Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Danny Fenton drummed his fingers against his desk as his mother—Maddie Fenton—passed around small pamphlets.

Along the top of the pamphlet read the title of ‘Looking Within the Mind’ with the Guys In White’s logo printed alongside the back of the small booklet.

Apparently, the GIW had invented some kind of mind machine that allowed people to go within a person’s subconscious and mind; which would’ve been cool had the GIW not made it for the intent of getting within ghosts’ minds to manipulate and control them.

Luckily, the ‘manipulation’ tactic didn’t work for them (thank the Ancients for Box Ghost’s apparently impenetrable mind!) and they sold it to the Fentons.

Maddie and Jack had brought it in to show off the machine by traveling into the mind of a student.

Which student did they pick? Only Irony’s favorite teenager, Danny Fenton. 

“Mom, can you please choose someone else?” Danny pleaded, but Maddie just shook her head with a chuckle.

“Danny, this is a fun scientific experiment you get to be a part of!” She hooked two circular sticky pads on each side of his head, “Besides, I promise we won’t go too far in, just some memories, that’s all!”

“It’ll be fun,” Jack Fenton ruffled his seventeen-year-old son’s hair, “I promise, Danno!”

Danny was not reassured in the slightest, but despite his—as well as Valerie and Tucker’s—objections, his parents did not relent.

Valerie Gray, Danny’s girlfriend, had known about Danny Fenton being Danny Phantom for about two years now after the ‘Red Huntress’ and ‘Phantom’ had made a truce.

The truce ended up being the reason for the reveal as Phantom had gotten injured by Skulker’s new throwing-poison knives and the Huntress had brought him back to her house (her father was working late that night) to patch him up.

Being completely drained and unconscious, it was truly surprising the white rings that turned Phantom back to Fenton hadn’t appeared earlier than they had.

So after a long night of screaming, freaking out, threats, and apologizing profusely—and a kiss or two… or a few —Valerie Gray and Danny Fenton became a couple and the Red Huntress and Phantom had become the best ghost hunting duo there was.

Valerie set her hand over the halfa’s comfortingly, “Don’t worry Danny, We’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything in your head.”

Tucker gave him a thumbs up while he fiddled with his PDA.

Danny sighed, giving his girlfriend a small smile as he placed a kiss to her cheek, “Thanks, Val,”

“Of course; try not to worry too much,”

“Gross,” Tucker stuck out of his tongue teasingly as Danny placed a light punch to his arm.

Valerie was about to give a small kiss onto her boyfriend’s forehead only to be interrupted by Maddie Fenton sticking a circular pad with a wire attached to it right smack-dab in the middle of Danny’s forehead.

Jack Fenton held a sleek circular device in hand, pressing the button with a shout of, “BONZAI!”

While nothing happened for the rest of the class—including Mr. Lancer and the Fenton parents—Danny’s head had instantly fallen onto his desk, his eyes closed as soft snores came from his sleeping figure. 

It was barely a second later when the world went black for the rest of the students and adults present.

Chapter Text

Maddie was ironically the first one to wake within Danny’s mind after the mass mind-blackout.

“Woah,” The female scientist stood up as she observed the odd layout that was Danny’s mind.

It seemed to be a vast galaxy landscape with a white circle platform that they all stood on in the floating mass.

The sky was a swirl of blues with stars sparkling across it, some shaping constellations and even a few planets could be spotted from further away; but then the ground below them was a white platform, a thin line of black separated the sky from what perhaps was the ‘ground’ of his mind. 

An abyss of many shades of greens swirling hypnotically below, pale black and white stars sparkled in the greens. It almost reminded Maddie of the portal with all the greens and foreign, strange energy it seemed to give off.

“Kinda looks like our portal, eh, Mads?” Jack said Maddie’s thoughts out loud.

“Yeah, it does,” Maddie breathed, the rest of the group behind her finally stirring awake, “I never knew Danny’s mind was so… unique,”  

“That’s because it’s his mind and only his business,” Valerie got onto her feet and dusted off her cargo pants, “Not yours, and not any of ours,”

Maddie bit the inside of her cheek.

She had been wanting to talk to Danny about Valerie for a while now; the girl was sweet and nice to Danny, treated him good—but she had no respect for her or Jack, and Maddie didn’t appreciate the non-subtle jabs of them being bad parents from her son’s girlfriend.

The only reason she hadn’t told her son that she didn’t think Valerie was a good fit for him was because Jack had talked her out of it.

~~~~~~

“If ya forbid a teenager from doing something—or seeing someone—then they’re gonna want to do it more than ever!” Jack had told her one night when she ranted to him about her thoughts on their son’s relationship, “Just wait it out, Mads. He’s seventeen, they’ll grow apart and he’ll move on—relationships don’t always last forever.”

“They’ve been together since he was fifteen, Jack,” Maddie sighed, “I’m getting worried it’s not going to just end on its own,”

Jack gave a kiss to his wife’s head, “Give it time, Danny-o’s a smart kid, he’ll realize Valerie’s not a good fit for him soon enough.”

~~~~~~

Despite her worries, she knew Jack was right. Telling Danny to stay away from Valerie would only make the teens want to be closer—and she had no doubt in her mind that the Gray girl would push her buttons and limits until she snapped and Danny got mad at her.

Maddie sighed, she would just have to follow her husband’s advice and wait for this relationship to end itself. Perhaps it was a bad thing that she was hoping that her son’s relationship would end because she didn’t like the girl, but she knew what was best for Danny—and Valerie Gray wasn’t the best.

Why didn’t he date Sam? Both Jack and Maddie liked Sam. Sure, the girl was a bit odd, but people could argue that Maddie and Jack themselves were a bit odd.

Truth be told, Danny didn’t actually tell Maddie much of his life. Especially his love life, she only knew what she knew from observations.

Like she knew that Sam and Danny had some kind of fight and weren’t speaking. Tucker had taken Danny’s side by the looks of it, but the trio of Sam, Tucker, and Danny had been replaced with Danny, Tuck, and Valerie .

~~~~~~

(Had she paid attention to her son like a mother would rather than a scientist, she would know that Sam didn’t like Valerie and her and Danny butted heads over it when Sam tried to imply she knew better than him.

Perhaps if she was even a better mother, Danny would trust her enough to tell her that he and Sam ended their friendship when Sam brought up how she and ‘Phantom’ could change the world via ghost hunting and eco-rights. She’d know that Danny ended the friendship because Sam wanted a future with him under her rules and standards; and that she liked Phantom more than she liked Danny.)

~~~~~~

“Well,” William Lancer stood shakily onto his feet, “This is certainly different from the lesson plans I had made for today,”

“Why does Fenton’s mind look like it’s split in half?” Kwan asked as he also stood from his prior sitting position, “One half blue and the other half green?”

“The pamphlet the GIW gave us said that every mind is different,” Maddie explained with a finger tapping her chin in thought, “That the appearance of it somehow represents the main part of who we are subconsciously,”

“So Fenturd’s just weird all around,” Dash snickered as he and some of his football buddies laughed.

Maddie scowled but didn’t say anything, she knew Danny liked the stars and space, so the ‘sky’ half made sense…but what part did the greens represent? She doubted it was actually the portal’s influence—Danny never showed interest in ghosts or his parents’ work at all.

The motherly part of her ached a bit with the thought that she didn’t really know much about her own son, but the scientist in her was excited to explore—and that quickly overruled her motherly instincts.

“So, what exactly are we doing here?” Star asked, “Like, what do we do?”

“Nothing invasive or privacy-breaking,” Valerie glared at Maddie, “He’s a human being—not an experiment .”

Maddie shut her eyes and breathed in and out, she really didn’t like Valerie.

Jack placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder, sensing her frustration with the Gray girl and trying to comfort her.

Maddie opened her eyes and gave a small nod of thanks to her husband before she glanced towards the makeshift roadway that was within her son’s mind, “I suppose we just follow the path through his memories—”

“You’ll get lost like that,” An echo-y, staticked voice rang out, “And I’d rather you not get lost in Danny’s mind,”

Maddie went to reach for her gun, only to be shocked when she realized it wasn’t there; Danny’s mind had somehow disarmed her subconsciously. A quick glance towards Jack showed the same thing had happened to him.

“ Great Gatsby! Who are you?!” Lancer stepped in front of his students, shielding them from whatever was in front of them.

Valerie’s gasp echoed, “Danny?! What happened to you?!”

Danny Fenton stood in front of the group of humans, but he looked much more different than how he usually did. His hair was a mix of raven black and snow white locks entangled with each other.

Every other chunk of hair follows the pattern of black-white-black-white and so on. His eyes were odd as well; both only had a black dot as the pupil and a thin iris color of pure white, but with one eye being completely ice blue where the whites of the eyes should be and the other eye being the same, just ectoplasmic green. 

His hands were clawed and a powdery black color with a glowing green lichtenberg figure branching on one arm, while the other had a glowing blue figure running along it. 

He wore black ripped jeans, a fitted, sleeveless white shirt with a tall neckline that had black accents running along the trims and such, a midnight blue leather jacket, with flakes of a white acting as stars, a large silver-white belt buckle in the shape of a star, and black converse. 

“Danno?” Jack cocked his head to the side, “Is…is that you?”

Not-Danny didn’t answer; he just grinned as his too-sharp-to-be-human teeth curved into an unsettling and too-wide smile, “Welcome to Danny’s Mind, everybody!”

His voice echoed in the way much too similarly to a ghost’s—the subconscious comparison of the two made Maddie shudder briefly.

“Who’re you?” Dash demanded, trying to hide his fear at the clearly inhuman being standing right in front of them.

“I’m the humanoid representation of Danny’s Existence,” Not-Danny explained, “I’m basically his soul, or the core of what makes up Danny himself; but you guys can just call me D,”

Jack tapped a finger to his chin, “I don’t remember you being mentioned in the pamphlet the GIW gave us…”

“He wasn’t,” Maddie raised an eyebrow, “There was nothing about a core of someone’s being,”

“That’s because Danny’s a bit different,” D shrugged, the glowing lightning scars on each of his arms and claws glowed their individual color brightly, “But I won’t get into that, you people are here to see Danny’s emotional subconscious. So, I’m going to help you guys out a bit by showing you the emotions and memories that help to form them!”

He snapped his clawed fingers, conjuring up seven doors that each had the word of the emotion and memory or memories it represented carved into them. 

Love, Strength, Selflessness, Sorrow, Agony, Compassion, and Peace were all of the words carved into the doors.

“These are the core memories, attributes, and emotions that make up who Danny is as a person and his soul, ” D explained as his two differently colored eyes each glowed their respective color, “Mr. Lancer, you get to pick the first door,”

Lancer blinked in shock for a moment, “Me?”

“Yep!” D grinned as he waved his hand to display the doors behind him, “Pick the first one you guys want to see!”

“Love,” Lancer suddenly said, “Seems like a good option,” 

The ‘and safe’ went unsaid, but everyone knew what he meant as the door labeled Agony stood tall behind them.

“Very well,” D’s grin spread inhumanly wide, sharp fangs poking out as even what was his original, ‘normal’ teeth had sharpened, the two lichtenberg figures on his arms glowing brightly, “Humans first,”

Whether it was curiosity or fear of the being in front of them acting as the driving force for them entering the door; the students, their teacher, and the eldest Fentons entered the door.

Val and Tucker fell to the back of the group, walking up cautiously to the weird, Mind-Version of Danny to get at least one of their questions answered.

“Will this risk Danny’s identity as Phantom?” Tucker whispered, worry and anxiety etched into his features.

Ever since Sam left their trio and Val joined, Tucker had become a bit overprotective towards the halfa. He saw how much ghost hunting affected his mental and physical health—and the fact Sam just wanted him to suck it up and do it for the ‘greater good’ made the techno-geek furious. 

When it came down to the choice of his best friend for years or the girl who’d caused Danny to half-die in the first place because she didn’t like the rules, it really wasn’t a hard decision to make. 

And though Danny didn’t know—and would never know, hopefully—that Tucker had cornered Sam and threatened her with sending her search history to her parents if she ever told anyone about Danny being Phantom.

What could he say? Danny was his best friend, his brother in everything but blood/ectoplasm; he did what he had to in order to keep his best friend safe. 

“That’s up to Danny’s subconscious,” D shrugged unapologetically, “Not me,”

“That’s a less-than-reassuring statement,” Valerie grumbled unhappily as the remaining three (two humans and one…something else ) entered through the door.

Chapter Text

The moment every person currently present in Danny’s mind entered the room, the door slammed shut, making everyone but the soul embodiment jump at the noise before taking in the room’s landscape.

Although, ‘room’ wasn’t quite the right word; the inside seemed to be a pure white box of nothing. No windows, furniture, people, anything. Not even the door they had entered through was there anymore, it had disappeared the moment they all went through it.

“Welp,” Jack squinted his eyes, “This is one way to get a headache, huh?”

Maddie just nodded, her eyes still fixed on the ghost-like being floating a few feet away from her.

“Now,” D was in a sitting position on the air, “There are multiple types of love. Familial, romantic, platonic, blah blah blah, all that fun stuff. So, for the sake of I-don’t-like-humans-in-my-domain-for-too-long; I’ve narrowed down the important ones. Lover, friendship, and family. First up, lover!”

The whiteness of the room began to fade as though it were melting away, revealing another room underneath it.

A feeling of deja-vu washed over Valerie as the image became clear; it was the abandoned observatory just outside of town that she and Danny had discovered a bit ago during a patrol one night.

The last bit of the illusion finished itself as a clone of Danny and Valerie herself appeared, sitting on a picnic blanket and enjoying some snacks while Danny had his head in her lap and her hand was in his hair and playing with it as they watched the stars together.

“Danny!” Maddie grinned, a bit relieved by the fact she could be with her actual son rather than be stuck with a weird Soul Embodiment version of him.

She didn’t like how… ghostly he looked, or how he acted in ghost-like mannerisms.

The Danny (or the Valerie) in the memory didn’t reply, they just continued to watch the stars together. 

“This is a memory,” D stepped forward as he waved his right hand in front of Danny's face, the glowing green Lichtenberg figures dulling a bit compared to when the door first opened, “He cannot hear or see you, it’s just a recreation of the scene,”

Maddie frowned as the memory-versions of Danny and Valerie began to speak.

~~~~~~

“Which one is Orion again?” Valerie asked as she stared at the sky.

“A bit to the left,” Danny pointed at the sky, “That one,”

“I see it now…wow, never knew just how many constellations you could see,”

Danny stopped staring at the sky to look at Valerie.

Val turned her head slightly, raising an eyebrow at memory-Danny, “What?”

“You’re beautiful, y’know that?” Danny smiled.

Memory-Valerie blushed, “Sap,”

“What? I know true beauty when I see it,”

Valerie smacked him with a throw pillow that was off to the side of their picnic blanket, “Quit being cute! It’s not fair!”

Danny laughed, “I can’t help it! You’re adorable!”

As the two laughed together, the sound of Danny’s voice echoed through the memory. 

“I’m gonna marry that girl one day,” 

~~~~~~

Valerie felt her face heat up—along with the feeling of Maddie glaring daggers at the back of her head, which Jack had tried his best to get his wife to relax and to stop doing.

“What was that ?” Lancer looked around the memory-room, searching for the source of Danny’s voice.

D shushed him, “That’s Danny’s inner thoughts, you can hear them in his memories, now shush! I’m watching,”

Danny’s voice spoke once more, “She’s perfect…”

The memory faded back into the blank whiteness of the original room just as the sound of the two memory-people’s laughter faded away as well.

“Never knew Fenton was such a romantic,” Paulina tapped her chin, “I wonder—”

“Back off,” Valerie growled at the hispanic girl, “He’s taken,”

Paulina huffed, “Whatever.”

“Waiting their relationship out isn’t going to work, Jack,” Maddie whispered to her husband, trying her best not to let her anger and frustration take over her tone.

Jack bit his lip as he furrowed his brows in thought, “We’ll talk to Danny about it later. But first, let’s get through this first, ‘kay? It’s not like we can do much of anything right now, anyways.”

Maddie didn’t like it, but she once again knew Jack was right—afterall, he had always been better at this romance thing than she was.

D clapped his hands as the room began melting into the familiar (at least for some of the students) background of the boy’s bathroom at Casper High.

“Now onto the second course,” The soul embodiment grinned, “Friendship!”

The memory didn’t have Danny in it at first, the memory-version of the teen boy only appearing as the ‘door’ to the bathroom slammed open and Danny came walking in.

Although, ‘walking’ really wasn’t the right word as the teenager was badly limping, his backpack being dragged across the floor with one hand as he cradled the other close to his chest.

~~~~~~

Danny slumped against the wall, his NASA hoodie’s hood was up and covered his entire face; his expression viewless as he tapped on his phone before putting whoever he was calling on speaker.

“Danny?” Tucker’s voice came through the memory-phone, “You didn’t show up to English, you good?”

“Is this what made Daniel miss my class last week?” Mr. Lancer’s brows scrunched up in worry, “Why’s he limping so badly? I would’ve let him go to the nurse, he clearly needs medical help,”

“Got roughed up real bad by Spectra and Bertrand today,” Danny coughed raspily, “Might’ve broken a few ribs, leg is definitely cut up good, and arm is dislocated…”

“He definitely needs medical help!” Mr. Lancer sputtered as he turned towards D, “Tell me he doesn’t actually have—or had —those injuries!?”

D gave an oddly sincere and kind smile, “Sorry, Mr. Lancer, but it’s true. You’re a good teacher, though. Danny’s favorite—and my own, saying I embody Danny’s soul.”

Memory-Tucker sighed, “Boy’s bathroom again?”

“Yeah…” Danny groaned as he hung up the call.

A few seconds later, Memory-Tucker entered the bathroom with his backpack in hand as he dug through it for something.

“Let’s see that leg,” Tucker pulled out a roll of bandages, “How much blood do you think you’ve lost?”

“Still remember my name, so that’s good,” Danny cracked a smile, his hoodie covering his eyes and hair now.

“Not what I asked,” Tucker shot the teenager a half-hearted glare, “Pull the pant leg up, please,”

Danny used his one good arm to pull, and the sight made his classmates, teacher, and the elder Fentons pale—a few turning green, actually.

“Lord of the Flies…”  Lancer placed a hand over his mouth, “What happened to you, Daniel?”

D stared at Lancer with an unreadable expression on his face, “Nothing out of the ordinary, I’m afraid.”

Lancer choked.

“That’s a lot of blood,” Memory-Tucker stated, unamused rather than shocked, “Bite down on something, I gotta clean it,”

Danny nodded, grabbing a roll of bandages from Tucker’s backpack that he wasn’t using to help him and shoved it in his mouth as Tucker poured alcohol on his wound.

Danny’s head threw back as he let out a muffled pained groan.

Tucker winced for the first time, “Sorry, dude,”

“I’mf f’kay…” Danny’s muffled voice tried to reassure his friend. 

Tucker spent about five minutes patching Danny up until he was good enough to stand on his own. 

“Tuck?” Danny muttered, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Tucker zipped up his backpack, “What’s up?”

Memory-Danny took his hood off and everyone gasped.

Danny’s eyes were blood red, the iris, sclera, everything red in different shades.

Just like Dan’s, Valerie swallowed.

Memory-Danny stared at Tucker, “If-If this keeps happening…getting worse, will you…will you stop it. Stop me?”

Tucker swallowed, “Of course dude, but you’re not Him, you won’t ever become Him,”

Danny nodded, but his expression was grim and firm, “Tucker. If I start ever showing even the smallest signs of Him…promise me you’ll end it. You’ll do whatever you have to.”

The techno-geek’s eyes widened, “D-Danny…I don’t think I could do that…”

“Promise me!” Danny’s voice became desperate as he suddenly began to cry, “Promise me that you’ll stop Him, that you’ll kill me if you have to! I’m begging you, Tucker. You’re my best friend, I need you to promise me that He won’t come back, even if that means I gotta die to make sure of it.”

Memory-Tucker just nodded, his own tears making an appearance as he hugged his best friend.

“I promise…” Tucker whispered, “But I’ll do everything I can to make sure that it doesn’t come to that,”

Danny just nodded as they hugged.

“Thank you, Tucker,” Danny’s voice echoed, “Thank you for giving me this moment of peace….”

~~~~~~

The room was silent, nobody dared to make a noise.

“Danny-boy…” Jack whispered, breaking the silence, “What’s happening to you…?”

“That’s not the question that you should be asking,” D’s eyes flashed pure black, “It’s what already happened to him…”

Silence once again flooded the room, nobody speaking.

“Welp!” D yawned suddenly, "Enough doom and gloom! Onward to the next memory!”

The soul embodiment snapped his fingers as the room once again began to melt into a new location—this time it seemed to be a replica of Clockwork’s tower of Long Now, only recognizable by Tucker and Valerie, but still.

The only difference in the normal appearance of the Master of Time’s domain was that they weren’t in the Timestream Viewing Room; but rather a floor above it that had a living room, small kitchenette, and a more welcomed, home-like vibe to it. 

A replica of Danny (luckily not in Phantom form) was sitting on the couch with a homework assignment in hand as he tapped the pencil anxiously against the history book he was using to help him write on the paper.

“Where is he?” Mikey asked with a frown, “I don’t think this is his house,”

“It’s not,” Maddie furrowed her brows, “I don’t recognize this place at all,”

~~~~~~

The Danny replica sighed suddenly as he flopped backwards onto the couch, groaning, “I hate History,”

“Such an odd thing to say when you’re in my tower,” Clockwork walked down the spiral staircase from somewhere in the upper floors as he formed legs out of his spectral tail.

“Is that a ghost?!” Maddie scowled, her teeth gritting, “What’s Danny doing with a ghost?!”

“Watch,” D rolled his eyes as he pointed to the scene.

Danny laughed, “I guess so, huh?”

“Take a break,” Clockwork patted Danny’s head, “Perhaps coming back to it with fresh eyes will help. In the meantime, would you do me a favor?”

“Sure,” Danny said, “Whatcha need?”

“Just watch this Timestream for a bit,” Clockwork smiled as he waved a hand in front of Danny as a circular, foggy white screen of a Timestream Viewing Orb appeared.

“Just watch this period in time for a bit, okay?” Clockwork ruffled Danny’s hair as the boy grinned and nodded.

“Sure thing, C-dubs,”

The memory seemed to speed up for a moment, as though it was being fast-forwarded like a TV show.

“What’s happening?” Tucker raised an eyebrow.

“Just speeding up the memory so you see the important part,” D hummed.

“You can do that?” Dash raised an eyebrow.

The soul embodiment’s eyes flickered to pure, blindingly-glowing white, “I can do anything,”

Dash paled greatly as the soul’s eyes returned to normal while he gave another grin, “Ah! Here we are!”

The memory shifted back to normal pacing.

Danny leaned back onto the couch, his homework back in hand, “Hey, Clockwork? Why’d you want me to watch the signing of the Constitution?”

“Oh, no reason,” Clockwork smiled as he patted Danny’s shoulder, “Just thought it could use some reviewing, that's all,”

Danny raised an eyebrow with a smile on his face, “And it has nothing to do with the fact my homework is on the Constitution?”

Clockwork hummed as he glanced at the page, “Is it? What a completely unplanned and unexpected coincidence!”

“I don’t think it was a coincidence,” Star leaned over to Kwan, who nodded in agreement.

“How on earth did that ghost get a way to record, so to speak, such a historical moment?” Lancer’s eyes were wide.

“That’s kinda Clockwork’s whole thing,” D added nonchalantly as he fiddled the pockets of his black pants, “He’s the Master of Time, he sees the past, present, and all futures that can and will be. He watches every Timeline, he’s literally Father Time in the ghostly flesh,”

Lancer looked about ready to pass out.

Danny laughed, “Thanks for the help, C-dubs,”

“Anytime, my Starlight,” Clockwork ruffled his hair, “Anytime. Now, I made lemon squares because I know you swiped a few from my tower last time you were here,”

“Last time?!” Maddie gritted her teeth and D shushed her.

“I did no such thing!” Danny gasped in mock offense.

“I can see everything, Daniel,” The ghost chuckled, “Wash your hands and you can have some now; I’ll give you a few to take home,”

Danny grinned as he jumped off the ghost’s couch and ran towards the ghost’s kitchenette, “Thanks, Dad!”

The humans went completely silent in shock.

Memory-Danny froze halfway in the kitchen, “I–uh, I meant Dubs! As in C-dubs! I–uh, stupid autocorrect!”

Clockwork raised an amused eyebrow, “You were speaking verbally,”

Danny flushed in embarrassment, “Yeah…forgot about that part…”

Clockwork walked towards Danny, setting a hand on his shoulder before taking the teenager into a comforting embrace—the ghost’s cloak wrapped itself around the two of them as they hugged.

“I’m honored you think of me as a father, Daniel,” Clockwork whispered.

Danny sniffled, “I’m honored to have you…”

The ghost pressed a kiss to Danny’s forehead, “I’d be honored to have you as a son,”

The memory faded with Danny’s voice echoing.

“Love ya, Dad,”

Another voice rang out—this time, it sounded unmistakingly like Clockwork, “Love you too, son,”

~~~~~~

The group of humans were silent in shock.

“Woah…” Mr. Lancer was the first to speak, “I–uh. Wow.”

“That damn ghost!” Maddie yelled, “Brainwashing my son into thinking that he’s his father!”

“I’ll tear that spook molecule by molecule for brainwashing my son!” Jack bellowed, “No one brainwashes Jack Fenton’s son!”

The grinning, eccentric attitude of the soul embodiment was gone as a furious and positively terrifying look took over. The glow of his eyes amplified in a much darker shade, an aura of danger surrounded D, his voice was deeper and echoed with more static to the point it almost hurt their ears to listen to,

“Clockwork saved Danny from a terrible fate. A fate that would’ve ended up with Danny spiraling into a deep insanity due to the death of all his friends, family, and you as well, Mr. Lancer.

This memory shows a true, familial type of love. Clockwork was there for Danny; there for us. And if you dare say anything ill towards him, I will make you bear witness to the most agonizing and painful events in humanity until they haunt your nightmares.

Until all you hear are the wails of banshees and cries of vengeful wraiths and spirits. I. Will. Haunt. Your. Living. Days. Till. Death. Damns. You. Eternally.”

No one spoke.

“Onto the next door!” D’s demeanor went back to normal in less than a second as he walked through the now reopened door.

Chapter Text

While D may be the embodiment of Danny’s soul, he didn’t share all the traits Danny had. Just the important ones that made up his existence, so while he had his courage, protectiveness, passion, and others, he did not have his patience.

Apparently, the mortals currently present with him had yet to figure that out.

At least he had scared most of them enough to stop asking questions; he didn’t like scaring people, that part of Danny he did share, but he also wasn’t about to let the eldest Fentons speak so illy of Clockwork.

Clockwork saved Danny, yes. But he did so by saving his existence—his soul.

Danny owed Clockwork his future, his life.

D owed him his entire existence.

Besides stepping in to defend Clockwork, D had been hoping just to open the doors they chose and not do much more than that. An explanation here or there—he was a soul embodiment, not a tour guide, he wasn’t going to hold their hands through this.

D also lacked Danny’s obsessive desire to defend everyone, even those who hurt them. So Danny would never call his parents anything rude; but D had no qualms calling them idiotic, neglectful sons of bit—

“What do you mean insanity?” Maddie ran up to D, her hand constantly flexing to reach for a weapon she no longer had on her, “You said Clockwork ‘saved’ him from insanity and a dark fate; what happened to my son?”

D also lacked Danny’s endless patience with his stupid parents; “Death, blood, murder, slight cannibalism regarding souls. Shall I continue?”

Maddie stopped talking and nobody seemed eager to pester him any longer—making the subconsciously created being counting it as a major win for him.

Valerie had heard of the events of Dark Dan Phantom from both Danny and Tucker—and a bit from Clockwork too when Danny introduced her to him. To say she was horrified by the tragic things that had happened to Danny was an understatement.

She hated how much Dan had affected her boyfriend.

And she hated how that monster had made Danny fear himself .

She remembered sneaking into the boy’s bathroom at school after a frantic text from Tucker—she remembered cradling her sobbing boyfriend in her arms as Tucker whispered to her that a joke he told Danny made the halfa laugh.

A laugh that was deeper than usual; one that apparently was far too similar to Dark Dan’s own voice to the point it trapped Danny in a spiral of panicking and sobbing.

She remembered cutting patrol with him short one day because he’d gotten frustrated with the Box Ghost and had seen his eyes flickered red in a puddle’s reflection.

He had broken down, hyperventilating until Valerie was able to get him to breathe and relax.

She hated how Danny would keep his hand down in science class—even during the space unit—because his voice was getting deeper and it scared him.

She hated how he was going into ghost form less and less since noticing his white hair was beginning to flame slightly, and that his skin was becoming paler with a distinct blue undertone to it.

If she ever saw Dan, she’d tear him limb from limb for making Danny so afraid of himself, for being the reason her boyfriend developed PTSD.

Valerie felt Tucker put a hand on her shoulder, making her realize she was clenching her teeth so hard it was hurting.

“Thanks,” She muttered, “I…it’s just—”

“I know,” Tucker whispered, “I’m the same way when I think about Him .”

Valerie just nodded.

Maddie watched the two teenagers with a scowl on her face, something was happening to her baby boy and they knew what it was; she was sure of it!

She wasn’t too surprised that Valerie was involved with whatever was happening to her son, but Tucker shocked her a bit.

She had thought that out of any of Danny’s few friends, Tucker would be the one to keep him safe and be rational.

Apparently not, and it angered Maddie. Though that didn’t matter, she’d figure out what was happening to Danny herself; even if she had to strangle that annoying soul embodiment’s neck to get her answers.

Maddie continued to glare at D while they all stood in a misshapen semi-circle.

D ignored her once again as his sharp teeth curved into a disturbing smile while he stared at the doors of Danny’s core attributes, “Hmmm…oh! Dash, you pick a door now!”

“M-Me?” Dash blinked as he swallowed, he really didn’t like it when D would even just look at him, “Why me?”

“Why not you?” The soul embodiment yawned; a forked tongue flicking out briefly, “Go ahead and pick!”

The doors remaining were Strength, Sorrow, Agony, Honorable, Selflessness, and Peace now that Love was gone. 

Dash furrowed his brows in thought, “Uhh…Strength?”

“One of my personal favorites!” D nodded happily, “Off we go!”

The door opened and the humans plus soul embodiment marched inwards, “Vamanos, mortals!”

“Did he just call us ‘mortals’?” Mr. Lancer squinted his eyes while his brows furrowed.

“Yeah, he did,” Tucker chuckled, he definitely has Danny’s bad sense of humor…

~~~~~~

The room they entered was almost identical to the one they had entered beforehand; completely blank and blindingly white in color. 

D floated towards the front of the room, resting his hands behind his head and laying on the air as though he was lounging in a comfortable chair,

“Alright, everybody! Dash chose Strength, so you’re about to see two core memories that make up Danny’s strength. Now, strength isn’t just physical, it’s emotional, too. So, you're going to see one example of Danny’s physical strength and one emotional example, got it?”

Everybody nodded.

Sharp teeth made up D’s grin, “Then here we go! First, physical strength!”

Just like last time, the blankness of the room melted away as a forestry landscape appeared with Memory-Danny standing in a small clearing while wearing a black tank top and gray exercise shorts.

~~~~~~

Wrapping bandages around his knuckles and arms, Danny began to stretch, “Alright, you ready, Technus?”

The ghostly figure of Technus appeared out of thin air, “Always, Child!”

“Another ghost?!” Mikey exclaimed, “Danny sure has a lot of weird friends…”

“He’s more popular with the ghosts than he is with people,” Star commented.

Jack leaned against a memory-formed tree and slumped against it, putting his head in his hands.

“My son…” he said to himself, “knows ghosts…hangs out…with ghosts…is friends… with ghosts!”

D conjured up a bottle of water out of thin air and handed it to the eldest Fenton man, “Here ya go,”

“Thanks,” Jack muttered.

Memory-Danny rolled his eyes playfully, "Not a child anymore, Techy,”

Technus blew a raspberry as he stuck out his tongue, "Whatever you say, Child! Just know the great Technus will not go easy on you!”

Memory-Danny smirked, “Then let’s do this,”

“Wait, are they going to fight each other?!” Dash’s eyes blew wide open, “Fenton’s gonna get himself crushed! Is he crazy?!”

Valerie couldn’t help but smirk a bit, “Don’t underestimate him, Dash; Danny’s a lot stronger than he looks,”

Danny put his hands up in a fighting stance, Technus charged ectoblasts in his hands and grinned widely as they waited.

“Three,” Danny started.

“Two,” Technus continued.

“One!” They both shouted.

Technus threw the blasts towards Danny, only for him to duck and roll away; he then stood up and ran towards a tree, using the base of it to kick off and grab onto a branch in order to climb high enough before he could jump onto Technus’ back.

The humans’ mouths all fell open simultaneously.

“Holy shit, Fenton’s badass!” Dash gaped, “How the hell did he do that?”

“Language, Mr. Baxter,” Lancer half-heartedly corrected.

But seriously, how on earth had Mr. Fenton accomplished such a feat!?

“Get off me!” Technus spun around and thrashed.

“Make me,” Memory-Danny grinned before wrapping his arms around the ghost’s neck and flipping forward, taking down Technus with him as he slammed onto the ground.

“What the fu—” Dash started.

“Mr. Baxter!” Lancer barked once more, “Watch your language!”

“I tap! I tap!” Technus yelped.

“Say I’m not a child and I’ll let you go,” Danny held Technus down with his foot.

“Now that’s just petty!”

“Say it,”

“Fine! You're not a child anymore!”

Danny let go of Technus and the ghost dusted himself off as he floated above the ground, “You win this round, boy; but Technus will rain victorious next time!”

“Uh huh,” The teen cracked a grin, “Parents are out of town, wanna try some of my mom’s apple pie?”

Technus grinned, “I accept this invitation for a delicious baked treat!”

The memory ended as the two walked out of the forest and likely towards Danny’ house.

~~~~~~

“I didn’t know Danny could do all that!” Maddie breathed, “he was never interested in any of the self defense lessons I tried to give him before!” 

“That’s because Danny didn’t need them at the time,” D glared at the Fenton woman, "Now his skills for fighting and escaping have saved his life more times than both he and I can count,”

“Save his life from what?” Kwan questioned, “Is Fenton in danger?”

“Always,” D replied ominously, “Now onto memory number two, emotional!”

This time, the memory melted away to show Danny’s room at what must’ve been terribly late at night due to the darkness and stars showing from outside the window.

Danny himself was vacant from the room at the beginning, only for the window to be opened from the outside and the teenager being seen sneaking in.

Once again, memory-Danny seemed to be injured greatly.

~~~~~~

Danny clutched his one arm, a sleeve from his hoodie torn off and his arm covered in blood, he stumbled in his room before slumping against the foot of his bed and onto the floor. 

Struggling at first to tug off his hoodie, Danny could now be seen adorning a black eye, a claw-like cut against his cheek along with bruises all over his body, and his ankle swollen; likely broken.

Taking off the blood-soaked shirt, Danny hissed as his chest had a large slash mark running from his collarbone and across the side to his lower hip area.

It was a deep and nasty cut, one that clearly and desperately needed stitches.

“Why is Daniel getting hurt so much?” Lancer breathed, “He even has old scars all over himself! What's happening to him?!”

“Not my place to tell,” D picked at his claws, “I’m just the impromptu tour guide,”

Memory-Danny groaned in pain, his head falling back against his bed’s mattress.

Suddenly his head shot up, followed by a pain-filled groan, as he glanced around the room.

“Plasmius?” Danny whispered out to the darkness.

“Uh, who?” Paulina questioned.

“Watch,” D rolled his eyes, “Humans are so impatient!”

A second later, the form of the Wisconsin Ghost appeared standing in front of Danny.

“The Wisconsin Ghost?” Jack frowned, “What's he doing with Danny-o? Wait, is his name really Plasmius?”

“Yep,” D shrugged, “Now stop interrupting and watch!”

Danny scowled, “What do you want, Cheesehead? I’m a bit busy,”

“Cheesehead…” Lancer muttered to himself, “He just called the Wisconsin Ghost a cheesehead .”

Plasmius’ red eyes were fixed on Danny’s chest injury, “You’re injured,”

The teen snorted, “Not shit, Sherlock,”

“Badly.”

“You want an award for that observation?”

Plasmius frowned, “What happened?”

Danny raised an eyebrow, “Why do you care?”

“Answer the question, Daniel.”

“Ghost lion escaped about an hour ago, I shoved him back in the Ghost Zone, though.”

Plasmius was silent for a moment, “Where’s your first aid kit?”

Memory-Danny blinked, “Huh?”

“First. Aid. Kit. Where?”

“Bathroom, under the sink; why’re you—?”

The ghost vanished from visibility, reappearing just a second later with a first aid kit in his called hand.

“You’ll need help with those wounds,” Plasmius sat beside Danny.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Memory-Danny bit his lip to stop from shouting as he tried to scooch away, “Tell me why you're doing this first! What do you want?!”

“Nothing, Daniel; I don’t want anything,” Plasmius sighed, “Now get over here before you end up making the wounds worse!”

“I don’t buy it! What’s your motive, Plasmius?“

“My motive?” Plasmius’ fangs were bared, “My motive is to help a child that is injured because he's trying to help people rather than wake up and realize that people will never change and it’s pointless!”

“Woah…” Star swallowed, “That’s…deep,”

A few of the students nodded in agreement.

Danny just stared silently at the ghost as he cleaned out his wounds.

“People don’t change, Daniel,” Plasmius whispered softly, “You can help them, give them everything in the world; but you're different. I’m different, and that’ll only ever make us monsters in their eyes. Unworthy to exist simply because we’re not human.”

Danny watched as Plasmius wrapped his chest up in bandages, “…Did you ever try? To help people?”

Maddie raised an eyebrow, her thoughts feeling as though they were running miles per seconds.

She had no idea why her son was interacting with ectoplasmic scums, or why the ghosts themselves seemed to accept Danny amongst them. 

Her leading theory was ecto-contamination making him feel like a ghost enough to the point ghosts accepted him like he was one of them.

Truth be told that the entire Fenton family was ecto-contaminated to some degree, but Danny had gotten a small shock from their portal when he was fourteen, it’s likely he might’ve gotten a bit of a boost from that despite the small size of the shock he said he’d gotten.

Ectoplasm was a tricky thing, it wasn’t too far off of a theory. At least, it wasn’t in Maddie’s head.

Could she accept that her son was, dare she say, liked amongst ghosts? Perhaps, it did keep them from attacking him by the looks of it, which was a bonus—plus she could learn a lot from Danny telling her about interactions.

He might even lead a ghost to them so they could dissect it!

However, despite her willingness to accept ghosts being close to Danny, she didn’t like how Plasmius said he ‘wasn’t human’ like he was.

Her baby was still Danny! The same old Danny he’d always been, he was human! Alive! Breathing!

She hated the thought that her baby boy was something close to those ectoplasmic scum!

Maybe she’d make him go through de-contamination procedures, it couldn’t hurt.

Plasmius stopped bandaging Danny for a moment.

“No,” He whispered, “I never did, nobody ever helped me when I needed it. When I was dying in that horrid place. I was abandoned, Daniel, left to die. My best friends ditched me, never once visited, or called, or sent a letter; they just waited for me to die. My best friends…the people who caused my death in the first place…they left me for dead.”

The make-shift audience sniffled and wiped away a few tears; they never thought they’d feel bad for the Wisconsin Ghost—or Plasmius—but they also never thought they’d be inside someone’s mind either.

Danny leaned into Plasmius’s arm, a tear falling down his cheek, “Does it ever stop?”

He asked, “Being seen as a monster?”

Plasmius shook his head, “No, not for them. But it’s pointless to try and change the opinions of people who don’t care enough to face the facts. In the end, it’s your opinion that matters. And so what if you're a monster? Just because your not human doesn’t mean you can’t have humanity,”

The two sat on the ground in silence for a bit.

“Thank you, Plasmius.” Danny whispered, “And your not a monster, either,”

The ghost looked at Danny in surprise, “…maybe one day I can believe that, my boy…”

Danny nodded, “I’ll help you,”

Plasmius gave a soft smile as he hugged the teen, “Thank you, and I will do everything I can to help you.”

“Sounds good.”

“It’s a deal.”

~~~~~~

The memory faded away, leaving everyone in the familiar blank room.

”That was…” Star swallowed, “Kind of sweet,”

”Yeah, it was,” Mikey nodded in agreement.

“I’m still confused,” Kwan frowned as he turned to face D, “How does that memory show strength?”

D grinned, though it seemed melancholy in nature, “Excellent question.”

He stared off into the whiteness of the room, looking at nothingness,

“Sometimes the strongest thing one can do, is to allow themselves to be vulnerable and accept help. In this case, Danny accepted help from someone he once thought was his worst enemy. He took the opportunity to better understand Plasmius, and that’s true strength. 

Silence.

D’s forked tongue flicked out as the door reappeared in front of everyone, “Alright, let’s go!”

Chapter Text

Dash honestly didn’t know what to think anymore. He felt like his whole world had just been flipped upside down. Like every fact he knew had just turned out to be false. What was the next absolutely insane realization at this point? Maybe D—Danny’s creepy soul embodiment slash ghost looking dude—was going to tell them that the sky was actually neon pink in color instead of blue and that the only reason they saw it that way was because their ‘mortal eyes’ just couldn’t comprehend that?

Maybe he was being a bit unrealistic and exaggerating a bit with that, but Dash felt like he deserved to be a bit hysterical at this point. 

They probably all deserved to be a bit hysterical, in full honesty. I mean, wouldn’t anyone feel a bit insane after seeing everything they had just seen?

Daniel James Fenton, Casper High’s biggest loser (he was probably the biggest one in all of Amity Park, even). As well as Dash Baxter’s favorite freak to mess with—honestly anyone’s favorite freak to mess with—was making everyone’s thoughts on who he was and his entire life do an entire one-eighty. And he wasn't even really the one who was doing it! It was his creepy soul embodiment! 

It had all started when the freak’s even freakier parents showed up with some insane gizmo from the Guys in White that they didn’t want anymore. The invention was supposed to transport people into another person’s inner mind. Which, yeah, Dash could admit was pretty cool, but when they had chosen Fenton’s mind, Dash groaned and thought it would be boring. He was ready for it to be boring.

They’d probably see the loser geek out with his friends, the techno-geek and the goth (though he hadn’t seen Fenton or Foley hang out with her lately). Or they’d see him run and hide from ghosts, which he always did. That’s what Dash expected.

What Dash did not expect was a freaky version of Fenton’s soul to become a tour guide as he showed them memories that completely switched perspective on who the geek actually was.

Fenton was a scaredy cat.

Except he had held an entire conversation with the ghost of pretty much Time itself without blinking an eye or stumbling over his own words.

Fenton was afraid of ghosts. 

Except he sparred with them on the regular and even befriended the Wisconsin Ghost, Plasmius. 

Fenton was a loser with no chance at girls. 

Except he had a girlfriend and was secretly a super sappy romantic. 

Fenton was weak.

Except he sparred against a ghost and won.

Fenton was nothing more than a loser.

Except he wasn’t a loser at all. 

And the worst part about all these things? They still had four doors to go through after this one, so more surprises were to come. He wasn’t sure of many things, but he was pretty damn sure of that at this point.

Dash felt his eyes flicker forward to glance at the soul embodiment; D, as he had introduced himself, was saying something to the group as they stood in front of a new door. As if sensing he was being stared at, D whipped his head fully around like an owl and stared at the football player, not blinking even once. 

Dash gave him a small and wary grin, trying his best not to anger the weird soul person thingy.

He may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he certainly wasn’t the dullest either, thank you very much!

D returned the teen’s nervous gesture with his own grin—one filled with sharp, needle-like teeth before he whipped his head back around so it would sit properly on his neck, then proceeded to open the door with a single snap of one pair of his clawed fingers. 

Dash paled.

Loser or not, the jock thought, Fenton’s still one really freaky dude.

~~~

After seeing Danny’s memories of Strength, both in the physical and mental aspect, D began willing each of the remaining five Memory Doors back into existence. 

“Alright,” The soul embodiment placed his hands on his hips, floating mid air in an incredibly ghost-like way (which made Maddie and Jack Fenton flinch a bit at such a sight), “It’s time for door number three!”

Selflessness, Peace, Compassion, Sorrow, and Agony stood impassively in a semi-circle around the class and adults present within Danny’s mind. 

D made a show of looking at everyone before his face lit up and he grinned, “Ooh! This is going to be a fun one—Maddie, you go ahead and choose a door!”

“Me?” The scientist blinked, “You want me to choose a door?”

“No, not really,” D’s grin turned deadly before going back to normal, “But I’m getting bored and I saw you first plus haven’t chosen yet, so just go ahead and make your choice! Quickly, if you would be so kind, I hate waiting on mortals,”

“Again with the ‘mortals’ thing,” Mr Lancer muttered quietly under his breath as Danny’s mother glanced over at the doors for just a moment before making her decision.

“Compassion,” She said confidently, “I want to see Compassion,”

D just hummed, “An interesting choice for you,”

Maddie’s eyes narrowed angrily, “Now, just what is that supposed to mean—?”

The door reading Compassion then slammed open, a silent beckon for the humans (plus D) to enter. 

Alright, Danny, Valerie thought, D right behind her as he was the last to enter the room, as always. Let’s see what else you have in store for all of us.

~~~

This time when everyone fully entered the room, the memory was already playing and fully in the scene.

In the memory, Danny was sitting in the Amity Park Public Library, a book with a galaxy cover opened and placed in his hands.

“As annoying as Ghost Writer is,” Danny muttered to himself as he flipped a page, “He does know how to find the perfect book for somebody.”

Another ghost to add to the list of what Danny’s been keeping from us. Maddie felt frustration bubble slightly in her mind. That’s just great.

The memory Danny's solitude didn't last long as the form of a little girl, probably only six or seven years old, with black hair and blue eyes ran up to the teen, tugging at his sleeve slightly.

Danny put down his book, which disappeared into the memory hologram that was the entire scene plus room, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah!" The little girl beamed happily, her front tooth missing, "Can you help me reach the book I want?"

Danny's expression was one of kindness, "Of course, where is it?"

Everyone proceeded to watch the little girl drag the teen boy through the library's many shelves of books before stopping in front of the one labeled 'Space Adventure: Non-Fiction' and pointed to a blue book that was a shelf above her height. 

"That one, please!" The girl told Danny, who then reached up to grab the book and give it to her.

"There you go," The boy smiled, "You like space?"

"Yeah!" The child grinned widely, "I wanna be an astronaut when I grow up!"

For a moment, Danny's expression flickered to one of deep sorrow before it went back to his more upbeat look.

"Oh, Danny..." Valerie whispered, her eyes becoming a little wet, "I'm so sorry, babe,"

Even if Danny managed to get his grades up by the time college applications rolled out, he wouldn't pass the NASA physical exam with the whole...well, being half-dead was a pretty big medical condition. 

Danny had never spoken much about the subject, but Tucker and Valerie knew how much It affected him. The way he would look at his model rockets and NASA posters with more sorrow than joy, how every time he'd point out a constellation, his smile was always bittersweet.

It broke his best friend's and his girlfriend's hearts to see him so down. Especially since they knew just how much being an astronaut meant to the halfa.

"Oh yeah?" Danny sat on the library floor, the girl doing the same, "I'll tell you a little secret, okay?"

"Okay!" The kid said, "What's the secret?"

"I've been to space,"

"No way!" The girl huffed and crossed her arms, "You're lying!"

"Nope," Danny grinned, "I've really been up in space,"

"How?" She questioned curiously.

"Magic,"

Or being half-dead, Tucker snorted mentally. Though it's probably better for the kid not to know that.

"What's it like?" The girl's eyes widened in excitement, "Is it beautiful?"

"So beautiful," Danny ruffled the kid's hair, "It's the most beautiful thing in the world,"

The girl's eyes sparkled, "Do you think I can go to space one day?"

"Of course I do," The teen grinned, "You wanna know how I know?"

"How?"

"Because I know that you love space a lot, and you'll do everything you can to go up there," The boy told her, pulling on a NASA sticker from his jean's pocket and handing it to her, "Can't wait to see your space mission on TV, kid,"

The little girl giggled and gave a hug to Danny before the memory fizzled.

"Now, this next memory is, in my opinion," D began, "Which is the only opinion that actually matters, by the way, but this memory is the best show of Danny's true Compassion."

The room shifted until the Fentons' laboratory appeared, Maddie and Jack Fenton near a metal table and grabbing numerous sharp scalpels and tools while two ghosts sat in a cage, shaking in fear.

To many of the people there, they'd recognize the ghosts as the couple who always has their picnics in Amity Park's Flower Garden, but for Tuck and Val, they'd recognize them as Johnny 13 and Kitty. 

"Mom? Dad?" Danny's memory form came down the basement's stairs, "The security alarm went off, I think the Box Ghost is near the school,"

The Fenton parents sprung into action quickly, shouts of catching a third ghost to dissect echoing in the memory until it faded away in entirety. 

"This is from a few weeks ago," Jack's brows furrowed, "Those were the two ghosts Mads and I caught, they'd escaped but we never did figure out why."

Almost everyone present had a pretty good idea how they did if this memory went the way they all thought it would. 

Danny's form quickly ran over to the metal table where all the tools were, grabbing a pair of silver keys before he went to the cage where Johnny and Kitty sat and unlocked the door.

"You guys okay?" Danny asked them, worry etched into his features.

"We're okay," Kitty threw her arms around the teen for a tight hug, "thanks to you, you got down here just in time,"

"We owe you one, kid," Johnny ruffled the boy's black hair, "You saved us,"

"Just be careful," Danny told them, "I don't want them to catch you again and be too late."

The two ghosts shared a look between them.

"Hey, kid," Johnny crouched down, "You...uh, some of the ghosts have been talkin' in the Zone..."

"About what?" 

"You're really close with the Master of Time," Kitty added, "And Plasmius, and anyone would honestly be willing to take you in...we just want you to know, Danny, that if you...if you ever need a safe place to stay, the Ghost Zone's always here."

"And anyone would be willing to share a lair with you, kiddo," Johnny finished, "Got it?"

Danny's eyes were slightly sad, but he gave them a small and thankful smile, "Yeah, thanks guys,"

The memory faded into nothing.

"Why would Danny need a safe place to stay?" Maddie huffed, "not that the ghost zone is a safe place at all,"

"Ghost Hunter parents," Tucker's gaze was icy cold and oddly serious, "Plus ghost-friendly zone. Add that with the fact you're pretty trigger happy. would anyone feel truly safe?"

Before an argument could start, D butt in. 

"Chop chop, people!" The soul embodiment frowned, "I don't want to be a tour guide for eternity! Let's go!"

The humans were forcefully shoved through the memory door, but Tucker's eyes never left the two Fenton parents' direction.

If you ever hurt Danny, he swore internally, I will make your lives a living hell. 

Danny was his best friend, and he wouldn't let anyone hurt him.