Liar

"Why do you have to be so..."

Phantom's lip curled up in a sardonic half-smile. "Sentimental? Weird?"

"So Danny." Maddie reached out and stroked his hair with her bare hand. It was cold, of course, but surprisingly soft. It would have been softer if it wasn't matted and snarled with ectoplasmic blood.

Phantom looked up at her. "What would you tell him, if he was here?"

She gave up on running her fingers through the tangled strands and smoothed it down instead. "I'd tell him it was going to be okay."

He closed his eyes, leaning into her touch. "Liar."

Maddie would have given her right arm to prove him wrong. She had to fight to keep her voice steady. "Humans do that, Phantom. When the truth doesn't bear thinking about."

"Not so different from ghosts after all, huh."

He was wrong: it was worse. Ghosts knew only their obsessions; while they might be trapped by that drive, it was all they needed. Humans could believe a delusion, but their reality would never change. Sooner or later they had accept the truth and learn to live with it. Lies only delayed. Life had to go on.

Maddie glanced up at the clock; Agent L would be waiting to escort her to the car. She'd held off for as long as she could, but they were out of time. "Are you ready?"

Phantom took a deep breath, closing his eyes momentarily. He opened them, and the earlier softness vanished, leaving only steely determination. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."



**********************************

*sigh* This is just...yeah.

Fanart for my own fic, Phantom of Truth, which can be found here: [link]

Drawn for the 100 Themes Challenge, Variation 1, No. 5: Seeking Solace. Details about the challenge, etc can be found in my journal about it here: [link]

Blame the bad color on my pitiful scanner and the fact that I only had a $1 pack of Crayola knockoff pencils to work with.

-Hj

Danny Phantom and these characters belong to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

Phantom of Truth and this art belongs to me.