A Choice (MHA x Danny Phantom)

The Departure

A.N. Wow. I actually wrote this in one day. My muse was really generous, dear readers, and I hope the result is to your liking. I personally really loved the idea and read some amazing stories on the topic. Thus, I decided to try my own hand in this particular crossover. Enjoy.

There exist many definitions of what being a hero truly means. Some would point out that it is about being selfless, being ready to leap into action and save those on whom certain misfortunes had fallen. To others, the ability to overcome their fears is a feat worthy of a hero. Most people just mash the concepts together in hopes of once seeing such a person who embodies all of that at once. But, as is the case with every idealistic notion, the chances of actually seeing its physical manifestation are pretty slim. It doesn't stop people from believing that such people exist, and it is good for them. Everyone needs an ideal to aspire for. However, once again, reality sometimes likes to throw a wrench into this idyll.

Every hero needs a backstory of sorts. What urged them to take the righteous path of goody good? Revenge, a stare into the abyss of injustices every world is teeming with? A good example in life worked just as well. The protagonist of the story took a bit different path. He never was subjected to the world's horrors, living a normal life until a certain point, without ever having to resort to petty thievery or witnessing crime on a daily basis. He was born in a well-to-do family in this regard. A family to which nothing had happened up until the day their ways parted. As for the example, his parents were... unique, both in a good and bad way. The former stems from the fact that they earned enough money to supply their two children with everything they might have desired, and were just average when it came to parenting. Young Danny loved his family still, and his older sister especially. Perhaps, she could be considered a good example in life, but it wasn't a role model that led to anything but being an average, law-abiding citizen.

Average. Now that's a word that many shun. Everyone wants to be special. But Danny wasn't 'special', he never wanted to be, as the ambitiousness of his reached only the child dream of many boys and even girls. To be an astronaut, however, he needed to be unique, and that part evaded him for a long time, even if his school grades steadily tried to remind him of the fact. Danny Fenton, a boy that was average in everything. But as many hero stories go, that image lasted only until a certain point. That point being one day not long after his fourteenth birthday.

It's hard to say what urged the boy to try out his parents' invention. Was it only because of his friend Sam's request? Were those the eyes of his friend who would never forget how he chickened to go inside what amounted to a metal tube? Afterwards, Danny liked to think that he himself took part in this. That he was actually curious to see the machine worked for once. It did work, perhaps even better than anyone could anticipate. It did land him in hospital for a week, and the agonising pain of having your cells ripped apart by the otherworldly energy was going to haunt him for the rest of his days.

Speaking of haunting. The accident changed Danny. He was no longer a human, rather an amalgamation of two worlds — the human and the ghost. Something which was never meant to be. A walking paradox that for some reason never caused the universe to collapse. And that was the moment when he had to decide what to do with the power granted to him. Aside from causing minor mischief and getting small payback on the school bullies. Because eventually it became clear that that power was not a game. When he was confronted by the first ghost coming from the portal, he had to fight it. It was either that or his second death. And since the idea of survival against vile creatures and saving others coincided so well, there wasn't really any choice.

Thus, here is the answer Danny stuck with. He was a hero without being given that choice at all. But he still relished the idea that the world was better with him around. So much in fact, that he got attached to the 'career' should one say. Eventually, however, he realised the enormous strain he was going through. Jogging between school, ghosts, trying not to get by his oblivious parents, and still trying to catch at least some rest — it was straining, no matter how much more powerful the boy was becoming. The small fries did stay away from the one who defeated the ghost king, but there were even more ghosts who were eager to test him out. All of that was driving him insane. Eventually, after being reassured by his sister, Danny finally decided to remove at least one issue from the equation. His ghost-hunting parents. That may have sounded ominous, but all he wanted was to talk with them.