Disclaimer: I lay no claim to any licensed characters or intellectual properties that were used in the making of this work.
come out and break through
Ever since you could remember, you've always felt as if you're half of a whole, only a part of yourself. Your friends, the only ones you've ever really had, can fill up that emptiness, but not always.
Your sister would probably tell you about neglect and being around unsafe environments, such as the lab with its ghost-hunting equipment or the house with its hidden machinery. She'd probably say something about race-memory affecting him, giving rise to fear from experimentation.
She's smart, but she doesn't know everything.
You've come to accept your unpopular status in Casper High, come to accept your wimpy demeanor in the face of Amity Park's ghosts.
You haven't come to accept the Phantom that's stuck to you like a shadow.
The boy is always there, silent and frowning, eyes glowing bright green. He was always watching you, watching them, your family and friends and life. You think he may have it out for some of the jocks in your school, but you can't let him do that.
And your parents have become his parents, your friends his friends. And, although you may like Paulina and Val, he only has a fear of fangirls and a friendly interest in the Red Huntress. Who he lusts for is Sam, and you really can't let that happen, no matter how many times he's saved her from death.
Most of the time, it both of you who are to blame for her nearly dying.
Sometimes, you like Phantom, simply because he doesn't try to control you, at least not as a habit, and because he's really the only one who gets what you're going through.
Other times, you hate him for taking the normalcy of your life away; you both don't discuss the lab accident that could have killed you enough for a ghost to have to reanimate your corpse, and you definitely don't talk about Phantom being the dead you.
Most of the time, you're both too busy fighting ghosts, him draining your energy and using your body while you take his ghost powers, to really care about acceptance. But, when there's time, you're both quick to loathe each other, wanting to separate so badly it hurts.
The only time you both truly agree is when Sam is killed, your witch is killed, and you let Phantom and yourself free. It is ironic that the thing that would kill any of your friends is not a ghost, but a human.
By the time you're both back, the city is leveled, and you're too overcome with grief to do anything but cry. So, it is him who takes in all the anger and vengeance, him who remains strong for the both of you, as he's always done.
Neither of you can live in a world without her, and so neither of you are satisfied with so little destruction. She's already dead, so you can't really bring yourself to care when Phantom becomes more and more like his future evil self.
It is not until your own parents bring the Ghost Zone with them, begging for mercy, that you both pause to reconsider. But it's only a pause, nothing more.
And it isn't until Sam is back, the ghostly Queen of Nature, that you both stop. Just this once, both of you are in control, in harmony, and your voices echo in the middle of something human and otherworldly.
You stop, you let go, you're fine, she's alive.
It's okay.
