The Phantom Alphabet

(I Don't Own Danny Phantom)

No Running in the Hallways-

You're scared because you don't understand... I'm scared because I do.

Being a hallway monitor is a hard, thankless task. You're picked on because people see you as the teacher's pet, or worse, a goody-two-shoes nerd. And after a while it gets repetitive. 'No running in the hallways', 'don't litter' and 'quit picking on that kid.'

That last one often lands you in trouble with the bullies, but luckily you're pretty close with the principal (even Lancer likes you) so they stop short of physical damage, unlike with others – and you still feel sorry for Fenton every time you walk past him thanks to the bruises that are usually present on his arms or face and the sheer exhaustion that seems to cloak him like a second skin. The second has only appeared in the past year, and the first has grown substantially in about the same time. You know that they can't have come from bullying, because since everyone had begun to notice, the bullying had been toned down. You're still surprised that Dash could be smart enough to notice that himself, let alone cut him a bit of slack.

But during your time as a hallway monitor, you've seen a lot. You know who the trouble students are, the ones that you know with the same certainty you know Mr Lancer will be taking English in fourth period that they will need to be reprimanded as they come down the corridor. No exceptions, ever. You haven't been wrong yet. And so that's why you're so surprised when you catch Fenton sprinting down the empty hall when he should be in class, for the fourth time in just as many days.

Fenton isn't a trouble maker.

He isn't the best student, sure, and he's more interested in games than in schoolwork, but he's not the type to skip school or do anything that would draw attention to himself.

So the fourth time you stand in shock as he sprints past, running down the halls and skipping school for (apparently) no reason, unable to call after him. The fifth time you try to talk to him, but he easily slips through your lecture with a few words and is off again before you can even open your mouth. By the twenty-first time, you just stand back and shake your head as he races past - a heck of a lot faster than he acts in PE.

As a hallway monitor, you learn to identify the ones who will always have an excuse for everything, the ones that it would be pointless to try and lecture. Of course, you're required to anyway, but you do it without any real hope that they'll listen. You learn to know which students can lie and lie well, and which ones are hopeless. You know Fenton is one of the worst liars, unable to meet your eyes when you catch him out. Or so you thought. Now on the one hundred and sixty-third time you've caught him out of class, his words are like honey and as slippery as soap.

As a hallway monitor, it's your job to patrol the halls telling people to pick up their rubbish or get to class on time. More importantly, it's your job to keep them from running, from hurting themselves and others. You know it's important, but when you have to dive to the side for the three hundred and eighteenth time to avoid being flattened by none other than Daniel Fenton, you can't bring yourself to do more than yell a halfhearted "no running in the hallways!" after him. It's become a game the two of you play, dodging around each other and buying the lies.

So now it's as routine as telling Dash to quit picking on the third graders, seeing Danny sprinting from class to get to somewhere else. He's different - not someone you can label anymore. Sometimes you see him making his way back to class, at a substantially slower pace than he left at, gripping his shoulder or stomach or another miscellaneous body part, and you could swear that you see blood staining his skin or clothes. You know he knows that you've seen it, and yet you continue to play the game you've created, perhaps knowing that what he's doing is more important than school or a few broken rules.

So, on time seven hundred and seventy-three with this in mind, you call "watch your back" after him instead of your usual line. He freezes, and you know you've caught him off guard by the tension in his body, but after a second he turns and nods. His face is more serious, more determined than you've ever seen it before he continues on his way, vanishing out of the school. You can only hope that he'll come back, because one day you know he won't.

And then it happens. You see him in the hall, face grim, eyes dark. You know that this is a side of Danny Fenton that you should never, ever have seen, that no one should ever have seen, and for some reason you're filled with a sense of foreboding. Nothing good can come of the smoke being shut off and the mirrors being lowered to allow the world to see the real version of this blue-eyed mystery.

The last time you see Daniel Fenton is the nine hundred and fifty seventh time you've caught him out of class and running – no, sprinting, like lives depend on his speed – through the hallways. And you know, you know, when he looks back at you through the glass of the big double doors in the main hall and smiles sadly, that this is the last time you will ever see the dark-haired teenager with the guarded eyes alive.

Sometimes you wish that you weren't always right.

Also: I don't know if you know this, but I've literally watched maybe two episodes of Danny Phantom. All characterisations come from my imagination and the general feel of the fandom's characterisations. Sorry if they're wrong - I'm just enjoying playing with the characters.