Chapter Text
In regular, Phandom fashion, Jazz gets in a car accident and dies. The Fenton parents become more neglectful or even outright abusive. It's the middle of summer, and Sam's been on vacation to visit some relatives in France since the end of May. Tucker's already gone, 'cause his parents decided Amity was too dangerous and they moved. He's snuck out to come see Danny a few times, and video chats regularly, but it's not the same, especially now that Danny's grieving.
This finally comes to a head when Danny witnesses Vlad murdering Danielle, and Vlad tells him nobody will ever believe him. Danielle never legally existed, Danny's just a kid with lunatic parents, and Vlad is a highly-trusted mayor with enough money to make (audible) doubt disappear.
Danny flees, not to the Ghost Zone as usual, but to New York. He meets up with Mozzie and Kate and takes on the identity of Neal Caffrey. From there, we rewrite the series with Danny as Neal.
Peter: *Asks Danny a random question about whether he's ever seen something.*
Danny: *Either drunk or just in a sharing mood.* "No, but I've seen a casserole move of its own volition before."
Peter: *Confused.*
Danny: "My mom had this..." *Scrunches face in disgust.* "Idea... She tested it out on the casserole my sister brought home for dinner, because it was 'the only thing in the house with leafy greens', which tells you something about where I grew up. I opened the fridge maybe an hour later and it was moving around in the bowl. She called it an exothermic reaction. I said I heard it growl. I think its rather telling that I still have nightmares about that thing, because, yes, I know she put it down the garbage disposal, I heard it make noises then too, and, yes, I know it was probably ripped to shreds, but it never had a brain to begin with, so can we really be sure it's dead?"
At some point, the FBI gets called in on something odd that was found in a little town just outside of Chicago. Neal, coincidentally, has a day off for this, because he's helping June with something charity-based. Peter's gonna meet up with him later, but let him off to help her set up for the function.
The odd readings and messages had been found in a basement belonging to one Wesley Warren Weston the Fourth. An unfortunate name made even more unfortunate by the fact there were apparently four such unfortunate people in the world. Weston is currently missing, so the FBI are looking through his things. It was only given over to them because of some oddities among the belongings found. One of which was an old VHS containing the missing person in question trying to prove one of his classmates wasn't human, from about ten years prior.
Among the many clips are odd moments of what seems almost supernatural, and the unit is starting to think this is just some kind of student video project made as a joke or maybe an amateur horror movie. But, Hughs says they have to look over everything, so they keep watching. About twenty minutes in, they finally see this kid Weston's after.
"Hey, Wes."
"Fenton." The camera jerks up to the ceiling above some lockers. "Why are you in the vent?"
No.
"'Cause I still fit."
It's Neal. It's a baby Neal.
"An electrical pole like you wouldn't understand. You're legs're too long."
Weston actually snorts. "Like that's an insult, pipsqueak. How old are you, twelve?"
Fenton - Baby Neal - glares. "Two months older than you, Wesley."
"Two feet taller than you, Daniel."
Peter stares. Apparently for longer than he probably should, because Diana pokes him.
"Boss?"
"Daniel."
The others look at him. They know. They have to. It's dead obvious. There's only one face like that in the world. (Except for Weston, himself, who looks like he could be related to the con.)
"His name is Daniel." He meets Diana and Clint's eyes, willing them to understand. "Dah-nee-ul. Dah-neel. Dah. Neal. Darn it, Neal!"
Danny: "Peter, you know I left home at seventeen and never looked back. There's a very good reason for that." *Thinks a moment* "A series of good reasons."
Peter mentions to Danny that he knows his real name now. He brandishes the file for Danny Brooks, a kid who was put in witness protection with his mom, because his dad was a dirty cop.
Danny: "I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Peter, but, whoever's file that is, it's not mine."
Peter: *Doesn't believe him.*
Danny tries to convince him and eventually does.
Danny: "Peter. It's not me. My real name is not Danny Brooks. It's Danny Fenton."
Diana: "The one who went missing?"
Danny: "Yeah."
Peter: "Why didn't you tell me!?"
Danny: "First off, I did. You didn't believe me. Second off, Peter, you had my shoe size when I was on the run. It didn't even occur to me you might have the wrong name in your files. Because, of all the information I knew you had, all of it was right, except for two things."
Peter: *Wary.* "What two things?"
Danny: "You kept spelling Neal with an 'A', which is fine, 'cause I actually prefer it that way. And, my last name isn't actually Caffrey, which I assumed you also knew, but were using it as a placeholder, for the same reasons you use anyone else's aliases sometimes."