Archive of Our Own ^beta

Danny knew ghosts were never human. It had been the first thing his mom drilled into him. It had been the fact that they were from a whole separate universe from them, and leaked through. The ghost zone, while connected to the living realm, was no more connected to it than the other multiple universes that happen at the same time. Ghosts like to use emotions and memories to create a persona for themselves, sometimes taking the memory of someone who had died. Convinced that they are that person.

So what did it mean for Danny to be part ghost? He stared in the mirror and saw blank empty eye sockets staring back, he saw the flash of green when he moved in from of silver too fast, he heard the way his bones crunched like cold cold ice.

You are Danny Fenton the voice in his head said, it was his voice, wasn’t it? He was Danny Fenton through it, as he fought the ghosts. Should they be called ghosts? Shouldn’t they have another name if they were never people if they had never been alive like his parents suggested?

Sometimes he stared at his face, watches it melt away to reveal something underneath he hadn’t shown to anyone. Was he Danny though? Was he truly the boy his parents loved and raised, was he Jazz’s brother?

Of course, he was, he shook himself, blinking away from the bathroom mirror that showed a dark shadowy creature with sharpened ice ears and dripping blue and green, made of nebulae.

I am Danny Fenton, Phantom said to himself as he continued through the day, not eating drinking, or breathing. Simply going through the steps of humanity, silly me who else would I be?

There’s a kid in the snow.

She double-takes, her head snapping to the intrusion on the perfect winter day. It’s bright outside, her breath conceals into wispy air with frost, her fingers are numb under their woolen gloves, and her hair is scratching her scalp while trapped under a maroon hat.

There’s a kid in the snow.

He’s not wearing anything the protect himself, just a white and red t-shirt and some baggy large jeans. He’s barefoot. His fingers are tinged with black and blue and his eyes are wide open. He’s smiling. His black hair is dappled with snowflakes, but not covered in frost. He’s deep in the snow but it doesn’t cover him…

There’s a kid in the snow.

Or is it a body?

She can’t tell.

He’s staring up into the sky, she stares at him as her hand shakily moves to her pocket. She should call the police, there’s a dead kid. It’s too cold out here, god knows how long this corpse has sat, how long has it sat? She can’t see footprints near the body, but it’s uncovered. Untouched.

There’s a kid in the snow.

It’s been blizzard weather, a cold front that shook Illinois with how cold it had gotten. Power was going out, pipes were freezing over and shattering, roads are iced dangerously no matter how much salt they have on them, and snow keeps falling. People cover their windows with towels, shoving things under doors to try and warm the house. Candles and fireplaces are aglow because it’s so so cold.

Ghosts don’t attack.

There’s a kid in the snow.

His shoes are a couple of yards away, a blink of red in the snow, they’re partially buried by snowflakes. She taps her screen, taking off her glove so she can use the touchpad. The dialing tone doesn’t do much to appease her roiling stomach.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“There’s… theres a boy in the snow. I think he’s dead.”

The kid moves and she shrieks in confusion, terror. His wide blue eyes blink, they didn’t blink before. His frost-bitten hands curl easily though they should be icicles, falling off the bone at this point. They don’t.

“Ma’am. Ma’am, what happened can you describe the body? What’s your location?”

The boy in the snow smiles and raises a finger to his lips. Shhh. He gets up and walks away barefoot, snow crunching under his feet. Leaning down, he grabs some snow in his hands and shapes it into a little ball.

“Ma’am. Are you still there?”

Theres not a kid in the snow anymore. She hangs up on the operator and rushes home to sit in front of her fireplace, and she wonders why that boy looked so familiar. Sitting with a blanket around her shoulders she stares into the fire until it drys her eyes out.

Ghosts have been wondering how the half-ghost is so powerful. Honestly, he shouldn’t be. Phantom doesn’t have a lair in the ghost zone, he doesn’t go in there to recharge, for all the other ghosts know he’s living off the ambient ectoplasm and human fuel, but he should be weak if that was the case! 

It didn’t matter though until one of their own got curious. 

Skulker was, how you say, dedicated to hunting. He knew how to catch prey, and sometimes you had to watch the prey in its natural habitat. This was incredibly hard when the prey had a perfect sense whenever you got within fifty feet of them, and would then turn around and kick your ass into next week.

Skulker skulked out of the portal, watching the adult Fenton’s for the day. The woman smiled while grabbing a cage from the shelf. While Skulker appreciated fellow hunters, he didn’t quite like the look in the woman’s eyes. 

In the cage held Ember. The same Ember who Skulker was dating. The same Ember who was at the moment condensed into a little ghoul trapped like a fairy. The same Ember who had been missing for a week. 

He goes to jump in to save her, like a good boyfriend, but Ember sees him and shakes her head frantically. It would be no use, she knew. She was a powerful ghost, thank you very much, and she had tried multiple times to get out of there. Skulker didn’t care, he charged and caught the ghost hunters off guard by grabbing Ember’s cage and flying through the portal. 

After picking the lock for a few hours and finally getting the thing off he lets Ember out. 

She looks shaken up, “They know baby pop is a ghost. They’ve known the whole time.”

Skulker doesn’t know why this is big news, yeah he knows the twerp really cares about his parent’s not knowing, but what does that have to do with Skulker and Ember?

Ember stares at him and slams her hand onto the table, “You don’t get it, honey-pot! They know he’s a ghost, and have been feeding his other ghosts.”

Oh. Skulker sees why this is a problem, “Who?”

“Boxy was first, and then Lunch Lady.” Ember said, remembering how easily the ghost hunters incapacitated the other ghosts. Their incompetence was only a show for their son, to make him feel safer. They would take any ghosts they caught and... and cut them up and incorporate them into food for their son.

The worst part, Ember voiced, “He doesn’t even know. It would kill him. You know how the kid is.”

Skulker stares ahead, and rubs his hand over the face of his suit, “Yes the whelp would have a fit.”

Ghosts do hunger ectoplasm, it was a normal thing, but eating another ghost was... It wasn’t commonly practiced, it was almost as frowned down upon as cannibalism is in the human world. There are obviously exceptions, but most ghosts are fine just eating the ecto-flora and fauna. Skulker froze.

“So that’s why he’s so strong.” He hated admitting it, but the whelp bested him usually. 

Ember nods, fiddling with her guitar, which had just formed next to her as if sensing her nervousness, “We have to tell everyone.”

“We need to tell the whelp.” Skulker said, “He will put a stop to it. We know he will.”

The rockstar ghost stares into space, her fingers plucking at strings, “Yeah he would... Let's tell the others first.”

Lights danced in the sky, the stars seemed to be moving. Not in the way a star should, but like bugs. Giant cosmic bugs, moths and fireflies, and things that are not plasma-based- not in the original sense.

Danny always loved when his mom told him he was made out of stardust, and when he had been zapped by the portal, he was made of a form of plasma. Maddie Fenton never said anything that wasn’t scientifically accurate, so to hear her say he was stardust had made young Danny so happy.

As he grew up of course he knew it was just something she told him. Something sweet from his mom, a loving gesture that he still treasures now honestly.

The stars are moving rapidly again, the bug-like bulbs in the sky blinking in and out of existence. There shouldn’t be this many stars, Danny thinks to himself.

Despite the strange feeling that he needs to stop staring at the moon, he feels at peace. He moves his hand up, the air pushing through the divots in his flesh, penetrating his skin with a frozen chill like ice water. The stars stop moving before returning to their buzzing.

He can almost hear them…. They’re talking to him.

The door opens, and Maddie Fenton looks at her son on the edge of the roof. She hums like a mother should, going to sit with the teenager whose hands are in the air as if to catch a fly midair. Or perhaps to wave.

“The stars are acting weird,” Danny says, not looking at his mom.

Maddie nods, humming at the observation, “Yes they are. You know I’ve always told you that you’re made of stardust honey.”

Danny nods, still fixated on the moon, “Yeah. It’s nice, but we know you just say it.”

She laughs, not unkindly, ruffling his hair. The lights in the sky, stars zoom around as if they were made to go millions of light-years in seconds. Her son is glowing, cheeks giving off a pure white shine, dots of brightness shine underneath his hair like midnight clouds, his eyes aren’t blue. Maybe they never were.

“You know I never say anything that isn’t true.” She says, and hums as if this is how the world should be, “The stars miss you.”

Casper High was having a costume contest. The teens were all dressing up and having a good time during the whole day. It was full of Happy students and there were little to no actual ghost things happening. (They were all terrorizing Vlad.)

Sam was wearing a lab coat and looked like that goth girl from NCIS, the name of whom Danny could not think of at the moment.

Tucker was a werewolf, which was a fun look for him actually. Looking cute dude.

Danny was not wearing a costume, the biggest change of his outfit was a huge NASA sweatshirt and his red converse were now swapped out for green ones since he had worn the other ones out so badly the soles were deattatching.

Dash Baxter was dressed up as Frankenstein, and he corners Danny and his friends. The other jocks were dressed up as slasher villains, which was kinda cool actually. Danny really liked the scream mask Kwan had on. He’d have to compliment him on that later.

Anyway, he was crowded up against a locker and his sweatshirt was in Dash’s fist so he should probably focus on that.

“And what are you dressed up as Fenturd? Someone with good grades?”

Danny scoffs, because wow rude. Dash had no room to talk about grades the jock was about as a smart of a jumble of rocks and maybe two single beetles. All of which rattled around in his thick skull instead of a brain.

He grins though, “nope I’m dressed up as alive.”

Dash’s face pulls into a slightly confused but annoyed snarl, “You’re supposed to dress up as something you’re not idiot, you must be dumber than I thought.”

“Oh but Dash, I did dress up as something I’m not.” Danny gives a mean grin and then falls intangible, leaning back into the lockers and disappearing.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Will Danny regret his joke later when everyone then accuses him of being a ghost - rightfully accused- and he then would have to say he was possessed? Yes he will. But right now he was thriving on the screams of the football team and that was a beautiful sound.

Amity’s got a cult problem

It’s been like that for ages but got worse when Phantom showed up. First, it was demons, then it was gods and deities, then it was ghosts. And from there it was ghosts being gods in undead form.

Danny knows there are cults surrounding his ghost half. He’s just had to handle it, like yeah sometimes shit happens! He doesn’t like cults at all, and he certainly isn’t ok with being a cult figurehead but what can he do?

It’s not like he could go into the cultists' place and be like, “Hey guys! Super cool place you got but uh don’t worship me I’m just some guy.”

That’ll go over soooo well. They’ll just stop doing whatever weird shit cults do after he asks them politely. Sure!

Speaking of cults, Danny was in the back of a van being kidnapped to be a sacrifice to his ghost half. Whoops. What can you do? Maybe he can get a good nap in while tied to this chair.

“WHAT?!” Danny yelled, then flinched as his dad snored on. Thankfully his yowling of confusion and outrage hadn’t woken his parents up, though that might be a fire hazard. What if something had actually happened to him!

Not the point Fenton! He glared at the ghostly-looking professor, who looks right as rain, “Ghost school?”

“Yes, ghost school. It’s for young ghosts to learn about our world, not everything is innate you know!” The man said with a serene smile.

“I’m not dead.”

“Yes you are, your name showed up on the roster!”

“I’m half alive!”

“Unfortunate but still it’s mandatory for new ghosts. Leaving you in the dark about the ghost zone would simply be a horrendous idea! Neglect of the highest sort, they could put me away for millennia.” He looks around the room, the old man’s eyes catching on the rockets and space paraphernalia.

Danny spluttered like a clogged kitchen sink, “But that’s- I have normal school! Why do young ghosts go to school? Will there be adult ghosts learning too?”

The Professor clapped his hands together, “New ghosts who are adults go to colleges, while new ghosts who are children go to schools! Much like a regular educational system.”

The halfa’s brain was malfunctioning like a bad FentonWorks reject invention, “How am I going to convince my ghost hunting parents to go to ghost school without getting shot and vivisected and kept for parts huh?”

The old ghost's face twisted into worry, “Are you truly unsafe in your home, young man?”

“No- well maybe- wait no! Answer my question!”

“Well we can make it seem like a fancy human boarding school, one of our human liaison officers can speak to them. To be fair this has never occurred before in the history of the ghost zone, so we will try out best.”

“It’s a boarding school?!” He wailed, skimping back into his bed dramatically, like a Victorian waif.

Professor Mostly Ghostly looked fondly at the young ghoul, “Yes it is. It’s important for you to go though, the dorms are comfortable, there’ll be food provided for you, and you’ll get an education on all things ghostly- then you can specialize on your obsession or core.”

“Obsessions are real?”

“Yes! Though they aren’t the central part of the ghosts being, one can truly change obsessions as time passes on, it’s all very complex. From there you can get ghostly jobs, or just be a citizen. We ghosts do actually have a sense of education and hierarchies.”

Danny whines slightly, though he’s starting to look almost convinced, “But my human friends…”

“Will be able to write letters to you. And vice versa.”

Finally the halfa groans and sits up again, staring the older ghost down, “if you can convince my parents to send me to a ‘totally legit human boarding school’ I’ll be one board with the decision.”

Truly is was nice to think that he could get some help with his ghost powers, it had been so hard in school, and his grades could use some work… maybe this wouldn’t be a bad thing!

A sleeping young prince lays on his throne, curled in such a way that shouldn’t be possible if this were not the ghost zone, we’re the young prince not dead. His skin is toned with greenish hues like veins under his thin flesh, white hair askew, and all over the place as he sleeps on.

His nap has been going on for some time now, but no one wants to wake him. He looks happy like this, content, just a young boy sleeping away all the horrible things that have happened, the demented domino effect that an invention had on his life.

A crown floats above his head, the spines sharp now- instead of a metallic fiery crown it has become frozen and skeletal. It was simply how the zone saw their young soon to be king, as a warrior.

He twists in his seat, curling deeper into the furred cloak given to him by a mentor bathed in blue light and snowflakes. A small smile twists his face, dreaming something kind.

Had any of his friends been alive they would have cooed, taken pictures of their friend happy and content and hidden from a world of pain and grief.

No, he was asleep now, a ring surrounds his form and leaves a human boy in its wake, still shrouded by icy light and covered in a soft cape. He shivers slightly.

This nap of his would last for two weeks, the Observants said, because that is how long it took the human body to die without help.

“Dude last night I saw the Fenton kid climbing up the wall of my apartment building like a fucking demon.” Dale said to his friend at lunch. He was new in town, not yet initiated in the Ways of the Amity Park Local.

“That’s normal for him, he’s freaking weird man. The other day I saw him get so frustrated at a ghost for stealing his homework that he bit it.” Alex responded, biting his sandwich.

“Straight up bit it?”

“Straight up bit it.” Alex replied solemnly, as if this were the most normal thing in the world.

Someone slammed their tray on the twos solitary table, and it was Amanda, “You taking about the ghost hunters kid?”

“Yeah why?” Dale said back, swirling his milk carton around like it was a fancy wine glass his mom keeps in her cabinets.

“Well I saw him sleep in a pile of blob ghosts.” She said with a conspirators whisper, “And he cried when he woke up because he couldn’t pet them all.”

“Bro I would do the same those things are adorable.” Alex shot back, poking his fork at their third partner in crime.

Amanda rolls her eyes, “I heard that he broke the windows in the English Lit room because he saw a bug.”

Dale nods, “That ones true, the guy has a set of lungs man I think I went deaf for a minute.”

“Same.” Alex muttered, then looked up as the bell rang, “Damn see you guys I can’t be late to Faluca’s class or he’ll throw me out in detention.”

“Peace dude, I’m skipping.” Dale responded, going to throw away his lunch, unaware that Danny Fenton was listening to the whole conversation and trying not to laugh. Super hearing is so fun sometimes.

“Daniel get off the building this instant.” Plasmius barked, arms crossed and tapping his finger to his bicep. This wasn’t the first time he had to stop the younger halfa from causing trouble.

The younger halfa kicks off a few bricks from the top of the building like a cat pawing a glass cup off the counter, the bricks break and crumble when they hit the ground.

“Whatever will I do the big hero V-Man is here to save me!” Phantom says, his face still pulled into a grin, but his eyes were angry.

Vlad knows Danny was just young and angry, hell he had even been through that stage before he decided to help Amity Park. Maddie and Jack had always welcomed him with open arms, treated him kindly. It had hurt when they got married but he had gotten over it.

Danny on the other hand was angry at his parent's carelessness, over their lab with a wormhole that required life to open. He was upset and full of new powers that responded to the hormonal teen's every impulsive aggressive whim. He wasn’t evil, Vlad knew, just misguided.

He was going to extend an offer to the young halfa, now that he knew the boy was Jack and Maddie’s son he felt a kinship with him.

“Daniel this is childish, using your powers to make life harder on others because you’re angry.”

Phantom’s aura flared a lurid greenish-red, “Shut up! Fuck you and your high and mighty attitude Plasmius.”

Vlad sighed, “I can help you, you know. I can teach you how to control and better yourself. You won’t be kicking rocks at others any longer. You can have someone to confide in!”

“You don’t get it! You have people, you get all their love and I’m just the reject! I hate you! I hate them!” He throws a blast in the older ghost's direction, though it’s powerful, Vlad dodges.

The elder ghost flies quickly after the now fleeing teen, grabbing his arm gently, “Daniel you arent a reject- just. Come with me. I promise if you hate what I offer you can certainly ruin my house with your powers and you can get your anger out there.”

Phantom’s rage ebbs and flows, like a reoccurring nightmare, but ever so slowly Vlad can see that his fighting urge is dying down to a hostile curiosity. The teen looks down his attempt at staying angry failing, and then grits his teeth, “Fine. I’m burning your packers football if you try and keep me there. I’ll make bacon out of it, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” Vlad responds, hiding his eye roll. He was like an uncle to the teen when he and the elder Fentons reunited as friends. Seeing him so… violent was quite strange, but he gets that it was from not having anyone to vent his struggles to. No friends to confide in, just anger at his parents for a freak accident.

A young boy walks into his sister's room, and she smiles at him. Jazz puts down her book to look at her sibling, though she didn’t know why they would come into her room looking so morose. Did mom and dad do something stupid again?

There was nervous energy, and Jazz waited for her younger sibling to talk, to say anything.

“I’m a boy.” Her sibling said in a flurry of short words, “Like, I’m not a girl. I’m not your sister. I’m a boy. My name is Danny now.”

Jazz pauses with confusion, and then the words process and she lets out a breath, “Alright, ok then little brother. I’m glad you told me.”

Danny looks at her with big eyes and then smiles, eyes a bit damp and he jumps at his sister, hugging her tightly. He had been so nervous, it had eaten at him for days- as he knew objectively that she wouldn’t be awful or anything, that out of anyone in the world Jazz would always accept him. But it was still hard to impart this new part of himself to her.

“Can you help me cut my hair?” He asks quietly, Alrighty muffled by her shoulder.

Jazz thinks about it for a second and nods, “Sure thing Danny. Let’s go to the bathroom and get your hair sorted out.”

Standing in front of the mirror Jazz chopped off his hair, snipping bits and bobs here and there until Danny told her to stop. He was smiling so widely at what he saw, a dashing young man.

“Look at you little brother! So handsome!” Jazz said, pinching his cheek annoyingly. He swatted at her hands but was flush with happiness at his new look. His eyes watered again, and he cried loudly into his sister's shoulder, still grinning.

Danny twiddled his thumbs, biting his lip and wondering how to word this to his sister. He was fairly sure she already knew, but it was like he was ten again and coming out to his big sister for the first time.

He opens his sister's door, and she’s still awake studying for her finals.

Closing the door gently behind him, his movements catch Jazz’s attention, “Hey there Danny, what’s up?”

Looking around and anywhere but her face he thinks that he just needs to do it, go for it, just like the first time, “Jazz I’m a half-ghost.”

She blinks a few times, and then nods, “Alright baby brother, I’m glad you told me yourself.”

“You knew didn’t you?” He groaned exasperatedly.

“Wasn’t hard to guess after spirit week- you should stop yelling going ghost when you run off to save people.” She teased, her lips pulling into a smile. Danny huffs, going and sitting next to her and leaning heavily on her both for comfort and to be an annoyance.

She runs a hand through his hair, the same hair she cuts every couple of weeks when it gets too long, and she smiles, “You’ll always be my goofy little brother, trans, half-dead, a high school dropout.”

“Hey!” He was laughing though.

“Bro, did you just bite me?” Danny said touching his neck and hissing at the tender skin there. The person who had just bit him was spitting into the ground, fanning their mouth.

The people around them were watching wondering why Danny Fenton just got bit on the throat and barely reacted, that looked like a vampire. Said vampire looked up after spitting again at the ground.

“A guy got to eat, what is your blood made of and why is it spicy?” His voice took on a tinge and Danny shrugged much to everyone’s annoyance.

“Dunno probably the ectocontamination. You should probably go wash your mouth thoroughly that stuff can pack a punch. I lost all my taste buds the first time I accidentally licked some.” Danny responded as if this was a normal Tuesday.

His neck was still bleeding profusely from the fang puncture marks.

The vampire gestures wildly, “Jesus Christ- ouch can’t say that- that was horrible! Please get that checked out it cannot be healthy!”

Danny shrugs, “That’s just life man. You should probably go before someone stabs you with a stake or something.”

Behind the vampire, a man with a stake glared at his prey being alerted. The whole crowd watched the interaction before both vampire and radioactive teen walked in separate directions.

What was that?!

Staring at the picture his dad had out in front of his face, Danny blinked confusedly. It was an old drawing, one of a boy about his age. It looked eerily like him to be honest, the charcoal shading around the eyes like black bags of restless nights, the same shade of stark black hair.

“Dad who is this?” He asked, holding the picture carefully.

Jack looked over and hummed, “That’s one of our ancestors. When we were first immigrating to the US, back in the old days, he was a medium. Could see the dead grandma told me. Your grandfather was named after him.”

And Danny was named after his grandfather… huh.

“He looks tired.”

Jack nodded boisterously, then took a solemn face so different from his normal joyous expressions, “He got lost chasing after something, got off the trail. Everyone knows it had something to do with ghosts though, our family was always weirdly connected to the dead.”

Danny nods as he stares at the picture more, and he feels like he knows this person. Suddenly he sees in perfect clarity a night dim as it is cold. He was walking around and caught a glimpse of something like a spark. A breathtaking green surrounded him so familiarly and suddenly darkness.

“Do you think he fell into a natural portal?” Danny found himself asking without thinking. His body moving on its own.

Jack looks over with a raised brow, taking in the shaken look on his son's face, “That could be what happened. Why?”

“Dunno. Just a guess…” Danny said and then forced himself to sit the paper down. He feels years older yet so young, and he finds himself leaning into a hug from his dad. The man was larger than a brick house, and his hugs were big great things, all-encompassing and full of love.

Danny flies to Clockwork, mind swimming with questions and unwanted images- a boat in the middle of a rough sea, a natural portal opening, people he never knew yet is struck with familiarity and familial feelings. A girl in his dreams, a little boy, a mirror.

“Daniel, I was wondering when you would arrive.” Clockwork said, in the kind and distant tone of his. He was hiding amusement under those words.

“What’s happening to me!” Danny asked, “I’m dreaming things that I shouldn’t know and suddenly I’m remembering things that are definitely not my memories!”

The blue ghost hums, his voice like a ticking grandfather clock, “Did you know that reincarnation is as rare as becoming a half-ghost?”

“What?” Danny asked, taken aback enough to stop gripping his hair. The statement seems so out of place, he doesn’t connect it to his current predicament.

Clockwork takes pity, “Daniel you are a rarity, two impossible feats shoved into one body. Your soul has been alive for so long, and now it is trapped as you.”

It clicked then, like the hands of a wristwatch slowly trekking onward. Danny looked at his hands and he remembered.

“What a peculiar little power you have there, ghost boy.” The specter says with a smile, his face dark and shadowed by the dark theatre.

Danny hasn’t fought this ghost before, probably because he decides to stay away from many of the haunted places. Couldn’t avoid it this time, “What are you talking about?”

The ghost grinned wide, molten gold eyes squinting, “Your power to be human! It’s the strangest thing, I know ghosts who can look human but never a ghost who could partially become one.”

The teenaged hero stared down at the other ghost with a glare, “I’m half-human.”

VHS tapes began to unwind, their film turning into whips and trying to hit the young ghost. Danny dodged them, blasting through the tapes and watching the old film dissolve and burn.

“You really believe that? Oh, you’re so cute! You can’t only half die! That’s absurd, death comes for everyone even the young and hopeful.” CD’s flew at Danny like spinning saws, one cut through his suit but he managed to duck out of the way, “Is your heartbeat slow? Your body temperature is that of a new corpse, the way you can’t keep yourself human, powers pushing through the facade! Truly it’s like watching a movie.”

“You sound like a broken record!” Danny said, sending an angry blast to the other ghost. The flaming echo slams the other into the wall of the abandoned theatre.

Flinging himself off the wall the grinning ghoul continues, “but I’m right! You’re dead, have been! You aren’t liminal, you’re a scared little ghost hiding behind your own dead face!”

Danny sucks the other ghost into the thermos during the monologue but the words stick to him.

He changes back, and as he passes a mirror the reflection shows a shadowy dark ghost with white hair. Danny can’t stop thinking about the fight every time he closes his eyes.

He holds his breath and finds that after a while he doesn’t hurt. His lungs don’t ache until he thinks that maybe this should hurt. His heartbeat is slow, slower than Sam and Tucker’s.

He pushes it into the back of his mind. Just a scared little boy, hiding behind ignorance now. But the thought never leaves his head, it works its way through like a parasite, even when he doesn’t grow as he should.

“Not again.” Danny Fenton muttered under his breath, looking pissed as all can get out. The class expected him to raise his hand to go to the bathroom and immediately became tense. Fenton’s magic ghost-sensing bladder was the only fool-proof way to tell a ghost attack was about to happen.

A screaming ghost ran through the room before Mr. Lancer could angrily let Fenton leave. Danny stared at the ghost while everyone was freaking out.

“Fuck it.” He said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a simple ecto-blaster. Then with ease, he raised it and shot through the ghost. It turned to him with anger in its eye but he just shot it again. Three blasts in and the ghost dissolves into mush, “Jeez if I didn’t know that one reform after being shot I’d feel like shit for doing that.”

His classmates stare at him with wide eyes, and he seemed to notice that he was being watched, “What!? Ghost problem solved, I really need to get a good grade before the semester ends.”

Lancer blinks a few times, and the students slowly retreat to their assigned seats. Class continues on like nothing had happened, though there is tension in the room as the class sees the Cowardly Fenton in a new light.

“Danny why is everyone staring at you?” Sam asks, putting her hands on her hips.

“Shot a ghost in class. It’s Screamer again.”

Tucker groaned at the name, “Fricking Screamer. Hate that guy.”

“Yeah, me too. So I shot him.” Danny said with a shrug, slurping up his spaghetti. Jazz made some the night before and he was not above eating cold leftovers for lunch over whatever it was that Casper High provided.

Sam blinks a few times and then shrugs, “Cool, I thought you made a fool out of yourself asking someone out again.”

“Sam!” Danny whined slightly, “Not cool.”

The goth grinned and continued eating her food as well.

Danny was running pitiful laps during Gym, only moving fast enough to not be in the same vicinity as Dash and his friends. No way was he about to get tripped or bumped or end up tumbling into the mud and get his clothes all gross.

That was, of course, until Skulker decided to show up. His breath came in a cold flash and he turned around looking for a place to run and transform. Maybe he could make it to the school and say it was a bathroom break- and no chance. Here’s Skulker!

The mechanical ghost grinned, “Hello Whelp.”

Danny was not hanging it today, he ran to the bleachers with the robotic ghost in hot pursuit. As soon as he had high ground though he turned and gave a solid kick to the ghost's robotic head, hard enough to dent the metal face. Skulker blindly dove at him, cornering Danny into a sitting position on the cold bleachers. Using this to his advantage he kicked both his legs like a donkey.

“Headshot!” He said, watching Skulker’s suit’s head go flying. Then he snatched the green blob out of his spot in his suit, “Your suits weak, you hunt so much but can’t take a horse kick?”

“Let go of me you insolent brat- I will have your pelt for this!”

“Yeah yeah. Get lost before I squish you.” He threw Skulker away, satisfied that the ghost won’t cause any issues without his suit. The green blob mutters angrily about skinning him as he flies away.

“Fenton what was that?!” Tetslaf yelled, the teens on the track watching. “You can kick the head off a ghost but can’t run? Ten more laps and get them done in five minutes!”

“What that’s not fair!” Danny scoffed back, looking quite annoyed.

Tetslaf practically barked, “Fifteen!”

“Alright alright jeez!”

Danny twisted in his bed, face contorting into a pained expression. His hips were out of place, his left knee was completely numb while the other was suffering from sudden onset ‘oh fuck ouch’ as he so generously dubbed it.

Today would be a high-pain day, he thought morosely, using weightless floating to get out of bed. He almost wishes he was able to float all the time, it’s easier than when he first learned to use his cane. Still, he got dressed and grabbed his cane to wobble his way down the stairs.

The accident had done more than make him half-dead, it also majorly messed with his nerves. Neuropathy, the doctors told him, chronic nerve pain; and if that wasn’t enough- osteoarthritis was heaped on there as well.

He limped heavily to the kitchen, grabbed some ibuprofen though it never fully worked, and went about making the easier breakfast known to man- texting Tucker saying he felt like he got ran over and the geek generously packing him some of Mrs. Foley’s famous breakfast burrito. Danny loved his friends so dearly.

“Ah!” He hissed, below suddenly a stabbing buzzing sort of needling pain. Digging in his bag he took out his compression brace and well… braced for the long day ahead of him. Heh.

As quickly as he could, the half-ghost walked to the Foley household. He knocked swiftly, three knocks sharp, and the door opened to Mrs. Foley.

“Oh hello, hon!” She said with a bright smile, opening the door, “Sit down sit, I’ll drive you three today. I have to run errands anyway.”

Danny nodded, “Thank you, Mrs. Foley.”

“Not a problem sugar.” She said pinching his cheek. He laughed and went to sit next to Tucker, “Now you eat something before you forget!”

Tucker snickered and handed him a burrito, which Danny ate with little bites. It was hard to eat when his elbow seemed hell-bent on being uncomfortable in all positions but that was how he had lived for months now. The techno-geek didn’t say a word on his friend's condition though.

The next knock on the door was done by Sam, who was let in quickly to where she sat down to eat her breakfast. She made her own, even though Mrs.Foley would make her vegan food if she asked.

“Alright, are you three ready?” Tucker’s mom asked with a pleasant smile while finishing up dishes.

“I am, are you guys?” Sam responded, looking over to her friends. Both nodded and the trio got up and went to the car. The ride was spent talking about the newest installment of a video game and groaning about traffic from a ghost fight the night before.

When they got to school the three made their way to the lockers, Danny’s leg buckled under him and he cursed slightly, “Sorry guys. Today is not my day.”

Sam nods sagely, “You want me to carry your bag?”

Danny shook his head, “Nah, but can you open my locker?”

“On it.”

Dash no longer bullied Danny, and it was both a relief and sort of annoying. He could stand not getting his joints jostled on days like this, but it made him angry to be seen as weaker than weak. Not worth the fight. As if Danny without his ghost powers, with his chronic pain, couldn’t knock the shit out of the bully. Still, he was grateful for that underestimation today.

During Lancer’s class, he feels his ghost sense go off, and he asks to go to the nurse. Permission is given without thought, and he makes his way to the bathroom to transform.

When he flies he doesn’t even feel the pain, as a ghost nerves didn’t matter all that much so one could just turn them off. Danny felt a little less in agony when he was throwing and receiving punches hundreds of feet up in the air.

Danny wished so hard that he didn’t have to rely on the thermos as much as he does. It’s a great weapon and asset to have obviously! But it was kind of not good when he was without it and had no way to throw ghosts back in the zone without dragging them kicking and screaming to the portal. Which: bad idea. His mom and dad seeing Phantom dragging a ghost into their portal?

A one-way ticket to Frog-Ville.

He stares at the shredded and crushed thermos and wishes he had died a very peaceful death and had not come back to deal with this bullshit.

Ember grinned, “Well lookie here! Baby pop without his favorite little toy!”

Danny groaned and send a blast her way before having to throw up a shield to a valid being atomized by sound waves. Yeah, he was without his favorite weapon, but he would have to wait until backup showed up and god he wishes he was like Wulf who could simply claw a portal into existence.

Something ripped. And he looked down to see a large gash-like opening across his stomach.

“Uh Ember you don’t plan on gutting me, do you? Like you’re leaving that to Skulker right?”

Ember was staring at him with her mouth wide open, “I didn’t do that Baby-pop.”

“Well. That’s great. Cool- holy SHIT!” The gash opened like a mouth, showing sharp teeth and a glowing green inside. It swirled like the portal did, blazing neon. Suddenly a black tongue-like tendril shot out and grabbed Ember’s guitar and snatched it away, biting it in half.

Ember blinked, “What the heck is wrong with your everything?”

“I don’t know?!” Danny yelled back, and the tendril shot out again and dragged the pop star into the portal-like mouth. Then it closed as if nothing happened. “Oh my god.”

Tucker looked up from the side, “Dude did you just eat her?!”

“No! I didn’t! I don’t think I did- I think I just made a portal with my stomach.”

Sam watched and then looked at the thermos, “Hey at least you don’t need this anymore.”

“Have you noticed anything weird about Fenton lately?” Paulina asked Star, her face twisted into confusion. She had been noticing things about the loser, these changes had been small at first but now it was hard to ignore. She didn’t know if it was her imagination or not.

“Yeah, I have,” Star said, eyes flashing with barely hidden excitement to gossip. It was her specialty, Paulina knew. She was good at looks and getting what she wants, and Star was good at knowing everything about everyone.

Like why Fenton has fangs, “Thank god, I would have hated to be told I’m going loco.”

Star nods, “His ears are sharp now! And have you seen how sharp his nails are?”

“Oh yeah, Dash was making fun of him for having acrylics, but those are not acrylics. They would be fun to paint though.” Paulina replied, thinking about how Fenton accidentally scratched Lancer’s hand and made him bleed. The nerd apologized so much about it, Mr. Lancer didn’t even know what to do.

With a shrug Star shook her head, “Manson beat you to it, she painted them black.”

“Ugh. Goths.”

“Right anyway, he also glows.”

Paulina blinks and then gasps, “Oh he does! It’s not the ghostly glow like my ghost boy but he’s definitely got this rosy glow to his cheeks.”

“It could be blush.” Star said, but they both knew she just said it to say it. She believed full-heartedly that something was off about the nerd.

“What teenage boy wears blush? He already gets picked on, I think he’s not stupid enough to try and bring more attention to himself.”

The blonde nods along, looking at her phone, presumably to check for any new texts, “Yeah, speaking of! Did you hear his new lisp?”

“I did! He sounded like a dork.” Well, until his lisp went away and he had this really deep voice. Paulina would not admit that Fenton did have a nice voice after puberty. Good for him, not stuck in that squeaky in between like Dash and Kwan were at.

Star leans in conspiratorially, “I heard Mikey got a picture of him, and his tongue was split like snakes.”

Paulina gasped, smacking Star’s shoulder, “shut up! Show me.”

Star holds out her phone proudly, so she wasn’t actually looking for texts, Fenton did in fact have a split tongue.

“Jeez, what do you think he is?” Paulina whispered, claws, weird tongue, glows, fangs, “Oh my god he’s a vampire.”

Star gasps, “He’s totally a vampire!”

Danny sighs, ghost puberty sucked. It sucked even harder when ghost puberty happened to your human half and NOT THE GHOST HALF! Clockwork said something about the energy getting confused and choosing one half instead of the other. That just means that Phantom is going to look as human as the day he died and Fenton was going to be the scary one. Double fuck.

He sighed, biting his nail. It wouldn’t break, he’d broken a few files trying to trims them down. Sam broke out the animal nail clippers and he shattered the blade! Danny was not having a good time.

Speaking of things being hard, imagine getting fangs and a split tongue in the same week. His lisp was no joke, and Tucker liked to make fun of him for it. Hey at least his voice was starting to be way lower, so that’s cool. Free ghost testosterone without having to go to the doctor for testosterone! And double plus, his voice was different from Dan’s- one more thing to put between him and his evil future.

He passed by Paulina and Star gossiping in the hallways, and instead of slinking past them as he normally does, he feels someone tug at his hoodie.

“Uh, Paulina? What do you want?” He asked, confused and crossing his arms.

“We know what you are,” Star said quietly.

Danny went into adrenaline overdrive, looking around covertly to see if anyone was listening, then he laughed awkwardly. No one was eavesdropping, but he still made an effort, “What do you mean?”

They couldn’t know he was Phantom, and they probably don’t know he’s half-dead. He hopes, “We know you’re a vampire!”

Danny stares at them and then laughs so hard he cannot breathe. He slapped his knee, his cackling turning into a hiss at the end, “A vampire! Oh my god- oh my god I have to tell Sam!”

Sam had brought up many superstitions, and Danny had started picking them up. He had plenty of supernatural things in his house, and his parents didn’t like that he was using more mystical ways for seeing ghosts when science was right there, but they were happy he was slowly acclimating to the family business.

He kept blasters in his bag of course, but he was already the weapon.

Tucker, Sam, and Danny himself all had hag stone necklaces. Found and resourced from a river nearby, tied with thin twine. The boys had long gotten over their worry of being seen as feminine and did whatever the hell they wanted with their appearance.

Superstition was usually right, much to his parents' chagrin.

Danny was slow to cross over running water, and those Nasty Burger fries with too much salt had slowly become inedible unless he wanted a scratchy throat for the rest of the day, he hated the words move on.

Tapping his fingers against the table with one hand, the other was fiddling with his necklace. His keychain clinked against the chair, the contents scrambled: his house keys, a planchette, a mini ecto-blaster, a small vial of salt. It had been a gift from Sam.

Already a social pariah from before he had the chance to talk, Danny had accepted being whispered about as a weirdo with his little trinkets against the dead. It was better than wearing a hazmat suit everywhere.

Though he did already do that, just not as Fenton.

The planchette helped him see things that weren’t always visible to the eye. His parents had special goggles to see invisible ghosts but all he needed was a glass surrounded by wood or his hag stone. It had been a trip to find it out that those working, the trio kept that trade trick to themselves for an important reason. He remembered the day clear as anything else.

It had been something they wanted to try as a joke, an ouija board that didn’t work. An idea came to Sam’s mind, and she didn’t fight it. Sam looked through a planchette at her friend one day, and gasped, “Hey Danny.”

“Ye-up?” Danny replied, turning his eyes to his friends. Tucker was furiously typing in his PDA, as he did when something interesting happened and he wanted to journalize it.

“When I look through this, I see Phantom.” She says, “I can’t show you but…”

Tucker snaps his finger, “give that here!”

He takes the little heart-shaped thing from her hand and lays it over his camera and snaps a picture, and sure enough, when one looks through the stone you can see Danny Phantom sitting there. Hazmat and all.

Danny stares at the picture and his brows furrowed, “Huh that’s weird. Kinda cool though.”

“I wonder what you’d see if you were in Phantom form when we look at you through it,” Sam muttered curiously, snatching her planchette away from her friend's fingers.

Tucker taps his finger to his chin, “Do ya think we’d see Fenton instead? Like a reverse situation.”

Danny shrugged, “One way to find out.”

A bright halo blinded his friends, and there was their floating friend. Sam raised the glass to her eye and then dropped it with a horrified hiss.

“What?” He asked, his voice with an echo as it always was, “Is my hair that bad?”

Sam shook her head, “Tucker take a picture. Now.”

“You’re kinda freaking me out-“

“Now!”

Tucker takes the fallen planchette and raises it to his camera and snaps a picture. Then he stares at the snapshot for a long time without talking. Danny is starting to get freaked out too and he leans over Tucker’s shoulder to see what’s shocked them into silence.

Floating there is a dark space in the shape of him, there are tendrils of darkness floating out of his back, a large white jagged mouth like a gash open in a mischievous grin. He swore he was just smiling! The dark figure's hair floated in all directions and millions of little green eyes stared at the camera. They formed stars and constellations, black-blue, and green. He sucks in a breath through his teeth.

“Ya know, I’m not so sure you’re a half-ghost anymore,” Tucker said, trying to joke. Sam slaps him on the shoulder.

They kept the picture in a logbook, and they kept hag stones and planchettes on their person. The other ghosts looked the same, but they’d never get Danny’s true body out of their minds.

“Guyyyys!” Danny yells into the Skype call. Tucker and Sam both have their cameras on but Danny has his covered with what seems to be his hand.

“That didn’t sound like a good ‘guys’,” Tucker said, pointing out the obvious.

Sam nods, tapping her finger to her chin, “Yeah it sounded like an ‘oh no’ guys, and not a ‘guess what exciting thing happened’ guys.”

Danny huffed on the other side of the camper, “This is serious!”

Sam and Tucker snickered when his voice cracked, and Tucker took the plunge, “What's happening, dude?”

The half-ghost uncovered his camera, when it focused they saw the source of their friend's distress.

“I’m going grey at age 16!” He glares at them, “Stop laughing this is serious!”

“Val wait, please I’m sorry don’t! OUCH! Shit!” Danny yelped, the girl rolled her eyes at his dramatics. The quartet had all decided to pierce their ears together; not planning on spending what little money they have, Sam excluded because she bought the supplies and earrings, they were doing it at home.

The teen whined, “That hurt like hell Val. Hell.”

Sam laughed at his expense, “You can get shot in the face but a little needle is what hurts more?”

“Stop bullying Danny.” Tucker said, though he was hiding his own snickers, “He’s just a wimp.”

“Hey!” Danny glared, hissing at the earring that Valerie put in his ear. It was a little ghost, he had picked it out himself with a devious little smile on his face that made his friends groan loudly while in the aisle. Tucker had gone for a single dangly earring with a VHS charm. Well, for when the holes healed, for now, it was just a boring silver stud.

Valerie was next, and Tucker was valiantly trying to hold the needle without looking squeamish. It had been hard enough to get him to agree to join the group's activities, so Danny took the needle carefully and sanitized it with a lighter that Sam had. Not because she smoked but because Grandma Ida believed that arson was a good way to protest.

Sitting still he pierced her ear, cleaning it with a reusable cotton swab. The huntress has chosen little red candy-shaped earrings- not too out there but still her signature color.

Sam already had her ears pierced, but she was choosing to get her second pair of holes courtesy of their newest addition to the quartet. She had decided on the second set matching her first spider set, so little webs dotted her earlobes.

“We match now!” Danny said with enthusiasm, “Blood buddies.”

“””Ewww.””” His friends said in unison.

The Fentons were being haunted. Something was afoot in that house, by all means, there shouldn’t be a soul in the house that wasn’t the living ones of their children and them, but it was there anyway. Despite the anti-ghost things they’ve got sitting around, the guns, the lasers, the tasers, the tools; this creature was still there.

They had grown used to the screaming in the middle of the night. Of blankets torn off them while they slept, spindly fingers barely caressing their ankles leaving a small slim scratch that just barely wells up with beads of thick red blood.

Danny was disproportionately affected by this spirit because he was half-ghost. This should have been easy to stop yet here he was being terrorized by a vague creature in the night in his own home. Driven to paranoia, checking his closet and under his bed like a frightened kid again.

He spends some nights away from the house, sleeping on random roofs as Phantom just to get some resemblance of peace.

The wraith didn’t keep to the night's shadows either, no its invisible jaws sunk deeper. The insidious thing drew knives from the block, throwing them and barely missing a neck, embedded deep into the walls. Jazz had stopped going into the kitchen altogether due to almost being speared through with a grill poker. They didn’t even own a grill.

Even Maddie and Jack were starting to go a little mad with it now. They were driven to the lab, trying new ways to keep the thing from them. They tried everything, and their vendetta on Phantom and the other ghouls of the town was overshadowed by their growing loathing of the thing haunting their halls.

Danny tried talking to it, but the thing never showed it face, simply going for the jugular. His ears rang with the creatures let night screams.

Finally, he had enough, he pocketed a pair of anti-ghost scissors and grabbed his bedding.

Planting his blankets and pillows on the couch he yelled, “I’m sleeping in the living room tonight!”

Maddie’s voice called back, slightly stuttering with the lack of sleep she was getting. Paranoia had crept over the whole family like a spidery hand, its claws deep in them, “you sure honey?”

“Yeah.” He said and closed his eyes. Sleep came easy to him, as it always had with his exhaustion did.

Something woke him up, and he bleary looked around, running the sleep from his eyes. The room was pitch black, the TV making strange static noises, and the hum of the fridge in the other room louder than normal. Running a hand through his hair, Danny yawned. This was not a peaceful wake-up scene though, he knew it deep in his bones. He stayed laying down.

His hand went to his pants pocket, fingers gripping the scissors even though they burned his skin with their anti-ghost property. It hurt, but this fifth inhabitant of his home must be taken care of.

His eyes adjusted to the dark little by little, helped along by his ghostly night vision. That’s when he spotted her- the wraith that haunted his family. He saw it clear as day, an elongated form of a woman, her face was distorted, her mouth open in a wide smile, tearing through her face like her mouth was an open pit with shining white teeth. Her eyes were too real, yet not real enough- so uncanny and wrong that Danny shuddered internally.

Gripping the scissors tighter, Danny stayed still, completely still now. Faking sleep was hard when his skin was bubbling around the metal scissors but he managed well enough. And suddenly the being was upon him; long, bony sharp hands barely touched his cheek and he had his chance.

He leaped out of his spot, ripping the scissors from his pocket and driving the sharp side to the creature's face. It was slowly dissolving into sand, once it had been stabbed.

It screams.

So does he, “Leave this place! You are not welcome in my home- my lair- my realm! I am the thing that haunts this house!”

Danny stares at the portal- that fucking portal. He loved it so much, he hated it in equal and greater measures. The green swirl was a symbol of his death, the sequential way his life fell apart little by little with one catalytic event.

It mocked him, the machinery and its life-ending jaws like a monster. The mouth of the end, the throat of hell, his burial ground, and his parent's greatest invention. God how he hated that portal even before it had killed him, stealing his parent's time, biding its own time before it took from its very creators.

It took everything from him.

It gave him some back.

Danny clenches his fist, he loved this machine, yet he hated what it had symbolized, how the neon had swallowed him whole and gargled him around with millions of bolts. It killed him. It created him.

He stares at the off button, and the mouth of hell laughs. Danny always chickened out, the eyeless monster of a verdant black-hole always taunting his cowardice.

This portal had given him powers but at the cost of what he held dear, of his safety, of his family's safety, of the unconditional love. He hated this portal. It mocked him now but his cowardice was slowly eroded by sleepless nights and flying jaunts.

He slammed the off button, and the portal made a whirring noise of confusion. This was not how it was to go!

It only spluttered, a black hole can’t be shut off by a simple button, no. Danny had come prepared for it, he held the screwdriver and began opening panels. Instead of any hard work or intellectual taking apart of a one-of-a-kind machine he took a crowbar to the insides with glee.

The portal hissed and screamed as metal and wire tore and broke and shattered under his superhuman rage, he let out all his anger at the world, the ghosts, his clusterfuck of life.

It howled and moaned that he would die should it go out, should this portal cease existing. He will take his last breath, last ghostly wail, he will die and this time he will not come back.

Danny didn’t care, he slashed at wires until the last embers of the portal died down to a memory, a bad dream. The lab door was open, and someone was yelling.

All Danny could do was smile at the empty hole, at the black cavern that had homed his sorrow and his enteral gratitude and hatred.

And he took a rattling gasp before the ember that resembled Danny Fenton was no more than a peaceful corpse upon the lab floor.

“If you see someone who looks identical to you, run and hide.”

Danny looks at the TV and hums. Nothing weirder than ghosts, that’s for sure. Maybe these horrific doppelgängers are scary to people outside of Amity, but those inside already have their fair share of terror on the daily.

It’s getting late. He stares at the broadcast apathetically and switches the television off.

He taps his finger to the remote and turns slightly to see his reflection in the hallway mirror. It was angled just so, where one could sit on the couch and catch glimpses of themselves in the corner of their eye. Danny knows this because it’s scared the hell out of his parents a few times- they’ve had to replace it because of ‘stray’ ectoblasts.

Still, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, blue eyes looking into their reflection to see white hair and glowing molten pits of green back.

He grins to himself because truly he was his own doppelgänger was he not?

Danny grins at the list of questions. The trio’s show had started picking up and when that happened people asked questions. Some about the three of them and some about production. It was some of his favorite parts of the show other than yelling at ghosts. If they existed. He giggled at that.

“Are you possessed my man? That giggle was evil.” Tucker called from behind the camera set up. He needed the lighting to be perfect, and last take had glares in the lens which made him want to pull his locs out.

Sam rolled her eyes, painting her nails black at the table, “Naw he’s just like that. We got him that way.”

“So glad I got that evil giggle on camera. Alright we’re on! I’m keeping that bit in.”

“Oh shut up and get over here for interrogation!” Sam yelled playfully. The camera faded to black and the trio sat there, Danny shuffling question papers.

He cleared his throat, already about to ask funny questions, why they ever let him in charge of these episodes they’d never know, “Alright, this one is for Tucker specifically, ghostballs- pffff- ok Twitter user GhostBalls asks why you jumped thirty feet in the air during that one shot.”

Tucker glared and crossed his arms, “Dude you know I’m scared of ghosts. Anyway I jumped that high because someone thought it would be funny to grab my ankle in the pitch black room.”

Danny grinned widely, “I’m someone.”

Sam snorted, “He screamed like a girl. That was the best part.”

“I should have broken your nose for that Danny.”

“Yet you didnt!”

Sam snatches the papers from Danny’s hands across the table. Said man whined at the loss of his precious questions, but huffed.

“Alright it’s isn’t a question but I like it so I’m answering it. MorticianMaimer12 on tumblr says that we’ve done a good job at not being offensive to the families of people we cover- speaking of in every video we have linked to articles on what you can do to help.”

Danny and Tucker nod and the middle man grabs the papers from Sam.

“Watch out don't give me a papercut!”

Tucker winced, “Yikes sorry, anyway here’s a question for Sam our favorite Ghoulboss, by LocalSpookyLesbian on Instagram. Love the name. Local asks if Sam heard the ghost say her name through the spirit box halfway through the video.”

Sam clicks her tongue, “I did actually. It was creepy, but I think we can handle ghosts with Tucker and Danny’s salty fries. Enough of those and the ghost will die again.”

Tucker snickered, “Oh here’s my favorite. DetectiveGhouliganWes asks if Danny is actually that dense, with the ghosts moving stuff around him all the time.”

“I am not dense! I’m right!” Danny crosses his arms petulantly.

Sam snorts, “I think Danny is actually a demon sent here to torment me and Tucker.”

“Ugh! See if I don’t let the fake ghosties eat you now.” Danny said dramatically, his hair seems to move with an unseen breeze.

“Ooh that’s a popular theory actually. On Tumblr.” Tucker says matter of factor.

Sam hides a snort behind her hand, “I thought you only had Tumblr to see the-“

“Damn right I do. But I check up on our stuff! It’s so funny, we have fanart of Danny being a demon. Question from me, my dude are you an undead evil trying for our souls?”

“Naw. Too salty.”

“Ouch!”

He still looks as young as the day he died, freshly fourteen with crazy bedstead. The only thing different about him was the little crown on his head. He smiled at her.

“Hey Sam. How’s Amy?”

“She’s good! I think she’s planning a surprise birthday party.” Sam says fondly.

Danny chuckles, “it’s not a surprise if she does it every year.”

“Aw hush you.”

The young king sticks his tongue out, “No I will not. How’s the baby?”

Sam laughs now, “You know Belle is already out of college, she’s not a baby anymore.”

“Always a baby!” Danny said with a grin. Sam had gotten used to this, their get-togethers. Danny never aged, and she remembers when he was pretending to be Belle’s imaginary friend so he could have a part of her life. She called him an idiot, but it was nice to know he loved her family as much as he loved her.

“She will always be my baby. How have things in the Zone been?” She asked while Danny made ice sculptures with his hands just to be doing something.

“It’s the same old same old. Clockwork finally broke an observant, funniest thing I’ve seen in years.” He hums, “How has life outside of Amity been this year?”

“Gas prices went up.”

“You don’t drive.” Danny remarks, and Sam snorts.

“Damn right, gas is bad for the earth. Tucker’s made a new electric car.”

The specter nods, “Yeah, I saw him last week. He wouldn’t shut up about it, can you guess what he named his recent one?”

“Oh don’t tell me!”

They both burst into laughter at their friend’s continued habit of naming his tech. There was a ticking noise and Danny sighed.

“Stopwatch is reminding me that I need to go meet with some human diplomats.” The boy rolled his eyes, and the illusion of humanity was gone. There was Danny Phantom in the flesh, his suit changed over the years, now with the addition of a crown and cape.

Sam sighed, “Monarchies are stupid.”

“You’re telling me.” Danny said with a smile, and then he grabs something from a pocket that should be as big as it is. It was a blanket, warm and soft and not made from animal fur. “Happy birthday Sam.”

They hugged, and she watched as he opened a portal and left.

Sam missed her friend, but trying to get him to stay was like chasing ghosts.

Jazz Fenton was a star student! All of her professors could attest, she was 16 already attending Ivy League over zoom calls and outwitting her older classmates. Every psychology professor loves her, and others wanted her in their class due to her spirit and shine.

Today she was supposed to propose her thesis with a presentation, something saved for closer to graduation students but she was always ahead of her peers! So she was talking about her idea of including a parapsychology course in her studies, comparing it to a therapeutic type. It was an interesting conversation to say the least. And that was before the weirdest thing happened.

Jazz sat in her seat, room pristine and organized as it was wont to be. Behind her was a blurry background of her door as well, said the door opened silently enough that none of them noticed. Maybe Jazz had, with the way her lip twitched slightly but she hid well enough.

As the door opened there was a dark figure creeping to the side, clinging to the door as it slowly made its way to the ceiling. Finally, Professor Lisa McLean noticed this and had to blink several times to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Maybe she had one too many cups of coffee today- because there was no possible way that there was a dark figure only illuminated by green eyes and whitish dots on its face crawling on the ceiling. It’s head askew and upside down to stare down at Jazz.

Professor Andrew Whorls gasped, and Jazz was brought out of her reverie. She had been hiding the flapping of her hands, but everyone knew she was invested in her topic.

“What’s wrong Professor- ah! Get out of my room I’m in a zoom call!” Jazz glared at the thing on her ceiling, which looked slightly abashed at the scolding.

“Sorry. Dinners ready.” It responded in a vaguely boyish voice before melting into a puddle on the floor and phasing through said floorboards.

Jazz huffed and then yelled again, “Come close my door you jerk!”

The door slammed shut as if done by magic. Then she turned her attention back to the audience and smiled as if nothing happened, “Sorry, where was I?”

“That was before I knew what it did to you,” Sam responded softly, staring off at the dark grey wall.

Tucker hummed, leaning farther into the chair he sat in, “it’s ok to be selfish sometimes.”

“But I have to help them. It’s my fault these ghosts are here.”

“It’s your parents' fault,” Sam said, and then gained some steam as she continued, “It was my fault for daring you to go into that stupid portal. Actually, it’s the ghost's fault for hurting people in the first place- are you telling them to maim, to destroy, to hurt?”

“No. You know I wouldn’t.” He muttered, this conversation was long overdue, Sam grew as a person, they all had. Life went on, death grew farther away, less immense after most ghosts got ‘tamed’ by Danny Phantom himself.

“We’re kids.” Tucker says, running his fingers over the hem of his sleeves, “I think I forgot it for a while.”

“We all did.” Sam said, “I used to think I always had to do the right thing, save the world even though it was the adults that messed everything up.”

“I can’t blame my parents, you know that.” He can’t blame anyone, he only takes and takes all the weight and piles it onto his still growing shoulders. He'd hit a growth spurt but he was more built like his mom; Jazz had gotten their dad's height and shoulders.

Tucker clicks his tongue, “I can. I do. I blame them for this, they’re the reason all of this is the way it is.”

Danny let’s put a sigh.

Sam glares at the ceiling, “They killed you.”

He huffs, not angry anymore. They had this conversation before- the argument that came from it was astronomically large. It lasted three weeks of Danny shunning his friends- lashing out. Sam had given as much as she got, anger making her tongue sharper and Tucker’s sad silence only fueling the flames of the quarrel. It had ended when Danny flew into Tucker’s room injured and Sam had hurtled over. None of them apologized.

They didn't want to, and they didn't need to.

“They feel enough guilt. I don’t… that’s just fate I guess.” He shrugged, closing his eyes.

Sensing that this could go south at any moment, Tucker leaned forward, “What were you meaning to say, Sam?”

“I’m saying that Danny doesn’t have to be a hero anymore. None of us do.” Sam said softly.

Danny’s eyes stay closed, “I don’t think I could quit.”

“We’d be with you no matter what. We’re here for you. Forever.” Tucker got up from his chair and jumped on the bed, lying next to his friend.

Sam smiled and did the same, on the other side of their cold cold friend, “Yeah.”

Danny’s face twists with a newfound comfort, he liked his warm friends, “I’ll think about it.”

He didn’t know when it started, maybe when he first started going out to fight ghosts and keep the city safe, but he noticed he was getting less hungry. For some reason, he thought he’d eat more since he was expending energy at a fast rate and exercising more.

But what did he know about health anyways?

So he ate less. The less he did that day as Phantom the more he would eat, the more alive he would feel. Maybe it was just energy expenditure: he used all his energy as Phantom and felt tired when he went back to being human, and when he stayed Fenton he was more energetic.

Then it got bigger, hunger extending to his mind. The longer he spent as phantom one day the more confused and foggy his head would be when he changed. If he stayed Phantom for too long, we’ll, he would start to forget things. Like his sister's birthday or his dad's name, or even the time he scraped his knees so bad both knees were still scarred to this day.

He wondered why this was, but he couldn’t just… not be Phantom. But being Phantom for too long felt good. He wasn’t in pain as often, he was just happier, and he wasn’t as vulnerable. It was just more fun to be a ghost.

But as soon as he turned back after that he was hit like a train, all the pain from his fights would hit him, all the hours would start to go through his brain like quicksand. He felt like a walking corpse after hours of fighting ghosts.

And then he finally noticed the problem, and he put off asking for help as long as he could. But even he, a foolish teenage boy, knew when things were getting worse.

His body started to slow, heartbeat, pulse, breathing. His body hurt too, joints creaking and aching as if they were beginning to freeze into place. His eyes hurt, and he had to get glasses because they started to lose function.

He could see his ribs through his skin.

He went to the far frozen after he needed to buy a cane.

The diagnosis was grim.

“Great one… I’m sorry.” Frostbite said carefully, the fragile human body sitting on the medical bed was a sad sight for everyone, “I believe it’s time to tell you a story.”

A long time ago there was a race of halfas. Half-human, half-ghost. They were born this way, undead as a vampire or zombie. They were natural to the ghost zone and human realms.

When it became obvious that Liminals (the technical term for Halfa) were incredibly powerful it was only a matter of time before people, ghosts and humans alike, became fearful. And with fear comes hate. With hate grew violence.

Liminals were hunted. They were a perfect balance, and since they had been created that way it was impossible for them to give into one side or the other.

Danny… was not truly liminal.

“Halfas, Liminals, they are gone. You are… like a lab-grown gem or a slowly melting ice sculpture. You were not born to be balanced like this.” Frostbite said.

Danny blinked, staring at him with big eyes, but the squinting through his glasses as his vision grew slightly blurry.

“The more time you spend using your powers, or transformed as Phantom, the more your physical body will shut down.”

So there it was, Danny thought, an ultimatum. Either he stops using his powers and live until he died the rest of the way, or speeds up the process and keeps protecting his town.

Frostbite puts a hand on Danny’s shoulder, already knowing what the boy had chosen.