Work Text:
Gravity
Danny was sitting in his math class which, on that particular day, was extremely boring. Danny didn’t have Sam or Tucker in that class which already made it unenjoyable. To top that, math was right before lunch, so the class seemed interminable. But, on that particular day, the subject was already something that Danny knew, so the class was extremely dull. Danny couldn’t wait for the class to end.
It seemed that hopes were answered when the fire alarm suddenly went off, startling many of the students who were listening to the monotonous lecture. Because of the frequency of false fire alarms and practice drills, no one was really worried or frantic. With a sigh, Danny stood up and began to follow his classmates out into the hall, from which they would take to the football field.
A majority of the students were conversing as they traveled down the hall, in no particular hurry, despite the possibility of it being a real fire; they were probably desensitized. Danny momentarily tried to look for Sam and Tucker in the hall but decided that he would just try to catch up with them on the field after the teachers checked them in.
But then the students began to be directed down a different hallway than the “escape route”, something that was never done before. Danny could only associate that with one thing, that there really was an incident. His relative calm was replaced with a flurry of panic. His mind began racing, as it does with panic. Danny realized that it seemed that barely anyone knew the gravity of the situation. And Danny didn’t even know if it was a fire. What if there was a ghost attack on the other side of the school that was destroying everything? Concerned, Danny weighed his options. He knew that he had to go to the field because he had to be accounted for. If he wasn’t there, someone else might go in looking for him, and they could get hurt; he couldn’t let that happen. But, he knew that he had to take action. Who knew how long it would take for the fire department to show up — if it was even a fire? What if someone needed his help?
Danny was conflicted and didn’t even realize that he stopped in his steps until someone bumped into his shoulder. He continued walking but then decided to go into a slightly hidden corner. He turned invisible and intangible as he weighed his options and plan. If he could successfully duplicate himself, he could help out and not cause any issues. But, he wasn’t very good at it. He also didn’t know if he could keep two totally different conscious thoughts and functions going. Also, could he even have one duplicate be Danny Fenton, and the other be Danny Phantom? He had never tried it, but it was worth a shot.
Danny transformed into Phantom, still invisible, and closed his eyes in concentration. He focused on splitting himself and his mind, but while keeping his dominant self transformed and his duplicate normal. It was a tiring experience, but surprisingly successful. Excitement filled Danny along with double the sensory input. There was no time to celebrate, only to take action. The duplicate Danny Fenton looked around to make sure no eyes were looking before he came back into visibility and headed down the hall with the evacuating students.
The real Danny — who wasn’t a fathom of ghostly energy, but held ghostly energy nonetheless — intangibly and invisibly headed in the opposite direction down the hall to where the students were directed away from.
A breath of relief escaped Danny when he noticed that it appeared that all of the students and staff had left that area of the school. Hopefully, no one was hurt. Danny continued down the hall and that was when he noticed the smell of smoke and an increase of temperature in the air. So, it really was a fire and not an alarm for something else. Danny just hoped that the firemen would arrive there soon because he didn’t know how much he could help.
Then, the smoke became thicker and the air hotter; Danny presumed that the only reason he could handle the circumstances was since he was in ghost form, but his ice core was not helping a bit. For a split second, Danny thought that maybe he could put out the fire with cyrokinesis, but then he remembered a science lecture about how water removes the oxygen in the fuels and that is how it stops the fire; ice would take too long to penetrate and could just evaporate. His mind was rolling, he needed to do something fast because the firefighters weren’t even there yet, and Danny could tell the fire was getting worse because of the increasing smoke and growing vibrant flames.
If he could somehow remove the fuel, then the fire would stop, right? So, he could theoretically turn the building or at least the burning and surrounding area intangible. And that could stop the fire. Danny set to it.
Danny focused on making the building and its interior objects intangible. It was easier said than done. Keeping a fully functioning duplicate, making the whole area intangible, and being in such a warm and insufferable climate, depleted Danny’s energy, and it took each ounce of strength and focus to keep the building and duplicate safe. Keep going. Danny told himself. He hadn’t heard any sirens approaching yet, so he presumed that he was the school’s best bet at the moment. Fortunately, Danny noticed that the fire was starting to dissipate with no fuel to keep it roaring.
Seconds later, the fire was almost gone, but Danny knew he couldn’t hold the intangibility any longer, the gravity of the situation holding him down. But, he also knew that if he took it off, the fire would start back up again. Against his preference, Danny cut off his duplicate so he could keep the intangibility up; hopefully, no one noticed the disappearing Danny on the field.
On the field, no one noticed except for Sam and Tucker and, of course, Wes.
Finally, the fire dissipated, and Danny knew that he could stop intangibility and was about to do so when he realized he absolutely forgot about the embers that could start the fire back up. He weakly shot ice over the ground and then over the building when it was returned to tangibility.
Then, Danny heard the sirens of the emergency services pulling up. Knowing that they could handle the rest and prevent the fire from sparking back up, Danny drearily and invisibly traveled to the field. Danny transformed back and then popped back into existence next to Sam and Tucker, completely exhausted. The duo was alarmed but tried to stay collective.
“Danny, what just happened?” Tucker started, “I mean, you were here, then you weren’t, and now you’re exhausted and then —”
“I’ll tell you later. Just, let me rest for a second.” Danny responded as he dropped his head on his friend's shoulder.
Across campus, the firemen were perplexed on how the building was charred with no fire to be seen and only melting ice.