Phantom on the Shore - A Batman X Danny Phantom Crossover fanfic

A Mother's Cry

When she awoke, there was nothing to greet her.

Or was she still sleeping?

She didn't know. All she knew was that she was floating.

And there seemed to be absolutely nothing. Void in a way you didn't know up from down nor left from right. Was she standing? Or was she sitting. Maybe even laying down indefinitely.

Maybe she was nothing too.

With memory as cloudy as fog, she started to think.

All that remained certain was the sensation of weightlessness, a solitary soul adrift amidst the vast expanse of emptiness.

The disorientation was unbearable if she had to be honest, a dizzying whirlwind of confusion. Coming to consciousness in a void of nothingness.

It was dark. Darker than any night sky she had the fortune of looking at. Darker than any black hoke she had studied. Darker than the void itself.

The darkness enveloping her was absolute, a void so profound that it defied the very notion of illumination. While she could describe the void as pitch blackness, to do so would imply the presence of color to be obscured. And that would necessitate the existence of light to cast shadows. Implying existence. And yet, in this desolate expanse, there was no hint of either color or light, rendering such descriptions inadequate.

There was nothing.

Questions of existence weighed heavily upon her consciousness.

If there was nothing and she felt nothing.

Then, was she nothing?

.
.
.

How did she end up here again?

She reminisced on her partnership with .. someone—someone tall, towering even. What was his name? J .. a something. Jay? No, not quite. James? No, that didn't sound right either. Ah, yes, Jack! She and Jack had been working on a— project, right? Yes. She and Jack had been deeply engrossed in a collaborative project, a venture that ignited their passion for discovery. Together, they had nearly made a scientific breakthrough! They were close—so close to discovering a new creature. She had finally found something to prove the theory of ghosts being able to breed—create—reproduce. If ghosts could reproduce, could something akin to a mule or a hinny have been made? No one knew donkey's and horses could reproduce until it was done, so too could their discovery revolutionize the study of paranormal phenomena.

Who knows how many species of ghosts existed!

She would've!—She .. would've knew.

But why? Why didn't she find out?

Something .. something had stopped her. Distracted her. Stole her and Jack's attention.

And because of that, they lost their research. Their answers,. The very same they worked so hard for. The answers she sought remained .. elusive, slipping through her grasp like wisps of smoke.

Questions flooded her mind.

Who

Who .. who what? Who she was? That's easy! She was Madeline Fenton! One of, if not the, best scientist in her field! .. Ah wait. Why did her name—why did her identity seem to blur?

Who was she again?

Who

The question persisted: Who was she, truly? The uncertainty gnawed at her, a relentless whisper in the recesses of her consciousness. She didn't know. But she would find out.