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Danny desperately wishes that the townsfolk would understand. He fights to protect them. He saves them from ghosts who attack. No one has died under his watch.
But still they shout at him, they curse him, they throw things at him, they call the Fentons when they see him.
And maybe it isn’t all their fault. Danny knows that his Phantom form is monstrous. When he is Phantom his form is serpentine with his edges blurring. He has claws and a blank void for a face except for two green pools of swirling ectoplasm. His body is pitch black but with strange swirling colors that Danny knows hurt human eyes to look at. When he opens his mouth, he knows it is lined with hundreds of needle sharp teeth like an angler fish. He avoids speaking because he knows his voice only heightens the fear response his ghostly body naturally exudes.
So it’s not really their fault. If merely looking at him causes them to go into their flight response, can he really blame them for hating him?
He knows he shouldn’t, but he’s been protecting them for nearly a year now. Shouldn’t they have realized by now that he won’t hurt them?
It doesn’t help that his parents hunt him down, that Sam and Tucker have stopped reaching out to him. Part of that is his fault he knows. He kept missing out on their plans to be Phantom, not that they knew that. No one had been there when he’d had his accident and he hadn’t told anyone.
But he also knows, that even in human form, looking into his eyes can cause people to feel unusually afraid.
But it’s okay. He’s dealing with it. He hopes and prays that one day the people of Amity will accept him.
At least the ghosts don’t fear him. They’re like him after all. Even if some of them are frustrating to deal with and don’t understand that he doesn’t want them in his haunt. He has ghostly friends which is nice. It helps soothe the ache of being rejected by humans.
But he doesn’t give up hope.
At least until it’s already too late.
It happens after he’s fought of a large cat-like Realms beast that left him injured and exhausted. Danny is tired and isn’t able to react fast enough to avoid the blast his mother sends his way. He crashes down to the pavement, feeling like his skin is burning, like electricity is pulsing through his veins
He feels the transformation washing over him even though he desperately tries to fight it.
He is in the middle of town and people have already gathered to watch and cheer for the Fentons to finally get rid of that ‘monster.’
When the rings fade and leave Danny in their wake there is silence. He dares to hope that they will understand now. They’ll realize that he’s just trying to protect them.
But that’s not what happens. His parents growl in anger, raising their guns again. And the townspeople shout even louder about his supposed monstrosity.
‘How dare such a monster live among them?’
‘How dare he still pretend to be human?’
‘How dare he attract all the ghosts to their town?’
As their shouts rise, and his parents' weapons buzz, he feels himself break.
He’s given up so much for these people. He died and still decided to fight for them. He ignored their words, he ignored his parents' desire to hunt down Phantom. He’d hoped that one day they’d accept him, or that at least they’d see him as Danny and not just a ghost.
But they’ll never accept him will they?
So why keep trying to be their savior?
Danny lets his Phantom envelope him. He can feel that it is different. But he doesn’t care. He doesn’t care that people stumble back in fear, that even his parents hands shake where they hold their weapons.
He bares his teeth, somehow knowing that his teeth are bigger and more numerous than before, that his claws are sharper, that his hair that used to flow as if he were in space now flickers with flames. The colors that have always swirled in his form, that he’s suppressed so as not to cause more fear, move wildly and brightly. He can see people clutching their heads, their brains not made to perceive such colors.
He doesn't care about any of it.
If they want him to be a monster, then why not give them what they want?