Escaping Yourself :DP: Chapter 1

Journal Entry #1. "What's going on?" - Saturday Morning, 11:34 AM, Amity Park

It was Saturday. What would have been an average day for an average teenager: bringing the school week to a close, coming home with the luxury of no homework, and waking up on a bright Saturday afternoon to enjoy the weekend with your friends and video games. This was not the case for Danny Fenton.

Once an average 14-year-old boy attending Casper High, Danny has a life far separate from anyone he will ever know. For Danny… is only half human. The rest of his essence is occupied by his ghost half, who takes the name Phantom. He became a hybrid when an accident, caused by a project his ghost-hunting parents created, forced ghost DNA to mix with his own. Thus, Danny Phantom was created.

Danny feels as though Phantom's beginning to gain a mind of his own. It worries him constantly.

This is all I can write for now, I pray no one finds these messages....
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Danny's striking cobalt eyes opened, rather regretfully, to the bright sunlight pouring through the parted curtains of his bedroom window. He growled in annoyance, rolling over and covering his face with a pillow. "Five more minutes," he said quietly, before realizing no one had spoken to him. His eyes opened again, the light thankfully dimmed with the help of his pillow, and glanced around the room. What day is it…? Suddenly Tucker burst into the room, flinging the door open, and leapt onto Danny's mattress. "Happy Saturday!!" Tucker had a huge grin on his face and, as usual, pockets stuffed with electronics. Well that answers my question... Danny rolled his eyes.

"Dude, you're crushing my legs," Danny hissed. The sudden intrusion wasn't necessary. Tucker looked down at Danny's legs but didn't move as Sam followed, entering the room in a much calmer fashion, and relaxed herself on the edge of Danny's bed.

"Hi Danny," she said quietly. In her hands was a large, leather-bound book. It appeared ancient and withered, the black cover faded and firmly guarding about five-hundred old, yellowing pages. It was severely splotched with burns and deep claw marks, like something had tried desperately to destroy it. Danny wondered for a few moments what it contained, then snapped back into the current situation.

"Guys, I just woke up. Can't you two give a guy five minutes?" His voice was serious. He wasn't in the mood to joke around. "And Tuck, would you please GET OFF ME!? You're seriously crushing my legs, and I'm still in my pajamas…" He shoved Tucker with one hand, a bit too hard as something in the back of his mind told him to be more violent about it. Tucker didn't seem to mind the shove, but the thought of random violence was giving Danny a headache.

Tucker gracefully rose and stepped off the bed, then turned to face Danny and leaned forward, smirking. "Yeah, your pink ones," he teased, pointing mockingly at Danny's exposed pink pajamas. Danny blushed, hiding himself in the blankets. But something went wrong, and he turned intangible, sinking through the mattress and barely stopping himself from falling through the floor. "Danny, it doesn't matter if you're dressed or not. We came to tell you something. Well, at least I did- Tucker just wanted to tag along and kept talking about trying to scare you. A-anyway, this is important. Come here," she said impatiently, beckoning him with an index finger without taking her eyes off of the book. Danny squirmed for a few moments, wriggling himself to squeeze from beneath the mattress, but finally succeeded, pulling himself free and stood to face Sam and Tucker, glaring as he crossed his arms.

"Fine, but let me change at least." He walked over to his dresser and pulled the top shelf open, cringing as it sqeaked on its hinges. He grabbed a messily unfolded black T-shirt and blue jeans from the drawer and hurriedly changed into them, struggling for a minute to try and pull the shirt over his head. It messed up his hair. Sam glanced over to Danny, giggling at his hair, and motioned for him again. "Any day now, Danny," she said. Danny grunted and messed with his hair, trying to fix it while moving toward the book Sam wanted him so badly to see. As he approached the book, however, he could feel a strange yet indecipherable power emitting steadily from it. The presence in the corners of his mind seemed to chuckle in dark amusement. It gave him chills. Why was Sam showing him this?

With a deep breath followed by a grave silence, Sam slowly opened the book to what appeared to be the 'Table of Contents' page. The page was thick, yellow and torn, and the ink was blurred, almost illegible. "This isn't another draft of your goth poetry is it, Sam?" Tucker joked.

"Don't make me hit you," she replied sharply.

Danny, on the other hand, was too busy to joke. He was enraptured by the book's scribbled penmanship; it was luring him in. His eyes shone with a dark light and saliva was slowly oozing from his mouth.

"Danny, you're drooling," Tucker said blankly, staring at him with a confused expression.

"…They're ready for us… It's not over… They're coming..." Danny was mumbling dazedly to no one in particular. His clouded, mysterious words cut slowly and painfully through the air, sending chills down the spines of his friends.

"D-Danny…?" Tucker and Sam both asked nervously, speaking in sync.

Danny shook his head, holding it with one hand and carefully stroking the book with the other. He didn't speak a word, but his eyes said everything: Phantom's mind was awakening again.

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For the second time that week, and the fourth time in total, Danny would zone out, mumbling incoherent gibberish or strange words and phrases as if he were hypnotized. But by what? Phantom was also acting differently. Danny had a hard time controlling his powers again, like back when he first received them, and it was difficult to control his transformations. 'Going ghost' inflicted pain on Danny, and even when he wasn't trying to change, he would occasionally look in the mirror, only to witness himself with white hair or one green eye, or even fangs, staring back at him. Worst of all, Danny himself acted strangely all of a sudden. He would sometimes jump at shadows, or react to unseen things, or claim someone was speaking when, clearly, no one spoke. It were as if he was going insane. And the voices of Phantom deep within his mind didn't help, either. The strange behavior frightened Tucker and Sam; Danny never had these kinds of problems before, so what changed? They wanted to help him, but hadn't the slightest idea how. This whole book experience was simply supposed to be a new way of trying to help Danny, but so far it was doing more harm than good.

Sam and Tucker sighed deeply in unison, staring at Danny, who had taken the large book and was cradling it gently in his hands, staring blankly at it with eyes much darker than usual. Finally, Tucker stood, walked slowly over to Fenton, and slapped him harshly across the face.

Danny stumbled, swaying, and dropped the book. The sudden blow caught him completely off guard. He slowly lifted a trembling hand and pressed it to his cheek, rubbing it as slowly and softly as possible. His eyes were glowing with rage. "What the heck was that for, Tuck!? I can't believe you!"

Tucker glared back at him. "To snap you out of it," he said flatly. "And it looks like it worked," he added matter-of-factly.

"Hmph." Danny turned, then bent over to pick up the book and handed it to Sam. She tried to take it, but with effort: Danny was clutching it tightly.

"Uh, Danny? Mind letting go?"

"H-huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Here, sorry Sam." He released his grip, not realizing his own strength as the action nearly knocked Sam backward.

Danny was moments from apologizing, when an unusually loud noise suddenly boomed and echoed below their feet. "W-what was that!?" Danny's voice squeaked a bit; he was used to strange and loud noises from experience; his parents were always making noise. But this was different. Danny tensed, then whirled around and bolted out the door. Tucker and Sam quickly followed, leaving the leather-bound book to rest on Danny's bed.

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The noise wasn't from Danny's parents. Nor was it from anyone he knew. His parents weren't even home; they had left a few hours earlier to buy supplies for their latest project, and Danny would've obviously preferred to stay home rather than come along and watch his parents select materials that will eventually be used to harm him. The sound came from a single figure now standing, slouched, in the doorway. The front door was hanging from its hinges and the wall was cracked in several places.

If looks could kill, Danny would've been doing some serious damage right about there. "Ugh, now I have to explain to my parents why the door broke! Who are you, and why'd you need such a presentation to introduce yourself!?"

The figure was a man, though Danny doubted he was human. He appeared to be an older man, perhaps even ancient, thin as a twig with grossly drained hands that extended into long, skinny fingers tipped with claws. His skin was dark and completely grey, as if the life was literally sucked from it. He was tall and slouched, most likely from either old age or crouching so much to enter doorways shorter than himself. Covering about 98% of his body was a long, black cloak with extensive sleeves that consumed his arms and hands entirely. The hem appeared deep red, as if stained with blood that dried years before. The hood of the cloak was pulled up over his head, covering his face, and was tightened with a thin silver rope that circled his body, ending as a belt around his waist.

His voice was deep and terribly raspy, as if someone had sliced his vocal cords with a cheese grater. He extended a long, bony arm in Danny's direction, pointing to him with a trembling, clawed finger. "I am Sykris. And I have come for you, Daniel Fenton."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker all gasped in unison, Danny backing up and Sam putting her hand to her mouth. "Y-you know my name? HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!?" Danny screamed, glaring intensely at the creepy old man. "What do you want with me!? Why have you come for me!?" The questions were flowing from Danny like a popped balloon, pouring from his lips to shield his fear. Who was this man, exactly, and how did he know about Danny?

Sykris simply retracted his hand, bringing it to his "mouth" to calmly shush Danny. "Hush, boy. Do not ask of me, rather, you should be thinking about how much you say. It could be the death of you. Beware not who I am, rather who you are. I am but a servant to a higher cause, a cause whose worth stretches far beyond the worth of your pitiful life." By the tone of his voice, Danny guessed he was smiling as he spoke the last few words. "You have great power, Daniel. You are filled with potential, we just need to release it." He made a sweep across the air with one of his long arms, motioning to Danny's surroundings. "Leave this pathetic life, child. Come with me, and unlock your potential! Set free to the spirit trapped within your soul!"

Danny clenched his hands, tightening them into fists ready to make contact with this guy's face. "What nonsense do you keep blabbering about, anyway? Look, I know one thing for sure, Sykris, and that is: I am NOT coming with you!" He spread his legs, bending his knees in preparation for the transformation into his ghostly self. To take on this weirdo, he'd need to go ghost, despite the pain it would most likely inflict on him.

But, of course, Sykris was well-prepared for refusal. He opened his hand, growing very still as a black mist began to form within the palm of it. The mist grew, then spread, becoming larger and larger until it consumed Sykris' body. He quietly spoke a single word, obviously of foreign language, and the mist broke from his body to consume Tucker and Sam. Once the mist enveloped them, they found themselves completely unable to move. Next, Sykris beckoned to the stairs of Danny's house and waited patiently as the book from earlier floated gently down the steps and into his awaiting hand. Sykris nodded pleasantly in satisfaction. He then traced a strange symbol into the air. It was the number "8" with a horizontal line extending from the middle of it and stretching both directions, ending in an arrow head on each side. The symbol then came to life and the arrow heads lashed out, wrapping themselves around Danny's waist and tightening, lifting him into the air. He struggled to break free, but the grip only tightened further.

"See, boy?" Sykris' voice was dreadfully calm. "This is what it feels like to be trapped! To be confined, locked away within the body of a human," he said with disgust. The snake-like arrows continued to tighten around Danny's waist and he could feel the air being squeezed out of him. Danny was astonished by this guy's behavior, and utterly confused. All he knew was that this one meant business. Whatever his goal was, he was pursuing it with passion. And that would mean bad things in store for Danny.

As a last-ditch effort, Danny readied his ghostly wail, gathering the energy deep within himself as he tried to breathe. But it was futile. He was still in human form, and these arrows were draining his energy. This was over. The "8" section of the symbol finally sprang to life, stretching itself out before winding and twisting like a rubber band. It then, all too suddenly, threw itself at Danny, the upper opening wrapping his neck and the lower circling his ankles as they both tightened. This was it. He was doomed... He was defeated, completely powerless and unable to move while uncomfortably wrapped from head to toe in the limbs of a cursed marking.

Sykris lifted his head to "stare" at Danny's helpless body squirming in the air. He nodded and beckoned to the symbol, it promptly responded, drifting down to meet eye-level with Sykris and simply floated, waiting patiently for a command. Sykris then traced another symbol in the air, this one much more simplistic: a circle. Large enough to fit Danny in, the circular marking came to life, expanding until it was large enough to fit Sykris' immense height, then filled its opening with black mist, creating a dark portal into an unknown world.

"WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME!?" Danny roared, squirming and madly kicking his legs at Sykris, but it was no use.

"Quiet yourself, boy. You'll lose your voice." Sykris calmly lifted a finger, pointing to Fenton, and shot a beam of thick black mist at his mouth. It covered it, sealing Danny's mouth and covering his face with mist the consistency of syrup.

"Mm-mrph! Mrmrmmgh! Mmrgh! Phrfmshrgm!!!" Danny tried to yell something, anything, but no words formed. Finally, Sykris turned to Danny, reaching for him with his long, disgusting arms before grabbing him tightly by his sides, long dark claws digging into Danny's skin.

"This is the part where you disappear dramatically," Sykris said with another amused tone, most likely smiling. He gripped Danny tightly then lifted him and thrust him into the portal, Danny's weak form melting into the passageway. With urgent finality, Sykris turned his head to face Sam and Tucker's motionless bodies. He nodded to each of them, than said flatly, "That will fade in a few hours. Probably. As for your friend, well... I'm in a bit too much of a hurry for your little goodbyes, so you're just going to have to leave a message."

Sam and Tucker weren't even able to move their lips. "No? Well, thought you cared about your friends." He chuckled in his deep, scratchy voice. "What failures you are. Pity. Oh well, farewell for now to your friend, because I promise you two will see him again. But trust me, by the time this is over, you're going to wish you hadn't."
With that, Sykris stepped slowly into the portal before it closed behind him, sealing with a flash before simply vanishing. That might've been the last time Sam and Tucker would ever see Danny again.