. It was absolutely wild to the police, but it had that odd grain of truth that made them ship the ex-circus leader their way. His story was that it was really ghosts that did it using a ghostly artifact, and that he wanted a plea bargain of sorts, to get less jail time since he did not technically do any of the actual stealing. It was noted that in exchange for his information on ghostly artifacts, that he would be given a lesser sentence.

Phantom was shown on security footage and seen by witnesses stealing jewelry and money, robbing stores. Agent G studied all that footage closely, and he had noticed something peculiar. Many of those unique objects stolen matched perfectly to what was confiscated from Showenhower's loot. Both in item description and appearance. Phantom was never shown actively stealing money or jewelry or anything really, outside of this window of time period that matched with Showenhower's statement.

And these things just continued to match on, and on, and on. Things matched up, hidden in the endless text of black ink of case file after case file. It didn't quite confirm innocence. There was still a lot of questions, like motivation and some details that'd need clarifying. But the amount of facts that clicked together was enough, in Agent G's mind, cause a significant doubt in Phantom's defense.

But nobody really wanted to hear it.

He had brought it up to his boss, to no interest. Agent K told him to not bother digging too deep into seeing something that wasn't there. Agent O was more interested in his upcoming vacation with his wife. The other agents tuned him out. Nobody really seemed to care about the motivations or deeper questions involved in the casework.

Ghosts are just evil, they do that, his coworkers claimed, and Phantom was no different than any other evil ghost. But even evil had motivation of some kind. They almost always had some motivation. That's what drives people, and ghosts, to do anything. Many ghosts didn't attack humans or even come to the human world. So why were some attacking and others not? Why would Phantom, if he was evil, seemingly flip flop from doing good days one day to doing evil ones the next? It made no sense. Especially given the supposed behavioral patterns he displayed, it just was an odd fit, and Agent G had simply too many questions.

Agent G turned his TV off as that empty, confused feeling set in. Something just wasn't right concerning Phantom's case. Was this really life as a GIW agent? Was this really what he signed up for? Maybe he really should have become a cop like he originally trained for. But the Guys in White promised to help him find an identity, something he had been searching and trying to find for years. Their impressive display, that action and lightshow. It was what he thought he really wanted.

Was he missing something? Maybe it took longer to get those things, an identity and the excitement of field work. To be fair, he discovered so many things already laid out in ink that previous agents had authored before him. The desk work wasn't entirely useless. Just boring. There was so many facts that pointed to doubt. Agent G wasn't even claiming that Phantom was innocent! Just that there was reasonable doubt.

But of course...he was just a rookie.

He sat in the dark for a few moments before he finally stood up, and he got ready for bed. Tomorrow, he could hopefully get some answers. And he already knew how he was going to force his coworkers to listen.

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Thankfully the worst of the worst was over, leaving many what if thoughts to be put to rest. The surgery went well. Maddie nearly cried in relief when she finally properly saw her son post-stitched up. The swelling had reduced dramatically, and his jaw no longer looked distorted as it was secured back into place. His jaws were also wired shut. So unfortunately, the much needed conversation was still put on hold, and it would truly be put off to the side for a long time. But the important thing was that he saw safe. He made it through the surgery without shifting his form, and his secret was in tact.

She watched Danny as he slept peacefully. Jazz was curled up and sleeping on two chairs pressed to the wall. The teen had been so tired, she didn't even stir when Phantom was moved back to his room. Jack had been napping, but woke when Maddie was allowed to follow Phantom inside.

But now her husband sat next to her in the heavily dimmed lights of the hospital room. Maddie couldn't sleep. A pressing concern troubled her too much.

"Jack?"

Silence.

"Yeah?"

"...Are we bad parents?" Maddie's voice was barely audible. Afraid of the answer.

Jack didn't immediately swoop in with his reply, a blind assurance that they were not bad parents. That they couldn't have known. It wasn't their fault, that this was unpreventable.

"...We might be," came the grim confession. Maddie wiped an eye before tears could freely flow.

"He's afraid of me." Maddie was barely able to get it out. She kept her eyes on her baby. Tiny parts of her continued to die with every slap of reality.

Jack said nothing to correct or reassure her of something different. He stayed silent as they both let their situation sink in. Their son...was a ghost. Danny Phantom. Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom. Looking at that snow white hair, and how physically similar he was...how terrible were they to not have noticed.

"What do we do now?" Maddie had to know. She squeezed her husband's hand. "How can we ever...continue? How am I supposed to live knowing-"

"Do you really think he did all those terrible things?" Jack half-interrupted her. Maddie swallowed hard. She hadn't really thought about that. But now that she knew that Danny was fine, that he was safe and okay and right in front of her on a steady recovery path, her thoughts were drawn to an entirely new and frightening question: was her son evil?

Regardless of anything, that ghost boy was her son no matter what (wow, that was still a lot to process). But the ghost boy...his track record of criminal behavior was long, nearly endless. Attacking the mayor, all those robberies, summoning the ghost king, ruining Christmas, so many various miscellaneous things. This was so unlike Danny. Before high school, Danny had never had any troubles in school. Not grades, not behavioral. He was a model student in every way, and this sudden change, this very violent and destructive change, scared her.

A sick feeling came over her. When Danny died, maybe he...changed. Maybe this really wasn't her sweet little baby anymore. But did Danny die? He never answered her question.

"Jack, is Danny dead?" Maddie asked her husband quietly. Jack paled, and he shook his head no immediately.

"Jazz said he became half ghost during the portal accident," he explained. Danny was half-ghost? That was...a bit better than the idea of her son dying without her nor his father noticing, but it was still chilling.

"So he's not truly a ghost," Maddie said slowly. "So in theory, he shouldn't be evil." Jack looked thoughtful as he picked his words.

"But given everything he's supposedly done...Do you think?" Jack dared not say the thought aloud. Neither of them wanted to believe it.

Danny her spectral nemesis, who attacked a mayor and brought Amity Park into the Ghost Zone, who consistently caused perhaps millions in property damage and injuries from those who couldn't escape the scene, who robbed banks. Danny her baby boy who was skipping class, had begun to snap at her and talk back, who was failing classes and constantly coming home late from his curfew. Danny the ghost boy, who had been seen rescuing people from burning buildings and who saved a school bus from driving off a cliff, who helped catch criminals. Danny the youngest member of the Fenton family, who would cook dinner without asking if his parents were in the lab too long and encouraged them to take a break and eat, who never forgot a birthday and who stood up for his friends no matter what.

No matter what form he was taking, no matter how much she shot at him as Phantom or scolded him as Fenton, he never looked at her maliciously or with true rage. Frustration and teenage annoyance, but she had never looked into blue or green eyes that made he feel as if he was truly, at his very core, evil.

"No," she shook her head. "I don't think there's any possible way."

"So what do we do? What was all of that, all of the robberies and the attacks," Jack began, and Maddie just continued to shake her head. Her head was throbbing from a lack of sleep and emotional exhaustion.

"I don't know," she confessed. "There has to be some reason. Some explanation. But I don't know it, we'll have to…" she trailed off. Maddie closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Sleep sounded wonderful right now. She felt Jack's lips press against her temple in a gentle kiss.

"Let's focus on going home," Jack finally suggested.

"What's the chances of us all going home?" she questioned. Jack didn't reply. The unspoken answer was very, very unlikely.