So, uh, at the time I've posted this story, it's been about 10 years since I've written anything for the Phandom and after seeing it come across my tumblr with some discourse over with Butch Hartman's explanation of what the ghosts are, I decided it was time to revisit one of my first fandoms.

The inspiration for this story comes from the idea of what it would be like if Danny decided that he'd better off living his life as Phantom instead of Fenton.

Of course, I'm ignoring like 80% of canon and using what I want from it. This story also also includes an OC of mine, Mortem who is the ghostly personification of Death and she works with Clockwork to push Danny in the right directions, but after the first two chapters she drops down into a minor role/mentions, allowing Clockwork and Vlad to step into larger roles in Danny's life.

Missing (Human)

Prologue

If anyone were to ask Danny what it was like to be electrocuted by a portal designed to rip a hole to another dimension he would say that the pain was pretty much indescribable. And unforgettable, it was the one thing that stood out in his memory of what had happened between stepping into the nonfunctioning portal and waking up in the hospital. Everything else in-between was hazy and fractured at best. He remembered green, so much vibrant neon green and white, a blinding, eye searing white. He had heard his parents calling his name. And he had heard the doctor call his death at 6:19.

Yet, he was alive and wide awake at 1:00 in the morning. The occasional nurse came in, but he pretended to be asleep the second he heard approaching footsteps. Once they left he'd sit up and look at his hands, careful not to pull out the IV, recalling how he had seen his bones while in the portal. There was also a vague memory of his black gloves turning white then back to black before he lost complete consciousness. There was something wrong with him, something had changed after he went in the portal, he just wasn't sure what had changed.

He shivered and after seeing his breath wondered just how cold the room had gotten. He had felt cold since he woke up and wondering if it was part of the hyperthermia he had heard the doctors discussing because it didn't seem like the room was cold. Instead, the chill seemed to come from his bones and somewhere deep within his chest. He focused on the feeling, the weight and pulled at it, willing it to spread. A ring of light forming around his middle and then split into two, traveling in opposite directions as if repelled by one another. His skin looked tan, like he had spent a fair amount of time outside in the sun, nothing like the pale complexion that lead him to having to wear tank tops and t-shirts even at beach so he didn't burn to a crisp. Still, what was even more unusual was the faint glow coming from his skin.

A sharp gasp caught Danny's attention and he looked up to see a nurse staring at him in horror. Before he could say anything, she turned on her heel and went for the open door.

"TIME OUT." Everything stopped and two figures materialized in the hospital room. One was masculine wearing a hooded violet cloak and holding a staff. The other figure was feminine in appearance with a dark navy cloak. She approached the boy first and slipped a medallion over his head.

"Wait!" Danny blinked in confusion as he realized the nurse wasn't moving. In fact, nothing was moving, none of the machines he was hooked up to made a sound and the clock on the wall was stuck at 1:33.

"Daniel Fenton, we've been waiting a long time to meet you." The woman spoke first as she pulled her hood back revealing long flowing white hair and pure white eyes. Her facial features were sharp and every Danny though he could see her skeleton as though her skin was flickering in and out of existence.

"Who are you?" Danny asked now looking at the man, eyeing the clock-like mechanism in his chest although that was nothing compared to seeing him shift from a small child to an adult to an old man with long white beard then back to a child again. "What are you?"

"Who we are is simple. I am Clockwork, the Master of Time and this is Mortem, the Reaper. As for what we are that is more complicated, the closest approximation of what we are would be ghosts."

"Specially, ghosts that are a manifestation of a concept," Mortem gestured to Clockwork, "Time." She then motioned to her own form "and Death."

"Am I dead?" Danny asked then another thought occurred to him, "am I a ghost?"

"You are, in a sense, between the concept of life and death. Your body is trapped in a state of dying, but at your core you are alive." Morana reached out and touched his chest, Danny gasped as he felt a surge of energy course through him before she pulled her hand away. "You are more ghost than human in terms of your physical aspects and right now you are holding a ghost form."

"A ghost form?" This time Danny could hear the faint echo of in his voice.

Morana nodded and waved her hand summoning a mirror in front of the young teen. He gasped in surprise at the sight of his white hair and neon green eyes. For a moment, he closed his eyes and hoped that he was just dreaming or hallucinating, but when he opened them he saw they were still green.

"How do I go back to human?"

"Pull your core in."

"What does that mean?"

"Do the opposite of what you did to become a ghost."

Danny focused on the cold weightless feeling that had spread through him and imagined pulling it back into that singular point again. The ring surrounded him again and when they split they revealed the familiar pale skin, blue eyes, and black hair he was used to seeing. The mirror disappeared and Danny was faced with the cold eyes of Mortem and Clockwork.

"You may look human, but your ghost will bleed through even in this form. It has already affected your temperature and heartbeat. As time progresses you will have to learn to control your core and the abilities that come with it." Clockwork spoke this time, his expression passive.

"If you're the Master of Time, can't you send me back or stop me from going into the portal so this doesn't happen?"

Clockwork and Morten shared a look before Clockwork spoke again. "Everything's the way it's supposed to be."

"What am I supposed to do with being half-ghost? What kind of abilities am I supposed to get?"

"That is for you to discover on your own, Little Phantom," Mortem's expression and tone became soft, almost motherly. "There is much for you to learn and understand, but first you need to rest." She reached out and ran and hand through his hair, it briefly turned white against her touch. "Dying takes a toll after all."

Danny felt himself growing tired as a wave of calm washed over him, he tried to fight it, but found himself sinking back into the small bed. His eyes grew heavy and he lost the fight against sleep, drifting off to the sound of a deep voice saying, "TIME IN"