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"There's something I have to tell you," Danny says slowly.
His parents are sitting on the couch. Jazz is standing next to him, holding his hand.
This is it. He's going to tell them his secret. All he has to do is open his mouth and say the words: I'm Danny Phantom. But when he does open his mouth, the words get stuck. Instead, he shivers and a burst of blue fog escapes his mouth.
His ghost sense.
"I have to go!" he blurts out.
He lets go of Jazz's hand and darts off, out the front door-
-and into his English classroom.
He skids to a stop. How did he get here?
Lancer is staring at him. So are all his classmates. Danny's late again. He shudders and looks around, but at least there's not a ghost in sight.
"Mr. Fenton," Lancer says. "How nice of you to finally join us."
"Sorry, I-"
"Spare me your excuses. Just sit down."
Danny does as he's told, hurrying to the empty spot in the back of the class. Wes is sitting next to it, and when Danny sits down he reaches out to take Danny's hand and squeezes it.
"You okay?" he whispers. "You look tired."
Danny does feel tired.
"I-"
Wait, why is Wes holding his hand?
"-just got done fighting Dorea. I'm hungry and tired and I really just wanna go to bed."
"I'm sorry," Wes says. He strokes Danny's knuckles with his thumb and Danny wants to pull his hand away, wants to ask what on earth Wes thinks he's doing, but his body isn't responding. It's like he's running on autopilot.
"Just two more classes," Danny says. "Then I can nap. It'll be fine." He pauses. When he speaks again, he sounds unsure. Danny wishes he understood what was going on. "Wanna come over after school?"
"Of course I-"
"-don't know why you think this is acceptable behavior, Daniel, but it has to stop."
Danny is sitting at the kitchen table. Vlad is sitting across from him. Between them, there's a water gun. Danny blinks at it like it can tell him how he got here, but of course, that doesn't happen.
What is Vlad doing in his house? Why is he talking to Danny like Danny's in trouble?
"I'm sorry," Danny says softly. His hands are shaking.
"You should be sorry, young man. You destroyed some very expensive equipment for the sake of a 'prank'."
Vlad doesn't look angry. He doesn't look hateful or like he's going to go full Plasmius and attack Danny. He looks... disappointed.
He looks like a parent berating their child.
This has got to be some kind of an alternate reality. Or maybe Plasmius is up to something. Maybe they're not really in Fenton Works, but in a basement hiding out somewhere. It wouldn't be the first time Vlad kidnapped Danny-
Wait. What? Where'd that come from? Danny's never been kidnapped... has he?
"Are you going to say something?" Vlad asks.
"Like what?"
"Like, for example, why you thought shooting water at me while I was in a Zoom meeting would be a good idea."
Danny shrugs.
"You've done worse to me."
"This again? Daniel, if you have a problem with me then let's talk about it. This thing that you're doing is-"
Everything's black.
Danny's floating in nothingness. His head hurts. He can't remember how he got here.
Danny!
Somebody's shouting his name. They sound worried. He has to get to them.
Danny! Danny? Danny, can you hear me?! Stay with me, Danny. Danny stay with me! Dan-
"-ny? Are you listening to me?"
"Huh?"
Jazz is staring at him, and Danny gives her an annoyed look.
"Yes, Jazz."
"Liar."
They're in Jazz's room. Jazz is sitting at her desk, but she's got the chair turned so she can look at Danny, who's sitting cross-legged on his sister's bed with his math book open in front of him. He looks at the numbers but they're not making sense. Genuinely, they're not. They're just scribbles.
Is this a dream?
"I really think you should tell them," Jazz says. "Not just because of you. Dani needs them right now, and they don't even know she exists."
"Wait.. we've had this conversation before!" Danny says. Jazz stares at him blankly, unmoving. For a moment it's as if time is standing still. "I mean. I don't know, Jazz. What if they don't accept me? What if by telling them half ghosts even exist I'm just putting Danielle in danger, too?"
"You're their son, little brother," Jazz says. "Give them the benefit of the-"
"-doubt that this was part of your plan, Plasmius."
Phantom gestures around. They're in Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin and Plasmius is floating in front of him. He looks almost apologetic, like he's done something he wishes he could take back, but Phantom has never felt this kind of rage before and he's not about to ask Plasmius to explain himself.
How could he? How fucking could he? Danny really thought they were getting somewhere. He thought-
It doesn't matter what he thought.
"So what now? Now that I've figured out what your plan is, are you going to kill me?"
Just a month ago, Phantom would have never thought Plasmius capable of that. But Plasmius kidnapped him, brought him to Wisconsin, messed with his head... Danny doesn't know what his nemesis is capable of anymore.
"Daniel, I assure you-"
"I'm sorry," Danny says softly. His hands are shaking.
"You should be sorry, young man. You destroyed some very expensive equipment for the sake of a 'prank'."
They're back in the kitchen.
What the fuck?
"We just had this conversation," Danny says. "Didn't we? We just-"
"-what you heard wasn't true in the slightest," Plasmius continues. They're back in his mansion. Danny's head hurts.
"You- I- you..." Danny backs away. Time freezes. "What's going on?"
Danny, please...
There's a flash of blinding red light.
"No!" Phantom shouts.
He can't see Wes anymore. He was just there. Vlad shot at him... And now he's gone.
Danny turns narrowed eyes on the elder Halfa. Plasmius, for a moment, looks smug, but then the expression drops. Now, he looks scared . Danny doesn't know how he could ever scare Vlad, but there it is.
"I'm going to kill you," Danny says.
He throws himself at Plasmius, who throws up a shield just in the nick of time. It doesn't matter, though. Phantom is too angry. The shield doesn't stop him. He barely feels the pain when it shatters around his body. He's ready to throw all he has at Plasmius; to tear him in half.
And then he's gone in a flash of blinding white light.
"D̷̨̢̛̯͎̹͓̙͌̑̈́͑̍͛̏̿͠ä̶̡̡̨̱̙͓͙̳̖̬́͐͋͛͂n̶̛̜̞̦̞̞̗͔͐̏̃̒̎̒̔ń̶̫͑̌̈́̊͒͘͠͝y!"
Danny looks down. Wes is right there, holding a thermos. Danny doesn't even have time to focus on the fact that Wes caught Plasmius because he's too busy thinking about how Wes is alive-
Ḑ̵̰͎͇̬̩̪̳̪̩͐̾̉͋̒̽͝a̵̘̠̭̭͈͛̾͑͋͑n̴̘̳̘̭̮͍̮͂̾̔̈́n̴̬̻̊y̸̘̼̠̬͕͚̺͒́͌̇͜͠ ̵̺͎͗̕͜d̷͓̱̫͔̝̉ͅo̴̫͙͊͂͛̋̈̿̏̈́́͘n̵̛̥̥̈́̐̋͊́͒́̕'̴̡͎̝͇̱͓̭̠͇̇̔͗́t̶̯̩̞͕͆́̐͂̈́̕͜͜ ̸̮̙̲̞̗͍̞͐y̵̨̛͇̖̩̞̠̖̬̝̿̔͂̈̈́̑̋̿̕ͅò̵͈̲̦͉͓̺̪͖̌̌̽̿̐͊̽ͅų̷̺̤̗̩͕̣͚̳́́̈́̈́̈̇͛̿͜͠ ̴̛̥̍̅̑͊̅̚ḑ̸̝͕̥̟͖̱̟̣͑͊̀͐̅̉̾̚͝ă̸̝̘̒̄̀̈́̿r̴̡̛̠̬̯̤̳̀̀̒̀̆̽̂͌́ẻ̷̱̩̜̹̙̼͎̚͜ ̵͓̲̦̝͝l̵͖̳̘̈́̂̈́͘ͅẹ̶̛̌́̅̂̈̒̋a̸̭͚͉͌v̵͎͇̮̪͇̦̭̳̙̩͆̄͝ê̸̢̡͍̞̦̏ ̸̙͎̲͋̉ḿ̴̩̹̜̺̩̗̇̄̚ȩ̷̡̨̧̛̺͓̠͓̼̝̎̚.
It hurts. His body is melting. There's light everywhere. He's going to explode!
And then it's over.
Danny stumbles forward blindly. His hand finds something metallic, and then he falls forward. If he hits the ground, he doesn't feel it.
A moment later he's blinking up at Sam and Tucker, confused.
"What happened?"
"Danny, you..." Sam gulps. "I think you died."
Don't die.
"The portal..." Danny sits up slowly, stares at the swirling green mass inside the gateway.
Just a moment ago there was nothing there. But then, that's not true: Just a moment ago, Danny was there.
His parents are sitting on the couch. Jazz is standing next to him, holding his hand.
This is it. He's going to tell them his secret. All he has to do is open his mouth and say the words.
"We love you so much, Danny," Maddie says.
Danny pauses, confused. She didn't say that, did she? Not when they were really having this conversation.
"So, so much."
His mother sounds so sad. Danny wants to reach for her, but he's frozen. He can't move. Why can't he move?
"Please don't leave us," Jack says.
Danny closes his eyes. When he opens them, his parents, Sam, Tucker, Jazz and Mr. Lancer are all in front of him. Their mouths are covered by green energy, and the same green energy keeps them tied to the boiler.
They're at the Nasty Burger.
"No," Danny whispers. "I don't like this one."
He hears a deep, emotionless laugh behind him.
"Please not this one!" Danny shouts.
"Don't worry."
It's Wes's voice, and when Danny turns he's still at the Nasty Burger but it's daytime, and all of the walls are intact, and Wes is standing next to him, holding his hand.
"Worry?" Danny asks. "What would I be worried-"
"-about time, young man. You're late-"
"-to the party, we need to hurry-"
"-up dude! Mr. Lancer is going to kill-"
"Shut up!" Danny shouts.
He's in the dark again, his hands pressed over his ears. Finally, everything is quiet.
And for what feels like forever, it stays quiet.
Until...
There's a sliver of light in the distance. Danny floats toward it. The closer he gets to it, the more it seems to be pushing him away. The air is heavy. It's like swimming through concrete.
But eventually, he gets there.
"...hear me? Danny, squeeze my hand if you can hear me, okay?"
"Hurts..." Danny whispers.
He doesn't know why he says that. He can't really feel much of anything.
Except now that he's thinking about it, he realizes that that isn't true.
His head is throbbing. His mouth feels like sandpaper. His body feels like somebody's attempted to fold him up several times, or maybe like he fell out of an airplane.
"Danny! Holy shit. Maddie, Jack, Vlad! He said something! Danny, open your eyes, please..."
Danny blinks.
At first, he's not sure he's actually awake. Then, he sees Wes leaning over him and feels the tears dripping from the other boy's face onto his own and knows that this is real.
"Wes..." Danny says, then closes his eyes again. "'M okay."
"Stay awake, okay Danny?"
"Yeah," Danny promises. "The light's just too bright."
"I'll turn it off."
Wes's hand leaves his, there's footsteps. Just as Danny opens his eyes again his parents enter the room.
"Hey there, kiddo!" Jack says. He sounds cheery, but he looks like he's aged two years. "You gave us a real scare, there."
"I'm sorry," Danny says.
Every moment he's awake, he's starting to feel better. Ghost healing kicking in, he supposes.
Wes takes his hand again, and presses a kiss to his palm. Danny wonders if he's been here the entire time, and how long that was.
"Always with the dramatics, eh little badger?" Vlad asks.
Danny cracks a smile.