Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You might want to start with something less ambitious, sweetie.”

Those words filled Valerie with the same rage every time they replayed in her head. Once, it had been taken for granted that Valerie would be able to go to college. She had it all planned out: pre-law, then law school, a career in law, and eventually politics. But all of that had gone down the drain with their family’s finances.

Now, every time they ran the numbers, they mocked her. At best, Valerie would have to downgrade to a potential career that had a lot less up-front cost. At worst, she’d have to quit the idea of college altogether.

You might want to start with something less ambitious, sweetie.

Hah.

She had an appointment to keep, though, and she intended to make it. She’d promised to meet Danny at the library so they could study for midterms - Danny was a better STEM student, and Valerie was better at English and Social Studies, so it worked out. Besides that, Danny was one of the sweetest guys she knew, and he’d probably be able to cheer her up, at least for a while.

Sure enough, Danny picked up on her mood as soon as she’d arrived, his brow furrowing in concern. “Bad day?” he asked sympathetically, kicking out the chair next to him in invitation.

“Dad’s asking me to reevaluate my career plans,” Valerie revealed, and slammed her books onto the table to illustrate her feelings on the topic before she collapsed into the chair with a sigh.

Danny, whose dreams of NASA had been shattered by his freshman year accident and the subsequent health and ghost problems, winced sympathetically. “I’m sorry, Val,” he said sincerely, shifting in place to focus his attention on her. “Your scholarships didn’t go through?”

Valerie shook her head, crossing her arms to glower at the table. “Less than half of what I’d hoped for,” she muttered bitterly. “My college fund got half-drained by medical bills-” Thanks to a few vigilante-related incidents, so technically her own fault. “-and with me wanting to follow up college with law school… yeah, Dad’s not real optimistic. So we’re rebudgeting.”

“That sucks,” Danny said, leaning on the chair back with his eyes on her. “You want to talk about it?”

See, this, this is why she wished that she could date Danny without putting him in danger. Any girl would be lucky to have him, with or without his health and self-esteem problems. A part of her still wanted to snatch him up before he got away. But he deserved better.

“I just…” Valerie bit her lip. “I just wish that none of this had happened. That Dad never got transferred to this stupid town, that the ghosts never started showing up, that-”

Danny gasped, cutting her off as she glanced at him with concern. A moment later, her ghost sensor went off.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” she snarled. Without stopping to explain, she got to her feet and stormed away, her temper rising too quickly for her to bother coming up with an excuse for Danny. She’d apologize to him later, make it up in the next few days. Minus the stupid fucking ghosts.

She suited up just outside the library, crouching out of sight behind a dumpster. She brought up her tracker and traced the ghosts to one of the storage rooms, which meant she had to run back inside sans hoverboard and find them on foot.

Oh. Fucking Phantom and that stupid Box Ghost.

“Seriously, read the room next time,” Phantom said flippantly, sucking the Box Ghost into that stolen thermos. The sight made Valerie’s blood burn. As if it sensed her stare, Phantom looked up and met her gaze. Its green eyes widened. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh is right,” Valerie growled, and she brought up her arm and fired her ghost taser at it. In the confined space and with no warning, the leads hit, and Phantom yelled in pain and crumpled. “Do you have any idea what your stupid stunt has done to me, ghost? My life, my hopes, my dreams?”

“Red, I said I’m sorr- ahhhh!” Phantom’s words broke off into another scream as she activated the taser again, and it curled up like a bug, seizing and shuddering.

“You ruined my LIFE!” Valerie screamed at it, with more venom than she’d managed in a while. Phantom scrabbled to pull the leads off of itself, and she pressed the button again and yelled over its scream. “I was going to be a lawyer! I wanted to run for senator one day! I was going to do more with my life than your brainless ass would have ever done! I was supposed to be someone, Phantom!”

“Red, please, it was an accident!” Phantom managed to get the leads off it before she activated them again, and wasted no time diving through the floor.

Undeterred, Valerie kicked her hoverboard into gear and followed it, tracking its signature through the floor and outside. Her body burned with rage, giving her the motivation to whip through the tight hallways with single-minded focus. Every one of the town’s problems, every one of her problems, could be tracked to this thing right here. It had gone invisible, but that was an old tactic, and she summoned one of her guns and shot at it. It reappeared, knowing when the gig was up.

“This is really-” Phantom twisted around her next shot. “-really not the way to take out your anger, Red! Have you considered talking to someone? Therapy? Anger management? No?” Each suggestion was punctuated with a shot that it dodged around, twisting and weaving. “Why does no one ever pick therapy?”

“Therapy ain’t gonna get me my dreams back, Phantom!” Valerie snarled. The light banter just made her angrier. Phantom didn’t care about a thing, did it? Of course not, the emotionless, hollow piece of shit just played mindlessly, did nothing but destroy. “God! You stupid- evil- thoughtless- worthless- arrogant-” She snarled as it dodged another shot. “I’m going to tear you to pieces!”

“Been there, done that, didn’t even get a t-shirt,” Phantom muttered. “Listen, seriously, I don’t want to fight with you-”

“I don’t give a shit what you want!” Valerie spat. She switched weapons, searching mentally for the ones that fired off electricity. Those always wiped the grin off Phantom’s face. The net. Perfect. “I’m going to make you wish you’d stayed dead the first time, and then I’m going to wipe you off this fucking planet! And the whole damn thing will be better for it!”

Phantom’s eyes widened when he saw the net launcher. “Now wait, let’s be reasonable-”

“Fuck you!” Valerie fired the net launcher, and Phantom dodged. But it had seen some upgrades since the last time, and the ecto-seeking weights redirected it toward the ghost and tangled it up in seconds. With relish, Valerie pressed the shock button again, and Phantom’s scream echoed around the street.

In a burst of inspiration, Valerie recalled the net, and a dazed Phantom was dragged through the air toward her. She rammed the hoverboard into it, trapping it between the prongs with the net holding it in place, and activated both mechanisms at the same time. Phantom let out the loudest, most piercing shriek she’d ever heard from it, and she relished in it, in the wild-eyed, dazed look it sported when the duration ran down. Without giving it time to breathe, she activated them both again. It screamed, jerking and tangled, hands scrabbling at the sides of the hoverboard for purchase and finding none.

“I can do this all day, Phantom,” Valerie hissed. “I can do this until you fade.”

“Please,” it begged, voice breaking. It tried to push free but couldn’t summon the strength. She had it like a bug in a zapper, and it made her grin viciously. All struggles stopped when she shocked it again, sending it writhing.

Then again.

Then again.

She paused then, watching it gasp and shake, slumped over one prong of the hoverboard. Valerie felt a low burn of satisfaction in her belly, seeing the focus of her hatred weak and trembling, that stupid smirk gone from its face. Just like crushing a fly.

“I fucking bet you’re sorry,” she whispered to it. She’d give it to the Fentons. If anyone could figure out how to get rid of a ghost for good-

Then a broad, white ring appeared around its waist, and Valerie’s heart stopped.

“No,” she heard herself say.

Unsympathetic, the ring split, sweeping over Phantom’s body in the same clean motion that Ellie’s did, leaving Danny in Phantom’s place, limp and unconscious.

“NO!”

…They. They didn’t even look different.

“DANNY!”

Blindly, Valerie veered downward in a tight spiral. She withdrew her suit as soon as she hit the ground - any bystanders would’ve left by now - and her hoverboard went with it, leaving only the net, now detached from the gun. She fumbled at it, trying to rip it open. Oh, God, was Danny always this cold? …How many times had she shocked him? No, no, Danny had a heart condition- what, what was the voltage on her suit’s electric weapons-

“No, no, no, no, no-”

She got the net open and dragged it off of him, ignoring the snags. Danny hit the grass and twitched, muscles still spasming from the multiple shocks. His arms were speckled with electrical burns. He wasn’t breathing.

(“You want to talk about it?” Danny asked, eyes round with concern.)

“No, no, no, Danny, Danny!”

She grasped his wrist, but no matter how hard she pressed, there was nothing there. Danny was limp, his eyes closed, his chest still- no, no no no no no-

“No, Danny, wake up, please wake up.”

Valerie almost sobbed when Danny whimpered - a quiet, reedy noise of agony. He opened his eyes - blue, Danny’s blue - but something was still wrong. His pupils were dilated wide, and didn’t focus on anything. His cheeks were flushed, and it seemed like he was trying to draw breath, but couldn’t. He gagged, and rolled himself over just enough to vomit into the grass.

She waited until he was done, then dragged him back as gently as she could and forced him to sit up. He couldn’t seem to do it on his own, limp and twitching, still semiconscious at best, so she pulled him against her and held him. Her classmate, her friend.

“Oh God, Danny,” Valerie whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. What the hell was this? Phantom was a halfa all along? Danny- Danny was a halfa all along? Was he playing with her, was this some kind of joke?

Danny was so cold in her arms. It wasn’t very funny.

Focus, Val. She shifted him in her arms, reached up to cup his head and force them to make eye contact, or at least get close. “Danny, can you hear me?” Danny blinked at her blearily. She repeated, “Can you hear me? Do you remember what happened?”

Danny’s mouth opened and closed, but his eyes locked onto hers. After a moment, he croaked, “…id I die again?” Valerie’s heart skipped a beat, then sped up. Danny shook his head before she could respond. “No… no… you… shocked me?” He didn’t sound very sure.

Valerie swallowed and cleared her throat. “Yeah, Phantom. I shocked you. A lot.”

“Hah.” Danny closed his eyes and smiled crookedly, his head flopping back onto her shoulder. “Always thought… I’d be conscious ‘nough to run for this part. What now, Red?”

Valerie’s heart tore. That playful challenge, in Danny’s warm and human voice, drove it home in a way even seeing the transformation hadn’t. “You’re a halfa.”

“Mm.” Danny made no attempt to move, still struggling to draw breath, twitching violently as his muscles protested. “Geez, you’re so mean when you’re in a mood…” Valerie started to get mad at him - always mocking her, dammit - but then Danny shuddered, gagging again, and she had to hold him while he vomited a second time.

“Shit!” Right, these were all, God, spectacularly bad signs after an electrocution. Hurt and betrayal would have to wait. “I- Danny-” Shit, shit, what were the things to watch for exactly? “Can you feel your legs?” she blurted out, and immediately wanted to smack herself.

Danny scrunched up his face, clearly indicating what he thought about her first-aid skills. “Wish I couldn’t,” he mumbled, and then retched.

“Shit,” Valerie repeated, panic starting to rise again as her first-aid courses started to kick in. At the very least, Danny was in shock, having muscle spasms, visible electrical burns- “We need to get you to a hospital.”

“What, you want to kill me via Guys in White?” Danny asked incredulously. “Geez, Val.”

“Be serious, for once in your life!” Valerie snapped, frustration at Phantom twisting together with her affection for Danny. (One person, God, they were one person and the Danny who helped her fix her schedule was the Phantom who- who- who joked at her through every fight and never seemed to get mad-) “You have a heart condition, it was bad enough that I shocked you once, but it was more like-” Her voice broke.

“More like a dozen, yeah, I remember what dying of electrocution feels like,” Danny groaned, one of his hands curling over his chest. Valerie’s heart did a weird thing again, panicky and harsh. He didn’t seem bothered enough, but then, Phantom never did, taking every injury in stride like he didn’t even notice. Danny eyed her warily. “You’re not mad? You really… really wanna help me?”

He sounded so uncertain, so Danny, that it broke Valerie’s heart again.

“I don’t know about not mad,” she said, “but I’m not gonna let you die.”

Danny shut his eyes. His fingers twitched, then his shoulder, his leg. He took in half a shuddering breath. “I go to a doctor in the Ghost Zone,” he muttered at last. Because of course he did. “If you can’t stomach that, you can just call Sam and Tuck and they’ll take me.”

Without hesitation, Valerie called her suit back and picked him up. “Let’s go.”

Danny turned them both invisible as they entered the Fenton home, which made it painfully easy to sneak behind his parents and into the Ghost Zone.

“The hell is this hellhole open for?” Valerie muttered, kicking off and sailing into the unnerving green.

“’S Monday,” Danny muttered. She had him bridal style, supporting his head like a baby, and she could feel every spasm in his whole body. His eyes were still unfocused, his arms limp in his lap, and she didn’t think his lack of voluntary movement was a good sign. “They’re extracting ectoplasm all day.”

“Is that why there are always so many ghosts on Mondays?” Valerie demanded.

“Yep.” Danny turned his head to stare blearily at the void. “Far Frozen should be 10 o’clock from here.”

Valerie directed her hoverboard that way, her irritation at the elder Fentons fading in favor of worry. “You… are you doing okay?”

“Mm. Hurts.” Danny’s voice was raspy. “Can’t feel my hands and feet.”

“That’s… not good.”

Danny snorted. “No.”

Valerie tried to call up what else she knew about electrocution. It wasn’t much. Only Technus used it, and Phantom tended to take the brunt of that. “How’s your head?”

“Hurts. Foggy. Dizzy. Blurry vision, ringing ears.” Danny listed his symptoms with apparent ease, the kind that came from practice. Like, say, from four years of vigilantism. Fuck. After a moment of thought, he added, “Tingles everywhere I’m not numb. Feel sick.”

She committed the symptoms to memory just in case. “I’m sorry.”

“Mm.” Danny didn’t grace her with a verbal reply, but he turned his head to nuzzle into her arm as if for comfort, which clearly meant he was delirious.

They flew silently for a few minutes.

“It was the accident, wasn’t it?” Valerie realized, after turning over everything she knew about Danny, trying to make this make sense. “Your parents’ portal. You said that…” Her voice caught a little. “You told me once that it ruined your life.”

“Hah, yeah,” Danny chuckled into her shoulder, then groaned as his back and shoulder spasmed, jerking him in her arms. “Two an’ a half million volts on startup, and then that fucking portal rips open through you. Can’t believe anyone actually…” He gasped a little, breathless and strained. “Actually believed I walked out of that alive.”

“You could’ve died.” Her grip on him tightened, and she leaned forward, willing her hoverboard forward faster. He could have died, and she would have never known him.

“Mm. Would’ve been better, probably.” Danny gasped again as something spasmed, making him tense and buck, trying to escape the pain. Valerie’s throat tightened.

“I didn’t mean that.” She’d meant Phantom, the ghost, the pest, the half-memory of a long-lost consciousness. Not Danny, the human, her friend, her one-that-got-away. Never Danny.

“Mm,” Danny repeated, pressing his forehead into her. “Chest hurts, Val.”

And if that didn’t light a fire of panic in her… “Can you breathe?”

“Li’l. Li’l is all I need.” But his voice was ragged, still sounding out of breath. She went faster.

“Focus, Danny. Stay awake. Tell me about where we’re going.” Her eyes scanned the horizon, but everything about this place was indistinguishable, swallowed by the fog of ecto within a couple of miles. How the hell was anyone supposed to find anything in here?

“Deep Glacier, in the Far Frozen,” Danny rasped. He spasmed and groaned in pain, close to a sob. “F-Frostbite of the yeti clan. He’ll help. Has a hospital and everythin’. An’ they like me. They’ll help. They always do.” He coughed harshly and spasmed again. “Uh, but they’re weird. About me. Don’ get mad.”

“I won’t get mad. Not for that, anyway.”

“Hah.” Danny smiled against her shoulder.

“Keep talking. Who all knows about you? Not your parents.” They wouldn’t be shooting at him all the time if they did. Not the Fentons.

“’Course not my parents, they’re ghost hunters.” Danny managed to sound scornful even exhausted. “Sam and Tucker know. Jazz. Vlad. All the ghosts.”

“The ghosts know?”

“Yeah. All of ‘em knew before I met ‘em.”

“You’re not worried about that? About them targeting your family? Or telling someone?”

Danny shook his head. “It’s never happened before. Never even… been a threat. Ghosts are, ugh, pretty straightforward. They want to beef, they beef with me.” There was Phantom peeking through again, a touch of nonchalance and arrogance in Danny’s soft voice. “Most of them like you, for the record.”

“Now you’re fucking with me.” That might actually be the most ridiculous thing she’d heard all day.

Danny chuckled against her arm, spasmed painfully, and bit down what sounded like a whine. “They say you put up a good fight for a human… and… unlike the others you won’t torture them.” He cleared his throat, stiff with pain. “Uh, generally. You just beat them up until they cry uncle.”

“And they like me for that?” Valerie asked incredulously.

“They like me for that too,” Danny said, amusement peeking into his voice past the rasping pain. “Yeah. It’s like, a form of socialization. They’d like you more if… if you talked to them instead of yelling threats, but they’re… not really offended either.” Was it her imagination or was his breath getting more labored, wheezing more?

“They aren’t supposed to like me,” Valerie snapped, a little weirded out.

Danny hummed vaguely. “Just sayin’.” Pause. “That’s the Evermountain. Far Frozen’s on the other side.” He pointed at a large snowy peak that started in the distance and seemed to descend downward ad infinitum.

Another minute passed in silence. Danny moaned quietly and pressed his eyes against her suit.

“How fucking far away is this?” Valerie muttered under her breath.

Danny grunted. “Bout twelve, thirteen flights.”

“What the hell is a flight?”

Danny snickered, shuddered, and whimpered. “Ghost unit, sorry, it’s the only thing reliable here. Um…” He dragged in another half-breath. “I usually get there in about two hours… going a li’l slower than this.”

“…This is where you go for medical emergencies?”

“Mm. Gotta. I don’t medically pass for human.” Pause. “Sorry. ‘M I too heavy? I can sit.”

“You weigh less than a sack of potatoes, Fenton.” He actually was getting a little heavy, but with how he was spasming and how dizzy and disoriented he seemed, she didn’t want to put him down. “You don’t medically pass for human?” Keep him talking.

“Mm-mm. Too cold, heart’s too slow, don’t breathe ‘nough. Ecto in my blood. DNA’s shredded. Sam has a whole workup.”

“Sam?” It hit. “Oh my God, this is why she hates me.”

Danny laughed raggedly. “Doesn’ like me hangin’ out with you,” he murmured.

“I wouldn’t either. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Lots.” He smiled against her, then shuddered and gagged. “Lemme down.”

Valerie didn’t question it. She let him down quickly, holding on to make sure he didn’t tumble off into the void, and he leaned over the edge and threw up again. It lasted for a couple of rounds, and if she hadn’t been holding onto him, he would’ve fallen off after, limp and weak with exhaustion.

“You good?” she checked warily, when it seemed like he was done. He nodded miserably, and she scooped him up with a grunt of effort. He curled against her and whined, sounding like he was about to cry. “…Danny?”

“Hurts, sorry, hurts,” he choked out. Right. All the movement and retching had probably done a number on his strained muscles. He trembled and wheezed, eyes shut tight against whatever he was feeling, his hands tucked tightly against his chest.

Valerie looked up. The Evermountain didn’t seem to be getting any closer. “Why do you hang out with me?”

“I like you.” Danny sounded appropriately miserable about this.

“You mean you like me out of costume.”

“I like you in costume too, most of the time.”

“Why?”

“I’unno. You’re clever. Quick, strong. Determined. Focused. Our team-ups are fun. Always… always thought we’d work well t’gether.”

Most of them like you. You put up a good fight for a human. Did Phantom like her for that too?

“Except I hate you.”

“’S one-sided,” Danny deadpanned. Then, softer, “I trust you with my haunt.”

That sudden admission threw Valerie off more than almost anything he’d said so far, the juxtaposition of Danny with ghostly traits. It took her a minute to catch up, trying to reassess not just Danny but Phantom in light of what he was saying.

“Amity Park,” she clarified. Danny nodded.

“If I couldn’t take care of it, you would,” he mumbled, sounding oddly confident, all things considered. “That… I’unno. I like it.”

What did it mean, for a ghost to trust someone with their haunt? It suddenly seemed like a lot, especially without the usual blaze of outrage at Phantom’s possessiveness. “How do you know I wouldn’t quit as soon as Phantom was out of the picture?”

“You wouldn’t.”

No. She wouldn’t. “Fine. You can count on me.”

“Cool. Gonna pass out,” Danny rasped against her arm, sounding exhausted and weak. Valerie’s heart skipped a beat, and she reached up to shake his shoulder, earning a cry of pain.

“No, Danny, no! Stay awake!” she snapped, unable to hide the panic in her voice. Danny groaned in protest, and Valerie shook him again. “Is it the speed? Do you need to lay down? Water?” Shit, she didn’t have water, she was just in a hurry to get going.

“Head,” Danny whispered, head dipping like someone had hung a weight on it. “My head…”

“Danny!”

Danny passed out, falling limp in her arms, too cold. Valerie crouched down and booked it, shooting toward the mountain.

Chapter Text

Right. Danny had said something about yetis. Valerie veered toward the yeti flagging her down and hoped that she wasn’t doing something she was about to regret. The freezing air seemed to blow right through her suit, leaving her fingertips numb and her body shivering.

“Is the Great One very injured?” the yeti asked as she approached, brow furrowed deeply in concern. He gestured for Valerie to hand Danny over but Valerie hesitated.

“Are you Frostbite?” she asked warily. And ‘the Great One’? Valerie was never letting Danny live this down.

(Assuming Danny woke up.)

The yeti nodded, so Valerie reluctantly handed Danny over, her arms shaking from the strain of carrying him for nearly an hour and a half. “He got electrocuted pretty bad. He said- he said that he couldn’t feel his hands and feet, and he was tingling everywhere else. Headache, blurry vision, ringing ears, nausea. His chest was hurting, he could barely breathe. I think he was in shock too. And right before he passed out he was complaining about his head, but he didn’t say if it hurt or was spinning or what.”

“I see,” Frostbite nodded, turning away to head for one of the caves at a brisk walk. “Come. I assure you the medical caves are suitably warm for humans such as yourself.”

Thank God. Valerie had started to worry she’d have to turn back before Danny woke up, because the Far Frozen? Was freezing. She followed Frostbite closely on her hoverboard, avoiding the treacherous snowdrifts, and looked around as they entered the caves. It was hard to believe they were still in the Ghost Zone; it all looked so real, so solid.

And that was before they walked into the sci-fi hospital cavern. Behind her mask, Valerie’s mouth fell open.

“You are not one of the Great One’s usual companions,” Frostbite pointed out, setting Danny down on a thinly padded examination table. With a surprising - or maybe not so surprising - amount of care, he phased off Danny’s t-shirt and set it aside. “I take it something unusual has happened.”

“I… I did it,” she blurted out, which maybe wasn’t her smartest move in a strange place surrounded by ghosts that were loyal to Phantom. She continued anyway, letting the hoverboard fold up and landing on her feet. “I electrocuted him.”

Frostbite paused. “Ah. I take it you are the hunter he calls Red?”

“He talks about me?” Valerie wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

He went back to work, attaching leads to different spots along Danny’s body. “Yes. The Great One is usually amenable to explaining how he received the injuries he needs treatment for. Despite that, however, he seems quite fond of you, and you did bring him here. Perhaps it is not so misplaced.” He glanced up to give her a piercing look, and Valerie winced. “Did something change?”

“I can’t stand Phantom,” Valerie said, watching as numbers and lines started to appear on the monitor. “But Danny is my friend. I, I never would have hurt him if I’d known they were the same.”

Surprisingly, Frostbite softened, and he seemed to relax as he turned away. “So he has always said.” He frowned at the monitor, then went to retrieve something from a tall metal cabinet. An oxygen tank. “How long was he electrocuted for?”

Valerie thought back, and her voice became small. “Maybe… five, six minutes?” Frostbite gave her a lingering, unreadable glance, and she looked away, chest tightening. “He seemed dazed afterward, and started throwing up. He had trouble moving on his own.”

“As if he were partially paralyzed, or simply weak?” Frostbite asked. He placed an oxygen mask over Danny’s face, then started setting up an IV line. Valerie couldn’t look away.

“He was just weak, I think,” she said. “He was awake for about half an hour before he passed out again, and he didn’t try to move on his own for most of that. He did get down when he had to throw up again, and he was shaky but he seemed to be moving alright.”

“Very good,” Frostbite murmured, moving to take Danny’s pulse by hand at each hand, and then, oddly, his ankles. “Did he complain of severe pain anywhere?”

Valerie shook her head. “He complained about pain in general, but nothing specific. Except his chest, I guess.”

Frostbite nodded and moved to another drawer, rifling through bottles. “In that case… some medication to help his body recover from the shock, some to balance his increased bradycardia, and two shots of ectoplasm to aid his healing. After that, he should recover on his own.” Valerie let out a breath of relief. “I will monitor his heart until he wakes up, and perhaps for some time after that.”

“Thank you,” Valerie said, with heartfelt sincerity. “Can I stay until then? I’m… not sure I can get home from here.” She could probably figure it out, but it would be a gamble.

“Certainly.” Frostbite sat back and looked at her. His eyes were sharp with intelligence, shrewd and thoughtful. Where was the mindless beast that the Fentons insisted was the core of every ghost? “I take it you have questions?”

Not for you, Valerie almost said. She stopped herself. “…What does it mean? That Danny is a halfa?”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean.” Frostbite’s brow furrowed, but when Valerie didn’t elaborate, he continued slowly, “He is half ghost - that is, he has both a living body and a ghost core, fused in a mutually interdependent system. While he was dying, he was flooded with enough ectoplasm to instantly form a ghost, halting the process of death and leaving him in his current state.”

“The portal accident,” Valerie repeated softly, remembering their earlier discussion, and Frostbite nodded.

“It’s not polite to discuss such things, of course,” he said, glancing at Danny apologetically. “Particularly not when the death is so recent. But the Great One does tend to be more forgiving of such slights.”

“Why do you call him that?” Valerie asked, wanting to get away from the topic of Danny dying. “The Great One.”

“Ah.” Frostbite smiled softly. “It is because of his defeat of Pariah Dark. Are you familiar with the name?”

“The Ghost King, right?” Valerie asked. “He dragged Amity Park into the Ghost Zone.”

“Indeed,” Frostbite nodded. “He was first imprisoned almost a thousand years ago. He was a terrible tyrant in his time, and ruled the Ghost Zone with an iron fist for centuries. He would destroy families, raze villages, and tear apart all attempts to gather in numbers, even for something as simple as a market or a festival. It took a council of Ancients - old gods, in your terms - to imprison him. The Great One’s timely action forced him back into his prison before he could rise to power again, and for that I will always be thankful.”

“Oh.” Valerie felt small again. She remembered that day, her determination to be the one to take the suit and charge into the Ghost Zone to confront the Ghost King. She remembered Phantom revealing her identity to her father to stop her from doing so - another thing she’d held against him. “I… couldn’t have done that, could I?”

“Most likely not,” Frostbite said, more gently than she’d expected. “The Great One is a ghost of exceptional raw power, stronger than many of the Ancients. He once told me that while he took few injuries, the effort he expended that day nearly killed him.”

Right - Danny had been found just outside the ghost shield, and he’d been bedridden for the better part of a week. Valerie hadn’t been paying him a lot of attention, busy smoothing things over with her dad, but she did remember that.

“I found out today that I won’t be able to go to law school,” Valerie found herself saying, leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees and watch Danny. “Might not even be able to swing college. Do… do you know anything about the human education system?” She couldn’t believe she was talking to a ghost about this.

“Only a little, I’m afraid,” Frostbite said, intelligent eyes on her. It felt like a silent invitation to continue.

“It’s expensive, in our country, to go to school past a certain point,” Valerie told him. “I’m reaching that point now.” Her fists tightened. “Four years ago, I had a plan. I was going to go to all of the expensive school, get an amazing job that someone… with my skin color, can’t usually get. Maybe be a lawmaker someday.” She took a deep breath. “But then my dad got fired from his job because of something Phantom did, and now we don’t have enough money for that. We can’t get his job back because the lawsuit got thrown out when they saw the word ‘ghost.’ We had to move out of the house where my mom died, into a cheap apartment, and I lost all my friends. I never forgave Phantom for that.”

She jumped at Frostbite’s chilled touch, nearly pulling away, but he just rested a hand on her back and squeezed gently. “I am sorry,” he said seriously, meeting her eyes when she looked up. “That must have been a difficult transition.”

Her throat tightened. “It seems so stupid now. I could have killed Danny today, and… and it wouldn’t have even fixed anything. Nothing would have changed, except Danny would have been dead. More dead.”

“Our mistakes are often clear in hindsight. But time only moves in one direction.”

“I know.” Valerie pressed her hands to her helmet, hesitated, and then dropped it; there was no point here. Her hair tumbled free in tight curls, and she exhaled shakily. “I just… I wish that I had never even heard of ghosts.”

“Your life might have been easier for it,” Frostbite agreed, to her surprise. She glanced up at him. His eyes, while not warm, were still soft. “But you would not have been the same person that you are now.”

That… was true. If there was one thing she could be proud of, it was how much she’d grown after her father lost his job, after she took up ghost hunting and vowed to protect her town. She was good at it, and she’d always had a spine of steel but ghost hunting put it in her bones.

“Not in the least,” she admitted.

Frostbite gave Valerie a book to read while she waited - a ghost book, glowing in her hands, about ghost legends. It was more interesting than she wanted to admit. How did this fit into the Fentons’ studies?

She dropped the book when she heard a groan, and her head snapped up. Danny was stirring, starting to curl up before he noticed the wires and the IV line, and he stopped. Instead, he peeled his eyes open, the effort of even that much apparent in the sluggishness.

“Ugh, it’s like the hospital,” Danny muttered. He turned his head, lolling with the movement, and his eyes landed on her. “Hey.” He… sounded friendly, even faintly muffled by the oxygen mask.

“Hey,” she managed in return. She leaned down, picked the book up, and closed it properly. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired and sore,” he admitted. He tried to leverage himself up, and she helped him. He flashed her a smile she didn’t deserve, reaching up to pull off the mask. “But my head feels better, I’m not numb or tingling anywhere, and the nausea is gone. Think I’ll be alright.”

“No thanks to me.”

The air between them thickened. Danny shifted, jostling some of the wires, and looked at her with the same soft blue eyes. Somehow, despite his human appearance, he didn’t seem out of place at all.

“Hey,” he said again, gentle this time. “You didn’t know. I’m not upset or anything. Are… are you? Upset?”

“Of course I’m upset,” she snapped, and Danny flinched. “I’ve been hunting my only real friend for nearly four years now. I’ve been trying to kill you, and you- you never said a word. Why didn’t you say anything? I never would’ve-” She cut herself off.

“Ha.” Danny smiled, painful and sad, the same one he’d given her when he asked her what now? “Same reason I haven’t told my parents. I always thought you might be okay with it, and it might be the thing that finally got us a truce. But I was never willing to bet my life on it.” His hands curled into fists on his lap. He was still smiling, but there was a glimmer of tears in his eyes that betrayed years of fear and pain. “If I make the wrong call, it’s a one-way ticket to a freaking lab table.”

“I almost killed you today.”

“I know every step of what my parents want to do to me. I would literally rather die.”

It was a horrific image, because Valerie had heard more than a bit of that plan herself, and yeah, it was- yeah, Valerie would rather die too, actually. “Oh my god,” she said, feeling sick to her stomach.

Danny softened his smile, the emotion behind it shifting to concern rather than pain, and reached out to take her hand. She let him. “Hey,” he said softly. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll shake this off by tomorrow, and the whole thing will be behind us, okay?” He hesitated, studying her, and then continued, “A… About Cujo-”

Cujo. The dog.

“Don’t tell me,” she said, cutting him off. Shame curled in her gut. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”

Danny blinked at her, startled. “But your career…” Because of course he understood.

“It was an accident,” Valerie said hollowly. “You’ve been telling me for years. Dad losing his job… a thousand little catastrophes like that happen every day, for perfectly normal reasons. It’s my fault for taking it so personally.” She squeezed his hand, letting her head drop when she couldn’t meet his eyes anymore. “I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you.”

Because she wasn’t looking at him, she didn’t see what he was doing until he’d pulled her into a tight hug, accidentally dislodging some of the leads in the process. An alarm started beeping. Both of them ignored it. Valerie could feel Danny’s gratitude in the tightness of his arms, the way he tucked his face against her hair.

“I’m sorry you’re having to let go of your dreams,” Danny told her.

Valerie’s eyes burned, and she hugged him back and let the tears fall.

A few minutes passed before Frostbite politely cleared his throat, and they jumped apart as if burned. Valerie crossed her arms, and Danny sent a sheepish smile up at the massive yeti. Seriously, how did something so big walk so quietly?

“It is good to see you awake, Great One,” Frostbite said warmly. He knelt beside them and carefully withdrew the IV line, then began to disconnect the leads. “How are you feeling? Is there any lingering pain, numbness, or tingling? Vision or hearing problems?”

Danny let the yeti move him, perfectly at ease with the towering ghost. “Better,” Danny assured him. “My vision and hearing have cleared up, I’m not numb or tingling. No nausea or anything, and my head’s stopped pounding so much. It still hurts though.” Frostbite nodded along, looking pleased but expectant. “Um, I’m still a little dizzy, and my fingers and toes hurt a lot. Is… is that weird?” Danny’s nose wrinkled. It would’ve been cute if Valerie wasn’t wincing in guilt.

“You were experiencing some moderate compartment syndrome, which may have caused tissue damage at your extremities,” Frostbite said gently. “It should clear up in time.” Danny relaxed. “Was there anything else?”

Danny nodded. “I’m a little sore all over, but my spine really hurts,” he admitted. “That… kind of worries me.”

Frostbite nodded solemnly. “You received some electrical damage to your spine, which caused you to go into neurogenic shock,” he explained. “If you were human, there would have been permanent nerve damage. Fortunately, we already know that your regenerative capabilities will restore your human body without much difficulty. Take some extra ectoplasm for the next few days, at least until the pain fades.”

“I will,” Danny promised, unfazed by being prescribed a highly toxic and difficult-to-obtain substance.

Well- difficult for anyone else.

“Do you just drink ectoplasm from your parents’ lab?” Valerie asked, bemused. The Fentons had emphasized how radioactive that stuff was; she’d almost rather drink actual nuclear waste. Danny chuckled softly.

“I’m technically allowed to take whatever I want from the lab. They love it when Jazz and I take an interest in the family business.” He sounded both rueful and fond. “They just don’t know that I actually do.”

“Great One,” Frostbite said, drawing Danny’s attention. Valerie had to bite down her teasing when she realized that Danny responded to the title seamlessly. “I would like to do a checkup of your ghost form before you leave.”

Danny froze, and Valerie caught an anxious glance in her direction.

“Go on,” she said. A part of her wanted to see it again anyway - she’d been too horrified to fully process it the last time, and seeing it… seeing it would make it more real. She needed that sense of reality.

Danny looked away quickly, but without protest, a ring appeared around his waist, split, and passed over him, Danny to Phantom. The resemblance was easier to see with this body language, hunched and nervous, refusing to look her in the eye. Neon green averted nervously, his white hair half-hiding them from view.

Frostbite gently urged Danny to straighten, grabbing foreign medical equipment from another cabinet and starting to work. Valerie watched, letting herself think.

Danny and Phantom. Phantom and Danny. It was hard to stitch them together in her mind, but her conception of Phantom had always been fragile - he just didn’t make sense, was easier to hate if she didn’t look too closely at him. But now… now, she let herself think about it.

Phantom liked her. She’d always known that, really, because he didn’t hide it at all. He got frustrated with her, but he was never outright hateful. He never attacked her unless she had him well and truly cornered, and sometimes not even then. He asked for a truce often and seriously, offered it at the slightest hint of a mutual threat, and was never the first one to break it.

Phantom treated his fights like a game, dodging and joking. Fighting was a social activity for ghosts.

Danny wasn’t afraid of ghosts; he ran when they were near so he could come back as Phantom. So he could suit up, like she did.

Phantom rarely outright attacked ghost hunters, but his quips got meaner with them, more real. He understood every dehumanizing word thrown at him, and refused to hurt them anyway.

Danny went home to a family of ghost hunters every night, in a house that Valerie knew sometimes attacked him. His parents talked day and night about ghosts - and how to hurt them. How much they hated them.

Phantom went home to that house every night, and listened quietly with his head bowed, unable to speak up in his own defense. Then he went to school, and let Dash push him around. (He didn’t fit in lockers anymore.) He probably tried to study and do homework like she did, but got interrupted by his own ghost sensor. And, obsession-driven, he couldn’t ignore it like she did when she really needed to.

She wondered suddenly if fighting ghosts was as much of a release for him as it was for her.

Frostbite pulled a device out of Danny’s chest, where he’d been monitoring something inside him. Danny’s… ghost core, Valerie assumed. Frostbite gave Danny a small smile. Good news, then.

“Avoid stress for the next few days,” Frostbite instructed Danny, “and try not to strain your core physically either. And spend some time on your space obsession as well. Visit the observatory, or work on a model spaceship.”

“I will,” Danny promised. “Thanks for everything, Frostbite, but we should… probably be getting back.”

Frostbite chuckled. “I know well how it goes with you. Farewell, Great One, and do not hesitate to come back if you have need of me again.” He looked at Valerie, eyes bright. “And to you, Huntress - thank you for bringing the Great One here safely.”

Valerie nodded stiffly. “Thanks,” she echoed, stiffer than she’d intended. Frostbite didn’t seem to mind.

Danny hopped off the bed and turned to her, smile turning more uncertain. “We should… get going,” he said, slow and halting. “I can guide you back.”

His white hair fluttered slightly, unbound by gravity. His green eyes were bright and toxic and nervous.

Valerie considered him for a moment, then smiled back. “I’ll be on patrol tomorrow evening. We can meet up, maybe try to actually coordinate a schedule?”

Danny’s smile smoothed out, becoming something real and happy. “Yeah! I’ll find you.”

“Not if I find you first, ghost.” Pause. “And hey. Ride with me. You’re supposed to be resting.”