Cleft the Devil's Foot

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Danny Phantom, by rights, belongs to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.

Maddie and Jack listened as Phantom explained from the beginning his fiery baptism into the world of ghosts. All of it sounded highly preposterous to them, but Maddie knew they were going to have trust him with telling them the truth or not.

She held up the box of hair dye. "Care to explain what this was doing in my son's trash can, ghost?"

Danny blanched. "Oh, that." He sighed. "It's getting harder and harder for me to remain human. My hair has been turning more and more white every time I use my healing powers. The dye was fundamental in keeping you guys from finding out my secret, but I think that is a moot point by now."

"Hey, Danny-boy, can you show us how the transformation works? It has to be cool!" Jack interrupted, his enthusiasm catching.

Danny smiled. "You must unbind me, first."

Jack grinned and produced a pair of glowing pliers. "The Fenton Wire Cutters to the rescue."

"Jack, don't!" Maddie's warning came too late.

The moment the ectoplasmic fishing line came off, Danny summoned the transformation rings. Maddie watched as pain passed across her son's face as he became flesh-and-blood human once more. To go from cold lifelessness to warm life had to excruciating for him; especially as ghosts had no heartbeat.

"It is," Danny confirmed, opening his blue eyes. His black hair was criss-crossed with large strands of white.

Jack smiled. "We'll have to go shopping for more hair dye, I see."

Danny flushed red with embarrasment. "Dad..."

Maddie hugged her son. "We love you no matter what, Danny. Ghost or human or in between, you are our son."

"But you're grounded for kidnapping the mayor," Jack added.

Oi! Just when you thought you could get them to understand!

"I think we should tell Danny," Sam said.

"I agree," Tucker replied, adjusting his glasses. "He should know that the school knows."

"What do you think his parents have done by now to him?"

"Nothing," came Tucker's reply, as he whipped out a PDA and looked up Danny's vitals. "He's another 1% changed toward the ghostly half of his DNA and some slight bruising on his arms and torso, but other than that, his stats seem to be alright."

"You can tell all that from this distance?" Sam asked, surprised.

"Technology is wonderful, baby," he said, kissing his PDA. "Isn't that right, snookums?"

"Gag!" Sam muttered. "Let's get to Danny's. Lancer said he trusted us enough to know what to do with our new-found knowledge."

"That's true," Tucker agreed. "We're Danny's friends and each other's. It's what we do."