#disinterred

“We need to talk to detective Payton.”

The woman behind the desk quirked an eyebrow at him, then glanced at the group behind him. “If you have a crime to report, you can speak to whichever officer is available.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” Danny insisted. “It involves a case he was working on.”

She opened her mouth again, clearly intending to shoo him away. Jazz cut her off, however. “It’s really important, please. Can you just contact him and tell him that the Fentons want to talk with him.”

The lady glared at them shortly, but complied. The call involved a brief back-and-forth, but once Payton had heard the words “Fenton” and “case” he seemed to have made up his mind.

Sighing, the woman at the desk put the phone down again. “He’ll be here in a few moments.”

“Thank you.” Danny grinned, just a little too pleased with the small victory. Hey, he would take whatever he got right now. Any distraction from the upcoming conversation was more than welcome.

When Payton appeared he looked more than a little resigned at the sight of their group of teenagers. “I thought that the Fentons wanted to talk to me?”

“We’re temporary stand-ins for his parents,” Sam said with a shrug. “They’re… occupied.”

Payton sighed but, to his credit, didn’t otherwise react. He simply led the four of them to an empty room so they could talk.

“What is this about, then? Because I’m guessing that the ‘case’ you wanted to talk about is yours?”

“Yeah,” Danny confirmed with a nod. “We… We kind of left our some details.”

“You are aware that it’s illegal to lie to the police?” Payton crossed his arms, a mild glare send towards the teens.

“We didn’t lie!” Sam exclaimed, throwing out her hands. “We just didn’t tell the entire truth.”

“Is that so?” Payton didn’t look particularly convinced. Danny didn’t really blame him. In fact, he kind of felt bad for the officer. His involvement in the case certainly made it a lot harder than it had any right to be. Ghosts, in general, made work for the police difficult.

“When we talked about my… ghostly nature,” Danny started hesitantly, “we implied that my… more ghostly appearance was just a one time thing. It’s not.”

Payton nodded, now looking slightly more believing. “Is this related to your glowing green eyes during the confrontation with your parents?”

“Uh, yeah. I can trigger the whole transformation on command, but the glowing eyes happens for all sorts of reasons. Usually when I’m using my powers or when I’m experiencing really strong emotions.” Danny shrugged. “I kind of… use my more ‘ghostly’ form as a disguise of sorts, so people don’t recognize me.”

“But what would you need a disguise for?” Payton squinted at him, suspicion clear on his face. “Nothing illegal, I hope?”

Danny snorted in response, leaning back in his chair. “Hardly,” he said, before tapping into his powers to make his eyes glow on purpose. “Come on, it can’t be that hard to figure out.”

Payton scrutinized him for a few long moments, eyes gliding over him. Then the man sat forward, arms resting on the table. “You’re saying that you are Phantom? Well, that certainly explains why you laughed when I said that if Phantom thought you were okay, it was probably safe to trust that judgment.”

“What can I say, ghost hunting runs in the family.” Danny smirked, a rather Phantom-like expression, to drive the point home.

The detective continued to eye him, then sighed. “You do realize that this isn't going to change the decisions we made last meeting, right?”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed with a shrug. “I mean, I guess I’ll try for college but if I can’t get in I’ll just work for my parents. I’m already following their footsteps as Phantom anyway, might as well give inventing a shot too.”

Then his expression fell again. “But to get back to the original topic… I’m not just telling this for fun. It’s a secret for a reason.”

“Yes, I suppose it is,” Payton agreed, sitting back again. “What is it then?”

Danny frowning, running through his options. Apparently he took too long, because Jazz spoke up. “He’s not the only one. Not the only one with a human and ghost appearance, I mean.”

“And you’re telling me this because… you don’t think they deserve their secret if you didn’t get to keep yours?” Payton queried, cocking an eyebrow at him.

“No,” Danny bit out. “I’m telling you because he’s a jackass who uses his powers for bad purposes!” The vivid green light from his eyes flickered on the desk in front of him, but he ignored it. “He hurts people, he manipulates people! And he has gone too far!”

“And who is he, then?” Payton seemed genuinely intrigued. Apparently Danny’s rant had convinced him to at least play along.

“In human form or ghost form?” Tucker piped up. “Because he looks drastically different and he has no problem flaunting that fact.”

“In his ghost form he calls himself Plasmius.” Sam crossed her arms. “But the public usually calls him the Wisconsin Ghost, I believe.”

“The blue skinned vampire ghost?” Payton frowned. “I’ve heard of him, yes. Known to cause problems, picks fights with… Phantom.” The last word he said more quietly, realization of Phantom really being a 16 year old apparently striking him.

“That’s him,” Danny confirmed. “His human form is also well-known. Old family friend of my parents, current mayor of the town…”

Payton grunted. “You’re saying that the Vlad Masters is a ghost like you?”

“How do you think he won the election?” Jazz questioned with a scoff. “He didn’t stand a chance until he overshadowed most of the voters.”

“And that’s just one of many sketchy things he has done with his powers.” Tucker’s jaw visibly tightened at the thought of everything the man had done. Of what he had tried to do to him. Danny was glad for friends like these. “Stealing money, overshadowing business rivals to take over their companies, attempted murder of Jack Fenton…”

“Kidnapping Maddie Fenton, twice. Kidnapping Danny at least that often, including trapping him in ghost-proof bindings and electrocuting him,” Sam continued. “Sending potentially dangerous ghosts to Amity Park, in the hopes to either kill Jack or hurt Danny.”

“And that’s not even to mention that he tried to clone me,” Danny joined in. Then with a grimace, he added, “And emotionally abusing the one clone that survived. Well, as far as a ghost can survive, of course.”

Payton blinked, apparently stunned by the information overload. Then the last part processed, and he frowned. “He cloned you?”

“Not very successfully, but yes.” Danny shrugged, a faux casual air about him. “She didn’t quite come out right, and she wasn’t stable. But she’s with my parents now, and we managed to save her.”

“Which is also why they’re not here,” Tucker explained, leaning on Danny’s shoulder. “Hence Sam and I as the replacement parents.”

Payton remained quiet for a few moments. Then he sighed. “You are aware of how bat-shit insane this sounds?”

“Welcome to my life,” Danny said with a snort. “Or, well, you know what I mean.”

“We can’t just take your word for all of this,” Payton insisted. “It sounds… Well, it sounds too bizarre to come up with, but that doesn’t mean that it’s true.”

“And we can provide you with whatever proof you need.” Sam glowered at him. “We just need your assurance that you’re gonna look into it, and that you’ll do your best to arrest Vlad.”

Payton sighed, looking like he was very much regretting his involvement in this case. Again. “Of course. That’s literally my job, miss Manson. Although I do wonder how you expect us to arrest and contain a ghost.”

“Inventions to restrict his powers exist,” Tucker supplied. “You can probably move to arrest him the normal way, since he won’t be expecting you to know. Use some ghost-proof cuffs and you’ll have him before he realizes.”

“Fine. It’s a deal. I’ll need all evidence you have of his crimes, including witness reports,” Payton instructed, looking like he was trying to get back in control of the situation.

Danny nodded, then pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the Red Huntress. She was one of the people Vlad manipulated, and he straight-up tried to hire her to catch the clone when she escaped.”

Looking he was going to regret asking, Payton nonetheless asked. “I thought the Red Huntress didn’t like Phantom? Or ghosts in general?”

“Misunderstanding,” Danny explained, waving Payton’s concern off with his hand. “We got everything figured out, and she knows of both my identities.”

“Of course,” Payton groaned. “And I’m guessing you know who she is, then?”

“We all do.” Sam grinned at the clearly overworked detective.

The detective only groaned, but didn’t say anything. Danny figured he had a pretty good idea of what the agent was feeling like.

But it was for a good cause.

It took a few days to gather all the evidence the police required. The witness reports alone took a considerable chunk of time, considering the sheer amount of people in Amity Park alone that knew about Vlad’s shady business. Aside from the Fentons (all five of them) and Sam and Tucker, Valerie also had to be included.

And sadly, that was easier said than done, as she needed to reveal her identity for the report to count. After all, a judge wouldn’t just accept the statement of a masked vigilante that no one knew.

Thankfully she trusted Danny’s judgment (and, of course, the judgments of his friends and Jazz) and allowed Payton and his team to know. They were… less than pleased to discover that she, too, was a teenager.

Knowing that it had been Vlad who pushed her into ghost hunting in the first place… Well, that eased their moods a little. Besides, she and Phantom now worked together – and they trusted Danny to keep the people of Amity safe. From ghosts, at least. Human crime… Well, that was their job.

Additionally, there was some trouble with Dani’s witness reports. Law wasn’t exactly made with cloning in mind. Legally, Danielle Fenton didn’t exist.

But then, neither did ghosts.

And Amity Park… Amity Park was used to dealing with the unusual. The impossible. The non-existent.

So, really. Having a ghost and a clone of said ghost testify for the crimes of another ghost… It wasn’t that far out of there.

Most of the people involved who knew enough about the case to know that three of the people involved were ghosts… Well, they were just glad that the ghosts were solving their issues like normal people. Instead of, you know, blasting each other to bits on the streets.

When Danny first heard people mention it, it had been some of the other officers of Payton’s team. People who knew he was a ghost, but who hadn’t been told about his Phantom alter-ego. He immediately thought back of all the times he and Vlad had brawled and burst into laughter.

The officers looked at him like he had gone crazy, eyebrows raised. Between giggles, Danny managed to explain himself. “You- You really don’t know the half of it.”

That hadn’t really explained anything to the cops, but Payton coaxed them back to work before they could question Danny. The detective attempted to glare the boy into behaving himself, but failed once more. Now that he knew what the boy had faced off against, he wasn’t surprised.

Finally enough evidence had been gathered. The cops set out, armed with anti-ghost weaponry and ghost-proof cuffs. A cell had been prepared beforehand, covered by a ghost shield provided by FentonWorks. A special one, they assured, which would hold even the most powerful and skilled of ghosts.

Payton double-checked his gear. Then he gave the start signal, allowing his officers to pour into the mansion.

Within minutes the team returned, guiding Vlad Masters in their middle. The man was dressed, as always, in an impeccable suit. He frowned at Payton when his guides stopped him in front of the detective.

“Sir, with all due respect, but what on Earth is happening here?”

Payton offered the man a lopsided smile. Then in one swift movement he cuffed Vlad’s wrists together, preventing his escape.

“Vlad Masters, also known as Vlad Plasmius, you are under arrest for… Well, for a lot of crimes.” His smile grew a little wider, a little more genuine. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court.”

Vlad’s eyes widened, his gaze shifting between his bound wrists and the police officers surrounding them. Payton ignored him, continuing with his whole rights speech.

“Wait, no,” Vlad pleaded. “You must be mistaken- I have never heard of a name like ‘Plasmius’ before.”

“Save it for court.” Payton shoved the man forward, towards the van that would transport him. Several officers, all armed with ectoplasmic weaponry, would ride with him. The cuffs should prevent him from using his powers to escape, but better safe than sorry.

Then he turned towards the rest of the officers still waiting. He inclined his head towards the mansion that stood before them, looming in the approaching dark.

“Well then, let’s see how many sketchy things we can find in here. Sources say that he has an underground lab hidden, like some kind of supervillain.” He grinned at the crowd of police. “First one to find and enter it without disturbing actual evidence gets a reward.”

He clapped his hands together. “Ready, set. Go!”

And then the officers were off, leaving Payton to observe. The boy had been right. Arresting Vlad had been easy, as the man hadn’t expected them in the slightest.

How clever he thought himself. What a sham.

The Summer vacation hadn’t done much to calm Casper High’s rumor mill. The turbulent arrest of ex-mayor Vlad Masters right after the start of said vacation had spurred on all rumors. Not much was known about it, but that didn’t stop the teenagers. They whittled away, discovered the smallest details. Any slip-ups were gladly accepted and brought into the rumors.

So it wasn’t much of a surprise that they discovered that Danny Fenton had been involved as well. Not as a perpetrator, oh no.

As a victim.

Which, of course, combined well with the previous rumors of him being a ghost. It didn’t take long for the first theories to emerge, suggesting that Vlad was his killer. That he had played a critical role in the death of Danny Fenton.

And so when the school year started, against all odds… The rumors hadn’t died off. Quite the opposite. Even more people than before believed that the boy, now in his final year of school, was a ghost.

So they kept their eyes open for his arrival.

Eventually, their wait was rewarded. The doors of the school opened, and in the opening he stood.

Lanky, with unbrushed but shiny black hair. Icy blue eyes that, ironically, sparkled with life. A surprisingly healthy gloss to his pale skin. A playful but kind smile on his face. For once, he looked well-rested. No bags under his eyes.

Perhaps… Perhaps Vlad Masters really had been responsible for his death. Perhaps Danny Fenton could finally rest easy, knowing that the man was finally arrested.

His outfit was much like the usual.

The girl he had his arm wrapped around… much less so.

She, unlike Danny, looked uncertain. Shaky. A red beanie sat perched on her head, but messy black hair still spilled out of it.

Her eyes, blue as the skies, glanced around the entrance hall with vigor. She looked guarded, like she was expecting someone to suddenly attack her.

She had her hands stuck in the pockets of her oversized blue hoodie. A crease in her brow suggested, however, that said hands were clenched into fists.

Standing right next to Danny Fenton, it was very very clear that she looked almost exactly like him. A little younger, perhaps, but undeniably identical.

The crowd parted the let the two through. But they remained nearby, hovering around the two. Waiting. Watching.

In the end, it was Dash Baxter who decided that he’d had enough. He stepped forward, breaking from the line and into the circle of personal space that had been granted to Danny and his… whoever she was.

“Hey Fenton,” he bit, stressing the last name of the ghostly teen. “Who’s this?”

“Oh hey Dash,” Danny greeted as he turned to face the other boy. He pulled the girl next to him a little closer to his side, drawing a displeased hiss from her. “This is Danielle, or Dani.”

“With an i,” the girl muttered under her breath, barely audible.

“Okaaay.” Dash frowned, looking between the two. “That still didn’t answer my question of who she is.”

“Oh, right.” Danny flapped his free hand. “She’s my dead sister.”

Dash froze up, and sharp intakes of breath could be heard from everywhere in the crowd. “She’s your what?”

“My dead sister,” Danny repeated, finally releasing the girl to reach towards his locker. Then he looked over his shoulder at the crowd and grinned.

And stuck his arm right through the still closed locker door.

“Funny how that works, huh?” he said, with his arm still waving through his locker. He looked like was searching for something without being able to see it.

Dani, meanwhile, seemed to have gotten over her nerves. She leaned back against the lockers, standing right next to Danny. She was still eyeing the crowd, however, a little warily.

Soft mutters could be heard from the crowd, but no one had a real response. Sure, everyone had been convinced that Danny was a ghost. Hell, Dash had even seen the boy go intangible before.

But this was undeniable proof. And it was a lot less feeble than a whiffed punch by a jock.

Finally Dash got his thoughts back in order, though. “So why’s she here now?”

“Well,” Danny hummed as he finally pulled his arm out of the locker again. Held in his hand were several books for school. “You guys all knew I was a ghost anyway, so she didn’t have to hide anymore.”

“So how’re you feeling, dude?”

Danny shrugged at Tucker as he closed his locker, not even bothering to look at either of his friends. “I dunno. Kinda nervous, but not really? If that makes sense?”

Sam hummed from his other side. “Everything should be okay. Principal Ishiyama promised, and so did Lancer, right?”

“Yup,” he confirmed, straightening his backpack. “But still. I guess I am a little worried that people will, y’know, figure it out.”

“Dude, don’t.” Tucker clapped him on the shoulder, grinning widely. “They haven’t figured it out before, and they won’t do it now either.”

Sam nodded. “Right. If anything, life will be easier for you, now that your parents know and the teachers kinda know.”

“Yeah,” Danny sighed. “I guess so. Let’s just get to English before Lancer gets worried or something.”

Right at that moment the bell rung, and the three of them quickly made their way to the English classroom. Mr. Lancer was already inside, sharing a knowing glance with Danny when he entered. Danny nodded, once, before making his way to his seat in the back of the room.

Within minutes the rest of the classroom filled up as well, the rest of the class chattering loudly. Too many people were talking at once for Danny to tell what the conversations were about, but he could guess. The holidays, Easter, gossip.

And, oh yeah. The police investigation regarding his corpse. Still a common topic among the rumors of Casper High.

Mr. Lancer closed the door, coming to a halt in front of his desk. The expression on his face made it clear that he was hoping that the class would quiet down on its own. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

Instead the man cleared his throat, momentarily catching the attention of the class. He glared around, ensuring that the silence would last a little longer. “Please, kids. I know you want to talk with your friends and catch up after the holidays, but you can wait until lunch to do so.”

The students remained silent for a few moments longer, as if processing what their teacher told them.

And then they completely ignored the man in favor of continuing their previous conversations.

Ah, the beauty of high school. Danny was glad that, despite everything that had changed during the last week or so, some things remained the same as always.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Mr. Lancer didn’t feel the same way. His expression had darkened, a frown on his face and his arms crossed in front of him. He was casting his eyes around the classroom, clearly taking in the chaos of the students ignoring him. Danny waved when the teacher looked his way, and Sam and Tucker next to him also remained silent and focused on the teacher. They appeared to be the only ones, however.

Finally Mr. Lancer gave up, slamming his hand against the desk he was standing next to.

“Heart of Darkness people, will you just keep quiet!” The sudden shout had done an excellent job of quieting down the class, as everyone sat frozen in their seats, looking at the teacher. He looked around the class, straightening out his tie with a somewhat sheepish expression his face.

“Ah, yes. Thank you.” He looked around the class once more. “I see that you are all still a little out of it after the break, so perhaps we should ease into our schoolwork, yes? Why don’t we start with a discussion about recent news? Anything particular we could use?”

“Uhm,” Mikey spoke up from the front of the classroom. “Maybe we could talk about the body the police found in the woods?”

“Yeah! Didn’t the police release an official statement about that this morning?” Nathan agreed, nodding energetically.

Mr. Lancer frowned, apparently hesitant about taking up the topic. Maybe he was trying to avoid it for Danny? If that was the case, Danny definitely appreciated the attempt.

Sadly, Lancer couldn’t come up with a reason to deny Mikey’s suggestion. The man sighed before nodding at the student. “Yes, I suppose that would work. Let’s start by summarizing the known facts.” He turned towards Dash, gesturing at the boy. “Mr. Baxter?”

The boy in question jerked to attention, eyes flicking towards Mr. Lancer. Danny had to repress his chuckles at seeing that Dash hadn’t heard anything. “I, uh…”

Lancer rolled his eyes and sighed. “Ms. Sanchez, could you summarize the facts for us, please?”

“Of course,” Paulina chirped, putting down the nail file she was holding. “Not that we have many facts confirmed for us. We’ve known for a while that a body was found in the woods. And earlier this morning, the police officially announced that they have solved the case, but they refuse to give out details.” She clicked her tongue, disapprovingly. “Something about respecting the victim and the family, or whatever.”

Lancer heaved another sigh, but nodded at her. “Yes, thank you. Now that we know the facts-” Lancer continued speaking, but Danny tuned him out thanks to years of practice.

This was going to be a long day.

Danny had been wrong. It wasn’t just a long day, more like a long week. The never-ending rumors about the body found in the woods hadn’t let up, and the new statement given by the police had just rekindled the fires.

And, of course, this made the students of Casper High surprisingly sharp. Only his years of experience at keeping his secret had prevented the school from figuring him out. He made sure to double (and triple) check his environment every time he used his powers, and only transformed into Phantom in closets and empty bathrooms.

Unfortunately, while Danny had become quite skilled at keeping his secrets, well, secret, the same thing couldn’t be said of his teachers. Because, as much as he appreciated them going easy on him, it was also quite obvious.

Well, obvious to the sharp eyes of Casper High’s re-awakened rumor mill, at least.

Naturally, the other students had no problem taking the changed behavior and running with it. Before Danny knew it, rumors about him being a ghost had started circulating, spreading like wildfire.

And he was powerless to stop it.

Really, the only thing he could do was ignore it. Pretend that nothing had changed, in the hopes that it would blow over.

It was dangerous, he knew. Sure, right now they were just high school rumors. But if they kept up, if he in any way suggested that there was a truth to the rumors… Well, eventually the wrong people would find out. And if anyone with any actual power tested him…

Well, he was sure that they would be able to figure out that he was only half ghost. And from there… labs, experimentation, finding out what makes him tick… and how to replicate it. His accident.

Making more human-ghost hybrids.

No, that wasn’t something he could risk. But there was nothing he could do, not now. If he did anything, reacted in any way to the rumors, he would only feed them.

So he could only listen to the rumors as they spread, and try not to do anything to suggest them to be true.

The body that had been found in the woods had been an interesting subject for gossip for a while now, inspiring curiosity among the entire population of Amity Park. And, as the queen of gossip, Paulina had to know every theory, every possibility, and, as proven earlier, every fact.

After the press statement on Monday morning, people had started suggesting that the victim had become a ghost, and that they were still present in the city.

It would make sense, Paulina decided, to withhold information about the case if the victim was still around. And, based on that information, the victim was likely still pretending to be alive. Blending in with the living, at least.

The people in charge would’ve been told. If the victim was a child, or a teenager, like people thought, teachers would’ve been told for sure.

And with all these new possibilities, people had started paying more attention to their surroundings. People acting out, things that didn’t quite make sense.

Which, of course, led to people noticing Danny Fenton.

Sure, the boy had always been different. An outcast, spending most of his high school career outside the classroom, either running late or simply running off. His grades were poor as well, although Paulina had to admit hers weren’t much better either.

But now, after the break, something about Fenton had changed. Not him, nothing about his appearance.

No, what had changed was how the teachers behaved around him.

Fenton was always late, always running off, never finished his homework. And the teachers hated him for it. They scolded him, gave him detention, they tried everything to stop the boy from misbehaving.

But now, suddenly, they were nice to him again.

Sure, most of them were clearly peeved when Fenton ran off or was late. But they weren’t nearly as hard on him as before the break.

And when they thought no one was looking (or sometimes even if there were), the teachers looked… sad, for lack of a better word. Like something about Fenton upset the teachers, but in a different way than before.

Combined with the new rumors that there was a ghost living among the people… Well, it was easy to connect the dots for the gossipers of Casper High.

Paulina wasn’t sure who started the rumors, but quite honestly, she doesn’t care. She doesn’t care about the fact that she might be spreading hurtful gossip either.

No, all that mattered to her was that this was a delightful story, and Paulina was more than happy to do her job spreading it.

After all, little Danny Fenton, a ghost? His parents were ghost hunters! What a beautiful contradiction, a fantastic irony.

Paulina didn’t hold very high opinions of the adult Fentons. Nor of the children, but that was something else entirely.

No, the two ghost hunting Fentons were clearly not in their right minds. Even if they were right about ghosts, they always targeted Phantom! Her ghost-boy, who wouldn’t hurt a single human!

And as for the matter of Danny’s death… Well, she wouldn’t consider it impossible if the parents had been responsible, somehow. Maybe not on purpose, but…

Well, maybe on purpose. Perhaps catching a ghost turned out to be so difficult that they just made one.

Maybe… Maybe Danny had been the first ghost in Amity. Maybe that was why Phantom always seemed to follow him. Her ghost-boy was just looking out for his fellow ghost.

It could even be tradition, for ghosts! To look out for younger ghosts, like a parent over a child.

She thought that that would be perfectly in-character for her beautiful Phantom. To protect a ghost from his own ghost-hunting parents.

Yes, that seemed right. That is what she would spread. Her influence on these rumors, her own twist.

At first, Dash thought that the new rumors were kinda funny. Like, “haha, the freaky ghost hunters’ kid is a ghost” funny.

But then he listened to some of the other kids debate and argue, and, well. They raised some excellent points.

He had thought that it was a joke. But maybe, maybe, there was a truth to the rumors.

And that unnerved him in a way he couldn’t explain. Not just because of his poor grades, because he didn’t have the words for it. No, he couldn’t explain it because it was something visceral. A feeling beyond description, beyond words.

Because if Fenton was a ghost, what did that mean for Dash? If Fenton was a ghost, something must’ve killed him, right? And Dash… Dash bullied the kid a lot. Almost constantly, really. And for the stupidest reasons.

Fenton had never seemed suicidal to Dash, sure. But Dash had also never considered the possibility that Fenton had, at some point, died. And now, watching the boy react to Dash’s threats… He could imagine missing it. The reactions weren’t quite genuine, like Fenton had seen worse.

And Dash had never noticed until now. So, sure, he could’ve missed Fenton going suicidal as well. Hell, he could have easily missed the entire arc, from the kid feeling suicidal to ending it and then coming back, without ever picking up on it.

But Dash refused to believe it to be the truth. No matter how convincing the arguments of some of the smarter kids were, how much sense it would make. Because Fenton couldn’t be dead. Not really.

Dash couldn’t- Dash refused to consider it. Because if Fenton was dead, he could’ve been the reason for it. And that surely wasn’t the case. He was a bully, sure. But it was just harmless fun. A few bruises at worst.

Not this. Not death.

So, sure. He played along, laughed with the others. But he refused to believe it to the truth. Even if Fenton was always pretty cold to the touch.

Even if Fenton sometimes got out of his locker way faster than humanly possible. As if the boy could just phase out of it.

Even if Fenton could somehow stuff Dash’s locker with toilet paper without ever opening the locker.

Or being seen.

No. Dash refused to believe it. Fenton wasn’t a ghost, and he wasn’t dead.

Dash was sure of it.

Danny was freaking out.

Well, Sam thought to herself, bitterly. When is he not freaking out, these days? But she couldn’t blame him. Life had been beyond stressful for Danny ever since he became half-ghost. And the whole business with the police finding his body and assuming that he was a full ghost… Well, it was a whole mess.

And now, when things were finally starting to look up, life had kicked him down again. Finally things had been fixed, the police weren’t on his ass anymore, his parents knew and accepted him, and even the teachers would be going easy on him.

But unfortunately, Casper High’s rumor mill had done a scarily accurate job of targeting Danny. Because they thought that he was a ghost, that it was his body that had been found in the woods.

And god, they were right. They didn’t know it yet, didn’t have any actual proof. But they didn’t have to to freak out Danny. And the more stressed out he became, the more his inner turmoil was fed… The easier it was for him to slip up, to miss something obvious.

To give their fellow students the one final clue they needed.

Sam dreaded it too, of course. She needed her best friend to stay safe, to stay out of trouble. But there was nothing she could do to prevent this situation.

Except…

Except maybe it wasn’t all bad. Sure, she wouldn’t promote the idea of Danny being a ghost… But maybe it would have some upsides.

Yes. This could work. This was something she could do, a way for her to support Danny.

But, just to be sure, she should talk to Tucker about it. And Jazz, if the girl wasn’t too busy with college at the moment.

Sam smiled to herself. Finally, finally, she had a way to help Danny through this mess.

Against all expectations, Danny’s cold had worsened even further overnight. He had woken up on Thursday with his bed frozen solid. He quite honestly wasn’t sure how he hadn’t noticed until his alarm had woken him up.

His parents decided that with his symptoms worsening it would be safest if he remained home. Danny wasn’t sure if they were thinking about his safety, or his classmates’, but he agreed either way.

Unfortunately, the knowledge that it likely was a new power didn’t make it any easier for them to fix it. They spend all of Thursday trying to find ways for him to actually use the power. They tried everything, every iteration of ice powers they could think of. Tucker had even looked up any comic superheroes with ice powers to see if Danny could mimic them.

It was on Friday that he woke up with the tips of his hair frozen and frost crawling along his walls. It had, thankfully, mostly stuck to his room, so the others hadn’t suffered too much.

At the breakfast table, he had been loudly complaining about the fact that he didn’t know any ghosts with ice powers outside of Klemper, so he couldn’t ask for help.

And then he had remembered the Far Frozen.

After repeatedly slamming his head into the table and complaining about his own stupidity, he had told his parents about Frostbite and his yetis. They hadn’t been thrilled to hear that Danny and his friends had visited the Ghost Zone, multiple times, but they decided to focus on the problem at hand. For now.

Frostbite himself had been more than accommodating, gladly training Danny with his new power. Warned that his new power might be a little… dangerous, at first.

Danny had heeded the warning, and made sure his parents were kept away.

They hadn’t been too pleased, of course, but after Frostbite’s people had led them into a ghostly medical facility… Well, they hadn’t wanted to let the opportunity to learn more about ghosts slip by. Besides, the opportunity to learn more about ghostly medicine could be useful to help Danny, as well.

It took Danny a little while to get better control over his ice powers, but Frostbite’s guidance helped. By the end of the day, Frostbite declared him capable enough to finish training at home.

By the time Monday rolled around, Danny had more or less gotten control over his new ice powers. Well, he had enough control over them not to accidentally freeze himself anymore.

So he was thus declared fit for school. Again.

Unfortunately, his new cryokinesis seemed to have permanently lowered his body temperature. It wasn’t very noticeable, except if people touched him. Or so they said. Danny himself couldn’t tell the difference, honestly.

It wasn’t great, but not the worst, either. Danny thought that it was an improvement over earlier, at least. Now at least he wasn’t as cold as a corpse. Or a full ghost. Just… a little too cold for a living human being. That was fine. He could work with that.

His return to school… wasn’t great. As he had feared, Dash had helped spread along the rumors of his ghostly nature. And his absence of several days hadn’t helped his case either.

So the moment Danny stepped through the doors of Casper High, a heavy silence fell. The crowds just watched, a few quietly whispering to each other. Danny couldn’t tell what they were saying, but he didn’t have to. He was pretty sure he already knew.

Still, with a skill borne from many years of practice, Danny ignored the now-silent crowd. He made his way to his locker, the people around him parting to let him through. Vaguely, Danny wondered why. If they believed him to be a ghost, wouldn’t it make more sense to stand in his way? So he would have to turn intangible to go through them?

Maybe they didn’t want to anger him, then. That made some amount of sense, at least, considering the type of ghosts Amity was familiar with. Maybe Dash had even bolstered the rumors, saying that Danny had attacked him Wednesday. That sounded like something the bully would do, to hide the fact that he hurt himself with his own stupidity.

Not that that helped Danny any, but still. He would take any positives he could find, considering the circumstances.

He calmly unlocked his locker, going through business as usual. Completely ignored the crowd that had formed. Of course, his fellow students didn’t like that.

They all believed the rumors, even before Dash had told them he had seen Danny use his ghostly abilities. So now they wanted to see it with their own eyes. Wanted proof of Danny’s ghostly nature.

Proof that Danny didn’t want to give them.

He finished packing his bag as the warning bell rung. He turned to walk to the classroom.

The crowd didn’t move. A few stragglers went off to their classrooms, but apparently the majority thought that this was more important than class. Were willing to risk detention, just to see if Danny really was a ghost. Or maybe they just thought that Danny would cave before the lessons actually started.

Either way, they had formed themselves into a rather impressive obstacle. Danny internally complained about the fact that neither Sam nor Tucker had their lockers nearby. They would probably notice the crowds and come looking for him, but he wasn’t sure how long that would take.

Not very long, he silently decided as he saw people in the crowd getting shoved aside. So Sam, probably. Even after years of ghost hunting, Tucker wasn’t the most physically impressive person.

A person finally burst out of the crowd, the people along the edge stumbling away from her.

Danny raised an eyebrow. “Hey Va-”

She had grabbed his arm before he finished speaking, bodily dragging him through the gathered students.

Once they emerged from the group of teenagers, she released him again. He shot her a thankful smile. “Uh, thanks?”

“Yeah, no problem.” She shrugged, suddenly looking a lot more uncertain than Danny had ever seen Valerie. “I, uh. Figured you needed a hand, after hearing the rumor mill go wild.”

“And my absence hasn’t helped, I imagine.” Danny grimaced, shouldering his backpack properly. “We should… probably head to class.”

Valerie nodded, although Danny wasn’t sure which of a statements it was an answer to. Both, probably. “You know what also hasn’t helped your status? Dash saying that you beat him up using ghost powers.”

Danny snorted. “Beat him up? I didn’t even do anything. He just freaked out, and then tried to punch me, and I did… Well, I did the same thing as during our last conversation, when you tried to punch me.”

“Wait.” Valerie turned to face him again. “You’re saying that you accidentally fed the rumor mill because Dash tried to punch you? Despite the fact that he’s been doing so for years?”

“Oh, no, no.” Danny raised his hands placatingly. “He had already figured it out. I kind of… had trouble with a new ability, which is why I was out the rest of the week.”

“That makes more sense. But still, just a little intangibility wouldn’t have freaked him out so bad, would it?”

“Well,” Danny said, grimacing again. “I think I hurt his pride a little. He sort of… hit the lockers behind me, when he tried to punch me?”

“Yeah, that sounds like Dash alright. Defeated by a non-violent ghost and a row of lockers.” Valerie rolled her eyes but smiled at Danny. “Although I have to say that I am curious about this new power of yours.”

Danny hummed, noncommittally. They had almost reached the classroom. This private conversation had to end soon. “I can tell you all about it during lunch, if you want? About… ghostly stuff in general?” He didn’t think that she would accept, but he wanted to offer anyway. If Valerie eased up on her no-ghosts policy, or if his knowledge could help keep her and Amity safe…

“Yeah,” Valerie agreed, snapping Danny out of his thoughts again. “That sounds good.”

They had reached the door of the classroom, stepping through it as the bell rung. As they made their ways to their seats, Danny mouthed at Valerie, ‘see you at lunch’.

Danny had taken one look at his usual table before he had walked outside. Yes, it was barely spring, but Valerie could bundle up. He had noticed over the past few days that the cold didn’t really bother him anymore, which he assumed to be a side-effect from his new ice powers.

Besides, no one else was stupid enough to sit outside while it was still so cold. They were practically guaranteed privacy.

Valerie apparently hadn’t thought of it that way, based on the way her face was twisted in anger. She sat down with force, practically growling at them. “Why-”

“We kind of needed privacy, Val. And with the rumors being what they are...” Danny shrugged at her. He knew she was smart enough to know what he was trying to say.

She kept up the glare for a little longer before sighing, her shoulders sagging immediately. “Alright, fine. I guess you have a point.” She unzipped her bag, pulling out her lunch. “So… Where are Sam and Tucker?”

“Inside,” Danny said, grabbing his own lunch. “I figured you would be more comfortable if it was just the two of us.”

She stared at him, as if trying to judge his intentions. Then she sighed and nodded. “Fair enough. Anyway, to get back to the point…” She cocked an eyebrow. “You mentioned a new power?”

“Uh, yeah.” He silently wished he hadn’t mentioned it, earlier. If he showed her his ice powers, then Phantom couldn’t be seen suddenly wielding cryokinesis. Valerie would definitely connect the dots, and Danny wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. “It’s…” Think, Fenton, he pushed himself. Come up with a good idea… How do you cover for ice powers? Oh, duh.

“I can’t trigger it on purpose, but it’s a ghost sense. Like a build-in ghost scanner.” He smiled at her, hoping that she would buy it.

“Really?” she asked, leaning forward. “That’s pretty convenient.” She let the silence linger for a little longer as she sat back again. Finally she spoke again. “Do ghosts often spontaneously develop new powers?”

It wasn’t as innocent a question as Valerie was pretending, but Danny didn’t mind. If Valerie knew more about ghosts, actual proper information, it would help her. “Not usually, no. Usually they have a set list of abilities, and developing a new one is coupled with a major shift in power.” He smiled a little sheepishly at her. “We’re… not sure what made me develop a new one so suddenly.”

“Huh.” Valerie frowned, and took a bite of her lunch. Danny did the same, after checking that his lunch hadn’t been ectoplasmically tainted. Sure, the ectoplasm didn’t hurt him anymore, but that didn’t mean it was tasty. And it’s not like he needed the extra ectoplasm, either.

Valerie kept watching him, and Danny was starting to feel a little uneasy under her unwavering stare. He wasn’t sure what to say, however.

Finally, Valerie was the one to break the silence. “Do ghosts… Is it normal for ghosts to eat?” She grimaced, like she realized that the question sounded ruder than she had intended.

“Some do, some don’t.” Danny shrugged, shooting her an easy smile, showing that he didn’t mind her unintentional rudeness. “Pretty sure most ghosts don’t need to, since they can get their energy from the Ghost Zone. But a lot of ghosts that died recently still like to eat.” Then he raised his sandwich in example. “Personally, I kinda need to eat to keep up my energy levels, since I don’t really spend time in the Zone.”

“That… makes sense,” Valerie agreed, nodding. “I can’t imagine just not eating anymore, especially if I’m around other people.” She fingered the bracelet on her wrist, twisting it around a few times. “Do you… Are you uncomfortable talking about… these kind of things?”

“Depends,” Danny said, making a face. “I don’t mind, per se. But some people...” He shivered for show, but then smiled at her. “But I’m fine with, well,” he gestured around vaguely, “this. Talking about it with you.”

“Really?” Valerie raised an eyebrow at him. “Even though I’m a ghost hunter?”

“Val, you’re my friend. Besides, you’ve already told me that you don’t mind, well, me. And you wouldn’t have dragged me out of that crowd this morning if you had changed your mind.”

“True.” She sighed, shoulders sagging down even further. “It’s just… This whole time, I’ve been driven by… by anger, by hatred. I told myself that all ghosts are evil, and that they didn’t deserve to exist. Not in Amity Park. And now...” She looked at him, forlorn.

“And now I’ve diverted from that, huh?” He sighed too. “I can’t help you with the anger, with your motivation for hunting. But, if you want to keep it up… I can teach you more about ghosts?”

“Really?” Valerie leaned forwards, curiosity clear on her face. “You would… do that? For me?”

“Of course.” Danny shoved the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, and twisted around to sit more comfortably. “I’ll tell you more about whatever you want to know, provided that I actually know it.”

“But?” Valerie asked, catching onto the silent hook. She sat back again, crossing her arms.

“But,” Danny pressed, “I want you to hear me out about Phantom. I don’t know what, exactly, you have against him, and I don’t care. I’m not gonna try to change your mind. I just want you to listen to my perspective, as a ghost. Okay?”

Valerie frowned, and they sat in silence for a bit. Then she sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I guess I can do that.” She uncrossed her arms again, laying them on the table between them. “But only because I trust you, Danny.”

He grinned at her. “Appreciate it. So, where should we start?”

Valerie didn’t answer immediately, clearly thinking her answer over. Danny let her. No need to push her, as long as she would allow him to talk about Phantom later. He only hoped that she would listen, would understand.

“How about… Why do ghosts come into Amity Park so often?” Her gaze was calculating, but not in a cold way. Danny could always appreciate how focused Valerie was, even if he was often the target of said focus.

“Well, there’s a number of reasons, really.” He made a face. “For ghosts who just want to visit the human plane, Amity is an easy way out because of the Fenton Portal, and because natural portals open up a lot around here. As for why they would want to leave the Zone...” he trailed off, thinking over his options.

“Well, it’s not exactly a cheery place. I imagine it gets boring pretty quick, if you spend your entire afterlife there. And that’s not even mentioning the ghosts with, y’know, actual plans and stuff.”

“Do you know a lot of them?” Valerie asked. “Ghosts, I mean.”

Danny shrugged. “I know a good number by name and appearance, but then, who doesn’t? If you’re asking for ghostly friends… A couple, but none of them come here. It’s kind of… dangerous.”

“Oh.” Now Valerie looked troubled. “So if they don’t come here… How did you meet them?”

Danny bit his lips, considering his options. “Well, most of them have come here before. Wulf and Dora have both… caused trouble, in the past. But they were forced to. Frostbite I met while exploring the Zone.”

“None of those sound familiar to me. Could you… tell me who they are?” She looked doubtful, but in true Valerie fashion, powered through nonetheless. “So I can… avoid hunting them?”

Danny blinked, somewhat surprised. He hadn’t expected Valerie to change her mind so easily, and about ghosts she hadn’t even met yet. “Uh, sure? Although I doubt that you’ll ever come across any besides maybe Wulf. Dora and Frostbite both run kingdoms in the Zone, so even besides the danger, they can’t really leave. Wulf, though… He just kind of goes wherever. He’s… Well, he’s a giant bipedal wolf, basically.” Danny shot her a smile at her stunned face. “Big, very furry, black with green eyes. Kinda slobbery. Oh,” Danny snapped his fingers. “And he only speaks Esperanto.”

“How did you even… How did you befriend him?” Valerie looked rather stunned.

“Tucker speaks Esperanto, so he could translate for me. As for why, well. Kind of an ‘enemy of my enemy’ kinda deal, at least at first.” He shrugged.

“You have… enemies? Wait, does that mean you can fight?” Now she really looked perplexed. Whoops.

“I have… some. Walker is a real big jerk, but luckily he doesn’t leave the Zone very often.” Danny grimaced. “He runs a prison in the Zone, but he makes up his own rules and then arrests you for breaking them. I, uh. May have gotten myself arrested.”

“Danny,” Valerie groaned, laying her head on the table. “How?”

“Well, one of his favorite made-up rules is that apparently ‘real world’ items aren’t allowed in the Zone. And while cleaning the lab I kind of… knocked my parents’ anniversary gift through the Portal, so I went to retrieve it.” Danny scowled, crossing his arms and leaning them on the table. “Walker caught me and arrested me for my troubles.”

“Wow, he is a jerk. Has he ever come into Amity?” Danny recognized the fury burning in Valerie’s eyes, and was rather glad to see it aimed at someone other than him, for once. Besides, Walker deserved it, unlike most of her targets.

“Yeah, once. Him and a bunch of his minions were responsible for the first ghost invasion, overshadowed a bunch of people around the city. Phantom tried to fight him off, but Walker was overshadowing the major, and… Well, you know what happened after that.”

“You mean… when Phantom kidnapped the major?” Valerie was frowning at him, now, thoughtful. “Did- Was he framed? By another ghost?”

“Yup,” Danny said, nodding. “From what I saw, Walker grabbed Phantom and dragged him outside. I could tell that the major was overshadowed, but, well… Not much I could do with that knowledge.”

“No,” Valerie agreed, before groaning. “And I guess that the robberies had an actual reason, too?”

Danny snorted, ignoring the icky feelings he got whenever he thought of that. The feeling of losing control over his own body, over himself, like that… He still wasn’t over it. “Correct. The ringleader of that goth circus thing, he had a staff that could control ghosts. Phantom tried to fight off a few robbing ghosts, got himself dragged into the business as thanks.”

“Oh,” Valerie muttered. “I guess… I guess that I was maybe a little too quick to judge.”

“Maybe so. But, Val, everybody makes mistakes.” He leaned forward with a smile. “That’s just what makes us human, y’know?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She cracked a smile. “Thanks, Danny.”

She opened her mouth to say more, but the bell rung and cut her off. She turned to look at the school, and then sighed. “Guess we better get back to class. But seriously, thanks.” She shouldered her backpack, then shot him another smile. “And, I’m here for you. No matter what. Okay?”

The ghost scanner went off, and Valerie barely restrained a groan. She had really hoped to work on her homework for once.

Briefly she considered just leaving the ghost to Phantom. Her talk with Danny, combined with her talk with Phantom a little over a week ago, had settled her mind on the ghost boy. She had grown increasingly convinced that he wasn’t as malevolent as she had previously assumed. And so she was sure she could trust him to protect the city.

But then she caught the reading of her scanner. One fairly strong ghost nearby, with another approaching quickly. Her scanner made quick work of determining the first one: Skulker, a hunter-type ghost who regularly haunted Amity.

She didn’t need her tech to tell her that the second was Phantom, racing over from wherever he was when he wasn’t fighting.

Sure, Phantom could probably handle this himself. But Skulker had made it to Elmerton, where people weren’t quite as used to fleeing from ghost attacks. And the hunter had a bad habit of firing missiles and other weaponry, which were dangerous for onlookers.

Before she had fully considered it, Valerie had suited up and launched herself out of her window. If anything, this would be a good opportunity to offer Phantom another truce. A more permanent one, maybe. They had worked together against Skulker before, after all.

It wasn’t hard to find the fight. In the slowly decreasing light, the flashes of bright green were easy to spot. Apparently Phantom had made it to Skulker before her. Valerie wondered for a moment how quickly Phantom could fly, but dismissed the thought almost immediately. She had to focus on the fight.

Skulker was focused entirely on Phantom, who was zipping through the sky, dodging shots. Neither of them had seen Valerie approach. She smirked to herself, and quietly readied a gun. What kind of shitty hunter didn’t watch their environment?

The pink blast hit Skulker in the wing, badly damaging it and causing him to falter mid-air. His shots went wide, giving Phantom a chance to break away as well.

“Who-!” the metallic ghost whirled around, readying his gun to shoot Valerie back. She kept her stance steady, ready to dart out of the way if he fired.

And then a green blast hit Skulker’s other wing.

“Hey tin can, don’t forget about me!” Phantom jeered, as another blast was building up in his hand.

Skulker growled wordlessly, unable to keep an eye on both enemies at once. Apparently he decided that Phantom was the bigger threat, however, since he fired his shot at the other ghost. Phantom, in turn, dodged effortlessly.

Valerie fired another shot into Skulker’s back to teach him for forgetting about her.

“You little-” the ghost started, but he never got to finish as Phantom landed another blast, this time hitting Skulker’s neck. A dreadful snap sounded, and suddenly Skulker’s body went limp as his head disconnected.

Phantom zipped in and caught the head, as Valerie froze in shock. Sure, maybe ghosts didn’t work the same way as humans, but she had never seen Phantom do anything this ruthless. He decapitated another ghost!

And to make matters worse, the ghost boy stuck his hand inside the neck of the other ghost. What the fuck was he doing?

“Ah ha!” Phantom exclaimed, pulling his hand back and dropping the metal head.

And in his hand was… another ghost? Small and green and squirmy, it was clearly trying to escape from the teenage ghost holding it.

“Let go of me!” it yelled, its voice strangely high-pitched. “Let go of me, whelp! I am Skulker! Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter!”

Oh. That was… an unexpected twist. Maybe she had judged Phantom a little too quickly. Again.

“Yeah, yeah.” Phantom looked as bored as he sounded. With the hand that had previously been holding the head, he grasped the Thermos strapped to his belt. “Just get in the Thermos already.”

And then in a flash the squirmy ghost was gone. Phantom lowered himself to the ground, and sucked the body (suit?) up as well. And then he turned to look at her.

“Hey Red, thanks for the help. He didn’t hit you, right?”

“Uh, no.” She lowered herself a little as well, and watched as Phantom came up to her level again. “He was too focused on you to fire at me.”

Phantom apparently picked up on her silent distress, because he frowned at her. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, sorry. It’s just...” She wasn’t sure what to say. How do you tell a ghost that you thought that it violently attacked and decapitated another ghost?

“You didn’t know that it was just a suit, did you?” Phantom laughed. He laughed. “Don’t worry, I had a similar reaction the first time I saw his suit get wrecked.”

“Oh.” Valerie slumped in a little, relieved. “How come I never noticed before, then?”

“Coincidence, I think.” Phantom shrugged, clipping the Thermos back onto his belt. “I usually try to destroy the suit instead of sucking it up, so he’ll take longer to come back. But we’re in the middle of the city, and sometimes he packs them with explosive weaponry. Don’t want to risk causing unnecessary damage.”

“That… makes sense.”

Valerie allowed the silence to linger for a moment. Then she remembered her intentions to make up for her earlier behavior towards Phantom.

“Actually, I, uh. Wanted to talk to you.”

“Again?” Phantom questioned, quirking a brow at her. “Is it related to you helping me fight Skulker instead of shooting me down as well?”

Valerie grimaced, glad that her helmet hid her expressions from the ghost. “Uh, yeah. I… was wrong about ghosts. About you.”

“Really?” Phantom grinned at her, a genuine smile on his face. Valerie wasn’t sure if she had ever seen the ghost with a smile that wasn’t shit-eating or a smirk before… but she kind of liked it.

“Yeah.” She nodded. “And… I’m sorry. For, y’know, shooting you. And blaming you for everything that has happened to me.”

“You don’t know how much that means to me.” But Valerie was pretty sure she did know. Phantom’s expression was a pretty clear indicator. He would’ve made a pretty terrible poker player. Or actor, for that matter. Why did she ever think otherwise?

But then the ghost sighed, closing off again. “And I would love to talk about it more. But...” He glanced upwards, at the steadily darkening sky. “I have somewhere I need to be. Can we… meet up again? Tomorrow, maybe?”

Valerie blinked, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to forgive her this easily. Heavens know she wouldn’t have, if she had been in his shoes.

“Uh, sure? When, and where?”

Phantom shrugged. “Somewhere private, definitely. And after you’re done with school?”

“The abandoned warehouses near the docks, then?” And then her brain processed the second part of his sentence, and her expression darkened. “Wait a minute, how do you know when I’m done with school?”

Phantom snorted. “I spend a lot of time near the school because ghosts keep attacking it, so I have a pretty good idea when people get out. And I can wait for you at the docks, you can find me with your scanner, right?”

“That’s… fair.” He was right, of course. Ghosts attacked the school constantly. Even if Phantom stayed away outside of attacks, which she kind of doubted, he still would’ve picked up on their schedules. “So the warehouses, after school?”

“Yeah,” Phantom agreed, with a nod. Then he glanced at the sky again and grimaced. “And I really gotta get going. See you tomorrow, Red.”

And with a short wave he launched himself away, racing upwards and towards Amity. Valerie watched him go, but soon lost track of him.

He could definitely out-fly her hoverboard.

Valerie’s hoverboard hummed quietly as she flew towards the docks. She wasn’t going very fast, instead using the quiet time to think.

The whole day, her meeting with Phantom had hung over her. She couldn’t predict him, didn’t know what he wanted or why.

She had also spend more time with Danny. She wanted to make sure that he was okay, that no one was bothering him. She couldn’t imagine being a ghost, and she definitely couldn’t imagine having to live with such rumors. She was sure she would’ve gone crazy the first week, if it had been her.

Hanging with Danny… was surprisingly nice. Sam and Tucker were with him, of course, as usual. But for once, they weren’t hostile to her.

And she understood why they had been, of course. They all knew that she was a ghost hunter, and Danny was a ghost. They were simply trying to protect their friend.

Their friend, who very stupidly befriended a ghost hunter.

She wondered if his lack of self-preservation was a ghost thing, or if Danny had always been like that. Because she could very easily imagine him getting himself killed, doing things like this.

But she appreciated it. Danny was a fantastic friend, unlike her ‘friends’ from the A-List. And Sam and Tucker were clearly warming up to her as well, now that she was protecting Danny’s secret too.

Valerie broke out of her thoughts at the sound of her ghost scanner. She had arrived at the docks already, and her scanner had picked up Phantom’s presence. She followed the trail to one of the abandoned warehouses.

Hovering over the somewhat rickety roof, Valerie didn’t have to wait long for Phantom to show. He faded into visibility almost instantly, posture only slightly tense.

“Hey Val,” Phantom greeted her, a soft smile on his face. She squashed her automatic response, which was to reprimand him for using her name, and instead smiled back. Then she remembered that she was wearing a helmet, and retracted it back into her suit.

“No plans to get to today?”

“Nothing for the moment.” Phantom shrugged. Then he lowered himself, his white boots soundlessly touching down on the roof. “Well, besides this, of course.”

“Right.” Valerie made to follow his example, but took another look at the roof and decided against it. Instead she disengaged the locks on her boots and sat down on the board. “So, Phantom… How do you feel about a truce?”

“Pretty good,” Phantom said, his smile widening. “Although I wouldn’t mind working together more often, either. We made a pretty good team against Skulker yesterday.”

“True.” But there were complications with that plan. Things that Phantom clearly hadn’t considered, being a ghost and all. “And I don’t mind working together, but… I have a busy life, Phantom. I can’t go out and hunt ghosts all day, y’know?”

Phantom’s smile fell some, and he sighed. “No, I get it. But we can work together without actually fighting together. Share responsibility over the weaker ones, and work together to fight the stronger ghosts.”

“That… could work.” But she would prefer it if Phantom took care of all the weak ghosts. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, and she had work and school to focus on. “But Phantom… I have other responsibilities too. I’m already doing bad enough in school as-is.”

“And I’m not?” Phantom retorted with a frown, crossing his arms.

What? But he couldn’t… Phantom couldn’t go to school, could he? Even if the ghosts have some sort of school in the Ghost Zone, Phantom spent too much time in the regular world to attend. And he couldn’t go to a human school either. Although he is very human in appearance, he has also become far too recognizable.

Unless… he uses some sort of disguise? But the only school near Amity Park is Casper High, and a disguise wouldn’t protect Phantom from her scanners.

But Phantom sighed and snapped her out of her thoughts again. “Sorry. You’re right, you do have more responsibilities than me.” He had turned away from her, but she could see the tense lines of his muscles. Or, what passed as his muscles. She wasn’t sure if ghosts had them.

“Wait, hang on. What did you mean? Are you… saying that you go to school too?”

Phantom turned back to face her again, frown still on his face. Or again, maybe. She couldn’t be sure.

“I- Yeah.” He unfolded his arms, then started rubbing the back of his neck. The gesture was familiar to Valerie, but she couldn’t immediately place it. “I kind of… wanted to talk about that, too.”

“How so?” She was still studying him, trying to place where she had seen that neck rubbing before.

But before she figured it out, Phantom dropped his hand again. “I’ll… show you. It’s easiest.”

“Show me what, Phantom?” She was getting worried now. What did he want to tell her about that would be easier to show her? How could that be anything but bad?

A spark burst from Phantom’s waist, suddenly, and Valerie almost fell off her board in surprise. She was about to reengage her helmet again, but then she saw that it wasn’t an attack.

Instead, the spark had extended, forming a bright circle of light around Phantom. Then the ring wavered and split in two. The two halos swept across his body, revealing… surprisingly normal clothes. Bare arms.

No ghostly glow.

Phantom had closed his eyes, but when the upper ring passed his hair and dyed it black instead of white… Valerie didn’t need to see his eyes to know their color.

Almost cruelly, her mind took this moment to remind her that when Phantom had first told the media his name… he had included a first name.

He had dubbed himself Danny Phantom.

And now Danny Fenton opened his eyes, looking at her with a mixture of doubt and hope. And Valerie… didn’t know what to think. Felt overcome by all these revelations.

The boy, her friend, smiled sheepishly at her. Raised his hand to rub the back of his neck again.

“Danny,” she whispered, finally. She wasn’t sure what emotions her voice carried, because she didn’t even know which ones she felt.

“Yeah...” he said, nodding slightly. “It’s me. Has been, from the start.” His smile had dropped, but he continued to rub the back of his neck.

“But why? Wait. How?” She tried not to bite out her answers, but her distress made her snappier than usual. Danny must’ve realized, because he didn’t even flinch. Either that, or he had gotten used to her being angry at him.

“I… It’s a long story.” He finally dropped the hand, offering her a shrug. “But long story short, I’m kind of… only half ghost? Phantom is what I actually look like as a ghost. But my core stays in human form, so ghost hunting equipment can pick it up, if it’s strong enough.”

“You’re… half ghost?” Her tone was incredulous, but it couldn’t possibly convey the extend to which she felt it. Surely… he can’t be only half of a ghost? Maybe he was some sort of shapeshifting ghost. Those existed, she knew.

“Yeah. Didn’t realize it at the start, but I kind of… defy the rules of regular ghosts.” He huffed out a breath. “Not that we knew that, of course, so we just thought I died.”

Valerie frowned. “Who is this ‘we’?”

“Sam, Tucker, and I. We were together when I had my accident.” He stayed silent for a moment before he shook his head, like he was shaking off his thoughts. “And everybody else who knows thought I was a full ghost too. Jazz, and… Well, I guess my parents don’t really count, since they were told that I was a ghost, without the connection to Phantom.”

“Wait, your parents didn’t know?” Valerie knew that Danny’s parents weren’t all that good at hunting ghosts, but not to realize that their own son was one… Or, well, half of one, if he was telling the truth.

“Nope,” Danny confirmed, smiling a little. “Like I’ve said before, they couldn’t catch a ghost if it was living under their roof.”

“Oh my god, Danny,” Valerie groaned, burying her head in her hands. “How can you joke about this? Why wouldn’t you tell them?”

“Jazz says it’s a coping mechanism.” Danny’s grin widened, then fell a little. “As for your second question… Well, would you tell your ghost hunting parents that you died and became a ghost?”

“No, I guess not.” Valerie’s shoulders sagged as she lifted her head again. “So I’m guessing that that canine wrecking ball really wasn’t your dog? Because I highly doubt you could’ve kept that thing away from your parents.”

“Cujo? Nah, he’s his own dog.” Danny grimaced a little. “He kept coming to me though. I think because I was the only other ghost around. Wanted me to help find his toy.”

“If he wanted his toy, why did he keep coming back to Axion Labs?” Valerie crossed her arms, sending a mild glare at Danny.

“Because that’s where his toy was, Val.” Danny rolled his eyes. “He used to be a guard dog, I think. He was trained and he was wearing an Axion Labs tag on his collar. After I got him his toy during the second break-in he left, and now he usually stays in the Zone.”

“Oh.” Valerie uncrossed her arms again, studying the boy in front of her. He said that he wasn’t fully a ghost, but she wasn’t sure if she believed that. On the other hand, if his parents believed it, maybe there was some truth to it. What did he say again? That he defied the rules of regular ghosts?

“How did you convince your parents that you weren’t a full ghost?”

“Huh?” Danny asked, startled. Apparently he hadn’t expected her to go back to that topic. “Oh, uh. Regular ghosts don’t need to breathe or eat, and they don’t have a heartbeat.” He shrugged. “There’s more, of course, but those are the basic things.”

That… made sense. She had seen some ghosts breathe before, but they usually stopped if they dropped their human disguise. Phantom, however, she had definitely seen breathing. At the time she had thought that it was part of his plan to fool the town on how ‘human’ he was… But he really was human. Or partly, at least.

“Can I…” she trailed off before she finished her sentence, uncertainly holding out a hand. Danny understood anyway, since he held out of own hand, angling it so she could easily grasp his wrist.

She called her armored gauntlets back, gently holding Danny’s wrist in one hand and putting down the bare fingers of the other. The heartbeat that greeted her was slow, slower than normal for a human… But it was strong. Steady. Undeniable, despite the cold of Danny’s flesh.

Valerie didn’t know what to say. What to think. What to do. It was like it was Danny’s sole goal in life to constantly throw everything in her life upside-down.

But… it had always ended up better for his involvement. Sure, being poor sucked, but she never would’ve made friends with Danny otherwise. Would never have started hunting ghosts.

She let go of his hand again, and patted the spot next to her on the hoverboard. Danny took the silent cue, and sat down next to her.

“So. Now what?”

Valerie huffed out a laugh. “You’ve asked that already. And my answer stays the same.” She offered him a shaky smile, but one she poured as much of her heart into as she could. “We’re friends, Danny. Anything I could’ve blamed you for, you’ve already made up for.”

“Oh. That’s… good.” Danny sat back, leaning on his hands. “I’m glad to hear so. I was… worried.”

“That I would be upset?” She couldn’t blame him. She had the unfortunate habit of getting angry before thinking things through. “I mean, I am, a little. But you did nothing wrong. I would’ve done the same, I think.”

Then she shoved him a little, laughing. “Actually, no I wouldn’t. Because I definitely wouldn’t have risked my own skin dating a ghost hunter who hated my ghost half.”

Danny looked a little startled at the shove, but then barked out a laugh. “Yeah, Sam and Tucker were pissed about that.”

“I can imagine that. They’re pretty protective of you, and apparently for good reasons.” That boy would’ve gotten himself killed without the two of them, she was sure. Although he had apparently gotten himself halfway there despite their presence. “Guess you’ll just need another bodyguard.”

“Yeah,” Danny agreed, nodding. Then he stopped, suddenly. “Wait, what do you mean?”

“Well, Sam and Tucker are no doubt great at protecting you against human threats, but you need a hand with ghostly threats as well.” She smirked at him. “So I’m offering my services.”

“Yeesh, don’t let them hear you. Sam and Tucker have helped me with countless ‘ghostly threats’ before, you know.” His tone was reprimanding, but the smile on his face conveyed the underlying joke. “But like I said earlier, I wouldn’t mind a hand with patrolling and ghost fighting.”

Valerie nodded and held out her hand. “That’s a deal then, Mr. Phantom.”

Danny rolled his eyes but took her hand anyway. “Definitely. Want to go for a quick patrol right now?”

“You got it.” Valerie grinned as her helmet formed again, before pushing herself upright. The soles of her shoes locked back on the hoverboard with clearly audible clicks.

Danny had jumped off of the board, light washing over him as he dropped down. When Valerie had blinked the dots from her vision again, Phantom floated next to her.

“Ready?” he asked, his normal smirk on his face.

She didn’t answer him, instead shooting off into the sky. Danny yelped but was quick to follow her.

A speaker crackled to life, and the conversation Danny had been having with Sam and Tucker instantly quieted. Principal Ishiyama’s voice suddenly filled the hallways.

“Students, there is a mandatory school assembly during the first class. Attendance will be checked.” The silence lingered for a moment before she repeated the message, and then the crowd started talking again.

“Wonder what that was about,” Tucker mumbled, eyes locked on his PDA.

Danny finished packing his backpack and groaned. “I’ve got the uncanny feeling that it’s about me, somehow.”

“That would be just your luck, yeah.” Sam patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. “And you’ve definitely jinxed it now.”

Danny groaned again, but allowed himself to be distracted by Valerie, who was making her way over to them.“Hey Val,” he greeted her when she was close enough.

“Hey Danny, Sam, Tucker.” She offered them a smile. “You guys know what that assembly is about?”

“Knowing Danny’s luck, it’ll be about him.” Tucker still hadn’t looked up from his PDA. Honestly, what was he even doing on that thing?

“Geez, no wonder you’ve formed such a protective squad.” Valerie grinned, crossing her arms. “I guess even powerful ghosts can be felled by bad luck, huh?”

“Story of my life,” Danny agreed, also grinning. “Also, speaking of my protective squad… Sam?”

“Right.” Sam straightened herself out, then turned to Valerie with a smirk on her face. “Valerie Gray, Red Huntress of Amity Park… Welcome to Team Phantom.”

“Yeah, welcome to the shitshow.” Tucker looked up from his PDA to shoot her a shit-eating grin. Danny considered stealing his PDA as punishment but decided against it. Knowing Tucker, he probably had another on him somewhere.

“You- Team Phantom?” Valerie looked as baffled as she sounded, which was very baffled.

“Well, Jazz suggested the Ghost Getters so…” Danny shrugged. “Team Phantom worked better for us.”

“And-” Sam leaned on Danny’s shoulder, smirk widening. “-the whole point is to keep this guy from getting himself killed.”

“I see.” Now Valerie smiled. “I- Thanks. I’ll do my best.”

Before they could say more, however, the bell rung.

Danny grimaced. “Guess we better head to the assembly.”

“Yeah.” Tucker stuffed his PDA in one of his many pockets. “Anyone wanna take bets on the topic?”

They started heading towards the gym, the only location big enough for the entire school.

Valerie scoffed. “No thanks. Knowing what I do now, I definitely agree that it’ll be about Danny somehow.”

“This is gonna be the death of me,” he groaned. The others didn’t respond beyond rolling their eyes as they made their way through the crowds.

Soon they had found themselves spots, sitting in a straight row. Sam on one end, followed by Tucker, then Danny, and finally Valerie on the other end.

Principal Ishiyama walked up to the stand, tapping the microphone to silence the gathered crowd. As soon as they hushed, she spoke.

“Students. We, the faculty of Casper High, have an important announcement.”

The silence lingered as Ishiyama took a fortifying breath. She looked down, at either her hands or a note, before finally eyeing the crowd of teenagers.

“As we all know, a body was found near Amity Park. The police have recently finished their investigations, although they have not released any information to the public. Despite the lack of proper facts, or perhaps because of it, rumors have started spreading regarding this case. We have no clearance to speak about this case in particular. However...”

She paused again, hesitating in a way that was rather uncharacteristic for her.

“However, we can confirm that a ghost is among our students. We have known for almost a month. The decision to allow them to stay at Casper High was not made lightly, and we have determined that they are no threat to their fellow students. We will not tell you who this student is, and we ask you that if you do know, to treat them with the same respect as any other.”

She folded her hands, staring out across the crowd.

“That was all. Thank you for your time, students. Please return to your normal classrooms, so classes may pick up as soon as possible.”

And Principal Ishiyama disappeared off-stage again, as the teenagers started making their way out of the gym as well.

Tucker elbowed Danny with a grin. “You definitely jinxed it.”

“Good thing that I didn’t take that bet.” Valerie shouldered her backpack and stood up. “You were definitely right about his luck.”

“Thanks,” Danny deadpanned, also getting up. “I swear, there’s gotta be some sort of ghostly deity of fate that hates me.”

“Why a ghostly deity?” Valerie asked as she led the group towards their first class.

“Because we already met the one that controls time.” Tucker wiggled an eyebrow at her as he joined her at the front of their group. “Danny may or may not have picked a fight with him.”

“To be fair,” Danny leaned in a little closer so they wouldn’t be overheard in the busy hallways, “Clockwork started it. And it all worked out in the end.”

Valerie groaned, pressing her hand to her face in distress. “You’re joking. Danny, how?”

“Long story,” he explained with a shrug. “I can tell you later, if you really want to know.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Because you’ve still got a lot of explaining to do, Fenton.” But she offered him a warm smile anyway, and he grinned back.

Disinterred: Holiday - Green Day This is Gospel - Panic! At The Disco Sweetie Little Jean - Cage the Elephant I Hope I Become A Ghost - The Deadly Syndrome Middle Ground - The Dear Hunter Take Me To Church - Hozier String Theory - Les Friction Hope of Morning - Icon For Hire I Bet My Life - Imagine Dragons How Far We’ve Come - Matchbox 20 How Did We Love - Shinedown Firewall - Les Friction Comes and Goes - Greg Laswell Middle Finger - Bohnes Family - Mother Mother

Play Your Part: Lions Inside - Valley of Wolves Trouble - Ether and the Chordtones Emperor’s New Clothes - Panic! At The Disco Paradise Lost - Hollywood Undead Middle Finger - Bohnes Saturn - Sleeping at Last

Danny groaned, slumping into a free seat at the table at the Nasty Burger. Sam and Tucker shared an inquisitive glance with each other, shrugged, and then Sam kicked Danny’s shins. Before he could protest, Tucker cut in with the question they both wanted to ask.

“What’s got you so riled up man?”

Danny glared at Sam, luminescent green bleeding into his blue irises, but huffed out an answer anyway. “The whole thing with that corpse that they found in the woods is what’s up.”

“Danny, you can’t blame yourself for everything criminal that happens in this city,” Sam attempted to soothe him, but her success was rather limited.

“It’s not just that they found that body, it’s...” he trailed off, biting his lip in thought. “The police interviewed the entire Fenton family yesterday. Like, all of us, separately.”

Tucker quirked an eyebrow at the news, and he could see Sam doing the same. Simultaneously they asked, “Why?”

Danny shrugged as the green finally left his eyes. “Dunno. They asked a bunch of standard questions, if we had heard of it and stuff like that. Not sure why they asked us, though.”

Sam’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she snapped her fingers. She looked like she suddenly understood everything. Tucker couldn’t help but nudge her. “Looks like someone figured it out.”

She nodded, and spoke with extreme confidence. “The Accident.”

Tucker frowned at her, and Danny reeled back with a similar expression on his face. “The accident?”

“How is that related to the police interviewing the Fentons to ask about a body buried in- Oh.”

Danny turned to face him, an increasingly agitated expression on his face. “I still don’t get it.”

“Danny, do you remember when you first came out of the Portal?” Sam spoke with a gentle voice, clearly hoping to calm him down.

None of them liked to talk about that day. It was easier to forget about it, to only think of Danny’s powers without remembering their origin.

“Uh, yeah? I came out as a ghost, and we were all really confused because you didn’t realize that I was me, and-” Tucker saw his eyes widen as realization struck. “Oh, crud.”

Seeing the situation spiral downward, Tucker decided that this situation needed some cheering up, stat. He slung an arm over Danny’s shoulders, grinning widely. “See, this is why we call you clueless.” Danny answered with a huff, shoving the arm away again, but didn’t say anything. Tucker could see the corners of his mouth twitch up, though. Mission successful!

Sam rolled her eyes at their shenanigans, but the fond smile on her face told them how she really felt. “Alright, so we’ve established that the body that the police found is probably Danny’s. Now what?”

Tucker shrugged helplessly. Danny groaned and shoved his face back into the tabletop. “Ignore it and hope that the situation resolves itself?”

“Danny.” The chastising tone of voice was rewarded with a groaned “Sam”.

“Seriously dude, they must’ve identified the body already, otherwise they wouldn’t have come to the Fentons. So they’re probably gonna interview you again to figure out how you’re still around if they found your corpse.”

“So then what? Tell them about what happened in the lab that day? Because I doubt that that will go over well.”

“Danny, you’re a teenager. Rebellion is kind of what we’re known for, you know?” Sam supplied. Tucker muttered an “especially you” under his breath and was rewarded with a cutting glare from Sam. Worth it.

The boy in question shrugged. “I don’t know, Sam. You say it like I should just clam up and refuse to answer their questions, but I don’t think that they’ll like that either.”

“Dude, you’ll be fine. If they call you back for more interviews, just evade their questions or something, and we’ll work on a solution for this whole thing. Who knows, maybe they’ll just give up.” Danny’s expression suggested that he didn’t believe it, but Tucker’s apparently-endless confidence seemed to help ease his worries.

“Yeah, and don’t just evade their questions either. Question them back! Ask them why they want to know whatever they’re asking. Make them uncomfortable!” Sam’s eyes lit up with a passionate fire, and Danny cringed back from her.

“I don’t think that I’m comfortable with how excited you are about this whole thing.”

Tucker huffed out a laugh. “Me neither dude, but that’s Sam for you.” The combat boot impacting his shin did little to spoil his mirth.

“So, the plan is for me to be too stubborn to answer their questions, and then hope that they’ll give up or something?”

Sam shrugged at him. “Yeah, basically.”

Danny rolled his eyes, but then nodded, a determined expression on his face. “Alright, let’s do that. If it comes to that. Which it will, because that’s just how my life goes.”

“Yep!” Tucker grinned at him, popping the ‘p’ as he spoke.

Detective Payton watched as the ghost passed by him to enter the interrogation room, and followed suit. He had to admit that the specter was incredibly convincing, both in appearance and in the way it acted.

Unfortunately, that only made his job harder.

Since the last interview his team had gone through every option they could think of to identify if the ghost was Daniel Fenton or not. In the end they had come to the conclusion that there was no way of telling. By now, the specter had spend over two-and-a-half years pretending to be Daniel. There was no knowledge, nothing they could ask for, that the ghost couldn’t have known by now.

They had concluded that the only way was to get him to confirm his existence as a ghost. From there they hoped to find out everything the spirit knew about the death of Daniel Fenton, which in turn could prove whether the spirit was Daniel or not.

The boy sat down in the same chair as last time, shortly glancing at the reflective mirror before settling his gaze on Payton. He then, with a strangely purposeful air about him, laid his arms on the table in front of him, setting down his chin in the palm of one of his hands, eyes half-lidded and with a bored expression on his face.

Payton quirked an eyebrow at the boy, but dismissed the behavior in favor of moving over to the second chair.

“Why did you ask me to come back?” The tone was more petulant than last time, and, combined with the slumped positioning, made the ghost look even more like a stereotypical teenager. Did the ghost suspect that they knew, and was it trying to act more convincingly? Or was he just a teenager acting up?

Cursing his lack of experience with these kind of situations, Payton instead focused on the maybe-teenager to answer his query. “We had more questions to ask you.”

“Yeah? Why couldn’t you have asked them last time?” He raised an eyebrow at Payton, still supporting his head with the arm he had propped on the table. His eyes were half-lidded, but underneath they were sharp.

Payton rewarded the obstinate behavior with a reprimanding glare, but it went unheeded. “The questions are based on a recent development in the case.”

The boy stiffened for a split-second, but before Payton had the chance to react he relaxed again. With a slightly too casual air, the boy shrugged. “Fair enough, but I still don’t see why you’re asking me.”

“As mentioned last time, the case involves a teenager.”

“So?” the boy dismissed, flapping the hand that wasn’t supporting his head in the air. “There are a lot of teenagers in this city. Why am I special enough to get interviewed for this case? And not once, but twice?”

Payton glared at him again, but the ghost once again ignored him. Instead Payton settled for rolling his eyes, resisting the urge to huff in annoyance. “We were already interviewing your parents, so asking you to come the first time was a logical choice. As for this time,” he smirked at the boy, “well, you already know the details of the case that the public can’t know. Better to ask someone to come back than to risk another person with the details, no?”

The boy eyed him with a suspicious frown on his face, but eventually nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. Although I do wonder what kind of details you’ve found that would involve questioning a random teenager that has nothing to do with the case.”

Payton made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Perhaps, mister Fenton, we’re not questioning a random teenager.” He made sure to keep his eyes on the boy as he said it, hoping to catch the split-second reaction.

The ghost flinched, but settled back into his original position so quickly that Payton almost missed it. His eyes remained half-lidded, but his gaze sharpened even further, filled with suspicion.

Payton filed the behavior away as further proof of this ghost knowing about the death of Daniel Fenton, even if he wasn’t directly involved.

“Oh yeah?” the boy asked, his voice a mix of skepticism and accusation. “What are you trying to say? That I’m somehow involved in the death of a kid my age?”

Turning around to watch the boy via the reflection in the window, Payton hummed. “Maybe we are.”

The ghost snorted, finally pulling himself into a more upright position, an incredulous expression on his face. “You’re joking. I thought you guys thought a ghost was responsible, not a frigging 14-year old.”

“I never said that we suspected you to be the one responsible.” Payton turned back around to face him. “Unless you’re claiming otherwise?”

“What, no! Of course I didn’t kill anybody!” the boy spluttered, frown melting off of his face in favor of confusion. “But if you’re not accusing me of being responsible, and I obviously can’t be the victim because I’m not dead, then what do you suspect me of?”

Payton gave the boy a pointed look. “Look, the game’s over, okay? You’re not fooling me or any of my officers anymore. Just tell us the truth.”

He huffed, rolling his eyes, before slumping back into his chair, apparently falling back into his role of being a bull-headed teenager. “You’re not making any sense, and I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Payton resisted the urge to snap at him, instead running through possible retorts. He had tried just about every way he could think of to push the ghost into admitting the truth, and he had already pretty much told the ghost that they already knew. He had reached his wits’ end, and decided to throw all subtlety out of the window, going for the direct route instead.

He set his hands on the table, leaning closer to the boy as he growled his admission. “Dammit boy, we know you’re a ghost.”

The specter, in answer, jerked back from the table, eyes blown wide with barely hidden fear.

“I- I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered out. “Me, a ghost? That’s- That’s crazy.”

Payton sighed deeply, rubbing his fingers in his eyes. How could a ghost be clever enough to be so convincingly human, and simultaneously be so stupid that it didn’t realize that it couldn’t talk its way out of this?

“Look, we identified the body as Daniel Fenton’s. That means that you,” he poked the boy in the chest with his finger, “are either Daniel’s ghost, or you’re some spirit playing pretend.”

The ghost scowled and swatted away the finger, speaking with venom dripping from his voice. “I’m no pretender.”

Not quite the breakthrough that Payton had hoped for, but at least the boy wasn’t denying that he was a ghost anymore. He wasn’t sure how he felt about the admission that he was Daniel, though. Why hadn’t the boy told anyone about what happened to him?

“So then why not tell us who killed you? Because I gotta tell you kid, when we asked you about the body last time, you looked ready to murder whoever did it.”

Daniel hunched in on himself, blushing, with embarrassment of all things clear on his face. “I… forgot.”

Payton froze, his brows raising up so far he was pretty sure that they had merged into his hairline. “You what?”

The boy shrunk in even further. “I forgot about the body,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck in what had to be a nervous gesture.

Blinking at him, Payton straightened up. “You forgot that you died?”

“Not that I died!” Daniel clarified, “Just- Just where we left the body.”

Payton groaned, sinking into the second chair, and buried his face in his hands. “You’re joking. Can you at least tell us who did it? Who was this ‘we’?”

The boy smiled sheepishly, still rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh, it was an accident. And my friends and I, we just kind of, uh, panicked. So we buried the body and then just kind of forgot about it?”

Lifting his head from his hands again, Payton set his weary gaze on Daniel. “Well, we’re gonna need official statements from you and your friends. And then we’ll have to inform your parents.”

“Wait, no, you can’t! They’re ghost hunters! Why do you think we decided not to tell anybody?!” Daniel scrambled up, the panicked look back on his face.

“Hey, calm down.” Payton made some vague hand motions, attempting to coax the boy back into his seat. “Look, it’s just protocol, alright?” he attempted to soothe, but Daniel glared at him.

“Really, you have a protocol for ‘a kid dies in an accident and comes back as a ghost’?”

Payton grunted wordlessly, but thought back of his observations of the Fentons. “Kid, just calm down, okay? I promise you that it’ll be fine, your parents clearly love you.”

Daniel huffed, but slumped back into his seat. “Fine, so what now? Official statements from the three of us, and then? Gonna officially declare me dead? Send me off to the Ghost Zone? Set ghost hunters on me to make sure I don’t turn malevolent?”

Payton resisted the urge to growl, instead settling for a fierce glare, but the boy ignored him once more.

“Well, if Phantom hasn’t kicked you out of the city then you’re probably fine to stay.” Daniel snorted in answer, but gave no further reaction, nor did he respond to Payton’s quirked eyebrow. A curious reaction, but he had more important things to focus on.

“As you guessed, we don’t have protocol for this. Most people outside Amity don’t know ghosts exist. Hell, most people in Amity don’t even know that they could pass for living as well as you apparently can.” The boy muttered something under his breath, but Payton didn’t catch what he said, and instead opted to ignore it.

“So, we’ll take your statements, including the full explanation of your death, and then we’ll talk with your parents. My team and I will talk with you and your family to figure out what we’ll do next. How does that sound?”

Daniel shrugged somewhat listlessly. “I guess it’s okay. But for the full explanation you’ll have to wait until my friends get here, since I can’t remember everything. Since it involves, you know, being dead, and all that.”

Payton snorted at the sarcastic tone, pulling himself out of his seat. “Yeah, alright. In that case, we’re going to move to a conference room so we can all talk. And we’re going to need to know who these mystery friends of yours are, so we can call them in.”

Daniel nodded and stood up as well, following detective Payton out of the room.

And so Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley were guided into a conference room at the police station, where they were met by several officers, a medical examiner, and a more-than-slightly panicking Danny Fenton.

The two of them shared a glance before sitting down next to the boy, laying their hands on his shoulders in a show of solidarity. Several of the people present raised their eyebrows at this, but no one said anything.

The boy visibly relaxed.

Payton ended up breaking the silence by clearing his throat, drawing everyone’s attention to where he was standing.

“Well, I suppose it might be best to start with introductions. I’m detective Payton, and I’m leading the investigation regarding the body found in the woods. These are the members of my team who are directly involved in the case.” He waved his hand in the general direction of the other cops, silently encouraging them to pick up where he left off.

Rosie answered his plea, standing up from her chair. “I’m officer Carver. I suppose that I’ve been the skeptic of the case.” She glanced at detective Payton, but as he made no move to interrupt, she sat down again.

Mike licked his lips, and then stood up. “And I’m officer Milligan. I guess I was the one who suggested, y’know, the possibility that a ghostly doppelganger was involved. Since we somehow found the body of a kid who was still present in the city.” He shrugged, somewhat awkwardly, and then promptly fell back into his seat.

The medical examiner rolled her eyes at the young man, but sighed and moved out of her seat as well. “And I’m doctor Beckett. I’m the medical examiner.”

The three teens held a short and silent conversation, compromised entirely out of split-second glances, before Tucker stood up. “Tucker Foley, at your service. That’s T.F., as in-”

He yelped as the other two pulled him back into his chair, interrupting his own sentence. The team hovered, uncertainly, but Sam shoved Tucker further down into his seat as she stood up.

“And I’m Sam Manson. Not, under any circumstances, Samantha.” She glared at the people present, making sure every single one got the message, before she sat down again.

Daniel glanced around the room, but remained seated as he spoke up, voice wavering slightly. “And I’m, uh, Danny Fenton.” He shrugged, somewhat helplessly. “But I think everyone here already knew that. Sort of.”

“Right,” Rosie hummed, “the ghost of the dead kid.”

Sam moved as if to answer, but Danny laid his hand on her arm and she settled down again. Payton would have suspected him of using some kind of ghostly power, except that every single interaction between the three clearly showed that they were extremely close. There likely was no need for special powers.

Really, every interaction between the three showed how close they were. To Payton, it felt like further proof that this was, in fact, Daniel as a ghost. There was no way that his friends would’ve let him be replaced.

“So now that introductions are out of the way, we would like to know more about how a teenager died two years ago, with no one informing the police or the parents of said teen.”

Sam and Tucker shared another glance, as if quietly debating who would speak up first. Apparently Sam somehow won, as the boy cleared his throat and spoke. “Right, uh. How much do you know?”

“Not much,” Beckett admitted. “We know that Daniel – sorry, Danny – died roughly two years ago, and that his body was badly burned. We know that you two were somehow involved, or at least were present when it happened. And we know that it was an accident. We can also assume that Danny became a ghost almost immediately, since he wasn’t missing for long enough to raise concerns.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right. But I’m guessing that you want a full description of the accident?”

“Yes please,” Payton replied.

Once more, it was Tucker who took the lead. “Right, so we all know that the Fentons have been inventing all kinds of crazy stuff since way before the ghosts ever showed up. They had strict rules for the lab, though. No one was allowed to be down there without supervision and all that.”

“But I wanted a photo of one of their new inventions, even though it didn’t work, so we snuck in while the Fentons were out,” Sam continued. “I wanted a picture with Danny in it as well, so Tuck and I convinced him to check it out from closer.”

Hesitantly, Danny followed up. “I uh, I tripped and hit the invention. It turned on and… I guess electrocuted me?”

“The machine gave off a lot of light, so Sam and I couldn’t see anything. When it turned off again, there were two people where Danny had been.”

“One was lying on the floor, still smoking. It was…” She shivered. “It was horrific to see, and I can’t imagine that it looked much better when you dug it up. The other… Well, we hadn’t seen anything like it, back then.”

Tucker followed up. “But we could guess, based on context clues. Nowadays, we’ve dealt with enough ghosts to be able to recognize one instantly. But the accident, it happened before we had ever seen a ghost.”

All three remained quiet for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say next. It was Payton who broke the silence, however.

“You’re saying that Danny instantly became a ghost, but that he didn’t look like he did when he was alive? Like he does now?”

The boy in question was the one who answered. “We- We think that it was because of the invention. An unintended side-effect. Dying in contact with ectoplasm, or something.”

Payton hummed, then quirked an eyebrow at the three teens. “And the more ghostly appearance?”

“Well...” Tucker paused, licked his lips, then tried again. “He looked like a pretty typical ghost, I guess. But when he realized what had happened he just kind of, I dunno how to describe it, changed?”

“Yeah,” Sam agreed. “He changed back almost instantly, looking like nothing had ever happened. He’s still pretty cold, and his vitals are kind of… off, but it’s convincing enough.”

Seeing everyone’s gazes settle on him, Danny shrugged and put on a sheepish smile. “I don’t really remember what I did, though. I wasn’t even aware of it at the time, didn’t know I looked different until after I changed and Sam and Tucker pointed it out.”

“So you got into a terrible accident, straight-up died, and decided to keep it secret from your parents?” Rosie questioned. “Why?”

The boy started rubbing his neck, a nervous gesture that Payton remembered from their previous conversation. His friends clearly recognized it as well, as they sympathetically bumped shoulders with him and offered him comforting smiles.

“Well, there were two reasons, really. I wasn’t ready to move on yet, for one. I mean, I was fourteen! I wanted to live my life a little longer, even if I wasn’t really alive anymore.”

He licked his lips, hesitating for a moment, and then continued. “And I guess I was afraid of what my parents would think. I mean, they’re ghost hunters! And at the time, no one had any proof of the existence of ghosts. Heck, my parents hadn’t even seen a ghost yet, and there I was, a ghost!” He shivered momentarily, but calmed down as his friends wrapped their arms around his shoulders.

“I guess I was afraid that their scientific curiosity would outweigh the fact that I was their son.”

Seeing that he was done, Sam cleared her throat. “So yeah, we decided that if Danny could blend in so well, then no one had to find out about what happened until he wanted them to know. So we borrowed some of the stuff from the shed, took the body to the woods, and, well, buried it.”

“And then we got so distracted by, y’know, figuring out what being a ghost meant for Danny that we kind of… forgot?” Tucker offered them an uncertain smile.

Payton frowned at this. “What do you mean, ‘figuring out what being a ghost meant’?”

“Well…” Danny hesitated. “It’s not like you get a manual when you die, y’know? Ghost have all kinds of powers, but no one ever discusses how they use and control those powers.”

Tucker snorted, apparently attempting to stifle laughter. “Yeah, he spend a lot of time going intangible at the worst moments those first few months. Got a permanent ban at school for handling glassware, since he kept dropping everything.”

“Not to mention the incidents where he would phase through the floor, or the chair he was sitting on, or his bed.” Sam grinned at the boy, who huffed somewhat peevishly in answer.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up. Can’t imagine you would have done much better.”

“Well, regardless of the circumstances at the time, Mr. Fenton,” Payton cut in before the three could lose themselves in their squabbling, “We’re going to have to inform your parents, and then figure out a plan for your future. No matter how well you can blend in among the living, you can’t keep doing this forever.”

The boy nodded, somewhat uncertainly. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Does anybody else know? Besides these two, of course.” Payton gestured broadly at the other teens as he spoke.

“Uh, yeah. My sister knows.”

“Really? Of everyone you could have told, the only one you told is your sister?” Rosie quirked a questioning eyebrow at the boy.

“Well, I didn’t tell her, per se.” Seeing the continued questioning gazes, he added, in a more defensive tone. “She caught me doing something ghostly, so I had to explain it to her.”

“That explains why she was so defensive during the interviews,” Mike chimed in.

“And it makes our job easier as well, since we won’t have to tell her.” Payton turned to look at the teenagers. “Mr. Foley, Miss Manson, you’re both free to leave. Mr. Fenton, you’ll be joining me and officer Carver on a visit to your parents.”

Danny groaned, but didn’t put up any protests. His friends nudged him, offering him hopeful smiles, which he gratefully accepted. Eventually the two left, and Danny dragged himself out of his chair.