Cap

That was the deal, right? Phantom handled the superhero stuff. Fenton handled the fun things.

The roar of an engine cut through the air before he could think harder about it. The Specter Speeder screeched beside the rollercoaster tracks.

“Hop aboard, son!” shouted Jack excitedly. Before Fenton could protest, Jack’s huge hand grabbed his arm and yanked him straight out of the cart. “Your old man’s gunna show you how to catch a ghost!”

The Speeder jerked violently as Jack hauled him inside. Fenton barely caught himself against the dashboard before Jack reversed the vehicle to face Sam and Tucker.

“You kids’ll be safer down there!”

Jack shoved the coaster car forward again. It clattered down the rails with screams echoing behind them.

Fenton swallowed. Something about this suddenly didn’t feel funny anymore.

Ahead of them, Phantom flew toward Technus and froze. The Specter Speeder cut directly into his path. Phantom halted so abruptly it looked almost painful. His eyes widened as the massive blaster unfolded from the roof of the vehicle with a mechanical whine. It pointed right at him. At him.

“Dude, uhh…” laughed Fenton nervously. “Dad, I—I don’t know about this.”

The targeting monitor lit up green.

Jack grinned and slid the controls toward him.

“Okay,” he said proudly, like this was some father-son bonding moment. “Now you’re gonna wanna nail him right between the eyes.”

The crosshairs centered on Phantom. He didn’t move. Didn’t dodge. Didn’t fly away. He just stared.

Fenton’s stomach dropped.

“Now waste him!” Jack grabbed his wrist and forced his hand down onto the firing controls. “Take the shot, son! Make your old man proud!”

Phantom’s face filled the monitor. Those green eyes, wide and shocked, like he couldn’t believe this was happening. Like he couldn’t believe Fenton and his dad were doing this.

The blast fired anyway. A deafening scream of ecto-energy exploded from the blaster and slammed directly into Phantom. His body jerked violently before dropping from the sky. Smoke curled behind him in thin green trails as he plummeted downward.

“No—” Fenton didn’t even realize he said it aloud.

The Speeder hit the ground hard.

Before Jack fully landed, Fenton threw himself out of the vehicle and ran. His shoes slammed against cracked pavement as panic clawed violently up his throat.

Phantom lay crumpled on the ground. Green ectoplasm leaked beneath him in widening streaks, dripping from his mouth, his nose, even his ears.

Fenton dropped to his knees so hard pain shot through them. His hands shook as he carefully rolled Phantom over and pulled him into his lap. The suit was torn open across the chest. The wound underneath pulsed weakly, unstable, glowing sickly green around blackened edges. Ectoplasm soaked through Fenton’s hands immediately when he pressed against it.

Phantom coughed suddenly. The sound was wet. Broken.

“Dueling—” He coughed harder, green splattering across his chin. “Doppelgangers… Have—have you lost half of—of our mind…?”

Fenton choked on a laugh that came out sounding dangerously close to a sob.

“Dude,” he whispered shakily. “I’m not the one wearing a bedsheet.”

Phantom smiled. Weak and crooked and exhausted. His trembling hand lifted and grabbed onto Fenton’s sleeve, fingers barely squeezing.

Fenton swallowed hard around the burning in his throat.

“When Dad asks why I’ve got green ectoplasm all over my clothes,” he muttered quickly. “I am so not covering for you.”

If he kept joking maybe this wouldn’t be real. Maybe Phantom wouldn’t feel so heavy in his arms. Maybe that horrible dimming glow around him would stop fading.

Phantom looked up at him slowly.

Fenton moved a hand behind his head carefully, supporting him.

“And that’s…” Phantom coughed violently again, his body twitching and trembling weakly against him. “…the sort of irresponsible attitude… that makes you such a disappointment to our family.”

“Not our family,” said Fenton immediately, his voice cracking. “My family. You’re the full time superhero, remember?”

Phantom’s eyes fluttered. The glow around his ghostly body flickered weaker.

“Then…” Another painful cough. “…it’s time for me to let go.”

“No.”

Phantom’s eyes closed. His aura dimmed. And suddenly he felt wrong. Heavy. Not floating anymore. Dead weight.

“No no no no—”

Fenton grabbed him harder, shaking him carefully.

“Phantom.”

Nothing.

“Hey. Dude.”

No response.

The panic fully broke through him, sharp and cold and unbearable.

“Stay with me,” he whispered desperately. “Come on. Come on, this isn’t funny anymore.”

Still nothing.

“You’re not supposed to die. You cannot die. You’re—“

He paused.

“—you’re already a ghost.”

But there was no response.

The silence crushed him.

Jack was saying something behind him. Technus was probably still attacking. None of it mattered. Because Phantom wasn’t moving.

Fenton stared down at the ghost in his arms, at the green blood oozing out of his chest, at the face that looked so painfully familiar even when unconscious.

But he understood exactly what he had done.

His bottom lip trembled violently.

The gears surrounding Clockwork turned with their endless metallic groan, ancient and patient, echoing through the endless chamber of clocks. The ghost watched him with eyes far older than grief itself.

“That is not what it means, young Danny,” answered Clockwork calmly. “You will inherit the throne one day, yes. But you are far from ready for such a burden. The first step, was indeed surrendering your freedom. Your dreams. Your warm, living body.”

“Just because you showed me my future!” snapped Danny suddenly. “You showed me what happens if nobody stops it, Clockwork! I’m doing this to protect everyone I care about. And now they’re going to suffer because—”

The sentence broke apart in his mouth. Because he wouldn’t be there anymore.

Danny lowered his head, white strands of hair shadowing his eyes as his shoulders curled inward.

“Because I’m not…” His voice faltered into something painfully small. He swallowed hard, but the ache in his chest only spread deeper and colder. “I’m not there anymore. And I’ll watch them grow old. I’ll watch them die. I’ll carry all of that with me forever.”

“Forever,” said Clockwork quietly. “Until you are ready to pass on the throne.”

Danny shut his eyes. He could still remember warmth. His heartbeat. Falling asleep tired instead of simply shutting down. Stupid things like a strawberry milkshake at the Nasty Burger after patrols. Sam rolling her eyes. Tucker laughing too loudly. A future he had traded away.

“I didn’t want this,” whispered Danny. “I didn’t.”

He dragged a hand over his face.

“But if this is what it takes to keep everyone safe… if this is what it takes to keep them happy and alive…” He forced himself to look back at Clockwork, eyes burning bright green. “Then it’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine. It would never be fine. But Danny had been sacrificing pieces of himself ever since the day he stepped into the portal.

Clockwork approached him slowly, robes shifting like flowing time itself. One hand rested gently against Danny’s shoulder.

“You did well, young king,” murmured Clockwork.

For some reason, those words hurt the most.