Disclaimer: I hold no claim to Danny Phantom, its characters or Transformers that have been mentioned.
Before you get started in reading this story, I would like to apologize for NOT posting this sooner after I had finished Hunting Ground of Chaos. I have no excuse for why it took so long. I simply just couldn't bring myself to finishing this story even though it was technically done back in August 11, 2013 but I wanted to make this epilogue to finish it off. There were important plot elements that are basically left hanging like the Sword of Nemesis, which is really sad but I'm sure I can figure a way to fix that. I could easily put that sword in my Kamen Rider Phantom story since the whole Cross my Heart and I'll Fight Back trilogy is connected to my If you don't Fight, you don't Survive story through Clockwork watching over multiple alternate timelines along with the actual Danny Phantom Story line. This one-shot epilogue is done in Danny's point of view, which is kind of a challenge for me.
But that's for another time. Right now I hope you all will enjoy….
The Death of Danny Phantom
I remember that day; it was the day where I had made the toughest decision in my existence. It was the day that I died.
Dan and I had fought against Cyber Tuck and his monstrous creation for the fate of both Earth and the Ghost Zone. Dan had chosen to face the monster that was composed of both Cyber Tuck's robots and the surviving ghosts while I faced off against Cyber Tuck in his underground lab below Axiom Labs. I won by using Terasauruzu's power, but it cost everyone who fought to reclaim Amity Park their homes. I had used a power that had destroyed my hometown.
I can't say for certain how long I had remained within Cyber Tuck's lab, but it might have been a few days or even weeks. I didn't care about the amount of time because I felt so lost. But I did have a lot of time to think about my life, or more specific my life from when I became Danny Phantom and up to now.
Memories of that day flooded my mind as I remembered the pain as the combination of ectoplasm and electricity assaulted my body. The unimaginable agony as ectoplasm poured into my body and fused with my entire genetic makeup while I screamed for what felt like an eternity. I was so scared that I wished that I did die instead of what happened afterwards.
At first, it was just trying to get my ghost powers under control, but it soon escalated into fighting off ghosts that used my parents' portal. There were moments where I thought that Sam and Tucker would have just abandoned me because of what I became, but they didn't. They stood by my side regardless of the stupid things I had done. But there were times where I thought they would have betrayed me or used me.
I tried not to think along those lines, but I couldn't help it. There were plenty of times when Tucker was upset with me being the one with ghost powers. I tried not to bring any of it up because despite his cheerful actions, I knew Tucker felt inferior to me. What's so great about a guy, who is obsessed with technology, eats way too much meat, and despite what he tells himself, isn't much to look at when his best friend has super powers?
The answer to that was nothing, and I hated that answer. It made Tucker look like he wasn't even worth noticing and it hurts him so much. It also hurts me because I'm the source of his resentment and jealousy.
I still remember how he had nearly killed me when he made that wish for ghost powers. Tucker was given too much power that he didn't understand. What made it worse was that he believed he had them under control, and for a moment I thought so too. Instead it was his jealousy and resentment towards me that was controlling those powers, and by that extension controlling him. I was lucky when I got rid of his ghost powers before they fully matured and consumed him. Tucker later apologized for what he did and I forgave him, but I should have known he would have forgotten his lesson about power and responsibility.
The second time he gained some form of power was that incident with the mummy ghost who was using Tucker to gain power. Tucker allowed the power from that damn scepter to consume him and send everyone back into ancient Egypt and threw me into a coliseum to fight for my life. I managed to survive in time to stop Tucker from going too far. However I did notice he had Sam dressed up in a more elaborate Egyptian outfit than Paulina and Star. I tried not to think too far into it because if I did I would have the desire to kill him for trying to steal my mate away from me. However, Tucker had unlocked enough power from the scepter that the mummy ghost took control and tried to kill all of us.
There was a moment where I was willing to let Tucker be chased by those other ghosts for a moment longer to teach him the consequences of his selfish actions, but I didn't because he was my friend. Even after fighting my hardest, I wasn't able to defeat the mummy ghost and needed Tucker's help. It wasn't easy because I had to appeal to his selfish nature and apologize for not listening to him when he had his ideas for his campaign for student president of our school. A small part of me wanted to grab him by his robes and lay down the truth as to why no one would ever listen to him, but I knew Tucker well enough that he would not listen and try to throw it back at me.
Sometimes I really do wonder why I'm even friends with him. He's selfish, egotistical, power hungry, and lacks empathy for others. If anything, he was more like Vlad than I could have ever been. He tends to forget that he was the one who sent a ghost after Sam just for something as stupid as a menu change just because he loved meat more than his friend.
However the most recent things he had done that I couldn't forgive was that wish he made that made me lose my powers whenever he was within a certain distance of me. He slowly regretted it thanks to being partially responsible for Kwan's death, but the damage cannot be fixed.
I wonder what he is doing now.
The other person that I tried to avoid thinking about negatively was my mate, Sam. If there were words to describe Sam, they would be: stubborn, hypocritical, rebellious, kind, smart, tough, beautiful, short-sighted, sarcastic, and dangerous. Yet those are the reasons why I love her. If it weren't for her, I would have never become Danny Phantom. I remember how I yelled at her for be partially responsible for talking me into walking into the portal, but the truth is that I would have gone in regardless because I wanted to impress her. I liked her back then even when I was crazy for Paulina, but I liked them for different reasons. Paulina was a girl I wanted simply because she was the type of girl a guy wants to have nothing but sex with, but I wanted Sam because in a subconscious level I knew that she was the one that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
I did also feel a level of hatred for Sam because a small part of me was mad at her for talking me into going inside the portal and I nearly got killed in it. That wasn't the only thing that got me mad at Sam; I still remember how she let that albino purple back gorilla free because she believed that the gorilla deserved to be free. Normally I would agree with Sam because I didn't like the idea of any poor animal being alone in a cage, but she set a wild animal that originally came from Africa free in an urban environment in America. Sam didn't think about the innocent lives she could have put at risk, including the gorilla she wanted to free. The real sad part was that Sam didn't realize how much of a bad idea it was, and if she did she would have argued that if the gorilla wasn't in the cage in the first place the chaos would never have happened. I also remember how she wanted me to use my powers to scare people away from a bunch of trucks so that in her mind they would buy cars that are friendlier to the environment. That sounded like a good idea to her, but using me for that wouldn't work because a few people not buying those trucks wouldn't have made any difference because those people would have just bought those same trucks from a different car dealership, and the fact that there are over three hundred million people living in the U.S. and nearly all of them own a car or truck that harms the planet.
Sam never was a big picture kind of person. I know she loves the earth and everything in nature, especially since she gained her ghost powers and plant based powers from Undergrowth, but Sam was never good at seeing the steps needed to improve the world.
I would continue thinking about them, but I heard a crack from the ceiling. I looked up and saw the ceiling start to break apart. I really don't want to stay and get buried so I turned intangible and phased out of the lab. I continued to float up until I was out of the lab and felt the sunlight before actually seeing the sun. It took me a while to adjust to the sunlight but I was glad to finally get out of the lab. I know I could have done so earlier, but for some reason I just didn't have the heart to leave. Either I wanted to be alone for some time or I just wanted to hide away because I didn't want to see the aftermath of the battle. As I took in the sight of everything around me, I started wishing that I didn't leave the lab.
I saw Amity Park, or what was left of my hometown. Building were in various state of destruction, cars were rusted and reduced to scrap metal. Anything that was standing had walls missing or was in poor condition. It reminded me of those post-apocalyptic movies like the Terminator or those zombie movies where the human race was reduced to pocket populations after five or so years.
I touched to ground after turning tangible. Ever since the battle with Cyber Tuck my human form and ghost form had fully merged. On the outside I look like my normal human self but I had a few white tips in my hair. I decided to walk to Amity Park so that I can feel like a human once again.
It took me about a couple of hours to reach Amity Park thanks to the debris, ruined vehicles, and a few rotting corpses. Normally I would have been disgusted, but all the fighting, killing a few ghosts, and being alone for a while I guess I just stopped caring.
When I reached the town I saw much to my surprise that it was populated. There were people still walking around and apparently bartering over clothes, food, and other stuff rather than paying with money. It was strange because I was sure that things haven't gotten so bad that mankind had to revert back to bartering. However, I also noticed that there were some ghosts either talking amongst themselves or bartering with shop owners as well. It was all too strange for me, but the weirdest part was that nobody seemed to either recognize me or they just didn't care.
"Hey you, Phantom!" yelled someone from behind me.
Apparently I was wrong about nobody recognizing me as I turned around to see who was calling out to me. I was a little surprised to see that the one standing before me was one of my old classmates. He was a small red head boy with glasses, I think his name was Mikey but I'm not one hundred percent on that.
"You have some nerve showing your face here," he said to me in an angry tone.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what this all about," I told him.
"Take a look around you!" he yelled. "Are you happy?" he continued. "Because all of this is your fault!" he added.
He was about to continue on berating me but I noticed two large figures appearing behind him. I recognized them as members of Frostbite's people.
"This Beat giving you trouble Great One?" asked one of them.
"What?" said Mikey a little startled. "Beat?" he repeated.
"Yeah, Beat," said the Yeti-ghost on my left. "As in the beat of a human heart," he explained.
"Or as in Deadbeat," added the other one as he walked up to Mikey. "Do you know what I like to do to Beats?" he asked the human.
Mikey didn't say anything as he was slowly cowering in fear.
"Giving them a beating?" replied the first Yeti-ghost.
"Ah man, you beat me to it," whined the second one as he let out a laugh. "Get it?" he added as he raised his fist and prepared to hit Mikey.
"Hold it," I told the two ghosts as I grabbed that ghost's arm. "No one is beating anyone," I told him.
"We're sorry Great One, but it's our duty to maintain the peace between Beats and ghosts," explained the Yeti I was stopping.
"Duty?" I questioned. "Will someone please tell me what the Geist is going on?" I asked.
The next thing I knew I was escorted towards what appeared to be what was left of city hall. The two members of Frostbite's people led me into the building where I was more or less handed off to a ghost that I didn't recognize. The ghost led me to what I can guess would be the mayor's office, but I wasn't too sure because it looked like the room was being remade into something else while there were a few ghosts and humans working.
As I continued to scan the room to get an idea of what was going on, I saw someone that I didn't expect to see.
"Tucker?" I called out quite hesitantly.
Indeed it was Tucker, but he looked worse than he did the last time I saw him. He was in a wheelchair with his left arm dangling on his side. I remember that his left arm's tendons were destroyed thanks to Dan using his arm sword. His right eye was covered by an eye patch, no doubt from that severe beating he got when he tried to face Dan on his own before I was able to reach them. Tucker looked at me before turning away to focus on other matters.
"Yeah, nice to see you're still alive Danny," said Tucker as he blew me off.
I would have been mad at him for that but at the moment I was more concerned with why everything was so strange. Ever since the accident with the portal all I ever known about ghosts was challenged as I met, fought, and befriended many ghosts. The constant amounts of prejudice garbage my Mom and Dad sprout from their mouths about ghosts being evil and vile creatures with no emotions. The constant lies I gave to them and others so that they wouldn't know what I was actually doing. The battles I fought and all the blood, sweat, and tears I had shed. All of vile things I had seen humans do just so they can make themselves feel better.
I gave Tucker one final glance before turning around to leave the room. Once I exited the building I let my legs take me anywhere. It didn't matter where I was going; all I cared about was just going somewhere. As I continued walking I saw many humans and several ghosts glaring at me as if I Pariah Dark himself. I might as well be since I remembered what Mikey said about all of this being my fault. I honestly don't know what he was talking about, but I wouldn't put it past me to have done something to make everyone miserable. After all in another timeline, I became the most powerful and evil ghost that laid waste to Earth and the Ghost Zone at my leisure.
After what may have been an hour of walking, I stumbled upon my old home. I took a look at it and saw that the Ops center was destroyed and most of the building was damaged and sprayed with graffiti. Even though I haven't seen my parents, I'm sure they would have been horrified to see the place they worked so hard to make reduced to what stood before me. Wanting to see the old place at least one more time, I entered my home.
I was surprised to see the damages done inside were much less noticeable. It was as if no one was inside this place during Dan's reign. That's not to say things were in their place, no several things were moved but no real damages. I remembered all the times I spent in the living room before everything happened. It was kind of sad to see the living room in this state; it was once filled with so much life. I took a step towards the stairs hoping to see if my room was still intact, it would be nice to lie down in my old bed at least one more time.
When I opened the door to my room, I was shocked to see that everything was still the same as I left it. Aside from all the dust that my room had collected, nothing was out of place. But then I saw something that was out of place. On the center of my bed was a comic book, I entered my room and went to my bed to pick up the comic. I wiped it gently to get the dust off of it and saw the cover. There was a red and blue robot with some sort of container opened in front of it. I recognized the robot as one of my heroes growing up. It was Optimus Prime, the greatest leader of all the Autobots. I took a look at the title of the comic and my eyes widened slightly.
"The Death of Optimus Prime," I read out before I began to read the comic.
As I read the comic I was surprised to see Optimus being hated by Transformers that had actually run away from the war against the Decepticons. I was even more surprised when Optimus himself chose to leave his home planet rather than stay to help rebuild it.
"Found something interesting?" asked a familiar voice.
I gave a slight jump at the sound of my uncle's voice and looked up to see him. He had a smile on his face as he entered my room.
"I see you found the comic I placed in here," he told me.
"Yeah," I said to him as I close the comic. "I don't understand; why did Optimus choose to leave Cybertron?" I asked him. "Doesn't he have a right to be there since he was the leader of the Autobots?" I continued.
"Yes he does," my uncle answered. "But he also has the right to leave as well," he added as he took a seat next to me. "Danny, Optimus Prime fought in a war that lasted for millions of years. To him that was probably ten years or something. He probably doesn't even know what to do with himself now that the fighting is over," he explained to me. "Much like you, Optimus is lost and confused while his own people are divided on seeing him as a hero or as a monster like Megatron. You're in the same boat Danny," he told me.
"I am?" I asked.
"Yeah," replied my uncle. "Ever since that battle against Cyber Tuck, the human world and the Ghost Zone have become one and no one understands what is going on," he told me. "And many of them are looking for someone to pin the blame on, and that person they chose is you," he continued.
"Me?" I said in confusion.
"It's sad really, because you and Dan did what you could to stop Cyber Tuck from turning everyone into cyborg monsters and save everyone's lives but they don't care about that," he told me. "The sad part is that they still see you as Danny Phantom and now that name has been regarded with vile thoughts," he added.
"But I'm not Danny Phantom anymore," I told my uncle.
"But they don't know that," he told me. "And they don't care because to them you're still Danny Phantom," he continued. "I doubt they even care about Danny Fenton," he added in sadness.
I wanted to say something but I heard something outside. The two of us looked out the window to see humans ganging up against a group of ghosts. I noticed that one of the ghosts was Ember, but she had this big scar over her right eye. More humans began to gather around to block the ghosts until more ghosts appeared and tried to control the situation. I would have guess that those ghosts were a part of a law enforcement unit or something. Uncle Vince and I backed away from the window and sat back down on my bed.
"It's been like this ever since the battle with Cyber Tuck was over and the two worlds merged into one," said Uncle Vince.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Well, your sister is usually over at the medical tents helping out however she can. Dani is usually around other ghosts, trying to get them to get along with the humans, Tucker has kept himself practically locked up in city hall trying to establish order in the city with no luck because nobody wants to listen to a cripple," my uncle listed.
"I saw Tucker," I told him. "He didn't seem happy to see me," I added.
"I'm not surprised, Tucker was betrayed by his evil future self and led to believe that he would have found happiness," my uncle told me. "Right now Tucker is trying to prove himself to others but no one is willing to give him the chance," he continued.
"My parents, what about them?" I asked.
"Your father didn't make it," my uncle said. "And your mother has been rallying up other humans to form some anti-ghost organization," he added. "I think her hatred for ghosts has consumed her to the point where she refuses to accept any compromise," he told me.
"And Sam?" I asked as I became worried about her wellbeing.
"She's fine, much like Jazz, Sam has been at the medical tents tending to the wounded," my uncle answered.
"That's good," I said as I let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, for now," my uncle said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused by what he said.
"The world has changed Danny," he started. "And many people refuse to accept change. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing," he added. "But I do know that something big is going to happen," he said with a feeling of worry in his voice.
"Uncle Vince," I called out to him.
"Yes Danny?" he replied to me.
"If you had to choose between two identities, which would you pick?" I asked him.
"Who I was in the beginning," he answered.
"Why?" I asked.
"This is about you isn't it Danny?" he asked me.
I didn't know how to respond to his question but Uncle Vince just smiled at me.
"Danny, I'll be honest with you. I pity superheroes," he told me. "They have to sacrifice a lot of things in order to keep normal people safe. Their identities, their personal lives, their own happiness, and possibly their own sanity," he continued. "Somewhere along the line the superhero became the reality while the person they were at the beginning became the illusion," he added.
I listened to what he said and thought about it. I did have to make a lot of sacrifices just so that others could be safe. I gave up my dream of being an astronaut, I let my grades fall, I lost countless hours of sleep, I more or less lost the love and affection of my parents because they became so obsessed with destroying ghosts, and I lost Janelle thanks to my parents' obsession of hunting and killing ghosts. I think my friendship with Tucker was also gone because somewhere along the line I saw him becoming more like Vlad. I don't know if I lost my sanity like Uncle Vince mentioned, but I wouldn't be surprised if I did and never noticed.
Uncle Vince must have noticed that I was lost in thought as he told me that he'll leave me alone to think things over.
I took a look out the window for a moment and saw the changes in the town. I don't know how long I was in Axiom Labs, but I know that the world is different now and that I had a hand in it. Normally I would fly towards Clockwork and either try to convince or beg to send me back in time and change things. The idea of going back to when Sam and I got into that fight over that guy who was going out with her came to mind causing me to remember what happened afterwards.
All of the yelling, the blaming, and me flying off had led to all of this. If I had known, would I have stopped myself or let it happen? I began to imagine what would have happened if things played out differently. I imagined that Sam and Tucker would have found out that guy was a fraud and left him. I also imagined that I would apologize to Sam for spying on her and that things would go back to normal.
However I couldn't stand that thought because I remembered how Sam spied on me before I did. I know I forgave her and Tucker, but the sad thing is that Sam never apologized for it after the whole mess. I know she feels horrible for all of it now, especially after our time in the Abyss with Dani and Burn where she broke down and finally admitted to herself of all the stupid things she had done.
Regardless, I also began to think about what else could have happened if things were different. My imagination ranged from Vlad becoming mayor of my hometown, a mystical map that can lead people towards ghost portals, and even to an asteroid that could destroy the planet if not for the help of thousands of ghosts working together to turn the planet intangible. I shook my head deciding that I don't want to go back in time change any of this. I don't want the memories I had made erased and I don't want to go back to be a superhero.
I don't want to go back to being Danny Phantom.
With that in mind, I got off my bed and left my old room. I headed for the front door and continued to think about how for once in my life I was about to make a choice that will be based on my own desire.
Just as I was about to opened the door, I stopped and turned around. I didn't know why I turned around, but I felt as if there was something that told me that I should head towards the basement. I slowly headed into the kitchen as it was the only way to the basement. I looked at the ruined remains of the kitchen and memories of the life I once had before what happened to Janelle, my first official girlfriend.
Just the thought of her made me feel horrible for what happened to her. I can still remember her telling me that she loved me before she faded from existence. The rage I felt and the power of Terasauruzu that was inside of me took over and I had lost myself while that beast took over. I didn't remember anything from the first time I took on his form, but I could remember saying that I would never forgive my parents for what they had done to Janelle.
As I headed down into the basement, I stopped at the end of the steps and saw something I never would have expected to see, or rather someone. Before me was none other than Vlad Masters, or rather what was left of him. He was strung up to some strange contraption and plugged into it like something out of a sci-fi horror movie. He had this dull expression on his face, like he had lost the will to live or something.
A small part of me wanted to feel sorry for him, but I crushed that feeling as I remembered how he tried to clone me, tried to put me under his thumb when he became the principal of my old high school, and when he exposed me through a very convincing lie that caused the entire country if not the world to see me as a body-gloving ghost.
As my rage slowly subsided, I realized that in the position that he and I were in, I had the power to end Vlad's life and there was no one here to stop me. It wouldn't have been hard since I had killed before and I have gotten used to it, I think that may have been because of Terasauruzu's influence or that I was slowing becoming more like Dan. It wouldn't have mattered because if anything, I would be giving Vlad a chance to finally rest in peace after whatever horrors my parents had put him through.
It made sense to do that, no matter what he has done to me; no one deserves to suffer like this. However, I couldn't bring myself to do it, and it had nothing to do with me being the 'good guy' as a few would refer to me as. No, I couldn't do this to Vlad because a part of me knew that this wasn't my choice and that the darker side of me wanted Vlad to remain as he was so that his suffering would continue. So I decided to exit the basement and head out of my house.
When I stepped out of the house, I saw what looked like a huge mob heading towards city hall. Running mostly on instinct, I took to the air so that I would get to city hall before the mob did. As I flew, I noticed that this mob was composed of humans carrying whatever they could get a hold of to use as a weapon, a few of them even had ghost hunting weapons. I sped up so that I could get ahead of the mob and when I did I saw that there was a large group of ghosts standing or floating in front of city hall.
As soon as I got close to city hall, all Hell broke loose as the humans and the ghosts started fighting each other. I thought about stepping in to stop the fight but suddenly a green beam was coming my way. I dodged the attack and saw that the beam came from an ecto-gun held by my own mother. She glared at me as I looked at her in shock and disbelief.
My own mother shot at me without remorse.
The memory of finding Janelle in that room in the basement flooded back into my mind as my rage started to build up. As much as I wanted to fly down there and rip her apart for what she did to Janelle, I had more important matters.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" I yelled as I dove to the ground.
I landed in the middle of this skirmish and emitted a large amount of my power to make everyone hesitant on the idea of continuing this little fight.
"Is this really what all of you want?" I asked. "Fighting each other over nothing!" I yelled.
"You monsters invaded our world!" yelled my mother.
"Nobody invaded anyone!" I countered. "The two worlds merged and if any of you have to blame someone, then blame me," I told them.
"But Great One…" started one of the members of the Far Frozen.
"No, this is my fault," I interrupted. "I did this so the blame is mine," I told them. "If anyone is to be hated, it should be me," I continued.
"So you admit to doing all of this!" yelled Mikey.
"Yes, I admit to merging the two worlds and I will take all of the blame and hatred all of you have," I told Mikey.
"Then how about you take your punishment?" asked a different voice.
I turned around to look at the entrance of city hall to see Tucker glaring down at him. I looked at Tucker and glared back at him to show him that I wouldn't back down. Tucker flinched when I glared at him but he stood his ground.
"What kind of punishment do you have in mind Tucker?" I asked him.
"For the good of everyone, I decided that it would be best that you leave Danny," Tucker told me.
The ghosts in the area gasped in shock when Tucker said that while the humans seemed to be happy with, including my mom.
"If that's what it will take to get everyone to stop attacking each other, then so be it," I told Tucker as I took to the air and headed back home.
I returned to my house and I was surprised to see Uncle Vince, Jazz, Dani, and Sam standing in front of the house. I landed in front of them and they all ran up and hugged me, Sam being the first one to hug me and she held me tightly.
None of us said anything as we just stayed in front of the house for what felt like hours but it was only five minutes. We entered the house and tried to relax in the living room. Uncle Vince was sitting in the recliner while Dani and Jazz sat on the couch. I was sitting on the other chair with Sam sitting on my lap. We cuddled up together as we savored being together again. As we all relaxed and not think about what had happened, there was a knock on the front door which Uncle Vince answered.
Sam peered over my shoulder and gasped at the sight of her birth mother, Savannah, and her twin sister Ash.
"Mom, Ash!" Sam called out loud as she got off my lap to greet her mother and sister.
I watched Sam and her surviving family members hugged each other. It was a happy moment, but it also filled me with sadness because I knew that I would have to leave soon and never return. Suddenly, everything seemed to just stand still.
"Looks like you're in a cross roads aren't you Daniel," said a familiar voice.
I turned around to see Clockwork floating in front of me. I was surprised he would show up but I should have figured he would come to me during this difficult time.
"So I guess you know what happened?" I asked.
"Yes, and I'm sorry that it has come to this," he told me.
"Don't be," I told Clockwork. "I've faced enough hardships that I'm used to it now," I added.
"Indeed," Clockwork agreed. "So what will you do?" he asked me.
"Spend my last night here with my love ones before leaving forever," I told him.
"You know the whole world will be against you," he told me.
"How is that any different from before?" I asked him as I looked at the time frozen state my family is in. "I'm so tired of this superhero bullshit anyway," I added.
"Then maybe a change of scenery would be better," Clockwork suggested.
"What kind of change?" I asked him.
"I won't change the events that led to this but I can send you further into the future so that you won't have to worry about what happens here," Clockwork told me.
"What kind of future?" I asked him.
"That I cannot tell you even if I knew what it would be," he told me.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Daniel, during the battle that took place in Amity Park, you have become unreadable in the time-stream," Clockwork told me. "You exist in the time-stream but none of your possible futures can be seen until they actually happen. It is something that is unheard of," he explained.
"I guess that's not so bad," I said to him. "It would make life more worthwhile to not know what happens next," I added.
"Yes it would," Clockwork agreed. "I'll see you tomorrow for your decision," he told me. "Time In," he said as he restarted the time-stream.
For the rest of the night, I enjoyed the remaining amount of time with my family and Sam's family. We talked, ate dinner, cleaned the dishes together, and just about anything we could to enjoy what little time I had left. I knew that they were all upset with what will happen tomorrow, but they tried to stay strong for me while I tried to stay strong for them.
When it was time to turn in for the night, I walked up to my old room and after dusting the bed, I turned in for the night. As soon as I closed my eyes, I heard my door open and felt someone lay down next to me. I turned around to see Sam facing me with a smile on her face. It was a sad kind of smile because she knew that tomorrow morning I will be leaving. I smiled back at her before kissing her lips and wrapped my arms around her as we both drifted to sleep.
When morning came, everyone was sitting at the dinner table eating breakfast, I noticed how Uncle Vince and Sam's mom were getting along. It almost looked like they were getting really close which kind of bothered me because if they were to hook up, that would make me and Sam cousins, sort of, I think. My head hurts just thinking about it.
I also saw how Ash and Dani got along almost like best of friends which kind of makes sense since Dani is my clone and Ash is Sam's twin. However, they also included Jazz into their conversation which was very nice because it showed that Dani and Jazz saw each other as sisters, which would technically be true. The whole cloning thing is confusing and makes my brain hurt just as much as the possibility of Uncle Vince and Sam's mom getting together.
When breakfast was over and the dishes were cleaned up, Clockwork appeared which meant that it was time for me to leave. However, I noticed that he was holding onto a sword in his left hand. Sam's mom and sister were weary of this ghost but Sam managed to calm them down by telling them that Clockwork was a good ghost.
"Daniel it is time," Clockwork told me as he created a portal for me.
I nodded my head as I stepped towards it.
"Where will this portal take me?" I asked.
"Seventy years into the future," Clockwork told me.
"That far huh," I commented.
"Yes, by then Danny Phantom will be regarded as nothing more than a myth," he told me.
"That's fine," I said as I prepared to step into the portal.
I stopped and looked at everyone behind me. Jazz and Dani were tearing up before they ran up to me to give me a final goodbye hug. They clung to me tightly, fearing that if they let go I would vanish forever.
I don't blame them in the slightest.
When they finally let go, Uncle Vince walked up to me and smiled at me.
"I guess this is where we part ways huh?" Uncle Vince said to me.
"Yeah…" I replied.
"Be sure to take good care of yourself, and don't forget to brush and floss after every meal," he told me in a joking manner.
"I won't Uncle Vince," I told him.
"I know," he said. "I am so proud of you Danny," he told me as he hugged me as well.
"I know Uncle, I know," I told him as I fought back a few tears that tried to escape.
After Uncle Vince let me go, I looked at Sam to see her hugging her mother and sister before walking up to me.
"I guess this is goodbye," I said to Sam.
Sam shook her head at me.
"No, it's not," she told me.
I looked at her in confusion before it finally clicked.
"But Sam…" I started.
"But nothing Danny," she interrupted me. "We're mates Danny, we are bound to each other for all eternity," she told me as she held my right hand. "You're stuck with me where you like it or not," she finished.
"I guess you're right," I said in agreement before turning to Clockwork. "We're ready," I told him.
"Very well," Clockwork said as he gestured towards the portal.
Sam and I took one final look at our families as they smiled at us.
"Take good care of my daughter Danny," Sam's mom told me.
"Yeah, I want to see you and my sister still together when you get to the future," Ash added.
Sam and I smile before stepping into the portal, how fitting that my adventures started with me entering a portal for it to end with me stepping into another portal. Only this time I wasn't alone and there would be no chance of this portal killing me.
I remembered that day, it was the day where I made the hardest decision of my existence. It was the day that I died.
There was a small voice in my head that told me to stay, it told me that there was still things I needed to do but another voice told me that I have done enough and that it was time to move on.
I'm sure that those who still see me as a hero will say that I made a selfless sacrifice for everyone, but the truth is that what I did was selfish.
Everyone is free to make their own choices and for the first time ever, I truly felt free.
I no longer had the responsibility of protecting others.
I am no longer beholden to anyone but to myself and my mate.
More than that, I have changed.
I am more powerful than I ever was.
I am powerful enough to destroy anything that stands in my way but I am at peace with myself.
Danny Phantom is dead.
And Danny Fenton is reborn.
The End