So, it’s weird, but I’ve started to get used to the darkness. I’ve even started to find comfort in it. It’s quiet, a complete silence that almost drove me crazy for the first few hours? Days? Maybe even weeks. I couldn’t tell you where I was, or how long I had been there, but it was one of those situations where you either adapted or went insane. I adapted, and that’s something I could take pride in after suddenly being thrust here. 

One night I went to sleep, like every other night in my 16 years of life, but instead of waking up from my alarm or the sun shining through my window, I awoke here. Here where there’s no light, sound, or others. Well, at least I don’t think, when I first got here I couldn’t adapt fast enough. I...don’t like thinking of those days. I would scream but not a sound would come out, which would make me try harder. To find someone, anyone, that could hear my plea and save me. But no one could.

My throat would grow hoarse and I would start to like the pain. It’s a depressing thought, but when you can't smell, taste, see, or hear anything and your only sense is touch, just feeling isn't enough. I wanted, no I needed something more intense. Something that would last more than a single second. I needed shock. I needed pain. At first it started small. A little pinch here and there y’know, just to make sure I was alive. But I quickly learned that when you only have one sense, you want it to be active at all times. 

Shaking my head, I decide that thinking about this isn’t good for my sanity, or what left I have of it. The pain became addicting, but wherever I am, I’m still breathing. If I kept up my bad habits, I would’ve killed myself. To survive, I’ve learned to shut my brain down on command. It was like...sleep but not. It let me stop thinking and allow time to pass without me being fully conscious of it. I couldn’t sleep here for some reason. It was just one of those weird things, like how I haven’t gotten hungry since coming here. 

I should shut down now, too many bad thoughts again. Staring into the abyss, I begin to focus on the void. Of course, there’s nothing there like usual, but it’s a part of the process. Ever so slowly, my mind went blank, completely empty of any thought, but then I saw something. I saw something. A light in the distance. One would think that after being here for so long I would welcome anything that shines, but I didn’t. Someone who still longed for the outside world would but longing for anything here would drive you insane. 

I found myself frozen in fear. A terror overcame my body as the light began to expand. Swallowing up the void, my void, my abyss, my peace. The light with each inch closer, destroyed everything that I’ve been forced to love and enjoy in a matter of seconds. And before I knew it, I was engulfed with it. 

Darkness. It became dark again but it wasn’t the same. This wasn’t my abyss. I don’t know how to explain it, but the blackness is less black. I’m in a new place. I immediately felt irritation at this mockery of the void that I’ve begun to call home. This isn’t what real nothingness is, it's a shallow imitation. 

Feeling. There was a new sensation on my skin. Several actually that unnerved me. I haven’t felt anything not self inflicted in...a time. There was something covering parts of my torso, legs, and feet. How...uncomfortable. There was also a cool sensation beneath me, it was hard yet cool. I’ve forgotten how good cool things felt, been too long. There was another thing too, my temperature wasn’t perfectly balanced. Some places were warmer than others, most likely from whatever was covering me.

Sound. There was something there. A slight movement of...air? Yes. Coming from a bit above me and on my sides. No. Not on both sides, strictly on my left. A tapping of some kind from below. Two sources instead of one, the other further to the left. It was in some type of rhythm, both of them, but yet not in synergy. 

Curiously, my taste seems to have been unaffected. Why have my other senses come back besides ta-

“Danny wake up! If you and your friends want to hunt ghosts you have to pay attention. It’s a dangerous job son.” 

“What?! I-” Voice! I spoke. I can speak. I can actually talk! I mean, it makes sense right, it’s not like I couldn’t talk before, it’s just that I couldn’t hear myself. Or anything else for that matter but still. Wait a minute, someone spoke first. Which means there’s people! Others are here, but I still can’t see them. What the hell is going on?!

“Dude, are your eyes glued shut or what? Did you get any sleep?” someone says to me. Eyes? My eyes? What is he talking about? Wait, no way I’m this stupid, are- are my eyes just closed? Is that why all my other senses seem to be back except for my sight? There’s just no way right? Whatever, it’s fine, just focus on the task at hand. 

Ever so slowly, I have to almost force my lids open, and a world of color awaits me. Light. People. Sounds. Voices and smells. There’s almost an information overload. There’s just too many things at once. I can’t help but to stare at...at everything. Blue. Orange. Red. Purple. Yellow. White. Even black. Colors that I thought I would never see again, sounds that I thought I would ever hear again, feelings that I thought I’d never feel again. All of it just hit me at once.

“I’m back…” I could feel a tear cast down my cheek as I laughed. The thing that is covering my torso and legs? Are clothes! And on my feet are shoes.The thing under me is a cool chair and the sounds I was hearing? They were the people around me breathing and tapping their feet and fingers...People!

“Danny are you alright?” a girl to my left asks. She wore all black, most definitely going for a goth vibe. She has fair skin, violet eyes, and short black hair with a small ponytail at the top and at the back of her head held by a green hair tie with purple lipstick on. Just so happens that purple is my favorite color. 

The girl was wearing a black choker around her neck, black tank top exposing her midriff with a purple oval in the center, black striped skirt with a green crosshatch design, purple leggings, and black combat boots. Lastly she has a pair of black bracelets around both of her wrists. It’s like someone searched my type up on google and slapped her into reality. Thought there was something...off about her. 

“Yeah dude, you’ve been being a little weird.” said a guy to the left of the girl. He has brown skin, turquoise eyes, black hair, and wears black glasses. He was wearing a long-sleeve yellow shirt, green cargo pants with a black belt, and brown boots along with a red beret. I spent a lot less time observing him but something was weird about this guy too. 

“Don’t worry, he’s probably just so happy that he’s getting Ghost Hunting tips from one of the Greatest Ghost Hunters Alive! His old man!” The only man standing yells. He’s quite the large and bulky man, with black hair with some white in the back and blue eyes. He has on an orange jumpsuit with black gloves and boots. 

It was only after I took a look at all three of them that the dots began connecting. The reason everyone seemed off, it’s because of...reality? This isn’t right. It took me a while to notice because it’s been so long since I’ve actually seen something that seeing anything shocked me, but now that I’ve calmed down some, I realize that everything is almost cartoonish. Like I’m in some sort of show.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Danny, you’re starting to worry me.” the girl says while placing an arm on my shoulder. I can feel her touch. It’s nice. Shaking my head a bit to clear my thoughts, I refocused on the goth to find myself thinking that she looked strikingly familiar, and almost immediately I recognized who she is. 

“Sam?” I ask hesitantly. She gives a slight nod that confirms my suspicions. Sam Manson. A character from a show on Nickelodeon called Danny Phantom. A fictional love interest who Danny Fenton eventually ends up with in the final episode of the season finale, which if you ask me, took long enough. 

Then there’s Tucker Foley, the best friend that anyone could depend on. He stuck with Danny on his adventures despite being a powerless normal human for 99% percent of it. He’s an absolute ride or die, and without a doubt my favorite character of the series. The man also knows his stuff around the latest tech. Well...latest for the cartoons standards at least.

The man standing in front was obviously Jack Fenton, the father of Danny Fenton. The man is the definition of a Smart Idiot. He may not look or sound like it, but he’s actually a genius inventor whose inventions helped Danny on his adventures multiple times. I wouldn’t actually call him smart though, while intelligent, the man made Wisdom his dump stat. 

I almost looked around for said main character of my favorite cartoon before noticing that I was in his seat. Not only that, Sam has called me Danny twice at this point. I didn’t need to look around for the Hero-To-Be Danny Fenton, because I was Danny Fenton. And with that comprehension came excitement and happiness that I am sure I had never experienced before that point. I would’ve quite literally jumped for joy if other people weren’t here but I couldn’t stop the smile that formed even if I wanted to. 

“Yeah, I’m fine guys, I’m just a little excited to finally get into the family business.” I lie without remorse. I didn’t have the time to feel bad, I’m Danny-Fucking-Phantom! The asskicking ghost hero! Who has time for sadness or regret when there’s so much to do. From now on, I’m a Fenton instead of a-.......I can’t remember my name. 

“I thought you wanted to be an astronaut dude?” Tucker asks me in confusion. Right, he did want to be one originally, but honestly I have no interest in outer space. Maybe if I was in the normal world again when there weren’t ghosts with super powers but here? There’s no way I want to do something so mundane. Why can’t I remember my name?

“Naw, I’m over it. I’m in high school now man, I have to get real. Besides, I’m sure I’ll find something else. There’s plenty of things out there I can do that don't take me off the planet. Like hunting down ghosts.” I say while looking towards Jack. This...this isn’t too worrying but it isn’t exactly good either. 

“HAHA!!! I knew the Ghost Fighting Bug would bite you kids one day! Admittedly, Jazz is taking longer than I thought, but what can I expect from a man of the Fentons?! Already found his path before even his older sister! I have to find your mother!” Jack exclaims with way too much Jolly while running upstairs. Or is it Dad now? I mean, I don’t really remember anything about my old life so it shouldn’t be too difficult to call him, but I feel like I’m going to have to unpack all of this when I’m alone. 

“Are you serious about this Danny? You’ve wanted to be an astronaut ever since I can remember. When did you decide to follow in your crazy family’s footsteps? Not that I’m judging but still…” she asks with uncertainty. I can understand her confusion, this must’ve come out of nowhere for her, but I can’t pretend that I’m interested in outer space at all. I don’t even like sci-fi movies, yet alone the standard boring galaxy. 

“Yeah I am.” I say while getting up and checking out the basement with the bunch of ghost hunting inventions that I assume aren’t in working condition yet. I even see plans and schematics for future devices they want to build. I guess they began to take me seriously because they smiled and nodded. 

“You… have that same look when you used to talk about your last dream job.” she says with a small laugh. “Let’s hope that this lasts a little bit longer, but regardless we’ll still support you, even if you want to hunt ghosts” 

“Yup, we’ve been together since we were kids. Just because you’ve gone a little looney doesn’t mean we’ll abandon you now. Besides, you would feel too lonely without me, who would aspire to be if I wasn’t around to give an example?” he reassures me while punching me playfully on the shoulder. I do the same with a chuckle. 

“Tuck and Sam...thanks. You guys are the best. Seriously. You’re the best friends a boy could ask for.” I say, and they were. Sam and Tuck always stuck with Danny no matter what danger they were in, even if they were only in high school, even if they could die at any moment, they never left his side. 

“Of course, besides, now that we have the lab to ourselves~” she hints while pulling out a camera from a satchel beside her. “We can begin our first Ghost Adventure by figuring out what’s inside the Ghost Portal thing your mom and dad built. I’ve been wanting to check it out since you first told me about it!” 

“Are you sure about that Sam? So far, we haven’t really seen any of the inventions they’ve made actually work at all, yet alone properly. That doesn’t seem safe.” Tucker points out with genuinely wise words. Despite that, I of course ignored his sage warning and sided with the option that would get me cool Ghost powers.

“Don’t be such a scaredy cat Tuck. How am I gonna be a cool Hunter of the supernatural spectral dead if I’m scared of my own family's things. You can’t tell me you aren’t curious anyway. If it actually works we would be the first to ever make contact with the other side. What if we could find old family and friends there?”

“Okay, is it just me, or was there a lot of “ifs” in your sentence? You know what? Screw it, I’ll be here, in the back, not getting anywhere near that death trap, supporting you. But you or Sam are the ones going in.” he states with his arms crossed. I shrug at him with a smirk and pick up one of the suits I saw while looking around the basement. 

“No risk, no reward my friend.” I respond with a laugh while putting on my future inverted costume. It’s happening, this is really happening. I’m going to become Danny Phantom. I’m going to be able to fly, turn invisible, and fire energy out of my fucking hands. That’s not even mentioning my ice powers!  I almost rush into the portal before Sam stops me.

“Wait wait wait!” she yells before coming up to me and taking the ridiculous picture of my Dad’s face off of my chest. Now that would have been embarrassing.  Can you imagine everytime I transform the world would see that? How would I even explain why there was a random old man on my suit? 

“We have to capture this moment.” she says and holds up the camera. I decide to pose for my first moment as a hero. Back completely straight with my hand balled into a fist, palms facing up, and arms in a L shape about at the height of my waist. The cocky smirk wasn’t planned, I wanted to make a serious expression but I simply couldn’t stop it from forming. 

There’s a flash from the camera and I nod at both of them before heading in. It’s dark, reminding me of my home in the void, but this Darkness isn’t true enough. Don’t get me wrong, I still couldn’t see, but it just wasn’t the same. I place a hand on the wall, letting it slide along as I take step after step. Before long, I feel it, the button that will start my journey. My fingers trace around it in nervousness. Everything is starting to hit me at once. 

I can’t remember my life. My mom, my dad, my sister, my friends, I can’t remember any of them. Yet at the same time I can. I remember I went to 6 Flags for my 16 birthday with all my friends and family. I remember going on water slides with my crush. Yet when I try to think of their faces, there are only blanks. I can’t think of what their likes or dislikes were. My life is gone.

Then there’s my Void. I know I still had my memories while I was there. With nothing to do, I thought of every thought, action, and regret just to take my mind off the boredom. Losing them had to happen when I was transferred to this world but why? And why was I taken to the Abyss first instead of straight here anyway? 

Not only that, but I miss it. At first, it was nothing but a prison. I hated being there with every cell in my body, but as time went on, I started to call it home. I adapted to the Darkness, the loneliness. It was quiet. It was peaceful. And now it’s gone. That...that hurts more than my memories being gone. I had all the time in the world to accept that I would never see my family and friends again in my Void, but this stung.

Oh, and we can’t forget the villains I’ll have to fight in the future. Everyday my life will be in danger. I’ll be hunted like an animal for being special. I’ll be the enemy of half the Ghost Zone for trying to keep my home safe. I will have to fight ghosts like; Skulker, Fright Knight, and...Pariah Dark. 

Scary. This is kind of scary. I could always just walk away. Be a normal teenage boy with a kooky family. With all the future knowledge I have, I could be an Adviser to the Guys In White. Or better yet, my parents. They’re probably more trustworthy now that I think about it. That’s the safest option.

……....

I laugh. I laugh to myself at the thought. No, I do more than laugh, I borderline cackle. I can hear Sam and Tucker yelling my name in worry but I ignore them. Normal? Safe? Screw That! Been there! Done that! Not all it's hyped up to be. No, here, things will be different. People are counting on me, and while I don’t have OG Danny’s Hero Complex, I will pay my respects. I’ll be the Hero he would be.

I’ll Be Danny Phantom.

A button is pushed.

.

.

.

A green light overtakes me.

.

.

.

And then there was nothing but pain. 

Feels Good