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The moon was a terrible spotlight in the sky, and it was shining directly on the lead actor of its tragedy. A young man in body, though technically he was around 25 years old, sat on the roof of the mall. His legs swung aimlessly, keeping tempo to a song only he knew. His eyes moved up to the stars, drinking in every detail. He studied them with the hunger of a starving man who would never see food again. If he could just float up, if only he could reach them again.
But he couldn't make himself transform into his ghost self, to the point of climbing up to the roof with hands and feet. He didn't want to see what he had become. The return of his humanity had come with everything horrible that entailed. He remembered killing all of those people without remorse. Almost the entire human population gone in a few years, felled by his hand. Phantom wanted to cry, to sob, to rip his heart out. But he had forgotten how. Ten years of guilt washed upon him now, and all he could do was stare up at the stars.
A loud bang started him from his mourning, almost sending him flying off of the roof. He gripped the edge of the roof. His hands felt too small, but they kept him upright, so he tried not to dwell on that. He peered over the edge of the roof into onto the road below. A single car passed, but otherwise the road was still. Phantom held his breath, trying to make as little noise as possible. A heat bloomed in his sinuses, soon turning into a scorching flame. He let his breath go and watched the swirling red smoke float past his eyes. He sighed and leaned back away from the edge of the building.
"Did Jazz make you come get me?" Phantom said without turning around.
"No," a similar voice replied softly, one unburdened by loss of both ones family and humanity, "I didn't know you were out here."
"Oh please," Phantom rolled his eyes, "what, was there a cat stuck in a tree somewhere?" He scoffed, turning around to see Danny.
Floating there with a black cat in his arms.
Danny laughed, "yeah, kinda. She was living in a box, and then I had an encounter with the Box Ghost, so..."
Phantom closed his eyes and turned back to face the road. Another car passed by underneath. "You should get her home."
"You look terrible."
"You don't look so hot yourself."
"Fair enough." Danny walked over and stood beside Phantom. "Can I sit?"
"Sure, why not? Might as well." He opened his eyes enough to stare blearily at the road.
"Why do you leave all night? You know you have to sleep again now, right?"
Phantom looked at Danny out of his peripheral. "You sound like Jazz."
"Jazz is worried about you too. So is Ellie."
"I know."
Danny transformed back into his human form and a darkness fell over the roof, and with it, silence.
"I don't need you to baby me," Phantom finally spoke, "I'm adjusting fine."
"Yeah, you say that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" He looked up. If he was less exhausted, his tone would have more bite, but he couldn't bring himself to care enough.
"Well, if I were you,"
You are, or, you were Phantom thought, but decided not to comment on it.
"I would be pretty messed up about a lot of this. I know you haven't exactly had your humanity in a long time, so I'd guess you're pretty torn up right now."
Phantom looked wide-eyed at Danny. "Excuse me?"
"Was that too personal? Oh sorry, I feel like I deserve a little talk after you tried to kill my family." Danny's eyes flashed green.
Phantom cringed a little, "sorry?"
"I'm not really mad at this point. I just want to help you."
"It's just," Phantom groaned, burying his face in his hands, "you all seem like such a perfect family. I don't fit in there."
Danny stared at Phantom for a moment. A stillness seemed to settle over both of them. Then Danny started shaking.
"Hey, what are you- stop laughing at me!" Phantom turned bright red. "It's not funny, I'm trying to be sentimental! Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Sorry," Danny got out between laughs, "sorry, sorry. It's just- wow."
"What?"
"I think the ten years without a human half is really clouding your memory and rose tinting your worldview."
"Huh?" Phantom looked over at Danny, who was looking at him very seriously now.
"We're the most dysfunctional family in Amity Park. Jazz raised us, remember? And now she's trying to raise Danielle." He sighed. "We were lucky that mom and dad agreed to let Ellie stay without asking any ghost-related questions. But you? You were so easy to convince them of. They love you. I don't even really know what it is, but the moment I came in the door and said 'hey mom, I found a human clone of me in the ghost zone', they've been gushing nonstop."
"That's probably because they want to study me."
"Yeah, but they haven't yet." Danny laughed. The cat in his lap decided to make herself known with a quiet 'mrrp' sound, pushing herself of of Danny's arms. They both watched as she made her way over to Phantom's lap, making herself comfortable there.
"What about Jazz?" Phantom asked.
"What about her?" Danny kept his eyes on the little black cat.
"She's been avoiding me."
"What? No she hasn't."
"I'm not stupid, Danny. She always leaves when I enter the room."
"I think she's trying to give you space. She understands what's going on in your brain more than I do, that's for sure."
"What, from her textbooks?" Phantom looked down to the cat in his lap and began running his hand up and down her back. "Nothing about me is textbook."
Danny raised his hands in mock surrender. "I didn't say it was. Like I said, I'm not the one to ask."
Phantom was silent for a long time, watching the road below. One, two, three, four. Four cars passed while he watched. The cat started making biscuits on his leg, purring loudly.
"Danny I'm..." Phantom gripped the edge of his pants. "I want to be better. I hate what I did without my humanity. I never thought I would live to regret what I did."
"I never thought I would have a twin," Danny snorted. "Life is full of things like that. You never expect it. Best you can do is live and love."
"That's oddly wise for you," Phantom cracked his first smile of the night.
"Yeah well, sometimes I listen to what Mr. Lancer has to say."
"Danny?"
"Yeah?"
"I think I wanna keep the cat."
"You do?" Danny turned to see Phantom staring lovingly at the cat in his lap.
"Yeah. I'm gonna call her Phantom."
"What do you want us to call you then?"
"I'll figure something out," he smiled softly.
"Alright then," Danny laughed. "I'll just call you Paul."
"Don't call me that," Phantom's smile immediately fell.
After a moment of silence, they both broke out in laughter. They didn't move from that roof until the sun began to rise. And if the cat didn't move from Phantom's lap until he made her, neither of them told anyone.