Work Text:
Aetherborne
Uncanny valley refers to the idea that a being’s similarity to a human elicits a sense of unease or revulsion among observers when the resemblance is nearly— but not perfectly — complete.
Danny gasped as he woke up. Cold breath forming out of his mouth before he felt a chill wash over him.
It’d been happening more and more lately. He wasn’t sure what this was about.
What had happened.
He swallowed as he wrapped his arms around himself. He wasn’t sure what to think about everything that had happened in the past few weeks. He’d gotten so much colder, and lately it seems like the portal in his parent’s basement has been haunting his dreams.
He wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to call them his nightmares just yet. They were definitely unsettling, but there was always something just out of sight.
Green eyes.
He’s never seen them, but he knows that they are there, just around the corner waiting for him.
He just wasn’t sure what they were waiting for.
“Danny! It’s time to get up! You’re going to be late for school!” He heard his mom yell from downstairs. He slipped out of bed and froze for a second.
He had just slipped though his blanket. He gently picked it up and it was cold.
Like he hadn’t slept in it all night. He swallowed before quickly turning to look at his mirror.
He could’ve sworn.
“I’m not driving you if you keep messing around!” Jazz yelled before pounding on his door. He quickly ran to his bathroom to begin his day hoping that it was just how the night was.
He missed the frost on the bathroom mirror as he grabbed his bag and left.
Danny felt tired as he stared at the board as Mr. Lancer droned on about sentence structure and how important it was for college.
Danny knew that he wasn’t going to be getting into college anytime soon. Not with the way his grades were looking now. Not since whatever happened in that accident.
He still wasn’t sure what that was about. He’s been feeling less like himself since then. He’s not sure how to feel about it. Sometimes it was like someone was watching him, and the portal made him feel paranoid.
Jazz kept telling him that it was normal, and that teenagers always had anxiety with these types of things.
Danny didn’t think this was normal. He felt haunted.
There was something crawling under the surface of his skin wanting to get out.
That night as he fell asleep, green eyes stared at him from behind his own eyelids. He was trapped and couldn’t get out.
He couldn’t wake up no matter how loud he screamed.
I’m here.
Don’t worry, Danny.
I’m right here.
Danny screamed louder, but he was the only one who heard. His voice crackled as his world turned green and purple floating doors appeared making him nauseous.
My name’s Phantom.
Danny awoke with his heart racing. He grabbed his chest as he breathed in deeply.
The blankets were cold. Danny swallowed as he touched them again.
Why were they cold?
He took his hand away and screamed at the frost that was now there.
He heard thundering steps rush towards his room and he flinched as his door was launched across his room. He stared with wide eyes at his parents who banished ectoguns every which way.
He felt his heart constrict and black dots spotted his vision as he stared at them.
“No ghost hurts my son!” Jack exclaimed as Danny slowly felt his body grow heavy. He blinked as Maddie looked at him in concern before he collapsed.
Neither parent noticed the frost that melted quickly.
Figuring grinning in the distance as everything they had planned comes to life. So many different pathways, so many choices.
They feast upon the choices never made.
On the boy who never died.
On the boy who never lived.
Danny felt horrible as he walked down the hallway. He managed to avoid Dash so far, but it was only a matter of time.
He was so exhausted.
He could’ve sworn he’d seen those green eyes of his nightmares in the bathroom earlier.
He wasn’t sure if his nightmares were making it to real Life, and he knew that if he went to Jazz about it, she’d tried to analyze him.
He didn’t want to be analyzed, he just wanted someone to listen. He took another step and tripped over his own foot.
It was like it’d gotten stuck in the floor.
Everyone around him laughed and no one seemed interested in asking if he was okay.
He hated school. He didn’t used to, but ever since the accident…
He just doesn’t want to deal with it. He wants to go home and curled under the covers and try to get warm.
He felt cold all of the sudden before there was screaming.
A large blast sounded and Danny winced before everything went dark.
Danny woke up to the sounds of sirens. He was standing in a room closet.
He blinked confused about what had just happened. He looked down and part of his shirt was singed. He was okay otherwise.
He felt energized too. In a way that he hadn’t been in…well ever. He wanted to do something, quite literally anything.
He felt amazing. He grinned as he opened the door and suddenly everything wasn’t okay.
Scorch marks raced across the lockers, floors, and ceiling. Half the blockers looked blasted in and books and paper were fluttering around the hallway.
Something was wrong.
It was you. A voice said and Danny turned around with wide eyes to see a mirror.
His eyes were green.
Danny gasped as he shot awake. He held his chest and breathed in deeply before looking around his room.
It was nearing midnight.
He could’ve sworn he’d been at school. He held his head and hoped that was just a really vivid nightmare.
He could feel sweat on his palms, and when he looked down all he could was green liquid. He gasped as he shot up and out of bed. He didn’t scream.
He couldn’t scream. He looked everywhere feeling like someone was watching him and he couldn’t keep the terrified whimper from escaping.
He wasn’t alone. Those eyes.
They were right there, staring at him from the dark. He shaking reached and flipped the light on only to come face to face with a mirror. His cool blue eyes staring back at him in terror.
Something was wrong with him, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.
He couldn’t breath.
“Danny!!” He heard before he felt like he was drowning all over again.
The darkness was tinged with green, and he couldn’t feel anything.
Everything is as it should’ve been.
He came back as he was eating lunch. He blinked confused because he should be at school. It was lunch time.
He knew there, but he just wasn’t sure how he knew that. He blinked looking at the clock, he wasn’t even sure what day it was. Maybe it was the weekend, but the last thing he knew it had been Tuesday.
Did he hit his head?
Everything’s fine.
Danny frowned as he looked down at his plate
No, everything was not fine. Something was wrong.
He was drowning all over again.
“Danny! You have ghost powers?”
“That’s so cool!”
“I do! I could a superhero!”
He recognized those voices, but he was trapped.
He couldn’t see anything and his lungs were so cold.
It hurt to breath.
He turned and there stood a being with white hair that looked so much like him.
It smiled as the eyes flashed red for a moment before green took over.
“Everything’s as it should be.” Phantom grin widened as Danny screamed. Only no one could hear him.
fin